Progress slow but sure

Not much to say - primed and green stuffed the two minis and worked on the bunker.

Vehicles Washed and Stug Begun

Washed vehicles from previous #hobbytime progress. Half I used Devlan Mud & the other half I used Badab Black. Neither of which are available.

I wanted to see if I could see a difference. I also tried to be a bit more liberal in application. Finally, I washed before highlighting. I've always done it the other way. This should turn out better. Better highlights.

The Airfix Stug III was bought when I received the free Rapid Fire rules... Which I have yet to play. I bought it and a British Carrier and AT gun to go with the Airfix guys I've had for 5+ years.

Hobbytime Progress 6mm WWII and Fields

Listened to Ben Curry? Interviewed on Point Hammered (explicit warning). He's from The Bad Dice Podcast in England. He spoke about getting at least 15 minutes in a day on your hobby to make progress.

Glued and assembled more halftracks to round out my 56th AIB. In addition made 3 105mm Priests as 3 batteries of battalion support. (each one represents 6 M7s!). Finally, made 3 105mm M4s to round out support of Armored Battalion.

Also cut more fields for the Schijndel scenario. I think the table is done. One of the pics below shows the soldiers eye view of the "church" in the distance. Shows that it has a grey field of view. In BkCII troops in that building's 2nd floor can see over linear obstacles. Need to firm up my understanding of the CdTob rules.

He also spoke about people tweeting #hobbytime to show the world your progress. Fun way to keep yourself going.

And, a pic of just part of the complete rainbow I saw going to work this morning.

Birthday Work: The Good Kind

Didn't realize until today that I share a birthday with two of the bloggers I follow: Wargaming Girl and Ray, Don't Throw a 1. Happy BDay fellow bloggers.

The day started with opening a present from mum, or should I say "mom." Anyway, this is the second gift occasion where I've received a wargaming gift. Last X-mas is was Black Powder from dad. This year, GHQ, from mom! But that's many years after getting started in these crazy hobbies. I could completely relate to this post at Lead Doesn't Bleed about gifts and wargaming.
As soon as I saw the envelope I knew it was going to be good:
US21 Wolverine
US39 Dodge Weapons Carrier
US58 105mm Arty
US5 M7 Priest (most excited)
AC49 P47 Thunderbolt
AC8 Focke Wulf 190D (first ever two aircraft!)

Fun times ahead, now I need to order some bases from Scale Creep. (Blast, I just saw, as I was looking for the link to his store that he is having a 50% sale on many of his Baccus minis. Including Samurai - but now, most of them are gone...dang.)

After getting the oil changed, I went by the new location of Game Nite. They've moved into their new location from a mall to an old strip mall. However, they have a lot more room (and getting more). Now it's as much about minis as board games. It's also garnered (I don't think this is a good use of the word.) more of a gamer vibe than his previous location. Not sure if this is a good thing. I'll have to think about this.

Anyway, after visiting there, I swung by Miniature Market picked up a 1:3000 Wichita (city where I was born, so only appropriate on my birthday.) and a couple other things.

When I got home I worked on the bocage, hills, European manors, painted the waves on the 1:3000 WWII ships, and washed some samples of the fields to see how that affected them. In the last hour of the day I put some Battletech minis, my son painted, on the dining room table and tried out the Quick Strike rules. (I can blame this on after reading this post on Battletech Quick Strike on the blog On Wargames and Such.)The bocage turned out well. Except, I sprayed them with a spray adhesive, sprinkled flock and then sprayed some gloss finish spray...and man do those things ever stink. Spread upstairs to the point where I had to take them outside to air out. 24 hours later and they're still not good. They're in the garage. It was a lot of work. I hope I don't need to throw them out.

timmy! Plays a Developing WWII Ruleset - Platoon Commander

What follows is a quick battle report of a 15mm WWII game:

 

Late afternoon on Tuesday we had a very impromptu WW2 15mm game at my house. Due to it being a quickly scheduled game we didn't have the entire gaming group. In attendance were Dave S, Doug H, Corey S and myself.

 

We were playing a home brew set of rules written by Kevin M titled Platoon Commander 44.  These rules are a lot of fun, very well written and execute smoothly. Put up against most ww2 set of rules such as IABSM; it pales no comparison!

 

Here is a picture of the initial board.  A small French village that might be occupied by Jerry!

Assault rules explanation by Doug

Battlefront (old) & JR Miniatures Buildings

More buildings, some are Hovels and timmy! built the gated terrain himself

Placing troops one side at a time. Germans go first and take advantage of the terrain

Germans then win the initiative. Having seen the Tommy's move into the buildings, Jerry responds with initial gun fire that can be heard throughout the village.

The Brits exchanged fire causing casualties and mass confusion to the Jerry's.   :)

The Germans responded with an intense amount of fire power causing the Brits casualties and breaking their morale. The only safe place to run back to was the church.

Having been initially given the order to flank the town from the right, the Commandos decided to flank the town from the left!  Those bastards had a plan of their own the entire time.  :)

Brit commandos move forward taking the building and begin exchanging fire with the Germans.

Brits exchange fire with German machine gun crew causing casualties and breaking their moral: forcing them to leave the building.  Clearly a victory for the British!!

And around that time is when my phone ran out of juice  :(

All in all this was a great time. Fun was had by all. 

We continued to play several more turns. I would say it ended with a British victory but then again me being a brit player I am a bit biased!   :)  :)

 Here's some of info on the game, by Kevin, who's developing the game:

Platoon Commander is a 1 to 1 scale rules set designed to simulate military combat with each player taking command of a 30 to 50 man platoon sized organization along with some representative support weapons and vehicles.  The game can be played by as few as 2 or as many as 6-8 players.  Platoon Commander uses a one-to-one game scale for all units.  One infantry model equals one soldier, one AFV model equals one armored vehicle or tank, one artillery model equals one artillery gun, one aircraft model equals one aircraft and one truck model equals one soft transport vehicle.  Ground scale is approximately 1-inch equal 6 to 10 yards.  Each formation action simulates 5-15 minutes of time.  Each complete game turn simulates roughly 30 minutes of combat action depending upon how many units are involved per side.

All measurements are in inches and most action is resolved with D6 dice.  Most of the game play charts will fit on two sides of a single 11" sheet.

The rules are loosely based on a combination of Warhammer Epic and Frank Chadwick's Command Decision.  Activation is by formation, and formation is defined as infantry squad or tank platoon sized units.  They were originally conceived as a player activating  by squad for smaller games, 1-2 players per side, but more recently by platoon for larger games of 3 or more players per side or faster game play.

 

The turn sequence is simple and very open but must be followed.  Let's face it, most gamers I know only want to move and kill something, and the turn sequence encourages this.

 

1) Action Phase - a single marker is drawn to indicate which side may attempt activation.

2) End Phase - the action marker count is reset based on remaining formations and all orders except unactivated Overwatch orders are removed

 

The heart of the game is the orders.  I have always preferred games where the player makes the action decision up front and then carries it out.  It seems like a simple notion on the surface, but also seems to be difficult to master as it requires planning ahead for success.  (On that note, I am still toying with the idea of having all players secretly issue orders first; Command Decision style, and then write a new order revelation sequence.  Maybe a future play test.)  Orders available are,

 

1) Advance - your basic combat advancement with the opportunity to fire

2) Double - faster movement but reduced shooting accuracy

3) March - all out movement, but no shooting allowed

4) Sustained Fire - all out offensive shooting

5) Overwatch - opportunity fire at enemy units that move or shoot

6) Opportunity Hold - a hasty order that helps offset the anomalies of the turn sequence by allowing a unit to react

7) Hold - a default order when a unit does not pass an activation check

8) Engage - a close combat order

9) Under Command - the ability to combine several smaller units into a single formation

10) Marshall - allows units to regroup and remove blast markers

11) Call Fire - allows headquarters units only to call in off board artillery fire

 

In addition, there are several game situation markers:

 

1) Prone - indicates a formation has gone prone to help with save modifiers

2) Pinned - a unit that is broken but cannot or does not wish to fall back

3) Broken - morale is completely broken; unit must rally

4) Command re-roll - a pure game mechanic to smooth out the vagaries of the dice

 

The game mechanics for movement are pretty straight forward (all infantry moves 6" on the Advance) with the active player moving or shooting and the defensive player rolling for saves.  I prefer the idea of keeping players involved during all phases of the game by allowing them to attempt saves no matter how small the chance.  It just makes them feel better!

 

Most small arms and infantry support weapons are included except pistols and grenades.  Pistols because they make no significant impact in battle situations and grenades because they cause the most problems to define and so they are rolled into close combat.

 

The close combat sequence is somewhat lengthy but is usually bloody and decisive.  As you know, I am ready to test this process in a house to house situation which is a unique terrain situation.  My hope is it will hold up well in principal with only a few specialized rules.

 

The game is meant to include some transport and AFV's in the right proportion.  I have play tested this rule set  using only tanks and it plays well up to a point.  My feeling is, if you want lots of tanks, play Command Decision.  If you want single tank action, find an on-line simulation and go for it.

 

This rule set has the advantage of not needing to buy all of the heavy artillery pieces as the ground scale keeps most of this off board.

 

And most especially, thanks for your interest.  I can't wait for some play test feedback.

 Kevin stated that he's willing to answer some questions - send them my way or post in the comments and I'll make sure he gets them.

Naval Miniatures Based

Finally their based. Waves and labels are next.

Litko Bases Arrive - Quick Preview

Received the wooden Litko bases yesterday. This wood feels like I could snap it, but it also feels sturdier than balsa wood. The surface is also very smooth. The edges appear to be burnt.

They are 1.6mm thick (They also make a 3mm version). I bought 4 sizes and realized just a few minutes ago as I was measuring up the ships to them that one of the sizes, 60mm x 30mm, isn't for the ships. I got these if I decide to try painting up some 6mm samurai for Impetus.

Fun stats to see re: the blog - 10,000+ views, thanks to all of you for the views and reads and comments.

These are some walls that I bought ages ago from Scale Creep.  They are made from Baccus and their Polemus line. (GSC8 is their part number)

Drydock Progress 1:3000 4 Ships Complete!

Yes! More progress, just two more ships to go from the fleets I bought ages ago at Miniature Market.

King George V and Prince of Wales remain.

The Italian ship Conte Di Cavour has the center gun mounted, therefore modelling the WWI- dreadnought version. Oh well, I'll proxy it, but now have a ship if I decide to play dreadnought. Also, I will try the wash method suggested, after I paint these last two.

Ordered some Litko plywood bases for these ships as well. Getting excited that this project is getting closer.

Unfinished projects drive me crazy...not sure I'm in the right hobby!

Renown

HMS Queen Elizabeth

HMS Malaya

Italian Conte Di Cavour - Before WWII Retrofits-blast

Dry dock progress 1:3000 Ships

Slow progress on the WWII ships for Naval Thunder. Finished Littorio and Scharnhorst. Though I think Scharnhorst could use a wash - I may give it a shot. It takes me about 1 and a quarter of an hour for two ships. Considering the quality, this just seems very slow.

Drydock part 4 or 5 - Italian Ships

Zara

Trento

Italian ships are fun because they have the red and white recognition stripes. I don't know if they all had them, but they look cool, help differentiate the ships and aren't too hard to paint. Easier than a flag.

Drydock pt 3 - More Progress

HMS Dorsetshire

KMS Hipper

Dry Dock paining - some completed ships

Lutzow

Lutzow

Started painting ships for Naval Thunder. These are the 1/3000 ships I found for a $1.00 each at Miniature Market.

This is harder than I thought.

And I will paint my destroyers from here on out with a grey paint and a couple touch ups like black on the stacks and perhaps some dry-brushing. I painted the HMS South Hampton and Arethusa. Yeah, this is not pretty. But I want to keep them the way they are to hopefully see how I improve.

The South Hampton I could find only had two stacks and I couldn't find anything about retrofits. Mine has 3 stacks - maybe I can say it's extra fast! Just kidding purists!

The Graf Spee and Lutzow however, were fun to paint.

And yes, I've reached new levels of Nerdaton with my attempt at painting a swastika flag on the bow of the Lutzow. Yes, using a filament off an old toothbrush. Better luck next time.

Graf Spee

It's fascinating the paint schemes they used on ships in WWII. Some of them are quite effective making the ship look different than it  is. You can imagine at sea and dusk that it would be hard to get a good spot while targeting.

I've been thinking of basing and was going to get some Litko But I'm really trying to not spend money. I'm either going to try cutting some plexiglass I have (though I hear it's challenging) or perhaps using a heavy letraset. Like a heavy cardstock. With the latter I'm concerned for warping.

On another note: tried playing Basic Impetus again with the paper representing Samurai and Korea. And not so much interest this time. Impetus is a good set. I like the rules. Nice and easy to get, like Naval Thunder. However, I just wasn't interested in finishing out my test. And, when I was looking over the rules to clarify a few things, I found myself forcing the issue. It's my hobby and have other things I would like to try. I'll put thoughts of this era aside for awhile. When I get around to reading the books I bought for the era my interest may be rekindled.

On yet another note: watched the original True Grit and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I'm leaning toward the new one as my favorite. I was impressed with the 1969 iteration though.

Here are a few of the sites I'm using as guidelines for painting and books for inspiration:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/index.html
http://steelnavy.com/gallery_cruisers.htm
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/index1.html
http://uboat.net/index.html 
 

From Amazon

From Amazon

From Amazon

You Guessed It, From Amazon

And My Favorite, From Amazon

Hobby Game area nearly complete

I say, "nearly", because is the work ever done? I'm pretty happy with the design of the space. With the help of some other gamers who posted their pics, my mom (who's pretty good at this kind of thing), my wife and her lighting design eye, and Stephi at The Container Store, I have an organized space that is now more inspiring. With the neatness comes more creativity.

Before

After

The table on the left is 4' 1" tall and about 2'x4'. This height is right where my elbows come to rest when I'm standing and put my hands in front of me. This table will be used to story minis while in progress and in between steps. It could also double as a small game table. I play 6mm, so it's huge. Now that I think of it, this may be a good table to recreate some ASLSK boards on.?


There is, of course, the painting table. The wire grid is from The Container Store. AW (Awesome Wife) helped with the lighting, suggesting I put the strip under the shelf. As well, she suggested the use of the fixture we used over the gaming table. These are actually very expensive flourescent strips that she's been given in the past as samples - yea!

Then, there is also the game table, under the new added, fixture. The lighting will be better for gaming and photos.

While this is primarily a storage room in our basement, I would gladly have a friend over to play in there. If I want to have more over, I'll have to move out to the main room.

There are a few more things I would like to do with the room. Eventually, I would like to move away from the cardboard boxes - discarded ones I mean, and move to the plastic. However, this is one of those things that can wait and budgeted over time. Good bday/xmas/sale purchases. Also, more wire grid and shelves for that.

I just remembered, I would like to have a place to hold books open for refernce,
something to hold the iphone for charging and listening,
glass holders
sides on the tall table so minis don't fall off and die/and I could put some cool scenery in there
a way to store large pieces of terrain
come to some sore of gamer piece on how to store my armies

Like I said, "nearly".

 More exciting photos here on the Picasa web album.

Even more exciting photo tour on YouTube.

PS I used my new iPhone4S to take the photos and video - another yeah!