A Squeaker and a Pair of Soviets walk into a Bar

This Timorous mini is from the line of anthropormorfic sculpts produced by UK-based miniatures company Oathsworn Miniatures for their excellent Burrows and Badgers skirmish game.

I’ve utilized this mouse burglar as my Rogues team's (The Red Toothe) resident light-fingered thief, Fenton Fishlegs. He’s the free mini they give you for ordering their lovely hardback rulebook directly from their webstore. He's painted up well enough for gaming. I've recently realised that my eyes aren't quite what they used to be after a rubbish trip to the opticians and I can't abide trying to paint with those magnifying apparatus, so a lowering in quality will have to be endured from here on. Not all bad though as this means I should be able to get stuff done far quicker and so work through my backlog more swiftly!  

Fenton is a bit of a dim-witted young mouse, but his skills as a cat burglar (A mouse cat burglar???) go far beyond what a normal mouse his age could hope for. Cruel Ma’ Tuppence the leader of the team, tends to push Fenton into more and more perilous jobs for bigger rewards of loot fully expecting the lad to fall foul of some watch-mole or canny fox, but somehow he seems to make out with the loot and return like some addled pup back to Ma’ for his meager reward.

This weekend I am attending a Bolt Action Stalingrad event (Astute readers will recall I attended last year's event also) at the Ogre's Den in Orange Vale, CA. The organiser Drew had all 12 participants (6 playing Soviets, 6 Germans) draw up lists and we'll all be positioned on certain areas of his fantastic gaming boards, each section representing one major talking point of the Stalingrad conflict (Factory, Pavlov's House and Volga Crossing). Whilst I have a sizable collection of Soviets as any follower of this blog can attest to, I found I still needed some more pieces painted up to have enough done so I could field a fully painted force for the day.

Gunner and Ammo bloke, face down in the snow. Poor buggers. I know, the bipod is glued in the wrong spot on the gun, but it's too late to change now.

Starting off, these are a two-man Anti-tank rifle team produced by Black Tree Studios. (There'll be two in my list.) Whilst I am not anticipating much in the way of armour in those cramped city streets, these long guns do provide double duty as a nice pseudo-sniper to help add more pins and perhaps pop an armoured transport or armoured car. Easy to paint and they fit in well enough with my collection. The snow is a new product I was gifted at Xmas made by Games Workshop. Not bad and I'll use it for sake of ease as I won't have to mix ingredients up like my usual method, but goodness it's pricey! (Shock horror.... it's GW afterall.)

Next up on the table are a pair of SMG toting troops and perhaps this second mouse. Last to get some paint on it will be a new toy, but I'll preview that in my next post. :)

Stalingrad Event

The Volga Crossing where I played

Pavlov's House in the center of the long table

The Tractor Factory. The lavender yarn was used to mark deployment zones. Those diagonal deployment zones made for an interesting setup.

My view up the table.

In my last post I described an event that I have been very much looking forward to, the first I've been able to attend this year. The area's main hub for Bolt Action, Ogre's Den in Orangevale graciously opened doors and allowed the group to set up a 4'x18' table to represent three of the most iconic parts of the Battle for Stalingrad in World War 2 - The Tractor Factory, Pavlov's House and the Volga Crossings. The table(s) looked simply breathtaking, easily rivaling anything I've seen posted online. Andrew Bergthold was the on-the-day organiser and was also celebrating his birthday (So we all got free BBQ'd burgers, kindly provided by his father.) and had designed the overall scenario and specific conditions that each section of the table had to abide by. Each table section had a pair of players for each side playing 5 turns over two connected games. The 1st game we could not affect what was happening on the tables next to us, but in the 2nd game (After we were provided reinforcements, we could, which made for some really fun matchups.). It all made for a very fun and thematic day of gaming, with the overall winner who had the most kills, taken objectives and also managed to get their troops into their enemy's deployment area.


My list for the day had a few restrictions in the players packet, seeing as Tony and I were "Crossing the Volga river". No vehicles (In the initial crossing, though any taken could come on as reserves, no
gun teams larger than a light AT/Howitzer and to reflect the constant peppering those poor sods had to endure on those wooden boats all units that arrive in the "1st Wave" (A turn 1 mechanism in Bolt Action) arrive already having a pin on them.

My force on the day.
1st Lt.
2x 12-man Regulars each with 2x LMG's - Fantatics
2x 7-man Regulars all with SMG's - Fanatics
1x (free) 12-man Inexperienced Squad - Fantatics
Regular Sniper team - Fantatics
Regular Flame Thrower team
Regular Anti-Tank Rifle team (Ended up just taking the one) - Fanatics
A Forward Artillery Observer
Medium Mortar Team - Fanatics

And here are some of the other armies present at the event - some really nicely painted forces I think!

The following are just the pictures I took of the day's gaming; that is, when I remembered to take them. Our main objective was to have more troops on the wooden square just past the beach then the Germans by the end of the 1st round. I will say, #1 highlight of the day was my mates Gregg and Frank from my rpg group turning up to check out the game and my old Flames of War pal Rich (Of Flames of Nerd blog fame likewise dropping by and feeling so inspired he went and picked up a whole new Japanese army later that day! Woo, a new opponent!) who stuck around for the early stages. 

That crashed aircraft terrain piece was lovely. Have since bought a 1/48 Spitfire to make something similar myself!

This StuG did a good job of scaring the Soviets on the beach to keep their heads down, but in the end would end up immobilised and thereafter, ignored. 

Forward you dogs!

When you aim to be killingest general of the day, this is how one should roll. (A rare day where my dice and I loved eachother.)

So close!

There had been a Kraut Flame Thrower team at the crest of that rise for a second there.... wonder where they went? 

Getting a bit packed on this beach.

Meanwhile, over behind Pavlov's House.

Action shot of Travis Hiett's Assault Engineers stomping through some rubble

Wait, there can't possibly be more troops coming from across the river???

That's right Nazi pigs!

Sudden breakthrough on the left flank! Soviets assault the German sniper who had set up in the left side ruins.

The Tractor Factory was incredibly hard fought. 

Well, somehow, that person was me. My first #1 placing at any sort of event. :)

Highlights of the game:

1.  One of my fine opponents, Aaron brought on his Flame Thrower team from reserve a mere 6" from a squad of my own poor troops who had just managed to crawl off the beach and take their first step on dry land. Aaron gleefully throws his to-hit dice to spread fiery death upon them and rolls.... a "one", thoroughly missing his shot! Next he rolls to see if his Flamethrower still had fuel left and rolls.... another "one"! Seems the silly buggers forgot to fuel up before leaving for the front lines! (Free kill point for me.)

2. My Soviet partner, Tony (Who's company made the day even more fun), brought along a T-34 tank, which seemed to cause our German playing opponents some concern (Even though, throughout the game, the tank shot and hit NOTHING). So both Aaron and Kat called in an Airstrike by the Luftwaffe Stukas to take it out. Both roll to see if/how the strike was coming in and.... both rolled a "one" at the same time! In Bolt Action, that means the incoming aircraft mistake their own forces as targets and the opposing player(s) (In this case Tony and I) got to pick their targets instead! Whilst the ensuing airstrikes didn't kill all that much (Mostly due to both German forces being Veteran skill level throughout for the most part), they caused enough pins on the German units to be really annoying.

3. Kat's lone remaining Veteran Grenadier that had been withstanding a withering hail of small arms fire and yet surviving all of it, was eventually charged by Tony's 6-man Naval squad and forced to defend himself in close combat! Of course, Tony rolled not one dice enough to take the bugger out and Kat in turn did just enough to win the combat, wiping out all 6 sailors with a cheeky grin on her face. (She now has a reputation for this sort of shenanigan after doing similarly against me in my previous matchup against her)

4. My Medium Mortar team refused to come in from reserves 3 turns in a row.... Then when it finally set up for a shot, ranged in first time and annihilated the remainder of a 5-man Veteran Grenadiers squad. (The Commissar had just brought out his pistol to execute traitors to the Motherland as well...)

5. The last two turns of the day saw a KV-1 tank (Borrowed from Jason, a very nice chap) brought on from my post-game reserves come on over on the Factory table to tackle some nasty stubborn German StuG (that had a heavy howitzer!?), but it couldn't penetrate the makeshift tankhunter's extra-thick armour; and Tony's Ampulet team come on on the same board, paddling an inflatable raft up a sewerage canal and try to lob globes of firey death at the StuG (Also to no effect.). This in turn caused Craig (The StuG's owner) to angrily pick up his tank and claim "It wouldn't stick around". Needless to say, he didn't enjoy the game. LOL.

In the end the day was an emphatic overall Soviet victory and called off early, with the Commies holding all three main objectives and really piling the hurt on the poor Germans. Also, it seems the Luftwaffe were on drugs or something that day because as well as the two fouled-up airstrikes on our table, a 3rd was called in and also fouled up (Destroying it's own German gun team I think) on the Tractor Factory table too, along with a general strafing of the whole board after the 1st round that hit absolutely nothing. (!?)

The winner of the event was... me, with 11 kills for the day, 3 of my own units in my opponent's deployment zone and our main objective taken (And had the game gone on one more turn I would have grabbed one of the German secondary objectives too.).  My first time winning a gaming event too. With my in-store credit that I received as reward, I quickly spent it prior to heading home, leaving with a new Warlord plastic KV-1/2 tank kit, a Soviet Anti-tank Dogs team, Soviet Heavy Mortar team, a 2nd red orders dice set (So I can play armies larger than 12 units total.) and the below Rubicon Models Soviet Studebaker truck (That I glued together last night.). A fine haul!

If you got down to this part, then congrats, didn't realise this was going to end up so wordy!

The paint table is a little cluttered right now with many project on the go at the same time. I think a little non-WW2 is in order to clean off my hobby palette?

Comrade! (Part 26 - We're not gonna make it!)

My painting opportunities this week ended up being far fewer than anticipated, so this is where these four fellows have gotten to. Still skin/eyes/hair and some tidy-ups here and there to get done and then of course snow effects added to their bases to go.

But, with my regular rpg session taking up this evening, that leaves me with about 30 mins after I get home from work tonight to get all that done!

O_o

Yikes.

I take it back, the two on the right already have their skin/hair/eyes done. So perhaps not so insurmountable a task? Maybe some 2am painting post-rpg'ing will be enough!?

8th Army 6-Pounder Anti-Tank Gun Portee and the end of the 6MMRPC!

Over the weekend I finished painting up my North Africa 6-pounder Anti-Tank gun Portees Platoon. I will never paint another one of these again…. ~_~ Annoying as all hell – fiddly bloody monstrosities. This leaves only the two Motor infantry platoons to paint and then any trucks I might be able to fit in before the March 14^th tournament! Wish me luck…

The complete platoon. Now they're finished, I think they look rather badarse.

Platoon Commander and his jeep - had to free-hand the numbered marking and tried out a Battlefront Desert Rats decal. Those decals are too damned big. Again.

 

Like my Heavy Machine Gun Platoon, I stuck the unit's numbered badge on the rear of the base for easier recognition on the tabletop.

The trucks from the front. All unit markings were painted freehand. I didn't even want to deal with the stress of trying to paint accurate Desert Rats symbols and so they ended up being red square, white circle-ish and a red squiggle in the middle. It'll do from far away.

The trucks, guns and bases were all magnetised so I could switch out easily the guns for...

... both the mounted...

... and the dis-mounted versions.

The gunner's position on the base whilst not the best looking, makes for adding or taking off the 6-pdr guns a LOT easier and so I'll hopefully limit possible opportunities to damage or scrape of paint.

Haven't seen one of these in a while, eh? This is where my paint progress is on this project. Not bad at all I think! 

Also, the 6 Month Mountain Reduction Painting Challenge (6MMRPC) Is over as of…. Today? Yesterday? Below is a swift summary of the challenge rules and whether I did my usual on these type challenges and allowed all self discipline fall apart!

*The below was copied directly from Dave Brawley’s great blog “Towerof the Archmage” and my own answers thereafter.*

#6MMRPC: Round 1 complete!

This post marks the completion of the inaugural round of the 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge. Let's see how I did...

The rules, beginning September 1st, are as follows:

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, EXCEPT if you use a joker card. Like in a deck of cards, you get two jokers to use on a figure purchase during the six months of the challenge. Could be a blister pack, an ebay bundle, or a single figure...you can't splurge.

SUCCESS! I used both Jokers on my two ACW Ebay lot purchases. I also received my Reaper Bones 2 Kickstarter stuff, but as I pledged for it prior to the commencement of the Challenge it doesn’t count.

2. Gifts do not count against you. Christmas and or birthdays etc. Also, if you're given gift cards by your hobby illiterate family or friends, you can without penalty use them on anything you want miniatures wise. 

SUCCESS! Don’t think I got any gifts. Maybe. Nope. Not minis in any case. I think.

3. Paints, terrain (or materials), and other hobby supplies do not apply to the no purchasing rule.

SUCCESS! Plenty of paints and so forth, some terrain and a couple books – all fall under this one.

4. At least one hobby related blog post and/or Instagram update a week. If you Instagram, be sure to hashtag your pic with #6MMRPC 

MINOR FAILURE! Now, if number of posts were to equal one a week, I believe I was good here. (Including this final post – I managed to get in 34 posts in 6 months) But there were a few weeks where I didn’t manage to get a post in within the 7 day limit, but did post up an update soon after. Maybe I get a ½ point for this one….?

5. Zombtober will be part of the 6 month challenge so, Zombie related stuff during October is ENCOURAGED!

SUCCESS! 8 Zombies were painted for Zomtober. 8 disgusting, rotten Zombies. My rpg sessions will be all the more colourful for them!

So what was my final mini count for the 6MMRPC? 16x 28mm, 68x 15mm Infantry and 29x 15mm vehicles. Not amazing, but certainly progress and that includes ¾ of my whole Flames of War 8^th Army North Africa company. I’m glad I went and signed up for this challenge. It helped me to keep a handle on my spending habits and I got to both paint stuff to remove it from my backlog and also spurred to stick up other long neglected projects on Ebay (There’ll be more of these set up in the very near future.) After I get these desert Brits off my paint queue, I’ll be moving away from 15mm for a bit to take a break from uniforms in general – most likely do my best to work on my rpg minis backlog. But…. That ACW project is staring me in the face, so who knows how long it’ll be until I get back to 15mm uniformed minis?

Will I sign on to a second challenge if it’s announced? Yes, I think I will (Though later in the year, if it’s held at that time.) – and my wife is happy for that too!