Camerone Day

Captain Danjou's Hand

Every year on April 30th the French Foreign Legion celebrates Camerone Day. This celebrates an engagement between 62 soldiers and 3 officers of the the Legion and over 2000 Mexican soldiers at the Hacienda Cameron in Veracruz, Mexico on 30 April 1863. The Mexican forces surrounded the Legionaires and asked for their surrender. Their Commander Capt. Danjou refused and then he and the men swore an oath to fight to the death.
The battle raged, but the legionaires refused to surrender. As the evening approached , out of ammunition, only five legionaries and the last officer, Lt. Maudet, survived. These last men refused to surrender, so they fixed bayonets and charged out at the Mexican soldiers. Most of the Legionaires were shot down but the Mexican commander stopped his men from killing the last two.They still refused to surrender, they demanded the Mexican soldiers allow them safe passage home, to keep their arms and to escort the body of Captain Danjou. To that the Mexican commander commented "What can I refuse to such men? No, these are not, men they are devils!", and out of respect, agreed to their terms.
The most sacred relic of the French Foreign Legion is the wooden prosthetic hand of Captain Danjou. On April 30th the hand is taken out  for display and presented in special ceremonies.

Vive La Legion

ColKG

Frateris Militia Arrive

More troops for the horde.

Ebay bites me again, not in a bad way. I have a bad habit of skimming Ebay and bidding on things that are going cheap. Normally somebody else wants them more than me but every now and then I luck out and bring home a winner. Here are the Frateris Militia reinforcements. This will bring me up to sixty militia.
Of course they are no longer usable in the Sisters of Battle army but there are rumours of Chaos Cultists possibly in the new Chaos Space marine Codex. A human with a pistol and a knife is a human with a pistol and a knife and came be used for any number of other games. The biggest hope is that if GW releases a new Sisters of Battle Codex some time in the far future they may put the Fraeteris Militia back into the army, like they did with Uriah Jacobus and Kyrinov.

ColKG

Forgeworld Worldeater Dreadnought progress

I have made some progress on my World Eaters. I primed up and base coated my forgeworld Worldeater Dreadnought.

I used krylon plastic Burgundy satin paint. While I was waiting for the model to dry I found a thread on TMP about the Krylon plastic paints flaking badly after a while. I am not prepared to strip it, so I will wait and see if I will have a problem. After it dried I used a Future/Chestnut ink wash. This has left it very glossy but by the time I put a few more coats of paint on it It will dull it down.
I just have to get cracking on those Berserkers.

ColKG

More World Eater Badness

More World Eater work in progress

 The four Lords of Armageddon are starting to take shape. I have put all the juggernauts on resin bases and started making some conversions to the Khorne Lord to make them different.

 I chopped the axe head off of the Axe of Khorne, the model came with and used the handle to make a double headed chain spear. My plan is to equip the model with a Blood feeder Daemon weapon. a combi bolter and a plasma pistol. It may be a points sink but for Apocalypse games anything goes.

 The second Khorne lord has a fantasy Khorne champion axe added to also use as a Bloodfeeder Daemon Weapon. My plan is to add a combi bolter to this one too and use the holstered pistol to represent the plasma pistol.
I am still debating what to equip the other two Khorne Lord models with. The Bloddfeeder daemon weapon rocks but I am debating equipping one with a pair of lightning claws just for style. The fourth Lord had a power fist but I broke it off. If I field them as a unit I may need a powerfist if somebody feeds them a dreadnought or something to hold them up, but if I field them as unit leaders then the Bloodfeeder will throw out the most attacks and the skull champ in the Berserker unit can have a powerfist for anything too heavy.

Last is the Forge world World Eater Dreadnought. I have finally finished cleaning it up and assembling the parts. I also added a standard from a Defiler model with a Khorne symbol I glued on and sculpted a backing with greenstuff. Now I just need to prime it and get the painting started.

ColKG

Sky Galleons of Mars Ships Based

A quick post on some Sky Galleons of Mars progress. 

After getting the new Zeppelins and Aerial Fliers fixed and primed, I looked through my collection of bases for enough hex shaped bases that were heavy enough for the ships. I came back wanting. Luckily Chuckaroo was soon at Cold Wars and managed to pick up some MDF hex bases for me to use. I have set on them for a while but managed to get them on over the holiday weekend.

Now I just need to get them painted and on the table.

ColKG

Flames of War 3rd Edition AAR

Ok lads, brace yourselves!!!  This game broke...    no, SHATTERED all sorts of records here at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures!!!  I hesitate to describe what happened since I truly doubt anyone out there would believe it.  Even now, a week lately, my poor brain has difficulty giving credence to what I know actually happened.  The photo above not only shows the moment of crisis in the battle, it also shows a German army Across The Center Line Of The Table!!!!!  Now I know what you're thinking:  it has to be a staged/photoshopped pic, since everyone knows no German player ever breaks cover or moves forward.  It simply never happens!  Well, I'm here to tell you YES, in this game it actually happened!  Those of you not shouting "RUBBISH" at the top of your lungs might want all the details.....

 Here we have the south half of the table, showing two of the four players' forces.  On the right are the Huns, an all tank force, about 14 assorted Pzkw 3's, facing Brits with Lees and some American infantry.  Wonder of wonders, the Germans are already advancing by this time.  We play our battles on a ping pong table with tape to show all the standard table sizes.  For this battle we used the full length (about 9 feet) by four feet.

Here we have the north half of the Allied troops, being attacked by Nazi air support.  Yes, we know it's a Russian IL-2.  The Hun planes were damaged when they came out of the box.  Anyway, this American force were some mech infantry, light tanks, Shermans, and M7 Priests arty.  Under the template are some Brit Deacon ATG trucks.  This turn was the best turn for the Huns, blowing all sorts of stuff to bits.  Never again would they be so lucky.

 The Germans edge across the center line, shooting Lees as fast as they can.  Two blow up, a few more dismount.  US infantry try to sneak up for some flank shots from the forest.  The two crashed planes you see are objective markers.  The Germans have almost reached one....

The Americans surge forward on the north side, bringing all the hate mail they can down on the Germans defending the northern objective.  Looks like StuG's behind the far hill, and German infantry in the ruins of the village on the left.  The Stuarts are about to sweep around the far right and gun down the arty crews.

 South edge, the tide is turning.  The Lees hold fast and start giving some back!  The surviving Deacons start shooting at them also.  In another few turns it looks like the first picture, all sorts of burning Hun tanks.

The north side, USA troops swarm all over the Hun positions including an objective. Stuarts, Shermans, halftracks; it's machineguns-a-go-go!  The Germans fail their company morale check and flee the table.

This was one of the first battles we've had using 3rd ed rules.  The biggest difference (in my humble opinion) is the Rate Of Fire changes for movement.  In prior eds, everyone's ROF dropped to one.  In 3rd ed, it drops by 50%.  That might not seem like much, but now even HMG's can shoot 3 on the move.  I think that the change is huge.  Before we had certain players (who will remain nameless) who never ever under any conditions moved, preferring the advantages of digging in under cover and letting the enemy do all the heavy lifting.  The new ROF rules reduce the disadvantage of movement.  Also, smoke is not as effective as prior eds.  It reduces vision to 16", and only lasts one turn.  There are other movement changes as well in some special rules; Russian Hen and Chicks and French One Man Turrets are both not as hellish as they were previously.  I think these changes are a good thing, as they reduce the previous disadvantages of movement to a certain degree.  And anything that gets my opponents to move can't be all bad. Or at least makes my crossing the table easier to bear.

And another thing; I had it easy in this game, didn't have to bring any troops!  Wooohooooo!

Pirate Betrayal at Colonial House part 2

We return as the Pirates continue their assault against Colonial House to recover their treasure.


As Alex's pirates fight the British regulars, Karen's Party leaves them to their fate.

The fight begins to go badly for the British Regulars.

The Natives put several pirates down.

Chuckaroo's pirates recover and return to the fight.

As Karen's Pirates try an end run another band of native appears and attacks her party. As the British Regulars break and run into Colonial house Alex's band come around toward the Native attacking Chuckaroo's band.

Karen's Pirates proceed to show the Natives the error of their decision.

As Alex's pirates charge in Chuckaroo's grenadier pirate contemplate firing his grenade into Colonial House.

The Native's take down Chuckaroo's commander.

Karen finishes off a native band.

The Renegade charge out of Colonial House and Chuckaroo's grenadier puts both of them down.

The Native warrior moves in to attack Chuckaroo's Grenadier.

With renegade pirate behind him and native in front it looks bad for Chuckaroo's grenadier.

Karen's band charges into the remaining Native warriors.

Alex's band charges into Colonial house to help Barry's surviving pirate and finish off the regulars.

The battle rages in the Colonial House with a pirate falling.

Karen's Captain falls under the Native spears.

Alex and Barry's last pirates fall prey to the surviving British Regulars and renegade pirates.

Chuckaroo's last pirate, the grenadier makes a run for the ship and safer climes.

Karen's last pirate falls.

The Last Renegade pirate is hung, The British regulars keep the treasure and the natives eat their fill of long pig.


This is the final half of the Pirates game from the March monthly gamesday of the Catawba Gamers, in Cornelius NC at Parker Banner Kent and Wayne game shop. I controlled the Natives and John B ran the British and the Renegade while Tom gamemastered the fun. I had a good time and look forward to the next one.

ColKG

Pirate Betrayal At Colonial House part 1

"No Honor Among Thieves" comes too fruition. As Dawn broke a sentry was found dead on the pirate ship Revenge. A quick search and the ships treasure was discovered missing, along with a group of the crew. The remaining crew fractured into different groups but they all agreed there was only one place the renegades could have taken the treasure, Colonial House in the interior of the island.


The British regulars drill outside while the renegades stay inside Colonial House.

All things appear quite but that will not last.

A pirate band advance on Colonial House.

Another band Advances.

Chuckaroo's pirate band breaks cover and heads toward the house.

Hidden natives ambush Barry's pirates.

The Natives scatter Barry's party.

Chuckaroo's party charges into the natives to help out Barry.

the melee swirls as both side take casualties.

the Native witchdoctor stands alone against the pirates.

The swift swing of a boarding axe puts an end to the witch doctor.

Barry's team moves up to try and talk to the renegades.

Alex's pirates fire a blunderbuss into the back of Karen's party( yes, that is right we had a woman playing playing a tabletop war game.)

The British Regulars fire into Karen's party.

Chuckaroo's band is charged by another band of natives.

Alex's band charges the British regulars and take one down.

Barry's band enters colonial house and finds the Renegades chained up. Barry's pirates free the renegade and help them rearm themselves. The Renegades thank Barry's pirates for freeing them and then attack.

The Swirling melee continues outside Colonial house with a pirate going down.

The Native push back the pirates  It looks grim for the Chuckster.

This was a game of Pirates ran for the evening session of the March monthly Catawba Gamers gameday. come back tomorrow for the conclusion of the battle.

ColKG