Bases and buildings

My oldest has a 24 hr bug that caused him to miss a really important soccer game today so what better way to spend the day than to plug away at the piles of shame.

I also took the youngest to practice as there is a Home Hardware nearby. I needed some larger metal bases 1-1/2” and 2” widths so the casualties, snipers and heavy guns.

So I spent another $5.15 on metal bases. However I had a gift card so I’m debating whether that counts. I’ll count it bringing the 2023 Hobby expenses total to $67.48. 

Anyways I picked up 4x 2” washers and 4x 1-1/2” washers. I got home and quickly realized I probably need another 2-3 of the 1-1/2” size.

I based some of the figures.

I put a bit of plastic down first as there’s some type of chemical reaction that occurs between the glue and washer hole apparently that leaves marks on the table. That was a fun discovery last go around.

Pictured L to R top to bottom are the grenade launcher and 3.7mm TAK anti-tank gun, the casualties, a sniper and the machine gun. I left most of the crew off of the weapons teams for east of painting.

I have 1 sniper, another flamethrower team and an antitank rifle left to base.

I also put together four sprues of Warlord Games’ plastic ruined hamlet I got before Christmas. I had tested out one building so now have the set done.

Shown are two sprues worth. I opted for 6 pieces of ruins to allow for various configurations.

The weather was atrocious this week but it’s finally warming up. Hopefully I can prime these ruins quickly.

October's Army Painter and The Walking Dead: All Out War

Hey again, it's been a really productive month for me! I'm really pleased with myself. The painting mojo is high and I keep finding little bits of time to plug away. But as the title suggests, I've split my attention. Hopefully I don't regret this...

Here are the next 14 figures. All from Copplestone Castings Back Of Beyond Chinese Warlord range.

There are 10 assault troopers armed with Bergmann SMGs. The figures on the left are from the Command Pack. The flag was colour printed from the website below.

http://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.ca/2015/01/flags-for-chinese-warlordback-of-beyond.html

Got a little head start on November's entry. 10 Dare-To-Die troopers with big sword, and General Lee To Fat himself. They was also been washed with army painter and the base textured but still needs painting. Only 20 more troopers to go. :) :)



I was fortunate (?) enough to back Mantic Games The Walking Dead: All Out War (TWD:AOW)Kickstarter. I received all the bits and read through the rules quickly, and watched a couple how-tos on Youtube. I wasn't super impressed and it languished on the shelf. I went to Broadsword 4 in Hamilton in August and played a homebrew Cthulu inspired zombie game and decided to steal the basics and improve some of the character stats usingTWD:AOW character cards.


Now I had only ever read the comics as Season 1 of TWD varied so much from the comics I quickly gave it up. But I rather enjoyed Fear The Walking Dead and am in between seasons so I decided to give TWD another shot (thanks Netflix). While I am enjoying TWD, I am a purist at heart and decided to pay the comics an homage and paint in grayscale. WTF!


Here are the first 12 zombies. 6 are from the Walker Booster and 5 from the Prelude To Woodbury set (both retail releases). Which leaves me with about 89 more to paint + scenery packs.

Poor photo but there they are. I really should be using the light box I made...Basically they are drybrushed from dark to light in 3-4 shades of gray. Then black ink washed, then highlighted with previous grays. Really fast and easy.

Here's a better shot of 6 walkers.

And last but not least, the man himself, Brian Blake aka The Governor.

I'll probably have to make a run and buy more shades of gray as skin colours in gray is going to be a nightmare.



Lt. Winters Miniature II

Alrighty,

So my limited edition Dick Winters mini arrived. Minimal flash. Pretty crisp casting. Only assembly was putting kneeling leg on.

I was under the impression that the dog tags supplied were resin but mine were metal. Doesn't matter either way as I have zero use for them.

The only issue I have with this figure and it was definitely my own fault was it has come off the base once already. I didn't use enough glue as I didn't want it glopping out under the knee and foot. 

I did watch Band of Brothers and I found the scene at Brecourt Manor where Winters is kneeling and motioning with his hand like that. I thought it was pretty neat.

Productive

This week has proven rather productive as I applied sand onto the MDF/spackled bases. I also added some sticks (fallen logs) to 3 of the weapons bases. Although I forgot to take pictures.

Lastly, I primed the HQ, one Fallschirmjager section, the sniper team and the Panther. 

Fallschirmjager Force

Alright, yesterday I based my Warlord Games German Fallschirmjager and built my 2 Panzer IVs.

The Germans are based on Sarissa Precision 2mm MDF bases 25mm in diameter. The weapons teams are 60mm in diameter. The white stuff is drywall spackle. 

There is an HQ, 3 11 man squads, a mortar+ spotter, a machine gun team, sniper team, panzer shriek team and flamethrower team, a panther, Stug IIIG and 2 panzer IVs.

I wanted to prime them today but it's raining :(

German Armour

In March, I made a purchase from Warlord when they upped their Wheels of Steel discount from 10% to 20% off any 3 vehicles purchased.

I've built the Stug III G from that order and a Panther, I picked up from the 1st Hold the Line Convention.

Panther on right, Stug on left.

Just the other day I opened the 2 Panzer IV's I got from Warlord and I found this.

It appears that the rear left handed trank guard snapped off of both tanks. Both were bubble wrapped and the boxes weren't damaged. Either there is a problem with the mold and it's a fragile piece or they were damaged and sent any ways. I created a post on Warlord's forum so am awaiting a response. Some glue has fixed the issue.

Tanks!!

Some progress. I bought these 2 Sherman M4A3 tanks and the Sherman Firefly VC in April when Warlord games had a 20% off Wheels of Steel deal (basically, buy three Bolt Action vehicles and get 20% off).

 The Firefly went together the easiest (despite not having a construction diagram). Both Sherman's needed their turrets shaved down until they'd fit onto/into the hull. One of the gun barrel ports needed to be drilled out so the metal barrel would fit.

 Overall, despite some casting issues, the kits went together fairly well. My only real criticism is a lack of assembly instructions. Even the construction diagrams on Warlord's site aren't great.

 Hopefully I can get some German armour done next...

Lt. Winters Miniature

Those fortunate enough to attend Historicon can pick up a limited edition USA airborne Lt. Richard Winters. Those not fortunate enough to attend can get him from Warlord Games website for $16.00USD. It seems like a money grab for 1 figure with a resin base. Needless to say my 101st need to be led by this hero so I did pick up.