More Survivors are needed.

After an almost reasonable sleep last night (I managed a massive 4 hours!) I feel almost human again. Saturday was pretty bad though, it's nice to feel reasonable again.  So, here I go again with the weekends efforts.

First up, I have added a Cold War CoC page, so all my ideas for playing Chain of Command in the 1980's period well be in one place.  So far there is a list of the rules amendments and a rough idea for a British force list to go on there, but for some reason I can't upload them at the moment.  When Blogger lets me upload them please have a look and give comments/ideas on anything that seems wrong.  It is very much a playtest idea at the moment and needs a lot of polishing.

Painting has also happened, some Wargames Factory female survivors this time.  A few of us chipped in and bought a couple of boxes of survivors last year and, although I painted my 10 male survivors quickly, the women languished in an unpainted state until Sunday.  A quick spray of undercoat and some playing about resulted in another batch of survivors to fight off the zombie plague..

Here are the 10 women, a reasonable mix of figures, although some of the poses are a bit awkward and you need to be careful which arms you use with which torso.





I will show the 20 survivors in pairs now, just because I can.

 Shotguns rule.......Well for these two they do.  She has a double barreled shotgun while his appears to be a semi-auto model.  His apparel leans towards a beach lover type of look, while she is more of a country gal, with her John Deere cap and knee length boots.

Nice enough figures though.

Kids can fight too, although I am not sure the ginger lad should have an SMG!  I changed the hands of the powder blue princess so she could have a semi-auto pistol rather than the revolver with scope that she is supposed to have.  Again, nice enough figures and she looks kinda cute with her part dress and big boots.

 This pair have obviously emptied their rifles and are now down to their backup pistols.  He has an M16 and wears jeans and a hoody with a backwards baseball cap finishing off his "youth" look.  She is in a more sporty shorts and vest outfit with an SA80.  Both look pretty good I think and will do.


 

 The "Punisher" and a more military looking woman. Jeans and a vest(emblazoned with a white skull) for him, while he aims with his SMG and holds a large knife ready.  She is wearing woodland camo trousers, a green/yellow tee shirt and a khaki waistcoat while a Springfield sniper rifle is on her back and an Uzi is in her right hand.  Not the best poses, he seems to lean backwards, but again they will do.

M16s are popular with these two.  He is in jeans and a white tee shirt with a red baseball cap.  An M16 is on his back while he holds a baseball bat and celebrates the tin of beans he has found.  She holds an M16 and is clad in chocolate chip camo trousers and a green long sleeved top.

 The RPG and the molotov.  Which is best?  She is a more chunky model and is holding the RPG in an odd way.  She looks ok though and matches the chunky man well, both is shorts and tee shirts and wearing flip-flops.  He is in an overall, so appears to be a mechanic.  Armed with a raised machete and a molotov, he looks like he is ready for action.

The cowgirl and the cop.  He is painted up as a state trooper of some state or other.  He has full belt kit but is using an M16 here.  She wears black trousers and a brown vest, topped off with a black cowboy hat.  Cradling an AK in her left hand while firing a Mac-10 with her right she looks ready to upset some zombies day.

 The bow and pistols.  Not overly happy with the bow armed women, but she will do I guess.  In a white miniskirt and blue bustier top she aims and is ready to loose at her target.  He looks more normal, wearing khaki trousers and a green vest topped off with a USMC cap.  He is using twin pistols, which seems like a reasonable choice.




The bible basher and the blonde.  He is in a brown trenchcoat over jeans and a tee shirt.  A bible is raised in his left hand while he readies a pistol in the right.  She is also in jeans, topped by a white vest top.  While firing a Mac-10 in her left hand she holds a hunting crossbow in her right.  I attempted to paint it so it looked sort of like this one, it's reasonably close but not great.

Sculder and Mully.  Suited figures with pistols, she is in a black suit and aims her pistol in a double handed stance.  He suit is grey and he has a machete to back up his pistol.  Closest I will get to having an FBI couple anyway.


So there they are, 20 assorted survivors ready for whatever game we can come up with.  I am out playing Zombicide again tonight, then hoping to paint some Napoleonics tomorrow, if I get any sleep tonight.  Catch you later.

Zombicide strikes again

A late night again resulted in mucho painting getting done.  The medical type I see at the local surgery has put me on yet another tablet to replace the "help you to sleep" tablet that doesn't bloody work.  The bad news is I have to wait for a couple of weeks before I can take the new "Wonder" pill, as in "wonder if it will bloody work".  This means that sleep is something other people get to have will I sit up and mooch about. So on Thursday night I managed 2 hours sleep between 4ish and just after 6. Tina made damn sure that I didn't go to sleep through the day yesterday and I was so knackered last night that I was in bed by 11pm, but still didn't get to sleep until gone 1am.  Then guess who was wide awake at 5am?  So in the last 2 nights I have had 6 hours sleep, but surprisingly I don't feel too bad at the moment. 

The good news is being up until 4am allowed me to get a fair bit of painting done.  Admittedly I also sat and watched a film, played a couple of games and generally wasted a fair bit of time, but I did get some paint on leadplastic.  I didn't paint what I was supposed to paint, instead I painted the 18 Zombicide figures I had to do.  So, for your delectation here they are.

Zombies from the original game box

 First up are 8 assorted zombies from the original, Zombicide box.  Nice enough figures, painted up now ready for Monday night.

Anthony "Achille" Hopkins

 First of the Survivor/Zombivore pairs is Achille the Serial Killer, obviously based on Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.  A nice figure, the survivor actually has a pistol hidden behind his back as well as the nightstick.

Woody "Ralph" Harrelson

Then we have Ralph the Cowboy, based on Woody Harrelson as "Tallahassee" in Zombieland. Another nice figure, if a bit stationary in the survivor pose.

Nicholas "Mack" Cage

Third is Mack the car salesman with his trusty khukuris!  To be honest I have never ever seen a car salesman with khukuris, but it is a reasonable weapon to find.  I personally know where there are a pair of khukuris on a wall, so if the zombies do appear around here I will be fine.  Anyway, back to the figure.  It is based on Nicholas Cages "Cameron Poe" character in Con-Air, although he seems to be leaning away from danger here.

Bridget "Thaissa" Fonda

Penultimate figures are Thaissa the entrepreneur, apparently based on Bridget Fonda in some film I haven't seen.  I don't know if that is so, but its a reasonable figure.  I am not sure that a floor length ball gown is ideal apparel for fighting zombies but some standards should be kept I suppose. 

Sean "Rob" Connery

 Finally we have my favourite of these figures.  Rob the Security Expert, based on Sean Connery's John Mason role in The Rock.  I really like this figure, it painted up nicely and seems to look more like it's human counterpart than the others.  He also looks ready for anything with his twin SMGs.

Anyway, there they are.  I am off now to do something less interesting so have fun and keep rolling those dice.

Devon Wargames May meeting

It's been a week and I have had a few nights of decent sleep, so things are looking good so far this week (quickly touching as many bits of wood as I can reach).  Last Saturday saw the May meeting of the Devon Wargames Group, so I shoved the sons into the car and set off for Exeter.  I was putting on another game of Chain of Command, 15mm WW2 France this time to make a change from 28mm Cold War.  The two chaps who asked me to put it on didn't turn up so I hosted my sons Christopher and Michael using the Germans against Ian and Charlie using the British.

 The Germans were coming on from the left, using an elite Falschirmjager platoon, support being an additional Panzerschreck team and a medic.  The British, a regular rifle platoon, had a Dingo, a Cromwell and a medic.  The Germans were pinned back by aggressive British patrol moves, so all their jump-off points were close to each other and the were well back from the strategic hotel building.    


The Germans were winning the war of attrition due to their extra LMGs, but the British initiated charges, relying on close combat to balance out their lack of firepower.  It was the only way they could hope to win, as 6 MG42s dish out a lot more firepower than 3 Brens, 48 dice vs 18 in fact.  However the Cromwell was doing well, laying in support fire and destroying both Panzerschreck teams as it advanced on the left flank.

After the Cromwell laid in HE fire and cleared an LMG team, the British rushed into the now undefended ground floor.  Hand grenades flew back and forward, before the remaining British ran upstairs and wiped out the German LMG team.  Casualties were high though and the British squad ended up being broken as well due to losses and shock.  Mutual destruction.



The other British squads also charged in, managing to break another German squad before being broken by fire from the remaining German squad.  In the end the Germans fell back as leader casualties and 2 wiped out squads reduced their force morale from 9 to 3 .  The British were only just ok, with their force morale at 5 from a start of 10.  All in all it went pretty well and I think they all enjoyed it. 

The other games were  Muskets & Tomahawks, put on by Chas, and French Foreign Legion against Arabs by Nathan using his new fort.  Both games looked good and, judging by the volume of the players, went pretty well.  All in all not a bad day out and a pleasant way to spend a damp day.  Myself and Nathan won't be there in June as we are attending OML2 in Evesham, but we will be back for July.

 Painting wise, I have done a few bits and pieces.  Three additional 28mm jump off points, Warsaw Pact this time.  One is a TFL model while the others are made up using Baueda barrels and boxes with weapons from Wargames Factory Survivors sprues.

I also got a few 15mm bits done.  Two Daimler armoured cars and a pair of Dingos that I have had for years.  One of the Dingos has been used as a jump off point, with a dismounted British tank crew figure "capturing" a pair of German tankies.  I also got a German HMG crew finished which has been looking at me accusingly for the last 2 months.

I am now starting on some more Zombicide figures, as we have cracked open the original game to divvy up the Zombies.  I currently have 8 zombies, 5 survivors and 5 zombivores on the go.  Will I get them all done by Monday......I very much doubt it.  I am looking forward to painting Sean Connery Rob the security expert and Anthony Hopkins Achille the serial killer.  The other lads all have some figures to paint up as well, having finished the contents of Toxic City Mall.  We played a game of Zombicide on Monday night and somehow managed to get everybody off alive.

Ah well, off now to slap some paint onto some plastic.  Have fun folks and keep rolling those dice.

Productive sleep?

Well, when I should have been asleep anyway.  I finally got to sleep sometime between 4 and 5 this morning.  The net result of which was I had to put of a friends visit and I have felt rather like a zombie for the majority of the day.  Apologies Charles, I'll give you a call tomorrow.

The good news was I got some things painted and have finished the basing this afternoon.  I now have some jump off points for the British finished, just need to do some for the Americans, then the French, then some Italian ones...........  The list goes on and on. :-)  I also got some British trucks done, they have been sat in a drawer for a few years now so it's nice to see them painted up.  they will be useful for any Battlegroup games I play as either transport or supply vehicles.

 So here are the jump off points.  The two at the back are Baueda scenics, one an ammo dump and the other is more general supplies.  The front two are British, a White Scout Car (which needs another passenger added, but I don't have any suitable figure at the moment) and a quartet of captured Germans being marched past a Universal Carrier.  The Scout Car will also be used as a command vehicle for my Battlegroup Overlord British force.  I do need another British one, but I don't know what to do for it.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

And here are the trucks, one piece resin castings from Battlefront, a quick paintjob and there they are, ready to go.  I actually spent longer doing the windows than I did the rest of the vehicle, but I don't think that they look too bad.

Next up will be some 28mm Winter War Russians (20 of) and some 15mm Napoleonic British.  At least that's the plan, unless I get an itch to do some US jump off points, or come up with an idea for a third British one.

I will also make use of some of these newly painted bits on Saturday at the Devon Wargames meet, where I am putting on a 15mm WW2 game for a couple of members to play.

Well, that's it, another short post and I am off now to grab some dinner.  Hopefully I'll sleep tonight, I should do as I only got about 3 hours last night.  Ah well, keep smiling and keep rolling those dice.

Damn you Insomnia.......

So here I am again, its 2.16am and yet again I can't sleep.  Stomach ache and vomiting does not a good nights sleep make.  At least I have been productive this morning, so it's not been a total washout.  I have been beavering away on some Allied type jump off points for my 15mm WW2 forces.  I made some German ones earlier this year so thought I should really have a go at some for the Allies.

I have had a couple of Baueda supply dump style bases for some time now, so they have finally been painted.  There is nothing on them to specify which side they belong to, so they are generic jump off points now.

I am also making a couple of themed bases, so have been busy painting up some assorted figures and vehicles.  I should(hopefully) get them stuck to their bases before I go back to bed, it depends how much longer they take to dry properly.  Then I will finish them either tomorrow evening or Thursday, so there will be another update with pictures to come then.

To keep you gong, here is a picture of the few bits I did get painted last week, ready for use at Legionary.

I modified my "official" Too Fat Lardies jump off points to make them a bit more modern.  Basically I cut off the WW2 weapons and replaced them with more modern NATO weapons.  One has an SLR, one an M16 and the last on has a Carl Gustav.  I also painted up a few old(Mongrel Miniatures) and a few new(Empress Miniatures) figures to give the Russians some support options apart from tanks and BMPs.  There is an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, a Kord hmg(which fills in for a KPV hmg) and an 9K111 AT-4 Spigot anti-tank missile team, all from Empress Miniatures.  These are joined by five Mongrel Miniatures figures from the 10th Company packs.  A nice selection of bits to add to my Cold War collection.  I am just waiting on a delivery of SPG-9s and DShKs from Eureka Miniatures now. 

Right, I'm off to see if the vehicles are dry, then it's off to bed.  It's now 2.30 and I should really try to get some sleep.  I hate being wide awake at this time of night as it will totally screw up tomorrow for me as well.  Catch you later. 

Legionary 2014

The closest wargame show  to home is the rather nice Exeter based Legionary, organised by Exmouth Wargames.  Not a massive show, it seems to be slowly improving with Warlord, Colonel Bill, Magister Militum and EM4 among the traders.  I took my camera, but totally failed to take any photos of the games on display, which was stupid as there were some cracking tables set up.  Luckily other people were more organised than me so pictures are available, on JJ's blog or the Exmouth Wargames site.

In an effort to support our local show we usually put on a game.  "We" was Gus, Nathan and myself, but I was going to give this year a miss.  Nathan was supposed to be running a Winter War Chain of Command game for Baker Company and Gus is sadly no longer with us, so I would have been on a table alone.  Then communications between Nathan and Baker Company seemed to come to a halt so I decided to see if a table was available and, if it was, put on a 25mm Chain of Command game using my 1980's British and Russians. 

A table was available, Baker company didn't even turn up to trade on the day without even letting Nathan know, so there I was with my short-legged assistant playing Cold War CoC in front of the local wargaming fraternity. 

 Here is the table with the invading Russians advancing from the left against the dug in British line.  the Russians had a BMP platoon supported by 2 T-55s, a HMG and an auto-grenade launcher.  The British had a rifle platoon with a Milan team, an extra Carl Gustav team and a Scorpion.  The balance of power was coming from the East, or so we thought.

 Despite the best efforts of the Carl Gustav, no Russian vehicles were hit in the initial turn, maybe I have made it too difficult to hit anything with my AT modifiers?  Something to consider in future games I think.  I did make up some nice NATO jump-off points by carving the WW2 weapons off of the Too Fat Lardies models and replacing them with some more modern weapons.  You can just about see them a couple of the pictures.  I also made up a rocket marker, just 'cos I could.

The Russian advance did not go well, with a LAW strike making the BMP-2 retreat, leaving its debussed infantry sat in the open in front of a dug in British section. It did not go well for the Russians, that's all there is too say about that.

 On the other flank it went even worse, with a LAW destroying the BMP and killing two of its infantry squad, then the British fire killed off all but one of the remainder of the squad and he (perhaps sensibly) ran off.  Nathans tactic off sitting back with his T-55's and trying to suppress the dug in defenders did not work and his attack failed as their force morale fell to 1.

 So we switched sides and had another go.  I advanced the Russians behind a smoke screen, reducing the incoming fire that we would take in the first phases.

 Then the vehicles burst through the smoke and advanced.  Some infantry were debussed to provide covering fire, while the T-55s advanced to screen the fragile BMPs with their thicker armour.  My force was saved by Nathans inability to hit with most of his AT missiles, and when he did the effect was negligible.

The end result was a sweeping pincer movement by the Russians, allowing them to start rolling up the defenders line.  My more aggressive tactics worked pretty well, although Nathan's dice did him no favours at all in the secound game.  He did manage to drive off the grenade launcher team and damage a BMPand one of the T-55s, but he lost his Milan team and a full section on the right flank, then was unable to react to the Russians as they swept forward on both flanks.

All in all it was a pretty good day.  The show seemed pretty busy and I hope in continues to grow.  My purchases were limited, I bought some Baueda scenic bits from Magister Militum, who managed to get my order sorted despite me giving them only a couple of days notice, and a couple of 1984-5 Janes books on the bring&buy. 

Its now 12.30am and I have a lot to do tomorrow, so I will sign off here and try to get some sleep.  Keep rolling those dice folks.