Pre-Christmas Painting

Part 2 and the figures I have painted.  I have struggled to concentrate on anything really so it's been a case of doing whatever took my fancy.

GW Character figures

I have had most of these figures for years and have finally slapped some paint onto them.  Back row on the left is the Witch Hunter from Warhammer Quest, the other two are from the Mordheim range I think.  The front two are Bretonnian "Not Little John or Friar Tuck".

Ogre

This is an Ogre figure that I have had so long he's gone bald.  Nice details on the figure, he has obviously been in his share of fights and not come out unscathed. He will join my Ogre Mercenaries to make them 6 strong.

Pegasus, with BIG wings

 A Pegasus that I got from somewhere.  It's GW again and should have some sort of rider I think, but if it did he is long gone.   The wings are painted up to look something like those of a red kite, because I like them.

Big Unicorn

Another "horse" creature, no wings but a big sharp horn instead.  Again, it should have an elf rider but I don't remember ever having him/her.

Thrud, strong of arm and thick of head

A figure that needs no introduction to gamers of my age(old!).  Thrud the Barbarian has finally been painted and may well fill in as another Ogre.

Ripper Blgrot, Star Player Troll

An old Blood Bowl Troll that I have repainted.  It was green and really badly painted, it's now blue and hopefully looks better.

Minotaur, GW 1991

Another monster, this time it's the only Minotaur I have with a head.  I have another 8 bodies without heads......

Small, grumpy.......they are all called Nathan!

Four old Dwarves, just a small selection of the masses of unpainted Dwarves I have.

Stone thrower Roman device

Historical stuff finally.  A Roman stone thrower type thing that came from Gus.  No idea what it's called or who makes it, but it's a nice addition to the Roman force I haven't painted yet. 

Slithery warrior of Chaos

A 1980s Chaos snakeman.  I just liked this figure when it first came out and bought it.  It's only taken me over 30 years to paint it.

RB leader, finally painted to a fair standard

A Romano-British leader type.  Can't remember where I got him from or when, but a nice figure and a welcome addition to the warband.  Not a complete paintjob, more of a touch up and refurb.

 

Finally some more Romano-British.  These are Wargames Foundry figures that I have painted up for Nathan.  They have Gripping Beast shields as their originals were misplaced.  

All in all I have done alright.  there is another photo that I could put up, but it's for somebody else as a "Secret Santa" present, so pictures will appear after they have received them.  

Take care, I'm off now to do something less creative.

Ramblings and a BIG ACW game

I've been a bit lax updating here, so this update includes an eclectic mix.  Gaming has been rather lax of late, primarily because I am still feeling like a zombie half the time.  Sadly the rest of the time I am feeling worse. :(

Anyway, I am staying upbeat as much as I can(although I'm getting fed up waiting for news from the hospital now) and so I have been managing to pop along to the Monday night games.  I don't last too long there, but it's nice to get out for a bit.  Mostly we have been continuing an ongoing Twilight 2000 roleplay that we do for about 4 session each year.  They started this game long before I joined the group (about 20 years ago) and we are still running about trying to get back to NATO lines.  It's a laugh to get back to it though.  Last week we did another game of Blood age as Zob had a meeting to go too.  I left before it finished and was winning at that time so, despite the results once Zob came back and took over for me, I am claiming it as a win. ;)

I was taken out for a day last weekend as Nathan and Panjo took me up to Reveille in Bristol.  A pleasant local show, although the set up is a bit "old school" in lots of small rooms as opposed to the usual "everything in one big hall".  I picked up some tufts(to replace the ones my wife threw away accidentally), some Gripping Beast Dark Ages Warriors and some Perrys light cavalry.  We were only there a couple of hours but it was a pleasant trip and we had a good day.  I bought something else but can't remember what it was right now??????  Comments about age, senility and other such abuse will be ignored!

Union troops mass on the table

Back over the bridge boys!

 Yesterday was the Christmas game at the Devon Wargames Groups monthly meeting.  This year Chas had set up an ACW game using Regimental Fire & Fury in 25mm.  The various members pulled their collections together and set too on a large T shaped table.  I only stayed for about 2 hours but saw the masses gather and the game was just heating up as I left.  Over 2000 figures were on the table and each player had a characteristic that had some some of effect on the game.  As an example, Nathan's men hated him and got a bonus if he wasn't attached!  Bit like real life really. I'm sure that JJ is organising a post on there as I type this, so keep an eye out for better pictures and a more detailed report.

"Them dang Rebs is here sarge!"

The rest of the players

Devons mostleast wanted gather

Devons own Jon "David Bailey" Jones in action

Right, that's it for this post.  I will put up another one in a  minute with the painting efforts on it.  Back in a sec.

WW2 in 25mm! WHY????? and other things

First thing, I'm still here so prepare for more pointless updates and ramblings about assorted crap.  After the best part of a week in hospital I am now waiting for the consultant in Chelmsford to decide on a course of action.  Hopefully sooner rather than later, but at least things are moving on.

Wargaming is still suffering due to my health, but I have managed to get a few games in and even finished off some figures that I have had for a while.  Gaming has been mostly Blood Rage, another kickstarter that we went in for.  The game is pretty good with some nice nuances to make each game different.  The best thing about it is the miniatures though, they are truly lovely and I hope that I can do them justice when we start to paint them.

I have finally finished off some of the Perrys DAK figures I picked up on the Bring and Buy at the Bovington Wargames Show back in July.  My original plan was to paint them up to sell, but things have changed a bit.  I was impressed with the look of the figures, more realistic than I expected and a joy to paint up.  I am not overly impressed with the selection of figures in 15mm for North Africa, so I have decided to keep a platoon of these for any future games of Chain of Command. 

DAK Infantry Platoon in 25mm

Instead of just doing the basic platoon structure I decided to add a few bits to the platoon.  The basic structure is one senior leader, three squads of ten men each with two LMGs, a two man AT rifle team and a three man light mortar team.  I have decided to use mine as a standard infantry platoon as opposed to an MG laden Panzergrenadier platoon, so only needed one LMG per squad.  I added a second senior leader, a two man FAO team and moving figures for the mortar and AT teams.  All told it comes to 44 figures.  The plan is eventually add a few (very few) additions such as a tripod MG, Pak gun and maybe a Panzer II.  I also ordered a box of the British figures to give them something to fight against, but they will take a while to get painted.  

Another DAK platoon

 My purchase at Bovington included the contents of several boxes of DAK figures, so I organised and painted up a standard rifle platoon as well, these are to go on eBay to recoup my initial costs.  So another 36 figures joined the painted list.

Dark Ages Saxons by Gripping Beast

The last bit of painting I have managed was to finish off the last figures I needed to complete a Saxon force for Dux Britanniarum games.  I have had a Romano-British force completed for some time, but never got around to finishing off the Saxons.  Now I have and just in time for Nathan to use them tomorrow at the Devon Wargames November meeting. 

Ten Gripping Beast plastic figures, all painted and based ready to pillage the lands of the British tribes.  The shields are LBMS transfers as I'm too old and lazy to paint shields. 

I have also decided on my long term plan for next year.  I like Lion Rampant as a game and have decided to get together some more figures in order to use the rules a bit more often.  After a bit of looking about and pondering I have settled on a new period for me.  I am going to get forces to play Crusade period games, specifically based on the events very loosely portrayed in "Kingdom of Heaven", where Legolas Balien does his best to hold off the forces of Saladin.  I know it's Hollywood at it's best but I like the film and it has got my interested in the period, so it's all good.  Fireforge games and Gripping Beast will be providing the majority of the figures, with transfers by Battle Flag and Gripping Beast being used. 

So that's it for now.  I will try to take some pictures of the game tomorrow, just like I will try to last more than a couple of hours.  Catch you all later.

Blood Rage, insomnia, it's all go here.

It'a 01:23 and I should be trying to sleep.  However, as usual my body has decided that it's not up to me and so I am sat here wide awake again.  I remember being able to sleep for 8 hours, but it's been a long time since I got anything close to that.  Ho hum, it could be worse, at least I'm not Craig Joubert! It's bad enough that he so obviously screwed Scotland over, but to then be told by World Rugby that he screwed it up...........

Bear and Raven clan figures

Serpent and Wolf clan figures

Anyway, I managed another couple of hours of gaming this week.  Four of our group decided to go in for the Blood Rage kickstarter and it arrived a few weeks ago.  Last night we gave it a go, well the other three did while I checked the rules and adjudicated on any fights"disagreements" over the actions/events/cards etc.  The game is good, it's easy to learn the rules but there are a lot of things to make it interesting and entertaining.  Highlight for me though is the figures.  They are beautiful and I can't wait to get started on painting some of them.

Mountain Giant (Huge figure)

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the miniatures.  The sculpting is awesome and I just hope I can do them justice when I finally get to slap some paint on them.

All told there are over 80 figures in the set, including the 7 large monsters. 


We have also just gone in on the Urban Apocolypse Terrain kickstarter from Battlesystems.  We are getting enough to do a 4' square area, so a nice big table for any sort of modern/post apocolypse game.  It's going to be great to play all sorts of games on and I may finally find a use for some of these modern figures I have here.

Finally, I now have a date for my visit to the hospital.  Next Tuesday will see my freedom curtailed as I go in to have a longer tube fitted.  Annoyingly the duration of my visit has extended from the overnight visit the doc casually mentioned to a 4 day/3 night stay minimum, more if there are any "complications".  Not impressed but I am glad that something is finally happening.  Here's wishing for a lack of complications and an early release for good behaviour.

Well, that's it.  I am trying to paint some Perry Miniatures Afrika Korp figures but the mojo just isn't there.  I'll probably end up playing World of Warships instead.  Catch you all later

Finally did some painting and things are moving ahead

Sadly not much gaming has gone on lately.  I popped in to see the Devon Wargames meet last Saturday but didn't stay long as I felt rough.  Some nice games again, 28mm French Indian Wars, 15mm WW2 and Star Wars X-Wing were all played.  More info on the blog link above.

I also managed about an hour and a half at the Monday night game.  Zob and Colin were playtesting Fighting Season while Panjo and Andy were killing zombies again.  Shame I couldn't stay longer but yet again I felt like crap.

I have finally finished some figures though, so it's not been a total wipeout.  Yes, they have taken me a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days, but at least I got them done finally.  So, here they are.  Yes, it's more Warlord WW2 Germans, but these are the last of them that I have here.  I will probably get some of the new Falschirmjagers to play about with, but not just yet as finances are a bit tight.

 These 32 figures amount to a platoon for Chain of Command or a reasonable base force for Bolt Action.  Organised into 3 squads of 10 men plus a couple of officer types to lead them, these are the early war figures as opposed to the later war Grenadiers.

Speaking of Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command rules, there is a new release out in their "Pint Sized Campaigns" series.  Operation Martlet covers the actions of the British 49th Division against the German 12th SS "Hitlet Jugend" prior to Operation Epsom in Normandy 1944.  All the previous campaigns have been great to play and/or run, so I am looking forward to this one.

Right, leaving wargames now to less pleasant things.  My ongoing medical problems are hopefully coming to a crucial point.  In a few weeks time I will be going back to hospital to have a ryles tube placed from my nose down into my small bowel.  If it works then it's good news as it means they can do something to fix it, if it doesn't then I'm stuck like this.  Here's hoping that the tube works then.

Anyway, off now to do stuff.  Hope your all having more fun than I am. ;) 

Quick medical update, no wargaming included

So I am back from deepest darkest Chelmsford and the prognosis is more positive.  New consultant reckons he can help me and has a plan of attack to deal with my stomach/intestinal problems.  Hope has reappeared and it's nice to feel a bit positive for once.  I may end up under the knife and with a gastric pacemaker, but if it helps then it will definately be worth it. 

The only other bit of good news is that Wales have got out of the group stages of the Rugby World Cup.  Still have to play the Aussies tomorrow, so fingers crossed for a win for the Welsh.

Man of the Match Dan Biggar

I will update again when I have done something wargames wise, but for now that's all folks.

Zombicide, a few tanks and off we go

Sorry but I'm here again, just when you thought you were safe.

I have done little in terms of gaming or painting since I was last here, hence the lack of updates.  I have played a couple of games of Zombicide with the lads on Monday nights and last week we had a bash at Lion Rampant again, but that's been it.  I don't have any plans for anything major either.  I am missing this Monday and probably the following one too, so gaming is going to be really light for the next few weeks.

I have managed a small(very small) amount of painting so here are some dodgy looking pictures of some averagely painted figures and vehicles.

First up is some Zombicide figures, 15 assorted zombies that I needed to get finished. There are 9 walkers, 4 runners and 2 fatties, which finishes my share of the group purchase for seasons 1 and 2 of Zombicide.  I now have season 3's zombies to do, but that's going to take a while.

 Then we have a few of the survivor figures.  I painted them to look like they do on their cards, at least as closely as I could anyway.  They are based on (left to right)
Steven Seagal in Machete, Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead, John Goodman in The Big Lebowski, John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, Simon Peg in Shaun of the Dead and, at the back, Jack Nicholson in The Shining.  Nice enough figures as usual, my favourite is John Goodman. 


The rest of my efforts have been aimed at my ever expanding 15mm WW2 collection.  The recently finished Russians have some reinforcements in the shape of 3 BT-5's and a massive KV-2, all made by Zvezda and easy little kits to make and paint.  That is it for the Barbarossa Russians now, I don't need anything else for them.

Finally I painted up a Plastic Soldier Company Tiger tank that I ordered in a sale they had.  I usually prefer the more common Panzers but it is nice to have some options available for the Germans.  I need to add some more weathering to it but I am happy with it at the moment.  I need to get a new pot of MiG powder to dirty it up so it'll have to wait until I get into town.


So that's it for wargaming over the last month.  Not much to report and it's looking pretty rocky for October too. 


I am off to Chelmsford tomorrow to see a consultant surgeon in the upper GI department.  Quietly hopeful that he may be able to at least alleviate my problems if he can't cure it.  Appointment is on Monday, but we are staying up there as travelling wipes me out.  Most things wipe me out at the moment, so I hope he can do something about it.

Well, that's it.  I'm off now to prepare for the England-Australia game.  Not saying who I'm supporting but I won't be too upset if Australia win.