
Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-29,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y
Let’s start this Wargaming Week, covering the 19th through to the 25th of March.
BLOG STUFF
Last week was a two post week and felt like the M-ATV special. On Wednesday we took a look at vehicle itself (along with a few tweaks I did to it) before following it up with a new Skirmish Sangin battle report on the Friday. Honestly it’s a cool looking kit and was great fun to put on the board, although fatally doomed by this being its first game.
This week you only have one post to enjoy over the Easter weekend (a slightly delayed impression piece on the Spectre Green Berets) but I’m taking a few days off work to relax and get some paint on. So next week’s Wargaming Week will be packed full of things (fingers crossed)
Also hey! It’s been over a year of Wargaming Weeks! This thing has only missed out two weeks (over the Christmas break) and I think it’s a pretty core part of the blog right now. For me, it’s a place where I can keep track of how I’m doing in terms of both posts and hobby time as well as providing a laugh when I go back and check what I was doing a year ago. It also gives me a nice excuse to sit quietly on a Sunday evening and catch up with everything I’ve done during the week.
NEWS
Tabletop Tactical Simulations have started their Kickstarter campaign! If you want some modern trucks, these guys have multiple chassis and loadouts perfect for the modern military. If you want to jump in you can find the kickstarter here.
Now, I think in terms of options and quality, it looks pretty great. However, I think the scale is not the one I’d personally pick. Spectre and Empress are both focused on 1/50 scale while most of the plastic kits (such as the Airfix Land Rovers or aircraft) are 1/48. Compared to them, the 1/56 scale Rubicon truck I have bought just looks like a toy. People will argue that 1/56 is probably a more true scale but it seems that releases from some of the biggest forces in modern wargaming has shifted the scale people use. I’m looking forward to seeing them compared to other vehicles.
Spectre Miniatures have also announced two things this week, which gave my wallet a fright until I saw they were just tweaks to the store. The first change is the addition of the Getting Started Collection, which includes some bundles for creating a force. I quite like most of these bundles, and the discount helps as well. This should make answering the “What figures should I start with” question even easier.
The second change is new faster shipping options for wargamers outside of the UK. I’m pretty lucky by being based in the UK – getting new wargames release can be only a couple of days between pushing the buy button and it arrive on my desk. For people elsewhere, where the standard delivery is a couple of weeks, I can see the appeal of paying a little extra to get figures in your hands in a reduced time. Also it’s tracked which is pretty good. This should appear as a new option when checking out.
GAMING
As you might have guessed, I ran a game last Thursday. You can read the battle report elsewhere on the blog but I had a great time preparing and running it. Having focused on special forces, it was really nice to have some BLUFOR guys that were not dropping the bad guys with single shots every time. Running games at the club is much more relaxed than at shows and it was nice getting back to this style of play. Next game is booked in for some time in April and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m possibly thinking the next few games will be around this one operation so maybe we’ll be seeing why the insurgent mortar teams were useless.
PURCHASES
This week, I didn’t actually buy anything specifically for moderns. I did order a set of new brushes to replace my slowly dying Games Workshop ones as well as the Open Combat Rules to read. Spending a Friday evening watching Guy Ritchie’s take on King Arthur may have inspired me a little. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be leaving the ultramodern era behind but they are an interesting ruleset.
With Salute less than 20 days away, it’s also the time that pre-orders beginning. I’ve already got my confirmation from Eureka (useful as it’s coming from Down Under) and now I need to start planning about what I’ll be picking up next. In addition to Eureka, I’ll also be picking up releases from Spectre (including their Salute exclusives) and Empress (who might have their new national range for the Modern era). In addition to that, who knows? Maybe it’s time to pick up some trees suitable for Bazistan.
HOBBY
As it was a impressions week, the big thing getting painted up was the M-ATV. Honestly I was still deciding what the Wednesday article was going to be this week on Monday night and this, sat sprayed tan and waiting for the final paint up, filled the role of “something I hadn’t written about” and “cool thing to show off in a scenario”. I’m pretty happy with this paint job but I think my brush was a little dirty while washing which led to more streaks than intended. I might take a look at neatening it up, but it will probably be once the SF vehicle is ready for painting.
Deciding to use the M-ATV and wanting to focus more on regular troops meant I’d need to get my US Army figures out. I had enough to run a single squad but I wanted to add a few more guys, as well some with more useful kit like the DMR or a MMG. I ended up painting these guys on Wednesday night, which worked out fine thanks to the delights of painting UCP which only needs three steps (base colour, sponge bone, wash black) rather than some more involved camo schemes. These guys were bought last year at Salute (so really need painting up). Some of these guys have different heads, pulling from the US Rangers set. I’m not sure the mixture of ACH and MICH helmets in the same unit is technically correct but I’m heavily inspired by the US Rangers from Modern Warfare 2. Overall, I’m really looking forward to getting the rest of my US guys finished (so I can buy more and have a full platoon of them good to go).
Something I finally got round to doing was getting the Warlord Spec Ops assembled so I can get around to writing about them. I will freely admit, the main reason I bought these was to give them some coverage and improve my knowledge about the options available to modern gamers rather than because I was necessarily interested in them. I have a fair number of opinions about them so keep your eyes open for the impressions piece.
Here’s what the working area looks like at the moment. Aside from being a mess, it’s also showing off the bases I’ve got painted up. I’ve also managed to get all of the Empress Taliban based and undercoated so I can get that collection ready to go. After getting the Spectre Green Berets finished (now I’ve received a replacement marksman), I’m going to spend some more of my days off to work through some of the other things that have been sat on the work bench for WAY too long including some vehicles that just need the detailing done.
That’s it for this Wargaming Week, expect more updates next week!