State of the ADHS Nation - December 2021

It has been a while hasn’t it?  Between new puppy, brain gremlins, work and more there just hasn’t been much spare mental capacity for hobby.  There’s been no painting for weeks – and barely any assembly/prep.  Just one of those things, but I’m trying to formulate ways to start making progress once more.

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed I had a birthday at the end of October – and it was something of a milestone so I got spoilt!  First up my better half decided to go for a huge stack of Malifaux boxes – which I supplemented through some canny purchases (including some pre-owned bits) using some gifted birthday money.  This is what has joined the collection (some has also been ordered from various store clearouts of old M2 stock on Black Friday so I’m waiting for those):-

Arcanists

Colette Core Box

Waiting in the Wings

Toni Core Box

Troubleshooters

Union Steamfitters (awaited)

Slate Ridge

Bayou

The Brewmaster Core Box (awaited)

Zoraida Core Box

A Light in the Dark

Amphibious Assault

Gautreaux Bokors

See Ya Later

Silurids

Big Brain Brin (awaited)

Listen Up!

When Pigs Fly

Explorer’s Society (and Ten Thunders)

Lucas Core Box (awaited)

Neverborn

Dreamer Core Box

Teddy

Things That Go Bump

Pandora Core Box

Juvenile Delinquents

Outcasts

Hamelin Core Box

Brotherhood of the Rat

Tainted Filth

Leveticus Core Box

Desolation

Marlena Webster

Necropunks

Resurrectionists

Molly Core Box

The Lost

Reva Core Box

Draugr

Mourners

The Returned

Seamus Core Box

Bête Noire

Undertow

From Trials… I got this awesome 10mm scale ruined castle.  It’s going to be perfect for all sorts of settings in 10mm, but will be a great focal point for my Rampanthammer in particular:

It comes in two layers that easily and cleanly fit together – I’m very impressed!

My workplace had also done a collection for my birthday, and as some colleagues know my better half they tapped her up for ideas – and she suggested Pendraken gift vouchers… so now I’ve got the things to replace my ACW tribute project in 10mm (I need the space after all), I’ve finally taken the plunge on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Ottoman Empire project I’ve had in my mind for ages and I even had enough left over for some Aztecs to do 10mm Tribal plus some 15mm market tables for Burning Sands (and Of Gods and Mortals etc etc).  Not bad at all!

I’ve ordered the rulebook for Gamma Wolves (thanks to Trials… helpfully suggesting mecha as a small side project when I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket over the autumn) – and I’ve got a selection of Reaper CAV mecha minis that I intend to use.  These seem great value – much cheaper than Battletech options so a good way to dip the toe into the mecha wargaming world.

The new hotness in wargaming right now seems to be The Silver Bayonet – well I didn’t want to miss the hype train (as it’s a fun setting hot-or-otherwise!) so I’ve got that rulebook coming too.  I also had enough cash spare to get some test minis from the 18mm AB range (via Eureka UK) – enough for a ragtag bunch of monster hunters and a few opponents to boot. Other enemies etc will be a future purchase for sure once I can get a feel for how AB scales up against MM, RPE, AA etc.

There’ll be more on both Gamma Wolves and The Silver Bayonet once I’ve got them and can digest and sort more concrete plans!

So whilst the ‘doing’ might still be proving tricky, the plotting, planning and acquisition side is certainly continuing! 😊

Finns

Next up in the 10mm WW2 project line is the Finns.  All minis are from Pendraken.

Starting with the HQ and their ride:

I've got three infantry squads - all very similar so I've only photographed one.  In my list one will be a Sissi squad (partially for cool, partially for point bump):

You might spot that the LMG chap doesn't quite fit... well Pendraken don't have a suitable Finnish LMG for this project, so having seen some Finns in the range with Ushanka I thought I'd use a couple of spare Soviets.  I think that once suitably painted they should look OK.

I also included an AT Rifle team to help balance them against my intended Soviet list:

Finally one of the inspirations for this particular force was the Sturmi, more commonly known as the StuG - so naturally I had to include one!

I've got some Winter Soviets to pit against the Finns - so look out for those here in the future

Soviet Tank Hunters

A little while ago I posted my Romanian What If force - well their opponents are here in the form of some Soviet Tank Hunters!

All the minis are from Pendraken of course!

First, of course, the HQ:

And the obligatory Infantry squads (pretty much identical so only one photographed at this stage!):

Of course there's the free squad too - that doesn't have an LMG of course!

I'm pretty sure some Tank Hunters need some tank killing capability though... enter a Dog Mine Team and a pair of AT Rifles:

I can't help but tie Soviets and Snipers together so took a Sniper Detachment too:

On to the vehicles now - starting with the humble Gaz 'Jeep' (probably for HQ ferrying):

And, if you have been following my 10mm WW2 posts you'll know I love an Armoured Car - so here's a BA-10:

Finishing off the force in some style is the SU-85:

To be honest, I don't much fancy the chances of the Romanians...

Romanians

And the next force in my 10mm WW2 project is Romanians - you might remember from previous posts this is to provide an Eastern Front gaming opportunity and also it's a bit of a 'what if' (more on that later).  Everything is from Pendraken's range - it was seeing just how many options they had for the Romanians that convinced me to take the plunge on this particular force.

Anyway, like almost always, we start with a Lieutenant and his buddies:

And, equally as almost always, an infantry squad (two of these, but as they are the same composition I've only photographed one):

I also included a mortar - with spotter:

And a couple of pieces of artillery to make use of one of the Romanian special rules:

Of course, these meant I'd need some tows - I ended up going for a couple of Artillery Tractors.  These are Komsomolets, which is fudging it a bit, but I really didn't fancy any more Blitzes or other trucks cause I've got plenty of those in other forces!

Finally, and this is the prime 'what if' - a Panther Ausf.G.  From everything I have been able to find out the Romanians didn't get any of these until after the war - but that's no barrier to me!  

Now if Pendraken do one of the TACAMs then I'd certainly be inspired to add that as an option to make it a little less of a 'what if' force!

But that Panther won't have gone unnoticed in my 'what if' world... I'm sure those Soviets will have something up their sleeve to counter it...

Target Practice

You may remember me posting Black's Division previously - well of course I needed some Nazis to kill with them (which I called Target Practice when I was writing the list and planning purchases).  These are all from Pendraken's Winter Germans.

Of course any standard BA force starts with an Officer to lead it (usually with a bodyguard or two):

And then a couple of units of infantry of course - as they are the same equipment I've only photographed one:

For support I took an MMG team:

And for thematic purposes a Truck (which I imagine being used to carry the Nazi's prisoners):

And finally an SdKfz 222 Armoured Car - used as a show of strength to cow the local populace no doubt... if only Black's Division had something to blow it up... 😉

I think it'll be interesting coming up with some special scenarios for this force against Black's Division!

Last of the Empire's Humans

I've got the last of the human elements for the Empire part of the 'good guys' side of the Rampanthammer project.

First up, a Mortar:

The Mortar piece itself is from Pendraken's Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth range.  The crew are from their Landsknechte range.

I also have a couple of units of Knights - these are Pendraken Medieval Late European men-at-arms on barded horses:

Finally, to use as an Elector Count and overall leader for the army I got the 'Elf Hero on Griffen' from Alternative Armies for a Griffon mount.  It's designed for 15mm, but it was all I could find that came with saddle etc.  I used a TB Line Eastern European Heavy Cavalry rider from Pendraken, with a headswap and a banner pole (repurposed lance) from Pendraken's Early 16th century English/Scots men-at-arms that I mistakenly ordered (a happy mistake as it turns out!):

As you can see, the Griffon is rather large - but the more I look at it the happier I am with it.  I felt that the Empire half of this project needed some centrepiece to really put the army in the fantasy world rather than just be Landsknechte with a Wizard.  I think this chap fulfils that need quite well! 

Black's Division

A project I've been wanting to do for a while is a tribute to Josef Serinek the Romani hero.  A First World War soldier, a prisoner in a concentration camp and then a partisan commander (a useful primer for anyone interested can be found at romea.cz).  His partisan brigade was known commonly as Černý ('Black') a reference to Serinek's skin.  I wanted to make a 'what if' force to represent Serinek and his partisans taking the fight right to the Nazis - so took a few artistic wargaming liberties with the force list.

I got Pendraken minis from a variety of their ranges - including Partizans from the French range, various options from the International Brigade part of the Spanish Civil War range and a few Soviets left over from another project to reflect that Black's Division included escaped Soviet prisoners of war (admittedly in a rather on the nose way, but the variety doesn't hurt for a Partisan force I feel).

Anyway, on to the minis - first up Serinek himsel and a couple of his trusted men:

I've got a couple of units of partisans - from pretty much the same pool of miniatures so I've taken a pic of one such unit to give an idea:

So far so normal really - rifles, a few home-made anti-tank grenades and a couple of SMGs.  For the 'what if' I tooled them up a bit - a couple of support teams; MMG and Mortar:

And as those vile Nazis are rumoured to be flexing with an armoured car to opress the locals Serinek must have come up with a special plan and acquired an old, but still serviceable field gun - must have been hidden in an old barn covered with a tarp or something!:

Of course to lug the gun around and the like the Partisans needed some transport - thankfully the French and Spanish Civil War ranges from Pendraken had some good civilian vehicle options:

I'm inspired by the line from the romea.cz article "Josef reportedly never took prisoners and always remembered the atrocities and crimes committed against the defenseless prisoners of the Lety camp." - I hope my version of Black's Division is able to reflect that against the Nazis on the tabletop.

Operation Compass British

You might have seen my Operation Compass Italians recently - well of course we needed someone to blow up the fascists, so here's the British Armoured Brigade!

Starting with an A13 and a pair of A10s:

And rounding out the tanks a pair of A9s - I love the two MMG turrets on this tank!

For an armoured car option I took the Morris CS9:

And forming the motor pool - a couple of different weights of truck and a Bren Carrier:

Of course the motor pool needs some footsloggers to ferry about - starting with the ubiquitous Artillery Observer and a 2 pounder:

Finally an infantry squad with LMG:

All the minis came from Pendraken - top quality, value and service as always.

Guns large and small

Artillery has always been an important component of the classic Empire army - luckily Pendraken's Landsknecht range has a couple of options.  I opted for the Organ Gun as a counts as Helblaster Volley Gun - which I'll use as Heavy Missile (Venomous upgrade).

I also received some Magister Militum 'Mounted Burgunzians with Pistols' which rather handily are perfect Empire Pistoliers! These will be Light Riders (Short-Range Missiles):

When I started planning out this project I hadn't factored in getting some Pistoliers - but I'm really pleased I got an opportunity to include some from a fellow 10mm Warhammer bod (now go check out all the good stuff on The Wargames Website - there's a few of us there sharing our projects!).

Operation Compass Italian

Today I'm sharing my Italian Armoured Brigade inspired by Operation Compass.  The miniatures are all from Pendraken.

As it's an armoured brigade the bulk of this particular force is tanks - first up a trio of M11/39s:

A duo of M13/40s finishes off the tank element of the force:

You might have seen me mention that I rather like armoured cars - so for this force I opted for an Autoblinda 41 (OK, so slightly out of date but all this is a 'what if' anyway - maybe it was an early converted turret! 😜):

To provide the footsloggers with some transport I got a truck and a Fiat:

And the aforementioned foot sloggers - an MMG team:

And an infantry squad - with LMG:

As with everything else I've ever had from Pendraken the casts are clean with minimal clean up required.  The detail is what I think of as 'right' for the scale - enough to pick out bits of equipment and webbing and the like but not enough to be daunting at 10mm.