Felix's Gaming Pages

The Comet is on its way…

Battlefront have shown a preview of the new plastic Comet boxed set.

One of my most popular blog posts is from 2011 when I discussed the then forthcoming Battle of Bulge supplement.

I made the request

I would like to see two tanks in particular, the M24 Chaffee and the British Comet. These tanks are currently not in the FoW range.

The Chaffee arrived in 2012, but it has taken a little longer for the Comet to arrive. As with many of the new models from Battlefront it is a plastic kit. It looks great and the instructions simple, resulting in an effective looking model.

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of World War II. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with a 77mm HV, a derivative of the 17 pounder, with the result it was one of the few British tanks with the firepower to challenge late war German designs.

Bitter Creek Todd – Legends of the Old West

Done some more work on Bitter Creek Todd, one of my Old West Gunfighters.

Here is the rear view.

I need to finish the basecoats and then he will receive a wash to add shadow.

Gaming Revolution

No not a revolution in gaming, this is a blog post about the television series called Revolution.

Revolution is a series in which all the power stops working, an event which became known as the Blackout. The basic premise behind the series is that there is no electricity, there are no combustion engines, however steam engines work as does gunpowder and automatic weapons.

In some respects it mirrors many of the ideas in the Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling, though in that series of books, as well as no electricity, there is no steam engines and gunpowder just fizzles. As a result that world reverts to a feudal society with a medievalistic level of technology. Revolution is similar, but different as there are assault rifles and steam powered vehicles. In addition the way in which electricity and power has stopped working, means in some instances it will work, so you can for some scenarios have vehicles or even helicopters.

There is a lot of ideas and inspiration for gaming from the two series that were broadcast and unfortunately like a lot of other American series, it was cancelled before it had the chance for a full run.

The action sequences in the episodes really provide many of the ideas for scenarios for games. We have bandits armed with a mish-mash of weapons attacking fortified towns. Armed militia from different nation states fight pitched battles or border skirmishes with a limited number of guns, but everyone has a sword and some are armed with crossbows. You could have raiding parties against barricaded farmhouses, or attacks on a steam train.

I can really see how games in the Revolution universe would work using the mechanics I outlined for my Tally Ho! game. The heroes and villains of the series appear to be able to do so much more than the miltia, bandits and other groups in the battles they fight.

Get Revolution Series 1 at Amazon or on iTunes.

Get Revolution Series 2 at Amazon or on iTunes.

Ork Gunwagon with Kannon

This is my Ork Gunwagon with Kannon.

This one of the earlier Forge World models and I got mine back in 2005 (I think, possibly 2006).

You can see how I painted and made this model on the workbench feature for it.

Wild Bill Hickok

Slow progress with Wild Bill Hickok. Wild Bill Hickok is part of the Foundry OW9/1 Shootists pack.

I decided to use a bit of green stuff to texture the base. This will combined with the Citadel Texture make the base look more like a base and less like a coin. I gave his trousers a coat of light brown paint.

Bill Longley from the Old West

Another work in progress shot of one of my Old West gunfighters, Bill Longley.

I decided to use a bit of green stuff to texture the base. This will combined with the Citadel Texture make the base look more like a base and less like a coin.

Steampunk Soldiers

Really like the idea and concept of this recent publication by Osprey, Steampunk Soldiers, covers a world which might have been.

Steampunk Soldiers is a unique pictorial guide to the last great era of bright and colourful uniforms, as well as an important historical study of the variety of steam-powered weaponry and equipment that abounded in the days before the Great War of the Worlds.

Between 1887 and 1895, the British art student Miles Vandercroft travelled around the world, sketching and painting the soldiers of the countries through which he passed. In this age of dramatic technological advancement, Vandercroft was fascinated by how the rise of steam technology at the start of the American Civil War had transformed warfare and the role of the fighting man. This volume collects all of Vandercroft’s surviving paintings, along with his associated commentary on the specific military units he encountered.

The book is full of full colour pages, as with many Osprey publications and I really love the back story of how and why the book was published.

Steampunk Soldiers

As one of the reviewers says:

When Samantha Callaghan approached Osprey with her great-great uncle, Miles Vandercroft’s collection of paintings and notes she didn’t really know what she had on her hands, but the publishers were soon to realise that they had a potential hit on their hands, or so the introduction leads us to believe.

If you like Osprey books and like Steampunk then you are going to probably like this book.

Order Steampunk Soldiers from Amazon