Loves Labours (hopefully not lost...!)

I picked up my copy of WARBAND from Pendraken last week and am looking at delving into Fantasy Wargaming on a Budget.

Having never done any fantasy wargaming before it is all a bit bewildering, but a change is as good as a rest as they say, and having been a fan of Pendraken's 10mm ranges I am sure it will be worth it.

2015 looks to be a big year of new things for me as I embark on my Paramedic studies for real, so an unusual diversion from my staple might just break up the monotony (and sheer panic) of reading, research and the very real prospect of being on the dole queue given the very simple pass/fail nature of the Paramedic Pathway.....

Budget and Target Date
I am also going to be doing this on a budget and have set myself a very modest amount of £150 in which to achieve the target of building four new armies by December this year, hence the title of the post.




Mr Clever's Plan
I have several ranges of Pendraken Miniatures which I think can readily proxy for certain elements of my chosen armies. I am already looking at my Saxon, Norman and Medieval ranges as becoming the backbone of a Dragon Men and Barbarian Human army. I've also got lots of Minibits MDF bases and Dice Frames kicking about which I am hoping will save me a few quid here or there.


Which Armies?
Army wise, I am looking at Dragon Men and/or Barbarian Human, Eldritch Vampire, Undead and Taurians. My first decision is do I take on two undead-ish armies, or do I drop either the Eldritch or Undead for Hill Dwarves or Goblins..... the jury is still out at this point.

Cunning Basing Plan
As Slackbladder once said:

All of my Saxons/Normans and Medieval figures are based for FoG/Warmaster and hence I'm not keen on re-basing as I still want to use them for those games.

My plan is to go for 80x40 bases probably using four 40x20 warmaster bases with the new armies so that they can become the base for Warmaster armies.....

Watch this space for progress
Although I expect progress to be slow alongside other wargaming distractions1

SCW Chain of Command in 10mm

SCW CoC cherry popped this morning.

Bando Nacionales facing off against Republican People's Militia with EPR Support.

A 6x3 table felt very big playing the Patrol Scenario, and initial deployment and the subsequent Patrol Phase saw the action take place over less than half the table's width.

The Nationalists got the better of the Patrol phase pushing two of the three Jump Off points back onto the table edge in open terrain. All three Nationalist Jump Offs were in decent cover allowing them to press forward and pin the Republicans into one corner of the table with only light cover available such as hedge-lines and cornfields.

Several phases in and Republicans trapped on the baseline

By the end of the first phase all of the Nacionales were deployed on the table and began making progress towards the republican start line.

In the first four phases only a single Republican Militia section managed to be deployed. The flip side to this lack of expediency was that they were able to rack up no fewer than 11 Chain of Command Points!

Under the Command of a Senior Leader Sargento, the Nacionales in the ruined farmhouse wreaked havoc with the Militia Section trying to forces it's way through the fields. The militia section was severely depleted however a COC dice was used to end the run removing all pin markers which saved the Militia from routing.

Nacionales in the ruined farmhouse

Nacionales in the vineyard - threatening two enemy Jump off markers
This section also forced the second Militia Section to break, leaving
the Jump Off's unprotected

People's Militia, Already depleted from fire from the farmhouse, regroup
for a second attempt to move forward.

The EPR arrive just in time to sweep through the remnants of the
Militia unit (in the background)
Out of shot Nacionales threaten this units position from the left flank.

The Republican Militia on the right flank are forced back by the Nacionales and despite an effort from the Jefe and Army Advisor, rout in disarray to Leave the EPR unsupported.

The game ended shortly after this point when the Republicans rolled four 6's, ending the turn and losing both Militia Units and the Jefe who was attached to the smaller of the two units. To add insult to injury, the random event generated by the four 6's saw a mortar barrage land right on top of route of retreat causing even more Republican Misery!

Bando Nacionale and People's Militia

A few pics of the finished Bando Nacionale and a People's Militia Flag Bearer

Workers Militia and Civil Guard - SCW CoC project

More progress made on my SCW CoC project

Spanish Civil War

A lazy Sunday afternoons work. The Republicans started for my 10mm SCW Chain of Command Project

An EPR Section and a solitary 'Workers' Militia (although I think I may have the colours the wrong way around on his sidecap...)

Somewhere in Northern France

My new US 28mm featured in their first outing 'Somewhere in Northern France' in a Bolt Action game.

Due to time constraints, I chose a straightforward meeting engagement with balanced sides fighting for possession of a small rural hamlet somewhere behind the Normandy Beachhead.

Bolt Action lends itself to solo play - hence that set as a choice for this game rather than Chain of Command

The hamlet. Calm prior to the forthcoming storm

View from the US start line after Turn 1

View from the German lines after turn 1

Panzergrenadiers in support of the PzIV seek to probe the left flank

A Bazooka team and Sherman lay in wait

the medium mortar team is deployed to lay down suppressive fire on the US right flank

US infantry probe the village in force

The US force probes the right hand approach to the village in force

A .30cal MMG trades fire with the Panzergrenadiers. Honours just about even.

The US Infantry capture the cottage directly opposite the imposing Mairie's building

The German rright flank is heavily engaged and casualties mount.
The Mairie's building takes a pounding too.

The Bazooka team stalks the PzIV, scoring a glancing shot but at the
 cost of losing his loader who gets pumped full of hull MG lead. This act of bravery distracts
the tank allowing the Sherman to dash from cover to attack the PzIV....

Which misses!
The Ronson is now dangerously exposed.

Turn 4 and the German's pull out the first five action dice.
The Ronson goes up in flames, the .30 cal in the farmhouse takes heavy fire from
the supporting half track and the infantry in the Mairie

The US infantry attempting to outflank the Panzergrenadiers meet a hail of withering fire

US Forces edge toward the Mairie but a poor round of firing leaves them exposed 

with the Ronson 'dispatched' and the Bazzoka and .30 Cal team wasted,
the US right flank is wide open. the US infantry now have only their grenades to stem off an armoured assault 

the Panzer IV breaks cover and heads for the US rear

The Panzer IV brews up the halftrack

All in all a jolly decent game. The Americans very quickly reduced the Panzergrenadiers to a state of ineffectiveness reducing their numbers and lines of advance so that an Infantry assault became impractible.

Had the Sherman got lucky with his first (and only) shot, the game could have been much different.

Essentially the game petered out into a draw both sides having knocked the proverbial attacking stuffing out of each other.

The Germans had only a handful of infantry left, far too few to support the Panzer IV and the Americans, although still quite strong infantry wise, were dangerously exposed with no real anti-tank capacity with which to knock out the armoured threat.

Chain of Command US

I'm finally there with the basic force for CoC US Forces.

Still to do is a .50cal HMG and Crew, a third squad, some engineers and half a dozen BAR Gunners which i will need to field if I run a standard rather than mechanised infantry platoon.

The whole Mechanised Infantry Platoon

Platoon Command complete with Cheroot smoking plat sgt and medic

The Machine Gun Section

First Squad with half track transport