A small BATREP!

Last night I decided to have a break from re-painting the minis I 'lost' in the Great Varnish Disaster, and challenged my son to a quick skirmish to try out the FUBAR rules I recently downloaded. We set it up quickly with a very weak scenario outline, purely to test out the rules and, let's face it, just to have a game. We didn't have enough hexes from my terrain project for a complete tabletop, so used them in conjunction with the existing 2' X 2' tiles in reserve.

It turned out to be a very one-sided affair, as in our haste to set up a game, we didn't really think it through. The vague outline was-planetary enforcers hitting a small colonial settlement to hunt out rebel sympathisers  who were coincidentally harbouring a few cells of insurgents at the time. My son, Nick, controlled 2 fire teams of Veteran troopers, represented by Khurasan Control Battalion minis, with an armoured truck as their transport. I had 3 cells of rebel insurgents, 2 rated as green, 1 as seasoned, and 2 technicals armed with a heavy laser, and a heavy machine gun.

The table was set up thus-

The security forces were to enter the table from the North (far) edge, rebels from this near edge. The security team took initiative and rattled on to the board in their truck and stopped at the edge of the tree line. My 1st technical rushed on to the board and took up station at the edge of the settlement to provide covering fire for further deployment. Cell 1 ran on into cover of the buildings from the eastern edge (R). The colonists took one look at the twin laser cannon down the valley and dashed to the rear of the settlement. Very wise.

2nd Turn-Security forces (now to be known as 'Ghosts') fail activation and I bring on second technical and Cell 1 moves into cover of heavy containers in centre of settlement.  2nd Technical roars on to the board in a burst of exhaust fumes and takes up station alongside Cell 1.

Rebels activate 1st on turn 3 and consolidate cover. Ghosts fail activation but are then considered on guard, and take the opportunity to fire twin laser cannons at Technical 1, resulting in 2 unsaved hits. Technical disappears in a plume of greasy smoke! I just love these Lisko

                    tokens.


Turn 4, Rebels gain initiative and Cell 2 runs on from Southern edge into cover. Ghost support squad debusses (spelling error?) and takes cover behind trees to the west. Their vehicle fires the laser cannons again at the 2nd Technical (stupidly left with more than it's nose poking out of cover) and scores 2 unsaved hits again. Weapon destroyed, crew stunned. Rebel Cell 2 moves into cover of buildings.

Turn 5, Ghost's truck moves forward into dry creek bed and disgorges Fire team 1. Meanwhile, their support squad moves into cover of the ruined building in the N West corner. Rebel Cell 1 opens up, but only scores 1 hit, subsequently saved by armour.

Turn 6, Ailing Technical 2 withdraws into cover, all other rebel forces fail activation when their turn crops up. Ghost's truck opens up again on Cell 1, and suppresses 2 troopers. Then Ghost Fire Team 1 moved out of creek and fires on the same target causing a casualty. I'm getting shot up here!

Turn 7, Ghosts have initiative . Their support squad opens up on Cell 1 and wipes it out. Meanwhile,  Ghost  fire Team 1 advances on the settlement and moves into cover. Rebel Cell 2 moves into a settlement building and fires at the Ghost Support Squad, just to watch the rounds pattering gently on the wall with no effect.

Turn 8, Rebel initiative. Cell 3 finally passes their activation roll, and, using the rule that allows 'locals' to enter the board wherever they want, they appear out of the woods behind the Ghost's truck and let loose with everything at its rear, including a missile launcher.  Hah! 2 unsaved hits and the vehicle is immobilised and the weapon destroyed-Payback! Then Cell 2 fires another volley at the enemy support squad and suppresses the support weapon. Get Some! Of course, then the Ghost Fire Team 1 retaliates with 4 hits and causes 2 casualties and one suppressed. Back to earth, or Epsilon Beta VI, with a bump. Ghost support squad fires on Cell 2 in the building and causes 1 further suppression.

Ghost truck burns up! 

Ghosts take cover in ruined building with good field of fire down table.

So, not a very exciting engagement, but we had a bit of fun with the rules. We decided to call it a day as it was getting late, and the Rebels ran away to the South dragging the colonists with them, to save them from the gentle attentions of the Ghosts. Basically, I got my butt whipped, but we realised that the forces were so unbalanced that we need to think it through a bit better next time. I'm not too bothered about trying to make each side 'equal' but this was too one-sided. I was quite happy, however, with the way the hex scenery sat comfortably with the base tiles. It's a good compromise at the moment. As you can see, at least the result made my son happy!

Some advice, please.....

Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong? I have just ruined 18 painted minis by spraying them with a matt varnish. I can't tell whether I have just been heavy handed (although I thought I was being sparing) with the spray, or whether I shouldn't have left them outside for 10 mins before bringing them back inside. The minis were painted with a mixture of Citadel and Vallejo paints, gloss varnished with Citadel 'paint on' varnish, then, when dry, sprayed with Citadel Purity Seal, or whatever they call it now. I really would appreciate some feedback on this, as I am not the fastest painter on the planet (well, not this planet) and this represents a real waste of time, especially as I was hoping to post pictures this weekend to show I was still alive! The only consolation I can gain from this at the moment is that hopefully I'll make a better job of them next time round!
I need the minis to be fairly well protected from the constant handling of gameplay, and I have found that the matt spray on its own isn't sufficient. So, could some of you more experienced modellers out there lend me a hand with some suggestions? Thanks in anticipation.

By the way, the minis have already had a bath in acetone- some things have to be done straight away!

Terrain Project (Reloaded).

Well, as promised, a few pictures of my ongoing terrain extravaganza. It's a bit silly really-the hexes are only 70mm across, so I'm going to need a fair few for decent sized games. Still, despite my nagging doubts, I think I will continue to add more bases a few at a time. I have another untouched batch of 50 recently arrived from Warbases  that I will need to start work on.

This layout takes 35 bases, and makes a playing area of (approximately) 16 to 17 inches square-if it was square! There are a few goodies from GZG on the scene, the shack and large and small containers (these last are integral with the terrain, but the building is on its own base). and a couple of minis from Armies Army

I guess it may be a bit over complicated, a lot of  features in a confined space, but as I add more 'open' bases, I hope this will improve. (Mind you, it's great for cutting down LOS!).

.So that's the last of them. It's the first time I have put them all together, and although somewhat 'stylised' I'm quite pleased with the overall effect. I should soon have enough for a skirmish game if nothing else!

These weren't too much work, just a bit time consuming, but I've enjoyed this aspect as much as painting and, eventually, gaming again! Thanks for looking in!

Armies Army Minis

Having discovered that Spacejacker beat me to the drop on posting pictures for these minis (grrr), coupled with the fact that they are much better than mine (grrr), I thought I would post them anyway! I wasn't sure about the colour scheme originally, but they seem to hang together okay. The fatigues are GW Fenris Grey, highlighted with base+white, armour is GW Codex Grey, highlighted with Fortress Grey, Pouches,webbing and harness are GW Khemri Brown/Devlan Mud wash/highlights, boots GW Scorched Brown.

These minis will be part of a Rebel uprising Force in a setting that I will post a little later when I've ironed out a few things. We will be using various rulesets for this, including Tomorrow's War, 5150 Star Army, Fubar, and maybe even Laserburn for some of those 'intimate' little skirmishes! It will give us an opportunity to try them all.

I hope to post some more pictures tomorrow of my ongoing terrain project. I just need to arrange them into something cohesive and take the photos.

And also....

Forgot to post this last picture of some unarmed colonists from GZG-you might as well have the full bundle!

Okay, relax now and go and watch the rugby.

My (over) ambitious terrain project and more.....

Hi All. Having made up some terrain pieces on MDF hexagons from Warbases, I was consumed with the idea of making a lot of them to slot together in varying configurations to make complete warboards (not an original idea, I know). Suffice to say, as they are only 70mm across, I would certainly need plenty of them, and my available time doesn't stretch to that. ~Therefore I decided to use them in my original way, as scatter terrain on my aged but trusty 2'X2' Terrain tiles purchased just after the Boer War(!) Furthermore, I have decided not to beat myself up about the standard-I see many blogs with games played on beautiful integrated terrain, and I get disatisfied with my own efforts. From now on though, I'm going to be happy to settle for 'representative' rather than 'realistic'. Life's too short to stress about it. With that in mind, here's a few pictures (dodgy camera work) of some of my most recent dabblings-

 

Top picture-trees from K & M I believe-another purchase from way back. The 'mini mesa' is a cut down polystyrene hexagon from another terrain system and cork rocks. The lower picture has some less convincing trees made from plastic aquarium plants (Spacejacker had a great tip on his blog about adding paint to PVA glue to make it stick to the plastic, but I only had a cursory attempt), and a toxic pool surrounded by cork rocks again. I try and leave just a little margin of untextured surface around the bases to ensure they butt up to each other properly.

Finally, some barrels from The Scene along with some of their barbed wire and a small ruin made from foam card and not a lot else!

Now just some pictures of minis to add-I've painted a reasonable number recently, but not posted any for a while, so they're coming along all in one hit-stay awake, there's only several dozen.....well, that may be an exaggeration.

Some more OUDF with 'boonie' hats to add to my earlier efforts

Oh yes, here are the others....late on parade. Minis from GZG of course.

Cyborgs from The Scene-a simple coat of natural steel (Vallejo70864), black wash, and drybrushed with the steel again. A quick and easy fix, but possibly lacking some imagination. I could have made the effort to paint in some flesh on the head, like the minis on their website, but I'm reasonably happy with these.

 

And here's another with a considerably gaudier paint job. Again, an idea stolen from one of you out there-thanks very much, and I apologise!

My first attempt at Khurasan minis, and I just love these! The colour scheme was one I pinched from Allison over at the Painting Agency, this time with his blessing! They are nowhere near as good as his, but I still love 'em!

And here's a few more. I've got the latest release in the draw waiting their turn, but it will be a while.

And finally, you'll be pleased to know if you've stayed the course, a little GZG Hammers Slammers skimmer, just to round off proceedings.

Sorry you had to have them all in one go, but as we all know, life gets in the way of hobbies!

Thanks to all of you out there for the inspiration and ideas, keep going, or else who will I have to plagiarise? (Not sure if that is spelled correctly, or even if it's in context-it's for stealing writing, innit?)

Armies Army Minis

Morning everyone! The weekend has arrived, and with it a package of minis from Armies Army. It has been interesting following this story, and now I have got the minis in my sticky mitts, I'm glad I did. I haven't taken any pictures as they are available to see on the ArmiesArmy blog, plus which my photography is poor (next time I shall ask my son to take pictures-he's got a posh camera and some ability!). Anyhow, suffice it to say, I'm extremely pleased with the minis,10 to a pack, so just right for a squad in several rule systems as far as I can tell (obviously with some adaption of makeup), comprising of riflemen, SAWs and a rocket launcher. Ideal, as probably has been indicated elsewhere, as a near future force, say post apocalyptic, or something a bit further on but perhaps slightly lo-tech. Personally, I shall include them as a faction in a rebel force-they look suitably hard done by, and out for revenge! I hope to get some paint slapped on asap, as I can't believe they will stay low down in the pecking order of unpainted lead (or pewter or whatever). If you like minis, and we all do, go get some!