Club Gaming Weekend - 24th and 25th Sept 2011 - Spacehulking

Firstly apologies for the delay in progress on my other projects. One excuse has been the prep for a club weekend gaming session. Our gaming club is very fortunate to have access to a large hall where why usually run our annual gaming show "Gauntlet".
And a few weeks ago a few club members mentioned, wanting a weekend to run larger games that ordinarily couldn't get run in a club night. So we booked the hall and I sorted the tables and whalla. A two day gaming session was at hand.

I decided for ease and with a lack of time etc to run a game of my Spacehulk 3rd Edition the RGP I have been working on. So with four willing victims, sorry players. Two of my own sets of space hulk and one on loan. I built up a three level space hulk.

My Space Hulk Table during Saturday Break, exuse the clutter.

Each player had a single squad of five terminators. Their mission was to recover the CAT from where it had become stranded on the third level as its datacore contained vital mission data.

Each level contained a "nest", which as a secondary objective the marines were tasked with retrieving a bio sample from. Not an easy task.

Each squad contained one character, and four marines. Either a captain, an inquisitor, librarian, techmarine, apothocary or chaplain. The four players chose the captain, techmarine, librarian and inquisitor.
It was chaotic and mad fun. To say the least. 

Tyranid Nest Tile in centre ground on 2nd Level as terminators try and hold their bridge head on the level.

Ambush! The genestealers launch an ambush on the second level!

A Warrior about to give a terminator some grief!

One of the Fields of Glory Games

Warrior Heroes Game

Pony Wars - Cavalry on the move!

Indians in the hills

The cavalry preparing to ride out from the fort.

Butch and Sundance in sight of the Fort.

The Pony Express reaches Custer at the Outpost.

Having ignored the nest on the first level the marines decide to go back and finnish it off!

Troll minders keeping the wolf riders going the right way!

I didn't get any photos of the Flames of War games or the Blackpowder game that were run sorry.

Over all a great weekend. Drank copious cups of coffee and tea, the bar down stairs did excellent food at lunch time and ate far too much junk food. I don't think I have laughed quite so much during a game and usually at Tom's exspence of rolling doubles or unable to roll higher than 3 on 2D6. Despite that, my players all said they had a great time and that really is what its all about.
Might try and organise another for the spring!

Bugs - Got to love internet humour.

Though I have never to date, uploaded any kind of video to YouTube, I do trawl through it from time to time. And today I was looking for an battle report, I spotted, posted on you tube for Starship Troopers game. Somewhere at a convention in the USA, if I recall.

Anyhow, I completely failed to find it. I thought I had book marked it, but nope. Anways, I found this instead..

I commend the editor.. it seriously made me laugh!

Gifted Painters - The boundary between gaming and modelling

If you have never come across this gentleman's work before, and you are a particularly a fan of WW2 period. Then do take a moment to have flick through his blog and pictures.

Using a lot of static modelling techniques, he is able to get some outstanding finishes on what are pretty ordinary wargames models. Also he does a fair bit of alterations, such as extra stowage etc.

Now I my own painting, has improved over the years. My first ever miniatures were some dark angel beaky marines from the original platoon box set of plastics around 1990's or there abouts. They are over done, not undercoated and my brush control was dire.

Over the years, despite the periods away from the hobby, I have managed to learn a few things here and there and have even taken on the dreaded airbrush. A handy tool for bigger projects but one I am still mastering for the smaller individual pieces.

But I know, that though my painting is OK, to "table standard" as I like to refer to it. And a few people have said its better. The compliments I accept kindly. I know there are some who, through hard work and talent, do get results that are just stunning.

So have a look through the blog here. http://troopofshewe.blogspot.com/
And see what you think.

Getting side tracked. The perils of gaming.

So its Sunday night and I am looking back at what I have achieved this week. Or that should really be, what I haven't achieved this week.

Alas, the usual story struck, where I meant to do a few certain things. Not much I was thinking, but they would help keep progression with regards to my Vietnam and Starship Troopers projects. But nope. A complete fail.

Oh I can blame it on many things, and some of them are even quite legitimate excuses. But they won't change a thing. So this week I am going to try a big harder.

But I have a club gaming weekend at the end of it, and I have some figures I need to get assembled and base coated for it. I won't have time to get them completely painted, but as its a giant game of space hulk I am planning, its not a worry.

It is more board game than wargames, but as we have all weekend to play it. It should be quite fun. Will be using my home brew skirmish rule set, which contains a few RPG type elements.

Will hopefully get a few photos and get them posted up.

However, this lack of progress did get my thinking. Which is dangerous some would say.
Firstly, I am not sure if I am alone, but going by a few friends, I am not; In being unable to get regular progress made on projects. I definitely fall into the "sporadic" category.

So anyhow, before I bore you to death. Keep and eye out this week for a few posts as I try and get things rolling once more.

Enjoy!

Nerds Rule!

There are times when you see things that just make you laugh. Not because they happen to be funny, but because, they are, and more, they fit you very well.



I have to say I laughed out loud at this parody. Its so true in so many ways. If I were to count the evenings I have spent with friends and strangers around a dinning room table, gathered on the floor of a room in university hall of accomodation, roleplaying and rolling dice, it would be embarrising. So here is to all the nerds and geeks, who keep the world going and will save the day when the zombies rise!



28mm Vietnam Project - Part 5 - Basing Texture

Well, I managed to find an hour to apply some basing texture.
Having mounted the figures onto 2pence pieces like so;

FoA Vietnam Figures Mounted on 2pence pieces before texture

Now this is where personal preference tends to come in. I know many painters who do their basing texture last. However I choose to apply it now and then undercoat the figures with black or white spray depending.

For these Force of Arms Vietnam 28mm figures I am sticking to my usual texturing medium, of Basetex paint. Its a paint with grit in it basically. Now it comes in varying size pots, from 200ml size, upto 0.5ltr size. I buy the big pots for a simple reason. They have better lids and they don't dry out. Also its handy stuff and lasts a long time if sealed.
But the smaller pots I found to be a false economy if you like it. So by all means grab a small pot to try, but if you like it, make sure you use that small pot up quick. Basetex paint is made by Colourparty, here in the UK.

Now the one thing you have to note, with basetex. The consistency does not always come out the same. I mean, i have bought two pots of brown. One has come out quite viscous and easily spatulared on. And a second pot from the same batch has come out, very runny.
Now this really isn't a problem, either leave the lid off the runny stuff for a few mins and watch the liquid evaporate, or do as i have done to sometimes extend a pots life, by adding some sand. Now in the brown, you will not notice it. The brown will take extra sand, and gravel and not discolour. Lighter colours of course, may tint slightly in shade.

Now, I like it quite thick, as I use a stiff long bristle cheap nylon brush to apply it. Working the brush like a spatula. Applying the first off around the feet/centre of the model and working outwards. The liquids surface tension is pretty good, but it will settle out, and so if you have a raised area, like the base of a figure, then you need to add a little more here, to compensate.

Once I have applied enough basetex and covered the base, you could leave it like that and let is set/dry. If you do, you get a nice caked mud type finish, with drying type cracks in the odd places. Don't worry the basetex, sets like concrete!  So it really is tough stuff.

Now my preference, is to add a pinch of model railway ballast or sand/fine grit mix, here and there to break up the texture and ensure i have some areas when i come to dry brush the model bas, will pick up paint and leave a nice effect.

By sprinkling the gravel onto the wet basetext paint the majority of the gravel will sink in a little and remain well glued down. I do however, rub each figure base with my thumb, to remove and weakly bonded gravel prior to base coating, to avoid you getting "bright spots" when some comes away after base coating, as Murphy's law states it will do in the most obvious place..

So here is what they look like once textured;

Basetex Paint by colour party as base texture medium

As you can see, there are some gravel pieces near the edges and these i tend to ping out, to ensure there are non over hanging. But even as yet unpainted, the bases look pretty reasonable.
So the next step with these will be give them each a rub over, and remove the loosely bonded bits. And glue on a single M79 weapon, that comes as a separate item on one of the figures. Oh and then try and sort the lost gun barrels on a couple. Now I probably should have fixed those earlier, before mounting, but my brain was saying.. " you will have more to hold onto after basing".. time will soon tell whether my brain was right or not.

So here is a close up for those who like detail..

Close up of the textured base.

So the next step, will be glue on the M79 and sort the snapped M16 barrels and then undercoat them. However these are not my only US figures by a long shot. See some of my earlier posts and I have realised some of those were not textured either. So it looks like I might be spending a further night or two prepping before I can get around to base coating.

But will keep you in touch with progress as it occurs.  So stay tuned for the next progress report..

28mm Vietnam Project - Part 4 - Basing Begins

Ok, so firstly apologies for the lack of any substantial progress of late. But life has conspired to keep my rather busy and away from the painting table. However in a sudden fit of energy last night. I dug out my pot of 2pence pieces and my batch of Force of Arms 28mm Vietnam figures and started on the basing.

The first step was, simply to go through cleaning up the figures, trimming off flash and vent tags from the moulding. There was not a great deal, mostly vent tags, which are easy to snip off, cut off or file off, depending on your chosen technique.

There were remarkably few bits of flash to deal with. That was the good news. The bad news, was. The FoA metal is not the most bendy. I found several figures with bent gun barrels and two or three snapped upon straightening. Now this is annoying. But I have had it with other makers.

From a recent comment by John Bruce (FoA) with regards to his latest ANZACS release on TMP, I noted he has now moved to a softer metal. So obviously I was not the only one notice how brittle it could be.

Anyhow, I will try and pin those, to give a gun barrel of sorts. And it probably won't be too obvious. As these are gaming and not display models, I am not too worried. It is just slightly frustrating.

So, first step was the clean them up.. now.. a quick note on tools. A while ago I bought a seam scraper from Micromark tools over in the USA. Its a triangular shaped cutter. Its have a double ended bit and can be extended and retracted as required. And its sharp!

It flies through flash at a rate of knots. The only issue is, they are not cheap to buy, having to order from across the pond.

The postage was pretty high and I managed to avoid the tax threshold just. So quite happy with it. I spotted the tool being demoed on YouTube;

This is not the one I original spotted but that has been removed. However this one shows the tool in use. The one thing I will issue a WARNING!! about is, the point is sharp. It is very, I stress very easy to slip and jab your self with this tool. Just like hobby knives. Best treated with respect or the blood will flow! The video also shows some other tools in use.

So.. once the figures were cleaned up, it was just a case of digging out the two part, 5-minute epoxy. I use Devcon, as its never let me down in the past.

Some care needs to be taken. The inbuilt figure bases/tags with some of John's miniatures are quite small and their poses make the figure top heavy. So you have to ensure you have a pretty flat working area, or you get them toppling, whilst the glue dries. This happened to one and I have to quickly remove the still curing semi rigid epoxy with a knife and re glue it. Nothing too serious.

I mix about two penny sized blobs of resin and harnder in each batch and use a cocktail stick to mix the two, thoroughly. You can tell when it is well mixed, as the liquid will take on a frosted haze, that will clear as it sets. This is usually enough to do about 6-9 figures, depending on base size. Its easy to try and do too many in one go. And before you know it, the epoxy will begin to setup/harden and you will have fine stringers of glue, everywhere and then wham! All of a sudden its hard,, and you find your cocktail stick is now, going to have to be come part of your base.

So, small batches. It also means if you get a figure suddenly fall off the desk, or get interrupted by the phone, the cat, the dog, family etc, and you have to leave it, you only loose a little. I mix the liquids on old business cards, as they are a good size and can be scrapped off, before the excess sets, to get more than one use out of them. Be careful mind with tossing setting epoxy about the place. Its exothermic, meaning it generates some heat depending on brands/chemicals, and so can cause melting/fires in large quantities. Also don't get it on your carpet!

Right, OK here they are.. the 34 odd or so.. stuck and firmly glued.. next step will be the texturing.. which I hope to get done this evening.

Force of Arms 28mm Vietnam based on 2pence pieces

If you look carefully you will see some US infantry, including some special forces and a few VC figures in the set. These figures are nicely styled, and have some real character to them. Each figure is an individual and I do think many gamers interested in 28mm Vietnam, over look John Bruces - Junction City Range.

Basing - Choices for Starship Troopers - A dilema! Part 2

At the club, I was chatting with a club mate about the issue of basing for my Starship Troopers figures (See here for the original post ).

Having gone over the options, whilst watching a demo of the new Critical Mass Games rules and figures (15mm, see my brief comments here ).  I have decided to settle upon 2pence pieces.

Firstly they are cheap. Being only 2pence each. Secondly I have loads, pre-washed and ready.
Thirdly, they will make the plastic figures slightly more stable, as the CoG will be lower and they are slightly wider than the plastic versions they come with. And fourthly I know how to get a good basing effect with them, using basetex paint. (See this excellent guide by Matakishi)

Now this will mean I will need to look at the white metal Mobile Infantry figures, and review quite how to mount them onto 2pence pieces. Our local hardware store has miliput at around £2 a pack, for super fine, black or standard. Since my last packs went stale. Not having learnt at the time, that putting greenstuff, brownstuff or milliput etc in the freezer will extend the shelf life for years.
So, will experiment a little and see. I might need to trim the tabs down a little or i might be able to get away without. Hoping to get some basing done this weekend as i have just been too busy with other things unfortunately this last week or two.

So, check back shortly and see how I have gotten on.

Critical Mass Games - 15mm Scifi - Demo game at the Club.

A couple of guys from Critical Mass Games offered to do a demo for their new range of figures and their rule set. I have seen these being demo'ed as it were, at a few shows around the UK.
The game tables have always been nice and the figures very well present. But I have never taken the time to really study or take part. Why, I hear you cry.. well, it ain't 28mm of course!
That aside, and to be fair to the chaps, they put a good effort into it and they presented a swift and brutal game. Firstly, over looking the first fact, they are not, I repeat,not 28mm in scale. They are quite nice. Infact, I was impressed by the scaling and detail on some of the figures. Some of the styling is not too my taste, but that is the world of sci-fi. We all have our preferences.

Now the rule system, is a basic, alternative atcivation. One player, chooses a unit, and takes his actions, then vise versa untill the end. The shooting is, based on base value for the unit and then some simple modifiers, such as cover. Wounding is, is a save roll, pass or fail.
Vehicles have a simple two part damage chart, you roll to hit, you roll to penetrate. If you equal, its a roll on the minor damage. Penetrate its a major damage.

All fairly straight forward. Commanders, do a few things, and some powers/options depend on each race. Army lists are point-ed and 1500 pts is about the smallest game.

So far so good.., ok, not quite. As it stands, a basic army looks around £80! Ouch!
The rule system is ok. The rule book, however looked a little light. Firslt, no solid, comprehensive index.

If you want to rate a set of rules. Start with the index. If a rule set is well written, its index, will be simple, effective and comprehensive. i.e., so you can find all the bits and bobs, when you need it, as you learn. Not have to wade through reading the same chapter on shooting, each time a differing variation arrives.

Secondly the production was soft spine, perfect bound and what appeared as standard heat bond lazer printing. The paper is non glossy and I have a suspiciouns, after long use the text may smudge. It just looked that way, but I could be very wrong.

So, no I won't be rushing out to buy the rules. They aren't bad, just they they failed to grab me.

BUT, that aside.. the figurs are interesting. They are varied, and I was impressed by some of the vehicle basing and design.

The game played ok. I think its a marmite thing. I can see some people loving it. Some people hating it.

It did not light my fires, but then I am hard to please. Hell, I am damned hard to please!
So, I would give the mini's a B+. Their pricing, a C- and their rules a D-.

Basing - Choices for Starship Troopers - A dilema!

Ok, firstly an apology for the lack of progress on the Vietnam and Starship Troopers fronts. I am just getting over a bug, (no pun intended) that struck over the last couple of weeks.

However, now wishing to make some progress on at least one of my current two projects. I have hit a snag. Its quite a big one. Basing!

The SST figures, in their original format came on some plain plastic bases, 25mm black round solid or slotted, for the plastic and white metal infantry. The bugs as a whole are free standing.

Now, the issue is due to picking up a few packs etc second hand, I am short of bases. Also I am not a major fan of plastic bases. Generally using my 2pence pieces for everything else.
But nearly everything else I have does not have white metal tags. And so to use 2pence pieces. I would have to trim these down slightly or even completely for the white metal MI figures.

The other options is to use the rounded bases. The ones with a central depression and black raised and rounded edge. I have never used these and have no idea how tricky they are.

Generally my basing style is, to fit the figure to the 2pence, with epoxy. Its tough and not had any come loose yet! Even when trod upon. (Not recommded). The metal figure bent rather than detach. Not sure that was good, but then treading on your precious miniatures is not recommended.

Once the glue is dry. I tend to layer on some Basetex paint. Sprinkle a bit of model railway ballast on in patches to give some texture variety and then leave to dry. Rub off any un-glued ballast and figure is ready to undercoat.

Now I prefer to base then undercoat and I am sure others will choose the reverse. But now I am still ensure which way to go.

Looking at Dropships Site and his MI platoon.

Photo from Dropship.org.uk

You can see the original mongoose plastic bases are perfectly servicable. They are near if not identicle to the standard games workshop infantry bases.

But I I am wondering if the figures will look better on these. 

I suspect the answer will not arrive untill I try all three options and decide which I like the most.

High Priced Miniatures - Crazy! Where will it end?

Well a post over on TMP, showed these lovely minis. Don't they look nifty. 28mm Scale (apparently being 40mm tall) and the kind of thing that would fit in many a sci-fi game. Be it an army, a skirmish force..

Studio McVey Miniature

Studio McVey Miniature

Now before you do as I did, think.. "stunning, time to get the plastic out".. the price is £21.99. Yes, you read it right. £21.99. Oh plus £2.95 for postage on top.

Now, I have not come across this company before; http://studiomcvey.highwire.com/ 
and they may be a classic one man band type, and yes resin is pricey stuff. But I just am shocked by the price of a single figure. Yes I know Games Workshop are heading toward this price range per single figure. But their sales are dropping like I stone I have been told.


As someone who ran his own business, I don't begrudge people making money. But I will be very surprised if they manage to sell vast numbers. Such a shame too, as the figures are gorgeous. The very impressive paint job helps too of course.

Will we see a 28mm figure costing £30 by the end of 2012? I hope not..!

Rippler Bugs Sir! Thousands of them..

Ok, so not quite thousands. Infact 9, shiny news ones.

Starship Troopers Miniatures Game Rippler Bugs

I mentioned winning these in my last post, about flight stands. And they arrived today.
I thought at the time, I had two other boxes, maybe three. Infact this is number 4. All still sealed. So I now have 36 Rippler Bugs. If you have not seen the animated series entitled "Roughnecks", check out You-tube. The entire series has been uploaded. Anyhow, in the series there are three types of Rippler bug. Basic ripplers. Acid Ripplers and Kamakaze Ripplers.
So at least now I will be able to paint up some variations and field some rather large swarms. The MI have a few AA capable tools, and I have some Nighthawk marauders in my collection. So these along with my hopper bugs, of which I have 21. Then I should be well catered for arial targets.

I hope to do a few construction reviews as I go. Purely for nostalger as these figures are now long OOP and sadly unlikley to ever be re-released. Shame as the game was fun.

On a side note, these now bring my "Bug Collection", to a grand total of some 260 individuals in total. Hmm that is a lot of painting and building ahead. I really should crack on and get some more done.

Mobile Infantry Fortress

One of the most memorable scenes from the original Starship Troopers film is the attack on Whiskey Outpost.

Image from: http://www.theastrocowboy.com/Mlist/sst.htm

The classic "last stand" type game. And one that SST naturally lends it self too. Hordes of bugs, swarming the walls, as a meager band of heroes try and hold out, till rescue arrives.

Now, tactically the Hollywood factor has been applied badly here. The big surrounding cliffs etc mean for ease of overlooking and the stalk like structure means any bug with half a brain would simply use their powerful jaws to cut them apart and bring down the walls. But hey, don't let any form of logic interfere.. ;)

Well criticism aside for now. The campaign I am planning to run for SST will require some kind of "base of operations" for the Mobile Infantry Force. And it would of course be silly to turn down the opportunity to play a siege type game.

So a week or two ago I posted this picture;

The mystery parts!

And asked if anyone could guess what they were. Well no one quite got there. So its time to reveal, yes, you should have worked it out now.. that its a space ship!

Only kidding. It is indeed a fortress. Well in fact two parts of a prototype modular design create by my self and copyrighted (Copyright 2011).

The four strange E shaped piece, are the main structure, the larger being a base, onto which the three smaller pieces fit. The larger crenelated piece is the front facing wall and the smaller plain rectangle with the cut outs is in fact the upper walk way supported on top of the upper pieces of the E shapes.

The two hexes and four smaller crenelated pieces are actually a tower/corner/hard point unit.

In theory, a series of wall sections and the towers should allow for a variety of shapes and designs in a stable (able to support he 60mm larger bases of SST Marauder Suits, M8's M9's etc and the reliant weapon platforms.

I have to thank Steve here, who has diligently played around with the laser cutter, to get these parts into reality. It is a prototype and I can definitely see some modifications being needed. But in principle I am very pleased with how it had some out.

I was hoping to get the parts put together but have not manage that yet. Might do later this week.

So what do you think?

That plastic stuff - you know, 20mm..

In an effort to be fair to the gaming world and not be seen as too narrow minded. Yes 28mm is king and for ever shall be! But there are other scales available for people to use. And admitedly one of the more popular is 20mm or 1/72nd as some refer to it.

And, if you are a fan of this smaller scale, and like your historical gaming, then if you have not already discovered the following blog, you might wish to take a moment to have a read.

Will have probably been gaming longer than I have been on this mortal coil, and when he is not gloating over crushing victories happens to be a reasonable chap and a fellow club mate.

His collection of 20mm plastic is mind boggling. By some estimates its over 10,000 and probabaly a lot more. He certainly is a busy bloke at times.

Wargame Shows and Calendar for the UK

The popularity of Wargames and Gaming related shows has definitely grown in recent years.
I enjoy wandering around then, not only for the opportunities to buy figures etc direct from traders and see new things. But many operate a bring and buy stall where you can list for a small fee and sale percentage, items you no longer want or need.

The number of shows each year seems to be on the increase though there are a few well established ones, which attract thousands of visitors, and tend to run for two days over a weekend.

For me, one of the best shows is WMMS, as it tends to be the first show of the year. Its only an hour or so down the road and is large enough to have a variety of periods and scales covered, but not too large, as to be a chore to navigate, and require reinforced elbow pads, merely to progress through great hordes of the unwashed.

Talking of unwashed. Seriously, this is one aspect of the wargaming hobby that needs to be resolved. Seriously, wargamers, tend carry the geek label. And frankly, many deserve it. Hell I am a geek and proud of it, so that frankly does not bother me. But I also know what a shower is, and what soap is used for. OK it may be a bit out of date, technology wise, as it is not blue tooth enabled and generally does not have any form of app to plug into it.

Without any jest, at the last two shows I have attended, I have had to walk away from either trade stands or the bring and buy stall due to the proximity of pungent odours from the great unwashed. One smelling so badly of urine, it physically caused me to gag.

I know show arenas and halls get hot, lots of hot air, etc etc, but frankly, there is no excuse not to make an effort at least.

Right rant over! For now at least..

If you are looking for a good list of wargames shows, well the closest you will find and is generally accurate and updated frequently for the UK is; 

http://www.newarkirregulars.org.uk/calendar2011.html#UK

As you can see, there is hardly a month, without at least two or three shows in it. Sadly for me, as I have a self imposed ban on going anywhere near London due to the stupid travel costs , mean Triples and Derby are about as far as I go.

Flight Stands and Compulsive Disorders

I spotted some Startship Troopers Rippler Bugs (A mega swarm box of 9 highly detailed plastic miniatures) on ebay and bid for it. That was whilst I was over at a friends. And I won. And having gotten home and checked my careful excel spread sheet, knowing I already had a couple of boxes and thought a 3^rd would do nicely. Discovered… I now have four! Oops.

Well you can never have enough rippler bugs ;)

Whilst I wait for this latest unplanned purchase to arrive, I was contemplating the basing of flying models and flight stands. I recently made two stands for 28mm scale aircraft for my moderns games. Getting the balance of height and stability is the tricky part.

I was fortunate that the end look, using 6mm acrylic dowel came out nicely.

A10 Warthog on home made flight stand.

Diecast Apache Gunship on home made flight stand.

Both models being 28mm in scale roughly, are quite heavy. The Apachie is a diecast metal model and so fairly heavy. Both are detachable for transport.

Now I know from previous experience, that the small plastic flight stands that come with the likes of GW and the old SST figures are not that strong. The plastic is quite brittle and the mounting pin or lug, that slots into the figure are weak.  Given my Rippler and other flying bugs and WASP equipped MI Troopers, all have these supplied with them. I can see me having a few breakages and then the frustration of repairing them. Infact one of the wasp troopers I bought already painted a while back as snapped already.
Using 6mm, acrlic, is just not suitable for smaller models (though the rippler bugs are not that small).
So I was intruiged when a few years ago now I cam across the excellent site "Tanks and Trolls" at the time I was discussing airbrushing with the author. If you have a moment, take a look around some of his galleries. The painting is inspiring. Anyhow, he mounted his Rippler Bugs at varying hights on what appears  to be stiff wire.

Photo from Tanks and Trolls Website - SST Rippler Bugs

I liked the fact the stands were unobtrusive and had a variety of hights. Wire should also not snap, though may bend of course.  The rippler bugs are plastic models and so weight is not a major issue, though they are quite large as far as plastic models go and so getting the centre of gravity right, will be key.

I was fortunate with both the Apache and the A10, there was a conveient holes in the bottom of both models, meaning I just had to taper the acrylic rods to fit. On the Apache, the whole was forward fo the CoG, so I had to drill a hole across the rod, at an angle and mount a piece of stiff piano wire into it, to push the tail of the apache up, to give it that classic nose down "in flight/attack" stance.

Now I just need to find some suitable wire, that will be stiff enough to be durable, but not too stiff or brittle that i cannot bend/shape the base to attach it to bases. I can some a few experiments ahead.

Operation "Table Clear" - The continuation

Warning - A waffly post ahead.. read if you lack sleep or are just bored..

I spent yesterday hunting for some Vietnam figures and also trying to bring order to the chaos that is my painting room and liberate the painting table from the evil forces of clutter.

For some reason I go through phases of painting, then stop for a while and so on and so forth. The net result is, the painting table becomes cluttered, with various things and thus if my motivation is low, I tend to use it as an excuse not to paint and thus prolonging the time between painting phases.

I have finally had enough, and so its time to look at firstly getting the table clear, and secondly better storage sollutions for my paints, my tools, and miniatures.

As a compulsive horder of miniatures, I have a mass of WW2, Starship Troopers and Vietnam, along with some other Moderns etc etc, that all take up space. The attic has been over run and the shelves I bought recently been filled. The worrying fact is, that most of this is with miniatures that have yet to be painted, and so sit densely packed. Once painted they will take up a lot more space. So somewhere something is going to have to go!

I have already this year, sold off some 40K pieces, and have some others lined up for the bring and buy at Derby this year.

I am probably not alone, amoungst gamers in having amassed too much stuff, all with great intentions, but facing the reality that half may not see paint or a gaming table, this side of 5 years from now. On top of this, I have run out of space to store things.

The Starship Troopers Miniatures, I have just started on as a secondary project to my current Vietnam one, will take up a "lot" of space once done!. Each warrior bug is equivelant in space terms for about 6-8, standard 28mm WW2 figures. Thankfully they are durable and need little in the way of protection as such. So can go en-masse into a big storage box. Given I have 80 or so of these, I am hoping I can get the majority into a 35ltr or 40ltr storage box. But at the moment, I don't know where I will put them.

So the next day or two the plan is to try and sort a more semi permenant solution for the paints and tools etc on the table as a start. Whilst I review other options for figure storage.

Starship Troopers The Miniatures Game by Moongoose

When I got back into wargaming back around 2008. One club night I was invited to take part in a game of Startship Troopers. Run as a multi player game with each player controlling one squad, and using the basics of the Mongoose Publishing rule system, but not quite in its intended way. It was a great game, and the next day I had a trawl through the net looking for sets. It was just after Mongoose had stopped producing it I discovered to my dissmay and many places had sold out sadly.

Well in the years since I have played a few more games and picked up the odd pack and box set here and there. Then about two months ago I was looking for some figures I had bought and put in the attic for safe storage. During the search, I found a couple of those "anonymous brown boxes". You know the kind that you stuff things into prior to bunging them in the attic, whilst at the time telling your self, you will of course remember in a year or two exactly whats in them.

Needles to say, the first two had a few bits of SST in them, some Mobile Infantry and some Arachnid units. Well as my search went on, and on for the elusive figures I could have sworn were lurking in the attic, I discovered more SST packs. After about an hour, I realised that my collecting, buying the odd pack here and there off eBay, through shops etc, had kind of grown just a little.

And in fact I had completely lost track of what I had. So I set about digging it all out, once I located the missing figures, which as fate would have it, were not in the attic, but in fact in my painting room, in another "abb".

So out of the attic it all came, and came, and came. It took most of an afternoon. A swift excel spread sheet later and I suddenly realised what had started as a minor project of interest. Now consisted of over 1000 figures, needing building and painting. I wish I could say it was a complete collection, but it isn't (see my wanted list in the topics). 

Soon after the first game, I had the idea of eventually running a campaign. Partly inspired from watching the animated "Roughnecks" series. Which if you haven't seen is available on you tube. Not strictly in keeping with original Starship Troopers Book (or movie film) it, is closer than the latter is though.

The campaign idea, was to give a player a basic set force structure, a map and have them select what they wish to commit in way of forces to which locations and which objectives. I will run the bugs and the plot as such and leave the player to make his descisions. It sounded so simple when I first thought of it and talked it through with a friend who wants to play the MI.

So, any how. The challenge is now, to try and get these done. I love the figures and rules, but have to profess that constructing the figures, particularly the plastic ones is timely. I actually put 14 or so of the warrior bugs togather a while ago and started on some troopers.
But at the time I go distracted with my 28mm WW2 collection, so they got tucked away.

Mongoose Starship Troopers The Miniatures Game - Basic Box Sets

So how many bugs does one need? I have 80 or so, to be built and painted. The majority coming in the basic box sets (above) which should contain 20 each, but two of the sets I bought were part used and from bring and buys at shows. And so as a core for my bug army, I have around 80 of these delightful plastic nightmares, sorry marvels to build..  The figures l ook great once done, but if anyone else has ever tried to assemble these, they will know, they really do push ones patience a little.

However I am committed (or should that "be") to getting these done. Few gaming systems, give me that teenage tingle of excitement, that thrill that for inexplicable reasons, just hooks you to something.The first was Rogue Trader, back in the day, then WW2, in 28mm and now definitely SST.

So, keep an eye out as the project progresses.
Also if you happen to have any bugs etc you don't want or need, I may be able to offer them a good home. :)

28mm Vietnam Project - Part 3 - NVA and VC so far.

Along with my US forces, I have also been picking up the odd VC/NVA figure or two.. infact a few more than I had realised in total.

So here we go;

Mix of TAG and Baker Company NVA/VC

Mix of Baker Company & Westwind NVA/VC

I won't go into a list of the exact details here for the NVA/VA forces. But just say the eventual aim is to get to a platoon of NVA, a platoon of VC, with supporting units such as mortors, DsHK's, and sappers.
Depending on which OOB's you wish to believe from which rule sets, I should have just about enough figures with these shown here, and the few FoA VC figures in Part 1.

I have a few Westwind figures mixed in here with mostly Baker Company and Assault group. In the first photo are some painted and undercoated TAG figures I won off ebay. Some need a touch up, but otherwise the paint work is neat and tidy. So will do. Eventually I will probably replace them, but for now they give me a head start on getting the communist forces going.

Figure range wise, westwinds figures are a little smaller. Some people viewing them as more toward 25mm than 28mm. Some of the casting quality has started to suffer, and I suspect the moulds are getting a little dated and need re-mastering. I bought the heavy weapons pack at a show a year or two ago and the flash, on the figures and the machine gun is some of the worst I have ever seen. Its not a huge deal, but it is anouying at times.

Some of the figures have been based, and others not, so amoungst the first task, along with my free world forces will be to get them based and the bases textured. Again will be using British 2pence coins and Basetex paint and railways gravel.

Undercoating I can do all year round, as I invested in an extraction spray booth a few years back, having found every time I want to spray figures, the weather was grim. That and I bought an air brush for painting vehicles. Having worked in environmental issues for years and knowing the risks from dust inhalation, believe me. If you cannot afford an extractor, get a good mask. Infact I use both when spraying indoors just to be sure.

Undercoating wise, I use GW or HMG black undercoat in the main. Though recently with my Empress/Mongrel Moderns I used white. I have in the past used Halfords (car parts supplier for those not in the UK) grey primer. The only issue is, it comes out of the can like a flame thrower..! Its easy to over do it a little, so if you plan to use it, then work with the can held a good way back and gradually build up the coat.

Tip: A lot of recent resin models, are made with polyeurathane resins and some of these do not allow primers such as HMGs or GW's to adhere to the paint surfaces. It looks ok at first, but other time the paint begins to flake. This is despite thoroughly washing the models in detergent before spraying.

The cure is to use, a plastic primer. Halford do one and apparently that adheres far better.
I had not noticed any issue, till my JTFM WW2 models got a bit older. I will have to strip some of them I fear. And my recent Imprint models.

Right I am digressing.. so back to Veitnam..
Once I have the figures, cleaned up, based and undercoated. I will go through the painting schemes.

28mm Vietnam Project - Part 2 - Rest of the US todate.

Following on from here having slightly recovered from the bug that put and early end of operation Table Clear and attempts to liberate the painting table from the clutches of "p.o.j" (piles of junk), I managed to find a couple of anonymous looking brown boxes. Vaguely remembering something linking them with my Vietnam gaming, rash eBay purchase and blaming my self for a faulty memory, I discovered they did contain 28mm white metal and in fact that belonging to my Vietnam collection.

So here we have the remainder of the forces I am starting the project off with to date;

Free World (Continued from Part 1)

Baker Company Blisters and TAG 0.5cal US Infantry Figures

Two storage trays of mostly Baker Company US infantry

As you can see.. in addition to the packs of Force of Arms packs I have picked up over the last couple of years a reasonable number of Baker Company miniatures and the odd The Assault Group one or two.

I have found that these three figure ranges though having slightly different sculpting styles, fit together quite well. Though other ranges like Parkfield and the new one from Ebob, Recons ranges may fit, I have yet to see them in the flesh. So couldn't say for certain.

In total I should have enough for a reinforced US infantry platoon. I won't be making them unit specific as such, as I try and keep my forces as flexible in terms of periods and units I can choose to represent with them, as I can.

For now some are based, basing being the good old British 2pence coin and texture provided by Basetex Paint from Colour Party (not yet applied) with some model railway ballast sprinkled to provide some rough patches. The same technique I have used for much of my WW2 figures. I like the finish and the durability. I have yet to have a figure come loose or detached. I use 5 minute devcon two part epoxy resin adhesive to mount each figure once they have been cleaned. Once based they will be undercoated ready for painting. 

So the next step for these is to get cleaning up the FoA and remaining Baker Company pieces and then to mount and texture the bases as above in preparation for undercoating. 

For the eagle eyed out there, you will notice some downed aircrew figures in the bottom left hand corner of the right hand tray. And below them, some civilian figures. Mostly farmers and labourers. I plan to do these as the same time as I do the US figures. 

Figures Wanted - Do you have them to trade or sell?

There are a few figures from differing periods and or systems that I am hunting for. If you happen to have them, or know someone who does and are willing to trade or sell them, then please drop me a line.

28mm WW2 Wanted
Pak36 by Boltaction
Pak88 by Boltaction
Partizans by Boltaction

28mm Starship Troopers (SST) by Mongoose Publishing
MI Veteran Cap Troopers 
MI Reliant Gun Platforms
MI Fleet Landing Party
MI Grizzly Marauder Suits
MI Cougar Marauder Suits -
MI Pathfinders
Arachnid Cliff Mites
Arachnid Mantis Hunter Bug
Arachnid Brain Bug
Arachnid Guard Bugs

Pathfinder Amry Book
MI Army Book
Skinnie Army Book

Forth Miniatures - Any

Vietnam 28mm - New Australians from Force of Arms

The following was posted by John Bruce, from Force of Arms over on TMP.

"Talking about Force of Arms – as I might, is this a good time to draw your attention to our New figure Range in the Operation Series – this time Australians

Op Hammer, 5RAR at Binh Ba 1969
RAR01 Infantry Squad (8): 1@ M16, M60 & M79; 8 x SLR £8.00 GBP
RAR02 Pl HQ (4): 2 x M16 – 1 w/PRC25, 2 x SLR at £5.00 GBP
RAR-Pl Platoon Pack: 3 x RAR01, 1x RAR02 + 2 special figures(Mortar Fire Controller w/Owen SMG and Scout w/M16) for £29.00 GBP

Updated list just on site – photos will follow, when I get the camera back!

All best John FoA

Oh yes and we've a great range of Australian armour too " < original post from here; http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=240309

The one force I have not got in my own collection to today are Australians. Their forces though small in number, played a big part  during the conflict. Their contribution and proffesionalism is sometimes majorly over looked.

So, these will definitely on the list of get in the near future. For the moment I have my hands full with the last batch of US infantry I picked up from John, so till they are done these just remain on the "wants" list.

Recon Mission at the Club.

Thursday nights is club nights and Tom had recently finished painting his 28mm WW2 Ranger Platoon. So having had a break from playing Rules of Engagement, I dug out my trust basic german grenadiers platoon. Actually based on a luftwaffe field regiment platoon. Ie, very basic low quality troops.

We rolled "recon" in the mission settings, ie, both rolling a 1 on the scenario selection chart.
Its a tricky game. One player sets up with hidden tokens but is "unpreppared", and his oponent has to basically uncover/detect as much of the force as he can.

It proved that rangers a tough foe to take on. Thankfully depsite a few rounds of bad, dice, I was able to get a few LMGs to concentrate fire and then the numbers started to tell. But my mortor was dire! The dreaded 81mm, was not quite so dreaded.. I must have had 3 dud rounds at least in the game. But it was good to get back to playing RoE, having been diverted into a few other things of late.

You cannot beat a good game of WW2. And given the massive lead mountain i own, which is now accompanied by a large resin pile. Its something I should work on. But my vietnam comes first.

Sorry for lack of photos, but I managed to leave the camera behind.

Next time.

Ebay Selling - 28mm Mongrel Mujahideen / Taliban etc

Found a couple of packs of 28mm Mongrel Miniatures, that I did not need and so have listed them on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250878380732
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250878383199

28mm Vietnam Project - Part 1 - First Batch

I have intended to spend this weekend starting on my 28mm Vietnam Figures. I have amassed a fair number, mostly baker company, force of arms and some odd TAG or Westwind ones. But I was not feeling to well, so Operation Table Clear was postponed after starting, but not before i discovered an anonymous brown paper bag. Inside it contained, the last lot of figures I bought from John Bruce at Force of Arms. And one of my favourite models. The M48A3. 

However my joy was slightly tempered when having liberated the bag from where it had obviously fallen from my painting table clutter. I discovered some of the M16 barrel tips were badly bent. And one had snapped. Possessing some fine drill bits, I will attempt to repair them with some fine brass wire. Not something I have had to attempt before, but will give it a try.

So here is the Patton- or M48A3 in all her 1/56th Scale Glory awaiting assembly.




M48A3 Patton Tank by Force of Arms in 1/56th Scale

M48A3 of Troop A, 3d Squadron, 5th Cavalry "Black Knights"

 The kit looks fairly straight forward to assemble and as usual with John Bruce's work, the detail is very good. A little resin flash, around areas like the muzzle break but nothing too serious. A couple of minor air bubbles again around the muzzle break, but these should be easily filled. I have had a lot worse from far bigger producers.

The figure range he does, called "Junction City" covers some interesting subjects and poses. And some handy figures, such as RTO's and FOO's as well as two natty reporters in fatigues with camera and note pad. I just don' think my painting skills are up to the standard of getting the peace symbols lapel badges quite yet.

Force of Arms 28mm Vietnam Figures from Junction City Range

Having liberated these from the jungle of the floor in my painting room, the next step will be clean, wash, base and texture the bases before under coating. And also repair the couple of busted barrels. This will officially be the first stage in my Vietnam Project.

Army Press Crew FoA Figures

You will have to excuse the poor camera work here. But I just wanted to show two of my favourite figures. Probably not the most tacticle battle winning unit in the game, but for sheer character and helping to capture the Vietnam figure, you cannot realy not have a reporter on the battle field, getting in the way and point his camera lens at the CO at the most inappropriate times.. and I also love the poses and sculpts. They should look like this once painted.

Photo Courtesy of John Bruce of Force of Arms

And thus the Vietnam project begins. Check back for the next update.

Operation "Table Clear" Begins

I am probably not alone in having the dilemma, that I simply don't have the space I would like to store my hobby stuff and so, am stuck cramming what I can, in where it fits. And the same goes for my painting table. Which periodically gets overwhelmed with piles of bits. Sometimes gaming related, other times not. And so I am now faced with this!

The Painting Table - It is under there somewhere!

And so "Operation Table Clear" swung into action today. Sadly courtailed due to me not feeling well, but I got a bit done. 

On a more practicle and informative note, to my rambling. Though cluttered and a mess. There is a logic to the layout. I have two day light lamps with floruescent bulbs that I can pose and move round. The reason for two, to counter the contrast shadow! Ie, one lamp gives heavy shadow in the opposite direction. So haveing two, facing roughly 45 degrees toward each other when I am paitning helps cut the shadows and see the detail properly. That way I know for sure, when I accidently paint over it and can curse accordingly. Yes we have all done it, havent we?

At the base of the right hand lamp is a stack of paintbrushes and pots i store them in, sometimes. I work with a range of brushes, but for figures I have been using the sable brushes by EM-4 Miniatures. They are not Series-7 quality, but they are good. The other big thing I use, and is hidden in that pile somewhere, is a pot of "The Masters Brush Soap". Its seriously good stuff. If you want to keep your paint following off your brushes and make your bristles last. Then buy some. Its not cheap, for the amount you get, but it lasts a long time, so don't worry when you see the size of the pot. It helps condition the bristles of sable brushes. It keeps the organic oil content up and thus helps retain an even flow and surface tension, meaning you don't get blobbing of paint or streaking as badly as you drag the bristles over you figure or surface.

It is also handy for recovering brushes which have accidentaly been left to dry solid with paint on. Simple brush across the soap, slightly wetted and leave for a few hours. Wash out and repeat and even the worst caked bristles can be liberated. It also works on oils, enamels and acrylic paints I believe. Though I solely use water based acrylics for my miniatures.

I have two pots of water on that table. A wash pot, or Jam-jar where I wash out, my brushes between colours. And the small blue egg cup. I use this to hold distilled water. Why distilled water.. ie the stuff for car batteries. Because minerals in water, like carbonates etc can effect our paint colours over time as they oxidise. Ie the lime scale factor. By keeping my dilution water separate, I avoid tainting the paint on the pallet and so get less wastage.

Talking of paints, I use cheap plastic art pallets, but have been tempted to try a "wet palette". If you don't know what one is, look it up on you-tube for the moment. I will do a full review once I give it a try and see how it work with the paints I use.

I tend to work with one colour at the time. I try and ensure I have all my paints to hand, but have a separate storage box for those, I keep by the side of the table. I tend to take out about four or five colours at a time and work with those,, painting my miniatures from the inside out. Ie lower layers of cloths, then out layers and finally shoes, and webbing, kit, armour, etc.
Once I have it tied up, I will run over the benefits of a well laid out work space.

But at least my shelves are holding up to the weight of white metal..

The majority of what is on the black shelves is 28mm White Metal WW2 Figures, and 1/56th Scale Vehicles. Infact the clear 35ltr storage box, contains over 30 or more. I am surprised the shelves haven't collapsed.

So my intended productive day of tidying up, went by the wayside, due to not feeling to well. But at least i located my first bag of vietnam figures from Force of Arms. See my next post.

Terrain - Can you guess what it is?

I have a long running project on the go. I will explain more about it later in the week, but for now, can you guess what these pieces are for?

It is terrain and for 28mm scale, thats all the clues I am giving for now.

Text Colour - Is it easy to read?

Hi Folks,
I recently put a post up on TMP, to let people know about the blog and a comment was made the white text was not showing up well enough against the background. The background photo, does have some heavy lighting, (which apparently looks like snow, when it isn't. lol).

So if anyone is having a problem with the text, please let me know and I will tinker with the colours etc. For me, it looks quite good and i don't find any problems reading it. But I know some monitors these days can do funny things. So you if you think it can be improved or even if its ok and you like it, please post a comment.