Check Your 6 Jets - Battling in the Baltic

 Four of the Space Cadets gathered for some CY6JA gaming on Saturday afternoon. Those in attendance were David, Ziggy, Wayne and myself. I had been working on a way to get some unloved planes into a game and put together some scenarios based on the idea of a Soviet attack on Sweden in 1967. It's enough of an excuse to put planes on the table... 

The scenario: Soviet bombers have been set to hit a shore position. They have some MiG-21 escorts. The UK is helping Sweden defend and send up some Lightning F.6 interceptors to stop the aggressors.

That's three (3) Il-28 Beagle with heavy bomb loads, three (3) MiG-21s w/ 2 R13 each. Facing them are four (4) RAF F.6 Lightning. The Beagles need to make it across the map (short direction) in order to bomb their targets. Damaged planes cannot drop bombs so they really need to remain intact.

David and Ziggy took the RAF defenders. Wayne drove two MiGs and a Beagle, I drove two Beagles and one MiG. The Baltic Sea was looking very polluted today. I couldn't locate my blue ocean mat, so I had to make do with ol' faithful tan mat.

Those Lightnings are quick! The bombers, suspiciously, are in Vietnamese and Egyptian colors. The Lego stands worked very nicely once again.

That's Davis, Zig and Wayne, left-to-right. 

At the end of that game, it was a total beating. We lost two bombers and two fighters and only scored five points for getting one undamaged fighter across the table. Score, 24-5.

Since it had only been two hours, we decided to replay the scenario with some tweaks. The defenders were replaced with Swedish J35 Drakens, all with Skilled crew. One MiG (mine) was upgraded to a Veteran pilot.

No pictures of the second game, but it went much better than the first one for the Soviets. Wayne and I did not fly the bombers in formation or at the same altitude. It made things a little tougher for the defenders. The Drakens' weapons aren't quite as reliable as the Lightnings', which was telling and the one better MiG pilot helped a lot. I think swapping one Draken pilot out with a Veteran might actually make this scenario "just right." At the end of the day, we got two bombers through and I shot down one Draken while the defenders only managed to damage one bomber. Final score, 14-2. Wayne and I retained some honor!

 A great afternoon of gaming for sure. Always looking forward to the next outing.

Bolsheviks!

 I just finished up some reinforcements for my Bolshevik forces. These are, of course, 28mm Copplestone Castings on 25mm round bases. The flag gave me hell, but at least it looks like a flag. A joy to paint, for sure!

More Trench Crusade Minis!

 Well, those TC models didn't last long on the work table! A week and job's done. That's a far cry from the last lot which lingered for months. I found these miniatures easy to paint and once I had a uniform worked out in my head, everything just clicked. I was really wondering how the bright green was going to turn out on the big mechanized guys. I'm very happy with that result. On with the show.

The lot

The mechanized heavy infantry. Who says bright lime green isn't "Grimdark?" 

Shock Troopers. I gave these troops distinctive dark green armor. Kind of a badge of "I completed the training" sort of like a special forces beret. These guys are obviously melee-focused. The banner-carrier has a bit of a painting flaw. The brow of his helmet took some flesh-colored paint. I've gone back and fixed it.

Some specialists. Two lieutenants, a Trench Cleric and Combat medic. I carried the gold and blue "national colors" through on the leaders' helmets. I also went back after the photo shoot and fixed the back of the cleric's robe where it looks like some rust pigment made it's way into the white highlights.

More specialists. Two sniper priests and an engineer. I gave the engineer the same dark green armor that the shock troopers have, indicating he went through that same training.

And finally some grunts - Yeomen. I'm not sure why one is kitted out more like a WW1 infantryman, but, well, what do I know. Yeoman can be upgraded to Trench Moles which gain the ability to infiltrate on the battlefield. I suppose that's what I can use him as.

And the painting corrections...

Paints are my usual combination of Vallejo, P3, MIG and Army Painter. The bases are primarily painted with cheap hobby store paints because I just hate using the "good stuff" on dirt and rocks. The big mechanized guys also got a visit from the pigment fairy to add some stains. Everything got a heavy black oil-paint wash, allowed to almost dry, then wiped down with cotton swabs. It's such a good technique for getting that heavy, sooty look and like a good sauce on food, "brings it all together." There's a lot to be said for consistent basing and a consistent finish on a collection like this.

Now that I have two very nice forces, I'm ready to but Trench Crusade on the table for a run!

The damage done. 🤣

In Progress Painting

 Since we don't get much snow in Savannah, yesterday's dusting was a neat novelty. It felt appropriate to be painting Russians this morning!

Copplestone Castings Bolsheviks and leaders / commissars. 

Completely unrelated but also on the painting table as a second Trench Crusade group. I picked up this New Antioch force on Etsy from the same guy I got the Black Grail minis from. This set is excellent and includes four different Lieutenant models. I only assembled two. Very happy with the quality and shipping speed. I did up the bases during the week while the models were in the mail. I wasn't expect the cleric or extra leaders do I had to whip up a couple extra bases yesterday evening. 

Fun stuff!