I've seen the light Wargaming

November Progress

2011-11-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yet again it's been a while since I've posted on the blog, so here is some of the things I've been doing.

First off the first two aircraft for Star Wars 1917 are finished. The Albatross Tie Fighter on the left and the Sopwith X Wing on the right. They still need basing and we will be using the Wings of War rules to replay the Death Star canyon run. I now have the models for Baron Von Vaderhoffens Fokker Tri-Fighter and The De Havilland DH2 Y wing.

These are the ships for the spacefleet of the mighty Albion Kingdom. They are all Brigade Models miniatures and they will soon be flying into action using the Starmada rules.

These two are part of the on going game in a box series. This is the game Outrider, vehicular combat in the near future. All the set and counters are magnetised and will hopefully see the light at a games show near you next year.

I've had these for a while and have finally got around to painting them.

Finally these are the new Baccus Anglo-Saxons ready to go to battle, in a new system for me, Impetus. Hopefully at some point Ruarigh will have some Vikings for them to face.

Hopefully it won't be as long until my next update.

Steve

Lacepunk Terrain Part One

2011-07-29T07:36:00.001-07:00

Well as you can see I've finally finished the first part of the Lacepunk terrain. Gateway City, where the game will take place, is built on unnatural terraces around a bay. The buildings are removable and I intend to make pieces which can be added to the terrain to give it a longer lifespan.

It will probably also end up being used for a variety of other games, with a little change to the movable pieces.

The only thing I'm not completely happy with is the water, but it's getting there.

The basic construction is EPS on top of an MDF board, this was then covered in plaster bandages. The second piece should be much easier and is around half way through now. The buildings are all balsa wood and have detachable roofs and levels.

Cheers

Steve

Game Report - Tusk II Capture King Kong

2011-06-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

I managed to have a solo game of Tusk II Capture King Kong tonight. I've played a couple of games of Tusk before, so knew the basic game. Tusk II adds a few new parts to the game.

Here's the board layout with Kong at the side by the wall. Captain Peppard C Thrushmore and his Swedish 1st mate Olaf Kumhardy are escaping from Kong with the lovely Ann de Sandneys. Coming to their aid are two companies of sailors and a couple of groups of native warriors.

On the first turn I roll a five on the action points. This allows me to move 5 units. Ann heads towards the sailors and away from Kong. While the Captain, Olaf, sailors and natives head towards Kong. Kong rolls on the reaction table and charges towards Olaf. Also on the reaction table the domestic animals are split with one group grazing, while the others run away.

Turn 2 I roll a 1 on the action points and move one unit of sailors. The Captain throws a gas grenade, this attack has no effect on Kong, but he does retreat back to the gate.

The wind blows the gas cloud on the next turn. Unfortunately Olaf is in the way and is promptly knocked out. The Captain shoots at Kong, causing him to retreat beyond the gate. The next turn the wind has changed and blows the gas cloud onto Kong, this time knocking him out

All in all a fun game and all done in an hour. There was a little flitting between books for the right tables and in future I'll probably combine them on a single sheet.

I've also got Tusk III and the Exterminate! set in 15mm, this sets the Professor and Queen Elizabeth against robotic dustbins. Hopefully I'll soon have these painted and another report coming soon.

Steve

June Progress

2011-06-21T04:18:00.000-07:00

One of the few things I got at Salute was the 6mm Tusk set 'Capture King Kong' from Irregular Miniatures. Actually they didn't have it on the day, but posted it through the next week. I've finally got around to finishing the last few bases. At the back we have Kong himself. On the back row (L to R) are the 2 heroes and heroine with 4 stands of sailors; 7 stands of native dependants and 6 stands of natives with hand weapons, together with 4 native heroes. On the middle row we have sheep and cattle plus the native missile stands. At the front on the left are the firemakers and shamen. Capture King Kong is a solo game, so hopefully I should soon play it and have a report on the site.

For my recent birthday, my long suffering wife bought me the Land Ironclads, War of 1890 Starter set, from Brigade Models. This comes with British and German forces, dice, bases and a rulebook. It's very good value for money and will hopefully be a fun game, both on it's own and combined with Aeronef. The only slight gripe is it would be nice to have the starter set without the rulebook, as I already had a rulebook. Again hopefully we'll soon be able to fit a game of this into our busy gaming schedule.

These are some Zorgls, again purchased at Salute, from East Riding Miniatures. I'll be using these in the Lacepunk skirmish game, when I get around to finishing terrain and the background. More on that in the next post, honest.

Star Wars 1917

Every so often I have a silly idea, sometimes these come to fruition. This is one of them. After looking at the Towton terrain, I thought how good it would look as terrain for the end of the first Star Wars film. Rather than just do that I decided to set it in an alternate WWI. These are my first attempts at comvertions for it. On the left is the Albatross Tie fighter hybrid and on the right the Sopwith Camel X-wing. The Camel will fly backwards to give it the right look. More on this as it happens.

Finally the latest on the Rather Small Skirmish Project. I've completed 4 houses with detachable roofs, some ruins and a few trees. The Houses and ruins are balsa and the trees are old GW stock. All have magnetic strip on the bottom. I still have a few more figures to paint and my friend Ruarigh is chipping in with some Barbarian/Viking figures from the new Baccus range. The game should be up and running for it's first outing at the Baccus gamesday in July.

Cheers

Steve

A Rather Small Skirmish Project

2011-06-01T11:38:00.001-07:00

After the size and expense of 'The Rather Large Towton Project', Ruarigh and I decided the next project should be something smaller, cheaper and easier to transport. Thus the rather small skirmish project was started. These will be 6mm skirmish games, with all the peices needed being in a small box.

This is the first box. It is a 300mm x 300mm box with a thin steel sheet glued to the bottom. This is then covered with a decorative sheet. In the bottom I've used a granite effect (above) and in the top a green velor (below).

All the terrain and eventually the figures will have magnetic bases. Hopefully this will reduce figures going flying or terrain moving. It also means you are not stuck with one set of terrain or terrain stuck in the same positions

I'm currently looking at using the Broadsword Adventure rules. Hopefully by The Baccus games day it should be ready to game on, with more terrain made and figures painted. I'm hoping to have 3 different scenarios which can be played on the day.

Just to show the terrain is movable here it is on the 'grass' board.

Cheers

Steve

Aeronefs Over The Aegean Part 2

2011-06-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

I finished the terrain for Aeronefs over the Aegean last week, but this is the first chance I've had to get the photos onto the blog. We'll be using a bigger table when we actually play the game, probably in a few weeks time. The basic construction is hardboard with polystyrene ceiling tiles on top.

This is an overall view of the terrain, I've a few more islands to give a bit of variety.

A close up of the city, not sure whether I should have made it flatter.

A view from another angle.

Cheers

Steve

Aeronefs Over the Aegean

2011-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

One of my purchases at Salute this year was the 'Aeronefs over the Aegean' set from Brigade Models. We've had a couple of games of Aeronef and the rules are simple to use, but a fun game. As you can see you get quite a few models for your money. All credit to Brigade as when I unpacked the set at home I found a couple of pieces missing, these were promptly posted to me along with an extra Aerostat.

This shows the full set with the Hungarian Battle Cruiser the Syren in the lead followed by the Turkish navy.
I decided to mount the aeroplanes on individual wires, rather than on the group base provided and I think this gives a better effect.

The only changes I'm going to make are to reduce the length of the Aerostat masts as they look a little like flying submarines. I now have a little terrain to build and we'll be ready to play the game hopefully sometime in June. In the meantime it's back to the Towton figures.

Cheers

Steve

Wastelands '84 - The East Ridings

2011-05-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

The Priory Police in front of 'The Station'

‘Cont……lier…….rep……ver’. The radio crackled to life with the broken voice of Constable Collier.

‘What is it, Collier?’ Growled Detective Sergeant Larkin.

‘…avages…ir….ousands……..em’, came the reply.

‘Lipman, Johnson, Prescott get ready, they’re coming’, Larkin yelled to the nearby crouched figures.

Along the road they could see some figures moving, clad in loin cloths and carrying rifles. It was the Swanlandians come to take their territory. Larkin, feeling the gloom rising, shook himself.

Well if they wanted it the Priory Police would make them pay a heavy price.

Last night we played a Post Apocalypse game, using the Wastelands 3 Meltdown rules. These rules are free from the web. Wastelands rules.

For the game we used the campaign rules with random rolls for locations and enemies. For our forces I took a Law Dog warband and Ruarigh a Road Warrior one. This meant I started with 5 Gunslingers, good at shooting and hard to kill, as well as one location, a toxic wasteland, and 70 resources to equip the characters. This allowed everyone to have a gas mask and knife, 3 to have heavy pistols and 2 to have shotguns with one having grenades. In hindsight more long range weapons would have helped, but it didn’t match the figures I have.

Ruarigh started with a car with a HMG on a turret (cars are considered coming with a driver) , 30 resources and one location, a wasteland (non-toxic). He spent the resources on getting another character.

Using the campaign system you first check if your territory is invaded. The more territory you have the more chance of invasion and the better the territory, the better the invaders. Then decide if you want to scout other locations, which can prove deadly for the explorers, have an encounter, a mission or rest. After completing these you can then get resources from your territories.

The game is very fast paced and we each managed to have four turns in the space of about 2 hours. This included four battles. Combat is very quick and deadly with a roll to hit, then one to kill. The only slight difference to this is vehicles which take cumulative damage and as a consequence are very powerful.

Overall the game was fun and easy to play. Some of the rules are a little sparse, but these can soon be overcome. What we both felt it lacked was advancement of characters, which was in a previous version.

After this trial game the system looks useable with a few tweaks and additions from previous versions to make a game for our Post Apocalypse gaming.

These games will be set in an alternate 1984 England were a virus has swept the world, killing a large percentage of people and mutating others. Basically a kind a Slightly Annoyed Max, with Allegros and Maxis battling it out on the country lanes. Squires setting up fiefdoms in quaint villages. Local pubs for local people.

More to come as and when I get around to it.

Steve

Albion gets spacebourne

2011-05-02T12:14:00.001-07:00

These are the new Albion Defense Force Starfighters. In the front are 4 Broadsword Fighters and at the back 4 Buckler Interceptors.

These will do battle with the Bwendi forces of Ruarigh tomorrow night using the new Squadron Commander rules form Brigade Models. The models are also from Brigade with the Eurofed Folgore in the front and the Comete in the rear.

It's been good to get on with painting something other than Towton, although I still have painted yet more of these. Hopefully this week I shall also complete my Aeronefs over the Aegean models.

November 3rd Update

2010-11-22T11:35:00.001-08:00

This must be stretching the realms of the possible three updates in a month. So what have I been painting now.

First up are some Barbarians, mainly from Battlezone Miniatures carried by the Terrain Warehouse. These will hopefully come in useful when we play Broadsword Adventures next.

These are 15mm GZG figures to be used in a Post Apocalypse game, still trying to find a suitable ruleset. I fancy setting the game in an alternate 1970s Britain.

The 1970s theme is in keeping with the two cars I've converted so far, a Mark I Cortina and a Humber Snipe. Both are from Oxford Diecast, which although 1:76 in scale seem to suit the 15mm figures. Now just to find someone who makes a 1:76 Austin Princess and Allegro.

Cheers Steve

November 2nd Update

2010-11-17T01:45:00.001-08:00

After several months of little activity, I've now managed two postings within a month, in fact within a week. This is one faction I've been working on for a Black Powder/Lace punk game. Most of the figures are Rackham, the one on the right is from the Malifaux range.

This is the second faction for the BPP/Lacepunk game. I think these are all Warmachine figures. At the moment we are looking at using the Gloire rules for the game, but it's early days yet.

This is the final figures for Warwicks contingent in the Towton game. These are Sir Thomas St. Leger on the left and Sir Robert Ogle, Lord Ogle on the right.

This is the completed contingent of Warwick's.

So what's next on my painting board. Well I've got some 6mm Great Northern War Russians undercoated and ready. Also some 28mm Barbarians and some more BPP/Lacepunk figures ready as well.

November Update

2010-11-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

It's quite a while, yet again, since I updated the blog. So what have I been up to for the last few months.

These are some GW LotRs orcs and a troll, plus a goblin I picked up which should do as an Ogre. These will come useful for our ongoing Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures games. I still have a pile of orcs left over to paint another time. They were all picked up cheaply at charity shops and carboot sales, other than the troll, which I paid full price for.

We are also looking at playing some Gloire soon and these Pirates have been sitting around for just such an occassion. Now I've just got to read the rules, build the scenery....... All the figureas are from Black Scorpion's Pirate range.

These are the 6mm Orcs to join the nations for our Warrior Heroes campaign. Although with the imminent release of 'Rally Round The King', Two Hour Wargames updated ruleset, these may become our new rules. All the figures are Irregular Miniatures fantasy.

Continuing on with the Warrior Heroes armies this is the Altengard force. Again all the figures are Irregular miniatures from their C16th Italian Wars range. The Altengard forces are roughly based on an Imperial German army.

This is my contribution to the Yorkist side of our Towton project and is Warwick's command, as you can see I still have another 8 bases to finish. All the figures for the Towton project are from Baccus.

Finally these are the Protolene figures from Critical Mass Games, the vehicles are by Old Crow Models. We seem to have used a variety of rulesets for 15mm SciFi and still haven't really settled on one yet.

So what's next on the paint board. Well the last 8 stands for Towton will be next. After that there are several backburner project I'd like to start/finish, but more of them as and when they get going.

Cheers

Steve

July Update

2010-07-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

Well it doesn't seem 5 months since I last updated, sorry about the delay. Well here's a rough idea of what I've got painted up. On top of this there is also a chunk of Towton 6mm which can be seen on the Towton Blog.

These are the Sahadeen from Rebel Minis, together with 2 Old Crow Vehicles. These have had a brief outing in our 5150 games.

These are Alien Mercenaries from GZG. I've been using them as Grath, again in 5150. They proved themselves to be quite useful.

These are Aliens from GZG again. These have yet to see action, maybe for our next 5150 game.

These are three figures I've painted up for a Black Powder Punk game which is still in the pipeline.

This is my Werewolf warband for Chaos in Carpathia.

These are the Swords of Ra which I've been using in Chaos in Cairo.

These last two have been sitting around half painted for a while now, so I finally had a push this week and finished them. All the models are from Brigade Models, except the two airships which are plastic Hindenburg kits. This is the British Fleet.

Finally this is the German Aeronef fleet.

Hopefully it won't be so long until my next update.

Cheers

Steve

February Update

2010-02-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a fairly busy month so far and the painting has gone quite well.

I attended Vapnartak and bought a few things while I was there. I bought some Martians from Ironclad Miniatures, which I intend to use as The Swords of Ra, in Chaos in Cairo. They will require a little altering, but hopefully should look the part. I also got the Gripping Beast Ben Yusef and Imam for the same game, as well as the Teutonic Grandmaster pack for Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures. The Vampire Wars figures from West Wind will also complement the Werewolves I finished this month. Finally I bought some 6mm Wagons from Irregular and the Baggage Train pack from Baccus.

This is the completed battle for the Duke of Exeter in the ongoing Towton Project. I've finally finished the Welles and Viscount Beaumont contingents and added flags and banners to the rest. This just leaves the command base to complete. I am currently painting the Baccus wagons for the Battle of Blore Heath, which we shall be putting on at Triples this year. This will keep the interest going in the Towton Project and give us a chance to try the rules out.

This is the completed warband for the werewolves in Chaos in Carpathia. Hopefully this week we shall be playing Chaos in Cairo. I shall be using a Mummy warband made up of Wargods figures.

This month I also bought 15 Griffin Spearmen and 2 leaders. This leads to a dilemma, as they were prepaints, do they go in the bought and painted?

Cheers

Steve

January Already

2010-01-10T09:08:00.001-08:00

It's January and I haven't put an entry on since September, but I have been keeping reasonably with my painting, but having a fault with the camera hasn't helped. Anyway here's what I 've been up to, plua I've set the counters back to zero to see how my painting/buying ratio goes this year.

First off I finished the Artizan cult members I picked up at the Other Partizan, along with this years free figure, Clyde.

The next new game we will be trying out in 2010 is going to be Chaos in Carpathia and also Chaos in Cairo. This is the beginning of my Werewolf warband. The wolves are D&D miniatures, the werewolf on the left Dr Who and the one on the right Mage Knight.

One of my big projects during the past few months was to get my Eaters force ready for the annual Wargods tournament in Canterbury. These figures will also form the basis of my Mummy warband for Chaos in Cairo.

Finally the big project I've been busy with is the Towton Project, I've managed to get some more finished for this and am well on the way to finishing my first battle.

Plans for the coming year include more 15mm Sci-Fi, I have some Critical Mass Game figures ready to paint, as well as some GZG aliens. Finishing my Werewolf and Mummy warband for the Chaos games.

See you soon

Steve

September Progress

2009-10-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

I've been doing quite a bit of work since I last entered on the blog. A lot of time has been spent on the Towton Project and below is a picture of my first few stands.

I've also been working on the 6mm Seniira army for the on going Warrior Heroes Talomir campaign. This is about half completed so far and should be finished in the next couple of weeks. On the 28mm scale I've got some Artizan Cultists which now just need basing and varnishing and hundreds of Wargods Mummies which also need painting.

August Progress

2009-09-05T04:48:00.001-07:00

This month I've been working on my next Talomir Tales army. Ruarigh and I have been trying to add a new army each every game year. My new army is the Tropilium Army based on an early Imperial Roman army. I've added the link to our Talomir Tales blog on the side panel.

On the right are the auxiliary infantry units, next to them are the light cavalry.

This is the heavy boys with the Auxiliary archers on the right, the Legionnaires in the centre and the heavy cavalry on the left.

Finally the Scorpion units and slingers. All the figures are Baccus 6mm, mainly from their Early Imperial Roman range.

These are the painted Nekharu. I still have about another dozen to finish and buildings to make before the final part of our Searchers campaign can be played. This should hopefully occur before Christmas.

The next big project is however going to take a lot of my painting time. Together with a bunch of other fools I have joined in a recreation of the Battle of Towton. I've added a link to the blog on the sidebar. The hope is to do this in as near to 1 figure to 1 participant as possible. It is being done in 6mm, again with Baccus figures, even so the battle had around 70,000 people involved , so it will be large undertaking. We are hoping to take the Battle around several shows in 2011, the 550th anniversary of the battle. We will also be running several of the preceding battles during 2010.

Nearing the end of July

2009-07-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

Well not alot of progress on the Nekharu, I have 12 ready for basing, so about a third nearly finished. Looks like I shall be wearing the dunces hat again.

I have however not been idle on the modelling front. Occasionally I get around to making dioramas for friend's birthdays. So this is what I have spend most of this month doing. The lighting hasn't shown very well in the pictures.

So it's back to the Nekharu now and seen as we are not setting targets for August, holidays and such, I should be able to get them finished before the end of then.

Searchers of the Lost Uraei Episode 2 - That Sinking Feeling

2009-07-03T12:09:00.001-07:00

Searchers of the Lost Uraei
Episode 2 – That Sinking Feeling

Following the route given to you, you head further South along the Nile and into Nubia. As you enter a lush valley one of your scouts returns dragging a cowering native. After a brief questioning you discover that the person you need to speak to is hiding in the nearby swamp. The swamp is only accessible to a small group, so you head into the swamp with just your closest allies (i.e. characters).

The native with the information is hidden in the swamp beneath a large tree, but is protected by a magical barrier. To allow friends to pass through the barrier there are 3 parts of a key hidden in the swamp. To pass through you must have at least one piece and pass an arcane save, having two pieces gives a +2 for the test and 3 pieces allows you through automatically. There are also some traps and a couple of crabs in the swamp.

Crab Stats

Mv 4 Wnd 2

#Att 2 Att 6

Def 4 Mis 0

Arc 8 Dis 8

AC 8 DM 2

Special

On a roll of 10 the opponent is caught by a claw and will suffer two wounds, subject to armour save, only one armour save. To free themselves they must make a successful attack. Once it appears the crab is given a command counter by each player and whoever actviates it first uses their counter, the other is then removed. While in close combat the crab can only be issued ‘Hold’ counters.

Movement is normal on the islands and bridges. If you wish to move through the swamp, it is at half move and each turn a movement save must be made. Those in no or light armour make the test as normal, those in medium armour at -2 and those in heavy at -4. The first failure means you are stuck in the swamp, every consecutive failure afterwards costs one wound as you slowly drown. Even normally amphibious creatures such as Sebeki are sucked into the swamp, they do get +1 to their save.

If your opponent is within 1” of the swamp a successful attack can be used to throw the opponent in the swamp, no armour save is given. Once a character is thrown into the swamp they are moved 1” away from their opponent and combat is broken. You cannot attempt to get out the swamp and fight, so each round in the swamp you need to make a movement save to keep your head above water, but do not move. A character is the swamp fights at -2 to Att & Def.

Tokens

1. Magical piece 2. Magical piece
3. Magical piece 4. Nothing
5. Nothing 6. Nothing
7. Slip into Swamp, movement save required to avoid.
8. Slip into Swamp, movement save required to avoid.
9. Crab 10. Crab

Winner

The winner is the first to get a character into the magical area.

The initial set up of the game with Ruarigh's Basti on the left and my Heru on the right. The two crabs floating around in the centre.
Both Master and Mistress of Words cast 'Earth's Farewell' and fly to tokens, both pick slip into the swamp, fail their movement saves and fall into the swamp.

Mazahs managed to clamber out of the swamp, while Meritbastet seemed unable to get out of the swamp that easily. The Basti however quickly found two of the magical pieces, to the Heru's none. The Basti soon find a crab which blocks their path and they have to fight it. The Heru also find a crab and it took a long battle before Fang the Anubi eventually killed it only to be killed by an arrow the next turn.

After killing the crab Emuishere and her followers raced on to the goal. While the Heru and Anubi seemed unable to kill their crab. Oussaprittay raced round on his shining chariot to cut off the magical grove.

The Mazahs, the Heru Master of Words flew in to attack Meritbastet, the Basti Mistress of Words, using 'Earth's Farewell, but was defeated leaving it up to the Heru champion to kill her. Here is were the Basti missile ability came into play with several javelins finding their targets amongst the Heru warband. Oussaprittay pushed the Blade Dancer out of the way and was killed by Emuishere in Provocation, having taken too many wounds earlier in the game. The rest of the warband was quickly despatched. Emuishere couldn't however save her Blade Dancer who disappeared into the swamp just as she reached her.

This left Emuishere to collect the information on the location of the Nekharu warband with the last of the Uraei. Excellent game and close up to the finish. So Emuishere goes into the fianl episode of Searchers... at Ka 3.

Wargods is a very good set of rules and well worth playing. The figures are well sculpted, although we could wish for more of certain races to be produced.

Next up is Tusk and a game of Pirates.

July's Project

2009-06-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

This month is again a Wargods month, we both seem to have a lot of these figures that still need painting. These are the Nekharu, the evil henchmen of the Wargods of Aegyptus Universe. I have 37 to paint ready for August when I will be using them in the third part of the 'Searchers of the Lost Uraei' campaign, the second part of this will hopefully be played this week and pictures and a battle report will appear on the blog.

Albion Defence Force 6mm Finished

2009-06-26T06:02:00.001-07:00

The Albion system was founded by explorers from the British Commonwealth. Over the years the history of the original countries has become intertwined with their myths and legends. To this ends King Arthur is now seen as the first King of Albion, a kingdom which covered England, Scotland, Wales, the West Indies, large sections of the Indian subcontinent and Nepal.
The system is ruled by Monarch, currently King Gawain XXI, who is selected by the mysterious ‘sword pulling contest’. They are advised by an elected group called the ‘Round Table’.
On the whole Albion is a peace loving system, although martial skills are highly prized. They have a small, but well equipped and trained standing army. All other citizens are part of the Albion Defence Militia and have to train for at least 1 week every year.

The Air support is provided by Urien Mark IV troop carriers and Merlin Mark V Ground Attack Craft.
The Infantry are shown standing next to the Guinevere APCs. In front are the Tristan scout cars.

The Mechanised Armour Brigade featuring the Lancelot Mark IX MBT, the Camelot Mark VII MBT, the Percival Mark II Tank and the Uthur Mark XII Light tank.

The Power Armoured Unit of Infantry, commonly known as ‘The Pendragons’ with their Gringolet APCs Mark XII & XIV. In front of these are the Ghurkha unit with the Everest Mark V APCs.

Tusk Figures Finished

2009-06-26T05:54:00.001-07:00

Well I've got the Tusk figures and dinosaurs finished, which means we'll finally be able to have a game of it next month. So I shall write a review of the game after we have played. Really glad to have finally finished these as they seem to have been sitting half painted for a long time.

June Builds

2009-06-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Only just started June and already I've managed to find time to get 3 15mm Sci-Fi buildings finished. These should go well in our ongoing games.

The round fortifications are made from the ends of rolls of drawing paper.

The Dome building was a piece of scrap plastic I picked up.

These are the partly finished islands for the next of the campaign games for Wargods.

This is what the finished islands should look like. Then it's just a case of making the bridges to go between them.

June Update

2009-06-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have managed to finish my May project and almost on time, a minor miracle. Now I've just a couple of bits of scenery to finish and we can carry on the Search Trilogy using the Wargods of Aegyptus rules.

For June I'm trying to get my 6mm Sci-Fi miniatures based for games of Dirtside II and Future War Commander.

Also I'm going to get the Tusk figures, I bought a while back finally painted and gamed with.

May Progress

2009-05-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

This is what is still left on my painting board, I had hoped to have the Heru characters and Archer (Tum te tum de tum...) unit painted this month. Well it's nearing the end of the month and I still haven't finished them yet, dunce's hat on the way.

However since the two games of 15mm Sci Fi, Stargrunt II and Imperial Commander, I've been on a bit of a kick to get the rest of my 15mm figures painted. Okay so I bought a few more, thanks to Ground Zero Games for their quick delivery, the morning after ordering. So I now have another 24 Albion Defence Force figures painted and another 3 vehicles painted. I also painted up 6 of the GZG Xenomorph aliens and 1 of the Alien Mercenaries.

For reviews/reports of the games see Ruarigh's blog, http://ooh-shiny-complex.blogspot.com/

This shows the 2 new hover APCs and also two trucks, which are from the Indiana Jones toys, not bad for £1.99.

Hopefully I should manage to get the Heru finished before the end of the month. Oh for a quiet life and time to paint.

Late Again. April Finally Finished

2009-05-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well it's ten days into May and I've just finished April's Project. This leaves me wearing the Dunce's Hat yet again. I now have my 15mm figures finished.

These several units of the Albion Defense Force. On the left we have the Red Platoon. They are made up of 4 Rifle squads, of 1 NCO, 4 riflemen and an SAW, and 1 command squad, of 1 Lieutenant, 1 Sergeant, 1 radio operator, 1 medic and 2 riflemen. In the centre we have 2 snipers, 2 Power Armour Squads and 2 special forces squads. On the right we have the Blue Platoon which is as the red squad, but currently only has 3 rifle squads. Behind are 2 hover APCs, a command APC, a heavy hover Tank and a light scout Tank.

With these hopefully I shall be able to give Ruarigh a battle or three over the month. We shall start this week, with a try out of the Stargrunt II rules, from Ground Zero Games. Over the next few weeks we also hope to try Beamstrike, Imperial Commander and Laserburn.

For this month I shall be catching up on painting Wargods of Aegyptus figures and also scenery to finish an ongoing game from last year.

April's Project

2009-04-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

For April I will be working on 15mm Sci-Fi figures. In May, Ruarigh and I, will then be trying a selection of rulesets with these figures. At the moment we are looking at Stargrunt, Laserburn and Beamstrike, although we have between us several more set of rules, but they will have to wait.

Figures to paint

57 Infantry
3 Hover APCs
2 Hover Tanks (Large and small)
1 Grav Tank
1 Half Track

I currently have 13 painted infantry.

All the figures and most of the vehicles are from Ground Zero Games. The half track I have no idea who made, it was picked up second hand at a show.

I also have quite a few other 15mm Sci-Fi figures which I may try to get painted as well, in particular the new figures from GZG, Alien Mercenaries and Free Traders.

Finally finished March's Project

2009-04-17T00:18:00.000-07:00

The Finished Brethren Army

Okay so I ended up wearing the dunce's cap this month, as it took me slightly over a month to finish painting the Brethren. My only excuse is that I had to get some more figures from Irregular Miniatures at Triples to finish the army. Hopefully next week we shall be testing their mettle against the Goblins, using the Warrior Heroes rules.

Okay I'll wear the Dunce's Cap, but why do I have to wear a dress as well.

April is coming

2009-03-30T00:13:00.000-07:00

Well April is nearly over and I haven't finished my month's project yet, of 6mm Teutonic Knights. Hopefully I shall get them finished this week, as I have a couple of days away with work and so will be packing my travelling paint kit.

I did however manage to get some photos taken. Below is the painted 15mm British Colonial Troops from February, complete with my latest purchases. I went into the local model/railway shop and they had alot of second hand buildings, several of which I thought would suit a 15mm VSF game. Altogether they came to just over a tenner.

This weekend I can't see me being too frugal as I shall be attending Triples on the Saturday, with a shopping list of things to buy. As next month we are painting 15mm Sci-Fi, I feel I shall have to visit Ground Zero Games and buy some of their new figures, the NAC and Alien Mercenaries. I also have a few more 6mm figures I need from Irregular to complete my Brethren Army.

As I said next month is 15mm Sci-Fi, so come May we will be trying a variety of rules. On the list at the moment are Stargrunt II, Beamstrike and Laserburn/Imperial Commander, I'm sure more will be added as the month progresses.

March Already

2009-03-02T00:14:00.000-08:00

Well I managed to finish the British Colonial troops in February, so 2 VPs to me. I did however buy some more British Colonials from Black Hat Miniatures. Hopefully I shall get a photo of the finished soldiers on the blog sometime this week. We shall also be playing the first scenario from the Space 1889: Soldier's Companion this week, so the British Colonial will have their first run out.

We finally managed to have our game of Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures. A good couple of games, with both being close run battles, which could have easily gone either way. For a full review of the games and photos see Ruairgh's blog, The Ooh Shiny Complex.

This month we move down a scale again and I will be painting a 6mm Teutonic army, so that's more black, white and silver paint. We then plan to use these to play the old Warrior Heroes mass combat rules.

Cheers

Steve

February's Project

2009-02-20T00:27:00.001-08:00

Okay I know we are nearly at the end of February. This month I shall mainly be painting 15mm British Colonial, for a game of Space 1889: Soldier's Companion. I have 49 soldiers and officers; 2 maxim guns on tripods; 1 gatling gun; 6 gun crew; and 19 marines.

I've made a reasonable start so far and am hopefully of getting the soldiers and gun crews finished before the end of the month, these are the main objective.

The End of Month One

2009-02-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

Well January has come to an end and I just managed to finish my final figures on Saturday. My four mounted Brethren are painted , based and varnished. So 2VPs to me.

February's project is the 15mm Colonial British for our game of Space 1889: Soldiers Companion. Ruarigh is providing the opposition in the form of the martians. Hopefully I should have apicture of those for tomorrow. I should make a good start on these, as I am working away for two nights and will be packing my painting kit.

Unfortunately I also have to drive past Caliver Books, so there may be some expenditure this week. That's if it is safe to travel with the snow and more forecast.

Halfway First Month

2009-01-16T11:46:00.001-08:00

It's the halfway point of January, so time to reflect on the progress made. Not too bad really I've had a few of evenings when I've been able to sit down, put on a classic radio series, 1930s Flash Gordon this week, and paint to my hearts content, or at least until the rest of the household return.

I also had one night working away, which means I can pack my painting gear into the car and sit in the hotel painting. Unfortunately works away also meant I had to pass nearby, 50 mile round trip, to Essex Miniatures. As I was in the area it would have been rude to not call in and spend some Christmas money there. This means I now have another 7 foot and 3 mounted figures to paint, but 5 of my original figures are now ready for varnish and 8 more aren't far behind.

Ruarigh and I have only managed a few of games since Christmas, due to work and family commitments. We played Laserburn, were I got my backside handed to me after a good start; Wings of War: Dawn of War were I shot down both of his aircraft; two games of Urban War were we share the spoils; and Koening Kreig were we finished part way through a game with me in a strong position, but Ruarigh fighting back.

So just 15 days to go and hopefully I'm well on course to finish the original figures and hopefully the additional figures.

Cheers

Steve

And so it begins

2008-12-22T02:02:00.001-08:00

Ruarigh and I are both easily lead by the new shiny thing in the store. This has lead to a rather large pile of unpainted and part painted figures. After seeing the 'Year of Frugal Gaming' blog, we decided this may not be a bad idea. Concentrating on getting one game painted up each month and played the following month. This would hopefully reduce our lead mountains, increase our bank balances, and the lead to us playing more games.

For January we picked Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures. For this I will be painting 28mm Teutonic Knights and various men at arms to represent the Brethren faction. These are all Gripping Beast figures. As you can see I've already managed to finish 7 of the knights and begun quite a few more. This will be the main aim for January.

My secondary objective is to paint a unit of 15mm Colonial British for a game of Space 1889: Soldiers Companion.

Cheers

Steve