Batman Begins: Cargo ship completed

The MSV Ironsides build is complete!

Great value for money, it's 75cm long with 6 cargo containers, a radioactive material container and a couple of small box crates. 

Quality is very good parts were easy to pop out and there was only a little bit of filing on a couple of items to get a good fit. Parts are well planned and fix together for glueing without the need to clamp or deploy rubber bands. Build was a leisurely day and nights work.

Nice detail in the cabin.

The wheel turns and the lever and control panel detailing is nice.

Simple kit highly recommended, can be purchased from TT Combat here

Whilst I was building the cargo ship I busted out some lamp posts from Knight Models.

Quality of the cut on these was not as good (laser had not cut all the way through on some parts) and 2 were lost to wastage. They were however cheap and I got 6 out of 8 which is enough for BMG.

Batman Begins: ahoy there mateys!

Some WIP shots of TT Combats MSV Ironsides alongside the test dockside wall

Very nice kit.

Mr Messy is pleased.

Batman (Board) Begins

New project time, a three by three foot board for the Batman Miniatures Game (BMG). The board will also be used for Infinity, Marvel, Zombie Post Apoc, Moderns and any near future stuff.

The first board is going to be down the docks and for extra challenge is going to be laid out diagonally.

The centrepiece of the board will be the MSV Ironsides model by TT Combat. That will sit across the board in a rectangular dock. One side will probably have a stone wall the other will be faced with wood.

Rather than churning out area terrain to quickly get a game going this time the main aim is to take a little longer over the details so this is a test piece before starting on the real thing.

Paracadutisti Month 3 - Well, someone has to sell the ice-cream

Month 3 marks the start of everyone's second platoon, and also the halfway point for those of us looking to build a whole company (errr... hopefully that isn't just me). As we agreed at the beginning of the escalation league, starting a second platoon also means that you need an HQ, in addition to the compulsory two sections and a lieutenant.

Given that I don't want to change the composition of my veteran late-war Paracadutisti squads, and even opting for the cheapest non-inexperienced officer that I can (a regular Captain) in addition to a regular second lieutenant, that will still constitute... all of my points for this month. Not even enough left over to buy him a little Fiat 500 Militaire staff car, as so ably modelled below. Oh well, at least there are no agonising decisions to make this month.
 

If only Britney Spears had been wearing puttees and jodphurs during the infamous gussetgate incident...

Since list building this month was a complete no-brainer, you might expect that I'd anticipated the miniatures I was going to need and already finished painting them. And you would be wrong. Still, I made a start today by getting the miniatures cleaned up and onto their bases, and if the heavens don't open again I should be able to get them undercoated too.

The silver lining to the lack of options this month is that another 500 points at least gives me the opportunity to finish up a coherent platoon of Paracadutisti from the same range, and painted in the same camo. I changed both manufacturer and colour scheme halfway through my last platoon, so my force is looking like rather a mixed bunch at the moment. In particular, I moved away from using Battlefront's Flames of War Compagnia Paracadutist miniatures - most of whom are wearing shorts, and look far more suitable for Paracadutisti Folgore in North Africa than for fighting on home soil - for Eureka's excellent Paracadutisti who are clad in much bulkier gear, supplied by Fighting 15s. Once I've finished the miniatures for this month, I will at least be able to scrape together a full platoon of the latter.

With half an eye on Chain of Command, I'm also going to take the opportunity to work on some support units and squad options which I haven't chosen for Bolt Action but which I will likely require for CoCs more proscriptive list building. So into the painting queue go some LMGs, an MMG, and a medium mortar. I'm also casting around looking for things I can use to put together some diorama-style reconnaissance markers and jumping-off points (more on that later)...

More 15 in 2016

We may have run out of steam a little after month two (not in the least because Ed appears to have adopted the Fabian strategy that if he doesn't buy any miniatures, he can't technically lose a game) but it's now a new year full of new opportunities to miss painting deadlines.

At the very least I would like to use the next 500 points to round out a full Bolt Action platoon of Paracdutisti (with options) that we can then use in the newer, shinier and more Henry Hyde approved World War 2 games such as Chain of Command and Battlegroup which are already starting to turn heads in our gaming group - including mine.

Plus, it seems rather chulish to bring our Italian campaign to a close just before Warlord Games release their theatre specific book for the Mediterranean conflict, backed full of juicy new scenarios...

Duel in the Sun comes out on the 20th February - making the 25th a good deadline for 1,500 points.

Month 2 Redux

A second round of games was played month 2. Eurgh no comment from the 3rd.

	US Airborne	184th Italian	H.G. Division	Gebirgsjager	US 3rd Infantry
Win	3	3	2	1	0
Loss	0	1	2	3	3
Draw	0	0	0	0	0
Played	3	4	4	4	3
Points	9	9	6	3	0

Campaign

The HG Score a win over the 3rd Infantry to move up to 3rd place and the Italians defeat the Gebirgsjager.

Axis 3

Allies 5

Month 2: Blue on Blue

So the clanking of treads and rattle of machine guns have gone quiet and the dust has settled on month two of the Bolt Action escalation league.

Scores on the wars are..

	US Airborne	184th Italian	Gebirgsjager	H.G. Division	US 3rd Infantry
Win	3	2	1	1	0
Loss	0	1	2	2	2
Draw	0	0	0	0	0
Played	3	3	3	3	2
Points	9	6	3	3	0

3pts for a win 1pt for a draw

This month saw the jeepborne airborne and the Italians go head to head for top dog. The HG Division even managed to snag a win dragging the Gebirgsjager down to their level.

Campaign

This puts the Allies further ahead. As the second game was blue on blue only the US/Italian game counted.

Axis 2 

Allies 4

Hobby

Everyone completed their allotted painting tasks, although for some it was touch and go (thankfully for me the check in was delayed a week). The US 3rd did not see the field due to a bout of illness striking their HQ.

Player	1000 Pts Painted	Games Played	Blog Post
Jon	2	2	2
David	2	2	2
Ed	Bye	2	2
Tom	2	2	2
Darren	2	1	2

Month 3

So final month is upon us already and we all have our final 500 points to add,  remember:

• You can field a single platoon for every 1000 points so you can field a second platoon now.
• Each platoon must include a platoon HQ and 2 Rifle Squads.
• If you include more than one platoon then you must include a company HQ.
• Lists are chosen from the basic BA selector with FOW lists for Italy used to dictate equipment and general organization.
• Units can be chosen from the above based on a time frame of Sep 43 (mid war) to Jun 44 (late war)
• You must keep the original list fielded last month.
• No vehicle over DEF 8, Forward Air Observers or Forward Artillery Observers in the first 500 points.