Turning to the Dark Side (Games Workshop)

It had to happen sooner or later I suppose. For the past couple of months I've been lurking in the local games workshop and have increasingly felt like I was missing out. The shop is only a few steps away from my work office so all too convinient as well. Anyway, after a friend had inspired me with some fantasty/zombie gaming possibilities I was moved to have a go at some GW figures. I've always liked the Imperial Guard and the Valkyrie drop ship is awsome - if mega expensive. I didn't buy an army box in case I hated them and in the first hour of building the figures I was glad I didn't, I've since got better at putting them togther though. The cost has always put me off, but the availability of other players with other armies means you don't have to worry too much about making two opposing sides. Having said that my other prefered army was the Necrons, I can see me getting those when they are re-released.

I finished the first one today and quickly painted him as I would a WWII figure, quickly with a wash or two, dry brushed, varnished and job done. I'm not up to the standard of most GW figure painters but I'd rather get an army done and ready to game with.



I bought a Citadel carry case too. Compared to what you would pay for a case from a 'historical' type wargames manufacturer they are quite reasonable and very tough. Hopefully I'll be on the move with these figures quite a bit!

French Indian Wars (40mm scale)

I've had a few Prince of August moulds for a while and cast a few with mixed success. The line infantryman seems to be the easiest figure to cast, that and the grenadier. The others being a lot more tricky and hit and miss, especially cavalry. I had painted the French some years ago, inspired by the figures used in the games/books by Charles Grant. Henry Hyde's popularization of these figures, along with his Spenser Smith range has also been tempting me to do more with them and having attended the WD3 weekend last month and seeing the huge Imaginations game it tipped me over the edge to get these finished.

(Six 60x40mm stands of French Line)

I had the French knocking about in an old toffee tin and decided it was time to base them. I have mentioned to Peeler about doing more SYW period and so decided to base them on 60mm x 40mm so that they will lend themselves well to a DbN game.

I had another 6 bases worth undercoated and ready to paint up, which I have been painting as British line. First four finished this evening. The charm of these figures is the simplicity of the paint job. They look great with minimal detail and no weathering or washing, just paint basic colour and varnish with satin finish - job done!





I haven't yet come accross the Grenadiers I cast. These are much more detailed models than the line infantry but still not difficult to cast. The figure has is posed as throwing a bomb, which may look a bit odd when based togther but it's all about the 'make do'.

For Indians I had some Irregular Miniatures toy soldier style casts. I also have a few of the more detailed Indian figures but I prefer the 'toy' look of these. These are more true to Huron/Mohawk style of weapon and dress anyway. Not sure how to base these, I was thinking only two to a stand so they look very loose order? I could mix in a French Officer to these three and squeeze out 2 stands.

I also have about six cast Cavalry. They would fit onto the 60x40mm bases but I think I may need to make them slightly bigger if only to give them a good coverage of the table.

Once my overhaul of the wargames room is complete I'll begin melting more metal. I still have a couple of bars I got from Irregular Miniatures. I think they will last quite a while yet.

Battlegroup North Militaria and Wargames Show

This image isn't finished yet. I'm gradually turning it into what will look like an actual 1940's photo.

There were lots of games there this year compared to other years, not many traders unfortunatly but I got what I hoped I would, some more Plastic Soldier company Russians and the heavy weapons set too. I now have more than enough for a Rapid Fire batallion with support weapons. Also got a German 75mm infantry gun and crew to support my Valliant Miniatures Germans.

I coached two games of YCW Toy Soldier Rules with young gamers, two repeat coustomers from last year, and had a DbN game with Peeler. It ground to a draw with me having the advantage, we didn't get chance to finish it but would have been a close run thing.

Ayton Event - in pictures

Recent ebay aquisition

Very pleased to get this rare item from ebay for only about £4.00. Can't decide if I should get them out the box and painted. Will certainly have a look for more Airfix AWI figures.

Plastic Soldier Company Late War Germans (1/72)

Got these through the post from Drum and Flag this weekend. The first batch are based and undercoated and waiting for my next day off. The poses are almost identical to the Russians, it doesn't matter since they are well thought out. There are no 'waste' poses like you tend to get in other boxes of plastic figures so you end up using everything in the box, which makes it good value.

You also get an instruction sheet for making the figures up, though it's not really needed. This weekend the company launched their Soviet Heavy Weapons set, which I'm very keen to get hold of now and they also do a box of Late War British. They had those in the model shop but by the time I went back with some money they had gone. I'll get them soon though, already have some Ram Kangaroos made up as transport for a Canadian motorized battalion.

Plastic Soldier Company Russians (1/72)

There has been a White Elephant in the room of Db-Variants. A period that never before dared rear its head. Maybe it's the lemsip going to my head this week but I've thought, why not!? Being ill this week and needing a pick me up I had to buy some Plastic Soldier Company Russians in Summer Dress (1/72) without any real plan as to what to do with them. I began thinking of how to base them and knew I didnt really want to base them individually, once I looked at the basing options it occured to me that I could base three on a 40mm x 30mm base very easily and this suggested a look of a DbA/M/C/N/ACW base. At that point the plan for a DbWWII game started to form.

In the box of Plastic Soldier Company Russians you get three sprues, each sprue can make three rifle companies, an SMG company and a command stand if you base three figures to a base. So the box can make a battalion of infantry. In theory.

I've yet to work out any DbWWII rules but I can see that (plus) value points can be given in combat for such units as the SMG company when used as shock troops. The 'push back' rule could be very useful with these elements and when tanks are used the usual artillery mechanisms from other Db variants can be adapted and applied.

I can see dedicated WWII wargamers reeling in horror at the limitations that these rules would have on a WWII game but the advantages outweigh them when you are trying to make a fast to play very easy game to get into. There is a lot of scope to turn this into a join in demo game for shows or at times when there may be people wishing to get involved who haven't wargamed before.

Update!

Managed to get my first Soviet batch finished today. So here we have 1 command stand, 3 rifle companies and an SMG 'shock' company. This is basically what you get from 1 sprue, you also get a prone light machine gunner and loader but I didn't have much use for these, not a fan of prone poses as they seem to take up too much base space. (T34's are quick builds from Pegasus and the BA-64B is a resin model from Under the Bed Enterprises)