IABSM AAR: Sealion #01: The Fight for the Military Canal

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It’s been ages since we saw anything from the Stipsicz Hussars, our friends in Belgium/Flanders, so I was really pleased when the following battle report dropped into my Inbox.

Here we see the first game from the Operation Sealion scenario pack: the British defending a vital bridge against assault from German Paratroopers.

Click on the picture below to see all, and it’s great to see the next generation of wargamers pushing lead round the table…

It’s hard to reach the middle of the table when you’re only nine!

How Big Is This Church!

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Regular visitors will know that I have a thing for 15mm Russian churches.

I have six already, and when I posted pictures of them all (see post here) claiming to have all that are available, several people were kind enough to point out the ones missing from my collection.

The first of these is a truly enormous building from Total Battle Miniatures. It’s not so much that it has a big footprint, but more the height of the thing. It goes up for ever! That’s a BA-64 armoured car for comparison.

It is a nice model, though, and very easy to paint. Spray brown, drybrush in a lighter brown, wash, highlight with Screaming Skull, wash again, and then paint in the bits you want: I did the windows, window frames, door frame and the “onions”!

The piece actually comes in three parts. A base, the bit that goes on top of that, and then the roof of the tower with the “onions”. Each is made to take figures, so you can pop your FOO in position without difficulty.

Recommended.

Sassanid Levy Infantry

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I know no army is ever really complete, but my 15mm Sassanid Persians are now effectively so. I have all the cataphracts, heavy cavalry and light cavalry allowed, and now have two deep units of Sassanid foot as well.

These have been sitting on the painting table for far too long and were effectively blocking me from getting anything done: whilst they were there, I didn’t want to start anything new; and yet the thought of painting them just caused my mojo to flee!

Anyway, they are done now, so hopefully the block is cleared…

TFL Painting Challenge: Another Biggie!

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Which is what happens when you leave it for a week and a half!

Some great looking entries this week, so recommended you take a look.

In no particular order, we have:

  • Mark Luther continues with his Sugar Islands painting in 15mm

  • Carole does a few more Gendarmes, and paints the Bad Squiddo female Soviets. Great looking figures, if only Annie did them in 15mm!

  • There’s Ken’s usual mix of figures: Gauls, fantasy, Ancients and Native Americans

  • And talking of usual, Andrew Helliwell sends in some more Prussians, some more WoR and some more home-made terrain

  • But Travis, on the other hand, branches out: yes, there’s a German howitzer, but there’s also a whole load of 28mm fantasy figures as well

  • Jon Yuengling pops in a bridge and some FJ machine gunners

  • Chris Cornwell sends in a very impressive looking unit of forty-eight 28mm Sarmation cataphracts

  • Some of you may remember I told Sapper to remember that there’s no such thing as a finished army…I rest my case!

  • Steve Burt grips the beast with four Mongols

  • Mervyn is still back in Middle Earth with what must now be just about a one-to-one recreation of the Riders of Rohan

  • There’s a big entry from big Matt Slade (I got the shirt BTW, thanks)

  • Mr Plowman can’t decide if he’s painting terrain or aircraft…or is it both?

  • And last, but by no means least, Stumpy makes his first appearance of the year

As per usual, clicking on the name of the person will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window). Here are today’s pictures:

IABSM AAR: Lardiarz or BoB: Near Vcheva

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Captain Cliche and friends have played another game based on one of the scenarios from the late war Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack.

This time, they have adapted scenario #5D (or scenario #5N): Near Vcheva. This is an encounter battle as two armoured forces meet to contest a vital junction.

Click on the pick below to see all:

TFL Painting Challenge: Another Enormous Update

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Another week flies by, meaning it’s time for another update to the TooFatLardies Painting Challenge.

It’s somewhat ironic that this year’s challenge is proving so immensely popular, with loads of entries every week, at a time when I haven’t picked up a brush for a fortnight: family matters, martial arts and a new job keeping me incredibly busy.

I went into the wargaming room last night to find figures on the table set up for photography from a month ago. But, then, that’s this hobby for you: it ebbs and flows like the tides (in the few months before Christmas I was gaming twice a week) but, like the wine-dark sea, is always there, washing in and out as a background to daily life.

So, for the moment, I will have to live vicariously through the Challenge, so here are this week’s entries:

  • Chris Kay has painted an awful lot of 15mm tanks

  • Travis fills in some more holes in his 28mm WW2 collection

  • Jon Yuengling is still in Blitzkrieg mode: some Dutch, some Germans, some Home Guard

  • It’s more sugar plantation madness from Mark Luther

  • The first of today’s first entries of the year: Doug Melville is back with some lovely 28mm WW2 figures

  • Andy Duffell is still in fantasy land

  • It’s more Seven Years War from Andrew Helliwell

  • Mervyn is still in Rohan

  • And Lloyd is still sailing on the Cruel Seas

  • Carole sends in some more Condottieri

  • Our second first entry of the year, Chris Stoesen, has some rather nice houses for us to enjoy

  • And last, but by no means least, John Emmett sends in a little collage of a ruined house

As usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window).

Here are today’s pictures:

Castle Building!

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Those of you who know me will know that although I can paint a not-bad-looking tank or little soldier, my talents where terrain is concerned are severely lacking.

Not for me the expertise of Mr Clarke: I read the TFL blog with amazement not just at the results but at the effort and work that goes into getting those results. At least when you’re painting a tank or a figure, the construction is mostly done for you.

This weekend just gone, however, saw me putting all the above aside as I assisted in the making of a huge terrain piece. Not for the wargaming table, I hasten to add, but for my daughter’s castle project.

Last term it was Stamford Bridge and Hastings; this term, castles. It sounds as if those who decide what she has to learn in history are finally getting it right!

So which castle did the little flower choose to build? A nice little motte and bailey perhaps? An even simpler hill fort? No, she chose Castle Gaillard: a huge Norman monstrosity from, appropriately, Normandy built between 1196 and 1198 for Richard the Lionheart.

Here’s what the historians reckon it looked like:

Errrr…that’s quite a big castle to build out of cardboard boxes, cereal packets and toilet roll centres.

Well, this is what she came up with. I helped a bit, but the design and construction concepts were all hers:

That’s a 4’ by 3’ bit of foamboard BTW

Now that is definitely recognizable as Gaillard, and I have immediately promoted her to chief terrain maker for me!

This is what the castle looks like now:

PS Now I find out that she could have built the thing in Minecraft. Might have been a tad easier and less of a strain on my wargaming supplies!

TFL Painting Challenge: Another Large Update

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Another large update this week, so let’s waste no more time and just jump right on in:

  • Mr Clarke makes a welcome return with a huge 800-point submission from Malaya and Singapore

  • Travis has some more Brits for France 1940 for us to admire

  • John Emmett had a host of tastily painted Germans to fight Travis’ Brits

  • It’s a bit of a mixture from Mervyn: 15’s re-basing and 28’s painting

  • Carole alliterates some Condotteri

  • Finally a non-Star Wars entry from Chris Kay

  • The Hat, Mr Lloyd Bowler, has truly huge numbers of 6mm ACW figures to submit, plus some very nice modern patrol boats

  • There’s more SYW Caribbean painting from Mr Luther

  • Steve Burt starts a new project: Saracens

  • John Yuengling paints some more German tanks in 15mm

  • Sapper claims to have finished his Normans…although there’ s obviously no such thing as a finished army!

  • And last, but by no means least, there’s Mr Helliwell: with his usual SYW and WoR submission

As per usual, clicking on the name of the person in the list above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window). Here are today’s pictures:

IABSM AAR: Happy Christmas!

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This weekend just gone, John, Dave, Bevan and I re-fought the Battle of the Bulge scenario that we played a couple of years ago. You can read the AAR for that game here (opens in a new window).

I played the Germans in that one, but played the Allies today. A cracking game that was action, action, action from the moment battle was joined.

Click on the picture below to see all:

TFL Painting Challenge: Enormous Update

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So that’s what happens to your mailbox when you leave the Challenge for two weeks rather than the usual one!

Enormous update today: with, as implied above, two weeks’ worth of entries rather than the usual one.

Let’s not waste any more time…in no particular order, we have:

  • John Emmett pops in another two absolutely, stonkingly lovely 28mm vehicles, along with a few bits of battlefield clutter for them to navigate around

  • Mr Luther is still populating his Sugar Island campaign: can’t wait to see the results!

  • Huge entry from Matt Slade: some great-looking 28mm WW2 kit

  • Carole’s also focusing on WW2, but at 15mm scale

  • But it’s back up to 28mm for Andy Duffell’s WW2 entry, except for his last two vehicles which creep in at 15mm. How do you chaps manage with multiple scales?

  • Travis is also WW2 painting at the moment, also in 28mm. More lovely kit!

  • Jon Yuengling has gone Dutch

  • Mervyn is Goblin!

  • There’s a mixture of stuff from Chris Cornwell. I do like those Dacians…

  • Sapper has some 14th Century bowmen and three lots of Norman Knights for us to admire

  • More SYW Prussian Fusiliers from Mr Helliwell, who can surely replay the whole conflict in 1:1 scale by now!

  • More Star Wars from Chris Kay: loving the Repulser Tank

  • And last, but by no means least, Blue Moose Ken submits the dogs of war…

That is a lot of entries! As per usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window).

Here are today’s pictures:

Keep them coming!

IABSM AAR: Bashnya or Bust! #01: Near Osen

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It’s always great when someone sends me an AAR for inclusion on the site, especially when they also say nice things about one of my scenario packs.

Here’s an example of what I mean: Captain Cliche (you can read his excellent blog here) and his wargaming friends have begun playing through the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack (more details here, opens in a new window), starting with the first encounter: Near Osen.

Click on the picture below to see all, including some great 6mm figures:

IABSM AAR: Pacific Island Invasion

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A nice little after action report from Desmondo Darkin, orginally posted on the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook page.

Not only do we get the first part of an AAR (the rest being lost in the mists of time!) but also some hints and tips on how to run an island invasion of your own.

Click on the picture below to read more…

IABSM AAR: Walking in a Winter Wonderland

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Quite appropriately for whether we have been having recently, Tim Whitworth and the Like A Stone Wall wargames group raided the 2005 Summer Special for a scenario with which to play their latest game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!

Not much commentary, but some lovely pictures of their terrain and models. Click on the pic below to see all:

Q13: Hauk Re-inforcements

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Regular visitors to this site will know that one of my regular complaints is sci-fi figure manufacturers who produce a lovely range of basic infantry but then never get around to providing all the support teams that you need to make up a proper fighting force.

Okay, so some of these infantry squads are so loaded with their own weaponry that it could be said that they don’t need any support, but this doesn’t really gel with me. As the Marine Corps saying goes: always hit a nut with the biggest hammer possible…the nut gets cracked and the hammer is untouched!

It was therefore great to see that Khurasan Miniatures, that wonderful if somewhat erratic source of the esoteric, have released a couple of support weapons for their 15mm Hauk range.

The Hauk, for those of you who don’t know, are avians: birdmen to the non-Latin speakers. The existing range had some nice infantry and a couple of officers, but nothing more. Now, however, they can field mortars and their equivalent to a medium/heavy machine gun.

Mortars

Each weapon comes with the same stand, and the option of either a mortar, shown above, or a machine gun, shown below. There’s also a sniper figure, two new types of officer (one pointing, one with clipboard) and a casualty figure. I have ignored the casualty figure, and couldn’t be bothered to see if I could make the stands multi-purpose, so bought enough packs to give me four three-man mortar teams, with officer, and six three-man MMG teams, with officer. Add two snipers, and I still have lots of casualties and snipers left over, but I’m sure they’ll come in useful some time in the future.

Machine Guns

As you can see, I paint my Hauk with a simple but very colourful “parrot” pattern. Undercoat in white, immediate heavy wash with Agrax Earthshade; paint talons and beak yellow; paint wings, tail feather and head crest dark green then highlight with bright green; highlight all the armour in white; weapons are painted black highlighted in grey.

Well done Khurasan!

Painting Challenge: Another Week Flies By!

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I don’t know where the time goes. It’s February already, and will doubtless be Christmas again soon. It’s lucky we have the constant presence that is the Painting Challenge to root us into the here and now!

Here are this week’s submissions:

  • Mr Helliwell adds some more Prussians and medieval types to his already impressive collection

  • It’s a first entry of the year from Mr Slade: lots of 28mm figures and five most impressive houses

  • Carole pops in four Renaissance women with swords

  • Mark Luther is still hooked on Sugar

  • The Hat is back: Lloyd sends in almost entire ACW Union army in 6mm

  • It’s assorted WW2 figures and vehicles from Chris Cornwell

  • Sapper is still amongst the medieval spearmen

  • More Prussians from Joe McGinn

  • And last, but most certainly not least, it’s a first entry of the year from my old mucker Mr Hodge

As per usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you straight through to their gallery. Here are today’s pictures:

IABSM AAR: The Pimple

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Here’s a few pictures from a recent game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum played by Dan Albrecht and his chums at the Vermont Gamers Group.

The scenario was #21: The Pimple from the Operation Compass scenario book (written by Yours Truly). Dan says:

“True to form the Italians took it on the chin. With Brits in hull-down position and Italians with only two Actions, no Big Men to remove Shock, after 10 turns most all M13/40s were knocked out or their main gun was damaged or immobilized. Still, good way to learn the rules, practice shifting artillery fire with FOs and besides…no American football on the TV this past Sunday!”

Painting Challenge: This Week's Update

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So another week flies by, and my inbox bulges with entries for the Painting Challenge!

Very frustrating: as I’m now back at work, I have no time to paint, so have to live vicariously through your efforts. Bit of a come down after the immense amount that I painted whilst on gardening leave, but such is life!

Here are today’s entries:

  • Joe McGinn sends in loads more Silesian types

  • There’s a huge 15mm “airborne” entry from Jon Yuengling: Fallschirmjaegers from 1940 and British Paras from later on.

  • John Emmett sends in another beautiful 28mm vehicle

  • Travis finishes off his Winter War Germans, and adds a few more Americans as well

  • It’s a first entry for this year’s challenge from Blue Moose Ken: his usual eclectic cornucopia of periods and scales

  • It’s also a first entry from Mark Luther: but no pics yet, so call back later!

  • More Star Wars from Chris Kay

  • Carole also sends in a mix of stuff, but it’s mostly later Romans

  • Kev, our favourite Fat Wally, has even more Confederates for us to look at. No time to paint my Ancient Britons, eh? LOL!

As usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you through to their gallery page: and some of these galleries are already starting to fill with inspirational paint jobs.

Here are today’s pictures: