Great War Odds and Sods

A few odd items I finished up this week…

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Great War German pioneers with flamethrowers from Renegade Miniatures.

A German Dragoon from Wargames Foundry and a French Dragoon bugler from Great War Miniatures.



They seem fairly comparable... French horse might be a bit taller... German rider might be a tad fatter... 

French Buglers Great War Miniatures on the left, Renegade Miniatures on the right.



From the side it's a bit more clear that the Renegade horsies are considerably larger. 

Finally a French Foreign Legion officer from Artizan Designs. Not Great War, per se… (but could probably be passed off as such).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

All sorts of Great War Cavalry on the Workbench, along with a slew of WW2 Soviets (some of which I’ve actually been working on), and a handful of modern stuff…

Actually in terms of Great War Cavalry there is the rest of the unit of German Dragoons that are well under way – horsies more or less finished. There is a unit of Indian cavalry men – which are based and repaired and primed and ready to go. There is the rest of the unit of French Dragoons – the officer and one dragoon are underway, the rest require some repair and shortening of lances (so they will fit in my storage boxes)… There’s a unit of Great War British on the way from England. Maelstrom Games is moving warehouses and had a warhouse clearance sale – 30% off – so I picked up enough later war British to do a unit of Canadians – one of those “wouldn’t it be nice to do someday” units…. Of course the day after I ordered them Paul from Saber’s Edge was having a little Online Garage Sale of his personal never-going-to-get-painted lead pile… and wouldn’t you know it – there’s some more Great War stuff – including the Old Glory bag o’British Cavalry – which was also on the “wouldn’t it be nice to do someday – if I ever needed a SECOND unit of late war Cavalry” list… Aye-yi-yi… anyway, THEY’VE arrived and are based and primed and ready to go on the workbench. So I have two units (of the three) for the Canvadian Cavalry Brigade… Which shall I do them as? Lord Strathcona’s Horse? Royal Canadian Dragoons? Fort Garry Horse?

Oh and while I was delirious with saving monies I broke down and ordered myself a regiment worth of 1914 French from Maelstrom as well… and some Machine-guns to support them… and some Belgians… and… um… soviet zombies… 

Great War German Hussars

German Hussars

A unit of early Great War German Hussars.

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The figures are from Wargames Foundry.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Great War stuff…? Or WW2 Soviets… or something else. 

Odds and Sods: WW2 and Modern stuff

A couple odd items I happen to finish up this weekend…

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These are kilted WW2 Highlanders from West Wind Productions that I recently picked up during a sale (which very well may still be going on, I kind of just don’t want to check in case it is and I do something stupid like BUY MORE!?). One I painted with a kilt apron (though it seems they were not in use in 1940... I may have to go back and change that...), the other in something like Cameron of Erracht (as the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders seems to be the only Scottish unit to retain their kilts after the order was issued to do away with them).

I have six more of these... I should just finish them up and be done with them... of course I have four-five-six-ten more of a LOT of things that I should just finish up... It probably won't be these, as what will painting the remaining six get me? Not a complete unit of anything... Of course they could be used as an incomplete section in a fighting retreat sort of scenario - making their way back to Dunkirk...?

A few more modern Gunmen form Wargames Foundry  Street Violence line.

Another Agent from The Assault Group.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Great War Cavalry that I’m just finishing up….

MORE Soviet Naval Infantry

West Wind Productions is currently having a 10^th Anniversary SALE (30% off Berlin or Bust and Arthurian Ranges…). How could I resist adding some more Naval Infantry - especially ones with rifles (since a ridiculous number of the ones I already have are armed with sub-machineguns).

I also picked up some Soviet and German Staff (possible targets for Pulpy assassination raid scenarios?) and some early war British (well… SCOTTISH!) Highlanders in kilts (just… don’t ask…).

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The figures from West Wind Productions.

The whole force (growing larger). Damn, that's pretty much a full platoon I've got there now!? What ever shall I DO with them all!? 

Some comparison pics:

From Left to Right: Black Tree Design, West Wind, Bolt Action, West Wind, Black Tree Design, Bolt Action, West Wind, Bolt Action.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Great War Cavalry or The early war Highlanders (in kilts!) or maybe more of the Soviets, since I’m on a roll with them… I have only the staff, a couple scout/snipers, and a handful of NKVD to finish up and the whole force is COMPLETE (until I buy some more…) Oh, and I think there might be a couple tanks that need finishing up. Seriously what more could I possibly ever want to get for the WW2 Soviets!? (Well, probably some more naval infantry – I’d use the Back of Beyond Bolshevik Sailors from Copplestone Castings to add some more rifles to the unit… the uniform and equipment look more or less the same… Of course considering I have a full platoon already, that would probably be a bit silly… WHEN am I EVER going to need THAT MANY Soviet sailors!? (Not that that has ever stopped me from buying and painting stuff before…). 

Modern Americans in NBCD Gear

A few more Americans in Nuclear Biological Chemical Defence gear…

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I don’t know if you can see them there (because they’re so well camouflaged!), but there’s four Americans in NBCD gear from The Assault Group in this picture. I picked up this pack to add to the ones I already have to fill out a squad of sorts. I love (LOVE) that you can order a single pack direct from the Assault Group and not have to pay an astronomical amount of postage.

Here’s the whole squad together….

The plan is to use them in Savage Worlds RPG/Skirmish games – zombie games or post-apocalyptic or other disasters where Biological or Chemical agents or contamination may be… I have a very specific scenario in mind for them first, but I don’t want to give anything away lest any of my players figure it out…

I’m awfully tempted to pick up a few more (that’s the truly eveil part of being able to order any number… is you can just order one or two or three packs and “hey it’s only ONE pack, right…?” and then you order a few more…)… or perhaps I should pick up a pack of Copplestone Castings Bio-Chem Squad for some (rather heavily armed!) CDC specialists.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Oh, so much fun on the workbench these days… Maybe it’s time to clear it off and start fresh… the same old WW2 British Paras and Soviets are there (plus a few new ones that just arrived… West Winds was having a sale… curse them…) and a pile of Great War cavalry all based and primed and ready to go (shall I start with the Germans…? or the colourful Frenchies?)… Ancient Greek… assorted Modern–ish stuff… yadda-yadda same old stuff, who knows which I’ll do next…!?  

Vimy Terrain Update

I got a bit of work done fixing up the Vimy terrain over the weekend...

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I still have some work to do on these but I'm pretty happy with how they're turning out so far. 


I went with Das for the sandbags because I already had some on hand. I can see what people meant be "brittle" hopefully they'll be okay as long as I store and transport these carefully. It's not like it's store terrain that will be used daily by people who invested nothing in it and just trash stuff... 


As this is the reverse slope of the ridge I thought I might do some patches of grass - as this side wouldn't have been so churned up buy the shelling. 

I was wondering if I should varnish the whole mess... just to give it a little extra protection against wear and tear. It would use up an awful lot of varnish. The stuff I use on the figures - which is truely matt is pretty damn expensive. I've used wood flooring varnish on some terrain pieces, but though it is called "matte" it still has a bit of a sheen to it... hmmmmmm... 

Well... That's one square deal with... I have three more to go to finish fixing up the Fourth Division's operational area... and the rest of those each have at least twice as much trench to do... and I need to make some bunkers... Oh and then I have three more divisions operational areas to complete... and the Fourth division had the shortest distance to go (and thuse the least number of terrain squares!?) 

Aye-yi-yi... What have I gotten myself into!? At least I have anther five years until the 100th Anniversary (whereupon I plan to stage the entire Corps' attack - MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa....) 

French Foreign Legionnaires

A unit of the Legionnaires finally finished

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The figures are from Artizan Designs “March or Die” line. I’d picked up a couple of packs when they first came out – thinking I might use them on Mars (as I was excited about Space:1889 at the time). But didn’t get to painting more than two.

Earlier this year North Star Figures had a bargain bag sale of various different lines – the figures were ones that had cast fine, but others in the mould hadn’t and thus had to be melted down for re-casting leaving incomplete packs. The figures that had tunred out alright were put into bargain bags and sold at deeply discounted prices. Most of the bargain bags were very wide selections – a WW2 Bargain Bag” or a “Medieval Bargain Bag” – which might be useful if you didn’t have ANYTHING from that particular era and just wanted to pick up a few samples… not so useful when you’re trying to fill out a particular unit or army… They, however, offered a “French Foreign Legion Bargain Bag”… well being that specific, how could I go wrong there were ten figures in a bag – I have units of 15 – so I ordered three bags! Huzzah! These are all figures from said bargain bags and, as you can see, there’s a LOT of one particular figure (presumably that one cast very well while others in the same mould… not so much…)

I have a total of three units of Legionnaires. One unit in sun helmets, two in covered kepis. This is the first I’ve completed. I’m not sure when I’ll get to the others…. Perhaps when I get interested in colonial conflicts again.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

There’s a handful of modern-ist types on the workbench as well as a whole lot of Great War Cavalry!? The WW2 Soviets and paras and ancient Greeks still lurk in the back areas…

I finished up placing sandbags on the Vimy terrain square I was working on and covered the whole mess with dark brown paint – when I finish the detail painting I’ll post some more pics of that. 

Send More Cops…

Send More Cops…

Some boys (and girls!) in blue to deal with all sorts of modern menaces both mundane and otherwise: Zombies, Super Villains, Player Character Supernatural Investigators that like to “cowboy it up” a bit too much, y’know, whatever…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

These are all from Wargames Foundry’s Street Violence range.

And a little update on the Vimy terrain:

Messing around with Das – I tried both modeling it directly onto the terrain and also doing it in saeparate strips and breaking to length and gluing on when dry-ish… both seem to have advantages… I shall experiment more and maybe get these painted up over the weekend…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I am working on the French Foreign Legionnaires. They’ll probably be next. That and some terrain updates…

Some more Great War Cavalrymen arrived in the mail today (thanks Will!) as well as some more mordern US Soldiers in NBCD Suits (thanks Assault Group!) – expect to see some of those rolling off the line soonish! 

Revisiting Vimy Again

Anyone who’s been paying attention will have noticed my interests have shifted once again to the Great War. And that’s got me thinking about the  Vimy Project.   I’ve realized as I have only five years until the 100^th Anniversary it’s time to pick up the pace!

As I’d noted in a Revisiting Vimy post about a year and a half ago, The terrain needs some work; The trenches needed to be widened as I’d re-based all the figures and they simple wouldn’t fit into the trenches and also I’d never really finished them up the way I’d like.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

I’ve started working towards that and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming along.

This is the north east tile of the Fourth Division’s area of attack (so these are the German reserve trenches and communication trenches).

I’d thought of a couple different ways of doing the revetting, but had some balsa wood lying around and decided to experiment with that and it seems to work quite well.

This all still needs to be repainted… and I’d like to maybe add some patches of grass to this reverse slope of the ridge.

I’d also like to add a sandbag parapet – at least to the fire trenches, perhaps not the communication trenches as a way of distinguishing the two. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this – I need to do if fairly cheaply as I have a LOT of trenches to do. Casting (or buying cast) resin sandbags is out of the question. I bought some Das (a self hardening clay product) to experiment with. If anyone out there has any ideas I’d LOVE to hear them!

Stay tuned for more!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… well I haven’t started those French Foreign Legionnaires… and the impetus to do them may have faded by the time I get back to painting (I’m having some fun working on this terrain at the present) 

Great War Vickers MGs (and a Cop)

A few Machine-gunners for my Great War Canadians.

It's a grey rainy morning here is Saskatoon, so the pics aren't great... 

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These two teams are from Renegade Miniatures and are destined for the Third Canadian Division (grey patch). An entire brigade in that division is made up of Renegade minis.

These two teams are from Old Glory and are destined for the First Canadian Division (red patch).

The machine-gun companies had an arrow over their divisional patch, but I was feeling too lazy to bother with that last night… fiddly bits…

Here’s a comparison shot of the two manufacturers:

Renegade on the right. Old Glory on the left.

Another little preview of upcoming stuff:

I did one of the cops from Wargames Foundry , just to see what they look like. I don’t know about the shirt… Dark blue or light blue…?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

French Foreign Legionnaires, Modern Cops, Zombies… roughly in that order… maybe.... and hopefully a few more game reports! 

Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn Defends Rome

It’s been too damn long since me and the kids got some gamin’ in. So we threw down with some HOTT this afternoon.

After her crushing defeat at the hands of Isengard (hmmmm… I don’t’ seem to have done a game report for that one…?), the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn went traveling and found herself in Rome, which was beset by a host of evil smelling Orcish invaders. Determined to protect innocent peoples (and apparently Romans…) from evil Orcish invaders she took up their cause and led them in a defence of their lands.

FORCES

The Army of Rome (a little known province of the Roman Empire)

1x Aerial Hero (Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn)

1x Fliers (Harpies)

4x Blade (Legionnaires)

4x Spear (Auxiliaries)

The Orcs of Finn

1x Rider General (Warlord of Finn)

1x Behemoth (Cyclops)

3x Beasts (Wolf packs)

1x Warband (Orcs on foot)

5x Riders (Orcs on Wolves)

THE GAME

As ever (it seems) Keira was defending against her brother’s aggressions.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The Roman army with their Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn leader and allied Harpies.

Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn leading from the front as all Magical Faerie Ballerina Generals on Flying Rainbow Unicorns should.

Wolf packs in the woods. Unfortunately because they were in the woods, and the general was waaaaaaay down at the other end of the line, they didn’t end up doing much…

The rest of the Orcish army

Opening moves. Keira only rolled one PIP so she couldn’t even move her aerials (if she’d rolled 2 I’m sure they would have surged ahead on their own!) so the rest of the line moved up and passed them. The Orc army maneuvers to align with the Roman defenders.

HA! TWO PIPs! The Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn and Harpies shot past the Roman sloggin across the field below on foot and went straight for… THE BEHEMOTH!? Um… okay…

(actually I think she might have had three PIPs and brought the rest of the army up behind her...)

The first round of action was inconclusive. The Warband thrown back, the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn and the Cyclops were locked in battle!

The Orcs move and flank both ends of the line!

Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn and the harpies were thrown back…

Things looked like they were going to go really, really bad for the Romans. The Orcs rider general was at the end of the line and had his opponent flanked… +4 vs. +2 and a quick-kill… but the steady legionnaires threw them back, and then slaughtered another group of wolfriders and sent the remainder fleeing from the table!

At the other end of the line the wolves, too, were thrown back and in the subsequent bound were followed up and chased off the table edge!

The following bound the harpies (aided by the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn) destroyed the Orcish Warband.

All down the line Orcs were being thrown back.

On the following bopund Finnegan rolled the first of a steady stream of ones for his PIP rolls and used it to have his general fall back in line with the other wolf riders.

The Romans and their Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn leader pressed their advantage, surging forward once again. 

Not much happened, but on the following bound the Orc General once again flanked the end of the Roman line. Once again they were thrown back!

The legionaaires followed up and the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn, not wishing to follow the Cyclops into the woods flew over to lend a helping hand.

Now it was Warlord Finn’s turn to throw back his enemies in a desperate-against-the-odds-melee

This is just getting to be a mess… I can’t even begin to explain.

But it worked out for Finn – as the orcs took down a few Romans – trying to level the playing field a bit..

The Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn returned to fighting the Cyclops.

The Cyclops reeled and the ferocity of the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn assault.

Unable to engage the flying Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn, but not wanting to be followed up and pushed further back into his own units (and thereby crushing them!) the Cyclops moved forward again.

On the following bound Auxiliary spearmen were brought in on the Cyclops’ flank

…and was destroyed.

Finnegan finally got a decent PIP roll and with the center open decided to make an end run with three riders to try and capture the stronghold

But the Magical Faerie Ballerina on Flying Rainbow Unicorn (and her harpy friends)

… and they put and end to that idea.

And that was the end of the game.

The Romans had lost two units of Legionnaires, the Orcs of  Finn had lost their Cyclops, the warband, a pack of wolves and two bands of wolf riders…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Just finishing up base details on the Great War Canadian MG teams. I shouldhave them posted tomorrow sometime.