Rant: Unpainted Models and Proxying Etiquette

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since I posted on this little blog, which makes it all the more upsetting to me that what has finally motivated me to write is something that is a bit negative. I have still been playing as much as possible, which is a little tougher now that I have a puppy, but I don't feel like my hobby life has been suffering too much. What has affected the blog is something that I have found to be an ever-increasing problem in my club.

I started this blog mainly as a way to catalog and share battle reports. I love reading battle reports and seeing great pictures of models slugging it out on the tabletop. Lately, however, I haven't been able to provide anything like that to the community because of widespread problems with players not using models that make for good battle reports. So today I wanted to discuss my opinions on painting and proxying etiquette.

Battle Report: Mid-War Tourney Prep

My FLGS, Brothers Grim Games and Hobbies, is holding a 1675 all-comers Mid-War tournament in a couple of weeks, so a buddy of mine and I decided to get in some practice with our proposed lists. I have never really had much success with Germans in Mid-War at my store, but I'm hoping this time will be different! I was planning on a little surprise for my list...

Battle Report: Demo Game!

Recently I was able to get a Flames of War demo game in with a buddy of mine who's been wanting to play some tabletop wargames but never had anyone to show him the ropes. Luckily he was down for some Flames of War, so we began with a straight-up tank battle. This game proved that demo games can still be nail-biters!

Claus von Slaus rides to war!

List Construction Part 2 - Building Competitive Lists

Welcome back! Now that I've given you my thoughts on list construction for beginners, which has been especially apt since I've been helping a bunch of people learn the game recently, I want to delve into what i look for in a competitive list. I'll just get this out of the way now: tournaments are a blast no matter what army you play. Don't think that I'm discounting fun, flavorful lists. Frankly, Flames of War is balanced enough to give almost any list a chance to win games. But! There is definitely an art/science balance that needs to be considered if you're looking to win tournaments.

"We don't have time for 'fluff'"

Some Thoughts on List Construction - Part 1: Beginners

Hi everyone. In a recent tournament a few players had armies whose deficiencies in list construction became woefully apparent, as either their match-ups or the missions themselves conspired against them. I want to use this space to give a few of my thoughts on list construction as it relates to the tournament scene and as it relates to new players. At the end I'll list example armies that I faced and how they could have been improved. This is Part 1 of this series, where we'll focus on list construction for beginners.

Battle Report: Volksgrenadiers vs. British Tanks (Welsh?)

Recently I was able to get in a game playtesting my Volksgrenadiers list. I will be up front with anyone reading this: the game was pretty lame and very short, but I still learned some valuable lessons. So maybe don't pay too much attention to the report itself, but more the lessons at the end.

Panther Redux

For my first meaty post, I'd like to introduce you to my main current painting project.  Lately my gaming has been focused on playing with Americans, after a long stint of playing Finns and Germans.  Since my Americans are now getting all the gaming love, I have decided to revisit my German tanks.  First up, in honor of Devil's Charge, my panthers!

Here is what they used to look like:

That's from several years ago.  For my first LW army I needed something that would be easy on the wallet and simple to paint. At that time 5 Panthers, 2 Tigers, 3 StuGs, and 2 Armored AA vehicles was 1750 points and just 12 models...perfect!! The army grew, but the paint schemes remained this simple, juvenile scheme.

But for a recent birthday my family gifted me with an airbrush (a Badger 105), and it has been a godsend.  So, for my first real project with the new tool (I've had a little practice base-coating my American tanks) I decided to re-do my Germans.  I started by basecoating the Panthers with Vallejo Air - Dark Yellow: