British Vickers Machine Gun team.

Painted a British Vickers Machine Gun team. The miniatures are from Battlefront and 15mm. To bad the mini on the right had a dis-formed face. Sadly enough I had no other to replace it.
This team was one of the missing infantry teams in my British or Canadian infantry Battlegroup lists.
In real the painted minis are not as bright as they look on the pictures. Bit of bad lighting.
I also noticed it needs another coat of varnish but that will happen when I have painted more minis. Then it can all be sprayed in 1 go instead of each mini separate.
I'm also thinking to paint the edges of the base in a darker brown colour. Not sure about that yet.

G

Thanks for looking.

Battlegroup British: Cromwell.

After months and months I finally did paint something. It was only a minor project. Just to get the feeling of painting back.
These are 2 British Cromwell tanks.
The miniatures are from PSC. And 15mm size.
To make a full platoon I need a Challenger. Hopefully Battlefront will release a new version soon, else I need to order one from Skytrex. I can use it with a Firefly but if I play a game of Battlegroup Market Garden I need a Challenger.

Sorry for the crappy pics.

Thanks for looking.

Battlegroup: Churchill Crocodile.

This miniature is my first painted in 2019: The Churchill Crocodile.
It's a 15mm mini from battlefront. Resin with metal.
Painting the model was not the biggest problem, the tracks were a nightmare. These were made of thick heavy metal with a lot of flash which was removed quickly I thought. The biggest problem were the tracks, they were not straight and didn't fit to the hull nicely. Because they were so thick and heavy it took a lot of effort to straighten them. They are not completely straight but it was the best I could do without damaging the details.
The model can be used with the Battlegroup Overlord, Battleground Overlord Beyond the Beaches and Battlegroup Fall of the Reich supplement books.

Thanks for looking!

Battlegroup: British Reconnaissance teams.

These miniatures were given to me (thanks MW) so my British troops would have some better Reconnaissance teams. There are 2 Staghounds, 2 Daimler I and 2 Daimler Dingo. All Battlefront miniatures and all to be used with Battlegroup Overlord and Battlegroup fall of the Reich.
After a close look I noticed that a few miniatures were standing unstable. I quickly saw that the wheels weren't glued in a straight position. So first thing was to solve that problem. Next was placing an AAMG on a Staghound, it was broken of and missing, and glue on bits and pieces that came loose. Then painting. Because not all pieces were painted and I wanted them to match with the rest of my British (Canadian) army I repainted them all. I did this without stripping of the old paint. The result is pretty good if I may say so.

British Reconnaissance teams.

Daimler I teams.

Dailer Dingo teams.

Staghound teams.

Also I finally got my next Battlegroup book. Battlegroup Bitzkrieg. The book concentrate on the invasion of Poland and French by the German army. It contains several army-lists for the Polish and German army for the invasion of Poland and several French, Belgian, BEF and German army-lists for the invasion of France. Further it contains background info, a few extra rules,scenarios and painting guides. After Overlord and Fall of the Reich this is my third book in the Battlegroup collection and as with the other books the book looks great. In combination with this book I'm going to use my Early war French Battlefront miniatures, that I collected for FoW. Later on I will see if I need to expand my French miniature collection.

Thanks for looking and reading.

Battlegroup: British Medic and Stretcher-bearers.

Next painted miniatures. This time not for Flames of War but to use with the Battlegroup game.
These are British (or Canadian) Medic and Stretcher-bearers. The models are from Skytrex. Not such great looking miniatures and a bit smaller then miniatures from Battlefront. I am not to happy how the bases look so maybe in the far future I will change these.
Got more practice to do taking close up pictures.

Thanks for looking.

More new and updated Spreadsheet Armybuilder Files.

Because it is still bizarre weather over-here I still can't paint any of my miniatures. So instead I updated and made some more new Spreadsheet Armybuilder Files.
First the ones I updated. These 3 Files contained so many errors I had to rebuilt them completely.
Market Garden - 1st Airborne Division Parachute Company (3v1.0)
Market Garden - 1st Airborne Division Airlanding Company (3v1.0)
Market Garden - Frost's Perimeter Force (3v1.0)

Next we have a list with all new British Spreadsheet Armybuilder Files
Market Garden - 1st Airborne Division Field Company, Royal Engineers (3v1.0)
Market Garden - 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron (3v1.0)
Market Garden - Glider Rifle Squadron (3v1.0)
Market Garden - 11th Armoured Division Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.0)
Market Garden - Guards Armoured Division Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.0)
Market Garden - 11th Armoured Division Lorried Rifle Company (3v1.0)
Market Garden - Guards Armoured Division Lorried Rifle Company (3v1.0)
Market Garden - 11th Armoured Division Motor Company (3v1.0)
Market Garden - Guards Armoured Division Motor Company (3v1.0)

Updated and new British files can be found here: UK and Commenwealth Army Files


There is also one new Polish Spreadsheet Armybuilder File
Market Garden - Polish Parachute Company (3v1.0)
This new file can be found here: Allied Army Files

Thanks for reading.

Market Garden, Bridge by Bridge and NUTS army files.

The last several weeks I have been making a lot of new army files. This mainly because the weather overhere is too bad to do any painting (can't prime the models). So instead of painting I spend more time on making army files. The reason it is such a long list of new army files and I have not posted them earlier is because I also needed time to place them on my own webpage for download. By placing them on my own website it is easier to download the files. Each army has it's own webpage, links to these pages can be found below my blog name. There is one page for the US Files, one for the UK & Commonwealth Files and one for the German Files. The Allied Files link will still bring you to the old page for download but will also get a new webpage soon. This also means that links that brought you to my pages in older blog posts no longer will work.

This has been the first time I made some German army files so I started with some easy ones.
From the Bridge by Bridge armybook:
-Bridge by Bridge - 107. Panzerbrigade Panzerkompanie (3v1.0)
-Bridge by Bridge - 559. Schwere Panzerjagerabteilung Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie (3v1.0)
From the NUTS armybook:
-NUTS - 653. Schwere Panzerjagerabteilung Panzerjagerkompanie (3v1.0)


And then there is a long list of British army files from the Market Garden armybook:
-Market Garden - 1st Airborne Division Parachute Company (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - 1st Airborne Division Airlanding Company (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - Frost's Perimeter Force (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - Commando (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - 11th Armoured Division Armoured Squadron (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - Guards Armoured Division Armoured Squadron (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - 2nd Houshold Cavalry Armoured Car Squadron (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - Inns of Court Armoured Car Squadron (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - 52nd (Lowland) Division Rifle Company (3v1.0)
-Market Garden - Canadian Division Rifle Company (3v1.0)

Then last for the US Airborne from the Market Garden armybook:
-Market Garden - Airborne Divisions Glider Rifle Company (3v1.0)

And for those who have missed it an update:
-Market Garden - 101st Airborne Division Parachute Rifle Company (3v1.1)

For download just click on one of the links below my blog name that correspond with country the army file belongs to. 

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules part 8.

Final.
Last 3 updated army files to V3 are added to the list:
Turning Tide - US 2nd and 3rd Armored Recon Divisions (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - 7th Armoured, 4th Canadian Armoured Division Motor Company (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - 7th Armoured, 4th Canadian Armoured Division Lorried Company (3v1.0) Approved

2 Files that are updated because I found errors in these.
Turning Tide - Canadian Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.1) Approved
Turning Tide - 3rd Canadian, British 3rd, 50th T&T Infantry Divisions (3v1.2) Approved

2 Files that just had a very minor update
Turning Tide - US Airborne Divisions (3v1.2) Approved
Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v1.2) Approved

Use the Files link under the title-header for the full list of links to download the files.

Maybe in the future I will make a few new army files but it won't be many.

Now I finally I can spend this extra time on painting my FoW models.

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules part 6.

Here is the next batch of updated army files which can be used with the V3 rules:
Turning Tide - Canadian Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - Canadian Armoured Squadron (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - Commando Troop (Beaches) (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - Commando Troop (Orne) (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - British Tank Squadron (3v1.0) Approved

In the Commando army files I included a new section in the OoB named Commando Replacements.
This include the stats for those teams that you may use to replace teams in the Commando company following the special rules on page 70 Turning Tide.

For the links to download the files click on the Files link under the Title-header.

Now only 6 more files to go.

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules part 5.

Again 3 new files have been updated to the V3 rules. Namely.
-Turning Tide - US Task Force A (3v1.0) Approved
-Turning Tide - Ranger Battalion (Normandy) (3v1.0) Approved
-Turning Tide - Ranger Battalion (Brittany) (3v1.0) Approved

In the Ranger army files I included a new section in the OoB named Ranger Replacements.
This include the stats for those teams that you may use to replace teams in the Ranger company and / or Ranger mortar platoon following the special rules on page 188 and 189 TT.

The following army files now have the stats included for the self defence Anti-Aircraft guns like the AA MG and the .50 cal AA MG for shooting at aircraft and the stats for the Anti-aircraft platoons have been changed. Plus I cleaned up these files.
-11th Armoured Division in Market Garden Taurus Pursuant PDF (3v2.2) Approved
-Grenadier Guards PDF (3v2.2) Approved
-Scots Divisions PDF (3v2.1) Approved
-Poles in Italy PDF (3v1.1) Approved
-Glider Rifle Company Market Garden PDF (3v2.3) Approved

The next 2 army files also had a minor update.
-Turning Tide - US Light Tank Divisions (3v1.2) Approved
-Turning Tide - US Medium Tank Divisions (3v1.2) Approved

Click on the Files link under my Title-header  to go to the links for download.

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules part 4.

As promised.
I updated the below mentioned files.
The self defence Anti-Aircraft guns like the AA MG and the .50 cal AA MG now have the stats included for shooting at aircraft.
Also the stats for the Anti-aircraft platoons have been changed.
And in some files I fixed a couple of errors that I found while I was updating the army files.

Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v1.1) Approved
Turning Tide - US Airborne Divisions (3v1.2) Approved
Turning Tide - US Light Tank Divisions (3v1.1) Approved
Turning Tide - US Medium Tank Divisions (3v1.1) Approved
Hell's Highway - 30th Corps (3v1.1) Approved
Turning Tide - 3rd Canadian, British 3rd, 50th T&T Infantry Divisions (3v1.1) Approved

And 2 more army files of which I had to correct some things that I uploaded earlier but not have mentioned about it here on my blog before.

Turning Tide - British Armoured Squadron (3v1.2) Approved
Turning Tide - British Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.2) Approved


The next files that will be updated from the V2 to the V3 rules are:
Both the Turning Tide US Ranger battalions, and the Turning Tide Task Force A.

News from the painting front is that there is no news. I am in a painting dip. Somehow I can't get myself motivated to do some painting. 

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules part 3.

I didn't had it planned to have the next army files to be updated so soon. But because of circumstances I couldn't do any painting. So I decided to spent some more of my vacation free time on updating 3 army files. And as promised it are 3 British army files.
Turning Tide - British 6th Airborne Division (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - British Armoured Squadron (3v1.0) Approved
Turning Tide - British Armoured Recce Squadron (3v1.0) Approved
In these files I made some changes to the Anti-Aircraft platoon stats when they fire at aircraft. As you don't need the anti tank value I left that one out now.
What I also included in these files is the stats for self defence Anti-Aircraft guns like the AA MG and the .50 cal AA MG.
Later on I will also make these changes in the files that I have already updated. But because it ain't the most important changes it can wait for the moment.
The links to the files can be found Here.
Or just just click on the Files link under the title-header of the blog.
Oh and let me know if you find an error.

I am sure that the next files that will be updated will take a while because my vacation is almost over. And I haven't done any updating on these army files before the release of the Know Your Enemy book as i had done with the army files updated so far.

Thanks for reading.

The big update operation of the army files to the V3 rules has started.

Now that I have the Know Your Enemy book I have started with the big operation to update all my army files to the V3 rules version.
So far I have done four files.
-Turning Tide - US Airborne Divisions (3v1.0) Approved
-Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v1.0) Approved
-Turning Tide - 3rd Canadian, British 3rd, 50th T&T Infantry Divisions (3v1.0) Approved
-Hell's Highway - 30th Corps (3v1.0) Approved
These were the easy ones because I already had an Under Review version of these files.
As usual there are two versions of each file. An Excel one and an ODS one.

The links to the files can be found Here.
Or just just click on the Files link under the title-header of the blog.

It will take a while before all my army files will be updated. Even that these 4 files were Under Review, which meant that a lot of work was already done, it still took me almost a day to update them. Most other files that I have to update don't have an Under Review version. So it can take some months before all files are done. I hope you have the patience to wait. :-) I will do my best to have updated all files as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading.

Army-file for the 11th Armoured Division in Market PDF changed

Just a quick note to let every FoW player know that the army-file for the 11th Armoured Division in Market Garden Taurus Pursuant PDF (3v2.1) Approved had a minor change.
Click on the Files link under the header to go to the page for downloading this new file.

Thanks for reading.

The Firefly VC painted.

Got the Firefly VC painted. This makes the Guards Armoured platoon, that I can use with the 101st Airborne division from the Hell's Highway book, complete.
The model looks a bit shiny. That is because the places where the decals are added have a layer of gloss varnish over them and I also have to seal the model. This will done when the next platoon is ready to be sealed.

Thanks for looking.

Again changes to V3 Approved army files.

Because Battlefront keeps constantly changing some of their V3 Approved army files I again have to make changes to two army files. Which is sometimes a little frustrating.
In this case it are the following 2 files:
-Glider Rifle Company Market Garden PDF (3v2.2) Approved
-Grenadier Guards PDF (3v2.1) Approved
In both PDF briefings the Anti-Aircraft platoons have been changed. It has been split up in a normal Anti-Aircraft platoon and an Anti-Aircraft (SP) platoon. These changes now also been made in the Army files.

Further I uploaded 3 Under review files. One is a new one and two are updated ones.
The new one is:
-Turning Tide - 3rd Canadian, British 3rd, 50th T&T Infantry Divisions (3v1.0) Under Revie
The two updated ones are:
-Turning Tide - US Airborne Divisions (3v2.0) Under Review
-Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v2.0) Under Revie
In the note sheets of these three file you will now find the following sentence:
This is an Under Review Army File. Some of the Stat and Diagram changes are assumptions by me based on the Forces book from the V3 bundle and V3 approved PDF briefings.
Keep this in mind when you use these files.
These are also the last Under Review files I made or change. At the beginning of June the Know Your Enemy book will be available. This book will bring all Late War army-books up to date with the V3 rules.
Go here: Army files or click on the Files link under the title-header and look for the right file to download.

Thanks for reading.

V3 army files updated

The following V3 approved army files are updated to version 3v2.0.
- Glider Rifle Company Market Garden pdf (3v2.0) Approved
- 11th Armoured Division in Market Garden Taurus Pursuant PDF (3v2.0) Approved
- Grenadier Guards pdf (3v2.0) Approved
- Scots Divisions pdf (3v2.0) Approved

Notes:
1) The Glider Rifle Company Market Garden army file has still the option to include Brigadier General James Gavin and Major General Maxwell Taylor from the Point of the Spear file. This file is not V3 approved yet.
2) Not sure if these will be the final versions of the army files. I think there are still some mistakes in the briefings. So keep an eye open for more updates.
3) Let me know if something ain't working or if there are errors.

Go here to get the updated files: Army Files
Or click on the Files link under the title-header.

Thanks for reading.

Two new Army files (V3 Approved)

There are 2 new Army files up for download. These are the first 2 army files made for PDF briefings that have the V3 Approved stamp by Battlefront.
The PDF briefings are:
- Grenadier Guards PDF V3 Approved (Grenadier Guards During Operation Market Garden, September 1944)
- Taurus Pursuant PDF V3 Approved (11th Armoured Division in Market Garden)

Before you go and download I like to tell that you should read the Notes sheet of the Army file carefully because some things have changed compared to the old V2 rules army files.
One of the things is this (This is just an example):
Company Totals. This has been changed. It reads now: Platoons, Multipart and Points. What does this all mean. Well points speaks for it self. The difference are Platoons and Multipart.
If you select in an Army company sheet 6 platoons then the platoon number will be 6.
Now if 1 of the 6 platoons you select is a platoon, of which each section operates as a separate platoon then the platoon number is 5 and the Multipart is 1 or higher.
Example: you select 6 platoons. One of the platoons is a Scout Platoon with 2 Scout Patrols. The OoB sheet will show six platoons but the row of the Company totals will show the following: Platoons 5. Multipart 2. Points ---. The Scout Platoon with 2 Scout Patrols is a single Support choice, of which each Scout Patrol operates as a separate platoon for all purposes including holding in reserve and deployment. So instead of 6 platoons you have 5 standard + 2 multipart platoons is a total of 7 platoons.

As usual there is for each army file an Excel and an ODS version.
For the links to the files go here: Files
Or click on the Files link under the blog-header.

Thanks for reading.

Army file update.

Les pointed out to me that the Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v1.0) Under Review army file contained some errors that needed fixing. Thanks for that Les.  I have fixed these errors and uploaded the updated file for download (Hell's Highway - US Airborne (3v1.1) Under Review).
Also there is a new file:  Hell's Highway - XXX Corps (3v1.1) Under Review. Even before I could tell here on my blog that I had finished converting a new army file I already had to update it because several things didn't work. Now I hope that these problems are solved too.
It will take some more time now before the next converted file will be up for download.
I have to spent more of my time on some other things.

Thanks for reading.

What you can find when cleaning up a closet part 1

A few day's ago I was cleaning up a closest and boy what you can find when you haven't looked in it for many years. That is besides all the junk you can throw away.

First there is this box filled with 1:72 models mainly filled with WWII minis.
It contains, all kind of British troops, German troops, Australian troops, USA Airfield troops and USA WWI troops.
Some vehicles and last a Airfix pontoon bridge in HO-OO scale. This bridge has a total length of 65 cm.
All what you see here is between 30 and 35 years old.

Troops in a box

Vehicles