WWII - Flames of War "Hit the Beach" scenario! DS

The Canadians approach the beach...

On Wednesday July 3rd, Chris and I joined Jim for a Flames of War game.  We played a beach assault scenario for WWPD podcast Operation Overlord game.  The scenario featured an attack force from Canadian 3rd Division attempting to secure a beachhead against an entrenched infantry company from the German 716 division. 

To see how the boys from Winnipeg fared in the attack on Juno Beach, check out our full battle report at the Rounds Complete blog!

Build a WWII Beach in an Evening! JR & DS

There's nothing better than getting a project done.  Beach terrain for Normandy WWII scenario.

Jim and I played in a Hit the Beach scenario on Sunday 30th of June with Mike S, and his brother Jeff S.  The game was played for the "What Would Patton Do?" podcast and blog's worldwide Flames of War D-Day Campaign game.   Mike S. had done some great work on his beach terrain for the scenario and provided a nice table for the game.

The battle was between an American assault force and a German 352nd Division Infantry company.  The photos and battle report are listed on Mike S.'s gaming blog here.

Both Jim and I have wanted to make a beach terrain board for some time.  A couple of years ago I purchased the Normandy defenses Battlefield in a Box set, as well as a pack of 3 US landing craft.  I was a bit surprised when I got an email from him this afternoon saying that he wanted to work on it tonight...and have it ready for a game tomorrow.  

He had many of the materials ready and was hard at work by the time I got there.  The base board was  2'x 4' piece of mdf that he had spray painted gray.  By the time I got to his garage he was finishing the sea wall.  It was made out of pink 2" double density styro-foam.  Jim had not picked up anything to paint the sand with, so I stopped by a Michael's  store to pick up some hobby paints (6 paints for $6.05US!)

I got to work on the ocean...and it turned out better than I would have thought it might, as I have never tried anything like that before.  We added tan paint to some Woodland Scenics hydrocal plaster material, along with some fine and medium sand, for texture, and applied it to make the beach.  I had brought a couple of colors to to paint the sand, but the tan added to the plaster turned out really well. 

Lastly we painted the sea wall, added flock and we were done!  Not bad for an evening of work.  Jim is going to clean up the flock and apply some sealer before he goes to work in the morning, but otherwise it is a usable board.  There's nothing like getting a project done.  Two people putting some effort in can really get things accomplished quick. 

Wednesday evening it will be used by the 3rd Canadians when they hit Juno beach facing a  German 716 Infantry Division company.  !Warning! to the Winnepeg Rifles:  Beware the MG42s...

05.24.13 Flames of War Preview

Complete battle report coming soon...

In the meantime, check out the first batch of photos recovered from the German right flank.
Photo Slideshow

28mm US Airborne - JR

I finished up my first batch of US Airborne troopers yesterday. These are part of the US Screaming Eagles box set from Warlord Games' Bolt Action line. As always for me, the hardest part was determining what colors to use. After scouring the web, I once again reached the conclusion that nobody agrees, so I based most of my color selection on the D-Day Paratroopers: The Americans book that I borrowed from a friend. I didn't get an exact color match and I chose to exaggerate the difference in color between the web gear and the uniform itself to make the models more interesting.

As for gaming, we haven't really settled on a system yet. We have played a round or two of Bolt Action, but I'm not sure it is really going to be a fit for us. We'll have to look around for some other systems.

Mordor Troll 2 (Work In Progress) - GF

1st Annual Donuts and Dodecahedral Dice Day - GF

The 1st Annual Donuts and Dodecahedral Dice Day was held on Saturday April 27, 2013 at the Maple Grove Gentlemen's Wargames Clubroom. 

The game for the day was Game's Workshop's War of the Ring.  The forces featured in the battle were the men of Gondor facing an orc army of Mordor.

Order of Battle

GOOD:
3 Companies Knights of Minas Tirith
3 Companies Archers
5 Companies Warriors of Minas Tirith (captain and banner)
4 Companies Warriors of Minas Tirith (captain and banner)

EVIL
3 Companies Warg Riders
2 Companies Orc Archers
4 Companies Orc Warriors with Shield (captain and banner)
4 Companies Orc Warriors with 2H Weapon (captain and banner)
1 Mordor Troll Drummer
1 Mordor Troll

The scenario played was "High Ground" where you need to hold the objective in the middle of board at the end of Turn 8. Monsters can claim objective if within 3" but will lose if cavalry are within 3" who will lose if infantry are within 3".

The initial deployment of units was unusual. Each board edge was assigned a number 3, 4, 5 or 6. A die was rolled at the end of move phase for each company not on table. 1-2: company stays in reserve and roll again next turn. 3-6: the unit is placed anywhere along that table edge.

Almost all units came in on side 3; one of the short edges of the 4'x8' table. It got very chaotic as units were being charged in flanks and rear.  Kinda fun.  It helped having a GM smooth over rules questions and such.  We didn't use any heroes/spellcasters/might points. I didn't grab many photos...a full battle report will have to wait until next time!

Forces hurry across the field to seize the objective

28 mm Trinia Sabor Reaper mini -EE

"Caleigh the Bard"

Reaper mini 60102 Trinia Sabor

Here it is - only my second fully painted mini for a D&D game.  The mini was a gift from DS, to encourage me to roll up more than one character for our (apparently dangerous) game.  The fiance is a great painter and that's the only reason this character even looks halfway decent.  He has taught me the ways of hitting the highlights and lowlights.  I am particularly proud of the sash, as it took me several tries to get the color scheme I was looking for.  Being new to painting minis, I was worried the paint would get too thick when I changed my mind for the third or fourth time.

Caleigh is a bard wandering the country side of Tamilane with her fellow adventurers.  She is a "Jill" of all trades, mistress of none.  Her back story is still in the works, as I am new to the RPG environment and I also like to make things up as I go along.

15mm Battlefront Stuart Tank - DS

US005 M5A1 Stuart

My fiancee does a good job of buying Christmas gifts.  It's quite rare that I get something I really want, as opposed to nice things I like such as shirts, socks, dvds, and gift certificates.  The Stuart rates up there with surprises of Christmas past like:  the Mego Planet of the Apes Treehouse, the Ideal Toys Gunfight at O.K. Corral game, the blue box edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and an electric guitar. 

It's nice to paint something different than British Airborne infantry.  I will have to get some sort of U.S. WWII project going.  There still needs to be some work with how I shade and highlight the figure too, although I am pretty happy with it.  Decals really provide a nice finish to the model.

Thanks Emily!

28mm Copplestone Spies - DS

Models from: Top Agents #KKBB101.

The models are from Copplestone Castings "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!" 1960s spy line.  Wargames Soldiers & Strategy #62 cover story and featured articles were on spies, secret missions, and skirmish gaming.  It prompted me to finish up these guys.  This pair will make a great duo of "by the book" CIA/FBI agents.

There is a very Sean Connery era James Bond feeling to this line of figures.  Copplestone has a good selection of spies and some modern terrain prop sets such as; bank furniture, a variety of doors and entrances (for your own scratch builds), and 1960s looking lab and missile launch control consuls.  There is also a mini-sub and a snow kat arctic snow vehicle for missions in colder climes. 

Copplestone Castings - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Range:
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/range.php?range=KKB

Artizan Designs has its own models out for the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang collection:
http://www.artizandesigns.com/list.php?man=9&page=1

15mm French House for Napoleonics to WWII - DS

I picked this building in the late 80s on a trip to Baltimore.  Let's just say, it has been sitting around for a while waiting to be painted.  It is from the now defunct games and miniatures distributor Armory Distribution Inc.   This building was made by one of their side companies Gallia.

I paid a call on the Armory during a trip visiting relatives.  The owner's son, Skip Lipmann, gave me a tour of the facility.  They had just opened up a retail store front as I guess Baltimore didn't have any gaming stores to speak of.  Skip was a nice guy and I enjoyed the couple of conversations we had over the years talking shop and gaming.  Armory Distribution was a typical warehouse full of all the products needed to stock hobby stores.  It smelled of cardboard!  Having worked in a warehouse before that smell always makes me nostalgic.

The production area for Gallia was located inside the warehouse and consisted of a couple of  long work  tables attended by an older woman, whose name I do not recall. She checked the orders, poured the resin, and packed the final products to be shipped.

Incidentally, the terrain boards I use to photograph the figures on were a product line made by Skip.  They are 1' x 1' styrofoam and have a couple different different features on them.  There are roads, rivers, creeks, depressions/ditches, and shoreline.  A couple of them have a painted green or straw colored area that one might use for forests or wheatfields.  Skip found a spray flock for the grass that made production quicker than gluing it down by hand.  They are nice and convenient but not great.  I would like to try my hand at making some more realistic and varied terrain boards someday.