Picking up the Paints again

In the first time in well over a week, I am getting some work done on miniatures. I have been working on a pair of oxen and a Ba64 armored car. It feels good to get to finish something. I managed to get the oxen, a pair of peasants and the Ba-64 finished last night. I will base the Dark Age peasants tomorrow (maybe).

Miniatures

Well, when I last talked to you about my Picts, I believe I mentioned ordering some Sergeant Major Miniatures Pict Spearmen and a command pack. They were promptly delivered and were exactly what I wanted. I had small issues with a couple of the castings and mentioned it to the proprietor of Sgt Major and he immediately responded and dropped me replacement figures plus a half dozen more! Great service and much more than I expected.

The command pack from Sgt Major has two mounted fellows in identical poses, two horn blowers and two foot officer types. While they lack some of the dynamism of the Splintered Light line, they are good solid figures and will round out my Pict force rather nicely. Sgt Major has some nice chariots as well if I wanted to go that route for the officer and champion. I may pick them up along with their armored cavalry to give some extra support to my Picts.

Movie Review - The 9th Company

I have just started experiencing the wonders of Netflix. I now have a whole host of options available that I did not have before. One of them is some rather interesting foreign films that I really had no access to. I just finished watching the 9th Company. It is a Russian movie from 2005 or so about the Soviet war in Afghanistan and a battle for Hill 3234 in January of 1988.

I remember reading about the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s. As a cold war kid, I remember reading articles in Soldier of Fortune magazine and the like extolling the virtues of the Muj and demonizing the Soviets as invaders. I remember sporadic news coverage of the war but that is about it. Now as an older and wiser (OK, we will just go with older) individual, this movie was interesting to see the other guy's perspective.

In looking through some articles on line, about the movie. The reviews were that it is credible but the big fight at the end, historically did not end as the movie portrays it. Historically, the Soviet VDV (Airborne troops) held the hill top and only lost 8 men killed. The movie less optimistic. So much so, that a Russian game developer decided to make a game about it featuring elements of the fight to provide a better representation of what happened.

The first almost half of the movie covers the troops enlistment to an airborne unit that is destined for Afghanistan. It is interesting to me that they go straight from civilians to an airborne unit to get basic training. The training, while not showing everything, struck me as odd as you never see the airborne troops jump from an airplane. It was either not that important to the script or possibly not all airborne troops are parachute qualified? The drill instructor to American eyes would seem brutal, but he seems honestly interested in preparing the young men for service in Afghanistan. There is one odd scene where one of the enlistees has a touching moment with the drill instructor that seems a bit out of the blue. I am guessing that there was more background to this scene that ended up on the cutting room floor at some point. Predictably the men form a tight bond and end up in the back end of nowhere. My question is, did the Soviets of the 1980s take raw recruits and put them directly to airborne units or was it closer to the American model where the soldier goes through basic then volunteers for airborne school?

Since I know no Russian (except for yes and no), I had to read the subtitles. This only drew me out of the movie on occasion. For the most part, it was easy to follow and has proven to be a good movie. Here is where my lack of knowledge of the Soviet army of the 1980s comes out. The soldiers seem almost universally sloppy in appearance and care for their equipment. Their gear seems slapped on and in disarray when they are moving about. That just seemed odd to me. Was this artistic license or did the Soviet soldier from an elite unit (were airborne troops actually elite in the Soviet system?) actually just carry their gear higgldy pigldy like that?

All in all, it was a good movie. I am not sure that it accurately depicts the tactics used by the Soviets to hold off an attack. Also it claimed that the army basically forgot about the men on the hill due to the pull out. Historically, the defenders were in constant contact with headquarters and received artillery support. Seems that Hollywood is not the only place to play fast and loose with facts as much as they can.

So, here is the important question, any other recommendations or suggestions that I should look for? This one almost made me want to paint Soviets to do Afghanistan.

Dux Brit Picts

I think I have mentioned before that I picked up the start of a Pict army from Mark a while back. I have 8 spearmen, four crossbowmen, four slingers, 8 casualties and a leader of some sort that I picked up from him. With the release of the Raiders supplement, I now know what I still need.

Since slingers are not really a part of the Pict force in Dux Brit, they will become part of an Irish force. I did have some Old Glory Picts that I have managed to paint. So here is my Pict Javelin men.

These feature my attempt at painting a plaid of some sort. I am not happy with it but I am not sure I can do any better. Next up is some Pict Cavalry.

Here I have the same plaid attempt as the javelins. I actually like these for some reason. One of them slid forward when I glued him to the saddle when I had my back turned. I thought of prying him up and reseating him but the effort will probably result in me repainting him to some degree. I figured I can live with it.

I also got some new miniatures in the mail. There are two packs of spearmen and a pack of command figures. Each spearman pack comes with 8 spearmen. I have three figures that appear to be advancing and five that are standing there with spears. In all four different casts in the pack. The command pack has two spearmen blowing horns, two mounted fellows with swords, a man standing holding a sword and bear handed fellow who is supposed to look commanding.

The command pack is perfect. It gives me exactly what I need for my Pict army. I can use it for either a mounted option where the champion and lord are mounted or dismounted. I have the other spearman who can serve as the second noble for my force. I already have these fellows on painting sticks and am ready to paint undercoat them this evening.

While I am at it, here are some pictures of other items that I have finished.

A single 6" section of rail road tracks.

A pair of Early Saxon mercenaries.

A pair of Zulu officers for my ever stalled Zulu project.

Loki has a giveaway

Loki is doing a neat giveaway. Take a look at his blog for more details: http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekly-round-up-04052014-400-posts-3rd.html.

His giveaway requires you to do a little sleuthing to find the answers to a few questions. The prizes are some really nicely painted figures. This one is worth checking out.

A Small Update and a Big Welcome.

Welcomes

A warm welcome to Paul Waechter from Dog of War . He has an interesting blog that covers a number of periods. I just started following his blog and he seems off to a great start.

Painting Updates

I got to work last night on a variety of things. My pot of Windsor and Newton ink arrived and I was able to coat my Pict Javelins and Cavalry with it.

I also have a first test piece of rail road track complete. I picked the road crossing. I think it is coming along alright.

In the picture you can see the tiny bit of Zulus that I have completed. The impi commander and sub unit commander are painted up and based now. I sorted through some more things to see what else I have left.

New Stuff

I placed an order with Sergeant Major Miniatures for the remaining Pict spearmen that I need. I also picked up the command pack as well. Looking through my Picts, this order should actually finish off what I need for them.

I have a couple of painted Early Saxons that I never got around to basing. I have the basing material applied to them today but they still need a bit of paint.

Next?

I want to get some more work done on my Dark Age civilians. Also I need to get the rest of the train track sorted out. I have a scenario idea for a "Sieze the rail station" scenario from the early war period.

In looking through my items that are Undone, I am thinking of working on the Old Glory/Command Decision Ba-64s that I have. Once that is done, I really need to get in a game.