Team Yankee a Go-Go - more Combat Support

Hey folks,

I hope all is well on your end. Another week, another dump of snow…we got about another half foot or so thanks to some warmer temps compared to a few days ago. The year so far has been pretty productive and given the excitement around Red Dawn, I wanted to get a few more Team Yankee units completed and on the orbat.

For my Canadians and my 4CMBG force, I completed another 3 x M150 Tow carriers. Depending on the list you take, there are a few options for those launchers…I think you can have up to 2 x TOW sections (up to 3 x M150s per section) depending on whether your Battlegroup is Infantry or Armour based. Keeping with the overall theme of my 4CMBG build, these launchers are camm’ed up with netting and painted in NATO tri-colour. The main difference is that I haven’t included any national flags or emblems…there are some great pics online from back in the day of M113 carriers based in Canada that don’t have emblems or flags while their Euro-based counterparts sported the fancy decals. These carriers will fit in nicely with the Battlegroup, and they can also work for an at home defense Red/Arctic Dawn force for with whichever Canadian Brigade Group or formation would’ve remained.

For my Soviets, I was able to complete a flight of Su-25 Frogfoot...full disclosure, I have had these on my workbench since the time that Battlefront first released them as resin and metal cast…lol. But now is their time to shine, lol...anywho, I did some consulting of Google, found a really great modeling instruction that had a paint diagram and I also went to my stock of Osprey Publishing books and got inspired by their Air Vanguard book on the Su-25. Selecting two, I really like the variance of the schemes and for some extra fanciness, I di d NMM on the rocket pods and tried to give some impression of movement with the aircraft and added some extra highlights and contrast to give that sense...looks kinda neat, I'm quite happy with the result, and depending on the angle it makes me think that the aircraft are in a nose down attitude.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Canuck TOW toting M113's ready for action. These ones actually have the metal figs/gunners that were intended for the model. I had robbed a couple of tubes from the BF Humvee model for my first section.

Bring on the frogs!

See...speed highlights...works in my brain, not much else to say about that.

Painted

15mm            10, +9 (Frogfoot and M150 TOWs + crew)

28mm+          4

Bought         24

Progress      -10

Fallout Painting

Hello everyone,

Keeping the momentum alive, so here is a quick Fallout Wasteland Warfare post. I can’t remember when I pick up the Unusual Allies pack, but I’ve had the NCR Ranger that was intended as a promo for a few years. The figures actually painted up super quickly and were a lot of fun. 

The Unusual Allies come with Strong, Nick Valentine, and Hancock each with a custom base. The poses are pretty dynamic with a high degree of detail to them. Similarly, the NCR Ranger has a great pose and is a really cool opportunity to get some colours and tones together that you normally wouldn’t have the chance to.

All in all, really fun figures with a good opportunity to change up your painting game.

Enjoy.

The 2023 Journey Up Plead (Plastic/Lead) Mountain

Painted

15mm            1

28mm+        +4

Bought         24

Progress      -19

A Piece Worth Fighting Over - Scratch Built Terrain

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well on your respective sides of the internet. We are finally getting some real winter weather, a couple of snowfalls to help bring in the new year…not to mention some -10 to -20C temps…so kinda nice to see.

Anyhow, I thought I’d keep up my momentum and work through some of my to-do pile as well as work towards some of my main objectives for this year. So with a 2 birds 1 stone kind of approach I took to finishing up a scratch build piece that I had started a while back and gotten around to painting. Inspired in part by some model pics, Cold War skullduggery, and some Red Storm Rising type fiction I made a refueling point parading as a ramshackle barn/shed. It should work for pretty much any game setting as scatter terrain or an objective in a scenario…but could work as an objective for TeamYankee or an action objective in a Force on Force game.

The build is with 15mm in mind…it is pretty bare bones, meant to look haphazard, with old sprue pieces for pipe works. I also took the opportunity to test out some Citadel contrast paints so the main structure was painted with a couple of those...sorry, can't remember off the top of the brainpan, but it went up pretty quick.

On the purchasing front, I had the good fortune to stumble on a 50% off sale on Flames of War so I picked up a box of US Armored Recon Patrol and M3 Halftrack Platoon both mid-war. So, an uncharacteristic purchase for me, but a bit of a score…I think I have some recce and transport for Afropia…so win win!

Here are the pics, the model is a Battlefront T72 for scale, enjoy!

 

Painted

15mm            +1

28mm+          0

Bought         +24

Progress      -23

2022...Oh What a Year

 Howdy folks,

I hope the new year has found you healthy, happy, and perhaps a little wise(r)...I could definitely use some of that...wise(r) or Wiser's, either would work. I have to say it is always a little surprising when the calendar rolls over, it comes too soon and at times has certainly taken too long to get here. 

In terms of painting and gaming, it was a journey...some models seemed to paint themselves and others took a disproportionate amount of time which in itself can be quite frustrating as it slowed progress. However, out of that I can say that I am very happy with the results of the painting, even if I had hoped for higher volumes, I am happy with the quality of the paintjob.

Compared to my thoughts just over 12 months ago, last post of 2021, I am happy to say that I chipped away at a portion of lead mountain and some of its plastic shrubbery. I didn't make any records in terms of outputs, but I am happy to see I had some consistency over the past couple of years which was an overall increase compared to a low-point I had prior to the pandemic (2019 was not a stellar year for output or gaming).

I think the biggest difference between past years was the dramatic increase in the record-keeping of my painting and blog posting - at 36 posts for this year, it is my most productive in about the last 5-6, so huge success. I don't think I was able to get more games in, but I had roughly the same output with more posts...so you got to see some of my more random thoughts and more pics...so happy about that. I didn't get as much done, so I need to get better with my main objectives, however I did get a considerable amount of 28mm and 28mm+ done.

Whats on tap for next year? 

Definitely more gaming...I'd like to see some Fallout, Legion, and give Marvel Crisis Protocol a try. 

In terms of painting...I'd like to get more output, obviously; but I'd like to chip away through more of my 15mm lead mountain AND through my collection of starter and expansion boxes for Team Yankee, The Walking Dead, and some of the bigger models for MCP.

In terms of projects...RED f'ing DAWN baby...this book has brought me back to Team Yankee and I'd like to get some of that accomplished and maybe see how I can work towards an extended campaign or psuedo-Firestorm. I’ve got the weather data, so you know, let’s see what that could give us. As well, I'd like to get the Nam Infantry Aces off the deck, and of course I'd really like to get some actual movement on my Afropia imagi-nations (this will compliment my 15mm painting objective nicely).

All that to say, Happy New Year to all...all the best in 2023!

Take care folks!!

A few notables from the year…

The Green Goblin, Marvel Crisis Protocol

Cable and Domino, Marvel Crisis Protocol

A couple of operatives, Spectre Miniatures

The Mysterious Stranger, Modiphius - Fallout Wasteland Warfare

Afropia...Wasn't That a Thing?

Hey Folks,

So yeah...Afropia...looking for some posting love...kinda feeling like this right now:

So yeah, I was getting pretty pumped and excited with this fictional region, and while it certainly hasn't died, I have to be honest and admit it has at best stalled. I have a lot of great ideas swirling in the brainpan and for Petoriastan I actually have about 100+ years of history loosely mapped out but with enough flex to be able to do some free-gaming throughout their history. But I haven’t gotten past that brainstorm setting.

Being honest, I think it is as a fairly small snag that just sapped my momentum and kept me from moving forward. It sounds super silly, but collided hard with the OCD...and I think it comes down to not having the ability to create a digital map to suit my vision. I have a map of the region in mind, and from that I started a narrative description of Petoriastan, and from there I wanted to translate that into a functional map.

So really, the next step that I need to commit to is getting a map out...whether it is a hand-draulically created one or I find an app (this hasn't worked yet, sigh/lol) or I jury-rig powerpoint or something like that. And maybe most importantly, K-I-S-S…keeping it simple.

All of this to say, I have some great ideas for Petoriastan, their rocky relationship with Aponwana and Alarus...so yes, Bueller is present, thank you for asking Ben Stein. Did I mention, I have a flag?!?

Have a great new year folks...stay safe, and all the best.

 

Northern...umm Red Dawn...a Question of Weather(ing)

Hello everyone,

Here's hoping you're enjoying some winter weather and keeping cool. While I'm sitting here waiting for my Red Dawn book to arrive, I thought I'd burn some 1's and 0's googling my way through 1985. Specifically, out of sheer curiosity and a little stroll down memory lane, I thought I’d take a look at some historical weather data (thank you Environment Canada) and see what the weather situation was back in the day to see how weather would have affected the Sov's had this whole 'would-have' been…been.

So thanks to my screenshot from the great review video from Miniature Landscape Hobbies, I have an invasion map to look at, and we can check out the northern axis of attack through Western Canada. 

Starting with an airborne drop on 12 November, the Battlefront plan show us a variety of hooks and jabs as the Sov’s employ air assault, motor rifle, and heavy tank formations moving  eastward and south pushing through Edmonton, Calgary, and points South and East up until 30 November down into southern Alberta and Saskatchewan and near Great Falls and Malta in Montana. Looking at the map above and the table below you can see my stations of interest:

Of note, all temperatures are in Celsius; daytime high/overnight low

Station	12 Nov	15 Nov	17 Nov	23 Nov	25 Nov	30 Nov
Prince Rupert	+2/-6; no snow on ground	+4/0; no snow	0/-7; 2 cm snow	-3/-13; 2 cm snow on ground	-9/-17; 2 cm on ground	0/-14; 2 cm on ground
Kitimat	-2/-8; no snow	+5/+1; rain and snow	-1/-5; no snow on ground	-9/-14; no snow	-13/-20; no snow	-6/-11; no snow
Prince George	-10/-21; 40cm snow on ground	0/-10; snow and rain, 42cm snow on ground	-17/-26; 40cm on ground	-18/-28; trace snow, 30cm on ground	-27/-34; 30cm on ground	-17/-29; 30cm on ground
Edmonton	+1/-15; 7cm snow on ground	+6/-3; 4cm on ground	-19/-21; snow, 4cm on ground	-14/-24; snow, 9cm on ground	-28/-32; 10cm on ground	-18/-24; 12cm on ground
Cold Lake	-7/-17; snow and rain, 14cm snow on ground	+1/-15; 16cm on ground	-10/-18; 15cm on ground	+3/-3; 11cm on ground	Not observed	Not observed
Red Deer	+1/-19; 7cm snow on ground	+7/-7; 4cm on ground	-15/-19; snow and rain, 4cm on ground	-11/-25; snow and rain, 8cm on ground	-26/-31; 10cm on ground	-20/-32; 10cm on ground
Calgary	+3/-19; 8cm snow on ground	+11/-1; trace	-12/-19; 2cm on ground	-10/-21; 2cm on ground	-23/-31; 3cm on ground	-19/-30; 5cm on ground
Wainwright	-4/-19; no snow on ground	+6/-10; no snow	-18/-22; no snow	-19/-27; no snow	Missing data	Missing data
Suffield (Medicine Hat)	-9/-20; 1cm snow on ground	+6/-4; trace	-12/-17; 3cm on ground	-12/-23; 4cm on ground	-24/-35; 4cm on ground	-23/-25; 4cm on ground
Fort Macleod	-1/-24; 14cm snow on ground	+6/0; 5cm on ground	-14/-18; 3cm on ground	-12/-29; 3cm on ground	-25/-25; 6cm on ground	-18/-24; 8 cm on ground
Swift Current	-7/-19; 37cm on ground	+5/-5; 43cm on ground	-8/-18; 35cm on ground	-17/-30; 37cm on ground	-24/-26; 31cm on ground	-24/-27; 31cm on ground

As you can see, the weather situation would have been a rather interesting variable to manage...and certainly true to form, Alberta and the Prairies keep you on your toes...Afterall, if  you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change.

I would like to say I remember the weather well, just like it was yesterday, but really, I vaguely remember some warm and cold temps. I do remember being in Army Cadets at the time and doing fieldwork in October/November just before the snow hit and I vaguely remember snow on the ground for Remembrance Day that year and thankful that the temps weren't too cold. As the table shows, we had some pretty cold temps near the end of the month and while it didn't necessarily snow a lot, the temps and winds would've been more than enough to give some pause. And then you have Southern Saskatchewan adding some spice with a foot or two of snow. Overall you can see the temperature swings of 20+ degree temperature changes, which aren't uncommon nor extreme, but this would've meant some pretty good winds and potential Chinook conditions in Southern Alberta that could have made any potential ops interesting.

The push past Prince George would’ve been slowed somewhat by the foot or so of snow, not to mention the rain and freezing temps keeping the troops cold. The swing southwards from Edmonton would’ve benefitted from the long stretch of Highway 2 but winds and temps again would’ve kept heads inside vehicles. The transition from Alberta to Saskatchewan would’ve been a bit of a shock with the much increased levels of snow on the ground, and again you could reasonably expect some pretty high winds moving to Swift Current. All in all, some interesting weather variances.

I hope you get a kick out of what could've been or at least what meteorologically was..and if you're gaming any Red or Northern Dawn moments, maybe you add in some additional stressors or weather events to your gaming - maybe digging in is a higher skill roll, not available at all, or just runs like normal. Anywho, hope you enjoy.

Cheers folks. And yeah, this...is not getting old anytime soon.

More Spectre Mini's

Howdy folks,

I hope you are all doing well on your respective fronts. I thought I'd drop a quick post to show some progress I've been making on building up my selection of modern figures and those offered from Spectre Miniatures. I've been part of their Patreon for the past few months and have been getting a couple of files every month or so from them.

The figures are pretty sharp and paint up really quickly...and they're a good reason to try out some new techniques and paint schemes. This batch gave me a chance to try out a couple different patterns and I also took the opportunity to use the multi-cam tutorial from the Spectre website. I've been having such a good time with these figs that I finally pulled the trigger on the main rule book for Spectre...so going to read through that and see how all of this can go together...although I will have to step up my terrain game and get a battlefield or two together.

Have a good one.

Painted

15mm           30

28mm+         91, +5 (Spectre operatives)

Bought          34

Progress      +87

RED DAWN!! North??

Hey folks,

I hope all is well on your respective side...and I really hope that someone out there is actually getting some winter weather to enjoy. Yes, we are bouncing around 0 Celsius plus or minus 5-8 degree, but I sure do miss my -5 to -10 and snow...we had a buttload of rain the other night, but I could do with some snow.

Anyhow, as the title says...Red Dawn, baby! And not that 2012 version, we're talking the full-on commie hating, pre-dirty dancing, fairly anti-war, Powers Boothe swearing 1984 masterpiece...and the folks over at Battlefront are bringing the pain via their latest book...aptly titled Red Dawn.

-- taken from Battlefronts Team Yankee site --

I have been looking forward to this for some time now, I think it was announced in the last 2 years and well with Covid running amok with BF's manufacturing there have been some understandable delays. The best part is that there has been a bunch of videos popping up on YouTube giving out some intel and details leading up to the release date. So to help prep myself, I took a look at these channels as their links were posted on the Team Yankee site:

Miniature Landscape Hobbies

Fog of War

Breakthrough Assault

Lack of Foresight Gaming

The different reviews were interesting to take in, they each took their time to showcase some of the new kits, and for the Breakthrough Assault crew, they had the chance to livestream a chat session with the Battlefront team. My favourite parts from each of these videos is always the chance to see what new kits are coming, but I have to say, the maps!! I've always enjoyed maps, love the view, love the info...and in this case, was a great way to prime me even further. Afterall, the 2 prong attack into North America involves taking a right turn at Canada...so yeah, lets bring on the NORTHERN DAWN...or maybe ARCTIC DAWN?? Either way you slice it, it looks promising and being a product of the 80s, it has a nostalgia feel along with being in my literal backyard.

The Northern Front - just over 2 weeks to get from Prince Rupert to Southern Alberta…with stops in Kitimat,Prince George, Jasper, and Red Deer (not Red Deep as the map says) before swinging hard south into Montana along a Medicine Hat/Suffield and Swift Current front. I think I’m going to have to look up the weather records from that time just out of curiosity to see what was hitting the West. As I recall, not a lot of snow that year, but some really cool temps…so yeah, for s’s and g’s, I’ll have to do the research.

— thanks Miniature Landscape Hobbies, screenshots are from his video —

It was really great, because the Breakthrough Assault folks made a point of showing this on their blog post following the live stream…it really opens up some possibilities for some Cougars an Grizzlies…oh my…maybe a 1Canadian Brigade Group counter or blunting attack…with some southern support…and of course some Norther Wolverines…or Badgers…Buffalo maybe?

The Southern axis of the attack…bring on the Cuban advisors…

So yeah, maybe we’ll see some Cougars and Grizzlies in our future...the book has rules for airdrop along with new Chinook models, so maybe some Canadian Airborne Regiment/ Special Service Force and Chinook deployments...the Canadian Air Force still had their Chinooks at this time (before we sold them to the Dutch in the 90's only to buy more in the 2000's) not to mention the HQ for the SSF was in Edmonton with 1 CBM being headquartered in Calgary. So lots of potential here and I’m really looking forward to it.

I think in the near future I’ll have to get some weather research done and maybe take a look at where the Canadian military was in 1985…and I guess have some thought as to where they would be concurrent to supporting ops in Europe. So much to compulse over.

Anywho, this is where my head is at these days…looking forward to getting back to Team Yankee…and with that…