My first regimental command stand!

This weekend, I completed the third battalion (a T-55 unit) for an East German panzer regiment. It's two battalions of T-55s: 

and one of T-72s:

It's part of my East German 9th Panzer Division (It will be either the 21st, 22nd, or 23rd Panzer Regiment, all of which were part of the 9th Division in 1981, as was the 9th Motor Rifle Regiment). 

That being the case, this is the first time I've ever needed a Cold War-era regiment/brigade command stand. As a visual aid, I go with the number of vehicles on the stand to quickly identify its command level; one vehicle for company command, two for battalion, etc. I have always used 1"x1" (25mm x 25mm) for my command stands. There's ample room for two vehicles to fit quite comfortably (and even a bush here and there):

However, three was just too many. They looked like they were on top of each other! As I doubt that I'm ever going to need command stands for dozens of regiments/brigades, I really don't want to buy a whole pack of a new, larger size square stand. So, after rummaging around in the numerous sizes I already have, I settled on 40mm x 20mm. It's what I use for 1/600 Napoleonic infantry:

Looks fine to me. As this regiment is partly T-72s, I've assumed the regimental commander would refuse to be seen in older equipment. You know how officers are. But the 2IC is still in his T-55. I threw in a BTR-50PK:

to represent a staff vehicle. Also at the regimental level was a forward air control (FAC) vehicle, a BTR-60 R975:

As usual, the best I can do is a filed down BTR-60PB.

Now all I need to do is convert my pre-existing motor rifle pioneer company into one for a panzer regiment (four extra MTU-20 AVLBs, tracked transport for the pioneers, and lose the ditch diggers) and I'll have the entire regiment completed. As soon as I can convince Mrs. History PhD to let me clear off the kitchen table, I'll let you have a look. 

More next time!

3mm Saxon command stand

I've been tinkering with my 3mm Napoleonics over the last few days. Although these little guys actually paint up quite quickly, I've just been poking along. For me, a hobby is supposed to be leisurely. I already get too much "work" at work. 

I'm not the most technologically adept person in the world (are any academics?), so when it came to the subject of standards for 3mm command stands, I enlisted a bit of help. I had no big problem reducing images to a size appropriate for 1/600, but my home printer's best resolution was still quite grainy and indistinct. Luckily, at work, we have an ultra-high resolution industrial printer and Gerold in the Drafting Dept. was kind enough to give me a bit of his time. I think he was a bit bemused by the tiny flags (he's not a wargamer), but he quickly got them looking quite crisp and professional. Thank you Gerold!

So, without further ado, two companies of Saxons of the First Battalion, Kürfurst Regiment: 

The other two companies are still in the works. Alternatively, they could represent the entire regiment in larger scale games, with the addition of the second battalion's command stand. 

I clipped off the flag and pole cast as part of the standard bearer figure. It was easily replaced by a short bit of .015" galvanized steel wire. I made the pole a bit taller than it really ought to be, just as my printed standards are a bit bigger than true 1/600 scale. These little guys benefit greatly from an extra bit of eye-catching "bling" and slightly over-sized standards on extra tall poles really help with that, as well as aiding in identifying the standard at arm's length. 

As with the supernumeraries at the back of each company, my command stand figures aren't intended to be historically correct in either number or placement. They're purely for decoration, given that the standard itself is the actual point of the stand. 

These white uniformed, bicorne wearing infantry with red facings can easily represent Saxons, Spaniards, Dutch, French in the short-lived 1806 uniform, and possibly early Italians, so separate command stands facilitate this interchangeability. 

More from me next time!

Do I really model 3mm at 1:1?

The answer is "yes and no" or "sort of". Let me explain....

Let's take one of my units at random to use as an example: this East German T-55 battalion for a motor rifle regiment:

A WarPac armored battalion in reality would have been 3 companies of 12 tanks each, which I do model at 1:1. Where I fudge a bit is the command stands. Each company stand, which I model individually, should be one tank and a 5 ton truck. The battalion command stand actually should have a UAZ-469, a BTR-60PB, a BRDM-2, and a tank. Rather crowded! The staff vehicles add nothing as far as combat value goes. They would just add atmosphere and "pretty up" the command stands. 

Before I started 3mm, I settled on a stand size that allowed me to model whole platoons on a single stand, as well as a smaller size for command. No matter what era or scale you game in, there's always going to be a balance that has to be struck between realism and playability (not to mention storability and affordability). Modeling every last staff and maintenance vehicle would add quite a lot of time, expense, and eat up a lot more space on stands. Command stands could no longer be smaller (and thus more easily picked out on the tabletop) than platoon stands. So, I elected to "edit" the command stands a bit. 

Years ago, when I used to be a rabid 15mm ACW gamer, I used a system (that many gamers use) to easily differentiate what level of command a given stand was, i.e. brigade, division, corps, etc. It was the number of figures on the stand. One for regimental command, two for brigade, etc. With 3mm, there are an absolute throng of command stands on the table and at 4-6ft away, it's a bit of a task to remember where your battalion or brigade commander is. So I've decided to go back and rework my command stands in the ACW style.

From now on, I'll have one vehicle for company level, two for battalion, and three for regiment/brigade. I don't foresee ever needing a divisional commander, but if I do, it'll get four. One of the main chores of 3mm wargaming is keeping straight what everything is and what goes with what. This will ease the burden, even if only a bit. So this weekend, I'm painting up the few extra Land Rovers and UAZ-469's I'll need and squirreling them onto my battalion command stands. I'll also need to order some 1/600 Mungas from Shapeways to add to my West German command stands.

More as the weekend passes.