Barun von Orkthofen

Bits arrived from eBay last week for a new insane (mini) project... a Fighta for my Rogue Trader Ork army.  I spent an evening last week putting together this model and sticking gunz on every possible surface...

The base model is a Testors 1/48 kit of the "GeeBee Racer", the air racer from the '30s that was infamously difficult to fly because of its stubby proportions and huge engine, something I thought would massively appeal to Orks ;-)

The pilot head, the gunz and all the other bits are from modern 40K Ork sprues.  I like the way that it all came together.  The basic shape of this aircraft has always appealed to me for some reason, but unlike the Polikarpov I-16 that I converted to FuturKom use I left this one piston-powered... it is "Rogue Trader" after all!

It's on the painting desk now so should be done this week.

Lesson from a Dwarf Teacher

The Dwarf Sebastian de Morra
Diego Velázquez, c. 1645
Oil on canvas, 106,5 x 81,5 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

In order to gain some experience in the wonderful warring world of Warhammer, I invited local veteran player AllanL to my place to teach me a lesson in Warhammer. Allan commands a nicely painted Dwarf Army, mostly painted by someone else, but what he painted shows some great talent. After being distracted for over half an hour chatting about comics and manga, we remembered that we were supposed to play a game of Warhammer and set up our units.

We agreed on armies worth 1500 pts. Allan set up two Grudgethrowers (catapults) on the hill and deployed the rest of his troops to protect them. There was a unit of Warriors, a group of Quarellers and one of Hammerers. It was a strange feeling for the Wood Elves to be overgunned. Each Grudgethrowers could remove up to 8 models per turn. Nonetheless, the Wood Elves decided to close in, confident that the Wardancers (used for the first time) would shave clean the beards of these puny intruders in no time. The above picture shows the situation after turn 1. Three units of Glade Guards, supported by 2 orchards of Dryads, one squadron of Glade Riders and one troop of Wardancers are closing in on the iron clad Dwarves.

Hey, wait a minute! The Dwarves didn't miss the opportunity offered to them in turn 4 to engage in melee. It took them one close combat segment to send the Wardancers backstage and two to unroot the Dryads. In the meantime, the Grudgethrowers were winning the shooting duel against the Glade Guards. Was the fate of the Wood Elves sealed already?

But wait! An opportunity occured for the Glade Riders to blitz behind those mean armored units. By the time it takes to say "1-2-3", one Grudgethrower was overrunned, a second stampeded, then the Riders reformed in time to trample the Quarrelers from behind.

But it was turn six already and the final score favored Allan's Dwarves by about 80 points. I must thank Allan for his patience in explaining the mechanics of the game. More than the great learning experience for me and the fun we had together, I am grateful for the opportunity to meet Allan. I am looking forward for another gaming session, be it Warhammer, Battlefleet Gothic (yes, he has a few fleets) or Trafalgar.

You can read his own version of the battle here.

6th Panzer Castrated in Lemembre

Yesterday, Curt joined me for a recreation of the 1940 Blitzkrieg in France. Advanced elements of the 6th Panzer Division, equipped with Pz 35t, were to secure the area surrounding the village of Lemembre, in order to allow the rest of the division to break through, while the French were trying to establish a defensive line with some tank units. Because of the late start (8:30), I've opted to give each side very few units. We used a ruleset that I designed with my friends in Montréal called "Orders". Curt got the French, I the German and we drew our battle plan on a map. I used to draw maps, but not anymore. A picture taken from above the board is now all we need, thanks to digital camera and color printers. My plan was to send my Pz35t on the hill while my recce would assess the situation in the village. Colonel Curt planned to send there his Panhard, while protecting the village with AT guns.


Here is the situation after the first turn. All the 6mm buildings were painted in the last two weeks. All units are carryng on their orders smoothly.

The Pz 35t are just about to reach the hill. Note the D% in the background. It's a small D10 into a bigger transparent D10. It makes the noise of a toddler's rattle when thrown.

Surprise! The Panhard got first on the hill. From then on, things went pretty bad for the Germans.

The Panhards opened fire with their 25mm against the thin armour of the Pz 35t. When the latter were finally activated, I rolled 81 for communication, needing 80% or less. So the triple move orders of the company could not be changed. The crew probably thought that the armoured cars were their own recce company and started waving at them. Anyway, on the next turn the company was quickly castrated. Then the Sdkfz 231 missed their morale roll with 96, needing 70% or less. Unable to move, they were shot by the French AT guns. Next, I was able to call in two 88s. Ha ha! But as soon as they were set up, I rolled 100 when shooting, resulting in a gun jam. The 6th Panzer division command, considering the resistance in Lemembre, decided to use a strategic manoeuver called a detour.

Even though the game was painful for the German side, it was fun to revisit the old rule system.

The Voice in my head made me do this

For some time now, whenever I am brushing my teeth in the morning, I can hear a voice in my head whispering me "to build the Aspern Church in 28mm scale", an important landmark in the Napoleonic battle of Aspern. I built the main chapel last year, and it is now displayed in Curt's kitchen. Now I just finished erecting the "Refectory" (see the circled building below).



The building comes in 4 sections and troops can be deployed on the main level, on the second floor and in the attic.

The little 28mm British skirmisher provides a reference for the size of the building. The roof has simply been textured with a ballpoint as it would be too much work to make tiles for a roof that size. The structure showed remarkable resilience to the juvenile assaults of my 3 year old daughter who "playtested" the "nice dollhouse". Dallas, the voice in my head told me that "the ovemind will be painting the building", so do I get any points for just building this house? It took me two days (well, since the last painting update I sent you yesterday morning).

Strange enough, whenever I go to the loo lately I can hear a new voice in my head suggesting me to paint a 28mm Russian army for Napoleonic wargaming...

Belated battle report - a FuturKom Kristmas

Oh tannen-bot, oh tannen-bot!

The holiday season is upon us, and to mark it we gathered at Dallas' place last week for a game of SpaceKrieg, the wierd and wonderful 25/28mm sci-fi setting where in the unpleasant shade of the distant future, there is only armed conflict...and tanks with huge guns.

Dallas set up the table in a suitable Christmas theme. About 40 Kommulist troops - including some new armoured infantry, backed by a scout vehicle, an odious new Kombot (christened "O Tannen-Bot" for this game) and the devestating SU-3000 took on a platoon of 30 Gün grenadiers, who were backed by a mortar, a recon tank, an APC and the dreaded Space Hetzer.



Check out this great holiday candle guys - I'm sure it will inspire the public once they are properly "secured"

The objective of the game was to recover the majority of the objectives before the other side - three bomb-zombies on the table. Because otherwise the bomb-zombies would ruin Christmas, right? Mike F and Dallas rolled with the Kom, while Dave V and Cam joined me on the side that advocated peace through war.



Patience lads - need to be sure we get priority...

As the game progressed, it became clear the Futurkom side would have an even more devestating secret weapon than any robot or tank - the violin!



Deluded young kommulist interns display the new FuturKom weapon during a youth re-education session

Several turns of whinging about the abilities of Gün Schwarm ("They hit on a three?" "The mortar hit how many people?" "Their training is WHAT?"), together with other big-lip tactics managed to obscure the fact that FuturKom actually WON the game. The Gün Schwarm certainly piled up Kommulists like cords of firewood, but it was not enough, as FuturKom managed to secure a majority of the bomb zombies by the end of the game.



The SU-3000 lost out on the duel with the Space Hetzer



Dave V was Vegas with the Gün mortar team - it basically held one flank for most of the game

Hopefully Dallas can add a few more photos to show the Futurkom side of the battle. But a good time was had by all - even Mike and Dallas after they realized they had won!

Thanks again to Dallas for hosting, and to all who came to play!

28mm Command Stand: Michel Ney, Marshal of France

Here is a new Corp-Level Command stand for my 28mm French. This is Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, Prince of the Moskowa and Marshal of France. He was also known by many Frenchmen as 'The Bravest of the Brave." I thought I'd try to get him done for the anniversary of his death. This is a Perry casting and he is seen here as he would be in 1815 at Waterloo. The set also comes with two of his ADCs Pierre-Agathe Heymès (in red) and Pierre Levavasseur (in blue). I have also included a squadron trumpeter from the 2nd Dragoons of Kellerman's Reserve Cavalry Corps.

I have done up the stand to depict Ney after the first massed charge on the Allied squares in the late afternoon at Waterloo. He has just come back to gather more men from Kellerman's command to lead them back up the hill. Ultimately these charges would result in the destruction of over 5000 French cavalry. By the end of the day Ney would have four horses killed from underneath him, his epaulets shot away, sword broken, covered in mud screaming at the retreating French around him, "Rally on me! I am Ney, Marshal of France. Follow me, I will show you how a Marshal of France dies!" Yep, completely mental but that's how the boy rolled.

Having a Marshal for either 'Black Powder' or 'Republic to Empire' is pretty over-scaled but I reasoned that Ney did like to lead from the front so it would not be uncommon to see him down getting mucked-in with the lads.

When the Bourbons were reinstated after Waterloo they wanted Ney's head for siding with Napoleon. The trial was very unpopular as Ney was well-liked by soldiers and the common folk. Nonetheless, the royalists wanted blood and so he was sentenced to death. Ney was executed by firing squad in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris on December 7th 1815. He refused a blindfold and with his typical panache he gave the execution squad their orders to fire. Pretty hardcore.

A few more Elysians

The NFL season continues to grind along (and strangely the Kansas City Chiefs remain in playoff contention) offering the chance to chase in vain after Dallas, Curt and Sylvain in our painting competition. I'm trying to focus for now on getting the darn Elysians done for 40k. Here are some photos of the recent progress - some snipers!

After getting the shaft a few times from Hive Fleet Nostromo and their Carnifex Spam, I figure some snipers are needed, given that they cause wounds relatively easily. Sure, the other team gets a save, but these days, everything in 40k gets a save thanks to "cover".

Of course, since Forge World made these models, the quality is incredibly variable, and you can see the one prone fellow still has a "bendy" gun barrel which I could not manage to completely straighten out depiste all the heat/hot water in the frigging world. But it's not as bad as it was.



The sniper pack only comes with three shooters, but after painting 60+ Elysians, I am finally confident enough with them to start some conversions, so I put a fourth sniper rifle on a regular dude (the guy on the right in the picture above). The arms were a bit of a bodge, but it is still close enough.



The snipers can go into the lineup either as part of a six-man special weapons team, or as weapons in the squads. I think I will probably use the special weapons team approach, but I may try and load of a veteran squad with four shooters too for fun.

I also finished one more officer and a couple more grunts - a vox-caster, a sergeant and a couple of special weapons. The Elysians are pretty packed for infantry now - One platoon with three ten-man squads, a special weapon squad with snipers, a heavy weapon squad with heavy bolters, two veteran squads - one with shotguns and meltaguns, and the other with lasguns and melta guns - a.k.a. "melta spam".

With the infantry out of the way, it's time to move on to what I like least...assembling vehicles....but the Valkyrie spam has started...



First objective is to finish off a pair of Valkyries to round out a squadron of the vehicles for the Elysians. They will be equipped with rocket pods and multi-lasers, and will hopefully match up well to the first one I did for them. Then it will be on to a "Vendetta" version of the craft.

I already cut my hand to pieces on Sunday getting two Valk models built, but I really want to get these buggers finished, so I hope I will have more progress to show next week!