Test game of CoC

Today we played a test game of Chain of Command since Jocke needed to learn the rules and Laffe and I needed to get the rules down pat for the convention game in April. The scenario was a platoon of US infantry against a German infantry platoon somewhere in France.

I did not take many pictures as I was fully involved in playing, but this is what the table looked like at the start.

US enter from the left, Jerries from the right. Laffes jump-off points are cleverly integrated into the landscape bat are all on the far half of the table.

Only action shots I took. US squad assaulting across the road. They had supporting fire from a squad in the house behind them (you can see the corner bottom right) causing Shock. Sadly, they charged into an enemy behind light cover and with an MG42...

After a very brutal round of close combat, I had four guys and 2 Shock while poor Jocke had one guy and 7 Shock.

The game was hard, tense and could have swung either way. We called it due to time and agreed on a draw.
Once again, Chain of Command delivered a very good gaming experience and a good night of fun.

Santa comes around!

I participated in two different Santa event in 2014. Ian ran his usual Secret Santa for unpainted minis and this year Chris took over the Santa Clause for painted minis.
Here is what I got in the Santa Clause. A 2lb AT gun and a Vickers MG from Zvezda plus a dwarf that I don't know the source for, but my Russian Santa informs me that it is from Russia. Just look at the quality of this painting! I am very sorry that my camera and light cannot do it justice. The guns are 20mm, the dwarf is 28mm.

For the Secret Santa I got these lovely Frenchmen from Red Star. The guys wearing caps and hats come separate heads and I got two different sets of heads. I mixed Bigeard caps and bush hats leaving me with a few extra Bigeard caps for some later head swaps.

Thank you ever so kindly to both my Santas and to Ian and Chris for running the event.

Something I actually achieved in 2014!

Last year I decided that since the real reason I paint toy soldiers is that it is fun and relaxing, I should try to do it more often. To some people the gaming is the hobby and the painting is just the road to the table. To me, the painting is the hobby and the gaming is a wonderful bonus. The problem that I have found is this:painting is very relaxing, but if I am stressed, I forget that it is relaxing. This means that when I get stressed from work, I come home and instead of sitting down to paint, which will relax me, I think "I am not in the mood to paint" and go annoy my girlfriend instead, which stresses her too while not reducing my stress. Once I start doing that, I can go a week without painting, because "I am not in the mood" (aka grumpy).

Hence my goal of Paint A Little Every Day. In the post from last year we see my way of keeping tabs.
Here is what it looked like on 9 January.

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The plan was to put a mark every day that I sat down at my desk and if "I have 200 marks, it will be good. If I have 300, it will be great!"

Here is what it looked like on 31 December. That is 212 marks. I made the base target.

Out of those 212 times, there are a handful where I can remember thinking "No, this is not fun today, I'll go do something else", meaning that at least 200 times I sat down at my desk, started painting and enjoyed it.

I would call that a very successful project indeed. Fun was had, minis got painted, stress was relieved and girlfriend was left alone until I had calmed down. Win-win-win-win situation.


So, here is the situation on 1 January 2015. Onward to glory!

First finished piece of the year, and a giveaway.

First piece of the year is finished:the crashed saucer from the Mars Attacks Kickstarter. A lovely resin kit in two pieces, the ground and the broken saucer, made by http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/. It could certainly have been given washes, highlights, bits of flock etc and been brought up to diorama level, the sculpt is that good, but I will settle for this. It looks good enough for a board game, certainly.

And the giveaway. Tor gaming have some of the weirdest miniatures I have ever seen. I have never gotten round to buying any, but I will most certainly join this giveaway for a chance to get a starter kit.
http://torgaming.co.uk/mystery-relics-box-giveaway/
And use this link to earn me extra entries, please.

2015, they year of Humble Pie

The customary thing to do at the start of the year is to look back at the plans you made at the start of the year and see how they match up against how things turned out. Well, the old saying about no plan surviving contact with the enemy is true, that much is sure. One of the fun things about running a hobby blog like this is that you get to see just HOW true it is. 

So, let's start with the plans I put up on 10 January 20214. It was going to be The Year of Gratitude, where I built and painted stuff given to me.

Nr 1:

1 StuG from Jocke, to become Hippo Teams tank.

 Nope, that did not happen


Nr 2:

1 StuG  from Laffe, to become a Sturmi

 Nope, that did not happen, not even in touched the kit but there at least I have an excuse as we have not done anything related to the Continuation War in 2014.


Nr 3:

1 Sherman from Laffe, fate unknown

 Fate still unknown...


Nr 4:

1 Grant from Jocke, to become Rabbit Teams tank.

Our first success! This baby is actually finished.
http://getitpainted.blogspot.se/2014/02/first-gup-tank-finished-hello-rabbit.html

Nr 5:

2 PzIV from Jocke, 1 to be a East Front winter tank,

 1 to become Anglerfish Teams tank.

I'll just count these two together as one big failure.


Nr 6:

1 set of Warlord Celts from Jocke, to become wildmen for Dux Gondorum

 These are a partial success as some of them are actually table ready. Just a few, but still.


Nr 7:

1 set of Perry 8th Army Brits from Laffe, to become mostly LRDG

 There is a full platoon in that pack. 2 of them are now painted. No, I won't even claim partial for this.


Nr 8:

1 set German Support Weapons from Zipee, to go to Normandy for GothCon

Partial success, a few of them actually fought at GothCon and some more are being painted at the moment.


Nr 9:

1 Normandy farmhouse from Rich, also Normandy for GothCon

Success! I did paint this a bit and it did serve at GothCon.


Nr 10:

1 Kübelwagen from Daniel, to become a winter painted vehicle

Computer says no.


Nr 11:

1 Schwimmwagen from Daniel, also to become a winter painted vehicle

 Another no. This one is built and greenstuffed and awaiting a crew from SHQ. It will most likely wait a while longer.


No 12:

3 Panthers from Patrice, to become wreck markers as they are pretty busted up already

Still sitting on my shelf waiting.


No 13:

a lot of 6mm ACW infantry from Laffe, for TCHAE or Longstreet

Nope. I have now bought Longstreet, complete with card decks. All out of excuses.


No 14:

a bunch of 15mm trenches from Laffe, for Dien Bien Phu

Another "Nope, but I have an excuse", since the Red Star 28mm Indo-China range moved my project up to 28mm, the 15mm trenches will be sitting there waiting for the next wave of inspiration.


No 15:

1 Milicast LRDG truck from Secret Santa, for the continued LRDG project

Last one, also "Nope, but I have an excuse" as we did not focus on our 20mm LRDG project this year.


So, there we have it. 15 points in total. By the kindest reckoning possible, I score 3 points. Well, I guess 2015 is the year of eating humble pie and trying to do better. Oh, and of painting Dust Babylon, Mars Attacks and a host of other things I do not even know about but that I am going to be distracted by.

I'll be back soon with some goals for 2015 to cry about next year.