Chance buy

The other day I was at Best Buy looking to see what they had in anime. While going through the store I came upon these.

I've seen these sets before for $12 a pack. Best Buy was selling them for $5.99, so I decided to buy a couple. These poseable figures are a little larger than 28mm in size and have lots of accessories. Even the weapons can be customized.

I'm not sure how I'll use them yet, but I'm sure I can think of something. If anything I can use them in black ops. As for other gaming news, my busy work schedule is keeping away from the work bench. All I've managed to do is computer works. The naval rules I'm working on are about a third of the way done. I still need to get rid of this damn tree, but thankfully my insurance came through and they are willing to cover it. Hopefully I'll have more game stuff to show next post.

I lucked out!

  As you probably know, hurricane Mathew hit the Southeast last weekend. I went to Springfield with my dad and sister. A family friend has a place up there where we stayed during the storm. We were still pretty close but came through, although my sister lost two cats. They took off when we arrived at Springfield and their status is unknown. Oh well, she had five too many anyway.
   I came back home Sunday to find this...

   Fortunately no damage was done. This is the second time a large tree has fallen next to my house and missed. Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of it. I got my power back Monday and luckily the movie I brought advance tickets for was still playing. So I still got to see Shin Godzilla. A great movie, you should see it.

   I know its been a long time since I've updated. My new work schedule makes it hard for me to get any gaming done. I have been working on some new terrain pieces. These are taking a lot more time than I thought they would but they should be worth it when I'm done. I've also started working on a set of modern naval rules. I like both Harpoon and Shipwreck, but they get bogged down if you have a lot of units on the table. I working on a set of rules that will allow me to fight very large battles with multiple ships, planes, and subs. Hopefully I'll have a workable game within a few months.
    Meanwhile, I hope to go to a few conventions next year. Gnome Con of course and maybe either Siege of Augusta or Rapier. I'll have to see how much money I can get together.

New Megablitz Unit

I finally managed to finish painting the new unit I was working on. Unfortunately I've seem to have lost my glue brush, and have yet to flock the bases. I'll need to get a new brush from the grocery store or the Dollar Tree. Otherwise the 34th Infantry division is pretty much done.

 The division has a few new units that make different from my other German infantry division the 169th. The first being this bicycle mounted fusiliers battalion. Also the staff is mounted in a car.

The bicycle stands are by H and R.

 For the Artillery regiment, I decided to give them a 150mm IG instead of the 105mm howitzer. The recon battalion also has a cavalry company and a bicycle company.

Finally the whole unit together.

That's the new unit, I think I'll work on some new terrain next. Either that or some more ships, I haven't painted those in a while. 

"New" Books!

I know I said I'd have the new unit painted, but I got wrapped up in a combination of distraction and procrastination. The new unit is just about done (all I have to do is paint on the unit crest and flock the bases), in the mean time let's look at one of those distractions. A couple of months ago I spent the last of my Amazon gift cards I got for Christmas. I brought a new set of rules and a lot of cold war goodness.

First up we have World War 3 edited by Shelford Bidwell. This book was printed in 1978, so it should be an interesting read. The book is broken into two parts. The first part that I'm on now is a analytical look at the history, politics, and forces involved up to the printing date. The second part is a hypothetical scenario set in the near future of 1981.

The next book is a real gem, First Clash by Kenneth Macksey. I used to have this book in paperback back in the eighties and I can kick myself for letting it get tore up. This book was written as a training manual for the Canadian army and is a very detailed account of the Canadian's 4th Mechanized brigades defense against a soviet tank division in WWIII. I would suggest it to anyone interested in cold war military operations.

Speaking of military operations, the last book is Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics by William Baxter. This book is actually about Soviet army doctrine. I had seen this on Amazon several times at a very low price, but always decided not to buy it. However after hearing good things about it from Cold War Gamer, I decided to give it a try.

Finally I got a new set of Game Rules, Dragon Rampant by Daniel Mersey. I brought this as an alternative to HOTT. Like HOTT, Dragon Rampant is a fantasy version of a previous historical rules set, called Lion Rampant. While in someways more detail than HOTT, some of its rules are also simpler. Like HOTT the unit's are pretty generic. However, the option of additional add-ons allow for units that have more character than HOTT units, such as mounted shooters. The magic system is way more detailed with actual spells and some units able to have partial magical ability. Anyway I look forward to trying these rules out on the table.

Well those are the "new" books, I've also been thinking of doing some more naval warfare soon.

James

HOTT at Gnome Con V

Last weekend was Gnome Con V, our own game convention here in Savannah. Because of my work schedule I was only able to attend the first two days and I wasn't able to game much. Friday I arrived to late to take part in any games but I did stay to watch Christian's Star Dust game, with the Red Guard vs. the Dogs.

The next day me and Christian sat down for a few games of HOTT. The first being my drunk pirates vs. Christian's giant mutant farm animals.

I started out strong with good activation rolls, and I manage to take out several high powered units like his paladin and knights. My water lurker was especially useful, despite being out numbered.

Unfortunately, Christian was just able to squeak by a victory by points.

The pirates really hated the giant goat. 

The next game was between my Dinosaurs and Christian's Narnians.

Here General Gor Gor gives his troops another motivational speech.

Things went well at first, but due to a mistake a made in choosing the terrain Christian was able to push a couple of units off the table to win the game.

I wish I had more time to game last weekend. My new Megablitz unit is well under way. I've gathered the troops and equipment, cut the bases, and started gluing the heavy equipment to the bases. I hope to have pictures of the new unit up next week, then I'll be making some more terrain.

We're the Pirates of the Whiskey Seas!

Getting ready for Gnome Con, I decided to turn my attention to my long neglected Pirate army for HOTT. I'm planning to used this army on Saturday. Here are pictures of the new unit.

Here's the army all together. All these guys are by Rebel Miniatures.

A close up of my blade/war-band units.

The army also has a good amount of shooters. Note not all these stands would be used in a game.

Next up the Hero/Generals. From left to Right we have the Disney Pirates, Bonnie Anne and her raging bitches, and the Crips.

Of course it isn't a pirate army without a cannon!

Finally we have the special units a trio of sea witches and a water lurking Mermaid.

That's the new army next week I should have some good pictures from Gnome Con. After that I not sure what I'm doing next ether some new terrain of a new Megablitz unit, we'll see.

61st Mechanized Battalion

I'm finally starting to get back in the Groove. My first painted miniatures unit of the year, the South African 61st Mechanized Battalion for FFT. This unit was pretty large for a battalion and had lots of combined arms. Here's the unit all together.

All the miniatures, except for the tanks and the Infantry are by Scotia. 

Now for the individual units, first we have the infantry companies mounted in Ratel 20 IFVs.

The infantry is H&R Israeli Infantry, which what the mechanized troops looked like.

Next the unit had an Armored Car Squadron for recon work. This unit is equipped with EL-90s.

Then there is the Anti-tank company, usually this unit would have Ratel 90s but I've also painted some Ratel ZTs for later scenarios.

The 61st also usually had a heavy artillery battery attached to it. This is composed of two G5 155mm howitzers and tractors.

Sometimes this unit was replaced with a 120mm Mortar battery which I might add later.

The unit also usually had a tank company of Olifant tanks attached.

The Olfant tanks are C&C Centurions.

 For Air Defense the unit had two platoons of Ystervark 20mm SPAA guns attached.

Finally we have the base units. This includes the HQ, engineer platoon, Recovery platoon, and battalion mortars.

I may replace the radio van with a Ratel command in the future.

Anyway that's the new unit. Next I plan to finally finish my pirate army for HOTT. Then I'll probably do some more terrain for FTT.

Happy New Year!

Well its a new year. First let's take a look back at 2015 due to circumstances late in the year I didn't get as much done as I wanted to. First here's a look at the stats.

Games Played: 10

Ships Painted (Large/Small/Subs/Civilian)

Modern: (3/4/2/1)

Microarmor Painted (Infantry/Armor/Artillery/Soft)

WWII: 17/20/5/13

Modern: 32/1/4/6

Aircraft Painted (Bombers/Fighters/Support/Helicopters)

6mm WWII: (-/2/-/-)

6mm Modern (1/2/-/4)

1/1200 Modern (6/14/1/-)

Terrain Pieces made: 14 (and a bunch of trees)

I had hoped to get more miniatures painted and at least get a couple more games in. Oh well. Now here's some of the highlights.

In February I started playing Star Fleet battles again. 

In March we played another game of SFB at Gnome Con. I wish I had done more gaming at that convention. 

At the beginning of April we had our second Megablitz game, this time on the east front. 

I then went to the MCAS Beaufort Air Show and saw the new F-35 in flight.

In May we played Check Your Six at Morning Star Games. This was Vietnam air warfare and I did better than in my first game.

I finally got do a good amount of gaming at Rapier in Jacksonville FL. Pictured above is a pickup game of Starfire that we played Friday night. I also played Blue Sky and Strike Legion. 

In July I ran a game of Shipwreck, the outer air battle. This was early cold war and it didn't work out as well as it should. I might try this again with Harpoon. 

In September, me and Christian tried our first game of Harpoon. This was the Iranians vs. the Russians and it went very well. 

In August I started going to Brunswick the play Star Fleet Battles.

After a couple of games at Brunswick, my work scheduled went a out of wack and I wasn't to do as much.

What do I have planned for this year?
-Do more gaming at Gnome Con.
-Play some games of Fist Full of TOWs.
-Run another Megablitz game.
-See if I can find or make some good squad level rules for Modern warfare.
-Play some more shipwreck or Harpoon.
-Make more terrain.
-Play another game of HOTT.
-Play a game of Star Dust.
-Build more models

Well lets hope I can get at least some of that done. Once again HAPPY NEW YEAR!