Project Trafalgar

Last week I found in my e-mail box a nice invitation from Greg to contribute to this blog. I could not refuse and I don't want to be just a lurker. This is my first blog entry ever and I would like to talk about my new painting project for 2010: Trafalgar. Last year, I bought a copy of copy of the new set of rules published by Warhammer Historical about the age of sail. It's a period I was always interested in but never dare start collecting models. Now my plan is to have enough ships by December 2010 to recreate the famous naval battle.

On this picture, the U.S.S. Constitution talks to the H.M.S. Guerrière through the mouth of her guns.

My first step was to choose a model maker. I wanted miniatures with enough detail to look good on the table, so Langton and GHQ were shortlisted. I soon realize that the superb Langton models, for some of their items, require assembling each sail separately... So maybe I'll buy a few models at a later date, when I feel I need an outrageously super detailed sailship to impress my opponents. GHQ seemed a better (and more convenient) (and cheaper) option.

So the second step was to order a variety of models from GHQ to get a better feeling of what is available. Although the company catalog list 25 different sailships, I discovered that sometimes the same hull is used with a slightly different set of sails. Oh well, at 1/1200, the color rather than the shape of the hull is what matters anyway. On the picture, you can see 14 different ships from the GHQ selection. I also decided to buy full sail sets models instead of battle sail because I prefer the look of the latter. I've seen many paintings and models of sail ships with pure white sails, but I've decided to paint my miniatures in cream tone. It gives the feeling that the ships have been at sea for a while and it creates a better contrast with the white masts of the American frigates.

These four models are the latest additions to my collection. I just finished putting the gel on the bases last night. From left to right: a small merchantman that I christened the Nonsuch :-); a large merchantman, the Beagle; an American frigate, the U.S.S. Constellation, and the U.S.S. Constitution, the American super frigate. Now that I have painted a nice variety of ships, the third step is to focus on those ships I need for the battle of Trafalgar. There were 60 ships of the line at the battle, and I have 6 so far. In the meantime, I will hone my naval skills with smaller scenarios.

Cheers,

Sylvain

Another(!) Eldar unit for the Tempest of Blades

A couple of weeks ago I played a game of 40K with Duncan (batrep to follow shortly). We played the Astro scenario "Crash Site Recovery." I was running my Dire Avengers lean, without an Exarch.

That's right, Dallas, no more "Blade-storm."

The proof of concept seemed to work out OK. So, I'm looking at a fairly radical change to my 1500-point Swordwind list . Some of the following is based on stuff I read on Warseer and on YTTH (in particular, the second small Dragon squad and the Vyper squadron):

Farseer - Doom (re-roll "To Wound" rolls); Guide (re-roll shooting "To Hit" rolls); Eldar Jetbike; Runes of Warding; Singing Spear

Autarch - Eldar Jetbike; Banshee Mask; Laser Lance; Fusion Gun

8 x Dire Avengers - mounted in Wave Serpent grav APC w/ TL Shuriken Cannons; Shuriken Cannon

8 x Dire Avengers - mounted in Wave Serpent grav APC w/ TL Bright Lances

5 x Fire Dragons - mounted in Wave Serpent grav APC w/ TL Shuriken Cannons

5 x Fire Dragons - mounted in Wave Serpent grav APC w/ TL Shuriken Cannons

3 x Vyper jetbikes - each w/ 2 x Shuriken Cannons

5 x Warp Spiders - including Exarch with dual Death Spinner

Fire Prism grav tank

Total = 41 models, at exactly 1500 points

***

A fair amount of medium strength firepower (a possible 42 S6 shots in a turn of shooting), plus 11 melta guns, a TL Bright Lance, a Prism Cannon, and lots of Shuriken Catapults. The two Fire Dragon units deal with tank spam and hunt down things like squads of Tyranid Warriors (hooray for Instant Death). The two Dire Avenger squads back up everyone else and try to seize objectives. The Farseer buffs her side's shooting, or helps them wound their enemies. The Autarch allows for putting everything into reserve, and allows heroic "Horatius Cocles at the bridge" type rearguard actions. Very little close combat ability, except for the sacrificial Autarch.

I've been working on the new Vyper squadron. I never liked the idea of a 2-man Eldar bike, with the gunner basically having his ass hanging out in the wind. So, I threw away the turrets and made all the bikes single-seaters:

(Note: click on the photo for a larger image)

The leftmost model shows the basic single-seat bike configuration, using castoff bits, putty and wire. It will eventually have an enclosed canopy. It is somewhat based on the work of a couple of modelers I saw on Warseer.

The centre model shows the pewter Shuriken Cannon upgrade used for all three bikes, replacing the bikes' original TL Shuriken Catapults.

The centre and right-hand bikes were cut down even further, to become unmanned drones. I threw their canopies into the bits box and used Eldar "command tank" bits to represent their drone status. In the army fluff, the drones are slaved to each other and to the manned bike. This represents, in model form, the vehicle squadron rules in 40k 5th. edition (i.e. ignore "Stunned" results, but "Immobilized" counts as "Destroyed") .

So, there it is. The army is still very fast, now with more firepower at the expense of reduced close combat ability.

I would greatly appreciate any constructive comments or concerns.

Edited to add: The Vyper squadron was finished and is illustrated here.

Game This Week

Unfortunately Dallas is indisposed this Thursday, so there will be a game this week at my place. We'll play "Epic 40,000", pitting the Tau against the Orks! And for fun, we may, just may, set this on Toxo IV...



Epic 40,000 was the prior version of the Epic game - it was more abstract, and, in many ways, superior to the current Epic: Armageddon rules. Strange things happen that never happen in other 40k games - like casualties impacting your detachments' staying power, your army breaking when horrible losses occur, etc.



In Epic 40,000 there is abstracted firepower values for the different units/models - no worrying about whether it is a heavy bolter or a missile launcher etc. It makes for a more interesting game in a lot of ways. It is also possible to play with some smaller detachments which tend to get obliterated almost immediately in Epic: Armageddon.

See you Thursday!

Wings of War - campaign rules playtest

Last week, Frederick, Brian, Kevin and I got together to playtest some rules for a proposed forthcoming WWI campaign using the Wings of War game system.

For the playtest we used planes that were historically in service in the late-1916/early-1917 time period:

Allied = 2 x Nieuport 17 scouts flown by Brian (silver plane) and myself (camo)
Central Powers = 1 x Albatross DIII scout and 1 x LFG Roland CII observation aircraft flown by, respectively, Frederick and Kevin

Kevin's Roland was tasked to photograph a point on the Allied lines, escorted by the Albatross. The two French planes were set to intercept.

Some of the optional or new rules we are thinking of using are as follows:

• Blind spot - two seater-aircraft have a blind spot to their immediate rear where their tail masks the fire of their observer's gun
• Deflection - planes firing from and into another plane's front/rear arcs have no deflection, and score +1 damage
• Limited Ammo (thanks, Frederick!) - Planes and observers have a limited and variable number of shots
• Shoot the real thing - all measurements are made from post to post, not the stands

The two long edges were the east and west board edges, the German planes coming in from the east. In the photo below, the Allied planes misjudged closing speeds and overshot their targets.

(Note: click on the photos for larger images.)

Brian turned around to pursue Kevin's observation plane. Frederick Immelmanned to change direction and try and bear on my own Nieuport. Meanwhile, the German observer managed to snap a photo of the target on the ground.


The Roland banked left to head back to its own lines. Brian's maneuverable Nieuport turned tighter, to bring its guns to bear.


A real furball ensued as three planes seemed to converge upon the same spot in the air. Frederick in his Albatross hammered my Nieuport with twin Spandaus. Brian, Kevin and I were busy avoiding mid-air collisions.


The action shifted east. Brian tailed Kevin, while Frederick flipped around and I gave him a quick burst.


Kevin flew the Roland east, jinking left and right to try and avoid Brian's shots.

I let Frederick go, turning towards the 2-seater. This was a grave mistake. Frederick turned back upon my Nieuport and set it on fire with a well-aimed burst.

Brian, for his part, managed to stick on Kevin's tail and shot the Roland out of the sky before it could cross the German lines.


My lighter Nieuport couldn't stand up to Frederick's close-range fire, and fell in flames onto No-Man's Land.


Brian, having succeeded in stopping Kevin's observer from getting away with vital information, turned west to preserve himself. Kevin's observer had managed to set Brian's plane on fire before he fell, but Brian retained control and the fire went out before too much damage was caused. Through canny maneuver, Brian managed to stay out of Frederick's gunsight, and made it safely to the Allied lines.


With the rules we tested, the players tried to use historical tactics, firing from their enemy's six-o'clock, at very close range. Long-range deflection shots were much less in evidence this night, as opposed to the game we had over Christmas break.

Some further discussion is required. For example, a couple of different campaign systems have been offered to track aircraft availability and generate scenarios. However, I'm looking forward to starting something up in the next few weeks.

First (re)completed Warmaster Unit

I made a bit more progress on the Warmaster re-do project over the weekend, and have finished my first re-painted and re-based unit of Empire Halberdiers, along with their Elector Count (Count von Büze on his trusty Griffon "fluffy").



Stay tuned for knights, artillery, and of course, more Halberdiers...

Hunt for the Graf Spee

Last Saturday Dan and I met at Sylvain's who hosted the first of what will be a two part game depicting the hunt for the Graf Spee. Sylvain had devised a very clever map-plotting game using a double blind system where the German player hunted merchantmen all the while avoiding being bagged by the Allied Southern Fleet who were desperately trying to bring them to heel. The Germans had the Graf Spee pocket battleship along with its support ship the Altmark. Their aim was to sink 10 merchantmen without loss. The Allies had five battlegroups of varying sizes, with about 14 ships in total (including two British carriers), in which to comb the entire Southern Atlantic. The Allies had to hunt down and sink the Graf Spee before it caused significant damage to the merchant fleets.

Dan took the Germans and I the British with Sylvain acting as umpire/moderator.

Now, the nail-biting aspect of this game was there was always a distinct possibility, reflected in the game charts, that Dan could sink a merchantman before it could get a radio signal off for me to be able to plot and pursue. Basically I had no real idea from turn to turn how many ships the Germans may be sinking. For the Germans, on the other hand, they could not just indiscriminately sink merchantmen - they had to recover the crews and provide for their safe passage to either the Altmark or a neutral port. Once the Graf Spee had three captured crews it was reduced to a maximum speed of 10 knots until it could offload them.

I arranged three battlegroups to patrol the shipping lanes from the tip of Chile to Central America while the other two cruised along the coast of Africa. After a few turns the wireless lit-up with the news that a merchantman was under attack off the coast of central Africa. Like hounds to the hunt I fanned out with my three South American groups and began the cross Atlantic crossing to try to box Dan in. My other two fleets attempted to block off the north and the south to prevent the Graf Spee from fleeing in those directions. Days past with my ships roaming about looking for signs of the raiders. Nothing. As Dan and Sylvain were in discussions every turn I was beginning to despair that he was bagging his lot of merchantmen right under my nose!


Dan about to hit me over the head with his bottle of Stella as I take high-altitude reconnaissance photos of his dispositions over the Playmobil cloud cover...


The map of my Allied battlegroups hunting for Dan's Graf Spee in Game 1

To my relief one of my seaplane pilots reported seeing a pair of suspicious ships near the coast of South Africa. The hunt was on again and to make a long story short I ran down the Graf Spee with three pursuit groups, brought her to battle and sank her. It turned out that after Dan's initial success the dice had rebelled against him and he could not pin down another merchantman. He also found that having the Altmark cruising with the Graf Spee to be a liability as it did not have the same turn of speed for quick raiding and evasion.


Sylvain madly trying to plot the movements for both sides.

We decided to switch places with Dan taking command of the Allies and myself the Germans. I decided to keep the Almark and the Graf Spee separated, thinking that if I got lucky I could use the Altmark as a ruse while striking out with the Graf Spee. I hung out in the central Atlantic for a few turns (days) and then moved into the shipping lanes off the coast of central Africa. After a day of cruising I chased down a fat merchantman and managed to sink her before she got a message off. I was stoked! This is easy, I thought. Wrong.

I moved south and took another merchantman which managed to get its distress call out. The game was up and I had to get out of Dodge. I fired-up the engines and made a mad dash south to try to avoid the Allies who I imagined would be vectoring in fast on my last position. I also sent the Altmark north with orders to meet the Graf Spee off the coast of Central America. I lingered in the sparsely used lanes in lower latitudes hoping for a bit of luck - no dice. Meanwhile Dan had discovered the whereabouts of the Altmark and began to chase her down to the inevitable outcome. So, hoping that Dan would think that I was up north I decided to make another fast dash for the coast of South America to see if I could slip into a neutral harbour, off-load my prisoners and then make another runner back to African waters.


Me contemplating my fate and making my 'private signal' to Dan...

As fate would have it another merchantman hove into view just as I approached Central America and I (the idiot) just couldn't resist. I duly bagged her but at the cost of having the entire Allied fleet aware of where I was BEFORE I had gotten rid of my prisoners. Stooopid. Nonetheless, as a sweetener, another merchantman staggered into view and I thought what the hell, no guts not glory, eh? As it turned out this newly captured ship had secret papers on board which gave me another victory point - half way there. Now I was saddled with four shiploads of prisoners, the Graf Spee waddling at 10 knots, and FIVE Allied battlegroups bearing down on me. No bloody worries, mein her.


My Graf Spee about to maker her bid for freedom (1:2400 GHQ)

I asked Sylvain how long it would take me to off-load the prisoners on-shore. He said it would only take a few hours. I asked how many Allied ships were immediately in sight. He said I could see two light cruisers and two heavy cruisers. A pretty steep match-up but not entirely impossible. So I made the decision to run into the nearby neutral port of Montevideo (no historical irony there), disembark the prisoners, give the crew a pep talk (with beer, schnitzel and Iron Crosses all around) and then steam out to face the Allied battlegroup(s). This is where we called it for the night, knowing we would want to play out the tactical action next month in miniature using General Quarters. It should be a pretty cool if somewhat brief battle. We'll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

Cheers,

Curt

Howling Griffons???

Painted up a test model tonight for my Rogue Trader Space Marine force (I hesitate to call it an "army" when I only have 25 models or so).

I had always liked the Osprey-esque colour plates from the old 40K Compendium that illustrated the Space Marine chapters involved in the "Badab War", especially the kewl kamo on the Howling Griffons marine. So I broke out one of the RT metal Marines I'd primed earlier and tried it out.

Not bad, but didn't knock my socks off either. Certainly easy enough to paint - basecoat yellow, Dark Flesh and black for the camo, drybrush Boltgun Metal, Badab Black (fitting) wash on the metal, Devlan Mud wash on the rest, done. I think I'll try a model in the traditional quartered yellow and red scheme to see which I like better.

Your thoughts are welcome, too ;-)