And the Long Drought is Over!!!

BG is back! Not that it ever left, but it seems that the parties involved have ironed things out and are going forward with what matters, more Battlegroup!

Here is the press release in it's entirety:

PRESS RELEASE - MAY 2019

Well the long wait has finally ended!

From the end of May 2019, The Plastic Soldier Company will be taking over exclusive ownership of the Battlegroup gaming series from Ironfist Publishing.

What will this mean to our players?

Well not much will change for you but we hope it will finally secure new production and reprints going forward.

Warwick will be writing the rest of the books and finishing the series as always planned. Piers will be looking after the support and promotion of the game along with helping out on books as needed in terms of writing and photos. So in this regard nothing changes.

What will change is that along with the new books, PSC will commence reprinting the currently out of print titles. First up will be the first half of Overlord (D-Day) to pair with Beyond the Beaches. Following this will be Kursk and Fall of the Reich. It's planned all this will be in softback form, in order to lower costs in both production, shipping and retail.

The next hardback book release will be Battlegroup: Pacific War, later in 2019, followed by the series returning to the Eastern and Southern Fronts in 2020.

As regards NORTHAG, we will now be helping PSC with its final production and release, plus looking at a first supplement for the NORTHAG series.

Outside of Battlegroup and NORTHAG with PSC, other rules will be published by Artorus Games, and this will commence with Soldiers of Rome, which is almost complete. Vietnam will then follow.

We hope this brings security and stability to Battlegroup and it's community in the future and look forward to working with PSC on the game and increasing its popularity.

Piers and Warwick

And there you have it. I will keep folks apprised of what I know, when I know it. But for now, rejoice, the drought is over!

UPDATE:

Preorders for the Overlord D-DAY supplement are up on the PSC Site!

And the cover looks amazing!

Have You Seen This Wargame?

OK PSC, Where is Battlegroup?

Or, “Have you seen this wargame?”

Despite the title, this is not meant as an attack on PSC, more of a plaintive “Can we get more for the game system we love?” Almost all the books for the game are out of print, and for a system as both lovingly supported by its rabid fans (of which I am one), and it’s many fine reviews, there is no reason for this game to be allowed to die.

Now comes news that BG will not be at Salute in any form. Now, I’m a Yank, so I have never attended Salute. Guess what, even this guy knows not being at Salute is a BIG deal for a major rules set, especially with the recent release of Spring Awakening.

Now, I am not saying “Let’s march on PSC with pitchforks and torches.” We don’t know the sales numbers, we don’t know a lot of the “inside baseball” (or Cricket for you antipodes) that goes into the decision to continue to support a game, or pull the plug.

I do know this, as a person who was a big fan, and eventually ran the newsletter for the game, I for one would like to see the game back in a big way. I want to see NORTHAG released, we fans have been clamoring for it for a long while, and Warwick and Piers have put from the looks of what we saw in the playtests, a lot of work into the final product.

But it all rests with PSC.

So, humble readers, I am going to circulate this post far and wide. Here’s what we need to do. A simple letter writing campaign. We’re going to be polite. We’re going to be nice. But we’re going to be firm.

First open your email browser, and address an email to the following email address:

info@theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

Subject Line: Have you seen this wargame?

Then take a picture of your BG Book Collection and attach it into the email.

Then hit send.

I trust they’ll get the message after a while. And perhaps, we’ll get an explanation. Really, it’s all the fans want. And after the support we’ve given the game, it’s what we deserve. The truth.

And here are the vehicles!

Well, I have done it..60 plus figures and 7 vehicles in two weeks! Good lord I have not been this productive in a long while. I can tell you I learned some things (any good painter always learns things from any project), and good lord, this was no exception.

First off, pictures:

I learned that a) I am not totally ecstatic about the Ammo Wargames colors, while the Dunklegelb '44 shades are right on, the Rottbraun seems a bit...too red-orange, it's simply not deep enough. I also learned I probably should have used a three-color method on the green. That said. I am very happy with how everything turned out, especially the British vehicles and the Marder.

For the Marder, I primed it black, then hit it with a PSC coat of German Armor Yellow, this was then heavily drybrushed over with a coat of Ammo Dunkelgelb Aus '44 III. It took a couple of coats to get it right, but it worked out. I then applied the basics of the camo pattern, taken (loosely) from the AK book "1945". After a blackwash with the Magik Mudd Wash, and use of the Ammo Dunkelgelb Highlights, I painted all the exposed metallic parts P3 Pig Iron, which I have come to like for weapons parts as it is dark, matte, with a bit of an oily sheen, like any well cared for weapon should have. I then painted the tools and treads ala the FoW book "Colors of War" which while the rules may be rubbish, they do have some good painting advice. (For the tracks I started with BF Red Oxide, then followed up with a heavy drybrush of Ammo NATO Brown, then BF Manstein Shade, and finished with BF Rocket Steel). As for the tools, I used Ammo NATO Brown for the handles and BF Rocket Steel for the metallic parts. I then hit the tow cables with BF Manstein Shade to give it a bit of an oily finish.

After that, I applied the decals, and painted the crew, they got a paintjob of Vallejo German Feldgrau, their seats being BF Worn Rubber, and I did some the binoculars and boots as well as the officer's visor being Ammo Matt Black. The rear exhaust was a concoction of BF Red Oxide, followed up by a stippling of Citadel Ryza Rust, and then hit with a bit of BF Manstein Shade.

After all that, as if it wasn't exhaustive enough, I applied decals (Alcaran numbers and Balkankruz) and hit them with both Microsol and Micro Set. After that, I dusted the entire vehicle with a flayed brush with Secret Weapon's Light Sand Color, and did a light chipping with of all things, Vallejo's Game Color's Smoky Ink and a bit of a sponge taken from a figure pack. It did a great stand-in for the lousy bottle of AK Chipping Color I got.

All in all, a lot of work, but it came out looking pretty glorious, especially so for the Mark III which I thought was an unmitigated disaster at first.

The British were similar. I hit them with the PSC British Armor Spray, then painted the tarp Vallejo English Uniform, then a Magik Mudd Wash, wish I then carefully cleaned up with more Vallejo English Uniform and Russian Uniform in the appropriate places, after that, did some edging with some Russian Uniform with about 20% White, and then painted the tires a base of Ammo Matt Black, then highlighted with BF Worn Rubber. I then applied decals, or in some cases, painted details on (this was especially true on the Churchill AVRE I painted up), and then weathered them just like the Germans, it was especially fun to go a bit nuts with the chipping on the bridge.

So, all in all, I had a very productive two weeks, and I cannot wait to see how this game runs. I will take pictures and let you all know with a proper AAR of course.

More for Battlegroup WW-II, to the Rhine by Christmas, just in time for Christmas!

To quote a favorite movie of mine:

In September 1944, Montgomery devised a new and spectacular plan code named "Market Garden". Eisenhower, under great pressure from his superiors, finally sided with Montgomery, and "Operation Market Garden" became a reality. The plan, like so many plans in so many wars before it, was meant to end the fighting by Christmas, and bring the boys back home.

From the movie "Bridge Too Far" (1977)

 I always liked the fighting around Arnhem for the subject of a World War II game, and I've fought and refought the battle influenced by the book "A Bridge Too Far" and the subsequent movie with Sean Connery, et. al. many times in my teens and 20s (where I gained a reputation as a wargamer as being a bit hard on paratroopers). 

  But with the recent scholarship with Martin Middlebrook, and Robert Kershaw, amongst others, we are getting a nuanced view of a battle that until the 1970s, was rather glossed over in the triumphant view of the Allied advance across Europe. Cornelius Ryan, for all of his faults, was a good historian, and he did a good job of illustrating a battle that has had a ton of ink spilled about it since. 

  Now, I am happy to say Piers Brand has entered the fray with a supplement for my favorite game, Battlegroup. He's putting out a scenario pack simply entitled, Battlegroup: Market Garden. I must say that I am rather excited about this, and I have had some British Paras waiting for an opportunity, as well as some American Paras in M43 Uniforms waiting to duke it out with scratch groups of Germans for the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. The supplement as usual, promises a lot of potential background, and even if you don't run the scenarios provided, you have more than enough to run other games set during the fateful struggle for the bridges.

Cover for BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

The book will be 96 pages and have a collection of scenarios, a history on the battle and even a mini-campaign. It also has amendments and additions for both the German and Allied army lists. Keep in mind, the book requires ownership of Battlegroup Overlord (currently OOP) or Battlegroup Overlord, Beyond the Beaches.

  

Contents and 1st page of BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

PSC is taking preorders now, with release to occur the weekend of November 3rd. so have your wallets ready! I am already warming up the movie soundtrack...When I get some time after the wedding, I will post up my British paras and we'll begin to build them out for Market-Garden!

Hat Anti-Tank Guns...a review....and a Photo Essay from Nokesville's Armor Show

So, as some of you know from my Battletech blog, I was recently at the National Capitol Model Soldier Society show. I will spare you the tale of how I did in competition as I have already discussed it on the Battletech blog. But, I did pick up some needed AT guns for my 20mm WWII Germans, namely some Hat Pak 36 37mm Guns (4 guns and crews for $9) and Pak 36 (r) 76.2mm (4 guns and crews for $9). They'd been well reviewed on Plastic Soldier Review, (hereafter referred to as PSR)  and the images from PSR suggested hard plastic guns...right? Wrong. I should have read the print at the bottom of the page: Plastic (Fairly Soft)

Well, I put them together during a modeling weekend at a friend's house. I was seeking to get some stuff off of my shelves and assembled before I take a bit of nuptial related hiatus. So, I managed to assemble all of the guns, a pair of early model Mk-IIIs from First to Fight (which were really, really easy to assemble, thank you Piers Brand for turning me onto them) and a pair of Armourfast M4A3 with 76mm I intend to pair with another pair of assembled M4A3 and turn into Lend-Lease Soviet "Emchas" (Yes, I know there's a difference between the A2 and the A3, but I think in this case, the three foot rule applies.), I also put together a Pak 97/38 Gun from the 50mm PSC ATG Kit.

Most of the kits went together quite efficiently, and gave me little, if any fuss. This was especially true for the First to Fight Mark IIIs. The Armourfast stuff? I needed to superglue the tracks to the hull...the model glue wasn't cutting it for some strange reason.

But the Hat guns? There was a special place in hell for those devilish things....

First, I had to superglue the guns to the carriage. Nothing else needed it..but the guns would not secure themselves. This was after I shaved the plugs and bored out the hole to make the guns fit in the first place! And this was for all the guns...the 37s and the 76s.

I won't lie..this led to a lot of frustration, and some "Let me come back to this before I toss it across the damn room" moments. But, some patience, and some english, and I got this result below:

Here is everything I put together that weekend, the M4s from Armourfast on the far left, with the First to Fight Mark IIIs right next to them, the Pak 36s in the center, and the Pak 36(r)s all around, and the PSC PaK 97/38 in the upper right.

Here is a closeup on the Pak 36(r), I had no idea really how big these guns were. they dwarf everything I have built. Perhaps my RAFM PaK 43 might be bigger when I assemble that?

So, I got the guns together. Now eventually, to paint them...that is if the paint holds...I have some ideas on that, and I think I can get it done, but I had to mount the guns before anything else...the damn things would not have held up otherwise. Honestly, I do not think I will be buying any more guns from Hat anytime soon, I still have to figure out how best to straighten the barrels.

In other news, I also attended the Americans in Wartime Museum's Open House last weekend...and I was happy to see a lot of the usual mix of ironmongery and reenactors out there. Just one problem..I think reenactor attendance was down this year. It certainly seemed that way. But, there was enough eye candy to be seen, and some new eye candy no less!


Enjoy folks, and be inspired...plenty of painting fodder to be had here!