Irish Guards - Hells Highway

Hi guys,

I promised update so I had better deliver otherwise what is the point of blogging right?

After so much Nerd Rage over GW prices and policies this week I have decided to dedicate more of this blog to other mainstream games and miniatures that most players used to GW games are not aware of.

I would much prefer to focus on something productive than promote the negative.


Here are pictures of my Flames of War Irish Guards models.  A fair bit below my normal standard but time was short and I had a tourney to go to at AUSCON.


Colonel Joe Vandeluer and RAAF Forward Air Controller:

Headquarters:

Armoured Platoon 1:

Armoured Platoon 2:

Armoured Recce Platoon:

Guards Column Platoon:

Army Shot (minus Vandeleuer and FAC):

I painted the Army over 3 days to a basic tabletop standard and hit them with a quick Gloss Varnish to protect them.

With so many half finished projects I had forgotten how good it feels to play with and against painted armies on a nice table.  The plan is to take more time on my other Armies since I am in no rush to play at tournaments for a while.

I am selling some of my Flames of War to make way for a new project:  Ambush Alley


Until next post, Happy Gaming!


Allan

16 Spitfires flying together

Hi Guys,

If you grew up watching Battle of Britain movies and comic books you will love this.

Lots of collectors hard work coming together for an Airshow in Britain.

Certainly not something I ever thought I would see.



Happy Gaming,

Allan

Put on my Fighting Trousers!

Hi Guys,


Had a great time at AUSCON.

Played in the Flames of War - Late War Tournament on the Saturday but missed the Sunday due to an old Army Injury (3 back operations slows me down some days).

A great effort by the organisers of AUSCON and not to forget Garry Wait the Flames of War Tournament Organiser.

The terrain was great although I hate bogging tanks on hedges.

Out of three games I lost the first against a Dogs and Devils HG Pioneer List, won the second against Germans Fallschirmjager's and lost the last against 78th Sturm Division.




I took Irish Guards from Hell's Highway Briefing using:

HQ:

2 Shermans
1 Sherman ARV

Combat Platoons: (four of the below)

2 Shermans
1 Firefly

Weapons Platoon:


3x Stuart (recce)

Support:


Guards Column Platoon - 3 Universal Carriers

What did I learn?

More practice needed on placing objectives.

They are pretty light on in assaults.  Especially against pioneers and Sturm Division.  

Assaults are hard when you have to go over hedges rather than minefields and into pioneers.

I love objective based games that stop you from just standing back and shooting.

I wish I had taken a more balanced list with Infantry and Artillery like I normally do.

What did I buy:

• Force on Force rulebook Ambush Alley Games published by Osprey.
• 1 box of Warlord Games Praetorian Guard Legionaries to help complete my Early Imperial Roman Army.
• River of Heroes Briefing Book - Flames of War
• King Tigers boxed set - Flames of War - to go with River of Heroes

The Vendors were fantastic and had a wide selection of stock to the point that Games Workshop and Warmachine items were the exception rather than the rule.  I was in heaven looking at all the historical figures as well as the very nice fantasy and Sci-fi/Pulp figures on offer.

I nearly picked up a copy of Dust Tactics for the lovely Mech walkers for 28mm Wierd War gaming.

Pheonix Forge ran some great Demo games of Pulp City, Infinity, Dystopian Wars and a few others I was not familiar with.  Their Demo tables were fantastic!!!  I wish I had a camera with me as a picture tells a thousand words.

Irresistible Force stocked a great range of figures and even displayed a few new figures from Battlefront (Flames of War).

Anyway here is a fun Video I found on the web:

Thanks for reading my rambling.  I promise more eye candy next post including some pictures of my Irish Guards Army next post as well as some of the miniatures I am working on.

Until next time, Happy Gaming!

Allan

AUSCON - 30th April to 2nd May 2011

Hi Guys,

For those Gamers who can make it AUSCON is on for the first time this year.

I have bought my ticket and entered for the Late War Flames of War Tournament with a mate.

I am really looking forward to seeing everything instead of having to look at pictures from conventions overseas.

A great deal of hard work (by Mark and Allan) has gone into making this possible so make sure you attend if you can and if you are there, come and say G'day :)

Hopefully it will be the first of many AUSCONs!

Now which Army do I take?  That will probably be the focus of my next update.  lol

Happy Gaming,

Allan

I have been busy. Honest!

Hi guys,


I pre-ordered two boxes of The Plastic Soldier Company's 15mm or 1/100 scale T-34 tanks.

5 sprues per box each with the parts to make one Soviet T-34 tank with a second turret for the T-34/85 so Late war and Mid War Soviets here I come!

Sorry for the photos.

I will say the plastic is a hard type and the detailing is nice.  For the price I am more than happy.

Zvezda is also releasing plastic vehicles in 1:100 scale (15 mm) and they look just as good as is the price.  Also being released are 1/144 planes.  Perfect for Flames of War.

I love playing Flames of War but I am a clumsy bugger and it is nice to think these models will bounce and not shatter if dropped.

The other advantage is weight.  The models are so light.  Good for gamers with a bung back like myself.

I hope Battlefront comes to the party and is up to the challenge.

There is a nice quick review over at World War II Central including some much better pictures than I take.

Some other reviews of his you may like:

The Plastic Soldier Company - 15mm Russian Infantry

Zvezda - 1/100 plastic tanks review


I will follow up with another update soon.

I have rambled enough for now.  Back to Housework for me :P


Happy Gaming,

Allan

Wargames Factory Shock Troopers

Hi Guys,




After picking up some of Wargames Factory's Greatcoat Shock trooper boxed sets at Quartermaster IV last year I decided to pull my finger out and paint some up.





Just some small conversions:  Pig Iron Heads.





Followed by some speed painting, Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade and Army painter Matt Varnish Spray.





Lastly some Silfor Tufts to make the base less boring :P 




I also have some 28 mm WW2 models on order along with some skirmish rules sets.  More about that when it gets here.


Happy gaming,


Allan

Dystopian Wars

Happy New Year Guys!

My resolution is to spend more time on my own pile of unpainted models rather than spending it looking at all the other nicely painted miniatures on the internet.

Dystopian Wars was released at the end of 2010 by Spartan Games makers of games like Uncharted Seas (Fantasy Naval Warfare) and FIrestorm Armada (Sci-fi Space battles).  I did not buy into any of the other games as I have played and enjoyed Bablyon 5: A Call To Arms   for Space Battles and Uncharted Seas looked great but I wanted to see how Spartan Games went as a new miniature company before committing to buying models.

I spent about one and a half weeks having a cooling off period after listening to the D6 Generations Podcast about Dystopian Wars and trying to read up any review I could find on Google and the usual gaming sites (TMP etc..).  I found Varcan Cluster (link for Dystopian Wars posts only) helpful for close ups of the actual models for Dystopian Wars and a lot of the other games I love to play.


I finally caved and picked up the rules and all the starter sets for Dystopian Wars.  Dystopian Wars is a fun Air, Land and Sea game set in the 1870's.  It has a Steam Punk, alternate history to our own with some masterfully crafted models.

While I am cleaning up the models and prepping to paint them I thought I would post a few pictures of one of the Starter sets to show the contents.

A few close ups of the Kingdom of Britannia Starter set.

The nice thing is the models come with Unit Cards, Counters, Templates and 10 bases of Fighters  :armata_PDT_37:




The packaging is nice and there were no broken models.

]

Some flash on the models but very easily removed!



Some Detail shots of the KoB Battle ship and Frigate:





Lastly a size comparison shot to other models:



From Left to Right:  KoB Frigate, Flames of War German (15mm scale), KoB Cruiser, Warlord Games Celt, KoB Battleship and GW Terminator marine.



I hope the photos help those with questions about quality and what you get in a starter box.  I am happy with what I have received and like the fun nature of the game.

Back to work before the kids wake up :)

Until next time, Happy Gaming!

Allan