Another Padre Figure!

I was trawling the TQD Castings website today and was delighted to discover that they make a 20mm (1/72nd scale) WW2 Commonwealth padre figure (the chap on the left). I hasten to point out that this photo comes from the TQD website. I did NOT paint them (I'd give my left arm to be able to paint like this, but then it would be hard painting figures with just my right arm, I'd need something to hold the figures with while painting).



Needless to say, he's on order. The other two figures in this pack look useful as well - the officer on the left will do nicely for my WW2 character, Lt. Denis Audet, who is overdue to make another appearance on this blog.

I've ordered some figures from TQD's partner line, CP Models, and haven't found time to paint them yet. They are quirky figures, some are in awkward poses and the sculpts aren't very fluid, but they fill in some holes and make some nice personality figures.

I am sure we can find a use for this padre on the battlefield.

Royal Marine Centaur

A while back I purchased a 15mm Battlefront Miniatures Cromwell w Centaur 95mm howitzer barrel variant, since Mark Piper's Rapid Fire Normandy scenario Battle for Rots calls for a Centaur from the RM 2nd Indpt Armd Btty.

I finished painting it recently only to discover that the RM Centaur turrets had special markings on their turrets to aid indirect fire while on LVTs. I asked Dom Skelton if he had any decals to do the job, and he politely suggested that I cowboy up and try painting them myself. So I did, deciding that I could do justice to the markings but would not bother with the numbers. I also did the RM 2 Btty tactical marking. I used some images of a model by Brett Green as a guide.





I know there are some howlers - I believe that the Centaurs removed the BESA bow MG in particular.

I just have a few more models to finish for that scenario - particularly some Jerry 105s and Opel Blitz trucks, and then I should be able to run through the scenario and post an AAR here.

Comments welcome, thanks for looking.

Board Games Night: Paths of Glory

Two Thursdays in a row have found me at the local board games club playing Ted Raicer's Paths of Glory, published in 1999 by GMT games. I'm hooked,




The last time I posted here about a boardgame, Trajan, I said it was a clever game but not an informative simulation. PoG is both.

So much to like about this game. The card driven sequence of play not only drives strategic events but also determines operational possibilities and allows players a limited palette of choices each season or turn of play.

As the Central Powers player in the first game I hammered my mate Tyler on the Western Front and while we bled each other dry, my focus West meant abandoning opportunities in the East. In our rematch, as the Allies I strengthened the line in the West, then ignored it and flooded the zone in the East with the Russians. That diverted most of Austria-Hungary's forces and several precious German armies to stopping me and allowed me a narrow win in a shortened scenario ending in 1916.

Other mechanisms, including combat, operational movement, supply, strategic redeployment and replacements are clean, simple and workable.

I would be happy to play this game again, maybe taking a whole day to play 1914-18. I might even buy a copy if I can find one somewhere. A great game and a great simulation.


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Bash On Recce!

I've just finished a motley little late WW2 Canadian recon (recce in CanAnglo milspeak) troop in 15mm. My thanks to Mrs. Padre for letting me use her nice camera and tripod, and for coaching me in Photoshop Elements.



Where are the dismounts from the Bren carriers in the pasture? No doubt ransacking the two houses.

Most of these vehicles are intended for a friend of mine, Matt. He is gritting his teeth working a staff job as base adjutant, but he wears the cap badge of the Lord Strathcona's Horse and in his heart of hearts he's a hard-charging armoured recce officer. He's also the only tank commander I know who has been under fire in Afghanistan. And he's also a gamer and a cool guy, so it's only fitting that he command a recce unit.

Most of the models shown here are one-piece resin kits from Gaming Models. I heard some good things about them on the Too Fat Lardies discussion list, and wasn't disappointed. Quite inexpensive, too, and for every ten models you order, Craig Lechner throws in one free. Good customer service.



All of these vehicles have the regimental and brigade markings to show that they belong to the headquarters squadron of the Fort Garry Horse, a regiment in the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade which served in the Normandy campaign. I am not 100% certain that this formation would have possessed the turreted Daimler armoured cars shown here, at least not in Normandy in 1944, but I had the decals for this formation, so c'est la vie. The decals, by the way, are marvellous little products from Dom's Decals.

The other manufacturer represented here by three crewed Daimler Dingo scout cars is Battlefront Miniatures. I bought for my own collection. I'm guessing one crew nicked the .50 cal from some Yanks.



And by comparison, here are two Daimler Dingos from Gaming Models, which, sadly, don't come with crew. I think I have some more in my bits box for Matt.



And finally, the two afore mentioned Daimler Armoured Cars:



Hopefully this little troop will see plenty of action before Matt and his lovely bride to be Krista gets posted back to the regiment this summer. Rumour has it that the same shipment from Gaming Models included some Panthers, so he may well have something to try to get his recce eyes on.

Thanks for looking.

The Mad Padre in the Header

You may have noticed that there is a second man of cloth on the header of this blog. The bellicose clergyman on the left is the Vicar from Jackboots on Whitehall, a British film of 2011 that has been described as Team America: World Police meets Inglorious Basterds. It's puppet mayhem an epic scale and filled in glorious Panzervision, not nearly as foul and malodorous as Team America though it is rather cheeky. Wargamers will enjoy the high quality of modelmaking and the endearing take on action figures. I quite enjoyed the gun toting Vicar, as you might imagine. A mad padre after my own heart.

I recommend it highly, if you can get a hold of it.

Finished Federals

Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs have been permanently camped on my painting table of late. While there are plenty more ready to move in, and several boxes of Perry Brothers ACW cavalry in progress, I did manage to move some fellows on their way to the front this past weekend. Specifically, the Bluffsburg front, because most of the figures shown below are needed to augment the ongoing campaign I'm supposedly running (players to Mad Padre - what's going on? yes, I hear you, lads. MTF).

Here's what I got based and finished. A mix of Old Glory, almost the last of their Iron Brigade pack, a blister of Wargames Foundry Hardee Hat command figures, a few Redoubt stragglers, and the first of a pack of Perry Bros miniatures I bought some years ago. I'm not very disciplined in painting a single purchase of figures all at one time, they kind of dribble their way to the gaming table. There are more that are finished, but for one reason or other aren't yet based.

And yes, those are the flocked splitrail fences mentioned in a previous post here. Those are some gigantic fencerail sections, aren't they? They look more 54mm than 28mm. At least they will supply a LOT of wood for coffee boiling.



I am quite happy with the way these fellows turned out. With the exception of the soldier porting arms on the left, they are from the Foundry Hardee Hat Command pack. And yes, they have eyes. I resolved to give everyone eyes this time. In some cases, alarming raccoon eyes.



I'm so inordinately proud of this gentleman that I gave him two pictures. He is off to Bluffsburg to play the role of Col. Ulrich Von Daniken, an especially energetic and fierce brigade commander in that campaign. Proof that a miniature, like myself, can look handsome and dashing with (prematurely) silver hair.





Another character from the Bluffsburg campaign and another dashing brigade commander, Col. Andrew Hemmings. I really like the dynamic pose of this figure, and can see him getting a lot of use.



Sgt. Allan Boscombe, who will be a dashing Sgt. Major in many skirmish actions to come.



This fellow is a perfect picket or sentry for skirmish level games. I hope he survives. The odds aren't good for sentries in skirmish games. Especially when they've been hitting the mascara.



Sgt. Boscombe leads some Redoubt and Old Glory figures into battle.



Another Foundry command figure, the intrepid and very blond Capt. Christopher Frederiksen, leads more Old Glory figures forward. The chap on the right is in shock. "Damn, Perkins owed me money!"



Some of my first Perry Plastics get ready to fire. I used the slouch hat heads for them and gave them all black hats. They'll do either to supplement my Iron Brigade or do as Western federals - I like the Union black slouch hat look.



So I tried some new things with skin shading, eyes, and drybrushing here and overall I'm happy with the results. Some of these figures are already in battle somewhere near Bluffsburg, but as some of the players may be reading this post, I can't say more for now. One day that story will be told here.

Trajan: A Boardgame About Ancient Rome

I spent yesterday evening with the local boardgaming group, a very pleasant group of folks who are devotees of some very interesting and off the beaten path games. This blog is not usually about boardgames, but it was an interesting game and I thought it was worth describing.

Last night I had the chance to play the game Trajan with two other folks. Trajan is published by German publisher Ammonit Spiele, and is designed by Stefan Feld. Trajan is a development game in which players engage in construction, commerce, politics and military activity in order to score points. There are several clever mechanisms in the game, including an ancient system called a mancala to determine how a player's actions are determined each turn.

Here are some pictures I took last night:






And here's a YouTube video of the game being explained.



I found Trajan fairly easy to learn and within a few turns I felt I had the basics. I opted for a military based strategy, and while that netted me a good number of points, the other two players seemed to do better with commerce and building strategies.

The game components and artwork are beautifully designed and quite attractive. The game went by fairly quickly - we finished it in two hours. As a strategy game it is simple and challenging. As a teaching tool, I am not sure it offers a lot of education about ancient Rome. If you know about the period you will appreciate the atmosphere of the game, but you could play it as a strategy game without knowing the first thing about who Trajan was. Still it is a fun and clever game, and I would certainly play it again.


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