**Settle down, grab a beverage and some reading glasses - this post is going to be a long one. **
Well, as in most cases, "best laid plans" tend to end up floundering and so my plans in fine form for this project followed suit in short order. I managed to get the 3rd squad of Greek infantry I mentioned in my last post finished but could only find time to slap on a couple of base colours onto the 4th squad and so had to attend the event on Saturday 7th February with only 95% of my force fully painted. Not bad, but not what I wanted.
The 3rd squad though does look rather splendid and fits in nicely with the others I've painted up so far. Once again, these are metal sculpts by Great Escape Games and were fun to paint.
Infantry Squad #3 - lots of tasty 'tache's in this group. |
Also painted up this fun little Orthodox priest who I add to my FAO team who'll ask the big feller above for extra luck getting those off-table artillery strikes on target for once. (With my dice rolling, I need all the help I can get!)
This little fellow has since been given a coat of flat varnish. |
On February 8th I attended the 2nd annual Operation Sweetheart event at GameKastle Sacramento. It was the first 3rd edition event in the area, and I played my first three games of the new edition, winning one and losing the following two. Not a bad result, especially considering as I brought my Greeks and they had little to no anti-armour options. A fun day and great to see both locals and travelling players from the Reno community. There was a good turn-out including some new players and also a young-blood (13 I think?). Being that the event was 4 months ago I don't recall hard fast details, but my first game (A win vs late war Germans) was highlighted by my rolling immensely well, the second (A loss vs an all over the place german list) marred by my opponent bringing an almost all unpainted army who also proxied about half his force, and the third and last game (A loss vs late war Brits) where my dice and lack of ability to hurt the multiple armoured options of my opponent caused a little frustration. Regardless of the result, a good time was had and it was fun to take my Greeks to an event.
Pics are in no particular order and included here just so you have pretty things to look at. |
Sideways? Poor editing on my part. |
Now that the event is done and long past, that 4th infantry squad will get done.... sometime. Moments for hobby are back to being few and far between - curse you real life!
I also managed to get in a game with my gaming pal Densmol whilst our respective wives sat on the lawn and drank alcoholic seltzers and chatted about whatever it is women discuss when menfolk are elsewhere. As you can see in the pictures, this was my test run also for my WW2 Airfield terrain setup. Still more to add and plenty to paint up, especially that Heinkel, (The large building is not part of the set along with some of the scatter terrain - I just needed to fill the table moreso) but I like the direction it's headed.
I provided forces for both sides - Densmol played my Winter Germans and I faced off against them with my Winter Soviets. It was a fun learning game for both of us using the now not-new 3rd Edition of Bolt Action. Densmol ended up winning, lots of new rules were forgotten or plain mis-played, but we both had fun.
Blanket as a game mat. Not bad, but not great. Needs some variation in shades of green and a jolly good iron! |
One drunken evening I found myself trawling online stores and made some purchases. I only found this out the following morning when I saw the order confirmation emails in my inbox. (Don't tell the wife.)
Water Buffalos for my Late War Canadians |
Fuel Truck for my Airfield terrain, BA-10 for my Winter Soviets and a pair of sd.kfz 10/4's for my Germans. |
It's always nice to have new things, even if you really don't have time to paint them.
Last year I put a (very) small amount of cash into a Kickstarter for some 3D print stl files for some East Front terrain. I then found out my co-worker has a printer at her home and she offered to print all the files out if I provided the filament. So here are some of the prints - very crisp and well detailed and currently in the queue for primer, paint and snow effects, hopefully getting done this Summer. Am hoping joining Dave Stone's "Summer of Scenery" challenge at his blog, will help motivate me.
Soviet Schoolhouse and a tin-roof'd barn |
Some cool scatter terrain to add extra flavour |
Log cabins |
A small Orthodox chapel. I also have some benches to place inside. |
Back to painting progress - I managed to get in some painting time this last week whilst my wife was away on a trip to Oregon to visit her grandparents.
First off a pair of Anti-Tank Rifle teams for my Greeks, bringing the total of these I can drop on the table to 3.
More metals sculpts by Great Escape Games |
And then a pair of furry faced warriors for anthropomorphic skirmish game Burrows and Badgers. Both leaders of their respective warbands. These are the first painted for a campaign me and my pal J are going to play through when opportunity arises in the future.
Sir Rowland Othyr, Otter Lansknecht |
And Ylvis Sez, leader of the Freebeasts |
And lastly, on the 24th of June, I got in a game of Bolt Action at my mate Stephen's place. 1000 points each side, I took my Greeks again and he faced off with some cool Early War Germans (A mix of Fallschirmjager veterans and Regular Heer.). My dice were hot this game and once again, even though I really should have struggled to deal with his German armour, somehow I managed to drop mortar rounds in the right places and blew them up and then proceeded to grind down his support assets to win 10-9. Beautiful table to play on and a great host.
My Greeks |
Stephen's Germans |
And some pics in no particular order - just here to look cool. Stephen's setup was great looking and made for a very narrative gameplay.
A very pinned out sd.kfz 222 armoured car. Crazy what VB and Light mortars can do! |
The man himself - Stephen is also the Official Warlord Raider for Northern California and Nevada and origanises all the events and tournaments. |
Okay done now. If you managed to read this far down, apologies for the lengthy silence. Am hoping I'll have time and enough content to post again before the blog's 14th birthday on 1st October, but I make no promises as this summer is super busy with famikly stuff.
Hope all are well and happy out there,
- Dai
Man you’ve been a busy bunny Dai. Just to be clear you DO NOT have a hobby spending problem. You seem to be very good at spending on the hobby actually. lol.
ReplyDeleteCheers mate, I guess it’s a bad habit to be good at then? Lol
DeleteWow, what a feast of hobby activity! It’s fantastic to see such variety all in one post — painting, terrain, games in full swing… pure inspiration. The terrain builds and unit progress are especially impressive, and those group shots of the tables really capture the energy of a busy club. Always a joy to see this kind of creative momentum shared. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteOh my God where did you get that dreadnought? I've been looking for a 3D-printed first edition dread for AGES! Also, those beakies are cool.
ReplyDeleteTold ya I made some online purchases lol
DeleteIt’s by Hybrid Miniatures dot com out of the uk. I got it through their Facebook group.
(O and its resin, not 3d printed.)
DeleteOh, busy man!
ReplyDeleteThats looking amazing!
Welcome back Dai, nice to catch up on what you have been up to. A few good looking games played and those 3d Russian buildings are superb...lucky you, having an amenable work mate to print them off for you!
ReplyDeleteThat was a long post indeed, Great that you managed to get paint on most of the army in time for the tournament, and that you had fun. Your purchase frenzy, has netted some interesting bits to paint down the line, congrats on the win when you played your recent game, especially against all that armor ( must have been the added priest ! LOL) and look forward to seeing what scenery you paint.
ReplyDelete