And about time too….

I know, I know. I said I’d keep on top of the posting. I said I’d do a regular update on the progress of the army. Well real life got in the way, not only is there more work to do than in a regular Olympic build up but I have only had one day off in the last 8 weeks, this was yesterday, and was my 5th anniversary with my other half. Not going to get away without doing something for that!

On to the stuff you all want to see:

I managed to get most of the sticking done Friday before last – I got it all sprayed and put it out on the table top to see if it would fit.

The army spanning the entire 6 feet of table!

As you can see even with borrowing a few units from Andy there was still over 200 models to paint. I did manage to enlist a little help from some poor fools.

Young Joe beavering away.

Andy looking busy... if a bit scared....

He doesn't work here... does he?

And by the end of the day we had quite few done. Just need to base them.

Another 80 done.

With a lot of tenacity and no little blood, sweat and tears I managed to get the whole lot done. Not a feat that I would like to attempt again any time soon. But you always need more units, and there is nothing like an upcoming tournament to give you a deadline!

And here is how it looks on the table top, opposite Andy Potters fine Dark Elves.

Is it Warhammer or Warmaster?

From my perspective.

From Andy's point of view

 

To come soon, some great pics of the Mansfield Maul!

Great War Battle Report – 1914 French vs Germans

Six months ago I saw a copy of the new Great War rules on a shelf in Nick’s shop, (shop is a strong word here, North Star Games is a distribution point for 100′s of stockists and is run out of a couple of workshops in the same business centre as me).  As is the want of a company the size of Games Workshop, the book grabs you straight away with its immaculate artwork and photos, pages of well layed out rules, interspersed with very clear diagrams. I suppose if anything was going to draw me away from the constant Warhammer games we play it would be something like this. I bought the book there and then, read it that night cover to cover and went back to Nick for figures the next day. And they say this hobby should be down graded from Class B……

Knowing the people I game with I opted to go for a French force to start. The British and Germans were bound to appeal more to everyone else, and besides I do have a soft spot for all things “Je ne sais pas”.

My forces comprised of four, ten man infantry platoons and two command platoons. Dave had three 12 man infantry platoons, a command platoon and a machine gun. Points wise I had about 280 and his was 245, nearly equal. I’m sure his lone machine gun makes up for it!

We rolled for mission and got the Take and Hold with Corner deployments. We choose the rocky outcrop, the central wood and the lane between fences and walls as the three objectives. Our deployment is also shown in the first photo.

A closer look at our lines can be seen here.

 

TURN 1

The fog cleared and we began the battle. The French won the roll for the first turn and ran as fast as they could towards the enemy; shouting insults as they went. The “Elan” special rule was too tempting not to use, so all bar one platoon threw their rifles over their shoulder and sprinted!

The Germans responded by heading for the closest two objectives and benefitting from the protection it gave. The central platoon stood still and fired a salvo into the French in front of them, killing two.

TURN 2

The French continued to try and outflank the enemy taking positions in both woods. The central unit returned fire, hitting four times and caused four wounds! The German unit thought this was a bit too much and turned tail and fled!

The German right held steady and shot whilst the left flank charged headlong into the French platoon to try and stop the outflanking manouvre before it struck. They inflicted four casualties to the French’s two, a good win but the French courage held fast – well what did you expect from the best army on the planet…?

TURNS 3 & 4

The French command platoon joined in the combat on the right flank whilst the left unloaded into the Germans in and around the rocky outcrop. The combat was brutal and the Germans fled, only to be shepherded off the battlefield the next turn. The shooting went just as well with three German casualties and a failed morale test!

TURNS 5 & 6

With so few figures on the table the turns were going by very quickly. Too quick to get all the photos in anyway! The German left opened fire and obliterated the flank force and panicked the unit in the wood who turned tail and fled for two turns! On the French left the platoon pushed forward onto the objective, perhaps too soon as they were quickly gunned down and forced to flee, again for two turns.. At this point I’m sure I heard Dave say something about “cheese eating surrender monkeys” but that could’ve been the wind!

TURN 7

Being possibly the last turn the Germans had it in the bag. They held the rocky outcrop and contested the woods.  The two fleeing French units rallied, if it went another turn this could swing again.

TURN 8

Yes you guessed it, Dave rolled a 6 and we continued to fight to the death! The French and Germans in the wood engaged each other in combat and caused indenticle wounds on each other, basically taking both units below scoring status. The French rear guard (it was planned, honest!) stepped into the breach claiming one objective whilst shooting the few Germans that were left in the outcrop, killing two and sending them scurrying. The day belonged to Les Bleus, a victory at a huge cost though. Only ten models were left on my side and six on the enemies!

Ahhh! The sweet smell of victory.

I thought the game played through very well with only a minimal need to refer back to the rulebook. I can see this being a lot of fun with a few hundred figures a side. Time to go back to Nick I think…..

See you all again soon.

Andrew

First unit finished.

Quite pleased really.

The Challenge.

After careful consideration I chose to “Grudge” Andy Potter at this years Mansfield Maul tournament in October. I thought if anyone would appreciate an all infantry Empire army it would be him. However I was not expecting the response:

“Nice blog. Tell you what, Ches. If it looks like you’ll get finished by list submission deadline, I’ll bring the suicide elves, rather than the regular dark elves.”

So there we have it, a challenge put down and accepted. I’d have no choice in the matter. I would have to finidh and for my troubles play against one of the largest Dark Elf armies that could be taken…. I mean I wasn’t outclassed by them at all was I? He had a higher Movement value, a higher Weapon Skill, access to better weaponry, Hatred and better characters. At least I had ranks. Oh yeah, so does he.

So I really had lots of motivation to get this project done, no really. Infact there is nothing better to get the blood going than a deadline that you can surely not meet without many sleepless nights and a little help with the bases from your friends.

So without further ado I better get onto what I have painted. Here is the first unit of Spearmen, one predip and one postdip. Now for the uninitiated “Dip” is a common term for the use of a fantastic new product on the market called Fanatic Army Painter. It is like a very thick floor varnish/stain that shades areas of the figure whilst leaving your colours showing through. The intructions tell you to literally dip the figure using a pair of pliers to hold the bottom into the can and then vigourously shake the excess off. This produces a lot of wastage and is very messy. Instead I always use it as a thick glaze over the whole figure, just like an Ink that shaed all the colours and of course picks out the detail.

I’ll leave you to decide if you like the finish. The figures do come out with a bright shine but with a quick Matt varnish sprayed all over they dull down very nicely.

Before

After

I better get a move on!

And so it begins……

I’ve always loved Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Ever since my first issue of White Dwarf I bought from WHSmith in the early nineties I have drooled over the battle reports, artwork and photos alike.

There was something about the smoothness of the Mark Gibbons sketches that just sucked you in, and of course like any good consumer I bought figures pertaining to the first thing I saw in the magazine – Skaven…

Now as you may have guessed this isn’t going to be about the 12 year love affair with the verminous little critters that took me 300 miles accross the country to work in the museum at GW HQ in Nottinham. Oh no, this is a return to grass routes another 8 years later.

I paint figures day in and day out; not Golden Daemon winning figures but ones I myself would be proud to use in any game, tournament or show around the world, and after 4 or 5 years doing it I can gauge that others like them too. So when I hear that a new miniatures company called WARLORD GAMES (shameless plug!) are moving in down the corridor from our studio it is with great delight that I start having many unplanned coffee morning with John Stallard and staff. Now for those of you who don’t know, John Stallard was a very, very early addition to the GW company and self confessed Empire addict. I’ve seen his house and let me tell you, he loves his military history. His collections of historical and fantasy armies would put most of our life-long collections to shame.

On one of these so called tea breaks, (he takes his tea “Julie Andrews” for those that want to know), I confess that I have wanted to do a “proper” Empire army for years. One involving the great Perry sculpts of the mid nineties with loads of Mordheim figures in to match, anything as long as it is all metal. Not these new fangelled, if very nice, plastic kits.     

If only someone had a few they didn’t need any more…….

Three days later and John tells me he went into his gaming room the previous night and dug out a “few” spares. And after a quick inspection, a minor heart attack, some inaudable drivvle and a few cough and splutters we had a figure count.

260 (Yes Two Hundred and Sixty) shiny pieces later and I had the start of the biggest project I’d given myself since, well, birth I suppose. Over 100 Spearmen, 50 Hand Gunners, 20 Archers, 100 Halberdiers – some of which I didn’t even know existed plus a load of great characters and a fair few Brettonian Men at Arm figures. I really had no choice now.

It also transpired that in order to get my hands on the treasure trove of a collection all I would have to do is paint one Elizabethan army, made from the first part of this collection. Deal. It also meant I could pinch some very nice ideas from the conversions John had already started.

One hour later and I had two units of 20 spearmen with a load of head swaps ready to be undercoated.

 

It is a good job that I had already come up with a colour scheme for this army too.

It would be the proud state of Talabecland, with their striking red and yellow colour scheme.

 

Although these guys were also considered. Who knows maybe they’ll make it into the ranks of the free company?

Let’s see what the future holds for this project……

Macedonians

Generals

Hoplites – Purple

Hoplites – Ochre

Cavalry Commander

Companion Cavalry

Companion Cavalry – Back

Hypaspists

Cavalry

Cavalry 2

Javelinmen

Cretan Archers

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My beloved Macedonians. Colour scheme was inspired by the fantastic colour plates from the Osprey books, even though truly accurate, they look ace! There are in fact 4 Hoplite regiments, 2 in each colour. Figures are from the Wargames Foundry.

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World War 2 – Japanese

Arisaka Rifle Squad

M99 Machine Gun Squad

Arisaka Rifle Squad taking cover

Scouts

Tank Hunters

Snipers

Heavy Machine Gun Team

Mortar Teams

Fox Holes

Fox Holes

Fox Holes

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My first crack at World War 2. The models are 28mm scale from the Assault Group, and from what I have seen are quite characterful.

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