In Country

Some of those new Vietnam War Americans saw some action this weekend. As I was using a mash-up of Savage Worlds and Force on Force, the after action report ended up over on Savage Timmy's Playhouse. 

We made some characters for a new campaign and played a quick trial action. You can read the report and see the rest of the pictures here:

In Country 

Two New Blogs!

No, not mine...

Within an hour of each other, two of my friends sent me links to new blogs they've started yesterday!?

First is Gary's (a local gaming pal):

http://saskatoonminiwargamer.blogspot.ca/

Note that "Tim M." mentioned in his post is not me. This is the person often referred to, on my blog, as "Other Tim". I would be "Tim B." Hopefully one of these days I'll get over to Gary's for a game and show up in one of his game reports (though I have to admit I'm sick to death of WW2 at the moment and as WW2 is Gary's true passion - wargaming wise - it may be a while).

The other is my globe-trotting friend Will - who currently resides in Victoria, BC, Canada:

http://willstoysoldiers.blogspot.ca/

Though the first post is Napoleonic, Will's done a lot of cool Colonial and Great War gaming. Hopefully he'll be showing off some of those collections at some point!

Last of the Vietnam War Americans

I’ve had a hankering to play some Ambush Valley and/or Tour of Darkness (or some evil mash-up of the two!?) and since I finished up the Australians… I thought I might as well finish up the last of the Americans…

I actually tried taking these pictures in my new super deep window sill/boxes – which actually get a fair bit of natural light – Not a big enough area to do big unit pictures, but I could fit a terrain square in there for a small group shot – and I think it turned out pretty well – which bodes well for those -40°C days when I’ve finished up som new figures I no longer have to freeze my fingers off to go outside and take pics – or have to wait a week for the weather to warm up a tad (to, say, -30°C…).

I am told the bulk of the workers will be off site and the yard cleaned up in less than a week (I’m not holding my breath or anything, but things do seem to be wrapping up!). When everyone’s gone I should be able to get out in the yard to take some better pics of the whole collection and update the 28mm Vietnam Gallery

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

The last of the American minis (well.. almost… I realized after I finished these up I have one more downed pilot somewhere that still has to be painted!?). These are a mix of figures from The Assault Group, and Baker Company. AS I also have a lot of West Wind Productions Vietnam figures, I’d kind of like to, at some point, pick up some of the 25mm Vietnam figures from Battle Honors, and (if I could track them down!) some from Force of Arms… Is there anyone else that makes Vietnam figures in 25/28mm?

I also happen to finish up this M113 from The Assault Group…

…and this tank that sort of looks like an M48 Patton (at least I think it does – less the search light). I picked it up as part of a pack of plastic toy soldiers at a dollar store years back thinking it looked close to 28mm… I guess I should have put a figure in there for scale. I should have picked up a few more packs so I could have had a whole platoon. I have a feeling the packs were closer to $5 and I threw out all the other stuff that came in the pack… I can’t remember if it was spending $20 on tanks that I may or may not ever use or disgust at the fact that I’d have to throw out so much extraneous plastic soldiers… (actually I may not have thrown them out… they’re probably in a  box somewhere… I am a horrible pack rat!!)

While this is the last of the Vietnam American soldiers I have, I think (somewhere in a box) a few more Viet cong and a bag of West Wind Productions “Montagnards” (which don’t look at all like any Montagnards I’ve seen on pictures, they look more like Col Kurtz’s troops from Apocalypse Now – Were they supposed to be montagnards?). I also have a few vehicles to finish up…

Huey Gunship that is very nearly complete (these are the deep window boxes I was mentioning. Nice, eh?)…

And a Revell 1/48 Navy Swift Boat. I think I might tackle this over the next week. I know… I know… If I’m tackling any model kits I should REALLY be doing the Aurora Mosnter Model kits I promised I’d do for my friend Rick (oh… almost a YEAR ago!)… Maybe if I’ve got the modeling stuff out I could do them concurrently…? That seems like a good idea…

AT some point I wouldn’t mind picking up a few more M113s (and maybe some M113 Armoured Cavalry vehicles…? Maybe even the ones from The Assault Group - if they ever get around to making a crew pack for those!!) and a couple Huey Slicks… (and the aforementioned additional figures from the other manufacturers…) but I’m pretty happy with just finishing up what I’ve got for the time being!

I think after I finish up the Swift Boat and the Gunship it’ll be time to make some more Vietnam terrain – most of which could be used for other places… I’m thinking some rifle pits and log bunkers… some perimeter wire and sandbag bunkers for American bases… gun pits for the mortar crews…. Maybe even a landing pad for the gunship? And a bunch of “Hot Spot” markers for Ambush Valley (which will mostly be tunnel entrances).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Huey Gunship… Navy Swift Boat… The Mummy!

(and maybe that last downed pilot – if I can find him!) 

More Australians (and Americans) for the Vietnam War

This batch finishes up all the Vietnam War Australians I have… and took a chunck out of the few remaining Americans…

A lot of work going on around the house this weekend – so I wasn’t able to get around to taking these outside to take pictures during the limited daylight hours (and it’d be the same story tomorrow) so I tried taking pictures indoors. It didn’t work out so well… But I don’t know when I’m going to get a chance to take any better photos, so this is what you get for now…

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

The latest batch. All the Australians are from The Assault Group, and the Americans are from Baker Company.

The Americans from Baker Company.

The complete Australian Platoon (plus a few extras) All the Australians are from The Assault Group.

Platoon Command – Platoon Leader (lieutenant – with Owen carbine), 2IC (Sergeant - SLR), 2 runners (Privates - one with Radio – both with SLR)

First Section – Section Commander (Corporal- SLR), Section 2IC (Lance Corporal?), two Scouts (Owen Carbines), one Gunner (M60), and four Riflemen (SLR)

Second Section  – Section Commander (Corporal- SLR), Section 2IC (Lance Corporal?), two Scouts (Owen Carbines), one Gunner (M60), four Riflemen (SLR), and one Grenadier (M79)

Third Section – Section Commander (Corporal- SLR), Section 2IC (Lance Corporal?), one Scout (Owen Carbine), one Gunner (M60), and five Riflemen (SLR)

Extra guys with M16s to replace all the Scouts armed with Owen carbines for a later war Australian platoon.

A reinforced patrol from the Australian Special Air Service Regiment.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have such a small number of remaining things for Vietnam, I should really finish them up. I t would be the sensible thing… but then… when have I EVER done the sensible thing!? 

Vietnam Aussies and Americans

As I mentioned in the previous post I recently tracked down a copy of The Odd Angry Shot - one of my all-time favourite war movies. Watching it again after… oh… 20 years… has inspired me to finish up some of my Vietnam Aussies (and other stuff). I have about a platoon of Australians plus an SAS patrol.

I also happened to finish up a few extra Americans I acquired recently - like, within the last year or so – I had, at one point, more or less finished up all my Vietnam figures… but then picked up a few more from another fellow blogger off the AAG Forum… I think it was Xander…?

I had done a post a few years pack showcasing the collection - Vietnam in 28mm - since then I have finished the PAVN and a few of the other things that were still unpainted at the time (and rebased some of the heavy weapon teams). One of these days I should update the 28mm Vietnam Gallery Page. I don’t have a whole lot to finish up to call this collection complete – so maybe I should push to get this all finished up before I lose impetus.

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

A platoon command section for the Australians. The Platoon Commander (a Lieutenant) is carrying the Owen Carbine, The Platoon Sergeant and Runner carry SLRs, and signaler doesn’t seem to have anything…? Darn it, I just remembered I’d ordered a pack of spare SLRs at one point I could have one lying beside him on the ground – perhaps I’ll have to go find them and add one now… (Figures are from  The Assault Group).

Three more Australian SAS patrolmen – also from from  The Assault Group.

A few American LRRP types Again the figures are all from  The Assault Group.

Finally, some Americans with M-79 Grenade Launchers from, I think, Baker Company (these are figures I got off the forum…). I really like the poses of the figures, I have a few more to paint up. If I didn’t already have a whole damn platoon of Americans, I’d be tempted to pick a few more up… maybe I’ll pick up some “characters” at some point…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Perhaps some more Vietnam stuff… and maybe a bit of planning for the winter and next year…

A Weekend of Painting

It’s a long weekend here in Saskatchewan (and most of Canada) and I’ve been painting all weekend… Unfortunately it’s not the sort of painting I usually post about on this blog. (It’s not even the sort of painting I post about on the other blog!). No, dear friends, I was house painting.

If you’ve been reading a while you may remember back in the spring me making dire predictions about how my productivity was about to drop sharply due to immanent renovations that were to occur at my abode. We has talked to a couple of younger fellows about a year about about taking on the project and they were not only willing to do it, they seemed rather keen to take on this sort of project – which is in sharp contrast to the attitude of most builders in this town who would all tell us to tear down our house and build a new one… They originally said they would like to start as early as they could. May, perhaps April if the snow was gone…

Well, things got held up… and they didn’t end up STARTING until the end of July – when they’d originally told us they’d be DONE! (which would have given me most of August to do the few things I was going to do on my own – painting, flooring, some finish work…). When they started in July they told us they’d be done and gone in 6 weeks. It’s now mid October and there’s still a LOT of work to be done – and this is causing me some anxiety as they still need to finish getting the exterior insulation up, roofing, and stucco done and winter is fast approaching – it is dropping well below 0°C at night which is going to make stuccoing a bit of a challenge!

Anyway, here’s some pics of what’s been going on…

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

This is what our house looked like at the end of July.

Three pics of the upstairs all cleared out ready to go – keep an eye on that stairwell and the low ceiling and chimney beside it (that any adult would have to duck and walk hunched over past to get into our room upstairs).

Here’s what the house is currently looking like from the outside.

Essentially we needed a new roof and some insulation. The existing walls are brick with wood-chips inbetween – completely inadequate for a region that gets to -40°C (and below!) in winter. While we were at it we figured it might be nice to build a dormer upstairs and replace all the ancient windows that had long since been painted shut.

It turned out easier to just tear the whole roof off than cut holes for some dormers and so we’ve essentially gotten a whole second story where there was previously just a half-story-loft-like room…

So this weekend we packed the kids off to their grandparents and Amanda and I have been painting the walls upstairs all day for the last few days….

That’s me way up there perched precariously over the stairwell cutting the white for the ceiling. This is one of those time where having such a hobby has really come to bite me in the ass. Amanda reasoned that because I have such a steady hand and keen eye (painting all those wee miniatures and all!) that I should do all of the cutting. I tried to point out that I don’t often paint miniatures while perched on a rickety ladder and have to reach my brushed out so far to paint miniatures… This was even less fun the next day when I had to paint a straight line around those fiddley bits between the wall and ceiling…

Amanda rolling the ceiling.

By Sunday we were on to the walls.

Amanda rolling the first coat of purple.

First coat on the walls done.

Me again, cutting the second coat of purple on the walls.

Last night, starting the red in the bathroom.

Today we’re just finishing  up the red in the bathroom and dark purple in the little alcove-like-area in the front dormer… We’ve got a bit of a wait between coats so Amanda’s off to a yoga class and I thought I’d update the blog(s).

Last week they were starting on the new windows in all the rooms – here are the new windows that went into the Hobby Dungeon/War Room.

As I predicted, my productivity has dropped sharply since they began. At the end of June I was sitting at 600 28mm foot painted so far this year – averaging 100 per month… Now, at mid October, I’m sitting at 755… less than 50 per month since all this began. This is largely due to having to shift all the stuff from upstairs to the main floor or basement. Which has meant we are constantly working around boxes of stuff and I can’t really maintain a semi-permanent workstation that I can just sit down and paint at for a few minutes here and there when I have an idle moment… I actually have to tidy up a space, get stuff out, paint for a bit, then clear it all away…

This weekend hasn’t been a total loss hobby-wise. I’ve been finishing up a few Americans and Australians for the Vietnam war – I recently tracked down a copy of The Odd Angry Shot - one of my all time favourite war movies – which I haven’t seen in probably 20 years because I’ve never been able to, before now, find a Region 1 DVD of it! Strangely it’s been released by a company that seems to mostly do asian-cult-horror-erotic movies…? Whatever, it’s still a good flick and has inspired me to finish up my Vietnam Aussies!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Said Vitenam figures; Aussies, LRRPs, Grenadiers with M79s… 

Maybe it's time to do some thinking ahead and planning for the winter and next year... 

More of Those Jungle Fighters

I’ve been pushing to try and finish up things. I have a LOT of things to finish up… but I’ve been trying to find things I have that are currently of interest enough for me to stick to it and small enough that I can feasibly finish up before running out of steam…. This week it’s been my GW40K Catachan Jungle Fighters….

All of the figures presented below (except where otherwise noted) are from Games Workshop (© and ™ Games Workshop and painted by myself and posted here entirely without their permission).

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

The lot of what I’ve been working on over the last week or so…

These two are some older “Rogue Trader Era” 40K figures. I think they might have been pirates rather than Guard, but I figured I could pass them off as Catachan Guardsmen.

Two more “Rogue Trader Era” 40K figures. These, I’m pretty sure, were sold as Guardsmen, but weren’t carrying any equipment that looked anything like what other Guardsmen of the era were carrying… I’ve added back packs to them (that I got in an ebay auction) and will call them a medic and… I don’t know… some other kind of specialist…?

The Guard with the rocket launcher is a GW figure and the “loader” is from Hasslefree Miniatures. I’d picked him  up a while back when making a Hasslefree order… just… because… but then couldn’t really think of anything to use him for… I suppose I could have painted him in bright colours and called him a superhero or something… But then decided to paint him in the jungle camo and make him a crewman for one of my heavy weapon teams.



Some regular old Catachan Guardsmen....

Two demolition specialists from GW.

A Heavy Bolter team for some heavy support.

Here’s the entire Jungle fighter force so far. I actually only have three or four figures to finish up – two regular guys and two Ogryn (oh, and a couple of sentinels!). As I mentioned before I started picked up these “Catachans” a few years back to use in a Savage Worlds Sci-fi Campaign –to be members of a rival Mercenary unit the Players were often coming up against called “Morgan’s Marauders”.  In the immediate future they may actually be used as Catachans as I’m planning on running an Only War campaign for the kids some time. (Well… a campaign using the Only War/40K setting but using Savage Worlds for character creation and Tomorrow’s War for combat resolution… because that’s the kind of maniac I am…

I'll never say "never" but it's unlikely I'd ever use these for an actual game of 40K... I mean, I don't think I actually even have enough stuff here to field a legit 40K Imperial Guard force. I picked up a used copy of (what I think is) the current codex for giggles - to see how a guard unit is theoretically supposed to be organized.  While this could be padded out to almost 1000 points (once I get the Ogryn and sentinels finished) and if I took a bunch of "Regimental Advisors" and stuff... I actually only have one of the two "troops" requirements - I'd need a whole second platoon (or at least another platoon command - and split the four squads I have into two smaller platoons...?).

I also happened to finish up a few more 40K Imperial things that weren’t Catachans…

A Cadian officer and Medic from The Officer is a newer one, the Medic is an older “Rogue Trader era” figure.

As second Tech priest from Games Workshop (© and ™ Games Workshop and painted by myself and posted here entirely without their permission). Actually I bought this one first… at my friendly local game store… for the full retail price…. And when I got him home and went to assemble him I realized he was missing his backpack!? Well… as you can see he’s fully useable without it, but I’ll be darned if I’m going to pay what I paid for this single figure and NOT have all the pieces so I phoned up Games Workshop and without question they very quickly sent me out a replacement… except instead of just sending the backpack, they sent me a whole darn new figure!? So I painted up this original Say what you will about GW – that was some pretty darn good customer service.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have no idea… I’m feeling a bit scattered… maybe it’s time to do some planning and scheduling to keep me focused on… SOMEHTHING!?