Star Wars: Battle of Hoth

I didn't even try to resist this Commands & Colors ruleset for the Battle of Hoth, with little toy AT-ATs and snowspeeders. Speedpaints always help with these, and the bases are just sand, painted blue-grey and drybrushed white. The infantry are ~20mm.

The game comes with two branching campaigns of four games each, which is a great way to tie it all together. A game takes under 30 minutes, so a full campaign can be knocked out in an evening!

I threw everything I had at this unstoppable AT-AT,
but it lumbered through my lines and took out the orbital cannon.

The Jacobites are revolting- battle report

Through the power of the Blogosphere, I was able to catch up in person with Captain Darling of the Miniatures Emporium, and the Old Gits.

The Captain and I played our way through the first five scenarios in the Jacobite Rising rules using the venerable Commands & Colors engine. The highland charge is a powerful tactic, but its teeth can be pulled by inflicting casualties on the Scots before they get stuck in. We both quite enjoyed these 17th & 18th century battles with an emphasis on morale rather than absolute casualties.

We kept the theme with an evening in the Captain’s shed of battle playing a five-person game of Song of Drums and Shakos. Three of us were starving Jacobites on the run after Culloden, ambushing a Government supply wagon. I haven’t played a Ganesha game for a few years, and had forgotten how fun they can be. It wasn’t a perfectly balanced scenario, and the Jacobites pulled off a bloody win.

Government forces escort the cart

Jacobites spring out of the ground!

Flanking force from the other side

Look at that tartan!

My commander, McDreamy

Ferocious hand-to-hand fighting

The Government forces try desperately to repel the rebels

This officer held his own despite being grossly outnumbered

But the Scots prevailed!

It was great to meet Captain Darling and the Old Gits in person, and appreciated the hospitality!

WW1 15mm specialists

I painted some WW1 'specialist' troops for PSC's Great War. These are a soft plastic and came with the French Army expansion. I've rebased them on 15mm washers.

British

Lewis Gunners, Elites, and Marksmen

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

German 

MG08/15, Marksmen, and Elites

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

Flamethrowers!

I made the flamethrowers the same as my French one- with some clump foliage soaked in black paint and glue, and heavily drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

The German helmet camouflage was painted over black in a green, a reddish brown, and sand, leaving the black showing between the gaps.

Commands and Colors: Red Alert

C&C Red Alert* is a space fleet combat game based on Richard Borg's Commands and Colors game mechanic. It has just come out after being crowdfunded, with fleets of spaceships made by Plastic Soldier Company. Through a strange miracle, antipodean backers got their games first!

I painted them up quickly, with a spray primer/ wash/ drybrush, and a splash of contrasting colour. The game comes with a giant 4" hex mat. Each ship base is 50x25mm, and the fighters are on 25mm stands.

Commonwealth

Destroyers

Destroyers

Cruisers

Cruisers

Battleships

Carrier

Flagship

Dreadnought

Fighters

Fighters

Confederates

Destroyers

Destroyers

Cruisers

Cruisers

Battleships

Battleships

Carrier

Flagship

Dreadnought

Fighters

Fighters

Neutrals

Transports

Transports

Orbital Station

For the effort taken, I think they look great. I'm keen to give the game a go.

Red Alert

*not to be confused with Command and Conquer: Red Alert, obvs.