Carentan Terrain

OK, time to think about the terrain set up for the MayDay convention Carentan scenario. For the subject at hand, I have a nice set of Grand Manner Carentan buildings in 28mm. Also, a few years back, I spent a summer making trees and hedges...which will get a workout in this game.

For the dry run this weekend, I've done a terrain layout in my dining room. Happily, my wife cleared away all the quilting stuff laid out on the table there!

The block of ruins.

The orchard.

The cafe, warehouse and doctor's office.

The manner house.

Movement ranges in Disposable Heroes (the rules I'm running the game with) are fairly short...3" to 9". As such, I've made the terrain as dense as I can on the 6'x4' playing surface. I'll use these photos to rebuild the layout at the convention.

Photos of Fallschirmjagers up next.

Final Paratroopers for Carentan

The MayDay convention is coming fast, and I'll be playtesting my Carentan scenario next weekend. So...everything has to be pretty much finished up this week. Will the American's be victorious this time around? Who knows!

One of the American objectives will be to secure this wounded company commander, who will be set up on the board prior to play.

American bazooka team.

The platoon command section.

Thankfully, I made progress on the final German squad this weekend as well. They just need their weapons painted and their bases completed...and we'll be good to go. I'll post some photos of the final Fallschirmjagers this week.

'Til next time.

1st Fallschirmjager Squad

Time to get back to the Carentan project. Soooo...we have 101st Airborne versus 6th Regiment Fallschirmjagers. Two squads of Americans are done so far, and now we have the first squad of German's ready.

First a couple of shots of German paratroopers in Normandy. An MG42 team...

And a trooper with a panzerfaust.

Here are some color shots of re-enactors. The two on the left are in splinter '41 camo, while the one on the right looks to be in water tan '44.

Here is a handy gear load out shot from the rear.

OK, now for the minis. First, bare metal. Artizan 28mm figs.

I decided to use a faster painting method for these guys than I normally use. First, I started with block painting of the base colors.

Then, an ink wash. Camo painting and details went on after this step.

It's finally warm enough outside to take some photos in natural sunlight. Hmmm, that makes it warm enough to do yard work as well...bummer.

German Fallschirmjager squads were split into two light machinegun sections, one led by the squad leader, and the second led by the assistant squad leader. Section number one...

And section number two.

I tried my hand at three different camo patterns on the jump suits and zeltbahn coverings. Most of the figures are in splinter '41. Two are in the darker brown water tan '43 pattern and one is in the lighter water tan '44 camo uniform. Honestly, I wasn't able to put in enough detail to really tell much of a difference between the outfits, so I'm not sure I'll really try to distinguish them in the second squad project.

I've got an itch for more Warmachine, even though the Carentan project timeline is getting critical. Well...warjacks are up on the table right now...soooo.

'Til next time.

Warmachine Interlude

I made some good progress this weekend on a German Fallschirmjager squad for the Carentan scenario, but no pictures yet.

In the mean time, I was able to complete a couple of Warmachine mini-projects. The first was a set of three Menoth Warjack wreck markers. Here, they are assembled and base colors have been applied.

And here they are completed. A little messy, but hopefully, I'll never have to put them on the table!

The second project I got underway this weekend was a Covenant of Menoth piece. Essentially it is a poor bastard carrying around a heavy book on his back while a priest-guy is reading spells from it. Here, the bare metal is assembled.

Base block colors have been applied here. Where I'll be painting gold, I've base coated with dark yellow.

This is a close up of the finished model. The book text is decal...obviously!

Well...a couple of quick miniature projects for the weekend. Should have pics of some German troops next time.

2nd Squad

Hello fellow gaming nuts. Not these guys...you.

The 101st Airborne project continues. The second squad is now done. Here is the MG section.

And the rifle section.

Looking at the calendar, I might be hard pressed to get all the paratroopers and fallschirmjagers done in time for the MayDay convention...but I'm hoping to get a good start into the German troops this weekend...so who knows? I might still make it. Damn my slow painting. Carentan awaits!

'Til next time.

1st Squad Done

It's slow going on the figure painting front. However, I'm happy to say that the first squad of my 101st Airborne platoon project is now done.

Here is the machine gun section.

And the rifle section.

I was digging around the internet for some 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment photos (the unit featured in the HBO series, Band of Brothers) and found a number of good ones. Here is a shot of some paratroopers in their C-47 transport heading over the channel the night before D-Day.

The 506th did a lot of fighting in and around Carentan. Here is a shot in the city after its liberation.

One final shot of the rifle section.

'Til next time.

Club Night: March 2, 2010

Soooo...Bob had to make a quick trip up to Athabasca today, so club AAR duties fall to me this week!

We had 11 players out tonight, along with a couple of visitors. To kick things off, Dave and Scott played scenario 4 of their Dark Ages WAB campaign, and things are swinging in Scott's favor. Dave's northern warband failed it's impetuousness roll and chased after one of Scott's smaller units, allowing Scott's Normans to rush a unit through the gap and achieve the scenario's victory conditions.

Hairy guys with swords...check. It's the Dark Ages. I think these are Dave's figs.

Chen-song and Bruce had a game of Dirtside II. It was 2050 in Paraguay. Chen-song's technically superior American forces wasted a lot of Bruce's low tech armor...but Bruce took the objective city with infantry and won the scenario.

Justin hosted another game of Command Decision 4. Here, Parker's late war Germans were unable to root out Russ' Soviets. Russians win.

Finally, I ran a game of late 1917 Canvas Eagles with Matt, John and first-timer, Craig.

Upholding the grand tradition of beginner's luck, Craig's first damage chit draw against John was a fuel tank explodes. At the end of the game, Craig lined up a lucky shot against Matt and drew...wait for it...Pilot Killed. Never mind that Craig lost two planes in the battle...the damage was done!

All around, another fun night at the club.