Inventory - Flames of War

So I decided I needed to reorganize my Flames of War collection a bit. I have them all stored in a bunch of the foam trays from battle foam, but they have gotten all mixed up and the various armies are all spread over a ton of different trays. This makes it hard to find anything. Since I was doing that I thought I might as well set each one up on my coffee table for a quick Picture so we can see how much of a collection I really have now.

This collections has been built up over about 5 years, the first army I painted was used in the Bagration campaign which was back in 2009-2010, so this is over about 5 years. I don't remember the order they were done in so I will just group by Nationality.

German:

78. Sturm Division:

So this was my first army, most of the stuff is from a big army box set, but various things were added in. One stand is missing from one of the infantry platoons, couldn't find it but I am sure it will turn up. For some reason this army always ends up with a stand missing from time to time. I think the plane is one of the rare things that I have never even used in a game ever really.


Afrika Corps:

This is my Afrika Coprs guys, there are 2 armies here really, an armored car company, and an infantry company. It may seem that there is an extra command car, I found the other 2 that go with him after. I always used the infantry as a recon company guys so they have some cars to ride around in. This was for our early war desert campaign back in 2010-2011. Had allot of fun with these guys need to get them out again.

Afrika Corps, Panzer:

Later I did a small company worth of desert themed Panzer IIIs, was for a mid war tournament and I wanted to do something different. I had not much mid war stuff at the time. This is a smaller one as I could mix in the above army for support. This one was done in 2012 so a bit more recent I guess.

189th Sturmgeschutzabteilung:

So this is just a Stug company, specfically the one which fought with the 78. Sturm Division. I put the right sticker on the tanks, and even got a special set of tokens made! This probably is my favorite German army I guess. A bit smaller as I was just taking the already done supports from the previous army, also they are kind of expensive points wise with the riders.

Kampfgruppe Bake:

Last up for the Germans is a Heavy Tank company, I went for the Bake force due to having a mix Panthers and Tigers, also I happened to have the Bake model around from a tournament prize. We got best Russian at Cold Wars one time with Russians I think. The green tigers were done way back with my Sturm Company but I forgot them so I just tossed them in here.


British:

Ghurkas:

These guys were done for our Infantry Aces campaign, not sure when that was. So it is a smaller army. I have a few things I intended to add but never got around to painting. Still I thought these guys came out pretty cool looking.

Polish:

Cavalry: (not going to try and spell it in polish hah)

So there guys were done for a series of Early War club days, or maybe just 1 I forget. I was aiming for the cavalry army which can also dismount. I got the infantry done but never got around to painting the mounted guys. But I do have them in a box so hoping to get around to it some day. The tankettes have had a hard life despite not being played much so they are a bit beat up. The infantry is all from Forged in Battle rather then Battlefront.

Russian:

Heavy Tank Company, IS-2s:

The only Russian army I have is an IS-2 company. I did a quick job of these to play in a  doubles tournament with Duncan one time, he had some Russian Engineers to add in. This was just after the new version was released. Never played them much other then that, maybe never again actually. I really wanted to have tank riders but they were sold out when I was doing these.

American:

American Tank, Normandy:

This was my first American army, I think this was my second army but not sure. Anyway they are all the Normandy period tanks plus an Armored Rifle Company. I never got around to painting most of the half tracks for the infantry, just one I used for something else. Always had wanted to add another platoon of infantry as well so I could do an Armored Rifle Company, but never got around to it.

Beach Assault Company:

These guys were done for our Normandy campaign which was last year I think. It occurs to me now that I also have the landing craft done for these guys, but they are in a different box so I forgot them. Any way they are a fun army, again small as I took some supports from other armies.

American Tank, Lorraine:

So for some reason I decided to do a second American Tank company with the later model Shermans. Mainly I felt that I could do a much better job and they would looking better with the decals I was doing by this time. I think it's true they do look allot better. Still adding to this company as it turns out, the Jumbos and Abrams are new obviously.

American Paratroopers:

Last but not least we have my favorite army of all, the American Paratroopers. I was aiming for 101st at Market Garden, so they are painted as having the later model uniform. I used a bunch of fancy bases from Kerr and King so they look cool, and this is also probably my biggest army. I have used these guys in a bunch of tournament and a campaign and been quite successful with them. I enjoy playing infantry armies and these guys can still attack which is fun. The main advantage is the big infantry teams, and the artillery which is very cheap for 6 guns.


So there you have it that is my entire Flames of War collection, 12 armies mainly German and American. It is allot easier to add in an extra company if you don't have to paint all of the support weapons again so I guess that is why there is such a focus. Not to bad if you ask me hah!

I would like to add in SS Panzergrenadiers and a Panzer IV company at some point and maybe other things, but 15mm painting has slowed down allot fo me as 28mm is more fun for now.

Let me know if you like this kind of army showcase post or not, maybe I can do more, or not!

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - Samurai with Pike and Shotte, Cangames Trial Game

So finally got a chance to try out a game of Pike and Shotte using the Samurai rules PDF they have posted on their web page. But I didn't add in some of the stuff like duels and ect.. This is kind of similar to what I plan to do for cangames, but there will be some changes to the scenario and set ups, but same miniatures / terrain basically. I think I may want to go for a bigger table actually.

We played the game in 15mm scale, but I decided to just use the ranges suggested for 28mm straight up. I am still on the fence about this, may half them, or may not.

So anyway we basically had a battle with some Takeda forces attacking down a river to the plains between two towns, and the Tokugawa forces on the other side. I am using the stuff I had painted as Useugi for the Takeda, and the dial they are using have the wrong mon. My intention is to get new dials made, but can't paint a whole new army for every battle!

For interest here are the 2 army lists that we used:

So basically the Tokugawa have more better Ashigaru, and the Takeda have more better Cavalry. I just used the lists from the PDF but I think I will cut the special rules a bit, maybe have the basic Samurai just as tough fighters and brave, possibly get rid of the Hatamoto all together, or just give them Elite status extra but otherwise the same.

So on to the game, here we are after my first turn, I took the Takeda force.

I decided to have an infantry brigade and a cavalry brigade, the Tokugawa put their Samurai and some Ashigaru on the west of the river, and Ashigaru with pikes and guns on the east. So I decided it would be prudent for my cavalary to cross the ford and double up on the eastern division. Hoping to block them from cross the bridge until later.

The Tokugawa got some good command rolls and were able to bring most things up 3 moves, so a bit faster then I had hoped, and one of me cavalry units started taking some fire.

On my turn I advanced some Samurai archers to fire and defend the road, while Obu's Red Regiment crossed the ford. This was the high point basically when my 'plan' still seemed like a good idea.

The Tokugawa advanced all along the front and things became difficult. I think I lost one unit close to the river, and my Samurai foot unit which is being charged by the Tokugawa Hatamoto were driven back in disorder. But as long as I could punch through those guys I could split the line and it still seemed ok. But the Ashigaru gunners were now firing across the river so that quckly started to hurt as well.

On my turn I charged the enemy Hatamoto with my leading cavalry unit, but lost! My guys at the edge of the fancy town were holding out thou. I had some not so great command rolls so didn't get allot of moves. Also I am kind of jammed up into a meat grinder.

Things kind of continued this way for awhile, I fed a few units to the Hatamoto, and eventually got them to shaken. But casualties were starting to build up on both sides really.

At this point we both started pulling back some beat up units to try and rally a bit to stave off defeat.

This pike armed ashigaru had now crossed the river, and sent in a charge against my guys, sending a few more units off.

I had sent my Hatamoto unit off across the ford to relieve some pressure from the gunners, and try to get a few easy kills maybe. They broke one unit on the charge with no problems, but the Samurai archers drove them back in disorder.

At this point we decided to call the game, more then half of my units were broken or shattered, the Tokugawa were one away, but I never really had any unit the could break one of theirs. So I figure it's a minor victory for the Tokugawa force, they won but not decisively.

The main things I learned leading up to the con is that I probably want to go for a bigger table to accommodate 6 players, and obviously will have 3 commanders per side. Also seems a good idea to trim down the special rules a bit to make it a touch easier, perhaps a bit less terrain or at least spread out more. But it looks good so I want to use it hah.

Really like how Pike and Shotte worked out, seems perfect for this kind of a battle, the weird basing I ended up using (100x25mm), seemed good as well. Appreciate any thoughts/suggestions that people have.

My game for the convention is going to be loosely based on the battle of Mikatagahara.

Thanks;
Mike

Painting - WWPD SAGA Painting contest entry

Well finished up my entry for the painting contest over on the WWPD Forum. You guys should head over and check out the other entries as well!

And as usual let me know what you think.

Paints Used for Vajarzi:

Foundry:
Flesh Shade, Flesh, Flesh Light

GW:
Leadbelcher, Dwarf Bronze, Mithril Silver, Kantor Blue, Khorne Red, Wazdaka Red, Asurman Blue

Liquitex:
Black Gesso, Black Ink

Army Painter:
Soft Tone, Electric Blue, Tunic Green

Vallejo:
Reflective Green, Choclate Brown, Deck Tan, Dark Sand, White, Black, Ivory, Dark Grey, Wood Grain, Orange Brown, Flat EArth, Neutral Grey, German Camo Beige, Smoke, Japanese Uniform

Also finished off a few more stands of Samurai so I am gonna sneak that on here as well.

Pledge Status 2015:
Bought: 132 
Painted: 57 (1 Samurai Command, 4 Vajarzi)
Total: -75

Thanks;
Mike

Painting - Long Weekend Push

So over the long weekend I tried to getting some good solid painting time in and push to get caught up on things a bit. Managed to finish off another couple of tanks and get some more Samurai ready.

First up here are the Samurai:

Some more re-enforcements for the Takeda side, 3 units of Samurai with yari (spear), and 1 of Ashigaru with naginata (glaive, probably will just count as spear), and a commander. I also have another 4 units just about finish which are just being based. I had to paint new command and a couple of extra guy for some of these so took a bit longer then just straight up re-basing.

In theory the next thing I need to add is a unit of Samurai with nage-yari (pikes), I think have the models for that but they are bad ones so not sure about it. But I am just about at the minimum number of units I require for my game, I just need to add a commander to each side, and I am hoping to make a set of Teukiban (messenger) counters for each side, and made some head taken ones as well. But that is more of a polishing thing so am pretty well set up for this game now. Time to really start pressing some Russians out! Also there is a painting competition on the WWPD for a saga unit so I want to enter that and force some more people to look at my stuff.

The other thing I got finished was the 2 Creighton Abrams I picked up on impulse. This is basically a bit of light procrastinating if I am completely honest, but he has a good game affect also I guess, the thing I like is a platoon of tanks he joins can make a storm trooper move which I feel has a good synergy with easy ride.

In this set you get 2 special Thunderbolt Shermans that he can ride around in, 1 76mm late, and one easy eight. They look pretty cool, and the transfers are neat so fair enough. At the worse this would make a cool company commander, but I think he is better off in a jumbo, but good to have options.

The 76 has plastic tracks which are great, the easy eight gets metal ones but they are a new sculpt I guess so they were actually not bad at all. As before the commander is magnetized so it can't break off, really important for this guy as he is standing up really tall.

I also have a set of armored mortars half done, so the distraction project continues. But I have had the mortars unopened for probably 3 years so not bad to get them done.

Paints Used:

GW: Chaos Black Spray, Leadbelcher

Vallejo: Black, White, US Field Drab, Kahki, Kahki Grey, Brown Violet

Liquitex: Urber Shade

Foundry: Flesh Shade, Flesh, Flesh Highlight

Mig: Light Rust Effect

I ran out of the stick I was using for weathering the tracks so no of that sadly, may add later if I remember.


Pledge Status 2015:
Bought: 132 
Painted: 56 (2 Tanks, 2 sets command and samurai)
Total: -76

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - Club Day DBA

So the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers had one of our DBA days so I figured I would give a few reports of how I got on. I decided to give my Marian Romans a go, since we were doing the Classical Period. I went with 8 legions (blades), 2 mounted (cavalry) including the general, and 2 skirmishers (Psioli). Looking in the pictures maybe I missed an element and only had 7.

Game 1: Vs Tod Ah not surfe what army he was playing now but had 1 knights a bunch of cav an elephant and some support troops

I was the invader so the enemy put down 3 ploughed fields and a woods, it didn't rain so the fields were just open terrain. I put down a big line of legions with skirmishers and cav on the flanks and waited for all the mounted to come and kill me. In an early battle I was able to push a light horse off the map.

The lines just kept marching closer.

Dice rolls turned very well for me then, the knight element ended up tieing my blade, which in the new version means that they die. This is a bit of an odd result as the knights would usually crush the blades. I think I got a cavalry due to rolling double. I my turn I was able to flank the whole in the line that had been created to secure a win.

Game 2: Vs Nick Again not sure what army this was, but based around 2 elephants, a bunch of pikes, and a scythed chariot

This time I was the defender so I put down the terrain I brought with me, since I find the cut out felt looks really bad and makes for a worse game. 2 fields and 2 woods this time, and no rain. I deployed the same way but had a forest for my scouts to hang out in this time.

The line marches up, I was happy with my set up since my line was longer so I just sat around and let them come.

When things got close I launched my flanking units. The skirmisher was easily killed by a mounted unit so that one was a bad plan.

The block of pikes and elephants started to crush in and try to get some kills. I lost all the fights but they have no quick kills against my legions so I was just forced back.

Eventually I lost a legion and the enemy skirmishers came out to trap my mounted guys.

But I my turn I killed an elephant so doing some damage back.

But then the pikes killed a bunch of legions so a loss for the Romans.

Game 3: Vs Duncan He was playing a successor army I think same kind of idea with pikes an elephant and some other stuff.

Here I was the defender again and the terrain was a forest a gentle hill and a field. No rain again so the field continued to do nothing.

I set up the same way so we had the same thing developing again with the smaller line advancing in and me trying to flank it.

I made an early flank attack close to the edge and almost had my general pushed off the edge, but managed to roll out of it, and killed an element.

Then I charged in the line with everything flanked, this was looking good!

But it went way worse then expected, all my guys got pushed back and I lost one.

Then they came through the whole and flanked my line losing me some legions and then I lost the game. This was a really fun one, went back and forth a few times. Looked like I was going to win then loose and so forth.

Game 4: Vs Brian Ancient British lead by Boudeica

I was the invader again and the British put down a hull for and a woods. I decided to invade from that edge, for some reason.... This really boxed me up into a corner. The British sent in a group of light horse on a big swing around, while the warbands pushed forward. I figured I was most likely screwed at this point.

Things got going really fast this time, the first round of warbands attacked, my legions were fighting well thou so no real effect, meanwhile the light horse was really getting around to attack my camp.

On my turn I attacked the light horse and got one, but I think I lost a legion to the pressing warbands.

This caused the other light horse to rethink, and the scrum by the fort continued to rage. I lost some legions but it started going more to my liking as the line of warbands got broken up, also the low frontage kind of worked out as they were forced to spend most of the time fighting cavalry they can't kill easy. So seems like a blundered into a good plan.

Eventually I broke through and killed a few more warbands to secure a win.

Game 2 didn't count for the record for me so I was at 2 wins and a loss, I did pretty good but didn't win. I still am finding the new version better, but it seems like allot of the terrain that gets placed doesn't do anything and I am not sure if I like that. Also I think it is more fun with real terrain so I would like to see us move away from the felt circles a bit. But not a huge deal I guess.

Thanks;
Mike

Painting - Sherman Jumbos

So a few reinforcements to my American Tanks, getting ready for our campaign in April. 4 Jumbo Shermans, I found this to be a pretty good set, the tank hulls are great, no casting problems, and you can really see the thicker armor plates and rough welding if you look close which I thought was neat. But on the unfortunate side the tracks are metal instead of the very nice plastic ones. The metal ones had a not so nice cast but it's not the end of the world.

Have had problems in the past glueing them with super glue, but I was able to use 2 part epoxy this time which worked perfect. Really recommend that for battlefront tanks.

The turrets are magnetized with the magnets in the set, but I also magnetized the tank commander. I have been having problems later with those guys breaking off as the heads stick a bit above the top of the foam trays I store them in. So since this guy is on a magnet no problem!

The stars and words are the included decals, was a pleasure to work with them since they were luckily the blue paper ones, so much easier then the white paper kind!

The Jumbos have a very high front armor but it counts as the lowest armor, so you can use them to easily bounce a few incoming hits. My commander can also be in a Jumbo, so he can join a platoon in the shooting phase allowing me to bounce 2 hits, hopefully saving the expensive easy eights from taking damage. With the added bonus that the commander is hard to kill.

Paints Used:

GW: Chaos Black Spray, Leadbelcher

Vallejo: Black, White, US Field Drab, Kahki, Kahki Grey, Brown Violet

Liquitex: Urber Shade

Foundry: Flesh Shade, Flesh, Flesh Highlight

Mig: Light Rust Effect

I ran out of the stick I was using for weathering the tracks so no of that sadly, may add later if I remember.


Pledge Status 2015:
Bought: 132 (11 Jumbo Tanks, Easy Eights, Abrams)
Painted: 52 (2 houses, 4 Tanks)
Total: -80

Thanks;
Mike