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.