Shieldwolf - Valkyries

I had a little time so I finished off 3 of the Shieldwolf miniatures Valkyries.

These are quite nice figures - the way the wings join the body are a little bit odd - I think it is where is the chain mail, armour and feathers. I did these doing an experiment with speed/contrast paints and normal acrylics. The speed paint flesh tone is not great - so I had to paint over them. Got three more to do, so will continue with the experiment.

Off to UK Games Expo at the weekend - got myself a list of people to visit and possibly things to get.

Looking forward to it.

Morts

Tanks - An eBay bargain.

So during COVID I picked up a copy of Hit the Beach - the Flames of War starter set. Which is still almost mint in box (well on sprues), and a Zvesda Tiger 1, so I could play world war 2 games. This is also why I picked up the Airfix Battles game, by Modiphius. Obviously this project has been on the back burner for a while … as are most things at the moment. But the plan is to start it off once the Age of Reason stuff in 15mm is complete - by the year of the year. However despite it being on the back burner, I have been looking at adding to the forces - but the little tanks and stuff come in at about £6 a sprue or so, anyway I was perusing eBay when I came across this ….

The old Tanks starter set - not fully completed with cards - I haven’t got the German cards, but I have the British cards (no British tanks mind you) - but I do have the rest of the bits and bobs - tokens, woods and dice. But I wasn’t buying it for the game. This set came with 9 tanks!

I have been on the lookout for some Stug IIIs and now I have 4, and another Panzer IV (so now 4 in total with the hit the beach set). Really pleased to have picked up a Panther and Jadgpanther - them Germans really don’t need anymore tanks! For the allies the 2 Shermans here make a grand total of 10. I’m not sure if I will keep all the Sherman/Stugs/PzIVs - we will see. Of course the this mission creep means that I now want a Firefly, Cromwell and Comet and some British infantry. 

A good purchase for about £14 including postage - a right bargain!

Morts

Some pictures of the night sky and the big event

Well last weekend was the big event - and Northern lights in Southern England on the Friday night. Due to the ridiculously early start on Saturday morning, I decided to go to bed and promptly missed the lights, but was up early enough for this sunrise. 

And the start of the event. 

Then we spent the day packing up camp and checking the progress of our teams - who were doing well. So after a little discussion and a takeaway, a few of us decided to walk out to Row Tor to see if we might catch the lights. 

We didn’t, but I did take some photos and learnt how to change the settings on the phone. 

So I’m quite pleased with these - a nice little walk around. 

Sunday morning was get up early, pack up the last of the camp and wait for the teams to get in. Which they did early for us - both around 3:30pm (last year after 5, and 4:53pm the year before), so home for tea and biscuits before 5! Hurrah and Huzzah!

Just got to find out went the lights are heading south again - and we will try to see them again.

Morts

A few things done.

I finish off the Saxon Guard du Corps for my GNW armies (or Imaginations). If I’m honest these are not my best - this is not the first time that what should be the best painted unit in the army is a little bit meh. I should know better, a bit more patience. Never mind they are done now.

I also started on some of the Shieldwolf Valkyries - I’m trying to do these with contrast/speed paints.  Sort of preparation for the Celt army, which is planned for the future. 

For less that a tenner including p&p I picked up a box of techlog Dark Attack 54mm miniatures - 6 skeletons, 4 orcs, 5 elves and 5 dwarfs.

These were brought so I could use the Orcs as giant trolls on Kings of War - and as can be seen they are big chaps. The skellies are going to be used as undead giant trolls/ogres. The orcs will be used as is, but the skellies will need some work, especially on their weapons. The elves and dwarfs will be sold/moved on. 

Off to the moor for a couple of days now for Ten Tors. 

Morts 

Star Wars Armada

DK ask if anybody was up for a game, and I answered the call. Due it being Star Wars day on Saturday, I suggested that we play a Star Wars themed game … so after a bit of whinging DK decided to set up a game of Armada. I was to play the Imperials, the forces of order and stability, while DK chose the Rebels, thru forces of chaos. 

My forces were 6 squadrons of tie fighter (one being Howlrunner?), Boba Fett in Slave 1 and a Victory Class (small) Star Destroyer (3 command dials). 

DK had 2 ships - one being the corvette that Leia was on board in episode IV (1 command dial) and a bigger one - a frigate I think (2 command dials), 5 squadrons on X-wings - one being Wedge Antilles and the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo. 

The game works in 3/4 phases per turn - 

1 - Ship Phase - reveal the command dial for your ships in initiative order - then either do the command or save for later. We always used it. There are 4 commands to choose from:  manoeuvre (change speed, direction etc.); concentrate fire (extra dice when shooting); engineering (fix damaged stuff); command squadrons (move and fire with a number (depending on ship) of  squadrons within medium range.

The big ships can fire and have to move in this phase - ending up on another ship or obstacle causes damage. 

The command dials are picked in advance, so planning is vital for the big ships because you have to pick what you are going to do 3 turns in advance … what will you need after contact with the enemy. I mainly did manoeuvres as I didn’t want to crash the big old Star Destroyer. The corvette with only one dial could adapt each turn.

2 - Squadron Phase - move or fire with any squadrons not already activated in the ship phase. Obviously you can move and fire by activating in the ship phase. 

3 - Tidy up and set command dials. 

The game is played over 6 turns and in the scenario we try there were 5 objective markers - the player with the most objectives would get 75 points at the end of the game. Only on ship on each side could pick up objectives - the Star Destroyer for me and DK’s frigate.

I set up with my forces on the right of the battle space - which turn out to be a good place. DK was more evenly spread across the board. (Top above picture) We made the moves forward (Bottom above picture) and unfortunately for the corvette the swarming tie fighters and star destroyer were too much - however DK had picked up 2 objectives to 1, but he was down one capital ship. (Top picture below) 

With the destruction of the corvette the squadron ships (including the Falcon and Slave1) came into their own - well they started shooting at each other. Unfortunately for me the tie fighters with only 3 hits did struggle against the x-wings with 5! The Falcon was also pretty lethal against them too - but Boba is also a tough nut. The final turns were the little ships blowing each other up … great work by the eventually wipe out ties was the destruction of the Falcon …. Ha ha ha and then in the final dice roll Wedge Antilles was vaporised …. More ha ha ha. 

The final positions of the ships are in the bottom picture. So how did my placement help me - well DK was able to collect two tokens on my left basically unopposed, but I picked up one early on, and once the corvette was out of action I was able by the 5/6 turn to collect my second. However the 5th token was out on my right, so unavailable to either of us - but it meant no one got the 75 bonus points. 

So how did the game end - well 56 points to the Rebels (for destroying all the tie fighters and super squadron Howlrunner), 115 points to the Empire (the corvette, the Falcon (including Solo), 4 squadrons of  x-wings (including Antilles). So a good day for the Empire in dealing with the Rebel scum!

Once we sorted out an error in turn one we got to grips with the rules pretty well and the game flowed well - picking your commands 3 moves in advance is a pick of a pain to be honest, but makes sense for the big ships - I reckon DK should have attacked the Star Destroyer with the X-wings or take out the Ties earlier. I would have found in tough with out them - all gone at the end of turn 6, but it didn’t matter then. One thing I did find annoying was that DK had made some nice 3D asteroids and wrecked ships (and come to think of it the squadrons had this issue), but when using the movement tool they or it got in the way … so things got moved so this could have some impact on ranges. 

The extra cards that improved a squadron (Howlrunner, Boba, Han and Wedge), were nice additions to the theme. And reminded me of Attack Wing. 

Enjoyed it and would play again - teams with a capital ship each would be interesting. 

Morts 

A trip to Exmoor

 Last Sunday I had a little wander around Exmoor with some chums - some of which I haven’t seen since before COVID.

A stunning day out - TL the view from Brightworthy Barrow of Dunkery Beacon, TR - lots of deer (farmed as we saw them run towards the farmer on a quadbike), BL - a nice look down a combe (not sure which now), BR - Cow Castle - ancient settlement. 

Good to catch up with peeps and a pleasant walk, thanks to Eef and Shaun. Next weekend is the Ten Tors, so I will be out at Okehampton all weekend.

Morts