More Space-Dwarves: Gruntlings in Exo-Suits

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More infantry for my Dwarves in Space army, and the first contingent from Cactus Games: a platoon of Gruntlings in Exo-suits.

These are very cute figures indeed: squat, rounded, and with lots of relief to make painting easy. I undercoated in black, then a coat of metallic blue, then a dry-brush with a dull-metal colour to bring up the detail. 

The only negative is that there are only two poses: one with a built-in gun in one hand and a warhammer in the other; one with just the gun.

Here they are:

TFL Painting Challenge: a post-Warfare Update

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Plenty of tip-top submissions this week. In no particular order we have:

  • Mr Helliwell, with another regiment of ACW foot plus command and supporting artillery
  • Joakim goes large with a goodly number of figures for Dust, including two very nice looking walkers
  • Mr Luther adds another eleven 'planes to hi collection
  • Dave Humm adds his usual eclectic mix, with figure for Frostgrave, Flintloque, and a very early example of a war photographer!
  • Mr Ralls makes a welcome return with huge numbers of 28mm figures. Nice to see you back at the painting table, Jason.
  • Jon Yuengling also makes a welcome return, with a submission consisting of trees, lots of trees
  • Doug Melville is also back, with some lovely Medieval Scots and three bits of modern Soviet armour
  • and last, but by no mens least, Kev (Fat Wally) has gone Star Wars crazy, with two ships and a quite frankly huge-looking asteroid base

Today's pics are from Doug, his Medieval Scots; and from Joakim, one of his walkers. Lovely!

PS  Scorecard will be updated tonight, when I'm at home. Too difficult to do at work without the right software!

Warfare 2015

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A most enjoyable couple of days spent at one of my favourite wargaming shows, Warfare, which takes place at about this time every year at the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Caversham, near Reading, Berkshire.

As always, one hall was devoted to a large 'supermarket' of traders selling everything one could ever want. Not too crowded this year, although there were, of course, the usual rucksack bearing numpties who don't seem to realise that being bashed with a sack is not an ideal way of spending one's afternoon. I understand the need for rucksacks, I hasten to add...but for Pete's sake take them off and carry them when manoeuvring narrow aisles between stands.

One trader I must single out for a mention is Commission Figurines, who did me a cracking deal on some mdf ruined buildings for Stalingrad/Berlin. Their website is at www.commission-figurines.co.uk . I also bought a few bits and bobs from GZG, and another box of Battlefront SU-100s so that I can have one box for WW2 Soviets and one box for 6DW Egyptians.

The other hall was devoted to games: about half was the usual competition area, about half was a number of very nice demonstration games. The competition area was packed and busy, but not particularly good watching unless you happen to be taking part; the demo games were good, and there were plenty of them. Much better than Colours!

"Not as boring as I expected it to be"

Unusually for me, I brought a 'date' to the show: my eight-year old daughter. She was quite happy to wander round in my wake looking at everything on offer. Her verdict: "not as boring as I expected it to be", which is high praise from someone whose idea of a good time usually involves either Harry Potter or Minecraft.

So, in all, a good show, even with the usual car-parking nightmare. Good to see, Neil, Tahir, John, Matt and everyone from Huntingdon, including self-appointed Mother Hen, Tina. Recommended as one of the best show's on the circuit.

IABSM AAR: German Recon Breakthrough

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The Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society (WFHGS) produce an excellent quarterly, free, full color wargames journal available to download from their site, called Warning Order.

Each issue of Warning Order features battle reports from their Friday night games, reviews of board games, figures, and gaming products, gaming analysis, and several regular features plus an editorial.

It's a very good read: I particularly like the regular Memoirs of a Miniatures & Board Wargamer and Blast from the Past columns...which shows you what an old fogey I'm becoming! The reviews are always useful as well.

Here's a IABSM battle report from the Spring 2015 edition (#40). Click on the pic of the front cover to see it.

IABSM AAR: Radekhov Station

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A nice little battle report from Mark Luther dating back from 2010.

Click on the picture to see all.

I have noticed a dearth of AARs for the TFL company-sized games (IABSM, CDS or Q13) out there on the net at the moment.

Don't forget that the offer is always open to post any reports you might have up here on Vis Lardica: just send me in the words and the pictures and I'll do the rest.

In the meantime, plenty of content to browse on here: over 250 AARs and growing fast!

 

Lest We Forget

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Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like of old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind:
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in sonic smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not talk with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

TFL Painting Challenge: A Dark November Afternoon's Update

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Well it's just about half three and already almost dark: just the setting for a painting challenge update.

Not many entries this week: must be the calm before the end-of-year storm. If you are sitting on entries, do please submit them in a timely fashion: I was doing more than one update a day last year between Christmas and New Year!

Anyhoo, here are today's:

  • Joakim pops in some pulp figures, including an eclectic looking WW2 Italian truck
  • Mervyn has been away, but manages to squeeze in two units of cavalry
  • Matt Slade submits his regular entry: some rather good looking special forces types from Crooked Dice
  • Mr Luther doesn't add to his total, but does send in a pic of his Mathildas. Very nice, Mark, but I think the field gun went astray.
  • Mr Naylor continues with his late war Soviets
  • And Treadhead sends in yet more Taliban

As I said, a short update today...and thus just the one pic: Mr Luther's Mathildas:

As for my own efforts, I am now ahead of last year and closing in on my target of 1,000 points. It's only early November, under 100 points to go, so I should be able to make it. Exciting stuff!

Q13: Drones for the Dwarves

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The great thing about Ground Zero Games is the huge range of 15mm sci-fi kit they make that can be added to any sci-fi army. 

Here, for example, I have decided to equip my "Dwarves in Space" with some spider drones with rotary cannon.

Thrainite Spider Drones

Now back to painting the legions of space dwarf infantry scattered all over my painting table!

Q13: More kit for the Space Dwarves

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A bit more firepower for my Thrainites from Khurasan: a couple of MDMS Goanna tanks supported by a Goanna tank hull mounting a shield generator. 

When you buy the MDMS tanks, they come with the option to be manned or un-manned. The manned version, the Goanna, has the full turret you can see in the pic below. The un-manned version (i.e. controlled remotely or by AI) comes without a turret but with a cut down gun mount. Looking at this, I suddenly thought that if I turned it backwards and didn't put a gun on it, it would make a rather good shield generator: something that I think suits the "engineer" aspect of the dwarves. Why risk too much injury when you can build something to protect yourselves with?

Anyway, here they are:

MDMS Goanna Tanks

Goanna hull with mounted shield generator

You can see the whole "Dwarves in Space" gallery by clicking here.

TFL Painting Challenge: A Pre-Rugby World Cup Final Update

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Just time for a quick pre-rugby update before rushing through the chores before settling down in front of the box for New Zealand vs Australia. If the All Blacks can keep their discipline and play like they did against the Boks (I was there!), then the trophy should be theirs.

Anyway, onto the update. In no particular order we have:

  • Keith Davies with some late war Brits and Germans
  • Chris Gilbride with some late war Brits
  • Mr Naylor finishes off his, wait for it, late war Germans
  • Mr Luther with some Matildas and Japanese
  • Joakim goes fantasy in 28mm
  • and Mr Helliwell pops in huge numbers of ACW Rebs

Today's pic is of some of Chris' Brits, the heavy weapons:

Q13 Gallery: The First Dwarves in Space

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I've always liked dwarves...right from my days playing basic edition Dungeons & Dragons through to GW's Squats through to Gimli in The Lord of the Rings and now through to the sudden explosion in 15mm space dwarf models.

My intention is to collect and paint up all the figures available, making each manufacturer's collection into its own contingent: the sum of which will combine into the space dwarf army as a whole. I'm seeing each contingent as coming from a different "mine", or whatever the Q13 equivalent ends up being.

The first contingent being painted are the Thrainites from Khurasan Miniatures. First up of these are the easy-to-paint armoured infantry: a platoon of so-called Young Nobles in four squads of six each:

With them are three MDMS Cane Toad APCs:

The rest of the Thrainites are currently on the painting table, so more to follow soon!

TFL Painting Challenge: A "Clocks Go Back" Update

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It's been a bit of a tough week this week, with real world events meaning I haven't been feeling it.

However, as I'm home alone on Saturday night now after being lucky enough to get to the SA vs All Blacks game, I've had a sudden surge of enthusiasm, so have caught up with all the outstanding painting challenge entries.

So this is a bit of a whopping update.

In no particular order, we have:

  • Steve Burt with the last of his Napoleonics...even 'though I'm sure you said that last time
  • Mr Ralls adds some more Germans to his WW2 collection
  • Andy Duffell also goes WW2: Kiwis in Italy or Poles in Europe plus some nice terrain
  • Benito returns to the fray with some nice French Dragoons
  • Matt Slade sends in his usual bumper entry: Rebs, shieldmaidens, Boudiccas, Zulus, British to fight them
  • Mr Miller is having to slow down a bit due to his robotics (no, he isn't building Thomas a painting engine) but still manages to send in a Polish king and entourage
  • Speaking of Thomas: some DAK, some Desert Rats, and a carrier
  • Andrew Helliwell sends in another batch of ACW infantry: two regiments
  • It really is very WW2 and very desert today as Koen sends in some DAK and a couple of guns. Perhaps you could send your entry here next time, Koen, rather than to my work. Lucky it wasn't those "gentlemen's miniatures" I asked you to paint!
  • Not wanting to add to the innuendo, but Sapper has a big entry this time: some Samurai-period bushi and a mob, some limbers, a SYW battalion, and some Americans with bazookas
  • Mr Luther sends in a cluster of 6mm equipment: planes, no trains, but automobiles
  • And last, but by no means least, AJH submits lots of lovely SYW figures

 We'll finish, as always, with a few piccies.

Here are Benito's Dragoons:

Here's a bit of detail on Andy Duffell's farmhouse...he's painted the inside too:

Finally, here are AJH's SYW Austrians: very nice:

IABSM AAR: Pouppeville

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Superb After Action Report from Carojon featuring a game  based on one of the scenarios in the All American scenario pack.

The tiny village of Pouppeville covered the end of one of the four designated exits from Utah beach on D-Day, so members of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were dropped behind Utah beach to help in the clearing and securing of the area prior to the landing of the seaborne troops.

See how they do by clicking on the picture, below:

CoC: Operation Martlet Scenario Pack Released

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Although we don't really do Chain of Command (or CoC, as it's known) on Vis Lardica, I've played the game a handful of times and always had a great deal of fun.

I'm pleased, therefore, to post about the latest TFL "pint-sized campaign" scenario pack for CoC, Operation Martlet, released today.

From the TFL website:

"Operation Martlet is the fourth of our Pint-Sized campaigns for Chain of Command, designed to be played using the campaign handbook At the Sharp End.  

"Twenty eight pages long, Operation Martlet follows the established Pint-Sized Campaign format, with an overview of the forces involed on both sides, their deployment shown on period maps and the course of the campaign described in detail before going on to present a mini-campaign covering this combined arms operation launched by the British 49th Division immediateloy prior to Operation Epsom to seize the Rauray Spur from the defenders from 12 SS Hitlerjugend.    

"The campaign is a total of six game tables with the duration running between six and eleven games.  Briefings are provided for both sides, along with measurable objectives, period maps, force and support option listings and everything you need to play this campaign through to its conclusion.  

"Like all of our Pint-Sized campaigns, this is available for the price of a pint in our local pub [Editor's Note:  Â£3.60 at time of posting].  We're sure that you'll agree, that is great wargaming value!"   

Click here to go straight to the TFL shop and buy Operation Martlet.
 

 

Q13: Chuhuac Herdmaster

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What I should be doing is continuing to paint my Six Day War lead mountain: no point in having ten Egyptian T-55s if they have no supports and no-one to fight.

What I actually did this weekend, of course, was to dive into my sci-fi lead mountain, painting up a few bits and pieces from projects that needed completion.

Here's the commander of my Chuhuac mercenaries, the Herdmaster, and his APC:

I'm still loving the Chuhuac: just got to get them onto the battlefield again.

You can see the rest of the Chuhuac gallery by clicking here.

TFL Painting Challenge: This Week's Update

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Lots to post about today: not a huge amount of submissions, but a lot in those submissions.

First up, Joakim sends in pictures of his amazing Soerabaja Harbour in the Dutch East Indies in 28mm. This is an incredible piece of work, and there are more pics on his blog, which can be reached by clicking here.

Secondly, Mr Hooge sends in a suitably hooge entry (did you see what I did there!) culminating in a couple of snaps of his games room. They didn't make his gallery, but appear below: a man cave of astounding astounding-ness:

The Games Room

The Games Room

The Bar in the Games Room!

The Bar in the Games Room!

Next three of the regulars send in their latest work:

  • Mr Bowler has three ships a-sailing
  • Mr Luther has some more 20mm Aussies and a fistful of 1/285 tanks
  • and Mr Helliwell has some more AWI and ACW 15's

Finally, Treadhead sends in another ten Taliban, almost the last in his lead mountain, which gives us our final picture with which to finish things off for today:

12oct5.JPG

Keep those entries coming: it will be the end of the year and too late before you know it!

6DW: Egyptian Tanks

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Some of you will remember that I got all excited by the Six Day War sale from Battlefront, and bought a whole load of figures and wrote army lists etc (army lists available here).

Now some six months later, the first of the figures have rolled off the painting table: a company of ten Egyptian T-55 tanks.

I've tried a few new things with these tanks. Firstly, I have used the new Texture basing system from Games Workshop. This is a fancy way of saying a pot of sand-coloured paint with lots of tiny silicon balls in it so that you paint it on and have an immediately, well, textured base. This is obviously a lot faster than my usual 'dipping into ballast' system, and has actually turned out quite well. I'll definitely use it for the rest of my 6DW armies.

The second thing was to use pre-made clumps of desert plants to dress the bases. These are also new from Games Workshop (called Mordenheim Turf or something!) and have also worked out quite well. Ditto as regards using them for the other figures I'll be painting.

Being GW, of course, they are a lot more expensive than you can get this material elsewhere: but then it is so convenient just to be able to pop in and buy what you need. You takes your choice...

Incidentally, I also had to learn how to count in Arabic in order to get the numbering right on the ten tanks. For those who might need to know, here's one to ten:

New 15mm WW2 Manufacturer: Waugh Games

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Waugh Games, a wargaming retailer/online shop based in Teeside, is now producing its own range of resin 15mm WW1 and WW2 vehicles.

At the moment all that is available is a handful of German vehicles, but they look good to me and are very competitively priced.

The vehicles are in resin, with integral bases (which won't please everyone, but that I quite like) and metal turrets/gun barrels.

Currently listed in their store are:

  • Tiger I
  • Panther
  • King Tiger
  • Jagdpanther
  • Panzer LV70
  • SdKfz 250/1
  • Opel Maultier

And at the moment they are running a series of promotions that make the models even more affordable.

They need some good pics to really sell the models, but here's the Opel Maultier: 

Now I need some Maultiers for my Gebirgsjaegers, so I'm going to buy some (probably the three for £7.50 offer...very good value) despite the fact that although, as I said, I like cast-on bases, the base shown above is VERY big and, if you look carefully, there do seem to be lots of bubble-holes in the paneling on the main body of the truck. Or maybe they are supposed to be, or will look like, bullet holes. We shall see!