Recent project updates, and newer items.

Hello again folks,

I haven't posted in a while but I have actually finished some models in the meantime.

First off I have been working on some models for Westwind Productions Empire of the Dead 28mm game set in the Gothic Victorian Horror world of their own design. I have had the rulebook for several months but until recently never got around to actually having any models to go with it. A recent visit to Dice and Decks Gaming Club by Square Orange Games solved this issue, me coming away with a models; Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson, Cedric Hyde, and a Demon Butcher, along with the Gentlemen starter faction pack. I have painted several of these models so far, except bases, the Butcher (dressed, as shown in the picture below, as a rather bloody chef), Sherlock Holmes, and a few of the Gentlemen. The first Gentlemen has officer's trousers on, showing he is an ex-military officer and hopefully, as future games may prove, an affinity for fighting. As my Gentlemen faction is based around a ex-military veteran's club full of old eccentric soldiers.

The first of the Gentlemen I finished

My faction  President at the back, with another of the Gentlemen at the front

Mr.Holmes

My demon-butcher - as a Chef!

I have also started painting Dr.Watson to accompany Mr.Holmes onto the dim streets of Victorian Britain.

I have started some more of these gentlemen, and so I hope to show a few more off in my next post.
In other painting related news, I have also painted some two more Vietnam era US soldiers for playing Force on Force in Vietnam. 

Additionally, I have re-varnished all of my finished Aghanistan/modern Force on Force models so they don't shine as much now as they originally did.

On Friday I travelled to Firestorm Games in Cardiff and yet again, purchased yet more models for my collection; the Vampire faction boxed set for Empire of the Dead, as a potential opposition faction to my Gentlemen. I also purchased a box of 44 28mm Vikings so I can actually start work on a faction for Saga, which I bought the rulebook for last month. Having played a proxy game at the start of February, I am very excited to actually have a faction for yet more games, as it seems to be a very interesting game. I have assembled six models out of the 44 available so far, 1 is my Warlord, and has been completely painted over the weekend, 4 are his Hirdmen, the elite troops for each warband in Saga, and the final is a spear armed warrior, as I have decided for ease of identification to arm each type of soldier differently to the other. I have started painting two more of the Vikings as shown in the pictures below.

My first Viking and Saga Warlord

When Square Orange also last visited, I bought the boxed game for Dreadball by Mantic Games, and having played a game with Neal at Dice and Decks back in early January when it was snowing, I am quite keen to have another go with my own team/s. The boxed game contains two teams; Orcs/Goblins and Humans, two balls, and a referee in terms of models, a book of team roster sheets, dice and counters, along with a pitch, deck of game cards and a rulebook. I have started work on a Orc (the larger and thus more dangerous players from the Orc side), and a Human, both teams have red, but the Humans have black suits and Orcs where metal coloured armour. The pictures below show my painting/assembling progress so far, both teams are assembled, but neither has been painted really, except for the two mentioned earlier.

My first match with own Dreadball set, approximately half-way through.

I have also played a game of Dreadball and won, so hopefully the potents are good for this game...

And after a fortnight of university, I went home and did some more work on the Judicator for my Warmachine Menoth faction, such as finishing the assembling of the legs and hips, and nearly having finished painting it, I have begun doing more towards the top half, and in particular the torso, which I'm having trouble getting a smooth white paint scheme on for some reason. I have also attached the right arm to the shoulder.
I also cleverly maanged to flock the base without the model being on it, leaving space for the feet due to a template I made of the Judicator's feet, alas the plan didn't quite work, and I was slightly off with where the feet would be on the base, but not by far, and this will need to be rectified when I go home again next weekend.

The right arm attached to the shoulder. One less task to do later in building the model

 My final addition to this post in terms of progress is a bit of work I did on my Realm of Battle Gameboard, which long time followers will know I have had for a while, and am painting in a desert colour scheme, and thus why a few of my models have desert colour schemes for their armour or bases.
I did a bit of detailing on the cracked ground which I made by converting the uncovered skulls into patches of dried ponds or cracked ground. Further to this I painted more of the cliff/rock areas brown and then went over them with watered down sand to make it seem more worn and sand weathered.

I am very happy with the way this board is going so far, and I'm planning on cracking on with it once the weather improves from british winter to something approximating dry/warm.

I have two new projects coming - Dropzone Commander from Hawk Wargames, which I got the rulebook for when I went to Firestorm games and have a potential fellow collector for it already, and in this game I am intending on collecting the UCM, due to their very Halo-esque appeareance. And a secret-ish project I plan to unveil truly once I have gotten close to finishing it - but I shall leave you with a line which will probably give you an idea of what I am going for: "Citizens! This is the Law, disperse immediatly or we shall be forced to use lethal force to do so!"...

Until next time then readers!

New Year update - Additions, Games and Painting Updates

Hello folks, hope you had a good new year. This is going to be a reasonably long article, I hope, and one which will be interesting.

I have made some substantial progress in several new wargaming areas, and a slightly older one.

The first of these is Dystopian Legions, I have finished two standard troopers and my musician (if you have any knowledge the one in question is the one in a flat cap with a more intact uniform). I have also started painting the two characters from the starter set, my Lieutenant and the special character; Captain Smethington II, who I will be using the rules as him, but am painting him as a character from my own Dystopian Legions background. The Lieutenant wears virtually the same uniform as the main troopers, with more armour on the legs, a stripe on the trousers, and goggles. I have also started painting the rather exotic Sky Hussars, posh-dressed soliders armed with flamethrower pistols and equipped with jet packs, and the models come with a rather well made resin jet plume to give the impression of flight. I have painted one plume, but have made little progress on the accompanying trooper bar the black undercoat.

The finished Troopers and Musician

Carrying on with Dystopian Legions I have also played two games of it with a fellow member of Dice and Decks Gaming Club, I may have mentioned the first game and the start of the painting on some of these models in my Pre-Christmas update post. The second game (which took place on 28th December) was a much more comfortable game than the starting game, with rules knowledge needing less help from the actual book, although my game cards were being slightly less friendly than before, but they still proved useful. The game also included the Musicians for my British, whilst the Prussians used their Medics, and we each had an additional rifle squad. The game included three objectives, one of which my Lieutenant ended up guarding by the end of the game, as my riflemen from squad 1 were forced to move up to a flat-topped hill in order to contest another objective, half-way up this hill, they fired a full volley and virtually annihilated an opposing Prussian rifleman squad, leaving two from the full sized squad, and forcing them back, only my opponent’s cunning saved him from leaving me with the objective; he had hidden his own Lieutenant at the bottom of the hill (a Games Workshop terrain piece called the Temple of Skulls). Another Prussian rifle squad was also suffering due to constant shooting attacks from my other riflemen throughout the game, although they also managed to cause a few casualties to my own troops. I believe that the game was in my favour due to my opponent making a tactical error and hiding his Teutonic Knights (Super-sized and heavily armoured troops armed with machine  guns) in a wood, and then, in my opinion, not using them to full effectiveness, using them to cause minor damage to the squad that took the hill. As a whole, I can so far state in fair confidence, that Dystopian Legions is a very good game that I highly recommend to fellow war-gamers.

My Dystopian Legions force for the second game, comprising everything I have collected for the game so far. You can see some of the finished model in the foreground, and the partially completed Lieutenant.

In other news, I have finally finished assembling my Huey for 28mm Vietnam War-gaming, using the Force on Force rules, with their Ambush Valley expansion. The only disappointment was that due to the quality of the plastic used in making the model, the model doesn’t fit properly under the chassis. Additionally, due to a cleaning error, I misplaced a component, leading to the Huey missing the rocket pods and machine guns from the mountings under the doors. However, the main purpose of the vehicle is as a transport, which is still possible. I am currently painting the model, and I am currently painting the model, and you can view my progress below.

In more 28mm Vietnam war-gaming news, I have now got both US and North Vietnamese Army models to use, and have finished some of them, although there are plenty more to paint before their finished. I have finished three US Army troopers; A Sergeant, shown in my previous post, the Commanding Officer, and a Soldier armed with the M14, which was phased out in favour of the M16, so I have a few M14s, but many more with M16s. I felt the M14s add a bit of variety to the otherwise rather same looking force. The North Vietnamese have Mat49 SMGs, RPGs and AK-47s, compared with the more various US weapons such as; M14s, M16s, M79 Blooper Grenade Launchers, and M60 support weapons. I have finished one NVA trooper so far, armed with an AK-47 and a grenade. The pictures of the finished models are displayed below as per usual.

The three completed US Army troopers and an NVA trooper

The UH-1 mid-way through painting, I have left the rotor blades seperate for ease of painting and for safe transporting around.

In Warmachine, I have now got my hands on a Choir of Menoth, which little progress has been made on due to the other new addition, a Judicator colossal. This model is turning out to be large group of medium paintjobs, as I have made most the parts into sub-assemblies for “easy” painting. So the head is one (finished, I would like to add) part, then the main torso, the rocket pods are two sub-assemblies, the engine pack, the shoulders, and arms, then the groin, and finally the two legs. This is partially due to me having to paint white, which as most war-gamers would attest, is a evil colour to try and paint in a smooth coat, and the Judicator is covered in large flat armour plates, all of which need to be white for my colours. Below are a few photos of progress on the model so far:

The finished Collossal's head

The left leg, with the grey on-top-of-black undercoat I use before I add the white colour, shown on the foot.

The completed forearm guard plate

The mid-complete forearm and hand

Hopefully I can complete or at least assemble the new Warmachine, so that I can get back into the action as part of the Warmachine Journeyman  League at Dice and Decks.

And that concludes my latest blog update; hopefully some more progress will have been made by the next update. Till then, have fun folks....

Another 2 weeks of Painting updates...

Hello again readers, 
It's been another slow 2 weeks of painting due to other commitments, but here is the progress, which is minor in some cases, and quite decent in others.
So we start with some work on the UH-1 Black Hawk helicopter I'm building to go with a 28mm Force on Force Vietnam collection, as might be obvious, the helicopter is for the US, and more specifically, the US Army.
I've got the main body glued together, along with the main rotor assembly and the tail rotor:

Main body as of last weekend

Tail and rear rotor

The main rotor blades and the assembly for them

The cockpit has also been glued into position, but the chassis barely fits in around the cockpit and interior:

There is a seating bench that fits on the pipe and box shaped part of the rear of the interior. I just need to find where I put it on the painting table.....

The poor fitting bottom of the helicopter

Now we come to this weekend on this project, and I've started doing some painting, I've undercoated the main rotors, the engine for the same rotors, and I've painted the sliding doors that fit on the side of the helicopter's body, and additionally, I've part-painted the front nose of the copter. Finally, I've started attaching the clear plastic that represents the glass parts of the body.

Under-coated rotor blades

Painted nose, shown dry-fitted to the main body of the helicopter

Under-coated engine

Side-view of the helicopter so far

Other projects of the last two weeks, I've actually assembled and started to paint another Armoured Suit for the squad of them I have for my Secrets of the Third Reich British force:

Main coat is done, now for the flag on the left shoulder, and the weapons and metal areas of the suit before attaching the head and varnishing the model. Next to the WIP model is a previously completed suit for comparison.

This coming Friday I have a Warhammer 40k game against a fellow Dice and Decks gaming club member, using Forgeworlds Space Marine Legion army list from the Horus Heresy boo, and I have a surprise involving some alterations on the force organisation chart....
Anyhoo, I've started to add some more yellow to the old Rogue Trader Land Raider, and a Veteran I started a while ago, but some problems have developed with the yellow paint being too low in pigment for an effective coat of paint, but I have some work in progress pictures anyway:

Old Rogue Trader Land Raider being souped up

One veteran, which by chance shows the size when compared to an Empress Miniatures 28mm SAS trooper

I have also done a bit towards my Dystopian Wars Land force, with work on the Landship and a base of small tanks being worked on:

The Landship so far

Very small tanks, which are very big in the fluff, and Dystopian Legions, where a concept render is available to view on Spartan Games, being equivalent to a Warhammer 40k Baneblade in size

Finally, as a end to the update, I have also begun work on one of three Cruisers for my Firestorm Armada Directorate fleet:

Just started on the basecoat

And that's another two weeks of progress, bar some work for Dice and Decks Christmas Miniatures swap, which I'm still unable to share any progress on as of yet, a few more weeks and I hope to show the finished progress once the person it's being painted for receives it.
I shall attempt to update this blog once a week as it used to be on a more regular basis again.
Until next week....

The plan for the year ahead - 2 months on.

On the 3rd September I posed my ideas and plans for the year ahead in terms of my Wargaming hobby, and now, nearly 2 months on (give or take a week) am writing to explain how it's going.

Well,
I've started the Vietnam Wargaming, with the Force on Force expansion book for the period from Ambush Alley in my hands, and it's a good book, even compared to the Afghanistan expansion book. I have two models for it, one of which is coming along (a 1/48 Huey Hog helicopter). So that's one goal that's going on.

As for painting my Secrets of the Third Reich Brits, nothings changed at the moment, and the same again for Dystopian Wars. Well, actually, thinking on it, I have a land force for my Kingdom of Brittania force, and have started painting it, with more painting planned for this weekend. However, in terms of my sea force, nothing's changed dramatically, except I've done a bit to the Olympus Class Troop Carrier, it's been undercoated, and I've started painting the thousands of tiny windows.
Bolt Action has had a few more models built for it, but overall no real progress.

Warmachine is another new game that's taking up alot of my time in terms of painting and buying of models, since as mentioned in previous posts, I'm participating in a league where games escalate on a monthly basis, so new models, which in turn need painting.

Dystopian Legions is out next month, and so I'm waiting on that project.

The second Black Powder era has sort of blended into my plans for Dystopian Legions, with a Sudan era paint scheme being formulated in my mind. (Wait and see being the main theme here folks).

Firestorm Armada is progressing, with the main ship for my fleet being painted and finished, and a Frigate also nearing completion, I have a few ships for another fleet also being prepared (the biggest of which has been started as stated in another post). So progress is happening in this area folks.

So, my opinions, progress is slow, but I am starting to get back into getting things done and painted. I'll update again around Christmas in terms of seeing how well my plans are coming along since the 3rd September.

Expect my standard weekend updates as usual.

Until next time, readers.....

Urban War/Metropolis and a Force on Force update.

Hello again folks.
I mentioned in one of my recent posts that I have a strike team for Urban War. So the majority of this post is devoted to a quick lowdown on the game and the factions available.
Urban War (which used to be known as Void) is a game of small-scale skirmish Strike Team Actions, representing a larger conflict in the continent sized city of Iskandria, where battles took place between its inhabitants and an Alien invasion. This set of rules is currently in its second edition, with the first set being available as a series of magazines, which contained rules and background, as well as articles on scenery and the miniatures.
Full scale battles with armies are available with a slightly different ruleset, also available from Urban Mammoth, which is called Metropolis, and adds giant battlesuits for some of the nations, and just outright monsters for some of the others.

All the rulesets in one place.

The current factions lists are:
Junkers- grim convict legions, basically futuristic romans
Gladiators- warriors of the arenas
Syntha- human cyborgs and robotic androsynths
VASA- galactic enforcers of law and order
Triads- clan warriors, contemptuous of outsider
Viridians- traders replying on pure firepower
Koralon- alien symbiotes, wielders of unearthly powers
There is another faction coming soon, called the Neo-Isk.

I have the Viridian faction, an army of Colonial Marines and Special Forces, mixed with extra heavy weapon teams, snipers and giant battlesuits.
I have virtually painted all of my current models for the game, and these are shown in the pictures.

The basic Infantry. the crouching one is a Spotter for the HMG team.

My Snipers, one is from the Starter set, and wears Colonial Marine armour, whilst the other two are from a blister pack. I'm very pleased with how the camo came out on these guys.

This is the HMG Team weapon platform, this is one of the small minority I haven't finished yet.

Here's the official website for Urban War: http://www.urbanwarthegame.com/news.php

To conclude this post, I've got a picture update of the painting for the Force on Force modern stuff; all the British are fully painted and finished, and the picture shows how far I've got through painting them.

Well, I'm over halfway through painting them.

Vietnam in 28mm - Force on Force

I decided to give my plans for some 28mm Vietnam a kick-start, so I ordered the "Ambush Alley" campaign supplement for Vietnam 1965-75, and I'm still waiting on the book to arrive in the post, but on Friday I managed to find some aircraft in 1:48 scale, which according to other blogs, is the scale for aircraft to match with 28mm. 
So I bought two aircraft: one A-7D Corsair II Subsonic Bomber as an air asset choice for the USA, and a UH-1 Huey Hog helicopter for transport. 

Aircraft and vehicles are something I haven't tried in Force on Force except for an extraction Chinook in my 2001 onwards Afghanistan forces, but it hasn't been used in any major role yet.
I decided to start building the UH-1 Huey Hog first, and so far I've started on the cockpit and the navigating crew-man, the navigator has been built and also painted, and I'm very pleased with the result, shown below:

I admit that the picture isn't the best focus (as is the standard at the moment due to the lack of a high quality camera), but hopefully you can understand what I was aiming for.
The cockpit and transport space are virtually one and the same, it's nearly assembled, but so far, I'm making good progress:

Although having been following the instructions I do wonder about the logic in sticking all the small thin plastic elements, such as the control sticks and such, before the crew, makes no sense to me.