Uncharted Seas Fleets

Purchased Human and Orc fleets for Uncharted Seas. This is the Human fleet. Not played a game yet, but was fun painting them.

Photos from the Summer Games

Some shots of my 6mm Baccus Roman Army for Warmaster Ancients. Approx 1000pts worth. Played against Chris's Germans, and despite a few wrong turns with the rules, had a good game. Will revisit again.

Achievements in Gaming - October 09

Following in the style of the D6G podcast, which I'm loving, have started to list the things I've done in my world of gaming. Here are the achievements for October

Purchases (a bit excessive, but also a blow out after getting the redundancy out of the way).

- Ticket to Ride Europe

- Command & Colors Ancients

- Carcassone

- Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game

- Battlelore

- Monster Apocalypse (2 x Starter Sets and a couple of boosters)

- DRM's Majestic Mech

- Polemos ACW rules

- Warmachine troops - Khador Winter Guard, Cryx Starter Set, Khador Widow Makers, and Cygnar Long Gunners

- Dwarf fleet for Uncharted Seas

- Adler 6mm SF figures and vehicles - the new Talin IFV

Wargames Played

- Played Polemos ACW in 6mm at Chris's - was OK. Need to learn the rules, and the game broke down into three separate battles, which seems to be a common thing with the ACW

- Played my first game of Warmachine at the Eye of the Storm. Was fun. Very detailed and with loads of options. Comes across as easy to play, but then you realise the depth of options and get a real sense of the subtle nature of the game.

Videogames

- Played 11 games of Call of Duty 4 online

- Played Soul Calibur 2 on the Wii

- Played Mario Kart Wii too many times

Boardgames Played

- Last Night on Earth - 4 times

- Caracassone - 2 times

- Ticket to ride, Europe - twice

Modelling

- Completed my Dwarf fleet for Uncharted Seas

- Repainted my Battletech mechs for FWC

- Painted up a couple of units of Adler SF, and the DRM Majestic for FWC

- Also painted my Cygnar heavy Warjack for Warmachine

- Finally, got hold of 300 1 cent € coins for basing 15mm figures on for Skirmish Games

Events

- Visited the Eye of the Storm game shop, in Nottingham twice

- Went to the Orc's nest in London twice

- Visited Derby Wargames show (Chris drove - what a nightmare!) - had a different approach - went to game, and played two games of Last Night on Earth

Other Things

- Started my catch up with the D6G podcasts. Covered;

- Starcraft

- Battlefoam

- Serenity RPG

- Cut Throat Caverns

- Race to the Galaxy

- Pandemic

- Galaxy Truckers

- Ticket to Ride

Johnny's Speech

15mm Mahdists

Did take some photos of my Mahdist's before becoming bored with painting them. Have gone from using GW washes to Army Painter dip in an attempt to get them done as quickly as I can, but still lost interest.

Pleased with the results of both approaches, but will go with the Army Painter for the rest of the Army as it looks good and takes about 1/3rd less time.

Here's some photos of Army Painter dipped units.

Summer's over

Well, the kids are back at school, the nights are starting to draw in, and gaming is back on the agenda.

Went to Colours last week, which I really enjoyed as it was the first show I've been to since Partizan, in May (couldn't make the Other Partizan this year). My purchases really reflected the impact of the podcasts I've discovered and been listening to over the summer. These have really broadened my knowledge and enjoyment of my hobby, as now I can spend my 3 hours of daily commuting listening to and finding out about Wargaming.

I've listened to

- Meeples and Miniatures

- All about Miniatures

- This Week in Wargaming

- The D6 Generation

Am enjoying them all, and because of them have purchased

- Two fleets and the rules for Uncharted Seas - Meeples and Miniatures rated them, and I got a chance to play them at Colours

- Khador and Cygnar starter packs and the rule book for Warmachine - thanks to the D6 Generation

- Thud Ridge - thanks to M&M again.

As to the summer, didn't paint or game much as we were away most weekends and the summer nights were spent with the family. That said, I did strip down and paint up my 20 year old Battletech figures, which have sat unloved for a couple of decades. Now getting them ready to play again in Future War Commander. Also we got a game of AK47 in, with the new rules, and a first game of Warmaster Ancients with my 6mm Romans. Enjoyed both games, although as ever we made a few mistakes with the rules.

So, with more time now to paint and game, my goals to the end of the year are

(1) Finish my 15mm Mahdists for Patrols in the Sudan

(2) Finish my 6mm 1988/9 Soviet and US forces for Cold War Commander

(3) Finish my 6mm Future War Commander forces, which I've now decided to rebase back to the single base units!!

(4) Finish my Human and Orc fleets for Uncharted Seas (and maybe add a Dwarf fleet)

(5) Finish my Khador and Cygnar starter sets for Warmachine

How far will I get?

Arcadian Marines Kick Toaster Butt!

Played our second game of Future War Commander at the weekend.

Has been a long gap between games due to other commitments and issues, however the rules came back to us easily and we had a good, fun, if somewhat one sided, game.

We played the Colonisation Assault scenario with 4,000 pts of Arcadian Marines landing in the back yard of 2,000 pts of Andrayan defenders.

The game lasted just three turns, with the Arcadians destroying the Andrayan battlegroup. The real battle winners were that the Arcadians had paid for upgraded HQ's, CO's and FAO's, which meant they got a lot of moves each turn, and importantly were able to call in two heavy Orbital Strikes on the main Andrayan unit (a Massive Walker), which suppressed it and then destroyed it. Also, in my defence I think I got the points a little wrong - giving the Arcadians a few too many (I use adapted points from those in the FWC rule book as my units are slightly different to the way Author has them).

Took some pictures, which are shown below, as I like to capture each game, plus this one debuted my new FWC bases. I now have 60mm x 60mm bases for all my combat units. This allows me to base 2 or 3 models (more for infantry) on a base, so that they now look like a platoon rather than one unit. I took this from the work of Paintingshed's Napoleonics, and the Baccus Command Horizon bases.

Have to say I like the new look as you feel that you now have an army, and more of my toys can get onto the table without the game getting to be too big.

Plan to follow this basing approach for the low level conflicts in Cold War Commander, such as Lebanon 82, and Vietnam, where battalion size operations (rather than brigade) are the norm, and Infantry play a larger part.

One final thing, although the table looks good, it doesn't look very SciFi. So will get some aquarium plants for the next game so that at least the flora on the table doesn't look like it could have come from the Home Counties.

This firs picture is pretty much the end of the game (I must learn to post photos in reverse order). In the foreground you have the smoked Massive Walker - a Malignant from Dark Realm Miniatures, and the back of the remaining medium walker company (Velites), at the bottom left. The landing pad in the centre of the picture is the origin point for the Arcadian landings. The Arcadians are in Tan, and the Andrayans in Grey.

Next is a shot of the left flank, showing the destroyed Andrayan's (spot the theme!), and the victorious Arcadians. In the middle of the picture are two platoons of marines mounted with their Ramjack IFV's. The vehicles are DRM, and the Marines Adler. I've broken with the FWC rules in that I mount the Infantry with the vehicles on one base, rather than two. I prefer this as to my mind it makes more sense to represent a Mech Infantry platoon like this, in a platoon as the basic unit, game, rather than have a base for the vehicles and one for the Infantry. Have combined the stats of the two units, and they are a powerful assault team (9D6 in close assault), but take up 2 breakpoints (like Massive Walkers). This gives them both a well defined battlefield role, which suits Mech infantry, to my mind, but also a risk factor in using them - they pile on and lead the assault, but should they lose, then your battlegroup feels it.

The picture also shows a platoon of Petard missile launchers (@ three o'clock). I have changed these from the AA weapon that they are in FWC into a smart missile platform, seeing them as something similar to a M901 TOW cherry picker, or BRDM3/AT5, from the cold war era. They are a powerful unit, but only get to fire once per turn.

Next is an earlier shot of the Andrayan advance (you can tell it's earlier as they are still intact). The attack was lead by the Malignant Massive Walker (in the foreground, and who has just KO'd a platoon of Arcadian fast attack buggies), and a company of Velite walkers supported by a platoon of Verger walkers. The multibasing comes into its own in this shot, as the medium walkers are represented by three bases of three walkers - a total of nine - rather than just three single models. Felt like I was commanding a company, rather than representing one. The aim is to have the Velites as the core part of my Andrayan force, with a total of nine bases of them, which will equate to 27 models. Should look good.

This next shot is of the Arcadian fast attack buggy company, who raced West from the landing point to seize the high ground. This proved a good move, as although the unit is not very powerful, by taking the high ground they aided the FAO in calling in the Orbital Artillery Strike, as he could do it with the advantage of being on higher ground. This reduces the size of deviation from target, enabling him to call in two powerful pinpoint strikes on the Malignant massive walker, the first one taking down his shields and suppressing him, and the second finishing him off.

Again the buggies are mounted three to a base, so as to represent a platoon on a 1-1 basis, and I like the look and feel this gives

This final picture is the start of the game, showing the table (not very SciFi) and the landing of the Arcadian forces.

The battlegroup was split into four companies - at the bottom of the picture is the fast attack company mounted in buggies, to the left and the right are mixed Mech Infantry and Tank Companies - two platoons of Marines and two of Rampart tanks in each, an at the top is a company of "left over" items - the CO, a platoon of Petard smart missile launchers, and a platoon of Tiger light tanks. The Arcadians also had in reserve a company of Houndog light walkers (taken from the GZG DS list, in the FWC rules) and a company of Bastion Heavy tanks. Such was the success of the Arcadians that they did not need to deploy the Bastion company.

Incidentally, this was the first time we'd used the reserves rule in any of the BKC/CWC/FWC games we've played, and we liked them - can really see the Panthers and Tigers in our next BKC game being held in reserve ready to plug the Soviet tide at the crucial point in the battle.

So that was that. A fun game, and now leaves honours even with one victory each.

Our next planned game is Warmaster Ancients as Chris has just finished his 6mm Germans, ready to take on my Romans (which were finished in early 2007, but I could never sum up the discipline to paint up an enemy to take them on).

On the painting front I'm pushing on with my 15mm Madhists for Patrols In the Sudan. Have started using/doing the Army Painter dip, and am liking the results it gives for the effort I have to put in. Will post some pictures of these soonest.

Here's a couple of other Soviet Era ships, again approx 25 years old models recently undergone a restoration after 19 years in a box.

First up is the Slava. Not a great model - also have the GHQ version which is lovely, but good enough to know what it is.

The next is the Moscow or Lenningrad. Which again looks OK. Both were painted in the same way as the Kirov below, and I'm really pleased with the results.

Been off line for a while

Just start to get this thing working, and then leave it for the best part of 3 months. Well have been focussing on the job hunt, and also my gaming partner, Chris hasn't been well, so not played much.

Have done some painting, and been to a few shows - Triples (Good), Campaign (Crap), and Partizan (OK).

Painted up some 1/3000th Naval units which have been sitting around for years. Italians from WW2 and some moderns. Breakthrough on these has been buying ready made bases, from ERM, and also the GW washes which have made the painting and the basing very easy.

Have also been painting up some Mahdist forces for Patrols in the Sudan, but no photos at this stage. In addition have rebased most of my FWC forces onto 60mmx60mm bases, after having seen the Command Horizon bases of Baccus. Look good, but haven't got Photos yet.

So, here's a photo of the Kirov. The model is a Davco 1/3000th one, which I purchased in approx 1983 or 84. Was stripped back to the metal in 1990, and primed black, and then lay in a box of similar ships until May 2009, when I drybrushed it a GW Grey, gave it a wash of Badab Black, then picked out the details with Foundry paints and a two step highlight. Finally, put onto an ERM base, used Gold Model Gel for the seascape, painted that Ultramarines blue, washed it with Asurmen Blue, and highlighted with white. Then a spray of Dullcote, and a coat of gloss varnish on the seascape. Really pleased with the result, and also amazed that I painted this given that the model languished forgotten for so long. Anyway, plan is now to get all the other ships (Soviet, RN and USN) sorted and rebooted, then to play shipwreak.

Future War Commander Armies - Arcadians

Here is a shot of my Pax Arcadian Army, for Future War Commander. The vehicles are Dark Realm Miniatures, but the walkers/power armour troops at the back are GZG, and the infantry are Adler Federation Marines. 

Total points is somewhere around the 5,000pt mark

.

Front Row is Recce, HQ's, CO, AA, FAO's, and Arty

Second Row is Ramjack IFV's and Marines

Third Row is Support Buggies, and two Trident Heavy Tanks

Fourth Row is Bastion, Tiger and Rampart tanks

Fifth Row is the GZG Houndog figures, who I've grouped into two types, called Houndogs and Tomcats.

My background for the Arcadians is that they are a breakaway group from the Federation (who will be modelled on the Adler figures and vehicles at some point this year) who are now probing into the space taken up by the Andrayan Cyborgs (from Dark Realm Miniatures).

The colour scheme for the Arcadians was very much inspired by Piers Brands work which can be seen on the Blitzkrieg Commanders Website. Interpreted the approach as being Afrika Korps colour scheme.

This next photo is a close up of one of the HQ stands of the Arcdaians. Has the close support buggy (with a chain gun) the heavy laser buggy (the phallic one!), plus the Ramjack IFV models, all from Dark Realm. 

The two figures at the front in blue are Adler Federation Marines (in my background the Arcadians still use Federation material), the figure at the back is an Adler Midtech Regular. 

I'll be adding more of these mid techs later in the year, and am diverging from the FWC Army list for the Pax Arcadians, in the process.

Next we have a close up of the Bastions. These are both funky units in the game and a nice model. Have six of them, and want two more, but would probably not use that many in the game. Have adapted them from their FWC stats, as I allow them to attack soft targets as well as hard.

Finally, have another shot of an HQ base, this time with a hover scout on the base

Will post some more shots of the Arcadians and their opponents, the Andrayans when time permits.

The Lead Mountain and Workstation

Like Most Wargamers, I have a mountain of lead for those projects I JUST have to start, but NEVER finish. 

I keep mine in old ice cream tubs, marked up with what they contain, in a built in wardrobe in my den/home office/escape from the kids room.

The first picture is the top shelf, showing the mountain.

The next picture is the output area, showing the storage of the armies. 

I use either lever arch files, or for 10mm and 6mm, plastic Tough boxes, which take up less room and cost about £3 each. I line these with magnetic sheets, and they double for transport safe storage as well.

Finally, here's a shot of the workstation. It is pretty much permenant, in that the paints are on the table all the time, and I just have to put a cutting board and some newspaper down, and I'm ready to paint.

I'm normally disciplined enough to paint for an hour, or more, most weekday nights, starting at around 9.30pm. 

I find the painting is my way of putting the day to rest and finally unwinding from work and home life. Not an uncommon experience for most of us, I'm guessing.

 

First Game of Future War Commander

Played our first game of Future War Commander last Saturday. Have played several games of Cold War Commander, and so knew the basic rules for the game. However there have been some changes to the visibility rules (which I've taken as being the result of UAV's etc being everywhere in the future) and for the new technology.

We played the Hit and Run Scenario, where a small force of Andrayan Cyborgs (4 x Infantry, 2 x Verger, 2 x Vorace, a CO and a HQ, plus some orbital artillery) attacked an encamped Arcadian force.

The background to the conflict is that the Arcadians, now having settled into an era of uneasy peace with the Federation, after their breakaway, are moving into the space occupied by the Andrayans. This has resulted in a few skirmishes so far, with this game being one of them. In effect, the Andrayans are having a poke at the Arcadians so that they can gather information on them.

Anyway, the game lasted four turns. Basically the Arcadian commander (Chris), not knowing where the Toasters would be coming at him from, spread himself thinly around the table with a company of infantry supported by two platoons of Bastion heavy tanks, and a company of Tiger light tanks.

The Andrayans came on to the East of the space port, and hit a platoon of Arcadian infantry and a recce platoon in their first move. The infantry were wasted, but the recce unit put up a good fight, falling back in good order.

With the balloon going up, the Arcadian commander quickly summoned his reinforcements, who arrived on turn two. They were another company of infantry, plus a whole company of Bastions, and a company of support buggies for the infantry.

The toasters pushed home their attack, taking out the recce platoon and a platoon of tiger tanks lurking in the forest at the edge of the board.

Turn three saw the Bastions start trading shots with the Vorace and Verger walkers on the Toasters side, with one Vorace biting the dust. The Bastions are a strong force, carrying both a punch and the ability to take one.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Andrayan infantry were being hit by their Arcadian opposites, supported by both artillery strikes and the support buggies.

Turn four saw the Toaster commander decide to pull out and back, but not before calling in two Ortillery strikes on the advancing Bastions. The heavy Ortillery made an impact, taking out one unlucky Bastion and suppressing another. 

It was this final attack from orbit which clinched victory for the Andrayans, as they pulled back off the table, having done more damage to the Arcadians than they had taken.

The victory points were totalled up, and the Toasters achieved a major victory, which was due to the demise of the Bastion heavy tank, and their well timed withdrawal.

As is the case with the XXC stable of games, both players felt the battle could have tipped the other way at crucial points in the game. Chris felt if he'd been a little more aggressive at the start, then he could have taken victory, and I had to agree.

All in all a fun game, with the only frustrations being the need to look at the rules for clarifications more than I'd normally like to, and the bucket full of dice slowness of the system  - which is also its strength.

Aim is to play another game, with bigger forces, in the next couple of weeks.

Starting Out

So, finally decided to start up a blog. One of those things I've been meaning to do, but never got around to it. Now, having been made redundant, have some time to invest.

Why am I doing this?

Two reasons: 

1. To keep a journal of my wargaming activities. I keep a general journal for my life, and have found that to be a great insight and reminder of my life. So why not do that for my hobby, and so over time I can both track back on what I've done, and look forward to what plans I have, in one, easy to access place?

2. To understand the web more, and be part of web 2.0. Need to know more about the web from both a parent and professional side of things, so this is a small step towards that. But also, having a blog allows me to participate more in the social side of the web, by having a place to refer people to when I post on forums etc.

Not earth shattering reasons, but important ones for me.