Well I did say I should have something to show today. Got up early and bashed some figures out. This is my machine gun platoon for PBI. It consists of 4 .30 cal MG bases and an SMG command base. There's still some tinnie tiny finishing off to do, but should get them varnished this afternoon, especially if England are doing Badly at the Rugger. I have tried to put some foliage in front of the crews as I can't really see them wanting to be out in the open. They know that a little bush is not bullet proof, but with luck might give them some concealment until they open up. I should get another standard platoon done next so that I have enough regular bases to actually play the game, but as this was only 5 stands of 2 figures I rightly thought I should be able to finish them quite quickly and as I have a month to go before the planned game it seemed like a worthwhile thing to achieve in a limited time. The brown tracks are not meant to join up despite looking like they might, they are only their to give a bit of visual variety. Obviously in 20th century wargames there's usually no need to link bases so they will be spaced out more on the table top, it's just a style I use on my bases which I happen to think looks quite good.

Tomorrow I am of to Cavalier in Tonnbridge Kent. First show of the year for me and I am looking forward to it. Usually there's a list of things I want to get, but this year I am pretty much open to impulse buys. For me Impulse buys at wargames shows can be dangerous, as It can easily mean getting side-tracked onto new projects, or resurrecting old , sometimes very old projects that have stalled. I think if there is one thing I should buy its storage solutions. But the chances are I'll get more lead.

Off the top of my head here are a quick list of what I am currently thinking, so we can all see how much it will change when I post again on Monday.

•  1 pack peter pig BAR US WW2 Infantry.
• Some figure case or other.
• Crooked dice Fembots.
• Look at Hydra miniatures (stocked by Wargames emporium)
• 15mm Pony wars figures for that colonial idea.
• A book (probably Osprey)
• Possibly more rules or a supplement. (But which ones no idea)
• Some terrain bits and bobs. Could be any scale or period.
• Anything else that inspired me on the day.

. The main reason for going these days is to talk to some traders and clubs and make sure we can get them for Broadside in June. We picked up a few traders and clubs last year by doing this so I know it can work. Whether it will this year of course I'll just have to wait and see.

All the best and speak Monday. Good weekend all. Cheers Clint

•  

Old Friends

Working extra shifts at the moment so very little time for much hobby stuff should have something by Saturday though. Bear with me. I have just had a phone call from "Young Gary" asking If I could paint some flags for him for his Great Northern War armies in 15mm. I would be happy to give it a go, but I think his best bet is to reduce them on a colour photo copy as he has found a 28mm supplier. I think it would be the quickest easiest thing to do.

I'll probably get a chat with Gary over the weekend at cavalier. Gary was a Member of the Rainham club, vice president I think who has since left and I had not spoken too for at least 6 months, or more likely a year. Not that we fell out or anything just drifted apart. He did say he'd pop back to the club soon, and was talking about a big Napoleonic battle in Russia he'll put on with Tim. Personally I am not into Napoleonic or ECW which along with ancients are Gary's thing. I may be doing him a disservice, but he's not a Zombie kind of guy. Having said that he is a good bloke and a pleasure to play against or ally with on a table. But he's definitely a big battle player and wants things in battalions and regiments. The more figures the better.

I mostly like skirmish games, but will play big battle games on occasion. And that's another good thing about the diversity of a club. Everyone is different and brings different skills, likes and armies to the table.

I'll try to get something finished for next post. Cheers Clint

Colours

I had a spare five minutes and splashed some paint about. I was not sure which colour to use for the "tanks" so thought I'd try it on a couple of the smallest ones just to give me an idea. and here are the results. I hasten to add they are not finished, just done to get an idea. I did think about doing some browns but I think the lighter of these two  does the job for me. The other one (the orange one) just does not look right, to me it looks like a sweetie. I like sweets but I don't want a jelly baby army. Overall I'm quite happy and when I get to do them properly am convinced they will look ok, despite an elderly aunts comments about them looking like parts of a male anatomy. For Paint I used "Elf flesh" on the lighter one and "Bronzed flesh" on the darker one. Both were then given a wash of "Scab Red" I left them to dry overnight and this is the result. I need to think if they need more detail or if such a simple scheme will work. Maybe add some spots or splodges I'll wait and see.

Elsewhere I am now painting a machine gun Platoon for PBI. I have run out of one of the colours though but hope to pick a pot of that up at Cavalier on Sunday. I'll press on though as I don't want to get behind on another project.

Meanwhile up the shed I am waiting for paint to dry, as normal. I should start the last two moon boards eirther tomorrow or Friday. I have ground to a halt on the Cutlass cliff/beach scenery as I can't find anywhere selling plaster of Paris. In times gone by chemists stocked it. I have looked on line but the shipping cost doubles it's cost. The Local hobby craft £6 on the train to get there stocks it, but only at ridiculously inflated prices. I am not knocking Hobby Craft, just decrying the lack of local craft shops and the decline of civilisation. I have no doubt if you could fit it to a mobile phone in some way I would be tripping over places to buy it. I might try artex or plaster from B&Q.

That's it for now.

Well half term is just about over so my "babysitting" duties should b at an end now, or at least we can hope they are for a while. I don't really mind as these times I spend with him will be fewer and fewer as he enters his teenage years. I don't in any way begrudge spending time with him, I do however wish I could get on with things when he's here and not have to "Entertain" him quite so much. He is getting less demanding though and I am sure I'll look back on these times and wish there had been more of them.
As you can see I have not totally been ideal on the wargames front, I have managed to paint and base one platoon for my upcoming PBI game with graham, in 5 weeks time. I know it's hard to make out but the figures are clearer in 3 dimensions, while in the pic it's all green on green with some brown splodges. All figures are 15mm Battlefront miniatures on 30mm square bases with either 2 or 3 figures on a base depending on what the base represents.

As my first platoon it consists of 1 stand of Platoon commanders (Carbine). 1 Bazooka Stand, 3 Bar stands and 4 rifle (Garand) stands. BARs have a slightly lower rate of fire than most light machine guns-owing to the magazine capacity and not being belt fed. However Garands have a higher rate of fire being clip fed and not bolt action. The rules take this into account both in points and in the number of dice you throw. I have only played PBI twice so I'm basing the platoons on the one in the Peter Pig PBI rules, and will have to see how it plays before I come up with what I think would be the best ratio of stand types, but I am already thinking of dropping a BAR stand and replacing it with a .30LMG stand instead. But I'll have to wait and see how badly I loose before I commit myself to this plan.

Other than these figures nothing has moved either on the painting table or up the shed, apart from being bashed about by an 11 year old (he was gentle), but several items were not replaced exactly where they came from so I'm now missing the stands for the Kallistra Dwarfs... and if that's the biggest thing I have to worry about I can't really complain. He's getting better.

Other wargames news. Well the Broadside show is slowly coming together we have less than 4 months now and as I shall be at Cavalier next weekend I expect to talk to a few clubs who have yet to return their game detail forms and a few traders who as yet have not confirmed. The Club game forms are required as soon as possible as we have to hire the tables in from an outside source unless they want to play on the floor. Also we need to Know how many bacon or sausage Sarnies the caterers need to save for us hard working types. I still can't believe I missed out last year because they ran out.

I did have a great email last night in reply to my Point man enquiry from Ambush Alley Games. I was asking if they had a UK Point man-Point man is their term for demonstration team- they do have one and it is hopeful that they can get them organised enough to supply another game for Broadside. It works from every ones point of view, they get their products showcased and we get another game for people to either watch or take part in. Time will tell if they can organise it from across the Atlantic. I am not holding my breath but I am optimistic.

That's it folks back to posting normally next week.

Cheers Clint

Fantastic Voyage 2 (More "tank" pics)

As not all the pics came out on the last post here are the rest. Mostly I have 3 of each type, but only one flier and 4 of this one. Last pic shows all the types together for a comparison of size. Colour wise I have three projects for these bug vehicles. Moon boards, Tim's desert boards in 15mm, and the fantastic voyage game.  Colours should suit all three terrains if possible, but undecided just yet, either beetle like or worm like is my current thoughts. But any suggestions welcome. Always happy to have constructive feedback.

We can play on the moon boards as soon as there's a spare slot at the club. which should be 6 weeks time if Kev, Tim and Relfie desire (or anyone else). Up to you guys I know you'll let me know.

Fantastic Voyage idea

All these pics are of my latest eBay win. They were painted by the previous owner, but I WILL be repainting them. (but not straight away).  Down the club on Sunday Tim was talking about a few projects he plans this year. I won't give anything away about the direction we wants to take FRONTLINE WARGAMING in, but one of the game plans was to start some 15mm science fiction games using "Tomorrows War" by Ambush alley games. He's sent for the rules (I think it was his son's pester power if I'm honest), the same rules I got for Crimbo but have yet to read as it happens. So I did a quick eBay search and some of these were for sale. 22 in all, although I don't like 2 of the figures so will not be using them. I know I'm fussy, yeah live with it. These are by Brigade Games, another local firm and they are intended for 15mm Science fiction wargames. The figure however is a GZG 28mm. The joy of using things which are obviously alien is that they don't have a scale. Which means these can be any size. I have toyed with the idea of doing a "Fantastic Voyage" game before and am currently discussing the idea on the Crooked Dice Forum. Not many people have posted any feedback about it yet, I think they are waiting to see how it goes and what I do with it. Which is pretty wise really as I might fall flat on my face.

I am confident the guys down the club will go for the idea, as it's something completely different. I have never seen it done at a show either so if it all goes well it might be quite eye catching. Time will tell. All the pictures are is to show the range of "vehicles" that I managed to secure at an absolute bargain price. In one way I feel sorry that I was the only bidder and yet I am very happy to have gotten them at the opening bid. His loss (sorry mate) and my gain.  Anyway back to the game idea. If you have not seen "Fantastic Voyage"the basic idea is that a very delicate operation has to be carried out INSIDE the living body of a man. The Film stars and a submarine are shrunk and injected into his body where they have to move along the arteries and capillaries to reach the location that they have to perform the operation. I see the game being focused on two teams (players) one team must carry out the operation, the other team must stop the operation from being a success. And all these "tanks" being the bodies natural defences, antibodies if you will. Which will endeavour to winder both teams as they "protect" their host body from coming to harm. Well that's the basic idea. More on this project should it get carried further.

Up the shed the moon board is drying nicely and should go to paint over the weekend. The coast board is also coming along well. I have added the 3 inches to bring it to full height and if dry tomorrow I'll do the basic carving on the cliffs. And then that's the boring bit done with The exciting bit is next where I swear a lot make a mess and panic.

Due to babysitting duties I have painted nothing more than last time.

Anyway that's it for today,

Early again

Again posting early because I think I'll have my nephew again tomorrow and therefore will not get a chance to write anything then.

Having had such a good game at the club on Sunday my thoughts have naturally drifted onto all things colonial. I mentioned the diversity of club members a few days ago, but when you enjoy a game you want to play and collect it. Tim has enough 15mm Sudan stuff, or will have when he gets some more Ansar for the Mahdi's forces as I felt he was a little shy in the last game. Graham is also thinking of getting some stuff for this period, he mentioned Egyptian forces. Egyptians would be a nice compliment as they can be used to both fight against or alley with the British depending upon the dateline. (Although they would not alley with the Mahdi!) So IF I decide to join in I might be best selecting another part of the world for the colonial period. The obvious one is Zulus, but the thought of painting a horde of 15mm Zulus quite frankly leaves me COLD! Afghan tribesmen or Maoris also fails to inspire me. Which could leave the Boxers if I wanted a colourful army and I like the idea but then I think of all the terrain and the painting and cost and I quickly go off the idea. There is a colonial project I started about 20 years ago however which I could rejuvenate. I have a start for it and it would or at least could be a good fun game to play.... 7th Cavalry and Indians, (Sioux or Apache). It's not the obvious choice for colonials as we tend to pigeon hole colonial mostly to British or at least European Expansionism. Our Friends across the pond did not need to set sail and invade another country they only "needed" to invade their own! (No offence meant to any American readers).

Well the snow has gone so I have managed to do some work up the shed, now it needs to dry again. The Moon board has had another coat of "Muck" and now has to dry. This should be it's last coat of muck and then two coats of paint and glue to bring it to the same stage as the others.

The coastline board has dried (mostly) so I have added a few more layers which brings it 3 inches short of planned height. I have carved the cliffs a little so there are no massive overl-hangs. I am a little behind on these two projects now, but not disastrously behind just yet.

Little has been finished due to babysitting duties. Currently on the paint table is a unit of 10mm dwarfs, A matchbox converted car,  and a platoon of 15mm US infantry for PBI. Yes I know it's a random mixture but these are all ongoing projects. I am looking forward to sharing them with you as I get them done. AT present I am doing a bit on all of them when time allows.

Sudan Club Game. Battle Report

I am blogging early today, because I will be looking after my nephew a few times this week including tomorrow so I might not get time then. I hope to post again on Wednesday.
So it was club day today at the club, I was going to play Warmaster with Kev and Relfie but as Relfie did not think he could get the day of work I arranged a game with Tim. Playing a game with Tim is always good all his figures are well painted and based. He provides all the scenery and makes no fuss about all the work he has done.  The basic scenario was to relive a small detachment of Scots troops on the outskirts of a town. Tim Made and cast the town and is available from FRONTLINE WARGAMING so have a look. Thorn bushes had been cut down to create a defence position which we had to reach all the way across 6 foot of 15mm desert.
The Relief column is in the second picture and Graham and myself shared the responsibility of command. We used the rules "A Good Dusting" mostly as a playtest for the club as not one of us had used them before. My forces and a cavalry troop are to the bottom of the picture while Graham had two additional units not seen in the pic. The Ansar were to appear in "Random" locations at "random" times so all we had to do was advance to the objective at the pace of ox carts on the open desert, which is to say walking pace. So off we set with flank and rear guard units set out in place in a very organised manner.
The Mardi did not want to play straight of the bat and only sent a small probing unit of spears and sword into a rocky outcrop on the far right flank. Obviously I was not going to let that go unchallenged so I countered with a unit of infantry in open order to flush them out while supporting with my cavalry.
The column slowly advanced.
The following turn a unit of Camalry arrived on the British left and two units of Ansar with rifles decided to test the defending Scots in their defence position. Graham sent his cavalry against the camels and melee was entered. The melee was indecisive and a group of "Fuzzy Wuzzies"turned up in a box canyon previously unobserved by our Colonial powers. By now my fire power had halved the spear on the rough hill so I let loose the cavalry in an impetuous charge up hill on a rocky slope. They consequently bounced, but did not rout.
Johnny Foreigner then bought a smooth bore cannon up behind me. Just not cricket old boy not cricket at all. The shooting Madi at the Scotch defence forced the lowlanders back and made them regroup.
The Cavalry/camalry melee was still pretty much at a stand still each taking  equal casualties and thus a swirly mass of mounted troops hacking at each other. The Fuzzies tried to join the melee but the khaki line of foot poured a withering fire into them. It was decisive enough to give them a pluck test which made the halt before contact.
On my flank (the right) I pulled the cavalry out of the charge and turned them on the smooth bore. They would stop short and have to suffer cannon shot but if they survived they would fall on the gun and sweep it from the board. And If they did not survive It would buy me enough time to bring some infantry into place to bring Martini Henry's revenge on the cannon crew. Harsh but If I was going to loose any unit the cavalry were my choice. As luck (in the form of bad dice rolls) would have it they took very minimal casualties and ploughed into the Gun. I felt good. I finally got rid of those pesky spearmen with my rifle line my cavalry had survived assured destruction and the column was creeping up the board. More Ansar arrived, foot units on the left and a native horse unit near the smooth bore threatening to scupper my cavalry. Graham was not getting it all his own way. His cavalry finally broke leaving a gap for the Camalry to dash through and reach the baggage train. However Graham had anticipated and swung his rear guard unit into position to "muller" the Native Cavalry and his baggage train guard unit to a position to counter the Camalry IF they did close with the baggage train.
My Infantry by this stage had moved far enough up the table to take a couple of rocky hills (uncontested) and bring supporting fire for the Sottish contingent who were slowly getting whittled down. Platoon fire from these heights drove the locals back into the town and away from the Scottish defenders.
At this stage it was clear that we would make it through with sufficient force to relieve the defenders. My Cavalry scattered the gun crew. and Grahams infantry had overlapping fields of fire and could enfilade any attacking force that came close.

Conclusion: A good game, rules we shall use again, nice scenery and figures. Great people to game with all in all a very worthwhile experience.  It is clear the Tim needs more Mardist forces, they did well but needed more numbers to really challenge the British. Arriving piece meal ment they had no concentration and allowed me and Graham to focus on them when the arrived and we thus tended to outnumber them when it mattered most. (in terms of fire power if not always numbers).

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.