Italeri Tiger

Ugh, this is a dreadful model! What is going on with the thin crappy plastic and bad sprue design. I was hopeful that this partnership with Italeri would be awesome,  bringing out the best of both companies in some amazing synergistic symbiosis, but it's just a rehash of old stuff.

When putting this together the parts were weirdly fitting,  there was a strange connection at the front of the hull that resulted in a gap that I had to fill, the track links were a nightmare and there were parts on the sprue that had no instructions or discernible purpose!

I've heard other stories about their scenery line too but I won't go into that now.  Suffice to say I won't be getting anymore Italeri/Warlord models in the future.

It is however pretty damn nice once completed,  I've not heard the opportunity to try it out on the table top yet although I'm sure that it will be a bullet magnet and explode at the first sign of poorly fired, spring launched, shoulder mounted mortar (i.e Piat!).

Mordor Troll

Another model thats been hanging around on my painting table waiting for some love. This is the GW Mordor troll, although its not really!

Its comprised of spare plastic parts and a body and legs cast from plaster of paris - shock horror!

For many old grognards making your own mini's was part of the hobby, plastercast being quite useful as its cheap and easy to use, although not very robust! Anyway with the advent of 3d printers it seems that home grown models are becoming a thing again so maybe we'll see more of this in the not too distant future.

I quite like the MESBG troll models from GW, at least the older ones anyway, some of the newer stuff feels a little too designed rather than sculpted. Don't get me wrong I like some of GW's new models, particularly in the 40k space but the newer MESBG ones don't blend with the older model range very well (in my opinion), not that the initial range was very good to start with!

This guys fits with my other Uruk Hai troll so I may have to tag team them and see how many heroes they can throw around.

Zulu's - not thousands of them!

A bit of a random diversion,  some of the now defunct Wargames Factory plastic Zulus. I think Warlord Games acquired most of their lines,  the Zulu were one of the better ones as they're pretty simple and easy to pose. 

These were easy to paint and went together quite well too. I will do some darkest Africa gaming at some point, eventually as I've got some British Colonial troops somewhere. 

I have another 30 to paint up at some point along with a few Perry Mahdist Ansar so I could run a pretty busy little skirmish game, once I get some kind of gaming mojo going!

Warlord Games SAS Jeep!

A Warlord Games SAS jeep,  resin model with white metal parts. This was a relatively easy build,  not much flash and the parts went together ok,  although the wheels were a bit fiddly! I like the characterful crew,  very dynamic and in theme for the majority of the Brit special forces in there Bolt Action range

The jeep itself is armed with two twin Vickers and a single driver operated Vickers, unfortunately this isn't reflected in the Bolt Action rules for this model. Luckily I'm not that precious in my games and neither are my gaming buddies although in a tournament it might be a different story !!!!

All in all I quite like this model and it makes a nice addition to my slowly growing Para force. 

Bolt Action Cromwell

This is a nice simple plastic kit from Warlord Games, not part of their collaboration with Italeri, and makes a welcome addition to my British Bolt Action force. The kitset comes with decals which are perfectly functional and as you can see provide that final finishing element.

This kit is similar in cleverness to Rubicon kits, very few visible join lines and was a joy to paint up. I may have gotten a little carried away with the weathering and mud, but I enjoyed it anyway!

And in the usual way for all newly painted models this went pop in its first game, why do all newly painted models fail miserably in their first outing?

MESBG – Isengard vs The Army of the Dead

Ok for some of you that may have read any of my other posts you’ll know what force I tend to play in Middle Earth, therefore when I say “Ouch” it is something of a spoiler for the outcome of this game!

Bryan and I managed to find some time in our rather hectic lives to get a game in, we’ve finally managed to finish the kitchen renovation so was able to set the board up with plenty of space to move around and some decent light for photos.

So this was a 600 pts game using the Clash by Moonlight scenario. I’d decided to take some wargs and a captain, a block of uruks with captain, some crossbow uruks with captain and Lurtz with a few orcs and a uruk scouts. I was going to take a few berserkers however the new rules make them particularly dangerous for your own troops as well and I still haven’t figured out how to use them!

Bryan had a bunch of dead dudes, the King of the Dead and Aragorn!

On with the show.

The first few turns saw us jockeying for position, the scenario rules scuppered any chance for me to make effective use of the crossbows, also the combination of Harbinger of Evil (-1 courage) and terror meant that Bryan had the upper hand when it came to choosing charges (my uruks would have to roll for terror on a courage of 2 to charge, the orcs on 1).

Bryan finally decided to get stuck in and in the first couple of turns my uruks held their own, their fight 4 really keeping me in the game. The Army of the Dead wound using their opponents courage value and not their defence so my troops great armour was irrelevant.

My warg riders and their captain consistently refused to pass their courage test to charge which made them into very expensive infantry rather than super useful cavalry!

Interestingly Lurtz was my man of the match, his courage of 5, 3 attacks, 3 might and high fight value really helped. They have bumped his cost up to 90pts however he’s probably worth it.

As I alluded to at the start, Bryan wiped my force out completely, even my army special rule of only taking break tests at 66% didn’t help, as soon as I hit that point the Harbinger rule meant my orcs and uruks were bugging out like the proverbial teenager after the family meal!

It was  a fun game, we’re going to have a rematch in a few weeks and I may just have to paint up Saruman and Grima to give me a few more options!

Reaper Bones Dragon

I can't really remember why I bought this,  it's a pretty shoddy model,  the material is some kind of weird bendy plastic and the details are a tad sparse. Also it came with 6 legs, yeah that's right a dragon with 6 legs. Obviously the middle set had to go so I very imperfectly greenstuffed the resulting hole and it then lingered on my painting table for 12 months or so.

Weirdly I'm not sure why I painted it either,  although it was satisfying to start painting and have a model completed, based and varnished before bed.  Sometimes that's all you need,  the satisfaction of finishing something. 

It doesn't look too shabby, ill probably use it in games of Frostgrave or Saga:AOM, I would try it in MESBG but it way too small for that game.