.5's

Yes I am still painting Samurai but also working through other projects as well. Yesterday I finished the Peter Pig Figures that I bought at the SELWG show. While it is not in anyway the greatest output by me it does ad yet another option for this force in PBI. While I already had some .5 Browning heavy Machineguns they were all vehicle mounted and I wanted the opportunity of taking them off on the vehicles and setting them up independently. This may not seem like a massive advantage, and in many ways it is not but with defensive stance level 1 this would mean that the vehicles towing the artillery (Prime movers) would automatically be on the battlefield at the start of the game.

 There were two additional (command) figures in the pack, but they cluttered the bases so I have left them out. Also one base would be without a commander and to me that just looked odd. They were in the same sculpting style as all Peter Pig figures and size wise fit in acceptably well with Battlefront and also QRF. I do like the way that extra ammo boxes can be seen under the tripods supporting the guns. (Clearer in the third picture). There really is nothing not to like in these figures unless the barrels are facing towards your own troops of course but that's a different story.

That will have to do for today. I can't show things that are not ready and I have had a few lazy days of not painting. As you should know by now I am at the wargames club tomorrow so there should be an AAR of some sort on Monday. Thanks for looking, have a good weekend and see if you can have some harmless fun, oh and don't spent too much money if you can help it. Take care. Clinty

Post script: As another wargamer has taken to calling me "Clinty" I thought I would try it out and see if it sticks! Who says I can't take a joke?

More 10mm Samurai.

 Yes more 10mm Samurai. To be honest I am about half way through now! Although I will no doubt be tempted to buy some more. So expect this to continue for a few more weeks. I will intersperse it with a few other things to stop you and myself from getting bored by seeing the same thing over and over again. And I would expect some bright spark to think it was all the same figures each few weeks. Darn why did I type that I could have gotten away with it most likely! No doubt Jo (Zabadak) would have cottoned on pretty quickly he does seem to have a suspicious mind!

 That said I will need to start thinking about getting a bigger box for them as the one I am using is now full. That can only be a good thing.

So Today we have a unit of mounted Samurai armed with bows. I have split the troop types by weapons as well as social class (Samurai, Ashigaru and peasant). This is clear and deliberate as opposed to lumping them all together in one amorphous mass. As you can see with the mounted it is 3 figures to a base and as with the infantry, 4 bases to a unit. I still have not found the set of rules I would most like so am very strongly considering making up my own.

Clearly there are more back banners than I have managed to put on units previously this is to reflect the mounted nature of the troops. I should put more back banners on all the troops, but due to their fiddly nature and my lack of patience I have been remiss in doing so.

Finally these figures go on sale by Crooked Dice tomorrow. (1st November). So fair warning I am about to get sidetracked and start some St. Trinnian's, erhm I mean St Searle's Girls shenanigans very soon afterwards. Yes they are 28mm figures and my down time at work has already created the scenario and adapted the rules. So all I have to do is buy them, paint them and build the scenery and bob's your uncle! So knowing me probably finished about 2 years later assuming I rush!

Thanks for tuning in today. With luck it was not too boring. More again in 2 days time. So until then, take care have fun and if you do anything I wouldn't please don't mention it !

Cheers Clint

Samurai Cannon (10mm)

 While Cannons were used in sieges they were a lot less common on the open battlefields of the Sengoku Jidai (Warring Sates Period). Which is not to say they were never used just not very often in comparison to other troop types. They were mostly used in siege warfare. Both attacking and defending castles.

Given the relative scarcity I have at this stage only painted 2 cannons for this force. (2 more will go to the opposition once I get them going). Pendraken miniatures make 2 different styles of cannon for their 10mm samurai range. Coming in a mixed pack so you get some of each. It is fair to think of this diversity of models as being as accurate as I wish to go on this project. The Crew all dressed as ashiguru in the same uniforms as before come in 3 posses.

Finally I have included the first force so far as a group picture. Needless to say there is as always a lot more to add and another force to add. I am currently trying colour schemes out on sample figures, so expect to see some soon, maybe very soon. I know I want them to have a red as a base colour and have tried 4 variants it just comes down to selecting one and then getting some done!


Thanks for looking it today. Next update in 2 days time, no idea what I will get done by then as several things on the painting table. So until Thursday, take care and have fun. All the best Clint

Zombtober 4

 I will admit that I am a little torn about this being the last Zombtober weekend or not. SO I may post one more if I get one done next weekend. Not that I have any started, but they are at least in the painting line.

Anyway another Zombie Wild West Gunfighter. Of them all I think this is my favourite sculpt. I like the lurching forward movement and for no other reason. And It is only as I type this that I realise the figure is left handed. Very sinister! Now I am wondering how many left handed figures I have and how many of those are zombies. Hmmmm! He fits in with the others and that's all that matters at this stage.

I have also included a group shot of what I have achieved in Zombtober! 1 survivor on a motorbike and 3 wild west zombie gunfighters. Not the biggest amount painted in a month for a project, but I have managed to do one every week which I feel happy about.

 The other thing I should mention is Dwarvember. I am in two minds about this I do have some 10mm dwarfs to paint, so I may get involved and I may not. As I do want to continue with current projects that I have enthusiasm for and not get side-tracked. I have some more Samurai on the paint table and some more PBI. Mentioning PBI I wasted a day thinking about a new army which did stem from a comment Mathyoo made. I realised that an Aerosan force on skis and some t-34's would look really cool. Then it dawned on my I don't think I would ever use it, nor could I find any 15mm WW2 Russian figures on skis! So eventually the idea faded!

Anyway I think this is Zombtober drawing to a close for me. As mentioned above I still have a couple more gunfighters to do so while the painting month is coming to an end the painting and project is not!


 That's it for today thanks for looking. Have a good weekend I hope the storm (St Jude) passes by without incident to you and yours. All the best and another update on Tuesday.

Post script: Re-working the waterfall on the TAR7AN board..... No you can't have a photograph just yet!

Cheers then, Clint

Big Guns

Gun and prime mover

 I wanted a change from zombies and Samurai and as I still have a couple of things for ww2 (by Couple I mean a load). I purchased some peter pig ww2 US artillery crew at the SELWG show a couple of weeks ago. Surprise of all great surprises I managed to get them painted and based in (for me) double quick time. So today I have finished 2 pieces of artillery there crew and two prime movers.

Both guns

The two guns , another eBay Bargain, are 155mm howitzers, used by the US army in WW2. I am not sure of the manufacture but as I do not believe they are QRF I am happy to think they are Battlefront, although being honest I am not 100% sure. They were already painted and assembled, and while I think his choice of green was totally accurate it did not fit in with the rest of the force. Additionally there was some very minor assembly issues resulting in bent wheel positions. Therefore I chose to pull it all apart and reassemble and re-paint as well as re-base. And here are the results, Two guns with crew and bases all of which marry up with my other troops.

Both High Speed Tractors

Also in the eBay order were 2 M5 High speed Tractors. These were also repainted to match my US troops. I must admit I do like the term "High Speed Tractor" it brings tractor racing to mind and that just sounds like too much fun not to enjoy! Anyway these add some totally unnessercary heavy artillery to my PBI company. While I do not know if they will ever get used they do allow me another option on the table top and have taken me away from what I was doing and as such were a welcome change.

That's it for today, thank you for looking. I plan my next update on Sunday and yes it will be a Zombtober post! So until then take care, have fun and slap some paint about!

Cheers Clint

"All for One and None for me!"

 As I had yesterday off work I was able to travel down to Sittingbourne and put on a game for "Milton Hundreds Wargames Club " (MHWC). I had put on a game of "Three Musketeers" for them before and as they enjoyed it last time I repeated the trick again. In this write up of the nights activities expect a few "in-jokes" several unsavoury activities (mostly by Alan) a little bit of swearing (mostly by Andy) a couple of stern looks (mostly by Mark) and a natural victim..... hellos Steve! One player who had booked in for the game failed to show and he shall hence forth be known as "Vivianne!" (In Joke No:1 I won't label the rest). Having mentioned all the players above with myself as the ref just to balance the sides I had best define the sides, Alan and Mark were Cardinals guards with an appetite for the unsavoury, while Andy and Steve were Musketeers and on the whole rather more wholesome! It is also fair to say that Mark supplied the buildings (purchased from a German company, he did tell me the name but memory like a sieve I have of course forgotten it. I supplied the figures and between Mark and myself we supplied all the fixtures and fittings. The rules are a free download (CLICK HERE). They are very simple a huge amount of fun and worth a go if you want to kill an hour or two without having to think too hard. If you have ever tried those rules you will know just how hard it would be to write any kind of accurate AAR simply because each figure will carry out several things in each turn and Turns can move very quickly!


Steve started the game and entered the building and started climbing some crates to reach the chandelier. Before Steve reached the top of the crates Mark through a large box at him and knocked him off. He then jumped off of the balcony onto Steve's stomach  and tried to "duel" the prone Steve. Andy interceded by throwing first one barrel and then another at Mark and then jump onto the table but then failed to convincingly Attack Mark. Alan ran the length of the board and stopped at the market stalls out side and selected an earthenware jug failed his action roll stopped there giving other players a combination look of "Life's not fair" "I hate dice" "just you wait until I can get involved" All that took about 7 minutes of real time and as we played for 3 1/2 hours you might imagine how long and detailed an AAR might become. Therefore I will condense it just to highlights.


Andy took the first wound from Alan's swordplay just a scratch and nothing to worry about.

There were several barrel throwing competitions among all the players at various times throughout the night.

Steve threw a pie from the market stall outside the building hit Alan's character in what amounted to a critical and took one of his 3 wounds. (Alan got miffed). Each character only had three wounds and as a house rule every wound they loose reduces there combat score by one.

Mark spent two turns "fluffing" His feather. Surprisingly this was not a euphemism. And cleaning his Tabard.

Steve tried to pull Marks Tabard over his head to temporarily blind him.

Alan swung from the chandeliers and attempted to kick people as he spun in a circle. Which lead to the phase of the Night (From Andy) "So there is enough room to swing a c*nt!"

Andy (who speaks French) hurled some cutting insults so severe that he was able to stun Mark and make him drop his weapon. Andy was also the first to die so we restarted him at the edge of the board and carried on. Life in musketeer town is harsh and cheap.

Being temporarily all on his own Alan and Mark decided to pick on Steve. There was much talk of capturing him and taking him to the cellar and chaining him to some kind of torture device (although they did claim it was a "Gimp Machine", ) Steve did die but took Alan out about the same time. So they restarted.

Lots more barrel throwing from Mark and Andy. Alan stent a turn "Pouncing about on the street corner" (yes that was his declared action. ) while Steve selected some rotten tomatoes from the market stall ready to use as missile weapons.

Andy Jumped onto a table and mark picked up a bench and tried to swat him off. He did make contact but not with sufficient power to affect Andy. Andy then kicked the bench out of Marks hands.

Alan decided that his character was going to sexually assault Steve with the market vegetables. Fortunately he was unsuccessful as that is not the kind of game I would choose to referee! Alan was known from then on as "the Radish man!" And trust me he has put me of turnips and sweedes for the next few weeks. In fact any kind of root vegetable! I am so glad there were no model marrows about!

Time started to draw near  but not before Alan carried the afore mentioned bench up the stairs ready to play "Piñata" with the figure (sorry cant remember who exactly) that had failed critically when trying to swing from the chandelier and had their cloak tangled and could not get free for a turn.

Mark tragically failed to leap from the balcony this time and again his cloak tangled him and also left him suspended. When he freed himself He died by Andy's sword having first been stunned by Steve.

Just a couple more turns and we finished. A side splitting game and both loud and boisterous but not all in the best possible taste! Again the second outing for these rules at this club and a very similar result with regard to the volume and laughter. It's definitely not the game you think of among wargamers, not at all stuffy and well mannered. No grand tactics and well thought out moves, no quiet decorum, no contemplation.

Thanks for Reading and I promise some painting next time.

All the best Clint




EDIT: Another report of the game here http://leofwinewargamerson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/all-for-oneand-turnip-for-steve.html (Alan's point of view, Alan is MHWC President.)

1918 Dog Fight

 Regular readers will realise that alternate Sundays is a club day for me. As we are trying to integrate a couple of new members (Ian and Matt) into the club we had a couple of very different games on offer. Tim, Pat, Graham, myself and Mat played a game of "Canvas Eagles" a WW1 aerial dog fight game. I am the first to admit that I have a love hate relationship with this game. I definitely have a reputation as one player who was absent today was texting Graham asking how many times I had been shot down! Graham showed me the texts! Yes I am rubbish at this game. Total Cack!

Anyway I started off in a Bristol FB2 "Brisfit" (the single Lewis gun option, so not quite totally awesome but still pretty good plane. We were 3 British planes against 2 Germans, my Brisfit and two Camels. While the Germans had an Attik and some kind of 2 seat contraption (I forget it's name). Lots of manoeuvring in the first few turns and then my tail gunner squeezes the trigger and gets a minor hit on Graham. A very good start for me. And then it started going wrong. I did get a couple more shots off then Tim seriously wounded my pilot and shot 90% of my tail away. So I limped of the board alive but barely flying.

I was then officered a Sopwith Triplane "Tripe". Patrick had been focused on Tim (his dad) and managed to riddle his fuselage sufficiently to make him leave the air as well and so he flew off of the board and prepared to bring on a Foker Dr7. Graham mostly with his tail gunner got enough hits on Matt to force him to more prudence. But with me back in the game and teamed up with Matt we were able to stop Grahams ambitions. The joy of the Tripe is that it could easily out climb the other planes on the table. This was a tactic that worked as I was able to put myself in a position for the German pilots to tail me and then put my foot to the flaw and climb so fast they could not follow. This allowed Patrick to fire a few times on Graham's "new" plane and (we found out at the end of the game) both wound the tail gunner so bed he could never reload his weapon and cause a fabric tear which reduced his planes manoeuvres. I should make it clear we do not tell our opponents what damage has exactly happened to the planes. They just know the number and type of (red or Blue) damage chits they have inflicted.
Tim's "New" DR7 lasted about 7 turns before he flew it from the board. A couple of lucky erhm I mean well placed shots ripped through the wings and made the plane unflyable in any meaningful way. So Tim bought on another plane.

Patrick managed to keep a single plane flying all day, but did eventually run out of fuel and left very much towards at the same time as my second plane. All the steep climbs burns up fuel very quickly! The last actions of  the day were Matt gliding off the table out of fuel with Patrick and myself on the British side. As the Germans also glided across their own lines.

Patrick did make his dad (Tim) play out the whole trip back as Tim was very low on fuel and at height 2 (see picture... that's Tim's 3rd plane btw.) This was because Tim's plane kept catching fire (hence the smoke) and at height two was subject to ground fire every time he crossed a trench hex! In the end he made it.

Although no planes were actually shot down we all ended up on 2nd planes (3rd for Tim,) This for me is a victory as I usually expect to be shot down twice often 3 times in a days play. Yay me!

 I have included 4 pictures of the "Dropship Commander" game that was also on at the club, just because it looks like a good game. I could be tempted into it, but not just quite yet. I do like the paper terrain though and think it would be excellent reused for other non dropship activities. Pendraken do some 10mm zombies, and that idea has immediate appeal. a Zombie meta game!

I will also say that my idea for the club Broadside game next year has been well received by other club members (well the ones that support us at shows anyway) and that to me is a big deal. I intend to start work on the two armies concerned as part of Curt's Analogue Painting challenge. Therefore over the winter months I will be painting some WW1 stuff!

Finally I shall be at a different club tomorrow night so there might be another game report on Wednesday or I might post up some more figures. Feel free to leave a comment it you have a strong preference.

All the best and thanks for reading todays update. Cheers Clint

Zombtober 3 and Pressies for me!

 Let's start with Zombtober week 3. Yes another Foundry Wild West Zombie which makes 3 of this exact pose for me now but as long as I don't stand them side by side I should get away with it! It can be noted that he has taken severe torso damage looking at the damage on his back I might suggest by a shotgun but more details such as if it happened when he was alive, dead or undead I shall leave for you to decide.

As with all the zombie gunfighters he still manages to hold onto his gun somehow. I have never been a fan of zombies with weapons but I guess the sculptors are so who am I to quibble about it.  His green coat and blue bow tie mark him as a town gent of some kind. In my mind I was thinking Lawyer as I painted him but once on the table top most players will not be too fussy about previous professions unless I make it a scenario objective.

Well that aside week Three of Zombtober and another zombie figure done so I am just keeping to the pledge and completing the bare minimum of the requirements. As you all know my painting has been focused elsewhere (into 10mm Samurai). Not making excuses I shall of course continue with the project and have already started my next zombie gunfighter as well. That's a hint for next weekend!

I should also say a big THANK YOU to Anne O'Leary from O'Leary Miniatures Blog who ran I prise draw that I was incredibly lucky enough to win. I did actually win a $50 Amazon Voucher. Which was fantastically generous and for which I am truly grateful. Amazon being the big international business that they are could not convert the dollars into pounds sterling, they were contacted both sides of the Atlantic and no joy. So Anne very generously sent me some figures instead. Those figures arrived yesterday. The painted figure is one of Anne's own masterpieces and having already given my word to Fran (The Angry Lurker) that I will pass it on to him. With some reluctance I shall. I have no facilities to store anything display based and only things for the table top battles. Everything else though I shall keep. I have no imeadiate use for the resin figures, although they could make very good Conan demons and the like so they may get painted in the future. Likewise The 6 "Can-Can Dancers" will no doubt get painted despite the fact that I have little use for them.......... but sooner or later I will have a use for some dancing girls!! The Bank hold ups set with figures and bank counter do have a far more obvious use as does the Reaper figure in the Blister. So all in all while I am disappointed that AMAZON could not deal with a change of currency I am over-joyed with what Anne has sent me. Most importantly it is all about the happiness I felt at winning and not the loot/prise/swag. To me this is actually a better prise than the voucher as it is far more personal as I know Anne has followed my blog and put items in the parcel specific to me. And that is so much better in my mind than a generic prise that anyone could have gotten.

Once more Thank you Anne.

That's it for today. More again on Monday assuming I remember my camera tomorrow! All the best and I hope to see you all again soon.

Cheers Clint

Ashigaru with Naginata

Yet more for my Samurai army. Today 8 stands of Ashigaru with Nagaiata. These I think will be the main troop type of the armies. I will as you already know have a variety of troop types, peasents, Ahigaru and Samuari as well as a variety of weapons. As yet I do not have any figures with spears (Yari) but I will be adding some as the time goes on as historically they were more common. For now as I am using up figures I already have and not spending any money and placing orders. As with all the others they are by Pendraken Miniatures

Not a huge amount more to say about them but it is getting to the point where I will be able to show a group shot of the first army so far.

Thanks for looking. Teacher's strike today so looking after my nephew so cutting this short and looking after him.

More again soon. Take care talk soon Best wishes Clint.

SELWG GAMES 2014

 There was a camera incident. Yes I cocked up and the batteries ran out. Call it bad planning or more actually no planning at all. Yeah that sounds so much like me. Anyway a quick walk in the rain to the shops and new batteries in the camera and I think I was able to get a picture of most of the games. I know I did not get them all I also can't Identify them as the disruption of getting new batteries shopping bumping into friends and bloggers did completely throw my plan off. So Please just enjoy every one else's hard work. And note for the future my complete and utter lack of planning and organisation. I doubt I will change. So nah nah ner nah nah!

All the best Clint