All the Things on My Hobby Workbench

Mordheim Game

2011-12-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

The start of the Mordheim campaign is rapidly approaching and it still looks as if we will have a good number of players. As I stated before, I don't think we will have enough ruined buildings to play a strictly Mordheim game. So I've changed the theme a bit. I will include the Empire in Flames rules and set the game in the Border Princes. It will be centered around the city-state of Masserschloss. The campaign map is shown below.

Background:

After the Great War against Chaos, Magnus the Pious razed the remaining ruins of Mordheim, and had the name of Mordheim stricken from every history record available. This turned out to be a great disappoint for a number of warbands just recently arrived in the vicinity looking for loot. Most of those warbands returned to whatever nefarious occupation they previously held. But a determined few heard of rumors of a piece of the comet that had broke away and struck in the Border Princes region.

As the various warbands headed south they became aware of additional information and rumors.

The wayward comet piece broke up into an additional 6 pieces.

The largest of those fell on Konrad's Kote.

Konrad was a reluctant (but not THE) hero of the Empire. He founded his own community in the Border Princes region after a 'misunderstanding' with some Empire officials.

Another piece fell in the woods near Pendor Hill.
A third piece fell near Gryphon's Crag, an area village originally settled by a group from Tilea.
A forth piece fell in some desert ruins.
A fifth piece fell near the Empiresque town of Gunther's Foot.
A final piece fell in a ruined keep south east of Masserschloss.

In additional to Wyrdstone, rumors are heard of other equally valuable treasures and money making opportunities.

There may still be gold in the abandoned gold mine town of Goldstone.
A powerful artifact of Nagash is said to reside in the Bone Tower.
There is a bounty on some bandits residing in Quaterain.
Some cultists are operating a gem mine at a nearby volcano.
It is said there is a cache of magical weapons in some Dwarven Ruins.
There is a reward for the capture of some notorious mercenary captains who are currently attending the infamous Mercenary Court held every 4 years. This time, the court is being held in Dove's Landing.

Campaign Rules:

I plan on using the standard Mordheim rules with the additional rules from Empire in Flames. We will schedule a game once a month. That way people who miss the odd month will still be able to keep their warbands competitive. I will officiate over the games and in case of an odd number of players, play against the odd person out. Most games will take place at the Wyrdstone locations. Those are the green skulls on the map. When I have to play a game, it will take place at one of the adventure sites, the red skulls on the map. Adventure site battles will be unique and allow players to gain 'treasures' unavailable any other way. Hopefully, every player will have an opportunity to play such a game.

Prepainted (Whole) Buildings for Mordheim

2011-11-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

As I work getting ruined buildings put together, I thought, 'if need be, I can have a table with some of my pre-painted Medieval buildings on it.' It doesn't have the affect of a ruined city, and I need more small things to act as barricades and cover, but it doesn't like pretty nice. (For something that isn't a fully terrained board.)

The table area here is a bit more then 4x4. I took pictures from two of the sides. These are buildings I've been collecting for years going 10 years back. It seems like every year I'd go to Little Wars and come back with a building to two. I started with Pegasus buildings, then one year I got the EM4 inn and the next year or so I got the EM4 fortified farm stand. In that time, I had also picked up some MBA buildings here and there.

It ends up being an expensive if purchased all at once. I got a deal on most of these buildings and the purchases were spread out over a good deal of time. So the hit to the wallet was not too bad.

Mage Knight Castle

2011-10-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the Mage Knight Castle stuff I have. It is a nice set and very versatile.

I just thought I'd toss it out there.

Mordheim Table

2011-10-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here was a table layout I had intended to use for Mordheim.

The table is 4x8 and ended up being a bit sparse for Mordheim. Still, I'm keeping this table setup for a while so I can get some games of Tomorrow's War in. Also, it is a great table for Grot commandos to spar over.

Looking at it, I have enough terrain for a 4x4 table of Mordheim. Given the number of people interested in playing Mordheim, I'll need a whole lot more. Granted, other players will be bringing their stuff, but I think I'll need to provide a dense 4x8 setup. So, with need for more terrain, I started scratching building some.

This piece is rather long, it is about 30 inches in length, 4+ inches in depth and three stories. The initial cardboard construction was rather fast. Adding in the wood support details and stucco has slowed things down a lot. Like a lot of real med/ren era city blocks, the houses here are built one next to the other. Now instead of building a bunch of different small buildings that could be pushed together, I went for one large on. I'll only be doing this once, (maybe twice) as I like the modular buildings. But my reasoning here was thus, building one large one should get together a bit faster and I can add in special design features that would be more difficult in a modular setup.

The main feature here is that a model can go from one end of the building to the other without leaving the building. But it is not a straight shot, the model has to go up and down and twist around. Models can also enter the back and come out the front. Plus it will have some dead ends and secret rooms. The ability to move 30 inches and never leave cover is a boon for warbands in Mordheim.

Lastly, here is a picture of some odds and ends useful for Morheim.

Barrels, crates, furniture, and assorted medieval stuff helps fill out a Mordhiem board. A lot of work can go into putting the small stuff out. It often goes unnoticed when playing. Though it is worth the effort as one really notices the lack of such things.

Terrain for Mordheim - Building and Priming

2011-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is the first post for the hobby-a-day project. I'll refrain from making reference to that in the future but as this being the 1st I thought it appropriate.

I built the GW Temple of Skulls and repaired the Dreadstone Tower.

Construction of the temple was quite easy. It just involved putting together the pylons and adding three large skulls. For the tower, I had to reglue the top floor. That one doesn't seem to have a good joint to glue too and I may need to add something again to strength it.

I primed both the temple and the tower. I also primed some fence pieces from both the GW graveyard and fence packs. Lastly, I've included a sneak peek of the Tuesday blog entry.

100th Post - A Giant Milestone

2011-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not. But I do have giants - GW Giants. Here is a collection of some of the giants GW has made through the years. I have included a Pit Fighter and Ogre in the front to give some perspective on size. The big one in the middle is a Forgeworld giant and the one to his right is the earliest GW (Citadel) giant I own.

More info on Citadel giants can be found here.

The Workbench has reached capacity!

2011-10-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Too many different projects and none of them are gettingdone because of life. Well for the past two months I’ve been cleaning up and organizingmy hobby stuff but I haven’t put a lot into actually doing my hobby stuff. So I’m going to try and change that. StartingMonday, I’ve vowed to work at least a half hour on hobby stuff every day andwrite about it here. (Edit: As much fun as describing how I put each and every plank on my ruined building sounds, I think I'll not post everyday.) What I will count towards that half hour will either begaming or modeling. Since it is easier, and more sensible for this blog,modeling will make up most of my posts. But since I do play Warhammer FantasyRoleplay 2^nd edition every Wednesday, I’ll drop a note about that aswell. This was all spurred on by my dusty crusty friend at ‘From the dust ofthe Ancients,’ here: http://chaingunblues.blogspot.com/He will be doing the same thing and to make things more interesting, we willhave a bet going as well. I’ll have more on that in the future.

Now over the past summer my interests have turning fromsuper heroes, to grot commandos, to Call of Cthulhu, to Imperial armoredtrains, to Warhammer Quest, to GW Giants, to Vampire Counts, to Mordheim, andnow to Necrons. Plus if you add in other unfinished projects like the Junk Townand one can see why I never get anything done. So now my goal is to limitmyself a bit and work on two broad categories – fantasy and sci-fi. J

Ok, it is not as bad as it seems. Here is the breakdown:

Fantasy:
·        Army: Vampire Counts
·        Mordheim Band: Vampire Counts
·        Terrain: Empire Ruins (Mordeim Buildings)
·        Rules: Mordheim, Warhammer RPG, and maybe Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Sci-fi:
·        Army: Necrons
·        Rogue Trader: Odds and Ends for a campaign
·        Terrain: Junk Town and Space Port
·        Rules: 40k Apoc., Tomorrow’s War, Rogue TraderRPG

Two things of note: Each category has a strong theme, andfor me, a pretty narrow focus. More importantly, there is nothing here that isa new project. And none of the projects are less than 75% done.

Zombie and Black Dragons

2011-08-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, enough of my blabbering. Here are some pictures of the new GW Zombie and Black Dragons. Both very are nice.

You may have noticed I changed the positions of the wings. Though I liked the look of the wings on the giant bat thing, I thought the wing configuration on the dragon was not very menacing. To me, it look like it was holding up some pants. So, I just switched the wings around and angled them up.

I left the rider off the Black Dragon as I want him to be multipurpose.

DCC RPG part 2

2011-08-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not one that believes in fate or destiny. But I find it unusual that I started reading Jack Vance for the 1^st time about a year ago, I started re-reading the Chronicles of Amber this past month, and I was planning on going to Half-Price to look for Lankhmar - all before I was turned on to the DCC RPG. Of course that doesn’t mean I’ll ever play, but it does mean that the RPG should be a good fit for me if I ever did.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

2011-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.goodman-games.com/5070preview.html

Ok, this looks promising. An RPG based on the pivotal influences of D&D that makes use of modern RPG design. It is about time. One of the things that bugged*1 me about the latest incarnations of fantasy RPGs is the fact they feel to me like they are based only on the prior editions and literature written from those prior RPG editions. Specifically, it feels like the authors of Pathfinder only ever read 3^rd edition D&D, Ebberon and the Dragonlance novels. (To be fair, 4^th edition D&D feels like the authors only read the The Wheel of Time Novels and Paranormal Romance and they played World of Warcraft.)*2 Think of it another way, say you were writing historical fiction based on Xenophon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon). Would it be better to base it on his writings, writings of authors’ contemporary to him and modern archeological finds related to his time period, or would it be better to simply base it on Robin Waterfield’s Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age? Well, modern RPGs feel like the second, perhaps the DCC RPG will feel like the 1^st.

*1 This has been something the bugged me since 2^nd edition D&D. I should say something in the back of my mind bugged me about the fantasy RPGs that were rooted in D&D since 2^nd edition. I never really had a good handle on it until reading the premise behind the DCC RPG.

*2 To be fair, I have no idea as to how well read the authors’ of Pathfinder or D&D 4^th edition are. My guess is, a lot more so then me. They can write better was well. But they fall short, in my eyes, of Gygax and Arneson. They may be better by the letter of the rule, but not by the spirit.

Trololling Saruman

2011-07-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

This is stuck in my brain. It shall now be stuck in yours:

Grot Commandos and the Grot Train Robbery

2011-07-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Grot Commandos were created for the Grot Train Robbery. We never got to the point where they were unleashed on the table. Here is a shot from just before they were finished. At this point, I just need to pick out the details, add the base texture, and dull coat.

As for the Grot Train Robbery. There are some nice pictures here at From the dust of the Ancients and E-ville Armory.

Grot Commandos

2011-07-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

I found some pictures I took awhile back. These have come along nicely since then.

Group Shot

Test Color

These were primed with Krylon Plastic Fusion Black. The prime ends up being glossier then I like. It made putting on the test color slightly more difficult. I ended up dry brushing the entire figure with German Field Grey and worked from there.

Space Cowboys and Aliens

2011-06-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now that I have a great looking train (pictures soon.) I'm trying to think of other uses for it. I decided to make use of it in another project I had percolating in the back of my head. That was Cowboys and Aliens. At first I was going base that project strictly on the comic Cowboys and Aliens and the movie of the same name. But after seeing the 2 Horse Power Steam Coach project on the Lead Adventure Forum, I decide to expand my vision by including both my train and a similiar style coach in that project. With that, though, I would have a radical departure from the Cowboys and Aliens theme. It becomes a completely different project.

Thus the Space Cowboys and Aliens (see the word space before cowboys makes the project completely dissimilair:) project was born. The background of the game will be a combination of Westworld and the 80's classic Galaxy Rangers, with a little of Cowboys and Aliens tossed in. (I'm not even sure what that means.) Still, it will be pure serious gaming fun.

See, Fun!

And you were wondering why I had a picture of a cow in my previous post. All the things are connected...

Country Living

2011-06-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

is great until the cows come home...They live up the road.

Grot Train Robbery - Possible Table Layout 1

2011-06-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm struggling with a layout that I like. I've run out of straight sections of track and I'm not quite sure where to get them locally by Saturday. All the track I have is from 25+ years ago. I know it is still available, just where? The lack of track means I need to orientate the boards side to side (long sides touching) instead of end to end. So this makes the layout about 8 x 12. Anyway, here are some pictures of layout 1.

Train Start

Here is a view from the side the train starts. As one can see, I need texture the boards. I need to use the track cross piece as I ran out of straights. I could do more curves there instead, but I wanted the train to start in the middle. Still, that will change.

Ash Wastes Section

The table is made up of three sections. The first section is the Ash Wastes section. I'll be adding in some rough ash wastes terrain pieces and outcroppings to make this a bit more interesting.

Junk Town Section

The middle section is the Junk Town section. One can see the Junk Town at the top of the picture. Near Junk Town the Imperial defensive wall has been breached allowing entrance into the ruined city. The bottom half of the board contains old imperial defenses and the gateway into the ruined city the Imperial train uses. There will be tank traps here as indicated by the boxes of...tank traps.

Imperial City Section

This last section is made up of a ruined imperial buildings and the wall fortification. With the board needing texture, as with all of the buildings, it looks pretty shabby right now. Most of the buildings are past the prime and 1st stage of painting. But I need to get lots of rubble. Rubble is key to ruined buildings looking 'right.' As I stated last year in my junk town articles, texture and detail are key to making terrain look good. Rubble handles both of those jobs with ruins.

Train End

Here is the end shot of the imperial city...pretty shoddy. Still lots of work to do on terrain and I have to paint the Train! Ugh. At least all the Grots are painted and 90% of the trukks are done. And the question remains, do I look to get more straight sections of track. I've got a nifty idea of having part of the route go through a destoryed Imperial Tank factory. (In the past, the train entered the factory empty and left the factory loaded with Leman Russ tanks with the train never stopping. I pictured it with the Leman Russ tanks being built right on the train as it went through the factory. Not practical but fun.) I just love the idea of Grots swinging down on chains trying to board the train.

Imperial Train - The Rest

2011-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of the work Katz did.

Defender Car.

Caboose.

All Together!

That is it for the work Katz did on that portion of the train. There are some interesting buildings he did some work on. I also have got some unexciting cargo cars to carry Imperial loot yet to finish. I'll get them up soon, but the good stuff is all up.

Imperial Train - Engine

2011-06-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Imperial Train will soon be hitting my workbench. Originally I had planned to convert the train myself, but my friend Katz insisted he be allowed to do them. He hadn't worked on a hobby project in awhile and he felt very inspired by this one. I was hesitent, as I enjoy the conversion end of things more then the painting. Still, I went ahead and that was good for two reasons. I'm running out of time getting ready for the Grot Train Robbery, and, more importantly, Katz did a spectactular job.

Here are some pictures of the Engine as a work in progress:

Before.

Half way there!

Almost Done.

Finished!

The Grot Train Robbery

2011-06-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've been gaming a good deal lately (for me) with a mostly Grot force in 40k. A month or so ago, I came across this: http://ironhands.com/train.htm. I thought, that is pretty cool, I should do that. And, as it happens, I've got an old, broken down O scale train. But what would I do it with? Well, it could make an appearance in a 40k Apocalypse game. Or I could do an Old West style train robbery! And with Grots on the brain, I thought, what would be more entertaining then having Grots rob the train.

So I started working on a scenario. I wanted this to be a large scenario and I wanted a lot of players. At first I was going to have some players be Imperials and some players be Grots. I would be the judge. After working through some permutations I just couldn't come up with good force divisions. And having players working directly against each other in such a way would naturally push things towards the more serious scale of gaming. For this game, I want hijinks! So, after much deliberation, I decide to make all the players be Grots and I would run the train.

Background: The battle takes place on Armageddon after the main engagements of The Third War for Armageddon. After Ghazghkull Thraka left Armageddon for the second time and the Ork lines where pushed back, a good number of Grots were left behind Imperial lines. Those Grots, disenchanted with inept Ork leadership, formed up their own warband. This happened much in the same way as it did on Angelis. But unlike on Angelis, there is no single strong Grot to unite them.

It was decided that a contest would be held to determine which Grot should lead. Had these been Orks, they would have started beating on each other then and there. The last one standing would have been made the Warboss. Being weak, Grots prize cunning and back stabbing over strength. A different method was needed. Instead, they came up with the idea of robbing an Imperial ammunition train. As one was just rumbling by, this was rather convenient.

Picture a bunch of Grots sitting around arguing about how to choose a leader when an Imperial Train comes rumbling by. A grot named Snotnose proclaims, "The one that steals the most from that winz."

Snotnose jumps up, gathers his lackies, gets in his trukk, and drives off after the train. Quickly follow by the rest.

Objective: Steal ammunition from Imperial Train.

Forces: Each player starts with a trukk filled with band of 10 Grots. After that band of Grots dies, the player will get a new band of slightly more clever grots. A player may be a Grot at heart and be in need of a third band Grots. If all players are on their second set, they will get an even more clever band of grots. If not, something along the lines of some snotlings tied to the front of a rocket might be available.

Game End: When the Imperial Train leaves the board.

Victory Condition: The Grot with the most ammunition from the train wins.

Rules: Basic 40k rules with the following exceptions: The turn sequence has been modified to have the following phases: move, shoot, action. All players are active each phase and actions in a phase are simultaneous. In the action phase a grot can do a charge/board plus one of the following: inspect crate, toss crate, catch crate, and close combat. A ballistic skill roll is required to both throw and catch a crate. A failed throw roll means the crate is lost. Additional grots may attempt to catch a crate missed by other grots with -1 on the catch roll for each extra try. If all catch attempts fail, the crate is lost. Boarding is from any one vehicle to any other vehicle.

Each grot trukk can hold up to 10 models. A model is either a Grot or an imperial crate.

The contents of imperial crates are random. And since Grots can not read, they do not know if the crate has ammunition or something else. Roll on the following table to check:

Ammunition Explodes - Dead Grot. Roll D6 for all adjacent crates in contact. On a 1-3 that crate explodes. Grots in base contact with additional crates make S5 toughness save or die.
Imperial Rations
Space Marine Armor Lubricant
Hive Fashions Monthly
Ammuniton (1 pt.)
Ammunition (2 pts.)

Crates can either be checked in game, during the action phase. Or left unchecked until the game is over.

Other actions, not listed may performed by making a leadership check with an appropriate modifier.

Starship Troopers - This time I was the bugs...

2010-11-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

I had another great game of Starship Troopers on Wednesday. (I really need to bring a camera.) This time I was playing the bugs and I had to defend some Plasma bugs. It was a pretty tough scenario. The 3 plasma bugs were not part of my points total but the MI got to start within the Plasma's minimum range. The MI objective was to destroy those 3 bugs. The bugs had to stop them (by killing all the MI.)

The game started out with MI Pathfinders coming out of hiding and shooting at one of my Plasmas. The MI doing 5 wounds with the Morita rifle drove home how vulnerable the Plasmas are. After two other groups MI were able to drop into within my Plasmas minimum range, I thought, “This is going to be a short game.” On my turn, I moved my wounded Plasma toward the Pathfinders, my two other Plasmas as far away from the enemy as possible, my tanker towards the dropped MI and I unleashed my defender force – 24 hopper bugs.

The next MI turn saw 4 Chicken Hawks, 2 Apes, and a Squad of MI disembark from their transports. They took some potshots where possible and wound some more plasma bugs. The Pathfinders also took some shots at the 1st Plasma bug and wounded it some more. Unluckily for them, they did not kill the Plasma and since they were within 10 inches, it got to react. Now when you react in ST, you have to focus on the unit causing the reaction. If not, this Plasma had moved far enough to shot at MI on the other side of the board. But it could not, so it charged the MI and killed two of them. The Pathfinders now had their second action and they had to kill the Plasma. If they did not, it could do serious hurt to the MI on the far side of the board. Plus, there were hopper bugs bearing down on them – enough to finish off the MI this turn. If the Pathfinders died before taking out the Plasma, it had a good chance of lasting the rest of the game. I’m stressing that as the MI decided they need to pour everything they had into the Plasma. By doing so they risked the Plasma bugs retaliate if they got an outright kill. Well, they did get an outright kill and the Plasma bug exploded taking 3 MI with it.

For the bugs turn, the two remaining Plasmas move further from the MI, the Tanker moved towards the MI and got off an ineffective spit, and the Hoppers went into action. Normally, when I play Starship Troopers I try and focus as much of my force on one part of the enemy as possible. That way I get the maximum amount of attacks possible while minimizing the number of attacks the enemy gets. For this scenario I couldn’t do that. I needed to engage every MI unit possible. This would then either force the MI to deal with my Hoppers, or if they didn’t, let my Hoppers get free reaction attacks on the MI. So with that plan, one group of Hoppers did their fly by attack and finished off the pathfinders. One group of Hoppers hit the standard MI and killed a couple. And one group of hoppers moved to attack two units of Apes and Chicken Hawks, killing one. The last group couldn’t reach any MI but positioned itself to react against a unit of Apes and Chicken Hawks.

The next MI turn was one of action and reaction by the Bugs. It ended with some dead hoppers, a wounded tanker, some dead MI, and more wounds on the Plasma Bugs. The Bug turn saw another ineffectual Tanker spit attack, some more standard MI kills, and a Plasma Bug attack. This was big it took out another Chicken Hawk which was the biggest threat to the Plasma Bugs.

The last turned ended up being close. The MI continued to focus on the Plasma Bugs. They finished off one more and brought the last one down to 1 wound. But the reactions by the Hoppers killed one Chicken Hawk, brought the standard MI down to 2 models, and allowed the tanker to move within ‘charge’ range of an Ape and a Chicken Hawk.

For the bug turn, they needed to finish off the MI. If not, they would most likely get that last wound on the Plasma Bug and win the game. The turn started with the Tanker bug charging the Ape and killing it. The Chicken Hawk reacted and brought the tanker down to its last wound. The tanker then charged the Chicken Hawk and killed it. Next, one group of Hoppers moved in to finish off the last Chicken Hawk. This left 9 Hoppers to finish off the last two standard MI, which they did.

This was a pretty fun game and everyone had a blast. The outcome was by no means certain and was well played by all parties. We forgot some rules, such as the command for the MI, but overall we had getting a good grasp of the rules.

Aeronef Halloween Scenario

2010-11-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple little scenario for Aeronef in the spirit of Halloween.

Background and Victory:

An alliance of nations has tracked down a rogue Austro-Hungarian battleship The Nosferatu. The alliance has caught up with it just before it reached its home port. The alliance player needs to destroy the Nosferatu without losing a non-US ship. The A.H. player needs to keep the Nosferatu afloat to win. Any other result is a draw. When the Nosfertu is destroyed, the rest of the Austro-Hungarian forces surrender.

Alliance Forces:

Texas class Battleship USS Quincy Morris
De Ruyter class Heavy cruiser HNLMS Van Helsing
Benbow class Battleship HMS Jonathan Harker
Audacious class Battlecruiser HMS John Seward
Exeter class Cruiser HMS Arthur Holmwood

Austro_Hungarian Forces:

Szent István class Battleship The Nosferatu
5x Huszár class Destroyer Gypsy Destroyers
Raevski class Aerial Redoubt Dracula's Castle

Setup and Special Rules:

A 4x4 board should be sufficient and set up like a remote area of the Carpathian Mountains. Dracula’s castle should be located on a center line 6 inches from the eastern edge. One Huszar destroy should be placed with it. The Nosferatu should be placed 12 inches from western edge along the same center line. The USS Quincy Morris may be placed anywhere on the western table edge. The rest of ships move onto the board on turn 2. That placement is the movement for those ships. The Alliance forces start anywhere on the western edge. 2 of the Huszar destroyers may be placed anywhere on the northern edge and the other 2 may be place anywhere on the southern edge. The Austro-Hungarian ships may not move off the edge of the board. All other ships may but are removed from play. They are not considered destroyed if they do so.

Notes:

This scenario is based on the climax of Dracula with each ‘Nef being a character from that scene. It was somewhat of a struggle to come up with good mix of ships for the Alliance. I started with having the USS Quincy Morris be a Texas class battleship as Quincy Morris was from Texas in the book. Also, I put in the Aerial Redoubt as Dracula’s castle for the reason that, as Dracula’s castle is a place of power for him in the book, it should be so for him the scenario as well.

More Gaming

2010-10-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

Not much of an update, but I got in three games this past week. A week ago Wednesday I got in a good game of Starship Troopers. It was Priority Level One which means 1000pts per side and limited troop selections. I had two squads of MI, a Chickenhawk, and an Ape. I faced two swarms of warrior bugs, some hoppers, and a tanker bug. We played on a table left over from a 40k game. It looked nice and was filled with terrain – too much most likely. There was a chemical river running down the middle which proved to be the bug’s downfall. The bugs were funneled to the river crossings which slowed them down and gave me points to concentrate fire. As such, the biggest threats to me were the hoppers and tanker bug. With the hoppers being the faster and more flexible of the two, I concentrated on them first. After taking them out, I worked on killing bugs until the tanker became a threat. At which point I took it out.

On Saturday I had the privilege of playing in a 28mm pirate game called, “Queen Anne's War, A Pirates Paradise.” This game was run by John Cusack and it was awesome on every level - beautifully painted miniatures, gorgeous terrain, and great scenario design. John will be helping run more of this game at Rock-con as part of the Battlefield Hobbies team. If you are at the con, seek these games out. Year in and year out, the Battlefield Hobbies’ games are normally the best of show.

Lastly, I got in a game of the new Ravenloft board game. It is a co-op game and it is quite fun. The figures that come with it are very much like the Descent figures. They are nicely detailed for board game plastics. The game itself seems well designed and easy to pick up. And scenarios seem well balanced. We ended up losing our first game but had we lasted one more turn, we would have won. I’ll be playing this more in the near future and will have additional comments afterwards.

Some 28mm Sci-Fi Comparisons

2010-10-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

While waiting to get my hands on AE-Bounty (another article) I’ve been building up my collection of non-GW 28mm Sci-Fi figures. My current purchases are an eclectic collection with figures from Regiment Games, Four A Miniatures, Darkson Designs, Pig Iron Productions, and Zombie Smith (links at end of article). All the figures are top notch. They all required minimal cleaning, have a nice dynamic about their sculpting, and are well proportioned. I would recommend them to anyone.

Below is a picture I took comparing a selection of miniatures from the above ranges. Now I realize the usefulness of such a picture is limited. Even among humans we have a wide variety sizes and once we toss in the alien and mutant, things get even further eschew. Couple that with the fact these figures will mostly be used in skirmish or squad level games, who cares how well they scale together? It is not like we are comparing ancient Romans for a legion – a group of people most likely from the same region and fairly homogenous. Still, there is some intangible use for such a picture. It shows these figure do feel ‘right’ when used together.

The measurement scale was placed to start at the top of the base. Each figure's base is practically the same height. The only problem, both the Pig Iron and Regiment Games figures have cast on bases. The thicker bases on the Regiment games figures slightly skew the comparison, but isn’t that big a deal. The Pig Iron base is relativity thin and is almost no factor at all.

Darkson Designs: http://darksondesigns.com/?page_id=135

Zombie Smith: http://www.zombiesmith.com/collections/a7-d12-airlock-7-docking-lvl-12

Four A Miniatures: http://www.fouraminiatures.com/

Pig Iron: http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/

Regiment Games: http://regimentgames.com/

I finally got a game in last night.

2010-09-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

And it was Starship Troopers. I forgot how much I like those rules. There are some issues with them, but over all they are a fun set. We decided we each need to go back and read them a bit more. It was quite some time since any of us played them. Towards the end, there was a good bit of rumbling about how fun it was and we need to play more. So, I’ll be pushing for a game in two weeks. There was even a mention of playing a campaign. That will be fun if it happens. When it comes to gamers, the mantra, “We need to play more,” is not always followed by actually playing more. (I’m as guilty as anyone.)

I’ve got a good number of Starship Troopers figures painted. Maybe I can get some pictures taken. I also found a box full of primed stuff. So I hopefully can get some painting in. Since I've moved house, I just haven't had time. Also, I should take the opportunity to get some paint on my Junk Town. That terrain will work well for Starship Troopers.

State of my Hobby

2010-07-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well,
We just closed on selling our house and have moved in to the new home. The whole process of moving house has been going on for quite some time. My time had been divided up into fixing the new house, fixing the old house, packing, and moving.

Now, I just need to continue to fix up the new house and unpack. Then I can tackle my wall of shame – hell, barn of shame - and sort through my entire lot of mixed up hobby stuff. I actually had a system at the old place and knew where everything was. I do not know anymore.

The fact that I can fill up an old tobacco barn with my hobby stuff is quite absurd. Granted, the boxes are not packed well, only half the stuff in the barn is mine, half of it is books and it only is over my head in a few places means it isn’t as bad as it sounds (yes it is.)

So, as soon as I can dig out my hobby workbench, I will post some project progress. Maybe a picture of the Barn of Shame would be good for posterity’s sake.

Junk Town 4 - More Odds and Ends

2010-05-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick images of some additional Junk Town terrain pieces.

Junk Town Part 3 - Odds and Ends

2010-05-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I figured I need something besides buildings for my junk town. So, I spent this lunch period throwing some odds and ends together. A couple of bigger pieces are meant to hold figures while the other pieces are just for show.

This is the whole lot together.

Here an entrepreneurial alien has taken advantage of the space ports blast exhaust to cook the food he sells. It tastes just like gyros but don’t ask about ‘meat.’

Is that the Orb from Heavy Metal?

Random Stuff

Solar powered street lights for Junk Town.

Junk Town Part 2 - 2 Multi-Stall Market Buildings

2010-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

I was able to finish off two of the larger buildings I had going yesterday at lunch. This was mostly thanks to this blog entry here: http://weeblokes.blogspot.com/search/label/Lunch-time%20Project . After reading that, I realized that most of the progress I had made in the last couple of months was actually done at lunch. And now I had stopped even do that. So yesterday I finished up what you see below:

Now I ended up mixing in some non-junk for the roofs on these. I had some textured plasti-card laying about for an old project that wasn't being used. Of course, it is still mostly build from scrape pieces of foam-core, broken up floppy disks, and cardboard. So they are still mostly pieces of junk.

As is, I can fill up a 4x4 section of table top that is useful for a game. That means it is not nearly as crowed as a real shanty town but has enough open spaces to move figures around. Plus it will allow a wargamer's sausage fingers in as well. Next up will be modular space-bar. It will be rather larger to allow for combats inside. That will be followed by the Market Authority Building. The MAB building will have a more substantial look to it but still be ‘junky.’ I hope to follow that up with some smaller buildings that match the style of the above pictured market stalls. And, if I am still motivated I have ‘junk’ set aside for housing blocks on the table’s edges, a last market stall built into the engine wreckage, and small detail piles of junk.

Once everything is build, I will start painting.

Attack on Bree

2010-04-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Not really a canon battle, but here are some pictures of the setup for an attack on Bree. It gives me a reason to put some two level Tudor style houses with my hobbit houses. The story line goes as such; Some elves heading west to leave Middle Earth discover some wandering orcs and a Troll heading towards Bree. The elves decide to intercept them on the outskirts of one of the outlying settlements near Bree.

The Approach towards town.

Orcs pour over bridge.

View of Battle from Town.

Shouldn't that troll be in Mordor?

Elves await orcs.

Customized GW trees.

GW Hill.

GW multi-part hill.

GW multi-part hill and GF9 river.

Customized MBA hobbit house.

GW War of the Ring: Battlehosts

2010-04-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to look at War of the Ring: Battlehosts. It is a nice expansion for War of the Ring though I didn’t see if it addressed some of the issues people have with WotR. I don’t think it does, but I may have missed it.

What it does do is give you special formations (or battle hosts) made up of specific formations and characters from WotR. By building them this way and playing an extra cost for the special formation the player gets access to special rules for that formation. Additionally, there are more Fortunes and Fates one may purchase for their force.

Each of the factions from WotR has some battle hosts associated with them. Some have more than others. Here are some numbers

Gondor: 9
Rohan: 4
Elven Kingdoms: 4
Dwarf Holds: 2
Forgotten Kingdoms: 2
Mordor: 9
Isendgard: 6
Misty Mountains: 2
Fallen Realms: 8
Angmar: 3

Not having played with any of these formations yet, I will not comment on their effectiveness. But they seem to be fun and nicely themed. I also think they make a nice guide for collecting the figures even if you don’t put them on the table as a Battlehost.

As always, the book is filled with great pictures and I find myself getting motivated to paint up some more LotR figures. People who do not play WotR may not find this book all that useful, but those that do will find it a nice little product.

GW Knights of Dol Amroth and Morgul Knights

2010-04-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

I was able to check out each of these new plastic figures. They are quite grand. They have nice detail and minimal mold lines, plus they go together quite well. Here is a picture of them on the sprue.

Knights of Dol Amroth

Morgul Knights

Here are some shots of the figures removed from the sprue.

Knight of Dol Amroth

Morgul Knight

Without the face plate, the Morgul Knights would make great undead knights in 25mms. One would just need to fill in the hole for the face plate. See a closeup below.

Lastly I will show each of the knights put together.

Knight of Dol Amroth

Morgul Knight

Forge World Adeptus Mechanicus Army

2010-04-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some figures from Forge World's new Adeptus Mechanicus army.

Some Quick Lord of the Rings pictures

2010-03-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my elves and my many more Orcs. Not that I painted any of them....

Some Last Alliance of Elves and Men Elves defending against an onslaught of Orcs.

Close up of the Orcs.

Junk Town Large Stall 1

2010-03-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some quick shots of multi-stall 1.

Side View

With Roof

Update - Junk Town and NKE

2010-03-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

I've been busy painting up figures for my Dark Heresy campaign as well as being out of town so I haven't had a chance for an update. Hopefully this weekend I will take some pictures of the miniatures that have appeared so far.

Junk Town

As I said in a previous Junk Town log, I need to make some bigger buildings. Well, I've got some bigger buildings in the works and maybe get some pictures of those today. I have two sets of connected market stalls in the works, plus a row of housing, a large modular bar, and a tower building. The row of housing is intended a table side while the tower building is a multistory building that would could be used as a security station for police or maybe some kind of market authority.

I’ve been holding off on painting structures I’ve already built as I plan on adding additional detail to them. And I need to find items for that. Detail is needed to make any building look good. Even sterile buildings of the Tau and Eldar benefit from detail – small things that tell the viewer someone uses these. I think the key to having ramshackle buildings look well is an overload of detail - things that show the hard use, quick fixes, and lack of planning. Plus the owner of a ramshackle building most likely would find value in things otherwise would just toss. So having a collection of stuff in and around the ramshackle building would also add to the look of the building.

In addition to buildings, I will have some permanent denizens of the Junk Town. These are miniatures in my collection for which I have no other use. Things I failed to sell. Currently they are ugly monsters from the 80’s TSR miniatures line. I may put some on bases to move around, but most will be store keepers and what not that will be attached to a building.

NKE

I finally found the spears for these guys and now I need to find my pine-vise. In the meantime, I have cleaned up some archers and I have primed them. I will painted these in the same manner as my spearmen.

Painting an Egyptian Part 2

2010-02-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

After leaving off with Part 1, I still had weapons, shields, head gear, and bases to finish. Well, some sneaky Hittites must have stolen all my spears. (I can't find them, hopefully they are in my Hittite box) Still, I was able to finish the shields and head gear so I will stick the spears in part 3.

Step 1a: Shields Back

To make life easier I normally paint the backs of the shields before I put them on. For this I used GW Bestial Brown. When dry, I inked it with GW Devlan Mud.

Step 1b: Shields Front

For these shields I decide to go with a cow hide pattern. I used brown for this batch as I didn't have any black ink. There were more phases to painting the shields then any other single item for these Egyptians. Painting time for each of the phases was fairly quick though some extra time was needed for some of the phases to dry. The images go from left to right.

Stages of Shields

Base coat shield with Vallejo Bonewhite. (5 minutes)
Dab Devlan Mud for cow spots. (2 minutes)
When dry, dab Bestial brown over ink spots. Leave a bit on ink uncovered by brown. (2 minutes)
Dab Reaper Woodland brown in middle of ink spots. Then quickly go back over cow spots with Devlan Mud. Use it to blend browns. (5 minutes)
Prepare brush for a dry-brush of white. Then dab white over cream areas. (3 minutes)
Paint boss in middle of shield black. ( 2 minutes)
Paint bronze over black, leave a bit of black for black lining. (2 minutes)

Step 2: Head Gear

Highlight and Head Gear

Next to do was the head gear. But before I could do that I needed to do the final highlight on the linen. The images go from left to right.

Figure from last step.
Highlight the linen with white. (4 minutes)
Paint red stripes on head gear with a brick red. (9 minutes)

Shields and Head Gear Finished

Part 2 Wrap-up:

These guys are almosted finished. I just need to attach and paint the spears, put on the basing material and spray the protective coat. I will cover that in part 3.

Acknowledgements:

My friend Chad came up with this cow hide technique though I adapted it a bit for my own style.

Painting an Egyptian Part I

2010-02-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm in the middle of a big project involving ancients and currently I am painting up Old Glory New Kingdom Egyptians. After I read a post on the TMP about mass painting ancients I wondered exactly how fast (or slow) my method was going to be. So I decided to time myself. Now I’ve not bothering to time priming, basing, assembly, or protective coating. But I will time painting. I’m not being overly accurate here. I look at the clock when I start and finish for 10 figures.

Now to make this actually a useful posting and give me a reference if I ever have to duplicate this effort in a year or so, I will include a list of the paints I used and the steps I took.

Step 1: Priming

Primed white with Krylon white primer

Step 2: Linen

Linen painted with Graveyard Earth

Normally I paint 'inside' to out. I start on the flesh and work my way to the weapons. But here, since I was going to be using dry brushing on the linen only, that is where I started. Basically I did the messy bit first.

Stages of Linen

Moving from left to Right:

I base coated the linen with GW Graveyard Earth. (15 minutes)
I dry-brush the line with an off-white. Here I use Vallejo Bone White.
(5 minutes)After letting that dry (time not counted), I ink the linen with GW Devlan mud. (5 minutes)
After letting the ink dry (time not counted), I dry-brush the linen again with the bone mixed with white. ( 5 minutes)

The linen will be finished with a final highlight at the end. This will let me cover any mistakes.

Step 3: Flesh

Moving from left to right:

From last step.
I base coat the flesh with GW Tallarn Flesh. (18 minutes)
After letting that dry (time not counted), I ink the linen with GW Devlan mud. (4 minutes)
After letting the ink dry (time not counted), I highlight the flesh again with Tallarn Flesh. ( 8 minutes)

Flesh Finished.

Part 1 Wrap-up:

Not bad progress for one hour. Of course, I can't sit for an hour straight painting. I have to get up and move around. So that makes this a day project. In the next part, I will paint the weapons, shields, and head gear. And I hope to finish up in part 3 with basing and protective coating for the whole unit. This will include the previous 10 I had painted up.

Acknowledgements:

The painting scheme used here is based on one from my friend Adam. It is the scheme he used to paint my Hebrews for me minus an extra flesh highlight. I skipped that highlight to make my Egyptians a shade darker then my Hebrews. The Hebrews Adam painted can be seen elsewhere in this blog.

Junk Town Part 1

2010-01-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun shots of the three buildings together. Now apart, each building is nothing spectacular. Together they (are still nothing spectacular but) start to convey the theme more and are a bit more useful.

Junk Shack Part 4

2010-01-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the final single piece for awhile. The next couple I will work on shall be larger multi-unit pieces.

Front side.

"How much for that bowl!"

Rear view - every open-front shop needs a security door at the back.

This unit, like the rest is still rather plain. The key to any good terrain is texture and details. Before I get to painting I will need to address those two issues.

Junk Shack Part 3

2010-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the second of my shacks made from junk.

Here is the front view. The Adeptus Mechanicus seems to be out of luck here as there is nothing on the display racks to buy this day.

Rear View

Side View A

Side View B

This one went together a bit quicker then the 1st one. I need to find some more detail bits for it and the 1st one. I also think I may put these on small bases. I had left them off so I could use them on multiple battlefields, but the base will add a bit of strength. Plus, it will make it easier to place more internal details.

Junk Shack Part 2

2010-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Using some superglue for details and hotglue for the main structure, I assembled this over lunch:

It is a two story domicile with a shop in front. Notice the Adeptus Mechanicus shopping for a lost imperial template. The counter is a bit high, so I will need to fix that.

Here is one side view.

Here is a rear view with domicile entrance and light over door.

Here is another side view.

It doesn't have the most character in the world but should help fill out the Junk town.

Next up, painting

Junk Shack Part 1

2010-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun to document the construction of some of my terrain as I build it. Since this terrain will be built out of junk that is where I will start.

Here is the scrap pile that I am starting with.

E-ville Challenge Part 2

2010-01-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Robin pretty much had an epic fail with his challenge of me here: E-ville Smack Down. But I will now revise the challenge in a simpler form that even he could manage - a battle between his Tau and my Imperial Guard.

1. 1000 point battle in about two weeks

2. 1500 point battle in about a month

3. 2000 point battle in about a month and a half.

4. Build terrain piece out of junk - two new pieces for each battle.

These three battles will take place on a fallen away human world around a dirty space port like Mos Eisley or some similar. Buildings such as found on this TMP thread would also be good and make great inspiration for #4 above. I would see the space port being rather eclectic if used by multiple aliens as each alien would bring and use their own style of buildings - Tau, Kroot, Vespid, Nicassar, Demiurg, Gue'vesa, etc.

The rules, all battles will be fought using the standard 40k rules. Terrain built for this challenge should be made mostly out of junk. No hard formal rules here for terrain building as coolness factor will be the overriding concern. The guiding principle would be a piece made mostly from scrape with detail bits from any source.

New Kingdom Egyptians

2010-01-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

Even though my Hittites are not finished, I thought I would work on some Old Glory NKE. Here is a shot of some 75% finished Egyptians. I need to add spears and shields. I also need to flock the bases. Oh, and add some stripes to their headgear.

The guy with the blue shield in back is not one I painted.

Haiti Relief Auctions

2010-01-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

I am selling off most of my 15mm fantasy figures and I am donating all the proceeds to the Haiti Relief efforts. It is a fairly sizeable chunk of miniatures. I hate to see them go but I don't think I will ever get back to that scale. By selling them in a charity auction I hope they find a good home and do some good as well.

Please take a look and if you bid, I thank you,

http://shop.ebay.com/thomaswhitten2000/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

That is only a portion of my 15mm fantasy. I hope to get more up soon.

Zero Foundation - Superfigs

2009-12-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I sat down and painted any Superfigs. I felt a bit rusty but these turned out ok. Here is a picture of the complete team.

I enjoy taking pictures of my finished figures but I always encounter the same problem, other than a bad picture, and this is I always find things I need to fix. One of the figures I completely forgot to highlight!

He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him!

2009-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

So I get an email from Robin challenging me to a small campaign as described in the latest White Dwarf. Something to the effect of playing the following games:

• Warhammer 40k Battle

• Battlefleet Gothic Battle

• Planet Strike Battle

• Apocalypse Battle

Then I get some additional emails and phone calls describing all this ‘progress’ he is making and how he will bury me in the E-ville Smack Down.

Of course, for all this talk all we see on his Blog is a poorly formatted picture of the newest Iron Man movie and some pictures of unpainted miniatures. Well, as we all know, I can put up pictures of unpainted stuff just as well as anyone else. So here:

From left to right: old 40K robot, Thudd Gun, Rapier, and Servators, 2 Steel Legion, plus three new Ogryns. Ignore the two painted units of Steel Legion in the background. We must not show progress with actual painted units.

Orky Goodness - Flak Wagon

2009-11-20T12:14:00.000-08:00

My Orks needed more dakka so I added this:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...There was only WAR!

2009-11-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

I thought someone might enjoy seeing this. My sons had out my plastic Star Wars figures and had a battle over some 40k Imperial fortifications. These will become the walls in the siege of the Imperial Palace on Terra. As you can see, they need to be fixed up and painted the proper color.

New Skaven Army Book

2009-10-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

The thing that always has drawn me to Warhammer Fantasy has been the oddball contraptions various armies get. Chaos Dwarves, Orcs and Gobbs, and especially Skaven all had great war machines. With the release of the new Skaven book it seems like there are more great Skaven weapons of mutual destruction then ever before. I put a very quick review on the TMP: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=182489

As a continuation of that review, here is a list of characters and units one can look forward to in the new book:

Lords:
Lord Skrolk
Thanquol & Boneripper
Ikit Claw
Throt The Unclean
Queek Headtaker
Vermin Lord
War Lord
Grey Seer with or without Screaming Bell

Heroes
Deathmaster Snikch
Tretch Craventail
Assassin
Warlock Engineer
Chieftain
Plague Priest with or without Plague Furnance
Core
Clanrats with or without Weapon Teams
Stormvermin
Skavenslaves
Night Runners
Giant Rats + Packmaster (Special Master Moulder or Skweel)
Rat Swarm

Special
Gutter Runners
Rat Ogres + Packmasetr (Special Master Moulder or Skweel)
Plague Monks
Plague Censer Bearers
Warplock Jezzails
Poisoned Wind Globadiers

Rare
Hell Pit Abomination
Doom Wheel
Warp Lightning Cannon
Plagueclaw Catapult

Warhammer Fantasy & other Skaven terms ®, © Games Workshop, Ltd.

Back to normal, Almost

2009-10-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, after PT, my back is getting better. I can actually sit and do stuff and walk and do stuff. Of course, I'm behind in my work so that takes priority. None-the-less, I have an interesting scratch build wet navy ship for 28mm. It is not finished as it will be a Nurgle Plague ship, but it was in perfect shape for my Dark Heresy game. The team had a mission on a feudal world which involved some combat at sea. Picture a small river steamer vs. a larger wooden galleon. The players were on the steamer with las-pistols and the galleon had a mortar. If I can get a camera, I’ll get some pictures.

Bad Back

2009-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well,

Life has been put on hold due to a back. Normally, all I need is a weekend's worth of rest and some stretches and I'm back to my self-sufficient self. Well, its been 3 weeks now of pain with multiple doctors visits and no relief in sight. Argh. I can plot vicious campaign elements for my Dark Heresy game but no painting has gotten done. As if I wasn't slow before. Double Argh...

E-ville Slacker

2009-09-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

I tried 3 times to get my E-ville neighbor, Robin, into a game this past week and not a bite. He at least had 3 different excuses!

2000.0 Pt - (CW) Israelites Army list

2009-08-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

Check out the bottom of the right side bar for this army list. Clicking on a unit will show its stats.

Sea People

2009-08-21T12:19:00.001-07:00

Here are some of my Sea People. These are a mixture of Old Glory, Newline, and Miniature Design Studio.

By Adam

Castaway Israelites

2009-08-21T12:18:00.001-07:00

By Adam

More Newline Israelites

2009-08-21T10:59:00.001-07:00

By Adam

Newline Designs Israelites

2009-08-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

While practicing with the new camera, I took some pictures of the belatedly painted Israelites. These were originally slated to be painted for the now defunct Tale of 5.5 gamers project our group started. I did not paint these but they are well done so I thought I would share.

By Adam

Valkyrie Part 3

2009-08-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the highlights are too wide and too white, but, on the plus side, it does look like a flying tuxedo.

Then again, where is that black paint...

Vendetta Part 2

2009-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

As I make progress on my Valkyrie, amazingly I make progress on my Vendetta as well. :) To make my Valkyrie duel purpose I attached some rare earth magnets on the underside of the wings. I also epoxied some rare earth magnets to my weapon systems. I've included a picture of how I did this on a spare twin-linked lascannon from a Land Raider kit.

The lascannon is put together as normal for a Land Raider. After the glue is dry I just trim off the parts on both sides that attaches them to the side sponson. I also cut into the hydraulic to make room for the magnet. The magnet has to be recessed into the weapon system or they look like the hang down too low on the wings.

Valkyrie Flight Stand

2009-08-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

I like the plastic post for the flight stand. I do not like the plastic base the post is supposed to stand on. It is rather flimsy, soft, and doesn't sit flat on the table. To fix this problem, I made use of spare CD ROM. I normally use these for paint pallets, but I've used them as bases before as well. Just a little two-part epoxy and I'm good to go.

Valkyrie Part 2

2009-08-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

The contest with Robin is providing me with some incentive to keep plugging away at some of my projects. Finishing my Valkyrie is one such project I should make some progress on. I decided I want my Valkyrie to part of the Imperial Navy so it can have a color scheme somewhat different from my Steel Legion and allow me use it with my Vostroyans or Praetorians. But, since the Steel Legion will be my main I.G. force (and honestly who knows when I will get to my other I.G. projects) I do want it to fit color wise.

Well, I've been watching a good deal of Airwolf on RTV (was R NT) and I decided that I would use that color scheme. The black will tie in nicely with my Steel Legion, while the two-tone effect with the white really shows off the character of the model.

Of course I plan to call this ship Airwolf and my pilots will be named Hawke and Santini.

Outpost Malicious: Imperial Guard Garrison

2009-07-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

To kill two Kroot with one stone, I am building my army and terrain for both the ‘Smack Down’ with Robin and the Dark Heresy game I will be starting in the fall. The garrison will be outfitted using forces contemporary to the current GW timeframe. Heresy era is so 31ist millennium. The background for the outpost starts as follows:

Outpost Malicious started as a small armor depot in the Calixis Sector of Segmentum Obscurus. Its role was increased to a prisoner hold facility after the destruction of St. Josmane’s Hope. Criminals from Cadian Imperial Guard units make a lay-over here before being sent to other penal planets. As of late, Outpost Malicious has had its role increased again with the arrival of members from Inquisitor Xenophon’s retinue. They have set up a small research station and housing facility in close proximity to the hold facility.

Penal Legion Squad Poll

2009-07-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out which way to go here for the Penal Legion Squad. Now I have Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers and these are an obvious choice. They are nice and unique models - very characterful. There is just something about them that doesn't seem to fit with my Steel Legion and I'm not inspired to paint them up. So I was also thinking of painting up some Imperial Guard Catachan Jungle Fighters with orange pants and white teeshirts. I might even sculpt gas masks for them. To me this seems like it would be fun though it would take some skill to tie in the orange with the darker colors greens, blues, grays, and browns of my Steel Legion. Plus I'm not sure how good my gas masks would be.

So I've started a poll to answer this very important question. If you take the poll and answer other, I'd love it if you reply to this post with an alternative.

- Thanks

E-ville Smack Down - A challenge

2009-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I here by challenge my E-ville neighbor to an Imperial Guard duel to see who can build the coolest 2000 point Planetstrike Imperial Guard army. Suggested criteria would be:

Coolest Attacking Force
Coolest Defending Force
Coolest Fortifications
Best use of the word 'Coolest' in army description

The size of the Attacking and Defending forces would be limitted to 2000 points thought the size of whole army could be larger to account for differences in force makeup.

Steel Legion

2009-07-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

To show that I am not a lazy slacker like Robin.(1) Here is a picture of some Steel Legion I am just starting to paint.

I had picked these up on eBay years ago. They were painted, but mostly just primed black with a quick dry brush and some details. The paint was not thick enough to worry about stripping.

I just have the base coat painted on for the boots, pants, and coat. I need to do some detailing, inking, and highlighting. Once that is done I will redo the base and spray on a protective coat.

1. I'm sure he spent all day goofing around with the tree in his backyard and spent the night working on his D&D campaign. The slacker.

2009-07-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

2009-07-20T19:06:00.001-07:00

More Later....

2009-07-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Coming to kill some of Robin's Orks.

Plus some pictures of Fort Flut Leistungsschalter.

Gork or Mork on Earth

2009-05-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Initially this model was going to be my Warboss. But none of the Warbosses available seemed to suit this figure. I thought of Stompas, Dreadnaughts, and other Orky things but none seemed to fit. Then I decided, he could be a Demon or Gork or Mork! But which profile should I use? After reviewing all the choices in the Demon Codex I decided upon Ku'Gath. He only shows up in games of Apoc.

I built his gun from the barrel of a Baneblade. His club was meant to be an Orkyville Slugger but needs some work.

He is a Spawn action figure. I painted over all the flesh with a dark Ork green. I then put on the white over a crackle effect to show badly painted on make-up. It is peeling all over but the effect is better in person. The Joker from Batman The Dark Knight was inspiration for that.

Clown Ork Rides

2009-05-18T16:55:00.001-07:00

Here is a Mini used as a Trukk for my clown Orks to ride in.

And a R.V. used as a Battlewagon for my Carny Orks to ride in.

They just need to be Orkified a little with a glyph and some guns added.

Ork Carnies

2009-05-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here are 25 Rogue Trader era plastic Orks I have painted up as Ork Carnies. They feature white tee-shirts and blue jeans.

Clown Ork Pulsa Rocket

2009-05-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

The basis for the my Pulsa Rocket comes from the rides at carnival.

Now all I need are Grots lining up for a ride as well as a Grot rider. My friend Robin suggested having a sign that reads, "All riders this short or shorter."

Assyrians - Notes

2009-05-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

A quick history of the Assyrian photos I just posted. Late last summer I was trying to get our game group interested in doing Biblicals. Chad and I were really pumped for it. Adam was willing to paint, and Ray had tons of New Kingdom Egyptians. Robin wasn't so sure. So, to motivate Robin, I sat down one evening and painted a unit of Assyrians. I just wanted to show would could be done in a short amount of time. It took me less then three hours to paint what you see in the picture. That does not include cleaning and priming the models nor adding spears. Still, that is a hefty chuck of points for WAB.

I did not paint the chariot. That was a painted chariot I purchased from Robin who purchased it from Chad who purchased it from the Last Square. Why do I have it? Well the Biblical campaign died and I ended up buying all of Robin's Assyrians.

Assyrians

2009-05-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Clown Orks

2009-05-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here are my Clown Orks. These were supposed to be a surprise at our last Apoc game but I couldn't make it.

These are simple conversions of the 2nd edition plastic Space Orks. For whatever reason, I just have a ton of these.

I would like to say these Orks are painted in a scheme that pays homage to the paint styles of the 90's. The paint schemes of the 90's were quite garish.

But in truth, a friend of mine really hates clowns and that was the best use I could think of for these Orks.

This last one is the Nob for this group.

I've got a Ring Master Ork that needs to be finished. Also finished are Carny Orks and Savage Performing Orks. Hope to get pictures of those soon along with the Mini Cruzer that these Clown Orks use as a Trukk.

BTW, I used the Dip Method on those Orks.

Skull Hammers

2009-05-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

These Orkika Corp figures are almost complete.

These are old Forge World models from the 90s with tons of Ork bits put on them. How do I know they are Forge World? There is a big Forge World eagle and the words Forge World cast on the underside.

Ork Vehicles in Progress

2009-05-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some vehicles in various stages of completion.

Nurgle Plague Tower

2009-05-16T10:58:00.001-07:00

I started this last year but it got put aside. Since I was taking some pictures, I thought I would toss these online.
Yes, you do see some Tyranids and Romans in the background.

Next up for Nurgle will be some pictures old school demon vehicles and this finished off.

Internal Valkyrie Pictures

2009-05-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick, if poor, internal shots of my Valkyrie.

Next Valkyrie Pictures will show the quick connects to turn it into a Vendetta.

Man....

2009-05-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

I couldn't take a good picture if I paid someone to do it for me.......

Vendetta

2009-05-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Did I say Valkyrie? Thanks to some extra twin-linked lascannons from an old Land Raider Crusader kit and some rare earth magnets I built a Vendetta as well. I've only finished one wing so I can show how easy this process is.

Valkyrie

2009-05-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the Last Square the other day and picked up a Valkyrie. Now I had not planned on buying one right away. I was going to wait. But I could not resist the pull. And since it is such a neat model I had to start building it right away. But I quickly hit a snag. Did I want to paint the interior or not? Well, I did. I like it when the model's interior is painted but that would slow down the building process. I need to paint the interior before the model is built. For me it is too hard otherwise. And if I paint it, I would also be required to prime the model as well, or would I?

I use Plastic Weld to build my models. It is stronger then super type glue for plastics but doesn't work as well if the model is primed before assembly. So I didn't want to prime, but I did want a painted interior. Then it struck me. It would be perfectly feasible to have a grey interior so I could just paint the buttons, knobs, gauges, and displays.

How did I go about this, well first I picked out a pallet of bright colors – blue, green, red, white, and yellow. I then just painted these randomly on the various items on one side and mirrored those colors on the opposite side. This was pretty easy and fast, the only slow part was putting down a dab of white paint on the items I intended to be yellow. I finished up the process by painting the grating black and dry brushing it over with a steel color – chainmail steel I believe.

Had I been thinking I would have taken some pictures of the process but I will take some before I finish up painting the Valkyrie.

2009-05-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quite note, We had a family tragedy earlier in March. I don’t want to go into details, this site is supposed to be fun, but I had planned a large number of updates and missed some messages. Hopefully I will get it all up soon.

In the meantime, whenever I go to

http://allthingsontheworkbench.blogspot.com/

my browser immediately jumps to Google and tells me that

http://http//allthingsontheworkbench.blogspot.com//robots.txt

can not be found. I can’t figure out why.

GW Website

2009-03-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was annoyed today. I surfed over to the GW website and got the following:

So I sent the following email to their customer service:

Dear GW,

As a long time customer, I find the new splash screen on the US Website with the following:

"We recommend the following browser. For the fastest, smoothest web browsing
experience, we recommend the following supported browsers,"

to be rather distasteful. How would you like it if I went into a hobby store carrying my GW figures and was told "for the most fun, most enjoyable war game play Warmachine, Star Wars, or Wargods?"

I say, instead of having your website pass the buck on poor performance, find website developers that will optimize your US website for one of the most popular web browsers in the US, Internet Explorer.

Sincerely,

Thomas Whitten

Orkika Corp

2008-11-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

The question forms when you feel the slight vibration in the ground. Soon it grows to worrying after the wall of dust moves from over the horizon. Then it becomes apprehension when the low pitch rumble slowly builds to a deafening roar. Finally, there is neither question nor doubt, there is only fear.

It is the Orkika Corp!

Old Glory Pre-Painted Romans (b)

2008-10-16T07:34:00.001-07:00

Well,

I picked up both types of Romans, but still I have no full review. I'm hosting a big game this weekend and I've been getting ready for that. But, I've handled the figures more and I'll list out what I dislike and what I like about the figures.

Dislikes
Primarily I don't like the shields. As one can see from the picture, the banding or edge of the shield is painted yellow. I would prefer bronze. Also, the way the shields are packed mean I'll have to do little touchups.

Lukewarm
I am lukewarm on the shield transfer. I'd rather not add them myself but they are nice and it gives me the chance to add my own if I like. And since transfers are one of those things that one can whip out once one has practice it is not that big a chore.

Likes
The figures themselves are nicely painted. It is a darker paint job with shading and subtle highlights. They match well with my other Old Glory figures and are actually nicer figures then older O.G. Romans (both types).

Conclusion
Weighing all the things I mentioned above, I still think the O.G. Pre-Painted Romans are a good buy. Of course, everything I said is subjective so it might not be that helpful to someone still undecided about purchasing the figures. Initially, I was a little hesitant when I made my purchase. I don't know how they would turn out and I hoped they looked the same as in the pictures on the O.G. site. And if there is anything useful one can take away from this review it is this - the paint jobs you get are the same as what you see in the picture (maybe a bit better).

Old Glory Pre-Painted Romans

2008-10-14T12:49:00.001-07:00

Since I am up to my elbows in unpainted Biblicals, I thought I would check out O.G.'s new pre-painted Romans. I have to say, for $2.00 a figure I am happy with them. There are some things I would change, but they are a minor concern. I'll put together a full review tonight.

Tale of 5.5 Gamers - 500 point battles (a)

2008-10-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

This was our 1st Tale of 5.5 gamers’ battle day. We played only one game as only two people showed up ready to play. Old man Ray is old and had to rest, Robin had some Space Orks to paint, Adam had 5 business projects due that night and Mike had to eat a can of chili.

Proto-Assyrians vs. Mycenaean Greeks 500pt Battle.

Forces :

Mycenaean Greeks
3 Chariots with Hero (Force Commander)
8 Chariot runners
2x 20man mixed (L/S/M) Spearmen/Bow units

Chad played his nicely painted Mycenaean Greeks. He put a lot of work into them and they were lovely to look at. Hopefully he will chime in at some point and maybe share some of pictures of them.

Proto-Assyrians
15 man Assyrian Heavy Infantry (S/M) plus Force Commander
24 man Assyrian Auxiliaries (L/S/M) (cheating - 20 is max in 500 point games)
8 man Chaldean Slingers
10 man Aramaen Javelins

I played some Proto-Assyrians. I had to scramble the night before the game as I had not based my chariots and I had no plasti-card for basing. So I came upon the idea of using my newly painted Neo-Babylonians (O.G. Assyrians) as early Assyrians and the rest of my Hittites as Assyrian Aux. The idea here is that one of the border Hittite client cities decided to switch sides rather then fight the Assyrians. I’ll finish up my Hittites for next time but the important thing is everything was painted.

Setup

We went with the standard meeting engagement. We only had five hundred points so we wanted to keep it simple. We played in 4x4 area. After selecting our table sides (basically where we happened to be standing at the time) we rolled to place terrain on the table. Chad won the roll to go 1st. Using the random terrain table Chad rolled up a small hill. I then rolled up a stand of trees. Chad then passed so I rolled the final time and happened to roll up river/stream. I selected the stream option so I could go across the table without needing Chad’s permission. In the end, the table was set up as shown above.

Turn 1

Mycenaeans
We rolled to see who went 1st. I won the roll and graciously allowed the Mycenaeans to go 1st. For their turn, the Mycenaeans boldly stood still.

Assyrians
Both my heavy infantry and auxiliary infantry moved forward. My slingers moved forward as well, going just as fast the heavy infantry. My javelins moved double time through the trees to the treeline. Both my heavy infantry and auxiliary infantry moved far enough to be in range of the Mycenaeans. My heavy infantry fired at spear 2 to no effect while my auxiliary fired at the chariot runners to no effect.

Turn 2

Mycenaeans
Prodded into action by Assyrian bowfire, the Mycenaeans moved forward slowly. Seeing they were in range, the bowmen cowering in the ranks of the spearmen took some ineffective pot shots at the naked slingers.

Assyrians
Having the Mycenaeans right where they want them, the Assyrian heavy and auxiliary infantry stood pat. Both the slingers and javelins moved forward to better firing positions. Everybody let lose with their weapons. The slingers and javelins combined to kill 1 person in spear 1 while the heavy infantry killed 1 person in spear 2 and the auxiliary killed two chariot runners.

Turn 3

Mycenaeans
The Mycenaeans continued to slowly move forward and reached the edge of the stream. They took some more pot shots at the javelins and killed one of them.

Assyrians
The javelins were a little to close to spear 1 so the backed up a little. Outside of that, everybody stood still. The shooting was a repeat of the previous round with the slingers and javelins combining to kill 1 person in spear 1, the heavy infantry killing 1 person in spear 2 and the auxiliary killing two chariot runners. At this point, the runners had had enough and retreated behind the chariots.

Turn 4

Mycenaeans
The turn started with chariot runners failing to rally while making good progress toward the boards edge. Now entering the stream, the Mycenaean spear 1 managed to move partway through it. The chariots where able to cross the stream and put themselves in a position to charge the enemy next turn. Spear 2 also made good use of the bridge, putting themselves in a position to charge next turn as well. After moving, the archers concentrated on the slingers and managed to kill one.

Assyrians
Counting on massive bowfire and expecting a decisive blow, everybody stood their ground and maintained two ranks. It started out well with the javelins killing 4 in spearmen 1 and the auxiliary archers killing two of the chariots. Unfortunately, the heavy infantry could not finish the job and take out the final chariot nor could the slingers with double-shot kill a single Mycenaean in spear 2.

Turn 5

Mycenaeans
The Mycenaeans were in prime position to take advantage of the thin lines of the Assyrians. That is, if they survive the Assyrians standing and shooting. So the chariot charges the Assyrian auxiliary who pass their fear test, shoot their finally volley and prepare for the chariots impact. Spear 2 overcomes their fear of the Assyrian heavy infantry and charges in under a hail over bowfire. After the dust of the charges settle and the airs ceases to be darken arrows, both the chariots and spearmen made it into combat without a single causality. Watching the rest of their comrades, spear 1 continued across the stream. The combat between the Assyrian heavy infantry and the Mycenaean spear resulted in one dead Assyrian and no dead Mycenaeans. But with three ranks of Mycenaeans to the Assyrians two, the Mycenaeans won the combat and Assyrians failed their leadership roll. Fortunately in this case, the Assyrians were the faster as they fled from the combat. The more decisive combat ended up being the Mycenaean hero in chariot against the Assyrian auxiliary. Two assyrians died but bolstered by their addition rank and a standard they held their ground and got a draw. But there was an auxiliary musician. He pounded out a droning beat during combat and this apparently unnerved the Mycenaean hero. The hero promptly fled and was run down the axillaries.

With this, both the spearmen in stream and spearmen who defeated the Assyrian heavy infantry lost heart and also fled from the battle.

End
At this point, we were tired and decided to end the game. Do most WAB close combats seem to last just one round?

5.5 Mycenaean Greeks - The First 500 Points

2008-09-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

So for months Tom and I had been talking about playing some Warhammer Ancient Battles. We had talked about a Spartacus campaign, but the enthusiasm among the group was luke warm at best. Tom and I decided that we were going to do something with ancients, if anyone else thought it was cool and wanted to join in so be it. If not Tom and I go it alone. When Tom finally decided to push forward on a late bronze age campaign that worked just fine for me as I already had a small bronze age Greek army that I had painted for Karl Con years ago.

The tale of 5.5 gamers was to begin in earnest in August. I had 2 chariots and about 70 guys painted. Most of the painted figs were redoubt and I had most of the heroes painted up already. But I still wanted to paint up 500 points per month like everyone else.

Figuring out my army list and what I needed for figs has turned out to be much more complex that I had anticipated. Although I had a bunch of painted figs, I had no “units” per say for WAB. I had a bunch of random figs that I would need to add to get “units”. So although I will be painting 500 points per month, the army I will field will not be made up of the figs I just painted but a mix of newly painted and previously painted figs.

That solved I got to tackle the next complication. I had a few unpainted redoubt and Foundry Greeks I had bought years ago. I painted those up quick and fell in love with the Foundry figs. They are just fantastic. I had plotted and planned what I wanted to buy, but when I compared Foundry figs with the price of Old Glory there was a huge difference. I could get 5 Old Glory figs for every 1 Foundry figure. Tom and I looked at the pictures online and talked about my options. Late July I put in an order for about 15 packs of Old Glory figs. It took about two weeks for them to arrive, so it was almost mid August. I broke out the figs and started to work on them at a fevered pace. Unfortunately, the more I worked on them the more unsatisfied I was with the quality of the figs. Now anyone who has Old Glory figs knows that some of their lines and very nice (AWI for one). On the other had some of their lines and not well done. One of those lines is their Trojan War line. After working on the figures, it looks to me like someone sculpted them and then later on “added” extra muscles to make them look more heroic. Not good. The more I worked o them the more unhappy I was. With the clock ticking, this was turning out to be a disaster. Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and live with them.

The next day Foundry announced their 20% British bank holiday sale. Could this get more complicated? Tom (being as cheap as I, who better to seek advice from) and I talked some more about my dilemma. Seth added his two cents. I decided to go with Foundry. I took a day or two to decide what to get. I decide to order 3 Trojan Warriors hordes, 1 Sea Peoples horde and 1 Bronze Age European horde. I decided I would use my WAB army as a basis for a big Trojan War convention game. The Sea Peoples and Bronze Age Europeans I would use as Trojan Allies.

Two days later while doing some research on the Trojan War I found out that modern archeological evidence points to the fact the Troy was in Anatolia and was within the Hittite sphere of influence and was probably a loyal ally of the Hittites. Further more, the actual city is laid out like a Hittite City and the Trojans spoke Luwian a language in the same family as the Hittite language. In fact it appears that the only thing they had in common with Bronze Age Greece was trade. Into my mind prodded the idea that I could use Hittites as Trojans and really give my con game a different look. I went on the Foundry website and proceeded to spend more money I did not have and buy the 1200pt. Hittite WAB army. I spend way too much money.

It took about 10 days to get my order from Foundry. AT last I could actually start working on my 500 point army! As usual Foundry did not disappoint. By this time Tom and I had talk about delaying the start of the tale of 5.5 gamers. Robin had not gotten his figs until the end of August (about the same time I got mine) and Adam still did not have his figs. It was clear that hardly anyone would have 500 points ready for 9/1. We decided to shoot for 10/1.

After looking at Chariot Wars this is the 500 point army I think I will field;

1 x hero in chariot 89 points
2 x chariots 78 points
1 x 20 man spear unit with bowmen intermixed 140 points
1 x 18 man unit of swordsmen 141 points
1 x 8 Javelinmen 48 points

A total of 496 points. I am working on another heavy spear unit with archers intermixed and might replace with the sword unit with a second spear unit.

I’ll give an update on my next 550 points in October.

-Chad

Hittites DVD

2008-09-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

This was a very enjoyable DVD. From a production point of view, I thought it was well done. The battles could have been more elaborate but that is nit picking. And even though I've read a little on the Hittites I still I picked up quite a few things I didn't know before. Anyone who is interested in Hittites or even just the Biblical period in general should enjoy this DVD.

A Tale of 5.5 Gamers - Delays

2008-09-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Real Life - 1
Tale of 5.5 Gamers - 0

The 1st Tale of 5.5 Gamers battle is now October 1st. Here is the list reasons, or as it should be called:

The List of Woe

Ray was gone half of last month because of Army commitments.
Adam had to move to an apartment and help his parents move from Wisconsin to Georgia.
Robin and Chad didn't have a good portion of their forces.

So, I ended up slacking off. Sorta. My Hittites fell behind, but I put together a 500 point loaner army of Neo-Babaloyians. Hopefully, I will get some pictures soon. These were made from Old Glory, Castaway Arts, and Eureka miniatures.

5.5 Hittites: Spearmen and Chariots

2008-09-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note, I've got my first set of chariots painted up and my 1st unit of spearmen are almost finished. I just need to make a final decision on base texture and I will take a few pictures.

Next up are archers and skirmishers.

5.5 Assyrians

2008-08-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Robin has put up an article about his Assyrians for our Tale of 5.5 Gamers. Check it out here: 5.5 Assyrians

Assault on Black Reach

2008-08-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Robin and I are painting up some of the figures from the Assault on Black Reach. Robin painted the Orks and I painted the marines. His Orks are better. These are for The Last Square for use in Assault on Black Reach demo games and for promoting the game before its release.

Terminators:

Tactical Squad:
Nobz: Deffkoptas: Warboss:

Hittite Scale Comparision

2008-08-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a comparison of figures I plan to use for my Hittites and their Allies. Click on the image for a better view. The picture is crooked because of less then skillful use of a camera. The scale card in back is not angeled and all the bases are of equal height. The measurements on the card start from the top of the bases.

For the Hittites, New Line Designs, Miniature Design Studio (MDS), and Old Glory are all of similiar size. Now I generally like O.G. but the New Line and MDS figures are generally nicer. O.G. spearmen are ok, as seen in the picture, but the O.G. archers and slingers are about half as good as the O.G. spearmen and are not shown.

Both the New Line and MDS Hittites are great. What is even better is that style wise they are also close, but their outfits are different. This means I can get the 'varied look of empire' I want for the Hittites.

On to the allies, the Wargames Foundry biblical is nice, but starts to look small compared to everybody else. Both the New Line and Castaway arts figures are both very good and scale well together. These will make good allies but I will be limitting them to chariot troops in the Hittite army. I included them here as it is useful for the scale comparision.

For allied infantry I will be going with Lukka and Pheonicians. Again, the MDS Sea People figure is nice. The O.G. Sea Peoples figure is also not to bad and is only slightly taller. The only problem is the O.G. figure hit the gym more. They will still both make an appearence in my force. I will use the O.G. Sea People figures for Lukka and the MDS Sea People figures for Pheonicians.

As soon as I finish building them, I will do a similiar review with chariots.

Manufacturers Websites
Castaway Arts
Miniature Design Studio
Newline Designs
Old Glory
Wargames Foundry

Blood Bowl Humans

2008-08-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

I've taken some stuff off my workbench to give myself some more room for my Hittites. In this case, it is my converted GW Blood Bowl team. They are called the Averland Avengers. The team is an old one, but I was touching them up after noticing some damage.

First up are the linemen:

These are converted Empire spearmen from the single pose unit days.

Next up are the Catchers and Blitzers:

The Catchers are from the multi-pose empire troops that came out in the 90's. The Blitzers are some extra Old Glory ren. pikemen I had sitting around.

Finally, I've got my two passers:

The Passer without the ball is another 90's spearmen. The other Passer is made from the Empire General that came with the 6th ed. Warhammer Fantasy Set.

5.5 Hittites - Primed and Ready

2008-08-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

Ok, the 1st 500 points of Hittites have been cleaned, based, and primed. I primed the chariots and crew black. The horses, and everyone else has been primed white. Bascially for historicals, if the figure is mostly armor or a thing, I prime black. Otherwise I prime white. For non-historicals I prime with whatever color covers most of the model i.e. Dark Angels I prime green.

5.5 Hittites - The First 500 Points Part II

2008-08-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

I need to make a small change to my 500 point army. Why? Here is the skinnie: I own WAB 1.0. The rest of the guys have 1.5. There isn't much a difference between the two, but 1.5 does include an errata, some additional army lists, and rules for 500 point games. Since that is what we are going to game wise for the first month it makes sense to use those rules. The problem is, my army is illegal with those rules. I have have 6 light chariots (two units of 3) and I am only allowed 3 light chariots total.

So, to fix that, I will be dropping the 3 3-man chariots and including a unit 12 Lukka. I will also be upgrading one of chariot warriors to a field commander for free due to the changed incentives.

A Tale of 5.5 Gamers Part IIa

2008-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Since we decided to adopt using the 500 point rules from WAB 1.5, we can change the bonus for the 1st month. This is because the 500 point rules expands on the options for generals in small forces. This works out well as characters capable of being generals varied wildly from army to army in terms of cost.

Month 1: If a player does not have a character capable of being general, a player may choose to upgrade one model to be the force leader (i.e. general) following the rules for 500 point WAB 1.5.