Egyptians (Paint Monkey)

I call myself Paint monkey because of the mess I make. not because I look like a chimp! (thanks Ray lol you Feckin' Ejit!). For my first entry in the painting challenge (Currently working on entries 3 and 4) I painted up some circa 1882 Egyptians for Matt's colonial collection/gaming.

A total of 24 figures by Perry Miniatures. 2 Officers 2 standard bearers and 2 musicians and 28 rankers.

As you can see they have a pretty basic uniform. White tunic and trousers Black webbing and a red fez. Apart from the officers who wear navy blue instead of white. This made them ideal for the challenge as It meant I could constrain myself to a very limited palette. Starting from a white undercoat they were first painted cream as opposed to grey as I wanted then to look more attuned to the desert and grey would have given a colder look. I don't find painting white easy but if you start with a light grey or cream base coat for blocking in, it does help a lot.

These got me off the mark and earned me 124 points About 1/10th of my target.

Thanks for looking today. next time will be a Pressie for Fran. which as of last night is also on the Analogue hobbies web site challenge.

All the best Take care and with luck see you all soon.

Turn 19 results.

As I wait for basing materials to dry I have time to post the latest turn of the PBB game. That being turn 19.

As always I will start with the overall board and then working anti clockwise from far back left to the front and them to the right. The turn sequence let the Spanish move and fire first. Not that they had so much shooting to do. But they (well Misley did some). Many ships have got a second wind and are returning to the fray while others are using the discretion better part of valour and leaving the table. Not sure how this one will end now.

 The overall shot of the battle clearly shows the level of confusion and the complete lack of organisation. 2 Ships HMS Challenge and Pina Colada have now left the board both under their own power and command. HMS Challenge being very slightly better off may take Pina Colada as a prize IF the British win the game. If the Spanish win Pina Colada will return to Spanish control.

 HMS Badger has ben reactivated this time with a prize Spanish crew from Mecedes. Which has now turned left and sprinted up the board.

 HMS Cutlass was then able to bring fire on HMS Badger but with very little effect due to the very long range. But at least one hit was done. HMS Agamennon has now managed to turn back into the fight. And now is at extreme range for Capitan Seb in the San Francis.

 The two Spanish Frigates are now heading across the board towards HMS Pachyderm but at this stage are so far from the fight that it will take them 2 maybe 3 turns to get in range. depending on what they and HMS Pachyderm decide to do.

 As you can see in this picture HMS Agamennon and San Francis really are at extreme range. No wonder when Captain Douglass ordered the crew to fire not a single shot landed.

 Captain Milsey did manage to fire at HMS Challenge as the ship sailed from the board, but did not inflict sufficient damage to slow the exit in any way. So Captain Curt and the remaining crew of HMS Challenge are now safely out of the game. But Captain Milsey did manage to get the parting shot.

 This has bought Captain Milsey and Captian Lucky Lee now into EXTREME range of each other. You need a 6 on a d6 to hit at that range. But both ships are damaged and only I know which one is better off. So for both captains it is a test of nerve to see which one (or both) breaks for open water.

The Mermaids revenge with her prize crew are heading to safty and the open seas. Anyone looking for a loan might want to talk to Lee's captain in 6 months time when the prize money comes through!

That's it for today. I will send out damage reports tomorrow as I want to use what light I have left to paint. As usual you will have 6 days to get your turn back to me before the next move is carried out.

All the best Clint

First Chasllenge painting day.

All a bit of a waffle today. Well the Analogue painting challenge started at 6am this morning UK time. And I have painted most of the day.

I am currently working on twenty four 28mm figures. I had them all prepped and based ready to go so come 6am I was set to start. I am the first to admit that they are not a hard paint.  Being the guy on the left (opps Ed. The one in the right, I can't tell left from right) . All one colour uniforms with no tricky patterns on them and no details on the collars and cuffs.

I have had very good progress so far and expect to finish them by Sunday. I think I have 2-3 hours painting time left to do and then the same basing time as well. So I suggest 6 hours left in total. I think this is the fastest I have ever painted. And the results are not too bad, even if I say so myself.

I have had one mistake. I did give a standard bearer an officers (Navy Blue Uniform) by error. And have had to re-paint it. I have not caught him up with the others just yet but he's not too far behind.

I can't show any photos until at least Wednesday or 24 hours after they go on Curt's blog.

So that's it for now and no Prep work tonight either as my sister is coming round.

Cheers Guys.

More WW1 Germans

Yes Paint monkey has been busy again. Let's start with the fact that there are another 6 done. They have been colour matched to the ones painted by Ray and postie, but with different bases. Nothing wrong with Ray and Posties Bases of course but I prefer mine. (In the same way that they will prefer there own .)

Again I have put red flowers on the bases to make them look like poppies. As you can see there is a group shot of all 12 now they are all finished and have already been given back to Matt who did like the result. Consequently Paint Monkey has got some more 28mm figures to paint for him. But I will not be painting them until the painting challenge starts at 6am tomorrow morning. I am hoping that they will be an easy paint, you never know they may be as I want to use them to start the challenge. Which means that they have been cleaned up, primed and based. But that starts in 22 hours time, which is the future so for now I am trying to clear the painting table today.

That's it for today, thank you for looking. As ever please feel free to comment or not as you see fit. My next Scheduled post will be Saturday and Turn 19 of the PBB game. So until then take care have fun and like me I hope you will be preparing for Curt's challenge. I plan to send in my first entry for the challenge on Tuesday so will probably post it here the day after.

All the best Clint

No picture of Postie

On Saturday I travelled up to Posties shed of war. I was not playing as I could not stay all day. Additionally they were playing 7 years war "Age of Reason" And to be honest I know NOTHING about either the rules or the period, even less than I know about Napoleonic. So nothing, not a thing. I also had something on in the afternoon and was at the wargames club on Sunday. But it was to be Fran's last game in this country. So It was worth going to make sure he got on the boat to enjoy his company one last time.

So no AAR as such, just some thoughts about the game. As usual there was some banter. Mostly about Ian this time and some outrageous manoeuvres he had carried out in the previous game and that "Postie" should go on the wall of SHAME. Well Postie should, but mostly for his private life and not he does in a wargames capacity. I am not saying he sexually interferes with hedgehogs I am not saying that at all. But now you have that thought in your head you will never look on him the same way again!

Unusually for Postie he had not set the figures out but allowed the defender (Fran) to set up first. and then the attacker (Ray) to set up in response. I am sure young Raymond will make much mileage out of the fact that he had 24 army points and was attacking while Francis had 28 army points and was defending. He certainly was vocal about it on the day. (Perhaps, I cannot say as I was not there at the end, getting his excuses in early). So then each of the other players was given their place at the table and the troops they would command.

Before I get into that. I suspect that you will read a TRUTHFULL account of the whole day here. From Tamsin.
AKA Wargames Girl. http://wargaminggirl.blogspot.co.uk/

A slightly less accurate account here by Big Lee http://www.blmablog.com/

And a load of scuttlebutt and disparaging remarks here by Fran http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/

And also here by Ray http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/

Now mostly they will take their time in posting any AAR as they all want to see what Tamsin writes first and then copy it while making their own exploits sound heroic and the opponents sound less so. Therefore you will have to wait a while for some I think.

 The Prussians attacking were (Left to right) Tamsin, Big Lee (No there is not a little lee as far as I know) Ray (Overall commander) and Surjit (The wild uncontrollable player but great fun because of it! Unless of course he's on your side and you need him to follow orders.)

The Austrians were Fran (He's not short, just sitting down) Mark (Smiffy) David (Izzy) John. Again from left to right. They were defending a small, (Very small) hill in front of Fran and open ground everywhere else.

 So the game started and tactics were not that widely employed as the number of troops on the table hindered movement as did the turn sequence as it is card driven with each unit having a card and being drawn from a shuffled deck.

 So cavalry generally moving faster than infantry the first clash happened there as all the Cavalry were set up opposite each other. (OK not all but MOST of the cavalry). John and Izzy had the Austrian cavalry and Tamsin most of the Prussian. So like two fright trains with drunken drivers they crashed into each other. Izzy is a player who much prefers to attack even while in defence. Which gave Tamsin little choice as the attacker so she also charged. Unfortunatley the dice gods (all praise the Dice gods!) were not in Tamsin's favour. John and Izzy did better than I was expecting.

 And the nice neat cavalry charge of the Prussians  was no more. Which is to say that most of the Prussian cavalry lost their individual battles and one unit was pushed from the board.

This is where I had to leave the game. So I will be interested to know how the game turns out. Will the Austrian cavalry continue to do well and eventually roll up the Prussian flank. Or will Tamsin get lucky with the dice and counterattack successfully.

And this still leaves the whole of the far end of the table with all the infantry. Would the Prussians take the high ground and what would Surgit do as that really could be anything!

That's it for today. Other than to say check the blogs listed above as sooner or later those good people will post a full game AAR. While mine takes us up to the end of turn 2.

Thanks for looking. I will post some more WW1 Germans next time. All the best Clint.

Turn 18 Results.

Well as said last week I have had to post this a day early as I am busy all weekend. So here's what happened.

Well the turn sequence meant British repairs were carried out before anything else. Which meant they did not get ant worse due to enemy shooting before the end of the turn. If (or more likely When) I do this again I will have a more regular turn sequence this way works great on face to face tabletop games but is a little clumsy in a Play By Blog game or so I have found.



Anyway, this turn nothing really went the Spanish way. Indeed it is fair to say that not a single Spanish gun fired this turn while 2 British ships did. (Yes only 2 due to arch of fire !)

Starting back left and moving anticlockwise to end at the far right of the overhead picture.

 Meccedes suffered two broadsides at LONG range. but due to accurate firing from HMS Cutlass and somewhat less accurate firing from HMS Agamemnon she lost a whole mast in a single salvo. but has now taken refuge behind HMS Badger, Unicornico the Other Spanish frigate has turned and moved out of range and is now heading for HMS Pachyderm.

 HMS Agamemnon and HMS Cutlass, are not crashing or trying to board each other and due to sail settings will pass without incident next turn. Unless they want to try to board each other, but that just would not be cricket. If they were enemies I feel that it would. They do need to give each other some more sea room though!

 San Francis has turned around and looks like she might be coming back for seconds. As El interceptor and SS Guano head for the open seas. Or are they both chasing HMS Challenge?

 HMS Challenge and SS Pina colada will probably exit the board next turn. There to await the outcome of the battle and determine in SS Pina Colada becomes an English prise or a free Spanish ship. Capitano Millsy may start to engage and be engaged with HMS Pachyderm if they continue in this fashion!

 La Venganza de Serria failed to take HMS Pachyderm in the boarding action and has now been boarded its self and been taken as an English prize. Whether Captain Lucky Lee decides he wants to keep it is of course up to him. The morale of this action is that you should not try to board a bigger ship as they tend to have more crew and more marines. Hard Luck Loki!

Well I am out all day Saturday and all day Sunday so the next post is most likely on Monday. needless to say those captains still in the game I will need their turns BY 8am Saturday the 7th December.

But just before I go. My 2 anti-heroes for Curt's Analogue painting challenge have now arrived.  And that picture is just to tease you as I am aware that Bombshell Miniatures are not commonly known. So don't all go looking to see what anti-hero I have selected to do. But I will give you a clue it is the nickname of a well known blogger! (Saying no more!)

Thanks for looking again today. All the best Clint!

Paint Monkey WW1 German Uhlans.

 These are dismounted and not lance wielding WW1 German cavalry. Postie and Ray painted up the mounted versions and they therefore have different bases. Matt wanted my style bases so it game me great pleasure to do those bases for him. I did ask if he wanted some flowers on the bases and we agreed that a FEW with Poppy's would be most fitting hence the flash of Red on the bases.

As you can clearly see 6 figures in 3 different poses. There will be 12 in total and I will need them done by Sunday morning BEFORE I go to the club so with a busy weekend I should get them done. (fingers crossed)

Right then, no more chatter, time to get some paint slung on figures now.

Thanks for looking today and depending on when I get the next 6 finished may or MAY not be a group shot of the lot. Time constraints Blah blah blah!

 "Happy Thanks Giving" if that is part of your tradition across the pond. And Happy Thanks giving anyway anyway if not part of your tradition or if you are not even across the pond.

And A big thanks to the American Family who have invited my cousin to spend the day with them, She has had a hard year this year and it's nice to know strangers in another continent can be as kind and generous as to allow a Brit to spend a special day with them. So I for one am thankful for that.

Take care and will post again soon.

All the best Clint

More 6mm Cold war stuff

 

Well I am clearing the paint table and having shown the 2 Gepard last week here is another anti-aircraft vehicle. This time a Marder Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicle used by the front line German infantry at this time but converted to carry "Roland" Ground to air missiles. This should make helicopter operations a little tricky for the opposition. Well maybe.

Additionally I have finished a battery of 6mm 1/300th scale Abbot 105mm self propelled artillery. A very versatile platform that is still in use today. Able to bring long range indirect fire on the enemy in a variety of forms but with high explosive and even smoke being the most common choices.

There may well be another update tomorrow as I get things done and the table cleared for the painting challenge. Paint Monkey should finish 6 28mm models today (I do so plan) as I want 12 of them finished before Sunday morning and I am out on Saturday.

Right that's enough talking the paint should be dry by now and I can get back to it.

All the best, take care Clint.

Challenged!

Tamsin AKA Wargames Girl ( LINK) has challenged me as part of the Analogue Painting Challenge to paint space ships as we both have Ground Zero Games ships to paint. I bought a NSL (New Swabian League) from a friend a couple of years ago and they were something I was looking to get finished. This is therefore due to be painted as it now has the required level of dust on it. So I think I have about 20 ships in all from very small frigates all the way up to Capital ships.

One of the things that concerns me is the colour to paint them. So many people paint NSL ships Grey that I am not inclined too, and while I realise they can be any colour getting it right seems to be a challenge for me. So I am open to ideas, but I think I have settled on a colour in my mind.

The actual rules of the challenge will be sorted out on the weekend when we meet face to face for Fran's last English game. I will keep you posted when they are settled.

Anyway changing the subject here are 5 more 20mm zombies. They were on the painting table and had been for a while so it is good to add a few more to the horde. They are all the same pose, in soft plastic. Nothing special about them at all but at least they are finished now.

Trying to clear the painting table ready for the challenge in general and Tamsin's Challenge in particular. Paint monkey needs to get going!!

Thanks for looking all the best from Clint

Turn 17 Results.

Yes It's that time of the week again. And here are the latest turn results.  As you can see from the turn sequence all the movement happened at the end of the turn which has not been so fortunate as some people would hope.

I WILL NEED TO DO NEXT TURN ON FRIDAY29th November 2014. A DAY EARLIER AS I AM BUSY ALL NRXT WEEKEND>

 The overall picture of the board. All the pictures following this are taken anti-clockwise starting at the back left.

 Firstly we can see the Spanish Frigate heading towards 2 prizes. Is it possible that they will be claimed for Spain! If so Don Reidy's crew will be rich indeed.

 Don Reidy is not totally in the clear though as HMS Agamemnon may have different ideas. And may turn on "Mecedes"

 These 3 Spanish ships may have slipped past the British. Or they may circle back to bring more destruction. Only time will tell.

 A fire was extinguished on HMS Agamennon last turn and has started again this turn due to El Interceptor as both ships exchanged broadsides at short range.

 Both Seb and Millsy are past the British and one of the two is heading to HMS Challenge with mischief on their mind.

 Captain Campbell and Senior Lee are still escorting each other from the battle, neither is strong enough to claim the other as a prise or weak enough to yield their own ship. They have literally fought to exhaustion and lack enough crew now to decide the contest.

Senior Loki has also carried out a boarding action against the larger ship HMS Pachyderm. The action is ongoing but the smart money has got to be on HMS Pachyderm as the larger ship. Both ships did manage to fire at each other before any boarding actions were attempted. Now only time will tell the out come is by no means certain.

OK folks, that's it for this week but REMAMBER>

Next turn is on Friday as I am busy all next weekend.

All the best to you all. Have a good weekend.

 

More 6mm Cold war stuff

Let's start with the Gepard (Cheetah in English) a German anti Aircraft tank. As you can see it has lots of radar as well as two rapid firing cannons.

I only ever bought 2 of these as I have never been too excited by them for some reason. Which seems strange to me as they are quirky enough for me to like the look of them.

In the cold war period 2 of them can be attached to a headquarters to act as anti-aircraft support. so they should function well after all no reason not to use the guns on soft skins as well.

Next up two M901 TOW launchers. Tow being an anti Tank Guided weapon. While I can't find them in my TO&E for mid 80's cold war German forces. They were/are used by several different armies so I suspect they could be on the battle field. The one in the picture I think is Japanese but I am not sure. The Germans tended to use Jaguars with Milan or Hott missiles. So I shall do some of those pretty soon.

Clearly the basic carrier is an M113 which has been adapted to an anti-tank role by carrying TOW missiles.

Finally for today here are 6 Mann trucks for Logistics support. In games where the vehicles are so small there is no need to just concentrate on the fighting vehicles. I feel that logistic support is something vital to the battle field if only as targets for the opposition. I would strongly state that they are more than just targets though for without them the battles could not be fought as all sorts of supplies would run short very quickly.

So here are 6 of the beauties all ready to transport things to and from the point of FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area) . I have misplaced the canvas tilt on one but that all adds to the variety of the beasts.

All these figures are about 25 years old to me (possibly older) and originally came from Heroics and Ros a company I believe to be still going. I would encourage anyone wanting to do this scale and era to do an internet search and I am sure you'll find them with little difficulty. I Believe they were at the Salute show this year so I am sure they are still active.

That's it for today, thanks for looking. All the best Clint