New computer!

I have got all the bits, put them together and even got them to work.  Upgraded from an old dual core 1.6ghz processor, 2gb ram(max motherboard would take), 250gb hard drive and old 512mb graphics card to quad core 3.6ghz, 8gb ram(32gb max!), 1tb hard drive and new 1gb graphics card.  Its significantly faster at everything and I even get into battles on world of tanks before they start.  Shiny.

I am also painting stuff.  Started some more of the Wars of the Roses figures as there is less than 2 weeks until we play the big game at the Devon Wargames meet.  I still have 36 figures to paint up for this, so have to get on with them.  I am still waiting for the Pak43s I ordered from Battlefront many weeks ago.  Its over 5 weeks since they took the money, but they are still out of stock.  Not impressed.  I have also just ordered some more AWI figures from Peter Pig, but they are a Christmas present from my Mum, so I can't have them when they arrive but have to wait until Christmas.

Monday night we played X-Wing again upstairs while Panjo and Colin finished off a Dux game downstairs.  The Rebels had Chewbacca flying the Falcon with Gaven Dreiss Dwarven Grease and a Red Squadron pilot in X-Wings.  The Imperials fielded Darth Vader in a TIE advanced and 4 TIEs piloted by Howlrunner, Mauler Mithel, Winged Gundark and an Academy pilot.  Asteroids littered the table and several moves were restricted by the risk of collisions.  End result was the Falcon had lost all but 2 hull hits, Red pilot was dead and Gaven Dreiss Dwarven Grease had 1 shield left.  The Imperials lost everybody except Howl Runner(1 hull left) and the academy pilot(2 hull left).  In terms of damage caused, the Rebels caused 14 hits against the Imperials hitting 17 times, but the durability of the Falcon and X-Wings won the day.  It was a fun game though, everybody seemed to enjoy it.

Downstairs, Panjo's Romano-British were butchered by Colin's Saxons.  Colin won by 9, so got more men and Panjo will take 3 months to get his men back.  Ouch.

Well, keep smiling and roll those dice folks.

X Wing

 I have finally finished my Revell Millenium Falcon model.  This has come about because FFG have delayed release of their official model until February, so steps had to be taken.  The model was £6.50, the base is some offcut mdf and the stand is some left over plastic rod. 

Revell Millenium Falcon, based and shaded

The base was covered with a home made attempt at a ship data sheet.  Not as nice as the official one, but it will do.  I have also made some cards up using templates I found on Boardgamegeek, so I can now use it on the table.  I think it scales up pretty well with the fighters and doesn't look to shabby.

Tie, Falcon and X-Wing together.

Top view of the 3 ships.

Water!

Well tonight has been interesting to say the least.  Half an hour before I was due to go to work, this was the view that meet me outside the back door.

One back step instead of three

We have three steps from the back door to the garden, but you can't see two of them now.

Gate to next doors garden.

Next door were worse off than us as their conservatory is lower than ours.  Unfortunately the shed is underwater, so I will be phoning the insurance people tomorrow I guess.  Bikes, gas barbeque, lawn mower etc. 

Shed, slightly damp methinks.

Good news is that I can't get to work as the road is closed.  Oh dear, how sad.  Never mind.  :)

Battlegroup Kursk

Yesterday I played our first game of Battlegroup Kursk with the less stinky Nathan hosting and putting on the game.  The scenario ended up being a flanking meeting engagement.  The nasty invaders from Germany had bought a reasonable force, with a HQ commanding two motorised Panzergrenadier platoons, two HMGs, one mortar, one Pak40, three Panzer IIILs, a sniper, two Hummels and, as anyone who knows Nathan can already guess, a Tiger.  The defenders of the Motherland had a HQ, three Motor Rifle platoons(with no motors), one 45mm AT gun, ten T-34s(hehehe), a Churchill, a FO for artillery support, two snipers and a BA-64 armoured car.  As there was a lack of T-34 models, T-70s were used as stand-ins.

The initial forces after turn one.  Germans at the top

The initial set-up saw the Tiger leading the advance from the top right of the picture, supported by a PG platoon HQ, rifle squad and HMG in trucks.  The sniper snuck into the farm on the top left. The Russians set up with the Churchill supported by a platoon commander and three rifle squads.  The Russian scout snipers advanced on the bottom right side, seizing an objective and starting the Germans on the road to defeat....hopefully.  The Churchill fired at and suppressed the German sniper.  Boo-Yah!

Germans advance as the Russians await reinforcements.

Turn 2 saw more German trucks appear, full of hardened Panzergrenadiers and towing a Pak40.  The Germans advanced towards the large building and seized it with their initial forces.  The Tiger hid in the rubble like a big jessie.  Nathan said it was covering the infantry, but I know the truth. The Russians advanced into the wood, supported by the T-34 company commander and the artillery observer. 

Germans advance as the Russians gather

The gathering horde!

Bullyboy Panzers pick on the sniper

Turn 3 arrived and with it came three Panzers.  They promptly advanced and pinned one of the Russian snipers!  Three tanks against one little sniper, oh yeah, your the master race alright!  More Germans moved into the large building, setting up machine guns all over the place.  The Pak 40 moved into the small farm, along with some infantry support and another HMG.  The Russians gained four T-34s, which gathered behind the wood.  They had to gather as the Russians rolled double 1 for their orders, so not much could move.

Panzers kill off the snipers

More T-34s arrive

Turn 4 finally saw the Germans kill something, as both snipers were Panzered to death.  The Ba-64 hid behind the kurgan, hoping help would arrive before he died.  Some more Panzergrenadiers arrived to support the Panzers, this time on foot.  Most of the Germans in the large building and farm went onto reserve fire, 'cos they were scared to come out and face the boys from the steppes!  The Russians gained some more T-34s, along with the HQ to improve their command....it didn't work though.

StalStalStal!  T-34s advance

Ba-64 in a moment of madness

Turn 5 and the Germans consolidated their hold on the objective building.  The Panzers advanced to kill off the Ba-64 and failed dismally.  One couldn't see it and the other couldn't hit it.  They also brought on a Hummel to support the Panzers.  Their supporting infantry rushed forward to seize the farm.  The Russians now surged forward in a brave show of patriotism.  Nine T-34s charged bravely across the steppes towards the horde of Panzers and their area fire managed to pin some German infantry around the table, which was nice.  And yes, three Panzers is a horde, so there!  Cunningly, the small copse happened to be between the T-34s and the Tiger tank, who had fired and missed.  The Ba-64 moved out and fired feebly at the grenadiers in the field.

Pinned T-34 after Tiger and Pak40 fire at it

Burning Panzer and T-34 horde

Turn 6 and the Germans pushed more troops onto the table, but they would be too late.  The Panzers fired at the T-34s, bouncing off the sloped armour.  They did kill the Ba-64 though, which isn't particularly difficult to do.  The Tiger reversed out and fired, missing the T-34, while the Pak-40 managed to hit one, but only pinned it.  The Germans rushed an LMG team into the farm, but their infantry were still pinned.   The Russians then advanced again with the T-34s, killing a Panzer with area fire and pinning the LMG team.  Meanwhile infantry reinforcements were being pushed forward to support the tanks, but they were a long way behind.  Some fire from the woods managed to pin two German squads though.

Russian infantry advance

Smoke plumes everywhere.

Turn 7 and both Hummels had fired and missed.  With only 2 ammo each they now needed to resupply, so an ammo truck was brought on.  The combined fire of the remaining Panzers, the Tiger and the Pak40 saw four T-34s explode and two managed to lose a track, but the Russian commander said "There's plenty more where they came from".  German MGs chattered away from the big building and decimated two squads of Russian infantry.  Return fire by the Russian infantry pinned more Germans, while the T-34s killed off both the remaining Panzers and the LMG squad in the farm.  The German left flank was collapsing.  Meanwhile Russian infantry had crossed the stream and were advancing on the third objective, the small wood.

View from an overflying PO-2 spotter

 Unfortunately we ran out of time to finish it completely.  The Germans only had the Tiger and Pak left that could kill Russian tanks, but the Russians only had four mobile tanks left, three T-43s and a Churchill.

Things we learnt from the game were many and varied.  At least some of the infantry need anti-tank grenades.  Ammo does run out in tanks.  Stal Stal Stal is an awesome order, unless you roll a 1.

We had fun and will play it again, many times.  I just need to get some T-34s now.

Dux Britanniarum

Not too bad a week, except for my computer having a minor death and needing new components.  I have it running again but only just.  Ah well, these things are sent to try us, as they say.  By this time next week I will have a new motherboard, new processor, new RAM and a new graphics card, so a nearly new computer.

Anyway, back to the important stuff.....wargames!  Monday saw the Monday night group play Dux Britannarium for the first time since the official rules came out.  We helped playtest the rules, but have been too busy with other things to play it since they were released.  So figures were dusted off, terrain was set up and battle was commenced.  As we were learning the rules again, we played with 3 people per side, one for each big-man.  Zob, Colin and Stinky Nathan were the evil, nasty and generally unliked Saxon raiders, while myself, Panjo and Andy had the gallant, brave but, finally, hopeless Romano-British. 

Turn 2 and the Britons arrive

The Saxons were on a mission to raid a farm, which was about as far away from them as it could get.  They managed one move, then the initial defenders arrived.  The Saxon lord, Stinky Nathan led his entire force up the right hand side of the table, managing to keep them together in a most un-Saxonlike manner.  He had two units of Gedridht(Elite), three units of Duguth(Warriors) and a unit of archers.  Panjo was the lord of the Romano-Brits and managed to bring 5 of his 7 units on in turn 2.  His force had the Comanipulares(Elite), a unit of Milites(Warriors) and two units of Numeri(Levy), supported by a group of archers. 

Saxons split up as the Britons advance

The Saxons decided to split their force, with Stinky Nathan taking the elites forward alone to raid the village, while Zob and Colin took the Duguth and archers to block the approaching Britons.  Panjo led his troops forward in two formations, one of the Comanipulares and Milites, led by Andy, the other of the two Numeri units, led by himself. The remaining units of the British arrived behind the farm, ineptly commanding by me.  One unit of Numeri and one of Milites, the foolishly bravely advanced to defend the farm from the approaching elite Saxon warriors.  Levy against elite, not a good match up!

Fight!!!! 

The Saxon archers were on form, killing two of the Britons best troops.  Colin decided to have his formation of two units of Warriors charge the best troops of the Romano-British.  It went fairly well for the Britons, with the Saxons bouncing and falling back.  The Britons were forced to take a step back as the Comanipulares had 6 shock, but only 4 men.  Luckily they managed to maintain their shieldwall formation.  The Saxons had lost 3 men, splitting their formation and pushing them back several inches.
Zob then charged his fresh unit of Saxons into the shaken shieldwall, killing two more elite British warriors and scattering them.  The remaining British warriors were shaken by this and fell back.  Colins men rallied and charged the Levy, who were all fired up after seeing off the Saxon archers.  Twelve men, led by Dux Panjo and his champion should hold off 9 shaken Saxons, shouldn't they?  No, not at all!  Meanwhile, in the village, it had all gone to bats**t!  The elite Saxons charged into the British shieldwall, throwing axes and spears as they came (sneaky Strong Arm fate card).  12 dice, causing shock on a 5+ and Stinky Nathan managed to get 8 hits!  The Saxons smashed the shieldwall and scattered the warriors to the winds, pushing them back 6 inches.  The levy were also shaken, falling back 3 inches.  This shattered the shieldwall and things were looking bad for the farmers.

The final turn of the game was no better for the Britons and they were forced to quit the field, leaving the Saxons to stampede the women and rape the livestock. 

Oh dear, its all gone a bit Pete Tong.

A fun game was had by all I think, disturbed only by the constant fragrant rumblings from the lower regions of Stinky Nathan.  Next week sees the first battle in a new campaign, with Saxon Colin attacking Romano-British Panjo.  The rest of us are playing X-Wing upstairs.

Devon Wargames and eBay

So Saturday is nearly over.  Amazingly, I failed to win the lottery last night so still have to go to work tonight.  Boo Hiss.

I went to the Devon club and ended up playing Flames of War.  Barbarossa period, with hordes of Russians being decimated by very few Germans.  35 Russian tanks took on 6 Panzer IIIs and 3 Stug IIIs.  In short order the 10 T-26s were destroyed, the 10 BT-2s were destroyed, reborn and destroyed again, the 5 T-35s were destroyed and the 10 T-28s lost 2 and had 3 bailed out.  The Germans lost 3 armoured cars!  Shots rained in on the Panzers and all bounced off.  I didn't realise Panzer IIIs were that well armoured.  The German infantry dug in and went to ground, so suddenly the artillery couldn't see them.  Oh well.  Thanks to Andy, Vince and Chas for the game, but it sadly reinforced my view that I don't like the Flames of War rules.  At least I tried it.  Hopefully we will be playing Battlegroup Kursk soon, which looks promising.  The other game on was Jon's computer moderated WW2 naval game.  The Graf Spee, under Kapitan von Goodyear, sank........quite quickly.........oh dear.  Stop laughing, he tried his best but always wanted to be a U-boat commander really. 

I have listed my Bolt Action Germans on ebay now, so hopefully somebody likes them enough to bid.  Its all to fund my 15mm AWI and WW2 forces, which I will play with more than I ever played with the 28mm WW2.  The British Paras will go on soon as well, probably tomorrow.  

So, work beckons, then I shall sleep before getting up to play Combat Arms or World of Tanks tomorrow night.  Still looking forward to Dux Britanniarum  on Monday night though. 

Onward and upwards, the less said about the shambolic Welsh rugby team the better.

World War Z and the next few days.

I found World War Z by Max Brooks to be an entertaining read.  I liked how it was done as interviews showing how the "War" progressed.  As much as I am looking forward to this film.....

I somehow don't think it is following the book.  I'll still go and see it though.  Zombies, you can't beat them...............unless you have a big stick!  Or a shotgun. 

The next few days are a mix of high and low for me.  Today I am photographing my 25mm WW2 figures to go on ebay, which is sad.  Then its back to painting before playing World of Tanks tonight, which is nice.  Tomorrow I am playing wargames at the Devon Wargames Group while watching Wales play Argentina on the big TV, which will be nice.  Then I have to go to work at 11pm, which is sad.

Sunday I shall mostly be asleep, until later on when I play online with some mates, which is nice.  Then I have to go to work at 11pm, which is sad.  Monday morning will be spent asleep, before getting up at about 1pm and doing some painting, which is nice.  Then Monday night is Dux Brittanarium night at Zobs, which will be great. 

Obviously this will all change if I win the lottery tonight, but whats the chance of that.  Off now to undercoat some more Dutch-Belgian Napoleonics and some Wars of the Roses archers. I am home alone, so Iron Maiden are currently blasting through the house.  :)

Bah humbug and all that.

Time for another update on the life that I lead.  Still working nights at Tesco to pay the bills.  Still failing to win the lottery.  Still painting for other people more than for me.  Thanking god that the US election is finally over and the news can be about something else.  Do the Americans care about who gets in over here when we have an election?  I doubt it somehow, but we are subjected to endless debates about the US election.  Maybe its just me though, maybe the rest of the British people do care.

Maelstrom games seem to have gone completely, taking my money with them.  From the stories on various chat groups it appears that the nice man in charge knew it was going, but still took peoples money!  I would say what I think of him, but kids may read this.  Suffice to say my thoughts on this man are not pleasant.  I have reordered the guns I need direct from Battlefront, but that has now been 3 weeks with no sign of any delivery yet.  I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this gun order has been cursed by the gods of wargaming.

I have managed to do some painting around working nights and feeling ill.  Two lots of 32 15mm Napoleonic Dutch-Belgians (one line and one militia unit) and 24 Perrys Wars of the Roses figures for the Christmas game at the Devon Wargames Group.  Still have more Napoleonics to do, as everytime I paint any he sends me more than I have painted.  Newest arrivals are Dutch-Belgian cavalry and more infantry.  Two 40 figure units of line infantry and 6 units of cavalry, plus 2 batteries of artillery.  Better to have too much than not enough.

I do have another unit of Wars of the Roses to do as well, but they are for me so may have to wait a bit.  Four units should be enough for my little lot in the game.  Plenty of levy with little of no ability to hurt anyone, led by a complete fool.  That's the way forward.

 In other news, I have decided to get rid of my 25mm WW2 figures and vehicles.  I have used them once in about 3 years now, so will sell them on and reinvest the money in finishing of my AWI forces and getting some more 15mm WW2.  15mm is becoming my favoured scale for most games now, although some 25mm will still be kept (War of the Roses, Ancients, Dark Ages and Cold War).  My British Paras and German Panzergrenadiers will soon be on ebay though.  Here are a couple of pictures just to tease you.

There are more Paras than shown here, but I never got around to taking pictures of them all.  There is also some armoured support in the shape of Tetrach tanks.  Ooohhhh, scarey.

I enjoyed painting them, but can't justify keeping them anymore.

If anybody is interested in them then drop me an email and I can send you some bigger pictures and a full list of what I have.

Well, back to the grindstone again now. Have fun.