Painting Challenge Week 10 Submissions

A couple of entries this week, and first up is a native Canoe being portaged - I will be using this as a movable deployment marker in Sharp Practice 2, but have left the canoe separate so I can instead add a ladder or other ancillary equipment instead if required.

9 villagers of various ages - some lovely poses from aged woman and girl holding hands, Woman milling corn, swaddled infants and those quietly smoking pipes.  They will inhabit the longhouse and village that I have planned (for after AHPC finishes).

Figures sponsored by Marlboro!  

This AHPC entry is here: From Paul OG: Indian Canoe and Villagers (60 Points)

And now my most important figure of the challenge; the Curtgeld.

This 28mm Landsknecht is busy redistributing goods from undeserving locals to obviously far more deserving liberators.  This is one half of a two man chest lifting team, and Reilly is painting the other guy to complete this small family submission to the larger team Oz effort.

My first Landsknecht and while it as fun to break out all the colours, I'm glad I'm not doing a whole amy of them! He is sporting a dapper ginger beard as a permanent reminder of who painted him :-)

You'll see some more Landsknechts at the AHPC blog in the coming weeks as the team contribution comes together and is communally based.  This entry is here: 
From Paul O'G: Looting Landsknecht Curtgeld (27 Points)

These contributions push me past my initial target of 850 points-  I am on track to crack 1000 for a new personal best. Only 3 weeks to go!

AHPC VII 'West' Bonus Round: Centurion Alanus

Presenting Centurion Alanus, Defender of Western Civilisation, Britannia, 1st Century AD.

This is a special edition Warlord model which was came with the pre-order of Hail Caesar, back in July 2011.  I traded the rulebook long ago, but kept the model because I think its a great sculpt- I just didn't have an Army for him to lead!  

I am really happy with how he came out, and think the skin tones and colour contrasts look much better in real life.

A little present for the Dux, complete with his initials emblazoned on the shield: enjoy mate :-) 

You can see this entry at the AHPC blog here:
https://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/west-from-paulog-centurian-alanus.html

Painting Challenge Week 9 Submissions

This week saw me complete another dozen Woodland Indians for our FIW campaign.  Alan routinely fields two dozen of these bloodthirsty braves in our Sharp Practice games and seeing them bear down on my loyal Colonials gives them the heebie jeebies - hopefully my having a reciprocal amount will give his French equal pause!

These are really lovely sculpts by Bob Murch from the Flint and Feather range, aimed at early contact/pre-contact period, thus the myriad of traditional weapons.  Again I spent a bit of time on authentic warpaint as I think it really makes them look savage!

To command my 2 units of Native Allies I have added a Sachem leader and I really like his commanding pose.  This is another figure from the Flint and Feather range. 

Next up, this beast is the M8 Grizzly Assault Walker from Warlord's Konflikt 47 range.  As this Allied walker is fielded by both US and British forces, I have pained it in the colours and insignia of a British Armoured Division and added a British tank crewman; so now it can support my British paratroopers when I want to weird them up a bit!  I really like this sculpt and had a lot of fun painting it, but putting it together was rather a pain and it required a lot of cleaning up and some parts needed work to bend them back into shape.  Regardless, I'm happy with the overall outcome.

The Grizzly is quite a sizeable beast and dominates the tabletop. Accordingly, I wanted something imposing for the base and agonised over that for awhile.  I've tried to convey it smashing through a small forest and crushing everything in its path, both natural and manmade obstacles with the barbed wire.

A panzergrenadier's view - rather imposing!

Added to my Russian Spider Mechs from the Armour Bonus Round, this makes three Weird War walkers I’ve completed during this challenge – time to order some more!

This entry is at the AHPC blog here: https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/from-paulog-even-more-indians-and.html

These submissions netted me 85 points, pushing me almost to the 800 point mark with a pleasingly consistent productivity line:

And just because Miles hasn't done this spreadsheet analysis yet (actually he probably has but just hasn't advertised it), here is what my average points per week look like over AHPC.  Soon to dip as some work travel takes a bite out of my time:

And so I have now officially upped my AHPC VII target to 1000 points - this will be a personal best for me and I will an attempt to avoid "abject failure in all aspects of life" as infamously decreed by the Dux last year before the challenge started...

Click here if you missed it...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxd3rhwHuBthSE5Yc3JMaHRub2M/view

Bolt Action vs Chain of Command

My posts last year about moving on from 1st edition Bolt Action (BA) brought forth some interesting commentary about different rules sets.  I thought I'd indulge myself with a post to answer them.

Disclaimer: Everyone has their own opinion, and none are more valid than any other.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so whatever you play just have Fun! There is no "one rules system to rule them all"

Bolt Action: for me this is a fun and cinematic, Hollywood-esque style of game.  If you want to play Commando/Battle Comics (with appropriate quotes such as "Gott und Himmel, these Englanders fight like madmen!") then you'll have a lot of fun with these.  Chances are that you can easily find an opponent and there are lots of tourney opportunities if thats your thing.  The new(ish) 2nd edition rules iron out a few of the loopholes which were exploitable and introduce the ability of officers to activate more than one subordinate unit in a coordinated fashion - that can quite change game play and makes Officers far more valuable (and thus juicy sniper targets too!).

Pros: Large community, tight rules sets, relatively quick play, easy to learn (Reilly beat me in his first game!), and quite expandable (we have played 3 v 3 and 2 v 2 games with minimal changes)

Cons: Several abstractions (to make the game quick and tourney friendly) which can be frustrating, lots of extra rulebooks to buy (not that you need them), no historical organisations mandated (you can use them, like I do, but that wont be optimising you effectiveness)

Personal Note: BA allows player to build units from scratch to their hearts desire, regardless of historical ORBATs.  Personally, I like to use historical section/squad organisation to retain the right feel.

Chain of Command: I also very much like these rules from Too Fat Lardies.  They are in my opinion a much better tactical game, and sometimes just trying to overcome your situation is the most satisfying challenge to overcome.  It also has a great scouting phase at the start of the game to establish the front line and deployment areas, which is really interesting.  C2 really impacts the game in a really interesting way and delivers lots of flavour.  However, as a result I think they suffer from less balance (which is, ultimately, historical right?!)

Pros: more depth/historical feel, historical organisation (well, its a pro for me anyway), good campaign system, lots of nice cheap Campaign supplements available.

Cons: less balance, smaller community, longer play time, rulebook less well laid out and difficult to read/comprehend IMHO

I quite like Anatoli's detailed review here: http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/chain-of-command-rules-review.html

Conclusion: There are many other rules sets out there at the WW2 Platoon level, and each has their champion player or gaming group.  Please see my disclaimer at the start; as long as you and your friends are having fun then all power to you!

For me both BA and CoC are good games for different reasons - I recommend both and will keep playing them both.  However, I find that BA is a much easier game to pickup again quickly after an absence, while CoC is more difficult to do that with.