Full circle......

I randomly came across a website that had some nifty house rules for GW Epic Armageddon, they are called Minigeddon. I gave them a read through and thought to myself, they were the ticket to getting some gaming done in a reasonable time and space.
I have a tonne of epic stuff along with other 6mm sci-fi items.
I remember long ago that Spacemarine was my first ever wargame, I got it bought as a gift. I still have somewhere the Chapter flags.
So 24 years after playing epic I am going to re start it, using the Minigeddon rules as a basis to then build  bigger armies.
I am also going to create some solo rules, which I will share once they are created next year.
My first minigeddon force will be Space Wolves followed by Orks, Imperial guard and Eldar. I also have lots of Squats somewhere so they will also get an appearance.

Apocalyptic Disaster Avoided....

It is 11:51 as i type this, my last blog entry (maybe) for 2012. What a great year it has been, the Olympics have been great and we won the cricket! Also i have managed to get bits and pieces painted.
Done some Crimson Fist Space marines, and i am slowly getting my ACW mounted to the custom bases and then they will get a coat of the good stuff.

Next year, is going to be a busy year with work. I have a promotion! I will be the Technical Director. Bricking myself about it but also looking forward to the challenges it will throw out. Hopefully I will still be able to get some war gaming done. I miss pushing the lead around.

Well I want to wish you all a very Happy Holy and Merry Christmas and my your dice roll good for 2013!

Hell again.....

I have just got my grubby little paws on yet another "old skool" set of rules. This time i have managed to pick up Hell by Starlight, first written in 1993.
From my cursory glance it is yet another set of finely written rules for 15/25mm sci-fi skirmish games.It uses a very similar reaction system to Hellfire and the two interchangeable.

I will report more once I have fully read the rules.....

61-65 custom bases

Well with the little lead men and resin building arrived i turned my attention to basing.
61-65 requires figures to be individually based to allow for casualty removal and morale status.
With this in mind, i fired up my trusty seat of SolidWorks 2012 (soon to be 2013) and began modelling my base requirements.
I have decided to got for 12mm diameter bases made from either card or MDF to mount the figures on. I then began wondering about movement trays.

This is what i have come up with including all the variations i could think of.....

Eight man unit, seven man units, 4 man units, 3 man command stand, 1 man skirmish base and artillery bases.

All these options allow for great flexibility in playing the game at differing sizes.

World of Tanks!

Well due to not having lots of time to push the lead around, i got into playing World of Tanks.
Not the greatest tank commander but have managed to get into a clan - Fire Strom Commandos.
I also have a Tiger tank which i enjoy, but i just got myelf a KV-1S, its still stock but it rocks. Results of the first two games;

Defeat

Battle: South Coast 20 October 2012 20:59:24

Vehicle: KV-1S

Experience received: 393

Credits received: 13,806

Battle Achievements: Sharpshooter

Victory!

Battle: Airfield 20 October 2012 21:09:05

Vehicle: KV-1S

Experience received: 1,515 (x3 for the first victory each day)

Credits received: 11,191

Battle Achievements: Master Gunner, Sharpshooter

I guess i will keep on grinding, IS-3 and Tiger II to be had! :-)

Reinforcements have arrived!

My 61-65 Project is slowly coming together, my ACW miniatures and building arrived yesterday from The Baggage Train and Pendraken Miniatures. I can’t praise highly enough of both company’s products.
I even received a free wagon from The Baggage Train, which I am going to use as an objective for the time being. “Defend the pay chest boy’s scenario springs to mind!”

I will hopefully get some photos taken and up during this weekend. I will also then give a review of the items themselves. At first glance they both look really good, I will have to come up with a better basing idea, I didn’t realise how small the infantry were! J

61-65 Marching on - one step closer

A while ago I got hold of 61-65 ACW rules by Ganesha Games, based on the fact I really liked playing Song of Drums and Shakos and I have always wanted to do ACW after visiting Gettysburg and looking down the hill of Cemetery Ridge and thinking to myself that there wasn’t an awful lot of room to manoeuvre or take cover when I visited.

I decided that I would budget myself for this project on what I was going to spend. I normally buy loads of stuff and don’t get round to using it. Not this time, I have given myself £50 to get this project moving and the additional goal of playing at least a 3 game campaign before buying any further lead for the table.

The 61-65 rules are pitched at company strength engagements which for some may seem a little on the small side and not very ‘grand tactical’ , but for me it fits the bill perfectly as I don’t have the time or the space anymore for games much over skirmish level or platoon level.
The rules being based on company level organisations mean that a company is made up of about 90 figures for all ranks; this is very achievable especially since I wanted to do this in 10mm.

The figures:

I did a fair bit of research on the different figures that are available for this period in 10mm and can across this most excellent blog by Bt Sherman – “On Campaign With General Bt Sherman  A blog devoted to Miniature Wargaming, Battlefielding and Reenactments.”

This blog has lots and lots of ACW related articles and one of the best articles on the site I found was a comparison picture of the most common 10 / 12mm ACW miniatures out there.

I have borrowed this image from the blog, but I heartily recommend that you check it out for yourself if you like the ACW period.

Armed with my information I began looking at what miniatures to buy, my initial thoughts where to go with Blaze Away miniatures, they look very good and I could get both sides as a skirmish pack for about £12 each, however the international postage was quite high, so I decided to go with The Baggage Train, 10 High range of ACW. Mainly because they are UK based but their brigade packs have 98 figures including command and flags for £11.52.
I added a pack of Infantry in Slouch hats and some artillery which when mixed with the brigade pack will give me two forces of 5 units, plus command and artillery.

Choosing this option left me some of my budget that I decided to spend on Pendraken’s ACW building pack and their Antietam chapel.

I am pretty happy with the initial cost layout for this project with all the items coming in to less that £36, which means I can in future expand a little and add maybe some cavalry and snake fencing.

Once the figures and buildings arrive I will post some photos and I will also remember to so some progress blogs as this project moves forward.