Wild Weasal Painting

Well, the high double and low triple digit heat wave has not helped my painting. It is difficult to work in the heat and I am very pooped by nightfall, so get less done then, when it is cooler. However, all the FFL, Beni and Rick are done, see above. I plan to really get going on the mounted Turegs tomorrow, Sunday. Most of the horses are done, as well as the regular mounted figures. The Mounted Command is next. Those Old Glory figures can be really crappy, as 3-4 of the mounted swordsmen had to be converted due to sword breakage. One became a standard bearer and should look quite nice when finished. I am NOT going to get into how bad the horses are...Gggrrr....

Also a source of disappointment is the Sabol SD-Combat mat. Really nice look on it, a very 3-D look of a desert but on one of the short ends of the mat, all the way across is repeated their website and "SD-Combatmat" in white letter, 3.5" from the mat end (otherwise I would cut it off . I was thinking of returning it to the hobby store for a refund, but the photo print is just good enough for me to keep it and see if somehow I can cover the printing up.

TTFN

I Got Books!

Some books on back order from The Scholar's Bookshelf have arrived to increase my Colonial library:

"From Korti to Khartum -A Journal of the Desert March from Korti to Gubat and of the Ascent of the Nile in General Gordan's Steamers" By Col. Sir Charles W. Wilson

"With the Camel Corps Up the Nile" by Count Gleichen

"The Battle of Tofrek - Fought near Suakin, March 22nd 1885" under Major General Sir John Carstairs M'Neill

These books author's were there. Could be dry reading but we will see.

PAINTING UP-DATE

The French Foreign Legion in white are 95% done. Photos to follow. Rick's figure is done -Beni's is 95% done. FFL figs are done!

Foot Arabs are based & primed and painting will start forthwith.

Mounted Figures - need to temporarily attached to dowels and primed. All horse have their based trimmed, but the horse still need to filed and trimmed, then based.

Dead & Wounded Legionnaires & Arabs - Arabs are based & primed & FFL are next on the based/prime list. Some of the wounded Arabs have to painted first, then based due to the figures position.

I am going to clear the table, put a mat down and start some solo play testing, using what is finished and just bases for now.

TTFL

French Foreign Legion, Beni & O'Connell

Work beings on the figures needed. The first picture is of 2 (almost) finished Askari French Foreign legion (Summer Uniform) behind a wall. The next is a picture of the figure I have started which is becoming Beni (Artizen-Renegade Legionnaires II) and the last is the Reaper figure talked about in a earlier post that I swapped one hand to replace the .45 with a pistol. That will be O'Connell and should be finished in a couple of days. The FFL should also be done right quick. And executive decision was made to paint them in the FFL white Summer campaign uniform. In the movie, The Mummy, some of the soldiers appear to be in that uniform (all white) and others appear to have light tan/brown pants (instead of white). So make it easier to paint, and after asking my wife (a non-gamer who can have good insight if I am over-engineering a project) I went with the Summer uniform for everyone.

Then it's the massive paint of Arabs, on foot and mounted. Time to get the drill out to drill horses & riders for pinning (OH JOY!!) and I have 30+ mounted to do. They are going be painted like the movie, Black robes, white turban and under shirt, maybe with some variation. As I have begun basing dead/wounded Arabs and will base wounded/dead Legionnaires after that. 18 foot figure have been based and primed. They will be painted after the FFL are done.

Terrain - I have everything I need, with exception of a bigger mat (I have a 4x6 and I might need a 5x8).

I also need to start play test ASAP to see about ranges, distances, etc.

TTF

Getting Ready for the Gateway 2009

The Semovente's Advance! From the Flames of War game on Sunday (8/9) at Aero Hobbies. It was a bit of a strange game....Germans vs Germans & Italians (Didn't have any Allies to beat on). Due to time constraints the game ended before Turn 6, in a Draw. How, my Italian's did well, rolled REALLY well and were left more alone due to the fact that the Germans players tanks were more of a threat than mine! HA! It was a great game.

My Turegs are all finished (check) and my French Foreign Legion in the classic uniform done (check). Egyptian terrain borrowed from Tim (THANKS!!!) and with the terrain I have should be enough and I plan to play set-up tomorrow. The extra French Foreign Legion in white Summer campaign uniforms (no back-packs) arrived and have been attached to bases and primed grey. Painting them will start tomorrow. Their uniforms will be painted to match the uniforms used in the movie, "The Mummy", in the battle at the ruins of Hamunaptra in the beginning of the movie. White shirt and hat, light brown pants, black leather equipment and boots. The figure for Beni has not arrived yet, but should soon I hope. My re-supply of bases from Litko has arrived today. The figure for Rick O'Connell has been attached to a base, primed and the paint job has been started. Photos to follow.

Not sure, but I may have to paint my foot Berbers figures as well, just in case.

TTFN

I've been Busy....

Working on painting French Foreign Legion for my 2 Hour Wargames demo at the next game convention. As the game is based on the fight in the beginning of "The Mummy" - 1925, Hamunaptra, Egypt - A garrison of the French Foreign Legion is cornered at the ruins of Hamunaptra by a roving band of Tuareg (Arab) warriors. Deserted by their colonel , the Legionnaires fight on under there American Captain Rick O'Connell. So begins the battle at Hamunaptra portrayed in The Mummy (1999). Will the Tuaregs slaughter the Legionnaires? Will O'Connell and Beni survive? Come find out!

I have 20 FFL done, I might need more. My mounted Arabs on the way, and I have a bag of foot figures as well. I need to get figures for Beni and O'Connell. I have a good idea of what I want, I just have to get them.

This is the figure I want to get for O'Connell. It's by Reaper (#50032) and after watching that part of the movie and checking still photos it's not a bad match. He has two .45's out near the end of the combat scenes and I might change on of the guns for a revolver (Reaper sells separate weapons). Artizen has some "Renegade Legionnaire" figures that will work for Beni. I just jhope Brookhurst has the figures, otherwise I have to order them ASAP!

Tim appears to have some terrain I can use, so I need to get going so I can playtest this!

TTFN

654. Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung

This is going to be my German Late War army for Flames of War. I might still build a generic Late War German Forces at a later date, but this list, found in Wargames Illustrated #261, is based around one of my favorite tanks, the Jagdpanther, with Stug assault guns in support. And I have gotten some of the vehicles I need already- 2 Jagdpanthers, 2 StuG G's and one Sd Kfz 7/1 (quad 20mm AA gun). This list is a small one and I can get all the variables without spending a fortune.

There is a book about the 654. Heavy tank Battlion (not cheap-$100.00) but lists all the forces, camo patterns, etc. used by this battlion, which fought the whole war. One nice thing about the 654th is they fought at Kursk and then were moved to France for R&R. So I could get the tanks needed to field the 654th at Kursk (lots of Elefants!) for Mid-War and use the other Normandy list for Late War. Double duty!

Had fun on Friday (July 10th) playing a FoW Mid-War lists at Aero. Due to who arrived with what it was Germans vs Germans + Italians. I ended up against Tim, which worked out OK, except I set-up some of my forces to cover both objectives on our side, and I was stretched too thin. I should have left the other objective to be protected by the other player on my side, but as he had little infantry, that is why I did it. Oh well........Game and learn!

Time to load the photos into Photobucket.

Also talked to Tim about re-starting the monthly games schedule. Howard had said something about it, and in a way his right. But this way we game play whatever we want (FoW, WAB, AWI, ect.) and Aero Hobbies would be a good central place to have many of the games, as we have more people than just us (Adam-Harold-Frank(s)-Art-Mark N, etc.) we could get to play. Have to talk to Harold and Mark S. in the next few days. This could get our gaming enthusiasm back up, as it has been on the wane of late.

TTFN

Got Those FoW Late War Blues....

So what to build.....at some time I was going to build a generic Late War German Force for Flames of War. In the newest issue of Wargames Illustrated (#261) has a Late War German force -654. Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung (654th Heavy Tank-Hunter Battlion) in Normandy July 1944. Normally I would not use LW heavy tanks/assualt guns but this unit is built around one of my favorite vehicles of the war, the Jagdpanther (others are Hetzer and Jagdpanzer). It looks like fun, and not alot of vehicles as Jagdpanther Platoons are very expensive, points wise! Then you can get either Stug's or Marders for support, artillery and infantry. So I may get another copy of the magazine in order to cut the pages out of the article. JA!!

Here are some photos from my Workbench. Some female ganger types (Void figures) I got with a female GW Necromonda gang some time ago. the rest of the gang are still being worked on. Next are some of the Askari French Foreign Legion figures (Officer & two Legionnaire's) I am painting and the next 2 are Redneck Militia figures that are 50% done. MUST PAINT MORE!!

The French Foreign Legion are about 50% done and I have to order the mounted Old Glory Arabs and dead/wounded FFL & Arabs.

I also picked up the new Flames of War "Mid-War Monster" book/codex/whatever. Has a couple of things that will help my Italians out, if I can use them.

Looks like there is going to be a FoW game at Aero Hobbies on Friday so I need to bring my Italian's as it appears top be a Mid-War battle.