Pre Salute and Bullets and Brains part 3

As it comes out of the fridge in one solid mass
NO
that is not all for you.
A total of 500g of Chocolate in that!

Yes the day before Salute and all is well, I have made all the orders for pick up at the show that I need. Ok just 1 order! I have been to the bank to work out how much is worth taking. I have even washed the blog tee shirt so it should be easier to avoid me if that is your choice. My final preparation was yesterday when I checked and the fudge is now set! Not so very much as usual as I have different people asking for it at home in the form of neighbours, relatives and even some of the ladies who work in my local Tesco. Being honest the ladies in my local Tesco are better looking and much more fanciable than most wargamers. There are exceptions of course, but generally!

So generally I am ready. Well as ready as I need to be! (I hope)

So pressing on.

Part 3 of the Bullets and Brains games put on By East street games.

As Kev had to leave early to amass enough brownie points to go to Salute tomorrow, that left Ian, Dave and Myself to take on Paul and Christine from East Street Games. We were allowed to select some different US troops. I was in the loo when the choice was made and came back to find I had a flame thrower and a leader. They did give me the option to change them but what the heck I though might as well stick and see what the flame thrower does. The flamethrower rules were simple logical and straight forward.  Mostly flamethrowers work by using up all the oxygen and making it impossible to breathe, being set on fire is a secondary effect. I did not think zombies would be too worried about the fire or indeed the lack of oxygen but I did think that it would do them no good what so ever. The rules they just made sense on the table and I think worked very well indeed.

Dave had a sniper and a goffer carrying extra ammunition for everyone and Ian had a commando and a dog with handler. Our mission this time was generated randomly from a table in the rule book. The task was to kill 10 or more zombies in one of 2 separate areas (no not 5 zombies from each area) and to exit 1 figure from the opposite board corner. The board was set up, we had a minute deciding what to do and as per usual totally ignored the plan and changed it in the second turn! That really does sound like us.

Given that the flamethrower only had four shots but auto hit and a range of 12 inches I needed to get him up the board pretty quick! So Dave set up the sniper and the Ammo Carrier and I advanced the leader and the flamethrower. Ian moved as fast as he dared towards and into the pub! We did wonder if he would stay there! But he did not stop. Then the zombies started to arrive. Which infected my leader on the first turn as he was in move range of a spawning point. But I had very little choice if I was to move up the board.

The ammo guy did most of the heavy lifting and killed the zed. Dave's Sniper picked of a couple at long range and before long our kill total in the area was 2 and we needed 10. generating 1 a turn over 8 turns we knew we would have to get loud to generate more zombies. So by turn 2 I had my leader on 2 wounds and some sneaky zombie had taken a bite out of the flame thrower guy as well and had been dispatched in melee. But that left him wounded as well and with the infection they would get an extra wound each turn  and when on 5 wounds they would become zeds! The Ammo guy protected the sniper and the commando, dog handler and Fido all moved through the pub and climbed over the bar on the way to the rear entrance..

By fluke I had placed the leader just out of zombie reach when the spawned which resulted in some melee battles right on the edge of the killing zone. Which in turn resulted in the sniper getting so good shots in. Ian had now reached the back door and we were on 5 kills in the right zone. The Ammo guy had been luck in melee taking care of the two who had spawned behind the flamethrower. While the flamethrower would automatically hit it would only wound the zeds and while firing it as often as possible with only its 4 shots in the whole game my leader was able to keep the zombies clear of him.

meanwhile Christine had abandoned one of her zombie spawn points and was concentrating on another. So when Ian left the pub he had a wall of biting flesh ahead of him. And he needed to get a single figure over the yellow line. (top right in picture).

When the leader was down to a single wound I moved him into the kill zone. The result was his death and turn into a zombie. Dave took great delight in using the sniper to drill a shot into the back of my head and we suddenly became 2 zeds short of the total that needed to die in that sector. And my flamethrower guy was on his last wound. So I did the sensible thing and crossed the line into the killing zone and turned into a zombie. We had no medics or antibiotics so once infected I was always going to die. Again Dave Grinning  killed my other character the instant he turned and was still able to dispatch one other so in 8 turns we had managed to kill the required number of zombies in that sector.

Ian somehow managed to get past the wall of zombies, but taking damage as he did so and killing a couple in the process. We asked if the dog was acceptable as the figure to make it of the table or if it had to be a human. (The Dog can move faster). Casper who was refing looked it up in the rules and decided in our favour and on the last turn the dog made it to safety.

Thus we earned a human victory (of sorts) in the last game.

Conclusion:
We played 3 games in a single day with 2 zombie wins and one Human win. All games were very close and came down to the  wire. Which gave the games a great and exciting feel to them. The rules work very well and if you allow for the fact that the zeds can think tactically and know the human victory conditions were hard to fault.

While these rules work very well for one of games but the death rate among humans makes it hard to imagine continuing characters at this stage. Maybe this will change in the future as I know they are planning further PDF releases of rules updates. But if you want a fun game played in 8 or less turns with about 40 figures total I would recommend the rules.

No rules are perfect however and I would be looking for more than 1 off games. But as they stand they are pretty good. Simple and enjoyable. The mechanics are sound and work well, they are also fairly instinctive and other than zombies not acting very zombie like due to player involvement and the mortality rate being very high. Other than those things which I know I could tweak to suit what I want, these rules make a good set for "Outbreak" era zombie wargaming.

Thanks for reading and with Salute tomorrow I will no doubt do a loot post on Sunday. So until then have fun and don't get bitten.

Take care of yourself.

Bullets and Brains (Part 2)

Yes the second game. If you have yet to read about the first game just refer to the previous posting by me and you will get the low down.

Well this game was a bit different. Dave and myself had the zombies this time and Kev and Ian the humans. No they did not have US army, but a bunch of civilians including 2 criminals which had special powers and did not trigger encounter tokens. Normal civilians did. As a crew they were much lighter armed with no automatic weapons and no medic (Gulp) but they could scavenge from crates. A variety of items were to be found in the crates but I did not see the lists so I will only comment on what was pulled out. Those finds being weapons (Mostly knives) bandages and antibiotics. When they spent a turn and an action by a crate they could search and roll a d6 and take any single item of that value or lower from the list.

The civilian mission was to kill two random zombies which were identified when players entered that sector of the board and again if possible get one figure from the boards opposite corner. I will admit I may have gotten their Victory conditions wrong as I was at this stage in zombie mode and the brain had shut down. The zombies Victory condition was to stop them getting to the two designated zombies and that was enough for me to think about while in zombie-mode.

Kev and Ian split the civilians evenly and each set about entering each sector separately rather than working as a single team. But again the 8 turn limit was most likely to scupper any attempt at that from the outset.

When you play with a certain group for a while you can predict how they will react. I am sure they know how I will at times and play on that. Well typical for Ian in zombie games he wanted the most scavenged equipment as possible so he had a slight detour when approaching my sector and after dispatching the only zombie I sent to block him looted the crates till they were exhausted. There were still other crates though
and I could see that he wanted to arm all of the civilians before confronting a load of biters. Kev at the other side was doing just as well and killing and looting as he went. To be honest I suspect I would have done the same.

They were using a noisy and quiet alternative turn tactic to slow down the zombies arrival via the spawn points meaning that me and Dave would have less zombies on the board when it came to them reaching the sector and determining who the random zombie to be killed as part of the VP. A sound choice of tactic and much to be applauded.

Now Dave and myself did not play the spirit of zombies. Well I for one did not no matter what Dave may later say. Zombies should not be tactical and should behave in a mindless feeding frenzy manner. But having checked with Casper and Christine we decided to have the zombies runaway and hide in a very un-zombie like way. By doing so we were able to keep the zombie with the victory conditions out of any fight and put a meat shield of living dead between the civilians and the target. Yes unsporting and very un-zombie like which makes me think zombies have to be played via an automated system or by an "Impartial" ref! And not by other players who all want to win. And that is probably the only fault I can say about the rules at present. But the game is the game and you always play to the whistle and the whistle was not blown and that was not considered a fowl, so we protected the target zeds. As you can see by my positioning of the zombies in the building with the target zombie in the corner and a wall of biting flesh as an undead barricade.

When It reached this stage and with a spawning point directly outside Ian gave up trying to get to that zed and went to support Kev. I did feel bad about it as it was not a very zombie like thing to do. Runaway and Hide!

meanwhile at the other side of the board Kev was doing better and had actually got into hand to hand with his target, but had lost a couple of people along the way. But time was really against them now and in the last few turn while they did loot that zombies body they just ran out of time. I was exiting the building and giving chase to Ian's civilians and did manage to bite one who spawned from a different spawning point and not with my conga line exiting the building. But the bitten one was a sacrificial piece left there to slow us down.

So we had another zombie win.

While the game was fun having players control the zombies and having the zombie player know which zombie was the target did mean every player behaved in a different way. For example the Humans used the loud and noisy turn and the quiet and sneaky turns to limit the zombies moves and the number arriving on the board and the zombie players marshalled their troops to protect their asset. You can blame no players for doing so. And while it was a very fun and enjoyable scenario the turn limit of 8 turns always meant that there would be 8 zombies to fight to get the asset zombie.

If you buy these rules and I probably will I would make a few changes to this scenario. Firstly forget the turn limits. This will allow the humans to get enough resources to take on the zeds. As without the tools the job becomes so much harder. But if you choose you could start the humans with a pool of equipment already as opposed to the meagre supply they started with. Additionally I would change the zombies, if you cannot have them automated in some way (OH someone please make an app!). I would not have the zombie identified but simply say when they searched the totally dead (brain dead) zombie roll a d6 needing 5+ to find what they are looking for on it. needless to say it would need to be playtested a few times first but it might stop the zombies running and hiding!

But overall a very good scenario and well worth playing and I would be very happy to do so again.

I will do the final part of Saturday as we did play 1 more scenario in the day. But so far 2 zombie wins and no human wins.

"You have to interact with a zombie" Ewwwww I thought!

Yes that was a quote by Casper, one on the three guys who came down on Sunday to the club. They were Paul, Casper and Christine all from East Street Games, and they put a zombie game on for us. Actually we played 3 games in all. So who is who, Paul  is the owner of East Street Games, Christine  is the rules writer for "Bullets and Brains" their zombie rules and Casper  tweaks the rules and makes it all work. I have over simplified their roles but it should give you an idea of what they all do and who they are.

Firstly let me say they are all very nice chaps so if you see them at a show Please do go and bug them all. In fact make a real nuisance of yourself! I did and will do again! That counts as a fair warning for you P. Seriously nice chaps and worth a chat with.

GAME 1

The table was set up and a briefing given to all players. I was with Dave and we had 6 US army figures our mission was to get 1 figure to a corner and one figure to the opposite corner of the board and we had 8 turns to do so. Ian and Kev played the zombies and they had to stop us. Easy right! Err No. Not that easy. 8 turns is a very tight schedule. Very tight.

Our roster was leader, saw gunner, medic and 3 standard troops. I had the standard troops and Dave the specialists. Each figure gets two actions a turn. The leader may sacrifice his actions to activate another for an additional 2 actions. The SAW gunner could fire 4 times in a action, and the medic could well no surprise heal wounds and cure infections.

 Each figure can take a number of wounds, all zombies can take 2 wounds, and each of the army could take 5. Red dice represents wounds taken and black dice "Infected" wounds. The zombie player has 4 spawning points as well as some encounter tokens. The encounter tokens may be placed on the board OR a small number may be played before activations. Different encounters were worth different points for a total of 10 points.

So here is what happened in the first game. Zombies spawn at each spawn point at a rate of 1 a turn and an additional zombie if the humans were being noisy. Me and Dave were noisy every turn for the 6 turns of the game. So you get more zombies and they get faster if the humans are noisy. But we had a long way to travel and we had to run to cover the distance and running is noisy!

So the first turn I set of an encounter token by getting to close and receive an infected cut for my trouble. Woops! The zombies spawned and as we were close we got attacked. the result was 1 more infected wound on another figure. We used the medics actions to cure wounds and the saw gunner to shoot things as my troops could not hit a barn door from inside the barn with my dice rolling.

 The zombies started swarming and as we were close to the school bus they played an encounter token one they had held back and not placed on the board. The bus exploded. Lucky for us all our troops within 8 inches of the buss were un hurt. God Bless flak vests. Unluckily the last figure who happened to be the medic did take a wound. But it really could have been so much worse, it could have devastated us.

 WE continue to move and do get a single figure to the corner edge. Thus giving us a victory point. At several places melee had been joined and mostly the soldiers had come of better. Yeah Mostly. And at this stage mostly we could get the medic to heal. But as each infected wound progresses a level each turn we were struggling to keep everyone healthy and alive and then we realise we were running out of time. So we had to split and that is where it all went to slime.

 As you can see we were getting a steady stream of opponents chasing us. and while the saw gunner was able to pick of a few each turn it was noisy and was not quite enough to allow for the new noes generated but as we were running and being noisy anyway there was little point in keeping him from not shooting.

 Splitting from the corner we became strung out. the result was the zombies could team up against us. But with only 8 turns we really had little choice but to split up. The 8 turns was the entire game length and we were on turn 5 at this stage! Christine was making "Nom Nom !" Noises at this stage when she moved the zombies.

 Dave used the SAW gunner to clear a path and I sent the troopers running and not fighting.

 Our leader was surrounded and rather than let him fight back we used him to active one of the running troopers. Suddenly it was turn 7 and I was at least 12 inches away from safety. The leader was engulfed by 4 zombies and succumbed to his wounds and instantly turned into a zed!

My fastest runner just short of safety flits an encounter token and that allows the zeds to make 3 free attacks on the soldiers. If I cross the yellow line I would make it to safety and win the game. But with only 1 wound left they made their attack and....

He gets turned into a zombie. inches from safety.

So the first game was a zombie victory. Hard luck Dave and well done Kev and Ian. Tactically we did make a few mistakes we spent too much time healing at the start of the game and that cost us time. Secondly we sent too many people to carry out the first objective to the determent of the second. But the scenario was very balanced and did result in a clear zombie win 2 Victory points to 1 US army Victory point! But for 2 more inches of movement it would have been a US army Victory.

I will post games 2 and 3 later this week. But this blog post is long enough for now so I will need to leave it there.

Overall I was impressed by the rules, they were simple and intuitive and the guys had picked them up half way through the first game. I will talk more of them in the next couple of posts.

Cheers For looking today and episode 2 on Wednesday. Until then take care, have fun and no biting!

28mm WW1 German Jaegers. Paint monkey

yes it has been one of those periods where nothing has gone my way at all mostly it has to be with being the easter holidays and the weather being bright and sunny. So I have spent some time painting the front of house fenestration! Well it was beginning to need doing. Additionally I have been playing 40k with my nephew which has just SOAKED up a load of time.


But coming out the other side I have finished 7 more WW1 German Jaegers for my Mate MATT. Nine are pictured and I have colour matched the other 7 so they all fit in and look like they come from the same regiment. The figure on the far right is one of the originals but the other is in the mass and if you cannot spot him it shows how good a job I have managed.

I am not sure who made these figures but they are quite nice and I have painted them for Matt before and look forward to doing more in the future. But for now you will just have to be happy with this as a very vague blog post. Not very informative, as I am still catching up from yesterday when the internet was down all day here!

Other news. While Playing 40k I looked at the WW1 Aircraft boards and realised that they were painted wrong! So I have had to start to repaint them. IT is a pain but they will work so much better because of it when completed.

That's it for today, I intend to do my next blog post on Monday afer the club on Sunday as Paul from East Street Games is coming along to put on a zombie game for me. so Maybe a Zombie AAR on Monday.

Cheers Guys  have a good weekend!

So it begins Part 1

Well the response from people wanting to play has lifted my spirits somewhat as I was thinking I might have selected a set of rules that were just a tad too challenging. Time (and hair loss) will tell if this turns out to be the case.

Firstly a big thank you to those who have responded a game is only as good as it's players. So cheers guys. Secondly I am still waiting to hear from at least 3 other players who played last year and therefore I have reserved places for them just in case. So the list may be just about complete but I am happy to take reserve places if anyone drops out.

Right on with what I have done! Because of the good weather I am willing to work in the shed. That is not something I choose to do in the winter, it's just too cold! My Jigsaw was indeed "Man enough" to cut the 19mm chipboard it was a struggle and did leave me sweating and swearing, but by taking it slow and clamping the board I was able to cut it quite accurately. Yes I could have used a circular saw but as that has teeth missing I though safety should come first and until I get a brand new blade for it I will not be using it.

I have put the first colours on as well. Using a mixture of Acrylic, poster and emulsion paints I have painted both boards green. Then I found a beige "tester" pot and painted that over the top and blended them together. The result a patchy surface to work from. I like the look of the boards now, but it is only the first step. The paint is on thick enough so none of the board shows through but It also looks like it does because the green is quite weak in tone and the beige is very similar to the boards starting colour. But this is just a base colour as the topographical landscape needs to be added so that you guys are flying over something and not just blank space.

I will not be adding hills in a three dimensional sense so this time out you will not need to climb to get over bumps in the game. Nor will most other features like roads, trenches, streams, towns and shell holes .

That's it for today, just a quick update so you know you are not forgotten. Like I said there are still reserve places in the game but for now the list is closed unless you played last year and have still to get back to me. Fran, Curt, Seb,  and the mysterious Aussie that I have heard through the grape vine wants to play.

Cheers Guys and may the green side not come up too fast!

Take care Clint

Gentlemen* start your engines.

* Ladies are welcome as well.

You may remember that last year I ran a game on my blog. I will be doing the same this year as well. But rather than ships of the Napoleonic Navy I will be using WW1 aircraft.

"Baron Raymond Von Dachs" will be "Leading" the Germans. At this stage I just need people willing to fly with or against him (no you cannot deliberately shoot your own side down, you know who I am talking to!) I have given Michael Mills (aka Millsy) the first choice to lead the forces of the Allies against this Vile Hun. If he chooses not to be involved or not to be a leader or to be on the same side as Ray I will be looking for another to step up. But he is my first choice as he does have an understanding of the rules I will be using. Which really will be a help.

So the Blog game this year will be WW1 dogfights above Flanders.  I will be looking for players on both sides so should you be interested. Ideally I would be looking for 12-20 players each willing to fly a single seat fighter plane for the Autumn-winter of 1917. So if you think you want to play kindly leave a comment letting me know and which side you would prefer. (I cannot guarantee you will get the choice but at least if you tell me I can try to fit you in on the side you would prefer.)


To the right you can see the very first move I have made in making the terrain you will be flying over. But I need to get a new saw blade to cut it. Mine is not "Man enough" to cut the board. Too old, too worn and that's the blade as well as me. I will do a step by step walk through as I make the terrain over the next few weeks. And you may take that picture as the first step. The boards are 19mm thick flooring from an old building project and I have decided to use them as opposed to shelling out hard earned on brand new materials having seen the cost of them at my local DIY store this morning. At this stage you could use board as long as you were confident it would not warp.  So Stage 1 is measure and cut the boards to size and shape.

Back to the planned game. I will be using the Canvas Eagles rules as they are a set I am most familiar with having been shot down over 20 times! If you do not have the rules they are downloadable FREE here http://www.maxeagles.com/index.html

Simply go to the PDF tab and once clicked the rules are on the free PDF page. Just look for the "Main rules" area. There are also all the aircraft play sheets for more aircraft than you will ever need. in a separate download area. To the right you can see my copy of the rules that I have printed and bound, so yours should look like this.

So that is the rules taken care of. I will point out any rules changes before play (there will be a few just to suit the play by blog format.) But I want some pregame training. Yes I have that covered as well. There is a free computer game, BLUEMAX, as well (this makes me sound very organised but it is not my doing.) It is an Italian website which runs a VERY similar game. There are differences but it is a very good place to start. Anyway you will find I here

http://www.youplay.it/default.asp

I fly under the handle "DirtyFoker1" on that site and tend to join in the larger games 8-18 players. So if you want to shoot me down and get some revenge for the pain and suffering I am about to inflict on you. I am in no way the best pilot in any game but I would say I was an OK pilot in that game.

But for the play by blog game I will be running. At this stage I just need a real name, a preferred side, (French, German or British) if you have a STRONG preference for a plane (has to be single seater and in COMMON active service in Autumn/Winter 1917 by one of those nations) and if you want a pilot name or an aircraft name that is also acceptable. (I have Named Rays and it may change when he reads this or he may not.)

As always any questions please get in touch, perhaps leave a comment. If you played in the last game preference will be given this time and those people already know my email address so drop me a line directly.

Players signed up so far: (I will add more as they are known to me)

1. Ray Rousell (German Commander)
2. Michael Mills (Allied Commander) Captain Sir Isembard Mafeking Barking-Madd-Smythe III
3. Dave Docherty. (British erhm colonial foreign chappie!)
4. Peter Douglas (British)
5. Kyle lee (Canadian in British service)
6. Roy Williamson (French)
7. Edwin King (French) Capiteine Reynard "The Flying Fox"
8. Robert Audin (French) No more French for the moment (Unless you are actually French then I will make an exception).
9. Mathyoo (German)
10. Lee Hadley (Germans)
11. JMiles (Any)
12. Phyllion (Any)
13. Tamsin (Any)
14. Michael Peterson (Any)
15. Curt?
16. Seb?
17. Fran?
18. Mysterious Aussie friend of Millsy!

First Reserves.

1. Carl Packham.
2. Kasper Froberg 

RESERVE PLACES ARE STILL AVAILIABLE IF those with question marks drop out!

Thanks for reading and chocks away!

Fire and Steel

Yesterday I was very pleased to receive the following rule set via eBay. "Fire and Steel". I was very disappointed at the first reading as I thought they were a dedicated colonial skirmish rule set. And on first reading they covered Seven years war, American Civil war and wild west gunfight. I happen to like rules that are specific to each period and not ones that try to do everything as then tend to end up doing nothing.

But my mind was changed on the second reading. They will still cover all imaginable periods. But I do not have or intend to use them for all periods.

Physically they are a little bigger than A5 with a card cover stapled on. 31 printed pages (32 pages in all but the least one is blank) printed in black and white with a few drawings and diagrams. To my mind this is so much nicer than a bigger tome that has been puffed out with pretty pictures but that don't add anything to the rules. There is no "How to paint figures" or "How to build terrain" or even pages of background history that any fool with 30mins and internet access could discover. No the rules are just that a basic set of rules in an old fashioned format and so much better for it. I have been a wargamer for a few years and so I already know a little about painting figures and making terrain. It is even conceivable that I might know a teeny tiny bit of history already for a set of rules  for which I have an interest.  So I really do thank the publishers "Keep Wargaming" for not patronising me.

The rules are pretty simple, but I can see that they would work and fill the booklet from page 4-12. After which there are some suggestions on troop types  for various campaigns, some notes on characterisations and 2 appendices on Explosions and on Machine guns. From Page 19 onwards it gives a brief note on scenario design (1 Page) and 5 scenarios. And that fill the book. It is a light easy read although  a rules "Numty" like me has had to check a few things by flipping back a page or two, just to make sure you understand and not because I am "thick and useless", which I may be as well.

The scenarios are quite varied in both scale and time period with anything up to 5 players taking part . For club games I think this will work fine I really do. Generally you are looking for 1 player controlling 5-10 figures , the rules suggest 8 but that should depend on the players. So if you want to change period a lot the expense is not too high. There are no points system in the rules, this is deliberate as the design philosophy is not ALWAYS looking for balanced scenarios. Sometimes rather than having things equal it is better to have objective based scenarios. And Objective based scenarios are really not about having an "Equal" Battle but are about achieving a set objective. So with a little thought and imagination players will be able devise completely balanced scenarios where troop equality is not the issue.

Given that the rules have a picture of Afghanis shooting in the Hindu Kush on the front cover This is what I was expecting the rules to be all about. Instead I found a very versatile set of generic rules with a couple of good ideas that one can build a very good scenario based game at club level for. I can see me using these rules at the club and even for show games as they are straight forward and easy to follow. The only issue I have with them is the need for different markers on the wargames table. M Morale markers, R reload markers (each figure may require 6 of those is fining something that takes a long while to reload, T tap load markers if the musket boys want to reload very fast. I am sure I can come up with a way round this but counters on the table do tend to detract from a games look.

Overall I really do like these rules. They are simple to use and to understand and by tailoring the weapons and forces scenarios can be created with a little thought. Will I ever use them? Yes I think I will. They may not be perfect and may require me to think as bit to set up decent situations and scenarios but that is not an unpleasant task. They are a change from the glossy rulesets I have been using but I prefer them for taking this approach. There is no "Guff" just back to basic rules.

What will I use them for? That is a whole different question. I bought them thinking "Northwest Frontier" because of the picture on the front. But now I am not sure I will use them for that as they may be better suited to French Indian wars or Boxer Rebellion.

Thanks for reading today. I have been far too busy to paint much these last few days, but with luck I should have something finished for Sunday's blog post. So take care and see you soon.

Just thought I would include a bit of music to go with the figures. feel free to ignore it if you want.

 

For those who want to know it is "Fortunate son!" By Credence Clearwater Revival. As I thought it a nice change from "Paint it black" by the Stones. But I could have selected so many more good songs. As the soundtrack to the Vietnam engagement is one of the best out there.

 

 I think this finishes my US troops for now, but I do plan to get a few more at the Salute Show. But only a few.

Firstly we have an M29, 81mm mortar and crew. Just a two man crew, there in reality may have been a few more bringing ammunition from the ammo bunker as well as an Officer and Radio operator. But All I need is a simple representation and it may never actually reach the tabletop. But then again it might. I see it being typically used from a "Secure" area such as a fire base and not by a patrol at least in any games. Should there ever be a Big battle yes I see it being used quite a lot.

There are also 3 dead or at least badly wounded. These may also be a scenario objective as the US troops want to return their own dead to the Good Ole... As with all the figures they are 20mm in scale and SHQ by design. And being honest I think they are some of the nicest 20mm figures for this conflict as you can get.

Goping back to the mortar and crew very quickly, I did not put any tall reeds on those figures as I did not want them to look like they were deep "In Country" but that is all personal choice.

Then almost another squad of 9 figures. Not a single Booper or M60 LMG this time. 6 are armed with M16 rifles, 2 with Remington shotguns, while the last has a radio (and a pistol). These extra shotgun figures were stored in a different location to the other squads but at least I now have 3 painted and ready to use. Should nay of my players want to equip their squad with one. I have probably mentioned it before but think "Bunny" from Platoon. (Called Bunny as he has a cartoon tattoo of Bugs Bunny on his arm).

 The guy with a radio is also a welcome addition (I now have 2) as it allows me to easily call in fire support in the form of mortars, heavier artillery, air strikes and even naval bombardment from ships on the coast. Ok ships on the coast will only work in certain areas but it was something that did happen on occasion. Some of the figures are the same casting but that is to be expected when you put 30+ on display or even on the same table. As such I have given them different skin tones as well as where possible different equipment. Such as the red head band.

As I am enjoying Youtube and the ability to put it on my blog here is one more. Yes that's right the iconic attack in "Apocalypse now"

Take care and Paint when you can. Best wishes Clint.



 

 

Leather stockings

Well a bit of a change. Only because I needed a break. But I can assure you there are some more 20mm Vietnam figures coming. And a shout out to Peter in the wargames club for giving me two die cast helicopters.

But today something a little different. While at the skirmish show you may remember I was given charge of some woodland Indians in a "Muskets and Tomahawks" game. I would have done well if I had not had quite so many Indians killed by my arch nemesis Graham.

So just for fun I painted up some 28mm "Redoubt" figures. They ready were a nice change of pace from the 20mm Vietnam stuff. AS I was compelled "Last of the Mohicans" By James Fenimore Cooper while at college and it at the time was a heinous chore of the greatest magnitude being as I am dyslexic and the book was not written in modern English. Anyway I was at least able to remember the Last of the Mohicans was not a stand alone book but was part of the "Leather stocking tales" which all tell the story of "Natty Bumppo" (Yes I know it sounds like a Hobbit name but is actually the name of the lead character) commonly caller Hawkeye.

So anyway I painted up 3 Indians just for fun. As you can see they all have warpaint and leather stockings as well! And carry a mixture of traditional native and European weapons. I bought them several years ago (about 12 I think) and they have finally made it as far as the painting table. I will be doing some more in the future and may eventually make an Iroquois or Abanaki war party for "Muskets and Tomahawks" but at this stage I must stress they were only painted for the joy of painting and not part of a plan.

Do not take that to mean I have no long-term plan for them as I do. But do not expect to see too many of these in the near future. (Famous last words).

There are problems with the Redoubt figures. They are slightly taller than most 28mm figures and sometimes they are not amazingly well sculpted, but for the price I think they are pretty hard to beat in that you can get 6 for £7.50 (+P&P). And I have found that they do paint up quite nicely so I may well pick up some more at the Salute show. Just another pack or two, not a whole tribe or force but just to be able to put a few units on the table for any future "Muskets and Tomahawks" Games.

Thanks for looking today. More (Vietnam) again soon, then maybe some more WW1 German Jaegers or Zulus or something completely different.

Enjoy the rest of Easter and take care and paint a few figures. I know I will.

Cheers Clint

20mm Vietnam North and South armies.

Before you all get bored and wander away in droves to find something more interesting to look at. And let's be blunt there is loads out there of interest. I thought I would finish off all that I have rebased for the Vietnam conflict. I am still working on some bits and bobs so there will be more at a later date, indeed I expect to have repainted and re-based some more Americans by next week.

But until then here are all my North Vietnamese army (NVA). Yes a massive amount, OK only 12. But there is an RPG and a LMG included there. I may at a later date get an additional 6 so I can field 2 squads even if they are diminished squads. As you know from the last couple of posts I am looking to do "Local Militia" and not the NVA so I expect these to be used sparingly. As I lay in bed this morning I did ponder the possibility of doing it from their point of view as opposed to the US troops. And while I still could and in doing so some of my players would be happy I also know that some would not be.

I have even less of the South Vietnam army. Just a mere 9 figures. And it is interesting to note they all have WW2 Vintage weapons including BARs, M1 Carbines and Garand rifles. Yes there is even one with a rifle grenade. I have not put the tall grass on these yet. That is a job for this afternoon. And I think it is a case that the tall "Elephant" grass does improve the bases. When you look at their uniforms you can see I have painted the green striped camouflage patterns on. Simply a green base colour, then a white stripe and a thinner black strip through the white. At this scale there is little point in over doing it and trying to get the uniforms totally 100% correct. As that would drive me doo-lally. And to be honest about it I just do not want or need the stress.

I see this last squad as being used even less regularly than any of the others which is bound to get them used in every game. Life is just like that.

Thanks for looking today. Take care and have a great Easter. And I hope you get a very nice chocolate egg.

Cheers Clint

20mm Local force Viet Mihn

 Yes continuing with the Vietnam conflict today we have local force Viet Mihn. These are all locals fighting for the communist faction. They are Viet Mihn as opposed to Viet Cong as there was no such thing as Viet Cong EXCEPT that the US forces called them Cong as it sounded more aggressive than "Mihn". But strictly speaking they should be called Viet Mihn and NOT Viet Cong!

Rant over, there are 26 in all with a wide variety of weapons. And 1 Casualty marker (I may have to buy a few more). The weapons range from rifles and carbines through sub machine guns and Ak47s all the way up to LNMGs and Rocket propelled grenades. Simply put they were using everything they could get their hands on including stuff from WW2 and the French Invasion a few years before up to and including the stuff supplied to them from China and Russia. I have very few LMGs or RPGs just one of each so they are very likely to get out gunned at most opportunities. But as Local force militia they will rely on ambush and evasion. Firing a few shots from cover and then disappearing rapidly and taking any dead and wounded with them if they are able.

All the figures are SHQ and 20mm for easy of use with vehicles and my US troops. There will be more of these to show soon, but also some NVA and some south Vietnamese army as well, but in lesser numbers as I want to keep the games manageable. And Games do get over complex sometimes with too many figures on the table. Dependant on the rules uses of course. But as I am looking for a squad level game more troops would be gilding the lily I suspect!

Thanks for looking, I hope/plan to post again on Saturday. But If I don't have a great Easter.

Take care Clint.

20mm Vietnam Platoon.

Well as mentioned a couple of days ago. Here are some 20mm Vietnam conflict figures. Typically I am starting with the US troops by which I mean no disrespect to any other nation involved.

I have 3 squads of 10 for your standard US Troops. Each of the soldiers has the 7th Cavalry shoulder patch on the left arm. Which if you look really closely you will see as a black and yellow triangle with an additional "Diagonal" black stripe.


Each squad consists of a Pig gunner (M60 LMG) and a Booper (M79) Grenade launcher. I do have sufficient Bloopers to go to 2 in each squad if need be, or enough M203 grenade launchers to swap them out if need be. I did select the M79 Booper in preference to the M203 as it did have a higher rate of fire and was more common in the earlier part of the conflict. Additionally 1 squad has a shotgun (I may buy a few more at the Salute show) and while they were used think of "Bunny" in the film Platoon, I already suspect that many players if given the choice will opt for an M16. It is just a case of knowing your players. And by that I know they will want one to start with just to try it out, but will most likely prefer an M16 as the game(s) progress.

Someone is bound to ask "What rules will you use?" Well currently I am reading "FNG" by 2 hour wargames and quite like them. Many players do like them for this conflict when dealing with few figures but prefer "Charlie Don't Surf!" by Too Fat Lardies for company actions. But as I want to keep to squad level actions I do not feel the need for there purchase. Plenty of other rule sets exist of course so it is all personal choice.

All these figures are SHQ miniatures and painted a long while ago so all I have done is to re-base them and to touch them up where needed so they were never going to make the Analogue painting challenge. The basing was done exactly the same as my WW2 US Paratroops so if you flick back a dozen posts or so you will find a walkthrough of how that was done. But the bristles were not cut as short this time as I wanted a Jungle feel and not a scrubland/marsh look.

In addition to swap out figures I also Have some LLRP and special forces but I do not intend to use them at this stage simply because they are not always carrying the weapons you would think of in a squad. Far too many telescopic sights for example. And while telescopic sights were issued to first platoon then squad level it would only really be 1 a squad at the END of the conflict. So not common at all for the 67-8 period I would choose to portray.

Next time either Viet Mihn or South Vietnamese troops.  But I only have a single squad of South Vietnamese troops so may have to include a vehicle to bolster the post. So the Salute shopping list may grow!!

Thanks for looking, have a great day and take care. All the best Clint