Schwarm Tiger

The Schwarm Tiger out for some preliminary maneuvers on the dining room table

In the annals of the wargaming hobby, what could possibly be less original than doing up a German Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, the notorious "King Tiger"? Well, how about a Schwarm Tiger?

Up there with the French Old Guard Grenadiers and the British 95th Rifles of the Napoleonic era, and any  40k faction(s) involving input from Gav Thorpe, the Tiger tanks of the German WW2 panzer lineup are one of the great paradoxes in wargaming.  There were not very many of them, and compared to the other weapons in the arsenal, they saw very little action.  Yet every wargamer seems to have them, and every rules system that makes an accommodation for them bestows them with a table-dominating prowess that belies the numerous actual problems and challenges that dominated the day-to-day action they did see.

Left to their own devices, I'm sure many hard-core Flames of War gamers would roll with an "army" where the King Tigers are so prevalent they might as well be staff cars, and the non-Tiger support choices are all direct-firing Hummels with a few Jagdtigers thrown in for variety.  They would smile and tell you it's all good, because they "paid the points".

I like to laugh at this, but in truth I am a hypocrite. I am as stuck into it as any gamer. I may not do the "all King Tiger army", but I still like to roll with the heavy kit. Big guns are fun. I've got a Death Wing force for 40k (although ironically this not actually powerful on the table, but anyway).  I have super heavy tanks for my Imperial Guardsmen in 40k. We've played spearhead scenarios pitting the big cats against the Soviet hordes - and in one funny instance, they didn't even need to engage. We've also used the King Tiger in the odd 28mm WW2 game, either as an objective or as a participant (last stand in Berlin - that was a fun game, although I recall Brian H knocking the King Tiger out with a bit of an iffy shot that left me doing a bit of a sulk).

These are fun games, and as long as the scenario is sensible, you avoid an actual 40K-i-fication of a historical encounter.  Pushing tanks around is fun - and using the toughest tanks with the biggest guns out there is lots of fun.  Knocking them out of action is even more fun (well, for the other players)!

And so the Gün Schwarm. The Güns already have Panthers, and a pimped-out Hetzer. In this context, the Schwarm Tiger will fit right in.  Besides, we face the deadly T-640.  Time to embrace the enjoyment of the big tanks and big guns, and get one for the Güns.

Hobbymaster had put out a 1/48 Scale King Tiger, so last year I acquired one on EBay and took the old hatchet, some tank sprue bits and tried to see what I could come up with.... then I moved, etc. etc. blah blah delay etc. I finally found the thing last week, and thought "what the heck, let's see what I can come up with..."

"Before" - a Hobbymaster 1:48 scale King Tiger tank

First off, just a quick acknowledgement that the Hobbymaster model is quite beautiful.  It felt like sacrilege to hack it.  But once I had cut the barrel off, I was kind of committed....

I mounted the requisite absurd smooth bore cannon and a co-axial laser. I hacked off the cupola, and replaced it with a cupola from a Space Marine Predator/Rhino kit.  I wanted the model to have a bit of eminence, so that called for a tank commander in the hatch. I opted for a Death Korps tank commander and heavy stubber combo from Forge World.  I popped a couple of technical-plate looking things from assorted GW kits on the odd open spot - and there were not too many because the model already has a beautiful bunch of stowage, cables etc. A heavy bolter went to replace the MG on the hull.

The GW tank search light is mandatory on all SpaceKrieg vehicles, no matter the faction

And of course, we needed the standard issue Future War searchlight.

Gün Grenadiers on propaganda maneuvers with the Schwarm Tiger

So far my Gün Schwarm vehicles have all been a single colour - a dark mustard-looking yellow.  A heavy hitter like this tank should stand out, so I bucked up and decided this would be the model where I would try a bunch of different stuff - the Battlefront spray paint, the airbrush, pigment powders.  What the heck?

Rust splotches courtesy of Forge World pigment powders

I primed the whole thing black, then sprayed a coat of "German Armour (Mid/Late)" paint from Battlefront.  This was actually a big change for me - I only spray black, and then paint everything else, as it seems to be the only way my painting approach can cope.  But several people have recommended these sprays, and they were right.  I can see how people can crank out FOW tanks by the platoon using them. I'm glad I tried them, and look forward to using them on other models.

I imagine that the environment on FuturKom worlds would be hard on paint coats

Up next was the air brush.  Oh man, what an adventure that was.  I wanted to replicate some variant of the infamous German "ambush" camouflage pattern - aka the pattern that was already pre-painted on to the model (don't get me started - I like to paint things, or try to, myself - it's a hangup). I have always been wary/afraid of airbrushes, and envious of those who are not.  I like to paint camouflage on to troops and vehicles, even "sprayed" patterns, and will try every trick I can think of just to avoid the airbrush.

Why don't I like airbrushes? To me, adding a mechanical element with all sorts of variables to painting just seems like a big pain in the *ss, and minimal value for the effort. But now was the time to be bold! So off I went...

The Hobbymaster vehicle had great stowage already on the model

Let's just say it was a very messy process.  I hate a lot about airbrushing.  The airbrush is so needy. The paints have to be thinned - or at least some of them do.  The containers involved all seem to be designed to preclude the notion that you would ever be pouring the paint or the thinner into yet another container, so it's a frigging mess. 

The results were uneven, to put it mildly.  The brown and the green worked out OK, but I found that I had covered too much of the yellow.  So I tried some Tamiya yellow-green, and I think it had too much thinner, so it went on kinda funny.  And the whole time I was not really protecting my tank commander from the paint, so he was acquiring many layers of paint for no reason. My summary of using an airbrush - @#$@#$@#$@#$!!!!

I tried to put a lot of rust coloured pigment powder on the vents and exhaust

Thank the powers-that-be for GW's Devlan Mud wash!  A wash of that stuff served to bring a useful tint back to the yellow.  I followed up by using a sponge to dab spots of GW Desert Yellow over the airbrushed Tamiya yellow-green.  I concentrated on some areas where the border between the yellow and the other colours had turned out really runny-looking.  I then dry-brushed the whole thing with the same GW Desert Yellow, and found the pattern had become serviceable, if dark.  But that is one of the advantages of an imaginary sci-fi setting - any camouflage you apply will be appropriate for some place.  It's a terrible rendering of German WW2 ambush camouflage, but fine for Gün Schwarm.

The Templar decal serves as an air identification marker for the tank, to try and keep the SchwarmWaffe from strafing its own side on the battlefield...

I used an Americana black paint to cover the stowage, tank commander, treads etc and go down to some more standard painting for these elements.  Finishing the tank commander was tricky, as he had many extra layers of paint already on him from the priming and various airbrush coats, but here didn't turn out too bad. I painted the tops of the open tank hatches with GW Kommando Khaki to mirror a different internal paint colour for the vehicle.  A layer of gloss was next to prepare for the decals, which were a mix of tactical numbers from the excellent "Company B", and Black Templar decal from a GW Space Marine sheet.  The model then received a hit of dullcote.

The suitably absurd-sized main gun; advanced tech on the turret prevents decapitation of the gunners due to recoil on the gun mount...

Weathering was up next.  I tried to get all clever and mix some rust coloured weathering powder with an acrylic medium.  I hoped to get the pigment to wash into crevices etc.  This didn't work - as opposed to some kind of wicked IPMS-style rust effect, I ended up with a dab of brown-looking acrylic paint.  Oh well. Plan B - a dry application of the pigment powder, and this worked much better. I went really hard on the spare track sections hanging on the turret - I wanted those to have rusty finish, to show the vehicle has seen hard service on some FuturKom industrial planet. I used some black pigment powder on some of the exhaust areas and the muzzle of the main gun. I also painted some chipped areas using GW Dark Flesh and GW Boltgun Metal.

Propaganda maneuvers with Panzer 2050 Ausf. F

And so we have a Schwarm Tiger, ready to join the fight against Kommulism.  I imagine this will operate much like its WW2 inspiration - dispatched to the front in a battalion-sized unit that was worn out by the FuturKom hordes to platoon-sized detachments in no time.  The tank is slow and prone to breakdowns. The Gün techs struggle to perform the maintenance needed on the vehicle's complicated systems, including its insane 135mm smooth bore high-velocity cannon, even as the commanders clamour to keep the thing in the front line.  I'm looking forward to putting this thing on the table, and watching it get knocked out on the first turn...

As for the airbrush, at least I've tried it.  Like anything, I'm sure it will get a bit better with practice.  But I remain envious of those folks that know how to make them work properly.

Yeah - This Makes Sense...

"Gandalf - noted character from Rogue Trader....ummm, right?"

It's the 25th Anniversary of Rogue Trader, the science-fiction tabletop skirmish game that has really set the tone (arguably) for a generation of gamers.  You're going to have a special edition of your hobby magazine for this anniversary.  You think carefully about the cover, which will set the tone for this edition of the magazine. What says "Rogue Trader" more than a picture of Ian McKellen as Gandalf?

Really? Gandalf?

I love LOTR, but seriously - WTF?  GW - buy a clue.

FUBAR!

Task Force Bravo assembles for action...

One fun (and, at times, frustrating) part of this hobby is random inspiration. You never know when you might see something and decide, "hey - I'm going to try that!". Well, this happened to be when randomly surfing around TMP and stumbling across this post. Here was someone using a rules system called "FUBAR", and playing it with individually based 6mm troops! That's BONKERS, right? Right?....

But that base looked really cool. The rules are literally one page, and very nice. And the blog, which goes on to describe the creator's FUBAR project, is really cool too.
I already have a lot of 6mm vehicles and terrain for my Epic 40k collection, and painting a few extra infantry and mounting them on pennies is quick work...and so I present my attempt at a FUBAR project!

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The setting is based on a distant colony world in a somewhat generic (i.e. not 40k) sci-fi future. The colony world is home primarily to resource extraction efforts of Binary Petroleum. BP has reported attacks against its facilities on the colony. The colonial administrator has petitioned for military help. The local military disctrict, pre-occupied with other conflicts, but wary of the influence of BP, has assembled a some reserve troops to restore order on the colony. The FUBAR story arc will focus "Task Force Bravo", an element of this force.

Captain Hawkins sets about on his first command

The main protagonist will be Captain Hawkins (named in honour of Charlie Sheen's character from the cheesie movie "Navy Seals"). He is in charge of Task Force Bravo. This is his first command following promotion to Captain, and he did not expect to be put in charge of reservists. He has been told this is all part of a very routine mission, that the trouble on the colony is very mild, much of it in the minds of easily-panicked colonists, and when it is wrapped up he will have a role to play once again in the regular forces. He is very suspicious that he is not being told the whole story...

Reserve First Lieutenant Schlepper - glad to be out of the office for some adventure

Reserve First Lieutenant Schlepper (named to coincide with his job) is excited to be deployed! This is his first action, and a welcome break from his regular duties as a tax auditor back in the sub sector capital.



Mechanized reservists - reluctantly ready for duty


Here is the core of the force - a platoon of mechanized reservists. They are second-line troops, called up from their duties elsewhere in the sector. Their equipment is old, but solid. Each eight-man squad has one heavy weapon - two squads have HMG-type weapons, and the third has a missile launcher. The Valiant-class APCs have been in the arsenal for a long, long time, but the amour is pretty solid and the twin MGs on the turret should help if they encounter any trouble.



Cruiser tanks - old, reliable design


They will have some armoured support too - a platoon a Cruiser-class light tanks. The Cruisers are another ageing vehicle, found primarily in the reserve arsenals, but like the APCs, the Cruisers is a proven design - and besides, this mission is supposed to be a boring milk run, right?

Mammoth tanks - lumbering old beasts, with heavy firepower

In the remote, almost impossible chance that something serious were to come up, a section of Mammoth-class heavy tanks has been attached to the Task Force. These are very old tanks, having seen service in countless conflicts. The weapons are proven, and if the mechs can keep them going, the Task Force will have some solid fire support - if something like that were to come up.



Local militia cavalry - ready to help the column with scouting duties


The colony itself is pitching in too - contributing a section of mounted militia troops. These soldiers know the terrain, can mix with the locals, and seem like they can handle themselves in a fight if they have to.



The Hammerjack APC - a rare piece of up-to-date kit for the Task Force




Hawkins and Schlepper pose with the other members of the command team


Hawkins and Schlepper have some command folks with them - a standard bearer, a medic, a comms guy, and a mechanic. The command element will ride in one of the few pieces of newer kit to be found in the reserves - the Hammerjack APC. The Hammerjack has an MG, a light howitzer, and good communications abilities.


Administrative liaison from the colony government...what is the deal with him?


There are some other folks too - like this colonial administrator. He has been sent to serve as a "liaison" with the Task Force. Hawkins doesn't trust him...

Friendly, service oriented team members from Binary Petroluem...what is the robot equipped with anyway?

And others may pop up - like this technical work crew from Binary Petroleum...

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These figures are nearly all from Dark Realm Miniatures. DRM makes some of the nicest 6mm sci-fi stuff I have seen, easily rivalling (and in many cases exceeding) GW's Epic-scale figures. The human stuff is from the "Pax Arcadia" faction. I had painted these vehicles some time ago, and this little project gave me a great excuse to do up the infantry. I threw in a few spare GW Epic figures to round out the lineup.

I stumbled across FUBAR while looking around on TMP for more information on how to understand the daftly-written-but-probably-still-excellent "Tomorrow's War" rules. "Tomorrow's War" is so caught up in how cool they think they are that they wrote the rules as if you were part of their gaming group. As a result, I find the rules very, very hard to read and follow.

FUBAR, on the other hand, is literally a one-page rule set. It looks to be one of those neat sort of "open source" type projects that are out there on the net. Learn more about it on this forum. Reading three pages of Tomorrow's War gives you a headache and makes you take a break. Reading the one-page FUBAR rules inspires you to dig out your figures and try your own project. I'm sure Tomorrow's War is a fine set of rules (and I look forward to trying them out), but there is more to editing than checking for spelling errors.

My FUBAR "OpFor" is already prepared, and I hope the group will be up for trying a first game soon! Watch for more developments on the fate of Task Force Bravo - after all, what could go wrong?

New Unit Done: 95th Rifles

I've been beavering away getting some stuff ready for a Napoleonic game we're having in Saskatoon at John's new place tomorrow. This one is just off the workbench. The 95th Rifles... Yeah, some Conscripts may smirk at this as they well know my acerbic opinion towards British Napoleonic gamers that just have to have a unit of the 95th before all others. Well, colour me green and call me Obadiah Hakeswill but I've succumbed and done one up as well. (I try to rationalize this in that at least I've painted some regular line battalions so I should be able to treat myself to fielding an elite unit from time to time. Yeah, I know, but the 95th? It's sooo... Sean Bean.)

Anyway, here are a few shots of the finished product. I wanted to do something a little different than a typical 'skirmishing vignette' and so have instead done the Rifles quickly assembling into line, with officers and NCOs bawling and shouting at the men to form up.  The trick was that the models are from two ranges with slightly different scales. It took a bit of MacGyvering to sort it all out but I think they came out alright. Anyway, if you want a more detailed 'expose' feel free to check out my blog post here.

GW Introduces new Greater Daemon figures...no - wait...

I don't know what it is about Olympic movements - a unique fusion of excessive involvement by political types, bizarre arts types, sponsors and lots and lots of committee think - but they always seem to have weird mascots. London 2012 has not disappointed.....

Out in time for the new codexes and the latest edition of Fantasy, these models are sure to literally cause fear...

Since these absurd creations are actually being sold soon, I think we need to get some of the correct scale and work them into a 40k game of some kind. Either that, or SpaceKrieg - would love to figure that scenario out!

Yet Another New Insane Project

I have been eyeing my pack of new 40k plastic Valkyrie models (obtained in a greal sale from Maelstrom Games - they are insane - use them while they are here!) for some time. I have already assembled and painted a couple of them - one to fly with Gün Schwarm, and the other to accompany my vast force of "blue" Imperial guardsmen. But I have always wondered about doing an all-flying Imperial Guard force. Of course, this is hardly original - I think a lot of players are out there trying it (or something similar), but the notion never quite let go.

I have also always liked the look of the Elysian drop troops at Forgeworld. Yes - it's a bit of a flush money-wise, but the bulky look of the current Cadian plastics (which are still fine figures) doesn't beat the lean look of those Elysian troopers.

So I figured "what the hell?" and took the plunge, ordering some Elysian drop troop figures from Forgeworld to serve as the troops that will accompany the Vaklyries into battle. After doing one test model last week (pictured above), I have painted a few more up over the weekend. Here are some blurry pics from the painting table courtesy of the camera on my blackberry:





The paint scheme is intended to be a modest, muted one, with dark green armour and grey "jump suits". As with the Bundesguard (yes - I'm still working on those too and no, focus is not a gift of mine) the idea was to have troops that looks more like "average" soldiders, as opposed to most of the 40k stuff I paint, which as a lot of blues, whites and other colours that you probably would not see on the battlefield.

Thanks to the magic of Devlan Mud wash, it paints very, very fast.







The models are very nice, but very, very different from the usual 40k fare - not just because of the randomness of Forgeworld either. For starters, they are quite slight compared to the equivalent 40k figures. This is something I have noticed with the few Death Korps of Krieg guys I have painted from Forgeworld also. I know nothing of sculpting, but Forgeworld generally seems to keep their human models to a slighter proportion than the current GW plastics.

The packs of models themselves have their share of Forgeworld challenges (bizarre, useless instructions, and some significant flash in some cases) but overall come together fairly well. Use caution when assembling - the shoulder plates, bayonets, canteens, gun clips etc are easily lost when clipping them off the sprues. I really had a tough time with the prone guys too - but I think that indicates that I am a very impatient figure modeller, as opposed to an issue with Forgeworld modeling :).

On the downside the Forgeworld sculpters, I imagine to capture a bit of the "paratrooper" feel of the Elysians, seem inclined to have a number of prone figures, and make even more weapons into two-man teams. In my opinion there are too many two-man team models with the Imperial Guard already. I'm sure other gamers will disagree, and that's fine - it's a question of subjective preference, after all - but I don't care for prone figures in a 25/28mm wargame (as opposed to some kind of diorama) unless they are snipers. I also don't like many two-man models in a skirmish game - it's a wargame, not a duel of dioramas. By these (possibly silly and likely in the minority) standards, there are too many prone models in the Elysian lineup, and many that have to work in teams. Exhibit "A" is the melta guns (pictured above).

I tried to work around this, but you end up with spare, unusable figures. Also in terms of scale, while they have made the humans slighter, Forgeworld has matched the size of the melta guns to what is current in 40k, creating a bit of a disconnect. I have one model (not painted yet) purporting to carry the melta gun as if he would fire it, and it does not look right at all...the melta-gun looks huge. Cue the "suspensors" from Rogue Trader!

Anyway, overall, this project is fun, and really like the sleek look of the troops, and the sci-fi feel of the visors. My whingeing about the two-man teams and prone troops aside, the sculpts are really cool. These guys will go up pretty fast. The Valkyries to match them will take a bit more time though (I am not a fan of model-building, after all), but the scheme will hopefully paint as fast on the Valks as it does on the troops.