War at Sea Battle Report 2: USN vs IJN

First off, my apologies for the lack of updates recently; I've been kind of busy with other stuff. 

The only games I've played were one game of Warmachine (my first in about a year) and a bunch of games of Battletech, which I just got started with.

There might be batreps for both of those in the near future, along with more Flames of War stuff as our local Infantry/Mechanised slow-grow league is getting started.

But for now, it's time for some Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures, since I got to play a couple of games of that this week and took pictures for one of them.

We were playing 100 points in the standard scenario, which plays nice and quickly.

You score points by capturing the three objectives on the centerline (worth 50 points each), destroying enemy units (worth their points value) and destroying all surface elements in the enemy fleet (worth 50 points once).

The first player to score 150 points by the end of a turn wins.

Flames of War battle report 6; Guards Strelkovy vs Panzerspähkompanie

Last weekend I co-organised and played in a local FoW tournament at de Purperen Draak, the place to be for miniature wargaming in the northern Netherlands.

We were playing 1500 points, Late War.
I ended up playing in the first round only, but that game was pretty interesting.

The scenario was Free-for-all.

I was playing the following list:

Strelkovy Batalon (Guards) - Fearless Trained

HQ: CC, 2iC Rifle, Komissar, 4x PTRD

Strelkovy Company: Cmd Rifle/MG, Komissar, 7x Rifle/MG, 7x SMG, Maksim HMG

Strelkovy Company: Cmd RIfle/MG, 7x Rifle/MG, Maksim HMG

Scout Platoon: 5x SMG

Heavy Mortar Company: Cmd Rifle, Observer Rifle, 6x 120-PM-38 mortar

Guards Heavy Tank Company: 3x IS-2 obr 1943

Tank Destruction Company: Cmd Rifle, 4x 57mm ZiS-2

Building up to the Battle of the Java Sea; simple beginnings

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts recently. There simply hasn't been anything on my workbench worthy of a post and I've hardly played any games as well.

However, I do have some things in the pipeline.
There will probably be a battle report for a double-blind game of Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures I refereed soon, once I've got all my notes from that in order.
In addition to that, there will probably be a fair amount of FoW coming up as we'll be having a local tournament soon.

Today's feature is something a bit different; an overview of a long-term project I'm working on.

Specifically, to assemble the full order of battle for the Battle of the Java Sea in 1/1800 scale.

Mini Review: Plastic Soldier Company 15mm IS-2

Currently, I'm doing more painting than playing, although that should change with a local Flames of War tournament coming up.

While I'm painting/modeling, I'll be putting up some reviews for a few of the kits I'm working on.

This starts today with the unit I've finished most recently; a company of IS-2 obr 1943 heavy tanks in 15mm scale for use in FoW.

Mini review continued: 1/1800 HNLMS Java painted

After receiving my Shapeways order earlier this week, I got started on painting them fairly quickly.

When the aircraft models presented some difficulties because of the material's rough texture (kind of annoying on aircraft) I decided to switch my attentions to the 1/1800 scale warship I had also received instead.

This is the 1/1800 NL CL Java[1942] by matt_atknsn, for your reference.

Here's a picture of it painted up:

 

Mini Reviews: 1/1800 HNLMS Java by matt_atknsn and 1/350 F-8 and MiG-21 by Kampfflieger

Earlier this week, I decided to explore a new source of miniatures, especially historical ones; 3D printing on demand via sites such as Shapeways.

I ordered two different products:

-1/1800 NL CL Java[1942] by matt_atknsn

-1/350 F-8 Crusader & MiG-21PF by kampfflieger

Shapeways offers options for different materials for some models, such as the aircraft in my order.

I went with the default and cheapest option, WSF (White, Stong and Flexible).

I'd read that this material would have a slightly rough texture, which might become visible when painting, but decided that it would be OK for a test case.

After placing the order on monday, I the indicated time to delivery was roughly 1 week. However, the models were completed even faster than that, as they were shipped on thursday and arrived on my doorstep on friday. A pleasant surprise.

Airwar C21 Battle Report 1; Showdown over the Sea of Japan

1988, Sea of Japan.

Unknown to the Western powers, a Soviet transport ship carrying nuclear warheads has suffered major technical issues and is adrift in international waters.
While the situation cannot be viewed clearly by satellite due to bad weather, this has also hampered recovery efforts.
The politbureau is adamant that no US or US-aligned eyes can be allowed to fall on the vessel for classified reasons. Air superiority over the area must be established. In this effort, pilots have received orders to open fire at any craft crossing the set exclusion line.

US intelligence has figured out that there is obviously something special going on in the general area, although initial recon efforts have been threatened away by Soviet air and naval power. Even observation attempts by a pair of state-of-the-art nuclear submarines were driven off by agressive ASW units.
The weather does not look like it will improve any time soon, so a different approach will be tried; several small groups of aircraft will attempt to infiltrate the area in such a way that the Soviet air cover will not be able to intercept all of them.

One of these groups is a pair of F/A-18C Hornets from VFA-195, the Dambusters, which is stationed in Japan. Callsigns are "Hogger" and "Stilts".
They are part of the first wave, most likely to be intercepted. Their Rules of Engagement allow them to open fire BVR if enemy weapon launches are detected.
As luck would have it, they are indeed intercepted by a pair of Su-27 Flankers, well within the exclusion area.
Hogger and Stilts were about to have a very bad day.