June and July 2014

Hello again Folks,

I've been busy rolling along with more Bolt Action related stuff, a few more Germans have been assembled or painted, and the Church mentioned in my last post has also been assembled more completely, but it is not finished yet and so has not been completely glued, but the front is looking more stone coloured than before.

 I have also played three more Bolt Action Games since my May post was written (I apologise it was alot later published than planned, so these two posts are very close together). The first game was my Late War germans vs Late War British, and was a great game, my church was the centre piece of the game, and really changed the way the game was played, as the forces split around it and so two battles took place on the same board! Plus despite being an eventual loss, it was a game with a decidingly amusing circumstance, my troops are awful when it comes to rolling hits and wounds on a dice, so I was shocked when my Lieutenant and his bodyguard blasted away 4 enemies in one round of shooting (they both have SMGs, so 2 shots each, both hit and both wounded!), then even more so (not as much as my opponent, whose shocked expression was priceless at this next bit), my Colonel and his bodyguard, who are similarly armed with SMGs, rolled 2 hits out of 2 shots each, and wounded on all 4 as well! 8 kills for 8 shots from my officer units was an amusing and defiant way to end a game full of bad luck.

The second game was my Late War British and US force vs a Late War German Panzergrenadier force,  I lost, but some great moments were had. My highlight was a squad of Commandos, all armed with SMGs and 1 with an LMG, assaulted a Half-track carrying the German commander, and destroyed it. leaving the officer to walk, although he was stuck there until the Commandos were killed. I realised after the game he should have jumped out and defended the half-track according to the rules, but this wasn't realistic anyway as he was alone and would have been outnumbered 8 to 1!

My third game (two days ago) and is pictureless, was my Late War Germans vs the Russians, who won without a second thought about it. My dice rolls were a disgrace to wargaming, misses and failed morale rolls all around! The Tiger was destroyed before it could do anything, and the Panzer IV was destroyed shortly after in Turn 2 before it could destory the Russian tank that terrorised my army for the rest of the game.

In other news, the main British player at Dice and Decks made an interesting suggestion - as I have a desert coloured Realm of Battle gameboard - of which 4' by 4' of it is finished, why not collect another new Bolt Action force each for the Desert campaign! I agreed, and we've decided to be a bit more organised as these forces will be specific for a board and opponent, which means we won't be going overboard straight off the bat! He chose the British 8th Army, and I will be collecting the Afrika Korps. I have ordered the Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps set (these arrived last week), and am also using a few extra men from the Early War German sprues I ordered to make up correct sized units (I was intending to use Late War models, but they are big when compared to the Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps models). This force will represent my Late War German army from earlier in the war, so I have already built some models - a representation of the Lieutenant from my 1st platoon, in the Desert, so the pose is similar, but with a slight alteration , his MP40 is being held down and he is using binoculars rather than holding an MP40 in one hand as he points with the other. Another is a Artillery/Air observer with a radio, who looks good so far. I am very excited about this force as it is such a different kettle of fish from the Late War. Although I intend to get one British thing for the desert - the M3 Grant, as this is my favourite WW2 tank due to a book I read when I was 11. We between us, stated the end of July as the original date for our first desert game, but due to the fact we've both flown through the buying stage and are now building our armies, we've decided to try and get a game on the desert board this Friday!!! So I have got some vehicles on the way as my opponent has been sneaky and got his already! A Sherman II and a Dingo scout car are the enemy's big toys! I have a Hanomag and Sdk Fz 7 for transport, and a Panzer III Ausf L for my big puncher!

The Perry Miniatures DAK box

A new Hanomag from my June purchases

A few of the DAK models assembled and started to be painted

My converted officer (mentioned below) with my DAK Lieutenant

Most of my DAK force so far

In more good news, my Flak 2.0cm 38 on wheeled trailor has finally arrived over 4 weeks later than planned, but it is also swapping into the Afrika Korps force as it came with free crew! One of whom is wearing shorts, so can only be Afrika Korps, one is now my Major for the Afrika Korps force (a slight error, as the seated 3rd crewman doesn't fit so I need to make a new 3rd crewman for the weapon). It is assembled as shown below and I am very chuffed so far (if a bit weary of the thin barrel of the gun!). Also shown is the Major, with his conversion - an MP40 slung over the right soldier, the sling is comprised of pieces of sling taken from other rifle slings on varous sprues.

Crew of the 20mm Flak Gun

The assembled 20mm Flak gun on its wheeled trailer, something I've always wanted for this game for a while

I've also had a proper game of Bolt Action using this Afrika Korps force against a British 8th Army force on my Games Workshop Realm of Battle Desert Board, the game went well, being a game of attrition with an additional objective to take and hold on the top of the hill to the right of the board in the pictures shown below. All of my DAK infantry squads carry anti-tank grenades and this was used to great effect on the enemy Sherman (and destroying it that same turn) that had taken out my Panzer Ausf III Ausf L early in the game, my troops also fought to the last man on top of the hill holding the objective, as large numbers of British troopers assaulted it, althought the British Command Squad was obliterated by my Forward Observer landing a heavy howitzer direct hit on it, doing huge amounts of damage to the three man squad.

The desert board, showing the hill on the right of the board that had the objective on it

My Afrika Korps force for it's first game; Hanomag, Sdk Fz 8, Panzer III Ausf L, two infantry squads, anti-tank team, Lieutenant, Forward Observer and 20mm Flak Gun

Panzer III gone!

Taken out by that Sherman, about to be attacked by the infantry squad in the Hanomag which drove out in front of it

The rest of the force takes the hill, on the top left you can see British 8th Army troops charging the hill

British Veteran Infantry skirt round the bottom of the hill, watched by the DAK Lieutenant, Infantry and Sdk Fz 8

Infantry Squad destroys the Sherman

Since these occurences I have also been back Airsofting, and now have my own gun and gear for this, after a bit of time spent thinking, and using my Digital Woodland pattern USMC uniform, I have decided to try and go down the route of a US Vietnam War loadout, so my airsoft gun is an M16 from the start of the Vietnam War, with three-pronged flash suppressor and no forward assist device on the receiver. I also have soem new webbing and a helmet on the way as well. Thus why I haven't been doing many wargaming things this last month.

I have also tried using Bolt Action for the Vietnam War, shown in the pictures above, however, this isn't a massive change, using squads of around 7 men and still using assault rifles as 2 shot 24" range weapons, but using alot of cover. However, more men and equipment/vehicles might alter the way it plays.

 This last game was a British and American force against my German Late War force (which is expecting a new toy) boosted by the Anti-tank rifle team, forward observer, Hanomag and Panzer III. A great game, although it didn't finish, it did get going, and my Tiger I actually did something and destroyed a Universal Carrier first shot of the game, and had a crack at a Churchill, but only stalled it at game's end. Bad dice rolling once again cost my infantry dearly, few casualties by my shooting dice rolls, and good dice rolling by my opponents saw my infantry dissappear.

The field from last Friday's game (25.7.14)

My force in the deployment zone, viewed from the left flank (sorry for the skewed view)

View from the Anti-tank team's position across the board

This week I am going to be playing Batman: The Miniatures Game, so I've been painting miniatures for this as well. I am very pleased with how my Batman from The Dark Knight Rises film, he has the right colour on the armour and the cape is a suitably different shade from the rest of the model.

Batman and the Ninjas of the League of Shadows, the unpainted model in front is an NVA from The Assault Group.

I'll give a report of how this game played next week hopefully! I'm also starting yet again to paint my Late War Germans, including some variant colour schemes, and the Afrika Korps, with reinforcements coming as well.

So until next time folks!

Easter Holiday/Mid-April Updates

Been a while since I last posted, I apologise.

I have however, been busy enough to merit a reasonable length blog post this time around. Concering various gaming systems as always, and a little bit of scenery.

So let's start things off with another dose of my amateur history - the military of the ancient Romans. I have once again returned to the realms of Hail Caesar, and the release of their latest Late Republican Romans has got me heading for a new and hopefully, will-be-finished-this-time force for the period of the Roman Civil Wars started by Julius Caesar and ended by his nephew Octavian.
My knowledge on the subject is quite extensive (he says) in the majority of elements as my collection of books on the subject is quite varied and large. However, I cannot say nor claim to be an expert in any sense.
I have a box of 24 Late Republican Legionaries, which is already partly under construction, although I am basing each legionary individually, but have a movement tray for gaming purposes. The Centurion is the first to be assembled, and is a very slight conversion, in that I have used a helmet from the later Early Imperial stock from Warlord Games, which has been shaved down to represent a Coolus pattern helmet from the era I aiming for, this is due to the fact I am not a big fan of the provided Centurion's helmet - designed to be a type based off Greek heritage, it includes a face element, but was not ever designed to be worn down on the face, and to me looks odd and so is not likely to be included in my force.
I have also taken to modifying some of the Montefortino helmets included in the force. In that in order to fit in with the style I am aiming for in my force I have removed the crests from the helmets, which makes the force look more rough and ready, and it helps make the Centurion stand out even more. However, I may not do this to every helmet, which makes the century look less uniform. Which I feel suits an ancient army, the romans were not 100% the same in terms of a uniform for every man, sword and dagger hilts were decorated depending upon the wealth of the soldier, the Lorica Hamata, or mail armour was a reasonably uniformed element, but tunics would probably have been various colours, which I will not enter debate on.
Here's the finished Centurion and a few work-in-progress pictures:

The newest romans from Caesar's legion

The sprues as they come from the box

View of the Centurion from behind, showing the chain mail and scabbard details

The front of my finished Late Republican/Civil War era Roman Centurion

Standard bearer/Vexillarius of the century being represented

Basic legionary, with the helmet cressed removed

A legionary mid-way through painting, this isn't the same one as above, in case my progress seems even slower than believed!

And to lead this new army are of course, Legates and associated ranks, which i found relatively cheaply from Foundry miniatures on ebay, brand new. They provide a bit more variety and a less "imperial" look to their gear, and so I feel more comfortable using them than another set of Roman officers from Warlord Games.I will post pictures of these in my next blog post after I have based them.

In other news I have started playing Malifaux, a game of Victorian and Gothic Horror mixed together. I have started with the Guild faction, the closest thing to the law in the game's background. I have a force, it is based around Lucius, a Henchmen, a low level commander in game terms, but perfect for my favourite aspect, the creepy soldiers of the guild, shrouded and kitted in long coats and deep shadow causing hats, along with large rifles. So far I have finished a Guild Captain, who came in the boxed set for Lucius, whilst this came with five models, and a further three riflemen came in a seperate box. Below is my progress for this force so far:

My Guild force under Lucius as it currently stands

The Guild Captain, fully painted

I have played my first game for this on Friday (5th April), and despite starting off with what I thought was a tactical advantage, I was resoundly beaten. I did come to realise that Guild Riflemen, a type of Guardsman and some of my favourite looking models from the range are very good units in terms of rules. They are capable of supporting each other, add defence to my current crew commander and can combine their activation to enable one riflemen to shoot three times, all the while ignoring cover bonus defences.

I have also gained an addition to my Kingdom of Brittania force for Dystopian Legions, one of my squads is equipped with a flamethrower, this was the squad from the starter set, and so is better off than the squad that I got second. This has been partially rectified by the newest addition, a HMG section consisting of a large HMG with gunner and a seperately based loader.

The new HMG section for my second squad

The Dystopian Legions force without the new HMG or the second Basset Tankette

In other game news, my UCM force for Dropzone Commander has grown and become stronger; with the addition of two Scimitar tank destroyers, large tanks with prototype laser turrets, a command Kodiak APC, which is based upon the Bear APCs used as standard transports, the final addition to this force is a Seraphim heavy fighter, used for ground attacks in game terms, it is a big aerial unit compared to the ground vehicles.

All of my UCM for Dropzone Commander so far

Top-down view of the Seraphim heavy fighter for the UCM

Seraphim before it's started being painted

Kodiak Command APC

A Scimatar Heavy Battle Tank

The three Condor dropships of the UCM force so far

My final current project not yet quite finished, but very soon is a Detached house for 28mm games, based on 18th-current era european architecture from 4Ground. It is pre-painted, but comes flat-packed and must be assembled, following the instructions as carefully possible. A door or two on the inside and the chimney are the only real things that still need to be done to polish this thing off.

The building as it comes in packaging

The sprues and assembly instructions

The ground and 1st floor mid-construction (yes, I did make a labelling error, but it made sense to me at the time), the building is now virtually assembled.

 And that concludes my latest updates, I hope to add another post before the week starts anew, with some more pictures of things in progress and hopefully, more finished miniatures. Until then, readers!

Updates; End of February, start of March 2013

Hello folks,

I have a bit of a variety in terms of what I have been working on this time around.

First up is a new game that I may or may not have mentioned in my last post; Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames. Since my last post I have got my hands on the UCM starter army and begun my eager work, only being slowed massively by a mixture of other projects and the 10mm scale miniatures, which, especially when it comes to infantry, are, for me at least, turning into a bit of an issue to paint.
Either way, I have managed to paint the first stand of infantry, and I have also managed to paint one of the Bear APCs and one of the Sabre Main Battle Tanks found in the starter army, as well as assembling one of the Condor medium dropships, which are pivotal to the game along with an additional stand of infantry and all of the ground vehicles from the aforementioned set. Pictures are available below:

The starter army as it comes in the box

Sabre Main Battle Tank finished in my colour scheme of desert camo

The elements of the starter force as they currently stand

The first infantry squad with their APC, which in game can carry three of these squads at once, with a Condor dropship carrying the APC

In scenery news, for a change, I have managed to spray 4 out of 6 of the Realm of Battle Gameboard segments and now have enough for a 4x4 board, which I'm currently in the process of painting the detail on with the aid of my university housemates. Pictures of the progress on this project are available below:

The dried up "ponds"  - my attempt at disguising the skull patches to make the board more generic

All of the painted boards so far, a fully painted 4'x4' gameboard, with two so far unpainted segments so the board can expand to 6'x2'

The hill area, painted by me with some help from my university housemates

Cracked ground patches, again an attempt at disguising the skull patches games workshop add to these boards

I have done a bit more work on the Judicator for my Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth force, having missed the last deadline for the journeyman league we had running at Dice and Decks, I am still keen to get this on the table, as it is a massive miniature and has taken up a great deal of my time. I have also been working on another Exemplar Knight for the same force.