New Year's Eve 2014

Today would have been my Grandfather's 89th birthday.

Tomorrow will be my Grandmother's 89th birthday. 

For those who are paying attention, yes, you're correct, my Grandparents (On my Mother's side) were born a day apart - 31st December and 1st of January of 1926. It's astounding they ever met at all considering My Grandfather was born in the Rhondda Valley, Wales and my Grandmother in Southern Greece. But to both meet AND fall in love during the horrors of World War II is (in my mind) near miraculous. Once Greece had been finally liberated from the Germans and Italians, my Grandfather (At that time still an RAF Armourer) returned to court and then marry the beautiful Greek girl he had chanced to meet the first time the British Commonwealth forces attempted to wrest control of Greece from the Axis forces.

There's far more to the story, but I'll leave it there. My Grandfather was the man I admired most in my life and I felt it was fitting to honour his birthday here. 

Now to some Hobby stuff!

Only a little work going on. For the upcoming tournament next month (24th) I have started to paint my 3rd infantry platoon for my Flames of War British. These are handy as they can be used both in Mid and Late War. So far though, I've only gotten paint on their helmets and faces, so not worth posting a picture as yet.

I also managed to get some painting on the Robotech Veritech Jet forms. Stupidly didn't make sure the pics of one came out before I left for work though, so only the one that represents my character in the game. Guardian and Robot forms to come!

Unconventional scheme for the setting according to my American fellow players, but my character is Mars-based, so I felt his mech would have a paint scheme that would set him aside from the rest of the squadron.

I also stuck my ACW Confederate cavalry on sticks, ready for paint. They are currently in the garage with grey primer drying.

Enough here for 3 generals, an 8-stand cavalry regiment and their dismounted version. I'm just missing the dismounted standard bearer fig that I think I'll have to create myself from a random infantry fig.

I hope you all have pleasant and safe New Year's celebrations tonight (Or already have if it's New Year already where you are.)!

Happy New Year!

Boxing Day 2014

Xmas is over and I'm back to work. Bottomless Mimosas (Bucksfizz to you Brits), huge turkey dinner and sleep deprivation (Due to my son waking us up at some ungodly hour to see what Santa had left him.) saw me out for the count and snoring around 5pm. Sad, but it also meant I got to dodge my in-laws visiting, so not all bad. Heh.

I love these things in Company of Heroes. Charging a unit of infantry is a messy business! :)

Hobby gifts were a little sparse - I got another set of magnifying lenses for my perfect-up-close-eyes and a pair of Flames of War Sherman Crab Mineflail tanks that looked like they'd sat on some shop shelves for a long time; so much so that the blister packs were cracked and a load of pieces were missing! Email sent to the seller to see what can be resolved.... ~_~

I got a little painting done. The Heroquest Sorcerer finally got the love he was promised. Being that he's going to be used as some sort of Death Cult Evil Priest type, I went with attempting a blue-grey skin colour and the requisite red (= evil for sure) tabard. The orb thing between his horns I painted similarly to the orb that my Necromancer is holding to key in so everyone can work out who's side they're on.

I caught a salmon, THIS BIG. 'uge it was!

Of course my son inquired as to whether he was wearing small-clothes....

And lastly, I got to finishing up the pre-primer basing on some random fantasy minis that I found and have added to my mass of rpg minis waiting for paint.

Xmas 2014

Not much hobby of late with the run up to Xmas.

I did work some more on Robotech Tactics Veritechs and have all but one Jet mode model assembled and ready for primer, so expect some paint progress pics hopefully in a week.

Also, I crumbled and used one of my 6MMRPC two Joker slots and picked up a 15mm Confederate cavalry regiment for use in a Regimental Fire and Fury project I've started up with a mate who recently moved to the Sacramento area so this will be my new thing for 2015!

Hope all have a safe and pleasant time with your loved ones this Holiday. I hope Santa graces your stockings with muchos hobby goodness.

- Dai

British Pioneers (Part 1 - The Troops)

British Pioneer (Non-paratroop mind) platoons in Mid & Late War Flames of War are tiny four-stand affairs mounted in jeeps with trailers. They are cheap, so sometimes can fill in when you've got points left over in a list, but typically there's usually better options out there. Saying that, they still have the ability to get rid of pesky barbed wire and minefields and can also scare tanks away from assaulting them with their AT4 in assaults.

4 men on a stand as opposed to the normal 5 on regular infantry made these fellows a swifter paintjob, which was nice.

This is a platoon that will not see much time on my playing surfaces seeing as my regular opponent has yet to use fortifications, minefields or barbed wire, but the first tournament of 2015 is a small Infantry companies only 1200 point effort and I found they were all I could fit in to my list. Battlefront's own Brit Pioneer sculpts are more for their Italy Campaign line, and so I decided to look elsewhere as I wanted mine to fit in with my current Late War Canadians who are based around a Western Europe theme. Peter Pig Miniatures had a wee pack of their own Pioneers and whilst a little smaller than Battlefront's sculpts, seemed to fit in and give enough character to my stands that they couldn't be confused with regular infantry.

Close up showing that this very suspicious cask needs investigating by these brave Engineers.

Yup, that's a bit dodgy looking alright.

More Pioneers on the move, cautiously scanning for hidden mines.

Jerry has booby-trapped these supplies. 

And taken all the wine and brandy from the crates to boot! Gits!

Platoon Commander

Next up for these blokes will be their Jeeps and a 15CWT Truck, but I'm still waiting for those to arrive in the post.

British 8th Army HQ and others (WIP - part 2)

A day late for last week’s post, whoops.

Saying that, I have gotten out of my slump and been painting lots this weekend, which is refreshing.

Here are the infantry stands for my 8^th Army HQ. I honestly thought painting desert infantry would be easier (When compared to painting Western European Brit uniforms) prior to beginning these fellows, but they require about the same amount of effort. The one part that was easier was the basing. I used some grainy texture paste stuff by Liquitex and some Silfor grass tufts and I think it looks pretty good.

The transport vehicles for this lot are being worked on next and as you’ll see below, I’ve even stuck a spare dog in to further differentiate the White’s Scout Car as the 1iC’s personal transport. :)

1iC contemplating the enemy positions with a mug of tea and trusty pooch "Séamus" the Red Setter.

 

My 2iC will most likely be platoon commander for the HQ Mortars every game, so he gets some binoculars to help spot valid targets.

HQ Mortar #1. The crew are not Battlefront sculpts and it shows. No idea which company produced these, but they are bloody shite in comparison. Still, seems a lick of paint can improve the appearance of a pig afterall.

HQ Mortar #2. Again, non-Battlefront crew, but at least between the two teams I was able to not double up on any of the poses.

This is the 1iC's Scout Car transport. As you can see, I had a spare dog that I am going to paint up as though he's enjoying the hot desert air blowing his face and ears about as the car zooms about the battlefield. Red Setters are not known for being all that smart, so it fits. 

And these aren't the only models I've managed to paint either. I've also gotten about 4/5's of a British Late War Pioneers platoon done, with just some basing and also transport vehicles to get finished. I didn't have the camera to hand when I put down my brushes last night, so I'll get a new post sorted for those boyo's in the next few days. 

Lastly I finally managed to get in some games of the Fantasy Flight's X-Wing Miniatures game after my good friend Gregg managed to pick up the basic set and a handful of ships on the cheap. I played as the Imperials (Of course) versus Gregg and Frank who took on the mantle of the Rebel Alliance (Though Gregg was playing an E-Wing, which I guess in the Star Wars timeline would have made them New Republic?) We kept the game simple, leaving out the purchasing of gear, usage of named pilots and rules for torpedoes, etc so we could learn the core rules and get them down as best we were able. I think I managed to win one game and then got thumped the others. I will say I really like the moving mechanics of the game, though there is far too much reliance on luck with the dice rolling for my preferences. The models themselves looked very nice, but when I looked them up online, they were way more expensive than I had anticipated and trying to get hold of the early Wave 1 ships for their release prices is damned near impossible. Almost like a bloody collectible card game. That aside, I am looking forward to getting to play again, though I don't think I'll be buying into X-Wing and will let Gregg provide the game and pieces.

British 8th Army HQ and others (WIP - part 1)

In my list for my Flames of War Mid War British Motor Company, my HQ is comprised of the following:

1. 2x Rifle Command teams (With Sticky Bombs for extra suicide Anti-Tank fun) representing the iC and 2iC
2. a White's Scout Car transport for the 1iC
3. a jeep transport for the 2iC
4. 2x 3" Mortar teams that were add-ons for the HQ
5. and 2 15cwt Morris Truck transports for the Mortar teams.

Over the past few nights, I have been diligently working on the basic paint and shade jobs for these and come up with the following. I think they should do okay for now; as with my Late War Canadians, I will go back later on and highlight their uniforms and skin colours, but right now, they are good for gaming.

Mark iii Churchills in the background taunting me. The transport vehicles are off camera, not worth showing as yet.

I also got around to finally getting some markings done for my finished 8th Army platoons. Not sure how accurate they are for the period I am aiming for, but I got so annoyed that I think I'll just stick with what you see below. At least they look pretty. (Still yet to add some wear and tear to them.)

I don't have the correct Numbered decal for this platoon, so will free-hand it on the opposite side of the hull....

.... and also next to the Desert Rats symbols on the rear.

I reckon the Crusaders look super sexi with their new markings.

Red Triangles for Squadron markings  are a great touch.

Some Crusader rumps for your delectation.

Lastly, I've been working on a little side project for my rpg group's current game - some Robotech mechas! (The GM got a load of them from the Robotech minis game Kickstarter) Each of us four players went and created our own paint scheme for our individual Veritechs and I offered to help out the GM in assembling and painting some up as he's still learning this hobby stuff, bless him. So far I've put together two Zentradi bad-guy bots that look cool but I have no idea what they do, except for one being a leader. I also started on one of the two Veritech Batloids, but will have to get painting first before full assembly as they are fiddly buggers.

A Zentradi Glaug Officer's Pod (Left) and Quel-Gulnau.... thing (Right). My Robotech knowledge isn't that great as I didn't get to watch it that much as a child. Luckily my gaming pals are all big fans of the anime.

Should have some pictures of finished pieces up later this week.