Egyptian Trade Goods - "Ahlan wa sahlan"

Now this is exactly what I was talking about, I picked up a number of market stalls from the miniature building authority last July. (see here)

The plan was to create an Arab market for the French in Egypt campaign, I needed to expand on these with various market goods, Anisty do a great range, even if I had to paint the apples as oranges.

Having purchased them at one of the trade shows, they sat in a box for 12 long months under coated but not finished.

Ridiculous they only took a Saturday.....

Brigade Games Frenchman tours a market battering with a Mega Minis stall holder.

"Oranges only 2 Sous"

Modern African Civilians

The summer project continues apace, having pooled all of bare metal into a vast pile of shiny lead, I found these civilans languishing in the draw earmarked for a project which never got off the ground, they are a mix of Brigade Games Haiti range and a Bobby Jackson's Thugz which needed a little effort to remove handguns and the like.

I figured they would be useful for various scenario's in the Zikanga Campaign, giving the peace keepers something to defend or generally getting in the way of the waring factions.

The nuns are from Westwind and their gothic horror range, originally planned for my Elizabethan campaigns in Ireland, but paint the habit and wimple in a light brown colour and you have yourselves a Catholic mission in Africa.

Lead mountain continues to shrink.

The summer challange - Conquering Lead Mountain

It should be summer, but I find myself staring out at yet another down pour, the kids have all their mates round, time to retreat to the man cave.
After 25 years or so gaming it struck me that I have managed to amass untold odds and sods, 8 shelves of trays, boxes and draws, mostly unnamed, purchases from shows and late nights on the internet with a surplus in paypal which just had to be spent.

I have certainly been guilty of chasing far too many hares over the years, blister packs and single figures because they looked nice, some one elses project that I was keen to jump in on, long after they had changed projects and sold their collection, I had become a collector of figures, which will never be enough to complete a project, or are unlikely to ever see even an undercoat. 

Draws had piles of shiny lead for existing projects which just needed some focus to finish off, limbers, casualty markers and enough doubles to make a few extra units.

Time for a clear out.

So the plan, 6 weeks to either paint it, play it or sell it.

I thought I would tackle it one shelf/box at a time.

In draw number one we have, heavy weapons for the Japanese and Marines in the Pacific which never quite got finished when the original project kicked off, Sci-fi terrain for Starship troopers and aliens, RJW extra casaulties from Salute, Ainsty crates and food stuff's for a middle eastern market, Civilians for modern Africa, left behind because the chaps with guns had more use.

With a little focus I should be able to free up enough space for funds for a new project in the autumn.
Quite a challange but one sure to keep me out of trouble during the summer holidays.

Starship Troopers Campaign Round 4 - Escape

Sunday saw another outing for the mighty Wyverns in the ongoing Wyvern Wargamers Starship Troopers Campaign, once again the players were a mix of now veterans and new recruits straight out of the academy all keen to improve on the last encounter.

After the last encounter the MI are on the back foot and are having to play through the Escape scenario.

The scenario - Escape

The message coming over the comms are not encouraging and it seems every company is hip deep in Arachnids, just as you thought things could get no worse for your troopers, you find yourselves surrounded by bug! Fight for your lives and try and escape anywhere!

Your units must escape the table any way they can, double points are awarded for any troops escaping the table, you get nothing for killing Arachnids.

The players selected quantity and armour over volume, forming up on mass, on the look out for any sign of bug activity.

Turns 1 & 2 pass without incident, the bugs fails to activate and the Mobile Infantry edge ever closer to the table edge, the plan might just work.

With safety in sight the bugs win the initiative and close in on the Mobile Infantry, Deacon's Destroyers and their Chickenhawks break formation and head for the southern table edge, hoping to draw the bugs away from the main body, or were they looking to save their skins :-)

The remaining players rush to take up firing positions with bugs closing in on all sides and fliers sweeping in from each table edge.

The Arachnids close in on their prey as the troopers form square, the CO combat surfer, calls in an orbital bombardment to slow the advancing bugs, but they get every closer to the MI lines. The more they kill the more bugs seem to appear.

The bugs are killed in their hundreds but they are an unstoppable force and wash over the defenders, footage is lost at this stage as the press crew are forced to drop their camera and run for their lives.

The troopers break ranks and run for the table edge, some dragging their injured comrades with them, others just looking to not be last and food for the bugs.

 

The close of Round 4 see's all the active players picking up a haul of points, but points aside it still felt like a defeat,  Combat Surfer is the new leader on route to Sky Marshall, the results could have been far worse for all if the medics had not done such a wonderful job of patching up the injured.

Round 5 see's the MI looking to get off this bug infested rock!!!!

The Tank Museum Bovington - A wargamers must.

It must be at least 15 years since my first outing to Bovington and a return trip was long over due.

Bovington is the museum of the Royal tank regiment and holds the largest collection of tanks in the world.  The British Army has been training tank crews at Bovington since 1916 while the museum was founded in the 1920s on the suggestion of Rudyard Kipling.

The main building consists of 4 areas, the tank story, the WWI experience, the discovery zone and Battlegroup Afghanistan. The following pic's give you a flavour of the goodies on offer.

The best and most important hall is 'the tank story' which traces the history of the tank all the way from 'little willie' in 1915 upto the modern day and includes the museums most prized vehicles. It's airy and well lite with plenty of room to get round the vehicles.

 

The Russian Army is well represented.

 

Although the German heavy metal steals the show just by its pure size and stopping power.

The WW2 section includes the worlds last surviving working Tiger tank and a Panther whose camo scheme is not one I have ever thought of copying in miniature. 

 

Not something I have ever though of painting, any idea on where this scheme was used?

The trusty Sherman takes pride of place in the main hall.

OK a firefly.

The Discovery Zone is a very large area crammed full of tanks and armoured vehicles mostly from the WW2 era but a few gems from the cold war period are hidden away in the 

corners which is a real shame as they are some great pieces of kit.

 

 

 

I almost buckled and ordered a bunch of stuff from GHQ on the strength of the T62 alone.

 

The last area is Battlegroup Afghanistan, it's smaller than the other areas and gives a look at the vehicles and conditions from the war in Afghanistan. 

 

A great day out and with a 12 month pass, I can see myself sneaking off for another day out soon.

Daemonscape - 25mm Sci-fi Vehicles Part 2

It seems a while since I managed to put paint to brush but I wanted to get these reinforcements completed for the SST campaign as we are nearing the completion of phase one.

The Daemonscape castings paint up really well and are the perfect fit against 1st Corp Colonial infantry. I don't want the Starship Trooper games to become an armour fest, but these give me some mobility without hopefully becoming the kings of the battlefield.

First up the mobile command station, capable of holding 6 figures and a driver, this vehicle can call in orbital support and on station fighter patrols.

Whilst I wanted to give the Mobile Infantry some mobility I did not want their APC's to be brisking with machine guns and large cannons, these are listed as snowcats and seem perfect for the job.
 

Under the point rules I have classified them as

Komodo IFV – 250 pts

The Komodo Infantry Fighting Vehicle is designed to give the Mobile Infantry a support Vehicle capable of extended operations without the need for a re-supply from fleet. The Komodo has the ability to recharge power suits and oxygen tanks along with  additional ammo and weapon storage. As an IFV it is armed with a Rotary Six Gun cannon.

 

• A defence value of 2
• May carry upto 8 personnel
• Crew of 1 Leader, 1 Driver & 1 Gunner. (Rep 3)
• Roatry Cannon (Targets 6, Impact 3)

When combined with the existing transports and walkers they look quite the force and all the models both genuine and proxies fit together well, both in terms of scale and design.

I need to add some decals to the transports, but first a repair job is needed on a number of the SST sections, as I experienced the wargamers nightmare on Sunday night, with the case springing open after being caught by the door to our club house and spilling the contents across the car park !!!!

Casaulties are high with at least 4 killed, 12 seriously wounded and 18 lightly wounded, needing patching and rebasing.  I guess it could have been worse, it could have been spearmen and pike blocks.... :-(

 

Something Old - Something New....

Over the years I have tried to build up a terrain collection that is multi-functional, Crescent Root is no exception, the buildings are well made and each building comes with removable roofs and doors which slot into the door frame allowing you to remove them for certain scenarios.

Having seen an outing from Old Mexico to the Sudan I wanted to modernize them for the current  Sci-Fi Campaign that I am running at the moment I sort of envisage a Ghosts of Mars type mining town set in the world of Starship Troopers, miners to be rescued or buildings to be defended from the advancing bug hordes.

I Picked up the following items from Antenocitis Workshop and Ainsty Castings at Salute they have taken some time to make it to the top of lead mountain, but they will come in really useful in turning these buildings to modern and futurist dwellings.

  

Radar comms units and air conditioning units.

Solar panels to provide energy for the colonists.

 Air scubbers and a Radar dome can be seen.

Not a bad afternoons work and some useful terrain peices for various scenarios across the ages. I just need to draw up a scenario now.