Boxing Day Painting

   Some of the things I have finally finished up over the past few days, as I got the chance to do so.

First up: A Paneuro Cybertank

This is a French Fencer. Its main armament is a collection of missile racks.

It is named L'Orient. The original Orient was a French ship of the line 

that blew up at the Battle of the Nile when her magazine exploded.

It has both the original turret and the up-gunned Fencer-B turret. (Shown here and below)

I hand painted both the Paneuro logo (the Corinthian helmet) and the French roundel.

The roundel was easier.

Five of these small tank bases were completed for my Dystopian Wars Prussian Empire force.

This is the Staff base for FOW British 8th Army artillery.

The map is a printout of an actual Tobruk map.

Here's the WTO (Wireless Telegraph Operator)

An observer stand. Note the sparse brush they are taking cover within.

Same observers, different view.

The entire Artillery HQ. Now I need to paint some guns.

   I have also finished painting the five Martian Shield Gunners that have been languishing on the table, but no photos just yet. I have updated my painting log, and I am just at 100 28mm figures this year. Pretty good. I am going to try and finish some more 6mm vehicles for Ogre (the Luftpanzer company I received for Christmas, for example). I will also try and finish off some more 15mm figures. I have ten British naval Brigade troops on the painting table right now, and I am considering tackling a batch of 15mm salamander men from Khurasan that I got from Eli a couple of years ago, but never figured out how I wanted to paint them. Now I think I am just going to go with classic green and get them on the table!

Boxing Day Gift Wrapup

First of all...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

   This year, as usual, I got very little in the way of gaming-related items. But what I got was pretty cool.

    From my mother, I received two of the now unavailable boxed sets of Ogre Miniatures: Paneuro Set 6 and Paneuro Set 4.

   My lovely wife bought me the Ogre 6E Exclusive counter sheets from BoardGame Geeks. I particularly wanted the not-Godzilla and the radio tower. The Ogre Ninja and extra Mk. VI were nice bonuses to those.

   And that's about it, strictly gaming-wise. I got the boys some Munchkin cards and dice, so it was definitely a Steve Jackson Games bonus Christmas...

   In the comments, please share what gaming goodies you may have received this year.

It is Completed!

  Actually, two things were.

  One is the semester of school, with the submission of my 13 page paper titled "Collaboration in Three Balkan States, 1941-1945." We will celebrate tonight with Hobbit-y movie goodness. SMAUG!

   The other is my punching out and constructing the pieces for Ogre Designer's Edition. It only took about three weeks.

   The image above is Steve Jackson Games's version. Mine is a bit messier, with the pieces of Nihon Empire kit sitting in one of the empty bays.

  The next few days will consist of painting minis, buying Christmas presents, painting minis, wrapping gifts, painting minis, going to Austin, and painting minis.

The Day of the Doctor

   The Day of the Doctor, Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary Special episode, was just brilliant. No spoilers, in case you are a Whovian who was tied up and forcibly kept from viewing it (because if you're a real Whovian, that's what it would have taken to keep you from catching it). But it was AWESOME, and it sets the 12th/13th Doctor up for a really cool quest next season.

   How does this relate to gaming? I am going to order some 6mm not-Daleks after I get home from our vacation this week. The time has come.

An OGRE has Been Sighted!

   Yesterday, from about 1600 to 1640 hours, a Combine Ogre Mk. III thrashed a Paneuro armored battalion. It was AWESOME, even though I lost to my 14-year-old son.

Opening Setup

Yes, that is a platoon of infantry under the Ogre.

It is smaller now than it was before the Ogre ran it over.

   Lesson One: Bring more howitzers, and shoot at the treads. I only had one howitzer, and I didn't hit his treads with it except for one time. I did slow him down, though.

   Lesson Two: Take out the Primary Battery first. Secondaries don't have much range, missiles are limited in number, and AP can't hurt anything but infantry.

   Lesson Three: Hold your infantry back to someplace where you can combine their attacks with something else. Like howitzers.

   Lesson Four: GEVs, or even LGEVs, once the Primary is out, are your best friends. Yes, a missile will take them out. But you should be able to maneuver so that you can zip in, shoot, and zip out, getting out of Secondary range.

  Plan for next time: More howitzers. Blast the treads. Combine to take out the Primary. Once it is immobilized, work over the Secondaries.

   Overall, I LOVE my Kickstarter 6th Ed. OGRE set. Finally. But I think it was maybe worth the wait.