26 April 2024
English Civil War
After a shitty day playing WOWS it was a change of pace to work on the English Civil War figurines. Advanced a little further than expected so it turned out good.
WIP - Fairfax's Foot (foreground) and Waller's Foot (background).
Existing WIP (nothing done tonight) - Okey's Dragoons (foreground left), Skippon's Foot (foreground right), and Montagu's Foot who are behind Okey's dismounted dragoons.
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27 April 2024
ECW WIP report
Going with slight colour variations between Foot units to aid distinguishing one from the other. Sort of like, "that's the green regiment" or "look at the blue regiment" approach. As units come together during this assembly part, these variations will show up more in the painting sessions. Will try to stay with uniformity because they are, after all, New Model, but still allow for some slight variations between units and even within, where possible. Cheers.
Fairfax Foot. Going with red coats with inner veridian green lining (facing colour). Don't know if this is correct though not that it really matters at the moment because I've already committed to painting these now. Also giving them orange sashes, green plumes (where possible) for soldiers (officers bear red or whatever tickles their fancy feathers much like their distinctly civilian uniforms), white or orange stockings. Hat bands and leg ribbons are pretty much whatever I come up with at the time. Trousers are deep blue or violet. Majority in this unit wear helmets while a few musketeers wear varied coloured soft broad brimmed hats. Hat lining? Not sure yet: haven't considered it. Pikes throughout are 70 mm and the same colour for all foot units - yellow ochre.
Unit Standard: green flag with yellow discs. Because the feather plumeRed flag pole (@ 65mm). Two standards per unit borne by ensigns is whatever civilian attire they choose. Some will have front breast and back armour while others might be wearing heavy buff or leather coats.
Waller's Foot. Red coats with inner lining yet to be decided. Majority of soldiers are wearing either brown leather hats while all those with hats are adorned with black feathers. Hat band? Not sure yet but if so then some contrasting but appropriate colour like orange, red or sky blue. Brown trousers with white or pale blue stockings. Shoe colours vary ranging from black to brown in all shades and tones, and applicable across all the units.
Unit Standard: black flag with yellow lozenges. Major's company flag (bottom) also included because it is unique compared to the normal company flags such as the third company flag depicted above it. And the wavy line is correct enough although I may extend it and thin it further.
Montagu's Foot. Red coats with white inner linging as facing. Dark coloured hats where shown or helmets. White feathers on hats. Initially toyed with the idea of making the red coat's lining the same colour as the flags but have since changed my mind. Toying with colours at the moment to get the best mix possible for each unit. Grey/Light blue trousers. Brown or tan footwear. Command stand is a world of colour all its own; trying to come up with suitable choices isn't always easy however.
Unit Standard: Going with the purple with white lozenges or flames. Below is a sample test sheet of the Major's company flag. The wavy line is an early attempt and will be revised to resemble more closely the wavy line in the Waller's Foot example.
Skippon's Foot. Red coats with yellow inner lining. Pale blue sashes. Orange feathers on headwear where applicable. Trouser colour as yet undecided.
Unit Standard: green with white stars in the variant I'm using. Below is shown the 3rd Captain's company standard but I will modify it eventually because the stars look too small for my liking and I've got one too many. This was because I was having trouble creating the wavy line for the Major's company flag so I simply swapped the wavy line for whatever device the other companys used and just added one more. Lazy, I know, but it is what it is...
Slowly coming together. Individually going over every figure to complete the areas missed with the paint before securing them to their bases. Probably paint the bases. Then begins the DETAILING phase.
Reminder to self to be careful handling white metal minis. They sometimes break if not careful as I have found out with a couple lately. Fortunately the damage is not noticeable or severe.
Struggling with craft hobby paints on this paint project of late. Different density and low quality make for a lot of preparation (where possible) to even get close to the basic starting standard of typical modelling paints. Not advisable to any newcomer to the hobby. I still persevere because I love challenges where convenience gets very boring quickly. Hard to say from a lazy person but nonetheless so.
Cheers.
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28-29 April 2024
New Model army list WIP
Night Owl session began after watching a playthrough of the Days Gone (PC) game. Over three hours long. Have to confess that it's way better than what's on tv these days. Only learnt of this YT streamer last night when I watched one of his three-hour plus long playthrough as a recommendation. Very engaging storyline and narrative by the streamer kept me totally engrossed throughout. Watched the next one then finished with the end story. Sad that tonight's the last. And sad that the game's sequel has proven to be a disaster.
Not much done thereafter painting-wise other than further work on distinguishing between the Foot regiments with selected colouring. Starting to firm in my mind as to who is who and so forth. Learned something interesting regarding accenting colours. Painted the feather plumes on the soft hats for Skippon's Foot orange the other day (above post) and wanted to further accentuate the initial orange laid down. So I ran thinned down red to see what would happened and to my surprise, the orange colour came through brilliantly (seen below). The red will darken and blend in with the orange.
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29 April 2024
Flags printed and cut to size. Scaled down 45% to obtain the "right look". Will use gum glue to bind both sides together. Thought about hand painting but hand quite unsteady these days. Happy to allow technology take the lead on this one. Will post some pics tomorrow if I find time. Cheers.
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30 April 2024
New D-Day event began today on World of Warships. It's Operations mode with the historical D-Day twist. Limited in the range of Tiered ships one can play (Tier V - VII) with certain exclusions. Primary inclusion is that they must belong to a ship line (on the Allied side) that was involved in the Normandy invasions.
Entered the first game blind in the Atlanta. Glad I did as it proved useful taking out those torpedo boats that appeared out of nowhere, the pestering shore batteries, and all the while clearing minefields dropped by the enemy air force (hence why taking out the enemy aerodrome is important). Then taking on the enemy destroyers targeting the amphibious landing craft as they commenced their landing. Of course, while all this is happening minefields keep popping up so you have to clear them as well.
Also played a couple of times the US premium battleship West Virginia '44. Not as effective as the Atlanta however despite obtaining several secret documents (in-game enhancements). These secret documents are buffs for you to deal with the enemy defences. Oh, and the enemy DDs are tougher, accurate, much like the shore batteries. Keep your range and angled. AP for the fort guns, HE for AA batteries.
You also get loan of the French light cruiser La Galissoniere for the duration of the event. The event also sees new bundles to purchase in the Armoury. These include a few good existing, hard to get, or long awaited premiums (such as the Rodney, brother to the Nelson) plus a new release (French cruiser whose name I forget).
Played it for a while and did so to help me grind the last series of missions for the Dockyard Event steel. Five tokens on offer; that's 275 steel per token (clan bonus applied).
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1 June 2024
Played out this session of WOWS in the D-Day event. Chasing that elusive 5-star reward which I thought was hard turned out to be a false claim but it does depend on your teammates and the ships they bring. Easily did it this session with team mates of random players, most of whom I suspect were familiar with this mission which probably explained the five-star rewards. Anyway, I managed it thrice. Here's the first time done today - happened in the third game.
Stars #2 and #3 need to be monitoried closely because the object of the enemy destroyers and schnellboots is to get in amongst the landing crafts - like foxes in the hen coop. Two groups are protected by one friendly destroyer apiece. And the LTCs tend to die quickly especially when focus-fired by the enemy destroyers who appear in two groups of four, one assigned per landing group who land west and south.
And then there are the minefields that pop up suddenly in the path of the landing crafts. If the aerodromes aren't taken out add early on that adds further to your misery because planes will continue to drop mines. It's not a happy prospect especially if you are on your own, on low HP, and being pummelled by both enemy shore batteries as well the torpedo boats and targeted by occasional rocket/torpedo aerial attacks. Fun, eh?
Another 5-star game. Reward this time is a historical commander. Final 5-star was just a crate of signals. Useful because a character from the Azur Lane collection is among the prizes. The prizes once completing each phase can be earned any number of times until the next Part is released. The quality of the reward improves with each Part.
Action was fairly hectic mid-game; lots of things happening all at once. But the Atlanta handled it pretty well. Learned that the minefield marker indicates the centre of the minefield and that it's the best spot to drop your depth charges in order to clear the minefield. But you still have to weave your way through the mines to get to your mark. Might have to do it a few times however. And you are time-limited.
West Virginia '44. Don't take it into Utah beach event. I was not good in the two times I played it. Its dispersion was awful and I was as useful at hitting fortress guns as a feather can stop a flood. For the torp boats (schnellboots) you're best bet remains either destroyers or cruisers. But be warned that the enemy destroyers do smack hard if you venture too close or present broadsides or are focus-fired. Stick mid map if possible and only venture in to fulfil parts of the primary and secondary objectives.
Atlanta. Definitely bring this into the event as it's the only radar cruiser available. Also useful are any cruiser with good HE dmg such as Dido, Helena, Boise, La Galisonniere, Perth.
To enhance battle performance there are Classified Documents obtainable. Three levels - Classified, Confidental, and Top Secret. Each level boosts the enhancements for each specific capabilities such as damaging shore batteries (AA and fortress guns) for example. As Flamu pointed out last night, earning the Coastal Bty directive for examples improves the base destructive power of your guns - +250% HE and +100% for AP.
There are two sets, one for both Axis and Allied. Not sure how that works given you normally spawn on the Allied side. Will find out soon enough as I play more primarily to finish my final Dockyard Event mission.
Taking out the aerodromes (both - one in west and the other to the south) seriously helps your cause BUT only when they're spotted and activated; blind firing is pointless if they're not spotted or active. Taking the Eendracht is a valid option as its planes can aid the bombardment.
Remember: it's Tier V-VII ships. No CVs or subs. Just surface ships - destroyers, cruisers, and battleships. Ships with poor firepower are no good to you or your team. If you're lacking in ships, stay with cruisers.
Mines might appear to move with you but that's just the minimap updating. Mini map handy but keep your eyes on the water. Mines will show up individually red once within, popping up randomly as you move through. Mine proximity is given in metres but once inside, all you get are the red dots. Clearing the minefield requires several depth charge drops before that happens. Shooting down aerodrome mine-dropping planes helps hence why you need to bring a cruiser with good AA suite. And lots of guns.
Event is divided into three parts. Part One is active at the moment and it will end in a few days. Each part has several levels for completion. Once done, and until the next Part is activated, you can play and earn rewards (in this case one crate of signals) for as long as you want to play the mission over and over.
SIDENOTE: Weirdest thing happened in-game today. A bug I think. It was the last game for the session. Sailed up to the edge of the minefield but only saw the leading mine too late off my port bow. I immediately hit the S key repeatedly with only metres (and a second) from detonation in a sudden and instant knee-jerk response. Normally, the ship would take time to slow down. To my amazement however, the ship stopped instantly. I thought I had lost connection or busted my keyboard But, no, as quickly I realised I was still in-game, I tapped the S key a couple more times and the vessel began to reverse. I sighed relief at this surprise but welcome reprieve and carried on as per usual.
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