Zombtober 2017 Finale: 15MM Mordhiem Warband!

Happy Halloween folks. 

I hope you are having a ghoulishly good time. Yet again Zombtober has drawn to an end in a flurry of rotting flesh and undead gore. And what a zombtober it has been! It has been great to follow everyone's blogs and see how their zombie hordes (and survivors...lots of bloggers did survivors this year) have blossomed. The world of wargaming is now a considerably deadlier place. 

My humble efforts have seen me complete an undead warband for my 15mm Mordhelm project. Three zombies, four ghouls, three dregs, a necromancer and a vampire have all made it off my work bench. 

Today I have completed the Vampire Thrall who will be leading my warband. This is Ivan von Drak, an agent of the von Carstein family, whose business in the ruins of the cursed city of Mordheim is dark and mysterious. 

And here is Ivan von Drak with his warband (minus one zombie who is still waiting to have his base re-done after his little accident).

15mm Zombtober Ghouls

OK, not actually zeds, but close enough. These are four ghouls for my 15mm Modhiem undead warband. These miniatures are by Oddzial Osmy, and are very nicely cast and sculpted. Ghouls in Mordhiem are a rank and file troops type that serve their dark masters in return for a chance to engage in a bit of cannibalism. They are faster than the shambling zombies, but are not as tough. I also plan to get some more of these to use as ghouls for my 15mm Vampire Counts Warhammer army. 

In addition to the ghouls I have managed to repair one of the Dregs whose sword snapped off while I was painting it. This is unusual for a Demonworld figure are they are normally surprisingly durable. Anyway, I filed off the sword hilt and added a brass spear I had left over from my English Civil War pike-men. I also added a shield off a skeleton warrior (also from Demon world). This Dreg is Vlad "the Impaler".

15mm Chain of Command Battle Report

I managed to get a game in with Vlad at the Earlswood Wargamers last week. We played Chain of Command, using Vlad's 15mm scale figures. I played an american rifle platoon supported by a couple of M5 Light tanks, and Vlad played panzergrenadiers. 

For this game we plated on a 6x4 table and kept all ranges etc the same as they are in the 28mm scale game. this gave the game a different feel than using 28mm figures, as the perspective was altered to make the battle field feel much more open. it has other advantages to, as vlad was able to offer a vast choice of support options for me to choose from, from Shermans to M10s, to artillery and antitank guns. the low cost of 15mm tanks compared to 28mm scale means that you can pick and choose freely, so each battle will be quite different. 

Vlad's scenery was lovely too, and this was the first outing of Vlad's complete set. 

We played a strait forward meeting engagement, with my infantry platoon advancing up a lane in Normandy, and running into the Germans coming the opposite way. 

Here are some photos...

An M5 Light tanks moves rapidly up the lane, scouting out potential German positions...

 Sneaky Panzergrenadiers emerge form a french farm house ready to sping an ambush. 

Having spotted movement in a ruined farmhouse the Yanks deploy along the hedgerow. 

German MG's pin the Yankee gun team in place while a squad of Panzergrenadiers assaults their position breaking their moral and driving them off.  

A German NCO directs fire from the ruined farm house...

The lead M5 uses its co-ax MG to rake the Panzergrenadiers behind the hedge. But what is this coming around the corner of the lane?

A German Panzer IV comes in to view and opens up on the M5....the plucky little tank is damaged but continues to rake the German infantry with MG fire. 

The American GI's move up to support the tanks, one team throws smoke to try to protect the M5 from the Panzer IV.

One of the American GI sections breaks under sustained fire from the Germans. 

The M5 was eventually knocked out by Panzerfaust, having survived two shots from the Panzer IV and a Panzershreck from the Panzergenadiers command section. 

This battle ended in a victory for the Americans...but only just. The American force was down to one force moral when the loss of a junior officer drove the Panzergenadiers force moral to zero...you couldn't get a close fought battle. 

Second Zombie for Zombtober 2017

A week late, and with a tale of so much woe it will make you weep... Here are two more undead for my 15mm Mordhiem warband. The first is a Dreg called Fester, who serves the necromancer by gathering up body parts to make zombies. The second, as it is zombtober, is one of the walking dead. 

I painted these last week but only got round to photographing them today as the light has been so poor all week. I also painted another Dreg (Igor) but managed to break his sword while basing him, and so he will have to have some more work on him to give him a spear or something. What is more While bringing these two figures in from the garden I managed to trap my finger in the door, then as I jumped from the pain dropped these two and broke them off their bases! ARRGGGH!!! I think I am cursed this week. 
Anyway. this is what they looked like before I broke them...

 

Back for Zombtober: Back for Good!

You have, I am sure, noticed that I have not been blogging for almost a year. I won't dwell on the reasons why, but would prefer to be more positive and look forward now. My friends Leon and Simon have asked if I would participate in Zombtober 2017, and I said I would. Having something of a shortage of zombies on my work bench I decided to bend the rules of zombtober just a little and have chosen to paint up an undead warband for a 15mm Mordheim game I am making. This will include some zombies, but also some ghouls, a vampire, a necromancer and a few dregs (the Egor and Renfield type characters). I will also cobble together a few bits of 15mm Mordheim scenery that should give them the right feel. If funds and time permit I might get some more suitable minis later in the month and add them to the collection. 

This resumption of bloging will not be limited to Zombtober as I have a lot of other ideas for wargaming projects, and I will be showing them off soon, along with pictures of a few of the projects I have been working on slowly over the last twelve months. This will include more Sharp Practice figures, some more 15mm Warhammer, Home Guard for Operation Sealion, and some 3mm(!) scale WW2 stuff for Rommel. 

Without further preamble here is my first entry for Zombtober 2017 (a few days later than planned). These are 15mm figures from the Demonworld range by Ral Partha Europe (RPE)...

Renfield (A lowlife Dreg)

Close up of Renfield's face...impressive sculpting for 15mm!

Zombie number 1

Zombie number 2

The Necromancer