Poll results - The Primer in Winter

Just in case nobody got my horrible pun in the post title...

Anyway... our latest poll concerned priming models in wintertime when it's cold outside. As you may know, the temperatures here in Winnipeg plunged to record lows in December 2013 and this can make spray-priming models a challenge, to say the least.

Here's the poll question and responses:

Priming your models can be difficult if you live in a place where the weather is cold. And here in Winnipeg, it is cold! So, for those of you like us, how do you prime your models before painting?

Spray in the basement, hide from the missus	10 (22%)
Spray in the garage	13 (28%)
Spray outside and bring inside to dry	11 (24%)
Brush-prime indoors. Spray priming is for suckas	11 (24%)

Forty-five of you answered the poll question, and for the most part you are a very considerate lot - only one out of five subject their families to clandestine doses of volatile organic compounds!  

15mm IDF Infantry from Khurasan

15mm IDF infantry from Khurasan - jeeps from Old Glory

Some more stuff painted for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - this time a platoon (or thereabouts) of 15mm IDF infantry for the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  These figures are sold by Khurasan, although I believe they were sculpted by Mike Broadbent.  I based them individually for use in games like Bolt Action, Chain of Command etc.

More IDF troops

Over 2013 Khurasan has released a few product codes affiliated with the Yom Kippur War.  I game the period, and Khurasan generally has excellent products, so this is welcome in many ways. Over 2013, however, I have found that the ratio of actual figures released compared to computer renderings, previews and promises made on TMP by this provider to be getting worse and worse. It's a trend I like to call "Khuraspam" (see a recent example here - I would love to see previous promised stuff released before a fungus army arrives...anyway, I digress).  People who dare question this on TMP tend to attract a rain of indignation, but it is annoying. Yes, I know things get held up at casters, etc etc etc but maybe think about that before "previewing" things...anyway, back to the figures.

The detail on the straps is inconsistent on these castings

There are no figures that I know of specific to the IDF in 1973.  Some try to make do with QRF.  I went with Peter Pig infantry and head swaps, and it came out OK.  With such a vacuum in this specific market it's great to see specific 15mm IDF troops for the Yom Kippur War, right? Sadly, once they finally arrived, they were a bit disappointing.

Hex dude is the CO for the platoon, with his radio nearby; to his left is a guy with a heavy-barreled FN-FAL, mounting an AT grenade

Don't get me wrong - these are still way better than QRF.  And they have specific, unique things you will want if you game this period - things like troops with Uzi SMGs, or the updated bazooka, or the cool little knee-mortar and heavy-barreled FN-FAL with AT grenade.  Even Peter Pig infantry with head swaps still do not get you these things. But Khurasan has done way better than this quality-wise with other products, so I was disappointed.

Prone gunner with FN-MAG LMG...I know this is a common actual combat pose, but I hate prone figures...

What was the issue? Well, little things. The only FN-MAG gunner in the line, for example, is a prone figure.  This is a small thing, but many of us like to have variety, and I would have hope for more than one FN-MAG pose in the line.  And the figures are quite slight, very small, some of them really, really lean, nearly flat. And the detail is inconsistent...amazing and crisp, and then suddenly faded - all on the same figure.

A second FN-MAG - I did two of them, but I think a platoon technically only had one

I notice it most with the harnesses...the straps are there, and then suddenly not.  Maybe it's too picky to be thinking this with 15mm infantry, but Peter Pig generally nails this stuff - even Battlefront does, and so does most other Khurasan product I have seen. This wasn't a deal breaker at all, just annoying, kind of disappointing.

You can see a couple of the Uzi guys

But hey, they are still going to be good on the table.  I've based them individually, to represent the bulk of a mechanize infantry platoon.  The regular dudes are on 20mm round bases, NCOs are on square bases, the commander and radio flunky are on a hexagon base, and the heavy-barreled FN-FALs and knee mortars are on octagon bases.  Most of the troops have FN-FAL rifles, but I have sprinkled a few Uzis around.

Large calibre recoilless rifles on jeeps - handy, mobile and heavy duty AT firepower

And some perspective - you can see a couple of jeeps mounting heavy recoilless rifles in this pictures. These are from Old Glory. While I'm not crazy about the Khurasan castings, they are Mona Lisas compared to the Old Glory drivers...yikes. I think I've been spoiled by working with too much great stuff from Peter Pig. Bottom line - if you want to game this period (and you should!), you will want to but these figures.

The guys with square bases are NCOs

Also, let's give Khurasan credit - between these, the Syrian infantry, the T-55s and T-62s, they have released a good pile of product for the 1973 Yom Kippur War, much of which can be used in other periods, of course.  I just wish that more of the promised sections were fulfilled, and more than anything else, that Khurasan would start to under-promise and over-deliver a little bit more. 

15mm IDF Armour - M51 Shermans and Tiran-67

M51 Sherman tanks from Battlefront

 Here is another selection of models painted during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. It is a healthy pile of IDF armour, a company worth of M51 Shermans (known casually as "Ishermans") and a lone Tiran-67.  The M51s are mostly from Battlefront (8 of them), with a few from Old Glory (a pack of 3). The Old Glory tanks have Peter Pig accessories (crew, MGs).

Tiran 67 (left) and three M51 Sherman tanks from Old Glory

I painted the Old Glory tanks first, back in December, using my mix of GW "Death World Forest" and Devlan Mud wash (see here for more on that).  I find Old Glory to be very hit-and-miss. The Old Glory M51 models are nice, however, and competitively priced.  They are weakest on what I like to refer to as "accessories" - their crew figures are awful, their MGs are awful.  The Peter Pig accessories really "make" the tanks in my view.

Old Glory M51 Sherman tank - crew and MG from Peter Pig

The M51 saw a healthy amount of action in the 1967 "Six Days War" as well as the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  The Centurions get most of the tank glory from those wars (and rightly so), but the humble M51 was a key player.  In 1973 it was IDF reservists in M51s that kicked off the vital counterattack against the Syrian penetrations on the Golan Heights.  M51s saw action in the counter-invasion into Syria (ambushing an Iraqi armoured division which had been sent to help the Syrians), as well as in the fighting on the Sinai. 

Front view - oversize 105mm is so big it can't quite fit in the photo

The M51 is one of the coolest-looking tanks out there, with a massive high-velocity 105mm gun and a requisite end-of-days size muzzle brake. I cannot understand how the Sherman tank was able to become such a cool vehicle when in WW2 it was panzer cannon fodder. Even so, rolling out in one of these in 1973 took guts...after all it would be facing 100mm guns (T-55s, SU-100s), 115mm guns (T-62s), 125mm AT guns, 108mm recoilless rifles and even AT-3 "Sagger" guided missiles.  

M51 Sherman tanks from Battlefront, using Vallejo colour for Sinai Grey

The markings on all of these tanks are hand painted.  Some of them turned out great.  A chevron, generally, is pretty easy to freehand paint.  On the other hand, the Hebrew letters were hit-and-miss.  I wanted to use decals for those, but I had ordered them from Battlefront in November and they were taking forever to show up (still had not arrived as of this posting).

Rear view of Battlefront M51 Sherman tank

The Battlefront M51s are of course pricier, but they are nicer models.  They are a little bigger - the turret is larger, and the tank itself is a little taller, and the barrel on the main gun is thicker/heavier-looking. For these tanks I attempted to follow Battlefront's approach to getting the elusive "Sinai Grey" colours on the tanks.  I followed the process from this article - it's a great read, check it out - using Vallejo's "Green Grey".  I did not bother with the puffery of an oil wash, but I just used GW's Devlan Mud to pin wash the model instead.

You can see the freehand painting of the Hebrew letters didn't go so well....

While the overall Battlefront M51 is a better model, I was pretty disappointed with the casting quality of the accessories.  The crew figures and MGs sucked.  Unfortunately my stock of Peter Pig stuff had run out, so I just made do with the least-bad castings. I'm putting another order in to Peter Pig (which will no doubt arrive four years before any Battlefront stuff...anyway).

Was pleased with how the markings on this tank turned out!

The searchlight is optional for the models.  I threw a few on, but not on all of them.  Fortunately they were well-cast, compared to the crew and the MGs.  

Example of a tank with a search light mounted

I am very happy with this approach to Sinai Grey.  There are a couple of comparison shots here so you can see how they differ.  You also get an idea of how the Old Glory M51 compares to the Battlefront one.

Old Glory on the left, Battlefront on the right

Old Glory in front, Battlefront behind

Battlefront on the left, Old Glory on the right

The lonely tank is a Tiran-67, a T-55 captured in 1967 and put into service with one of the IDF's reserve armoured brigades.  I haven't found much detailed information on the service of these tanks, but I believe they saw combat in the Sinai in 1973, as well as with various "allied" militias during Israel's Lebanon incursion in the 1980s.

Tiran 67, a captured T-55 in IDF service

The Tiran is an Old Glory casting, and not a great casting. The MG is from Peter Pig. The poor Tiran is a little lonely...I may add a few more even though they aren't great quality, just to have a T-55 vs. Tiran game set in the Sinai sometime.

Coming soon...Khurasan T-55 company...

Eleven M51s is quite a lot of IDF tanks for skirmish style gaming...and while I am hoping to run more skirmish style games with these for our group, I am actually also trying to load up for a straight-up Fate of A Nation, Flames of War game.  Yes - you read that here...I will be trying to run some Flames of War games...I am already trying to build up my Egyptian forces as well as IDF. I'm hoping Dallas might jump in on the Egyptian side, and I'm hoping Curt will do some Jordanians. I have a big shipment of Battlefront stuff dues this week, so stay tuned for more painting!

It's Not Oldhammer, But...

For a few months I have watched Dallas dive more and more into his "Oldhammer" interest.  I did not ever really play 3rd Edition Fantasy, so I can't exactly relate - Rogue Trader 40k is more my retro gaming passion.  But Dallas' interest has inspired me to dust off my relatively old (if not "Oldhammer") Empire force for Fantasy.  I haven't played a game with them since, maybe, 2007 or 2008, I think, and I cannot remember the last time I painted a figure to add to them.  So it should be fun to get started again! I found these three character figures in my pile-o-stuff in the basement, and will paint them up for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (where I am getting killed).

There are two Empire engineers, and one "Captain of the Empire". Dallas might recognize the Captain in the middle - it was a gift from him! Thanks dude! I often take forever to paint figures I receive as gifts, but I get to them eventually...

There's No Hammer Like Oldhammer (Orcs and Skaven)

So lately, I've been on a bit of a fantasy kick... in particular, I've been obsessed with the old Citadel range, circa 1987-91 or so. You remember, the models from the old red and blue catalogs, before skulls skulls and more skulls, Finecast(tm), army book escalation, overmuscled Orcs, etc... just the old-school stuff back from when I was a teenager.

 

About a year (or more?) ago I acquired a bunch of fantasy Orcs from a well-known TMP member called John. Got 'em for a song. Some were painted, and some were old Citadel models, and some were even painted old Citadel models! I got about 100 models, and there were maybe 20 Kev Adams Citadel Orcs, and for what I paid, I'd've been happy if that was all I got.

So anyway, I busied myself with touching up the models, re-basing them, and painting the shields. These models are the core of the gang Conscript John used in our New Year's Day game. Aren't they superb models? The new Orcs don't have a patch on 'em, I'm afraid :-(

While the Orcs didn't qualify for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I recently painted some Skaven that did. Above are the assassin adept and Clan Eshin Sorceror I used in the recent game. (Yes, I know they're a Plague Monk and a Night Runner)
 

I just love the old-school flava!!

Here's the unit I painted - 15 models. There are a few more to come, but for me the beauty of Oldhammer is the individual character of the models. I mean, there are guys with halberds, swords, clubs and slings in there, but they all just kinda look cool en masse.

Perhaps the idea might just be cool enough to suck in some fellow Conscripts...?

New Year's Day Game - Mordheim!

In accordance with ancient custom, once again this year I hosted a game on New Year's Day, accompanied by a delicious lunch prepared by my wonderful wife. One of my recent obsessions has been old-school fantasy gaming a la "Oldhammer", so for New Year's 2014 I decided to run a fantasy game. I wanted to run a multi-player game that would get everybody involved, so I picked GW's "Mordheim" for the rules, and set about designing a basic scenario and some 500gc warbands for the boys to push around.
   

The backstory to the game was this: on New Year's Day, the magical energies of the Old World are at their peak. At the edge of the Chaos Wastes, warbands of adventurers gather to tap the mystical energies of the ancient standing stones. The table is laid out with three such stones. Each turn that a Hero is in base contact with a stone during the combat phase (and is not involved in combat), the warband adds d6 power points to its stock. If the warband's leader is in contact with a stone, the number of points added is 2d6. The game lasts for 8 turns; the warband with the most power points at the end of the game, wins!
  

Stinky the Troll gets ionto it with the Chaos Warriors

Conscripts Greg, Frederick, John, Dave and Kevin came out for the game. Greg brought a Marienburger warband and Dave brought a really cool gang composed of old Talisman figures. John ran a gang of Orcs and their pet troll, Frederick took an Undead gang, Kevin selected Chaos Warriors, and I ran my newly painted Oldhammer Skaven - no model newer than 1987! 

Skaven surround a standing stone

Harry the Hammer about to hammer on an Orc

Pet Blue Horror lets the Orcs know what he thinks of 'em

Looking good for John's Orcs but looks were deceiving

Frederick's shambling zombies shamble forward

Marienburger captian confronts Vampire and attendant dregs

Marienburger wizard and master of the flaming balls

L to R: Dallas (in Reimer jersey), Kevin, John, Dave, Frederick, Greg

Frederick jumped out to an early lead that was unassailable - his Vampire moved very fast and his die rolling once in contact with the stone was astounding. He ended up with 30 points. His opposite number, Greg, had to leave early so we ruled that their stone had run out of power points ;-) I totally forgot my Skaven boss's "infiltrate" ability but our fast moving got a few models in contact early and garnered me 19 points. Although I whittled away enough of Dave's warband to force a bottle check, he passed the Rout test (with the help of a Bard re-roll at +1) and inflicted enough damage on the rats to force us to check... which I of course blew. Dave ended up scoring 8 points. On the far side, John and Kevin waged a see-saw battle that saw John's Orcs finally crack under the pressure of Kev's elite Chaos Warriors. Kevin scored 8 points and John made off with 5. 

Thanks to the guys for coming out, it was a great afternoon spent watching the Winter Classic on TV and playing a fun game. But especially, thanks to Pam for making our amazing "pub lunch" of meat pie, BBQ potatoes and carrots, yam soup and apple peach cobbler. So yummy! And lastly, thanks to everybody who reads and follows our ramblings. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to do this blog if it weren't for you. Have a peaceful and happy 2014!

Rogue Trader Penitents and Guard Officer

Rogue Trader-era figures for the Painting Challenge

Happy new year everyone.  I continue to get shit-canned over in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (I highly recommend you check it out - lots and lots of amazing work to be see there, including great submissions from fellow Conscripts Byron and Dallas). But I did get a nice batch of painting done over the holidays for the Challenge.  Up first - another group of figures from the "Golden Era" of sci-fi skirmish gaming - Rogue Trader - a squad of Penal Battalion troops and an Imperial Guard lieutenant.

Nice collars lads...these squads did not have officers, but I kind of bashed the blurry one up front into a sort of leader

In the grim darkness of the far future, just about everything is a crime, I think.  So the ranks of chain gangs in the Imperium of Man were never short.  These prisoners could "volunteer" to serve as a "penitent" in the Imperial Army. Thus the "Penitent Squad" was an option for an Imperial Guard commander of the Rogue Trader era. 

Ten troops armed only with lasguns, but the fun only starts there.  They can be equipped with drug dispensers to whip them into a frenzy. And in case that didn't work, they all wore explosive collars.  Not to harm others, no - these charges were focused toward the wearer!  These were "motivational" tools.  If the squad ever faltered in combat, an Imperial tech would blow up one of the collars, "reminding" the penitents of the proper level of devotion to the Emperor required...

Bright red vests of shame

These castings beautifully captured the dystopian aura of the Rogue Trader era. Unfortunately they are a bit mono-posed.  I think GW only ever did two versions of these bodies, and they looked the same. On the other hand individual expression would probably have been frowned upon amongst the penitent troopers. It was still a lot of fun to gather these suckers from EBay lots and paint them up! 

I think the the Penal Battalion is still around in the current version of the 40k game - it is, in fact, one of the few legitimate uses for the sculpted vomit piles otherwise known as "Catachans". But they do not have the, shall we say, "charm" of these old sculpts, even accounting for the mono-pose issue.

Imperial Guard lieutenant  from the RT era

The Lieutenant was the lowest-ranking senior officer available for the Imperial Guard player.  Often seen with just a pistol, his actual basic equipment included a lasgun, so I gave one to this fellow.

It is very hard to like the current Cadian figures when you see what used to be...

It obscures his lovely breastplate, but gives him a bit more of a front line action feel. I love the old school officers from the Imperial Guard. I just need to do up another command section for him!