Tuesday 27 September 2016

Frostgrave Scenery Update

Months ago when I ordered my bases for my Seven Years War and WW2 things I also ordered some larger bases to make scenery for 28mm (ruins), mostly for Frostgrave. I'm experimenting with these at moment but I've already decided that I definitely want to make a few more. This is where I'm up to so far:
This one will have a reasonably significant bit of flooring in the far taller corner.
The black painted one in the background is the one shown previously but painted with its undercoat.
Part Painted Thug for scale
The walls are stuck with lots and lots of PVA - I'm not bothered about drips as I'm going to texture the bases anyway.
Pringles!
This one will have to be well painted to cover the bright colours - but then it isn't as thick anyway so probably needs it anyway for some rigidity. This one is going to have 2 partial floors (just enough to stand on) and some remnants of stairs (using lollipop sticks).


This final one is at a slightly later stage with filler added to texture and represent rubble. It also has a partial floor (with a small window to shoot from).

I want to make a few more unique buildings: religious building, fountains, pillars,

I also have played a couple of games of X-Wing with the missus. Was enjoyed; quick start game was stupidly quick and the second with full rules (and boosting up to 32 points) was really long with Luke combined with R2-D2 being seemingly impossible to shoot down. Going to buy another ship each: probably a Y-Wing and a TIE Interceptor to add to the fun - unless others have better suggestions?



Monday 19 September 2016

Sch'yyrk Revan'tyl

So tonight I am hopefully playing D&D as a player rather than as a DM, which is awesome as I am really struggling to get regular times free to do things at the moment. Anyhoo, I thought I'd post my character background here. Will thicken this up as campaign progresses.

Sch’yyrk Revan’tyl

Height
5’11”
Race
Dark Elf (Drow)
Class
Ranger (Hunter)
Deity
Eilistraee
Alignment
(True) Neutral

If it weren’t the chaos caused by Drizzt Do-urden’s return to Menzoberranzan, it is unlikely than Sch’yrk would be alive. Born as the third son of a minor house (Revan'tyl is his name by adoption), he was due to be sacrificed (as is the practice) to the god Lolth when he was smuggled away by a – to this day – unknown ally. His only memento of that time is a steel forge pendant and large scars along his arms.

Sch’yrk spent his infancy in Sshannoth, learning the ways of a Drow weapon master, before his conscience (and astonishment at the beauty of the world above) led him to flee to the surface. The actions of Drizzt may have had no small part in this way of thinking.

Since then he has wandered from town to town – taking occasional beatings for being a Drow. In response he has taken great lengths to hide his past, wearing a long grey/green mottled cloak, leather armour and a leather thong across his eyes with a single thin vision slit to protect his eyes from what is still not a natural environment on the surface. This also covers a bleached tattoo strip he has across his nose. At his hips hang twin short swords and at his back is a longbow (further evidence of his attempt to move away from his Drow heritage).

Sch’yyrk is conflicted, his upbringings as a child (and the history of his race) oppose what he has witnessed and his core beliefs. As such he is often sullen and withdrawn, seeming harsh. However, this is interspersed with seemingly random acts of kindness and occasional heroic acts. His discovery of the goddess Eilistraee (who was perceived as abhorrent within the teachings of his youth) has turned his thinking somewhat (previously he avoided other Drow at all costs) to see the Drow as manipulated by the Dark Seldarine – could others be taught the ways she can offer.


Sch’yyrk is tall for a Drow at 5’11” but has the usual dark skin of his people. His eyes are a deep purple whilst his ears are not as elongate as you would expect from an elf of any kind.

Friday 16 September 2016

Campaign?

I don't have many chances to go down to Lancaster Wargames Club much at the moment so when I do go I want to have a game organised. I also like when a game has repercussions (so games with "growth" like Frostgrave, or where casualties are carried forward) so therefore I'm looking at campaigns. I want to keep it simple and so we can potentially just play a game and it appear to stand alone (so anyone can join in).

So I have 3 plans:

  1. Carry on D&D campaign if can get organised with babysitters etc.
  2. Build up Frostgrave terrain and play some games with my wonderful (and patient) girlfriend (and anyone else who fancies it).
  3. Wargames campaign for WW2 using Flames of War - "Firestorm" campaign system but fighting battles using Spearkrieg Rules.
Fort those who don't know - Flames of War is a points based system (which Spearkrieg is not - focusing on historical scenarios) which works well for this style of campaign. It is therefore very suitable for this style of set battle - win or lose style environment. Spearkrieg battles are often decided before we even start playing - we almost use the system just to confirm hypotheses rather than playing competitively. Any larger battles with cumulative casualties and recovery have usually been quite linear in nature (a single advance axis such as Prokhorovka) or can be played sector by sector as assaults go in one at a time (Stalingrad). As such it may be best to fight out a campaign such as Market Garden where the advance is linear. Otherwise working out a campaign for an assault upon a specific target.

The biggest problem is balancing the forces. A British Rifle Brigade does not equate to a German Panzergrenadier Regiment. One option is to use Blitzkrieg Commander points for historical formations and see how they equate. Alternatively there is a Spearhead points system - though this would have to be modified to take into account different command values.

At the moment my thinking is split - I like the idea of multiple battles taking place over a turn and reinforcements being assigned to sectors (which may be in the wrong place). But I think it would be easier to carry out a linear assault and just have the "campaign" effect being the recording of casualties - eg Set scenarios with results of battles affecting the following ones.

I'll get back to you.

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Morecambe Bay Storm vs Walney Terriers (11/09/2016)


For those of you who don't know I started playing American Football this year for the newly formed Morecambe Bay Storm! I've absolutely loved it, especially since switching from Wide Receiver to Aceback (kind of a cross between Outside Linebacker and Strong Safety). Unfortunately my car accident a few weeks ago has given me whiplash and I'm still in pain from it so not going to be playing for the foreseeable future. You can't imagine how devastated I am.

Anyway on Sunday, the Storm played the first of 3 games we require to gain access to the league next year. Although we went down 36-0 there are many positives we can take from this considering we were playing against a team who have been around for 5 years (including 2 in the league), we have only been around for 7 months and our secondary defence was ravaged by injuries (3 non-starters and another injury during the game).
Photo by Vincent Spratling
Photo by Vincent Spratling
Photo by Vincent Spratling
Photo by Chris Baines
For my part I thought we showed good intensity and our defence was absolutely solid in the first half (although tiring legs led to a bit of a flurry in the second half). Our offence ran well (especially Danny Mclellan, but I would say the receivers need to get more separation. All in all a great effort and our second game should go better against a less experienced team and with us having played that first game. 

Come down on the 25th to Trimpell and see us play - the more support the better! And of course if you want to join in then come along - training is on Mondays and Thursday Evenings at Salt Ayre.

On a personal note I want to thank all the sponsors, our coaching staff and especially Scud for putting this altogether. I hope to start personal training this week and then team training the week after the Burnley game hopefully able to play in our 3rd game.

Operation Barbarossa Battle

So for the first time in a long time I went down to Lancaster Wargames Club and made the debut of my German Cavalry with AE. Had a good fun game - tested some hypotheses and met up with people I haven't seen in a while. It was also good to get the models out on tabletop.
Cavalry Regiment Deployed
Although I don't have a battle report I can advise of my findings:
  • As expected, cavalry just can't stand up and force its way through formed infantry, but it does seem to have the mobility to exploit gaps (the scenario didn't really allow for this). They are also really susceptible to artillery.
Kradshutzen Arrive to outflank
  • Early war Panzer Grenadiers mince their way through Soviet Infantry (only casualties were caused by friendly fire).
Panzer Breakthrough
  • Early War Panzers are really glad they have good command - they also can't sit in front of anti-tank guns. They also don't have great guns on them and really rely on the infantry to support them. Having said that they are monstrous when overrunning infantry in the open.
KV-2
  • KV-2's are scary when they fire (this one stand blew away 2 Panzer 3 platoons) but are still vulnerable to mass flank/rear fire when unsupported. If the Russians had enough command to get the infantry alongside it I don't know how I could have taken it out. On a side note Panzerjager 1B are actually quite good as tank hunters in early war (Anti-Tank 4)
If I was to play this sort of scenario I would play the cavalry as an exploitation force or mobile flank guard - asking them to break through isn't something they are going to be able to do.

I also would try to move more - my back is killing me this morning and has doubly confirmed to me that I'm not going to be able to play football against Burnley Tornadoes. Having said that I should probably let you know what happened on Sunday! 



Monday 12 September 2016

1/23 Grenadier Battalion, German Engineers and Mess

So as previously mentioned, on here and on Facebook, I was undecided as to how I was going to base my Grenadiers. Well I've decided to go for the column formation and here are the results:



1st Grenadiers have the white stripes on the helmets and red lapels whilst 23rd Grenadiers have the red stripe and no lapels. Both units had Silver Helmet faces. The lapels etc are based of the parent regiments colours from which they are drawn. For whatever reason this was standard practice throughout the armies of the Seven Years War - although there were some standing grenadier regiments in the Prussian Army.

I also finally finished off the last stand of 2er Reiter Regiment for 1941 - my Pioneer Platoon all ready for a game tomorrow.
Flame and Horse

Last but not least I also flocked the anti-tank batteries for Soviet Infantry I showed previously:
47mm ATGs
I keep plodding on but I really need to tidy my shed and work board (which I use to bring my work inside so I can listen out for kids).


Friday 9 September 2016

Prussian Army Update and Soviet Anti Tank Guns

So last night I got a little bit of texturing done and thought I'd recap as to where I am with my Prussians - was a pleasant surprise.
Current Prussian Force
Considering that I'm just getting bits of time here and there - I think its starting to take shape.
Infantry Regiments
The infantry bases look awesome, especially when I've completed all 16 I currently have!
Close Up of 9th and 5th Infantry Regiments
And the heavy cavalry are done (for now) - just some more Hussars and the Dragoons to come.
Cuirassiers
1st Hussars
More Cuirassiers
On another note - I need to decide how I am going to base my Grenadiers - these are supposed to be shock troops so I've been thinking about basing them in a bit more dense formation. So if anyone has an opinion on which way to go between the two below it would be appreciated:
Line
Column
I have also got painted and based (not flocked) my anti-tank guns for my Soviet Regiment - so much to fear for my Panzers (this is early war remember!)

Wednesday 7 September 2016

More Prussian Infantry and a Guest Appearance

So a couple more regiments finished towards Frederick's Army. These ones have got lapels so bit more colour than 3rd Regiment.
9th Infantry Regiment (Red Lapels)
I'm finding I'm getting much better at painting the white straps and am leading less and less to go back over with the blue to neaten them up.
5th Infantry Regiment (Cream Lapels)
5th Infantry Regiment (Cream Lapels)
I've got 1 more regiment at near completion and I'm going to do the 7th Regiment with that one. However after that I'm not sure where to go - one option is to do the regiments at Lobositz as was my original plan, the the other is to do regiments 1-12 as I have the colours already for these. I've got a little time to choose as I have 4 Grenadier units, 3 Dragoons, Command Stands, 2 Hussars and Artillery I can do before them.
Infantry so far
As I was painting these, my missus (JT) was painting her Apprentice for Frostgrave, as my Warband is identified by green, hers is blue - she's even attempted to give mystical blue eyes which I quite like.


All in all a very nice job - just need to make up a load more scenery and we can get going with a few more games of this. In the meanwhile we have been playing quite a lot of Ticket to Ride (great game which we're looking forward to playing with more players which could cause chaos with routes crossing) and the other day we went back to Waterdeep and had a nail biter of a game which I barely won.

Hopefully will get other Infantry Regiment done and some buildings - maybe more Soviets too.

Monday 5 September 2016

What to do?

I'm still working away at bits and pieces when I get chance and am physically capable to do so. As I write this now my back is in spasm and my neck has limited rotation.

So there are no new pretty pictures but instead a bit of a planning stage. I still have a lot of plastic Napoleonics in 20mm which were painted in my teenage years and frankly look not too great (painted to play with I guess). However I now feel a lot better in my painting and so am looking to get rid of these for best price - whether this is just to sell the lot in a bulk load - or to repaint it - obviously if its for commission this would be best - I will paint them for any rule set and base them too if agreed. For Example:

  • Black Powder
  • General de Brigade
  • Napoleon's Battles
  • Republique
  • Volley and Bayonet
So who's interested? Otherwise I may just see how it would look playing V&B in 20mm.