VBCW on Jon's Blog

This is definately worth a look and far more inspiring than my effort:

http://jonswargamesminis.blogspot.com/2010/05/attack-on-hill-101-vbcw-aar.html

VBCW Red Militia

Following on from the BUF mini-project for VBCW, I've had a change of plan for the rest of May and possibly into early June.

Instead of the MiG Alley planes, which I'll leave until after half term, I'm going to paint up my Red Workers Militia force for the VBCW. It's not all there yet as I still have some figures to arrive from Musketeer, Bolt Action and Empress, but I have a few to get started on in the meantime.

I'm planning to clean up and base a few command figures, an LMG team and some SMG's over the weekend, together with any that turn up in the post tomorrow. I've also got the HLBS FT17 to paint up and will have a rummage in the diecast box for some trucks to convert as well. I need at least one to tow the Putilov field gun that I have left over from the Back of Beyond Whites I never got round to starting.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to starting this second installment of the VBCW project and will keep things updated as I go along.

Old West Posses

As promised, here are some pictures of my two posses for Legends of the Old West, the Mexican Outlaws of the Fajitas Gang and the Lawmen of Sheriff Ullysses T. Boggs. They were painted a long time ago and need some finishing touches and some sort of wash to bring them up to standard, but otherwise are ready for some gunfightin' down Mexico way.

Legends of the Old West

After the VBCW game yesterday Jon and I were having a chat about different rules that could be used for interwar skirmish level actions. Jon mentioned that there was an article in one of the wargame magazines which included stats and rules to convert Legends of the Old West for the VBCW.

I've played quite a few games of LoToW having been on of the two gamers who got it off the ground at the club when it was first published. I have a couple of posses which I've used in various games and even a short lived club campaign.

The first is a lawman posse of three hardened deputies led by Sheriff Ullysses T.Boggs, occasionally backed up by a hawk eyed lone gunfighter and bible thumping preacher.

The second is a Mexican outlaw posse, the Fajitas Gang, which features the four Fajita brothers Rico, Chico, Nico and Tico plus their cousin Mongo Chimichanga. They also have some back up from a Mexican Outlaw and the odd gunfighter when needed.

I'll post some photos of both posses some time later on. They have a few reinforcements that need to be finished off, including the mounted figures and a few extra foot figures but otherwise they're ready for action.

I'm trying to persuade Jon to give LoToW a try so hopefully will be able to set up a game some time soon.

BUF 1 Anglicans 0

Here are a few photos from the VBCW game we played this evening using the Great War rules and the Storm the Hill scenario. The BUF and Royalist militia were assaulting the hill top trenches that were defended by the local Anglican League.

It was a bit of a walk over in the end as the BUF had a lot more firepower than the Anglicans, despite the deployment of the fearsome Smith Gun. A preliminary bombardment obliterated the vicar CO and his HQ before the game even started, which not surprisingly threw the Anglicans into confusion.

The BUF commander, Major Short Cummins, then successfully used the Royalist local yokels as an assault wave while outflanking the hill top defenders with the BUF legion rifle sections. The miltia were wiped out and routed, leaving the blackshirts to mop up what was left of the Anglican League defenders.

The tankette played a crucial role despite bogging down as it climbed the hill and tried to cross the enemy trenches, as did the BUF Vickers which hammered the hill top trenches at the critical moment. The Anglican's put up a good fight but the firepower of the BUF was just too great for them to hold onto their exposed hill top position.

It was a fast game and the Great War rules worked well although designed for larger scale Western Front type games. I think Through the Mud and Blood would work better and would allow for a greater element of randomness and unpredictability. We also discussed the possibility of using LOTOW as a basis for a set of lower level rules.

Malayan Emergency 28mm

I spotted these the other day and thought they looked really nice. At the risk of stating the obvious, I really fancy doing this in 28mm as the figures are great and the number needed for a skirmish level game relatively small, perhaps a dozen a side at the most.

http://britanniainkerman.com/fantasy/frontpage/index.htm

I have quite a bit of useable jungle terrain and at least a couple of possible sets of rules, so could possibly justify it as a permissable project under the rules of engagement I set myself at the start of the year, i.e. no new projects.

You could do lots of really interesting scenarios from jungle patrols, to ambushes, to hearts and minds operations, to convoys, to defensive actions, to helicopter insertions and so on. There's also a lot of potential for some good terrain and vehicle modelling including jungle huts, boats, helicopters and other interesting things. They even do a 1/56th scale Saracen!

I'll have to have a serious think and crunch some numbers...

BUF Flying Column Finished

I finally finished off the BUF Flying Column this afternoon by adding some static grass and a few bits of woodland scenic foliage. I also added the flag to the standard and covered up any minor gaps in the paintwork before giving the whole lot a spray varnish with GW Satin hardcoat.

I've enjoyed doing this mini-project and so I'm looking forward to the Red Workers Militia, which I may well tackle in June. In all the BUF took two weeks to complete from cleaning up the first figure to spraying the varnish, so pretty good even though there's only twenty five of them plus the vehicles.

The BUF have their first convoy action tomorrow so will probably crash and burn, being new. One good thing is that I can't actually lose with this lot, as a victory is a victory (hooray!) and a defeat also a victory as they're nasty fascists (ha ha!).

That's my way of thinking anyway.

Contemptible (very) Little Armies

I've got a game on at the club tomorrow with my BUF against Jon's Anglican League. We've been umming and arring about the rules that we're going to use so I'm taking along at least three sets to try out.

These include Through the Mud and Blood, which would be my first choice if I had the time to set up the cards etc, Warhammer Great War, To the Last Man and finally, the set that I'm most familiar with, Contemptible Little Armies.
It's not ideal for skirmish level gaming but it is the easiest option in terms of setting up and speed of play, given that I've used it many times for the Back of Beyond. So, I've been giving some thought to the stats and points for my small BUF flying column and have come up with this:

BUF Flying Column
1 x Commander @ 0 points

1 x Staff Officer @ 50 points

2 x 10 man Rifle Sections (T3 / M4) @ 7 points + 1 x Lewis Gun (+ 12 points) = 152 points

(note: each section NCO has a trench broom)

1 x Vickers HMG @ 56 points

3 x Unarmoured Lorries @ 9 points = 27 points

1 x CV35 tankette (1 x MG FF + 1 x Flame FF / 2 x D6 move) @ 80 points

Total = 365 points

Not a lot in other words...but then it's not a set of rules designed for this sort of thing in the first place, so it may not even work!

Yet more Red Militia for VBCW

I had a think about the spare Empress Assaulto figures that I was going to use for BUF today. I thought they would be better used as extras for the Red Workers Milita, being dressed in boiler suits and having a certain revolutinary style about them.

The only problem would be the caps they are wearing which I would have to explain as belonging to railway workers or something similar.

However, the problem can be easily (?) solved by using some of the spare beret heads that Empress make for conversions to their SCW figures. I ordered a couple of packs together with a rather neat set of knee mortars and crew to add extra long range firepower to the workers as they man the barricades.

When they arrive, I'll have a go at some headswapping to see how easy it is to do. I've done it in 15mm before using the Peter Pig heads so 28mm can't be that difficult if I'm careful.

BUF Base Painting

I had a bit of a nightmare with the BUF bases today, which was unexpected as I'm usually not bad at producing decent looking bases. I decided on a three stage Foundry Rawhide approach but having completed them they really didn't look right.

They were far too bland and lacking in definition. So I added a wash of GW Calthan Brown and things started looking better, at least as a basecoat. After that I struggled to find a suitable shade to drybrush over the top to bring out the texture but eventually settled on GW Dheneb Stone.

The end result is far from perfect but will be covered by a generous application of static grass anyway, so I'm not too bothered. I'm leaving them now as I've had enough but will add the static grass and a few extra highlights tomorrow. As you can see, I've tried this out with one figure and it hides all the dodgy bits quite well.