Musings of a Hobby Hipster; Revisiting The Magic of 3*

*AKA three is still a magic number

Back in January, I wrote an article that went over my three perfect projects for 2021 and how I was planning to tackle them. Somehow, it is now December – I have no idea how! – and I thought I should circle back and look at the highs and lows of those challenges before 2021 slips away and we enter 2022. So, join me in the nostalgia rich start to the year and let’s see how, the royal, we got on.

Once again this year has been a monster in getting stuff off the Pile of Shame and painted ready for use in actual games (I’m sure we all remember back in the day, before the Global B***ard playing games). I managed to crank out 572 teams in 10 months before hitting the proverbial wall and taking a break for the majority of November and December.

This issue is that only 46% of that total is stuff that I actually planned to paint this year but does it mean that I managed to miss the 3 things I was trying to get done?

#1 – Team Yankee Iranians

In the traditional “poop sandwich” method of delivering bad news, you have to start with a positive so let’s look at the Iranians.

Everything scheduled for 2021 has been achieved and a lovely little BM-21 conversion also made it into the mix too.

That is not to say that the Iranians are complete, no, no, no there are far too many Basij that still need to joing the swell of troops but I now have a functional army with pleanty of options.

So, the targetfor 2021 for the Team Yank Iranians was:

T-62 Company – 10 x T-62s
Chieftain Company – 10 x Cheiftains
Finish my Mech Infantry Company – 2 x M150 TOWs, 3 x M113 M125 Mortars, 3 x M60, my 3rd Mechanised Platoon and 5 x M113.
A full company of Basij to allow me to field a Battalion
8 x Cobra gunships
3 x M109 self-propelled artillery.

And I managed to achieve the following:

Scheduled	Unit	Detail	Type	Quanitity
No	MLRS	BM-21	Softskin	3
No	AA Platoon	Shilkas	AFV	4
Yes	Anti-Tank Jeep Group	Recoiless Jeeps	Softskin	6
Yes	Anti-Tank Platoon	M150 TOWs	AFV	2
Yes	Anti-Tank Platoon	Tow Jeeps	Softskin	4
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	AKM assault rifle team	Infantry	9
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	RPG-7 team	Infantry	4
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	AKM assault rifle team	Infantry	9
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	RPG-7 team	Infantry	4
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	AKM assault rifle team	Infantry	9
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	RPG-7 team	Infantry	4
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	AKM assault rifle team	Infantry	9
Yes	Basij Infantry Company	RPG-7 team	Infantry	4
Yes	BMP-1 Platoon	BMP-1	AFV	5
Yes	Chieftain HQ	Chieftains	Tank	1
Yes	Chieftain Platoon	Chieftains	Tank	3
Yes	Chieftain Platoon	Chieftains	Tank	3
Yes	Chieftain Platoon	Chieftains	Tank	3
Yes	Cobra Gunship Flight	Cobras	Aircraft	2
Yes	Cobra Gunship Flight	Cobras	Aircraft	2
Yes	Cobra Gunship Flight	Cobras	Aircraft	2
Yes	Cobra Gunship Flight	Cobras	Aircraft	2
Yes	Mortar Platoon	M106	AFV	3
No	Iranian Mech Platoon	4 x G3, 3 x RPG-7, 1 x Gremlin, 1 x Dragon	Infantry	9
Yes	Self Propelled Artillery Platoon	M109	AFV	3
Yes	T-62 HQ	T-62	Tank	1
Yes	T-62 Platoon	T-62	Tank	3
Yes	T-62 Platoon	T-62	Tank	3
Yes	T-62 Platoon	T-62	Tank	3

All in all and excellent start I think you will agree.

#2 – Flames of War British (D-Day)

Next up was the imfamous Keith Flint D-Day British Urban Assualt Army. This army was one that I absolutely loved, being born out of the insanity of an army challenege on the podcast and never going away in my brain.

I cheated here. Completely cheated. I went to Hoist the Colours miniature painitng service on Facebook and I said to Stuart: “Can you paint these for me so I can use them at Warfare if I want to?”. Whilst I can take no credit in the painting of this fantastic army, I can for the modelling.

Creating custom bases was something that I had never done before but I completely would again. I think that is what intimidated me in the end, that and speed, to not put paint to brush on these. The notion that I had spent so long creating something that I was so happy with only for me to get disenchanted or tired and not give it the finisht that it deserved frightened me a little. So even though I outsourced the finish to this army what did I have on the agenda for 2021 for it:

4 x 17pdr gun
4 x 25pdr gun
2 x 2-inch mortar team
4 x 6pdr gun
3 x Bofors 40mm AA gun
12 x Bren Gun & SMLE rifle team
3 x Crocodile (75mm & Flame-thrower)
4 x MMG Carrier (Vickers)
2 x PIAT anti-tank team
2 x Sten SMG team
6 x Universal Carrier (MG)
6 x Wasp (Flame-thrower)

And as you would expect – all of this and more was achieved:

Scheduled	Unit	Detail	Type	Quanitity
Yes	17pdr Gun Platoons	17pdrs	Gun Team	4
Yes	25pdr Gun Battery	25pdrs	Gun Team	4
Yes	25pdr Gun Battery	25pdrs	Gun Team	4
Yes	6pdr Gun Platoon	6pdrs	Gun Team	4
Yes	Bofors 40mm AA Platoon	Bofors 40mm AA gun	Gun Team	3
Yes	Carrier Platoon	Universal Carrier (MG)	AFV	3
Yes	Carrier Platoon	Universal Carrier (MG)	AFV	3
Yes	Crocodile Platoon	Crocodile (75mm & Flame-thrower)	Tank	3
Yes	HMG Platoon	MMG Carrier (Vickers)	AFV	4
Yes	Rifle Company HQ	Sten SMG team	Infantry	2
Yes	Rifle Platoon	Bren Gun & SMLE rifle teams, 2-inch mortars and PIAT	Infantry	9
Yes	Rifle Platoon	Bren Gun & SMLE rifle teams, 2-inch mortars and PIAT	Infantry	9
Yes	Rifle Platoon	Bren Gun & SMLE rifle teams, 2-inch mortars and PIAT	Infantry	7
No	3″ Mortar Platoon	3″ Mortars	Gun Team	6
Yes	Wasp Platoon	Wasp (Flame-thrower)	AFV	3
Yes	Wasp Platoon	Wasp (Flame-thrower)	AFV	3
No	Guards Sherman HQ	Shermans	Tank	2
No	Guards Sherman Platoon	3 x Shermans, 1 x Firefly	Tank	4
No	Guards Sherman Platoon	3 x Shermans, 1 x Firefly	Tank	4
No	Guard AA Platoon	2 x Crusader AA	AFV	2
No	Achilles AT Platoon	M10C Achilles	AFV	4

So, that was the filling of our tasty, tasty sandwich and that just leaves one last entry now…

#3 – Winterised Soviets

Inspired by the image at the bottom I have always wanted to do a Soviet army that is advancing to crush the Germans in the depths of winter and this year I decided to make that aspiration a reality.

This WANT led directly to my downfall at Warfare but has left me with a significant Late War and Mid-War Soviet force.

I think I have perfected the way that I am now creating my winter effect white-wash camoflage and I am very happy with the results. However, this has not been the quickest army to paint and therefore I don’t think I have reached the challening targets that I had set myself.

So, what did I have as my targets? Well, most of them were around the Churchills which I have managed to knock out but the other Mid-War objectives were less successful. Back in January I was set on a course to complete the following:

15 x Lend-lease Churchills
10 x IS-2
4 x SU-122
3 x KV-1 (I think I might do there as KV-8… I know, I know…)
3 x T-34/85
4 x 76mm guns
4 x 45mm guns

And this is what I have completed. I’ve not done anything on the IS-2 tank formation but I did build the KVs as KV-8 tanks and pulled myself into a T-34/85 shaped hole to get the Forward Company ready for Warfare and the ISU-122s before that. The SMG troops were nowhere near the target for the year and yet two Hero Companies have been completed.

Scheduled	Unit	Detail	Type	Quanitity
Yes	Hero SMG Company	1 x Kommissar, 7 x SMG	Infantry	8
Yes	Hero SMG Company	1 x Kommissar, 7 x SMG	Infantry	8
Yes	IS-85 Platoon	IS-85	Tank	5
Yes	IS-2 HQ	IS-2	Tank	1
Yes	ISU-122 Platoon	ISU-122	AFV	3
Yes	ISU-122 Platoon	ISU-122	AFV	3
Yes	ISU-122 Platoon	ISU-122	AFV	4
Yes	ISU-152 Platoon	ISU-152	AFV	4
Yes	KV-8 Platoon	KV-8	Tank	3
Yes	SU-100 Tank Killer Platoon	SU-100	AFV	5
No	SU-76 Company HQ	T-70	Tank	1
Yes	SU-76 Battery	SU-76	AFV	5
Yes	SU-76 Battery	SU-76	AFV	5
Yes	T-34/85 Platoon	T-34/85	Tank	4
Yes	T-34/85 Platoon	T-34/85	Tank	4
No	T-70 Company	T-70	Tank	5
Yes	T-70 HQ	T-70	Tank	1
No	82mm Mortar Company	82mm Mortars	Gun Team	6
No	ZSU-17	ZSU-17	AFV	3
Yes	Churchill HQ	Churchills	Tank	1
Yes	Churchill Platoon	Churchills	Tank	5
Yes	Churchill Platoon	Churchills	Tank	5
Yes	Churchill Platoon	Churchills	Tank	4
Yes	Valentine Platoon	Valentines	Tank	5

Well, that was my perfect three projects for 2021, a good one, a cheated one and one that was all over the place! I’ll be back soon with a cup of single-origin, cold brew flat white artisan coffee with more thoughts from the hipster’s beard.

– Dunc