Happy New Year 2023

We’ll it’s been quite a year.

I finished only a handful of figures myself, a whopping 9 28mm NPCs for my ongoing RCW project. 

I have another 9 RCW figures in some state of painting. I have 6 pirates about 20 Afghan War and another 20 Barons War figures also with some paint on them.

Pretty disappointing to tell the truth but I found some painting mojo and expect to exceed these numbers this year.

Vehicles wise I primed two MDF airships from Crossover Miniatures, and put paint down on a Sarissa Precision train set (tender and 4 carriages) for the RCW. I also assembled an Ainsty Castings Man o’ war pirate ship and have mostly painted a Firelock Games sloop.

My plan for 2023 is:

RCW project

Finish painting the Sarissa train.

Base the Sarissa train tracks.

Finish painting the NPC characters I have for the RCW

Pirates

Get some paint on the 60+ figures I have.

Finish painting both pirate ships.

Oathmark

Finish building my Oathmark Orcs, Goblin slaves and Goblin boxes and get them commission painted (100ish)

Paint my oathmark wolves for the Goblin wolf riders.

Stargrave

Finish building the rest of the Troopers (20ish) box set.

Paint them (60ish)

Baron’s War

Finish painting the figures I started.

Assemble/paint the 40ish figures I have still in the blister.

Assemble/paint the new kickstarter figures whenever they get delivered.

WWI/WWII

Get my WWI British (90ish figures) and remaining Germans (40ish figures) to the commission painter.

Get my WWII German tanks to the commission painter.

There aren’t any major projects I’d like to start this year so hopefully just some small purchases here and there to finish old projects.

My wife thinks I spend $200/week on figures. I actually spend less that $200/month so I’d like to also document my hobby expenditures. I’ll also include supplies like glue and baseing materials etc.

So far I’m at $0.00 Hahaha.

That’s my plan so far.

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.

Heart Shaped (bits) Box

Hey, wait, I got a new complaint.

Or maybe a new solution.

I have loads of miniature boxes laying around with bits of sprue still inside, taking up space.

I figured I should probably get on the bits box train.

I quick trip to Dollarama got me sorted for $4.00.

I decided to start with my Oathmark Humans and Dwarves.

I turned this:

Into this:

Except I forgot to take a photo. To be added soon.

Really feel great about the progress but man, is it ever tiresome snipping bits. Oathmark Dwarf heads are especially annoying.

More SW Legion

I got the Clone Wars Legion boxed set today for my wife and my 12 year anniversary today.

I built Obi-Wan, the clones and the Barc speeder.

I put General Grievous together with 4 lightsabers and put the legs, torsos and backpacks on the droids.

Hope to do the heads and arms tomorrow (the worst part of the figures IHMO) and depending on that I’ll see if I touch the droidekas.

That’s all for now.

SW Legion Update

Hello there!

It’s been a while but I have some updates. My schedule at work had changed. No more Monday- Friday. Now I work 3 weekends out of 5. Bit shit I know but I do get a lot more days off overall.

First off, my Russian Civil War has been progressing nicely. I have a platoon of Mahknovists (Ukranian freedom fighters) and some more “Whites” ready to go. 

My armoured train is mostly painted. Still have the tracks to do.

I received about a company’s worth of OOP Footsore Miniatures WWI Scots (which are now back on the website as of this week).

But none of that is at all related to Star Wars. That is correct.

This year I’ve picked up two B1 Battle Droid box sets and an upgrade set. I also got one box of Phase 1 Clone Troopers. Count Dooku and Anakin round out the set. I’ve painted them slowly but this week finished the bases of the droids and painted Anakin and the clones. All that is left are the bases and I am done.

Here are the droids. I’ve gone with a Geonosis style of base. The keen eyes may be able to see two similar but different paint styles.

Here’s a close up:

The left of is a mix of two contrast paints(light brown and bone).The right is a yellow contrast paint and a dry brush of a sandy colour.

I did the left squad first before watching a YouTube video and switching it up (going for the easiest paintjob possible here) a black contrast paint on the weapons and some bright yellow markings and voila. Done.

For the clones I should’ve planned it a bit better.

I primed in grey and realized I should’ve probably primed I’m white instead so I sponged on a coat of white. Then a dark wash for the recesses.A drybrush of white followed by a layer of white to highlight the top armour plates/panels.

Think on the next squad I’ll cut out a step or two to save more time.

They look good from far but far from good. Whatever. I’m done with them.

Anakin was done using contrasts again. Not super happy with his face but I’ve always sucked at skin tones and he’s done.

I also tried my hand at object source lighting on his  backside. More noticeable in person.

Lastly a tragedy occurred. My youngest was playing with these guys a few weeks ago. Dooku and a droid fell and broke. The droid’s arm was found but Dooku’s is lost forever. I’m hoping I get another left arm from somewhere and I’ll add it to the model.  

I haven’t the nerve to finish him as I might scrap the whole thing now. Minor set back but enough to derail me for now.

Anyways that’s it for now.

It’s getting warm out

The weather is slowly getting there.

We probably had the last “cold” spell on Monday and Tuesday until Thanksgiving. The days are getting longer. The temperatures are rising.

So what does one do on a day like this? Prime some miniatures!

I primed my Star Wars Legion Phase 1 Clone Troopers (7 figures) Anakin, Count Dooku, Priority Supples and Artizan Designs French Foreign Legion (14 figures) in GW’s Grey Seer.

I primed my Star Wars Legion B1 Battle Droids (9 figures) and Artizan Designs NWF British (16 figures) in GW’s Wraith Bone.

The plan is to use contrast paints for most of the base coats and use regular ones for highlights etc.

I was lucky enough to grab one of the cans of primer discounted to $10 because the lid was broken.

The weird object on the side is my trusty Citadel paint stick. It’s a little bit of a ridiculous hobby tool but man, does it ever work.

And on a side note, I have a platoon of unpainted OOP Footsore Miniatures WWI Scots on their way to me. They are Early War and sculpted by Paul Hicks (slightly on the small side) but will be fierce opponents for my Germans.