Beyond Mig Alley - BRS - North Vietnam Rumble

Howdy folks,

Here's to the first battle report of the year! I was able to get together with Duncan and Mike and we had the chance to give a try to Blood Red Skies/ Beyond Mig Alley. We have each been painting up fabulous aircraft that Duncan picked up from Lead Pursuit Podcast and this was a great chance to get them on the table.

The setup for the game was Vietnam War, US aircraft are pre/post strike (actual timing was irrelevant) and they get 'bounced' or ambushed by North Vietnamese aircraft (Vietnam People's Air Force - VPAF). So force composition was:

• US - 4 or 5 x F105 Thud's - strike aircraft, self-defense machinegun; 1 x F4 Phantom - air superiority on top cover, no gun, armed with AIM-7 and 9 air-to-air missiles; and
• VPAF - 5 x Mig 19's - air superiority aircraft, air-to-air missiles and guns.

A few quick thoughts: it was a pretty fast paced affair, the missiles were a little frustrating (so maybe they lived up to their historical references), and the gun shots were epic. The jet age is extremely fast, even with the movement distance capped, several aircraft end up moving at the cap of 16” which is about 3-4 times the average speed of WW2 BRS.

The game was a lot of fun…Mike was on fire with his gun rolls…and definitely looking forward to next iterations.

And now the pics…enjoy.

The Setup & Start: the Thuds blend in pretty good with the mat…but they’re heading South when a bunch of MiGs jump on their 6.

Mike was able to bounce in and be in advantage. If I remember correctly, Duncan’s Thuds were pushed to neutral. Mike lined up a few shots and is able to splash his first Thud. I think the MiG gets a heavy hitter rating and that ends up being pretty devastating. You can see the token where the Thud falls to the earth.

I was able to jump into the fight from my ‘high cover’ position on the edge of the table. I was able to take my full 16” move and get in behind the MiGs and reduce the advantage of one of Mike’s aircraft. Unfortunately the shot didn’t take, but it put him on the defensive a little.

Mike fended off my F4 attack, but was able to splash another Thud (second token on the table)

The furball move inch by inch on the table, Duncan was able to get into a tail chase situation as well, so Mike had to drive one of his MiGs into the clouds for cover. At this point we had taken enough boom chits that the Thuds would’ve left the field. Mike elected to keep the fight going…so we did.

Again, I try to line up a shot with my Phantom…no gun onboard really sucks, but I let loose another missile with no effect…or maybe I scored a damage, I can’t remember.

I try doing a maneuver in order to change my facing back northwards…given the characteristics of the F4,  this meant that the high G combined with the ‘complex’ layout kept me at neutral for the turn while the crew sorted out their bearings…

This gave Mike the chance jump in behind and put me at disadvantage which gave him the chance to hit me with a gun shot…which he did quite nicely…and down I went with a ticket to that fancy hotel in the North’s capital.

BRS - MiG Alley...and Beyond MiG Alley

Howdy folks,

I hope all is going well over the Christmas and holiday period for everyone. Continuing on with my latest distraction. Not only have I dipped my toe into the Korean War conflict with Warlord Games Blood Red Skies MiG Alley...I have also recently discovered Lead Pursuit Podcast who has license with Warlord to produce aircraft for said game. AND who also have license to produce aircraft for Blood Red Skies and Lead Pursuit's free expansion rules for beyond the 1950s. You can find them here, Lead Pursuit Podcast

I have 8 aircraft now, some A4's, a couple of F4's, and a couple of Mig 19's...these are 3d printed and are super super sharp looking aircraft. They are probably the cleanest 3d prints I've seen, and certainly some of the cleanest aircraft models I've seen. 

The models all came up very quickly, but I gotta say that right now my favourite are the MiG 19’s, they were the cleanest and took the paint really well. The detail and lining really came out well…I am somewhat disappointed with the F4 and A4’s, but they will definitely work for the tabletop.

Enjoy the pics. Take care.

Group shot of everyone…I painted up one of the MiG 15’s with a red nose after seeing a pic of the Soviet Air Forces paint scheme for their “advisors” flying with the North Koreans. I have one MiG 19 in plain gray paint scheme and the other with grey and green…both inspired by North Vietnam Air Force paint schemes. The pic includes aircraft from my previous post…the weather was above freezing today, so it was dullcote day.

The A4 tails were inspired by the paint scheme of the Skyhawk’s that were flying off the USS Independence circa 1965. I think I’ll keep them fairly clean, keep them rather generic for use with other Air Forces.

I am currently waiting for decals for the Phantoms, they will be getting the Sundowners tail…looks very cool and will really top of the F4’s.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

1/200          16, +12 (2 x Sabre’s, 3 x MiG 15, 2 x MiG 19, 1 x F4, 4 x A4)

15mm         214

28mm+       44

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        24 

Progress   +252

Red Dawn Objective - Wonalds...ish

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well as we crest past a far too warm Halloween. This is just a quick post to showcase another completed element from the Red Dawn VDV BMD Air Assault Battalion Starter Set. This fabulous box came with a Red Dawn (1984) inspired unique objective taken from the movie stills showing a few commies posing it up for mommy in front of a distinctive/iconic fast food establishment.

Battlefront elected to go with 'alternate' branding inverting the yellow arches into a W...in my haste to unpack the box and look at the goodies and then ignore them for a random amount of time before hitting the work bench...I inadvertently lost the decals to declare my objective as Wonalds.

So, adapting and overcoming...I instead took inspiration from the fact that any given small town in the Canadian Prairies is home to its own Chinese food restaurant. This of course is due to the reality behind the internment of folks who were of Japanese or Asian descent and living on the western coast of North America during World War 2. This happened in the US and certainly in Canada and resulted in the aforementioned proliferation of small-town Chinese restaurants. Having lost all when they went into internment, these folks had to adapt and overcome (with much much more at stake than missing decals) and provide for their families.

With those folks in mind, and their contribution to their communities, I present you with appropriate signage for Won's Chinese Food emporium. Complete with BMD-1 at the curb, along with a couple of Ruskies and a sufficiently mid-winter grimy/dirty street to stand in.

Enjoy!

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         134, +3

28mm+       44

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +172

Red Dawn - Soviet Airborne VDV

Hey folks,

I hope the week has been well for you on our respective side of the internets. Just a quick post to bring in the weekend, I finally got around to finishing up the BTR’s and the troops from the Red Dawn VDV BMD Assault Battalion. It doesn’t feel that long ago that I finished the BMD’s and its a good feeling to get the AAA and grunts finished.

The BTR’s are resin and metal…and I think I preferred the plastic BMD’s…the prep on them felt about the same and the metal figures painted up really well. All in all it didn’t take to much time to get the 2 platoons finished, along with the special Red Dawn command stand, and I think they look great…even with all their berets. I think I would’ve preferred a mix of headgear…but they look really movie cool,so there’s at least that.

The box came with some extra command figs, Officer and radioman, so I did them up as singletons for Force on Force and whatever other modern ruleset I can fit figs into.

Anywho, here goes with the pics…enjoy.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         100, +51

28mm+       43

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +137

Team Yankee/ Red Dawn - Canadian Iltis

Howdy everyone,

I hope all is well. Just a quick post to show off one of the new units that you can get with the latest NATO book…a Canadian Airborne Regiment Iltis patrol as part of the continental Canadian Army and Force Mobile Command (FMC). The patrol comes as a 4 vehicle blister with 2 x TOW mounted vehicles and 2 x MG vehicles.

I’m not going to lie, I had been waiting for these little delights for some time. At one point, I had been trying to find a suitable maker until Battlefront caught up and made these as part of their NATO release. These were in service with the Canadian Army from the 1980’s up until early 2000’s (03-04 if I remember correctly). These vehicles just seemed to takes constant beating and yet, kept on ticking.

Anywho, in the context of Red Dawn/Team Yankee, these patrols are available to the Canadian commander as part of FMC and the Canadian Airborne Regiment. 

The vehicles were fun to paint up…the only con that sticks to mind, is the finickiness of the figures and trying to work my brush around them to get them painted up. Otherwise, pretty quick build and paint. In my case, I went with the NATO standard camo pattern, and dropped the khaki tones only using green and faded black/grey.

I hope you enjoy the pics. Cheers.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         27, +14 (4 x Iltis and crew)  

28mm+         7 

Bought         8

Progress   +26

Team Yankee - Soviet VDV BMD's

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well on your respective fronts. I gotta say, I'm not really digging this minimal snow-early spring weather...I do miss the subzero temps and white stuff on the ground. I'll have to find some way to manage...

As mentioned in my last post, I had been busy like Bob T. Builder putting vehicles together from the various boxes that I've bought over the past few years. At the tops of my list, and in line with some future Northern Dawn scenario ideas, I thought I'd start my painting with the VDV folks and their battlefield rides.

The models themselves went together fairly smooth, I think I had minimal issues...I guess I could re-read my post to verify...

Yup...fairly smooth. They painted up really nicely as well and I have to say it was very enjoyable painting up Soviet vehicles in something other than green...the camo pattern was a nice diversion. I think I stuck fairly close to the pattern in the Red Dawn book, but also reflected some of the reality that I saw when I did my googling. Either way, definitely some randomness to the elements reflecting the general pattern.

Here are a few pics - trying to show some of the straight on, overhead, side profiles, rear aspect, and in-closer views to give a few perspectives on the camo pattern…I hope you enjoy the pics.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         13 (BMD's and crew)         

28mm+        

Bought       00  

Progress   +13

Team Yankee - painting update

Howdy folks,

I hope you are able to take some time to rest and recharge over the holidays. I’m still catching up on my backlog of finished minis…almost there, and I thought that I would post some 15mm’s. These are from Battlefront (definitely my 15mm go-to), the Team Yankee and Red Dawn side of the house. The Abram’s come from the Hammerfall box (2 x M1 Abram’s and 3 x T64), the troops are the remainder of the Red Dawn insurgents that I started on earlier this year, and the lone UN ‘blue helmet’ is a leftover Canadian infantry model from the Team Yankee Canuck mech platoon pack.

While I haven’t put a whole lot of thought towards it, I should have no problem fitting the Abram’s into an army list for Team Yankee or Red Dawn. I do have a USMC LAV company that could use some high powered support, and I have my 4CMBG crew that could also do with some more Allied support, not to mention this gives me some heavy metal for any Force Mobile Command list that I might put together for a Canadian homeland force.

The insurgents should find a home in any Force on Force scenario, and in spite of my idleness with Afropia, they could fit in there. Certainly that is where I’m anticipating an appearance from the UN.

Enjoy the pics. 

Painted 

15mm          133, +15

28mm+          55

Bought         131

Progress      +57

More Battlefront 15’s - Red Dawn & Team Yankee

Hey everyone,

I hope all is well on your side of the internets. I’m working on getting through more of the backlog as well as keep up momentum on the Red Dawn figures that I picked up earlier this year. I managed to work through a portion of the second pack of Battlefront’s Red Dawn US Militia as well as the extra’s I had remaining from my Soviet Motor Rifle Company figs. Again, keeping these in mind for other rule sets and Afropia, I based them for Force on Force more than anything else.

I elected to go with a variety of base colours and textures…makes them fit in any FoF game set in Europe or Afghanistan (for the Sov’s) or Afropia. 

I do enjoy the figures, really like the Wolverines sculpts. Enjoy the pics. 

A couple of test paints for my Petoriastan Defence Force (PDF) infantry. Thought I would try out a different camo pattern to see how they it would look…not too bad, I think I’ll tweak and go with a darker green (I went with Green Grey)…

Painted 

15mm          118, +25

28mm+          42

Bought         131

Progress      +29