Sunday, April 30, 2017

Building the Village

For any gamer we need our home field to defend, for some it is our home county, town or village. For me it is a non-descript English/Cornish village that can be used for both Operation SeaLion and a VBCW campaign (have not given up on that yet).

Image from Tiger Terrain
With receiving this weeks test order from Tiger Terrain. I ordered the stone barn and farm house and was very pleased. I also picked up the outbuildings to give the village a rustic feel. While still unpainted I am please on three levels. They were delivered in a timely manner of less than two weeks. Coming from the UK, that is great. Customer service was top notch with me receiving emails through each step. Lastly is the quality. I am very impressed with the quality of the resign castings. These buildings have great detail and I look forward to painting them. The company even sent me painting instructions. Well done Stephan.

Village is coming together
As of this evening the village has a manor house, a vicarage, a small shop and a post office and telephone exchange. Add to this three farm building and five houses we have an exciting village coming together.


Monday, April 24, 2017

A New Project

I know I said no new projects for 2017 but guess what, I started one. I know what you are thinking, but as a gamer waiting until 3 months and 24 days into the new year before starting a new project is pretty good. The reason for this new project does not involve reading a new book, a gaming convention or even a new rules set.

The reason was I worked out a new way I wanted to base my miniatures so I could keep the infantry separate from the leaders and specialists. And what better way to try it out than by starting a new army/force. So here is the deal, I will blog on occasion about what I am doing with hints and I will offer a prize (not sure what but it will be game related) to the first person that can guess the army/unit and period/war. Extra points for guessing sooner than latter and for what rules.

So the first hint is I placed an order with Litko for 100 20mm bases, 25 25mm bases and 25 30mm bases. Ok so not a great hint but I will post often and you can always ask questions (one question per blog post) via the blog and social media. Good Luck.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Flying the Friendly Skies

No this is not a United rant but my reintroduction to the Wings of Glory/War system. I played this from the book days and than latter when the first miniatures came out. As a system for WWI it had a good feel but here I was an all grownup wargamer and I need complicated rules and flight profiles. Or did I.

Well recently I was reintroduced to the WWI and WWII systems and it both was fun and felt right so what was I to do went caught between two very different gaming ideals. Well I did what any self respecting gamer would do, I went out and bought the rules and more aircraft for Battle of Britain.

What can I say I am a sucker for the Me-110. I am sure it turns like a pig but it does look cool. Oh and there will also be Hurricanes and Gladiators. More soon on the first game.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

End of March - A Gamers Report

Well I have ended March and the first Quarter and I think this is a good time to see how my gaming life is going. As already talked about personally I have had lost a friend and that has tainted my gaming experience, but as Al was a true gamer I am able to connect to him through the memories of gaming with him, and there are many memories.

I am pleased to say that so far this year I have painted 72 infantry and 12 vehicles in 15mm. All told I have spent over 26 hours painting. Less than my targeted goal but has set a good base line to reach 1,000 points on the Vis Lardica score card. If you are not familiar with it check it out, it has helped motivate many of us to paint more.

My purchases have been minor,  two Forged in Battle packs and I purchased Rob Avery's September Campaign as I do love the early war period and I have Polish figures painted up. Before you think that the campaign is to one sided (I get that a lot in the club) any reading of the company and platoon show good competitive actions. If interested in 1939 Poland or early World War II take a look.


I even got in  a couple of games, the latest was as a Soviet commander of a platoon taking part in an assault against Finnish lines, and the Russians almost pulled it off. The Russians have the advantage of numbers but their moral did not hold up in the end.

We will also be starting the von Luck campaign in the next month. I find the club very responsive to Chain of Command and TOOFATLardies.


And what is in store for the second quarter? Well I look to finish off the BEF support troops, and start the British Paras (I so love painting denison smocks in 15mm) and more Polish and Germans for 1939. Add in book and game reviews, after action reports and the continuing story of Osiak's War and it is busy as always. Let me know what you think and if you want to hear anything specific. All the best.