Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 6: Donkeys, Barricades and a Tank

 A few random bits I finished for my SCW Project.

First up is this captured T-26. It's a 3D print, and I received it as part of payment for a commission I did. I'm really impressed by the quality of these files. They're extremely accurate to the real vehicles. They're available here for free. It's a really good range of interwar and World War 2 vehicles. 

I replaced the handles and machine guns with pieces of old guitar string. The turret isn't correct for the Spanish Civil War but it's fine for me.

This was a lot of fun to paint. I always enjoy weathering tanks with oil paints.

Next up are two donkeys. "A World Aflame" places a lot of emphasis on keeping units in supply, and so this pair will be important. Again they are resin 3d prints.

Finally, two barricades, a very common terrain element in the Spanish Civil War. They were made from bits and pieces I had lying around. The sandbags were made with Milliput using TheTerrainTutor's mass production method. The stones are pieces of gravel I picked up outside. I made the wooden supports from burnt out matchsticks. Everything was stuck together with cheap epoxy.

I have a company of Spanish Foreign Legion on my painting table at the moment, so I hope they'll be the subject of my next post in this series. I had thought that they'd be the hardest unit to paint at the start of the project, and it seems my suspicions are being proven correct! I'll be glad when they're done, though, as they'll add a lot of colour to the table.

Still left to do in this project are:

Republicans

2 squads of POUM Militia

2 Soviet trucks

Nationalists

3 squads of Foreign Legion (almost done)

3 squads of Regulares

Possibly an aeroplane

Terrain

Trees

Roads

The "White House"

Rough and rocky ground

Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 5: Milicianas

When people think of the Spanish Civil War, milicianas must surely be one of the most common images that come to mind. On the outbreak of the Nationalist rebellion, thousands of women in Republican Spain took up arms as members of trade union and party militias. Despite the Republic's reputation for being progressive, milicianas faced opposition from their leadership. They were mostly confined to special units, and efforts were made to move them away from the fronts as soon as possible.

The A World Aflame Jarama scenario I'm working towards requires some militia. I chose to paint these as belonging to the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). George Orwell fought with this party, and documented his experiences in "Homage to Catalonia". 

The POUM was completely opposed to Stalinist Russia. As the USSR was the only major power supporting the Spanish Republic, the party was seen by some as a threat to the unity of the Republic. During the "May Days" of 1937, the POUM and the anarchists came into open conflict with The Republic. Many political intrigues followed, resulting in the repression of the party. 

The whole squad/platoon (depending on ruleset). By the time of the battle at Jarama, I highly doubt militia still wore civilian clothes! Still, I like the look and it could give me the freedom to use them for other parties, as they aren't tied to a specific uniform. 

Unfortunately Peter Pig don't make female command,  so I had to use the chap in the beret instead. 

 ¡A las barricadas! 

This base was a lot of fun to make. I just epoxied some gravel together. The sandbags were made using TheTerrainTutor's mass production method. 

I never want to paint dots in 15mm ever again! 

A command stand for the whole company.

At the start of this project, I bought a Really Useful Box and magnetised it. It's really fun to see it slowly filling up! I made a second layer for this box, but I'm still not sure if it will be enough to hold the entire project! 

Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 4: Nationalist Infantry

 Just finished most of a Nationalist Infantry Company. They haven't got a command stand or individually based officers yet.

I've had a few problems with this part of the project. I had intended to paint a company of Foreign Legion for the "A World Aflame" Jarama scenario, but bought the wrong models. I suppose these will give me more flexibility in the games I play in future - I'm not going to stop as soon as I've done the Jarama game.

The uniforms took me three tries to get the right shade. Frustrating, but I'm happy with them now. 

Another use for these guys could be as the Irish Brigade , made up of volunteers from the Blueshirts (arguably a Fascist, or Fascist - influenced organisation). They're often said to be the only army in history that "returned with more soldiers than when they left". Their discipline was very poor, and the Nationalists sent them home during the Battle of Jarama without actually seeing combat. It would make an interesting "what if" game to have them face the Irish International Brigade volunteers, much as they had done in the Dublin street fights some years prior. 

Some secondary sources show them as wearing the same olive green coats as other Nationalist Infantry. Some photos from the time show them wearing darker uniforms, though. I'm going to make an extra command stand for this company to allow me to "morph" them.

Group photo of the rifles.

Each group of 3 bases can be a squad or platoon depending on the ruleset. 

I've tried to go with more of a scenic look for these bases, hence the sandbags. I made them using TheTerrainTutor's sandbag maker.

Two LMG teams and some individuals. 

The lad carrying the boxes is going to be a "Runner" in A World Aflame. He'll bring orders from HQ to individual units. The officer on the right will likely be a PO in Crossfire. 

The Crew of the Fenian Ram

 When I was but a lad of 12, I saw an ad for a new set of rules in Wargames Illustrated, by the name of "In Her Majesty's Name". A bit of research revealed that it was the type of game which really appealed to me. A narrative Victorian Sci-fi skirmish game? Yes please!

IHMN allows players to build "adventuring companies" of between 5 and 20 figures. The rules encourage narrative play, with many colourful characters. The factions in the core rules are varied and really interesting, ranging from London anarchists to the Prussian military's secret occult weapons department. The best part of the rules in my opinion is the ability to make entirely new factions. The rules provide points costs for every statistic, weapon and talent, so it's easy to modify existing companies or create entirely new ones!

This year saw the release of the second edition of IHMN. And it is good. Very good. The new rules provide even more customisation with the introduction of yet more talents, companies and weird science. My favourite of these additions must be the new vehicles. Ships and aircraft allow games to be played in the sky or on the sea.

I decided I wanted to make myself a new company. The late 19th century is a fantastic era for inspiration. I remembered a bit of fairly obscure Irish history that I thought would be perfect for an adventuring company.

The "Fenian Ram" was built in 1881 under the design of John Philip Holland, an Irish engineer. It was commissioned by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB, Fenians). Disputes over funding meant Holland refused to teach the Fenians how to pilot the Ram, and it never saw action against British ships.

What if the Ram had been built in a Victorian Science Fiction universe, though?? 

I thought it would be perfect for IHMN. 

In my alternate history, the Ram was built to sink British merchant vessels which were constantly exporting food from Ireland. This was a problem for Ireland, as in 1879 there were fears that famine could strike as it had in 1845. Armed with anger and funds from the Irish National Land League, the Fenians set to work on the Ram's construction... 

I've wanted to get some Lead Adventure steampunk miniatures for ages now. I love their style, every model looks like an individual with an interesting background. They're a little more expensive than some other 28mm figures, but they are really good value. The details are excellent, as is the casting.

This is the first crew member I finished. Like all the others, she doesn't have a name yet, but I have ideas for who she'll be. I've painted her with the "Irish" tartan pattern, indicative of the Celtic Revival romanticism of the era (Ireland doesn't actually have any tartan). This model took ages to finish (about 20 hours), mostly because of the tartan and the white shirt.

This character will probably be the engineer of the crew. She has some kind of steam powered hammer that could be for riveting metal onto the submarine. I painted it as copper with a heavy patina, as if it's been used underwater a lot. I do quite like painting copper, if you haven't noticed yet. 

I really like the weird bits of tech she's wearing. It's very hard to pick a favourite out of these models, but if I had to, this one would probably be it.

I think this guy will turn out to be some kind of explosives specialist. Maybe that rocket over his arm is a torpedo from the Ram. Again I really like the tech he's carrying, the cables are an opportunity to add some more colour. I like the gas mask and bowler hat, it's a bit quirky that someone would care so much about their appearance while wearing overalls and a breath preserver!

He has a little Gal Gréine ("sun banner") embroidered on his shoulder. This is a very old Irish flag. 

I painted this chap to look a little more gentlemanly. Maybe he's an aristocrat by day, undersea rebel by night. I think his face is full of character, and it was my favourite part to paint. I like the can of "CO2" on his belt which powers the hook-gun! 

I tried out a purple-yellow colour contrast (coincidentally the colours of my county). The purple took many tries. It's a very challenging colour to highlight without bleaching it or creating harsh transitions. I'm happy enough with the result, but still learning. 

His base was particularly fun to make. It features a gutter filled with some kind of greenish liquid. Yuck. 

The Ship's Boy. Very hard to photograph, because he's facing the ground. I think it adds a lot to his character though, it's as if he doesn't want to make eye contact with the viewer.

In IHMN he will probably accompany the captain, as two people are required to load and fire a flamethrower. 

The captain. A diver armed with a flamethrower. Not many things more VSF than that.

I think I'll make these into quite an elite company, with a lower than average number of figures. Every model in the Lead Adventure range is a character in itself. In addition, the crew of a submarine shouldn't be that large anyway, although I'm considering adding some local sympathisers to the company.

The company needs a Fenian Ram, of course. I'm definitely going to scratch build one! 

Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 3: Foreign Vehicles

 Another batch of things I finished a while ago. 

As in many other civil wars, foreign powers became involved in the Spanish conflict. This was in contravention of a Non Intervention Pact, largely a creation of Britain and France. This pact intended to avoid the coming Second World War, but it was powerless while Britain continued its policy of appeasement, as it could not be properly enforced.

The Soviet Union supplied the Republicans while Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy aided the Nationalists. This support was very valuable to both sides. German planes allowed the Nationalist Army of Africa to cross the Straits of Gibraltar, ignoring the threat posed by the Republican Navy. Soviet tanks and aircraft provided the Republicans with an advantage in both areas.

The first foreign aid to arrive in the Spanish Civil War was a shipment of T-26s in October 1936, early in the war. Germany responded by sending Panzer I tanks several days later.

This is a T-26. It's 1/100 scale, made from a Zvezda kit. I really like how it turned out, although the painting the markings was the cause of much cursing!

I painted it with the colour modulation style. It's quite "cartoony" and is based on idealised lighting conditions. But I think it matches well with the way most figures are painted. 

I recently got an airbrush, but I'm still not very confident in highlighting with it. I paint my tanks by brush. It isn't as hard as you might think. I used the layering technique and some simple blending on each panel. After the base colour and markings were finished, I gloss coated the whole tank and got out my oil paints. I used an "oil dot filter", a really fun and simple technique used by armour modellers. 

These are Panzer Is, the German response to the T-26s. They're both by Minairons Miniatures. The camouflaged one is a "Breda", modified with a more powerful gun to give it a better chance against the T-26. The standard Panzer I was not well equipped for fighting against other tanks.

These were painted in the same way as the T-26. The camouflage was done with Blu-Tac masking and an airbrush (though a brush could just as easily be used). To do this, I sprayed the model with a base colour, then masked the relevant areas with Blu Tac and repeating the process.

A bit of extra research after I was finished showed that all Panzers had some kind of camouflage in Spain. Silly me. But I still like the grey model, I don't think I'll repaint it.

Edit: further research seems to show that some Nationalist Panzer Is may actually have been grey! 

A Polikarpov I-15, in 1/72 scale, from ICM. Most people use smaller scale aeroplanes with their ground troops, but I've gone for 1/72 for its lower prices, range of choice and greater detail. I'd love to have had 1/100 scale planes, but there aren't really any being produced. 

I suppose planes should be larger than troops because of perspective. If the players are looking at the battle from high above, planes would be closer to them and would thus appear larger. If that even makes any sense! 

Sometimes I feel like Dougal when I'm trying to understand wargame scales 

Anyway ... This kit wasn't amazing. It had a few problems with parts not fitting correctly, and very few of the parts were keyed. It's made of a funny plastic that wasn't very easy to sand. The detail is quite good though. 

I didn't make the build any easier by adding a flying stand. I drilled a hole into the bottom of the plane and glued a magnet onto the inside of the fuselage. I put a corresponding magnet into an acrylic rod on a big base. It's a very sturdy way to mount the plane, because both the hole in the underside and the magnet hold it in place. The only issue is that the plane is a little bit close to the ground for my liking, but it's fine for wargames, especially when the plane is at low altitude. I might make more flying stands of different heights to show the plane's altitude in games.