2015 Retrospective

This a reflection on the last 12 months, and looking at the plan for 2016.

I started 2015 playing in the Warmachine competition at ValleyCon, having picked up the game in 2014 and building a Protectorate army in support of my son who was playing Khador. Sitting down after the comp, I decided that this year I wanted to try and get back into Flames of War after a hiatus of eight years.

That plan has had mixed results. There's very little FOW being played at the local club, as there are so many other games that people are enjoying. And I wasn't as proactive as I could have been about hunting down potential opponents. I've only played maybe 10 games, but they were all good games against people I enjoy spending time with. In particular I enjoyed a couple of themed 2000pt Mid War games that were played on an 8x6. Flames of War works really well when you have space and stick with historical opponents. As well as the games, I have managed to put together a new Early War army and some terrain, and chip away at a few bits and pieces to fill gaps in existing armies.

Here are some of the things that I have worked on during the year:

Early/Mid War DAK Panzer Company HQ: 2 x Panzer III G

DAK 88s - I had lost the barrel for the one on the right, and scratchbuilt a replacement

Early War Matildas

Late War Gebirgsjager Nebelwerfer Battery

Gebirgsjager 15cm NW41

Gebirgsjager Heavy Anti-Tank Platoon - 7.5cm PaK40

Gebirgsjager HMG Platoon

Jagdpanthers - just because

Comets - again, just because

Protectorate of Menoth - Reclaimer

Deliverers

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

So, what are my hobby aims for 2016?

1. Finish the AWI Continentals over the next couple of months, and hopefully get in a practice game or two of Blackpowder before the main event.
2. Start an army for another game. That's looking like Impetus at this stage, but Bolt Action is another game which people are getting into locally, and could be worth a look. Although I also need to keep in mind the next item on the list:
3. Give Team Yankee a go. I am skeptical about moderns in 15mm, but I wonder what influence it will have on FOW 4th Edition. If I pick it up seriously, I would be looking at playing in 6mm instead.
4. Finish the Late War Gebirgsjager, and play a couple of games with them. I have all the bits I need, just needing to paint them up: Pioneers, PaK38s, StuGs and a mountain artillery battery.
5. Continue painting Comets until I can field a squadron, and give it a run. I'm hoping that the plastic Cromwells will become available as individual sprues, as a pair of plastic Cromwell CS tanks would be a better fit with the plastic Comets than the resin models.
6. Rebase and touch up my Mid War 8th Army to match the EW units I've just finished. I'm looking forward to the upcoming re-release of the North Africa lists.
7. For Warmachine, touch up my older units which aren't at the same standard as my more recent efforts. I also see Reznik2 and Hand of Judgement as being kits that I'd like to pick up this year.
8. Set up my train set. I've been lugging bits of OO-scale model railway around the country through numerous moves over the last 15 years, but have never had anywhere to set it up. We do now, and it's something that the kids will get a lot of enjoyment out of, so I think it's time to get it up and running again.

That should be enough to keep me out of trouble for a bit. I'll look to keep blogging about progress towards these goals. So, happy new year, and thanks for reading. All the best to you for the year ahead.

All Finished

And here we have it, my completed army for the Flames of War tournament at ValleyCon next month.

Armoured Cars

CHQ and three platoons of Rolls Royce and Morris armoured cars. Built out of the box. I toyed around with ideas for conversions, particularly for more variety in crew figures, but ended up sticking with the kit figures. Caunter colours are Vallejo Model Color: Buff, Green-Grey and German Fieldgrey, with patterns per Mike Starmer's excellent book on the subject. Half were given a wash of Windsor and Newton Peat Brown ink, but after a replacement bottle turned out to be a completely different colour, the rest were done with Army Painter Strong Shade, and I'm never going back. 

Anti-Tank Platoon

Two 37mm Bofors portees. The dismounted option is provided by two Polish wz.36 guns and 8th Army 6pdr crews. Figures in shorts had trousers moulded on with Milliput. 

Motor Platoon

Three squads plus two ATRs, using the Battlefront Italian Campaign figures 

Artillery

A section of four 18/25pdrs from the BEF box, recrewed with Italian Campaign crew pack. I looked at mixing in the BEF figures, and did use the gun layers, but the rest didn't really grab me. 

Disco Stu didn't make the cut...

Objectives

I've done two objectives to go with the army. One is the BF Destroyed M13/40 kit, the other is two of the 18/25pdr limbers.

So there we go, three months of work complete. Thanks for following the process, I've enjoyed posting about it as it's gradually come together.

ValleyCon Progress - And First AWI Figure

I now have nine of the 11 armoured cars complete, with just the CHQ to go. Artillery is coming along, with Quads, 15cwt trucks and the guns themselves done, but I still have all of the crew to paint.

I've also been working on the dismounted 37mm guns. There are no BF anti-tank gunner figures for the Italian Campaign range, so I have repurposed some of my 8th Army 6pdr crews, converting them to match the rest of the army by turning their shorts into trousers.

So we're now starting to look a bit more complete, and very nearly finished. I've missed my goal of being finished by Christmas, but definitely looking good to be all done by New Year. With five weeks to go, I should have enough time to finish some terrain, and help my son Jaime with some Khador bits and pieces he needs for the Warmachine competition.

I've also painted up the first of the 28mm AWI Continentals as a test run. The Perry figures are beautiful. Slight filling required where the arms attach at the shoulders, and I had to march around the room trying to work out how the arms were meant to be positioned to look natural (for which I was of course mercilessly mocked by my family), but otherwise brilliant castings and a joy to paint. 17 more to go from this regiment, which I should be able to do in a few batches, then a second regiment of 18 figures to go after that.

ValleyCon - Seven Weeks To Go

We're already halfway through December, with less than seven weeks to go until ValleyCon. I've been chipping away, but ran into a snag late last week. I ran out of the brown ink I use for shading, and the replacement bottle I picked up isn't a colour match. And not just a slight mismatch that I'm being overly picky about: it's pink rather than brown.

So, rather than risk another bottle of the same brand, I've ordered in a different wash in the hope of getting something more reliable. That should turn up in the next few days, and then I'll be able to finish off the teams that are on the bench and post an updated progress photo.

This week I also picked up a box of Perry 28mm AWI Continentals, to paint up for a multiplayer game of Blackpowder being put on next year. I've never done anything in 28mm, but the thinking was "it's only 36 figures, how hard can it be?" My first reaction on opening the box was horror at what I'd taken on: they're incredibly detailed and I don't think my technique built on years of painting in 15mm is quite going to cut it. But I've picked up some inspiration from seeing what others at the club have been doing, and there's an excellent painting guide in the box, so we'll just have to see what happens. And it will certainly make a nice change from caunter...