Completed Projects

I have been a slacker when it comes to posting. I have played many gaming sessions. Mostly Bolt Action and Empire of the Dead. I have played some DBA as well. Including DBA in Ottawa while on a business trip! How about that??!

I've been hard at work on a few things:

This is your standard Deuce and a half. From West Wind's Berlin or Bust line. 

Sherman from Warlord. I want to start building tank platoons. Decided I needed to go with 28mm rather than the 1/48th scale that I was using. 

Couple of Pak40s also from West Wind. I didn't realize there were TWO in the pack until I started to put them together. So I opted for two different color schemes. One your basic German gray.

Lastly, I couldn't resist Uncle 'Thulu from West Wind. He will be my faction leader for Empire of the Dead. I run a Darkfire Faction. Next game this guy will be able to summon zombies! 

My Own Game Table

W00t! My own game table. I cleared out the spare room in our basement. You can still see the remnants of clutter. It is a 6' by 4' table. The table is just a piece of plywood on top of a folding table. The "grass" is green felt from Joann's. On sale. I have a mix of terrain features that I have been collecting over the last couple of years. Now...I just need to game!

WIP: Normandy Farmhouse and Barn

I finished up the Normandy Farmhouse and Barn. I think they turned out pretty good. Here they are on my table! That's right MY table. In MY basement.

I had some trouble with the roof of the house. As you can see, it doesn't sit perfectly. I left the roofs off the structures so the little mens can get in. Neither building has a second floor. I am thinking of correcting that with a little bit of plasticard and balsa wood.

WIP: Normandy Farm House and Barn.

I picked up the Normandy Farm House and Barn from Najewitz Modellbau. 

I am so excited. I have also cleaned out a space in the basement and set up a 6' x 4' table!

Above is a shot of the house. You can see a little Green Stuff on both the bottom corners. This was my first attempt at green stuff. I have used green putty before. Green stuff was great.

The corners had broken off. Not sure when. But I shaped a small brick together and stuck it in the bottom corner. Worked like a charm. I need to sand this a little but it worked out great.

Here is the barn. The windows and doors were not perfect fits. A little more green stuff and I had the cracks sealed up.

This is the roof of the barn. This needed a large amount of green stuff to fill in the gaps. I probably should have used putty here but it was good practice. I am also going to flip this over and lay in a coating of putty on the reverse side of the roof join. Just to strengthen it up. I want to leave the roofs separate so we can lift them off if any of our metal mans need to duck in for some cover.

The roof of the house had some join problems too. I haven't puttied it yet. But I will. Hope to have these done by the new year.

(Soon to be) On the Bench

Or on Brian's bench at least.

I joined in another Baueda kickstarter. Because I love Claudio's work. I picked up a DBA Army of Norse Irish (III/46). I need to base them and get them to Brian.

Jon L. was putting in an order for some WWII. I jumped in to get a Berlin or Bust Pak 40 and crew along with a deuce and a half. This will give my germans some needed artillery and my Americans a truck to pull their AT gun around. 

Lastly, some additional US Navy SEALS. These will complement my original Seal Team 6. These guys are awesome. One of them has bolt cutters and a sledge hammer on his back for breaching. Love it. Can't wait to see these. 

Comparison: 1:48 Jadgpanther vs. 28mm Halftrack

Thought I would show the size differential between the jadgpanther and the half-track.

It is pretty big. But again, I like the bigger size on the tanks. That thing will show up on a table. The half-track can get lost.

WIP: Sd.kfz 251/1 Ausf C Hanomag (Complete)

Jeff at Pair-A-Dice started carrying Bolt Action figures! W00t! I went down and picked up this halftrack.

I really tried to muddy this thing up. Front view is just about all mud. 

Green camo only. No red on this one. Just for some variety.

The machine gun mount in the back already broke off. I intend to just lay the MG in the open bed so we know it is there. I also need to paint the MG gunner.

This is 28mm. I just think it is too small. It holds up against the figures just fine. I probably should have taken a picture next to a mini. Sorry.

Way Cool Late War German 'Mech

 This deserved its own post. I wanted to show some pictures on this Japanese Anime 'mech I had painted up to be a Secret Nazi Experiment. My painter, and all around good dude, Brian, did an AWESOME job on this guy. I had him use a "Sparkle" pattern that was seen on many warships during the war. It just rang true to me. Think of this thing as a "land battleship" and it will begin to make sense. 

Brian had painted on a German identifier. I didn't take a picture of it. :( I added the one to the top and the numerals. This is the 73 prototype.

My plan is to use this as an objective marker. I suppose I could write up some rules for it. But my vision is to just really have this thing sitting in a warehouse that the opposing force needs to go blow up. :)

Completed Terrain

I've been working on terrain lately. I made some great ebay finds on some O scale fences and telephone poles.

The fences have only been primed. And this is only one batch. I have about 5 or 6 more sections.

I also started working on some felt road pieces. I saw roads done nicely at the This Very Blog site. I decided to copy the method. Brown felt, these are 2 foot strips. Spray paint the felt with a textured paint. $6 for a can, $6 for the felt. Then I took some sandy brown craft store paint and drybrushed the sides and middle to create "tracks". My 12 year old daughter was impressed. :)

When I bought the sandbag Indiegogo from Baueda, Claudio included 2 extra "bases" and also some free miscellaneous pieces. I created a third base with the pieces. I will use these as terrain or objective markers. By the way, I officially started using Army Painter Strong Tone ink on these. It works.

I love the detail on this one. Different types of crates. Tarps, bags, and the rifle laying on top.

This is the one I put together. Some of these pieces might actually be from the Verlinden set I got for the Sherman. They look good together. Baueda is the big pallet of tarp covered crates and the barrels. I tried to paint the bucket on top so it looked like it was full of water. I think it came out ok.

 Trying to work out using the Rust pigments. I still need some practice. I like that these bases have a spot in the middle to insert a 28mm figure. To meet the objective, you need to have one little mans in the circle. :)

Sherman WIP +1

I just finished putting a wash on the Sherman.

Next step is a highlight with a mix of Violet Brown and Desert Yellow on the hull and turret. OOO....I can see some spots on the wheels and tracks that I need to touch up. Son of a biscuit! The wash is drying as I type. I think it looks good. I am going to wash the tracks in a more muddy color - sepia.

I really like the sandbags and other small bits of stowage I have.

WIP: 1:48 scale Sherman

It took me awhile to put together, but I put the treads on over the weekend and primed this 1/48 scale Sherman Tank from Hobby Boss.

The stowage is from a kit by Verlinden. If you look inside the hull in the top picture, you can see the washers I added to make the model a little heavier. I like the size of the 1/48 models for 28mm games. The lightness of the plastic just worries me a little. So I like to weight them down.

I am still on disability from having a blood clot so I will start applying the base coat today. I am waiting on some Army Painter Strong Tone ink to be delivered for the wash.

The Verlinden kit was great. I have a ton of parts left over. The sandbags were easy to manipulate. I love the spare tank tread. I should have taken a rear view...the back has a couple of gas cans and a bucket. But the best part from the kit may have been the antenna. Because the kit asks you to heat up some plastic. Pfft - no way.

WIP: Baueda Ruined Building and Sandbag Emplacement

 The sandbag emplacement is coming along. I've done most of the base colors. I still need to do some ammo boxes. But the wood and oil barrels are done. Next is drybrush highlighting and then hitting the sandbags.

The ruined building finally got assembled. I had to use some putty. It is not exactly square but I am not too worried about it. After reading The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, I am not too worried but everything was completely blown to hell anyway. A little putty will look authentic. I primed in Vallejo Desert Yellow (almost out!) and then started painting everything in Iraqui Sand. Going to use that as my mortar color. Will drybrush a brick color over the top, hopefully letting the joints show through. There will be some gray on some of the decorative pieces like over the windows and the ledges.

WIP: Baueda Sandbag Emplacement

Claudio, over at Baueda, put together a Kickstarter campaign for a sandbag emplacement. It came in the mail Monday. Claudio, as always, included a bunch of extras.

If you click on the picture, you can see the first two steps. I primed in the desert yellow color on the left. It was either that or black. I went with the color closest to sandbag. I should have done the barrels black but I am clearly not thinking things all the way through.

On the right, I used a vallejo wash on the whole thing. These should be pretty easy to paint up. Prime, wash, main, highlight, done. Will only have to use a few colors. One step at a time. :)

WIP Part 3: Baueda 1:48 Ruined Building

I am making a mess of this. I should probably leave it alone. You can see the styrene pieces I cut to the right. I didn't like the way they were working out. I decided I would just glue the walls together and then putty it to the base.

It looks great here but 10 seconds after I took this picture the back wall fell off. Grrr. I think I am going to stick with my plan anyway and putty it to the base. I am going to need some putty on that wall.

I trimmed too much off the bottom of the two long walls. The one that fell off, I can see that I de-stabilized the wall. It is starting to bend. Pfftt. It is my own fault. Doing something I should not be doing.

WIP: Part II Baueda 1:48 Ruined Building

Well, I took a pass at the flash on all 3 sides and the floor of the building. I need to go back and hit the two on the left - the ones with doorways. I got a little aggressive on the right-most section.

The two on the left have molding left. I don't know if I will trim it all. I might use the drum sander and then build up the window piece with some putty. I am worried that if I cut away the molding under the doors that I will lose stability on those pieces and they will flex.

WIP: Baueda 1:48 Ruined Building 481FN1

I probably should not be doing this, but I am taking it nice and slow. Two weeks ago, I had a blood clot removed from my head. I am doing ok but just not completely recovered. I am going a bit stir crazy. There is only so much TV I can watch.

I started putting together the 481FN1 ruined building model from Baueda.  I sawed off some mold flashing on the base plate and the short wall. It wasn't too terrible. I just needed to be slow about cutting in a guide to the pieces. Then you just let the knife/saw do the work.

I honestly shouldn't be sawing. I will go slower. Not two pieces in a day. There are two pieces left. Then I will need to use the sander drums on the drill to smooth some rough pieces out. So far so good.

Finished US Infantry

I just finished up basing and applying transfers to 20 US Infantry for Bolt Action.

They were painted by Brian out of Pair-A-Dice games in Rochester, NY. Brian did an amazing job! I based them and applied the shoulder patches (flag and rank insignia). I've decided I need glasses on a more permanent basis. :)

The basing was pretty easy. Rock mix, paint and highlight. Static grass. Tuft. I did add a metal washer to the bottom of the Warlord base to give it some weight. The plastic is too light. I find that I knock these things all over the place.

I like the flowers on this guy. I have a set of these. I only added them to a few of the minis. These are white, others are in yellow. I think they make for a nice change of pace from the standard tuft of grass.

Battle Report: Bolt Action Sunday, April 21, 2013

Jon L. and I got in a game of Bolt Action on two Sundays ago. It was Germans vs. Americans for a "Control the Crossroads" scenario. We rolled for table edge, we ended up ignoring one half of Jon's table.

At the end of turn 1, I had deployed on the southern road into the town. I had an armored car make it all the way across the crossroads and start executing a K-turn. My goal was complete fields of fire on that road. My PAK team was set up on the right house in the foreground. I had placed the motorcycle with sidecar to block anything coming out of the fields/bocage to its left.

And Jon had come in from the western road. Notice Jon's Stuart in the middle of the road. He has mortar and machine guns on the hills looking down into the town.

Turn 2: I continue deploying. I have a squad in the house on the left with a panzerfaust thinking about that tank in the front yard. Armored car is right where I want him. MG team in the middle of the road controls that side. Infantry next to the MG is going to sprint across the crossroads next turn and get into the house on the far left. This all starts to unravel when the mortar team at the bottom of the page and the squad in front of it start taking fire.

Jon moves up. He pushes his infantry forward on both sides of the road. The Stuart and supporting teams open up and start dishing out pins and deaths.

I pull a squad back to defend the rear. You can see the pins stacking up on the one squad. Mortar team is almost dead. The squad with the pins was funny, the kept successfully promoting new leaders. It lent itself to funny jokes in bad German accents. :)

Jon has two squads in the foreground. They are causing a lot of trouble. The motorcycle with sidecar is dead. Such a cool model but I find that the jeeps and the motorcycle are quick to die. Jon has also moved into the house on the top of the picture. 

Only one picture for this next round. Armored car starts hitting the Stuart. That's it really.

Pak is KIA. Every one of my units has a pin marker. Not good. Plus side is that the MG in the road is just waiting for the unit in the far house to pop out.

Stuart taking hits. One stinking pin marker on one of the two units in the woods to my rear. 

The armored car destroyed the Stuart. This was the one bright spot of the battle. There was also a point where the Stuart FUBARed and killed one of Jon's infantry. That effectively DOUBLED my kill count. :(

Jon broke from the woods and just tore me up. I pulled the armored car down to try to help. It didn't. The rout was on. Americans take the crossroads. 

All in all, I do like this game. I like the rule set. Not overly complicated. I think I had a decent plan. I left the motorcycle exposed. That was a mistake. I maybe should have brought the Pak up instead of leaving it behind. Hard to tell. Bad die rolls and a couple of pins and it starts to go bad in a hurry.