From AlanD - Whata Loada Tankas! (118 Points)

Fantastic to spend some time with about 10% of the AHPC crew in Canberra this weekend at CanCon. I fear it is likely Barks might put up some visual evidence of our meetup. [Too late! Barks]

This week I cleared some more 15mm WWII, destined for Battlegroup Fall of the Reich and Tobruk games.

Project Berlin continues with a couple of Battlefront ISU 122s. Blimey they are beasts!








On the other end of the visually imposing scale is a German RSO tractor with PaK 40 from PSC. I don't fancy their chances, so I painted a loader team for the gun in the hope they get an extra shot off before the inevitable.





From Berlin it's back to the desert, and a bunch of M3 Honeys. The ones with cast-on bases are Forged in Battle, the others are from Battlefront. One of the Battlefront tanks had a bit of a mishap in assembly, so I turned it into a knocked out objective marker.







12 vehicles, 7 figures and 8 half figures should total 118 points please!

Great to see you again at CanCon, Dux! A prodigious output again this week. Those Big Cat Killers look menacing, and I love your photography in the ruins of Berlin. Good luck to the RSO crew... I like the tracks in the rubble. Have a stingy few bonus points for the handpainted slogans and camo on the soldiers and tanks, to bring it to 120.

Barks

From AlanD - Rats! (31 points)

This is just a quick little entry for the week as I just got back from overseas on Saturday. However, suitably intimidated by Paul O'G's lovely DAK entries, it's time to dig in. 

This is a platoon of Desert Rats in 15mm for games of Battle Group Tobruk, which have been some of the major hobby highlights of my last 12 months. The figures are chopped up metal minis from Skytrex and Peter Pig, with 'trenches' made from greenstuff and air-drying clay.

So, 31 half figures should give me 31 points, and more importantly, a serious obstacle to Paul's Kradschuetzen.

Nice work, Dux! I love dug-in figures that are 'below' tabletop level. It is much more visually satisfying than placing them behind a big mound or just having a dug-in marker. I'm keen to try Battle Group at some stage, maybe when the Cold War edition arrives. Good luck stopping Paul's DAK-hammer!

Barks

From AlanD - By the skin of my teeth... (54 points)

It was touch and go to meet my modest target this year, but I've managed it. It has been great fun painting western desert forces with Paul and John for Battle Group Tobruk, and for the last entries I've finished some British trucks and tanks.

First, some wonderful clunky tanks from PSC. One box furnishes four A10 Cruisers, and an A9 Close Support tank.

 

And also from PSC, four CMP 15cwt trucks. All the vehicles are done in the dreaded 'Caunter' camo scheme, which was intimidating at first!

That's it from me this year. I have not been active with comments, and apologies for that. I'm looking forward to a long, leisurely catch up with everything people have submitted this year when life permits. Thank you everyone for taking part, the Minions, and most of all to Curt for creating this wonderful Geek Zone.

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Ahh, it's brilliant to see this great dash to the finish Alan! 

Your Western Desert project has been a pleasure to watch unfold. I like your approach to the Caunter camo scheme and the weathering on the vehicles is excellent, without being too overdone. I'll keep an eye on your blogs to see how these fair in your upcoming Battle Group Tobruk games. 

Congratulations on hitting your target Dux! Until next time, sir.
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From AlanD - Desert Rats, trucks, guns, Carriers ...wow, lots of stuff in 15mm (179 points)

My little British force for Battle Group Tobruk continues to grow, boosted along by the recent fantastic games we have enjoyed in our club. I am a massive fanboy of the Battle Group rules, but I think Tobruk might be my favourite iteration yet. They really capture something of the sweeping, almost naval warfare sort of flavour of the desert war in 1941.

So, to support the Crusaders I posted up a couple of weeks back, I have added a platoon of motor infantry, with a couple of Vickers and 2 pdr A/T guns in support. The infantry are a mix of Peter Pig and Skytrex, with the 2pdrs from Forged in Battle.

Next up, my first attempt at the dreaded Caunter camouflage scheme. This is a little Carrier section, fielded as a unit in Battle Group. These are PSC kits, with added crew from Skytrex and Peter Pig. The PSC Universal Carriers box set in 15mm is a terrific buy, giving you 9 carriers with a massive number of variants including OP vehicles, flamethrowers and mortar carriers. 

My only minor gripe is that the crew figures are really meant for NW Europe from 1944, but they would have been struggling to get anything else on the sprues! My Carrier section has seen battle in one game so far, losing a Carrier to a German armoured car, but then having the officer in the section command vehicle call down a mortar strike on some Italians in response, which pretty much encapsulates the Italian experience of the desert war, I suppose.

Now some trucks from Battlefront.

And finally - and I love these guys - a brace of Humber armoured cars, also from Battlefront. Nothing says desert war more. 

Let's see... that's quite a lot for me. I count 12 vehicles, two guns, 39 whole infantry figures, plus another 13 in the carriers, a/cs and driving the trucks. If we count the partial figures at one point each, I make 72 points for the vehicles, 8 for the guns and 91 points in total for the infantry, for a grand total of 177 points. 

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Fantastic work, Alan!!  These Desert Rats really knock the ball out beyond the boundary rope in fine fashion - absolutely tremendous.  They're perfect for the Tobruk actions you're looking at, and you've done really well capturing the colours, dust, sand and camouflage patterns.  The 'attempt' at the Caunter scheme looks pretty much spot on to me - really effective and that'll look perfect on the tabletop.

The infantry are really excellent, and the Bren carrier section looks terrific - it would be something I'd love to take forward on any table. I love how you've added the "extras" on the Bren carriers - they really bring the unit to life.

Some super trucks as well, and then, the icing on the cake, those wonderful Humbers with their unit recognition pendants.  Those are just, simply, lovely.  

Cracking work, Sir!  A really evocative, perfectly formed and marvelously painted entry.  I'm adding a couple of points for the pendants, camouflage, weathering and super basing for 179 points - which gets you to within touching distance of your target.  

Good luck with the final push!!

From AlanD - Crusaders (no, not those Crusaders) (69 points)

We have a great project going in our gaming group at the moment to do up some armies for Battle Group Tobruk in 15mm. I have the Brits, and these are the first painted models I have to show for it.

I remember as a little chap poring over the Airfix catalogue and loving the appearance of the Crusader tank. I never made a model of one before, but now I have made nine. These are all Flames of War models, painted to represent Crusader IIs from the 3rd County of London Yeomanry during Operation Crusader.

I had some fun with the crew figures, and I am particularly pleased with the infantry officer up consulting with the commander on one of the vehicles.

Five of the models are the new Flames of War plastic kits, and four the old resin and metal ones. The plastic ones are really great, showing up the shortcomings of the resin kits, particularly in the dimensions of the turret. (The plastic kit is the one on the left, below).

I'm really looking forward to getting these on the table!

That should be 54 points for the nine tanks, and maybe another 6 for the crew? Whatever our friendly minion decides.

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What a fine submission, Alan!  The Crusader really was a wonderful looking tank.  These something about those angular lines on the turret and the long sleek profile.  Maybe its also because we only think of them, in our mind's eye, as rolling over endless horizons of desert sand and dust.  Like you, that Airfix Catalogue of many years gone-by had a strong hold on my imagination as a young boy!

You've done wonders with both the fine Battlefront kit and also the older resin ones.  Both will look brilliant on the tabletop.  I love the crew commanders, poking up and scanning the horizon, and the infantry officer hopping on the tank to shout instructions is just wonderful.

Definitely 54 points for the tanks, half-points for each tank commander and crewman (legs hidden), and full points for the infantry officer.  So I make that 54 points and 15 points, for a grand total of 69 points.  Great work, Sir!