This Great and Noble Undertaking

15mm Landing Craft, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

And the landing craft are begun! I have six LCVPs by Battlefront and a Mk.5 LCT (still under construction) by Lindberg. The Lindberg model scale is given as 1:125 which is pretty spot on for 15mm, and you see I can fit the standard payload of five Battlefront Shermans in just fine. Strangely, the molded display that comes in the box refers to it as an LSU, which apparently was what they were renamed post-WW2. All I've read indicates the LCTs at D-Day were Mk.6 models, with extra armor and an extended ramp to provide more cover. However, all the beach landing orders I've found show a complement of five tanks on the LCTs, whereas the Mk.6 only apparently had room for three after modifications-- or so I read somewhere (ed: I think I'm conflating Mk.6s with LCT(A)s here). I can't find any pictures of a loaded Mk.6 clear enough to tell for sure. Anyway, I'm not going to worry and bother with trying to convert it just to end up wrong in the end (and, judging by the profiles in the attached picture from Spearheading D-Day, it's probably beyond my ability anyway), and will paint this up as is; i.e., a Mk.5.

US Parachute mortar platoon finished

US Airborne 81mm mortar platoon, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Back into WW2 then, with the effort to get more "lower level" units on the table. Here is my US Parachute mortar platoon. That gives me an absolutely full company with both battalion support options-- the mortar platoon and a machine gun platoon. Thinking about it, though...it's not far from here to a second company. I have three squads of three stands each. If I'm reading my TO&Es correctly, a company was intended to have two twelve man squads, so I'm heavy as is. I have twenty seven stands. If I put six (two squads of three stands) per platoon, I only need eighteen for a three platoon company. So, another nine stands, plus a single officer stand and 60mm mortar stand, and I have two paper strength companies. I already have an Old Glory pack of officers and support weapons. Huh. Also, I just bought a few 82nd memoirs covering Sicily, as well as the Skirmish Campaigns Skirmish Elite: Combat Jump Sicily book. I figure I ought to be able to get some games out of those as well. My focus is actually D-Day right now...I have the LCVPs out and ready to get started on. I just need to put in a paint order, and am having an anxiety attack over ordering paint based on inaccurate web swatches!

Blood Bowl Norse finished!

Blood Bowl Norse, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Yay! The Norse are completely completed, and I have run them through my little birthday bash as-- wait for it!!-- team name Turning Thorty, har har har!! Anyway, the party was a blast, we played Blood Bowl straight through for almost twelve hours. My incredible wife stocked us up with Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, Subway platters for lunch, local Chenese joint trays of food for dinner, kept the coffee pot full, wrangled the kids, and had more Yuengling on hand than the thirteen of us could possibly drink! We only (!) got in three games. I went into the last round ranked second, and played first place-- we tied and third place won his game, taking the day! My opponent and I also tied on TD differential, so the tie breaker went to casualties, with him having the better differential, so I ended third on the day-- not too shabby. Pictures of my team on the next page:

A New Technique for Rivets

Whether it's giant land trains, WWI tanks or Necromunda Underhive terrain, I'm always running across people in the hobby making rivets. Micro-Mark just blasted out an e-mail with their new solution, rivet decals, which appear to work much like a water slide transfer. It appears from their picture that you get a page full of rivets, mostly in rows but a few different patterns as well, and trim them up and apply them as needed. I thought it looked like a pretty clever idea-- I wonder how well they adhere?

Blood Bowl Norse Painted

Blood Bowl Norse, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

There! It took me longer than I thought it would, as it always does, but I have finished painting the Norse team-- nine Linemen, two Throwers, two Catchers, two Blitzers, two Ulfwereners, and one Yhetee. I still have the basing to do, but I want to experiment a little before I start, and then do them all at the same time so they hopefully match well. Despite the basing, they will make their fully painted debut as Björnsson's Bullies at tomorrow night's Painsphere meet up. My Field Marshals wouldn't mind a rematch against them myself...we'll see...

Most Depressing Gaming Trip Ever

My Car!, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

We headed over to Mik's to try out some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3.0. We'd had some thunderstorms throughout the day, nothing major, and it was raining pretty hard while we started generating characters. Then my wife called and said she and the kids were sheltering in the bathroom! Typical overreaction from a wife, huh? I'm trying to get my game on, and she's calling me freaking out over a little rain. She calls me a second time, and I ask her what she wants me to do? I can't do anything about the weather!! Shortly after that, we hear the rain noticeably start to escalate. Then, the "tack tack tack" of hail. Then, "THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!!!! I never heard that before!! We open the door and there is a carpet of big hail stones outside. I stick my hand it in, get hit by a few small ones, then WHAP get a big one that HURT BADLY and left a nice bruise. And I'm thinking, "Yeah, that would have dented a car..." More than dented, my car was absolutely crushed. We called the game and I went home to apologize to my wife!! We wound up with golf ball sized hail and it was indeed a pretty scary situation after I got home. I am covered by insurance for the damage to this and the relatively minor damage to the house-- nothing at all to complain about when over 250 people died.

Blood Bowl Norse

Blood Bowl Norse, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

I finished another three Linemen! I was about ready to just stop here-- Norse have a lot of positionals and I think six Lineman are probably plenty...but then with AV 7, injuries and Journeymen, I better just go ahead with the nine I originally intended. I do have basing materials ready to start basing once the last three are done. I will be trying something along the lines of these snowy bases.

Best Wargames Table Ever?

The Architects of War have made me insanely jealous of their absolutely amazing table set up.

Yhetee! Yippee!

Blood Bowl Yhetee, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Finally got my Yhetee conversion done! He started out as Reaper's 02697: Yeti, a figure I've had knocking around for a while. I think he turned out pretty well, although I've had a heck of a time getting a decent picture of him once he was painted. I think he looks better than any of the photographs show. I'm not under any illusions about the quality of the sculpting, but I am pleased overall! Click "Read More" to see a lot of in-progress shots and a comparison picture with the Ulfwereners and normal players.

Norse Ulfwereners

Blood Bowl Norse, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

And the reason why those horns were so unadorned-- I really wanted to move on to my Ulfwereners from Willy Miniatures! These are my first non-Games Workshop "Fantasy Football" figures, and I picked them up through Impact Miniatures. Willy Miniatures has some really sweet figures-- I just need half an excuse to buy those Wights!-- and I really like these figures, although they have some scaling issues. They are ST 4 bodies on ST 3 feet! I also liked his Snow Troll, and almost bought it...but I have other plans for that! And they're coming along swimmingly, and will soon (well, soonishly) be unveiled here! Click more to see the Ulfwereners compared to a normal Lineman.

Norse Linemen

Blood Bowl Norse, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

I was out of action for a couple of weeks due to work travel, but am back in the saddle again. Here are the first three of my Norse Linemen done. I may go back and pretty up the horns a bit at some point. Or I may just leave it like that... Six more Linemen, two Ulfwereners, and one Yhetee to go...

Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month

November '11 marks the first Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month. It had its genesis in a thread on the SoloWarGame Yahoo group, and I think it's a good idea. Solo Wargaming isn't in the spotlight much anymore but there is still a strong group of enthusiasts. I love the idea, although find the opposition in a solo gaming is often quite boring. ;-) I imagine I'll do something along these lines for November-- however, I won't be committing to it in May! I have a hard enough time planning my lunch tomorrow, much less a game six months down the road...