New Force on Force stuff

I feel like I've been neglecting my wargaming recently. So, newly refreshed after a holiday to Centre Parcs I've been getting on with painting some Ceasar Miniatures moderns for a few games of Force on Force. I dug out these that I bought a while back and had a few undercoated already. I was inspired by Roger's British that he had been painting recently and I thought I'd have a go at copying his painting style of drybrushing on black undercoated figures.

 

I've not quite managed to paint these as well as Roger's but they look quite effective from a distance. The scenery is by Last Valley. I picked a whole load of this great desert scenery up from Vappa last month and I'm looking forward to using it.



The Modern US Army box has some awesome figures in it, there is a great sniper pose. The 'Militia' box has a mix of Arabic and African militia, this is ok as you get to field two different opponents from the one box but you end up with limited poses. You could game scenarios from both the Enduring Freedom and Day of the Rangers supplements from the Force on Force range of books with just these two boxes. I've ordred the Urban Resisters box too just to make up the numbers for the 'Arabic' side. I've also ordered a box of modern Germans in desert gear, which will give a good representation of a NATO force, especially if I get the British and French later. (The French come randomly with Chinese special forces?)

I also picked up this Iraqi T72 from a local shop that was selling off their 1/72 scale pre painted diecast tanks. This one is by Forces of Valor. Hope to win a few ebay bids on various other bits this week.

Love this picture!

Just had to post this. I bought a book on the history of wargaming at Vapnartak this month and it's making great reading. I've always loved the classic wargames books, even if the rules are a bit ropey sometimes. I've always wanted to make a demo game with traditional figures and rules, scenery etc. Hopefully someday!

28mm Middle East

Hoping to play Force on Force with these 28mm Israeli soldiers. These were bought at Vapnartak years ago, one of those 'because they look nice' purchases that you never do anything with. I didn't have a suitable rule set until I recently bought Force on Force but they lend themselves so well to it I had to paint them up. I tracked down the maker and they are by Mongrel Miniatures, who now distribute through Newline Designs. The same company makes Syrians (which I now have 20 of) and PLO to put against they Israelis. They also do Russians/Afghans and various NATO troops and Pakistanis interestingly. Probably for Black Hawk Down scenarios (the Americans were in part rescued by a Pakistani UN force) That and modern day Afghan scenarios.

Hope to play a game soon so will be racing to get the Syrians painted in the next week or so. I have just won a whole 28mm middle east village that I saw on ebay too so just need some desert shrubery and I'm done!

Here are some pics of the village:

YCW Christmas Do

This festive weekend was the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers Christmas 'do'. Myself, Richie, Peeler and Roger played a rather unexpectedly protracted Zulu war game using DbC (Colonial) rules, designed by our friend and fellow YCW'er Alex Testo.

The game lasted a good couple of hours. The Zulu's steadily advanced on the main British lines and were held back for some time until a flanking Zulu force arrived and forced the British to spilt the line. Despite heroic actions from the British skirmishers and one 'Hooray Henry' NCO the Zulus won grinding down the British lines. Surprisingly ineffective fire from the British infantry and artillery let the side down despite heavy Zulu losses. The remaining main body of British were eventually surrounded, leaving only remnants of baggage and a few skirmishers to escape.

Richie and Roger fieled the Zulu impi's while myself commanded the British, with much needed direction and umpiring from Peeler.

I very much enjoy playing colonials in the Db format, this one works particularly well and simulates the nature of this type of warfare really well without getting bogged down in heavy use of charts and tables. It's very easy to loose with the British if you don't pot enough of the natives early enough on in the game. A well organised Zulu formation crashing into the lines is usually the beginning of the end for the British, as happened here after a lot of reforming and repelling the Zulu attacks.

More of Alex's Db variants here: http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/

Be a Man Among Men

Quick pic of my Rhodesian Selous Scouts in 20mm. Light Infantry to follow. Not quite finished yet, need varnishing in matt and groundwork to do.

First 28mm Winter German

I have eased off on the amount of dry brushing I do and it seems to look a lot better. This is the first use of some scenic snow I bought at Newcastle with these Artizan Germans and US Infantry. Looking forward to doing some of the Americans next. The fake snow works really well and even has a glisten to it.

Fiasco II Leeds Wargames Show

Poiniantly the show was in the Saville Conference Centre opposite the Armouries. Sir Jim had passed away the day before so it was moving to be in the place dedicated to him. There were large photos of him and a book to sign in his memory, all tastefully fitting to a great man.

The show was neatly set out with some interesting games. Nothing major but a good couple of hours were spent. I attended with new wargaming pal Roger. We had in tow our WAG's who having had a quick look in and upon realizing it was £4 to get in promptly left to explore the shoe shops of Leeds for two hours. So we were left to do our research without hindrence. 

There seems to be a lot of new basing products out these days which is great, many a good figure paint job is ruined by poor basing so it was good to see what's available. My basing will certainly improve from now on.

This game above really made me want to paint up some Greeks! 

These guys looked awesome! Didnt look at the game much, I think it was a Black Powder game in 15mm.

Some chaps had made a Db variant for the Mayan wars and were using Revell plastics, which en masse looked effective enough. Lots of mob vs mob battling though with few differing troop types. They were using a desert camo cotton sheet as a table cloth, which again looked cheap and effective. 

A good friend of mine fought in the Malayan Emergency and it's great to see that Britannia, now owned by Andy Grubb of Grubby Tanks has a range of figures for this conflict. They seem to be marketed towards the new Force on Force rules players looking for small groups of modern figures. I do have the rules and was tempted but ended up getting a few packs of 20mm Rhodesians from these people: http://www.underfireminiatures.com

Very nice they are too with very well proportioned figure styles and nice accurate sculpting. Just have to wait for them to release the ZNLA figures and find an Alouette kit from somewhere and we have a skirmish.  Pics of those to follow once I've painted them.