Bolt Action After-Action

After spending the whole winter painting miniatures, it would have been rather foolish of me not to try and get in some games as the weather warms up.

To that end, I've been networking with some folks via my local Meetup group. The local Malifaux fan base is growing, and I hope to get in a gameday in May with as many people as I can gather. This past Saturday, however, I had an opportunity to meet with another gamer who boasts an extensive collection of WW2 miniatures, which he uses for Bolt Action.

I've read through the BA rulebook, but this was to be my first game. My opponent, Steve, was also a bit rusty on the rules, having not played in nearly a year. In a welcome change from my usual role, Steve offered to host at his studio, and laid out a fantastic 5x5 table with plenty of nice terrain and lovely figures. I was also delighted to learn that he shares my interest in early-war Eastern Front, and we did a simple Meeting scenario between two 1,000-point forces of Russians and Germans.

Somewhere in the late summer of '41, then...

An army blanket served suprisingly well for the table cover.

Initial units moving onto the board: an SdKfz halftrack with Panzergrenadier passengers, and a BA-6 armored car.

 The game got off to a great start for the Russians when I was able to race my BA-6 up the road and nail the German halftrack with my 45mm gun. The 'track was set ablaze and the SS men within bailed out.

The beast appears!

 Steve graciously offered me the choice of which force to play, and I had to go with the Reds in large part because the list included one of those great early-war Soviet tanks, the multi-turreted T-28. In 1/56th scale, this thing is delightfully massive. Nevertheless, I fully expected it to get taken out due to its thin armor.

Sure enough...

 Once Steve got his Panzer III on the table, it was all over for my humble T-28. It did manage to put some hurt on the SS Panzergrenadiers, who had moved up behind a stone wall, before that happened, though - the T-28 boasts a turret-mounted howitzer, just the thing for Hitler's running dogs. And more hurt still lay in store for them...

The Red Tide

 Being familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of Soviet tactical doctrine, I elected to simply push my three infantry squads in waves up the center of the table. No finesse here, no sir! Steve was hampered by some really bad dice rolling that kept most of his forces off the table as I was advancing. That SS squad was really the only thing standing against my advance.

But not for long.

 Exacerbating Steve's bad dice luck, my die were on fire, and I took out the battered SS squad with a truly phenomenal run of dice rolls from my mortar team. The center was wide open!

To add insult to injury, as Steve moved his Panzer III up the table I was able to snipe it from long range with my 45mm anti-tank gun concealed in a distant orchard.

 The game ended after six turns, as prescribed by the scenario, with a Russian victory. In the end, a unit of regular German army troops had moved up and established a rearguard behind a line of hedges, decimating a squad of green Russian recruits who were charging forward singing patriotic songs, but it was all for naught. A squad of NKVD was flanking their position around the flaming halftrack, and the Germans were left to slip back to their lines and await the inevitable Soviet onslaught...

Urrah!

"People's Choice" Voting Is Live!

Although I think most people sign on for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in order to motivate themselves to paint lots and lots of minis, there is a prize component to it as well. One of those prizes, appropriately called the "People's Choice" award, is open to everyone for voting.

If you enjoyed any of my own entries in the Challenge, I'd appreciate a vote. You can vote for any of the entries I posted, or even just a single figure...or my entire body of work! Head on over to the blog to cast the vote, and while you're there, take a look at all the other fantastic entries and maybe cast a vote or two for some of your other favorites as well.

Last of the Skorne (For Now...)

As I mentioned in my last post, I've finished up the remainder of my Skorne collection, or at least that which was needed to bring my available forces up to a 50-point list. In conjunction with getting some new terrain tiles finished (more on that in another post, I'm sure), it looks like I'm set to start playing Warmachine/Hordes on a more regular basis very soon!

But first up, the units!

I took a four-model unit of Farrow Bone Grinders, both because they provide some nice synergies for my caster and because the models are absolutely awesome and I will hear no words against that position.

Goal for 2015: work on sharpening my lighting and photography skills a bit.

Next is a six-figure unit of Nihilators. Did I say the Bone Grinders were badass models? Well, they've got nothing on these guys. The two-handed khopesh-style swords, the massive metal plates shoved through their flesh to serve as armor... If these guys perform half as good as they look, I'm thinking we'll be seeing lotsa carnage on the field.

Clearly these guys are big Cannibal Corpse fans...

A Miscellaneous Wrap-Up to the Painting Challenge

[This was my twelfth entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

For this, my final entry in the Challenge, I present a miscellany of figures that, quite coincidentally, touch on some of my very first entries...

First up, we have what will be my third (and hopefully final) version of Malifaux's Taelor. Way back when I posted my "Hired Guns" crew, I talked about how dissatisfied I was with the "official" versions of this character - neither the plastic nor metal sculpts did much for me. I found a suitable substitute in MicroArt's "Alice Tinkerly" but...I still wasn't completely satisfied. Her laid-back pose didn't match Taelor's fearsome combat abilities.

Then I spotted this excellent figure, part of a special edition boxed set from Bombshell Miniatures. The animation of the pose combined with the ludicrously huge industrial wrench told me at once that I'd found my version of Taelor:

The crazy eyes were a bit of a happy accident...

One of Taelor's signature moves is "Weclome to Malifaux!" Indeed.

This next piece is one that I don't plan on seeing featured in many games, but it was too cool not to pick up when I placed an order for my Ikko-Ikki from Kingsford: a giant taiko drum and a horagai player blowing on his conch shell.

This painted up in an evening and will make a fine centerpiece on display with my Ronin factions.

Lastly, we have the final figures for my 35-point Skorne army for Hordes. More Titans! First, the fearsome Bronzeback Titan. (And since the Challenge ended last Thursday, I've  completed the units required for my 50-point list; they'll be making their debut shortly.)

In keeping with his name, I gave his central ridge of spiky hair a greenish cast, evoking a verdigris patina on bronze.

I believe this is the largest model for this base size in the whole WarmaHordes line. I could be wrong, but all I know is: you wouldn't want to see this guy bearing down on you in the middle of a battle!

"I heard they shaved a gorilla."

And here's another Titan, a Defender, to act as bodyguard for my caster.

Although not as large as the Bronzeback, he is at least as equally impressive, with his ornate armor and shield.

As before, I've left his back banner blank pending a decision on what sort of custom sigil to put on it.

Finally, we have the reason why everybody loves to hate the Skorne: the Agonizer. Not only are these guys a pain for any Skorne opponent mechanically, they're the living embodiment of the true depths of Skorne evil. It's a baby Titan (read: baby elephant!) kept in a state of perpetual pain and agony, which in turn is used to fuel the magic of nearby warcasters.

This is my second Agonizer in the list, and painting them never gets any easier. It's kind of funny to feel so ambivalent about one's own army. Everyone has to play the bad guy from time to time, I suppose...

All those hooks! Poor baby...

Inspired by a co-worker who was out sick last week with conjunctivitis, I gave this Agonizer infected eyes oozing with pus. Ewww!

The trio together.

With this entry, I hit my target "points goal" for the Challenge. My display cabinet, which before the Challenge featured mostly unpainted figures, is now top-to-bottom featuring painted miniatures, and it's a thing of beauty.

The Challenge really was surprisingly effective in motivating me to get painting and to maintain that pace over time (something I've always struggled with in the past). I heartily recommend it for anyone with a "lead mountain" of unpainted figures.

The one caveat is that, in following the Challenge, you see a metric tonne of other really cool projects being churned out by other participants, and you start to get that itch to jump on the bandwagon... 

Thanks to the Challenge, I'm now getting back into 28mm WWII skirmish, I'm dipping my toe once more into the grimdark world of 40K, and I'm even considering starting up a 15mm American Civil War collection. I intend to keep working away at the new projects over the course of the year, but I'd be surprised if I'm done with all of them by the time the next Challenge rolls around. It's been a wild ride and I can't wait to do it again. I'll just have to see about buying a new display cabinet between now and then...

Epic Orks: Complete! (Mostly...)

[This was my eleventh entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

And with this entry, my Epic40K Orks (and, by extension, by Epic40K project) is more or less finished. I say "more or less" because I've still got a unit of Freebooterz and a squadron of Fighta-Bommas to do, but the order for those figures is taking forever to arrive, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get them done in time for the conclusion of the Challenge. So we'll call this good enough for rock 'n' roll!

The final clan in my army is a "Wildboyz Horde". This is a clan similar to the Snakebites, but even more primitive - no guns whatsoever in the basic clan army! Purely melee, which suits my preferences just fine. At the very least, they'll prove an effective meat shield for the other two clans...

Figures are from MicroWorld's 6mm Fantasy range. A set of their "Orc Command" worked perfectly for the Wildboyz Nobs.

And here's the horde itself:

All set to hack, slash, and get gunned down...

Supplementing the horde are a trio of Squiggoths, massive hairy behemoths outfitted with armored howdahs bristling with smoothbore cannons and...mechanized extendo-grabby claws? Because those giant horns aren't scary enough, I guess...

And, of course, it couldn't be a "primitive" Ork horde without some Boarboyz. Obviously, these fellows have been outfitted with their own assault rifles courtesy of Da Blue Baron and are ready to cause some trouble.

My original Epic40K Ork army had some of these Boarboyz and they almost always proved surprisingly effective. Can't wait to see what sort of trouble they get up to in forthcoming games.

Little piggy snouts!

For the remainder of the Challenge, I'm planning on hitting a few odds and ends sufficient to get me up over my points goal. Getting my Epic forces complete was my primary goal for this Challenge, and it's still sinking in that I got there!

And because I've gotten a few requests, I'll leave off with some shots of the Ork Waagh! as it currently stands - an almost 6,000-point NetEpic army!

That's a Zuzzy "Wounded City" mat, which is scaled for 28mm but does the job well enough for now for Epic scale.

I threw in a classic Space Marine-era cardstock building to provide a sense of scale.

The whole lot (sans the two missing units...).