Oh So Close

So I genuinely am making progress and I have now just got 3 stands of cavalry left, as well as about 5 command bases. I've even cut the bases for the town sectors. Pictures will be available soon...

Also news about Morecambe Bay Storm, we finished the season 5-4-1, I've got to admit I was out injured for the last few games and in our play-off quarter final we lost to an excellent team in the Shropshire Revolution. All in all an excellent season and we hope to bounce back even stronger next year (albeit I personally need a lot of work still doing on my shoulder). If you want to give it a go then we have a rookie day on the 8th October - come try it out.

In other news I have also got arriving soon Flashpoint: Fire Rescue. This was recently on Tabletop (although they didn't seem to last very long?). SO I'll review this and show you pictures in action.

Finally (in this fast paced piece) I am also looking to buy Rommel by Sam Mustafa when it is released. I already have a good amount of 10mm WW2 models and if it works it could be possible to build up to some of the huge battles of WW2 including Operation Market Garden, Leningrad, D-Day or the Bulge! Already looking at a grid marked battlemat (although unsure which sized squares to buy).

Not so good.

The less said about this weekends game the better. We just didn't turn up with our heads on right and Gateshead really did and gave us a pasting. Need to pick ourselves up and go again in a fortnights time.

In painting news (which is what most of you are bothered about) I have really cracked on with my Austrians and I now just have one more Infantry Regiment and they are done. The two grenadier regiments have been painted up in the colours of 3 different regiments present.

I'm also halfway through doing the three regiments of Prussian Dragoons which for some reason I've ignored up until this point.

Will try and get some better pictures up soon.

Morecambe Bay Storm On a Roll

So I had fully expected to have a slightly down post today about how we'd given Terriers a good game but we'd lost after fatigue slowly set in.

Not sure about that tackling position
Photo courtesy of Steve Layfield

Well I can't say that because (despite a few nerves near the end), we got a 22-20 victory up in Ulverston and with it a 2 and 0 record heading into our 1st home game next week against the Senators. Two touchdowns by Dion Feather and one from Adam "Boo-Boo" Horrobin along with a defensive safety gave us a nervy win.

I can honestly say this was a much better feeling than the other week against Lightning - that felt like a done deal at half time. This time it went right down to the wire with Tom Smith recovering the fumbled snap to finally kill off the game so the relief led to more emotion at the end; this backed up by the fact we lost twice to Walney last year without scoring a point as well and my missus and youngest being there to support me!

Goal Line Defence
Photo by Dave Nicholls

Today I feel battered and bruised - I played all but one play at Right End - definitely prefer it at Safety but any game time is good game time and had fun. Don't think I made any big whiffs - its hard to tell if you're doing a good job if you're on contain. Couple went outside but not much, have to wait until see game tape. Game report to follow on MBS Facebook and web page.

Morecambe Bay Storm 1st League Game (And Win!)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

www.morecambebaystorm.com

Sorry needed to get that out - still absolutely buzzing (albeit with sore muscles, joints etc) from a fantastic day yesterday. Travelling up to Northumberland to play the Lightning in our first competitive game. I won't give too much of a game report as I'm sure others will do it better but instead I'll give a tale of my day (be warned this is our longest away day this year).

Previous Night: Got Kit ready

7:30: Up, showered, put bags together, feed kids breakfast.
8:45: At pick up point (the actual pick up point!)
9:05: Impressively coach running on time! Coach journey is talking scheme and trying to relax  - welcome break at service station (coach seats not designed for 6'3" height)

After this I get fuzzy with times

12:30: Arrive? Really starting to hit home now, where we are and how far we've come.
1:00: Kit on, walk up to pitch. Start to warm up throwing balls around - absolutely beautiful day. Personally, I did a few drills using sideline as a ladder to try and get feet moving.
1:30 ish: Team warmup - our usual warm up with claps for timing right on point.
2: Kick Off - we're returning. I'm not starting on Defense (being a utility player is a disadvantage in that regard) but am on kick off return and kick off.

1st Quarter - Team is on fire. Defense starts with 3 successive 3 and outs backed by Chris Aldred with some perfectly timed whilst offense roll and before we know it a 1 yard QB sneak by Chris Mayne converted on a run by Joe Patterson is followed by 2 further passing touchdowns (Dion Feather and John Littlejohn) with another 2 point conversion. 22-0

2nd Quarter - Offence keeps rolling with 2 more scores (sorry concentrating on defense briefings) whilst Lightning get on the board after starting 15 yards off our goal line. Matthew Berrington should have had a pick 6 but called off due to an illegal block in the back (TBC who the culprit was). 34-6

HT comes, carbs loaded up on as well as fluids - its still hot. Stretch off for second half.

3rd Quarter - Games a bit tighter - offense isn't scoring as frequently - still playing well but a bit more conservatively - no need to try anything stupid. Defense being stretched a bit more but not breaking - Rob Bainbridge with some huge hits whilst all 4 of the starting DBs getting picks - (Jim Mawson had 3 on the day but really should have had 4, dropping the easiest chance he had :p). There should have also been a long passing touchdown which was called off due to a completely unnecessary penalty (block in back/roughing?) on the cornerback who was never going to get anywhere near the play.

4th Quarter - Some more aggressive hitting and the steam really is out of this one, the 35 point barrier was broken which means the clock is running and a couple more scores result including an impressive leaping catch by Dion Feather who had 3 TDs. Rick Schuttenbald also chipped in with a fumble recovery returned to the house to cap a great game for the D. Game ended with a bit of an ugly spat but overall the game was played in good spirits. 46-6 for the Storm's first win

Post game handshakes and cheers are much better when you've won.

Team Photo

Personal note: playing 3 positions (Plus 2 special team positions) is hard, especially when most of the time you are out of your comfort zone. For the first probably 3 quarters I was splitting my time between D-End and weakside linebacker, it was only when our Free Safety went off injured I got to go back to my most comfortable position at Strong Safety and made one decent tackle which really popped. Bit hard to argue with not getting in mind when your competition is grabbing 3 interceptions.

It might not last for long but for now can genuinely say we're top of the league!

5:30: Showered, dressed, laughs

6:00: Really good food laid on - chilli in soft tacos with cheese and salad. Along with cheap cider - lovely. Good marks for that Northumberland!

6:30ish: Back on bus. Bus journey full of laughs, new nicknames (here's looking at you Multipack), and a bizarre back road detour.

9:30ish: Home - collapsed on sofa and bed. Yes I'm old.

All in all an awesome day! 2 weeks time we go to Walney Terriers in our only meeting this year for the Battle of the Bay!

WIP - A Certain Drow Rogue

So I've posted a couple of times about Sch'yyrk Revan'tyl - well I've finally started with a fig for him (which I will also use as an Assassin in Frostgrave). The model came in the Nickstarter for the Barbarian expansion for Frostgrave and I've converted to be a bloke and also to be holding a shortsword rather than a wand. Still needs washes and highlighting as well as basing but here it is so far,

The mottled cloak with wolf pelt above - may have overdone the dry brushing on the pelt - or it might be the picture

I might repaint the under layers a darker colour - maybe even black. The sword will also be darkened when I apply some gunmetal.

I'm going to go through my Frostgrave/DnD minis and see if I have enough for a couple of 4 point warbands for SAGA - me and JT are really enjoying The Last Kingdom; Episode 3 really was epic - and it might be an excuse to get her into something different.

I've also completed a couple of Grenzer skirmish stands - more are following as well as Hungarians and Grenadiers.

Banal Grenzers

Austrians so far

This Sunday is the first league game for Morecambe Bay Storm, hopefully (signal permitting) you should be able to follow the score here.

New Season Ahead

So as I've said previously, I'm not currently affiliated with any club due to the fact that I am focusing on American Football with Morecambe Bay Storm and the season starts this weekend coming. As such I will probably be slowing down on here (can it get slower?) so that when I'm not training or playing I can spend time with kids and JT. If you want to follow us live the scores will be on ScoreStream (signal dependent) and I'd imagine on twitter too.

Even still I will keep plodding through with the armies I have and trying to get them done - terrain might be a job to do when we have "messy time" with kids. I have some ruined buildings I want to get painted - some for Frostgrave, others for Italy/Sicily.

Yesterday I received my FeldHerr carry case I've bought for my Bolt Action Force - fits all of what I've got with space left in my figures row as well as over half the space left in the vehicles row. My rulebooks fit in the front so all in all very happy. Also frees up a really useful box which I can use for my Russian 10mm Regiment.

I'm going to put up for sale a few of my bits and pieces - this includes my Dystopian Wars German Fleet plus Zeppelins. and depending on funds raised this may go towards opposing forces for something I've got or something new.

As such, was just looking at Age of Sigmar purely out of curiosity. I like the idea of it all but then I saw the price of the models and was really confused by how you make up your army? As in points value etc? Am I missing something? Minis do look stunning though.

Lobositz is still the focus - still going at this unit by unit - now got 6 Austrian Infantry Regiments done as well as a Grenzer skirmish base. I also would like to play in a DnD campaign - but unless someone is willing to come and DM at my house I really can't see that happening.

Post Weekend

Another Regiment done (27th I think this time) and I've got a couple more most of the way there.

Prussians WIP

Saturday me and the missus played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride, both of which were really close. Looking forward to giving this the 4 player treatment it deserves.

Then Sunday it was back to Morecambe Bay Storm after not being able to go for various reasons. Still a bit short of babysitter help (missus is off to Harry Potter World next weekend the lucky duck) so can't make next Sunday but I'm there again tonight and hope to arrange to get the odd Wednesday in if I can persuade my mum to have the kids. I promise I'm not palming them off by the way :P

Gaming Plan 2017

Its a bit late in the day but here we go, my gaming plan for this year.

Morecambe Bay Storm

First of all training for the Storm; as of Thursday I'm going to be back on cycling to and from work. Once training proper starts will endeavour to attend 2 sessions a week (at least 1) and will make up any missed sessions with a workout.
Will also be starting on 7 minute workout (twice a day) to get trim.
As time goes on I'm sure this will evolve appropriately.

Existing Models

I have a number of units I have already got models for and need to be painted in the following priorities:

Bolt Action Fallschirmjager 28mm
Frostgrave Forces 28mm - not just for use in Frostgrave but also potentially for DnD, Lion Rampant and Evernight Campaign for Savage Worlds
Spearkrieg 10mm - got a load of stuff including completion of Airborne Division and commandos
Seven Years War 6mm
Tour of Darkness Vietnam Forces 28mm
Modern Naval Forces in 1/3000

Forces to Buy

I've got plenty to go at at the moment and I don't currently see anything likely - only possibility would be an OPFOR for either Bolt Action or Seven Years War. Gates of Antares is a thought but nothing more at the moment. Reinforcements my be bought if needed for Bolt Action but I don't see anything else anywhere at moment.

Tabletop Games to Play

Priority at the moment is to get my Bolt Action force done and a few practice games so that I can take part in a campaign at House Lancaster Gaming.

My Spearkrieg forces will definitely get a few run outs and me and JT will continue with our Frostgrave campaign. I'd like to actually play in a RPG campaign but time away from house isn't able to be on a regular set basis so I'd probably have to run myself for now - Storm takes priority on this front I'm afraid. I may have a look through the Evernight campaign and see if I have sufficient figures.

Fallschirmjager Platoon Orbat Take 2 + Rookie Day 2017

So been playing with my orbat (both with regards to points, capability and expense) for 750 point list. As such here we go (again going for historical list and none cheese). All Veteran unless noted.

Defence of Italy Reinforced Platoon Total 748, 8 Dice

Platoon HQ Oberleutnant (SMG) and Rifleman (AR) 103
Rifle Squad 1 NCO + 6 Riflemen (3 SMG, 1 LMG) 127
Rifle Squad 2 NCO + 6 Riflemen (2 SMG, 1 LMG) 124
Rifle Squad 3 NCO + 5 Riflemen (6 AR) 114
Support Squad 1 MMG 65
Support Squad 2 Medium Mortar 65
Support Squad 3 Sniper Team 65
Support Squad 4 Kettenkrad (Regular) and Panzerbusche 41 85

Image from Warlord Games Website

So this is the force I'm going with - although I am painting the extra Riflemen needed to flesh out my squads if needed.

At the same time, I need to get fitter as rookie day was last Sunday and was really good. Had a few new guys down and saw some good talent (hopefully reinforcements for our Secondary).

Also got the news that we have been accepted into the league!!!

We have a new logo, there's another rookie day this Saturday and we have a Super Bowl Party coming on the 5th February - GO PACKERS!!!

28mm Mass Painting

As I've previously stated, I have large quantities of 28mm models to be painted and I need to stay motivated and do them. I am currently spending an hour or so a night putting together my Fallschirmjager and these are nearly done (just the Pak40 and Mortar to put together) - this is working well and its quite nice doing it whilst the missus plays Sims.

As such I will shortly have my Frostgrave Barbarians, Fallschirmjager and my Vietnam forces already to go  - its enough to be daunted - so I need timetables. I want to get my FJs to be undercoated by Christmas so I can paint a couple of squads before Rookie Day for Morecambe Bay Storm after which time may be more limited and hopefully get some games in.

With planning in process I therefore need to calculate which paints I need to paint them up for Monte Cassino.

Image from Warlord Games

I've used various paints in the past including FoW own ranges as well as GW. What paints do people suggest and if possible colour codes?

Warlord Games StuG III

28mm has taken over my painting table. I have 10m and 6mm armies I want to paint but take a lot of effort to get everything out (paints, models, light, correct colour guide for my 7YW Prussians) and at the moment my paint times tend to be an hour here or an hour there at the end of the day.

On the other hand with a lot of 28mm figures, once they are put together and sprayed, I can just work on a figure in front of the tv and get it done in a night (minus basing). As such at the moment on the go I have:

28mm

• Frostgrave Barbarians
• Vietnam (US, NVA and VC)
• Fallschirmjager Starter Army

10mm

• Fallschirmjager
• Canadians
• British Paras
• Russian Infantry

6mm

• Prussian Seven Years War

Last night I sat down and glued together the StuG III from the Fallschirmjager boxset. I've decided not to attach the side skirts as I want to use this for mid-war and I'm thinking of painting the force up as part of 1st Fallschirmjager in Italy. I also didn't want too many pieces which could be broken so didn't attach the top machine gun and shut the secondary hatch up.

The model went together fairly easily (although I don't personally like the two part tracks. The details seem decent enough for a wargaming model especially the grenade launchers.

I need to decide on the paint scheme now, obviously dunkelgelb underneath but then . . . ?

I think I'm going to get the whole force put together before I paint it, whilst I keep up painting habit on my other bits. Having said that if I get a decent spell to myself I might try and get 500 points done so I can play a game in January (fingers crossed). Any volunteers?

On the Football side of life - we find out in less than a week if we're accepted into the league. All fingers crossed. I've been unable to do much fitness myself with family commitments and surgery but give me a week and I'll be back on my bike and attempting to bulk up.

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.

Plans and Commissions

So things are happening in life; kids are doing well, Morecambe Bay Storm's first game approaches and we're training hard. I'm starting to learn Java and starting a genuine saving plan with missus.

Yes I play with sleeves.

On the gaming front things are happening too, the other week had a session of DnD and recorded it - potentially looking to post this on youtube along with some artwork (hopefully) in the nearish future. Great fun was had and future games seem likely.

I also have undercoated the building you saw on the last post - I decided to put the gravel on before painting on this model then painting over and giving it a wash and dry brush - in hindsight I think I will leave the gravel until the end in future models. I intend to mass manufacture these with the intentions of selling them (part of saving plan).

I have got some of my models painted - some Soviet support weapons (120mm Mortars and HMGs) in 10mm, and some Prussian Seven Years War Cuirassier Regiments in 6mm. Once I've got all the cavalry painted I will post them all together as I want to do the bases all at once.

With regards to the Soviets, I don't think I'm going to be able to travel to play anytime soon so I'm looking at generating some solo play rules based on Spearkrieg - this will probably have to involve blinds, I think using a random deployment could work for 1941 on the Eastern Front with Soviet units in disorder and could explain some questionable deployments. Any thoughts - especially pertaining to support weapons would be much appreciated.

Finally, I also have plans to go through my old stuff especially my 20mm plastic Napoleonics - I have quite a lot of them - will either sell as a job lot or if anyone is interested in them painted I will do them in whatever scheme required and base for required ruleset as well.

Withdrawal Symptoms

So I've not been to Lancaster Wargames Club in quite a while now (apparently its surviving without me) and I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms. I still think I've made the correct decision and American Football is really clicking with me (Outside Linebacker/Safety/Aceback) and my team (Morecambe Bay Storm) are coming together.

Despite this I still feel the pangs of missing battling it out on tabletop (Rome Total War only goes so far) and me and the missus seem to be playing less boardgames for whatever reason.

I had a look at my 28mm Vietnam stuff the other day but I've not got the energy to run a Tour of Darkness campaign and I don't have enough for a full company action.

So I'd like to play a WW2 game at mine - I have scenery, a table, a few ideas and models. This is an open invite to the people of Lancaster (UK) to come along and play a game which could turn into a linked campaign depending on how it goes.

If someone has early war Russians or indeed Poles - these guys want a run out.

Slowing Down

So people may have noticed (I hope at least regular members) that I haven't been going to Lancaster Wargames Club. Unfortunately this is down to time constraints having had another child. I have too many interests and not enough time to do them all in - Wargames, D&D nights, Boardgaming, Blogging, Football and American Football - besides of course spending time with bairns and the missus.

As such with American Football probably being my last chance to be involved in an organised sports team I feel that it must take priority whilst I'm fit, enjoying and have a chance of getting in team. (I know this might sound melodramatic at 26 but there it is).

I will continue to paint and run the odd night - may even find my way to the odd club meeting but for now unfortunately I'm not really going to be involved on any sort of regular basis. I'd love to hear from the club and what is going on and I will post my thoughts about what I'm doing - although much of my painting will be for purposes of either roleplaying games or to sell on.

And on a side note, here's a picture of me taking a catch off my face after running a Hitch route.