Early this year, I sold off a chunk of my Soviet Bolt Action army. I didn't play the game often and when I did, I didn't play it well. Then Jason Meyers (of the Der Feldmarschall blog) started running quarterly Bolt Action events. His superb events and the great players who turn up for them have lit a fire. I recently finished a Trenchworx T-28, White Scout car, and a twin turreted T-26. Every one was a superb model so bravo, Trenchworx! Bonus, I'm finally getting the hang of my Badger airbrush. I also painted up Warlord Games Scouts and Engineers because...why not?
My Soviets have been in heavy rotation since summer. I've used them in What a Tanker, 2 Chain of Command campaigns and 3 Bolt Action tournaments. In the tournaments, I landed Best Overall General, Best Painted, and Best Allied General. Enough bragging. I'll finish with a few pictures from my Bolt Action games.
After finishing the Chain of Command campaign "Storming the Citadel" (Kursk) my buddy asked if I was interested in the Part 2 campaign continuation. CoC is a great game and their campaigns make the game shine more brilliantly. There was the time my Soviet flamethrower popped an ambush on a Tiger tank to break Grossdeutschland's platoon force morale and save the day. Or the prolonged duel between my dug in ZiS-3 and another Tiger tank. So many Tigers at Kursk and yes, some were burning. So, of course, I said yes to part 2, "Citadel, the Breakthrough."
I ordered the Warlord Games T-34/76 platoon and hustled them through my painting queue along with a Warlord Games resin KV-2. At the finish line, not bad! I can't wait to run 4 T-34s in a 28mm game. I'm sure getting the right command dice will be a struggle but still...
In October, I've got a Bolt Action 1,250 point event. It's just the excuse I need to put my newly painted KV-2 out on the table!
Thanks to a persistent bout of bursitis, my hours at the painting table are way down this year. Lemons to lemonade, this is a good thing as I now pay attention to how long I sit and avoid it as much as possible. I've got a standing desk at work and another to replace my painting table. Being an "iron ass" and sitting for 6-8 hours in a stretch is not good for me, no matter how much I enjoy painting.
This project is a bit of a lark. When I saw the new Anglo-Saxon battle board for Saga, I realized an all levy warband could work. I went to Footsore and picked out 48 shield & spear levy along with 24 archers. Along with great sculpts, Footsore offers a massive variety of poses and figures. You can pick through this rabble and only occasionally find doubles. It's another reason why Footsore is my fav!
Most of these lads were painted with inks and washes over zenithal priming. I added a white drybrush over the zenithal to make my highlights pop. It is a speedy but nice effect and finished with the standard Foundry flesh 5A, B and C highlights. I mixed custom washes and inks to get more variety in this band.
The King is by Crusader Miniatures and from their El Cid line. I've had him for years and realized it might be clever to have a King leading an army made up of only farmers. All in all, I'm happy to now have a 2nd Age of Viking warband and they're quite fun to play!
Today I want to share my two favorite Saga shows. Whether you're just starting out or you've been playing SAGA for years, you'll learn loads from both of these.
Joe Rogers produces and hosts Saga Thorsday, a weekly Youtube show of all things Saga. Joe has a great wit and a deep love & knowledge of the game. He brings in a new guest each week to talk about the boards and game. You'll learn quite a lot by listening to how other people play the game. Check it out and subscribe! Shameless plug, I'm the guest for this week's show about the Welsh.
Joe, Jim and Chris produce the superb Northern Tempest podcast. You can access the shows via their FaceBook page here or the archives here. These lads are passionate about the game and very active in UK Saga community. I keep these queued up for my painting sessions and car trips. While listening to their show on my long drive back from the US Grand Melee, they persuaded me to paint and play Vikings for a time. Well done!
Both Northern Tempest and Saga Thorsday are great inspiration for planning and painting your warbands. And playing the game too. Check them out!
To wrap up, here's my current Saga project. 72 Anglo Saxon levy in the zenithal highlight phase. Now to put some paint on them.
Great Escape Games keeps DMH fresh with a steady stream of new figures, gangs and color items. First up is the Tong Gang. If you're a fan of the HBO series Deadwood, you'll recognize the fellow with the meat cleaver as Wu. Sometimes after a bad day at work, I too shake my fist and meat cleaver at the heavens. I had a bit of fun mixing up my blacks with green, blue and grey tints.
More Zombie denizens for the Curse of Dead Man's Hand. A bit gruesome and colorful!
The Count and his motley gang. Here's hoping they're as fun to play as they were to paint.
Lastly, a hodgepodge of color items for the game. Rest easy, I sourced the snake colorings (other than the anaconda) to the American West. Today's post shows why painting for Dead Man's Hand remains one of my favorite subjects 3 years on. Where else do you get to paint snakes, zombies, horses, zombie cattle, Dracula and Wu too?
Fellow blogger Jason Meyers aka Der Feldmarschal is running a sharp looking Bolt Action event this weekend. This set a fire under me to finish my Rubicon T-34/76. I had trouble with my airbrush splattering on my last highlight. To cover it up, I had to go over everything a 2nd time and wiped out my panel highlights. Ah well.
I put my 1000 point Soviet force out on my battle board for pictures. Now I need to read the rules a time or two and I'll be set for the big game day.
In other East Front action, my friend Hugh and I fired up a Chain of Command Citadel campaign. We finished the 1st campaign representing Gross Deutschland's attack at Kursk with his German's nudging out a minor victory over my Soviets. The scenarios featured the early German attempts at a breakout. The Germans fielded a Tiger tank in 3 of the games and it was a monster! In one, I stopped it only by popping an ambush with a flamethrower at short range. The Tiger panicked and withdrew. In another, my ZiS-3 and the Tiger traded shot after shot. The Tiger wised up and moved out of sight behind a building. My crew manhandled the gun forward until they could take a shot at the beast. And brewed it up. Epic! I was too engrossed in our games to get many pics but here is the showdown between the ZiS-3 and the Tiger.
We're going to start Part 2 of the campaign. After fighting Round 1 with no tanks, I'll be painting 3 T-34s for a scenario where I can field up to 4 of them. Should be great fun and I hope to report back "The Tigers are Burning!"
Campaigns are the best. I love the color, narrative, and story they bring. TooFatLardies always does a great job with their supplements. I had only one platoon to see me through my first 5 engagements. I had to play conservatively to keep my force intact and that after all is the whole point of a campaign. Bonus, this gave me the impetus to paint up a platoon of Black Tree Design Soviets to replace my Warlord plastics.
