ANZAC Day 2026- WW1 Rifleman

I've painted another rifleman to join my growing infantry section.

Lest we forget.

Mike Broadbent

I heard that Mike Broadbent passed away earlier this month. He sculpted many ranges, not least the teddy bears for multiple periods. I mostly knew him for his Australian 54mm figures, which I have picked up over several decades. I met him at a few conventions, working with Eureka and Slave 2 Gaming.

Vale.

Gaslands and Briscon

I was in Brisbane last weekend, and realised to my good fortune that Briscon was happening. In the nightmare petrol-guzzling dystopian mire maze that was the carpark, I received good preparation for a Gaslands Refuelled particiption game. Ross Williams ran this as well as made all the scenery and cars. The tyre piles are sliced Nerf rounds.

My car with front-facing minigun and molotov cocktails

Buggy with rocket turret and shotgun

Car with turreted machine guns and napalm dropper

The course. Ross proudly told us that noone had made it to the second gate.

Start your engines!

We race to the first gate, which activates weapons.

I veer infront of the buggy and drop a molotov accurately on it

Mayhem! I dodge a rocket; napalm is dumped and the buggy crashes into the other car

Both my opponents blow up, I try to squeeze through the eye of the needle
and we called the game. Great fun!

Other participation games I saw included Lion Rampant crusades and Wings of Glory. There was an impressive 15mm Johnny Reb display game of Gettysburg, but it lacked any explanation or crowd-wranglers. I'm getting crotchetty.

Early evening July 2 1863

Peach Orchard with Little Round Top in the distance

There were a few tournaments going on, including Armada (Star Wars and Mantic), Battletech, Bolt Action, DBA, Team Yankee, 9th Age, Kings of War, Star Wars Legion, and One Page Rules' Grimdark Future.

I had a good time at the bring & buy stand, including an absolute bargain on OOP Forgeworld renegade milita and metal Catachans.

Anzac Day 2023- Western Front digger

After Gallipoli, the Australian Imperial Force was deployed into the Western Front trenches from March 1916 until the Armistice.

This 54mm figure is from Slave 2 Gaming, sculpted by Mike Broadbent. There are some subtle areas for improvement on the webbing, but the stressful part was stippling on muddy splashes without drowning the detail. I haven't done any detailed groundwork on the 40mm base, but I do have more of these figures and could do some in the future.

Lest we forget.

Anzac Day 2022- M60 Gunner, Vietnam

Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) were deployed to Vietnam between 1965 and 1972. The proportion of conscripted National Servicemen ('Nashos') rose throughout the years. From 1967, New Zealand contributed an infantry company as part of the ANZAC Battalion.

Each doctrinal section had one M60 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun. 

5RAR 1966

7RAR 1967

7RAR, 1970

3RAR, 1968

7RAR, 1970

Oil painting by Bruce Fletcher, 1967

2RAR, 1971

This gunner is patrolling professionally, albeit with a finger on the trigger. He’s got his sleeves rolled down and has cam paint on. He wears a scrim scarf and a giggle hat. He’s made a protective belt sleeve from a cut-up plastic air mattress.

This is a companion piece to my 2016 Anzac Day post, a rifleman with an SLR. It’s an OzMade 54mm sculpt by Mike Broadbent I painted about 20 years ago. I made the distinctive front sight from a bent staple! I have given the figure a bit of a touch-up with a wash, and added some tufts to the base. I also used some HO ferns from JTT. The improved basing really brings it up a notch, but I could blend the groundwork in better. The plinth needs a touch-up as well.

Lest we forget.

Picture sources:

Top: Lyles, K. 2004. Elite 103: Vietnam ANZACs. Osprey Publishing.

All others: Australian War Museum

CanCon 2022

After a pandemic hiatus, CanCon was back for 2022. It suffered from dealer and participant uncertainty, not to mention not enjoying a public holiday long weekend, and was reduced in size. However, it still felt and looked like CanCon and there were a few new traders. It wasn't as blisteringly hot as previous years, either.

Entry was (cheaply) ticketed for the first time, to allow for venue capacity limits and attendance tracking with QR codes. Masks were compulsory. The second hand stall wasn't as mosh-pit-like as usual due to this, which was great!

I didn't grab a lot of photos, but concentrated on scenery which grabbed my attention. The system which was booming was Star Wars: Legion.

Crashed walker

Crashed flyer

Crashed pod

There was a bit of Bolt Action as well.

Battlefield Accessories continue to reinvent themselves with photo-realistic pre-printed MDF. They also have backdrops you can see in these photos.

There was a participation game which I think was the 1941 Battle of Fallujah, with the British Habbaniya Brigade (including Gurkhas) having to capture and hold a bridge from the Iraqis.

My loot: A few impulse buys and second hand bargains.