Carronade 2014

It's that time of year again, when I basically do my one big show of the year - the FDWC 'Carronade' show!  It was a highly successful trip for the club no doubt, but also for me personally!  

The resulting plunder of a day spent roaming the stalls:

1 Box of Perry Plastics WOTR Infantry

(Yes, I know I swore I'd never put myself through it again, but the new WOTR campaign has got me pursuing all sorts of new purchases to flesh out my medieval campaign-world!)  

Set of 'narrow road' strips for my tabletop, from S & A Scenics

(Been meaning to get scenery for ages, and I've been steadily growing my supply by getting the odd thing at each show.  Last year was streams, so this year it's roads!)

Pair of 4Ground MDF Houses - one Tudor timber framed cottage, one late-medieval dwelling

(4Ground appear to have taken over the world, as practically every stall had at least a few of their MDF kits!  I can see why, though - look good, and pretty much 'instant' terrain....)

4Ground Peasants' Ox-Cart

(I want my WOTR forces to have more of a baggage-train, so this fits the bill nicely!  Couldn't find any medieval-style tents anywhere, however.  Unfortunate.)

Pendraken pre-ordered wedge of Undead 10mm Fantasy figures

(I haven't played Fantasy since I did Warhammer in my early teenage years, back about 20-odd years ago!  I'd never pay to get back into it again, but Ric - my friend from the club - and I have recently fallen into a plan to make 10mm armies for the Mantic Games ruleset 'Kings of War' - which is apparently a quick-&-fun successor to it!  The rules are free online, look good, so that's me entering into a new wee painting project.)

Two bags of mini-sized dice & MDF 'frames' to hold them on a base

(Damage markers for the undead - I picked purple dice, to suit the creepy undead-magic vibe.)

Two paint-brushes, & two paints

(basic inventory-stock-up stuff.  Dull, but important!)

Two Perry Artillery pieces & crews

(I have, to date, got one artillery piece from them - a double-arc cannon.  I bought two single-arc cannons, to represent lighter pieces, and bring the artillery numbers up to three.  The bloody barons rule-set has many historical scenarios, and definitely shows how cannon became far more common as the period continued - time to stock up!)  

Kallistra 'Hordes & Heroes' blister - Undead Command

(Kallistra also do lovely 10mm fantasy figures, but I didn't want to use them as many come in pre-set strips, which I wasn't sure about.  However, the command pack should provide many individual 'hero' figures for use!)  

Five 'Colonel Bills' bags of second-hand figures - all WOTR

(I have officially lost my mind - more Wars of the Roses figures?!  I won't even tell you how close I came to buying a group-discount boxed set collection of the Perry plastics!  Anyway, although I was aware of Colonel Bills' shop, the fact that they traded in second-hand figures from other manufacturers' ranges had somehow slipped by without sinking in.  Seeing them at a games-day however, it suddenly dawned on me, and I went mental.  I wound up getting a bag of 4 foot command (Grenadier Miniatures); 4 mounted command with heralds, pages (Corvus Belli); 10 peasant-levy archers (Old Glory); 15 Billmen (Wargames Foundry) & 16 Archers (Front Rank) - in total, 53 individual figures - 54, if you count the pick-&-mix peasant they chucked in for free!)

Two Warbases Archery Butts

(Basic camp scenery, but cheap & fun! Plus, it has now dawned on me that I have bought very nearly 100 new WOTR figures, so they need somewhere to practice!)

So, that's that - enough to keep me going for quite the while, I should hope.  Reviewing it all, there are a few odd things that leap out - I didn't get a single rule-book or anything to read, which was surprising.  Also, besides the particular fantasy-themed project, pretty much all my focus was on growing my WOTR collection, rather than starting something new.  I was also within budget when I managed all this, so in total: I'm pretty damn happy with myself!  

Two Rulesets

I've recently been  pondering over two rulesets I own.  One is an old 'classic' one, while the other is a new acquisition.  Both are for quite different periods, but both are written (or at least co-authored) by the same guy - Rick Priestley.  

First is Warmaster Ancients, which is sadly no longer in print as far as I know.  I got it several years ago, mainly because I used to own and play the original 'Warmaster' from the Games Workshop fantasy range.  The Human Empire and Dark Elf armies I collected were actually the first time I ever got into 10mm, and I can still remember many fun games with them -despite the armies not numbering much over 8 or 9 units each.  So, I bought the Ancients version and recently dug it out for a re-read, which has led to much browsing on Pendraken and Magister Militum...

Oh, Angry Viking Bloke - how I've missed you!

The Second is a new acquisition, which I was recently given on my birthday.  It's Bolt Action from Warlord Games, which does small-level WW2 combat - roughly squad and company level.  I was attracted to it at least in part because the rules seem to work best in small-scale games, thus preventing the all-too-familiar rules creep which sees the table overloaded with units!  It seems very good, and reminds me of the old Games Workshop 'Epic WH40k' game, which I loved back in my teenage years.  I am now also pondering the Plastic Soldier Company range of 1/72 scale figures, which seem to be the best 'value for money.'  

Germans.  Who knew?

All this navel-gazing has been caused by a present of some birthday money, which came with the strict instruction to spend it on some models or myself!  As such, I'm planning to pop up the road to Carronade 2013 at Falkirk in a week and a half, and get myself a few bits and bobs.  Presently I'm merely enjoying the anticipation!

Desert War Pictures

It has now been about a month since moving house and I posted a back-to-normal message, which turned out to be massively over-optimistic!  In the last four weeks, getting the house up and running has proved to be quite a big task, and playing a game has proved to be quite beyond me.  I have managed to set up about three or four games but not played anything more than a few turns before having to pack up again because it was taking up time and space which is currently needed elsewhere.  

Still, things shall improve with time, non doubt.  For the benefit of posting anything other than this brief message, I've dug out some pictures of an old WW2 Western Desert game I played ages ago and never got round to posting - a bit of easy eye-candy, and hopefully a sign that I can get the big campaign going again before long.  

Dug-in Brits

An Italian division in prepared positions

British and Italian Armour clash in the open

Close-range tank battles

A German Panzer Division

Brit infantry attack out of their fortified lines, as Italian tanks attempt to flank them

German and British mobile forces play hide-and-seek through the rocky outcroppings

First Battle near Tobruk, 1941

News at last of the first battle with my 'Desert War' figures. With surprising speed, I was able to bash out the painting and prepping of the Afrika Korps. Here's a picture of the completed 21st Panzer Division:

3 Tanks, 4 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 1 88mm, 2 Recon, 1 HQ (and a half-track just for the hell of it!)

Time to get the first battle onto the tabletop, and the marked-up pic below gives you an idea of the deployments.

The Axis plan is for a big, bold strike hooking around the open south flank. Consequently the Italians are left holding the north in a thin-stretched line, the more infantry-heavy 90th Light will act as the hinge on which the two panzer divisions turn to complete their move northwards and roll up the Brits.

British Army plans are slightly more cautious, given the Axis draw of so many Panzer unit cards. The two infantry divisions are deployed along the line of all those minefields, with the South Africans in the north and the Indians in the south. The 7th Armoured division stays back away to the south in open desert, lurking where it can do some damage to flanks. The Free-French brigade is left on the southern end of the main line for a bit more protection, while the tanks of the 8th Armoured brigade are kept in reserve behind the 4th Indian Division.

"Cup of tea, anyone?"

The battle started with the Germans roaring forward at full pelt, and 90th Light Division struck the Free French brigade full-on, aided by the efforts of the Luftwaffe who blew up it's artillery and HQ, meaning most of it's losses were permanently lost for this battle.

"Sacre Bleu! Voila les Boches!"

Thankfully the 4th Indian division quickly weighed into the struggle, and before long the battered French were pulling back to safety and it was the 90th Light who looked the more beleaguered. Southwards, the two Panzer divisions swept on and the 7th Armoured Division soon found that rather than picking on a flank it was being hit head-on by the 21st Panzer.

The fighting between these two divisions see-sawed back and forth for a while, with an attempt by the Luftwaffe to intervene brought spectacularly to grief by the Anti-Aircraft guns of the Desert Rats.

"Crikey, that was a close one!"

With the other units to its north and south engaged, 15th Panzer found itself advancing into a gap - would it turn north as planned, or south to outnumber the isolated 7th Armoured? It's grizzled lead-figure commander stood his full 10mm tall, and ordered his staff to keep moving northwards. However, he wasn't about to entirely leave 7th Armoured alone, and he ordered a recon battalion to go south and spot for his 8.8Flak guns, which he also detailed off south to form a little mini-detachment.

it wasn't long before the 88s proved a spectacular success, and 7th Armoured began to struggle against a foe they couldn't even hit back at!

"Krak!......Boom!"

The battle began to hot up, and as the scale of the Axis swing south became obvious, the British General ordered the South Africans in the north to attack out and hit the Italians, hoping to force a German unit to break off and rush to their aid. The Ariete Armoured division, far smaller in size and badly overstretched, soon found itself fighting a desperate retreat against the rampaging South Africans. Elsewhere on the field, the 90th Light and 15th Panzer attacked north together and slowly forced the 4th Indian to give up ground. It got a lot of good support from the armoured brigade and the remaining Frenchmen, but the numbers were definitely turning against it. Worst of all, the 7th Armoured division was nearly destroyed and retreated off-table, now freeing the 21st Panzer to join the fray!

It was all coming down to the supply depots in each army's rear - would the South Africans' raid blow them up first as the Italians collapsed, or would the heavy swing of the Germans land first? The Germans seemed to be doing better, as the British line weakened, the supply dumps came into range and the Panzers blew them up one after the other

Ka-Boom! "No more of ze bully beef for you tonight, Tommy!"

The South Africans similarly rampaged through the Axis rear, driving the Axis tanks back onto their last dump and forcing Rommel to rush the 21st Panzer back to try and hold them off!

Finally, neither side managed it (although the Brits did fail only because the Axis rolled a 6 on a saving throw!) Night fell on the desert, and both sides had to back off, realising they'd scored a draw - but with the Axis ahead by 1 point, thus claiming a technical win.

"Bad show, Timpkins!"

"Wunderbar!"

Down at the Workbench

A brief interlude to mention what I'm up to at the moment on my workbench - not that I actually have a permanent place like a 'workbench' or anything, but well, you get the idea.

The first thing driving me to madness is the ongoing painting epic with the Perry Wars of the Roses figures. I decided that painting en masse was the only way to avoid a complete nervous breakdown, so what you see snapped above is a full half (yes, just half - I need to do this all over again!) of the miniatures. Specifically, this is my 'Retinue' box, where all figures contained are getting a liveried coat. I am painting the figures step by step, and uniformly bringing them up to the same condition. First it was shoes, for about 80 figures (160 bloody boots!) and then it was skin-tone on the face & hands; then steel on helmets, mail & blades; now livery colours, as per the plan I had worked out. Hard going, for the time being at least, but there is undeniable progress to compensate for the present tedium. Once this is done, it's legs, then belts & equipment, then grass highlights on the bases.

So, what else? Well, the state of the other army at the moment is:

Well, let's be honest about it: it's awful. This is the embryonic stage of the army coming up shortly. It's the other half of my WW2 Desert Army pair: the Afrika Korps! The models are on order from Pendraken, but I have made a start by cutting the plastic bases for them all in advance. Here they are, stacked up, and pretty much all I have to look at until the postman does his thing!

Eighth Army Finished

The British Eighth Army is now ready for the desert and battle. Dipped miniatures have been sprayed down with a matt finish and the bases have had a fine layer of sand glued on to finish them up. Not bad, if I do say so myself (well, certainly by my own standards...) I have not painted 10mm before, and the 'dip' painting method works really well - not too big to make painting them take ages, but large enough for the detail to be visible. I'm very happy with the result!

"Off on more of these exercises, eh chaps? Keep up with the tanks."

"Is the tea ready yet, Timpkins?"

"Out on the gun-line, ready to give Jerry what for!"

"Hundreds of miles of nothing, yet we still get a traffic jam!"

"Thirsty work, all this shelling. Any more tea?"

The whole collection, in it's storage box (looking rather abstract from above!)

Eighth Army Now Painted!

Hooray! Taking advantage of being snowed in, I have been busy with the paintbrush. I have completed painting the Eighth Army in it's entirety, and I have now 'dipped' the whole lot. They are now stashed away in the loft where they are being sprayed with a coat of Matt varnish to protect them and take off the glossy sheen. I shall post some pics soon, once the stuff has dried, to let you all see the 'before and after' effect of the dipping. It's quite striking, I think!

Eighth Army takes shape

After a long silence, I have some practical progress to report! The WW2 Desert Army for the Commonwealth is now fully based. There was much (laboured) cutting of 2mm thick plastic sheets to make bases, sandpapering the surface to make it 'take' glue from the models. Above is a pic of the standard British Eighth Army Infantry Division - 9 Infantry battalions/regiments, 2 Artillery batteries, an HQ, Recon battalion, and 3 motor transports.

The standard Armoured Division - 3 armoured regiments, and just 4 motorised infantry.

The full army, in it's entirety.

The models in various stages - unpainted, base-coat sprayed, and with some details painted on pre-dipping.

Pendraken Figures and Basing

The 10mm Eighth Army figures from Pendraken have arrived, and I thought I'd outline the haul - plus do a little checking about bases. I bought mainly infantry, obviously, and found a pleasingly varied set of poses - the 'riflemen' have three, of men either walking forward, charging ahead, or firing. Other bags I ordered, such as Bren-gun or Thompson SMG-carrying men were single-pose. Plenty, in other words, to give a varied bunch of bases.

Bases, then. I wasn't sure what size would be best, so I drew out boxes on a sheet of paper measured to the size-options. The results are below.

Left to Right, the sizes are 20mm x 20mm (too cramped), 30mm x 20mm (better spacing), 30mm x 30mm (deeper, but for no clear benefit) and 40mm x 30mm (too thinly-spread.) I decided in the end to select 30mm x 20mm for my infantry bases as the most pleasing to my eye. Other sizes could be used elsewhere and keep the 30mm frontage, with the depth varying to fit vehicles on.

Clockwise from top-left, this shows a Universal Carrier, a (massive) Bedford 3-ton truck, a Matilda tank, and a Jeep. The 40mm deep base appears to be adequate for all tanks and lorries, but the 30mm deep base is more suited to things like Jeeps on 'Recon' unit stands.

Here's a varied bunch - Clockwise from top left, I've made a 30mm x 30mm HQ stand for each division by using individual command figures, Command-Group models (usually a brass-hat type poring over a map at a table) and a pup-tent. Next is the dismantled components of a 25pdr field gun, which also comes with a trailer and three crewmen (a loader, a man pointing/pulling a lanyard, and an officer observing through binoculars.) The gun also comes with a circular firing platform. Next round is a smaller Morris 3/4-ton truck, then a pair of armoured recon units: the Dingo Scout Car and the Humber Armoured Car.

I wanted the tanks in my Eighth Army to be a jumble of all models and types, as the historical army appears to have all-sorts of varied tank types, none of which were anything other than 'adequately comparable' to most of the German ones in combat, and usually mechanically unreliable. Clockwise from top left, we have here a Valentine (with sand-skirts), an M3 Lee, a Crusader II and a Grant. Turrets come separately and get glued in place, and all will suitably fit a 40mm-deep base.

Next, I'll detail my painting plans for my first formation, an Infantry Division.

To the Desert!

Hi - I'm on the brink of a new project, and thought I'd detail it right from the word go - the initial idea through to realising it on the tabletop.

I've never been of the opinion that an army endlessly grows - in fact, I was a bit surprised when I recently mentioned I'd completed my Seven Years' War painting scheme for two armies composed over two years ago, and people thought it'd increase. It never even entered my head to grow the forces over time with the odd extra unit of Grenadiers or Cuirassiers here and there. The size was worked out on day one, and seen through to exactly that! Does anyone else work that way?

Anyway, one of the big advantages of a fixed force size is that - besides giving you a definite finishing point - it can usually be part of a campaign structure that cleverly defines the maximum forces allowed. One of the nicest I've seen is a simple set that was first published in a copy of 'Wargames Illustrated' that I bought back in April 2002 and noticed on a re-reading a year or so ago. For those interested, I've discovered there is an electronic copy of the article ('KISS Rommel' by Norman Mackenzie) available online at freewargamesrules (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/)

The game is large-scale strategic-level World War 2, which is always the level I've enjoyed and found the most fascinating. Not for me the madness of 'Advanced Squad Leader' or any similar company-level games - I wanted to do things on a big-scale, and always have since one of the first WW2 board wgames I've ever played - the classic 'Eastfront' by Columbia Games (http://www.columbiagames.com/.) If you've not played it and you like WW2 games, then turn yourself in to the wargames police immediately, as you're doing yourself an injustice!

The KISS (or, 'Keep It Simple Stupid!') Rommel rules covered the Desert War, or North African Campaign 1940-1943, which was of little interest for me at first through ignorance - until I read the book 'Alamein' by Stephen Bungay (yet another recommendation, WW2-fans!) A slim but extremely readable fact-filled volume, the bizarre and see-saw struggle in the alien environment between the two sides began to seem fascinating as I learned more - the crack German units with their '88's and their unstable Italian allies, struggling against lack of supplies as much as with their enemies, the Eighth Army of multi-national Infantry from across the British Empire, excellent Artillery plus a jumble of tanks. A colourful mix, and crucially a situation of two varied sides that regularly had a tally of wins and losses against each other.

I've started out by buying the British Empire & Commonwealth Eighth Army, and decided to do so in 10mm from Pendraken (http://www.pendraken.co.uk/) - this is my compromise scale as I don't want 15mm armies due to the lack of space & painting time, plus I think 6mm would be too small for what is potentially a visually appealing army. The order has now arrived, and I shall post pics of the figures and details of basing plans shortly.