Rome wasn't built in a day

Here are a few photos of the buildings I have put together for my Rome board. These are all bu Warbases. The first two are from their generic terrain. they are the same buildings but one has a portico added The last one is from their Vini Vidi Vichi range, and is a long store room. the pan-tile roof is made from corrugated craft card from Hobbycraft. I gave each building a light coat of plaster filler and painted it using a stippling method (Which is the same as what I did for my Spanish buildings).

VBCW: Assault on Wigmore Hall

This weekend saw many brave, intrepid VBCW players brave the winter elements to head off to Herefordshire to partake in a VBCW game. The Herefordshire VBCW games are something of a highlight in the gaming calendar for me, so of course I had to wheel out Commissar-Professor Winters once more. 

This is the third game organised and umpired by Clive and Roo and the plots are starting to get a little bit complicated and convoluted. I will attempt to summaries the plot, and a number of sub plots, in a single paragraph.

Last game the 'un-holy' alliance of Socialists and Anglicans broke down when Professor Winters (socialist) attacked the forces of the Bishop of Hereford. Since then the  Communist Party of Great Britain continues its work to radicalize the broad leftist forces into a fanatical fighting force inspired by Communist re-education programs organised by the CPGB commissars. This new elite fighting force is in need of resources (namely fresh food and man-power) and fixed their sights on the area of Herefordshire known as Mortimer Country. This area has managed to remain relatively un-touched by the VBCW, until now. The Socialists want to take Mortimer Country, and to do that must first take the ancestral home of the Mortimer family, Wigmore Hall. The Government forces (British Union of Fascists and Royalists) also covet Mortimer Country, as the collapse of the Bank of England has left them impoverished and unable to feed their armies. The Anglicans also want to take Wigmore Hall, presumably to stop the Communist and Facists from having it. 

The game took place on four tables, one for each of the attacking forces, and one for Wigmore Hall itself. As the attacking forces pushed through towards the hall the tables were brought together to allow the attackers to more onto the central table with the Hall itself. There was also secondary objectives on each table, along with some farm animals that could be 'liberated' by either side. 

Wigmore Hall and its household staff ready for its defense. 

Some of the stranger contraptions the defenders have prepared

Wigmore Hall was well protected by Minefields, roadside bombs, bunkers and barbed wire. 

For the Reds the game kicked off with a relatively simple plan. We would use our mobility from our trucks to push as far up the lane towards Wigmore Hall as we could, while Roo's more pedestrian force would take the secondary objectives (the Cricket Pavilion).  This great plan was fouled up from the beginning when the single lane towards Wigmore Hall became a congested mess of trucks and cars. 

While the truck-borne infantry make its hellishly slow progress the Communists artillery (three field guns!) began pounding the militias defending the cricket pavilion and the lane.

The Defenders brought up these strange devices. We were not sure what they were but, judging by the way his own troops were moving rapidly AWAY from them we assumed they were some kind of mobile bomb. 

 At this point my Armored Hedgerow Breaching Vehicle (AHBV) was boarded by some old toff who began pocking the crew with his pistol and busting about 'my land'. The crew, who were engineers and armed only with spanners and wrenches got quite irate, at which point the lovely Gracie Fields clambered aboard and calmed the whole situation down. It was agreed that the AHBV would exit the woodland, as long as the old duffer got off their tank. The situation thus amicably agreed the battle continued. 

The AHBW managed to plow through the barbed wire, opening a breach for Roos communists to march through. The defenders began to fall back before Roo's advance. The AHBV then went on to plow up most of the cricket green. 

The defenders deployed their mobile bombs destroying a mortar-truck and immobilizing several vehicles. 

After this the driver of one of the immobilized trucks got out and arrested the scientist responsible to the bomb (the other one was killed in the blast- ha!) 

The AHBV continued its unstoppable rolling through the defenses, until in crashed through the front of the cricket pavilion. Unfortunately at this point it was accidentally shelled by Roo's field gun (about the only thing on the table capable of stopping it) and it was destroyed. Luckily the crew debussed and 'claimed' the now ruined objective building. 

Now at this point one of those VBCW moments happened, as somewhere on another table the commanders of the Fascists and  the Lord of the Manor at Wigmore hall came to an agreement. The defenders stopped their fighting and surrendered the hall and its farms to the Fascists. This meant the hall was now defended by four platoons of militia and two platoons of Fascists! 
We pressed on with our plan, hoping that the Anglicans might break through and draw some of the defenders away, but it soon became apparent the the Anglican attack had failed to make much progress towards Wigmore Hall, and to attack the Hall with the men we had left would be futile. 
Emboldened by the influx of reserves from the Hall the defenders began a spirited counter attack, aided by the Police Motorcycle Corp and a Police Light Tank. At this point Commissar Professor Winters gave the order to halt the advance consolidate our positions. The attack on Wigmore Hall had failed, and Mortimer County was now under the ruthless thumb of Oswald Moseley's fascist bully-boys. 

That said, the attack was not a complete failure, as the communists had succeed in capturing the important strategic objectives, as well as a good number of succulent farmyard animals. Our Commissars also arrested a large number of 'unarmed enemy combatants' (read 'civilians'), who will be carted away and put to good use serving the people. We even captured a mad scientist, who will no doubt be a useful asset when he has chance to visit  one of our 'mind-cleansing' holiday resorts.

Citizens of Rome

 For ages now I have wanted to do a 'Streets of Rome' game. I adore the HBO TV series 'Rome', which portrayed every day Romans as well as their aristocratic leaders. I also love 'Plebs', the comedy program, and even Frankie Howard in 'Up Pompeii'. Every time I watch one of these programs I think wouldn't it be great to have a model Rome in 28mm. I bought Songs of Shadows and  Dust ages ago and I think it looks like a great rules set for the game. What was putting me off was alack of suitable buildings but now Warbases and Sarissa Precision have both started making MDF buildings for Rome, it is starting to look doable. 

HBO Series Rome

Plebs

Up Pompeii

I decided it was time to make my dream a reality and start work on some roman buildings and a few civilian and gang members. Here is the work so far. These buildings are from Warbases. 

 

More Jungle Terrain

I have been working on some more of my jungle scenery. I made a large piece with a swamp in the middle. this ads a nice bit of variety as it is more open and allows figures to be laced on the base easily, but still maintaining the over grown jungle feel. It is the biggest base I have made so far. I was concerned about warping as it was so big. It warped a little bit, but not enough to be disastrous. 

I also made another piece of more fantasy/pulp/scifi terrain in the form of another giant mushroom. These mushrooms were resin ones I bought AGES ago (maybe as long ago as 1991) but are still available from Scotia Grendel (link).

Chain of Command Battle Report: Attack and Defend

Vlad and I got another game of Chain of  Command in last week.This time we played the attack and defend  mission. I played the US Airborne attacking Vlad's German Heer. The US were supported by three Sherman Tanks, and and engineer section (comprising of a flame thrower team and a demolitions team). The Heer platoon was supported a Panzer IV and a Flakpanzer with a 20mm cannon.

The Americans objective was to get the demolition team in contact with the 88 flak batteries (which were not able to fire- they were just an objective). Obviously the Germans objective was to stop them. This game was played out using Vlad's 15mm figures and terrain.

The Germans began the game holding a farm house with good sight lines covering the objective, and their two armored vehicles threatening the roads heading towards the 88 battery.I deployed my paratroopers in the cover of a near by farmyard, and set up the light mortar were it could fire on the Germans defenses. I was very lucky, winning three or four turns in a row near the beginning of the game.My Sherman managed to fire on the Panzer IV. It still took five shots to knock the Panzer out! never the less, with the Panzer gone, I could bring the rest of my platoon up to attack the trenches and farm house. 

I used my Machine gun teams to suppress the German infantry while my rifle teams maneuvered ever closer.The Flakpanzer was a bit of a pain, as it sat right back and used its High Explosives to slow my advance up the roads. Vlad was uncharacteristically unlucky and only managed to kill a couple of paratroopers with the Flakpanzer before my Sherman was able to knock it out. After that it looked bleak for teh Germans, as  I used my Paratroopers to suppress the Germans while I was able to bring the engineers up to use their flame thrower to clear out the defenders. All the time the Shermans and the light mortar dropped a lot of HE shells on to the German defenses.

Vlad was unlucky that I knocked out his Panzer IV before he got to do much with it, as it meant I was free to maneuver closer to the targets. I was pleased with how well able to use fire and maneuver tactics to advance through cover while suppressing the Germans. As paratroopers are Elite solders the -1 to the Germans shooting due to the effects of suppressing fire meant that it was very hard for Vlad to stop my men advancing. 

Here are a few pictures from the game...

Jungle Terrain Work In Progress

 I have not been idle the last few weeks. I have been making lots and lots of jungle terrain. Much of this is bits and pieces of old terrain re-based, and the rest is bits and bobs I bought from the pet shop or cheap home-wear houses like B+M and Poundland. This terrain will be very useful, as it can be used for Burma (Bolt Action), Africa (Congo or Force on Force) or even the Caribbean (Pirates or Freebooters Fate).  It could even be used for Scifi or fantasy too. 

There is lots more to follow. I plan to make more, including center pieces and more unusual pieces. 

Home Front: A Few More Home Guard

 Here are some shots of three more Home Guard  swelling the ranks of the Defenders of the Realm. They are all from Warlord Games. The one at the bottom has roller-skates on, but I thought this idea was a bit silly (try firing a Tommy Gun while on skates!) so I banked the basing material up over the wheels.
 My favorite one is the old guy having a tea break. I just hope Jerry doesn't invade while he is brewing up!

Konflikt 47:|Soviet Ursus Infantry (Ggrrrr!)

I bought these at Salute last year and painted them a while ago, but never got round to photographing them at the time. I have been waiting for some good daylight to get some decent pictures and this week I finally manged to snap a few photos for the blog.

These are Ursus troopers for Konflikt 47. This is a Weird WW2 rules based on Bolt Action. It allows me to use my existing Soviet and German armies with as many or as few 'weird' tweaks as I like. This has the huge advantage that I don't have to buy and paint a whole new army, but instead can add to my existing one as the mood strikes (and as I can afford). 

Ursus Infantry are a weapon utilising Ursine DNA to create an 8ft tall man/bear hybrid that could go toe-to toe with any enhanced infantry on the battlefields of 1947. Powerful, but lacking control, the Ursus soldiers were often unleashed in highly contested areas of the battlefield to tip the balance of favour towards the Soviet army.

Home Front: Civilians and Volunteers

Apologies for the dodgy photos but the light has been very poor this week in the UK.  Here are a few more additions to my Home Front collection. First up...and old man, This one is made by Foundry and is a Perry Sculpt. Just a nice useful civilian figure...also useful for VBCW.

Next, Mr Churchill...or perhaps an actor impersonating the Prime Minister? Not a great sculpt, I forgot where and when I got it, but I think it might be from Westwind. Useful as an objective in some scenarios. 

And finally two of the cast of Dad's Army in their civvies. Sargent Wilson and Lance Corporal Jones from Warlord. Lovely Sculpts, full of character, by Mr Hicks. 

Home Front: Dad's Army Cast.

 For my Dad's Army/Sealion collection I have painted these two...One is verger Maurice Yeatsman (made by Foundry and sculpted by the Perrys) and the other is Private Godfery, in his civvies (from Warlord Games, and sculpted by Paul Hicks). Both look amazingly like the cast member they are based on. 
Nice additions to my growing collection.