5150 Star Navy

Bruce dropped by to try out 5150: Star Navy by Two Hour Wargames. This game is based upon the "rep" engine common to the THW rules and was designed to fight fleet-level battles.

These gave Bruce's dusty old collection of space ships a nice evening out. The mechanics handle fighters very nicely. The fleet-level ships flew much less tactically than in Full Thrust (which makes sense given the scale) but some of the dice mechanics were not as tight as Full Thrust (although they work fine and make sense in context). This would work well for Star Wars and Battestar Galactica but would not be so suited for Star Trek.

Up next: I'm pushing the final 15mm WW2 guys through basing tonight, then back to some 1/72 ancients. And the club is Tuesday night.

15mm WW2 US mortar platoon

A platoon of 15mm US mortars for the Battle of the Bulge is dry this morning. There are six bases plus a command base.

Nice figures. I have always found mortars to be harder than expected to assemble and I ended up using some blue tack to position everything and then glued them bipod in place.

Battlefront does some nice figures. I haven't seen their plastics in the flesh yet, but the metals are pretty good. I'm off to paint a bunch of bazooka guys this weekend.

Up next: The remainder of this commission is on my list for the weekend. Then I think we have club night on April 2. After that I'm back to some 1/72 Roman light troops for CCA.

15mm WW2 US troops

I painted three platoons of WW2 Americans in winter garb this week. Only one is shown below. Each comes with six bases of rifle, three optional bases of rifles and MGs, a bazooka team, a leader and a mortar team.

These were nice figures, which was a good thing as there were a lot of them to paint! One of the bases is a hero base and it is denoted with a pine tree on the base.

Up next: I have a platoon of heavy mortars drying and then some more bazooka teams, ATGs and company commanders to paint. Hopefully this is wrapped up by the weekend!

Club night March 19

We had seven guys out at the club last night and two games ran. Dave hosted Scott and Chen in a game of War and Conquest in 28mm.

I believe the game ended in a draw and the fellow son the road managed to get some of their troops off the table while the other fellow bagged a unit. Looked pretty!

Kevin hosted Gord, Bruce and me in a game of Spartacus. It was generally a dastardly affair with backstabbing and hosing in abundance. So naturally I won in the end. Actually there was a lot of dumb luck involved in my victory (as usual) but the ending was dramatic so that makes for a good evening.

This week I will be sorting out the MayDay auction. I went home with two big boxes of donations and I'm off tonight to pick up another two boxes to the Smaug-like pile in the basement. This may be the best EWG auction ever in terms of volume and quality. I also have a couple of hundred 15mm WW2 airborne troops to pry off paint sticks and sort into groups for basing. THen likely a few more 15mm WW2 (mortars, bazookas and ATGs).

A few superhero buildings

Finished the basic painting on three HO buildings for superhero action. They need cleaning up, detailing and to have the window-glass inserted yet.

I'm getting close to enough buildings for a game. Now just need to find the time to organize one. I would have though sabbatical would be less rushed than it is turning out to be!

Up next: Some 15mm WW2 American airborne troops are underway and the club is Tuesday.

15mm winter Shermans

I picked up a 15mm WW2 American commission that I'm trying to push out quickly. The easiest part of the lot was a platoon of Shermans with a bit of wintering for the Battle of the Bulge.

Nice figures with lots of add ons. I used a FoW spray primer at the owner's request. Not my usual approach (I prefer a wash and dip over white prime) but the outcome is fairly decent, I think.

A few issues with the decals (need to seal them on) but otherwise a pretty decent build. The Shermans are kitted out to represent a company at war with extra stowage, field armour upgrades and other bits.

Up next: I have three HO buildings finished and ready to show tomorrow. And I have three companies of airborne infantry with block painting done so I'll spend the weekend picking out webbing and weapons! Three companies is a lot of little fellows!

Maurice

Bruce had me over for a game of Maurice Tuesday night. This is fast becoming my favourite horse and musket game. Below you can see the terrain as we mustered troops. Bruce was defending on the far side and the objective was just behind the top-most bridge.

I decided to overload the right side of the board, seize the town and then get into a gun battle (as I had some sort of advantage of lethal fire). So my troops streamed off the hill, across the flats and into position. Bruce countered quickly.

This led to a grinding stalemate where my shooting advantaged dueled with his morale advantage. We spent about 60% of the game grinding here.

Eventually, I knew I had to get the cavalry moving. I had planned to loop around his flank but ran short on time so sent them across the river into the mouth of his guns. In retrospect, I should have just put my infantry here and push across the table where there was more room to maneuver but I seem to have an unfounded fear of cannon.

The cavalry made it across the river (with a formation change ion the fly that actually worked out for once) and then I ate his guns for breakfast. Then I charged against his now flanked infantry. I was running low on time but things were starting to look up.

Alas, I could not break Bruce and he eventually managed to bag a horse unit that broke me. Interesting distribution of luck. I could not miss with shooting during the first part of the game but every unit he bagged lead to a huge loss of army morale as my high rolls carried across to morale rolls.

Up next: Some 15mm WW2 Americans are underway. I do have some HO-scale houses that are done. Then back to some more 1/72 ancients.

Misc. 28mm ancients for sale

ALL SOLD!

As I sort through the hobby room while waiting for the garden to thaw, I've run across another bunch of ancients that I'd like to move on. I've used these as a Carthaginian army but they could also form part of a Greek or Spanish army. I've broken them into lots and I'm simply going to take offers.

All figures are on 60mm frontages. A quick soak and these guys would pop off for rebasing. I will ship each base individually bubble wrapped.

Shipping in Canada or the US on each lot of $15. If you buy two lots, shipping is $25. Three or four lots is $35. This approximates the trade off of weight and size.

Lot 1: There are six bases (24 figures) of metal RAFM Greeks with spears. The guys with round shields have body armour while the guys with oval shields are in tunics. A fair variety of colours in the painting.

Lot 2: There are nine bases (23 figures) of metal RAFM Celts with a mix of spear, swords, clubs and bows. These guys are quite colourful and can work with almost any ancient army as auxiliaries.

Lot 3: There are five bases (12 figures) of metal cavalry and one base of metal lions. Horsemen are mostly Old Glory but there are two mystery figures. The lions are Clan Wars. I used these horse as Carthaginian cavalry but again, would serve in a large number of armies. The lions add an interesting fantasy element.

Lot 4: There are 14 bases (28 figures) of plastic Wargames Factory light troops. These include spear armed troops with light armour (helms and shields), some skirmishers (bow and javelin) and slingers. Very useful troops for a wide variety of armies.

All from a smoke- and pet-free home if that is important. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca.

EWG: Junta

We had 10 guys out at the club on Tuesday. Dave put on a game of War and Conquest (no idea how it went), and there was a Battle of Westerosse smackdown that was still going on as I left.

Bruce put on a game of Junta for Kevin, Gord and I. An interesting mix of card game and mini-table-top battle during coups. As it happens, I won (mostly because of something important that happened in the first round when none of us know what we were doing--but I will take it) and it was a fun game, I think.

Up next: I have three HO-scale superhero buildings completed and I'm working on some 1/72 Roman light troops for CCA. I also ran across a bunch more 28mm ancients that I need to get rid of--I may have time this weekend to put them up here.

1/72 Imperial Romans

I painted up my first box of Strelets' 1/72-scale Imperial Romans recently. Quite interest figures with lots of depth to the sculpts (more like metal). They were a bit of a bear to remove from the sprue, clean and assemble--more than an hour for 48 and some of the poses mean the separate shield is vulnerable to getting knocked loose.

East enough to paint (I see some errors here in the blow ups!) and I think a nice effect for a basic, drybrush, block and dip). I've mounted these on washers for CCA magnetic bases. I also see I'm also, out of flock and wondering who carries it locally besides the accursed GW stores?

Up next: Club night tomorrow then onto some buildings and some more 1/72 light troops (Strelets misnamed Velites box).

15mm WW2 objectives

To fill out a 15mm WW2 FoW army I painted a few weeks back (German, Battle of the Bulge), the owner asked for a couple of objective markers.  The first was an ambulance with some wounded.

Overall, a reasonably effort, I think. Nice enough paint job and the basing matches the rest.

The second objective marker was supposed to be a truck that had gone through some ice. This posed all manner of challenges, given the relatively thin base and my lack of experience modelling items that (theoretically) extended below the surface. 

In the end, I snapped off the integral base and sawed the front end of the truck at an angle. Then I painted it and ruminated about how to pull this off. Drawing on my experience of burying my buddy Demetrios' 1982 Camero Rally Sport in a snow-filled ditch one time (we had to exit Dukes of Hazard style--I recall him being very calm, given the situation), I then cut up some card to represent ice blocks, slapped one some snow and sand and started painting and sealing and painting and sealing.

Anyhow, I think this is the basic effect Brandon wanted. Could be a truck in a ditch. Could be a truck through the edge of a pond or lake. Be a trick to winch out (in my experience)!

Up next: I based a bunch of 1/72 Imperial Romans on washers for CCA. My first box of Strelets and I quite enjoyed them. I have some light troops ready to paint. And we have the club coming Tuesday.