Sunday, July 6, 2014

28mm Napoleonic French During the Russian Retreat and FormulaD Racing! (wtf?)


Ahhh, summer has finally made its presence felt here in the Canadian prairies (upwards to +30C temperatures this past week). Admittedly it's a bit late, but I'll happily take it, and so to celebrate I decided to host our weekly game out in our courtyard. This week we played an old favourite: 'Formula D'. 



Yes, they may look a mild mannered bunch but you should have seen the fisticuffs in the street after the game...
For those who may not have tried it 'Formula D' is F1 racing game which has players competing over a variety of tracks which depict famous Grad Prix racing circuits from around the world. Each car is rated 'wearpoints' for its Tires, Brakes, Gearbox, Engine, etc. which the players have to carefully manage during the race. The game utilizes various modified polyhedron dice to reflect gear changes (D4 for 1st gear, D6 for 2nd, etc.) and the trick is to find the 'sweet spot' gear in order to speed down the straights, but yet slow enough for the coming turn. Its dead-easy to learn, a trick to master and a heap of fun to play. The cars models that come with the game are fairly uninspired plastic affairs, but you can find 'after market' models on eBay to pimp your game. My good friend Dallas acquired and painted these cars for my birthday years ago (Thanks Dal!) and they get heavy use in our F1 scrums (I've had to give them a few touchups due to 'rubbing' in the corners!). 

1/300 scale F1 cars (with my favourite, Jaguar Racing, in the lead.)
As one of our several ongoing mini-campaigns, we've been conducting a full Grand Prix season this past year and this was our 4th race (Hungarian Grand Prix - a fairly fast track). 

The only place where you can safely drink & drive... Here we have Peter utilizing his mad math skills and devious slight of hand tricks in an effort to bamboozle the rest of us.  Sylvain, as you can see, was onto him like white on rice.
I managed to cheat better than the rest of the boys and so pipped first place, but Sylvain surprised us all by not exploding spectacularly, or driving headlong into the fan-packed stands, instead he came through with a heart-stopping second place, just in front of Peter. We will not speak of Stacy's appalling luck-of-the-dice as his curse may manifest itself in the retelling... 

Otherwise the hobby desk has been largely neglected in favour of enjoying the weather and working on some yard projects. That being said I have managed to get a few pieces done. Here are four unfortunate sons of France, fighting their way out of snow-swept Russia.


The fellow firing over his frozen comrade, the kneeling chasseur with sword and pistol and the carbine-armed lancer are all Perry models, while Michel Ney, 'The Bravest of the Brave', is from Gorgon Studios.










'Le Rougeaud': The last Frenchman to leave Russian soil.

It was a treat to paint these guys during the recent warm weather as many of their predecessors were grudgingly 'inspired' by the -50C conditions of our past winter (yuk). 

I have quite of few of these poor blighters left to do but they'll have to wait a bit longer as I feel like moving on to something else...

32 comments:

  1. Excellent work on those French. Extremely inspiring!

    And Formula D is an outstanding classic. Actually one of my favourite board games. It lacks only in willing fellow players.

    Cheers
    Stefan

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    1. Thanks Stefan. I'm lucky as most of the group here really like the game. It's a great way to start the evening as a race usually only takes about 45 minutes to play out - then on to the main event.

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  2. Sunshine all round; bathed in the warmth in the back yard and radiating from the quality paint jobs on the French.

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    1. A true poet, if there ever was one! Thank you Michael.

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  3. Formula D looks like a fun game.

    Lovely work as always on the retreating Frenchies

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    1. I think you'd enjoy it Tamsin and thanks for the thumbs up!

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  4. What are you using for snow Curt ? specifically on the coats?

    Very nice figures I am trying to figure out how many you have in this collection, they must look great assembled.

    John

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    1. I think I have a little over 30 French completed now, each in a different pose which makes for an interesting vignette.

      The snow on the coat-tails is simply Americana craft paint (purchased at 'Michaels'). I dapple Grey Sky then highlight it with Titanium White.

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  5. Lovely work old boy, fisticuffs after the game, we Rejects will happily start during a game!

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    1. A very sensible policy as you know its going to start at some point...

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  6. Looks like your gaming with a biker gang - rough looking fellows. I'm sure they're all extras from the show "Sons of Anarchy"

    I'm sensing the potential for an "International Rumble" with those British Gaming Hooligans "The Rejects"

    Jets and Sharks with six sided dice - very dangerous stuff!

    The Nappies are fantastic as always

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    1. They are rather intimidating... In a professorial, government worker kind of way. They even use foul language if REALLY pressed. It's kinda ugly actually... :)

      Thanks for dropping in Miles, always a pleasure!

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  7. Excellent work on all of these. I see you repositioned Ney to make him look like the one in the famous painting. Very nice! Dean

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    1. Thanks Dean! I believe the Ney figure is pretty much stock. I based him back in October so I can't remember if I fiddled around with his pose or not...

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  8. "Formula D" sounds really well as a family or friends evening game. And your Russian Retreat figures are simply wonderful. I like them a lot! Fantastic colours.

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    1. Thanks Juan! Yes, it's a nice, light, easy-to-play game and one that lends itself well to a mini campaign.

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  9. Formula D sounds like something to try out on some occasion. Seems to be a funny game for a nice evening.
    Looking at your fabulous Russians I immediately feel chilled despite 30°C round here. You really know ho to set this Retreat stuff in scene.

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    1. I think you'd enjoy it Nick and thanks for the nod to the frozen lads - it's high praise coming from an excellent brushmeister such as yourself. :)

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  10. Good to see you back on the frozen Frenchies mate. Gawd I love that Gorgon Studios model. Every time I see one I want to paint another :-)

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    1. Haha! How wonderfully macabre, 'Frozen Frenchies' makes me think of some kind of refrigerated fast food. Yes, that Ney from Gorgon is a lovely mini to be sure.

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  11. Oddly enough, Tim was working on "Retreat from Moscow" also - I have about a dozen or more of his mounted Cossacks... Maybe there is a game to be had there somewhere! :-)

    Very nice work on the French! They look suitably chilly!

    When I saw the comment about "FormulaD outside" I was hoping perhaps you had scaled the board game up to something "Garden" sized! Oh well... It's still a fun game, even at that size!

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    1. We've played a couple games with these already using 'Muskets & Tomahawks' as a rules base. Lots of fun!

      A large-scale lawn version of Formula D would be sooo cool!

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  12. Great stuff Curt, I can empathize with their plight with a frosty start here this morning! Formula D!? Whatever next? ;-)

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    1. Thanks Scott. Ah yes, the boot is on the other foot with you folks south of the equator. Buck up, it will be over soon!

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  13. Great work Curt - your winter stuff continues to amaze.

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    1. Thanks Greg! Unfortunately, we prairie folk have lots of personal experience to draw upon when portraying winter...

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  14. TRuly briliiant.
    And yes, Formula D is quite the ride ;)

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  15. The French do look so very good. Formula D is a classic different tracks but I can usually manage to come second to last!

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    1. You and me both! I rarely manage to do very well as I drive like I'm on the set of Mad Max. Once the guys get their sea-legs with the rules I'll be eating their dust. Thanks for dropping by Clint!

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