Burma: Chindit Patrol

The second round of Lead Painters League saw me finish off five more Chindits for my 1943 Burma campaign.  Again I have tried to up the ante a bit on the painting, and am quite pleased with the blending and highlighting on the cloth. By all accounts the Chindit's Jungle Green (JG) fatigues faded very quickly when they got into the humid jungle, and so I wanted to simulate that effect. 

These models are from all of manufactures of Chindits in 28mm (as far as I am aware). They are, from left to right, BAM, Foundry, TAG, BAM and BAM. Foundry are my favourite  but they only make them with SMGs, and according to the Bolt Action army lists in the Armies of Great Britain book Chindits only have 2 SMGs per section, so I need loads more with rifles. 

By the way- this round of Lead Painters League was a draw. so that is won one, drawn one so far. Looking good!

SAGA: Norman Warlord and Knights

Having got a few games of SAGA under my belt  my fancies turned to expanding out the game a little and trying something new. With that in mind I decided that a new war-band was in order,and so I have started a Norman war-band. Bearing in mind that it took me two years to paint the Vikings and the Anglo-Danes, this is likely to be one of my slow boil projects. 

These figures are plastic ones made by Conquest Games  (confusingly, not Conquest Miniatures, which is a different company). I painted them for the first round of the Lead Painters League competition  run by the Lead Adventure Forum. This is the third year I have entered the LPL and I'm trying really hard to up my game and produce high quality figures. I think I have been guilty of taking a few short cuts to get figures finished recently  and that shows in the photos on the blog. That stops now, and it's back to basics, with good highlighting and blending. 

Due to the rules of the competition I will only post my pictures on the blog at the end of the weeks voting, so as not to unduly influence the votes. I have to paint at least 60 minis in 10 weeks, so it's something of a marathon rather than a sprint. The standard of the competition is always rather high, so wish me luck. 

Four Colour: Starfire

Starfire is the latest in a long line of superheroes protecting the city. Starfire, aka Douglas Barrow, was a geeky research student working in the Metropolitan University, examining meteorites.  When the university laboratory was destroyed by a freak lighting bolt, mutagenic compounds extracted from the space rock somehow infused Douglass Barrow,s weakling body, transforming him into a superhuman, with incredible strength, endurance and the ability to project photo-thermionic energy from his body. 

Owing to being distracted by other projects I noticed that there was a distinct lack of four colour goodness in the blog this year, so I thought I would try to readdress it a little with this offering. This figure was a gift from my old pal Leon (AKA Pulp Citizen), a life long wargamer and comic book fan, who went to the rather extreme length of commissioning this figure to be sculpted and cast in resin. He only had a small number made, so I was honoured to get one. Obviously I wanted to pull all the stops out paining this one, and I am rather pleased with the results. I think it is the best one I have painted this year. The colour scheme was inspired by Booster Gold, one of my favourite heroes from the 1990's

French and Indian Wars: British Light Infantry and French Fur Trappers

 Here are some more of my French Indian War figures for Muskets and Tomahawks. First up, some British Light Infantry, skirmishing away on the flanks of the Regular Infantry.  

Next up, some Frenchies (boo!).

 These are fur trappers and frontier traders, or as they were called by the French Coureur de Bois (Forest Runner). These rugged types penetrate the deep forested interiors of Canada, living off the land and trading furs with the natives. In M+T these guise are a sort of elite skirmishers, able to use the terrain to their advantage. They sport beards and fur hats too, so they can't be all bad.   

These figures are by Redoubt Miniatures

French and Indian Wars: British Regular Infantry

It's time for another distracting aside. 

SAGA certainly took the gaming world by storm, with it’s quirky game play and fun skirmish scale battles. Leon (Pulp Citizen) and I have been playing a few games and are starting to get into it, but that’s not going to stop me getting distracted by an all new gaming project and, for me, an entirely new period: Muskets and Tomahawks and The French and Indian Wars.

The French and Indian Wars (sometimes called the French Indian War or FIW) was basically the Seven Year War as it was fought out in North America, between the British, with their Native American allies, and the French/Canadians and their native allies. The war is most commonly remembered in the collective consciousness thanks to the Last of the Mohicans.

The games Muskets and Tomahawks, (M+T for short) is a game by the same writer as SAGA, but it is a very different game that really captures the atmosphere of the period. I have read the rules, but have yet to play a game, and am really looking forward to it. It has been getting rave reviews.

I have begun work on the Red-coated British Regular Infantry. In truth I have been plugging away at these steadily since November, just doing one or two as the mood struck me. I still have a few more to go, but then I can start on the really good bit- the Indians!

These figures are by Redoubt Miniatures. 

SAGA: Another Clash of Arms

Leon (Pulp Citizen) and I managed to get in another couple of games of SAGA as we try to get our heads around the rules. I have added another unit to each of the warbands, making it up top 5 points each. My Anglo-Danes have a levy of 12 bowmen, while Leon opted for a rock-hard 4 hearthguard for his Vikings. 

My New Levy Archers Scrambling Through the Ruins of a Roman Temple

The first battle proved be be something of a none event. Leon was concerned about the Anglo-Danes ability to liberally scatter fatigue markers over the Vikings, and held back, playing too cautiously and thus playing into the Anglo-Danes hands. He tried a suicidal charge with his bezerkers against my warriors, which was predictably lethal, but that proved too late to inflict a decisive victory.

The Viking Invaders Form a Ragged Shield Wall

What followed was a debate about the Anglo-Danish battle board, and wither it had rather too many ways to add fatigue compared to the Viking's abilities to remove it. In order to try to resolve the debate we switched sides, so that I played the Vikings. 

The Anglo-Danish Shield Wall

In the second battle I went for it- rapidly moving my warlord and his berserkers towards the Anglo-Danish flank. My heathguard and warriors followed in his wake. I tried to ignore the fatigue markers Leon was sprinkling like fairy dust over my horde, and closed onto the Anglo-Danes. The battle was brutal and viscous:  Bezerkers are great for pulverising a unit, even if few make it through the battle. Leon's archers also nearly made my Warlord into a pin cushion but I managed some lucky saves. 

Berserkers Clash with the Anglo-Danish warriors and Cut Them Down!

In the end his warlord was cut down in battle, granting me victory. It was messy and not as decisive as I would have liked, but I think I proved that it is much better for the Vikings to get stuck in as fast as they can rather than hang back, especially when facing Anglo-Danes.