I am very pleased with the post man today. He dropped off a single eBay buy of this Dwarf Flame cannon blista. SO I'll give you a free guess as to what will be coming up on the painting table this week. Having looked at the figures closer than a simple eBay picture will allow I think they will fit quite nicely with the Kallistra ones I already have, which is going to save me a lot of time and effort. No need to muck about getting different crew figures and and all that malarkey! I still have a few packs of Kallistra to paint and base, before I can claim anything like enough to Field an army, But as I got this one cheap I feel I can indulge myself and get it done before next weekend. I have got some dwarf warriors on the table as we speak and I am sure I can get those done by then as well.

I hope to have a bit of a CULL of old figures soon, either at shows or on that famous on line auction site. I have been putting it off both through a reluctance to part with them and a natural level of apathy. However the time has come. I realised the time had come when I wanted to play a game of PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry by Peter Pig). the problem being that I don't have the figures for this project painted just yet. "I Know" I thought "I can use my Flames of war figures!" There in my mind problem solved. So I dragged the Flames box from the top of the cupboard and had a rummage. I went straight to the US Paratroop Company. I looked at the figures and I saw that the troops carrying BARs and .30 cals were for the most part mixed in with other figures and thus could not be told apart as I would need to for PBI. I looked at them, I starred at them, I thought long and Hard and put them back on top of the cupboard and took down the US infantry company which was still in its shrink wrap. The problem was that I could not face re-baseing them. I would rather start afresh than re base figures. Yes I know It is sheer lunacy but it's the way I'm hard-wired. Ahh you are thinking that's ok he can still play Flames now so that's ok nothing wrong with that. But there's a problem, and you knew there would be. You just knew it. The problem is no one else at the Rainham club plays Flames. The two people who did play have left the club for pastures new and I wish them luck with all that, but It means I have stuff I'll never get to use now. I could hang on hoping that a new player will turn up and already have an army that's compatible, but seriously what are the chances? So I think they will be part of a Cull, a spring Clean, an exodus, a slimming down if you will. One of the big problems with the club members and to some extent all wargamers is that we are all individuals. If I say at the Rainham club let's have a WW2 Game it would generally be accepted as a good idea (Unless I said we're playtesting for Phil and then I'd have a rather different response). And that's great happy smiley faces and lots of people saying I have "I have a _____ army " and "I have a ----- Army" but no two armies will be compatible with any other either in scale, theatre or time period. Let alone be based to the same set of rules. So at Rainham for the most part you need to do two armies, which can be a lot of work. Ok Ok that's a slight exaggeration as Pete and Rob can both field North African armies (Pete Axis and Rob British), in the same scale and using the same rules. But as a generalisation everyone has something different.

On the whole though I would not change the clubs attitude I am learning to embrace it. Finally coming to the Point Graham already has 2 PBI armies, (Russian and German). So creating an alternative one of my own seems like a good idea. The Obvious choice would be to build something which could be complement these armies so of course I have chosen Yanks!

Yes I am as bad as everyone else!



Skaven Marines

As you can see I have been painting some Skaven Space Marines. Following the "success" of my trial I have been working on these and have managed to get the first batch finished. Or nearly finished, They await Varnish and some "tufts" put on the bases which with luck might make them look a bit tastier.

All painted in acrylics and pretty quickly. I used a base coat of "tin bitz" for the rusty armour speckled with a couple of light browns and two or three brown washes of varying shades to get in all the cracks and give it a dirty look. Then some boltgun and mithril silver very very quickly drydrushed on to some of the areas mostly where I thought there would be exposed edges likely to take a bash. The light Green is Scorpion green and a mix of scorpion green and white, while the dull red is scab red, which I use as a part skin tone and on the bolt gun grips.

I have had a lot of fun doing these while I was not going up the shed but for now I'll put them away until after "Cavalier" (2 weeks time) in the hopes that I can get some more bits and bobs for them at the show really cheap, either at the bring and buy or at one of the stalls. I did intend to visit a GW store next week and get the staff to sort me out an army list based so that I may focus my spending a bit at the show, but as it's half term next week I'll give that a miss as the place will be crawling with kids and I don't want the local kids to start one of these armies and flood the store with badly done versions..... well maybe once I get enough to actually play a game, and not just one squad, which it is at the moment.

I have started painting the 20mm "Road Kill" vehicle now, I settled on a "Baby blue" base coat which does look quite striking. It's not till you start painting sometimes that you actually think more about the model. During construction I was focused on sticking things on and seeing what it looked like. When you get to painting however you have to make a decision about the game world. You have to decide for example if the car was modified before painting or if it was painted then modified. On the face of it it does not seem a hard question but there are implications as to how you see the world and the people in the world. If the car is modified and then painted for example it implies that the modifications would also be painted and there fore that the people had the time and energy to worry about aesthetics. Or was it a standard car that they adapted to fit a new environment and world setting. Generally we think it will be the second option, but if the rules already come with a world setting you can't be totally sure until you have read them.

Talking of rules I have sent for "Outrider" but not received them yet. The reviews I could find (few that they were) suggest that movement is like in "Wings of war" where you lay a card and then move the vehicle. I can see this working as a mechanic very well. It would rely on basing the vehicles. All of this is speculation for the moment though but I am intrigued enough to want to know more.

I had a "Senior moment" while at work last night and remembered a project I bought everything for but never actually started. One of the club members (Graham) plays PBI (poor Bloody Infantry) by Peter Pig. About 2 years ago I bought enough 15mm figures to create a US army infantry company and then did nothing with them so they are still sitting in their packets. That being the case I might dig them out and actually get them started while I wait for the Cavalier trolley dash experience. It will all depend on how the mood grabs me in the next couple of days. I don't want to build scenery in the shed for until the snow has gone, yes a wimp I know I have been called worse and probably will be again before the week's out. Like most of us I do have a lead mountain and yet as I look at some of the boxes I am not inspired enough to do much about it heaven forbid. And while I think about eBaying my Flames of war stuff (also 15mm ww2) I do wonder how much I can salvage and use for PBI. The problem I have had with Flames of War is the two club members who did start forces left and I am now left with an  army I shall never use again, it's nicely painted so I should at least break even on eBay, although you can never tell, or I could sell it at Cavalier or Broadside.

Oh there is some news on Broadside by the way. The Council has completely changed how we are to cope with the parking this year. Last year we had to pre buy parking vouchers from them. This year we are to buy 4 hour tickets and display Broadside Badges in the car windscreens. It does raise the price from £2 to £3 for each vehicle, BUT we are not limited to how many car parking spaces we can have. Last year we had to limit it to two cars for each club and 2 for each trader. Which is awkward for clubs putting on games. (I'll talk about it at the club on Sunday).

Well that's today's news done, hope you found something interesting here. All the best Clint

Road Kill?

I have been talking via emails to Kev and Relfie (hi Guys) about the idea of a "Road Warrior" Mad Max type game. The idea has been floated at the club last year, and we tried a couple of games of "Car wars" (I used to play it about 20 years ago, but it was new to the others I think, or at least close to being "new" well new in a 25-30 year old kind of way. Not totally sure why we stopped playing but we moved onto other things pretty quickly. My personal view is that while I like Car wars it's had its day. Current games seem to be faster flowing possibly with interrupts and generally less complicated. So we are kind of on the look out for a good working set that's fast, furious and fun, without masses of charts tables and

 add ons. I did read the rules for "Axles and Alloys" last night but I am not convinced. Only being able to make one turn each movement seems very restrictive, but perhaps It might give a reason to drop speed in order to manoeuvre. I am not anti "Dark future" from Games Workshop, I have the rules and did start reading them before X mass but never finished. I don't think it would take too much to use them although I would need to create some kind of turning key/template and forget the grids that are on their tracks. Another option is OUTRIDER, which I came across this morning and know very little about. It is available here:

http://dicefestgames.blogspot.com/p/outrider.html

The two photos are of cars I have created for a post apocalypse mad max setting. The top is 28mm scale, created a while back and I don't think I ever used it. It gives the right feel. I would like to get some buggies but they are harder to get as a starting point to work from and then they would require more work to bring to a good gaming standard and if in the rules they are not as powerful as standard cars why would you bother, except for completion.

The second car is a "Matchbox" 20mm scale  with a penny for scale. I have started to add mods at this stage, but only extending the bumper and adding a couple of plastic tubes to the front to represent "Gun" ports. The second pic has all the window grills added and a tarpaulin tied to the roof. I have undercoated it and it should go to paint sometime soon. At that stage you should get a much better idea of what it looks like as it's quite hard to tell being all white, but maybe just maybe you can see something. No ideas what colours to do it yet and I probably won't until I sit at the paint table with it and am forced to make a decision. Starting from a white base I have the option of doing it yellow or orange, possibly pink. If those don't appeal then I can over paint in a darker colour I'll have to wait and see.At the same time as I undercoated the car I also undercoated some more 10mm dwarfs. This time dwarf warriors as they are the base troop type, even though I have only 1 pack at the moment. The army list says a minimum of 2 units so that's a future purchase but for now I need to whittle down the unpainted a little. Preferably BEFORE Cavalier I do hope to go but there is no guarantee of course and that includes the possibility of it getting snowed of like it did a few years back, but as we have a couple of weeks I'll not worry just yet.

I am using the weather as an excuse not to work up the shed, but I have checked and nothing has been damaged by the frost. And on the plus side we have a pair of blue tits looking like they may nest up there. If so it will be the 3rd year in a row so once they are settled I know I can work in the shed without disturbing them.

Lastly for today the Skaven Chaos Marines are coming along nicely and should have this batch finished by or over the weekend. That's all for now take care all.

Deep and crisp and even. That's either the snow or a pizza description. But today it's the snow. I am not saying I am snowed in or anything like that, but I am not inclined to work up the shed, or even to spray up some figures ready to paint.

As I only have the skaven marines on the paint table at the moment, and they are drying having had a heavy rust wash on their armour they could not be photoed. But I ha ten minutes so I thought I'd offer an update. As you have seen I have 1 finished, but 6 started and waiting on the paint table. Additionally I have purchased a plastic rat ogre from eBay ready for converting. I have considered using rat ogres as the basis for terminators, however I think I'll stick to the dreadnought conversion idea. SO now the quest for a good cheap space marine dreadnought so I'll trawl eBay in a bit and keep my fingers crossed.

I have also been talking to Kev about a mad max game idea. To this end I have started to convert a "matchbox" car when it gets to an acceptable stage I shall of course blog it.

Well that's today, lets hope the weather improves enough to actually get something done which is worth showing.

All  the best Clint.