Update - 2nd and 3rd Weeks of June 2013

Hello again folks,

As always, I've been busy on the hobby front. I have been beavering away with Bolt Action with another game in the bag, as well as the assembling of more 28mm British Soldiers.
Although on Sunday 16th June I took a few friends and had a crack at Airsoft - at a local Airsoft place called C3 Tactical near Longhope, Gloucestershire. It was a really great day out, despite the exhaustion it bought on. I would love to carry on playing it.

In project news, I have been busy building Commandos to try and help me win a game of Bolt Action, as my second game ended with another loss. I played a fellow British player, as we were the only two attending last week's Dice and Decks Club meeting with any Bolt Action.
 

The battlefield just prior to the start of my second game of Bolt Action by Warlord Games. The building in the centre of the field is mine and comes from a company called 4Ground and is a fine piece of terrain for any game.

 I took a Veteran list, and so was low on numbers, the game was a decisive loss, ending with both my officers dying when a Churchill tank rammed the house they were in and bought it crashing down around them!

My force for my second game of Bolt Action, I bulked some the numbers using models from West Wind Productions Secrets of the Third Reich 28mm game. Although the models are far larger than the Warlord Games models, they can certainly be used temporarily!

 I have decided to make 2 squads of 10 Commandos, using the remaining five men in the set to make officers/medics etc as needed.

I'll be updating as usual this coming weekend after I've built some more Dwarves for a game of Kings of War this Friday at Dice and Decks Gaming Club. Until then folks....

Some Recent Updates.

Well, it's been two weeks since I last updated, and so what has happened?

Well, I have been working on a miniature for Dice and Decks "secret santa" style swap. Which I cannot name or provide pictures for until after the 21st of December.
I have however, got pictures of a Sniper for Secrets of the Third Reich that I finished last week, I just need to varnish it and it's completely finished.

Front View

Back View

I used a Forge-World Warhammer 40k Horus Heresy Great Crusade Army list in a game against a fellow Dice and Decks gaming club member and lost, due to 6th Edition's killpoint system, but I did have the joy of deploying my Warhound Titan for the first time since I bought it nearly a year ago. It ended the game with some damage, but did cause mayhem amongst my opponents troops when it did get them, as it spent the first few turns sniping his tanks. He did try assaulting the Titan with his Chaos Lord and a squad of Chaos Marines, but they failed to do anything but hold it still for a turn or so...

The Titan with a squad of Chaos Marines attacking it.

The Chaos Lord tries to strike something important....

On Friday Square Orange Games once again honored Dice and Decks Club with it's presence, and I managed to get my hands on the box-set of Mantic Zombie Marines, which I have built a few of already, and have nearly managed to finish one of them;

One nearly-finished Zombie, ready to terrorise the table-top.

My birthday has passed, and one gift was a Dystopian Legions Kingdom of Brittania Infantry Section, which enabled me to have a proper look at the models for the first time. I am very impressed, the models are closer to 32mm Bushido models than they are 28mm models, and are highly detailed. There are 6 such models in the box, and I am highly anticipating this coming Friday when Square Orange once again visits to provide an order of the Firestorm Armada rulebook and a Dystopian Legions Kingdom of Brittania Starter Set and a set of Kingdom of Brittania Musicians.

The Dystopian Legions Kingdom of Brittania Infantry Section as it comes out of the box.

And for now this concludes my updates, but I imagine by the end of this coming weekend there will be more to post about, such as some 28mm Vietnam US Army Models I have finally got my hands on, but have not unboxed yet. Till next week readers....

Another 2 weeks of Painting updates...

Hello again readers, 
It's been another slow 2 weeks of painting due to other commitments, but here is the progress, which is minor in some cases, and quite decent in others.
So we start with some work on the UH-1 Black Hawk helicopter I'm building to go with a 28mm Force on Force Vietnam collection, as might be obvious, the helicopter is for the US, and more specifically, the US Army.
I've got the main body glued together, along with the main rotor assembly and the tail rotor:

Main body as of last weekend

Tail and rear rotor

The main rotor blades and the assembly for them

The cockpit has also been glued into position, but the chassis barely fits in around the cockpit and interior:

There is a seating bench that fits on the pipe and box shaped part of the rear of the interior. I just need to find where I put it on the painting table.....

The poor fitting bottom of the helicopter

Now we come to this weekend on this project, and I've started doing some painting, I've undercoated the main rotors, the engine for the same rotors, and I've painted the sliding doors that fit on the side of the helicopter's body, and additionally, I've part-painted the front nose of the copter. Finally, I've started attaching the clear plastic that represents the glass parts of the body.

Under-coated rotor blades

Painted nose, shown dry-fitted to the main body of the helicopter

Under-coated engine

Side-view of the helicopter so far

Other projects of the last two weeks, I've actually assembled and started to paint another Armoured Suit for the squad of them I have for my Secrets of the Third Reich British force:

Main coat is done, now for the flag on the left shoulder, and the weapons and metal areas of the suit before attaching the head and varnishing the model. Next to the WIP model is a previously completed suit for comparison.

This coming Friday I have a Warhammer 40k game against a fellow Dice and Decks gaming club member, using Forgeworlds Space Marine Legion army list from the Horus Heresy boo, and I have a surprise involving some alterations on the force organisation chart....
Anyhoo, I've started to add some more yellow to the old Rogue Trader Land Raider, and a Veteran I started a while ago, but some problems have developed with the yellow paint being too low in pigment for an effective coat of paint, but I have some work in progress pictures anyway:

Old Rogue Trader Land Raider being souped up

One veteran, which by chance shows the size when compared to an Empress Miniatures 28mm SAS trooper

I have also done a bit towards my Dystopian Wars Land force, with work on the Landship and a base of small tanks being worked on:

The Landship so far

Very small tanks, which are very big in the fluff, and Dystopian Legions, where a concept render is available to view on Spartan Games, being equivalent to a Warhammer 40k Baneblade in size

Finally, as a end to the update, I have also begun work on one of three Cruisers for my Firestorm Armada Directorate fleet:

Just started on the basecoat

And that's another two weeks of progress, bar some work for Dice and Decks Christmas Miniatures swap, which I'm still unable to share any progress on as of yet, a few more weeks and I hope to show the finished progress once the person it's being painted for receives it.
I shall attempt to update this blog once a week as it used to be on a more regular basis again.
Until next week....

The plan for the year ahead - 2 months on.

On the 3rd September I posed my ideas and plans for the year ahead in terms of my Wargaming hobby, and now, nearly 2 months on (give or take a week) am writing to explain how it's going.

Well,
I've started the Vietnam Wargaming, with the Force on Force expansion book for the period from Ambush Alley in my hands, and it's a good book, even compared to the Afghanistan expansion book. I have two models for it, one of which is coming along (a 1/48 Huey Hog helicopter). So that's one goal that's going on.

As for painting my Secrets of the Third Reich Brits, nothings changed at the moment, and the same again for Dystopian Wars. Well, actually, thinking on it, I have a land force for my Kingdom of Brittania force, and have started painting it, with more painting planned for this weekend. However, in terms of my sea force, nothing's changed dramatically, except I've done a bit to the Olympus Class Troop Carrier, it's been undercoated, and I've started painting the thousands of tiny windows.
Bolt Action has had a few more models built for it, but overall no real progress.

Warmachine is another new game that's taking up alot of my time in terms of painting and buying of models, since as mentioned in previous posts, I'm participating in a league where games escalate on a monthly basis, so new models, which in turn need painting.

Dystopian Legions is out next month, and so I'm waiting on that project.

The second Black Powder era has sort of blended into my plans for Dystopian Legions, with a Sudan era paint scheme being formulated in my mind. (Wait and see being the main theme here folks).

Firestorm Armada is progressing, with the main ship for my fleet being painted and finished, and a Frigate also nearing completion, I have a few ships for another fleet also being prepared (the biggest of which has been started as stated in another post). So progress is happening in this area folks.

So, my opinions, progress is slow, but I am starting to get back into getting things done and painted. I'll update again around Christmas in terms of seeing how well my plans are coming along since the 3rd September.

Expect my standard weekend updates as usual.

Until next time, readers.....

The Plan For The Next Year.

I thought I'd share my plans for my wargaming hobby for the next few months/year. 
Some of it's the usual hobbyist ideals, some of it is new stuff and ideas. 
So in no particular order or importance, we begin to examine the list:

1). Finish my Secrets of the Third Reich British Force.

This involves painting a few more men, the HMG and then assembling and painting the final 4 British Steel, which is going to take a bit longer than the rest, as I think some converting is in order to make them more individual, as befits members of an elite team. Plus it makes them look better on the table.

2). Get the Dystopian Wars fleet fully painted.

This is coming along, and I think I'm holding off on these painting projects a bit due to the number of models per force I need doing. I'm working on a cruiser, having just done a Frigate.

3). Paint the Urban War stuff.


I haven't mentioned this game on this blog yet, as I've not got alot to say on it yet. It came to light at the Dice and Decks Charity Event back in July (my summer has flown past), as Square Orange Games has a fair volume on show, so a club member bought some (a fine set of the Junkers faction - Futuristic Romans), and talked me into doing likewise with a different faction, so i selected the Viridian Colonial Marines, who reminded me alot of the guys from Aliens, crossed with Helghast from the video game Killzone. (All images from the Urban War website: http://www.urbanwarthegame.com/game.php). I got the starter set, a blister pack of 2 Snipers, and a HMG Team. So far I've painted a Sniper, and Three Colonial Marines, including the Sergeant, who doesn't stand out a great deal, except for a vaguely different pose and the addition of some Sergeant's stripes I've painted on myself. I'll update the pictures up this week.
 

4).  Paint and finish the Bolt Action stuff for a game.

I'm planning on this being done sooner rather than later since the game has been released early, and is now open for purchase. I'll be travelling to get some paint so I can crack on with this on Friday. 

5). New stuff planned.

I've got three major projects planned, as always, new stuff. 
One is to have a crack at a Vietnam era game, so I've made this easy, it involves the Vietnam supplement for Force on Force, called "Ambush Alley" and covers 1965-75. This has come about from a rather incredible game and board featured in the September 2012 issue of Wargames Illustrated. Models, I have already scouted for and come up with two ranges; West Wind, and as always for Force on Force; The Assault Group. West Wind I'm planning on using for their APC and Artillery, as well as some supplement infantry for variety.
Two, is to have a second "Black Powder" period set, at the end of the era, complimentary to the evolution of warfare after Napoleon, I'm aiming to get some models for either the First or Second Sudanese Campaigns, 1882-5 and 1896-98 respectively. More likely than not, I'm going for the First Sudanese Campaign, as I am hoping, in a money-saving operation, to try and convert Warlord Games Anglo-Zulu War British to match the uniforms and gear of the Sudan War, which is basically some leg alterations and cuffs of the jackets, and a pugaree on the Pith Hat.
Three, is to gear up and have a go at Dystopian Legions, a new game from Spartan Games, this is a 28mm game that represents the same era and universe as Dystopian Wars, of course, I'll be collecting the Kingdom of Brittania, whose troops are basically the same as for the Anglo-Zulu War/Early Sudan War in uniform, except for some slightly futuristic technology and a metal breastplate, but still Pith hats all the way.

Dice and Decks Charity Event 2012 - Fly Another Day - What went on!

Yesterday (14th July), saw Dice and Decks Gaming Club run their second all day charity event for the West Midlands Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Support. The day consisted of a 16 player Warmachine tournament, a Magic the Gathering Tournament, and a variety of demo games from the likes of; Bushido (which I got a starter set for - really nice models), Infinity (Ran by Square Orange Games, who were also selling a variety of products), Heaven's Fall by Casket Games, Kings of War and others besides.

The day started off around 9ish with players arriving, with organisers being there from around 8 onwards, despite a late night of organising and set-up the day before.

There was also a raffle and Charity auction ran by John/Von - who also played in the Warmachine tournament, and has a write-up here: http://kaptainvon.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/magnus-the-warlord/ 

Early estimates put the total raised for charity at around £1050, just £54 short of last year's total.

All in all, a highly successful day, I came away with yet more stuff to paint and build; including some Dystopian Wars reinforcements for my Kingdom of Brittania fleet; a Olympic Class Troop Ship (resembling the Titanic, and certainly a large ship in comparison to most of my fleet - and it has a massive number of windows for me to paint) these are troop carriers and so are premier at Boarding Assaults and re-supplying Assault points to other ships in the fleet, also purchased was another Ruler Class Battleship for a bit more of a kick in the fleet's firepower, and an Avenger Class Aircraft Carrier to hassle the enemy and provide support.

I also have as previously mentioned, a Bushido; Prefecture of Ryu starter box, and a few more British Steel Armoured Suits for my Secrets of the Third Reich.

Updates of the week.

This week I have been a bit slow on painting.
I've started painting more troops for Secrets of the Third Reich (one being the member of my platoon rifle squad carrying a Boyes Anti-Mech rifle).
In addition to this I have also finished another Infantryman for my Napoleonic force, and a Taliban insurrectionalist for my my Force on Force collection.
The Corporal for my first squad of the platoon that's started my Bolt Action collection has been finished, along with a rifleman. I'm very pleased with these miniatures and will add pictures over the weekend.

Secrets of the Third Reich - Update 2 of the week.

Last time I did an update on my Secrets of the Third Reich stuff was on the weekend, where I promised some pics, which are included here. I've done more than I thought this week so more models are done!

 I have also got at least two more of the Infantry Squad undercoated. It is worth noting I've named each model/character, and kept notes on which squad there are in and weapon they are carrying. This also helps with fiction and background storytelling (I'm in the process of writing a small bit of fiction for these guys as we speak.

Here's the pics, sorry about the focus, the lighting here at the moment is atrocious! (And I'm just rubbish at photo-taking!)

Here we have Sergeant Bryant of the Command Squad

One of my 2 Snipers (Very pleased with the camouflage!), not decided on which this is yet.

Lieutenant Everett, Commander of the force.

Private Moses, one of the most basically armed troops, with just a rifle!

Secrets of the Third Reich - Updates.

Hello again folks, I'd thought I'd go through some more recent updates to my venture into West Wind Productions Secrets of the Third Reich Weird WW2 Game. 

I've finished my platoon Lieutenant, and an Infantryman with Commando Carbine, gotten most of the way into painting the Sergeant in the Command Squad and started on a Sniper. I'll add pictures of these early next week.

Next Friday there is a demo game of Secrets of the Third Reich at my local club, and another game between me and my opponent from last week (if you saw my last post this will have been explained). This time we aren't holding back units and are deploying what we have; so Werewolves, HMG teams and snipers are all going to join the Infantry this time around....

Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Secrets of the Third Reich - First Game and Impressions

Today folks I played my first game of Secrets of the Third Reich by West Wind Productions with a fellow member of Dice and Decks Gaming Club.

We tried a squad on squad run-through and found it very quick and easy to learn the rules, and so we had two quick run-throughs before going straight into a quick match between a Command Squad and a Rifle Squad on each side, with me using my British and my opponent using the Germans. We decided to use a 15RP limit and so we used body armour, and then upgraded the squads to use various weapon types. I won each of the run-throughs and then the match we played, using the board and the terrain to mask my troops and force my opponent to advance at me, meaning I could get a few shots in before getting some back. 

Casualties work in an interesting way in SOTR, after hitting your enemy (on a 4+, with modifiers for cover and terrain adding a +1 or +2 modifier), you roll on a chart comparing your weapon type (Rifle = Light Infantry, or Boyes Anti-Mech Rifle = Light Anti-tank for example) against the armour of your opponent, there are then two numbers for required to roll, the first (higher) number is the roll needed to produce a "Goner" result, killing your opponent, whilst a second number is the roll needed to "Down" your enemy, representing wounded but not killed troopers. Light Armour meant this was a 5 and a 3 respectively for all the troops we used. 

We found that cover is a life-saver in this game, without it, not even armour can protect basic infantry enough for them to advance through a hail of weapons fire. On average, I would say for each time a squad fired, at least 3 troops were killed outright with around 1 or 2 more downed, effectively halving the squad. 

As a review of the game I can say I am deeply impressed, rules are easy, I feel confident enough to play without the rules needing to be constantly open in front of me. The special rules haven't been truly learned to tried yet, we tried the Optical Range-finder, which removes adds a +1 modifier to the hit roll. I think they will add a greater level of detail to the game. I highly recommend this game folks! Seriously, have a go!

Secrets Of The Third Reich - Another New Game.

I've decided in the last two weeks to start a force for West Wind Productions game; Secrets Of The Third Reich, due to the large number of models available and the background story for the game.

It's World War II, but D-Day in June 1944 was not the success it was in our timeline, instead Atomic Weapons have devastated London (Germans having stolen atomic weapon designs from America's atomic project) and Berlin, and the war has ground to a stalemate. The Germans have deployed a chemical weapon: V Gas, turning people into Zombies. The Soviets have become a seperate faction from either side; they continue to fight the German Nazis, but due to invading Finland and Swedon, have began a war with Britain and America also.

The Germans have supernatural beings; Werewolves and Vampires walk in the ranks. All factions have access to Mechs; walking tanks, with great variety, although the majority are bipedal. Traditional WW2 Vehicles remain in service alongside these machines, albeit with upgrades designed to stop gas attack and chemicals. Britain has become Nationalised, and is on it's last legs. Kent is Zombie territory due to V-gas attacks. Gas Masks are the norm for all troops in all armies. Armoured suits form part of the major factions (USA, Germany, Soviet and British), with different factions having variant versions. Drop Suits are also a feature.

There are two books for the game; the Core Rulebook, which features the basic rules, background and army lists. The second book being the Doomsday expansion, which adds to the rules, Errata on existing rules are also a feature, but new Units (Spider Mechs for the Soviets, Wasp Drop Troops for the British and so on) for existing factions along with variant Army Lists are present (E.g. Temple and MI-13 for the British). New factions are also presented such as Partisans.

After a read, I feel that I could manage a game without a huge amount of difficulty. The rules read as simple and effective, with orders being the basic way of controlling the troops in your force. Officers are important, and this shows by the higher the officer; the more types of orders your troops can perform.

I have the British Starter Set for the game, along with one (so far, with 4 more en route to make a legal unit) British Steel Armoured Suit. I have managed to make a legal army list using the starter set, with two spare troops.

Box art for the starter set

The contents of the starter set

Army lists are composed using RP as the currency for units and upgrades. Upgrades come in two forms; unit upgrades (e.g. Adding a special weapon to the unit) and force upgrades (Body Armour for the platoon), although these upgrades normally miss out Support units, as these have their own Special Rules which make up for this. The Core Rulebook uses the example of 50RP as the guideline to aim for when designing your force, and so this is what I'm going for. So far I've reached 29RP, including the British Steel Armoured Suit Squad, which without takes my force to 23RP using just the Starter Set. I've got two force upgrades, boosting their 'Cool', which represents troop confidence and courage; from Green to Veteran, so hopefully they will stay in the fight longer. The second upgrade is body armour, making the troops a bit more hard-wearing. Weapons are mixed as the majority don't seem to cost anything; Carbines, Brens, and Boyes Anti-Mech rifles all feature in my Rifle Squad. Snipers and a Vickers Heavy Machine Gun team come as the basic support options provided by the Starter Set.

The models come in metal, with slotta-bases. They are all (bar the HMG team) come as one piece models, except the heads, which are interchangeable as part of West Wind's Seperate Head System, enabling more customisation. The heads are provided in sets of 4, and you get more than you need, with the vast majority being virtually identical.

Heads to be attached... and have (as of 26/06/2012)

My first game is on Monday, against a fellow member of my local wargames club. I will provide information on what we have found out, as well as an oveview of the game/games we will have played. 

All in all this looks like a very promising addition to the catalogue of games I play.

Tomorrow I will stick in some pictures to fit in this post! Stand-by!

6th July 2012 Painting Competition at Dice and Decks Gaming Club

On 6th July 2012 Dice and Decks Gaming Club is having one of it's reasonably regular painting competitions, with a variety of categories for members to enter. I have already got two entries ready to enter the Single Miniature category (Professor Erazmus from West Wind Productions Empire Of The Dead series, and a British Steel Armoured Suit from the same companies Secrets Of The Third Reich series). I'll stick pictures of these up post-competition, in case club members who visit this blog get an early glimpse of their rival entries.  I have effectively painted the British Steel model twice, as I washed it with badab black a little too much to begin with, dulling it to the point of no detail being visible, so I went back and re-painted it all. I'm pleased with it alot - and 4 more are en route and will be delivered to me on the 6th.
However here's some work in progress images of the Secrets of the Third Reich British Steel model:

Front View

Side View

Close-up of the Union Jack symbol on the left shoulder

 

However, my latest idea is to enter a 54mm miniature into the Open category, in this case I decided to use a figure from my 54mm Victrix Napoleonic Infantry set. Instead of doing a red coat, I've decided to convert it a bit; and turn it into a member of the 95th Rifles (fans of the Sharpe series will like this one!). 

I've chosen the body with the least work needing to modify it (it already has a belt which the others lack, for example). The shako hat needed to be the most modified thing - requiring a filing on the badge, before being redone with green stuff to create the right symbol. 

The next stage is to remove the bayonet from the musket and then turn the musket into a rifle. As well as add a few more details to make the weapon look better.
Work in Progress images here:

The Shako badge basic shape

The body I selected to convert into the Rifleman

Converted rifle, made from a musket

 

Pictures from my Work in Progress Dystopian Wars fleet are finally here (Sorry this has taken so long, folks!):

Two Attack Class Frigates with a Tribal Class Cruiser.

I apologise for lack of turrets on the Cruiser, but I'm still painting those! I am greatly pleased with my WWII style "Spitfire" style colour scheme, being used on all units.

One completed base of Tiny Fliers!