BA- Free French vs Fallschrimjager

I popped around to Kent's last night for an enjoyable game of Bolt action, enjoyable for me, not so much for Kent thank to some pretty terrible dice rolling with his armoured vehicles.

 I ran
3x shermans
1x M16
1x 2nd lieutenant
2x tough fighter infantry squads
1x 81mm mortar
1x bazooka

Kent fielded:
1x Lieutenant
2x Fallschrimjager squads
1x 105mm recoiless artillery
1x MMG
1x 81mm motar
1x Stug
1x Panzer IV
1x 222 Armoured car

The battlefield- Kent has got some nice new buildings and gaming cloth.

 Turn one the French advance

 The Free French, a mix of Artizan and Warlord Games figures.

 Kent eyeing up my M16 with his panzer IV

 A look down the table on turn 2. Not much to see.

 Stug and panzer IV on the German right flank.

 The Fallschrimjager advance behind the building.

 Mortar observer takes cover in the building.

 Sherman and Free French infantry on my left flank

 Kent is feeling aggressive and throws his infantry forward behind a smoke screen- created whn he failed to register smoke on my Shermaan.

Both Fallschrimjager squads are involved in the counter attack. One is destroyed in the ruined building after defeating my infantry officer when the surviving Germans are counter attacked by my nearby squad. 

 My second squad moves to counter the German thrust- causing several casualties with small arms fire.

 And fomr the gErman perspective.

 The mortar fires despite the stug looming large in the distance.

 Another view down the table, not much to see as the buildings hide the action.

 Kent's very nicely painted LMG team.

 The LMG team is offering covering fire to the rest of the squad- which is currently being decimated.

 Hide n seek around the building on the right flank.

 The Sherman stug slug it out, mostly ineffectively.

 The M16 has moved across to lend a hand on my left flank.

 No so many Germans now.

 The 222 armoured car scores a hit on the Sherman but fails to damage it

 Finally the M16 has a target and decimates the German platoon commander.

Result: A bit of a whitewash, about 5-1. i rolled pretty well but Kent had a pretty disastrous run of dice with his tanks. It was fun to get the dice out again and have a game. I'm back off to Kiribati this weekend so that was my last game until I'm back for good in the new year.

Craig

Conqueror Model Dwarves

One of the things I ordered before heading back to Kiribati was a couple of units worth of Conqueror Models dwarves. This range is one I really liked the look of, very norse-esque looking. My  friend Mike is a collector of old school Warhammer metal dwarves and has a sizable collection but personally I can't stand the cartoonish, fat dwarves style of GW's Warhammer ranges, much preferring the more realistic (is that possible with dwarves) proportions of their Lord of the Rings range.

The Conqueror models dwarves are a bit bigger than the LoTR dwarves that makeup the bulk of my fledgling dwarven force but not too much so and so I think will work together just fine. I intend to get a few more command figures and spearmen from Conqueror Models to complete the force.

The miniatures are really nice sculpts, good detail, no flash and paint up really easily. I highly recommend them.

I rebased some LoTR dwarves to ct as the command team- I've decided to make the command stands on circular bases and use them as heroes in Dragon Rampant. I  bought my LoTR dwarves from a friend already painted and so simply rebased them but will probably repaint the commander at some point.

The crossbow dwarves. I've decided, after seeing my friend Ian's basing, to do them on 6cmx 6cm bases so they are a bit more flexible.

Craig

I'm back...sort of

Well, briefly anyway. As Kiribati is considered one of the more isolated spots to volunteer we get leave every 3-4 months to get some fresh fruit and vegies! Life isn't too bad out on South Tarawa but after a while you do miss a few trappings of modern life such as plentiful fruit and veggies, hot water etc. You kind of just get into a routine and get on with the job really, There isn't a hell of a lot of excitement out there but it is an interesting place to live. My wife and son came out to visit for 10 days and then we' went to Fiji for a week and I'm  now back home for another 10 days before heading back for my last 3 month stint on South Tarawa.

I had a few boxes of goodies waiting for me when I arrived home- my Dwarven Forge Kickstarter had arrrived, some Conqueror Models dwarven crossbowmen, some GW Ruins of Osligath, GW Galadheim elves etc.Mainly stuff I bought for my Lord of the Rings projects before I headed back to Tarawa.

I have completed one of the Osligath ruins and are working on two units of Conqueror Models dwarves for my Dragon Rampant Dwarf force. I really like the style and size of the Conqueror Dwarves and will adding more to my collection.

I'll base the ruins up properly when I return to New Zealand for good in January but a quick 3 colour drybrush and they were ready for the tabletop. I'm very happy with them, they'll be great for a variety of games.

Craig