For Joshua - Part 2 (Command units and some bonus stuff!)

The second part of my effort for the For Joshua project are these two groups of Command minis. Again, minis are by Pendraken Miniatures in 10mm and have some fun details for being so small.

The first group are some Undead command characters. Jamie's undead units have read and black colourings so I went with the same on any clothing. Kind of gives them a classic British army feel to them I think. Yet to paint up a banner for the bearer, but that'll be in the package prior to posting to the UK.

The fat fellow on the far right is my fav, some sort of Nosferatu-style vampyre. How the club-waver in the middle is riding a scotty dog is no-one's business.

Second lot are a group of Necromancers, two still human, the other two more Liche-like with skeletal faces. The human sacrifice on the stone altar thing is a nice touch too. They'll add some nice magic options I hope to the baddies army.

Pic is a bit crap, could've sworn it looked better on the phone. You get the idea though.

I'll have these in the post this week, so they can get based by Jamie in his own scheme to match what he has already - Kind of looking forward to see all the figs I've painted ready for their game (Once this poxie stupid Corona Virus stupidity is done with) with the rest of the stuff Jamie already has.

These were pretty quick to get done, so I went back to a very neglected project and grabbed the Officer and Adjutant for my WW2 Dieppe Landing Brit Commandos and Canadians Regulars army  for Bolt Action and got them game ready.

The officer on the left is a BlackTreeDesigns British Paratrooper officer. His Adjutant is a Wargames Foundry Commando, great sculpt aside from his eyes - so squinty he looks like he's suffering terribly from allergies.

I felt that in those early days of the commandos that a former para would be a good choice to lead a force, to that end I painted up his denison smock to kind of look like Fieldmarshall Montgomery's in the below picture.

Not sure what'll grab my attention next, though I did slap a the beginnings of colour onto this Warhammer 40'000 statue terrain piece, though not sure when I'll get back to it. 

My first time trying out Games Workshop's Verdigris effect paint. Still lots of work yet to be done.

And that's it for now. With everything being cancelled left right and center of us all, it looks like I'll have lots of extra time on my hands, so expect more posts upcoming!

The Chaos Genestealer Cult Was Always a Thing (Part 4 - A New Year & more WIP's)

There’s a lot that’s been happening my end that explains my lack of posting these past months.

My lady and I got married, we also moved to a larger apartment and then add in all the traditional Holiday fun that comes with attending my wife’s family gatherings. No complaints from me on this though, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being welcomed into her family and returning those sentiments as best as I can.

On the hobby side of things, a New Year is here once more and I’ve at least not been completely idle, O no.

I’ve been slowly assembling some of the model kits I have sat on my hobby shelves in preparation for the projects I intend to get done this year.

 A Kellmorph for my Chaos Genestealer Cult from my Kill Team box. "Chaos" cos he has horns alright? Actually, I really liked the stock sculpt as is, but realised he would look like anyone else's and he also needed something "Chaos" about him, so yeah - horns. I like them, though there'll be some cursing as he tries to get through the lower doorjams.

Next, a Games Workshop Leman Russ tank that was a birthday gift last October from a very good friend. The kit doesn’t seem to have changed that much since the Leman Russ was first released (I got one on release day even) and went together pretty well. In lieu of the wholly uninspiring commander mini that is supplied on the sprue, I instead stuck in an old re-casted Forge World Imperial Guard tank commander that I’d had in my bits box for around the last 10 years. I’ve also added Genestealer Cult badges on it’s hulls and a Chaos back-banner cut down to show it’s leanings toward the Chaos god Khorne.

After that, I got inspired by the preview picture of a future supplement for Bolt Action, D-Day (Brit/Canadians) and began putting together a Warlord Games Churchill tank that I built as a Mark VI. The kit was not at all simple to assemble like the Leman Russ as the instructions were bloody vague. After a few evenings of cursing and fingers glued together, I finally ended up with this beast. Not a bad finished result and like the Leman Russ above, I used an alternate metal tank commander (Produced by CompanyB) as the one on the sprue was awful.

Somehow the rear didn't sit flush against the lower chassis, so I had to get creative and cut down sprue pieces to fill the gap. It'll do for me.

Lastly and assembly completed just last night, is this full section of Commonwealth infantry by Warlord Games for my Dieppe Landing project. These lot were a flippin pig to assemble and I had no fun at all during the process. Why on earth the designers thought that making all of the water canteens, pouches and so forth separate was a good idea, or that separate arms and weapons was “fun”, I have no idea… I’m not even sure I’ll make the remaining 15 in the box the process was so painful. Any future additions to my commonwealth will be metals for sure, though once done this ten-man squad at least looks half decent.

And that's it for the now. New place doesn't have a spot to spray paint at and I'm not sure I could get away with trying to do so on my balcony, but I'm going to see if I can't sneak in a late night effort. In the meantime, I'll be assembling more things to empty my shelves a little more and try to get posts up at least once a month as that's not really asking too much now, is it???

Something fishy (Part 1 - Carcharodon Primaris WIP, and a few other tidbits)

Hobby mojo has been sputtering at best since my last post. I've sat multiple times to try and work on those poor unloved Winter Germans and.... well nothing.

Then a good mate at work got into the new Warhammer40k edition and it got me nostalgic. Worse still,  it got me appreciating the new space marine Primaris sculpts as they were the "larger-than-life" superhuman combat monsters that the fluff always described, but that never really felt correctly represented by the model range produced up until these new releases. Whilst i didn't go nuts and start a new army or anything so silly, i did pick up a (very affordable) handful of these cool new space marines - just because.

Here's the first in the Carcharodons scheme. (Carcharodons now the new name for the old school "Space Sharks" chapter of space marines.) I read the recently released Black Library novel my James McNiven: Carcharodons Red Tithe and got sudden inspiration to paint my newly acquired armoured giants in the livery of these secretive and brutal (Dare I say it, more brutal than the famed Space Wolves?) wanderers in space.

This sculpt is one of the lieutenants from the current 40k starter set, easy to assemble with lots of cool detail and WAY better proportions than the older marine range:

Couldn't fix the lighting on this one, so forgive the oversaturation.

Pre-head attachment. This pic to highlight both the naff freehanded chapter symbol and my first attempt at power-weapon effects.

Carcharodons/Space Sharks now have a strong Polynesian theme and adorn their armour and pale skin with islander style tattoo designs. Did a bit of research and had a go freehanding some on his pauldron. It'll do.

That's not all the painting ive done, i managed to get in a pitiful pair of Zomtober Zombies done to add to my growing group. Officer Douglas and Doctor Shaddix both succumbed to the virus whilst trying to hold out against the undead onslaught at the veterinary pratice that the good doctor resided at. Sadly it was an infected three toed sloth that got them both. Tragic.

I also managed to sneak in a 3rd zombie, Ms Stroker, still walking about town in mid-stroke apparently after being bitten trying to save wee Willy Finkle who was floating in the local County dipping pool. Little did she know he was just playing dead and waiting for a snack to come splashing his way.

My birthday came and went and with it my sanity, but that's a story for another time. For my birthday, my lovely mother gifted me a pair of books that I'd been coveting but had held off on picking up because they were from France and pretty steep in price after shipping. So there we are, more reference material for yet another Bolt Action project. The failed Dieppe Landing of 1942 by the allies was an awful disaster of an operation, but it helped the organisers of DDay to see mistakes never to repeat again. Unfortunately almost a 1/4 of the men sent never made it back - a horrid price to pay for lessons learnt. I also found the "Ranger at Dieppe" novel at my local library, which is an easy read and describes the newly founded US Rangers who were sent to the UK to learn Commando techniques so that the US could finally boast an elite special forces unit of their own. Armed with these I have gotten the urge to get working on my early/mid war Bolt Action army - watch this space.

Lastly, a small bit of non miniatures hobby painting. With halloween here as i type (and intermittently answer my front door to costumed children), i feel a small bit of pride as my son goes off in search of sweets  with his mates wearing a mask that i toiled over so he'll have the look he was hoping for. Here's me in the mask from last night, then afterward is the spawn in his whole nasty yucky chest beared ensemble.  About two hours went into this dollar store plain mask to get it to look as good as my patience and the medium to hand would allow. It'll do.

United We Conquer (Part 1 - test scheme)

As the title might suggest (to some), I worked a little on my first WW2 Commando fig for the small 500 point force I got for Xmas. This mini is produced by British company Wargames Foundry and was a simple piece to work on and a relatively well sculpted figure with minimal mold-lines to have to (mostly) clean up. (More on that below)

This fellow will represent my Forward Artillery Observer, calling in bombardments from ship-bourne guns - a free addition to most all British forces in Bolt Action.

This fellow is graced with a large nose. 

Unit and rank markings were swiftly applied and not at all in any effort other than to represent the black & red badges of the commandos. On the tabletop no one can see them properly anyhow.

I've no idea what the black/grey thing wrapped about his chest is supposed to be or which colour I should have painted it. I looked through my small WW2 library and searched Google and could find nothing on them. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Remember when I mentioned mold lines? Yeah.... I missed a crap load on this piece and for some reason didn't even see them until I took these pics. Bah...

This paint job was fast and dirty and I think the other 25 Commandos in the force will paint up quite quickly like this. It's a bit sloppy but good enough for gaming. I like to think of these boys as being a 1940-ish Channel Isles raiding force!

As an aside, these boys got dunked into the stripping fluids this weekend. Blood Bowl fever has caught me - though I'll be saving my $$$ and not buy the new edition, instead, I'll play my old 2nd Edition rules. My son seems eager to play too, so that's a bonus. :)

Got these when 3rd Edition came out. As you can see, their paintjobs leave a lot to be desired. :/ New and improved Orcland Raiders coming to a blog near you soon!

Lots to talk about

*WARNING – LONG post ahead!*

Nice to have a 3-day weekend to spend on hobby pursuits! Feel like I got lots done as well.

Sunday I had a game of Chain of Command planned with my mate Stewart and needed to paint up a platoon of 15mm WW2 British infantry along with some infantry support teams (Flame thrower, PIAT Anti-Tank and the like.).  Just tabletop quality paint job as time was of the essence.

Enough for a game of Chain of Command plus some Flames of War vehicles if required. (Please note the sexi freehand star on the bonnet of that jeep. Mad skillz.)

The game itself was a load of fun. Stewart hosted and we got to play on his very nice Western Europe setup. The mission rolled for was plain old “Patrol” – essentially a German Heer infantry platoon and British infantry platoon are sent out ahead of their main forces to see what’s going on in a French village. We didn’t have many resource points to spend on support units and so Stewart picked up an Adjutant to bolster his officer cadre and (If memory serves correctly) a Panzerschreck team. I in turn chose a solitary Universal Carrier with mounted Bren Gun, hoping it’s greater mobility would offer broader options. The rest of the platoons were pretty much mirrored otherwise: Officer, 3x 10-man infantry squads, light mortar team and for me a PIAT team.

In an effort to make a good narrative, I decided my initial deployment during the “Patrol phase” would stem out of the bocage in the lower left of the board. After some maneuvering deployment areas were sorted and we got going. The game was pretty brutal and bloody and for almost the first 5 or 6 phases it was certainly going my way. Then Stewart started wounding or taking out my squad leaders and stalled my carefully laid assault altogether! In the end, it was declared a draw and we decided that after our brief firefight that our bloodied lads sensibly withdrew to call up armoured assets to flush out any remaining enemy or perhaps just shell the hell out of the settlement and level it altogether!

My deployment points in blue.

Stew's own in red.

My initial troops are deployed. (The red box around the lower right house was supposed to be blue.... No idea how it came out red?) I brought on two infantry squads, one on the left, one hunkered down in the house at the crossing and my light mortar team in support in the center. Stewart brought on his own mortar behind the trees top left and his Lieutenant and a 2nd infantry platoon in the center.

My universal carrier comes on and some movement happens. 

(Again with the red box when it should be blue on that house!?) My reserves start arriving, a second squad on the left in support of my push to threaten Stewart's deployment point and my platoon Sergeant to bolster my light mortar. Stewart's own  2nd and 3rd infantry squads come out to play. 

The Brits make a push over the left-most hill! And stall... withering fire injuring squad leaders! All game long my mortar tried to drop rounds on the enemy and scored.... absolutely no casualties. -__-  The Universal Carrier likewise did little to nothing with it's own Bren gun. Wasted resource points there then.

Managing to overcome the injuries to their Corporal, one of the left-most squads rushes the germans and forces them back(!!!), but in turn are left out in the open and now easy prey to the German squad int he center.

Masses of small arms fire is exchanged all over the field of battle. On my right, Stewart's 3rd infantry squad manage to assault my boys in the house at the crossroads! The hand-to-hand fighting is swift and deadly and whilst my brave lads are cut down to a man, they manage to cause enough casualties on the filthy Hun so that they bug out and run back into the woods! At this point we called the game as a draw, with both sides retreating out of the village to lick their wounds and call up support.

Sunday was my opportunity to play my first game with my Bolt Action Soviets on a proper-job Winter themed table and against a late war Winter themed German opponent! My opponent was Craig, a very nice fellow I met through the Sacrament Bolt Action Facebook group and we each slapped down 1000 point forces playing the mission “Heartbreak Ridge” which involved taking and holding objectives with lots of reserves to have to drop into the game as the initial turns of the game came about.

My force was my previously previewed painted Soviets . Craig brought a Lieutenant+adjutant, a  couple infantry squads (One in a half-track transport), Sniper team, Panzerschreck team and a bloody nasty Pather tank that became the MVP of the game.

The game was a swift one with Craig’s dice rolls being the champion of the battle – it just seemed like even though he required 6’s to hit on multiple occasions he regularly rolled 3 or 4 and passing would rolls aplenty! His own Panther tank taking out not only my own tank in the 1^st turn, but also a whole infantry squad and my ZIS-3 Anti-tank gun! My plan was pretty good, but I had to call it in the end after my infantry squads were either eliminated outright or just ran off after taking ugly casualties.  Even with so many losses on my side (I almost killed a mere single squad.) the game almost ended in a draw, but we rolled to see if there was to be a turn 7 and that game Craig the time to pick up a center objective and claim the victory.

A VERY fun game against a cool opponent and on a super cool table.

Craig's lovely set up at the game store.

He started with two infantry squads on the table.

The VERY nice ruined house with the center-most objective inside. This was an impressive and large resin piece, sadly out of print I think.

I start the game with my ZIS-3 AT gun and my Guards infantry squad.

The truck comes on in my first wave dropping off it's passenger cargo of my poor inexperienced squad. 

Those poor green boys would try to get forward but were no match for the output of small arms fire of their German opponents and bogged down in place for almost the whole game.

The Guards squad is tasked with securing the center objective, supported by a BA-64 Armoured Car.

Turn your head sideways (I couldn't get the picture to orient correctly for some reason) and you'll see that this horrible German Panther has taken a nasty shot at my poo T34/85, brewing it up before it even got to do anything! 

These germans had a field day blasting apart my poor inexperienced lads all game long.

W-A-Y back by Craig's elbow, behind the fuzzy log barrier is a Panzerschreck team. I could have sworn I eye-balled the distance between them and where I'd placed the armoured car correctly. Apparently not, an ambush shot took care of my plans. 

The Panther was king of the game. Here it is near center chasing down my poor Tank Riders. 

And..... I quit. With little to nothing left to threaten objectives, what remains of my force retreated. In bad order.

After painting all those 15mm Brit infantry I needed a distraction from tonnes of brown uniforms and so picked up the first of my Project Z miniatures (a Zombie Beast, some sort of large undead creature that came about as part of a scientific experiment or some such). I decided to go with a grey-green scheme for it’s skin as opposed to the sickly-yellow of my sci-fi zombies or yucky-green of my fantasy undead. It’s a really nice sculpt with crisp detail and the only really prominent mold lines were on it’s head (A separate piece to the main body). This mini only took me the span of me watching the new Magnificent 7 film to get done. I kept the scheme deliberately simple so future zombies for the project would end up being as swift to paint up. Kind of looking forward to working on some more!

Crappy yellow lines on the base to represent the middle of the road. They'll do.

Between the above infantry platoon and this zombie I'm already 40-odd minis painted for the year! 

That’s it – next post will feature some 28mm British Commandos I think. And maybe a zombie or two more.