An update from the geekosphere

It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would write a short update about what I've been doing gaming wise.

After finishing painting two small fleets for Battlefleet Gothic (BFG) I finally played my first game a couple of weeks ago. I say my first game, technically it was my second game in ten years. It was however the first game using my own models. A good time was had by all. Unfortunately I didn't get any (useable) photos.

In addition to BFG I have also been working on yet more reinforcements for my 15mm Successor army. This army is based for the wonderful Impetus ruleset. It currently stands at four hundred points (a mid size game). Five hundred points a side is the largest size game recommended in the rulebook. I've finally started painting the additional figures to take the army to this size and hope to have them ready for a game I have planned in just over a weeks time. The latest unit off the painting bench and into the ranks is a pair of Essex war elephants. I should point out that the miniatures are from the manufacturer Essex and not that they wear white sling backs.

On the painting bench at the moment are two more units of light infantry and one additional unit of phalangites. Once completed they will bring the army up to full size. I plan to paint some additional troops to give me different options but this is in the future. It is my long term goal to paint up an opposing force which will allow me to host games. At the moment I'm leaning towards a Mauryan Indian force. I had hoped to get this finished by the end of the year but I'm not sure whether this will happen. Time will tell.

Lastly, I have two projects that are in their infancy. A month or so ago I was struck down by a bout of what I can only describe as Warhammer Fever. One day I was aimlessly wandering the internet, drifting from one wargaming blog to another. Several happened to feature posts on Warhammer Fantasy Battle, a game I loved back in the early nineties. A wave of nostalgia swept over me. Before I knew it I had purchased a complete, well painted Orc and Goblin army via ebay. The main focus of my desire however is an Empire Army. The pseudo renaissance cod Germans have always fascinated me and as a youngster I had a small army. The thing with Warhammer is (and was) that it's expensive. It just didn't suit my pocket money budget and my Empire army never really progressed beyond a couple of plastic box sets and some metal character models. Now that I'm an adult and in gainful employment I can actually afford to assemble an Empire army for Warhammer. The prices of buying from Games Worksop are just to high however so I intend to buy mainly from ebay. To this end I have already made a couple of purchases and my artillery train consisting of a great cannon and volley gun are awaiting assembly and painting. I will post some pictures once this is complete.

I should explain at this point that I have become interested in something called the 'Oldhammer' movement. This is a very loose group of like minded individuals who hark back to the perceived golden age of Games Workshop (GW) and Citadel which ran from the mid eighties to about 1992. I got into GW towards the end of this period - my personal golden age runs to about '94. Still I have much in common with the Oldhammerers and consider myself one. As such I have bought myself a copy of Warhammer Fantasy Battle Third Edition. I played most of my Warhammer using fourth edition (the first box set) but I remember playing a couple of early games using third edition. The game has a looser much less structured feel and the use of a referee or games master is recommended. This is the set of rules I plan to use once my Empire Army is ready to face off against my Orcs and Goblins.

3rd Edition is a wonderful publication. If you are or were a fan of GW and haven't seen this book I can highly recommend you take a look. There are several excellent websites concerning Oldhammer but I must give a special mention to the truly fantastic Realm of Chaos 80's. This site is well worth checking out.  

Finally a quick mention of a WW2 project I have been working on. The North African campaign has long interested me and I have decided to recreate parts of it in 6mm 1/300 using the Spearhead set of rules. I'm still in the research and test paint phase at the moment. More posts will follow as the project develops.  

Battlefleet Gothic

After several weeks of on and off painting my Imperial and Chaos Fleets for Battlefleet Gothic are finally ready. These are very much 'starter' fleets and only represent a small expansion on the forces that came with the boxed game. The fleets only contain cruisers and escorts at present. In future I plan to add a battle ship to each one. Below are a few photos. Apologies for the poor quality of the images. I'll get the hang of this photography lark eventually.

The Imperial fleet consisting of ten escorts, four cruisers and three light cruisers.

The Chaos fleet consisting of eight escorts and four cruisers. 

Time to get back in the (gaming) saddle

After a quiet couple of months on the gaming and painting front it's time to get back to it. Recently I've only dug the paint brushes out for a couple of short sessions. I now plan to make a concerted effort to get some miniatures painted and some projects finished.

First up is Battlefleet Gothic. This is a spaceship combat game set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe.  I first got into BG many years ago but only really played it a couple of times. I bought the basic set but it remained unused for well over ten years. I recently decided to give it a go and bought two small fleets on ebay. The time has now come to get them painted and onto the table.

Imperial Dauntless light cruisers on the workbench (more like the work tea tray actually as I don't have the benefit of a dedicated painting station at the moment).

One of the Imperial Cruisers that came with the boxed set. I painted this model many years ago. I plan to use a similar colour scheme for the rest of the Imperial Fleet.

Other plans for the year include increasing my Successor army for Impetus to 500 points. I also intend to collect and paint an opposing force. This will allow me to experience commanding a different army and also enable me to host games. At the moment I'm leaning toward Mauryan Indian but I have not yet made a final decision.

I'm deliberately trying to keep my wargaming aims modest as I then have a better chance of success. In my late teens (my last period of serious wargaming before I got back into it a couple of years ago) I was too ambitious and too easily distracted. Grand schemes were started but then I would become frustrated by lack of progress and my mind, time and meagre budget would wander onto other things. Budget is no longer such an issue but time is a bit more constrained. I am determined that once I start a project I will eventually get it finished (i.e games played). Time will tell if I am successful.