Devon Wargames, painting, gaming...............

Back again with another load of old crap.

Saturday was the latest gathering of like minds, which is a scary thought,  at the Devon Wargames Group.  Three games were played, 28mm English Civil War, 15mm Napoleonics and 15mm WW2.

Things begin at Marston Moor

Marston Moor was the basis for the ECW game, catering for 8 players and involving much toing and froing.  It looked like a fun game and the players seemed to enjoy shouting at each other.  Look for a report soon on the DWG blog.

Contact in the centre

JJ put on a typically beautiful 15mm Napoleonic game using figures from his ongoing Talavera project.  The rules used were apparently called DBJ, not sure if that's for De Bellis Jon or Death By Jon.  Again the players looked to be having a good game, even if they did get their units a bit mixed up.

JJ's Talavera game

If you want inspiration on what you can do with 15mm figures and some spare time then check out his previous posts about the Talavera project, they are worth looking at.

These are not the gun's your looking for

Brits appear to steady the line

Unhappy Spanish Cavalry

German's advance through the woods

The final game was a 1940 Chain of Command game put on by me.  Four of us played it, Nathan and Christopher took the attacking Germans, Jack commanded the dug-in Highlanders and I took the French.

Each German player had a platoon of infantry (4 squads of 10 men plus a 5cm mortar) plus  2 Pz IIs, 2 Pz 38ts, 2 Sd222s, a tripod MG and an engineer section in support.  The British platoon(3 squads of 8, 2" mortar and Boys AT rifle) were supported by a Vickers MG team and a 2pdr gun while the French Platoon(3 squads of 12) were backed up by a Hotchkiss MG and a mighty 25mm AT gun.  The allies also had a carrier section(3 Bren carriers) and a single Vickers VI light tank as reinforcements. 

Defenders appear in their entrenchments

2pdr appears, not that it did much

French 25mm gun gets hit

The Germans had to break through the defences, but failed miserably.  The Brits were hard hit by the end, with two sections routed and the third pinned down.  All their support was still there though, although the 2pdr had run out of ammo without killing a single enemy vehicle.  The French were in a stronger position, with one squad at half strength and pinned.  The AT gun was slightly battered and the MG was pinned, but the remaining squads weren't even deployed.  The Germans took heavy losses due to remarkably accurate fire from Jack's Highlanders.  It did help that he managed several multiple phases during the game, one time he had 4 in a row!  This really scuppered the German's advance and prevented their infantry from ever getting going.  Low point was Jack's 2pdr firing 10 shots and only damaging a Pz38t once and an Sd222 once.  This was despite hitting on 5+ on 2d6 as they were in the open AND rolling 5d6 against 2 or 4d6 for penetration.  Not good at all, but the Boys AT rifles made up for it.  The infantry one knocked out one Sd222 and kept the other one and both Pz38t's pinned at the edge of the table.  The carrier one fired 2 shots and caused both PzII's to retreat off the table.  Fear the Boys, for it is mighty!  Anyway, the game went well, even if the German's never really got into the fight.

I have managed a bit of painting too, so things are not going too bad.  First things I have done were a couple of 4Ground 15mm terraced buildings that I have based and detailed to improve how they look on the table.  At least that's the plan anyway.  First one was a definite learning experience and took far longer than the second.  The buildings have been painted up to cover the scorch marks from the laser.  They were then attached to a hardboard base with some pavements and back gardens added.  I cut the board too big and was left with some space at the end(measure and check before cutting), so I added a small allotment to fill that.  The walls and fences are 4Ground too, with plants from various sources.  Some are just grass tufts while others are railway modellers scenic bits.  The garden paving is Wills sheets of various types.  they are a bit overscale but look ok and will do.  I think they came out well and will soon be joined by some more as I have many buildings that need doing.

 The second terrace was based on a correctly cut bit of hardboard and has more grass in the gardens.  As I said, it's been a learning experience.  It's been a fun exercise though and will be repeated soon(ish).

 I also managed some 28mm WW2 Germans, a 32 man platoon of Bolt Action plastic figures for eBay.  Got to pay for the MOT on the car, which cost a bit more than we hoped for.

Final things were some entrenched 15mm WW2 British and French infantry.  The figures are all from Skytrex, but the French are really Germans with Peter Pig heads fitted.  Nobody does dug in French troops.

Well that's your lot again.  I am off to paint some more on the French tanks I am doing before calling it a night and going to bed.  Off to Torbay Hospital tomorrow for the op on my stomach, assuming they have found me a bed as I have to stay in for a day or two.  Have fun while I'm offline, I know I won't.

Legionary 2015 and other random stuff

Been a bit tom-and-dick so apologies for the lax postings.  Luckily things will hopefully be improving in the sickness area as I am off to get fixed(hopefully) on Tuesday.  Wish me luck.

Last week was the annual Exeter wargames show, Legionary 2015.  Excellently hosted by the Exmouth Imperials wargames club as usual, it proved to be a cracking show and I spent way more than I planned too.  There is a nice set of pictures on the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy website, so pop along and have a look at much nicer pictures than the ones I take.

Nathan and I put on a game of the forthcoming Cold War Chain of Command game.  This is in an early stage of playtesting and we are luckily involved to breaking playing them.  A small game involving a meeting engagement between to recce forces. A Russian mech infantry platoon with 2 MBTs and an engineer section in support bumped into a British infantry platoon with 2 Scorpions in direct support, plus a Chieftain enroute.  It played pretty well, the Russians pushed forward as fast as they could, nearly wiping out a British section as they got several phases in a row.  It didn't help that I couldn't hit anything with the Carl Gustav rocket launcher.    The Russian tanks pushed forward, laughing at the Scorpions 76mm HESH shells.  Then a BMP-1 exploded, hit by a mighty 120mm HESH shell from the Chieftain as it arrived.  Another BMP brewed up, then one of the T-64s exploded as an APDS round tore through its armour.  The rules worked pretty well, considering that they are in an early stage of playtesting.  Light armour is very very fragile, being bullet, but not mush else, proof.  I will probably end up spending a small fortune on 15mm figures and vehicles for this period to replace my small forces of 28's, as then I can use my existing terrain.  Plus I think the game plays and looks better in 15mm.



Other games at the show were varied and all looked nice.  Graham and Dave put on a 28mm Medieval battle.  Lots of stabbing and slicing occurred and much carnage was wrought.


Another large Medieval game, was also there.  War of the Roses I think.  It looked very nice and the scenario included a very large flank march by one of the forces, but there was only a small bridge for them to cross. 

 There was a beutiful 28mm ACW game that looked excellent with lovely figures and cracking terrain.

 Another 28mm game was played using Under the Lily Banner I believe.  Plenty of colourful troops contested a sizeable battlefield.

 Something different now, 1/600th ironclads from the Russo-Japan war.  The models were beautiful and it looked really good.  A fair few pounds had been spent on those ships.

 One game that I was interested in, but never got a chance to try, was Star Wars Armada.  It is nice to finally be able to command a Star Destroyer on the table, but I am loath to fork out £80 for 3 ships without first trying the game.  It does look good and I have heard and read some good reviews of it, but the price for the ships may be a killer blow at the moment.  Plus the Imperial Star Destroyer isn't out yet!

All in all it was a good day out.  I managed to last until after 4pm, which was good but I did pay for it over the next couple of days.  I bought a couple more 4ground buildings, 2 technicals in 28mm(WHY?), some bits and pieces for my 1940's forces from Peter Pig(nice to see them back), some 15mm Landmark buildings(too good a price to miss) and several books on the bring and buy.  I meet some old friends that I haven't seen for a while and meet some new friends as well.

That's it for now.  There will be another update tomorrow with my painting efforts and yesterdays Devon Wargames meeting.  Keep rolling those dice folks, they can't all come up on a 1........can they?

Tis the night before.........

New Year!  I missed Christmas as we went down to see my mum and sister, but now we are back.  It's been a pretty ropey month health wise, but hopefully things will look up in the New Year! Sadly I missed the December meeting of the Devon Wargames Club, but should be there in January hopefully.

Anyway, I hope you have all had a good Christmas, I know I have.  I ate more than I should have, didn't drink anything I shouldn't and had a good time with the family in damp Cornwall.  Presents were exchanged and I did pretty well overall.  I got the Baby Blitz add-on for Duel in the Dark, the Sons of Anarchy boardgame, two 15mm Tigers, a uniform book on the French Army in 1940, a copy of Soldier, A Visual History of the Fighting Man and a set of Lion Rampant rules.  Plus other stuff that was welcome but nothing to do with wargames. In addition to that lot I also received a secret Santa present from parts unknown.  A trio of 15mm Pz35t's have joined my Early War German's and very nice they are too.  Thank you to however was my Santa, they are much appreciated.

The Secret Santa I sent to a chap in America was a US 60mm mortar with 3 crew by Bolt Action, pre Warlord.  Hopefully you/he liked it.


I did make it to the annual "All Day Bash" of the Chuckadice group, which had a 100% turn out for once.  We played a Big CoC game for the day, with the German's attempting to break through the Russians on their way to Moscow.  This was followed by a quick and fairly bloodless game of Zombicide.  Details of the CoC game will be in my next post as it was fairly busy and I took a few pictures.

Painting for December was very limited.  I did manage a few things though, so here are a few pictures.

 First up is a 15mm Seven Years War unit, painted for my mate Gus' widow as he never got the chance to paint them.  No idea of the unit, I used Gus' painting guide and the flags were with them in the box.

 Then there is a few additions to my BEF 1940 force for Chain of Command.  A 2pdr with 5 crew, 3 Bren carriers and a jump off point.  The 2pdr and figures are all Peter Pig while the carriers are Battlefront.  Can you spot the sneaky blighter in this photo?

There he is!  Damned sneaky Hun type listening in to the British chat as they have a cuppa.  The idea is based on the "Loose lips sink ships" slogan from WW2.


I also painted up 14 cowboys for Dead Man's hand, but posted them off to Germany without taking a photo.  D'oh!

Anyway, that's it for now.  Have a good New Year and I will post a batrep of the CoC game tomorrow.

Buildings all around

Time flies when your having fun and it fairly rattles along when your not.  I have been up and down like a yoyo for the last week or so, good days being outnumbered by bad not-so-good days unfortunately.  I am still smiling, though some days it's through gritted teeth.  I have been afflicted with stupid people lately, not through choice but through having to talk to them due to being ill.  The bad bit is I find I have a lot less patience with people now than I did before I got ill and, apparently, my comments to some of them have been "less polite" than they should have been.  In my defence I present picture number 1.

 And in reply to any further complaints from said people, please refer to picture number 2.

Please note that this may or may not be aimed primarily at a certain medical type person that I have had several dealings with over the last few weeks.  It appears that having a medical degree allows you to act like a complete Caring Understanding Nineties Type.  Normal service will now be resumed.

I have managed a bit of wargaming, well boardgaming to be exact.  Monday nights gaming session was of reduced numbers as Panjo, Andy and Colin were all AWOL, leaving Stumpy, Zob and myself to play the Game of Thrones boardgame.  I won as the Lannisters, but only because none of us really knew what we were doing and the other two let me capture the 7 castles I needed to achieve one of the victory conditions.  It was pretty good though and we may be playing it again tonight, but this time with more people.  Alternatively we will be playing a gangsters game if Colin has sorted it out.

Painting wise I have struggled a bit this week.  I did manage to paint up 6 Peter Pig Normandy buildings from Gus' collection.  These are going to go on ebay at some point soon.

Pair of houses front

 First up is a nice pair of semidetached houses, a nice model with a stone chimney at the rear.

Farmhouse front

Pair of shops front

Barn front

Then there is a pleasant farmhouse, a more ramshackle looking building but it has some very nice features.





The third building is a pair of shops, one with a nice poster advert on the end.  The smaller one also has a shed/workshop on the rear of it.







Then we have the barn, a nice addition for the farmhouse.  The roof has a couple of holes in it and the plaster has started to crumble badly but it does look nice.

Shop front

A single shop, closed up with metal shutters on the large windows is next.  Another advertisement on the wall of this one.

Cafe front

 Last but definitely not least is the Cafe, necessary for those early morning coffee and croissant moments.


So there they are, the total output of my painting over the last week.  It has been hindered a bit by visiting out in-laws, but it is mostly my own failings that have hindered me.  Sadly finances, family and health prevented me going to Partizan yesterday.  Hopefully I will get to The Other Partizan in a couple of months.  I will be at Evesham in a few days though, sick or not, skint or not I shall be there ready to roll dice and fail to hit anything.

Keep rolling those dice folks, they can't all come up on 1's can they?

As I final thought bear this in mind.

A married man should forget his mistakes.
There is no point in two people remembering the same thing!

March on.....

This year is flying by, it's hard to believe that it's already March.  February has gone, thankfully, so hopefully March will be better.  I didn't get much painted as I have felt pretty crap for most of the month.  The doc has changed some of my meds and the period between finishing one lot and starting the new ones has been less than pleasant.  I have not slept well since this all started, but now I seem to have insomnia to add to it all.  Ah well, life goes on as they say.  Keep smiling and don't let the buggers get you down.

I have painted a few things, some ACW Union infantry and some Crusader Miniatures Republican Romans.  I also rebased my old ACW Union figures to match the new Union troops.

Peter Pig ACW Union Infantry and Artillery

Rebased Peter Pig ACW Yankees

Crusader Miniatures Hastati

Crusader Miniatures Velites

 Gaming has suffered a bit, but I have managed to get along on Monday nights.  It does mean Tuesday and Wednesday are bad days, but it's worth it to get some gaming in.  We have played a nice Sudan game for the last couple of weeks, set up by Nathan and using the Too Fat Lardies "They Don't Like It Up 'Em" rules.  Despite the best efforts of the righteous Sudanese tribes, the Imperialist dogs won the day.  Their losses were heavy though, with Colonel P.F Bunny getting a spear through his chest as he stood with the last few Guards.  A massed charge broke the Egyptian square and the Sudanese carried off the Egyptian cannons.  All in all it was a pretty good game and was a precursor to the game Nathan put on at the Devon Wargames meet last Saturday, more of which in my next post.

Tonight I shall mostly be playing Chain of Command against Colin while the other reprobates go upstairs and play Zombicide.  I am off now to try and find my painting Mojo again, it seems to have left with my ability to sleep for anything over 4 hours.  Keep rolling those dice.

More painting, more gaming...........

Well its been another week and things are ticking along fairly well.  I have done a fair bit of painting and a bit of gaming too.  Painting has been a varied mix, with a couple of units of 15mm Napoleonic British getting done, as well as a 1944 British platoon with a pair of Cromwells as support, a T-35 and a pair of Katyushas.

Light Battalion

Not light Battalion

The two British battalions are for "Cornish" Keith, part of his ongoing plan to have every British unit at Waterloo apparently.

Peter Pig British Platoon

FoW Cromwells

The WW2 British are joining the ever expanding line of CoC platoons that I have.  I did plan to do the French 1940 platoon, but these figures were inherited from Gus and came already undercoated in black and stuck to pennies, so I thought I should do them first.  The two Cromwells have been in a "glued together but unpainted" state for over a year.  I felt a bit guilty as the other two were done long long ago.

Zvezda Katyushas and Peter Pig crew

Zvezda T-35 (because I could)

Why I have bought and painted the T-35 and Katyushas is beyond me, other than I wanted too.  I have no Russians and I had no plans to get any either, as Nathan has hundreds of them already.  However, a single platoon only costs about £30 including support, so it may well be that you see some Eastern front types appearing on the painting line soon.  The Katyushas will probably end up on ebay, they don't really fit into a CoC game.  I have modeled them as one loading with Peter Pig loading figures and the other firing, making use of some pipe cleaners that I have here.  It looks quite good with a ball of cotton wool behind it.

Gaming has been mostly Chain of Command.  I had a visit from an old friend who played a game against my son Michael last week.  He isn't really into WW2, being more of a horse and musket man but he had a good game and seemed to enjoy it.  I then put on a game at the Devon Wargames meet, with Michael (again) and Everett ganging up on, and managing to defeat, Andy.  Again, they all seemed to enjoy it.  Last Monday was gangster night, playing a homegrown game put together by Zob.  Don Taffleoni was doing alright when we finished, but the "Pink Fluffy" Don (aka Andy Noel) won.  Seems to work pretty well and most of us had a good time.

Off now to start painting something else.  Maybe some 25mm zombies, maybe some 15mm WW2 French, probably some more Napoleonic British.  Have fun and keep rolling those dice.