Little Wars Melbourne 2016

A low key Little Wars this year, playing in Ben, Django and Tyler's Long Tan game, using Battlefront's Vietnam Rules and figures. I didn't take any photos, but there was a lot of jungle.

Weird WWII Doctors

Lead Adventure Forum (LAF) is having a Weird Wars Painting club, so I looked through my unpainted miniatures and found these two weird WWII doctors.

Dr Oetker

Originally got these 5+ years ago from Darkson Designs (now sold by Black Ball Games) in their AE-WWII range. Never played the game, but finally may have use for them as generic mad doctors.

Dr Viktor Haaren

The painting's okay (got these done in an hour or two - that's fast for me), but white paint jobs and crappy mobile photos aren't the best. I have finally got a digital camera, but I need to find/buy a cable so I can transfer the photos to my computer.

Wargaming Shops in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan

I'm back from my two weeks in Japan (Tokyo, a little town close to Nagoya and Osaka). The little town obviously had nothing of note, so I'll give a comprehensive review of each of the cities below.

Tokyo
Shinjuku
Yodabashi Camera - didn't make it here. Wish I had though after going to the one in Umeda, Osaka.

Shibuya
Tokyu Hands (north west of the station on Inokashira Dori) - top level has a whole floor of N scale railway stuff (large range), 1/72 & 1/48 Baidai Star Wars (full range), mecha kits (large range) and other bits and pieces. The toy section on another floor is also worth checking out. I have been to this store on a previous trip; the other Tokyu Hands locations aren't that great wargaming-wise. (http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/foreign.html)

Akihabara
Yellow Submarine - Great range of plastic sets, mainly mecha and related. There's a whole lot of other stores in the same building and adjacent area (behind the Sega building where Kotobukiya is, etc). (http://www.yellowsubmarine.co.jp/)

Aomi
Toys R Us (at Decks Odaiba) - Tamiya sets (small range, cars and a few 1/48 modern Japanese tanks), mecha (medium range), Tomica diecast cars (full range), 1/72 & 1/48 Baidai Star Wars (full range). (http://www.odaiba-decks.com/)

Full-size Gundam Statue (at DiverCity Tokyo Plaza) - two tiny shops with plastic kits and other Gundam-related toys. (http://www.divercity-tokyo.com/en/)

Toy sections in various department stores are also worth checking out for cars, trains, mecha and dinosaurs. They won't be cheap but not overly expensive.

Osaka
Namba
Joshin Super Kids Land (on Sakai-suji east of Namba Parks) - There's two locations, one with mecha, the other location further south is mainly electronic goods, but on a higher floors there's model kits, train sets and remote-controlled cars. Tamiya sets (large range from naval, vehicles and planes), mecha (large range), Tomica diecast cars (full range), lots of other bit and pieces. The area between Sakai-suji and Namba Parks is full (similar to Akihabara) of places like Kotobukiya, etc.

Umeda
Yodobashi Camera - A lot of stuff. Like a lot. Will have to go to the Tokyo location next time. Tamiya sets (large range from naval, vehicles and planes), mecha (large range), Doyusha 1/350 samurai castles, Tomica diecast cars (full range), lots of other bit and pieces. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yodobashi_Camera)

So what did I buy? We travelled light as it was with a budget airline and a spur of the moment decision to go on the trip. Therefore I was limited to 7 kilos in carry-on, with an additional 15 kilos check-in on the way back (using one of our carry-on size bags). This didn't give me a lot to take back (as I wanted to bring back a bit of sake, etc in the check-in as it was going to be heavier).

Wargaming-wise I got:

• Bandai 1/48 AT-ST for ¥2000 (~US$16) from Toys R Us, everywhere else was selling it for ¥2400. Yodobashi (when I got there) had it for ~¥1800. Will be used to make a Simon Stalenhag inspired mecha.
• Bandai 1/144 MS-06F Zaku II for ¥292 (~US$2.35) from Tokyu Hands. Will be converted for sci-fi neo-noir/anime gaming with its twin, below.
• Bandai 1/144 MS-06S Zaku II for ¥226 (~US$1.80) from Joshin Super Kids Land.
• Doyusha 1/350 Gifu Castle for ¥1360 (~US$11) from Yodobashi. The other castles in the range were up to ~¥2000. Very nice (large box!) kit. Perfect for 15mm terrain piece.
• Tamiya 1/100 MiG-19 for ¥432 (~US$3.50) from Yodobashi. Just couldn't say no at that price and I was using up coins on my last day.
• A few of the Tomica diecast cars for 25/28mm Japanese-themed gaming (I have a growing collection). This also includes a DeLorean time machine from Universal Studios in Osaka.

I think if you can make it to a Yodobashi or Joshin you'll be set. Everything else is slightly more expensive with a much smaller range.

S.D.Z.A. / Simon Stålenhag Project

Last year on Lead Adventure Forum (http://www.lead-adventure.de) someone posted a link to Simon Stålenhag's gallery of his illustrations (warning for those that haven't seen it before, it's big):
http://www.simonstalenhag.se/

As soon as I saw this collection I was enchanted. There's  mecha, dinosaurs, Scandinavian landscape and snow; what's not to love?

Over the last year I have been casually trawling my unpainted collection to see what miniatures could be used for a project inspired by these illustrations and I've placed them together to the side.

I didn't have a ruleset in mind, but the more I read about  S.D.Z.A. (Super-Hero Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse) by Van-Helsing/Nexus Miniatures, the more I could see them fitting together.

More on S.D.Z.A. here:
http://www.nexus-miniatures.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/nexus.miniatures
http://sdza-nexus-miniatures.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope over the coming months to record my work for this project; from miniatures, terrain pieces to games.

I'm currently putting together some dinosaurs to start the project, a ~1/60 scale T-Rex and some 28mm raptors from Eureka Miniatures. Photos for them prepped ready for painting in the next week or so.

Little Wars Melbourne 2015

Little Wars again. These photos were taken from the Little Wars Facebook page and posted in the future. Magic. The first game was a sci-fi game using a lot of Ground Zero Games' (GZG) figures and vehicles. Was fast-paced and fun from memory. The second game was a trench raid game run by Mark and played like a dungeon crawl game full of team members determined to undermine(!) their teammates to get to grips with the Turks.

A Saga Begins

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
"On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!"

Lost Battle of Barad Duin Between Elves and Orcs

[Note - this post was published in May 2021 after I came across the photos from May 2015 in my phone. I had no background in my emails, etc of what the scenario was, but after talking to Bruce he found his notes.]

Bruce and I got out our Lord of the Rings miniatures to play a large scenario of Games Workshop's War of the Ring rules. He fielded his trusty elves, I the orcs and trolls of Mordor (with some of Bruce's orcs).

As this game was played when the League of Ancient meetings were still held at the German Club Tivoli on Dandenong Road I decided to name the battle in honour of that time. Dandenong is likely to mean "high" or "lofty" in the language of the indigenous Boon wurrung and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nation, and translating "Lofty River" into Tolkien's Sindarin language I came with the appropriately sounding 'Lost Battle of Barad Duin' for this encounter. The ruined tower could also fit that name as being a "water keep".

We played using a modified Hold the Line scenario (from the third edition of the Flames of War WWII rules).

The details of the scenario were:

1. Game length is eight turns.
2. There are three objectives. Winner is the side that controls 2+ at the end (objectives are a ruined tower, wooded hill and bridge).
3. Elves deploy first, occupying two of the objectives (ruined tower and wooded hill), which are defensible terrain.
4. Third objective (bridge) is just outside of the orc force deployment zone.
5. Half of the elf force is in reserve. From turn one, the elf player must throw 4+ on a D6 to receive reserves (1 formation per successful throw). Elf players adds 1D6 each turn for the reserves roll.
6. Apart from any formations that may deploy in ambush as part of their description, the elf player may have half of their formations deployed in ambush. 
7. Elf ambushers must be outside of 24 inches if in open, outside of eight if in cover. 
8. Orcs deploy entire force.
9. Throw as usual for initiative.

Terrain was as per the War of the Ring rulebook, except for the stream and road. The stream did not slow formations crossing but prevented the ability to double move when crossing, and formations had to be adjacent to it at start of their turn to be able to cross it. The road allowed formations to double move, even if they did not have a captain/hero, but they must have been on the road for their entire move and be in column.

This game represented a small skirmish to defend the borders of Lothlorien from an orc incursion. Those elf formations were not as flimsy as they look. One was led by Galadriel. Also, there were a lot of them (the first photo doesn't have all the formations in reserve and in ambush).

From what I can remember I charged forward, Bruce tried to stem the tide, but five trolls are hard to stop. Eventually he did though and the elves were able to win the day, in particular when an ent strolled in and killed the last troll holding the tower.

Talking to Bruce six years later he also isn't sure how I lost but is it a quirk of the rules that Monsters can't hold objectives (but they can obviously clear them).

Bruce - I will happily go for a rematch any day. With less trolls too.

Blood Bowl Night Goblin Team

Years (decades) ago I bought the Games Workshop plastic Night Goblin box set along with the mid-nineties Goblin fanatics and converted 14 of them into a Blood Bowl team. They sat in their undercoat for years.

This year some of us decided to play a 4th division league (with, well, 4th division teams); mostly Goblins, Halflings and Ogres. The games have been... frustratingly fun.

Anyway, here's my Night Goblin team, based on the Münchner Kindl:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchner_Kindl

They were a lot of fun to paint.

15mm Mark IV Male and A7V WWI Tanks

I painted these as a German Beutepanzer for an upcoming Flames of War tournament.

I bought them years ago and they're very dated Irregular Miniatures sculpts. With Battlefront's recent offerings I would not recommend these now. Lots of cleaning up, but once painted I was happy enough and they do have a certain charm.

The platoon was also my first attempt at using decal softer, no idea how I lasted so long without this product.

Hussars in Halftracks

Well Battlefront is on a roll. After months of speculation they have finally released their latest product, "Hussars in Halftracks":

It's set in a sort of weird Napoleonic Wars, where Napoleon won at Waterloo and the wars don't end in 1815.

John-Paul Brisigotti of Battlefront has stated that while many may think WWII and Napoleonics are the most overcrowded market for wargaming rules out there, he sincerely believes this new addition will be mind-blowing to those who have played Flames of War for years and those who are new to the period. He also plans to unite all Napoleonic gamers with one universal ruleset.

The release also talks about it allowing for massive blackpowder tanks running around, skirmishing brightly-coloured infantry, and hussars in halftracks gesticulating wildly and looking terrific doing it; hence the title of the first sourcebook covering the War of the Eighth Coalition (May-October 1816).

"Hussars in Halftracks" adds extra character to the period and those nations which are not quite so technically developed don't suffer an unfair advantage with the inclusion of the allies rule which Flames of War currently has.

I am excited, as unlike the Six-Day War and Great War booklets, Battlefront has decided to release this 218 page book without testing the waters. Why? Because this new period is awesome!!!

I'm just cleaning up my first pair of halftracks; some M3s with French crew. After that I plan to post some AARs, examples of play, some sense of the mechanics, that sort of thing for you all.

(Inspired in large part by grant - "it's WW2 with Napoleonics! Massive blackpowder tanks running around, skirmishing brightly coloured infantry, Hussars in Halftracks gesticulating wildly and looking terrific doing it.")

15mm Tlingit from Eureka Miniatures

Painted and finished in September:


Some lovely sculpts for 15mm Tlingit North American Indians from Eureka Miniatures for an upcoming DBA tournament at the Monday Knights. I bought these almost six years ago, and finally got round to painting them on a whim last weekend.

They won't perform great (being x10 3Bw and x2 2Ps elements), but I think they look cool.

Available here:
http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_102_729&sort=3a

Mara (Tibetan Demons)

I received some of the Garden of Kama's Mara miniatures. They're Tibetan (Buddhist) demons, inspired by this image:

They are about 40mm tall and I put them on 40mm bases. Lovely detail sculpted by Andrew May.

I painted these with a lot of washes and used white and gold to touch them up. No idea what I'll use them for - but they paint up really well and the detail on them is very good.
 

They're available from the same company that produces the Tékumel Project range of 28mm miniatures. The complete set sells for CAD30 including separate heads and hands. Tékumel Club discounts apply even though they are part of the part of the Garden of Kama range and so not strictly Tékumel: https://lohwand.blogspot.com/p/the-garden-of-kama.html.

Ordering is a little complicated, but as stated you can get a discount on them through the Tékumel Club: http://thetekumelclub.blogspot.com/p/tekumel-club.html.

Definitely would like to see more in this style for a setting almost completely ignored.

Bolt Action - Soviets and Germans AAR

On Sunday at the League Mark ran an introduction game of Bolt Action, mainly to show off a lovely building from Crescent Root Studio (http://crescent-root.com/index.html), this time a laser-cut MDF warehouse.

The setting was the Eastern Front, late in the war. 1000 points a side, with German and Soviet forces being controlled by three players each - Jan, a Horvat brother and myself for the Germans, with Tyler, the other brother and Mark commanding the Soviets.

From memory the Soviets had 3 squads of infantry, a squad of sappers, a squad of raw recruits, a ZiS AT gun team, a mortar team, a leader and a T-34.

The Germans had 3 squads of infantry, a squad of Fallschirmjäger, a PaK team, an HMG team, a leader, a medic and a StuG.

The objective would be the taking of a small, sleepy hamlet in the Ukraine:

Deployment was by selecting dice (either marked as German or Soviet) blindly from a cup to see who had to deploy a squad (initiative is also determined this way unit by unit in a turn). The Germans came on from the west, the Soviets from the east. Both sides massed their forces on the southern flank:

The German forces decided to throw caution to the wind and run to the cover of the buildings as quickly as possible:

It also quickly became apparent that the armour would try and nullify its counterpart if possible:

The Germans continued their objective of taking the buildings, streaming into the warehouse:

On the northern flank both sides were a little more cauitous, with the German squad having to avoid mortar and AT fire:

The German advance continued, with no expected ambushes from the Soviets occuring:

The Soviets were a little slow in advancing, but this allowed their support weapons to be set up earlier to cover the advance and cause damage earlier:

The Soviets were reluctant to leave the cover of the tree line, taking some casualities (but dishing it out to the exposed Germans as well):

The duel between the armour was eventually won by the T-34, much to the cheering on their side:

 This also gave the Soviet infantry some confidence, storming across the open ground:

They were quickly dispatched by the German infantry in the woods and the PaK (which was also doing a good job of keeping the T-34 sulking behind the woods):

The northern flank saw the Soviets refuse to seek safety in the buildings, instead this allowed them to inflict heavy damage on the German infantry (who were in the building, and not the open):

The Fallschirmjäger risked the open ground to try and take out the HMG, as time was getting close. Unfortunately this gamble didn't pay off and they were gunned down:

The final turn saw the HMG, Leutnant and an infantry squad finally make it to a commanding position in the top floors of the warehouse:

They were able to suppress multiple Soviet squads and cause some damage, but it was too late - as time was called and the Germans had sustained more losses than the Soviets.

A fun system, which definitely has me thinking about painting my 28mm WWII miniatures that haven't been inspired to get a game happening.

After the battle Mark noted that one of the highlights was when one of Tyler's sole surviving sailors from a badly shot up Naval Squad went beserk (i.e. he blundered by rolling double 6 on his order dice) and opened up on the Russian Lieutenant killing his aid!