Great War Artillery Part II

Well work is progressing steadily. I have begun painting the French limber riders and drivers and I have based the 'ground crews' and gun/ caisson as you can see below.




The above are pictures of the front and back of the French crew



And of course these photo's show the American (ANZAC in my case) artillery crews.






Last but certainly not least some shots of the Caisson and gun assembly. By now you will have noticed that although these figures are testshots, I have based them for wargaming. I used to put my painted test-figures onto specially made bases but since I have ran out of my supply and they take up loads of space in my cabinets I decided to use the figures in my wargames armies right away.


Keep watching this space for the painted figures!

Listening to: "Death Magnetic" the new Metallica album.

Great War Artillery Part I

During the Weekend I was able to prep some of the new HäT testshots I mentioned a while ago. The subjects involved are Late War Artillery sets for the USA and France. Both include a 75mm gun and caisson but my testshots only included one for the Americans. Funnily enough I will use my gun for the French as I will paint the American set up as Commonwealth troops and give them metal British guns.

here are the sets as I got them and after cleaning up.

The French set:



The American set (including the gun and caisson in a phase of semi-completion).

The top row of each photo shows the limber riders and train drivers. Each artillery set will include the appropriate riders and drivers but a separate set of limber and horse teams will be released later to save space and money. Top notch thinking from the guys and galls at HäT!

The bottom two rows are made up of the gun crews themselves as you can see. I am assured that the "nice" yellow colour of the French figures is only on the testshot sprue.

Here you can see the riders and drivers impaled and ready to receive the usual black basecoat:



More will follow soon!

Using the little ones in the Classroom!

Hi There!

Last week I had a teaching dilemma: I had to explain the major importance of the Great War and the change in warfare it instigated as opposed to all wars preceding it, to my 3rd classes (not the same as 3rd grade in the US, these kids are about 15/ 16 years old). Now I knew explaining the difference between, let's say, Napoleonic and Great War warfare is rather easy to us hobbyists but to make it clear to people not inducted in these secrets is a different story all together. So how was I to go about this? And then it hit me: you twat, you've got a showcase full of little teachers ready to help out! So I dragged a bag filled with Napoleonic and Great War plastics (mostly HäT of course) to school and did two demonstration lessons.

To one of those lessons I actually brought a camera, but forgot to make pictures during the Napoleonic phase and then remembered the camera and asked a pupil (thanks Eliana ;-) ) to make some shots. Those are pictured below.
After showing a French column at Waterloo being beaten by some Dutch Infantry and guns I showed this WW1 set-up. A German trench being assaulted by ANZAC infantry supported by a French FT17 (yeah I know I haven't got the Mk IV's ready yet). Oh the fat bloke in the red shirt is obviously yours truly...





Here a German Fokker Dr VII spots for the German artillery:





Close up of the trench:



Casualties are mounting:



Now I know that this works out nicely I might do this more often. It was fun for me and the kids seemed to like it too.

Thanks for being patient and not wrecking the classroom H3c and H3b!

Cheerio Sander

At it again!

Hoi

Woohoo! Finally after 3+ weeks I have had chance to paint something again last Sunday. The WW1 German Cuirassiers are finished (I still have to do their horses but hey everything in due time)!

I have started with the 1806 Prussians and the Pirate lass I have put up on the blog earlier after she was coated. Pictures will follow when available. Besides that I have been cleaning up a huge load of HäT Austrian Chevauxlegeres and French Chasseurs a Cheval from Italeri.

On another topic altogether: just obtained the cd "Elect the Dead" by Serj Tankian (from System of a Down) and it's a rare gem indeed!

Cheers Sander

ducosim part II

Hoi,

Okay, I may have hinted that the battle was very one-sided and I lost very quickly but the battle was actually very tense and I did considerable damage to at least two enemy mechs. Engmir did however succeed in keep two of my mechs pretty much out of the battle by very sneakily positioning his mechs out of LOS.




The battle heats up as the HQ comes under fire. Dang, how I underestimated the little amount of armour this thing had! In the end it took Engmir about 3 turns of shooting before the thing was down, or rather blown UP.



For me the most fun part of the battle was when my Hatamoto Chi (the mech with the yellow crest looking like a samurai) charged Engmir's Enforcer. The Hatamoto did 40 points of damage amongst which was a hit to the cockpit and the result was that the Enforcer fell into the lake. A truly epic movie moment.






Yes I was very glad the charge succeeded. Usually my physical attacks go awry from the start...





A general view of our part of the DUCOSIM fair. There are usually 3 halls, one of which is reserved for wargaming. Games played include CBT, Warhammer Fantasy, WH40K, Warmachine, Battlefleet Gothic, Flames of War and the occasional Historical game (in this case an ACW game).


Special thanks have to go to Professor Tobias "Tobmeister" Wittwer for the pictures featuring yours truly!

ducosim part I

Hoi!

Well today I played a very nice game of Classic Battletech against a very valiant opponent with the callsign of "Engmir". The scenario we played tasked me with the protection of a Mobile Headquarters vehicle (needless to say I failed in this task miserably)and of course my opponent had to destroy it. Here are some pictures!

The Enemy's deployment( protecting their supply of salad!)

My deployment, the large dark coloured hexes in the left-centre are part of a mountain...

Engmir's forces close in for the Kill.

Me trying to remember what point I was making...

Dark Age

Hoi,

No, I am not going to talk about early medieval times. I am going through, what in lingua Fora is called, a "Dark Age" a certain period of time in which you are not entertaining your hobby/ special interest etc. In my case I have not painted anything in about 3 weeks. A brush? What's that again?

My new work and some personal circumstances have resulted in this time of inactivity. I am very anxious to start painting again and finish some of the running projects most of which the several WW1 projects but when I get home I am far too tired to even open the paint cans.

The silver lining will be this weekend as I will visit the DUCOSIM games fair again for some games of Battletech. I will keep you posted and hope to have some pics.

Cheers Sander