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.

Not much to see here

Hello again, it's time for another rambling post of no interest whatsoever.

I have done very little gaming over the last month, but still managed to do a little here and there. Chain of Command is still the favourite game here, so this post by Trailape is worth checking out if you are undecided about which way to go for a WW2 small action set of rules.  I have tried out both sets of rules and my preference is also for CoC.  That's not saying Bolt Action is bad, it's just a bit too much like Warhamster 40k for me.  Trailapes post also brought about a special offer from TFL, so if you are considering getting CoC, now is the time.

Purchases of lead and/or plastic have been limited by a serious lack of funds, being sick for so long has really hit the finances and belts have been tightened.  So I have bought nothing lately, but the lead mountain has grown somewhat significantly due the the amazing generosity of Gaz Amos (top bloke even if he still has a pornstar moustache).  After my previous post about Fighting Season he was kind enough to offer me some Mongrel Miniatures Arab and Syrian figures.  Assuming it was a pack or two I gratefully accepted.  A box duly arrived from deepest darkest Salford, but it was much bigger and heavier than I expected.  Opening it was like Christmas as a kid, I knew what I was expecting but what else was there.  Arab and Syrians but more of them than I expected, plus some Israelis and Congo figures from Mongrel, some US infantry from TAG and some Cold War Russians and Yanks to top it all off.  Thanks Gaz, you have restored my mojo a bit and paint has been slapped on lead for a change.

Painting has been a mixed bag, with several long delayed projects finally getting some work done to them.

 I ordered a 15mm factory from Sarissa Precision as all my buildings are residential so I wanted a change.  It came in a big bag and was a pleasure to build.  Unlike 4Ground it comes unpainted, so is a blank canvas and open to a wide range of paint schemes.  I sort of followed one that I saw on their website, except I added windows of plastic and printed off some roof tiles.  Paint was mostly from B&Q in tester pots with a few craft paints added.  All in all I think it came out pretty well and I am looking forward to seeing it dominate the table as it is 180mm square.

 The roof is removable and there is a walkway that the outside stairs lead up too.  I have some fencing arrived now so will be making up a yard for it, just to tie in with the other buildings I have based.

Following on from my German platoon for the Barbarossa period, I picked up a box of Battlefronts new plastic Russian infantry when we visited Battlegroup Souths show at Bovington tank museum.  They are nice figures and the box includes Maxim mg teams too, so plenty of firepower to support the Russian horde.  I did get the metal command pack as well to provide the 50mm mortar and flag bearer.   A quick check of the list for the Russian force in 1941 and the platoon was painted up.  CO(with a flag), 2IC, Commissar, 50mm mortar team and four squads of 13 men makes it a large platoon, but quite tactically rigid as the squads are not broken up into teams.  They will make a change from the Germans though, more a blunt instrument than a scalpel I think 

 I also picked up some support for the Russians, with some Zvezda T-26s and Plastic Soldier Company artillery.  The Maxims are from the infantry box, so the platoon is almost 100% plastic (7 metal figures out of 98).  The five T-26s are more than I will ever need for CoC, but a nice force for Battlegroup games.  Two Maxims, two 45mm AT guns and two 76mm infantry guns also gives a reasonable spread of support too.

Finally I purchased a Warbases Mark I tank (just because I could) a while ago and have finally got it put together and painted up.  It will be used for my VBCW force, based on the fact that many were sent out to towns as displays after WW1 and Newton Abbot was a major train depot so had plenty of engineer types to get it up and running again.  I have tarted it up a bit from the original.  I didn't really like the square gun barrels or exhaust pipe so I replaced them with some brass tube and I also added some Lewis guns to the sponsons and in the bow, courtesy of Colonel Bills supply store.  I am happy with how it has turned out and it is a much cheaper alternative than the others out there while still making a decent replica of the original. 

A final note about hospitals and such.  I am still p****d off with UCLH for the way they cancelled at the last minute, leaving us over £100 out of pocket in hotel costs.  I have now been referred to Mid Essex hospital in Chelmsford(getting further away every time) and should be there early next month to see a top man in the gastroparesis field apparently.  Fingers crossed and all that.

Catch you all later, I am off to do something less constructive for a bit.

More painting and a small amount of gaming too

It's been a pretty rough week again, not much sleep and problems with concentration have hindered pretty much everything.

I have managed to slap some more paint on lead this week though.  First up was a squad of 10 VBCW 28mm Militia from Gus' collection.  These were already undercoated and stuck to 2p's, so I just had to paint them.  They will be a welcome addition to my force, giving me enough figures now to complete the 3rd platoon of my Devonshire Royalist Company.  They don't look to bad I think, the figures themselves are lovely.  My favourite is the one I painted up as a cricketer, still in his whites.


I also painted up the US Chain of Command platoon I bought from Black Tree Design some time ago.  53 figures all told, painted in the earlier khaki/brown uniform instead of the boring green M1943 they wore later.  They also came out pretty well and will be up on eBay later as I game WW2 with 15mm figures due to space and cost.


Gaming has been restricted to a game of Blucher against Nathan.  My Prussians were handled roughly by Nathan's French with the end result being a resounding French victory.  My forces were pretty close in number of Brigades to the French, but nowhere near in terms of quality. 

My Prussians had 2 units of cavalry, 1 of infantry and a heavy artillery battery destroyed, plus a cavalry and 3 infantry reduced in strength.

The French had 8 infantry and 1 cavalry reduced in strength, but didn't lose a single unit.  At least I know where the Guard Corps and Napoleon are now.

 Off now to watch France vs England.  Don't care who wins now that the Irish have spoilt the Welsh party.  Selfish buggers!

Last Game of 2013

Its taken me a few days to get this post up, but it's here now so prepare to be less than enthralled.

On the last Sunday of 2013, the Chuckadice gang got together at Zob's for our seasonal all-day gaming extravaganza. Chain of Command was the order of the day this year, followed by Zombicide for a light hearted evening game.

The CoC game was a bit different, with 3 players a side and based on a hypothetical history.  What if France fell, then Britain lost the Battle of Britain and the Germans invaded.  We had two camps, with the nasty Hun/Italian types commanded by Colin and Zob, ably supported by the Fascist British commanded by Panjo/Pingu.  The had an understrength German platoon (2 squads of regulars), a British Fascist Platoon (1 regular squad and 2 green squads) an independent squad of Italian regulars, a mighty L6 light tank, a captured 18pdr gun and a tripod MG.  They were also awaiting the arrival of reinforcements in the shape of another 2 squad German platoon with an armoured truck and a Panzer 38 in support.

Nasty Germans (Zob, Colin and Panjo)

The gallant defenders of British sovereignty  had 2 mixed platoons each with 2 regular and 1 green squads.  There support consisted of 3 ex-Polish tankettes and a HMG armed steam tank.  They were also awaiting reinforcement by a mixed platoon with 1 regular 1 green infantry squads, a mounted yeomanry squad, an armoured steam truck with an mg and a Rolls Royce armoured car.

Andy and Nathan, Defenders of the Realm

Another change was in the command dice used.  Each individual commander only had 2 command dice, but the CinC had an additional 4 to be split as he saw fit each turn.  No commander could have more than 5 dice though.  So ten dice between 3 commanders, which led to some mutterings about the division of spoils.

The game played well, with the British forcing their right flank in an attempt to circle around the town.  The fascist British seized the town, but were largely kept away from the main British attack by the attentions of a single squad of British Local Defence Volunteers behind a hedge, supported by the single cannon armed tankette.  This was exacerbated by the fact that the German reinforcements also came on on that side of the table.

Nathan finds Germans in the wood

That building is infested with Highlanders

Andy's flank guard of LDV types

This left Colin's 2 squads of Germans, supported by the Italians, the tank and the gun facing off against the remaining 5 British squads, supported by the steam tank.  A risky move by Colin left one of his German squads isolated and outflanked.  I am sure the German soldiers were inspired when their commander legged it and left them to the tender mercies of the advancing British.  The statement "They have too much shock, nothing I can do" was heard from Oberstleutnant Edgecombe as he left them.

The massed British advance, WW1 style

The fascist British look for the pub

The Germans "didn't like it up 'em!"

Armoured(ish) support for Andy's LDV

Italians leave the barracks, ready to be confused

As the game progressed, both reinforcement platoons began to arrive at the same time.  The Germans reinforced the out of position British fascists, while the British came on in position to prevent any easy reinforcement of the outnumbered Germans.

British reinforcements arrive

As do the Germans, under Unterofficer Zobski

Cavalry support the advance

After much ineffective fire the German CinC was last seen running towards Torquay harbour, while the Italian squad wondered what was going on and the British fascists celebrated holding the pub.  The British won the day, although Andy's platoon was close to breaking.  Everybody seemed to enjoy it and the special rules from the Spanish and Home Guard lists were a welcome innovation.

The evening game was Zombicide, continuing our games of Prison Outbreak.  Things did not go well, with almost everybody getting munched and being zombified and horrible.  Damn and blast.

Looks ok, lets get going folks.

Where the hell did all those zombies come from?

All in all it was a good days gaming, which was what was needed before the sad day of Gus' funeral on New Years Eve.

Latest VBCW additions.

Following on from "Stinky" the steam-tank-truck, the engineer section have been busy and more vehicles have been added to the ever expanding "Torquay Armoured Royalist Troop".


First up was "Clanker", fully tracked and amazingly slow. As a first attempt it's not bad, but vision was restricted to straight ahead, the Vickers MG was fixed, so the whole vehicle had to be aimed at the target, the tracks were found to be too small to cross ditches and the 2 man crew meant the gunner had to stoke the boiler as well.



The next addition was a Morris CS-9 armoured car, gained through some dubious arms dealer contacts that the Dukes son had made. While expensive, it did give the engineers some ideas about turrets. Arriving unarmed, it some quickly fitted with a Lewis gun to give some armoured support to the mounted platoon.


The largest vehicle made by the engineers was the "Behemouth". Using the chassis and engine of an old traction engine, the engineers constructed a veritable land battleship. With space inside for a crew of 4, well armoured and carrying a fully enclosed turret it was a vast improvement over the "Clanker". It's one weakness was the drive system, with limited cross-country ability and a real problem with tight corners.


The strangest addition was a prototype armoured car seized by the harbour authorities when they boarded a Soviet cargo ship. Listed as a motor car, the armoured car found was handed over the the Torquay Police, who promptly seized it, painted it blue and used it as their anti-riot vehicle. It's fast, has 4 wheel drive and a turreted light machine gun. The only problem has been finding sufficient ammunition for the Russian machine gun.




The latest, currently, addition has been a trio of Polish tankettes, from the same source as the CS-9. Costing a small fortune, the trio have proved to be most useful. Small and fast, they have proved to be almost impossible to stop simply because they are rarely spotted before firing. The 20mm cannon in one of them is also a bonus as it can knock out any enemy vehicles it meets.


So there they are. The CS-9 is from BEF Miniatures, the BA-64 and Tankettes are Bolt Action and the Steam Tanks are from Ironclad. Who says there is an arms race, not me!

More VBCW!

Since the last update I have finished all my VBCW figures! Well, all the ones I have so far anyway. Below is a new, expanded lineup of the forces that will be fighting for the King in the Torbay area!

Added to the force are the Highlanders, from Musketeer again. They will form his Lordships personal bodyguard, with some form of close combat bonus hopefully. The only downside to them is the lack of a Lewis gun figure, but you can't have everything.


The first squad of the local yeomanry, using Musketeer WW1 British. While not as experienced as the Scots, they do get a Lewis gun as fire support.




The second squad of Yeomanry. I do like these figures, Paul Hicks is a cracking sculptor, I just wish he would do a moving Vickers team!




And speaking of a Vickers team, there is one of them to give some heavier support.






Then there is the real "Heavy" support, an 18pdr field gun from Renegade Miniatures. The crew tower over the Musketeer figures, but the price was right and they painted up nicely.





Command and control has also been improved with the creation of a command group under Major B. Lunder!






The mobile reserve, some converted Perrys ACW cavalry. Tally-Ho and all that. Unfortunately, in their first outing, they came across some machine guns and were shot to ribbons.






The despatch riders, the final 2 Perrys figures with different heads and nice red coats. They are supposed to be members of the local hunt pressed into service as messengers.




The Irish Brigade, just for some variation away from khaki. Nice, even if they don't get on with the Scots.




The Engineers Guard, who man the steam tanks, steam trucks, steam boats and steam trains. Some of these vehicles have yet to be purchased, but the plan is there! Their lack of machine gun is made up by having a nice submachine gun, ideal for boarding actions and the like.
The first militia squad, making up with spirit(s) what they lack in experience.


The second militia, as quantity is a quality all of its own.



The third militia, lacking a machine gun but with a few shotguns instead.





His Lordship with a few loyal retainers, including his chauffeur and the local policemen. The trusty elephant gun as been taken out of retirement and is used to put down those damned uppity commoners!




There is also the Steam Tank Truck, as seen before. The armoured support has been joined by a true Steam Tank now, once painted it will appear on here. Well, there they are in all their glory.

It's been a while.......

Since I posted on here, but I'm back!

I am still struggling on with painting 15mm Napoleonics for my brother-n-law! To say that they are not my favourite thing to paint would be an understatement.

The current flavour of the month amongst the group I game with is the Very British Civil War. I have had a bit force for this for some time, but will hopefully get the rest painted now the planning for a campaign is underway. I am in charge of the Royalist faction, led by the Earl of Devon and controlling Torquay. Our opposition includes Facists(Totnes), Communists(Teignmouth), Anglican(Newton Abbot), Devonians(Paignton) and the Navy(Dartmouth).

Here are the few units I have painted.

First up is a unit of "Regulars", representing the local yeomanry who have stayed loyal to the King. These are WW1 British from Musketeer Miniatures.



This is the first Militia unit, from the Musketeer "Irish War of Independance" range.




The second Militia unit looks a lot like the first, but has a different Lewis team. Same source as the others.





Milord, his Chaffeur and some shotgun armed militia make up the last of the painted foot. All but Milord are from Musketeer, while himself is courtesy of Steve.






The last painted unit(sort of) is "Stinky" the steam-truck-tank. A badly converted model-of-yesteryear steam truck, with metal plating around the cab and railway sleepers protecting the flat bed area. The usual weapon carried is a Vickers MG, but recently a 37mm ships gun has also been sighted on the pedestal. Don't you just love magnets!

So that is the painted force so far. Still to be painted are (all Musketeer unless it says otherwise) a unit of Highlanders(veteran bodyguards), another unit of regulars, a unit of boatcrew/railroad crew(Empress Miniatures SCW Assault Guards), a unit of Irish settlers, another unit of Militia, a regular Vickers HMG, a Command Section and an 18pdr field gun(Renegade Miniatures). I also have a 1/48 Hawker Fury biplane to provide air cover.

All in all, not a bad force, I just need to get the rest painted!