TFL Painting Challenge: Last Update in November

/

How time flies when you're having fun! One moment we're all talking about the 2015 new year, and the next it's the end of November already!

Still plenty of time to get your entries into this year's painting challenge. Here are some that other people have submitted:

  • Mr Bowler is back with some more 28mm WOTR figures. Given everything that Hat has completed this year, his table must be quite impressive when a game is on.
  • Steve Burt adds more Zulu War figures
  • Mervyn pops in some Ancient Brits
  • Mr Helliwell has foolishly let work get in the way of his painting lately...but has still found time to knock up 24 Confederate skirmishers
  • Mr Luther fills in a few gaps in his gallery
  • And Pedevere sends in more French types: lots of what I think are Legion Etrangere.

Today's pics are from Pedevere: his staff car and Dodge truck...very tasty!

Battlefront's Desert Fort

/

Those of you who read my post about Battlefront's Dust Cloud terrain markers will know that I have had some stuff on backorder from them for some time. One of the other things that was on backorder was their Desert Fort and expansion pack.

Now I can't remember exactly how this worked, but I think that they said they would only produce another batch of these if enough people agreed to buy them: a bit like a mini-kickstarter. Well I agreed to do so, and then promptly forgot all about it until the e-mails saying they were on the way started to arrive in my inbox, followed shortly afterwards by two quite big boxes.

Here's the fort itself:

It's a lovely piece of battlefield terrain. The walls and turrets are really chunky...and I've just realised I've set it up in the picture above with all but one of the walls the wrong way round...but you can see from the left hand wall what it should look like! Plenty of room for figures on those parapets, and for at least light guns on the tower-tops.

Here are a couple of views with a figure in them for comparison:

fort02.jpg

The expansion pack contains two ruined walls and two mid-wall towers that would allow you to double the length of two of the wall sides, provided you were happy to have the ruined walls included to make up two of the sides. Or you could just have the ruined walls as part of the original square fort.

Here's a pic of the fort set up as a square with on side bashed in:

In all, this is a lovely set of kit, ideal for portraying the desert forts of the western desert in the early 1940's. It would also do, of course, for sci-fi wargaming, and for Beau Geste-style games as well. Recommended.

PS  Sorry about the pictures: I seem to have got most of the walls round the wrong way. That's what comes of drinking a bottle of wine whilst gaming, and then deciding to do a bit of photography afterwards!

The Stalingrad Mill

/

The last building I had to put together from Commission Figurines was the gigantic Stalingrad Flour Mill.

Retailing at £45, this is a cracking piece:  two joined buildings, one large, one small; five floors and a roof, with each floor having its own little ledge on which to place figures. You actually have to build it twice: once for the internal frame on which all the shelves sit, and once for the outside walls.

Here's a modern-day picture of the mill itself:

And here's a picture of my completed model:

Not the sharpest of photos, but you can see what I mean about the sheer size of the thing, and how well it compares to the actual building.

I painted this in orange, and then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. It didn't need any sort of highlights dry-brushed on, so I didn't do any. The inside I left in raw mdf, as it looked okay and painting it would have been a real pain now that I had put it together. The outside pavement I did in the usual dark grey, black wash, light grey highlight, but I left the highlighter brush a little dirty from when I painted the orange on, so some of the pavement has a little bit of a brick hew, as if covered in brick dust or rubble.

The only thing I'm not 100% satisfied with the way I've painted it is the roof. You get two bits of flat roof, and then a sort of tunnel-walkway-attic as well. These I painted in dark brown, again with a hint of dirty orange in it. It looks okay, but I'm not sure quite how else to do it. Suggestions on a postcard please...

To finish, here are two close-up shots of the inside so that you can see how good it will be for actual wargaming. As I said above, cracking piece: highly recommended.

Chain of Command: Another Pint-Sized Campaign Released

/

Yesterday saw the release of another pint-sized campaign scenario book for Chain of Command: The Scottish Corridor.

This supplement focuses on a German counter-attack on the salient held by 15 Scottish Division on the Odon river in the latter stages of the war. As ever, it is available for £3.60: the price of a pint in Richard's local.

Here's the blurb from the TooFatLardies website:

"The Scottish Corridor is the fifth Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command, designed to be played using the campaign handbook, At the Sharp End.  

"Twenty nine pages long, The Scottish Corridor follows the established Pint-Sized Campaign format, with an overview of the forces involved on both sides, their deployment shown on period maps and the course of the campaign described in detail before going on to present a mini-campaign covering the initial German counter-attack against the narrow corridor projecting down to the Odon river and Hill 112.  A mixed force of two Kampfgruppe attack in the hope of isolating the British spearhead and restoring the line.    

"The campaign is a total of six game tables with the duration running between six and eleven games.  Briefings are provided for both sides, along with measurable objectives, period maps, force and support option listings and everything you need to play this campaign through to its conclusion.  

"Like all of our Pint-Sized campaigns, this is available for the price of a pint in our local pub.  We're sure that you'll agree, that is great wargaming value!"

You can buy The Scottish Corridor from here.
 

Q13: New Manufacturer Added: Evil Bear Wargames

/

Another new 15mm sci-fi figure manufacturer added to the list: Evil Bear Wargames.

So far, EBW have but two listings in God's own scale, but they are very nice indeed. First up are hard suits: 21mm tall armoured suits with weapon and shield. I particularly love these and will get some as soon as the lead mountain is small enough to justify a rebuild:

Next up is a very nice patrol/command and control vehicle: the British Army Panther. Again, a lovely piece of kit:

You can get to the Evil Bear Wargames website by clicking here. Note that both the above are also available in 28mm.

Another Ruined Building from Commission Figurines

/

Here's the second of the three buildings I purchased from Commission Figurines at Warfare.

This one is Potsdammer Platz, and very nice it is too. Goes together very easily - literally the work of minutes - and then simple to paint as well. This one I undercoated in dark grey, then added a heavy wash with black ink, then dry-brushed with dark grey, then light grey, then bleached bone to bring out the relief. Again I painted the inside dark grey.

Looks good to me and I can't wait to get them onto the tabletop.

You can find Commission Figurines by clicking here.

Dustclouds

/

I must have been feeling very flush one day, as apparently I've had the 'Dustclouds' terrain pieces on back-order from Battlefront for some time.

Now just why anyone would need a marker for dust in the desert I don't know...but then again, they do look good and I obviously felt the need at some point! Whatever the reason, and whether I really need them or not, they were a nice surprise. Some people, eh: more money than sense!

One of my as yet unused T-55s with dustcloud!

TFL Painting Challenge: A Small But Perfectly Formed Update

/

After last week's massive submission, folks seem to be resting up a bit!

No matter, we have Messrs Slade, Plowman, Burt and Douglas to keep us going.

  • Mr Slade with plenty of ruined buildings and some lovely 15mm sci fi troops from GZG and Khurasan
  • Mr Plowman with some 15mm sci-fi buildings and troops
  • Mr Burt with some Natal Native Contingent from the Zulu Wars
  • Mr Douglas with seventeen dwarves in 28mm

Today's pics are from Mr Slade and Mr Plowman. First up, some of Matt's sci-fi troops:

And in the same theme, Ralph's assorted 15mm sci fi troopers:

Now we're coming up to the end of the year, so could people get their final entries for 2015 in sooner rather than later please. Thank you!

Q13: More Dwarves in Space

/

I've finally got around to basing and finishing my first platoon of not-powered-armour space dwarves: the Lethlings platoon from Khursasan.

These are lovely figures: as detailed (and just about as big!) as any other 15mm figures out there. These I painted as if they were full-size 15's i.e. basecoat, wash, then two highlights. Although the photography doesn't really do them justice, they look great.

Highly recommended.

You can see the whole Space Dwarves gallery by clicking here; and visit the Khurasan website (if he's open) by clicking here.

Sci-fi Buildings: The Next Generation

/

One of the other things I saw at Warfare was some incredible sci-fi terrain from the Laser Terrain Company.

This is best described as slot together, modular corridors and rooms made out of plastic, and with the option to include working lights - achieved through very thin, almost paper-that-lights-up that can sit behind or underneath pieces of plastic with holes in them to look like panels, signs, floor lighting...whatever!

Now this terrain was 28mm, too big for the God's own scale (15mm) that I use, but the lads on the stand did mention that they were considering 15mm as well. Consider harder please!

You can get to their website here, or they have a Kickstarter going here.

Here are some pics to wet your whistle:

Looks amazing in daylight

And lights up at night

Some details

At Warfare, Laser Terrain were giving away samples. As I was with Neil and Tahir, and they didn't ant theirs, I have thus ended up with three barricades. Yes, they are 28mm, but they will do for gates, roadblocks, all sorts of things in 15mm. Here they are with one of my space dwarves:

Ruined Buildings from Commission Figurines

/

One of my purchases at Warfare were some of Commission Figurines 15mm ruined buildings in laser-cut wood.

I was quite excited by these, so let one of them jump to the head of the painting queue, and knocked it up in a few hours late on Sunday.

This particular building, Konig Strasse, is easy to put together: four walls slot together and then mount onto the four pavement pieces if pavement is required.

Painting was pretty simple too: I painted the whole thing orange, then put a very heavy black ink wash over the top. Once that was dry, I dry-brushed very lightly in orange again, and then in a bone colour to bring up the relief. The doors I did in brown, the pavement in three shades of grey. The interior I just painted all grey, with no washing or dry-brushing.

I'm very pleased with the result, and can't wait to build the others. I think they'll do for any big city: Berlin, Stalingrad and even sci-fi...and at £13 for the one below, quite good value too.

Q13: Updated "Dwarves in Space" Army List

/

As I work my way through painting my space dwarves, I find myself needing to tweak and amend their army list. This is all part of the natural evolution of a Q13 army list.

For simplicity, for example, I've now consolidated the space dwarf infantry into two basic types: squads of 8-10 in armour; and squads of six in powered armour. This should make managing them on the tabletop slightly easier.

I've also added a few bits and bobs. The Goanna tanks can now carry shield generators in their turrets (see previous post), with a platoon now consisting of two 'fighting' vehicles and one 'shielding' vehicle...something that really adds a bit of flavour to things.

Likewise on the flavour front, I've finally succumbed and added a couple of GZG's excellent civilian CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering) Mecha to give the little fellas some engineering back-up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what one can do with a shearing laser and a chainsaw!

hercules "b" mecha from ground zero games (click on the image to go straight to gzg's website)

hercules "b" mecha from ground zero games (click on the image to go straight to gzg's website)

This is the great beauty of Q13: you can field anything you like provided it can be properly represented on the tabletop and fits in with the coherence and consistency of your army's story.

You can download the revised space dwarf army list from the Army Lists page of the Q13 section of this website, or by clicking here.


More Space-Dwarves: Gruntlings in Exo-Suits

/

More infantry for my Dwarves in Space army, and the first contingent from Cactus Games: a platoon of Gruntlings in Exo-suits.

These are very cute figures indeed: squat, rounded, and with lots of relief to make painting easy. I undercoated in black, then a coat of metallic blue, then a dry-brush with a dull-metal colour to bring up the detail. 

The only negative is that there are only two poses: one with a built-in gun in one hand and a warhammer in the other; one with just the gun.

Here they are:

TFL Painting Challenge: a post-Warfare Update

/

Plenty of tip-top submissions this week. In no particular order we have:

  • Mr Helliwell, with another regiment of ACW foot plus command and supporting artillery
  • Joakim goes large with a goodly number of figures for Dust, including two very nice looking walkers
  • Mr Luther adds another eleven 'planes to hi collection
  • Dave Humm adds his usual eclectic mix, with figure for Frostgrave, Flintloque, and a very early example of a war photographer!
  • Mr Ralls makes a welcome return with huge numbers of 28mm figures. Nice to see you back at the painting table, Jason.
  • Jon Yuengling also makes a welcome return, with a submission consisting of trees, lots of trees
  • Doug Melville is also back, with some lovely Medieval Scots and three bits of modern Soviet armour
  • and last, but by no mens least, Kev (Fat Wally) has gone Star Wars crazy, with two ships and a quite frankly huge-looking asteroid base

Today's pics are from Doug, his Medieval Scots; and from Joakim, one of his walkers. Lovely!

PS  Scorecard will be updated tonight, when I'm at home. Too difficult to do at work without the right software!

Warfare 2015

/

A most enjoyable couple of days spent at one of my favourite wargaming shows, Warfare, which takes place at about this time every year at the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Caversham, near Reading, Berkshire.

As always, one hall was devoted to a large 'supermarket' of traders selling everything one could ever want. Not too crowded this year, although there were, of course, the usual rucksack bearing numpties who don't seem to realise that being bashed with a sack is not an ideal way of spending one's afternoon. I understand the need for rucksacks, I hasten to add...but for Pete's sake take them off and carry them when manoeuvring narrow aisles between stands.

One trader I must single out for a mention is Commission Figurines, who did me a cracking deal on some mdf ruined buildings for Stalingrad/Berlin. Their website is at www.commission-figurines.co.uk . I also bought a few bits and bobs from GZG, and another box of Battlefront SU-100s so that I can have one box for WW2 Soviets and one box for 6DW Egyptians.

The other hall was devoted to games: about half was the usual competition area, about half was a number of very nice demonstration games. The competition area was packed and busy, but not particularly good watching unless you happen to be taking part; the demo games were good, and there were plenty of them. Much better than Colours!

"Not as boring as I expected it to be"

Unusually for me, I brought a 'date' to the show: my eight-year old daughter. She was quite happy to wander round in my wake looking at everything on offer. Her verdict: "not as boring as I expected it to be", which is high praise from someone whose idea of a good time usually involves either Harry Potter or Minecraft.

So, in all, a good show, even with the usual car-parking nightmare. Good to see, Neil, Tahir, John, Matt and everyone from Huntingdon, including self-appointed Mother Hen, Tina. Recommended as one of the best show's on the circuit.

IABSM AAR: German Recon Breakthrough

/

The Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society (WFHGS) produce an excellent quarterly, free, full color wargames journal available to download from their site, called Warning Order.

Each issue of Warning Order features battle reports from their Friday night games, reviews of board games, figures, and gaming products, gaming analysis, and several regular features plus an editorial.

It's a very good read: I particularly like the regular Memoirs of a Miniatures & Board Wargamer and Blast from the Past columns...which shows you what an old fogey I'm becoming! The reviews are always useful as well.

Here's a IABSM battle report from the Spring 2015 edition (#40). Click on the pic of the front cover to see it.

IABSM AAR: Radekhov Station

/

A nice little battle report from Mark Luther dating back from 2010.

Click on the picture to see all.

I have noticed a dearth of AARs for the TFL company-sized games (IABSM, CDS or Q13) out there on the net at the moment.

Don't forget that the offer is always open to post any reports you might have up here on Vis Lardica: just send me in the words and the pictures and I'll do the rest.

In the meantime, plenty of content to browse on here: over 250 AARs and growing fast!

 

Lest We Forget

/

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like of old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind:
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in sonic smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not talk with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

TFL Painting Challenge: A Dark November Afternoon's Update

/

Well it's just about half three and already almost dark: just the setting for a painting challenge update.

Not many entries this week: must be the calm before the end-of-year storm. If you are sitting on entries, do please submit them in a timely fashion: I was doing more than one update a day last year between Christmas and New Year!

Anyhoo, here are today's:

  • Joakim pops in some pulp figures, including an eclectic looking WW2 Italian truck
  • Mervyn has been away, but manages to squeeze in two units of cavalry
  • Matt Slade submits his regular entry: some rather good looking special forces types from Crooked Dice
  • Mr Luther doesn't add to his total, but does send in a pic of his Mathildas. Very nice, Mark, but I think the field gun went astray.
  • Mr Naylor continues with his late war Soviets
  • And Treadhead sends in yet more Taliban

As I said, a short update today...and thus just the one pic: Mr Luther's Mathildas:

As for my own efforts, I am now ahead of last year and closing in on my target of 1,000 points. It's only early November, under 100 points to go, so I should be able to make it. Exciting stuff!

Q13: Drones for the Dwarves

/

The great thing about Ground Zero Games is the huge range of 15mm sci-fi kit they make that can be added to any sci-fi army. 

Here, for example, I have decided to equip my "Dwarves in Space" with some spider drones with rotary cannon.

Thrainite Spider Drones

Now back to painting the legions of space dwarf infantry scattered all over my painting table!