March on.....

This year is flying by, it's hard to believe that it's already March.  February has gone, thankfully, so hopefully March will be better.  I didn't get much painted as I have felt pretty crap for most of the month.  The doc has changed some of my meds and the period between finishing one lot and starting the new ones has been less than pleasant.  I have not slept well since this all started, but now I seem to have insomnia to add to it all.  Ah well, life goes on as they say.  Keep smiling and don't let the buggers get you down.

I have painted a few things, some ACW Union infantry and some Crusader Miniatures Republican Romans.  I also rebased my old ACW Union figures to match the new Union troops.

Peter Pig ACW Union Infantry and Artillery

Rebased Peter Pig ACW Yankees

Crusader Miniatures Hastati

Crusader Miniatures Velites

 Gaming has suffered a bit, but I have managed to get along on Monday nights.  It does mean Tuesday and Wednesday are bad days, but it's worth it to get some gaming in.  We have played a nice Sudan game for the last couple of weeks, set up by Nathan and using the Too Fat Lardies "They Don't Like It Up 'Em" rules.  Despite the best efforts of the righteous Sudanese tribes, the Imperialist dogs won the day.  Their losses were heavy though, with Colonel P.F Bunny getting a spear through his chest as he stood with the last few Guards.  A massed charge broke the Egyptian square and the Sudanese carried off the Egyptian cannons.  All in all it was a pretty good game and was a precursor to the game Nathan put on at the Devon Wargames meet last Saturday, more of which in my next post.

Tonight I shall mostly be playing Chain of Command against Colin while the other reprobates go upstairs and play Zombicide.  I am off now to try and find my painting Mojo again, it seems to have left with my ability to sleep for anything over 4 hours.  Keep rolling those dice.

In other news........

Today is the calm before the storm apparently.  It's lovely outside, sun shining and a gentle breeze.  The forecast is less pleasant, with 80mph winds and more rain forecast for tonight. Oh well, I'll have to stay in and do something wargames related. Oh the hardship!  ;-)

I have been gaming a bit more this year, despite feeling pretty rough occasionally.  Monday night has been largely boardgaming lately.  we played another round of Zob's gangster game, with me running the games creator a close 2nd at the end.  The week after we played Firefly, bought by Nathan at Crusade in Welsh Wales.  I really like the game and am looking forward to playing it again, it really catches the flavour of the series and I can't wait to be misbehaving again.

Last week I put on a game of Longstreet fro Panjo and Andy.  As their first game they each had identical forces, 3 units of infantry, one of cavalry and a battery of 3 guns.  Andy, commanding the Union force, chose to attack and went at it hell for leather.  If he could charge, he did charge with everything that could charge.

Union infantry advances

Reb cavalry on the flank

Reb centre collapses, but the flanks are secure.

The Union force lost the fight but, due to his aggressive leadership, Andy came out of it covered in glory and gained lots more troops to continue the fight.  Panjo's Rebs won the fight, but he did so by being all defensive.  He managed to gain a rank, but his reinforcements were far fewer in number than Andys. Andy now has 5 units of foot, 1 small cavalry unit and 3 batteries of artillery (33 foot, 4 cavalry and 7 guns).  Panjo has 3 units of foot, 2 of cavalry and 2 batteries (21 foot, 13 cavalry and 6 guns).  Should make for an interesting game on Monday night.

The other game I played was Chain of Command at PAW 2014.  This was played for Gav of Baker Company to show off his new Winter War range of figures and vehicles.  He provided the terrain and troops, Nathan and I just had to roll dice and have fun. Here are some pictures of the troops and tanks.

A platoon of Finns, supported by an MG and a sniper

A platoon and a half of Russians, with 4 assorted T-26s as support

The game was played twice, first time with green Russians(Nathan) vs veteran Finns(Me).  It did not go well for the Russians.  They lacked sufficient command dice to make use of their support and were whittled down by the accurate fire of the Finns.

Russians advance and get shot to pieces

For game 2 we swapped sides and upgraded the Russians to regular.  A more concentrated advance was the plan, staying far away from the HMG bunker on the left flank.  The massed ranks of Russians allowed them to get into hand-to-hand were, despite the Finns superior ability the weight of numbers told and the Finnish sections were wiped out.  The extra command dice also allowed the flamethrower tank to get within 12" and start fricasseeing some of the other Finns.  When we called it a day, the Finns were down to 1 force morale point, but the Russians were nearly out of men. 

Massed charge on the right flank. URAAAAAAA!!!!

Hand to hand was decisive but costly for both sides.

Nathan also played on the Sunday with Panjo, there are a couple of nice reports on his blog.

All in all it was a good day out and, despite suffering on the Sunday, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  So much so that I am considering getting some early Russians and Finns in 15mm.  I also got a couple of bargains at the show.  Another copy of X-Wing for the princely sum of £10, giving me 7 TIE fighters and 4 X-Wings now.  Then, as the day came to a finish I picked up Officers and Soldiers of the French Imperial Guards Books 1 and 2 by Histoire & Collections.  Cracking little uniform books and only £3 each. 

So, there it is.  All in all not a bad few games.  Tomorrow is the Devon Wargames meeting again, so expect more pictures on Monday or Tuesday.  Have fun and keep rolling those dice.

February is here, so is the rain!

Hello again.  It's been a while since I last posted and I can only apologise.  This post is mainly about the feeble amount of painting that I have done in the last 3 weeks. My painting has been seriously affected by the size of Gus' wargames collection.  He had downsized prior to his planned move to Cyprus, but still had a large and varied collection.  He also liked doing multiple periods in multiple scales.  Napoleonics in 6mm, 15mm and 25mm for example.  I am gradually selling it off for his widow though, while I am at it I would like to thank all those who have bought some of it.  It's much appreciated folks.

Anyway, back to painting.  I didn't get much done.  First up were another 8 zombies from the never ending Zombicide horde.  A nice mix this time, including an abomination, a fatty, a couple of runners and 4 walkers.  Only a few more hundred to go!  The orange ones are berserkers, which can't be shot as they are armour plated. 

I have also managed to get a bit more 15mm WW2 done for Chain of Command.  Some early war German vehicles this time, to go with the platoon that I have yet to paint.  Some nice, cheap and cheerful Zvezda models provide the armour.  The Stug appears a little big, but it will do.  The other two, a Pz38t and a PzII are cracking models and all mine for less than £3 each.  They are backed up by a pair of Battlefront Kfz15 cars, transport for the infantry that is still in a box.

Just to make a change, I rebased some of my old, original Peter Pig ACW figures.  These were the first figures I ever bought at a wargames show, way back when Peter Pig first released their ACW range and I went to the Portsmouth show for the first time.  Still lovely figures, but my painting has certainly changed since then. 

A new unit has also joined the ACW, again from Peter Pig but their current new range this time.  Much brighter painting and a nice addition to the force.  I now have the bulk of a starting Union force for Longstreet, I just need to get some cavalry done to complete it.  Then its on to the Confederates.

Well, that's it for my painting.  I told you it was a slow month.  This month I aim to do better.  I am just waiting for the bloody rain to stop so I can undercoat some figures.  Its surprisingly warm for February, but its a lot wetter than usual, as can be seen from the floods all over the south-west.  :-(

More Zombies and other such randomness

Another week has flown by and I have done less than I should have, but more than I expected.  I painted some more Zombicide figures up, but am still struggling with the Napoleonic figures.  I don't know why I find them such a chore as I enjoy painting most of the time.  Its probably because there are so many of the little ba people.

Berserker Zombies

The zombies are from the Prison Outbreak set and have mutated into bulletproof berserkers, which can only be killed by melee weapons or a molotov!  We palyed on Monday night and were a bit worried by the berserkers.  We didn't manage to finish the scenario, but will do next week.  Lets just say that I won't be stepping through any doors first again, as they all locked me outside and buggered off to play.........  I managed to kill the big abomination with my trusty concrete saw, then legged it up a watch tower, zombies don't do ladders apparently.  This gathered all the zombies in one space as they looked at the ladder and said "Bugger" in zombie.  There were close to 30 zombies in one area,which is not good unless you have a Molotov Cocktail.  Luckily they had managed to get a molotov assembled, after abandoning me outside, and Colin went from 4 kills to 32 kills in 1 action when he threw it and had a zombie barbeque.  Unfortunately we got caught out when the zombies got some extra moves instead of spawning more zeds, sadly Nathan and Colin were munched.  Shame that.....

Rebs face off the Northern aggressors

 The only other gaming I got in was a pretty quick game of Longstreet with Gus on Sunday morning.  Its part of an ongoing campaign that he has been playing solo, but I took his Confederates for this game.  I was defending and Gus' strategy just didn't work for him.  I managed to get in some devastating volleys thanks to the "Exposed Position" card and his losses were horrendous.  He quit his attack and retreated when he got to 16 casualties on a breakpoint of 18.  The gallant defenders of Southern rahts (yes, I know its spelt wrong but I watched Gettysburg again yesterday) had lost a grand total of 2 bases.  The post battle sequence saw the Confederates lose several men to illness and disease, before they gained some replacements, some extra guns and a new unit of cavalry.  Their commander was also revealed to have been a cavalry officer before the war.

The Yanks have more men still, but less guns and less cavalry than the South.  The next battle should be interesting as the forces are more evenly matched and there are less 3 base units now.  I really do recommend this game, its probably my 2nd favourite ruleset at the moment, just behind Chain of Command, just above Dux Brittanarium. 

I was going to be stuck here with no electric while some sparks types put in some sort of "necessary" wiring for the planned new boiler, but they are now coming tomorrow instead.  So back to the brushes and its time to paint kilts..........oh the joy of it all! 

One last thing.  I am stuck between projects at the moment.  I have several things that I want to do but can't decide which I should be doing first.  So I have created a Poll at the top of the page.  Please feel free to vote.  The options are
1 - Paint some more AWI to add to the current forces I have.  I have some Highlanders and Hessians to paint up to complement the existing British line units.
2 - Get on with the forces for Longstreet.  My existing figures are painted, but I need more to finish a force and the ones I have were painted a long time ago.  The problem is going to be matching the painting as I have improved since I did them.
3 - Start some 1940 Chain of Command platoons.  I have always liked the Low Countries/France conflict in 1940 as there are no super tanks, but there are some weird and wonderful contraptions in use.  Char B2, Matilda I etc

Cheerio for now and keep rolling those dice

More random musings and thought-type things.

Yet again it's been longer than I had planned since I have posted here, but I am back....again.

First things first, I have managed to get a little bit of painting done, so things are not all bad.  More Napoleonics have been done, with the third unit of French Old Guard Grenadiers getting covered in paint, as well as a unit of Battlefront US HMGs.  Currently on the sticks are 15mm Highlanders, being painted up as the 42nd "Royal Highland" Regiment of Foot, aka The Blackwatch.  Yes, I am painting tartan on 15mm figures and yes, it is a pain.  However, it has been quite nice to be fair, as I have experimented and played about until I have a method that works for me and seems to give a fair representation of a kilt, at least to my eye.  Once I have finished the unit I will take some piccies and bung them up here.

Of course, there is no guarantee that my enjoyment of painting Napoleonic 15's will continue, as I have another 2 units of Highlanders to do after this one. The 79th(Cameron Highland) and 92nd(Gordon Highland) may well push me from enjoyment to chore, but at the moment things are going well.

Wargames wise, it has been a washout.  Zob spent a few days redecorating the room we use at his house, so we had a break of 2 weeks in gaming.  Gus' hasn't been feeling too well, so no gaming there and Nathan found another job after being made redundant earlier this year, so he is now busy through the week.  And I missed the Devon Wargames meet as I had to take No2 to Devonport so he could injure himself playing rugby.

After feeling reasonable last week, things went downhill on Friday and didn't really pick up until yesterday.  I don't know what I ate that upset me on Friday but having a kebab on Saturday didn't help.  Sunday was supposed to be a day of rugby, but No2 son managed to injure his knee again playing on Saturday, so we spent Sunday morning in A&E.  Back there today to find out how bad it is, but it's not looking good.  As he has had ACL reconstruction already on his knee, if he's done it again then his rugby career is over at 19.  Not good, but he is doing his best to stay positive.  Tina has also injured herself, tearing a muscle in her shoulder, which makes it hard for her to do lots of things that she still tries to do.  All in all its been a good few days in this family.

I am gradually getting my Longstreet armies up to strength.  Many, many years ago, when Peter Pig first brought out a 15mm ACW range, myself and a couple of friends (from the long defunct Torbay Wargames Group) decided to get some armies.  I have since had a small force of painted, but not based, Union troops sat in a box.  They are now on bases ready to get sand put on them.  Unfortunately there are not quite enough to do a full force as I have about 25 bases of infantry and 6 of cavalry, so an order will be going off to Peter Pig as soon as I get some spare cash.  My only concern is that the entire range has been redone and I don't know how they match up with the older figures.  I also have the start of a Confederate force, as I bumped into one of the old club members two years ago and he sold me his force as he doesn't game anymore.  Again, not enough for a complete force, but its a start.

Anyway, thats my ramblings done for now as I need to get sorted to take No2 up to RD&E in Exeter for the good/bad news about his knee.  Fingers crossed.  Catch you all later.

Longstreet ACW game.

Longstreet, the latest game in the Honour series by Sam Mustafa, has finally arrived in sunny Devon.  Gus' hosted the first game of a campaign last week, but I stupidly forgot my camera.  Net result of that game was a Union victory, but that was due to a final gasp all out attack that broke the Confederate army.  Nathan commands Johnny Reb while I lead Billy Yank.

Monday saw us gather again at Gus' for round 2, with the Rebs attacking a Union position.  The aftermath of the first game saw Nathan gain a big veteran cavalry unit and an extra gun, giving him a force of 3 infantry units(19 stands), 2 cavalry units(13 stands) and 2 batteries of artillery(4 guns).  I had 4 infantry units(28 stands), 1 cavalry unit(5 stands) and 1 battery(2 guns).  As I was defending I had my newest unit(8 stands of infantry) off table until turn 6!  

Initial setup

 The initial set up had Nathan massing on the left and a single cavalry unit on the right.

CONFUSION!

The first move was nothing special as Nathan advanced towards the Union lines.  Turn 2 saw me spring a confusion card on the Rebs, with their 3 gun battery suddenly deciding it needed to be on the other side of the advance and cutting across in front of 2 units of infantry.  This slowed the advance of the centre, but sadly I wasn't quite able to get in a flank volley on the limbered guns.

Turn 4 and the Rebs close in

 Turn 3 and 4 was spent on moving again, with Nathan moving his troops into position to charge and me moving my 3rd infantry unit into a position to cover the line in case they broke through.

the gathering storm

 Turn 5 and the Rebs charged, with all his infantry and both cavalry units making contact with the valiant blueclad defenders.  Luckily I had a sneaky "Fresh Fish" card in hand, which turned out to be crucial.  It makes all recruits on the other side hit at -1 and, as all but one unit of Nathans were recruits, it saved the day.

Fight 1.  TWO-ONE to the blues

 Fight 1, one unit of cavalry and one of infantry against a solitary Union infantry.  The two dice show the respective "score" of hits in the fight.  Purple for Union and green for Confederate.  Win for the defenders of truth, justice and Mom's apple pie.

Fight 2.  5 to 1!

Fight 2, two Reb infantry against another Union unit.  Same dice as before, but a much bigger swing this time. 

Fight 3.  The cavalry clash

Fight 3, dismounted Union cavalry against a Confederate veteran cavalry unit.  This was a much closer fight, but I just managed to swing it 2-1 again.

Rebs bounce back

So that saw off the initial Reb charge, with Nathan losing 1 stand from each unit and me holding the line as the Rebs fell back.

Sneaky flankers

Nathan then got sneaky and moved his cavalry around the flanks, doing his best to isolate my units and potentially get in a flank charge.  Luckily I had an ace in the hand as my reinforcements arrived and pushed back one of his cavalry units.

Reinforcements

Unfortunately his other cavalry got around my dismounted cavalry and I was forced to fall them back.  Nathan then sprang confusion and marched them forward again, into open sight of his guns, who all missed!

Its all going wrong on the right

As I fell them back and turned to face his cavalry, he managed a single hit with his artillery, reducing my cavalry to a single stand which was removed and counted as broken.  Bah.  Then his cavalry charged my guns, winning the fight and destroying a gun.  Sadly I then ran out of cards, ending the game with a Confederate victory.  I had broken more of Nathans troops than he had of mine, but he still won the game and gained a promotion for himself.

Nathan the Reb

Despite losing, I got myself in the papers, two more units became veterans and I also gained another unit of infantry and one of cavalry.  Nathan also got some units become veterans and gained another infantry unit.  The biggest problem I have now is that I only have 1 gun, while he has 4!

Gus the host

The game was thoroughly enjoyable and I will be buying my own set of rules and cards very soon.  The command mechanism is very good, with the Confederates having a bonus in the early years of the war, but losing their edge as the years progress.  We have 1 more battle where the Rebs have the advantage in cards, then we get to 1863 and the playing field gets even.

I can recommend these rules to anybody who likes ACW games, but it is the campaign system that really sets them apart.  You get points for charging with 10 stands or more, so Nathans big charge with all his troops gained him lots of epic points.  It makes you play aggressively as epic points are what determines the victor, not the battles.  This may seem strange, but it is all about you as the commander, not your troops.

Thanks to Gus for putting on the games and to Nathan for playing them.

Off now to try and paint something.  The mojo is definitely lacking in the painting department at the moment. Keep rolling those dice.