Logs

Another quick post. Good chum Colin gifted these lovely resin pieces to me (thanks mate!). These were beautifully cast and very straightforward to paint using a range of Americana browns.

I haven’t based them as I want to be able to use them in a variety of scenic settings. They’re from Paul’s Modelling Workshop and definitely recommended. Thanks for looking!

Charlie Foxtrot Pantile Gates

Quick post! A large, ongoing scenery project requires an extra couple of pantile gates, by Charlie Foxtrot Models, so here they are. Made a nice change from all the recent sci-fi stuff.

Painted as per all my other Mediterranean scenery. The gates are primed in black and painted using a range of Americana paints: Bittersweet Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Honey Brown and Bleached Sand.

Thanks for looking.

Urban Themed Sci-fi Terrain

Most of my sci-fi terrain is sand themed so I decided to do something a bit different, hence the urban / concrete theme of these pieces.

The building is from Blotz (highly recommended!), from their Middle Eastern range, with one of their space doors. The dish laser is from GF9. The crates etc are a mix of Legion Priority Supplies and TTcombat resin.

The building was given a rough coat of masonry paint before painting. Recipe is Dark Grey (B&Q Lousville emulsion, similar to VMC German Grey), then successively lighter highlights of VMC Neutral Grey, Foundry Slate light, Foundry Austrian White light and pure white. NB: for figure bases, the recipe will be VMC Grey Green, Neutral Grey, White Grey.

Here's a couple more Blotz buildings I have on the go. To add interest I've used some of the more interesting shapes left over from the MDF "sprue".

First Rebels for Legion

With plenty of Galactic Empire completed it was time to turn my attention to the Rebels. Here are my test models.

As with most new collections of troops, I tend to start by painting only a few so as to quickly get a handle on what paints, techniques, etc to use.

Recipe is:

• Grey primer
• Skin - Foundry Flesh mid (or Foundry Night Sky mid for the Duros)
• Helmet - VMC Stone Grey
• Jacket & Gaiters - VMC Russian Green
• Shirt - Foundry Buff Leather mid
• Trousers - Foundry Rawhide mid
• Backpack - either VMC Stone Grey or Foundry Spearshaft shade
• Boots & straps etc - either Black or Foundry Bay Brown shade
• Helmet ‘band’ - Foundry Conker Brown shade
• Weapons - black

Wash with thinned GW Agrax then highlights of base colour followed by lighter Foundry triad shade(s) or simply the base mixed with a little Foundry Boneyard light. The red band on the helmet is the unit identifier, so for other units I’ll use dark green or blue, etc.

May the force be with you!

Galactic Empire Troops Shoot Something

Another Sunday night at the club and this time Dave and his Shadow Collective, led by the fearsome Darth Maul, take on my Empire, led by the implacable General Veers. An 800 point game, the mission was to capture and hold the objective markers scattered across the middle of the table. Here's the table just after we'd started.

I had a very vague plan to spend a couple of turns shooting before making a dash. With this mind I made the best use of Veers' ability to buff the shooting of nearby units and pounded away at the enemy line. I have to be fair here and say that the troops had clearly been practicing on the range, plus Dave's armour save rolls were not kind to him at all. However, I managed to repeat the little blunder of leaving Veers slightly exposed when he used his Maximum Firepower command card. The Pyke disruptor rifle wounded the General who had to scramble for cover.

On my left flank it was going very well indeed and the first two turns saw many Black Sun, Pyke Syndicate and even Mando Super Commandos tumble in to the sand. The AT-ST was awesome!

My right flank was a much more cautious affair. Two squads of those infamous men in white armour faced off against a squad of Black Sun and some more Mandos, both of which had enhanced leaders. Keep firing lads!

Here you can see that my Speeder Bikes have swept around the flank and are closing in on the centre. Also, by this point Darth Maul had plunged in to my line and slaughtered a whole unit of Death Troopers (in one round!), but thankfully he was just a little too far from the other unit to use his Force powers to drag them in to combat. In reply, Veers dished out the Aim tokens and had everything target the dreaded Sith Lord, who fell in a storm of blaster shots.

Meanwhile, on my left the Mandos had thinned out the Stormtroopers and were gunning for Veers and his bodyguard of Death Troopers. They got within range 2 and let rip with their pistols. Bravely the Death Troopers fell to protect their General. In reply, Veers cracked off a few well aimed shots (felling a Mando) and quite literally dived behind some solid cover.

The AT-ST, lacking any targets ahead, pivoted and brought it's guns to bear on the Mandos. Only their leader remained after the blizzard of blaster shots. But she quickly fell to the guns of the Stormtroopers.

So that was it, Veers' brave lads had seen off the motley collection of gangers and Mandalorians. My thanks to Dave for a great, if slightly one sided game. Plenty of comedy moments as the dice did crazy things. Also, I now properly understand the rules for Pierce and Deflect, amongst other things.

Another Charlie Foxtrot Pantile Building

Good chum Colin very kindly gifted me a prototype kit of one of his more recent pantile releases. Being a prototype there was no resin roof section so I made a simple extra storey from foam core and Wills pantile plasticard for the roof. 

The door to the balcony is just balsa scribed with a pen to give a wooden planking effect. Some closed shutters give the impression of windows without the faff of cutting holes and fitting window frames, etc.

Buildings like this add some extra height to the battlefield and provide ideal look out points. Thanks mate 🙂

Crete Campaign Game Seven - Probing Pervolia

With the attacks going in on the Olive Oil factory it was important to try to keep Jerry off balance. The Australians of 2/1 Battalion must not let the enemy consolidate the their positions. So, orders came through for the reinforced 3rd platoon to begin the attack. I had hoped to paste Jerry with some naval gun support but the meagre points available for this scenario meant that the matelots would be pointing their guns elsewhere. More on “support” later. Here’s the table.

The brave Australians would be attacking along the road from the left in the second picture. The patrol phase went rather well and I was able to get a couple of JOPs in the gardens around the house with the lavender. The other being next to the little culvert. Dave had his in the vines and amongst the buildings which certainly suited him.

First in the field was a section whose aim was to defend the right flank and/or harass FJs in the buildings with covering fire whilst the real attack went in on the left, where there was more cover.

The attack gets underway.

Dave’s lads hurry to take up good firing positions in the buildings.

A section, assisted by the Platoon Sergeant hurl grenades at the upstairs window but are not very successful. Plus I’d struggled to get the attack properly coordinated as the command dice were being particularly unhelpful. The light mortar team were spot on with their smoke which prevented Dave’s dreaded LG40 from targeting the little MkVI tank that was raking the buildings with it’s HMG.

More FJs occupy the buildings.

Dave used a CoC dice to end the turn and the smoke lifted. His LG40 team wasted no time in shooting at the MkVI. One hit glanced off but the second hit squarely, killing the gunner and inflicting two points of shock. The Panzerbuchse team finished the tank off by inflicting another point of shock, so the crew bailed out and headed for cover.

The attack finally gets a bit more coordinated but it was too little, too late. Dave’s MG34s had settled the matter.

By this point Australian morale had taken quite a beating and the withdrawal was ordered. 3rd platoon had taken almost 50% casualties including both senior leaders whereas the FJs had lost only a handful of men. So a solid victory for Dave’s Jerries. However, during the post game discussion Dave suddenly looked at the scenario notes again. Bear in mind that this scenario is re-purposed from the KGvL PSC “Attacking the Corridor of Death” with the sides swapped. But we’d not swapped the support points! Gah!? Oh well, every blunder tells a story… clearly orders had got muddled and 3rd platoon had set off without much additional help! Whereas Jerry had an abundance of extra firepower.

My thanks to Dave for being an excellent opponent. Next time the brave Aussies will be back in much greater force. I have a feeling the CO will be requesting one of the Matildas, or perhaps a few Commandos?

Thanks for looking!

Shoot out in Blackwater County

The infamous Hawtrey Gang have turned up in Blackwater County and their villainous leader Charles (aided and abetted by Sid “Shotgun” James and Jim “Sneaky” Dale) is keen to rustle some cattle and hold up the stagecoach. But Sheriff Shotte and his Deputies, Randall and Hopkirk are on the gang’s trail.

Being an introductory sort of game I kept the forces quite straightforward. Each side had a Shootist plus two Greenhorns armed and equipped as per the rules. 

The first few turns were really just moving up from the table edges (Hawtrey Gang from the left in this first pic, the Lawmen from the right) so the pics start as the real action begins. This isn’t a full after action report, but more of a series of highlights.

Charles Hawtrey has moved up to the telegraph pole as he tries to draw a bead on the Sheriff in front of the white farmhouse. But his shooting goes wide. Jim Dale, by the barrel next to the fence, shoots too but again the shots miss.

From the other side of the table we can see that the deputies are moving through the yard around the barn. Sid James is beyond the wooden fence hidden from view by the little shed on the right, but he has his shotgun ready!

However, Hopkirk was too quick for Sid! Dashing forward to the cover of a wagon, he plugs his target.

Over by the road the Sheriff was keeping cool and putting the hurt on to the Hawtrey Gang, Jim Dale in particular.

Needing to deal with the pesky Sheriff, Charles has moved up along the fence line to close the distance. But yet again the bullets miss the Sheriff. However, Charles sees an opportunity as Randall moves up to support the Sheriff. Up goes the cry of “Bonanza!” and he interrupts Randall’s movement to blast away at him as he runs across the gate with three shots…

… but with no aim dice (and no 6s), all three shots miss! A puffed out Randall reaches the dubious safety of the wooden fence.

Charles switches his aim to back to the Sheriff and this time the dice are kinder (not to the Sheriff tho!) a stumbled dodge, a wound and critical wound effectively put the brave Lawman out of the game with only one action dice left.

In his next activation, Charles finishes off the Sheriff!

During this time Deputy Randall had forced Jim Dale back to hide behind the little house and Deputy Hopkirk had traded shots with Sid. A stunning turn of dice for the young deputy meant he was able to blast away at Sid again but this time with plenty of aim dice. A natural roll of 6 meant a critical wound and it was Boot Hill for Sid.

Despite the loss of the Sheriff, Deputy Randall was in no mood to fall back. A great hand of dice (actually 123445, not 133445 as shown in pic) meant he could move up to the corner of the fence, spot Hawtrey, fire both barrels, Charles failed to dodge and took a wound, reload one barrel, aim and fire one shot again. Another failed dodge and a wound! The gang leader was in quite bad shape by this point.

As the turn ended the Hawtrey Gang had to take a “Ride or Die” test but they passed!

Only one more turn was played with both sides desperately trading shots. The deputies gained a few shock though were not wounded. However as the turn ended it was clear that both sides needed to make “Ride or Die” tests. The lawmen heaved sighs of relief as the Hawtrey Gang ran for it. Let’s hope the Doc is ready when the badly hurt Sheriff is brought back to town.

Another enjoyable little battle in the Old West.

I’ve been asked about the wooden fencing. This was made quite simply from chopped up coffee stirrers and long matchsticks. Use good quality PVA wood glue for extra strength. Painting was easy too. AP Leather Brown undercoat followed by a good covering of Americana Dark Choc. Then a sparse drybrush of Americana Milk Choc (or Honey Brown for a lighter look). Finally, a quick drybrush of VMC Tan Yellow.

I hope to expend my Old West scenery collection with a few buildings (Trading Post, Telegraph Office, etc) plus maybe a railway too. However, I will not be collecting a whole town!

More What a Cowboy!

Club night and Steve has kindly put on another gorgeous looking game of What a Cowboy. It’s a second warm up game ahead of the start of a campaign next month. Here’s a few pics before our gangs set to.

The “spades” gang was Simon, Mike and Rob whilst the “hearts” gang (and self-styled heroic good guys) were myself, Jordan and Ken. The objective was simple … shoot the other gang. Umpire Steve assures us that campaign games will have more complex objectives. I’m sure he’ll have a few surprises up his sleeve too.

Here’s a pic from a few turns in. Ken’s lads have camped on the shed roof whilst one of Jordan’s men swaggers towards the railroad halt, no doubt intending to tip his hat to the lady standing nearby. Some of the other figures in the pic are “civilians” and they can act in a variety of ways when the lead starts flyin’. Opposing them were Mike and Rob’s men and they were advancing quite cautiously thanks to their dreadful rolls on movement dice.

On the other side of the parked up locomotive my brave fellows (the very much larger than life Chester Tubbs and ever capable Billy-Bob Wrigley) dashed forward to get some good cover by the water tower and crates.

I was facing Simon’s men and they, like the rest of their gang, took their time to come forward.

Here was some exciting action! Both Mike and Jordan had bravely (or perhaps rashly) pushed one of their men forward to gain advantage. Jordan had a desperado card to play… he rolled great action dice … “Bonanza!” shouts Mike… “Bonanza!” came the reply from Jordan! But Mike won the quick draw and Jordan’s man got hurt real bad … down to 1 action dice.

However, some crafty subsequent play from Jordan saw his man withdraw and regain much of his composure.

Back across by the water tower and our men are trading shots but doing little real damage. Indeed Chester displayed considerable skills whilst dodging incoming shots!

Simon has brought his men up close. Too close in fact, as with almost the last shots of the game, Billy-Bob emptied his shotgun in to the chap with the top hat, blowing him all the way to Boot Hill.

Another very funny game of cowboys. Thanks again to Steve for organising and to everyone for making it such a laugh. Looking forward to the campaign 🤠

Rebel Rascals

More fun in a galaxy far, far away! Sunday night is club night, so Simon and I set to. He had his splendid rebels and I the glorious might of the Empire.

The mission cards were resolved as “Battle Lines” for deployment (very convenient), “Clear Conditions” (Phew! See later) and “Recover the supplies” as the objective. I was especially pleased to get clear conditions as my leader is General Veers and he has a fantastic command card, “Maximum Firepower”, that you really need to play in the first couple of turns due to the long minimum range involved.

Here’s a couple of pics of Simon’s lovely figures. I especially like Chewbacca and the squad of Wookies!

The early part of the game saw a lot of forward movement as each side sought to capture one of the five vital supply tokens. However, I’d been a bit more cautious and so was able to put a lot more shooting on to the Rebels. This seemed like a good idea, at least to begin with… Veers’ Maximum Firepower card had damaged the AT-RT, though its main weapon was still a threat to my AT-ST. The Death Troopers and AT-ST had put a lot of hurt on Chewbacca and he was looking pretty badly beaten up. The Speeder bikes had raced up on each flank and would soon be in what I hoped would be good flanking positions.

In one of many cinematic moments of the game, I decided the bikes would hurtle up the road between the buildings and hose the Rebel Veterans and Taun-tauns with their blaster cannons! With Stormtroopers in close support, how could they fail?!

Well … at first glance it might appear that the Rebel Veterans have vanished. But they are actually obscured by the building where they are congratulating themselves on a job well done by bringing down one of the bikes and damaging the other. However, there was one less Taun-taun. (Note to self: Taun-tauns are proper bad-ass, must get some for my Rebels, regardless of how bad they smell)

Back on the other side of the field things are hotting up! The Speeders have flanked the AT-RT and crippled it. Ahsoka (flippin’ Jedi) Tano has leapt forward to claim a supply token. The Wookies have been badly mauled by the AT-ST and Death Troopers. Worse still, for Simon at least, Chewbacca will need to be sent home in an ambulance. (Or, more accurately, a hearse)

With Chewie now a smoking pile of blaster shredded fur, a distraught Han hurls himself into the fray. The brave Speeder bike chap decides that Han is best dealt with by his Death Trooper colleagues and continues whizzing across the battlefield. The Death Trooper squad waste no time in dealing with their new High Value Target.

Meanwhile… the Empire’s right flank continues to enjoy a “deferred success scenario”. There is a supply token just by the door to the little round building but I don’t think the remaining Stormtrooper squad leader will be claiming it for the Empire. The Veterans, aided by the Taun-taun rider, have blasted the Stormtroopers halfway to the Outer Rim.

Here’s a moment to warm even Vader’s flinty heart. The AT-ST zeroed in on Ahsoka (oooh look at my lightsabres) Tano. For much of the game the pilot had been struggling to deal with repeated ion weapon attacks which had restricted his options somewhat. But not this turn! Aim… Fire! She was just within range 2 so the AT-ST could use everything it had, the main blaster cannons plus the sponson mounted light blasters. Simon rolled some superb defence dice and the badly wounded Ahsoka was able to deflect two shots back on the vehicle using her light sabres (which almost toppled it!) but one blaster shot made it through her valiant defence … and she was blown to smithereens!

If that didn’t cheer up old Vader, this almost certainly would! The Death Troopers (gotta love these guys!) and Stormtroopers, aided by Veers’ target spotting ability, gave Han everything they had. Not even a “Notorious Scoundrel” like Han could survive that.

On the other flank, the remaining Taun-taun rider had picked up a supply token and was heading for cover. But the Speeder Bikes were not about to let that happen. Again their blaster cannons roared, the rider fell, and the supplies tumbled in to the sand.

Only one pic left as the game was getting really tense (in a very good way I hasten to add). The Wookies, with one supply token in hand, attacked the Stormtroopers to prevent them from claiming a token. The combat was very one sided. I repeat, very one sided.

Okay… At this point Simon’s rebels had claimed two supply tokens whereas I only had one. The was no way I was going to get the supplies held by his Wookies, unless I could call in an orbital strike, so I went after the one held by his Rebel Veterans on the flank. Veers had been potting away with his blaster pistol for a few turns and let me tell you, the old fella is a mean shot! Three white dice … two critical hits? No problem! Twice. With a bit of help from his Death Trooper bodyguard he had reduced the Rebel Veterans to just one man. 

Simon decided to withdraw the remaining Veteran to a more covered position. But careful manoeuvring from one of the Speeder Bike squads meant they were just able to draw a bead on him. By avoiding potentially one blaster shot from a Stormtrooper, he’d strayed in to the path of two Speeder Bikes. Scratch one rebel and the supplies he carried.

This was basically the last dice roll of the game. So with one VP each we had to total up who lost the most points from their army. I’d knocked out 469 points of Rebels, whereas Simon had taken out 487 points of Empire. Victory by a mere 18 points! 

It’s difficult in a blog AAR to convey just what a ding-ding belter of a game we had! So many cinematic and heroic moments along with high drama and daft comedy too! My thanks to Simon for being a great sport and a splendid opponent. Looking forward to more of this.