Billy the Kid?

 Another figure from the Ainsty Castings Weird West range. This figure is supposedly "Billy the Kid" but it really could be any character you wanted it to be. Again sculpted by Ian Mountain who has a nice understated style. No deep folds in the cloth and a very clean looking face, and not to much of a caricature. I only found out today that these figures were "crowd funded" so I would like to thank everyone who made the pledges and bought these figures into being.  As you can see I have painted in mostly browns but with a very dark grey (almost Black) shirt, although this could be a waist coat Black boots and a blue neckerchief. I Like the fact that the two pistols are quite small it makes them look more realistic than some of the big clumpy guns you see on some figures.
 Overall I am happy with the result although I did muck up his eye and had to repaint it. I will be the only person who worries about it, so no biggie.
 Only two more to go from this pack so I will have them finished I hope by Wednesday. It's a club day tomorrow so I should have some kind of AAR on Monday. No idea what we will be playing as yet. I had hoped to carry on with my Caen Campaign, but two of the key players may not be able to make it, so I have postponed that game for now.

Anyway it's a long weekend for those of us in the UK so the weather is bound to be horrid! However enjoy the extra day off of work if you can and chat again on Monday. Best Wishes Clint.

Power Armour

My Federal States Europa (FSE) force has just had a very slight upgrade with a squad of Power armour troops. The FSE has a tendency to use what many people think of as Light infantry as opposed to the heavy powered battle suits of many Stargrunt Nations. However as a player I did think that one squad of power armoured troops was a good idea as it rounded out the force a little more. AS you can see this 6 man squad is equipped with 3 heavy weapons (2 Mistral Guided missile systems on shoulder mounts, and one FM77 Squad automatic weapon, as well as an ECM suit mounted on one troopers back.)

I have painted the figures with a white band on their helmets (the squad leader has a thinner red stripe flanked by white stripes) this is to match the Kepi Blanc which is worn by some of the light infantry. There shoulders also carry the Tri colour which should help them to keep identity on the battle field. I added this emblem because these versions of power armour are also exported and used by a couple of other nationalities, for example, the Islamic Federation. It was therefore important to me to keep them as distinctive.

Only 6 15mm figures to share with you today I have no excuses for not doing more. But that is all I have managed to complete since last post. With luck I should have something ready for Saturday and my next blog post. Until then have a good couple of days and talk soon.

All the best Clint

Western Undead

Here are my two latest 28mm figures. Both from different companies, yet both wild west zombies. Starting on the left we have another figure from the AINSTY CASTINGS Villains Weird West pack. Two days ago I finished the werewolf from that pack so only 1 more from that pack to paint. I will undercoat him this afternoon so maybe over the weekend. The figure on the right is from Reaper Miniatures it is less versatile as it is totally in western dress from head to toe and even carrying a pistol.

 While I have no use at the moment for wild west zombies I did like both figures so that moved them up the painting schedule quite swiftly.  Maybe I will sort a game out featuring western zombies sometime in the future.

That's it for today thanks for tuning in and I'll post again on Thursday. Until then take care all the best Clint.

Weird West

Here are two figures from Ainsty Castings sculpted by Ian Mountain. They come from the Weird West range. When I say range they only do two packs at the moment (Heroes and Villains). Each pack has 3 figures, either good guys/girls or the baddies. Each pack retails for £7.50, but at Salute they did a deal of both packs for £10.00.  Here we have a werewolf from the Villains pack and a female Indian from the Heroes pack. Neither of these figures were why I bought the packs but I really do like them now. Both figures are single piece castings with no flash and only minor mould lines. Overall very nice castings and In my opinion well worth the money.

Ladies first, I have done a close up so you can see just how nicely sculpted the figures are. Other than the blue in the hair I have kept to very natural colours. If anyone asks I'll just say the blue came from an army uniform, so don't question it as I tried red first and it looked unbalanced on the figure. I have used red as an accent colour contrasting against the buff base colour on her wrists. I do not think her clothing is authentic and that really is my only criticism of the figure. As she's next to a werewolf I can suspend reality for a while and just enjoy her as a very nice figure sculpt. She carries a "Bowie Knife" very openly but no sheath for it and no other weapons. But the knife, expression and stance lead me to believe that she's all ready for action. You can probably tell that I have really enjoyed painting her.

The werewolf was a struggle for me. Again he is nicely sculpted and cast but I had to paint him twice as I was not happy the first time. I think I tried too hard the first attempt to make it look like a "Real" wolf. Once I accepted it as a fantasy figure and stopped looking at pictures of real wolves it pretty much painted itself. Other than the skin tones it is just a simple dry brush. I used 4 different greys and worked quickly so that they would all blend on the model. It's no where near perfect but as a fantasy figure I think it works well enough. I won't dwell on what I don't like or have done wrong as I am happy with it and would be prepared to paint another one. That's one of the tests for me, if I would be prepared to paint another. So no more whining about it and as you can see in the close up picture the skin tones and claws have come out well and I am very pleased with the orange eyes.

That's todays post. More again on Tuesday. Thanks for reading I hope it's warm and sunny where you are and that you have a great couple of days. All the best Clint

GZG Scout Vehicles from Salute loot!

Here are the  first things to get painted after Salute. Two hover scout vehicles in 15mm to supplement my FSE Stargrunt II force. As you will remember all my Federal States Europa (FSE) float on cushions of "air". I say "Air" but dependant on the planet it might not be what we think of as Air. They each have turreted light guns which are not heavy enough for anti armour use, but would make a mess of either soft skins or infantry (including powered Infantry).

As you can see from the front and rear elevations they have nicely sloped sides which helps to give them a low profile. They are on square bases which tells you they are by far the smallest vehicles I have so far. In the future, this will change as I increase the size of the force and include quad bikes and other very small vehicles. These are made by Ground Zero Games as is all my 15mm sci fi figures, as I have no intention at this point to mix and match from other manufactures. Perhaps I will later, but for now I desire continuity in the force.

I have no more 15mm GZG on the painting table at the moment, but I hope to do some more soon as I have a FSE Power Infantry squad that keeps beckoning to me from the lead pile in a most alluring way. Next time will be 28mm as I have something very nearly finished. Next time will be Sunday so until then thanks for looking and have a good couple of days. All the best Clint.

NEWS FLASH>>>> NEWS FLASH>>>>NEWS FLASH>>>

Breaking news.

35 minutes ago I received an email from "Wargames Foundry" confirming their attendance at Broadside this year 2013.

This is a really big coup for a show in it's 3rd year. We can only hope that the footfall justifies their attendance. The more big traders we can attract the better as many people come for the traders and the traders come for the people. One hand washes the other as it were.

So save up your pennies I know I will be.

Show Details: For those who have yet to attend Broadside it is on Sunday 9th June, at the Swallows Leisure centre Sittingbourne. Doors open at 10am and close at 4pm. Other than Foundry we have loads of other great traders something for everyone.

Any questions please feel free to ask.

All the best Clint

ZBA at Salute.

The Bloggers Meet!

This will be my last Salute post, at least this year. (Well probably, at least no more planned.) The Bloggers meet has been detailed on several other sites so I won't dwell on it to much I will say it was nice to see the faces behind the blogs. And that I would like to have spoken to more of them. What you may not know is there was a meeting within a meeting. The ZBA (Zombie Bloggers Association) was also in attendance. I am sure there were other sub sets within the Venn Diagram of bloggers and If so they will no doubt be covered on there respective blogs. The ZBA (link on the right hand side of my blog, click the picture/logo to go to the forum ) is a group of wargames bloggers with an active interest in Zombie Apocalypse games. A Niche hobby within a niche hobby. Such is the way within hobbies. Eventually coming to the point, other than my self there was Mathyoo (from Slovenia) and Dave from London. Both really decent guys and we spent a lot of the afternoon together walking round and looking at the show.

Dave was kind enough to take a photo of Mathyoo and myself with "Misty" the zombie hunter. I did not know at the time that Mathyoo was being attacked at the time. "Misty" is a character from Crooked Dice Games 7ombie TV game just in case anyone did not know and was wondering why I was next to a schoolgirl. There is a miniature of her as well should anyone want one. If there was a variety of figures enough to make a whole hockey team I would buy them.

Crooked dice ran the only dedicated Zombie game at the show as well. Another was listed but had been replaced with a Planet of the Apes Game. A nice looking game but living dead it was not.

The Crooked Dice game was a small 2 foot square participation game designed to introduce the rules to new players. But I shall have a word with Karl and see if he'd run it at the club sometime. Given that people were playing constantly all day and the size of the board taking pictures over there shoulder would have been intrusive. Which is my explanation for the strange angle of the game.

There was 1 other known ZBA member at the show Colin but he did not make the meeting, so maybe next year. Simon should make it next year as well but time will tell.

The most important thing I will talk about today is the lessons I have learnt from this Years Salute show.

• Many games did not have any signage to detail who they were or give the game a title.
• I took too many random Game photographs and should have concentrated on just a couple of games and tried to do them justice.
• I should get some form of bloggers ID, maybe a tee shirt with my name/blog name on it. If all bloggers done so we could at least recognise each other. I am not talking about funny handshakes either.
• 1000's of hours went into some games while others had a very game club feel to them. I know that making and painting is not everyone's forte and that you should play to your strengths but I did find the more club games a little disappointing at a show of Salutes properties..
• I should buy an ticket before the show in an attempt to cue bust if only a little.

That's it for today I have had a weeks break from painting, but I should have something ready for Friday. So until then take care and have a good couple of days. Cheers Clint

Salute (Random) Pics! PIC HEAVY!

With my usual level of inefficiency I wandered the show taking pictures of anything that caught my eye. Some games were not labelled on the day so I simply gave up trying to identify things. So my advice is just enjoy the scenery and reminisce if you were there and take whatever inspiration you can from this random selection of games at Salute 2013.

If you have any questions or want me to try to identify a particular game (a small chance I will be able to but I am happy to try.) Just leave a comment. I did not take many of the Waterloo game simply because I KNOW it will get a huge amount of coverage.


 I will do one more Salute post on Wednesday dedicated to the bloggers and the Zombie Bloggers Association. So I would advise those of a nervous disposition or those with small children to skip my blog on Wednesday and Thursday and pick it up again on Friday.

If you have gotten as far as reading all this Well done, I would have just looked at the pics!

Have a good few days and I hope to see you all again in 2 days time.

All the best Clint