Category: Flames Of War

Flames of War has been put away and I’m focusing on finishing the VC BP Grave Guard. Some light painting last night (after painting skirting boards for most of the evening!). Getting GG and GG standard bearer up to ink-wash stage. Have also stripped other two GG back as they were early experimental paint jobs.

Speaking of experiments first FOW basing experiment with just sand was a disaster. Will definitely need some compound to build up the base around the figures more before applying a mix of sand and model rail-way ballast for a range of fine grains. Maybe throw in a handful of kitty litter for one or two large boulders. Will have to strip back 2 man Boyes team but that’s not a biggie. Still experimenting with painting + basing for FOW after all. Vehicle painting think I’ll prime with GW white and then basic Desert Yellow Tamiya spray paint. Ink wash and drybrushing followed by details.

The Grave Guard musician is creeping towards completion. He just needs to be based and varnished. I seem to have really slowed down on painting these guys for some reason. Hope to have the Champion painted by this weekend as well. Then it’s the Standard Bearer and I’ll have a front rank!

After reading from various sources I’ve finally figured out a reasonable colour scheme for my FOW North African New Zealand Rifle Company. Khaki helmet and uniform, faded white webbing (apparently the NZers were ordered to regularly scrub their webbing to keep it clean), brown boots (meant to be polished black of course but in the desert boots were invariably dusty and scuffed). The only question left is socks as their uniform left a lot of sock exposed above the boot. Think I’ll just do a slightly greenish khaki for them. It’s a real bugger that all the archival photographs and black and white! In the desert NZers had access to Stuart ‘Honey’ light tanks (up to 15 of them at one point) as well as quite a few Universal Carriers so that fits in nicely. There’s also some photographic evidence they had Mk II Humber armored cars at one point so I’ll chuck in a few of them to bolster a Universal Carrier Recce unit I think. So my 1500pts FOW force will be

Infantry:

1 18th Battalion Company HQ (Company HQ) @ 40 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [40] Pts
1 1st Rifle Platoon (Rifle Platoon) @ 180 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [60] Pts
3 Rifle Squad @ [120] Pts
1 2nd Rifle Platoon (Rifle Platoon) @ 180 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [60] Pts
3 Rifle Squad @ [120] Pts
1 3rd Rifle Platoon (Rifle Platoon) @ 180 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [60] Pts
3 Rifle Squad @ [120] Pts

Recce:

1 Carrier Platoon @ 145 Pts
5 Recon Carrier @ [145] Pts
1 Armoured Car Platoon @ 70 Pts
2 Humber Mk I, II or III @ [70] Pts

Anti-Tank:

1 Anti-tank Platoon @ 150 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [30] Pts
1 Universal Carrier @ [10] Pts
3 6-pdr Portee @ [120] Pts
1 Towed Anti-tank Platoon @ 160 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [30] Pts
1 Universal Carrier @ [10] Pts
2 17/25-pdr @ [130] Pts
2 Quad Gun Tractor @ [10] Pts

Artillery Support:

1 4ht NZA 1st Battery (Towed Artillery Battery) @ 275 Pts
1 HQ Section @ [35] Pts
2 15cwt Truck @ [10] Pts
1 Observer Team @ [20] Pts
1 White Scout Car @ [10] Pts
4 25-pdr @ [220] Pts
4 Quad and Limber @ [20] Pts

Armored Support:

1 NZ Div Cav (Armoured Platoon) @ 120 Pts
3 Honey @ [120] Pts

It’s a pretty ‘light’ company but is fairly historically accurate and has a fairly good anti-tank component hopefully. There’s no real anti-aircraft nor air support but again that’s historically accurate. I’m really looking forward to busting out the green stuff and sculpting all kinds of stowage on those Universal Carriers as well. In terms of painting I’ve almost got a two man Boyes team (from a Rifle platoon) painted and ready to experiment with basing.

Played a couple of quick games of Border Patrol with Griff last night. The VC aren’t completely painted but they’re bloody close and looked pretty nice on the table imho. I won the first game by capitulation after scaring off the Knights and Griff won the second by annihilation after he killed the Necromancer in melee. Rules shennanigans weren’t too bad although I must remember that the Undead can’t March unless the General is nearby. The ‘Turn Summary Appendix’ at the back of the WHFB rule book references the appropriate page numbers in the main rules which makes it very easy to play from just the appendix. I wish the 40k rules did something similar.

Things I learned:

1) The Necromancer does NOT want to be attached to units. He’s much harder to catch on his own. Plus the Challenges system really disadvantages weak characters.

2) Remains in play spells are mutually exclusive from normal spells. An important point for Wizards!

3) Skeletons win by numerical superiority. Grave Guard win by being tough bastards although Knights are tougher! Skeletons were good against Knights, Grave Guard were good against everybody else.

4) Visibility is a big factor. Skirmishers and Flyers are good because of their 360 degree visibility.

This weekend I also picked up a copy of ‘Kiwi Armour No. 3. 2nd NZ Divisional Cavalry in the Mediterranean’ from Historic Games as they had some in store. Saves me from ordering it from the publisher. Started painting some of the HQ and Rifle company FOW bases. Bad! Must finish the Grave Guard first dammit! Also painted the entrance hallway with two coats of ceiling paint. Looks vastly better. Bit more patching and sanding to do and it’s onto the walls.

+2 Zombies. VC Border Patrol is 86% complete. Only SIX figures to go! I can probably get another two Zombies finished before Sunday night which will take me over 90%. Also wandered down to Historic Games last night (I love autumn weather for a good walk) and picked up British 8th Army HQ, 8th Army Rifle Platoon and 6pdr Portee blisters. Thinking of putting together a FOW force based on a NZ Rifle Company with some armored support from NZ Divisional Cavalry. The Battlefront 15mm figures are quite nicely detailed considering the scale. Some of the individual figures have a lot of flash but with careful filing back they should look good. Reading a bit of light NZ military history about Freyberg and 2NZEF in the Middle East at the moment. Very interesting stuff. I didn’t realise NZ troops were so highly regarded..both by their allies and their opponents.