Wings of Glory - Late War

Despite Melbourne being in full winter the trees decided it was a great time to blossom. With dark, threatening clouds outside it was a great time to organise another Skype game of Wings of Glory.

This time we decided on late war. Two Sopwith Snipes against a Fokker D.VII and a high wing monoplane Fokker E.V

A very even contest with each plane taking some hits, but no prolonged bursts. My luck ran out when my E.V caught fire and slowly burnt. A Snipe was shot down shortly after, leaving just one each side.

The two remaining enemies circled each other warily, taking the occasional shot. Not easy to get other than fleeting shots, since the planes are both fast and maneouvrable.

Eventually they ran out of ideas, fuel and bullets and headed home. 

3D Printing WW2 6mm for Spearhead

The organising of the British Armoured Divisions for Spearhead continued. The nice thing about having a 3D printer was that when I found I needed some models, I could just print them if the STL files were available. Most of the files I was able to get for free from Thingiverse.

Allied Sexton Self-Propelled Guns

Here are some that I printed. The files are free. There is a huge collection made by m_bergmann on Thingiverse. The files were designed for 1:200 scale but are easily resized to 1:285. Reduced to this scale a couple might need the barrels enlarged, but surprisingly few.

I accidentally printed the first couple a 1:385 and was amazed they were still recognisable and printed fine!

A resin printer would no doubt be better, but with even with the standard 0.4mm nozzle on my nifty Flashforge Creator Pro filament printer the results are surprisingly good.

Sextons removed from the raft and cleaned up

The great thing was that I made a list of missing vehicles as I was re-organising. Then I just set the printer going without having to wait for the models to turn up a week or a month later. 3D printing can be quite slow, especially as these need to run in high quality mode, but leave it running overnight and you have a set of models ready for you in the morning.

Here is a shot of the slicer for a group of 16 Sherman V tanks printed as separate body and turret on a raft. In the top right corner of the picture you can see it will take 7 hours 45 minutes to print all these at high resolution. Roughly 30 minutes per model.

It is important to take care when separating the barrels from the supports.

Sherman Vs ready for the paint shop

The end result allows you to leave the turret loose or glue them on at different angles to add variety. Because I have shrunk the scale from 1:200 I find that the clearance has shrunk between the lug under the turret and the hole in the body. Some work with a file soon fixes that, but it is a little fiddly. 

Organising WW2 6mm British Armoured Divisions

A Saturday afternoon spent organising the WW2 British Armoured Divisions for Spearhead. Spearhead is a great set of rules that has been around a long time. It allows very large games to be played and handles single or multiple players per side with ease.

These British had originally been put together for 1942 North Africa. However, since Mike's big table is green, I decided to convert them so that the bases would be greener.

I decided to make one Armoured Division to cover the greener parts of Tunisia/Sicily/Italy. It would be set up for the 1943 British Armoured Division organisation in Spearhead but with additional figures that could morph it into 1944.

The other Armoured Division would be set up for western Europe 1944.

I last looked at these a few years ago, so I was surprised how many I actually had tucked away. Some were finished, but some were only base coated (familiar story for wargamers).

The good thing about 6mm is that you can store a lot in a small space. 6mm is the approximate height of a person. It is more generically known as micro armour. It covers both 1:285 and 1:300, although the latter is sometimes called 5mm scale.

1:285 is a scale introduced in the 1960s by the US military for training. For cast metal GHQ is considered the "Rolls Royce" due to their amazing detail, but can be quite expensive, particularly in Australia if the exchange rate to USD is not good. PFC-CinC also make in this scale. They have a very wide range.

1:300 is a scale used by NATO. Heroics & Ros, Scotia Grendel and Irregular Miniatures are popular manufacturers in this scale with wide ranges.

Increasingly available are 3D printed models, available as the STL files (many for free on sites such as Thingiverse) or as printed models from sites such as Shapeways, although the latter can be pricey.

The plastic 5-drawer units readily available from stationery suppliers make ideal and compact storage.

To keep the models organised I sticky taped some tinplate sheet which I purchased from model railway and hobby stores. Unfortunately 2 of these are not quite A4 since they are made in the USA. Another downside of the tinplate sheet is that the slightest scratch will eventually rust.

A better alternative is to get zinc-plated steel if you can get it thin enough and cut to size. Whatever you use, it must be ferrous metal so the magnet on the bases will "stick". So no good using brass, aluminium or plastic sheet.

I then have A4 paper sheets that I designed in Microsoft Excel and printed. This makes it easy to see which models I still need. Also makes choosing units and packing up at the end of a game easier. I do not bother sticking the sheet down as it only needs a couple of bases to hold it in place. It also makes it easier to replace if I change organisation or it gets torn or scuffed. 

For the 30x30mm bases I use a good quality carboard or art board. Underneath I stick magnetic sheet cut to size. This holds the base in place against the metal sheet.

Chain of Command - Tanks - First Skype Game

With the Covid-19 lockdown commencing in Melbourne it was important to maintain contact with club members and play some games. No webcams were currently available so I dragged out an older Microsoft webcam, which was the only one I had.

After searching the internet I found some software, ivCam, which allowed my iPhones and iPad to send a video link to the computer. Works with other smart phones, too.

With the use of a microphone stand on a chair, a music stand, a paint roller pole, some clamps and a handy roll of duct tape I set up the cameras and the game.

I talked the players through the installation and use of Skype prior to the game, which was pretty straightforward. 

I wanted a game that would be easy for the remote players to give orders, with me moving the troops. I settled on a modified version of TooFatLardies Big Chain of Command. This is where I just use vehicles and is suitable for multiple players a side.

We find this game plays quicker than What a Tanker. It also has the advantage that you can add infantry, anti-tank guns and all the other goodies possible in Chain of Command.

Set in Europe 1944, the Allies had two Sherman troops of 3 tanks. One in each troop was a Sherman VC, now known as a Firefly.

The Germans had one troop of StuG IIIs and another of Panzer IVs.

The dice were used to identify each vehicle to make it easier for the players to know which was which.

After calling the players by Skype, all I had to do was to share my screen and away we went.

The roving USB webcam is being used for the picture in the bottom left of the screen shot. This was really useful to move around and show the players a tanker's eye view. Made it simple to work out if a target could be seen, was partly obscured or in full view.

Teddy bear fur makes great wheat fields. The stone walls were 3D prints using an STL file from New Zealand company Printable Scenery. The hedges were made from industrial scouring pads from a large hardware chain store. The top was rounded with scissors. Then coarse turf from Woodland Scenics was added using a can of spray glue.

The StuGs had the best of the battle early. On the German left flank they quickly put one Sherman out of action.

On their left flank the StuGs took out two of the Shermans, including the Firefly, which was their biggest threat.

At last the Allies began to hit back.

The surviving Sherman had fled the forest full of StuGs and found itself in a lovely flanking position on the Panzer IVs.

One shot later the Panzer was knocked out.

With daylight fading and morale falling, both sides retired. No doubt their reports would both claim they had won.

A fun game that ran smoothly. We were pretty pleased with our first remote game and keen for some more.