Hi,
Due to some personal issues that came up, I was unable to make the tournament last week. This also accounts for the week-long post hiatus. Personal issues are ongoing, for the next couple of weeks, which means posting, again, will be intermittant.
One consequence of the issues in question is a need for cash, however, so I will be selling my painted Russians, once I get the second unit of Shermans completed (they're about half done). If anyone reading this knows someone looking for a Soviet army, this is a good way to get in. I have around MSRP $US875 painted up, and the army is designed for flexibility - you can play infantry, motoinfantry, or tanks, mid-war or late war, and have options doing it.
Keep an eye here, on ebay, and on theminiaturespage.com, as I am going to try and get the army pretty, photographed, and up for bidding by next weekend. I'm hoping to get a grand on this lot, which given the amount of painting involved, seems reasonable. Do please spread the word if you can.
On the plus side, it means that I'll have plenty of incentive to get my cossacks painted up.
FMB
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Test model
Hi,
A couple of shots of the cruiser I did as a test model for the EoBS fleet. I went with a darker scheme - this is a coal fired ship, after all, and I wanted something a little more muted and worn.
Going to try and get some (and by some, I mean around 10) Shermans done next, and then the cub arrives, so it might be a while before I get any real updates here. What I might do is a separate bat rep for each of the games at Saturday's tournament, and then string them out over a week or two.
On a related topic, I might have found a home for the FoW Canadians I mentioned a while back. Assuming all goes well, I'll be completing a trade tonight for some soviets - cossacks, gun teams, etc. If things go as planned, I'll try to get a "loot" post up before the weekend.
TMtW
A couple of shots of the cruiser I did as a test model for the EoBS fleet. I went with a darker scheme - this is a coal fired ship, after all, and I wanted something a little more muted and worn.
Going to try and get some (and by some, I mean around 10) Shermans done next, and then the cub arrives, so it might be a while before I get any real updates here. What I might do is a separate bat rep for each of the games at Saturday's tournament, and then string them out over a week or two.
On a related topic, I might have found a home for the FoW Canadians I mentioned a while back. Assuming all goes well, I'll be completing a trade tonight for some soviets - cossacks, gun teams, etc. If things go as planned, I'll try to get a "loot" post up before the weekend.
TMtW
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Won't be fooled again
Hi,
Busily preparing for an upcoming tournament at the Dueling Grounds this Saturday. 5 rounds, small games (600p) late war. I will be running this:
Dueling Ground 600 point Tourney List, January 22, 2011
Fortress Europe Strelkovy
Battalion HQ, add anti-tank platoon
CC1: 2 Rifle / MG platoons, 1 platoon SMG sub
CC2: 1 Mortar platoon (85mm), add Observer
CS1: 4 SU-76M
CS2: 1 platoon flamethrowers
Flamethrowers will attach to the infantry, while the AT guns will attach either to the infantry (in defense) or to the mortars (if I attack). Given that 600 point games only require 1 combat platoon, I could be facing pretty much anything short of a KT company (though I'm sure it's possible to face a single KT), I tried to be flexible. I have a nice chunky infantry unit, a cheap pinning barrage, enough AT and firepower to take on medium tanks and dug-in opponents, and the flamers if I just have to go after heavy tanks. Combined arms at 600 points is tough, but I think I pulled it off.
This is a nationals tournament, which means whoever wins gets to go to Nationals. While I sincerely doubt that's going to be me, it's a nice incentive. My personal goal for this is to get through all 5 games without repeating mistakes I've already made. Things to watch for include:
LfL I: Read the scenario, and understand its implications for the game
LfL II: Use your ambush to force an opponent to fight on your terms, not in response to an opponent’s actions.
LfL III: The role a unit plays differs from list to list and from scenario to scenario. Think consciously about how you could use a unit, not just how you have in the past.
LfL IV: When attacking, infantry must keep moving. Losing momentum means losing the objective.
LfL V: There's more than one way to win. Be open to the possibility of victory.
If I can get through all five games without screwing up any of these, I'm chalking up the tournament as a win.
TMtW
Busily preparing for an upcoming tournament at the Dueling Grounds this Saturday. 5 rounds, small games (600p) late war. I will be running this:
Dueling Ground 600 point Tourney List, January 22, 2011
Fortress Europe Strelkovy
Battalion HQ, add anti-tank platoon
CC1: 2 Rifle / MG platoons, 1 platoon SMG sub
CC2: 1 Mortar platoon (85mm), add Observer
CS1: 4 SU-76M
CS2: 1 platoon flamethrowers
Flamethrowers will attach to the infantry, while the AT guns will attach either to the infantry (in defense) or to the mortars (if I attack). Given that 600 point games only require 1 combat platoon, I could be facing pretty much anything short of a KT company (though I'm sure it's possible to face a single KT), I tried to be flexible. I have a nice chunky infantry unit, a cheap pinning barrage, enough AT and firepower to take on medium tanks and dug-in opponents, and the flamers if I just have to go after heavy tanks. Combined arms at 600 points is tough, but I think I pulled it off.
This is a nationals tournament, which means whoever wins gets to go to Nationals. While I sincerely doubt that's going to be me, it's a nice incentive. My personal goal for this is to get through all 5 games without repeating mistakes I've already made. Things to watch for include:
LfL I: Read the scenario, and understand its implications for the game
LfL II: Use your ambush to force an opponent to fight on your terms, not in response to an opponent’s actions.
LfL III: The role a unit plays differs from list to list and from scenario to scenario. Think consciously about how you could use a unit, not just how you have in the past.
LfL IV: When attacking, infantry must keep moving. Losing momentum means losing the objective.
LfL V: There's more than one way to win. Be open to the possibility of victory.
If I can get through all five games without screwing up any of these, I'm chalking up the tournament as a win.
TMtW
Friday, January 14, 2011
Dis tope is your tope, dis tope is my tope . . . .
Hi,
Having devised a means to work around the walking catastrophe that is my mail carrier, I picked up a box at the post office Wednesday night. Inside was a whole bundle of happy.
Fleet starter box comes with a range of templates and tokens . . .
along with FIGs (Fleet Information Guides) for each class of model. That's one for the Uwatsu class frigates that come in the box, with a model and my fingers for scale.
FIGs are heavy card stock, templates and tokens are made of what feels like heavy duty photo paper. For the traditionalists out there, or those concerned with durability, there's a link on the spartan forums from a guy who refomatted the FIGs to fit into card sleeves, and I'm sure GF9 will come out with a token set, if they haven't already.
And now for the hotness. The Tenkei Sky fortress and bits:
Top:
Bottom:
Side:
Bits, including the rotors and tiny fighter stands:
With a close-up of a fighter stand:
You get 6 fighter stands with the Sky Fortress, and 10 in the fleet box. BTW, that seam on the side of the Tenkei carrier - the ONLY appreciable bit of flash across 16 models. Everywhere else was either a small film extending out from the ship base or a bit of drainage off the metal. Detail is insane - you can see rivets in some of the photos, and the fighter engine cowlings are nice and crisp. There are little doors all over the place - I'm still finding them after two days of gleeful handling.
Next up, a closer shot of the Uwatsu class frigate. These are nasty little buggers, especially in numbers. They can link fire between their fore turret and side guns to throw out an attack at almost cruiser strength.
Next up is the DFA-170 bomber, both top:
And bottom:
Game scale, these fall into the same size category as a cruiser, so you can think of them as sort of a flying super-duper fortress. With a bomb payload as damaging as a hit from a British main turret.
Next we have the Sokotsu class battleship, biggest naval vessal besides the Hachiman dreadnaught and the giant robotic squid ;):
The ship comes with the pieces to mount two different support systems, a disruptor to mess with other people's toys, and a shield generator to make the Sokotsu even tougher. Fun with magnets will ensue.
Last is the fleet workhorse, the Nakatsu class cruiser:
I cannot stress enough how lovely these figs are. Spartan seems to have jumped with both feet into CAD/CAM sculpting, and the results are visible. I suspect this will be one of those projects where I really try to stretch my painting skills, because frankly, the models are worth it.
Cannot wait to get these on the table.
TMtW
Having devised a means to work around the walking catastrophe that is my mail carrier, I picked up a box at the post office Wednesday night. Inside was a whole bundle of happy.
Fleet starter box comes with a range of templates and tokens . . .
along with FIGs (Fleet Information Guides) for each class of model. That's one for the Uwatsu class frigates that come in the box, with a model and my fingers for scale.
FIGs are heavy card stock, templates and tokens are made of what feels like heavy duty photo paper. For the traditionalists out there, or those concerned with durability, there's a link on the spartan forums from a guy who refomatted the FIGs to fit into card sleeves, and I'm sure GF9 will come out with a token set, if they haven't already.
And now for the hotness. The Tenkei Sky fortress and bits:
Top:
Bottom:
Side:
Bits, including the rotors and tiny fighter stands:
With a close-up of a fighter stand:
You get 6 fighter stands with the Sky Fortress, and 10 in the fleet box. BTW, that seam on the side of the Tenkei carrier - the ONLY appreciable bit of flash across 16 models. Everywhere else was either a small film extending out from the ship base or a bit of drainage off the metal. Detail is insane - you can see rivets in some of the photos, and the fighter engine cowlings are nice and crisp. There are little doors all over the place - I'm still finding them after two days of gleeful handling.
Next up, a closer shot of the Uwatsu class frigate. These are nasty little buggers, especially in numbers. They can link fire between their fore turret and side guns to throw out an attack at almost cruiser strength.
Next up is the DFA-170 bomber, both top:
And bottom:
Game scale, these fall into the same size category as a cruiser, so you can think of them as sort of a flying super-duper fortress. With a bomb payload as damaging as a hit from a British main turret.
Next we have the Sokotsu class battleship, biggest naval vessal besides the Hachiman dreadnaught and the giant robotic squid ;):
The ship comes with the pieces to mount two different support systems, a disruptor to mess with other people's toys, and a shield generator to make the Sokotsu even tougher. Fun with magnets will ensue.
Last is the fleet workhorse, the Nakatsu class cruiser:
I cannot stress enough how lovely these figs are. Spartan seems to have jumped with both feet into CAD/CAM sculpting, and the results are visible. I suspect this will be one of those projects where I really try to stretch my painting skills, because frankly, the models are worth it.
Cannot wait to get these on the table.
TMtW
Thursday, January 13, 2011
PBI
HI,
Got in a game against the Sodbuster last night (my opponent from the nail-biter a few weeks back), and got beat, straight up. We played a 1500 point LW game, his Brit tanks (cromwell list) vs. a slightly modified version of the list I ran vs. Jack1080 (I swapped the 4 KVs for 10 Emcha). I'm still trying to put my finger on what I did to lose (aside from failing a couple of critical morale checks, one of them three times). I suspect I had things screwed up from deployment; apparantly, learning what I did wrong isn't the same as learning to do it right ;) Here's the AAR.
Set-up: The table was fairly flat. Although I had a nice stretch of woods on my right, around 2/3 of the table was open. While I know this would give direct / tank fire an advantage, it's also something I know I need to learn to deal with. The scenario was Free for All, which is essentially a meeting engagement. Sodbuster had choice of table edge, and was nominally the attacker. He set up his objectives on my side, with one on each of the outside third of the table. I put my objectives on the centre and the right, and we deployed.
I had:
HQ (add 2 45mm guns)
CC1: 3 Strelk platoons, SMG option,HMG
CC2: 1 Strelk platoon, SMG option, Kommisar, HMG
WC1: Strelkovy Scouts (2 sections)
WC2: 1 platoon 82mm mortars
SC1: 10 M4s
SC2: 5 SU-76
SC3: 1 section flamethrowers
He brought several platoons of cromwells (I think I remember 3), some transport infantry in UCs, a platoon of Stuart Jalopies, and a platoon of tank destroyers. He also attached his 2iC to a couple of those howitzer cromwells as another platoon.
His deployment was fairly distributed, which gave him some choices in-game. His tanks were Cromwells, which have the same stat line as my Emcha Shermans, but with faster movement, and a re-roll to un-bail. Because his tanks are so fast (their Light Tank designation means they can move up to 16" and still shoot), the broad frontage gave him the option to concentrate pretty much wherever he wanted. I suspect that deployment for Soviet infantry is going to be a bit of a learning curve. While it is critical, there's so much stuff ot put down that I often feel rushed, and unable to take the time to figure things out. I suspect this will get better with time as I become more familiar with the list and how to use it.
On the left, I put my SU-76s , followed by the veteran scouts, supported by the short mortar platoon and the small infantry company with attached 45mm guns.
On the right I had this:
That's the Shermans, plus the 3 platoon infantry company, with flamethrowers attached. Guess from which side I planned to attack? While in retrospect, I would have done better not to try and attack against tanks, I thought I would try to use the woods on the right to advance the infantry, using the tanks to screen, and with the flamethrowers as a back-up plan for taking on any tanks the Shermans couldn't deal with. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
My oponent won first turn, and proceeded to take advantage of the fact that my troops didn't start dug in by killing them. He destroyed an SU-76, bailed 2, took out a 45mm gun and the HMG on the left (his fire prioritized the guns), and a Sherman. Digging in would be a priority on my turn, and my troops responded well. The infantry and scouts on the left dug in, while the Su-76s (those that managed to unbail) fired at the cromwells to no effect.
On the right, my attacking platoons trundled forward, trying to stay in the cover of the trees.
Turn two, Sodbuster swung most of his armour to the (my) right. I think he found the blob-o-doom a little threatening. I can't imagine why ;) He finished off the S-76s, and directed the rest of his fire at the dug in infantry, killing 1 stand. He also unloaded his infnatry from their transports, and tried to position them in such a way as to avoid assault. Unsuccessfully ;)
On my turn 2, while the infantry on the left hunkered down in their foxholes, I attacked on the right. I moved my big infantry company up leaving room for the tanks to follow up, pinned his infantry, and assaulted. Because the infantry comany is so big, and because the terrain was constricting, (and to give SB his due, he did go out of his way to avoid contact) I only managed to get a few stands in contact for the first round of the assault. Now, ordinarily, this wouldn't be an issue. I have plenty of stands, I get to repeat my 4" assault move in each round, and with athe CiC and Kommisar, I get three chances to make the motivation roll. I mean, what are the odds of failing three 4+ rolls? 7 to 1, right?
See that picture? That's what it looked like on the right when your infantry pull the long odds. I failed to motivate, and my infantry retired. In hindsight, I think this was probably the pivotal moment in the game. If my infantry had assaulted for a second round, they would have cleared the way to the objective next turn. With my flamethrowers and shermans, and his tanks isolated from each other, I could have moved to assault the objective on the following turn. While I would have lost stands to MG fire, he would have stuggled to keep me back. At minimum, it would have put the fight onto his side of the table.
With my infantry sitting around drinking vodka and enjoying the apopleptic antics of the batallion kommisar, however, it fell to the Emchas to seal the deal, which they did.
This wasn't a bad thing by any means, but the results were significant. You see the tanks with dice on them? Tanks + forest = bogged. Bogged + exposed to enemy fire = dead tanks. Bogged tanks also slow down the attack as a whole, and given the speed of Sobusters forces, slow = dead.
From Turn 3 onwards, things weren't inevitable, but they were predictable. On the left, his cromwells moved up, and began to soften up the infantry, eventually taking out the remaining 45mm gun, which was the only thing that could realistically threaten him in an assault (I'm growing to love these guys - they are small but mighty).
On the right, he swished around the table to get some nice firing lanes, and proceeded to shoot the hell out of me.
His jalopies took out the stands hiding along the fringe of the woods (stupid mistake of the game - leaving one of my two precious flamethrower stands on the edge of the woods). His Cromwells also took out a Sherman.
On my turn, my tank crews bravely declined to either unbog or remount, and the few tanks I had functioning moved out and fired, managing to bail two of his tanks.
My infantry nudged forward, but it kind felt like a light brigade moment - MGs to the left of them, MGs to the right of them, MGs to the fore. The clear road to the objective I had hoped for on turn 2 was rapidly receeding.
Turn four was the final turn. On his turn, he assaulted on the left, killing teh mortars and some infantry, and driving the rest off the objective. I tried to motivate to counter assault, and failed. Kommissar tried to "motivate". And failed. Stupid Kommisar.
While I was able to move back on to contest the object on the bottom of the turn, the left was going to be, at best, a stalemate for me. With a bit of luck, I could keep him from claiming it, but I lacked the resources to drive him off / destroy him.
On the right, his tank destroyers had line of sight to the tanks I'd moved up to shoot. They used it, and destroyed the Shermans in a position to do anything usefull.
With three of my tanks bailed or bogged, this took me below half strength on the M4 company, which promptly failed a morale check, and ran. I really want to hate those TDs, but it's hard, 'cause they're so pretty:
What is it with me and tank destroyers? The FoW boards are full of people grumbling about how useless they are, but the shoot the hell out me every time I play against them.
It was getting late, so I conceded on my turn 4. Ordinarily, I dislike doing this, but to be honest, had we had the time to play the last couple of turns, he would have won. With no AT assets left to speak of (1 flamethrower stand, with luck, meant one successful assault against one armoured platoon), I probably could contest my objectives until time ran out, but there was no way I was going to take his. He was ahead on platoon kills, and even without the objective, would win when time ran out. In fact, all he had to do to win was pull back to defend his objective.
It was a good game. In retrospect, a heartbreaker, but at the time, I didn't realize how critical that failed infantry motivation roll in turn 2 was. Lessons form Losing PT. IV: When attacking, infantry must keep moving. Losing momentum means losing the game.
Lessons from Losing Pt. V: There's more than one way to win. Having lost momentum on the right, what I probably should have done is dig in. There's no way he would have chewed through that much infantry once they were in foxholes, and I could bring my tanks back and around to snipe his units. While that meant giving up on an objective win, I could have tried for a win by points or forcing his company to break.
Once again, Sodbuster was a terrific opponent. He used strengths of his army and the terrain well, and earned himself a solid win. Thanks to the Dueling Grounds for the playing space, and to the THMG for terrain.
TMtW
Got in a game against the Sodbuster last night (my opponent from the nail-biter a few weeks back), and got beat, straight up. We played a 1500 point LW game, his Brit tanks (cromwell list) vs. a slightly modified version of the list I ran vs. Jack1080 (I swapped the 4 KVs for 10 Emcha). I'm still trying to put my finger on what I did to lose (aside from failing a couple of critical morale checks, one of them three times). I suspect I had things screwed up from deployment; apparantly, learning what I did wrong isn't the same as learning to do it right ;) Here's the AAR.
Set-up: The table was fairly flat. Although I had a nice stretch of woods on my right, around 2/3 of the table was open. While I know this would give direct / tank fire an advantage, it's also something I know I need to learn to deal with. The scenario was Free for All, which is essentially a meeting engagement. Sodbuster had choice of table edge, and was nominally the attacker. He set up his objectives on my side, with one on each of the outside third of the table. I put my objectives on the centre and the right, and we deployed.
I had:
HQ (add 2 45mm guns)
CC1: 3 Strelk platoons, SMG option,HMG
CC2: 1 Strelk platoon, SMG option, Kommisar, HMG
WC1: Strelkovy Scouts (2 sections)
WC2: 1 platoon 82mm mortars
SC1: 10 M4s
SC2: 5 SU-76
SC3: 1 section flamethrowers
He brought several platoons of cromwells (I think I remember 3), some transport infantry in UCs, a platoon of Stuart Jalopies, and a platoon of tank destroyers. He also attached his 2iC to a couple of those howitzer cromwells as another platoon.
His deployment was fairly distributed, which gave him some choices in-game. His tanks were Cromwells, which have the same stat line as my Emcha Shermans, but with faster movement, and a re-roll to un-bail. Because his tanks are so fast (their Light Tank designation means they can move up to 16" and still shoot), the broad frontage gave him the option to concentrate pretty much wherever he wanted. I suspect that deployment for Soviet infantry is going to be a bit of a learning curve. While it is critical, there's so much stuff ot put down that I often feel rushed, and unable to take the time to figure things out. I suspect this will get better with time as I become more familiar with the list and how to use it.
On the left, I put my SU-76s , followed by the veteran scouts, supported by the short mortar platoon and the small infantry company with attached 45mm guns.
On the right I had this:
That's the Shermans, plus the 3 platoon infantry company, with flamethrowers attached. Guess from which side I planned to attack? While in retrospect, I would have done better not to try and attack against tanks, I thought I would try to use the woods on the right to advance the infantry, using the tanks to screen, and with the flamethrowers as a back-up plan for taking on any tanks the Shermans couldn't deal with. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
My oponent won first turn, and proceeded to take advantage of the fact that my troops didn't start dug in by killing them. He destroyed an SU-76, bailed 2, took out a 45mm gun and the HMG on the left (his fire prioritized the guns), and a Sherman. Digging in would be a priority on my turn, and my troops responded well. The infantry and scouts on the left dug in, while the Su-76s (those that managed to unbail) fired at the cromwells to no effect.
On the right, my attacking platoons trundled forward, trying to stay in the cover of the trees.
Turn two, Sodbuster swung most of his armour to the (my) right. I think he found the blob-o-doom a little threatening. I can't imagine why ;) He finished off the S-76s, and directed the rest of his fire at the dug in infantry, killing 1 stand. He also unloaded his infnatry from their transports, and tried to position them in such a way as to avoid assault. Unsuccessfully ;)
On my turn 2, while the infantry on the left hunkered down in their foxholes, I attacked on the right. I moved my big infantry company up leaving room for the tanks to follow up, pinned his infantry, and assaulted. Because the infantry comany is so big, and because the terrain was constricting, (and to give SB his due, he did go out of his way to avoid contact) I only managed to get a few stands in contact for the first round of the assault. Now, ordinarily, this wouldn't be an issue. I have plenty of stands, I get to repeat my 4" assault move in each round, and with athe CiC and Kommisar, I get three chances to make the motivation roll. I mean, what are the odds of failing three 4+ rolls? 7 to 1, right?
See that picture? That's what it looked like on the right when your infantry pull the long odds. I failed to motivate, and my infantry retired. In hindsight, I think this was probably the pivotal moment in the game. If my infantry had assaulted for a second round, they would have cleared the way to the objective next turn. With my flamethrowers and shermans, and his tanks isolated from each other, I could have moved to assault the objective on the following turn. While I would have lost stands to MG fire, he would have stuggled to keep me back. At minimum, it would have put the fight onto his side of the table.
With my infantry sitting around drinking vodka and enjoying the apopleptic antics of the batallion kommisar, however, it fell to the Emchas to seal the deal, which they did.
This wasn't a bad thing by any means, but the results were significant. You see the tanks with dice on them? Tanks + forest = bogged. Bogged + exposed to enemy fire = dead tanks. Bogged tanks also slow down the attack as a whole, and given the speed of Sobusters forces, slow = dead.
From Turn 3 onwards, things weren't inevitable, but they were predictable. On the left, his cromwells moved up, and began to soften up the infantry, eventually taking out the remaining 45mm gun, which was the only thing that could realistically threaten him in an assault (I'm growing to love these guys - they are small but mighty).
On the right, he swished around the table to get some nice firing lanes, and proceeded to shoot the hell out of me.
His jalopies took out the stands hiding along the fringe of the woods (stupid mistake of the game - leaving one of my two precious flamethrower stands on the edge of the woods). His Cromwells also took out a Sherman.
On my turn, my tank crews bravely declined to either unbog or remount, and the few tanks I had functioning moved out and fired, managing to bail two of his tanks.
My infantry nudged forward, but it kind felt like a light brigade moment - MGs to the left of them, MGs to the right of them, MGs to the fore. The clear road to the objective I had hoped for on turn 2 was rapidly receeding.
Turn four was the final turn. On his turn, he assaulted on the left, killing teh mortars and some infantry, and driving the rest off the objective. I tried to motivate to counter assault, and failed. Kommissar tried to "motivate". And failed. Stupid Kommisar.
While I was able to move back on to contest the object on the bottom of the turn, the left was going to be, at best, a stalemate for me. With a bit of luck, I could keep him from claiming it, but I lacked the resources to drive him off / destroy him.
On the right, his tank destroyers had line of sight to the tanks I'd moved up to shoot. They used it, and destroyed the Shermans in a position to do anything usefull.
With three of my tanks bailed or bogged, this took me below half strength on the M4 company, which promptly failed a morale check, and ran. I really want to hate those TDs, but it's hard, 'cause they're so pretty:
What is it with me and tank destroyers? The FoW boards are full of people grumbling about how useless they are, but the shoot the hell out me every time I play against them.
It was getting late, so I conceded on my turn 4. Ordinarily, I dislike doing this, but to be honest, had we had the time to play the last couple of turns, he would have won. With no AT assets left to speak of (1 flamethrower stand, with luck, meant one successful assault against one armoured platoon), I probably could contest my objectives until time ran out, but there was no way I was going to take his. He was ahead on platoon kills, and even without the objective, would win when time ran out. In fact, all he had to do to win was pull back to defend his objective.
It was a good game. In retrospect, a heartbreaker, but at the time, I didn't realize how critical that failed infantry motivation roll in turn 2 was. Lessons form Losing PT. IV: When attacking, infantry must keep moving. Losing momentum means losing the game.
Lessons from Losing Pt. V: There's more than one way to win. Having lost momentum on the right, what I probably should have done is dig in. There's no way he would have chewed through that much infantry once they were in foxholes, and I could bring my tanks back and around to snipe his units. While that meant giving up on an objective win, I could have tried for a win by points or forcing his company to break.
Once again, Sodbuster was a terrific opponent. He used strengths of his army and the terrain well, and earned himself a solid win. Thanks to the Dueling Grounds for the playing space, and to the THMG for terrain.
TMtW
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Spoiled for choice. Possibly just spoiled.
Hi,
So, the refund from Blizzard came through, the order to the warstore was sent, and the package, I am told, is en route. Dystopian Wars is a comin'. Huzzah!
So, what do I do with the rest of the money?
I realise this is a bit like a kid complaining because he's got too much candy, but there's a degree of logic to my lament. I generally try to keep my geek habit (aside from the occasional puchase of locktight and Wargames Illustrated) self-financing. If I want to get into a new game, buy a new army, etc., I either trade for it (hellooooo, Bartertown), sell some of my painted stuff (helloooooo, EBay), or do without.
Having disposable geek income is kind of blowing my mind a little.
Everyone has those "Rainy Day" projects kicking around in the back of their head. For me, it's the notion of an army for the SYW or the Napoleonic wars. One of my earlier memories is reading a book my dad had of famous battles, published by Sandhurst, and illustrated with minature dioramas. The chapter on Leipzig is, I think, what hooked me on miniature gaming, history in general, and the Napoleonic period in particular. Thanks, Dad! Once upon a time I had a rather nice French nappie army from Baccus, but I sold it off in what turned out to be the run-up to my divorce. Frankly, since then, I've missed the army a hell of a lot more than my ex-wife.
FoW has also introduced me to the wonders of 15mm scale. While 6mm is great, 15mm seem to be a sweet spot for me - small enough that you can get a dioramic effect (check out JET's work at Geektactica to see what I mean), but large enough to really pick out the detail on the figs. While you can do the latter with 6mm (I once painted tartan on a 6mm fig), and some of the 6mm sculpts are outstanding (take a look at the Baccus Franco-Prussian war range), I find the effort tends to be wasted, as the detail is lost in the mass. 15mm strikes a lovely balance between payback for attention to individual figs, coupled with dioramic / mass effect.
So, one option would be a napoleonic army in 15mm, using one of the newer rulesets - maybe Lasalle by Sam Mustafa, or even using Polemos rules, as I enjoyed playing with them at 6mm scale. Another would be something for the SYW, though my interests there tend more towards the North American theatre.
The problem here is time and opportunity to play. While I have grandiose visions of a 5-year project gearing up towards a 200-year anniversay replay of Waterloo, a) I don't think I have that degree of concentrated effort in me, and b) who the hell would I play with?
Another option is an ancients army. I always feel slightly guilty for never really getting into ancients. It's sort of like being the 40 year-old virgin of miniatures wargaming. For years, I've toyed with a number of rule sets, and even have a good idea of what army I'd like to do, having been fascinated by the indo-greek successor cultures for years.
Brief aside - do you know why Buddhists have statues of the Buddha? Because of the hellenistic influence of the greek successor cultures in India, who adopted Buddhism as a political counter to the association between traditional / indigenous authorities and Hinduism. The humanist tradition in hellenic culture prompted them to make statues of the Buddha as a person - something that hadn't been done elsewhere, or before, but which spread along with Buddhism form that point. The army is cool too, as the Indo-greeks combined the traditional elements of a Macedonian army, like pike and horse, with local troops. The ability to take pike, Indian bow, a range of cavalry, and Elephants in one army is, frankly, the bomb-diggity. But again, who would I play with? JET emerged out east as a sort of one-man Impetus road show in NFLD, but the local scene here seems kind of devoid of interest in ancients. Instead of being a 40-year old virgin, I'd have a trophy wife. Or possibly just a trophy.
I could just sit on the money, and dole it out piece-meal when I want to buy something. This is probably the most sensible thing to do, as it means I don't have to muck about with trades etc. every time I want to pick up a blister, but it seems . . . boring. I have an opportunity here to one-shot my way into a totally new dimension of the hobby - a new army, a new game, a whole new kind of gaming. Spending the moola piece-meal feels like wasting an opportunity.
Any thoughts?
TMtW
So, the refund from Blizzard came through, the order to the warstore was sent, and the package, I am told, is en route. Dystopian Wars is a comin'. Huzzah!
So, what do I do with the rest of the money?
I realise this is a bit like a kid complaining because he's got too much candy, but there's a degree of logic to my lament. I generally try to keep my geek habit (aside from the occasional puchase of locktight and Wargames Illustrated) self-financing. If I want to get into a new game, buy a new army, etc., I either trade for it (hellooooo, Bartertown), sell some of my painted stuff (helloooooo, EBay), or do without.
Having disposable geek income is kind of blowing my mind a little.
Everyone has those "Rainy Day" projects kicking around in the back of their head. For me, it's the notion of an army for the SYW or the Napoleonic wars. One of my earlier memories is reading a book my dad had of famous battles, published by Sandhurst, and illustrated with minature dioramas. The chapter on Leipzig is, I think, what hooked me on miniature gaming, history in general, and the Napoleonic period in particular. Thanks, Dad! Once upon a time I had a rather nice French nappie army from Baccus, but I sold it off in what turned out to be the run-up to my divorce. Frankly, since then, I've missed the army a hell of a lot more than my ex-wife.
FoW has also introduced me to the wonders of 15mm scale. While 6mm is great, 15mm seem to be a sweet spot for me - small enough that you can get a dioramic effect (check out JET's work at Geektactica to see what I mean), but large enough to really pick out the detail on the figs. While you can do the latter with 6mm (I once painted tartan on a 6mm fig), and some of the 6mm sculpts are outstanding (take a look at the Baccus Franco-Prussian war range), I find the effort tends to be wasted, as the detail is lost in the mass. 15mm strikes a lovely balance between payback for attention to individual figs, coupled with dioramic / mass effect.
So, one option would be a napoleonic army in 15mm, using one of the newer rulesets - maybe Lasalle by Sam Mustafa, or even using Polemos rules, as I enjoyed playing with them at 6mm scale. Another would be something for the SYW, though my interests there tend more towards the North American theatre.
The problem here is time and opportunity to play. While I have grandiose visions of a 5-year project gearing up towards a 200-year anniversay replay of Waterloo, a) I don't think I have that degree of concentrated effort in me, and b) who the hell would I play with?
Another option is an ancients army. I always feel slightly guilty for never really getting into ancients. It's sort of like being the 40 year-old virgin of miniatures wargaming. For years, I've toyed with a number of rule sets, and even have a good idea of what army I'd like to do, having been fascinated by the indo-greek successor cultures for years.
Brief aside - do you know why Buddhists have statues of the Buddha? Because of the hellenistic influence of the greek successor cultures in India, who adopted Buddhism as a political counter to the association between traditional / indigenous authorities and Hinduism. The humanist tradition in hellenic culture prompted them to make statues of the Buddha as a person - something that hadn't been done elsewhere, or before, but which spread along with Buddhism form that point. The army is cool too, as the Indo-greeks combined the traditional elements of a Macedonian army, like pike and horse, with local troops. The ability to take pike, Indian bow, a range of cavalry, and Elephants in one army is, frankly, the bomb-diggity. But again, who would I play with? JET emerged out east as a sort of one-man Impetus road show in NFLD, but the local scene here seems kind of devoid of interest in ancients. Instead of being a 40-year old virgin, I'd have a trophy wife. Or possibly just a trophy.
I could just sit on the money, and dole it out piece-meal when I want to buy something. This is probably the most sensible thing to do, as it means I don't have to muck about with trades etc. every time I want to pick up a blister, but it seems . . . boring. I have an opportunity here to one-shot my way into a totally new dimension of the hobby - a new army, a new game, a whole new kind of gaming. Spending the moola piece-meal feels like wasting an opportunity.
Any thoughts?
TMtW
Friday, January 7, 2011
Needz moar gunz
Hi,
Got in a game on Wednesday night vs. Jack1080 from THMG. The guy who qualified for nationals last year, did pretty good whilst there, and seems to be generally considered one of the more badassish geeks in town when it come to FoW. I figured if I'm going to learn from losing, might as well go up against the best, and he didn't disappoint ;)
Having finished up painting the bits and bobs needed for our upcoming 600p tourney, I wanted to try them out, and so went with Strelkovy for the first time, running the following at 1500 points:
FE Strelk 1500
HQ (add 2 45mm guns)
CC1: 3 Strelk platoons, SMG option, HMG
CC2: 1 Strelk platoon, SMG option, Kommisar, HMG
WC1: Strelkovy Scouts (2 sections)
WC2: 1 platoon 82mm mortars
SC1: 4 KV-85
SC2: 5 SU-76
SC3: 1 section flamethrowers
He ran Canadian 3rd with Treleavan, and more carrier patrols than I could shake a stick at. We played fighting withdrawel, and I was defending. Deployment was as below.
From bottom to top, I have the big strelk company with 45mm ATG and flamethrowers attached, then the mortars, then the KV-85s, then the scouts, backed up by the short strelk company. The SU-76s were in ambush. He had (bottom to top) a carrier patrol, a bunch of 6lbders, some more carriers, a big platoon of infantry, his M-10s, more infantry and carriers, including his HMG carriers and wasps (flame-thrower carriers). He also used the night attack option for the Brits, which allowed him to deploy further forward, and restricts visibility for the first few turns of the game. This is where Learning from Losing began to kick in. In this scenario, three objectives are placed, two by the attacker, one by the defender. Around turn 5, one of the attacker's selections is removed by the defender, but the objective placed BY the defender must stay on. You can see the two placed on the centre and left by my opponent below, while the one I placed was well on my right, in the woods.
What I should have done is put my choice in the centre, along with the big infantry company. This leaves me in a position to cover the objective I have to defend, while letting me move to cover either objective on the flank. In retrospect, I probably should have placed the short infantry company in ambush. If necessary, I could then deploy them as a stopgap, or to backup the main company.
(As an aside, I forgot to take notes for this game, so details might be a little fuzzy) Turn one, he advanced, pushing up his carriers on the flanks, and advanced his infantry into the large forest. His shooting was negated by the limited visibility of the night-attack conditions. I have to admit, I was a little worried by the carriers advancing on my flank. I needed to move my infantry up to defend the objective, which meant the wouldn't be able to dig in the first turn. This would mean the following turn, he could roll up the carriers on the flank, and unload with MGs - a nasty proposition for infantry in the open. To prevent this, I popped my ambush, revealing the SU-76s . . .
. . . and wiping out his carrier patrol.
Lessons from Losing pt. II. While the carriers are a threat, three of them could be dealt with by other means. On average, they only would kill 2 stands of infantry a turn - I would have done better to soak the damage, dig in the following turn, and save my ambush for a more critical moment.
In the centre, I moved up my infantry, and slowly pushed the tanks forward, looking to cover both the centre and right objectives.
Lessons from Losing Pt. III. The tanks were KV-85s, which are barely a step down from Tigers in terms of firepower and armour. There was nothing in his army that could reliably damage them beyond the wasp flamethrowers and the M-10s. I was intimidated by the wasp carriers, as they had the potential to chew up my small infantry platoon or the scouts. I used the KVs to take them out. This was, in retrospect, a direct consequence of LfL I above. With the big infantry platoon in a central position, this would have been less of a threat, and I wouldn't have needed to use the tanks against the wasps.
What I should have done with the KVs is ram them down his throat, wiping out the M-10s, which are the only things that could threaten at range, then use the heavy tanks either to back up an infantry assault, or to rampage around his backfield. To some extent, I think failing to do so was related to the switch from armour-heavy to infantry lists. When I take the KVs in a tank-heavy list, their role is to be the scary lurker, while other, cheaper tanks romp around. In THIS list, they need to be my spoiler - they're ultimately a sacrifice unit, and I need to use them to kill stuff and screw up my opponent's plans. As it worked out, I lost them turn 3, to no real purpose.
Turn three was critical. On his turn, my opponent ranged in his 6 lbders, which shot the hell out the SU-76s and my mortars. See LfL II. He shuffled around his carriers on the right, setting up for a combined flame and MG attack on the scouts and short infantry company, and shuffled his M-10s around a bit. He pushed his infantry forward to the central buildings in a bid to attack my tanks, but failed the morale check (infantry must motivate to assault tanks). On my turn, dawn lifted shooting restrictions, and my first withdrawn platoon came off (I pulled the remaining mortars). I knocked out one of his 6lber guns with my 45mms and HMG, and then I tried to assault the infantry he'd placed behind the buildings with my tanks, but after a single round of combat, my (fearless, supposedly) KVs failed to motivate to counter-assault, and ended up parked behind the building.
On his turn 4, he pretty much attacked all over. His M-10s blew away two KVs, his infantry took out a third in assault, his large infantry blob moved out towards my infantry, his 6lbers shot up my infantry blob, his MG carriers did the same to my infantry on the right.
On mine, I pushed my infnatry blob forward, assaulting him, tkaing out two platoons of his infantry . . .
. . . but pretty much decimating my own big infantry blob in the process.
We had to call the game at this point, but frankly, with 8 more turns to go in the scenario, he had the game in the bag. He still had 3 M-10s, most of his 6-lbders, 3 carrier sections, and some infantry kicking around. I had my scouts, and two units of infantry at around platoon strength. There was no way I could cover all three objectives for the next two or three turns, and even if I could, he could easily concentrate enough strength for an assault. So, what did I learn?
First, with the shift to an infantry-based list, deployment and deep understanding of the scenario implications trump manouvre. With a mobile / armoured list, what I do with my stuff in game (especially where I move them) is critical, while where I deploy them is less of an issue (they move, after all). With a relatively static infantry list, where I move is less of a factor (because, really, they're not moving that much most of the time), but where I put them to start (so I have options when / if I move) is critical.
Second, ambushes are one of the defender's most powerful weapons. I lost track of the number of times in this game where being able to pop those SU-76s (or even the rump infantry unit as mentioned above) would have been game changing. Because all weapons no mounted on a turret have firing arcs, being able to pop infantry behind his carriers could have let me totally alter the game. Using the SU-76s to ambush the M-10s would have had the same effect. This doesn't even take into account the mind-games dimension - an opponent is going to be very wary of any area terrain if it could hide an ambushing unit. Using that threat allows a player in a relatively passive role (as defender) to affect the flow of the game.
Third, the role units play has as much to do with how they fit into a list, the demands of the scenario, and what an opponent deploys as what they are in and of themselves. Note my comments on the KV-85s, above.
In a different scenario, or against another list, one with, say, PaK43s or Panthers, the role of the KVs would have been different again. Some of this comes from experience, I'm sure, but I'm going to have to think about this more consciously in-game.
This was a fun game, and one I had to think about. Aside from LfL I-III above, I also learned a few things about list design. My opponent's list had plenty of platoons - he could lose (IIRC) 6 before having to make a break test. However, a fair number of those platoons were soft - 3 carriers, etc. In a tournament game, each lost platoon costs the winner a point (moving from a 6-1 victory baseline to 5-2, 4-3, etc). This means that while it can be durable, it is easy for the list to lose a tournament despite a solid record of wins. I'm also learning about some of the depth of this game - the shift from a mobile tank list to one that relies on static defense, is going a long way toward illustrating what the game has to offer. The same unit can play a radically different role (such as the KV-85s), while the lack of mobility makes deployment a far more significant element (as opposed to in-game manouvre). Jack1080 was a terrific opponent (as always - he's an old Warmachine nemesis), and I look forward to more instructive ass-kicking in the future. Thanks and props again to the Dueling Grounds for the hospitable game environment, and to the THMG for the use of their terrain.
TMtW
Got in a game on Wednesday night vs. Jack1080 from THMG. The guy who qualified for nationals last year, did pretty good whilst there, and seems to be generally considered one of the more badassish geeks in town when it come to FoW. I figured if I'm going to learn from losing, might as well go up against the best, and he didn't disappoint ;)
Having finished up painting the bits and bobs needed for our upcoming 600p tourney, I wanted to try them out, and so went with Strelkovy for the first time, running the following at 1500 points:
FE Strelk 1500
HQ (add 2 45mm guns)
CC1: 3 Strelk platoons, SMG option, HMG
CC2: 1 Strelk platoon, SMG option, Kommisar, HMG
WC1: Strelkovy Scouts (2 sections)
WC2: 1 platoon 82mm mortars
SC1: 4 KV-85
SC2: 5 SU-76
SC3: 1 section flamethrowers
He ran Canadian 3rd with Treleavan, and more carrier patrols than I could shake a stick at. We played fighting withdrawel, and I was defending. Deployment was as below.
From bottom to top, I have the big strelk company with 45mm ATG and flamethrowers attached, then the mortars, then the KV-85s, then the scouts, backed up by the short strelk company. The SU-76s were in ambush. He had (bottom to top) a carrier patrol, a bunch of 6lbders, some more carriers, a big platoon of infantry, his M-10s, more infantry and carriers, including his HMG carriers and wasps (flame-thrower carriers). He also used the night attack option for the Brits, which allowed him to deploy further forward, and restricts visibility for the first few turns of the game. This is where Learning from Losing began to kick in. In this scenario, three objectives are placed, two by the attacker, one by the defender. Around turn 5, one of the attacker's selections is removed by the defender, but the objective placed BY the defender must stay on. You can see the two placed on the centre and left by my opponent below, while the one I placed was well on my right, in the woods.
What I should have done is put my choice in the centre, along with the big infantry company. This leaves me in a position to cover the objective I have to defend, while letting me move to cover either objective on the flank. In retrospect, I probably should have placed the short infantry company in ambush. If necessary, I could then deploy them as a stopgap, or to backup the main company.
(As an aside, I forgot to take notes for this game, so details might be a little fuzzy) Turn one, he advanced, pushing up his carriers on the flanks, and advanced his infantry into the large forest. His shooting was negated by the limited visibility of the night-attack conditions. I have to admit, I was a little worried by the carriers advancing on my flank. I needed to move my infantry up to defend the objective, which meant the wouldn't be able to dig in the first turn. This would mean the following turn, he could roll up the carriers on the flank, and unload with MGs - a nasty proposition for infantry in the open. To prevent this, I popped my ambush, revealing the SU-76s . . .
. . . and wiping out his carrier patrol.
Lessons from Losing pt. II. While the carriers are a threat, three of them could be dealt with by other means. On average, they only would kill 2 stands of infantry a turn - I would have done better to soak the damage, dig in the following turn, and save my ambush for a more critical moment.
In the centre, I moved up my infantry, and slowly pushed the tanks forward, looking to cover both the centre and right objectives.
Lessons from Losing Pt. III. The tanks were KV-85s, which are barely a step down from Tigers in terms of firepower and armour. There was nothing in his army that could reliably damage them beyond the wasp flamethrowers and the M-10s. I was intimidated by the wasp carriers, as they had the potential to chew up my small infantry platoon or the scouts. I used the KVs to take them out. This was, in retrospect, a direct consequence of LfL I above. With the big infantry platoon in a central position, this would have been less of a threat, and I wouldn't have needed to use the tanks against the wasps.
What I should have done with the KVs is ram them down his throat, wiping out the M-10s, which are the only things that could threaten at range, then use the heavy tanks either to back up an infantry assault, or to rampage around his backfield. To some extent, I think failing to do so was related to the switch from armour-heavy to infantry lists. When I take the KVs in a tank-heavy list, their role is to be the scary lurker, while other, cheaper tanks romp around. In THIS list, they need to be my spoiler - they're ultimately a sacrifice unit, and I need to use them to kill stuff and screw up my opponent's plans. As it worked out, I lost them turn 3, to no real purpose.
Turn three was critical. On his turn, my opponent ranged in his 6 lbders, which shot the hell out the SU-76s and my mortars. See LfL II. He shuffled around his carriers on the right, setting up for a combined flame and MG attack on the scouts and short infantry company, and shuffled his M-10s around a bit. He pushed his infantry forward to the central buildings in a bid to attack my tanks, but failed the morale check (infantry must motivate to assault tanks). On my turn, dawn lifted shooting restrictions, and my first withdrawn platoon came off (I pulled the remaining mortars). I knocked out one of his 6lber guns with my 45mms and HMG, and then I tried to assault the infantry he'd placed behind the buildings with my tanks, but after a single round of combat, my (fearless, supposedly) KVs failed to motivate to counter-assault, and ended up parked behind the building.
On his turn 4, he pretty much attacked all over. His M-10s blew away two KVs, his infantry took out a third in assault, his large infantry blob moved out towards my infantry, his 6lbers shot up my infantry blob, his MG carriers did the same to my infantry on the right.
On mine, I pushed my infnatry blob forward, assaulting him, tkaing out two platoons of his infantry . . .
. . . but pretty much decimating my own big infantry blob in the process.
We had to call the game at this point, but frankly, with 8 more turns to go in the scenario, he had the game in the bag. He still had 3 M-10s, most of his 6-lbders, 3 carrier sections, and some infantry kicking around. I had my scouts, and two units of infantry at around platoon strength. There was no way I could cover all three objectives for the next two or three turns, and even if I could, he could easily concentrate enough strength for an assault. So, what did I learn?
First, with the shift to an infantry-based list, deployment and deep understanding of the scenario implications trump manouvre. With a mobile / armoured list, what I do with my stuff in game (especially where I move them) is critical, while where I deploy them is less of an issue (they move, after all). With a relatively static infantry list, where I move is less of a factor (because, really, they're not moving that much most of the time), but where I put them to start (so I have options when / if I move) is critical.
Second, ambushes are one of the defender's most powerful weapons. I lost track of the number of times in this game where being able to pop those SU-76s (or even the rump infantry unit as mentioned above) would have been game changing. Because all weapons no mounted on a turret have firing arcs, being able to pop infantry behind his carriers could have let me totally alter the game. Using the SU-76s to ambush the M-10s would have had the same effect. This doesn't even take into account the mind-games dimension - an opponent is going to be very wary of any area terrain if it could hide an ambushing unit. Using that threat allows a player in a relatively passive role (as defender) to affect the flow of the game.
Third, the role units play has as much to do with how they fit into a list, the demands of the scenario, and what an opponent deploys as what they are in and of themselves. Note my comments on the KV-85s, above.
In a different scenario, or against another list, one with, say, PaK43s or Panthers, the role of the KVs would have been different again. Some of this comes from experience, I'm sure, but I'm going to have to think about this more consciously in-game.
This was a fun game, and one I had to think about. Aside from LfL I-III above, I also learned a few things about list design. My opponent's list had plenty of platoons - he could lose (IIRC) 6 before having to make a break test. However, a fair number of those platoons were soft - 3 carriers, etc. In a tournament game, each lost platoon costs the winner a point (moving from a 6-1 victory baseline to 5-2, 4-3, etc). This means that while it can be durable, it is easy for the list to lose a tournament despite a solid record of wins. I'm also learning about some of the depth of this game - the shift from a mobile tank list to one that relies on static defense, is going a long way toward illustrating what the game has to offer. The same unit can play a radically different role (such as the KV-85s), while the lack of mobility makes deployment a far more significant element (as opposed to in-game manouvre). Jack1080 was a terrific opponent (as always - he's an old Warmachine nemesis), and I look forward to more instructive ass-kicking in the future. Thanks and props again to the Dueling Grounds for the hospitable game environment, and to the THMG for the use of their terrain.
TMtW
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Happy Belated Geekmas! Also, New Year's resolutions.
Hi,
There comes a time in every geek's life when he gets a box in the mail. And by "box", I mean "Freaking huge box full of more toys than you can shake a fist at". For me, this happened Tuesday, and it's taken a couple of days to shake down, sort out, and otherwise come to terms with Geekmas.
You may recall several posts back, I mentioned that my interest in Cryx, Warmachine, etc. was waning. After considerable thought, and a chance comment by someone with whome I'd just completed a trade on Bartertown (Norseman, a gaming buddy from TBay, who sent me Tau), I decided to unload my Cryx. ALL my Cryx. Which meant everything made for Cryx, aside from some of the newest infantry and solos. Plus, you know, more Cryx.
What I got in trade was this.
1. Pretty much all the brettonians I'll ever need, want, or otherwise conceivably be associated with. In the box was 2-3000 points worth, including some of the cooler pieces like an extra Trebuchet, the King on a hippogriff, knights galore, enough Pegasus knights to form the RAF, etc. I might trade some for a few of the more obscure units like a relique, but at this point, I'm more or less in a position to paint heraldry until I die.
2. Around 2000 points of Canadian 3rd Division for FoW. The initial plan was to raid these guys for their lend-lease units, notably the Shermans, for my Soviets, and then flip them. However, after a couple of days of caressing the models, muttering "precious" to myself, and eating live fish, I'm starting to wonder if that's what's going to happen. Things became even more complicated last night, when I played a 1500 point game against the C3D at the Dueling Grounds. That's them across the table.
They're cool. I like the figs, and they have some nifty options - including a few that are unique in the game. This may end badly, given I already have a Soviet "to-do" list coming out my ears. While the Shermans are still destined for lend-lease (see my discussion of new years's projects below), the rest of the army might just have to stick around.
3. More Tau. This is one of those "rainy day" projects, but the fact is, I've had a thing for the Tau since they came out. I've always wanted to do a Tau infantry Horde - a metric crapton of fire warriors, Kroot, and Pathfinders backed up by suits. Now I can. This will end up as a modelling project (because really, until the cub is old enough, am I really going to spend my limited gaming time on 40k?). The geekmas box contained a ridiculous number of crisis suits, weapons, a tribe's worth of Kroot, and some odds and ends (krootox, a model I've always loved).
4. Odds and ends for my growing, but unpainted 40k orks. This will likely be the Cub's unspoken legacy, given he likes to play "pew-pew" with them, and the little buggers are sturdy enough to hold up to it. Unlike the Tau. And yes, I learned that the hard way. Among the odds and ends, I'm including a Baneblade.
Yes, a Baneblade. That's it on the bottom right, the big black sucker bigger than the infantry company box beside it.
Way back in the dawn of time when I lived in St. Johns' was married to my first (now ex-) wife, and had an ork footslogger horde for 40k, I began construction of a centrepiece model for my army, a battlewagon, natch. It never came to fruition, as I found that while my converting skills were up to par, scratch-building was not part of my geek-fu. But now, I have the Mother of All Tanks to convert up into an orky monstrosity of doom. Time for a manga-esque "squee!!" of delight.
It's taken a couple days to shake all this down (having spent most of December either working my ass off or driving to other people's houses, I'm currently taking a few days of belated holidays). My wife woke up yesterday to find me knee deep in boxes, happily sorting my bits and bobs into their new homes, and periodically stopping to cook up army lists and cackle. Everything is now sorted, and tucked away into it's appropriate box. Which leaves me with the happy question of what to do with all of this crap ;)
While random painting has it's moments, this is going to be a busy year, which means a little planning is in order. I suspect my hobby efforts to date will be focussed on three things, FoW soviets, my Brettonians, and Dystopian Wars. So, in order:
a) FoW Soviets. My loving, understanding, and irredeemably sexy (new) wife was kind enough to give me a company box of Kazachy for Christmas (that's cossacks for you heathens out there). It comes with company command, two platoons, and two Tachankas (which were nifty little horse drawn machine guns, FYI), These guys, coupled with the Shermans I just picked up, and a few other bits and bobs (like the extra cossak platoon I have in my to-do box), will lead to the of the following 1750 point FE Soviet list.
HQ M4
10 M4
10 M4
3 platoons Kazachy w. 2 Tachanka
3 SU-152
Short mortars (82mm)
3 platoon Arm. Transport, flame-thrower
I'm not convinced this is a national tournament level competitive list, but man, it will be fun to paint and play. It has 21 Sherman M4 lend-lease tanks (which I am growing to love in game - in terms of value for points, they rock), 15 large bases of cavalry (which are fantastic for assaulting anything without armour, and can dismount in a pinch to form a defensive infantry blob), 3 of the nastiest mobile artillery Soviets can get, a cheap pining unit, and a nifty, mobile, flame-thrower and MG toting support unit. I'm pretty stoked about this.
b) Brettonians. I'm currently participating in the WFB painter support process at www.warseer.com, and am working toward the following list:
General: Lvl 3 prophetess (life), warhorse, crown of command
BSB: Paladin, enchanted shield, shrieking blade, Bwarhorse
10 KotR, musician, standard
12 Knights Errant, musician, standard
20 Peasant Bowmen, musician, standard, braziers
I've posted some pics of these as the list grows, and will continue to do so. Next up is the Prophetess and a couple more knights to round out the KotR bloc. Once the first 1000 points are finished, I'll add a couple of trebuchets, a unit of Pegasus knights, a unit of grail or questing knights, and whatever else I can fit in - ideally some skirmishing archers and a damsel, though the points might be tight.
c) Dystopian Wars. This is sooooo going to happen. For those of you who have not been anywhere near the geekly interwebs of late, Dystopian Wars, is the newest offering from Spartan Games, the people who did Uncharted Seas and Firestorm Armada. The latter game nearly caught me, but sanity intervened, along with a growing determination to limit geekly expenditure (ideally to the point that my habit becomes self-funding). DW, however, looks pretty much tailor-made for me. It is steampunk - in the pseudo-Victorian, Jules Verne sense. It is an integrated land-sea-air battle game, which nicely jibs with my growing appreciation for large-scale (vs. skirmish) games. It's a third generation rule set, reflecting the lessons learned from Spartan's previous two lines. Finally, I just got myself a geekly windfall.
For some time, I've noticed that my Paypal account seems to be bleeding money - regular payments to Blizzard (the people who do World of Warcraft). It's taken a while, and a number of customer service calls, but I was finally able to determine that Blizzard has been regularly biling me for an account that was supposed to have been cancelled years ago. Consequently, they will be refunding me around four years of payments. Which means I have a nice little nest egg for geekly pursuits, including getting into DW.
While my favourite model to date is the French battleship, the French are not a core option in the game (they won't be a full faction release in either the first or second wave. What I've decided to go with are the Empire of the Blazing Sun - essentially, the Japanese and their co-prosperitors. I love the look of their ships, especially the battleship and air fortress, they have a giant, pagoda-topped spider walker land leviathan, and from what I can gather, one of the best air-combat capacities in the game (I like fighters). It'll likely be a month or so before these are purchased and delivered, but keep your eyes peeled.
So, there you have it. Geekmass and New Years resolutions all in one post. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday, and I wish you the best of the new year.
TMtW
There comes a time in every geek's life when he gets a box in the mail. And by "box", I mean "Freaking huge box full of more toys than you can shake a fist at". For me, this happened Tuesday, and it's taken a couple of days to shake down, sort out, and otherwise come to terms with Geekmas.
You may recall several posts back, I mentioned that my interest in Cryx, Warmachine, etc. was waning. After considerable thought, and a chance comment by someone with whome I'd just completed a trade on Bartertown (Norseman, a gaming buddy from TBay, who sent me Tau), I decided to unload my Cryx. ALL my Cryx. Which meant everything made for Cryx, aside from some of the newest infantry and solos. Plus, you know, more Cryx.
What I got in trade was this.
1. Pretty much all the brettonians I'll ever need, want, or otherwise conceivably be associated with. In the box was 2-3000 points worth, including some of the cooler pieces like an extra Trebuchet, the King on a hippogriff, knights galore, enough Pegasus knights to form the RAF, etc. I might trade some for a few of the more obscure units like a relique, but at this point, I'm more or less in a position to paint heraldry until I die.
2. Around 2000 points of Canadian 3rd Division for FoW. The initial plan was to raid these guys for their lend-lease units, notably the Shermans, for my Soviets, and then flip them. However, after a couple of days of caressing the models, muttering "precious" to myself, and eating live fish, I'm starting to wonder if that's what's going to happen. Things became even more complicated last night, when I played a 1500 point game against the C3D at the Dueling Grounds. That's them across the table.
They're cool. I like the figs, and they have some nifty options - including a few that are unique in the game. This may end badly, given I already have a Soviet "to-do" list coming out my ears. While the Shermans are still destined for lend-lease (see my discussion of new years's projects below), the rest of the army might just have to stick around.
3. More Tau. This is one of those "rainy day" projects, but the fact is, I've had a thing for the Tau since they came out. I've always wanted to do a Tau infantry Horde - a metric crapton of fire warriors, Kroot, and Pathfinders backed up by suits. Now I can. This will end up as a modelling project (because really, until the cub is old enough, am I really going to spend my limited gaming time on 40k?). The geekmas box contained a ridiculous number of crisis suits, weapons, a tribe's worth of Kroot, and some odds and ends (krootox, a model I've always loved).
4. Odds and ends for my growing, but unpainted 40k orks. This will likely be the Cub's unspoken legacy, given he likes to play "pew-pew" with them, and the little buggers are sturdy enough to hold up to it. Unlike the Tau. And yes, I learned that the hard way. Among the odds and ends, I'm including a Baneblade.
Yes, a Baneblade. That's it on the bottom right, the big black sucker bigger than the infantry company box beside it.
Way back in the dawn of time when I lived in St. Johns' was married to my first (now ex-) wife, and had an ork footslogger horde for 40k, I began construction of a centrepiece model for my army, a battlewagon, natch. It never came to fruition, as I found that while my converting skills were up to par, scratch-building was not part of my geek-fu. But now, I have the Mother of All Tanks to convert up into an orky monstrosity of doom. Time for a manga-esque "squee!!" of delight.
It's taken a couple days to shake all this down (having spent most of December either working my ass off or driving to other people's houses, I'm currently taking a few days of belated holidays). My wife woke up yesterday to find me knee deep in boxes, happily sorting my bits and bobs into their new homes, and periodically stopping to cook up army lists and cackle. Everything is now sorted, and tucked away into it's appropriate box. Which leaves me with the happy question of what to do with all of this crap ;)
While random painting has it's moments, this is going to be a busy year, which means a little planning is in order. I suspect my hobby efforts to date will be focussed on three things, FoW soviets, my Brettonians, and Dystopian Wars. So, in order:
a) FoW Soviets. My loving, understanding, and irredeemably sexy (new) wife was kind enough to give me a company box of Kazachy for Christmas (that's cossacks for you heathens out there). It comes with company command, two platoons, and two Tachankas (which were nifty little horse drawn machine guns, FYI), These guys, coupled with the Shermans I just picked up, and a few other bits and bobs (like the extra cossak platoon I have in my to-do box), will lead to the of the following 1750 point FE Soviet list.
HQ M4
10 M4
10 M4
3 platoons Kazachy w. 2 Tachanka
3 SU-152
Short mortars (82mm)
3 platoon Arm. Transport, flame-thrower
I'm not convinced this is a national tournament level competitive list, but man, it will be fun to paint and play. It has 21 Sherman M4 lend-lease tanks (which I am growing to love in game - in terms of value for points, they rock), 15 large bases of cavalry (which are fantastic for assaulting anything without armour, and can dismount in a pinch to form a defensive infantry blob), 3 of the nastiest mobile artillery Soviets can get, a cheap pining unit, and a nifty, mobile, flame-thrower and MG toting support unit. I'm pretty stoked about this.
b) Brettonians. I'm currently participating in the WFB painter support process at www.warseer.com, and am working toward the following list:
General: Lvl 3 prophetess (life), warhorse, crown of command
BSB: Paladin, enchanted shield, shrieking blade, Bwarhorse
10 KotR, musician, standard
12 Knights Errant, musician, standard
20 Peasant Bowmen, musician, standard, braziers
I've posted some pics of these as the list grows, and will continue to do so. Next up is the Prophetess and a couple more knights to round out the KotR bloc. Once the first 1000 points are finished, I'll add a couple of trebuchets, a unit of Pegasus knights, a unit of grail or questing knights, and whatever else I can fit in - ideally some skirmishing archers and a damsel, though the points might be tight.
c) Dystopian Wars. This is sooooo going to happen. For those of you who have not been anywhere near the geekly interwebs of late, Dystopian Wars, is the newest offering from Spartan Games, the people who did Uncharted Seas and Firestorm Armada. The latter game nearly caught me, but sanity intervened, along with a growing determination to limit geekly expenditure (ideally to the point that my habit becomes self-funding). DW, however, looks pretty much tailor-made for me. It is steampunk - in the pseudo-Victorian, Jules Verne sense. It is an integrated land-sea-air battle game, which nicely jibs with my growing appreciation for large-scale (vs. skirmish) games. It's a third generation rule set, reflecting the lessons learned from Spartan's previous two lines. Finally, I just got myself a geekly windfall.
For some time, I've noticed that my Paypal account seems to be bleeding money - regular payments to Blizzard (the people who do World of Warcraft). It's taken a while, and a number of customer service calls, but I was finally able to determine that Blizzard has been regularly biling me for an account that was supposed to have been cancelled years ago. Consequently, they will be refunding me around four years of payments. Which means I have a nice little nest egg for geekly pursuits, including getting into DW.
While my favourite model to date is the French battleship, the French are not a core option in the game (they won't be a full faction release in either the first or second wave. What I've decided to go with are the Empire of the Blazing Sun - essentially, the Japanese and their co-prosperitors. I love the look of their ships, especially the battleship and air fortress, they have a giant, pagoda-topped spider walker land leviathan, and from what I can gather, one of the best air-combat capacities in the game (I like fighters). It'll likely be a month or so before these are purchased and delivered, but keep your eyes peeled.
So, there you have it. Geekmass and New Years resolutions all in one post. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday, and I wish you the best of the new year.
TMtW
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