German reinforcements

A little bit of painting this weekend. Finished off some Napoleonic Prussian Fusiliers and then moved to more recent Teutons.. an MG team for my Bolt Action army. (I'll get around to taking some pics of the Napoleonic army so far at some point)

I started off not particularly liking my German force. Bolt Action is one of the few games I can get my son to play, so I needed to build two armies. The Soviets needed an opponent. However, as I play a few games with them, I guess I'm starting to 'bond' with my little army. (I say little as I always seem to be outnumbered!)

I've had a slight re-shuffle for the 800 point list for our upcoming league games, and thought I'd pick up a sniper and and MMG team to give me some options. (I don't like gimmicky armies and don't like the idea of fielding all veterans with Assault rifles, but I think these two options 'feel' right)

The sniper is a bit of a conversion - a Russian body with German bits added. I'll post a pic next week*.

The Germans so far are a core of Warlord minis, with a Veteran section of mostly Artizan figs. This MMG team was ordered from The Assault Group (TAG) I wasn't familiar with their stuff but I'm impressed. Nice chunky but well proportioned and detailed figures. There were four figures in the pack, I only need 3 for the MMG team, but have painted up the fourth as a 'spare' . I'm sure he'll find a role. All my usual 'arms length' painting.. Block colours and dip. Nothing clever but quite effective.

*The MG team have yet to join their comrades, as they were diverted to fight a small campaign elsewhere (see Tom's Blog here). Hopefully they will meet up in time for a game this week.

Half a Bolt Action Game

Played a couple of very enjoyable games of Bolt Action recently with Phil down at the club.

The first game we played, we used 800 points, I used my massively outnumbered Germans against Phils' US troops. (Which was interesting for me anyway, as I hadn't played against these movers and shooters before.)
We decided to pick a scenario randomly and rolled for the 'Top Secret' mission. Neither of us had played this before and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable see-saw of a game, with the US grabbing a victory in the last turn. No pictures sadly.

Last week we scheduled a re-match and I grabbed a couple of pics on my phone. Same points and pretty much the same forces. This time we rolled for 'Envelopment'. I chose to attack, figuring that the numbers of troops I had available would make things difficult if I defended and Phil chose to attack across a wide front. For the same reason, I decided to launch my attack all down the left hand side, using the cover that the hedgerows provided. 

View from the German Left

Things didn't start too well for me as I threw a 1 straight away, meaning that the potentially damaging Preparatory Bombardment failed to appear. Never mind, we must attack anyway!

As it turned out, those hedgerows slowed me down where I really should have focussed on getting across the table as quickly as possible. Phil moved quickly to re-position his defenders, which opened up a new route for me too, but I was unable to capitalise on this too much as my Heer got bogged down under persistent fire from the defending US. (Pins mounting, despite not many causalties)

Heer get pinned in the lane

I was worried about an impending US airstrike, but true to form, the Yank pilots unloaded their full ordnance on the woods where many of the US footsloggers were massed. I'm sad to say that I took some pleasure in watching the PIN markers build up here.

We reached a point of balance now. If Phil pressed a counter attack, my infantry were in for a rough time of it. On the other hand, I had an opportunity to make a dash across on the right where he had left the door open. 

The table from the German Right

We'll never know what happened next. On the way to the club my car starting making some terrible noises and we cut the game short at this point so I could leave early, in case of any pending roadside abandonment. A real shame as this was shaping up to be a great game.

I'm afraid I didn't make a note of Phil's organisation, but the Germans were:
(798 points and all Regular except where noted)

• 2nd Ltnt with two men. (1 SMG, 1 Assault rifle)
• Artillery FOO +1 man
• Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men with 1 LMG and 2 Assault rifles) with Hanomag
• Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men with 1 LMG and 2 SMGs)
• Veteran Grenadier squad (9 men with 1 LMG and 2 SMGs)
• MMG team
• Medium mortar team

By the way, the 'mat' is an old green blanket that has been knocking about for at least 30 years. In the summer I hung it on the washing line and attacked it with a couple of spray cans. Quite pleased with it, although I might do some more spraying when the weather picks up.

New Year game

Right, well happy New Year to my three 'followers' ! And anyone else who happens across this site.. I'm hoping to get much more gaming in next year and looking forward to new projects and plans. (Not least the Victrix Republican Roman release).

Our planned family board game afternoon didn't happen today, and the weather rather put me off a trip to Newark to visit the annual Toy Fair (giant swap meet). So, I thought I'd get some toys out on the dining table and have a little solo game.

I've kind of read through Dux Bellorum a couple of times, and worked through a few moves, but haven't really got the game into my head yet, so I thought I'd give that a go.

I played a straight-forward battle without any special rules to confuse myself with.. two 32 point armies, Romano British and Saxon, faced each other across the fields.

(These are all 28mm, mostly Gripping Beast, units based on 120mm frontage, so could have done with a bigger table perhaps)

I have to say that I'm not really any closer to getting my head around the rules. There are some great ideas in the book, such as the use of Leadership Points, but I do find the layout very confusing and spent a lot of time flicking through the pages, trying to clarify things. The multiple combats seem straight forward enough on paper, but I did find myself 'fudging' the odd combat here and there to keep the game moving.

I reckon I may have to play this against a real life person to properly understand it. 

Anyway, the game bogged down in a very Dark Ages toe to toe scrum, the Saxons eventually pulling off a minor victory.

It's Santaaaaa!!! (Hordes of the Things Christmas armies)

Here's something different. I made these two HOTT armies a couple of years ago. Never really finished the bases and they never got played with either. Some train of thought reminded me that I still had them in a drawer and seeing as it's nearly Christmas, seemed like a good time to fetch them out.

The figures are all made out of FIMO and painted.. they are a little brittle but look nice and bright and fun I reckon. On 40mm bases but I don't know what scale they are!

For HOTT players, the armies are both 24 Army Points:

Santa

Santa  - Magician General @ 4AP

Rudolph  - Hero @ 4AP

Elves  - Warband @ 2AP (x3)

Carol Singers  - Shooters @2AP

Christmas Tree - Artillery @3AP

Reindeer  - Flyers @2 AP (2)

Little Pink Fairy  - Lurker @1AP

Jack Frost

Jack Frost  - Magician General @4AP

Snowmen  - Spears @ 2AP (x2)

Snowballing kids  - Shooters @ 2AP (x2)

Trees and Giant Snowballs - Hordes @1AP (x6)

Gingerbread Man  - Sneaker @3AP

Ninja Snowman  - Sneaker @3AP

Perry Desert Rats Ready!

Well, these didn't take as long as I thought they would. I didn't entirely stick to the plan.. had a bit of a crisis with the flesh colours half way through but pushed through the 'wall' with the belief that they would turn out alright in the end.

Something I learned from railway modelling actually, when building a layout or diorama, there's often a moment where it all looks to have gone wrong and it's so tempting to bin it all and start again. Leaving it for a day or two and then cracking on, trusting in your methods, will often get you through. (Not always!)

Anyway.. one diversion from the plan was to try using the Strong Tone ink rather than the dip. Much more subtle, but clearly without the varnish properties. I also brushed on the Army Painter Matt varnish. I was worried I might get some clouding, but they seemed to have turned out alright.

Right, cruel close up photos.. I prefer to view my figures at arms length on the table!

Perry Desert Rats

Better late than never.. I actually picked up a box of the Perry 8th Army figures at Partizan back in June when I was helping Scrivs with his spiffing Bolt Action demo game..

I got them assembled and sprayed with Army Painter 'Desert Yellow' ages ago and then got sidetracked painting Soviets and Germans.

Initially I thought I'd get these painted and based before the Perry Afrika Corps came out. doh!

Yesterday morning I thought I ought to make a proper start.

I have James Morris' article from WS&S magazine on painting these figures and I've been lucky enough to play with both his and Scrivs painted figures. I don't think it's wise for me to try to copy their styles at all, but I have made an effort to organise myself to paint these so that they will at least be 'compatible' should they ever share a table

My plan is..

Desert Yellow basecoat.
Mix of Vallejo Iraq Sand, Khaki and Coat d'arms Roan for uniforms
Black for boots, rifles and bayonets
Coat d'arms  Wood brown for the skin areas
I'm following James suggestion and leaving the webbing etc in the base coat.

Once I have these basic colours blocked in, the next step will be to use the Army Painter Strong tone.
I'm going to experiment here and try using the ink rather than the dip. (Might try a couple and see how it goes first)

After that it will be a case of highlights, picking out the wood on the rifles, the flesh colours and a few details like rifle straps.

Bases will be essentially a Yellow Ochre, with sand and some tufts etc 

Finally a light drybrush with Iraqi Sand.

As I say, that's the plan! We'll see how it turns out.

More Firepower for the Germans

A new job has meant very little time or mental energy for gaming or even painting over the last few weeks. I'm hoping that will change soon as things settle.

Last week it was my birthday and I can always rely upon my brother to send me cool wargamey presents ( he helped in the muster of my Prussian Napoleonic army).. this time it was a Warlord 28mm Sdkfz 234/2.. otherwise known as the Puma.

I reckon this little beastie is going to be just the thing to help my Germans trying to hold back the Soviet horde, they currently have a Stug but no other Anti-tank guns.

Haven't had a good look at it yet, but basically it is a resin body and turret (with quite nice moulded detail), and a bag of whitemetal bits which include the wheels and the gun. This was quite bent, but I'm hoping I can gently tease it back to shape without breaking or kinking it.

I'll take pictures and update as I build and badly paint the Puma.