Stealth bomber!

I decided I wanted to paint one of my favourites from X-Wing, the mighty K-Wing!

For a while I'd thought that I quite fancy a peculiar mat & gloss kind of look, so after a quick spray of black primer I just needed to paint some details in so that I didn't come across as utterly lazy.

I even stretched to painting the ordinance on the underside of the main wings and weathering the landing skids.

Will anyone ever see the underside?

You can see some of the mat/gloss variation here as well as the GW gemstone paint used on the cockpit canopies.

Red for left (port) and green for right (starboard.)

I thought I'd be brave and try out the glow effect that I've seen several other people doing recently on plasma weapons and such like. I'm quite happy with the results, but think maybe an additional layer of colour change in it will look better next time.

My first attempt at ,"plasma glow".

This is the second of my three K-Wings now custom painted, gotta decide on a scheme for the third one.

Tanks - hit the beach!

I took part in the first round of the Tanks (by Gale Force 9) organised play season today at Athena Games and thoroughly enjoyed it!

The game shares many similar rules & mechanics with the hugely popular X-Wing, using simplified a version of its movement template system and just varying numbers of 6 sided dice for attack and defence. Typically an attacking tank may fire with 5 (this rarely changes in game) dice and will be looking to score 4-5 for a hit and 6 for a critical hit. The target tank will often start at a single defence die and gains extra dice for movement, positioning and cover up to a maximum of 6 dice. A roll of 6 will cancel out a hit (or critical) of the defenders choice and a roll of 4-5 will cancel out a hit of the attackers choice.

I decided upon going with mother Russia as my nation of choice and opted for two IS2 heavy tanks being backed up by a T34, concentration of fire was my main plan. The Russian national trait allows an additional attack die when firing at the same target that a nearby ally has already fired at this turn.

My 100 point Russian platoon.

As the games began I quickly realised the effectiveness of coordinated fire, operating in a tight formation the T34 would make the first shot with its 4 dice (any damage caused is a bonus) this would typically score two hits and depending on what the target is doing (speed & cover) they'll often be defending with 4 dice (typically saving both hits.) Now however, the real shooting starts! If I've been doing it right I have both my 6 attack dice IS2's firing on the same target with an additional 7th attack die and hopefully causing some real damage and/or destruction to the enemy vehicle.

The scenario of the day involved the attacking force making their way across the battlefield to capture an objective. This proved to be quite tricky for the attacking players as there was little time (6 turns) to make it all the way and if a defending tank was within a range stick of the objective, points could not be claimed until they'd been shifted.

My first game was against Chris and I opened up with volleys of coordinated fire as his tanks tried to scurry from cover to cover. I managed to destroy all his tanks, thus preventing any point scoring.

The Russian & German platoons face-off!

My second game was against Jack who bought a Super Pershing heavy tank to the table, this is a beast not to be trifled with! Supported by Sherman's he made it very hard work for me to get to the objective and scored 1 of 2 points needed before reaching the 6 game turn limit, at least I managed another total annihilation of the enemy with them falling under the coordinated bombardment of the IS2's in the final turn!

The Super Pershing was a monster, until it's crew bailed out!

My third game was against just two well equipped Panthers. Both formidable tanks. Dave decided to make tracks directly for the objectives, taking full advantage of the German's ability - Blitzkrieg! I was lucky to score debilitating damage on one of the panthers in the first volley and perform the coupe de grace on it in the next turn. This left a solitary Panther trying to outrun and outmaneuvere my full platoon. He made a valiant dash for victory but fell under my hail of high explosive rain!

The final battle!

I'm very much looking forward to the next round of the campaign, but I will certainly make note of a few things.

1. There's a big difference between 4 and 6 attack dice.
2. Coordinated fire is awesome.
3. If the enemy is destroyed they can still win!
4. Be sure to read the mission briefing in advance!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (episode III)

So I've been playing X-Wing for a little while now and still really enjoy the game. It does seem as though I am reverting to type - exactly the same list FOREVER!

My custom painted K-Wing.

I am very lucky that there is such a great X-Wing community at Athena games (where I work) and I get plenty of opportunity to try new lists and new builds but regardless of the effectiveness of any other lists I try - I love my "triple K" list of Miranda Doni (painted by Maverick Mini Studios) and two Warden squadron K-Wings and struggle to change to using anything different. I'd quite like to custom paint whatever ships I do decide on, maybe a golden HWK (think C3PO) and a black & grey ARC-Fighter.

I think (daydream?) about having a list using Miranda alongside an incarnation of the upcoming ARC-fighter and some yet to be determined ship (although I keep looking at the HWK.)

So in the mean time I'll stick to using this list. The 2 points spent on a seismic charge are the only thing I change from game to game.

A tried and tested favourite.

p.s. I'm always on the lookout for tips and ideas :p

Panzer grey

I've built and now painted my Rubicon Tiger 1. Currently it's rather clean, but I'm going to (learn) whitewash it and add a little mud.

A good kit to work on.

I'll be off to read some tutorials on whitewash effects and see what I can come up with. There are some great tutorials out there but I've got to admit I'm quite nervous about trying it out.

Watch this space.

See you soon!

Tanks!

Opening up "Tanks" from Gale Force Nine, it's a cool little game with great models and a simple lightweight game system.

Not meant to be a simulation of any kind, Tanks is for 30 minutes of easy going gaming. The full colour rule book is only 22 pages and a fair bit of that is pictures helping to explain the mechanics.

Anyone who has played X-Wing the miniatures game will recognise many familiar aspects in this game from the (simplified) movement template to the crew and upgrade cards you can buy for your chosen tank(s) it's all laid out on the cards and a reference sheet, only needing the actual rule book for double checking bits.

The tank cards included in the core set.

The core set comes with a load of cards for a variety of tanks, including all the possible builds from the three tank sprues included.

Damage, crew and upgrade cards.

After you have selected your tank, you can then add a variety of upgrades including crew and mechanical options for a wide variety of choice. You might be able to build a (100 point) list of 5 basic tanks or maybe 2 highly skilled and we'll equipped versions of the same vehicles.

The models in the set (and the expansions) are multi part plastic kits and will require some assembly, the Sherman and Jagd/Panther models can be built in several variations, which is great. Whilst well detailed they are basic, you won't need to build all the track and suspension assemblies!

Tokens and terrain.

The starter set also comes with a ton of tokens & counters for keeping track of things and a selection of cardboard scenery, two wooded area terrain pieces and four buildings! Everything you need to get up and running.

All this for the very reasonable price of £18 ;)

Making a monster! (well, a Tiger 1)

The Tiger 1 from Rubicon Models seems a decent kit, good and sturdy parts (for heavy handed wargamers) but still well detailed.

The mighty Tiger is something I've been wanting for a while, not really for use in a game as such (in Bolt Action it is hard work) but just to have the iconic tank!

Over compensate much?

The model itself was pretty easy to build with one piece tracks (very strong) and just a couple of parts to assemble all those wheels - the tank seems to have more wheels than it needs. Then the hull was two central parts, again very sturdy, with front, rear, side and top 'plates' glued onto the central box. this all went together pretty easily and looks like it will stand my using it in battle the test of time!

The profile of the beast

The turret was peculiarly in two halves (left & right) with the choice of three different turret tops to go on the top of these two, again a good solid fit. The main gun is hinged so it can be elevated and comes off the sprue in one part too.

"Aim here"

Along with the good quality and detail of the kit's structural offerings is the nice amount of options available - early, mid and late war options for wheel, turret, several ports & hatches and an optional air filtration system - all allowing you to build several different variants. The pintle mounted MG is also an option for those that want to mow down enemy infantry!

Next I need to get this thing painted!

Rubicon Tiger 1 unboxing

I have a Rubicon models Tiger 1 Ausf E kit here to build and paint, let's see what there is to see.

One of the first things I have noticed is the impressive amount of options allowing you to build early, mid or late war variants. This includes two entire sets of tracks and running gear! The tracks are single piece with the wheels, so you can select the set with steel or the set with rubber road wheels.

The options extend to most other parts too with three different turret tops, ventilation systems and a variety of accessories that may be selected and attached as desired.

Three different turret tops

Another nice feature of the kit is that each sprue is sealed in it's own plastic bag to help keep any bits that may come loose whilst the courier is launching it from orbit.

Two complete sets of wheels & tracks

The instruction leaflet is a very well laid out piece with all parts easily recognisable and clearly numbered (including all optional parts) as well as that is some rather cool historical notes, just telling you little bits of information about the vehicle during it's tenure as the beast of the battlefield.

"From Nov 42, for Tigers sent to regions like Tunisia, Sicily, Heeresgruppe Süd and Mitte in Russia, Feifel air pre-cleaners are installed.
After Aug 43, these were no longer fitted at the factory."

I'm thinking that I'm going to enjoy building this monster!

The instruction leaflet contains loads of detail

A quick count up reveals 68 parts (including various options) so it's quite detailed and sturdy at the same time. The main hull particularly looks hardy enough to deal with clumsy gamer hands (well, mine) and the front, top and rear hull facial glue onto the central lump.

The main options include:

• Steel or rubber road wheels.
• Early, mid or late production turret tops.
• Gun sight choices.
• Optional spare track sections.
• Three different headlight configurations.
• Pistol port.
• Optional Feifel filters.

A strong looking (half) hull.

So now we have seen all the bits and the great detail, I better get to building (my favourite bit) and then trying to figure out what colour scheme to go for.