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

LRDG test-game

We had a test-game of our LRDG-participation-con-game two weekends ago.

An Italian airfield attacked by a couple of LRDG vehicles with a mission to make as much mayhem as possible. You get the idea from the pictures. 

Lots of fun, and we got a lot of good ideas to incorporate in the scenario. Apologies for the unpainted stuff in the pictures, it will hopefully be finished before Flemcon in early December. There's also a couple of buildings missing.

This is the game we planned to have ready two years ago (a little project, should be finished in no time... yeah, sure...) but it has dragged on, and on. Now it looks as if it might actually make to the table. Me, Laffe and Thomas are the painters and organizers on this.

Anyway, as you can see, there is a very unfinished plane on the table, and there is another un-built plane in my plastics-and-tin-mountain. More on that in a later post.

Alternate set-up for the airfield.

Welcome new follower Sun of York. I haven’t found out if you have a blog or not. If you have, then make a comment below and I’ll update the post.

28mm Wild West house from 4Ground

This 28mm house, Dead Man’s Hand Side Street Building No1 from 4Ground, took me two evenings to build. Effective time was about an hour.

The joy of pre-painted, laser-cut MDF.

 The door can open

 

Detachable roof. Two rooms.

A very nice kit – highly recommended.

Wild West + Meeples & Miniatures = True

Neil Chuck of Meeples & Miniatures podcast had an interview with Stuart McCorquadale from Great Escape Games about Dead Man’s Hand. It’s a western skirmish game that sounds really interesting.

Great Escape Games has partnered with 4Ground on wild-west terrain, those great terrain pieces that I have fallen in love with, so we will hear something about that also.

Finally Neil reviews the game.

Check it out, and if you haven’t discovered the podcast Meeples & Miniatures it is time to do so now.

I feel a purchase looming on the horizon…

Otherworld 28mm Greater Familiars part 1

More painted from the Otherworld Indiegogo. These are four of the five familiars from the ACC3b Greater Familiars set. Also in the set is a brownie, yet to see paint.

These guys are placed on 20mm bases, so as you can see, they are quite small.

Not overly impressed with my paintjob on these, but they will do in a game of D&D.

I like the Homunculus, but the Quasit really looks like a lump of dough... and maybe he should

Paints used (Vallejo unless otherwise noted)

Homunculus

Skin – 881 Yellow Green, washed with AP Strong Tone, drybrushed with 914 Green Ochre

Eyes – Citadel Blood Red

Quasit

Skin - Formula P3 Thrall Flesh

Horns – Bone White

Washed with Army Painter Strong Tone wash, drybrushed with 819 Iraqui Sand.

Eyes – Citadel Blood Red

Should have varied the colours used on the wings of booth of these, to give more life to the figures, and maybe made the belly of the pseudodragon in a ligher tone.

Pseudodragon

Skin – 814 Burnt Cadmium red, washed with AP Dark Tone and drybrushed with Citadel Scab Red

Imp

Skin – Citadel Scab Red washed with Army Painter dark Tone wash and drybrushed with Citadel Red Gore

Welcome Adam Carriere with Adam’s travels (“This blog will catalog my travels and other experiences that are not related to gaming and re-enacting – I really like this as it is a lot about historical buildings in the US. Check it out!) and  Fencing Frog about wargaming and re-enacting – WWII, Wild West etc, what’s not to like!

Two more 28mm Wild West from Black Scorpion

The gunman was my first Wild West figure, and hot on his heals we have two more figures from the same Town Watch pack from Black Scorpion’s Tombstone range.

First we have Grandpa – look at that face, full of character.

Paints used (Vallejo unless noted):

Coat – Citadel Foundation Calthan Brown

Shirt – 914 Green Ochre

Boots and belt – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Gun stock – 843 Cork Brown

Skin - 955 Flat Flesh

All above washed with Devlan Mud

Pants and band on hat  – Citadel Foundation Charadon Granite

Hat – 992 Neutral Grey

Hair – 989 Sky Grey

And these washed with Army Painter Strong Tone

Next up is a well-dressed woman sporting a shotgun. Someone is interrupting her dinner, and she is not pleased about it.

Dress – Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red and a wash of Citadel Baal Red

She’s veering a cloth-belt tied up in a bow on her back, you can see a tiny bit of it – 883 Silver grey and layered on white as a highlight.

Hair – Coat d’arms 223 Horse Tone Chestnut washed with Army Painter Strong Tone

Her skin is painted as above, but with a layer of 955 Flat Flesh to get her a lighter and cleaner look.

Lips - 944 Old Rose (I should have given her mouth a redder tone, with the Old Rose for her lips. For next time)

Welcome follower Gary Amos with the blogs Happy Valley (about life, the Universe and sort of everything and wargaming. Nice) and Bloggers for charity (wargaming bloggers joining together for charity – a very good cause!)

28mm gunman from Black Scorpion

The last couple of weeks have been good, or bad, depending on how you look on things.

First, I succumbed to the temptation and fell for WWII in 28mm, specifically Winter War and the Baker Company kickstarter. I blame Thomas and Laffe for this, both have started on 28mm figures, posting them on their blogs and tempting me, and Thomas especially as he went lyrical about this Kickstarter. Not my fault at all….

Secondly this guy….

Wild West has long been something I have wanted to try, but I have always said to myself, “Not another period”. I actually persevered for several years.

But then I bought these wagons from 4Ground, seen in a couple of posts, really nice. Could be used in the Wild West, by the way…. oh, and they have a lot of nice buildings…

Then I had those houses bought from Paul Darnell, just lying there.

And I read Henry Hyde’s The Wargaming Compendium - there were Wild West-rules in it.

And then Alphaspel had a sale, and they got some Wild West figures…

The perfect storm, and it blew me away….

So, here I am, with two new periods/scales, and a grin on my face. Ah, who cares about climbing gear for a tin and plastics mountain?

So, this guy is from Black Scorpion and their Tombstone range, the Town Watch pack. Fantastic details on these figures (actually closer to 32 mm, ‘heroic’ 28mm I guess…), and this is the first painted one, waiting for foes and a saloon.

Paints used (Vallejo unless noted):

Trousers – 964 Field Blue

Hat – Citadel Foundation Charadon Granite

Band on hat – 836 London Grey

All above washed with Army Painter Dark Tone Ink

Shirt – 874 Tan Earth

Boots and belt – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Skin – 955 Flat Flesh

Hair – 984 Flat Earth

Gun, buttons and bullets in belt – 865 Oily Steel

And this was washed with Army Painter Strong Tone

Finally the shells in his belt were picked out with 58 Brassy Brass

Yep, it’s fun with a new period. Two more from the same set that I just need to give a coat of varnish.

Welcome follower Andrew Saunders with Loki’s Great Hall blog. Very nice with lots of beautifully painted figs and nice terrain. Fully recommended, I’m now a follower. 

I won stuff from Blue Moon!

I always try to answer the questions in the competitions in Miniature Wargames, they are usually rather hard, and I always learn something. If I know all the answers and feel the prize is something I would like, then I usually send in my answers.

Did so in issue 365, and I got a mail a while ago from Henry Hyde the editor of the magazine, congratulating me to my amazing intellect (or rather, my luck in the draw, as there were quite a few contestants who had gotten it right).

The prize was £25 of Blue Moon miniatures from Old Glory UK.

I’ve had my eyes on Blue Moon for several years, so this prize really suited me. Of the stuff Old Glory had available I found the “Things that go bump in the night” 28mm series, with the “I just don’t feel my age” box, something suitably pulp for me. A great way of feeling out Blue Moon. (There are also a lot of 15mm Blue Moon figs at Old Glory, if that is your thing).

The box arrived the day before yesterday. So what’s in it?

 5 adventurers

5 locals

A sarcophagus with a loose mummy, and, argh… It’s alive!

Sooner or later you’ll even see some of these painted J

A great big Thank You! to Andy of Old Glory and Henry!