On the prowl

My second entry for the painting competition is a rather small one, I must confess. Only 5 6mm vehicules. Thing is, my family has arrived to celebrate Christmas, and I can't really paint. Anyway, here are the famous 5, from GHQ: the AMX-30B2.

Ma deuxieme entree pour le concours de peinture est bien modeste cette fois. Seulement 5 vehicules en 6mm. Le truc est que ma famille est arrivee pour feter Noel ici a Londres, et je n'ai donc plus la poissibilite de peindre. En attendant, voici donc les 5 chars AMX-30B2 de chez GHQ, qui viennent de sortir de mon etabli:

The AMX-30B2 is an evolution from the AMX-30, developped in the late 60's. Indeed, he received in the 80's a laser-guidance system, a better transmission... The interesting thing lies in its armour: only 80mm, which might seem ridiculous. Well it had been designed first for mobility and discretion, and then tank destrucion, with a powerful 105mm gun with a special round, very effective up until 3km.

L'AMX-30B2 est une evolution del'AMX-30, developpe dans les annes 60. Au depart, c'est un char tres particulier, tres peu blinde (seulemnt 80mm de blindage), les ingenieurs avaient tout mise sur sa taille et sa vitesse. Pas forcement idiot, mais pas au point, malgre un bon canon de 105mm, tirant une munition speciale plutot efficace jusqu'a 3km. Le Bé a recu un systeme de visee laser, une meilleure transmission...

In CWC, the AMX-30B2 is very chalenging to play. For 125 points, you have a tank with stabilisor, Infra-red, but 5 hits and a 5+ save (yup, only 5+). so why should I use it? Well, its gun can fire 5 shots at 120cm (take that pesky Commie ;))

A CWC, le char est un vrai challenge a jouer. Il ne coute que 125 points. Pourquoi donc? on a un stabilisateur et la possiblite d'utiliser les infra-rouges. On a egalement un bon canon qui tire 5 fois a 120cm... Le hic, c'est qu'il n'a que 5 hits et une save a 5+ (argh). En general, les chars de cette epoque ont une sauvegarde a 4+ voire 3+ comme l'Abrahams... Mais j'aime les challenges.

Some French punchy recon units

The 3rd Analogue hobbies painting competition is now finally on! And thanks to a day alone at home, I've been able yesterday to paint a few of my Cold War 6mm French. Let's start with the first group, the ERC- 90 Sagaie:

 

Le 3e concours de peinture d'Analogue Hobbies vient de debuter. GRace a un jour tranquille seul a la maison, j'ai pu avancer mon armee francaise guerre froide en 6mm. Voici donc le premier groupe, les ERC-90 Sagaie:

The minis are from CinC and were easy to paint. ERC means "Engin a Roue, Canon de 90mm", " wheeled vehicule with a 90mm gun, east ;) ). They were developped and produced by Panhard in the 1970's, are amphibious, can operate in contaminated areas and can be transported by plane. Cool stuff. Though lightly armoured (only 10mm), they are bloody fast, with a 60km/h top speed in cross-country, and 95 km/h on road... With a 800km range. In Cold War Commander, they are rated as Recon units, , can move up to 25cm (not bad), have 4 shots up to 80 cm (same range as a T-72), have Infra-red vision, 3 hits and a 6+ save. Ok, they're brittle, but might be deadly in ambush.

Les figs viennent de CinC et ont ete tres faciles a peindre. ERC signifie "Engin a Roue, Canon de 90mm" . Plutot facile a retenir, non? Le vehicule a ete developpe par Panhard dans les annees 70. Il est amphibie, peut intervenir en atmosphere contaminee et est aerotransportable. Bref, que du bonheur. Le blindage n'est que de 10mm, mais son point fort est la vitesse, avec des pointes a 60km/h en tout-terrain et 95km/h sur route. Il a une autonomie de 800km. A Cold War Commander, pour 90 petits points, vous avez un vehicule de reco qui peut se deplacer de 25cm, et qui possede 4 tirs a 80 cm (la portee d'un T-72), ainsi que la vision infra-rouge. Bon, ok, il n'a que 3 hits et une sauvegarde a 6+...

Next are 3 AMX-10 RC. Voici maintenant les AMX-10RC.

They were developped by GIAT industry at the same time as the ERC-90. They are a specialised in recon and strike. Their 105mm gun (yup) is very effective up until 2km (meaning a Russian tank doesn't really stand a chance), can race up to 85 km/h on road, and can operate in contaminated areas as well. Very nasty too.

In Cold war Commander, for a mere 120 points, you have a unit with 4 hits and a 6+save, but have 5 shots up to 100cm! Russian tanks, beware!

 

Developpe par le GIAT dans la meme periode, c'est un vehicule la encore specialise dans le reco, mais aussi dans les attaques eclair. Leur canon de 105mm est redoutable jusqu'a 2km ( pauvres Russes) et peuvent decamper jusqu'a 85km/h (catch me if you can!). Ils peuvent egalement operer en atmosphere contaminee. A CWC, pour 120 points, vous avez une unite a 4 hits, une sauvegarde a 6+, avec 5 attaques a 100cm! Niark niark.

D-Day minus 1, getting ready

Between my teaching lessons and my studies in web design (my wife now thinks I'm a complete geek), I managed to finish painting another unit for my TYW army. Don't be disappointed, it's just a warm-up, a lot of minis have been prepped, and I'm ready to rock.

Anyway, today what you can see is the Turenne Cavalry regiment, created by the soon-to-be famous Turenne, during the operations on the Rhine Valley. The minis are from Testudo, and sadly this lot was worse than the previous one. One horseman was completely unusable, and to be complete, I added a dead footman from Old Glory. It is really sad to have such poor moulds, because the minis look really lively, and menacing.

Plus que quelques heures avant le lancement officiel du concours de peinture. Je m'echauffe tranquillement en vous presentant une nouvelle unite de mon armee francaise. Je prends mon temps pour le moment, car je suis occupe, entre mes cours particuliers et mes etudes de web design ( je suis desormais l'archetype du geek selon ma femme). Il s'agit du regiment de cavalerie de Turenne, oui-oui, celui qui va devenir super celebre quelques annees plus tard, qui operait dans la vallee du Rhin. Les figs sont des Testudo, et la j'ai ete encore plus decu que la derniere fois. En effet, un des cavaliers etait tout simplement inutilisable, et j'ai compense en mettant un mort Old Glory ;) C'est vraiment dommage, car les figs sont vraiment belles. Enfin bon.

I am number 38, and more cavalry

Curt's painting competition will start in a few days, and I'm slowly but surely warming up. He decided to ask us for some points objectives. Right, this is a tricky one. Let's first have a look at the scoring system:

6mm foot figure = 1 point
6mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 2 pts
6mm vehicle = 3 pts

15mm foot figure = 2 pts
15mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 4 pts
15mm vehicle = 6 pts

20mm foot figure = 4 pts
20mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 8 pts
20mm vehicle = 12 pts

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

54mm foot figure = 10 pts
54mm mounted figures, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 20 pts
54mm vehicle, limber, etc. = 30 pts

So, to sum it up:
- if I want to finish my TYW army, I should paint probably around 400points.
- next, my medieval additional units should amount to around 200 points.
- I also have to finish my French modern army in 6mm, maybe 100 points.
- I'd like to paint some more Vikings : between 40 and 100 points
- then if I'm productive, I'll start my Ancients army, maybe 200 points if I'm lucky.
- And of course, at least one Ronin ;)

So, I might be able to achieve a reasonable score of 1000 points, not bad I think.

Meanwhile, I finished basing a new French cavalry unit for my Thirty Years War project. The minis are from Testudo, and to be honest with, I don't like them. Don't get me wrong, they paint well, but there were lots of mould problems (flash and missing parts). Sadly, I have two more units from them... I prefer the Old Glory ones. Ah well.

Si j'en crois le blog de Curt, je suis le numero 38 sur sa liste. Il nous demande de publier un objectif a atteindre, et d'apres le systeme de points et ma liste ci-dessus, vous voyez que je vais essayer d'atteindre les 1000 points. Cela reste ambitieux, attention, surtout que je commence a avoir du travail en temps que web develloper amateur. Enfin passons.

Vous pouvez egalement voir que je viens de terminer une nouvelle unite de cavalerie francaise pour mon projet Guerre de trente ans. Ce sont des Testudo, et franchement je ne les aime pas. Elles sont certes agreables a peindre, cependant, que de problemes de moules! Entre le flash et les parties manquantes... je prefere de loin les cavaliers Old Glory.

Bon, c'est pas tout ca, je me motive pour le concours de peinture. Zoum!

on my way to a challenge

Right. Curt at Analogue hobbies has launched a painting challenge, which will start on 20th December.

 I've chosen to enter it because I have a lot to paint, and need to keep motivated.
So here are my projects:
-  finish my 15mm TYW army.
-  paint some 15mm medieval stuff, to do a Condotta army.
-  start my new 15mm ancients project
-  maybe paint a couple of 28mm Viking minis.


Curt sur son blog Analogue hobbies a lance un concours de peinture, qui commencera officiellement le 20 decembre.

j'ai decide d'y participer pour entretenir ma motivation et continuer a peindre. Voici donc mes projets:
- terminer mon armee 15mm TYW.
- peindre des complements en medieval pour me faire une armee Condotta.
- commencer un nouveau projet en Antique
- peut-etre peindre quelques Vikings en 28mm.

And the nominees are...

As most of you should have noticed, there is a liebster award thing going around at the moment amongst us fellow bloggers. Well, I got tagged by two Andrews at the same time ;). The first one from Random and creative, and the second one from Loki's great hall. Thanks guys. Both of them insisted on the variety of content, and my sense of humour. Hmmm...

Comme beaucoup d'entre vous l'auront remarque, le liebster award circule pas mal en ce moment sur internet et la blogosphere. Je considere ce phenomene comme sympathique, mais surtout comme un moyen de faire connaitre des blogs. J'ai ete remarque par deux Andrew en meme temps, qui insistent sur mon sens de l'humour ( merci les gars) et du coup, je vais me plier a cet exercice.

hmmm, nice boobs

Here are the rules:

1/ Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it to you.


2/ Pass the award to your top 5 favourite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of their posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.

3/ Sit back and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing that you have just made someone's day!

Voici les regles:

1/ copier-coller l'award sur le blog en le liant au bloggueur qui vous l'a decerne.

2/ passer cette recompense a vos 5 blogs preferes  ayant moins de 200 followers, en laissant un commentaire leur indiquant qu'ils ont gagne cet award.

3/ profitez de ce moment agreable sachant que vous avez fait plaisir a quelqu'un.

Right. So the nominees are, in no particular order:

- Gilles from Wilderness of mirrors. I know Gilles. Yes, he's French too, but hey, he's a really nice guy, and he can paint very well too. You should have a look.

- Marc, from Marcofwar2 . What! Another French guy?!? Yup, this is the French connection. Seriously, Marc is also a very nice guy, and a very talented painter too.

- Fred from Hobbyonenews. Right, another French guy, but you should see what he can do in 25mm... And his 15mm are simply stunning.

- Another French guy, Boris, from la petite armee.  Also very talented, especially in 25mm. And besides, he's got the Bobby's style ;) (ok, private joke)

- Last, Pakullai from Project Terra Miniatura... Yes, he's French too, but his zombieland campaigns in 15mm are soo good to follow, so enjoyable... Trust me, you'll like the episodes ;)

Obviously I couldn't put all the blogs I follow at the moment, so don't take this personally if i didn't choose you.

 

More dragoons on the way

Right. Those guys were more or less for some time now. But they weren't based, so they weren't shown. Those minis from Old Glory, except the mounted riders, were, as always, a pleasure to paint. Though the French can only have 4 bases of dragoons, they can have an ally with 4 more bases. And yes, dragoons can be very useful. I chose to paint them in red, simply because I intend to use them for the club FOG-Renaissance competition, set during the English Civil War. And btw, I've already won my first game, but sadly you won't have any batrep, I forgot my camera. I was a game between my 1644 Parlementarian against Chris Covenanter Scots...

Smoke on the battlefield... tin, tin tinnn, tin tin tintin

Ces lascars etaient peints depuis un moment, mais ils n'avaient pas ete socles, donc hors de question de  les montrer. C'est maintenant chose faite, et ces Old Glory (sauf les deux cavaliers Museum) sont toujours aussi plaisants a peindre. Les Francais ne peuvent avoir que 4 socles de dragons, mais en prenant un allie, ils peuvent en avoir 4 autres. Et comme les dragons sont toujorus utiles ;) Je les ai peints cette fois en rouge, pour montrer leur origine differente, et pour pouvoir les utiliser tranquillement pour notre tournoi interne de FOG-Renaissance, dont le theme est la guerre civile anglaise. A ce propos, j'ai gagne mon premier match contre les Covenanter de Chris, mais vous n'aurez helas pas droit a un compte-rendu, car j'avais oublie mon APN...

A drop of medievals

I'm not really motivated to paint at the moment, and to be honest, I haven't really used a brush for the past two weeks... But then, the weather, my studies... Anyway. Today, I present you my latest production to date, a mix of Corvus Belli and Donnington new era: crossbowmen. They're not especially powerful, armed only with their crossbows and their will to fight (erm). They can however be useful to support other units, or even to do some flank attacks. To follow, I don't know yet, I have a lot of stuff to finish basing, but you'll see soon enough.

Tata.

Je vais etre honnete avec vous, je ne suis pas tres motive pour peindre en ce moment, entre le temps et mes etudes ( c'est trop bon le web-design). Je n'ai guere touche un pinceau depuis 2 semaines... Voici toutefois ma derniere production en date, un melange de Corvus Belli et de Donnington new era, des arbaletriers. Bon, ils n'ont queleur arme de tir et leurs yeux pour pleurer, mais ils sont utiles pour supporter les autes unites, voire pour tenter des attaques de flanc. A venir, je ne sais pas encore, j'ai plein de trucs a finir de socler...

A plus

Good bye China, hello new project

Now that the Ancients competition is over, I've decided to sell my Chinese army. And to my delight, someone from the club has already bought it, and asked me to paint some extras. Hurray! Am I sad to see it go? After all the battles, the victories, the defeats? Well, yes and no. Of course it's always sad to do this, especially when you spent so much time painting the minis, but then, I really need the room , the cash, and I may decide to change the way I game. My wife has already started working very late, so I won't really be able to go the club until next March (sigh), and after that, we've decided to move out, to find a cheaper flat to live in, still in London. it means I might be too far from the club to go there. So I'm now pondering the idea of solo wargaming, and I have one or two projects in mind. The first one will be a miniature conversion of this wonderful game: Xcom:enemy unknown. I'd play it in 15mm and I've already started thinking about the rules.


Maintenant que le tournoi antique du cub est termine, j'ai decide de vendre mon armee chinoise, et quelqu'un s'en est deja porte acquereur, me demandant de lui peindre quelques extras. Je suis a la fois triste et content de la voir partir, car meme si j'avoue que je l'aimais bien, surtout avec le temps passe dessus, j'ai vraiment besoin de place et d'argent. De plus, il est possible que je m'oriente vers le wargame solo, et ce pour deux raisons: tout d'abord ma femme a commence a bosser super tard, m'empechant d'aller au club jusqu'a mi-mars. De plus, nous avons envisage par la suite de demenager dans un autre quartier pour des raisons economiques. Consequence: je m'eloigne encore du club... Donc bon. J'ai donc commence a reflechir a des projets, a commencer par celui d'une adaptation d'Xcom enemy unknown en 15mm; j'ai deja des idees.

Dans le meme temps, j'en ai profite pour actualiser la galerie des Chinois Warring States, en bidouillant un peu le code pour en faciliter le visionnage, grace a mes lecons de web design. Toute critique est la bienvenue ;)

And in the mean time, I took a picture of the whole Chinese, posted it in the Warring States Gallery page, and I've also tweaked the page using the knowledge from my web design course, to facilitate the viewing. Hope you like it ;)

Warring States gallery

boobies trap, a FOG batrep part2

As soon as the drums were heard, the whole army sprang forward, both wings pointing towards the enemy, while the center remained calm. Wagoon-Li was leading the left, Psy the center and Tarusan the right wing, with some infantry and the cavalry... He was worried of what was about to happen... The devious madaxeman had deployed the right troups to simply contain and then destroy his whole wing... In fact, he was facing a huge part of the army all by himself... Now the plan didn't seem so good... F******* stripper: crossbows with stakes, cavalry, armoured spearmen... Yes that was a grim sight. Tarusan prayed quickly and hoped that Wagoon-Li would fast enough.

ok, very blurry pic, damn, I think my camera is dying

I don't feel that confident...

In the center, Psy was freaking out. Dim-Sun, Nuoc-nam and swallows nests! The worthless madaxeman was manoeuvering like a genius! His light infantry was simply moving to block the advance of Wagoon-Li, while the rest of the heavy troups were pouring forward, towards his only infantry unit: impact foot barbarian allies, armoured sworsdmen, heavy weapons... Right, he should have drank a few more cups of ricewine before...

By the ancestors we're screwed...

Oi!

Mummy! Where's my mummy?

But, why?

Yes, it looked as if the battle would be over soon. And Wagoon-Li was nowhere to be seen... In despair, the noble heavy chariots charged towards the spearmen and died horribly, buying some time between the center and the right wing.

Note: I don't have any pic of this, but my chariots failed twice their test not to charge those pesky armoured spearmen... Of course they died, but they lasted three roounds of combat... more than enough.

On the right, Tarusan braced and relieved himself when he saw the huge mass of troops coming at him: barbarians, cavalry.... Facing impossible odds, he threw up and then threw himself in the melee, roaring like a lion!

And then... a miracle... He won, and won again, and then routed two units of Chinese rebels.

He sent a messenger to Wagoon-Li and Psy not to despair, everything was fine on his side:

Psy felt better: his right flank was saved and, though the enemy was coming right at him and dared charge, Wagoon-Li was finally seen coming his way: Yes, the Chinese were trapped! Right against their flank!

Those who're about to die... run away!

The enemy was running away everywhere. Cheers could be heard along the Qin lines. Many heads to cut! Many promotions to be expected! And then, drums were heard. Such a number of drums... No one could have imagined that many drums... Suddenly, a single horseman moved towards our lines... Calm, dignified, he asked for Wagoon-Li.

" My master madaxeman is dead. He prefered committing suicide rather than facing your judgement. I'm his second in command, More-Fu-Less-Rice. And I ask for your mercy. I conceit defeat."

A wave of cheers simply exploded like a volcano amongst the Qin ranks! Hurray! General Psy couldn't believe it ! Overcome with joy, he started dancing in front of his soldiers who mimicked him...

I've won. Gosh, that's it! I've won. I've won the Ancients club comp... Was I lucky during this game? Yes! But I knew I would win on my left and the center. My right would have been more problematic, so that's why I'd put my cavalry and a big infantry unit, to soak up the hits. The impact is really effective: +1 against every kind of unit Tim had, and lots of crossbows in support. Those were not that effective, but scored enough hits to force some tests.

Trial by boobies, part 1 a FOG batrep

Wagoon-Li felt miserable. He shouldn't have drunk that much last. Though a defeat against the Assyrian rebels, his last battle had been undecisive enough to to climb up higher in the hierarchy...

Wagoon-Li se sentait miserable. Il n'aurait pas du boire autant. Meme si sa derniere bataille avait ete une defaite, celle-ci avait ete sufffisamment indecise pour lui permettre de grimper dans la hierarchie... n. 521, aie, ca devient chaud la.

Well played. You're now n.521. Be proud! I'm watching you closely

But now he faced a terrible trial: he to face again his nemesis, the despicable master Porter "madaxeman", in a brutal civil war...again... What to do? What to do? Maybe the party wasn't such a good idea. He needed to think... And not about the striper... Too late...

Mais il avait devant lui une tres lourde tache: affronter une nouvelle fois sa nemesis, le repugnant maitre Porter "madaxeman", dans ce qui serait une terrible guerre civile. Que faire? Que faire? L'orgie d'hier n'etait peut-etre pas une bonne idee finalement... Il fallait reflechir... et ne pas penser a la stripteaseuse... trop tard...

Suddenly, a flash, an idea... He had a plan...
"I'll trap him in the plain... He won't be able to escape... And I'll also recruit some Qin troops...In fact, Let be aggressive, and recruit as many Qin as possible ( in FOG, the Qin are undrilled and only protected, but theyr're impact foot, nasty, and they can have mixed troops with crossbows as well, even nastier )

Soudain, un flash, une idee... Il avait un plan.
"Je vais le pieger dans la plaine, il sera incapable de m'echapper. Oh et je vais recruter des Qin... Soyons fou et recrutons le maximum de Qin possible ( a FOG, les QIN sont undrilled et seulement protected. mais ils sont impact foot et peuvent etre mixes avec des arbaletes, pour donner un coktail detonnant).

Wagoon-Li called his two other generals, Psy and Tarusan:

- "Right guys, you know we face our most dreaded enemy, the "madaxeman".

-Yup. We're so screwed, I already the torturer coming...

- No, fear not. Because I have a plan. The most cunning plan since master Baldrick decided to retire.

- Oh, that cunning? Have you read Sun-Tzu?

-Right. Erm, not quite... Do you remember yesterday's striper? Saburina?

- Oh yeahhh... Sorry, bit of drooling there.

- I know what you mean. Well, while thinking about the best way to defeat him, I thought about her... and here is what I call the "boobies trap": We're going to create a hollow center, with two strong wings. Madaxeman will be sucked in, though he might attack one of the wings, but then it'll be too late.

- Genius!

-Thank you."

And the troops got their marching order, to try to create this "boobies trap"...

Sur ce, Wagoon-Li appela ses generaux, PSY et Tarusa:

-" Ok les gars, vous savez que nous allons affronter notre plus redoutable ennemi, le "madaxeman".

-Ouaip. Et franchement ce me fout le bourdon rien que d'y penser, car la perspective du bourreau et de ses supplices ne m'enchantent guere...

- Ne craignez rien, j'ai un plan machiavelique... Plus machiavelique que celui de maitre Chirac quand il decida de dissoudre son assemblee de conseillers.

- Ah oui quand meme. Tu as enfin lu Sun Tzu?

-Euh... un abrege. Vous vous souvenez de la stripteaseuse d'hier? Saburina?

- Gneeeeeeee. Pardon pour le filet de bave.

-Je comprends. Eh bien, en reflechissant a la meilleure maniere de le battre, j'ai pense a elle. Et voici ce que j'appelle le "piege a notaire": nous allons creer un centre vide aui va attirer Madaxeman, qui va se retrouver pieger par les deux ailes fortes. Il attaquera surement une des ailes, mais il sera alors trop tard.

-Genial!

-Je sais... Au boulot!

Et les troupes recurent leur ordre de marche...

See you very soon for part 2 ;)

The Chinese Head hunters

Right. Finally some painted minis to show you. I managed to base and flock my last unit for the final game against Tim in our club competition. This time, I chose a darker pattern: Black overcoat, and then highlights... I do feel they've been rushed a bit. I wasn't that satisfied of the result. But then, they're done, and ready to fight.  For the bit of History: The reverred emperor had a certain number of captured Qin troops. Instead of killing them, knowing their valor in combat, he decided to give them a second chance. Because of their origin, they took the name of Head Hunters, the Qin being famous for taking the heads of fallen enemies as an act of courage and skill. Will they be up to the task I'm asking for them? You'll see soon enough ;)

Enfin, ma derniere unite chinoise est peinte. Certes elle etait pratiquement terminee depuis un certain temps, mais elles n'ont ete basees qu'hier, en vue de participer a la finale du tournoi interne contre Tim. Je suis parti sur un schema fonce, histoire de tricher un peu: sous-couche noire, puis eclaircissements. Ca fait un peu expeditif, et je trouve qu'elles sont au final un cran au-dessous de ce que j'ai eu l'habitude faire, mais bon, elles sont plus que correctes. Pour la petite histoire: l'empereur, dans sa magnanimite, ne tua pas ses prisionniers Qin, mais, connaissant leur bravoure au combat, leur offrit une seconde chance et autorisa la creation d'une nouvelle unite. LEs hommes prirent le nom de Chasseurs de tetes, en souvenir de leur origine. En effet, les Qin etaient reputes prendre les tetes des ennemis vaincus en temoignage de leur bravoure et de leurs aptitudes. Seront-ils a la hauteur? Vous le saurez tres bientot ;)