Back to the brush: CowOrk

Despite my last two posts I have actually been painting a bit and have made some progress on my Deathsquads prisoner (pictures here) as well as some PSC half-tracks and some Battlefront 8-rads, hopefully I will have pictures up for them within a day or two.  I'm not sure why I made the choice to have them transporting crew but they are proving a pain to paint and will probably end up being done to a fairly low standard.  Any ways pictures of the Outlaw Tough Git, now with washes and highlights.  I was at first really disappointed with how the highlighting on the poncho turned out since I thought it looked overdone and clumsy but it actually looks ok in the picture so maybe I am being overly hard on myself.  The jeans however really improved with a wash of devlan mud and now look like a pair of faded grimy Levi's if I do say so myself.  

     

My Favourite Video Games Part 2

I’ve already lost interest in this diversion, so back to painting!  But first I will quickly run through my favourite games for the XBOX 360.  I like real time strategy games on PC so for 360 I mostly play cooperative shooters.  I really feel that playing with a friend is the most fun on an X360 and I wish there were more co-op games, I have been lucky to have played a lot with my ex-girlfriend and my brother.  These are the games I have played and liked, mostly co-ops with a couple strays.  

Gears of War

Excellently done Co-Op campaign and a good cover system make this a fun game to play with a friend.  Chainsawing Locust in half is always a good time as well.   

HALO

Not my favourite and would be downright boring if played solo in my opinion.  It does have great visuals and driving the warthog with one person shooting can lead to some “discussions” with your partner.

Mass Effect

This in my opinion is the alternative to Co-Op the fact that you feel like you are a character in an epic movie.  Mass Effect and its sequels are so engrossing that they are fun to play solo. 

Skyrim

Also has excellent visuals and an open but interesting storyline.  I had fun but didn’t play it much beyond the main storyline.

Borderlands

This is probably my favourite game for the 360.   I really like the RPG shooter style where you both develop your character as well as collecting more and better guns.  This is a great game to play Co-Op the rpg interface is light enough that it doesn’t slow the game down and it’s fun competing for kills. My only complaint is the cartoony style, if this game looked like Mass Effect it would be almost flawless.

Honourable Mention

Rainbow 6: Vegas 2

Again a well done co-op campaign, but while rappelling in through windows is fun it starts to get repetitive.              

My Favourite Video Games Part 1

Today was supposed to be a day of getting a whole bunch of painting done but that didn’t happen.  So instead I thought I would write a short tribute to the cause of my unproductiveness.... Video Games.   So a little background on me I have an older laptop and an XBOX 360 so the games dealt with will only be for those two devices.  Rather than ranking games I am going to go in order of time starting with the oldest games and working up to the newest (still old, can’t run the latest games on my PC).

PC GAMES

1. Steel Panthers Trilogy.

Steel Panthers is basically a hex based war game on the computer.  You purchase your units from a set number of points or are given an Order of Battle based on a scenario.  You then take turns with your opponent moving and shooting with some opportunity fire.  It is much more like a tabletop game than more modern real time strategy games.  There is also a system of command points which being a kid I turned off but for the mature gamer I’m sure they add an extra dimension of command and control to the game.  What makes Steel Panthers awesome is that it includes pretty much everything. I have not yet found a vehicle or unit that existed that does not have its own individual stats in the game.  There are also a number of excellent campaigns and you can even do a generic campaign where you lead your forces over the course of the whole war.  The campaigns are excellent, not fully linear and you keep, repair  and upgrade your same force throughout them. Steel Panthers One and Two have the squad or individual vehicle as the lowest level, One being WW2 and Two being 50’s to the 90’s.  Steel Panthers 3 goes from 30’s to the 90’s with the platoon of infantry or vehicles as the lowest level.  They are currently all available for free download on line and the number of historical scenarios and campaigns has been increased dramatically by fans.  If you are looking to play a tabletop game on your computer then check out Steel Panthers.

2. Sid Meier’s Civil War Collection.

I love this game.  While I find Steel Panthers now feels a bit outdated this game does not.  Sure the graphics are pretty dismal and you can’t micromanage but I like that.  Also the morale system is quite excellent and it is often a hard choice whether to send your general back from the fighting to rally troops that might turn the balance or leave him with your men to keep them in the fight.  This game gets top marks for being extremely historically accurate and really giving the feel of the battles.  Unfortunately with only Gettysburg and Antietam as the battles you can fight there is not nearly as much variety as some games.

3. O.R.B.

“What’s that?” You say. Well unlike the other games you may have heard of I imagine very few people have played ORB it is a RTS space battles game and it is great.  Yes it does have some issues and it has the dubious but proud distinction of having a campaign that I could not finish.  My friend in High school (who is now actually a rocket scientist) put me on to ORB since he felt it really gave the feel of space battles.  It’s a fairly straight forward game in which you mine asteroids and build ships.  But there is a very finite amount of resources and sometimes your fleet comes with you to the next scenario so it leads to a careful husbanding of resources and units.  It is also a very 3D game played on huge maps where ships take quite a while to get where they are going.  It offers a good mix of capital ships and fighters and some unit types are unique to this game.  The campaign provides some interesting twists, although as I said I never actually beat it, it just got too hard. 

4. Total War

This is my favourite game franchise. I have played Medieval, Rome and its expansions, Medieval 2 and expansions and Empire Total War.  Some are better than other but overall I love the mix of turn based campaign maps and real time battles.  Rome and Medieval 2 are both great in my opinion.  Empire was a bit of a let down. I really like the inclusion of naval battles but they seem to have much less need for good tactics and just become boring slug fests.  I have heard that Napoleon Total War is an improvement and am considering buying a new computer primarily so I can play Shogun Total War 2.  The reliance on Steam with Empire is extremely frustrating for me and I despair that the games I love so much puts me through such anguish.  I’m not sure if the system has been improved in later games.

5. Company of Heroes

Oh my old friend, one of the few games I have spent any time playing online.  Online is fun but the campaign is where it is at.  I only have the original and Opposing Fronts and haven’t played the third expansion.  I love the cover and suppression in this game, armour facings, the fact that it is World War 2, and the fact that units miss (Nice to see that all tanks aren’t firing laser guided missiles).  COH is such a great game that I can’t imagine anyone having not played it.  If you haven’t then it is time to fix that immediately.     

6. World in Conflict

I’m not sure if World in Conflict Soviet Assault deserves to be in such illustrious company but it is the game I have been playing most recently.  I initially didn’t like it but it has grown on me to the point where I would recommend it.  I like the Red Dawnesque story line and my man crush on Alec Baldwin means the voice acting in my opinion is top notch.  Unfortunately the game play can be a bit repetitive with the focusing being on micromanaging units and calling in fire support rather than manoeuvring.  The funnest missions I have found are when you are given a small group of helicopters or other units and get to zip around all over the map and actually take the time to micro manage.  In larger battles it seems like I spend most of my time calling in fire missions and sending my repair vehicles to keep my units alive.  Play it for the story not the tactics.   

Honourable Mention 

Dawn of War, a Warhammer 40k adaptation of Company of Heroes, play it if you like the 40k universe otherwise COH is better.                       

Zvezda Stormovik and a CowOrk

So unfortunatly I did not make it down to Vancouver for the Trumpeters Convention.  I'm sure it would have been a great time but I am still feeling a little burnt out from travelling and didn't want to face the 12 hour drive down and then back.  So instead I have made slow progress on a couple projects.  I finished my 1:144 Stormovik to provide some airsupport for my All Plastic Soviets.

I also started painting my prisoner for the Deathsquads Prisoner Exchange 2012.  Below are some conversion and in progress painting pictures (sorry I cannot figure out how to rotate them so you are just going to have to tilit your head.)  The ork is obviously inspired by Western movies, particularly True Grit and the Outlaw Josey Wales.  I had prievously not worked with Greenstuff very much at all and I learned a few things trying to get this guy how I wanted him.  Hopefully I will finish up painting him in the next couple days.    

 

Book Review: Eyewitness to Hell

   
     The book Eyewitness to Hell: With the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front in World War 2 by Erich Stahl.  Is one of the best war memoirs of world war 2 I have ever read.  It is written by someone who was in the action as a NCO, and later junior officer, in someone of the worst fighting that has ever happened; but by someone who was also at the same time in the action as a reporter recording what he saw.  Stahl doesn't explain in the book how he is both an active soldier and a reporter but you get the impression that he is a soldier who used to work for a paper and so continues to file stories from the front line.  Regardless it creates a fascinating mix of someone who is both a member of Hitler's fanatical elite but also also looking to explain what he is doing. 
     Stahl does make some attempt to explain why he is fighting; against communism which he sees as the ultimate evil.  But he also has serious doubts about the Reichs policy towards "racial inferiors", and he is highly impressed by the Ukrainian people and disheartened by how they are treated under German occupation.  His matter of fact descriptions of combat and life on the front are also excellent and he includes a chapter on being imprisoned by the Americans at the end of the war.
            Overall it is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone interested in History.  Particularly anyone interested in the Eastern Front during World War 2.   

Various Projects.

So rather than starting to document my travels I have instead jumped into a couple little projects.

The Deathsquads Prisoner Exchange, is where you convert and paint a model and then send it to a participant somewhere else in the world.  In return another random participant sends you one as well.  Some people are going over the top with multi-model dioramas and such.  I am aiming lower and hoping to do one well executed conversion with a nice paint job.  My plan is to do a cowboy themed Ork "hired gun."  I feel like the hired gun is a good call since it can be used across multiple squads.  I still need to decide on whether I want to try and mold a poncho for him out of green stuff. 

The Black Ork Nob has lost his topknot and received a hat and spurs.

I decided I wanted him to have both guns aimed forward, so I had to cut up an axe arm and re-equip it.

 I am also starting to try to convert my Warhamer Empire army to be a useable Renaissance force for Fields of Glory.  I bought some pikes off the internet and have had a go at cutting their spears away and drilling their hands out.  It hasn't worked out very smoothly with bit of spear left behind but from a distance I think they are starting to look all right.  The small sizes of FOG Renaissance units doesn't help with letting my poor conversions blend into the crowd. I will probably convert around 24 of them to pikes which will give me enough for 4 small pike and shotte units.    

I was hoping to be able to dip my Soviet and German infantry but it is still too cold and too much snow on the ground.  I'll also start writing up some museum/battlefield reviews this week, as soon as I find my motivation.

The Importance of Terraın ın Battles

Thıs post ıs comıng to you from the raıny coast of Medıteranean Turkey. (ıt means I can do cool letters lıke ç and ü but that I have trouble fındıng most punctuatıon).  From haveıng recently vısıted a number of ımportant battle sıghts around Europe ıt really brought ınto focus the ımportance terraın played ın one army defeatıng another.  At Azıncourt nothıng more than a muddy fıeld serıously hampered the french army.  At Crecy the Englısh managed to posıtıon themselves on a low rıdge whıch proved vıtal.  It ıs a really LOW rıdge ıf you were out for a sunday stroll you probably would not remember walkıng up ıt and yet ıt gave the Englısh archers a commandıng vıew of the French who were slowed by the clımb ın theır heavy armour.  

The dıfference between the low casualty beaches of Utah and and the Commonwealth beaches wıth theır open sand and flat plaın behınd were a major contrast to the steep hılls backıng Omaha.  Or even more notıceably the  ımpassable clıffs around Dıeppe and the very steep pebbley beach frontıng dırectly on a town.  In Dıeppe theır ıs even a castle rıght there wıth bunkers buılt ınto the old walls and towers.  I do not understand how anyone thought that was a good spot to try out a new and rısky tactıc and the prıce ın lıves that was paıd ıs not surprısıng when you vısıst the sıght.

In Wargames terraın often seems to be somethıng that ıs maneuvered around and avoıded and not somethıng that plays a vıtal part ın the outcome of the game.  I guess thıs ıs sınce terraın ıs the factor that can allow a weak army to beat a strong whıle ın most games the armıes are balanced.  Allowıng one army to take up a superıor posıtıon would make the game very dıffıcult for the one who was at a dısadvantage. 

The result of thıs ıs I hope to add more major terraın features to my table that shape the battle but ın a faır way to both players.