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.

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Well I was actually back hours ago but since the house was empty I decided to get a little painting done.

So how was triples? Overall busier than last year I felt and certainly more inspiring, though that's probably as I'm a bit more into gaming again this year. A couple of nice demo games and displays on, most notably the Empire of the Dead demo table, a lovely Victorian street scene with Holmes and Watson desperately chasing down Jack the Ripper before he kills more victims. I didn't get a game but the one I watched seemed fun, ending with success on the final turn for Holmes and Watson. System appeared simple enough and the figures are pretty cool, I'm not sure how well it would work without crafted scenarios like this one but I may take a look at it later in the year.

Some shots of the table:

 

The buildings appeared to be a mix of Sarissa and Warbases with some scratch built stuff.

Finally a scratch built Hansom Cab Walker, apparently from a robotech walker and Westwind's own Hansom 

What did I actually buy then? 

Well to be honest not a lot, I didn't really go to get much more to get out of the house for a day and take a peek at a few games and miniatures. 

I picked up the following from GZG for a new 15mm Sci-Fi project we're starting this year: 

I've already ordered a couple of Rebel Minis Walkers from the US and I'm going to get a platoon of Khurasan Recon ARC Troopers next month. 

I also picked up some very nice transfers for a Greek Myth project I'm working on (more on that soon) and finally a couple of paints and some tokens for the previously mentioned Myth project. 

I'm going to have to pick up some of these laser cut buildings later in the year when I've cleared a couple of projects, they seem perfect for both my usual pulp gaming and if I do start Victorian Horror gaming.

Anyhow ta-ta for now

Ian

Back again

Well after a somewhat failed 2011 in gaming land I'm finally getting back into it in a decent way.

Much of the impetus for my gaming has come from my long suffering brother. His own blog has reminded me i need to get more painted and a challenge from a work mate has driven me to get the gaming brain back on and find some time for it.

So what's the last 12 months brought then? Well for starters I'm now a dad, I've a lovely 4 month old daughter who I've been banned front ever teaching to game. Thus had some what constrained hobby time and so i had to make sonera cuts and eventually ditched other hobbies in favour of gaming and painting.

This last year has also brought me a new gaming buddy, with young daughter and not living that close to any gaming clubs this is a bit of a blessing. James is however interested in GW games so I'll have to beat that out of him. We've mainly been playing through relatively new angels20 from axis and allies miniatures, its a surprisingly good little game. The rules are a bit better thought out than most pre painted cmg games but simple enough we managed to get a good grasp of them in the first session.

Pic below of one of our games.

Bye for now but I'll be back soon with updates from other projects.

More Napoleonics

We managed just 2 games whilst my Brother was over in January, mainly as we've upped the forces a little and both games have spilt over into the 2-3 hour territory rather than our usual 1-2 hours. Both games were played using Sharp Practice Rules with a few alterations to hit tables, movement and spotting rules.

Game 1 - Capture the objectives

The initial game was a fairly simple 3 objective set up with forces arriving at diagonally opposite corners. The objectivbes were the centre of the town, the large hill on the right and the junction at the centre of the road. 1 Victory point would be gained for each turn an objective was held (with a unit within 6") and not contested.

The British Line made a rush for the central objective and bravely hold it on their own, supporting units continue to aproach under blinds. 

On the wooded slopes a fight breaks out between some Italian Allies and a local Spanish Patria Regiment.

Back in the centre the French Grenadiers fire volleys into the British Line whilst Lieutenant Lanier marches his unit of line around to join the fight.

The Fight on the hill closes into brutal melee. 

And the Spanish Patria regiment beats off the Itallian Line in a decisive charge. The Itallians flee back down the hill.

Sergeant Blunt Leads his Rifles up to support the Line in the centre.  

French Dragoons successfully drive off the British Light Cavalry and threaten the flanks of the stranded British Line infantry.

The British Line finally break after substantial casualties.  

Final Result: British Victory

Although much of the British force had been routed and suffered terrible casualties their early rush to the objectives had secured them enough points to claim a decisive victory.

Unfortunately some very bad card draws ment that the French Dragoons spent several turns milling about and not contributing to the fight. Following this we altered the rules to allow any units not currently under fire and outside 18" of an enemy to also move on the tiffin.

Poor movement also foiled the Italian Light Line in supporting the Line on the hill but then thats the luck of the dice I suppose.

First Ministures of 2011

Not bad, not even 2 weeks into January and I've finished some figures already.

Now they're certainly not cabinet standard miniatures but they're certainly tabletop quality.

First of all some French Grenadiers from Victrix.

Followed by some Dragoons from Perry Minitures

Finally a picture of all my french together, 1 unit of line, 1 unit of voltigeurs, 1 unit of dragoons and a single cannon. The units are build for Sharp Practice with 12 men to infantry and 8 to light and cavalry units.

Next up I've another unit of Line Infantry to paint up and some Polish Lancers which I got for Christmas.

Napoleonic Battles with Sharpe Practice

I've a number of photos from a gaming session a month or so ago where my Brother and I worked our way through Sharpes Practice rules for the 1st time. No full batrep I'm afraid but I'll try and comment on the action at the time.

Italian Light Infantry cross open ground towards some British rifles holed up in a wood.

Same again from another angle

Italian Line infantry take and hold a small hillock.

Italian Light infantry unload at the Rifles with little effect.

Some British Line take up position behind some fencing.

 

The French and Italians Advance

Firefight between French and British forces

The French approach the British position in the Farm complex.

French and Italians paintind by my good self. British painted by my brother, buildings, roads and most of the woods provided by my brother. One of his first real terrain building efforts and it all seemed to work very well, I'm especially looking forward to the farm being added to more. It looks stunning on the tabletop and worthy of defending.

End of the year roundup

Well not the most productive year I've managed and I've certainly been slack with the Blog lately. 2011 is going to have to be better organised I think.

So Current Projects:

Pulp
All projects from 2010 were complete, I now have several sets of terrain including jungle, mountains and city. Didn't get around to the sewer system and the Library/Museum needs some more work.
Also managed to get a good number of miniatures painted for this so I've now also got a generic gang of thugs for our heroes to battle.
However this is all now on hold for the moment pending purchase of .45 adventure 2nd edition.

Napoleonics -
Good Progress on 28mm Naps, with units built for Sharpe Practice I now have, the following painted:

1 Unit Itallian Line Infantry
1 Unit Itallian Light Infantry
1 Unit French Line Inrantry
1 Unit French Voltegeurs
1 French Cannon
1 Unit French Grenadiers (almost done)

Still to paint:
1 Unit French Line Infantry
1 Unit French Dragoons
1 Unit Dismounted French Dragoons
1 Unit Polish Lancers

Next gaming session is in 2 weeks so I'm going to have to work hard to get some more models finished.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow hopefully.

Wild West

Bit of a failed project this, picked up some Mexicans and some more Outlaws back in April and managed to paint the outlaws however after cobbling together a number of buildings I have to say I was less than impressed with LoTOW rules.

So basically no real progress here.

WW2/WWW2

Absolutely no progress here, I have to be honest I can't get too enthused by this project. Just not feeling the vibe, I know my brothers interested and with the recent Bolt Action British plastics released I guess this will have to move forward soon. Some sort of pulp tie in may be needed for me to pick up some plastic warlord germans and get moving with this.

Clearout

Managed to clear out quite a bit this year and already have another box of unpainted miniatures to bang onto ebay. I've also decided to sell off my 20mm Napoleonics (seems little point in keeping them as I've 28mm ones), Painted Infinity miniatures (not played this in almost 2 years and it lead to arguements last time) Painted Confrontation miniatures (not sure of the market for these but they're 3rd ed and painted when I had the time to give these lovely models some attention)

Whats on the Horizon

Secret Project 1 - Some miniatures bought and partly based but I'm pondering on rules, Prolly going to have to build both sides myself to begin with as I doubt my Brothers missus will take kindly to me getting him into yet another scale and period. Least to say its all been inspired by Pillers of the Earth, a recent 3 part documentory on the Normans and visits to some historical sites)

Secret Project 2 - Well I've got my Bro interested in this one so it's not really secret, 10mm WW2 platoon plus support level gaming at 1:1. Planning on using Baptism of Fire 1 rules which from memory worked really well once you got your head around them.

More Naps - Prolly the major focus up until Triples will be Naps Naps and more Naps, till I'm sick of painting Blue and white.

Leatherworking - totally not gaming related but I've wanted to take up leatherworking for several years and so January is the month for me to really start. I've been purchasing tools over the last few months and have most of the basics now. This may end up taking up some of my otherwise limited painting time but well see.

Online Gaming - I really must stop jumping onto online games for hours at a time and not painting/modelling. Plan for 2011 is to do much less online gaming and hopefully focus on more wargaming.

Plan - I'm actually going to make a plan for once, month by month on the 1st of the month I'll post my painting pledge and at the end of the month will take stock of it. Hopefully this may promote me to finish some plenty of miniatures.