quarta-feira, 26 de setembro de 2012

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 61 - by Carlos Briz

Plane - Miniwing
Trucks, Figures - WGS

(Class E 18 locomotive - German State Railways)

Then and now: the locomotive still lives side by side with the rocket/space age.

There still is no alternative to the locomotive, as the best cost-efective means of transportation.


Another prototype turned sour.

The Junkers Ju 287 was a jet bomber that was supposed to turn the tide of the war - again...

It could also be called the Frankenstein Jet Bomber, since it's fuselage was from the Heinkel 177, the tail from the Junkers Ju 388, and the main undercarriage of a Junkers Ju 352.

By the way, the nose wheel was taken from wrecked B-24 Liberators - what a nose job!


Nice trees.

Now I know from where CB gets all this nice stuff.

He told me he recently bought 200 (miniature...) palm trees for only 5 euros - this was a really BIG deal.


Another day, another outstanding dio here in the BT blog.

Stay tuned guys, since there are a lot more coming up!

BT

segunda-feira, 24 de setembro de 2012

Espimodel 2012 & The One Day Campaign (Kursk 11-14 July 1943) - Photo Report


At long last!

That's right guys, here are the pics you have all been waiting for!

Well, as usual, it is JF's fault for the delay in publishing these pics, since he failed to warn me about the football results of the last few days. And since my attention was focused on that, I forgot to check out the blog. 

As you can see dude, it is always your fault...


In the pic above we have CB (right) talking to Mr. Duarte (left), from the Espinho modelling club.

This was another case of a very fruitful cooperation between our friends from Espinho and the Brigada Tripeira members, mixing miniature modelling and wargaming. They gently provided us with all the logistic materials we need to organize a smooth event, and everything went according to plan.

Thanks for the cooperation guys!


This is a pic related to the third map of the One Day Campaign (Bogoroditskoye), where the German side had a tough time moving around and conquering the selected objectives, given the abundance of cover provided to the Soviet side.

This was a thoroughly researched campaign, that had it's mind set on a very limited geographic and time line, in the overall major battle of Kursk.


(nope, Victor Hugo is not trying to give someone the finger - he just likes to talk with his hands...)


Here you can check out the complet set of scenarios, together with our good friends from Lisbon that turned up in Espinho, in order to suffer a complet thrashing on the wargames table!

Ok, maybe not that complet, since we allowed them to win the first game...


But they won the first game by a very narrow margin!

In that game Jerboa fought against me (PC) in the center, where his 1.º SS Panzer Grenadier Division (Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler) almost wiped out my 2nd Tank Corps (Popov). 
BUT it so happens that my mission was precisely to occupy his troops and prevent them from going to the rescue of the flanks, where the serious game points where placed (a good excuse always comes in handy...).


Our southern friends (that were on the German side) had already a pre-selected strategy that they planned to implement in the game by the way of fighting the scenarios in separate tables.

However, the Sovier secret services were awake to this mischievous plan!

Therefore, we insisted that the campaign be fought in a single table, where every players division could give support to it's neighbour - just like the real thing.


And our disruptive plan almost worked!

The thing is that, in the very last turn of the game, JMM lost the village of Telezhenka to Victor Hugo's forces, therefore forfeiting our chances of complet sucess - we still have to make you pay for this, dude...


However, things were very diferent in the second game!

You can see me here figuring out a brand new stategy and already smiling about our scheduled victory!


In the second game we decided to occupy and fortify ALL the strongholds (that were built-up areas) of the battlefield, with our dogged Soviet infantry units.

This resulted in the narrowing of the German available space for mouvement and, such as was the case in map nº 1 (Action Far West), the need to divide their forces. 

In the pic above you can see a very nervous "German" general, that saw his elite unit dwindle to a few scattered platoons, by my motivated Soviet division.

In the end to the second game it turned out that the German side didn't have enough game points to even allow for a "moral victory" factor on their favour...

You can check out this Ambush Blitz campaign and special rules used HERE.


And now for the Carlos Briz (CB) one man show!

Our friend CB also made a trip to Espinho, all the way from far-out Setúbal, bringing with him many goodies, some of which we had never seen.

I can tell you that these models look much better live than pic-style.


Unfortunately, our friend Mário Laranja (ML) was unable to attend this event, since his attendance involved a road trip of more than 1.000 km.

Our good friend JP, from Coimbra, was also unable to attend, due to family limitations.

Don't worry guys, there will be a next opportunity soon for a get-together!


I took the opportunity for a chat with CB, where he explained some of his secrets.


I do not know why, but JF failed to produce more pics related to the outstanding models that were available in this exhibition, and there were a lot of them.

This guy is trigger happy only when it comes to wargaming...


By the way, JF also failed to publish pics related to some of the visitors we had a chance to glimpse in the event and in the streets of the sunny city of Espinho - but my guess is that this omission had a more or less cautious nature...


This is another giant and new dio from CB, that will soon end up here.


All the buildings in this dio were made by ML, as we mentioned in a previous post.


You already know this one.  However, seeing it live brings an all new dimension to it!

Well, this is it.

We had a great time organizing and participating in this event, and we would like to transmit our most sincere appreciation for the cooperation of our friends from the Espinho modelling group and for the presence of CB and the members of the Jerboa development team! 

Hopefully, we will see you again soon guys!

BT

quinta-feira, 20 de setembro de 2012

domingo, 16 de setembro de 2012

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 60 - by Carlos Briz

Planes Miniwing e FE Resin
Trucks & Jeeps - Minifigs UK
Figures - Magister Millitum
Gaz Jeep - Magister Millitum

(Class Köf locomotive - German State Railways)

He keeps doing it!

That's right guys, here is another outstanding dio from CB, and there are a lot more coming up!

We met CB today in Espinho, together with our good friends from Lisbon, for a great get-together, migled with some great wargaming and some peeking at a great modelling exhibition, organized by our good friends from the Espinho modelling group.

Since we know for sure that you are dying to look at some pics from this event, we will do our best to try and bring them here - just as soon as JF takes the time to unload them from his "pic-machine" and place them on the blog.

Thinking better, this might take some time...

BT

sexta-feira, 14 de setembro de 2012

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 59 - by Carlos Briz

Planes - Miniwing and FE Resin
Trucks & Jeeps - Minifigs UK
Figures Magister Millitum

(Class Köf II locomotive - German State Railways)

Here's another one!

CB brings us another dio related to the time when WWII entered the rocket age.

At the end of WWII do you know what was the most valuable asset in the market?

No, it wasn't warships, airplanes, gold or silver.

It was the German cientists!

That's right, both the western powers and the soviets were searching for them everywhere like crazy, since they all knew they were the smartest guys around for building simple things like atomic bombs or space rockets.

What to they feed those guys in Germany, anyway?


BT


sábado, 8 de setembro de 2012

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 58 - by Carlos Briz

Planes - Zvezda
Truck - Wiking
Figures - Minifigs UK

(Class E 18 locomotive - German State Railways)

More eye candy!

Check out how CB manages do create some sort of ovelapping planes in this dio - maybe he is also a cubist expert!

The year 1942 was what you could call the "good old days" for the Werhmacht, when they were still reaping the benefits of the outstanding tactical and stategic operation that resulted in the conquest of France and most of it's surrounding countries.

It was mostly downhill from there on...

BT

quarta-feira, 5 de setembro de 2012

Making of: Crimean War & Locomotives - by Carlos Briz - final post!

Clin d'Oeil

It's a wrap guys!

All of you can now check the final result of CB's hard work.


That steam boat over there (you know, the one you guys failed to identify...) looks awesome!


A cavalry squadron is always welcome in any dio.


Timber?

Sure thing, no self-respected XIX century army could do without it!


Gun barrels, boxes, crates, and so much more paraphernalia: the ideal setting for a loading dock.

Congrats for another great dio CB!

DO NOT FORGET:

If any of you guys wishes to meet the Brigada Tripeira "dream team" in person, you just have to drop-in at the Espinho modelling event, scheduled for September 15th.

I already know for a fact that JF is willing to offer several rounds of FREE DRINKS(1) to all the followers of our blog that turn up in Espinho!

Do not miss out on this oportunity!


BT


(1)disclaimer: the "free drinks" offer is restricted to followers of our blog that look like this.