Optimus Prime in the flesh

Finished the main man himself, Optimus Prime.

I'm really pleased with how the laser rifle turned out, the extra additions really brought it onto model.

This is Prime posing trying to get his chest to reflect the sunlight. I gave the glass panels a second layer of floor varnish to make them shine.

Rifle being created.

Prowl the tactician has a plan and Prime is all audio receptors.

Junk in the trunk.

Til all are one....

 

Energon Raid

Tonight my little boy wanted to desperately to play a wargame. War for Cybertron was the easiest to set up. Although having only played XR once I'm not sure I was doing everything right.

A unit of Autobots is wiped out by Seeker jets after they took to the air.

Large Autobots count as heavy infantry.

Reflector advanced through a storm of lazor fire.

Brawl grabs some Energon and tries to withdraw.

Optimus Prime was back at HQ getting fitted for a new lazor rifle. This was made from a resin gun with some plasticard add ONS.

Brawl gets taken down!

I had to see what the new Prime looked like on the board.

Cybertron is constructed...

The Prime figure is really coming on, for a keyring, it's very well detailed. The rifle looks great and just like the real thing.

 

Optimus Prime rescued from stasis

 Sometimes I can't believe my luck, this War for Cybertron project keeps going from strength to strength. After puzzling how to create Prime in his truck mode for a while,, II was amazed to see a Hot Wheels toy that is basically the right scale. I couldn't believe it. The vehicle is a smudge on the large size but only by a couple of millimetres.

I had bought some bits I was going to try to kit bash but they would never have reached this accuracy. Now he can actually roll out...result!

APC stowage

I'm trying to make this APC look like it's in the middle of a campaign. For this I've added loads of little packs and boxes. The real eureka moment was when I added the wet wipes and washed them with PVA. The water was brown from paint and the colour just looked right.

I think they look good as is...I may not need to paint the new tarps.

I have to make sure I don't get carried away and cover over any of my lovely decals.
 

Battle of the Five Armies

Eagles Vs hundreds of wolves...who will win.

I've been on the Eagle production line. These are lovely and easy to do with dry brushing. Contrast paints also really help in giving some lovely rich colours, they weren't around when I painted the first three. Just goes to show how long I've been doing this project.

More wolves, again nice little dry brushing projects.

 UPDATE: Two new eagles arrived today from the Misty Mountains. They are quite nice, smaller in body but have nice out stretched wings. I put these on flying bases so they can sit next to the others. Their new height allows them to interlock their wings with their companions. It also looks good to have more poses in the army.

I added some trees to camouflage the flying pole a bit. Once their painted the same colour, the pole should blend in.

A wolf has been snatched up and will be dropped onto the others to cause panic.

It's amazing to find cheaper options in toys rather than buy expensive metal or resin models.

Bonnie Blue Flag Game

Artillery rakes the Union front line, this experienced unit weathered it but were finally worn down due to small arms fire.

22nd Alabama in glorious form, their skirmishers thrown out in front and their standards blazing.

A shot of the Union line later in the game, tattered and in shreds from prolonged artillery fire.

well, what a day I've had... I finally got all the bits to put on a game. It almost didn't happen as I couldn't find the rule book...even though I have three copies.

I enlisted the help of a veteran gamer on our games day to help iron things out. It was slow to start with obviously, but once we got into the swing of the rules, it started to fall into place.

  

I did get confused a little when working out the difficulty numbers but I think I have it now. High difficulty numbers are bad, low are good.

There was only one occasion where the 10% rule came into play, which saw the end of the Alabama regiment above. If 10% of a percentage score needed is rolled, that unit is immediately removed from play. A narrative is easy to put to such an event. The 22nd Alabama was destroyed by withering canon fire, the remnants scattered to the rear.

As it was a test game I was keen to try out everything. Above is a melee that put Billy Yank to flight. I also tried the marksman rule which saw the Union general shot and killed very early on. All the surrounding units instantly lost some resolve, not a great start for the blue team. I was playing the Federals of course.

Confederate artillery rush forward and set up on the crossroads. As the Union had lost their general to a marksmen, their iniative roll for who goes first was basically over. The Confederates gained the lead and didn't give it back all game.

Berdan's sharpshooters reach the crossroads and take cover. In this game, soft cover carries no bonuses. although they could now claim 'rested weapons' for a bonus in shooting. Being a sharpshooter unit, they ignore the minuses for long range in the shooting chart, they are also classed as veterans. They're only real weakness is they cannot close for melee and their small unit size.

 Finally after what must have been around four hours of play ( maybe more), the Federals had enough and fell back. The Rebs had some battered regiments but we're in a lot better shape than their blue bellied opponents.

At the end of the day I was exhausted, I felt like I had been in a battle myself. My brain was cooked with all the concentration from the day. However I had finally did it, I had got in a game after years of ranting and preparing. It was fun and great to see all the pieces fall into place after years of collecting for the game.

One thing that struck me was how realistic the battle seemed to play out. Regiments were halted, pushed back and returned into line after a regrouping. Skirmishers were a real pain in the arse, taking the incoming fire instead of the main battle line. This resulted in lots of small actions of skirmishers dueling it out along the front. I was delighted when Berdan's men destroyed the skirmishers of the 22nd, removing their ability to skirmish. Now I could finally target the parent unit behind.

Artillery was fun too and played a big part in the days fighting. A very fun day and a game I will definitely play again. A very realistic narrative and result seems to come out of the play

Great day! Very pleased even though I lost...