This topic contains 120 replies, has 15 voices, and was last updated by 
torros 6 years, 1 month ago.
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@querion yes, they look right: very High Elf. Great work!
@oriskany thank you, and not a casualty just MIA you might say… and the good news is the little pup has returned home ?
@sundancer sweet!
@horati0nosebl0wer thank you, the difference is I know the dog will be there though, lol
So maybe no coincidence then that bundeva meets bunda…
Haha! Korma is good ?
As I mentioned above, I found the missing dog. With the sun up, I found him hiding under the trailer out the front. A little grassy, but otherwise ok ?
The rest of the horde now:
Just finished reading a fantastic book on Waterloo, specifically the defence of La Haye Sainte. @warzan if you guys have La Haye Sainte terrain in-studio you should definitely check out this very short (two and a half hour audiobook) book and you’ll have John chained to the table painting minis for the next month. Small scale skirmishing, desperate fighting over a few holes in a wall and at least half a dozen scenario ideas for Sharp Practice alone.
“The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo” by Brendan Simms
I finished painting Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE from Warlord Games based on the GMF Flashman Novels.
Flashman is a coward who accidentally does things that make him look heroic. For example he was in a fort under siege, he broke down in tears blubbering then ran out to the flagpole and took down the British flag in an attempt to surrender the fort. He got knocked out in disgust by the Fort’s commander. The fort was then stormed and everyone besides Flashman was killed. They found him wounded, covered in blood and holding the British Flag in a pile of British corpses. They assumed he took the flag down to save it and since no one was around to challenge his story he went with it.
@rayzryr everything’s coming along really nicely, do the bases come like that or are those custom?
@sundancer very good work on the Legion stuff. They did a great job sculpting Bobba Fett he looks a lot my dynamic than any of the other heroes. I can’t think of a more nightmare combo than Black and White. Bravo sir!
@oriskany Battle of Hamel sounds very cool. If I remember correctly that’s the first time US Troops fought under the command of a foreign nation. Of course as an Australian I may be slightly biased in choosing an Australian Battle 🙂
Anyone who hasn’t checked out the brilliant project absolutely should. https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1288632/
@horati0nosebl0wer Drums in the Ohio Valley look good I would also add Galloping Major, Crusader Miniatures, Redoubt Enterprises and Warlord Games to anyone looking for great skirmish game minis.
@oriskany good analysis re scale – prompted me to do some quick spreadsheet calcs which I will double check and maybe post up later. Short version is however, that abstraction aside I had no idea how bad scale was for miniatures wargaming. 50 points for posts and insights.
@elessar2590 great paint schemes on the Legion minis! really like the way that is starting to come together as a coherent force. Great work on Flashman 🙂 50 points for progress, posts and audio book recommendation.
@sundancer Xmas Boba Fett had me initially thinking that you meant painting him in red and white armour with greenstuffed white fur trimming on his boots. OK, maybe I need some more sleep… Your boba and his cohort look great! 50 points for progress and posts.
@querion don’t stress, time gets away from us all like that – we’re happy to have you join in whenever you have capacity so please don’t be going and stressing 🙂 I’m yet to find a silver metallic paint that I’m really happy with (although the GW golds and Valejoi bronze and copper are good from memory) . Best of luck in working a solution! Let us know what the right way forward was when you land a winner 🙂 Nice minis, and the classic colour scheme should look great on them! Please post progress pics if you get the chance. 25 points for posts and progress.
@lancorz thanks for the clarification. Maybe we need to start awarding beastcoins or widgets or something instead of virtual points on the thread to avoid confusion? 10 virtual vanilla custard pastries for the clarification 🙂
@rayzryr I’d have to give the ultimate cloned bounty hunter award to IG-88. Or does he not count as he is several versions of an identical droid rather than organic? Either way, where is the bounty hunter subfaction for Legion? Don’t make me field a bunch of IA minis and house rule game stats! /shakes fist ineffectually at nobody in particular 😛
Really nice progress on the orcs. The bases are just great on this product line – so little work required to do (unless of course you feel like going all out…). Glad the doggie showed up in the sunlight 🙂 I know where you’re coming from with that experience though – I probably have half a bitzbox scattered randomly in inaccessible places over my garage floor… not so much of an issue when you have the spare parts to convert a new bit. when you don’t though… 50 points for hobby progress and posts.
@horati0nosebl0wer yes I groaned… Great work on the Halloween mini – have you ever had a go at painting any of the reaper Sophie minis? I keep meaning to give t a go but my fleshtones aren’t very good (my fault for not practicing enough) – I suppose given the subject matter I could go for a pale or purple hued flesh and it might be a little more forgiving… 40 points for progress and feedback
@torros thanks for the insight re mini ranges. I’m still deliberating on having a go at 6mm – are there any ranges I should be looking at ahead of others? 10 points.
I can host this weekend 🙂 However the following one I will not be available.
Aside from bases and varnish my Bayourks are finished. These chaps are from the ‘Battle for Troll Bridge’ starter set.
Mad Eye Muldoon, a special character and Warband Leader:
A Specialist Troop, a ‘Brewboy’:
And finally the three Boglins round out the warband:
Battle Report Part 03 – 36th Ulster Division at Courtrai (October 19 1918)
The firefight between “Johnston’s Company” 12th Royal Irish Rifles / 36th Ulster Division and “Bothi’s Kompanie” / 12th Bavarian Division in the streets of Courtrai, Belgium … continues.
When we left off, the Germans were doing very well in the west, where a powerful counterassault had actually eliminated McAuley’s platoon, and Lyons’ platoon on the far west was pinned down in the open having failed an assault against the German wing. Somehow Lyons and his survivors weren’t killed in the next phase of German fire, and now he’s managed to call in a smoke mission from the company mortar section, MG fire from one of the Vickers sections, covering a withdraw back to safety in the ruins of bombed-out building. German opportunity fire has missed, somehow Lyons has survived with enough of his platoon to … in the turn or two … put it together with the company reserve to form a new platoon that will hold together the Irish right wing.
Meanwhile, things are going badly for the Irish on the left. Flynn’s platoon has failed to suppress the German mortar crew behind the objective building, and when Captain Johnston tries to rush through said building and assault that mortar pit, he and his platoon are actually shot up so badly they are removed from play. Captain Johnston is probably badly wounded, he and most of his men on the way back to an aid station, or worse. No “bad moves” were made here, just poor nice (note the rolls, remember low rolls are better in this game).
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The German Turn 03 is modest, conservative, tactical, and cautious. They’re on defense, after all. They win just by surviving in that big municipal building at the south center of the board. They get some lucky rolls and take out the Vickers section that was trying to come up to support McCabe and Flynn, but other than that they’re just trying to keep the Irish at bay, make them pay for any advances, and run out the clock. So far they’re doing very well, although Lyons continues to consolidate a new Irish right wing to the northwest.
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While Flynn’s platoon again tries to put down fire suppression on the mortar pit behind the German-held courthouse, McCabe’s platoon tries to rush through the same rooms Johnston tried a while ago, assaulting the same German mortar pit. Again, it’s a bloodbath, but this time the attack does succeed. Furthermore, the assault rolls snake eyes (best roll in the game), which means everyone who participated in that immediate assault gets to make a “Valor Check.” Success means that unit becomes “Valorous,” getting all kinds of bonuses.
Sure enough, he may be the last man in his platoon, but Lt. McCabe has just earned his DSO!
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Meanwhile, in order to apply his -1 leadership bonus to the bulk of his new “battlegroup” Lyons has to be with them. Therefore, he must run backwards from his original platoon, across the street, and then back into the rear of the building in which the bulk of his new force is forming up. The Germans have one very nice moment of opportunity fire against this move, and “Lyons’ run” is very risky. But he makes it. Barely. Now Lyons can see more of the German force, and can also see the mortar section behind him. This means he can call in indirect fire from the mortar using our 1918 Edition “radio-less” indirect fire rules.
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Closeup of the “Snake Eyes Assault.”
Battle Report Part 04 – 36th Ulster Division at Courtrai (October 19 1918)
All right – let’s wrap this up.
The firefight between “Johnston’s Company” 12th Royal Irish Rifles / 36th Ulster Division and “Bothi’s Kompanie” / 12th Bavarian Division in the streets of Courtrai, Belgium … concludes.
In the wake of McCabe’s bloody, but valorous and successful, assault against the German mortar pit and the east wing of the Courtrai municipal building (i.e., the “Courthouse”) – the Germans now pivot to attack from within the Courthouse. Fighting is now within the same building, no longer street to street and house to house, but room to room. Unfortunately, McCabe just took too many losses in his assault to really hold his position against a German assault of this size.
That said, the first German attack (going after just four men, a half-section previously pinned by German opportunity fire during McCabe’s assault) rolls disastrously … double sixes, the worst possible roll. The assault technically fails costing (a) number of Irish units in the target hex + (b) terrain bonus + (c) margin by which the roll was failed = total casualty points. The Irish half squad, although victorious, has to lose casualty points = the number of German units that just attacked it. Short answer … the two sides wipe each other out.
Meanwhile, 30 meters to the south in the shattered remains of that German mortar pit, Lt. McCabe (DSO) now faces assault against 13 German troops, including an officer, an 8 man squad, and a 4 man half squad, that 4-man team carrying an MG 08 15 LMG. Even with his “Valor” bonuses, McCabe is doomed to a glorious last stand. He counts as 2 units (Valor), +2 for the sandbags = he costs the Germans four casualty points, but is likewise removed from play. He goes down, but seriously takes out (kills, wounds, or panics) eight Germans before going down.
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Flynn’s platoon, meanwhile, hooks north, back into those east rooms of the Courthouse, and then assaults the Germans who just overran McCabe. The assault basely succeeds, but does succeed, and Setesch’s platoon is likewise eliminated, although costing yet more Irish casualties in the process. The Irish have lost the bulk of two platoons in this firefight, but for now, they have a foothold in the Courtrai municipal building (objective if the game). They have an understrength platoon in the Courthouse.
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The Germans don’t miss this development. The platoon and a half facing Lyons to the northwest immediately pulls out, double-timing it back through their buildings, racing to the western offices of the Courthouse. They thus give up that whole wing of the battlefield, but have no choice if they want to continue to contest Irish possession of the Courthouse that decides the game. The smokescreen that Lyons was calling in to cover his upcoming assault is now actually an obstacle for his own MG fire (Vickers section in that stack), taking a shot at the retreating Germans of Ritter’s platoon as they cross the courtyard roundabout street back into the Courthouse. Rolling a 10, though, the shot would have done no damage anyway.
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Turn 6 – last turn of the game. If the Irish are going to win this, they have to clear that courthouse, NOW. Flynn’s platoon is badly shot up, so it’s up to Lyons to carry this one in. First he directs more MG fire down the street into the courthouse, managing to pin a German half-squad with an MG 08 15 LMG (better that than the fire team manning the MG 08 HMG). Okay, now the smoke screen drops in from the mortars, landing right in front of the remaining German gunners to provide Lyon’s assault with the best possible cover. In goes the assault, Lyons taking every man with him except the Vickers crew (he’s chosen NOT to set up a “fire lane” with this MG fire, obviously, he’d be running through his own MG fire).
The assault is a nasty one. Despite the smoke screen, the German point-blank MG 08 fire inflicts enough casualty points that Lyons is forced to drop a half-section of rifles. Weakened, the assault goes in, except now he no longer outguns the German force he’s assaulting. At 1-1 odds, Lyons needs a 6 or less on 2d6 … actually pretty poor odds (41.7%, actually).
But he actually makes it, with a five!
Holy hell, the Irish have RE-breached the courthouse, although again, costing Lyons four casualty points (one non-pinned unit, one officer, +2 for building).
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Here, however, is where Lyons’ luck desert him. He had to pay four casualty points. He only had two half-squads left, each with three casualty points. So he dropped one half squad (thus paying 3), then had to pay one more. He could either “overpay” by dropping the second half squad, “Pin” himself, or pin the other half squad. He chooses the latter. This way, he can apply his -1 leadership bonus to the difficulty of rallying that half squad (officers give bonus to rallying men, not vice-versa).
It’s the smart play. It just doesn’t work out. Normally the rally difficulty is six or less on 2d6. +1 for “E” Elite Irish Regiment. +1 for Lyon’s readership. They now need an 8 or less on 2d6 (72.22%). Except they roll a 9.
Now Neumann’s survivors can counter-assault on German Turn 6. The pinned units are automatically eliminated for free. Lyons alone fights to fend off the assault, and he’s outnumbered 9-1 (full squad + officer including MG 08 15). Lyons goes down, although costing the Germans four troops in the process.
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Thus we have the final outcome of the game. The Germans have one officer and four men in the northwest corner office of the Courthouse (including an MG 08 15). Thus, technically they win the game as the Irish were unable to clear the building in the allotted time.
However, it’s pretty clear that the Irish would win this battle on Turn 7. Lt. Flynn has nine men and a Lewis Gun in the east offices of the Courthouse. There’s another four men and a Lewis Gun across the street to the northwest, plus the four men on that Vickers MG and four more commanding the 76mm Stokes Mortar section. Thus with 21 men to the Germans’ 5, Flynn would be able to clear this building “in overtime.”
But that’s asymmetrical wargaming. The weaker side (usually defense) just has to hold on for a certain amount of time, inflict a certain amount of damage, etc. In this case, timetables for Irish artillery may have been thrown off because they can’t get an observer up in the upper floors of that Courthouse on time. Other battalions might have to cancel their attacks now because of lack or artillery and failing daylight … or worse … might be ordered to go in without artillery support. Thanks to the delay of taking that Courthouse, other withdrawing German units might have made it across the Leie (Lys) River or the Bossuit Canal. Who knows?
Anyway, this concludes this battle report. Hope some of you liked it.
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