My TYW forces so far:

Le Grande Conde, 

Commanders Comte de Gassion, Marquis de la Ferte, Baron de Sirot

5 cannons (3 light, 2 medium)

Croat Cavalry (Raab)

2 x Cuirassiers (Gardes de Duc)

2 x Cavalry (Sully, La Claviere)

6 Infantry Battalions (Mixed/Duplessis Joigny, Piemont, Von Roll, Gardes Ecossais, Picardie, La Marine)

Stuka

I've just finished a Hobby Master Stuka, to add a bit of air support for my German forces, and to use at Rostov.

A really nice kit, actually. Easy to assemble, nice and sturdy, with a good range of decals which are quite detailed. 

A picture of it on its stand:

NKVD company

With Lipovec complete, I have been working on a few bits for Rostov 1942 recently. I've updated the Slovak mountain guns (so they are the correct ones!), and also painted up a few German vehicles for my Normandy collection.

However, I've had my eye on the lovely TQD Castings 20mm WW2 NKVD figures to defend their HQ in Rostov. They are wonderful models (I have a few TQD/CP models in my Panzer Lehr collection) and are a pleasure to paint.

The infantry company:

Support is provided by a maxim team and 80mm mortar:

Meanwhile, an A/T rifleman hides in the long grass waiting for an unsuspecting Panzer:

The is a HQ unit, with commanding officer:

Finally, a the first of the snipers for Rostov. There will be a couple more to come!

Soviet Rifle Regiment

I've been working on some 1941-42 Russian forces, to face the Slovaks at Lipovec and also as part of my larger Rostov project. With Andy and Nigel at NBHW we are also hoping to put on some other Barbarossa battles too.

In both cases the Russians were in retreat at the time and so were a little disorganised. As such, these models are more generic than representing a specific unit or organisation.

As both battles were in the summer, the troops are kitted out in their summer uniforms.

'Regimental' Headquarters

Here we have a Zvezda HQ unit, and I've been able to put my rigging skills to good use as I've used some black thread as the telephone cable. The Office wagon is Britannia, and the Gaz car is an Ace Models kit.

The HQ unit also provides some AA support in the form of a Quad maxim AA gun mounted on a Gaz truck, this model is from Britannia.

1st Battalion
The infantry battalions are all from Plastic Soldier Company:

Battalion HQ with Anti-tank rifle (ATR shown firing and moving).

Mortar company and Machine Gun company. The mortar company has a 50mm and an 80mm mortar, the machine gun is a Maxim, again shown firing and moving.

Three infantry companies:

2nd Battalion 

The 2nd battalion has the same organisation as the first. 

This will actually represent two reduced battalions at Lipovec. As such the 3rd company has it's LMP deployed.

Anti Tank Gun and Infantry Gun

The Anti Tank Gun is one of the early M1937 45mm AT guns and comes from Plastic Soldier Company, with the limber from Britannia I believe.

The Infantry gun is the 76mm gun, model from Zvezda with a Britannia limber.

Artillery

Artillery support comes from (up to) three 122mm Howitzers. The models are a mixture - the guns themselves are from Zvezda, the crews are SHQ and the limbers are Britannia.

SMG Company

A little bit of close assault capacity is provided by the PSC...

Finally, some Lancer Miniatures casualties if/when needed:

I will arrange to put on Lipovec at NBHW soon, and will post some pics and an AAR afterwards. I'll also be needing to add another battalion, some tanks, NKVD and Partisans for the defence of Rostov!

Russian/Ukrainian ruins

I picked up 4 of the Airfix 'ruined buildings' set on Ebay for a steal, and have set to work on painting them and turning them into a ruined diorama for the gaming table. This is the Ruined Cafe, Ruined Corner Shop and Ruined 4 storey store.

I've painted them up to represent somewhere on the Eastern Front, with a few other bits of scenery I had laying about:

A shot of the rear:

A Russian anti-tank gun for scale. Like a lot of Airfix, it's a little on the smaller side for 20mm, and couldn't really go next to my Valiant Rapid Ruins in Normandy (which are a little larger for 20mm) hence, some scenery for my Slovaks, Germans and Russians to fight over!

I also have the Ruined workshop. I haven't put this based with the others, but it can stand on it's own.

A bit of an update!

OK - so a busy few months! November/December saw house moving, boxes, more boxes, a trip to hospital and Christmas preparations; the festive period was spent away at various family members both over Christmas and over New Year; and with any new house there are always 'things to do', along with a (rapidly growing) baby, all of which has eaten substantially into modelling time, which has always been affected by my job as well!

The result is that I haven't been able to do as much as I would have hoped a few months ago. My wargaming collection is now sitting comfortably in my garage having spent several weeks and months stored in my car, which is good, but I have only managed to get to NBHW twice since the start of December.

However, I HAVE managed to (almost) finish my final few ships for Aboukir Bay (two last frigates to base and ratline) which (with help from some NBHW club members to the tune of 8 ships or so) means (after I've rigged Ryan's two British ships for him) that THE FLEETS ARE (virtually) READY!

Phew. That's 15 British ships (including the Brig Mutine) and 17 French ships (including 4 frigates). Thirty-two ships. I am very excited about that game, the spectacle of that number of ships across 10 feet of seascape mat, but equally concerned about running it! I will book a couple of warm up games in at NBHW beforehand.

Which brings me to my plans for 2016. The final part of the Aboukir Bay game will be to prepare Aboukir Island itself as some 'fluff' for the game board, and one or two small game resources to go with it.

After that I will see how the mood takes me!

Currently I'm keen to get back to my WW2 Soviets to paint up 2-3 battalions for Lipovec and Rostov, but then there are some other assorted projects to get my teeth into.....

So, on the 'to do list' for this year, in no particular order....

• finish the final ships, island and resources for Aboukir Bay.
• put on some warm up games and organise the big game itself.
• paint and base my 1941-42 WW2 Russian infantry.
• Look to play more Rapid Fire! and put on the battle of Lipovec at NBHW later in the year.
• paint my last two Amera islands and my Toulon fort for my naval games.
• I have a few other Napoleonic ships which are not needed for Aboukir Bay. These include a 100-gun Russian ship of the line which I am planning to paint and sell (see what my work is worth!)
• I have a host of WW2 buildings from Rapid Ruin and Airfix that I would like to paint up
• I also have a bunch of trees to base and make.
• If all that is done, I have a few Sherman kits which I plan to build and paint to expand my Normandy British forces a little.
• Oh, and have I mentioned my little foray into Lion Rampant? I didn't think so - a retinue may be on the cards......

The final one there is very much as an ideal world/wish list item. You can see I have plenty to be getting on with! I'm thinking Condoterri at the moment but would need to do some research there too.

In fact, I have made myself a little promise, that I will spend very little on wargaming this year. I don't want to fall into the habit of having a huge collection of kits, boxes and unpainted figures. All the stuff I have 'to do' I can and will use in games so I'm really keen to get those done first.

Exceptions to this lack of expenditure will be models for the Soviets or Germans at Rostov (when existing ones are painted) and new paints/brushes/terrain bits for the above/etc. 

I have already bought myself a new desk lamp to paint by!

Now, back to the new house/baby/etc.....

Slovak Mobile Division

I've finally completed my Slovak Mobile Division forces. Initially for Rostov, as often happens wargaming projects can take somewhat a life of their own! In this case, as I read and researched the Slovaks I discovered that for most of 1942 their armour was in Slovakia being 'refitted' or perhaps kept off of the front line? Nevertheless, I would also like to use the Slovaks for other battles, so I decided to supplement them with some armour and air support.

As such they are a bit of an almagam between the 1941 Pilfousek Brigade and the 1942 Mobile Division; and the battle of Lipovec may be on the horizon!

Headquarters

Here we have the Division/Brigade commander, with a radio operator (both customised Germans from Brittania miniatures) and an RH models Slovak. The light mortar crew are Early War Miniatures Polish which have been adapted, as is the anti tank rifle. Actually since painting the AT rifle I found out that the Slovaks didn't use them, but will still keep it for a bit more AT capability. Might change it for an AT gun in the future! The staff car is a Tatra T97 by Attack models.

Attached to the HQ unit is the artillery OP team (RH models) with a Tatra T57 Kubelwagen (Attack models) and an Oerlikon 20mm AA gun, which is an Early War Miniatures Dutch model which has been customised. They are towed by a Ready to Roll Praga truck.

Recce

The Recce elements are the biggest mix of 1941 & 1942. A motorised infantry company, another on bicycles and an Oa.Vz.30 Armoured Car.

The motorised infantry company is composed of RH models infantry and a Ready to Roll Praga truck.

The cyclists are from Raventhorpe, both the mounted and dismounted versions are shown here.

The Oa.Vz.30 is from Kora models. It was a resin kit which required an awful lot of work. This A/C was only used in 1941 as was soon found to be obsolete. Nevertheless it will provide some machine gun support for the infantry elements above.

Motorised Infantry Battalion

The motorised infantry battalion has 3 infantry companies, all are RH models and Ready to Roll Praga trucks. The Slovaks painted a light blue band around the rim of their helmets so they weren't mistaken for Russians.

Support Weapons

The motorised battalion is supported by an Anti Tank company, 80mm mortar and machine gun team.

Again, the figures are RH models and Ready to Roll trucks. The 37mm Anti tank gun is a Raventhorpe model after the first attempt - a converted EWM Bofors - went in the bin!

Artillery

I have 2 batteries: one of Skoda 75mm mountain guns and another of German LeFH18 105mm guns. The latter were procured in time for Rostov but in 1941 the Slovaks used their own 100mm guns. These will have to be off table or the 105s will have to 'step in' for them! 

The Skoda 75mm guns are from RH models as are the gun crews, while the horse limbers are actually Brittania miniatures German WW1 limbers but look similar (ish) to the Slovak limbers. 

The LeFH18 guns are some Fortress Models kits I picked up in a bargain bin at Salute this year. RH model crews and limbers as above.

Somehow I ended up with a spare Skoda gun so only one of the guns above are glued down the other comes off so they both can be limbered. I also have some LeFH18s for limbering with my Germans which I will use with the Slovaks too.

Armoured units

The Slovaks used LT vz. 35, LT vz. 38 and LT vz. 40 tanks. The latter two types were broadly similar. These were also used by the Germans as the Pz 35(t) and Pz 38(t). Some tanks, mainly the 35s, were inherited from the Czechoslovakian army and were painted in the three-tone camouflage, but later tanks were painted in an Olive drab. When the main delivery of LT vz. 38 tanks were taken, the first 5 it was noted were in 3 tone camo, the rest in drab. All the tanks were used in 1941, withdrawn shortly after and then sent back to the Division in October 1942 so were not used at Rostov. The tanks here will therefore be used to support the infantry units above for example at Lipovec.

Two LT vz. 38 tanks from Frontline (Pz 38t), painted drab.

A company of LT vz. 35s, in the Czech camo. These are the old Esci Pz 35(t) kits.

Air Support

Air Support for the Fast Division comes in the form of an Avia B-534. This was actually a very good fighter plane at the start of the war and in 1937 was second only to the Me109. However, once the British brought out the Hurricane and Spitfire and other countries similarly improved their air forces, the  Avia B-534 was soon outclassed. The B-534k could also carry some small bombs for a close support role. The model here is a KP model plane with RS model decals.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my Slovaks. I'm no expert painter but I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out. Next up for me is the final 5 French ships for Aboukir Bay, but to leave you here are a couple more photos - one of some Lancer miniature Russian casualty markers painted up as Slovaks, and finally a pic of the Avia B-534 on the stand I made for it flying in support of the LT vz.38s with a Praga following up.