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Warhammer 40,000 – Big Weekend

As Coronasan’s whole female contingent had decamped to the US for 2 weekends we decided to get a couple of larger games in, while the cats were away as it were.

Weekend one was to be Warhammer 40,000 focused and would consist of a couple of games. One larger and one more normal in scale.

Weekend two would be a very large Steam Wars Game that we expected to take all day.

Coronasan has a report of the first fight we played on the first of our big weekends.  We pitted one Reaver Titan against all the Knights I could muster…

I started full of optimism and charged head long towards the mechanical behemoth. Only to find my knights dropping like flys as it swatted at them, and eventually flattened the last of them under its somewhat titanic feet…

A great little game and one we have talked about playing for years it seems…  Now ticked off the list for a while. At least until that itch needs scratching again!

The second game lasted slightly longer, but only just, as my Space marines (an Imperial Fist successor chapter) took on the Blood Angels.

My force was a fast detachment of jump troops and Landspeeders and an elite detachment of Terminators, Vanguard jump troopers and Sternguard riflemen.

With the Blood Angels having almost as many late deploying troopers as I did we expected the lines to be blurred from the start.  My terminators and their Librarian deployed behind the Blood Angels main line and the Blood Angels Jump Troopers and Terminators dropped behind my own troops.

It was down to weight of numbers in the end with the larger Blood Angels units carrying the day and clearing the smaller elite units out of their defensive positions fairly quickly.

My Vanguard were unable to charge due to some very poor dice rolling after they deployed.  Before they were even able to regroup, they were out flanked and wiped from the battlefield in only one turn.

Two losses in one weekend…  A major defeat but a good time had all the same.

Steam Wars – Getting My Game On

I hope you are a grateful lot! I have decided to forgo good painting time (lets not mention that the shed thermometer is only currently showing at 6 degrees at the moment, and I can’t be bothered to heat it up tonight). All to get more words on the page for you, my loving audience…

We managed to get our warm up game of Steam Wars in before this slightly chillier turn in the weather.  My US Navy played Coronasan’s British Steampunk forces and both sides were tasked with retrieval of an item of enemy tech.  Deployment was corner to corner so the forces were deployed as far from each other as was possible on the table.

The US fast moving troops were first into action, with the roller bots and aircraft, along with my new Rocketmen, leading the way.

The British treadbikers are usually pretty fast off the mark, but deployed behind their tanks today, and waited for my aircraft to come into range. Their general knowing very well that he had limited units that could target the US flying machines.

His own rocket pack infantry were planning to stay well hidden, ready for a last minute charge if the US fliers came too close.

As the US forces moved forward the British found the terrain was funnelling them towards the easiest crossing point at the bridge.  This was to be the focus for much of the battle.

The British had brought plenty of transports for their infantry and tried to protect them with the cover of the village.  This worked well, for most of the US forces were unable to draw a line of fire to them.  The US air corps were less restricted though and braved the MGs of the British treadbikers  to try to drop their ordinance on the open topped carriers.

Encouraged by some early successes the US air corps led the way.

Flying deeper into enemy territory.

But only to become targets themselves of the British jump troopers.

As the first of the US air units spiralled to the fields below, the US Rocketmen exacted their revenge and counter charged the British.

The centre of the table was a bloody battlefield in the end with units from both sides never to leave the bridge or riverbank.

The US by now had the upper hand but the British still had some reinforcements that were yet to enter the field.

As the US were starting to push forward again the British deployed their reinforcements by drop pod. As they screamed to earth behind the US defences, and with only one unit between them and the objective, the British made their last push.

With many of the US troopers distracted by the remains of the British land force the Drop pod opened and its crew rushed forth.

A valiant effort but out gunned in the last push they went down fighting and reminded the US troopers that, even in defeat, the British will always be a stubborn and tenacious opponent…

 

Steam Wars – Prepping For Our Next Game

Another couple of weeks without a post and the guilt is upon me again.  Best to do something about it before it gets to be too long and I forget what I have done.

The last few weeks have been surprisingly busy. Not on the blog front (obviously) but I have been almost too busy with completing hobby stuff to find time to write these words!  I have taken a few photos though, and played a couple of games in that time as well.  I have even painted a few neglected models, though I suspect that as I haven’t bought many recently, most of my collection is now likely to be classed as neglected.

We planned a warm up game of Steam Wars, so that we could remind ourselves of the rules (even the rules we write become forgotten when not played regularly) as a larger game was planned for later the same month.

My plan was to add in a few new units to the US Navy army so that they could be trialled in this smaller warm up game and then used with better results in what was planned to be a ‘big weekend’ of Steam Wars.

Also some of the other units that had been finished over the summer, but never deployed, would get their first outing in the warm up and either prove their worth or be reprofiled to play better in the bigger game. The joy of Steam Wars is the ability to profile up the units and vehicles as and how you want.

Want your Monowheel tank to be armed with Quad Ack Ack? – fine.  Want it to better its chances of hitting? – play it as being armed with two sets of ‘Twin Linked’ Ack Ack.

It also afforded me the excuse (not that I need one) of painting up the last of my Pulp Figures Rocketmen.  My last unit of these were SMG armed fly boys, and can deliver a good number of shots up close to any target.  These guys are pistol toting fly boys and are more close combat orientated.  We have found that a flying unit is difficult to destroy using traditional land based firearms. however, flying up to the aircraft and shooting the pilot in the head seems to do the trick quite well.

I will let you know how the actual game goes when I next get time to post something…

 

It lives…

It happens every year! The summer lull in hobby activity seems to be a global thing.  The number of posts that start in September or October with the words…  I’m still alive, or…  sorry for the lack of posts, always makes me smile and realise I am not alone.

So…

Sorry but I am back and sadly I’m not dead yet… therefore prepare your self for even more rubbish being shouted from the insides of a garden shed (as long as the good lady lets me go out there every so often!)

I have to say that this year it seems to have been that much harder to get back into the routine of posting than usual…  Why? Well I am glad you asked…

D I bloody Y…  She who commands the back door keys wanted to get some spring cleaning and DIY done this year, so talked me into a late summer project involving a whole lot of white and magnolia paint.  The hallway, stairway (not to heaven) and landing changed over the course of a week from chocolate brown to good ol’ maggi (5 coats later it finally looks ok).

As a softener she did take us away for a week beforehand.  Budapest and Prague, two cities that I would be happy to return to but I think I walked up every bell tower in each town just so she who knows best could be photographed from the top (she’s down there in the square somewhere while I’m panting and collapsing at the top of 300 stairs…)

when my vision finally cleared I have to say both cities are perfect if you like your gothic architecture.

The photographer is an amateur but the sunsets are magnificent.

You get plenty of dirt after a few hundred years, they need a new window cleaner methinks…

Prague’s famous spires.

A clock that gathers 2000 spectators when it chimes (we arrived on the day it opened after 6 weeks of renovations).

Both cities have picturesque but very wet rivers.

Since getting back and finishing the DIY I have managed to get a few games in…  Plain old Bolt Action.

And a game of Konflict ’47 (Bolt Action with robots and lasers…)

Next up we might have agreed to play Steam Wars again!  Why?  Because the rules are now available HERE for free if you want to try it for yourselves…

Steam Wars – Martian Craters Complete (I Think)

Painting lots of craters in red by hand gets a bit tedious in the end…  Even with a 1 inch paintbrush!  Once they are done though, what felt a bit like hard work, proves to be worth it.

The BBQ also doubles up as a great drying area for jobs that, in the end, would just clutter up my small painting space.

Once the dry brushing and washing was done they were reunited with their smaller cousins.

I also managed to get a better photo of the craters and the flesh tone highlights.

On the table they match nicely.  Giving low level, surface terrain, offering cover to small units but without blocking many lines of sight.

I now have plenty to get the full 6 feet of table sufficiently covered but without being too cluttered.

I still need to find some blocking terrain pieces (likely more derelict structures or crashed craft of some sort). I also want to get a few bunkers/ shaft tops that will go someway towards finishing the table.

I have a picture in my head of an advanced civilisation (the Martian overlords) that have retreated to a subterranean city, to avoid the harsh surface of the planet.  A planet surface strewn with crashed space craft that are stripped bare to supply plenty of off world tech that the Martians use to advance their own knowledge.

Do the Martians instigate their wars against these other planets, just to draw more craft to the inhospitable surface of their home world?

Steam Wars – Fair Weather Undercoating The Crashed Airship Scenery And Some Plinths

As the weather was holding up this week I decided to spray a few pieces with a base colour.  In hindsight, which is always 20:20, it was slightly too windy at the BBQ for spraying and I suspect more paint was blown into my neighbours yard than onto any models…

I did manage to get the Airship base coated in silver though.

Army Painter, like most sprays these days goes onto MDF well, with no real loss of colour by the base materials absorption of the moisture.

As I had my silver spray can out, a couple of figures that have been slated for use as statues, got done at the same time.  Along with a couple of Coronasan’s new MDF plinth designs.

These were test pieces, knocked up quickly, to see if the builds were fitting together correctly. He handed them to me, to paint up while he was on holiday, in order to see how they finished up.  I popped the base off one to get a different base colour onto it. The other was too firmly stuck to paint separately.

One plinth is designed for a 25mm base the other for a 40mm base (sods law says I based these two figures on 32mm bases just before he gave them to me.  All these bits should get some more attention over the next few days…

Steam Wars – Martian Scenery

With the Martian red earth craters now well under way, I have been looking at other items that might be usable as Martian scenery.  I have a few ideas lined up, including some bunkers and shaft tops, that I might get Coronasan to draw up for the laser cutter. However, before these get done, an item that has been in a drawer for a week or so has to be made up and prepped for use…

The item in question is an airship frame from an MDF kit maker/ Steampunk Art site that I discovered recently online.

The kit was more complex to construct than I had expected, as the few parts that make it up all need to be held together while the others are added. You probably need 15 fingers or a couple of rubber bands (I used rubber bands as I could not find any spare fingers…) It is worth the effort though as the resulting airship is a good size and has a nice traditional shape.

A spare yellow Space Marine is used here for scale. As per usual, I had just put all the Steam Wars figures away.  Thankfully I had just gotten out all my unpainted 40k stuff in order to either box it up or sell it on.

However nice this airship is, I had other plans for it…  A few brutal snips from my clippers and the job was done…  One crashed airship ready to be strewn across the surface of Mars. A reminder to all other earthling invaders that they will not be tolerated on the Martian home world.

The question now is, do I base it, or leave it unbased so that it can be used on normal ‘green’ wargames table?  Suitable as cover for small units (perfect for the 5-6 man Steam Wars units) but not blocking line of sight too completely that it obstructs gameplay.

What ever I decide this is now ready for the undercoating pile, which should be quite high up on the list of things to do, before the weather starts to fail me again…

Steam Wars – Martian Red Earth Craters

Well, one down side to owning a very nice red Martian earth wargames mat, is that green hills and scenery looks a tad ‘off’ when used on it…

The answer is to make my scenery red.

I have started these small craters in order to try and learn the combination that is needed (paint and wash wise) to get a similar red tone to the mat.

My final effort is a GW cracked red earth paint (thinned down to make it crack less) with a GW orange shade wash.  To take some of the shine off and to lighten the overall colour a touch, I have dry brushed some GW flesh tone on the out side of the crater only. All this was done with the biggest brush that I own, so no finesse or detail work to be found here…

I will need to varnish them and then add a coat of matte spray, as presently they are a bit too shiny.  All these photos were taken at the same time, but from 3 distinct angles.  I find it interesting that the colour they throw off is different in each shot.

I have a couple more of these to do, so should really get off the computer and back to the grind.  There is something strangely soothing about painting with an inch wide brush.

Organising My Store Cupboard – A Riveting Tale

My OCD has been itching like anything while I have been sorting out my figure cases.  So much so, that I ordered some cheap pop rivets, D rings and key fobs off the internet.  These were acquired so that I could label the cases in a way that would not fall off all over the place like their existing stickers do.

Its slightly sad, but very satisfying, to know that both sides of the metal cases are now labelled securely.  This way, whichever way I put them back in the cupboard, there will always be a label to the front…

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights Missile Pods

A while ago I got a few comments suggesting that the proxy Missile Pod that I made for the Imperial Knights might look good if it was double height.  A great suggestion that I hadn’t considered, so I scoured eBay again and found that all the deals I had seen for the parts I needed were no longer available.  A little time and patience has sourced only one more rocket set so far…

A quick mock up shows me 2 important things…  1) That I have not even managed to paint the original yet, despite it being on the paint table for a couple of weeks and a simple job to finish… 2) That I will need 2 more if I am going to get all 3 of my larger Knights tooled up in this way…

For now I will make it up as a single layer pod so it can be used on the third Knight.  When I find a couple more on eBay, I will add them to the (hopefully by then finished) missile racks and have the pods looking exactly how I wanted.