Start Of The Week And It's A Thursday

There has been a something of a painting of hiatus. Putting the figures together has been a major p.i.t.a. A lot of the minis needed pinning and green stuff. After all I said about plastic minis I was reminded of the downside.

Somewhere along the line I missed the fact that I just hit 900,000 hits. Perhaps my blog is suddenly popular. There are fewer blogs than there used to be. So if you are reading it, or even looking at the pictures, thanks for being there. If you are an AI just surfing and looking to let off steam, just stop by and save hi. Would be nice to have my own basilisk.

I am running out of things I can usefully do for Atomfallish and SUnderdground. There is a possibility that some Russians will appear this week which might make some British communists. If things go to plan there may be some more Brits too, but I don't have a plan for them right now. So I want to finish off the project either this week or next. Will then pick it back up in August when the bits I have on order should be in my hands. Phalanx is coming. I might get some stuff there but I am guessing not. 

Which puts me in a bind. Which is what's next? The Quar thing was the next plan. That would be £200 for four weeks painting. As I am trying to do things on the cheap, that is a big ask. Is it time to dive back into the backlog? I have some Sludge steady to go. Decisions, decisions.

Some guys in gas masks who will double as thralls. One of the biggest jumps I had playing Atomfall was sensing something behind me to see an unarmed soldier in a gas mask with out stretched arms two paces away. I panic fired a magazine into it. Most of the rounds probably missed but it didn't stop me thinking these things were more or less the hardest thing in the game.

These are ferals. In the game they are tough (but not as tough as the thralls)and fast and have a spit attack . These things probably killed me more often than anything else in the game. These are mostly Mantic Zombie Swarm miniatures with some Wargames Atlantic Pulp Zombies bits.

My plan calls for a fascist force. So in keeping with the WW2 these will mostly be late war Germans, with an emphasis on winter troops. As it is set in a post-apocalypse London, they all need at least one piece of British kit. A battle bowler here and a sten or SMLE there. With what is coming I expect to add to use more StG 44s. I might throw in the odd PPSh SMG for funsies. These bodies are Panzer Lehr. I was thinking about using them for soldiers in boiler suits but my backup was better. 

In my SUnderdground background the surface is extremely hostile still. It's not going to kill you quickly. It will kill you slowly. So I am thinking the winter troops with gas mask heads and more derelict looking bases for forces on the surface. Many of the tunnels aren't much better. So I have a source for gas mask heads at the right price now which hopefully will appear at Phalanx.

One thing is for certain, if I start another project like this, I will do so with all the stuff I need, before I begin. Sludge certainly went a lot smoother when it started. Although I may gloss over the bit where it took two years to get it started.

Whilst Sunday is looking busy (it's father's day so should be fun) I have plenty of time till the end of the week. Assuming I can stay away. This is good news as I now have twenty five minis to paint.

Good News

Well, I have a laptop again. Thanks dad. I have money in the bank but my other half has forbid me from using it before we move which might be a couple of months yet. The thought of having no laptop for months after someone in the house breaking it and not owning up has been doing my head in.

So I have two projects on the horizon. The first is some weird war 2 as an RPG. There is some savage worlds stuff that I am using a place to start. I have got some British Paras from Warlord. These are set to be the core of the players and their team. I got a good deal on some Warlord minis. On the downside the big box was half empty but but the shop and Warlord treated me very well. They even threw in some extra transfers. I guess I have a few bits that are not going to be much  use. I might have to take up Bolt Action or I may just sell them. I will have to get a few more and of course some more to put them up against. Artizan are looking good for some PC types and maybe some enemies but I alsolike the idea of guards from Wargames Foundry. The game will be more like the beginning of Hellboy than massive metal battle armour.

I am also looking at a new work bench for when I move. This is probably going to be something that can be hidden away so I am thinking a bureau/writing desk/roll top desk. I am hoping to find something cheap on eBay. As I am already starting to pack stuff up, this might be something I can do on the side.

The packing process has made me think about all the half started projects that I have started. I am hoping that I will be able to do something about that soon. You never know, I may even gets some pictures.

Paint Table Saturday - Dead And Wounded - Some Dark Age Types

A paint table Saturday post? This is my first. I am not sure I will be able to stick with this but I guess I will give it a try. I have had a little bit of moral support around this from  the bogosphere, so I figured - what the hell. So I hope the group will accept me. I managed to borrow my other half's phone so the pictures are a bit better that they have been of late. Thanks sweetheart. I am sure I will be able to pay for it later.

I spoke the other dead about doing some casulty figures for the Viking game I have coming. I wasn't sure about doing a proper paint job. It takes a lot of time and I really wanted something that would stick out a bit on the table. So I thought I would try some in shades of grey. I liked the look of some zombies I had seen over at Carmen's Fun Painty Time. So after a couple of test paints I decided I could make it work.

 The figures are made by Warlord Games and Gripping Beast. Strictly speaking, the Warlord games stuff are Celts but I figured that they were close enough. There are a touch cheaper than the Gripping Beast stuff and they make a nice all round look.

The figures are a pretty simple three grey highlights. I think I actually spent more time on the bases. I added a few weapons and shields on some of the repeated figures to give them a bit of a different look. I was quite pleased with the end result and it was a project that was pretty quick to complete.

I have moved on to the next project as well as finishing some of the other stuff I have started. I'll post the pics when I have some more time.

Red Hammer, Iron Cross

I played a WW2 game over the weekend and had quite a lot of fun doing it. The scenario was called Red hammer, iron cross. I tried to tell the guy it should be a yellow hammer on a red background but scousers have no sense of humour. Unless they are playing Arsenal. They are a damn fine bunch of lads, so I consider myself lucky to have found them. That said, let the jokes begin. 

I have done a bit of WW 2 20mm skirmishing in the past but never in 28mm so this was a little different. It was done using the Nuts rules which are the same rules that have been used for the Very British Civil Games I have played over the last year or so. So I had an idea how the rules would be played out. Unlike VBCW, the troops were actually skilled at combat and were likely to pass morale checks so they had a very real danger of actually killing each other.

Soviets advance

I got told I was in charge of the Russian. So after appointed a commissar, I got on with it. The plan was who ever gets the most troops off the opposite table edge, wins. So in true soviet style, I dispatched everybody else to charge the enemy, whilst  I moved up in cover. Everybody else did what I was expecting to do, which was reconnaissance by death and Irish landmine detection.

Right flank doing there bit

Dutifully the right flank found the enemy for me and got shot at. They were lucky that the reverse gear of the t34 did not seem to work properly.

Immediate left flank

As part of the glorious plan, one of my subordinates decides to attract the bullets whilst my men charge into cover. There leader is put on the ground half way through the first turn. Given there squad leader was a bit of an idiot, this proved to be no bad thing. Not wanting him to get an unfair advantage, I dispatched my medic and the leader was back on his feet in no time.

Disputing the superior qualities of the T34

The game would have moved on quite quickly if we had been able to roll decent dice for the tank crews. These two T34 were to spend most of the battle here, one of them hung up on a hedge. I supposed it stopped them from getting badly blown up by turn 3.My lousy dice roles I suppose.

The cunning part of the plan

Or maybe not so cunning and maybe more sort of desperate. I sent the SU around the back of the Tiger and hoped that the the nearby Panzer IV didn't get a chance to move before I got a chance to shoot.

The Tiger is getting closer but my subordinate is starting to get troops off the table

Well he has the flag. A definite advantage for Dave. He gets a nicely painted flag with morale bonus and a big sign announcing his presence whilst losing a rifle. It does mean that I now have to start the advance again just to keep up. Dave had a "dumbass" soldier, which in the game is a bit of a liability. You just can't get them moving so the normally get left behind.

The big push

At this stage I can hear the shooting but I still hadn't seen many Germans. I have got to the stage of enjoying the game and I am now thinking about what troops might be worth buying.

In position

No real advance but my troops are in a good position. Or to put it another way. Someone else is attracting the fire whilst my buys are in some sort of cover.

Springtime for Hitler?

The German's big push and very unsporting attempt at a flanking attack with just two guys.

The Big Push again

Now my subordinates start showing me up. They are about to launch a sneak attack on the Tiger I have been chasing for four turns. I am now less interested in the Tiger and more interested in the Panzer IV that has just woken up.

The Grand Finale

The Tiger attacks and blows up Ben's T34s. My T34, which by  this point is staring down the Tiger's barrel rolls a double six for spotting. In risk, this might of been a good thing. In Nuts, this means that I missed missed the extremely noisy tiger, driving in front of me and taking a shot at the tank next to me. Ben had two guys in building next to the Tiger, one of whom had a captured Panzerfaust. A good roll later, the Tiger is burning bright and the game is all but over.

A good game but there are simply not enough zombies.

Booty Haul

The Viking game is now set to start in May so I guess it's time that I really get on with it. I have been working on some ideas for the RPG and developing a rule set for Savage Worlds. So the trip to York yesterday was all about getting some more stuff for that. I was after some more dark age civilian types so I got a pack from Foundry. I was also after some farm animals. This will give the players something to pillage. So I got some cows, pigs and from Gripping Beast. I al found that they were doing some buildings so I got a couple of them. I have to say that when I compare them to the old PMC/new Caliver building, they come out a lot more expensive, much less weighty and unpainted.

I like my casualty markers so I got a pack called Carrion Regardless from Warlord. Lastly, I got a few bits from Ainsty which is where I seem to be spending a lot of my money when I go to shows. The main purchase was a huge Celtic cross but I also got a couple of water troughs and some trade goods.

On top of this were some more foam trays. Most of the people I game with seem to be developing large collections of foam trays. I had really bothered buying a lot of storage until I started going to club games again.