Historicon Figure Touch-Up and Stalingrad Brick Dust Basing

So I had a little bit of time to try and get some painting done and I'm happy to report another stand of Bavarians are finished, in addition to a "Battalion" or Brigade or whatever unit of Brunswickers I picked up on the cheap at Historicon were completed yesterday morning at "Oh Dark Thirty."

First up are the Black Brunswickers - part of Wellington's "hearse."  These are, I believe, Minifigs, and there is really nothing special about them except for the fact that they were somewhat painted when I got them.  They needed some TLC so I cleaned them up and presto.  Another unit for the table finished!

Repainted them black, touched up their packs, cuffs, and headgear and left the musket hardware the way it was.  I think they look tolerable.  Good enough for my needs on the tabletop at any rate.

Next up, of course, a stand of Bavarians, making my 2nd Battalion halfway finished!

More Bavarians for my Bavarian collection.  Going to polish off the rest of the Battalion this weekend bringing the total Bavarian count to a whopping 12 stands...

Finally the most anticipated part of the weekend's blog post!  The city ruins basing.  This is part of the smashed brick dust I used from a few posts ago, painted black and dry-brushed grey.  Next step is to paint and add figures, and then put real, unpainted brick dust on top of the grey stuff, making it look like a true urban nightmare!  Stay tuned!

Technically basing them for Crossfire but I tried to give the general impression of an LMG team and a rifle team for Battlegroup games.

Gosh why didn't I think of this earlier?  The Man-packed radio looks so much cooler than sitting on the ground.

Historicon Battlegroup Mega Game: Road to Ponyri!

I wanted to post a few more pictures of the terrific Battlegroup: Kursk mega game David and I participated in at historicon!

German objectives are at the far end of the woods and also the far end of the entrenchments.  We were supporting an attack farther to the left against Ponyri-1.  A river crossing!

My Panzers move out!  

 David and I realized that to attack through the woods would probably be madness, considering Ivan had probably a full platoon + in the woods and bunkers!  Reinforced concrete bunkers!  So we decided to bank on our "mobility" in the form of our tanks and 251 halftracks....

 Something interesting, and historical, ended up happening during our painful slog forward.  The infantry got stripped away by Soviet artillery fire, exactly as happened during the actual battles during Kursk.  Our armor made it where they wanted to go, but couldn't assault or hold any objectives!

My armor, quickly followed by Dave's armor skirting the trenchline.  This was 1 turn before disaster when an errant artillery shell scored a direct hit on my halftrack taking out the entire squad inside!  

A better view of the GMs and our advancing forces.  (by the way, the GMs put on an outstanding game!)   The Soviets made good on their tons and tons of ATR teams but that was to our advantage beacuse as we took them out (only 2 troopers) we forced a chit draw.

better view of the river crossing operation on the far left.  The Germans on the left were aiming for a break in the woods to make their crossing.  From my understanding, the engineers never made it on the table!  

 River crossings are tough.  Probably even tougher when there are vicious Ivans throwing the kitchen sink at you.

1 turn's worth of work for Soviet artillery.

David plotting his next move.

and adjusting his glasses!

 Lots of people stopped by to check the game out as well.  Not as many toys as a flames of war game, but definitely a spectacle to behold.  Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE the Kursk / Ponyri campaign!

Ivan threw infantry through the wheatfield to block us.  My panzers cut them down.

 My infantry were able to claw their way into the Soviet trench but were promptly destroyed by Soviet counter attacks.  We never did reach that objective (or the forested one - David's tanks made it but Ivan's morale collapsed before there was a big assault).

 In an interesting stroke of luck, David had an opportunity to outright kill the Soviet ground commander - but didn't realize it was him.  That's probably what this pic below is saying!

German infantry clawing their way into the Soviet trench!  Lots of KO's German equipment taken out by the AT gun in the bunker....

 All in all a GREAT time and frankly resurrected my spirits in Battlegroup: Kursk!  I may head into the basement and rescue my "Skirmish Campaign" game "Red Guards and Kursk" and "GrossDeutschland at Kursk!"

That's all!

HISTORICON!!!!

So in the middle of a very trying summer, the family and I took a couple days to head down to Ole' Virginia and I got to attend Historicon, the HMGS' summer wargaming convention.

On the agenda for Historicon, at least for me intially, was headed down there to visit my buddy Dave, maybe pick up some terrain pieces from the flea market, and also play in the large "Road to Ponyri" Battlegroup: Kursk game.

I struck out on the terrain portion, but was able to pick up all, yes, all, of my French 10mm Napoleonic Cavalry that was BEAUTIFULLY painted and ready to go.  While I will re-base them, I am happy to report that all my French Cavalry needs have been taken care of!

Stuck in traffic outside of DC....

Lots of tables lots of games!

 Most of my afternoon on Friday was spent in the vendor area scoping out the offerings and terrain.

Portuguese or Spanish or Italian hamlet.  Love this!  Although a little steep for my budget (as was most of the stuff in the vendor area.  Gosh if you're going to sell something at a convention, wouldn't you mark it down a little?  Talking specifically about rules and minis here...)

Ken - your paper armies based for Blucher!!

GHQ's terrain maker.  I really loved this board.  Lots of hills and contours.

Massive Team Yankee game.  Those are T-72s spanning the whole board!

Lovely painted SGMMinis - NOT FOR SALE!  unpainted only!

Lovely ship models

Pictures are really just a taste of all that was there.  The Gale Force 9 guys and battlefront people had a neat gimmick - big and small sized Chinese food boxes that you could fill up with their laser cut MDF bases.  I bought 3 big and 2 small!  They were very generous with allowing you to really cram the bases in those boxes.  Let's just say my basing needs for the next 10 years are taken care of - barring any new gaming eras acquired!

Dave and I also got to game in the hotel after the convention, which was also fun because he painted up a Bolt Action 15mm Canadian platoon and a bunch of Shermans to do battle against my 12th SS platoon and Panthers.  (Dave shellacked me, BTW with the majority of my units being wiped out when getting on the board.  He never could get that firefly to hit anything, but then again his infantry did most of the rough work!).

Dave setting up our Bolt Action game!  Easy scenario - 1 platoon vrs 1 platoon.  He had an entire platoon of Shermans with a Firefly.  I had 2 panthers.

Dave's magnificent Canadian infantry

My 12th SS guys - painted up a year ago in anticipation of this game.

My job to keep the center objective

Dave's job to take it!

Lots of dead Germans...

David learned the art of "moving everyone online and shooting the hell out of the enemy"!!

Peanut Butter M&Ms!

Dave's guys flanking the objective

My reinforcements coming on - but the best part was when Dave's Vickers went on "Ambush" and took out Kurt Meyer and mowed down his entire command group as they ran towards the action!  Sh*t!!!!

The next day was my big day in Wally's Basement.  I will host my pictures of all of my looted ill-gotten gains in a day or so.  Also got to see even more super cool games being played as well as participate in a HUGE Battlegroup: Kursk game in 15mm.

gorgeous scenery at a massive 28mm Bolt Action game.

More Bolt Action

Bolt Action

 And also a special treat for Ken - an Et Sans Resultat game hosted by the author.  I got to see a little bit of it but had to leave when the game started as Wally's Basement (flea market) was opening.  I did get to chat with the author a bit and I have to say, I really like his philosophy on Napoleonic gaming.

One of the battlefront display boards!  Awesome!

 The next batch of photos will be our big Battlegroup: Kursk game!  Dave and I commander the right flank, driving on 2 major objectives while our sister battlegroup to the left had to cross a river and Seize "Ponyri-1" which was a satellite village of Ponyri station.

David holding the "bite sized" rules for BG Kursk  Mike from Potomac Wargamers was one of the hosts - he walked us through and did alot of the looking up for us.

tanks and mech infantry crossing the line of departure

The battlefield!  At least our half.

tanks moving out!

All in all, a wonderful time that took my mind off all of the busy and crazy things going on this summer and much needed.  Also my daughter Christina got to truly meet her Godfather David and spend time with him, which she is still talking about!