Thats not a moon, its a paintstation! Ep 2

Hello guys!

For the past few days i have been working on my new painstation. If you remember my old paintstation, which you can find here. This one is quite different from that one. The old one was in our living room, so it realy was not that nice. This one is in our bedroom and can be hidden away easily. There is not that much board space than in the old one, but i dont need it anyway. As every miniature hobbyist knows. More board space = more stuff stored into piles.



Here we can see the big closets in our bedroom room. Inside those is hidden my new paintsation!

 And the it is! Lets go and take a closer look.

I made a table that slides in and out. It also can be locked into position. There is plenty of space for my legs underneath the table. Also i chose a light that can be moved in and out with the table, as well as up and down.

On the left side i have four small shelfs for all of my paints. I still need to go trough and check which ones are ok to paint with. Next year ill also try to move out of gw paints range into Vallejo, as i like them more.

On the left side there are my scenery stuff. Only the ones i use the most. Also there are my spray paints. I think that i will move them somewhere else, as there is not much point of storing them there becouse you cant spray paint inside anyways.

Here is the table i mentioned earlier. Mosty normal painting stuff. Also a smaller lamp if i need more light.

On the back wall is a hook for my dremel. This is still in the reach of my hand, even is the table is locked into the out position.

 Under the table is an electrical outlet for the lights and the dremel.

Under the table is also storage for my spare parts and more drillheads for the dremel. I also wrote a letter to santa, hoping for an airbrush and air compressor. The compressor can be stored here as well.

Over the table is a bigger shelf for anything realy. Now its used to store the rest of my scenery parts and miniature kits.

And this is the end of our tour. All in all im relly happy how my paintstation turned out. There is still options to modify the shelfs if i find the need for it.

I  have made some changes to the foru layout and added some pictures to the USMC section, so check those out.

Like allways thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions. Let me know.

-Nojis

Back in business!

Hi guys!


Im back to give you a quick update. It has been three months without painting or gaming. That all had a small change last week when i faced Juhas blitzkrieg germans again. The game was on a display board of Portinhoikka which Juha had made. Portinhoikka is a real life location where Finland faced the Soviets back in the war.

More information about the board or our battle you can find in Juhas blog

Now onto other things. As i told you, we had our second baby boy join our family little over three months ago. Now our one bedroom appartment has got a bit too crowded for us. Now we have just five more days until we get the keys to our next and bigger appatment. So slowly im getting back into gaming and painting as soon as we are done with the move. Ill post some pictures about how i set up my next painting station and also im thinking about buying an airbrush for painting, so ill blog about that too. Also if you fancy modern combat i have something comming up with that too, so stay tuned.

As you can see this blog is not dead, far from it.

Thanks for reading.

Below are some shots from the game with Juha

Until next time

Hello all! I just popped here to announce that my blog will prodably be neglected more than usual. We had a newcommer to our family four days ago, so we will be a little busy with two children now.

The blog is by no mean over, i will do some minor updates here and there. I think i will resume the blog near christmas.

Id like to thank you everyone for reading my blog. See you next time!

Dropzone Commander: Pheonix rising from the ashes?

We all have had some time now to play with our new and shiny Pheonixes. As the model is awsome and the rules are still in experimental stage, i want to start a litle talk about the rules.


The Armor
As we all know the Pheonix costs alot and has the whopping 9 damage points, but the armor is 5. So my first question is that should it be 6 or not? and why? I dont have an oppinion on this matter yet, i still need to play more with it but what do you all think?


The Guns
Next thing is the weaponry. The ranges on the missile barrages, AA-guns and chainguns is fine as it is. BUT... i realy think that the chainguns scream for alternate fire mode, like the Vindicator AA-guns on rapier tanks. To be honest i think that the alternate mode should be just like the Vindicators focused fire pattern so E7 SH3 AC3 but with a range of 12 and MF of 8.

You may ask why? Well one thing i have noticed with the Pheonix is that while it has a potential to take out alot of stuff with the large template of the missile barrages. After they have been fired the Pheonix scares nobody.
For example i had a battle of 1500pts against Scourge. I fired my first missiles into a Reaper squad taking them out. Next shot was against 3 stalkers and 3 hunters, all under the template. I missed the shot, it scattered 6 and didnt harm anyone. After this the Scourge just swooped around and under the Pheonix as with the 2 shots together from the chainguns needing 5+ to hit the skimmers. The scourge player didnt really care about the pheonix anymore as it didnt have alot of offensive potential anymore.


The disc of doom
The Pheonix model has the awesome radar disc on its back. I think every UCM player out there was hoping a rule for it. As that didnt happen i have started to toying around with couple of rules for it

1. Tactical awareness
The Pheonix is well equipped in commnication systems, to keep a constant connection into the planets surface where ships like Orlando type strikecruisers keep an eye on the battlefield with diffrent kind of optics, therman UV-systems and sends this information back to the Pheonix.

Once Per game game on activation of the Pheonix, you may force the opponent to show his current command cards.

2. Operational support
The Pheonix is designed to provide close proximity command and support to any battlefield actions. It provides UCM forces a constant feed of information about all know enemy formations and their movements. This makes it easier for UCM to hold their ground as they know what they are facing on the battlefield

All UCM infantry units that need to make a morale check can do it with a +1 modifier to their dice roll

3. False communication
The Pheonix can use its systems to send falce comunications to enemy units, cousing confusion and loss of coherency in enemy formations and directing enemy fast movers to wrong targets

Enemy fast movers whos flight patch would cross the Pheonixes command radius must reroll their reserve roll. This may only affect one fast mover in each turn.



There is some of the rules i have tought about. Surely they will need some refining, but thats just to get started. Now im intrested that what have you tought about the Pheonix? Please comment and share your toughts.

Dropzone Commander: Mortars, Mortars everywhere

As most of you allready know. Hawk Wargames has released the UCM mortar teams and the experimental rules for them. You can find the rules in the Hawk website.

Hawk is also releasing new infantry for Scourge and PHR. Shaltari is getting somekind of heavy infantry walker thingys, which realy are not infantry.

As we can see from the mortar team rules UCM is also getting Heavy Hazard suits, and Anti-Aircraft teams. With all the infantry comming from Hawk, they are clearly making a change into the game and giving infantry more role than finding objectives and hauling them out of the battlefield.

I dont have enough gaming experience to really comment the rules. Ill just say that the concussion shells seem really intresting and will open up some new tactics. First that come in mind, is pushing the nasty Scourge warriors back from windows and preventing them from shooting those combined shots.

Also, if the mortar teams can shoot individual targets, so two bases fire on two targets. It will give some grey hair to enemy infantry. But on the other hand, when the role of infantry is to get objectives there wont be that much shooting at them with the mortars. We just need to wait how they will play out and how they will shape our lists.

Sadly for me the mortar teams need Bear APC:s so you can field them. And atleast for the moment i am aiming for pretty air based list without them. But i will surely be getting mortars at some point!

Dropzone Commander: Ferrum and the gang

I just finished my Ferrum and the drones. It has already been on the battlefield twice, but painted models are always more fun to play with.

Im really happy how the Ferrum turned out. The parts are all glued in place as im really not into them moving. In my oppinion the decals are a perfect last touch for the Ferrum.

Ferrum lifting more drones to the battle from the drone bay

Jerry the drone

 

I will be adding these photos to the UCM gallery later. Next posts i will show the Falcons, Archangels and Raven A:s. I did some more decal work on them.

New blog sections!

UCM Gallery

Now i can officially tell you all that the UCM gallery has been opened! Its still a little light on pictures, but i will add more as soon as i shoot more during games. Just look for UCM in the top navigation bar and it takes you to the gallery

Dropzone Commander

The Dropzone Commander part is going to be a link list taking you all who are more into DzC than Bolt action to post talking about Dropzone. I also hope that the dropzone players will give me feedpack in those posts. Im still fairly new to Dropzone, on the other had i have a bad case of "DzC fewer" going on right now.

Bolt Action galleries

As for the French and British galleries i hope that i have the time to take pictures tomorrow at the club as me and Herkko are having a DzC game.


I hope you all like the new content that i have made. Im slowly but surely getting the blog to the state that i like.  if you have ideas of how to improve the blog or something else, feel free to comment.

Bolt Action: For the free France!

Fight for the liberty of France continued last friday, when i had a battle against clubmate Juhas early war germans. We had a scenario based battle where the germans had tasked to occupy a nearby town of the bridge they captured last time. As the germans advance has been fast there would be no artillery support available in this battle.

French comander giving last orders to the defenders before the battle

Defenders of France                            

Command Squad                               
3x Infantry squad                 
Machine gun team                                   
Mortar team                                          
Anti-tank rifle team                                  
Renault FT-17 tank                                    
Light howitzer                

German Attackers

2x Command squad (+1 bonus and +2 bonus)
4x Infantry squad
Armored car
Mortar team
Sniper team
Tank (cant remember the model)
Anti-tank cannon
Medic

This was or battlefield

The defenders of France had made preparations for the oncoming battle before the germans arrived, so French deployed into the houses.


German commander decided to deploy his infantry on to the right flank and also into the midle of the battlefield.
Armored car and tank rolled towards the town from the left flank, supporting each other. Infantry on the right were also supported by the anti tank cannon.

French commander sent his trusted Renault FT-17 tank to meet the germans on the right flank. The tank saw an opportunity to make a huge inpact on the German force and targeted the command team of the right flanck. Luckily for the germans, the commander only lost two of his squad members but was saved himself.

Renault FT-17 acting as a gatekeeper into the towns right side

Light howitzer ready to bombard anyone in view.

Soon the howitzer saw its first target. The German armored car speeded towards the town. Howitzer fires and narrowly misses it, flying shrapnel and dirt to the cars side. This proved to be too much for the cars driver who decided to reverse as fast as he could. It took couple of turns for the driver to be convinced by his gunner to drive back towards the town.

German tank also advanced towards the town, seeing the armored car reversing, it also saw where the shot came from. The tank opened fire at the howitzer and managed to hitting and killing a gunner.

On the midlle of the board two german squads got orders from their nearby officer. One squad was ordered to run in the cover of the light fence and use the same road as the tank and armored car. The other squad was set to sneak into the town trough the woods, on the righ side of the town.

German squads line up behinde the fence

Soon the squads receive new orders

Over at the right flank, the massive german formation with two squads, anti-tank cannon, medic and the other command squad were advancing forward. One of the squads was hit by mortar fire and went to the ground, suffering some casualties. The germans soon noticed the French mortar spotter sending message pidgeons from the nearby forrest. Nearest german squad opened fire, but the spotter managed to send one more pidgeon before he was gunned down by second turn of shooting from the german squad.

German right flank

Leader of the whole german force, after loosig his squad members

In the town, French infantry squad on the left most building notices that it is out of position and leaves the house and runs to the midle building. There is still a machine gun team in the left most building.

In the middle of the board, the german squad trying to enter the town with the vehicles got shot to pieces by two full French squads in the middle building and the machine gun in the left building.

German squad, couple of footsteps before the French unleash hell on them

German mortar got into firing position earlier in the game, and now its spotter sent the coordinates to strike the french howitzer. The german mortar fire was deadly accurate and first round hit the howitzer killing the crew.

The French mortar team positioned close to the howitzer saw their countrymen perish before their eyes. They knew that  they were now the only slim chance that the left flank had of stopping the german vehicles before the anti-tank rifle team could relocate. Despite their best efforts the mortar team did not hit the german tank closing in the town on a high speed.

Anti-tank rifle team making a quick relocation to the other side of the town

On the right flank the germans were trying to close in on the town. They pushed their anti-tank cannon into a firing position, forcing the Renault to reverse back into the town. The French soldiers on the right most house also opened fire onto the germans, trying to hold them back.

The german mortar targeted the middle house and hit, french troops in the house suffered some casualties. Also the german tank closed in right next to the house and fired with its machine gun in point black range, trying to pin the french.

At this point the French commander ordered the two squads in the middle building to exit, fearing that they would be pinned into the house and the german mortar was allready zeroed in. This was a move that costed the lives of alot of his men, but also the german tank got destroyed. The tank chased the French footmen now in the field at the middle of the board, turning the back of the tank to a direction that it should not have done. The anti-tank rifle team made a quick dash behind of the tank, set their gun into position, quickly aimed and fired. They hit the exhaust system of the tank and setting it on fire and taking it completely out.

The germans behind the fence saw their tank on fire and the french soldiers running in the field. They quickly adapted to the sitation and opened fire on the french who had no casualties. They suffered major casualties. The germans took a reinforcement squad from the right flank and it also opened fire into the other french squad on the field. After a turn of firing the german squads assaulted the french squads taking them out, but they also took casualties in return.

The Renault reversing on the road, saw their infantry squads getting beat down at the field. The gunner of the Renault also noticed that behind the german squads there was a german officer and his squad. He unleashed a short burst with his machine gun, rolling 6 to hit, to wound and for exeptional damage, killing the officer.

The game was closing to a end. The germans had made good advance into the town, but now they had the right most house to clear. The german commander looked at his troops who had taken a beating during the battle and none were at full strenght. He ordered squad after squad to take the right most house, but none of his men came back out of that house. He loaded his submachine gun, ran to the house and kicked in the door. He looked and the remaining surprised french infantrymen and unleashed burst after burst with his weapon and killed them to the last man. This german counterpart of srgt Spears from band of bothers had earned his medals and shown why he was in charge. This took the game for the germans. But the battle had coused major casualties to the german forses. For the french the casualties were also horrific.


This was one of the greatest battles i have had in bolt action, and i hope that there is more to come. Also the whole early war setting is something that i realy enjoy.

Ill try to open the galleries for my french and brittish troops during this week, so stay tuned!