TFL Xmas Special 2016 Now Available

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It must be magic: I only need to mention that we are awaiting the special and, like the genie in a Christmas panto, it appears!

Here's what Big Rich had to say about it:

The 2016 Christmas Special is here and it’s a bit of an unusual one in that the number of pieces is down, but the content as a whole is up to a massive 139 pages.  Apologies to those who like the wide eclectic mix of articles we normally run, but we hope that the depth and quality of the content here makes up for that.  Normal service will be resumed in the Summer.

So, here’s what we have in store for you.

Top Gun:  A Briefing with Johnny Danger.  We look at tactics in Bag the Hun

I Should be so Plucky:  An Introduction to A Mere Question of Pluck

A Mere Question of Pluck:  A complete set of rules for the Second Boer War.  Some said they were just a myth, but here we set them free, at long, long last.

Yes, we Have No Talanas:  Two introductory Boer War scenarios, Talana Hill and Elandslaagte

Bagging Bob the Nailer:  Lucknow 1857 and Simon Walker looks at this classic Indian Mutiny encounter for Sharp Practice

Viva Ras Begus!  Elvis may have left the building, but the spirit of the King lives on in the musical extravaganza that was our Sharp Practice display game on the show circuit this year.  Big Rich talks about building the game in two weeks and his approach generally to show games.

Chain of Command:  Russia 1942 to 1943.  A whole raft of lists from the pen of Richard Morrill.  If you want to go East, this is where to start with 39 pages of forces to choose from.

Cold Enough to Freeze Your TW&T Off.  We head for the Winter War as the Russians and Finns shape up for an encounter with Troops, Weapons & Tactics.

Hot Sausage, Cold TW&T.  A Winter War scenario.

Out of the Frying Pan:  A Normandy scenario for IABSM from Mike Whittaker.

The Roundwood Report.  Sidney questions Rich about Command & Control in wargames and the recipe for Lard Island Iced Tea is, at last, unveiled.

You can buy the special for the amazingly good value price of £6.00 by clicking here.

IABSM AAR: Vacqueville '44

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As we sit and wait for the 2016 Xmas Special, much delayed by the slings and arrows that outrageous fortune insists on hurling in Rich's direction, Mike Whitaker provides a timely reminder of how useful the specials are a source of inspiration with a rather nice little battle report taken from Nick Skinner's Vacqueville '44 scenario from the Summer 2014 edition.

For those who haven't dipped their toes in any of the specials, I would highly recommend that you do: vast, very inexpensive, collections of ideas for all the TFL games that would easily translate to other systems. An index of all articles that have ever appeared in a special can be found by clicking here. You can buy any or all of the specials from here.

To see Mike's AAR, click on the picture below, or visit his blog by clicking here.

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge Update

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Whilst I have been a bit light on posts recently (real world, heavy cold, blah, blah, blah) the rest of you have been pulling out all the stops to complete your painting projects for this year's challenge.

Still plenty of time to get them in, but here's today's rather large update:

  • Mr Hoooge pops in some dismounted dragoons
  • Andrew Helliwell hits us twice: once with the Tudors, and once with the WW2 Germans
  • Mark Luther continues his conquest of the skies with some 6mm aircraft, and a 6mm town to go with them
  • Mervyn does Dux, with some Picts, Irish and casualties!
  • The great Gatzemeyer goes Dropship Commander on us, with a PHR starter force
  • Matt Slade sends in his usual large dollop of painted lead: archers and knights, very nice
  • Owen submits a colossal entry: foot, ships, a town...all in 28mm
  • And last, but by no means least, Ralph pops in some rather good 15mm sci-fi infantry

Today's pics are from Garrett, Ralph and Owen... 

Dropship Commander: if only it was in 15mm!

Galleons from Owen

More sci-fi, this time from Ralph

15mm Sturmtiger from Zvezda

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You've got to hand it to Zvezda.

Of all the vehicles they could have released to compete in the WW2 wargaming marketplace, they release the Sturmtiger: a vehicle that no wargamer could possibly want more than one of (except for Kev: he needs loads). They only built nineteen of the damn things anyway.

But release it they have, and bought one I have...probably to use as some kind of objective or objective marker.

It's a nice model: easily up to Zvezda's usual high standards. Paints up well. As I said, the only problem is finding an excuse to actually get it onto the tabletop.

Here's a couple of shots of mine:

Q13: Army Lists for the Xar Added

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Inspired by Mr Plowman's painting, I have ordered a whole load of Xar figures from Ground Zero Games to form the basis of a new force for Quadrant 13.

To quote from the GZG website: The Xar - often known to human troops as "Chitters" from the rapid clicks and chirps of their speech - are an eight-limbed exoskeletal insectoid race, with six walking limbs ending in three-clawed feet and an upright torso with two manipulating arms.
Each Xar miniature consists of 2 parts, a 6-legged lower body and integral base plus a torso/arms/head casting with weapon or other equipment as appropriate.

No point in ordering figures unless you can use them in a game, so I have also built a basic army list for them too, available as a pdf download here and from the Q13 Army Lists page.

Only the infantry element are stat-ed at the moment: GZG don't do specific vehicles for the Xar, so I need to have a look around and find some for them from another range. More shopping!

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge Update

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Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week: real world and all that! Work is always crazy busy at this time of year, so just no time to process anything.

Leaving all that aside, here's a massive painting challenge update: everybody getting their entries in before the end of the year!

  • Thomas makes a welcome return and, much to everyone's surprise, pops in a few 28mm figures
  • Doug Melville has markers and a couple of 28mm WW2 squads
  • Lloyd Bowler has gone all Roman on us, and enters a mass of lovely 28's and some galleys
  • Mr Helliwell has been re-basing like crazy
  • Mervyn has been as busy as I am, but still manages a handful of figures
  • Matt Slade sends in his usual army of 28's, plus another army's worth of re-basing. The man is a machine!
  • Mr Hooge remembers the Alamo with some US Mexican War 15's
  • Ralph teases with three beautifully painted entries as we cry out for more
  • And last, but not least, Mr Naylor sends in a mass of 6mm WW2 armour

Today's pictures are from Doug, Lloyd, Mervyn and Ralph:

I'm loving these animal-based markers from Doug

So unusual that I had to feature them:  Lloyd's galleys from Donnington

Guerillos from Matt

28mm Sci-Fi Goodness from Ralph

The scorecard will be updated either tonight or tomorrow night: depends when I get onto my other PC!

TFL Painting Challenge "Cold Sunday" Update

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Not a bad little update this week: quite a few of you taking a rest from Thanksgiving and spending all your money in the Black Friday and CyberMonday sales to send in your entries!

In no particular order, we have:

  • Sapper with some Seven Years War figures
  • Carol with a couple of ACW artillery pieces and limbers
  • Matt Slade with a mass of late medieval types
  • Andy Duffell with a mix of 28mm WW2 vehicles and Feudal archers
  • Mr Luther fills in some of his gaps, and adds almost 200 6mm infantry
  • Mervyn enters some pirates to, as he puts it, "get the party started"
  • Mr Helliwell adds to his Tudors, and continues the Roman rehabilitation
  • And Steve Burt sends in some more Carthaginians

Today's pictures are from Messrs Duffell, Luther and Slade.

An Andy Duffell M5 Stuart

Some of Mark Luther's cavalry in action

Some of Mr Slade's Sergeants

IABSM AAR: Surprise Encounter Northwest of Rossienie by Mark Luther

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Ages since we had an AAR from Mr Luther: so here's one that dates back to June 2014.

A 6mm game played at Gigabites Café, the battle represents the Soviet counterattack by the tanks of the 2nd Tank Division, 3rd Mechanised Corps on June 24th, 1941 near Rossienie, Lithuania.

Clicl on the pic, above, to see lots of really big Soviet tanks in action!

Warfare 2016

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I went along to Warfare today: usually the last show of the year for me.

Warfare takes place at the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Caversham, Reading, and just about takes over the entire centre for the day. There is a huge trader hall, and then an even bigger hall full of competition and demo games. There's also a smaller hall that houses the Bring & Buy, and the rather noxious squash courts which is where some more competition gamers are caged.

It's one of my favourite shows of the year, mainly because (a) it's close to where I live and (b) it's got a huge trader hall and I can shop to my heart's content. The only downside is that it's usually packed, which means that parking, even in the huge Rivermead car park, can be quite problematic.

So what was this year's show like?

Well my overriding impression was that it was quiet, very quiet. I only got bashed by one backpack (a square FoW carrying case, doubtless holding an SS German army with US Para allies) and hardly saw anyone I knew.

There were also some key traders missing. Peter Pig weren't there, which was annoying as I needed a single pack of figures that I'll now have to mail order; and there wasn't really anywhere to buy Battlefront figures either - just a couple of buckets/racks of old, discount figures.

Chain of Command

As for Lardy games, the guys from Evesham put on an amazing game of Chain of Command based around one of the key battles of the Bulge which, I think, won best demo game.

So a quiet Warfare this year...which meant, at least, that I didn't spend much money!

Mounted Scouts

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Here's a first for me: some mounted scouts for my WW2 Germans.

These are to join my 1939 Germans as they invade Poland as part of the play-testing of my forthcoming Poland in Flames scenario pack. I'm currently on #25 out of #55, so powering ahead!

The figures are from Peter Pig, and I had forgotten what a pleasure Mr Pig's minis are to paint, even if you are only a mediocre painter such as myself.

The great thing is that the figures are so detailed and have so many packs and saddlebags, that even if you just block paint everything and then pop a wash on, then they come up brilliantly.

These are the two 8-man squads I need as infantry mounted scouts. Almost tempted to get some more now just for the craic!

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge Update

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Several very large entries this week, with the obligatory ooh, er, madam!

In no particular order, we have:

  • Sapper with two whole armies: one 15mm, one 28mm
  • Koen comes back with a bang: and a vast number of figures: British Paras in 20mm, Star Wars in 30mm, LOTR in 28mm...the list goes on!
  • Stumpy continues his re-basing: more colonials, some Saxons and some Romano-Britons
  • Keith Davies sends in a small viking warband
  • Mervyn continues his Hyborian jaunt
  • Treadhead also makes a reappearance, with some lovely Nappies for SP
  • Steve Burt goes Carthaginian
  • Mr Helliwell also joins in the "I'll just send in an army, shall I?" gang with some Tudor colonials (is that a thing?)
  • and last, but by no means least, Mr Plowman sends in four very familiar characters

So many possible pics today. Here's a selection:

Mr Plowman's very familiar figures (insert your own favourite quote)

Mr Helliwell's Tudor colonials

British Napoleonic officer from Treadhead, and a British Para Jeep from Koen

sappers achemenid persians (i used to be able to spell that!)

6DW AAR: Brawl at the Ruined Fort

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Another Saturday morning battle with the Benson boys...but what to play?

Well, my usual default here is to have a look at what hasn't been on the table recently (if ever!) so today's game must be Six Day War and must involve the Battlefront ruined fort. Add on some "tail" that's never been on the table, and Bob's your uncle: one quick scenario written!

A column of Israeli recovery vehicles has strayed too close to the front line. As they pass a ruined fort on top of a hill, they spot a force of Egyptian tanks heading towards them.

Click on the pic to see what happened...

In Flanders Fields

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John mccrae 1872-1918

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae