The Roaring Northerners are Dave Stewart, John Hill and Iain Robertson; a loose affiliation of tabletop wargamers and figure painters who inhabit the frozen and somewhat soggy wastelands of west central Scotland. Shadowy and secretive, they stoically quest to reduce the scale of the lead mountain that threatens to engulf them all, and perhaps even find the time for the occasional game... ....This is their story
As far as the Cold War stuff goes, I've been working on both sides simultaneously; for the BAOR, I've been working on a Battlegroup Command base, for higher level games. The figures are from the ever dependable hand of Matt at Elhiem, with some subtle tweeking by yours truly (since my fictional Cold War is viewed by the rose-tinted goggles of the ARRSE forum...)
The Base consists of the CO, in obligatory Barbour jacket. No one tells the CO he's improperly dressed, though the RSM may gently hint at it... he's acompanied by the Ops Officer; no idea if this is the correct 1980s terminology, but he's represented here in all his Silvermans Trolley Dash glory- SAS Smock, Tropical Comabat Trousers and DILAC hat. Well ally. Also present is the Adjutant, wielding a map and compass (the most terrifying sight in NATO), an officer from the RAC element of the Battlegroup and the RSM, pointing out to the ruperts that Ivan is in fact that way, oh yes, and Pvt MacAuslan is on jankers again, for pissing in the stew.
The plan is to have them clustered around a table strewn with maps, Thermos flasks and fags... Left to right- Ops Officer, RAC Officer, CO, Adjutant, RSM.
On the other side of the IGB, I finally managed to get the four
remaining figures in the first Russian platoon finished. I never
intended to do two platoons, but Elhiem released a flurry of new Soviet
Riflemen poses, and I simply must posess all the pretty things...
Hope to get the BAOR base finished for the end of the month...
Remember I said I was plotting something big for
the Soviets? Well, it’s finally arrived…
Yeah, I went there...
While this is in actual fact far too big for the
groundscale we intend to play, it will make a cracking centrepiece of terrain
for games, or potentially an objective for some derring do on the part of some
SAS mobility troop infiltrators. However, you can’t just have a TEL on its own,
for any sense of realism, (and for yet more stuff for GMPG clad Landies to brass
up), the attendant fleet of supporting and command vehicles should really be
represented.
Boxbodies, you gotta have boxbodies.
I also took the opportunities to pick up some assorted APCs from Hobby Den, in the shape of an MTLB, a
BTR-60, and a BTR-70. The thinking is that the MTLB will be used as a generic
command vehicle to accompany the SCUD deployment, as well as for use in other
scenarios requiring a Soviet HQ to be represented, while the BTRs will be used
to transport a “specialist” motor rifle squad for two of the Soviet forces; the
BTR-70 will transport a KGB Border guard squad accompanying the temperate force
opposing the BAOR, while the BTR-60 will carry a Naval Infantry squad for use
with my planned Soviet force in Norway (these will be given a higher troop
rating than the normal MR units, and have really just been included to let me
paint some funky looking uniforms as a change to the usual Soviet Khaki, and
also so I can make use of the new Elhiem MR troops in the pipeline with
different poses…). It will also allow my to mount up my existing Motor Rifles
until some obliging company (I’m looking at you, S-Model) provides us with a
decent plastic BMP-2…
So all in all, that should be enough Soviet
vehicles to keep me going in the meantime (until I cave in and get tanks…), and
before I’m accused of Meglomania, I should point out that I have refrained from
buying the 1/72 Topol ICBM and TEL that Zvezda have recently released. I’m
fairly sure this would allow games where we could just set up a board each in
our own houses, and deploy our own troops thereon, and I could then just phone
Dave and instruct him to douse his board in lighter fluid and drop a match on
it, while playing The Doors “The End”…
I’m aware that the Christmas Season is well and truly upon us, with all the
attendant commitments that brings. So, with their being every chance that this
will be the last update prior to the big day, and in the event that it is, I’d
like to take this chance to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and all he
best for 2015, from John, Dave and myself. Thanks for your interest in the blog
and your support over the last year, we hope that the posts have provided
something of interest to you, whatever side of wargaming floats your boat.
Hopefully 2015 should bring a renewed burst of creativity, we’ve got lot’s
planned, and as ever, watching the inevitable chaos as we try to bring it to
fruition should be amusing if nothing else!
Best Wishes!
Iain
PS, to continue the madness of that video, do a Google image search for "Soviet Christmas cards". Thanks to Andy Rix over at Cold War Gamer for opening my eyes to that particular brand of inspired lunacy....
With the advent of the mooted Normans in Sicily/1st Crusade campaign on the horizon, I was tricked by Dave and John into buying decided to get some Normans on the painting bench, in order that I could take part properly, rather than using my much later Scots as proxies.
So far I've only managed to get the general finished and based, along with his standard bearer and loyal attendant/ evil henchman (depending on your viewpoint).
Baron D'Guyerre* (10 pts for spotting the movie reference...)
I also procured some Vikings (since that's my prime, if not only real, interest in dark age/early mediaeval forces) however, haven't made a start on them yet, since they'll be of limited utility in the campaign we have planned (unless there are some spectacularly unlucky dice rolls...). However, the dread fleet of Haakon the Bastard and Magnus Trollhammern should make an appearance at some point soon. Maybe...
Quite pleased with how these have turned out, if only that they don't somehow look especially "Norman", though hopefully the next few batches should remedy that. The bases were intended to be a bit of a compromise; I'd initially just intended on doing them in plain desert colours, but then thought that I would like them to be usable as Conquest era Normans against Dave's Saxons, John's pre-Feudal Scots and my Vikings, etc, so had to get some sort of greenery into them, without making them exclusively North West European looking. I think the trade off worked reasonably well. Like MTP, it doesn't blend in perfectly with temperate or desert settings, but doesn't look hopelessly out of place in either of those either.
However, I'm now engaged in a bit of a push to get some more Cold War Soviets done, so we'll see when the next batch of Normans gets finished...
Cheers
Iain
*In the fine tradition of "William the Bastard,", he was going simply be "Stephen the C*nt", but I decded against it.
Yesterday saw the Command pack finished and the first of the BMP dismounts ready for basing. Quite pleased with how their looking so far. Still need to add an aerial to the Radio-operator's backpack.
Since there's only 6 dismounts from a BMP, I've discovered I've got enough figures in the stash to do another squad without ordering reinforcements yet!
Following the previous grainy images obtained by a high-level U-2 overflight, an RAF Canberra was dispatched to carry out more detailed low-level recconaissance, following reports of Soviet Forces massing on the Lanarkshire front...
In other words, I've taken some better pictures of the Elhiem Soviets I've been working on.
These come from the Platoon Command pack, and have so far came out alright. The drab WWII style fatigues, with the full colour insignia, provide a nice contrast to the modern DPM uniforms of the british infantry they'll be facing across the table.
Currently got these plus another 6 I'm hoping to finish by the middle of next month. And once I obtain a BMP or 2 (and some FV43s), we can hopefully crack on with some further efforts at the Cold War rules...
