Operation Unthinkable: VBCW (and a bit of Batman)

Well that turned out to be a bit of a busy month. I had thought that I would have plenty of time to get things painted this month, but the combination of snow days pushing the school show back a week and disrupting end of term assessments and a not-so-convenient visit from Ofsted meant that I've actually been hellishly busy. Hence the lack of posts.

It's also the reason why you'll notice that I still have basing and a little bit of finishing off to do on pretty much everything, but the models themselves are painted, and as I'm the one who makes the rules for this challenge, I call this a pass...

The units I've painted this month are for my B.U.F. and Royalist Alliance force for VBCW.  First up are my Gentlemen Farmers, royalists through and through. I'll probably run them as Veterans due to their inherent confidence and familiarity with the terrain. This will also allow them to go on flank marches to make best use of the short-range assault capability of their shotguns.

These chaps are from Woodbine Designs, they're lovely miniatures.

 

Joining them are the King Edward's Cadets, a force of schoolboys who will count as inexperienced riflemen, led by their House Master (NCO) and accompanied by Matron (as a Medic). They also bring with them my VBCW armiy's only 'artillery' in the form of two chemistry swots who've rigged up an improvised rocket launcher using a barrel and a length of guttering (counts as a Light Mortar - and needs finishing).

 

Also from Woodbine Designs, but not as well cast as the chaps above.

 

An interesting little historical detail from the period, I've not only chosen to have these boys come from King Edward VII school in Sheffield because of the fortuitous name and likely loyalty to the King, but also because in 1938, when the game is set), the school actually ran an exchange trip to Blankenburg in Germany. For me this opened up all kinds of possibilities for why the boys would end up aligning with the B.U.F. For me, the chief enjoyment of VBCW is the research of obscure historical details to hand your unit histories on.

The rush to get all of these models done before my self-imposed deadline actually left one of the shotgun chaps unpainted. True to my word, this chap is now leaving my lead pile and is destined to be conscripted into Matt's Bolt Action Partisan force, which actually means he'll probably get more table time.



The first casualty of Operation Unthinkable.

In other news this month, I also finally have a fully functioning man-cave, complete with permanent gaming space. This is the first time in my life that I've had a space that I can leave games set up on and not have to put away at the end of an evening. This opens up the potential of some solo campaigns, to which end I've recently bought the rules for 7TV and 7ombieTV from Crooked Dice.



Yes, it does have pink walls...and Peppa Pig curtains... 

Oh, and I've also managed to Ra's Al Ghul and three League of Shadows Ninjas painted for the Batman Miniatures Game. I'm still not convinced about his red scarf as it makes him look a bit Catholic, but I didn't want to stick to the black of the movies.

Ninjas prove unsurprisingly difficult to photograph.

So that's February. For March I'm going to set a slightly different target. I need to clear a load of terrain and street furniture for my BMG and Zombie games (because they're getting in the way), and as March is a bit fraught with stuff, I'm aiming to get the following done:

• 3 lengths of chain-link fence
• large fuel tank
• a series of pipes
• chimney
• rooftop planter
• radio mast

I also intend to get back to more regular blogging...honest...