Goodbye 2011

This is my last post of the year, I thought it only fitting to have a wee recap of what the year has given and what I want to do next!

On the home front, 2011 had it's tough moments. Major natural disasters will do that! But that's all the talk of earthquakes that's needed.

I went to five Flames if War tournaments,Tempest, Southcon, Conquest, Flamescon and Bedecon. I managed to win 2 and was first equal in one. Next year, must put in a better showing at Southcon! I painted some new armies, british and some US paras in a week! I think next year I will rebase my paras onto the BF rubble bases, with snow. Because my favorite episode of Band of Brothers is Bastogne! Jamie has made his Ironman challenge, to encourage the use of tank and mechanized companies. I suppose I should do it too! First up is some form of tank army to fight at Valleycon- 1500 points Mid War at the end of January.

In other gaming? I painted the majority of a Napoleonic army. Never had one of them before! Got the start of some Thirty Years War too. That will be big in the start if next year. Dystopian wars is taking up an increasing amount of my time, which I am totally happy with.

The painting challenge? It has been one week, and I am 300 points behind. Bugger. What's the plan then? I will initiate "Operation Face Saver", a weeklong see how much I get painted beginning on the 3rd of January. I will paint British napolonics, a flames if war army for Valleycon and start some TYW Spanish. And get as much done as possible!

Finally, I want to play more games. Seems logical enough, but is it possible?


So that's the plan to start the year. Paint paint paint!

Final Painting Offerings of 2011

Happy holidays and a Merry Christmas!

Well, for those of you who don't read the blog from Analogue Hobbies (link on the left); you really should! But as well, I will post up some pictures of what I have been painting lately on here too!

First up, some Napoleonics!

One of the wonderful Perry casualty miniatures. This is one from the forthcoming South Linconshire regiment.

My second artillery battery, 2 9 pounder guns and a 5.5" howitzer with all their crew

The reverse of the same unit

 Plus, the all important man himself, Stephen Fry! I mean, the Duke of Wellington...

If you have a spare 5 minutes, I highly recommend reminding yourself of this show. I like to think of the Duke like how he is portrayed here!

Two shots of the Duke himself, maintaining a commanding position on the battlefield!


In addition to that Napoleonics stuff, I also managed to get an M8 Greyhound scout car done. Why? Well it was sitting on my desk waiting to be painted. Or is it for a secret project?

Hint- It's not for a secret project...

Well, that is all folks! No more painting for 2011 for me, I am off on holiday this afternoon, returning in the New Year. I think I will put up one more blog post before the year is out, but this is the last one with proper pictures!

Merry Christmas, I hope Santa brought all of the Toy Soldiers you desired...

CP

Mother Nature is no excuse- Painting Challenge Update 2

So, for those who don't live in Christchurch (affectionatly known as Quakechurch); we experienced more rocking and rolling yesterday. I myself was safe and sound with my family slightly out of town on Banks Peninsula, but recieved the very odd sensation of watching large rockfalls across the harbour. Unnerving. Sadly, this is common place here at the moment- although we have had no large rumbles in 6 months according to the TV. After a brief time stuck over there (roads were closed to be checked for slip damage), we were able to come home to a house with no further damage or nothing too much fallen over.

But still, an earthquake is no excuse for such poor discipline from my South Lincolnshire Regiment! I came home to find them like this..

All bar the two bearers of the colours were no longer in ranks- two of the troopers had the audacity to attempt to go AWOL; they were picked up as they attempted to escape (to the pub I assume).

Who could redress the ranks, instill an air of courage? Well, the Duke of Wellington of course!

Here is my WIP Duke- there is only a little bit to finish on the Duke- some highlights on his hat, the gold and maybe a touch up on the flesh. His horse has not even got base colours, but I will have to find the right brown! He will hopefully get done today.

So the way the Analogue Hobbies competition works is that I will send them pictures of my finished models, they will be posted on their website then I can put them up on mine too after a day or so. So, without any further ado- here is my painted first (and only) model up on Analogue Hobbies... A Spartan!!

No need for pictures up on here for just that one test model- I am pretty happy with the bronze and the red. Not so much the flesh- something to work on when I paint some more.

Right, off to start painting the Duke's horse, and sending some photos of British Artillery to Analogue. 

CP

Painting Challenge update One!

Well, here it is, my first update for the painting challenge.

So, what I have I completed?

Well... no full stands of Napoleonics... but I did paint these six chaps!

Six artillery crew; which marks exactly where I left off last time I painted Napoleonics! I had just finished their 3 guns, then got caught by a serious bout of "can't-be-bothered-itis". I just don't actually enjoy painting these guys, not sure if it is the Victrix faces (which I hate) or the combination of colours (I really hate yellow) but they just are not enjoyable to paint. What is enjoyable however, is that I only have 6 more to go!

What's the plan then? Well, I am off on holiday on the 26th. Until the new year. Which means no painting (at all) will be done in that week! Which will keep putting me behind (darn it). So my goal before Christmas is to get this artillery battery done fully. I then plan to make up for the no painting week by a whole week where I am at home, and I don't have to work. It will be my goal to get as much painted in that week as possible! So look out for some frantic updates from the 2nd of january until the 9th of January!

Oh, in other news I finished a secret test figure (pics tomorrow), and my Thirty Years War army is winging it's way towards me from the UK.

Back to painting!

CP

Sneak Attack from the South- Dystopian Wars game

The wind whipping at Fleet Commander Proclus's coat was hot and humid, bearing the toxic stench of sulphur and burnt coal. He stood gazing out over the black night, noting the small orange flecks in the distance, tell tale signs of coal boilers burning full steam. Proclus' fleet had been observing the parley at Bangkok from afar, observing every word, every fleet movement through a carefull wrought system of drones. Best of all, the enemy fleets had no clue that they were under observation from an unknown party...

A detachment of his fleet had been sent to eradicate the prescence of the Japanese in the area, his spies had already made it clear that the Brittanians had no intention to honour the treaty, nor honour the other members of the treaty itself. The two Prussian equipped fleets were bickering amonst themselves, it would take very little effort to bring the two to blows. This left the Japanese the most imminent threat.

Proclus had once been a citizen of the city state of Venice, once the centre for art, architecture and praised as a haven for free thinkers, radicals and idealists. The repression upon Venice had been swift and brutal, all those ideals the Venetians held so dear were crushed without mercy or thought; forcing men like Proclus out into exile, the greatest thinkers of the Italian states fleeing like whipped dogs. Proclus had been on the run for years, hiding out in Marakesh; until word came of the safe haven in Antarctica.

Now was not the time for reminiscing, as dawn broke over the small pacific islands, Japanese spotter planes were observed in the distance. It was not long before ranging shots from the enemy vessels began causing geysers of water around the vessels. Any shots which would have caused immediate danger to vessels were observed to visibly deflect away from their targets before exploding harmlessly into the water. It was at this point that Proclus ordered his crew to begin targetting the enemy capital class ship, as with all of these nations built upon lies, once the head had been cut off, only chaos would remain. The gunners were experts at targetting, their shots striking home among the superstructure of the enemy vessel, fire directed at the crude shield generator of the enemy vessel. The shield generator offered no defense against the charged ion bombardment, erupting into flames rendering the battleship defenseless. The supporting vessels poured their fire into the battleship, fires were visibly breaking out over the ship as the ionized fire cascaded into blue explosions over the superstructure in the dawn haze.

The enemy aerial assets began engaging, launching long range rocket salvoes, targetting Proclus' captial ships. Proclus laughed at the attempts made by these rockets, so crude, so neanderthal. Without any guidance system whatsover, it was a simple matter for the automated Anti-Aircraft fire to annihilate the rockets in the air before they were of any danger to the vessel.

Proclus dispatched his destroyers to deal with the enemy air asset, the five destroyers moving forward with all haste offered by their unique design. A their turrets began to engage the enemy (operating using standard Anti-Aircraft procedure, the first unit brackets the enemy and passes targetting information to the following vessels), enemy frigates appeared from behind the nearby island. Clearly the Japanese fleet was larger than Proclus had realised! The Iron Men aboard the vessels fought bravely, but were outnumbered and out gunned by the large number of ships. In spite of the withering enemy fire, the destroyers were able to down one enemy vessel, causing it to collide with a frigate on the surface. It was in a short amount of time that four of his destroyers were sinking quickly, the fifth was swarming with enemy boarders utilizing crude rocket packs.

With a sigh, Proclus pressed the destruct button for the destroyer, causing a blue hemisphere of ionized atmosphere to erupt from the centre of the vessel, instantaneously vapourizing the destroyer, the boarders and the frigate who had sent the boarders over.

Rubbing his eyes from the explosion, Proclus again looked forward, towards the sinking wreck of the enemy battleship. A perfect circle had been carved through the centre of the superstructure, just above the waterline. Through the hole, a second perfect circle could be seen through the cruiser which had been in a tight formation following the battleship. "I must commend the designers" thought Proclus, it had been the first time he was required to fire the Particle Accelerator Cannon at anything more than an iceberg.

As he was admiring the destruction, two silent shapes had slipped unnoticed in front of the bows of the dreadnought. To anyone watching, two streams of wake began to appear, before lines of jagged teeth appeared out of the water. Anyone watching would have been able to prevent it. Anyone watching would have been able to direct fire, to warn the Thermopylae about the imminent threat, but there was no one watching; the Antarcticans were obsessed with observing and recording the armour penetration statistics of the Particle Accelerator Cannon.

Great steel tentacles burst forth from the water, entangling themselves around the Thermopylae; tearing through her bridge, crushing her gun turrets and ripping her particle accelerator clean from within it's housing. Before Proclus could react, the Thermopylae was literally torn in twain, the last transmission from her captain bearing only the screams of the human bridge crew and the sound of tortured metal.  Proclus could only stare in disbelief, in the full knowledge that Antarctica had been betrayed by one of their own. Jiro Horikoshi had been one of their best naval architects, a wizard at creating articulated servoes. The enemy vessels bore all of the signs of Horikoshi, clearly talks of his death had been greatly exaggerated.

It was when one of the enemy behemoths wrapped up the particle accelerator, drawing it in closer to its armoured central body, that the attack became clear to Proclus. The Japanese clearly had enhanced detection capability, they knew he was coming. Their goal was then to garner as much technology as possible to further their own war effort. Horikoshi knew of the destructive powers of the Antarctican fleet; but had been stonewalled by the Antarctican designers, who operated strictly about "need to know"; and simply he had not needed to know.

Proclus was left with no choice but to open fire upon the wreck of the Thermopylae with all weapons, in an attempt to cause a critical reactor failure, which would cause the destruction of both it and its two attackers. Muttering apologies to his old friend Cato aboard the Thermopylae; Proclus gave the order. The explosion caused by the destruction could have been witnessed for miles around. The sturginum reactor in the Aristotle class was highly stable under normal circumstances, but when placed under extreme stress due to ionizing radiation, the reactor simply became as crude a weapon as a stick of Nobel's trinitrotoluene. 

In the ensuing blindness and disarray that occured after the explosion, Proclus made his escape with his remaining vessels. His goal of crippling the Japanese war effort in the Pacific had been hampered by the involvement of Horikoshi. How many other vessels had he created? Proclus knew he must contact the Wells Chasm at once, the ships needed better detection and destruction methods to counter this new threat....

Well, that was my game vs Jason last night. No pictures, why? Because my antarcticans are not painted, and I would be too ashamed to put them forward without them being painted! Here is what my colour scheme will look like.

One Antarctican Frigate

 In other news, the Analogue Painting Challenge has begun! But an update on that later tonight.

Watch out or the penguins will get you!

CP 

The Bangkok Naval Treaty- Dystopian Wars game

Lord Commodore Melchett sat impassivly around the large table. It had been scant few hours since he had departed his beloved Thunderchild for the neutral port of Bangkok. Four other naval commanders sat at the round table with him, all parties flanked by their aides of staff. Lord Melchett was uninspired by his requirement to be at this so called official gathering; why should he, Lord Melchett sit at the same table as his enemies? Especially to talk about limiting HIS naval power? Could they not see that the Brittanian domination of this economic zone was inevitable?

Two Prussian Commanders sat opposite one another, clearly members of different ethnic groups, one was spouting forth tirades of abuse which his translator blushed and refused to pass along; my aide informed me later that there was an ancient grievance between this Hungarian commander and the other Prussian. Commodore Sheridan of the FSA sat opposite Lord Melchett. Sheridan had the same opinion as Melchett, let the Europeans fight it out, then annihilate the rest. It had not been long since Sheridan and Melchett had come to blows, in the so called "Civil War" of the FSA. Brittania had interests in the winner of the conflict being... responsive to British economic involvement. Naturally, the interests of Brittania were served, as they always were.

It was now that Sheridan spoke up, explaining his proposal as if it were he were unwrapping a favourite present, pausing to ensure effect. The proposal was simple, a limit on tonnage of naval vessels in the Pacific Economic Zone. The Hungarian commander sprang up, continued his tirade and I can only assume swore the deepest vengance upon all those at the table, but especially Sheridan. The other Prussian asked his aide for a book, presumably to check the tonnages of his vessels; smirking and making the unmistakeable sound of a Zepplin's rotors, clearly he thought that the way around the restrictions. Lord Melchett knew of Sheridan's proposal prior to the meeting, Victoria's spies were ruthless in their efficiency. His anger hidden, his distaste for his opponents kept beneath his large mustache. He spoke only two words before leaving, "Brittania accepts".

This act of supplication was simply a farce. Not one day after, Lord Melchett aboard the freshly commissioned Majesty Class Dreadnought HMS Thunderchild was on the tail of Sheridan and his fleet. This fleet was Melchett's own, and as such had the latest in Sturginum technology, as a defense against the well known FSA firepower.

The Brittanian Fleet advancing in Line

The FSA quickly realised the threat, their long range recon aircraft spotting the heaving smoke stacks of the Brittanian vessels and immediatly called their fleet around, and directed fire onto the Brittanian vessels. The initial fire was sporadic and inaccurate, causing a minor hit on the cruiser HMS Warspite. Plunging fire from the Thunderchild was in concert with the fire from the Battleship HMS Iron Duke directed at the enemy fleet carrier.

The Brittanian line edges ever closer, but there are enemies in the distance....

Severe damage was inflicted upon the enemy carrier by the two vessels fire, while in an attempt to silence the enemy indirect fire from the Battleships, one of the Wolf Pack frigate squadrons steamed straight for the island concealing the battleship, to silence the enemy recon aircraft. The recon aircraft was silenced, but serious damage was inflicted upon the frigate.

The lone remaining frigate after their strike, two Doncaster bombers from the RFC fly past in an attempt to destroy the enemy balloons.

Meanwhile, the second Wolf Pack were hunting the enemy cruisers with the help of the nearby Cruiser Squadron, causing crippling damage onto all three of the enemy vessels, in short order the three enemy vessels were sinking rapidly.

A Wolf Pack strikes, Ack-Ack firing at the enemy bombers, turrets firing at the enemy cruisers

It was at this point that the squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps attached to the fleet from their operational bases on nearby Avenger Carriers made their strikes to protect the Thunderchild and the Iron Duke. Crippling damage was made upon the enemy bombers, but those proved to be a distraction as three waves of enemy torpedo bombers rippled waves of fire into the Iron Duke. The torpedo defence provided by the escort vessel was rendered helpless as the Iron Duke sailed in front of the protection; Melchett could only watch in horror as the torpedoes tore a hole through the bow of the Iron Duke through which water began rushing through, as she began to sink.

The tiny fliers attempt to destroy an enemy bomber, the enemy torpedo bombers are about to begin their attack runs on the Iron Duke

All the while, the Thunderchild had been steaming straight forward, guns blazing. It was only until she turned to the side that her full power was unleashed on the enemy Battleship, five of her six turrets striking the first enemy battleship with ruthless efficiency. Raging fires were observed over the ship, men leaping into the waves to avoid the onslaught. Lord Melchett wanted Sheridan alive, so that he could witness the Brittanian domination of the Pacific Economic Zone, as pennance for a wound given many years ago. Lord Melchett ordered the rocket marines off the surviving Wolf Pack to search the crippled Battleship , to capture the bridge and capture Sheridan. It was only after a bitter fight that it was realised that Sheridan was on the other vessel, the one that was now steaming away at a full head of knots past the Thunderchild. Sheridan knew of the weaknesses of the Majesty class, he knew no pursuit could be given. Lord Melchett could only feel that Sheridan's revenge would be coming with ruthless efficiency.....

The Thunderchild engages the two enemy Battleships, crippling one, while Sheridan escapes on the other.....

Vengance had been achieved for the Bangkok Treaty, Brittania would still "observe" the treaty, while building up the size of her fleet, to achieve victory in the Pacific!

For more on the treaty of Bangkok, head here.

One day till the painting challenge starts...

CP

Step One, Complete! Napoleonic British Based!

Well, after a week of PVA glue and big paintbrushes, my British Napoleonic Army is based!

There is what I have got! In Lasalle terms: 2 Large Guards Infantry Units, 5 Infantry Units, 1 Hussar Unit, 1 Unit of Artillery, extra skirmisher and sapper stands, 4 commanders and some casualty markers.

A close up of the Artillery base. The bases themselves need a little bit of colour, which I am sorting as we speak. It is hopefully winging it's way to me from England....

So what is left to paint for my Napoleonic British?

• 2 Units of Infantry (69th South Lincolnshire and some more Landwehr)
• The artillery crew for another base of artillery
• The Duke Himself- because it ain't Waterloo without the Duke!

With that in mind, here is the 69th Regiment ready for some paint

Although I have just noticed one of the front ranks has a particularly... exaggerated pose of his head. I will fix that before I apply some paint!

Because it aint Waterloo without him; here is the Duke of Wellington himself, ready to get some paint applied also.

But no paint (other than undercoat) can be applied until 11:01 am on the 20th of December (00:01 Canadian Time) so these chaps will have to wait! I still need to assemble the regiment of Landwehr, so that will likely happen in the next day or two as well.

But in other news, there has been some trouble brewing in Bangkok; which concerns the economic interests of the Kingdom of Brittania in that little slice of the globe....

CP

Cunning Plans, Clever machinations and a Painting Challenge

So as this year comes to a close, it is about time to get myself a new challenge, because you may have noticed that without a reason to get things finished, I tend to not do it!

I found a perfect challenge here; a Winter Challenge run by a blog out of Canada (hence it being a winter challenge!). The challenge is simple, paint as much as possible between the 20th of December until the 20th of March. Different scale models are given a points value, the goal being to get as many points! The challenge is truly international; contestants from Spain, Germany, Canada, England, Scotland, Belgium, Newfoundland and the USA will make for a truly awesome challenge!

Scoring Matrix

5 points per 25/28mm foot figure

10 points per per 25/28mm mounted figure

10 points per 25/28mm artillery piece or limber model

4 points per 20mm foot or unmounted horse figure

8 points per 20mm mounted figure

8 points per 20mm artillery piece or limber model

3 points per 15mm foot or unmounted horse figure

6 points per 15mm mounted figure

6 points per 15mm artillery piece or limber model

 They also have to be based; which is my arch nemesis!

So, that is the challenge. What is the plan then?

Step I: Base everything I have painted of my British Napoleonic Army before the 20th of December
Step II: Paint Three more regiments of British Napoleonics Infantry and 1 unit of Artillery crew to complete my Guards army, and to have it so I can play it as either Guards or Infantry.
Step III: Begin work into a Spanish Army of the Thirty Years War, based around Tercios!
Step IV: Paint a 15mm Australian Divisional Cavalry army for Early War FOW
Step V: Order and Paint 2 units of British Heavy Cavalry for Napoleonics (Scots Greys and Dragoon Guards)
Step VI: Sleep and not paint.

That's as far as I have gotten, if I manage to get that all done, I will be pretty darn stoked! There is plenty more to paint if need be! I don't really care about winning the challenge, more that it is a darn good excuse to get my Napoleonics done! Kent is also joining in the challenge- he is attempting an absolute stellar amount of Romans!

 Right. Thats the challenge, and what I will be working towards for the next 3 months or so. Pictures tommorow of the based Napoleonics, as well as a better description of where I am headed with them.

CP

Bedecon Report

Well, it's Monday, I am back home and recovering from a great weekend's gaming up in Wellington!

As previously mentioned, this weekend was Bedecon (Bunkers and Beaches), a 1750 point late war, Normandy themed tournament. I was running my 2nd Armoured Division "Hell on Wheels", trying to push through the bocage during Operation Cobra.

I played 5 games over the tournament, all Axis vs Allies (not everyone was so lucky), and got caught up in my games so much that I mostly forgot to take photos. Oops.

The tournament was on the whole really, really cool. The tables had some great terrain on them, as well as some really interesting army list choices! Far too many Festungs and Bodenstandings companies for my tastes, but they were pretty darn common in Normandy! The 5 guys I played, Alex, John, Bede, Damien and Callum I would all play again.

 The platoon of 76mms racing around the wreckage of their opponents in Game 1.

 The observer looks out over the vast fortifications in front of him. Why yes, that is a PaK 43 bunker. Notice how you can see no tanks?

It's because this is the picture of the other flank! There was no way I was going to be able to deal with that big mother head on.

Highlights of the weekend? Turn one of the first game, the 5 76mm shermans spearhead move, then zip up to 2 tigers and proceed to blast them away with stabilizers. Toughest thing to watch was against Bede, where his ROF 3 tigers and 3 PaK 40s literally could not hit. Anything. At all. Which really cost him the chance of the win, because although my dice were average, they were better than absolute rubbish! Even worse was when he did finally hit with 2 shots, I rolled 2 sixes to save. It was tough to watch. Fail of the weekend? Well... I am going to claim that one. I asked Bede to look at his 3 early war books, and him being the gentleman he is lent them to me. So what do I do? Dribble a small amount of coffee on them. Not so much that they are ruined, just enough that there is a mark. Fail. Absolute fail. Bede took it like a champ, and new books will be winging their way to him shortly!

The last word I will leave to what was one of the coolest models at the entire tournament, provided by Leamy.

Why yes, yes that is a battleship. The HMS King George V in fact. Didn't make his naval guns hit anything however....

Big news on painting and projects tommorow.

CP

Bunkers and Beaches (better known as Bedecon!)

This weekend I am off to Wellington, to compete in a new tournament, run by a good mate, Bede. This is going to be my last tournament of the year, much to the delight of my partner who I am sure has had enough of my being away playing toy soldiers!

The tournament itself is themed around the battle of Normandy, spanning the initial landings on D-Day, up until around the time the Falaise pocket closed. So, plenty of scope for some pretty cool armies, and some very cool tables. Bede has been a consitently fantastic terrain maker, and especially as a provider of pieces for a tournament, so from the "prettyness of the table" aspect, I am pretty excited.

As to my list? I am running US 2nd Armoured Division "Hell on Wheels". I am putting all of my eggs into this guys basket...

General William Tecumseh Sherman, famous general of the Union in the Civil War, especially famous for his "scorced earth" tactics against the Confederacy. So to carry on his legacy, I am bringing along a whole heap of his namesakes!

To break it down further...

Company HQ- 2 M4A1 Sherman Tanks, one with a bulldozer blade (because it looks cool)

Tank Platoon- 5 M4A1 (76mm) Sherman tanks. You can see the "Speed Numbers" on the side (this platoon is D-11 through D-15) representing company, tank platoon and tank numbers. I chose Dog company naturally (get it?). I also wrote them in white (some were white, some yellow) because I could only get my hands on a white pen!

Tank Platoon- 4 M4A1 (75mm) Sherman tanks.

Armoured Mortar Platoon- 2 M4 81mm Mortar Carriers with AA .50 cal MGs, and a command M3 halftrack. In front of them is their dismounts.

Recon Platoon- Full Strength, Bazooka Team and a 37mm gun on the M2 Halftrack

Armoured Rifle Platoon- Full Strength, all M3 Halftracks with 50 cal MG

Corps Field Artillery Battery- 4 105mm guns. These guys are sadly trained (the rest of the force is vet) but will hopefully make up for their rating by bringing in the Freedom Rounds on those dirty Nazis.

And last but not least, I have my two objectives. A wrecked M5 Stuart light tank, and my scratchbuilt Caterpillar D7 bulldozer. The bulldozer has been with this American army for a long time, I consider it a good luck charm now!


There is an extra side competition in the tournament, that is to claim scalps (head here if you dont get it), which can be done by destroying a German infantry or man packed gun team in assault! So, from now on these will be called "Patton Points", because heck, if i am assaulting Germans, I am probably following the orders of Patton! I will just have to make sure I achieve the mission, otherwise I will be in for a serious dressing down and loss of rank from the General!

So, tournament starts on Saturday, I will have an update about it on Monday. For those who read this blog for Dystopian Wars, there are new projects on the way. For those who started reading for Napoleonics stuff; sorry there has not been much lately! I will rectify that soon, promise.

Anyway, time to pack.
CP

Kingdom of Brittania Fleet finished!

My Dystopian Wars British fleet has been fully completed as of this morning! I thought it would be a good time to get some proper photos of it done, so I can properly call it finished!

The Southern Fleet in it's completed state. I will be adding more fliers and more vessels (once they are released by Spartan Games), but this is every single thing I own for the Brittanians painted!

The HMS Thunderchild, a Majesty class Dreadnought. Equipped with no less than 6 primary turrets, broadsides and all around torpedoes, as well as her forward ram (if all else fails, ram it); Dreadnoughts have become a much feared weapon in the Coral Sea as the Prussian Empire seems to keep bringing them along! If you don't get the naming of it, you have not read enough good Sci-Fi, especially in the victorian era!

The HMS Achillies and HMS Iron Duke both Ruler class Battleships. Three primary turrets and one shield generator, as well as torpedoes make these both formidable vessels, even when damaged! These two are constant performers, primarily I think to their candy cane funnels.

The HMS Victoria an Avenger class Fleet Carrier. Equipped with tiny fliers, torpedoes and small turrets this is a vessel which can bring the hurt- but has sank in both of the games I have used it in! Not sure how to make it work properly just yet, I think it will take a bit more thought before I get it just right. It certainly can dish out alot of torpedo dice, but it is incredibly fragile.

Three Tribal class Cruisers, the HMS Vanguard, HMS Warspite and HMS Colossus. These three suffer from having a low Damage Rating and Critical Rating (meaning they die quick) plus only average firepower. They do not appear in my fleet often, which is a pity, because Cruisers should be essential in any fleet!

The Vanguard class submarines. These are the most "steam-punk" of all of the Brittanian fleet, they are a submarine equipped with forward torpedoes, but their primary goal is to chainsaw the enemy vessels! The subs have a massive hull ripping set of teeth on the prow of the vessel. As for their effectiveness in battle? I like them!

A squadron of Orion class Destoryers. These are one of my favourite units, with forward torpedoes, good speed and the ability Pack Hunters these ships are incredibly effective as a "first-strike" weapon, using their speed to race forward and damage as much as possible! Return fire is absolutely catastrophic to them, but that's life!

Two Squadrons of Bastion class Escorts. These are tasked soley with defence of the Capital vessels, and they are becoming increasingly more important, because my ships keep getting boarded by vicious Prussian luftlancers! So, the more Ack-Ack the better!

Here are my four squadrons of Frigates! These are my favourite vessel in the entire fleet (possibly why I have 15 of them). Pound for Pound, these guys are more than capable of punching above their own weight, using their two turrets to link fire and roll large amounts of dice, especially as a 4 vessel squadron. Add that to their side torpedoes, and these guys are always worth my while!

One of my two Hawk class Scout Rotors, which have yet to play a game, but rather have just been finished painting this morning. Colour scheme was in part borrowed from the Red Arrows and Iron Man.

The twin Doncaster class Bombers, used as late game bombing runs, AA defense and the occasional torpedo run, these chaps are darn useful!

And finally a close up on one of my Tiny Flier tokens. I have 16 of them, all looking exactly like the one above!

So, that is the entire fleet completed, at least for now. Whats next? Well I have some FOW to paint for next weekend, but I get distracted pretty easily, who knows what else will be there!

CP