I can see and I AM THE LAW!

 I have finally had my first cataract operation, following a screw up in May that resulted in the op being cancelled. While it was a totally weird sensation to have somebody poking about in my eye, the result is good so far. I can now see really clearly out of my right eye, while my left is still crap. Woohoo! I am happy that it is finally getting done and even happier that the result has been so good already. I now have 4 weeks of eyedrops and behaving so I don't put too much pressure on it but today is a damn good day.  Hopefully the wait for the left eye being done will not be too long.

Gaming wise I have not done much. I did play a game of Quartermaster General : Cold War with Stumpy, Andy and Zob. Andy and I were the neutrals, Nathan was the Soviets and Zob was NATO. We won, primarily because Zob concentrated on "beating" the Soviets, allowing us to concentrate on holding back Nathan's repeated incursions into our areas. It wasn't so much that we won as the other two lost, but I will take the win.

Painting has been limited due to my crap eyesight, although things are now better in that area obviously. My son has decided he wants to play Warlord Games new Judge Dredd game. I was brought up in the 2000AD period and JD was always good to read. So, a few shekels were parted with and he bought the base game. I then ordered Dredd and the Arch Villains box. I have painted the judges up so far, as you can see here. 

Dredd, Street Judge and Rookie

I like the figures, the detail is great and they paint up nicely. I am not a fan of the stupid little cast on bases but that is a minor niggle. I have to decide on a base style for them and it will either involve cutting off the cast base or building up the base to hide the cast base. Decisions will be made soon(ish). Junior is painting the gangers up.

The game itself is pretty good. Higher ranked judges are deadly, but weight of numbers and lucky dice can swing the game for the gangers. I managed to blow away a senior judge with a wounded juve ganger with a sawn off stub gun. I had great dice and he didn't(obviously) but it was a win for the gangers.

Anyway, that is it for now. Take care folks and I'll catch you next time.

Some more Wars of the Roses figures and other news

 Well it's been a while since I had anything to report, but things have been a bit manic. First up my eye operation was cancelled while I was at the hospital, so still no movement on that front. No idea when it will be rescheduled, but fingers crossed for soon.

Then my Mum had a stroke while on holiday in County Durham. It's sods law that it happened while she was so far away, so my sister and I had a panicked over night 6+ hour drive up to help out. My step-father is not in great health either and he panics a bit when things go wrong, so we had to go and sort him out as well. Mum is on the mend and back home in Cornwall, having been informed that she is not allowed to go any further north than Devon now. 😉 

Wargames wise, I have not played much. I did get a game of Trojan Wars Dux Brittanniarum at the Devon Wargames first meeting since lockdown lifted a bit. There is a write up here which is rather one sided as it was written by Vince Hector. It was a great game though and thanks to Chas, Vince and Andy for making the first game back so enjoyable.

I also played a game of Sharp Practice at the Monday night gaming group, where the Confederate forces saw off the Union trespassers and cleared the way to Washington. Sadly no pictures, but it has inspired me to run a campaign for Colin and Panjo to play. The first battle is under way and will be completed next Monday hopefully. While that was going on I played a couple of games of Tumult Royale with Andy and Zob, which is an enjoyable and fun boardgame, well worth the £7 it cost Zob. I came last in the first game but turned it around and won the second. It is quite tactical, more so than I realised in the first game.

Painting has been very slow and the quality has suffered due to my eyesight being so crap currently. I did manage to finally finish off the revolting peasants I have had on the go though. Wargames Illustrated had a nice article about rabbles and rebels in "Never Mind the Billhooks" and I was sold on the idea. A few clicks on the interweb and I had two boxes of Fireforge Games Folk Rabble and a box of Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors on the way. I worked out that these boxes would give me enough figures to make up three units of 24 revolting peasants. Also the Folk Rabble had enough spare arms and heads that I could use them on the Gripping Beast figures to make them match in. 

Once they had arrived I started assembling them, using the extra arms and heads as described and chopping and gluing bits here and there. The figures came with a really nice mix of "weapons" including scythes, flails, a bow and various choppy type things. A couple of slings and spears from the Beasty figures and I had a reasonable mix, at least I think so. So I slapped on some paint. 

Now the quality of these paint jobs are basic to say the least. Most of it is Contrast Paints from Games Workshop because they are easy to use when your vision is blurry. I don't think they look too bad considering, they are only revolting peasants after all.

Unit one. For some reason they have ended up with 5 torches, ready to burn down the establishment. I quite like the look of the chap second from the right in the front rank, he looks like he means business with his two axes.

Unit two, who only have a single torch. No notable figures in this one but a nice mix of weaponry. 

Unit three, again only the one torch. I liked the look of the chap third in from the left, extorting his comrades on while holding a scythe. 

Well, there they are. I now need some more Men-at-Arms as I apparently do not have enough, oh and some more archers. My force is sadly understrength for Saturdays game at the Devon Wargames meeting.

Take care folks and I will catch you next time.

Cold War British and a big cat.

 I can't believe its been nearly a month since I posted anything. My painting mojo did die after finishing the Wars of the Roses figures, but I should have posted something before now. 

So, here I am with another update on my meandering wargaming habit. I have finally painted up my 15mm Cold War British vehicles that were discussed way back in May/June last year. There is still no sign of the former Armies Army models appearing from Scotia-Grendel, so I have bitten the bullet and accepted that I will have to have various sizes of vehicles. So, after slapping some paint about I completed the mix of vehicles I had, adding more tanks and APCs, plus some AT and recce assets.

Team Yankee British Vehicles

All told I did 16 vehicles and a helicopter, more than doubling my British vehicle force.  This lot gives me enough to put on a decent sized game at some point, assuming we are ever allowed to get together again.

Gazelle AH1 scout

One thing I decided I wanted was a Gazelle helicopter as a recce element and annoyance for the Soviets. While it has no armament, it is a good scout and could spot the enemy advance, assuming it doesn't get shot down by a ZSU-23-4 or SA-9. The model is a French HOT Gazelle without the missiles and painted up as British.

Strikers, Fv432s and Chieftains

I needed some more basic elements as well, so 3 extra Chieftains and some additional Fv432s were added. One area I was sorely deficient in was anti-tank guided weapons, so I picked up a box of Spartans and made two up as Fv102 Stikers. These are small and fast, able to hopefully hit and then run before they get spotted and blown to smithereens. They are lovely little kits.

Fv438s

Another anti-tank option is the Fv438, an adaptation of a standard Fv432 APD with a twin Swingfire missile launcher. Nice enough models which at least gives me another option.

Chieftains

I only had a single squadron of 3 Chieftains, so added another. These are big targets that will attract a lot of fire, but they do look nice and pack a big punch.

Scorpions and Spartans

Reconnaissance is very important in Battlegroup games, as it is in reality. So I picked up a box of Scorpion/Scimitars as well. Two were made up as Fv101 Scorpions, with a short 76mm gun. These are lovely little models and will look the part on the table. I also made up a pair of Fv103 Spartan APCs to carry support teams such as Milan or Blowpipe teams.

Scimitars

Finally there is a pair of Fv107 Scimitar light tanks. these are identical to the Scorpions except they have a 30mm cannon instead of the short 76mm gun. 

So, there they are. All I have to do now is paint up a second platoon of British infantry and everything I have for the British will be done. Until I get some more that is, I want some AA support, either a static Rapier or a tracked Rapier system. Maybe a Lynx with TOW missiles too, just to use the gunship token if it ever comes out, maybe an AVRE Centurion too as an option.

Finally I got around to painting this wee beastie.

Warlord King Tiger

I have had this kit sitting on the shelf for about a year now so decided enough was enough, built it and painted it. I don't have any late war Germans so this will probably end up on ebay at some point soon, but it was a pleasant change to do something this big. It's a decent kit and comes with the options of both turret types, I just went with the Henschel turret as that was the most common.

That's the lot for now, stay safe and I'll catch you all later.

Even more Wars of the Roses

 Normal service has been resumed and I am still on project! Those who know me will tell you that this is a miracle, but the Wars of the Roses itch has still not been fully scratched.

So, forty more foot figures have joined the ever increasing throng. Some pikemen and skirmishers this time. Another six handgunners and six archers to be dismounts for my previously painted mounted archers. 

To make a change from Bills and Bows I have also done two units of pikemen, along with some more command and standard bearer figures.

Again, these are all Perry Miniatures plastics, as that is the cheapest way of doing this period. All told I now have 36 mounted and 249 foot painted, all done since Christmas. All I have left to do is base the two cannons and crew I have sat on the table.

I now have more than enough for a game of Billhooks, with enough to give both sides some options and some variety. I think I will call it done there, based on space, time and money I will have to move on to something else. I am thinking I need to get back to my 15mm Cold War project, I still have to play a game of Battlegroup:Northag at some point and I have a lot of unpainted vehicles sat in a box calling my name.

Catch you all later, stay safe folks.

The end is here, at least for now.

 Don't panic, it's just that I have painted all the Wars of the Roses figures I have, everything is done and there are no more. At least until my Perrys order for a pair of cannons turns up.

The last unit I had to do was some Claymore Castings crossbowmen with pavises. These figures are absolutely lovely and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Plus the service was excellent too, 2 days from order to arrival. I ordered three packs, one of crossbowmen, one of pavise and crossbow teams and one of crossbowmen hiding behind pavises. One slight issue was some of the figures are lying down which made them too big for my usual penny bases, so I decided to do some multiple skirmisher bases, with two men trying to hide behind one pavise.  Each six man unit has two multibases and two single figures. I think they came out alright, I like them anyway.

12 Crossbowmen taking cover 

Having taken this picture I decided they could have some extra detail added, so I cut off some arrows, drilled some holes and voila, the reason why these mercenary Frenchies are hiding behind their big shields.

Added arrows just for some fun

Like any self-respecting wargamer, I decided to get the whole force out and take a group shot. So here they are arrayed for battle. 36 mounted and 221 foot, ready for battle. That'll do for a small scale skirmish game I think. The whole lot has been painted between Christmas and now, so that's pretty good for my own stuff.

My army deployed for battle

So now I need to find something else to focus on. Maybe some of the WW2 desert figures will be next? Or some Persians? Who knows.

Take care folks and I'll catch you next time.

Still on project, which is a miracle!

I am still getting on with my Wars of the Roses project, which makes a change. Normally by now I would be on to a third project leaving partially finished figures behind me. So here are the latest offerings. First up are another two foot blocks, each with 12 archers, 12 billmen and 3 command figures.

That gives me six blocks each of a similar make up, which should be enough for a decent sized game.

I also finished another unit of mounted Men-at-Arms, giving me two units of them as well now. 

The total force is now 168 foot and 32 mounted. All I have left to do now are four mounted figures as commanders and 12 crossbow men. I made a slip yesterday and ordered two Perrys cannons as well though. 

I may need to get some Irish kerns just to give some other options. 

Anyway, there they are. I am going to set up and play a game tomorrow, just so I can get all the figures out on the table. 

Stay safe folks

First post and painting of 2021

 Happy New Year to you all, I hope it's better than last year. Although it's not off to a great start with a new national lockdown here in the UK. 

Anyway, fingers crossed and all that. I have been a bit productive over the Christmas break, cracking on with the Wars of the Roses figures I mentioned last time. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I painted a few of the Perry Miniatures figures back in 2012 for a Christmas game at Devon Wargames, sadly they were sold on some time ago due to lack of use. So now I am painting more of the same again. 

So, here we go. Just the infantry done so far but there will be some cavalry done at some point. All these figures are Perry Miniatures plastics, bought 2nd hand at one show or another over the last few years. The revival in the period for me has been caused by the arrival of the Never Mind the Billhooks rules. These rules use units of 6 foot for skirmishers, 12 foot for everything else and 8 cavalry for mounted units.

First we have 24 foot men-at-arms, 6 hand-gunners , 4commanders and 2 standard bearers. That's enough for 2 units of men-at-arms, a unit of skirmishers and up to 4 leaders. 

Next we have the blues, blue and yellow on the left with blue and white on the right. Each group has 12 archers and 12 billmen, along with a 3 man command group with matching flag. I do need another musician for the blue and white unit though. An extra man-at-arms has stood in for now.

Finally, for now, we have the red and black/yellow units. Again each has 12 archers and 12 billmen with a command group of 3 men, both with musicians this time. That lot gives me about 150 points worth of units, so most of the way to a 100 points per side game.

All told that is 144 figures finished so far, with another 52 foot and 40 odd mounted waiting to be painted. The extras will add another bill and bow combined block, an extra unit of archers, some crossbowmen and a couple of units each of light horse and mounted men-at-arms. That should be enough for a small scale skirmish I hope.

Adios for now folks, stay safe and I will catch you next time.

More Vikings

 Just a quickie (ooh-eer missus).

I painted the other Vikings from Victrix, so here they are.

30 Victrix Vikings

That makes 64 including the Celtic fanatic Berserkers. Hopefully I will get a game in this week now that lockdown has finished.

I also painted some villagers and militia type figures as targets for the raids.

24 Assorted Peasants

I think they are a mix of Gripping Beast and Black Tree miniatures, I picked them up at some of the local shows last year, so it was nice to get some paint on them.

Next up will be either Wars of the Roses figures or some 15mm Cold War, it depends what takes my fancy tomorrow.

That's your lot for now,  stay safe folks.

Some more Mortal Gods figures plus a few Vikings

 Hello again to my reader. I hope you are well and getting more gaming in than I am. 

I have cracked on with a few more figures for Mortal Gods, so here are a couple of pictures.  Along with the usual historical Greeks Footsore have also added myths to the range, so I added a few mythical figures to the collection. First I did a few Athenians as additional troops to face the Spartans. Only 8 so far, although I will add some more at some point.

Eight Athenian Hoplites

Then I did up some mythical figures, starting with Jason and a trio of Argonauts. I tried to make them look like the classic image from the 1963 film, which I watched several times as an impressionable young lad. Nice enough figures, although the Argonauts are noticeably larger than the other Greek figures and Jason towers over them all.

Jason and a trio of Argonauts

Hoplite, Argonaut, Jason

As you can see, the mythical figures tower over the poor Spartan. Ah well, they will do for the game. Maybe size does matter in Mortal Gods. Talking of towering figures the main faction I am doing first is Zeus' followers and creatures. This force includes the mighty cyclops, minotaur and thundering Centaurs. I have a cyclops and minotaur now, although not the "official" figures as I couldn't justify £100 for two figures. The Footsore cyclops is £65 and the minotaur is £35. That's a bit excessive to my mind, so I started searching for proxy figures that would be imposing enough for the game.

The official Cyclops is a sizeable figure standing at 105mm(4 inches) to the top of his head. It is very reminiscent of the cyclops in the 7th Voyage of Sinbad movie from 1958, but that is not really Greek history.

In Greek history the cyclopes were giant man like creatures, brothers of the Titans and creators of Zeus' thunderbolt, so I wanted a more human looking figure. Luckily I found what I was looking for on Amazon and it even came pre-painted and just needed a base. Its bigger as well at 115cm tall!

The Mortal Gods minotaur is also a sizeable figure, although at 62mm it is no match for the cyclops.  

    

However as the cost was prohibitive again so I searched some more and found what I wanted on eBay. One quick payment later and I had what I wanted. A minotaur from the Mythic Battles boardgame, available for the grand total of £8. It is a bit smaller at a mere 50mm tall, but that still makes it a lot bigger than the Greek figures. So, here they are along with a priest and a champion of Zeus. A nice little add on and gives a few more options for the game when I do get to play it again. I do need to get some centaurs, sadly they are £15 each from Footsore so Wargames Foundry are looking good for an order soon(ish).

Cyclops, Minotaur, Priest and Champion

In addition to Mortal Gods I have also been painting a few figures for a Viking raider game that my son wants to play. He has watched Vikings on Amazon recently and wanted to play something along the lines of raids and warband building. He found a game called Age of Blood online and promptly got me to promise to play it with him. A quick purchase later and I had a bag of Victrix Vikings to paint. So here are the first half of them, along with four slightly modified Celtic fanatics as berserkers. Now we just need lockdown to end so we can get a game in.

Victrix Viking types

So that's the lot for now. I do have another 30 Vikings to put together and paint but we have enough for the game now. I have some villagers ready to be painted up for it though, so they will probably get done next. Then it is back to the 15mm Cold War vehicles I have sat waiting to be painted.

Keep safe folks and I will catch you next time. 

Greeks for Mortal Gods

 Hello again, welcome to lockdown 2.0 and all the joy it has brought us. 😕

A while ago(last November) I took the offer of Mortal Gods on sale, along with the Athens and Sparta supplements. Mortal Gods is a skirmish level game, if you have not checked it out then please do so as it is a fun game and plays very well. There are much more detailed reviews elsewhere so I will leave it there. The total package should have cost £120 but the offer was for the lot for £70 so I had it, plus the Persian cards for variety. The boxes came with 76 assorted Greeks in 28mm, mostly Victrix plastic figures but the supplements each came with 3 metal figures as well. 

Lockdown 1.0 gave me the chance to start assembling the figures and then paint was slapped about. To get me in the zone so to speak I started with some plastic Hoplites I bought many moons ago from Immortal Miniatures, they are now available from Warlord Games. For some reason I had 8 of these in an part-painted state for several years. So here they are to start it all off.

8 Immortal/Warlord Hoplites

Then it was onto the Victrix and Footsore figures. I started off on some generic Hoplites. I did 15 in armour first, trying to vary their outfits as befits a citizen military force. The shields are all done with LBMS/Victrix decals as I am not painting that many individual shields. Also they look really nice.

Armoured Hoplites

Then I did some unarmoured Hoplites, same principle as the others just less protection. I did up a few as leader/heroic types as well. Plus I painted the Athenian character figures I had. So here are 9 unarmoured hoplites and 4 heroic individuals.

Hoplites and Leaders

After the heavier troops it was time to start on some lightweight types. I may have got a bit carried away with the number of peltasts I did, but I like them in the game so I did quite a few. There are 16 of these annoying javelin men.

Peltasts, peltasts everywhere

Then it was the really light troops, some slingers and javelinmen to supplement the others. I did 6 of each as they tend to be an extra you take to make up the points. An irritant rather than a game winner.

Skirmishers

Finally so far I did some Spartans. Only 20 more figures but they have proved to be pretty tough so far. There are 9 each of armoured and unarmoured hoplites plus a couple of metal leader figures. 

The Spartans are coming!

So there they are so far, 84 figures in total done and ready to go. I still have some more to do as Athenians (spit) but the mojo has gone for the moment. I think the lack of gaming this year has had a major effect on the productivity, it's hard to get inspired for something you can't play.

I hope you lot are having fun anyway, hopefully Christmas will bring some cheer to a pretty shite year.

28mm Chain of Command 1940 additions

Hello again folks, it's time for another ramble from damp, windy Devon.

I was looking back through my previous posts and realised I had not shown you my latest addition to my 28mm Chain of Command forces. I previously showed the French infantry and German infantry with their relevant support, so now it is time for the British and German Pioneers. These were all done last year, but I completely forgot to mention them.

So, without further ado, here are the British. A full platoon with enough figures to make either the earlier 8 man squads or the later 10 man squads. These are a mix of old Blitzkrieg Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures British Infantry. 

British Platoon

Support for the British is varied and fairly interesting. First up is the ubiquitous Vickers MG and another 2" mortar. The Vickers gives some heavy firepower to add to the accuracy of the Bren guns while the 2" mortar is always useful with it's smoke laying capability. This can be used to either screen your advance or to block line of sight, allowing you to concentrate fire more effectively. Also in this photo is a mighty addition to my French force in the shape of a 37mm TRP gun, which makes a change form the more useful, effective and pretty 25mm and 47mm AT guns. It's an old WW1 weapon that was used as an ad-hoc AT gun due to a shortage of the 25mm AT guns in the French army. The British can also use the 25mm AT gun from the French force as some were included in the Divisional AT platoon.

Vickers MG, 2" Mortar, 37mm Death Ray Gun

Some armoured support now, a bit lighter and a lot quicker than my Matilda II. At the back are a pair of Vickers VIb light tanks, used by the Reconnaissance Regiments attached to the infantry Divisions. Not a particularly capable tank, but it is armoured and can nip around and annoy German infantry quite nicely. In front are a trio of Bren Gun carriers, 10 of which were in each infantry battalions Carrier platoon. It was quite nice to find these instead of having to use the later Universal Carrier. Two have just a Bren Gun while the other has an additional Boys AT rifle. The crews are chopped up Warlord British infantry and I use these as mobile MGs, shooting around at high speed and trying to pick off isolated enemy units where possible. These are all 3d printed as well but from Butlers Printed Models this time. They are lovely models and are a pleasure to paint up. They also do the Cavalry Carrier, which is a nice touch and may be added to the force at a later point.

Light Tanks and Bren Carriers

At some point I probably need to get a 2pdr AT gun but apart from that I think my force is done.

To give the Germans some other options I painted up a Pioneer Platoon. There force structure is very different from the standard infantry with 3 large squads of 16 men each. I have painted up enough options to allow them to have all the choices, wire clearing, mine clearing, demolition or flamethrowers. These are Warlords Pioneer figures, which are their Blitzkrieg Germans with some metal bits and pieces. They look the part and make a nice change from the standard infantry.

Pioneers, ready to blow stuff up

I also added a couple of Panzer 38t's, the Czech tank used by Rommels 7th Panzer Division. A reasonable gun for 1940 and adequate armour makes these a decent option for the Germans.

A pair of Panzer 38t's

The final additions are more German armour, a StuGIIIA and a mighty Panzer I. There were very few StuG's about in 1940 as only about 30 model A's were made, but they were about so I got one. It is kind of limited as the A model didn't have any machine guns fitted, just the 75mm gun. The Panzer I is really only an armoured pillbox, it has no anti-tank capability and the armour is thin. Still, with the Panzer II and Sd222 I already have I think the Germans have enough support options.

StuG III and Panzer I

So, there they are. I am off out now for the last Monday night game before Lockdown 2.0 kicks in. Stay safe folks and I will catch you all next time, where there will be Greeks and plenty of them.

Wargaming via WhatsApp and tiny little tanks

Hello again. I have managed to get a wargame in, although it was on my phone rather than in person. My mate Nathan , aka Stumpy, set up a 28mm Napoleonic game using the newly released Vitoria scenario book for General d'Armee.

Nathan just about managed to put together enough figures to play the game........just kidding, he's got so many Napoleonic figures he can probably redo Waterloo on his own.  I had the Allied force while he took his French out. I won't go into any detail as part 1 is on his blog and part 2 will be up soon, hopefully. It was very enjoyable, even if it did break Nathan with all his running about moving everything for both sides. It took 3 sessions to finish as the poor old fella was having to do everything except roll my dice for me. The scenario is interesting, with the Allies attacking a nearly equal sized force but having better, potentially, command.

My force was 11 regiments strong, including 4 veterans and only 1 reservists, with 1 battery and 14 bases of skirmishers. Of these 1 brigade of 3 regiments was in reserve until turn 5.. The French also had 11 regiments, only 1 veteran and 4 reservists. They also had 1 battery and 12 skirmishers, but the 4 reservists were all in reserve until Nathan had an adverse result on a Brigade morale roll. The game is also limited to 10 turns, so the Allies have to press on and get in there quickly. So please pop over to Nathans blog and have a look, it was a good battle and it might make him hurry up and post the final part of the battle. A final big shout out to the 8th Cacadores, they gave his French one hell of a beating!

In other news I have put some paint on some lead. It was a struggle, painting them in 10 minute slots every couple of hours to try and prevent the headaches, but they are done. Huge they are, massive even! Yes, I painted up some of my long unpainted 6mm Cold War vehicles for future games of Battlegroup Northag or the Cold War variant of IABSM. Over 100 vehicles, a mix of British, American and French, plus some generic infantry.

Bradleys, some Infantry and mixed British vehicles

 First up is 15 Bradleys, 2 Sultans, 1 Spartan, 1 Fv432, 2 Land Rovers and 20 bases of infantry.

Warriors and Fv432s

 Then 20 Warriors and 24 Fv432 APCs for the British army.

AMX-30, AMX-10P, AMX-13 and Shanines

Finally some French with 4 AMX-30s, 24 AMX-10Ps, 6 AMX-13 and 2 Shanine SAM vehicles.

I still have some Challengers, Scimitars etc to paint, but I am in no rush as I already have enough of them for any scenario I will do.

So that's the lot for now, I am off to do something more or less productive. Take care folks and keep playing if you can.