Alpha Legion Progress

Hello again,

I have been making progress on my Alpha Legion force for Shadow War and Warhammer 40000 (well, 30000). I have found a metallic blue that matches near enough to my planned designs and have begun to apply it to an old Rhino, Marine and Terminator.

The Rhino

The Terminator, the one I'm happiest with so far.

Basic Marine Legionary

There is still more detail work and finishing touches to be done yet, as well as a lot more marines and vehicles. Stay tuned for more info....

Warhammer 40k/30k Restart for Me!

Hello folks, long time no post,

But anyhoo, I am looking with hope at the new Warhammer 40k 8th Edition rumours and playing in a campaign of Shadow War: Armageddon - an update of Warhammer 40000: Kill Team. 

I have got my hands on some new 40k models, which will go towards a force of Space Marines for both Shadow War and 8th Edition 40k. However, 40k technically is incorrect for these guys, as they fit more into the 30k/Horus Heresy era of the 40k fluff. They are Alpha Legion, with currently models being plastic Mk4 Maximus armour marines and some Tartarus Terminators.

Tartarus Terminator in pre-heresy Alpha Legion colours!

The above image shows a rough idea of what colour scheme that I intend to use on my own Alpha Legion, a mix of metallic blue, black and silver. I'm using the Forgeworld Horus Heresy books colour illustrations as shown above as inspiration. Here's some more:

Additionally, I have been given an Ork Kommando belonging to a friend that I have the chance to tidy up, base and paint as my Kill Team "captured" him in the campaign before he was eventually rescued. So I am painting him with a hydra tatoo of the Alpha Legion, more on that soon....

First weeks of August 2016

Hello again folks,

I have been working away at my WW2 models, starting with my Stuh 42, which whilst has been virtually finished in terms of painting, I have decided after opinions from friends that my WW2 German vehicles look too "new" and "factory fresh". To solve this I have decided to add in some details such as camouflage nets and dirt washes to make the vehicles look dirty and used out in the battlefields of WW2.
Thus is my now completed Stuh 42 - much more battle-ready!

I have also been painting some more of early WW2 British forces, including my Matilda II. The work on it so far is shown below:

July 2016 - New WW2 Bits

Hello again folks,

I have been busy lately painting and assembling more models, I have painted a new Waffen SS soldier in Pea Dot camouflage, this is due to a good performance during a game of Muzzle Flash. Here is a picture of the nearly finished model:

Additionally I have been painting more of my Germans as they are seeing more games at the moment.

I have also assembled and started to paint another Automated British Infantry from Clockwork Goblin Miniatures, I have several but was put off when I first got them by having trouble gluing the arms and weapon together whilst making sure it all fitted to the body. The first finished one was a gift at the start of the year at Dice and Decks as part of the annual miniature swap.

My latest major model is a Stuh 42 for my WW2 German forces, a 105mm howitzer mounted on a Stug III chassis. I am very pleased with how this vehicle has turned out, but I don't think of it as fully completed yet. I intend to add some camouflage netting to the gun and hull in small amounts to add some extra detail, the tank is shown in the picture above along with a painted squad of Germans.

As a friend commented during a game, my tanks look too "clean" and straight out off the production line for front-line vehicles.So I may start experimenting on some camouflage nets to help add a more gritty feel to the tanks and vehicles.

That's all for now folks...
 

New game, new forces and more fun

Hello again folks, as you may or may not have spotted their is a new page on here about a game called Muzzle Flash, which is being developed by a good friend of mine. I'm very keen on it. It is for any post 1870 setting, and features action based gameplay. The page on this blog gives more information.

Into the new year

Hello again folks,

Well, things have been busy on the modelling front. 

I've been busy painting a model for the annual Dice and Decks Gaming Club Christmas Miniature Swap.

In other news my 10mm Napoleonic Miniatures arrived last week and I have started to assemble these ready to paint, they are very chrisp and detailed. I have 2 cannons, a howitzer, two mounted officers, 12 dragons, 4 line battalions and a highlander battalion. Some of these are shown in work in progress pictures below.

Due to a challenge on Saturday 19th December, I was forced to speed up my assembling of a warband for Frostgrave, I'm using the Silence model from Guildball as my Necromancer, his apprentice is a Pandora model from Malifaux. As for Soldiers; a variety of already owned models fulfilled this role, including some Arthurian soldiers and a dog from Kings of War. As well as a Tenderiser from Guildball who is standing in my warband as an infantryman. The whole of Frostgrave reminds me slightly of the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, probably due to the wintry area and the magic mixed with medieval weapons. I enjoyed two games of this, with the rules for random encounters being a source of great amusement to all.

I also as my birthday has recently passed got my hands on a squad of 5 automated British infantry from Clockwork Goblin Miniatures. These are 28mm scale but stand around 40mm tall, they carry either a Vickers or a .50 cal heavy machine gun, I intend to use them to supplement my Bolt Action army and this has been helped by finding the company has written appropriate rules to include these in games of Bolt Action. I also received a pre-done version of one of these automated infantry as part of the annual Dice and Decks Christmas Miniature Swap. I painted a Khornate flesh hound in black with red scales, which I was rather pleased with. A picture from the Dive and Decks Facebook page is shown below:

Over Christmas I received a box of Dreamforge Games' Eisenkern Stormtroopers, as well as their support weapons. I am intending to use these in near future games and so have painted them to look as though they are wearing camouflage armour. 

I have also been introduced to some new rules, Black Ops by Osprey Publishing, which is a great game, especially for infiltration style missions. I've played 3 games of this type so far, the first was a a World War 2 era game with a group go British Paratroops infiltrating a German held hamlet in order to eliminate a German officer. Whilst my opponent succeeded in killing the officer, luck wasn't on his side and the noise counters added up to the alarm being raised and a German reinforcements poured in, resulting in only one man making it back off the table. 

My second game was set in Afghanistan using ISAF special forces rescuing an informant held in a ruined factory complex by a group of Fanatics, I played the team rather than the guards for this game, and made it to the informant and rescued him without any losses.

My Spec Ops team - showing my attempts at Desert DPM from a few years ago and more recent Multicam.

 I'll be updating the pages section of this blog soon with a more recent major project I'm involved in. So keep watch folks!

End of November/Start of December 2015

Hello again folks,

This Friday just passed (27th November) I played another game of Bolt Action against one of my regular opponents. My German army vs his British army, this time, the forces were a standard selection of both infantry and armoured vehicles. Highlights from this game included, my Officer unit once again destroying more than their fair share of enemy infantry, and my heavy howitzer, which was critical in stopping the enemy advance on the right flank, destroying half an infantry squad in the first turn, and then blowing up an enemy tank in the third turn. Although as seems to be a regular occurrence, my Tiger tank was destroyed by a Cromwell tank, but this was then destroyed by a 5-man SS unit which assaulted it in retaliation! Photos showing my force and parts of the battle are shown below:

The 20mm Flak Autocannon covers the advancing Infantry

A view from the left flank

Infantry stand ready - with the heavy howitzer behind them

My SS follow behind one of my Infantry squads

My Tiger tank

I have also finally bought myself my first units for my brand new 10mm Napoleonic army, all courtesy of Magister Militarum. I have ordered a set of 4 Line Infantry battalions, 1 General and an artillery battery, in addition to this, I have also added a battalion of Highlanders, for an infantry unit with a bit more of a kick to it, and a unit of Dragoons for my Cavalry element so far. This in my opinion is a great starter to my force, and gives me 7 battalions already, 5 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery. This is a project I am looking forward to greatly as mentioned in my last post as it is something I have been trying to do for some time now, and it'll be an interesting challenge for my painting skills.

For the 10mm Napoleonics, my potential opponent has suggested we use Black Powder by Warlord Games, a ruleset I have owned for some time and never used. So this is no issue for me, although common sense now suggests I add their supplement for the Peninsular War of 1808-14 to my collection as well, as this is the area of the Napoleonic Wars which interests me most. 

I have also bought a new model to stand as my Necromancer for my Frostgrave warband - I'm using the Silence miniature from the Guildball Mortician's Guild, as he looks like just what I'm imagining for my Necromancer as well as being a great centrepiece miniature, I was hoping to try and get my Vampire from Empire of the Dead into the warband - he may have to take the role of the apprentice for gaming purposes. I'll come up with some background so that things for this band are more complicated then things would first appear. The Necromancer is now based and ready to be painted, with some warband members already to join him - a couple of spare Arthurian era soldiers will suit as mercenaries in the Necromancer's employ!

And that's all I have to say for now folks..... until next time!