Lots going on … but not on the tabletop

So Christmas is nearly upon us - no games played recently, but might get one in this evening. Been out and about - had a little trip to the moor.  Great day for walking. 

Almost got into trouble, as I had to be back for my sister in law’s birthday … let’s just say I cut it fine. But all was good. Then on Sunday I was at the home of the Chiefs - as they hosted the current European Champions - Toulouse. The Chiefs hoping for their first win against top opponents this season. 

Let’s just say I got to see some great rugby - Toulouse were a different class, I reckon they would give a National team a run for their money.  A bad result for the Chiefs who are still looking for a win … it’s going to be a long season me thinks …

I have managed to get some painting done - first some very old C series Goblins. A while ago I put some plastic shields on these, so I have painted those and put some highlights on their skin. Just need some varnish and to finish the bases - these will only see use in skirmish games.  

I also painted a Norn - from Norse mythology. A NorthStar miniature I picked up years ago for Of Gods and Mortals. 

Speaking of Gods - I present Thor - God of Thunder. This miniature by Reaper (again got for Of Gods and Mortals). 

Quite happy with how he has turned out - tried to roughly follow the marvel colour scheme. Again needs a bit of varnish and the base being completed -  I have a mounted Odin to paint. 

I had a good chat with DK today - about painting and playing games. Need to play more games and get more use out of the stuff I have. Fortunately I haven’t got a buying itch at the moment, but plenty of different things to paint, 15mm WW2, 28mm Celts … more Gods, Greeks and some Rackham miniatures too.

Have a good Christmas. 

Morts

It always gets busy in December

Last weekend saw a trip to Heathrow to collect Thing 1 and her fiancée, after 14 months away in Indonesia (well Bali 1 month) , Vietnam ( 1 month), Thailand (6 weeks), Australia (11 months) and New Zealand (3 weeks) … it was great to have them home. We did a little engagement party for them - lovely. 

Then Tuesday saw another hospitality trip to the Grecians.  

A great start to the game - but Wycombe are top of the league … so happy with a point in the end and a splendid evening out. 

So with little time on my hands … well actually managed a few games on Friday evening with the BND and BUR - nice to get the King is Dead back to the table - should have won the last game, but played on the wrong round …  but I did win Dungeonquest (not that it is a luck based game in any way). 

I want to get on with the Celts, but none are cleaned up or primed, so I have been looking at the stuff which is ready. 

So 2 Asgard (Tabletop) miniatures (moulds currently with Alternative Armies) classic wolf riders. These were picked up so I would have have a unit of 6 minis - I have tried to match the general scheme on the ones painted years ago. When the Matt varnish goes on and the basing is done, they should pull together. 

I then started Thor and a norn  for Of Gods and Mortals … I dread to think the last time I did anything for this … these are base coated with a wash at the moment. 

Tidying up some very old C-series Goblins with some plastic shields - I like to think that these may turn up in a small skirmish/rpg style of game …

Morts 

Busy few days …. Painting, games and a bit of a walk

So I have had a busy couple of days. First up I looked at the cyclops again and just did think the painting just wasn’t good enough - so I did an old school repaint on the flesh tones. 

I think they came out better than the speed paints - however I still plan to use speed paints for the celts. 

On Friday Snake-eyes and Steedo came over and played a couple of games of Valhalla - with the Valkyries expansion.

An enjoyable evening was had by all - the expansion didn’t change the game that much. The games were pretty close, with Steedo winning the first game 26, Snake-eyes 23 and myself on 20. The second game was closer with Steedo and Snake-eyes tied on 23 points, the tiebreaker was who had the most opponents shields … which we concluded was Steedo (although Snake-eyes had the most opponents shield, in that he had a lot of mine, but Steedo had the most shields and head to head had beaten Snake-eyes). I had planned to play Risk Europe, but I think that it plays better with 4.

Then Saturday morning was a trip out to Dartmoor in Storm Bert!

I hadn’t thought it was a good idea to go out - it was rather wet and windy and we called the walk before the really poor weather set in and it stopped being funny as we were being blown about.

With the extra time I had - I finished off the Space Marine Terminator Captain - pretty happy with it (apart from the rear cloak thing, which is ok).

I still need to put some transfers on the shields by the pauldrons and stick him on a base.

So quite a lot covered in the last couple of days.

Morts

Cyclops - monsters for the Greeks

For the Greek Kings of War/Dragon Rampant army I picked up some Dark Alliance Cyclops - soft plastic miniatures. So with a little slap-chop I have got them painted. 

Overall they have come out fairly well - i think. But i perhaps should have dry brushed a little more before applying the speed paints. These will be classed as ogres for game purposes - hopefully they will get the table soon … but probably won’t. 

Morts

Stugs

I have repainted some STUGs for the WW2 games I might play in the future (I real need a room that has a table set up in it, so I could play games over a couple of weeks … but that really needs a lottery win, so isn’t likely to happen). 

I think they look pretty good - but I have to decide if am going to numbers on them. The ones I have are on the sheets in the picture, which look a little big for them to be honest. They are BPM 15mm numbers, but I don’t think they will look right. Perhaps I will look to see if Victrix 1/144 will fit better. Then they will need varnishing and some weathering. 

Morts 

A couple of games

On Friday the BND invited Steedo, DK and myself over for a game. After a brief discussion Colditz was chosen. This is an old seventy’s game that Osprey have reissued - with very nice production quality. 

BND was the guards, Steedo the US POWs, DK the British POWs and I was the Dutch POWs - we had 42 turns to escape - well get 2 POWs out of the castle… they might have had to be of the same colour, but I can’t remember. 

The game has quite clean mechanics - collect stuff needed for an escape and avoid the guards. It plays fairly quickly and is pretty enjoyable, and I would play again. But the BND with the guards won - he did some very good placement of his operatives, but I felt it was too easy for guards to come back into play - so possibly we were playing there return rule incorrectly (in fact I’m sure we were - as they should be able to return on the turn they arrest a POW). Also the rules for POWs getting out of solitary although simple can be frustrating - you just had to roll a double … for a number of turns all of my operatives were in solitary and I could roll a double, so not much to do - possibly a house rule is needed for that situation. It didn’t help that BND had positioned guards so you basically got arrested as soon as you got out of solitary.  Anyway a cracking evening of fun - “this time the war was over for you Tommy” (well DK got one Brit out). 

On Saturday, I met up with an old university friend - MickyT, to watch the mighty Grecians play Charlton. MickyT had managed to snag hospitality tickets which was very nice. Lunch and interviews with the manager and a player. 

It was a good game - the first half saw Exe with the best of the possession and territory, but unable to take advantage. Charlton had the best chance, but it was well saved by the keeper. So 0-0, was fair, although Exe did shade it. The second half saw Charlton come out with more intent - however Exe managed to score (in one of their few visits to the Charlton penalty box), this was quite early in the half. This obviously made Charlton push harder for an equaliser - they certainly tried hard, and put a number of shots just wide of the uprights … had a shot cleared off the line. Exe rode their luck as they couldn’t put together any consistent possession of the ball - 1-1 would probably have been a fair result, but football isn’t always fair and Exe held on for the win. 

A cracking game, with the bonus of a free lunch, cake, coffee and pasty … and padded seat -  I like hospitality. 

Morts

Shermans finished - at last

The decals arrived from Bulters Printed Models - nice they are too - although each you have to cut each individual symbol out as they are printed on one sheet, probably why they were cheaper than the FOW ones - but I do have lots of choices. I haven’t used the divisional markings - I was hopping the 4th or 8th Armoured Brigade - but they weren’t on the sheet. 

The 4 British tanks - pretty pleased with these. Put stars in circles on the rear deck - which is generally how the British displayed the allied star. 

The US tanks with stars on the turret - put on the weight symbols - I only did light weathering on the tracks and hull. 

Better paint some Germans next - probably stugs (as I have 3 to repaint from dark grey to the classic Normandy/late war scheme). 

Morts