379 Flames of War 3" Mortar Platoon

Hullo!

I don't have much to sy about this platoon really, other than this:

1. This is the fastest I've ever completed a platoon, start-to-finish: I must be getting more organised at it!
2. The static grass combos on the bases may seem a little too contrived, but there is a reason for the bland mix;
3. Much as I was pleased to complete this swiftly, I didn't really enjoy painting this platon that much simple because the figures are rubbish: they're just generic British artillerymen, including (a) one man with a whacking great shell for a far larger weapon(!) and the wilted-hand-crouching guy holding spare mortar bombs...in a 3-part carrier which is significantly smaller than the other 3-part ammo carriers which come with the set as accessories (on the bases in this case. Boo.

That said, I wasn't deliberately sloppy, and I do like to keep an online record of my units, so here are the pics:

Take care,

- Drax.

378 State of the Union (and Painting Charts) Part II - Flames of War

Wotcha.

 - and welcome to part 2 of my thoughts on where I am with the hobby at the moment. Thank you in particular to those of you who commented on Part 1. Today it's fun with Flames of War.

Now, I'm not going to turn this into another diatribe about just how much I've come to enjoy both the rules and the minis of Flames; I just thought I'd outline where I am and where I see myself going, for those of my readers who are interested.

Extant Forces:

My only Flames force at the moment is my 11th Armoured Division (Late War) infantry company - initially from Battlefront's free(!) Taurus Pursuant pdf but now from my recently-purchased Market Garden book. And what a beautiful and welcoming book that is, too. Take note, GW: a happy customer is a repeat customer! The force comprises the following and has taken me about two years to put together, on-and-off:

• HQ w. 3 Rifle Platoons [3rd pl. is w-i-p]
• 3" Mortar Platoon [w-i-p]
• Anti-Tank Platoon (6pdr x4)
• 2 Armoured Platoons (each of 2 Firefly and 2 Sherman)
• 4.2" Heavy Mortar Platoon
• Field Battery, RA (25pdr x4)
• Auster AOP

...It's actually a very playable Confident Veteran company on the table. Those minis also look smashing on the table (more pics soon) - something with which I'm very pleased indeed!

Plans to slowly expand my options include a MG platoon, a recce carrier platoon, an armoured car platoon and a brace of Bofors 40mm AA guns. Not in that order.

Future Plans:

This is a little sensitive, as the thing I like best about Flames is just how comparatively cheap it is, so the prospect of building up a second force is one which makes me wary. That said, I've worked out I can build a completely legitimate 10-tank list from the Mid-War British in Africa pdf for only about £22 using Plastic Soldier Company tanks. Watch this space. I probably won't take this route, but any second force I get is certainly likely to be (a) British, (b) North African M-W, and (c) Armoured.

Other than that, I fully intend to create an alternative 11AD list for use with the Overlord book if/when I get it - this will require only a few minor tweaks.

Other Than That:

My only other thoughts in this direction are with the possibility of using the impressive Bolt Action skirmish rules with a platoon(+) level force but at 15mm scale (which seems popular). If so, I may buy a fun (Commandos/Para) platoon to play with or I may use some British troops that The Inner Geek was kind enough to donate a while back...that is if my North African schemes haven't snapped them up first!

We shall see.

As with Part I, I shall sign-off with a Painting Chart(TM) for my FoW 11AD force...which I realised today has a slight inaccuracy (points for spotters!):

Ach! So it goes.

Thanks for stopping by;

Keep well,

- Drax.

377 State of the Union (and Painting Charts) Part I - 40K

Hullo, Gentle Readers.

I thought it was time enough to try to explain whereabouts I am with my hobby at the moment. It'll be in two parts - here's the first.

For those of you who are long-term readers, this might explain some bits and bobs. Word heavy, I'm afraid!

Firstly,

Warhammer 40K.

A weekend ago I had the singular pleasure of going up to Oxfordshire to play Chez Zzzzzz with Zzzzzz himself and Col. Corbane. In case you didn't see, we played a bloomin' massive game of Apocalypse...which was my first game of 40K - in any sense - since September 2012. That's a long time gone.

The reason I've had such a long absence was because of my second daughter coming along, and wanting (needing?!) to actually spend more time with my family. This compounded with my slight wariness of Sixth Edition (see below), the unusual sense of having my IG army pretty much where I want it(!) and an abject lack of any spare funds to make me put the hobby on the back-burner.

Playing with Zzzzzz's little men really gave me something of a kick up the jacksie to get back to 40K - but not with any major expansion projects: that's simply not an option. Instead, I'm trying to finish odds-and-sods off, slim-down the bitz-box and work on a couple of fun conversion projects. Watch this space!

Sixth Edition, Codices and Money.

Let's get this straight: I really like almost everything about 6th Ed (I'm looking at you: tank assault on rear bloody armour still!) - it's just I'm a little less keen on what GW and players seem to be doing with it.

I love that the rules are now more fun and really really seem designed to encourage a more narrative style of play, but two-and-a-half things concern me...and I'm pretty sure they're entirely contrived to sell more plastic crack. Which is a shame:

1. Allies. These rules seem to allow armies to too-easily plug gaps which have tradionally needed to have been filled by careful planning and tactical acumen. That's not to say the rules are wrong or bad, I just think they could've been more restrictive. Seeing nothing but easy-win, all-powerful IC-builds on the table gets a little tiresome, I should think.
2. Flyers (and Monstrous Creatures, and Flying MCs - that's the 'half' bit noted above). These simply do not fit in the scale or mechanic of 40K. Skimmers work fine, but flyers? No. Just an excuse to sell rather overblown (and at times rather silly) large models. As for MCs and Flying MCs? This is really just a bias. My IG flashlight gunline is simply not able to damage anything with a high toughness in any meaningful way, and I'm too old and too grumpy to change my lovely poor bloody infantry.

I'm disinclined to make any changes to my IG army because I have no money. Which leads to...

Codices and money.

There's no news in noting how very, very expensive 40K has got, but I simply have nothing spare for it. What worries me for the future is whether I'm going to care enough to spend the money on a new codex for the Guard when it comes out. £12 for a soft-cover is one thing - fine! - but shelling out for a giant hardback filled with bloomin' John Blanche scribbles in addition to (presumably) ridiculous power leaps in the capabilities of the average Guardsman is less attractive. I imagine the way that fighty ICs have been jammed into every recent codex means that the next Guard codex will have at the very least Solar Macharius and probably the Emperor himself.

And finally...

It's been a year, but here's the famous Draxian Painting Chart (TM) as it stands:

 

'Til next time and Part II then...

- Drax.

376 Getting Back in the Game

So...

...Drax has just spend an hour-and-a-half painting up an Imperial Guard squad.

Been a while, huh?!

- D.

375 What I Did at the Weekend

Okay - I can't suppress it any longer!

Aaaaargh! After eleven bloomin' months, some fun with 40K once more...

- Drax

374 Flames of War 25pdr Battery Finished at last!

Hullo!

To my great joy I have finally finished my 25pdr Battery (151st Ayreshire Yeomanry, RA) - amongst the most fiddly paint job I've needed to do in recent years, and I'm generally pretty proud of how they turned out.

What follows is really just a massive bunch of pics of the battery, which I hope you'll enjoy. I commend to your attention the battery staff team - the lovely sculpt with the slimmer figures and the molded dispatch motorcycle - a pain to put together with the different basing requirements, but an end result with which I'm very happy.

Thanks for your time, faithful readers.

More GW and Flames stuff is a-comin' later this week...

- Drax.

373 Tau Now for Sale - painted, unpainted, kits, bitz and 'oop'.

Yup: times are very tight indeed; therefore as trailed a while ago, I have put my Tau models up for sale on ebay.

In case you're interested, this is the link to the auctions [please, someone tell me if it doesn't work!] and please find below a selection of pics of some of the lots up for sale...

There's a total of 12 auctions, including a nice little bag of bitz too...

NB: This week my blog will possibly be all over the place, as I've a number of posts pending and bitty things to address on the painting table...

Cheers,

- Drax.