Here are the other two figures from forlorn hope games. They painted quite well. I'm not 100% happy with them, but they are good enough for the table top and that's the whole point from my point of view. They are let down by my photography skills or lack their of but you'll have to take my word for that. I have enjoyed painting them and they'll maybe get an outing tomorrow. I should be running the Zombie car park game postponed from last year. So I can put these three in as extra characters, which may or may not get picked by the players as we'll have a random selection like we did at the Sittingbourne club. I think there will be less people playing so I think either 2 or 3 random characters each. Which should give the game a different feel as it will be less everyone out for themselves as players "Sacrifice" figures in order to keep the ones with keys alive longest. But time will tell. If I remember I'll take a camera and hope to get a shot or two of the game as it goes along.

I have not looked at the moon boards today, best If I leave them till Monday and see what they look like then. That way they have much more chance of being dry. It definitely is a case of a watched pot never boiling. Sometimes a few days away  make all the difference to a project. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the beach boards I want to make for Broadside 2012. One of the things with shows is the amount of tables the organisers have to buy in for the event. Lots of clubs want to showcase their games and aim to have big displays if they can, and whilst that does look good as each table we tend to buy in costs about £5 some club displays can cost the organisers £25-40 in additional tables. The money has to be found and quite obviously shows do want clubs to put on games, so It's not really a gripe, just an explanation. Therefore I think the Rainham club can fit their game on 2 trestle tables. The tables being approx 2 foot by 6 foot. and beaches (on the whole) tending to be focused on the shoreline I think I can build it on 2 foot widths. Thus If we decide we need to we can create an L shape playing surface by placing one table at 90 degrees to the other. In my mind I'm thinking 8 foot (6 foot long side PLUS the 2 feet from the second tables Short side) by 6 foot. At present I am thinking 2'x4' boards (3of) and maybe a 2x2 board corner piece, and possibly another 2 foot square "Satellite Board" of seascape and rocks which is not attached to the actual terrain but is still part of the set up. There really is a lot to talk over at the club on Sunday and I'll most likely forget something or other.

But that's today's post. Another one Monday.



Thursday

Well it has been 2 days since the last post, if I'm honest I did miss typing this yesterday, but lets keep it at every other day for the time being. One of the things about posting regularly is the desire to get things done so you have something to say. Anyway here is a pic of the biker when painted. I mucked up the tattoo on the left fore arm and have repainted the arm since this was take. All in all I'm not unhappy with it. The photo does show up all the flaws and miss brush strokes that your eye glosses over in real life. Still that said he's not all that bad. One of the problem with bikers is that they do tend to dress drably all black leather and denim.
The other two are coming on as well. The female biker is done (no pics of her yet) and she looks pretty good. I did repaint her Bra from Black to Red to inject some colour into the trio. Her tattoo's are smaller and maybe I should have put one on the small of her back which is so common at the moment, but not personally being a Fan I have not done so. The other one with the chain is also coming along nicely, but is not finished yet. I have given him grey hair to make him look older and more like the leader, whether that will be the result time will tell. Photos of him and the girl when they are finished.

I have also started the 10mm dwarf cannons. I am sticking to the basic colour palette from before as it seemed to work. They are really at the basics stage of blocking in colours so I will not dwell on them more at this time.

No this is not a holiday snap from a few days away in the sun. This is Joss Bay in Kent. as mentioned previously I am thinking of running a game of "Cutlass" at Broadside 2012. (When I say I will be running I of course mean I will be running round like a headless chicken generally talking to the traders and making sure things are getting done in the hall in general. BUT I hope some of the Rainham club will take on the responsibility of running it). OK that's clarified. Coming back to the point this is the type of terrain I am thinking of creating. Tall cliffs, sandy beaches, smugglers caves, maybe a tavern and maybe a lighthouse. I have loads of ideas as to what could happen but until it does it happen it's all speculation. I will most likely send of for the first "gang" next week. Kev has suggested that I start with the Royal Navy as a force. To me this sounds like sound advice and I think I'll take it. The Royal Marine figures armed with musket and bayonet are known to be formidable in game terms. Historically speaking it is recorded that some Kent smugglers did have cannons on the beach set up to repel the local government forces should they need to. I'm guessing they did not want to get convicted of smuggling that time, still it's a bit extreme!

My last bit of progress news today is the moon boards. The two latest boards had dried sufficiently to allow the final coat of "muck" to be applied. Having doe this they now need to completely dry so there's no point in touching these till after the weekend. I'll let you know Monday what the state of play with them is, but I suspect it will take a full week for them to reach the right level of drying. The other board is just about dry from it's top coat and now I can see all the small bits I missed so It will need another coat, just to make sure.

That's it for today should post again on Saturday. Right back to the paint table.

Cheers Clint

I have decided to post every other day. I was trying to write something everyday, but it was becoming difficult. So from now on every other day. I can't guarantee I will but at least I will give it a shot, which is funny as this only started the blog as a way of talking about the zombie car park construction. Anyway on with the wargames news from my point of view.

I have nearly finished the Fat biker. All I am trying to do now is put some Tattoos on him that look about right and don't look so rubbish that it spoils him. I am not saying he's brilliant, but he's not looking too sad. He will need to be done by the weekend as I want to take him to the Rainham wargames club as he looks quite like one of them. (You know who you are Kev... yes you).

The other two figures are also coming along. Another of them (the girl) does look like another of my friends as well. (Tracie was a biker who was also a mud wrestler she sadly passed away 2 years ago at the age of 45 from Cancer.) I am trying hard to make it look a little different from her so I don't get too focused on trying to get it perfect. The other Biker does not look like anyone I know.... just in case you were wondering.

On to Other topics. The moon boards are drying out. The first one has just been given a base coat of black ready mixed poster paint and white wood glue. The wood glue is thoroughly mixed with the paint and some water was added to thin it down (The ratios are about 4 Paint: 1 Glue: 2 water) The glue will act as a sealer and should give it an extra little bit of protection. At the worst It won't harm it and at the best it will seal it and protect it. I have decided not to colour it after this stage until I get the others all to the same level. That way I will be able to keep the greys consistent on all the boards which I hope will stop it having a "Patch work" effect.

The Cutlass rules arrived and I have been reading them. There's a lot of eye candy and glossy pages. The actual rules only take a few pages and seem quite straight forward. I'll need to try it and get to grips with the action/reaction system in a game before I come to any conclusions. I do like the basic rules and the fact that if you are better at a statistic (like dexterity...DEX) you get to roll a "stronger" dice. A d8 as opposed to a D6 for example. If you are like me the size of the dice does not alter the fact that you will still roll a 1. The general mechanics are clear and easy to follow: shooting for example is the attackers Accuracy dice versus the defenders defence dice. With modifiers for injuries, cover range etc. The Defenders dice roll is subtracted from the attackers accuracy roll and if the result is positive a hit has been achieved. Charts are consulted to determine the effect of the hit from very minor injuries or stuns up to taken out of the game. All in all I am happy with the rules at this stage but would need a game to make sure I like the way they work.
The main attractions to the game are the setting, a fantasy pirate game. and MORE importantly the lovely figures. I shall be ordering some of them next week, following a few chats at the club on Sunday. To be fair I like most of the forces. I am least attracted to the undead which is not to say I would not want to get some, but as a starter force there are others that excite me more. Dwarfs, as you will remember are a new force for me , so perhaps they are the flavor of the month. Elf Pirates I can also go for very flamboyant and no doubt with a French accent. Orcs/goblins to be honest I prefer the goblin figures to the orcs but I see no reason they cannot be a pure goblin crew, just using the Orc statistics for the officers. The humans can be Royal Navy, Pirates or Privateers figure wise I like the female pirates I can see they would be fun to paint, but the Royal Navy get Marines which are pretty good (statistic wise) in the game, just a shame they don't do female marines!!

See you in 2 days time.

Sunday comes along and you think you might get some time. Yeah I think you know where this is going...

Moon boards. The first board has dried out, so it's now ready to colour up and turn it from sand to moonscape. This is probably the most rewarding stage getting some colour on it and making it finally look like it should. So expect a pic of that in the next couple of days.

Here is a quick snap of the next two. Obviously they are progress shots. The closer board has an open area, maybe a moon base could go there, or maybe just all the craters have missed this spot. Andy (Ainsty Castings) did ask for an open area. I'll just have to assume he knows what he wants to do with it! All seems to be going well and with no major problems. It just takes ages to dry out. At this stage they have taken 2 coats of muck and really need to dry thoroughly so not much more work on these till very late in the week. I can and will move them from the work area so I can get on with a few other things.

Today I had a visit from a friend and received a "late" Christmas pressie. Not anywhere near as late as last year's pressie which took 8 months to reach me. He just kept forgetting about it (so did I) but we got their in the end. We both have the same outlook and tend to get each other great pressies, but ones we have no immediate use for. This time I got a box of Perry plastic Ansar. I have no 28mm colonial stuff, so it does not immediately go with anything I have, it does however fit nicely with his 28mm colonial British stuff. Anyway I have not opened the box yet so can't tell you anything about them. I'll have a look in the next few days and perhaps offer some thoughts on them.

The warmaster dwarfs are still sat their staring at me asking to be tickled with a paint brush. Time permitting I'll start them when I finish the three bikers mentioned below. Talking of which they are coming on quite nicely and I anticipate them being done by Wednesday at the latest. Not blowing my own trumpet but I don't think they look bad at all.

Cheers Clint.

Just another quick post. The moon boards are not dried out yet, hopefully on Sunday. So no update there.

Slowly slowly slowly painting the figure from Forlorn hope. But needed to catch up on sleep today so not been as active as I might.

I have undercoated my next batch of 10mm dwarfs so they'll be next.

Hopefully I'll be more productive soon and have something to show for it. But we all have off days so lets just chalk this up to one of those days.

Just another quick daily update.
Starting with the moon boards. I Have put the first coat of "Muck" on the next two boards and now they need a couple of days to dry. SO probably do nothing with regard to the moonscapes til Saturday at the earliest. That being the case there is nothing to show. The Camera seems to be eating batteries so I'll get some on the way home from work tonight.

New Figures: I had a small eBay order through today, just 3 figures from www.forlornhopegames.co.uk arrived very swiftly with the minimum of fuss. I got T0064 Male Biker with smg/chain, T0066 Female biker smg/shorts/boots. and T0069 fat biker with smg.

OK but what are they like: Firstly let me say I like them a lot and may well get some more. There are only 6 in that particular range, so making whole biker gangs might not be quite so easy, although I think these figures will fit in with many 28mm ranges, foundry street violence and Copplestone KKBB ranges quite well. There's no major casting lines or "flash" and the figures have had a dusting of grey primer when they arrived. So all that's good. I have nothing Bad to say about them, But there are a few things I'd have wished for. The "cuts" (denim jackets trimmed of sleeves) could have had the usual 3 patches on the back and a couple of others on the front. The Chain is very chunkie and would have been better slimmer. The Fat biker is not as fat As I would have hoped and no where near as fat as some bikers I have known in my past... (John the Big for example)... I was hoping for some figure who looked like a contestant in the biggest looser. Still we don't all get what we want. The bit that fits in the slotta base is also quite thin so needs to be packed out before you can mount them properly. Both the male bikers also have a pistol holstered as a back up weapon. The guy with a chain also has a grenade on his belt and a knife in his boot and an offensive pony tail hair cut. With that amount of weapons they look like good Necromunda gang candidates.

I'll tart up the warmaster dwarf beserkers in a sec and get these bikers ready for paint on Friday.

I was quite luck at work, I did manage to get all the time off I want for annual leave. (Has to be used up by April). So It looked like I'd get a couple of games in at the Sittingbourne club. Great as young Steve had a Vietnam game planned which I wanted a go at. But then my other supervisor rang me at home first thing this morning and offered me 18 days overtime (which of course I agreed to). So I may have to miss the Vietnam game, which is a shame but the money will allow me to buy loads more wargames stuff! (Yippee!) Also on the way home managed to pop into Tescos and get their last minute final mark downs before things go out of date. Sirloin steak at 58p a pack you just can't go wrong so I bought all they had and other than the one I had for lunch the rest have gone in the freezer! Some days it just works out right.

OK the last bit's not wargaming but I just had to tell someone!!!

Two snaps of the 10mm warmaster dwarfs from Kallistra. I have some tidying up to do and a few touch ups with a paint brush, but other than the varnish I'll call these done. (well almost done).  As you can see I have settled on a very simple colour palette. Given that most of them in this regiment are skin tone it was just a simple job of painting them "dwarf flesh" and then adding a dull red wash to get in all the cracks and crevices. I was going to hi-light them but have decided against it as I think it works well enough. All the fabrics were painted "Regal blue" and highlighted with dobs of "Enchanted blue" That just left the hair and the weapons. As you will note this is not an expert paint job as I really need to hand on to what little sanity I have left. Really quick post today as have a lot on my mind, Non of which is wargames related. So kindly forgive the brevity. Cheers Clint

Getting back to normal.

Again no pics today.

Moon Boards. I have done most of the next two boards construction. I'll still need to put a couple of layers of "Muck" on them and allow them to dry thoroughly, but they are coming along. I did manage to put the last layer on the first board. That will probably need 5 days to dry out and then colour up. Spent 2 hours up the shed in the cold and wish I'd put 2 pairs of sock on.

Club shirts: Done nothing today.

Warmaster Dwarfs: Getting there. I have just put a thin Black wash on then. Once dry I'll look at basing them and then with luck should get to photo them tomorrow. They are the first ones so have to learn the tricks of painting them as I go which means a little slower than normal, but if the black wash works I think they'll look OK.

Other than that nothing today. But have ventured the idea of a Mordhiem game set in 16th century Japan inspired by the new Wargames Factory Samurai. More if it happens.

That's it for today, I'll try to get a pic or two up on Wednesday.

Drying out.

You'll forgive me but it's the first moon board which is drying out. I must say it's doing OK, looking as I would expect. So generally I'm quite happy with the progress. It will need one more coat of paint glue and sand and then about a week to completely dry and then I can start colouring it up.

I have started the next two boards as well. On Tuesday I'll finish the construction of them with an aim to getting the first load of muck on them both. Until that happens not much to see.

I will post some pics of the warmaster Dwarfs I'm painting when they get to a stage where there is something interesting to see. Again they are looking good for what they are. They won't win any painting competitions, but they will not be embarrassing to Field on the table, which is the point.

Next subject: Club shirts. I have sent the design ideas out to three people. Two of whom have gotten back to me the other is most likely away or the holiday season. One person has suggested we have a Zombie Curassier as the club motif. I have no objection to that but as soon as I suggested they might like to do some kind of sketch to show me they backed out and just said can we have them on black shirts. Personally I think black would be the wrong way to go, yes I can see it would make them popular, but the colours would not "pop" from them and they would thus look dull. And after explaining my concerns he suggested Red (same problem), then Blue (I was getting bored by now explaining the same thing over and over again and said for it to work it would be best if it was on a pastel colour.... finally he came round to my original white shirt idea. Takes a time but finally I can get my own way.

Also talked to Alan (Sittingbourne club) about if we were going to get some "crew" tees for Broadside this year. He thinks we should so that's also in the pipeline. BUT no details just yet but we should have them by Cavalier where we would hope to wear them and hand out leaflets. If we get it sorted we'll be easy to spot at that show.

The thing I get from this blog is that it does "make" me do something for wargames everyday. I may not have to do much but I will have to do something.

More as it happens. Clint

Happy New Year

Well no post yesterday, which is not to say I did nothing, but more to say I was doing things I don't want to talk about. Later today I'll do some more on the moon boards and start my 10mm dwarf army. I am a recent convert to dwarfs having spent many years as a staunch dyed in the ear Elf player in role-playing-games I have steered clear of the diminutive chaps in the past. I think it was mostly that the people in my past who had games workshop dwarf armies were not as likable as people as I would have hoped. I hasten to add this is nothing personal to dwarf players in general, but is aimed at a few people in the past whom I have now lost contact with.

I have only unpacked one blister of Kalistra Beserkers, but I have found them very characterful. Yes the muscles are ridiculously large, and the noses remind me of bad Astrix cartoon copies, but all in all I think these stout chaps look great in naked metal.They seem much "chunkier" and probably a little taller than Pendraken, but that's not a problem for me as I don't intend to mix and match.  I also like the Kalistra price compared to GW and the fact that you get 4 stands and not three. Which has little effects on making a small army, but when making a large one say 3000 (warmaster) points will lead to a saving somewhere along the line. They are also wearing "Kilts" and bear chested and now that I have typed it I can't think what I would have done differently if I were a sculptor. The weapons are a nice mixture of really over sized and unwieldy items both one handed and double handed swords axes and hammers. All in all I think they'll paint up well and look good on the table but time will tell. One thing is for sure I'll be able to lose with them no matter what they look like.

Cleared

Well I have now cleared my painting table ready for the next batch of well I'm not totally sure yet, but probably the start of a warmaster dwarf  army, as I have them about ready to go, but I don't have any games planned.

You can probably tell what all the figures are without my telling. But just in case you cant they are copplestone cops, a crooked dice uplift security (not at all Captain Scarlet like) and three Hasslefree miniatures all painted to look like cartoon characters. (I'll have to get better at photography). I do have a Fred done previously so not included in this shot. I don't have the Scooby mini, there was something about it I was not sure of at the time, but am now regretting not getting it. Oh well.

The building in the background is hand made by me, but pretty old. It's just to give the figures a sense of scale and some form of background. Anyway it's made out of foam core (also called Lightweight or foam board depending on who makes or sells it). Anyway I'm not talking about that today.

I did have a flick through the "Tomorrows War" rules last night. It ways only a brief look at the rules, but here are my initial thoughts. If you have played "Force on Force" by Ambush Alley there are no surprises. Much of the rules, and 95% of the mechanics can be found there. The basic concept of the mechanics is that you need 4+ to succeed. The number of dice you roll will be dependant on how many figures are for example shooting, the weapons they are using, if they are at short range and other factors. The type of dice used vary with the troop quality. Militia and poorly trained troops will use d6. Regulars d8, Elite will use d10. And the superhuman film stars will use d12 (don't expect many published scenarios for Force on Force to use d12s). Obviously it's easier to roll 4+ on a d10 than a d6 for example. When being shot at the defender also gets to roll dice for their troop quality and it is by comparing these results of both the attacker and the defender that a result is determined.

The main turn mechanic revolves around acting and reacting to each other. For example Player a moves player B tries to react and interrupt player A. Player A may then try to interrupt player Bs attempt at shooting with a different squad. It sounds complicated but works really well on the table. Again your troop quality determines the dice you use rolling against each other to see who gets the drop for that action and then resolves either the action or reaction dependant on the dice.

There is a pregenerated background with some forces and equipment detailed as well as some planets and some political background. You don't have to stick to that of course, but from what I have read it's not too bad. Obviously being an American rules system the Americans have the highest technology and thus the best weapons a bit predictable really.

Overall I do like these rules but as they stand I think I'll stick to Stargrunt. I can see that changing if/when they bring out a couple of supplements with set scenarios and more background. Which I personally think Stargrunt should have done.

All the best Clint

Thursday

Again no pic today.You don't need a pic of the boards battened together and glued and then neatened up. yes I have done what I said I would, but there really is not anything useful to see.But as soon as there is anything worth looking at I will post it.

I have had feedback on the club shirts and it looks like it's a go (don't tell Ian he's bound to want to have a say and be negative about the whole thing). I think every club must have one and ours is called Ian. Which is not to say he's a rotter or anything, quite the opposite he's genuinely nice guy. But I think he's going through a can't be bothered phase, refuses to buy anything wargaming or paint anything and he's not hosted a game at the club for ages.All of which is his choice and I can't fault him for it, to some extent that was me a year ago, lost all enthusiasm. So I do know what it's like. I have now sent the design idea to the treasurer and (Frontline) Tim. I can't see them really digging their heels in so it looks like I shall have to spend some hours neatening the design and getting it ready for production.

I still have to read "Tomorrows War" so I can't talk about that either. I do realise it will mean me buying two opposing forces and making some terrain, but that can wait for a while. Also on the wait list is Cutlass (because it has yet to arrive) and the WW1 Zombie idea. I need to start finishing things before I start too many more, but I suspect that's a very common war-games trait.

I hope to finish some 28mm figures later today read for 7TV and that ilk of game. I have finished one lot of "pro-painting" ready to go back (early first world war 28mm Germans), I might phone the guy tonight and let him know depends on how I feel. However for myself I am painting some Copplestone cops. I originally got them for a superhero game idea, which has since faded into the background due to my lack of interest in building sky scrappers. I have this thing about most wargames tables being very 2 dimensional, especially at shows. I think any show game that can raise itself above the base board by more than a few inches starts to look interesting. Otherwise the game tends to look flat. Now I do grant you that most historical battles while some were fought on hills, (Waterloo, Hastings etc..)  they still mean that the observer at shows is looking at the figures mostly in plan. I did wrack my brain for some historical battles where height was important, but they tend to fall into a few distinct categories, Air war is the most obvious, and castle sieges. I must admit I would like to do a castle siege game, with a decent size castle to squabble over but that would create a storage issue.

That's enough for now speak soon. Clint