The Slate of Organization and Equipment (SO&E) for the Astra Militarum's 187th Dragoon Regiment (Composite)

(Image from:  The Bell of Lost Souls

My cynicism towards Warhammer 40000 (WH 40K) hasn't stopped me from amassing a large collection of figures, vehicles and terrain.

My earlier Pass in Review posts included the following factions--

--The Kroot,

--Chaos Cultists,

--The Inquisition,

--The Adepta Sororitas ("Nuns with Guns"), and recently,

--The Tempestus Scions

None of these, however are the centerpiece of my collection.  You could say I'm working my way up to a finale, so to speak.

I've always been moved by stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.  And you don’t get any more ordinary than the common soldiers of the Astra Militarum in the extraordinary “...grim darkness of the far future..."

As I acquired vehicles and figures, I set out to create a unit with a unique history that wasn't a copy of a  storied regiment already annotated in the annuls of the Imperium of Man.  Nor did I care for the idea that the troops would be typical 41st Millennial cannon fodder either.

Finally, I wanted my centerpiece unit to serve as a tribute to the military service of my family and our overall heritage.

So I set out to raise a fully tricked-out mechanized infantry regiment.

What to call my ordinary unit turned out to be an extraordinarily easy decision.

My father was a Korean War combat veteran, and served with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (ARCT).  Which meant the numbers "187" would come into play.

The WH40K ‘verse is known for worlds able to raise specific unit types, like the Tallarn Desert Raiders, and the Catachan Jungle Fighters, etc.  Delving into the game’s fluff, I discovered the planet Jouran had a knack for raising "dragoon" regiments, which was a term commonly used during Earth's “Horse & Musket Era.”

Initially, I was going to call my unit the 187th Jouran Dragoon Regiment.  But because I bought nearly everything second hand & pre-painted, or hired others to paint and assemble box kits; my collection lacks a uniform color and camouflage scheme.  Since I'm too lazy I have no time to repaint anything, I'm going to assume the original regiment received, and continues to receive, reinforcements and replacements from various other Astra Militarum units.

And so, the 187th Dragoon Regiment (Composite) was born.

As a fan of the Black Library’s Ciaphas Cain novels, I envision the narrative of the 187th DR(C) to be something like:  Hammer’s Slammers meets F-Troop.

Anyway, after Googling extensive research, I stumbled across the heraldry of the real 187th Infantry Regiment:

I liked it so much, I adopted it wholesale.

Even the motto is applicable to WH40K’s grimdark setting—and in real Latin—no less:

Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail).

I had the flag of one of my standard bearers painted in a close approximation of the 187th Infantry's crest:

A side view:

This is an old metal figure.  The weight of the standard made the figure top-heavy, so I glued a washer to it's base in order to provide balance.

Now getting back to the future-history of my regiment:

Last year shortly before St. Patrick’s Day, one of my siblings had a DNA test done.  We discovered our genetic makeup was 43% from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.  After more Googling extensive research, I stumbled across the war cry:  "Faugh A Ballagh!" (Clear the Way!), used by various Irish-manned units in pre-2nd Millennial America and Great Britain.

This certainly sounds like an appropriate phrase for mechanized infantry soldiers to holler during the din of battle, even 41 millennia into the future.

Speaking of battles:  I grew up watching the movie, To Hell and Back and did a short stint in Iraq with Audie Murphy's unit, the 3rd Infantry Division (3 ID), back in 2003.  This makes me rather partial to the song Dogface Soldier.  So I made this tune the Regimental Song (with the necessary WH40K adaptions to be determined later).

Overall, the basic “SO&E” (Slate of Organization & Equipment) of the 187th consists of the following:

1 x Headquarters/Headquarters Company

3 x Mechanized Infantry Battalions

1 x Reconnaissance Company

The regimental headquarters is centered around a handful of Chimera command and control (C&C) vehicles, along with support assets, like recovery and supply vehicles. 

The mechanized infantry battalions consists of three companies of 10 Chimera armored personnel carriers (APCs).  Nine of the Chimeras carry an infantry squad consisting of 6-12 soldiers, while the tenth one is the company command and control (C&C) vehicle, sporting extra communications gear.

The reconnaissance company is smaller and more streamlined. 

The 187th’s "R Company" consists of 3 x Chimeras and 3 x Lehman Russ Annihilator tanks.  On paper, this is organized into 3 platoons consisting of 1 x Chimera with 4-8 dismounted scouts/snipers and 1 x Annihilator to provide support and overwatch fire.  During operations, the troop's deployment could vary depending on the mission.

I have enough vehicles to field a reinforced company or a reduced battalion: 15 x Chimeras, 8 x Lehman Russ Tanks of four variants, and 3 x fire support vehicles.

The 187th also has an unofficial nickname derived from the term “(Composite).” Because the regiment receives personnel and equipment replacements of dubious quality, veterans feel their regiment is a dumping ground for other units to pawn off their undesirables.  So the rank-and-file, substitute “(Composite)” with “(Compost).”

Outside the hearing of commissars, of course.

But this unofficial moniker is also a source of pride as well:  Soldiers refer to themselves as “The Composters”—as in making garbage out of their enemies.

(Hey, this wouldn't be WH40K post without some Imperial bombastic proclamations).

I'm currently conducting photo shoots of my collection, so pictures will be posted shortly.

Five Second Flick Theater: When All Else Fails, French Indochina Version

My friend Tim likes wargaming the French Indochina War.  A couple weekends ago, he hosted a game at Fall In!

He and a friend took several pictures of his game.

And of course, I couldn't leave well-enough alone and concocted another Five Second Flick.

Warhammer 40K Webcomic

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Author's Notes:

I got the idea for this silly, gender-bender story while rummaging through my miniature collection in preparation for the Chaos Cultists Pass in Review post.

I thought:  What would be the "worst" that could happen to a bunch of evil, vengeful fighters?

While their fate may not be as horrible as their previous lot in the "...grim darkness of the far future..." the story was fun to write.

As to the "behind the scenes" of this webcomic's imagery:

About half of the female figures were from an older line of D&D Miniatures from Wizards of the Coast.  The other half, including the male bartender were another set of pre-painted figures that I can't remember who manufactured them.  Googling the images hasn't helped.

I was also frustrated at attempting to find the source of the "Inquisitor Faustina" images.  I downloaded it from Tumblr years ago, but am unable to relocate it, even when I typed-in the HTML, my search came up with zilch.

Here's what I can tell you about the other products used during the creation of Suitable Servants--

--The badlands scenery is a terrarium backdrop I purchased from PetSmart.
--The ground is represented by Cigar Box Battle Store's Arid Lands Terrain Mat.
--The mysterious Chaos Temple is the Altar of Evil by Pegasus Hobbies, I purchased years ago.

The planet Kalf does exist in the WH40K 'verse.  It's listed as a frontier world in the Calixis Sector that can be found on the inside cover of  Fantasy Flight Games "Only War" WH40K RPG (2012).

A more readable map can be found on the WH40K Fandom Wiki:

I picked this location for a few reasons.  First, the idea of a frontier world brings to mind a planet that's not the usual toxic waste dump, war-torn hell that WH40K games and stories take place on.  Second it's one of the border worlds, so it's close enough to main fighting that was portrayed in Fantasy Flight Games' (FFG) Only War series, without being on the front lines.  But at the same time, close enough for raids and incursions by xenos and heretics.  Finally, it's location fits in with both FFG's WH40K RPG and WH40k/Wrath & Glory's Imperium Nihilus or the Age of the Dark Imperium.

I hope you enjoyed Suitable Servants along with the background material that went into creating it.

Thanks!

When I Go Souvenir Shopping

A couple months ago, my wife and I visited Granny Hazel's Candy and Gifts, which is owned and operated by family members through marriage.

My wife found cute souvenirs and toys for the grandchildren.

Not me.

I found this 9-inch high statue of The Grim Reaper flipping his middle finger.

The statue's title is:  Not Today!

So I decided to make a webcomic/meme out of the title.

My Road to the Grim Darkness...

(An image from Rick and Morty posted on Tumblr by Warhammer 40K Fantasy)

I've known about Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) shortly after its initial release in 1987.  However, I've avoided getting into it--until several years ago when my daughter met her now-husband.

While he did some other gaming, he was primarily a WH40K player and collector.  So in order develop more common interests between us, I thought I'd just buy the core rules and a "few models" so I could at least talk to him about the "...grim darkness of the far future...."

Yeah. Right.

Five years and 20 blogposts later, my "small" collection exploded into this--

(Image:  My WH40K vehicle collection in a display case)

--21 armored personnel carriers of various types and from 3 different factions, mostly Astra Militarum, with a few from the Adepta Sororitas (a.k.a. "Sisters of Battle" nuns with guns of the Ecclesiarchy) and even the Inquisition.

--8 Lehman Russ Battle Tanks and variants.

--3 self-propelled artillery vehicles and one anti-aircraft vehicle.

--3 static gun positions.

--25 heavy weapon teams and,

--230 troops, mostly foot soldiers of the Astra Miltarum, along with a few squads of Battle Sisters and a couple Inquisitor retinues, along with some alien warriors.

And I'm having another 35 figures painted as I'm writing this.

Initially, I bought kits of un-assembled vehicles and figures.  But then I stumbled across buy/sell/trade pages on Facebook and began buying assembled and painted miniatures for about the same price as the un-assembled kits.

I apologize for the sparse details, but I intend for this to be a "teaser" for future posts on my collection.  I'm currently suffering from a foot injury and I made it worse by attempting to do a prolonged photo shoot.

Besides the pictures didn't turn out well.

Of course, one can't simply buy miniatures without any guidance on what to do with them.

So over the course of about 5 years, I acquired 63 rule books and splatbooks of the main game, along with role playing game by Fantasy Flight Games and the new Wrath & Glory role-playing game which WAS produced by Ulisses-US, but now seems to have been dropped from the company's website, possibly due to a considerable number of negative reviews.

The main game, is now on it's 8th Edition, which I started buying two years ago.

Notice, I said "started buying?"

That's because Games Workshop, like every other game company, would produce new supplements, accessories, etc. after the core rules are published.

The bulk of my book collection are earlier editions of the rules, or Forgeworld reference books.

(Image:  Shelf space devoted to older issues and Forgeworld books)

When 8th Edition hit the shelves in 2017, I limited to my purchases to the main faction I was collecting--the Astra Militarum (a.k.a. the Imperial Guard).

(Image:  My main collection of WH40K books and RPG material)

Back when the short-lived 7th Edition was being played, I picked up almost all of 6th Edition rules and Codexes at used book stores for $5-$20.  I figure while the gaming Crunch has most likely changed since previous editions, the background Fluff should remain the same.

Of course, my feeble attempt at pinching pennies went out the window when Kill Team came out last year:

(Image:  My infantry storage cases and new Kill Team sets)

So there you have it.  My "small" investment into the wacky world of Warhammer 40K expanded to fill the empty spaces on my shelves and in my closets.

And speaking of shelf space, I can safely say I'm approaching my limit.  I'm at the point now where if I buy anything new--of any game--I have to get rid of something old.

I'd love to purchase a few more vehicles, specifically some Salamander scout vehicles, Destroyer tank destroyers, if I could find them in the first place since Forgeworld no longer produces them; along with a Lehman Russ Vanquisher.  But I have no room to put any of them.

The irony of all this is:  I have yet to play a single game of any edition of WH40K, Kill Team or either editions of the role playing games.

Nor is WH40K the only game system I've invested in, but have spent little to no time at the game table with.  I've whined about explained my game-time shortage in previous posts, so I won't bore readers (again) with the details.

Anyway, when a friend of mine shared this meme on Facebook...

(Image found on Solitaire Wargames Facebook Page)

..I felt it certainly applies to me regarding my entire collection of games.

I'm sure this is true for some (many?/all?) of you gamers out there.

Despite my lack of table-top time with WH40K I'm happy with my "small" collection, which is about the size of a reinforced mechanized infantry company.

I have a concept of how I'm going to organize it, what the unit will be called and webcomic stories I'll concoct about.

As soon as my foot heals and I can withstand standing for long photo shoots, I'll start posting what my contributions to the Imperial war efforts are.

Stay tuned!

Product Review: Fury of the Norsemen

(Note:  All images are from the Board Game Geek entry)

I stumbled across a copy of Metagaming’s  Micro History #4: The Fury of the Norsemen, at Noble Knight Games.

I remember seeing it when it first came out in the early ‘80s but I never picked it up.

I often use board games as a campaign system, or a scenario generator for miniature battles.  So I decided to buy it, figuring I could use this in conjunction with Saga, Song of Blades and Heroes, or other hack & slash skirmish games I own.

The box art is more appropriate for a sword & sorcery fantasy setting than a historical one.

While the exterior artwork is well-done, if a bit over-the-top, the map and counters show their 80s vintage printing quality.

But hey, one can’t expect much for a pocket-sized game that originally retailed for $3.95.

Despite the quality-control issue, opinions of the game are generally favorable.  In his extensive review, Corey Butler considered the game flawed but fun.

In addition to Corey’s comments, I’d add that when I received my own copy from Noble Knight Games, it game in a large plastic envelope because the box itself was crushed. But once again, you can’t expect a 28 year-old mini-game to withstand the rigors of time.

One of these days, I hope to play this as either a stand-alone game as it was intended, or as a mini-campaign.  

When I do I’ll be sure to do a battle report on it.

Meme for the New Year (2019)

I thought I'd start 2019 off on a humorous note.

I've been reading Ciaphas Cain--Saviour of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell, which is part of the Warhammer 40K setting.

I stumbled across a quote of our accidental hero that I loved and concocted a 300-themed meme using Make A Meme.

Best wishes to all of you this New-ish Year!

Stern Rake Studio--10th Anniversary

I originally started this blog 10 years ago today as therapy while I recovered and convalesced from hernia repair surgery.

Since then, I've branched off into making YouTube movies and concocting webcomics, like The Chronicles of Culhwch y Drewllyd, derived from the games I've played.

It's been a rewarding "journey" and I hope to continue this internet "voyage" for another 10 years--hopefully even longer.

Thank you for your readership and support.

Greeting Card for Alabama Game Group

(Image by Dane Tkacs)

One of the things that make Facebook so popular, despite the recent privacy invasion/data mining scandal is the ease and versatility at maintaining contact with family and friends.  When my gaming buddy, Dan, moved to Alabama, he “drafted” me into the “Huntsville Irregulars” (the Huntsville Historical Game Club).  It’s been fun reading and commenting on gaming activities 3,000 miles away.

This past weekend, one of the members posted pictures of his Battle of Sidi Bou Zid, Flames of War game session.  The above picture of one scene in the tabletop re-fight reminded me of Saturday Night Live’s Hans and Franz skit.  So I posted:  “I am Hanz and he is Franz, and we plan to “F” you up!”

A couple members thought it was funny, and I decided to go one better by concocting a greeting card/Facebook cover photo.

First, I cropped the photo, then “cloned out” the pile of status counters using Paint.Net.  After that I used the program’s ink-sketch function to give it a hand-drawn look.  The final step was creating the comic strip using Comic Life.

Here’s the end result:

Holiday Greetings 2017

Last month, my wife and I spent Veteran's Day at The Museum of Flight.

On the way back home, one of the radio stations already started playing Christmas music.  One of the tunes that popped-up was Snoopy's Christmas vs. the Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen.

I was surprised to discover my wife never heard of it.  I remember having a 45 RPM record of it and playing it constantly during the Christmas Season.

This inspired me to concoct one of my e-greeting cards for the year.  The picture is from an air war game during last year's Enfilade Convention.

I scrolled through my picture files for other images I could convert to a greeting card.  The only other picture that struck my fancy was this image from the same file of my friend Dean's First Battle of St Albans game.

Now it is a bit anachronistic, because the carol, Here We Come A-wassailing, wasn't composed until 1850.  But I I thought it'd be funny to have this band of knights signing a "road trip" Christmas carol, instead of some bloodthirsty fight-song.

And finally, here's a picture of my siblings and I.  Despite the fact it was taken during our mom's funeral I love this picture, especially since it was the last time we've all been able to get together.

Since we looked like a team of professionals, I thought paraphrasing a line from Die Hard would make a great opening line.

Best wishes to all of you this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year!

Murphy's Law of Combat #38--Miniatures Version

While I'm still sifting through this past weekend's Enfilade, I found a picture from last year's convention that I think applies well to another one of Murphy's Laws of Combat.

I'm also honored that the new president of NHMGS uploaded my  Tabletop Perspective Story to the Enfilade website.

Enfilade 2017--From a "Tabletop Perspective"

Due to my work schedule this year, I was able to attend a small part of Enfilade! this year.  After work on Saturday, I drove down to pick up my registration packet, take some preliminary photos and go on a shopping spree for game material I can't live without.

On Sunday, I played "Slugfest at Samar," a World War II naval combat game.  During this "fly-by" and "game day" I took 183 raw photos, which will take me several months weeks days to process.

In the meantime, I wanted to post this "Tabletop Perspective" of Enfilade 2017, while all of us were still basking in the convention's afterglow--even if it meant using last year's pictures.

I hope everyone who attended enjoyed themselves.

And whether or not you attended Enfilade, or other game conventions, I hope you enjoy this story...