You are Cleared for Landing (part 1 - Halt! - a Review)

 A quick last terrain post before the end of Dave Stone's Summer of Scenery challenge and a bit of a cheating affair as it's not strictly "Finished", but I'll throw it in there regardless as any hobby progress on my end is better than none at all.

I recently started work on yet another project that brewed up in my addled head all of a sudden and I went on a deep dive into the internets to get the pieces to make it happen. (One day I will finish a project... promise.) Currently, I only have one terrain setup for my 28mm WW2 games and as my regular reader will know, that's my Winter table. I now have (I think) enough terrain completed to set up a nice looking, modular and relatively full setup for my games of Bolt Action (and Chain of Command whenever Luke and I eventually try to learning that rules set). But that's it, just Winter theme and I really wanted another option to play on, something more suited to a Spring or Summer theme, but something you don't see too often - a German airfield!

Airfield Barracks. Nice little buildings and I have two more to construct along with an air-traffic control building, radar installations and another small building from their airfield set.

So enter Father and Son Gaming, an affordable MDF terrain store that is stateside (Wisconsin I think?), meaning postage rates aren't atrocious (Free S&H for orders over $75). I'd heard of these guys from the SNAFU Bolt Action Wargaming podcast and they seemed pleased with what they'd gotten so I took the plunge and ordered a number of kits. My order arrived swiftly considering Father and Son say they cut each order as they receive them, and in nicely shrink-wrapped parcels within the postage box. Communication from the vendor was great as well, with quick responses to my emailed queries.

In glorious black and white, a photo of a WW2 German sentry hut. Those stripes are actually red, black & white and applying that pattern to the side of my own sentry hut is going to be a right pig I bet.

So far I've put together four of their kits using white glue which has been just fine to stick them together. Their quality has been decent with sharp simple detailing and the finished models seem robust enough for regular gaming and also for transport to and from gaming venues. Instructions are provided through their website via links showing step-by-step construction processes for the more complex kits or short videos via their Youtube channel. Construction went smoothly for the most part on the kits I've put together so far with only a little trimming down to make pieces fit better here and there (As I've found with other mdf kit makers), but otherwise I found little trouble making these models which is great for this medium-skilled hobbyist.

This Crossing Barrier kit was simple to put together and came with three signs with "Stop" in German (As above), Russian or English - pretty cool. Here the barrier has it's base coat on and attending Sentry Hut in the rear, primed and ready for crazy zigzag pattern. The smoking German Guard fig is a kind donation from best gaming pal, Luke, who applied the basic colours of a Luftwaffe trooper for the project - I'll be basing and detailing him up a little more as time allows.
(Please ignore the intrusion of Ninja Turtles, Conan O'Brian and Charmander - there's definitely too much crap on my hobby workspace.)

I have always liked mdf terrain models, having constructed multiple from different manufacturers during my years as a gamer (4Ground, Sarissa Precision, etc). Father and Son Gaming kits so far seem more hardy than others that I've encountered, but more simple in design and lacking in detail of pricier alternatives. This is fine by me as these kits look good regardless of their lack of complexity and will be fine for tabletop wargaming whilst still looking great on the table. I still have to apply paint to the ones I've put together and will post pics once done. 

Hope all enjoyed this little review/preview post of my new terrain project for my games. I also have more of their range to construct and I'll post my experiences with those kits here at a later date along with my other planned terrain features for my Airfield project.

- Dai

選択してください

( For those not versed in reading Japanese Kanji, like me, the title translates as "Please make your selection" - thank you Google Translate.)

These are another entry for Dave Stone's Summer of Scenery Challenge. Four scifi/near future vending machines from the now discontinued Antenocitis Workshop cyberpunk-esque range. Simple resin sculpts, they depict snack and soda vending machines of a style commonly found in Japan. 

Comrade Yeltsin and a creepy.... "thing" for scale. Looks like these sculpts are more in line with 32mm or 1/48 sized figs than 28mm?

Online searches for examples of vending machines like these in existence on the streets of Tokyo and other large Japanese cities show that they typically are white in colour so I went with the clinical look from real life rather than branch out and get all silly and neon about it. 

So many choices!

Old lady about to break her diet

The printed details are just cut from thin card sheets provided with the set. They were a pain to cut to size properly, but I'm glad I put in the effort as they look great glued on. 

Sodas and snacks and I think even a row of cigarettes?

Side adds are repeated on the other side. Fun anime-esque stuff.

The rear sides also have adds - futuristic cars, fights and cyber arms. 

Whilst I haven't played any scifi games in a long while, these will find use eventually (Maybe once the weather returns back to "Not Depths-of-Hell-like"?) in a planned solo scifi scrap I have brewing in my head.

This creature must choose wisely, tho I wonder how it'll open a can or bottle of soda with that point spike hand?

Still more on the hobby desk to add to my tally for this Summer of Scenery, so hopefully I'll have at least another two posts to put up before the end of the month. 

Thanks for stopping by and for commenting, if indeed you do!

- Dai

Summer of Scenery Challenge (Part 1)

Been having some technical issues trying to get this post up, so apologies for the radio silence of late. Let's get on with the show, eh?


Dave over at the Wargmesculptor Blog announced he was starting a small challenge for any who wanted to sign up to get some or their scenery/terrain pieces built and painted in an effort to help get rid of our backlogs. So, I jumped in and decided I'd give it a go.

A Sarissa Precision mdf Helipad for my modern day zombies game that one day WILL be played, promise. Simple kit and even more simple paint job - will do for my table. Was inspired by the Left 4 Dead video games where the goal was to get to the helipad whilst fighting off masses of undead - best Zombie video games ever I feel.

A Mobile Office also in mdf by Sarissa Precision. Trickier to put together with those vertical struts, but looks good on the table. Same as the helipad, kept the paintjob very simple which also got it off my table swiftly. Thinking some day in the future to make a white board and find office furniture for the interior.

These two are a couple of Warhammer 40K ruins scatter pieces. Very simple drybrush paintjobs. I have another 7 or 8 pieces to go with these two recently primed. The Statue is from the now out of print Urban Conquest Warhammer 40K expansion and the ruins behind it are the last of the 3 piece also out of print Honoured Imperium scenic set that included the previously posted Statue and giant Aquila that I'd painted up.

These two small 28mm resin WW2 stockpiles can be used as either objectives or scatter terrain. They were a kind gift a long time ago from the estimable Stew (Click his name to see his very cool blog) after he ordered the Chain of Command rules and realized he had no intention of playing in 28mm! I have two others in the painting queue as well.

I tried to add a little interest with the poorly painted signs, but otherwise they are very simple paintjobs and based to be suitable for both winter or greener seasonal games.


Did you see the two Brit troops in that first pic? Yeah, I painted those up too. Here's some better pics.

These two are some more Commandos (Toting iconic Tommy guns) for my Dieppe Raid project. The helmeted chap I believe is by Blacktree and the kneeling Wargames Foundry. Both decent sculpts in their own rights. These two bring me up to 6 out of 8 done for my first squad. Lots still to go!

Last painted piece to show off is a small "Palette Cleanser" mini to help keep the mojo going. This chap is a Citadel Miniatures Beastman from 1980-something-or-rather. Had him since I were a young lad and he deserved to be painted up a long time before now but at least he's ready for... I dunno - not really sure how I'll use this one.

To finish up I also managed to stick together the last 10-man Brood Brothers squad for my Genestealer Cult and also a couple fun minis to make up a Rogue Trader and her retinue (Just for gits and shiggles really).

 Old 1980's Imperial Guard plastics mixed with more recent plastic Cadian bits and Genestealer Cult heads and nicknacks. Now I have three of these squads assembled, they just need some gap filling here and there and I can get to their basing so they can be primed.

Got the pistol toting Rogue Trader off a nice Ebay cheapie auction. Liked the character when they first showed her off from their first Blackstone Fortress expansion or something. The red chap to her right is an Adeptus Mechanicus trooper. I felt he'd make for a good right-hand-man. Those three primed-grey fellows in the rear are old 1980's Citadel Miniatures Chainsaw Warriors from a very much out-of-print game. They'll be her muscle I think.

And that's it - long post, but I guess that's what happens when one doesn't post for over a month (!!!). Stay healthy and safe out there!