No more paints?

Our paints are bound to dry up. Why? you might ask. The answer: Royal Mail.
They have decided, in their infinite wisdom, to forbid shipping of more than four tiny bottles of water-based hobby paints.
Stupid? YES!

Do sign the petition to try to get them to stop this nonsense.
So stupid, it hurts!
If you feel this is important, then do re-post this on your blog.

LRDG at Flemcon

The first weekend of December saw the group at Flemcon, one of the local cons that we have been with from its start. This time we had two games, LRDG and Winter War, both played with Too Fat Lardies’ Chain of Command.

The Miniatures Man of Arabia (it was cold, bloody Winter War)

I spent all my time at the desert table, I was far too lightly dressed for the sub-zero temperatures on our Finnish board. There we had our own Finnish hero, Ville, who had flown in from Finland for the occasion. Way to go!

Both tables got in two games each during the Saturday, and I really have no idea what happened in Finland.

 The setup. Notice the sabotaged fence.

In North Africa both games had three British commanders each, and each commander had three vehicles to game with. The rules were somewhat modified Chain of Command, and it was very much Hollywood feel, with jeeps and trucks zapping around shooting the hell out of the poor Italians. The longer the attack took, the more initiative the Italians got - speed was essential.

Who goes there?

A big plus was that 50% of the attendees were female, who had never played anything like this before and seemed to enjoy themselves.

No wonder the Italians fougt badly, they are not properly painted!

Sneaky LRDG going through the fence. Not fair at all!

 Planting bombs

Going up in flames

 A pilot making a run for it...

...and he escapes with his plane!! Hotly pursued.

 First reinforcement, sort of...

The heroic tricycle-troops score a minor victory

 A more substancial reinforecement, this time a LRDG-trooper tries to plant a bomb on it, a failure by the way...

And another one bites the dust. Planting a bomb on a cistern and having the car stall when you try to get away is not a good thing. LRDG-barbecue.

The Italian soldiers celebrating that one of the cisterns were not blown up! In their mind the most important one.

That was the end of the first battle. LRDG had had lost both men and vehicles, so it was a minor victory.

 The next bunch of players goes all out to cover the airfield with troops in a very short time. 

Some vehicles just drives through the italians to reach the most distant targets, while others takes care of what's closest to the gates. Those two girls were born generals!

 They are everywhere, and the italians don't have time to man the guns or do much of anything.

Reinforcement, that pesky tankette again. It retreated off the table in a hail of bullets.

Everything ablaze, no LRDG-losses and vehicles filled with prisoners. Time for an ice-cold in Alex. A total victory!

All in all a couple of very nice games, each taking around two hours. And another Flemcon done, a very nice small con, well worth a visit. We have already promised to be there next year.

God Jul!

I like the Swedish “God Jul”. It goes back to pagan times. “God” means “Good” and “Jul” is a bit unclear, but one meaning is “winter solstice”.

For me, an atheist, leaving the gods out of this nice time of the year is just fine.

God Jul everyone, whether you believe in a god or not.

Click on the link to our interactive Jul-card. Programed by my son Martin.

       

Brownie from Otherworld

This is the last familiar from the ACC3b Greater Familiar pack from Otherworld. You’ll find the other four figures in the set here.

A nice little figure, to be used as a familiar or ‘monster’ in our D&D campaign. Another very nice figure from Otherworld.

Paints used

Coat – Vallejo 967 Olive Green

Trousers – Vallejo 886 Green Grey

Hood – Citadel Camo Green

Shoes – Vallejo 880 Khaki Grey

Leather – P3 Bootstrap Leather

Pouch – Coat d’arms Unbleached Wool

Knife handle – Vallejo Panzer Aces 306 Dark Rubber

Everything washed with Citadel Devlan Mud.

Elf compared to the brownie.

28mm Gray Elf Duelist

This is a Gray Elf Duelist, sculpted by Paul Muller, from the Ravilla faction of WoTC’s Dungeons & Dragons Chainmail miniatures game.

Another unusual sculpt, and it could be used as a monk or martial artist character. It’s an interesting two piece figure, but rather flat, as you can see.

Paints used (Vallejo unless otherwise noted)

Coat – 850 Medium Olive and edging 894 Camouflage Olive Green

Belt – Citadel Camo Green

Trousers – 967 Olive Green

Leather – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Metal – Citadel Chainmail

Wood – Panzer Aces 310 Old Wood

Handles for the knives – Panzer Aces 306 Dark Rubber

Hair – Coat d’arms 223 Horse Tone Chestnut with Army Painter Dark Tone Wash

Everything but the hair washed with Citadel Devlan Mud

What’s this?  Maybe a give-away coming in the next couple of days – stay tuned!

A great giveaway at The Figure Fanatic

My very dear friend Laffe is having a giveaway on his blog The Figure Fanatic, celebrating his number 200 post. 

You know the deal, follow the blog and get some swag if you’re lucky. Praise his blog on you blog, and get extra chances. Doing that by the way J

Anyway, regardless of prices, it really is a very nice blog, well worth following. So, jump over and wish for anything but the SF power generator thingy. That's mine!

Juliette, Wizard from Reaper

This is "Juliette, Wizard" by Bobby Jackson, from Reaper’s Dark Heaven Legends series, no 03547.

My daughter got to choose a miniature for her D&D sorcerer Kjorra and also how it should be painted. Well, here it is!

Paints used (Vallejo)

Dress - 898 Dark Sea Blue, drybrushed with 899 Dark Prussia Blue, 965 Prussia Blue and finally 962 Flat Blue

Hair - 912 Tan Yellow, a wash of Citadel Devlan Mud and drybrushed 917 Beige

Skin - 955 Flat Flesh, Devlan Mud and overpainted with 955 again leaving shadows

Boots – 940 Saddle Brown

Pouch – P3 Bootstrap Leather

Leather girdle – 876 Brown Sand

All leather items washed with Devlan Mud

The branch on the base is dried heather.

Welcome new follower Ricky el Vikingo Dark. 

Telegraph Poles in 20mm

 A quick and easy project - telegraph poles from Auhagen.

They're made with the railway hobby in mind, and are in HO scale (1:87) but they do work very well with my 20mm figures,
Each box comes with 12 poles, and I made a mix of desert themed ones and ordinary grass-flocked ones.

Paints used
Wood: Vallejo 983 Flat Earth, washed with Citadel Devlan Mud and drybrushed Vallejo 987 Medium Grey.
Metal: Citadel Tin Bitz and roughly over-painted with Vallejo 865 Oily Steel.
Isolators: Vallejo 993 White Grey

A very fast way of getting a lot of very handy terrain details. Higly recommended.

28mm pack-bearer from Otherworld

This is HH2a Pack-bearer v1 from Otherworld, and their Henchmen & Hirelings series.

When I see him I think of Knights of the Dinner Table and their constant abuse of henchmen. 

He was a joy to paint, and his face… this is not a happy puppy.

Welcome new follower with the cryptic name “service ration distribution”. Can’t seem to find a website of yours, though. If you have one then please give a link in the comments below.

LRDG-crew

At long last I have finished the crew to my Chevy, and also two improvised LRDG-soldiers on foot.

The driver is original as base and has had his right arm switched to one that could hold the steering wheel. The arm I used had short sleeve, so I had to build a new sleeve and also shoulder with green-stuff.

The Boys ATR is metal and from SHQ. The crew-member manning it is also based on the original, but I switched the right arm and the head to suitable pieces from the box of little toy soldiers and shoulder and scarf from green-stuff.

The standing crew-member comes from Revell Scottish Infantry, 8^th Army, and I removed his Thompson machine gun and pinned him to a suitable thin base, and got a figure that had perfect height to man the Vickers.

The wounded man on foot comes from Caesar WWII Underground Resisters. I removed his Sten gun and remodelled his left arm slightly to remove the armband. Also a helmet from the bits-box.

The last man comes from Caesar WWII Partisan in Europe and is straight from the box.

All figures painted with an assortment of sand-colours and browns. Washed with Citadel Devlan Mud.

50K hits! Yep, reached it in record time, so a give-away is coming. I just have to have a bit more time to prepare. 

28mm Destrachan from WotC

A prepaint that needed quite a lot of work to reach an acceptable quality.

The original was a two-part model with a very visible joint. I green-stuffed, repainted and based it.

Original

Paints used:

Base colour – Citadel Foundation Taucept Ochre

Markings – Vallejo 875 Beige Brown

Washed with Army Painter Strong Tone wash

Mouth and area around the not-eyes washed with Citadel Washes Leviathan Purple and Baal Red.

Dwarf Mercenary in 28mm from Otherworld

Another figure from the Otherworld Indiegogo. You can find it under ‘Henchmen & Hirelings’ as HH03a. 

You can also find some other lovely figures in the shop, like the Female Characters and Henchmen & Hirelings, either as a pack or as individual figures. You know, those packs we pledged for on Indiegogo a year ago, and still haven’t received. Do I sound bitter? You bet I am. There is just so much wrong here. A company I have always held to high regards, and now they are just ignoring some of their most loyal customers. Delays are one thing, but this is ridiculous. If only we could get honest information, or any information. A crowd-funding campaign that leaves me furious, I’m afraid. It’s such a pity, as their products are great, and previously their service has been good. Oh, and I'm one of the lucky ones, I've got the first half. I can imagine what the poor blokes that still haven't gotten anything yet thinks.

Enough of the rant, to the figure:

Paints used (Vallejo unless noted)

Armour – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather and edging 984 Flat Brown

Shirt and trousers – Citadel Foundation Charadon Granite

Boots, gloves, scabbard and flat pouch/case – 875 Beige Brown

Handle on warhammer – 843 Cork Brown

Handle on sword – 862 Black Grey

Hair and beard – 940 Saddle Brown

Belt and eye-patch – 921 Light Brown

Belt-buckle - 56 Brassy Brass

Pouch – 987 Medium Grey

Everything washed with AP Strong Tone.

Base – 821German Camo. Beige + AP Dark Tone + drybrushed with 821

The base comes with the set, as is the self-adhesive felt that I should have applied after I was finished with painting the base…

All in all a very nice figure.

Familiars from Otherworld – part 1

More minis painted from the Otherworld Indiegogo, this time half of the familiars from ACC3a Lesser Familiars. The other familiars in that set are birds – crow, hawk and owl. 

I especially like the weasel, a very nice pose.

Toad

Skin – 895 US Dark Green, AP Strong Tone wash and drybrushed with Green Ochre. Eyes yellow with a horisontal pupil.

Cat

Skin – 862 Black grey, AP Dark Tone wash

Weasle

Fur 929 Light brown, belly 948 Golden Yellow, tip of tail black. Everything washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.

Fieseler Storch in 1/72 from Academy

In my last post, about the LRDG test-game, you saw an unfinished Caproni-bomber on the airfield, belonging to Laffe.

A couple of mails, initially about who would get, and not get, what from the Winter War Kickstarter, got the snowball rolling. No one wanted the Finnish bicyclists, and by the way, I had started on my Fieseler Storch.

One thing led to another, and a competition was on.

The rules:

The one (me or Laffe) to e-mail a picture of the finished plane to the others was the winner of the competition.

The quality of the paintjob should be good enough to post on our blogs

To avoid a decisive victory the looser has 24 hours to finish his model. If he achieves that, the victory is deemed a minor victory.

Prizes:

Decisive Victory: The looser gets the bicyclists and must paint them within 3 months. Bragging rights for the winner, and he also gets to choose the next competition.

Minor Victory: The winner gets a limited bragging right. Thomas gets the bicyclists and can choose the next competition.

Well, I’m going to brag now. Guess who won. Yep, I don’t have to paint bicycle troops, and I will decide the in-group Painting Challenge II. That challenge will see Thomas participating also.

This turned out to be a great way to finish a prioritized model in record-time. Within 24 hours of me posting my picture, Laffe sent a mail of his Caproni. Newly painted. He took the advice from Thomas, and took a pic of what was ready. Turned out the underside wasn’t finished yet, so he swallowed the shame and admitted humiliating defeat.

A, sweeeeeeet.

Anyway. The winning model, from Academy, is a Fieseler Fi. 156 Storch (which can also be built as a Morane Saulnier MS 500/502 Criquet, used in Vietnam for example) in 1/72.

A straight-forward build. Some of the smaller details are on the thick side, which is good for our wargaming uses. The canopy is a bit tricky, as it is made from five clear-plastics pieces. I didn’t get a perfect fit and had to use some green-stuff.

Paints used (Vallejo):

Inside cockpit – 973 Light Sea Grey

Top – 929 Light Brown

Underside – 971 Green Grey

White band – 883 Silver Grey

Propeller – black

A dusting of sand-coloured pigment overall, and some black pigment from the exhaust.

Good enough, but won’t win any prizes… well, actually, it did J