Baccus Painting Challenge – WIP

Well, I thought that I’d post some work-in-progress pictures of my Light Tank Battalion.

As you can see, I’ve actually started painting them! (Shock horror!)

The tanks have been cleaned up, the turrets have been glued in place, and then the whole model has been undercoated using Coat d’Arms Grey Primer, a brush on primer which is a very light grey.

After this, I have added metal pins to the bottom of each tank using cut-up paper clips and green stuff – since the tanks are meant to be hover tanks, these will be needed for adding to the base.

An added advantage of these are that they provide something to hold whilst painting the tanks, and then I just pin them to a piece of foam to dry.

I then base-coated the hulls using Coat d’Arms Uniform Grey, and then drybrushed using Light Tank Grey – I’m not sure if the highlights stand out enough. I have then experimented with a splinter camouflage scheme using Citadel Blue/Grey as a base colour – this will be highlighted with Citadel Horizon Blue.

I think the paint scheme looks quite effective so far. Still some way to go, but a good start, I think.

2009 aquisitions – the situation so far…

You may remember at the start of  the year, I posted several entries on what I was looking at purchasing this year, in an attempt to try and cut down on my gaming purchases.

Well, it’s two months into the year, so I thought it would be a good time to have my first assessment of how the purchasing plan is working out…

Boardgames

As I hinted at, January saw my birthday, and the first big purchase of the year as the occassion saw me complete my Memoir ‘44 collection with no less than 6 expansions, including all the new threatre expansions, the Air Pack, the Terrain Pack and even the Winter/Desert board.

Not only does this allow me to fight all the two player scenarios now published, but with all the desert scenery it now means that I can fight Command & Colors Ancients battles – all I need are some Carthaginian figures (as I own the rules, QRS and order cards for C&C:A, plus a Republican Roman army made up of Hat 1/72nd scale plastic figures.

Then there was the game that I wasn’t going to buy. For the last few months of 2008, there was one game that everyone was talking about – Dominion.

“No” I thought, “it’s a card game and it really can’t be as good as everyone says that it is“.

And then I played it on BretSpielWelt…and discovered that I was wrong. It is as good as they say it is.

At that point I had to get it, especially since I knew it was going to be a hit with my son – who is a big CCG fan. So it was down to my FLGS (Phoenix Games in Leicester) the following day and Dominion was became my first unplanned purchase of the year…in the middle of January. Not a good start.

Next up is the game Vikings. This has been on my ‘to get’ list since I first played it last year – and playing in the Infinity Games online tournament has only highlighted to me further just what a good game this is. Plus, having seen it come back into stock at Shire Games at a rather higher price, I just had to snap it up from IGUK. A bargain at under £20!

Then there was the highly anticipated release of Battleground: Kingdoms – the campaign rules & scenario generator for Battleground: Fantasy Warfare. This has taken some time to get to the UK…and it was a bit disappointting to discover that you really need the Monsters & Mercenaries army to make full use of it (which typically, I do not own yet!) Even so, a useful expansion.

Finally, a bit of a surprise – even though I haven’t played the base game yet, the announcement of an expansion for Okko: Era of the Ashigari for just over £10 was too good to pass up, so Okko: Yakuza Hazu Akai is the last of the current batch of boardgames tobe added to my collection.

Wargames Rules

The first set of wargames rules that I aquired this year was a bit of a surprise – especially given the fact that they were given to me (thanks Pete!) Legends of the Old West are a skirmish game ruleset for playing in the Wild West, based on GW’s LOTR rules. Given the fact that I’ve now given away my review copy of Gutshot! as a competiton prize, it’s nice to get hold of another rule set to use with my 40mm Wild West figures. I’m looking forward to playing these!

Impetus are my rules of choice when it comes to playing massed battles for Ancients and Medievals. Extra Impetus #1 offers new army lists for three different conflicts – including the Hundred Years War – so I had to add it to my collection…I also wanted to review it on the podcast!

The last set of rules that I have bought is Future War Commander. I’ve been looking at these rules ever since they were released, as I’ve heard very good things about the other rules in this series, but sci-fi big battle was the set I was aiming at – especially since I’ve been eyeing up a Command Horizon army from Baccus for the best part of a year now and FWC has army lists for both Humans and Centaurs. Again, really looking forward to playing these rules.

Miniatures

The final additions to my gaming collection so far this year are figures. Again, here I have bought more than I originally planned – but that was only down to good fortune.

My first miniature purchase was the Thaniras Elven fleet for Uncharted Seas. These were a bit of nostalgic purchase, as I really liked the Elven fleet for Man ‘o’ War – this fleet has a similar look/feel. What is more – I’ve even painted them!

The second purchase was down to simple luck – or winning the raffle at the Hammerhead show! Given a voucher for £40, a presented myself at the Baccus stand and looked for something to buy. As I said above, I’ve been looking at a Command Horizon army for a year now, and it seemed to make sense to buy one – especially since I’d just bought FWC as well!

So there you have it – 2 months into the year and already I seem to have spent a fair amount on games – including a couple of unplanned purchases. That said, I haven’t actually gone too far off track if I look at at the big picture (I will just have to make sure that I keep to my budget for the rest of the year!)

Baccus Painting Challenge – final colour choice / which unit?

After looking through my colour palette choice, and also looking at some painting references for ACW Confederate troops, I think I have made my final colour selections.

Thinking about my army background, I want the Confederate Mercenary Corps to be a rapid reaction force. Therefore, it will consist of primarily of Tank Battalions and Mechanised Infantry Battalions. I envisage having a couple of Infantry Battalions complete with Support Weapons, but these will be Sky Cavalry (once the Skim Lifter models are available, or as soon as I can find an alternative model elsewhere)

So, the name of the game here is Cavalry, as the force will be fully mobile.

Looking at the Confederate cavalry, their official uniform was a grey jacket, sky blue trousers with a yellow kepi and uniform trim – as with most Confederate forces, the official uniform was supplemented by the troops own clothing.

However, we are talking a highly organised 26th Century fighting force here, and so the official uniform will be adhered to.

For troops, this is quite simple – grey top, blue trousers and a yellow helmet.

This will be adapted slightly for the AFVs – their hulls will be painted with a blue and grey camouflage pattern, and their turrets (where they have one) will be yellow.

All this leaves now is which battalion to start painting?

The Mechanised Infantry Brigade pack contains 4 Battalions, plus some command bases:

• A Medium Tank Battalion (12 AFVs with Heavy Weapons)
• A Light Tank Battalion (12 AFVs with Medium / Light Weapons)
• A Light Mechanised Infantry Battalion (12 APCs and 32 Infantry)
• A Scout Mechanised Infantry Battalion (12 APCs and 16 Infantry)

To be honest, I want to give myself a decent chance of achieving this challenge, which means avoiding infantry. Therefore, I’m going to be painting the Light Tank Battalion.

Baccus painting challenge – what’s in a name?

One of the first jobs when starting a new army is to think of a theme…well, it is for me, anyway.

When gaming historicals, theme is not something that you normally have to worry about – you simply choose the historical period, choose the army you wish to play, and the theme takes care of itself.

However, with sci-fi & fantasy, since they are working in fictional universes, theme becomes a whole different ball game.

Some games make army theme almost unworkable – I’m thinking about my Deathwing/Ravenwing army in W40K, or my Cryx Satyrix Raiders Army for Warmachine. However, luckily for me, Command Horizon (and for that matter, Future War Commander) is primarily based in a much ‘harder’ sci-fi universe, where theme does not infringe so much on your choice of unit  – but is more related to the colour scheme that your army has.

And so to my Command Horizon army, and the painting challenge that Peter Berry has set for me.

I must admit, the unified armies approach (Unity, Imperial Russia) of Command Horizon doesn’t quite appeal – I wanted to go for something a little more self-contained. I’ve been a long time fan of science fiction novels from the likes of David Drake or Gordon R Dickinson, so a mercenary unit like Hammer’s Slammers or the Dorsia are much more appealing.

If you’re going for a mercenary unit, obviously the name of the Spartans raises it’s head. However, I think this may have been done already – Race For The Galaxy has a military world called New Sparta, for example – and a colour scheme of red, bronze and black would simply look like a small GW Khorne army from several feet away, so we need something a bit different.

I was also playing with logos and acronyms in my mind – I wanted something that is easy to remember, and looks symmetrical.

And then I had an idea – the US Confederate States still seem to have an identity in the military (or ex military) – look at the Confederate Air Force, for example. What if this national identity continued into the future?

The Confederate Mercenary Corps (CMC) was born.

From a painting point of view, this also immediately decides the pallet. Grey, sky blue, yellow and butternut.

Which leaves one question…

Exactly what colour is butternut, anyway?

The Baccus painting challenge…

I visited the Hammerhead show yesterday – always a good day out with lots to do and see.

Having joked about it the previous week, I was actually quite restrained and didn’t purchase any figures for much of the day (though I did succumb to a couple of rule books!)

Notice, I said much of the day.

One thing that Hammerhead is notable for is their prize giving and raffle, that is usually held at about 3pm. Much to my surprise (and I might add, for the second year running) I won one of the raffle prizes – £40 of credit to spend at the show!

Funnily enough, about 30 minutes before, I’d joked with Peter Berry of Baccus that I’d be back to buy some figures if I won the raffle – so I headed back in his direction.

But what to buy?

There are several 6mm armies that I want at the moment – Samurai, War of the Roses, Punic Wars (both Roman and Carthaginian) and maybe a German Barbarian army…

However, I eventually plumbed for a Command Horizon Mechanized Infantry Starter pack, along with an Infantry booster (Kneeling & Prone, to vary the poses on the stands) and a Support Weapons Booster. There were three reasons for this:

1. I’d been thinking about a Command Horizon army for a year or so – since playing the game at Hammerhead last year.
2. It’s easier to paint an army with lots of tanks, rather than a host of infantry and cavalry (as Peter pointed out at the time – choose something you are more likely to paint)
3. I’d purchased Future War Commander earlier in the day

It was at this point that Peter issue me with a challenge – if I could paint 1 battalion from the Starter Pack (i.e. 4 bases) and have them completed (i.e. fully based) with pictures up on the website in 3 weeks, he’d refund the price of the infantry booster packs.

So, I have until March 8th to complete this challenge. Given my history and reputation for painting, Peter thinks his money is safe – and I’m inclined to agree with him!

But, I’m not one to turn down a challenge, so watch this space!

Direct links to all shows now available from Podcast Episode Guide

Following a request from a listener (Thanks Roly!) I have updated the Podcast Episode Guide so that all the old episodes of Meeples & Miniatures can now be downloaded from that page, without having to worry about going back to the libsyn.com archives.

Simply ‘right click’ the icon with your mouse, and select the ‘Save Target as’ option to download an mp3 of any missing episode.

Something I probably should have done sooner, but better late than never, eh?

Meeples & Miniatures new show format – what do you think?

The latest episode of the Meeples & Miniatures podcast has been available for several days, and it’s fair to say that reaction to the show so far has been somewhat mixed.

One of the compalints has been that the show was over long, which I think is a more than fair comment.

I’m very keen to know what you think of the show format in comparison to the solo shows that I have previously produced. Do you prefer the new show? What is good about it? What is bad about it?

Or, should I go back to my previous format?

Please tell me your honest opinion. You can answer the polls on this post, leave a comment, or email me directly at neil@meeplesandminiatures.co.uk

Many thanks for your time…

Meeples & Miniatures – Episode 46

Download Episode 46

The latest episode of Meeples & Miniatures Podcast is now available to download.

This is the first of the new format monthly editions of the Meeples & Miniatures Podcast, and it’s a bit of a monster.

I’m very pleased to welcome two new co-hosts to the podcast, in the shape of Dave Luff and Jere Koskela.

As well as Dave and Jere, the show has two new sections.

The first is ‘View from the Veranda’, where I discuss various Miniature wargame–related subjects with Henry Hyde of Battlegames magazine. In the premiere episode, we look back at how Battlegames magazine has moved forward in the past year or so, and take a look forward at a couple of things to come.

The second section is ‘The Painting Shed’. I’ve had several requests from listeners to include a hobby section about painting on the show, so we begin a series of articles looking at all the techniques surrounding painting miniatures. Today we concentrate on preparation.

In addition to our new sections, some of the old favourites remain. We have two in-depth reviews, as we take a close look at Memoir ’44 and Canvas Eagles. We also spend some time talking about the games we have been playing in the last month or so.

Finally, I announce the results of the Gutshot Competiton.

Enjoy the show!

00:00 Intro
08:30 Rumblings – Dominion, Uncharted Seas, Twilight Struggle
37:45 In-Depth Review – Memoir ‘44
97:20 Competition
101:40 View from the Veranda – Latest news on Battlegames magazine, with Henry Hyde
137:30 Review – Canvas Eagles
167:00 The Painting Shed – Preparing models
193:10 Closing Comments