Easter Eggs for Hitler

One of my goals for 2016 is to complete a Mid-War US Rifle Company in time for the Mid-War FoWSA tournament on July 6th. My list will be a 1700pt US Rifle Company from the North Africa book. I've been documenting my progress as I've been painting and assembling each unit.

The Field Artillery Battery with M2A1 105mm Howitzers is completed. I used a the Battlefront box set for this unit. It includes 1 Command Carbine Team, 1 Staff Team, 1 Observer Carbine Team, 1 Jeep, and 4 M2A1 105mm Howitzers.

This was a really fun build. The box set was priced very high ($75). But, it is a critical component of virtually any US Army list in the game, so there is no avoiding it.

The set came with pre-styled bases for the howitzers and the staff team. It was a nice perk and added some realism to the unit.

For the Observer team, I found a fallen tree limb from my backyard, cut it to size and glued it to the base. In 15mm, the twig becomes a thick log to serve as improvised cover. More foliage will be added later.

The crews and howitzers were glued to the bases. The crews needed to be shoehorned into the pre-made round pits since the metal bases weren't exactly round. Putty was used to fill the gaps.

The jeep painted up nicely. I really love the WWII jeeps and wish for an all-Jeep list.

As mentioned in a previous post, I found an old photo of an artillery crew who painted "Easter Eggs for Hitler" on their 105mm ammunition boxes. I wanted to incorporate that in this project. The ammo boxes on the model were too small for me to paint the message freehand. So, I cut up some decals into individual letters and arranged them accordingly. This is really delicate work and wholly unnecessary. But, I guess there is some hint of obsessive madness to my hobbying.

Does anyone else try any crazy, unnecessary modifications to their figs? Does it slow you down or is the creative impulse more important to you than speed?

Here is my overall progress so far.

Completed units
Rifle Company HQ
Rifle Platoon (1 command team, 1 bazooka team, 9 rifle teams)
Rifle Platoon (1 command team, 1 bazooka team, 9 rifle teams)
5 M4 Sherman tanks
Parachute Rifle Platoon
Field Artillery Battery (w/ M2A1 105mm Howitzers)

In progress
Weapons Platoon
Anti-Tank platoon
Mortar Platoon

Next up on the workbench...
Weapons Platoon

Comments

The Blog is going on a Permanent Vacation

Ok, I haven't had any comments on this blog on an post for many, many months. The only post that seems to get any traffic is my 2015 post about Star Fleet Battles. I don't fully understand why that post has generated so much interest, while the rest of my content has been mostly ignored. Clearly, this has not been an successful blog. I get much more traffic with my Facebook content and the YouTube channel is showing promise. Perhaps the subjects of my posts have been too random. I may need to focus on a specific game or subject. Maybe I didn't generate enough posts to keep the audience connected. Whatever the case, I am ending this blog with this final post. I'm calling it a 'permanent vacation' because the blog and posts will still be here, though I will not be adding any new content. I might continue to comment on the SFB post since that is still generating traffic 3 years after it was published. To anyone who might still be reading, I say 'Thank

Gulf Strike - Final Turns 26,27,28,29, and 30

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules. We have reached the final turns of the scenario. Turn 30 is the last turn, when we will count the number of cities captured by the Soviets and determine the margin of victory. The Soviets currently have 10 cities captured. The US is building a supply network in southern Iran. Can they reach the Iranian cities in time to help defend? Most of the air missions and ground assaults have been reduced due to decreasing supply for both sides. Turn 26 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: The last few Iranian infantry brigades move toward Esfahan. The Soviets assault the city of Kashan and capture it. This is the 11th city for the Soviets. This qualifies them for a 'marginal victory'. At Sea: The US LHA carrier with a compliment of AV-8 Harrier aircraft, moves northwest to the Iranian port city of Abadan. In the Air: Harriers launch air strikes against Soviet targets approaching Ahraz, but are ineffecti

Gulf Strike - Turns 18 and 19

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are moving further south in Iran. The Americans now have supply chain problems. There are two points of failure. A Soviet heavy cruiser is bombarding the supply head at Diego Garcia The supply chain has been broken at Konark. Turn 18 - In Air; F-4s bomb a supply depot in Afghanistan, further weakening the Soviets there. Soviet Backfires make a conventional bombing attack on Iranian Militia in Hamadan, but the militia gets some incredibly lucky rolls and put a hit on the bombers. This forces the bombers to retreat. Su-24s provide close air support for the assault on Hamadan and Qom. On Land; SpecOps raids destroy a truck unit in Afghanistan. Soviets push out the remaining militia and capture the holy city of Qom. At Sea; The Soviet CA is finally sunk by an American SSN. This is the last Soviet naval unit in the Indian Ocean. US heavy transport ships reach the friendly port in Somalia.

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