ECW Regiment of Foote

I've been settling into my hobby space in our new/old house and have been slowly unpacking stuff that has been squirreled away in boxes for years. Anyway, here is an old chestnut. A regiment of English Civil War foot using Redoubt castings which I painted, cripes, about 10 or so years ago.

If I recall correctly I think this is supposed to be Allen Apsley's Regiment of Foote (composed of Royalists from Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall). These castings are advertised as 28mm but are really closer to 33-35mm. They're kinda anachronistic and quirky but I quite like them. I've always enjoyed the look of the 'hedge' of pikes, intermixed with loads of company banners, with the sleeves of shot on either side. The excellent banners are from Brian. I pipped-out a boatload Redoubt stuff in an ebay auction and it remains on a side burner as one of those 'retirement projects'. Who knows maybe I can entice Greg to get into this with me?

Grenzing away

I'm still sawing away at the Black Powder project, and I'm pleased to report pretty good progress on my Grenzer unit. I made it to the half-way point last night and now have 20 of the troops painted. Here is a little update picture:



I found a pack of mounted infantry officers wearing shakos in my Foundry pile, so this unit will have a mounted figure in the mix as well. A mounted, shako-wearing Hungarian officer should stand in reasonably for an officer without it being too silly.

That will leave 18 infantry and the mounted officer left to paint before the unit is ready for basing. I don't think I'll be able to get it done before an approaching vacation dents my momentum, but we'll see what progress I can manage this weekend.

Project 'Beat Dallas' continues

A while ago I finished the bulk of my space marine refurbishing project. I had started a space marine army at the end of grade 12 (that's the year 2000, just so there isn't any confusion) and stupidly painted them as Salamanders. Codex Armageddon was new and it had a cool army list for the army. Like all things that reside on the fringes of GW's rules and army lists, the salamanders were no more and I was stuck with snot green painted models. Repainting began shortly after 5th edition came out.
Below are some of the odds and ends that I always ignored in past editions of space marines, but now appear to be pretty good.



Former tactical Terminators who have had their arms swapped out for TH/SS. The 3+ invulnerable is the main reason for this.


My future Britz have used the above Razorback for transport in the past, but I have something else for them to ride around in (once I get it painted) so I'm giving it to the marines. I also converted the turret to a lascannon/twin-linked plasmagun. Beside the Razorback is an alternate turret for my Predator. I have another Predator hull with lascannon sponsons, but it's too expensive points wise (maybe I'll paint it for the next edition).

Hopefully, I'll have pictures of a new Sternguard unit soon.

Battle report - rise of "smoke spam"

More plans wrecked by smoke rounds...

Last night Dallas hosted a game of Spearhead. The scenario set during the early days of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's last major counter-offensive in the war, and the fighting around St. Vith. I played the US side - a combat command that included a rifle battalion, some Shermans, some M-10 tank destroyers and a company of 57mm ATGs.

Dallas, later joined by Cam, took control of the German side, which featured three battalions - one panzer battalion loaded down with Panthers, and two foot-slogging Grenadier battalions.

The scenario was fairly straight forward. The German goal was to get through the US force. They could win two ways - by routing the US force prior to turn six, or exiting more than half of the Panzer battalion off the opposite table edge by turn 12. For fun I used a house rule to simulate the "on-fumes" state of the Panzers' fuel tanks - each turn Dallas would roll 2d6, and on an 11 or 12, one platoon would run out of gas and grind to a halt.

Well, the US gave a good fight. In particular, we really pasted Cam's grenadier battalion. That did little to halt the tide of Panthers, which rolled majestically over our infantry while the fire of the Shermans and 57mm ATGs pinged harmlessly off their armour. Dallas used the German off-table fire missions to deploy smoke screens at important times, which was really, really irritating.

My US lads held past turn six, compelling the Panzers to dash for the breakthrough. Sadly, I had few platoons left that could take advantage of the exposed flank and rear aspects of the Panthers. Spearhead's target priority rules also ensured that my infantry were tangled with the opposing German infantry, and the Panthers rolled right past them, leaving the Germans with a narrow but nonetheless definitive win, particularly as I failed a morale roll for the combat command.

Here are some pictures of the game. Note the carelessly exposed deployment of my tank destroyers. I'm sure the crews would condemn me for that, had any of them survived...

A cheesey smoke barrage obscures the German advance

Sherman tanks await the rare opportunity to take a flank shot at the enemy tanks

Q - do riverbanks provide good cover? A - NO

German armour rolls across the shallow creek

My very small collection of German armour in winter camo smashes its way through the infantry line

Cam's grenadier battalion got chewed up by artillery and a particularly stubborn platoon of M-20 armoured cars (seen on the far side of the creek)- none of which really helped me win, but at least we lit up somebody...

A picture of the desperate US defenders

The game was a lot of fun. The scenario was very simple, and there was not a ton of different types of units involved, which helped cut down on the headaches. Dallas and Cam did a good job breaking the US defence, balancing the need for speed while trying to ensure the troops could shoot back. In particular, Cam reorganized his attack away from a "one-at-time" approach (which worked great for my defenders) to an "all-at-once" (which sucked for my hapless guys).

I love Spearhead, because the game represents a confrontation between plans as much as dice-rolling and different stat sheets. Much depends on your plan, and your initial deployment, as it is not quick to move stuff around the table if you are caught out. Compared to the goofed-out, endless-special-rules impaired world of the byzantine power-creeping codices that dominate 40k, Spearhead is pure wargaming joy.

Dallas really played the Germans well, rushing straight ahead, conscious of the ticking clock. His plan spread out the attack enough to keep me busy, while still ensuring the panzers punched hard, and had infantry support when it counted. Only one tank platoon ran out of gas (dammit!) but the roll each turn added a nice little sense of "uh-oh". On the American side, you got a good feel for the hopeless defence - infantry just waiting in the trenches while the German treads ground towards them....yikes!

Thanks to Dallas for hosting, and to Cam and Brian for coming out.

Game tonight - Battle of the Bulge

Tonight we will be playing Spearhead. The scenario will be set in the Western Front, the Ardennes in late 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge.

I concede readily that I have not delved too deeply into the specifics of the Bulge. I purchased "Hitler's Last Gamble" over a year ago in the hopes of finding gaming inspiration. Instead, it was one of those rare military history books with almost NO MAPS, so was damn hard to follow and I never did finish it. But I think we will capture the flavour of the Bulge with tonight's game, even if the unit specifics are not exactly right.

Another point of disclosure - I have precious few parts of my 6mm collection actually painted for winter - but screw that. We'll be able to make the table look somewhat wintry, and at any rate I don't know that the US troops had much of their stuff painted white. I know the Germans probably had a lot more...but hey, it's 6mm for fr*k sakes, and I do at least have some "winter" Panthers.

Anyway, the specific scenario will feature a desperate US defence of the approaches to the town of St. Vith. US "Combat Commands", scraped together from available local resources are in place to block the German advance. The Germans, who had envisioned capturing St. Vith on the second day of the offensive, are behind schedule. They still have the advantage, but will have to deal with challenging terrain, roads and unforgiving victory conditions that will call for them to get past the Americans as soon as they can.

In looking through my collection, it occurred to me that tonight will be something of a watershed when it comes to Spearhead - it will be the first time we use Americans. In fact, while I have a significant chunk of American models, I don't think we have ever rolled with Americans on the board for either Spearhead or Modern Spearhead. So a first for tonight's game! Look forward to seeing everyone and watching the tanks get stuck in the snow and mud.

Squeek-eek!

As threatened previously, work has begun on the chittering horde of Skaven for Warhammer Fantasy Battle.  Of course, finally seeing the new Skaven models from the eighth edition "Island of Blood" box "in the plastic" helped with motivation.  The first two units to be completed are a 30-strong unit of Clanrats and a 36-rat regiment of Plague Monks (25 shown).  The magic of Devlan Mud and a few choice highlights, plus a colour change on the Monks from purple robes to Knarloc Green - much more pestilential, I think!

Many, many more rats to come, obviously!

Roll Over Beethoven

Okay, Greg has been going great guns on his Napoleonic Austrians and I thought it high-time to show that I've not been doing nothing these past few months since I issued the Challenge. I have a ton of Foundry metals from past purchases but I also bought a schwack of the Victrix plastics as they have the early French in their bicornes and long coat-tails which I like the look of. The Victrix stuff is great but putting them all together can be a little crazy-making. Nonetheless, I do like the ability to build unique units without too much hassle. Here are a few 'raw' unpainted figures which have been arranged for a command stand concept.

The cool thing about the multi-pose plastics is that you can build a unit incrementally to flesh out an idea for an overall theme. The box came with a couple mods for guys raising their hats and I thought I'd do a whole battalion that is in the midst of a impromptu salute. I envisioned a scene where the Colonel is passing along the praise of the brigadier to the battalion and particularly the colour party for covering itself in glory in the past engagement. The men are loving it, with lots of back-slapping, musket-waving and shouting out "Vive le Starbucks" or something.

I have a hard time getting used to how light these guys are. It kinda freaks me out as I'm used to a certain heft with a unit of this size. In retrospect I'm happy I went with metal bases as I'm thinking they would otherwise blow away with a good sneeze. I also prefer the lower profile to the bases - the figures seem more part of the playing surface.

The other thing I wanted to try with this unit was to place figures and groundwork into the 'dead space' at the front of each base. I reason that this way when the battalion is placed into column it looks a bit more integrated between the lines. Technically this would be rated as a 32-figure battalion in Black Powder or Republic to Empire but it has a few more models in it as I prefer a more packed-in look. There are a couple light conversions in there with guys holding their bicornes, bearskins and shakos. There is also the obligatory bald guy to commemorate my own follicle-challenged status.

I wasn't really sure on the autumnal groundwork colours but I think I like it now. It seems to give more variability to the overall colours instead of just seeing a mass of blue and white. I've got a bunch more models painted (no, really) but I'm waiting for some more 'filler' NCO/junior officer castings from the Perry's, Foundry and Sash and Saber to act as file closers. I'll post another update once I have a brigade's worth based and their groundwork completed.

Next up: French Dragoons!