200,000 - A Prize fund give away...... and a favour to ask......

Missed the 150,000 mark and nearly missed the 200,000 views as well.

Yesterday Dust Tears and Dice hit a milestone - 200,000 page views - which was a very pleasant surprise.

It always continues to surprise and inspire me how many of you find my strange gaming periods and ramblings of interesting, enough to keep coming people coming back, a special thanks to those who go to the troubling of commenting.

To celebrate I thought I would have a prize fund give away they seem popular in the blogosphere so here goes...

There are several items to giveaway and you can enter and try to win as many as you want it's either that or they go on ebay :-)

 Now here's the catch, I need you to comment on someone elses blog.

For the past year or so my daughter has been suffering with with M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) otherwise known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she has missed loads of time off school, gone from an energic sport mad teenager to house bound with little mobility but has remained positive throughout and is really trying to fight it to return to full health.

She has recent created a blog with has amassed approx 2000 hits and I have teased her a little about the poor showing in cyber space, so am looking to give her a boost with a few extra hits and followers.

I would like you to leave her a positive comment on her blog..... any page or posting will do.
Feel free to pass on to those who may be interested, I don't tell her enough but it really is an inspirational read and shows such strength of character and makes me so proud.

Oh don't tell her I sent you.... we all know how embrassing dad's can be, espically those playing with toy soldiers.....

To enter all you have to do is....

1. Be a Follower of this Blog.

2. Post a supporting comment on Han's blog. https://achronicteen.wordpress.com/

 Winners will be drawn from random this forthcoming weekend.

And you can enter from anywhere in the world!

I think that's the rules covered.

Now on with the prizes in no particulare order.

A 6mm fisherman's hut for Vietnam, guess who still had some spare cash at a wargames show!!

 Difficult to buy for? - Guess who got three of these one Christmas.

We have all been asked at one stage or another what do we actually do, well the perfect guide to hand over to those with a curious interest.

Try sneaking these into a team meeting and see if any one notices?

A good read Caesar to Tim Collins.

Nagged about spending to long over the paint station, then take the kids on a walk that happens to have a battlefield on it......

 1940's Civilians perfect for cluttering up the table and distracting you from the real painting you should be doing.

Chinese Bandits - Just a little too modern for my RJW project.

Elizabethan Calivers with a Master of Arms - A foundry classic.

Spanish sword and bucklermen - You can never have enough of these, sadly I do.

Thanks for reading and don't tell her I sent you..... 

https://achronicteen.wordpress.com/my-health-story/ 

Songs of Blades and Heroes - Four Way AAR.

Last Sunday saw the first outing for several of the Chinese Factions for the Sung Dynasty project, any excuse to get a little more use out of the Chinese village, the original scenario was a classic attack and defend with Korean Infantry holding a village against the advancing Sung.

However it soon turned into a multi-player swordfest and one of most enjoyable games for quite a while.

Over at Wyvern Wargames we like to think we are a little different, everyone should get a game and every member should be willing to include new people into joining in, there is nothing worse than a newbie turning up and standing and watching for a hour feeling like they are interupting.... 

With a potential new member wandering in and another player with no game, a quick switch around of the scenario and the village encounter became a 4 way race to capture and hold the cross roads.

The Palace guard under the command of Henrick make a rush for the cross roads, they have the shortest distance to travel and numerically smaller than some of the other factions, but with a higher quality of 4, they stand and wait the approch of the attakers.

The Koreans are first to try their luck, out numbering the Palace guard they nervously edge forward mindful of the enemy forces to their left.

These are from Perry's range - expertly painted by Gav - Check out his blog here.
Furphy's Brush with History
He is always on the look out for commission work and has done an excellent job on bringing the Korean's to life a tough job given the colouring of their armour.....

Dane moves the Temple Guard forward, the smallest faction but also with a quality 4 status soon start making their prescence felt, clashing with the Korean pickets, in a short and bloody affair several Koreans are isolated and chopped down for the loss of only one attacker.

Meanwhile in the centre of town the Korean's are having a hard time of it against the Palace Guard, the quality scores of 3 to 4 often means that the guard can bring more attackers into the fight, the Koreans fall back to regroup.

 

Finally my Sung Troops arrive poorly motivated they just seemed to be content to hang around or is this a cunning plan to see everyone else kill each other, after several rounds of ineffectual archery fire, I resort to going in with the sword, but by this time the Korean's have fallen back and the Palace Guard are able to bring extra troops to plug the gap. The poor quality Sung are no match for the Guard and their large clubs and choppers.....

Unable to bring my superiour numbers to bear they are taken apart one figure at a time... The curse of newly painted figures strikes again....

The clock is ticking and the Korean's come on again this time bumping into the temple guard who are making their play for the cross roads.

As the clock strikes 10.00pm, the Palace guard remain unmoved from the cross roads, the Koreans and Temple guard have knocked chucks out of each other while the Palace Guard look on, at the far end of the village my the Sung are still blunting themselves the against the rest of the guard......

Victory to the new guy.... and the Palace Guard...
Not bad at all for a for a first outing.....

28mm Ancient Chinese Warring States/Qin Dynasty Miniatures - Fu Dogs

The wargaming gods are against me, another action packed week at work which has meant the blog and the brushes have been left unattended, anyway Saturday should be a full day on the brushes...... 

The above Fish Tank ornaments were recently tarted up for the recent RJW game and the latest update from the guys Watchful I studio and their latest Kickstarter are perfect for the forthcoming Ancient China project and for turning the ornaments for something a little more "animated".

"We have two statue variants and two 'alive' variants of the Fu Dogs. The cub Fu Dog will come with the sets that contain both versions of the 'alive' Fu Dogs. The Fu Dogs are modeled on a 50mm round base to give you an idea of size."

"These prints are heading off to the caster next week and speaking of next week, I am anticipating the metal castings of the chariots, cavalry and Terracotta Warriors. It will be a busy week cleaning and preparing all that stuff for your review."  

Regular updates and details of each stage of the production, plenty for other kickstarters to learn from. Well done Watchful I studio.

Dux Britanniarum in Ancient China

After the planning and the roll out of OML3 I seem to have hit a bit of low, plenty of projects on the go but none that really give me that spark to to crack on with the painting at the pace that I have been acheiving in recent months.

I am hoping that this weekends Songs of Blades and Heroes outing will give me the nudge I need.

To be honest I am somewhat of an impasse on the Ancient Chinese front, torn between a pure historical project based on the Song military fending off the Mongol hordes, a more fantasy driven project involing Watchful Studios forthcoming kickstarter releases and somewhere between to two based on the Water Margin novel and TV series.

What they all have in common is the need for some regular foot, whilst the source material of period would suggest most troops wore their own clothing I wanted to go for a more uniform feel for some of the troops - Step forward Curtney's Miniatures. 

Command Stands and Hero Stands.

 

The armour is of a uniform colour with trousers varied to give a sense of militia about them, I have perhaps over done the numbers for Songs of Blades and Heroes so a conversion to Dux Britanniarum looks on the cards, the mix of smallish units and heroes seems to give me what I am looking for.

6 Figure Bill Units.

4 Figure Archer Units.

The initial Song faction

 

Next up some militia types in mixed armour and more colourful clothing to give me some opponents for the government forces.

The 700 day wait......

Finally almost 2 years to after the initial order 12 months after the rules landed finally the miniatures have arrived......was it a mere coincidence that the package arrived a few weeks after the threat of legal proceedings and correspondence with the federal authorities?

Such a shame, I had high hopes for this this project but the whole affair has rather put me off.

I struggle to understand how new items can be released before backers receive their items, I could  have wandered along to several trade shows in the past 12 months and picked up most of the items on my list.....

Did Robot Peanut Studios/Alien Dungeon/Architects of War simply get carried away having asked for $50,000 and recieved over $300,000 and felt under pressure to keep adding ideas to the ever growing backers and pledge levels?

All I know is that nothing arrived and numerous e-mails remained unanswered before I had to take a firmer approach, contacting UK trading standards and even the office of the state governor.....

My plan was always to compliment my existing Victorian Collection with a few choice items such as the Mono-Tank, it had a feel of the Penny farthing and afterall we are talking 1890's.

I also have some of the small Martian Drones which will compliment the Martian Infantry that I have from the guys at Blackhat Miniatures.
 

A smoother release and greater communication would I am sure created a wider interest in this gaming system and range of figures, but I wonder if that ship has now sailed?

I see today that the UK is now down to one stockist as Curtey's is clearing their stock.

I real shame - Definately won't be backing anything from these guys again.....

Perhaps putting paint to miniature will provide a little more motivation for me to finish up this project.

On a brighter note and I ventured back into Kickstarter and supported the latest offering from Cool MiniorNot - with Zombcide Black Plague.

A fantastic start with $1,500,000 in less that 24 Hrs. 

I just hope they don't get carried away too.........

OML 3 - "The Lardest Day" - 6th June - The Battle of Shaho 1904 - Part 3 - Reports from the front.

I planned on posting an update from last weeks OML3 outing far sooner but real life got in the way.

Anyway the weekend is upon us and time to update the blog....

Another fantastic outing 38 lardy wargamers, 8 Hours of highly entertaining gaming followed by several pints and a curry......

So engrossed in Manchuria I had little opportunity to get around the tables, but Ade has been kind enough to showcase the games on his excellent blog. Details can be found here.

http://bulletsbandagesandlard.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/oml3-post-20th-century-games.html

Lardies in full on gaming mode.

A short summary of the morning and afternoon action.

Game 1 - Sidney (Russian) & Doug (Japanese)

A quiet day in Jingiao a lone fisherman heads back with his catch, little did he know of the events that were about to unfold.

Lt Yosi Omura peering through his field glasses spots the Russians resting on the road and imediately send off a runner to bring the platoon forward.

The Russians in typical slavic fashion pour forward as the Chinese scouts snipe at the Russian mass.

Japanese Infantry crest the hill and are greated by the massed ranks of Russian Infantry, volley after volley crashes out and officers fall on both sides.

The Japanese skirt the compound but are pushed back by a Russian counter attack.

The Japanese skirt left looking to capture the farm house as the Russians are engaged on the front, a sole Russian sargeant looks to stem the attackers.

Russian reinforcements are unmasked and Frontier Cavalry crash into the Japanese attackers just as they hoped to flank the ravaged Russian front ranks.

The Japanese fall back in some disorder.

A Russian Victory..... but a near run thing with only the final 2 -3 turns deciding the outcome.

Game 2 - Dane (Japanese)  and Mark (Russian)

Round 2 will this be a repeat of the morning encounter?

Lt Yosi Omura hidden in the field sends off the runner and  snipes at the Russians - no change there then. The Russians rush forward and Omura unable to persuade his men forwards falls back to main section.

 

In a moment akin  to Zulu Dawn a single section crests the ridge to reveal the Japanese column, trumpets blare and flags flutter and the Japanese set off.

Unfortunately I was let down by the press team at this stage (ok the battery in the camera), the Russians falling back from the massed ranks of Japanese opted for a defence in depth crowding into the Chinese hovels.

As the day draws to a close the Japanese begin to pressure the Russian right and even late arriving Russian reinforcments are unable to slow the Japanese advance.

Thanks to Sidney, Doug, Mark and Dane for taking part and making both games really enjoyable to umpire, both excellent games with the ebb and follow that I have come to expect from Mud & Blood.

Roll on OML 4.

OML 3 - "The Lardest Day" - 6th June - The Battle of Shaho 1904 - Part 2

Before I post up the results of OML3, I thought it would be a good idea to outline the scenario for those interested.
We had a run through at the last club and I have made a couple of tweaks to balance the forces and ensure the timings run more smoothly.

Amended the layout slightly adding in the latest terrain elements.

Scenario Briefing.

On the morning of the 9^th October Lt Yosi Omura was advancing at the head of his platoon, part of the 17th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army. His Regiment advanced towards the village of Jingiao tasked with slowing the Western detachments advance. 

Lt Omura was sent forward with his platoon to reconnoitre the area.

In the early morning fog Omura left his platoon and with Lt Ume and two other Chinese scouts he

advanced forwards through the Kaoliang fields that over looked the main road.
There below him were around fifteen Russians with rifles stacked, resting on the edge of the village. 

 

Japanese Briefing

You have moved forward ahead of your platoon in order to see if the village is clear. It’s a foggy morning so visibility is poor and the Colonel does not want the Battalion to blunder into Russian forces without first scouting ahead. 
You have advanced down the slopes of the foot hills and through a fields of kaoliang and then a

small farm came into view. Looking down to the main road you can see a group of Russian soldiers drinking and chatting on the road! 

They clearly have no idea that you are here.

You have the jump on your opponent. It would be a tremendous advantage if you can break into the

outskirts of the Jingiao you are determined to seize the opportunity to prove yourself to your superiors.

Russian Briefing 

And so we continue to march towards the Shi River to defeat the Japanese and win a famous victory for the Tsar. We are taking a break here in this small village so make the most of your time to enjoy the coffee, no doubt we’ll be on the march again in a moment.

Next up the results of OML3 ..... A truely cracking day.....