Eureka 15mm Sci-Fi German Stormtroopers

Eureka have just released new figures for their Sci-Fi German Stormtrooper range.
These look GREAT. I have some of the original infantry in the lead pile.... might need to pick up some more....

Lard Sale!!!

I had a bit of a binge on TooFatLardies stuff again this weekend.
At the moment, they are having a sale with £1.5 off everything in store.
I had already planned to pick up a few bits and pieces over the rest of the year, but now I've been able to grab them in bulk.
First up was Footsteps of the Legions, which is army lists for North Africa and the Meditteranean.  This rounds out my current WWII interests with the earlier purchase of Gotterdamerung and Shadow of the Rising Sun.  To accompany this, I also picked up the recently published Operation Compass scenario pack.  There's loots of good stuff in there.  It is also an interesting deviation from most IABSM games in that much of the campaign was armour and artillery rather than direct infantry actions.  There are a number of more traditional infantry actions based on the Australians at Bardia though, which is one of the primary reasons I purchased it.

Still on the subject of World War II, I also picked up another Robert Avery scenario pack: Fall of the Lion's Gate.  I'm very interested in gaming the Pacific Theatre, hence the purchase of this, as well as the Shadow of the Rising Sun.  I also used a voucher my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday to purchase Paul Ham's book on Kokoda on the weekend.  I was very impressed with Ham's work on Vietnam, so I'm looking forward to reading this as well.

 

I also picked up the Rock the Casbah expansion, which focuses on the Lebanese Civil War.  As it turns out, this expansion is actually for Troops, Weapons and Tactics (TW&T - TFL's skirmish rules).  However there are a number of parallels between TW&T and IABSM - B'Maso! give variations to both for the post-colonial african conflicts.  I'm hoping that the conversion here will be reasonably straight forward (if not directly documented).  Finally I also picked up the 2004 Christmas Special.  Looking at this one, you can see that the Specials have come a long way, in terms of production values, in the last 5-6 years!  I've wanted this one for quite some time as it contains details on how to convert IABSM for the Falklands - a variation known as "We'll Have to Bloody Walk!".  I've always found the Falklands a fascinating conflict, and I'm keen to get it on the table.

Flying Lead

I've been a bit behind on my Meeples and Miniatures podcast listening, so I've put the last few on my ipod as I walked the dog this week.
Last night it was Episode 62 wherein Flying Lead from Ganesha Games was discussed.

I must say I was quite interested. I've never played any of the "Songs of" games, although I've been aware of their existence. The promise of a complete game within an hour or a campaign within an evening is very tempting for my tight schedule. Also I've been looking for something light and simple to lure others to their unsuspecting doom of getting hooked on historical wargaming.

And at $8.53 for the rules, it's very tempting...
Plus it would lead Eltnot to once again accuse me of a lack of focus!!!

I'd definitely recommend listening to the podcast and the opinions therein.

So what do you think? Have you played any of the "Song of" rules? Are they a good solution for a quick, fun night's gaming?
Let me know in the comments.

EDIT:
I just went and bought it.  It's Friday and it cost $8.80.  What more can I say...?

A Little Light Reading

As part of the deal for getting the hallway finished, I took advantage of the ongoing strength of the AU$ vs the pound and picked up some of the fine Too Fat Lardies publications.
Here's what I have waiting for me AFTER the hallway is finished:

Gotterdamerung - Army lists for Late World War 2 in Europe for IABSM
Shadow of the Rising Sun - Army lists for World War 2 in the Pacific for IABSM
Through the Mud and the Blood - Large scale skirmish for World War 1
Triumphant Standards - the InterWar period with Mud and Blood (free with Mud and Blood and covers the fictional 1938 English Civil War amongst other things)



I also picked up the 2009 Christmas and Summer Specials. Included is the picture is my copy of Ambush Valley that I finally got around to binding at the same time.



Through the week I'll be binding some other PDFs that I have. Unfortunately my copy of Force-on-Force will have to wait as it's sealed up in the bedroom with the renovations.

Inspirational 15mm

If you want to see some amazing 15mm, go check out this blog:
http://15mmfun.blogspot.com/
Compare his QRF humvees here.
To mine here.

I mean, they're pretty close... right?...Right?

Man........

Some great ideas there I need to borrow / steal!

When the Navy Walked Preview

ArmChairGeneral has released the free preview of his forthcoming Victorian Science Fiction Rules - "When the Navy Walked on Rorke's Drift".
Go check them out!

Quick Peter Pig vs. QRF M113 size comparison

I've just quickly thrown together a quick comparison of the relative sizes of a QRF ACAV and a Peter Pig M113 that I had in the cupboard.
The comparison is intended to be on size rather than the quality of the model, as the Peter Pig has been cleaned up and undercoated, whereas the QRF has been tipped out of the bag where it's languished for the past year of two and then clumped together with Blutack.
The QRF is also missing its headlights and the driver's hatch that I didn't blutack on (it DOES say QUICK comparison!)
So without further ado, here are the pics (hi-res if you click). I'll leave you to make your own judgements on compatibility.

Maelstrom Order Arrives

My order from Maelstrom just turned up in the mail.

It was sent on Thursday just before Easter and arrived here (via our mail section) on Wed Morning. That's impressive!
The tin of Quickshade got dinted, but it was securely taped up and there haven't been any leaks.
Lunchtime should see a quick perusal of the CWC rules.
Looking forward to getting it all home tonight.

Bamboo huts

I thought I'd have crack at making some bamboo huts for south east asian games.
Here is where it is at, at the moment.

I know the CannonFodder figure is quite out of place, but I couldn't find any on my VC in a hurry.

I made a rough cardboard frame and then covered it with a cut-up bamboo placemat.

After fiddling with hobby knives and other cutting devices, I went out to the shed and grabbed the secateurs. Definitely the way to go for cutting up the placemat.

I haven't put in any doors or windows yet, so I think the secateurs will be called out again. I guess I probably should have put them in before I put the placemat onto the frame....

I'm uncertain on what to use for roofing materials. Should I thatch it, or use a corrugated iron roof? Do a number of both?

Anyone have any suggestions on the roofing material decision?

What did I achieve over Easter?

Not a lot really.....
On the modelling/gaming front at least.  On the gyprocking and plastering side, there was good progress.  But this is Tiny Metal Men, not Renovating for Nutcases!

I have started on a bamboo shack that I hope to get some work in progress of pics tonight.  My order from Maelstrom has shipped, so I'm looking forward to that arriving so that I can forge ahead on my Flashpoint Vietnam figures. 

I did get in a few minutes of reading and finished off Target Basra about the Royal Marine Commandos in the invasion of Iraq.  Some interesting scenarios there that could work for Force-on-Force. 

On the train in to work today I've started on 3 Commando Brigade about the Royal Marines in Afghanistan.
After that is Ground Truth which is the follow up to 3 Para (which I thought was a good read).  I picked up all three of these (Basra, 3 Commando and Ground Truth) for $25 from my local QBD.

On the gaming news side of things, TooFatLardies released their Operation Compass scenario pack providing:

An extensive history of the Italian invasion of Egypt and the British response: Operation Compass, the Five-Day Raid that turned into a campaign. Set between June 1940 and early February 1941, the booklet contains twenty-three unique scenarios for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” including attacks, counter-attacks, encounter battles, desperate defences, and the types of action typical of desert warfare: tank vs tank and tank vs gun battles.


From the 11th Hussars’ initial reconnaissance and harassment missions; through to the assaults on the network of Italian camps in the Western Desert; the Australian assaults on Bardia, Tobruk and Derna; and on to the thrilling climax at Beda Fomm, you’ll encounter British, Australians and Italians of all shapes and sizes.

I'm hoping to pick this up to accompany my current collection of 15mm Battlefront Australians.