Board update 1

 As you can just and only just make out the board is coming on quite nicely. The main cliff is nearly done and I am just adding the rock "Staircase!" I really should add one more step for a smooth transition. Each step is now big enough for a 25mm base (I Hope) so with the final piece done tomorrow morning early I can then move on to the rest of the board. There are still decisions to make as I do want the board to remain versatile and not just a one trick pony. As such I think some of the terrain will be in the form of free standing items which may be put on afterwards. I have decided on a ruin of some description to go on the right hand side.  I do think this might start as a TAR7AN board, but by having free standing terrain pieces I can turn it into a LARA CRO7Tv board or something similar. As those types of games can also be fun. However as mentioned above TAR7AN is my current thinking.

I should have at least half the figures done by Wednesday and hope to show them then.

I am also thinking of starting an Egyptian board of the same dimensions as I have enough materials and knowing that desert terrain is so much easier than Jungle. But I promise not to start that just yet, as I need to get a little more of this one done first. So don't panic and think I'm starting something fresh just yet, I may manage to hold off until Monday!

Back to this board, I need to start thinking about what I will do on the left hand side where the surface is chipboard at present. I have always seen this as the goodies start zone, So I may just tree it up and put a rubble strewn sloe in so cart access is given onto the main area. I also need to think about the closest edge treatment. Current thinking is to do a small "cliff" to cover the height change, but I am not really sure, and open to suggestions for both areas. Maybe also have some form of ruined gateway on the rubble strewn path as well but I'll have to see how the first ruin works before committing myself on that.

For the main area I am thinking of maybe some mud huts, I know Tim at FRONTLINE makes some and I'll see him tomorrow so I can ask then, and maybe put an order in. I still need to clear the Idea of TAR7AN with Karl at Crooked Dice, but I think he should say I can do what I want knowing how 'he does not have an unkind bone in his body!' (to Quote Helena, "Who writes all the CD 'Fluff'!")

So that's where I am at, and my current thinking. Nothing is written in stone and everything is still fluid and likely to change so don't get to attached to the TAR7AN idea, But I was painting up Jane this morning ..... I'll show you on Wednesday, because I'm at the club on Sunday and need to sort out my PBI US Infantry force for a game with Graham. I plan to post the AAR on Monday, so until then, thanks for reading feel free to comment and if you can enjoy the weather. All the best Clint.

Silverbacks

 These are not new, but I have re-painted them. They are both from Newline Designs and are actually 28mm Sasquatch or Yetis and part of the "Mythic West" Range. I purchased these 2012 at the Broadside show and painted them with white fur. This week I have re-painted and re-based them to better fit where I think I am heading with the 7TV game. Having decided that I did not want a snowy waste board for the game it made sense to turn them into giant apes as it makes them much more versatile. I can still use them as sasquatch should I choose,


Most importantly this change of colour scheme still keeps my options open for the game board.  I am fairly sure the board will now be a jungle of some kind but the exact nature of the game is still open for debate/discussion. It could easily slip from a type of King Solomon's Mines type setting to a Tarzan type game, or even a Conan style game. It all depends on what I feel like when I wake up in the morning. Which is both dangerous and exciting at the same time.  Your guess is as good as mine. To be honest I would not even rule out "Predator!" after all it all a good use for a Jungle. And before anyone asks " Ainsty-castings make some clear resin "Alien Hunters"  I'll let you guess what they may look like.


That's it for today, as ever comments and suggestions are always welcome. I shall try to do a board update on Saturday, please don't expect too much from it at present as I am at the sealing the plaster phase so much of it will look the same. Although some of it will have changed and I hope the first hint of colour will be applied.

Anyway until Saturday take care, have fun and paint yourself some nice figures. I look forward to seeing you all soon. Cheers Guys.

And so it begins

 A few short days ago I mentioned that I have been asked to put on a game at a local show and that I would try to rush a game for Crooked Dice into completion. Well here are the first Work in Progress  (WIP) shots of the first board. I have sketched out what I am hoping for, drawing heavily from my imagination, books, computer games, roleplaying games, fellow wargamers and even classical artists such as "Gustav Dore" for those of you who are interested in such things. But this is just a starting point only and nothing more. At this stage the boards could fit any wilderness locale Desert, Jungle, Ice-wastes, swamp etc.


Construction started with a 15mm thick chipboard base, actually an off cut from a skip about 6 doors down the road (with both the builders and owners permission as taking things from a skip without permission in the UK is actually a crime. Daft I think but hey ho what can you do?) I then "glued and screwed" a section of 6mm MDF onto one edge to give the board some height. Once dry added 22mm polystyrene bats (insulation) to create the levels I wanted. I am currently creating the cliffs hence the messy filler which is beginning to cover every thing. Not wanting it to crack from drying too fast in the sunny spell we are having I am only doing a little at a time, but it is now beginging to look like a more natural cliff than the naked polystyrene. So that's good. As you can see still a long way to go as not only am I looking to make the terrain, but also source and paint the figures.

Luckily when it comes to figures I will be "re-using" some of my older figures and even some of my less old figures are getting a re-paint and a new lease of life. I intend to give you a progress report on the boards on Saturday when I hope to have all the filler work done.

Simon (AKA Brummie) has asked what the game will be. The truth of that is I have yet to finally decide! I have some very strong ideas what it will be and will rule out 7ombie TV at this stage, but it could be either 7TV or 7th Voyage. So I will build the board and see where it takes me. So it might be 7TV Pulp setting think Tarzan or King Solomon's mines. It could even be a Blake's 7 inspired game using the 7TV rules. Or I might go more 7th Voyage and run a fantasy stop motion Harry Harrison (EDIT: My mistake I meant Harryhausen ) type game.

Has anyone read Dream Park for example? (By Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes...... Interesting because of the black fire monster!)

 As it stands I have options and that gives me a level of freedom which I am enjoying. So I will make the board and see where it takes me. I will not be running a "Clangers" 7TV game on my moon boards Mr Abbey no matter how much you whimper like a 6 year old! (My Knitting and crochet skills are not up to it, before anyone else chimes in supporting Mr Abbey!)

That's it for today more on Thursday. Until then, take care have fun and try not to upset anyone. best wishes Clint

Swapsies

Well Sunday morning and while not painting I have been active. To the right you will see my new (second hand) NSL fleet for Full thrust. Most of the fleet is un labelled so I'll have to do a little research and find out exactly what I have got. One thing is for sure It's much bigger than my FSE fleet. (Maybe I should look at buying some more bits and pieces for the FSE). As you can see the majority of it is stuck (superglued) together and there is a lack of flying bases. These are not things I will worry about too much this week, I am just happy to have gotten it. Also included are 2 boxes of 20mm T34 85's from  Armourfast these may become the start of my Arab Israeli Wars force. I am holding off on starting the Arab Israeli game until Kurt's Painting Challenge starts again ( http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.co.uk/ ).

All the above was swapped with another blogger (Alan Abbey http://leofwinewargamerson.blogspot.co.uk/) . I am sure we both think we got the better of the deal, or at least I hope he does, as I am very happy.

That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in and hope to see you again on Tuesday for the next blog post.

Until then take care and stay safe. Best wishes Clint

German Heavy weapons

I Have finished a few German late war WW2 figures. They are from the Plastic Soldier company and as you can see in this picture they are all heavy weapons crew. Two are armed with "Panzerfausts" (Tank Fists) disposable anti tank weapons issued a squad level sometime with 3 or more in a squad. One has a "Panzershreck" more a platoon level weapon but as the war drew to a close seen more and more at squad level. And the last 3 are a MG42 on a heavy tripod with gunner, loader and commander. They are all in various degrees of late war "Oak leaf spring" camouflage although one has a field grey tunic. "Oak leaf" is my favourite camouflage patter to paint and given the back drop these figures are against I think it works very well.

All well and good I hear you say but why 20mm WW2 all of a sudden. Well I am so glad you asked. Firstly to bolster my already existing late war Germans which are under equipped with anti tank capabilities. Additionally three members of the club are looking to start the "Chain of Command" rules by the Too Fat Lardies. SO I thought to expand my Germans a little to give me a few extra options when the rules do come out later this year. I have watched the videos on Youtube, and I think it could be a good game so bumping up my German Force was always a good option. Relfie I am told will be collecting the Yanks, (I already have a US PBI force so I don't want to start collecting Yanks in another scale) Ian will most likely do Germans and Kev was talking about Russian.  I think I already have enough British to field a company 1 to 1 so a few more Germans seemed to be in order.

And that Is why I have painted a few Germans in 20mm this week.

I have also been asked to put on a game at a local show in September. As it stands I will use the game from Broadside this year, as that option takes all the pressure of me as I already have everything done. So as I am a "Ninny" I have decided to start a new game board as well in the hopes that I will have it done and the figures painted and everything ready to rock and roll by the time of the show. This new game board will not be for BBIB, but a 28mm board for Crooked Dice.... Yes I know I have ADHD for wargamers! This means that the summer months will be busy for me, making and painting and sorting out figures. As such I think I have got my wargamers drive and motivation back so I intend to blog post every other day again. This should force me to push the board forward. As I type I am waiting for parts of it to dry out so with very good luck I can show you what's going on by Tuesday next week.

Now for my really good news........ good for me, it won't effect you at all.  My job has been "At Risk!" for the last 13 months. I have tried not to let the thoughts of it come onto the blog too much, but it has been a weight on my mind. Anyway cutting a very long 13 month story short. The NHS now consider my job to be "safe!" Which is a huge relief and is probably while I again feel motivated to blog more frequently.

So until Sunday take care and hope to talk to you all soon. Best wishes Clint.

Check Your 6 "Jet Age"

 Firstly I have to admit I forgot my camera on Sunday at the club so more typing than pretty pictures.

Tim and Graham had arranged a game of "Check Your 6" JET AGE. So I joined in along with Peter and Bob. Graham reffed and gave Bob and myself 2 Mirage III's while Tim and Peter each had 2 Mig 21's. The date was set as 1967 Arab Israeli war. Tim was the only person who had played the rules before, but only briefly, so no one was really strong with the rules.

We spent the first few turns slowly approaching each other and in general chit chat with each other. Then finally getting into range and the action started. Bob managed to get a rear shot at the engine of one of Peters Migs. He launched a sidewinder missile Peter saw it launch and committed himself to an extreme manoeuvre the following turn in an attempt to out turn the missile. It did not work but the missile only did minor damage on Peters engine as opposed to destroying the plane completely. But it still meant that peters plane was poorly so we on the Israeli side felt good. It got better. In the next turn I was able to get a point blank range shot at a mig in an adjacent hex. Knowing this was the best chance I was going to get I was confident. And this is where it started to go wrong! I rolled the dice and the dice gods laughed.

I was disappointed I will admit it! And then realised my 30mm cannon was not the killing device I had hoped. Never mind I had missiles. I did a "Split S" manoeuvre and flipped the plane ready to get onto the tail of Tim's Migs which were after Bobs Mirage's. I had two planes with rear arc missile shots. My pilots hit the missile buttons and the dice gods laughed loudly. Three of my 4 sidewinder missiles failed to ignite and stayed on the wing pylons. I would be having a few stiff words If I can make it back to the hanger. The fourth missile simply missed. With no more missiles I was now reliant on my cannons and I had seen just how accurate they were earlier!

Bob was near the map edge and had to do a climbing "Immelman" with his afterburners to stay on. It also meant that he was now facing head on into Tim's planes. Tim peppered Bob with his 23mm cannons and got a fuselage hit on one of Bob's mirage which was not so good.

It was about now that club ineptitude can into play! For once not by me! (I admit it usually is!) Peter managed to fly both his planes into the same hex at the exact same altitude. Both his pilots failed to avoid the collision and they both took engine damage with reduced one to only moving 1 hex each turn.

Tim at 1 hex range straffed my second Mirage and while he actually missed and even run out of ammunition managed to get a "lucky" stray shot. he looked at the Luck shot chart rolled 2d6 and rolled a PILOT KILLED. Nothing I could do, Game over for one of my jets. I did say to Tim when I put it on my blog I would make it sound as inglorious as possible. I hope I have archived that. The dice gods were still laughing at me it seems.

The dice gods were smiling on Bob though. Tim's second Mig flew through his sights and DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA later scratch one of Tim's Migs. Bobs other Mirage was limping off the table followed closely.... as it happened far to closely by Tim's other Mig. Bob was able to fly slow enough to remain too close for Tim to launch a missile. Tim was out of Ammo don't forget so his cannons were useless!

We ran out of time at this stage. I would like to say thanks to all the guys, but especially to Graham who supplied everything and despite failing eyesight had painted the planes Very nicely indeed. (Long sighted not going blind I should say so can't paint figures very well usually, well that's what he tells us!).

Conclusion: Would I play the rules again, yes I sure would! While not an "Airhead" I did enjoy the desert tussle and despite the dice gods did have fun the figures we used were by "tumbling dice" and I am tempted to get some. maybe some Vietnam era planes as opposed to the current super jets.

Sorry no Pics. Have fun take care and I'll blog soon. best wishes Clint.

4 more

Here are the next 4 Apache. Again they are "Wargames Foundry" 28mm. I won't repeat what I have said previously about them. Obviously I like them or I would not still be buying and painting them. I have 4 more to do and then with those complete I will do a group shot.

At that stage I will get my first look to see if they all go together. It is not that I have deliberately thought to do this, just the way it has worked out. Paint 4 put them away paint the next 4 and put them away. Still I am confident they will all work as a single "Warband" as all the skin tones have come from the same combination of paint colours. Little differences in skin tone are to be expected in real life and the clothing should also look more random. But we will both have to wait and see!


Now for something completely different........!

At the beginning of the year I talked about the projects I thought I might like to work on this year. I am not saying it has been a disaster so far, but it has been "unfocused" . As I am slowly pulling myself out of a painting rut, and as I am no longer working up the shed on the terrain for Broadside it is perhaps time that I concentrate on one of the smaller projects. To that End, if the weather is OK< I intend to start working on some 1/300th scale cold war era wargames. Given that I have two forces (Hermanschultzkommando and Soviet Airborne Desant) I am not thinking of this as a new project, but rather the continuation of one from about 30 years ago! I will of course have to repaint and re-base them all, but no initial financial outlay. I even have all the materials for the terrain up the shed. While I am not sure of the rules I will use, I have a wide choice of rules, everything from "Challenger II" by Bruce Rea Taylor to "Force on Force" by Ambush Alley Games. That I think is the current stumbling block deciding on the rules I want and the complexity of the game. Mostly it will depend on what the club want, and that is usually a surprise to me. Anyway forget the rules for now and I'll stat to make the first 2 foot square board over the weekend.


That's it for now folks. I should post again on Monday probably with a game AAR from what ever I end up playing at the club on Sunday.

Cheers Clint

NSL vs NAC?

The painting lull has gotten me by the throat, hence the lack of blog posts this week. Not making excuses, we all have slumps and lulls and doldrums and it's just my time.

This is a 15mm vehicle from Ground zero Games. (One of the vehicles I bought at Salute this year). Not so much for me to say with regard to this vehicle. It was well cast in metal, everything fitted together well and quite instinctively because there was no instructions, but it did not really need them. I did find it hard to come up with a "new" camouflage scheme. Inspired by a Giraffe's skin I simply left a lot of the splodges out in the hope that it would be simple enough to work and maybe break up the lines a little.

At this stage I have not put any markings on it and that is my dilemma. Long time members of the blog will remember I already have a FSE (Federal States Europa.) force, platoon level ground force and starter fleet space navy. And this is where it all falls apart....... a friend of mine is going to sell me his NSL (New Swabian League). fleet at a very keen price. This is great and I instantly agreed when he mentioned the price.

However I was going to have a NAC (New Anglican Confederation) opposition for the FSE. I am the kind of guy who wants matching space fleets and ground Forces. To do other than this jars with me. I much prefer the NSL fleet to the NAC fleet, but then I prefer the NAC ground forces to the NSL ones.

Yes I know it's science fiction and for many people it would not make any difference at all. Yet somehow for me it does make a difference.

Thanks for reading my waffle today. I do intend to cut my blog posts to 2 a week from now on, Mondays and Fridays. So until Friday take care and keep painting and gaming. All the best Clint

The Joy of SIX (2013)

In one months time (21st July 2013) which happens to be a Sunday there is a wargames event in Sheffield. Granted it is a small show (pun intended) dedicated to 6mm wargaming. 1/300th scale, or 6mm gets some coverage at shows but is overshadowed (again with the puns) by the more dominant scales of 15mm 20mm and 28mm so it is nice to see an event for this specialist field of wargaming. While I shall not be able to attend I would be very interested in seeing a report online by a blogger who happens to live a lot closer.

I like 6mm as a scale as it allows for huge games (given the right rules) and that appeals to the megalomaniac dwelling inside me. It is a scale that can emphasise the terrain more than the figures and it can be easy to store and easy to paint. There will be a painting workshop at the event which would be of huge interest to me as I am sure it would be to many others.

Who will be there:
Baccus
Rapier Miniatures
Total Battle Miniatures
and
.Wargames Emporium

I am told there will be both demonstration and participation games as well as the painting demonstrations, so it might be worth popping along to if you live in that part of the world.

SUNDAY 21st July 2013
The Workstation
15 Paternoster Row,
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire.
S1 2BX

I would love to know what it's like so if you go please let me know.

My 2 weeks of overtime has now finished so I should get something painted soon. Hang on folks it's coming bear with me but at the moment I have nothing ready to show and will be undercoating some figures later today.

So until Sunday take care and hope to see you on the blogosphere in the mean time. All the best Clint.

Ghost Town (1) THE Dead.

Well I have struggled to get anything painted. Here are 9 dead markers though. Obviously for wild west shoot out games. They were originally made by Tim Wade from Frontline, but I don't think they ever got into production so you will have to find another source or start sculpting your own should you want any dead markers in cowboy clothes! Someone must make some though so a search will no doubt turn up something. These are 28mm in size and cast in resin. They were, I think , the first things that Tim sculpted. And while not perfect they do have their place on the games table and I am very happy to own them.

I will be the first to admit that these are pretty roughly painted, but they are good enough to mark where your cowpokes have fallen. There are a variety of poses and I really wish that I had a few more. I'll have to ask around club members and see if there were any given out. I know what you are thinking! and these dead markers do bring my wild west zombie game idea one step closer. Add to that that I bought some packs of Foundry Zombie Gunfighters at BROADSIDE which I hope to start the paint on next week and It' will not belong before "Ghost town!" Zombie west hits the club tables. (I am aiming for August).

That's todays very brief post. Thanks for taking the time to pop by and see what I'm working on. Hope to see you good people again real soon!

Cheers Clint

Canvas Eagles (Also klnown on the day as "Patrick Stacked it!")

 At the club yesterday Graham put a game of "Canvas Eagles" on. For those many of you who have not tried it the rules are free to download in the WW1 section of http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/. Although not exactly the same you can also try the online game which is very similar called "Blue Max" at http://www.youplay.it/.

As mentioned when we played X Wing at the club part of my dyslexia is telling left and right (for me RoboRalley is a nightmare...fun but only in an I have no idea where I will really end up). So struggling with left and right I have a history with these rules of lasting considerably less than 20minutes of flying time. So for a change I was given a bomber and a mission and the other three were to act as escorts in Grahams case or Interceptors in Tim and Patricks cases.


So for those of you interested in the technical details and who flew what.

Germans on a bombing mission to hit a rail depot behind the lines.

Graham: DVA Albatross (yellow fuselage)
Clint: AEG GIV (The biggest plane on the board by quite a long way!) AEG stands for "Allegmeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft"

British had to stop the bomber getting through and dropping it's load.

Tim: SE5a
Pat: De Haviland DH4

 That covers the technical side of who had what and what we were trying to do. Graham and my self had the whole length of the board to fly and given that my plane had a speed of 2 hexes a turn MAXIMUM and an upper altitude of 5. It was also less manoeuvrable than a block of lead on a surface with a high coefficient of friction, in other words any fancy flying was out of the question!

The first few turns the fighters jockeyed for position and I trundled slowly across the board. Patrick did get one shot on me with a lewis gun a couple of points damage to my wing..... seriously not even an annoyance as my wings could happily suffer 10 times the damage and still keep flying so I was not worried.

Tim and Graham out foxed each other and ended up flying at the same altitude in the same hex.  The rules cover this eventuality. Both players roll 2d6 for a result 2-12 should both players roll the same a collision might occur. Tim rolled low (we can almost always trust him to do so) and the dice turned up 1 and 3. As luck would have it Graham rolled 2 and 2, also equalling 4. So there was a collision. It could just be a wing bump. Each player rolled 1d6 and took that number of red damage chits. This time Tim rolled a 6 and not to be out done so did Graham. Cutting a long story short, Tim's pilot was killed on the first chit and Graham had culmunitive damage which destroyed all his fuselage. Hardly any gun play and two birds crashed and burned.


 Those two started two new planes. Patrick was still a threat to me so I dropped altitude which fooled Pat for a turn and left him facing the wrong way too high above me to get a shot. So I dropped my bombs and started heading home. But Pat was not done yet, he closed in and let rip. My 2 gunners fired back and managed to hurt him, but two lucky red chits were placed on me. The first was a crew hit, randomnly determined to be the pilot (GULP) and the second was a spin check. I failed to control the plane and spun out of control.

I was very fortunate to recover from the spin next turn and ended up facing the right way so I limped towards the home trench lines. The De Haviland being quite slow only managed to get me in his sights when I was going back over the British trenches. Being very low I did take some ground fire (minor engine damage) and some fuselage hits which I could take.

Meanwhile the collision twins were trading blows and although Tim did not know it Grahams
pilot was seriously wounded. So he was limping home as well and desperately trying to stay out of combat.

As I flew over the trenches Patrick also at low level took one last desperate shot at my crate. He did hit me, but the manoeuvre was such that he had to lose altitude next turn. At level 1 that meant he had to try a forced landing. Not going into too many details he rolled badly and stacked it. His pilot was seriously injured and his gunner was killed. Like I said he stacked it!

Well we both made it. German success. I bombed the rail yard and got my plane of the board. Not desperately heroic, but efficient and for once I was not shot down which I usually am.

That was yesterday at the club, other games were played of course but Canvas eagles is an old favourite among the players and always leads to a good game.

More again on Wednesday. Thanks for reading and take care until then.  Best wishes Clint!

A few Apaches More

 The paint brush called and I answered. I am really surprised that I have managed to get anything done, post BROADSIDE and with overtime every week day. Anyway enough of that here are 4 more 28mm Apaches from Foundry, These were purchased before Broadside and I am happy to add them to the Wild west apaches in 28mm. (I still have 8 more to paint which I got on eBay on the night after the show...... It is some kind of madness.

I have talked previously about both the lack of traditional weapons and the lack of knives in their belts so Now that I have mentioned it again I feel I can move on. They are all well sculpted and cast as we have come to expect from foundry. They also produce quite a variety of figures so as long as your warband is reasonably small you need not keep repeating the posses which adds to diversity and variety. I have a couple of repeats here but I am not overly worried as they are painted differently and wearing different coloured clothing so it will not be apparent straight away.

When I get the next 8 done I shall do a group shot. At this time though It will not look very impressive. It really does need a few more bodies to bulk them out.

Sunday is a club day and I know there is a choice of game for me so I will just play it by ear and fit in where I can. So expect the normal club AAR on Monday. Until then take care paint figures roll dice and have fun. All the best Clint.

Post Script: Thanks for pushing the hit count over 30, 000.