Little Wars

Last of the V8 Intercept... er.. Imperial Jetbikes.

2007-01-02T07:17:00.001-08:00

Yup. Kinda cool in a goofy way.

SO whats new?

2006-07-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

I've been painting a ton of stuff lately, but I really don't have any pictures of anything. :(

I'm looking into getting a camera so I don't have to steal my sweeties all the time. I'm not quite sure on the model, but I'm leaning towards a cannon as it has many of the features I'd need for photographing models, but is still small and slim enough to be highly portable.

I bought a green kepi so I can pretend I'm a sharpshooter.
I figure to really be a wargamer, you need a kepi ;) I also got a civilian's mechanics hat which is really really comfortable.

Here is one of the things I've painted that I have a picture of

Review: Litko Aerosystems bases

2006-04-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to write this review for a while now, but I've been really lazy about taking pictures of the stuff I ordered - so I'll take pictures from the website as they are accurate - and I'll post pictures of the figures I've painted on them later.

10mm Germans on Warmaster bases

Anyway - I've been looking for a basing solution for my figures for a little while now. Currently when I painted 10mm and 15mm figures I've based them on the old warmaster plastic bases from GW - and that suited my needs for a while. Recently I've had the need to base 28mm figures on rectangular stands and I initially used cardboard which I cut to the right size. I had a template that I used, and then used kitchen shears to cut up the pieces - which worked OK, but began to warp from the moisture from the glue and the ambient mositure in the air. Not a great long term solution.

25mm orcs mounted on cardboard

I also needed various sizes as I've been wanting to get into DBA and a few other games so I took a look at what Litko Aerosystems had to offer. They make miniature bases out of lasercut plywood for just about everything you could need - and if they don't have it, you can request custom sizes.

The bases come in different thicknesses as well as different materials. The most common solution seems to the the laser-cut plywood, but they also offer lastercut flexible steel and lasercut flexible magnets. One can also combine the two. I ended up ordering a series of 40mm frontage and variable depth bases for DBA as well as a larger retangular size to base models for the rules my local gaming club uses. I like really thin bases so I ordered the .8mm blases and I got both wood and flexible steel (figuring I can get flexible magnetic sheeting at the craft store pretty easily. My plan was to line the bottom of cigar boxes with the flexible magnets and just plunk the minis in there.

Ordering: The web site navigation is a little bit confusing at first, but isn't horrible by any stretch. One you get used to the site design, it's a snap to get what you want. First you select the style and size you want, then select the count you want for that item. Then you pick the thickness and material you want and add it to the cart. Check-out was a snap as well.

Delivery: Delivery took about a week for the package to arrive, so it wasn't a bad wait at all. Everything was packed all safe and snug inside the box, and when I opened it I was greeted by the great scent of scorched wood (anyone who has done any woodworking can appreciate this - and as weird as it sounds, I highly recommend smelling the pieces when they arrive. I love the smell of laser-cut plywood in the morning. It reminds me of.... wargaming.)

The flexible sheet steel portion of the base is peel and stick - so there is no need to mess about trying to glue them to the plywood base. I was nervous about how tough the pieces would be as well, so I bowed and bent the plywood pieces - and even at .8mm they have a nice felx to them and would take a bit of pressure to crack. You'd really have to work at breaking the bases for your models. The same goes for the flexible steel. Since they are cut using a computer control, they fit perfectly together, so the only error in overlap would be due to my ham-fisting the two pieces together - which is a very simple process. Also - once the two are together, they are still wicked thin at 1.6mm. In the picture the base on the right of the dime is a .8mm by itself and the one on the left is a .8mm joined with a .8mm steel base, and it is still very thin.

Overall: I think the bases are priced quite fairly, and when you factor in the ease of not having to mess around with cutting a material, sanding down wood or metal burrs and having the ability to add steel or a magnetic base as well for easier storage and extra durability - then it's quite a bargain. I'd highly recommend ordering this product for your miniature needs.

On a side note, Litko Aerosystems also makes laser cut buildings, which look quite nice - but I don't have much experience with (currently) so I can't comment on how good they are.

Painting notice

2006-04-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

I cleaned up an old photoshop HackJob that I made a while back warning of the dangers of using coffee cups in your paint area (especially if you are a tea or coffee drinker)

Enjoy

Oh my!

2006-04-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

Where did March go? Wow.

So whats new? Well, I have a *ton* of stuff I want to write about, so hopefully I'll get around to it.

First - Cold Wars!

Coldwars was great. I tought a bunch of hour long workshops and met some really great people. Things went well, and I'll hopefully be writing up some doccuments for Historicon. We had people partake in our speed painting contest - where everyone is given 1 hour to paint the same figure (now if we can only get people to enter the big painting contest). I also spend too much money.

Ordered from Venexia - Bloody brilliant models. Should post a review soon.

Ordered from Mirliton USA - Again, great models. Should post a review soon.

Ordered from Litko Aerosystems - Woot! Love their stuff. Yes. Expect a full review.

I've been painting up some pulp figures so I can start running pulp games in my local area, and I'm pretty psyched about this. Lots of new .45 Adventures stuff comming out as well.

The guy posted above is a Jack the Ripper figure I painted a few months back to experiment with highlighting black. I don't think I care too much for using grey and will instead perhaps use blues and the like, like I did with The Shadow.

The highlights are much more subtle here and I think they work much better. Unfortunately, the picture isn't the greatest either - so I'll have to work on that. I've got his assistant done, and with a few more gangsters, I think I have a gang. My next big project is making some urban terrain to play with. :)

OK, cheers! I'll try to be much better about updating. Promise!

File under "T" for Tank-Porn

2006-02-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

Imprint Models - a company that until recently I had no idea existed - just released another 1/50 scale AFV in their range of modern AFVs and IFVs.

The latest release is an M1 Abrams and it looks quite nice (except for that fact that whomever put the model together put the drive sprocket in the front of the model rather than the back (See actual tank picture). I think it's just a case of putting the tread pieces on backwards - probably a WWII model builder as most tanks do have the drive sprocket in the front. None the less, it's still a great model for wargaming, and I think I should like one.

I'm also really fond of their:

Bradley Fighting Vehicle
Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle
and HMMWV

Gallery Update 2/2/06

2006-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Heyas! Just did a quick update to my miniature gallery at Network-23.net. I added 30 new things, having done some Ikore undead, a Battle for Macragge boxed set, a few mongols and a pulp 1930's gangsta. :) I got some cool conversion still sitting around in my "workbench" gallery - but being ADD I'm not sure when or if I will get to them. I should have another gallery update within the next few days if everything goes well. If not, tough noogies - you'll just have to wait. :D

In other news, I'll be helping with the painting events at Cold Wars and I'll also be teaching some workshops. I'm slated for "How to paint - for absolute beginners", "Techniques for painting an army", and "Painting for Show and Display". My sweetheart Jenna will be teaching a few workshops as well - and we will be running a speed painting contest 2 of the days - so if you are heading to cold wars be sure to stop on by and say "hi" to everyone, and perhaps sign up for a workshop or two. Or speedpaint - it's fun and we have prizes :)

John Jenkins 28mm Warring States Chinese

2006-01-31T18:08:00.000-08:00

OK - I just recently discovered the figures available from John Jenkins Designs and I'm really impressed! The new 28mm Warring States line of figures is an era that I've recently been getting interested in - just to paint up - and this set will seal the deal I think. To the left are the infantry models - and I'd really just like to grab a few stands to paint up and display.

From the webpage about the era:

This range of miniatures will enable the wargamer to collect figures for the period in ancient Chinese history known as the Warring States. This period started around 475 BC and continued until the unification of the whole of China by the state of Qin in 221 BC. Seven major states rose to prominence during the climactic second half of this period. These 7 Warring States were the Qi, Chu, Yan, Hann, Zhao, Wei, and the Qin.

It was the Qin leader, Qin Shihuang, who finally conquered all other states, united China and became known as The First Emperor. It is his tomb which contains one of the wonders of the ancient world, The Terra-cotta Warriors, at Xian, and it was during his reign that another wonder 'The Great Wall of China' was completed. This was also the period of the legendary military strategist Sun Tzu who wrote 'The Art Of War', which is recognised today as the most influential and oldest known military strategy guide.

More Information on the Warring States from John Jenkin Designs

Fear of Girls

2006-01-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

If you get a few moments, I really urge you to check out "Fear of Girls" which is a rather fun "Mock-umentary" about a few elite gamers. "Have you ever been chased by the entire JV Football team simply because you chose to wear your cloak to school that day?"

Warp Artifacts going away....

2006-01-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

Just got the 11'th Warp Artifacts newsletter and they are being assimilated -

"

It has been a while since the last newsletter and lots of things have been happening but do no fear!!!!!!

The name Warp Artefacts is going away but the fantastic product that you can buy now will not! We are merging into the happy family of the Black Library and from February 2006 onwards we will be known as Black Library Merchandise!

All the cool items from the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 you will soon find in the Black Library as we are busily redesigning the site.

January has seen release of the Imperial Guard t-shirt & cap (hugely successful – get yours now as not many are left) and from the Black Library we have seen release of the Dark Adeptus t-shirt that tie’s in with the awesome Grey Knights novel by Ben Counter entitled Dark Adeptus.

Limited stock available – they’re just flying off the shelves!

I’d personally like to extend a huge thank you to everyone receiving this newsletter for keeping Warp Artefacts alive and kicking for so long and also for your patience. Yes Warp Artefacts will no longer exist as of early February 2006 but the merchandise products will keep coming and get better and better!!!!

Thank you!

Kind Regards

Zoë Wedderburn"

Use #284 for extra AoL CDs

2006-01-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

It's a fact... cd's are great for terrain bases. I learned this from a gaming friend of mine, and really enjoy creating little bits of terrain on CDs. I've also used them to mount large creatures like Dragons as well.

Here is a barrow I made with a stone opening. In a nut-shell it was done with some scrap foam after I build my arena project. I made a mound to go on the back and then carved out the large pieces for the entrance of the burial mound. I then added a few extra slabs to look like stone that might have been left behind when the enterance was cut - or perhaps it's the seal that was broken away. After that I added glue and sand, painted it black with craft paint and drybrushed the ground using graveyard earth, desert yellow and kommando khaki and painted the stone using shadow grey, space wolf grey and then a light dusting of white. Add flock and other greeny bits and voila! Bob's yer uncle. The petroglyphs were just "carved" in using a sharp pencil and drybrushed over. Here is the back of it.

This altar was done the same way as the barrow in essence. I took an extra slab of insulation foam and cut it up to make an interesting looking spire. I then made a plinth and a stone to put the plinth on and glued sand to the whole thing. Drybrush using the method above - I use ivory on the larger pieces of sand to make them look like rocks - and add static grass in tufts to complete. I added bloody handprints on the monolith behind the altar to give the impression that sacrifices were preformed and then the preist placed his bloodied hands on the rock behind him as part of the ceremony. You can find pictures of the backside of this piece here. Both of these projects really took about 2 hours from start to finish and that includes the time it takes for the craft paint to dry. You can't really spray undercoat insulation foam as it will melt - so you have to apply the undercoat by hand. There are florist spray-paints and primers that won't harm foam, however - but I haven't experimented with these.

Lastly is using CD bases for monster bases. Here is a picture of Reaper's Kaladrax who I mounted on a CD base (It's also a great example of why you don't line a whole hoard of guys up in front of a dragon) The CD base gives a nice sturdy and stable base for large critters and allows you to create something a bit more scenic. I used pieces of pine bark mulch from the garden to create a slate like look to the base. There is also a broken shield on the base as well. You can see a slightly better picture of the beast here and here is something that you really don't ever want to see while standing in your castle. ;)

Featured "Dood" of the Indeterminate Time Period - Knights of Minas Tirath

2006-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Knights of Minas Tirath. No reason - I just really really like them. :)

That and the plastic lord of the rings army figures like the knights, or the warriors or Rohan are a great value at $25 for 24 plastic figures. These are metals, and they were quite simply painted up using GW boltgunmetal - a brown liner wash, some chain mail and then another wash, and then highlighted again with chaimail. The robes and standard are a dark blue stemming from using the Reaper Master Series blue liner as a base and highlighting with a ritterlich blue (prussian blue) at the very top.

So I'm off Holiday Mode and I should be more active with articles and pictures of figures. I'm also working on a tutorial on how to quickly and easily raise and army of the dead - having just bought a ton of Celtos minis for a great deal. Kev White = t3h w1n when it comes to sculpting.

I also am currently planning on attending HGMS Cold Wars as a painting volunteer, so if any of y'all are planning on attending be sure to pop on by and say "Hello" to myself and BleuJenna :) I'll also be teaching some workshops as well, and really hope to be able to get in a game of .45 Adventures.

Featured "d00d" of the indeterminate Time Period - Ironbar and Road Warriors

2005-12-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

Gosh! I almost forgot to feature a d00d! It seems like it should be a Wednesday thing - except now that I said it would be a Wednesday thing, I'm totally going to forget about it for 3 weeks. :)

Today I want to feature IronBar and some road warriors. I started working on a bunch of post-apocalyptic warriors after my local GW store held "Rhino Races". What the races involved is for players to bring in 1 rhino and 5 warriors. The warriors were to fight and race their way across the table to their rhino and then back to the starting table edge. I wanted to do something fun and road-warriory, so I came up with some "Lost and Damned" troops. I had less than 5 days to do all the conversions and paint everything up so it had to be done quickly - on top of this I was working on my Deathwatch Rhino and Deathwatch Marines so my sweetie could play also. Definitely a nerve wracking week. How'd I do? Turn 1 a band of Khornite berserker cut through my entire crew like they were wet tissue paper :) Jenna faired a little better with the Death Watch, at least she scored some kills. :)

So first up was the Rhino. I ended up buying a "damaged" rhino boxed set (they were getting rid of it because it was the old model rhino) - so I took some bits from my bits box and made a pulpit using the unused hatches from a predator kit. I also added some spikey bits to give it a suitable chaos feel. I then cut two chunks off a sprue to make the posts on which I tied two victims made from a mix of zombie and catachan bits. Here is a picture of it, you can click it for the full sized image. :) It's a pretty straight forward paintjob. I wish I had figured out how to do rust like I do it now, because I could have really made the dozer blade look great and the weathering better - but it's not too bad for a hasty construction. It definitely is a fun conversion. :)

The warriors were a blast to do as well. Lord Humungus (yes, that is how it is spelled - it's not one of my typical typos) is made from a Mordheim pit fighter body and gorka-morka ork arms. If I had more time I would have used greenstuff to make the shoulders a bit more smooth. I made the hockey mask out of greenstuff as well. I have no skillz with the greenstuff. Wez is a straight up Necromunda Goliath gang member. The dude with the axe and the autogun is a Necromunda pit-fighter.

The guy with the 'hawk and crossbow is a ratskin juve. I "shaved" his head with a dremmel and made shoulder pads and a mohawk from greenstuff. These game out a little bit better :) Their bases are different because I have a display base for them called "White Line Nightmare" I had the audacity to take it to Games Day Toronto and enter it into the Golden Demon as an open category - simply because I thought it was a rather amusing set of figures and I wanted to show it off. :) Man! The competition was brilliant that year. The pictures in WD and the web *NEVER* do the figures justice - and I guess this year the competition was particularly stuff because the year prior there was a huge blackout the day of GD and the competition wasn't as hot. Whew! Those guys and gals can paint :)

And lastly is IronBar - the guy who just won't die in Beyond Thunderdome - and the model I'm proudest of. He started life as a Ratskin juve as well and had his head shave - tricky to get it all smooth. I also smoothed the end of his blunderbuss. The mask is just a blot of greenstuff in an oval shape (cause I can't sculpt faces) - and the hair is made from strands of greenstuff to look like dreads. I submitted him to Harbinger magazine - and he actually appeared in an issue - either 10 or 11, I forget which. Like an idiot I sent the picture as 72 dpi rather than the 300 dpi for print. Lesson for you all - if it's for print, make *sure* it's 300 DPI. Anyways, I had no idea it was going to be printed - so I came home from work after having a miserable day and found the new Harbinger magazine. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw my figure in the reader gallery - it was a total pick me up!

I think I'd like to do the project over again now that I can do it with no time constraints - so see what I can do differently and better. I'm sure I can paint the figures better - but perhaps the conversions might not be as carefree and as fun as they would be in the heat of the rush to get things done.

Trigger men, trouble boys and twists - Pulp Adventures

2005-12-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to play .45 Adventure for the first time at Historicon this year and I must say that I am hooked!

Probably the best thing about this game is its simplicity and open-endedness. I really appreciate a game that I can pick up by the second turn - to me that is a sign of good, easy mechanics that makes for an enjoyable evening of beer and pretzel gaming. You can check out a .pdf copy of the rules yourself, which give a great overview of the system. You'll want to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed if you don't already. The open-endedness of the game comes from the fact that the character arch-types are generic enough that you can pretty much use them for any modern period from late Victorian to modern day and near-future. They work best with the 1930's era pulp, but you really aren't limited - you can play an adventure of heroes from the 40's foiling the plans of a maniacal genius, and then again in modern day as that genius's son looks to exact revenge for his father's downfall.

Characters come in 3 levels, Grade 1-3, and this is how the "points" values are worked out. A grade 3 character, which is a main character like The Shadow, is roughly worth 3 Grade 1 characters which would represent street cops or petty thugs. Characters have 9 stats that they need to worry about. Shivs - or how they do in h2h, Heaters - or how well they shoot, Dodge - pretty self explanatory, Brawn - or how strong they are, Speed - how quick they are, Brains - how bring and intuitive they are, Guts - their morale and lastly their defensive rating and their weapon strength. Since all dice rolls are opposed d10 rolls, actions and resolutions are a snap to figure out.
For example, when shooting at someone the attacker takes their heater score, any modifiers that might apply such as range and then adds that to what they roll on a d10. The Defender add his dodge skill with any modifiers he might have, such as cover and add the roll of a d10. If the attacker wins, the model is hit. If the defender wins - then the attacker missed. A tie, and the defender is possibly shaken by such a close call. Characters have a hit location and wound level table that has modifiers on it. This might sound somewhat complicated, but it's not. Basically when a guy gets hit, you figure out where he was hit and how much damage he takes. Then you simply cross a box out on his stat chart and look at what the modifiers for the next turn will be. Getting hit in the arms means your brawn and shiv skills are going to take a hit. It's hard to slug it out with a limp arm.

The other really nice thing about the game is the ability to either play a quick one off scenario - like one of the two that come with the rulebook in which The Gargoyle and his sidekick break up a mob meeting and need to grab two ledgers to put the boss behind bars - or you can play a series of interconnected scenarios that might take the adventurers from the gritty streets of a bustling metropolis where they are fighting off gangsters to the steaming jungles of South America where they are evading natives in a quest to find an artifact. Since the game mechanics are so simple and streamlined and the game isn't played with hoards of miniature, adventures become really character driven and it become very difficult to not slip into the role of the characters you are playing. In this picture here, you can see a familiar blog writer in a Hawaiian shirt - who spend the entire later portion of the adventure he was playing blasting away at gangsters in the jungle as a matter of a blood debt. "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way." Honestly, it was probably one of the most fun games I have ever played. I'm currently painting up some gangsters and cops so I can start playing .45 Adventure at the shop near me - since I know many of the guys I game with would really enjoy it. I'm really hard pressed to find something to counter all the glowing praise I have for the game - except that it doesn't work very will with loads of minis on the table. Want to have an all out gang war with two families going at it, with 25 gat men on a side - well then .45 Adventures probably isn't for you. It also has some basic allowances for vehicles, so drive-bys and running car battles are possible - but not the core of the game. There are enough basic arch types to keep almost everyone happy, and new profiles are always being created. There is also an active Yahoo Group called "Hot Lead and Steel Sinews" where there is quite a bit of discussion and support on the game. Just recently I asked a question about using zombies and had a response back, complete with character stats for the undead within an hour.

You should definately hop on over to the .45 Adventures website and check the game out further. While you are there, you should take a look at the Gargoyle strip by Rich Johnson and Christopher Weeks. Here is a little taste:

The Good: Easy to learn, leaves lots of options for different adventure styles and eras, great support. Players can't help but to get sucked into their adventurer's role.
The Bad: Not a good game for large scale actions
The Ugly: Poor Timmy the news boy after failing his brains check and accidentally setting off a package bomb, tearing off his arms.

Cool Pulp Links:

Pulp Miniatures links

Landsknechts!!

2005-12-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

Let me just start by saying right away that I have fallen in love with the 15mm landsknechts from Venexia Miniatures . For 15mm figures, these are beautiful - they have detail on them that puts a great many 28mm figures to shame.

I'm thinking about recreating my empire army in 15mm - although to be honest, I might simply do them in a different color scheme to make them that much more exciting. Since the guys often play in 15mm - I think they'd definately get used - and I'm having a blast painting my WFB Empire army (I'll have pictures of units as soon as I fully complete units - it takes me a while to get 25 swordsmen done). Speaking of colors, it took me forever to decide on a color scheme for my empire army - and I eventually decided on black, bone and red (big surprise for anyone who knows me - I paint everything these colors it seems). This brings me to a nifty point. I'm really fond of many of GW's models because they take something from history and add their own little dark "gothic" twist to it, or mix verious flavors to create something new and exciting. The Empire for example are an italian renaissance army complete with mercenaries. Much of the Imperial Guard for 40k is borrowed heavily from WWI and some from WWII. Space marines are a great mix of the Roman Legions with a healthy dash of catholicism and arthurian legend.

Anyway, back on topic... As far as mounted models go, I'm not entirely sure what to call these lads - but I really like these knights with the barding. I guess they are called "gendarmes" which comes from the french "Gens D'armes" or roughly translated "men-at-arms" - but I'm not sure of their nationality. In a nutshell, I want d00dz that look just like the d00d to the right here. -->

Venexia has venetian, french, imperial and spanish gendarmes. I don't know which is which right now, so I'll have to do some investigating. If anyone has any idea, let me know! Looking at Old Glory's website, it appears as if this lad might be french. As an aside - here is a great link of Holy Roman Empire flags of the Italian Wars from Warflag.com, which is simply a *brilliant* resource for any wargamer.

Does anyone know what happened to GameZone Miniatures from Spain, btw?

Spyglass miniatures calling it quits?

2005-12-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Posted from Heresey Miniature's forum:

"The house that Shae built huh?

Well, there are times in life where you come to a crossroads. In many ways for me, at the moment, I am at such a place. All kinds of considerations to be taken into account and...hard decisions to be made.

A few months back I finally got back to releasing stuff for Spyglass. You may remember various comments along the lines of 'vote with your wallets', with regards to zO. Well, you did, and the public in general did too. It's been cool that you guys rabidly asking for zO have mostly backed it up with some sales coming my way. Alas, the public at large did not. Not so much a case of slightly slumped sales as rather tragic.

Eventually you reach the point where you have to do the sums and paperwork that you've put off...

Spyglass is not making the money it needs to. I'm not talking big picture here. I know I've been away dealing with other things. It'd be unlikely that I'd return and be making money hand over fist (planning luxury holidays and so on..) without a build first. But unfortunately my profits don't cover my living costs. Frankly they wont cover my costs if I leave the rent out of the equation. Or if I don't count the rates too.

A few weeks back I had decided to stop Spyglass Miniatures entirely and just do something else. I've since changed my plans a little but it's not exactly great news. Just a little less drastic.

Basicaly Spyglass will be scaled back on two counts.

1. New releases. I can't justify the time it takes to produce new sculpts for Spyglass. Not as a rule. There's the possibility of the odd new release in the future if I get the urge to sculpt something that fits the ranges but otherwise I shall be stopping. Best chances for new figs will be zO. Mainly because I like the idea and, chances are, I'll have the urge to sculpt something now and then. But, for the moment, it's time to think about my financial future.

2. Sales. I will be stopping direct sales soon and Spyglass will only be available through a few trade accounts. I'll have a list of retailers sorted soon. I'll be wiping out the the Spyglass website and replacing it with a list of retailers page.

So, somewhat the end of an era for me. I would really like to thank everyone for supporting me over the years. Especially Andy, who has let me pimp my wares through this forum.

It's been a fun ride, but I have to take the route that will make the future brighter for me. Spyglass is not that route.

As for the future, there are a few irons in the fire as we speak. And I've not been put off the idea of running my own minis company. But I think I'd do it differenty with hindsight. Easy enough to say but then the minis industry has changed a whole lot in the last few years.

Cheers one and all.

Steve B "

The Great War

2005-12-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

I've had an urge for some time to get and paint up some WWI figures. I did actually purchase some WWI Americans from Old Glory, but I'm not horribly thrilled with them - largely because they are just so... brown.

I've had my eye on some of the Renegade french troops , and think they'd be fun to paint with the red and blue. A large part of why I chose a certain line of figures has to do with how fun I think they would be to paint up - since I'd have to paint quite a few of them. Selecting a warhammer fantasy army took some time before I settled on an Empire army - and even then, my color choices when through a few changes before I settled on black, bone and red. (Yes, everything I paint tends to be black, white and red)

I also really like the early war germans because of the colors and the pickelhaube :) - well, and the late war germans as well - but sometimes I get the urge to do something different. With 10mm WWII I chose to paint up germans because I really like the tanks, and it gives me a few options for different color choices. Some of my tanks have an early war grey color scheme, others have the desert yellow, or 3 color camo. Oddly, I now want to do american tanks because I'm fond of the idea of painting everything OD and adding decals.

The late war germans I could slip into WWII skirmish games without too many people noticing, and they'd also be great for pulp games - however the renegade miniatures tend to run a bit on the tall side, and would probably look silly on the table with the others. I'm still really torn - but I think I am leaning towards early war germans and french. And don't even get me started on the English Civil War!

So anyone who plays - any suggestions?

World War I Hobbits

2005-11-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

Kevin White, Supreme Sculptor at Hasslefree Miniatures has come up with a new batch of lads which I think are wonderful - Hobbits in WWI regalia. Here are some pictures of the Greens. For those not familiar with the expression - "Green" refers to the sculpted prototype of a miniature before it is pressed into a mold which can then be used to make metal copies. It's called a "green" because the two part epoxy sculpting substance turns green when you mix it (although there are other colors, the term "green" still gets used)

Up first is Captain Freddy Bagshot

And his ever faithful companion First Sergeant Stan Gammage

Overall these are quite nice. I particularly like the shorts and bare hairy feet. :) If they sell well, he will do more from the squad. :)

Featured "dood" of the indeterminate time period

2005-11-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

Today I offer up Games Workshop's "Saint Celestine" from the Witchhunters line of figures.

This is probably one of my favorite figures I have painted to date. I wish I did a better job on her halo - I'm not terribly happy with the way it came out. I really dig the cherubs on her cloak.

I used a chunk of stone to build up her base, and tossed a bolter out there to show her ascension, and give a sense of a war torn battlefielf. This was also the first time I ever painted a rust effect on anything. Basically it involved undercoating black and then heavily stippling scorched brown followed by lighter stippling of vomit brown. The last bit was to tickle the metal bits with blazing orange - so it's really quite easy to do. One could hit the edges and leave patches of silver underneith to show where the rust may have scraped off in places.

Anyway - that is this piece in a nutshell. I'd like to maybe one day paint up another one to see what improvements I have made in my painting.

Andrea Chronicles of Narnia

2005-11-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

Came across this picture in another forum. There is a big big version of it, so just click on the image to see the thing in it's full glory.

My thought is that they are rather neat looking miniatures - but that isn't the first two things I notice. First off, that minotaur's axe is a bit bent. I wonder why the painter didn't bend it back into shape.

Second......

ASTERIX AND OBELIX! I love those two, they are my favorite gauls! If I was Ceasar, I'd let them sit on my Senate. I would love nothing more than to have these figures (Which are 54mm, if you haven't figured that out yet) They are BANG ON with the comic and cartoon characters.

I'd also love to get my hands on that Skull Hunter, that is one sharp looking Orc. Ithandir is a great example of what can be done with metallics.

Did I mention Asterix and Obelix? I did? Ok.

You can find Andrea Miniatures here.

I really like their Fallscrimjaeger model kit, as well as The Squire and his dog. I'd also like to one day try my hand at some 90mm models, like this Knight or this Roman Centurian.

There is also much to be said about their World War 1 and World War 2 collection of figures. I'd love to have the opportunity to paint up a Prussian soldier in a pickelhauben and/or Manfred von Richthofen.

And lastly - since we have lots of representation from the Gauls... I think I like every single Roman they have. And I can't forget Dr. Jones.

Boy, I hope these links work. :)

File under "Pick my jaw up"

2005-11-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, the Perry Brothers to fantastic work. Period. All one needs to do is wander over to Perry Miniatures and take a look - although I think the website needs a little bit of work in terms of navigation, but it's not too bad.

I'm really enamored with the new pavesiers Standing and Charging. Totally brilliant. You should also check out the 54mm Anzacs that they sculpted up for Peter Jackson.

Also of interest are the Dutch Belgian Light Dragoons seen here, here and here.

Featured "dood" of the indeterminate time period

2005-11-23T10:02:00.000-08:00

I think I'll randomly feature minis that I have worked on from time to time. I've taken to calling all my figures "Dudes" or "D00dz" if you want to be cool and 'leet about it (it's also closest to the pronounciation that I use.. dooodz). "I need to get some more roman doodz". "Hey, I put a bunch of doodz together while watching CSI." "John, would you *please* get your doodz off the coffee table!!!" That last one is often heard and comes from my sweetheart. :) I'm lucky in that she likes miniatures (and is a better painter than I), and also wargames.

This find upstanding lad is from the Foundry street violence line of figures. And is "Judd" from the "Scabies Punks" pack.

I've painted him with jungle camo shorts, a black shirt with a logo similar to the logo used by the punk band "Fear". The back of his shirt also says "Don't care", which for those who know the band "fear" can appreciate the tribute. I did the base with an "urban wreckage" feel to it, and gave him steel capped boots. I'm not sure what I'm going to use him for, but I think he will get pressed into service as a zombie apocalypse survivor in the near future.

The technique to paint him was easy. The skin is GW's dark skin as a base, dwarf flesh as a midtone and elf flesh as a highlight. There is very little highlighting on the black, since my black highlight-fu is poor. The pants are done with catachan green, scorched brown and vomit brown. The metallics are all boltgun metal with brass for the shell casings.

The base is a simple sand base that was based black, and then drybrushed shadow grey, space wolf grey and very lightly tickles with white to pick out the rocks.

If you find this at all useful, drop me a note and let me know - or if you want to know anything else about how I painted/based the figure, again - just drop a comment.

New Blog

2005-11-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've been bitten by the blogging bug (hooray for alliteration) and have decided to create a blog about my hobby of miniature wargaming. I'm not entirely sure what direction I will go with this blog, but readers can expect product and event reviews, painting tips and tutorials as well as projects I'm working on and other points related to miniatures and wargaming.

And now for something completely trivial:

This won't be news to many of the people who will be reading my blog, but for those unfamiliar with the subject matter, here is a quick crash course.

My blog takes it's name from a book written by HG Wells in 1913 which contains rules for a wargame that can be played with blocks, little soldiers or whatever else is on hand, and is considered to be one of the first set of modern table top wargame rules. It includes rules for infantry, cavalry and even artillery which was provided by a toy naval cannon that launched projectiles. The book is still available in print, and one can also find the Project Gutenberg E-text of the book as well.

So what is wargaming? Let me take an excellent blurb on wargaming from the HMGS East (Historical Miniature Gaming Society) page welcoming newcomers to the hobby - in particular their page on "What is wargaming"

"Historical miniature wargaming is the recreation of historical battles (the Tactical level of war) through the use of a 3D terrain table over which are deployed model forests, roads, rivers and buildings as well as miniature soldiers and vehicles depicting the actual participants of the engagement. Each miniature represents a certain number of historical soldiers or vehicles, as in the popular rules called Napoleon's Battles where the ratio is one figure for each 100 historical combatants. The miniature forces involved are painted to depict the same color schemes or uniforms as were used by the historical combatants. In this regard, miniature wargaming departs from its sister wargaming wings using cardboard or micro chip in also being an art form as well as a competitive hobby.

Detailed rules instruct the players on how they may move and launch their miniature forces in combat against each other, drawing on extensive research as to what happened historically and why. The rules, and also the reference chats that accompany them, regulate such things as combat formations, movement, command-control (C2), morale and firepower. Dice, from 6 sided to 20 sided, are used to insert the uncertainty that has always been present in war into the game, and thus into the minds of the players as well. Thus while such things as morale and training might dictate that a unit of 1813 Prussian Landwehr (militia) might have only a 5% chance of victory when attacking a battalion of Napoleon's Old Guard Grenadiers, it can happen, though not very often.

The miniature soldiers or vehicles are mounted on trays for ease of movement. These movement stands are often decorated with model turf or grass and are cut to an exact scale frontage representing the precise space the forces depicted would occupy historically. The trays themselves can then be aligned to represent specific historical battle formations and units. Thus the trays could be formed together to recreate the basic historical unit represented in the rules being played, such as a battalion of infantry in Empire, a game about the Napoleonic Wars. The unit could also be a full brigade as in Napoleon's Battles, a set of rules on the same period that allows larger battles to be easily played. The trays could then be deployed to represent the different combat formations a battalion could take, such as column, line or square. If done properly in conjunction with a well designed terrain table, these soldiers present an historically accurate and colorful spectacle unsurpassed by even the most modern computer wargames."