Productive sleep?

Well, when I should have been asleep anyway.  I finally got to sleep sometime between 4 and 5 this morning.  The net result of which was I had to put of a friends visit and I have felt rather like a zombie for the majority of the day.  Apologies Charles, I'll give you a call tomorrow.

The good news was I got some things painted and have finished the basing this afternoon.  I now have some jump off points for the British finished, just need to do some for the Americans, then the French, then some Italian ones...........  The list goes on and on. :-)  I also got some British trucks done, they have been sat in a drawer for a few years now so it's nice to see them painted up.  they will be useful for any Battlegroup games I play as either transport or supply vehicles.

 So here are the jump off points.  The two at the back are Baueda scenics, one an ammo dump and the other is more general supplies.  The front two are British, a White Scout Car (which needs another passenger added, but I don't have any suitable figure at the moment) and a quartet of captured Germans being marched past a Universal Carrier.  The Scout Car will also be used as a command vehicle for my Battlegroup Overlord British force.  I do need another British one, but I don't know what to do for it.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

And here are the trucks, one piece resin castings from Battlefront, a quick paintjob and there they are, ready to go.  I actually spent longer doing the windows than I did the rest of the vehicle, but I don't think that they look too bad.

Next up will be some 28mm Winter War Russians (20 of) and some 15mm Napoleonic British.  At least that's the plan, unless I get an itch to do some US jump off points, or come up with an idea for a third British one.

I will also make use of some of these newly painted bits on Saturday at the Devon Wargames meet, where I am putting on a 15mm WW2 game for a couple of members to play.

Well, that's it, another short post and I am off now to grab some dinner.  Hopefully I'll sleep tonight, I should do as I only got about 3 hours last night.  Ah well, keep smiling and keep rolling those dice.

Another day.....

Its been 2 weeks already since my last update.  In that time I have been a bit ill, then a lot ill and now I am back to a bit ill again.  The ongoing battle between me and my digestive system is still ongoing, with the medical professionals being less help than a chocolate fireguard. So the war is still being waged.

Wargames wise, I have had a quiet time of it lately.   Last Monday was the arrival of Zombicide season 2, which 5 of the Monday night gang had chipped into.  Unfortunately we didn't receive everything we were supposed to, so no original game or extra figures.  We did get Prison Outbreak and Toxic Mall though, so we could at least play the game.

Scenario 00 was selected (original or what, start with the first scenario in the book) and we quickly set off.  We had to open a door by finding the purple key, which was luckily the first thing we found.  Because of the quick find we all got through that one alive.  In fact nobody even got touched by a zed.  We set up scenario 01, but the playing time was 2+ hours and we didn't get time to finish it.  The games look good and the figures are rather nice, with new poses for the zeds and more survivors. 

Zeds, the start of a horde

We have split the figures up between us, so everybody has a few figures to paint from Prison Outbreak.  I started on mine and the first 8 zeds are done.  I had 5 walkers, 2 runners and a fattie to do first, so here they are.  I am mixing up the skin shades a bit, with some being pink, some fading towards grey and 2 are grey.  It makes them a bit more varied to look at and makes some appear older than others.  How long does a Zed live anyway?

Other gaming has been limited to the previous Monday night, when we played Pandemic and everyone died several times.  Its probably a good job we don't fight infectious diseases for a living.

Irish Guards Shermans

Painting is still ongoing, with more Napoleonic Highlanders being done as well as more Sherman's for ebay.  Still Guards Armoured, but Irish Guards this time to make a change.

I have also just ordered another box of PSC halftracks, to give me the extras I need for my Battlegroup force.  I need to make up a command halftrack and a communication halftrack with the extra radios.  I'm not sure yet what I am going to do, but something will come to me.

Ah well, time to get back to the painting.  Keep rolling those dice.

A slow week, but the outlook is improving

Last week was noticeable for its complete lack of gaming.  Monday night saw the whole group of us go down to the cinema to see World War Z, aka "A movie to show off Brad Pitts long hair".  While it claims to be based on the novel by Max Brooks, the only similarity is the title.  Zombies moving like olympic atheletes and no sign of the Battle of Yonkers or the Singh Square.  Its a fair film I suppose, but it could have been so much better, 5 out of 10 for me.

Due to Gus' poor health and both Nathan and I lacking access to a car through the week we didn't get together to play anything.  This week Gus is feeling better so we have scheduled Friday for a game of Maurice, which will be nice.  Unfortunately Nathan is babysitting some of his grandchildren up in Sheffield, so he is going to miss out.

Painting wise I have been slowly grinding through some bits and pieces.  I got 16 Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age warriors done to replace the Wargames Factory ones I have been using.  Another 18 to go and thats the Romano-British done again.  Then I just need to inspire myself to paint up enough for the Saxons and I will have enough to play a game here.  I also did up my Peter Pig American infantry, the start of a new force for BGO and CoC.  So far I have 38 figures done, which is enough for a platoon.  To mix up the figures a bit I am waiting to start on a Battlefront platoon now, which should give me enough figures to field 2 platoons for BGO.  I have some Shermans waiting to be finished, as well as some Jeeps.  All I need now is the halftracks and I am on my way.

I also got a few German bits done, a 37mm flak gun and an Sd10 with 20mm flak on the back.  No idea why I have them, but I do and they are painted now, so they will join the German troops I have already.  On the pegs now are some French Guard Lancers, the final 20 of a 40 strong unit.  Then it will be onto some 15mm Highlanders for Waterloo.  Does anybody sell Tartan paint yet?

The best result I have had has been a new addition to my painting desk.  After years of making do with a normal palette to mix paints on, I have been forced by the hot weather of the last few days to try something new.  I have had the problem of the paint drying out so fast that it has been problematic trying to paint anything.  My nice big 3 window painting area has meant that the temperature has been slightly excessive.  Basically it makes my painting room a greenhouse as it gets the sun from sunrise to sunset, which is usually a good thing.  Open windows didn't help as there was no breeze to talk of and the fan seemed to exacerbate the problem.  The remedy has proved to be a wet palette.  I have heard people mention them on various blogs but always thought that I wouldn't need it, after all I live in sunny wet and mild Devon. 

A quick search on the wibbly wobbly web and a plan came into focus. Most people use a blister pack that they can reseal but I didn't have any to hand, so I used an old take away container.  Some foam from Battlefront packs, some baking paper (actually cup cake paper laid flat) and a small bit of water and there it was.  Its bleeding awesome and I should have tried it long ago.  The paint stays wet for ages and painting is back on.  Happy smiling faces all around now.

Just to really make the week complete the Lions gave the Wallabies a right stuffing, then a Scotsman won Wimbledon.  All in all not a bad weekend really.

Battlegroup Overlord British vs Germans

Last week brought another chance to visit Stumpy Towers, this time for a game of Battlegroup Overlord.  Gus was attacking with a British Infantry force while Nathan defended with German Infantry. 
Nathans initial line of defence consisted of an Ost platoon spread over the frontline, some in trenches, supported by a HMG, 2 MG bunkers, a pair of Pak 40s and a nasty 88 on the hill.


Gus started of with most of his infantry platoon, his forward observer and 3 Churchills.  He piled most of this force, except the observer, on the right flank as it gave better cover from any long range 88 fire.

Nathan quickly called in some artillery fire and managed to get hold of some 210mm Nebelwerfers.  With much whooshing and banging they came in and managed to catch the infantry and Churchills.  Despite the large number of hits, Gus managed to save almost everything.  He's getting some damn good dice lately.

 To return the favour, Gus called in his own artillery, receiving a barrage of 8" shells in return.  These deviated a bit from the intended target (the 88), but did manage to rout both the Pak 40 gun crew and the German HQ.  A bad turn for the Germans to be sure.

 As the big guns blazed away, the initial British force was reinforced with the arrival of some Shermans and more infantry.

 Another artillery call by Gus brought in some even bigger guns, some US 240mm howitzers this time.  Again they managed to miss the 88, but they did some serious damage to the supporting German infantry and Stugs.  Somehow the Stug commander was destroyed by this barrage, further hindering the German command ability.

 By this point things had definitely swung in favour of the Brtish, as can be seen by comparing Nathans morale counter pile with Gus' in the next photo.

 See, hardly anything there!

The British kept advancing and pushed back the German defenders.

Somehow Gus failed to notice the 20mm Flak gun hiding in the corner, until he drove up to the hedge and the gun opened fire.  Although a Shermans armour is not exactly thick, it was too thick for the 20mm gun, whose shots all bounced off.  The Sherman then crossed the hedge and crushed the Flak gun.

 In a valiant, but ultimately failed, attempt to slow down the advance, Nathan sent sped forward with a recon unit in a Kubelwagen.  After shooting down the road at breakneck speed, the driver slammed on the brakes and the soldiers jumped out, readying their Panzerfaust.  The Churchills promptly opened fire withtheir mgs and pinned them, before doing the same again and routing them.

 Desperate now to cause some damage to the British, Nathan pushed his remaining 2 Stugs forward, but it was too little way too late.

 Even though the 88 managed to exact revenge for the crushing of the 20mm Flak gun, the Germans morale was now teetering.


A final volley of fire killed off the German HMG and infantry on the right flank, the resulting morale chits were enough to see the Germans break and run.  Losses were heavy for the Germans, but only moderate for the Allies.

It was a fun game to watch, the amazing number of 6's that Gus rolled for infantry saves had to be seen to be believed.  Battlegroup rules are pretty good and I will hopefully be playing them soon.

More later folks, as we are all off to watch World War Z tonight.  Keep rolling those dice.

Battlegroup Overlord game and missing spray paints.

Hello again.  Yet another 15mm WW2 game played last Wednesday.  Nathan came over with his new and shiny copy of Battlegroup Overlord.  Gus was meant to be coming over but had a bad day with his ongoing treatment, so it was left to myself and Nathan.

The bazooka takes out a Puma

Battlegroup Overlord seems to play pretty well, Nathan having seen off a British force at the last meeting of the Devon Wargames Group.  This time we played a 500pt game, with his Germans taking on my US Paras.  He had a platoon of grenadiers, 3 Stugs, 3 big armoured cars, a supply train and some mortars off table.  The Paras had 2 platoons of infantry, 2 recce Jeeps, 1 AA 50cal on a jeep and a forward observer with artillery on call. 

Another Puma smokes as a mortar round lands

US Paras occupy the church

 The game started well for the Germans, but as it went on a lack of infantry told and the superior fire of two US platoons wore him down.  A heroic move and fire by a Bazooka team killed his first Puma and, when his second was taken out as well, it triggered a quick slump in his armys morale.  My pulling "Beyond the Call of Duty" tokens three times instead of losing morale points helped.  The forward observer did nothing all game, while Nathans mortars kept banging away and pinning my 50cal and mortar team.

 It was a good game again, different from Chain of Command, but enjoyable.  Nathan would have been better off with 20mm armed armoured cars instead of Pumas, just like I would have been better off with a 57mm AT gun.  Its useful that figures based for CoC also work for BGO, which almost justifies me having 2 full platoons of US Paras.  Well, sort of anyway.

The rest of the week was spent in pain as my stomach rebelled against something I had eaten, but I have no idea what it was.  I did manage to get a bit more painting done though, with some 15mm French Old Guard Grenadiers joining the done list. 

Nathan commiserates by sucking his thumb!

And here is another picture just to annoy Nathan.  What are you doing?

I have a slight problem with painting vehicles at the moment as no one seems to have any of the Flames of War spray paints in mid/late German or British green.  It does mean I can focus on the infantry I need to paint first, but I felt like painting some tanks.  Ah well.

Now this is where I would tell you what we are playing tomorrow night.....but I can't remember what was agreed.  Doh! 

Chain of Command at Devon Wargames Group

Overlord Game

Yesterdays meeting of the Devon Wargames Group saw three games put on.  JJ put on a nice WW2 game in 15mm using the new Battlegroup Overlord rules.  He has done a decent write up of his view of the rules as well.  The only downside was Nathan's "Happy Dance".

Nathan starts his "Happy Dance"

Black Powder Game

Meanwhile the other end of the room saw a Black Powder game, I think set up by Chas.  It looked good and from the players comments it seemed to play well too.  I am a bit concerned about Vince's concentration on the Jaffa Cakes though.

Vince eyes the Jaffa Cakes

Paras in the village

The third game was Chain of Command, put on by myself and Gus.  Ollie had asked us to put on the game after seeing it at Legionary, so he handed Gus his latest defeat in an ever extending run of defeats.  This time we had US Paras (again, I really need to get another Allied force) against German Grenadiers.  Ollie had the yanks, leaving Gus with the Germans.  Both took an extra squad as their support, with Gus also gaining a senior leader as well.

Germans on the hedgeline

Paras on the other hedge

Left flank attack

As the game went on Gus split his force into two, each with 2 squads and a senior leader.  This looked good initially, especially when a squad on overwatch managed to catch a US rifle team as it ran down the road, killing 3 of the 8 men in one volley.  In the end the extra senior leaders in the US force meant they could remove shock more easily than the Germans, plus the concentrated fire of 2 squads decimated Gus' right flank force, causing his morale to go.  The game was, as usual, enjoyed by both players and brought up a few new ideas and minor issues with the rules and forces.  But that is what playtesting is supposed to do, so it's all good.

This afternoon No2 son and I went to watch the latest Star Trek film.  I enjoyed the first one and was hoping for a similar reaction to this one.  Well, I was not disappointed.  I know some people have issues with the re-launch of Star Trek, but the new, dirtier look to the Federation seems more realistic than the "too good to be true" Federation of the older series.  Don't take me wrong, I liked the original Star Trek series, although I struggled a bit with Next Gen.  DS9 was good and Voyager was ok, but the less said about Enterprise the better. 

So I hope your all having fun, keep rolling those dice.