The Italian Job & BEF Highlanders

Rob Kelly's Brit Exp. Force scout cars, for Early War tournament March 15

 

Well gang, after finishing two armies on my staycation (pics here) I decided to continue with my Italians.   We have an EW tourney in 2 weeks up with the 'Petawawa Mafia' so time to get a practice game in.   Mainly a picture dump, starting with Rob's Highlanders on the shores of France, 1940, Kilts and all!

 

Something Old, Something New: Moderns and Napoleonics armies FINISHED

Well I just came off a stay-cation, and painted up like a madman.. Finished my Modern-era Soviets AND my Napoleonic French.   Giant picture dump follows after the jump:

 

ELITE: Where Eagles Dare

Eagle Nebula (Hubble)

Alright time for some more ELITE.  Previous installments here (1) and here (2) and here (3)  After messing around with a new ship, the Adder, I realized it can go about 30LY per jump, and with a fuel scoop can go ANYWHERE.  So I asked my brother, being the astrophysicist, where I should go.  He suggested the Eagle Nebula.  As soon as I googled the above pic I knew I had to go.   Then I looked at the Galaxy Map, and realized it was 7000 LY from where I was parked in Mizar (big dipper star)   7000LY divided by ~30LY per jump.....

New Year's Resolutions and such..

This is still a paint I have never used, oh the irony

Well, yet another year has passed, and let's see what progress I made this year when looking to my goals as set forth in 2014:  http://www.dicedevils.com/2014/01/2014-whole-new-year-of-empty-promises.html  Here is the meat and potatoes of the post: 
What I want to do then is set myself for a small amount of painting, but every night where possible.  I have my Soviet Moderns which are up first (hence the Seinfeld/Red Dawn pics) and then my DAK which I've been working on for next Historicon.   Its still not 100% sure if its EW or MW.  After that, I have a small unit of Free French to finish off, 3 M7 Priests and some 105s.    My LW 21 Pzr has a recce unit of halftracks and some Pumas so I can field more than the 2 lists I am known for.  

Lets not even get into the unpainted Brit Para army I have, or the 12 Grants and 9 Crusaders I have for my MW British!!

Well I did do the painting daisy chain.. all year, and got my Soviet Moderns done for a few games, got my DAK up TWICE (I did 2 full armies' worth.. All scout cars, and your regular sitzkrieging gun list) and then went nuts and painted up a bunch of free French stuff thanks to the new Italy books.. I got 2 more units of recce jeeps painted, a unit of M57 (AKA 6lbr guns) and some 105mm arty.   I traded that Brit Para army for some Itals, and sold 6 of the 12 grants to ThunderST.  However all this painting took place before Cdn Nationals, which took place in late August, and since then I have been totally burnt out on painting.   I tried to get some panzer IV's done for my LW 21pzrs, but it fizzled out big time.

So what can I try and predict for next year:   I will paint not much WW2.   With the new FAON book, and now I have the Tour of Duty book, I want to finish off my Russkies.. I have a few more infantry teams to go, 4 BRDM scout cars, another ZSU-23/4 AA and a MiG-21 and a Hind-D kicking around.

MiG-21's.. and yes my gfx card wanted to implode!

I also have some Napoleonics I want to get done.. I might play them too often but they look sharp, and I can always bring them to Histo next year and get a game in with them.    Some of us also got bitten by the RPG bug, so some fantasy-type models for the Pathfinder thing we are doing.    I reckon that by April or so I will start back up with some Flames of War, maybe my Itals.   Been playing a LOT of ELITE Dangerous,

ELITE:  Oxygen is overrated.. I had less than 4 minutes to get to a station.. nearest was 8 light years away, and my windscreen was compromised, so kinda like driving a convertible through Hyperspace!!  (Spoiler, I made it with 45 seconds to spare)

and just started DCS World (free flight sim, see pic above) and even some SWTOR, so not a lot of time painting.. but that's fine.

 

 

How bout you guys?  How was your progress this year?

 

Success Is Not Final

We are coming to the closing out of another year of games, painting and changes to the Flames of War landscape. I believe them to be positive ways forward, points levels, a new army list builder with Forces of War and the newer plastic models from Battlefront are fantastic looking. Board games are back and better than ever, card games are making an impact here in our group as well!!

We Gotta Get Outta This Place!

A short time ago, Battlefront had a sale on everything in their Vietnam line of models, books and accessories. I had always wanted to play a 'modern' era of Flames of War and besides WW2, Vietnam is close to my heart in the history of armed conflict. Whether it was being military brat or the fact that 'Tour of Duty' was a TV show I never missed when I was growing up. Something about the sights, sounds of the 1960's and the Vietnam conflict resonated with me and sticks with me to this day.

Weapons of Choice: Hawker Hurricane IID

There are a few air options for British support in Flames of War. With mostly US Air options being used in Late War source books, I have decided to look at the Hawker Hurricane and its influence on the Mid War time period when it comes to using it in your next Mid War list. With just under 15,000 of these aircraft manufactured for use during WW2, we'll look at its in-game practicality.