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.

Happy 2016 and all that Jazz

Happy New Year, yes I know it's a week late but I have been busy.  Well, sort of anyway. 

So Christmas came and I got what I had bought for myself and then given to the family to wrap up for me.  So a couple of Airfix 1/48 modern kits joined the "to do" pile, a couple of rulebooks joined the ever increasing shelf of rules and some figures joined the painting list.  The surprise was my Secret Santa and I can only say a big THANK YOU to whoever it was.  I received four extremely well painted WW2 28mm figures which will join in the forthcoming Chain of Command games. So here they are in all their glory, sporting an apparently "modest" paint job.  Puts my work to shame.








The rules I got were a physical copy of Kings of War to replace the free set from the Mantic website and a copy of Dan Merseys Dragon Rampant.  The plan is to inspire me to paint some of the hordes of Lord of the Rings figures I have here.  That was the plan anyway, but the "ooh, shiney" syndrome has kicked in already and buggered up my plans for 2016 within a week.

Anyway, we gathered for our annual all day game at Zob's on the 28th and played a cracking game of Zulu.  More information can be had on Nathan's blog, but fair to say a good time was had by all.  After tea and biscuits we finished the day off with a game of Zombicide:Black Plague and just managed to win it, which was nice finale.

I then managed to get an infection in the partially done root canal work the dentist started back in early December.  Typically it kicked in on New Years Eve, after the dentist had shut for 3 days.  Luckily I got in to see the emergency dentist on the Sunday and got some anti-biotics and pain killers to tide me over.  Unluckily the infection was still there when I went to have the root canal finished and she couldn't do it, so I am back there in 2 weeks (hopefully). 

So while I was in pain and grumpy I stayed out of the familys way and looked at my projects for 2016.  As I said in my previous post I have a few projects on the go.  They have now been joined by a new one, more about which can be found at the end of the post.

After the New Year we played a game of Kings of War, 3000pts a side and 3 players a side.  Opinions were mixed, the 3 "elder statesmen"(50 plus) of the group were not overly impressed while the three "young pretenders" (in our late 40's now) liked them and plan to play them again.  So that was good.

Painting wise I have done very little really.  I still find it hard to concentrate, although being up all night for a few days did allow me to get some paint on lead plastic.  So here they are, just waiting on some bases to arrive from those nice people at Warbases. 











Fireforge Games Templar Knights with decals from Battle Flag.  One box gives 12 figures which is enough for 2 units in Lion Rampant.  I have decals for the Hospitallers, Knights of Jerusalem and Knights of Ibelin as well, so things are moving in the right direction on this project.  Just a few more to do, I have plans for about 120 cavalry and over 200 infantry in the end.  Yes, I know that Lion Rampant is a skirmish, but I want enough to do big battles as well.

Finally we come to the first unexpected new project that has already screwed my plans for 2016. I have pledged for this 15mm Cold War kickstarter to give me some Cold War British.  If I can afford it I will up my pledge later to get some VDV too, but I really want the British.  I am in for a platoon so far, but will be adding some Chieftains at the least.  This could get ugly!



So, there it is.  I am still ticking while waiting on the hospital to "get funding" for a gastric pacemaker so until then I will be up and down health wise.  Gotta keep smiling though, so bear with me folks.  Have a good one until next time.

Last one before Christmas

At this time of year it seems to be usual to look back at what has happened over the year, but I'm not going to do that.  It's not been the best year, so I'm drawing a line under it now and looking forward.  In two days it's Christmas, a time for families, happiness and good cheer etc.  More importantly(at least to me!) it's my birthday as well.  The less said about the number of years the better, the scariest thing is that I am the youngest member of the Monday Night Group and I am beyond the age that I considered "Old" when I was a teenager.

Speaking of Christmas, I believe that my Secret Santa arrived this morning.  Postie gave me a box from Germany that was promptly whipped away by my wife and hidden before I could get any more details than that.  So, whoever you are that sent it, thank you in advance.

Ah well, looking forward to things I want to do/start/finish next year.  I have decided that I have enough platoons for Chain of Command now, so that has been put on the back burner of the painting table.  I am still going to get some more for Fighting Season, but not immediately.  I am also planning to get my ever expanding lead mountain/plastic pile reduced, so planned purchases are limited.

Projects I plan to do are
1 - 28mm Crusader period.  I already have some Fireforge figures purchased for this, additional units will be needed but not until I have painted the ones I have here already.
2 - Dragon Rampant.  I am getting the rules for my birthday and aim to recycle some of the Lord of the Rings figures to play it.  Little or no purchases needed for this.
3 - 28mm Fighting Season.  I have a British platoon(Airfix figures) and some unpainted Americans(Empress).  The plan is to get the rest of the American platoon and then look at getting some insurgent types.  Also I have several Airfix vehicles to make up as well.
4 - Kings of War.  I have been put onto this set by an old friend in Plymouth who has started playing them at the Plymouth Wargames club.  I have so far only had one game and that was using historical figures with no magic, but it was an enjoyable game.  I have dug out my old Warhammer figures now and am looking at dusting them off and having a go in the new year.  Again, little in the way of purchases are needed although, as you will see, I have bought a few figures and painted some of my lead mountain for it already.

So, that's the plan.  Shows that I intend to go too are Penarth, PAW, Legionary and Partizan, plus at least two Lardy Games Days.  That's health and finances allowing of course.

So that's the plan.  The last of this years painting has also now been done.  I am planning a major reorganisation of my painting pitroom between Christmas and the New Year, so painting time will be severely limited.  What I have got painted up are 20 of my old GW Dwarves plus 4 new Reaper figures from eBay.

 First up are 10 old GW dwarf warriors, 6 with spears.  If I ever see any cheap I will get some more of the spear figures as a unit of them would be useful in Kings of War.  I did used to have over 30 of them many years ago, but when Warhammer was rewritten and Dwarves had no spears anymore I (stupidly) sold them. 

 
Next up are ten more Dwarves, but armed with rifles this time.  Lovely figures, I really enjoyed painting these up.














First of the Reaper figures is an Earth Elemental.
 This is a big figure, the base he is on is 50mm square and he is wider than it as you can see.  I have painted it up in a style that I saw online, I think the mixed rocks look is nicer than just plain grey or brown.  This is the "new" addition for my old Dwarf army, the Stone Priests can summon elementals to fight for them and they are pretty tough.








 

Finally, 3 Reaper werewolves to join my Vampire Counts army.  They will make a change from the usual skeletons and offer a fast moving and hard hitting unit.  I have attempted to paint them up in three different wolf-like colours.  From the left we have a black one, a grey one and a brown one.  I am fairly happy with them, so they will do.

So, there it is.  I am off now so it just remains to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I'll see you after Hangover Boxing Day.  Hope you all have a good one.

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.