Secret Santa: Battlefront Style

Secret Santa: Battlefront Style As the year draws to a close, things can get pretty stressful and hectic, with plenty of urgent projects to finish at the last minute, not to mention hair-raising forays into overcrowded malls. Why do all the shops blast such terrible upbeat festive muzak? I think it’s supposed to make people panicky and tense, so they spend unwisely and leave in a hurry. So we wanted to do something fun to get the studio in the Christmas spirit, and remind us what the holiday season is really about: adding to your toy soldier addiction, uh,… I mean, collection . We decided to adapt the tired old Secret Santa tradition, to let us practise our modelling skills and give people something they can actually use – a custom-made Flames Of War objective.

We drew names randomly out of Casey’s hat. The identity of one’s lucky recipient was supposed to be kept a closely guarded secret until ‘the big reveal’, but I happen to know that several people flagrantly ignored this rule. We allowed people to include a suggestion for an army or theme they would like their objective to be suited to. These suggestions were optional, if people thought they had a better idea, but they gave good starting point. We generally have a pretty good idea what armies people already have, but you never know what weird and wonderful future projects people are planning. Because this is already such a busy time of year, we started back in early November, so people would have plenty of time and wouldn’t need to rush. Of course, in time-honoured wargamers’ tradition, it is no surprise that nearly all of us only got around to finishing our objectives the night before the deadline. In some variants of the Secret Santa tradition, the gift-giver stays anonymous. We didn’t think that would be nearly as much fun as letting people take credit for their hard work. So here are some photos of the finished objectives. We’ve asked people to write a brief rationale of their design concept. Or, to put it another way, ‘What were you thinking?’

Blake's Objective Barkmann's Workshop I probably get the prize for the least original objective. I was away when the Secret Santa was organised and didn’t find out about my involvement till I returned to work. With a shorter timeframe than the other guys, I decided to create an objective by converting (using that term very loosely, all I did was replace the mechanic figure with a barrel) Barkmann’s Workshop. I was happy with it till I saw some of the other creations the guys came up with. Learn more about Barkmann here...

Mike Haycock's Objective The Italian What If My brief for Secret Santa was Early/Mid/Late British or Italians. So I decided to have both British and Italians on the objective to cover all the bases. Not being all that good at sculpting, I decided to use my access to the spare figures to some interesting figure poses I could make use of. Being a fan of what ifs, I decided to base my objective on the what if the Italians had better tanks in the desert other than the M14/41. So I hunted down a P3 tank out of the Mid-war Monster range, painted it up in desert colours and had it on the road to Cairo when tragically it lost a track and was then captured by some retreating British. I really enjoyed making this objective up and am thinking up something for my Polish army to do next. Learn more about Mid-war Monsters here...

Chris' Objective Knocked Out M13/40 I managed to draw Kyran, the token Aussie office in our Secret Santa draw. Wanting to do something that not only symbolised the Aussie troops ability to use captured equipment, but also something that felt a little light hearted I settled on a captured M13/40 that an Italian has just knocked out with his trusty Solothurn. Luckily Kyran was already on his Christmas holidays when it came to presenting the finished results as (unlike the guy in the picture on the right) I could just not paint a decent Kangaroo to save myself (let alone 5 of them). Over the Christmas break I'm going to have another go at it so it can be all finished for the New Year.

Wayne's Objective The Sinister Colonel Klunk & Sergeant Schwartz When James drew out who we would get to be Secret Santa for, I was a little worried about what I’d do for the person I got. Luckily I got Surfboard (Mike Haycock), our logistics and delivery systems operative, and I knew he was keen to put together an Early-war Polish force based around an armoured train. I got my idea from old black and white silent movies where the sinister bad guy would capture the heroine and tie her to a railway track to be run over by a train. I selected a couple German figures that I had at home to be the evil conspirators. The tied up heroine was made from a female Soviet solider. I trimmed off her right arm and rounded off her shoulders with putty, chopped off her legs, bent the lower half of her and glued the legs back on to make her legs look bent. Finally I made some rope from three strands of fine wire and wrapped it around her body. The track was just a short length of TT Gauge model track.

Victor's Objective Das Pimp. It's clinically proven that more guns are better than one. This idea is something I've been wanting to do for a while, but didn't know what it would turn out like. My aim was simple; to create a tank for a German Tank Commander/Boy Racer. I had a lot of fun making and painting this beast, but am alittle dissapointed that ability and time prevented me from sculpting a 15mm Xzibit figure to go with it.

James' Objective Christmas at the Beach: Desert Style My idea for Chris’ objective was partially premeditated. I hoped I would get to do a winter-themed base, because I liked the idea of soldiers building a snow tank – like a snowman, but bigger and more tank-shaped. Chris put the kibosh on that idea by requesting an early war desert-themed objective. Of course, Christmas in this part of the world is in the middle of summer, and usually involves barbecues and beaches. So my theme became ‘Kiwi Christmas desert beach party’, complete with a Stuart-shaped sandcastle. I included troops from both sides of the conflict, so the objective works with any army. Also, it’s just nicer that way.

Mike Haught's Objective Cautious Movement I got Victor for my secret Santa objective. He had noted that he’d like something to do with British armour. I also knew he had a Fallschirmjäger force from Hell’s Highway. I instantly thought of this photo where a small patrol of paratroopers are walking by a knocked out Sherman V and used it as my template. I figured the objective would be useful for Victor’s British tanks as well as his FJ, so it’s good for double duty.

Casey's Objective Flammpanzer 38(t) Hetzer vs. MG Bunker

Kyran's Objective Churchill AVRE Bobbin

Sean's Objective Death from Afar

Mark's Objective The Origins of Heck-Boy