Megablox Carrier

Back at the beginning go the pandemic, I picked up an old Megablox aircraft carrier set (the USS Kitty Hawk). It had some 1700 pieces and I finally got around to building it this weekend. The final model is about three-feet long and is maybe 1/450 scale?

This was a bear of a model to put together and Megablox are almost, but not quite, as good as Lego.

There were several places where the instructions included this icon (below). Which appears to be Brick for "this next step looks slick on the CAD rendering, but sucks shit in real life, sorry bro".

I had to call in reinforcements at one point because I was just out of gas and my hands were sore.

The decals on the model had been applied but then pulled loose (instead of being cut cleanly) when the model was disassembled. Some decals were okay (around the edges of the elevators) but the flight deck decals were a mess. I eventually stripped them, masked, and painted replacements.

This kit really took me back to high school gaming with old Tente sets. We'd play 7th fleet confrontations. My teacher had two carriers (which were out of my price range!) so I played the Soviet side. And we lost and lost and lost. The US would always find us first and then pummel us with their air strikes until we'd finally spot them and send a ragged volley of missiles from what was left.

Until I noticed the US plan was always the same and used it to predict their search path and their location. We managed to get off two volleys before they found us. We brought glory to the Soviet empire that day, sinking one carrier while a second and an aegis cruiser had to be towed to port. Hope the flyboys enjoyed ditching their tomcats and hornets! That was also the last time we played, I think.

Anyhow, a fun throw back. Not sure what I'm going to so with this now though.

Up next: More Russians for the Crimea.

Last of the 3mm

This week, I finished the last of my 3mm Rommel painting. The biggest lot was 20 German infantry bases of two different types (samples below).

I'm sorry the pictures are poor--they are just too tiny for my camera even with a tripod and zoom.

Rommel also requires each side to have a supply base. I used some spare models and some sculpty to try and fabricate a representation of a pair of depots.

These look better in person than they do no camera. Can you see the guy mooning the camera?

Up next: Probably some 25mm Star Trek again. Then some 28mm sci-fi.

3mm German vehicles

I finished the German 3mm vehicles I bought this week. For each base shown, there are four more not shown! Apologies for the pictures--it is hard to get a decent shot this small.

First up are some mobile infantry (half tracks and trucks) as well as some artillery.

Then some tank destroyers/assault guns.

And finally some Panzer 2s, 3s and 4s.

Up next: German infantry.

3mm British infantry and terrain

I finished some more 3mm figures for Rommel this week. These are very tiny; the bases are standard FoW 40x30mm bases. 

The British infantry come with strips of standing and strips of prone infantry. I left the strips (I did not want to be fiddling with individual 3mm figures) but separated them into advancing and defending groups. I added some extra cannon to the defenders. There are about 12 bases of each type.

I needed some bridges so got eight in five types. Not sure why they are showing as pink?

Rommel also requires entrenchment markers. I bought the simplest berms I could find.

Up next: German vehicles in 3mm.

Terrain refreshening

Basing 3mm troops is taking more time than painting the (drying time mostly), so I have also been refreshing some of my terrain.

 I have a bunch of old 4" GeoHex hills that I use on a playing mat that I textured a long time ago (12 years? maybe 15?). They are on the left above. I have been repainting them to match the mat and the troop bases (right). There is a slight colour shift in this image so the new paint looks a bit dustier than it is in person.

Since I'm using the same paint colours, the match to the bases is almost perfect. There are a couple of dozen hills to do so I am slowly chipping away at them.

I'm also pretty happy with the match to the playing mat. This should make the hills blend in a bit better than the old ones did.

Up next: British 3mm infantry blocks plus some terrain. Then maybe some German vehicles.

3mm terrain and tanks

I managed a bit of painting among short vacation trips this week. I needed some objective markers so I thought these oases might be fun to try. These are 3mm palm trees and painted up well (after some farting about getting them glued down).

While they are listed as 3mm trees, they are really a bit more like 6mm items. For example, each trunk is thicker than the diameter of a Honey turret. Workable and all, though.

I also finished off the British vehicles I purchased. There are five bases of each type below, including Stuarts, Morris trucks, and universal carriers and A-13s, Grants, and Sherman IIs.

I also did some bases of 25 pounders. I've zoomed in to try and show off the crews (look for the helmets).

 Up next: Some 25mm star Trek and maybe then some 3mm British infantry.

3mm WW2

A few weeks back, Bruce very kindly donated some surplus 2mm terrain. I was very much taken with Rommel when we played it back in the autumn so I ordered some 3mm WW2 tanks.

Apologies for the picture quality--it is hard to snap a shot of tanks these small. The bases are 40x30mm FoW size.

I spent a fair bit of time fiddling about with different basing techniques. These look much better in person than they do in these pictures (e.g., way less green).

A search of pictures on the web suggested some useful techniques: mono-colour tanks with a wash to bring up detail and contrasting bases to let the tanks pop a bit. Bruce helpfully suggested wall filler as a basing compound which allowed me to put some texture on the bases.

I then ended up in a cycle of painting, drybrushing, and washing. I was trying to use pre-made colours (so I could replicate look later) but also match my existing Hotz mat (cause I'm not buying another mat!) and to be vague enough that the units could do Italy, France 1940 and the desert.

The picture below is probably the most colour-true picture and achieved the arid-olive look I was going for. The finished units will have a paper unit tag (for basic info plus hits) taped to the bottom. It has been too hot to sit in front of the computer to figure these out.

Up next: I have a ton of other units underway, including individually posed strips of foot pounders! I also have a few terrain pieces (couple of oases, some bridges, some trenches). But likely a job lot of sci-fi and pulp next.

Target for Tonight

Bruce put on a game of Target for Tonight this week. The rules simulate the British bombing campaign against Germany.

You each get a plane (although it would be possible to run multiple planes or even a squadron if you were keen). The crew have abilities that improve over time (if they survive).

The game has area movement and would fit on a coffee table. Below you can see the entire set up. You start on an airbase (bottom right tile). You then move (clockwise) to the coast, across the sea make landfall, fly through a flak belt, hit your target and egress. The number and type of tiles depends on mission you roll.

As you move from tile to tile, you roll for random events and the game could easily be played solo. The main weakness of the game is that there are almost no decisions for players to make--just lots of dice rolls.

When you reach your target you use a card deck to navigate across the city towards a target square (not shown in this photo). Cards affect your movement, simulating winds navigation, and other challenges. There is some decision making here, but mostly the moves are obvious.

If you get jumped by a night fighter, you flip the bombing board over and you have a brief dogfight. Again, movement is drive by a card draw with most moves being obvious.

The rules are pretty slick once you get the hang of it. Bruce put all of the tables on a two-sided QRS. The layout of the rule book itself is appalling, with historical material interspersed with the rules. A QRS is a must to avoid endless flipping. This is really an inexcusable production error.

Overall, a pretty fun game and nice to have a solo option. The level of abstraction is nicely thought out. It avoids the paper-chase of B-17. As time passes, technology changes and each side gets new tricks and counter measures. I'd totally play again.

We played twice with one (of four!) bombers returning and no successful hits. There was literally nothing we could have done to change the outcome (except roll better) which is perhaps the biggest drawback of the game.

1/600 planes

Bruce popped over Tuesday for another go at some 1/600 planes using a modified set of c21 airway rules. Our first game saw two flights of MiG 19s assigned to down some Skyraiders.

The Skyraiders were on a pre-programmed flight. Bruce flew a pair of Phantoms on CAP.

This started out well for the North Vietnamese as I actually managed to get in behind the ground-attack planes. But then I could not make a maneuver roll worth beans and Bruce managed to splash two MiGs. I got two skyraiders in the end but it was a pretty clear US victory.

We then switched the WW1 biplanes. Germans escorting a bomber formation against a bunch of nasty Brits.

I had more discipline this game (and less tendency to over fly the target). I think Bruce got a bomber but paid pretty heavily against my escorts.

Overall, the modifications are pretty good. Dropping the cards has eliminated a lot of the tedious guess work. We talked about making shooting in close range a touch harder but otherwise I would say these rules are ready for prime time.