Idea time - Brecourt Manor Board (Part 2)

...where were we....oh yes!

Look what I found!

A huge board of Xtratherm. 10cm deep, 81cm wide and 169cm long. I was thinking of making two different Arcworlde boards for Troubles in the North. I also toyed with the idea of a cross roads map. In the end I settled on making the battery at Brecourt Manor. The only problem was modularity and mobility. the board as is is huge and unweildy (hence the chipped/torn edges). I wanted to make it as two boards with interchangeable positions - I love the assault on the guns, but not enough for it to be all I play!

Taking the line diagram above, along with the satelite image from google, I started to use GIMP to work out a board. GIMP allows images in cm measurements so things can be scaled appropriately.

Although the guns line up with the hedge row quite well, the fields to the left of the image dont...GIMP to the rescue!

This plan, to scale with my board, has the hedges moved and re positioned to match the google earth view. This fits nicely with a two part board where the left hand board can be moved and rotated to match any of the other edges!

Unfortunately there is a minor hitch...at this scale 6 inches and the 25mm bases don't quite work...and to run an 80cm x 80cm board I need to lose 10cm from one end!

Idea time - Brecourt Manor Board (Part 1)

Hot on the heels of another unnecessary purchase [Brother Handro: "Is any of it necessary..."] we have another project lined up.

Everyone loves Band of Brothers, right? Anyone who says they don't is a liar! Of course, best episode is hotly contested with Bastogne often winning out. Best individual battle....now that is a question. Foy is of course legendary, as is cross roads, but I have to say the assault on the gun battery at Brecourt manor is something else all together.

For those that don't know the operation, there are some great descriptions here, here, here, and here!

The general premise is that Winters, tasked with taking out some presumed 88mm artillery, takes a small force from Easy Company and successfully assaults a fixed position to eliminate 4 German artillery pieces which are shelling the landing zones on D-Day. The operation, and Winters' tactics, are reportedly still taught at West Point today.

The area around Ste-Marie-Du-Mont includes a manor house at Brecourt. Various maps are available at the sources linked to above, and some of these help give an idea of the exact position of the field.

Some careful google mapping, and it is possible to find the corner of the field today - note that North is now roughly at the 8 O'clock position.

The sattelite photo graphs dont give much of a clue, but thankfully the history keen community have drawn up a number of handy maps giving an idea of the locations of guns and various important details.

This diagram gives a nice range of detail. but can be nicely cut down to the important details as seen below.

In the next post I'll give more detail on how we can recreate this terrain for wargaming!

Pledges - April 2018

Progress! Lets keep it going.

Der H

I, Der H, do hereby pledge to complete my Dreadclaw drop pod for my IIIrd legion!

Brother Handro

I, Brother Handro, lacking time and Tau HQ choices this month, do hereby pledge to complete Aun'Shi AKA Tau Rambo...Tau'Mbo, if you like.

WIP - IIIrd Legion Librarian

During the hobby day this week I made  start on my IIIrd Legion Librarian conversion.

A relatively simple conversion, it’s a few pad changes, a Phoenix spear, and a new (god specific) summoned daemon.

The work so far is all around that daemon and the associated flame effect. 

Brother Handro helped me with the choice of flame colour, colour therory suggesting green (Der H:   “Good shout Brother!”  ) 

Earlier stages!

Near completion.

I aimed for a bright green flame at the claw, with a fade to black smoke around the daemonette. This merged with her robes, also black, and provided a clean backdrop for the silver armour and pale skin. 

Still needs some work, but it’s getting there!

Thoughts? 

Der H 

House Mortimer

Der H: "Well, I don't think I have enough projects going on right now....lets start another!"

Sit down children and let me tell you a story about House Mortimer...

A long time ago there was an issue of White Dwarf (#126 to be precise) which brought up the story of the Imperial Knight Houses (I'd recommend you read it dear listener!)

The rules are interesting, the fluff is great, and the focus on Eldar Knights is something different from the current Knight range!

They also included some colour schemes, including an interesting addition...

No fluff was given for House Mortimer, just a garish colour scheme...

The yellow and purple scheme is...interesting...and the intensity of the colours does make one feel a little off.

Of great interest is the house crest...

Clearly this is a Tyranid bioform, it looks almost as though it is pregnant, and the colour gives it away as a genestealer. The same issue of White Dwarf includes the release of the Genestealer expansion for Space Hulk v1.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, I have decided that our lost friends in House Mortimer need a bit more publicity. I have scores of old Tyranids from my childhood collection, a new set of Genestealer cultists from the Deathwatch Overkill box, and with Forgebane around the corner I have decided to merge them into one.

The setting will include me love of Red Scorpions, Deathwatch, Inquisitors, Knights, Genestealer cults and the Tyranids. I'm aiming for an Anphelion project esque vibe.

Imperial Forces:

Inquisitor [REDACTED] (i.e. TBC) with retinue

Red Scorpions - Terminators of the 1st Company

Deathwatch - Kill team under Captain [REDACTED] (i.e. also tbc!)

Possible Astra Militarum support - TBC

House Mortimer:

Knight House Mortimer

Imperial/Mechnicum/Cult populace - Mixed Militarum/PDF/Mechanicum and civil populace

Tyranids - splinter aspect of Hive Fleet Leviathan

The Fluff:

The Industrial/Mining world of Osterion II was long lost to the Imperium, and only rediscovered by a Mechanicum explorator fleet in early M31 (roughly 002.M31).

The system contains 3 planets, Osterion I is a dead world and Osterion III is a gas giant surrounded by a number of moons. Osterion II is a dry, hot world, rich in minerals and ore. It was discovered during the early days of the Imperium, but never developed more than a mining outpost. During the age of strife the world received survivors of a lost colony fleet, and slowly grew in its isolation. It is at this time, that House Mortimer was formed.

By the time of its discovery in M31, Forge World Gryphonne was by far the leading Mechanicum strong hold in the sector, and House Mortimer quickly bowed to its superiority. Mortimer remained loyal throughout the Horus Heresy, and was able to remain relatively unscathed owing to the remote location and limited strategic value of the system. House Mortimer Knights were seen throughout the Scouring and the millennia that followed...

More fluff to follow in the coming weeks, but for now, behold the glorious emergence of House Mortimer...

Xenos sighted!

Welp, hot on the heels of my plans for the Glorious return of House Mortimer, we have a test scheme!

God I hate mold lines...

Zandri dust spray, agrax wash [Brother Handro: "aka Magic Brown"] then ushabti bone overbrushing -> clearly a win!

First coat of jokero orange...

Works....but not great yet. I almost feel that i need to do Zandri dust, jokero orange, yellow/light orange stark highlight and some stripes/patterns and then wash it all down with agrax before overbrushing the whole thing with ushabti...

first steps work well...

orange....less so!

I feel the genestealers themselves might need a simple Zandri/Ushabti with purple wash in the soft bits! hopefully with the details like claws, teeth, eyes, tongue and some purple wash It should work well!

Let us know what you think guys!

Der H

Forgebane - ouch...my wallet...

[Brother Handro: "We don't really do news...do we?"]

[Der H: "Quiet! I'm having fun!"]

So...this has happened! Both Brother Handro and I missed out of the glory that was Knight Renegade, and as such I have bought nearly every boxed game since!

[Brother Handro: "<Cough> Death Watch <Cough>"]

We are both Necro-curious....not like that...and of course the Ad Mech/Knights combo is hard to resist.

The contents look pretty good to be honest, and several blog sites have already bandied around estimated costs. For my part, even at the estimated upper end of £100, this is a bargain....and one I will be snaffling up pretty sharp-ish!

House Mortimer anyone....

Der H & Brother Handro

Quote of the day: Praise be! The Star Children deliver us

More purple!

Good lord.....the wave of progress continues!

Not much progress yet, but I got a little bit of time in to paint a few more older projects in purple...

[Brother Handro: "old! you've barely started them!"]

Fingers crossed for more!

Der H