Imp APC

Got two of these during RAFM's 40% off sale in August.
The number of parts and complexity of construction has put me off assembling until now.

This is not for the faint of heart.
Took me three attempts to get the inner and end pieces all together, square and attached to the top.

Here's the first one assembled.

Interesting design, but I'm not sure why they had to cast the hull in so many pieces.

It comes with two weapon options; a remote gun turret and a missile launcher.

Russian Armour

Another bit if holiday painting, the start of some armoured support for my WW2 Soviets.

The KV-2 is a gift from the Mad Padre. A Command Decision model, the Padre figured 3 were more than needed and sent me one.
The others are all Battlefront that Mikey found for me at the Fall-In flea market.  T-60s and T-70s were the last tanks I wanted, but I did say I was looking for any Soviet vehicles or artillery, and ironically the T-60 and T-70s are what he found.

Mikey has a blind spot for Battlefront, or else they've become so market dominant that you can't find other, not so overpriced manufactures, in the flea markets right now. 
Next time I'll have to send him with some money to the Old Glory booth to get the T-26s that I really want for 1941 games.
But at least my Soviets have some support now.

Battered Markers for Dragon Rampant

My game last weekend drove home that I needed some markers to indicate that a unit was battered. Something better than the red rubber caps we used.
For games of Lion Rampant I have a selection of both 11th and 15th century casualty figures to mark a unit as battered. But nothing appropriate to Middle Earth.
So I sat down with some washers and my bits box and made these:

I spread caulking on the washers (taping over the holes first) and the covered them in sand.
Spare shields and weapons were then glued in place to represent the broken flotsam of a field of battle.
After a week of letting things set up properly, it was a simple matter of painting and flocking, mixing both Evil and Free shield motifs. I used a few flower and grass tufts to help them pop.

I hope 10 are enough.

Geek Therapy; Dragon Rampant in our Pyjamas.

The Mad Padre and I have been trying to book another gaming playdate ("Operation Thundering Dice 2017") all year. But other things have taken priority. This past Friday a worn Mad Padre arrived at the Townhouse of Solitude for some much needed geek therapy.  He'd brought his Lord of the Rings kit, so a big game of Dragon Rampant was set up before we went to bed.
The objective was to control the ruined town in the middle of the table. High roll got to pick a table edge and deploy second.
I sorted out a 99 point army for the Witch-King. Mike was able to field an alliance of Elves and Men by borrowing from my Elves. The army of Angmar was divided into four commands, with the dragon being a separate 20 point command on his own. On the Facebook Dragon Rampant forum there has been some discussion of "epic warbeasts"; head and body are each one greater warbeast (head has flame and cunning, body has flight and cause fear). So lots of hit points, but if either portion is killed or routed the whole beast is killed or routed.
Saturday morning, after some bacon and eggs and lots of tea, we went downstairs in our pyjamas to start rolling dice.

Angmar Right and Centre: goblins, goblin scouts, trolls and my new hobgoblin/uruk unit

Angmar Left: Men of Carn Dûm and a Big Damn Dragon

Free Folk Right; Riders of Rohan (heavy riders one unit with bows) and the essential tea.

Free Folk Centre: a ton of Elves. Archers, scouts, heavy foot, elite foot and a couple of spell casters

Free Folk Left: Rohan foot and two Ents

The objective

The Padre ponders 

Overview 

The dragon pounces! The Padre hates dragons

Goblin hordes occupies the ruins and scouts grab the high ground 

Right wing sweeps around the ruined tower

Goblin centre in the ruins

Elves advance, a bit

Rohirrim advance

Elves and goblins trade shots

Goblin centre holds in the ruins, waiting for the flanks to put pressure on the Elves.

And nobody wants to advance against all those elite archers 

Pesky naked Elfin scouts support the Ents

Theoden  gets stuck in

The Riders die bravely.

Trolls drive back elf archers

Big push on Angmar's right

Driving back the Rohirrim on both flanks

Ent stops the troll advance but gets heavily wounded

Fell men advance very slowly

Still waiting in the centre. Nôg the goblin starts cooking lunch....

Eowyn and Rohan heavy foot take on the trolls

Angmar's high water mark on the right. Elf elite foot stop my flanking move. Rout  the unit kill my division commander and cause a cascade of courage tests. 

Merry kills one of the trolls.

When you roll badly for Courage twice.

When you're an evil wizardling and your covering foot retire battered and then you flub casting your spell....

Rohirrim storm the hill driving off the goblin scouts

Uruks go after some elves but without luck

The Dragon has flanked the Elves, but his fire attacks on the Elf sorceress fail. The goblins are destroyed and the men are retreating in tatters so he packs it in.

Victory for Elves and Men!

Smoochie, Morgoth's cuddliest minion, is the trophy for the victorious Padre. 

I was going to write a clever story in the dragon's satiric voice, but it's been a week of heavy overtime before the Christmas break, so my muse is tired.

Sorry.

More next week.