A Tempestuous affair - part 1.5

I recently mentioned that I had acquired and begun work on an  Academy Tempest.  But the story didn't start there.  On no.  First I had a go at this old Novo (ex-Frog) kit which rather unsurprisingly turned out to be a bit of a clunker.  Still, I've started so I may as well keep going.  If nothing else, it'll be interesting to compare and contrast the completed models.

En Avant!

Hot off the painting table is this regiment of Great War French infantry.  These are Armies in Plastic figures - all as they came out of the box save for the light conversion of an officer figure to produce a standard bearer.

The 'blue horizon' is in fact Dulux matt emulsion with, as usual a final coat of Ronseal outdoor varnish to finish things off.

Painting these chaps made a nice change from green Russians!

Prolonged preowned panzer perpetuation - part 3

Concluding my look at this recently (re?)formed division, here are the rest of the toys.Above is one of the Panzer Grenadier regiments in old resin halftracks of unknown origin.  I added a couple of figures to the nearest model.

The other PzG regt.  Airfix Opels with more figures from me.

The StuG Abt with a high-mileage Airfix survivor, and Pioneer Btl with more figures added.

The Flak and Pz-Jag Abts.  Clearly not all of these sub-units would necessarily be fielded together.

The transport column - a pair of Lledo diecast Macks.

The whole ensemble posing for the camera...

...and snug in their boxfile....

...which is of course, neatly labelled!

The assault on Grozny - part 1

This game took place at COW 2003 when memories of the Russian assaults on Grozny were still fresh. I just hope that a post about an ill-judged Russian military adventure isn't too topical today.  Though Putin says he sees 'no immediate need to invade Ukraine'.  Well that's all right then...
Anyway, back to the game.  During the morning attendees were treated to the sight of the session's designer, Tom Mouat, constructing a fair sized city from cardboard boxes.

Things only got better when the toys were revealed - in the shape of a reinforced Motor Rifle battalion.  The toys were made from a rubber-type material and had previously been the property of an East-bloc army which used them for training gunners.

Distant Grozny seen from the Russian lines.

The splendid Motor Rifle Btl which somehow I ended up commanding.  Maybe I had the best hat?

The battalion advances!  We'd all read the old Soviet manuals....

The Chechens.  I know that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, but they looked pretty dodgy to me!

The toys looked very impressive...

...although the dynamism of some commanders was questioned.

Tanks approach the city.

Soon the enemy emerged from various hiding places.

The recce platoon comes under fire

I'll conclude this - with plenty more photos - soon.