We’re headed to Bukhara

I’m just going to ignore the fact it’s been over 1 year since my last post. To be fair not a lot of miniature progress occurred in 2024. 

A bit of a set back was my commission painter retired and moved to Asia so the lead mountain has been creeping up. 

I did manage to slap some paint onto some WWI highlanders (from Great War Miniatures) that I was planning on using for VBCW and onto some WWI Americans (mostly Great War Miniatures and some Brigade Games).

I attended the 29th annual Hotlead in March of this year, which was followed by almost 3 weeks vacation so I really found my mojo invigorated.

I built a small Middle Eastern village following some plans/tips from Pulp Alley’s YouTube channel. I’ve started building the great walls of Bukhara.

I have a 24” section built and have another 4x 12” sections in various stages of assembly.

 I also worked on the RCW armoured train and the train tracks.

Here’s what I’m currently working on.

The black figures in the foreground are mostly Artizan Irregular Arabs from their First World War range. There are 5 Brigade Games Arabs scattered in. They have been painted for probably 3+ years but I haven’t done anything else with them. I put texture paint onto the base so they are almost done.

The silver figures are a mix of Copplestone Castings and Brigade Games WWI Turks to finish off that army.

My plan is for them to be a regular/well trained force when gaming Back of Beyond in any Middle Eastern theatre.

There are a bunch of primed horses and cavalry figures, again from Artizan Designs/Brigade Games.

It’s quite unfortunate in that I purchased many of these figures once online years ago that were lost in the mail. I never received compensation from the seller either, so I’ve had to buy them again. 

I also found some camels from Saga that were particularly discounted. 

The three figures in fezzes are Egyptian police from Artizan Designs. They will be guarding the jail house in Bukhara once build.

Lastly, here are the Artizan Designs Sharifan Infantry. 

These might be amongst my favourite figures. It’s disappointing that there are only 4 poses, and one of them is the figure carrying his rifle. I purchased 3 packs (one at Hotlead) and the other two online for 12 figures total.

I figured two HQ types and a 10 man squad would be sufficient. Cough unless Artizan decides to make more cough. 

The figure on the left is the stock figure.

The middle figure has his rifle cut away from his hand, his hand was opened up and a banner pole was glued in place. The rifle from the rightmost figure was glued on his back.

The figure on the right had his right hand cut away and the rifle was cleaned up and donated to the banner bearer. A new right hand with revolver was sourced from the Warlord Games British & Canadian Army infantry. At this scale, a revolver is a revolver. However, it’s likely a Webley which was in service in WWI so all good.

Lastly the left hand was removed and some of the body was shaved down. The binoculars and straps were sourced from the same Warlord kit. The straps were cut to look like they went behind the neck. I’m not 100% happy as the hands are slightly oversized but it’ll be fine. I just have to greenstuff a small gap at the wrist and he’s also done.

Assembling figures and Hotlead prep

I spent some time after work last week assembling the rest of my Baron’s War miniatures and three Oathmark Trolls and an Ogre when my 50mmx50mm bases arrived.

Here’s an overview.

On the left are my Crusaders on foot. 

The front rank are command figures. The next two are various knights on horseback. The back rank are men-at-arms on horseback.

Lastly there are crossbow men and archers, some peasants, spearmen and men-at-arms on foot. As you can see, I’ve painted the spearmen already.

My painting mojo for these kind of fizzled out after I found out that the Army Painter Speed paints reactivate when wet and I spent some time trying to nullify this (a wash, so I’m told).

Also I only primed the spearmen and it’s been too cold.

I also spent some time yesterday and today sorting through all my stuff to see what I could sell at Hotlead’s Bring and Buy. I think I have 20-25 lots of stuff. Hopefully it all goes.

Russian Civil War game

This past weekend, my youngest son asked to play with some soldiers. I happily obliged. I decided to use the Squad Hammer rule variant October Hammer. I first played Squad Hammer last March and really enjoy the ruleset.

Here’s the table. It’s a basic attack and defend scenario. The attackers (on the hills in the two top corners) have to claim the barn from the defenders. My son was the attacking Bolsheviks and  I was the defending Makhnovists.

To the right of the barn, the Bolsheviks deployed two squads and a machine gun team. They advanced on squad to behind the broken down farm wagon. My squad in the right paddock met them and engaged in combat. My squad eventually wiped out the other but were wiped out in turn by the machine gun and other squad.

On the left flank, one squad of Bolsheviks worked their way past the outbuilding. I left cover again and saw them off after a firefight supported by my machine gun team. I pushed the offensive and stormed the hill to flank the outbuilding but was cut down by field gun and machine gun squad. 

The other Bolshevik squad (behind the hill in the top picture) also worked their way down the left flank.

Back to the right flank, one Bolshevik squad entered the paddock and began to flank the barn. They were heard by my machine gun team who wiped them out.

My machine gun team and a squad I had hanging out at the front of the barn we wiped out from several rounds of shooting from the machine guns and field gun.

Meanwhile back on the left flank, the last Bolshevik squad got into the left paddock. I could have charged them with my last squad and tied them up but chose to engage in a firefight instead as my son was close to victory. 

He got inside the barn and eliminated my leader for the win. 

I’ve really enjoyed Squad Hammer and the October Hammer variant. I’ve played it once at a convention and 2-3 times since at home. Maybe one day someone will put a review on YouTube. Maybe that will be me. 

Until next time.

Raising the standards

I have quite a large collection of RCW figures. Amongst the masses I have a handful of standard bearers. Painted with empty flag poles.

Here’s 8 lucky figures about to be completed. Three whites and Trotsky’s train guard in the front. A “red” Latvian and three Makhnovists in the rear.

I printed off a few flags at work. Some of the flags I found were a little pixelated but I don’t really care. The white flag on the right I’ve had for several years waiting.

The “red” Latvian and 3 Makhnovist flags on top and the Trotsky’s train guard and 3 white Russian ones on the bottom.

I have a few others who have yet to receive their flag pole and another whose flag I forgot to print. So I’ll do a part two later on.

I fold the flag in half, and use a glue stick to glue the sides together and onto the pole. If the flag comes loose later on, a drop of super glue fixes it tight.

I leave the white ends on to help with alignment and bend the flags to look like they are fluttering in the wind. When the glue is dry I trim the sides off.

Here’s the Makhnovist/anarchist flags. I have no idea what they actually say but the internet says they aren’t offensive.

Here you can see the pixelation on the white flags but from 6 feet away they look ace.

The “red” Latvian and Trotsky round out the group.

What I like about the RCW is that there is room for the whimsical, the odd and the imaginative mind.

Kickstarter, 28mm Germans and terrain build

As stated in the last post I needed some more metal washers. A quick trip to Home Depot got me sorted. 8x 1-1/2” and 4x2” washers and now  I have a small surplus  going forwards. But I saw some 1”x 2’x2’ insulation boards. I have long since thought of making some modular terrain boards using these. They are just shy of $8 each. Which is a lot considering a 2’x8’ board is about $16 (double the cost). However my local places only have shiplap sides instead of a butt end so it is worth it for me.

I picked up 6 boards (enough for. 4’x6’ table).

I also bought some black duct tape to cover the edge to prevent chipping/dents/damage. The washers, tape and insulation cost $73.03. I used up all the tape to line 3 full pieces and 1/2 of a fourth. 

I need some more tape before I can crack on.

Around this time I also backed the Hero Realms Kickstarter for 99 USD which was roughly $134.00

This brings my 2023 hobby budget from $67.48 to $274.51. Yikes. I was doing so well.

Lastly I based the last of the Germans.

I decided to pull out all of the Germans and take an army on parade photograph.

Here’s a few close ups of the army.

Here’s the unpainted 3rd Platoon, a flamethrower team and some casualties.

This is the first platoon, cavalry wing, field gun and machine gun. 

At the rear are an anti-tank rifle, mortar, 3 snipers, another machine gun and an anti-tank gun.


Lastly the HQ group, a mortar, 2nd platoon a tank, assault squad and another machine gun.

Lots of variety to field a number of options. I think I’m March I’ll be dropping off my WWI British to be painted before the unpainted Germans so I can get some games in.

January update

Here’s a quick update,

Hobby expenses:

$18.43 on 2x 1LB boxes of 5/16 metal washers. 

$43.90 on  50mm x 50mm plastic bases and Jan/Feb issues of Wargames Illustrated (shipped for UK).

Total $62.33

5/16 metal washers are my go to for my 28mm metal figures. They give a nice heft and make the figures harder to knock over. They are about 25mm across. 5/16 is the interior hole size. My individual German infantry are now all based. I need a few larger bases for things like snipers, the machine gun and the anti tank gun.

I also need (sometime this year) 50mm square bases. So I placed an order from Northstar. I also added the two WI issues. February seems extra appealing as it has some RCW articles.

This week I started basing my 30 Oathmark Dwarf heavy infantry and 4 metal characters.

I cover the base in GW Stirland mud and then add static grass. I did the mud stage. I do a heavy-ish coat to hide the integral base of the miniature.

Then I’ll static grass the base and use the geek gaming scenics spray to lock it in.

I also put head on my 30 Oathmark orcs and built 10 of the 30 newly released Goblin slaves.

I have 30 more Oathmark Goblin infantry to build as well. That’s all for now. Hopefully I can find little bits of time to keep plugging away.

Labour Day October Hammer

Today is the holiday Monday of Labour Day. Most things are closed and the kiddos don’t go start school until Wednesday. 

The youngest wanted to play with my red and blue soldiers (Bolsheviks -Trotsky’s train guard and Red sailors).

I had played a convention game of Squad Hammer at Hotlead 2022 and so thoroughly enjoyed it I bought the rules (PDF on Wargamevault.com).

Here’s the basic set up. Bolsheviks on the left. German Freikorps on the right. It’s an attack/defend scenario around the barn. While attackers usually should have a larger force I chose to keep it even as the boys haven’t gotten the grasp of uneven battles yet (“Why do you have more figures” etc).

We each had a leader, 3 rifle squads, an automatic rifle squad, and a machine gun. One platoon had shock troops and the other had cavalry.

Each son had one platoon of Bolsheviks and I had 2 platoons of Friekorps.

We played 8 rounds (6 plus 1D6) and I had failed to capture the barn.

My 1st platoon was wiped out and my 2nd platoon had 1 rifle squad with 6 hit points (1 away from wiped out) and an automatic rifle squad with the leader with no damage ( both in the foreground)

James had 1 rifle squad (in the fenced paddock) and his machine gun (in the barn’s loft)

Charlie had 1 automatic rifle squad (on the other side of the barn in the other fenced paddock), a machine gun (on the back left hill), 1 rifle squad with the leader (on the ground in front of the machine gun) and his cavalry (on the top right, having flanked me).

We all had fun. I think this was the first time we’ve played using an actual rule set (as opposed to home brew rules) and with minimal tantrums when things didn’t go as planned (the boys were good too 😂).

Here’s a couple photos showing the casualties. What can I say, “War is hell.”

Charlie’s two sailor squads (6 dudes per squad) and James’ Leader, 3 squads and shock troops.

Here’s my losses. 6 squads, both machine guns, one leader, my cavalry and shock troops.

I had a great time using a rule set I enjoy and the boys said the same. The game can be fast and bloody.

Here’s a list of everything below from the photos in case anybody is interested.

Until next time.

The figures are:

Russians - Copplestone Castings

Germans - Brigade Games and Great War Miniatures

Barn - Tinned Fruit Buildings (on Facebook)

Outbuilding - Colin Rush commission 

Trees - The Last Valley (on Facebook)

Hills - Miniature Landscape Hobbies

Fences - Pegasus Hobbies

Barricades - Gale Force 9

Mat- Cigar Box Battle

Reinforcements (or I’m going to need a bigger box)

July 2021 was a looong time ago. Lots of hobby stuff has happened, I just haven’t posted ANY of it for no particular reason.

I’ve been into Chain of Command for a while and have  been collecting a 101st Airborne force.

Looks a little cramped in the box so on the tabletop it looks like this:

HQ, bazooka, three squads, and mortar squad.

I also have two additional bazooka teams, three medics, a sniper, a MG and 4 spare infantry I can use to be a 3 man engineer demo team or to bump up the MG team to have 5 crew. Oh and two Sherman’s and a firefly for reasons.

Finally the other pieces have been completed. Another Sherman which gives me a full tank platoon. A Jeep with a mounted MG. An anti-tank gun and another mortar.

I also grabbed 8 crew for the weapons teams as I don’t really like using riflemen for crew. And another 8 riflemen to get the three squads into full compliance with rifles instead of songs or carbines.

Here’s a scale comparison of the troops.

L to R: Bolt Action, Artizan, Bolt Action, Artizan.

So they are basically done. I have decals for shoulder flashes and should put some markings on the Sherman’s but that’s for some other rainy day.

Ze Germans are finished

Well, not really “finished” per se but I’m at a place where if I never bought another WWI German, I’d be fine with that.

That being said 😂 I have plans to add another Heavy machine gun, a grenade launcher, a sniper and a small unit (10) of Cavalry.

The miniatures are a combination of Great War Miniatures, Brigade Games and Copplestone Castings.

There are two platoons. One with plain helmets and the other with a camouflage pattern.

Each platoon is led by a 3-man command element.

There are three ten man squads.

Squads 1 & 2 have a Sgt, 8 rifles and a light MG

Squad 3 has a Sgt, 7 rifles and a flamethrower team.

The Camo squad three have grenades to indicate they are bombers/grenadiers.

There’s a 4 man high Command, heavy machine gun and a field gun rounding out the force.

For rules I have GW Historical - The Great War. However, Chain of Command is a great rule set and I’m super interested in the WWI variant.

All miniatures were painted by Karl Friedrich of Kura Creative. 

Now I just have to finish the terrain boards I started last year. And buy the opposition forces...

The Light Elves are finally done

Quick post today. 

I managed to put some texture paint on the bases of 27 light Elves a week+ ago. All that was left was the flock. 

I don’t want to say I found the time but more like decided to get off my but and base them.

Here are the all of the completed Light Elves. Need to get a picture with the “regular” Elven figures.

Happy New Year!

Wow, I really lost track of the time there.

Things have been busy since August, hobby wise and in real life. 

Here’s a quick recap Of the hobby stuff:

Purchased:

( and built) 2 Aberdeen  class airships from Crossover Miniatures

16 French Foreigh Legion and  16 British Northwest Frontier from Artizan Designs (Christmas gift for myself from the family) for a VSF setting. 

Oathmark undead box and two metal blisters.

4 Tier one operators sets from Spectre (Christmas)

1500 3/8x3/4 foam bricks off of Etsy.

Ltd Edition GW Gamling on horseback.

Painted:

Received the rest of my 28mm 101st Airborne from Karl at Kura Creative

Oathmark Goblin Wolf Riders (only rider figures) metal heroes and resin Ltd edition hero painted by Karl at Kura Creative.

I finished 30 Oathmark Elves, 10 light Elves, 4 hounds, 4 humans and one necromancer. 

Why did I purchase 1500 3/8x 3/4 inch foam blocks? I hear you ask. Because it’s cheaper than buying a Proxxon foam cutter and I’m not burning time cutting foam blocks. The reason is Jeremy from Black Magic Craft (YouTube) posted a dope video on modular rules that I wanted to try. The results will follow in a separate post.

The plan for 2021: Major Projects

Continue plugging away with Oathmark

I have to built, Prime and paint the 30 plastic and 6 metal Undead figures from Oathmark.

Finish painting 30 Dwarf heavy infantry.

Base 30-40 Dwarf Infantry and 30-40 Goblin Infantry.

Paint 21 Wolves (for the painted riders to ride)

Base 27 Light Elves.

VSF project

Finish assembly (on one) and paint both Aberdeen airships (other is primed). 

Paint 14 FFL and 16 British NWF using sweet contrast paint scheme found on YouTube

Purchase rank and file British troops ( 7 packs of 4 figures from Artizan). Paint  them. 

Star Wars Legion (or Chain of Command) this is my nice to get to 3rd project.

Assemble Count Dooku, Anakin, box of B1 Battle Droids (omg the pieces!), and Phase I clone troopers.

Purchase Clone Wars starter set.

Paint them all.

Minor Projects:

WWI terrain board - finish building both sections. Paint both. ( WTF is this really a “minor project?)

Have Karl finish painting my WWI Germans (under 50 figures-easy).

Have Karl finish painting my Wild West figures (under 50 figures-easy).

Foam brick terrain (about 750 have been made into terrain - needs to be mod podged and painted other 750 need texturing before building.

Would be nice Projects:

Try to finish painting my Frostgrave/Rangers of Shadow Deep, The Walking Dead All our War greyscale project ( purchase saviours and whisperers).

Tackle whatever GW lord of the rings I can (for the boy).

Stay away from anything new (looking at you  Stargrave).

Cheers and good luck to you on your Projects this year!

It’s like Christmas in August

I had three orders I’ve been anxiously awaiting. One each from Northstar Miniatures, Wargames Illustrated and Green Stuff World.

They all came today which was both awesome and annoying as I muttered it’s like Christmas in August and the Mrs heard it and proceeded to ask various questions about finances etc. Oops!

Anyhow, one shouldn’t dwell on trivial matters like money. LMAO.

I should start by saying I have a pretty big Wild West collection and have been looking to grab some more. I’ve also been into Rangers of Shadow Deep and think it could be re-skinned to a Wild West setting.

Lastly, slavery was and is bad and the south who fought to keep it were wrong. I purchased the following figures first and foremost for the zombies.

First up is the Artizan Designs, the Risen South box set. Two confederate necromancers and 8 confederate zombies.

Next up is from Dracula’s America. The Dark Confederates boxed set. One Necromancer (evil looking dude in white) 5 ragged confederates and 4 confederate zombies.

Lastly on the Wild West frontier, I picked up three new single figures from Artizan and 5 foot and mounted packs.

From Green Stuff World, I got two packs of barbed wire for my WWI trench boards and some fallen leaves for scenery.

From Wargames Illustrated, I purchased the August issue and a Giants in Miniature figure I plan on leading a future expedition to Mars.

Plugging along...

Here’s those Elves I was talking about. Front middle is the Metal Maquette that is limited edition from Northstar reserved for pre-orders and such.

Here’s the humans. Sorry for the botched picture. Three metal champions and 5 plastic figures.

I also painted some Nolzur’s Spiders. Black contrast and brown paint slapped on the furry areas. Eyes picked out in red. The white spider obviously uses white instead of brown or red. He’s the leader. I kept two cocoon bases separate as they will make good scatter/objectives.

Just a small update from my Mantic Games The Walking Dead collection. One of the Scavengers (Andy or Jud) and a walker as well as the giant resin one. Having discovered Contrast paints these guys paint themselves but I’m stuck with about 1/2 my stuff done the old way (layers and dry brushing) and he other 1/2 using contrast. They look ok together but don’t match 100%.  It shouldn’t but it does bother me. I dunno. Also all the new kits are resin which is an improvement for details but takes a bunch more time to assemble.

Today I slapped on some glue and flock for another 20 Oathmark figures. My “regular” Elves are almost done. I think I have 14 or so archers left to base. Up next are the light Elves which are all painted as well. Just need basing.

There are (all plastic) 6 archers and 10 spearmen for the Elves.

The 4 figures on the right are metal. Three come from the King,Wizard &horn blower pack. The 4th is the Limited Edition maquette.