intro

A random series of articles on war gaming in 40K, FOW and other systems. The headings are, WiP; Conversions and models in various states of assembly. PiP; Paint works on various models. Mission Critical; scenarios or missions to bring a bit of a twist to a normal game. MiA; rules for units and characters that could/should/might appear in a game. Dig In; How to guides on making various types of terrain for different game systems. Sit Rep; Battle reports and after action reports on games played

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

Mission critical (FOW): Waldfeucht 21st January 1945

Waldfeucht


Intro:
Five days into operation Blackrock the British 2nd army is pushing into the Roer Triangle. Determine to resist the advance the Germans launch a counter attack with the 175th Infantrie Division with armoured support. The objective is to recapture the village of Waldfeuch,t defended by the 5th Kings own Scottish Borders (KOSB) with the 4th KOSB in reserve.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Thursday, November 8, 2012

WiP (FOW): Zvezda's T-26

Forward Comrades, (with the Zvezda T26 tank).

Monday, November 5, 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

WIP (FOW): off with his head

Ze germans are coming

For some reason I have got it in to my head it is time to do some conversions for FOW infantry. Partly because I picked up a box of Fallschirmjager as part of a deal in Gamers World in Dublin about the same time I saw sixtwentyeight's Forged in Battle Fallschirmjaeger conversions for his Ardennes
offensive.


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Sitrep (40k): back to the Ogre's lair part 5


Round5: Big guns never tire with Vanguard deployment
The enemy: Grey Knights led by Martin

Armies deployed

Coteaz
Inquisitor lord
2 Techmarines
1 squad of Grey Knight
4 squad of tricked out henchman
3 rifle men

Monday, October 22, 2012

Sitrep (40k): back to the Ogre's lair part 4


Round:4
Mission and deployment: The Emperor's Will with Dawn of War deployment
The enemy: Jiri playing Space wolves
(Jiri is the current top player in the Czech republic and he wanted pay back from the last game where the  Orks liberated the trophy from him in the last round of the last tournament in Prague)

The wolves come out to play

1 Lord on Thunder Wolf
1 Rune Priest
1 Thunder Wolf pack
4 big squad of Grey Hunters with Terminator Wolfguards attached
3 Long Fang pack
There goes the initiative

Thursday, October 18, 2012

WiP (FOW):what to do with those left over parts from the Plastic Soldier Company


Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) are making big waves in the world of the 15mm ww2 gaming. Cost effective plastic with a wide variety of options ticks a lot of boxes in the like column. So far I have picked up five different sets and have assembled three of them, the Panther, the stug and the T34 76/85. After assembling the tanks there usually is a lot of parts left over. Here are some of the things I have been thinking of using them for.

Boom

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Sitrep (40k): back to the Ogre's lair part 3



Round 3: Purge the Alien with Hammer and Anvil deployment
The enemy: Daemon played by Alexander

Enemy sighted

Fate Weaver
Lord of change
3 Daemon Princes
3 Flamer packs
2 Horror Packs

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sitrep (40k): back to the Ogre's lair part 2


Round 2: The Scouring with Vanguard strike deployment
The enemy: Zamil playing Dark Eldar

Dark Eldar sighted


Monday, October 15, 2012

Sitrep (40k): back to the Ogre's lair part 1 (another battle for Prague)


In March of this year the Orks when to the Ogre lair in Prague and walked away with 1st place. This time the Sisterhood of Steel (aka Sisters of Battle) were sent in to defend the title. With 6th in effect the Ogres opted to tweak the 6th ed rules a little,
-Only allow Blood Brother allies
-Disallow fortifications
-Disallow random terrain

They also introduced new scoring system for round which I did not fully understand. So instead the Sisters just focus on beating up anything that got in the way

Sisters deployed

Thursday, October 11, 2012

PiP (FOW): task force Butler reinforcements

Task Force Bulter gets some reinforcements from the painting table with jeeps and a troop of M8 scotts ready to roll.  
M8's on the Prowl

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

sitrep (40K); 5th Saxony Ball part 2


Round 2 Vs Grey Knights led by Henri
Grey Knight deployed

The enemy:
Coteaz
Inquisitor lord
4 Psybacks squads
3 Riflemen
2 Storm Ravens
2 large squads of Crusaders
Aegis defense line

Monday, October 1, 2012

Sitrep (40K): 5th Saxony Ball part I


Four days after the first 6th game and the Sisters of Battle rolled into Leipzig looking for their first 6th ed tournament.

The Sisterhood of Steel consisted on
Saint Celestine
Pater Row (priest)
3 squads of Sisters in rhinos
2 Squads of Dominions in Immolators

With Imperial Guard allies consisting of
1 Company command squad
1 Pysker squad
1 full strength platoon with Commissar.

Saint Celestine fails the first of what was to be many failed instant death saves

The Ball had some special rules for 6th edition since this was their first time running a sixth ed event,
1) no random terrain effects
2) No fortifications. Except the Aegis line which is deployed in your deployment step
3) Command trait is chosen before the tournament begins and written into your army list.
4) There were fifteen victory points for winning the primary mission with ten points for a draw and five points for a loss with +/-three victory points depending on damage inflicted

I liked the command trait rule, was indifferent to the random terrain and not keen on the fortification rules. So I guess this made it a balanced rules pack

Thursday, September 27, 2012

PiP (FOW) 6 -pounders, Luftwaffe Pioneers and Woods.

A couple of more units roll off the paint bench this week.

Battlefront Officer with Peter Pig radio operator

Monday, September 24, 2012

40K : Kick Starting 6th


My first 6th edition game saw Sisters of Battle facing Sisters of Battle in a battle for a Relic. After a bloody battle it was clear the Sisters had won.

One of the Sisters favorite targets → Cultists

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Sitrep (FOW): Battle of Rue Jarvis ->FOW dust up mission


Late August found Kampfgruppe O'Donnell back in action trying to stem the flow of the Allied advance. The Hauptman was given command of a reinforced Panzer Brigade company and order to seize the Jarvis Rue and stop the advance of Task Force Butler cavalry group.

Shermans versus Panthers somewhere in Eastern France

Monday, September 10, 2012

40K: NWG 2012 aftermath


Woah, the third NWG 40K event (aka, TLC2012 or Nigelcon) has come and gone. This year was probably the hardest to help organise to date. 6th edition was released just six weeks before the event forcing organisers to re-think the format of their game missions and how they run events for a new era. In addition, I got called up for the Irish 40K ETC team. The ETC was just two weeks before the event and included a self imposed 6th ed blackout, since the ETC was still playing 5th ed. Despite the challenges the event great success. Each year NWG tries to challenge the players and organisers to raise their game hobby and gaming wise. So this year what did we try out?

Terrain in Progress


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Sitrep (40K) The Dresden Manoeuvres part 3


Round 3 Vs Henri playing Daemons

Mission: Modified Annihilation. Only the core force counts for kill points. The HQ was worth two kill points, the other units were worth one each. 


The battlefeild


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Sitrep (40K) The Dresden Manoeuvres part 2


Round 2 Vs Miak (tournament organiser) playing Orks

Mission: Modified secure and control. 2 buildings (count as objectives) where placed in the centre equal distance from the table edge and each other.(this mission caused a lot of noise on the forums and with most folks considering it unbalanced)


The battle feild

Monday, August 27, 2012

Sitrep (40k) The Dresden Manoeuvres part 1


Late May found the Panzer Waaagh engaged in the Dresden Manoeuvres tournament. Going into the event I had reservations about attending for a couple of reason. (1) it was a very small affair with just 12 players (in the end only eight actual showed-up). (2) the event was just two weeks after the Leipzig Ball which was another 40K event with a bigger field. (3) The Manoeuvres was the Hobby Halle's first ever event the rules reflected this and had some unique tournament conditions which upset regular tournament players, like the concept of a core force of a HQ with either 2 Troop units or 1 Troop and 1 elite units. As well as risky type missions. But all said and done it was an event in Dresden and these needed to be encouraged.

The battlefeild


The Panzer Waagh had to be modified to meet the tournament requirements with one wagon dropped to add a large mob of boyz to bulk to up the core force which were not allowed transports.



Thursday, August 23, 2012

WIP (FOW): Task force Butler, AKA task force A


The first American outfit rolls on to the painting table. Battlefront have been giving the Americans a lot of attention recently and I have been bitten by the bug. Task Force Butler is drawn from the Task Force A list from Turning Tide book. With a few tweaks it can morph into a cavalry reconnaissance, tank destroyer, tank or light tank company depending on the need. So as a first list it is pretty flexible.

Task Force Butler

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Mission Critical (FOW): Tiger hunting on the Eastern Front


Design notes:
Based off “Defence of the Vistula Bridgehead” by Chris Stoesen in the Two Fat Lardies
2012 Christmas special. The article was in turn based on the memories of Lieutant Evengi D Moniusko “from Leningrad to Hungary: notes of a Red Army soldier”

Overview:
Summer 1944, The Red Army has established a bridgehead across the Vistula River. The German army commits its heavy Tiger tanks to break down the bridge head. Between them and the river stands the 1645th Tank Destroyer Artillery regiment.




Monday, August 13, 2012

40K: 40K in 40 countries?

Not much hobby work is getting done these days, the paint table stands strangely idle, clean and orderly. The Boyz are busy sharpening their choppas and loading extra dakka onto the wagons in preparation for the ETC2012. The choice of Panzer Waaagh of Horde Waaagh seems against the flow of popular Ork Kultura. I see their point, in defense of the Panzers in five event they have got 3 1st, 1 2nd and 5th while the horde got 1 st , 2 3rd and a couple of low scores. Which would you bring to the biggest scrap of the year?

Why 40K in 40 countries? Poland will be the eleventh country I have rolled dice in. only 29 countires left to get to play 40K in 40 countries :)

Sisters Storm Salzburg Austria

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Monday, August 6, 2012

MIA (40K): Extraordinarius Armamentum of the Imperial Guard


design note: Flicking through the 6th book it seems 40K is going back into the narrative driven game of the Rogue Trader era. Not sure what it means for the tournament types but for the narrative types it should be good times. Below are some special equipment to the Drookian Fen guard character

Pipe Down

Monday, July 30, 2012

PiP (40K): Drookian Fen Guards

First platoon of Drookian Fen guard based off conversion with GW cadians and Victoria miniatures Moss guard kits.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Monday, July 23, 2012

WiP (40K): Tread bare tanks

I am a bit keen on Forge world. When they were doing their guard range I was a bit fanatical.  Since they have moved on to the Marine range my wallet gets a badly needed break.  My current go-to tournament list is a Wagon Waaagh which includes a Kill blasta battle tank which counts as a battlewagon. Unfortunately individual resin track links, while they look cool, fall apart quicker than my no spending pledges. After the fourth time gluing them back on I decided to strip them for something more robust for game play.

The Big Red Un

Thursday, July 19, 2012

PiP (FOW): What the Flak?

Hmm, less than two weeks after I finish my first Russian aircraft is ready for FOW, two AA platoons clear the painting bench for ze Germans.

The dreaded furniture vans takes aim

Monday, July 16, 2012

Thursday, July 5, 2012

PiP (40K) Maldred the deceiver and digging in

I am trying to ignore the existence of 6th edition 40K until after the ETC but considering a chaos marine sorcerer and some max-mini fortification have infiltrated the workbench my efforts may have been in vain

Maldred the deceiver scourge of Ptios


Monday, July 2, 2012

WiP (FOW): flyers

Nearly finished the zveda Stuka and IL2 for FOW at at 4 euro a pop what can go wrong :)


Monday, June 25, 2012

Mission Critical (FOW): The Crossroads, France late 1944

Introduction
Confusion reigns in US Army command. What was thought to be a small probing attack by the Germans is turning out to be a major offensive. It is uncertain where the Germans have broken through and in what strength. Without any solid information a scratch built taskforce has been put to get and order to hold a vital cross roads until the situation in clearer. Reinforcements are on the way but it is not clear when they will arrive or where the enemy will attack from.

Luftjaeger advance on a french village overwatched by an 88.

Monday, June 18, 2012

MIA (40K): For crimes against the Emperor part III

It is the twilight of the fifth edition of 40K.
Rumours race through the ether.
Some claim the Emperor has died, others say he has risen.
Countless thousands hold their breath waiting for arrival of a new era.
So why on earth do a post about a unit from a soon to be outdated edition??

(Author unknown)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

PiP (FOW): Friendlies?

Sonder kommando panzer brigade150 from Forged in Battle roll off the paint table. Painting wise there is no new methods. The decals, from Dom decals, were applied trying something new

Method:
Paint the vehicles as normal.
Prime the decal area with Vallejo decal softener. Particularly, if the area has a lot recesses and raised areas.
Apply the decal.as normal
Give another light coat of decal softener.
Once dry, lightly dry brush the decal to blend into the background.
Then weather the vehicle as normal.

Ersatz M10 (panther in disguise)

Forged in Battle halftracks flank a Battlefront halftrack

Battlefront models tend to be a bit bigger but Forged in Battle models have a certain style

Disguised Stug

Volksgrenadier platoon ready for priming

Skytrex and Peter Pig models form a test platoon for some late war camo schemes

Battlefront AA platoon get ready to take allied air craft


Zveda flyers are on their way (nose cone and cockpit will be painted separately)

Not bad for 3 euro