Warlord Games Soviet Infantry - 2 Boxes Completed

Finished up the figures after getting home from the Xenos Rampant game - after mowing the lawn first though. Wanted to get them done before heading out to Enfilade early Friday morning. Needed to clean off my painting area (the dining room table), as my wife will have folks over on Saturday.

As mentioned in a previous post, these were sprayed with Rustoleum khaki and various uniforms were painted over with Vallejo Iraqi Sand. I also painted some with a lightened mixture of Vallejo Green Brown for a little more variety. It's amazing how the shade seems to change when looking at khaki and olive drab colors too long!

There are enough for eight 10-man squads, each led by and officer and having an LMG and panzerfaust. 

The Minwax stain really helped in defining the details - especially on the quilted uniforms.

This was a nice project as I had never had an interest in WW2 Soviets until my buddy gave me those Russian tanks. Thanks again for stopping by and wishing you the best. My next post, hopefully, will be updates from the convention this weekend.

First Xenos Rampant Game

Played Xenos Rampant for the first time in my buddy's playtest for his games this coming weekend at Enfilade. I've played Lion and Dragon Rampant in the past, but have been playing Bolt Action and SAGA recently, so had to re-remember stuff, and also learn the newer stuff in Xenos. It's fairly quick playing so much to my liking. I ran a force of Elite and Light infantry, as well as a Walker - of the red force which I forgot the faction name. The scenario was the capture of several drones roaming the battlefield. I was able to capture one with my Elite infantry unit and successfully get it off my table edge. Granted the random direction/movement rolls by the GM did move the drone close to the unit early on. All the models and terrain were provided by the GM - he has his own blog called I Live With Cats, which some of you may know of. Here are some images from the game - in no particular order.

This is the detachment I ran.

A really fun game and scenario with excellent figures and terrain. I hope to field my own detachment someday using some of my Sisters of Battle and Space Marine figures.

Well so much for now, I'm hoping to finish up the Warlord Games Soviets and get ready to host a couple of Bolt Action Western Desert games this weekend at Enfilade. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games Soviet Infantry - WIP

 Just a quick update on the Soviet figures - Minwax stained the two boxes of figures.

And prior to the staining.

I've been invited to participate in a Xenos Rampant game tomorrow - perfect timing to allow these to dry completely. Plan to post pics and a quick report of the game afterwards. This will be my first time playing the rules - although I've played the other Rampant rules before. Until then, best wishes to you all.

Warlord Games Late War German Grenadiers - Ready for Action

 Here are the two boxes of Warlord Games plastics - very nice figures for gaming, IMO.

I really like these figures, and look forward to finishing up their Russian opponents. After these core infantry units are done, it'll be time to add suitable support units.

Thank you very much for checking out the blog, and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games Late War German Grenadiers - WIP Update

Finished block painting and Minwax staining them. The Russian infantry are next. Just a quick update to let you see the progress on this project.

These figures have nice details which paint up well.

Here they are block painted prior to staining.

Thanks for stopping by - and wishing you the best.

EDIT: A few close ups.

Looks like I missed painted the straps; they were hard to make out, but now magnified I can see them. I'll likely go over them - if I can seem them.

New Project WIP - Warlord Games Soviet Infantry and Late-War German Grendiers

Thanks to my buddy giving me all of those Russian tanks, I got interested in the Soviets' "Road to Berlin". I went ahead and picked up two boxes each of Warlord Games' Soviet Infantry and Late-War German Grenadiers. These kits have been out for a few years now, but my first time seeing them in person, up close. I must say I like them a lot. The German set is a bit easier to put together as most of weapon options have both arms already molded onto the weapon. I also picked up the Bolt Action Road to Berlin campaign supplement. Pretty much speed painting them for getting them onto the gaming table. Used spray paint to basecoat both sets. Krylon Olive (same one I used for the earlier Shermans), and Rustoleum Khaki for the Russians. Just finished the splinter camo areas (zeltbahn and helmet covers) on the Germans using the old Resistant Roosters method from many years ago. The camo isn't the best, but after a Minwax stain they should be fine for gaming. 

Here's a sample of how they looked prior the green camo being added. Note, any dark/medium olive green would work but I mixed Vallejo Flat Green with a bit of Vallejo Model Air Medium Olive as those are all I have on hand right now. Same with the brown which was up at a local gaming store that doesn't carry Valljeo. I had wanted Beasty Brown and this was closest they had.

Here's how the two sets looked after the Germans were given a dry-brushing of lightened Vallejo Fieldgrey over the spray basecoat of Camo Olive, and some of the Soviets' uniforms getting a dry-brush of Vallejo Iraqi Sand (a most useful color, IMO) over their basecoat of Khaki.

And here they are with the spray cans used for their basecoat.

On the gaming front, I played my second game of SAGA today). My buddy supplied the figures and SAGA aids (including battle boards) for both me and another buddy. I ran Vikings and my opponet Normans. We ended the game before a final outcome - the killing of a Warlord was the victory condition. However, the GM said if we had played another turn my Warlord would've easily taken out his - who was fully fatigued and was within my Warlord's attack distance - or something like that. I plan to use my old Gempei Samurai the next time we play - using a fan made Age of Samurai supplement.

Viking warband facing Normans. A unit of Norman levy already having been reduced to one figure after taking superior bow fire from the Viking thralls. The Viking hearthguard await a unit of Norman mounted hearthguard in the distance. This Norman unit was later destroyed by my foot hearthguard.

Well, just wanted to make this post to let you know what I've been up to on the hobby front. Thanks for stopping by and best wishes to you all.

Bolt Action - Western Desert Campaign Playtest (Again)

Just wrapped up another good playtest for the Bolt Action Battle of Alam Halfa game I'm hosting at Enfilade in a couple of weeks. We only used about half of the units for this playtest as I wanted to go over some of the rules that I'm a bit rusty. Some of these were indirect fire into dug in positions, infantry assaulting tanks, and a few other oddball stuff. It was very productive and I was able to jot down notes on my GM QRS, so hopefully I'll be able to refresh my memory during the convention. The scenario has the Axis forces needing to overrun the Allied/Commonwealth units in defensive positions. A unit of Ramcke fallshirmjager was able to make it off the table on the Commonwealth's right flank unopposed after the mortar and infantry squad on that side were destroyed. Several other Commonwealth units had also been destroyed up to that point, and the game was called an Axis victory. As there were fewer Commonwealth units for this playtest in the actual game, the defensive positions were admittedly sparse.

End of turn one from the Allied left flank. Note the red markers indicating all of the Allied units receiving one or more pins from the Axis' preparatory bombardment at the start of the game.

End of turn one from the Allied right, with the Crusader tank moving up to concealment behind light cover.

Axis forces advancing. The Panzer III already destroyed by the Grant's 75mm gun into it's side.

The 6 pounder having already suffered a casualty on the crew. They were being targeted from the Axis' mortar and Panzers. It was eventually destroyed.

DAK infantry assaulting the British Crusader after passing their Tank Fear check.

The Crusader destroyed after the DAK getting 7 hits and a subsequent high D6 Penetration and Damage rolls. This was a good refresher for the rules of infantry assaulting tanks.

8th Army infantry advancing along with a Grant tank onto a depleted DAK squad.

8th Army infantry assaulting and wiping out the DAK squad.

As mentioned, the game was called a DAK victory with one of their units breaking through the 8th Army defenses. It was a nice quick game and looking forward to running a slightly larger game using the same scenario in a couple of weeks at our big annual convention, Enfilade. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog and best wishes to you all.

More Soviet Heavy Metal - Including An Atlantis/Aurora JS-III

 A few more 1/48th scale WW2 Soviet armored vehicles. The SU-100 and two T-34/85s are metal 1/48th models my buddy gave me a few weeks ago; the JS-III is an inexpensive plastic kit picked up off of ebay. It's an old Aurora re-release by Atlantis - only $17 so couldn't pass it up. Very few parts and went together very nicely.

They were all airbrushed with a mixture of various greens on hand, then highlighted with Vallejo Yellow Green dry-brushed on. The decals came from the JS-III kit - exccept for the slogan on the SU-100 which came from a Hobby Boss T-34/76 decal sheet.

I have to ask my buddy who made these metal tanks - they are in 1/48th scale which is unusual nowadays.

The JS-III came with the commander; the rest of the crewmen are leftovers from the Bandai kits.

One of the T-34/85s was missing a lower rear panel so I used some plastic card for a replacement. The rear sproket wells were fashioned from Green Stuff.

Except for the JS-III kit, all of the rest of the tanks were kindly given to me by my buddy. I suppose I need to get some infantry now. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and best wishes to you all.

Battle of Mahiwa (1917 East Africa) - Bolt Action

This was a fine Bolt Action game run by my buddy at his place with all of his figures and terrain. The scenario was based upon the Battle of Mahiwa in 1917 during the East African Campaign. I ran the Germans and African troops led by General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. My buddy ran the Commonwealth South African and Nigerian troops under General Jacob van Deventer (interestingly a Von and a Van against each other).

Start of the game with proper refreshments to instill valor and vigor.

My German/Askari troops occupying the village - this was a victory condition. They held it until the end of the 6 turn game. The smaller building was initially held by the South African cavalry after dismounting, but soon dislodge by the Askari forces after charging into hand to hand combat.

View from atop one of the village dwellings overlooking the South African armored car.

An Askari squad advacing into the rough - with local wildlife looking on.

Some of the native special trooops with the South African force. They were never able to get into close combat.

View of the German center and left at the start of the battle

The South African armored car being assualted by German infantry.

South African cavalry moving up to the village prior to dismounting - having already acquired pins from Askari rifle fire.

Askari and German troops having moved into and occupying the village early on.

An Askari squad decimated by Nigerian rifle fire - local wildlife looking on to the human carnage.

The game was called a victory for the German forces as they held all three village structures. The Commonwealth failed to dislodge them after multiple attempts of assaults and ranged fire by both rifles and artillery. A nice game that was quite enjoyable and looking forward to more of the same. Best wishes to you and thanks for stopping by.