Brink of Battle Force

Just a quick posting of the final images of my Brink of Battle force and the stat lines I've come up with.

Going back to the scenarios mentioned a few weeks back game 1 was to be an Allied assault on the Entrance to the secret German facility.

I decided a Standard Force would suffice and I would keep the weirdness down a little as these troops would be outside patrolling and generally being seen.

The Gate defense force would also be split for the first scenario with a number of models off board to enter on patrol routes, and the rest deployed as possible enemy positions. The old Colonel charged with defending the Gate is Col. Klinkerhoffen, once a lead fighting hero, now older, more rotund war weary veteran. His right hand man in this game would be Lieutenant Smitt who very much reminds the Colonel of his younger self, agile and a strong leader Smitt is rarely in one place for long, he leads from the front and is always found in the thick of battle with his men.

A small group of German infantry will defend the gate with some fire support from a couple of armoured Panzergrenadiers, there'll be a dog patrol and lurking somewhere in the woods one of the German WolvenSoldats, a crossbred supersoldier that stalks the area around the base. The force comes to a little over 700 points if you allow for the themed army bonus and stands at 11 models:

Colonel Klinkerhoffen	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Commander	4	7		5	Automatic Pistol, Knife, Grenades	108 SPs
Traits:  Commander Old Soldier (Additional Break) Stormtrooper (May fire at any point during move)			Equipment:

Lieutenant Smitt	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Veteran	4	6		4	SMG, Knife	77 SPs
Traits:  Commander Hunter (Shoot at full ROF when mobile Shooting)			Equipment:

3x German Army Infantry	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	4	4		4	Knife, Grenades, Rifle or SMG	100 SPs
Traits:			Equipment:

German Army Dog Handler	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	4	4		4	Knife, Grenades, Rifle or SMG	55 SPs
Traits:  Beast Handler			Equipment:  None

2x Guard Dog	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	4	1		4	Bite 0/C/0	50 SPs
Traits:  Beast Bravado (immune from panic if outnumberbed) Ferocious Charge (+1 weapon reach on charge and if hits target gets entangled) Heightened Senses (dbt CBT rating for spotting ambush)			Equipment:  None

PanzerGrenadier w Assault Rifle	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	5	5		4	Assault Rifle, Knife	76 SPs
Traits:			Equipment:Light Armour

PanzerGrenadier w Rocket Launcher	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	5	5		4	Rocket Launcher, Knife	151 SPs
Traits:			Equipment:Light Armour

Wolven Soldat	CBT	CMD		CON	Weapons	Cost:
Trooper	5	3		4	Claws	50 SPs
Traits:  Beserker			Equipment:Camouflage

The Weird and Wonderful..

My final couple of figures for our upcoming Weird WW2 game were finished earlier tonight. I'm really chuffed with the progress I've made of the past few weeks and hope I can keep up this level of productiveness throughout the 3 months of the painting competition.

Even with the Doom Trooper, Wolvensoldat and FeuerSoldat I felt there wasn't quite enough weirdness in my German force so I've added the following:

PanzerKampfSoldat

These armoured battle suits are the pinnacle of German engineering, each one piloted by an elite German soldier they are capable of dishing out tremendous firepower with their duel sub-machine guns or wading into close combat with their boosted strengh. Each suit can sustain a tremendous amount damage before becoming inoperative and  their rocket powered pack helps them move the heavy suits around the field of battle quickly. 

The suits are actually American suits from Dust Tactics, I really liked the shape and with a traditional Panzer Grey colour scheme and a few decals the seem to really look the part. I do have a 3rd suit but it's running and I didn't like the pose too much, I also only had 2 of these 40mm bases so I left him out for the moment.

And finally there are the experimental Kampfdrohnes, bio-mechanical horrors from deep within the laboratory  these barely living creatures shamble forwards following their pre-conditioned orders and are able to take damage that would normally destroy the human body. They feel little pain and often return to the front quickly even driven off.

The miniatures are Scrap Thralls from Warmachine, no modifications just a more Germanic paint job, I tried to echo the colours my Brother painted on the jackets of my early war Germans.

And that pretty much it for this project, I'm still hoping that Wayland Games pulls it's finger out and gets me the Cloning Tanks from Westwind before Christmas as I may just get them done in time but I hold little hope of that now. So far I'm not impressed with Wayland's Customer service, they sat on my order since the 2nd December without informing me that they no longer had the item in stock and I only found out when I followed up my order with them. I always got much better service at Malestrom Games so I will miss that going forwards. 

Next up I've a load of 1930s figures I've just found in a box which need cleaning up, basing and undercoating prior to the Painting Competition so far I've over 150 points ready to paint, I'm pretty shure Christmas will provide some more and there's the SAGA minis I'm so desperately ignoring following the incident with the undercoat as I suspect many will need replacing. 

Thats if for now, I may have another update on boards and terrain in the next week but since I'm away from Friday that is looking unlikely. 

Have a good Christmas all and I hope it is filled with miniature goodness. 

More Weird WW2 miniatures

What a week, I'm really chuffed with the amount of progress I've made. Though I must ensure I don't burn out pre-painting competition.

Tonight I managed to get a couple of mastiffs done, I went with a fairly classic cream coat with black face and ears and I think they came out rather well. These will be great for guard dogs in both our WWW2 games and for more general pulp gaming.

I also finished off and based one of my FeuerSoldats, I would have painted 2 but the other one has mysteriously gone missing so for now I'll just have this guy.

Sine quite a few people commented on the poor photo's from last time I snapped a couple of repeat shots of the miniatures from last time. Firstly the Doom Trooper, still appearing quite green but much more representative of the paint job I did.

Then we have the armoured panzergrenadiers, the main group with experimental assault rifles and an anti mech rocket.

Then the second group with Flamethrowers. 

I've managed to finish an NCO miniature but for some reason on every single photo I took his face was blurred. Clearly there's something mystical going on and I took it to be a sign that he wasn't going to make it onto tonights blog.

Thats the lot for the moment, I started on a couple of heavily armoured suits in classic German Panzer Grey, they should be finished by the end of the weekend.

Yet More Progress

What a week, I'm getting a good run on finishing left over projects and managed to kick out a monstrously large creature tonight in under 2 hours.

First up are some Westwind Armoured Panzer Grenadiers, I'm not totally happy with the shade of gray for these but as I'm in a hurry I'm going to leave them as is for the moment whilst I finish off a number of other projects. The Squad includes a couple of flame throwers and a lovely anti-mech panzershrek. This'll make my brother think twice about fielding armoured suits.

Next up we have a Wolvensoldat, originally painted for modern horror the camo isn't quite right for WW2 but I don't think it looks too off. I was aiming for the darker skin colouring of films like underworld, not sure how well it works as there is very little difference from shade to highlight. Again I may revisit this when I have more time. 

Finally I have the Doomtrooper, a genetically engineered super beast, in real life he's a lot less green than this picture makes out, I'm quite impressed that I managed this beast in around 2 hours. For anyone who's spotted it it's actually a warmachine Trollblood miniature, I spent a long long time sanding off all the spikes on his back and rebuilding the muscles. I'm pretty happy with the final result.

Next up I've some Battlesuits, other bio mechanical monstrosities  a couple of specials and some guard dogs. Then it's back to terrain if the parts arrive in time.

Oh and I ordered the wrong bleeding Jarvis mat which has left me a little peeved, got a spring one rather than a summer mix so it doesn't match any of my bases. New order placed for the right one this time.

First batch of Weird WW2 Scenics Completed

The terrain made from bitz box rummaging was finished earlier today, I feel that's not bad for a weeks work considering that I've probably had under 10 hours hobby time.

Firstly a quick group shot of the finished bits.

Which break down to the following rooms:

The Chemical Pump Room
These huge pipes and pumping equipment shift the vast quantities of chemicals round the facility required for use in the mutagenic experiments of the DoomTrooper Project.

The Generator Room
Providing power to the both the underground facility and the guard station upstairs, the generator room is a prime target for any attack. I'm still waiting on the actual generator to arrive but it should be here in a week or so.

The Experimental Lab
The main target for the attack, the lab has produced a great number of monstrosities as part of the DoomTrooper project. Again I'm waiting on some clone tanks from West Wind Productions to finish this room off.

I've also enough crates already in the collection to make weapons storage room. Though I'm not sure I'll need it as I'm trying to keep the board to just 2'x2'.

Next up I've some WWW2 troops to finish, some new stuff to start and then I better start assembling miniatures for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Competition.

The Challenge is on...

Following an unsuccessful year I thought I'd kickstart my 2013 by entering the Analogue Hobbies 3rd Annual Painting Competition:

For those of you who don't know about it it is essentially a 3 month long paintathon where points are awarded for output. Last years entries were great with some entrants breaking the 1000 points barrier (5 points are awarded for each 28mm miniature for reference)

So whats my plan?

I'd like to think I can reach 500 points over the 3 month period, that's only 100 28mm miniatures or 34 miniatures a month, easy... honest.

Poking about in my boxes of unfinished project (which actually I have surprisingly little of really) I find I have the following:

• Old west banditos (which can be added to the Blackwater Gulch ones I'm expecting to arrive shortly)
• Greeks and a handful of Minoans for my somewhat stalled Aegeus Game (though I can't paint the beasties for this challenge as it's historicals only)
• Handful of Pulp characters I've not gotten around to yet.
• A whole Anglo-Dane Saga warband (unfortunately there was an accident with a can of spray which ruined a good number of them and put me off painting them but I hope to salvage a chunk of them for this challenge)
• Victorian Steampunk minis for Empire of the Dead (Whilst not strictly historical I may be able to get away with painting the humans) 
• Some more French Napoleonics (Old Guard, Artillery, some characters)

I would also like to get the following sorted out, which means a few purchases:

• More French Line and Voltigeurs for my Naps
• An opposing force for my WW2 Germans (as my bro has brits I may do some US Army)
• Some more Germans
• Always more 1930s pulpy goodness, I'm short of River Pirates, Some Russians, Some Turks and some generic tribesmen.

As I've some stuff already I'll probably pick up a few bits before the month is out to prep over the holiday period when I'm away and then get stuck in finishing stuff off.

There'll also be another update before the weekend is out on my WWW2 Terrain bits which are about half painted at the moment. 

Progress so far

Well it has been a couple of days and in my meagre hobby time I've managed to assemble about 10 scenic items from nowt but stuff in my bits box.

Essentially these are the following:

• Generator room switch
• Random pipework
• Large pipework
• Pumping gubbins
• Computer bank (a little out on era but with a retro paintjob it should do)
• More generator room gubbins
• A fuel tank
• Secure facility door.
• Going to get them sprayed up tonight and paint em over the weekend.

So now to get it all sprayed up and hopefully finish painting it by the end of the weekend allowing my to concentrate on getting some minis painted over the next few weeks and await the arrival of the rest of the terrain.

Blinked and missed 2012

Well 2012 has sped past an unimaginable speeds.

My daughter was born on the 13th Jan this year and is a delight, unfortunately my hobby time appears to have dramatically diminished and outside playing a few games here and there I have painted practically nothing in 12 months. For reports on the action you should check out my brothers blog over here:
http://infrequentwargamer.blogspot.co.uk/

My only success was 12 more Napoleonic French Line Infantry for Sharpe Practice.

So what inspired this sudden blog post I hear you cry????

Well this weekend my Brother was up, I'd not really planned anything but decided to run him through a few games of Angels 20 from Axis and Allies miniatures, I've introduced a few new gamers to it over this last year and I do believe it's one of the better WW2 air warfare games out there. It's also all pre-painted which is a definite win in my eyes these days.

The variable flight stands are one of my few hobby successes this year, I found some telescopic rods in Tesco for £1 each, after sanding off the bottom and cutting away the end I found I could fit them onto the Angels 20 mini bases and still be able to use the status maneuvers needed as part of the mechanics (read placing planes at jaunty angles for in game perks)

So after a few games of this my brother and I sat down to discuss what our next project will be, we'll be getting together in a months time for Christmas and New Year so it would have to be something we already had miniatures for as nether of us have much time at the moment. It would also have to be something I contributed most of the bulky terrain for as my Phil would be on the train so space would also be a premium.

We've played a lot of 1930s pulp over the past few years and as part of that we also appear to have a few WW2 miniatures in our collections, I've about 10 Germans used mainly for pulp villains and we both have some Weird WW2 miniatures from an abortive project a few years back so we decided to dust them off and run a couple of scenario driven games around Weird WW2. But what rules would we use, clearly they had to be a small games about 10-12 miniatures a side and a smaller battle field would be a perk as it would mean transporting less.

Brink of Battle raised it's head again, we've pushed a few minis around to it earlier in the year and it appeared to be a reasonable set of rules. After a couple of discussions we agreed to tweak a couple of rules, firstly we'd replicate the activation system from Sharpes Practice as we felt it worked well there and I was keen to use blinds to represent unknown enemy positions. We also discussed adding multiple wounds to better represent some of the weird stuff such as battle suits and great honking monsters. 

So it appears we had a game, after mulling it over for 20 mins of so I had a couple of scenarios in mind and with out further ado I'll introduce them:

It's late 1944, the Allied forces across Europe are pushing back the Germans and it would appear all is not going well for the 3rd Reich, Dr Willhem Von X, disillusioned by the way the war is being fought has recently defected and ended up in the Britain. He has provided a wealth of information on a super secret project code named SS Doomtrooper. Deep in an under ground laboratory it would appear t hat German scientists are trying to create the ultimate battlefield warrior, mixing ground breaking science with their technological advances it may be the last hope for the 3rd Reich's survival. 

A small covert force lead by a notorious British Major will be dropped in the area and a two stage mission will follow. 

Mission 1; Capture the Facility Entry, It would appear to maintain the secrecy of the project the facility has been designed with only a single entrance, this entrance it lightly guarded to help it remain undetected. The major will take a small force and attack the entrance at dusk, once secured additional forces will be dropped under cover of darkness to reinforce the major and provide some heavier firepower for the fighting that will take place inside the complex. Should the Major fail to capture the entrance this larger force will be required a the area may soon by crawling with additional Axis forces. 

Mission 2; The Major will lead a team inside the facility with several objectives, they must plant timed explosive devices in 3 of the critical areas of the Lab complex. The Main Growth lab where the scientists are known to have a number of Doomtrooper specimens in progress, The Generator Room, The Chemical Treatment Plant or the Armoury. Destruction of a number of these areas should lead the lab to be inoperable and should ensure the program is shut down. 

So we've a plan forming, I've suitable terrain to do both a general above ground board and some terrain used for underground pulp games which would suffice for the lab. A quick plan shows I need the following extra bits:

Specimen Tanks and medical equipment

Some pipework and pumps

A generator and random electrics

A secret entrance

Defenses such as barbed wire and tank traps

So far I've rummaged in my bits boxes and can make much of the above:

I'm sure you are dying to see what I  can turn this random collection of stuff into so keep watching this space,  there will be some WIP pictures up later this week.