Beyond the Gates of Antares Ghar Outcasts

Shock news!

I've finally finished painting my Ghar Outcasts! I've been using my Ghar quite a bit recently in various games and demo games of Antares, so whilst the battle suits are great, they are a massive points sink, and having something cheaper and a little more flexible has been a very welcome addition to my Ghar force, and in the process I decided to paint the very limited commander Fartok Figure to my force too.

These models are all extremely cleanly moulded, and required next to no clean up either.






The support walker looked intimidating with the combination of a heavy torso and spindly legs, however in practice assembly was in practice very easy, and surprisingly strong too.





Painting wise I decided to go for an Albino skin tone, with dark bronze armour as used on my battle suits, with a blue light effect as an accent colour.
































In all these are very fun figures, and were a pleasure to work with. Thanks to Warlord Games for providing them for review. As ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service

A (Cam)bridge too far tournament

I was fortunate enough to attend my first tournament last weekend for the Bolt Action system, and for my sins chose the largest Bolt Action tournament in the world as my first, the cunningly named A "Cam"Bridge too far', held, unsurprisingly, in Cambridge.

I'll be putting a more detailed article together with how I constructed and created a force, but for those who are interested here's a link to my army list.

For a historically themed force I was pretty pleased to come mid table, and I was incredibly happy to win the best painted award too. 

For those on the fence about going to an event, I thoroughly urge you to give it a go. I had expected a very hard core, competitive minded event, but my experience was far removed from that, with three good games over some nice terrain, and getting to make new friends totally worth the price of admission in my book.

 

 You can see the photos from the event at this link, and see the official page for A "Cam"Bridge too far here. 

As ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service

Operation Sand Dune

After a little hiatus I'm back, and to kick things of I shall be introducing Operation Sand Dune. This is a collaboration between myself, and my friends Carl Titterington and Sam Phillips, please click their names to take a look at their respective projects. 

With the release of Duel in the Sun, the recent Mediterranean theatre supplement for Bolt Action, the three of us were inspired to produce forces themed to the great desert battles of WW2. Sam has picked the SAS, Carl has chosen the Commonwealth, whilst I am going for the Afrika Korps.

I already have a 1000 point DAK army based around the 104th Schutzen regiment of the 21st panzer division, which I used to get a fairly middling place at the (Cam)Bridge too far Tournament last weekend, and I have been inspired to expand on this by adding a tank force. I'm not really going for any set amount of points at the moment, or even replicating any full platoons (Yet...) Mainly picking stuff I like the look of and then using these to game with whilst the force expands.

Currently I have a Tiger, 2 Panzer IV, 3 Panzer III, and a pair of Sdkfz 222 armoured cars earmarked for the project, but there will no doubt be a great deal more added... 

Long term, I've already picked up some British and Americans, so my stay in the desert is likely to be a long one. To record our progress and motivate one another, the 3 of us will be producing a monthly webcast to track our progress, and I'm very pleased to say the first episode is up and ready for you to view right now!  Stay tuned for more.

I'd also like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Warlord Games for their kind and generous support in producing this series.  As ever you can follow more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service

Here is the link to our first video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIRQ-ZY0tNU

Dropping in to Drropzone Commander

I'm my quest to experience more new games this year, along with backing the recent Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter it seemed prudent to give Hawk Wargames Dropzone Commander a whirl.

It can be quite daunting going into an established game completely cold, however the games club I attend has a few DZC players so I was able to arrange an intro game with David, and was also lucky enough to acquire a starter set at a fantastic price from Chaos Cards. 

Thus primed and with my freshly painted UCM force from the starter set still tacky, I arrived at the club for a 4 player game, using nothing but 2 starters worth of terrain, and the forces from  the sets. 

 Despite only the host of the game actually knowing the rules, the 3 of us picked up the basics very quickly, and before long the game was in full swing with drop ships swooping in to drop units in, pick up objectives, and masses of things exploding. 

Men of the match have to be my legionnaires who stormed a building, swagged some Intel, and then spent the rest of the game shooting anything that came within range to pieces. 

I was impressed with the game, everything felt dramatic and whilst the rules were simple the flow of the activation mechanic meant that every move had to be be carefully considered, and it felt like the challenge was the tactical situation, as opposed to trying to wrestle with the rules. 

The background to the universe the game is set in is intriguing as well, with mankind attempting to retake its worlds from an alien occupier after a long exile, and for once is the aggressor rather than the defender from another alien menace. 

The science and model range is all quite believable technologically too, everything has a very grounded.

 

At first the 10mm scale models were a little daunting, however I'm quite enjoying being able to paint a platoon in an evening after work, there's something deeply satisfying about getting a handful of tanks turned around in a few hours. 

You can see the pics of my test APC, and some of the rest of my army in action in the pictures around this post. 

I've already ordered the reconquest book and some reinforcements, and am very happy to add another game to my rotation. You can find out more on Dropzone Commander at the Hawk Wargames Website, and see more of my painting at Volley Fire Painting Service.

Duel in the Sun for Bolt Action overview

The latest supplement for Bolt Action has come scorching out of Warlord Towers, and this time covers the African and Italian campaigns of WW2. 

The war in the desert especially is immensely popular with wargamers, so this book has been hotly anticipated.

Published by Osprey and written by Dylan Owen and Alessio Cavatore this 136 page soft back book is packed with photos, rules, history scenarios and new units, costing £19.99 from Warlord and coming with a limited availability figure, lets see what you get for your money.

The book breaks down into 7 sections, an introduction which is pretty self explanatory, 6 theatres ranging from the Italian forces initial engagements in North Africa, the battles for Crete and Greece, the arrival of Rommel and the DAK, Operation Torch and the Tunisian campaign, the Italian campaign, and finally a selection of useful scenario rules.

Scenarios

Duel in the sun contains 17 scenarios. Yes, 17 new scenario, these are typically more narrative battles rather than tournament ones, and the book also gives some advice on playing them as a campaign as well. Personal favourites for me are the assault on Monastery Hill and Kasserine Pass, both of which look like being immensely good defensive games, although there are plenty of others, including an amphibious assault, and daring commando style raids on airfields, (which also looks immensely good fun!).

New units and theatre selectors

13 new units are added to Bolt Action, not including the named characters. Some of these we have seen before, such as the SAS section, and the veteran US infantry squad, but some are new and I'm hoping to see a model for the Diana tank destroyer before too long for my own DAK. 

Also included are some unit upgrades that are described in force descriptions at the start of the various sections of the book. Particularly note worthy are the options to add cavalry, specifically camelry to British and French forces by upgrading a regular infantry section for a small points cost. 

5 'Legends' characters are also covered, mad Jack Churchill and Otto Skorzeny who we have seen before, are now joined by Charles Upham, Commando Kelly and  Daniel Inouye and finally Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke totalling 2 British, 2 American and 2 German personalities.

Units added in the book break down as follows:

For the Italians

The Lancia Ansalado IZ and IZM armoured cars, the late war Parachudisti squad, the M75/34 self propelled gun are all added for the Italians, and the post armistice Italian forces are covered in a theatre selector that covers both the axis and allied Italian forces.

Interestingly, there is also a not quite an Italian theatre selector, but more a bonus for theming a force is the option to upgrade some of the Italian colonial troops to regular if using a force comprised solely of them (bar one none colonial infantry unit). 

For the Germans

The Germans receive 4 additional units, namely an Sdkfz 263 command vehicle, the Lorraine Schlepper, which can be equipped with a vast array of weapon options, the strafbattalion squad  and finally the Diana tank hunter, which I'm hoping will be kitted soon. 

Two theatre selctors are added, firstly a Fallschirmjager platoon. This is a light infantry platoon for use in the Crete and early war scenarios, and can also be lead by Ramcke to make the Ramcke brigade too. The second selector is for the Hermann Goring division, and this allows you to do either a reinforced or armoured platoon, with an emphasis on tough infantry and good as well as plentiful anti aircraft weapons.

For the British and Commonwealth

Apart from the aforementioned cavalry upgrade option (also available for the French!), the British get 4 new units, apart from the named characters. These are a Maori rifle section, the armoured command truck, the SAS section and the Scorpion flail tank. The SAS we've seen before, but it's handy to have them here again. 

The Maori section is a available as either regular or veteran, with all the normal British Rifle section options, and can be upgraded for 1 point to gain the formiddible fighters rule, which means they ignore your chosen British special rule to gain 'up and at them' 'tough as boots' and 'blood curdling charge'

The Scorpion flail tank is designed for clearing mine fields, so whilst it may not appear as an obvious choice for every game, it's great to have it added for scenarios, and a model would be a stunning centrepiece in a collection. 

I'm quite tempted to make a unit of Maori's though, with obligatory rugby ball, and maybe performing a Haka... 

Commonwealth forces only get one theatre selector, and that is the addition of the Indian army. This allows you to play an all Indian platoon, and this is constructed using a standard theatre selector for the relevant time period, but allows you to discard the usual British special rules in favour of a couple of new ones, specifically a free unit and very good morale. 

For the Unites States

The American's don't get anything we've not seen before outside of their characters, getting the veteran infantry squad that has appeared a few times now, and the M29 Weasel.

Duel in the sun is finished off with a fairly extensive chapter bringing together the various scenario special rules added across the previous theatre selectors, notably, amphibious assaults, minefields, air landings, para drops, desert, mud and frostbite conditions, using captured vehicles, combined nationality forces, nightfighting and finally dug in forces.

Phew. Lots of information, and all an exceedingly helpful supplement for Bolt Action. 

Prior to Duel in the Sun I had built vast desert armies for numerous clients for work, and had been burned out of collecting one for myself, however between the beautiful artwork and contents of this book, as well as a bit of family history I am very much heading into the desert for the long haul now, with British, German and American forces planned, with maybe some Italians and French for completeness...  More on this next week! 

Warlord have a number of excellent deals at the moment to make getting into the war in the desert even easier, you can get a box of Perry plastics, a tank and an armoured car for around £45 with free shipping, as well as some great terrain and armoured platoon bundles too.

You can check these out and also collect your book from Warlord Games. The models on this page are a mix of Perry DAK and Warlord LRDG trucks, as well as a Blitzkrieg Sherman,and all from my collection You can see more of my work, and contact me about commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service.

Warlord Games M8/M20Greyhound review

More lovely plastic armour courtesy of the Warlord Italeri collaboration, this time in the seductive shape of the Greyhound Armoured car. 

The models I have are from the 3 vehicle box set produced by Warlord, and I have tried to show off a few different features with the kit in building them by removing one of the Greyhounds sand skirts, easily achieved with a sharp blade and scoring along the edge of the panels. I also decided on building another so that I can switch versions. More on that later.

The kit comes on 2 sprue packed full of parts. At first glance there appears to be a great deal going on here, but I found the instructions pretty good, and managed to build the kit without referring to the sheet.  

 

Fit is generally excellent, though I did find the gun mantlet a little tight, bot nothing too taxing. Detail is superb and the kit features a modicum of interior detail, and a nicely done turret interior. Only one half figure is provided as a driver, though I elected not to use him in my builds. 

 

The kit is cleverly engineered to allow swapping between the M8 and M20 turret apertures, and there are some small but sturdy locating tabs on the upper decking to ensure everything lines up and still remains in place whilst gaming. Unfortunately only one .50 machine gun is provided, however I like to drill and pin these in place on my models anyway, and found by not fixing the weapon I could freely switch it between vehicles. 

Build time was around 45 minutes and special mention should be made to the suspension, it looks wonderfully intricate yet is made up of 4 parts, excluding the wheels. 

I replaced the antennae with 5 amp fuse wire, and painted the model using MIG productions 926 Olive Drab Base. and then used a variety of MIG washes and weathering powders to dirty them up.

Transfers were included in the kit thankfully, and performed very well.

Another very nice kit, well worth checking out. You can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service, and can pick up your armoured recce from Warlord Games.