Flames of War - the beginning

After months of consideration, I've finally done it. Finally taken the plunge and invested in something outside of a Games Workshop store. It feels disloyal but after reading through the Flames of War rulebook, I'm looking forward to playing my first game.

Here are a few pictures of the contents of the Open Fire! boxed set (three Shermans and two StuG Gs) plus an extra VC Firefly and a StuG IV.

The process was reasonably painless - the most difficult part was using GW paints to recreate the WW2 colour schemes. After reading through some posts on the FOW forums, it's amazing how much some people desire absolute perfection when it comes to WW2 armour and uniform.

As you can see from the picture below, I had a mare trying to add camouflage to the StuGs. In fact, it was so terrible an effort, I attempted to remove the layer of paint which resulted in something even worse. I've put it down to experience but if anyone has any tips then please share! I thought I had watered down the paint enough but clearly I hadn't. Also, I found it difficult to know what shape the camouflage should take (despite using some of the FOW books for inspiration).

I've got some German Grenadiers on the way and will update once they are painted.

Man O' War for sale

It's an odd feeling to sell one of my treasured Games Workshop games. Bought right back in 1993, Man O' War didn't really have the time to cement itself (despite what appears to be a cult following nowadays) because it was out of print by 1995. Furthermore, I didn't have the money to purchase much in the way of a fleet (pocket money of a few pounds was not enough even in the early 1990s!) and so it's time to sell.

I've never sold any of my GW products and whilst I haven't played a game of Man O' War for a number of years, it does feel strange. I guess the best way to get over the feeling is to buy more (Epic Armageddon being the flavour of the month), but we'll see.

If anyone is interested in a complete copy of Man O' War, with unpainted wargalleys etc. etc., follow the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warhammer-Man-O-War-Complete-Boxed-Game-/320542218484?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item4aa1ce18f4#ht_500wt_1154

Epic Armageddon Space Marine Army Almost Finished

Here are some pictures of my EA Space Marine army which is almost finished. The pictures don't seem to show it too well but there is shading and highlighting on the minis - honest! The longest task were the shoulder trims but they unify the army (aside from the obvious yellow). 'Why Imperial Fists?' you might ask, no other reason than there was a guide to painting them in the Epic 40,000 boxed game and I've never painted up an Imperial Fists army.

With the various upgrades, this force comes out at 3175 points (using the standard SM list on the GW website). It gives me 8 activations each turn in a game of Epic Armageddon which is good enough to react and adapt to most situations.

As can be seen in the image above, I have yet to finish the vindicators and obviously, the bases of the troops need to be flocked. I'm undecided as to whether to base the tanks. It will avoid unnecessary wear and tear but I like the tanks as they are at the moment, so I'll decide at a later date.

The assault formation has some simple conversions using paper clip wire to lift some of the marines off their bases.

I've yet to play an Apocalypse game and whilst if the opportunity arose, I would not say no, the sheer amount of troops that you can field in an EA game more than make up for the lack of Apocalypse games (and it's considerably cheaper!).