Though I have been "busy" with a real-life sidescroller I've managed to put my head around some hobby stuff every now and again. As I've been drifting away from the business mammoth, GW, I have been searching for an alternative. I've found that
Malifaux,
Warmachine are brilliant and totally worth every penny and minute put into them but still a curiosity for some historical gaming has been ever present. So, the wwII miniatures in the last few posts (posted eons ago) have found themselves a bunch of friends and a rules set.
I was torn between
Rate of Fire and
Operation Squad - World War II, but finally chose the latter for the sheer fact, that you play it with up to 9 models, while the first one you need a whole platoon. So, ordered it from Maelstrom and along with it some extra models for the North African theater(in my case, German Africa Korps and British Indian Sikhi'). Though I'm certain that once my collection grows, I will also get the Rate of Fire book and venture towards larger engagements. But for now, I'll stick with the small skirmish level action.
Haven't had the time to read it, but will get to it in the coming week. Next weekend I'll give you my first impression on the rules. The book itself is soft covered, with 46 pages and two token sheets. Full color and some nice historical photos and ofcorse some miniature goodness.
Should note that it's the second edition and is written by Massimo Torriani and Valentino del Castello.
I'm pretty sure I wont get a game next weekend, cause I've taken it to be a rule, that: "
no paint, no game!". So hope to paint my units up next weekend and the week after that could allready mean a test game or two.
So, on to the minis.
First of all, the Africa Korps. I've got a mortar team, an hmg team and a bunch of troopers. Unfortunately, no officers or sergeants. So, gotta order them before the first game.
I'm using GW bases and Vallejo paints, if you were wondering. Come to think about it, I have enough to make two teams.
And then I've got the British Indian Sikhis'. Not too many, but all of the different minis
Artizan has to offer for the Sikhis. Command, two Bren teams and a bunch of riflemen. Enough to make a nice varied team.
I all ready have plans for some terrain and gaming board, but that'll be a job for the future. I'm also allready peeping at some Italians and British commando models, to create extra teams in the future. All following the norther Africa theme, ofcorse.
But that's not all I've been up to. I've got a copy of
SAGA, from Gripping Beast in the post and I can't wait to get my hands on that. Allready have a small warband of Anglo-Danish semi-painted and a Viking warband in the mail. So, look out for future posts about SAGA.
And as a closing note, I give you some eyecandy:
Cheers,
Sven.
So, a command stand. On the right you can see Prince Sebastian in his royal colors of the Neuereich state. In the front there are two generals(the left one an regular infantry general, with his dark grey uniform and light blue line infantry distinctive colors.) On the right is the general of artillery, with a nice ice blue uniform. And in the back you can see to standards, left one being the infantry colors and the right one the so called Royal Guard colors.
So, me and my brother had all those miniature when we were a bit younger, would say a decade ago. And we played pretty much stupid nonsense with those things. But now as I found them I'm pretty psyched to get into a black powder era game. And, as I've got miniatures from different countries and relatively loose timeline I was possessed by this thing called imagination. So I've had an idea for a story in that era for a long time and though to incorporate that into my hobby. So, the beginnings of my own rules set in the Napoleonic Era are here.
There are also four riflemen with some nice glasses. As you can see, I've been fairly shy with adding squad markings or any insignia for that matter. I'm planning on adding them once I've read up on my history of uniforms.
Ok, I'll be honest. I made an experiment with the markings. The Sergeant to lead the squad with his binoculars. A good combo with a mortar team!
So, as the squads are painted up, I need to start worrying about the terrain. My first project will be a generic N African house. I want to keep it simple and small. I will be adding some props inside, a shelf, a table and maybe a field radio piece for the germans. We'll see. But for now, I give you the work in progress style picture.
Quite happy with the lot, but they kinda look alike. Though I did detail out the leaders and the medic.
They are kinda sloppy, but I was so eager to get them painted so I could get a game this weekend, but I wasn't that lucky. But I did get that far with the remaining Germans missing from the squad.
Only details are left, so they'll be ready next Sunday for a game at the local gaming place.
These are a blast to paint and you'll see more from that came from soon enough.
