On the Painting Table (January 2017)

Happy New Year! Well, the festive period is over and it proved to be quite productive from a painting point of view. Since I stopped working my internal clock seems to have gone haywire; although I can now lie in, I find I wake up very early (maddening!). The one positive to this is I can fit a good hour or so of painting before the rest of the house rises. I therefore completed my WW2 20mm Japanese in record time.

I decided I did not want a too uniform appearance. I reckon the tropical climate is not kind to uniform fabrics, resulting in a range of faded tones plus some newly issued replacement items. Therefore the colours ranged from a new olive drab down to old, faded sandy yellows.

With the Japanese, flags are a must, even though I’m sure they would not have been that prevalent. I gave each platoon it own flag, plus the NCO’s were distinguished by a small flag on the rifle stock. My ‘suicide’ tank busting sections look the part with their mines and explosive charges, and they should give the USMC armour something to think about. I feel I still need a few more elements to complete the force: a mortar or two, some forward observers, a few AAA-MG’s maybe?

In addition to the above figures, I also completed an Airfix Type-97 Chi-Ha kit, plus another couple of amphibious assault craft for my USMC, which I plan to paint next.

Boardgame session: Christmas 2016

Christmas is the time for friends and family to gather around and play board games. Over this festive period Elaine and I managed to play a range of games with different groups of friends, and I will give a brief overview of our gaming activities:

After an indulgent lunch with some non-gaming friends, Rod and Janette, we suggested some simple games to fill a dank, foggy afternoon. We started with a couple of games of ‘Hey, that’s my fish’, which is easy to explain, contains a good degree of tactics and is light-hearted enough to ensure no-one feels bad about losing. To my relief they both enjoyed playing! We next tried playing ‘Tsuro’ and was happy to find another success, especially when both Rod and Janette chalked up victories in the two games we played.

A few days later we played the 2-player game ‘Patchwork’, which I bought Elaine for Christmas. This is a well-thought out game combining a ‘Tetras’ style mechanism with a time factor and button/VP economy. There is a reasonable degree of strategic thinking, both to enhance your own future purchases and to frustrate your opponents moves. Initially Elaine has won every game we played, and it is therefore a hit with her, which is great because it was a prezzie, but rather annoying to me from a gaming perspective (was not sure what I was doing wrong). Later games have seen me take 3 in a row (ha, ha!).

Finally we visited our regular gaming friends, Val and Chris, for a post-Christmas get together (and to see what Santa got for them!). The first game on the table was ‘Quadropolis’, yet another ‘town planning’ themed game (it is surprising how many games use this theme). We played twice and really enjoyed it. The rules were surprisingly easy and the game play fast. The range of options was good and narrowed down as the turn progressed, so a good deal of thought and strategy was required. We only played the base game and look forward to trying the more advanced mode.

Next we got out ‘Colt Express’, a fun, silly Western themed train heist shoot-out using programmed movement and actions. The most obvious draw is the thick card constructed train and carriages – beautiful! I was a bit disappointed that the characters were only depicted by coloured meeples – miniatures would have been better and in keeping with the high visual standards of the game. I also found the handling of the set up a bit fiddly (or, maybe I’m just ham-fisted). I liked the individual themed abilities for the different characters, which based on a single play, appear balanced. Anyway, Chris won by collecting the most cash and valuables, whilst I managed to get the strongbox. According to Chris you need at least 4 players to get the best from the game.

We had a few minutes left, so we ended with a game of ‘Crossing’. This is a fast, furious ‘Party’-style game involving the grabbing of gems. Basically mayhem ensues with people pointing at the location they wish to steal from, and dithering about when to cash their stash and save acquired gems. This game would appeal to non-gamers, and would improve as the alcohol intake increases.

Review of a painting year 2016

The year of 2016 is coming to an end and I can look back on what I have managed to paint. I am a ‘sad’ gamer who logs all the items painted, generally in chronological order, so here is my 2016 list:

Number	Scale	Period	Manufacturer	Notes:
6	28mm	Fantasy Mtd Sergeants	FireForge
20	28mm	Fantasy Goblins	Mantic
100	various	Battlelore figures
9	15mm	Modern AK47 Africa	Peter Pig	2nd hand from Ian
268	10mm	French FPW figures	Pendraken
256	10mm	Prussian FPW figures	Pendraken
270	10mm	1859/66 Austrians	Pendraken
9	28mm	Various Napoleonic	Victorix	Conversions
1	28mm	Steampunk		Salute 2016 figure
2	28mm	SciFi figures	Maelstrom’s Edge	Free from Salute 2016
7	28mm	Portuguese Cacadores	Warlord Games
5	28mm	Wild West buildings	4Ground
30	28mm	AWI/FIW figures	Warlord Games
12	28mm	GIW mtd skirmishers	Perry
17	28mm	ECW figures	Warlord Games
3	20mm	WW2 Pacific AFVs	Airfix
3	1/144th	WW2 aircraft	Revell/Zedva
1	20mm	WW2 Soviet BA-64	SHQ

 

The start of the year was clearly focussed on building up my Kings of War fantasy figures, and like all my previous dips into this genre, my interest was only transient. The figures have largely lain in their boxes once finished. The late winter period is frequently characterised by a lack of focus, the lead mountain is greatly reduced, and I tend to paint odds and ends; hence the painting of my Battlelore plastics. I don’t play Battlelore often but always thought the figures would look better if painted – they do! Of course, this has not resulted in more games of Battlelore, but if I do decide to play, then my set up will look the business!

Following the Salute show in April I was inspired by the Bloody Big Battles rules to re-invest in 10mm 19^th century European armies. I really like the contrast in the nationalities; the blue French, the blue/black Prussians and the white Austrians. After a few games I have come to realise that I still need more figures/stands, so this will form a secondary project for 2017.

Next my interest was sparked by the release of the excellent Sharp Practice 2 rules, and I painted additional 28mm figures for my Napoleonic and AWI/FIW forces. Small scale skirmish style games have dominated the year; my ECW forces were expanded due to trials using the Donnybrook rules, and the Wild West DMH rules encouraged me to buy a significant number of the superb 4Ground buildings. I enjoy putting these kits together, and I now possess a decent town!

The final project of 2016 was (is) a revival of WW2 gaming using Bolt Action 2 rules. I am currently working on my matched USMC and Japanese forces, so expect to see batches of such figures during the next few months.

So, that was 2016. Not a bad year with the brush, maybe a bit unfocussed, but fairly productive.

On the Painting Table (December 2016)

The final figures for my Bolt Action Pacific WW2 armies have arrived from Britannia/Grubby Tanks. A great service from the company who added a few extra figures for free because of a delay in dispatching the order (I only waited a couple of weeks!). So, a big thank you is due. I am now set up for a couple of months of painting over the Christmas period. The forces I have are as follows (points are given in brackets):

Japan (regulars) (total points available = 1424)

1x 1^st Lt+ (75), 1x 2^nd Lt (50), 5x spare Rifles (@10), 1^st Platoon (1x 2^nd Lt, 1x Flag-bearer, 3x Squads @ NCO, LMG, 8x Rifles) (420), 2^nd Platoon (1x 2^nd Lt, 1x Flag-bearer, 3x Squads @ NCO, LMG, 8x Rifles) (420), 1x 2 man Light Mortar team (35), 1x 3 man MMG team (50), 1x 2 man Sniper team (50), 2x Tank-hunter teams (@ NCO/SMG, 6x Rifles w. AT Grenades) (@87), 1x 3 man Light AA (45), 1x 3 man 75mm Field Gun (55).

US Marine Corps (veterans) (total points available = 1290 + 1083 for vehicles)

1 x 1^st Lt+ (90), 5x spare Rifles (@13), 1x 2^nd Lt (65), 3x Squads @ NCO/SMG, BAR, SMG, 9x Rifles) (@167), 2x 2 man Flamethrower teams (@78), 1x 2 man Bazooka team (78), 1x 2 man FO team (115), 1x 2 man FAC team (90), 1x 3 man MMG team (65), 1x 3 man 81mm Mortar team (65).

3x Sherman Tanks (@234), 1x DUWK (HMG) (72), 1x Buffalo (2x MMG) (118), 3x Trucks (@47), 2x Jeeps (@25).

Warfare show 2016

On Saturday I visited the Warfare show in Reading for a couple of hours. This show is the final show of my year and represents an opportunity to make purchases to cover my Christmas break. Warfare always feels like an old fashioned show; there are a lot of competition games going on, the demo games are fine but not major eye-candy, the retailers are packed into a sports hall, and the B&B is large. I travelled by train this year, so did not have the usual car parking problems. The B&B was disappointing, there was not as much on offer this year and I did not make any buys. I bumped in to many wargaming friends which is always nice, and saw my mate, Graham, who was taking part in the FoW competition. The demo game which stood out for me was the attack on Foy, set during the WW2 Battle of the Bulge, using CoC rules. The winter setting and figures were beautiful!


The trade hall is the main attraction for me, and I quickly set about purchasing my 20mm USMC and Japanese WW2 forces I had planned for Bolt Action. The core of each force was battlepacks from Lancaster Games, supplemented by additional figures from Britannia Miniatures. I also stopped to look at other 20mm manufacturers; Sgt's Mess and SHQ, and made some extra purchases from them. Once these acquisitions were safely in my bag, I toured the traders making small purchases here and there! A few MDF bases, a pot or two of paint, a pack of dice and some markers, another Western building etc I dithered about getting the 'Pike & Shotte' rules from Warlord, but resisted because I'm undecided about the whole Black Powder system - it all looks very pretty but it doesn't grab me. There appears to be a revival of Ancients rules at the moment, and certainly the demo games featured a few new products, of which To The Strongest seem to be popular. I think I will resist and wait for time to sort the wheat from the chaff. I currently happy using Impetus and Sword & Spear.


After a couple of hours I had reached the point where I needed to leave. If I stay beyond this moment I find from past experience that I make foolish buys. So, another year of shows has passed, roll on 2017!

Boardgame session: 12Nov2016

Val and Chris came over and we decided to give ‘Galaxy Trucker’ its first outing (I bought this second hand at Salute in September). I was not sure that this would be a game Elaine would enjoy; the whole SciFi scene is generally not her cup of tea. After quickly running through the rules, especially on constructing a spaceship, we set off. The building phase seemed more manic than I had anticipated, the parts you want just don’t seem to come up, keeping track of parts discarded by others is more difficult than expected, and areas of construction become blocked off. Once the first player completes and the final timer is turned, the action really hots up. Surprisingly we all were good at building ‘legal’ vessels, and only rarely did they fall apart on examination. The convoy section of each round does not require much in the way of decision making – things (mainly bad) just happen. There was considerable humour as you watch other players spaceships fall apart. In the first round Val’s ship was totally KO’d, and Elaine’s ship went the same way in the second round. Both Chris and I survived the whole game, but Chris was clearly the winner. Val had a good final voyage and took second place, whilst I came third. Elaine’s chances were scuppered by her failure in the middle round.

The post game discussion clearly showed that we all enjoyed the game, and Chris revealed that he had played the online game previously, which I’m sure contributed to his success. The focus of the game is the ship construction phase and we all enjoyed the pressure applied by the turning of the timer. Interestingly none of us looked at the upcoming adventure cards; I certainly planned to but the drive to add to your construction wiped this intention from my thoughts. The voyage phase is mainly chance and players need to be relaxed about the outcomes. If your ship falls apart, all you can do is laugh with the others! You never seem to have enough of certain parts, I never seemed to get enough engines and I think coming in first during a convoy is important for winning. Anyway, I feel that Galaxy Trucker will get many future outings, and I’m glad I picked it up cheap!

Next we played a game of ‘Barking Up the Wrong Tree’, a card game where you utilise different dog breds to garner different tree species. Essentially this is a bidding game played over 5 rounds, and its main attraction lies in the nice graphic design. The key decision is when to put a cat into a tree, which can unleash a bidding war between players. The other under-appreciated aspect is the need to keep an eye on what other players have, and therefore want, to inform your bidding strategy. This game was new to us as a group and therefore it was only in the final rounds that players began to understand the underlying tactics required. I think the game flow will improve in future outings.

Off the Painting Table (Nov 2016)

As discussed previously I am considering buying a matched pair of 20mm USMC/Japanese forces for Bolt Action. Obviously amphibious landings are a significant factor in this theatre. I happened to visit Hobbycraft (looking for storage boxes) and spotted the old Airfix kits. I have not put an Airfix kit together for over 30 years, and all my childhood memories came flooding back! Before I knew it I had purchased a DUWK, Buffalo LVT and a Churchill tank. I spent a happy few days assembling and painting the models whilst wallowing in nostalgia. Blimey, they certainly liked to model suspension systems in great detail – so many small, fiddly bogeys!

Now I need the figures, I did consider using Airfix again, but quickly reject this idea. I think I will base my forces on some Battlepacks from Lancashire Games (nice and cheap) which I plan to buy at Warfare in a couple of weeks, supplemented by extras from Brittania Miniatures. Does anyone know whether these figures are compatible, and have suggestions about other manufacturers?