Unfinished Armies

The End, Old Chap.

2009-10-18T16:57:00.007+01:00

My Napoleonics project is done.

Well actually not quite, as I'm still awaiting a unit of light infantry for the French, but seeing as the Brits were done and I had the camera gear out I couldn't resist taking shots of both armies.

So here they are.

Ive really enjoyed painting them and researching uniforms and orders of battle. I wont pretend they are 100% historically accurate, or even close, but its near enough for me! Thanks to all the guys at Angel Barracks
forums for their support and motivation.

The last of my Brits (for now)

2009-10-18T12:00:00.004+01:00

Well the project is done (for now- an army can never be too big can it?).

This is the last of the individual photos of completed models, and in the next couple of days I will take a picture of the whole army together.

First off here's the artillery- cannons, howitzers and horse artillery. Think I went a little too blue on the woodwork colour, but I cant be bothered to go back and change it now, plus it looks OK at arms length.

Next are the command stands.

The Duke of Wellington, old Big Nose himself, with some ADC's.

And last of all Sir Thomas Picton and his umbrella

Showing off some of Firezone Studios work (and mine!)

2009-10-10T19:06:00.008+01:00

Life Guards

Scots Greys

Here's the commission I sent out to Phil at Firezone Studios.

I had some spare slush funds in my Paypal account and at the time I was feeling snowed under with my Napoleonics project and had just painted my first batch of French cavalry and decided that I hated painting them. So I sent out all my British cavalry to Firezone, as I knew Phil from a couple of forums I hang out on and he seems a decent sort who paints in a style similar to mine.

So was it worth it? In a word yes.

Ironically after I sent them out I discovered that I did actually enjoy painting cavalry after all, but I just paint them a lot slower than my infantry, so having someone else do them for me at a very reasonable rate was worth it. Hes done a good, neat, basic job on them. Cant find any real criticism of them. One thing I may go back and do is add a highlight or two to them if I find the time, as hes pretty much base coloured them, and I like a nifty highlight or two on my 6mm, but its not a problem, I can definitely live with them as they are.

Phil's communication was excellent, lots of emails and works in progress shots sent to me. His price was pretty good too at 35p a cavalry figure, so all in all I am very pleased. He also got them all done and back to me within 2 weeks if I recall. I based them myself, but Phil will do that for you at a price.

Last of all, some of my own work. These are the 95th Rifles. and sorry Dave, if you are reading, I couldnt find one that looked just like Sean Bean!

Some local lads

2009-10-02T18:55:00.003+01:00

My local(ish) lads.

The 1st Battalion 28th North Gloucestershire Regiment of Foot.

Quite proud of how these turned out. Also I think Ive nailed using the lightbox- for any camera nerds, the solution is setting the exposire compensation to over expose by 2 stops.

First British Batallions finished

2009-09-24T12:50:00.004+01:00

First up is the 32nd Cornwall Regiment of Foot, 1st Battalion and the 79th Cameron Highlanders, 1st Battalion, both of the 8th Brigade.

Im pleased with how these turned out, despite all the worry I had over the tartan on the Highlanders. Saying that its hard to notice the tartan, and I think the kilt effect is shown better by their bare legs and their sporrans than my attempt at showing a tartan in 6mm!

Now on to the 28th North Glos- my local regiment. They will be fun because unlike other foot regiments they retained their stovepipe shakos and the shakos had a unique back badge to symbolise their bravery in fighting back to back in Egypt.

Napoleons Legacy Battle Report.

2009-09-11T19:33:00.016+01:00

Here's a game report from yesterdays game of Napoleons Legacy. Pics aren't up to much, particularly seeing as only one side was painted! It was a fun battle anyway and showcased the game for me and my friend.

I took Austrians.

I fielded 2 regiments of Fusiliers, 1 of Grenadiers, 2 of Jagers, 2 squadrons of Uhlans and 2 of Dragoons. I also had 3 batteries of howitzers. One Good commander and 1 average subordinate were the HQ choices.

My friend took French. He had 2 regiments of line, 1 light and 1 Old Guard. He then had 1 squadron of Hussars, 2 of light dragoons, 2 of cuirassers and 4 batteries of canons.

This is how we deployed

Austrians and French concentrated the majority of their line/fusiliers in the valley area along the road, pretty much in the centre of the board. Some sneaky Austrian Grenadiers reinforced the centre. The French found a sneaky hill top to set up 3 canons, and the remaining canon joined the Old Guard and light infantry on the right flank, hoping to rush to the small village and set up defences there. The cavalry were deployed on both flanks, apart from the Hussars who set up as a screen out front of the line infantry in the centre

The Austrians used their light infantry (jagers) and the majority of their cavalry opposite the French right flank to hope to contest the village and woods. The Austrians also put some uhlans on the left flank in order to fend off any flank attacks from the French dragoons. The Austrian howitzers were limbered up and deployed behind the hill that overlooked the road.

Turn 1

Both sides raced for the prize of the small village area, with the French making faster progress as their fighting columns proved quicker on the move than the Austrian light infantry.
The French line regiments were more cautious and decided to sit and wait to see what the Austrians would do. The Austrians keen to seize the initiative began a slow but steady march down through the valley and up the road hoping to find a good position to attack the main body of the French army. Unfortunately the Grenadiers mistook the Uhlans on their left flank for incoming French horses and panicked (I rolled a blunder on the command table!) forming square to receive a charge that was never to come!

Turn 2

The French main body started their steady and determined march to meet with the Austrians

The French cannons boomed shattering a squadron of Uhlans who in their panic fell back broken. Still the Austrians marched on, with the Grenadiers realising their earlier mistake and after slowly reforming they began to advance. The Jagers had managed to make it to the road in front of the village but found they had been beaten there by the Old Guard and the Light Infantry. They formed a firing line but it was futile as the well dug in French opened fire driving the hapless Jagers back in disarray and panic, leaving behind scores of dead. They also found the French had snuck a small battery of cannons onto the main road by the village and fell victim to some excellent French gunnery.

Turn 3

Things took a turn for the bloody for the poor Austrians. A regiment of Line infantry was decimated as 3 French artillery batteries opened up over and over again, leaving bloody furrows amongst its ranks. Overcome at so many dead the regiment dissolved in chaos and fled (at this point we had misread the artillery rules and they were the equivalent of tac nukes!- we realised after this turn but carried on with the board as it was, it was just a test game after all).

The Austrians main thrust was looking weak as the second fusilier regiment was forced to fall back under French fire. Only the Grenadiers were stalwart and continued their advance.

The Austrian howitzers now in position opened fire and decimated a French line regiment (again we over powered them!) , but the valley area was looking increasingly like it would see a French victory.

The village was still convincingly held by the French and the Jagers could do little more than fall back and reconsider. To their right opposing cavalry skirmished about to little effect, feinting and counter charging in a fine display of horsemanship for very little real result. A squadron of French hussars seeing a break in the field threaded down the road to pounce on the demoralised Jagers.

Turn 4 and 5

The increasingly confident French line in the centre of the valley threw themselves forward sure they could smash the lone regiment of Grenadiers , and their confidence proved correct. Excited by their victory as the broken Grenadiers fled over the bodies of their comrades, the French continued their advance towards the final Fusilier regiment at the mouth of the valley.

Their confidence was their undoing.

Suddenly the cliff tops and hillsides bordering the roads were thronged with Jagers and howitzers. Musket fire and case shot rained down onto the furthest forward regiment, causing utter carnage. As they fled, new targets came into sight and they too took a beating.

The Fusiliers sensing their moment surged forward with a roar and in a cloud of musket fire, charged into the disordered French smashing them apart. A unit of Jagers holding back in reserve behind the hillside joined them in their fight, and the central valley area was now well and truly Austrian.

Turn 6

The Jagers on the cliff top were short lived in their jubilation. The screen of Dragoons that were protecting their rear from any attacks by the squadron of French Hussars who were lurking around the village area decided that they had better things to do, and before the Jagers knew it the Hussars were on them hacking and slashing. Caught between the frenzy of the Hussars blades and the edge of the cliff there was only one outcome likely. The Jagers were cut to ribbons, and those who tried to flee tumbled to their doom down the rocky slopes and drops.

Not content with their slaughter the Hussars with a blood lust that overcame any sense, turned their attention to the howitzer batteries. Their first attack was repelled by a cloud of smoke and case shot tearing threw them, but their danders were up and they rallied and turned again on the artillery crew, and were soon among them. The guns were spiked and the Hussars again victorious.

Sensing the tide on the right flank turning, 2 squadrons of Cuirassers, who had been doing little decided to join the fray, charging the luckless Austrian dragoons, who seeing the sun glinting on the french breastplates thought better of it and fled.

Turn 7

With the right flank dissolving, the village securely held, and the central area held by the tattered remains of 2 regiments, the Austrians withdrew, leaving Napoleon once more the victor.

Le Fin. Peut-être.

2009-08-31T18:38:00.006+01:00

Well the French are finished.

Well sort of.

I stupidly did not buy enough Light infantry figures to finish my regiment of light infantry and I wont be able to buy any more until Colours at Newbury racecourse in 2 weeks time. So the French are finished apart from that. Its a bit of an anti climax as I wanted to do some huge pics of all of them laid out in their glory, as I have done for my other armies, but I knew I couldnt live with myself if I left the Lights out.

So instead have a couple of pics of the finished command stands. Im not that happy with the pics of them to be honest- they look superb in the flesh (even if I do say so myself) but the pics make them look a bit of a big old mess. I guess its like taking a macro lens to a Monet (hark at he!).

Napoleons and a couple of Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde escorts

Marshal Ney and a officer from the 1st Cuirasser regiment.

Now on to the Brits!

Its Boney and Co!

2009-08-29T11:04:00.004+01:00

Imperial Guard Grenadiers.

Ive swapped to the 1812 flag for these guys. Not sure if I will swap all my troops to 1812 pattern or just leave these with it, so that for gaming purposes they stand out more.

Artillery

Really love these models- the crew are so detailed, one is even carrying a little bucket.

The man himself.

I love how not only is he slightly shorter than all the other general figures in the pack, but hes also got a big nose!

French Update

2009-08-22T19:26:00.002+01:00

Curaissers finally finished.

And heres some of the next batch- Grenadiers of the Old Guard. Lovely figures, really like the bearskins.

Hmm- I think I need to hoover my black cloth!

French Light Cavalry

2009-08-09T18:57:00.003+01:00

Pics of my finished light French Cavalry, based for either Polemos or Napoleons Legacy. Ive based them 6 to a base as opposed to 9 as the Baccus army packs are set up for. This is firstly to make light cavalry easier to spot quickly on the tabletop, and secondly because I am lazy and it means less to paint.!

Couldnt be arsed setting up my home studio, esepcially seeing as the light outside was pretty good, so I hope these pass muster.

First- 2 squadrons (in legacy or 3 brigades if Polemos) of Dragoons

And then 1 squadron of Hussars

WIP- French Hussars and Curriasers

2009-08-09T08:46:00.003+01:00

Not a huge amoutn to say, other than heres my Hussars and Curraisers pre basing. All Baccus 6mm figs- they are so easy and detailed to paint.

More French!

2009-08-01T21:22:00.004+01:00

Thats the 3 regiments of Line done for my army. Well 3 regiments if playing Napoleons Legacy , 9 regiments if using it for Polemos Marchal D'Empire.

Ive decided I hate painting cavalry though- they just take me too long to do. With that thought in mind and some PayPal funds burning a hole in my pocket Ive just commisioned Phil from Firezone Studios to paint all my British cavalry for me. Hes an excellent painter and uses a very similar technique to me at 6mm, so I am hoping his painting wont look too different to mine, once I have based them up.

If you want to see a bigger pic, click here

WIP- French Dragoons

2009-07-28T20:33:00.001+01:00

Anyway heres my first base of French Dragoons. Im using Baccus once again, and they are based on 60x30 bases. The Baccus packs are made up to have 9 on a base but I think that looks too crowded for Dragoons so Ive settled with 6. I might put more on the bases when I do heavier cavalry.

Obviously the bases arent finished yet, but I am reasonably happy how they turned out- 1 has a light tan coat added to the reins and halter etc, but to be honest I am not going to bother with those on future ones- I drybrushed the undercoated figs white before painting and thats done an OK job of picking out all the bridles etc.

6mm French Line Infantry

2009-07-01T19:20:00.003+01:00

Long time since I updated this blog!

Here's my current project- a French army of the Napoleonic era in 6mm, figures by Baccus. They are based on 60x30mm bases so that they are usable for Baccus' in house rule set, Polemos and my recent discovery thanks to the guys at Portbury Knights (Stefan in particular who also co wrote it), Napoleon's Legacy, a Warmasterlike game that covers Napoleonic warfare through to the end of the American Civil War (my next project I think!). Its a great little game, like most games based on Warmaster.

These Baccus frenchies have been hanging about on my to do list for about 2 years, so its nice to finally get some started. This is a Regiment of Line Infantry for Napoleons Legacy (6 bases= 2 Battalions). Ive mounted 24 soldiers to a base so it gives a great massed look. If I do ACW I will be doing it on 40x20 bases with less figures- save some time and money!

WIP- War of the Ring: Army of Gondor.

2009-04-18T12:46:00.002+01:00

Been hunting high and low on eBay for bargains in order to put together a force for the new War of the Ring rule set from Games Workshop.

Managed to pick up all sorts of cheap plastic miniatures for it, and now have a vast amount of troops to slog through. Here's hoping I don't get bored.

Anyway here's the first company of Warriors of Minas Tirith. Speed painted, took about 2-3 hours to completely finish, which for me is some sort of landspeed painting record.

American Battlegroup 1944.

2009-04-02T19:21:00.010+01:00

Its done.

6 weeks worth of work (I am not the fastest painter around and contrary to popular view about wargamers I do have some semblance of a life) and I have finally finished my US battlegroup.

Its about 3000 pts or so for Blitzkrieg Commander, and I have tried to keep things fairly historically accurate when it comes to the OOB. I say fairly, as I am sure there are lots of discrepancies, and I tried to balance historical accuracy with the points and restrictions of the BKC army list.

Armored Infantry Battalion

Anti-Tank Company

Armored battalion with AA support.

Battlegroup CO stand

Infantry HQ stands

Air Observer in gunless Sherman and Artillery Observer in Jeep

Hope you have enjoyed looking at them half as much as I have enjoyed painting them. Now I have got to get round to playing with them!

German Battlegroup is go.

2009-04-02T16:02:00.004+01:00

I've got a few days off work and am putting them to good use (although I am not sure my wife would agree) by having finished my American battlegroup (lots of pics to come later tonight) and making a start on my new German battlegroup I picked up from Pendraken at Salute last weekend. Lovely models, although I can attest to the fact they don't take kindly to being dropped from 5ft up onto concrete. Scratch 1 Tiger. Oh well it was a good excuse to order some more bits from Pendraken for completeness sake.

Here's my first attempt, 3 Panthers and a Tiger. Fairly pleased with the attempt at camo schemes - they do look better in real life than in the pics, which make the camo look a little less subtle than I think it does in real life. They are also yet to be weathered ( Iknow how some of the guys on the BKC forum love their muddy tracks!) as I have left my tub of Basetex at my mates house after spending therday there painting and gaming yesterday. :(

Decals are a mix of Dom's Decals and some I got from an eBay shop called 1/144 Direct.

Salute Pics

2009-03-30T18:23:00.012+01:00

Some quick and dirty pics from Salute taken with my phone cam, hence the terrible quality. Next year I think I will spend the morning shopping and the afternoon taking pics with my proper camera and flash unit.

Assault on Innesmouth- a Cthullu based skirmish game which looked amazing, the pics don't do it justice, the houses all had their own lighting, and there was street lights and smoke. Not sure what the gist of the game was- loads of monsters and nasties seemed to be running about the streets chasing villagers, and of course Cthullu himself was standing off the seashore

2. Through the Mud and Blood- the new WW1 ruleset from the TwoFatLardies. Very much in the vein of Sharp Practice, I watched this game being played for a good 20minutes and it seemed excellent fun. Looking forward to giving the rules a whirl in our gaming group at some point in the future, especially now we have the 1938 British Civil War source book for it too.

3. John with a radio controlled 1/16th scale Tiger tank. I have used John for scale as he is roughly 1.5 times the width of a normal man.

4. This table looked great, some of the best snow and ice effects I have seen. The chap running it spent hours trying to explain the authenticity of the scenery (he had loads of photos from WW2 of the exact area and maps) but John and I were too excited by the lovely models to take any of what he was telling us in. The game he was running seemed to be a skirmish game where each player had 1 Russian partisan and they had to escape off the board from hordes of German patrols who were run by the GM. Looked very clever.

5. John again standing next to a life size Hello Kitty model.

A new project- German battlegroup

2009-03-29T19:46:00.003+01:00

Just got back from Salute, had a great time, but didn't spend as much money as I thought I would. Probably because Forgeworld didn't bring any Epic stuff with them to the show which put paid to my idea of buying a Epic Tau army (for the moment).

What I did come away with is 1.35kg (yes I weighed it when I got home!) of Pendraken loveliness. The start of my new German battlegroup for Blitzkrieg Commander- about 3500 pts worth.

For anyone who pays attention you will notice that I haven't posted a blog entry declaring my US battlegroup finished.

Well that's coz its not! Have 3 infantry stands and 6 halftracks to paint, then its over and I will post a photo extravaganza for anyone who actually cares!

The end is in sight!

2009-03-09T21:20:00.006Z

Haven't updated in a while, and was thinking of holding off till the last few bits arrived from Pendraken, but I couldn't resist playing with my new studio again, and wanted to show off what I have done since last time.
Basically the army is finished- as it stands its at around 2500 points or so for Blitzkrieg Commander. I have a few bits awaiting delivery, so that I can field another 3 stands of infantry to make a full battalion, and a few additional M3 halftracks to provide transport for them all. Ive also got a couple of AA vehicles to come and some additional Dodge radio trucks to add to my HQ bases (which have still yet to be done, hence no pics!). Can't wait for them to arrive as I am getting 10mm withdrawal. Then I can move on to the Germans! Salute could be expensive this year!

Anyway enough blathering, here's the pics.

L to R- Armoured battalion HQ, Forward Air Controller in gunless Sherman M4, Command Stand, Forward Artillery Observer.

Armoured battalion- 3 companies each of 2 Sherman 75s and 1 Sherman 76 platoons, 1 company of M5 Stuart light tanks, 1 platoon of Sherman 105s and 1 company of M10 tank destroyers. I guess technically the M10s are part of an anti tank battalion, but I couldn't be arsed to photograph them separately!

This is my Armoured Infantry battalions 37mm anti tank gun support. I like these Pendraken M3s with the canvas tilts on as they are a nice way to make the M3s used for towing look different from the infantry's transport.

Home Studio Experiments.

2009-02-24T19:21:00.006Z

At last, I have got round to buying myself a home studio for miniature photography. I bought this funky little kit from Amazon.

I'm really really chuffed with it, it takes seconds to put up, comes with 4 coloured back drops (white, black, blue and red) and best of all it all folds away into its own self contained little bag (formed by the soft box itself). Genius! Only criticisms is that the tripod it comes with is probably a wee bit flimsy if you have a huge heavy DSLR like I do- compact cameras and the budget DSLRs should be OK though, and the lights aren't particularly bright. Bright enough for miniature photography but maybe not for some other uses. A cheap alternative is a pair of halogen builders lamps. I may treat myself to some as a back up.

Anyway here's a couple of test shots with it- these were done with a little bit of added flash. Still without my flashgun (will this saga ever end!) I used the onboard flash but masked it with some tissue paper to soften it- it seems to have worked well.

First up is part of my US army battlegroup for Blitzkrieg Commander - there are still quite a lot to finish basing and varnishing, but seeing as on Sunday I sprained my thumb that may have to wait a couple of days! I reckon the pics have come out well, and I am very pleased with the paint jobs so far.

Next is a few Wild West figures I did for one of our Legends of the Old West game- a great fun system, and some nice characterful Wargames Foundry minis. I painted these at speed as it was looking like for once, everyone in my gaming group was bringing a painted posse to the session. I'm fairly pleased with how these turned out- they don't hold up to close scrutiny but they held their own on the table top.

Painting Frenzy Pt2

2009-02-15T18:46:00.005Z

The relatives have all gone home, and the wife is in the bath, my son in bed, so time to take some pics of some of the work in progress.

First up the Shermans that i posted pre weathering and decals a few entries back.

The weather was dry and not freezing today so I nipped pout and gave a tentative first coat with Dullcoat to matt the gloss varnish down. I say tentative because in the past I have nightmares with mat varnish and have turned lovely painted 28mm figures into frosty white looking lumps of upset. Anyway, these guys are the first fully painted, weathered, based and varnished vehicles for my BKC US army. Im really pleased with them, especially the weathering and decals (of which you cant really see many due to the positioning of the models- doh!).

Next up is a couple of my recent Minifigs order- a M10 and a couple of jeeps. They are painted, varnished and decal'd but yet to be weathered, based and mat coated. If you can excuse that, you can get a vague idea of what they look like and where they might be heading.

And last but not least- my first company of infantry. These are Pendraken infantry with one or two Minifigs dotted in for variety- they mix fairly well in my opinion.
I initially wasn't happy with how these turned out- I'm used to painting 6mm and 28mm and to suddenly paint at 10/12mm was a wee bit of a shock to the system. What saved these in my eyes was a liberal splashing all over (sounds like Brut) of the new Citadel Washes (Devlan Mud iirc). I reckon it does a great job at this scale. Obviously these are yet to be based etc, but the figures themselves are finished saved for the varnishing.

On the photography front (not sure if anyone is really interested in this bit) I decided to dispense with my nice zooms this time and use my first lens I ever bought. A Canon 50mm 1.8f. Its the cheapest lens in the Canon range and for the money is fantastic. Sure the build quality is piss poor (I broke my first one of these so I guess this isn't really the first lens I ever bought!)having a body made mostly of plastic, but the optics are great and in fact it works really well for taking pics of miniatures. Maybe I don't need to buy that Macro lens after all- more money for miniatures.
Still need a lightbox though- this was a jerry rigged affair again with 2 mismatched light sources. I would also like to bounce a bit of flash around, but seeing as my Sigma flash is still broken and still awaiting a new hot shoe. I think I could be waiting for ever though, as of yet despite emailing Sigma about 10 times I have had no reply. Apparently the part is buyable and costs $15! A replacement flashgun will set me back £200 quid. Not happy at all.

Painting frenzy

2009-02-13T09:39:00.004Z

Spent the last few days in a bit of a frenzy of activity.

My orders from Pendraken and Minifigs arrived on Monday and I have been a whirl of superglue and paint since then.

The Pendraken stuff arrived very quickly and I must say the quality of the figures far exceeded my expectations. I don't know why but I had been led to believe that they were of significantly inferior quality to Minifigs and far smaller. This doesn't appear to be the case. Side by siding the M3 Scout cars from Minifigs and Pendraken there is a massive difference in quality and detail. They are almost identical in size, and while the Minifig Scout car is crisp, the lack of detail compared to the Pendraken one is very obvious. The Pendraken Scout car is superb, and has masses of detail, right down to fuel cans and baggage hanging from the sides. The other thing to say is that the Minifig models seem a lot more complex in construction- I was left scratching my head at the bits that came with the jeep models, and had no idea where to stick most of the strange bits that came with it. Saying that they do look great! The Minifigs order took twice as long as the Pendraken one to arrive and was incomplete- not enough jeeps and scout cars in the packs. I think when I move onto my German project i am going to stick with Pendraken- they are much cheaper, better customer service and the models are just as nice. I am particularly impressed with the Pendraken infantry- while the Minifigs infantry are probably more realistically proportioned, they lack the animation and character that the Pendraken ones do.

So far the painting tally is 6 Shermans, 3 Stuarts, 2 Jeeps, M3 Scout car, Dodge light truck, 3 57mm guns, 3 stands of infantry and a MG section. Still got quite a bit to go, and have some more bits on order with Minifigs (some Sherman 76s, 105s and M10s). I also need a few more infantry models from Pendraken to get my infantry stands up to 12 and detail my CO/HQ bases. The transfers from Minifigs really set the vehicles off, Im very pleased with them. I will try and post some pics when I have got them based after this weekend (relatives staying this weekend so no painting for me). Only trouble is they are all smothered in gloss varnish at present, and I am really nervous given the weather of Dullcoating them- I have had some disasters in the past with spray matt varnish and damp cold weather!

Blitzkrieg Commander Demo Game

2009-02-07T19:35:00.006Z

Today I put on a game of BKC for my gaming group. Strictly speaking this is untrue as due to us awaiting the release of the new edition of BKC, we just used the Cold War Commander rule set instead. It has to be said it worked extremely well, and the 5 of us really enjoyed it.
We used my friends Rapid Fire armies they have been collecting for a few years now, hence why if you look at the pics carefully the bases look a bit weird- we just blue tacked the individual miniatures onto appropriate sized bases
.
The game was a meeting engagement of Brits Vs Germans in July 1944, fought around a small French town. It was a very close affair with the Germans reaching the town quickly and securing the buildings but finding themselves flanked on their left very quickly but counterflanking on the right. The Brits won by a very narrow margin and everyone went away happy.

I was very happy with the way the board looked- my new roads worked a treat, and Adams other scenery really looked great. Now I cant wait for my Minifig and Pendraken orders to turn up so I can finish off my Americans.

NB- photos were taken with my new phone, a Nokia E71- fantastic smartphone with Blackberry-esque functions. Camera aint up to much though, but thats about the only downside.

War in the Gulf

2009-01-31T15:13:00.012Z

Last night I hosted a great Gulf War game, a fictional Search and Destroy scenario with British forces attempting to locate pockets of Iraqi resistance in a hilly region.
First off I want to make some apologies (or excuses!). One, I broke my Sigma 500 DG Super flashgun so have had to resort to on board flash for these pics, hence why they look pretty terrible. Second, I am yet to get round to buying a desert terrain mat, so lets pretend this is a particularly fertile part of Iraq and third my printer ran out of ink so hence the strange shade to the Iraqi flags I used as blinds. With that out of the way lets introduce the forces.

Brits- Led by my mate Jamesy, who is fairly new to CWC and is in the process of sorting out his own Israeli force.

CO
3xHQ
FAO
3x Scorpions (recce)
18 infantry all with LAW
3 MMGs
2 FV432 mortar carriers
12 Warriors
8 Challengers
2 AVRE Centurions
3 Swingfires
3 155mm M109 artillery
Lynx attack chopper
Chinook
2x Spartans

Iraqis- ME!
CO
3x HQ
2x AML60 (recce)
9 x Militia with RPG 7s
3 ATGW Saggers (deployed as ambushes)
6x T62s
9x T72s

I also had 4 minefields and a plethora ( great word) of anti tank ditches.

The board looked like this-

The South of the board saw a small town nestled in a valley with a industrial area to its West. The town was heavily fortified with minefields to its south and it was almost entirely ringed by anti tank defences and hills. The north had another small town surrounded by fields of crops and wooded areas. It was also defended by mine fields.

The Iraqis mission was to basically cause as much damage to the British as possible. I deployed using hidden set up and had 10 blind cards, enough each for all the CO and HQ units, the recce units and some spare to confuse and confound Jamesy! If you look carefully in the pic you can see the hidden markers which I used Iraqi flags (printed in the wrong colour) for. I spread them across the board, fortifying both towns and some int he wooded areas to the east of the board.

I had no idea where the British would deploy from as they could choose any board edge. Jamesy chose the West edge (long edge) and using mobile deployment spread his HQ units wide. The British mission was to search out the Iraqi forces and do enough damage to break them while taking as little damage as possible- they vastly outnumbered the Iraqis but had no idea where they were likely to spring from.

Turn 1
The Brits cautiously deployed in the south west corner, behind a large hill , 2 companies of Challengers, a AVRE Centurion engineering squad and 4 platoons of infantry is Warrior IFVs. They slowly rolled over the hill and straight into an ambush as a unit armed with Sagger ATGW, hidden in a derelict factory complex opened fire, suppressing a Challenger squad. The return fire from the other Challengers saw no damage dealt and as they rolled nearer the town an Iraqi militia company was revealed in the buildings all around them. RPGs rained down and a Challenger squad was annihilated as well as a Infantry platoon and their Warriors.

The British traded fire with the well dug in Iraqi militia suppressing some platoons and destroying a Shilka that was hidden in he streets behind the factories. The Brits took the worst of it though and 2 other platoons of Infantry found themselves in disarray and suppressed.
It was looking good for Iraq, and the Brits had learnt the foolhardiness of AFVs trying to move into a built up area.

Turn 2
To the north, a cautious probe by the Brits revealed 2 companies of T62's dug in at the edge of a (very tall) field of crops. Artillery immediately rained down on the tank group suppressing their HQ and one of the T62's. This was immediately followed by an attack by a Lynx chopper that which suppressed two more T62's. Liking the odds more, an under strength company of Challengers and a company of dismounted infantry and their IFVs in support, cautiously rolled on skirting the woods to the north and thanks to some great command rolls from Jamesy, opened fire repeatedly on the hammered T62's in the cornfield. 2 T62s were reduced to smoking wrecks and a further 1 was driven back out of the field. Things were looking bad in the north, but what other surprises were in store?

In the centre of the board a company of Swingfire ATGWs deployed but within seconds a sagger from the own to the south flew with unnerving accuracy at such a range and left 2 Swingfires feeling vulnerable.

To the south the British armour continued to get punished for its foolhardy advance and another Challenger was lost to a hail of RPGs from the industrial estate.

Turn 3
It was turning into a game of two halves to use a footy cliche. In the south the bulk of the British forces were being repeatedly punished by a foe that they were struggling to inflict any damage on, while in the north the Iraq tank group had been pretty much neutralised. Now was the time for the Brits to take revenge on the Southern town. An artillery strike was called in, in the hope of flushing out the Iraqis, but a well timed blunder saw the FAO taking friendly fire and aborting the strike. A hail of tank shells into the factory saw the loss of some Iraqi infantry, but the Brits were still failing to make any advance into town and things were further complicated by the detection of a T72 company supported by another well dug in company of RPG armed militia in the town itself. The T72s seemed hesitant to engage and skulked behind the town out of site as the brave Iraqi infantry held off the armour alone. The unit of infantry with the Saggers took out another Swingfire and withstood a huge amount of return fire from the Challengers and Warriors, unlucky rolling from Jamesy (something like 32 dice and no hits) saw to that!
In the north the Brits continued there advance now supported by 8 platoons of infantry who had been dropped into the town by a Chinook.

Turn 4

The Brits frustrated by the inability of their armour to put paid to the hail of RPGs from the factories used a good old fashioned bayonet charge and flushed out a platoon of Iraqis and the heroic Sagger team, who found themselves now outside looking in, and in the aim of 2 challengers, who quickly took them both out. Despite starting to take infantry losses in the Southern town things still looked good for the Iraqi held South. The T72s decided now was there time to support their struggling brothers and began to flank round the town to engage the British, but as they went behind a large cornfield confusion reigned and they ground to a halt unsure how to proceed.

In the north as the British rolled East towards the small town, confident that it was theres, 2 companies of T72s appeared from the north east of the town. Jamesy cleverly opted for spreading his fire amongst all the T72s in the hope of causing enough suppression to cover their advance, but hit by bad rolls again, he only managed to suppress one squad. This apparently was enough though as the T72s seemed in disarray and were unable to return fire at the advancing Brits, losing the advantage in a dramatic fashion.

Turn 5

Although the Iraqis were holding bravely things were beginning to look dodgy as they began to near their breaking point. In the north a lone HQ was over run by British infantry but luck was still on the Iraqi side as another artillery blunder saw the poor FAO killed outright this time, and an attempt to bring in a Lynx to further suppress the T72 companies in the north failed. In the south the Iraqis took a few more casualties in the factory district, and the damage began to tell on their morale, as the Iraqi CO decided now was the time to call their retreat, having pulled off a huge amount of damage to the advancing infidel British.

The game ended in a Minor Victory to the British who had managed to break the defending Iraqis but who in doing so had taken 2025 points worth of casualties for the Iraqis 1335.

A great game and a good learning experience for both of us.
Jamesy learnt that AFVs and heavily built up areas are a very bad ideas- like real life infantry with AFV support are definitely the way to go, and I learnt about the dangers of trying to use troops who have a 15cm initiative range in an ambush when they carry a weapon with a minimum engagement range of 20cm. Very dumb...

Hope you enjoy the read, its long and the pics aren't as good as they should have been, but it was a very fun battle.

Flexible Roads

2009-01-29T18:36:00.006Z

Saw a great tutorial to make flexible rubber roads the other day and thought I would like to give it a go.

Check this link out- How to make flexible roads

I used dish cloths as my backing fabric (you can see the reverse of one in the photo), and Cerafix Decorators Caulk (Brown) from B&Q. 10 dish cloths for 30p in Asda and the Caulk was £1.89 for a large cartridge (too large to fit my standard size cartridge gun). Not sure how much 1 cartirdge will make- so far Ive done 4 1/2 foot of road and only used about a 1/5 of the tube.

The cool thing is if they get bent or warped you can iron it (reverse side obviously, otherwise your Mrs might murder you). They really are very flexible and seem pretty robust. Equivalent flexible roads will cost you around £30 for 6ft or so.

Also notice my now fully painted and based Sherman in the photo- still waiting for the bloody decals from Minfigs, hence why I haven't matt varnished the gloss varnish coat, who still haven't posted out my order 9 days after making it. Not happy with that to be honest.

My first CWC project

2009-01-22T14:20:00.011Z

I found some pics of my very first CWC project- a British army for the Cold War era circa 1987. This was my first army, and some other members of my gaming group made purchases at the same time, buying Russians and West Germans. Both are still yet to paint them, the slackers.

To be fair I am notorious for buying lead and never painting it, but for some reason microarmour has me hooked and I can't not paint them. Im usually a very slwo painted, especially in 28mm, but with 6mm (and 10/12mm) I seem to be able to whip through them.

Anyway enough of my blathering here's some pics. These were taken a while back and make use of my gaming mat from Terrain Mat. The figures are all GHQ apart from a couple of Navwar pieces. The infantry hadn't been painted at this point- I will have to take some pics of them and the support stands at a later date as they look rather good in my opinion.

A new scale, a new addiction...

2009-01-22T14:07:00.008Z

All the talk on the forums at Specialist Military Publishing, home of Blitzkrieg Commander and Cold War Commander, of a new version of BKC has got my juices flowing. My gaming group have a ton of 12mm World War 2 stuff that they use for Rapid Fire. They have tried to get me interested a number of times, but a mixture of other projects getting in the way, and me not being a huge fan of the rule set, has meant that the few 12mm models I had were stuck in a box somewhere and done nothing with.

That was until this week, when I dug them out and decided to start another new project, an American army for BKC! I was very inspired by some other forum members work on similar projects, mainly NikHarwood , and Tony Barr's work.

So far I have painted 2 companies of Shermans ( I had to convert a British Firefly model I had, but that was made easier by the fact that one of my Sherman 75s had 2 MGs and 2 main guns in the pack) and a single lonely Stuart tank. I am awaiting some more stuff from Minifigs to add to it, and most importantly a sheet of transfer. I will leave off the weathering and mud until I have put those on.

The start of my Iranians

2009-01-22T13:45:00.007Z

My current CWC project is the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s. Ive got the Iraqis so obviously next choice has to be the other side. Ive tried to theme both armies slightly, which probably means they aren't too historically correct- the Iraqis are mainly Soviet and French equipment, while the Iranians are American and British stuff.

The other difficulty I have found for Middle Eastern conflicts is colour schemes- everything seems to be some shade of sand coloured pain oddly enough! I found some pictures of a brown and sand coloured camo scheme on a blog of military equipment- I'm not sure how widespread or accurate its usage was for this particular conflict, but to be honest I don't really care! It makes it easier to recognise forces for my old eyes.

A battalion of Iranian Chieftain tanks. From my readings it seems that Chieftains weren't in that much abundance during the conflict, particularly the later years, but once again I don't overly care- I love Chieftains, I love the miniatures (GHQ again) and they are a nasty force to face on the battlefield. I'm not a power gamer honest!

A company of M60A1 Pattons- what a cracking model this one is, hats off to GHQ again. I have some on back order from Wargames Emporium , but as usual with most stuff I order from there they have run out. Not that I am knocking them- they give great service and are really nice guys. Plus the postage is cheap as chips compared to 99% of miniature companies (no names mentioned Foundry).

Ive yet to buy the rest, as I am doing it in stages so my wife doesn't get too annoyed with me spending all our money. I expect I will finish it off when I go to Salute at the end of March.

Iraqis in 6mm.

2009-01-22T13:30:00.015Z

Here's a selection of pictures from today of my Iraqi army in 6mm for Cold War Commander.
Miniatures are a mix of CinC and GHQ- if I remember correctly, the tanks and infantry are all GHQ but the rest are CinC.

Command group with a company of mechanised infantry. Infantry look a wee bit shiny, as I had a varnish disaster and had to go back with some gloss to rescue them. The weathers been too wet to go back and dull coat them again.

A company of T-72's- lovely looking tanks.

An assortment- BM21 rocket artillery, Shilka anti aircraft guns, some AML-60s and some BRDM with Sagger ATGWs.

Its a great little army, and has the advantage of multi uses- I use it for late Iran/Iraq war, early Gulf War 1, and with a wee bit of imagination, Warsaw Pact armies for the late 1980s. Currently can field around 4000 points (not taken pictures of the T-62s and T55s and the hordes of infantry and other AFVs).

And they are off....

2009-01-22T13:24:00.005Z

Well here goes a selection of my first proper blog posts.

I'm off work today - spent most of last night with terrible stomach cramps and nausea. Had a nice long lie in, and feel a little better so decided to have a play with this here blog type thingy.

Decided to up some pics of my Cold War Commander armies and the start of my possible new addiction- Blitzkrieg Commander. A great series of games that give fun and fast play as well as realistic outcomes. Check out the website- http://www.blitzkrieg-commander.com/default.aspx . Nice forum community to boot!

Anyway as you probably don't know, my other hobby is photography, and much as I love my kit, today has shown its shortcomings. I need some decent lighting, soft box and even a macro lens. Today's bodge job is passable I guess, but I am a bit of a perfectionist and a techie so I am not really very happy with the results.

For anyone interested I shoot using a Canon 40d, these shots were done with a Canon 28-105mm lens, which is a nice cheap walk about lens. Its done a passable job but I really would like a macro lens if I am going to be getting into this blogging lark.

A Blank Page

2009-01-21T11:48:00.003Z

Nothing more daunting, and also nothing more I can add, seeing as I am stuck at work and looking for ways to distract myself from my paperwork.