Fokker D.VII (OAW) 1/32: Part 2

Continuing on with the Wingnut Wings Fok D.VII (OAW). Minor progress this week...just put the engine in.

I also have one other photo of the plane's pilot, Fritz Schliewen. Here is a group photo of Jasta 6 pilots in the late summer of 1918. Schliewen, who would have been 20 or 21 years old at the time, is identified as the pilot 4th from the right.

This is a 21-piece model of the Daimler-Mercedes 180hp D.IIIa engine. The fit and engineering is excellent.

And the current state of the interior assembly...comin' along. Fuselage halves are next!

'Til next time.

Fokker D.VII (OAW) 1/32: Part 1

Well, I've decided to undertake a display model project. I really haven't done something like this for decades...building a model just to have it and put it on display. No gaming application whatsoever. It feels weird.

A few weeks back, I was digging around in a pile of WWI magazines, and was drawn (once again) to the myriad articles featuring Wingnut Wings models. This is Peter Jackson's model kit outfit in New Zealand. All their WWI planes are in 1/32nd scale...enormous by my gaming standards. But no one can deny the beauty and engineering perfection of these kits.

I decided to acquire one and build it. But which one? There are already numerous kits available, ranging from the early war DH2s to Gotha bombers. If I was to only do one of these kits it would have to be: a) a popular subject, b) rigging light and c) relatively uncomplicated in general structure. Hmmm, sounds like a Fokker D.VII.

It arrived in the mail and I dug right in. Wow...big kit. And beautiful.

When I was placing my order, I wanted to do a largely lozenge fabric example. So many Fokker D.VIIs had elaborate paint schemes and these have been the subject of many modelling efforts. However, most D.VIIs were simply covered in lozenge fabric and then just painted with jasta-identifying tail and/or nose markings.

Wingnut Wings supplies numerous decal options for their kits. The closest I could come to my desired end product was an OAW Fokker (built by the eastern Albatross factory under license) flown by Fritz Schliewen, Jasta 6 in the fall of 1918.

That's his plane at the bottom of the decal sheet lineup.

A very pretty plane. 4-color lozenge overall. Jasta 6 tail, wheel and nose stripes, and then a simple but distinctive personal marking...the Bavarian diamond band around the middle of the fuselage. 

Here's Robert Karr's painting of Schliewen's D.VII.

There are only a couple of known photos of Fritz Schliewen. Here he is sitting on the back of his D.VII. This was likely taken in late August, 1918.

Researching WWI pilots is difficult at the best of times. So many records have been lost or destroyed over the past century. Schliewen turned out to be very tough to get background information on, particularly since his last name had two spellings. He was also known as Fritz Schiemann.

Here's his history, as best as I can reconstruct it. He was born in 1897. He entered the German air force at age 17, in 1914, and became a two-seater pilot. He flew artillery spotting aircraft for most of the war. However, at the beginning of August, 1918, he entered Jastaschule I (fighter school). He graduated in mid-August and was immediately posted to Jasta 6 (part of Jadgeswchwader I, Richthofen's famous flying circus). There, he earned two air combat victories.

His first was at 3:25 PM on Thursday, September 5th, shooting down a British observation balloon while on a mission with fellow Jasta 6 pilot, Richard Wenzl. The balloon's observer, Sgt Woolgar, jumped to safety. See the painting above for an image of that afternoon's action.

His second and final victory came on October 29th at 4:25 in the afternoon, when he downed a SPAD XIII (likely French). Little is known of this particular action.

Schliewen survived the war. Although details cannot be confirmed, it seems he died in 1945, at age 48, while fleeing with his family from the Russian advance through Eastern Europe near the end of WWII. That was certainly a dangerous time, and a bitter end.

On to the build.

This week, I started into the cockpit. The Wingnut Wings instruction book is wonderfully put together, and very detailed. The parts are small (and there are many of them), but construction is clear and straightforward.

Here we are at the end of week 1...

Love all the details in this kit. Too bad a lot of it will be covered up when the fuselage goes together!

One final view of the assembly.

Taking on this project will certainly eat into my game model productivity for the year...but it's nice to change things up for once. Looking forward to getting deeper into this project.

'Til next time.

Tabletop World: Graveyard 28mm

A few months back, I posted my notes on a piece of terrain (Guard Tower) that I had ordered from a magnificent company in Croatia called Tabletop World. After working on the Guard Tower, I quickly ordered several other of their mediaeval/fantasy structures.

This is the Graveyard.

As you can see, it comes as a resin kit. Because of the nature of the subject matter, assembly and painting is very straightforward.

This was in interim step as I headed toward final assembly. The very large tree came in three sections. I did not use all the headstones. Instead, I left room between the rows of graves in order to allow for easier model placement during games.

Here is the finished piece.

Wrought iron fences were supplied to encircle the entire graveyard along the tops of the low stone walls. As they are quite fragile, and my intent is to use this as a gaming terrain feature, I opted to leave the grating off.

 A detail shot of the rear of the graveyard. The leaves are silver birch seed keys (sold by Secret Weapon) applied with white glue, just as you'd do the static grass.

Another detail shot, this time of the front portion of the graveyard. Tabletop World sculpted plenty of detail into the base.

And now, with 100% more undead.

I think this will make a fantastic, atmospheric Warmachine terrain feature, with plenty of linear obstacles and cover.

'Til next time.

Thyra vs eIrusk

Elliot came over for our weekly Warmachine game on Tuesday night. This was a 50-point battle using the newly-released Steamroller 2013 scenario pack. We rolled up Scenario #11, Process of Elimination. In this game, there are two zones, and in the center of each zone is a monolith. Destroy a monolith, 1 point. Control a zone, 1 point. Dominate a zone (with your 'caster), 2 points. Game is to 5, and the 2nd player can start scoring on his second turn.

Instead of playing timed turns, we just set a 3-hour time limit for the game and enjoyed the battle at a leisurely pace.

Our opening set up...I'm Menoth on the right. Elliot is Khador on the left. You can see the zones and monoliths in the center of the board.

I rolled first player (I should have taken second!). This is a Thyra list with Blood of Martyrs, Avatar, Covenant, Errants, Daughters and a slew of support pieces. Lots of advance deployment.

Elliot is still on his "Conquest tour of Khador." He's playing Conquest with each 'caster in the faction. Today, eIrusk. This was mainly an infantry force with Assassins and Black Dragons.

Menoth turn 1. I'm fast with advance deploy. Moving first, I grab as much of the board as I can. eEiryss, Nicia and the Daughters push past the center line. Daughters have Grievous Wounds (from Thyra), Def 16 (from Rhupert) and Pathfinder (from Orrik). Errants have Stealth from Thyra. Thyra is not quite out of the killbox after her move, but she'll have next turn to move up again before the penalty kicks in.

Khador turn 1. Conquest tries to land a deviating Big Gun shot into my central solos (eIrusk provided the LOS). However, the blast deviates into open ground. He then lays down some covering fire to ward off the Daughters. Everything else advances and eIrusk feats in order to stave off an effective alpha strike by me next turn.

Menoth turn 2. There is an un-photo-documented skirmish over on the right flank. It essentially consists of my Errant solo attritioning away a unit of Widowmakers. Back in the center, due to the feat, my Daughters will not go up against the Assassins. They back up and wait a turn. However, I do have a play to get damage on eIrusk, and I go for it. Orrik gives pathfinder to Nicia. She goes up to take two weapon master swings at the only Pikeman who is blocking a shooting lane to Elliot's caster. Unfortunately, I can't crack the armor. Regardless, eEiryss moves up to prevent focus allocation to Conquest and she shoots down an assassin instead of putting a ding into eIrusk.

A gratuitous shot of eIrusk and his pikemen bodyguards. Nicia tried to crack open a path to him (bottom left of pic) for eEiryss, but unfortunately failed.

Khador turn 2. OK, Elliot goes to work. Half of his pikemen move up and take down a monolith. Various pieces step up and eventually cut down eEiryss and Nicia. He also shoots down one Daughter, triggering Vengeance. With his Black Dragon reform move, he pulls back one group of pikemen while firming up another infantry block around his 'caster. 1 scenario point for Khador.

Menoth turn 3. The Avatar charges into the pikemen in the zone killing four but three of them roll Tough. Gack! They are all on fire. Meanwhile, on the left, my play is to use Blood of Martyrs to whack one Assassin and destroy the second monolith. First damage roll on the monolith is snake eyes. At that point, I realize I can't eliminate it on remaining average rolls. I back off for protection.

The Daughters have better luck. They Vengeance move and charge into Elliot's infantry. They take down the Underboss, Holt and a couple of Assassins. This turn sucked. The net effect of two alpha-striking 'jacks was taking down two measly infantry pieces. No scenario points for me.

Khador turn 3. Great turn for Elliot. Conquest tramples, gets to the other monolith and scores his second scenario point. On my right, his pikemen charge my Enlivened Avatar. He blocks the retreat path with a lone assassin and the pikemen take down my best 'jack. I mis-played my opportunity to save Avatar. Elliot had attacked an Errant first and killed it. I could have sacrificed the one Errant blocking Avatar's retreat route, but missed the opportunity. Kicking self!

Sorry, no pic from this turn.

Menoth turn 4. It's getting close to our game time limit. Elliot is up by two points. My only play is for a draw by dominating one zone. He has seven pikemen in the right zone and I have a play to take them out. Thyra gets Carnage up and gives herself Grievous Wounds. She feats and charges into the Khador infantry. With Overtake, she gets to four pieces and kills them all. The Errants then go to work. They kill every pikeman they get to, but Elliot rolls Tough on one (was bound to happen) and things start looking bleak. I kill the knocked-down pikeman with a bolt from the Vassal. Now there is one Pikeman in the zone. I can't kill him, so I send the Daughters in to kill the Black Dragon banner that's next to eIrusk and hope for a failed morale check on the last pikeman and get my two points that way. The ploy works! The banner is killed and Elliot fails the morale check. A draw at two points each as game time expires!

But wait...Elliot checks his cards to find a way out of the draw. He gets it. He had cast Battle Lust on the pikemen the turn before, giving them Fearless for a round. The morale check should not have been taken and the last pikeman contests the zone. Elliot wins on scenario point tiebreaker. Good game!

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

A few years ago I purchased a painted Khador army from Colonel Festus. This lot included a fair number of unpainted figures as well...one of them was an eEiryss model that he has separated from the molded "brick tower". I was playing in a Steamroller this weekend with a couple of Menoth armies and I wanted eEiryss in one of them. So last Thursday night I pulled her out of the Khador bag and got a quick paint job underway.

Nothing special here...just a quick solo.

I like her off the brick tower because with a little foliage, she looks more stealthy, like she should be.

Last Tuesday Elliot came over for our weekly game of Warmachine. We all had our toys out on the table when Helo decided to join the Khador army. I cried foul...illegal piece, no stat card. He was removed from play.

'Til next time.

Three Menoth 'Casters and a 'Jack

Well it's 2013, and for my upcoming Warmachine year that will mean all Menoth all the time (though no doubt I'll run out of things to paint which will get me back to some Cygnar as well, I think).

This week, I finished off three Menoth 'casters and a character 'jack.

First up is Epic Severius. Love the fact he's standing on top of two acolytes. What a bastard.

Then there is Reznik. I've never played him, but he seems like quite the tank...the sort of guy you bulldoze right towards the enemy 'caster.

Next is the epic version of the High Reclaimer, named the Testament of Menoth.

Finally, we have Thyra's character 'jack, the Blood of Martyrs.

Like the other figures, I'd started this guy a long time ago and never got around to finishing him because I dove into that massive Cryx army. Well...now these four guys are all done and are packed away into the Menoth bag.

Next Menoth project is Kreoss 3, the epic cavalry 'caster. The model is very cool and I'm looking forward to painting this guy.

'Til next time.

Glorfindel...One Last 2012 Project.

It's New Year's Eve and 2012 is closing out. Here's the last mini off the hobby table just before 2013 begins.

Glorfindel is one of my favorite Middle-earth heroes. I know why they knocked him out of the Lord of the Rings films, and put Arwen in his place...but it still would have been nice to get one of the greatest Elven Warriors in Middle-earth some screen time. Oh well! Here he is on Asfaloth.

Nice sculpt from GW, even if a little two dimensional.

Happy New Year everyone...hope you had a great 2012 and best wishes for 2013.

'Til next time.