Final Painting Challenge Submission - The Guns of August

12mm early WW1 Germans - figures from Great Escape Games.

My final post to the 11th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge shared a new project - after all, don't we all need a new wargraming project? Yes, of course we do! Thus I present my first brush-bending efforts toward gaming "The Guns Of August", the early days of WW1. All of these figures are 12mm castings from Great Escape Games, released as part of their "1914" rules. 

Example of some of the infantry castings.

This base includes a commander (pointing, you know, as all good miniature toy soldier officers do).

A view showing the kit being hauled by the infantry.

For many years I was indifferent to gaming WW1...the need for bespoke trench terrain was a particular deterrent, and even if that might be sourced, well, the lads go over the top, and get drilled by machineguns and artillery...not much of a "game". But the Fawcett Avenue group in Winnipeg are resourceful folks - Dallas obtained a set of fantastically amazing WW1 trench-board terrain, and hosted many excellent games playing the adapted Warhammer rules for the period available from Warhammer Historicals. And Byron dove in as well - you can find his painting efforts here on the blog, and he hosted many excellent games of "Through The Mud And The Blood." And of course Curt has his very complex and unique WW1 greyscale project that we have been able to enjoy on the table on several occasions - and he even has a Lovecraftian twist to it!

Close up of some Uhlans. Very stately poses...

Another view of the Uhlans.

You can dismount the cavalry, of course! Here is a base of dismounted Uhlans. Was there ever a more awkward uniform for skirmishing on foot?

So in the end I have been able play a fair number of WW1 games, and enjoyed them immensely, without ever stepping into the period myself. But, at Curt's suggestion, I did read Barbara Tuchman's remarkable book "The Guns Of August" about the opening weeks of WW1. What fantastic book, and a rip-roaring read!! While I had been dimly aware that between the declaration of war and the stalemate that developed in the Western Front trenches there had been...well...something...I was stunned to see just how much happened, and just how incredible it all was!! The Battle of the Frontiers, the hectic holding actions, the desperate race to save Paris, the absolutely f*cking bonkers Schlieffen Plan, the tragedy of "cran"...on and on. Wow! From the moment I tore into that book, about three years ago now, the idea of doing something myself set in WW1's early days started to bubble in my head...

An MG08 base. I wish they had included some crew for these weapons, but the "1914" rules call for a 25mm square base, and I suppose there would have been no room...

Fast forward, and the fine people at Great Escape Games released "1914". It is a rules system with many similarities to their excellent "Iron Cross" (WW2) and "Seven Days To The River Rhine" (Cold War goes Hot) systems.  I resisted for a while, but finally caved in an ordered some figures. They are 12mm castings...thus a slight departure from my recent 10mm mania...but I have enjoyed painting them very much so far, and the range is pretty complete for the purposes of their rules, if a bit short otherwise (for example, I wish there were more crew on the MGs and field guns, but anyway...)

The 77mm gun visible at the corner...

The figures in these photos represent about half of one of the "brigade" boxes for their "1914" range.  The level of abstraction in this game shares many similarities to "Great War Spearhead", in that each base represents a company of infantry, a squadron of cavalry or 1/2 battery of guns. Thus an infantry battalion would be between three and four bases (or maybe just two, depending on where things are at!). The box comes with enough infantry for four different four-base "battalions" and a four-base "regiment" of cavalry - mounted AND dismounted - along with MGs to accompany all of those units. There are also two 77mm guns (all together, one battery) and figures for a command base.  You get the figures and bases all together...it's a great way for a geek like me to dip my toe into the water!

77mm gun. Again, I wish they had included more crew...I've still a lot to learn about WW1 guns, but I'm pretty sure there were more than two chaps slinging shells to keep these things in action.

Another view of 77mm gun and team.

This is my first attempt at painting WW1 stuff, but I am really enjoying it so far. As with all Painting Challenge stuff, I was so sure I would get more of this done before the deadline for the end of AHPC XI, but as things worked out I only managed to get started on these two weeks ago.  All the same, I was able to make a decent start and post this as my final entry to AHPC XI.

Regiment of Uhlans - note the one fellow on the very right of the photo - his lance broke off in the bag, so I had to drill out the hand and replace it with a steel spear.

Good animation on the commander. "Get moving! Have you seen the stupid schedule we need to keep?"

The final submission for AHPC XI. Cheers everyone.

Thanks for reading everyone - I hope to share more photos of this project as it progresses over the spring and summer. And I do hope to put on a game of "1914" for the guys when I visit Winnipeg - after all of the great WW1 games they provided for me, I would like to return the favour. Stay safe, and stay sane!

From the Challenge: Greyscale "26mm" Foundry WW1 German

Greyscale... this is something I've never done before. I think I first became aware of the concept from an article in Wargames Illustrated, years ago. It was a convention report from Crisis I think, that included pics of an amazing 28mm "Nosferatu" game, with the models and terrain all done in greyscale. It looked amazing, but didn't really appeal to me for "everyday" painting or gaming - owing mainly to the need to use specific greyscale terrain as well!

Of course, many dedicated hobbyists paint entire projects in greyscale, including our own host Mr. Curt! So I decided to give it a try for the Chambers of Darkness room on level 1 of the Dungeon.

This, of course, is a "26mm" Dave Andrews sculpt from the old Foundry Great War range - "GW44 Sergeant pointing" to be exact. He painted up very quickly indeed but I have to say he hasn't instilled any burning desire in me to paint more greyscale models... however I will happily donate him as a Challenge prize to anyone who achieves their points goal and wants him. I figure there must be some of you out there who have greyscale Great War armies and maybe someone can use him :-)

Cheers and stay healthy! 

Wings of Glory - Break Through

Just before Christmas,we finally returned to our long-running Wings of Glory campaign. For that night’s game, the second game of the campaign set in early 1917, the scenario was Mission 5: Break Through:

Capitalizing on recent victories, German HQ has put more emphasis on controlling the skies.
Type: DogfightVictory
Conditions: Mission Points. At the end of each sortie, calculate each side’s Mission Points. The side with the most points wins the mission.
Fallback: Mission 4a
Setup: Mission should be played length wise on a 4’x6’ table. The German Attackers have a 12 inch deployment zone and the French Defenders have a 36 inch deployment zone. This leaves 24 inches of No-man’s Land.

• Both sides must start the sortie with their planes inside their deployments zones in a loose formation with no more then a ruler length between planes.
• The defender’s side has a chance for random balloons. Use the special Balloons rules.
• Each side has a chance for random ground targets. Use the special Ground Targets rules.

We drew cards, and manged to avoid both random Balloons and Ground Targets.

Frederick and Kevin ran, respectively, the Germans and the French. Since it was 1917, one pilot character on each side got an upgraded plane: a hex-camouflaged Albatros D.V. (Frederick) and a yellow SPAD XIII (Brian). Kevin ran a silver Nieuport 17 with twin MGs, and I ran a relatively elderly Albatros  D.II painted in the colours of Oswald Boelcke.

Below are the combatants, from L-R, D.II, SPAD, D.V., and Nieuport:

Below, two photos showing the French (Kevin) and German (Frederick) flight leaders.







Below, the two flights set off against each other. Nearest is my Albatross D.II.




The two sides flew past each other, the French to the south, and the Germans to the north (below, looking south):




Below, three of the four planes turned and got firing solutions right away, with the Albatros D.II and Nieuport taking some hits (my Albatross took 5 points of damage in one shot!).




The fight got really mixed up as the planes kept jousting at each other.






After a couple of Immelmann's, Kevin and I lined up on each other again.






Later, my Albatross and Brian's planes avoided a collision.




Kevin's Nieuport finally fell to my twin Spandaus, crash landing in No-Man's land.



Brian, wanting revenge for his comrade, started after the D.II.



Frederick came to my aid, flying under me.






Frederick trailed Brian for a bit, but the latter pulled another Immelmann...



...tried to attack Frederick...



...then went head to head with the D.II., shooting my plane down.



Brian then accelerated east...







...before turning around to dive for the western (Allied) board edge.




The fast SPAD blew right past the Albatross D.V.




Frederick got some shots into the SPAD, but not enough to bring it down, and chased Brian off the table.

The current standings in the campaign (as the moderator, my results do not count):

• Frederick's German Flight Leader: +5 (five sorties flown) +19 (three and 1/2 planes (14) and one balloon (5) shot down) +4 (drove off two enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) 6 1/2 victories = 24 campaign points, Knight's Cross, Deadly Aim 1
• Brian: +2 (two sorties flown) +8 (two planes shot down) 2 victories = 10 campaign points
• Kevin's French Flight Leader: +3 (three sorties flown) +6 (1 victory (Frederick's Wingman) and one shared victory) +2 (drove off one enemy aircraft) 2 1/2 victories = 7 campaign points
• Indo: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 5 campaign points
• Bill (suffered 2 wounds in Mission 1): +2 (two sorties flown) -4 (being shot down) +4 (one plane shot down) 1 victory = 2 campaign points
• Frederick's German Wingman  (suffered 1 wound in Mission 4a): +3 (three sorties flown) +2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) = 1 campaign point
• Kevin's French Wingman: +1 (one sortie flown) = 1 campaign point
• Jim: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point
• Byron (suffered 3 wounds in Mission 3a): +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down = -3 campaign points
• MikeA: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down) = -3 campaign points

###

Tripods & Triplanes

I have also purchased the Tripods & Triplanes supplement for Wings of Glory from Ares Games. The story is as follows:

March 18th, 1918: the nearest approach of planet Mars to Earth. The First World War suddenly changes into a War of the Worlds, when what appears as a meteor shower falls over a wood in Alsace. A few hours later, just after dawn, an army of giant alien fighting machines appear out of the trees and starts burning villages and houses with their lethal heat-rays, leaving pestilential trails of black smoke behind them.

 A truce is hurriedly signed between the warring nations and, against the advancing Martian tripods, the best war machines of Earth are dispatched, manned by the most gallant and skilled warriors of our planet!

The supplement includes both a Nieuport 16 (armed with Le Prieur anti-balloon rockets) and a small Martian "Locust" Tripod. Le Prieur rockets seem to function well against the Martian invaders. I currently have four such balloon-busting Nieuport 16 models, flying under the flags of France, Italy, and Britain.

Below are examples of the Martian Locust Tripod and an RAF Nieuport 16. 

(These two photos copyright Ares Games)

With another couple of Martian Tripods ordered, I look forward to running some alternate-history sci-fi games!

Great War Figures from Mutton Chop and Foundry!

A recent Great War game set in 1914 triggered me to dig out and paint some figures I'd had in the pipeline for some time. First up was this lot of early-war German command figures sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks for the Mutton Chop Miniatures imprint.

As anyone who's familiar with Paul's work well knows, his models are full of character and are anatomically and historically accurate to boot! Above we have an officer with Fahnentraeger and musician, from the regimental HQ.

Above, a couple of NCOs bellowing orders and a sabre-waving officer. I like how the German officers in this period carried packs and wore helmets just like the men under their command.

Rear view of the group.

Another view of that wonderful regimental standard. Thanks to Conscript Greg for coming through with that for me at short notice!

Paul also sculpted lots of nice early-war British for the Mutton Chop range. Pictured above are two Majors with a couple of guys who do the real heavy lifting - their Sergeants.

I used Citadel paints on these - uniforms are Mournfang Brown with Doombull Brown used for the leather gear, and Zandri Dust for the webbing, all washed with Agrax Earthshade of course.

Now onto a whole pile of models that had been hanging about the painting desk for ages - a small platoon of Foundry Highlanders.

Of course, the beauty of these models is that they can stand in for late-war gaming in a pinch, as well as serving in 1914-15. Of course in 1916 and later they should be wearing shrapnel helmets, but I like to imagine that Scottish bloody-mindedness might prevail and cause them to retain their Glengarries even at that time. I have a few command figures from Great War Miniatures on the way to make up the platoon HQ (or company HQ in a Warhammer: Great War game).

Paint is very similar to the Mutton Chop lads, but substituting Skrag Brown as the main uniform colour just for variety. The P08 webbing is Zandri Dust, with the kilt cover and spats being done in Zamesi Desert.

So there you have 'em - another long-outstanding project cleared off the desk and way made for something else. I think next up will probably be getting a couple more motorbikes painted for the Gaslands game at Prairiecon coming up in about three weeks' time - unless the Highlander command models get here first of course!