Hi All,

A few lazy days has enabled me to catch up on a few unfinished projects.

Knights of dice ruined Cathedral

The Cathedral will form part of my Viking/Saxon village for saga games. It was spray can painted with grey undercoat and flat black and highlighted with a flat white spray can sprayed form about three feet away.

Knights of Dice tabula rasa village for the Viking/Saxon Village project.

I have now made up all of my Viking/Saxon village buildings except the main drinking hall which I will make from scratch.  I will finish the majority with “teddy bear fur” thatched roofs and a few with shingles or slate.

Knights of Dice Dice Tower

This was one of the “gold” prizes I received at one of my many Arcannacon 40k appearances that has been in the loft for ages. The more detailed terrain that we now use means the tower has almost become essential to avoid hunting for lost dice from amongst the terrain pieces. I added a few of the “punch outs” from the cathedral above to give it more of a castle keep look.

Resin terrain pieces from “Crooked Dice Miniatures.

These are the first of many of their post apocalyptic range that I need to put together and paint.

The Assault group’s Goons in Presidents masks to take on my S.W.A.T. teams.

These figures from the irregular Miniatures modern range were a dream to paint. Irregular figures are not the most detailed but they are well proportioned and true 28mm size. Plus Ian Kay gives great and prompt customer service. I will make these up as insurgents or armed civilians.

A Christmas gift from Andrew W, one of the normal protagonists in this blog. He brought both Daves a sparkly Christmas tree in 28mm  scale complete with star on top for our gaming tables. Here Andrew is the  converted and completed version!!!

Last but not least is the my Christmas present from “she who must be obeyed”:

This set from Warlord Games (via War and Peace Games) is from their Invasion of Britain supplement, but everyone know it ‘s the TARDIS for my Dr Who games!!!

The other week I finally finished off my S.W.A.T. teams from “The Assault Group” http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/ultra-modern/ . I wanted to paint them so that they could be used in a number of games including modern skirmish and Dr Who as either a modern version of the “U.N.I.T.” or for the “Torchwood” security teams.  To achieve this I thought a modern urban camouflage scheme would do best.

Close up showing the “urban camouflage scheme.

I painted up 6 four man teams for a total of 24 figures and a bomb disposal team (see below).

Complete S.W.A.T. squad of 6 teams.

S.W.A.T. Entry team.

S.W.A.T. Heavy Assault team.

S.W.A.T. Dynamic Entry team.

S.W.A.T. Commanders

S.W.A.T. team with batons and shields.

S.W.A.T. snipers and observers.

Bomb disposal expert and robot.

The total S.W.A.T. squad.

Overall I am pleased with the result, especially as I used my “fast paint” technique which is designed to achieve an adequate tabletop standard in the shortest possible time.

Following the tank games at Berwick Wargames Association described a few blogs ago I decided to “liberate” my 1/76 scale WW1 tanks from the loft and paint them. I decided to give these a run this week (I still have the whippet tanks and some more FT17’s to complete, but maybe after Christmas).  I also wanted to try the Warhammer Great War rules which basically use the Warhammer 40k  tank mechanisms that both myself and Dave S were very familiar with. I had also painted my set of large craters which have come up absolutely awesome if I could be so modest.

The Germans were painted up in a grey/green camo whereas the British were painted in desert yellow for use in Palestine. I have modeled all eight that were used in that theatre. The paint colour is a major cause of debate, however several black and white photos show them in a “light” colour. From this I have conjectured that they were painted the same as the Rolls Royce armoured cars that we know were a desert yellow. The rear wheels used to assist with steering were not modeled as these were problematic in the Palestine sand and were removed not long after their arrival.

The French FT17’s were painted in their standard yellow/brown/green swirly camo, but were not used for this game (we did try them later but that is another story).

The games were quick, with just driving the tanks being more dangerous to their well-being than any enemy action – more like being in a demolition derby than on a battle field. This was realistic as of the 49 that started the battle when they were first used only 32 made the start line and only 7 reached the German lines.

Before moving each tank you tested if the vehicle broke down. A roll of a one meant you had to roll against the break down table. On at least one occasion a German A7V didn’t even get to move before it broke down with a catastrophic roll.

The British tanks continued to get stuck in gear allowing them to only move straight ahead until they were destroyed or hit something, the first meeting its demise in a head-on collision with a destroyed A7V and another presenting side armour to the enemy as they blissfully passed their front unaware that their main gun was targeting them.

A good fun night that allowed for plenty of time to give presents, drink egg nog (and red of course), eat mince pies and talk copious quantities of BS. Of particular amusement was a discussion on Ground Hog Day when without even noticing it David S took us back to the start of the conversation again – I thought I would never get out of the loop!!! Being stuck in a ground hog day loop with your wargaming mates does not figure too highly in my best ways to spend the festive season!

If I don’t blog before the great day have a wonderful time and in the New Year may you die always roll in your favour unless, of course,  I am sitting opposite.

Merry Christmas.

With a change of attendee numbers at the last minute I decided to scale down our game to suit the numbers who would be there. As the terrain was set up for another scenario based in NoKanDoo  this was used. This is the advantage of Doctor Who games you can set up terrain across both space and time and still be “historically” correct.

After having just finished painting my three additional factions for Doctor Who “Exterminate I decided it would be ideal to see how these would work on the table.

We are still getting used to the rules and finding new subtleties but hey, isn’t that half the fun?

We decide on a basic scenario with three selections each – a leader, special selection and standard selection as per the cards supplied with the standard game.

The Judoon, Silence and Zygons converge on the Vortex nodes.

The Zygon leader captures a Vortex node

The Zygons scare the crocodiles as they advance across the “black lagoon”

The Judoon advance to enforce galactic law and order

The Silence leader points the way forward

Brawn doesn’t always win as a Judoon enforcer bites the dust.

Zygons also gang up on the Judoon. Seems the fuzz are universally disliked!

Not playing favourites, the Zygons also take out a member of the Silence cult.

The Judoon leader is in trouble but survives………. just.

After turn six we tallied up the spoils. The raw scores were twelve to the Zygons, six to the Silence and four to the unfortunate picked upon Judoons. With the Silence talent of adding  two victory points for each node they controlled the game ended in a draw (twelve all) to both Davids.

A great system with some interesting game mechanics. I am looking forward to finish painting my tenth Doctor and companions and getting them into action.

Wednesday night again and although we decided to play 15mm DBA again we decided to use armies with troop types that we were less familiar with. Up until now most of our recent games were using a variety of Punic Wars armies. We hunted through Andrew W. figure collection and decided on the Ghurids of Afghanistan and their Ghaznavid overlords.

Again we had a great night with four games evenly split between the two armies.

The Ghurid horde

The Ghaznavid army

The armies draw nigh

The Pike cause the Ghaznavid army to withdraw.

A Ghurid victory as the elephant and pikes prove decisive.

Mick was an extremely funny, eccentric and likable guy who always regaled you with tales of missed opportunities, fickle dice, and sneaky tactics on the part of his opponent. Mick didn’t win many games but this didn’t seem to deter him as next week he fronted up with a brand new “sure-fire” tactic.

Mick is best known for his daring cavalry tactics, mostly unsuccessful, his taste for the unusual, especially if it was big, and his disdain for political correctness.

In honour of these traits this year we are playing three simultaneous games, each of one hour duration. At the end of each hour players will swap games until they have had a chance to play all three.

The Charge:

In memory of Mick’s cavalry tactics we will be re-fighting the charge of the light brigade in 54mm. Lines from Tennyson’s poem are used to initiate all movement and firing.

You win if you are the first to reach the Russian guns, or more likely, the last to survive, but beware the Cossacks!

Munch, Munch, Munch:

As I have said already Mick had a taste for the large and unusual and  in this game you get the chance to re-write Jurassic history…. what could be bigger or more unusual.

Lead a herd of Triceratops or maybe Australia’s own Muttaburrasaurus to peacefully meander across the table, or if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, roar into the fight at the head of a T-Rex pack. A quick fast play game using simplified DBA rules, large models and hex based movement that will ensure much fun and frivolity is enjoyed by all.

Put on your running shoes and re-live your childhood as the winner of each fight is required to run around the table yelling munch, munch, munch, stab, stab, stab,  or stomp stomp stomp whichever befits the attacking style of your dinosaur – finally, Wally a game that you and I can just act as ourselves, although the running may be a bit difficult for us old dinosaurs.

Tara!Tara!Tara!:

The HMS Tara was torpedoed by U-35 in Sollum Bay, Mediterranean Sea on 5 November 1915. Twelve crew members, mostly from the Engine Room, were lost during the ships sinking. The remaining 92 survivors took to the lifeboats which were then towed to Port Bardia by the U-Boat and handed over to Senussi tribesmen as prisoners. They were marched deep into the Libyan dessert and held under very desperate circumstances for over 4 months until rescued by the Duke of Westminster’s Armoured Car Column.

You will refight the rescue of the survivors of the Tara, albeit in a politically incorrect, “Boys Own” manner that was considered at the time a fitting response to the treatment meted out to the crew.

Be warned this is not a game for the more sensitive or politically correct (see print below for an idea of what is involved).

With throttle to the floor you will lead your section of the Duke of Westminster’s armoured car squadron to be the first to charge through the “Senussi” to rescue the survivors, delivering as much mayhem and havoc on the way as you can.

The contemporary print that inspired the game:

Setup from 10am for anyone who would like to assist.

BYO BBQ Lunch at midday.

Games from 1:30pm