Call the Exterminator - Tyranid Paint Scheme First Pass

With my son interested in Warhammer 40K, I've been working on a secondary army to give him something to fight other than another Space Marine chapter (see my previous Space Wolves discussion). The Tyranids are an army that has grown and changed a lot from their original incarnations, and I must say I really love the look of the current range of models. So I took the plunge.

At this point I've been building a lot to get something on the table to play against my son - which should be fun. I'm incrementally teaching him the rules to the game, and we'll actually start pointed list building (as opposed to "just pile it all on the table and we'll work it out from there"). Though it wasn't my intention, the match-up will be the very representative Ultramarines vs. Tyranids, so there's that aspect to the fight as well.

As with any new army, I spend a fair amount of time on one of the basic troops trying to get the color scheme right. At this point I have a grand total of one (1) Termagant pretty much painted.

I'm using Vallejo paints and Ammo of MIG washes at this point. Overall I'm pretty happy with the scheme, but I may want to pick out the eyes a bit more with a red or orange as the purple seems to be getting lost. The base is 72.034 Bonewhite (from the Game Color line) with a brown wash (which is still in flux - I'll post final washes in my next buggy installment). All of the other colors are from the Model Color range. I highlight the Bonewhite with 70.918 Ivory. The green basecoat is 70.833 German Camouflage Bright Green highlighted with 70.891 Intermediate Green and 70.942 Light Green. I add purple to the recesses and simply highlight it by blending a lighter version by adding white.

I'll post more pictures as I get more miniatures painted. Building this army on our table has led to many bad jokes about any food being left out attracting bugs... and I expect the hilarity to continue.

Of Game Scale and Ground Scale - Part II

Recently the owner of GHQ published a lengthy post on The Miniatures Page providing some company background and extolling the virtues of GHQ's 1/285th product line. Honestly they do have some nice miniatures, but I personally found the post more than a bit troublesome on many levels as it represents yet another fairly absolutist position in the ongoing discussion regarding what is the proper scale for company level tabletop gaming. What follows is an edited version of the post I made to that thread, but as this is an issue that seems to come around quite often, I thought it was worthy of a deeper look.

Plans for the Second Half of 2016

Given we're well into August at this point, I figured it was time to do a "state of the hobby" update for where I am with my various projects at this point... and the plan for the rest of the year.

My painting table is still straining under the weight of my Japanese force from Banzai. I'm hoping to have some pictures of the progress (or sadly at this point, lack of progress) on those guys by the end of the weekend. At this point the base coat and wash is on all of the infantry and gun crews, so now I have to go through and start doing the uniform highlights and details. I'm hoping to have these guys ready for a tournament about a month from now at Guardian Games in Portland.

The next list I'll be painting up is my 761st Tank Battalion list from the upcoming Battle of the Bulge compilation. I'm planning on taking this army to the Tanksgiving event at Guardian games on November 12. This event is a little different in that it is a true TANK event - no squishy infantry or gun teams allowed. That will drastically change the meta of the game. You also need a "warrior" team. This doesn't have to be an official warrior special character per the rules, but can be a historical figure or even a Hollywood character. I'm going to paint up a tank dedicated to Ruben Rivers of the 761st.

Past that I still have several Flames of War and Team Yankee projects I'd like to get back to. For Team Yankee, I may go ahead and finish the Americans first as I'd really like to do the Eastern Bloc miniatures as a non-Soviet satellite state. I also have several Flames of War armies I'd like to work on, including some mid-War Italians - both for North Africa and Sicily. I have several German forces half started as well that I really need to get back to.

I've still been slowly working on Warhammer 40K miniatures with my son. I've gotten a lot more of my Space Wolves built than painted at this point - honestly I just have base coats on one of the Grey Hunter squads. Fortunately I've found some Vallejo paints that work well as a substitute for Space Wolves Grey - as I've had too many bad experiences with Citadel paints to walk that road again (not to mention the fact that I have controlling interest in Vallejo paints at this point and buying a redundant set of paints makes no sense!). I may also resurrect my old Tyranid army for fun and flavor.

I've also picked up the rules to a miniatures game from Osprey called Frostgrave. This is a skirmish level game played with fairly standard 25-28mm fantasy miniatures, though you can get miniatures designed for the game from North Star Miniatures. The game itself follows your primary character, a wizard, his or her apprentice, and a warband generally numbering no more than 10 or 11 figures as they work their way through a ruined city in search of treasure facing perils and other players. They even have a few modular plastic sets for Soldiers and Cultists which are pretty good. A game like this is appealing because it uses fairly normal fantasy miniatures, and therefore has a fairly low painting overhead.

Chances are I won't get a all of this done before things need to be packed up and start moving over to the new house. The nice thing about the new house will be I'll have a game room and full workshop dedicated to my model-building and miniature painting hobbies. Once I get everything up and running next year I hope to be able to start busting more projects out on a regular basis.

Japanese Army Progress and General Update

This has been a crazy year so far. Despite having several months warning of the impending release of the Pacific War books - and intimate knowledge of said books - I'm still ridiculously behind on my Japanese forces for Flames of War. Of course, being in the midst of building the new house has something to do with it, but I think I'm finally starting to make some progress.

My first goal was to start getting as much of the core of my Japanese army prepped for painting as possible. This means I can paint them "assembly line" style. I started with the Hohei Chutai (JBX01) infantry company since this would give me plenty of infantry that could be used as the core of an infantry or fortified infantry force, or support for an armored force. Those are reinforced with Hohei Machine-gun Platoons (JP704) and Nikuhaku Teams (JP706). At this point I have all of those miniatures cleaned up and primed - so they're ready to paint once I get the rest of the support teams together as shown in the photo below.

Yeah, that's a LOT of figures, and actually goes well beyond just the three units I cite above. I'm also working on gun support for the infantry forces. The un-primed figures are comprised of an Artillery HQ (JP710) and a unit of the Type 94 37mm Anti-tank Guns (JP501). Also included are the teams belonging to several other guns.

Above you'll see the Type 92 70mm Guns (JP560), the Type 96 150mm Howitzers (JP580), and a couple of Type 88 75mm Heavy Anti-aircraft Guns (JP550) - which were the subject of a recent review I wrote over at the WWPD blog! The tracks belong to my unit of Type 2 Ka-Mi tanks.

I have not been neglecting my armor - above are a few of the Chi-Ha tanks (JBX09) I have in progress, as well as a few Isuzu Trucks.  Below are some Ha-Go tanks (JBX03) I got together a while back, but was waiting to paint.

I've also been working on some Type 89 (JBX02) tanks (which were used in the Philippines in 1944-5) as well as some of the new Type 97 Te-Ke tankettes (JBX05) which were the subject of another review I wrote up for WWPD.

Unfortunately progress continues to be slow, and I'm still trying to figure out the right paint scheme to use for my Pacific War Japanese. I have the tank colors well established at this point, but the infantry is a tougher nut to crack. Most of the Japanese uniforms for the Pacific theater seem "greener" than the colors Battlefront is recommending in Banzai and Rising Sun. Of course, Rising Sun is a 1939 uniform for mainland Asia - a far different theater than the South Pacific. I'm leaning toward painting my army correct for the liberation of the Philippines with some armor from Saipan (notably a few of the Chi-Ha tanks). Once I have the paints identified, I'll write more.

State of the Blog Update

First, I apologize for the radio silence recently. As is normal when things get "quiet" I've been working on some "things." One big thing that's been taking up a lot of time is we are building a new house on our property that will actually fit us, our son, and our hobbies (at least that's the plan). Building your own home, even when working with a contractor, is a long, drawn-out, and often exhausting process, but we're starting to see the project actually move forward - though at this point all we have is a very interesting hole in the ground that my son is enjoying.

Of course, that is all going to change fairly quickly as the temporary power comes in tomorrow, the permits should be issuing this week or next, and the financing closes tomorrow or Monday. The goal is to have Thanksgiving in the new house... and did I mention that there is going to be a real GAME ROOM!?!??!?  I will finally be able to set up real Flames of War games (among many other miniature and board games), in my home!!!  I... can't... wait!!!

On the Flames of War front, I finally got my copies of Banzai and Gung Ho and have been madly assembling and cleaning up my Japanese for painting. I've just about decided what paint schemes I'm going to use on the tanks - generally they will be either units from the Philippines or Saipan. Reading through the Banzai book, I was a little disappointed by a couple of proofreading goofs that slipped through - and I both wrote and proofread the book - but overall I think the text is some of my best work, right up there with the Remagen book. I have some other writing assignments I'm also working on for Battlefront, so stay tuned!

By now many of you will have read the post over on the WWPD forum entitled "Why We Game." Like many I'd noticed a distinct cooling in the interest level for Flames of War at WWPD - both on the blog and in the forum. For many years, WWPD was one of my "go to" sources for all things Flames of War and I was disappointed in the reduction in focus, but it's natural that everyone's interests will grow, change, and/or wane over the years. That being said, as a part of their re-structuring, the guys over at WWPD have asked me to be a contributor to their blog - mostly focused on Flames of War as I'm still firmly "in the thick of it." In the next few weeks you should start seeing some of my Flames of War posts showing up on the WWPD blog. I'm planning to write at least a couple of posts for them a month going forward, and honestly I'm very honored and excited to move from reader to contributor on such a well-respected blog!

So what does that mean for this blog? Honestly, not a whole heck of a lot. This blog has always been a place where I can talk history, hobbies, and occasionally show off some miniatures I manage to get painted, and I still plan on doing that. I won't be cross-posting content from WWPD to here or vice versa, though I will generally try to provide links to any of my published content on other sites. With the new house and studio, I'm hoping to be able to actually get more miniatures painted and up on the blog - well, that's the plan at least!

Of Game Scale and Ground Scale - Fighting Tarawa in Flames of War

It's been a couple of weeks since Behind Enemy Lines published my Tarawa mini-campaign. That campaign lets the players re-fight the historic battle using a series of six individual games of Flames of War. However, the small scale size of the Tarawa battlefield got me thinking about another way to fight the battle which I mentioned briefly in my campaign summary - what about using the general scenarios to set up some larger "mega battles" where the actual terrain from the battlefield is used as a template?

Flames of War is generally considered to use a "sliding" and "compressed" ground scale which allows the player to field the more detailed 15mm miniatures in what is generally a company-level game. For example, in Flames of War, most battle rifles have a range of 16" on the tabletop. Using a straight 100X conversion, that gives a ground equivalent range of about 133 feet, or 45 yards. Most actual battle rifles of the period had an effective range of 200-300 yards, or 72" to 108" (6 to 9 feet, or roughly 2-3 meters) on the tabletop. Given Flames of War is most often played on a 4 foot by 6 foot (1.2m x 1.5m) table, the compromises required to fit the game on the table are fairly evident.

In the game this system works pretty well because the battlefields of World War II were generally quite large compared to "table scale," but when you start talking about the Pacific Theater, that basic assumption isn't always true. That doesn't mean that the game suffers from using a sliding scale, but it does open up different options for the player looking to explore different table arrangements.

Betio Island, where the Battle of Tarawa was largely fought, is a very small atoll.  It is roughly 3000 yards (just shy of 3000 meters) long, and its width varies from 100-200 yards at the narrow eastern end of the island to maybe 600-700 yards at the broader central and western parts of the island.  In game terms, that means even using a fixed 1/100th ground scale, the eastern end of the island is only about 1-2 yards (3 to 6 feet) wide. Because of the small size of the island, it is technically possible to play some of the battles in nearly 1:1 scale. The map below (click for larger size) shows Betio island with a few representative 4' x 6' standard gaming table outlines superimposed over the map.

As you can see, the very narrowest tip of the island is only one standard gaming table wide, in 100% (non-sliding, non-compressed) scale, though the invasion beaches stretch on for several tables. This means it is truly possible to play the Battle of Tarawa campaign in something approaching 1:1 scale on the tabletop.

As written, the Flames of War rules assume the compressed and sliding ground scale, so the question which would arise at this point is what impact (if any) trying to play the battle with a non-compressed ground scale would have on the rules of the game. I can see a few ways to approach the problem. The first is to simply decide that the rules are played as written and the 1:1 scale battlefield is there for historical accuracy and ambiance. The proportionally shorter ranges of most weapons in this case would simulate "battle range" as actually encountered on the atoll. Another option would be to allow all defending artillery to be "off board" and only fire in bombardments - though this may handicap a Japanese player with few AT assets. The most elaborate option would be to recalculate ranges using the actual range of the weapons in question - though that would mean rifles and pistols would have a far longer range in game terms. When choosing this final option, it would be key to ensure that the table is dense enough with appropriate terrain (including elevation changes) to provide realistic fields of fire.

Hopefully this post has given you a few fun ideas on how to adopt the Pacific campaign to the tabletop in Flames of War. While the small island campaigns dominate most layman's perceptions of the Pacific campaign, they are truly only one facet of the war. Look for future mini-campaigns and battles where a wider range of more traditional Flames of War battles come to the fore.

Battle of Tarawa Mini-Campaign

The great guys over at Behind Enemy Lines asked me to write up a mini-campaign covering the Battle of Tarawa. I'd generated a couple of mini-campaigns while writing the history and flavor texts for Banzai covering the Battle of Guadalcanal and Battle of Iwo-Jima, and they really seem to have struck a chord in the gaming community. These mini-campaigns offer more flexibility than a larger firestorm campaign and are better suited to casual play, but still give the players a strong grounding in the historical roots of the battle. Behind Enemy Lines published the campaign over a period of four days, and links to each of the battles can be found below.

Day 1 covers the initial Marine landings on the island of Betio, where almost all of the Battle of Tarawa was actually fought. It covers the assault on landing beaches code named Red 1, 2, and 3. An exceptionally low neap tide prevented the Higgins Boats from reaching shore, so only units equipped with LVT's made it to shore. In game terms the scenario focuses on this initial beach assault.

The action on Day 2 is covered in two separate scenarios in which the Marines begin their breakout from the Red 1, 2, and 3 beaches. The forces at Red 1 begin an assault on the adjacent Green beach which roughly runs along the western coast of the atoll. In a separate mission, the Marines from Red 2 and 3 Beaches begin their advance to secure the island's strategic airstrip.

With the battle going against the Japanese, Day 3 sees a change in their tactics. As the Marines on Red and Green Beaches try to link up with the Marines holding part of the airfield, a more mobile battle erupts - simulated using the "Dust Up" mission. That evening, the Japanese had planned a full counterattack, but this was broken-up by artillery, leading to a Banzai charge in the early morning hours of Day 4.

On the final day of the battle, the Marines began to mop up the last Japanese resistance, which had been forced into the narrow eastern tip of the atoll. The Marines would often bypass strong points and try to attack them from the rear. By the end of the battle only 17 Japanese surrendered out of a garrison of over 4500.

Point values used for this mini-campaign can vary, the real key is trying to balance the forces and ensuring each player tries to take a force representative of those actually used in the actual battle. Another option would be to play a "mega-campaign." Tarawa Atoll is small enough (and narrow enough) to model most if not all of the island across several tabletops. Running the battle in closer to 1:1 scale would also give the players a good feel for how tightly fought and contested some of these Pacific battles truly were.