The Shameless Creepy Corridor rip - off

So... Andy, a downright cheery fellow with a `special` sort of humour in my slavepen... I mean gaming group, had a great idea, to see what to do in 2011 and what rules he will be using. With him being the `resident mad scientist`, and me more of the `Ferengi Entrepreneur` that shamelessly steals his ideas for blogs and the likes... I`m going to do that again hehehehe.

So onwards to the planning for 2011... the not originally inspired way



I love this game! It`s also the direct reason I ever started a blog (once again, by copying Andy...) as my SAC are my main competitors in the ever devilish ways of the game. Crappy stat italians with a heap of bad chosen, not relevant equipment... and somehow pulling it off makes for great stories to be laughed over later on. And enjoyable to write.
On paint row are much more italians and their vehicles, as well as a trainload of Clone Troopers.
Now I must say, I like the little game. Sure, it has it`s flaws (being not the most clearest set ever written when you get stuck with some min / max abusers at your table for one) but it does allow with a tad of imagination to field like about everything you like. My more creative exploits last year included the 10th Doctor and company, a posse of Predators, Yoda and his Clone Troopers and a Marvel super hero team...



... which brings us to the next ruleset / game in my radar. I don`t know anything about it except that there are plans to order it. I`m hopping along, having a heap of already repainted marvel clix and still more to do. I guess after Excalibur, I`m mostly going for `heroes I like`, like for example Iron Man (and that was BEFORE the movies, thank you very much)...



The most time absorbing fellow of the sets, I`m running a campaign now entering it`s third of 12 months. With about 9 armies in various states of completion and building up forces, it is not my place to comment if the beast is running smoothly, that`s for the players to decide...
But with 4 alien and 5 Human forces on painting row, lots of 6mm scifi is `in the works`, ranging from Khazari raiders to mighty Battletech mechs.



Now this game is a bit ruined for me due to events within the club last year. Nevertheless, some of the players asked for it to be played again, and ever since I ran a Flames of War / Victory at Sea combined campaign, I wanted to repeat it scifi wise. So enter Full Thrust again, though I must say I personally avoid battling when able, doing important stuff like map updates and such those evenings. My OUDF sit in the carry case, well, just in case we lack players.



Paintwise, this is going to be the `Big One` for me. I ordered (and received) the big army deal lot, together with odds and ends, and finally going to build that 28mm Parliament army I always wanted. I know of at least one other player in my game group that has an army for it, so I might even ever get to play a game...
Not that that is going to be urgent, with over 150 models waiting to get their liveries painted and colours raised. For Cromwell and the New Model Army!



JR3 is another of those obscure `I love them, but prolly never get to play them` rulesets I have lying around. Once a year, TSA runs a large ACW weekend, and every year I participate... and that`s about the only time I get to play them. So now I bought 6mm Baccus army packs for both sides, and maybe, just maybe I might tempt someone into a game someday and who knows where it gets from there.



Finished the army last weekend, now to get an opponent. This is starting to form a line through my projects, lack of opponents outside `main stream` games, but he who doesn`t dare,stays a virgin I always say...



... a point proven by WAB. An immensely popular ruleset, this has passed TSA by with lightyears. No one plays it, but I endure and keep on preparing my Irish army (as well as for Age of Arthur, the Irish having missed the military evolution train in the hundred odd years between the books periods). I never actually `got` it how it came ancients never caught on in the club, but like so many things, one good movie could turn it all around of course. Oh well, as with the ECW, this ain`t that urgent, as over 100 warriors need to get painted still.



Now this is perhaps possibly the single most important cover in the list. 2012 will see a return for our group to world war 2, and by then we have a year experience in it`s (small variations) future version. We settled on 6mm due to being cheap as hell (okay, except when, like me, you buy GHQ only) and far more possibilities for large battles then with 15mm like Flames of War. The fact that one player in the group has extensive knowledge of the set does help also of course...
My Italians at least received friends in the form of Hungarians, French and British this week, courtesy of Magister Militum. I also wonder why I never seem to be able to just buy `one small force` instead of megalomaniac amounts of various armies...



My Shroud Mages fleet is painted and based. Now to wait `till that start playing so that the `not Chaos Dwarfs` can steam in.



As covered earlier in this blog, with Project Asrai / Return of the Relics batrep, I`m going back to my roots. Though absolutely not a priority, I`m planning on picking up the odd WFB battle or event in the comming year. At 2000 points at the ready and over 300 models still to restore to a presentable glory, it`ll be a nice touch between ranks of uniformed, small scale models.



Now these rules I love. Better then most fantasy skirmishes out there, and widely received on cheers for the rather innovative gameplay. I guess they will be a source for either 28mm `loose fantasy heroics` or even 15mm, a scale I still have my eyes on, though it is near useless to find opponents in that scale. Still, there are very very pretty Wood Elves and Gnomes out there...



... and finally, to please Andy, just to remind him I haven`t forgotten the game I promised him with his Tyranids vs my `Gundam Tau` still in painting row.

Well, so far my shameless plug from Andy and his CC. You can hit me next time at TSA matey, first one is free (after that, i`ll prolly be ko`ed anyways so won`t know if there was a second, third, fourth etc etc...)

Project Lame-Ass 3: mostly chariots

Yes, I confess, I`m the new Ebenezer Scrooge. But I swear, if the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future appear, they`re going to regret it.

They will be known then on as the Ghosts of Priming, Basing and Varnishing!

So the X-mas weekend is past, and the calm serenity has been abused on painting models. Let others go out and sing chrismas carols (hmm, a choir sweat shop production line... bad thoughts Tomsche, bad thoughts there matey) I`m doing what i swore to do: paint, paint and then paint some more.

The yield of this set was the last 6 chariots of my Irish army (see earlier), the limited edition Crisis model of Leopold 2, a Behemoth mech for the Diamond Shark clan, 2 EuroFed infantry stands, Nocturne and yet another house... a drop on hot plate for the amount `to do` but we`re going steady and strong at the moment.



Next up: a bunch of Eldritch Caste troops, probably some Lizard Riders and then some things I might fancy, like another Gundam from Endless Waltz for example.

Till soonish (I hope)

General Leopoldo Due

Another infamous adventurer joins the SAC, as I continue to work through the limited edition Crisis entry models.

Leopolde

General Leopolde Due is the military commander of the armed forces frequently supporting the society in it`s adventures, but also the lover of a good glass of vino.
A capable and distinguished warrior, he fought in the first weird world war as commander of an Alpini regiment on the French / Italian / Swiss border regions, and personally led the raid on the secret lab of `Duke Droolalot of Zombiestan` in the high alps.
Now detached full time to the society, he makes sure the brave fucilieri and askari have enough weapons and ammo to carry the glory of Italy forward and to return the heirlooms of the past to the museum.



The model is a limited edition Crisis entry model, the second one we ever had, and represents belgium`s (in)famous Leopold II. It was sculpted by the very talented hands of the Perry`s and is for me still the most gorgeous one we ever handed out.

Here come the Irish!!!

Finally it is done! One year and a month to paint up 1000 points of Warmaster Ancients Celtic Irish, and then I claim that small scales paint faster hehehe...

Well, to be honest, most went swiftly, except the last two units of chariots, that stood assembled on my paint table since the beginning of august... scandalous I know :D especcially since the first completed units already appeared in the League Painter League on LAF beginning of the year... so go figure how `speedy` I handled the project.



I don`t know if the force itself is going to be balanced, but I prefer the `rumble rabble` armies over small elite forces like the Romans and the likes.

In the end, and in all it`s glory, here are the sons of Finn McCool



Now to give Albert on our club that battle I promised him for almost 5 years, though at least my army got painted in the meantime :-DDDD

Nocturne joins the Excalibur roster

So finally got around to get my hands on a Nocturne heroclix model and get her repainted for my Excalibur team.

The hardest part is that the heroclix comes in her brown beige exiles uniform, so strategically repainting the black / red / white of her all day `clubbing` clothing that she wears in the Excalibur series did the job decently enough to represent her for the superhero games.



Talia Josephine `TJ` Wagner, your sexiest, favourite little blue skinned, body possessing mutant on the block!

Project Lame-Ass: batch 2

Aaaaaaah, Christmas eve... hours and hours of quiet, silent painting time while the family is off to visit relatives and disgorge in Bachus-esque festivities, while The Clone Wars season 2 plays on my PS3.

Merry Christmas to all!!!


Now, on painting level, this week has been fun and productive.



I finished off all the required armour of my EuroFed force, with the last 3 Tassigny IFV`s and 3 Mont Sabert MBT`s. The left overs of the second hand deal will probably find their way to some BnB one of the weeks.
In addition to those, more 6mm was completed in the form of 2 more stands of Lizard Rider infantry and 4 stands of Eldar Fire Dragons.

A littlebit special this week is a Zaku gundam from the 1/400th scale Neo series, a special set to comerate the 30th aniiversayr of the Gundam franchise. These little scale models are still large enough to be used in 6mm games as `smaller` rank and file battlesuits.



The final pieces of this week are a 15mm Barbarian tent from Baueda, still more then suitable to litter on smaller scale battlefields as large `yurts`, and then the three models that I showed earlier this week, namely the ECW try out model and two of the Crisis LE models.

For the comming set to be completed, with work going to be low this week, I aim to finally complete my 1000 pts Irish warmaster army, and add Nocturne to my Excalibur roster.

Till next time and enjoy the holidays!

New adventurers join the Società di archeologia e cimeli

Two new additions to the Società di archeologia e cimeli teams, as I painted up some limited edition models to integrate into games of WHD! in the future

Silvio `Il Foppio`

Silvio is one of the more extravagant members in a team made up of extravagant people... and that is saying something. Middle aged and flashing, he is one of those people that seem stuck in a wrong time frame state of mind. Dashing over the battlefields as a gallant renaisance lord, wielding a rustic pistol and a dirk while his satin jacket breezes in the wind.
He is brave, perhaps to brave, as he rushes towards the opponent, a trait which has caused him some serious injuries, though miraculously he did survive them all to be said, it also allows the rest of the team to get a good idea where the enemy is shooting from...



The model is the Crisis 2010 free give away model `De Bokkenrijder` (the buck rider), sculpted by Paul Hicks.


Mara

Paleskinned Mara is a simple till clerc from the SAC and not heroic in any way. One day she was working late in an exhibition in the Cairo museum, when she heard rumblings down the main hallway.
She hid in one of the side rooms, but when the noises kept getting louder and louder she had a bout of heroics and donned medieval armour and an old sword that where on exhibition there and rushed out in the corridor, not wanting to die as a cowardly scream queen.
She gave the night cleaning crew the scare of their lives right there and then!



The model is the 2009 Crisis free entry model, De Dulle Griet from the painting in 1562 by Pieter Breughel the Old. Still to be seen in Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp, and sculpted by Paul Hicks

ECW Parliament `tester`

Finally started painting on my ECW 28mm forces, and trying to puzzle out a `main regiments` paint scheme

In the end, I went for Skippon`s lads, as the combination of red vests ties in with the New Model Army and green banners that contrast well with the red and buff colours



In the end, I`ve decided on one regiment of Philip Skippon, two of Saye & Sele`s and probably some New Model style forces, mainly for the more specialised troops like the firelocks

Project Lame-Ass: the first batch

So the last mail orders went out, with an army deal of Parliament 28mm ECW to Warlord, Khazari Raiders from the Exodus Wars range, fill outs for my PacFed and EuroFed forces from Brigade and a whole lot of WW2 material at Magister Militum... and as 2010 draws to a close, that will be it in buying models for a long time (unless, some second hand deals etc pop up, but that`s beside the goal).

2011... the year the majority gets painted. Or so we hope. In our imagined fantasy way..

Nevertheless, between hard working days and a major hangover that reminded me of my college days, I did finish of a first `plate` of models, albeit with them being desert scheme tanks mostly, it ain`t that much of a jiffy.

Some M13/40s and Lancia RO trucks where completed for the Italians in ww2 desert campaigns, as well as 3 Tassigny command, 3 Tassigny IFV and 2 Montsabert MBT`s for the Eurofed`s.

Then the next one was the first of 6 stands of MicroWorld lizard riders for use in Future War Commander, as one needs infantry in the game (apart from the obliged choice) to occupy objectives and such, though at 85 points a stand these are seriously expensive buggers. More alien lovin` was also painted up in the first of the Saim Hann Eldritch caste SPG`s, a really old and classic model which I like due to the big ass cannon mounted upon it.

Bolstering the Diamond Sharks, a Shadowhawk mech also got completed, painted in the livery of the Beta Galaxy. A nice mobile medium mech with as a primary goal to bump up the numbers.

Finally, two more buildings got painted up, in the everlasting effort of collecting enough scenery that can double in both scifi games as in the (early stages) planned follow up of the FWC campaign in 2012, returning to the world war 2 era and using the `sister rules` of Blitzkrieg Commander...



Not a bad start for the project, the next series will include some limited edition Crisis entry models, and the round up of the tank units for my EuroFed`s with the last needed Tassigny and Montsabert tanks. Apart from that... it`ll be what I feel like that will get painted hehehe...
Unless I can`t get myself torn away from World of Tanks. Love the game for all it`s no brainer easiness.

Project Lame-Ass: the Assault on Lead Mountain

... or better known as a one man struggle to reduce the mountain of unpainted lead during the year 2011!

It is time to ge to action, and as such I`ll be chronolicing my efforts to reduce the 1000s of miniatures scattered around `Casa Tomsche` and convert them into finished projects of painted armies.

The intention (however unlikely) is to not or rarely buy any models during 2011, except for BnB bargains, Salute and Crisis. No more tempted impulse buys, the masses need to be finished first! At current I`m around 5000 unpainted models and scenery of all sorts of scales, eras and settings, and the goal is to reduce it in 2011 to under 1500! Ambitious? Very much YES! Obtainable? He, if your reading this, your probably a wargamer yourself and you know the answer to that question ;)

BUT no harm in trying, the last mail orders for a year (my God, if I repeat this long enough, I might believe it myself) will go out this week (an Exodus Wars 6mm scifi Khazari army, a 28mm Parlementarian ECW army and 6mm GHQ odds and ends to fill out my WW2 armies)and then it all will start in earnest.

To motivate myself, I`m going to keep this series updated irregularly. Every time I painted up a batch for varnishing, I`m gonna put a post with my usual idiotic ramblings and insights, as well as projected plans and the likes here, off course with the obliged pictures. Can`t stop hurting people`s eyes now can we!

So where to go and what to do? Well, included, but not by a long short the complete list, are amongst others finishing off 6mm scifi armies for Lizard Riders, Tau, Eldar, EuroFed, PacFed, Battletech Diamond Sharks and Khazari. World War 2 wise in the small scale includes african theatre Italians, late war british, eastfront hungarians and early war frenchies. Musket era and the likes are a 28mm ECW army and 6mm Union and Confederate ACW armies.
Then there are off course the still not finished 10mm Warmaster Historical Irish, 28mm Hibernians for Shieldwall, 28mm Celtic Irish for Age of Arthur...
And we still have a heap of WFB wood elves and 40k tau to tackle. Probably somewhere in between 28mm Pulp, 28mm WW2 (which can double in Pulp), Anime Tactics and Gundams...

In other words, to quote Sam Beckett: `Oh Boy!`

Converting the little people

No, this isn`t a post about bringing leprechauns over to some obscure faith, but about filling some gaps miniature wise in Future Wars Commander.

As earlier posts have already told, our game group is running a major campaign in 6mm, and some of the armies I have lack entries left or right in the miniature ranges, and so it came down to my poor converting skills to knock something together for use in my battles.

The first up where the artillery and aircraft support for my Micro World Games lizard rider army. Reptiloid species riding dinosaurs, even though the army list is having a hard time winning games due to lack of survivability and very expensive infantry causing them to have low breakpoints, an image to great to resist.

So first up, the artillery and FAO officer. The officer was pretty simple, a normal infantry man and some scanner looking periscope device. The device was a lever from I don`t know which kind of 15mm cannon from Flames of War anymore. The artillery was a 10mm Pachysaurus I got from Magister Militum.
His back got a little bt filed down and the turret with panzerfaust missile from a german Pak36 (again, 15mm german leftovers from Flames of War) put on top of that.



Next up, an aircraft with FAC officer. Again, the officer was a simple base `work out` to show him easily on the battlefield. In this case, it was an infantry man mounted on top of a column. The column is the top of a Doctor Who Mirco-universe spinner, so now the bloke can overlook the battlefield and direct the airstrikes.
The plane itself was again a 10mm Magister dinosaur, this time the Quatzalcoatl (the dinosaur of that name, not the mythical mayan bird). He was then equipped with wingbombs, which I got from FoW Stuka divebombers, and a cockpit which was once a backpack of some himalayan gear looking chinese fella.



And the guys together with some regular `saurs to show the scale and size.



The second project to fill out was a Cronus walker to use in the EuroFed list from Brigade. For this, I used a Serpent Gundam of Marimeia`s army in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz from the Bandai 1/300 gundam models series. These models come in at around 6 - 7cms, so he is towering enough to warrant a 700 points monstrosity.
I removed his Vernier backpack rocketboosters, as well as his typical anime `big cannon of doom` weapon. The latter was replaced by a 28mm machine gun of I have no idea where that ever came from, and to simulate the traditional `beam sabers` often used in the various Gundam series, I added a 40mm scimitar from a Mega Miniatures genie range, and painted that a bright pink. Ideal for the 12dice assault version of a Cronus walker.
Couldn`t resist though in order to show his `heritage` to christen the walker `Marimeia` ;)

XXXG-01H2 HeavyArms Kai

The second 6mm scaled Gundam completed for the running campaign, and my favorite from the Wing series: HeavyArms, in his Endless Waltz version.

Armed with two double barrelled gatling guns as main weapons, I like the darkish colourscheme more then the red / orange scheme of the original HeavyArms, and didn`t waste any time to get him painted up for use soonish on the battlefield (soonish as in, when his 4 companions are painted up as well)

Sculpting a hut, my very first greenstuff experience ever...

I decided today to tackle a new aspect of the hobby, after more then 15 years of wargaming... to start dabbling in greenstuff and modelling clays in order to undertake a hand a sculpting.

Now, mind you, if I say `very first`, that is as good as very first ever. I did some (perhaps 10 or so) small patch ups on models (a collar, a tad of hair, ...) on 28mm models, and that was hell, I`m really not good at / with the stuff. With new into it, I actually mean totally new, I have no idea about curing times, tools best used, that kind of stuff. So armed with a ball of two part greenstuff and my stanley cutter knife I settled behind the desk, Gundam SEED playing on the background.

BUT I need a heap of scenery for both 6mm and 10mm, so I guessed, lets try it again then and this time with a bit more patience then usual... if it worked, I might give it some more tries, if it didn`t... well... no harm done.

So what to build and what scale? Nuhu, let`s not start with any hard questions thank you, I`m starting out with something very basic, which I labelled as a `fantasy hut`, a round hut with a doorframe, tatched roof and a chimney was ambitious for a green with green.

So first up was a `tube` rolled around a piece of oval plastic, which I think long ago was a part of an Osprey spyplane` engine kit or something, and a small piece of plasticard to support the roof from imploding. A small strip was added for the doorframe, and a second ball of greenstuff on top to make the roof.



Then problems arose... I couldn`t hold the thingie without trashing it, so in came a cap of creamtube and doublesided tape, and we we`re on the road again. The roof was `bulged out` and a small block of greenstuff added to become the chimney, and then the detailing could begin.
I did learn one thing from the few repairs over the years, namely to keep fingers and knife damp, not drown it like I used to do.
I envisioned the house a bit like the old 19th century `blockhuts` style, with a wooden underside and then limestone walls, before going over in the straw roofs. Hey, I said I called it `fantasy`, just in order to
1. not lie awake about historical accuracy and
2. just to have more artistic freedom

Lots of knife strokes later, the little hut got finished, and I`m not totally unhappy with the result. I`m definitly not a sculptor I guess, but the most important thing, I really, really enjoyed myself doing it and i`ll definitly be trying more things in the future. That much in fact, I even might think of looking for someone to cast the green up and as such be able to scatter some of them around on the battlefield... so no painting the little bugger for now.




And what about the final dimensions? The hut is based on a 2x2cm plastic base, and is just under 2cm in height. This makes it van be used as a sort of storage stable in 6mm, but also as a small hut in 10mm, and I think if I linger a few around in a normal dark age / fantasy village, it isn`t going to look out of place that much... so in a way, mission accomplished!

6mm scale Mobile Suit Gundams

Recently I `discovered` a series of japanese gashaphon (a fancy word for basically trading figures)of Mobile Suits in 1/300, mainly from the Gundam Wing: Eternal Waltz anime series, though it does include some models as well from G Gundam so far.

Various hong kong companies sell them seperatly, so thats already a benefit to avoid buying heaps and heaps of the `blind boxes` to get what you want, and so I bought a series of them for use in 6mm games. Including shipping and customs, the models clock in at around 10 USD all total on average.

I only hope they start doing more of those from other series, like the `standard` HeavyArms from Gundam Wing, Leo suits from that series, and the awesome suits from SEED and SEED Destiny like (especcially) Strike Freedom for example.

The first of the suits I painted up (though the factory paint job isn`t to bad at all, definitly better then most `clix` series out there) is Zechs Marquis Tallgeese, whom is together with the HeavyArms Custom by far my favourite looking suit of the series, for the wiki on the Tallgeese, you can see here

Now, Gundam mobile suits are big `fluff wise`, and Tallgeese was even bigger then the rest, making this model standing out over 7cms and dwrfing models like a Mad Cat from Battletech, let alone infantry of small tanks which fit nicely under one of his feet. The model below is based on a 40x40mm base to give an idea of the size of the mobile suit



Rulewise I first planned on using them as `titans` for a red Guard (aka, Imperial Guard) army in Future War Commander, yet after nosing some more through the various army lists, I`m going to opt for the Cav Open Market list to be able to field the big blokes.

Now to start work one of the days on HeavyArms Custom

Cheerios

Humanity`s Gravest Hour campaign weekly update

Tonight we started with the ground part of our planned 1 year campaign (see previous entries all over the Society and at our buddy of Creepy Corridor) with the first dabblings into the Future War Commander ruleset

Six battles have been played (though small in point scale to get the knacker of the rules), and the report is in the weekly newsletter post at the TSA forum here.

Updated through the week, so feel free to pass by on occassion (and if your ever in the neighbourhood, ANYONE can participate in the campaign btw)

What to do, what to do...

So, Crisis is now officially completely over with the clubhouse back in dang order... and the pondering begins.

So many projects halfway through, in the begin phase, near the end phase or still in the blister phase, that I have like totally no idea how I`m going to proceed.

On the one hand, I think it might not be a bad idea to start actually finishing projects (then again, is there something as a finished project), on the other hand there might be something in the charm of mix and matching everything on the painting table and suddenly find myself done with a lot...

Things to do at the moment:

Nearing completion:

* a 1000 points Warmaster Irish army, only 2 more units of chariots to go, and in the future some left or right left over units from the Magister Militum army deal
* 2000 points Flames of War italians for the desert...
* 1/7000 scale Starfleet
* Full Thurst OUDF, only some battleships and fighters to go

Halfway through, but still a lot to do:

* My warhammer Wood Elves, still about 3000 points worth of models to do
* Battletech Clan Diamond Shark, the infantry and half the mechs are done, but still about 10 mechs and some airplanes to do.
* Kraytonians, still quite a lot to do even though we already did a lot
* 10mm ww2 Italians for the desert
* 20mm ww2 Italians... yup... indeed, there again
* More PULP italian soldiers. They wear desert gear btw...
* Star Wars Clone Troopers, repainting of prepaints

I started on them, and full of good intentions:

* 6mm Lizard Riders. Dinosaurs march to war!
* 6mm GHQ ww2 Italians. They are in... yeah, I`ll stop telling it now...
* 6mm Gundams. One can never have to many battlesuits
* 6mm ACW Union troops
* 40k Tau, slowly started, partly still collecting
* Epic Tau, the first 1000 points for FWC is done, but a lot still to go
* 28mm Irish for Shieldwall, and 28mm Irish for Age of Arthur (basically, mix in some celts with the other ones, the benefit of not evolving to fastly over the course of two hundred years

They are in the blisters, but I`ll start them yupyup:

* a 10mm Fantasy army of Wood Elves for one day fantasy warmaster or the likes
* 6mm ACW Confederates to fight my Union with JR3 rules
* 15mm Pinguin army

Quite a list as such still to go... these are going to be LOOOOOOOOOOONG weeks as I aim to at least get some things done before new year. I guess my ST:O game time will be limited ftm to the weekly episodes only for now, while I have to decide what to do first.

Since I`m going to stock up on Kaiser Rushford boxes and trays to solve storage problems, I might as well opt for `filling a box` at a time... urgh... rambling off for now, I need to go paint ;)

Mainly Military & Modern Battle Ground 6mm scenery

A series of 6mm (and other scales as well) scenery I discovered past saturday at Crisis and sold by Plastic Soldier, I must say I am impressed with the quality of the prepaints, much better then the chinese sweatshop level of Heroclix and the likes.

All their models come in both a painted and an unpainted version, and ranged between a pound to 5 pounds for the 6mm ranges, except some big bags of several items, which still only came at around 12 pounds.

I bought quite a few of the unpainted ones, and the araban village set, the two buildings that also feature on the `build up` village and a mosque however I opted to buy as prepaints, mainly because I liked the light sandy tone of them.

On the picture below the buildings can be seen, together with some recently painted GHQ italians (I FINALLY started working on those), and both the scale and the colour (that is, the one I am using already for ages on all my italians of all scales) are more then fine in my book. I`m a truly satisfied customer and whenever I`m bumping into those blokes at other conventions, I`m going to take some of them home to expand the scenery collection of TSA

Another CRISIS averted

So another year past by and another heap of euros flowed from casa Tomsche to all those poor traders that have to feet their kids, wives and stock in belgian beers...

The loot:

* 10 painted and unpainted 6mm scenery pieces from Mainly Military through Chiltern, at a nice pound = euro TSA discount rate. Love the little stufsies and the painted versions are worth it (not `chinese clix level painting)

* The new WAB rulebook with a nice discount from David of Caliver Books, he insisted to give me an extra one because I unloaded his `elastic van` on friday (which is just part of the club service and I told him, but he kept insisting, thanks mate)
* From the second hand the 2nd edition boxed set of the FASA star trek roleplay, for only 5 euros
* The old Star Trek roleplay Worlds of the Federation book

* About 40 Battletech Mechs (though I made a serious booboo in using a wrong list and got like 15 unusables), but as they only costed around 5 euros a blister, not to much a worry
* From the second hand a blister of Jovian Chronicles Sireen exo armour
* Forge World Tau orbital stations and spaceships, for only 40 euros on the bring and sell
* A Warlord box of 3 Celtic Chariots for 15 euros from a trader liquidating his stock at -50%

* Kaiser Rushfort 8 layer and 3 layer carrying cases, with foam trays for both 6 and 10mm transportation

* Coat D`Arms paints with the TSA discount and some free brushes, from Mark at MBM Models

* Bad back and stiff knees from two days of running and hauling along


Paint schedule 2011, here we come

Tau Commander O`Trowa: the CV10 HeavyArms Supreme Battlesuit

So the moment has arrived to finally have my future Force Commander painted, Commander O`Trowa.

So Forge World makes big beasties for other races, so what do the Tau need? A bigger battlesuit of course!




Now for his bodyguard cadre I`m prolly going to order two of the beautiful Forge World battlesuits, but thats something that`ll have to wait quite some time still (unless a free shipping xmas offer or such appears) as I got lots of 6mm projects to finish first

Phase One: The Invasion Begins

And so the time arrives that the TSA 6mm scifi campaign officially kicks of. Humanity`s Gravest Hour, a year long campaign using Future War Commander rules, will see it`s first ground battles the week after Crisis (that being the 12th of november then), starting out with intro games of 1.000 points a side in order to allow everyon to get the hang of the rules.


Weekly campaign oversight, which is updated like, yup, weekly

I hope and asked all participants to gather two forces minimum, namely their `main faction` army and a small, just in case, force of the opposing faction to avoid ending up on evenings with all humans or all aliens.

And here are the two forces I`ll be playing the campaign with, as alien force (which should had become my main, but I fear we`re a bit low on human players so I`ll probably end up playing more on their side) I chose the Cybernetic Species X31 (or Tau for short):



While for the human side, I`ll be commanding the one thing that is so cool in any game... BATTLEMECHS. Clan mechs to be precise. Diamond Shark clan mechs to be preciser. Beta Galaxy Diamond Shark Clan mechs to be nitpicking...

More paintscheme test outs

So I managed to paint one each of the units for my army, namely a fire warrior, a drone and one of the Parakeetmen in order to have a template for my Tau force



But before we start mass producing units, first we`re now starting work on Commander O`Trowa in the Crisis HeavyArms Battlesuit teeehheeeeheee

Athena Exclamation!

Well, not everything of my hobbies includes wargames, it also includes anime, and especcially Saint Seiya. When the Myth cloths range got released, I`m donating a monthly part of my paycheck to the models, and this year Bandai came out with a limited to 528 copies each set of the Athena Exclamation, one with the Gold saints (Mu, Aiola and Milo) and one with the three Fallen (Saga, Shura and Camus). For the full backstory on this, I refer you to the Chapter Sanctuary of the Hades part of the anime, but I got my statues now, respectively 302 / 528 and 448 / 528.

All in all they knocked me back around 400 euros including shipping and customs costs, but they are for me worth each and every eurocent and make a great centerpiece in my figures cabinet.

So that was 2010, up to 2011

"Hey what, it ain`t new year yet!" I hear you think, and your right of course, but I tend to calculate my `wargame years` from november to november, with our clubs own wargame show, Crisis.



This usually is the event where new ideas are spawned (and many burried afterwards, but that`s wargamers for you), and plans are made together with heaps of shopping lists for the comming wargame year.

So what am I planning to do the next year then?

Good question, i`m going to try (enter hysterical audience laughter) to finish projects for once instead of starting new ones all the time.

First of all, there`s the hopefully one year going to run 6mm scifi campaign I rambled about earlier, and plan to finish an army completely for both sides, namely the Tau and the Battletech Clans.

Then there is that 10mm irish army, where I `only` need to paint 2 units of 3 chariots still for to make them battle ready... something I have to do for like 3 months now *shame on me* and paint the remaining few units to flesh the whole force out.

Third in the pipeline is to build a 1500 points Tau force for 40k (though knowing myself, it`ll end up way bigger) and this is also my `target material` for the comming Crisis.

So that`s the top 3 of things to do, but there is more what I have to ponder on and more importantly, work on...

* Project Asrai... it ain`t finished, far from it even! Many more bowmen await alongside wizards and all kinds of forest dwellers to get a new paint job. And I should be looking out for 3 to 6 Treekin on eBay or second hand markets for a bargain on those.

* Finally commence painting on a 6mm GHQ Italian army for Blitzkrieg commander. They are still lying here for almost two years now, and not even opened so far...

* Redo the 15mm Flames of war Compagni Carri I still have. About 2000 points, and those new `what if` P40`s might fing their way into the force as well... at Crisis of course hehehe

* And we keep staying in the italian side of things (hey, this is the societa after all hehe) with some 28mm extra troops like LMG`s for use in Pulp games and the likes.

* 1/7000 Starfleet to slowly replace the models I have in larger scales.

* Continue work on the 28mm Army of the Clones

Seems like a busy calendar already, and no doubt a lot will be added to it as the next game year processes, might be time to trade away a couple of stillborn projects and impulse buys before the next load comes in... and that give away model from the comming Crisis might inspire a Buck Rider orientated thing as well...

Tau colourscheme testout

Tested out transferring the epic scale scheme to a full sized battlesuit, and this is the result of how the future Tau army will look like:




Somewhere in the comming week I`ll be trying to get this on epic scale suits as well, and I`m quite curious how that is going to turn out on the small guys

Pocket sized Tau

Last week I traded away a heap of models of 28mm Doctor Who with a clubmate for a large amount of Epic Tau.

Now, I`ve always been a fan of them since they came out due to their `japanime` look, so I jumped at the deal in order to field `Cybernetic Species X31` in the Future War Commander section of my campaign.

And it gave the opportunity as well to test the paint scheme I have in mind for the 40k version of my force in being

Mad Cat`s Brujaaah!!!

So the campaign has begun, and armies gather. One of my `humanity` armies will be build from Battletech (Ral Partha) models Clan list, the Diamond Sharks.

Well, it`s a general name for the Clan lists for FWC, but I like the colourscheme and the backstory from the old 3050 series (the name changes, the fact they `weren`t ready` and the fact they invented the Mad Cat II)



In game, I like the concept of their commanders being `upgrades` for the mechs, though the fact that they then use the skirmish variant command units does make them a lot more vunerable opposed to the regular lists, but heck, it is only a game after all and a campaign a story!

HGH The Starting Maps

With the start of our mega campaign, Humanity`s Gravest Hour, now less then 48 hours away, I`m presenting the maps at the start of the campaing.

The space map will be for Full Thrust, starting with 250 points `first probes` games this friday in the Hemisphere regions (the northern and southern barriered areas), then gently cruising up in points till after Crisis when the campaign officially starts it`s run.

Full reporting on the campaign can be followed on

Project Asrai: The Finale

And so this project concludes, restoring a battleworthy 2000 points tournament force out of a heap of old figures I found back. It ain`t everything that I have that got painted, but this is enough to get me `back into a game` occasionally.

Ancient Archery

So I needed 10 scouts for the force, and found these little gems amongst the collection. Hailing from around 1990, the Sea Elves are now part of my Asrai host to sneak up on the enemy lines and shaft them early on.



I got wood!

Of course, no `true` classic Sylvanesti host would be complete without one of the old Marauder treemen. A strong hingepin to anchor the lines of archers on, I always loved these guys even before they received a train of special rules.



We can dance, we can dance...

The final unit for the force is a second, small unit of War Dancers, of the `next generation` compared to the other unit. Led by the old Warhammer Quest character as a Bladesinger, they will mainly have the job to be stop gaps where the thin green line seems to bend.




And so the force is completed with this group shot. Normally Iwill be playing a tournament next week (with like, 1 battle of 1000 points under the belt) but I still haven`t received confirmation, so it might be that that won`t pass. No worries on my part there, then the next time this force comes out of the closet will be with the War of the Beard 2011 tournament at the local club.




So, what now?

Well, going to spend most of the time working on the Humanity`s Darkest Hour campaign, and as such will be finishing my host of 6mm armies and the final ships of my OUDF fleet for Full Thrust fleet first. After that? Who knows, I certainly don`t hehehehe...

So thanks for following my ramblings for two months, and till the next time!