560 - Bolt Action Painting Chart

Hullo, All.

I realised it was a while since I'd updated my painting charts. As this is really my only focus at the moment - at the moment! - please find below my 28mm Bolt Action British late-war 4KSLI, as they currently stand:

Quite a bit of work to do, as you can no doubt see, but I'm happy with where I am. The yellow 'in progress' stuff is mostly just 'in progress' because it's larger stuff (all vehicles) that sit rather obviously and ominously in my drawer, reminding me that I need to show them some love. All infantry are on the back burner at the moment, because thy're far more fiddly, and as the cottage is such a dire mess at the moment, I cannot face dragging them out.

I promise I'll catch up on your blogs soon: my week nights should soon become a little more free once again...

Take care, All,

- Drax.

559 - 'Mickey Mouse' Camo: 3-Ton Trucks

Apparently, some of you have been anticipating these pics: thank you for your support! 

I'm on a brief break midway through a 5-hour 'homework' stint this evening, so brief blurb first, then the balance of the pictures. You might enjoy the last one in particular.

These are Lledo model Ford 'Mack' trucks, widely used by British companies in the late 30s and used by the Army too in the war. Honestly I was hoping for proper 1/56 scale Bedford lorries, but these are a fraction of the price (about two quid each if you're canny) and do a good enough job. 

(Plus the wheels move when you push them along saying 'brrrmm...')

They were very simply resprayed with rattlecan primer and black base coat before being hand painted. 

Some have queried the small diameter of my circles, but a quick Google search will show a HUGE variety of sizes in original photo, and I wanted these to look a certain way. 

Details are either decals (with thanks to a lovely chap called Brian over at Tabletopbattle.com who kindly sent me some ringed stars, gratis!) or hand-painted by me (like the '61' unit marking and the numbers on the doors and rear drop.

These are 'weathered' and muddied, but it doesn't really show up in these pics.

To the pics, then!

That last one was 'auto-awesomed' by Google for me. Thanks, Google. Awesome.

- Drax.

558 - Bolt Action Game: 1500pts Brits Vs Germans

Hullo All,

I said I'd cover my most recent game in a little more depth and so I shall...although it won't be in much depth because I don't like taking photos of games when I'm using unpainted or unfinished minis, and this was a game for trying things out.

The table. Gorgeous.

My two-platoon list was essentially as follows - all regular - (and again, this was designed (and okayed) to try out a few new units, so please ignore any apparent cheesiness...):

1. Lieutenant
2. [Free] Arty Observer (naturellement!)
3. 10-man Rifle Section with LMG
4. 3-Ton Lorry
5. 10-man Rifle Section with LMG
6. 3-Ton Lorry
7. 3" Medium Mortar + Observer
8. PIAT
9. Sniper
10. Staghound Armoured Car
11. Cromwell
12. Second Lieutenant
13. 5-man Rifle Team 
14. Universal Carrier
15. 5-man Rifle Team with LMG
16. Universal Carrier
17. 4.2" Heavy Mortar + Observer
18. Cromwell CS (95mm medium howitzer)

...That's a whopping eighteen order dice: very handy against the high-cost/low-dice lovingly painted veteran SS troops I was up against!

Some of my newer, W-i-P bits. L-R from top: Cromwell CS, 3-Ton trucks, 
3" mortar, 4.2" mortar, Staghound, 
3" spotter, 4.2" spotter, Lieutenant.  
[a reference pic I took for my own purposes to limit confusion.]

The mission was (as it always seems to be) Hold Until Relieved and I chose 'Attacker', as being British, that gives me the opportunity to use one of my special rules to choose the best of two rolls for preliminary bombardment.

My talented opponent, David, had laid on an absolute visual feast for scenery when I arrived: an 8'x4' board of wonder, complete with a whacking great escarpment in the top-right corner (see above - this is the view of my right flank).

The house to the top-left corner of the crossroads here was the objective. 

I shan't go through the whole game, but suffice to say that my numerical superiority inevitably won through in the end, helped by a few fun moments in particular, viz:

• In my first turn an opening salvo from my new heavy mortar ranged in with its first round and absolutely minced one of the two 5-man squads sat on the objective
• One of my nippy little bren carriers shot along into his lines, shot-up another SS squad and was immediately shot in turn by his big-ass Panther tank. The carrier was blown to dust, but the rifle squad inside it escaped miraculously unharmed and lived on to harry David's flank for another two or three turns!
• On the other flank, my new Staghound armoured car bimbled along and ended up just sitting on the escarpment, surrounded by small German teams with no ability to hurt it, and slowly gunning stuff down (It looks SO much cooler than my boxy and brutal AEC Mk III). It felt kind of weird seeing it sat between an SS sniper and an SS mortar with complete impunity, I must say.
• ...and maybe the Germans were a little spooked by this too, for next turn the mortar rolled a FUBAR! on its order test and to David's bemused disappointment rained HE down on the remaining Germans still holding the central objective. They all died, much to the relief of the brave Toms on their way to seize it!
• Next, a vicious tank duel erupted...with all the bile and anger of a wounded flamingo accidentally stepping on an over-ripe banana. Yup, the Tiger and my Cromwell wafted their hankies at each other whilst my PIAT and his panzerschrek tried to show them how it should really be done. To their credit, both of the A-T teams did themselves proud.
• My new-and-almost-finished 'Mickey Mouse' trucks did exactly what they were paid to do and then even stuck around, as their drivers selflessly used the two vehicles to simultaneously block the enemy's route and provide their erstwhile passengers with cover from the enemy's view! The transport platoon will definitely get a Mention in Dispatches for that.
• Finally, one of my favourite moments of the game was when David's Lieutenant jumped over a wall to make his final stand of the objective, little realising that my Lieutenant was about to do the same thing! They traded ineffectual shots and (as David conceded shortly thereafter, hopelessly outnumbered and swamped by Toms) I'd like to think that they traded drinks too, the German officer having obviously decided to do the honorable thing.

My OC  (top-left) closes on his SS counterpart
(behind the top of the objective building, near the black dice)
as the Toms swarm home past the stranded Puma

And that's just about it. We got a bunch of things wrong (sadly, mostly in my favour), but ultimately I think it was only ever going to end with a British victory - even if I'd been defending. I soon realised his only real threats to me were his medium mortar and his Panther, and I had mobility and firepower enough to counter them well enough.

Clash of the Titans. Not. My PIAT is watching from the wall behind that order dice!

A dual mortar list is fun (those of you who've ever played me in 40K know how much I love mortars) and both of our snipers achieved absolutely nothing all game...so all in all it was fun!

Mickey and Minnie fly along the road...

...whist 'Pieter', my new Cromwell CS W-i-P, snipes at the sneaky wee Puma.

Unit of the match? I suppose it'd have to be my heavy mortar: losing an entire 'hidden' squad with the first shot was brutal for poor David!

Thanks for following along, folks,

coming soon, a focus on my Mickey Mouse lorries and an explanation of what the hell's been going on in real life for me...

Yours aye,

- Drax.

557 - Alive and Struggling

Hullo,

I am here. 

I've even managed to get in some painting and gaming. 

But blogging? 

- No. The smackdown that is my Real Life right now is starting at last to... er... settle? - yeah, let's go for 'settle' - but I'm ferrule-deep in my second job each night, so everything is pretty much on hold.

*sad face* 

In the meantime, here's a picture from my most recent battle:

I will update you all, I promise...

- Drax.