Panzer Grenadiers! Marsch!

The first squad basically done...not sure about my photography, but that comes next....

Imperial Firebase

This is the last of the GW card-and-plastic-bulkhead terrain pieces that I am missing. I was able to purchase the others last year, but this one has eluded my grasp since.

Achtung! Grenadiers!

At long last, I was able to get together with my friend, HeavyJosh, for a little WW2 Skirmish action, using 1/72 scale figs and the rules from The Face Of Battle. it has been at least 3 years since I played this game back with my old historicals gang, and I've missed it.

I was never responsible for the rules before (Wayne always GMed our battles), and I have a new respect for being on top of all the mods and details.

That said, a fun time was had by me. The MG34/42 is a real chainsaw--I aced 3 of Josh's guys in the first turn with a well placed burst. He later reciprocated, laying out both my LMG teams with his .30 cal from the second story of an abandoned (presumably recently!) country house.

This game was really just an opportunity to refamiliarize myself with the game, and point out the holes in my terrain collection. I'll get to work filling them this week....

Ouch.

So....

Months later, I return. Many ambitions have been outlined, few achieved.

Current projects:

1. Paint Reaver Titan and refurbish recently acquired Warhound Titan.
2. Fulfill Tale of Four Gamers committment. 500 points - failed
3. Void Junkers proxy Imperial Guard army
4. Face of Battle 20mm WWII German squad
5. Doombringers Space Marines

Hm. Need a plan to accomplish all this....

Damned Space Marines

As Vth edition gets even closer, I've put my order in for two Gamer's Editions, primarily because I want those ammo boxes. More money down the drain, but like a drug addict, I keep going back to get my fix....

A recent trip home resulted in my returning to Montreal with a batch of 2nd ed Space Marine tanks, distributed evenly across Predators, Whirlwinds, Razorbacks, and Rhinos. This has provoked me to build them up for my siegemarine army, which I built three Vindicators into last year.

I have not, of course, actually started to do any work on them; but my imagination proceeds forward at flank speed.

A Guardsman by any other name....

As a direct result of antipathy towards GW and their price model, and an eBay habit that won't quit, I've begun to build an Imperial Guard army based around proxied miniatures from Warzone. Actually, there are nominally two armies in the works, since I have 160 plastic miniatures coming, evenly divided between Imperial Regulars and Bauhaus Ducal Militia.

I've had a ton of Bauhaus stuff kicking around over the years (Venusian Rangers really defined the feel of the game for me), and, as a Germanophile, I've always wanted to build a first world war themed army out of them. Given the associated cost of an actual Death Korps army from Forgeworld, this seemed like a reasonable compromise.

Ask...and thou shalt receive?

I recently dropped a line to Jervis Johnson, purely out of frustration at not currently being able to get Steel Legion Plasma Gunners for my army.

Not able to entirely check my rancor, here is what I sent:

"Hi Jervis,

I'm a long time GW hobbyist, and I'm hoping you might help me out. I've recently taken out my Guard army and recognized the need dor a special weapon other than a grenade launcher. However, the SL Plasma Gunner is not available in GW's current Bitz Catalog.

While I have read and am prepared to accept the rationale behind the drastic reduction to the Bitz service, I am curious to know what happened with this model, and if it will soon be available.


Thank you,
Me"

As you can see, I did not vent my spleen on the subject of there only being two special weapons for the SL in the first place. I commend my own restraint.

I was astounded to find, in my inbox today, this reply:

Hi,

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll pass this onto the team responsible for the collectors & bitz range so they can deal with it.

Thanks again for writing in.

Jervis Johnson

Now, if this actually translates into action, my hat will certainly be off to Jervis Johnson. One of GW's 10 Commandments for Management is "Faith, Not Heresy", and I will be faithful in this circumstance that Jervis will follow through.