wulfweb

Clockwork planets (3)

2012-01-26T16:00:00.000Z

I have finally grabbed the time to do some more on this set of scenery. I now have two hills, half a dozen barricades, a set of pipes and a watch-tower.

The pipes were just narrow drainpipe sections with a bit of grating in the front; the watchtower was more grating and K'nex. All very quick and simple. I will be making some LOS blocking scenery at some point, but I need to come up with some ideas...

One does not simply walk into Mordor

2011-12-22T20:06:00.002Z

Go to Google maps, ask for walking directions from the Shire to Mordor...

You have to love the caution...

15mm buildings from scraps

2011-12-11T21:09:00.001Z

In December 2010, Wargames Illustrated did an article on how to build 15mm desert buildings. Unfortunately that article hasn't made it onto their website, but they were dead easy. Foamcard for the basic box, some blue foam for bits and pieces, and scrap card for detailing. Oh, and plenty of white glue. I ran masking tape over some of the joins to hide the raw ends, but it's probably not necessary under a coat or two of textured paint. I'm going to make another four of these, then try something similar with corrugated card roofs and walls.

They'll end up being used in 15mm sci-fi games; I have a game of Hammers Slammers planned for the new year so I need to get some scenery together before then.

More clockwork planets

2011-11-24T12:13:00.001Z

I have finished off the first hill, built the barricades, and made a start on the second hill. I have dropped the idea of a metal planet; I couldn't make it look right, and fell back on the 'red martian soil' concept. And it gives a contrast with the dark metal, which is also good.

Building the second hill is easier, since I now know that I don't need holes in the base board for the pegs; the lowest cog is tall enough to make a sturdy foundation for the platforms. I simply pushed all the components together, checked for alignment and height with a couple of figures, and
then epoxied the bottom of each cog to the board. The axles slip in easily enough, so I will paint the parts separately, clip the axles to length and assemble afterwards.

Next step will be to rifle the local charity shops for a set of plastic Meccano to make some buildings from...

Clockwork planets (2)

2011-11-20T17:08:00.000Z

Yesterday's K'nex with some paint on... spray black, drybrush gunmetal and brass. That's a space marine for scale. I am hoping to get time to make another hill this week.

I have ideas for how to make barriers and barricades, too... half a dozen of these based on 3mm MDF.

Clockwork planets

2011-11-19T12:24:00.002Z

Why do all my 40k games get played on a planet that either looks like a Surrey golfcourse or like Stalingrad?

Here's something different - a clockwork hill for a clockwork planet...

K'nex from Ebay, plastic grating from the hobby shop, all mounted on 6mm MDF. I need to go buy another can of spray black primer and I can get some colour on it as well. Dead easy. The lower cogs are about an inch off the board, the higher one is about 2 inches up. The yellow wheels are about 5 inches diameter...

Wooden buildings

2011-09-30T11:50:00.000+01:00

I have just spent half the morning de-stressing myself... and I feel so much better now.

This was knocked together from 2'x1' of 6mm MDF and a few scraps of thinner stuff for the floors. The base is a 1'x1' square, the walls are cut from the other square foot. It stands just over 9" high, with floors at 3" and 6". All the windows were cut out with a jigsaw on the workmate.

Once all the glue has dried, I will tile the floors, add a bit of demolition wreckage to the ground, and spray grey. Easy, sturdy, usable.

And I feel relaxed for the weekend...

15mm exchange programme - part 2

2011-07-10T06:31:00.002+01:00

I received a little package from TMP user 'Blambi' in Sweden yesterday morning, and was really pleased with what was in it.

Not only were they really nice looking figures, but he'd sent me the painting recipe as well! Which is great, since I like the figures and I want to add a few more to make up a couple of squads for Gruntz.

So thanks to TMP user ThorLongus for coming up with the idea, thanks to Blambi for sending such a great set of figures, and I'd be very happy to do it all again sometime.

Ethical

2011-06-24T07:23:00.006+01:00

I love Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal... now where's my 12 million points? And do I get an achievement badge with that?

15mm exchange programme

2011-06-24T06:57:00.000+01:00

See this page on TMP for the details - send off a painted squad, get the same back. I'll post a picture of what I get when it's over; if you're into 15mm sci-fi, have a look. I just hope I get something 'out of the ordinary'.

The Battle for France - Part Deux

2011-06-15T07:01:00.001+01:00

A couple of years back at the Warlords, four of us played the Battle for France using the Blitzkrieg Commander rules (BKC). With the release of the second edition, we thought we would re-visit this campaign. Once again, I'm playing the French. We have a set of 30 maps covering the area, and a 'behind the scenes' set of campaign supply and manoeuvre rules run by Phil to keep us on the straight and narrow.

First game up, the Boche are attacking on two fronts. I am defending France with verve and elan (and a lot of horse-flesh), two tables away Mike had his Plucky Belgians™ who were preparing for the onslaught by planting their conscripts in trenches.

This game was played longways along a 6'x4' table. I formed up with a very high line, about 20" from his end of the table. Eight cavalry stands, a couple of cavalry recce, plus a 25mm AT gun, an HMG and a mortar, with off-table artillery support. My reserves were due to arrive from my end of the table gradually through the game, so it was a gamble; the reserves would be unlikely to reach me during the battle, so I had to survive without them, but at least the Germans would be bunched up for when my planned artillery strikes arrived.

Germans arrived, infantry in trucks, infantry guns, mortars, armoured cars and recce, the whole nine yards. The planned artillery did a great job, forcing him to spread out, and even my FAO got in on the act with some well placed 105mm strikes. Unlike the previous campaign, Phil's Stukas were ineffective this time around. In fact, I think all the casualties I inflicted were from artillery except for a single armoured car mobbed by the cavalry.

I over-extended the cavalry on my right flank, getting them well out of effective command range in my enthusiasm to chase down his recce, and had to pretty much abandon them to their fate (i.e. they were running on initiative rather than being commanded). Phil finally got his act (and his command rolls) together, with trucked infantry and armoured cars breaking round my right flank in a grey wave. Time to go...

I started to pull back the entrenched cavalry, with their HMG and 25mm AT gun, and a fortunate double-order let me pull the whole lot back by about half the length of the table, forming up again with the reinforcing R35 tanks and the Panhard that had driven on from my table edge.

Phil jumped his infantry back into the trucks and raced after me, straight into more 105mm artillery fire called in by the FAO. At this point, time was up and we called it. Overall I lost a couple of cavalry stands, recovering the rest of the cavalry under the campaign rules. Although I don't know the Germans' final losses, I suspect they are a bit worse.

So. First game played, French in retreat but still under command; this is an ordered retreat rather than a rout. The next game is likely to be the German assault on the bridge behind me, but I'm expecting my starting position to be dug in and with artillery plotted, rather than to be withdrawing in disarray (which is where I was last time we played the campaign).

A fun game, despite the disparity in troops, I feel I have inflicted some damage and got out with as good an outcome as I could have reasonably hoped for. Maybe next game I will get the tanks early enough to do some damage.

Board gaming - Power Grid

2011-06-04T00:07:00.000+01:00

My eldest is back from university, and he brought this one with him. A purely economic-driven game, with players competing to build and power their cities while denying resources to the others. First to seventeen cities triggers the countback, with whoever can power most cities at that point winning the game. I managed to come second, which I was pretty pleased with.

An enjoyable way of filling the evening, though I prefer something like Battle Star Galactica as a more co-operative game.

Limited resources to power your power stations and increasing prices for the more popular fuels make for a close game, with whoever currently has the most cities getting first choice when buying power stations, but last choice when buying fuel and building cities.

Overall - a good game, and well worth another play. Oh, and the board is double-sided, so there are a couple of different challenges in the layout of the country you're populating (Germany or the USA).

(Board Game Geek link - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid)

15mm sci-fi - update

2011-05-28T17:58:00.000+01:00

Over the last week I have painted up another few 15mm tanks for Hammers Slammers...

Most are my own sculpt, but there's also four Brigade Models 'Rhino MTB' as well. I can't remember what the walker is, but it's painted up quick and simple in the same colour scheme. I just need some infantry now...

Trees

2011-05-24T23:12:00.000+01:00

So I have gotten myself started on a nice box of 'countryside' terrain now. First up are the woods; I cut 60mm rounds from 3mm thick cork tiles and then glued them to 3mm MDF board. Cut to shape with a jigsaw, a coat of sand, a sealing coat of PVA glue, then household paint and flock. The trees are glued in singles and small groups onto 60mm diameter bases made from 2mm MDF (cheap on Ebay)

And there we are. The trees are good and stable, the area terrain is cleanly defined, and they come off easily for storage. The next piece will be a minefield (difficult and dangerous, offering no cover in 40k terms) made from more 3mm MDF and cork tiles, using half press-studs as mines.

Slow progress

2011-05-16T15:24:00.001+01:00

I have finished painting the Space Wolf transport, and got the first bits of colour onto the shop...

I'm particularly pleased with the las/plas turrets for the Razorbacks - I will put together a set of pictures to show how to make them, as they're really easy and rather effective in the game.

Feeling chuffed

2011-05-10T23:22:00.004+01:00

Those nice guys at the Overlords podcast ran a competition a while back - finish a story in a thousand words or less - and I got an email from Steve this evening to say I had won! And it's a great prize, too - a signed copy of 'Horus Rising'

The entries can be read here... and this was my short story; the italic section was the 'starter paragraph'...

Sitting in a room that looked little more than a steel box he was shivering, visibly shivering, his teeth snapping together sounded like a drum in his head that accompanied the baseline of his heartbeat rumbling through his ears. It wasn't his flimsy clothing or even the cold steel of the room that caused such visible involuntary movements. No, it was the ice cold eyes. The eyes of the Inquisition. He knew he'd pushed his luck once too often and now he was heading for a whole lot of hurt.

“You look ..............”

“I'm just a bit uncomfortable in this chair”

“discomfort?”

“I, I, I .....................”

"Uncomfortable is a stone in your boot or a crick in your neck after falling asleep in a chair, maybe a paper cut. I suspect you will soon want to re-assess your definition."

The young man said nothing more. He knew it was his own actions, and his own inactions, that had brought him to this room. He thought about what he knew of the Inquisitor. What was the rule? Be truthful or be silent. The Inquisition know.

He looked up and raised his chin, trying to put a little steel into his posture. The Inquisitor was seated behind his desk, looking for the world as though he did not feel the chill that radiated from the reinforced walls. Long minutes passed as he read through a scribe-written sheet of notes. Tall, youthful (though that was rumoured to be the result of many rejuvenat procedures), lightly built, fair haired; not an obvious candidate for the Inquisition, but it was rumoured that he could wring a confession from a rock.

The Inquisitor leant forward, augmentics clicking softly beneath his skin.

"You visited a shop on the Street of the Holy Bolter."

The young man nodded his agreement.

"You will speak or this will go badly for you. This was your choice. Do not make it harder than it has to be."

"I did. I was just..."

"Answer the questions. We are establishing facts. We may come onto justifications later, if that is necessary. You visited a shop on the Street of the Holy Bolter."

"I did."

"Where you purchased some five hundred lasgun charge packs."

"Yes."

"You then proceeded to Deliverance Way where you purchased two hundred and five standard weights of a promethium based malleable explosive."

"Yes."

"And three hundred variable delay detonators."

"Yes."

"Good. We are establishing the facts quite efficiently. I do wonder, however, whether you are just telling me what you think I want to hear. And that brings us back to the contrast between discomfort and... other feelings."

The Inquisitor reached into a desk drawer and brought out a small box, similar in size to a pistol case. Outwardly it was unremarkable, a standard military grey case stencilled with the sign of the holy Aquila and a yellow circle with a red symbol that he did not recognise. To the young man, even before it was opened, it radiated malice. Malice and the promise of pain.

"Hold out your hands."

The young man hesitated, barely a twitch, but the Inquisitor saw his reluctance.

"Now."

The Inquisitor did not raise his voice by the slightest amount, but the young man's hands leapt forward without conscious thought; it was as though they had been guided by the Inquisitor's word.

He opened the box and brought out a pair of gloves; dark grey and gossamer thin, they were covered in fine copper tracery that ran through the weave of the material. He handed them to the young man, who put them on unfalteringly.

"Yes, I am controlling your physical actions. I am not controlling your mind. Your thoughts, your fears, your feelings, they are all your own. Now that you have the gloves on, let us try again. And this time, with meaning."

The gloves tightened around the young man's hands, pulling close to his skin, and he felt them begin to insinuate their substance into his flesh.

...

Time passed.

The young man pleaded.

Time passed.

The young man screamed.

Time passed.

The young man whimpered.

And each time, the Inquisitor was there to ask the questions again.

...

The young man looked down at his hands. It was hard to believe how much pain had flowed into his body through his fingers; they must be completely destroyed by now. The gloves had inflicted every possible type of pain imaginable. He had felt the gloves draw his nails from his fingers, felt his bones break, felt them crushed to powder within his skin. And still the Inquisitor stood there, asking those same questions in a level voice, as though none of this were happening.

"I believe we have confirmed the facts. Hold out your hands."

This time there was no hesitation. The Inquisitor drew the gloves from the young man's hands. Drew them from his unbroken, straight fingered, intact hands.

"Inductance gloves. Colloquially known as pain gloves. I acquired them from a contact in the Imperial Fists chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, where they are used for training. And this is the contrast. To you, the gloves inflict unimaginable, unendurable pain. To the Astartes, they sharpen the mind. Discomfort, if you will."

The young man slumped in the chair. He knew that he had told the Inquisitor everything. There was nothing hidden, nothing concealed. There was nothing he could do except await the Inquisitor's judgement.

"You may leave"

The words came as a shock, and the young man stumbled as he rose to his feet.

"But you may wish to consider this, Sergeant Barrow. Keep your receipts and next time your expenses claim will be much easier to verify."

The transport pool

2011-05-07T14:15:00.000+01:00

I have managed to get the transport pool for my Space Wolves assembled and primed. Unlikely to have them painted before the game on Monday, but at least they're started...

Three rhinos painted. Four razorbacks primed - one assault cannon, one lascannon, two las/plas. And the slight lingering smell of cheese and spam...

Scenery for 1950s America / Fallout type skirmish game

2011-05-04T13:52:00.002+01:00

I was wandering round the boot sale, early on Bank Holiday Monday, and I happened to find a couple of bits from the 'Cars' movie of a few years back. Basically, two Happy Meal promotional cars and a curio shop. Of course, I carry a 28mm figure in my pocket when I go to these sort of things (doesn't everyone?), so a quick comparison later I was shelling out two quid for these bits of plastic.

GW Imperial Guard for scale...

They could be the basis of something like a cross between Fallout, Gamma World and Paranoia...

I'm thinking about whether the Warhammer Historical 'Legends of the Old West' rules could be re-skinned to serve as a set of skirmish rules for post-apocalyptic America in the 1950s. Neil from Meeples and Miniatures has suggested Ganesha Games' 'Mutants and Death Ray Guns' as an alternative; I may have to download a copy of that. Of course, GW's 'Necromunda' may do the trick.

So what would I want to cover a 4x4 table? As well as the shop (which is just a re-paint and a base) I want to make a water tower - there's always a water tower, isn't there? - and a house and barn. Then I need some fencing, some trucks and cars (possibly rusted solid, but you can hide behind them) and a billboard advertising whatever film was big in 1952...

And here's the first part of that work - the shop has been based on 6mm MDF, and the step disguised with torn cork tiles. I will be covering it with sand later, then an overall spray of primer and I can start painting...

And a quick spray of black primer, an overspray of grey, and it's ready for painting. Unfortunately I flipped the top section against the newspaper while it was wet, so I need to tidy up the advertising panels, but it's looking good so far.

Terrain in a box

2011-04-06T17:27:00.002+01:00

Last night I was browsing through various blogs and I happened to see the pictures of the tables from Adepticon. One of my dreams is to have a 'table in a box' setup, where I can simply carry a plastic crate into the club, open it up, and pull out everything I need to populate a table - cloth, area terrain and scatter. Looking at these tables, that's pretty much what Adepticon have done.

Picture stolen from TheBack40k.blogspot.com

Every table has six pieces of terrain - typically one or two buildings, two or three hills and two pieces of area terrain (such as woods, pillars or rocks). To that, I would add a selection of scatter - a mix of linear terrain such as walls or fences, craters and what-have-you. What I do like is that the area terrain has defined spots for the trees and whatever to sit in, and these are generically based on what looks like 60mm round bases. If I make the area terrain out of 3mm MDF, and glue a second layer of 2mm MDF on the top, with 65mm holes cut into it, that will give me good solid terrain, with removable features.

So... the next painting competition at the club (in May) is 'Terrain'. I reckon I can knock together a complete set for that if I make the effort. I think I will go for an ice and snow theme, for my Space Wolves, which means a white 6'x4' cloth, three white hills, two white areas with evergreen trees and a bunker. Add to that some linear pieces - maybe some of those barricades from the Aegis lines - and I'm sorted. Who knows, they may even be ready for my first game in the 40k tournament...

Running slow...

2011-04-03T13:20:00.000+01:00

I have updated the Salute blog pretty much every day in March; unfortunately that's left no time for anything else!

All I've done for myself in that time is to finish off the Rhino, assemble a Long Fang pack and put a base colour on them. What I do have is the scenario for the first game in the club tournament.

I'm playing Space Wolves - 3 Rune Priests, a Wolf Guard pack with a Razorback, split between 3 Grey Hunter packs with Rhinos, and three Long Fang packs with missile launcher and Razorbacks. So... suggestions on how to go about the mission gratefully received.

Rhino rebuild

2011-02-19T17:04:00.000Z

Back in December (in this post) I started to do some work on an abused Rhino I picked up cheaply on Ebay. Well, it's now pretty much finished, and I'm happy with the way it's looking.

Grey parts are from the spares box, white are plastic card, tan bits are from the original Rhino kit. I'm particularly pleased that the old hatch fitted the new hull as a bolter turret. I just need to think about how to add the hinges to the side doors and I'm about there.

In other news - my Bolter and Chainsword painting challenge is finished - grey hunters, rhino and dreadnought...

Less is more

2011-02-16T07:12:00.000Z

More exactly, less glue is more options.

In the Razorback kit, you get the whole of the Rhino kit, plus the additional sprue with all the Razorback parts, at exactly the same price. You don't even need magnets to make this work; the hatch is a slot-fit and you have two versions (with and without a storm bolter fitting), and the top doors can drop-swap for the turret mount. Anyway, it all works very well, and my new Grey Hunter pack now have a ride... just needs a coat of gloss varnish and a coat of Devlan Mud so shade it all down.

Hammers Slammers - officially!

2011-01-27T06:56:00.000Z

There is now an article on the official Hammers Slammers site about my Apex Dragoons. Which is very nice... thanks for putting that up, John.

Strike Platoon - completed

2011-01-21T21:31:00.001Z

Well, I have finally finished these vehicles - a coat of Army Painter Anti-Shine Matt Varnish and they look very much the part.

All the markings are hand painted, as a reverse colour-way of the Apex Dragoons. Bases are 2mm MDF.

Trojan command (right) and Trojan missile launcher (left)

Slingshot MICV

Slingshot calliope

Geckos - not actually in the platoon, but lovely Old Crow vehicles

The whole platoon, plus those Geckos

I may put a coat of gloss onto the windows in the Geckos and the cabins on the others, but that's basically it. Dragoons next...

Painted Strike platoon

2011-01-15T23:52:00.005Z

I am trying to get an update a week for 2011, so this is my progress. The Strike platoon has been base-coat painted and given a coat of spray varnish. Next up will be a wash of GW Devlan Mud and a gentle drybrush to sharpen up the edges, then I will paint in all the windows. I'm considering adding bases to the vehicles; the wheels are a little uneven and while it's not noticeable on a gaming cloth, I know it's there.

The next detachment will be the Dragoon platoon, which also has some Slingshots; I am considering differentiating between the Slingshots and the Trojans by moving the turrets to the front for Trojans, which would mean I need to replace the two at the front-right of these two pictures. Or at least, I would re-cycle the hulls with new turrets, and the turrets with new hulls - nothing wasted.

And I also picked up this mech on eBay - a 'Robotech Mac II Monster Destroid Cannon' according to the box. It's rather beaten up, but with some Araldite to fix the joints, fine sandpaper, a file and a good coat of primer, it should be recoverable.

And boy oh boy, does it tower over the 15mm figures! I know it doesn't fit the Hammers Slammers universe, but what the heck, it's fun.

Stowage in 15mm

2011-01-08T08:36:00.002Z

All those vehicles were looking just a little bit clinical and clean, so I decided to add a bit of stowage to them. I found this really useful article on the Flames of War site and it didn't look too difficult, so I had a go.

In retrospect, I may have got better effects with milliput rather than greenstuff, just because greenstuff has a tendency to bounce back to shape, but I'm happy enough anyway.

There are also a couple of Geckos in the first picture. Old Crow's stuff is well worth waiting for; the quality is excellent.

More Slammers

2011-01-03T09:43:00.001Z

Here are the other vehicles in my first Slammers detachment; two missile calliopes, a command vehicle and an ATGW vehicle.

Once again, the hull is my own sculpt, the turrets are from Old Crow. The missile pack on the second vehicle is from plastic rod, the calliopes are from a 25mm scale Old Crow missile pack; I will probably replace them at some point.

I need to add hatches and stowage over the next week or so, then I can choose a paint scheme.

And finally, the whole detachment - a Strike Platoon with 9TUs, clocking up 1620 points.

Hammers Slammers in 15mm

2011-01-01T19:09:00.001Z

There's been a bit of a run on Hammers Slammers in 15mm at the Warlords, and I have finally decided what to do with my little tank sculpts. They will be an Apex Dragoons force, though since Jim already has one under the brush, I will change the name and colour scheme and keep the same organisation chart.

So here are the first half of the Strike Detachment; five Slingshot MICVs with gatling railgun and missile support. I need to cast another four hulls, then I can do a pair of Slingshot hypersonic missile calliopes, a Trojan ATGW missile carrier and the Trojan command vehicle.

The hulls are my sculpt, the turrets are from Old Crow. I will be sculpting some stowage for them once I have all nine ready to go.

So that's two different scales and two different armies in the last two days.Not that I have a short attention span or anything...

Alas, poor Rhino

2010-12-31T10:30:00.004Z

How many ways can you mis-construct a Rhino? I think the guy who made this considered the instructions to be a threat to his creativity...

I guess I can't complain too much because I picked this one up on Ebay for a few quid, but the list includes doors and hatches fitted inside out, sprue left attached to parts so the hull roof didn't fit, tracks put on wrongly, and one track unit fitted at about 10° to the hull. I thought about turning it into a terrain piece, but eventually decided to try to rescue it.

Given the amount of chopping I had to do (including a quarter of the hull floor to bring the sides back square), I decided I might as well go a step further and convert it to a Mk I Rhino, complete with round side doors and a flat front with twin panels. So here is the 'after bringing back to square but before changing the doors' picture - more to follow over the next couple of days.

And a little later in the day...

I have removed and replaced the upper doors with a plain version, similar to that on the first Rhino kit, complete with handles from plastic rod. I am considering whether to build a 'climbing frame' in the style of the original.

I have also made blanking plates for the hull sides; they're just propped in place at the moment. I visited WHSmiths for a pair of compasses this afternoon, so I can cut round doors as well. I am considering whether it's worth making just one plate with doors and hinges, and then casting several from resin. If anyone is interested, let me know and we could share costs.

South London Warlords

2010-12-19T18:58:00.001Z

Pimping my own site - how low can I stoop?

I have started up a blog for the South London Warlords, a wargames club based in Dulwich.

I will be trying to get an update in place every week from the new year, and more frequently in the immediate run up to and aftermath of Salute, our annual show at the ExCeL Centre. The 2011 show is on Saturday 16th April from 10:00 - 17:00.

The dreadnought we all forgot

2010-12-06T14:41:00.004Z

Okay, maybe we didn't forget it, maybe we just took a look and thought 'why?'

Anyway, I was putting together my rifleman dread (standard routine - Aegis Line autocannons, missile launcher and twin-linked lascannon arms) and I cut the lascannon mount too short. You have to cut the lascannon barrels off on the outside of the recuperator section rather than flush with the armour otherwise the autocannon barrels don't stick out the same distance as the ones you fit on the missile luncher arm. Luckily I have plenty of spare dreadnought arms.

That left me with a useless armoured shoulder, and I was about to throw it when I remembered the twin-linked heavy flamer option! The weapons were easy to source (there's a heavy flamer in every dreadnought kit) but it still looked a bit sparse. Then I found the heavy flamer in the sentinel kit, which is quite a bit longer... and Bob's your uncle. A little clipping, a small piece of plastic card, and 'jobs a goodun'

Okay, it's 'triplet-linked' rather than 'twin-linked', but the extra bulk makes it look better. I can't see that I'll ever use it, but at least I have the missing variant in the armoury now.

Comments very welcome...

8755

A productive day

2010-11-21T08:47:00.002Z

Yesterday was a productive day. Not only did I paper the living room, I also got some paint on the Hunters while my better half was watching Strictly Come Dancing and the X-Factor. And I finished in time to see the last part of Pillars of the Earth, too.

They are nothing special, but they just need basing and sealing and they'll be ready for use. My target here is to get 250 points playable per month, and to be ready to play a 1500 point army by next summer. That should be 2000 points painted, which will give me some choice.

Comments very welcome.

8314

Space Wolf painting... under way

2010-11-08T17:54:00.000Z

I managed to grab a couple of hours the other evening, so the basic armour colour is in place. GW Astronomicon Grey with a Devlan Mud wash over the top. The target is tabletop quality at a reasonable speed, and since I get about an evening a week to model, this is my method.

Next will be the pack markings and the details - all those wolf teeth and claws.

What happens when you cross...

2010-11-02T06:35:00.002Z

...a Basilisk with a Leman Russ?

This is the first of my two artillery pieces; I have combined the hull from the Basilisk with the track units from the Leman Russ. I was looking for something a little different, and with Bits and Kits selling the tracks for £2.50 each, this was fairly cheap. I will find a use for the Basilisk track units somewhere, I'm sure.

Quick and easy, and it looks a bit heavier than the standard Basilisk without being so different as to confuse my opponent.

8068

Starting a new army

2010-11-01T18:39:00.001Z

I feel in need of a new army. My Imperial Guard have ground to a halt, as I wait for Wargames Factory to put out the heavy weapons, and although I have a couple of Earthshakers under way, I feel like a change. I was browsing the lead-and-plastic mountain and I found a few of the old 13th Company Wulfen dating back to the old Eye of Terror codex, so I have decided to use them as the starting point for a Space Wolves list. I guess most people know the figures I mean, but they are partially equipped with chaos armour torn from the bodies of their victims on the great hunt through the Eye of Terror. I like that idea, but I want to bring it up to 999.M41 rather than being the remnants of a Heresy force.

So, after a quick browse through the codex, I found this...

Bran Redmaw's Company
Bran Redmaw, whose personal icon is the Bloodied Hunter, likes nothing more than to hunt under the full moon. Bran is instinctively cunning, able to second-guess his enemies and ensure that his Grey Hunters lie in wait for the enemy after the fury of his front line forces them to retreat. The savagery of his company is legend - an enemy force trapped by Bran's Great Company will quite literally be torn to pieces.

The sign of the Bloodied Hunter is associated with those with the Mark of the Wulfen, and indeed there are many in Bran's Great Company who bear that particular curse - some even whisper that Bran has been seen to take on a different form when caught up in the hunt.

So here is the basis of my force. Bran believes that the end-time is coming. He believes that the momentary reappearance of the legendary Thirteenth Company during the last Black Crusade presages greater things. And he believes that his wolves must prepare for those days - those wonderful, terrible days - when Russ will walk amongst us again.

With this thought, he has sent out his Great Company to hunt the traitor once again. They are to hunt wherever the trail leads them, to supply themselves from the enemy, and to return to the Fang when the Wolf Time comes, stronger and faster, to stand beside Russ.

The pack has a powerfist, a banner, two meltaguns, five hunters with basic weapons and, of course, the wulfen. Mostly made from the Space Wolf plastic kit, with odd bits added from the berzerker kit and from the spares box.

The rhino is pretty standard, though I have managed to use the hatch elsewhere so I had to use one of the resin spares I cast up for my Imperial Guard tanks in place of the usual one. Still, that's in keeping with the 'make do and mend' attitude of this army. The icon on the front of the rhino is from the backpack standard in the kit, sanded flat on the back and trimmed to fit the space on the front of the hull.

More to follow. I am intending to get 200+ points per month painted, which should give me a 1500 point army by Easter. Maybe. Watch this space :)

SELWG tomorrow

2010-10-16T17:03:00.001+01:00

Sunday is the SELWG show - http://www.selwg.com/selwg05.html - and I have a little cash to spend this time thanks to Ebay. I think I'll be looking for cases from Kaiser Rushforth and some hills and rivers.

It's been a busy few weeks, but hopefully I can get back to doing something with the hobby...

A tale of two pigments

2010-09-11T14:28:00.002+01:00

In the end I didn't paint a squad in a mix of paints. Instead, I painted two squads, one in hobby paint and one in craft paints. The comparisons in colour between the pots and tubes were close, but different enough that they would look odd in the same squad.

For the basic coats I used GW Foundation Tausept Ochre and Folkart Yellow Ochre - quite different in level of pigment, and it took two coats of Folkart where I only needed a single coat of GW over black primer. Probably not a fair comparison since that's the whole point of the foundation paints... so let me ignore that one.

The other colours were a fairer comparison. My biggest complaint is the texture of the craft paints. The actual pigment levels were very similar between the two types of paint directly from the pot/tube, but the consistency of the craft paints was rather glutinous. In some of the colours, it was as though the manufacturer had sneezed repeatedly into the mix; the consistency was almost like white (PVA) glue.

What this meant was that I needed much more thinning to make the hobby paints workable, which obviously reduced the opacity and then led to my needing two coats of most colours to get an even coverage (honourable mention for gray here).

Overall, I have seen enough to prove to myself that hobby paints are better than craft paints for the way that I paint. Craft paints may work for you, and the end results are decent enough, but I will go back to hobby paints from now on.

Oh - and if you're wondering, the upper picture is craft paints and the lower picture is my usual hobby paints...

The seven 'P's

2010-08-30T18:07:00.010+01:00

I am away from home on a course starting on Thursday next week, nine days including the weekend, so I will be pretty much incommunicado. I'm building up a block of troops to take with me for the week, and I reckon an hour an evening should see me through them all in that time.

So what have I got?

Two squads of Wargames Factory Shocktroopers (EY2 and EY3); a total of sixteen lasguns and a couple of grenade launchers to go with the sergeants I painted a couple of weeks ago. Only one in the image above; the other squad was hiding somewhere...
A veteran squad of Games Workshop Cadians (V08) with Pig Iron packs and heads; a sergeant, three grenade launchers and six lasguns, and also a missile launcher stand.
Two more veterans (V03) to allow me to swap the heavy bolter out of the previous squad.

The interesting bits are the missile launchers (two to a base; I want them for Kill Team, and they have the 'relentless' USR, which I reckon can be represented by extra missile tubes) and the sergeant, who has an Empire torso to replace the Cadian one.

I also played around to make cheap plasma guns for the next veteran squad; this is made from a bolter and a plasma pistol. [edit] And here is the original source of this conversion - thanks 'Other Kevin'. [/edit] Looks pretty good to me; I just need to wait for my next delivery of Pig Iron heads and some more backpacks before I do the rest of the squad. The only unfortunate thing is that you have to use the lasgun arms where the left hand is on the arm and not the gun, so you only get two suitable pairs per box; still, it's not as if I'm short of arms...

Oh yes - the seven 'P's - Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Pi$$ Poor Performance.

The quality of paint is not strained...

2010-08-25T19:52:00.000+01:00

I was listening to one of my regular diet of podcasts in the car the other day (Meeples and Miniatures, episode 65 - http://meeples.wordpress.com/) where Neil was talking about painting figures. There was a discussion about paint and preparation, and one of the comments was that neither he nor his co-presenter would ever use craft paint other than for scenery.

Which got me to thinking... it may not be as good as hobby acrylics (GW, Vallejo, PP, Foundry or whatever), but is it 'good enough' for rank and file? I have certainly used odd colours in the past, and I will admit that I still use craft acrylics to touch up spray undercoats where the can misses undercuts. So I dropped into Hobbycraft on the way home from the office and I picked up five tubes of FolkArt acrylic (http://direct.hobbycraft.co.uk/productdetail.asp?productcatalogue=246194) which were as close as I could match by memory to the colours I'm using for my Imperial Guard.

What I will do is to assemble and undercoat my next squad as usual (a veteran squad of GW Cadians with Pig Iron heads and backpacks) and then paint five using my usual paints and five using the cheap craft paints. Both batches will get a Devlan Mud wash, and then I'll see whether I can tell the difference. And I'll post the pictures so you can compare them too.

Painted command squad

2010-08-19T16:26:00.003+01:00

I'm off work this week, and I got a chance for some painting this afternoon.

Grenadiers for the platoon command squad - Echo Yellow Zero.

And the platoon commanders, along with the squad sergeants for EY2 and EY3.

And last of all, the first figure for my company command alongside the EY0 grenadiers for scale; this is the Master of Ordnance. Arms from the tank commander, torso and shoulder pads from a Cadian, head from Pig Iron, 'legs' from a BBC dalek...

I really must get some basing done soon!

Once you've gone plac...

2010-08-18T08:10:00.000+01:00

...you won't go back!

Sorry, bad pun.

We are having a 'Kill Team' tournament at the South London Warlords after the summer break, and I thought I would quickly knock together a rather more elite team than I usually go with - a squad of 8 Sternguard. I'm not sure how well they will work, but the mix of ammo types is quite fun, and there's only a few figures to paint.

Anyway, I dug out a couple of boxes from the lead mountain - Veterans and Sternguard - and started to put a squad together. My word, how frustrating! I have been working with plastic for ages, and going back to metal was a real eye-opener. All those little tendrils from the air-bleed points, mould lines that need files, superglue/greenstuff sandwiches to assemble the parts... give me plastic every time.

In the end, I got three figures made. I'm going to go buy some of the new armour variants from Forgeworld, and make the rest of the squad from those; at least resin is easy to cut and clean up!

So, rant over. I have set up a little poll; please vote so I know it's not just me!

Shocktroop platoon command

2010-08-06T07:01:00.002+01:00

Well, I thought I would use the remaining figures from the first box while I waited for Wayland Games to get stock and deliver the other three. Eight figures - what to do, with not quite enough for another infantry squad. So I decided to do the Platoon Command Squad - grenade launcher spam and a couple of choices for the platoon commander - and the sergeants for the other infantry squads.

First of all, the grenade launchers. I played about to try to get a better angle on the gun, and I am pleased to say that after a bit of practice, there's some leeway in the pose. Anyway, the squad grunts are done.

Next up are the officers and NCOs. These are the guys I was more worried about; the box parts aren't all that great for command figures. Still, I'm quite happy with what has come out.

I really raided the bits box for them; there are some old bits in there that you're unlikely to be able to source easily these days. The sergeants are the guys on the ends, and they have laspistols from the old GW generic close combat sprue. The platoon commander's power fist comes from the same place (still needs a bit of green-stuff to blend it in). The plasma pistol and bolt pistol on the two platoon commanders, and the sergeants' chainswords, are the old GW assault marine parts - they still have the marine hands attached to the weapons in most cases, trimmed down to visually match the shocktroop wrists. The chainsword on the platoon commander third from left is from the GW Cadians, again with the hand still attached.

Most of the left arms are made from the arm that cradles the lasgun; cut across the bicep and rotated to move them away from the body, and cut at the wrist to replace the hand with a weapon hand. Right arms are mostly the flamer arm; it's at a decent angle, though the hand has a non-standard grip on the weapon so it has to be replaced.

That's a platoon command squad, a spare platoon commander, plus a couple of sergeants for the next two infantry squads. I reckoned these were going to be the most awkward to do, so I thought I'd get them out of the way while I had some time. Overall - colour me happy.

Stormtroops and Shock Troops - a comparison

2010-07-31T17:15:00.006+01:00

I have now assembled the first few figures from the Wargames Factory Shocktroops box. As I said in a previous post, I intend to use them for an Imperial Guard army for 40k, so they're being assembled to fit that system. For the first lot, I have stuck (almost) exactly to what is in the box - here are ten troopers, with a sergeant, a special weapon (grenade launcher) and eight lasguns. Once the heavy weapons are released, I will drop two lasgunners from the squad and draft in an autocannon proxy, which is why there are two guys without squad markings. From my four boxes, I will get six squads initially (Echo Yellow 1-3, Echo Red 1-3); once the heavies come out I will be able to spread out into another two squads (Echo Yellow 4, Echo Red 4).

Plus points:
The figures are in general nicely sculpted, the coats seem to flow well, the shoulder pads are distinctive without being intrusive. There are enough of the standard weapon to arm every figure; it's is a nice looking gun which is very much equivalent in length and bulk to the GW offering. There are five other gun options; three are similar to the lasgun in style and could be used to kit-bash other weapon types by combining them with GW parts. There is also a grenade launcher (which looks nice) and a flamer (which I'm not so keen on) so plenty of options for the standard troopers. There are a couple of water bottles and knives; I would have preferred one more of each, so every man got one, but nice nevertheless. There are enough spare powerpacks for every figure to get at least one hung from their belt, which is good.

Minus points:
The left hand is at the wrong angle. If you assemble the figures exactly as they come, the thumb is too high and the heel of the hand is too low. I have started amputating at the wrist and rotating it about 15° so that the gun sits neatly in the hand.
The command options are very weak - the only options are a pistol-packing right hand and a pointing left hand. The pistol is a real pea-shooter of a weapon, and this was the one adddition I made to the figures I assembled, exchanging it for a lasgun from the GW Cadians. If you assemble the pieces exactly as they come in the kit, it makes the command figure look very peculiar. This is a multi-part plastic kit, yet the only command figure you can make is completely two-dimensional. I have put one together for this blog entry, but it will be the only one to look like that - I will be drafting some Cadian parts in for the others.
The necks are too long. They are giraffe-necked if you assemble them directly from the sprue; I chopped back the length of the neck by somewhere between 1 and 1.5 millimetres (which may not sound like much, but in scale that's perhaps 3" out of the neck!) On the plus side, it's far easier than doing that with metal, and you quite quickly learn where to cut rather than having to offer the head up to the body each time. Another option would be to spin a 1/8" drill bit in the neck socket, which might be quicker; I will try that on the next unit.

I'm reading back, and I think I am coming over very negative. I don't want to, and I don't mean to. They are nice figures with a few small problems which are pretty easy to overcome or ignore. And at the price, they are hard to beat. Anyway, I have enough for two 35-man Imperial Guard platoons for under £50; that's pretty good going. I will almost certainly buy some more when I have assembled all of these, which is surely the acid test of a model.

And finally - the painted veteran squad, and a comparison between the GW Cadian Shock Troops and the WF Stormtroops - I think it shows that they can happily be used together.

Greatcoats have arrived!

2010-07-27T18:28:00.003+01:00

The first box of Wargames Factory greatcoat troops arrived from the States this morning; they were sat on my chair in the living room when I got in from work a few minutes ago. This is written from the point of view of a 40k player who wants to use them to bulk out his Imperial Guard; I will be using GW Cadians for Veterans, and the WF Shock Troops as basic infantry, as they're about half the price.

First impressions. Nice mouldings, very compatible 'size wise' with their GW compatriots. The basic gun and grenade launcher are closely comparable in length and bulk to the GW equivalents. The heads are nicely moulded, and there are plenty of choices. On the downside, the flamer is very weedy; however, there are three extra lasgun variants that could be easily cut-and-shut into a plasma gun or a bulkier flamer using the spares from my Cadians.

The basic box comes with 18 figures for US$20, which feels about right. You can get them for £14.50 from Wayland Games; I have a pre-order of another 3 boxes coming at a fairly decent discount which will give me a total of 72 guys which is plenty for a couple of troops choices. They don't have heavy weapons (yet) which is the only downside, but they are in the advanced planning stage.

One final comment, and this is more cosmetic than anything. You know how you open a GW box, and it feels as though it's been packed with goodness? Well, these feel the opposite. The sprues are small, the box is tall, and you could very easily have fitted another two, maybe even four, sprues into the box. No reflection on the quality of the product, but it feels like it could have used a slimmer box and thus saved packaging cost, transport volume, and felt like better value too.

I will hopefully build some this week; pictures to come.

Veterans under construction

2010-07-26T07:07:00.005+01:00

It's been an odd week or so, but I have managed to get the first of my veteran squads constructed. They're made from GW Cadians, with heads and backpacks from Pig Iron. The heads fit pretty well, though I have drilled and pinned them to the bodies. The packs were a bit more awkward - I trimmed the little block off the back of the Cadians' torso, and joined the pieces together with a superglue-greenstuff-superglue sandwich. Seems pretty solid. I'm still not 100% happy with the heavy bolter loader's left arm; it may be removed and replaced. Still, that's one half of my Kill Team for the club tournament starting in September.

I also finished the hack-job on their Chimera; I have moved the turret backwards about an inch. Which left me with a hole where a hatch should go; I looked through the bits box, but I seem to be pretty much out. I have been using my spares on the KV2/Ragnarok tanks, which has left me short. Okay, we can fix this; one RTV rubber mould made, several grams of resin mixed, one never-ending supply of hatches created. It's pretty indistinguishable once you have primed the lot, which is the stage I have reached now.

I have also started to put together another building - this is the 'Bell Tower of Lost Souls' - I have still got to add a bell, but you get the idea. This time it's a 6"x6" base; if you look back through the blog to find my terrain mat, you can see where it's intended to go. The pencilling on the base is to let me line up the paving slabs, which is the next job.

And finally, a Land Raider I've been playing with for a while. It was an Ebay purchase, very cheap (about £8 including p&p), and came with quite a mess in places, especially the sides. I constructed coffin sponsons from plastic card and attached what was left of the lascannons to them; it's not perfect but it's more acceptable than it was. I still need to paint the heraldry - a big Dark Angel winged sword across the hull, and the symbols on the sponsons - but it's basically there.

Oh yes, my Chaos are a Fallen army - I started painting DAs under Rogue Trader when they were black, and when I got back into the game, I just stuck with it.

Not a bad haul for a week and a half, really...

Wildebeest completed

2010-07-15T07:27:00.000+01:00

Woo hoo! I managed to get the paints out last night after work, and this is the result. Wheels by Brigade Models, machineguns by Battlefront, hull by me!

Again, painted sand and granite, washed with devlan mud, drybrushed sand. Quick and easy, and I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out; I have another four assembled waiting for their paint jobs; I am tempted to give one of them a searchlight rather than a machine gun and make an ambulance. Then I must get on with the job of making some turrets to create an IFV version.

I know that they have cost me far more than I would have paid to buy four APCs from a 'real' manufacturer, but I am so pleased to have my own unique models that I don't care. There's something really satisfying about working through a model from start to finish.

Change the past, change the far future

2010-07-15T07:25:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note - the Bolter and Chainsword forum site has produced an interesting 'Alternative History' version of the heresy; one in which Rogal Dorn rather than Horus leads the rebellion.

Very interesting, really nicely written, and it makes me want to add at least a squad of Khorne Space Wolves to my chaos army...

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=200543

Never give up...

2010-07-07T21:58:00.002+01:00

I played another couple of games of the 40k Kill Team (40KT from now on) mission on Monday night. One that has stuck in my mind was a game of my Daemons against Mike's Orks. Orks are a really tough army in 40KT; not only can they take masses of figures to bump up their breakpoint, but they can take heavy weapon squads (Lootas) as well. Anyway, Mike's list was something like ten grots and a runtherd, ten orks, four lootas - it was certainly 25 figures, so he needed to lose 13 before he started taking leadership tests. My list comprised five bloodletters and seven horrors, so I would be taking tests after losing six.

Things started badly, I lost a couple of horrors very quickly, and I was down to seven figures before I had closed for combat. Horrors can shoot, but their ballistic skill isn't very high, and the cover saves were costing me kills. Anyway, I got into combat and started to do some damage, but not being able to consolidate into combat is painful and leaves you exposed to massed firing.

To cut a long story short, and to finally get to the point, I was down to a single horror, backing off and throwing out shots at the orks. I had just taken my 4th leadership test (at a -3, no less) when I managed to kill another grot to bring Mike down to twelve figures remaining. Of course, Mike failed his leadership test straight away, and I won the game... despite me having only one model on the table, and him having as many models left as I started the game with!

And the moral of this story? Never give up, and always keep your eye on the objective. Mike could have easily won the game by dropping back out of range and letting the leadership tests take me out of the game. Instead he kept pushing forward, allowing me to target his grots and eventually fluke a win.

We have been enjoying 40KT, to the extent that we are going to have a tournament after the summer; everyone submits two lists (though I think there were going to be some additional restrictions on vehicles and monstrous creatures) and plays all the other players...

Twenty-six grams

2010-06-29T08:47:00.004+01:00

Well, this resin casting lark is a piece of cake - I can't see what I was ever worried about. ;)

I have started casting myself some of the APCs, but first things first. I was as careful as I could be while I removed the master from the mould, but I still managed to tear a small section. I think there was a fine gap between the hull and the plastic card base, and this allowed a small amount of rubber to get into that space. When I lifted the master out, it tore a tiny section of the mould out as well, so one of the axle stubs has a flaw beside it - indicated by the knife-blade.

Anyway, I cleaned up the mould, removing the wax and generally tidying up the edges, and then I tried a casting.

I measured the size of the void I wanted to fill, and I mixed up a little resin. A very little resin. Twenty-two grams of resin, to be precise. Fortunately I went and got a set of electronic scales from Tesco at the weekend, so I can get this accurately mixed up. I mixed, I poured, I realised that twenty-two grams may be precise, but it's precisely wrong. It's slightly shallow, but probably usable... or maybe I'll just keep it for posterity.

Anyway, since then I have cast another four APCs; twenty-six grams of resin is the correct amount to fill the mould and have just enough resin left over to make the hatch. It takes about 15-20 minutes to mix and pour the resin, wait for it to bloom and cool, remove it from the mould and clean up for another run. Not bad... and they are all small and solid enough that I don't have any problems with warping and flexing.

Final stage - attach some wheels to the hulls...

I have to say that I'm well chuffed with the way this has come out.

Making the mould...

2010-06-27T11:59:00.007+01:00

And this is where it gets scary - making a mould from my lovingly-crafted master. I have stuck the masters to a piece of plastic card; my assumption is that I want a flat surface so that when I have poured the resin, I can run a blade across the top while it's still wet to ensure I have a flat bottom and minimal sanding after removal. I hope.

I popped the plastic card into a lego frame, and filled the gaps around the edge with wax. Then sprayed with mould release.

And mix and pour the RTV101 rubber from Tiranti. I am slightly worried about the number of bubbles surfacing, but I have knocked, tapped and jogged it as much as I can to try to get them all to surface. I will pop it out of the mould tomorrow... watch this space :)

Back to the 15s

2010-06-24T19:27:00.008+01:00

As I said a couple of posts ago, I have an awful lot of spare wheels for my 15mm APCs. Well, here is the initial work on the hull; created from a cut-down Rhino, with the detail all removed and sanded back to a block of resin. Everything has been added with plastic rod, tube and sheets except the stowage boxes, which are the originals, removed with a razor saw and turned sideways. I still need to make a turret and a hatch for the top of the hull so that it can be an APC or an IFV.

I would say there's another evening's work in making the master with some greenstuff to fill gaps, then I can have a go at making an RTV mould and doing some resin casting - not something I have ever tried before, so wish me luck!

Update:

Here are some comparison pictures between Brigade Model's 6mm version of the Wildebeest and my 15mm version. The hatch is made from plastic card and tube and a KV2 return roller for the hatch doors themselves; the wheels just press-fitted onto the axle stubs. Though I say it myself, it's looking pretty good. Next I have to make the alternative turret...

Laying down the groundwork

2010-06-02T16:46:00.007+01:00

Well, it's been a while, but the Bank Holiday weekend has given me a chance to make a mat to go under those buildings, as well as doing a bit of real-scale gardening. The mat is from Antenociti, the layout is drawn out with masking tape.

Then I painted it in with household emulsion paint and a sponge - I still need to add white lines to the road, but I haven't decided on left- or right-hand driving yet.

Finally, cut to size (6'x4'), add terrain, and play. The barricades go across roads at an angle, the buildings fit into the grid, and things like the craters drop over the top of everything. I will grab a couple of brown spray-cans and messy-up the surface from a distance once the lines are on, and that should be it.

I reckon I still need another two 6"x12" ruins, and probably a 6"x6" tower to go in the eye of the roundabout. Overall this was cheap, easy and quick... ticks all my boxes!

A diversion in 15mm

2010-05-16T16:56:00.007+01:00

My big problem is sticking to a project. My solution is to not even try! Let me explain what I mean... I will try to have a couple of mutually exclusive projects underway at any one time. At present, I have my Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard on the painting table, but as a diversion I also have these rather nice 15mm figures and vehicles as well. The tanks are from Brigade Models, in their South African Confederation range, and are called Rhinos. They have an APC / IFV equivalent in the 6mm ranges, but unfortunately not in 15mm.

However, I have a plan to get around that, and to that effect I have some RTV rubber, a lot of plasticard, and 96 spare wheels from Brigade Models. I will be sculpting a hull based on the shape of the 6mm Wildebeest, casting them in resin, and Bob's your uncle.

The Rhinos are painted in Vallejo acrylics; Dark Sand and Granite Grey, I think, with a GW Devlan Mud wash over the whole thing. A quick dry-brush of the sand colour and they're good to go. I still have to add some detailing (lights, markings, that sort of thing) but they're basically done.

Next up are the figures. They are from Critical Mass's ARC Fleet ranges; again, they have received the sand / granite / mud treatment and they're very quick to paint. The visors were in a random pale blue... I tried gold but it didn't show very well against the sand and grey so they got a repaint.

And just to finish up, here's a shot of the whole lot together. Even with the bases incomplete and the detailing on the vehicles missing, they look good to my eye. I'm looking forward to doing a few more in between the Imperial Guard...

The Penal Legion

2010-05-09T23:09:00.005+01:00

I have finished the first squad of my Imperial Guard; penal legionnaires. They aren't the greatest in game terms, but they look like they could be fun. They have been made from GW Imperial Guards with the heads replaced; these come from West Wind's 'Secrets of the Third Reich' range. They fit pretty well if you drill out the necks of the figures. All wearing guantanamo orange uniforms.

I have started on a second squad; this time using a mix of Imperial Guard torsos and arms alongside Beastman legs and heads. In the original fluff you could have Beastman squads... I used to have some of the original figures, but they seem to have disappeared. Pity; the beastman with a plasma pistol and chainsword was quite nice.

Gamer burnout?

2010-05-05T06:44:00.005+01:00

It's very odd. I have always loved going to shows, spending my money, collecting my new purchases. For a couple of weeks before a show, I hang on to odd notes in the back of my wallet so that I have a 'guilt-free' stash to spend on the day, and I enjoy myself with it. I love to wander round the show looking at all the new shiny toys, and buying whatever catches my eye.

This time at Salute, I looked at all the new stuff and I went 'how would I ever use that?', and my money stayed in my pocket. It was very strange. My wife has suggested that I have grown up, perhaps, but I don't think so. I am wondering whether there comes a point where you just become a little jaded with the constant rounds of 'new and improved'. This is the great golden age of gaming. Beautiful figures, in metal and increasingly in plastic, phenomenal sculpts, any range you can think of (and some you couldn't!). But are we too long in the tooth to really enjoy it?

Probably not. I spent Bank Holiday Monday morning at a boot sale, just to get a bit of air, and I very happily picked up several 1/43 scale cars and a Thunderbird 2 that looked just perfect to make a dropship... mojo restored!

Has anyone else hit this wall at a show recently? Just wondering...

First pictures of Salute

2010-04-23T20:01:00.008+01:00

Yes, probably cheating because I just spent my Friday up at ExCeL setting up tables, moving chairs and stuffing bags, but here are the very first pictures of Salute. This was about 4:00pm today; we have maybe a quarter of the traders in, and we still need to lay out all the tables for visitors to eat their lunch at - useless information number 1, we HAVE to hire the ExCeL food trolley, otherwise nobody is allowed to eat in the hall. And we have to pay for the electricity it uses as well.

Most traders will be arriving tomorrow morning from 7:00am, and all of the games will as well. Anyway - early night, as it will take me about 2 hours to collect the people I'm giving lifts to and get up there in the morning, and on early shift, I have to be in the hall for 6:45.

Happy days. I have to say, I really enjoy it. I was chatting to a trader (I won't embarrass him by naming him) and he said that they really enjoy Salute because of the buzz you get - seven hours of trading goes by in a flash. I was thinking - if we have 4,000 visitors, and they spend £100+ a head (not unreasonable; I know many who spend a lot more than that), that is getting close to a half million pounds of wargaming trading in seven hours. And I do think that £100 is a conservative estimate, what with the number of pre-orders and collections I see.

Wargames Factory release the Greatcoats

2010-04-16T14:48:00.003+01:00

I'm excited to see that WF have a release date for their Greatcoat infantry at last. Because of the nasty add-on fees that the Post Office slaps onto them, I'm only pre-ordering one pack, but as soon as Nick at North Star gets them in, I want another five.

Anyway, in case you have missed the pictures, here are one or two...

...I think mine will be in 'Steel Legion' colours with tan greatcoats and black armour, but they do look very nice. Assuming the shoulder pads are attached to the arms, I should be able to remove some pads to use on other minis to tie them together stylistically.

Mission: Kill Team

2010-04-13T14:30:00.004+01:00

We played a few games of the Kill Team mission from GW's new mission book down the club last night; my new scenery got a quick run-out and all was good fun. I did intend to take my camera along, but somehow it slipped my mind at the last moment, so these rather poor efforts were snapped on my phone.

The tanks were acting as scenery, and did quite a good job of keeping my troops alive! I went with Imperial Guard (though I don't have any troops yet, so they were WW1 German figures. The list I took was:

Veteran Squad Alpha:
1 x Sgt with plasma pistol (feel no pain)
4 x lasgun
1 x heavy bolter (relentless)
1 x flamer
2 x grenade launcher

Veteran squad Beta:
1 x Sgt with laspistol
4 x lasgun
1 x heavy bolter (slow and purposeful)
1 x flamer
2 x grenade launcher

That gives me move-and-shoot on the heavy weapons and the specials are assault weapons anyway, so this is a quite mobile army. In hindsight, I could have happily replaced the flamers with more grenade launchers (S6 is very effective), but they did well enough.

We had fun; nice scenery helps, but the fact that we could play three games in an evening made for a nice change of pace. I think we'll play again...

Ragnarok Demolisher

2010-04-10T15:54:00.008+01:00

Well, I didn't get anything done over Easter, but here's the third tank. This time it's another KV2, this time with the spare barrel from the Leman Russ Demolisher. Looking at the pictures, I seem to have swapped the hull and turret with the first one (and it's also ended up at the back of all the photos), but it doesn't really matter. I tried for some battle damage, and removed the engine cover and one road wheel of the new hull (which seem to be not unusual on the real thing, judging by some wartime photos.) The engine was a resin piece from Ramshackle Games fitted into a plastic card box and glued to the underside of the hull. I now have another couple of KV2, for a total of five (three of them still in boxes).

I took another couple of photos along with the Leman Russ; you can see my terrain as well, including a half-finished building to the left of the last picture. This was a Pegasus kit again, to which I have added plastic card floors; it still needs to be fully painted, but I thought it would look okay in a couple of 'action photos'.

Bleak mid-winter

2010-03-27T12:04:00.008Z

I got some paint onto the tanks last night. I have been thinking about a winter theme for the new army; I tried it out last night, and I am not happy. I initially painted the Russ green, then masked off the tracks with tape. I masked some areas with toothpaste, then sprayed white. A quick wash down to remove the toothpaste and... well. It looked a bit untidy, and there wasn't enough green showing, so I tried to tidy up with a sponge and green paint to emphasise the edges and other areas where you'd get wear.

You can see the results from the attached pictures, but basically, it's not great. I should have left it in the original green finish (like the KV2 / Ragnarok)... I will have to strip and repaint.

However, on the plus side, the Ragnarok looks great and I'll get on and make another two of them over Easter (real life permitting...)

Tanks on the cheap

2010-03-21T19:08:00.007Z

I'm starting to put together an Imperial Guard army for 40k, which can be quite expensive with the amount of armour you need to field. Enter the Ragnarok. The Ragnarok is a Leman Russ substitute fielded by the Death Korps of Krieg, loaded up with a battlecannon and a pair of heavy stubbers. Well, my version has the battlecannon, but the twin heavy stubbers are replaced with a heavy bolter - in other words, it's a direct Leman Russ substitute.

The basis of the Ragnarok is a 1/48 scale KV-2 produced by HobbyBoss. All that you need to do is to replace the gun with a plastic tube equivalent, replace the hull machine gun with a heavy bolter, and 40k-ify the top of the turret with a new hatch and smoke launchers. I'm sure most players have the majority of the necessary parts anyway.

As a comparison, the hull of the Ragnarok and the Leman Russ above are the same width (excluding sponsons), the same height to within 2mm, and the Ragnarok is about 20mm longer. And the best part is, I can get three Ragnaroks for the price of a single Leman Russ. I think I will have six of the Ragnaroks (I have three kits so far), armed as Battle Tanks and Demolishers, and a couple of Leman Russ as the more unusual variants - an Executioner, a Vanquisher, and an Exterminator ,the last of these to be painted in black as a commissar's vehicle - a full heavy bolter loadout should remind the troops not to retreat!

All I need to do is to work out how to add sponsons to the KV-2 kit...

And back to the buildings.

2010-03-13T18:00:00.001Z

The 6x12 buildings are painted now, and so are some barricades - everything still needs an ink wash and matt varnish, and the barricades need shading and drybrushing as well.

More with that hill

2010-03-11T14:07:00.005Z

I took this picture halfway through planting the flower beds, so you can see what's going on under the plants. Since the last picture, I have built little retaining walls from 5mm foamcore, filled the beds with some scrap polystyrene foam, and punched holes into it with an apple corer. Two coats of black acrylic, then a heavy drybrush of my ground colour to bring out the tiles.

The plants are from an aquarium plant ball, and they pop off on little cores that fit those holes. A bit of hot glue, and we're away. I think this looks quite decent, and it certainly fits with the 'Imperial Urban' theme I've got going on here. So. Happy :)

A hill, by any other name... part 2

2010-03-06T13:03:00.004Z

Update - I spent a good hour sticking paving slabs down. I printed up a 1cm square grid onto thin card, and cut out loads of 2x2 and 2x1 pieces. Stuck down with white glue, they are what I'm using around all my building bases to bring them together in style. Next will be building the low walls and the flower beds...

A hill, by any other name...

2010-03-06T12:37:00.009Z

I was trying to think of what I could make that would be like a hill, but more, well, urban. And this is what I came up with. When it's finished, it will have paving all over it, and flower beds in all four corners - like the second drawing on the second photo (apologies for the drawing, there's a good reason why I'm not a graphic artist)

More buildings.

2010-03-03T22:26:00.006Z

And I finally got going on the scenery again. Funny how you can let this slide...

Anyway - two 12x12 buildings completed, and another one partially built. Front left is GW Basilica, front right is MageGothic ruins with a GW plastic crater to fill the insides. The pavements round the outside are covered with 20mm squares of thin card, and then drybrushed. Inside the buildings I have covered the ground with very coarse sand.

Both the back buildings are from Pegasus; the one on the left will have plasticard floors once I get some more card! Again, the ruin is filled with coarse sand. I still need to plug the holes in the pillars with the little blocks they give you in the box. For some reason, Onion is very interested in the building - maybe he thinks it's kitty litter rather than some sort of crushed shells.

40k scenery part 2...

2009-10-31T18:00:00.002Z

The buildings are from Pegasus Hobbies - this pack has two identical corners made of about a dozen hard plastic pieces each. I have assembled them onto two, 12" x 6" bases made from 3mm MDF. The piles of of rubble in the corner are also from Pegasus, but they're resin. They can be used together as a single building or separately. Again, I need to do some painting...

Around each building is a pavement (sidewalk) an inch wide. I'm going to add paving stones to this, but at the moment it's just a scribbled space.

40k Scenery...

2009-10-31T17:43:00.001Z

I have spent the afternoon putting together some scenery for my 40k games. I am trying to put together a 'game in a box' of scenery; the first one will be 'Imperial Urban'. The table-cloth will be one of the brown Mat Of War mats from Antenociti's Workshop with a grid of roads painted onto it. I reckon I need 2 of 12" x 12" buildings, 4 of 12" x 6" buildings, about a half dozen barricades, plus a hill of some sort. I have an idea for that which would include blue and pink insulating foam... but first, here are the barricades.

The tank traps are from Total System Scenic and were pretty cheap - it just cost me £6 for all twenty. The tyre stacks were from PG Scenics, also cheap at £1.75 for a pack of five. The car is a Thunderbirds toy; it seems about the right size, and it'll blend in once everything is painted. Everything is on 3mm MDF, on 2" x 8" bases. The idea is to make roads about 6" wide, so these will be able to close them off at an angle.