Tally Ho Rolls Royce Armoured Car

Tally Ho Rolls Royce Armoured Car

This model was the first one I bought for Tally Ho! It has been stuck in a box for about twenty years..

I can’t recall the manufacturer, but they were small and relatively new, I even remember discussing licensing the models for a commercial version of Tally Ho! However that didn’t go any further and the model went into a box…

As well as Tally Ho! I am also going to use it with Bolt Action with my Home Guard Unit, and possibly A Very British Civil War.

The Rolls-Royce armoured car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used in World War I and in the early part of World War II.

Tally Ho Rolls Royce Armoured Car

At the outbreak of World War II, 76 vehicles were in service. They were used in operations in the Western Desert, in Iraq, and in Syria. By the end of 1941, they were withdrawn from the frontline service as modern armoured car designs became available.

This is a 1920s version of the Armoured Car. The model consists of a resin armoured hull, metal chassis, wheels, turrets and fiddly headlights.

Tally Ho Rolls Royce Armoured Car

Despite the age of the model, this is a well crafted sculpture and has captured the rather unique look of the original.

Next stage will be putting it altogether, though the headlamps look rather fiddly.

Painting Gunfighters

I have done some more work on my Old West gunfighters.

Old West gunfighters

I am keeping the paint jobs relatively simple, so I can do them “quickly”, though “quickly” for me often means rather slowly…

The method is to paint the basecoats of the different aspcts of clothing, shoes, hats, guns and flesh. The models are then finished with a wash (or shade) to add shadow, tone down the basecoats and blend the colours where required.

The models were mounted on two pence pieces as bases, they have some Green Stuff added to the bases to add texture. Pieces of slate were added to some of the models.

Once the model is finished, the base is painted with Citadel Texture: Armageddon Dust. After it is drybrushed with Citadel Ushbati Bone. Finally some Citadel Mordheim Turf is added.

One of my finished models is Emmet Gates.

Emmet Gates

You can see the full workbench feature on Emmet Gates on my main website.

Cold Flames of War

As well as the Brown Water Navy announcement in Battlefront’s Flames of War State of the Union, they announced a new period based on the Cold War.

October sees us diving into a brand new period as we release Fulda Gap. The period of the modern war when tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact were running high is a wonderful theatre to develop as the forces arrayed on both sides boast some of the coolest-looking equipment in history. And with the advances in technology, we are looking forward to seeing forces of M1-Abrams covered by A10-Thunderbolts pitting their might against the swathes of T-72s and BMP-mounted infantry. We plan for this to be a complete period with books covering nations and plastic sets for all the main vehicles of every nation. October is just the start and 2016 will have more books and additional miniatures.

Though there is very little information in the announcement, there is a mention of T72s and BMP-1s for the Warsaw Pact forces. So what of the NATO side? It appears that the US Army will be done first, with M1-Abrams and A-10 Thunderbolts, but I am looking forward to seeing the models for the BAOR.

British Chieftain Tanks

It would make for a good game to have Chieftains, FV432s and Harriers in action against T80s and the odd Hind D Attack Helicopter.

As the announcement mentions the M1-Abrams, which entered service in 1980, we can assume that the period for the games will be the 1980s, the height of the Cold War. If Battlefront do decide to go with some BAOR British forces, we may also see the Challenger I which entered service in 1983.

As well as fighting across Europe, another possibility will be to recreate the original Red Dawn film and have Soviet forces fighting on US soil.

I might also look at doing some alternative history British Civil War games set in the same time period, this setting was described in an article I had published in Wargames Illustrated in the 1990s.

I also wonder what other nations we will see in 2016, the French possibly?

Brown Water Navy – Flames of War

Battlefront have published a state of the nation article about their forthcoming releases for 2015. One that piked my interest was Brown Water Navy.

Brown Water Navy

April sees us return to the jungle as we visit the Mekong Delta with the new Brown Water Navy book. This book cover the river fighting in the delta’s and allows you to fight a completely new style of Vietnam game. With a complete range of riverine boats to choose, from the little PBR’s to the big CCB Monitors these boats give your US forces the ability to assault the river banks and carve their way into the jungle. Never one to make it easy for the US the VC have a few tricks up their sleeves making this environment a truly unique gaming theatre.

Many years ago I bought some Skytrex 1/200th Vietnam Brown Water Navy models, which never got used for that era, but ended up as Epic 40K models.

The preview models look really nice.

Brown Water Navy - Flames of War

Of course the reality of the conflict, was that it was a little one-sided, the US had armed and armoured monitors, whilst the VC didn’t.

Brown Water Navy - Flames of War

I still have a wealth of Flames of War miniatures to paint, so I don’t think I will be getting some, but you never know.

15mm German Light Mechpanzer Spinne Platoon

At Reveille, the Bristol show last year I spent a little time looking at the models and talking to the guys at Clockwork Goblin Miniatures about their great 15mm (and 28mm) alternative World War Two infantry, walkers and tanks, called War Without End.

In the end I bought a single blister, a 15mm US Kodiak Assault Walker.

I was lucky enough to get some more blisters as a present, including the 15mm German Light Mechpanzer Spinne Platoon.

This is what the finished model looks like.

I will probably paint my models in a similar late-war style. This is quite a different model and approach to the two US War Without End that I have.

15mm US Grizzly Medium Walker

At Reveille, the Bristol show last year I spent a little time looking at the models and talking to the guys at Clockwork Goblin Miniatures about their great 15mm (and 28mm) alternative World War Two infantry, walkers and tanks, called War Without End.

In the end I bought a single blister, a 15mm US Kodiak Assault Walker.

I was lucky enough to get some more blisters as a present, including the 15mm US Grizzly Medium Walker.

It looks like a lovely clean casting and by using 3D computer design, you have a really good sculpt with the sort of lines and shapes you would expect from a full scale factory manufactured vehicle. This is a really nice alternative model for World War Two games and at 15mm perfect for Flames of War.

This is how the model looks when finished (from the Clockwork Goblin website).

Looking forward to putting this one together and getting it on the table.