Some 25mm rats!

I picked up a small commission of board game pieces to paint. These are 25mm(isn) figures and are a bit smaller than GW skaven.

First up are some rats. These are nice models with reasonably deep detail that allowed for dry brushing and washing.

Up next: Some heroic mice are drying now and I'll post them tomorrow. I'm also working on a batch of nasties, who will likely be finished on Sunday. The club is this coming Tuesday!

Panzergrenadier in miniatures

Bruce hosted a miniaturized game of Panzergrenaider last night, expanding upon the play test he ran at the club last week. The Allies entered the board on the left and there were Axis forces coming from the bottom and right of the board.

The Allies had to get off the left side of the board in 12 turns and the Germans had to prevent that. I've never played Panzergrenadier before but the rules were reasonably easy to pick up. Below you can see the flood of Allies entering the board (Shermans were indeed cheap and plentiful!).

I managed to tie up the Allied advance in three places with close combat. One I won against expectations (yay dumb luck), one I was in the process of losing (because I was stupid about it) and one I won by feeding troops in (good tactics!) and rolling high (good luck!). Both of us rolled a huge number of snake-eyes (including two in a row for me--about 1 in 1300 chance)

Tactically, this game was a German win (lots of Shermans burned and the drive stalled). Strategically it was likely a German loss--I lost about half my force, which would have been irreplaceable in the context of Normandy while the Allies would have been back with new tanks and troops the next day.

The rules had some interesting features. The combat results table takes advantage of the binomial distribution of 2d6 in a way I had not seen before (although I'm no expert on CRT).

Up next: Some board game pieces are underway and some more 15mm Germans have also shown up. Then back to some 1/72-scale ancients.

15mm artillery and plane

Finishing off this 15mm WW2 commission is a four gun battery from Battlefront.

The unit comes with a command base (gathered round a table) and a security squad.

There are also two forward observer bases.

The final part of this army is a plane. I couldn't get a sharp picture of it on its flight stand.

Up next: Some gaming with Bruce tonight and then I'll be working on another commission: some neat little rats and mice from a board game.

15mm armoured cars and rocket battery

I picked up a small 15mm WW2 commission and managed to finish almost all of it this weekend. These are Battlefront model.

There were a pair of eight-wheeled armours scars. One of them had two turrets so I paint both and will let the owner choose which vehicle he wanted to field.

There was also a battery of four half-tracks sporting rockets.

These were interesting models (I've never painted these before) with crew.

The battery also came with two command cars, a forward observer team and command stand.

Up next: Some 15mm artillery and a plane plus some gaming with Bruce on Tuesday night. Then onto some board game pieces.

January 21 club night

We had an awesome turn out at the club last night with 15 or 16 players showing up. There were eight (I think) war machine players prepping for a weekend tournament. There was also a game of Battlefleet Gothic in the far corner (too crowded to get to for a picture).

My CCA game didn't attract any players so I packed up at 7 and went home to bed. But Bruce's game of Panzergrenadier ran (been awhile since I've seen his micro armour).

There was also a game of Battlelore.

Up next: I have some 15mm WW2 to start paying down some camo on. After that perhaps some more CCA units.

1/72 Celtic Bow

I find myself in the unusual position of having to paint up troops to fill out an orbit! The CCA game I'm planning on hosting Tuesday at the club requires two units of light bow for the British, troops for which I have made no provision! Huh.

Anyhow, a quick rummage through the box-o-spares turned up nine 1/72-scale guys who will do in pinch. Four of these are Dacians (from Dave, I think) and there look like three old Airfix. And then there two mystery figures (the bald ones--well, perhaps a skull cap that I converted to baldness with some thick paint--maybe medievals from the Robin Hood set?).  

It was strange painting in a lot of nine, instead of 50. Quick! And more enjoyable! Here they are based up on magnetic movement trays (how did I get such detail on the trays, you ask...) ready to drive the Romans back into the Channel.

Up next: Club night is Tuesday and then I have a bunch of 15mm WW2 Germans base coated that need some love.

Sturmtigers in 15mm

Two more small Flames of War painting commissions arrived on the weekend. The first are a pair of 15mm Battlefront sturmtigers.

Nice models, with a cool open-top option for one. I don't think I have ever painted a sturmtiger (wow, a "new" WW2 model!). The decals in the box don't match the decals shown on the box, which is a common Battlefront issue. Based on the box diagram, the cross should be centred above the numbers, but there is no way to do that with the decals provided.

The other commission is a small German force with some interesting pieces. A big artillery unit, some cool armoured cars, a plane and some armoured rocket launchers (again, a new set of models to me). These are mostly built and I will prime and base coat this weekend.

Up next: I'm going to run a game of CCA at the club on Tuesday:

I'm pretty sure I have enough figures to miniaturize it but I will need to check on the one unit of British bow--maybe I'll be painting four bowmen this weekend!