"...There is Only War."

On a personal note, I recently moved from the lovely state of Virginia to the wonderful state of Ohio. Things are different here. I miss my gaming partners and dear friends Bwana Bill (and his son!)and Consul Scipio (and his son!). However, I'm pleased to report there are gamers here, and my "war room" is up and operational once again.

My first task is to prepare for a GW event on 16 April 2016, "Celebrating 30 Years of Space Marines." Therefore my Space Wolves are back to their position at the front of my never-ending painting queue. Thankfully, the infantry is pretty close to being done, with just detail work needed on one unit of Grey Hunters and one unit of Space Pups (Blood Claws). The second unit of Grey Hunters has most basic colors on it, but needs a bit of flesh here and there, as do my Thunderwolf Cavalry.

Given the need to roll more die, I may flesh out the Space Pups with a few extra lads, toss them in a Land Raider Crusader (which is only gray at the moment!), and send them into battle. Which leads me to my vehicular dilemma.

I have only one vehicle - a Rhino - that is painted. Since I painted that particular transport my painting style has changed as has the color pallet - thanks GW! ** so I may have to paint that one again, or touch it up a bit. Additionally, I have a Razorback that requires additional paint, and (if I decide on adding Blood Claws) a Landraider Crusader that needs a lot of work.

As it stands, I know I can finish the infantry and the Razorback prior to 16 April. Stay tuned, I'll post the results of my ongoing painting frenzy, as well as any gaming exploits that may or may not occur.



********* Addition - Last evening, as I was drifting off to sleep one of our cats pulled a "ninja" and broke into the war room. He then began throwing $50.00 models and infantry figures from the table to the floor, breaking several of them. I'm now taking time from painting to research a recipe for "Kitten Tikka Masala." <*just kidding - but I'm not a happy chappy!*> ******

Das Book - A Flames of War Compendium

I've said it before, and for any new folks, I'll say it again - I am not much on strategy or tactics. Unfortunately, though we love Flames of War (FoW), we don't get to play very often. If I recall correctly, within our little group, Consul Scipio and I were the last to play, and most recently - and that was in a tournament at Fall In. (Fall In, by the way, was an awesome convention, lots of fun, good friends, surprisingly good food, and more games than you can shake a bag of die at!) I believe my last game, prior to the tournament, was nearly two years ago. Yup. Been a day or three!

With that in mind, and given the fact that real life and online game addictions keep me focused on things not on the tabletop, I have trouble remembering the basic rules - forget about all the special rules, scenarios, and scenario special rules!

Our friends down under at Battlefront (New Zealand, not Oz!) have released a compendium of special rules for each army in the mid to late war range, called "Das Book". Included in this small tome are all the charts for the arms and equipment of each army, as well as all the missions and mission special rules!

One thing that I have not tried yet is the "Total War" rules. These are games from 3000 points and up! Amazing!!! I can see dozens of tanks and hundreds of infantry moving across a table, ready to smash into their opponents!

I call "Das Book" a bargain at $10.00 (U.S.)!

Once, long ago, an old soldier told me that "plagiarism is the highest form of a compliment" - or something to that effect. Therefore, I present to you, directly from the FoW Web site - copied from the back cover of "Das Book" - an overview by the lads in New Zealand! If you want to read it and get a view of the book and all the great charts, you can go here.

Oh! And please tell me I'm not the only one that doesn't get the "Das Boot" reference? ;)

"Das Book is the Flames of War field manual for the consummate WWII general. With all the tools and tactics you need to play a one on one engagement with a friend or enter the tournament arena and destroy your opponent’s forces. Know your enemies strengths and weaknesses, understand the missions and objectives, learn how to use the terrain and fortifications of the battlefield to your armies best advantage.

Compiled from across the Flames Of War book range, Das Book includes:
- Nine Combat Missions: Free-For-All, Encounter, No Retreat, Fighting Withdrawal, Breakthrough, The Cauldron, Roadblock, Hasty Assault, and Breakout.
- All mission special rules.
- Late-war Airborne Assault Special Rules and Mission.
- Amphibious Assault Rules and Mission.
- Bocage Rules.
- River Crossing Rules and Mission.
- Fortification Rules, with updated bunker rules and two Fortification missions, Trench Fight and The Big Push.
- Street Fighting Rules and Mission.
- Complete Mid and Late-war Arsenals for all of the major forces."

So what's the bottom line? In one small book, you have all the information you need, from all of the books - mid-war to late war - to play any era of game you like, save the new early war games! That saves having to tote around 3-5 larger books!

Like I said, at ten bucks "Das Book" is a bargain!

The Graying of Canis Wolfborn - Continued from the Greening of Canis Wolfborn

As you can see, I'm all about snappy titles and endowed with great creativity! (kidding!)

Some time back I described cleaning and "greening" the Canis Wolfborn model here. I primed him before I finished writing my post about the greening, and then began to paint.

After months and months of painting a bit here and a bit there, I've finally decided to leave well enough alone, and have finished Canis Wolfborn.

I used the photos on GW's website and the box cover as a guide for colors and such. Where I deviated from the GW paint scheme is where I felt the artistic need to express my own unique flavor, in paint.

Enjoy the "wolfy" goodness!






















































I had a "model" to pose for me, so I could make the wolf more realistic - and personal: Izabelle, smile and take a bow sweet girl!



... and for my next trick, Thunderwolf cavalry, "hacked" from GW Space Wolves space marine models and Warmachine "Warbeasts".