Tropical U-boat Crew

Another crazy ebay deal… Not entirely sure WHY I painted these up right away… but I did.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are the Tropical U-boat crew from Brigade Games. Here they are stumbling through the jungle of some uncharted island in the south pacific searching for some ancient lost temple – oblivious to the unspeakable horrors that await them…. (MWA-HA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-ha…!)

I already have some U-boat Crew that I painted up almost 2 years ago (from Artizan Designs) – they’re not what you might call “dressed for the tropics”, however.

Now all I need is a U-Boat!! (I'll probably scratch build myself on at some point...)

Yakuza and Secret Agents

A couple new things rolling off the workbench…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Yakuza from The Foundry’s Street Violence line.


Some secret agents from Copplestone Castings Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang line…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

So much stuff crowding the workbench these days, it’s hard to say… Some tropical U-boat crew have been getting some paint on them this evening and are closest to completion.

I’ve actually embarked on another massive re-basing project. Oh, I’m not totally rebasing entire armies for some new rule set or anything… just getting all the skirmish guys on one size of base… or at least more of them on a similar size base.

When I had first started basing skirmish game figures on washers I was putting them on ¾” washers… smaller than your average plastic base – which always seemed ridiculously huge to me. Anyway I shortly realized that some figures just wouldn’t fit on that size so I started putting more on 7/8” washers – closer to the size of your average round plastic slotta base – though not so thick!

At first I put stuff on the larger base “as required” but was finding a lot more were required so I eventually started putting ALL my skirmish guys on the 7/8” bases… The only things I was still basing on the ¾” bases were the WW2 stuff. This was really only for consistency – almost all of the WW2 stuff is on ¾” bases.

I’ve started with the Rippers/Victorian/Horror/SF and the Pulp Adventure figures (and started on a few WW2 figures).

I’ve been having a hankering to play WW2 stuff for the last couple days… which is odd, as I thought I’d gamed it to death and if I ever commanded another panzer on the tabletop it would be too soon… but I’ve bee eyeing the 28mm Russians and thinking about shifting a few of the unfinished ones to the workbench, and been thinking about rebasing a few of the 15mm guys to get them all on bases with a common frontage (so I could try out the HOTT Variant).

Well I'm pretty much through with ebay... and now that I'm done I can tell you where I've been finding all sorts of goodies (now that I don't have to worry about being outbid by you..!?).

The first place is Mindsports. Mindsports is a game distributor out of Calgay Alberta Canada, that deals to game stores, that seems to be blowing out dead stock - I've pickes up tonnes (well.. many kilograms) of lead and boardgames for pretty cheap - Clan War, Ral Partha/Iron Winds fantasy, Battletech/Aerotech, Silent Death space ships, the Kryomek critters, etc - all sorts of odd and unusual stuff. Oh and Mighty Armies 15mm fantasy stuff shows up form time to time - which I don't care about - but some of you might...

Antoher place I've been picking up a few things is Gem Games and Hobbies - odd and unusual figures from Foundry, Copplestone, Star Wars, 40K, Call of Chulhu, West Wind... I even picked up two packs of Brigade Games Tropical U-boat crew?!

Maelstrom Games (who also have a non-ebay Web Store) are out of hte UK. I have to say I have never had any troubles with anything coming from the UK - it's generally cheaper and quicker than from the States next door!? Anyway... Maelstrom has a lot of GW, Warlord Games, and other stuff at a bit of a discount (generally 10-15% off the suggested retail), they ship worldwide for free... and with the pound sterling in the tank... it was just too great a temptation - I just bought some Bolt Action Miniatures Falshirmjäger from them. Last year when I was picking up GW LOTR stuff I grabbed a couple things from them as well. They have a mailing list you can get on and they email you when they've got a sale or promotion they've got on (like they do RIGHT NOW - 17.5% off suggested retail the voucher code is: EARLY-EASTER - only applies to their webstore - not ebay, though the ebay store seems to be selling things at the 17.5% off price anyway...)

Red Dragon Games, out of Atlanta Georgia, seems to put up a raft of 40K vehicles and sets for bid twice a week - starting at 99¢... If you're patient you can get a pretty good deal... I just got a Tau Devlil fish for under $20 - brand new, including shipping... Now I know what you're thinking... "Tim, what the f@*K do you need a Tau Devilfish for!?" and... well... all I go to say is it looks cool! and it was a pretty good deal!? ...and I'm playing sci-fi skirmishy games and don't really care what the model are "supposed" to be...

Another place I haven't picked up anything from recently but I have in the past is Hoard O Bits - they crack a lot of GW box sets and sell the off as bits - including the starter box sets for 40K and fantasy - so I picked up a lot of goblins and dwarves from them just over a year ago... they seem to have expanded into selling a lot of other neat minis - Reaper, hasslefree, etc..

Other things I've picked up here and there... When I am on a spree (like I have been recently) and picking up lots of good deals it's because I do a LOT of searching - fairly wide open ones - because some things get miscategorized - or the people selling them don't know what they're selling... I always use the .com site - as opposed to the .ca or .co.uk version as it seems to show a lot more results - though you need to specify "worldwide" in your search to get ALL the goodies showing up...

Anyway... like I said, I'm done... I have WAY too much to paint... and should get back to that!

Dang...

Another load of ebay goodies arrived today bringing the total of acquired foot up to 418...!? ...and there's even more on the way... (Good week on ebay - or "bad", depending on how you look at it).

I had kind of quietly resolved to myself to paint twice as much as I buy this year, but that would mean I'd have to paint over 800 figures this year... which I totally DID do last year... but I spent an absurd number of nights staying up WAAAAAAAAAAY past a sensible bed time to crank that many out... I may have to just resolve to paint more than I acquire... acquisitions x1.5 might still be possible...?

doh...

More Marauders

A couple more mercenary recruits for Morgan’s Marauders.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The dude with the heavy flamer is a Imperial Guard Catachan sniper from Games Workshop (pictured here entirely without their permission!). The other five are are Viridian Commandos from I-Kore’s Void game, currently available from Scotia Grendel.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Silence...

Well not really... I am probably going to take a break from painting for a week to work on some other projects; some long overdue bike maintenance, building some easels for me and the kids to paint at, updating the other blogs, sorting, tidying... that sort of stuff.

Colours

Last week or so neldoreth made a comment about how he took a while to figure out a paint scheme for even a simple scheme like on Tommy the LHAC I had a good chuckle as I'm totally the same way; AGONIZING over the stupidest little things!?

Right now it's all these sci-fi things I'm working on. I finally sorted out the two main forces... K’s Kommandos in Greyish camo, Morgan’s Marauders in greenish camo... and I think I've settled on burnt orange for some Imperial Marines (I figure they don't care if you can see them and they want you to KNOW that they don't care if you can see them, because they are the Big Stick and they are there to settle things once and for all and you are in for a world of hurt and you deserve it if you've let your conflict grow to the point where it's attracted the attention of Imperial Authorities...!)

But I have a bunch of others I'm not quite sure what to do with... I just picked up a couple Starship Troopers figures, I have a pile of Eldar, more assorted VOID stuff, some Kryomek Nexus Marines, a couple old Copplestone/grenadier "Troopers", and some other stuff... disparate groups that I'd like to paint in recognizably different schemes...

The Starship Troopers I agonize about the most at the moment.. probably because I just got them and I'm fired up to paint a couple. Do I paint them in grey and black like the movie...? or in green and black like the animated series...? Something completely different...? if so, WHAT!? URRRRRR!!!

The Eldar I’m also really torn about – flashy and colourful or drab..? Solid colours or patterned…? I did a sample one ages ago, but I’m not totally excited about it…

I’d like to do some 28mm figures up as 28mm Timashek Legionaires, in that crazy orange/black/yellow camo scheme, but I’m not sure which figures to use…

I also have megalomaniac visions of doing some as Hammer’s Slammers… didn’t they wear khaki…?

I’m getting beyond colour, here… now getting into the question of what figures to use as what…

Back to colour, I have a small handful of Imperial Guard Tallarn and I’m not sure if I should do them in some sort of desert camouflage or paint them in more traditional middle eastern colours – like something that might jive with the Afghans that I already have…? I’d kind of like to go with the desert cam, but I may go with the other option simply because I just don’t have that many Tallarn – not enough to make much of a force – and they aren’t exactly cheap and easy to find these days…

…and this is just the Sci-fi stuff I’m currently agonizing about… don’t even get me started about the historical and fantasy stuff…

I should just go paint some stuff that I know how I want to paint, and worry about the rest later...

One Shot, One Kill (or Two… )

“If you run, you’ll only die tired”

Sgt. Winchester does sniping for Colonel Morgan. You’ll only even know he’s in the neighborhood when your buddy’s head explodes in fine reddish–pick mist…


The figure is a Imperial Guard Catachan sniper from Games Workshop (pictured here entirely without their permission!)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

There’s a couple more or Morgan’s Marauders on the workbench... some civvies… an Imperial Marine…

Morgan’s Maruauders

Seven new recruit’s for Morgan’s Marauders. This is the mercenary unit I’m using all these Viridian Commando’s and Imperial Guard Catachans in (like the sentinel and these guys)

Morgan's Marauders are a rival mercenary unit operating in the same sector as K's Kommandos. "Rival" because they just always seem to be operating on the other side. Also Colonel Morgan (and his crew) have a special hatred of K's Kommandos and Commander K in particular (Commander Karla "K" Reynolds has a "Major Enemy: Colonel Morgan" hindrance). This is because Colonel Morgan believes Commander K ordered the execution of some of his boys that were taken prisoner waaaaay back on Darkton X.... What really happened...? Who knows... But the Marauders will take no prisoners when they're fighting K's Kommandos!!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The figures are Viridian Commandos (not to be confused with Viridian STRIKE Commando’s – which I’m using for another unit…) from I-Kore’s Void game. They are apparently still available from Scotia Grendel.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I think I’ll go back and finish up the rest of the Strike Commandos… then maybe some more of these… Or maybe some Pulp adventure or Victorian Horror…. Or maybe some ECW cavalry….

I did win another batch of Kryomek Aliens on ebay yesterday – which will bring me to 25 of the little guys, six of the bigger baddies, and two HUGE baddies… so as soon as those arrive I’ll be painting them up… then I’ll be all set for a big ol’ bug hunt!!

Actually I have quite a haul of ebay goddies arriving soon… mostly sci-fi stuff, but also a couple packs of West Wind’s Vampire Wars stuff. After that I’m going to have to lay off the toy purchases for some time…

I’ve also been doing a bit of re-basing… bringing older stuff up to current standards and sizes…

It’s a Bug Hunt…

“Just what exactly are we dealing with here…”

Quick, nasty, colourless… but DONE!!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Kryomek aliens from Scotia Grendel.

I have five others already done, for a total of 15 of the little guys, 4 of the bigger guys and one big bad nasty… and I may have another batch of them on the way shortly… (MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha…. ha… ha… heh…).

I may have to send the space-faring savages in to do a "discrete third-party investigation" of a ultrasecret Wayland-Yutani bio-weapons research facility that's stopped sending messages... It may just be a downed transmitter...?

So… Now What?!

I don’t know…. Usually the week after a big gaming event I start thinking about what’s next. But right now I feel like I’m at a bit of a loss.

For the moment I’ve actually cancelled my weekly Wednesday gaming night… I’ll probably do the same for Savage Saturday shortly… and I’m officially canceling the gaming weekend originally planned for the end of May… and not making any promises about holding any future gaming weekends…

Oh, I’m not saying that I’m not playing games anymore. I’m just not having regularly scheduled weekly games. I need some time to recharge and get some painting done. Work on some projects… and rethink the format of larger (weekend) events.

I also want to get out on the bike some more.

So what AM I going to be working on… I don’t know… I don’t really feel like working on any big projects at the moment. Though I do like focusing on one thing and getting stuff done – because it’s the way to GET STUFF DONE - I feel totally scattered at the moment and trying to launch into one thing right now would be setting myself up for failure. There’s a half dozen or so projects I’d LIKE to be working RIGHT NOW! These include the Seven Years War British and French (and possibly some “imagi-nations”), Dark Ages DBA armies (Scots, Irish, Welsh, More English, and More Vikings), English Civil War, various Generic HOTT armies (Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, etc…), Lord of the Rings HOTT armies (Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, etc), Samurai DBA/HOTT armies, Sci-fi/Modern/Pulp/Horror skirmish… I’ve even occasionally had a hankering to bust out the 20mm Modern stuff…!? But obviously I just don’t have the time to do it ALL right now.

What I DO seem to have a lot of on the workbench lately is Sci-Fi Skirmish things (should have some pics of the latest stuff posted tomorrow).

We shall see.

Sci-fi Odds and Ends

Back at it after a bit of a break – getting ready for and cleaning up after/recovering from/writing game reports of the Wargame Weekend…. and I had to put together a newsletter the other night…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a slightly bigger version.... sometimes...)


This is a Catachan Imperial Guard Sentinel from Games Workshop. The conversion work was done by the person I bought it off on ebay. Apparently no one else thought it was cool because I got it for 1¢ (yeah, that’s right ONE PENNY!) (Plus $5 shipping)!



It will see action soon enough with Morgan’s Marauders – a rival mercenary outfit in my Savage Worlds Sci-Fi campaign, which is mostly made up of Catachans and Viridian Commandos - not to be confused with the Viridian STRIKE Commandos in the infantry battle suits that I’ve been painting lately. The Viridian Commandos fit right in with the Catachans, being all muscle-bound and equipped in rather light order and, for the most part, without shirts.


Amanda was thinking she wanted something a little different to play in the campaign…. So I painted up this figure from Hasslefree Miniatures for her to use as a telepath.

When I first looked at the figure I thought; “HER flowing skirt’s blowing in the transcendental wind… I’ll have to name her Mary Moon”. Of course she’ll have to be a vegetarian… would that be Quirk: Vegetarian (a minor hindrance)… or Code of Honour: Vegetarian (a MAJOR hindrance)…. Quirk: Wears Crystal Necklace…? Delusion: Wears crystal necklace and believes if gives her MORE POWER!

I also thought it might be funny to make her a gambling addict. Might give her a reason to be hanging with the Crew of the Muttonchop Express - an unregistered psychic on the run from the law with a gambling problem… Can it be considered a gambling “problem” if you always win…? Perhaps I’ll need to give her the “Rich” edge, too…


Another bit from Games Workshop…. A nasty little piece of potentially dangerous terrain. I think it’s supposed to have something with tyranids/genestealers… but I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to do… Perhaps it will be the ravenous maw of the subterranean, egg-laying mother bug that all the nasty little bug takes its prisoners to for feedin’. Potential scenario could be to fight their way through a swarm of bugs to chuck a Thermal Detonator in… perhaps they will need to conceal said Thermal Detonator in something tastely… rancid meats…? Peantu Butter…? I don’t’ know…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I don’t know… so many things I want to work on all right now… I’ll probably keep pluggin’ away at the Sci-fi stuff for a bit – I have three more Sentinels (need to assemble those ones – won a Catachan Sentinel Squadron the same day I won the one pictured above…) and a whole load of mercenary types… more space ships arrived yesterday…

2010 Winter Wargaming Weekend Part 1 – Friday Night

For the last… I don’t know… five or six years (or so?) I have had a wargaming birthday bash in February. I’ve tried to extend that over a weekend at least once before. Last year I hosted two campaign weekends, and this year I had hoped to host a Wargame Birthday Bash Campaign Weekend! Due to some scheduling issues and the fact that originally CVT and Amanda thought they might run in the Brain Freeze half-marathon this weekend I put it off a week into March.

This weekend was originally supposed to be the “Second Annual HOTT Campaign Weekend”, but for a variety of reasons I decided at the last minute to drop the campaign idea and just host a series of one-off games over the weekend.

Friday night we kicked off with the traditional homemade Pizza dinner, followed by a Hordes of the Things MEGA-BATTLE!

CVT, Terry, and Cory all came out from Edmonton and some how ended up playing on the same side against Amanda, Rick and Jackson. Given the armies selected it was hard to decide what to call the sides in the report… “Good”…? “Bad”…? I think I’ll stick with invader and defender…

THE FORCES

Invaders

Normans – Cory
1x Hero General Count Cory de Moutard
4x Knights – Knoble Knights in shining armour
2x Spear – Foot Soldiers
2x Shooters - Archers
1x Cleric – The Arch bishop of Moutard and his entourage
1x Horde – Religious Rabble whipped into a frenzy by the Archbishop

Irish Picts – CVT
1x Hero General (Bran Mac Tighem)
6x Warband – Wild-ass Irish/Pictish Warriors
3x Riders - Wild-ass Irish/Pictish Warriors on horses
1x Beast –Irish Wolfhounds

Vikings – Terry
1x Blade General – Haggis Hammerhand
9x Blade – Viking Hirdsmen
2x Warband - Berserkers


Defenders

Warrior Wymins – Amanda
1x Hero General – General Libby
1x Magician – Elvish Sorceress
3x Blades – Dwarven Shieldmaidens
1x Riders - Centaur Mares
3x Warbands – Two Witch elves and one Wild-ass Irish/Pictish Warrior Wymin
1x Shooters – Elvish Archers

Samurai – Jackson
1x Rider General - General Katsumoto
1x Rider – Mounted Samurai
2x Spear – Ashigaru
3x Shooters – Archers
1x Blade – Earth Elementals
2x Beasts – Lions

Orcs – Rick
1x Hero General - Oberherr Biestreiter
1x Hero
5x Riders – Wolf Riders
3x Beasts – Wolves sans Riders


THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The battle lines… The picture is taken from the North end of the table on the left (east end of the table) from North to South were; The Irish-Picts (with their commander CVT smiling behind them!), The Normans, and the Vikings. On the right (West side of the table), form North to South: The Samurai, The Warrior Wymin, and the Orcs (with their commander Rick eying up his opponents dispositions and plotting his demise…).


The Irish Pict Army of Bran Mac Tighem


The Samurai Army of General Katsumoto


The Warrior Wymin Army of General Libby


The Orcish Horde of Oberherr Biestreiter


The Norman Army of Count Cory de Moutard

Somehow I didn’t get a shot of the Vikings…?


The action started off fast and furious (well at least at the North end of the table)! Within two turns Irish Pict Riders were galloping towards a gap between the marsh and the end of the Warrior Wymins lines – heading, presumably, for the stronghold!


Some Lions from the Samurai Army tried to head them off – attacking out of the marsh… It seemed like a good idea at the time Beasts vs. mounted being +4 and the mounted, fighting against an opponent in bad-going was an effective +1…


Unfortunately when they DIDN’T knock them out the pursued into a rather awkward position…


Didn’t seem to matter in the end, because despite even odds the lions doubled the Riders score the next time around and poof - they were gone!!


Rick and Amanda

The Forces to the South were a little slower to get going


General mayhem ensued in the North as the Irish Picts and Samurai went at it hamer and tongs… and Bran Mac Tighem looking like he might be in a bad way… Archers to the front, Lions flanking…


Nope Bran Mac Tighem rode down those archers and sent the Lions back into the swamp in confusion – they were disrupted by the presence of the other pride and slinked off the field of battle


Once again Lions attacking Irish Pict Riders out of the Swamp and Bran Mac Tighem charging archers!


The mounted Irish Picts were driven back…


… and the Ashigaru archers were driven into the dirt!


Shortly after that the rest of the Irish Pict and Samurai armies clashed!


It went badly for the Irish Picts…


But the next run the Irish Picts gave back as good as they got...


…. taking out another unit of archers and the second pride of lions… The Samurai Army was now teetering on the brink of collapse!


That’s about the time when the forces far to the south FINALLY came to blows! The majority of the Vikings for some reason refused to charge up the hill to attack the Wolf Riders defending it instead they sent in units on the flanks to see if they could get some advantage there.


At the North end of the line the Vikings managed to drive off a mob of Wolf Riders.


Those at the south end of the line weren’t so lucky – a unit of Vikings was surrounded and annihilated.


The Samurai’s Giant turned and started rolling up the line…


… helping to destroy another TWO warbands of Wild-ass Irish Pict Warriors


General Katsumoto looked like he might be in a bad way for a moment. But his bodyguard of hand picked Samurai held off the assaults on all sides and all involved remained locked in bitter combat!


All the while the Norman Army was slowly (as a result of poor communication along the lines) trying to deploy their line opposite the Warrior Wimyn who steadfastly defended the gates of their Stronghold!


The Samurai’s Giant moved up again while General Katsumoto remained locked in combat!


General Katsumoto and his personal Yojimbo put up a fight that would ensure their honor, but they were no match for the overwhelming odds stacked against them…


Unfortunately the last of the Irish Pict Warbands were also wiped out…

This meant BOTH the Irish Pict AND the Samurai commands were demoralized and would soon begin to disintegrate – especially the Samurai, lacking a general!

This all before the other two commands were even seriously engaged!?


The Orcs and the Vikings picked up their tit for tat exchange…


The Orcs riding down another unit of Hirdsmen…


On his next turn Bran Mac Tighem was able to rally all of his remaining forces into a single group and keep them on the table…

The Samurai weren’t so lucky… The next turn the Giant, Mounted Samurai and Earth Elementals all left the field of battle leaving only the two stands of Ashigaru Spearmen!


Dum-de-dum…. Normans still maneuvering into position…


Down South the Berserks took out a pack of Wolves.


Finally the wolves got a bit bored and came down off the hill and the two lines met!


Another unit of Hirdsmen were wiped out tipping the balance back in the Orcs favour.


Then the Wolves and one of the Heroes took out another pair…


Enraged, the Berserks destroyed another pack of wolves!


Bran Mac Tighem rallied his remaining riders and galloped off towards the Defenders stronghold…


The remaining players consider the mess in the south. I think both of those commands were perilously close to being demoralized as well and losing two or three more stands would have lost the game for the defenders at this point!


Amanda.


The Normans line finally arrayed for battle


An errant band of Norman Knights charge a pack of Orc Wolf Riders!


The Wolf Riders are ridden down!


The Warrior Wimyn charge forward to meet the Norman line!


There was a lot of shoving back and forth. The Elvish Sorceress, however, enscorcelled Count Cory de Moutard! On their next turn the Normans rolled a one, the entire command was demoralized and left the field of battle.

Game Over.

The defenders really pulled it out of the fire! Things looked pretty bad when most of Jackson’s army left the table… and looked even worse as the Orcs slowly got chipped away at and Bran mac Tighem started galloping towards the Stronghold!

It was a fun game to watch. Thanks to everyone that came out – Especially CVT, Terry, and Cory!

The rest of the weekend’s games were all Savage Worlds Skirmish games played on Saturday. To follow the action you’ll have to mosey on over to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse.


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

There’s a lot of sci-fi stuff working it’s way on to my workbench these days… There’s the last of the Viridian Strike Commandos (which I may to a How-To paint guide for…) and some other fun stuff… Space ships, 40K Catachans (including a sentinel…). I’d also like to work on some new terrain and some scratch built vehicles.

Of course Friday Night’s HOTT game has got me thinking about getting back to work on Fantasy and Dark Ages stuff…. and the DBAX Seven Years War games of the last couple weeks have got me thinking about painting more of that!?

I’ve decided to make no promises about the format or theme of the Wargames Weekend originally planned for May. Indeed I’m starting to think I may not even HAVE the Wargame Weekend in May. We’ll see… Either way I’m not making any grand plans for any big events and just going to work on whatever suits my fancy for the next little bit… try and finish up a few projects that have been “on the go” for a while but repeatedly shoved to the side because there was other more pressing “MUST DO” things coming up.