Best laid plans of mice and all that. I've been busy all morning sorting out my mothers switch over from Analog to digital. It's all done now but did take two different installation engineers or two different call outs and a free upgrade to Free Stat as she's in a set top black spot. Their meter readings kept "overloading" and making bleeping sounds and they had no idea why. Still it's all sorted now.

All of which means I'm a little behind as that had priority. However the moon boards have dried out nicely and I have started  another one of them. At this stage it's about half masked up, but I can easy finish that on Saturday. So in conclusion they are getting done, I'll offer a pic in a few days of all 4 of them (2 more after that, for 6 in total).

Which of course means the dock sides are already behind schedule before I even start. The good news on that is that every day next week I'll be walking past B+Q so can re-stock on some vital supplies. Assuming I stick to the paste board idea I'll have to think of how to loose the "checker board" texture. It worked very well as car parking, but I can't see it working as water. My choices are to either sand it back or to cover it. As Sanding will be a LOT of work and still might not work I think I'll have to cover it. My initial thoughts are to use aluminium foil but I'm not sure if I can get a good solid attachment to the hardboard. One of the other problems I'll have is the general dimensions of the paste board. Being 20 inches across I think I might have to put the docks, wharfs and jetties at an oblique angle. Until I sketch it out I'm not sure how that will work in regard to look and feel, I'm hoping it adds rather than detracts but only marking it out will really give me a clue.

Painting wise the 10mm Dwarfs are at a stand still. I have volunteered to paint a collection of buildings for the game of warmaster that is proposed for next club. I guess I'd better rake them out and dust them off. I have also re-started a games workshop Chaos Marine army. I don't really play 40k any more but my nephew does and it would be nice to be able to give him a game. The main problem is the colour scheme. I have tried them in grey armour and that looks quite good, (and my nephew loves them) but I came up with another idea and want to try that out before I am completely satisfied. About 1/2 way through painting the second style now. When done I'll invite feedback on them both.

Lastly for today I had the "hard copy" of the crooked dice 7ombie TV rules and some nice counters arrive this morning. I already know that the rules work quite well, so this is just to own a nice shiny copy,

Post again on Sunday and maybe a pic or two.

Nope this is not one of mine, lets make that quite clear. I had nothing to do with making this. I have included it because not only is it superb but it has inspired me. When I saw it I asked Kev and Relfie if they thought I should build a dockscape. They both replied very quickly that they thought I should. In an ideal world I can knock one out in about 4 weeks start to finish. HOWEVER I am going to aim for 5 weeks starting Saturday. ( I'll probably over run a few weeks but good to have a target to aim at.)
As you can tell this board is only 24 inches square. The ship here is 6 inches wide and 24 long. I don't know how tall it rises, but as I'll have to scratch build my own I'm not that worried.Nothing wrong with small boards, in fact a lot to recommend them, no vast shooting galleries, and lots of opportunity to get up close and personal. So taking this as a start point I'll try to shoe horn it into the paste table. At this stage I only intend to use 1/2 the paste table, which gives an area of 20 inches by 34 inches. If my players want a bigger area they'll have to wait a few extra weeks, or do it themselves. Yep that means I'll make it the size I want and plan it to expand onto the other half of the paste board when I get a chance.
Given that I want as much versatility as I can get I'll try to keep it as an old dock. That way we can use it for everything from pirates/cutlass all the way to contempory, or horror or even science fiction. Obviously the boats will have to be era specific, but the actual wharfs and jetties in made to look like stone or wood can be of any time period. Concrete can also be used as that dates back to Roman technology, but I'll try to minimise that.

That's all in the planning, but what's in the make. Yesterday when I went up the shed to work on the moon boards some of the paint had frozen in the bottle. I managed to thaw it out OK and it was not a huge amount, but it does illustrate just how cold it was. I have managed to coat boards 2 and 3 with a mixture of paint and PVA wood glue. I am now ready to start the next one. But due to the cold have decided to come indoors and warm up for now. I'll give them both a day to dry out and then start the next. I feel very happy with the progress now that I am 1/2 way through them. I'm so looking forward to a quick tidy up in the shed you would not believe it. But all in all they are coming on fine.

Unfortunately I can't face the painting table at the moment, there's just something about the 10mm dwarfs I am struggling with. I know once I bite the bullet it will all flow, but I'm not in that mind set today. Relfie wants to do some Warmaster at the next club, so with luck I'll feel encouraged to get some more done, just not today.

I will start on the Cutlass shore boards soon but having a short arm deep pocket moment so am not buying the materials this week, or the figures. I have had an expensive week wargames wise, bagged a few eBay bargains despite the fact I still have loads to read and paint but they were just so tempting I had to. I also sent off for the 7ombie TV rules and counters before they sold out. I get paid end of next week so I'll try to resist eBay temptation till then, or maybe put a few things on, just so I don't feel to bad about all the wargames money flowing out of my account. Hey ho!

More again on Friday cheers Clint

yesterdays post today

Well as I was very busy yesterday I thought I'd invest a few minutes today to catch up.  On Sunday we had a club meeting and finally got round to playing the zombie car park game at the Rainham club. I only took one picture (to the right) because as soon as I produced a camera some of the players got up and walked out. That crimestoppers programme has a lot to answer for. (IT my be because the kettle boiled about then as well though so not too sure.) It was one of those games where it started with me and two other players (Relfie and Kev) we got everything ready I told them the rule changes and we just started and Fraiser (one of our new and young members) turned up. So to keep things fair Kev and Relfie gave him two characters (one each) and we started. WE got a turn done and then Patrick and Tim arrived (pictured) we had a quick break to admire Tim's painted treasures. And Patrick decided to play some loud 1970's horse racing game on his own in the corner. So Tim started and we had another couple of turns. Then Patrick decided he was gonna play and him and Fraiser split their forces. When I use the term "Herding Cats" you get an idea of what it's like from that brief description above of how the game started. Anyway here's the cast list:

Relfie: Brown (trousers) erhm suit and a Little Girl.
Kev: Army Girl and a Store keeper.
Tim: Biker and Heavy
Fraiser: "Sleazy man"
Patrick: Eccentric Shop keeper.
Clint (me): Zombies.

All the Zombies were classed as extras and all the characters were classed as co-stars and we were using the 7ombie TV rules. Given that there were 4 teams of 2 characters, Patrick and Fraiser being paired due to Patricks late arrival/participation and because they are friends. I shoved 35-40 Zombies on the board to make it "balanced".

The game started with the search for keys with some pretty MAJOR hints (from Kev who had read the blog) to the younger players as to where you might find them, which they ignored for most of the game. It's great having a mixture of ages as the younger players tended to do their own things with out regard to the victory conditions and how to escape, although they were pretty keen on stitching other players up at the same time. Most players searched the loos and stairwells first thinking perhaps that people had discarded their car keys in such unlikely places as they attempted to escape the grey horde. You are hardly going to make good an escape by chucking car keys down a ladies loo. Still they wanted to search and so they did. Patrick and Frasier spent most of the rest of the game searching the skips and getting a few scavenger cards including a bicycle, dolls head, a crowbar and 2 Molotov's.

Meanwhile elsewhere the sheer number of Zeds mad it impossible to move without being reached by at least one of them. Tim's Heavy was the first to succumb to the grey horde and taken down quite quickly as he kept trying to use his luck re-rolls and kept failing to alter the result. It then took that character 3 turns to shake of the stuns before he could come back as a Tank. Hugely disappointed with the 4 inch tank move he plodded towards his real life son with all the built up taxi-dad hatred he could muster. kev and Relfi had by now found keys and were trying cars as often as they could. Special mention to Kev for killing (headshot) three times as many zombies as everyone else combined. (I need to check his dice next time, not saying they were loaded, but I have my suspicions.) Relfie's little Girl was the first to find a car. Tim's Biker and the Brown Suit man were about to jump in when the grey mass swamped Mr Brown suit right in front of the little girl as he was trying to get in the door. The biker edged away and ran for another car (he too had keys) needing 5 or more for the keys to fit in this car he of course rolled a 4 on 2d6. dragged down by a feeding frenzy of 4 zombies he lost his second character.

Kev also lost his crack shot shop keeper to a small horde but the army girl also had keys and had got a car working. The little girl a notorious bad driver managed a sharp turn and fearing a collision stayed in first gear where they were better able to control their vehicle. While the army girl was crashing up through the gears at every opportunity.

Meanwhile back at the skips Patrick and Fraiser becoming surrounded by zeds, including two tank zeds (Tim and Kev's ex characters) and as yet without keys decided to let loose with the Molotov's right next to the petrol tanker. Throwing them both, the missed both times and both petrol bombs scattered. Four Zombies were turned into crispy critters and three of the four took head shots as a result and died. The forth staggered around on fire no doubt to be talked about by TV critics for days to come.... too much violence on TV these days etc.

Having negotiated all the obstacles the little girl put her foot down and made swift progress stopping just 1 inch from victory. Then the Army Girl covered the distance to the exit to take the game.

So that's the game report. To me it's quite funny how the two characters to get out in cars were both the same ones as at the Sittingbourne club and yet played by different people. It's also interesting that the Heavy died first in both games even though again played by different people. Both the youg players want to play the same game again using the same scenario so I know they enjoyed it.

Elsewhere at the club there was some boardgames being played and an ACW naval battle. So I think it was quite diverse. The concept of the battlefield in a box (my paste table idea) was received very well and I can see other club members taking it on board and making it their own. Tim was also mentioning the possibility of "re-doing" the dead cowboys in 20th century clothes which I think has a lot of merit. He originally sculpted a series of dead cowboys which the rights were bought for by someone in the states. So if he re-sculps them to be more contempory dead (not living dead) I think he could be on a winner, but time will tell.

Just a very quick post today as I am all behind with what I should be doing.

Yes we had our first club game yesterday I'll talk about it next post. Just to say that for now it went pretty well. It did have issues, but nothing too disastrous. And peeps seemed to have enjoyed it.

The latest two moon boards are drying nicely and I'll be able to work on them tomorrow once I have a good look at then then I'll know what to do. It will either be first base colour coat, or another load of "Muck" dependant on what they need.

Nothing painted in the last few days so nothing more to say today. I'll try to do better next time.

Cheers Clint

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.