Making your own clear bases

I’ve been using clear bases the last couple of years, as you have seen, and I’m really satisfied with that.

A female pulp adventurer on a home-made clear base

I found a YouTube video on how to make your own clear bases from Pulp Alley the other day. I seem to have missed it when it first aired, about half a year ago, but checked it out now.

It’s all about a very simple and cheap way to make your own clear bases, and I decided to try it out.

First you have to buy a punch stamp, and the video recommended EK Tools. I found a Medium Punch (1”) locally in a e-shop selling scrapbook-stuff and had it delivered just two days after purchase.

Then you collect all those blister-packs that you kept, as they could, someday, be useful for windows/water/whatnot. Now they will actually be used!

Use a scissor to cut out all biggish flat surfaces.

Start punching! I found some of the thicker blisters to crack when I punched out my bases, but it all works well enough, and I’m pumping out cheap (as in free) bases. What’s not to like?

Finally - ask your friends to keep their blister packs! One of mine had to do some trash-diving to collect what he had just thrown away (well, he actually rummaged around in a bag of plastic bound for recycling).

When I scrapped a lot of material from courses I took ages ago I found a sheet of clear plastic used as a cover for an old spiral bound collection of papers. The paper and metal tread is in their respective recycling bins, while the plastic is refined into clear bases.

2018 in the rearview mirror

A game of Dux Britanniarum in full swing. We use Lord of Rings figures and the heroic Free Men are getting squashed (mainly on my flank) in this Xmas-game with Laffe, Thomas and Koen.

Another year gone and even more minis painted.

I had a goal that the tin- and plastics-mountain would actually be smaller at the end of the year, so let’s see how that turned out (for an explanation on the idea and how I count see here)

A shoot-out with  the Fistful of Lead-rules at the Club.

The year in summary:

Bought

Well, my fingers sort of slipped on a couple of Kickstarters this year; Uboot (8 minis, as 1/72 figures counts as ½ a mini), Cthulhu – Death must Die (84 minis) and Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon (38). Minis from these do count, as I count models when they are actually bought. On top of that a box of 40 farmyard animals, a couple of tanks in different scales, a few airplanes, 44 Vikings and a handful of other minis.

234 models bought, far more than expected.

Being swamped at Zombicide: Black Death

Sold

I have really excavated the tin- and plastics-mountain this year. Stuff I know won’t be painted have been sold off or put in the For Sale-box at the club. With another hundred hitting the sales-box in December I’ve reached 285 minis.

Painted

All of the Mesozoic critters.

It’s been a modest year of painting, as I have just finished 139 minis. You’ve seen most of them here already. The year ended with the final dinosaurs from Tamiya’s excellent Mesozoic Creatures boxes (I got two) and a couple of random 28mm figures.

Finished in December: A Prospector from Brimstone and The Major from SMOG: Rise of Moloch (and I painted another 5 zombies for SMOG also, but no pics of those)

Terrain-wise it has been much better, with lots of different terrain finished, much of it 3D-printed.

A game of D&D in the printed dungeons.

So my goal was reached! I actually sold more minis than I bought and with the models painted I reached -190 models. Not bad at all.

3D-printer

I finally bought a new 3D-printer this fall, a Prusa i3 Mk3. It’s been printing mainly dungeon-pieces for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, but also some scatter terrain and a couple of houses. You’ll see more on the dungeon soon.

One of the demo-games of What A Tanker we staged at Smashcon.

Well, I think that neatly sums up 2018. A good year in many respects, even though it was rather weak on painted minis.

So, what about 2019?

I will try to shrink the tin- and plastics-mountain even more, that’s for sure. Otherwise, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.

I wish you all a very good 2019. Hope to see you all in this and other blogs, and maybe meet some of you in the flesh.

The hobby corner

During X-mas I fixed my hobby-corner a bit. Much better now with everything close by and sorted.

An unusually clean painting desk with my trusted magnifying lamp. Drawers filled with brushes, bases, half-finished projects, some minis, extra paints, plastic card, rods, wires etc)

To the left is a chest of drawers (Malm from Ikea) that holds unbuilt/unpainted minis, terrain-stuff and large equipment (hot wire cutter, glue guns, Dremel, static grass applicator and whatnot), 3D filaments etc. Excellent to have everything close by and not scattered all around the house.

On top you can see my 3D-printer that, after much tinkering this week-end, is now officially dead. 

Best of all are the paint racks from Warbases. Excellent stuff! After all these years I have finally all colours from Vallejo’s Model Color range, placed in the four racks and easily found. The lone rack is filled with assorted bottles of primers, metals, varnishes and odd bottles.

Really satisfied with the whole set-up.

Good Bye 2017, Welcome 2018

What happened?

Another year came and went. I went all to fast.

So whatever did happen this last year?

Blog:

Posts - 110 for a total of 704

Followers – 15 new for a total of 200

Goggle+ Followers – 17 new for a total of 112

Hits – the bots scaled down activities in mid-summer and hits per month are back to normal pre-superbot-levels now. No real need to count them anymore as they are so skewed.

Painted:

20mm

4 French tanks.

Should have been more, but there is hope for our France 1940 Chain of Command games. Quite a few French soldiers are at least close to the painting table.

28mm

Fantasy: 93 medium-sized and 6 large

Pulp: 18 medium and one large

SF: 24 civilians and 1 large robot, all for MERCS. The civvies will work well in modern settings, and will see use in 7TV.

Western: 4 medium

WWII: 2 tankettes, a sub and a mini-sub. They will all double as pulp-rides.

Dust: 10 soldiers and 2 vehicles.

Terrain: Lots and lots of scatter terrain and a few buildings.

All in all a rather good year.

3D-printing

I had my printer serviced and after that it worked… somewhat… until is broke again… sigh.

Kickstarters

I’ve backed a couple of games, some figures and a few 3D-printing kickstarters. Not too bad, actually, as the amount of miniatures in the tin- and plastics-mountain didn’t increase too much.

Received some stuff, like Mythic Battles: Pantheon, and still waiting for the customer-relations-horror-story that is Shadows of Brimstone. Remind me to never, ever, buy anything from Flying Frog Productions as they don’t deserve any customers, really.

2018

Games and miniatures

The minis from the Conan core box are nearly done, and they are the highest priority just now. Then I expect to see lots of Conan on the gaming table.

Other games that would benefit from painted minis are Blood Rage, Mythic Battles: Pantheon and SMOG: Rise of Moloch (that will deliver in early 2018). Of those I think Blood Rage will hit the gaming table the soonest, as it I already have some minis painted.

I’ve played a game of the new DUST 1947 rules and really fancied the changes. Rules are bought and minis prepared. There will be games soon and certainly more minis painted.

Had a game of Chain of Command the other day and it was great fun, as always. I really have to paint the last few 20mm figures we need for France 1940.

As usual I will paint whatever I fancy from the tin- and plastics mountain. Probably mostly fantasy, but almost certainly some pulp and sf, too. I plan to start a Pulp Alley solo campaign, to try out that style of gaming, so will probably need some minis for that.

When it comes to terrain I will continue to work through all the unpainted scatter terrain I have lying about. I still have a couple of unfinished houses, but not too much.

3D-printing

A new printer is high up on the wish-list for 2018. I have my eyes set on the new Prusa i3 Mk3. We’ll see what happens.

Other

I hope to see some of you on Gothcon this Easter. I’ll be there with the kids and will also have a participation game of Sharp Practice with my fellow Penguins. 
If you want to game me (and a bunch of very nice chaps) on a regular basis, then it’s a good idea to join Little Wars Stockholm!

Have a good 2018 and roll lots of dice!

Dig Hill 80: Excavating an Endangered WW1 Battlefield

My pal Thomas pointed me to a project that is dear to my heart, namely an archaeological dig of a German WWI strongpoint. 

They, a very professional team, have reached out on Kickstarter to get funds for a dig before the plot of land is used for housing or whatnot.

If you’re in any way interested in Military History then this is an excellent way to contribute.

Do check it out, and, if you have the funds, consider backing this really important project.

All photos © Simon Verdegem and used with permission.

Briggen Tre Kronor

This last weekend I had a rare treat, a sailing trip with the brig Tre Kronor.

Not much wind that day, but a wonderful trip anyway.

Just some pics to make you envious J

It was the Sailboat's Day this Saturday, so we met lots of beautiful boats.

Right by the pier there's an WWII-era bunker. Rather well preserved.