Production Line continues.

Hello,

I've been on this blog now for over 6 years with long periods of inactivity lol. I've gone through maybe 3 laptops in that time so Ive found the blog to be a good gallery of things I can look at when painting, so I don't have to find completed figures in the boxes in the garage.

Another few steady evenings of painting. I have a leaving do on Friday and I need to get a playtest game under my belt before Sunday such is the life of a wargaming gentleman.

The trickle of 6mm ww2 continues with some support items for my US Marines - a couple of HnR Shermans and a jeep (I have tonnes of them and I swear basing them takes longer than painting them). I should have enough soon for a few small games to test out various rules.  These figures must be 10 years old at least.

I am also going hell for leather on my 15mm Ionage figures. I need them to play test some rules so I knocked out a few squads of Muster (militia) - the great thing about Ion  Age is you can make up whatever units\planets\faction you want so I picked a colour and went with it.

 Some Pyridian Retained Knights (Dudes with big guns and nice armour) - The Pyridian's are the Human Empire troops who are fighting in a Civil War against the Rebels while also fighting an ancient enemy once though vanquished into the bowels of space.

Some 10mm (Pendraken) Vietnam for FNG (Two Hour Wargames) - I bought a few packs to have some solo games as the jungle scenery I use for my 6mm will do nicely.

And finally my painted 28mm German tank crew that I will sell. I have some sort of mental block to selling half painted figures so I finished them anyway.

I have about 30 Germans and 30 odd Russians (28mm Black Tree)  I'm selling as well so I think I'll just sell them "as is " because painting them will take ages. Of course if anyone is interested let me know - They need a good home.

Cheerio.

6mm madness

Hello,

I managed to watch 2 hours of a Napoleonic wargame today at Colin's and I was more than happy just to sit there and watch the fun. Afterwards I was tempted to get all my 15mm Napoleonic figures out on a table to see just how much I had painted but the thought of putting it all away afterwards put me off. I also saw some 10mm ww2 figures and I had to beat the "Oh Oh Shiney" goblins down from my mind as I was quite tempted to get some.

So instead I picked another scale ! The below are 6mm Chevaux-Leger figures from Adler, I have a box of them floating about and these guys were painted a year ago but never based. So as I was basing some figures tonight I threw them in the production line. Heaven only knows how I'm supposed to stick a flag to that pole. !.

 I also have a swag of 28mm Germans and Russians that I am going to sell. They are 75% painted so I thought I would finish them and then sell them, as I couldn't bring myself to sell half painted figures. So I have painted a 4 man Panzer crew. They all came from my black tree design "ORDER FROM HELL" - the only order I have ever had go wrong. There was a small "delay" and I received my order in dribs and drabs OVER 2 YEARS. The order was actually fully sent in that time I should be thankful it turned up at all.

... and a 3 man MMG section. Still a little tidy up to go (as well as checking the internet for what colours things were supposed to be).

 Finally I have been painted 6mm Japanese and US Marines for some solo beach landing action, Ive started with the Japanese 70mm Bn guns.( The figures ate HnR Japanese).

 3 Ha Go tanks - HnR again - cheap and effective !.

 At the same time I am finishing my Normandy Germans as I plan to do some small scale airborne actions. My German stuff is mostly GHQ I bought in the 90's (and looking at the prices I should have purchased more back then)

 and an M125 Mortar carrier for Vietnam\Cold War US. HnR again and it will do its job for the price paid.

(I am going to buy some decals as I sick of painting stars already.)

Use Me Sci Fi

So after a little painting last night  I gave USE ME Sci Fi rules (http://www.15mm.co.uk/UM001.htm) a whirl on the kitchen table. I randomly rolled for a Human force. The random rolls were simply based on the figures I had painted and available. The result was one Imperial Security Officer (Laserburn Retained Figure), 2 Embassy Staff (Astro Miniatures) and a rather pointless Repair Droid (GZG).  Then rolling for a Force of Malig's (theionage Goblinoid henchmen) who were going to Assault them (basically it was 2 D6 of Malig's) and I used the USE ME solo rules to determine their behavior. The resulting roll was aggressive which meant they will basically come charging in gins blazing and then try to skewer the humanoids on point things.

The table was simply a hotz mat I picked up of trade me, and a few ammo crates items for the sake of it and the photos were taken from my phone as my camera is dead.


The game started with the humanoids standing around a tracked vehicle waiting on a Transporter to pick them up. The force of Malig's then come charging on the table in a skirmish line and make straight at the enemy.








The game last 4 turns and is summarized as follows. No one can shoot anything with accuracy to save themselves, so the Malig's basically charge. The security officer gets wounded  a great deal, but manages to kill half the Maligs in melee, while the combat droid is destroyed.

The other two humans don't really do anything constructive in melee, neither do the Maligs so they all stand there for two turns waiting for the Security Officer to dispatch people in once he has cleared his own attackers.

Results:

The game was very fast, it was all over in about 20 minutes. The USE ME rules are very easy and simple and seemed like a good rule set for a fast shootemup\hackand slash type of game.  The lack of Morale Rules  did mean that I could fight till the death, but I should read the rules again as I suspect I may have missed something.  if there isn't I can always just make some up. Anyhow it was good fun and the rules were pretty straight forward


As it was 9.15Pm I was tempted to then try TwoHourWargames space 2150 but I thought I'd better devote some time to it properly another night (As I recall the rules are large so more time will be spent flicking though pages) so I went and prepared 50 6mm tanks for painting.

Hello Again Chappies,

I have to say I have been getting royally brassed off with a number of things. Every day I log in "something" seems to change om my pages - I either lose my dashboard link, my reading list or get prompted to activate this profile or that profile or some horse manure like that.(Which I try to avoid like the plague) !

Brass Off number 2 was my package of "theionage" Pyridian troops went amiss for 3 weeks due to NZPost. When it finally turned up it was flat as a pancake and it was quite obvious from the indents on the cardboard that it been run over by some type of vehicle. As I saw the postie put it in the letterbox I fairly certain it didn't get run over in my drive, and the grit on it was still fresh so it looks like it occurred in NZ.

 So two figures died a slow death (They were at the wrong angle, at the wrong time), but the rest came though OK. I have painted two up a test case but I am not very pleased with the results so need to work on my shading schemes\highlight for white uniformed Space imperials.

And my 15mm Nuts\Blood Upon the Risers game is all set to go, I have finished basing and painting so all I need to do now is sort out the characters\men for  first scenario (Flash and Thunder)  and then get cracking. Below are my FlamesOfWar US Paras, not too bad figures  as I bought them an age ago when the packs seemed quite cheap. One of these poor sods gets to land in a field in Normandy.....

 Next to this.........

We shall see what happens !

I also painted up a few German Paras to give my 1939 Dutch a run around at Ebaen Emael (From the Donald Featherstone Wargames book).

Wall of text.

Well, a month or two since another post - Lets see what else can go wrong, broken nose, month long sinus infection, child gastro illness, unfortunate news about two mates of mine. It has certainly been "Bad News Bear" month hasn't it. The only thing I seem to be able to control at the moment has been painting little soldiers of which I am back into full time production.

That then led to the thought - Why paint ? I don't game at all, I haven't in a year as I'm always tired weeknights, weekends are impossible and sometimes I am simply content with my own musings. So my large projects are back in storage as I won't get to game them (Against another human being) for a while in any decent time frame (20mm WW2 Pacific, Western Desert, 28mm Napoleonics) as I simply don't have the time (or energy to lump 600 28mm figures around per army). (There is also a house move being planned soon so I am only getting the small boxes out).

So whats the plan then ? Its solo gaming (I've been a LW member for a while now) at home when I have the time.  My schedule in the next few months is chockablock and I can't see myself getting any time free. Anti-social yes but I can sit in my PJ's with a cup of tea when the house falls silent at night and conquer worlds,and if I can't be bothered then I don't mess anyone around.

So I've "amped" up the painting on my little projects and pulled a few bags out of storage. I've also organized myself a little and have a game\scenario setup for each one so I have something concrete to work to.) The following shall occur in the near future.

• 15mm SciFi game (using
• 15mm Zombie game
• 6mm Marine assault on Parry Island
• 10mm Vietnam skirmish.

Recent news has been 15mm.co.uk\Alternative-Armies have released "The Ion Age" and this has really got my attention. Its space opera\sci-fi "stuff" that instantly appealed to me, it appealed so much I have even been granted a spot on their play testing team for a new rule set.

Other Painting
Below: A test paint job on a Curtis - Hell Diver - It's from a Trumpeter 1/350 pack of 6 (for $8 a pack -  that was under so much dust at acorn models) mainly meant for model aircraft carriers. So as I am sorting out my 6mm WW2 figures (Japanese, US Marines, 1944 Germans and 1944 British\Canadians) I thought I'd give it a crack. I might try and find some 1/300 decals (If they exist) as I can't paint stars to save myself.

 A 15mm PzIII for my Nuts - Blood Upon The Risers campaign. I painted it last year but it was sitting on my painting tray so it was the first cab off the rank so to speak.

Zombies ! I enjoy the zombie apocalypse style of game - it can throw up so many interesting scenarios (Shooting wise that is not the old HBO "Days of our walking dead lives" claptrap :) ). So I have some terrain, I have some cars and now I have a few beat cops ready to pop a few zeds. I even have a Takeaway restaurant to set it all around (To come)!.

 A few "country types" ready for a bit of the old country hoe-down.

 And some very old zombies (15mm.co.uk) from a decade or two ago at least.

That's it time being - The above are only a few of the hundred of so figures I've done in the last few weeks so hopefully this blog will see more action soon.

Take care.