FSE Command Vehicle

The last vehicle for my Federal States Europa (FSE) Platoon. This vehicle being the command vehicle has some obvious sensor arrays. I have not checked the vehicle stats but I should imagine it will have better Communication, and detection equipment and a more formidable ECM than standard vehicles. From my point of view this finished the vehicles for the Platoon. I will try to get the last infantry finished in the next few days, which will give me one complete platoon.

Thanks for the comments on my remembrance post I did not feel it right to reply to them there as I did not want to dilute my sentiment in any way.

 

Also on Saturday I was wished a "Happy Christmas" while the shop was playing Xmas songs. I like Christmas, but I like it in December. This trend for shops to bring it forward is quite frankly distasteful to me. It is of course done to increase sales. Having just finished Halloween promotions they are now hawking Christmas. I am sure that come January they will be pushing Valentines Day quickly followed by Easter always chasing so unachievable goal. I just wish they would stop rushing through the year, chasing holiday sales and instead just allow us all to enjoy the moment. AND KEEP CRIMBO IN DECEMBER!(Winge over)

 

And Finally for today, I made some cakes for work yesterday. Here are three of them. Someone told me you could make cup-cakes in ice cream cones so I just had to try it! The good news is that it does indeed work. So I had to cut down a "Flake" to make them look as much like ice creams as possible. The analogy falls about when you take a bite as it is not cold and is much more cake like! Still I like the effect, they taste OK as well but the ice cream cone has a very different texture than you would expect in a cake.

That's today's ramblings, still working extra shifts but anticipate the next blog post to be on Thursday. Until then take care and think about wargames, even if you can't get a game in. All the best Clint.

Rememberance.

Please join me this day, 11th November, in taking a minute in silence to remember those who who have suffered harm or death in the defence of Britain and the commonwealth.

 

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/

 

 

I would also extend those thoughts to every soldier in every country, it is after all not soldiers that start wars, but politicians.

The Indians are coming!

I Know, I know. Yes all right I know! I get it. I said I was not gonna post again til Sunday but today's Friday and I'm sticking something new on the Blog. Anyway about 8 or 9 months ago I ran a poll asking what my readers thought I should start as my next project. The most popular result was 15mm Sci Fi, which I have started, almost got one whole force painted based and ready to go, I have even started the second, (rival) force but have bogged down as I contemplate alien camouflage patterns. However the second favourite on the poll was 15mm Wild West! I have always seen this as a big battle game rather than a skirmish gunfight. I did look at both plains Indians and desert tribes. I settled on the Apache nations as one side as I simply had not seen a game with Apaches and had seen a couple with Sioux. Also as I wanted more of a Hollywood feel, my name is Clint after all, I see the Apaches more as an ambush force rather than a game where you put all your troops on the table at the start of the battle. For me this game will fit under the colonial wargames umbrella. Mostly when we think of Colonial wargames we think Sudan, Zululand, Boxer Rebellion etc. There are many more of course but as they don't have any blockbuster films associated with them we do tend to forget them. The Wild West and Indian wars also fall into the colonial (Victorian) era and have a huge wealth of films, both good and bad, tied to them not of course to forget the plethora of TV series.

SO I finally managed to paint my first 2 bases of mounted Apaches. The figures are LKM/QRF (http://www.quickreactionforce.co.uk/) look in the Frie Korps section on the web site. These figures were the best Apache Indian figure I could find and easily obtain. I actually picked them up at the BROADSIDE show this year the trader tends to carry about 4 packs to each show, so I bought them out. I like these figures, they are very characterful and fit the feel of a tribal nation. Of particular note is the figure hanging on the horses neck and firing a pistol while using the horse for cover. They did have some flash from casting, but they cleaned up easily and without too much effort. I shall be getting more. Some are armed with Pistols others with Rifles. Most if you look carefully have a knife in the belt as well. I feel they are well sculpted and a they come with a variety of poses in a pack it adds to the variegated feel of the fugues.

Obviously I have a long way to go with this project, having just completed 2 bases. I do however think that I shall enjoy getting them done. These 4 figures were my trial figures to see how they painted and most importantly what they would look like finished. Overall I like the setting, the figures and the background and am a big fan of Western films. I will talk about the rules I intend to use another time, but as this is just the very start of the project there is a long way to go.

 

Next post will be Sunday, (Yes I know I have said that before). Until then take care and paint a few figures roll a few dice and have some fun. All the best Clint

Stugs.

These are 2 Stug 3s by Battlefront. Both are resin from the Flames of war starter set. Another eBay purchase, they are nothing special as such, but are good value both in pounds and PBI points. One of the reasons for the good points value is the fact that they don't have a turret but a fixed gun mount. This is not too much of a drawback in PBI and is definitely worth the points drop. You just have to make sure you are pointing towards the enemy, which you would mostly be doing anyway to get the greatest armour value.  So from a PBI point of view a couple of very handy AFVs.

That's today's very quick post. Pressure at work denies me the luxury of either more paining time or more blogging time. Have a good week people and I will probably post next on Sunday. All the best Clint

SAGA day at club

 We had a SAGA day at the club. I had to leave early so only got two games in. My first game was against Dave, (He's not really a club member as he belongs to Walderslade club, but he's a nice guy and was most welcome). I Had the Vikings and Dave the Normans. The picture shows my last turn. As you'll know I have only played one other game of Saga, which is about average at our club. So going against Dave who has played many games, has all the armies and is playtesting new ones for the producers would be a forgone conclusion you would think. And you would be right. He played fair and explained the rules as he went which was beneficial. However he did manage to beat me quite easily despite my best efforts.
My second game was against Patrick, also fielding Vikings. This was a much closer game and I was actually winning but I left my warlord exposed and Patrick was able to send a fresh unit of Hearthgurd against him. The Rest of Pats army was decimated and his leader about 18 inches behind his front line well out of reach. Without going into details too much in the fight my warlord rolled 5 dice, and scored 1,1,1,1,2. While Patrick managed to inflict 3 wounds on the warlord and I failed to save any of them!  Curses. The dice gods hate me!

The pics are just random shots of some of the other games in progress. All in all I did have fun despite loosing both games I played. As mentioned earlier in the post I left early to get some sleep as I am on silly amount of overtime at the moment. Given the overtime I might have to go dark later in the week simply through lack of time to get anything posted.

I shall post again on Wednesday as I have finished a couple of things, but after that who knows.
Anyway enough of my waffle for now. Take care, have fun and talk again soon. Cheers Clint.

Tim's Anglo Danes against Patricks Vikings

Kevs Normans vs Stuarts Vikings

Relfie played Anglo Danes

Andy's Welsh vs Relfies Anglo Danes. 

2013 show game ponderings

At the club on Sunday Tim (IT miniatures http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/ ) should have a few samples for me to paint up for next years show game. As the ball has started rolling now, very slowly and with no real momentum yet. As WW1 East Africa was a subject I know nothing about I grabbed this book from Amazon a few weeks ago and managed to finish it 2 days back. This book would not even have popped up on my reading list if it was not for this hobby of ours. I found the book quite dry with lots of talk about different units with which regiment carried which type of rifle etc, and not concentrating on the campaign in much real detail. But given the title of the book I can't count that as a criticism. For me the joy of the book was that it has opened my eyes to a whole theatre of war that I knew absolutely NOTHING about. My ignorance was astounding! Given that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing I am now incredibly dangerous! I now have ideas for show games by the bucket load! My first decision will be the forces involved. Cavalry I thought before reading this might be interesting, but further reading has revealed to me that horses suffered from diseases and many if not most of them died within months of arrival. So Scratch the WW1 Cavalry battle idea! (I'll have elsewhere for that). What I am heartened by is the variety of troops involved. Germans would need to be one side so that decision is striped from my control. But opposing them I can pit Belgium, Portuguese or British. Although the French were not involved they did offer to send troops from Madagascar these were declined by the British for fear, I am told, of France getting a colonial foothold in Africa. Even when talking about the British as an opponent for the Germans, that might not actually mean British, but South African and other African colonies, Indian, or Caribbean. You could use English troops as well, either from the 2nd Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, or Royal Marines in the form of a British landing party. I shall try to broach the subject at the club on Sunday. Realistically I suspect the guys will be happy with whatever I decide. I don't want that to sound like they trust my judgement, that would be sheer folly! It would perhaps be more based on the fact that I will paint and build everything and they won't want to get in my way or muddy the water too much.

That's it for today. At the club on Sunday we shall be having a SAGA day. Assuming I don't forget my camera again (don't hold your breathe) I'll do a photo report on Monday. I have been given 48 Hours of overtime in the next 2 weeks so it is possible that I might not get too much painting done in the next couple of weeks, but needs must when the Devil drives! Anyway I hope to see you on Monday. Have a good weekend and keep your pets indoors with all the fireworks about. All the best Clint.

15cm sIG Grille auf 38t

 Wanting a change from the normal I selected a German self propelled gun as the next PBI vehicle. Thus we have the 15cm sIG Grille auf 38t (centre mount). I specify the centre mount as there was also a variant with a rear mounted gun, but I liked the look of this one and for no other reason I decided it's the one for me. It is of course from QRF (http://www.quickreactionforce.co.uk/) I have found very mixed quality from the company with regard to casting, but I am pleased to say this one was very nicely cast. The vehicle comes in 4 pieces and did require milliput and superglue to hold it together, just the same as I would for say battlefront miniatures, so I don't consider that a negative. I deliberately positioned the gun in a horizontal level as the distances over which it will be firing on the table top are minimal, therefore no elevation is required.
 Two crew are also included and they have limited room inside the contratpion so one is half sitting outside. In combat I am sure he'd be hunkered down behind the steel sidings, but for now he's perched on the rear edge. I have painted the crew in artillery uniforms as opposed to late war camouflage with red markings on their epaelettes. I am not sure if this is correct, so don't copy it thinking I know what I am doing, I don't I just went with what I thought as opposes to what I know. So only a 50/50 chance it's right! Details like this are not worried about at the club too much, don't get me wrong there is always one (usually me) who will point out any errors. the really observant will discern a "water and tan" (AKA Splinter A) helmet cover on the closest guy despite the fact that I said no camouflage. And the less observant will have just looked to make sure. It came out a little bit too dark but maybe it got wet and is drying out!
 This vehicle was a lot of fun to put together and paint, so much fun I shall no doubt send off for another as there really should be two together, both historically and to avoid the PBI single vehicle points penalty! It is surprisingly small vehicle but the 150mm howitzer should have a hefty smack to it, not that I expect it to be a game winner in any regard, just a little tabletop fun.
Slowly the German force is coming together a long way to go of course, but I am in no rush just enjoying doing a little every so often. You will know by now I struggle to keep on one project for ANY length of time. I do however slowly bring them to fruition (given enough time). Should I need to get something finished for a game 9 times out of 10 I do manage to (just). Which is all to say this very hap hazard approach works for me!

That's today's blog post. Let's all hope the weather improves for Guy Faulkes night until Saturday take care and paint a few figures!

Cheers Clint.

Battletech lance (WIP)

Here we have the currect lance of mechs I am working on, still a bit to do, but these are about 80% done. From left to right a 35 ton Panther, a 40 ton Cicada, a 60 ton Dragon and 70 ton Grasshopper. I must admit I have only piloted the Panther from this selection so I don't really know how to play them yet, particularly the grasshopper. I have painted them in Kurita colours (Red) mostly just to contrast with the green of the previous lance. I did not want them to be super bright so started with a black undercoat and a purple base coat, to build up a depth of the tone. Overall I am not unhappy with them. I have found that they do need a lot of cleaning up before painting. Loads of molding lines which have to be trimmed before painting, and I always miss a few unnoticed until the paint goes on. It's a pain, but worth going back and scraping or cutting them off to get a better finish. I appreciate that I got them all cheaper than RRP so I am willing to put up with the hassle. 8 mechs painted so far and a lot more to go yet (about 18). So it will take me a while to get through them.

 

Time is short so that will have to be the post for today. I shall offer a new post on Thursday. Thanks for reading and have a good couple of days.

Last US Infantry (PBI)

This should be the last of my US Infantry for PBI. I still have a couple more bits and bobs to do, but this should finish the actual infantry for the Yanks. Germans are another matter, I also have a 105mm Howitzer and crew to add. But generally speaking that is it for the US, at least for now.

WE have one last Bazooka team and a final command team and 4 Garand rifle stands. None of this is the most exciting painting project, but it does mean that they are "Finished" I never accept any wargames project as completely finished as there is always something you can add or optional troop choice or whatever. That said having already had two battles with these troops I do know that I have enough to play the game and enough to have a few choices with troop selection. Which means I can perhaps start a new project, or more likely progress another which has stalled or stopped.

Do I have any new projects to start? Obviously yes, the show game for a start as well as several other ideas. More of those another time. On an unrelated note on Friday night I was officially told that my job is no longer "at risk". I will admit to being worried about it I can now relax a little. It has taken the pressure off. I was told unofficially about 1 month ago, but with the NHS it is always worth waiting for the Official word. That's today's post. More on Tuesday. Until then take care and have fun.

Jim Barrowight!

 A single 28mm figure finished yesterday. This is "Jim Barrowight" from Crooked Dice. Obviously based on a Dr. Who character but I shall use it for a wide variety of games, most notably as a zombie survivor. Although I am also considering a "Sweeny" type game so he could be either a police detective or a  sinister vilian. so quite a versatile figure. I am also reminded of Terminator for some reason, probably the coat!The figure is armed with a pistol in a holster (on his hip) but otherwise carries no visable weapons. That said given the trench coat he could have anything under there, well anything smaller than a kitchen sink, not that a kitchen sink would be typically useful  in a zombie or cop game. I wanted a small break from 15mm WW2 so I took this figure on from the stack of lead which I have yet to finish. I am sure we are all the same and crave variety at times and I personally like changing painting scales, subjects and genres mostly because I find it hard to settle on one thing for long. It's probably a character flaw! Having said that I will be back to the 15mm figures today having already started my next batch.
Elsewhere in my wargames life I have been doing some background reading for the game I want to put on at BROADSIDE 2013. As a club we have settled on a WW1 game. And Tim (from Frontline/IT miniatures) will be bringing a couple of samples to the next club so I can have a practice painting them. I am very lucky that the guys will leave it to me to sort out exactly what we shall be doing and having started reading several ideas floating round my head. All have some merit, it's just deciding what I want it to look like and what I think will grab others imaginations! We do afterall want people to look at the game and then rush to buy some figures from Tim! Whether they will or not is another matter, as we all go to shows with a list in our heads. So I don't think it will happen on the day but with luck in the later months. Obviously one force will be German, but I am undecided on the opponents at the moment, could be Belgium, British or Portugese!

That's todays post, thanks for reading. All the Best Clint. Next update Sunday!

PBI Germans.

A couple of additions to the PBI German force I am creating. To the right is a Sdkfz 251/1D Hanomag Halftrack. You can just see on the machine gunners helmet cover that it has been painted in Oak Leaf (autumn) pattern. All my Germans are painted in a variety of camouflage patterns as well as Field grey. I wanted them to have a rag-tag "campaign" feel and not to be uniform. Maybe they are from different units and gave just been put together for this one mission, or maybe they are just using whatever uniforms they happen to have come across. The Vehicle is a King and Kerr resin one piece casting I picked up a couple of years ago and have only just gotten round to finishing. (As fast as usual!) Sometimes it just takes a while for things to get finished, other times I can manage it quite quickly, this was definitely one of those times mostly because I did not have a use for it. As the vehicle came attached to a resin base I have had to create a bigger base to avoid an obvious step. This will mean that I should add bases to all the German vehicles as well. If I do that, maybe I will to the American s as well, just to get a uniform look to the two forces.

Two LMG stands, both in a mixture of uniforms as mentioned above.These figures are Battlefront and are very nicely sculpted and cast, much better than the US troops. Given the difference in the sculpting I do wonder about the quality of their range as a whole, I can only imagine time will tell. The trees are simple twigs painted in a couple of different greys and with a grey-green side to one side. I am very happy with the effect they add to each stand. In a way it was necessary as the LMGs would have nothing to rest on otherwise!

Well I am not going to labour the point. That's today's post, thanks for reading. Next post is on Friday and don't forget we now have less than 9 weeks til Xmas! Take care Clint.

 

Two Axes, a Horse and a Helmet (but no camera)

Yes I admit it, I forgot my camera at the club yesterday. No one to blame but myself, so no pictures as such today. No excuses, all my fault. Saga players will guess from the title that I played my first game AGAINST the Anglo Danish army.I myself have Vikings, not because I had any affinity to the Vikings, but because I had a box set of the Gripping Beast Plastics, and no other reason. Frugality drove my army choice! Not that I am unhappy with the Norse, but if money was not a consideration I  most likely would have chosen Normans. However all this rambling does not tell anyone about the club on Sunday.

 

Not a terrible turnout at the club, most of the regulars, but only Tim and myself had bought our SAGA figures along. So we set up a very simple encounter 4 points each of my Vikings against Tims Anglo Danes. just between ourselves and just to learn the rules. Being a lazy git I did not have masses of choices and fielded two hearthguard, 1 Bereserker and one warrior unit for my points. Tim was far more courageous and selected a bigger variety of troops to better learn the rules. Well we did learn the rules slowly. I had read the rules through once several months ago so it took some time.

 

Highlights and low lights of the battle in order were. My berserkers chopped down a heathguard unit of Tims with lucky dice rolls and gained some fatigue. Thinking they were thus invincible I sent the 3 who survived to attack Tims warleader. Despite throwing loads and loads of dice they failed to inflict any wounds (well they did inflict 1, but warlords can ignore the first unsaved hit so they did nothing). Tim on the other hand single handedly wipes them all out! You could blame the dice, or a lack of armour, or me for attacking his warboss while fatigued. No matter what you blame the result was the same. This was compounded when one of my Hearthguard units charged into Tims Geburs (levy quality) and inflicted only 2 dead. Tims aggressive peasants killed two of mine, and I was forced to back of a couple of inches and stand exposed on my left wing.

Anticipating that Tim would reinforce his Geburs with his leader to fight alongside. I Chickened it and moved my leader as far away as I could, Erhm... I mean my commander decided to support my right flank. This subsequently worked in my favour giving me a fresh warlord and two fresh units against two of Tims units. I'm playing Vikings so I charged. By this stage I had started to use and "understand" the Battleboard. So as it was my turn I managed to drive back both opposing units inflicting heavy losses, but taking minimal losses myself and using the battleboard to reduce my fatigue. By the time Tim could get his warleader and supper levies across the battlefield his two units were devastated. One round of fighting his super levies, not a prospect I was cherishing with my warlord and a hearthguard unit. Did the trick and Tim conceded.

 

That game did take a while as we checked the rules and got to grip with the mechanics. So we had a second game. I reffed and Kevin and Relfie took joint command of my Vikings and Tim retained control of his Anglo Danes. As Kev and Relf had not played before I did a little coaching, suggesting options for the dice on the battle board. (Mostly they ignored me!) Both armies formed up and Tim put a unit of Dane-axes as a vanguard. The Vikings took one look at them and just charged! Subtle we aint! Let me just say hot knife and butter with fatigue to all Tims close units for the loss of a unit in close proximity. We then got to warlord versus warlord. No result as they continued to ignore the first unsaved hit from each melee. Then Kev and Relfie added a unit of warriors to the mix and despite Tim Killing more Vikings, Relfie and Kev managed to inflict 3 hits on the Anglo-Dane leader who could only save 1.

 

Post game analysis: The objective was to learn the rules. Which I think we did. I shall read them again before next time just so we know where I was getting things wrong! (I am not silly enough to think we got through it without making mistakes). But we now have 4 club members who have some passing familiarity with the rules, battle boards and concepts of the game. So I would say we have achieved the objective. All 4 of us have decided to set up a Saga day at next club. Kev and Relf have promised to get their figures painted, Kev doing Normans has only a couple of horsemen to finish off. I think Relfie is doing Anglo Danes, but am not sure, it could be Vikings. Stuart, not present yesterday will do either Vikings or Joms Vikings, Ian will do either Anglo- Saxons or Anglo- Danes. And Andy has bought Welsh at SELWG, but I am not sure how many he will ever get painted, The general consensus is that Stuart will paint them in the end!

 

So all in all despite the lack of camera it was a successful day. Thanks for Reading, next Blog post will be Wednesday. Until then take care, roll some dice and have some fun! All the Best Clint!