Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

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...

I've had the the original Ambush Alley and then the Osprey Force on Force rules since they were first released.  Although I like them and have been meaning to use them I never have - which is like many of the rules I own.   For this first game I amended the Contracting Trouble scenario which appears in both the old AA rules and the pretty Osprey FoF.  You can download the full scenario details here . Mission Brief A team of French Groupement de commandos mixtes aéroportés (GCMA) have been attacked while visiting a contact at a village.  The villagers have since disappeared leaving them pinned down by Viet Minh.  A squad of the 8e BPC (battalion parachutiste de choc) are in the vicinity and hearing the gunfire make for the village. French (Regular) Mission Objective  The paras must locate the GCMA team and escort them off the south table edge. The GCMA are wounded and out of ammunition by the time the paras arrive on the table and may not fire on t...

I completed the Battlezone Miniatures Native Resistance Fighters this week.  I originally bought them for the Algerian War project, but on close inspection upon arrival, the Oriental features and dress meant they're far more suitable for the French Indo-China War.  Therefore, I painted them up as some  indigenous irregulars fighting for the French such as the Hmong/Mong peoples. They're also sculpted in a very different style to the USMC Raiders .  They're much chunkier and taller and they fit better with the Liberation Miniatures figures which make up nearly all my Indo-China collection.  The pack of seven contained one figure with a bush hat who makes a very good Groupement de commandos mixtes aéroportés soldier working with the irregulars as many bravely did.  I also added in the USMC Raider figure that I felt didn't work as an ALN fighter for the Algerian War. The irregulars skin was painted first with Citadel Tallarn Flesh and then washed with AP Dark ...

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...

On the back of making a base for my Indo-China/Vietnamese buildings I decided to make some additional scatter bases to extend the village into the surrounding jungle. The techniques used have been mainly covered in the jungle terrain posts I did last year.  However, as these pieces were more a part of the village than the deep jungle, I used the village red-earth tones rather than the darker jungle tones.  If you want to read what I did please have a look at these posts.  Otherwise the rest of this post is photos!  Judging by the positive comments I've received people should like these too.  

I painted these Vietnamese buildings from SHQ donkey's years ago but they've never made it to the table top.  With my interest in the French Wars of Decolonisation reinvigorated it was time to change that.  But first they needed a home. I've been playing about with EVA foam for a couple of weeks or so.  I did some tests to see how it would take different types of paint (emulsion, cheap craft acrylics, hobby acrylics) and how sand and filler would adhere to it.  It fared well with all of these tests.  Now was the time to actually do something with it. After looking at a plethora of photos of Vietnamese buildings and villages (both real and model) I positioned the buildings and drew round them to mark their footprints.   Then the fun bit.  I used cheap household filler from Amazon to add a layer of texture to the whole of the base.  This was simpler than I anticipated when going around the buildings footprints.  The whole lot was left to d...

If you've had the endurance to wade through my previous posts ( here and here ) you'll know I've wanted to game the Algerian War for a long, long time.  The main blocker has been that apart from the Elhiem French paras, there's no specific range of figures, particularly for the Armée de libération nationale (ALN). This year I'm committed to getting on with this project.  I reviewed my books, studied what's online and took a look through my existing 20mm collection and I was pleasantly surprised how much was usable.   First are these Liberation Miniatures Moroccans bought for the French in Indo-China.  They're perfect for ALN, dressed as they are in French M47 uniforms and armed with MAS36 rifles and Thompson M1A1 SMGs.  With their small North African style turbans they don't need any work apart from refinishing the bases. Next up are these Battlefield Miniatures WW2 Moroccan Goums.  These were bought long ago to use as French Moroccan troops for ...

Part 1 of this rambling story told of how I had first become interested in the French Indo-China and Algerian Wars.  We'd left it where I had moved onto other periods specifically late World War 2 Eastern Front.   We're now into the early 2000's.  I'd been very focused on building up a collection of 1/76th WW2 figures.  True to form I went off on a tangent after discovering the splendid 1/6th action figures from Dragon and started collecting these.  It wasn't long before I started kitbashing FIC and Algerian figures using WW2 items.  Now the Internet proved useful and I was procuring from all over. This had given me an outlet for my interest but I still was yet to wargame the period.  Then a couple of things happened around the same time at the end of 2005.  A local hobby shop opened and I found a Matchbox 1/76th M24 and then I discovered Liberation Miniatures.  Praise be!  Liberation did a specific Indo-China range.  Not...

I can pinpoint when my interest in the French/First Indo-China War and subsequently the Algerian War (of Independence) began.  It was in my pre/early teens and it was down to three books. I suspect like many boys of the late '70s and early '80s I'd been reading the Wotan series of pulp novels by Leo Kessler.  These told the story of a fictional SS unit and their involvement in every campaign of WW2, which bizarrely included the desert and Cassino.  The last few books followed Sergeant-Major Schulze the anti-hero of the series, as he survives WW2 to end up serving in the French Foreign Legion in Indo-China and then Algeria. At around the same time I was given Blandford Army Uniforms since 1945 as a Christmas present.  As well as showing uniforms from current (1980) armies the sections on the earlier conflicts were those that I found fascinating.  I think it's the mix of kit that appealed to me.  When I looked at the plates I thought the French paras and legi...

I'm catching up with updates as things have been very busy work wise. Here's the last batch of jungle scatter bases that I completed Bank Holiday weekend. I already had the bases prepared as I'd done these in the first batch . I followed the same methods for these.  That now gives me about 30 scatter bases which with palm and other trees is enough for a game of Bolt Action French Indo-China War in 20mm or Burma or Pacific WW2 in 15mm. I only have a small table so these should be enough to fill it. If not I have plenty of materials left to make some more although I'd rather not as I may have a touch of jungle fever now.