Black Ops

Just back from a couple of games of Osprey's new-ish Black Ops modern skirmish rules... and I'm pleased to report that they appear to work !

They are set in the same era as Force on Force, but are a lot more beer & pretzels, whilst still maintaining a bit of tactical depth and that real pace that is needed to make a modern skirmish game feel "real"

Here are photos from our games using mostly Elheim modern US figures.

The squad ready themselves to move out

A cautious advance past a stalled technical

Taking cover behind the HUMMVEE whilst the news crew interview a pedestrian

Peering over a concrete barrier

Possibly not the safest place to hide....

Move first, form, a firing line and open up...

Taking cover behind a storage tank

USMC advance cautiously along the street

Matchbox-scale Toyota acts as cover

 The LAW hit the LPG cannister, so we made up a quick rule to allow me to use this flame thing!

Black Ops is available on Amazon.co.uk and also Amazon.com for not that much really.

20mm Modern Figures

Not really Easter-themed in any way, shape or form, but here are some pics of the most recent paint jobs and a game of Ambush Alley Force on Force (the "The Alamo" scenario from the Road to Baghdad book) to enjoy

I don't play this game anywhere near half as much as I should, especially now we have managed to get the rules into an almost intelligible shape at the club... but buying the figures sure is addictive! 

Force on Force pictures

No science to this, just some pictures from a recent game of Force on Force played at the club. 6th scenario from Enduring Freedom if you are interested, with old-style Matchbox British Paratroopers (in 80's gear!) taking on the Vegetarian Liberation Army forces in Afghanistan

As usual, all images get larger if you click them ... 

Britannia Miniatures 20m British Leyland- DAF DROPPS Logistics vehicle

At Warfare this year I picked up a British Leyland DAF DROPPS Logistics vehicle from the lovely chaps at Britannia Miniatures - this is for fairly morphable use (as all lorries look alike, of course!) in some of the Force on Force scenario's that require a transport vehicle of some sort.

The shipping container on the back is a separate piece, so it may well also appear as a piece of scenery in it's own right - a useful touch. If you look carefully you can see where I added a strip of magnetic sheet to the bottom of the container, which helps it stick onto the thin bit of metalized card that I added to the opposite surface of the vehicle.

The vehicle was painted in a black undercoat, then roughly done in a thick wash of a Miniatures Paints Dark Sand.

The by-now-familiar to regular readers wash of Army Painter Strong Tone gave it a messy brown overwash, which was then highlighted with more drybrish layers of the original colour, and then some GW Bleached Bone.

The container was done in a similar technique, but I think I used Miniatures Paints Olive as the base colour, leaving the British Osprey helmet-ed crewman in a non-obviously British plain uniform and body armour combo so he could pass as an American if needed. The windows were done in the textbook "bard blue and then some stripes of progressively lighter blues in one corner" technique often seen on miniature houses.

I think it's a great little piece all in al - robust, useful and brushes up very well.

I've got a load more pages with links to all of the 20mm modern manufacturers I know (and an online voting/rating system for the figures) on my website here

Force on Force

I've had a load of 1/72nd scale plastic soldiers lying around in boxes for ages, but the new Force on Force rules from Osprey & Ambush Alley have prompted me to dig them out - and buy a few opponents for them too. Of course, project creep inevitably sneaks in, and now I have the thick end of 200 modern 20mm figures. Just need more time to play !