CanCon 2019

I made the trip to CanCon this year. Due to circumstances over which I have no self-control, I missed out on a seat at the Blood Bowl tournament so instead spent time perusing the trade stands and catching up with friends. It was stinking hot...

We had the 2019 Bloggers and Challengers' Catch-up, and it was great to see old mates and put faces to cyber-acquaintances.

• Comrade James (The Tall) of the Man Cave
• MartyH
• DaveX of Left Handed Panzerfaust
• Dux Homunculorum of Dux Homunculorum
• Paul O'G of the Man Cave
• I also caught up with Slowp8nter JohnSh from War and Peace, and we had a yarn about maintaining focus and drive in our hobby.

I only took a few photos- the highlight for me was some gorgeous jungle terrain being used for some Two Fat Lardies games. I haven't seen anything so realistic.

Hong Kong, December 1941

Epic 40K

English Civil War using 'Twilight of the Divine Right' in 6mm

Part of one of the halls

Here's my loot- I got some cheap stuff at the bring & buy (brand new 40K 8th edition, it was only $40, they made me buy it) and a bit of MDF, and some hobby supplies.

CanCon Catch-up this weekend!

All who can make it are welcome to attend the 2019 Aussie Paint Challengers and Bloggers CanCon Catch-up this coming weekend. Come along and say g'day, meet old friends and new, tell us what you've bought and lament your dice rolls.

Sunday 27th January 2019
11:30am
CanCon
Coorong Pavilion (Top Hall) by the Bolt Action tournament

I'll be there in a shirt with 'Barks' on it; it is always great to meet blogosphere acquaintances.

Spread the word!

Barks

15mm WW1 French infantry and support

Completing my WW1 French, these are soft plastic figures from PSC. My painting technique was heavily influenced by James White's lovely Peter Pig French. I've based them on 15mm washers and used Vallejo Dark Earth Paste with a VJ US Tan drybrush.

First, les poilus.

Squad supports: Elites, grenadiers, marksmen, and Chauchat LMGs.

Hotchkiss MG teams on 25mm washers. I redid the front tripod legs using green stuff and 1mm plastic rod, as the original sculpts just had a flat triangle.

Crapouillot ("Little Toad") 58mm Trench Mortar teams.

Flamethrower! I hadn't done this before- I soaked some foam foliage in black paint and PVA, then drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

Ammunition handler and engineer.

Officers and spotters.

Staff Officer- this is a metal figure from PSC's original Kickstarter. I based him on General Foch, and think he came out well!

75mm artillery- two white metal pieces from Battlefront on 40mm bases.

On ne passe pas!

Foch Poster source

15mm WW1 French tanks

From my previous post showing comparisons and how I did conversions, these are the PSC Schneider CA1 and Saint Chamond, and the two Battlefront Schneider CA1s. I made up the camouflage based on other schemes, and am happy with the appearance. The colours were:

• Army Painter Ash Grey
• Vallejo Model Color 394 Russian Green
• Vallejo Model Color 984 Flat Brown
• Vallejo Game Color 72.097 Pale Yellow
• black

Then Army Painter Strong Tone wash and drybrush Vallejo Model Color 70884 Stone Grey, and add mud! (Vallejo Dark Earth paste drybrushed Vallejo US Tan)

PSC Schneider CA1 and Saint Chamond

PSC Schneider CA1

PSC Saint Chamond

Schneider CA1s: PSC on left, Battlefront centre and right.

Schneider CA1s: PSC on left, Battlefront on right

You can't really tell the Schneiders apart at a glance, I need to compare the rivets and MGs.

I'll put up my French infantry at the end of the week.

15mm Schneider CA1- PSC and Battlefront side-by-side comparison

PSC and Battlefront both make 1:100 models of this characterful early tank. I've compared them to each other, and made some minor additions.

The PSC model is pre-assembled and undercoated green straight out of the box. It comes in a pack with a Saint Chamond, and is available from PSC for £16.50 at time of writing. Neither model has machine guns, so I drilled 1mm holes with a pin vice and used some poly cement to add 1mm plastic rods which I then cut to length. I added a wire-cutter from some Evergreen H-column styrene. (This had been cannibalised by me from another project, so it is painted rather than the original white plastic.)

PSC Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter and MGs

PSC Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter

Battlefront's model is a resin hull with white metal tracks and MGs. The resin didn't need any clean-up, but the tracks needed work. (My trick is to cover flaws in mud post-painting). I added the wire-cutter in the same fashion. You get two for US$30.

Battlefront Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter

Side by side, the models are the same size. There are subtle differences in the placement of panels etc. The details are a little more exaggerated on the resin model- panel lines, front grill, and rivets. The white metal MGs are nicer than my plastic ones, but more fragile.

Watch this space for painted pictures!

(Here's the St Chamond with added plastic MGs)

What a Tanker- France '44

I had my first game of What a Tanker this week, in the heretical scale of 15mm. The models and scenery were provided by my friend Gorillamo, and I took a Tiger against three Shermans commanded by Gorillamo and Lims.

I'm not very good at my Sherman identification, but there was a 75mm, a 76mm, and an Easy Eight.

I've been playing with a new app on my phone, LensFX, which allows me to add explosions and dinosaurs etc. to my photos. I think it helps tell a story, but let me know if it is it a distraction?

The Tiger spots advancing Shermans.

 An overview of the battlefield.

75mm, 76mm, and Easy Eight Shermans

The Shermans spread out around the crossroads

The Tiger fails to hit

The Tiger's armour deflects all shots!

The Shermans outflank the Tiger...

...which manoeuvres down a lane...

...and jostles past the Easy Eight before spinning around.

The 75mm Sherman rams the Tiger and has to bail out!

Caught in a crossfire, the Tiger crew bails out!

A fun first game which lived up to my expectations. It was a delight to play on this terrain with these models. The Tiger only hit once, doing optics damage, but shrugged off over half a dozen hits. Being rammed reduced my command dice options, and I wasn't able to recover them before taking a hail of fire that convinced the crew to bail out and fight on later.