4 More Burpa Cavalry.

It has been a slow week. Partly from lack of motivation and partly due to the weather and partly as I have been inundated with relatives. Do not get me wrong I do like my relatives but I also like my own space and not a totally ridged time table.

Still whine over.

I have just finished another 4 figures for Matt. yes 4 more Burpa cavalry mostly in bright and colourful clothes. yes there is one in grey as well but generally in bright colours. There are another 6 cavalry started so more to come next week no doubt.  Only 4today though. And yes I will do a pick of them all at the end.

They have a suitably ragtag collection of weapons from knives to black powder firearms. The Guy in the yellow has a knife and a shield for melee and a firearm for range work. The one in the green has a Firearm as well as a knife and 2 swords, why he would need 2 swords and a knife I have no idea yet he does. The leader (in the orange) is sword and shield armed and the guy in grey carries a spear and shield as well as a sword in a scabbard. So all in all quite a well armed bunch no doubt looking to cause mayhem to the British troops in the area.

I believe all the figures to be foundry and 28mm in size and they should all fit together with Matts other cavalry which is all good fun as I know Matt does not like cavalry in wargames. By which I mean he does like to shoot at them BUT does not like to control them.

Frozen Planet Update.

No this idea has not gone away, in fact it is doing from strength to strength. below is a pack of Brigade Hippo South African confederation vehicles. they are all trucks 2 have office bodies, 2 have tanker bodies and the rest are "Flatbeds" As you can see in the very last picture.

 Other than thinking and sorting these figures out I have not as yet done much with this idea. I have determined that one force will be the South African Confederation JUST because I like the vehicles and for no other reason. The other force I am open to ideas on though but I am leaning towards the Chinese Democratic Socialist Union. But at this stage it is just too early to tell. I have let my sister know so there is a small (minuscule) chance she will buy some for my xmass gift. To be honest with you though I am not holding my breathe at all!

Thanks for reading today and enjoy the rest of the weekend. All the best Clint

QKD-4G Quckdraw and a thought or two.

You are right I am not painting much this week. But here at least is another Battletech mech the 60 ton Heavy, Quick draw.  As heavy mechs go this is a fast mech with jump capability. But in order to get the speed and the jumps it does sacrifice armour and to some extent heavy weapons. I must admit I have never played against or piloted one of these beasts however here are my thoughts on it. Yes it is fast and that is in my opinion its best feature as it should allow it to always get shots on target and to some extent stay out of trouble.  But the jumps and the speed do come at a cost. And this time the cost is in armour. For a heavy mech it is quite lightly armoured and the medium lasers also mean it is lacking a knockout punch. While it does have a long range missile system (LRM 10) with only 12 shots in it's holster for this it will want to close quickly. Within 9 hexes it has a short range missile system, thet you want to fire at every opportunity because you have 25 shots close in. But the main weapons are 4 medium lasers. Medium lasers are an OK weapon but they only do 5 points of damage with each hit and as each hit will probably hit different areas of an opponent they will most likely get soaked up by armour. At least in the early part of any game. Additionally fast moves and jumping and medium lasers can lead to this mech overheating. Which is the consequence of having a heavy mech that can jump. We all like to pull off "Death From Above" jump attacks on enemy mechs and this does have the speed and jump ability able to do that but that tactic is fraught with danger. So unless you have a player who is a good pilot and knows how to carry out attacks like that I really would not recommend this mech.

A change of direction perhaps (but only a little change)

So that is my giant robot fix for today. But I am not yet finished with sci fi! I have been a little down in the dumps of late and lacking motivation. But I did speak to a neighbour yesterday and they did cheer me up. And that got me thinking.  I do like 1/300th scale, and I do like Science fiction games. yet in all my life I have never collected a 6mm sci fi army! What is more I also Know Tony in Brigade Models (LINK) and see no reason that should not be a place to start and look for a game.
I was going to have a quick poll on the blog (I do enjoy them) asking what kind of world I should set the game in. However I have already decided that a snow/ice world would suit me best. Why a snow planet? Well firstly there are no trees, secondly hills and cliffs and other snow terrain is easy to build. Oh yes it is! Additionally I rarely see games set on snow planets so I am seriously now looking at this as an idea. I see it as being a game I can transport easily (1 or 2 A4 box files.) be fairly cheap and a good stand by game at the club. Rules wise (someone always asks) I am looking at "Future War Commander" as I already have those rules and they should give the kind of game I am thinking of. And just to put the icing on the cake the local games shop actually stocks (some but not all) Brigade Models so I can if I choose pick up a pack every now and again.

Thanks for reading the waffle I will have some historical figures on the blog soon. I hope to finish some Burpas by Sunday at the VERY latest.

All the very best Clint.



Bad weekend, but no disasters.

Well the title sums it all up reasonably well.  I Have struggled with any form of motivation at all recently. I have not as yet finished the Klintanistan turns yet. (They will be done soon I hope, about 1/2 way through them). And yesterday at the club we played "EnGarde" again with two players who did not know the rules or have forces or well you get the idea. As in the club it is now customary to drop out of a game and reff if another player does not know the rules or have a force I did just that. So I cannot give an AAR as I just did not take many photos as I thought I was going to play right up till about 2pm and by then the game was about half way through and as I thought I was going to play had not taken any pictures.

So I settled for a brief description of the forces involved.


My troops
All old Games Workshop
Empire.
That I was using as Border Reivers
on this occasion
Had of course I been playing
So Used instead by Colin.
The force was
2 rank 1 croossbowmen,
2 rank 2 Halberders
2 rank 2 Sword and buckler men
And one rank 5 Chieftain.
total was 99 points.

Matt using ECW troops
Lots of Militia with Pike and matchlock or musket.
 

Tim using the Pirates list
And yes he did have a "Swivel Gun"
With both a captain and a petty officer

Graham using Tims Figures
Using a Cardinals guard list.
Some  Guards, some Ruffians and one Captain

We all as it happened settled for different army lists in a "Hollywood" type game.
With Matt and Colin against Tim and Graham.

I cannot give a better report as I was busy refing the game and not playing and it was at times like herding cats. The rules are very simple and Graham picked them up fast but Colin was stil unsure even by the end.

The Result would have been a Matt victory if we went on longer as Colin (his ally was all dead) Tim was all dead, and Graham was mostly dead. And Matt was about have dead troops. But Graham was not in a position to take the objective and Matt was. So a MARGINAL Victory to Mat. Well done Matt.

A loyt of painting

Mostly I have been painting in my spare time and not progressing the Klintanistan game. But It is slowly progressing and I hope to finish 2 more players turns this evening.... that is of course until the football comes on and then sorry I will be glued to the TV.  However until the kick off here are a few more figures to entertain you.

Yes more 28mm Foundry Sikhs above is a group shot of all the ones painted this week. 2 Flag bearers as well as officers (both European and native officers) non commissioned officers and enlisted men. I have split them into smaller groups so you can see them more clearly and not just a bunch of kahki clad figures.

The Flags are from a famous Irish regiment and not Indian at all. But a lack of Indian flags are produced commercially so I just went with what looked good. For the historical perfectionists among you I do apologise and do indeed look forward to you sending me replacements. What you are not going to send replacements well in that case hard luck I am not changing them.

As part of the Empire they are entitled to carry the Union Flag (only called a Jack when it is flown at see).  Two of the officers wear sheep skin coats to keep the cold out in the chilly night of the high mountain passes, all the other troops are in uniform Which in this period is Khaki. I am told when the army swapped from red uniforms to khaki  they dye was sent as a powder in tins and the instructions were not totally clear so many different shades were produced due to the local water and the amount of dye that was added. So as far as I am concerned any Kharki is right for this period.  If you know better I would be happy to hear from you.

Well that is the painting done for this week now I need to get typing.

All the best folks and I should manage a post either Sunday night or Monday morning.

Have a good weekend everyone.
Bye from Clint

A world afalme... well nearly.

Well as mentioned some painted figures. No not what you were expected. These are 20mm Russian Civil War figures by IT miniatures. The Donkey comes from the WW1 range. I think French, but could be British or German. Anyway we were talking about some interwar period games at the club and I had these in the painting queue and so I finally took the plunge and got them painted. They are not brilliant but they are at least painted and look about right for some "20mm BACK OF BEYOND" games which will most likely never happen but a squad ad a supply mule finished anyway.

Thanks for looking, more again soon.

All the best Cheerio
Clint

Secrety Santa Update.

Yes I have news! Firstly my "Secret Santa" gift has arrived. So who ever sent it was very swift at the dispatch. If that was you many thanks I found it quite exciting and NOT the usual mail I get through the door, that tends to be fast food leaflets and occasionally a leaflet from a man offering gardening services or a builder trying to drum up work. So who ever sent it Please know that it has arrived, and I do not know what it is, but I suspect it to be figures of one kind or another. So who ever you are you have put a smile on my usually grumpy face!

I had best get my act together and send my SS out as well.

All the best folks and I can now start looking forward to Crimbo!

I will try to post again tomorrow with some painted figures.

 Cheerio.... Clint

Turn 3 Klintanistan

First some game news. From this moment on I will be processing turns in the order they arrive.

This means several things. Firstly the international arms market does have a very finite level of resources. And they will be dealt with on a first come first served manner.

Secondly attacks (should there be any ) will also be dealt with in this order, so if you plan any hostile actions. Say for example you want to blow up another players assests perhaps a mine. If that player has already had his turn processed they will still get the money from the territory. This also applies to military attacks so if you want to attack an enemy BEFORE they attack you the turn reaching me first will strike first.

BUT...

And it is a "big but and I can not lie!"

Yes this was a real tank of the period!
And yes it is on a two wheeled trailer.

If you want to spy on another player you will get MORE information if the turn was later  than the person you want to spy on. As I will have not written their turn when I process yours if their turn comes in after your turn.

So from now on it is up to the players to try to balance and second guess what other players might, or might not do!

• I hope this makes it easier for me.
• makes each player plan their turns a little more as the time element is now crucial. As players determine if they want international aid more than information about an opponent.

Rumours and Gossip.

• The GIMP is the saviour of the nation.
• Secret Police are watching your leader.
• Italian contacts are unreliable in the game.
• The Order has the biggest military machine
• There really are NO Dodos honest they are desert eagles flying to the central highlands.
• Millistan is holding a great horse race the winner will be crowned as a prince.
• there is a Royal wedding being planned and no sign of any baby bumps either!
• At least 2 deep water ports have now been started. And more are planned.
• What on earth is Scottie Service?
• Millistan is giving land to soldiers free.
• DI7 is a real thing.
• The above is a lie!
• Franonia is recruiting
• There are now units of female soldiers so if you want any typing done....
• No you did not see a Yeti!
• An assassination is planned on a significant leader of another country.
• The workers hate the Order.
• Lock up your daughters
• There is not and never has been any spies. They are just the 5th column
• Some countries really want to buy more aircraft but no one is selling any.
• America has allied with a country. Don't mess with the Yanks.
• Maulisia is a hell hole do not go their they are likely to eat dodos or so I have heard.
• Canukistan is concentrating on building schools in preference to making an better army.
• The worm is slowly turning.
• At least 2 countries are close to a revolt by the.... Gulp ssshh don't say any more the secret police are everywhere.

That's all folks until nest time !

I have improved!

I searched out my old Judge Dredd figures this morning. And considering They were painted back in 1984-86, some 30 years ago I still think they look pretty good. I do not have as many as I thought though, but I still have enough. I have 5 Street Judges (Both mounted and on foot) and about 10 other figures some of which I had forgotten I owned.

They all have some minor scratches and one does have a broken Lawgiver (gun) but considering their age I do not think too bad at all.
So maybe a bit of a repaint before I settle on a game at the club.

As you can see bases do need work but as a basis to start a force what could be better.

I have never used a Dark Judge or a Klegg in a game so It might be good to give them an outing.

Colour wise I have gone for the comic book colours as seen in the comics and NOT mentioned in the text.

Anyway thanks for looking. and I should give a shout out to Bryan at Link

So That is it for today and with luck I will get the Klintanistan game going over the weekend so look out for an update soon.

Hallo Sailor.

I was trying to post these up yesterday but unfortunately drying time beat me so I finished them about 5 am this morning. (Yes I know it was too dark to paint properly, but I was just finishing the bases). Again these are painted for Matt as part of his colonial collection. I have painted some British landing party before and these are painted and based to match.  No Big surprises about the colours I am sure.

There was a close u picture but sorry too dark today. So here is one with the flash and one without. I am confident you can tell the difference.

I do not know the make of the figures, but they are well cast and sculpted and just fractionally better than Copplestone (in my opinion). 7 In all and now ready to battle her majesties enemies.

All the best and I will post again very soon.

The Good the bad and the Ugly

Starting with the Good.

I was at the wargames club yesterday and I had done a deal with Matt. I am now the (Semi) Proud owner of a LOT of unpainted lead. Yay me! WE all like lead and this is something I am after in particular. About 2 and a half armies of un painted 6mm American Civil War lead, all Irregular miniatures and knowing Matt more ACW siege cannon that any club member could ever waggle a stick at. Ok Only about 8 guns in all but all whopping great siege guns in 6mm. I am only mentioning the siege guns as I have never seen them in a game of 6mm ACW.  There are also a LOT of Infantry and Cavalry and quite a few artillery. SO we now all know what I have planned for the next Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge..... Most if not all the troops are undercoated already in a dark grey so I will probably re-undercoat in a lighter grey. And that is the good out of the way. But a very nice Good as far as I am concerned.

The Bad. Well there are a couple of bads really. The local council are looking to change the classification of the charitable status of the hall which may mean that after 30 years we are forced to either close the club or move the club. Only time will tell what happens so .... Moving on.

The second Bad is that I have not yet finished the latest turn in the Klintanistan Game. Sorry guys real life (and the rugby). I make no excuses, I just did not get round to it. The good news is the one person who got their turn in 2 hours after the deadline will not be penalised in the game now. I will get the turns ready end sent out NEXT weekend. Sorry about that just realife stuff getting in the way.

Now the Ugly. It is ugly because I forgot my Camera. At the Club yesterday Graham and Richard (called Dick in the club) played a game against Matt and myself. We played "Bloody Barons" by Peter Pig and while Matt and me were Yorkist, Dick and Graham were Lancastrian. here are some of the highlights.

1. Poor dice rolls meant we were Defending.
2. Dick has the King arrive and fight on his side. (darn it)
3. First shot (Artillery) Matt manages to kill an enemy Household cavalry stand. No saves versus cannon so just blown away.
4. Lots of our troops do not arrive in time for the start of the battle.
5. Treachery means that a Lancastrian Noble considers changing sides and he need persuading to join the fight. This means our left wing is not under pressure at the start of the game. But he can join the fight 2 turns later. But te left wing did have a breather.
6. I Fail to moyivate any troops for four turns in a row.... 2d6 with 2 or 3 being no motivation.... yeah bad dice rolls what can I do.
7. Matt makes an inspiring defence of a town. Matt in the town only had levy troops and mostly archers. Yes being charged in the flank and being attacked by retinue quality troops managed to first hold the charge in one turn and then beat them off. being beaten by levy must have hurt them as they then failed a morale check and routed from the field. Three cheers for the levy troops.
8. The following turn The Lancastrians attack the centre (again commanded by Matt I was still twiddling my fingers due to lack of in game motivation). Again a Brilliant defence saw Matts Retinue troops beat of lance armed Houshold heavy cavalry in the open. And as a bigger surprise they also routed from the field. Bye bye Lancastrian cavalry. Another brilliant defence by Matt.
9. A Lucky (and I do mean lucky and not skilled) opportunity shot by my unmoving retinue unit close to the centre manages to kill the KING. (I called myself Kingslayer at every opportunity from then on!)
10. I finally manage to motivate myself from now on.... Honest Matt it was the Dice I was not holding back despite what the opponents were saying. (It Really was the dice).
11. I send my retinue from the laft most side of the hill and engage Dicks Retinue. As a peculiarity of the rules Once combat is met you can decide to carry on with your turn OR to fight it out there and then. I chose to carry on with the turn.
12. The Yorkist cavalry motivate and being household troops get D6+1 action points. I rolled and got a six. So I sent them charging into a levy unit which had come out into the open. (This was the reason for my delay in sorting out the combat, as if I had failed to motivate or failed to motivate sufficiently I could have moved the Cavalry into a supporting position.)
13. Crash band wallop. heavy armoured Knights against a peasant levy (Yes things could have gone terribly wrong but instead 5 enemy bases removed and no casualties to myself. The Levy routed from the field immediately.
14. This bolstered me and with no side support the Lancastrian Retinue that my retinue wee fighting Also lost the fight and were swept away as well leaving the left wing with but a single unit to fight my pretty much undamaged horde.
15. The Center Hill does get taken despite Matts best effort and they are pushed off of the hill. But as Mat was facing at that point 3 enemy units to the 1 he had irt was only really a matter of time. And matt manages to bring the last of our LATE reserves on just where they are needed and hold the line.
16. The countdown clock reached the allotted time and the game was over.

We only had enough time left to pack up and not to work out victory points but it was clear to all players that the King was now dead and the House of York still had an intact army. The Lancastrians only had about 2/5ths of the starting bases left.

And that was the battle we fought yesterday. I know you would have liked some pictures but All MY fault, I have no camera phone (nor wish to have one) and I forgot the camera on the day. All I can say is sorry about that.

Secret Santa Hints

Firstly I hope my secret Santa brings me something nice.

Secondly her are a few hints of things I would like. But Most importantly I am sure I will like anything I receive so feel free to get me something unlisted if you like.

Starting with 6mm figures. I have decided to carry on with a project from about 20 years in my past. As such I would be interested in 6mm ACW stuff. Blues or Grey and any make. Most of the stuff I already have is Irregular, but any make is fine by me as at that scale it is more about the base than the actual figure. What is more everything is useable by me so by buying 6mm ACW stuff (Figures and or resin buildings) You just cannot get it wrong. But I realise not so very exciting to see someone else paint and play with.

15mm. In this scale I would like either Western European Dark age figures. (Normans, Vikings, Anglo Saxons, Scots, Welch, Frankish etc) You know the type of things. I do not need hundreds of figures as it will be for the "Longships" rules by Peter Pig.  So a whole force could be as few as 100 figures so variety is preferred over quantity. I do like most 15mm manufacturers so again select what suits you best. And I have no objection to Infantry or Cavalry. So that is also quite broad.

Additionally in 15mm I am slowly collecting a late war 15mm WW2 German force for PBI. I have enough infantry. But am lacking in Artillery, Transport, Anti Tank and so forth. The only thing I would ask is no Panther tanks (I already have a few and more would be redundant as in the PBI rules you only need 1 or 2 as it is mostly an infantry game. But again anything would be interesting for this.


20mm (can you tell the scales are getting bigger) Sorry folks I am still stuck on WW2.I am thinking
Western Desert either Italian or British circa 1940-41. Absolutely anything is brilliant. Talking to family I would be very likely to get something out of scale and out of period, but to a wargamer I know I can be quite specific so do not need to worry at all. I do like almost all metal castings so manufacturer is not an issue. Just remember the date and the 2 sides and know that this is for 20mm Chain of Command and we are all golden.

And in 28mm I am still looking to play some 1920's Lovecraft wargaming. Last year I dot a fantastic monster and I do want to expand the possibilities. I will possibly be using the 7TV rules (with some tweaks) . So anything from the 1920's period or the Horror period would be vey welcome. I do have some gangsters (but can always use more) but Police, investigators and citizens would also be nice. Cultists and villains are also welcome should that float your boat.

Most importantly you cannot get it wrong. Anything I receive will be welcome and appreciated.
The above are just some hints about what I am currently thinking.  feel free to select something else as we all like a nice surprise. There is no pressure and no expectations just have fun and enjoy the giving. Yes I know the pictures are all sexist.... but only once a year so I hope you will forgive me.

5 Burpa Cavalry

 Yes the Burpa force continues. This time with 5 Burpa cavalry

While they are brightly dressed they should be quite fearsome in the charge. They all have melee weapons and some have rifles as well. How they will function in whatever set of rules we will have to wait and see. I believe they are all Wargames foundry figures and are of course destined for Matts collection.

There are more on the way as I am painting another 5 as well. yes I will do a group shot when finished.

Just a quick note to say I will be doing a secret Santa this year and will try to get a list on this blog tomorrow.

Until then take care have fun and if possible paint something.

Also whileI think I have a busy weekend so Game turns may be late and only get finished on Monday. To try to pervert this I will start a few either tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. see you soon.

All the best from Clint