Christmas Greetings and all that malarky.

Sorry about the complete lack of updates, I have been a bit crook for the last few weeks and it doesn't seem to be improving.  Not much painting has happened and even less gaming, so it's a pretty crap update really.

I did manage to make it to the Devon Wargames Christmas Big Bash, which was fun.  Arranged and managed by Nick I think he did a marvellous job of using a 2 player game system to cater for 16 players!  Fun was had by all I believe and the valiant Brits saw off the Saxon invaders.  I didn't play but helped Nick a bit with running it, mainly by sitting in and guiding the table of 4 new(ish) players.  See the DWG blog for a good report with some decent pictures.

Too Fat Lardies have brought out a campaign supplement for Sharp Practice 2, and very good it is too.    It reads well and will make for some interesting games in the future.  I may have to bump my 28mm ACW forces up the painting list.....maybe.

It has some nice ideas for different types of mini-campaigns and adds some "oddities" to the game as well. 




Right, as it's nearly the end of the year I am going to sit down and work out exactly what I want to get painted and based to use for next year.   I am a quintissential wargames butterfly with the attention span of a gold fish, so I am intending to concentrate on a few things next year and mainly focus any expenditure on terrain and the like.  So the aims are

1. Finish off the Dark Ages figures I have and make up enough forces for larger games.  I do need to get a bit more cavalry for this...and maybe some Picts......maybe.
2. Paint up the 15mm Cold War British, Russian and German forces I have bought already.  I need a few support bits to finish these off but the majority is bought
3. Finish up basing the 15mm buildings I have here already.  I still have several houses, a church and a factory that need basing up.
4. Do my Perrys 28mm ACW forces for SP2, as mentioned above

 I have several other projects that are being put into storage now, 28mm Crusades, 28mm NWF, 28mm Dragon Rampant, 15mm ACW, all the various 6mm stuff......the list goes on and on.  So that is the plan, I want to get the Dark Ages finished sooner rather than later as I enjoy the games we play and really like the figures so they are first on the list.  However, that may well be scuppered by Christmas and Birthday presents as I know that my mum has ordered me some Congo figures from North Star and I believe No2 son has also ordered me something similar.  Time will tell, but they are small forces and won't take long to paint.  I also have received a secret santa, which will be opened on Sunday too.

See how long that plan lasted!!!!  It's pathetic really isn't it? :(

Anyway, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I'll catch up next week hopefully with an update of what I got and how it has totally scewed my plans up.  Oh, and I will be a year older on Sunday too, the scarey thing is I will be 48 and am still the youngest of the Chuckadice group!

Plans for gaming the Cold War in 15mm

I am the supreme example of a wargames butterfly.  I fly from period to period with the attention span of a confused goldfish, although there is one exception to this. 

The so-called Cold War has always been of interest to me, probably because I grew up through it. I started off with a lot of 1/300^th forces and played with Modern Spearhead. Then I got diverted into skirmish gaming and got some Cold War figures in 28mm. Now with the widespread availability of 15mm models I am again spending money on 1980s period figures. In my defence I have stayed on one period and I can reuse all my existing 15mm WW2 scenery. ;)

So, I am sorting out a mixed bag of forces, I got British in the Armies Army kickstarter and have recently picked up a lot of Soviet stuff second hand. I have also bought some Battlefront Germans as well. My aim is to have a reinforced platoon for each of the British and German forces while the Soviet forces will end up at company strength. Below is a brief idea of the force structures I am going for, any comments on mistakes would be much appreciated. I have used the old WRG army list books as a guide to what is required. These lists do things by groups so I have had to guess what is in the group in some cases.

    British Mech Infantry Platoon

       Platoon HQ with 1 Fv432, 1 command group and 1 light mortar group

       3 sections each with 1 Fv432, 2 rifle groups, 1 LMG and 1 MAW

I have translated this into the following

HQ – 1 Fv432, 1 CO, 1 SNCO, 1 RTO and 1 light mortar man.

Sections – 1 Fv432, 1 NCO, 1 LMG with 2 crew, 1 MAW gunner, 4 riflemen.

Support wise I have the following

A tank platoon of 3 Chieftains (I may get 1 more as they could be 3 or 4 strong)

AT section of 2 Milan teams (1 additional Fv432 needed)

AA section of 2 Javelin teams in a Spartan

SFMG team to be carried in the command Fv432 if needed

   

     German Heimschutzkommando Platoon

       Platoon HQ with 1 M113 or Marder, 1 command group, 1 LMG and 1 Milan

       2 squads each with 1 M113 or Marder, 1 rifle group, 1 LMG and 1 MAW

Translated into

HQ – 1 M113, 1 CO, 1 RTO, 1 LMG with 2 crew and 1 Milan with 2 crew

Squads – 1 M113, 1 NCO, 1 LMG with 2 crew, 1 MAW gunner and 3 riflemen

Support

A Panzer platoon with 3 Leopard 1

AT section of 4 Jagpanzer Kannone

AA section of 1 Redeye team attached to PHQ

I will also get some Marders to give me the option of "upgrading" them to regulars.

 

    3 Soviet BMP Platoons each with

       Platoon HQ with 1 BMP, 1 command group, 1 rifle group and 1 LMG

       2 squads each with 1 BMP, 1 rifle group, 1 infantry group and 1 LMG

Turns into 3 platoons each with

HQ – 1 BMP, 1 CO, 1 NCO, 1 SAW, 1 RPG, 4 riflemen

Squad 1 – 1 BMP, 1 SNCO, 1 NCO, 1 SAW, 1 RPG, 4 riflemen

Squad 2 – 1 BMP, 1 LMG with 2 crew, 1 NCO, 1 SAW, 1 RPG, 4 riflemen

Support

2 Tank Platoons each with 4 T-72/80.

1 AA section of 1 SA-7 team in 1 BMP

There are a few other options I am considering getting, some recce vehicles for each force are a prime example, but that's the plan for now. Just need to get on with painting it all after Christmas. And find a set of rules for it, current options are FEBA, Force on Force and Sabre Squadron.  Decisions decisions.

Big Dux Brit game and some painting

It's been a long month but I am still kicking.....just.  I have had a bit of a downer for a while, but things are a bit better now.

Despite the really bad start to the month I have managed to get some painting done, some for me and some for Nathan.  He had a mixed load of Dark Ages figures that he has picked up from ebay and various shows that he asked me to paint for him.  So far I have done over 50 of them with another 30+ to go.

 Here are some of them, a mixed lot of Romano-British first.

 Followed by a couple batches of Saxons.

So that's 36 of them, I also did another 20 that I gave back to him without taking any bad photos first.

 Also I have finally finished replacing the Dark Ages Wargames Factory figures I had in my Dux forces with Gripping Beast ones.
Here are the "Romano-British", actually a mix of Dark Age warriors and Saxon Thegns.  18 Levy, 12 Warrior and 6 Elite foot, supported by 4 archers and 4 skirmish javelinmen.  I have painted up a few extra command figures to make up the command bases.  There are a grand total of 7 metal figures in this force, cheap is my middle name.

Then the Saxons, 18 Warriors and 12 Elites with 4 archers and 4 skirmishers again.  Same basing system for the leaders as the Brits.Again there are just 7 metal figures in this lot.


Finally I got some cavalry painted up as well.  The 4 at the back are Gripping Beast figures from the lead mountain that came from somewhere long ago.  They are used to represent light cavalry for either side.  The front 4 are Black Tree late Roman cavalry.  They have painted up nicely, but the amount of prep work to get the horses cleaned up was ridiculous.  I think there was more mould leaked metal on these horses than there was metal actually in the horse castings themselves.  Anyway, they will be used as shock cavalry eventually.

Yesterday was the Devon Wargames monthly meet again and, for the first time in several years, I actually managed to stay for the whole day and get some gaming in.  It wiped me out for today but it was worth it.  The game was great, with multiple players on each side and about 200 figures a side.  Not bad for a 2 player skirmish game.

Jon put up a nice report on the blog and took some cracking photos, so please pop over and take a look.  Don't mention the size of his warband though, he gets all defensive about it.  ;)

I am now going to bed, so I'll catch you all next time.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! (Please note, some profanity)

So, things move on and so here I am again.  It's been an up and down few weeks.

First up the good. 

Congo, it's a cracking game and gives a good evenings entertainment.  So far we have played 3 games, with no one force dominating and plenty of mad moments.  We have had white explorers defeating African natives, Forest tribes ambushing white explorers and Zanzibari slavers picking up all the pieces.  Highlights included monkeys throwing coconuts at British soldiers, Lions eating some Zanzibari slavers in a thicket and a mass of giant ants upsetting everyones day.  I thoroughly recommend it and plan to play it again soon. 

Then there was Llardiff, a Too Fat Lardies day held at Firestorm Games on Saturday.  A gathering of like minded folk saw several games put on to introduce new players to the games.  Sharp Practice, Chain of Command, I 'Aint Been Shot Mum and Dux Britanniarum were all put on and several purchases were made after games were played.    The venue is cracking, with about 50 tables, a bar, cafe, lounge area and shop all in one place.  On the day itself there was also a bring and buy event, where I picked up a bargain of some 15mm Cold War era Russians for a bargain £50.  12 assorted tanks, 13 BMPs and 3 BTR-80s plus some infantry made it a deal I couldn't turn down.

Now the bad. 

On Friday I received a letter from my consultant, who informed me that my operation had been refused and the only remaining option is a PEG tube through my stomach, replacing the nasal tube I have currently.  So instead of a device that has a 75% chance of curing my constant nausea and stomach pain, frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, being unable to sleep for more than 3 hours and generally feeling so shit that I have also been diagnosed with chronic depression, I will now have a tube that does the same thing as the one I have already.

Well fuck you very much to the medical panel that made this decision.  Despite the fact that I am basically now a burden to my family and the state, the operation can't go ahead as my condition "Is not severe enough".  Despite the leading gastroparesis consultant in the country saying that I am a prime candidate for the operation with a very good chance of it improving my quality of life, the operation can't go ahead. So that's it now, I am stuck like this.  FML as they say and I hope the esteemed members of the panel are stricken with piles and get infested with the fleas from a thousand camels.. 

And finally the ugly.  

I have managed a bit of painting, so here they are in their "glory".

 First up are some carts for my Dux Brit games.  One of the scenarios requires 3 carts as objectives for the Saxons and I bought the carts from Warbases a long time ago.  More recently I got the loads to go in them and the animals to pull them from Colonel Bill and Warbases, plus a few civilians to lead them from the lead mountain.  Here they are, two one horse carts and a two oxen cart loaded with sacks and supplies.  I'm pretty happy with how they came out and they did the job on Saturday in Cardiff.

Also for the Dux games are these command stands.  The basic forces for each side a led by 3 nobles, a level 3 Lord and two level 2 subordinates.  To make it simple to keep track of the nobles level I decided to make them small bases of 2 or 3 figures.  If they are wounded and lose a level of command then one figure can be removed.

The Romano-British ones first, with a standard bearer and champion on the Lords base while a horn blower and a bishop make up the extras on the nobles.  The idea worked well on Saturday, so I'm sticking with it.  The standard is a Little Big Men banner and looks rather splendid.

Then the Saxons, the Lord again gets a champion and standard bearer, while the nobles get an extra warrior and a mastiff respectively. 





So, there you go.  That's the lot for now.  Its 1am and I really should go to bed.  It's been an eventful weekend.  Catch you all next time.

New rules, changed plans and other random mutterings.

It seems to me that we are living in a golden age of wargaming, with rules and figures of quality all coming out with startling rapidity.  I have recently purchased 25mm Colonial British infantry, 25mm Dark Ages warriors, 15mm Cold War British and 25mm Crusader figures.  Not much has been painted, but it doesn't stop me buying them..........

Then the rules, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, Kings of War, Men who would be Kings and Congo have all joined the collection recently.  Will I play them all?  Probably not as much as they deserve, but I still have them.  I really enjoy the Dragon/Lion Rampant rules, but they are not suitable for a large battle and some times it's fun to load the table with lead and have at it.  Hence Kings of War, which seems to be everything Warhammer could have been.  And now Congo has reared its head and has been the game of choice for the last 2 weeks.  I have not played it yet, but have run a couple of games for the Monday night lads, with the White Men winning one and the African tribes snatching victory in the other.  I keep getting drawn to North Star and Wargames Foundry to look at the bundles of figures they do but have managed to restrain myself......so far.

So, what do I plan to play next?  Dux Britanniarum is currently the plan as Nathan and I are running a game at Firestorm Games on Saturday 15th.  Also the painting list has been scrapped and replaced with suitable extras, such as carts and the like, for the game.  I have also been painting Romano-British figures for Andy and Nathan.  So far Andys 36 figures have been finshed and returned, while Nathans 19 are awaiting the imminent delivery of shields.  Then it's onto 70 odd other assorted Saxon and Briton figures for Nathans ever expanding warbands. 
 

Bad photo!

Here are Andys British, a mix of metal and plastic figures with LBMS shield decals to finish them off.  Sorry about the crap photo, it was a rush job as I was getting ready to go out.

So thats it for today.  It's just gone midnight and I have to be up early tomorrow for a pointless doctors appointment.  A GPs review of the tablets prescribed by the consultant, so they can't change them without his say so and he won't say so, but they have too see me to review the medication every 6 months.  So on that happy note, good night and I'll catch you all next time.

PS  By all I do mean the 2 people who look at this load of tripe every now and again. ;)

Normal service has not been resumed.....oh, and Secret Santa 2016!

But an update is probably past due.  Things are not moving on with the planned operation and I am now totally f****d off with hospitals, tablets and nasal gastric tubes.  It's my four and a half year anniversary tomorrow from when I first ended up in hospital.  I wonder if the op will happen before I die of old age?  I have had the tube fitted more times than anyone else in Torbay hospitals records.  In fact I am such an expert on the bloody things that I now do it myself at home. It saves going to the hospital every 2 weeks I suppose.

I am feeling so crap, both physically and mentally, that gaming and painting have taken a real dive.  Hardly anything has been played, although I did get taken out to Panjo's new house for a game of Black Plague last week.  Apart from that sod all in the way of wargaming and very little painting has happened.

Reaper Bones Ebonwrath Dragon

One of the few things that has been finished(finally) is a Reaper Bones dragon for future games of Dragon Rampant and Kings of War.  The Lurtz figure is just there to show its size.

I also did 6 Falschirmjager for Nathan, he does the basing himself  and they have been painted to match some he picked up on eBay.

28mm Falschirmjagers

Stadden 90mm Marines

Closeup of the drum

Finally there is a change from the normal service, with a trio of Stadden 90mm figures. They belong to a lovely lady that my wife knows who served as a WREN with the Royal Marines, married a Marine and both her sons became Marines.  One of them is currently a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London.  Anyway, her husband bought these figures many years ago and I was asked to repair and repaint them.  So, from left to right we have a 1980's Royal Marine in DPM, a RM Bandsman in dress uniform and an officer of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot from the 1660's.  It made a change to paint something that large and the figures themselves are beautiful.  The level of detail is amazing, even down to the coat of arms on the drum.  She loved them, so it was worth the week of stripping and cleaning them, followed by several weeks of painting.

However, I have not picked up a brush since finishing them, so when Chris Stoesen of Wargamer's Odds and Ends contacted me about this years Secret Santa, I jumped in with both feet in the hope that it will revitalise things and shake me out of the doldrums I seem to be stuck in.  I can thoroughly recommend this scheme, I have partaken for the last 2 years and it's been great.

So, that's it.  It's now 0130 and I suppose I should go to try and get some sleep.  Seeing as I average less than 3 hours per night there is no real rush though, so perhaps I'll wait a bit.  Catch you later

Well, that went by a bit quick.........

I didn't realise how long it had been since I bored you all with the inane and dull crap I get up too.  I'm STILL waiting to hear from the hospital about the operation, I'm still on a mainly soup diet and I'm still feeling like crap.  Apart from that it's all hunky-dory.

Gaming has still been limited, I have managed a few board games and I did get a trip in to the Devon Wargames Group last month, although I didn't last too long.  It was nice to get out for a bit though.  We have played a bit of Zombicide:Black Plague now, having finally got our kickstarter package through.  I also received my copy of Shadowstar Corsairs, which is a fun game and plays nicely.  At least it did the one time we played it, second try tomorrow night.  In fact it's been a good month or so for kickstarters, I have received the two mentioned above, plus some 28mm German trucks from Anyscale Models and some lovely 15mm Cold War British from Armies Army.  It's been like Christmas and birthday all rolled into one. ;)

The 15mm British are beautiful figures and vehicles, I really cannot express how nice they are.  I am planning to start painting them up as soon as I can find my mojo again.

 My pledge was for an Infantry Platoon in 4 Fv432s, plus 3 Chieftains, a Spartan, a Landrover and some support weapons.  The vehicles are as nice as any I have had, nicer than Battlefront's latest efforts and easier to assemble as well.  Hopefully that will enough for the level of games I plan to do, but as usual there is bound to be more I end up with.......Scorpions, Scimitars etc

 To face off against the Brits I was planning to get some Team Yankee figures and vehicles, but did a quick internet search as £30 for 5 plastic models seems a bit pricey to me.  I found a little gem of a trader in Butlers Printed Models, who do printed vehicles in scales from 6mm to 28mm.  They do a small range of modern Soviet types for £3 or £4 each.  So I plunged in and ordered myself some, 4 BMP-1s for £12 and 4 T-64s for £16, enough for a platoon of each for less than the cost of one box from Battlefront.  Happy days indeed.

 This is how they arrived, which at first glance is a bit disconcerting. 

 From underneath they look even worse.





However the extra bits are very easily removed and it takes only a few minutes to turn them into a much nicer model and I am very pleased with how they look.  They are also surprisingly strong, none of the gun barrels broke or bent, which is more than I can say for a lot of other 15mm vehicles I have had over the years.  There is also a lot less glue needed, ie none.  No fingers stuck to little bits of metal with these.  I did use a file to clean up some of the edges though, it took all of about a minute for each vehicle.


 
As an idea of how they look compared to the Battlefront ones, here some pictures of a T-64 next to a T-55 from the Vietnam range.  The T-64 is longer, wider and lower, which seems to be about right. 






Another pair of vehicles snuck into the order, although not for me.  Nathan and Andy have Winter War Russians on the go and each wanted a T-28 to support them against the nasty Finns.  So here it is in all its glory.  Really nice and a bargain at £20.  The three turrets are all removeable and there is no glue needed again.



Anyway, that's it again for now.  I am off to do something less useful.  Catch you all later.

I went to Partizan.......

And a cracking show it was too.  The new venue might lack a bit of the soul of Kelham Hall but it is much more convenient and user friendly.  The show seemed much busier and was certainly easier to get around.  A good number of traders covering everything you could want and some excellent games made it a good day.  It was topped off for me with the chance to catch up with a lot of friends, many of whom I hadn't seen for a long time.

Nap time.  Poor old fella

We travelled up on the Saturday morning, myself, Andy, Sleepy Paul(aka Pingu) and Nathan, and visited Wargames Foundry before heading to the Premier Inn in Lincoln.  I spent more than I planned too at Foundry, but could have spent a lot more than I did.  Pingu found it a bit tiring in the back doing nothing so he had a nap.  After visiting Foundry and getting to the hotel we went to the adjacent Mill Lodge for dinner.  I would love to recommend it, but can't.  The "manager" had an attitude that could have curdled milk and made small children cry.  He acted like he didn't want us there.  My stew was tasty enough but the dumpling looked like it had been runover and had the texture of a stale rock cake.  Still, mine was better than Nathans, whose sirloin steak looked, and according to him tasted, more like a cheap ass rump that was 20% gristle.  The hotel itself was good though and the staff were excellent, very friendly and incredibly helpful.

After a pretty good night, I even got to sleep before 3am, we went over to have breakfast at Mill Lodge.  Expectations were not high, but we were pleasantly surprised.  The staff were pleasant and the food was good.  If you can manage a large breakfast, which I can't, then it is well worth it.  So at 9.15am we went off to Newark showground, glad to see the last of Licoln for the day...........Which was a bit premature as it turned out.

The show had some cracking games and, like the idiot I am, I didn't take photos of any of them.  So I have nicked a couple off of various other sites, so thanks to all those who did take some pictures.

A very nice Winter of '79 game was put on, with nice atmospheric bits added.  My favourite was Del-Boy and Rodney of "Trotters Independant Traders" leaving the scene at low speed as the forces of law and order moved in to quiet the rioters.

Steve Jones AWI game was a beauty, as usual from him.  He's a cracking painter and does a decent bit of scenery too.  I hates him I does. ;)




There were other very nice games, but those two caught my eye, so that's why they have appeared here.


 I bought a few bits and pieces, some wagons and an armoured car from Warbases and a couple of scenic bases from somebody else.  Not a vast amount, but the day was more about seeing friends.  It was good to catch up with Ade "Big Nose" Deacon, Gary "Manc Gaz" Amos, Lau and Tricks the Partizan organisers, Big Rich Clarke and various others.  I was surprised to bump into Steve from the Devon Wargames Group there, seems he arranged a Family visit" to cover his trip to the show.  As the day moved along I was suddenly confronted by an agitated Pingu who had lost his wedding ring somewhere.  Despite the condolence and support he received from us, with comments along the lines of "You twat" and "Where did you last have it you numpty?", he couldn't recall when he had last noticed it.  So, a quick call to Premier Inn and a very helpful receptionist told him that they had found it..........back in Lincoln...........which was 15 miles the wrong way.  Then he realised that he had also lost his new, bright green trainers.  No, the hotel didn't have them which worried Pingu.  To make him feel better he rang his long suffering wife to tell her about losing his trainers.  She was quite surprised that he had lost them, as they were in the hallway at home! Anyway, we left Partizan and heading back to Lincoln, full of thankful comments about how lucky Pingu was to have found his ring.  Comments like "I have this feeling of deja vu" and "Oh look, there's that shop again".  Finally we got to the Premier Inn and Pingu went in to collect the one ring. 

My Precious

As GollumPingu left the reception area I took this picture of him.

Nap time again

So, off we heading to sunny Devon.  Along the way several comments were made about the trip, such as "We would have been at Bristol by now, if we hadn't had to go back to Lincoln".  The excitement proved to be too much for Pingu, so he had another nap.  We stopped at the services for a "comfort" break and bumped into Steve Childs, an old friend from Teignmouth.  It's amazing who you bump into when your 200 miles away from home, he lives about 6 miles away from me!



In the end we all got home safely, despite the best efforts of some of the retards on the motorway.  Thanks to the lads for a cracking weekend and thanks to everybody, organisers, crew, traders and gamers, who made Partizan such a success.  We will be back again and I recommend it to anyone who can make the trip.

It has done the trick of raising my spirits, so it was worth it all.  Take care folks, catch you next time

Down and nearly, but not quite, out.

It's been a really bad month in several ways, so there is not much to report here.  Funding for my hopefully life-changing operation has been refused, so I am know going through the appeal process.  It seems the 70 to 80% chance of it working is not sufficient for the NHS purse holders to authorise the release of funds.  They are happy enough to fund cosmetic surgery for breast enlargements, tummy tucks or gastric bands, but not a gastric pacemaker.  It's also really pissed me off that one of these young girls who has had a breast enlargement is now sueing the NHS because she has been the subject of online abuse, so she wants a reduction and £10k in compensation.  F**K OFF.  Is it any wonder the NHS is in the state it is or that I am struggling with clinical f*****g depression?

Wargames wise, I went to Legionary a couple of weeks ago and I am going to Partizan on Sunday.  Apart from that it's been a few boardgames and sod all else.  My mojo has moved on, primarily due to how fed up I am feeling. Legionary was good and seems to be improving every year, which is good.  A few new traders, a lot of nice games and a laugh with friends so it was a good day.  I bought a box of Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops figures, so a vast amount was not spent.  The figures are nice, although £15 for 8 plastic figures is a bit steep.  Yes they come with cards for Project Z, but if I want some more I will probably look elsewhere as they cost more than most metal figures and I am not planning on playing Project Z so the cards are pointless.  It might be a sensible move to retail them without the cards for a bit less money, as I will be buying an others elsewhere.  And don't get me started on the ridiculous price hike on the Wargames Factory Survivor figures.  The bikers look nice though........

Nothing else to report.  I am planning to pick up a few figures on Sunday, but nothing major.  It's more a social visit to see some old mates and to check out the new venue than a shopping trip.

Of course, that may well change once I get there!  Oooh, shiney does have a habit of striking when I am at shows.

Well, that's it for now.  A better update will hopefully rear it's ugly head soon, with pictures and all sorts of pretty stuff.  Take care and catch you next time.

Too many new rules to keep up with

First up, apologies for the absence.  Things have been a bit rocky on the health front again so I have been keeping my head down and trying not to upset anybody.  Enough about that, onto wargames.

Gaming has again been somewhat limited.  A few Lion and Dragon Rampant games has been the limit of my action for the last few weeks.  It has got me painting some of the plastic/lead mountain though, which is good.  The rules are straightforward and give a decent game in a couple of hours, even if some people just choose to ignore the army size rules and do their own thing. ;0)

 So, first up we have a unit of Rohan infantry.  Most foot units are 12 figures in Dragon Rampant, so that is what I painted.  My thoughts are that they will be light infantry with added missile weapons, the leather armour and wooden shields rule out counting them as heavy infantry.  I will paint some more, this is just the first unit for a Rohan force.

The majority of my painting has been Uruk-Hai for an Isengard army as raised by Saruman in Lord of the Rings.  

 This is one of two units of 12 Uruk-Hai foot.  They are going to be "offensive" heavy foot, due to the heavy armour, big shields and large swords.  There are 12 more waiting to be painted but I have some 15mm tanks to do first.

The next unit is another 12 figures, heavy missile troops this time.  These crossbow armed figures are going for stupid money on ebay, so the odds are adding another unit are somewhat low.

The final full size unit is 12 Uruk pikemen, used as heavy foot with the Wall of Spears ability.  Less attack orientated but very handy against the Rohan cavalry.  The standard does nothing in the rules, it just makes the unit look nicer.

 The first support unit is a 6 strong unit of scouts, giving some skirmish ability as well as adding a bit of firepower.  Very fragile but also very annoying, these guys can run through the woods and are hard to hit.

Then some heavy hitters.  These 6 berserkers are used as Bellicose Foot with "Shiny Armour" to represent their toughness in the films.  They are a bit of a loose cannon with "Wild Charge", but they can really upset enemy units if they can get a charge in.



A troll Captain adds some serious grunt, I use him as elite foot with venomous to represent his mighty strength.  Currently I only have 2 trolls, so he operates as a single model unit.  Another troll has been obtained on ebay and then the trio will form the unit together.

 Troll 2, equipped with a mighty large hammer.  I really like these figures, they are lovely to paint and have a lot of detail and expression.  The ebay troll is the same figure but I will try to reposition the arms to make them a bit different.

The whole army of Isengard, gathered to reap havoc on the westfold.  It consists of 60 Uruk-hai, 2 trolls and Saruman currently.  I have 6 more archers, 12 more foot and 6 Warg riders to paint, as well as the third troll.  That should be enough I think.

 Finally I have started on troops for my latest "new and shiny" set of rules.  I have preordered the new set of Sharp Practice from Too Fat Lardies and have decided to do the American Civil War.  Other members of my local group have Napoleonics and the American Rebellion ahem, Revolution covered already, so I have doing the later conflict.  So far I have 60 Union infantry ready to go, next up will be some Confederate types to fight them.  One thing I am considering is getting some of the Perry's "British Intervention" figures to do some what-if scenarios.  Plus it's an excuse to buy some more lead.

So that's it for now.  I am looking forward to the local Legionary wargames show in 11 days time in Exeter, then we are finally getting back to visit Partizan up in Newark 3 weeks after that.  This is my favourite show in the country, but events have transpired to prevent any visits for the last few years.  Really looking forward to getting back up there and seeing some old friends again.

Right, I'm off to prep some Confederate infantry.  Catch you next time.

Not much to report

No news is supposedly good news, but not so much when it's the hospital your waiting to hear from.  Ah well.  Onto the important stuff.

Gaming has still been limited for the same reasons.  I popped in to the Devon club and saw some fun looking games.  I couldn't stay as long as I would have liked but it was good to get out for a bit again.  The games are reported on the blog so have a look and see what they get up too.

I managed to run a multiplayer game of Chain of Command for the Monday night lads and it seemed to go pretty well.  It lasted a couple of weeks as I struggle by 10pm but the Germans were eventually defeated by the raiders.  It was a bit "different", with two forces competing with each other whilst attacking a German camp.  I will eventually put up the scenario and some photos but not until I have played it a bit more and sorted a few things out.

Painting is going on slowly.  I am waiting for a delivery from Firestorm Games after the Royal Mail lost the original package.  I can't recommend these guys enough, their customer service is exceptional and they are my go-to online store as well as getting an in person visit anytime I am in Cardiff.  While I am waiting for them I have been painting some odd bits I have got here. 

First up was a 28mm Morris CS9 armoured car that I have had in a drawer for years gathering dust. By adding a couple of Perrys 8th army figures I now have a decent addition to my VBCW force, espescially as it has a Boys anti-tank rifle and a Lewis MG to suppress those damn rebellious types.



Then there was a bit of an oddity.  Some time ago Northstar sold off their Studio Miniatures stuff cheap and I grabbed a box of German WW2 zombies.  No idea why, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  They sat in a box until this year when the Too Fat Lardies Christmas New Year Special came out with additional rules for Chain of Command.  What did these rules cover.......German WW2 Zombies!  So out came the figures, glue was liberally applied and paint was slopped over them.  Voila 30 German zombies!

MDF has really made an impact in wargaming, first with buildings and terrain and now with vehicles and ships.  TT Combat appeared on the radar recently and have some really nice models and very decent prices.  I stumped up some pennies and bought a Cargo Ship and very nice it is too.  Measuring nearly 20" long and over 5" high it is really good value.  I spent a day putting it together and filling in the bow area to make it smoother, then out came the cheap craft paints and away I went.  Then I dirtied it up with some chalk powder and the like as it supposed to be a tramp steamer type of thing rather than a nice, clean ship from a merchant company.  I am really impessed with this company and I will be getting some of their buildings as soon as finances allow.

Now I had a ship, but no crew.  I also wanted to use it for my VBCW force of Royalists based in Torquay, so it would need to defend itself from the Fascists/Communists/Commoners etc.  Northstar again provided the figures with an impulse purchase of a couple of packs of Pulp Figures crew.   A quick paintjob and there they were, ready to sail into harms way.  But they will need some guns to protect their valuable cargo, so HLBS to the rescue with a really nice model of a 6pdr Hotchkiss  gun. A couple of Lewis guns on the bridge wings and it's ready to go.  The guns are all magnetized with magnets also hidden under the decking of the ship, so they are removeable.


 So, that's it for now.  I am off to do something less productive.  Have fun folks.

February already...how did that happen?

It seems that a month has passed and I have little to show for it.  All in all it's been a pretty rough month, with various ailments hitting me and not much gaming happening.  This time of year always comes with a host of coughs, colds and other such ailments but this year I seem to have caught every single one of them.  Ah well, new month means new hope.........I hope.

Gaming has been very limited, a game of Chain of Command and a game of Blood Rage has been just about it.  I did manage a short visit to Crusade up in Cardiff, which was a nice trip hindered only by my inability to stay awake for the whole visit.  A quick snooze in Nathan's car set me up for the trip home though.  Didn't buy much, saw some old friends and almost fell for a new period.  Luckily I snapped out of it and left it there.

Painting has been fairly productive, considering how rough I have been feeling.  I managed to finish and base my Templar Knights finally, as well as painting up the first lot of foot to support them.

 So here they are, 12 mounted knights/men-at-arms all ready to take the power of Christianity too wherever the gold is...I mean to educate the heathens.


Then there are 24 Crossbowmen ready to dispense God's will from a distance.  At some point I will get back to the Crusades and paint the next unit, 24 Spearmen to protect the crossbows from Arab cavalry but I have been sidetracked by painting things to raise a few pennies.


Finally I got a box of Perry Miniatures 8th Army painted up.  I have had these for ages and finally got all 37 figures done and dusted and promptly put on eBay to fund my kickstarter habit. Ah well, that'll teach me to spend more than I budgeted for.


That's it for now, I am feeling rougher than a rough thing so I'm off to me bed.  Hopefully another update will appear soon, I need to be more positive this moth as last month was pretty dire.

Happy gaming to you all.