Tuesday 30 April 2019

57mm Anti-tank Gun

In an attempt to cut General Ballroom's StuG down to size I've finished this wee thingy off.
It's a WestWind model that I purchased years go but which arrived with British crew.

I finally got around to correcting that at Partizan last year.








I've added some dice holders to the back of the base so I can use little dice to track casualties and morale.

It's a bit on the wee size at a proper 25mm compared to the rest of the solidly "heroic" 28mm army but as its a self contained model I'm not at all bothered.

So at last my Yanks may be able to halt the relentless German counter attacks in Normandy.

Monday 29 April 2019

Easterlings for War of the Ring

Ploughing on with finishing off some GW Lord of the Rings models, just in case we ever decide to play WotR.
Couple of drummers, converted (I think) using Orc metal drums and plastic Easterlings. Built and undercoated about ten years ago. Finished off this weekend.



Sunday 28 April 2019

Playtesting Celtic games with James

James pottered over to the Sherwood Soldier Shack with his lovely collection of Celts and Fomorians.
He's been tinkering with some rules that allow ranked up units to interact with Celtic heroes in suitably heroic fashion, so this was a chance to throw down some soldiers and see how the rules feel.

For me it was mainly an excuse to take lots of pictures of James' very pretty toys.




























As for the rules themselves we were pretty happy with how the troops moved and behaved and the mechanics of fighting.
The heroes will clearly be very important - next piece of work is to develop how they interact with the troops and the benefits they bring.
My input was mainly "editorial" around clarifying how models moved and were ordered. I think James needs a "number cruncher" type gamer (not my skill set :)) to just look at the interaction of some of the stats.

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Daemons v Warriors a WFB 8th edition Chaos Clash

Another visit to the North Notts gaming Hall.
I took daemons, Steve took Chaos Warriors.
We set up to play another One Hour Wargames scenario.

The peace-loving Daemonettes were determined to defend their harmonious hamlet.


And hill.


Booo! Big hairy northerners.


Some fellas on flies


And a wizard on a big blob.


The hounds of chaos ran forward. Until we remembered they couldn't march on turn one. And back they went.


The Fiends got stuck in.


And the 'nettes tried the same.


Sadly what worked for the Fiends didn't go so well for the Daemonettes.

I also forgot to take any more pictures.

It was all over rather quickly. The only high spot for the Daemons was rolling an 11 on the winds of magic and seeing the 400 point wizard on Nurgle blob fail his test and vanish from the board.

Apart from that Chaos Warriors were just as hard as always.

Saturday 20 April 2019

'Creamy' Beatrix

Lady Mingella Beatrice Quimm (known to her friends as 'Creamy' Beatrix).


The Sherwood Huckall and lkeston Team played several games of Congo when it came out.
As part of the games we used this model as an objective and for obscure reasons we christened her 'Creamy' Beatrix (those obscure reasons mainly being that we are all about twelve years old emotionally).
General B was so amused by the whole thing that he generously provided Steve and I with our own models of the lady in question.
And I've finally got round to painting her.
I think she may be from Black Cat Bases - judging by her face and size she's from their "Went Ten Rounds With Evander Holyfield" range. She's certainly, erm, "sturdy". Indeed at one point I wondered if she was supposed to represent someone in drag (as an escape ruse) but her "embonpoint" suggests otherwise.

Anyway, a fun model to paint. We used her for games of Congo but I think her dress suggests a late Georgian or earlier Victorian period (not that I'm an expert), so I've based her to match my Napoleonics rather than Darkest African collection.

Friday 19 April 2019

Chain of Command Campaign (6)

Several months on, General B and I got back together to get our CoC's out and continue our campaign.

In the last game my advance had been rudely thrown back by the Germans, and so, seizing the day, General Ballzimmer  has ordered the Heer on to the counter attack.

My force was really rather battered after the last game - in the end I amalgamated my remaining men into just two squads at almost full strength, rather than take three bashed up ones. The Germans have only lost a couple of men!

We played the Probe scenario - so all the Germans had to do was get a team off my table edge.
I hadn't read this in the scenario, so rather foolishly didn't have my JOP's opposite the shortest route from the German ones.
Fortunately General B has been making barbed wire - so I chucked a load of that in the way.

 Note barbed wire between house and table edge

Sadly the German support roll was high enough the they'd have a StuG along for the ride.
*sigh*



Realising I had little that could harm the assault gun, and that all he had to do was drive it off my table edge to win - the German commander gunned the engines and raced up the road.



However, lucky rolling meant I had a Cain of Command dice! Ambush!


Rather predictably, instead of launching a missile right up Fritz's exhaust pipe my brave team missed.

Desperately I bought some more men on, then forgot to put them on tactical and so the MG42 took a couple down.


The bazooka team desperately stalked the tank, hoping for anther shot, but sadly a three was rolled and Klaus Der Tanker rolled the StuG off the board and claimed the victory.


This was a fun but quite short game. All over in a few phases -.prolonged only by the fact we'd not played for several months so had to look everything up.

However, despite it being short and there being not much in the way of actual fighting it as great to play. The campaign really makes you think about how to use your men - not just throw them on and hope for the best as you'll probably need them alive for the next game!

I've now called for reinforcements. Which will get me back to almost three full squads (though I may deploy one without BAR.
.
Looking forward to the next game!