Anzac WWI Vickers MMG Section

I wrapped up my painting for 2009 by finishing two WWI Vickers Machine Gun teams for "The Great War". They will support my 1000pt Anzac Battalion. All I have left to paint is my 18pdr Gun, five crew and a forward observer and the army is finished. Figures are 28mm Great War Miniatures.

2009 Painting Stats, Awards & Thank You

As 2009 draws to a close and I get a year closer to 40 it's time to reveal my painting stats and the most fabulous Wargamer Blue awards of 2009.

This year I painted :
46 x 15mm figures (exactly the same as last year)
8o x 28mm figures (one down from last year)
1 x 28mm tank
21 x 1/3000 ships

Overall I painted far less than 2008.

My award for the best ruleset of 2009 "Black Powder" by Warlord Games.

Best new miniatures of 2009 "15mm Huey Slicks" from Battlefront Miniatures

Big thank you to my regular readers and to the regular comment posters who have encouraged me to keep painting. Especially my blogging friends

Helen aka Tank Girl
Monty aka Monty's Wargaming
Steve aka Steve's Blog
Chris aka Confessions of a Wargamer
Secundus aka Iron Mitten

Big shout out to my gaming buddy Guido who will hopefully get his 10 year old daughter to show him how to blog and put his awesome painted figures on show in 2010.

And finally Neil at the Meeples and Miniatures Podcast. Great show mate, getting bigger and better all the time.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and have a safe New Year. I should have a picture of a couple of WWI MMG gunners up shortly. I just need to paint the bases.

Cheers
Paul aka Wargamer Blue, Rat of Tobruk (TMP), and pbeccas on everything else.

Games Workshop Goes WWII

The December 2009 issue of Wargames Illustrated contains an interesting little announcement on page 4.

"Warhammer World 24-25 October.......attendees were treated to a bonus surprise appearance when Warwick Kinrade of Forgeworld demonstrated the forthcoming Games Workshop World War II game.

Warwick ran through a game in which a British Battlegroup stormed a German held position in Normandy - the British sector in Normandy being the focus for the rulebook. The game is designed for 20mm figures although it will work equally well in 15mm. Interestingly the game seemed to owe little to the well know Warhammer game system.

The game is still a work in progress with a release date of "next year - hopefully early on" planned. The core rulebook will be supported by further supplements, which will include more army lists and more theatres of war"

The article is accompanied by a photograph of a tall lanky man in desperate need of sun moving a column of Brit tanks up a road into a French village.

From those that witnessed the demonstration - it is based on an old school wargame rule set called "Sandskrieg" from the 1970's.

Bring on something new in 2010.

Great War Australian Command

I have finally finished the Battalion Command for my Western Front Anzac 1000pt army. Just two Vickers teams and a 18pdr Field Gun to go. Figures are 28mm Great War Miniatures.

Black Powder Napoleonics

The Prussians


Hand to Hand, French Top, Prussians Below

I had another bash at Black Powder last night using 15mm Napoleonics. My opponent was Jonesy, and Guido umpired. Simsy was meant to turn up but cancelled at this last minute for something he called a "booty call." This time we used two Brigades a side and added two cannon per side to give the artillery rules a whirl. Nothing special about the terrain as these are learning games.

Artillery seemed easy to use. Range of artillery depends upon the gun used. In this case we used Smoothbore Foot Artillery which has a range of 48cm in 15mm. Distance decides if you throw 1,2 or 3 dice to attack. You get to use 1D6 if the range is over half, 2D6 if the range is up to half, and 3D6 if the range is up to 6cm. There are some modifiers to add in depending upon enemy formations etc. A roll of a 6 always disorders target.

The target needs to roll to save any hits. The usual 4+ save needs to be modified by -1 if hit by artillery at long range, or -2 if hit by artillery at medium and short range.

During this game artillery was charged by a regiment of infantry and the hand to hand result was as expected. Artillery die easily.

The rules cover artillery, howitzers and machine guns (for later wars).

An enjoyable game. Jonesy took line honours by inflicting more damage than I did. Sorry about the poor photos. My camera is not up to scratch for low light. Jonesy took a couple of pics with his super camera and I will post them if he sends them to me. Next game we try out cavalry.

Larry Leadhead

I got hold of a copy of the Larry Leadhead Compendium #2. Larry Leadhead is for guys & girls that love their hobby but don't take it too seriously. Great laugh.

Company B

Every so often you come across some top guys in this hobby and in this case Bruce from Company B deserves special mention. I have been buying a few little things here and there from Company B over the last six months, most of which will be appearing as painted items on the blog in 2010. Bruce has displayed an amazing level of customer service and I would like to thank him massively for helping me find some special figures that I thought I would never get the opportunity to get my hands on. Now I have to do them painting justice. Another part about Company B that impresses me is postage cost. The rest of the world knows that feeling of being ripped off with USA miniature company postal charges. Company B charges the cost and that is something that I rate highly.

Company B sell 1/56th (28mm) vehicles and guns from WWI to Modern, including crews and stowage. The product is top notch and worth the price. I highly recommend Company B to all my blogger mates. I have my eye on a few more items. Don't tell the wife!

http://homepage.mac.com/brentdietrich/companyB.htm

Black Powder Test Game

Today I tried out a test game of Black Powder from Warlord Games. My opponent was Guido. The setting was French v Prussian Napoleonics in 15mm. One Brigade a side, each Brigade had three standard sized Regiments of Infantry.

To start off with one comment - What a lot of fun. A very brief overview as follows:

The game turn starts off with the player issuing verbal orders to his soldiers. Yes, that's right. You have to talk to your figures and your opponent needs to hear you. If you forget to issue verbal orders you are sent straight to the Blunder chart to dice for your fate. This happened to me. The Blunder chart is a ruthless place to visit and very amusing. The Blunder chart sends your regiments off in all sorts of directions.

Each Brigade Commander has a leadership value and you need to score a certain 2D6 score to determine how many orders the Brigade Commander can issue to each regiment.

Infantry move up to 12 inches in 28mm, or 12cm's in 15mm. It is possible, but very unlikely, that each regiment may move three times a turn. Changing formation is considered a full move.

Shooting occurs from 20 inches in 28mm, or 20cm in 15mm. Each Brigade throws a set determined number of dice to shoot with, add or take modifiers depending upon targets etc. So a standard Brigade in good order throws 3D6. They need 4+ hit. Defender needs to throw 4+ to save.

Close Combat is a bit more complicated. The defending unit fires at the Charging unit. Result decides if the charge continues. If in hand to hand you consult a chart, add or take modifiers, throw dice, save hits and work out a result. Losers go to a break test chart and suffer their fate.

Just a small game to start with. Next we will add cannon. I honestly enjoyed the game. I can't wait to play again.

Black Powder

My pre-order copy of Black Powder from Warlord Games arrived today. I am very excited. The order included a free limited edition 28mm figure which is the ugly Crimean War Scotsman on the front cover who goes by the name Big Wullie.

Black Powder is a hard cover rule book, 182 pages long in full glossy colour. Every page has pictures of the most coolest 28mm wargames figures you are ever likely to see.

At a quick glance Black Powder covers 1700-1900, the age of the musket. (My interest is the American Civil War in 15mm). Black Powder appears to follow the Warmaster rules format with lots of dice throwing. Units are organsied as large, medium, small and tiny. Figures can be 6mm through to 54mm. The rules contain Quick Reference sheets and a table of contents. No index (boo).

First impressions are good, the eye candy factor alone is priceless. Next week I intend to challenge Guido to a 15mm Napoleonics game to test the rules. When I do I will write a battle report and give my impressions of the game. Stay tuned.........

IABSM Test Game

Things have been quiet on the painting front due to a number of factors including a visit from the in-laws. My painting room doubles as a guest room so I had to put away all my painting stuff and then put it all back again. I am trying to get back to the painting routine.

Guido popped in on Sunday arvo to have another play test of I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM) from Too Fat Lardies. I won't write too much about the game other than the British were trying to force the Germans out of a small village somewhere in France. We each had one tank to try the tank rules. Guido had two British infantry platoons, I had one German infantry platoon. We had a couple of confusing moments that needed extensive rule reading. We were generally happy with the way the game played out. I posted a couple of pics. One of the battlefield with blinds on it as each force maneuvers for control. The second picture is some dead cows that got caught in the crossfire.

Roadtesting - Minature World Maker 28mm Trench

Miniature World Maker (MWM) is a company based in South Australia that produces ready made & straight onto the table terrain. MWM produce terrain in 6mm, 15mm, 28mm and 40mm scales. You can buy anything from haystacks to bombed out factories. The terrain is made with flexible rubber, it comes pre-painted (to a high standard) and it's flocked. I have purchased many items from MWM and as soon as I read on The Miniatures Page they had released a 28mm trench system the credit card got smashed. (Don't tell the wife)

This is what I got :

Front view with a Great War Miniatures WWI Brit for scale. Great War Miniatures are approx 32mm from foot to the top of the helmet.

Side view along the trench. Note the interior detail.

Overhead view. Note the shell holes.

The flex test. How strong is this stuff if you can bend it like this you ask?

I loaded up the trench with three solid house bricks to find out. Total crushing weight 7.5kgs. The trench is still rigid and has not buckled. Now that's tough!

The 28mm trench comes in straight lengths (as above) which is 200mm (8 inches) long, and the interior is 40mm wide. It is available in left and right bends. Each with a total length of 180mm (7 inches).

Straights retail (Aussie Dollars) $16.00, and bends retail for $12.50. Compare those prices to unpainted resin tench systems out there! A more economical trench system pack is also available.

In summary, a great product. Do yourself a favour and buy it. Two thumbs up Miniature World Maker.

Anzac Assault Platoon

The progression towards completing a 1000 point WWI Western Front Australian Battalion took another step closer with the Assault Platoon finished. Based up for Warhammer Historical's The Great War rules, this ten man unit is the tough Assault Platoon. Armed with grenades, gas masks, and pick handles the assault platoon is a unit the Hun fears. In The Great War ruleset 1 man = 3 men so these 10 figures represent 30 men on the miniature battlefield. This unit is my first deviation from Games Workshop slotta bases into wooden bases with magnetic bottoms. I am happy with the results and will base all my 28mm figures like this from now on. Figures are 28mm Great War Miniatures.

Romano-British Sagittari

Closed Formation

Skirmish Formation

A 15 man unit of Sagittari (archers) complete. The Sagittari are handy because they are classed as light troops meaning that they can be used as skirmishers, or form up to fight as light infantry. They are armed with composite bows, swords and bucklers. Figures are 28mm Gripping Beast.

Rambo

Everyones favourite action hero is here. I got my mate Sculls to paint Rambo for me because he is quite a good painter, especially when it comes to painting faces and flesh. Sculls has done an excellent job and if you want to see more of his work you can visit his blog

http://landser.wordpress.com/

It's now up to me to do the basing. Figure is 28mm limited edition from The Assault Group (TAG).

Romano-British Pedyt

Just finished the command group of my Romano-British Pedyt. They are going to be churchies with a Catholic Priest attached to the unit to harden them up. Figures are 28mm Gripping Beast.

US Heavy Cruisers

US Heavy Cruisers Portland, Chicago and Chester. Ships are Navwar 1/3000 scale.

Japanese Heavy Cruisers

Two Japanese Heavy Cruisers finished. Aoba and Kinugasa. Ships are Navwar 1/3000 scale.

IABSM German Company

My IABSM Wehrmacht Grenadier Coy 1944/45 is now complete, short changed the third platoon.

2 x Little Big Men (One the coy Commander)
HQ Platoon (2 x MG42's, Tank Hunter Team, Sniper, Panzerschreck Team)
2 x Platoons of 8 men.

Figures are 15mm Command Decision, Battlefront and Peter Pig.

Disposable Heroes

Afrika Korps

Australian Infantry

Wednesday night I received a telephone call from a distressed friend, codenamed Guido. He really needed to have a miniature game to quell his wargaming addiction shakes. So I suggested Disposable Heroes. I loaded my utility with terrain and figures, told the wife I was going out, and I responded priority 2.

Guido had his desert board set up on arrival. A quick throw down of the terrain and we were off. Guido is a WW2 German fanboy, so I immediately told him he was playing the Australians to put him off balance. The game centres around three house. Two house were worth one victory point each. One house was worth two victory points. Whoever has the most victory points wins.

Without going into too much detail the Afrika Korps came on from the left, Australians from the right. A good old fashioned brawl broke out, punch for punch. Both sides took a 1 Victory Point house. Guido got into the 2 Victory Point house but was driven out by well placed fire from my HMG and LMG's. I had no spare men to get into the vacated house. Both sides were worn down to the point where we could do no more and after 2hrs30mins the game ended with a victory point each. DRAW. Both sides lost 17 killed.

IABSM British Company

Being a typical wargamer suffering magpieitis I saw a new shinny object in IABSM and my plans from a month ago were thrown into disarray. I have assembled a late war British Rifle Company in 15mm as per the Gotterdammerung IASBM army list. I short changed the Coy one platoon.

3 x Little Big Men, one of which is the Coy Commander.
HQ Rifle Section of 8 men, 1 x sniper.
2 x Rifle Platoons each consisting of 3 x 8 man sections, a PIAT Team, and a 2" Mortar Team.

I find the 8 man sections a bit odd because they should be 10 men. But who is to argue. Less painting. I also painted up some single figures on square bases to use as loose change when the rifle sections take causalities. German Coy coming soon. Then armour!

There are a mixture of 15mm figures here. Command Decision, Peter Pig, Old School Battlefront pre FOW, and new Battlefront. All these figures came out of deep wardrobe storage, except for the sniper which I had to buy. Picture is a bit short on detail but I wanted that long shot to show my full IABSM Brit coy.

Disposable Heroes Desert Skirmish

The Australian End. I place Bren Gun teams on the left and right flanks to cover the advancing Diggers making towards the buildings. A Vickers MMG in the sandbags duels it out with a MG34. The Vickers wins the dual with some lucky dice throwing.

The Australian Command Team and a Rifle Team race towards cover. Speed is the key leaving the firing to the LMG's and the Vickers.

The Africa Korp are in trouble from the word go. Godders charges all his men towards the building leaving no-one providing cover fire. Good tactics if you play FOW but a disaster in Disposable Heroes.

The Germans.

The Australians.

The Battlefield.

My good friend Godders came over today to re-fight a skirmish in the Western Desert on the outskirts of Tobruk using the Disposable Heroes rules from Iron Ivan Games and 25/28mm figures from Battle Honors. The orders are simple. The Germans are to recon no-mans land near three abandoned Arab houses looking for a good spot to place an artillery observer. The Australians own no-mans land and any German incursion into their zone of control will be meet with aggression.

Godders chose the Africa Korp, I got the Diggers. My plan was simple. Place a Bren gun on each flank, Vickers MMG in the centre, and advance my teams up the guts using the arab houses as cover. I soon took control after my Vickers knocked out the Africa Korps MMG. I now dominated the centre of the board with Machine Gun fire forcing Godders to use the left and right flanks. Unfortunately for the Africa Korps both flanks were covered by my Bren guns. Godders did not spot the danger until it was too late.

Germans started falling like flies and Godders teams were being constantly pinned down and not able to react to my movement.

The Australians Anti-Tank Rifle Team used their Boyes like a sniper rifle. It was hitting everything it shot at. The dice gods were in a good mood.

Godders eventually got some of his troops into the buildings but there were not many left at this stage. The Australians did some house keeping with the bayonet and caused the Germans grievous harm. The Germans fled and the Australians kept their dominance of no-mans land. Australians lost 10 killed, Germans 29 killed.

In summary a great game. Disposable Heroes is the premier skirmish rule set for WWII. To put it in simple terms, "These rules don't suck."

Japanese Fleet Support

Four Japanese World War Two ships complete. Fleet Tanker Okinawa Maru, Seaplane Carrier Kamikawa Maru, and two Type 2A Standard Merchants Eijyo Maru and Hoei Maru. Ships are Navwar 1/3000 scale.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum

I have been a bit quite lately but thats about to change. I have four weeks leave so I going to hit the miniatures. Goal is to finish another unit of 24 Arthurians, make a start on some 15mm New Kingdom Egyptians, and to paint another 10 WWI Diggers. Listening to the Meeples and Miniatures podcast the other week has brought my attention to I Ain't Been Shot Mum from Too Fat Lardies. The author Richard Clarke talked the rules up and sold them to me. A simple visit to the Too Fat Lardies website and $14.00 and a minute later I owned my first ever PDF rule book. Even if the rules turn out to suck thats not a bad price to find out. Another holiday objective is to hit the streets and run 5km a day, do some swimming and weights. I will report back the fattest loser results in 4 weeks.

Chinese WWII Infantry with German Equipment

With Brigade Games new release of German equipped WWII Chinese Infantry its time to checkout uniforms. These pictures are posted for White Knight on the LAF.

SS Test Complete

I finished my SS Test figure in the Autumn camo smock. It's a dark gloomy rainy day in Perth so I had to max up the flash to highlight the cam. I am very happy with the colours. Next figure I will attempt to change the pattern to a more leafy appearance. 28mm figure from Bolt Action Miniatures SS range.

Neocounter

I have joined the technically advanced and added a Neocounter to the blog. It was a mind boggling experience but I managed. I want to see if I get any visitors from Kazakhstan.

Basic Impetus

I had my first experience with Basic Impetus on Friday night. My mates Guido and Claude dug out their 15mm DBA/DBM figures from deep storage for a test game. Alexander v Persians. The game started off well with movement simple to understand. Things became hazy in combat but we eventually worked out melees. What stuffed us was opposing base contact. Guido and Claude were stuck in the DBM mindset in that bases need to be perfectly aligned for combat. And I had no idea. Turns out bases just need to touch at any angle for a melee to occur. I don't think Guido will be that keen to try them out again, while I reckon Claude would give them a go. I would like to have another try. Thanks to the assistance from guys on TMP and the Impetus forums for your advice. I can see that this would be a quick and enjoyable game to play once the rules are fully understood.

Romano-British Unit Finished

It took a while but I finally finished this 24 man unit of Roman0-British for WAB. Figures are 28mm Gripping Beast based up for WAB Age of Arthur. On to the next unit of 24.....

SS Camo Test Paint

I am mucking around with SS camo at the moment. I have this test figure going through the paces. Does the cam look OK? What else can I do to improve? Advice appreciated.
Thanks

Japanese Heavy Cruisers

Three more ships painted. Japanese Armed Merchant Cruiser IJNS Aikoku Maru, and Heavy Cruisers IJNS Furutaka and IJNS Kako. All ships took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Ships are 1/3000 scale Navwar.

What have I Been Up To

It's been a while since I posted so a quick update.
I have been painting up a unit of 24 28mm Romano-British. So far 18 finished, 6 to go. I wish I could paint faster but real life, work pressure, shift work and the usual household chores can leave me exhausted by the end of the day.
I have ordered some more 28mm Diggers in the Pacific from Brigade Games. Some Aussie heads from Company B.
I ordered and received some 28mm terrain from Miniature World Maker. I love their product and service. Great friendly people.
And I have been getting in some gaming. I have played WAB (lost), a few games of Wings of War, and the boardgame History of World. I really enjoyed History of World. Can't wait to have another game.
Catch you next time when I have some pictures to post.
And if you are reading this Sculls, hows that Rambo going?

Anzac Day

To celebrate Anzac Day I painted the limited edition 28mm WWI Honour Guard figure from Figures in Comfort. This figure represents the Australian Army Corp on the Western Front. I have painted 28th Battalion flashes on his shoulders. The 28th Battalion was raised in Western Australia. On Anzac Day I remember two grandfathers who served with the Australian Infantry in WWII. One was with 2/28th Battalion, seeing action in the Middle East, New Guinea and Borneo. The other was with 28th Battalion seeing action in New Britain. Thanks to all Australians that have served this great country. Least we forget.

WWI Whippet Tank

The Anzacs now have armour support on the Western Front in the form of a British Whippet Tank. Named after a feisty woman, Grace the Whippet tank is sure to win many great tabletop victories. The Whippet Tank is from Brigade Games and is 28mm, or 1/56th scale.

Waffen SS LMG Crew

Fresh off the painting table is a Waffen SS LMG Crew. Figures are 28mm Bolt Action Miniatures. Based up for Disposable Heroes. They are defending the pond.

Gaming Models

Three pictures of 15mm Gaming Models landing craft. Posted for the Battlefront WWII guys.

Sandbags

I went to my LGS today and impulse purchased some sandbags. These are really neat terrain items. Each piece measures 145mm in length and 25mm in height at the tall points. They come pre-painted. A pack costs $35.00 for six pieces. You can also buy a corners pack. The company that makes them is called Pegasus Hobbies, website www.pegasushobbies.com

I am really impressed and I intend to buy some more. I put a couple of 25mm figures next to the sandbags to give them scale. These figures are mounted on Games Workshop round slotta bases so they stand a bit taller than the popular flat wooden bases.