First up are John and Terry with two scenarios taken from the Hellfire and Back and Burning Empires books.  The first saw Terry’s Afrika Korps defending a fortified position in a Witch’s Cauldron. Despite the odds appearing to be in John’s favour several times, Terry defended the objectives well.  I didn’t see too much of this game as I was setting up the 28mm table at this stage, but there was much laughter coming from that direction:

Above: the end of the game with John’s tanks contesting the objective – but not claiming it!

The Maori advance over the hill

Afrika Korps infantry run back to their fortifications, effectively stopping the British from claiming the objective.

After this game they decided to play out a raid scenario from Burning Empires.  John’s SAS were mounting a night-time raid on a German airfield. They had to burn the Stukas and Ammo dump and successfully escape before Terry’s reserves could arrive and stop him.

Terry managed to get teams on in every turn and they effectively arrived in the pefect position to block John’s withdrawal.  Not that the dice were doing him any favours as his teams failed to blow up a single objective in his first series of rolls.

Time was runing out and John’s trucks were not as resilient as he would have liked. He finally managed to blow up all of the objectives, but there was little left that could escape. Laughing maniacally Terry wiped out the last of the SAS and LRDG teams. Two wins to Terry – well it was about time he started winning again.

Over on the other table an Eastern Front battle was brewing. I spent even less time over here and didn’t manage to take many photos either unfortunately. This was a 2200 point stoush between Paul and Jordan playing Germans on one side and Dylan playing a large Soviet Tankovy force that John and I provided on the other. The result was a German win, but as it was the first time that Dylan had run Soviets he did fairly well. The Sturmoviks were the heroes of this battle, included in the army list because Paul loves his big German tanks so much.  I wanted to see the look on his face when they had rockets in their behinds!

Dylan’s artillery behind a corn-field. T-34/85s heading into hull-down positions.

T-34/85s on the left flank dealing with two Tigers – a job they performed admirably well.

So an enjoyable night and we look forward to the next games evening. Chris says he will be there this time, so I’m hoping to get a good battle in.

Nate

So I took the plunge and ordered 10 T-26s, 4 Katyushas, and 4 Panzer IIs from Caliver Books who now stock them and are post free – a huge consideration when you live on the other side of the world!

The T-26 and Pz II kits come on a single sprue and are dead simple to put together. About three minutes per kit. The Katyushas were much more involved with two sprues and quite a bit more fiddly stuff. They took about 15 minutes each.  The results?

Panzer IIs are missing from the picture but are very nice anyway.

So that comes to just under NZ$100 to put together a Mixed Tankovy army for mid war (adding in the T-34s and infantry I already had). Am I impressed? Very. Having put the T-26s and Katyushas together yesterday they are already sprayed with Russian Armour spray and have a black magic wash over them. The detail is fine, the cost is great, the building is easy – perfect.  Negatives? It would take a bit of work to put a tank commander in them as the hatches are molded on, but it wouldn’t be impossible with a bit of work.

Tomorrow I’ll post on the Flames of War games that we played a week ago.

Nate

So first off the block, last Friday was games night for the Rotorua Irregulars. I had planned to have a 28mm World War Two game with John, but Chris didn’t turn up to play Terry, so John played him instead. The ulterior motive for the 28mm game was to show off a few photos of the finished US and German troops that I’ve painted in action, so I set them up anyway and simultaneously answered any questions that people had regarding the Flames of War rules – not that I’m an expert – just more expert than some others.

So here are the pictures of the American troops devoid of battle report as their was no actual fighting – just a photo shoot:

The US troops are painted using the Army Painter dip. I really like the effect this has had on them.  John quickly painted the Sherman for the photos, so it hasn’t been finished properly.

The last minis I painted for the US army were the Anti-tank gun and crew.

The Germans were holding the town opposite the US deployments.

The next post will have a description of John and Terry’s desert  games and the Eastern Front game played by Paul, Dylan and Jordan.  Then I’ll review what I’ve been doing at the painting table, and the revised plans for this year.

Nate

First up, Dan paid a surprise visit last week (he was over for his Nan’s funeral) and it was fantastic to catch up.  I told him that I had decided to have a go at Blood Bowl, but all that I had was a Dwarf team and a downloaded rulebook. He said that he still had a human team in Oz and that he wasn’t going to use it so he would send it over.  We then spent time in he shed constructing a Blood Bowl board. Just like old times!  here it is with the dug-outs added, but not totally finished.  I want to incorporate some spectators and signage yet:

and a close-up of the how the squares were done with the dug-out beside it:

I mentioned to Dan that I wasn’t sure that Dystopian Wars would actually get off the ground and did he want to take the Britannians and Prussians with him back to Oz where he an a few mates are getting into it. He said no, and I decided that what the heck, I’ll paint them up and game solo if I have to! So I painted up the Britannian fleet – the starter box plus an aircraft carrier – and here are the photos of the fleet in regatta:

I’ve decided that it will be the South Pacific squadron. The pride of the fleet is HMS Cassandra, the aircraft carrier:

Aboard the Cassandra can be seen Rose Squadron and Royal Squadron, ready to take to the air. Below is the Battleship HMS Semisure:

The 3 Cruisers are HMS Meticulous, HMS Miraculous and HMS Mediocre:

Last are the frigates – 9 of them: HMS Aardvark, HMS Armadillo, HMS Anteater, HMS Anxious, HMS Apologetic, HMS Apoplectic, HMS Avarice , HMS Annexation and HMS Assimilate.

I’m aware that boats are supposed to have the same first letter as their class, but I’m not particularly perturbed – these are supposed to be fantasy after all.  So I’ll be tackling the Prussians next month – I want them complete by the time that school starts up again (and the new baby arrives).

Then there have been the Flames of War projects.  With the Soviet and German Late War forces complete I decided that it was time to look at mid war.  This means US and Italians. Although it was the undercoat-only Italians that I took to games night last night I have started the US tank company. I decided to get all of the Shermans out of the way at once:

These are a mixture of Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company. The PSC tanks are a little smaller but when in separate units this is pretty much un-noticeable. In the background are two 76mm M4s, and I plan to get a box or two of PSC 76s to be able to morph this army for late war. Here is a close up of the company commander:

The armoured infantry are based for Tunisia, although the tank markings were left a bit more generic so that they could morph to Late War a bit easier:

A close-up of the command team:

I was really pleased with how these guys turned out, having used the army painter dip on them. I’m going to finish off the armoured platoon next and then onto the halftracks and mortar platoon. I painted these guys at the same time as painting John’s 28m US infantry. It was a good idea in terms of moving both projects along.  The last of John’s figures are on the painting table with the rest of the armoured infantry platoon.

Not simply happy with mid and late war armies, I went through the Blitzkrieg and Hellfire and Back books trying to work out what a Panzerkompanie for Barbarossa might look like. As the rumours are that Barbarossa will be this year – possibly August as this is the same month that Blitzkrieg and Hellfire and Back were released in the previous two years – then I want to have armies ready to go.  So I have been putting together a Czech Panzerkompanie with PZ 38ts.  I already had some of these little beauties that I inherited with my Italian army but have repainted them as they were very poorly done in the first place. Most are missing their co-axial MGs and I haven’t tried to scratch build replacements.  It doesn’t bother me too much:

Speaking of scratch building, I also inherited 5 Pz IVGs. Being a frugal kind of person, I decided to convert them into Pz IVF1s for Barbarossa. So I chopped down the barrels and produced the following monstrosities:

There are three of them, and I think that they do the job adequately.  This will never be a tournament army so I am happy with a bit of ‘make do’ here and there.  To round out the company I have artillery:

And plan to order 5 Zvezda Panzer IIs and 3 Stukas.

So there we have it, a busy couple of weeks since school finished, especially if you add in painting for John, three Tigers for Terry and an objective marker each for John, Chris and Terry as Christmas presents.  Actually, I didn’t take photos of those – I probably should, they came out quite nice.

Last night was games night and I took an Italian Carri company. I was playing John’s British Heavy Armoured company and got snotted. M14/41s vs Shermans is a pretty cruel trick of nature. It was the first time I had taken Italians, so there were a few lessons.  I was less than impressed that John’s Royal Horse Artillery Battery took out my Lancia da 90/53s with a bombardment before they really got the chance to do much.  I keep telling Dan he needs 25pdrs in his army.  I find that artillery bombardments usually account for quite a bit of damage in the game.  They also wreak havoc on unarmoured vehicles. It was almost unbelievable how easy it was for John to kill off my best guns, and how easily I took out his 6 pdr portees.

We finished early and played a couple of games of Romans vs Gauls in DBA.  John couldn’t remember the rules much so his Romans lost one and drew one. On the other half of the table Chris’ US tank coy was defeated by Terry’s Panzerkompanie, so it was pretty historical for the desert all round.

What are the plans for 2012?  Well the first thing is to try to paint up stuff that I already have rather than getting into different periods and games.  With this in mind this is how I see next year panning out:

• Finish US tank company (Flames of War)
• Finish Italian Carri/Bersaglieri Early/Mid war armies (Flames of War)
• Complete German Early War (Barbarossa) Panzerkompanie (Flames of War)
• Add KV-1s, T-34s, T-26s, T-28s and Katyushas to Soviet army so that it can be Early and Mid Tankovy (Flames of War)
• Paint up Prussian fleet (Dystopian Wars)
• Paint up two Blood Bowl teams and finish arena.
• Expand Punic Wars DBA armies.  Unsure whether to go with Big Battle DBA or to aim for 15mm Hail Caesar armies.
• French Revolutionary Wars 15mm (Black Powder) French and Austrians.  I have nearly everything I need for this to get underway.  I do want to add some Lancashire games French infantry in Tarletons and Austrian Grenadiers.  I also need a bit more cavalry for both sides.

Right, that must be a month’s worth of catching up so, see you later 2011, and roll on 2012.

Nate

Two fire teams and a WMIK. I’m hoping to really get into this project once the Christmas holidays kick off.

And a close up.

Nate

Latest development on the Warhammer Waterloo front – two elements of British infantry for the 27th Inniskillings:

Use of the dip for the first time on Napoleonic Brits – let me know what you think.

OK, on with US WW2 15mm. Waterloo! I was defeated you won the war… da dum de dum de dum…

Nate

The whole of my German army.

Initially I bought some Germans off Paul because Dan had moved up here and he already had a British army for Flames of War.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of it – I wanted to game ancients, Marlburians, Napoleonics – pretty much anything that wasn’t WW2.  The Germans were repainted and then sat there until last year.  Then we started playing Flames of War in the group.  We played it a lot.  I got some Russians.  I enjoyed it more.  It is now my ‘go-to’ game.  Who would have thought?

The whole of the Soviet army.

I finished the Soviets in the weekend, although I do plan to get some more T-34s for a mid-war Tankovy army.  The Germans will be joined by some Late War Fallshirmjager very soon, and I want to get half a dozen Panzer IIIs for mid war as well.  So below is a gallery of these armies, which I have not really showcased at all.  As always, click on the photos for a clearer image.

The Soviet command and objectives.

The Soviet armour.

Soviet Scouts

Soviet Infantry and big guns.  I love these old long barreled 122mm guns.  They are original Battlefront models, from back when they were called Crusader miniatures.  They have the presence demanded by the Red’ God of War’.

Onto the Germans and the objective markers in the centre.

The beginnings of an early/mid war army – Pz-38ts.

The big cats surrounded with their friends.

Now on with the US and Italians.

Nate

Here are my first 2 elements, some Perry Plastic light infantry for my 1er Legere:

This was an interesting painting project.  First of all, I had given some of these guys a white undercoat, and some a black undercoat.  The white undercoat figures were definitely more labour intensive, but my original plan had been for them to be part of a Ligne battalion with white trousers, so I thought that white would be a sensible base coat.  I used the dip only after I had painted everything, and then went back over some of the white areas (the officer’s trousers) as a highlight.  This worked quite well.  But my thoughts for the future are to use neither black nor white and to go with a grey undercoat.  This is the technique suggested in the rulebook, and I think that it is worth a try.

For the first time ever I decided that I would not paint eyes on the figures.  A close up is below.  I don’t think I have lost anything really:

I painted these chaps in the last week as a bit of a trial run, but previously I had managed to finish half a French battalion for the War of Spanish Succession.  This is the Regiment Tourville, because my daughter liked this flag better than the other options I gave her:

The flag is made out of a piece of an old sheet, and the paint stiffened it enough for it to have a slight fold.

As much as I like these figures, the Marlburian project is on the backburner until the initial Napoleonics are finished.  I also have to finish off my last two units for my Flames of War Soviet army, and then I will do a photo essay blog entry on the whole host.  Then into my US FoW army, and slowly my modern Brits and Taliban for Force on Force.  The latter will be a total immersion project where I paint the figures, terrain and play the game hard out to get a grip on the rules, so in a couple of months time when school holidays are here it will probably be ready.  But for now, here is my first almost completed 15mm Command Decision WMIK:

In the mean time I’ve been rewatching Ross Kemp, reading War by Sebastian Junger and have 3 Para ready for when that is finished.  I have to say that I’m looking forward to this one immensely.  Looks like 2012 will be the year of Waterloo and Afghanistan.