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.