Chrisswim Stuff.

[chrisswim]

Trying MERDC, Not happy, the armor sand is too wide. I know the black is, but that I am okay with. I may need to put a few tabs of black or field drab on the vehicles.

[redleg]

Lookin good Chris! The only way I was able to get the sand and black squigglies small was to use a tooth pick, but mine leaves much room for improvement.

[chrisswim]

[pmskaar]

Wow! It certainly looks like your armies definitely have naval transport available, Chris.

[chrisswim]

Pete,
I need to keep Bellman Shipyards LLC open. Jason puts my stuff together, the ships. He has about 20 to do at his place, I have a few more I’ll move down at Christmas, Spring Break 2022, or next summer.

Here is yesterday & today’s painting. I am trying 3-tone Dark.
MERDC




3-tone Dark




The 3-tone is much easier and faster than MERDC. I have 6-7 companies in MERDC, So thinking of the 3-tone for the next 4 companies. Your thoughts, ideas, comments.




Of these bottom two pictures, (they are the same), which do you like best? Larger or smaller?

[Brigade Commander]

Okay, so I really do need to start doing 3-tone. Maybe I should start with K / 3-11 ACR. After all they are out front.

[chrisswim]

Yes.... the 11th ACR.

[redleg]

You know how this hobby works Jim. You say K Troop now, but before you know it, you will be building the entire regiment!

Good looking tanks Chris!

[Brigade Commander]

You know how this hobby works Jim. You say K Troop now, but before you know it, you will be building the entire regiment!

Good looking tanks Chris!

Let us see: Still a bit to go for the 3rd AD / 3rd Brigade. 54th FSB needs some work still and 1-40 FA(GS) as well. Need to start, then finish, Division Artillery HQ, 1-333 FA(TAB) and 3-5 ADA which I decided needed to be for the 3rd Brigade's support. Then since it is ONLY two more battalions, 2-3 FA(DS) & 4-82 FA(DS), I might as well complete the Artillery Brigade. Close to getting TO&E's* for the 421st Medical Evacuation Battalion - 3x Air Ambulance (45 Blackhawks plus everything else!) and 1x Ground Ambulance company (16?, 20?, 24? M-997's, sources are driving me batty on this one!) and 4-27 FA (MLRS) from the 41st FA Brigade under V Corp because I NEED to have a full battalion (27 launchers!!) of MLRS (a whole lot of "We bump back!") and you dangle the 11th ACR in front of me. I did not realize you were that cruel redleg. And yeah I was eyeing at least the 3rd Squadron because, well, they are right there in front of 3rd AD.

How it goes indeed.

* For a Medical Evacuation Battalion TO&E or TD&A? Even articles written by personnel that served at one time or another in the battalion do not seem to agree. sigh...

[panzergator]

Now wait a minute, here. You are only building 3rd Bde, 3AD. That's two tank battalions, a mech battalion, an artillery battalion, a DS maintenance company, and an MP detachment. The rest of that stuff is at Division. You can include JUST THE BRIGADE SLICE! Otherwise, since you are building the entire division support establishment, you must build 1st and 2nd Brigade, as well. Or are you going to sneak TWO WHOLE BRIGADES in under the tent flap?

[Brigade Commander]

Now wait a minute, here. You are only building 3rd Bde, 3AD. That's two tank battalions, a mech battalion, an artillery battalion, a DS maintenance company, and an MP detachment. The rest of that stuff is at Division. You can include JUST THE BRIGADE SLICE! Otherwise, since you are building the entire division support establishment, you must build 1st and 2nd Brigade, as well. Or are you going to sneak TWO WHOLE BRIGADES in under the tent flap?

Must be quiet! Remember: "Loose lips sink ships." And since we are discussing ships...

[Brigade Commander]

Now wait a minute, here. You are only building 3rd Bde, 3AD. That's two tank battalions, a mech battalion, an artillery battalion, a DS maintenance company, and an MP detachment. The rest of that stuff is at Division. You can include JUST THE BRIGADE SLICE! Otherwise, since you are building the entire division support establishment, you must build 1st and 2nd Brigade, as well. Or are you going to sneak TWO WHOLE BRIGADES in under the tent flap?

You know that will never work for me. To have a Brigade we must start with the Brigade HQ. Check,

We need combat power so as the 3rd Brigade we get to have two tank battalions and one Mech Battalion. Check, Check and Check.

It is standard for a Brigade to be blessed with artillery of its own so we shall mark it down as DS. Check. BUT, the Artillery must sometimes have assistance from others, like a TAB, to find the rowdy ones and hit them until they behave. WIP. The TAB sometimes needs someone to provide support it cannot do itself. We shall call it Division Artillery HQ. WIP. The rowdy ones may sometimes show up in aircraft so we need ADA. ADA comes in two versions in the early part of my time-frame and one type around GW-I. All three flavors a WIP.

Another fixture of a Brigade, at least during the time when the Army was a real army, was a FSB. After all the troops need food, ammunition, fuel, belts, shoelaces, etc. PLUS people to fix the really broken things, both equipment and, especially, people. And of course the battalion HQ. All four formations a WIP.

The last battalion sized formation to really make a Brigade a real threat is the Engineers. Combat Engineers. (You can just hear Sean Connery's voice!)

A platoon of MP's (a WIP) and Signal troops to keep everyone talking can only help. Check (sort of).

All of the toys together are what make a Brigade a Brigade! And that is how you end up with 1590 vehicles, with another 168 arriving around Wednesday with another 30 on back order and another much bigger order waiting in the wings for a sale. Never planned on a whole division. Told myself just a Brigade.Many of us, in many different hobbies, experience scale creep. Like 4-27 FA(MLRS) in the V Corps' 41st FA Brigade and 7th Army's, 7th Medical Brigade's 421st Medical Evacuation Battalion. A whole battalion (27) of MLRS. A whole battalion (45) of Blackhawks and (24?) ground ambulances. After the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd AD and the Artillery Brigade plus the 4-27 FA and 421st MEB are complete the 3rd Brigade of the 8ID(M) and the 3rd Squadron of the 11ACR should be the focus? It would be a division just three Maneuver Brigades and an Artillery Brigade from three separate divisions. After all they say everything comes in threes! It would be quite a thing to lay out. Not sure where though. Yow.

(In a Jim Carey voice) Somebody Stop Me.

[Brigade Commander]

Bilbo's quote is tailor-made for those jumping in to a hobby. If you do not keep your feet there really is no telling where you will end up.

[panzergator]

Im sorry. It's really too late for you, you kbow. There is nothing we can do. You ran out of brain before you ran out of money. There is nothing left for you now but to move to an abandoned hangar on an old WWII air corps base and live out your years subsisting on what GHQ leaves in your Social Security account each month. By the way, mine is the hangar next to yours...

[panzergator]

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