The Battle of Plutusk - 26 December 1806

On Christmas day my good friend Dave and I got out Command & Colors: Napoleonic's, and setup the expansion 2 The Russian Army. The scenario played is as stated in the title of this post. Dave and I happen to be big fans of the sister series Command & Colors: Ancients and play that system quite a bit. So we don't play this series as much. The two systems are similar but not quite the same so having a long period of time between play sessions means re learning the rules again.

We ended up playing two games, the first being more of us trying to remember stuff and constant referencing to the rules. But it didn't take long for things to come back to us and so once we were satisfied we knew somewhat of what we were doing we set it up again. 

The second game was going to be what I thought another lesson taught to my good friend of why the French soldiers are to be feared. What happened instead was the lesson taught to me of why the Russian soldier is to be feared. What they lack in number of blocks they can take for causalities (some of the units at the beginning of the battle can be brought up to full strength with the Mother Russia roll at beginning of game), they make up for in their stubbornness when it comes to retreating with a built in may ignore 1 flag. There were so many times I got brutalized because I could not get an attack going to push him off terrain because he was able to ignore my retreat results. It also didn't help that my hands sucked and so did my dice rolling, while Dave made masterful strokes during his moves and rolled dice the Greek God Mars would envy! By the time we finished (I conceded) I had three useless Cavalry charge cards that couldn't get used as I wasn't getting any cards to get the infantry out of their way. Though it wouldn't have mattered much as the Russian's where dug in deeper than an Alabama tick (okay an exaggeration, but that's how it felt to me;)). 

Here are a few snap shots of the game at the start. If you haven't played this, I highly recommend that you do. Especially if you're a miniature enthusiast. You don't have to paint any minis to play this, and the feel the blocks give you is, well miniature soldier like. Enjoy your holidays.

Cheers

Kevin

Formula De (or Formula D for latest version) campaign game

Sadly I've been ill the last two weeks and unable to gather any energy whats so ever to do any hobby related stuff. It's the worst head cold with persistant cough that I've had in quite a while. But that's not what this little Posting is about.

This past November my face to face pals and I started a 6 team campaign game of Formula D. There will be 6 races with each team having a bye week (game is designed for only 5 teams and we found having more teams causes too many problems). We will only do two lap races as we have time constraints and straight up un modified cars. With 5 teams racing and each having two cars we've decided to do a mirror system start up. So if one of your cars starts on the pole position (1st car) then your other car starts in tenth position, next team that starts in 2nd position has their second car start in 9th position etc. etc. All races will be dry conditions to make it a level playing field through out. Also everyone gets a chance to be on pole so we will be using a rotational system where all cars get bumped up and lead car rotates back.

We had our 2nd Race this past Friday and we had a blast here are a couple of shots from the first lap:

Not half way through and you can see the field start to stretch out.

Some of the drivers made a mistake and coupled with a bad roll here or there and the field changes position. Notice the white car in the lead driven by the Devil aka Team Chad.

Some shots of the last lap (remember only two lap race)

Now the field really is stretching out and Team Chad's lead car (white car) has hit the corners just right and with some good die rolls he is guaranteed to win as long as he races conservatively at this point. 

As predicted Team Chad's lead car breezed to a win. Just look how far back the next car is. Amazing.

All in all we had a great time and after two races Team Chad leads by 25 points followed by Team Mark & Rob both having 12, Team Dave at 4, and finally Team Al at 3. Oh yeah Team Kevin the author of this most excellent blog, where is he at in the point standings? Big fat zero.... Oh well I can't wait till next race just the same.

Cheers

Kevin

Inspirational Cat Posters

As the title suggests, this post is about inspirational Cat Posters. You know the ones I speak of I am sure. Little bit of comedy here, an inspirational saying there. We've all seen them and they have either brought a smile to our faces, or have us go wow, and even sometimes say "well that was a waste of 5 seconds of my life. But here we are, me writing this, (and if you've gotten this far) you reading it.  So on to the story of why we are here. I've fallen into the trap of trying to paint everything I want to at the same time. This causes me distress, which causes me not to paint. Well my oldest Son knows that I have been trying to stay on track and continue with my Samurai project, so he went and sent to me an inspirational cat poster to bolster my sagging moral. I couldn't help myself saying wow when I saw it, and I know I had a smile on my face. I do believe it has had the desired effect. Now if only I could find a company that produces some quality sculpts of some Samurai armor wearing cats!

This is better than Tom Cruise's movie "The Last Samurai", at least I think so;)

Cheers
Kevin

Showcase: Warlord/Meganobz in Mega Armor

Finished another piece for my 40K Ork Army. It's from Games Workshops Ork Meganobz kit, and I've built this one to use as my Warlord. 

[Left click on image to see larger view]

Thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Showcase: A Samurai to lead my Yamagata Masakage Ashigaru unit for Saga

This figure was built from Wargames Factory Samurai box set. While they are not the best sculpts or easy to put together, they do paint up really nice. I painted this one today to get a break from Warhammer 40K painting I've been doing. It was good to get back to painting a historical figure.

[Left click on image to see larger view]

Thanks for looking....

Cheers

Kevin

Showcase: Tau Fire Warriors strike team

The new Tau Codex has come out and I love the new paint style. I like the Tau because of their Gundam feel, and this paint job just accents it even more. I basically painted these like Games Workshop has with a few minor changes, not anywhere near as good as their painters, but I like it.

[Left click on pictures to see larger view]

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Kevin

Showcase: Killa Kan madness continued...

Finished up my box of three Ork Killa Kans. Wow, that was more of a chore than I thought it would be. I need six of them, but think I will take a break and paint something else before I tackle this one again. I posted a completed one and few weeks back so this will be just pictures of the other two.

[Left click on pictures, then right click and select view image to see larger view]

....and the last one.

Thanks for looking
Cheers
Kevin

Showcase: Killa Kan madness...

One down, two to finish painting, and three to buy! I thought these would be a breeze to mow through, but between assembling them and then painting just one, those dreams have been dashed. Painting black is not as easy as one thinks.

Cheers
Kevin

WIP: Ork Killa Kans

One of my buddies didn't understand what I was building on a previous post and I realized unless you where into 40K you wouldn't have a clue. So here is the finished builds before I start putting some paint on them. Not the best lighting for pictures but it gives you the idea.

[Left click on pictures, then right click and select view image to see larger view]

Warhammer 40K, Saga, Formula de, and other things...

Well life has been beating me up my time lately, but I have worked a bit on my Necron commission (meaning I've been trying to glue the bloody things together and not backwards), some Ork Killa Kans (these things have been fun to put together, but come on Games Workshop get off you ass and post proper build instructions so I don't have to guess what the picture of the part really is on the sprue), putting some paint on Saga horses, and took the time to dig out my old Formula de cars cause I have some friends coming over on Friday to rock on the track. All this at the same time. People with ADD should not attempt to do this as your asking for serious therapy time (I just self medicate by taking a few extra skiddles that I have in the old medicine chest, saves money not having to see that therapist and allows me to buy more kits;)). I've posted a pic of my Killa Kan build so far and you can see my horsey work in the background, and one of my Formula de cars that where painted eons ago. Hopefully something more solid in the future soon.

Saga mini con basement style!

This past Saturday I hosted a 4 player mini Saga tournament. We only used 4 points of troops, no special anything allowed, and played the same scenario for all games, Clash of the Warlords. You also had to stick with your original point choices, though you were allowed to reorganize them from game to game into different size units. With 4 players it made it possible for us to play three games, hence the reason for playing the same scenario for every game as it gave each player the same level playing field against all opponents. Most wins would determine our Champion, and tie breakers would be eliminating opposing Warlords followed by total troops eliminated. We also had a time limit of two hours but none of us went over this.

The Armies involved where the Anglo Saxon's who chose: 3 points of Warriors, and 1 point of Levy (all spear and shield armed), Vikings who chose: 2 points of hearth guard (one of which was berzerk type) and 2 points of Warriors (spear and shield), Welsh who chose: 4 points of Warriors (javelin and shield) , and lastly the Byzantines who chose: 3 mounted hearth guard (1 of which was bow armed), and 1 warrior (bow armed) . I will mention that the Dice Gods must have thought my tribute not enough so totally abandoned me after my first game.

Round one.... Anglo Saxons VS Welsh

My first game was against Dave our rookie player having played only twice before. Though in this game he played nothing like a rookie player. As a matter of fact he gave me a good run for my money. Dave was using my Welsh war band as we are still trying to convince him to paint his own army (hint, hint Dave). Though we went the full 6 turns, it was on turn 6 that he gravely wounded my Warlord putting him down and scoring went 13 to my total of 7. Had my Warlord survived he still would have beat me by a few points.

Saxon's on the left and Welsh on the right

My second game was against Rob and his Byzantines. This was a tough army for my Saxons to face as he could dance away at will. But fatigue and Saga dice allowed me to get a good whack at his bow armed warriors. I was able to lower his armor to 2 which meant I only missed on ones with a six sided die. I had 16 dice and proceeded to roll eight ones. Then he rolled FIVE SAVES!!!! I was not a happy camper. Any ways I lost this game 11 to 9. But man oh man am I going to have a talk with that Oracle!

Byzantine dogs on left VS Godless Saxon's on right

My last game was against my regular opponent Mark and we both knew this would be a slug fest as we know each others play style all to well. So well in fact that we spent the first 4 turns dancing around like two drunk boxers manuvering so we could gain an advantage. Mark finally was man enough to take that step forward and turns five and six was all blood and gore! Again I had a chance to get one up on my wiley opponent at a key moment being able to roll 14 dice needing three's or more and I missed on 7, then watched him save half. It was really hard to hold back my tears.... The game ended in a draw 13 to 13. Both of us could have made a few different choices that would have given us a win, but in the end it was only just that we ended in a draw. Two true warriors who fought until they couldn't stand anymore!

Saxon's on the left VS my arch rival Vikings to the right

Our Champion ended up being our rookie player Dave who tied in wins, Warlords taken down, and so it came down to point count which he won by 2 points. So the Welsh won the tourney followed by the Byzantines, Vikings, and my sad butt with the Anglo Saxons. 

All in all we enjoyed ourselves, and we all look forward to doing this again in the future, but next time I will have a secret army, but more importantly a new Oracle who will speak highly of me to the dice gods!!!

Cheers

Kevin

Yamagata Masakage Ashigaru unit for Saga

Well at least I hope it is. Turnbull says he dressed his men in red all the way down to the Ashigaru. Also I hope I have the mon's correct for him fighting with Takeda Shingen around late 1560's early 1570's (using Samurai Archives and a pamphlet produced in the 90's). If not I hope they look the part at least. As I read it looks like there could be several different personal Mon's used by the Samurai who served him. So as I go on with the project and figure it out, I might add some other Mon's to different units dressed in red. I am also going to paint up a few odd Samurai to throw into the mix of Ashigaru. This is the group shot of my first painted up unit for Saga Samurai.

[Left click on pics to see larger image]

That's it for now, and thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin

My foray into Japan's Sengoko period Samurai...

One of my favorite miniature subjects has always been Sengoko period Samurai. They are difficult to paint (to me at least) and find good English sources about them. Though they started to become more uniformed as the Samurai realized the value of the Ashigaru and started mass producing armor and weapons because of this. Industry kind of paved the way for them to become so, but still they have always been something I fear painting because of all the detail involved. Maybe not as many colors as the Geppo Wars, but still enough to make me cringe. It is also because of my love of this period that I feel the need to try and get all the detail involved that my modest talents allow me to do, thus another reason for staying away as I've lacked patience in the past (and the skill). But now because of Saga skirmish rules, and Osprey's Ronin rules I won't have to paint a lot of figures and can take more time to do stuff right or at least try. So will begin my new adventure into historical miniatures.

My renewed interest is also the fault of my very good friend Skip. The bastard.... ahem, I mean my good friend suddenly sent me an unexpected email about this great deal we could get off of Bartertown (a place where you can sell and buy stuff miniature related). A great deal it was until we found out that they wouldn't come with Sashimono's and the weapons where cast on and worst of all they were 1970ish Ral Partha figures (back then we didn't think bad, but today, yuck!). So the deal fell through but not my hunger to try getting back into the period again.

There are several excellent metal ranges out there, one being the fantastic Perry range. But I decided to go the cheap route to start out with and got a sweet deal on Wargames Factory plastic Rising Sun line. Now I wish I kind of just went with expensive Perry's line, instead of having to fuss with putting these finicky little buggers together. But unless you try you can not fail as they say.

First let me tell you that the instructions are non existent for these little models  and so you better have some skill with modeling or your going to want to pretend your Brett Favre (Retired NFL quarterback) and give them a good chuck out of an open window (seriously I almost did this). Once you get the bloody things together you'll see that the poses are a bit wooden, BUT they do paint up nice. Though the detail on these is very fine so your going to have to thin down your paints or you'll lose that fine detail quick.

Here is a picture of a Samurai I put together and then the painted one (NOT MY PAINT JOB) was a picture that inspired me to build it so. [For those unfamiliar with blogs you can left mouse click to see a bigger picture]

Again they do paint up nice. So I built a few more and have a unit of 8 done and here is a teaser picture of one of my Ashigaru dudes. The plastic Yari like pike was to fiddly for me so I replaced it with a piece of brass rod so flow with it. Also for scale effect I used brighter colors than what it would look like in real life. The rest I will show in a group photo later as I am still finishing the bases for them.

I'll report more on my little project as I go, but as we all know with my mountain of painting projects it may take a bit.

Thanks for looking as always
Cheers
Kevin

Deathwing Terminatior Squad for Space Hulk complete!!!

YES!!!!

I am soooo happy to finally be done with this project. Yes indeed, it's been a long journey down that painting path of other projects crying out for attention, but I finally made the big push these last couple of days and completed the most important dude of the squad, the Sergeant. So without further ado here he is, as well as a snap of the completed squad together.

And all the boys together.............

Thanks for looking

Cheers
Kevin