Flames of War 2012 Completion Challenge: Ze Germans

Hey Folks,

Pooch and I were discussing how much Flames of War models we have lying around, being all tardy and unpainted and the like.  So far he has been a machine and cracked through some Kiwi Armour of Mid and Late war as well as Early and Late war Germans.

I, truth be told have not done a whole lot, mainly focusing on Dystopian Wars as well as being diverted by SAGA.  Craig's Day of Days event has prompted me to paint up some Germans, and it was while searching through my collection I realised I had a ridiculous (though not as bad as some: I'm looking at you of the broken arm, you know who you are!) amount that needed to be built and painted...so the Challenge this year is to get this done;

 And note this doesn't include all my Transports that I need to strip/ assemble and paint.

 So for the Panzers this is;

• A full 14 Tank Tiger Kompanie (note 6 of the Forged in Battle Tigers are a mates that I will paint for him) Including two Tiger I (Porsche) that will do double duty in my 653. Schwerepanzerjager Kompanie
• Another Elefant (for 3 total) and a Jagdtiger for 653. Schwerepanzerjager
• 4 Brumbarr's, 3 Mobelwagons and 3 Hummels for the Panzer IV Panzer Kompanie (11 Panzer IV's painted so far)
• 5 StuG's to add to my 5 Painted StuG's to make a StuG Batterie
• 9 Panthers, 2 Jagdpanthers and a Bergepanther to make a Panther Kompanie
• 4 PaK 40 RSO's to go with a Speerverband

For the Infantry this is;

• 5 Grenadier Platoons, 3 with Light Mortars.  This combined with my one painted platoon will allow me to field a Grenadier Kompanie or Sperverband as well as have more than enough MG Teams to transition to a Panzergrenadier/ Aufklarungs Kompanie or Sturm Kompanie as well as Rifle Teams to field a Schirungs Kompanie
• 1 Pioneer Platoon with two goliaths. This combined with my painted Pioneer platoon, and pumped out by some Grenadiers will allow me to field a Panzerpioneer Kompanie or a foot Pioneer Kompanie
• 3 More Fallshcirmjager stands, allowing me to field two full strength squads in Fallschirmjager Kompanie
• 6 HMG Teams and 2 8cm  to add to my two painted Mortars and HMG's so I can field two full HMG platoons and a full Mortar platoon.
• A full PaK 40, Pak 36 (7.62cm)r, Pak 38 and Pak 36 Anti-Tank Gun platoons
• 3 NW42 Nebelwerfers
• Objectives

So this is an awful lot to paint, and I STILL want more (I would love a Czech and a Medium Panzerkompanie) but I really need to get all this done first...and then onto fixing/ painting replacements for my damaged Soviets and the start of some Kiwis!

So, better get cracking then!

Cheers

Jason

A new SAGA has begun: the Normans Invade!

Hey Folks,

Jamie has got into SAGA  and it looks pretty cool, especially after I stole to Rulebook from him yesterday.  A good scrounge through my collection of half started projects yielded great results:   A box of Crusader Miniatures plastic Norman Knights (which I was going to use for Impetus) as well as a box of Gripping Beast Saxons.

SAGA really doesn't need a lot of models to play and is a really simple (but deep) game.  I think I am going to love it, as it slots right in with my "beer and pretzels" play style.

A few hours conversion work and bam: a 5 point army to take Jamie's Vikings on this Monday night;

Crap photo, and its all just grey plastic but the above breaks down to;

• Comes Robert de Comines (Warlord!)
• 2 Units of 6 Knights (3pts of Hearthgaurd)
• 1 Unit of 8 Warriors with Spears and Shields (1pt)
• 1 Unit of 8 Warriors with Crossbows (1pt)

The two foot units are converted from Saxons.  The Spear unit has spare Knight heads and a few Kite shields so they look the part, apart from the fact they are all in chain-mail, so are probably too heavily armoured.  

Likewise the Crossbow unit are all converted, but I ran out Norman heads so used a mix of Saxon heads and some left over Ancient German helmeted heads.  I also gave them all swords, so I figure they can be one of the many Mercenary units employed with the promise of lands in England.

Very much looking forward to painting this, though I also have an army to paint for Day of Days and the Iron Man Challenge, which looks like it will be an Italy Mid War Aufkalrungs Squadron.  I am busy on the scrounge for more SdKfz 250 Halftracks (or US M2/3 Halftracks) as well as some armoured cars...

Cant wait for the game on Monday night!

Cheers

Jason

Laselle: Thoughts on a Prussian Army

Hey Folks,

Pooch has lent me the Laselle book, and that along with Craig and Kent's excellent blogs and progress has tipped me over the edge into playing Laselle...

I am thinking Prussians. Lintmans awesome Prussians are really quite inspiring and after I have done some research they really sound like my sort of army.  Or it could be that I am a "Germanocentric" wargamer, as I will now have Ancient Germans, Thirty Years War Germans, Napoleonic Germans and World War II Germans...

So, this is pretty cool:

I have decided to do the Prussian IV Army Corps at Waterloo and the first storming of Plancenoit.  This was an epic battle that saw the town change hands five times...here is some info on it from the Battlefield-Tour.com

The Battle of Waterloo - Plancenoit



The first Prussians to arrive in the vicinity of the Waterloo battlefield was General Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow's Prussian IV Army Corps. Their objective was Plancenoit that they were to secure in order for Field Marshal Blücher to launch an attack into the French right rear. It was Blücher's intention to secure his left upon Frichermont using the Bois de Paris road. It had been agreed between Blücher and Wellington that if the Anglo-Dutch centre was under attack the Prussians would advance on Frichermont.


On learning of the Prussians approach Napoleon sent Lieutenant General Lobau's French VI Army Corps to oppose them. The Prussian 15th Brigade of von Losthin attacked the French deployed in Frichermont with a detemined bayonet charge and pushed them out. They pushed on to attack the French cavalry and artillery on the heights. The Prussian 16th Brigade of von Hiller pushed forward to take possession of Plancenoit at 16:30 hrs pushing Lieutenant General Lobau's Frenchmen out. With General von Bülow's men in Plancenoit their 15th Brigade linked up with the Nassau Brigade which was on Wellington's extreme left.


Lieutenant General Lobau's French VI Army Corps counterattacked at Plancenoit in an effort to dislodge the Prussians. Napoleon on learning that Plancenoit had been taken sent his 10 Battalions of the Young Guard to reinforce the French VI Army Corps and beat the Prussians back. After some very fierce fighting the Young Guard managed to recapture Plancenoit only to be counterattacked and driven out. Napoleon sent 2 battalions of his Old Guard to stabilise the situation. They attacked with their bayonet and after a ferocious fight when they did not fire a single shot the Old Guard recaptured the village.


The Prussians were still not to be beaten however, and a combined grouping of approximately 30,000 troops under General von Bülow and General Pirch I attacked Plancenoit again. 20,000 Frenchmen were in and around the village. The Old Guard and other supporting troops were able to hold on for about one hour before a massive Prussian counterattack evicted them after some ferocious and bloody street fighting. The last to leave was the Old Guard who defended the church and cemetery. The French casualties were horrific; for example the 1st Tirailleurs of the Young Guard suffered from 92% losses.

So it was Savage.

Using this Order of Battle I have broken down what units I will be doing;

In the Laselle Army Builder list this is the Infantry Brigade + Organic (starts on table) Cavalry Abeitlung choice.  This is because from what I understand, why wouldn't you take the organic Cav? (unless you don't want to paint 40+ horse!)
Each "block' of foot/ horse will be one Laselle Unit.

The Silesian Landwher Cavalry wore Polish lancers' "chapkas", so I will be on the hunt for Polish Lancer models for them.

I am thinking the Perry Prussian Line Infantry plastic box set will be the bulk of the "Line" and "Reserve" units (which at this stage of the "Hundred Days" are rated the same as the Line units anyway) while I might get a box of Warlord plastic Landwher to bulk out the three units I will need.

At some point when I can amass the funds I will be doing a Calpe Miniatures order to get all the Cavalry, Horse and extra Command Figures I will need.  This will be ruinously expensive, but Calpe miniatures are really second to none.

So that's my next project planned out :)

I should REALLY assemble and paint the Thirty Years War/ ECW army I have on the sprue at home first though...

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Big Gunz Mob + Stupid Earthquakes :(

Hey Folks,

As you all know we had two more big aftershocks yesterday.  Once again we got off lightly and fortunately I am on leave so was home with the family already.  Kids were a bit freaked out but are fine now, they continually amaze me with how resilient they are.  Otherwise its business as usual in "Quakechurch" (nice term Pooch)

I'm now paranoid after the February earthquake wasted my man barbie collection so store all my stuff in closed lid boxes, so luckily nothing was damaged. I have even managed to finish off another Epic Armageddon unit, my Big Gunz Mob;

Big Gunz Mob with the Skud Launchas

Looks almost like a Soviet "God of War" :)

I plan to add another Nobz unit when I get some more 30mm washers

And the WIP shot.  Most of the guns are Flames of War 15mm scale German PaK36's  or Soviet 45mm Obr 1942 guns with the barrels cut off.  I have also used a standard Shock Attack gun on a FOW MG Tripod as well as a 40k Chaos Smoke Launcher as a Rokkit Launcha. The gun trails are a mix of scratch built ones and various support weapon bases from FOW.

So another unit down.

This is what I am working towards

• Big Warband (20 stands), 2 Stormboyz - Done
• Normal Warband (10 stands) inc Warlord, 1 Stormboyz, 2 Battlewagons, 2 Flakwagons, Battlefortress
• Big Big Gunz Mob (10 stands) inc 2 Oddboy Soopagunz - Done 
• Normal Blitz Brigade (4 tanks) inc 2 Flakwagons, Gunwagon and Oddboy Zzaapgun. Gunfortress - Done
• Normal Blitz Brigade as above, Mostly Done just have to build the Gunfortress (its next) and a Flakwagon
• Big Blitz Brigade (8 tanks) inc 4 Flakwagons, 2 Gunwagons, 2 Oddboy Soopaguns and 2 Gunfortress's
• Mekboy Stompa Mob inc 3 Stompas, Supa Stompa, 2 Dreadnoughts, 2 Killa Kans - Done

That's 3000pts using the Army Forge Online army Creator Official 2009 Handbook list.  Too 4K I just add;

• Gargant
• 7 Fighta Bommas

As a nice easy bump.

Its probably activation light, but given how quickly units can die, and my Ork's crappy armour I like bigger units.  Its also pretty mobile, and has a shed load of firepower, so its Shooty/ Speedy as opposed to Stompy.  It can still Stomp, but needs to be selective.

I also have taken lots of Gunfortress/ Battlefortress's as while they are, well, crap (no Reinforced Armour and a nasty Critical) I reckon that if I have heaps of them (5) plus the Supa Stompa and Gargant to draw fire they wont get obliterated straight away due to target saturation.

Quite looking forward to get these done and playing a big game!

Cheers
Jason

BFG: Star Wars Rebel Fleet Sorted!

Hey Folks,

I've sorted my valiant Rebel Alliance Fleet for our BFG: Star Wars Project.  Jamie is sorted as well it seems and now all we are waiting on is our toy ships to turn up (and on of the suppliers to email us with the shipping cost) before we can crack into some epic Star Wars action.

We were entirely too quiet at work today so I managed to format up the below Fleet Registry:

I found the BFG Excel file somewhere online and modified it to fit my idea of Star Wars.  Note that in the Registry I have renamed the weapons to make them more "Star Wars-ey" So;

• "Turbolasers" are shorter ranged (30cm) Weapons Batteries
• "Heavy Turbolasers" are long range Weapons Batteries
• "Ion Cannons" are Lances
• "Concussion Missiles" are Torpedo's

I have also renamed all the classes after much research on Wookiepedia but they correspond exactly to the actual Chaos ship classes I have substiuted in. In the end the fleet is;

• Mon Calamari MC80 "Liberty" Class Star Cruiser (Despoiler class Battleship)
• Mon Calamari MC80 Class Star Cruiser (Retaliator class Grand Cruiser)
• 2 * Assault Frigates (Slaughter class Cruisers)
• Republic Dreadnought (Carnage class Cruiser)
• Captured Imperial Escort Carrier (Devastation class Cruiser)
• 5 Nebulon-B Frigates (Infidel Raiders)
• 4 Corellian Corvettes (Iconoclast Destroyers)

Which works out to be around 1750pts.  Jamie will have two Star Destroyers (Emperor Battleships!) so I could find it pretty hard to fight my way through the swarms of TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers - Just as it should be!

Enthusiasm level is Super High. :)

Cheers
Jason

New Project: BFG Star Wars

Hey Folks,

As you may a have seen on Jamies blog we are getting into starship fleet battles using the Battle Fleet Gothic (BFG) rules.  As Jamie called dibs on the Brigade Games "I cant beleive its not a Republic Venator Class crusier"  I thought why not just play Star Wars: Clone Wars as our setting.

Jamie is running the Republic as the BFG Chaos Fleet list as it best suits the Republic ships while I will be running the Confederation of Independent Systems (CIS, but more commonly known as the "Separatist's") Fleet in an attempt to stop the obvious military oppression and aggression of the Republic under Chancellor Palpatine.

This decision had led to many hours trawling through the web looking at model ships to get something that fits the Separatist style.  While I was trawling I first hit upon the Spartan Games release: Firestorm Armada and was in particular taken with this:

Which I thought looked pretty cool, and seeing as Maelstrom had an Easter sale on and I had a bit of money back sitting in my account I promptly ordered a pack of Cruisers and a Battleship.  I was going to use them as Techno Union Bulwark Class ships as per my new favourite wiki: Wookiepedia

One thing I did find was that there is a MASSIVE amount of Starship models out there, and they are all (mostly) reasonably priced.  One problem was that alot of manufacturers didn't specify the actual sizes of the models so a bit of guessing, or an email to the manufacturer was in order.

I came across a couple of model lines I liked, but needed more info on so I emailed them.  I didn't really expect a reply but I was blown away with how quick, and how helpful these people were!  The first one I contacted was Todd from Ninja Magic re sizes and he was really helpful.  They make cool ships like this:

Which I thought looked pretty cool.

Now another line I came across was Cold Navy which has had its miniatures line taken over by Ravenstar (Chris is his name I think) who has his own Blog: http://ravenstarstudios.blogspot.com/ with lots of cool toys.  The ships are quite reasonably priced and he sent me a heap of photos too:

Very nice models, I like the Homeworld style look and they would be PERFECT for BFG, however, then I found this site: Odyssey Slipways Star Wars Ships and I was immediately sold!

We are going with the 1:10,000 scale ships.  From what I can gather its an old, old line gradually selling out and as Jamie and I looked at things gradually went out of stock. So we made a decision, funds were raised and I placed an order tonight for a large chunk of the remaining range that they had.

Basically we figured (roughly) out how the classes would align based on the models:

• 11+ cm long = Battleships: Bigger Imperial Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari Star Crusiers
• 9 to 11cm = Grand Cruisers/ Battle Crusiers: Smaller ISD's and Mon Cal SC's
• 6 to 9 cm = Cruisers: Small ISD's like the Interdictor, Dreadnoughts and Assault Frigates
• 4 -5 cm =Light Cruisers: Various lighter classes
• less then 4 cm = Escorts: Nebulon B Frigates, Corellian Gunships etc

Based on this we worked out Fleets.  The Imperials will be using the Imperial Navy (Battlefleet Obscura) list while the Rebels will be using the Chaos fleet list.  This seems to be the best mix of models to ships and what they should do.

I really, really cant wait for my ships to turn up!  This is going to be super fun :)

Cheers
Jason

The Dangers of Historical Gaming

Hi Folks,

I've been pondering what to do as my next Impetus army, and I have found out that one of the dangerous traps of this historical war gaming lark is that there is just so much history!

From biblical chariot races to massed legions and the push of pike there are so many different periods that Impetus can cater too, and so many new 28mm Plastics coming out that the aspiring historical gamer is literally spoilt by (not for) choice.   I can see the slippery slope that is a magpie like collection and the eventual fiscal madness of collecting entirely metal armies...

So given I tend to suffer from spontaneous army buying I have decided I need a few rules:

1. No more the two armies per period, and if two preferably "adversary armies".  For Ancients this means I have my Romans and my Germans.  I am sorely tempted by Palmyra, Dacians and Sassinids but have to draw the line somewhere!
2. Max size of Army to be 500pts.  Armies larger then this cant really be used on a 6' by 4' table anyway, even with our 8cm frontage, and should contain all the options I want regardless
3. Finish at least 300pts of one army BEFORE starting the next - or they wont get finished!

And if I stick to this, I shouldnt go mad, or be buried under a mountain of unpainted plastic and metal and may even finish the odd army!

So...

I'm sorted for Ancients but alot of people seem to be getting into their Dark Ages armies.  I'm thinking:

Normans seem like my sort of army, brutish and unenlightened (compared to the Saxons anyway!) but undeniably effective :P Plus they should be able to take on Jamie's Viking's on even terms, even with their Shieldwall in place. 

After a bit of list frothing I reckon I will work towards getting the first 300pts soonish.  I thinking;

• Fair General
• 1 CP Milites Upgraded (VBU7) General unit
• 5 CP Milites (Mounted Norman Knights)
• 2 CL Breton light cavalry units with Javelins
• 1 CL Mounted Crossbow unit
• 3 FP Heavy Infantry (Norman Spearmen)
• 1 T Crossbow unit
• 1 S Upgraded (VBU3) Breton Javelin unit
• 1 S Breton Javelin unit

This is 300pts on the dot and VDT 30!  The FP Heavy Infantry are VD2 for 12pts (because they are crap) but they add alot to the Breakpoint for very little cost so should help keep the army on the field after the inevitable casualties when the Knights rampage out of control.

War and Peace Games has lots of Normans and are just over the ditch in Australia so postage shouldn't be too bad (though Malestrom has spoiled this with free postage worldwide, so I resent paying ANY postage now!) so it shouldn't be too long before I can afford to the army.  The Crusader Miniatures models look very well done, though the proof will be in the painting!

Watch this space!

Cheers
Jason

Further Impetus on the Brain: Basic Impetus Adversary Armies Project

Hi Folks,

Further to my Impetus Frenzy I have just ordered 1 box of 10 Celt Cavalry and 2 boxes of Germans with my Birthday money.

I plan to do two "adversary" Basic Impetus lists with the goal of being able to demo the game to people. I'm thinking at least one of my mates would be super keen but I also intend to pimp my wares at the local club once they are painted. Funny that I have only played the game once and feel the need to convert others already!

I have worked out a German list using this guide: Full to Basic Impetus List Conversion

I have also dropped an Auxiliary unit out of the Romans, and demobilised the Balista though the Sagitarii get a slight boost in VBU. IMO (and from what I have read this is a commonly held opinion) the EIR BI list is just a bit "too" good relative to their enemies. Note that the pints value is still higher then the Germans, even with a lower VBU

Basic Impetus Germans

Nr  Unit                                              M  VBU  I  VD Notes
1    CM Cavalry*                               10    5      2    3 Hundreds
4    FL Batavi or Cherusci Warband    8     4      4    2 Impetuous, Large Units
2    FL Elite Warband*                       8     5      5    2  Impetuous, Large Units, Front Rank, Long Spear
3    S Javelinmen                                 8     2      0    1  Javelin

Total VBU: 37
VDT: 18 9
Full Impetus Total Points Value: 145

Notes:
Hundreds - Attached Skirmishers. As Pilum but 2 dice in attack and 2 dice in defence
Impetuous - Must follow up after winning a Melee
Long Spear - Negates the Impetus Bonus of Enemy Cavalry
Large Units -FL may form large units
Front Rank - FL Elites may form Large Units with FL but must be the Front Rank unit

Basic Impetus Early Imperial Romans

Nr   Unit                            M  VBU  I  VD  Notes
1     CM Equites Alares*    10    5     2   3
3     FP Legionarii*              5     6     2   3 Pilum
1     FL Auxiliares                8     5     1   2 Auxiliares
1     T Sagittarii                    6     4     0   2 Short Bow A
1     ART Ballistae               3     1     0  1 Art B

Total VBU: 33
VDT: 17 9
Impetus Total Points Value: 163

Notes: Pilum - See BI Rules
Auxiliares - Negates Impetus Bonus of Enemy Warbands