Harem complete

I have now finished all the "Fembots" that I currently own. I am not expecting to purchase  more so as far as I am aware that is now it. The latest two are the one in the blue in the middle and the one in the Pink Nightie with the robot face. So that is another set of figures I purchased at BROADSIDE this year. So many more to go I feel I must have caught Shiney-bloody-itis at least for that day. Still ever figure painted is a triumph against the disease.

Thanks for the votes on the poll. I know it's for an idea FAR in the future, so nothing immediate to waffle on about. I am finding it interesting that it is coming out very equally at this stage. You button pushing is appreciated in this respect. Once again my Thanks.

 

The Cliff Dragon Palace has now started, nothing to show just yet. but the first board has started to take some form of shape and I should be able to share progress on this blog by next Friday if all goes as I hope. (Crosses fingers). I will need to start purchasing some figures for it in the next couple of weeks. I am scouring eBay in the hope of finding what I want cheap, but for the present I just cant see them. For the defenders I am giving myself several options and just not one of them is coming up on eBay at a sensible price, so I may have to buy direct from the manufactures. The week after I do eBay will be flooded no doubt!

 

Finally, three people have commented on my blog and for the comment to reach my email inbox, but then fail to appear on the blog itself. I have no idea what is causing this. So if you do comment and it fails to appear at least you know I am receiving the comment in private.

 

That's it for now. Short and not too sweet. Club tomorrow and I have a 15mm WW2 PBI game to loose so this afternoon I will start to work out my force. So there you have it. All the Best Clint

 

 

Update 0.2

Tigers Nest Monastery

Using this as inspiration, the Tigers Nest Monastery in Bhutan. I have started to plan the "Cliff Dragon Palace" Which is my working title for this 7TV show game. I need to be clear that the Tigers nest is inspiration, my version will not be a copy in any way. Making a realistic copy would not suit the game too much and it is the game that is more important than the terrain after all. SO I guess I am saying "Oooh nice picture, but it won't look like this!"  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Firstly let me discuss the parameters. At Broadside we can get 5 foot diameter tables free of charge. The standard 2'x6' tables cost us about £5 each to hire last year so as one of the show organisers it makes sense to make the most use of the free tables as possible. I shall therefore build the game to fit within this table boundary.

 

Fiddlers Green

You only live Dice

 Another consideration is that I want it to be a participation game. The current 7TV participation games fall between two stools. Yes they are all good games look great and play well, that's not the problem. The problem is that the larger games take 2-3 hours to play which most people at shows are not that willing to spend (at least in the UK) sitting at a table playing a game. They want to talk to the traders spend their money grab any bargains they can and see everything else going on. The other option is to have the much smaller games, Like "Fiddlers Green" which can be played in about 40 minutes-1 hour. These are nice taster sessions that allow players to try the rules and still get to see the show. My concept is to combine both these ideas. Therefore I propose 3 or 4 linked games all on interconnected boards. Linking the games will keep a continuity and allow some players, if they choose, to play each of the scenarios in sequence while the majority of players just play one scenario. I hope this will cover both desires.

As I want the scenarios to be very strongly themed I have decided on a "Chinese" Pulp feel. I will keep the forces very limited for each section. Ideally 8 figures each side. This is still a lot of figures over the 3-4 boards but it keeps the morale checks for figure loss simple.

sketch of 1st bard

The Concept for forces of Good (hereafter referred to as Sky Pirates) will be to use the Artisan Sky Pirate figures for the extras on all of the scenarios/boards. I may be more flexible on the Star and co stars, mostly because I don't want to have to keep painting the same figure again and again, but time will tell. While the forces of the Dragon Cult will need to change from scenario board to scenario board. This will allow me to show players different things in the game. I will keep the Pulp "Chinese" Theme throughout though as I want it to feel cohesive. One of the ways to do this is to have some of the extras from board 1 also appear on board 2, some on board 2 to appear on board 3 etc. I hope that makes sense, I am sure it will further along in the project.
So the sketch is of the first board, it consists of a gentle slope up to the main gate, a Gate house, some form of Stable (Maybe for Yaks or camels or donkeys) an open courtyard area where most of the fighting will take place and an inner gatehouse/barracks which blocks the exit up to the next board. All the buildings will be solid simply because people watn to see what is going on and having the action inside buildings just adds unnecessary complications.
I shall start building this board this afternoon. You already know I will show it step by step as each stage is completed. Anyway that is my current plan for the first board.

POLL.
Observant among you will note a small poll has appeared at the top right. Please feel free to vote. It has nothing to do with this project, and is basically just for fun but with my mind looking towards future projects. And besides Polls are fun.

The question is.... If starting from scratch with no other WW2 armies in your collections which theatre of war would you most like to do?

That's it for today. Have a good couple of Days and I shall blog again on Saturday. All the best Clint

Home made Bocage.

Continuing with my PBI project I felt I needed some Normandy Bocage. That being the case I thought I'd have a bash at making some. So I made a trial 9 pieces. I think I will need more, now that I have done them, but I thought I should try them out first before making loads, just in case it did not work.  Anyway what follows is a very basic guide should you decide you want to make some yourself.

You will need:

1. Time, patience and a sense of humour.
2. Stanley Knife.
3. Steel edge.
4. Hardboard.
5. Polystyrene
6. Water based paint. Emulsion or Acrylic
7. PVA
8. Sand
9. Clump Foliage
10. Somewhere you can make a mess.

That being the case I worked up the shed, I have (at present a small work bench which allows me to build things up to 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. Clutter realistically makes this 3 feet by 2 feet but on a good day I can always tidy up and get an extra foot of space.

• 
  Working with what I had I decided to cut the hardboard with a Stanley knife and the assistance of a steel edge (actually a roofers square bought at a market for £2). In PBI the battle board is divided into squares. With each square measuring 6 inches on a side. I therefore cut the hardboard into strips 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. This is by far the most tedious part of the whole process. There is nothing I can say to make this a joyous event, unless you want to use a power tool, which could work but I like my fingers attached to my hand, so a trusty Stanley knife will do for this task.
• Once you have sufficient bases cut and you are happy with the size and shape, best to give then a light sanding to rough up the surface and to neaten them up.
• The fun stage next. break small chunks of expanded polystyrene into pieces about as big as the nail of your little finger. These will become the wall that the hedge sits on. It is especially fun for me as my nephew does not like Polystyrene, and it's always fun to see him squirm.
• Using PVA (white wood glue) Stick them in a line down the centre of the hardboard bases. You are using PVA as some glues will melt polystyrene and for this that is not the effect you are looking for. Do not worry about the line being straight, Your average medieval farm worker who needed to move large stones was more interested in getting it moved than making it perfectly straight. Close to straight is good enough.
• 
  Once the glue is dry "Seal" the polystyrene with a couple of coats of water based paint (emulsion or acrylic). I add some PVA glue to the mix as well. The glue dries clear but adds strength so in my book that's a winner.
• Make sure everything is covered.
• If you use a stone colour so much the better as you will not need a top coat them. As you can see from the pictures I used a grey.
• Allow to dry overnight.
• Using a paint and PVA mix paint the base, taking care not to get too much on what is now the wall of the hedge.
• Using a sieve sprinkle sand on to the board. This will become the grass.
• Allow to dry.
• Once dry remove excess sand with a couple of shakes or taps. Then "seal" the sand with paint. As you can see I used BLACK acrylic for this. I would suggest a quick trip to "the WORKS" to get their big tube of acrylic paint (2 tubes for £5 currently) treat you self get a black and a green perhaps.
• When sealed I painted the grass a selections of greens. A Basic green to begin with and then dry brushing on a lighter tome by adding yellow.
  
  

• At this stage it starts to look like a piece of terrain. And you really are nearly there.

• 
  The next stage is to add the clump foliage. I find "Woodlands Scenics" to be the best clump foliage, I grant you that it is expensive, but a pack will go a long way. I would suggest I used about a handful in all to make these nine hedges. Break the clump foliage into small lumps about half the size of a sugar lump. I used 3 different colours but the lighter shade vary sparingly (mostly because I had used a lot on previous projects.) To attache the foliage I dip it in a pool of PVA, to make sure enough glue is involved. As mentioned above it dries clear so no need to be shy with it. Obviously don't overdo it because it takes longer to dry the more you use.  I picked the different colours out of a pile at random. And I did seem to get a nice mix. If you are not getting any variety then feel free to select which piece come next, it's your model terrain after all.

With luck it should come out a bit like mine. Overall if you take out drying time I would guess 3 hours was taken in total, with cutting the boards taking the longest single process, and also the dullest. But it needs to me done so what else can you do.

To Me the big question is having made these as a trial what would I do differently in order to improve them. Overall I am happy with them I do recognise that they are not perfect, but they will serve as Normandy Boacge in 15mm (or 20mm) for the present. However I would change the polystyrene wall section. Next time I will make the boulders wider so that I can better place the foliage on top. The thing about making things for the hobby is you can always improve things as you learn from your mistakes, which must mean I have learnt a LOT! I have yet to add some muddy areas near the two gaps to represent passing farm vehicles or animals, but other than that they are done.

That's today's post, I hope it was of some use to you at least in a "Ahh that's what he did, I would have done it like this...." kind o way. If so let me know I am happy to learn more.

Thanks for reading. I shall post again on Thursday. All the best Clint.

Double trouble

I have called todays post double trouble for two reasons. Firstly I have finished my second Yetti. I am sure you have already looked to the right and noticed him, if not feel free to do so now! As my second Yetti, I have no plans for more just yet, double trouble is a good enough title. The Front on Faceial shot was a bit blurry so I have left that one out, but two photos would seem to fit todays theme better so I will not retake the photo we shall all just have to imagine it! As mentioned last time it is from Newline designs nicely cast and not overly expensive, cheap if you are going purely on the metal involved. When I originally bought these two I was thinking of a 6mm King Kong game. I still have not ruled it out, but as it stands I don't want to make the 6mm scale city, far too many other "priority" projects.

The second item is the list of questions Ray ("Don't throw a one") and Fran ("The Angry Lurker") put forward from one of thier late night discussions. I know that many bloggers have already put thier 20 awnsers up so now you have to suffer mine as well!

1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?

I think I should Say whatever the guys down the club are playing. It is all well and good me saying I like this or that period but if I am doing it on my own then that's not a lot of fun.

2. Next period, money no object?

28mm Battletech! That took no time at all to think about.

3. Favourite 5 films?

In no Particular order, Terminator, Pay it Forward, The Godfather, Once apon a time in the West, and Aliens.

4. Favourite 5 TV series?

Blakes 7, Cheyenne (I was named after this programme), Spooks, Hustle and Thunderbirds.

5. Favourite book and author?

Favorite Book, "Architecture of the Italian Renaissence"
Favorite Author.... don't know so a random I like......"Larry Niven"
If book and author have to be the same publication..... "Dream Park" Lary Niven and Steven Barnes.

6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!

Duke of Marlbourgh.... I equate my generalship to a par with Captain Mannering from Dad's Army!

7. Favourite Wargames rules?

Having thought long and Hard about this I have to go with Necromunda (1st Edition). It spawned lots of off shoots (never as good as the original) and kept me and my friends ammused for several years.

8. Favourite Sport and team?

Favorite sport to take part in White water Kayaking, favorite Team "England"

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?

Despite the fact that I would like to say something clever like Nazereth to see (or not see) a particular biblical event (or not). I think "realistically" as realistically as one can be when talking about time travel. I would have to settle for going back to win the rollover euro lottery JACKPOT. Win it the week before it reaches the top when no one else won it!

10. Last meal on Death Row?

The Still beating heart of whom so ever framed me to put me on Death row, Ketchup and a couple of slices of bread and butter! Lemon marague pie and Icecream for desert and a bottle of "berlina weiss" beer to wash it down. (Better make it a crate of beer.)

11. Fantasy relationship and why?

Phillipa Forrester. Intelligent, charismatic, witty and good looking.... "Thinking mans Crumpet!" Nuff said!

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?

Ideally I would get Nick Park to do me in "Claymation" If you want a "real" Actor, Ron Pearlman.

13. Favourite Comic Superhero?

Favorite hero... My dad of course.
 Favorite Comic superhero, Boris the Bear. He kills all the fluffy animal cartoons in the first edition!

14. Favourite Military quote?

"I counted them all out, and I counted them all back." I vividly recall watching this on my black and white telly.

15. Historical destination to visit?

Florence.

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?

Not finishing all the wargames projects I have bought figures for in the past.

17. Favourite Fantasy job?

Location scout for the James bond films.

18. Favourite Song, Top 5?

Annes Song By John Denver. Jane By Barenakedladies.Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, Stand by me by Ben E King, and the Earl of Oxfords March.

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?

Provbably the Necromunda campaign I ran about 25 years ago. All the players in it still talk about it and is most likely the reason I said the Necromunda rules for question 7.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?

Cruelty, injustice and my own inadequacies.

I would also like to pose a couple more questions to Fran and Ray.

21, Top 5 Artists, (2D or 3D including Architecture, print, or design.)

22, Favorite Mythical creature.

Thanks for reading more on Tuesday! All the best Clint, hope that was not too self indulgent.

Post script I ammended a couple of awnsers when I thought about them some more.

3rd Squad (15mm Stargrunt)

 Here is the latest addition to my FSE 15mm Sci fi Force. These troops again wearing Kepi Blanc and equipped with the same weapons. The vehicle is a variant of the other APCs. As you can see it is armed with a missile system turret as opposed to a more traditional gun style turret. How this will play out in the rules I will wait and see. I suspect the missiles will be more use as an anti "tank" role but time will tell. I just about have a grip on the infantry rules so adding vehicles has got to be the next step. As you will know, this is my third squad of 15mm FSE troops with hover vehicles. Which means that one more squad, a command squad, with command vehicle I will then start on the opposition force. I have already decided the other "Army" will be Krav Ak, The first GZG alien race. Other races, like the "crusties" also exist, but for me Krav Ak are the force of choice.

At the club on Sunday Peter was kind enough to give me a pressie! On his travels across the country he managed to pick up "Little Nellie" or I should say a die cast model of the famous James Bond Auto gyro, "little Nellie". It is about 25mm scale and is a very welcome addition to my 7Tv props. In my head I already have a plan for it bringing the plan to fruition is always the tricky bit. I must say I am very grateful for this gift it really is just my sort of thing.

I did have some good news on the job front last night. I have now been told that my job is "Safe" til December. Additionally I have a 90% chance of retaining it after Christmas as well so that has taken the pressure off, at least until December.

I have several things on the go, but nothing else at a stage I can share today. I shall post again on Sunday and with luck I shall have something at least one of the started items finished. At least that's the plan. T

Building the zombie bridge.

 As the game featured such an easy piece of terrain I thought I would show how it was made. The first thing to be aware of is what resources you can make use of. For me it was knowing that I could use some of the club hills and half of a table tennis table as the game table. The table tennis table was great, large enough for all to get round and the right colour to look like water. So basically use what you already have.
The actual bridge took 90 minutes to make including drying time. It only used tools that we all should have lying around and not really much skill at all. Honestly nothing that the average person could not do with out having to buy anything. I think that is important to make clear.
OK so here is how it was done:

• . It is worth getting a "Stanley Knife" that you are comfortable with. The one in the picture gets used by me a lot and I got it while doing some work in a warehouse, mostly because it was different from all the other knives the other blokes had. Needless to say when using knives take care and make sure you don't bleed on what you are making.
• The three wooden blocks  were scrounged from my builder neighbour. As long as the blocks are all the same in at least one dimension they will work. If you can get then roughly the same size so much the better.
• Measure and cut the hardboard to what you think will be the right road width. As long as it looks right to you and you can get the right scale car to fit across it the bridge will work. I guessed 7 inches wide as that was a good width for me to use the hardboard I had. It would have worked as narrow as 3 inches for a single carriage way or as wide as 20 inches if you wanted a really lot of car lanes. As I wanted to block the road with a model truck I settled on 7 inches being that the truck was 8 1/2 inches long.
• Having decided that I wanted a low bridge I went for the lowest dimension on the wooden blocks. There were a number of reasons for this it would make the bridge more stable and require less hill sections at each end.
• Everything was then painted dark grey. I had some sand coloured emulsion and some black poster paint (Ready mixed) being both water based they would mix easily. I painted what I thought the centre of the lanes a lighter grey.
• Once dry I used white and yellow colouring pencils to mark on the road markings. These markings consisted of a white dashed line down the middle and two yellow lines down each side, close together so the emulated the British no parking markings.
• Once dry I used duct tape on the reverse to secure the two bridge sections together. I used nothing to attache the block bridge supports as being low to the water they were not likely to move about too much. They raised the bridge about 40mm from the river so were very stable. If I had used them in a different manner I would have needed to anchor them to either the board or the road surface.

So there you have it a quick simple effective modern road bridge. In an idea world I would have had some edging to stop the cars from falling of the edge. I was concerned that some player or other would have made negative comments about "health and safety" but they did not, t was just accepted.

That's it for today, more on Friday. Til then take care and all the best Clint.

AAR Zombie Bridge Game.

Battle Board set up.

Objective to escape off the board edge.

Sunday was a club day and I had said I would run a 7ombie game. So that's what I did and here's what happened. The top picture is of the board setup with the players entering on the left and needing to exit on the right. This was to be a crowded game with 8 players and me as the ref. Each player had but a single character, selected randomly. In theory this was the follow on from the Car park game but as some players had not played that mission and other players did not want the character they had last time there was no continuity. I did not see that as a problem so we Just went for it. I took no written notes on the day (I never do, perhaps I should in future) but I would imagine it would disrupt play so maybe I won't.
The situation was that the players were all individuals attempting to get out of the city by crossing this bridge. The problem was that the bridge was blocked so they had to abandon their transport and move passed all the other abandoned cars climb over the wrecked lorry and escape on foot of the board.
I did make a couple of rules changes. Initiative was decided by pulling names out of a hat, the zombies having two names in the hat as on a previous game with just one name players quickly realised that if the zombies had already moved they could pre-plan their turn for the next move to always stay clear. The Zombies were either "Zombies" or "Tuft Zombie" (which got shortened to "Tuffy's") due to me putting a tuft of model grass on their base. One of the colour blind players commented that the tuft of grass was clearly visible because of it's three dimensions and therefor worked better than a red blood spot.


1st Turn

Another rule I changed was that the SMG's could fire single shot IF the firer made an intelligence check before firing AND Stated that it was their intent not to fire a burst.
For the zombies I changed the abilities of the single Rage Zombie. Any other zombie within 3 inches of him could make an additional move action. The single Tank zombie also had the ability to hurl cars. This was limited to 8 inches and required him to spend one action next to the vehicle to pick it up and a separate action to throw the car. 
Finally to reward the winner of the car park game. That player was given a token which allowed them to take an extra turn just once in the game at any point they chose. This is really powerful if used correctly.
The first turns saw the players move forward and support each other taking out a couple of zombies as they went. The Biker let rip with his SMG into the melee not caring who he hit or missed. As luck would have it he only hit the zombies!Melees were short and brutal and the zeds were mostly dropped to the deck but not "killed". The heavy, the cop and the crook all moved up the board while the biker, the little girl and the sleazy man loitered about 6 inches behind. I brought on a couple more zombies at the players start line (spawn point no 1) to encourage the players to move along. No players in the game decided to search cars, if they had they would have found a scavenger card assuming they passed an Int test. But no one voiced the possibility of doing so, I therefore did not mention the possibility.
As the players moved across the bridge I spawned a couple more zeds. The crook played one of his scavenger cards, a butane bottle and quickly moved forward. Two more players arrived and joined the game, I started them 1 inch from the spawn point (serves them right for turning up late)> Everyone new the crook had done something, but not exactly what. Being prudent they moved away. They mostly double moved (ran) towards their objective, the Tescos lorry and escape! Which allowed the Crook to play his "Dodgy explosive prop" event card on the vehicle they were now clustered around. The 5 inch blast radius managed to inflict one wound on the heavy, stun the cop, and destroyed the brains of 3 zombies... so not all bad then. I think this marked the end of the co-operative play.

The heavy started to use his "Blocker" skill to stop any survivor within 1 inch of him from moving. A tactic he took great joy in using as many times as he could for the rest of the game. Which stopped the Little girl from moving at all for about 3 turns in  all, each time she moved he would try to end his move close enough to her to stop her moving the following turn, Sometime about now the two new arrivals got involved. One was a little boy who ran as fast as he could along the bridge. The other player a woman with a shot gun decided to kill the clustered zombies (all in Blast radius), She rolled a ONE, Whoops, so missed completely and them decided to move. She ended her move close to the Butane bottle... remember the butane bottle the crook left... which was on a count down and exploded right on cue. Scratch one survivor! The cop played his event card, which allowed him to move three other survivors through some vents and tunnels 12 inches away. He moved them back down the road into as much trouble as he could. The second Zombie spawn point was from inside the cars half way or more along the bridge. I could only spawn one zombie a activation, so two a turn (tuffty and non tuffty). This allowed me to keep the zombies in the game and part of the threat throughout. They could not move on the turn they spawned though so players could always have a chance to react to them.
The crook (the player who one the previous game and there fore had the extra turn token. managed to play two turns in a row and run half the length of the bridge and climb onto the truck. Climbing on top of the truck requires an Agility check as did jumping off the other side. The Little girl also played her event card, which was then cancelled by someonelses! The biker also scrambled onto the truck. The cop climbed up top without much difficulty getting down in one piece used up all his remaining "luck" tokens and left him facing 5 zombies before he could leave the board.
The final few turns (and my finally number of allotted spawning zombies was down to 2. The rage zombie was collecting straggles and amassing a herd as they moved across the bridge. Including the Tank or it would not be able to keep up other wise. In retrospect I should have spawned it from a car, oh well live and learn. However the herd did start to look good with 7 zombies but with just one purpose. The cop managed to dodge round the zombies and slip away of board and was declared the winner. The Crook and the sleazy man took a few shots at one another, but no damage was caused, either by the use of bad dice or good luck tokens.

The biker followed later in the same turn. The heavy was blocking (he will claim Protecting) the little girls movement so she tried to shoot him. The pistol shot missed. So in desperation she tried to melee the heavy. In my head I could picture him just looking down and uttering. "I don't mind fighting girls, because when they hit you it doesn't amount to much!" At this stage the survivors were either off the table and for this game "Safe!" or on top of the truck just about to jump down and escape.

 In the last few moments of the game the Tank managed to pick up a car and throw it on top of the lorry. The little girl dived out of the way, the heavy dived out of the way. The crook did not. Scratch survivor umber 2. It is not often in a game that you can with reason, chuck a car at a player. I think it's a game he'll remember, causing 2 explosions and have a car fall on his head. his was the break the zombies needed as their initiative marker was pulled out of the cup. (Last the previous turn and first this turn) resulting is what appeared to be a double move. Some of the zombies managed to clamber up the overturned lorry (needing a 1-2 on  D6 A surprising number made it) . They were scattered and could not mob one character so most attacks were useless. One Zombie did get a lucky bite and claw and brought the little girl down. Scratch survivor three. That turn saw all the survivors exit the board and make it away to safety. At least for now. The little boy was the last to leave, but did make it away in the end.....Just.

Conclusion. Well done Relfie for getting away first. It is important for me to remember that whatever I plan game wise the players will interperet it in a way that suits themselves. Yes I did make a couple of mistakes. As Zombies in 7ombie TV do not have any blocker skills a survivor can just move past them this makes it hard to contain players with a rotting flesh wall and that is something I might address in further episodes. The upgraded tank and Rager worked very well, something to ponder on there would be the possibility of it becoming too powerful. The rules are very simple, at times too simple and I might have to give ALL THINGS ZOMBIE another trial.All in all though a fun game and I shall plan another episode in the future.

2nd Squad (15mm Stargrunt)

Let's face it we all knew this was coming so it's no surprise really. This is the second squad of 15mm FSE troops from GZG. Same unit composition as last time. These guys however are not in helmets but the famous "Kepi Blanc" I did think about painting the kepis a different colour for about 2 seconds so as you can see it was a very serious consideration. Having used white undercoat I managed to keep them clean enough to make the white really stand out. Other than the kepis they were painted exactly the same way.

I will have 2 more squads to finish the platoon, a 3rd Infantry squad, a power armour squad (not sure if they get transport yet so I'll leave that out for now) and a command section in a command version of the Hover vehicle. They will not be down this week as I have yet to order them. You know I'll show them when finished, but I need to paint a few other things in between. No idea what yet, you'll know when I know.

The big problem is the lack of time this week, real life was getting in the way. Not only have I looked after my nephew all week but I have also managed 15 hours overtime. James, my nephew is pretty good and does not get into trouble and can amuse himself (well sometimes) so I can manage a very little painting at some point each day, even if it is only for 10 minutes. So I can't really complain.

I will be running a ZOMBIE game at the club tomorrow. So expect an AAR on Monday. Another short post today for all the reasons listed above. For now though there is an ice cream with my name on it calling for me. So Thanks for reading and Zombie AAR on Monday, (I hope... that's my cue to forget my camera of course). All the Best Clint

1st Squad (15mm Stargrunt)

Not a huge amount to show today. It has been one of those weeks were I just can't get too much done. Enough excuses. Here is my first squad of 15mm FSE Stargrunt infantry. 8 figures in all. 6 armed with a standard FA-75 Standard Gaus assault rifle. It has less fire power than many of the firearms but a better impact so is generally on a level with other small arms. There is also a Squad automatic weapon (FA 77) and a Mistral portable guided missile launcher. I realise that if you do not play a lot of stargrunt most of this will sound meaningless. This is the standard FSE squad in the rules and is the pack composition from GZG.

FSE troops come with a choice of head gear, these as you can see are helmeted, the other choice being Kepi. I have a squad of these as well and they should get finished today. No promises, but that is the plan. The transport hovercraft was included in the pic just for completeness, as it will be assigned to each squad.

Elsewhere in my games life I have collected some of the wooden off cuts from a neighbour, and hope to get to work on Sunday's proposed zombie game later today, but currently waiting a phone call from work, so can't leave the house to work up the shed.

Lastly I want to say a big thanks to all my followers and casual glances for breaking the 10 000 page view score. I was thrilled yesterday when it did so. I know for many people 10 000 is not a large number but for me I do feel it was a significant milestone. So once again THANK YOU.

Short and sweet for now more on Saturday. All the Best Clint



AGCI-5Bs

The standard infantry carrier for the Federal States Europa is the Aero-Glisseur Combat d'Infantrie 5B. A medium sized hover vehicle capable of carrying 8 infantry into many battle field situations. The 2 crew, driver and gunner stay with the vehicle when the infantry dismount. The Stargrunt universe has these vehicles build under licence by several factions so realistically (for a sci fi game) they could be the most commonly encountered troop vehicle. As you can see they both have a small turreted weapon as well as a pintle mount. The pintle mount could have gone on the back where I have fashioned an aerial, or the top of the turret.

As metal kits they went together easily with a little flash to trim but otherwise clear of mold lines.not a massive amount of pieces and fairly self explanatory with regard to assembly. I do like the face that the skirts are slightly raised which aids they eye in seeing them as hovering It was not something I really noticed until I put them on bases.

So my 15mm stargrunt force is slowly growing. Very slowly I grant you but it's all going in the right direction. Just a quick post today, more on Thursday. Until then take care and speak to you soon. Clint

Post script: Just picked up some off cuts of wood from my neighbour so I should be able to start making stuff in the next couple of days.... (Fingers crossed).

15mm Sci Fi Truck.

This 15mm Science Fiction truck is by Ground Zero Games (http://shop.groundzerogames.net/ ) . I purchased it at SELWG last year, and it ha been staring  at me across the painting table ever since. I admit it, I was feeling guilty and that I was neglecting it. Following last weekends game of Stargrunt 2 I felt inspired to tackle it. It came with no instructions and in several pieces which made it quite tricky at times having to make educated guesses where things went. Most of the castings were good and went together well some mold lines and flash, but nothing that would stop me getting more. (In fact I have sent for a few bits and pieces). I must admit that I do have a Stargrunt force in 25mm but in the four years I have owned it only part of it ever got on the table once. This might be why I have decided to get rid of it and move to 15mm instead. It also might have a lot to do with the fact that John Tuffney has sold the vehicle molds on to another firm and only a limited variety is now available.

 
 Given that I have talked about making a 15mm Apache Indian game it made sense to me to paint this vehicle in desert camouflage. Originally I shied away from it as I have seen quite a lot of Sci Fi games on desert, temperate or ice worlds and I thought it might be nice to do something different. Having taken a "Common sense pill" I put that idea behind me and determined that I could use desert terrain for both games. I fought against it but finally conceded!

While only a single vehicle at this time I shall grow the force probably to a reinforced platoon size. At least one other club member has 15mm Stargrunt so an opponent is not unfeasible. having said that I would like to create 2 opposing forces so that I can instill a unified painting and basing feel to the troops. It is possible that I am over thinking it, but generally games do look better is everything looks like it belongs together which is hard to do if several players all want to buy and paint their own. To me at this stage it is worth the expense to get the game to look how I would like it. By that I mean no disrespect to other club members. The base is simply mount board that I have spare and the "rocks" are small pieces of cork crumbled into random sizes and shapes.

That's today's post, I have lots to do this week in order to see the zombie game I have planned come to fruition in 7 days time. Most of it revolves around contacting my neighbour (the builder) to get some free resources which I can then "rough-cut-and-bash-fit" into the setting I desire.

More Again Tuesday. Thanks for reading and take care Clint.

More Thrust.....Islamic Federation

A couple of months ago I painted my FSE (Federal States Europa) Full thrust intro fleet. At the time I could not find my second intro fleet. Well as you can see it has now turned up and managed to stay still long enough for me to paint it. Some of the smaller ships were already painted, but the larger ships being multi part had simply flown away. However here they all are, all in one place and all painted. I wanted to offer a strong contrast to the other fleet which is mostly cream in colour, so I have painted these a rich regal blue as the main colour. Given that all the ships have crescent shaped wings I felt s most appropriate to paint the wings several shades of gold. Against the blue the wings really jump out. Which was the effect I wanted. Each ship also has a light yellow accent stripe about a quarter of the way from the front. This was done purely to make them look more interesting and to break the blue up along the hull. Overall I think the colours work and contrast strongly with the FSE which is something I wanted. Having enjoyed painting both intro fleets I am almost tempted to get another two or expand these two at a later date.

That's today's post. I shall finish some more painting today so the next post will be on Sunday. I do plan to run a 7ombie game at the club NEXT weekend and will need to make a little scenery for that. next week. Nothing too complicated as I am waiting for my neighbour (a builder) to drop off a bag or two of off cuts from a garage he is building locally. Which will keep costs down for that and a few other projects.

All the best folks, Thanks for reading and I'll post again on Sunday (Assuming I get what I have started finished!!!)