Yearly Totals

Hi Kids, Well, it was a rough year for painting, but not for buying. Although my purchasing is off from prior years, it's still a sizable 781 figs. Painting came in a poor second at 252 figs. Some folks might think I have a few too many projects, too. I'm one of them. This year I bought for FoW, Nappies, TS&TF, Prehistoric Animals, Moderns, Pulp, Spanish-American War (which I insist calling SPAM), the long sought-after Rhodesian Light Infantry, and even a fistful for (Gawd help me!) Star Trek (TOS, of course). The majority of the painting were Zulus, Pulp, Animals, Moderns, and even a 25mm Torpedo Boat (although it fits in the Pulp arena).

Went to a buncha cons; Fall-In, Historicon, Siege of Augusta, Guns of August, Williamsburg Muster, Southern Front, and Spring Fever. Even MACE. Maybe someday you lot will venture more than 15 miles from home. (had to sneak that one in there)

Played some local and not-so-local games everywhere from my basement to the Cage, Charlotte to Raleigh. The Sword & The Flame, Flames of War, Moderns, Disposable Heroes, GQ3 Naval, Nappies, Chassepot & Needlegun, Pulp .45, Price of Glory, Warhammer Great War, Check Your 6 Jet Age.

Who knows what the future may bring? Anybody up for 1:1 scale Naval?

2010 Hobby Review

Time for my yearly hobby review.

My paint has taken a hit from too many projects syndrome. My total of finished painting is only twenty eight models this year. I have a pile of Chinese Warlord troops almost finished, a platoon of modern militia almost finished and a pile of 15mm soviet WWII troops almost finished but they are not getting finished tonight so they will go on next years book.

For Warhammer Fantasy Battle I have added to my Beastmen, Skaven and Dark Elves armies. I started the year working on my Beastman army until the eighth edition release gimped the list is was building to. Later I stared back on my Dark Elves and I am still working on them as my current fantasy army.

For Warhammer 40k I didn't really add any models but worked on my Adeptus Mechanicus imperial guard and Chaos Marine Deathguard. Two projects stared for 40k is the Nurgle Contagions and a Ork Gargant. After a set back casting the wheels for them, the Contagions have made good progress and I hope to get them fieldable for the world largest apocalypse game on January 22nd. The Gargant project is still in collections mode. I am slowly gathering parts and will get it built one day.

For Flames of War I finally finished the British Deacons that I have had since I first started playing FOW. I used them in a North Africa game and made the Germans blink. I am still adding to my Soviets and picking up some Germans to eventually make a 13th SS Handschar army. To support my planned Germans I have made a master and casted up some German half tracks. I will need a bunch of them to field a fully mechanized panzer grenadier company.

For Warmachine I picked up a few more warjacks for my Cygnar army and even played a few games.

For Disposable Heroes I added models to my Warlord Chinese and WWII Japanese. I picked up the Mare Nostrum pdf for the Italians and plan to add some more figures to my Italian Paratroopers. I painted up a bunch of the assault group African militia to act as Grom operatives in a game using the Seek out, Close with and Destroy supplement.

One thing I did do in 2010 is get in a lot more gaming. With the Catawba gamers I played Fire and Fury, Warhammer ancients English civil war, Fireball Forward WWII, The Sword and The Flame and some boardgames. I played in an Apocalypse battle organized by the The Charlotte Area Arms Race. I attended the Game-On GW gamesday at the Cage again this year. I traveled with the lads to Game Connection in Knightdale for a fun game of Price of Glory and to the Basement of heaped miniatures for Chasepot and Needlegun, .45 adventure, and General Quarters III.

Blog wise I averaged one post a week, which is what I aimed for. the most viewed post was my Lasgun conversion post followed by my Adeptus Mechanicus Conversion tutorial.

Thanks for following and I hope for another year of good gaming.

Franco-Prussian War Practice Game

Hi Kids, A couple weeks ago I ran a practice game of Larry Brom's "Chassepot & Needlegun" rules for the 1870 Franco-Prussian War in the Basement of Heaped Miniatures. I had signed up to run the game for the Catawba Gamers at their December meeting, and figured I better have at least a loose grasp of the rules before letting those hardcore gamers run wild. The situation was the mythical French breakout from the fortress city of Metz, the Frogs trying to escape off the board to the north, pushing through the blocking Prussian units. The game seemed to run pretty smoothly, and the overwhelming weight of the more numerous French units slowly crushing the Prussian defense. The Prussian highlight of the game (at least in my humble opinion): Scott Johnson charging the French artillery early in the game, getting blasted on the way in and still managing to wipe out the French battery! Blue Max'es for everybody! I learned a few things, too: I need a bigger table.

Christmas comes to My Little World

After years of trying to find a hobby Christmas gift for me, my Inlaws hit it out of the park this year with an air compressor and airbrush set up. I have been contemplating getting an airbrush set up for years but never have. Now no excuses.

My main plan is to use it for base coating models in the color I want and not the closest color I can find in a spray can or having to use a brush and spend the extra time that involves. I am reading all the paperwork with it before I fire it up and get painting but I will get it going soon.

Contagion Head Piece

I took a day off from work for a long weekend and made some progress on the Contagions.

I did some rough measurements and decided a three inch by three and a half inch piece of two inch foam would be the right size for the head blank on the contagion models. Once again the foam was a scrap piece I found thrown away at a construction site. the piece is a little beat up and dirty but that just adds character to a warped daemonic engine of Nurgle.

After getting the blocks cut out I roughly notched the block to over hang the hull. Then marked the block and cut out the channel for the gun to fit in. Then it was a series of cut and trim to get the blank to set how I wanted it.

After getting the blank to fit over the gun I started to cut it down into a skull shape. I left the cuts rough so that the clay will have a place to grip better when I start to sculpt it on. I also notched the head on the sides to give another place for the clay to grab.

The skull from the other side.

Now I just need to finish the other two heads and then glue them to the hulls. Before I glue them on I have to refill and sand down some of the joints on the styrene edging. Once again my method of "close enough" measuring has left some bad gaps in the edging, but I also stick to the "Who's worried about right angles and square corners on a warped Daemonic Engine anyway?"

These are going to be simple models compared to others I have seen online, but I built these to play with, to be handled by less than careful players and to survive the transport to and from the game with a minimum of breakage. I like the super detailed models and could build them that way if I wanted to but in the end, if somebody has a comment about how these look, I will worry about it when they bring three built and painted contagions to the game too.

Contagion Progress

I have made a bit more progress on my battery of Contagion Daemonic Engines for Apocalypse games.
I based the hull on a piece of one inch foam that I covered in thin cardboard.I then edged the hull with 7.9mm styrene angle from plastruct. The hull gun barrel is a 105mm length of 3/4 inch pvc pipe glued into a cavity carved from the hull. The trebuchet support side is made from some wooden moulding I picked up by dumpster diving at a construction site. The moulding is an off cut of some sort and not square so I ran it through a table saw to trim off the worst of the angle before I cut them to length. The center support piece is about six inches tall. It is only mocked up in the picture with a little glue. I plan to brad them together and eventually add a bit more detail.
I have all the wheels drilled out and after I glue in the dowels I use for axles I can start painting them. I haven't decided whether I will leave the wheels separate like on my plague towers or go ahead and permanently attach them.

Below is the three hulls in a group shot. I have since finished edging the hulls and now have to fill the gaps in the corners.

I still have to carve a head shape dolly for the front of all three and then sculpt the front faces. I plan to sub assemble the pieces for the three trebuchets and then attach them to the hulls. I have a couple ideas for the trebuchet sling and ammunition but need to do a test piece first. When these are finished that should have the basic models done and then leave the detailing and the painting.

World Largest Apocalypse Game

The guys over at the Apocalypse 40k forums are organizing the worlds largest Apocalypse game on 22Jan11. The lads in the Apoc-eclipse game club have decided to join in the fun. Matt has arranged for the club to be able to play in the game at All, Fun and Games in Cary NC. Everybody is invited.

I plan to be there and have ramped up my Contagion production. I have made a bit of progress and will post about it later. I don't know if I will be able to use all of the Plague Towers and the Contagions in the game but I plan to take them and loan them out to other people to play.

21Nov10 Gaming at BOHM pt2

On 21Nov10 I played a couple of games of Disposable Heroes against ChuckarooBob at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures. We used a scenario book from Skirmish Elite called Tanga 1914. We played the scenario "First contact" with my Chinese standing in for the Germans defending and Chuckaroo's British for the British. I barely stopped the British in the first game and we decided to refight the scenario with Me attacking with the Chinese and Chuckaroo defending with the British. The game would last sixteen turns and both of us would get a random reinforcement roll. My objective was to get ten models off of his table edge and his objective was to stop me. I rolled for reinforcements and received a two model company command team. The book is for a different game so we decided that the company commander would give me a one better guts rating. Chuckaroo rolled and received a lorry with a machine gun.



The Chinese start position. I chose to try and make it up the near side of the table.

Chuckaroo set up one rifle squad at the start line right behind the woods I planned to run for. Just out of frame behind the hill is his lorry with machine gun.

His other rifle squad and command section started on the table in the jungle .

The Sikhs move into the woods to the edge and I fire on them with the Chinese heavy machine gun and rifles, they are suppressed and fall back.

The Chinese rifles move forward into the grass.

After a series of rushes the first Chinese rifle squad is all but gone and the command section is running for the woods and cover.

The Sikhs finish of the command section and the lorry's machine guns suppresses the last full rifle squad. The company commander joins the two surviving riflemen.

End game, the Sikh's gun down the last two rifle men and the Company commander orders the rest of the Chinese to retreat.

A much different game than the first one. I still had fun but decided that running for the jungle on the other side of the table may have been a better plan. Chuckaroo getting the lorry mounted machine gun made a big difference in the defence. We discussed the other reinforcement options and decided that the extra rifle squad Chuckaroo got in the first game was much better than the company command section I received in the second game.

Another thing that came from this game was that Chuckaroobob won fair and square. Now he can't complain that I always win.

21Nov10 gaming at BOHM

We had another day of gaming at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures. ChuckarooBob and I decided to play some more Disposable Heroes but with a twist. Instead of our usual equal point value game we decide to use a historical scenario. Chuckaroo broke out a scenario book called Tanga 1914. The book is from Skirmish Elite and is set in East Africa WWI. Chuckaroo set up the table according to the fist scenario "First Contact". The scenario represent the first clash between the British and Germans in the Tanga campaign. We wanted to use our figures and tie the battle into our pulp campaign so my Chinese Warlord troops would stand in for the German defenders and Chuckaroo British ands Sikhs would be the Attackers. The British had to advance ten models off of the defenders board edge and the Chinese had to stop them. The game lasts sixteen turns. In the scenario book there is a random reinforcement chart and I rolled and received a section of six inch trench.





Here is my starting force. I had a three man command section with rifles and two ten man rifle squads with rifles.

Chuckaroo started with a heavy machine gun, a four man command section and two ten man rifle squad. He rolled for random reinforcement and received a ten man pioneer squad armed with rifles.

This is the starting battle field. The Chinese could deploy anywhere to the right of the rulers in the foreground. While the British start on the left board edge and have to cross the table.

I placed my trench section on the hill on the right and positioned a rifle squad in it.

The Command section and other rifle squad start in the jungle on the right side of the table.

The British form up and march onto the table.

The British move into the ditch and get ready to cover the open ground.

I moved my rifle squad up to the edge of the woods to shoot but were hit by British fire and double suppressed. Lieutenant Poc failed to rally them and they had to fallback deeper into the jungle.

The Chinese riflemen in the trench on the hill kept up a steady fire on the British Heavy Machine gun wounding the crew.

Then a good round of shooting kills all the crew and puts the machine gun out of action.

One squad of Sikhs advance up the middle while the other Sikh squad, the pioneers and the command section advance toward the jungle.

Long range fire form the Chinese kill all the pioneers but the Corporal, who continues the advance.

The Sikhs advance up the center of the field almost untouched.

The Chinese rifle squad pulls back from the jungle edge and set up to stop the British advance.

The British commander orders his troops forward.

The Chinese Command section shoots at the Sikhs. The Sikhs return fire leave Lt Poc alone.

Lt Poc repositions back toward the elevated railroad berm.

The Rifle squad stops to make to the Sikhs pay.

The Sikhs return fire and the last rifleman watches his compatriots fall. He doesn't run, he never really liked the guys in his squad anyway but he couldn't let those Sikhs get by with shooting at him.

The Sikhs close in and the last rifleman goes down.

The surviving Chinese rifle squad leaves the safety of the trench to get a better shot as the British break cover behind the Jungle.

The British break cover but Lt Poc lays prone behind the railroad embankment and lays down a steady fire at them.

As the rest of the Sikhs Break cover Lt Poc sneaks back in to the hut and begins to return fire again.

The British Command section crosses the berm and finally manages to put the Heroic Lt Poc down.

The British at end game on turn sixteen. Most of the last Sikh squad was shot down by the Chinese on the hill. Chuckaroo had ten models left but could only get seven off of the table.

My surviving Chinese rifle squad made the last effort and managed to knock out enough troops to keep them from getting off of the board and winning the scenario.

I had a good time playing the game and it came down to the last turn. It was fun and we decided that we would refight it with me attacking. I will post that one up later.

Club Games Day Great War Game

My second game at the GameOnGw Games day at the Cage in High Point NC was a Great War game game mastered by ChuckarooBob. Chuckaroo had devised a scenario based in Mesopotamia were a group of American archaeologists had discovered something big and had called for help to secure the dig site. The Ottomans also heard the call and sent a force to capture it for the Empire. The objectives of the game for both sides were to secure the site and the archaeologists. I tried getting Chuckaroo to change the objective to capture or kill but he stuck to his guns. Unknown to us there were also a set of random encounter that could happen when entering certain terrain pieces. The players were Shaun Watson and his buddy Brian playing the allies, while John Bays and I played the Turks.

The Allied starting force. Two platoons of two squads, a towed gun with two half tracks, a light horse squad, several machine guns and several command sections.

The Turkish Side. Two platoons with three squads, an Askari cannon, several machine guns and several command groups.

The Allies move out. Half of their force moving across the table straight toward the Turks and the other half heading for the objective.

The Turks decimate the allied machine gunners and stop the two artillery half tracks.

The Askari cannon fires a short round.

The Archaeologists rally round the flag and wait.

Direct hit! The allied cannon come into play and destroys one of the Turkish machine guns.

The Light horse round the Turkish flank.

The Light horse charge into the Turks and the Turks stand.

The Askaris turn and form for the charge.

The Askaris charge into the swirling melee trying to save the Turks.

Captain Von Shootsalot moves his askaris into the jungle to get the Sikhs and discovers a LION! Shaun and I roll off and I lose so the Lion attacks the askaris and not the Sikhs.

The Archaeologists fall back to the colors.

The Light Hose go down. Sorry about the blurry pics this is when the batteries started to go in my camera, so the stability function stopped working.

The Sikhs and Askaris fight in the jungle while the Lion attacks both sides. The Askaris that finished off the Light Horse move up to join the fight in the jungle.

Under fire from the Askari cannon the Allies run into the jungle for cover and find a Cape buffalo herd.

The Americans move up past the temple to join the fight in the jungle. The orange dice is the famous curse dice, in case you can't come up with the proper curse for a given situation in game you can roll the dice for a good one.

The Turks make a run for the objective.

The Askari cannon targets the Cape buffalo herd and scores a direct hit. There may have been another target but the shell scattered onto the herd.

The objective is revealed as a STAR GATE! Can you say cross genre.

STAMPEDE! The surviving buffaloes run away from the shell explosion and toward the Askairs.

We ended up calling the game after this. We had started the game in the afternoon out on the loading dock the Cage is in. Great while the sun is up but bad once the sun goes down. The last couple round of the game I was using my camera to see the figures on the table. I had a good time and we introduced a couple new players to the game.