Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

Over the last few weeks I've added some more French Foreign Legion paratroopers to the Algerian War project.  I took advantage of Elhiem’s pre-Salute sale to fill the gaps in my collection with some supporting troops.  With a couple of exceptions of figures that I didn’t want I think I have the whole range now. First up is this medical party.  These figures add such a nice element of narrative that within days of finishing them off I had based a game around them ( AAR here ).   I added some support in the form of this pair of snipers and a recoilless rifle gunner. And finally the Legion got some heavier support in the form of a 81mm mortar team and a .30 cal medium machine gun team. It may be something like 12 years ago since I painted the first batch of these, before the days where I kept notes.  I tried to match the colours as well as I could but they are a bit different.  I had real trouble trying to match the green of their berets, but when they’re...

I finished off these figures at the end of May.  Four are painted as ALN fellaghas for the Algerian War and one is a Viet-Minh - I'm sure you can guess which.  Apologies for the photos I just couldn't seem to get them right.   They are actually US Marine Raiders Command from Battlezone Miniatures , Sgt Major Miniatures sculpts.  I picked up this pack and some German Panzer-Grenadiers from Steve at Salute.  Whether in person or over email Steve's service is second to none.  Top bloke.   The US Marine Raiders range has proved invaluable and I've used all of the packs in my ALN force.  Those figures in this range that are sculpted as Filipinos with obvious Asian features or clothing I've finished as Viet-Minh for my First Indo-China War project.  As no one makes any specific figures for the  ALN (or for the Algerian War at all come to that) I've had to really look into things and improvise throughout this project.  I think th...

On the hobby front May has been a mix of finishing and fiddling about trying things.  At first I thought I hadn’t done much but on review I have, so this is a long one! Completed I started the month making some scatter terrain for swamp/marsh areas:    I then spent some time looking at micro armour, painting up some Heroics & Ros and Butlers' Printed Models samples I've had for years.  I wrote up a comparison which you can see here . Going up a notch in scale to 10mm I painted up the two Pendraken M24s that I bought at Salute.  Lovely little models.  Not sure what I'll do with them though.  And going up to 1/72nd scale I finished off painting the H-21 and H-34 helicopters for the Algerian War project.  I also painted up the 6 helicopter pilots from Elhiem to go in them.    You can see more of them here .  Completing the 'copters got me back into the Algerian War mind set so I knocked out 4 more ALN fighters.  These were act...

I finished off the final batch of ALN fighters for the Algerian War project this week.  It's been three months since I did the last batch. Three are Battlezone Miniatures (ex. Sgt, Major): 1 rifle-grenadier, coming from the USMC 1943-44 Rifle Squad pack: a greatcoated rifle-grenadier, from the late war US Army Support pack; and the bazooka team no.2, from the US Airborne support pack.  I replaced their M1 helmeted heads with the last few spare heads wearing caps I had.  With the exception of the head swaps they didn't need any further work to make very passable ALN mujahedeen, fitting very well with the rest of the platoon I've built up this year. The other four figures are Newline Designs Jaidia Warriors from their Sudan Mahdist range.  They do well enough for the fighter from a less well equipped unit without making any changes.  Although they haven't got the customary hood, the garments they're wearing are good enough djellabas. These were nice and quick...

I finished off another batch of ALN fighters for the Algerian War this week. They are all Battlezone (ex. Sgt, Major) Miniatures with 6 coming from the USMC 1943-44 Rifle Squad pack and the bazooka man from the US Airborne support pack. All have had their M1 helmeted heads replaced with heads kindly supplied by Steve at Battlezone.   I didn't do a couple of the heads that well but I don't have any spares and couldn't be arsed to take them off and redrill them etc. With the exception of the bazooka man the minimal kit that the USMC figures are wearing suits perfectly for ALN mujahedeen.  They fit very well with the  USMC raiders I used for the first batch ( see here ).  The ALN force is growing nicely now.   Apart from adding a few more khaki items of clothing, they were painted in exactly the same way as the first batch so check the above link for full details.   The bazooka man is well equipped.  Although I have given him the custo...

I reworked the bases of the Battlefield/Blitz Miniatures Moroccan Goumiers last week.  As explained here although these were WW2 era, they make very good ALN fighters for the Algerian War. Eight were painted up straight out the pack as it were (although that was some 15 years ago if I remember right).   Four had their heads swapped which was their second time, they're the Worzel Gummidge of wargames figures.  I replaced the original cast US M1917A1 helmet head with US M1s to make them suitable for fighting for the French in Indo-China.  They'll see more action as ALN in Algeria though.   The head swaps aren't that great.  I rushed into it a bit and a couple look oversized.  I'll put it down to them having strange genetics.  You can probably spot them in the photos.   All the bases were painted with patches of Dulux Sumatran Sunset dabbed onto the sand mix.  This was then drybrushed with my Dulux colour match of VMC Ir...

Here's the summary of my hobby activity for the last full week of February: Gaming I played a solo game of Ambush Alley in the French Indo-China War.  Read about it here Painting/modelling   Quite busy with a lot of different bits going on: Completed the Battlezone Native raiders detailed here . Completed the old Blitz Miniatures figures that I'd swapped the heads on to make them more suitable for ALN fighters.  Reworked the bases on my old Blitz Miniatures WW2 goumier figures that I'm using for ALN fighters. Completed an old Battlefield Miniatures WW2 French para.  I also reworked the bases on the existing painted  Battlefield Miniatures WW2 French paras  Painted up and based a Battlezone Marine who'll do perfectly as a French officer in Algeria. Nearly completed a Battlezone MG team with just the base to do.  I cleaned up another seven Battlezone US Marines and took their heads off ready for a swap.  I cleaned up the pac...

Third week of Feb and here's the summary of my hobby activity: Painting/modelling   I finished off the Battlezone Miniatures USMC raiders which I'm using as ALN fighters for the Algerian War project.  Have a look here I did some surgery on  a few old Battlefield Miniatures figures and swapped their heads to make them more suitable for ALN.  I cleaned up a pack of Battlezone Native raiders.  These are much bigger figures than the USMC Raiders in a very different style and must have been done by a different sculptor.  Due to the oriental features and clothing I decided to do them for Indo-China rather than Algeria which was their intended purpose. I cleaned up a Battlezone MG team which will do as French conscripts in Algeria. I found an old Battlefield Miniatures WW2 French para which works as well for Indo-China or Algeria so added him to the table while I was in the zone. I cleaned up another few Battlezone US Marines and took their hea...

I finished off my first batch of Battlezone Miniatures USMC Raiders this week.  They'll be used as ALN fighters for the Algerian War project. I had two packs of five but of the ten, one was a duplicate BAR gunner and I don't like any duplicate figures in skirmish scale games.  That figure is in the spares bin now.  The other was in a vest so not what I was looking for.  He's had a free transfer to the French Indo-China War project where he fits in better.  I didn't do anything in the way of converting these.  They're probably a bit overequipped in terms of webbing, but I have seen seen photos of ALN units in full webbing so I'll use them as a better equipped squad,  They're also well equipped weapons wise, so they'll fit in better for the era I'm particular interested in gaming which is 1957 and 1958.  This was when the French were making more use of 'copters and honing their COIN tactics.   The paint job was simple.  The skin was p...

This is what I've been working on this week. Painting/modelling   I made a few batches of different shades of clump foliage out of old dish scourers.  I really like doing this sort of thing as they would have ended up in landfill.  They took no time and little effort to do.  Each scourer made a small bag of material.  When I've honed the technique and make more I'll do a post on it. I made some more jungle terrain to act as a link between my Vietnamese village and the jungle - more pics here . I cleaned up and started to paint a squad of Battlezone Miniatures USMC raiders to be used as ALN fighters for the Algerian War project. Research I'm well into A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne now.  What a great book it is. I'm still researching the French Algerian and Indo-China Wars as and when time allows.   Purchases Very restrained this week with only a few things coming in: I ordered a couple of packets of Swamp Green Tall Wild Tufts from S...