Maximillian pile-on

This weeks game was more motorised action, stepping back 80 or so years from the era of Gaslands to the 1930's and into the age of Maximillian 1934. 

Five of us convened at the Rose and Crown for the action and none of us had played for several years, my last game being over three years ago!

Mike had bought his rather splendid Cigar Box gaming mat and many of us had cars, so there was plenty to choose from.

• Adam ran a Junker based on a BA-3 armoured car
• Wayne ran a splendid red Fiat Jalopy that I recall had both rocket launchers and flame throwers
• James ran the grey Jalopy
• Mike ran the prop-driven buggy
• I ran Sand Piper my three wheeled buggy

Anybody getting wiped out would be able to re-spawn on a motorcycle at the last marker they passed.

No firing would be allowed until your vehicle passed the first marker point.

The race was on, James Fanged it from the start line and almost immediately broke his engine, Mike and I were soon ahead in our buggies successfully negotiating the first sharp left turn.

Wayne followed around perfectly, but both James and Adam fluffed their first manouver and both times slid into Wayne's red Fiat piling on the damage.

Poor luck or James but Wayne soon retaliated slamming a rocket into James's car. 

Mike and I were soon out in front while the Jalopies and Junkers generally battered each other senseless with crashes, rockets, flame throwers and cannon rounds thrown at each other.

Neither Jalopies made it past the second corner!

With the BA-3 lagging far behind Mike and I were far out in front, duelling out for first place, we both spun out on the hairpin bend at the third corner and my trio of front facing guns destroyed Mikes buggy!

Now Mike, James and Wayne were all on motor cycles!

I was comfortably in the lead when I again completely messed up the fourth corner, facing back up the track I could see Mikes motorcycle heading straight for me and gave it a burst of MG fire, reversing up the track so I could keep firing, as he passed me I  J-turned and gave hi more fire but he was now in fifth gear and heading for the fifth and final bend if he wiped out I'd be home free and crossing the line first. 

Mike made it safely around the corner for a win.

Phillippeville (2)

Despite having guests staying I've been able to do a little more work on accessories for my 1930's/40's French town.

First up is the lovely Austin 7 Gentleman Civil Defence from those chaps at First Corps. Mark has done a fantastic job on this model and it's a real joy to paint. It's right-hand drive so I'd like to think that this is an English journalist covering the phony war who has been caught up in the German advance and is trying to escape back to Paris.

The base-coat is Vallejo Model Colour Black-Red which I think gives a fantastic rich burgundy colour.

You may be able to make out the tweed detailing on his cap, I think this makes a nice period feel.

The car comes with a couple of extra armed figures, but they don't fit my narrative for the model at the moment, but, I'll likely paint them up at at later date and blutack them in for Maximillian 1934 games.

After I started painting the model I realised that the windscreen was actually flash that should have been cleaned up, but I ended up painting it instead.

The base is quite simple, I did not want to overdo the rocks, tufts, etc if it is meant to be on a dirt road.

 I also painted a few more of the accessories in the Rubicon Models Utility & Light Pole Set Three more lampposts and three more telegraph poles.

I would highly recommend this set if you are looking to add some street furniture to your games.

Warbases Workshop

At the Partizan show I picked up an order from Warbases that included their Workshop and Lean-to's so that I could make a garage building to go with the Fuel Pumps and Attendant set I bought from 1st Corps.

Well, neither the pumps nor attendant are painted yet, but I did crack on with the garage!

Although quite a large kit the instructions are easy to follow and the basic build is over quite quickly with much more time spent on adding the roofing shingles.

At the same time I built the lean-to's and added them to the basic structure.

The walls that were not block-work were covered with pumice gel to give them some texture then once dry the whole lot was primed using a spray of Rustoleum Camouflage Beige. The roofs were painted a Vallejo dark green colour that I have that the label came off ages ago and the doors were painted Black-Red and the fittings Black-Grey.

Once dried it was all washed with Vallejo Sepia Wash.

The walls were highlighted in Khaki, German Camo. Beige and then Deck Tan, while the roof was re-painted in that green then a highlight with some Iraqi Sand added. Some tiles were painted entirely in this lighter colour and highlighted again.

An highlight was added to the doors and the windows were painted. This entire build was really easy to do.

The 28mm B.A.M. Soviet in the photos should give an idea of the scale of this quite large building. Hopefully it shall see some service in both our Maximilian 1934 games and the upcoming France 1940 project that I hope to get started soon.

Maybe when I finally get those petrol pumps painted I'll add some signage and posters.

Maximillian 1934 (4)

This pair of Eureka Miniatures figures for Maximillian 1934 have lain on my painting table for several months, primed and ready for painting but pushed aside while the Hundred Years War collection got all the attention.

The chap on the left is "Driver running with pistol" while on the right is Maximillian himself with his trusty mutt. Both really nicely sculpted with bags of character.

These were a really simple paint job and probably took less than an hours total 'brush time' for the pair of them, don't know why I did not get them done sooner.

Maximillian 1934: Death Match

Thursday saw another game of Maximilian 1934 in the gaming room. Only myself and Drew were able to make it this week so we played a Death Match with each of us having two $1000 vehicles.

Drew again ran Red Bess, a jalopy with a pintle MG, extra armour (1pt each F&R, L&R) and armoured engine, he also upgraded the driver to be both driving and gunnery '3'. Alongside this he used the newly painted Black Death a jalopy with two light cannon, extra armour to the front and the driver upgraded to be both driving and gunnery '3'.

I decided to use my two 1st Corps vintage speedsters. Firstly Sand Piper a buggy armed with three fixed machine guns and with the crew upgraded to driver skill 3 and gunnery skill 4. This was teamed with Green Nasty a jalopy armed with a pair of pintle mounted machine guns and a pintle mounted light cannon, an armoured engine and additional side armour complete the ensemble. Green Nasty does not appear in any photos of the game, but can be seen here.

Game 1 was a short and brutal affair, some deadly shooting by Sand Piper saw Red Bess with a dead driver in the second turn of the game. A couple of turns later Black Death had been cornered and dispatched. We lined them up again!

The second game was much more involved. Both sides were a lot more cagey and the initial shooting was nowhere near so deadly. Red Bess and Sand Piper paired off again and were chiselling lumps off of each other. To avoid a collision Sand Piper slammed on the breaks, Red Bess missed the fate roll and in the ensuing head-on Sand Pipers driver was killed and Red Bess immobilised!

The wide turning circle of Black Death meant that Green Nasty had the initial advantage, but the lack of driver skill soon showed and Green Nasty had rolled a couple of times trying to make tight turns to keep inside Black Death.

Every so often Black Death would swoop by hammering cannon rounds into the stricken vehicle and Green Nasties engine and steering were shot up, but Black Death was taking mounting damage whenever Green Nasty could reply. Finally, Black Death succumbed and Green Nasty was the last car standing, although probably on its side at the time.

A good couple of games again, but long vehicles like Black Death do seem heavily penalised in this sort of scenario, I also think it would have benefit from more players.

Maximillian 1934 (3)

I've been away working in Krakow this week, but despite the bloody awful jet-lag when I got back I managed to finish off this pair today.

First a Eureka Miniatures 'Flyer'  I've done this one off of a base-coat of Royal Blue, highlighting up with a little Pastel Blue. The trim, wheels, hubs and spokes is done in Gold-Brown highlighted with Flat Yellow. Like the Roadster I did last time, a small cardboard windscreen was added.

This beast is armed with a single fixed Lewis gun and a pair of swivel mounted Lewis guns operated by the guy in the back.

The vehicle has been somewhat pimped with components from the accessories pack, including a new snout and running boards.

At Historicon I also purchased one of the Eureka Miniatures motorcycles. This is currently withdrawn from the website, I understand so that it can have a cast-on base. I used a lot of mitre-bond to get mine to 'stay'

I armed mine with a single fixed Lewis gun and limited the 'pimping' to adding a lot of chrome.

First foray into Maximillian 1934

Everybody rounds marker #2 with Flamberry in the rear

Thursday evening saw the Madison Tea and Crumpets wargames club convene at Drew's for our first game of Maximillian 1934.

I've had two good painting sessions so far here and here so had four cars ready for the game, Drew also had his own Eureka Roadster ready so there was plenty to go around.

Rouge Three

I took 'Flamberry' a Jalopy with twin fixed MGs, extra armour (1pt each F&R), armoured engine and robust steering. I upgraded the driver to be both driving and gunnery '3'.

Drew used 'Red Bess' another Jalopy with a pintle MG, extra armour (1pt each F&R, L&R) and armoured engine, he also upgraded the driver to be both driving and gunnery '3'.

Bruce chose 'Rouge Three' a Bugy with twin fixed MGs and an armoured engine, his driver was upgraded to be driving '4' and gunnery '3'.

Red Bess and Flamberry both try to go around the same marker in opposite directions, a fortuitous skid meant we avoided a collision

We decided on the Death Race scenario and placed the four markers in order anti-clockwise around the table, we could have mixed them up a bit, but wanted to keep it simple for our first game.

Setting up the start and finish line we were soon pedal to the metal and off, everybody using different tactics, myself, I chose a different driving line to Drew and Bruce. Bruces main tactic seemed to be flooring it to speed three or four and then flukeing the turning tests until one memorable corner saw him rolling through a full 360 degrees!

I got a lucky shot on Drew's driver which saw his skills reduces to 1 each, the consequence of which saw him leave the arena twice.

Taking advantage of the chaos I rounded the last marker and dashed for the finish line.

Both Drew and Bruce 'Fanged It' in pursuit and were closing in on me fast, guns 'a blazing'. Bruces Vickers ripped through my rear armour, thankfully missing the driver and caused four hits on my engine, bugger immobilised!

Reading the rules you lose one point speed per turn if this happens, as I had started at speed 3 Flamberry coasted over the line for a victory.

Eat my dirt losers!!!!!!!

Flamberry about to cross the finish line

Rouge Three and Red Bess try to cut Flamberry down

In a cloud of steam and engine oil, Flamberry coasts over the line

Maximillian 1934 (2)

This week there has been more 'vroom' on the Maximillian 1934 painting with two more cars added.

Firstly a First Corps three-wheeled Speedster that has been customised with a pair of twin-linked Vickers machine-guns and a Lewis gun, like the four-wheeler I painted last week, it's a beautiful model with bags of character.

The machine-guns and luggage rack are from the Eureka miniatures accessories pack.

The light brown is from a base-coat of Vallejo US Tan Earth highlighted up with Light Sand while the rusty exhaust is a mix of Gunmetal Grey and Saddle Brown, highlighted by adding some silver to the mix.

It does not show so well in the photo but the driver has a tweed cap, you do need to look really closely though.

The whole thing was finished using a Tamiya weathering kit.

Next a Eureka Miniatures Roadster that was done in a bit of a hurry to prepare for Thursdays game.

When I did the build on this one I wanted it to look rather fast, so the engine part from the Tribekka model was glued on front as a super-charger and huge twin exhausts were added, I think it certainly has the 'go faster' look.

The sole armament is a pair of twin linked Vickers fixed forward over the radiator. I also added a small cardboard windscreen.

As I wanted to get it ready quickly for our game on Thursday I started with a black base-coat that was highlighted in Black Grey, the interior was done with a cream leather using Iraqi Sand as a base and I decided that to tart her up it was going to need some flames from a mix of Flat Red, Signal Orange and Flat Yellow.

The wheels and exhausts were painted in Gunmetal Grey and chromed with Silver.

Overall I think I managed the 'go-faster' look on this one.

I'll be putting up a report of Thursdays game soon.