And A Few More

 Four more Infinity models to the collection this week. These are Riot Grrls, upper-tier power-armor Nomad troops for the Starco Mercenaries band I'm assembling. 

It's a very anime aesthetic for sure and I've kept the colors bright and gaudy with this lot. With a rocket launcher and multi-rifle in the mix as well as the Tinbot which helps prevent enemy cyber-nastiness, they should be a solid fighting unit on the tabletop. I did hack up the rocket launcher mini a bit. The original has her foot up on a pile of rocks. 

 

That of course looks dumb against the metal grate basing I'm doing on this collection. I found a suitable weapon from the bits box, hacked it all up and, voila! A more suitable kickstand for rocket girl. On to the next lot. I have ten more minis in my possession for the Starco group. Two "named" special characters are up next. Unusual for me, that's for sure but so's the idea of me using a mercenary list. What the heck, right?

In other news, I downloaded the free rules for "Vanguard" from Mantic's website. It's a fantasy skirmish game that checks a lot of my requirement boxes. Looking forward to giving that a go. I've got a decent collection of fantasy minis and have been after a set of rules that agree with my tastes. Vanguard seems pretty decent at first read.

Some Recent Painting

 I finished a couple of Infinity models over the weekend. More additions to my Starco Mercenary company. 

They're Irmandinhos, Ariadna troops who'll work for anyone paying their wage. They're looters and have a knack for collecting useful kit and get random equipment upgrades at the start of the game. Of course I kept the "gang color" of turquoise on their hats. They've got friends in the painting queue. More soon!

Muskets and Mayhem... B&P AAR

 My recently completed New Englanders and Canadians made it on the table for their debut outing on Saturday evening. We played a small 100-point encounter; my wife chose the French Canadians and defended in a Breakthrough scenario. I had to push my troops into the French deployment area while the trappers focused on keeping me away. We played on a 4x4 table with the prescribed 18 inches of no-man's land.

My militia in the foreground. In the distance are Abenakis and Coureur des Bois who will from this point forward be known as CDBs.

Indian Fighters (left) and Iroquois (right)

The IF and Iroquois move forward early in the proceedings. I've got to get a move on; my orders are on a timer. The native with the IF group is my commander - I didn't have a suitable honkey and ol' Standing Moose would do just fine.

The militia creep around off to the left.

The uncropped goodness of a busy game table!

The militia push out towards the Abenakis. The Indians take some long-range shots and kill one of my men! The militia was ranked up in formation to take advantage of their "Drilled" special ability which would give them firepower bonuses with a rank & file type fusillade. 

I've decided that the French Militia on my right should be my focus. The CDB and Injuns get close. One brave warrior is sent to the happy hunting ground by a French musket ball. Just one casualty, fortunate me!

And WHAM! In they go, yelping and swinging their war clubs!

Three kills! The trappers fall back.

The Rangers join their brethren, advancing on the weakest point.

Goodman Samuel Wheeltoothe's militia band continues their advance against the unwashed heathens.

The sneaky summanabatches CDBs decide that flanking my Indian Fighters is a clever idea.

The heathen's musket fire is strong. Goodman Wheeltoothe's militia takes more casualties. What tricks of the Devil are these?

The game's drawing toward a conclusion. I really need to get units into the French deployment area.

Alack and alas! The CDBs charge into my Indian Fighters and deliver an Almighty whoopin'. Morale holds and my Iroquois allies join the fight but fortunes doesn't shine on them this moment.

The Canuck militia who now have some rather hard feelings towards the English realize this might be their time to shine. Crappe on a sticke.

The Abenakis have learned a thing or two from the disgusting French Canadian allies. Goodman Wheeltoothe's detachment, well, detaches.

And after another round of pretty one-sided melee, my Indian Fighters are wiped out and the Iroquois decide it isn't worth it.

Well that was a hoot. Blood and Plunder delivers another damn fine game. It's been a little while since I had it on the table last and I've excited for the next outing. My wife rather enjoyed it. It's a simple enough system with decisions to be made, not just a dice-fest. I need to get some English reinforcements and a proper leader for each side them so the next game can have 4 or maybe 5 units per side. I think I've got enough Canadians; there were a lot of CDB still in the box.

To Infinity, but not Beyond

 I finished up a few Infinity minis that have dwelt too long in the queue. They were victims of both painter's block and "shiny-itis" when the Naps and FIW minis arrived. Since those cleared the queue, the Infinity models got their turn. Nothing ground-breaking for sure, these are a medic and engineer, or Daktari and Clockmaker in Starco/Nomad parlance. I think the engineer's floppy overalls are pretty hilarious. They are accompanied by assistant 'bots. These join the bigger 'bots I painted up at the end of 2021 as the starting point of a Starco mercenary force. It's primarily a Nomad force with access to handful of special characters and units of other factions. I'll use the Turquoise and White and the common colors for this force and as you can see I've gone for the window screen basing to give them more of an indoor / industrial feel as opposed to the dirt and grass that my Ariadna and Combined forces sport.

My bride and I will probably get in a game of Blood and Plunder this evening with the recently featured QAW models. Looking forward to that for sure!

Back in the Day

 I completed a batch of miniatures last evening. These are 28mm Sash and Sabre French-Indian War castings. British Militia and Rangers and Abenaki natives to be specific. They'll be used in conjunction with the French Canadians I did late last year for some alternative-theater Blood and Plunder; more "Queen Anne's War" rather than "Caribbean pirates."

Militia

Rangers / Indian Fighters

Abenakis

I leaned blue on the Abenaki palette to give them more of a thematic tie-in with their French allies whereas the Iroquois I painted previously are very heavily British red. May give these guys an outing this weekend. You'll see it here if I do!

AAR: Danish Delight - Fistful of TOWs

James brought over some Cold War era toys on Saturday for a wonderful Scandinavian scrap in the late 80's. Mark and Mike joined us for what turned out to be a fantastic afternoon of dice and toy soldiers. The scenario featured a Soviet amphibious landing in Denmark during the "big one of 1988." James had played the preceding naval part of this exercise at Siege of Augusta in January, the results of which affected this battle. 

I commanded the Soviet Marines while James took command of Polish airborne. Mark and Mike shared command of Danish Home Guards and Regulars. We drew up orders and deployment on maps. All the Danes were hidden or off-map to begin with. We attackers would arrive over the course of the first few turns. 

Our battlefield. The attacker's objective was to send troops north, up the big highway. 

The generals. 

I had a good excuse to don the "Che" commie beret!

Me definitely not doing my best spy satellite impression to photograph the Danish battle map.

The Antonov carrying James' troops flies past unnoticed. Its occupants fell into the void.

The paratroopers practically landed on top of one of Mike's companies! Blast!

Over at the coast, my first landing ships arrive and the first company of Naval Infantry hit the beach. James scratch-built the ships from balsa. They looked great, especially considering the terrifically low price and when you consider how often landing ships will make it into a micro-armor game you can appreciate it even more.

The Danish greeting party. Infantry, trucks, a TOW jeep and a Bofors 40mm. 

My second group arrives and there we go. Some damn FO has observed the landing and artillery shells and landing amidst my BTRs in no time! He's got to be somewhere in the highlighted area, I'm sure of it. I suspect the church's steeple. The artillery just caused some disruption and no meaningful casualties.

The second company debarks and hit the beach. The first company gets into the woods and out of sight, we hope!

It's not long before our first air support arrives, a flight of Su-17s. They drop bombs in support of the Polish airborne who have been hustling towards the town. The bombs are relatively ineffective.

My NI get a move on, now following their plotted marching orders. The "Mano de Miguel" locates a target for a hidden TOW team.

Shit. And then the little pecker scooted back behind the trees to evade retribution.

But the spirit of vengeance flowed over the Soviet horde. My T-55 in the second company located a Danish tank ahead that had been giving the paratroopers a rough time. A Bastion rocket is fired and moments later the old M41 brews up!

The air support comes back and strafes the grass and trees ineffectively. A Danish F-16 patrolling the area has caught up with Fencer and sent it to the better place.

The NI group leader requests naval gunfire into the woods where the TOW came from. There's more than just a TOW team there! That same group calls their 105's in on my APCs. Elsewhere, Mark's 155's were directed to fire on my other mechanized group.

I ended up with a lot of suppressions but no significant losses.

Best just to keep moving then... my troops stay on course. No photo but there was a Forward Observer in the green field my BTRs are rolling across. We dispatched him.

The damn TOW jeep reappears and smacks another BTR! Can a brother get a pair of Hinds to go deal with this crap?

Mark's late-arriving mechanized company prepares a greeting for second company. My T-55 finally has worthy opponents in the form of a pair of Centurions. 

In a dramatic exchange of fire, all three tanks are eliminated! Mark was rather displeased by how that turned out. The T-55 on the other hand had killed all three enemy tanks. That's doin' it.

Mark was about to learn another hard lesson - my PT-76s were right in front of a pair of his M113s. My fire was pretty inaccurate though and I only managed to take out one. 

Another turn and "The Ghost of Copenhagen" continues his bloody reign of domination over the Red Air Force. No more air support for us. We only received one of four possible flights. Blast. On the ground, I redirect first company to deal with the troops who'd been causing me so much trouble. The HQ group joined a few hundred meters behind.

The "Ghost's" brother - running the TOW jeep reappears during opportunity fire and takes out yet another BTR. His teammate with a recoilless rifle eliminates yet another! GOOD GRAVY THIS SUCKS! At least the troops inside managed to get out alive for a change.

The remaining troops and APC, assisted by the ZSU in the HQ platoon , fire into the treeline eliminating a stand of infantry, but the TOW team would live to fight another day. 

And of course, the other TOW jeep Mike had hidden up top got a beeline on a PT-76 and burst it. 

A hail of fire and the paratroopers had had enough. My mechanized companies had been reduced to nothing. It was over. A solid Danish victory, no doubt about it.

A damn entertaining afternoon for sure. Plenty of action, plenty of heroic moments and laughter all around. It was nice to play a "WW3" game without walls of T-72s and NATO tanks facing off. This was much lower-intensity than the typical fare and really a lot of fun. The naval battle that was played prior to this saw the loss of more than a couple of troop ships which was THE reason I had so few troops. As they say, dance with who you brought to the party. 

This was my first go with Fistful of TOWs. I liked some elements but the IGOUGO move / overwatch / shoot n scoot mechanism with us being forced to move first was painful. I'm sure Mike would disagree. At least we played with simultaneous fire during the shooting and artillery phases which was nice. I'd play it again if someone else put it on the table, but my tastes run more towards Modern Spearhead and Sabre Squadron for this genre's rulesets.