Eureka Miniatures - Mujahideen Fighters.

May is one of those catch up months a cluster of bank holidays a couple of free days, a real opportunity to catch up on those projects that needed 'topping up'...

The postman has dropped some reinforcements for Chechnya, these guys have not been on the table for a while, but Eureka Miniatures have recently released some additional Afghan Guerrilla's which with a slightly different paint job gives me a couple of extra Mujahideen units to take on the Russians in Chechnya.

Eureka is still one of those companies where you can purchase individual figures, so you can pick and choose the mini's you need. First up two fire teams, with RPO's.

Another 4 fire teams, the bricks denote squad leaders, based up for Xenos Rampant.

Finally a couple of extra's to bolster the detachment, a heavy machine gun team, sniper and two leaders/spotters.

So many planned games.... :-)

The Battle for Foy - Easy Company lead the way.

Club day and an opportunity to go beyond the usual 6x4.

A WW2 Bolt Action outing and the The U.S. 506th PIR (Easy Company and supporting platoons) attacked the German‑held village of Foy during the Battle of the Bulge. The Americans had to cross open, snow‑covered fields under fire from entrenched German defenders.

The German's held strong positions in the town with the added challenge of the occasional armoured element, marvellous.

Faced with an expanse of open ground Easy Company swung left, trying to keep a number of the Germans out of play and bring the US superior fire power into play.

A large amount of open grounded was covered with limited casualties, until they hit small arms range and then the pins started to mount.

The Germans stripped the line and rushed to counter the flanking move.

Having reached the village outskirts the remaining US Platoons rushed from the tree line, as Easy Company fought to get a foothold in the village and the petrol station.

The clock ran down.... looks the Jerry might need softening up before the next push...

A cracking game with challenges for both sides.

Western Desert - Recon Units.

In a break from the Sino-Japanese project, a quick side step back to Operation Exporter and three Perry Miniature vehicles that that have been languishing in the cupboard of shame for a number of months.

First up a Vichy Dodge Armoured Car, built on a Dodge Commercial truck body with hand cut steel plate, it should protect you from small arms fire but pretty vulnerable to AT weapons. The Dodge saw limited action in Syria, Morocco and Tunisia. 

Next up two additional units for the British and South African/Commonwealth forces, the Marmon-Herrington and Rolls Royce Armoured cars are a useful match against the light forces of the Vichy. More of a challenge when facing the Germans.

Time to get them on the battlefield.

So many projects so little game time.

Oathmark Orc Archers - Scum of the Earth.

Another quick painting session to clear some of the smaller projects sitting on the paint table.

Paul over at movealongnownothingtoseehere has issued the Wyre Forest Club a monthly painting challenge. This month it's Scum of the Earth and these felt perfect.

Having built up Modred's forces back in the Summer for the Excalibur project, I was missing some missile troops for the evil side.

These are Oathmark Orc's but a flesh tone gives them a disfigured human feel perfect for terrorising villagers before the Knights of the Round Table appear to save the day.

Slow boat from China - Battlefield in a Box Terrain

I have had my eye on these additional river sections for several years they were never in stock and when they did appear on e-bay the price was higher than a galloon of 4 star. 

It's been 6 years since I last saw them on the market in any quantity. 

Then suddenly these pop up.... How could I say no...

Straight sections, Ford Crossings, T Junction and Streams, more than enough for what I need.

Add flock and river bank clutter reeds and they are table ready.

 

A great addition to the terrain collection....

Chinese heavy weapons.... 2nd Sino-Japanese War.

Last batch of Chinese for a while..... as the itch to paint something different takes hold....

Again a mix of uniforms for the AT Teams to support the completed infantry sections.

Also something a little stronger to put a stop to the Japanese advance. A Pak 36 supplied by the German Army to the Chinese before supplies were switched off.

A nice kit from Kyoushuneko Miniatures 3D print. Now to get some game time....

Next up.... something a little different....

What a Cartel - Not so much the Easter Bunny.

The Wyre Forest Club and a chance to give What a Cartel a run out.

The coco sales reps always keen on a deal but have perhaps over done it this time, venturing into the hinterland they are forced to hide out in the village from a competitor company's merc's and vengeful coco farmers.  

What started out as a balanced game soon swung in the favour of the local faction, with an improvised IED killing one of the hired guns as he rushed into one of the huts looking for the sales reps. In a modern twist another of the Merc's was killed by a single person drone before he could fire a shot.

The Reps are found and 'escorted' from the hut.

Despite being out numbered 4:1 a rash move can ruin your day as one of the militia men ran round the corner only to be slotted by the last western gunman, who in turn was beaten to the ground by the fella in the white vest with his empty RPG.

The Coco Farmers whisk the Rep's away they would fetch a lovely cash reward.

First outing for these rules and they make for a fun game, like most Lardies games, well put together with some interesting tweaks over What a Cowboy. - Definitely more bloody.... don't get spotted as your likely to end up dead.

If the dice land well..... You have a proper cinematic moment.  The RPG man stepping out into the street, blowing up a hut only to then rushing a second merc with his bare hands.... Move over Schwarzenegger there is a new hero in town :-)

Chinese 88th Division - 1937

You can't beat an Easter weekend an opportunity to bag a day or two of painting.

With the Chinese Army made up of a number of Warlord factions, some troops are better than others. One of the most famous was the Chinese 88th Division deployed at the battle of Shanghai.

One of Chiang Kai‑shek’s German-trained divisions, they make for an interesting addition to the Chinese forces.

During the 1930s, China cooperated closely with Nazi Germany for military modernisation. The 88th Division was reorganized, trained, and partially equipped following German Army (Wehrmacht) doctrine, including, Modern infantry tactics & Improved discipline and drill.

Perhaps they should be heavy Infantry in the Xenos Rampant tweaks.

They will need some heavy weapons to help keep the Japanese at bay.

Yet more Chinese.....

The Chinese steamroller continues, with the first taster batch completed in January the pace is really picking up, first game in April if I can crack a couple more sections over Easter.

Coming off the paint table 2 additional sections of Chinese.

I have been playing quite a bit of Xenos Rampant of late for WW2, just need to now think about how I present the Chinese in the unit stats.

This are Kyoushuneko Miniature 3D prints a number of head swaps amongst this bunch to give me more variety within each section. 

Looking forward to getting this into a game.

XR - Allied Assault - Tactics II Campaign.

The allied offensive continues and with a concentration of amour and infantry they continue to push the defenders at all the weak spots. This engagement is no exception as the Vichy defenders dig in and await the allied push.

The random terrain generator fell well for the Vichy with a village flanked by a dry river bed, the only challenge was the objective of the allies was to secure the wadi crossing.

Doing what they could, the French had put an emplacement covering the wadi hoping to stem the allied advance. But facing down the slow but heavily protected Matilda's would be a challenge.

The French threw what they could at the advancing armour, who countered with HE fire into the village.

The centre edged forward but progress was slow as artillery rained down on the advancing Brits.

However sweeping in from the left was a flying column of light tanks and bren carriers that looked to take out the artillery that had been plaguing the frontal assault.

The bren carriers and their supporting infantry pushed forwards sending the French defenders backwards and over running the artillery.

With the loss of the artillery support the main battle tanks pushed forwards, but are countered by a brave H35 which lasted for a few moments before it was brewed by a well placed AP round.

Time was running out for the defenders.... Vickers light tanks pursued the retreating infantry as Indian infantry charged the dug out.

Victory was complete for the allies.

Yet another win for the allies but the losses are mounting,

Allied Armour losses -200 Points, Infantry -325 Points - Vichy Losses -875 Points.

The war continues....