Operation Winter Storm

I purchased a few of TooFatLardies Chain of Command campaign packs including and older one called Winter Storm. This pack contains 22 scenarios set in a series  of fights based on Germany's efforts to break though to relieve the 6th Army trapped near Stalingrad in December 1942. Chain of Command is a platoon based game so the scenarios are snapshots of bigger actions. The first two scenarios are focused on the assigned German troops travelling to Russia by train. They are opposed by Soviet partisans. This gave me the excuse to expand my collection to include Partisans and trains.

When I visited Victoria this summer, I went to my former favorite hobby shop and purchased a variety of second hand train cars. The missing piece was a locomotive as these included engines and were expensive. I found one locomotive that was just a shell but it was too modern looking for my purposes. I googled trains for this period and will have to build my own locomotive. I will spray bomb the remaining cars black as this seems to have the color of choice at the time. The cars are ho scale which is 1/87. This is a little big for my 15mm figures and terrain which are 1/100 but close enough for me. I had some tracks at home but was not sure what scale they were. It turns out they are 1/160 or n gauge which was too small but the train did sit on the track precariously. It would cost about $40 to upgrade which I am not sure I will do for one or two scenarios. I might make my own...

New train and terrain - needs a station house...

It has been a long time of hobbying between this latest batch of posts and I have to remember to make not of new additions to my collection. Also featured in the photo are newly minted 15mm Russian village buildings. These were purchased at Huzzah from a company called Things From the Basement. They have removable roofs and I added some teddy bear fur thatching to some of the roofs to add variety. The roads are also new. They were done in a similar style to my cobble roads but are 2.5 inches wide as opposed to 4 to accommodate 15mm scale.

Partisan section

I also purchased a company of partisans from my local game store produced by Battlefront for the Flames of War game. These are nice figures and did not require a lot of prep before painting. One pack gave me all I needed for fielding a platoon and supporting elements. For the scenarios. I can borrow from my large pile of Soviets if I need anything unique.

MMG support

I also upgraded my German platoons. My original Chain of Command Germans were cobbled together from leftover figures from producing a Flames of War army. FoW has moved on to a new edition and I have not moved with it, as it would require a significant outlay of cash to upgrade on new rules, cards etc. I also like Chain of Command better as a game so, I went to work pulling figs from my FoW army and rebasing them to Chain of Command.

3 sections form the platoon

I had fun painting the Partisans in non uniform uniforms. The blue I used was a little too bright. I was trying to get a denim look but failed. None the less, they are complete and ready to go. I just need the engine and track and I am ready to play. Despite it being Russia in December, it is southern Russia so the snow is only patchy. I bought some white felt and cut out snow patches to add to me battle field.

AT rifles

Stay tuned for the scenario write ups...