Prep (1)

There  may not be a second "prep" blog post, but then again there just might. That all depends on if I can get my act together. I know, I know blummin' flaky git. Yes It's true but at least I am making the effort! Prep for what I hear you say. Well Curt's Analogue Painting Challenge of course! Most of my prep has already been done, but yesterday I thought I should build the models I want to apint as part of the challenge. Don't worry there are not many.

Back in June I bought this "Plastic Soldier Company" box set consisting of 5 sprues of hard plastic. Enough to make a reinforced Platoon of US army M3 or M5 Halftracks. I intend to use these for 15mm PBI by Peter Pig.

Each of the sprues comes with 8 crew figures as well as options for different winches at the front, different mounting systems for the .5 Browning HMG. It also comes with optional vehicle stowage. So if you choose you could easily make a variety of halftracks. There are clear instructions and all the pieces fitted together easily. There was the usual trimming to be done where sprue and component meet, but there was no flash or mould lines that needed any attention at all.  That being the case for the price I did find these a very acceptable alternative to resin. And should I need more I will be happy to get another box.

I did take my time with construction as it is always easier to fix any problems at this stage than when trying to juggle with a paint brush as well. But there were no problems and I could have assembled them quicker if I had chosen.



 I wanted a uniform look to my platoon though. So they all have the same MG copula but I have given different stowage on each and added the .30 Browning MMG to only 2 of the models. I will admit I was tempted to up-gun them all but thought that just looked wrong and unlikely in a war zone. Mind you I have got American troops so maybe I should have added the extra MG's. As you can see I have built them in two batches, and primed 2 at this stage. Today (Friday) they are all primed and waiting for the challenge to start.

The Eagle eyed among you will also have spotted that one has a different winch at the front of the vehicle (bottom left). This was deliberate. While I do want them to look uniform I did also want one to seem maybe slightly older perhaps being used as a replacement. This simple change of winch clearly identifies it. In my mind it is platoon command vehicle, but when it get to the table that idea may/will quickly change.

Overall I am very impressed with these kits. We all know in an absolutely ideal world some support variants could have been included on the sprues, but this is more wishful thinking than practical reality. I for example would like 2 M16 Quad AA mounts or a couple of M4 Mortar carriers. But then I have to wonder how much extra it would cost for the tooling of the injection moulds and then realise that it would lead to a price rise. Darn reality strikes again.

Thank you for Reading today and I shall endeavour to up date this blog on Sunday. All the best Clint

Painting for a friend (3)

Yes another lot of British naval landing party. As they are a friends I am not totally sure but I do think there is one Copplestone and the other 4 Perrys. They are definitely two different makes yet do fit together very well. These are the last of the infantry (at least for now, who knows what will happen in the future!) I will be prepping some machinguns next for him which I hope to do today.
Given that these 5 figures would equate to 25 points in Curt's challenge I will need to pick my speed up somewhat. I will also have to start something else to take me up to the start date for the challenge but at present unsure what that will be. But I shall try to select something simple so that I can be finished in plenty of time. Ray Rousel has suggested I paint some of his figures if I choose. It is a very kind offer but at present I will decline this very kind offer.

Thanks for reading and with luck I shall have something ready for Friday. Take care have fun and get some brushes wet!

Cheers Clint

Hammerin' Iron

Sorry for not Posting on the blog on Saturday. I was having a bad day, and justifiably. I won't go into details.

Anyway that's enough of the sadness and on to the important things like playing games and painting models. Far more important much more interesting and a whole lot more fun.

So at the club yesterday Graham, Matt and myself played a game of "Hammerin' Iron" A set of rules for ACW naval battles. A fun and quirky set of rules in which each side has 6 ships which total to a similar number of points. Graham had the confederates while Matt and Me had the Federal forces. It turned out that we were the attackers and Graham the defenders. Our mission was to destroy a supply depot and sink some barges. We started with 3 ships, 2 monitors and a tinclad which was only armed with light cannon. Graham started with 2 ships and a fort! I now hate forts! The pregame lead to a mishap for my monitor which had engine trouble that resulted in it starting the game unable to move until it was repaired.

I started with the Tinclad and sent it swiftly towards the storage depot. Matt chugged his Monitor forward and I repaired mine which was now on slow speed orders! Matt bought a reserve ship on.

Graham opened up with the fort and drew first blood (a single hit) on Matts Monitor. He moved his other two ships. The weaker one away from us and his own Iron clad directly towards us. He also managed to bring on one of his reserve ships.

The next few turns saw my tinclad fly past the storage depot doing minimal damage on it then speed on to attack the barges where it did manage to cause two hits. My Monitor parked right by the depot and was able to eventually, destroy the lot. Matt's ships did all the real fighting. His monitor took a beating as it was targeted by all of Grahams ships and the fort. Both sides managed to bring on extra ships which quickly got into the action.

Finally Grahams Iron Clad moved past Matts monitor and targeted his two other ships which were unarmoured, but carried a fair number of guns. The picture to the right shows my Monitor in the background firing at the depot Matt's monitor (with the blue order marker) and my tinclad in the foreground. The other two ships are Grahams, his Iron Clad on the right and a Cotton Clad directly in front of Matts Monitor. Grahams had a tinclad that managed to Ram on of Matts wooden hulled ships. While it did not sink it was quite badly damaged from being rammed.

By the time I had destroyed the depot. Graham had managed to destroy my Tinclad which was not too hard it only having a few damage boxes to begin with. He also rammed one of the wooden hulls and set that to the bottom and finally managed to force Matt's monitor to strike it's colours. While we had only sunk one of Grahams. Eventually we run out of time and Graham worked out the victory points while packed everything away.

Despite the Union Heavy losses we managed to score 41 Points while the Rebels could only claim 34. A minor Federal Victory. Due to the fact that Matt fought off the Confederates long enough for me to completely destroy the storage depot. So to conclude while we lost significantly more ships by staying on task we were able to scrape a victory.

Thanks for Reading, I hope to post again on Wednesday.

Cheers Clint

DSC

 I had my first ever game of Dropship Commander on Tuesday night. I was at the Medway wargames club and the game was put on by Dave and Paul who do both come to the Rainham club so I knew I was in good hands.

I played against Paul and Dave was kind enough to guide me through the rules and provide some (well a lot really) of coaching. I know most if not all of you have seen DSC the figures and the terrain before. I will be honest that I was drawn to the game because of the look. But look aside it does seem to be a worthwhile game.

WE played the starter scenario. Paul went first and darted up the board. I reacted ready to contest the centre large building with my infantry. Moving alternate units Paul moved his AA vehicles and demounted them. I countered with my tanks. Paul moved his Tanks and I moved my AA vehicles.

Round Two Paul with the initiative again demounted his troops into the building ready to begin searching for one of the three objectives. I moved and fired my tanks. Both Dave and Paul thought that would be decisive and Pauls AA vehicles would be toast. This was the first time that Paul had encountered my dice rolling agility first hand. An average roll would see 2/3rds of his unit destroyed. I only hit one and failed to do any damage. So my firing was totally ineffective.
Paul returned fire and scooted to cover. My AA vehicles crawled forward and fired. Lots of dice and again no effect. And Paul took that as the cue to destroy my tank transport leaving my no ground bound tanks only moving 4" a turn.

Paul took his second infantry unit to another objective and I stormed all mine into the centre building out numbering Pauls troops 2 to 1. A sure victory everyone thought. And then I rolled the dice. I did some damage but Paul did more despite me rolling twice as many dice as him. Oh dear. Paul then went on to destroy my APC's and then AA vehicles. I was running out of things to have destroyed just my infantry my tanks too far away to do anything and a dropship. All I had destroyed in turn was a single drop ship for Pauls AA vehicles.

Paul discovered the second objective and then I got a single lucky shot in from a missile on my dropship. It managed to destroy Pauls troop dropship and one of his APC's. This left his troops with the objective a mere 2" move a turn to try to exit the board.

The centre building finally yielded to me and my troops lined the walls and fired personal antitank weapons at Pauls Tanks. It worked and I took out two of them. And then with the building cleared I was able to find (one of my few 6's during the whole game) the objective.

The game ended as a draw as the turn countdown turned to 6 and the game ended. We each had one objective marker and had each failed to leave the board. I think both Dave and Paul would agree the dice did not favour me in this game. I had only my tanks and some battered infantry left at the end while Paul still had 3/4 of his starting force. Still a draw is a draw and I was very lucky to get that.

I would like to thank Paul for being a good sport and not laughing too loud at my dice rolling ineptitude and Dave for his invaluable help and advice.

Conclusion: It was a good game and terrific set up. The price of the starter set is affordable and I am tempted. The rules are quick and easy to learn and the game fun. The only reason I have not to go and get the starter set is that several members of the club already have large forces and if I was to get the starter set it would not get used because they have so much.

Thanks for reading and I will try to keep posting alternate days from now on. All the best Clint.

Painting for a friend (2)

These were mostly done before I took the break for a week. I found blogging again to be cathartic so have decided to finish these and have something new to show. As you can see two British officers of the colonial period suitable for leading the naval landing party I have been working on. (see below for a few pics of those). They have a very similar colour scheme to the mounted officer so should fit with him very well. Being on foot and with puttees and not riding boots I see these as more junior officers Lieutenant's or 2nd Lieutenants. Again painted for a friend so he is now overstocked with officers so I should show the Ratings I have finished now.

And here they are! Four ratings suitable for land operations. I have 5 more to finish, as well as a couple of machine guns. The infantry I have started so probably by the end of the week for them. As clearly seen these are all rifle armed and in advancing poses so they are suitable for most table top encounters. I did paint a few more of these for Matt (my friend) a while ago so he should have about 16 infantry now. As well as the officers and a machinegun.


 Talking of Machineguns I have two to assemble and paint for him as well. As they are not started I will use them as part of Curt's painting challenge. So maybe I will get on to them from 15th December onwards.

That's it for today. Thanks for looking. Take care and hope to see you again soon.

A Dark and Lonely Place.

Most of you will not know that I have been suffering from workplace bullying for about a year now. And last week I let it get under my skin and stopped functioning. As such I am now on medication for depression and have counselling on Tuesday morning. I have now put in a complaint in writing and asked for a transfer, but it did get me down big time.

I do not want any sympathy I am and will deal with it and bounce back stronger. I have a few times in the past and know I will in the future as well. But I have not even looked at a brush or model for about a week!

I merely state the above to explain my absence from blogging for the last week.

Ok the important stuff none of this head shrink shit wargames are far more important than that. Some of you will have already noted that I am included in the 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Which Curt runs from his blog (Link to Curt's Blog.) . I have sent myself the same target as both Ray and Fran Deliberately. This is not in anyway meant as a challenge to them personally but to encourage me to get my finger out as I was originally thinking of a target of 400 points. All the rules are on Curt's blog if you want to know how the points are scored entry fees and the like.

For example a single 28mm foot figure painted and based is worth 5 points, So I would need to paint about 120 of the blighters to reach my personal goal. There are bonus weeks which will give me an additional 50 points IF I submit the required themed model/models in that week. I may well need those if I am going to make the proposed target.

The Challenge starts on the 15th December and continues into March. I personally will be using it to paint the figures I want for the Rainhams Broadside game next June. So yes a new project is about to start. This one will become clear very quickly and I am quite excited by it as I have not seen the game at any shows in the past. You may have of course, but I have not. It will be inspired by both actual history AND a certain film. So no it is not Zombies, hard luck guys! But there will be Camels!

Thanks for reading and with luck I hope to be posting regularly again as I get over this blip!

Cheers Clint

Painted for a friend (1)

I was asked to paint this figure for a friend to be an officer of a British naval landing party. I am the very first of no doubt a long cue to admit I do not know what I am doing. As I peer over my shoulder I can see a line of people agreeing that the person typing this is deffo no expert on colonial era uniforms. Still I have done my best and that's all you can do at the end of the day.

Not much to show I grant you but it is another figure down with many more to go. I have many more of this British Naval landing party to do By many I do of course mean about 13-14. So not too many really. I was meant to  do them about a year ago but everything started getting in the way. Such is life here at "Anything But! Something's you want to get done and can finish quickly others take much longer. So Matt if you are reading this it all does get finished eventually.

Thanks for popping by, more 28mm colonial British in two days time.. All the best Clint

Update:6 TAR7AN Board.

It has been a couple of months since I last worked on the TAR7AN board. The reasons for the delay were two fold. Firstly as I originally wanted it for a show and that deadline passed I was not inclined get it done after the show. The second reason was that I was not happy with the position of the waterfall and was not sure how to rectify it.

But let me come to the waterfall in a while. As you can see I have now finished the water. It was all done with different layers of yacht varnish from Wilkinson's. I deliberately put it on thick and used a disposable brush to encourage it into the cracks, gullies and edges. You can get about 12 "Artist" brushes in the 99p store which are ideal for this. Small enough and cheap enough so you don't have to worry about them. I am happy with the result. The water is finished, but I will add some reeds (tufts) later, when I add the foliage to all the board.

OK the waterfall. To me and I am sure some of you it did not look right. It cascaded far to far from the cliff face. I therefore took it off and re shaped it. I also lost about 12mm from the bottom. This 12mm has made a lot of difference it has moved plummeting water closer to the cliff face my about 55mm. It did leave a "scar" on the board. This scar was both in colour under the varnish but also a ridge of varnish which had formed as I dripped the waterfall each day to build up a texture. The simple solution was to sit a large rock (Slate from the garden) over the top of the scar. Again more varnish was applied to build up the water level, but also to "glue" the rock into position. The bottom of the waterfall was painted white and light blue to represent the splash of water falling into water. Again more varnish was dripped on.  And with that I have settled on the final look of the waterfall. You know me by now when I say final look I don't mean it! like the still water foliage needs to be added and pebbles added to the top to seat the waterfall into the landscape better. At present it just sits on the top and a better solution will be found.

This rock that I mentioned above has a nice flat top and is very suitable for perching a figure on top. We both know that someone will and I like the idea of a more dangerous entry point onto the board. So by keeping the ideas open and fluid it has helped. If I had planned it from the start there is very little chance it would have come out this way. So I have created a better solution from what was a set back. Big thumbs up to me, I'm very happy with how that part has evolved.

The remaining pictures show slightly different views of the waterfall and water around the stepping stone rocks. Nothing is perfect but this board is now coming together. As mentioned above Foliage is the next step and that could either make or break the board so I will be proceeding with caution. For now though I will put the board into storage wrapped in cling-film to keep the dust of as I start gathering materials for the Broadside game 2014. The idea for that is now set and I hope to start painting a couple of sample figures between now and the weekend as it would be nice to take a sample to the club on Sunday.

Anyway that is a future project and I will be starting it very soon, both the figures and the terrain. But that is another blog post on another day. So until next time, thanks for looking and I should have some painted figures (maybe not the samples) ready in two days time.

All the best Clint

Rochester Games Models and Railways!

With a name like "Rochester Games models and Railways" You enter the store with an expectation of what is inside. Firstly I must say "it does what it says on the tin!"

Quite a large store contains a variety of wargames model kit and rail model items and paraphilia. While I cannot in all honesty say it has everything for any of these hobbies it is a fine place to start looking for things.

One of my friends asked me "How hard would it be for you to spend £50 in there?" Obviously this is completely subjective as we all have different needs at different times. However I must say I would find it very easy to find thing I would want coming to that price range in no time at all.  Not that £50 is a huge sum in wargames terms but there is a variety of things that would float my boat very buoyantly. Indeed on this recconisance trip I spent £12 without having to look for things to buy at all. In fact I had to limit myself as I was about to go food shopping directly afterwards.

In the first week of opening some local thieves stripped lead flashings from the roof, so if you see buckets on the floor in the pictures you'll know the reason. 

The shop splits itself in half, as you come through the door model kits are to the right and railway stuff to the left. in the centre is the checkout and sales staff. Once you proceed past this sales pagoda wargames items are mostly on the left. 

The sales are is so large that the shelves look a little sparsely stocked. I urge you not to take this at face value there are many hidden gems which at first glance you may miss. For example there are some Foundry Blisters for street violence and Argonounts. It would of course be an amazing capital outlay to even attempt to stock half the foundry range. This small selection does go to show that they may well be willing to order things for you though. Additionally this is the only shop I have ever seen which stocks "Frontline" in blister packs on shelves. As well as another company I have never heard of making 28mm dungeon scenery totally suitable for Dungeons and Dragons. (in the yellow packs at the bottom of the picture.)

In addition to the wargames companies including West Wind, Wargames Factory, Forged in Battle, Victrix, Plastic Soldier Company and Warlord Games, the shop stocks 3 different paint ranges ( Humbrol, Tamiya and Games Workshop!) as well as brushes and dice.

The construction kits are by the usual suspects (Revel etc.) as you can see to the right and cover a wide range of topics from cars and planes boats and toy soldiers. Add to this variety all the Railway items (of which I know nothing about) and all the peripherals both plain and embossed Plasticard, brass fixtures and fittings and glue. And you have while not quite yet a one stop shop for hobby needs but a shop that I hope will grow into one in the time to come.

The shop is run and owned by Tori and Jim (or James and Tori if you prefer.) A married couple with many years of retail experience in these fields. Indeed they are both very knowledgeable on their stock as well as wargaming in general. Do not be fooled by Thinking Tori is a girl (she is) and therefore knows nothing about wargames, she really does despite the fact that she (I hope) has nothing dangling between her legs! They both have a good sense of humour and are very helpful. Tori will email me, for example, next week when the next West wind order arrives, as she knows I might be looking for a thing or two for Xmas (so I will say no more about it now.

As well as carrying stock they have several 6'x4' games tables and for the modest fee of £1/hour will supply not only the table but also the terrain. At present the terrain is geared up for Warhammer 40K as that is the most popular game for non club members in the area to play.

These tables can be booked from their face book page. www.facebook.com/RochesterGamesAndModels .


Overall I would say if you are in the Medway area you could do a lot worse than to pop in and see this shop for yourself. I know I will be going back.




Lastly. I should let everyone know that the Broadside Webb Site has been reconstructed. It is still being populated but Click Here to wing your way there.

That's it for today. I hope to see you all again on Tuesday. Until then, take care have fun and if possible check out a local games shop. They welcome your custom and if we don't use them they will all go under eventually! All the best Clint.

Samurai Opponents Started

I have just finished (literally 30 minutes ago) the first batch of Ashigaru for my opposing Samurai army. I have decided to create a Red themed opposing force. Some of you may be thinking about Yamagata Masakage ( LINK ) as I write red down in association with Samurai but the truth is that I just wanted a contrasting colour from the previous force. So being honest there is no big grand master plan.

 As you can see there are eight bases of teppo (Arquebus) armed Ashigaru (light Foot) based and ready to take the field.  Again I went for a very simple Mon on the Sashimono back banners, two white circles on a red field. I probably could have made a more complex and accurate Mon, but this one really is sufficient for the task.

Thanks for looking today, Next update should be on Sunday. All the best Clint

 AS I have decided to take part in the "Board of the Living Lead" Fantasy Roleplaying game LINK I needed to get a character. I had a rummage and found and repainted this figure. It is one of the very old Citadel AD+D adventurers. They came three in a pack all the same characters but at different times in their career. Thus you had one starting out one representing mid level and one with better clothes and equipment to represent a high level character. It was a concept that I really liked, but at the time was unable to purchase many pack, just the Female cleric pack and the male thief pack. I have no idea where most of them are now. Life moves on!

Character Name: Tawnee Mac Gillivary.

Stats: Quality:2 Combat :5
Abilities: Cleric.
Points:100

That is all the stats needed for Songs of Blades and Heroes. We were given a maximum of 100 points and as it was board of the Living Lead (part of the Zombie Bloggers Association) I decided early that a Cleric was definitely the way to go.  This hopefully will cover two aspects very useful to the party. A dedicated Undead slayer (It is Board of the Living Lead afterall) it will also give the party a healer. Healing is not that useful in "Songs..." but you never know. Anyway that was my thought process.

Other than "Tawnee" I have been busy on other projects. I have suggested a game for Broadside next year and will be starting that very soon. Most of the painting I want to do as part of Curt's ( Blog Link ) Analogue painting challenge, but I will try a sample figure later this week.

I have some other things loitering in the background as well. 15mm Sci Fi, 10mm Samurai (of course), TAR7AN (yes it's still hanging in there and now planning a second board, more of this another day), 28mm Colonial (what you never mentioned this before!) as well as 28mm Colonial Marines etc. and of course St Searle's Girls......yes with terrain.

So there is a lot going on behind the scenes, perhaps too much as I do want to focus on the Samurai. Anyway that's it for today, thanks for popping round for a look. Hope to see you again soon. All the best Clint

Archangel Clint!

 Yesterday at the club I had my first ever game of "Square Bashing" a WW1 Era Game by Peter Pig. We were actually playing Russian Civil War. Graham supplied all the figures terrain and rules knowledge and both Tim and Myself were given a rules briefing and pre gen armies. I Tim was given a Russian Red Army Early RCW (list no 40 if you have the army book). I was given (army list 45) an Archangel Field Force 1918-19, slightly more technologically advanced as I had both a heavy tank and an armoured car. The Pre-game went badly for me and well for Tim, I feel sure Tim would not agree, but the only advantage I received from the pre-game was that my professional troops would get an extra d6 when they were assaulting to balance this massive advantage I started with 6 units off of the table and the total loss of a machine gun. Ah poor me!

Objective 2 (Middle Left)

The first turn saw Tim's horde move forward and seize one of the 4 objectives straight away. Curse him. He also was able to threaten taking 2 other objectives. My turn saw a counterattack on this seized objective. A professional Battalion and a regular battalion supported by a machine gun against 2 reserve Red army battalions.  Abysmal dice rolls on my side meant that they were repulsed with heavy casualties. Not broken but decidedly unhappy! I was able to advance into one of the objectives in the middle of the board and drop a Suppression Barrage right where I wanted it, (Thank goodness)My turn ended and Tim attacked the two objectives he had threatened last turn. My Barrage had stopped him getting all his troops involved on my right flank but not on my left. The right objective held out thanks to my field artillery hold up there and a unit of French Regulars
On my left Tim launched a two pronged attack on another objective aided by his own light tank. My troops were forced out of that objective as well. Rats. At this stage I was saying to my self that this is a rubbish game I will never play it again.



Objecvtive 1 (my far left)

Back to my second turn I passed all morale checks and managed to bring down, with total accuracy, a pin point Barrage. This was devastating for Tim's troops.  I launched two assaults again and did mange to retake the first objective with my battered Professionals and Regulars which had failed to do so the previous turn and pushed Tim's reservists troops back out of the objective into open country. Where my barrage hit I was able again to push his troops out of the second objective. This time though because of the stacking limits and the barrage his troops had to retreat back to his own base line, and one unit of off the board altogether (it came back in his next turn).

Objective 3(middle of the board)

 So suddenly I am thinking this game is actually pretty good. And then the dice changed again. Again Tim launched another assault, this time supported by Cavalry and Objective 1 was taken. Objective 3 was also taken as he used all the troops I had forced back to focus on it while pounding it with all his own field artillery. To make matters worse He had punched a hole in my line and had some cavalry loose in the rear. My options were to loose another objective by not moving into it or to leave a gap. So I left a gap. If I had had more troops from the pre game I would have been OK. But that is the price you pay in the pre game sometimes. Oh well. We did run out of time to finish the game because we had a late start, needed to learn the rules and as such Tim did get an extra turn than me. So I might have turned it round and retaken an objective, I did have a heavy tank and an armoured car along with a professional battalion right next to objective 3. As it was the victory points were added up and it was a minor victory for Tim. Like I said I will never play those rules again. EVER! Actually I think I will play it again in 2 weeks, just so we all can learn the rules.

Things I did right: I kept retaking the objectives and continued to put pressure on Tim to Re-take them. I also got my artillery barrages spot on.

Things I did wrong: I did not use my heavy tank to it's best advantage. I mucked up the pre-game and tried to get bigger and better results as opposed to accepting small advantages. This seriously affected the pre game and how many troops I could start with. I also could have place the objectives better and the terrain before Tim had a chance to move the terrain.

Overall I did not do too bad. It could definitely have been played better or worse. Live and Learn I suppose.

That's it for today. Catch you all later. Cheers Clinty