*cough*cough*hack* Mk II (or is it III?)

Haven't had a great couple weeks. I took my entire course of antibiotics this time and still find myself sick now. On the other hand, my injured finger has recovered - while there's still a bit of pain I'm assured I can and should use it to strengthen.

• Finally obtained my second CS Grant scenario book, Scenarios for All Ages, after (like the other volume) it took three trips across the Atlantic. Shared with the late Stuart Asquith, there are a similar number of scenarios, mostly small and basic (only half a dozen units a side, most of them). To my delight, there is a version of Sittangbad from Charge!
• I've been a little more cautious with ebay stuff lately. I was looking for the OOP simple plastic trees from Merit that feature in The War Game, and while they're a bit expensive I found Zvezda trees which look similar. I received two boxes a couple days ago. They're a little fiddly to put together, but the smaller ones don't require glue and I've built about a dozen without pricking my fingers on the pointy edges too much. The larger ones seem looser. The very tops of the trees are easy to lose. Overall, they look like they'll go well with my Wofun 18mms. I found it easier to build them from the bottom up - largest layers first.

  

  Assembly.

  

  The tops of the trees would be just fine for very-small-scale games.

Completed. They seem hefty enough to stay in place without
basing, especially sitting on a cloth mat. We'll see.

• As of today, I've only got twelve of my 30 Wargames Atlantic BEF built; still hoping to finish them by August and then send them off to my brother to paint for me.
• Waiting on Victoria Miniatures' Space Aussies 2 pledge manager; I hope it and the 3dprint files might come in time to make a few on a YouMedia printer before August 9 (when I'll be visiting for game day).
• Speaking of which, still have my painting program to prep - will need to construct and undercoat the Warhammer Alliance minis before then. Another deadline.
• Reread the rules for Fistful of Lead, with the intent to try a couple solo skirmishes. I'm increasingly sure it'll work for Picacho Peak, if I ever get around to running it...

So that's it - another short post but with some hopeful progress. 'Til next time.

Roads, Buildings and Mud

Another rambling post about what I've done over the past week or so. I do have a WWII battle coming up today at the club, so that'll be next.

I've been drooling over a newish sort of RPG terrain, Tenfold Dungeons. They are designed as dungeon maps, with a selection of doors, stairs and connectors, but the handy thing is that their outsides are also nicely patterned. So long as you don't mind your buildings with flat roofs, and you use them more as obstacles than strongpoints, they might make an okay village. So I picked on the Town set, which has boxes representing a large inn, a church and a town hall.

My cat in the nice new box.

Everything is compact...

...And nesting.

To go with them, I broke out some roads I got last year, and a box of period vehicles from the club:

I particularly like this one!

A few closeups:

Gotta use your imagination a bit, but that's what these games
are all about, right?

A simple layout.

With two roads side-by side, I can even have a runway!

So this will help with terrain for VBCW. The plane (a 1937 Lockheed Electra) even suggests an airlanding scenario...

Last of all, I experimented with a Games Workshop technical paint, here Stirland Mud:

... and turned up a few 3d-print vehicles that came with the road pieces:

A little mobile artillery.

The VBCW collection is booming at this point, I must get around to actual play. Perhaps in summer. First comes an Anzio game, which will be the subject of my next post. See you next time.

Painting a 3rd Edition Ruin

 I picked up this Warhammer 40K relic at Recon, and have been slowly assembling and painting it.

Undercoat with Chaos Black spray:

Basecoat of Army Painter Castle Grey:

I bought a GW large base brush for this, then made the mistake of using it like a drybrush. All those windows, hard to get the brush into or on them. I'll probably do a second coat.

Added a second coat, this time with a large drybrush, but like the first coat more of a rough layer. The lighting on these photos is poor enough that it's probably not noticeable; I wonder how much a lightbox costs, because the one at work is impressively useful. I will, however, have to do something like wood for the slats in the second floor.

Next a rough and heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade, with inadvertent pooling. Using this paint type takes getting used to.

I left the wooden slats untouched at this point.

A cat investigates.

My next effort was done outside, in the natural light of a Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed it, despite the heat.

A layer of Ash Grey on the upper floor. Not always successful
at avoiding the crevices...

Selective layer of Ash Grey on details, and a bit of edge
highlighting on the columns.

While idly watching some Games Workshop painting videos, I actually learned a tip that I've never heard before - and am too late to use here. When you're laying down color, don't go back over wet paint, because it's partly dry by then and the mix of dry and wet layers will result in a poor finish. So not just thin coats, but wait for the first to dry! Interesting, and something I'll definitely take care over in future.

Final pictures in better light:

The final step was to paint the wooden slats with 
Hardened Leather Speedpaint.

And a video!

I think the contrast with the floor is too stark, but I'm happy with the window detailing - which was relaxing and enjoyable. I think this is the first piece of kit-built terrain I've ever painted; it was certainly worth the attempt. I may go back and edge-highlight the rest of the jutting wall bits and possibly the windows too.

Shopping spree

Some of which is probably going to end up in my Closet of Shame, but whaddya gonna do?

The rest of the haul from vendors and a brief but intense flea market (lots of people in line to get in):

• About fifteen six-siders from the Rebels and Patriots game (the entire collection had belonged to a friend of the GM, who was distributing some of his stuff). I rolled well throughout the game, so maybe they're lucky!
• A Lockheed Electra toy, which will come in handy for Women's History and Aviation Month displays. Would have come in handy if I hadn't discovered after getting home that the wings weren't in the box. They're on the way.
• Some painted 28 mm models I can use for VBCW - naval shore party, Mounties, Chinese warlord troops in reasonably British uniform, and two armed vehicles. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• 18 naval troops, including Lewis guns and Molotov Cocktails.
  

  

  
  

  
• A couple primed tanks and trucks that may work for VBCW too.
• A binder of Fistful of Lead rules, including some cards, status markers, etc. Think I'll definitely use this for Picacho Pass now!
• A box of Armies in Plastic Rogers' Rangers.
• A Sisters of Battle t-shirt to go with...
• An entire smallish army of well-painted classic Sisters - about fifty figures and three vehicles. 3rd Edition 40K, here I come! They'll catch the teens' attention, too - see next post.
  

  

  
  
  
• To play against them, a not so well-painted batch of Thousand Sons. Not as smart a purchase, but much cheaper.
• An entire smallish army of WWII British for the desert war - fifty figs, two trucks, armored car and tank, which could be an entire army for most VBCW rulesets.
  

  

  
• Some spare 40K sprues of ruined buildings, Orks, Horus Heresy Marines and 3rd ed. Dark Eldar. For build-and-takes, or maybe Gorkamorka.
• 3rd edition 40K Ork and Dark Eldar codexes to go with the sprues.
• A starter set of Wings of War WWI.
• Some metalled roads, useful for 40K or VBCW alike.
• Some 15mm-scale prickly pear (getting pumped about Picacho Pass now!), hedges and stone walls (for my 18th-century Wofuns).
• A couple painted 3d-printed 28mm-scale Rohirrim buildings for Minceheim. 
  
• A few more books - a history of the USAAF in WWII, one about the Tet Offensive, and the First Bull Run volume of Knight's Battles for Wargamers.

More Rocky Hills

My missing package of rocky hills turned up, two weeks late. Wonder where they were; maybe in the back of a warm truck or something, since two of the pieces were stuck together and "popped" apart, losing paint in the process.

This is more jagged and "realistic" terrain compared to the first, very rectangular batch.

There are five larger, flat-topped, angular pieces, and ten smaller, "messier" rubble pieces.

The larger pieces have some jutting bits on top marring the total flatness. While a nice, realistic touch, it makes them harder to stack. But generally all that will fit on them are the rubble pieces anyway.

I like the rubble - the smaller pieces will make good cover anywhere on a table, even for my 18mms. They are heavier than the hills, or at any rate rattle satisfyingly when they hit the table - I think actual rocks were used in their construction, not just foam.

Here's the damaged parts - quite minor:

I'm open to suggestions about repair. At this point I'm thinking of trying a textured "basing" paint from Citadel. A thin layer might obscure the pink without rising above the surrounding rock, and if so, look like a proper chip in the stone. Or perhaps just plain black or dark grey, with sharp highlighting like that visible elsewhere on the pieces.

Had a bad day, but this little thing makes me feel that little bit better. Thanks for reading.

Terrain - card, resin and "found"

I've been procrastinating getting on with my next Minceheim game. Picked up a bit of new terrain this week, so I thought I'd show off my steadily increasing cover which may appear in the game.

Gobbo and dwarf face off in a wrecked building.

First off is a ready-painted resin ruined building which cost me just $15 at a store fairly close to work. (I also talked them into giving us some leftover comics for Free Comic Book Day.) It's sized for 28/25mm, which limits me to Games Workshop games and maybe RPGs - but I've actually ordered GW's Warhammer Alliance school/library club set for my branch in the optimistic hope I can get some games going - or at least have extra supplies for a paint-and-take program during summer. Hey, it's free to us professionals.

A giant spider clambers along the wall.

Youtube friend Steve Page recommended these paper "cross-walls"; they're made by Dave Graffam and are available to download on Wargame Vault. I realized pretty quickly that they needed reinforcement, so I sandwiched them over cardstock. The longer elements are difficult to glue down, as there's more chance for the angle being off or trapping air (note the wrinkles at lower left). Perhaps next time I'll try printing on cardstock, but they can also be reduced for my 18mm figures.

Here they are sandwiched and drying before assembly.
The bad fold is visible at the bottom.

Another reason to use heavier card.
They stick in place well on the carpet
texture, though.

I will definitely pick up more of Graffam's designs; these wall come in several colors and there are plenty of full-fledged buildings available too, both complete and ruined.

A mound of foliage.

The last bit is something I've had for a while but not used much. During our branch's ongoing reconstruction, I swiped some leftover green, brown and blue carpet offcuts. I needed a pair of proper shears rather than mere scissors to cut and shape them, but they work as the base of simple terrain features.

Low shrubbery shelters these dwarves
from a looming feline-daemon.

Other than a few of Peter Dennis' "cross-trees", the features would be empty but for a coworker's suggestion. I liberated a bagful of loose decorative paper used for filling Easter baskets. With small fishtank stones for borders, this will work for jungle terrain as well.

So that's what I've been doing instead of playing. These will see action soonish - I hope!

Hills and Hidden Tombs

I was looking forward to the South Florida Miniatures Gamers annual regatta today, but have been feeling under the weather. Since most of the members are old enough to be my father, I decided to spare them my spittle and stayed home.

I took a break from struggling to mesh together free-movement rules and hex boards (thanks for your patience, George!) when a bit of terrain I ordered from Amazon turned up. Ten hill pieces, ready made, painted and textured. I have never owned any proper hills and do not have the patience to make my own, so when I spotted these I bought them, despite the lead time (hand-made). They are smaller than I expected, but just fine for skirmish games or with the 18mm Wofuns and 20mm Colonials.

Three sizes and two heights...

... to make steep or shallow hills.

With Space Marines for scale...

... and Wofun Afghans.

Can be used as cover or to block LOS.

Gurkhas are ambushed by Pathans from a ridge.

There are too few for a proper NW Frontier game, but they're a fine start and I'll probably buy more.

Cliff edges, different scale.

The Space Marines, by the way, are playing pieces from a small boxed game I picked up at Barnes and Noble called Space Marine Adventures - a standalone to interest kids. It's a card-activated board game, easy to play, and with solo elements. The only problem is that the enemy Necrons (played by tokens) do not move or shoot - the only way so far for them to wound the Marines is with the placement mechanic. (I've only tried the first scenario.) If one appears in the same square as a Marine, he's injured. Each has different abilities and can be issued "wargear cards" for some basic customization. I think it would work well with the teens - IF I could get them to pay attention. I have one who asks me to play, but is nowhere to be found when I turn up in the tech lab.

A board, figures and tokens.

The boards, and game, are basically Space Hulk lite - another game I have stacked away in the closet - and could be used for a more generic "treasure-hunting" scenario. I'm also thinking of buying the 9th Edition 40K starter set, which has Necron figures in it. With their Egyptian death-cult theme, it could be a nice spooky sort of game for Halloween with simple rules.

As readers may have noted, I like compact games and "packs" that can be easily carried to stores or work:

My blogging has slowed significantly, but I still have plenty on the burner. Thanks for reading.