A Tale of Two Islands; Updated!

 UPDATE!

These items are from Novus Design Studios, who seem to be going out of business very soon. Orders dated prior to 30APR23 will be honored, so go get some while you have a chance!

 

 

Rustoleum Flat Black Primer, a heavy drybrush of Americana Soft Black, followed by a slightly lighter drybrushing of Americana Storm Gray, once that had dried I gave it a more selective coat of Americana Boulder with as light dusting of pure white to finish it off

        It seems the R.U.P. has caught on to The Housemartin's trick of casually leaving cool stuff around my workshop with the knowledge that my gnat-like attention span will light upon it and paint it "just to see what it would look like with a dab of paint".  No, actually he asked me to take a look at a couple of resin islands that he had recently purchased (I will try to get specifics about them and include it in an update) with an eye to painting them to go with his large collection of 1/1200 scale Ships of the Line. They were well cast (no bubbles making pits on the surface) and very detailed. I have just undertaken a large terrain commission for some terrain from a friend and needed to get my mojo refreshed before diving into that. These models seemed like the perfect chance for a bit of refresher/experimentation work, I dove right in.

 

once the paint had dried I added a wash of GW Gulliman Flesh at the base of the mountains with a tiny bit drawn up the sides of the steeper slopes,  I then wetbrushed Americana True Brown to fill the space between the hills and the beach, this was followed by a narrow band of Americana Honey Brown, once that had all dried I painted Americana Thicket into the areas that looked like they could support vegetation, this was highlighted with Americana Hauser Light Green

Game At Rich Uncle Pat's Place this Saturday at 6:30pm

Israel vs Egypt Jets and Greek on Greek Naval

Like the headline says, Rich Uncle Pat will be hosting this weekend's game, Saturday 6:30 pm at his place

Warlord Epic Scale ECW Cavalry Frame

        These little fellows showed up attached to my latest issue of Wargames Illustrated so I thought I would pass along to my good readers a quick look at the latest addition to Warlord's "Epic" series. These are cast in the usual firm gray plastic that Warlord has been using for years. There is no flash, but there is some noticeable mold lines on some of the figures. This is easily removed with a file or an Xacto blade. the poses are dynamic but suffer from being one-piece castings. This is particularly noticeable when viewing the cavalry figures, details get "blurry" as they approach the mold-line. That said these are wargaming figures intended for mass-battles not showpieces or skirmish minis. If I were not already in possessio of thousands of based and painted figures I might be tempted to buy these. The detail is fine for 15mm army level minis and the price will allow very large armies without breaking the bank. 

       Of course size matters when you are looking to add to your collection. These minis should blend well with the true 15mm figures such as Peter Pig, Khurusan or the old Minifigs range; rather less well with the scale-creep minis from other manufacturers that are now approaching 18mm. I took a couple of comparison shots to give an idea as to size.

 

cavalry sprue, side A

 

cavalry sprue, side B

 

 

old school Minifigs Turkish cavalry

 

Khurusan Scottish foot

       I don't think that I would mix these in with many other manufacturers products but I wouldn't hesitate to use units of Warlord minis next to unit from producers that have stayed true to size. If you are just getting into ECW or 30YW this new line is well worth considering.

All Quiet on the Martian Front

 

        Last month Tom from Texas and The Housemartin combined their massive collections of "All Quiet on the Martian Front" minis for a big game at Tom's house. This game took place in Tom's ballroom on a table eight feet wide by nearly twenty-four feet long. The scenario was the defense of Milwaukee against a Martian horde that had landed in the distant Yukon territory, and had recently been reinforced by a bunch of Martian cylinders landing just outside of Milwaukee. The invading Martian forces were intimidating in their numbers and power; the defending humans were forced to oppose this alien inundation with steam-powered tanks and a superabundance of guts (oh, and there were lots of humans)

       In an effort to keep the fighting as far away from the city as possible the human forces considered their options and decided to go with a layered forward defense, augmented by flank attacks from the east and west. The Martians decided to advance on a broad front to deploy as many as possible of their high-tech weapons right from the start. To the surprise of the invaders the humans had the assistance of a pair of dirigibles and some ultra-heavy guns to lend some weight to the soldiers fighting in the front lines. Also unbeknownst to the Martians some brave humans had volunteered to undertake a wide flanking maneuver using motorcycles and armored cars to speed their approach.

Landsknecht Ogres

        Frankly I can't recall which brand of "Classic Fantasy" it is that brings us Lansknecht Ogres but that really matter very little at all. What we do have here is another set of interesting and well-thought-out minis from the fertile minds at Wargames Atlantic.  The figures were sculpted with dual use in mind. The High Fantasy club will be thrilled to find all the typical weapons of the Landsknecht; halbreds, arquebuses, two-handed swords and pikes. Weird War Two and Sci-Fi fans will applaud the inclusion of Near-Future/Scf-Fi guns. 

        As far as the models are concerned they are cast in a firm medium gray plastic that displays detail very well. The models exhibit no trace of flash and hardly any mold-lines. There is a wide selection of weapons and the usual superabundance of heads. These are big models, fully assembled they will easily top 40mm tall (but they ARE Ogres). The detail is crisp and accurate to the "Landsknecht" style (I can only dream that WA will get around to some 28mm historical Landsknechts).

 

front of the box

Sci-Fi Bugs of the worst sort, Harvesters from Wargames Atlantic

 

       I'm not afraid to admit it; bugs have always creeped me out. Starship Troopers, Aliens, yep, if it has an exoskeleton I don't care for it. Then along comes these minis, they look like something you would find under a microscope infecting an animals skin. At about 30mm tall (depending upon how you choose to position them) they are big for most sci-fi/fantasy minis; huge if you are using 15mm and absolutely gigantic next to 1/300 scale stuff (micro-armor vs giant bugs, anyone?) But enough about my issues, on to the minis!

       The models are molded in a firm gray plastic the takes detail well. There is no trace of lash and very few mold-lines. The break-down of the minis into components allows a great deal of freedom as far as positioning during assembly for the four large bugs on each sprue, the two smaller creatures are one-piece castings (larval forms of the bigger bugs?). There is an option for "ranged bio-weapons" in the form of foreshortened limbs that look suspiciously like cannon with an underslung bayonet. If these are ray weapons, projectile throwers or slime-flingers are up to you and your rules of preference.

 

the front of the box

Look out Catachans, here come the boys from SPACENAM

 

       I won't pretend for a moment to know what "SPACENAM" is, I have several guesses but they are of little importance now. What it has given us (on the other hand) is this set of very interesting minis from the workshops of Wargames Atlantic.  Cast in the same spirit as GWs Catachans (a sort of Rambo writ large in the sci-fi vein, or Arnold in Predator) these minis are both more attractive and half the price. Flawlessly cast in a firm grey plastic, with no trace of flash and very few mold-lines, this set provides more weapons choices and better sculpting. As usual there is a lavish supply of different heads and the breakdown of the models into parts allows a wide range of positions. These boys have definitely been spending time in the gym (or getting some sort of gene enhancement) they are very buff without the cartoonish look of the GW product.

 

front of the box 

The M.P.s caught up with me and I'm AWOL no longer

        I won't make excuses; I have been neglecting the blog terribly the last six weeks or so. I haven't given up the hobby or any other such nonsense, I simply didn't have the motivation to write. I DID take a road-trip south and photographed another fort for my Fortified Places page, this time it was Fort Boonesborough in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

      I also have gotten the chance to review four new figure sets; Imperial Navy Breachers for Kill Team from Games Workshop; The Harvesters, Space 'Nam, and Landsknecht Ogres, all from the busy workshops of Wargames Atlantic. These will appear in the blog as I do the write-ups and on my 28mm Plastic Figure Review page as well. 

      Additionally, as time allows, I will present the AAR on the All Quiet on the Martian Front mega game that was hosted at Tom from Texas' place a little while back. It involved both his and The Housemartin's extensive collections of minis.

       This weekend is Battlefields, so a photo essay will be in the pipe for that as well.

 not kidding at all, it was a big game

Getting ready for Battlefields, I have three spaces in my truck if anyone wants a lift

      One of the big advantages of running a skirmish game (02 Hundred Hours) at Battlefields is that I don't have to haul 24sq ft of terrain and hundreds of figures. This leaves me with spare room in my ride if anyone wants to save a little gas and ride along. Be warned I plan on staying through the second session so this will be an almost all-day affair.

       Text or call if you want to join in the fun.

Battlefields 2023 March 18th

 

some of the action for Battlefields 2022

        Presented by the good folks at Pro or Con Battlefields represents the end of the "gaming season" here in Metro Detroit. This is always a good convention with a diverse selection of games and a good Flea Market. Hosted in the spacious Elks Hall in Livonia this promises to be a fun time for all.  The schedule of events is available on Tabletop Events (as is the Gamemaster sign-up form) so get on over to that and see about running a game. You can check out the Pro or Con group on their Facebook page. Cost is $10.00 at the door which gets you in and all games are free from that point. 

          I will be running another 02 Hundred Hours scenario, so if you are interested in those rules you can give them a go.

Flintcon 2023, photo report

        Several of my friends braved the single-digit (Fahrenheit, no less) and I took the journey up to Flint Michigan for Flintcon 2023 and what a show it was! As usual the Flea Market was expansive and varied, I stood firm by my commitment and bought no minis (for the first time in a decade!) leaving with just two books. there was a great selection of games and the presentation was very attractive. 

        As is often the case I missed snapping photos of the second half of the Con because I was running a game myself, so you have to figure that the convention was twice as cool as you will see below! A big round of applause for Rod Cain, the one-man dynamo that is the driving force behind this neat little convention, Huzzah!

 28MM SHARP PRACTICE  by Mike Ovsenik, this game featured some lovely terrain and best of all had a steamboat! (a stern-wheeler no less)

Heading to FlintCon 4FEB23, two open seats in my ride

        I will be leaving around 7:30am to head to FlintCon. I have two open seats if anyone wants to save a bit of gas they can report in at my place prior to 07:30 (but NOT prior to 07:15!!!) and I will be happy to give them a lift.