The most recent project - Raging Heroes

This is another side project that's been bubbling under and I decided to try get beyond the bare metal / resin stage. I don't think these will make it to a game and are more just for the painting challenge.   

First, the metal figures. These figures are 32mm and intended as substitute figures for the warhamsters or other skirmish games. They are lovely figures and go under the name of sci-fi blood vestals! Whatever! Here they are, undercoated white. I did this batch of undercoating with the airbrush.  

Next, the first resin figures. These are the fantasy version, and are called Daughters of the Orphanage.

Now, these were my first resin figures are there was a little bit of swearing going on as I assembled them. The resin is quite brittle and care has to be taken cutting them from sprues. The detail is very good but the components like swords or ornaments are fragile and can break. Thankfully, superglue easily bonds the resin to repair breaks. I gave them a wash in warm soapy water and then sprayed the undercoat.   

Lastly, three more resin figures. These were as delicate and fragile as the previous batch, and more swearing ensued during assembly. But this was minor compared to language when washing the figures to remove the resin mould release agent. It took several washings, including one after my first spraying attempt when I had to remove the undercoat and wash them again. Finally I brushed on Fairy liquid from the bottle and let them soak before brushing and washing the figures again, and at last I got to a stage where they could be undercoated.  

And here's what they are now starting to look like. I airbrushed the skin with Vallejo Game Air elf flesh, then gave the figures a sort of wash lining of shadows and folds with a mixture of sepia and fleshtone washes. The result is OK so far. 

Now, in the past couple of years, I've become a convert to plastic figures, but my experience here with resin makes me doubt if I'll buy any more resin. Of course, I might be going about assembling resin figures all wrong. Maybe if I'd washed the resin figures thoroughly while still on the sprues it might have been easier.

More later.       

The Bolt Action British are done

The Bolt Action British are done. As much of January was spent assembling plastic Saxons, Vikings and Napoleonic figures, in February I decided to try and get something finished. The British for Bolt Action were nearly finished so I focussed on them. Here's the end result.

Some closer pictures. 

A final shot of the senior officer and nco with the red hackle, and the junior officer with the brolly. The red hackle had to be done; it's our local regiment. There's still a sense of respect, admiration and pride when I see the red hackle (though I suppose all regions of most countries  will have a pride in their own local regiments.)   

This force for Bolt Action has 3 sections of 10 infantry, a medium machine gun, artillery spotter, light mortar and PIAT. There's also a bren carrier and a Sherman and enough extra infantry to swop brens for rifles or add extra brens to sections. Rounding the force off and the officers and an RAF spotter.  

I also have to admit that the RAF spotter chap is not actually finished. But as he's unlikely to be used in a game, I'll leave him for now. I bought it because it's a nice figure. 

the mighty spraying

Here's some progress on Saxons, Vikings and Napoleonic plastics. 

The Saxons and Vikings are mounted on 25mm round plastic bases. They were given a bit of filler to disguise the cast-on base.  

Then the sand covering.  The Napoleonic figures were based on 20mm round bases for the line and 25mm round bases for the voltigeur skirmishers. 
  

Then I was waiting for a reasonably dry and warm day to get the spraying done. Not often we get those days in Scotland, but there was one, though it was more chilly than warm. Still, it was close enough and I got them undercoated. Maybe not much to look at, but it's an achievement. 

 

The Napoleonics will be painted as Italians, or some German states; chaps with white uniforms, so with a basic undercoat they are nearly done.   

 

And the great laugh is - all these figures now go back in boxes till I can get around to painting them. The Napoleonic figures might get done soon, but it may be a while before I can get round to doing the others. 

Games at the club

Here are some snapshots of recent games I played at the club.  

The boardgame No Retreat: the Russian Front, Longstreet with 15mm ACW and the ancients rules, To the Strongest in 15mm and Flames of War in 15mm. 

First, No Retreat. This is part of end of turn snapshots for when we next pick up the campaign.  This is the situation in September and October 1942 and the Axis have pushed well to the east.  This game is just superb. It's card supported and has less than 20 units on each side.  

The Axis have taken Stalingrad and are threatening the oilfields.  But winter is coming ( as they say ). 

These are two longshots from our Flames of War game. Late war Germans vs British. This was our second run-through with the version 4 rules and the unit cards. Just a lot of long range firing in this game.  It was OK, but with some many other games to play, this may not get played again for a while.  

This is a picture on my Longstreet game, pictures from my opponents side of the table. He's just launched a big charge by the chaps in blue.  The dice are the combat scores, pictures just before we resolved the situation. As you may see, I was resoundingly defeated overall, and my one victory did not compensate for losing three units, my army morale and the battle, all in that one turn. But a great game.

A long snapshot of two chaps playing Bolt Action. Americans vs Russians.  Sadly, I didn't have time to watch this game as I was engrossed in No Retreat that night.  

And finally, To the Strongest. Now, while our first game of TTS was good, this game saw very few casualties and a couple of anomalies with fighting in woods, so the initial favourable impression of TTS has dimmed a bit. Two of the chaps at the club were not impressed at all, so sadly TTS at the club may fade away. But here's a couple of pictures.

The armies were Polybian Roman vs Seleucid. Here the Roman right centre clashes with elephants and some phalanx.  

And the Roman left centre clashes the rest of the Seleucid centre.  The action is taking place on a mat that one of the chaps bought. The squares are 100mm.  

More later.

progress with plastics

I seem to have done little since the start of the year besides building plastic figures.  I have played a few games at the club, but painting seems to have slowed while I stick bits of plastic together.  It's not terribly exciting, but here's some progress.

With the dark ages chaps, I decided to go for 25mm round bases. And after further debate I decided to get Renedra plastic bases.  The scoring on the plastic is me providing a key for the filler which help to disguise the moulded base with the figure.  The four figures at the right have been done. 

A whole batch more.  

And some Victrix Napoleonics. There are some nice poses in the French infantry box.  But I'll be painting these as Italians, with white uniforms and red or green facings.  The standard line infantry and grenadier chaps are on 20mm round bases, the voltigeurs are on 25mm round bases. 

A box of Saxons ready for the next stage. 

And the next stages. The bases were 'painted' with a watered-down pva glue and then dunked in a tub of sand.  I cut strips of corrugated cardboard and stuck on strips of double sided sticky tape. The bases were then pressed on to the tape. The idea here is to provide a decent grip of the plastic figures while I spray undercoat them later.      

Shields, shields, shields and backpacks.  

A box of Vikings ready for a spray session.  

And a box of Napoleonics ready for a spray session. 

So, roll on the end of the week and hopefully with a decent dry day, I'll get this lot undercoated.  

I still have the plastic Normans and dark ages warriors to assemble, but for the moment I'm going to have a rest from sticking bits of plastic together. I want to get back to some painting before I forget what the brushes are for. 

I'll do a separate post with pictures of some club games. 

Here we go in 2018 - plastics, plastics and more plastics

So the first gaming stuff of the year is underway.  Inspired by our recent Lion Rampant variant game with dark ages figures, I got a batch of Saxons and Vikings.  

Here's some of stuff so far.  The big debate I'm having is on basing and if 20mm or 25mm is best.  Initially I was thinking 20mm might do, but I've increasing come round to wanting more space around the figures.  

I also realised that by putting the figures on the sabot bases intended for 20mm bases, I was getting a different impression of the figures as a group because the sabot base works out as the equivalent of 25mm bases side by side. 

The base size debate will continue as I continue to build the figures, but I'm thinking 25mm may be best.  

And here's the other stuff waiting in the wings. Vikings and dark age warriors.  

More later.

games of 2017

I meant to do this a week ago, but here's the games I played in 2017.

Longstreet - 7 

Bolt Action - 7 

Maurice - 4

Pikeman's Lament - 4

Lion Rampant - 3

ADG - 3

Napoleonic games - 4 (2 of Over the Hills, 1 General d'Armee and 1 Sharp Practice)

Rommel and Flames of War - 2 (one of each)

Napoleonic Naval game - 1 (I think it was a Too Fat Lardies game)

Dystopian Wars - 1

Wings of Glory - 1

Commands and Colors Napoleonic Epic - 2

To the Strongest - 1

And boardgames - 11  

    Russian Campaign - 2

    Stalingrad Pocket - 1

    Squad Leader - 2  

    Battles for the Ardennes - 1

    Yom Kippur - 2

    No Retreat: the Russian Front - 3

Not a bad total for the year.  Here are the highlights (and thoughts on lowlights.)  

The high points. 

Longstreet. 

An excellent card-driven miniatures game.  I hadn't played ACW games in some 3 years, so we kicked off a Longstreet campaign.  Six of us are enjoying the games and we still have half the campaign to go.  

Bolt Action and Lion Rampant.  
Two skirmish games that continue to be fun.  We also played Pikeman's Lament a few times because it was new, but I think Lion Rampant will be the favourite using that system.  

Commands and Colors Napoleonic Epic

The Epic expansion module is the latest for the game system.  It's good, but a bit more involved and we needed more time to get through the games. I'd like to play more, but I think we're likely to play ordinary CnC and get two games in the one evening rather than play the one big game. 

No Retreat: The Russian Front
This was this years big surprise game.  It's a card supported hex game with counters representing armies and fronts.  I thought it was too high level for my interests, but I've found it to be a great game.  It plays like a normal hex and counters boardgame, but the cards add so much variation to make each game different.  I've played 3 scenarios and last week we started on a full campaign.  A great game, and so much so I bought the No Retreat: Western Desert game which uses a similar system though I've yet to play it.  

To The Strongest
Another surprise of the year. This is a card driven ancients game played on a square grid.  Although we've only managed one game so far, I found the game system really intriguing and fun.  I'm looking forward to trying this again.   

Other good games.
Maurice continues to be great fun.  A card driven horse and musket era game. 

Wings of Glory and Dystopian Wars. Both good games, but we didn't get the time to play more. 

Rommel. An interesting new game from Sam Mustafa, but we've only managed one game so far.

Low points and disappointing games. 

Napoleonic games. 

The chaps at the club flit like butterflies from rule set to rule set.  It gets frustrating, that by the time we've played a game, the next rules set has become the new fad and we get dragged down that road.  I stopped playing that many Napoleonic games even though it remains a favourite period of mine.  

For example, this year we played Over the Hills, General d'Armee and 1 Sharp Practice. If I recall correctly, General d'Armee seemed the most interesting, though despite the title, it's not an army level game. I think there's something about British rules writers that they cannot seem to get beyond a battalion and skirmish level of combat.  It seems like people get vertigo if they even think about the heady heights of higher command. Or maybe they've seen too many episodes of Sharp and think that it's the only representation of Napoleonic battles.   

I also found out what some people have said about poorly written rules by Too Fat Lardies. Early in the year we played their Napoleonic naval game, and we muddled through some of the poorly explained parts of the rules. Then, just to add to the frustration and punishment, the chaps started playing Chain of Command (with similar issues) and latterly Sharp Practice.  I've not tried Chain of Command, but I did find Sharp Practice a bit of a farce. In many key places Sharp Practice is poorly written, vague and a bit like some badly organised brain dump by the author. 

Here's an example. The Sharp Practice rules split infantry into Line and Skirmishers, each with sub-categories.  The rules give fire bonuses to the different types of skirmishers; light infantry, skirmishers and irregular skirmishers. Several people asked if these were cumulative. The author's answer was 'no', but then went on to explain that irregular skirmishers were not skirmishers. And that was it - no further explanation.  

So I'm left asking wtf ... what then are my AWI irregular frontier skirmish riflemen?  They're called skirmishers and classed as skirmishers in the army lists, but you're telling me they're not skirmishers. Bah humbug. Stuff it. I've lost interest in the Lardie jingo-ist and vague waffling approach to rules writing.  

Other than that, the games played this year were all good fun and I'm looking forward to playing many of them again.  Certainly I'm looking forward to No Retreat, Lion Rampant and To the Strongest.  

More later.