Historicon Top Pics

H-Con is done and I'm still hungover.

But, I put my carcass into drive and cut 1200 pics from the weekend down to the top 30 or so. We've got Steve's last News From the Front podcast, army pics galore and all sorts of other bits.

Come on in and enjoy the pics.

We start with the Tale of the Suicide Chaffee's:

Round 2 of the double tournament, Ben and I face off against KV-88's, IS-2's and a horde of tiny little Russian tanks. Knowing there was know way we could take out the big boys from the front and only sporting 3 Priests for arty support I decided to go insane. Noticing that one of our opponents had to double time the IS-2 platoon command to get up to the rest of the platoon I zoom a platoon of Chaffee's around the flank, assuming that I'd loose the platoon, but knowing his was way more valuable I decided the trade was worth it.  

I kill 1 and bail 2.

Next turn he kills 2 of those plucky little light tanks then I take out another of his IS-2's. 

I take out a 3rd and he does the same. He's down to 1 tank and I'm down to just one and a bailed. His fearless dudes fail their morale check and run off the board. VICTORY! 

More after the break

Morning table porn, day 3

Non Flames of War edition.

Quick technical note. The reception here has been super shoddy and so I'll be keeping pics to a minimum for most of the day. But I'll keep updates coming.

Now on to the porn.

What is this monstrosity?

It's like Darth duck!

Infinity. Yes, Infinity

Cause... It's Infinite I guess?

Third one down! So, one of my gamer homies has been preaching the gospel of Infinity as the bestest most awesomest skirmish game that ever happened to a table top. Now, I'll admit, my first experience with the game was less than optimal. In fact, it was so bad I thought I'd never come back to it.

However, the models are sweet and you only need 10 to 15 of them and the rules are free. So I said what the hell and had him run me through a second learn to play. This time around I liked it. I liked it at least enough to pick up some models to round out the ones I bought originally and start putting paint to lead.

That, by the way, is a monkfish.

Now, if you don't know anything about Infinity it's set about 175 years in the future, we've found wormholes and many countries have come together to form just a few human factions. America, I think because this game was written by Europeans  sucks and plays very little of a role so far (like 5 models for one of the factions). I kind of think of it like Shadowrun the miniatures game in space with your crew going up against the other guys crew, and then the aliens attack. Stupid aliens. So now you've got the human factions fighting each other and the aliens.

I won't go in depth in to the rules today (cause I'm tired and it totally deserves an article of it's own) but for a quick break down: The thing that makes this game unique is that even on the acting players turn the other player gets a chance to react to moves. Like if one of my guys saunters around the corner, your dude gets a chance to take a pot shot at him. The other thing that's a bit different is that, instead of activating each unit once, you get a pool of orders equal to the number of units you have and you can (pretty much) distribute them how you like. Thus, one dude could end up acting 5 or more times in a turn if you so choose.

The faction I'm starting with is Haqqislam. A humanist, focused greater islamic state that acts in some ways like the bio-technological backbone and mercantile powerhouse of the human space territories. They've got some sweet models (most of the factions have amazing models actually, except for nomads, I just don't get them at all) and the great thing about the game is that you can pretty much choose the models you like and build an effective army out of them. The mantra on the Infinity message boards is "It's not your list, it's you" an attitude I admire.

Now, I've only knocked out 2 models so far. But because of the level of detail on these guys it feels like an achievement. So here they are!

An Odalesque, essentially beautiful bodyguards wearing special makeup that makes them hard to hit in close combat... The Future is weird... But it kind of turns me on.

More after the break!

SAAAAGAAAA

Number 2 post on the night! Recently I got the Saga bug, even more recently WWPD held a most excellent fundraiser for veterans. I was offered a dollar for every Saga fig I painted in a week. I got through 16.

WOOF! That, for me, is a serious speed painting success! And it also knocked out 3 of the 7 points of dudes I have for my Anglo-Dane/Saxon army.

First up will be the warriors which are armored Saxon Theigns by Wargames Factory from the Hammer of the Gods line. The good thing about these mini's is that they're cheapo! It's like 36 mini's for 20 bucks. The bad thing about these mini's is that they don't come with bases, the swords break quite easily and the shields don't look like the ones from the gripping beast lines. The good thing is, it's Saga, so it doesn't really matter, my dudes with axes will attack your dudes with axes and much fun will be had by all.

The second set of images, with the long (Danish) Axes are my Hearthguard. These are the big beefy dudes in your army. You buy them in sets of 4 and get twice as many attacks per model as the warriors. The 8 warriors I chose to paint are 5 from the Anglo-Dane starter set plus Harold Godwinson (Of 1066 fame) and his two brothers. Gripping beast makes some great mini's and I had fun painting the shield designs on these guys. However, I will be using decals for the 36 levies (weak line troops) I'll be painting up. I like painting shields, just not that much. Natch.

Now, on to the pics!


Harold Godwinson, King of the Anglo-Saxons

More after the Break!

Bolt Action Bat Rep: Rangers Vs. SS (Noobtastic!)

Today, we re-enter the NEWB ZONE as I am very excited to bring to you our first attempt at a Bolt Action Bat Rep. Me, and new Throck of Warfighter (and very old friend) Amok decided to throw down 750 points of SS vs. Rangers and just fight over victory points to test out the rules and the feel of the game. Bolt Action seems fun, and is certainly a lighter lift than Flames. But, after a couple of reads through the rule I'm a little worried about the abstraction of the rules.

For the uninitiated, Bolt Action is all about the "reinforced platoon" as its basic unit. That means a solid core of a couple of squads of PBI (with about 5 to 15 dudes each) with an HQ and then support elements like a tank, machine guns, mortars, armored cars etc...

For each list you pretty much need to buy an HQ (1 to 3 dudes) and the two squads of grunts and then add on whatever else your army list allows (although, no more than 1 tank per platoon). There are all sorts of ways to pimp your basic guys such as giving them SMG's, Panzerfausts, Assault Rifles etc... Also, with the new German Army book the level of vehicles to choose from runs the gamut from early war to late. I'm looking forward to the rest of the army books to get everyone on an even footing. The good news there is there isn't that long to wait. The new Wargames Illustrated has these coming out every two months between now and November 2013 with the Americans in January and the Brits in March.

I feel very much like this when ever I open a new rule set.

To be honest, I love painting in 28mm and so that is the biggest draw for me for Bolt Action. That, and you get big tanks, much bigger than their 15mm equivalent. There is something cool about pushing that Sherman or Puma around the field on the 1/48 scale.

Another great bit about the 28mm form of the hobby is that there are so many great companies making excellent mini's for the WW2 period. The BoltAction.Net forums have a good list to get you started. But today's bat rep features a Puma by Italeri, SS by Victory Force and Warlord Games and Rangers and Shermans also by Warlord.

For this first game I'll be playing the SS (why do I always get stuck with the Bosche?) and Amok will be handling the 2nd Rangers with Sherman support.

Lastly, apologies for the unpainted-ness of the models. I'm working diligently on getting both armies painted up (in fact, since this bat rep was photographed the rangers are now almost half done and the Sherman is nearly complete!) So without any more ado, the Bat Rep!

Please Stand By. We'll be back I promise.

Please excuse the silence.

As you've probably noticed, we've not been posting much at all these last few weeks. Election season is extremely busy for me with travel and long hours and all sorts of other craziness.

I and the other guys who help out around here are still playing, painting and having much FOW fun, in fact I have a few blog posts on the back burner that will be coming out in the next few weeks (hopefully).

But please do excuse the absence, I've had a hell of a lot of fun growing this blog over the last 6 months or so and will continue to do so once that whole Presidential election thing is over.

Until then I urge you all to do two things: First, HAVE FUN! And...

If you're in the states do as the nice lady says on November 6th.

28mm SS from Warlord Games

The new 28mm WW2 Mini's Game from
Osprey Publishing and Warlord Games

So, Bolt Action officially launched Monday (I think) and I finally got my copy of the book yesterday. Needless to say, I'm pretty jazzed and like what I've read so far. It also got me motivated to finish those SS troops I post up earlier in the week.

These figures come from the Warlord Games Waffen-SS box set and will be the veterans in the German army I'm building. Why did I go for Waffen-SS? Because I'm painting Fallschirm's for my mid-war flames army, I have no plans on doing a 15mm SS army and because they get the coolest toys and the best looking camo, in my humble opinion.

Fantastic Movie about the Hurtgen Forrest

After some research I decided to have them be fall based (think post-Market Garden, just around the time of the Hurtgen Forrest) which mean a brown oak leaf camo scheme, although I may do some in green as well in future batches. And honestly, I think they turned out pretty well.

The one thing I'd change from the paint job right now is the pants. I think I'm going to keep them field grey throughout the rest of what I paint. It may not (or may) be strictly accurate, but in terms of breaking up the model, I think it will help.

One of my original complaints about the Warlord Games models, that the faces look cartoony, turns out to be a bit over blown (I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong!). It all comes down to how you paint them, and even the more stoic faces turned out pretty nicely in end.

I've clearly got some more work to do on my eyes, but after being away from the larger scale for awhile I think they've turned out OK. Overall, I'm quite happy with both the quality of the models and my final product.

As always, I'm looking for ways to get better, so let me know what you think!

Here's the pics!

Bolt... Action? Yep!

The faces on the models kind of look like that.
Wacky right?

Well hello there dear readers! Man I have been sick the last couple of days. Bad for work, but good for you! I got a solid start on some Bolt Action figures I picked up a dropzone games (a fabulous store you should try and get to if you're ever in the DC/Baltimore area).

But! You say "Bolt Action Throck? I thought this was a flames of war site!?" To which I heartily respond "Look to your right good sir! See that blog description? We are primarily Flames but other stuff too!"

Why Bolt Action? Because I like World War 2, the look of the uniforms, the scope of history, the amazing stories. And it's new and shiny. And who doesn't like that?

If you don't know what bolt action is, well, it's a 28mm World War 2 miniatures game. It's published jointly by Warlord Games (who'll make the mini's) and the venerable historical publishing house, Osprey Publishing. Intriguingly, there was a whole line of mini's from Warlord before there was ever even a rule set, in other words, we can buy all we want without the wait! Score!

For those of us chomping a bit more at the... crap... bit. Head on over to BoltAction.Net to check out the WWPD guys take on the game it is, as always, quality. Either way, I was inspired by what I had read and seen to start collecting a couple of small forces. In this case, I'm going to do US Rangers (I'm told they lead the way or... something) and Waffen SS (cause every good guy needs an excellently dressed bad guy to kill).

NOVA Open Recap, Thursday

Wrong year, but I needed a logo....

(First a note: 10,000 page visits in 3 months! WEWT! My deepest thanks to everyone who has been reading and let's shoot 10,000 more by December! ~Throck)

Well hey all. So the next couple of posts are going to cover NOVA open, first here is going to be the pre Late War tourney stuff. Today is just going to be Thursday, because, it turns out I took a TON of pics, which is directly proportionate to how much much the weekend was.

And wow, was fun had. I got the chance to hand out and drink heavily with the illustrious Steven of WWPD fame, Scott our tourney organizer and owner of the Itty Bitty Soldiers Blog and Tom of WWPD and Building a Better Wargame. And I must tell you, shenanigans were had.

Let's just say that ain't just diet Coke. Also, props to Steven
on the MacGyver stir stick. 

First I give you a word: 
Vagilyons (vag-eye-lons)
That's for you Scott.

Nuff Said



Second, after the break, I give you Photo dump of an Early War game played by Tom and Steven with Steven playing the Russians out of Wargaming Monthly and Tom playing Polish Cavalry and Train!

Historicon Part 1

Stolen from the website.

Well, my internet has been down since Thursday so I do apologize for the loss of Throckie goodness these past few days. But boy howdy let me tell you they've not been without excitement. This weekend I got the opportunity to go to Historicon 2012. And what a blast it was!

This was my first ever historically focused con and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I have to say, the commitment folks in the historical gaming is truly impressive. My FLGS guys, Eagle and Empire, got their hands on the Wargaming Monthly siege of Sevastopol board which is simply beautiful along with running a simply HUGE Charge of the Light Brigade scenario, I think the board was over 18 feet long and a mega sized flames of war game. By which I mean the miniatures were simply huge.

Last, but most certainly not least, the FOW mid-war tournament! I've got tons of pics below on that as well as everything else I spied while I was there.

Of special note, I got to meet some of the WWPD crew! Steve, Luke and Jon are honestly a great group of guys and I highly recommend their blog and for all your Flames of War needs, well those needs I don't meet anyways :)

But you're really here for the pics and here they are!

WELCOME TO HISTORICON 2012

No seriously, welcome