German officers and NCOs

I finished these up last night while watching Rogue One with Arthur.  I joked with him that I was painting Imperial soldiers, which was somewhat apt as Lucas et al were inspired by German uniforms.  But then we carried on to note that all the main powers in WWI were Empires, including German, but also British, Russian, Japanese, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman, and even the French Republic had imperial colonies, as did Italy!

Anyway, here are some officers and non-commissioned officers, plus a few other headquarters types for the late WWI Germans.  These are from Great War Miniatures.

I've put them on hex bases to help the leaders stand out from the rank and file troops.  These ones are more front line types, ready to lead the troops into action.

And this group are more of the HQ types, directing the action, managing communications and trying to keep up!  Many of these figures have Iron Crosses or ribbons, one even has the Blue Max.  I'm not thrilled with my painting of these medals, they are too small for me!  

Here is a comparison of a Wargames Atlantic plastic soldier with a Great War Miniatures metal figure.  The WGA has a more slender rifle, but for me the two fit well enough on the same battelfield.

And finally, I found this wee Wargames Foundry fellow in the lead mountain.  The Foundry WWI figures are noticeably smaller than WGA or GWM. I wouldn't recommend mixing them in the same force. 

Great War Armies on Parade

My friend Rob just returned my WWI armies to me, that he had been storing for a while.  So naturally it is time for an Armies on Parade post.

A quick count came up with the following numbers (note that this for Western Front only, doesn't include all the British Empire types for Gallipoli/East Africa/Mespot/Palestine etc, as those are in my Jamjhar collection):

Germans 1914-15

208 line infantry (mix of headwear types), 

16 jaegers, 

24 matrosen (sailors)

6 Maxim medium machine guns

15 cavalry (10 Uhlans, 4 hussars, one dragoon)

17(+) officer types

3 77 mm Field guns

French 1914-15 (these figures are worse for wear, and are overdue for a paint touch up!)

50 line infantry, 21 Zouaves, 6 officers, 2 Hotchkiss MG, 2 75mm field guns

British/Canadians 1914-15

61 line infantry, 

28 Highlanders, 16 Lowlanders

2 Vickers MG (plus one team transporting their gun)

16 officers 

And 3 pipers!

6 18-pdr field guns, plus a trench catapult

Canadians 1916-18

29 Highlanders, 

45 line infantry

3 Lewis gun teams, 2 rifle grenadiers

8 officers

1 Whippet tank, 1 Mk4 male tank, 1 Rolls Royce Armoured Car, 1 Armoured Autocar, 5 dismounted tank crew

My scratch-built Canadian Armoured Autocar!

and assorted signallers, casualties, stretcher bearers, and others.

Battle on the slopes of Erebor

Finally, after more months of shutdown than I can count, Trumpeter Gaming is back!  Of course, I missed the October game night, but on November 4th, I was able to take Arthur to his first wargaming night.  And much excitement was had by all!

With cooperation from Craig, who provided the dwarves, and from Gord, who although unable to attend himself, lent a small force of elves (also some eagles, who didn't make it on to the table), we set up a Dragon Rampant game.  I was happy to pull my BSC2021 boards out of storage, where they were re-purposed as the slopes of Erebor (also known as 'The Lonely Mountain').  Here, we find a small group of 13 dwarves have barricaded themselves behind makeshift walls to resist the encroachment of some elves of Mirkwood, and men of the Long Lake.

The men and elves attempt to parley with the leader of the dwarves, but he tells them (quite rudely) to be gone.  Just as the armies on both sides get ready to rumble, the Grey Wizard appears in their midst, and warns the men, elves and dwarves of the approaching army of orcs and goblins. 

Mobs of approaching orcs and goblins.

The Lakemen turn to face the orcs.

And so do the elves.

The first waves of orcs rush forward to break against the Lakemen shieldwall.

Laketown archers keep up a steady rain of arrows on their foes.

Arthur took to gaming like a fish to water!  Here he is getting some tactical advice from his ally, Doug.

On the right flank, the elves take advantage of the rough terrain to break up the orc advance.

The wizard and the hobbit decide that the safest place to observe the battle is from a hilltop far to the back!

Dwarves and elves cooperate to push back the orcs and goblins.

On the right, the lakemen stop the enemy's advance.

 I kept the scenario deliberately simple, as my main goal was to introduce Arthur to the rules and concepts, and also to ensure that we finished up the game in good time!  As the forces of good readily repulsed the baddies, there was no need for the eagles to show up as a deus ex machina.  It was a good, fast and fun game, and now Arthur is a new gamer, eagerly waiting the next outing!  The scenario was inspired by the book Arthur and I recently finished reading together.

Miniatures came from a variety of sources.  There was a good selection of Games Workshop Lord of the Rings figures, but also many from other sources.  The Lakemen were made up of a mix of various Dark Ages figures, including Late Romans from Foundry and Old Glory, Saxons from Eureka and Gripping Beast, El Cid-era Spanish from Crusader, and more. I hope Craig will jump into the comments with the pedigree of the dwarves!