Scratch building a 15mm 6" Newton Mortar

I thought since I was creating a few more I would give some details and show how easy it is.

The 6” Newton Mortar was the standard medium mortar for the British army in World War One from early 1917.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_6_inch_Mortar

This project is actually very simple. The items needed are; a regular round toothpick, some card stock, thin wire, glue and a little patience.

I glue the tube to the base and let dry. Then I cut the wire and glue it on. I add a dab of glue to the top to get a ridge around the top. Some wire as hand holds.

Hope this helps!

Brutinel's force

With the flash of painting a month ago the holidays have slowed progress dramatically. I did get a few DBA and WoW games in with friends but the work bench has been quiet and again I find myself slipping from my Middle East project. I am reading the Osprey book on Vimy Ridge and have been searching Canadian stuff, well I ended up back at Brutinel's MMG force (I created an Intel for them some time ago and it is posted on the FOW1918 site). After making my Talbot car I thought about making the 6" Newtons mounted in lorries.
reference - http://www.chakoten.dk/cgi-bin/fm.cgi?n=963 along with a number of books I have.
So, I am working on them but need to get some more of the Minifig generic trucks.
I plan on painting up a few Model T's as the CO and 2IC vehicles. I think it will make a great gaming force; 2 sections of two trucks carrying 2 HMG teams each. Two trucks with mortars mounted in them, some Cyclists, cavalry and maybe some late model Austin a/cs. This force was active in the last few moths of the war so they will generally fight withdrawing Germans. I will post some pics once done with the mortar trucks and maybe one of the whole force assembled. It should make for a great game. Mobil warfare!

Middle East project progress

I have made some more progress on my Middle East project.
Below are the Arab LMG teams I created a few weeks ago in full color.
I am really happy with them!


The next is the third and final Turkish infantry platoon completed along with six Turkish guards mounted individually. These will be used for raiding games I am planning on running.


Last is my version of a Talbot Car used in conjunction with the Rolls Royce A/Cs.
It is a Minifi WWI generic truck. I did a head swap on the driver using a Peter Pig WWI Sun hat head.

The Talbot Cars were armed with old light field guns. The gun is a Peter Pig Screw Gun from the PITS line. The crew are EW British Minifig.

I made the gun removable by mounting it on a piece of metal basing allowing the truck to be used for other purposes. I think it turned out smashing and should be a real blast on the game table.

Next up, Arabs!

The Arabs gain some LMGs

I guess I am pretty motivated. Tonight I created two LMG teams for my Arab Irregulars.

I started out with the lying down shooting Arab and the British Yoemanry Hotchkiss Gun team from Minifig.

For the Lewis Gun, I removed it from a Battlefront SAS figure and grafted it into the arms of the Arab. His companion just has his rifle removed. I may try to find a Lewis Gun drum or two for him.

The Hotchkiss gun was pretty straight forward.

I think they look smashing! Just waiting for the putty and glue to dry and then off to painting.

Inspiration from others work

I search eBay for 15mm WWI miniatures regularly; Who doesn't love a deal? Recently there were some WWI Middle East items from a guy in Canada. One of the listings really inspired me.
I think he did a grand job on them and I love all the color!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150383939728&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT




While I wait for my EW Germans to return from the painter I have pulled out my Arabs and Turks and decided to work on them some more. My Turks have one infantry platoon and some guards (for raid missions) that need completing. I also need at least two limbers.

My Arabs are much farther behind and they need more, head swaps and mods more lead, etc. I will be creating a Lewis gun team and a Hotchkiss LMG team along with a Talbot Car with its 10pdr (British crew) guns. The thing with the Arabs is they take twice the stands, mounted and dismounted versions. So, I send a small order into Peter Pig for the screw guns and some Sun Hat WWI heads.


I will post some pics as I make progress.

BTW -I did get permission to post the pic from the seller, thanks Ross!

More EW figures done.

Since I sent my EW German company out to be painted I have been working on some smaller units for my EW armies. I can usually only get a few minutes every few days at the painting table so it goes slowly.

This is a British Artillery section. The figures were already painted (fair) so I just did some touch up and re based them. I did not mount the guns allowing the unit to have 4.5" How (pictured above - QRF model) or 18pdrs (pictured below - Peter Pig). Crew are Peter Pig.

I did the same thing with the German Artillery section. I repainted the figures completely with these. This is with the 7.7cm Field gun (Peter Pig)

This is with the 10.5 How (Peter Pig). Crew are also Peter Pig.

This last pic is of German Cavalry dismounted. They were just touched up, dipped and re based. They are Peter Pig figures.

I am currently removing some French Colonial Zouaves (Blue Horizon Miniature figures) from there original bases, touching them up, dipping and re basing but more on them in another post.

1917 Nivelle Offensive game

Last night some friends came over and we tried a new scenario I created,
1917 Nivelle Offensive.

The Germans had full knowledge of the attack and prepared well. The French tanks were a disappointment and the artillery was not well coordinated.

The Preliminary bombardment did little to the one German platoon in the trenches, only pinned them but it was effective on the wire creating a few large gaps.

This is the French starting off.

By turn three the Germans call for one of there SOS/defensive barrages and it catches a Schneider tank and sets it a fire. The French rolling barrage is starting to get away from the infantry.

Turn four the second SOS barrage falls but does little. The French continue to push forward as the barrage rolls pas the front trench and the Germans start to man the line.

The French get into the trench and try to fight their way down the line but the Germans put up a stubborn defense.

The French left tries desperately to get up the trench as the right takes the trench but is then pinned and never recovers. Eventually they are ground down on the left and the game goes to the Germans.

It was a lot of fun and played and flowed well. The German HMGs caused major problems for the French.

I will post the scenario on the FOW1918 yahoo group.