New and Updated
30th June 2014
| TFL Painting Campaign |
Bumper entries today as people rush to get in their entries before the end of the second quarter! So today we have achievements from:
And Kev and Craig: you were indeed imprisoned in my spam box, but should now be recognised as legit for future entries.
Here are Egg's beautiful boats:
|
28th June 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
Craig Ambler finishes his Vyazma or Bust! campaign with Scenario 3B: The Outskirts of Vyazma. I can't wait to see what he makes of Bashnya!
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
I have now had a chance to load up a sample briefing from my new Bashnya or Bust! late war, eastern front scenario pack. Click on the link to the left to see it. It's from Scenario 4B: Sorok, which I can recommend as I played it today and had a great game! |
26th June 2014
| TFL Painting Campaign |
PatG has finally broken his duck: scoring twenty points for five 28mm Victorian Sci-Fi figures. Nice to see you finally on board, Pat! In other news, Manuel adds some more Franks, Jason Ralls cruises past the 1,500 point mark with forty 15mm foot and twenty 28mm foot, and Thomas paints some troops for Dust. |
24th June 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
Craig Ambler continues his Vyazma or Bust! campaign with Scenario 2A: the Bridge at Urk. |
22nd June 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Scrivs and friend took their amazing Keren game to the Partizan in the Park show. Some excellent new additions, including this great Sikh stretcher team: |
21st June 2014
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Right...let's get everyone up to date. Achievements today from Craig Ambler; Joakim Strom; Benito Vera; Dave Bailey; Kev and Vidal. And today's picture is another from Kev...there's just something about his style that just suits the SYW:
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
I've had problems painting late war German tanks ever since I first started on them. How do you get that camouflage looking right without using an airbrush? Of course, the simple answer would have been to get an airbrush...but I haven't, but have finally worked out how to do it. The answer? A sponge! The Battlefront 15mm Konigstigers below were painted with a base coat of dull yellow, then stripes of sponge applied green and brown paint. Pop a brown wash over the top and there you are. And where did I get the sponge from? Well Battlefront put loads in all their boxes as part of the packing!
|
20th June 2014
|
Quadrant 13
|
I have been so busy with Bashnya or Bust! that I missed the next wave of Zombiesmith's 15mm Quar releases. This introduces some very welcome additions to the range, including the much-needed basic company support weapons for both the Crusader and Coftyran forces. It also includes Coftyran officers, new tractors and a great looking Weedl scout kite. Finally, there is a new nationality of Quar released, the Kryster: desert raiders equipped with fast-moving three-wheelers and their own tractor. I have immediately ordered about a metric ton of these, and can't wait to get them on the painting table. New figures means a revised army list, so the Quar list now contains all the new releases plus details of the Fidwog forces as well. My thanks to Josh of Zombiesmith for the free pdf.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Only time to put a couple of people's achievements up tonight. More tomorrow, but up now are Owen's and Mr Ralls' And here's a quick pic of Mr Ralls' 28mm hospital for Rourke's Drift. NHS cuts: fousands of 'em!
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
I like to try and keep the list of WW2 15mm figure manufacturers as up to date as possible, so it's annoying to have missed MMModels.co.uk off it for so long. They produce a nice selection of "tail" models (staff cars, vans, buses, tank transporters, landing craft etc) to order. I haven't got any myself at the moment, so can't really comment on the quality, but they certainly look good from the photos. I am about to put together an order which should keep them busy for a little while, and will report back once I have them in my hands.
|
17th June 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Here's the promised second AAR from the OML2 game of Bloody Omaha...
|
16th June 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
I have two AARs involving Mike Whitaker's fantastic Bloody Omaha game. Here's the first: the warm-up game played a week or so before Operation Market Larden 2. Great report, great photos!
|
15th June 2014
| Operation Market Larden 2 |
I was lucky enough to be able to make Operation Market Larden 2 this weekend: a day of Lardy wargaming organised by the Wyvern Wargamers. This was an excellent day's gaming at which I played Chain of Command for the first time in the morning (my apologies to my opponents for the slightly flukey at-the-last-moment victory!) and Mike Whitaker's brilliant rendition of the Bloody Omaha scenario from the Where The Hell Have You Been, Boys? D-Day scenario pack in the afternoon. There will be a proper AAR posted shortly but, for the moment, here is a sample shot of the afternoon game.
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Craig Ambler has decided to celebrate the launch of the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack by running throught he Vyazma or Bust! campaign again. Here is the AAR from his first game: Izdeshkovo.
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Two bits of painting finished today: the Soviet flamethrower teams and German Wirbelwind needed for the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's achievements are from Kev; Manuel; Dick Bax; Mr Plowman; and Matt Slade. Here are Mr Plowman's Grendel bashers...although I can't see Antonio Banderas anywhere!
|
10th June 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
Well the big news this week is the launch of Bashnya or Bust!, my latest scenario book for IABSM. Here's the full info, but if you liked Blenneville or Bust! and Vyazma or Bust!, you'll love Bashnya! You can buy Bashnya or Bust! either from the TooFatLardies website, or from the Buy Stuff page on this website. Doesn't bother me which one you use!
Bashnya or Bust! is a collection of fictional scenarios for IABSM set on the late war Eastern Front as part of the Kaunas Offensive. Soviet forces are attempting to drive through German defences in the Chera valley in order to break through into Germany itself, the Germans are trying to stop them. The pack contains thirty-one individual scenarios set up in a five-step pyramid campaign i.e. scenario 1 leads to either scenario 2A or 2B; the result of this second game leads to one of scenarios 3A, 3B, 3C or 3D; and so on until scenarios 5A to 5P. Although written as a fictional campaign booklet, no two scenarios are the same: each is unique and is also designed to be played as an individual game. Each of the three briefings for each scenario (Umpire, Soviet player, German player) contains enough background to give the game the same sort of context as with the background to an historical scenario. Bashnya or Bust! is deliberately designed to give players who don't have enough time to write their own scenarios a huge number of games that they can play with little or no preparation at all. All you have to do is print out the three briefings, set up the table according to the map, make up the deck from the list of required cards, break out the figures and dice, and start the first turn. You don't even need to print the pack out in full: just the pages you need for the scenario you're going to play. The campaign is structured so that you'll get maximum use of the standard forces presented in Vpered Na Berlin, with well-designed and balanced scenarios for IABSM, or indeed any company level rule set you happen to game with. Anyone who has a company-sized force of Germans and Soviets for late war, eastern front should already have enough figures to play any or all of the games. Bashnya or Bust! follows on from the popular Vyazma or Bust! and Blenneville or Bust! campaign/scenario packs, also available from the TooFatLardies. Bashnya or Bust! contains an introduction, details of the campaign structure and forces involved, sixteen different maps (some games are played across the same terrain, albeit in a different direction), thirty-one different scenarios, and a collection of templates allowing you to print off Blind markers as appropriate. Please note, you don't need to print this out like a book (although you can if you wish): Bashnya or Bust! is designed to allow you to just print the scenarios as you use them. Here's a link to a quick interview I gave Rich Clarke about the pack. |
8th June 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Two more AAR from Amokfigur. No photos this time as unfortunately the site has corrupted a bit, and the pictures for these battle reports are now unavailable...even on the Internet Archive. But they are a good read anyway! |
|
Quadrant 13
|
Finally painted enough Chuhuac to make doing the gallery worth while. Not finished yet (not by a long way) but it's a start!
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's achievements are from: Mr Luther; Kev again (machine!); Treadhead and Benito. Here are some of Benito's Germans for North Africa: Big Man and FOO.
|
5th June 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
As those of you who regularly visit this website know, I love discovering new sources of battle reports. Here's another find: a website from Denmark, I think, with a handful of reports dating back to 2006! The site is currently marked as being in hiatus, and I hope that changes, as the reports are great. Here's the first two.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's achievements are from: Thomas; Alexandros; Jason, Kev and Mervyn. There are some great piccies, so rather than choose one, I'm going to go for Alexandros' DAK motorcycle squad and Kev's SYW infantry...
|
31st May 2014
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's achievements are from: Benito; Geoff Bond; Chris Stoesen; Mark Luther and a late entrant, Mervyn Douglas. And today's picture is also from Mr Douglas: signs for CoC!
|
26th May 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
A third play-test scenario from the forthcoming Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack. The Germans have their backs against the wall...
|
24th May 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
Another great AAR from the Blenneville or Bust scenario pack: Topi and his friends fight scenario 3A: Near Chemont.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Sorry about the gap in updates: real world and all that! Today's achievements are from Jason Ralls; Jon Yeungling; Ralph Plowman; Matt Slade; and Jim Weir. Today's picture is from Jim Weir: seventy-three 20mm WW1 French infantry.
|
19th May 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Whisperin' Al returns to the scene with a quick early war AAR: the Gloucesters at Zutpeyne.
|
17th May 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
The first of two AARs from Topi using scenarios from the Blenneville or Bust! Normandy scenario pack. This time it's scenario 2A: Avaux.
|
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
And whilst I'm at it, I've finally got round to loading up the oval-shape Blinds
for Blenneville or Bust!
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Achievements today from Kev; Dave Humm; Jason Ralls; Dick Bax; and Matt Slade. Today's picture is from Jason Ralls: some 15mm odds and ends.
|
13th May 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Another great IABSM AAR in 6mm from Mark Luther. This time the action moves to southern Poland in 1939, near the small village of Tomaszow Lubelski...
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
And today's achievements are from Vidal; Joakim; the Ambler Gambler; Mr Plowman; Mr Slade (who breaks through the magic 1,000 point mark); and Mr Luther with the old bamboo (the old bamboo). Today's picture is from Joakim Ström: some nicely painted wild west figures.
|
9th May 2014
|
Quadrant 13
|
One of the most annoying things about sci-fi gaming in 15mm is the way some manufacturers never properly complete their ranges. The standard release is an infantry squad of 4-6 different troopers, with maybe the odd officer or support weapon: not nearly enough to make up a proper company-sized force. Sometimes this is down to economics (the original release didn't sell, so no throwing good money after bad), sometimes down to real life interfering. Whatever the reason, it's jolly annoying all the same. Well one alien race has just been saved from a similar fate: Micropanzer are just about to release a second wave of Gitungi figures featuring a whole series of new troop types and support weapons. This almost makes up for the change in OB and the fact that some of their original support drones have mysteriously migrated to another manufacturer's range!
Gitungi Scouts (existing releases) The new troop types are just what you'd expect from Micropanzer: beautifully sculpted, imaginatively realised alien troopers. And there are some cracking concepts in here too. In addition to some powered armour types, some jet packs that can be added to exisiting figures, and some more tripodal support drones, are a nice little anti-tank tracked support gun; some really nicely whacky tech guys (these are brilliant: why can't more manufacturers release the same sort of tech crew); some powerlance-armed snail-slug riders; and a specialist mole mine operator complete with mole mines. I could feel the chrome! Here, then, is the revised Gitungi army list, taking into account all the new releases. Should mean the birdmen get stuffed next battle! |
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Just three people adding to their achievements today: Lief, Mr Slade and Mr Ralls...but lots of achievements added...some nine different sets . Today's photo is from Lief: some very nice 28mm British infantry from Crusader.
|
7th May 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
I have, for a long time, been a fan of Mark Luther's IABSM games in 6mm: his Flickr albums are a joy to browse. I haven't transferred any of them to this site because, for an equally long time, I thought I'd confine this site to IABSM played in 15mm. Now, however, the temptation has proved too great (and I've started including 28mm games!) so I am starting the long, slow process of uploading Mark's reports. Here is the first one: action at the Essel Bridgehead on the western front in 1945.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
And there's more! Today's achievements are from Manuel; Jon Yuengling; Mr Plowman (twice!); Mr Gilbride (back after a big gap); Mr Luther and his vegetation; and Chris Stoessen. Today's photo is from Chris Gilbride: another shots of his Rebs!
|
4th May 2014
|
Quadrant 13
|
One of the most exciting things about sci-fi gaming in 15mm is the speed at which new ranges of figures are becoming available. Along with prolific incumbents such as Khurasan, Critical Mass and GZG, new manufacturers are appearing almost on a monthly basis...and one such is Loud Ninja Games with their first range, the Chuhuac, available exclusively through 15mm.co.uk. These are fantastic models, full of life and animation, that paint up really nicely as well. I have painted one 'platoon' in a jungle-type camouflage, I'm half way through another in desert camouflage, and my special ops teams will be in an urban camouflage. Here, then, is my first stab at a Chuhuac list for Q13. Their prime attribute is the ability to move quickly (well, they do look like velociraptors!) and each platoon comes with its own spotter as well, so good EWSO technology. As they are light on vehicles, I've statted the battlesuits as armoured car-like individual vehicles rather than superheavy infantry. I see them as a fast-moving light infantry force that overwhelms quickly through speed rather than firepower. And if you disagree, then fine, that's the beauty of Q13: you can design as you wish to design them. Just send me a pdf of your list, and I'll add it to this site.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Things are hotting up: loads of achievements to log. Today's are from: Vidal; Dick Bax; Manuel; Craig Ambler; and Owen (who passes the prestigious 1,000 point mark!). Today's photo is from Mr Bax: some very nice 20mm Daimler scout cars
|
28th April 2014
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
A couple more achievements recorded, this time from Messrs Bax, Humm, Plowman, Kev, Vidal and Slade. Today's photo is a shot of Mr Plowman's wonderful 28mm Victrix 1815 British Infantry:
|
24th April 2014
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Vast numbers of achievements to be recorded today: congratulations on all your efforts. Today's contributions from: Mark Luther; Vidal; Manuel; Kev; Mr Nissvik; Craig; Mr Weir, Mr Plowman; Alexandros; and Treadhead. Today's picture is from Jim Weir: his jump-off markers for CoC
|
20th April 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
A report on the playtest of scenario 2A of the forthcoming late war, eastern front scenario book for IABSM. See the Soviet steamroller in action!
|
|
Quadrant 13
|
My latest alien race for Q13 are the Chuhuac: velociraptor-like beings from Loud Ninja Games (available in the UK from 15mm.co.uk). Full Q13 army lists and a gallery soon, but here are some pictures of the first infantry squad:
|
| Charlie Don't Surf! |
A quick photo-heavy AAR from A-Historian: the tale of the Tu-Hah Bridge.
|
| Charlie Don't Surf! |
More loot from the Battlefront 40% sale painted up. This time it's the M577 Command Vehicle. |
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
It's the same few regulars updating their scores, including Kev, who seems to have gone crazy at the painting. So come on the rest of you: get busy! Achievements today from Benito, Kev, Jon. Today's photo is more SYW Russian infantry from Kev: he's just churning them out!
|
19th April 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Those of you got to Salute this year would hopefully have seen the wonderful 28mm IABSM demo game: The Battle of Keren. There are plenty of individual blog posts about the game, and I have collected five of them together here. Enjoy!
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
People have obviously taken advantage of the Easter weekend to get some painting in. Achievements today from Benito, Kev, and Chris Stoesen.
|
16th April 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Those of you who encountered me in the latter part of the Salute Day will be aware that I was looking for a 15mm WW2 Russian Orthodox church to serve as a terrain piece for playtesting my late war Eastern Front scenario pack, Bashnya or Bust! Well I found one! A Polish company called Wargamer Company were at Salute promoting and selling their game called By Fire & Sword. This game apparently (and I'm quoting their website here) recreates the 17th century wars fought by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Turkey, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimean Khanate and Cossacks. Well Bashnya or Bust! is set in Lithuania, and they had a Wooden Orthodox Church model, so I bought it immediately, and have painted it up ready for Saturday's playtest of scenario 2A. Cracking terrain piece, really easy to paint, and looks very good. Here are a couple of 'model' shots; more to follow in the AAR that will doubtless follow Saturday's game.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
A most welcome resurgence in the number of entries! Today's achievements are from Alexandros, Kev, Manuel, Jon Y, Matt Slade and Mr Humm. Here's a second shot of some of Alexandros' Afrika Korps for CoC:
|
14th April 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
Sometimes I take a note of an AAR and then forget to upload it. Here is one such: Brian Cantwell's Bathtub Primosole Bridge. This is a very nice report that follows on nicely from the action in the Sicilian Weekend scenario pack.
|
| Charlie Don't Surf! |
More models that I picked up as part of Battlefront's 40%-off Vietnam sale: a platoon of five BTR-50 PK armoured personnel carriers. This is a cracking example of buying stuff that I cannot think that I am ever going to use! Well they were 40% off: bargain! Actually, they will do for some general purpose sci-fi APCs for Quadrant 13: and will actually fit in with my Aphids very nicely.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's entries are from Mark Luther and Jon Yuengling. Very slow in the run up to Salute. Come on chaps: brushes out!
|
11th April 2014
|
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
|
I have had a packet of Battlefront's Libyan/Italian colonial infantry hanging around in the lead mountain forever, but waiting for various orders to arrive from far, far away moved them slowly to the front of the queue until I really had no choice but to paint them. These are nice models: the officers and NCOs in particular. I don't think I've quite got the skin colour right, but I do think they will look good on the tabletop. Time to dust off the Operation Compass scenario pack (available by clicking Buy Scenario Packs) again!
|
| Charlie Don't Surf! |
One of the models I picked up as part of Battlefront's 40%-off Vietnam sale was the M42A1 "Duster". This is a lovely model that paints up really well.
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
Today's entries are from Treadhead, Kev and Jason Ralls. It's been a quiet week: doubtless everyone savings themselves for Salute this weekend. I'll be there, hovering close to the TFL stand, so do come and say hello.
|
5th April 2014
| I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! |
Superb IABSM AAR featuring a warm-up game for one of the demo games at Salute that will be featuring TFL rules. Beautiful terrain, gorgeous figures: brilliant!
|
|
TFL Painting Campaign
|
The first update of the new quarter, and loads of achievements to report. The thought of adding to the lead mountain at Salute has obviously galvanised people into action! Today's entries are from Dick Bax; Mark Luther; Jon Yuengling; Lief Erikson; WillieB; Fat Wally; Jason Ralls; and the Mad Padre. Today's pictures are from Kev and WillieB. First up, some of WillieB's fifty 28mm newly-painted Marines de la Garde Imperiale:
And here are Kev's 15mm Seven Year War Russian Grenadiers:
|
