Progress on the table: 19th Century Brits, Mahdists and Bolt-action,also some terrain all happening simultaneously!

Victoria's Little wars: 

Brits in the Sudan, and Bolt Action. Strange bed-fellows

On my painting/modelling table at the moment:

Perry's Sudanese Mahdist Ansar warriors

Squaring up to the British colonial troops. The Ansar are mostly done now, bar basing and highlights

While the brits have only had under coat, base coat and flesh base done

"Here they come, lads!: Let 'em have it!"

"Bismillah! Alah-u Akbar!"

Production line in action

Different historical periods mingling in friendly fashion whilst drying

...or less friendly fashion. Salah- al Din being unhorsed (and de-handed ? ) 

by Viking Hirdmen with greataxes

 

Does anyone else ever imagine the conversation going down?

(For Gottz zake, Hans! Go play viz your flamezrover somevere else! Can you not zee zat det Hauptmann is plannink ze next attack? )

Und how vood ve get zere? Der Hanomag is ztill being painted! And it has kein Ketten!

I say, old Chap! Coming along nicely, what? Spiffing! 

 Terrain for Bolt Action: 

Having been mildly embarrassed with my lack of suitable terrain for modern , well 1940s, gaming in 28mm, I immediately sallied forth to rectify the situation

 I quickly dug out my (now) obsolete 40K terrain, and fantasy terrain, and rapidly brought these into the 20th century. A couple of EWAR french houses and shops, some 20mm railway layout bits and a few pot-scourers, and away we go...the makings of a semi-ruined French village!

In this snap it looks MOSTLY ruined

But the bus-service is still running... Picked up some great pre-painted Corgi and Solido civilian period vehicles in approximately the right scale off Trade Me. 

At the best of times I find it a bit of an issue with Warlord's figures being at 1/48 and their vehicles at 1/56 ! So these little buses are 1/50. Close enough, I think 

While the Corgi US Command vehicle at 1/43 may just be a tad to big. 

Half-painted Heer stopping in for Gipfel und Kaffee (Coffee and Croissants) at the Patisserie 

 

Take a bit of old fantasy stuff, paint the floors, weather a bt

some EWAR stuff and scratch-built stuff, a HO/OO train platform...

40K, Mordheim, LOTR and EWAR bits coming together to form a ruined village and Eglise. Well, almost more like Monte Cassino, or the Vatican, by the time I was finished!

Now for some roads, of course, both tarred and un-sealed:

Out comes the crack filler. In-between we put in a bit of work on the Sudan.

PVA wood glue and sand

Dry overnight, paint and Voila!

 Within a day or two we have roads, the Germans have retreated to the other side of town, 

Or have they?

Opel blitz trucks are seen parked outside the ruined farm-house, as is a German staff-car

These Blitz trucks are the elongated version.

Some advance cautiously 

While the bazooka team

and sniper team move into position

The French doctor sighs. The ambulance will again be needed. 

All to soon...

...while back on the work bench a PzIV and a Hanomag are taking shape. 

Typical German engineering. Taking forever.

First taste of Bolt Action

First Bolt Action Action

Scott Bowman comes around for a demo game of Bolt Action. Have been watching from the side-lines with some interest, but resisting the urge. World war 2 gaming has always been my thing. I do enjoy FoW; but find the rules excessively fiddly, and they tend to get into the way of the flow of play. In my opinion anyway.

Having recently had a flood in my mancave following a burst water heating cylinder upstairs, it was a delight to get some gaming action in at long last. Started out with a number of games of fantasy Ninth Age with Macrae Louden, and then Scott came around with some late war Normandy action.

Bolt action can be played with a relatively small outlay by the looks of things, and not requiring a huge amount of space like massed army games do, as it appears to be a squad or company sized game, with some armour support.

Anyhow a simple game of king of the hill or find and retrieve ensued.

I enjoyed the randomness of the turns, drawing from a pool of activation dice rather than the usual You-go-I-go. Totally hooked. What can I say? Just take my money!
 This game really offers a lot of what I enjoy in wargaming.

Quick, fast-paced, fun, egalitarian, not too many fiddly rules, WYSWYG. Great for a few hours of gaming fun. Serious or not so serious.

Being a greenhorn at this I am not going to do a batrep, just share a few snaps of Scott's beautifully painted models

 

Puma brews up

So off we go, and back we come with the starter set under the arm. Enough for a small skirmish.

Abbreviated rules for quick reference

Easy to assemble models, in a variety of poses and choice of weapons

Now available from Paraparaumu Beach Pharmacy 

the ONLY hobby outlet on the Kapiti Coast

(I went back for the Panzer IV F/G/H model yesterday)

Scott can also source many other figures and stock an extensive range of modelling tools and paint for us enthusiasts. He was able to get me these British Colonial troops (Perry Miniatures) for the Sudan and Afghan campaigns of the late 18th century.

 If you don't look too close, and paint them with red jackets they will probably do for the Boer and Zulu wars, and Indian campaigns too. 

Likewise the Mahdist Ansar, who will double as Muslim warriors for my Saga Crusades

In case you were wondering what the unusual looking squat figures were, they are fantasy brock-riders. Dwarfs who ride badgers, from the Mantic range.