BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC

Tried a small game of battlefleet gothic

 just a small battle for my first try of this game, i always liked the look of it but never got round to buying it and now that i have GW have stopped making the ships. I seam to be cursed like that, i brought at-43 just as rackham gave up and starship troopers just as mongoose dumped it.
Anyway on with the report, first the fleets:-

Chaos
1x Styx heavy cruiser
2x murder cruiser
1x slaughter cruiser

Imperial
1x overlord  battlecruiser
1x gothic cruiser
1x dictator cruiser
3x cobra destroyers

the imperials formed their cruisers up in the centre and split the cobras off to the side to attempt a flank attack, in retaliation the chaos fleet formed the murders up on the Styx opposite the imperial cruisers and sent the slaughter of to keep an eye on the cobras.                                             

Chaos moved first,the murders made full ahead towards the imperial cruisers while the Styx moved minimum distance and launched fighters while the slaughter made a run on the cobras eyeing up some easy kills.In the shooting phase only the Styx was in range and its lances bounced harmlessly off the dictator's shields.

The imperials sent their overlord and gothic forward at full speed with both ships making a 45 degree turn to unmask their starboard batteries,the dictator advanced forward at minimum speed and launched fighters and torpedoes.The cobra destroyers closed with the chaos slaughter and launched torpedoes at it.The imperial fire targeted the two murders but only manged a couple of blast markers on each the batteries failing to cause any damage.The cobras managed to get a blast marker on the slaughter with their combined batteries.                                                                           

The second chaos turn saw the murders brake into the imperial cruiser formation with the Styx trying to stay out of the way, the slaughter couldn't manoeuvre enough to get in on the cobras so kept on going.In the shooting phase the murders could use both side's batteries and worked the imperial cruisers over the gothic took the worst of it and was reduced to half damage the overlord took two hits, at least the dictator got away with only a blast marker. The Styx missed with all its fire and the slaughter only manged to destroy one cobra with is batteries and lances'.

Close up of the cruiser clash, poor old gothic on the left there smashed by two strength 10 batteries at point blank range.

 

The cobras swing onto  the slaughter's aft and the imperial cruisers just moved the minimum so they could reply to the beating they had received. Some stinky dice rolls saw the 3 cruisers only inflict 2 damage points on each of the murders and the cobras couldn't get any on the slaughter.

The 2 murders turned port and starboard respectively to come back around on the imperials and sensing victory the Styx also closed in, meanwhile the slaughter tried to use its speed to get away from the trailing cobras.Murder No1 and the Styx concentrated fire on the gothic and were rewarded with a massive explosion as it was vapourised and with some good shooting murder No.2 finished off the overlord as well.

Oh dear with 2 cruisers reduced to atoms the heart had been torn out of the imperial fleet. All that remained now was the hope off restoring some imperial honour.The dictator drew along side the Styx and the cobras continued their chase of the slaughter. Unfortunately for the imperials the dictators guns didn't score any hits on the Styx.

The murders swung around on the dictator and the Styx hung close, the slaughter also decided to close on the dictator and ignore the cobras.Lances and batteries pounded the dictator, who succumbed under the onslaught.

With no cruisers  left for the imperials the game was over, and the chaos could report to their masters that they had smashed the imperial fleet without any losses of their own.

Only after the game was over did i realise that ordinance moves in both sides turns, that fact might have helped the imperials get some hits with their torps which could have meant things went differently early on but oh well . Still i liked the game and it played quick and easy now all i need is a source of proxy ships so i can expanded the fleets.

Warfare reading (show)

Me and the boy went to warfare in reading last weekend. First thing I would say is don't drive if you can use public transport. Now we started the day an arrow shot away from rivermead, where it is held but some difficult deity saw fit to put the Thames in the way, so it took us 20 minutes to get there only to discover that the car park was full and so were all the streets In the area, so after about an hour we actually got into the show. Now it's been  3 years since I last went so I can only compare it to that. No queues this year we got straight in at 11.30, they give you a badge to wear (they do check) and first stop was the bring and buy. Hmm not as much on sale as last time and a big drop in the amount of GW (boy was miffed). Next it was into the main selling hall not quite as busy as last time, you could actually move this time. Good range of manufacturers and sellers again though much to the disgust of the boy there was a lack of GW sellers both new and second hand, their new terms having an effect I suppose. All the big games were on sale, bolt action seemed to be the biggist and thier was plastic box sets all over the place. plastic soldier company the most with their own stand and on lots of other stands too. I was a bit gutted as I was looking for some dropzone commander but apart from the two player starter there was none. Now if you haven't been to warfare before but you have other wargames shows you would think that the demo and particpation games take Center stage, no at warfare they are in a different hall further on from the hall with the sellers and with a very uneven floor, so me and the boy only gave it a quick recon, some good looking games but the school diner hall feel to it didn't make us linger. So warfare great for shopping not do good gaming a bit down on previous years and leave the car at home 

Return

Been quite a while since I last posted, that's been due to a house move. I lost my wooden shed In the garden but gained a slightly bigger brick one(upgrade!) and an office for painting but with the packing and sorting the new house out I haven't done any modelling lately . Hopefully soon I while get back to it .

Where've i gone?

a house move has caused a lack of posts and a lack of wargaming type behaviour but I'm settled in now and things are starting to happen such as this

OMWB

Progress on the tanks a bit slow I'm waiting for some paint to come. I need Vallejo Russian uniform for the British tanks after having looked it up online. Never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is to get the right shade of paint. Now i know that its a bit hard to find exact colour references for old camo schemes but the paint manufacturer's must have i good idea and why cant they call colours what they are for .I find it hard to believe there is no market for British armour late war green and don't get me started on Luftwaffe colours. If you make model paints for models make them for the models so we don't have to mix, oh and i know battlefront do sprays for armour colour i tried that once but it comes out thick and obliterated the detail.

Tanks!!!

i think I've had enough of painting planes, so I'm going to start some blitzkrieg commander late war armies. i always thought i would do late war flames of war because that's what people here play but having had the rulebook for a while and read through it it just doesn't work for me.So even if it means playing solo I'm going to do it because all my favourite vehicles are in service in 1944
Here is my first purchase just to wet my appetite.

C-in-c cromwells

C-in-c jagdpz iv70

Stormtroopers

I decided it was time to add some stormtroopers to my imperial guard army. i'm going to use wargames factory greatcoat troopers for them.
here is what you get in a box:-

 

Battletech elementals

here is a base of elementals i made to look like they are jumping

just stuck them on some thin brass rod and covered it with cotton wool, bit of paint and boing!

imperial guard

Anyone who has ever had any Mutant chronicles warzone plastic figures will know they are quite resistant to normal polystyrene cement when it comes to gluing them together, this can make constructing them quite a slow and frustrating process. I don't know what it is about them but they are made in a different kind of plastic to normal model kits, the other day i came across this in the local hardware store

This was just the job, it made constructing them a breeze and here's the result of an evenings work

 

wargames illustrated 307

just like the other mags this month WI has got a lot of Gettysburg content, including a 10 page battle report (too long!!!!)and then a 12 page battle report considering neither is of the whole battle this is overload, battle reports are good but this is too much detail for a magazine. the space could have been better used for some coverage of other periods, also featuring heavily is FOW Vietnam not surprisingly since its battlefronts latest release. now I've seen many a comment about how battlefront is trying to ram tanks where they don't belong and pretend they were there all along which i kind of agree but they do take a bit of what if to it so if they sold it as recreating the war that America wanted rather than what happened  that would make sense but nonetheless you get 3 articles on FOW tour of duty (interestingly the advert for FOW box sets shows more tanks than infantry even though they date the rules 1965-71 before any of the actual large tank battles) rest of the magazine has a look at tanks in the first world war and a brief overview of vikings couple a looks at demo games and a play through of some gunfight rules. so good if you like ACW if not avoid

A game!

 a lack of gaming has been causing withdrawal symptoms so to get a quick fix i set up a game of battletech yesterday when i had a spare hour. The forces involved were a clan Thor vs a star league Avatar and Owens.

starting positions

the star league mechs advance into the forest while the Thor jumps into cover

The avatar walks forward while the Owens makes a run for the edge to try and flank the Thor, the Thor meanwhilele lines up a shot, the Thor and avatar exchange fire but no-one hits(lousy dice)

Having lost the initiative the Thor sits still while the Owens sprint for the rear and the avatar walks into better range. The Thor scores a pulse laser and srm6 while the avatar only hits with its large laser

the Thor isn't having any luck and loses the  initiative again so jumps back but it doesn't stop the Owens from getting to the rear , the avatar closes the range.

boom the Thor blows and arm off the avatar with a ac/20 hit but takes a bunch of mrm's in the centre torso along with 2 medium and 1 large laser causing criticals and when the Owens hits in the back of the centre too its all over 3 engine hits, i think the Thor was all ways struggling when it couldn't win the initiative after the first turn but still my blood lust has been slated for now.

Miniature wargames

Managed to get into a smiths last week and get a copy of the revamped MW.
now MW and battlegames have been merged together starting with this issue, i would have to say that despite the title this is battlegames they just kept the MW title because its better known. The editor states that they will keep sci-fi and fantasy in the mag but apart some reviews of models and making a Saladin for U.N.I.T (a real vehicle not really sci-fi) its all gone only time will tell if non historical comes back i for one I'm going to miss darker horizons. I liked having all the news from the smaller manufactures gathered up in one place because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to search around the Internet for it (and anyway there's nowhere to plug my PC into in the bathroom and the wife says having an extension cable in the bath is dangerous). i understand the decision to merge the two mags it is silly for one publisher to print two wargames magazines but even though the new MW is a fine mag, nice range of articles the old MW was the only mag left that dealt with sci-fi, fantasy of a non gw variety( i suppose that should tell me that sci-fi doesn't sell) i wish the ancible still did print.
As for the mag itself its new look is good bright clean, you've got a couple of battle reports (dark ages again!) one of which does drag on a bit but i suppose since its for the new game dux bellorum it would help would be purchasers. a basic photography article (read it all before, should start listening) quite a long construction article on building a house , some rules for using toy (and i mean TOY)soldiers in a wargame, a mini campaign for the armada, some scenarios for hells highway using blitzkrieg commander(yeah!) even with the long report on dux bellorum you get dux a second time this time of the dux britanniarum variety (you can have any wargame you like as long as its the dark ages!). a piece on using 2d figures for wargaming ( this really is a Battlegames article) usual reviews with quite abit of opinion especially  against FOW (mind i like opinions good or bad) with ANOTHER dark age rule set and a book about Arthur, and i used to like the dark ages arrgh! still if you liked battlegames you'll like this mag if you where more of a MW fan you might be left a bit sad for what once was.

Pe-2

Russian Heroics& ross 1/300th PE-2

Wargames soldiers & strategy 66

just a quick review of the latest WSS, bit of coincidence that the main theme is Gettysburg like wargames illustrated.both trying to get in on the interest with the 150Th anniversary in July but if you haven't got any interest in the ACW it means its a slow month on the wargames reading scene. rest of the mag has a look at the vikings game by peter pig ( dark ages in Vogue at the moment) bit of biblical and another of the lets play articles on skirmish sangin. plus usual reviews of new figures games and books plus don't forget boardgames, and in a shock a review of some 6mm figures from rapier miniatures nice!
with the usual columns from priestley et al makes it a worth while read i recommend it

EPIC imperial guard

Had  re-think about my imperial guard force for epic and decided to ditch an assault company and use the saved points to bring my baneblades up to company strength (100 points for an extra one) and add 2 more shadowswords to make that company strength aswell plus and an extra hellhound unit for 100. It means i am very tank heavy and will have to rely on the orgryns for hand to hand but i much prefer to blow things up from a distance leave the dirty fighting to space marines they like that sought of thing.

                                                  all painted and varnished

close up of the baneblade

in some unbelievable state (for me anyway) this means this armies is technically complete all it needs now is a couple of commissars to go with the new companies. I can spy some Pansy eldar that need to feel the emperor's righteous fury from this lot very soon.

Heroics and ross

With the loss of Fort wargames  website and Heroics and Ross not having many pictures there is no where to go to see H&R models without paint so you know what you get. One day i might get a website up for all these pics but in the mean time i'll post photos of any new models i get before their painted as well as after.

Heroics Ross He177

Heriocs Ross Mosquito

Heroics Ross Me410

Heroics ross Pe-2

Heriocs ross vikings

XENOS

some pics of the opposition that i painted for my 2 sons armies

 

Here is the result after a spray with dullcote

Still a bit shiney in places so i think the next batch should get matt varnish then a spray

Got my latest order from Dom's decals so spent some time putting them on all the aircraft I've already painted, Dom's is a great source for decals, real great value for money too. the only thing is you need to allow plenty of time when you order his not the fastest but he is only a one man band and only does decals in his spare time.

1/300th aircraft Heroics ross

IL2 sturmovik

The ranks of my air forces continue to enlarge, here is the latest a couple single seat IL2 by H&R

Heroics Ross il2

Church

Did i quick paint job last night on a resin church i picked up off ebay, in fact i got 7 buildings for a few pounds they were classed as miscast but since they are ruined buildings any way i cant see anything wrong with them.

Dipping

 Had my first go at dipping a couple of days ago. on reading about it on the net i decided to go with a cheap Wilkinson's wood stain rather than the more expensive army painter dip as it is supposed to be the same thing and it wouldn't be too  much of a waste if i don't like the effect.
I didn't dip the figures when it came to it i just painted it on for better control. I have to say the effects don't really seem to be any better than using a wash which has been my preferred method before this but it has to be remembered that this has also given the models a very hard wearing varnish,I'll decide for certain once I've got some more dulcote and seen if the shine goes.

                                The whole squad

                                          Close up of the Sergeant

         before
             &
          after 

Wargames illustrated 305

WI 305

 slightly better magazine from WI this month all though the theme of 1066 was a bit of a damp squid with just 2 battle reports (OK 1 was a mini campaign) and no history but some nice articles on Turks vs Britishh in Iraq (with history!) and Egypt in 1882 with some of the usual nice pics of dioramas/battles and modelling articles and only a minimal advert article from battlefront (Vietnam), worth a purchase.

FW190

A pair of H&R FW190's in Russian front winter camouflage

Heroics ross FW190

i must say the h&r model seems to not quite capture the shape of the FW190 might upgrade to a raiden one

Typhoon

A pair of H&R typhoon 1B's

Heroics Ross typhoon

Didn't know British aircraft had such colourful spinners but googling some images for colour schemes and they all seem to have it