Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Sunday's - Not So Much Of a Game - Report


So Sunday I was meant to be facing Dave's Daemons in helping sorting out little battles for a Campaign with a Wargames club in Swindon. I had a pretty standard 1,000pts of my Ogres lined up on the table ready for battle. My list looked like this;

  • Level 1 Firebelly
  • 5 x Ironguts
  • 6 x Ogres (w/ Ironfists)
  • 4 x Leadbelchers
  • 2 x Mournfang (Heavy Armour, Ironfists)
  • 1 x Ironblaster
My objective for this small mission was to get at least one unit off the opposite short table while the Daemons ambushed on a randomly selected side of the board. Unfortunately though Dave had injured himself before the game and he had to head home, completely understandable because let's be honest your health is more important that a few toy soldiers...

So James (who I faced in the Tourney a few weeks back) took over but the game was pretty much over before it began. The Mournfang deployed completely away from the Daemons and basically marched all the way down the table without any of the Daemons having a chance of catching them. We knew the game was going to be over pretty quickly but it was a bit dissapointing it finished that quick.

My bad-luck with cannons in Fantasy continued as my Ironblaster decided to explode and destroy itself in the first shooting phase! I cannont remember ever landing a decent shot with any of my cannons (Ogres or Empire).

So my trip out to Blyth was pretty short on Sunday, it wasn't all too bad though as I ended up picking up a box of Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) Germany Heavy Weapons for my Volksgrenadier list and a lone PSC StuG G to fill out my StuG G platoon. Having my day cut short I spent Sunday assembling the StuG G, it was a little more fiddly to the Open Fire StuGs but for the cost it's definitely worth it.

This week and hopefully most of the weekend I'm going to continue to power through the rest of my Volksgrenadier Company infantry and then I can make a start on the Pak 40s and Flak43s, once they're all built and made the next purchases can be made and I'm hoping by the end of March the whole of my Volks army will be finished and fully painted! That's the plan anyway.

Also it was awesome to be mentioned in the BlogExchange at Faeit 212! It's a great blog with the latest GW News and Rumours but I'm sure most of you know who they are anyway.

Until next time, keep on reading!

Chalmers


Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Next Game

So while I've been busy painting and sorting out my Flames of War army it doesn't mean Fantasy has taken a back step. Sunday I've got two 1,000 point games to help David in his WFB campaign that he's participating in with Swindon Wargames club. So I gave Dave a list of Armies I could field at 1,000pts (Lizardmen, Empire or Ogres) and he chose the Ogres with the following rules for the day.

Sunday 23rd February - Ogres - 1000 points - two games.
First game is an attack from Chaos Demons while your travelling along a road, center table, length ways.

You throw a D3 for the number of artillery dice inches your units get on table. Game ends when you have a unit leave the far edge or Turn 6.

Second your defending a village on your table edge. Game ends turn 6.
Should be good I've never done a 1,000pts for Ogres before but looking at the different options I'm sure I'll be able to get something decent against his Chaos Daemons. I know for a fact my general is going to be the Firebelly and I'll be sure to have some Ironguts, Ogres, Leadbelchers and Mournfang. That should probably drop me bang on the 1K mark.

I know I've never shown my Ogres, so here's the only pics I have on my phone for them. I'm going to be getting the girlfriend's new Digital SLR Camera out this weekend and have a play around to get photographing everything properly. So anyway here's Murlag-Burl's Mountain Dwellers.

Firebelly
Ironguts
Ogre Bulls
Leadbelchers (Mournfang in the back)

StuG G Finished

So last night I stayed up and finished all three StuG Gs, I took a risk and instead of finding the Vallejo Brown/Sepia Wash I used the GW Agrax Earthshade and it worked wonders. Once I got into a swing of painting all three it really worked wonders and just as I finished one step on the last tank the first tank was ready for the next step.

I'm not too sure how to make them more wintery though for the Volksgrenadiers. Was going to try Winter Foliage but cannot think of how I'd do it. Maybe some lichen with snow glued on top? I also love the use of Typhus Corrosion on the tracks to make them instantly muddy, I picked up a pot of this when it first came out but never really had a chance of using it until last night properly. After watching Band of Brothers last night and watching the Bulge battle of Foy I noticed how muddy the roads and tracks were so thought the Stugs would look good with the muddy tracks.

I just need one more StuG G for my Volks Tank-Hunter Platoon and I should be getting it on Sunday with one of the Plastic Soldier Company reinforcement single StuG models. Hopefully against the Battlefront trio it should look fine. I'll also be getting the Plastic Solider Company German Heavy Weapon box set too. I'm not sure whether they'll be useable for the Winter Volks I'll have to see the uniforms. Hopefully I'll be able to use the Winter Jackets/Splinter Camo Leggings or visa-versa and they'll look ok. If not I'm sure I'll be able to find some use for them!

StuG G Heaven!

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

First Volks Completed

Good morning fellow wargamers! Hope you're all going well and having a grand week? The first base for my Volksgrenadier is completed and another just needs the greenstuff covering and painted! With the scale being so small I'm finding it pretty quick to paint bases of five men, these two bases have been done over about three nights of on-off painting so I'm pretty pleased. I think with the week to myself as the girlfriend is on nights I might be able to rattle through quite a few of the squads.



I'm really pleased with this squad, including the ability to do splinter camo at such a small scale. Last night I basecoated the tree Stugs that came with my Open Fire box set. I worked on one yesterday which got a full layer of Middlestone and then added some camo patterns with the Vallejo German Cam Medium Brown and Luftwaffe Cam Green. I'm pleased with how it came out but I need to work out what wash to give it to bring out some of the shading, I think I'll need a Vallejo Brown Wash but I've not got one yet so will need to pick it up soon.

Tonight I'm hoping to do the other two Stugs up to a pre-wash state. Then I'll cover the greenstuff on the second base and prep and basecoat the next three stands worth of men. I'm really enjoying these all and even at a smaller scale, which worried me at first, I'm enjoying painting the guys.

I've still got the Flak43 Blister to build at some point, I also ordered the Winter Themed Pak40s last week which arrived yesterday. They'll be the next things to do after the infantry and Stugs and after that it'll be the HMG, Artillery Battery and the Anti-Infantry guns and that'll be the whole army sorted ready for battle.

It's definitely worthwhile doing the purchasing, building and painting in batches. I was worried I would do what I normally do and get a huge army and then get bogged down by painting and soon become bored. I'm already looking at my next FOW army and it'll either be an easy to build and paint Russian T34 Tank Horde or a Early War Japanese army.

But before then it's going to be focusing on the Volks and then learning the rules!

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Volks Update

So the last couple of nights I've been working on my Volksgrenadier. Unfortunately having been away the weekend all the bases and figures have sat on my desk upstairs awaiting my return. All the bases went straight into the sink to be washed, I've decided it would be easier to paint the bases and models individually and then assemble the final painted sections together.

I've trimmed all the flash off the Volks, and believe me there was alot, and they're now ready to be washed and then they'll be attached in groups of five, basically in groups for each base, onto ice-lolly sticks so they can be batched painted with ease.

So the bases are a joy to paint, with the weather being so shite at the moment - hell we even had snow last night, and having nowhere to spray undercoat I've been using the GW Imperial Primer which has been a dream for such a small scale. It means I can easily coat the models and not apply too much at the same time. It's a little more time consuming but if I waited for time to spray them I think I would be waiting until summer for that. So I've finished the first five bases and tonight I'll make a start on the five squads that will go on each base.

One thing I have noticed and Kerr&King did warn about is that the Battlefront Flames of War models are a little too big for the bases. It's a pain and a little time consuming but I can trim down the bases and make sure they fit. I'll then need to fill in the gaps with some PVA and sand, I have seen some people suggest Vallejo Pumice but I've never tried it before, it might be a future purchase down the line of it's really a struggle for the PVA and Sand on the bases.

Hopefully tonight I'll have the first five squads, washed, trimmed down and basecoated. I'll get some pictures up soon!

 

Friday, 7 February 2014

Finally Starting Flames of War

What's this? You're waiting for a blog post for ages and two come along in the same day. So the past week I've been putting the finishing touches to my first Flames of War list. With the help of the historical guys at NAG I've chopped and changed to finally decide on the 12th Volksgrenadierkompanie from the NUTS! Book. A big decision of this was the winter Germans, I love all the models that have been released and cannot wait to get painting the winter uniforms and snow effects.

First Purchases Are Made!


I'll be splitting the purchases up over the next couple of months, so far the Volksgrenadier Company box set and Flak43s have been ordered and arrived yesterday. Last night I took the plunge and ordered all the paints I need for the Volks, mainly winter camo and splinter camo which at 15mm is going to be putting me right to the test. I've decided to base all of my models on Urban ruins from Kerr&King hopefully I can get some really good looking pieces with Pak40s hiding in the ruins of a building. At the moment I've ordered bases which will be enough for the whole Volks Company and FlaK43 unit.

Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Infantry Goodness

With the weather being miserable at the moment I've had a bit of a tough time priming anything, I've got 40 Saurus Warriors that have been prepped in my spraying box for the past fortnight and they're still plastic and hidden away in the wardrobe. Though I used the GW Imperial Black Primer Pot on a Pak40 from the Open Fire! Box Set to see what the results were. Thankfully with the size of the models it's alot easier to paint on and prime the models like this so I can see getting some of the Volks primed and painted like that while the weather is bad.

Here's the list I've got sorted, thanks to the Historical guys from NAG who gave me a helping hand.

  Confident    Veteran   Volksgrenadierkompanie (12.)
People's Grenadier Company
German Late-War
Infantry Company
PlatoonQtyUnitPoints
Headquarters
Volksgrenadierkompanie HQ (12.) p.47
2
3
Cmd Panzerfaust Assault Rifle team
Panzerschreck team
155
Combat Platoons
Volksgrenadier Sturm Platoon (12.) p.47
1
4
2
1
Cmd Panzerfaust Assault Rifle team
Panzerfaust Assault Rifle team
Panzerfaust MG team
Panzerschreck team
295
Volksgrenadier Schützen Platoon (12.) p.47
1
6
1
Cmd Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team
Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team
Panzerschreck team
245
Weapons Platoons
Volks Infantry Gun Platoon (12.) p.48
1
1
4
Cmd SMG team
Observer Rifle team
7.5cm IG37 gun
120
Volks Machine-gun Platoon (12.) p.49
1
4
Cmd Panzerfaust SMG team
MG42 HMG
145
Divisional Support
Volks Tank-hunter Platoon (12.) p.50
4StuG G or StuG IV380
Volks Anti-tank Gun Platoon (12.) p.50
1
3
Cmd SMG team
7.5cm PaK40 gun
155
Volks Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon (12.) p.51
1
3
Cmd SMG team
3.7cm Flak43 gun
100
Volks Light Artillery Battery (12.) p.52
1
1
1
3
Cmd SMG team
Staff team
Observer Rifle team
10.5cm leFH18/40 howitzer
155
Company Points:1750
www.EasyArmy.com Source document: Nuts Book

NAG Tourne

A-Hoy-Hoy fellow readers, I've been rather busy the past couple of weeks working on the same database day in and day out at work which has sucked all life out of me...but I'm back and better than ever! So what have I been up to in the past couple of weeks then?

Well the Lizardmen army is slowly beginning to grow into a huge force, after winning two metal Salamanders and four metal Terradons on eBay for the paltry sum of £10 I've got them fully stripped, broken down and reassembled ready for priming. One of the Terradons has a huge hole where the metal body and wing would not meet up so I'll be venturing into my first forays of green stuff, granted it's just to fill a hole but you've got to start somewhere right? The first unit of Skink skirmishes have been finished, bar finishing off the basing.

The Skinks Are Coming!!!


So yeah they've got a pretty basic paint scheme going but they look pretty effective as a group, really need to get the camera set up rather than relying on the iPhone. I've started making a start on the Cold One Calvary I've got as well. I know they're not the grestest units for Lizardmen but they're already primed, and I love the idea of Lizardmen riding Cold Ones, first tester model came out okay after doing a basecoat of Death World Forest and then bringing the green colour up using multiple heavy washes of Athonian Camoshade.

Apart from that I've participated in my first tourne! The gaming club up in Blyth, NAG held their quarterly Fantasy tournament and this time around we used the Swedish Comp rules, which I've got to admit was a bugger to compile a list from for Ogres. Basically it's a 2400pts Army, then you have a score of 300, for each unit and size of unit there's a specific deduction eg -10 for Lore of Death on a Slaughtermaster, after all the subtractions you then divide the score by 10 and you've got your comp score. For some armies it's alot easier than others and for the Ogres almost everything is comped quite highly, meaning I was struggling to get between the 8-14 score that was required. After dropping the Lore of Death for Beasts I managed a 10 list which I took last Sunday. The list was as followed;


+ Lords + (388pts) 

Slaughtermaster
Ironfists, Lore of Beasts, Wizard Level 4
Magic Items - Armour of Destiny, Staff of Sorcery, The Other Trickster's Shard

+ Heroes + (535pts) 

Bruiser
Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armour
Magic Items and Big Names - Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation

Bruiser      
Great Weapon, Light Armour
Magic Items and Big Names - Armour of Silvered Steel,Ironcurse Icon

Butcher     
Lore of the Great Maw, Wizard Level 2
Magic Items - Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin

+ Core + (698pts)

Gnoblars             
Gnoblar Trappers, 40x Gnoblars

Ironguts
Bellower, 7x Ironguts
Standard Bearer - Standard of Discipline

Ogres
Bellower, Ironfists, 7x Ogres
Standard Bearer - Look-out Gnoblar (Look-out Gnoblar (AB-32))

+ Special + (587pts)

Leadbelchers
Bellower, 5x Leadbelchers

Mournfang Cavalry     

Bellower, Heavy Armour, Ironfists, 4x Ogre
Standard Bearer - Dragonhide Banner

Sabretusk Pack

Sabretusk Pack

+ Rare + (170pts)

Ironblaster


So a pretty standard list which probably explains the 10 for the score for the list, however it was using things I already had so I didn't really have a chance to try something fluffy and less comped. So the games themselves... Won 1, Lost 1, Drew 1. Which for my first tournament/proper day of constant gaming I'm happy with.

GAME 1 - vs. Warriors of Chaos

In the first game I faced Martin(Sorry if I've got your name completely wrong!) and his Nurgle Warriors of Chaos. Along with the normal Warriors and a huge block of Marauders was two units of Skullcrushers, a Daemon Prince and two units of four trolls. Thankfully I got the first turn and used my Leadbelchers to take out one of the Trolls which in turn panicked the unit off the table. My Sabertusks did their usual run up the board to distract and one of them blocked off a full Troll and Dogs unit. Suprisingly the two units only managed a single wound and the Sabertusk ran away while the other Tusk stayed on the board the whole game being completely ignored and just running around aimlessly. The Mournfang showed their worth smashing through the other Troll and dog unit and overunning just two inches short of the Skullcrushers which meant next turn they were charged by both them and the Daemon Prince.

After the combat the Daemon Prince was left with two wounds and though the Mournfang lost and combat and were overran it meant both the DP and Skullcrushers were completely isolated in the corner of the table for the rest of the battle. The Ironguts and Ogres marched forward and chomped through the Warriors while the Gnoblar trappers stayed on the flank of the Ogres which meant the Marauders (who had been kept in the same place with the The Curse of Anraheir most of the game) couldn't side charge the Ogres. The Ironblaster did what he does best and fired through the ranks of the Warriors and the Leadbelchers were overan by the other unit of Skullcrushers again keeping them away from the rest of the battle.

As the time limit expired we totted up the totals and I had won by about 200 victory points giving me a 11-9 victory, however comp score difference was added to the total which ended up evening out the score and making it a 10-10 draw. Was a really enjoyable game and was my first experience of the Warriors of Chaos. The mark of Nurgle really screws around with combat with a -1 to hit all the time. I think, with it being my first game, I was definitely a bit more defensive than I should've been and it took a good few turns before combat occured which probably cost me dearly. I should've just done the traditional Ogre march and crush tactics rather than worry about being charged myself.

GAME 2 - vs. The Empire

Up next was a game against Jim and his Empire list. I was well and truly wiped off the table in this game with a 20-0 loss. Jim had a great list of Artillery (well they're Empire duh!) and the Lore of Metal which just tore shreds through my army. It started well with the Mourfang just ripping through his Demigryph Knights in the first turn. However with not really knowing the knowledge of the Lore of Metal spells I tried to dispel the wrong ones and it meant the more devastating spells tore apart of my units, buffed his and generally just outplayed the Ogres at every turn. So I thought I'd try and give him some artillery for good measure but I rolled a misfire first turn and it couldn't fire until Turn 3. His cannon took that opportunity to smash my Ironblaster to pieces before it could fire again, at least I thankfully took out the Helblaster before he could use it with the Flock of Doom.

After that it was fighting a lost cause, marching the two units up into his main forces I knew I would be outnumbered and soon experienced it with being charged in the flank, rear and front with horses, swords, halberds and everything else. Despite the Ogres putting up a valiant smash and stomp assault the numbers were too much and both units were over run. With only my Gnoblars and three Leadbelchers left on the table I conceded after being well and truly out tacticed and magiced (making up words now).


GAME 3 - vs. Daemons of Chaos


Finally was the game against fellow James' Tzeentch Lore-focused Daemons of Chaos. This was the funniest game I've played in my short venture of Warhammer Fantasy. Firstly the amount of casters that he had in the army was ridiculous and basically gave him the full spell list from the Lore of Tzeentch and Lore of Metal. Each channel attempt had him rolling 7-8 dice a time. 

So basically James sat back on his edge allowing me to march forwards, his Skull Cannon and my Ironblaster seemed to have a game of being the most friendly artillery you could find and almost offered each other to blow them up, unfortunately for me it was the Skull Cannon who finally found it’s mark and wiped the Ironblaster out. The Mournfang continued their rampage, which was a theme for the whole of the tournament and cleared out the harpies on the left, ran into the Skullcrushers and then overran into the unit of Pink Horrors behind them. The Ogres despite, being chaff blocked by flamers and furies, finally got through and ran into a unit of Bloodletters and wiped the full unit bar one. The Ironguts lined up their charge for the next turn and the Leadbelchers even marched forward. As was the theme of the game as a laugh the Gnoblars marched forced and charged a unit of Pink Horrors and being a 10-wide horde managed to win the combat much to the amusement of both of us. I wasn’t really expecting the Gnoblars to do much but they’ve definitely been a worthwhile investment for just 125 points!

Then the most annoying/funniest thing happened three times in row, despite James throwing 6 dice and most spells and not miscasting I threw three dice on a spell, three turns in a row and miscast every single time! Thankfully the Slaughtermaster and unit was decimated and despite rolling either 5-6 every time with the S10 hits I only cause a couple of wounds on the full unit and even wiped out one of his units that was in combat with! It’s got to be one of the unluckiest but funniest things I’ve had happen and I think James was frustrated that despite all of the miscasts I still had a full unit of Ogres running towards his units at the back of the table.

After finishing turn 5 and the tide of the battle very much in my favour James called it as a 20-0 to me, I don’t think it would’ve been that dominant if we had totted up all the totals and point costs. Also taking into consideration both his screamer units were on my side of the board but away from the battle, I think I was lucky to have the 20-0 but it was definitely a dominant display by the Ogres against the Daemons. The total randomness that happens with the Daemonic Instability can sometimes be laughable and also makes you feel a little sorry for the player.

After a full days gaming and three games I ended up finishing 7th out of 16! Not too shabby for my first ever tournament and was such a good experience against three very friendly players. I’m not sure how but I also won Best Sportsmanship! Thanks to Jim, James and Craig for all voting for me, it was great to play all three. At the end we were talking about sorting out a tourney for Feb/March time and the talk is about possibly doing 1500pts but the armies are already on the table and we get assigned a random table/army meaning you cannot tailor the armies to yourself and you have to learn how to play possibly an entire new army. Sounds really cool and I’ll definitely be up for it! It was nice to hear from a few of the guys that they read the blog, least it's getting some readership!

So yeah, two weeks and it’s been bloody busy but great fun at the same time! Now to focus on getting the Lizardmen painted up and hopefully at some point this blasted weather will hold up enough to get some priming done!