Miniatures of Wrath

Brezel mit Senft: Cold War AAR

2012-03-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I was able to roll d10s in mock anger... but had a chance to do so last night. I convinced a couple of the local club gamers to participate in a moderns game in 20mm, using Seek Out Close With and Destroy. This was my first "basement game" in the house.

The scenario was a fall offensive set in 1983 in West Germany. The Soviets, including veteran units redeployed from Afghanistan, smashed their way through NATO forces, driving a broken force of Canadian infantry back into the town of Brezel mit Senft. Our game started with the Soviets regrouping for a final try at the town. A few burning Soviet wrecks litter the edge of the town... but the Canadians have been reduced to the breaking point, and have exhausted their heavy AT weapons. They do have the support of a pair of French AML 90s... though the entire force has a surprisingly Argentine look to them... hmmmm... Fast approaching to assist them were a heavy platoon of Scots Guards (veterans of recent fighting in the South Atlantic) mounted in FV432s, supported by a platoon of Chieftains. The Chieftains would prove to be very formidable foes for the Soviets. A pair of much lighter Scorpions would be able to arrive directly in the town.

This was a lot of vehicles for such a small space, I was thinking along the lines of a very intense, very desperate action, fought between armored forces at close range. I expected to see many, many burning vehicles at the end of the game. A kind of mechanized knife fight.

We ended up one player short, so one player would have to manage both the Canadian and British forces. I allowed the other two players to select which force they ran... Wagmanov chose the onboard Soviet BTR and T-55 platoons, and Maranovitch chose the arriving BMP and T-72 platoons. That left the NATO forces to the command of your own Chalfant "Hoser" Smythe-Conley.

Because of several days of rain, the ground was soft. Some vehicles had the potential to bog if they moved at Fast speed. A fine drizzle was still coming down which forced a -1 Firing modifier for all shooting over 30" (except for ATGMs and vehicles with any class of Modern sights). This drizzle did affect some of the infantry shooting. The table at the start of the game...

... showing the Canadian positions at the start of the game, in and near the objective buildings.
A view of a Soviet BTR platoon, supported by T-55s and a T-62 (the Soviet player was allowed to move his infantry around in the general area, knowing that the Canadians were allowed to move a squad up after he was done)... take note of the workers dorm in the right of the picture, at the edge of Brezel mit Senft... this building placement was to have unexpected consequences for these Soviets.

Maranovitch would arrive from the southeast, and drive straight for the town...

while Smythe-Conley would arrive from the south west....

The board was deliberately terrain intensive. I used all of my generic modern buildings, plus the Falklands specific buildings, breaking up the board with fields and wooded areas.

Once the BTR deployment was complete, the Canadians pushed up a squad (for free) into the worker dorm. This squad started the game with fire on some exposed tank riding infantry, and were then subsequently routed from the dorm. The Canadians were supposed to be bady demoralized so were deployed with an 8 Guts scale for this scenario. And they failed roughly half of the Guts checks they had to make during the game. Their small arms fire claimed a handful of Soviet infantry, but most of the hard work in Brezel mit Senft was completed by the AML 90s and arriving Scorpions.

The BTR platoon, having quickly routed the Canadian squad in the dorm, found itself having to channel around the dorm itself, creating bottlenecks that the NATO forces were able to capitalize on. One after another Soviet vehicle fell victim to the AML-90s and Scorpions. The workers dorm became the greatest tank obstacle I have ever had in a game.

Meanwhile, the T-72s found themselves completely outmatched by the Chieftains... and the devilishly lucky British dice rolling. The Soviets scored very few hits against the British tanks, and the only one that penetrated was a track hit that did no damage (other than a single PH) due to the good DM of the Chieftain.

Here the bottlenecks in Brezel mit Senft begin to fill with burning Soviet armor, much to the growing frustration of Wagmanov.....

while Chieftains and T-72s hunted each other in the outskirts of town. Maranovitch struggled with his own frustration as he was unable to bring down any of the British vehicles.

The terrain impeded the Scots Guards arrival in Brezel mit Senft. The Milan team walked onto the table (the only British infantry element to do so), taking up a good firing position... though they didn't do much good. A single Scots squad deployed from their 432 to support a MAG in HMG role (the HMG took one shot the entire game, killing a couple of Soviets hunkered in a field). The bulk of the British infantry remained in their 432s trying to make it into town. They only began to disembark at the end of the game and took no offensive action at all.

Wagmanov's infantry were the most active foot elements in the entire game, but they needed support from their vehicles which were tending to spontaneously burst into flames. Maranovitch's infantry were trying to do their best, including a suicidal move into the open by one squad to get close enough to a Chieftain to fire an RPG-7 (to no effect). The BMPs managed to mostly stay out of LOS of the NATO MBTs, thought they did try a few shots. One BMP flew a Sagger into a building, killing 3 Canadians in an attempt to support Wagmanov's flagging advance.

It was around this point that "Hoser" Smythe-Conley began to feel a little guilty, as he fired an offboard 81mm mortar speculatively at a Soviet truck moving across a field. With no los from the platoon command, I needed a "1" to hit, which I managed to roll... then rolled a "10" for penetration, which meant a "Quick Kill 10" on the results table (modifiers took this up to 12, but who is counting?)... immolating the truck, crew, and all passengers instantly. The passengers were 2 Soviet PK HMG teams. It would have been crass of me to celebrate this misfortune by taking a photo, but I managed to do it anyway...

The game at this point wound down. The Canadian infantry had been mauled, and forced back in several places... but not a single Scots Guard was killed, nor was a single NATO vehicle lost. The Soviet BMP infantry sustained few casualties (except for those brewed up HMG teams), while the BTR infantry took moderate casualties. Soviet armor on the other hand was devastated. They lost 1 of 1 T-62, 2 of 3 T-55s, 2 of 3 T-72's, and 2 of 4 BTR-80's (as well as 1 of 2 trucks).

They were still trying though. Notice the remaining T-55 desperately trying to get into position for a flank shot on a Chieftain, at the end of the game....

We called it, and by scenario definition NATO could claim a marginal victory. I failed to take the south east road exit by game's end, so could not claim a decisive victory.

In post game wrap up, both Soviet players said the force balance was fine (the Soviets had a few hundred points edge in vehicles and infantry). We did all agree that, while NATO forces did botch some rolls, I did manage quite a few lucky rolls. Neither Soviet player did. The primary problem was the terrain. While the T-72s and BMPs had a straight shot, they were too busy playing with the Chieftains to make a real run into town. The T-55s and BTRs just could not form a cohesive advance because of that worker dorm. And once wrecks began to clutter up the board, it became even harder for them to maneuver. Though it did not have as catastrophic effects for NATO, the Scots Guards had a terrible time trying to get into Brezel mit Senft, and I was convinced to not even try to reach the south east exit road. I decided to be content with a marginal victory.

It actually did make the game more interesting, having that much broken terrain on the table, with limited line of sights, and plenty of mobility problems. In conclusion though, the cumulative terrain effect on the primary Soviet assault force was the deciding factor in the game. But everyone had fun (maybe me more than them!)... I was just glad to finally get a game in again! I am busy working on our latest project, and actually moving miniatures, rolling dice, and seeing stuff brew up is a big boost for me.

Thanks for reading!

Big Trouble in Little Germantown

2011-11-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Howdie. Shortly before Fall In I finally managed a small Colonial Horror game at our local gaming spot, the Comic Store West. The rules as written parallel Where Heroes Dare, but with a different emphasis on abilities and characteristics. My first tested scenario, Big Trouble in Little Germantown, was written as a combat and goal game, pretty straightforward, meant to test these skills and traits.

As usual, I forgot my camera, and, as usual, Dieter managed to photograph a few things. The board is set with terrain and mysteries locations (places to search and solve), and is themed in the 1750-60's. There were four adversarial parties, the local militia backed by Scottish Highlanders, an Iroqouis raiding party, a band of witches, and the King of the Pumpkin Patch and his ghoul retinue.

It seems, one Thomas Orhme, a feared necromancer, once ruled this valley until his grisly death at the hands of his neighbors. 60 years later, the valley was resettled.... much to the woe of the settlers! The race is on to reclaim, or, finally destroy, the legacy of Orhme...

Each party was given personal objectives. Dieter chose the colonists, Yabu chose the Indians, Al chose the Pumpkin, and that left me with the witches. The Indians scored additional points for the deaths of the colonists (as they intended to reclaim this territory), the Pumpkin King and Ghouls scored points for killing, well, anyone else, the Witches scored points for casting magic, and the colonists scored points for the death of the Witches. Each party also had an additional, random task to complete. For the Indians, this ended up being collecting harvest items (vegetables, and such)... luckily enough for Dieter, the colonists drew "burn the meeting house down", a task they set to promptly...

The colonists not only managed to burn down the meeting house, but were successful in killing a number of opposing models. My witches, on the other hand, had a heck of a time. They very rarely succeeded in casting magic though the Green Hag did manage to use Arise to summon undead amidst the graveyard (the below picture is of the graveyard, but not of the undead... notice the gnarled hand of the Pumpkin King... and Jay Strongbow collecting harvest goods in the background)...

The Indians quickly searched a cave near the stream, and ransacked the house on the hill.... before finishing off my Green Hag at the site of the lonely grave....

... and for the witches, it was hardly a moment too soon, given their horrid luck. The Puumpkin King remained standing, though his ghouls (who became encumbered by the poltergeist of Orhme early in the game) were cut down with very little effort. The Indians scored some points, and at least had some presence on the table at the end of the game.

The clear victor were the colonists and their Scottish saviors. Not only did they collect the most mysteries, finding the means to dispel Orhme once and for all, they scored big with the wiping out of the witches, and their burning of the meeting house. Sometimes you have to destroy that which you love, in order to save it.... ???

Once again, my thanks for the inspiration provided by the excellent blog Geektactica, and for the players willing to try out my still somewhat rough system. Tastes good, needs more salt :) Once the game play is ironed out, I can move on to the more challenging task of game narrative... but that is a blog for another time...

Marching Armies

2011-10-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well, given that I have been posting images of armies, here are a few more. These are going with me to Fall In to sit on the table....

25mm (28mm) Battle Honors WWII Bersaglieri in European dress. I like these guys, and through the years they have seen a fair share of campaigning. The best thing about them is that in European uniforms, you can fight just about everyone else... Russians, Americans, British, Germans.... I typically mix the look of the uniforms, shades, colors of harness, which to my eye gives a better overall appearance than everyone exactly the same. Included are a BH field gun team (which is not Bersaglieri), and a pair of Army Group North resin vehicles. I still do not know why I chose to paint the Semovente in desert tan... maybe I thought of it as a vehicle that came back from North Africa...

25mm (28mm) West Wind Vietnam, VC and Americans. I have a large number of Battle Honors Vietnam PAVN (NVA) and Americans which get on the table whenever I can. When one of our club guys decided to sell these West Wind ones, I bought them up to run larger games. At this time, I think I can go on with just my original Battle Honors stuff. I use BH casualties, on a base painted red, for my suppression counters.

28mm Persians, mostly Foundry, with some Old Glory infantry and some Essex cavalry. Years ago, we were gaming Chipco frequently, including for historical actions. I was collecting a Carthaginian army and basing it for Chipco, and somewhere along the line traded a fellow gamer for a mound of Persian lead. I painted these up very quickly, choosing bright alternating colors in large patterns over smaller, more detailed (but much harder to complete) patterns. I think they turned out pretty well. And at one time these guys saw a number of battles, managing to win more than they lost.

I used to have a Greek mercenary contingent, about 8 bases worth, but sold them several years ago.

These are all armies that need to march. I have plenty of Vietnam stuff, plenty of WWII stuff, and no need for the Persians anymore (though gaming those ancients battles were a real blast). I'd like to get back into 15mm Napoleonics, so I need to make room.

Chalfant

Army of the Four Winds

2011-10-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

Howdie. The past few months have been busy, filled with one small crisis after another, but I am hoping to get back into regular posts on Miniatures of Wrath. To ease back into it, I thought I would share some photos and background on my last big fantasy project, which I stopped working on and gaming with about 8 years or so ago. I gamed a Wood Elf army for Warhammer in the 80's, somewhere in the late 90's started playing Warhammer again, but was unsatisfied with the look of the old miniatures.

Previously, my wood elves were painted in shades of green and brown, but I wanted something different. After all, if the wood elves are rustics in tune with nature, they'd have some connection with the changing patterns of the world around them. Taking some inspiration from Vivaldi's Four Seasons (one of my favorite compositions) I began to repaint Scarloc's Wood Elf Archers (the habitual core of my Warhammer army) with winter colors. Then, I started to paint the supporting spears the same way... but redirected into bright fall colors. And thus began the Army of the Four Winds...

I wanted to bring together all four seasons, dividing the army into units painted for each. Here are some images of Scarloc's Winter Tempest....

Unfortunately, my camera tends to wash out the colors, these are really sharp looking. Though I originally painted these for Warhammer, somewhere in the early 2000's I switched them over to group basing for Chipco Fantasy Rules. Here is the supporting spears, Autumn Leaves Falling (yes, I gave specific names to each unit, nerd that I am)...

Summer of course was still represented, with this cavalry unit Sunlight on the Meadows (I know, the names, right?)...

Where I stopped was the second supporting spear unit, painted for spring, Silent Rain ...

Now, I did want to add some more strength to the army, so later on, I painted plastic High Elf archers, to go with some heavy cavalry. The heavy cav would be visiting High Elf nobles or merchants, the archers are a stand of personal retinue and two stands of ships companies or marines.

Of course, being wood elves, they should find cooperation from their animal neighbors, at least those with the size and strength to assist. From the old days, I had a couple of Grenadier giant eagles (Fantasy Warriors), though I lost one rider. The rider below is not attached. These never fit very well for me with the Warhammer army, but made great flying monsters for Chipco, as my Lords of the Skies. I found a large scale toy Elk for a large Chipco monster, the Lord of the Forest. I had a dragon that I was going to include as either the Lord of the Mountain or the Lord of the Lake but never repainted. Also, I had an old Zoat Mage which I also never repainted (looks a bit shabby next to the rest), but included as a magical Chipco character.

There are a number of other bases of miniatures that I never repainted and am not showing here, as those old 80's paint jobs just don't cut it. So my final images are of the Four Winds themselves...
the Winter North Wind
the Spring East Wind
the Summer South Wind, and
the Autumn West Wind
which I represented with scratch built chariots, using mostly Grenadier models for the crew. The horses came from a a private collection that I purchased, and chose to use in creating the chariots. These four chariots were a extremely effective strike force in "one" version of Warhammer for me, and continued to be a visual treat in Chipco. So here are the Four Winds...

The Army of the Four Winds represent the epitome of my painting, and design theme ability. It is the only theme army I created, and obviously I created it before I had children (ha!).... I can not believe that I could commit this time and energy into any new project again. But it hasn't been gamed with in about 8 years, and has sat in storage for the past three years, so... I am taking this army with me to Fall In 2011. Iron Ivan Games will have a vendor table in the dealer hall, and I will be trying to sell this army there. Honestly, it will be a little sad to see them go... but I don't have much time for gaming anymore, and have made that dreaded decision to cut back and focus only on the games that I enjoy the most.

Thanks for sharing in my nostalgia, I hope that it was worth your time.

Highway to Hell: Soviets in Afghanistan

2011-04-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

Howdie. A few weeks ago, I shanghaied Dieter, one of our local club members, into squaring off with me in a "everyone loses" scenario (these are the kinds of scenarios I am best at) for Seek Out ,Close With, and Destroy. A Soviet mixed column would have to fight their way through a valley controlled by Mujahideen. The object for the Soviets was to exit the board... the object for the Mujah was to kill Soviets.

The Mujahideen had a partial hidden deployment where units were placed in certain areas as they activated on the first turn. The Soviets had chances to spot some of these prior to game start, and were required to list their vehicle order secretly. The Mujah nominated a specific point at which a command detonated bomb had been placed, and chose blindly which vehicle in order would be targeted.

Dieter chose the Mujahideen, I ended up with the Soviets.

The Soviets rolled poorly for spotting additional units, and the game was started with a bang as the command detonated mine ripped through a Soviet truck, completely annihilating it. As the first Mujah activation, Dieter revealed his B-11 --the "B" stands for big, by the way :) -- and managed to acquire, hit, and destroy the lead vehicle, a BRDM-2.

What followed was a mad scramble by the Soviets to deploy their infantry sections (out of the sitting duck targets of their BMP-2s) and begin to engage the Mujahideen that began to spring into action on all sides. The Soviets took casualties, but they also dealt them out too. A Mujah DShK team (a particularly dangerous weapon in this game) was depleted to the last gunner, but was never eliminated. Fortunately for the Soviets, that opening B-11 shot was it for them, as they were pinned throughout most of the rest of the game.

Here you see one Soviet infantry section crossing a shallow stream to engage the DsHK, with another section prepares to storm a Mujah held hill. The Soviet command were engaged while still in their truck, and while the truck was not destroyed, they were pinned and bailed. This forced me to choose another unit to act as command... I picked the rearmost infantry section (and they would remain in command for the rest of the game).

Here the Soviets begin to push forward. That T-62 at the end of the column was missed once with an RPG-7, but was hit a total of three times by the same RPG-7 team... and somehow managed to survive!

Dieter's Mujah tracked the lead BMP-2 with an RPG-7, and pinned my "assault" section. This, I did not enjoy.

Despite this, that infantry section did rally and storm that hill. They caused considerable damage to the two Mujah units, but were eventually eliminated in a hail of gunfire from multiple directions. I commend my opponent's use of angles... its something I routinely do in my gaming, but many gamers seem to lock into the four sides of the table, and tend to overlook angles of opportunity. I must do something about this before I game Dieter again.... and never let him game a sniper. He popped up his sniper and began shooting at my command section. My command section stayed pinned, and eventually lost the Lt anyway... as well as a couple of other models.

Yes, here is that command section.... and the infantry section that was forced to step up.

That infantry section began to roll up the Mujahideen defenders, and while the Soviets drained away, so too did the Mujahideen. A later view of the game, showing large patches of empty space where models used to be...

Look, some of my enemy on the run!

In the end, there was no clear victor (we had a later start, and should have had 2 more turns completed before ending). I thought the Mujahideen were winning, Dieter thought the Soviets were winning. As he pointed out, we were both beset with hard decisions throughout, and that made for a tense and completely interesting game. I think in final analysis, that it would have been harder for the Soviets to claim victory if Dieter could have gotten his B-11 back into action. But it was a hell of a fun game for us... not so much fun for the forces involved.

Iran Iraq War 2: Iraqi Armor

2011-04-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Whoa son, has it been a busy month. I have a number of catch up posts, and will be starting with my progress on the Iran Iraq War project. Totally intimidated by the sheer volume of Iraqi infantry I need to paint up, I admittedly took the coward's path and started with the vehicles.

This was partly due to the fact that I have several diecast models, already fully painted and ready to go... and partly due to the fact that I like the multipurpose nature of my chosen vehicles and paint scheme. For the majority of these, I have kept with a sand and green paint pattern that shows up on vehicles used by a number of different nations. Specifically, I want most of these to also be usable by my 20mm 1980's era Soviets for fighting in Afghanistan.

If I ever want to get the chance to throw these on the table in a Seek Out, Close With, and Destroy game, I need to get a move on.... here is the entire Iraqi armor force, plus 3 uparmored Soviet BMP-2s that I painted at the same time, in the same paint pattern. The BMP-2s are from Liberation, they are great models, BUT, I regret purchasing them as they are really only appropriate for use in Afghanistan. I should have bought 3 standard BMP-2s instead. Still, they are a useful addition to my Soviet forces. Though this kind of thinking might seem like heresy to some, its a great way for a gamer on a limited budget to get the most out of his dollar (or euro or yen...). So my Falklands British fight my 80's Soviets which fight my Mujahideen... and these vehicles can show up in more than one theater. Pragmatic, maybe. Cheap, definitely.

For the base coat, I used a desert yellow designed for hobby use. The problem is that it is indeed yellow, I should have more of a whitish-tan. Some extra paint applied improved the look, but its probably still too yellow. They turned out well enough for the likes of me.

This next image shows the diecast component, including 3 T-55s from Hobbymaster, painted for Iraqi service already. I may decide to paint over the Iraqi markings to make them more general purpose. Also included are 4 T-72s from Forces of Valor, also painted for Iraqi service. I did repaint one, with tan and green, which helps tie the group into the rest of the vehicles, and also gives me a vehicle to nominate for command function. These T-72 models are really for later wars against American led coalitions, but they should do fine here in the 1980's. In the war against Iran, the T-72s were formidable tanks, and the Iranians had difficulty fighting them.

To complete the lot are 2 T-62s, from Combat Ready, and my armored transports, 3 BMP-1s. These two groups are very useful, and can show up in a number of places as needed... I think that I will need another group of transports eventually. Maybe something specific to the Iraqis.

Any of these vehicles could show up in Iranian hands too, as captures... effectively doubling my Iranian vehicle pool. The most likely candidates would be the T-55s and BMP-1s, I think the T-72s would be the least likely to be employed as captures.

Whew! One step closer to completion. Thanks for viewing... and look for some quick follow up entries on my Soviets.

King of the Pumpkin Patch

2011-03-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

... the Red Executioner, and a Coven Full of Witches.

You painted an oven full of witches?

A coven of witches, not an oven!

Part of the madness of my Horror project is that it has three distinct "scenes"... I want to game 18th century Colonial America, established with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the Salem Witch trials, and other period bumps in the night. I also want to game late 19th century Gothic European style Horror, this being Dracula, Werewolves, and mad abominations. Finally, I want to game the 1920's-1940's HP Lovecraft style Horror, the Things That Should Not Be.

All of the miniatures I select will fit into one of these three scenes. For the Colonial America Horror, I have plenty of 28mm FIW and AWI miniatures to start me out. Otherwise, there is plenty of work to do. Last week, I painted three Ghouls, which conveniently can fit into all three of the scenes. I ordered a few West Wind Gothic Horror packs, and a Blue Moon werewolf set. Previously, I scoured my collection for miniatures that would fit into at least one of the three horror scenes, and have managed to paint up a few more, and relocate several previously painted miniatures.

The following seven miniatures were all part of a large personal collection of a local gamer I purchased years ago. I sold off various elements of the collection, but certain miniatures stuck out, and I put them aside in case I could find a proper use for them. Had a little time today, so managed to paint all seven.

These first three are "Bill Wavesword", the King of the Pumpkin Patch, and the Red Executioner. These being, an old OOP Citadel ghost (Travelling Players era), a model that looks like a Jack O Lantern's revenge (someone chime in if you know where this came from), and a Reaper miniature of a headsmen. Bill Wavesword I painted quickly in an unoriginal but still effective way, making him look ethereal and non-threatening. He could potentially fit in all three scenes. The King on the other hand, looks all about the menace, and is going to be strictly limited to Colonial America. Its a nice figure, the colors don't show very well in the photo. For the executioner, I decided on dark brown flesh, and red leather instead of the typical pasty white skin and black leather. This way, he can be fielded as a cult bravo, an exotic executioner, or even possibly a good guy monster hunter. I think he could fit into the 1920's Horror scene, or as a Pulp character.

And here we have the Coven Full of Witches, also scrounged from that collection. I am fairly certain these are West Wind's Storybook Witches. They will definitely only fit into the Colonial America Horror scene... but, I like these old gals a lot. They have character by the cauldron full. I like the small details, like the spell components and pet cat (painted cream, as a black cat would blend in too much). I did paint the witches with a base of Payne's Grey (being a very dark bluish grey), which doesn't come through the photo very well. They look good in person. Solid black from a distance doesn't look like anything. My kids will love these, by the way.

The following 5 miniatures are all ones I previously painted for Fantasy gaming. I decided to try to fit them into the Horror project. The first two are a "spook" from RAFM and a Wraith from Reaper, definitely see a difference in style. They will work as ghosts or other spirits, potentially in all three scenes.

The last batch are three Reaper miniatures, a Green or Swamp Hag, Jean Du'Champ (I think?) Werewolf, and a Battle Nun Superior. These remind me that in the old days, when I had more time, I could paint fairly well. The Green Hag works as a more feral witch, she has potential for all three scenes, but more likely for the Colonial America or Gothic European. The werewolf works anywhere. The thing is, this model is much much smaller and finer detailed than the Blue Moon ones I ordered, I am looking at this model as a potential good guy shape shifter... we'll see. And the Battle Nun is just a cool miniature. Her weapons and armor are all Fantasy, but she has potential too, as a good guy monster hunter or Pulp heroine.

So, the madness grows... Cold Wars is next weekend, we'll be attending. Afterwards, I 'd like to get back to the Iran Iraq War project, but will continue to work in painting Horror figures as a break. It's been fun so far.

Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls Night Out

2011-02-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

...to eat meat, to eat flesh, its their destiny.

Ok, enough of the music backflash. I planned on getting something else posted, but this weekend turned busy and brutal, and didn't get around to it. Then, about three hours ago, a little before I started cooking dinner, I decided to grab a few miniatures and just do ANY painting on them. What I grabbed were 3 Ghouls (well, 2 Ghouls and a Ghast) from Reaper that I bought years ago (like 7 maybe?). These were sprayed with a grey paint, and have been shifted from one box to another since then.

As part of a project I am working on, they recently were pulled from obscurity. They were originally bought as monsters for D&D. They now will serve as ghouls in a different setting.. the ghast filling in as a ghoul leader.

Like I said, three hours ago, interrupted while I started and finished cooking dinner. Relied on very fast drybrushing for most of it, otherwise I never would have finished them tonight. I did employ heavy washes of dark brown paint for the remnants of victims, followed by hilights of antique white for the bone and bright red for the bits of flesh left hanging on. Obligatory skin breechclout for one of the fellows, acquired green cloth breechclout for the leader.

I have not decided on the flocking (if any), I likely will wait until I have some other figures for this project finished before I choose the flocking... so they will appear more uniform. Obviously not going to win and golden demons with these, but I was impressed I could work them up so quickly, and while occupied too! BTW, luckily my wife saved dinner once when I almost let something cook over. But otherwise, I completed dinner on time too.

These figures are very nice, the detail is solid. For someone taking more time, these could turn out very well. For me, the hardest thing to paint were the intestines. I have seen gut piles before, there is something about that glistening grey-white tone that is very difficult to replicate with paint. I ended up using a light bright blue mixed with a tiny bit of medium brown, and while not exactly right, its good enough for me. In the images, the color is too close to the flesh of the Ghouls, but it looks distinct in the "flesh" so to speak.

And it looks like my new take on a light box is working better, but its still crude.

Thanks.... another project started!

Giants ... Lost and Found

2011-02-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

As I slowly unpack, I continue to uncover and reclaim forgotten treasures. Undoubtedly many of you out there have gone through the exact same process. Though this post is not terribly exciting, I thought I would share one set of miniatures I found again. The Giants.

I used to game Warhammer frequently with friends, at homes, at stores, in basements, sometimes all night long. Ahhh.. the energy of youth. For Warhammer and D&D I collected all kinds of mythical creatures and monsters. What I have here are three Giants, all of which for the time they were issued were quite large miniatures. Many of the Giants in the early days were pretty small (note the paradox).... and of course these days you can find Giant miniatures that are enormous (note the redundancy).

These had been packed away, actually in storage at my previous home for a few years even before I moved, not exactly lost but certainly out of sight and mind. I really have no use for them anymore, probably I will take them to Cold Wars and try to sell them, but before I do that, I wanted to look them over.

Here are the three Giants, flanked by two old GW Wood Elves (from the Scarloc's set) to give a sense of scale.

The miniature I had the longest was this Frost Giant, pretty sure this is a Ral Partha from the mid 80's I think. At the time I was learning to paint, so accents and hilights are definitely missing here. But its a decent model, has some action and menace in its pose, and is suitably large.

The next one is from Grenadier I think, a bit later. Its sculpted well, but the pose is somewhat passive. I think it is a Storm Giant, so possibly the pose is intentional, showing the Giant's magnanimous poise. Its the heaviest of the three Giants. I can see how I was experimenting with accents, some hilight, some drybrushing...

The last is a Giantess from Grenadier, part of the Fantasy Warrior line. I don't remember, but I think it was part of the Amazon range for Fantasy Warrior. Some of those were very nice, I liked the Amazons and Barbarians and Wood Elves... probably should have fielded an Amazon army.

Anyway, this is my favorite of the three Giants. She is not sculpted "cheesecake sexy" which I think is a good thing. There are some distortions to her proportions in some places (arms for example), but I like her pose, greatsword prepared for action. The screaming face of rage is a nice touch, she looks like she is both ready and willing to fight any and all... I still wasn't with the latest on painting skills, but its nice to see I was starting to dabble with the "gems and jewels" accents.

Now, digging out a couple of those Wood Elves has me rounding up the rest of that army (which is currently based for Fantasy Rules! from Chipco). My good friend Doctor Merkury wants to help me out with my photography, some tips and maybe an actual light box. Perhaps after that I can share some photos of the rest of the Wood Elves.

Riffi Gallery ... Paints and Photos

2011-02-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Sometime back (waaaaay back) in the mid 80's a friend bought me a copy of Frank Herbert's Dune. I was hooked right away. The term "science-fantasy" may have existed at the time, I don't know, but whatever genre included Dune and Star Wars was something I wanted to tap into.

Well, this inevitably (ahhh.... decades later) led me to commission a line of miniatures inspired by the imagery evoked by reading these types of books. I named them Riffi, partially as a nod to the fiercely independent Rif who waged war to remain independent in north africa. Now that we are finally settled in, I will be returning to work on supporting these Riffi, they need opponents (other than each other), and they need a completed rule system.

What I have here are a few images of some of my Riffi that I have painted. I have photos up on the Disparate Games store site, but I have been trying to improve both the quality of the paint jobs and the quality of the photos. This batch I painted while between houses last summer (right before Historicon)... and they turned out pretty well. My painting is better than my photography, but neither is equal to the pros out there. Since I am trying to catch up on everything, thought I would share these too.

Here are several Riffi on an appropriately alien looking background...

And a few pairs together... notice the unique Riffi daggers, capable of being used in the punch, or as slashing weapons. I bought my daughter 3 Megalodon teeth for her 4th birthday, to add to her fossil collection. The size, shape, and menace of those teeth are all impressive. What wonderful weapons they would make, if only a slightly different shape...

The oversized swords are captured trophies from the Wels, the primary offworld opponent of the Riffi.

And finally individual Riffi... here we see an indigenous pistol.

Ultimately, I need to create time for these fellows... after all, they won't take care of themselves!

Iran Iraq War 1 and a Half : Iranian Armor

2011-02-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

OK, so I didn't intend to post again on my Iran Iraq War project so soon. I am going to be very busy getting ready for our attendance at Cold Wars 2011 and finishing up the work on our next release, Man Among Men, a supplement for Seek Out Close With and Destroy detailing troops and equipment for gaming Rhodesia. I took the time to inventory the vehicles I have for both my Iranian and Iraqi forces. Now, for the Iraqis, there are "mass quantities" of vehicles available in 20mm, 1/72, and 1/76, especially the Soviet armor. For the Iranians, things are a little scarcer. In the later war, I will have an easy time working in some Soviet or PRC vehicles to support my Pasdaran. My early war regulars, on the other hand, need Chieftains, M60A1s, and M113s. The gripping hand: those M60s.

Years ago, in a convention flea market, I bought some resin kits produced by Cromwell, the Combat Ready series. Amongst some other stuff, I picked up 2 Chieftains and 2 Scorpions specifically to support my Falklands era Guards in the event they had to be deployed to Europe with the BAOR (my 80's era Soviets get frisky now and again). I didn't think about it at the time, but I believe these Chieftains were meant to be P variants used by Iran, though I painted them up for British service.... and they have proved too useful at knocking out Soviet T-55s and BMPs for me to repaint them now! Plus, I'm lazy. These are excellent models, I'd recommend them to anyone, and I'd buy them again. You might notice a few nice Combat Miniatures from FAA, painted up as Scots Guards.

What I have to work with for my Iranians is a little less swell. I bought a large lot of 1/72 and 1/76 tanks off of ebay for a great price, sold the Leopard 1s and AMX-30s, plus the WWII stuff, and it still left me with a box of tracks, including a few Airfix Chieftains. These are painted drab, and have seen some use. I hate building model kits, so for now I can live with the less than perfect condition of these. Painting will be difficult, they are not going to look great, but once they are in appropriate colors, with some details, they'll be ok. I bought 3 diecast M113A1s, painted for Vietnam. As "Booze Hound" in english is about the last thing I think I'd see on a post-revolution Iranian vehicle, they definitely need repainted. I might keep them in a lighter drab green, but likely they will get a desert tan. I bought Vietnam era vehicles as later M113s tend to have too many accessories.

OK, the problem children are the M60 Pattons. Actually, in almost any scale other than micoarmor, obtaining M60 or M60A1 variants, without Blazer/ERA/etc is a real problem. My good friend Doctor Merkury is having difficulty finding a M60 for use with his 28mm 1980's USMC (anyone have a suggestion for 1/48 1/50 1/56 let the good Doc know). What I currently have to work with (from the same lot the Airfix Chieftains came with) are three Airfix toys in 1/72 scale, not models. I believe they marketed these as simply Patton tanks, which of course, is somewhat vague. Patton Tank covers quite a few things. Here are the facts (see below), the turret doesn't look right for an M60A1 (maybe the initial M60 production), the gun looks like it might be 105mm (not like the 90mm for early M48s), and hull definitely looks like an M60 (see the straight sharp forward edge of the hull, not the M48 style curved hull).

They need some cleaning. Based on the ebay prices, these are cheap to obtain in the UK and expensive in the US. The paint on them is flaking off, I have to thoroughly clean them before applying some bonding spray paint... and I feel the headache of having to defend my use of them, BUT, show me where I can get the right ones. I was hoping to see some of the M60A3 (no ERA) offered by Altaya IXO, thought I could repaint them and look ok, however, I have had no luck in finding anyone I could purchase any from. Actually, they supposedly have a huge range of modern diecast, too bad....

Now, for some happy news to finish. Probably like some of you out there, for me its not always the biggest or baddest toy in your army that you get the most excited about. Sometimes, its just something that catches you the right way. For me, for the Iranians, its a pair of 106mm RR armed jeeps I purchased from Liberation Miniatures. They are not "armor" but its my blog. Likely these poor fellows will eat it from small arms fire in every game, but I like the idea of very fast tank killers, even if they have no protection. I should find some dirtbike models and make RPG-7 tank killer teams too, they would fit in perfectly with the way I like to game. These jeeps won't see painting or assembly until well after Cold Wars.

There definitely will not be another Iran Iraq War update for some time, though I will try to keep up with other posts. Later, I will go over the Iraqi vehicle inventory, and eventually show some completely finished platoons. Thanks!

Heart of Darkness.. Lite!

2011-02-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

A fellow gamer expressed interest in participating in an African themed game after re-reading Heart of Darkness. I used to put on some safari style games , but hadn't for some time, so I dusted off the miniatures and starting writing a simple scenario. The idea was a lucrative ivory trading station falling out of contact, and several competing factions sending expeditions in an attempt to claim the station and its trade routes for themselves. With no boat or appropriate river terrain, all would be hoofing it.

I decided to use our Where Heroes Dare! pulp gaming system. Since I had all of the miniatures to be used, and wanted to keep the skills and equipment "semi-realistic", I worked up all 4 teams before hand, letting each player choose the team they would run. I would take the left over.

The WHD! Dare Encounters tables included in the rule book are great, but its always fun to create your own tables that are specific to the feel or theme of the game you are running. So I whipped up some tables full of African style encounters and misfortunes.

The teams were the English Party, led by Hatterson and his companion Brigitte O'Malley, with Askaris and the Welsh Ladies Choir for followers.... the Slavers, led by Blucher and his companion The Baroness, with Arab Slavers and Ruga Ruga as followers.... the British Empire, led by Johnston and his companion Penelope, with Askaris and soldiers as followers... and finally Teddy "Ladykiller" Roosevelt and his companion Olivia, with some American Cowboys as followers (I would get "stuck" with Teddy's team).

All of these figures are from Foundry, mostly the Darkest Africa range, with some Old West. The hostile natives used later are from Old Glory... most of the animals are plastic toys, or resin elephants. Where I borrowed images from Dieter (he ran the British Empire Team), I'll keep his captions.

"Lions and tigers and cowboys, oh my!" Teddy was off to a good start, running into an ambushing Lion that managed to maul Bill before being put down. In fact, only two of the many animals encountered --a gorilla, and a zebra--didn't try to kill someone. Nature abhors a vacuum, and also explorers, evidently.

"Eek!" Brigitte and the Welsh Lady's Choir stumbled upon the only unusual creature encountered in the game... an over sized arachnid. They calmly produced revolvers from their parasols and dispatched the beast.

The Empire and the Slavers worked their way towards the center, dealing with various calamities, including bands of fierce hostile natives. Most were taken down by rifle fire, but one group caught the Baroness by surprise. However, she proved a formidable melee opponent, and eliminated them all.

"I reckon we done heard enough of that" Olivia initiated a fire fight with Hatterson that would eventually strip both of them of their followers. Brigitte led the Choir forwards, and attempted to rout them with Eerie Singing (Laughter). Teddy and his cowboys were unmoved, and opened fire, bringing down one of the singers.

"Bully shot, I say. I took that one on the run." Realizing that the Empire was about to claim the station, and wanting to break the deadlock on her side, Brigitte decided to charge past Teddy towards Olivia.... but Teddy, with his Lightening Reflexes managed a clean shot to bring her down, bagging a "trophy" wife.

At the end of the game we realized that Teddy's tally was one lion, and two women.
Penelope covered the flank (killing a white rhino, and eventually Olivia) while Johnston entered the Ivory Trading Station. Blucher rushed up, only to provoke an angry elephant that charged into his group, crushing his Slavers to pulp before he was able to slay the pachyderm.

Undaunted, Blucher pronounced Johnston to be his Nemesis, and waded forward to challenge his old enemy for control of the station. In the swirling melee that ensued, the enraged Blucher killed all of the opposing Askaris and wounded Johnston, but eventually succumbed to multiple wounds.

While Johnston had enjoyed the support of Penelope, Blucher could not rely on the Baroness. Most of the teams met various animals that they quickly dealt with. Unfortunately, the Baroness managed to contract Malaria (missing a turn but avoiding a loss of Dare!)... then became Lost! for another turn. When she emerged from the jungle, she encountered another elephant (the 4th of the game) that ground her Ruga Ruga into the mud, and finally stamped her out for good.

In the end, it was easy to determine that the British Empire under the leadership of Johnston had won the game. Blucher had accumulated some victory points by collecting informative rumors and tales... but he and all of his comrades were dead. The English Party and the Americans had spent most of the game fighting each other, and only a few other points had been scored from trophy animals claimed from the Warthogs, Crocodiles, Zebra, Gorilla, and other animals encountered.

The 2nd place would have gone to the elephants as they killed more explorer models than any of the human parties... in fact, the Slavers lost only one model (Blucher) to rivals, the rest were killed by rogue elephants! The players surmised that not only were the elephants a concerned party to the reactivation of the abandoned ivory trading station.... they were obviously willing to voice their complaint!

It was a fun game, and though I did tailor the details a bit, it proved again how versatile WHD! is. More importantly, it satisfied a friend's interest in the gaming subject... I was happy to oblige, this is after all a fellowship, and hope to use my Africa miniatures set more often in the future.

Iran Iraq War 1: Iranian Regular Infantry

2011-02-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

One of my projects that was sidelined these past two years, was my Iran-Iraq War set. Over the course of a year, I read, looked up photo references online, and ordered a pile of 20mm miniatures from Liberation. I decided to form a regular Iranian platoon armed with G3s and MG3s (A3), an irregular Iranian platoon armed with AK's, an Iraqi mechanized platoon, and an Iraqi Republican Guard platoon.

The irregular Iranians could have been Basij or Pasdaran, eventually I settled on Pasdaran and will be painting them with bright green headbands (mixed with some painted on helmet bands). I am still unsure about the Iraqi forces, given the development of what we consider the Republican Guard... but until I actually start painting them, I can continue to vacillate...

I contacted Liberation about using the 80's West German Bundeswehr, and was delighted to hear that there were some Iranian miniatures, with G3s and beards, in US style helmets. There were no Iranian MG3 models, so I did get a pack of the German LMG models. Also, Liberation had M47 Dragon gunners. I ordered some extra RPG-7 gunners in M1 helmets, which could be mixed in with the regular Iranians later in the war.

The models are nice, the poses look good next to each other, personal equipment is appropriately scarce, and the beards are definitely full. Unfortunately, the MG3 gunners are correct for 80's Germans not 80's Iranians, so have HUGE backpacks on them. I will be making do, as conversion would be significant. Besides, I already have the bonus of most of the Iranian infantry looking exactly right :)

Here are how some of the miniatures look prior to starting...

... and they are in front of a stack of some of the books I obtained and read for this project. I'd recommend The Lessons of Modern War for anyone, volume II is for the Iran Iraq War. The Longest War is the other book on the must read list. There are of course obligatory Ospreys for specific vehicles. There are about 15 more books or references not in the stack, but...

I have grown more fond of factory produced basing options as time goes on. However, most of my collections are based on hand produced bases. I measure the backs of miniatures packs (look for Combat and Minifigs in the next photo), cute them out, then affix magnetic material to them. I then place them on sheet metal that has been affixed to board, and those become my carry trays. Its cheap, esp recycling the backings of packs, but it has added time to every project. The miniatures, after sprayed black, are affixed with a white glue and sand mixture.

I use mostly Ceramcoat paints on historical miniatures. I worked up my paint list for the regular Iranians, figuring on the early war US drab uniform, and lighter webbing:
Uniform: equal Timberline Green and Dark Forest Green as base, mix in Light Timberline for drybrush
Boots: Black, with Charcoal Gray for hilight
Bases: Spice Tan (matches fairly well with the sand)
Webbing and Helmet Straps: Mudstone
Skin (this one was tough): Autumn Brown base with Toffee Brown accent
Beard: Black with Payne's Grey accent
G3: Black, with Storm Grey hilight
Helmet: 1 drop Dark Forest Green to 1/2 drop Timberline, little Light Timberline for accent (this makes the helmets close in color to the uniform, but different enough to look correct)

Overall, I think my color choices are good for the uniform I was aiming for. Its the lighter green/drab, not the darker green/drab. However, my hasty drybrushing of the uniform hilight is sloppy. I was trying to finish some quickly, and they definitely look ok on the table. When you look closer, well, it would have been better to take more time and do more deliberate accents rather than pell mell dry brushing. Or make the dry bursh a little darker, so it matches better. Take a look:

So, they are definitely not my best work. Still, they are painting up very quickly, which more and more is important to me. Example, in between typing parapgraphs, I am currently cooking dinner, and running up to check on things, ha ha. So, I suppose if I want to complete the projects, I will have to cut some corners. On the other hand, if you are working on something similar, you may want to take a little more time.

Basing is not done, but likely will only be a very light brown wash, and no flock.

I will give the Pasdaran and Iraqis more time... but at least I can say that this project is officialy started. I don't see that the Iranians are listed as available from Liberation at this time. Possibly there might be some laying around... I am already considering getting another pack. Can never have too many :) OK, off to finish dinner!

Where to Begin... Way Up North

2011-02-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

I originally planned to jump on the blog bandwagon last year, but with selling a house, having to "stay elsewhere" for a couple of months while we plugged away at purchasing the new house, finally moving in... well, never got around to it. So, my first post references a game I ran at our local club last year.... I titled it Way Up North. Luckily I managed to find the photos I took from that game.

When I was doing my research for The Long Road South (our Vietnam supplement) I read of the armor woes experienced by both sides. The North in the latter part of the war made more extensive attempts to participate in armored combat, utilizing PT-76s, T-54s, plus Chinese vehicles too.

My scenario was centered around a USMC platoon, supported by an M48, encountering dug in PAVN forces when attempting a sweep through a small valley. The PAVN were able to bring up a PT-76, and a T-34/85, the latter suffering from engine troubles (it would remain immobile the entire game).

This was a "quick game" designed for fun, that allowed us to bring a few armored vehicles into a Vietnam game. Since the PAVN did inventory T-34/85s (most that tried to move south were obliterated in air attacks... I don't know of a single episode of one actually seeing combat in South Vietnam), I chose to include one.

All of the infantry are from Battle Honors, I mix some of their US Army miniatures with the US Marine miniatures for variety. Of the Vietnam miniatures I have seen in 25mm / 28mm, these are my favorite. The M48 and T-34/85 are 1:50 diecast from Corgi, the PT-76 is a resin model (1:48 I think) owned by Keith, not sure of the manufacturer.

The valley: dirt path, muddy paddys, some heavy growth, high grass, and a small village.

The Marines started along the valley path, but move quickly once the ambush is sprung. They take fire from PAVN infantry and also PAVN emplacements.

The M48 takes aim ....

... and dispatches the lightly armored PT-76 early on. The PAVN platoon command lurks in a forest section, immediately behind a squad sized earth-and-log bunker.

Unfortunately, while the T-34/85 couldn't move, its 85mm gun still worked.... destroying the American tank. Notice the Marines in the lower right hand corner of the image, as they proceed to conduct a grenade duel in heavy growth against a PAVN squad. The Marines eventually won the woods, perhaps pushed forward by the burning M48.

In the end, both sides had taken a number of casualties, and while the PAVN were in no position to repel the foreigners, the Marines were unable to dislodge the communist forces. The Marines held a slight edge, but the game was effectively a draw. A fun game for all 6 players, its doubtful that anyone would have received medals or recommendations. Sometimes you can't claim victory, and have to go with the best that you can do.