Dirtside II armies

For Christmas my wife gave me a portable photo booth, and I finally got around to setting it up. It folds up in to a portfolio bag, and seems like it will be really useful. She also gave me two 250 watt halogen lights to blast the miniatures with photons. Unfortunately, they have 6" cords, so I was only able to use one this time. I will have to get a short extension cord to use both.

Set up pictured here:


Using this set up, I was able to take some new pictures of two Dirtside II forces. The first is the "Asiatic Combine" army, a high tech force using mostly grav tanks and with stealth upgrades.
Pictured are an artillery battery, battalion command platoon, two tank platoons, and a company of mobile infantry. Well, their AFVs anyway, the infantry are still not painted. The miniatures are various Brigade Miniatures, which I really like... after cleaning them up a bit.






I also took pictures of my Germanic force, which features more primitive vehicles, this time from CnC and GHQ. Pictured are an assault gun platoon, a tank platoon, and a command platoon.



The camo here is an assault camo from WWII, which I think ties these tanks in with the dunklegelb of the other units. I still have another platoon of tanks to paint, and a platoon of heavy tanks as well.

Next to paint are my Americana forces, which are air cushion tanks. I think those are going to wait until after the move though, as I am currently trying to finish off the Neo-Soviets and spearman regiment cluttering up my desk before packing everything up.

So it will be a while, but more DSII in the future!

GB-17 "Kрыса"

Inspired by this excellent conversion at Fawcett Avenue Conscripts, I have been contemplating a similar conversion to support my own Neo-Soviets.

My plan is to produce a similar vehicle from a 1/48 Testors Gee Bee model, which is quite cheap here in the US ($7 or so). By removing the engine, rudder, landing gear, and adding a rocket nozzle, turbine intake and gun ports, it should be an excellent little ground attack fighter for defending the motherland. I would cut back the under tail portion of the model to accommodate the nozzle, and extend the tail with a sensor mast. I believe that it should be equipped with an under wing rack of rockets like a WWII Corsair, which may have to be created instead of sourced from another kit. Adding modern triangular antenna projections should also help to make the model look "new" vs. just a rocket powered turbine plane.

Colors would be grey blue under with a green upper, stepped when they contact in the tail, and of course, red stars on the side and tail. A suitably patriotic slogan would be great too, something about "crush the Germans" or similar. No stars on the wings, as apparently the VVS did not do that.

So another future project, this one for which I have no models... excellent!

A small update

A slight slowdown in my miniatures work lately due to various non-hobby related business. I have painted all of my Asian Combine DSII forces, pictures of which I hope to take and post soon.

I have also puttered around a bit with the Neo-Soviets I got from Copplestone Castings in January. I am trying to figure out how to do a winter camo scheme on their jacket, and will probably attempt a snow base for the first time as well. Pictures of that will be forthcoming as well.

Here is a comparison picture of the Neo-Soviets with a number of GW figures.

From right to left: IG steel Legion, IG Valhallan, Copplestone Neo-Soviet, plastic Cadian, and a plastic Catachan. As you can see the Neo-Soviet matches well in size and heft with the GW metals, particularly if the integral base is removed. Wish they were slottas.

On the plus side, in a few months I should have a game room and miniatures room as well, so expect some posts about the new space, and planning for a proper games table.

Long weekend

As our US readers are no doubt aware, this upcoming weekend is extra long, due to the MLK day holiday on Monday. To compound the painting and hobby potential of this weekend, my wife will be out of town visiting her grandmother, so I will have an inordinate amount of time to paint/hobby etc. I believe that I should have plenty of time to work on current or special projects. I may be able to finish the company of 6mm tanks I have been painting for DSII, or I may make use of that new photo set up I got for Christmas. Then again I may just sleep…
Yesterday I picked up a packet from my parents’ house, where most of my mail currently goes, and was delighted to see that it was from Copplestone Castings. I ended up ordering three packs of 10mm Horse Lords to serve as Rohirim in my eventual LotR forces, a pack of Bolshevik heroines, and a pack of Neo-soviets. As you might expect, the miniatures were well cast and sculpted, and should serve their appointed purposes well. In addition, the packet came in less than 10 days from the UK, and Copplestone has switched to a more “eco-friendly” packing material as well.
I have been pondering a Neo-soviet force for StarGrunt II, and seeing the figures painted for the Hammers Slammers demo game has not helped things. I figure that a platoon of figures, with a support weapons squad, a squad of Revolutionary Guard, and a power armor squad should be a good grouping to have. The basic platoon is easy to figure out, just use the Copplestone figures, 2 squads of line figures, command squad, and an inductee squad using the partisan figures. Revolutionary guard would be the same as the regular figures, but with heavier armor, and a commo helmet. For power armor, I was thinking that an amalgam of Tau Stealth suits and space marine legs should work to give a Ma.K look. Have to check out the sizes though. Old Crow looks as if it will be able to supply any vehicles needed, again as shown in the HS demo game shots.
The only part I have trouble with is the heavy weapons squad, and other supporting figures (medic, radio man etc) since the Neo-soviet figures are lacking in those areas. I have been looking around for suitable WWII Russians to use, since the Neo-soviets are not too “modern” looking aside from their rifle, but so far nothing really matches the Copplestone look. I may have to go with Russian civil war figures and a head swap, which at a current price of around $2.32 a figure, is somewhat expensive. Another option is using the West Wind Separate Head System to my advantage, and getting a pack of their helmeted heads. Either way, I also need more modern guns for the loader types to carry around, and probably will go with either TAG AK-47s or plastic 1/35 AK variants. PPSs may be a good option too, with “modernized” furniture.

Holiday period

A very merry festive season to you! This year I got several wargames related items for Christmas. I got a warhammer wood set, which should add for some spooky ambiance, box of Eldar Banshees, and Eldar Swooping hawks, which means that I have plenty of Eldar to get started painting (Maybe in 2011).
My wife got me a portable photography studio, which has a nice folding photography setup with light diffusers and a proper cloth background, and she also got me two 250 watt halogen lights to blast the target with photons. Expect some pictures using this setup, and the wife’s new camera soon.
My grandfather traditionally sends money to my parents to buy a gift “from him”. Since I did not have any items on my list that seemed to fit this category I got cash instead. I decided in a most uncharacteristic fashion, to spend the money on miniatures directly, rather than on tools or something easier to explain. Leading contenders include a Copplestone 10mm Horse Warrior army (Rohan), and the new Battletech starter, also interested in a regiment of Perry HYW French to use as Bretonnians.
In other gaming news, we are shopping for a house to take advantage of the steep decline in costs here, and the wife indicates that a room suitable for crafts and gaming is certainly a criteria. Some sort of “bonus room” with room for a 8x6 table would be great…

Vexatious Festive Sales

With the decline of the pound sterling vs. the US dollar (now at ~$1.48 per £ as of this writing), and the advent of the festive season, it becomes difficult for those of us not buying miniatures to hold out. Why? Christmas sales. Brigade Miniatures (not Games) is having a 15% off sale, which coupled with their VAT reduction for US buyers means over 30% off. Hasslefree is having a buy three get one free sale on most of their lines, plus throws in a goodie bag with each order. GZG is having a sale, already takes off VAT, and throws in a goodie bag as well. I am sure there are others seeking to extract my cash. What you may want undoubtedly varies, but a couple of companies of 6mm tanks, a platoon of sci-fi dwarfs, and more space ships all sound pretty great to me.
Very vexatious. Maybe next year I can take advantage.

Giant!

This past weekend I was able to take advantage of some free time, and photograph my GW giant. The giant was a surprise gift from my wife, who recalled me saying that every army could use one, and quite rightly, deduced that it would be a good purchase. The giant is not only useful for several armies, but also fun to put together due to the huge number of bitz one can choose from to adorn him. Many hands, heads, and feet and even more decorative items are included. Particularly fun are a hand grabbing a screaming man, a man running away from the giant, and a dead cow to sling from his belt. Quite allot of kit for $45.

It would, however, be good if the legs went together a little bit better (I had to use some putty to finish them off), and if there was another leg set option in the box, as a second giant is likely to look exactly the same as the first, even with the huge number of bitz. For $45 you would expect a slightly better fit, and a few more pose options, but this is GW we are talking about, so we got more skullz instead.

Since the giant is very large, it is a bit harder to photograph using standard miniature techniques. So please bear with the photos if they are cropped strangely etc.

First is an overview of the body:

From Miniatures

I painted his legs to look as if they were made from flags/tents etc, since that seems like a likely source of material for pants that large. The striped cloth was a pain to paint, and I am not sure that the results were worth it, since even the most careful painting ran afoul of the difficult folds in the cloth. The checked cloth looks passable in this small picture, but not up close.

Next, is a closeup of the shields on his arms:



I used these to indicate both his general allegiance to DOW/Empire forces, and also to make his arms a bit more armored.

This final picture is a closeup of his upper torso and face.

The skin paint job is not that good, and is actually my third attempt. My first was obliterated by a too heavy ink job, and the second was too blotchy. This third is not quite as good as the first, but gets the job done.

If I ever do another giant, I expect to spend some time reworking the legs, and probably will go with a chaos oriented giant, so that I can have one "good" giant and one "bad" giant. Cloven hooves, mangled hands, and a horned head will adorn the next one, while he will be armed with herdstone and a screaming man. Probably not likely in the foreseeable future, so do not hold your breath.

Anyway, that is my giant. Next time, WFRP miniatures.

November Update

I had intended for this post to be about Halloween related painting, but instead of going to the game store and getting Reaper's new flock of bats and painting them, I instead opted to spend some time with my wife at a club (after much arm twisting on her part).

I had then intended to take advantage of a rare bit of sun during this rainy phase we are having here, and photograph some miniatures to discuss, namely my plastic GW giant, and a Reaper classic vampire, but the focus for my camera was sufficiently off that I ended up discarding all of the pictures. This is the case with most of my miniatures photography BTW, but this particular set was particularly poor, as I wanted to show of the paint job more than conversions or posing in this case.

So plans foiled for a second time, let us then discuss the plan for the next few months of painting. I am currently working on three main painting projects, to whit: finishing my playable Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire army, cleaning off my painting desk, and the Fauxfly project, which will be discussed at another time.

My Empire army is about 80% complete, and I think that to get it to a playable level, I need to do the following: Finish converting and paint a battle standard bearer, which is a bit of a problem since I do not know what I want to do for this, having departed from my earlier plans. Finish converting my second (Heavens) scroll caddy of a wizard. This guy needs a bit of green stuff work, and of course painting. I also need to paint another cannon. Finishing up my spear regiment would be the final item, and then I would have a two "battalion" army with two wizards, a choice of heroes, and a few spare units (including DOW ogres, dwarfs, or crossbows)

In terms of cleaning off my painting desk, I mostly accomplish this through moving partly completed items back in the boxes from whence they came, but I would like to actually, you know, paint some items, some of which have been "pending" since fall of 2001. Specifically Henry the VIII for my sister (Copplestone), a few more Fed ships (Dreadnought and Attack Cruiser), a 15mm PzIV, a 15mm Sd.kfz 251, and the Necromunda bounty hunter mentioned earlier. This also includes the plastic tiles from the new Mighty Empires, which I primered the other day.

Fauxfly is a small project, but with a fairly large number of detailed figures, comparable to my WFRP figures (strangely enough). May include scenery/terrain/NPCs if required.

Long term, I would like to paint my Warmaster 10mm Empire army, the Battle of Five armies boxed set, and while we are at it, every other darn thing I own. Since I have been generally better than usual at buying fewer miniatures than I am painting, it may happen. Someday.

It must be said though, that ultimately, I will end up painting what ever comes to my fancy in the next few months, current plans notwithstanding. Report to follow as always as it occurs.

Why must you tempt me so?

As is common with me, my attention flits from one war gaming project to another in the space of a week or so. I believe this is the case because of my very long term researching, collection, building, painting timeline, which can stretch for years (still working on my first Space Marine company nearly 12 years on, with not much to show for it). Last few weeks I have been thinking about Necromunda, and running a campaign. I even went so far as to convert a figure for the game, and to examine my bitz stockpile to see what else could be made for the game. Then there was a brief period when Warmaster became the interest, and I paged through the Warmaster Ancients book while also thinking about my Battle of Five armies box. And now on to our current issue.

The interest de’jure has become 15mm Napoleonics. As you probably know, Napoleonics are widely seen as the most pedantic of all war games due to the huge amount of information available on the period, the colorful profusion of uniforms, and the relative obscurity of some of this detail. The lack of dominance of a single game probably helps to keep the period muddled for gamers.

I have long desired to collect a 15mm Napoleonic army, using the rather wonderful AB figures. I once spent a month of lunchtimes reading everything I could about the period, rules, basing etc. I even read Swords around the Throne, a lengthy detailed book on the composition of Napoleon’s army, as well as a few Ospreys on the regiment types I would want to build. I have half way written a set of rules for the period, which is fine because like most of my projects I expect to have to collect both sides, and will for the most part be a solo gamer (or will train a friend to play, so might as well do things like I like)
[for the interested, FOW sized bases, companies as elements, around a 1:10 figure ratio]

So just while I was thinking of this project again, and even going so far as to look at figures, draw up a cost sheet, and figure out what each company would need for a French Battalion, what do I see but that AB figures are on sale! http://theminiaturespage.com/news/433301/

Truly temptation is everywhere.

TOS Destroyers

A few years ago, I became interested in gaming with Star Trek models, particularly those of the original series era (TOS). This interest was sparked by the humble Saladin class destroyer, created by Franz Joseph in the first "official" technical guide to starfleet forces, the Starfleet Technical Manual. Something about the single nacelle look. To game in this period, one is usualy directed to figures from Armadillo games, which produces both Starfleet Commander, and the infamous Starfleet Battles.

However, not liking the prices of the metal miniatures, I went another route, and bought many Micromachine sets instead. Micromachines used to sell space miniatures cast in vinyl, three to a package, and thanks to Ebay, I was able to acquire them well after they became OOP. Once I had a suitable set of TOS era ships, I was able to create a few destroyers, which are detailed below.

From Space Miniatures

Side view of the destroyer.

From Space Miniatures

As you can see here, the paint job is a bit rough, which caused some problems with the ink. I think of it as light battle damage. I may forgo the ink next time, or paint another coat on top of it to rehighlight the areas currently marred by the blotchy ink.

From Space Miniatures

All three destroyers en route to some battle or exercise.

I am also slowly working on a converted Federation Battle Cruiser (flat engine arrangement, more guns, less lab), and a Federation Dreadnought (three engines, larger engineering hull), but those will have to appear in the future. I have also repainted a Klingon D-7 Battle cruiser as a Romulan K-7, and a Romulan warbird to have more a accurate paint scheme. Unfortunately these too were afflicted by the blotchy ink, so do not quite look as nice as one might wish.