Games AND Painting?!

Necromunda
We played a couple of games at the club on Tank Engine's finished TT Combat Underhive table. I didn't really track the game but wanted to show off his amazing work. It's a great table with lots of strange shapes and corners that gives that really messy underhive vibe that Necromunda evokes.

Cawdor Oversight Committee (i.e. long rifle...)

The Headsman taunts the local Enforcers

A Cawdor ganger advances, oblivious to the Delaque below

It was a lot of fun despite spending a lot of time looking up rules to make sure we got them right. Necromunda offers, at least for me, a level of detail in a skirmish game that I really like. A little bit more than 40K but a whole lot less than Infinity, without the commensurate complexity.

Scotty has a campaign up his sleeve for some time in the foreseeable future. It looks exceedingly promising.


Painting 
I've been bitten by the 15mm bug again and decided to replace or redo my Grenadier army to match the Winter / Spring styling of my 653 Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung. While the actual infantry wings it's way to me from Battlefront, I've started on some other things! 

 The 15cm SiG33 is basically my favourite unit and I've owned these since I started playing FoW back in....oh dearie me...the early 2000s? They're not quite finished since the snow isn't dry yet but hey, still counts.

I've also done up a platoon of Mark IVs from PSC. They're pretty nice models although I still hate models with schurzen. The whitewash is Tamiya white weathering powder and I love the way it works with the Winter / Spring look of the army by being really patchy and streaky over the Middlestone base.

I had hoped this would mesh really well with my 653 but it won't. Apparently my style of painting Middlestone has changed A LOT since I painted those Ferdinands so they'll probably need a repaint at some point to match. I might just be able to wash off the white and change the top layer of paint to match!

Next Time
More finished Winter Germans I think. I've got some Nebelwerfers and PaK40s that need their crew doing but painting 15mm is pretty straight forward these days! 

Me? Paint more loonies? Yeah...

Since religious lunacy seems to be an underlying theme in almost every army I run in almost every game I play I have rather bought into it.

From distant shores arrived a new box of House Cawdor gangers for Necromunda, along with a Forgeworld weapons pack to open up a bunch of options in the list that aren't in the core box. I also

I decided to do half of them for the moment since staring down another 10 models would probably have been staggeringly demotivating! So here we are:

The close-combat crew are kind of neat. The Headsman is the key model (who might also stand in for my Gang Leader if I want....) as well as a chainglaive on the left and a two handed hammer on the right.

The hammer and axe on these models are two of my favourite bits of miniature design. They both look like they were made from railway spikes - the hammer tieing a dozen together to a handle and the axe looking like they've been forged together and hammered into the blade.

The new ranged models are more about delivering more cool ranged effects. The centre model is the most absurd heavy flamer I've seen in the 40K universe....ever. Who uses a candle to light their igniferous flamer juice?

The other two are a bit fun - on the left a simple pistol and a detonator for Cawdor Bomb Rats - he's going to deliver guided firebombs. On the right, a really cool long rifle. That model is going to serve as an overwatch sniper for the gang in the hope that I can focus on delivering the close quarters parts of the crew.

We're planning on some Necromunda on our club day next weekend so I'm hoping to give these a run and set fire to a bunch of unbelievers!

Next Time

Necromunda pics! Blogger Tank has been working on some new terrain for Necromunda and it looks AMAZING. I'll try and grab some pics of it if I'm not playing on it.

Otherwise I'm heading back to 15mm for a bit. I've had some new infantry arrive from Battlefront so will be working on a new Late War Grenadier company for a while. I've started on the new Questoris Knights for the Stupid as well and they're ticking along nicely.

Practice makes....

...for slightly janky victories.

I played a couple of practice games of TY for an upcoming local competition. We've really taken to 100 point TY on an 8x6 and it really has the right feel to it.

This report needs to be prefaced with McBeth testing new dice. His d6 rolling is highly skilled and I had no expectations that this was going to be any different. It was quite different. When it was on it was on but when it wasn't, oh boy, it was not. Scorpions driving through woods, no problem. Hitting enough things or passing 3+ firepower rolls, they were frequently not on.

We played on Scotty's awesome table which, I think, has a very pleasing amount of cover and open spaces. We have been prone to playing on really tight tables which has probably meant that the knife fight that some armies need to play (including mine, I might add) has been somewhat more common than we probably would have liked.

I set up holding the central objective with my infantry and leaving the outer one largely undefended knowing it was likely to be assailed by Chieftans and I could reasonably move the infantry platoon to hold it and survive the experience. McBeth held his central objective with infantry and Warriors (!) and his left with a couple of Blowpipes and 3 Chieftans.

  

I set up my LAV-ATs with a commanding view of the table centre and easy access to oversight of the objective on my left. They duelled first with the Warriors (removing a couple) and then with the Abbots in the far distance. Removing 2 of the Abbots in the early turns meant that the repeat bombardments that they spent most of the game suffering did not materially affect the LAV-ATs.

I went for a quick and dirty road dash with a LAV platoon on my right, intending to either flank the Warriors or remove the Blowpipes and threaten that objective. We realised about here that if I'd placed them better I could actually have won the game on turn 2. Erk! They didn't survive the combined fire of the Blowpipes, Warriors and Chiefs, but I decided it was a cost worth paying to have one platoon take pretty much all McBeth's turn one fire.

I pushed my first M60A1 platoon up enough to get into a gunfight with the British Striker Swingfires. This is a hiding to nothing for the M60A1s but with some support from some LAVs and one REALLY lucky ATGM shot, I got them off the park. I did lose the M60A1s and the LAVs in the process though. 

A view down the table. My last LAV-25 in a gun battle with 2 Warriors. I lost.... At that point the Brit infantry advanced and were given a delightful greeting by the GPMGs on the LAV-ATs and the 40 mike-mikes on the AAPV7s. They spent most of the rest of the game pinned down. You can see the remnant of the Strikers on the rear of the hill as well.

On my right, these Chieftans spent most of the game stuck where they couldn't move into the open as the risk of ATGM from the LAV-ATs on one side and HMMWV TOWs on the other meant danger! As it turned out, that was where they needed to be.

This is the table at the end of Turn 5 or 6. We didn't get a lot of reserves and the shots we had on table were looking at long odds most of the time. You can see the last two Warriors in a gun battle with the HMMWV TOWs (ineffectual on both sides), the British infantry in the mid table fighting with the AAPV7s and the LAV-ATs. The Abbots are just out of frame on the right having withdrawn out of range of the LAV-ATs.

And then suddenly it was all on and I completely forgot to take photos. Again.

I got my last two platoons of M60A1s on and drove one up my right and one up the middle. McBeth's reserves all arrived a turn behind mine. His Chieftan HQ and second platoon advanced towards the objective on my left as I did to the objective on my right. Over the last three turns I drove the platoon on the right aggressively up the board towards the objective, covered by the HMMWV TOWs. A single Chief went down to a double bail from the HMMWVs. The Chiefs had a couple of good cracks at the M60A1s but to no effect.

We talked through the right course of action for me here - which was me aggressively charging. Our conclusion was that I needed to Blitz then move 14" with stabilisers to get on the flanks of the two Chieftans holding the objective. McBeth placed my M60A1s in exactly the right spot to not have to suffer concealment penalties. So 8 shots, needing 5+ to hit:

And the result:

It was a really good learning game for both of us. Figuring out just as I finished my first turn that I could have effectively won the game in turn 2 with LAVs making a turn 1 Road Dash to be on the objective and forcing McBeth to remove them or lose was a real moment and reminded all four of us playing practice games that the win conditions need to be remembered as they are slightly different from TY V1. I really like McBeth's list - those Warriors are AMAZING - and it looks gorgeous. The Warrior platoon is a really solid core and the Chieftain is a great tank. It also has access to a solid amount of ATGMs which, when you're running M60A1s is a real problem...

As a post-script, friend Shep arrived at the club and took McBeth's new dice for a test drive just to make sure it wasn't just McBeth's rolling that was the problem. Result of test:

I'll leave this to you, dear reader, to consider whether these d6s are haunted or not.

I went on to take on Pelarel's British infantry and yowzers, that was a tough game. There are SO MANY MILANs in that list and honestly, I was afeared for my M60A1s. I went after Pel's squishier units with my LAVs early in the hope that maybe I could keep enough of them alive to support my Marines getting into his infantry platoons. That really did not pan out. It was a real grind and while I cleared out most of Pel's light vehicles before his Challeys arrived, he removed most of my LAVs, most of my infantry and half my M60A1s without me having gained a lot of ground. It was only rushing my last remaining LAV-25s onto the objective while distracting Challeys with rear shots from a pair of insanely aggressive M60A1s and hoping that he missed the two LAVs with a bunch of shots from LAWs and Charlie Gs (and me making a last stand test to stay on the board as it panned out) that ended the game.

Bonus Photos
Because I totally didn't take any pictures of my game with Pel, I've included a couple I took of his sweet sweet Lynx choppers ITOWing Blogger Scotty's Leo 1s:

 And his amazing Harrier proxies, these Jaguars, after they cluster bombed some Leo 2s!

Next Time
Some finished projects. I've been doing a fairly radical reorganisation of my workspace and am slowly working out where things go and what's on the project list from now to December. We floated a game of Necromunda at the next club day and I have had some new bits for my Cawdor arrive from (gasp!) Forgeworld....

Workbench again!

I went on holiday and I have to be honest, sitting in the hot tub while it's snowing was weirdly more appealing that sitting inside and hobbying. Even though I took a whole swag of stuff with me I did almost none of it. So I've been doing more assembly and preparing things over the last week including working through the initial prep of some more 15mm greatcoated Germans as the first shipment of 3 has arrived from Battlefront.

Apocalypse
It turns out that 2 knights isn't really a legal detachment in Apocalypse so I bought some more knights. Mistakes were made.

The Questoris Knights look quite different and are distinctly shorter than the Cerastus Knights. But I really like them and they'll look cool towering over all my Khornate infantry.

40K Grey Knights
Blogger Scotty hooked me up with this Strike Squad a while back and I've been getting around to it's assembly for ages. Boy oh boy did I enjoy this! They're crazy dynamic, well posed and brilliantly varied. I'm SORELY tempted to do more.

I've got a Rhino lying about someplace as well which think I'll use for these guys too. We've been talking about some 500 point 40K to get started with 9e and that should be a good motivation.

Next Time
Good question. Some WIP photos I think of some other bits and bobs I'm working on. I'm definitely in a make mode rather than a paint mode at the moment. I might even manage an actual sensible game report from next week's club day if I remember to take enough photos! 

Pooch's June update!

 Wait, is this actually me almost getting back to the schedule that I aimed for at the start of the year?

Don't count on it, it could just be a fluke.....

1. Paint a Kings of War Army- FINISHED
I posted this earlier in the week!

2. Create a table of terrain to support a game- In progress!
I've made a start with this one. I got a bunch of the buildings for Adeptus Titanicus on the cheap from our local trade website, so have more than enough for an Apocalypse sized table of terrain. I found some 3d print files for some Manufactorum-like buildings too, so they will be added to the mix too!

This is all of the ones I have finished so far....

To give a sense of scale with a Leman Russ

Stormtroopers hold the building!

I've got a bunch more of the buildings left to make, so I am going to have to think of some funky ways to assemble them so I have lots of variety. I also have some other ideas for more cool pieces to add some things to the table that aren't just "oh look a building", so watch this space too.

3. Complete the 6mm Apocalypse Challenge- In progress!
So over the past two months I made a bunch of progress with my 6mm Imperial Guard:

Tanks, infantry, deathstrike missiles, all of the fun things!

And you know how that local trading group got me a good deal on some Titanicus terrain? Well it also got me a good deal on some knights, which I added two 3d printed Armigers to....

House Mortimer. Because purple and yellow is ideal.

GW made some AWESOME decals for these.

And they also had a VERY good deal on two Warhound Scout Titans....

I painted them up as the loyalist Legio Astorum, the Warprunners. I had a blast making the diorama bases too, one has a stormtrooper squad assaulting a Chaos held bunker, the other has the warhound striding over the wrecked Valkyrie

Two warhounds, Ignis Canis and Canis Astra

Another view

Scale shot of the different walkers. Sentinel, Armiger, Questoris, Warhound

And just to give a sense of scale for the terrain too, two story buildings hide Warhounds!

Ok, so this one has gotten slightly out of hand.

Next month will be a couple of super heavies I think to round out a detachment with the Baneblade.

4. Run a narrative campaign for the group

Still planning, the club has restarted so now it is just a case of finding a good weekend.

5. Add a new detachment to one of my 40k armies FINISHED- but ongoing

So, this is technically finished, but in reality, it isn't. In May I finished up a Techmarine (finecast one from the thunderfire cannon, with some servo-harness weapon swaps), which means that I have completed a Vanguard Detachment!

But not only that, in June I have also finished up a transport for some Scouts, the Landspeeder Storm. This model and I.... didn't really get along. flat panels and the storm lords colour scheme can be quite demotivating, so the net result was that I actually finished the first set of Scout passengers in April, but it took me a good two months to get the speeder itself done!

Built as per the kit, except for giving the Scouts helmets, because if you are wearing advanced combat armour, you are going to wear an Emperor damn helmet. Heads came from Anvil Industries.

I have a strong love hate relationship with this model.

So. Much. Hate.

But so much love for the finished version!

This is the full collection of Storm Lords painted this year!

Next month should be the scouts to ride in the speeder!

6. Buy a starter box and paint all of it

I've got a plan for this now- expect to see some progress soon!

7. Paint a Space Marine Heroes Series- FINISHED!

The day after I posted the April blog, I got a parcel containing the final Death Guard Hero!

And so, all six are now finished!

All six "Heroes"

The now finished Champion!

8. Update a 15mm Napoleonic army for Blackpowder

I got these out of the box! But still haven't done more with this yet.

9. Paint a stand alone force- DONE

10. Update and improve a table of terrain- DONE

11. Paint a Flames of War Army (In progress)

No progress on these in May, but I finished up two units in June.

First up is a Parachute Anti-Tank Platoon of 4 57mm guns

And a flight of P-47 Thunderbolts! Silver rattle can did most of the heavy lifting on these. Sadly, my box didn't come with decals, but I managed to make do with what I had in my decal spares box!

All up that's now 68 points done, and I need to order some more models....

12. Finish what I should have finished last year- DONE

And that's it, on to June!

Pooch

Morty is pleased that the schedule has resumed. Do not disappoint him again....