A giveaway and a new project

Well, ok, the project isn't new, but I now have a picture that proves something is actually happening. There are no points for guessing what the theme is and if you need any clues, see my last post.

Next item: a giveaway. My good friend Jocke is celebrating 50k views with a big giveaway.
http://miniatyrmannen.blogspot.se/2014/01/the-miniatures-man-50k-giveaway.html
Some really nice stuff there. I shall be trying for the Grenadiers. Like I need more stuff to paint! Well, if it is free, it does not count towards the budget, so it's ok. ;-)

And finally, here is my only goal for the coming year:

I put this strip of tape up on January 7. I will make a mark every time I sit down to paint. If Christmas comes and I have 200 marks, it will be good. If I have 300, it will be great!

A very Merry Christmas!

This year, I must have been a very Good Boy, for Santa was so very nice to me I can't believe it!

First up, I was involved in Ians Secret Santa project, where some nice person sent me this packet, containing one of these beauties:Ford F30 30cwt LRDG 4x2 Truck with 3A1 Steel Body 
If you read this blog regularly, you'll know where the idea came from. I have built one just like it and I am really looking forward to building this one. Perhaps I'll modify it a bit to take a heavy weapon or to carry stretchers, we'll see.

Ian also ran a Painted Santa. In this, I was lucky beyond belief. I sent of  a figure painted to the best of my ability which I consider decent but not special, and I got this:

Un-fecking-believable! Look at the skill here! The figures are from Artizan with a plastic Perry placed next to them for size reference. This MG team will form the core of my 28mm Desert forces, who so far consist of three painted Perry plastics.

From the light of my life,my girlfriend, I got the first season of Girls und Panzer on Blu-ray. It was imported from the US but still worked fine in our European PS3

From my Resin Relatives I got a Girls und Panzer mug. 

 Bestest friends Vicky and Icke gave me this book. It has Lovecraft and Poe in it!

 My buddy Jimski out in California knew I had an interest in ACW and in King Tigers!

From fellow Scandinavian Lardie Jocke came these two. I am especially moved by this as they were left to him by his father. I will treasure them!

All in all an extremely good Christmas both when it comes to time with friends and family and presents. I shall make it a priority to finish all the books during the coming year.

A big thanks to all of you!

First minis of 2014!

These were supposed to be finished in 2013 according to my set of goals, but that did not happen. Well, they are finished now. First out, the second-in-command for my Gondor forces in Dux Gondorum, Faramir.

"His uses are few", eh? We'll see how the 2IC of Gondor handles command during the coming year, I hope. 

Goblin Warg Riders, from a thrift-store mixed bag.

What I did on my holiday...two months late

This year there was not much of a summer holiday for me and the missus, instead we saved up our money for a very special occasion towards the end of the year:the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary.

The event took place in the ExCel convention centre in London, well known to anyone who has attended Salute in the last ten years. We had tickets for Sunday, meaning we were the first to see the cast of the 50th jubilee episode talk about what was in it as it had been aired the night before.

Not a great pic, but I think you can tell who they are anyway. Brilliant fun and very emotional to hear Matt Smith say goodbye to the fans and the role.

We also got to see a talk by Doctors 5, 6 and 7. Sylvester McCoy really can tell a good story, that is for sure, and Peter Davison is "my" doctor, even though I came into the whole Who franchise with Ecclestone in the reboot.

After the talks, we walked around the mail hall where there were various merchants, a lot of original props, people signing autographs and two different stages where people involved with the show did talks and panels.

"The image of an angel is an angel..."

My favourite Who vehicle of all times

Among the people signing autographs was a personal hero of mine, Mr David Warner. I have loved his work since Cross of Iron. I bought an audio adventure featuring him and got the CD case signed. It now holds a special place in my CD collection. And the story was really good too, I'll be buying more CDs from Big Finish for sure. http://www.bigfinish.com/

One very interesting talk was by two mothers who talked among other things about being a mother and acting a mother.

Security at the official BBC shop was especially scary!

And the parting shot, looking down the centre aisle at ExCel.

The great Penguin giveaway, part 1

My buddy Laffe is holding a giveaway to celebrate 200 posts on his blog. Go there right away and sign up, there should be something for everyone interested in WW2 at least.
http://figurfanatikern.blogspot.se/2013/12/200th-post-giveaway.html

My other gaming buddy Jocke is busy planning his giveaway, so stay tuned.

RtR, first play test

I will start off with a small test, just a few units running at each other to see what happens and get a feel for the system. Note that there is an entire pre-game component where leaders can challenge each other to single combat, give speeches, distribute Dutch courage and such, but I will skip that the first time.
  Here is the starting disposition:

Grishnak, L2 and Bolg, L3 L top, Boromir, L3 and Faramir, L2 bottom.

Turn 1

First card of first turn is Grishnak, the Warg Rider commander. He has 2 points. He spends 1 point activating his unit to move straight ahead. Being cavalry they get 3D6+3 when doing a full move for a total of 15cm, as I am playing in cm rather than inches to match the scale better, and because my desk is small.He ends his turn by drawing Beloved of the Gods from the Fate deck. 

Second card is a L2 Seize the Ring.

3rd card is a L2 Seize the Ring. I promise, I did shuffle the deck thoroughly!

4th card is a L3 Seize the Ring!

5th card is Faramir. He now has access to two StR cards so he picks them up and uses the two Intiiative points to purchase two cards from the Fate deck,Accuracy and Beloved of the Gods. He activates his group of archers and wants them to form a line and fire at the Wargs. I found no specific rule for formation changes so I just played it as 1D6 spent on movement to bring the rear base up in line with the front base. Having moved, they will shoot with a -1, but Faramir plays Accuracy to counter that.

He now has 28 archers shooting longbows at the AC2 Warg Riders. Base To Hit is 2, but the long range shifts one column and I decide that the ruin that is partially blocking the LOS is another shift, so two columns, meaning a To Hit of 4. My trusty TFL dice give me 13 hits. The Warg Riders are Warriors so it's 4-5 to Shock and 6 to kill. 

Three Kills and two Shock. Not too shabby. And yes, that is an official Dicetower Podcast dice tower, best friend of spatially challenged gamers everywhere.

6th card is the Turn Card which I put in in case I wanted to add reinforcements, should not really be in the deck from the start.

7th card is  Bolg, the Orc leader. He grabs the L3 RtR card, buys 3 Fate cards, Accuracy, Rally and Fury, and spends one point activating his Group to move full speed ahead, 3d6.

Bolg and his boys rush forward 17cm.

8th card is Boromir. He spends two points buying two fate cards, Fury and March. He spends his last point activating his group and ordering them forward 2D6. They roll 7.

Last card of the turn is the second L3 StR card.

End of turn. The Warg Riders have 2 Shock but they are still 5 plus Grishnak so no tears.

The situation at the end of turn 1.

Turn 2

1st card is L2 StR.

2nd card is Faramir. He grabs the Ring card and buys two Fate cards, March and Beloved of the Gods, the spends his last point activating his archers. Same again, 28 men, 4+ to hit and 4-5 Shock and 6 to kill. 2 kills, 3 Shock. A bad day to be a Warg!

3rd card is L3 StR

4th card is Bolg. He grabs the Ring card and buys 3 Fage cards, Take Charge, Fear and Rally, before ordering his troops full speed ahead, 11 cm.

At this point in the game, I got some feedback from the author, Jeremy, who reminded me of the five card hand limit for Fate cards. I have decided to simply allow both sides to play the cards they have but not to go beyond five cards from now on.

5th card is L2 StR

6th card is Grishnak. He grabs the StR card, spends 3 points reducing Shock and the last point to activate his troop to move full speed ahead in a charge that would make Lord Cardigan shake his head. A total of eleven impresses no-one...but it does bring him inside Short range for Faramirs archers...

7th card is Boromir. After seeing what the archers did to Grishnak, Boromir feels his flank is secure and orders his men to charge at Bolg. Seven is a pretty weak move for 3D6, but they are closing in.

8th card is the Turn card and I start thinking about sending one side reinforcements.

9th card is L3 StR.

End of turn. Only Grishnak has any Shock, three points in his 3 figure Warg Rider unit so no problem with morale. I realise that I have forgotten to drag Fate cards of both Grishnak and Boromir. Never mind.

Turn 3  

First card is L2 StR.

2nd card is Bolg. He takes the L2 StR card and buys the top Fate card, Carpe Diem. a shot at charging and activates his Group. The run forward using 3D6, 8, just over half of what they need. Bolg plays Fear as the enemy s now within 6cm from him. The human Warriors take 1 Shock. Blog is left with a few points he was saving up for the close combat that never happened, but they are wasted now that no contac was made.

3rd card is L3 StR.

4th card is Boromir. He grabs the StR card and uses it to remove the point of Shock on his Group. He then spends a point activating them, and to make double sure he plays two March! cards. His troops now have 5d6 to move 8 cms! 15 and the lines clash! Boromir chucks in a Fury card as well, giving +1 to hit in the first round of combat.

Bolg counters by playing his Carpe Diem card, allowing him to play three card during the ongoing activation. The first is Fury. Time for combat!
Boromirs side have spears, meaning the first three ranks fight, meaning 42 dice! Add 3 for Bormir and another 2 for his remaining points spent on fervour brings us to 47. The dice are rolled against 4+ to hit for 1-handed weapons against AC3 with a +1 on the roll. 22 his are rolled against Warriors, ie 3-4 to Shock and 5-6 to kill. 8 kills and 6 Shock!

The orcs hit. Same deal, 42 warriors with spears, plus 3 for Bolg but no added points. The humans are AC3 and Bolg has also played a Fury so the roll is against 3+. Seems like that Fervour made all the difference, or maybe the orcs were just unlucky. 4 kills, 9 Shock.

The orcs fall back 6cm. Both sides roll a D20 for leader kills, no problem. Bolg plays a Rally card and reduced Shock to 1. Activation finishes with Boromir drawing Fleet of Foot.

5th card is the turn card, time to seriously think about chucking in some more Orcy stuff.

6th card is L2 StR

7th card is Faramir who draws Accuracy using the StR card and plays it right away along with the Fleet of Foot card. He activtes his group to move forward 2D6 to make sure they are at Short range and shoot at the Warg Riders. They advance 6cm and shoot at 14cm range. 28 dice against 2+ as the range is now Short with no cover. A waste of an Accuracy card as odds can't get bettet than 2+, but shit happens. After rolling 9 1's on the To Hit-roll, they manage 2 kills and 8 Shock. Suddenly Grishnak is commanding 1Warg Rider with 11 points of Shock! I rule that they will simply leave the table never to return.

8th card is Grishnak, but he has left!

9th card is L3 StR.

End of turn, no Shock levels that threaten any units, but the orcs must roll for morale. The roll for the loss of the Warg Riders and I rule that a routed hero counts as killed. Both rolls are 1 so the orcs lose a total of 2 force morale.

End of turn 3.

Situation at the end of turn 3. Grishnak has left, Faramir has advanced and Bormir has pushed Blog backwards.

A day in the desert with the world's littlest war correspondent

A few weeks ago we did a trial run for our upcoming convention game at FlemCon 2013. To amuse my GF who would be spending the entire day working on an essay, I decided to bring Serah, the World's Littlest War Correspondent along and have her report her day.
This was not Serahs first outing, she joined me at work for the charity event National Odd Socks Day of Adventure for Harrys Fund a while back.

Odd socks for Harry

This time we packed a bunch of Long Range Desert Group vehicles and an AA gun instead of odd socks.

Upon arrival, Serah immediately found a new favourite tank, or rather tankette. 

She was also mightily impressed by the plane Jocke had built.

The battle the commenced. The scenario is an attack on an Italian air field by LRDG vehicles intent on hitting hard and fast before vanishing back into the desert. The LRDG attack from the opposite end of the table and blow their way through the gate.

 Faces have been masked to protect the guilty.

 Hitting the gate. The LRDG slam through, blasting the AT gun and guards with MG fire

 A fierce fire fight breaks out near the gate where Italian MG teams knock out a jeep

 

 A fuel truck and a bomber go up in smoke after heavy MG fire

 Second bomber meets the same fate

All in all it was a great day out for both me and Serah. I look forward to running this game at FlemCon in December, as well as playing many other games of Chain of Command in the future. Serah looks forward to joining me again as she really enjoyed the strange looks on the faces of the rest of the gaming group.