My next project

I don't often post WIP pictures, but I thought I'd make an exception for this lot, which are all intended to be primarily for Xenos Rampant.

Above I have 30 figures based on Frostgrave plastic  Cultists and Ghost Archipelago plastic crew figures. The crewmen have the same kind of baggy trousers as the cultists and once they have been given suitable headgear they blend in rather well. All of the figures have been equipped with weapons from the various Stargrave plastic sets, plus the occasional Cultist knife, sword or spear. These will work as cult members, pirates, post apocalyptic reavers or ragged mercenaries.

Next, here are 40 figures made up from the Stargrave Troopers and Mercenaries I box sets. I intend these to be Heavy Infantry.

Finally, a mixed bag made up from a mixture of the Mercenaries II and Crew II Stargrave boxes, who will be Light and Recon Infantry (the latter equipped with sniper rifles), five Wargames Atlantic giant spiders with sci fi weaponry and finally 10 Games Workshop plastic Space Marines that I bought from someone at the club ages ago for a tenner and which I intended to paint up and sell, but never got round to it. These will be two units of Elite Infantry. Obviously, I won't be bothering with any Chapter heraldry or other 40K gubbins.

I still have a box of Crew I figures, 15 Crew II figures and 15 Ghost Archipelago figures, plus 12 small spiders and seven giant ones to use. I am sure they'll end up as something useful.

I have to admit that I will leave it a while before I make any more giant spiders. They are pretty tricky and time-consuming to put together and I don't think I'd have done it yet without Guy Bowers' really useful guide on the WSS blog HERE. Having said that, they are worth the effort because they look pretty impressive, even without an undercoat.

Mixing Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago and Stargrave figures together is really easy and generally everything goes together without any hassle or swearing.

I now have a total of 100 individual figures to get painted over the next couple of months. I am planning to do them in groups of 10 at the most.

Winter Wonder Lard 2023

So, yesterday saw a disparate bunch of Lardy gamers, and Richard Clarke of TooFatLardies himself, head down to Bristol Independent Gaming in South Bristol for a day of Lardy Goodness, followed by beer and curry. I was running a 15mm game of Big Chain Of Command with four players in the morning and here are a few pictures from it;

The scenario was based around the fighting near Bréville-les-Monts in the aftermath of the D Day landings in June 1944. In this scenario, the fighting was concentrated to the south-west of the village of Bréville-les-Monts between elements of 9th Parachute Battalion's C company and troops from the Festung Grenadier-Regiment 857 supported by armoured assault vehicles.

The terrain was deceptive, a ridge above a road lower down the slopes with plenty of dead ground, low ridges, hedgerows and interrupted lines of sight, small wooded areas and a paddock (visible on the upper edge of the first photo. The German objective was the crossroads halfway along the road along the ridge. Unbeknown to the British airborne troops, the Germans had a pre-registered target for their limited off-table mortar support (only two barrages were allowed) and that target was the objective itself. 9 Para would also suffer from an unpredictable availability of troops due to the dispersed nature of the airborne and glider drops on D Day itself. 9 Para had moved to the area around Bréville-les-Monts on 7th June following the action at the Merville Battery where it had suffered casualties.

The game itself was pretty brutal for both sides and resulted in a German win. Of course, in real life, the fighting would continue for several days more before Bréville-les-Monts was captured and the German offensive was broken.

In the afternoon, I played  in a terrific 28mm game of Chain of Command set somewhere in Egypt between 8th Army and Afrika Korps troops trying to gain control of the Ark of The Covenant. This was amazingly enjoyable, and featured aggressive camels, mysterious men wearing fezzes, blasts of ancient magic, reanimated evil mummies, Indiana Jones (who perished at the hands of the Chief Mummy) and many more pitfalls, as well as normal CoC things. The game resulted in a British victory, but it went right down to the wire in the end.

Here are a few photos;

The day was organised by David Hunter, hosted by Jim and Ellen at BIG and the curry arranged by Andy Crow, who all deserve a huge round of applause.

Some resin scenic pieces

 These are all 15mm scale and were bought from The Square, who is a regular at most shows.

The piece above is a large improvised firing position, with the figures placed for scale purposes. It is large enough for a whole infantry section, I think, depending on base sizes. Below are two smaller improvised fortifications.

Next are three piles of rocks or rubble, which are bound to come in useful.

Finally, a more formal fortification, this time a concrete casemate with an earth glacis. The 6-pdr gun fits in rather well, I think.

These were all pretty quick and easy to paint and texture with tufts, flock and ballast. I did all the pieces in a single afternoon. The tufts are all from Gamer's Grass, who are stocked by Bad Squiddo.

I've been working on lots of scenic stuff

I needed to get lots more trees and hedges for 15mm wargaming and I've been working on them for weeks now. The word for this is BORING! but it had to be done.  Here are all the things I've done. Apologies for the picture quality. I was in a rush and used a camera that isn't really designed for close-up flash work.

First, here is an orchard. The trees are quite large for 15mm.

The trees are on bases and can be removed for ease of access to troops etc under the trees.

Next, a couple of small coppices. Again, the trees can be removed. These are a mix of large and small trees.

Twelve more small trees here, again on separate bases;

These will work well as trees lining fields or around the edge of a village, I think.

Next I have lots and lots of hedges of various kinds;

And to finish, some large free-standing trees and poplars to line roads;

I reused some old rough roads made from cork tiles as the bases for some of these items and used tongue depressors for other pieces.  

The flock and ballast stuff comes off very easily, but a blast with Hycote matt spray varnish seems to have stuck everything in place pretty well. 

The trees were all bought ready-made and came unbased, so I had plenty of flexibility as to how I used them. I bought them from K&M Trees. Nice stuff and quick and efficient service.

My first completed work of 2023 - WW2 British Airborne in 15mm

I,ve spent all of January so far staring at these figures and finally painting them! There are a lot, so scrolling down is required.

First, some anti-tank support options for my existing Airborne platoon, a 6-pdr A/T gun with a jeep and an officer followed by four two-man PIAT teams;

Next a couple of Vickers MMGs;

Finally, a few extra officers, one pair can also be used as a FOO for off-table mortar support and a couple of Rifle sections;

All of these figures come from Peter Pig, as do the original platoon. They will be used for a game of Big Chain of Command (two players a side) I will be running at Winter Wonder Lard at BIG in Bristol in late February.

I am sure that they will also come in handy for possible Arnhem games in the future.

My plans for 2023

Well, I've been pondering what I want/need to get on with over the next 12 months, and looking at the metal, plastic and resin mountain to see what I really ought to do something about, even if it is only because the various things have been hanging around for ages.

There are things that fell off the bottom of my 2022 list that I will definitely work on, as well as others that might get done. There are also a few things that won't happen and one or two that might end up as something else.

So, here are the things I will definitely be aiming at getting done. The higher up the list, the more likely they will get an early start;

15mm WW2 British Airborne support options for Chain of Command (these will be my January priority).

15mm WW2 German support options for Chain of Command

Stargrave plastic box sets for Xenos Rampant armies

Various other plastic sets that will work for Xenos Rampant with head and weapons swaps.

28mm Spanish for Sharp Practice 

28mm Bloody Miniatures 17th century troopers

28mm 17th century Bicorne Miniatures Pikemen and Musketeers (these will augment my existing Bloody Miniatures figures to make up useful forces for various sets of rules)

15mm extra units for my SYW Honours Of War army, infantry and artillery mostly

28mm Wild West figures for Dead Man's Hand and anything else.

15mm Renaissance army for Sword and Spear Fantasy (with a Warhammer Fantasy Empire theme)

15mm Northwest Frontier Imperial and Afghan forces and buildings (this is a new project)

Continuing building up my scenic collection in 15mm and 28mm, including lots of 28mm Sci Fi scenics

1/285 scale 8th Army and DAK for O Group

Crossfire 15mm US infantry company

15mm WW2 1943-45 British/Commonwealth infantry for the Far East.

28mm Pulp figures for all sorts of things (I have too many of these in my leadpile)

Additions to my 28mm Perry plastic Renaissance collection

Silver Bayonet

28mm Soviet Women, also for Chain of Command (from the Bad Squiddo Kickstarter)

28mm Late Roman skirmishing and armoured cavalry, and cataphracts too.

15mm Romano-British "Arthurian" army for Sword and Spear Fantasy

The thing about all of the above is that I already have the necessary figures for most of this, apart from the extra units for my SYW army and more Perry 15th century plastic infantry, so the only thing stopping me from making a start on this list is my own laziness and habit of playing with the dogs, reading books and listening to music instead of prepping and painting minis.

Of course, there are lots of other odds and ends hanging around that might get worked on simply because I feel like a change. I've got lots of Fantasy stuff that I really ought to do something about this year, including a box of Wargames Atlantic giant spiders, which would definitely work for Xenos Rampant.

Merry Christmas

Well, we have finally got here after all the trials and tribulations of 2022. It would be nice to think that 2023 won't be as bad, although you never can tell, but here's hoping.

If you have gaming-related gifts on your wishlist, let's hope that your wishes will be realised.