July 7 club night

We had about a dozen guys out at the club this week. Larry ran a game of Samurai battles which looked fun.

Taylor hosted a 15mm WW2 game (maybe Crossfire?). The extreme lighting posed some photgraphic challenges!

Bruce hosted game of the new Osprey sailing rules (fighting sail?). The British (foreground) struggled to hold of a gaggle of French ships, despite truly lopsided die rolls.

The French had the wind and used is to close. These was a race to see who could cross whose T but if you can't win an initiative roll, it is pretty hard to win the damned game!

Eventually the lines met and the French crossed the British T, causing untold suffering and declarations of woe.

As night fell, the lines got mixed up and the British bad luck suddenly turned, with a pair of French ships being blown to smitherines. Earlier complaints about the rules being broken were retracted.

Up next: Some 1/72 WW2 Germans and then onto some British desert vehicles.

Some scifi troops and fantasy ships

I've just received a fairly large painting commission for some 15mm WW2 troops so I have pushed a few things out the past few nights to clear off the table.

First up are the last of the 10mm Dropship Commander troops for Craig. These guys are the Scourge infantry in brass and green. I even painted the goggle lenses green, although these may be hard to see in the photo.

I also painted up a long-standing fleet from Spartan Games Uncharted Seas range. I'm not sure exactly where these came from (trade for painting?) but they are iron dwarves.

There are two big ships. I believe this is a chain mail class battleship. I adapted the existing paint scheme and aimed for a blue French look.

The one below is an unnamed battleships. I also have the rule book and will post the lot for sale shortly.

There are three cruisers. I decided to add some decals (numbers, bow names, a fleet insignia) to all of them.

There is also a pair of frigates and a heavy cruiser. I think the heavy cruiser is supposed to have a ram but it was not in the box when I opened it (looked broken off maybe) so I would treat it as having a pair of torpedo launchers on the bow.

Up next: Some 15mm WW2 late-war French, by the looks of things! Then onto some Germans.

Federates States of America fleet

Today I finished up a Dystopian Wars fleet. Base don the a planes, I'd guess these are about 1/1200-scale based on the size of the planes. This fleet is from the Federates States of America and their signature is side-wheel propulsion systems.

The carrier is a double decker (the top level comes off) with four paddle wheels and a slew of anti-air weaponry. The planes looks like a steam-punk version of a Corsair.

The fleet came with a battleship. There were a number of weapons options, but I chose the missiles. Escorting the battleship are three Guilford-class destroyers, each with a brace of missiles.

There are three medium cruisers, again modeled with missiles. And (below) nine frigates.

Finally, there are 30 or more bases of tiny fliers. Apologies these are slightly out of focus. Overall, a treat to paint and very cool looking.

Up next: The club is Tuesday and I have to get my game ready. I am also sorting a very generous donation to our convention silent auction (hint: lots of 15mm troops in many periods).

Dystopian Wars Prussian Fleet

I traded some painting for a fleet of 1/1200-scale Prussian ships from Spartan Games' Dystopian Wars line. Over the last few weeks I've painted them up. 

This is the Rhine Class fleet carrier with three Stolz class destroyers. I wasn't sure how to paint these guys up. I wanted a militaristic functionality that I associate with Prussians (hence the blue/grey colour and camo on the sides of the ships). But I also wanted some spit and polish (thus all of the brass and silver).

This is an Emperor Class battleship with four Arminius class frigates. The sheer number of ships also meant that I needed a painting scheme I could replicated across all of these ships without spending a month on it. And all of the lovely detailing meant I wanted to play up the wooden decks.

Here we have three Reiver Class cruisers and another five frigates. I've tried some close-ups to show the detailing. Below are the battleship and the carrier.

There were also two Geier class bombers. These have lovely clear flight stands but I couldn't get the camera to focus on them while on the stands.

And then there were 17 (I think) bases of these tiny fliers. The base is about an inch-square to give you a sense of the size of the planes.

Up next: I have some 1/72-scale Thebians that I'm block painting and a bunch more 1/72s primed. I also have two 15mm sturmtigers to build and paint (wow, a WW2 model I've never painted before!). Then I will move onto a Confederate fleet to match the Prussians above.