More 1/72-scale WW2

I continued my rebasing efforts with some 1/72-scale WW2. These are some late war Germans painted by Tim in Saskatoon. There is a mixture of metals and plastics (some of the MGs).

Getting new units ready goes much faster when you don't have to paint them! Many of the metal sculpts I recognize from painting the same figures as a teenager in the mid-1980s. Tim has an amazing hand as a painter.

I'm also working on doing a bunch of individually based figures to act as casualty counters.

Up next: It is the club tomorrow and I'm keen to play something or other! Then more 1/72 Germans and perhaps an Italian tank and some troops.

Longstreet in 15mm

Bruce hosted the sixth (?) game of our ACW Longstreet campaign on Tuesday. The south was tasked with defending a railway embankment and protecting its brass band from the Yankee horde.

This very much felt like an ACW scenario. Bruce did his best to screw up the sight lines with terrain placement but I managed to get space to deploy my cannon (firing to the left of the corn field). The rest of my force was deployed to cover the flanks with a unit in reserve.

The centre was a pointless cannon duel, except Bruce lost a whole battery due to some lucky dice. His main thrust was against the right flank of the southern forces.

I did my best to thwart him with card play and slow him up so my reserves could arrive. I also swung one of my units out to create a kill zone (the only troop movement of the day for the south). At this point, Bruce had burned a lot of cards and then he ran into a streak of bad luck with the dice.

His first attack bounced, I sniped some some and then his second attack bounced. He had the right strategy but the cards and dice thwarted him. I felt kind of bad to see see the flower of Yankee youth dying in such numbers.

Eventually he made a move on the southern left, which also went poorly. To his credit, he clogged up the reserve pathway with bad terrain (jerk!). He eventually knocked the southerners off the rail embankment but then got hit with a cross fire and lost units. Out of cards, he conceded.

It had been awhile since the south won a battle and there was much rejoicing and marrying of cousins. I think the south lost two bases? This should help as the campaign mechanics are now really favouring the north (next battle is in the summer of 1864).

WW2 and AWI

I was moving a bunch of junk off my painting table in an effort to restore order. First up is a pair of 1/76-scale Matilda's from Airfix. Nice models.

They round out my WW2 desert armour collection for the British. A nice mix of models and manufacturers.

Then I jumped to some 54mm AWI casualties. These guys have been awaiting paint for awhile.

Mostly because these guys look a bit barber-shop to me... .

Up next: Some more 1/72-scale WW2 including some Italian tanks and infantry and German repaints.

More HO-scale buildings

I finished up a pair of buildings on the weekend. First up was this brownstone. This was a lovely kit retrieved from the stash in Terry's crawlspace. Lots of nice details.

I particularly liked the laundry line for the roof-top. It makes the building look lived in.

The front stoop is also nicely done (with 20mm WEG Star Wars figures for scale).

I also put together a small modular kit. Small buildings are super useful so I was happy to find this garage in the pile Terry sold me.

Up next: I can't make the club this week (conflicting meeting). I was going to build two more houses but the resin kits had a warping issue that was not worth fixing so instead I tossed them and built some tanks.

Tank and building

A mixed post today. I started with a 1/72-scale Grant from Airfix. Arrived NIB (and bagged) with a part missing. Fortunately I managed to work around that! 

It turned out okay--wish the hatches opened and had crew. Fits in with the 8th Army well enough Scrounged decals from a Crusader kit Terry sold me.

I missed the autumn model train swap-meet this year but still have plenty of buildings courtesy of Terry's crawlspace. I built three and managed to get one painted.

This is a modular warehouse and went together like a dream. Not sure where the decals came from. Thought I'd drop some 20mm Star Trek figures in for scale.

Up next: I've got to more buildings underway and then I'm not sure. I have eight 54mm AWI guys that have been patiently awaiting some paint. Plus a tonne of 1/72-scale WW2.

Struggle for New France

So I swung out to Bruce's last night and he hauled out two more FIW games he had laying around. We played Wilderness Empires (a "new" game by Worthington Games) a few weeks ago and we wanted to compare. First up was The Struggle for New France.

As we were going though the rules, I kept thinking "this is really similar to Wilderness Empires". But we wrote that off as "same war, same level of abstraction, likely similar feel". Then we started playing and damned if it wasn't exactly the same game excepting a slightly different (and better) combat mechanism and different way of tracking troop strength.

As we played, we speculated about a design duo break-up and maybe duelling products. In the end, the British won, sacking Louisburg and holding off a rampaging Montcalm.

So I get home and look and the same guy designed both games. Worthington games just re-treated Struggle for New France (2013) as Wilderness Wars (2015) at twice the price. I guess it was a case of buyer beware on the kickstarter of Wilderness Wars (although this was never mentioned to my recollection and isn't at all clear on the Worthington website) but I cant help but feel like I got screwed. Last Worthington Games purchase for me!

Then Bruce hauled out Wolfe and Montcalm which was a campaign engine in his Habitants and Highlanders rules. We played a quick game--not completely to conclusion but far enough to see the British had it after driving up Lake Champlain.

Up next: Some HO-scale buildings and a 1/-72-scale Grant are underway.

Last of the Star Wars

I finished off this Star Wars Commission. There were only six figures left but they were te hardest in terms of knowing what to do with them. First up were two space tigers of some kind.

They are slightly different colours (this difference doesn't show up that well in the picture) and were beautiful sculpts. Note the extra eyes.

Then there were four of these guys (two painted the same and two differently). I arsed around for awhile trying to mimic the colours of Bossk from Empire and finally decided screw it and went with green. I left the skin shiny but the clothes are matt.

Up next: I'm off to Bruce's Tuesday to game and, in the meantime, am putting together an HO scale building. I expect more buildings will follow and I'm enjoying the modelling.

Sea Kings at club night

We had 12 guys out at the club last night and four games running. I host two games of Sea Kings, which is an abstract viking game. I enjoyed the game (mechanics moved so turns were quick) but the consensus was it likely needed a few more players (we had 3; 4 or 5 would have been ideal). 

Overall, another "meh" offering from Worthington Games. Given that is four mediocre games in a row from them, I'm inclined to take a pass on their future games. At $70 a game, the product just needs to be better.

There was a game of Battletech (I think). Dave also hosted three games of Memoir, with the Japanese putting a beating on the US.

And there was a fantasy Dungeon-crawl game that I didn't get to look to closely at.

Up next: Hopefully the last of the Star Wars guys this weekend then onto some HO-scale buildings.

Star Wars good guys

I am almost done this Star Wars commission (six figures left) and today I'm showing off the good guys. These were some nice sculpts with lots of raised detail and animated poses.

The wookie has come out a bit blonder in the picture than in real life. And I see I need to tidy the edges of the bases.

I fiddled with the light sabre a couple of times (including a disastrous attempt using metallic paint). In the end, I went with white base, electric blue paint and a gloss sealer. I also did some a few highlights showing the light as reflected.

Up next: It is club night this week and I hope to bring a vikings game out. I also have a half-dozen creatures left on the Star Wars commission. Then I'm not sure what to paint. Maybe some buildings?