Time for an update

So, what I have I been up to recently?

Let's call it a form of "Mickey Mouse Camo"

After 11 days in California, visiting with family and friends, I came back home to a pile of units needing attention.  I will say that I am becoming afflicted with the "ton of unpainted lead" (or resin!) disease that cripples so many of us.  So I need to knock that pile down.

I know reading about painting without pictures stinks.  But until I get better lighting, I can't really do anything about it.

Brit Paras - I have one of my companies (the Arnhem force) base coated.  I also have the crews from the 17pdr AT guns base coated.  The guns themselves are completed and waiting for the men!  I am using a little bit different approach to the paras.  I found a thread on FoW that seems to be more to my liking, so I am following it.  If they turn out as expected, I will post pictures and tutorial.  And to think I complained about American Infantry!  To go along with the paras, I have bases from King & Kerr, as well as the new Cassino bases that I will use to model the Arnhem paras.

Typhoons - I am so happy!  I have them completed and glossed, awaiting decals.  I am happy with the results so far.

Brit armor - This one just snuck onto the table and expanded in every way.  I know have 2 full platoons of Cromwells, with Challengers / Fireflies.  They are awaiting decals and weathering.  Again, they look pretty good.  I also have my HQ and a platoon of Shermans.

American - I have two priests waiting decals, weathering and crews.  I have a single Sherman ready for weathering only.

Terrain - Several buildings are in process.  I hope to get them done - if only from a "something different" view.

Upcoming - How do I explain?  I am from the Midwest USA and every winter we see a blizzard coming on the radar several days out.  You know it will hit, so you prepare.  You know it is inevitable.  That is how I feel about Early War.  I know it is inevitable.  So I am preparing.  Brit Armor is my choice!  Silly reason for it and not the one that everyone would think.  I am not going this route because the list is really strong in EW.  I just like painting green.  Funny I know.  But it is the truth!

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Paintfest Round 2

This past weekend saw a bit of progress on painting!

Me and a couple of friends decided to get together this weekend at our LGS (The Last Square, Madison, WI) and paint together.  We did it for several reasons, but really one of our friends (Michael) just received a new air brush and compressor.  He was all "geeked" out about getting to use the tool.  In addition, his lovely wife is battling cancer, so this was a way for Michael to get a sense of normalcy.  We were all really glad to get the group together.  Michael has not played FoW in over a year.  He was tired of the game and it really showed.  Heck, if you are not having fun then do something else!  That was Michael's motto and I really understand.

Is it a bad sign that you pack your car the night before?  Or that you believe you need a list to make sure you brougth everything?

Air brush - Check
Compressor - Check
Brit Paras - Check
33 brushes - Check
110 bottles of paint - Check
Cup for the air brush to actually work - ahhh.  yeah.  forgot that.

So I was not able to air brush with Michael, but he took to it like a trooper.  He is building a Tiger I model and did a great job with the base coat and practicing his dots and thin lines.  I was finishing up my son's Leman Russ and doing detail work on Brit Armour.  Joe was going to town on his new buildings.  Be sure to check out his pictures in the terrain section of the flames of war forum at flamesofwar.com where he talks about his Total Battle Mitiatures buildings.  They do look fantastic!

Then it happened.

I had just finished a pin wash on the Leman Russ using MIG Brown Wash.  I was about to start a wash on the Brit Armour with MIG Dark Wash.  I see the pigments in the bottle were stuck at the bottom.  So I violently shake the bottle.  In 2.3 seconds I realize that the bottle was not fully sealed.  That was 2.3 seconds too late.  I splattered EVREYTHING.  My stuff, my hands, the table, the surrounding 23 feet.  The good news - I did not get Joe, nor his buildings.  The bad news - Michael got it worse that anyone or anything.  I splattered the poor guy.  Hands, face, arm - EVERYTHING.  The new, nicely painted Tiger I - nailed it.

After 20 minutes of clean up and me feeling as big as a tick, Michael was presentable.  With Joe's help, we got as much as we could cleaned up around his work area.  But the Tiger I was staring at me.  I knew I ruined the model.  I can't clean enamel off acrylic that has not yet been sealed.  If I put the thinner on the model, the basecoat is ruined.

The first think Michael says when he gets back "Hey, that looks like rust!"  I think it is utter "bs", but that is his view.  I wanted to crawl away.  I figure my penance should be painting three battalions of Soviet Strelk.  But Michael continued to insist and tried his best to make me feel better.  I don't.  And I won't for a while.

We did keep painting, but my heart just wasn't in it.  So Michael, if you are reading, I am still very sorry and feel like a total loser!  Thanks for the comments to make me feel better.  But I still feel like a dork.  Oh, replace a couple of letters in Dork and you get a better picture.

After a few drinks at home and a day to put it behind me, I did finish up some stuff last night with my son.  He is painting his Grey Knights 40K guys.  He used the air brush and put a basecoat of Vallejo Model Air Gun (Metallic) on the guys.  Promising start!  I used the airbrush to fix my Typhoons (a victim of "splattergate") and to put a light grey on the underside of the fuselage.  I also now have all my Brit Armour tracks finished and just a little detail work needed before decals and weathering.  But it will be a few weeks before I can finish since I have some time off coming up and a trip planned.

So a gentle reminder to all - Check and double check that your MIG bottle is fully closed before violently shaking the bottle!

Paintfest Results

Well, cold hard reality hit me in the face.  I had great aspirations for Paintfest, but it didn't quite work out that way.  But I did get some good painting done!

All my British armor has been primed, base coated and panel highlighted.  I even had a spare minute or two to get the wooden handles all painted and stowage boxes painted.  All my American halftracks and Priests got the exact same treatment.  So in a pinch, they could hit the table right now.  The crews of the 17pdrs got primed and a base coat of British Uniform.  Tank crews got the same.  The British paras are a different story.  Due to some "technical" issues, about 60% were basecoated (all were primed).  I was applying the basecoat with my airbrush, but I was constantly getting the mix wrong.  I finally gave up and resorted to a brush.  Wrong!  After four guys, I decided to stop and return later with the brush.  I did get a primer coat on my Ruined British HQ from JR Miniatures and a cottage I picked up a year ago.

My real accomplishment was getting my son's Leman Russ 40k model painted up.  Did the primer, basecoat and higlighting.  I went with a version of American desert armor color.  I still need to paint the details and get a wash put on it.  But I like the way it looks.  I am a little afraid that I went a bit overboard on the highlighting, but my son tells me he likes it as is.

So next on the "to do" list will be getting the basecoat on the Brit paras and then get the vehicles completed.  But with work and great weather, well it might take a bit of time.  Plus our family vacation is coming up!

Preparing for Paintfest!

The last several weeks have been fairly brutal from a travel perspective.  Work just keeps getting in the way of quality gaming and painting!

I was able to get a game in last week, which is detailed in an earlier post.  But this week is a no-go due to travel (again).  However, the weekend is a different story with respect to painting.

My wife and daughter are headed on a 7+ hour (each way) road trip to a volleyball tournament.  Unfortunately, I will still be out of town when the team is heading out.  Darn.  That means my son and I will be here over the weekend.  By ourselves.  With none of the wonderful women in my life at home.  Hmmmm.  Makes me think we will have Paintfest!! (Just say it in your "Monster Truck Annoucer Man Voice!!)

Paintfest, Paintfest, Paintfest!!!

Here is what is actually on the table, ready for painting:

109 British Paratroopers from Arnhem.  They are all attached to plastic bottle tops (think soda - I use golf tees for golf!) and ready for the primer coat and a base coat.

2 full platoons of British Armoured Recce (Cromwells and Challengers)

1 Cromwell for the Company Command Team

1 Sherman Firefly (leftover)

2 M7 Priests

2 M7 Priest Crew Sets

4 17pdr British Anti-Tank Crew Sets

3 Typhoons (already primed)

1 Horsa Glider (already primed)

6 M3 Halftracks

3 M2 Halftracks

1 Imperial Guard Leman Russ Tank.  Ok, I thought I would try something new and my son donated a Leman Russ to the cause.  I will paint it like a modern Abrams with desert colors.  Should be interesting.

Maybe, maybe my son's new Grey Knights 40k guys.  He has something like 4 platoons and some "Dreadknight" thing.  The models look really good, but I am not sure if he will let me paint them.  He is a great painter and may just want me to prime and base.  I understand.

I also have some other units ready for decals and weathering, but this upcoming weekend will be all about the painting.

Wish us luck!!

AAR and Rules Questions

Had a great game last night at The Last Square with Joe (Keamma).  I tried the 11th Armoured PDF list from Battlefront and Joe played SS Fallschirmjaeger from either HH or ABtF.  So it was a good historical matchup.  The interesting part of the 11th PDF is that you get CT and not RV.

1750 LW

My list of Armoured Recce

Command HQ - 2 Cromwells
HQ Support - Cromwell CS

Combat Platoons:
2 Armoured Recce Platoons - 3 Cromwells and 1 Challenger

Support Platoons:
1 Full Platoon of US Paras
2 Guns Sections (8 guns) of Priests, one with base AA MG guns, the other section with .50cal.

4 platoons.  Pretty small, but I am attacker.  Unless we roll Encounter, I am on the table.

Mission:

Encounter.  Of course it is.

I don't know everything Joe had as it all did not make the table.  But this is what I think he had:

3 platoons FJ
1 platoon Jagpanzer (4)
Some "hero" that allows people to rise from the dead.  Say what?!?!?!  Are they Necrons?!?!?
2 platoon of mortars
1 platoon of recoiless rifle or something
One more platoon that I don't remember, but he had 8 platoons total.

Table had good terrain.  He rolled as "attacker" and chose the table side that was most beneficial to him to "defend".

He placed 3 FJ platoons and the Jagpanzers.

I placed the Paras and one Recce Cromwell platoon.

Game recap:

I rolled to go first.  I tried to digin my paras to defend both objectives.  Failed.  I was timid with the croms, moving around some woods and put a crom to take a long shot at the Jagpanzer.  Miss.

On his trun, Joe tried to digin one FJ platoon on the objective.  Fail.  He moved the other 2 platoons forward towards my defensive zone in the cover to trees.  Jagpnazers shuffled a little, took a shot with no results on the croms.

My next turn, I moved my HQ with the "leaderless platoon of the CS" in double time to quickly bypass the FJ and get to the rear.  Rules questions - see my post on the flames of war forum in the rules section.  While Joe and I agreed that I could do what I did, I am looking for verification.  Took a few shots from the croms and I brewed one.

The next few turns bleed together in my mind.  The net result is that I kill 2 of the Jagpanzers and he kills 2 croms.  My HQ makes it to the objective and Joe has to move the Jagpanzers over to defend.  His FJ moves towards my now dugin and gone to ground paras.

Turn 4:

With his FJ ready to pounce, I roll for reserves and get one platoon.  I then roll for scattered and I get the table edge.  8 Priests, plus 2 observer tanks arrive just in time to machine gun the snot out of the FJs.  I gut one of the platoons.  The other loses just one stand.  The warrior guy gets another stand back from the dead.  Whatever.

On his turn he unpins everyone and assaults.  The gutted platoon actually pulls back to woods, leaving the other FJ platoon to do the dirty work.  They asault the paras.  After about 4 rounds of assaults, my paras are wiped and he has (I think) 4 stands left.  Joe has not received reserves yet.

Turn 5:

Crom HQ and CS contesting and focus fire on one of the two remaining jagpanzers in the woods.  Nothing.  I get my last reserves on the table.  I machine gun the remaining FJ platoons and end up destroying one platoon and the CiC.  I force a morale check on the other and Joe fails the platoon morale - rolled a 2.  His warrior gets to reroll and all he needs is a 2+.  He rolls a 1.  Both FJ platoons are gone.  The third leaves the objective and assaults one of the crom platoons.  He passes tank terror, saves all his infantry saves from defensive fire and proceeds to do nothing on the assault.  I break off.  His 2 Jagpanzers don't do anything against the Croms.

Game ends on time.

Result:

Draw 3-2 me.  He wiped my paras and I killed and ran off 2 FJs.

Thoughts:

I like the CT option for the company.  Protected ammo and Confident are really nice on unbailing tanks.  I am becoming a fan of the 11th Armoured PDF.

I still need to pick up the pace of play.

I still need to be a bit more agressive on the whole.  I was really aggressive with the HQ, but I should have rushed the Jagpanzers with the other armoured recce platoon.

I never fired the arty, but rather they became MG platforms.  It worked really, really nice.

I love semi indirect fire.  That is how I killed 2 of the Jagpazers.

Long(ish) Post and Plea for Comments!

This is going to be a bit of a long post.  I have done a poor job on the updates, so here they go:

Plea.  For comments.  I am beginning to take this personally.  ;-)   I am looking for some input on the "dream list", so please give any and all feedback.  It will help my self esteem.

Shout out to my friend KAGE.  He has been called out on the WWPD podcast for the decal tutorial.  But as good as that is, I think his discussions on rules and other "oddities" is superb.  You can check KAGE out here: http://kagefow.blogspot.com/

I received my compressor.  Wow.  Reminds me of a story when I used to wear suits for work.  I was poor.  I bought good suits, but let's face it - they were cheap.  One day in a store, my usual sales person suggested I try on a Hickey Freeman suit.  For those of you out there who do not know, let's just say it is expensive and American Presidents wear Hickey Freeman.  Anyway, I was reluctant to try it on stating that in no way could it be that much better.  After my wife made me put it on, let's just say I was wrong.  There is a HUGE difference.  It did not change the fact that I could in no way afford that suit.  The sales person was just setting me up for years down the road when I could afford it (note to self - you STILL cannot afford it!).  But there is a difference.  Now, back to the compressor.  I was optimistic that the ability to regulate the air pressure would help my skills.  As the great Ed McMahon would say "YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!!"  Indeed.  I set the pressure to around 12psi for my dual action airbrush and voila!  Small dots without spidering.  In my euphoria, I went nuts on vehicles.  As you can see from my table list, the British Armor has taken over.  Picture to follow a bit later since my camera skills suck.  So I am sold and a believer.  You must use regulated air pressure!

Since the suggestion of a "dream list" tournament, I have been researching like a banchee.  I am starting to like British Armor a lot.  Amoured Recce - Cromwells and Challengers from Hells Highway!  I also checked out Stalin's Europe - with the Lend Lease 76mm Shermans.  10 for 610 points??!!  I get it that you get the Hen and Chicks rule (move greater than 6", no shooting).  But they are 10!  12 on the AT line, protected ammo and machine guns galore!  Did I mention 10 of them??!!!  I have to think about that a little more.  I forget if the 610 points are CT or CV.

After I get through the British Armor and get my fix of airbrushing, then I will tackle the Brit Paras.  While I want the paint job to be good, I have a feeeling I will be trying anything to shorten the process.  Sorry CdC, but I just can't do the layers.  Your stuff is the BEST I have seen and some day I want to give it a go.  But at my slow pace, it would literally take me 24 months to paint two full companies of paras.  For those of you who are not familiar with his work, you can check him out here: http://cracdeschevaliers.blogspot.com/

I did get a game in last week with my dad visiting.  My highlight was Sherman 76mm ambushing Panthers.  2 out of 3 up in flames.  Awesome.  Too bad my Stewies were decimated earlier in the game due to poor generalmanship (i.e. my brainfart).  The roll of the day:  My partner Rob was trying to pin an assault.  With 8 dice, he scored 5 hits on Vet Germans.  But wait, it gets better.  On Joe's infantry save roll (Keamma on the FoW forum), he rolled all one and twos.  5 hits, 5 infantry stands gone in a flash.  We did not get a picture in time and we chose not to recreate the roll.  Those two rolls outshined Rob's bazooka team that could not roll anything else but a 6.  Tank terror - 6.  To hit - 6.  FP on the bazooka - 6 please!  I think he had two straight assaults where he kept rolling sixes.  I just hope he is on the otherside of the table when the law of averages kick in!

My theory on dice - they can hurt good tactics, but only to a degree.  But they can certainly help poor tactics!  In fact, I think they help poor tactics more than they hurt good tactics.  But you still need to roll like a freak of nature.

Oh, I bought Force on Force from Osprey.  These are the Ambush Alley rules all "gussied up."  Modern 15mm.  Hummm.  Can anyone say Abrams please!!  I am tired of playing with crappy American tanks.  I NEED REVENGE!!!!  My wife rolled her eyes thinking of $$ flying out the window.  This fall I think I will put together some M1A2s and T-55 / T-72 from Iraq.  Quick little game based on a scenario in the rule book.  Could be a good demo game.

Inappropriate Question of the Month:  My dad asking me how much money I have spent on FoW.  All in.  Models, paint, rules, books, templates, storage, weathering pigments, glue, tape measures, dice and markers, washes, airbrush, compressor, files and knives, terrain, buildings, bridges, game mats, scale logs for gun pits, pre-painted entrenchment markers, etc.  Ouch.  I gave him an answer, but it was grossly understated.  Yet still a big number.  I comment every week to my LGS owners (still can't say enough about The Last Square in Madison - check them out!!) that paint is my crack habit.  I always walk out with more paint.  BUT I DO USE IT!!!  Based on comments from friends, my unbuilt list is actually rather small.  So I do make progress on what I buy.  I am still amazed that I have taken to the painting as much as I have.  It does tend to relax me.  If you really want to barf up a lung, ask yourself that same question.

Sorry kids, not college for you.  But have you seen my 15,000 points of Soviets?!?!?!  Or my scale recreation of Kursk??  Ouch indeed.

All-Star List

What if you could create a list without regard to TO&E lists?  What if you could have Armored Rifles supported by Panzer IVs and calling in Typhoons?  What about American 76mm?  Or being able to field M12 155mm SP arty without having to pay for the 105s?

That is exactly the question that has been asked.  As I posted earlier, there is some talk about a tourney setup that would do just that.

So what would you do?

The only "rule" is that your Company Commander and one (1) combat platoon have to be "legal."  Otherwise, all options are available.

So let's have it!  Here is a chance to make whatever you want!!