1500 US Rifle Coy

Very close to being done now. The staff team for the howitzers is missing, the command team for the pioneers need some basing and a few jeeps has to be painted up too.
So I just had to unpack and take a picture of them together.

1500 points

When those things are done, it is time to give my Flesh Tearers some love.

FJ vs American RP - 1500p FFA

In the weekend me and Lasse got together to have a game of FoW, 1500 points, Free for all.
He had gotten some new terrain features since last time; a city piece with five buildings and some wooden areas. He also had a lake piece coming up but it was in the drying state. Good that at least one of us is building some terrain.


The board of the day looked something like this.

The Americans brought the following
1 x HQ with 2 bazookas
2 x Full rifle platoons (Command, bazooka and nine teams )
1 x Weapons platoon (Four LMG and three mortars)
1 x Towed Anti Tank Platoon (Command, three jeeps, four 3" guns, four bazookas)
1 x A&P platoon (Command, four teams and two bazookas)
1 x 5 Stuarts
1 x Artillery platoon (Command, observer, staff team and four 105mm howitzers)
1 x AOP


The Germans brought something like this (from the top of my head).
1 x HQ
3 x FJ with panzer faust or panzer schreck
1 x Four heavy mortars
1 x Two Tigers
1 x Stukas air support


I placed my AT guns and 60mm mortars in the middle and the arty in the right hand corner. On the left flank I put one rifle platoon and the Stuarts, for the left flank I put the other rifle platoon and my pioneers. My plan was to lure the Tigers over to the left flank with my little Stuarts and then zip over with the on the other flank to support a thrust on the objective. Unfortunately everything did not go as planned.

3" guns looking for targets

My Stuarts pushed forward but did not even manage to pin the FJ-platoon in place. At the same time, his air support whittled down my howitzers so I was not able to reliably hit anything with them during the game (when they were allowed to shoot from not being pinned).
My 60mm mortars lost their command, while being out of range for anything, so my 2IC had to run over to appoint them a new commander.

Howitzers, ready for some more punishment

After a few turns, the Stuarts had been relocated to the right flank and were supposed to push forward to nail his mortars but a combined strike from the Stukas and a few shots from the Tigers (big mistake in looking at the fire lanes from me) they were left as burning wrecks.

Successful air strike

  In the end, I did a bum rush for the objective on the right flank which left me with just the A&P platoon left but the Germans lost their FJ platoon on that side as well. Since it was getting late and we were running out of beer we shook hands and called it a draw. Another joyful game!
In a bit of retrospect, we should probably not play Free-For-All with two infantry forces, it makes for quite a drawn out game of no one wanting to really get out of their fox holes. Next time, we will probably try something new.

US Rifle Company part one done

I have been out of the country for most part of September, so there has not been much time to spend on the minis. Giving the marines a little rest for now and giving the US Rifle Company some attention instead.
Everything (except staff, observer, jeep) for my US Rifle Company is ready for the table.

The Rifle Company so far

Command

Platoon one

Platoon two

Weapons Platoon with some  minor variations on the bases.

105 mm Field Artillery

On the 14th I have a battle evening planned, I hope it will be good. Going to order the other half of my company and with some luck it arrives before the 14th and I will be able to field some tanks as well. Not painted but it will be better then nothing.

On the table - August 2011

Next up on my table for some care are two 10 man JP assaulters and my Vanguard Veterans. I have been eye balling the Space Wolf sprues for some time and in my last order I got a box of them. They have some pelts, runes and teeth and I think most of this can be made to fit in to the theme of Flesh Tearers (killing tigers with their bare hands or something). With some green stuff and a file I guess the most blatant evidence of wolfyness can be erased.


First up is my Vanguard.

BP/Chain sword, Power weapon/BP and Lightning claw/Storm shield

Thunder hammer and Lightning claw/Bolt pistol

I think I will have to do something about the storm shield, maybe file it down and add some more fleshy items?

The first ten man jump squad, minus the sarge who is almost done and not in the picture. Two arm less melta gunners are in the picture too.

US 105mm Artillery - Part 2

Two months to almost finish the guns, not bad for being me.
Been a busy summer, trying to fix up some parts of the house. With no vacation, working full time at my usual work and then having our small side business picking up some customers as well the little plastic/metal soldiers haven't gotten the attention I was hoping for.


The four guns are painted, varnished and based (a few straws of grass and some other basing material left) so for the full battery, I will have to paint the command, observer and a jeep.

I was fixing up some marines with some green stuff and got a piece left over, so I tried to model some sand bags for one of the snipers.

US 105mm Artillery - Part 1

The FoW-bug has bitten me again so yesterday I primed the rest of my infantry and the guns and bases for my 105mm artillery. Working with the airbrush is a joy, makes priming so easy. With the new work room in place, the work gets even easier. To improve my air brush experience I need to build a small stand for the air brushes though, at the moment I have to fiddle around a bit when I refill paint and so on.

Additions to my US Rifle Company

105 mm howitzer has gotten some paint

As always, when the minis has been primed the mold lines that I missed show up. Guess the old file has to work a bit again.

Basing my US Rifle Company - Part 2

The basing material has finally arrived and I have started to base my Rifle Company. Part one can be found here: Basing my US Rifle Company - Part 1


I started out by mixing up green and brown turf. This is the mix that major of the bases will have, the two base shades will be used to break up the pattern a bit.


Pu the base that will get some nice greenery on a piece of paper, this will let you bring up the turf that is not sticking to the base. To stick the turf to the bases, I use PVA/water about 50:50 and I put it on the base with a good old brush and then just sprinkle some turf on it. I let it dry for a bit and then shake the excess off.

Repeat this for the different shades that are going to be used.

When the turf is done, I put some static grass in a few spots. I tried a small sift but it was more difficult and did not produce the result I was looking for. Instead I just stick some grass on to a glue spot and shake it off, holding the base up-side-down to have the grass stand a little bit (at least I imagine it will help).

After this, I go for the foliage in two different shades. To put it on the bases, I use a pair of tweezers, grab the flock, dab in a bit of PVA (not watered down) and then stick it to the base. It might need a little press and squeeze here and there to come out the way you want it.

Final step for these bases is the grass tufts. 

A note on the grass: I bought some "Field Grass" from Woodland Scenics but I am not that happy with it. Very hard to handle since it comes in individual straws and 15mm scale is not very big. Next time I order some miniatures I will try out Silfor's grass tufts (or similar from some other brand) since they seem to be easier to handle: just some glue and stick it to the base. The WS-stuff takes a lot more time, cutting, shaping and so on. If anyone has any ideas to make it look good, please stick a comment below.