2014 in review

Seasons greetings!

Its that time of year again (already). 2014 has been a very busy and troublesome year for me, both at work and at home, nevertheless I have found that wargaming, well painting mostly, provides me with a much needed escape from the daily grind.

I had some definate goals this year, in no particular order, they were:

• Commanders for the Muslim army DONE
• Commanders for the Persian army DONE
• Lots of Persians! DONE
• A Theban contingent for the Greek Hoplite army NOT DONE
• SS Troops for my Bolt Action German force DONE
• Vehicles for Ze Germans DONE
• Soviet forces to oppose said Germans for Bolt Action. DONE
• An Anglo Danish warband for SAGA, to oppose the Vikings I finished a while back. SAGA NOT EVEN STARTED!
• Finish off the Novamarines and start on their adversaries, The TAU for EPIC. ONGOING
• Continue with the Napoleonic project, Finish the Austrian forces and make a start on the French. ONGOING

So, what have I actually managed to do? 

Planned stuff.

Ancients

The Persian army. This army has been finally finished this year with the addition of lots more cavalry units and levy archers. The army is now pretty big and comes in at around 500 points for Impetus.

Persian Page

The Ayyubid Egyptian army. This army needed less work to get finished, so with the addition of new command units and some light cavalry, this one is now complete as well.

Saladin and his mates










WW2. 

The German armies have been bolstered this year, lots of infantry and vehicles.

The Soviet forces have also had some work done to them, I now have a sizable infantry force based up for Bolt action or Battlegroup Kursk, complete with anti tank guns etc.

WW2 page!

6mm Napoleonics

Much slower progress than I wanted. I have painted a few units, but the army is still not finished and the French forces to oppose them haven't even been ordered, despite the completed order form to Adler sitting in my drafts folder for over a year! 

Austrian 1809 page!

Epic

Epic has been a big thing for me this year. Lots of stuff has been added to the Novamarine force.















Their enemy the Tau army has been painted up and several games played!

EPIC!!!

Distractions

As always, I am easily distracted, often ill start a new project on a whim, or maybe ive had a pint and am on the internet, it usually results in a load of stuff getting delivered about a week later....

10mm Fantasy.

My lads expressed an interest in fantasy stuff, so I bought a few rulebooks, then bought a load of models from copplestone castings. I even made a start on painting them, but the motivation wasn't there, and the lads decided that they weren't bothered. End result was it all got sold, and a load of time was wasted! Oh well at least I made a small profit once everything had gone via ebay!

Terrain

Not so much a distraction as something that needed doing, I made a far bit of scenery this year, mainly aimed at my 6mm Napoleonic stuff, but it works OK for the 15mm WW2 models as well.

Zombicide!

This is a cool game. There is just something far cooler about hordes of painted zombies roaming about the board! The unpainted masses were bugging me so they had to be done!

Next year?

There is a lot happening next year, including relocating back to the UK, after 4 years in Cyprus, im conscious of the amount of gaming related stuff I have accumulated... I will be scaling back on new purchases, and instead concentrating of a suitable storage system for it all. 

Of course some painting will be getting done or I may go insane!

6mm Napoleonics

Next year I really am going to get the Austrian Army finished off! Possibly ill make a small start on some French, but that depends on the Austrian progress.

Epic

The Epic Novamarines will also hopefully be getting finished, because to be honest im sick of painting them, and want them done! 

A new army is in the planning stage.. more of which later.

If I end up running out of stuff to paint, I will paint up the models in the Space Hulk box, as my son has been asking me to paint them since 2009.....

I may add some stuff to The Crusader army for Impetus, or may just leave it until im settled in the UK....I have plans for all my Ancient armies, but it may have to wait until im settled in the UK, as the move home has to be taken into account. I have so much stuff to get back in one piece already.....

Anyway, there we go. Another year done.

Steve

Later Achaemenid Persian Army Done!

Now then,

4 years in the making (among other things), the Persian army for Impetus is finally complete. The army comes in at 500 points so is big enough for a few options when playing the normal 300 or 400 point games.

First of all I have the last units to be done, the Persian levy archers.

And here is the complete army!

Happy days. Its always good when you finish a project, and now ill be turning my attention to my 1809 Austrian army in 6mm, as that army is also nearing completion.

For more about the various units etc in this army, have a look at the Persian army page at the top, or just click here - Later Achaemenid Persian Page

Cheers for looking,

Steve

le.IG.18 75mm and Pak 40 AT gun

Now then,

With the Soviets getting some fire support, I thought it only fair that the Germans get some too. The  le.IG.18 75mm Infantry Support Gun is classed as a light howitzer in Bolt Action, so will provide the grenadiers with a bit of fire support.

Gun and crew by Peter Pig

I'm really liking the Peter pig figures, they have loads of character, the only slight negative is that the faces are a bit dodgy...

What is needed now is a bit of AT capability....

Pak 40 Anti tank gun.

Gun and crew, Peter Pig

This has got to be my favorite bit of kit yet for my Jerrys. A really nice model, it comes with all the camouflage already cast on, so really looks the part, waiting to ambush an unwary soviet tank!

Bolt Action Page!

Anyway, still no bases for the Austrians, so ill have a dig about and see what else there is to paint for tomorrow.

Cheers,
Steve

Soviet Zis 3 Divisional Gun

Now then,

As I have neglected to order a new batch of bases for my Austrians, I have instead painted up this nice Peter Pig Gun for my Bolt Action Soviets. I thought I might need one as I dont think the 45mm is going to cut the mustard!

Gun by Peter Pig, Crew Peter Pig and Battlefront.

All My Eastern Front BA stuff can be seen here - Bolt Action Eastern Front page

For some strange reason I have overlooked Peter Pig models, I really don't know why, they are really nice. For those wishing to do BA in 15mm, I would highly recommend them, as not only are the figures top notch but they do custom orders, so you could order just what you need, instead of having loads of surplus stuff.

I'm already planning my next WW2 project, Western desert anyone?

Cheers for looking.

Steve

IR 51 Splenyi

Now then,

I Have got my latest units done, IR 51 a large Hungarian infantry regiment, in the 1809 campaign the regiment was quite under strength, but still fielded 3 battalions.  I have chosen to represent it with only 2 Battalions, but at full strength. Just makes things easier....

Anyway, here they are!

Thats the last of the line infantry done,

The Austrian army is slowly but surely getting there, with a few gaps here and there, namely Hussars and artillery with some more commanders and 4 Battalions of landwehr to do now. Unless of course I add a reserve division, Kurrassiers and Grenadiers...hmmm

The full Austrian army can be seen here - Austrian 1809 page

I know I said it was Austrian 6mm month, but ive ran out of bases for them, so ill be cracking on with something else for a while, then back to the Napoleonics next month!

Steve

Grenzer Regiment 8 and 13 Done.

Now then,

I actually finished these two units of Grenz light/irregular infantry off last week, but have been too busy to get them photographed etc...

Here are the newest additions to the Army of Austria!

GRENZ REGIMENT 8






GRENZ REGIMENT 13






Another 2 units done, these guys are a welcome addition, as irregular light infantry, they should prove to be very useful in an army almost devoid of skirmish capable troops.

Next on the painting table are IR51, a large Hungarian infantry regiment.

The full army can be seen here - Austrian 1809 Page

Cheers for looking.
Steve

March is Napoleonic 6mm Month

Now then,

With getting all my Bolt Action stuff finished off, I thought id turn my attention once again to the 1809 campaign, and get some more of the Austrian army done.


First of all I've had a look at the basing, always a bloody problem, and decided to rebase the skirmishers, for no other reason than it makes them easier to store...

I have rebased some of my Jaeger's, so now have the unit in 2 different formations, formed up and in skirmish order.

So onto the basing. For some reason I always struggle with how to base stuff, be it Napoleonic or Ancient armies.  Black powder has made this a bit easier, as units are classed by their "general" size. So we have tiny units, small units, standard units and large units.  frontage sizes for the units are the only things that are important, depth doesn't matter.

From back to front - Large infantry unit, standard unit, small unit, tiny unit.

Tiny unit

The only tiny unit I have in the army is the Carneville Freikorps, a very small unit numbering 240 jaegers, and 120 or so Hussars. I have done the Infantry formed up and in skirmish order, depending on the situation. The Hussars are just 2 bases of Hussars, and are a separate tiny unit.

Small unit

Small units will be 4 bases strong, the only small units I have at present are the Rosenburg Chevauxledgers. A light cavalry unit.

Standard unit

The mainstay of the army, most units will be standard sized, consisting of 6 bases.

Large unit

The large units are more of a problem. For the infantry I have made the large Hungarian Bns large, but still with 6 bases. The bases however are sightly larger, with 8 figures per base instead of the normal 6.

The Cavalry large units will have 8 bases.

Artillery Batteries

All the artillery batteries will have 3 guns, and 3 limbers, although the guns may be different calibers or howitzers.

Why so many bases?
Infantry formations are the reason the units are made up of a variable number of bases, depending on their size. I considered basing whole units on 1 big base, but then how would the different formations be shown? I suppose counters could be used, but that doesn't do it for me. For me the whole point of gaming with miniatures is the look of the thing.

 Line

 Attack column

 Battalion Masse* ( A formation unique to the Austrians, a solid block of infantry able to withstand cavalry attacks, but horribly vulnerable to artillery fire). Rear 2 bases facing rear so as not to confuse it with an attack column.

 Square

March column

So whats next?

First of all I've got  all my light troops done, namely 2 battalions of Grenzers. They just need basing up, photos maybe tomorrow.
Then I'm going to get another large unit of Hussars done, ive been putting off doing them because to be honest they aren't the easiest of figures to paint, but are really worth the effort.

Next in the queue is infantry regiment 51, Splenyi, a large Hungarian regiment, but with only 2 Battalions, which im going to attach to the Advance Guard Division.

Still lots to do, including landwehr regiments, lots of artillery, and a heavy cavalry brigade!

The Austrian army can be seen in more detail here - Austrian 1809 Page

Cheers,
Steve

Bolt Action SOVIETS

Now then,

I have rebased some of my old flames of war soviet army, the plan being to use them with Bolt Action to take on the German forces on the Eastern front.

WARNING - I painted these up about 12 years ago, and you can tell I mass produced hundreds of them! So I apologise for the sloppy paint jobs...... I did consider (for about a nanosecond) repainting them completely...Life is too short.

Anyway, here they are:

The Soviet commander, accompanied by a kommissar, radio op and standard bearer (armed with an SMG).

The miniatures are a mix of battlefront, peter pig and skytrex.

In bolt Action the Soviets get a free 12 man rifle squad of conscripts, the quality of quantity....

2 Rifle/LMG squads 12 men in each.

A 10 man SMG squad.

Optional stuff...

Sniper pair

Forward artillery officer flare gun at the ready!

Anti tank rifle team

Light mortar team.

Maxim MMG team

45mm Anti tank gun

The whole reinforced platoon so far, I have loads of mid war vehicles to use with them, but im planning on adding a T34/85, or maybe an IS2..?

So there we go, Bolt Action forces done (for now anyway). Next Im planning to get some scenery sorted out, and actually have a game!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Bolt Action Update - Kubelwagon

Now then,

I have been away recently, but over the last few days i've got round to painting up my Kubelwagon for my Platoon commander (more likely the platoon sergeant!) to ride about in!

While I was away, my transfers turned up from minibits, so here's the finished Panther G and the Puma armoured car.

The transfers are the tank numbers, the German crosses I painted on myself.

Im not quite sure why they look a bit shiny in the pictures, they are not in the flesh....

Here's a family photo, the Panther really is a big beast!

The plan for March? I was going to say Soviets, but Ive done them! So im thinking I might do some scenery, and strong arm my boys into giving me a game....

Soviets tomorrow, I just need to get them all photographed. All my Bolt action stuff can be seen here - BOLT ACTION PAGE

Thanks for looking,
Steve