First 28mm Winter German

I have eased off on the amount of dry brushing I do and it seems to look a lot better. This is the first use of some scenic snow I bought at Newcastle with these Artizan Germans and US Infantry. Looking forward to doing some of the Americans next. The fake snow works really well and even has a glisten to it.

Fiasco II Leeds Wargames Show

Poiniantly the show was in the Saville Conference Centre opposite the Armouries. Sir Jim had passed away the day before so it was moving to be in the place dedicated to him. There were large photos of him and a book to sign in his memory, all tastefully fitting to a great man.

The show was neatly set out with some interesting games. Nothing major but a good couple of hours were spent. I attended with new wargaming pal Roger. We had in tow our WAG's who having had a quick look in and upon realizing it was £4 to get in promptly left to explore the shoe shops of Leeds for two hours. So we were left to do our research without hindrence. 

There seems to be a lot of new basing products out these days which is great, many a good figure paint job is ruined by poor basing so it was good to see what's available. My basing will certainly improve from now on.

This game above really made me want to paint up some Greeks! 

These guys looked awesome! Didnt look at the game much, I think it was a Black Powder game in 15mm.

Some chaps had made a Db variant for the Mayan wars and were using Revell plastics, which en masse looked effective enough. Lots of mob vs mob battling though with few differing troop types. They were using a desert camo cotton sheet as a table cloth, which again looked cheap and effective. 

A good friend of mine fought in the Malayan Emergency and it's great to see that Britannia, now owned by Andy Grubb of Grubby Tanks has a range of figures for this conflict. They seem to be marketed towards the new Force on Force rules players looking for small groups of modern figures. I do have the rules and was tempted but ended up getting a few packs of 20mm Rhodesians from these people: http://www.underfireminiatures.com

Very nice they are too with very well proportioned figure styles and nice accurate sculpting. Just have to wait for them to release the ZNLA figures and find an Alouette kit from somewhere and we have a skirmish.  Pics of those to follow once I've painted them.

28mm WWII Update

Fresh back from the Leeds wargames show. Bought some grass tufts and the Plastic Soldier Company Soviet Heavy Weapons set. Will now get the rest of the Ruskies done. Finished the first artillery piece this evening and added the grass tufts, they are very effective I think but I'll only use them on larger vignette type stands, not on individual figures. Grass tufts can be a bit over used in basing.

Full box set of Crusader Miniatures Early war Germans all done! Really quite pleased with these. I can see the French will be the next box I get from Crusader. Should have picked them up at the show but was a bit purchased out by the time I got back to the stand. That and I still have a lot of Ruskies to finish.

28mm WWII for Rate of Fire

I have been studying the Rate of Fire rules for a while now and will soon have two opposing sides to game with in 28mm, not that you couldn't use 20mm for RoF. So far I have Plastic Soldier Co. Soviets and Crusader Miniatures Early Germans. I have to say for £20 for a bow full of figures the Crusader figures are hard to beat, they are more robust than Bolt Action, which I have found to have flimsy rifles and need a lot more modelling work than Crusader figures. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of some I have done so far. I think I have over weathered the Gerries?

I picked up 20 or so each of winter dressed Germans and Yanks at the Newcastle show last month. I can't remember what make these are but I'm hoping to pick up more at the next show. I even have some basing 'snow' to use when basing them up. They will be for an Ardennes scenario, again for Rate of Fire rules. I'm hoping to have both finished by the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers Christmas do. Some nice bazookas!

Turning to the Dark Side (Games Workshop)

It had to happen sooner or later I suppose. For the past couple of months I've been lurking in the local games workshop and have increasingly felt like I was missing out. The shop is only a few steps away from my work office so all too convinient as well. Anyway, after a friend had inspired me with some fantasty/zombie gaming possibilities I was moved to have a go at some GW figures. I've always liked the Imperial Guard and the Valkyrie drop ship is awsome - if mega expensive. I didn't buy an army box in case I hated them and in the first hour of building the figures I was glad I didn't, I've since got better at putting them togther though. The cost has always put me off, but the availability of other players with other armies means you don't have to worry too much about making two opposing sides. Having said that my other prefered army was the Necrons, I can see me getting those when they are re-released.

I finished the first one today and quickly painted him as I would a WWII figure, quickly with a wash or two, dry brushed, varnished and job done. I'm not up to the standard of most GW figure painters but I'd rather get an army done and ready to game with.



I bought a Citadel carry case too. Compared to what you would pay for a case from a 'historical' type wargames manufacturer they are quite reasonable and very tough. Hopefully I'll be on the move with these figures quite a bit!

French Indian Wars (40mm scale)

I've had a few Prince of August moulds for a while and cast a few with mixed success. The line infantryman seems to be the easiest figure to cast, that and the grenadier. The others being a lot more tricky and hit and miss, especially cavalry. I had painted the French some years ago, inspired by the figures used in the games/books by Charles Grant. Henry Hyde's popularization of these figures, along with his Spenser Smith range has also been tempting me to do more with them and having attended the WD3 weekend last month and seeing the huge Imaginations game it tipped me over the edge to get these finished.

(Six 60x40mm stands of French Line)

I had the French knocking about in an old toffee tin and decided it was time to base them. I have mentioned to Peeler about doing more SYW period and so decided to base them on 60mm x 40mm so that they will lend themselves well to a DbN game.

I had another 6 bases worth undercoated and ready to paint up, which I have been painting as British line. First four finished this evening. The charm of these figures is the simplicity of the paint job. They look great with minimal detail and no weathering or washing, just paint basic colour and varnish with satin finish - job done!





I haven't yet come accross the Grenadiers I cast. These are much more detailed models than the line infantry but still not difficult to cast. The figure has is posed as throwing a bomb, which may look a bit odd when based togther but it's all about the 'make do'.

For Indians I had some Irregular Miniatures toy soldier style casts. I also have a few of the more detailed Indian figures but I prefer the 'toy' look of these. These are more true to Huron/Mohawk style of weapon and dress anyway. Not sure how to base these, I was thinking only two to a stand so they look very loose order? I could mix in a French Officer to these three and squeeze out 2 stands.

I also have about six cast Cavalry. They would fit onto the 60x40mm bases but I think I may need to make them slightly bigger if only to give them a good coverage of the table.

Once my overhaul of the wargames room is complete I'll begin melting more metal. I still have a couple of bars I got from Irregular Miniatures. I think they will last quite a while yet.

Battlegroup North Militaria and Wargames Show

This image isn't finished yet. I'm gradually turning it into what will look like an actual 1940's photo.

There were lots of games there this year compared to other years, not many traders unfortunatly but I got what I hoped I would, some more Plastic Soldier company Russians and the heavy weapons set too. I now have more than enough for a Rapid Fire batallion with support weapons. Also got a German 75mm infantry gun and crew to support my Valliant Miniatures Germans.

I coached two games of YCW Toy Soldier Rules with young gamers, two repeat coustomers from last year, and had a DbN game with Peeler. It ground to a draw with me having the advantage, we didn't get chance to finish it but would have been a close run thing.