Time To Get Going Again

I know, it's been a while.  The holidays were a bit rough at work due to personnel reasons and then my computer decided to pack it in during the midst of all that.  But it's all straightened out now and we're ready to go again.  So, while little progress was made during the holidays, there is some news out there.

First up let's look at my Bolt Action British.  During a post Christmas online sale I picked up a DUST Tactics mobile AA walker for some covering support for my British Airborne.  I still need to get the US markings changed over to British ones.  I'm tentatively giving this the identification of Crusader III AA Walker Mk II.

Also as part of the same sale purchase, I got some DUST Tactics British armored infantry.  They're a bit larger scale than Bolt Action infantry, but should work ok for the Konflict 47 British armored infantry.  I got a total of 12 of them, so they'll be organized into 2 sections of 6 SAS Commando Armored Infantry Troopers to help secure the landing zones for my British Airborne.

On the BattleTech Front, there are some more additions there as well though in book form.  First off I got the First Succession War Source Book by Catalyst Games.  It's got a ton of stuff in it and while it's not an easy to get through book the way it's laid out, it's been enjoyable to pick through.  I also managed to win an eBay auction for three of the original House sourcebooks.  They're not in great shape, but I've only ever had the Steiner one before now so it's nice to get some of them.  I got a Steiner replacement, a Liao, and a Kurita.  Hopefully I'll find a Marik and Davion one someday soon.


The other thing that is going on is that a large group of Mechs have gone into a Simple Green bath.  I just can't seem to make myself paint any more green mechs so I've completely cut off my Eridani Light Horse at just the one regiment.  With the fun of some of what has been done in the First Succession War book, they're going to become something I've ever done which is a white painted army.  I'm going to do a Level III of Com Guard pre-3025.  We'll see how they come out once they're done bathing.

So that's all for now and I'll see you all later.

All Over The Place

Oh we're in for a treat today.  We've got 40K, more BattleTech Ghost Bears, and even some Bolt Action.  So sit back and enjoy the ride.

First up, let's see the last of the BattleTech Ghost Bears.  All the Elementals are based so the entire force is 100% complete.  Now I just have to talk Murl or Screech or someone into a game to get them on the table top.  I don't enjoy the painting part of the hobby and I often have to force myself to make progress on this front, so for me to have an entire force of ANYTHING entirely painted is a real achievement I'm proud of.  Now I need to start clearing some more Eridani Light Horse off the list.

Next on the list is some reinforcements for my British Airborne forces.  I've been wanting to Paras on Bikes for a while now.  A three paycheck month happened to fall just as I got a discount code from Warlord.  So two squads of bikes were ordered and arrived the middle of this week.  Half of them are now assembled, and I should have the rest assembled sometime next week.  I also still need to finish the rest of that box of Commandos to use as Paras as well.

Now on to the biggie.  I finally bought a 40K (ok, technically 30K) Calth box.  With my love of almost all things Dreadnought, the Contemptor was the first thing to be assembled.  I used the spare arm on the armless Contemptor I've had for quite a while, so now it just needs one now.  And yes, that means I now have 5 Contemptor Dreadnoughts and 20 total Dreadnoughts of all types now.  And no, I don't have a problem, I could not buy any dreadnought that wasn't interesting or appealing anytime I want.

Ok, moving on!  The Chaplain model from the Calth box was next.  This will be Chaplain Tobyn Pyke, Master of Sanctity, head of all the Lions of Harlech's chaplains.  It's a great model and I love the Crozius and how the cloak looks on the model.  It's got a lot of personality and went together really easily.

Then I've got the Captain in terminator armor and four terminators put together.  The Captain will be Captain Pedr Dyfedd, Regent of Cymru, Commander of the First Company (the Icons of Honor).  All five have chainfists so are ready to dish out massive destruction to anything in their way.

But way I hear you say "the Calth box comes with FIVE terminators, not four."  No, I'm not missing one.  The last one I got having fun with the bits box to create another character from my chapter's fluff.  Using some bits from the Mechanicus Warstrider box (yes, I bought one of those a while back just to use the bits out of it) as well as some other bits, we now have Inquisitor Jaemes Kaelleon, Ordo Hereticus, Radical Inquisitor (Libricar), one of my chapter's allies.  Being a Radical Inquisitor, he has the sort of tech weapons that might be frowned upon in some quarters, but he gets the job down.  I really like how he came out and this is the sort of conversion that makes 40K so much fun.

So that's where we're at for now.  What's up for the next couple weeks?  The rest of the British Para Bikers, some Eridani Light Horse hopefully, the marines from the Calth box, ..oh there is so much more lined up that I need to get through.  I'm also planning to go back and start redoing the chapter pics and blog posts of the Lions.  I never got half of them done before and what was done is out of date now too.  There's lots and lots of fun stuff coming this summer and I hope you all are enjoying the ride.

Ghost Bears, Light Horse, and a Bit of Bolt Action

So a bit of progress on several fronts here in the hobby realm.  First of all, the Bear Cub was finished for the Ghost Bears to finish off the Charlie Star of scouts/recon.

Then it turns out that I got a great deal on some elementals on eBay, enough to do about 11 points for $16 and shipping.  Nothing in the 50th Striker Cluster has more than 5 Points of Elementals in it, so I needed to do a restructure of the force.  A quick peruse through the Invading Clans sourcebook at the Ghost Bears Tourman and I moved everything over into the 1st Bear Guards Cluster instead.  What I have will represent the 312th Assault Trinary (the Silver Kodiaks) and the 23rd Elemental Support Binary.  This uses up all 3 Stars of Omnimechs as well as all the elementals while still keeping in the Alpha Galaxy so nothing needs a repaint.  The elementals are all primed and I'm going to paint them before splitting them apart to get them on hex bases to finish them off.

1st Bear Guards Cluster (The Rage), Alpha Galaxy
Star Colonel Paul Bekker, Timberwolf (Madcat)

312th Assault Trinary (The Silver Kodiaks)
Star Captain Eddard Jamieson, Novacat

Alpha Star
Star Commander Rachael Baird, Hellbringer (Loki)
    Tomas Sarnow, Warhawk (Masakari)
    Lucian Pyne, Mad Dog (Vulture)
    Coleen Groenewold, Summoner (Thor)
    Oscar Esterhaus,

Bravo Star
Star Commander Freyja Wycliffe, Grizzly
    Simon Paulk, Mad Dog (Vulture)
    Fionna Giscard, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Wilhelm Forsythe, Novacat
    Iroku Ashigara, Timberwolf (Madcat)

Charlie Star
Star Commander Jayne Cardones, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Hideoshi Nakamura, Blackhawk
    Kaitrin Ericsson, Soiltaire
    Manfred Courvosier, Blackhawk
    Thorgeir Gaerwulf, Bearcub

23rd Elemental Support Binary
Star Captain Sarah Kabrinsky

Alpha Elemental Star
Star Commander Klaus Danitov
    5 Elemental Points

Bravo Elemental Star
Star Commander Travis Garroway
    5 Elemental Points

Next up we have something for my Eridani Light Horse.  The four LAMS (from way back here) were primed, got the base layer green, the brass highlights, and a wash layer.  I need to figure out what to paint the stand that holds them up off the base still then get them based as well.

And then my Bolt Action British Paras got a bit of love.  A while back I got a box of British Commandos to use as paras since they have the beret option.  I got the first five assembled for 2 rifles, 2 sten guns, and a PIAT launcher.  I'm aiming to get the other 20 in the box assembled over the next week.

So that's where we're at for now.  Goals for the coming week include getting the Elementals done, getting my Leviathan based when the ordered base finally shows up in the mail, and then getting more of the paras put together.  I also still need to come up with one more mech to finish off the Alpha Star of my Ghost Bears.  I've been trying to work out a trade or cheap purchase of a Kingfisher which would be a great fit but have yet to have any luck there.  We'll see how it all goes and I'll see you all next time.

Bolt Action and BattleTech

So this past Saturday I got a 1000 point game of Bolt Action in against Bob's American Paratroopers.  I took my British Paras with a bit of support.  I had 3 squads of 8 paras with 7 rifles and an LMG each (though the LMGs never fired the entire game as I forgot them and used them as rifles instead), a 2nd Lt (Jack Flag in his battle debut) with a bodyguard, a FAO with bodyguard, a MMG team, a recce jeep with  MMGs, a Bren Carrier with 2 LMGs hauling a flamthrower team, and a Sherman M4A4.

We played scenario 6: Demolition.  I outflanked with my recce jeep, the Bren Carrier with flamethrower team, and the Sherman.  It was a pretty close affair but my three outflankers all on the same flank let me get through to his base at the last turn while his own Sherman (also an M4A4) which was about to get to my own base was taken out by his own air support which finally came in on the 4th attempt and then misidentified it's target.  Jack Flag didn't fair nearly as well as the Cap version for my Americans did.  He was annihilated along with his bodyguard by an airstrike on turn 3 before he accomplished anything beside advancing.

It was an enjoyable game, as games against Bob almost always are, and I'm definitely pleased with the Bren Carrier.  It's got great mobility, decent fire power, and can carry a surprise inside.  I definitely want to add some more of them to my collection in the future.  I'm hoping to get another game in this coming Saturday so we'll see how it goes.

On the BattleTech front, a lot of primed models got their base layer of green today.  I still need to add the gold to them all and then get the wash layer on them.  Then they'll join the long long long list of mechs needing to be based.  The 4 LAMs still need to be painted as well.  I also need to work all these mechs into the Eridani Light Horse force organization chart.  Oddly enough, I'm trying to pick up a few more mechs though more to get some missing options in the pre-3025 universe than actually needing more mechs.  A Vulcan, a Hussar, a Hatchetman, and a Firestarter are on my list but trying to get them via trade on a BattleTech group rather than purchasing them.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next time.

Death From Above

So I've gotten 4 of the Robotech Tactics models put together to use as Phoenix Hawk LAMs.  I used the Guardian mode variant to make them stand out from a regular Phoenix Hawk.  While the other Robotech models for the Warhammer, Longbow, Rifleman, and Archer were pretty easy to assemble, this kit was a bit more of a task to assemble.

If the rain continues to be past us this afternoon, I've got a number of models that need primed and I'll be working on that.  In addition to the LAMs, I've got the Bren Carrier, the Humber Scout Car, and about a couple dozen other mechs that need primed.  If I get all the priming done today, since I'm off work on Tuesday, I'll be trying to make a dent in the paint queue.

Speaking of the Bren Carrier, it'll be getting its debut battle tomorrow evening against Bob.  I'm not sure if he'll be running his US Paras or his Germans, but my British Paras with a bit of support will be heading into the breach for King, Country, and maybe an extra pint at the pub.

Also coming up in the near future, on Saturday, April 16th, I'll be in west Knoxville at the new Warhammer store there for the Space Marine 30th Anniversary festivities with my Lions of Harlech.  If anyone is a marine fan or in the area, hope to see you all there.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next go around.

Yes, it's a bit overdue

I need to get myself on a better schedule with these postings, it just keeps sliding down the to do list during the week.  Anyway, there's been a bit of hobby taking place the last couple weeks

I've managed to get a couple games of Bolt Action in.  The first was my Americans against Mike's Germans which was one of his first games of Bolt Action.  It was a game of Mission 5, Top Secret.  He tried to set up a fire line to keep me off the objective but got too aggressive with his sniper team trying to get a good spot.  This allowed me to concentrate on one of his squads at a time and get away with the objective while putting most of my army as a screen to keep him from stopping my Lt. and bodyguard from escaping with the objective.  I took some pictures of this game but they disappeared when transferring them over to the computer.

The other game I got in was a 2v2 game with my Americans teamed with another new players American Paras against Screech's Germans and Mike's Germans fielded as Finns.  Our team was the attackers in the Scenario 4 Hold Until Relieved.  Between our two lists we had only two vehicles, his jeep with a Bazooka Team and my Sherman tank so we got to deploy a lot of infantry on the table to hit them early on.  The dice pulls were in our favor early on plus as the game played out, Mike's rolls got steadily worse until his units were fairly ineffective.  Their leadership rolls for reserves were particularly bad and held them back quite a bit.  MVPs for our side was my FAO who pulled in two Fighter Bombers that dished out a total of 10 pin markers on 5 units, took out the final 4 members of a 5 man squad, and blew up what I think was a Marder.  Also, the 2 American Infantry squads that took the main objective building by assaulting their way through a German squad, a Finnish squad, and a Finnish MMG team.

Now to the new stuff.  First up is a Bren Carrier for my British Paras to get around in.  After I try this in a couple games, I'm going to want to add a few more I think as it's a really cool little model.

I also picked up a Humber Scout Car to support my Brit Paras.  It's not an expensive option with just an LMG, but with the recce rule and counting as a Light Tank, it offers some interesting options for outflanking to deal with mortar and machine gun teams.

Last of all was that I've been quite lucky on eBay in regards to BattleTech and my Eridani Light Horse.  I managed to win a starter box of the newer better sculpts for just $20 and then for $15 I scored 5 sprues of the Robotech Tactics Veritechs to build and use as Phoenix Hawks.  I'll be able to count them as LAMs in the force org chart and then just use them as regular Phoenix Hawks if need be in a game.

So that's all for now and I'll try and be a bit more regular on getting these posts up.

Assembling The Paras

So I've started getting my British Paras modeled up so I can quit press ganging Imperial Guard models into service for Bolt Action games.  I've got a game against Cheef coming up in a couple weeks and I'm hoping to run this game with all official models.

First up is some heavier fire power than I've been running with the addition of a 6lb anti-tank gun and a pack howitzer which are the two heaviest guns that the British Airborne list are allowed.  The anti-tank gun especially should help out with the light tanks and lone half track that I've been running up against.

Next is the trio of recce jeeps that I've assembled.  I've become a fan of this unit in the couple games I've got in so far.  It makes a nice mobile platform that with it's pair of medium machine guns can kick out a good amount of fire.  With the recce rule they've got a nice ability to scoot backwards when shot at which has saved them a couple times by putting them beyond half range of something shooting at them.

Then we've got a hoard of men ready to be sorted into sections and other roles.  I've got many more that I need to behead so that I can get them properly attired in their berets rather than helmets.  For some reason, you get 1 model with a beret per 2 with a helmet.

I'm planning on trying to get this batch all primered this evening.  Tomorrow the plan is to see about making progress on the still helmeted paras.  I also want to get started on some of the models for the War of the Roses force.  That's all for now and I'll see you all next post.

A Large Pile Of Loot

So, as mentioned in previous posts, the Warhound went the way of the auction block.  This post will be covering the first influx of what it's funded.  And I've still got about $150 not spent from that with a number of items slated to go up on eBay tomorrow.  Since I've moved, I've had a chance to get my hobby stuff much more organized as I've been unpacking.  While I've still got a number of stuff to finish unpacking (mainly books, knick knacks, and lots of space marines), it's been nice to go through it a box at a time and get things under control.

This is DEFINITELY more organized than the pile and jumble I had pre-move

First up from the loot pile is two boxes of Perry Miniatures infantry for the War of the Roses force I'm putting together.  One is a box of War of the Roses infantry which can be assembled as archers or infantry and the other is a box of European infantry in the same time frame which can be assembled as crossbowmen, handgunners, or pikemen.  Each box contains enough model parts to assemble 40 models, so it was right at $70 for 80 models of multipart plastics.  Eat that GW.

The forces are being marshaled, but which side to support?

Next up is a box of mounted sergeants from Fireforge Games.  There are 12 multipart cavalry in the box and they're easily the match of GW Fantasy other than you don't get an entire sprues worth of detail bits.  But it was another good value at $20 on eBay.  I've got a couple individual models coming from the Dark Blade line of Game of Thrones models to represent the leadership of the force.  Once they arrive hopefully by this weekend, I'll have a bunch of the infantry assembled and will be doing an entire post on the force.  Also, I'm currently looking into the Fields of Glory rules for playing this army and would welcome any advice on the ruleset.

I read good reviews on this set and they were right

After that we'll make a quick hyperspace jump and look at a pair of basic Tie Fighters to bring me up to 5 basics as I slowly build up my Imperial forces.  I still want to get a pair of bombers, 3 more Ties to be able to field a full swarm list, and then a Firespray.  I'm not going to make the jump into Scum and Villainy just yet.

Soon you will feel the power of .... two lone fighters with no shields

And then last but far far far from least, my order from Warlord arrived with the last of my Bolt Action British paratroopers.  With what I already have, this will easily let me put together a force of up to 1,000 points quite easily.  I'll be working on getting them all onto bases when I'm off work this coming Sunday and Monday so they'll all be ready for my next foray up to Johnson City.  There paras have a return engagement planned with some aardvarks and we'll see if the paras can continue their success when properly modeled and not proxied.

Airborne rangers from the sky, fearless men who'll ...

So that's what all I've got on the plate for now.  Plus I've got some stuff to finish getting organized to get up on eBay.  My goal (if most likely a bit more than ambitious) is to get all this assembled by the end of the month and make a dent is starting to get it painted.  Hopefully I'll at least get it all primed by then and perhaps some basic colors on them as well.  The paras will be the top item for getting paint as they'll definitely be seeing the table top a fair amount while the War of the Roses force will be more of a hobby project for now while I find a rule set that looks promising.  I think I've got Bob talked into trying the time frame at least.

Thanks for the reads and I'll see you all later.

Albion Triumphant

So last evening I got my second game of Bolt Action in against Bob and his Germans.  We stretched it a bit and played a 1000 point game which let us try out some of the rules that we haven't used yet at 500 points such as Air Strikes, Mortars, Sniper Team, and there was even an infantry close combat.  The mission was maximum attrition with 10 units on his side and 11 units on my side.

The battlefield before deployment

I lost a total of 3 units which included both 5 man squads representing the two halves of Section C of 11th Platoon and the recce jeep.  Bob lost his light tank, 2 of 3 infantry squads, his Pioneer squad (with flamethrowers, thank goodness they didn't get used), his forward observer, his officer, and his mortar team.  In true blogger fashion, after taking the board set up picture, I got so involved in the game that I never took another picture.

We both had mixed luck on the dice.  I had a section of infantry with just one pin marker that didn't activate twice due to being unable to pass leadership of the modified 9.  Then there was the small assault squad that paused to rally and dropped 5 pin markers of the 6 they had picked up.  C Section has taken the most casualties in the two battles by far but they've taken out a light tank in each battle.  I think assaulting with anti-tank grenades is definitely the way to go, though as my opponents adapt to that, it's likely to change.

I'm a fan of mortars now.  The spotter making it a lot easier to hit was a big boost and they really could pile the pin markers on a unit.  My medium mortar kept his pioneers pinned in place while slowly whittling them away.  My sniper team was completely useless.  He took 4 shots and got a total of 1 hit which didn't wound.  I'm in no hurry to take this unit again.  The Medium Machine gun team did ok, but I think I like units that are more mobile.

2nd Lt. Marlowe again did very well leading his troops in battle.  At one point late in the game, 4 remaining members of a German squad assaulting him and his one remaining aide.  The first round of combat saw no injuries taken which lead to a second round where the aide and a German soldier were laid low.  The Lt. then finished off one more German soldier which scattered the other two.  An infantry assault being fought until it's decided is interesting, but I can see losing most of a squad because one man was killed to lose the combat could be annoying.  I'll have to see how it works more in the future.  A bit on the fence on this one.  Going back to the Lt. though, 2nd Lt. Vincent Marlowe was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry as I feel he earned a bit more than another mentioned in dispatches for his performance.  He's also being looked at for promotion to 1st Lt.

The ineffective sniper has been assigned field punishment and is busy digging new latrines and foxholes.  Hopefully he'll learn his lesson.

That's all for now and feel free to leave some input.  I like how my paras are evolving and as soon as I finish moving this month, I'll be ordering the last of my miniatures to get them put together properly and retire the borrowed Naval Infantry from my 40K range.

A Second Bolt Action Skirmish Upcoming

So this coming Friday, 2nd Lt Vincent Marlowe will once more be leading his 11th Platoon of C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 1st Airborne Regiment into battle.  After proving his abilities in the skirmish against the Wylsh rebels (for which he received the minor decoration of Mentioned in Dispatches), he's been intrusted with a larger force this time while probing the German lines.

Our Distinguished Hero, 2nd Lt Vincent Marlowe

2nd Lt Marlowe will  be accompanied once more by his two personal aides and runners with all three having Sten SMGs.  He'll have his A and B Sections led by Sgts Oliver Crowe and Andrew Jamieson, all armed with Enfield rifles and a Bren LMG.  C Section will be divided into two 5 man elements lead by Sgt Paul Halstead and Corporel Neville Barton, each armed fully with Sten SMGs and Anti-tank grenades.

Mortar Team with Spotter and the Machine Gun Team

1st Lt Willard Stowe will be present with two assistants as a Forward Observer for the Royal Artillery of the BEF.  Lt Andrew Candless of the RAF will also be along as a Forward Observation Officer with a pair of paratrooper bodyguards.  A Medium Mortar Team and Medium Machine Gun team will be attached from 2nd Platoon as well as a Sniper Team from the Intelligence Section of the Battalion.  Last of all a Recce Jeep will be sent along from the 3rd Platoon.

It needs a repaint to fit the army, but I love this model

I'll be using this nice model from Dust Tactics to represent my Air Support.  I really like the look of the model and will need to see about getting it into RAF colors at some point to continue supporting my Airborne troopers.
That's all for now and I'll see about getting a batrep up this weekend after the game on Friday.

Finally First Bolt Action Game

So I finally got a game of Bolt Action in.  This past Friday I managed to get up to Johnson City for a game.  My British Airborne took on Cheef's Quar who are impersonating Welshmen.  His Battle Report can be found here.

I took 2nd Battalion, C Company, 11th Platoon of the British Airborne with some attachments.  That meant 2nd Lt Vincent Marlowe with two runners all three with Sten Guns, A Section with Sgt Oliver Crowe and nine men armed with Enfield rifles and a Bren Gun, B Section with Sgt Andrew Jamieson and nine men armed the same as A Section, C Section with Sgt Paul Halstead with four men all with Sten Guns and Anti-Tank Grenades, 1st Lt. Willard Stowe, Forward Observation Officer, Royal Artillery, BEF with 2 assistants, all three with Sten Guns, and then a Recce Jeep with 2 Vickers Medium Machine Guns.

Paratroopers being veterans is definitely a plus.  I only failed one leadership test and had no problems keeping pin markers from getting too bad.  My opponent on the other hand with his inexperienced militia troops had a squad spend pretty much the entire game stuck unresponsive with 3 pin markers on them (caused by his own artillery no less).

Remembering that fortune favors the bold, I tried to go aggressively at him the entire game and had good luck with those tactics.  It also helped that Cheef not only took my artillery strike but his own as well on the same turn.  Assaulting his tank with the anti-tank grenades had WAY better luck than Bob had with his Bazooka team.  In the end I had one squad shot up majorly, a few minor casualties spread around and then my jeep was blown up by the tank.  I managed to finish off 5 of Cheef's 7 units leaving only the lone artillery spotter and the pinned squad left at the end of the game.

I definitely like how Bolt Action plays and am looking forward to more games in the future.  I spent some time yesterday evening and today working on some supply dump scatter terrain to use.  I'm pretty happy with how they came out.  I've got a bunch of fuel drums coming to keep expanding that supply dump theme.  Also coming up is some wheat field terrain that is easy to make that I found on a YouTube tutorial, just have to buy the mat needed to make it my next day at work.

 

 

Thanks for reading and I'll see you later all.

Getting Ready for Bolt Action

So it's going to be a bit before any of my paras are ready for the tabletop.  but I still want to see about some small practice games to get use to the rules and game system play style.  So even though they'll be a bit over sized at 28mm heroic instead of 28mm, I've raided my 40K Imperial Guard 4th Naval Infantry Regiment.  This gives me a 500 point list (494 points actually) of counts as British Paras.  This will be part of 2nd Battalion's 11th Platoon under 2nd Lt. Vincent Marlowe with A and B Sections and attached support.

2nd Lt. Vincent Marlowe with two aides/runners, all with Sten SMGs

A Section under Sgt Oliver Crowe with SMG, section includes 8 Enfield rifles and Bren LMG with assistant

B Section under Sgt Andrew Jamieson with SMG, section has  4 SMGs, 2 Rifles, and Anti-tank grenades

Vickers Medium Machine Gun with 3 crewmen

PIAT Team of gunner and loader

Artillery Observer with two aides, all three with Sten SMGs

This gives me a nice small flexible force for some test games while I get my paras all put together and tabletop ready.  If there are any Bolt Action British Para veterans out there with some advice, please post up.

 That's all for now and thanks for reading.

Getting Organized With Bolt Action

So I've been studying my Bolt Action rule books and starting to get some models collected.  I've decided that I'm going to be playing British Paratroopers and have started doing my research into their organization.  I like the fluff of game systems.  I like to have organization lists of who is in what role and in charge of what.  So I started looking for how a Battalion of British paratroopers was organized.  It took some doing, but while unable to find a nice simple chart, I did find a site with a good description.  It also mentioned a Ghurka battalion that was converted into a paratrooper battalion.  Can you imagine those scarey fellows coming down out of the sky at night at you?  Talk about a nightmare scenario.

 So I didn't want to use real life names on this, that just seems ... wrong for a game when the men gave their lives in a real war, so I've changed all the names from the real life unit to fictional names for my formation for the game.  If someone reading this sees that I have something wrong in the organizational chart please let me know.  I'd like to get this as right as possible.


2nd Parachute Battalion
Battalion HQ (5 Officers, 22 Men)
Lt. Colonel David Cromarty
Major Jeffrey Brackhaven
Captain Dennis O'Cleary
1st Lt. Elliot Pierce
1st Lt. James Tierney, Medical Officer

Headquarters Company (1 Officer, 10 Men)
Major Peter Abernathy
Intelligence Section (1 Officer, 10 Men)
1st Lt. Ralph Sherbrooke
1st (Signals) Platoon (1 Officer, 26 Men)
1st Lt. Simon Bryce
2nd (Support) Platoon (2 Officer, 36 Men)
1st Lt. John Moore
    A Section (Mortars), Sgt James Watson
    B Section (Mortars), Sgt Duncan McGuire
    C Section (HMGs), Sgt John Cooke
    D Section (MMGs), Sgt Tom Meares
Protective Section (6 Men)
Sgt Ross Osbourne
3rd (Administrative) Platoon (1 Officer, 76 Men)
1st Lt. Nigel MacIntyre

A Company
Company HQ
Major George Foorgate
Captain John Woodson
    9 Aides/Runners
    3 Medics
4th Platoon
2nd Lt. Arthur Forsythe
    A Section, Sgt Charles Winston (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Patrick Fisher (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt James Owens (1 NCO, 9 Men)
5th Platoon
2nd Lt. Kevin O'Donnell
    A Section, Sgt Michel Hughes (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Alister Stanley (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Reginald Conwy (1 NCO, 9 Men)
6th Platoon
1st Lt. Peter Covington
    A Section, Sgt Ian Jacobs (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Edward Price (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Thomas Holmes (1 NCO, 9 Men)

B Company
Company HQ
Major William Howe
Captain Donald Welton
    9 Aides/Runners
    3 Medics
7th Platoon
1st Lt. Alexander Gatesby
    A Section, Sgt Lloyd Bancroft (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Jonathan Hastings (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Stephen Powys (1 NCO, 9 Men)
8th Platoon
2nd Lt. Frances O'Malley
    A Section, Sgt Mark Haig (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt James Prescott (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Daniel Asheford (1 NCO, 9 Men)
9th Platoon
2nd Lt. Franklin Sands
    A Section, Sgt Tobias Finch (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt George Hearns (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Sean Baird (1 NCO, 9 Men)

C Company
Company HQ
Major Todd Mosely
Captain Owen Hydesmythe
    9 Aides/Runners
    3 Medics
10th Platoon
1st Lt. Alfred Hennesy
    A Section, Sgt Paul Sheffield (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Martin Ridgeway (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt James Houseman (1 NCO, 9 Men)
11th Platoon
2nd Lt. Vincent Marlowe
    A Section, Sgt Oliver Crowe (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Andrew Jamieson (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Paul Halstead (1 NCO, 9 Men)
12th Platoon
2nd Lt. Brian Harrington
    A Section, Sgt Byron Lowe (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    B Section, Sgt Sebastian Dempsey (1 NCO, 9 Men)
    C Section, Sgt Albert Trevayne (1 NCO, 9 Men)

One odd thing that I learned that the Intelligence Section was also the snipers of the battalion.  Quite unusual and I didn't expect that.  The recce jeeps will be in the motor pool part of the Administrative Platoon.  Signals Platoon is where you'll find the paras on bikes.  Artillery will be on loan from the Regimental level.  Like I said in an earlier blog post, I'm planning on collection about 1300 to 1400 points at this point to have plenty of options for a 1000 point list.  There are no plans on having this entire list collected what so ever, it's merely so in my mind everything I do have will have a place.

I should have a post up by the end of the week with some progress on my Battletech warships.  Until next time, thanks for reading.