2019 Retrospective

As 2019 nears its end, I thought I'd take a look back at my successes in this hobby. This blog is largely a way for me to self-motivate - to get things painted so they can take pride of place here as well as on the tabletop. In that, I think it's succeeded. I started university this year and so had to significantly tighten my hobby budget. Good bye Games Workshop, and bar a few miniatures from Russia (cheap!) good bye to 28mm altogether. This year I've moved to largely small scale gaming (15mm and below), including my first forays into 6mm and 10mm. In fact, the bulk of the year has been taken up by painting 6mm, initially with WW1 and then onto the Napoleonic Wars. Late in the year I really threw myself back into 15mm with By Fire and Sword, my favourite wargame of all time. The photos below cover what I've been working on in the past few weeks and what I'll be working on in 2020. I hope you enjoy!

Kings of War - Abyssal Dwarfs
I received some of The Russian Alternative's "dwarfs of fire canyon" (chaos/abyssal dwarfs) this month. These models are really cheap (thanks Russia!) but of a really fine quality. I'll be using them for Kings of War. Probably only aiming for around 1500 points as I'm not interested in painting a million 28mm models anymore!!!

The Russian Alternative's Khadai (the big guy) and some dwarf infantry. Great resin models!

By Fire and Sword
As mentioned above, BFaS is my favourite wargame of all time. After not painting 15mm for months I finally got back into and finished off my Tatar skirmish box set before adding another six bases in the past week.

Tatar Elite Cavalry. I finished these three bases yesterday.

My Tatar force is slowly coming along. It's now a mid-sized skirmish force. This should grow to a medium size task force.

6mm Napoleonic Russians
The 6mm train continues along. In the past couple of weeks I finished four bases of dragoons for my Napoleonic Russians. These models are great, with heaps of detail. Two more bases to go and the cavalry contingent is completely finished.

Loved painting these guys!

If you're eagle eyed you might notice the detail work is slightly different on each base. Each base represents a different regiment.

Banner detail

Finally starting to look like an army!

The cav

6mm mass effect...

Into 2020

I have three priorities going into next year. The first is to continue along with my Napoleonic Russians before I switch in 6mm back to my WW1 project. I also have a small 10mm ACW project to complete. Finally (and perhaps for me most excitingly)... more BFaS! The beginnings of my Muscovites appeared in the mail yesterday and I'm already painting! I can't help it, I'm a bit of a Russophile...

Fun!

My first border dragoons, painted mostly with artists' inks. Expect this to take up most of the posts early in the year!

Thanks for reading! If you wish comment below with what you got done and what you're moving on to in the new year!

A Fistful of Tows 3 - Battle Report

I recently got a game of A Fistful of TOWs 3 with Glenn and Jason. This report will be reasonably short on the text as I'm writing a few days after the event. We played the game on a ping pong table (about 9x5) running across the width. Glenn had a USMC armoured task force while I fielded two Swedish armoured battalions. We were going up against a Jason's Soviets consisting of a T-80B armoured regiment and a BMP-2 motorised regiment.

We're all still learning the game and have struggled previously to get the terrain mix right (open ground tends to favour the long range NATO MBTs while close terrain can let the Soviet numbers get in close and do huge damage). Thankfully this game we seem to have found the right balance. The game felt right, with Jason concerned about exposing his T-80s over the open ground while NATO found it difficult to get shots on well placed Soviet battalions. In the end the Soviets prevailed, the BMP-2s encircling and then bypassing a Swedish mechanised infantry battalion on the NATO right to take one of their objective roads. Soviet artillery demolished our sole M1A1 company and the Swedish S-tanks got annihilated when they left cover to chase the Soviets in the late game. The game was called after the NATO armour evaporated (probably around turn 7). Lesson learnt - outside of cover S-tanks are rubbish. Low armour, a 105mm gun and lack of stabilisation make them difficult to use  against 80s-era Soviet armour unless camping the woods on overwatch! Overall a fun day. :)

Swedish APCs prepare to drop off infantry in the ruined town

S-tanks! Their doom would be leaving this forest...

Marine recon scouts the main road. Glenn forgot his LAVs so Luchs had to stand in...

So... many... BMPs

T-80Bs

They get how many tanks???

USMC M-60 Pattons support Swedish infantry occupying the woods,,,

And also support the infantry in the town

M1A1s had a great position on the hill. TOW2 armed humvees lurk far left.

NATO's most powerful unit on the field was supressed and eventually crushed by concentrated Soviet artillery

T-80s advancing

Soviet infantry threaten the Swedes. The Swedes held a firm position and were basically untouchable in these woods... so Jason just drove around. Once the M60s were gone the BMPs had a clear run to the objective.

M60s held in the centre with Swedish infantry until BRDMs used a hill to slowly missile the company to death

Jason used the hedges effectively to hide his T-80s from NATO's superior range

Not many T-80s left on the left after TOW humvees tore apart nearly a battalion in one turn. Guided missiles are deadly if given an opportunity!

Hobby Update - 16/12/19

Hi there!

It's been a slow time for my hobby lately but I'm finally kicking back into gear. These are some of the projects I've been working on lately.

6mm Napoleonics
Work on my 6mm Russian army has focused on dragoons lately. This project has been on a slow burn lately with distractions in the form of By Fire and Sword, Kings of Wars and 10mm ACW. I had painted a fair chunk for my army and needed a break. Starting back with four bases of dragoons. These have all been basecoated and washed. The green is highlighted as well so now I just have to finish the highlights and base them. These figures have been staring at me on my painting desk for a while so it's good to be nearing completion.

By Fire and Sword
Alongside the Tatars from my last post I've been doing some experiments with inks. These aren't typical washes like Games Workshop's or Army Painter's washes, but instead are highly pigmented inks that can basically be applied as a basecoat and wash in one. Hmm, sounds a lot like GW's contrast paints without the marketing... The two bases below were painted entirely with Vallejo's game ink line. The figures were primed grey then drybrushed white. The base on the right had highlights applied with regular paints, the left base is only the inks. I have a bit more experimenting to do and have added some Liquitex brand inks to help bulk out the collection. I'm really interested in this approach and will be using it to rapidly paint a Muscovy army that I have coming from Poland.

Kings of War
For a long time I've had a bunch of Russian Alternative "Dwarfs of Fire Canyon" (chaos dwarfs/abyssal dwarfs) lying around. I recently picked up the Kings of War rulebook and decided to rebase what I had already painted and finish figures I've already started. I have the next batch of figures basecoated and washed so they won't take long. I multibased these in a very simple fashion as I usually use grasslands tables. I think they came out well and I have some more figures on the way. This blog won't contain much sci-fi or fantasy stuff but this project will be an exception. Russian Alternative make really great looking figures at an affordable price for 28mm.

By Fire and Sword - Tatar Skirmish Force

A quick post today as I was having trouble taking photos! I finished my Kazindji (Tatar Rabble) and Jasyr (slaves) for my Crimean Khanate force for By Fire and Sword. This completes the Tatar Skirmish Set box that's been a slow burn for ages. I have another box to do alongside some extra Tatar Warriors and Elite Warriors which will allow me to field a mid-size task force. This army is going to be one of my smaller By Fire and Sword armies and conveniently also usable as allies in my upcoming Muscovy army...

Warriors left, Jasyr middle, Kazindji rear right, Warriors with spears front right.

Hope you like them!

Starting 10mm American Civil War

Hi there,

Just a short update today. I've started on the 10mm American Civil War figures seen in my Pendraken review. I decided to start with the Confederates, reasoning that their irregularity will make them slower to paint and thus once their down, the Union will seem easy! With basing I decided on 30mm wide, 20mm deep basing. Infantry will be six to a base, cavalry two. These bases are small so I can use them to play Regimental Fire and Fury. RF&F has artillery based short end to the front unlike the infantry and cavalry however I won't be doing this. The 30mm base width allows me to place two bases side by side to form a brigade for Altar of Freedom - gotta plan ahead with these things! Thanks for reading. :)

Confederate infantry. These Pendrakens paint up so easily! Based the same way I've done my 6mm

An example of how I'll base for Altar of Freedom - the bases are poster tacced onto a 60x30 base, leaving 10mm at the rear for labels.

Commander (left) and cavalry (right). Going two per base with cavalry in my mind suits their role in the civil war (and makes my figures go further too!).

And the rear. The command base is simply the command figures for the cavalry re-purposed as the force commander.

Pendraken Manufacturer Review

Hi again!

Back this time with a manufacturer review, this time it's Pendraken Miniatures from the UK. Pendraken makes 10mm miniatures for a huge variety of ranges, from ancient to modern as well as sci-fi and fantasy. I was looking to do an American Civil War side project and liked the price and style of Pendraken after looking around online. 10mm seems to be a nice scale in my mind for ACW. I'll be basing six infantry/two cavalry/one gun to a 30mm wide by 25mm deep base. I intend on using these to play Regimental Fire and Fury to really focus on those key actions of the war, but this basing scheme also lets me place two bases side by side to form brigades for Altar of Freedom. As I said above, this was intended to be a side project to give me a break from my 6mm Napoleonics, but I'm been very impressed by these figures, so it may become a bit bigger down the track...

Now onto the review! I break my manufacturer reviews into three segments

- Quality and design of product
- How they are purchased/packed
- Service/Cost

Quality and design of product

Pendraken's figures are definitely of a good quality. Design wise the detail is fairly chunky, which makes them very easy to paint. The sculpts have tonnes of character to them, something which I kind of picked up in the bare metal but became very obvious once I started applying paint. Size wise these tend to sit around 12mm to the top of the hat (10mm to eye level). To me this feels perfect, large enough to have plenty of visible detail yet small enough to be easy to paint with simple techniques. I'm not a great painter by any measure but I was very pleased with the results of my first infantry. on the downside, mold lines on some of the figures can be quite prominent and often run along the face of the figure. These are relatively simple to remove as these ACW figures are not covered in equipment. This is perhaps something to keep in mind for more elaborately detailed figures (WW2 British paras come to mind, with helmet detail and plenty of gear). The biggest downside for me came with the rifles, which often have no visible firing mechanism and in some cases were perhaps cast a bit too thin, resulting in weapons that easily broke. The firing mechanism may not be necessary at this scale but the brittle rifles was disappointing. That said I think the pros outweigh the cons here.

Confederate infantry. This is not all the poses included. Lots of character!

Confederate cavalry. Some of the cavalry figures are great. Cavalry is perhaps the forgotten arm of the American Civil War, but Pendraken has brought it to life here.

Great figures!

Confederate artillery. Guns are four piece and look easy to assemble.

Size comparison to Baccus 6mm Napoleonics.

My first 12 CSA infantry. I'm very pleased with how these came out.

How they are purchased/packed
Pendraken has kept their packaging and purchase scheme simple and operates an easy to navigate website. Infantry is packed 30/pack, cavalry 15/pack. Infantry command packs have 15/pack. Artillery is sold 4 guns/pack with crew packaged separately (16/pack to match up with the guns). Personally I think this is a mistake, however it may be convenient for those who wish to make destroyed artillery markers.  Starter armies are available with 150 infantry (including command groups), 15 cavalry and 3 guns with crew. Key generals such as Lee and Grant are available individually along with a broad array of other items such as wagons, sharpshooters, stretcher bearers and even civlians. I personally purchased a starter pack for each side of the war.

Packaging is simple. The package came in a soft post bag. One plastic bag per starter army. Only the artillery is packed separately, infantry and cavalry you'll need to sort yourself! 

Service/Cost
Pricing is very competitive, something which initially attracted me to Pendraken. All prices here exclude VAT.

Infantry pack (30) - 4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Infantry command (15) - 2.21 pounds (4.20AUD)
Cavalry (15) -  4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Guns (4) - 3.50 pounds (4.60AUD)
Gun Crew (16) -  2.33 pounds (4.40AUD)
Starter Army - 27.5 pounds (52AUD)

Service was very good. Everything was cast and shipped in around a week and came in good condition. I can't comment on how you would go with complaints as I had none!

Conclusion
Pendraken offers characterful figures at a good price, making 10mm a compelling halfway between 6mm and 15mm. While their figures have fairly prominent mould lines and some of the rifles are overly brittle, the figures in general have plenty of easy to paint detail with a variety of fantastic sculpts. Highly recommended.

Napoleonic Russians - Pavlovsk Grenadiers (Павловский гренадерский полк) and Heavy Artillery

Hello there,

A quick update today. I was going to hold off posting until I had a decent bunch of units to put up but as the Pavlovsk Grenadiers are so iconic in the era, I figured they deserved their own post. I've painted the 1st and 3rd battalions (the 2nd in the Russian Army was a depot battalion and often not deployed). After the 1812 campaign the Pavlovsk Grenadiers would be admitted to the Imperial Guard, which they remained a part of until the Russian Revolution. I also finished my 12 pounder guns of which I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

I should be receiving some Pendraken 10mm ACW later this week, so there should be some more variety on the blog soon. ACW is a side-project for me, only 300 infantry, 30 cavalry and 6 guns between both sides. I've got the rules for Altar of Freedom and have Regimental Fire and Fury on order and have a basing scheme in mind that should allow me to play both without any issues. All this side, side-projects often have a tendency to get bigger and I'm becoming really interested in the history of the war...

12 pounder foot artillery.

From the rear

Павловский гренадерский полк, 3rd battalion left, 1st right.

I love the colour on the back of the mitre caps, makes for a good player view!

Fistful of Tows 3 Battle Report - Soviet Union vs West Germany, 1987.

Hello there!

Today I got a game in of Fistful of Tows 3 with Jason. We played in 3mm, which saved Jason lugging down his 6mm Soviets. The game was fairly short notice so neither of us had time to go over the rules beforehand and this was only our second game, so we kept it simple. No airstrikes or helicopters (or tactical nukes for that matter...). I'd hazard that we still made mistakes as it's a reasonably complex ruleset, but we definitely a lot, particularly how terrain effects the game. This will be a short one as the game was called after three turns (FFT3 is usually in the region lf a 10-12 turn game).

The table. I decided to make the table fairly heavily wooded and hilly. Yes, my forests and bridges are not scaled to 3mm, I know...

German panzergrenadiers defending the town with a Luchs screen. Leopard IIs are pushing down the road.

Two Leopard II battalions. The Germans were all rated average for this game.

German recon pushes up on the left

The Soviet right - four battalions of T-80Us! These were terrible troops, rated marginal

The Soviet right. Fair rated T-72B1s

Turn 1, German tanks occupy the left while the T-80U regiment pushes over the ridge. Initial casualties for the Soviets are light.

The main engagement on turn 2. The opening NATO salvos find their mark but the short range of the Soviets along with their numbers will count.

NATO right takes up overwatch positions. These would prove to be too far forward and would allow the T-72s to bring their numbers to bear.

Turn 3. The Panzers have all been eliminated, leaving just the village garrisons. Ouch.

The Soviets had plenty of tanks left...

Overall Thoughts

We learnt a couple of things this game. Use of terrain is essential, NATO needs to keep their standoff to avoid being overwhelmed. Effective use of terrain to screen an advance allowed the Soviet tanks to get their shorter range guns into range without taking early casualties. Setting a table in FFT3 is clearly an important element in achieving a good game.

The basic processes of how to resolve shooting, etc in FFT3 are reasonably complex. Jason and I both agreed that going for a more beer and pretzels orientated, easy to play game would be a better option when just looking to play for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. That said, the game has huge potential. I view it as kind of a tool box where you can build your own game. There's rules for basically anything you could want to do from engineering to chemical warfare. We talked about the prospect of a huge, 1 or even 2 day game played on a 12x6 table with multiple players and objectives to play. Different phases of the battle could be modelled with house rules to allow bases and units that failed quality checks to reconstitute and re-enter the battle. I think this kind of well-planned, deep game is where FFT3 would come into its own. Hopefully more to come! Thanks for reading. :)