Epic Space Marine Assault Company

Or CompanieS…?

Just to take another little break that I didn’t really need to take… I finished off 8 elements of Epic Space Marine Assault Troops and two command stands.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Complete force Assault Marines. (8 of the assault elements and two of the command stands are newly painted...). 

Originally I’d planned smaller forces – “companies” of roughly 4 platoon-sized elements. 

Last month I decided to reorganize some of the mechanized forces and decided to have larger forces under the command of each command element and so have companies of 5-6 elements (mostly because it worked out with the number of Rhinos and Landraiders I had…). So I decided these could, instead of being thre units of four, could become two units of six… This is all acedemic because I haven’t looked at any rules and or force construction lists, nor do I have any complete opposing forces. Really, I’m just making this shit up as I go…

Complete force of Space Marines so far.

When I get back to these I should finish up some units of the Orcs or Eldar so I can actually have a BATTLE with them…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Great War Canadians from the 2nd Division. 

Epic Space Marines!?

I’ve been feeling a bit… despondent lately… and having a hard time motivating myself to do any painting, let alone painting stuff I feel I “should” be painting. I managed to get some paint on some wee micro SF figures and vehicles, however. They were “low hanging fruit” – a small number of things that finished up units.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Space Marines with Rhino APCs and some Space Marine Terminators with later model Land Raider IFVs. (This is the newly painted stuff)

The complete force so far.

The force is notionally organized for Future War Commander. Each unit is meant to be a Company within the Space marine chapter and elements representing roughly a “platoon” worth of troops or equipment. From what little I’ve seen of the GW fluff, Space Marines don’t seem to have a rigid structure of platoons and squads. Companies instead seem to be organized of a bunch of squads – with varying amounts of organic support elements. I’ve decided to keep these companies as one type (as, for a logistician, it’s just going to be easier that way – otherwise company quartermansters would have to have spare parts and ammunition for piles of different equipment). Rather than thinking of these as “platoons” I try to think of them as “strength steps” within the company. The companies I’m organizing range from 3-6 elements.

The force above thus represents a company of Terminators, two companies of mechanized marines with Rhino APCs and a light Assault company of Marines equipped with jump jets.

I still have quite a bit yet to paint! I have a third company of mechanized Marines with Rhinos, and another with older pattern Land Raiders. I have two (or maybe three?) more companies of Assault Marines (perhaps I’ll make those companies larger – two companies of six rather than three companies of four…). I also have a company of marines on bikes and some speeder thingies – perhaps they might be two wings of a fast support or scout company? I don’t know. I also have a few more companies worth of marines that will just have to leg it without an APC or IFV type armour to carry them into battle.

For support I have nine assault-gun-like vehicles that seem to be built on a Rhino Chassis – and can never remember what they’re called. I’m not sure if they should be organized in two companies (one of four, one of five) or one over –sized company (of nine) or maybe they should all just be parceled out to the various mechanized companies for organic direct support…? I also have four other support vehicles (also built on a rhino chassis) with rocket launchers (one company of four – or parcel them out as well..?) I could end up having rather large companies with 5 Rhinos/Land Raiders carrying Marines with two assault guns and a Missile Launcher support vehicle in directs support moving up with the Marines.

I picked up a command pack of various 6mm metal command figures that I’d like to arrange as a Chapter Command element at some point as well.

I also have considerable forces of Eldar, Imperial Guard, Squats, and Orcs…

I got to thinking about working on these after I did my  Stocktaking last week – I didn’t even count up  these, but I decided to abandon a plan I’d been forming of buying some modern micro armour to do some Cold War Goes Hot gaming with Cold War Commander. (It’s all the new Cold War FoW stuff that’s got me thinking of Cold war stuff again – they look so nice, but I just can’t be bothered to play FoW or buy and paint 15mm). Instead I decided to get to work on the Micro Sci.i stuff. Maybe if I get them all done (or at least a decent portion of them) and actually play some games of Future War Commander with them and… you know… actually have fun doing so… well them maybe I could treat myself to some new Micro Modern figures (assuming I’m still interested).

I should really dig out the rulebook and get a game in. I probably have a similar number of Eldar finished....? 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’d like to say I’ll be getting back to the Great War Canadians… but it seems more likely I’ll paint a few more “fun” things before getting back to them. There are some Elves for a Dragon Rampant that I might put some paint on…? I do have the 23rd battalion sitting on the workbench, however, just in case the mood strikes! 

More Epic Space Marines

One of these days I’ll have to sort out a Chapter name… until then, here’s a few more:

(All of the figures pictured in this post are from Games Workshop. They are © and ™ Games Workshop and painted by myself and posted here entirely without their permission.)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Another company of (mechanized) Marines. (One of the Rhinos and two stands of infantry were painted previously – I’ve just added enough to finish out a company under my current organization scheme)

A company of Assault Marines

Another Land Raider for the Terminator Company

The Chapter so far…

I have enough for another six (possibly seven) companies of Space Marines. One is a second Assault Company, Another will have Rhinos (for a total of three companies with Rhinos). One more could be equipped with Land Raiders – though a different version of Land Raider than the Terminator Company is equipped with. I also have a company of Marines on motorbikes, two companies of Vindicators, and a company of Land Speeders. I also have a few assorted drop pods and a couple extra stands of Assault Marines that I’m painting in camouflage that I thought I might be able to pass off as “Scouts”.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I should get working on some opposing forces (Orks, etc…), though it seems more Marines and Imperial Guard are more likely to be finished first…

I STILL haven’t gotten that last game report for Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe up… I hope to get to that SOME DAY this week! 

Should also be a few game reports over the next few weeks as I test out the games I’m running at ToonCon in a couple weeks (20-22 September 2013)! I’m running Ambush Z on Friday evening, and Force on Force on Saturday evening. I’m also helping out with Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878 on Saturday afternoon. 

Mechs and a Spartan

I have a small collection of micro scale sci-fi stuff some of it I’ve had for years – from playing Battletech in High School. Other stuff I picked up to play Adeptus Titanicus, Space Marine or Epic 40K… and later I picked up some stuff to play with Dirtside and then Future War Commander - which is what I’ll use this for should they ever get on the table.

(Actually last year I acquired a whole shwack of Epic stuff that a friend found at a garage sale and gave to me in trade for future painting considerations… I haven’t even looked at it… That’s not true… I HAVE looked at it, and then put it back in the box I have no room to store it really so I haven’t really considered it too mush. I know there’s a PILE of Ork and Squat and some Space Marine and Chaos stuff in there… but beyond that, it’s a big box of stuff I’ll look at some day when I actually start playing with the stuff I have….)

A lot of this had been repainted and rebased a number of times.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Come plastic mech-like-robot. I think it might have come from EM4 Miniatures? I got it in a trade so I can't be sure. 

A gen-u-ine Battletech ‘Mech from Fasa.

Not the most inspiring paint jobs... but there done and ready for action - should I ever get around to playing! 

An odd Spartan I had laying about and decided to paint… (the figure is from Black Tree Design)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Great War French. 

Giant Robot Madness

So… a few weeks back I stumbled upon a blog (which I now can’t find) that had stumbled upon a pretty sweet deal on some 1/35 Ma.K. models (Mascinen Krieger) and so… um… I bought some (worked out to about $50 CAD for 24 of them)…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


24 Melusine PKA Ausf M made by Hobby Base (I picked them up from Hobby Link Japan.

This was a bit of a serendipitous find as only a couple weeks previously I had bought a bunch of AT-43 plastic robot models that Fantasy Flight Games was dumping super cheap (again in the neighborhood of $2-3 per model)


Um… I think they’re called Red Blok or something… they’re for AT-43… I’ll use them with Savage Worlds or something…

Anyway I like the looks of them they had a clunky soviet look to them and I thought could potentially be passed off as some sort of Weird War Two super weapon… and I’d been wondering what I’d use against them… well MaKs of course!!


Here’s a shot for scale… from left to right we have; a T-26 from Army Group North Miniatures, the Big Bad AT-43 Red Blok thinige, a panzer crewman from Bolt Action Miniatures, a MaK, a Sentinel® from Games Workshop® (pictured here entirely without their permission), a Russian tank crew from Bolt Action Miniatures (standing in front of..) another (smaller) AT-43 robo-armour thingie, and finally a KV-2 from Army Group North Miniatures…

The primary question is how to base them….?


Left to right; Option #1 (washer), Option #2 (60x60mm Mdf base – same as the Sentinel® from Games Workshop® (based that way entirely without their permission), Option #3 (slightly smaller metal washer), Option #4: (80x80mm MDF base – the new standard for all the 20mm-1/72 stuff I’m using for Blitzkrieg Commander/Cold War Commander/Future War Commander.


Things to consider:

Cost – the big washers are expensive I need 24 just for the Ma.K.s I’d like to re-base the AT-43 stuff to something similar for some continuity

Storage – the bigger the base the more storage bins I’ll need…

I’m kind of leaning towards the 60x60mm MDF base. It’s what the Sentinel® from Games Workshop® (based that way entirely without their permission) and the smaller 28mm WW2 tanks are on… It isn’t TOO ridiculously bigger than the models and I can probably fit 15 of them in one of my storage bins.

The 80x80mm were only really considered because I could then pass them off as even BIGGER beasties in some Blitzkrieg Commander/Cold War Commander/Future War Commander games…

To repaint or not to repaint… At some point I probably will… for now… They’re actually pretty nice looking, so I’ll probably leave them be (I’ve got enough other stuff to paint right now!!). I wasn’t sure how to count them, as with other prepaints, in the purchased vs. painted tally. If I never do paint them it’ll forever be a purchased with nothing to ever count against it in the painted category. I think what I did with some of the WW2 diecast tanks last year was I decided NOT to count them, but if I ever did I would count them as purchased and painted… a bit fiddly but whatever…

Oh, accounting…! Why do I bother!

Weird War or Sci-fi… I had intended to possibly use these for Alternate WW2 sort of gaming, but have also considered just using them for a straight-up sci-fi skirmish campaign. You’re probably thinging “why not use them for both?” – and I probably WILL use them for both… but I’d like to determine a primary use as it would determine what sort of paint job I might give them… if I ever get around to repainting…

Meh… enough blathering, I think I’ve figured it out – now back to painting…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Based robot warriors? Or maybe some SYW French cavalry…? Never can tell around here these days!

Basing… Again…

Or RE-basing, I should say….

I’ve been thinking about re-basing my 20mm WW2, modern, and future war stuff for some time… the current impetus is my desire to try out Bruce McFarlane’s HOTT WW2 and Modern HOTT variants. More on that in a moment, though….

I’ve also been re-basing a bunch of 15mm WW2 stuff so they all have a common base frontage – mostly for the same reason. It hasn’t been so much work as only a few things that need rebasing. All the infantry and tanks were already on a 50mm frontage, some of the smaller guns and vehicles were on smaller bases and had to be redone.

There are a couple problems with the 50mm frontage… First is that it isn’t one of the suggested base sizes in DBA/HOTT, so will require some tinkering to figure out what “100 paces” and I’ll have to make new measuring sticks just for that lot. The other is that the deeper bases are all deeper than the base frontage (~63mm deep – I’m using the standard base sizes for Flames of War), which causes some funny business when units are flanked and have to turn to face…

I COULD have re-based the whole shebang to 60mm frontages and everything would have been just ducky. But that would have been a whole lot of WORK… (just to “try out” a game) and also from time to time I get thinking I’d like to sell or trade off the last of the 15mm stuff and I figure it would be easier to do so if it were left on a base size that would be most useful to other people (i.e. the FoW crowd)…

As for the 20mm stuff it’s, more or less, ALL going to have to be rebased. The question is what frontage to use…? I’m considering 60mm or 80mm.

Now, I’m not JUST doing this to play the HOTT variants. Whether they work out or I go back to playing Blitzkreig Commander, Cold War Commander, and Future War Commander. I’ve wanted to do this for a while - get everything on at least a similar frontage and, if possible, only a few different base depths – for maximum uniformity…

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages I can potentially foresee:

If using 60mm it would be the same frontage as 28mm DBA/HOTT. I could therefore use the same measuring sticks, terrain and game boards. Also some of the Modern tanks and vehicles are currently on 2.5” bases and would only require shaving ~3mm off one side to make it 60mm (it’s not as difficult as it sounds - I’ve tried it). This would make for a bit less work and wastage of basing materials.


The downside of 60mm is that some of the big sci-fi tanks won’t really fit at all and some of the bigger WW2 and modern tanks and guns that do fit are still on proportionally much deeper bases.

80mm is double the “suggested” base widths as 15mm figures – so everything’s pretty easy to figure out. This frontage would require proportionally less deep bases – even for the big stuff. This is really one of the biggest issues for me. Having units on bases that are much deeper than they are wide just kind of looks funny to me and causes issues in the geometry of most games –especially in maneuvering and falling back and turning to face flanking enemy. The infantry would be on 40mm deep base so that the total depth of 2 stands in column is the same as one base width, which makes things loads easier in terms of the geometry of the game.

My primary concerns about the larger frontage is that they’d look freakin’ HUGE and I might need MORE storage bins!? The space required to play would be bigger but for a standard DBA HOTT game it would only need a 4’x4’ area – which is no problem at all for me… of course if I was going back to BKC/CWC/FWC I might be pushing it for table requirements. And if I ever suffered the kind of head trauma that would make me think that skirmishing with 20mm figures would be fun some of the vehicles would be on bases that are just way too huge… of course… if I suffered that kind of head trauma I probably wouldn’t mind re-basing the whole shebang all over again anyway…

I did a few samples of each size for comparison and just to see what they look like….

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


From left to right; 50mm frontage (current), 60mm frontage, 80mm frontage.


60mm Froantage with 4 (SS on the left) or 3 (paras on the right) figure. I think if I went with the 60mm base widths I'd stick with 3 figures per base...


French Somua tank on 80mm (left) and 60mm (right) frontages. A lot of the WW2 tanks would fit on a 80mm square base – much reducing the number of units on bases deeper than they are wide.


British 6pdr on 60mm (left) and 80mm (right) frontages. On the 60mm frontage the base is deeper than it is wide and I think the barrel STILL pokes out a bit. On the bigger base there is no barrel overhang – a consideration for storage stands that have overhanging barrels (or any overhanging parts) are harder to fit into storage together and more likely to be damaged… I suppose it’s also an issue on the tabletop when trying to line up stuff.

The down side of the 80mm frontage here is it looks HUGE – the small gun and tean seem a little lost in the base… now this could be rectified with a bit more clever modeling – making these bases into mini dioramas. Perhaps some ammo boxes and extra crew could be added (of course that would require buying or manufacturing said sundry items… but..


German Pak 43/41 AT gun and crew on a 60mm frontage (left) and the British 6 pdr on the 80mm frontage (right). Even on an 80mm base I think the Pak 43/41 would still have some barrel overhand… unless I went with a REALLY deep base.


Jadgpanthers on 80mm (left) and 60mm (right) frontages. I think this is the largest of the WW2 tanks that I have in my arsenal currently.


Same Jadgpanthers with others for comparison – on the left are Jagdpanther and Somua on 80mm frontages and on the right are a jadgpanther and a british 6pdr AT gun on 60mm frontages. The Jadgpanther on the 80mm frontage is on a base that’s only 1.5x base width deep, whereas the Jadgpanther on the 60mm wide base is over 2x the base width deep.


Tanks supporting infantry. The 80mm frontage units (on the left) end up being only 2x the base width total depth. The 60mm frontage units end up being almost 3x the base width.

On to the Moderns…


These are Cold War Canadians, form left to right; 50mm frontage (current), 60mm frontage, 80mm frontage.

It’s in the modern stuff that the difference in base sizes between infantry and vehicles is most pronounced – for me at least. In the above example neither looks terribly wonky, though I’m preferring the 80mm (on the right) – it just looks a little closer to the right amount of stuff to have de-bussed from the APC. Below however…


With bigger APCs/IFVs this difference is definitely more pronounced. When I was playing
I said stands of Infantry were HALF platoons. Where the vehicles represented FULL platoons… of course if you lit up one IFV and the two half platoons were knocked out with it... that was a sizable chunk of your unit lost in one shot...


Same issues with the Canadians mounted in Grizzlies.


These are the largest of the Cold War tanks I have to deal with Russian T-72 (left) and American M1 Abrams (right).. they are on their current bases which are actually 63mm frontages (2.5 inches) – again they seem really deep – even if I move up a scale in gaming (where stands are companies or battalions)


On the left are 80mm wide bases (with an M113 and a blank one), on the right are ~60mm wide bases. With the 60mm wide bases the tank unit takes up almost twice the area of the mechanized unit… Where as the tank unit on the 80mm wide base would take up only 1.5x the area of the mechanized unit mounted up – and would be the same size as the mechanized unit once the infantry debussed (should have taken a picture of THAT!)


For the Russians I think both BMPs and T-72s would end up on the same 80x120(?)mm bases…


Another consideration… the future war stuff… The super heavy grav-tanks would just not fit on a 60mm front base… I could do the future war stuff on a different sized bases than the other stuff – but then I wouldn’t be able to use them together… and I WOULD like to be able to use them together, because the modern (and even WW2) stuff could be used with Future war units as troops from planets with lower tech levels… I even mix up ww2 stuff with modern stuff in brushfire conflicts where one side might be using obsolete WW2 vintage surplus while another is supplied by the latest their super-power supplier has to offer…


More of the Future War stuff and modern stuff that has already been re-based to 80mm wide bases.


One last shot – an M577 command post on it’s current base (63mm wide) on top of a 80mm wide base – the extra room could give me space to add some officer looking types looking though binoculars to make for a slightly more interesting looking general/command stand for my army…

Well just in putting this post together I think I’ve pretty much convinced myself to go with the 80mm wide frontages… What I should have done is done a couple infantry stands with 4 and a couple with 5… that’s pretty much the only question remaining – how many infantry to put on the base…?

I know, I know... I wouldn't even have to worry about this if I only did micro armour... don't even suggest it I'm not going to switch to a different scale.... but not that I've mentioned it... I DO have some Future War microarmour (battle tech and GW Epic stuff, etc) that I'm going to have to reconsider the bases for - they are all sorts of different sizes... I even thought about doing bigger bases for them (perhaps 60mm fronts) and putting multiple vehicles on a base - at lest for the smaller vehicles...

Game Plan 2009

What to do for 2009!? Well any of you that have been paying attention this last month or so will know I’m already deep in the planning of a Fantasy campaign weekend and an extended PBEM campaign using Hordes of the Things.

Looking back at the original Game Plan for 2008. It seems the plan lasted until about March or April…. There are a few reasons why the project died. Partly it was because the dealine was so far off… Then I got interested in trying to get fit and started riding a lot which cut into my productivity. I think the big reason was that no one was really showing up to my regular weekly game nights or showing any interest in the project. Sure there was plenty of people online – followers of the blog – that were very interested (bless you all), but they aren’t the people I play games with…

What have I learned from this..?! Make plans with closer deadlines. The deadline for the big plan for the 2009 Wargames weekend was 14 months away…

Also make plans for things that other people might be interested in… people that might actually play games with me…

So, what I’m thinking about for this year.

Hordes of the Things Campaign(s) – 28mm Fantasy Armies

Well the Wargaming weekend is set for June so I have five months to finish up seven armies. Three are more or less complete – the Vikings, Saxons, and elves. Each could do with a couple more stands for options and I need to make strongholds for each. The other four armies need a bit of work, but if I did one army a month and used the remaining month to finish up any optional extras, Strongholds and other terrain.

I think for January and February I’d like to work on The Dwarves and Orcs.

Maybe for my Wargaming Birthday bash I’ll have a Big Battler HOTT game – Orcs and Vikings versus Elves and Dwarves and Saxons…?

That would leave March and April to work on the Undead and the Normans (if CVT ever sends them too me!?)

That leaves me a month to finish up any odds and extras and terrain and stuff…

While I’m working on the HOTT armies I’ll also work on some individually based fantasy heroes and villains and minions for some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming…

After I’m done the Weekend Campaign I’m going to organize a long-term play by email HOTT campaign. Well… the emailers won’t really be playing any HOTT… they’ll just be playing heads of state and moving their armies around on a campaign map and making strategic decisions for their country… I’ll be playing the HOTT games (hopefully with the help of a few locals…) to determine the outcome of any armies bumping into each other!

That’s pretty much going to keep me busy for the first half of the year… and I don’t want to make any guarantees about what I’m going to to for the second half… There’s a few other things I’d LIKE to work on and play… They might be the things I work on after I’ve finished my HOTT fantasy armies… or I may just try and slip them in here and there between HOTT armies just for a little change of pace....

Cold War Commander - 20mm Cold War armies

I would like to work at finishing up (and PLAYING WITH!) some of my 20mm Cold War Commander forces. Some need very little to complete (assembling and painting a few AFVs). Some need a bit more (assembling and painting a whole lot of AFVs!). For the most part There isn’t much I’d really NEED to buy to finish up any of them. (Sure, sure - there are a few things that would be NICE to pick up to make them really feel “complete”…)

Future War Commander – 20mm/Micro Sci-fi Armies

I’d like to play this a bit this year… and work on some forces for it… but right now I have very little that’s done. I don’t even really have two small forces that could play against each other unless I used some of the Cold War Commander forces… and really… if I’m doing that I might as well just be playing CWC…!?

DBA - 28mm Historical Ancient Armies

Well since I’m going to be working on armies for HOTT… I might as well crank out a few more historical DBA armies (as they can be used as Human armies in a HOTT Fantasy game…?) I have enough to do a couple of Successor armies as well as a couple Early Imperial Roman armies… Occasionally I get the idea that I should model myself a basic greek hoplite figure and make myself a couple of ancient greek armies… we shall see…

World War Two Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds

Maybe it’ll get CK and Gary out if I say I’m going to run some WW2 stuff… There is startlingly little to do to finish up the forces I have for WW2 in 28mm. I just got a couple of things in the mail to finish up a second platoon of Russians… well, two slightly understrenght platoons of Russians… without one of their DP LMGs… Actually If I picked up the Assault Group DP pack I’d have enough for an understrength COMPANY (with their full compliment of LMGs!)….!? How cool would that be!?

Modern Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds

In the latter half of 2008 I finished painting up all the 28mm Modern I had and picked up some more… I don’t have a LOT of it, and thus not a lot of scenario options… I might like to pick up a few new things and play some more…


Quebec 1759!?

Is there any chance I could, after doing all of the above stuff, pull this off for the fall? Not the originally planned weekend campaign, just the battle on the Plains of Abraham…? It IS the 250th Anniversary. Nice big round numbers like that don’t come along all that often…



Regular Gaming

I’ve been kind of back and forth the last couple days about whether I should really bother hosting a regular weekly game night as I have done in the past. I’m kind of really stoked about painting and modeling right now. I’ve got Savage Saturdays (my weekly Savage Worlds game night) and right now setting up a second wargame night each week… for guys that don’t necessarily even show up… seems like a lot of work for… well… not much in return…. I think I’d rather spend the time painting right now.

Painting Update

A few more things rolling off the painting production line…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


I’ve been mostly working on terrain this week. I want to make a ruined cityscape for playing any number of skirmish possibilities; Mordhiem, Stalingrad (or any other battle in a ruined city in Europe during WW2…), etc…


The one that I have completed, however, is for my generic mud-brick village set (usable from Africa to Afghanistan, and beyond! I’ve also been working on some free-standing walls to place between buildings and offer some more options for that set… They should be done in the next day or two – then I’ll get some shots of the village with all the new bits…


The final Commando of my cold war Canadian Airborne Regiment (shown here with the other two commandos in the background). Now all I need to do is make a CO stand and some observers and support stuff…. Mortars… ground mount TOWs… Those will all take some modeling so I might get working on the rest of the mechanized infantry battalion next. Or work on something completely different….

A combination of painting that last batch of John’s Descent figures, stumbling across a blog with some HOTT armies, and a desre to clean up my basement wargames bunker (there has been a stack of assorted GW Fantasy plastic sprues I got in a trade floating around the room that really needed a permanent storage spot – I decided they would be easier to store if they were assembled and based!) got me thinking about my own fantasy stuff. I started pulling out the drawers of stuff and seeing what I needed to finish up HOTT armies and get a general sense of how many left-overs I’d have to base individually for skirmishing and dungeon crawls… There were a couple things I took notice of that I thought would be quick and easy to “get out of the way” and this was one:


These are Trolls from West Wind Productions Dwarf Wars line. I picked them up dirt cheap in Edmonton a couple years back (like 75% off!). I should have bought everything in the bin – I did buy three regiments of Elves, but left a couple regiments of Orcs… fie… Anyway, I’m not sure how to classify these in HOTT, They’re not exceptionally “large” so I’m not sure about classifying them as “Behemoths”, “beasts” maybe…? “Hordes?” It's been too damn long since I've seriously looked at the rules, let alone played a game... I have two others; they’re on separate bases. I need two more stands for a Warmaster unit of trolls. I thought I’d pick up two more trolls from the local game store to fill out the remaining two stands (they have a lot of Reaper Stuff).


Finally an Epic Marine Drop Pod for my Future War Commander “Marine Corps” Force… should I ever get it done…

I'm hoping to have a productive week next week as the following Monday, I learned yesterday, I am going in for surgery (which I am more than just a little freaked out about) and might be out of commission for a while. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual manic productive self by the new year, maybe even the holidays...?

The Big TO-DO List

Once again I’m not quite sure what direction to take. So much to do, so little time. I find if I just work a bit on this and that, here and there, I’m not nearly as productive as when I’m a little more focused.

Here’s a list I tried to compile of all the things I’ve been thinking about working on recently….

Repair hills
Make new hills

Make more coniferous trees!

Make urban rubble (20mm/28mm)
Make city buildings (European)
Make city buildings (modern North America)

Make subterrainian 28mm terrain bits (halls, rooms, etc) for dungeoncrawls, tomb raids, and bunkerstorms!

Finish trenches and/or make new/better ones (28mm)

20mm Modern Canadians
Finish 3rd Para Commando
Make Para CO stand + Para observer stands
Paint Grizzly(x2), M113(x1)
Assemble and paint Grizzly(x3), M113(x2), Cougar(x3), Leopard(x5)
TO GET: Lynx Recce(x1-2), Iltis(x4-7), M109(x1-2)

20mm Modern VDV
Assemble and paint BMDs (3xBMD-1, 3xBMD-2, 1xBTR-D, 1xSP-Mtr)

20mm Modern Russians
Paint T-72 (x5)
Assemble and paint BTR-60 (x3), SP Artillery, BRDM-Sagger,
TO GET: UAZ-469(x6-8), BMP-1(x3),

20mm Modern Americans
Paint M1 Abrams(x3), Bradleys (x5), Humvees(x2), Infantry,

20mm Modern British…
FN – 7 infantry stands and 1 HQ stand finished off battalion (less mortars… need to make as I have a feeling FAA isn’t ever going to send the ones I ordered…)
SA-80 – Assemble and paint Warriors(x10), Challengers(x6), Land Rovers(x6)…
(have enough infantry for a second battalion of light infantry/paras/marines…)

20mm Modern Africans….
Loads of trucks (die-cast) to paint and militia…

20mm Modern Aricraft – Assemble, paint and mount of flgith stands assorted jets and helicopters.

28mm WW2 Russians
Assemble and paint GAZ jeep
Paint last of the infantrymen…

28mm Modern Russians
GET: Heavy Weapons for Motor Rifles (TAG), More VDV (Mongrel)

28mm Partisans – there so few of them to finish up then I never have to think about them again…

Other 28mm Modern – like to get a few more Cold War British (with FN - finish a platoon…?) maybe a couple more Americans…?

20mm Sci-fi – Timashek Legion
Finish assembling and paint:
F’ngen heavy Grav Tanks (x3)
Kra G-IFV (x8)
Grav Command Cars (x4)
Grav Command Centre
Heavy Grav SP Rocket Batteries (x3)
Aero-Space Ground Attack craft (x3)
Drop Pods…?

20mm Sci-fi – Opposing Force
Infantry – modified Modern Germans
Attack Walker – crazy Japanese walker robot thingy…
Transport Walker – AT-AT

28mm WW2 Desert Stuff…
Commando/LRDG/SAS – need trucks/Jeeps
D.A.K. – Couple infantry to finish… need vehicles…?

28mm Victorian Horror/Sci-fi…
28mm Zombies…
28mm Fantasy skirmish heroes and HOTT/WM armies…

Micro Sci-Fi – Eldar and Marine and Battletech forces – to be painted (or, in some cases, REpainted)

yeah... and this is just the things I've been thinking about lately... I don't even want to think about all the other unfinished projects... because... well.. then I'll start THINKING about them and be even MORE distracted...

Since starting this list I have very nearly finished off the 3rd Commando of Canadian Airborne and have some ruined buildings for both European and Middle East well under way… I’m thinking the Victorian SF is going o be shelved as are the zombies for the time being….

What to do first…. Well I’m well into a terrain building spree so I should see that through… but then what..?

The Russians and partisans would, once again, seem the sensible thing to do – as there are few of them and I’m not buying any more (I SWEAR!!!). I have 8 Russian infantry and an AT gun and crew on the table right now, but I kind of don’t want to get started as I’m expecting a couple more in the mail next week (I’m not actually BUYING these things... long story…).

For some reason I’m totally stoked about painting up some of my Fantasy stuff!?
I’d like to make enough to field some armies for Hordes of the Things (which will eventually be expanded so I can field them as Warmaster armies…) and also some individual heroes and characters and monsters for some old school dungeon crawls.... This had probably come about because I’ve been working on some more Descent figures for John. Maybe it will pass before I put and paint on any of my own figures… It’s kind of stupid because I don’t really have anyone that would be really interested in playing… well the Saturday Night Savages would probably be down with some dungeon crawls…

I do have at least one person totally stoked to play Future War Commander… but that feels like “starting something new”, when I’m really in the mood to “finish things up” before going on to something new… Of course, I HAVE all the things I need for the Future War forces, they just need to be assembled and painted, whereas a number of the Cold War armies I actually need to pick up a few things to “finish” up some forces.

...sigh...

What to do, what to do…

guess I’ll go prime that next batch of descent figures and work on the ruins… maybe by the time I’m done those things will be clearer…

More Future War stuff

I was briefly considering putting the micro sci-fi stuff up for trade and started cataloguing everything when I had a little tinge of nostalgia… fond memories of playing Battletech in high school with JC and the boys, then later Adeptus Titanicus (I don’t even remember who I ever played that with…? Tod…?!) and later Space Marine with Cory and Meshon and all the other acid-heads at their house on University… yeah, it’s stupid to hold on to them… but I’m going to for now. I even started painting a few more…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Some older falcon grav tanks and bikes getting a repaint…


That’s not to say I’m giving up the 20mm Future War stuff… I finished assembling the hulls and turrets of my G-AFVs for the Timashek Legion. I just have to do all the little details on them now(hatches, etc..). I also have the rest of the infantry based and ready to be painted…

I’ve also been thinking about a second Future War mercenary unit. I’ll probably use some of the Revell Modern Germans I have – just cut the barrel off of their crazy looking assault rifle…

What’s on the workbench right now, however, is the final company of the Cold War Canadian Airborne Regiment. Once their done I’ll just have to make a CO stand and then I’ll have to get modeling again to make a mortar and crew so I can make some elements of an Airborne Support Commando… I wonder if they dropped with ground mount TOWs…? Hmmmmm… I’ll probably Finish up my last two mechanized infantry companies before I get to that, though.

I've also been working on some terrain for 28mm skirmishing.

Tales of the Legion #1: Assault of Sulu Station

This is the first in a series of scenarios involving The Timashek Legion.

Sulu Station, Marrisef – Duran Sector, 237-1128

SITUATION

Marrisef was colonized by MORG Corporation generations ago to exploit the planets resources. MORG is still the largest employer on the planet and technically still “owns” the planet and governs it – even though a whole society and separate economy has developed around the settlements that were originally just for workers brought in from off-world to run the mining, refining and manufacturing plants.

A downturn in the interstellar economy in recent decades has meant massive lay-offs in the MORG plants on Marrisef – but the corporation refuses to return workers to their “planet of origin” as most were born on Marrisef, as were most of their parents and grandparents… At the same time the corporation refuses to recognize or allow local governance…!?

This situation has left thousands of families without jobs on a planet with no self-government and no social support structure. Dissent has grown rapidly. First there were terrorist attacks against MORG corporate offices and installations. This was followed by outright rebellion.

The rebels seem to be supplied by VORPCO Industries, MORG’s corporate main rival in the Duran sector – given that captured rebels have been armed with equipment from Zuarmco (a subsidiary of VORPCO Industries).

It their boldest operation to date, a company-sized force of rebels, along with a half-dozen obsolete wheeled AFVs, have seized the Sulu station, just north of the Gaardavaar mountains. The Sulu Station is a smelting and refining plant for Kirkidium.

The Timashek Legion has been hired to “remove the squatters”.


SCENARIO

This is a standard All Round Defence scenario right out of the Future War Commander book. The Rebels start on the table using static deployment around the Sulu Station. The Attackers (the Timashek Legion) start on any tableside using mobile deployment. A minor objective for both sides is to cause 25% casualties, the major objective is to break the opposing force.

The attacker (the Timashek Legion) is NOT to call in orbital strikes, air strikes or artillery anywhere within 20cm of any of the Sulu Station (“This installation has a certain dollar value attached to it…”)

FORCES

The forces are rather small as this was our first game and I didn’t have a lot ready and it’s always nice to just play a quick game then read the rules and figure out everything I had wrong, lied about or just simply made up on the spot….


Timashek Legion

CO – Colonel Andrak Worbn.

Kra Recce section

Timashek Armoured Cavalry Squadron, with:
HQ - Captain Pladna Amninit
2x F’gen heavy Grav Tank
3x Kra IFV
4x Legion Infantry
1x Support Section (Smart Missile)
1x Support Section (Mortar)


Rebels

CO Jarad Mershkah

HQ
6x Rebel Infantry
1x Infantry Upgrade (Smart Missiles)

2x Wheeled AFV

3x 10cm sections of trench

THE GAME

Mr. Miller cut out of work early and made his way by bus halfway across the city on this cold and snowy evening to join me playing my first game of Future War Commander. Such determination in the face of adversity is the sort of stuff the Legion is made of, so I let him play the The Timashek Legion tonight.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


I started off by deploying the rebels in trenches around the station.

TURN ONE

Legion

Mr. Miller split the Legionnaires into two formations; the two heavy grav tanks in one under direct command of the CO, and the infantry and their IFVs in another under the HQ. The recce unit deployed. The Infantry failed to arrive.


Not so the tankers! They charged onto the table with two moves setting themselves up on a dune out of range of anything the rebels could have, ready to open fire on any available targets.

Rebels

I considered whether I should try to get my wheeled AFVs to turn around and face the tanks…. Or head over to where the IFVs would be entering – as they were coming on pretty much from opposite ends of the table. It didn’t take much thinking… I decided on the IFVs, of course, as it would take me away from the heavy grav-tanks, which meant certain death and took me towards things I might actually be able to take out… with soft juicy infantry inside to go with them… All of this plotting was for naught as I couldn’t pass a successful order on to them and they sat where they were, asses facing the heavy grav tanks….

TURN TWO

Legion

The recce unit passed on vital information on the enemy’s dispositions (+1 CV).

The Infantry STILL failed to arrive!? Mr. Miller was starting to wonder if they might have been accidentally been paid in full before the operation….!? The tankers got tired of waiting and tried to assault the infantry.


The two grav tank troops lit up one of the rebel AFV units. Then one moved while the other lit up the second unit… 25% casualties, minor objective achieved.

Rebels

Having on one in range and LOS of my infantry weapons I had little I could do.

TURN THREE

Legion

The Recce unit redeployed thinking the infantry HQ might need some help…. Didn’t quite get close enough.


Glide on to the table they did! For one move. Then they stopped behind a dune and had tea or something…

The Grav tanks sat and waited. They didn’t fail issuing orders or anything; they just thought they’d wait for the infantry….

Rebels

The rebel infantry sat in their trenches, watching the grav tanks, that were watching them… it was a pretty tense situation… what WERE they up to…!?

TURN FOUR

Legion

The recce unit redeployed again.

The infantry continued having tea or sorting out their ammo or whatever it was that caused them to fail to act this turn… again!?

The Grav Tanks got tired of waiting and decided to assault the rebel infantry in the trenches.


FWC Lesson #1 – FWC infantry are deadly don’t go within 30cm of them with an expensive tank. The first tank went in, saved all hits from the infantry response fire (Ah, oh yeah… there’s no “*” by that 3/30… they cause hits to hard targets – no matter they were all saved….) fought three rounds against the infantry in trenches. Each of the first two rounds could not hit them, took one hit, and saved it. Round three, same thing, except didn’t save the single hit so had to retreat and be suppressed…. The other tank took one hit on the way in, failed to cause any hits in close assault, took one themselves and were destroyed!?!?! GAH!!??

We realized after that we messed up on the first tank as technically after the first round it should have fought as if the infantry was in the open… but this brought up some questions – does a grav tank fighting on a second turn then lose it’s harder to hit ability in close assault? The hit as if in open on the second round of close assault is suppose to simulate the fact that the assaulters are right there “in it” with the defenders… how can a grav tank floating above be right “in it”…?

Rebels

The two teams that survived the close assault by the tanks fired on the remaining tank unit with initiative fire and knocked it out!? KA-BOOM!!! A glorious victory for the revolution!

TURN FIVE

Legion

Recce sends tactical information to the mechanized infantry HQ… that’s what they were waiting for…


The infantry deployed!


Then they fired on the Rebel infantry in the town as the IFV moved around to the flank to support an advance on the station. I tagged one of the infantry stands with some op fire (one hit, no suppression) but suppressed an IFV! A second order had the infantry, the unsuppressed IFVs and the mortar team all firing into the station. The net result: 1 rebel infantry section knocked out, one suppressed.

Rebels

The rebel leadership managed to issue one successful order this turn. it might have been the first one in the game… it might have been the ONLY one in the game… one team moved, two others turned around in their trenches, and a fourth fired on the Legion infantry.

TURN SIX

Legion


The legion surged forward with four successful orders taking the trench at the south end of the station – having knocked out the remaining infantry there through weight of fire alone.

Rebels

Initiative fire caused two hits on an IFV suppressing it. NO orders were issued.

TURN SEVEN

Legion


The legionnaires charged into three separate assaults on the first order! The first one went terribly wrong. The Infantry section directly engaged was wiped out, the support unit supporting retreated into a suppressed IFV knocking both out, and the supporting IFV retreated away fro the station quite suppressed themselves. The other two assaults knocked out two more units of rebels.


On their second order the Legion carried on with another assault – rolling up the trench on the west end of the station – knocking out another unit of rebel infantry and the CO which had been attached to it by an overrun.


Two more successful orders were issued which saw the legion shoot up and surround the remaining unit of rebel infantry at the station….

Rebels.

The remaining rebels surrendered…

CONCLUSIONS

Fun.

FWC is much deadlier. This will probably make for some quicker games. Of course we haven’t tried any shields or anything. That might make a few things a bit more survivable…

Alright, now that I’ve got that out of my system I’m going to try and get back on track with finishing up some of my forces for Cold War Commander. I’ll slip in another grav tank here and there, but I want to finish up the Canadians and some more of the Soviet equipment I have. Then there’s The Americans… Africans… Norwegians… I have no shortage of East Germans to paint… I’d also like get modeling and casting again; finish off the modern French and get going on my generic commie figures (at which time I’ll probably work on some power armoured troops for FWC….).