Quick update

The other week saw myself and a bunch of fellow gamers embark on yet another trip to the Normandy battlefields.
This time we focused on the British experience of D-Day and the fighting just behind the beaches (mainly D-day to D +7).
We finished with a trip to Villers Bocage to look at Wittman's and the later action around that now famous village. The final stop being at Hill 112 (another wargamers favourite but so often doesn't resemble the actual terrain or forces). Very interesting to be up there again and there is so much shrapnel still in the fields (bits of it had been placed on or next to the new Infantry memorial at the top of 112.

So here are a few pictures and I hope to have a bit more detail up in the next few days.

The original Pegasus Bridge

The memorial to the Infantry at the top of Hill 112.

The view looking north from Strongpoint Hillman. The coast is in the distance.

The view from the Hillman strongpoint showed why this was such a vital D-Day objective. The action here is also really interesting to follow.

On another note I have finished painting some more scenery and also some more for my Epic Chaos forces.

Sunday should be fun as SELWG has once again come around and I always enjoy this wargames show. More Vietnam stuff to pick up and may make a start on the Wild West terrain if there are any 4Ground products are there.

Charlie Don't Surf

Last night I finally managed to get a game in of Charlie Don't Surf. For a first outing it was a lot of fun ( I played the role of the umpire).

However there were a few thoughts that came up when playing or trying to play.

The first is that the rulebook is a bit of a muddle when first playing the game and trying to work your way around it for certain aspects or abilities of your troops.
The playsheets help but I think it would be an idea to also have a summery section of how the game deck starts and when you add cards in (all this is in the book but each bit is under its own section which means you have to have read the book cover to cover and remember where something is mentioned etc).
The second aspect is that the wording is sometimes not that clear on intent. Which is fine with an umpire but could cause some issues.

Once the game gets going it does tend to flow however and doesn't feel like it takes forever to resolve something.

The scenario we played was from the expansion and was the Great Rice Hunt. This proved a lot of fun but we needed a bit more cover. Was interesting to see how players that are used to only using army lists and having what they want, handled the situation.
The blinds added another dimension to the game as well. However due to where both sides had opted to deploy they actually ran straight into each other so there wasn't much opportunity for sneaky manoeuvring. This led the game in the direction of a very messy firefight.

The end result was an overwhelming victory to the VC forces both with a military and a political victory. If the game had carried on it might have swung in the favour of the US forces for a military victory.

Either way was a fun first game with plenty of mistakes made. Next game should be interesting as I know the rules a bit better now and can introduce further aspects.

No pictures again this week (mainly because the terrain is not fully finished so wouldn't make for a good look photo).

Quick Update

The last week has seen the Defilers getting finished and the Decimator Engine for my Chaos getting painted. Just need to finish the bases on the Defilers and also finish the Decimator and then I can get some pictures up on here.
Still working out what to paint next for my Epic Chaos Black Legion force. I am thinking of painting another retinue up along with transport and possibly some Noise Marines to give myself a break from all the black and gold that I have been painting.

I got given a copy of Frost Grave as a present by a friend which was nice, still need to find time to have a read through and rope some friends into a game or two (much easier said than done).

Talking of rules sets, I have also been reading through Charlie Don't Surf as I should have enough figures painted to put a small game on. Ideally I want to paint another platoon or two of Yanks but for the time being should have enough for a demo game to some friends. Just need to get the scenery finished for the game.

Aside from all of this I have been busy reading up on 6th Airbornes exploits on D-Day and the weeks following. Going to be taking some friends on a battlefield tour of 6th Airbornes Area of Operations. Then visiting Sword beach among other areas related to the British and Canadian involvement in Normandy.
Sword Beach is proving quite interesting to read about and already I have ideas for a few scenarios for Battlegroup Overlord. Naturally the actions of 6th Airborne lend themselves quite well to the sort of game that Battlegroup is so I hope to be able to write a number of scenarios up soon.

Well that is all for this week, hopefully I will get some more pictures up shortly.

Some Recent Hobby Action

Ok so most of this post is from a few weeks ago. But work and research for an upcoming battlefield tour have meant that there has not been a good deal of hobby time.

First up are the finished Chaos Rhino's and Predators for my Epic Armageddon "Black Legion".

Black Legion Predators

Black Legion Predators

Black Legion Rhinos

Black Legion Rhinos

These are some lovely models to paint, such a shame that they are out of production. 

Next up are a few pictures from the set up of a game between two of my friends. They played a 3K Epic Armageddon battle using the Net Epic Armageddon lists. James took his Salamanders against Neil's Blood Angels. Unfortunately Neil's Blood Angels were not painted.

I didn't get to stay for the whole game but what I did see made it look like it was going to be a very close range brutal game. 

I didn't really get any good shots of the two armies but I will remedy that soon enough. But James has a very nice scenery collection that comes from a range of manufacturers but he has done a great job with the painting and basing to get it all to match in together.

Currently working my way through a unit of Chaos Defilers that should be completed within the next week or so. They are a pleasure to paint, just finding the time that is the problem.

I also took advantage of the sale by Plastic Soldier Company to get some more tanks in 20mm for my early/mid war Germans. I will be going to the Barbarossa campaign weekend later in the year, most of the armour that I have is all in late war camo schemes so need to get painting grey. These should take too long to do and for the Infantry I am just going to add some more details. Most of the uniforms will just about do, I might add a few new figures into the mix to give the platoons a bit more of an "early" feel. The main thing is that they all have the correct weapons.

Finally here is a quick picture of some of the reading material that I am going through.

Not sure how much of this lot will get read cover to cover as I have more books to go through. Currently working on the 6th Airborne research.

Battle Group Fall of the Reich and Epic Armageddon Game Ulthwe Vs Skitarii

This weekend was a good one not only for the weather but also for gaming as I managed to get two games in.

Saturday afternoon saw James and I replay the Bridgehead Breakout Scenario, this time we kept the forces the same and switched sides. This made for a very interesting game as we both knew what worked and what didn't for each force based on the last game.
This was one of the most enjoyable games that I have played in a long time, the game was very close and finished with the Airborne going beyond their breakpoint and the German force being 2 points away from breaking. Nail bitingly close to say the least, just a shame that we didn't manage to get any pictures of the game.

Sunday saw an outing for my Ulthwe force against the Skitarii, again this was 3K points Epic Armageddon using the Net Epic Armageddon list and proved to be a very interesting game as I took a very different style of list to what I am used to. I relied a lot on a Storm Serpent and a Webway to deploy two formations of Guardians and one of Black Guardians.
I had added a few extras to a couple of the formations in the form of Wraithguard, these proved to be worth the points invested.

The Revenant Titans took a beating and spent most of the game broken which was frustrating as they were probably my hardest hitting unit for range and damage that they could deal out. They did absorb a lot of firepower however so the trade off was worth it.

The Storm Serpent was also very useful and I think it will be a a regular fixture in the list. It helps that I have a proxy ready to get painted in the scheme ( I was using another proxy from my Dropzone Commander Shaltari Force which was painted in a yellow scheme, thankfully I have a spare so that will be done in Black and Gold).

The Epic game was also another very close game that had to be called when we ran out of time. I would say that the game could have gone either way based on the next few activations, if it had been tied and gone to points then I think I may well have stolen it.

Either way it was a great game for learning different aspects of how to use the army and also of Epic Armageddon full stop.

I also managed to get the Rhino's and Predators finished for my Black Legion so the Defilers are awaiting their turn on the spraying bench ready to be painted up. The question is what unit to build and paint after them?

Black Legion update

Another short update. Having made great progress on the Vietnam front (having painted around 80 Viet Cong) and having played a game of Epic Armageddon, I have decided to have a slight break from the Vietnam project and push on with my Black Legion force. 

In the picture below is a unit of Chaos Defilers shown next to a stand of Chaos Marines and a Rhino for scale purposes. 

Defilers

Still trying to work out what I want to include in this force but along with the Defilers I have a unit of Chaos Predators and another Retinue along with Rhinos for both retinues to paint.
Then I will probably put the two Feral Titans together with one being quite converted.

The other question is do I go for Hell Talons or Hell Blades?

I hope to get a game in with my Ulthwe again this week at some point, learnt a fair bit from the last game and with talking with people on the excellent Taccoms site.  

Waaaaaagh Krud Kruncher

This last week on one of the Epic Armageddon Facebook groups I belong to, there has been an army showcase. There have been some fantastic Epic armies and forces shown.
I used the opportunity to take some pictures of my 3000pt Ork force. This force was initially started well over 10 years ago but never finished and in the last six months I have taken the opportunity to redo some of the units and finish others. There are still some many stands of infantry and various other support units still to be painted for the Orks but I am going to leave it at this for the time being while I finish my Ulthwe and Chaos forces.

So here are some pictures of my Ork army. The list is Ghazgull's Warhost but I have painted them as an Evil Sunz Klan.

The whole army from an orbital perspective

Add caption

Flyboyz

Stormboyz

Blitz Brigade

Stompa Mob with Supa Stompa

Big Mob (Boyz)

Kult of Speed

Big Gunz Mob

Da Boss Krud Kruncher himself

With his rentinue

Da Bike Boyz

Another Stompa mob with Supa Stompa

More Fly Boyz

I hope to get some more games of Epic in over the next few weeks and hopefully will get some pictures up. I also hope to find time to paint some more of my Chaos units as I really want to give that army a try.

The Vietnam project is coming along nicely, going to get some of the scenery sprayed up today ready for painting.