2006 Annual Roundup

 General  2 Responses »
Dec 312006
 

This blog has existed in various guises since late 2002 (although posts are pretty bland back there), so it’s probably time I instituted an annual round up to try and determine what I achieved in the past year. Like most hobbyists I’m easily distracted by any new and shiny figures and/or terrain, so tend to have a lot of partially completed projects on the go. Hopefully annual round ups will nudge me to complete a few.

Here’s a couple of highlights from each month.

January

I finished the majority of my modular Mordheim table which is now covered with a thick layer of dust. It seems no sooner had I finished it I started playing Flames of War instead!

I picked up a 30mm Freebooter Miniatures Fantasy Mercenary figure and some Peter Pig 15mm WWII Germans, neither of which have been painted yet. Although the Freebooter mini has been based and primed.

February

A bunch of Crescent Root Studios 15mm buildings arrived and were painted next month. They’ve since proved invaluable for my Flames of War North African table and I’ve lost track of the number of times my British Sherman III’s and NZ infantry have used them to hide from German guns. Crescent Root have enhanced their 15mm line now and gone from the solid buildings I have to ones with hollow interiors and removeable roofs. Definitely worth picking some up if you play FOW in the North African campaign.

Made some progress on the Vampire Counts themed tower I started way back in October 2004! Err yes, it still hasn’t been finished though. Maybe this year?!

March

I built a 40k CD Terrain piece for a friendly competition over on the PitYak forums. Turned out quite nicely I thought. It’s since appeared on Terragenesis.

I discovered Pulp .45 Adventure which is a great 28mm scale skirmish rule set for Pulp gaming. The Garage Gamers have played a fair bit of .45 since then and over the course of 2006 I picked up a number of 28mm pulp figures and 1:56th vehicles as you’ll see below.

I started casting for a Hirst Arts Cathedral. The majority of which is still laying in pieces under my work table. I have a problem in that I need to find a better glue for Ultracal 30 than DIY woodworker’s PVA. The Cathedral includes a lot of long linear pieces which I simply cannot get to stick together long enough to assemble. I’m also concerned the resulting piece will be rather weak. Maybe something to sort out in 2007.

April

Created the 15mm Observation Post for my trench kits, mainly because I wanted some for myself. Although of course I haven’t quite got around to constructing a trench set for my own North African table yet.

I started buying a slew of 28mm figures for Pulp gaming, starting with Germans. My Pulp figures all come from Artizan Designs, Copplestone Castings and most recently Obelisk Miniatures. All of which are excellent independent figure companies. I’ve even managed to paint a few in 2006.

May

More Pulp figures arrived, this time from Copplestone Castings. Now I have nasty Nazis and a suitably diverse team of adventurers to thwart their evil plans.

I picked up several Hirst Arts Egyptian molds for Pulp terrain and build a few things with them. Hirst Arts molds are really excellent and will last a lifetime of gaming. I’ve owned some since early 2003 and have lost track of how many casts I’ve made from them with no damage at all to the mold.

I started on a drive to finish painting my FOW NZers because I started a German DAK Armored Company. This army has been based and largely primed but that’s all so far. They’re on the ‘to do’ list for 2007 too.

June

I created a bunch of simple wire 15mm Palm Trees for North Africa, that also turned out to be ideal for Pulp gaming! I love it when terrain can be reused for multiple game systems. My Flames of War table has seen duty as a dusty Wild West town, the rough back streets of Cairo, as well as numerous Egyptian or North African deserts.

Sticking with the Flames of War theme I also created a bunch of simple tumble-down 15mm stone walls which give my poor bloody NZ infantry something to shelter behind in the open desert.

July

Flames of War 2nd Edition was released. We’ve only just got around to playing these new rules towards the end of 2006, but I wish we’d all started earlier because they’re a definite improvement on the first edition. Battlefront also gained a lot of customer goodwill from the way they released these rules too.

Finished my main FOW NZer force. I still have a couple of transport lorries and Quad gun tractors malingering on my paint station to finish up though, which I’ll do in 2007 because I’ll need them for DAK ‘recovered’ transport as well.

August

I published an RTV mold making tutorial which is still proving to be very popular, drawing in referrals from a lot of related hobby sites in Europe mostly. A lot of people don’t realise how easy it can be to master and mold your own original works with the inexpensive RTV rubbers you can buy these days and it was a discussion with a visitor to my forums that prompted me to create this tutorial.

I started working on a 15mm 1930′s building facade for Flames of War by creating a set of resin window frames. I’m still struggling to get this master finished and molded, but have made some progress, including posting a full scale mock up a couple of weeks ago.

September

I spent most of this month building 28mm Egyptian terrain for Pulp .45 Adventure gaming. I also received eight excellent 28mm Middle Eastern buildings from Crescent Root Studios. Half of these have been painted to date and they’re great for pulp gaming.

Figure wise I picked up some giant scorpions from Heresy Miniatures that I’ve half painted, and a bunch of 17mm Middle Eastern Moderns from Flashpoint Miniatures which I haven’t touched since then.

October

The highlight of this month was putting together a cheap airbrush setup thanks to TradeMe and Phil over at PitYak Studios. I still haven’t knuckled down and mastered it yet mind you, but do have a couple of bits and pieces I wouldn’t mind airbrushing. Another task for 2007.

I wrote an original Pulp .45 Adventure scenario which was quite enjoyable to play over the terrain I’d built specifically for it. It formed the start of a short campaign I put together for three of my regular gaming mates. Considering it was a rather experimental set of scenarios we played I think the players enjoyed themselves.

November

Continuing with the Pulp campaign I threw together the world’s cheapest tomb terrain. Considering it didn’t even have walls it actually worked out quite well to play over.

In a moment of madness I bought some 15mm Corvus Belli Ancients from Olympian Games! I’ve since cleaned and based a few of them ready for painting in the new year. They’re the cheapest two armies I’ve purchased to date and will be used for DBA gaming. Really they were purchased simply because I wanted to paint some 15mm Ancients!

December

Scroll back a few pages and you can see what I achieved in December. Painting 28mm Pulp Germans and cleaning up 15mm Ancients mostly.

Not a bad year hobby wise, with a clear focus on Flames of War and Pulp gaming. I learned a few things along the way and picked up some new equipment to experiment with. However I definitely started more projects than I completed though, so in 2007 I aim to reverse that trend. Probably the easiest way to do that is simply stop buying new figures, vehicles and terrain and get stuck into the stuff already kicking around in my garage cupboards. Heh, we’ll see how long that resolution lasts!

Anyway, thanks to anybody that stopped by and posted a comment, you all had interesting things to say and added a lot to this blog, as well as showed me a few new game systems and a few valuable tips along the way. Have a good break and see you in 2007!

 Posted by Stu at 10:15 am

Bolt Action Miniatures 1:56th Sdkfz222 Scout Car

 Pulp  8 Responses »
Dec 222006
 

Bolt Action Miniatures SDKFZ222 Right, this is the last miniature purchase for the year. In 2007 I plan to focus on actually getting some of my large collection of minis and models painted.

Anyway, there’s a lot of good 1:56th miniature vehicles suitable for 28mm gaming available these days from independents like Army Group North, Bolt Action Miniatures, Brigade Games and Chieftain Models. So it’s taken me a while to decide on some suitable Pulp German armor to add to my collection.

I’ve finally ordered a couple of these Bolt Action Miniatures 1:56th SdKfz 222 scout armored cars. Hopefully they’ll look great in convoy with my EBob Miniatures Opel Blitzes. Since the 222 is a light armored car, they shouldn’t be too terrifying for pulp heroes to face on the tabletop either. Certainly less so than the 1:48th Tamiya Panzer I’ve been considering!

 Posted by Stu at 10:03 am

Corvus Belli Carthaginians

 Ancients  3 Responses »
Dec 212006
 

The two 15mm Corvus Belli DBA armies I ordered from Olympian Games in Australia arrived last week. Great service from Olympian again, thanks Dean, I’ll certainly be back.

Corvus Belli 15mm DBA Carthaginians I’ve been cutting bases from 1.5mm plasticard and slowly cleaning up the individual figures since then. I blu tacked the Carthaginians together last night just to get some idea of what the final force will look like, so here’s some quick photos. I’m still cleaning the Polybian Romans and have learned I’ve made a historic error since I picked up three bags of Lorica segmentata armored Legonnaires when this armor apparently wasn’t used until around 20BC, some 126 years after Carthage was razed by the Romans! I may or may not correct this error next year.

Corvus Belli 15mm DBA Carthaginian Cavalry The Corvus Belli figures are excellent, and I’m amazed at the level of detail the sculptor has achieved. Many of the figures have bare feet, where each toe is obvious despite the fact the foot is less than 3mm across. Poses and facial expressions are very nicely done too, with some very interesting looking characters in the ranks. I particularly like one of the Light Horse figures who has his spear casually slung across his shoulders. I can’t really do a fair comparison of the Corvus Belli figures as I don’t own any other 15mm Ancients at this point. So I’ll leave it at that.

Corvus Belli 15mm DBA Carthaginian Infantry For those of you with DBA these are II/32 Late Carthaginian with the 1 x Elephant, 1 x Cavalry, 1 x Aux and 3 x Psiloi options. I can see why some DBA sites talk about the mixed arms tactics of this force, since they’re a varied bunch of elements compared to the Polybian Romans.

Corvus Belli 15mm DBA Carthaginian ElephantStill I couldn’t resist an Ancients army that can field Elephants! Despite the fact they sound like a nightmare to control and a potential disaster to both friend and foe. I did restrain myself though and only purchased one Elephant rather than two. I also have enough spare figures to take the option of replacing the beast with an element of Light Horse should it prove too difficult.

I’m looking forward to painting these great little figures and maybe press ganging some of my regular opponents into a game or two of DBA as it looks like an amusing and quick system. I’m also amazed at how cheap these figures were! It cost me roughly $50nz per army! That’s a price point I can definitely live with.

 Posted by Stu at 9:38 am

More Pulp Germans

 Pulp  2 Responses »
Dec 202006
 

Artizan Design 28mm DAK Germans I’ve painted up a couple more of my Artizan Designs DAK Germans to add to the collection. Here’s another Rifle carrying infantryman and a lucky Jerry with an MG34.

I always thought the 34 was called “Hitler’s Buzzsaw” but apparently that was actually the MG42 which came later. Who says you can’t learn anything from games!

I have two more DAK Germans to paint and that makes a seven man Rifle/MG squad. Plenty of the Fatherland’s finest for some Pulp gaming action in Egypt and North Africa I suspect! Although I am lacking a suitably menacing gentleman to mastermind the whole operation.

EBob Miniatures Opel Blitz Of course they need a ride too so I’ve finished assembling and priming my first EBob Miniatures 1/56th Opel Blitz. Here it is parked next to the MG34 chap.

I picked up some interesting weathering tips involving Marmite of all things in Issue #6 of Military Modelling International that I’m ready to try on this truck. There’s talk of a vehicle painting competition over on the Pityak forum which may inspire me to start applying paint!

 Posted by Stu at 9:32 am

Adventures in Jimland!

 General  6 Responses »
Dec 192006
 

One of the perks of running this blog is scouring the site logs to see who’s referring visitors here. I’ve discovered many interesting sites using this method and the latest to crop up is the “National Archaeological Geographic and Submarine Society” which appears to be the home of a game system called “Terra Incognita” based on an RPG system called “Fudge”. I must confess I’ve not heard of either before but they do look interesting.

The site also hosts “Adventures in Jimland” which is an entire, free game of exciting expeditionary exploration that can be played solo or with multiple players! The presentation is very bare bones and just seems to be crying out for some nice card or board art, but the game itself looks very amusing.

Addendum: I’ve since discovered you can download an older version of Fudge from the official site if you’re interested.

 Posted by Stu at 9:59 am

1930′s 15mm Building Facade Mock Up

 Flames Of War  2 Responses »
Dec 162006
 

1930's 15mm Building Facade I created a set of simple resin 15mm window frames back in August that I intended to use for a 1930′s style 15mm building facade. Finally I’ve made some more progress on this project and last night whipped up a foam card mock up for scale testing. So here’s your chance to weigh in with an opinion before I commit to building the master from resin and Ultracal 30.

This first shot shows the building from a traditional ‘gamer’s eye’ view. I’ve also poked simple four paned windows into the facade. Obviously in the final building the decorative pillars will extend all the way across each floor. Pencil marking also indicate the areas I intend to build up with plasticard on the master.

1930's 15mm Building Facade The second shot is taken from a ‘model’s eye’ view to attempt to show the scale of Flames of War figures against the ground floor door and window. The ground floor is intended to represent a store frontage, so will have a single door and a large display window. On the master I need to build up a frame and lintel around both the door and shop window.

Once I have a couple of casts out of the mold I’ve yet to make I’ll build a corner building with some ruined wooden floors around the back, where the height of each floor is dictated by the location of the windows so figures can see and shoot out. I’ve stretched the floors slightly you should be able to move bases around in a building with a couple of floors modelled onto it.

1930's 15mm Building Facade This final shot shows the same facade, but with a different set of sash windows. To me the four pane windows give it a more European feel, while the sash windows make it look more American in general. Odd.

This building is roughly based on the Blacketts Building in Auckland’s Queen St. I notice a lot of these old buildings have a mix of window styles, with sash windows on the first floor just above the street awning, and sealed four pane windows higher up. I assume that’s because the first floor windows double as fire escapes! I’m tempted to go with the four paned windows for the first master because of the Euro feel mainly.

So! Any opinions? Does the scale look right to you? Which window style do you prefer? Any other comments about the style, or usefulness of the piece on a gaming table?

 Posted by Stu at 9:52 am

Tutorial: Pinning with Blu Tack

 Tutorials  8 Responses »
Dec 152006
 

Pinning tools As I play more non-GW games I find the figures I’m purchasing are predominantly metals, many of which are multi-part. From past experience I’ve learnt the best way to get a good bond between two metal pieces is to pin them.

The latest arrival in my mail box is two 15mm DBA armies from Corvus Belli (thanks to Olympian Games). The Carthaginian army included a multi part Elephant which needed assembly so I thought it’d be an excellent chance to snap some shots of a little dodge I use to make pinning easy – Blu Tack!

The first photo just shows you the tools involved: a pin vise for careful hand drilling, some 0.9mm garden wire for the pin (although a paper clip works fine too), some well loved clippers to cut the wire down, super glue and of course blu tack. As an aside if you don’t own a pin vise, pick one up immediately! Next to a sharp Xacto, a pin vise is the most used tool in my paint station.

Pinning step 1 1. Drill the smaller part. Prepare the two metal parts you want to pin to your satisfaction, making particularly sure they dry fit together well.

Select one part to drill an initial hole in. I usually drill the smaller part which is going to be pinned to the larger part. In this case I’ve drilled a pin hole 3-4mm deep into the back of the Elephant’s head.

Pinning step 2 2. Blu tack the larger part. Tear off a small blob of blu tack and stick it onto the larger part where the two parts will join. Make sure you’ve really stuck the blue tack on there well – it helps if the parts are reasonably clean and grease free. I’ve pushed the blu tack into the Elephant’s neck here.

Now wet the blu tack with a bit of water from a brush washing pot, or in a pinch a lick of spit on your finger (not recommended though unless you really want to ingest lead containing pewter dust) and forcibly fit the two parts together in the final configuration you want.

Pinning step 3 3. Drill the larger part. If you carefully separate the parts the blu tack will remain stuck to the larger part, only now it will contain a very obviously nub where it has has been forced into the hole on the smaller part. If the blu tack lifts away from the larger part you either didn’t stick it down well enough, or the surface of the blu tack wasn’t wet enough. No matter, replace it and try again.

Leaving the blu tack in place, simply drill out that nub until it’s 3-4mm deep as well. Now you’ve got a pin hole in each part that will match up well for pinning.

Pinning step 4 4. Pin those parts. Take your garden wire, or paper clip and snip it down to an appropriate length. The easiest way to do this is simply fit a length into one part and clip it off a shade too long, then just clip it down until a little at a time until both parts fit together well around the pin. You want to leave the pin as long as possible because then it provides more strength to the final join.

Superglue the pin to one part, I usually pick the smaller but it makes little difference, and wait a few seconds until it’s dry. Then glue the smaller part to the larger part with a thin layer of super glue, holding the parts together firmly for a at least 10 seconds to ensure a good set. Once the glue is completely dry you should find the resulting pinned join very sturdy.

Pinning step 5 5. Done! I know I struggled with pinning for a while by simply trying to get pin holes aligned ‘by eye’ before something made me try blu tack. Some people talk about using a dab of web paint in a similar manner, but I prefer my method to be honest. Blu tack is cheap, reuseable and leaves no residue in the join at all that might effect bond strength.

Hopefully this little tutorial is of some use to somebody out there!

 Posted by Stu at 9:43 am
 Older Entries
© 2012 Tabletop Terrain Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha