Objective

Still working on some PBI stuff. This is the Peter Pig Sherman objective marker. It is a one piece resin casting. Mine needed no cleaning up at all. So just an undercoat then straight to paint. Painted in acrylics and then a satin varnish. The details is well cast and come out clearly on the model. I found no air bubbles or defects. The bottom had also been sanded flat before purchase. So all in all my model came in the most excellent condition.

Work has started on my next objective marker, which is a lot more home made than this one. And as such does require more work. I hope to finish it over the weekend.
 Yesterday I sent for the "Empire of the Dead" rules. At £30 I think they are expensive. But I had talked about a "Van Helsing" (film) game some 6 months ago with a friend who had broken his ankle (Captive audience to bore..... ) He'll also read this blog so he'll know who I am talking about. Another Club member (Relfie) wanted to try these rules. I am provisionally setting a 3 week deadline to get a trial game together. Other than werewolves I think I already have enough to put two forces together. I will need to do a repaint job on some of them, but I think three weeks is a realistic deadline. Time will tell. I can start painting over the weekend and I can treat the deadline as a challenge.

That's it for today, I'll post again on Sunday. Have a good weekend and see you soon.

Big Guns

Continuing the PBI company I have managed to paint up a couple of 105mm howitzers. The Guns and crew are by Peter Pig while the trucks, are Battlefront. It was a case of what can I get at the right price. Battlefront trucks, being resin, are cheaper than peter pig, while the opposite is true of the artillery and the crew. I like the fact that you can also get stacks of shells which all adds to the feel. The bases are thick card (Mounting board) with a thin coat of filler and a covering of sand to get a texture. All in all I a very happy with how they turned out, I think I might need a two more but that can wait for the moment. When playing PBI you have to set you level of aggression. The US Infantry can set theirs to 1 (the minimum) doing this guarantees you can start the game with some towed guns. That is an option I think I need to explore, 2 extra guns might make all the difference. Time will tell.

I had better give a brief explanation of the building list from yesterday. I am looking to make a participation Zombie game to run at a couple of shows (Conventions). As a show game it needs to not only look good, but has to be easily transported and stored. For this reason I will not be building a whole city (at least in the foreseeable future.) To allow me to focus I needed to write a list of possible adventure sites. By doing so I have clarified my thinking. There are a number of criteria for show games that need to be considered that you can forget about at club games. I have mentioned size for storage and transportation. Some shows (In SE England) also desire you to keep games small so they can fit more in. Additionally at Broadside for example we have to rent the tables. Thus if your game is large it can cost the organisers quite a lot of money.

Well that's it for today. I'll Post again on Friday. Thanks for looking and talk soon. Cheers Clint.

More Thrust.

Firstly As I was not happy with yesterdays blog I have decided to do one today as well.  These are the start of my Second Full Thrust fleet. This time the Islamic Federation. These are only the small ships of the intro fleet, I have put the larger (cruisers) somewhere safe. I will start painting theose when I find them again. But for now these should act as a sample of colours and markings. As shown I have gone for a rich blue as my main colour, contrasting that I have a lemon stripe on each vessel. As all the ships have cresent shaped wings I thought to emphasis these by painting them a copper colour higlighted with gold and washed with "flesh wash" all to signify a more 3D look to the figures.  Once they are all fininsh (once I find them again) I will photograph the whole fleet together as I did the FSE fleet. I shall also offer a photo of both fleets together.

Now lets go back to the poll for a little. In my mind (and only there) I have settled on a Zombie game. Let me start by saying I am not totally happy with any of the Zombie rules I have found so far. They all have something to offer, but they also all lack one or more elements I would like. As such I think I might have a go at writing my own. I don't want to start adding house rules to an existing system, I feel a completely fresh start is in order. If you don't hear any more about this assume I have given up, and common sense has taken over.

Meanwhile back at the Zombie terrain ideas, here are a few I have thought of (in no logical order):

• High School
• Petrol Station.
• Hospital.
• Laboratory / Research Facility.
• Shopping Mall
• Underground / tube station.
• Warehouse/Factory
• Docks/Port.
• Fair Ground / Ammusement park.
• Peir.
• Airport.
• Railway Station / Rail Yard.
• Sewer.
• Appartment Block.
• Church and graveyard.
• Powerstation.
• Army Baracks
• Motorway Service Station / Truck stop.
• Typical Urban Street / City block.
• Suburban area.
• Zoo.

I want to keep it accessable to most people, so I have taken out, space Station, moonbase, submarine, ship and those sort of things brcause the terrain migh be too tight for a flowing game.

I hope there is something there for you to mull over. I already feel Happier with this post than the previous one. I'll post again Tomorrow, so take care til than and happy Blogging. All the Best Clint

Sundays ar club days.

It was quiet yesterday at the club. I had my first ever game of "Spearhed". I took the US side Peter the Germans and Graham acted as a reff.  Set during the Battle of the Bulge, right near the end of the battle as it happens. I had two battalions of Infantry dug in all the way up the other end of the board and my mission was to "Rescue" them. Cutting a long story short we ran out of time before I could get there. It was a shambles from my point of view, my armoured infantry in halftracks against Peters Panthers the result was predictably messy. My Tank Regiment skirted eveything and made no contacts. My independant sherman Battalion halted to engage some German troops in trucks and got bogged down dealing ith them, and my Infanty, the others the ones in trucks slowly trudged through the snow going so slow as to make a sloth seem athletic. Of the two Battalions I was sent to "rescue" one was compleatly wiped out when the germans stormed the village they wer defending, the other battalion did ok but the Germans were concentrating on one thing at a time so they were next. Peter claimed it was a draw, personally I think he was being kind to me it was a definite loss.

That's todays post, I'll blog again on Wednesday. Hope to finish a few figres by then. All the best Clint