Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Little Landsers: Getting Ready for OGroup

I suspect that like a lot of people in the Too Fat Lardies community that are excited about the release of David Brown’s O Group rules for battalion sized battles, I have gone back to the 15mm WW2 part of my lead mountain to see what I could find.  There is a LOT in my 15mm lead mountain, some of it dating back to the release of Flames of War.   I decided the first thing to do was to increase the number of my early war Germans - a useful force, as I already have a massive number of 15mm Russians for them to contest the steppes with.

The figures are a mix of Battlefront and Old Glory that I bought in a mass order with some friends some years back.  The OG figures are, frankly, a mixed lot, some downright ugly, but they mix well enough with the BF figures.  I filled up enough painting sticks to do several platoons of generic Heer infantry with supports and command.  I put two man LMG figures on separate small bases to stretch the number of figures, so one LMG stand, with a five man infantry stand, is more or less a section.  Seems legit.

The figures were mass produced, and with a “good enough” attitude towards the final outcome.   I am not ashamed to say that I bought a can of Army Painter Field Gray spray primer to give me a base coat, and then picked out the flesh, weapons, helmets and gear.  Everything got a final wash of Windsor and Newton Nut Brown ink, a trick I saw from someone who uses it as a wash for 6mm Napoleonics, and I was happy with the end result.  The bases are coloured FOW size bases from 4Ground, covered with a blend of model railroad turfs.  I'm a slow painted, but I raced through all these figures in about five one hour sessions.

Two tripod mounted MG sections, a tank hunting team with ATR, a sniper team, a 50mm mortar, a section of combat engineers should cover most support options for smaller scale actions using TFL’s Chain of Command.

Finally, I had enough senior figures to make two command stands suitable for company or battalion level.  The fellow with the fancy overcoat has ben dubbed General Von Klinkerhoffen, in tribute to the late Hilary Minster of Allo Allo.

That should be enough for a decent sized engagement.   It’s pleasant to work in this scale again and not be too overly fussed over mistakes on a single figure.  I have a company of Battlefront Commonwealth infantry in the queue as I have become quite excited about 1st Canadian Division in Italy, but that’s another story.

Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

13 comments:

  1. Very nice collection and I really need to learn to paint more efficiently like you have done here. I spend far too much time fussing over figures when you have demonstrated that good enough is good enough.

    I'm looking forward to dusting off my extensive collection of 6mm figures and armour. I've been reading my electronic copy of O Group but I'm actually waiting for the real thing to wing its way across the Atlantic.

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    1. Thanks mate, For 28mm I fuss a lot, but the beauty of smaller scale stuff is hat you can get to the "good enough for a lot of wee troops" state of mind - until you see someone else's wee stuff and think - how did they DO that? I thought about 6mm WW2 when Mustafa's Rommel rules came out, but decided I was too far down the 15mm road to bother. The reports once people start getting Group will be interesting. Already have my PDF copy and hoping to try it soon. Cheers, M

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  2. Excellent work Mike! Not bad for 5 sessions too! Would take me considerably longer to get this much done for sure.
    Excited to see these used in a game versus your Soviets.

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    1. Thanks my friend. I still have to dive into that box of late war WW2 goodness you sold me at bargain prices. Hope you're well.

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    2. Well, if they end up anything close to how this lot looks, they'll be a very cool sight for sure.

      All's well thanks. Life is life and it's mostly happy - can't ask for more than that. I hope the same for you!

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  3. Those look very nice. The new rules look good but I think I'll stick with BKCII for my Battalion sized games, as I know them so well, but never say never;)

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    1. Thank you Steve. Stick with what you know and like is a good axiom. I know a fellow who still plays old WRG horse and musket because he likes it. And why should he change as long as he can find opponents or play solo?

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  4. Great work. I always found the Command Decision/OG 15mm figures jus as nice as FoW but it's jus a personal choice I guess. Your comments remind me of the joy if painting WW2 in this scale, I could knock out twenty or thirty figures eac h session, no problem, and vehicles were even quicker....happy days!

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    1. Thank you sir. I'm 58 and my eyes aren't what they used to be, perhaps I am fated to work in smaller and smaller scales just so I don't have to worry about detail!

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  5. That is some great output in a short time, it would be interesting to hear more about the rules, but as Steve says sometime you have to stick with what you know for a smooth game.
    Cheers
    Stu

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