Painting Update - 6mm Space Marines

Hello All,

I have pretty well finished off my Epic scale Ultramarine army. This is both for the Fall of Cadia game that I am going to do at Cangames, but also I might play it in the Epic Armageddon tournament at Cold Wars in a couple of weeks. The original miniatures are long out of production, but there are a few companies that make good ones that can be used and it is clear what they are meant to be, so I got these from Vanguard Miniatures, they are listed as Novan Elites.


Full Army:

Doing things a bit backwards this time around and starting off with a full army shot. Pretty simple set up with the classic blue with red weapons of the Ultramarines. I can't paint the symbol on their shoulder pads so I just put a white dot. This is just about 3000 points which gives me a few options to mess around with. Some close up shots to follow.

Tactical Formations with Rhino Transports:

First up is the core regular type guys, 2 formations of tactical marines. Basically each stand is a half squad so half have missile launchers and half have flamers.

Terminators:

2 Formations of terminators, no transports as they teleport down to the battlefield in their heavy armor. The guy with black armor is a chaplain, and the guy with the small banner is a captain. Actually the captain looks allot like the model for Marneus Calgar the chapter master for this army which is pretty neat.

Assault Marines:

2 Formations of assault marines, they have jump packs and close combat weapons to bring some pain. Again with a chaplain and captain.

Devastators:

One formation of heavy weapon guys, lasers and plasma cannons, all kinds of fun stuff. Their transports have big guns so can only hold half a squad.

Whirlwind + Dreadnought:

Then of course there are the tanks. Here is a formation of artillery tanks that shoot lots of rockets. Also a single dreadnought type guy, he can be an upgrade to any unit. I think this was a freebie that came in a sample pack, pretty cool.

Predator Tanks:

Finally I have some battle tanks, a mix of predator annihilator and destructors. I forget which is which. You can only get 4 in a formation so 6 is a bit awkward, plus a single AA tank who can join any unit, at least have something to shoot at planes!


So there you go that is my current army for the Ultramarines. I have a couple of bits to add like a supreme commander base that is almost done and some drop pods but you get the idea. Now I just need some demons and chaos marines to fight for cangames!

Pledge Status, 2017:

Bought: 35 
Painted: 68
Total: +33

Thanks;
Mike

Heavy Gear - Shattered Peace - Downing Front - Game 2

Hello All,

Played a second round of the set of scenarios for Heavy Gear. Last time the CEF performed some recon on a force aournd a Maglev line and has been fighting them through the day. They were reinforced by a tank company, but are now being flank by a Hover Tank division. This is a much bigger game at 200 points. So the Northerns are now trying to escape from being encircled. They have to escape off the far board edge, the CEF has to assassinate their commander and breakthrough into their deployment zone.

Here is the initial set up, some Hover Tanks and a FLAIL spread out facing against a ton of Northern Gears on the other side. Lots of Grizzlies hiding out behind a hill, some Hunters in the middle, and Jaguars behind the trees. Pretty far away from each other for this some not much happened here other then moving forward.

End of turn one my flank showed up, some more Hover tanks with close assault packs, and some Hoverbike infantry. Sadly I mad a mistake and put them close together without thinking. I lost initiate, so they got a ton of guided munitions and rockets shot at them and all died. I kept moving up and trying to do some damage, but it is easy to get defensive bonus and re-rolls so kind of tough going. I got some damage on a Kodiak, and took some on my commanders tank.

Next turn I am still trying to make the best of it, am able bring down the Kodiak, and a ferret but not much else really. The Jaguars try firing into my tanks on the far side also with not much effect.

Things continue like that mostly next turn, the Jaguars are able to jump on the back of one of my tanks and kill it easily, along with a Hovercar on the far side. I tried to kill a Cheetah in the open with my MHT-95 but didn't get far with my grenade launcher, and he had ECM on so other weapons were totally ineffective.

Meanwhile the hunters fired some shots into the FLAIL in passing, the Norther tanks tried to kill my big tanks with the help of the grizzlies but couldn't quite get it done.

We ran out of time there, with not allot being accomplished really. Kind of a draw but decided to count it as a win for the North as the winner of this game decideds which scenario for part 2 of Fall Back, played with the survivors. So I suspect that is not good for me.

Thanks;
Mike

Painting Update - Heavy Gear

Hello,

Time for another small painting update. Finished off a few things for Heavy Gear for the current series of games. Not as much as I was hoping but not bad either!

Flail Infantry:

Got some new bases in so I was able to complete the 2 plastic stands from the kickstarter. Since I found the flails to be kind of cool I also got a third base of commando flails with vibro-blades. Not really sure if they are meant to be single based in the current game, but I think it looks cool this way.

Hover Tanks:

Now that I had bases I was also able to finish my two big hover tanks. As discussed before have had these sitting around primed for years and years so good to have them fully done finally! They are pretty cool I think, The new grey spray from GW made it rather easy.

Plastic Hover Tank:

One of the plastic tanks from the kickstarter. These are kind of inbetween the bigger ones and the light tanks. I went for the assault pack with the grenade launcher since I thought it might be needed even thou the rail gun looks allot cooler. The second one which is still not finished has that thou.

Hover Cars:

Also got a couple of H3-C recon Hover Cars done, needed to provide some support. These are new I did a small order last week to add a few bits and pieces.

Hoverbike Grell Infantry:

Finally a couple of stands of Hoverbike infantry. Just because they are so cool, can't really resist that. Big gold space helmets. I am not confident that they will be very good, but hopefully they will be good fun and at least annoying. If anything I kind of want more to make a full unit hah.

That all I got for now just a few bits for the next game in the Shattered Peace series.

Starting to be pretty happy with my CEF stuff now, there are a few more things I would like to add, plus replace my old light tanks. But they are kind of expensive really, suppose I need to paint some of the plastic frames, but I don't really like frames that much.

Anyway should have the next battle report up on Thursday.

Pledge Status, 2017:

Bought: 35 Bunch of packs of 6mm stuff for Epic 
Painted: 57
Total: +22

Thanks;
Mike

Heavy Gear - Shattered Peace - Downing Front - Game 1

Hello All,

Time for another Wednesday wargaming battle report! This week we are playing some heavy gear, decided to use some of the linked scenarios from the Shattered Peace book and just adjust them to the new rules to have some fun games. So the Earth forces are invading Terra Nova again, I am taking the Colonial Expeditionary Force (Earth), and Serge has the North.

The North army is mostly from the new plastics, but my Earth stuff is mostly older stuff as I haven't gotten around to painting many plastics yet.

Reconnoitre the Line:

Here is a shot of the set up. For the first mission the Earth forces are starting off with a Recon mission as they start to meet up with larger Northern forces. The landings weren't opposed. This one has the forces sent to check out a Maglev line (just used a train tracks). The Earth forces have to scan the badlands outpost, and the stone head close to the line, The Northern Guard have to Hold one of them (the outpost was chosen).

The CEF have a group of 2 light hover tanks, with a jammer bashan for back up, along with a group of frames and some flail infantry in support. The north have 2 fire support groups, one with a Kodiak and some hunters and a jaguar, and the other has some grizzlies hunters and a fire jaguar.

Turn one doesn't have a ton of action, I am going for some long range shots as my army is based on energy weapons so better to stay at longer ranges it seems. The North mostly double forward and fire of a few snaps.

Turn 2 the actions really starts to begin. I moved up the frames a bit, but mostly stuck to some rocky cover, and killed a couple of gears. The North reacted by taking out one of my frames. The original plan was to keep the jammer near my tanks to provide some extra defense. But despite winning at this point I thought the writing was one the wall, so I broke and made for the objectives.

Turn 3 I got the initiative again as the Northern commander was dead, and decided I best get the objectives now, and hopefully move the tanks out of danger. So they went way down behind the Outpost and managed to scan it. Meanwhile the jammer scanned the stone head. But this left them both exposed. The Kodiak then took his heavy bazooka to work on the tanks supported by some Hunters dealing heavy damage and I think eventually killing the group commander. I did what I could with the frames which was not much! But lost my commander to the Jaguar on the hill.

With all of my leaders dead, the North was able to get the initiative now, and those hunters jumped on my remaining tank in melee crippling it. I used my turn to move it away and fire a shot, and set the jammer guy into the back of the Jaguar on the hill to try my hand at melee but faield, and was then killed. The frames tried to take on the Kodiak, but he was not having it.

Next turn with all the leaders dead we just rolled off and the North retained the initiative, and used it to kill my tank. I tried to strike back with the Frames, but wasn't able to do that much, and the Flail infantry made a good effort. The North then mopped up most but not all of my stuff. Leaving 1 Frame and the infantry around.

After the dust settled, I had accomplished my recon objective, with heavy losses, and the North held the Outpost still. So It was a bit of a draw, or perhaps minor Northern victory. But at least I took out a couple of hunters a Jaguar or 2 and a Grizzly so not totally worthless.

Next week we will move on to the next scenario which is the main attack, and a game more then double the size. Not sure how many points we will be able to muster but will be a bit more anyway.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks;
Mike

Painting Update - Lots

Hello All,

Time for another painting update, got lots of stuff done this time around. Had a bit of a problem with bases, turned out I didn't have any left in a certain size so a few things are not 100% finished until the new ones come and I get that done, but not a big deal. Working on lots of projects at the same time now for some reason.

First up some 6mm Science Fiction stuff, expanding out and working on some more Epic armies.

Tengu Assault Rigs on the Right (Crisis Battle Suits) Raiju Heavy Assault Rigs on the Left (Broadsides):

Here is some more Tau stuff, just a bunch of batle suits. Some more of the regular ones, and some heavy anti-armor ones with rail guns.

Baku APC (Devilfish) and 1 Fujin Grav Tank (Ion Hammerhead):

Some tanks finished as well, 3 APCs to carry around the infantry from last time, and another tank to go with the last 3 as you need units of 4.

Tenko Assault Craft (Piranha):

Finally for the Tau a few smaller recon vehicles.

Novan Elite - Affray Company (Ultramarines Tactical Company):

Also started some Space Marines formations, so here is a unit of tactical marines with their transports.

Iron Hills Dwarves:

Moving on from the Epic stuff over to some fantasy stuff now. Here is a set of Iron Hills Dwarves for the Hobbit Strategy Battle Game. Bunch of angry guys with spears and beards.

Iron Hill Dwarf Captain and Banner:

They are bound to need some leadership so here is a captain and banner.

Dain Ironfoot:

Also finished off Dain Ironfoot both on foot, and mounted on his Pig of War! May recognize him from the last Hobbit movie. Actually this model is the main reason I have any of these guys, it is just so cool, must have for me. I have been hoping they would make this guy ever since I saw the last movie. The mounted version is not quite finished as I didn't have a big enough base left. But that is not to much.

Heavy Gear, Badlands Outpost:

Also completed another bit of terrain for Heavy Gear, the badlands outpost. Had this one for quite awhile as well. Turned out pretty easy to paint now, did the whole thins with a brown spray then just had to finish the ground add some dry brushing and details ect...

Heavy Gear, Flail Infantry:

Back to Sci-Fi again, here are some flail infantry from the new plastic starters. Again Not based so not 100% done.

Heavy Gear, Hover Tank:

Lastly a big hover tank for heavt gear. Have had this literally sprayed black and sitting around un finished for proably 7 or 8 years maybe. Been awhile. Recently GW has come out with a line of colored aprays which are really nice. So I have been able to finish of some stuff that I have been procrastinating on for while.

Pledge Status, 2017:

Bought: 30 Bunch of packs of 6mm stuff for Epic 
Painted: 47
Total: +17

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - Age of Sail

Hello All,

Time for another Wednesday wargaming battle report. This we we are playing some age of sail games again, once more using Trafalgar but with the sailing system from Fire as She Bears. On to the next scenario now, the Pursuit. We have chosen the Spanish to be running the gauntlet this time, while the British are chasing.

Here is a shot of the set up, the Spanish have all their ships on the west end of the table, and the wind is to the North. I have splits up my ships with 2 large third rates in the south, and the second rate and small third rate in the north. This time I upgraded some of my ships with chain shot. My plan is to break the masts of the escaping ship and then hammer it down.

Turn one we all move off into lines. The Spanish heading north. I decided not to put my far away ships on full sail thinking I would be able to make it, but the Spanish did go on full sail.

Next turn we are just about in range and start firing some shots. But due to range and not many ships shooting no to much happens.

Next turn the Spanish line slips behind my ships. I fire allot of chain shot into the rigging of their first rate, which is the ship I have to stop from getting off the far edge. But it is actually hard to hit up high so I get a few good hits but not quite enough luck. We got another round as the Spanish sailed past, this time went a bit better and I broke the Main and Mizzen masts. But the Spanish first rate has a real ton of guns, and a few of them got stern rakes, so Royal Sovereign took a royal pounding, and was left crippled. But the Spanish ship was now only able to limed along.

Sadly my other 2 ships were never quite able to catch up.

I almost got 1 more chance at the very end of the table, but that sneaky ship was just out of my firing arc. If I had put those 2 ships on full sail from the beginning I probably would have been able to get another chance. But that Spanish ship have a real crazy amount of heavy cannons, so I am not even confident they could have won really.

Still an interesting scenario with some hard choices to make. I would possibly say that aiming high is not set up exactly right as it never seems to be the right choice, but a bit better luck could have made a difference to so who knows really. Need to play some more games to try more different approaches. I set my ships up as far forward as possible, but maybe they would have been better off further back.

Next week we are going to try some Heavy Gear games, time for Earth to invade!

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - Operation Battleaxe - Total War Mission

Hello Readers,

So this past weekend we had the last day of the clubs Early War campaign. It was close to tied on the last turn, so we decided to just play a giant battle to close it off. Using the Total Victory scenario where you accrue points by taking objectives, we did 1250 pt armies each, the British had 5 players and 5 companies, and the Germans had 3 players with 2 of them running 2 companies.

I did a Panzer 3 company, and a Shutzen Company. We agreed to only have 1 platoon of 88s max so I didn't have any in my force, but the small anti-tank guns are just as effective, maybe even more so really.

Here we are early on, I had my 2 companies on this end where three objectives, the other 3 were spread out along the table. My plan was to use small disposable recon companies to capture the middle objective early, and the contest the British objective to deny them points. I figured we would time out, so it's important to get an advantage early. Otherwise my tanks and guns just grinded forwards.

As the battle progresses I am doing a good enough job of killing the tanks the started around me, starting to blow up allot of crusaders. We got a little bit of a lead in the early turns. But way down in the dark desert the British and pressing hard for out objective, and they have the center one as well, so it starts to turn pretty fast.

At this point I have destroyed the tanks facing me and solidly taken the center, and was starting to push on the British objectives. But elements from 2 other British tank companies are starting to head my way, which is distressing.

Here is a close up, lots of burning tanks around now.

As the sharks circled I had a critical turn where I failed 3 or 4 morale tests in a row, and my tank company evaporated. This left me with not so much to fight back with. Our center company, had broken or was close to breaking by this point as well, and things were not going well in the dark desert. As you can see in the above picture there are 2 or 3 people measuring how fast their tanks can shoot up my stuff!

In the end our forces were broken, and we had lost on points by a good margin. But I managed to break one British Tank company as I was going done, so we at least accomplished something!

Thanks;
Mike