PorthMadog Models

I went on the yearly family Christmas trip to a cottage in mid Wales. Which ment even though it was pouring down with rain we visited PorthMadog. A cracking little town with a very nice steam railway, an amazing ice cream shop  (Cadwalers) which my greyhound now loves as they do for ice cream and obviously PorthMadog Models. This is a great model shop owned by a really nice couple.  Packed with models and bits of terrain plus a gigantic display in the centre. This has been missing the last time we want and was told that had been busily painting zulus so i had a fair guess what the display would be this year.

Rorkes Drift

Not 100% finished but it still looks absolutely epic .

Zulus advancing

Zulu command urges the troops on

Zulus stream towards the outpost

The British Army defends it's outpost

The battle makes a cracking centre piece so after admiring this for a while I want to have a mooch through the terrain on offer. Now having Tanks Modern Age I can keep an eye out for 15mm scenery as well as 28mm.  There were a few nice odd little bits but I settled on some Amera Plastics terrain. There were some 15mm house but they didn't really have that modern look I need for Tanks so i chose a 15mm bridge but that could pass as a small 28mm bridge also, a river fork and another curved river section. This should boost my waterfall and 2 water sections allowing a bit more river action in a battlefield. 

Bridge 15mm scale I believe but could pass as a small 28mm bridge (will check it with a tank when I'm home

A river curve

River Fork for variety. Apologies for terrible photo!

Can't wait to get these home and painted up!
So if your near PorthMadog I reccomend popping into PorthMadog Models
6 Bank Pl, Porthmadog LL49 9AA to see the epic display, picking up a new project and meeting the excellent owners!

'Last Stand of Alpha 66'

'Taken from Tanks rule book '

I thought I would give Tanks a quick solo play to see how the rules play. So when I had a spare few minutes (well half hour or so) I tried the scenario in the back of the rule book 'Last Stand of Alpha 66'. This is taken from the book Team Yankee  (A great read even though my home town gets nuked) and Alpha 66 is the main characters tank.  The blurb in the picture sets the scene and you get told what forces to choose (Handily all in the starter set)  A lone tank against two enemy tanks. 
Here are the forces

The American M1 Tank

First up is the American tank Alpha 66. It has four crew upgrades  (All characters from the book) and the Team Yankee platoon upgrade. 
Next the Russians

Russian T-64s

The Russian have 2 tanks for this scenario but get noticably less cards in the starter box which will disappoint some players I'm sure.  The game uses the book Team Yankee  as it's main source it seems and as it's set from the American perspective I think there are less Russian characters (there is one Russian hero crew upgrade but it wasn't used in this scenario ). You get a platoon upgrade giving your tanks extra fire power when they get in close range.
That's the forces done into the map.  The book tells you where to place the 2D scenary from the starter set.

A village to north is where the Russians are and Alpha 66 is in the southern area

The forces are on the table

Playing both sides was a new thing for me. I had the Russians hug the buildings and separate to try and get on either side of the American tank. The American tank hid behind the woods.  In Tanks the lowest initiative goes first so the Russian tanks which has the lowest went first  advancing forwards.  Alpha 66 moved into the cover of the woods sonit could start shooting  (the woods were blocking terrain unless you were inside them). Movement is done using a template and is really simple. Tanks can move twice but some vehicles can move 3 times.

Alpha 66 advances to cover

Russian tank A surges forward

Russian Tank B heads around to try and flank the American

Shots are exchanged but to no major consequence. 

The Russians charge forward once more

As the Russian Tank A and the Apha 66 closed more fire was exchanged. 

Both tanks sustain damage in the fire fight but Alpha 66 sustains a critical hit.

Alpha 66 is hit hard and the crew are stunned

The crew of Alpha 66 manage to shake off the hit (last phase of the turn you can repair some  critical damage).

The Russians close in on the lone American tank

Russian and American hit each other at close range

The Russian comes off worse suffering 2 critical hits (though neither took off HP )

Russian Tank B moves up close out of the woods

Alpha 66 has took a beating now and has only been saved by some trully awful Russian dice rolls.

Alpha 66 surges forward to get out of the Russian grasp

As Alpha moved away it struck the Russian A tank

Alpha 66 ploughed forward to get away from Russians . A side shot struck the one Russian Tank causing engine damage.

The heavily damaged Alpha 66 makes for the village and vital cover. It misses the Russian Tank in the woods. The heavily damaged Russian Tank reverses hard

A deadly game of cat and mouse around the one building. The Russians damaged engine is not a help here

The damaged Russian engine allows Alpha 66 to get ahead and destroy the Russian Tank with a close range shot

Alpha 66 is riding its luck down to 1 or to 2 hit points, it still manages to take out Russian Tank A and now makes a desperate attack on the remaining Russian Tank which is on a lot better condition.

Alpha 66 strikes the remaining Russian tank

A massive hit on the Russian tank rocks it.

The Tanks move again but still shooting

Both injured tanks limped to be the first to try and finish off the other.

Alpha 66 shot strikes true and a massive hit blows the turret off the Russian tank.

Tanks the Modern Age continues..... .

Get everyone!  I did painting!!! I've painted the tanks for this game already ( being 15mm helped less surface area). I found some pictures of Team Yankee miniatures. I don't think I've done to bad a job .

Image of a Team Yankee M1 Abrahams miniature online

My M1 Abrahams

I think I did a good job on the camo.  I've never painted camouflage on a vehicle before so that was a new experience.

Next up was the Chieftain tank.

Internet Picture

My Chieftain

These 2 are slightly different models that's why the turrets looks different. The camouflage on this tank was a bit easier in pattern than the M1. Once again I'm happy with my effort.

Last of all the 2 T-64s

Internet T-64

My T-64s

This T-64 had no camo so I tried to match the green as close as I could. I think I got it close.

Now I'm all ready to play!

Tanks the Modern Age - The Tanks

After going through the modern age box it was time to get cracking on the models. They mostly went together really easily. The instructions given I feel could have been a bit bigger print as some of the smaller parts were hard to see what they were and which way round they went but it was only a minor issue. 
The models are nice and have plenty of little details.

M1 Abrahams Tank

The Abrahams Tank was fairly easy to put together and didn't have to many little fiddly bits. There are bits to make 3 different variants.  I chose the standard M1 Abraham  set up. 

Chieftain Tank

The Chieftain had  a few more little fiddly bits (This was where I could have some with the instructions being bigger )and again there were enough bits to make 2 variants.  I went again with the standard Chieftain variant. 

T-64s

The T-64s were the simplest to put together with only one variant.  Though there is something still on the sprue that isn't mentioned at all in the instructions . Which is a bit odd.  Hopefully I'll get them  under coated today

Tanks the Modern Age

I have always had an interest in the game Team Yankee after reading the rather excellent book Team Yankee but was put off by the price and I had heard some bad reviews about the rules. Tanks ww2 was out and looked good but I have ww2 tanks with my bolt action force so didn't want to invest in the same time period. So when I heard Tanks were doing a modern age this news solved both issues.  The price of Tanks is really reasonable which is excellent so I thought I would get a pre order in with RK Studio. The starter set contains an M1 Abraham and a T-60. Predictably I want a British force so I ordered a Chieftain tank to start with. There are lighter tanks and helicopters to come so no doubt I'll get more units as time goes on ☺

Its arrived!!!

Received my order today! Bought from RKStudio. I would whole heartedly reccomend these guys for getting your gaming needs at good prices with excellent customer service.
I rather excitedly ripped into the parcel and located the game box and the blister for the Chieftain tank I mentioned I'd ordered.

Inside the main box you get 3 sprues.  2 Russian T-64s and 1 American M1 tank in 15mm scale. A bag of dice, all the cards you'll need, some 2D scenery with tokens and a rulebook. 

2D Scenery and tokens

Rulebook

All the contents of the box is really good quality. The 2D scenery and tokens are printed on thick high quality card which punches out. The cards are nice and glossy. The models look good but I won't fully know until I build them.  Now to have a read through the rules and get gaming!

Updates!

Been a sloooow month but I have done some stuff. I have been listening to the Cast Dice podcast and the latest episode ( Click here for that particular episode.  Give it a subscribe it's a great podcast) which is focused on Gaslands. It made me want to do a bit more to my gaslands stuff.  I had a small bit of spare cash so i got myself some skid dice!

These really add to the game play. I then decided what our gaslands games need are ramps!
There are experimental rules for jumps in the Gaslands Facebook group ( Link Here ) so i thought it would be fun to try.  I thought straight away of the finger skateboard jumps, Tech decks I think they are called but with Christmas coming up I could not purchase them.  I grabbed my bits box and a few bits and bobs from around the house .

I went for 2 ramps when I realised using a CD as a base made the ramp width a bit small. Using lollipop sticks and some bits of balsa wood I made the end that holds the ramp up.

First bit done

After that added sone wood from poundland garden edging which handily looks like logs for wargaming. This makes the ramp look very haphazardly put together.

First ramp mostly done.  The second ramp I neglected to take many pictures, but this one is made up of card and is bigger. I added lollipop sticks to the ramp floor to add to the wooden effect. 

I added some lollipop sticks to the middle as wooden planks to extend the ramp that little bit extra and using card I want this one to look more concrete made than the other ramp. This ramp also has a smaller degree of jump than the first one and will allow at least 2 cars to jump off at the same time.

Both ramps done and awaiting under coat.

I have under coated the ramps so they will need painting next week.

While out shopping yesterday also added to the gasland car garage.

How awesome is this?

The tank from Fast and Furious (Also a real life vehicle I remember watching a documentary about the brothers who built this ) I think I will leave alone and play as is. The pick up truck is going to be in my slime team.  I'm hoping to get a figure to stand in the pick up bed using a HMG. I have found a couple of figures that might work so watch this space.

Today I also received word from the online shop I use that my pre-order has been shipped so expect a blog post on a week or so about it.

Have a good ones folks!