Bog Trotting and Turbulent Monks

Our last practice game for Silver Bayonet this week before the start the campaign saw both sides wading through a swamp to recover some gold and avoid being killed by a black dog.

As mis-fortune would have it neither side had a weapon that could damage the dog but relied upon their holy men to enchant weapons. The Russian priest proved very poor at this and didn't manage to enchant anything until about half way through the game.

During that time the dog managed to much a few Russian bums and also kill the Ottoman Mullah who had managed to get two enchants off before his death.

In amongst the rampaging dog attacks the Ottomans had the better of the exchange of fire and killed five Russians for the loss of two Turks. They also uncovered two clues but neither side was able to drag the gold chest out of mud so it was somewhat of a draw in the end.

We also had our first look at Midgard Heroic Battles as Stu came over and we faced off for a walk through the rules. The rules themselves run pretty smoothly with the book being reasonably clear and when it wasn't the authors intention seemed obvious enough.

Shooting is mainly used to disrupt the enemies formation with maintaining a solid line with decent supports being rewarded. You don't really want to be rushing off by yourself in this game.

We didn't get to a conclusion but the Monks had the lead on reputation tokens when we stopped for lunch and I think we can move more quickly through the turns when we play next.

Trolls, Samurai and Rats

A bit of a mixed bag this week as we have pictures for three different games.

First up we've started playing through some Silver Bayonet scenario's with my Turks taking on Mr T's Russians and what ever unholy beasts the night throws at us.

This week a troll was hiding under the bridge as we searched for some treasure and it jumped out as a brave/foolish Russian peasant rushed onto the structure.

This is are third game and the Troll was a significant step up in power from the previous monsters and as my Turks bravely hung back the Troll rampaged through the Russian ranks.

I did manage to sneak up and secure some treasure, shoot a couple of near dead Russians and still the kill on the Troll. So an excellent evening for the Turks !

The Saturday Stu came over and we continued our way through the standard Test of Honour scenario's with a meeting engagement. The aim was simply to kill the enemy characters.

Things didn't go well with the Monks running out 3 to 1 victors over my Samurai.

And lastly I've started working on some Ratkin ships for Armada with the intention of running them in the event at South Ox Wargames when it comes around. After painting lots of desert Marauders this is a nice change of pace.

Marauders: Ready to Rumble

Well here we are, I started the New Marauders back in June and around 3 months to the day later I've completed the army.

The first of the last units is the Hornet which acts as a transport and light gun-ship. Flying transports aren't very popular in Firefight as the rules don't really do them any favours so I'm not sure if this will see the table on a regular basis but it was a relatively quick model to paint with the desert camo.

The last unit to be completed is a Commando Captain with bodyguards. They are one of the best commanders in Deadzone due to their splat and they also have a very handy command order in Firefight so is much more likely to see the table. I also knocked up a DIY banner out of wire and paper for his bodyguard so the company flag can be flown high at all times.

I'm not sure exactly how many points I've painted up but I have the core 1500 point army I had in mind and then some extra options on top to mix things up if required. Most amazingly I still have plenty of yellow paint left so perhaps I need to paint up yet another desert camo army.

Marauders: Wild Animals

I'm getting really close to the end of the Marauder army now with the addition of some vehicles into the roster. 

The Mules can either be armed with a HMG or a Missile Launcher and you'd think that the pinning of the HMG paired with a unit of Brawlers charging out would be the best combo, time will tell. The missile launcher does give some extra AA / AT shooting but the rest of the list should really have that covered.

I painted up some extra heavy weapon Marauders to cover the two weapon options so I can show which each vehicle has.

The other addition is a Wolverine heavy tank. Mantic had partnered up with Archon Studios to sell their WW1 / 40K tank kit but those are no longer available via Mantic. TBH I'm not very keen on the model so I went hunting for an STL and got myself something a bit for Tiger II to print off. 

The Wolverine can switch between an AT shell and one for tackling infantry and ofc has high armour and a decent amount of HP so it's versatile and tough to shift. That does make it quite expensive but I'd imagine it makes its points back with constant long range fire.

So I have just one more command unit and the Hornet to go, both are which I've started so these should all be done in the next few weeks.