Imperial Fist Update

Since my last post I have been able to pick up the resin casts my friend Alex has printed for me. I have also received some of the excellent (FoW) bases from Warbases.co.uk. 

I wasn't too happy with the scatter material from Woodland scenics, their gravel looked too much like carpark gravel, rather than the war torn cities of the 30th millennium. I painted the bases with Agrax Earthshade and then dry-brushed them with Screaming Skull, which I think has done the job to a presentable wargames standard.

Imperial Fist Grand Tactical Company

W.I.P. Land Speeders and Macharius Tanks

Vanguard Miniatures Fellblade proxy and Rhinos

Currently on the painting desk are 18 Land Raiders, 5 Land Speeders, 5 Macharius Tanks, 10 Cerebus Super Heavy Tank Destroyers, 2 Mammoth proxys and 3 Fire Raptors.

IMPERIOUS DOMINATUS: Warfare in the Age of Horus and Dark Imperium

So since my last post I have been scouring the internet for Net Epic Gold army lists for the Horus Heresy. Facebook is an extremely helpful place at times and someone pointed in the direction of a NetEpic group who have already produced a substantial amount of material for Horus Heresy based on the original Epic rules and their subsequent versions. I haven't play tested the rules yet, but hope to do so at some point over the summer.

In the meantime I have been building a new Adeptus Astartes force - Imperial Fists. I have managed to paint a Grand tactical company and am now working through ten more Rhinos, eighteen Land Raiders and two super heavy tanks from Vanguard miniatures. I have also fabricated some pennants  for the Command stands.

Epic...yes it really is Space Marine!

As ever I have a couple of projects on the go. One of them is investing in Blood and Plunder by Firelock Games, the other is Space Marine. A game released by Games Workshop quite some years ago. It has seen a revival with a new version of Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis. 

6mm Imperial Fist Rhinos

I thoroughly enjoyed the games I played, perhaps not so much against my brother! He won every time, he really was that good at the game, even when not playing his favourite force of Eldar! For me the revival is that I want to play my games set in the 30K universe with warring Space Marine Legions. Whilst I built and painted a pseudo Space Wolves force back in the day (which I still have, and will almost certainly repaint) I have kicked off with some Rhinos and Space Marines to create a Tactical company. I'll have more to show at a later time.

London's Finest

A short post today. With the festivities of the Easter Weekend almost over I have managed to complete one more miniature for my Empire of the Dead collection. My plan is to get a number of the miniatures painted to run a scenario where the police hunt for Jack the Ripper with the aid of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I still have a number of miniatures to paint, fortunately some of the club members have the necessary terrain for a few streets in London. In the meantime here is one London town's finest.

Scotland Yard Detective

Call the Cops...it's Mr. Hyde!

So my friend, pleased with the Ford AA truck (see previous post) has convinced me to paint up my Empire of the Dead miniatures I bought from the West Wind Kickstarter back in 2013 (I think!).

I had a look at what I had started painting, Victoria's boys in blue and Mr. Hyde. I haven't had to do too much work to finish them, just needed the nudge. So here they are.

"If I am the Chief of Sinners, I am the Chief of Sufferers also."

The Peelers...

Sloppy Jalopy - the finished article

As promised, here is the finished truck. I began the weathering by giving the model a coat of satin varnish. Once dried I applied various weathering products (MIG and Tamiya). I then gave it a coat of matt varnish. All I need now is to deliver it to my friend...that may be some time.

The finished Model AA Ford Truck

Sloppy Jalopy - Pulp gaming

A friend of mine has been very patient. He gave me a 1/48 scale metal truck to build and paint. That was a couple of years ago (seems to be a trend here). Anyhow I have spent my lunch hours working on the project.

The individual parts

It's interesting that the more modern trucks, or large scale models (trucks etc) are being pushed out in either plastic or resin. To be fair these materials are much easier to work with than metal, particularly when putting together. I had to spend a good deal of time scraping and cleaning the model of excess flash. Still it was time well spent on what has turned out to be a pleasant paint job...so far.

The model truck - sum of all its parts

Some folk out there may call me a heretic but I put the truck together with superglue. Not as strong as a two part epoxy resin glue but I didn't want 'gloops' of glue hanging off the side of the truck. I know it would happen, no matter how careful I was. After the superglue had had time to cure I took the model outside and primed it black using Citadel Chaos Black spray paint.

I put down some initial colours after having had a discussion with my friend. We both agreed we didn't want it black, that would perhaps lose too much of the detail, neither did we want red, a little too ostentatious. We settled on a green cab with a wooden back. Having got this far I did a little research on trucks from the same period and took inspiration from the below.

Used without permission from hotrodhotline.com

So here is the finished painted model truck. I now need to weather the truck, a different process to the initial paint job. I won't paint the wheels red, again too ostentatious for tastes. The truck is likely to be used as a plot point or part of the terrain in my friend's pulp games.

I'll be sure to post the finished model once it's completed.

Taking Advantage of the Lockdown - Dark Ages

So since the lockdown I have worked on my Dark Ages project. I bought a 'deal' box of Normans from Wargames Foundry and then subsequently bought 40 odd Norman Cavalry from Gripping Beast. That was back in the early 2000's. They lay in a tub doing nothing until the lockdown. I was looking for a project I thought I might be able to complete within the time frame.

I am multi-basing the infantry miniatures on 40mm square bases and the cavalry on 50mm square bases.

Wargames Foundry Vikings

Wargames Foundry Vikings

Wargames Foundry Norman Archers & Foot knights

Wargames Foundry Norman Foot knights with Command

Wargames Foundry Norman Foot knights

Once these models are painted I am sorely tempted to pick up some of the Victrix Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. I have to say the sculpts look pretty good from what I have seen so far.

Quartermaster General - The state of the Empire

So further to my last post here is a rough breakdown of the various units that I have. Most need to be painted or revisited, some do not;

45 x Carroburg Greatswords
16 x Reikland Knights
40 x Stirland Spearmen
6 x Bronzino's Galloper Guns
1 x War Wagon
1 x Stagecoach
2 x Steam Tanks
1 x Paymaster's wagon
7 x Great cannon
2 x Helstorm Rocket Batteries
4 x Helstorm Multi barrelled cannon
1 x Giants of Albion
56 x Ricco's Republican Guard
10 x Al Muktar's Desert Dogs
18 x Voland's Venators
21 x Breganzza Besieger's crossbowmen
20 x Birdmen of Catrazza
1 x Priest of Ulric
1 x Mercenary General
55 x Pirates (Militia)
25 Talabecland Swordsmen
19 x Bearmen of Urso
30 x Halberdiers
1 x Gotrex and Felix
1 x Mtd Priest of Ulric
35 x Crossbowmen
1 x Borgia the Besieger
1 x Lucrezzia Belladonna
8 x Knights Panther
20 x Reiksguard cavalry
70 x Pirazzo's lost legion
36 x Militia
25 x Long Drong Slayers
10 x Pistoliers
5 x Outriders

There are more infantry units than what is listed here, but I need to properly sort through them to fully appreciate what I have and can field.

Resurrection...

Well there has been a good amount of time between this post and the last. Real life takes over and there has been little to ramble about. However I am trying to resurrect Warhammer 8th Edition at my local club. We'll see how it goes. I have already played a 1000 point battle, Empire vs Kislev. A narrow victory for the Empire, but only just. My wizard was part of a unit and failed two miscast rolls  wiping out the parent unit leaving only himself and the detachment units unharmed.

As far as painting goes I have pulled out and dusted off my Empire Army. I have more to paint than not, but I'm up for the challenge and have made good progress with what I have worked on so far.

My next post will take into account the various units etc I have to work on so that I might keep track in a more meaningful way.

A fantastical return to form...well possibly maybe

First off I am still here, in the land of the living. When there is nothing good to say, say nothing at all....so I haven't for over a year. It's not for want of trying, it's just that I haven't been that inspired. I have tinkered along with bits and pieces, but nothing of particular substance that I wanted to share on this blog site.

However, my creative edge has been peaked by a return to fantasy gaming. Tomorrow I will be playing my first fantasy battle in over a two years. Yes I have dabbled in some fantasy skirmish games here and there but nothing I have felt warranted being discussed in depth. I will be heading up to the local wargames club for my first game of Kings of War. My opponent and I are both using a Bretonnian themed army so we'll see how they compare and how the rules play out. I must say I am really looking forward to it.

A couple of players have dabbled with the rules and quite enjoyed them. In a fit of fantasy madness and inspired by the rise of Oldhammer I decided to buy the Rules Only version of the Kings of War Rulebook (KoW), without all the fluff. I must say from what I have read of the rules they appear to be clear, concise and without too many exceptions as was the case with Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

Following on from the game I will give a review of the battle, with the addition of some photos. I am not promising anything. I dare not use the word 'try'!

So what else do I have in store? Well first up, I have a substantial Bretonnian army to complete. It's lain in its army case waiting to be finished since 1994 when I was given the 4th edition boxed set by my brother. Since then I have amassed a sizeable army of knights. I always like knights, especially on horseback. I just wish they weren't so much of an eye bleeder to paint! I will probably stick with the Games Workshop names for my fantasy armies as pretty much all of the models are from Citadel Miniatures.

When it comes to gaming I am no tournament player - I prefer scenario based games as that is where I tend to have the most fun. Let's face it, it is rare for warfare to be a balanced affair! What I liked about the KoW army lists are the ambiguity, a bit like the old Warhammer Fantasy lists from times passed. The open army lists allow players to create their own setting. Something which I think is long overdue. Not wanting to get into a them and us scenario the kids of the 70's and 80's sure do think creatively. Anyhow I digress. I think that KoW will be a refreshing charge, no pun intended,  back into the realm of fantasy wargaming.

I have also pulled from storage my old castle buildings, including a Citadel Miniatures Mighty Fortress purchased back in 2004 for the GW Summer campaign - Storm of Chaos. It even had a roll out at the GW Gamesday 2004. Since then, like many castles it fell into ruin, so much so that art mirrored life. I was storing the model in a greenhouse tunnel at a friends farm. As any castellan knows, rats and mice can be quite an issue if not dealt with. One of my castle towers did have, I repeat did have a nest of some rodent kind. Bloody Skaven! I have since brought the model back home where it now lies in a crate in a dry room waiting for its overhaul. It has been washed and cleaned thoroughly and I am hoping to bring you all some test updates in the near future with regard the modelling and paintwork I wish to undertake to give it a facelift.

So that's it for now - let's see how it goes. I do hope that it won't be January or February 2018 before I post again!

A New Year, same philosophy?

As I sit thinking about what this year has in store for me I can with certainty say I will not be buying too many new products or models. The tail end of last year saw my wife and I buy our first home. There is to be a lot of belt tightening over next 18 months.

However, I see that as a positive! The projects I intend to focus on this year are my 15mm American War of Independence and 15mm Caesarean Rupublican Roman army from Westwind. Moving to 28mm scale I have my War of the Roses Project, more can be found on this on my sister blog, The White Boar. I will also being trying to paint up so e of my Empire of the Dead miniatures too, as they have been lying in their boxes for too long. I made the most of the Christmas bonanza on Amazon and bought a kindle copy of In Her Majesty's Name, the steampunk rules from Osprey.

The biggest project will be to develop the outbuilding, which sits in the garden. This is a stone building with a small conservatory attached and will make a fine studio/workshop. It will be a good amount of time before I can develop the area as I still have some remedial work to do in the house.

I think that's all for now. I don't want to get ahead of myself as these things invariably take longer than expected.

Post Salute 2014

Well Salute 2014 has been and gone. It was great to see and talk with the various vendors and old friends. Our Flames of War board did not win any prizes, but it did win a lot of plaudits from the punters. Wargames Illustrated came down to take photographs and Battlefront have invited us to attend the European Grand Tournament with the board later on in the year. Henry Hyde, editor of Miniature Wargames popped along too to take photographs, hopefully we may even appear in one of the magazines later this year.

As for loot...well I picked up some bases from Warbases (big heap of elliptical bases (cavalry) for my War of the Roses project). I also bought some spring/autumn tufts from Antenociti's Workshop, some A4 magnetised paper and a small collection of AWI miniatures from Peter Pig.

I haven't forgotten to post some pictures of our demo game, it's just a matter of time! I will also track the progress of the 15mm AWI project I am starting. What I can say is I have based my regiments, British and Continental on those units which fought at the Battle of Brandywine.

Salute 2014

I will be heading to Salute 2014. This time however My local wargames club is taking a game along. This is the first time the club has been represented at an event on the mainland in ten years. A couple of club stalwarts have been the driving force for the game, a 15mm WWII game using the popular Flames of War rule set.

You can see a preview of the game in earlier post on this blog. Richard and Glenn have expanded the Normandy terrain board and it is shaping up nicely. Other members are busily finishing off various units for the game but we are 75% ready to go.  It's looking like it's going to be a grand day out for us folk from Jersey!

As for my own projects I have a couple of irons in the fire. Currently I have a French Dystopian War fleet, an Empire of the Dead Kickstarter to paint. I have a strong feeling that I'll be picking up a few bits and pieces at Salute and then there's the War and Empire Kickstarter from Westwind to arrive later in May or June. If that's not enough I have my sister blog on the go highlighting my progress with my War of the Roses project.

I will post some pictures of the Salute board nearer the event.

A New Year Beckons

Well it's been quite along time since I posted anything on my ramblings. A lot has happened to me in the real world, most of it good I might add. With that in mind I may have more time to put up some posts!
My local club, The Jersey Privateers will be attending Salute this year and I am looking forward to it. It's a big day out for us financially, so we are going to make it a good one! I will post more on this later, possibly with some construction photos and a brief synopsis.

Napoleonic Reboot

I have been dabbling for a while with various projects. My Empire of the Dead will get a further look in when the models arrive from Westwind Games. The kick starter miniatures should arrive in September, hopefully.

However the other side focus I am looking into is Napoleonic wargaming. As space is an issue (I have too many 28mm miniatures) I am building my armies in 15mm. I have bought some Peninsular British as I like the variety of troops which fought in that theatre. The models are Blue Moon miniatures.

The miniatures themselves are pretty good value, although they do have a bit of excess flash. They are fairly easy to paint too. I am planning on building a couple of divisions, perhaps even a corp for the French. As for the rules of choice I'll be using Le Feu Sacré, by Too Fat Lardies. These rules handle corp sized games, require less miniatures per battalion and I like the fog of war aspect that the rules use.

I will post a British orbat soon. The first regiment is the 45th, Nottinghamshire regt.

Empire of the Dead

It's been an incredibly long time since I have posted any ramblings on this blog. My time has been taken up with other things, mainly my War of the Roses project. However, I was speaking to a friend the other day at a gaming session and we got talking about the Westwind game - Empire of the Dead. Currently there a few factions and the rule book but Westwind's Kickstarter campaign is going extremely well.

So I have purchased the core rule book, for now. I am looking forward to its arrival. Fortunately Bryce has all the factions we need for the time being and we will be using terrain I made several years ago for Mordheim. The terrain should lend itself to the game. I hope to take photos and I will attempt to write up a report of the game. I have also signed up for the Kickstarter campaign.

British Paras - Flames of War

I recently painted a batch of British Paratroopers for a friend of mine. He has a sizeable DAK force and an increasingly large Waffen SS army for Flames of War. However a 'stuff' load of Paras fell into his lap.

Our local wargames club haven't attended any kind of event for eight years, the last being Gamesday 2004 in Birmingham. So we decided to start small and attend a bi-annual show here in Jersey. For this show we Glenn and Richard Kelly put time in on building a new terrain board set in Normandy amongst the bocage. Simon Hewlett and GLenn provided the Germans and I painted up the British Paras. We were really pleased with results.

Currently I am painting some of the said Waffen SS infantry for Glenn whilst he concentrates on the armour. I will post some pics of the Germans once they are painted.

Astral Fists Space Marine Legion

 Although my major focus is on my War of the Roses project I am very occasionally working on my Astral Fist project. Fortunately I don't have to buy anything for this! All the models are sitting in the garage ready to be painted. I will post some WIP shots soon, but for now here is the paint scheme heavily inspired by their founding legion.

Confederate Regiments Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised a little while ago. I haven't painted any more regiments as of yet, but I will after Salute 2012 has come and gone.