Season's Greetings

Well the furnace is fixed, presents are under the tree, figures being painted, scenery readying for the start of my Mafrican Campaign.  All that is needed for the first scene is a painted backdrop, coming soon.
MERRY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
Don't forget to leave out the cookies and milk, I prefer choclate chip.
Richard

Furnace kaput

We had the folks who cover our household heating units in to check them out for the season.  Seems like our work area heat pump has a bad mother board, what joy.  Anyway the house is warm and I'll have to add a small heater to the jumble of stuff in the shop to stay warm enough to paint. Ugh!  Hopefully we'll be back up by this weekend.
I really could have used this time to paint but it looks like I'll be helping my wife Christmas up the house. WOW!

Miscellaneous thoughts

Well we had two cons last month that were kinda awful income wise. But now we look forward to next year. 
Our 15mm hardsuits have sold out in just a month and Monday I'll reorder them.  It will be interesting to see the next 15mm hardsuit with the drill hand rather than the gun.  Bases, man eating plants, survivors and a lot of other new stuff coming next year.
For Christmas we're offering our 28mm vehicles for sale at $3 each (a 40% discount)  along with our Vallejo paints for $2.
I am too slowly getting the figures painted for my Mafricancampaigns.blogspot.com, but the next several chapters are already developed in my mind so that should make writing a lot quicker, just need the figures now.  The first campaign scenario is almost set, it looks like there will be dozens of them some running concurrently (which should be really interesting).

New Figs are in stock

We got our latest figures from Old Glory today, which includes our Shopkeepers and 15mm hardsuits.
I have also posted the first chapter in my colonial adventure at http://mafricancampaigns.blogspot.com
this includes several 1884 photographs of the German lancers on maneuvers.

New Projects

I probably should not be thinking of new projects with so many underway already, but.... I can't help myself.  The smallest of the two on my mind right now are new Zombies for our ATZ games.  We got two packs of Wargames Factory Zombies at a flea market at Recruits, along with several packs of ACW figs for our Fire and Fury armies (we have almost 100 bases per side, now with this purchase after all are painted we should have close to 250 bases per side with some cavalry and 6-10 guns per side).  As to the Zombies all I have so far are a few Horrorclix figs.  Ben has our painted Lead Bones, some horrorclix and quite a few others.  The WF figs will probably be all I will paint as they can be used over and over unlike heroes.  SECRET DON'T TELL ANYONE we're working on some survivors for the first of the year.  We'll soon have some other new figs for our Lead Bones line before Fall In! 
The other new project is a German Colonial campaign on imaginary Mafrica a continental map, designed in the 1960s by Jack Scruby (available from Historifigs).  I have sufficient German/Askari forces for the campaign that I plan to run similar to General Pettygree's by Bill Protz.
  I have ordered some major player figs from Tradition of London-30mm Tradition and Willie figs, old school sculpting but then I need these major leaders (Bismarck etc). Special appearances by Schliemann, Karl Peters and others should make the campaign last quite awhile.  I'll be looking to pickup some buildings from either Miniature Building Authority (govenors house and customs and a few other buildings) or the Spanish Main buildings from Brigade Games may also work and be less expensive.
The first thing to do, while waiting for the Mafrica map and Tradition figs to come, is to workup the background.  I have decided that following the 1864 defeat of Denmark, 1866 defeat of Austria, 1871 defeat of France that Germany/Bismarck will call for and hold a Congress of Berlin 1873/4 which will give Germany rights over some major Mafrican river basins, control of former Danish colonial territory, and reasons to clash with the Danes, Natives, maybe France, Austria all on colonial territory rather than in Europe.
The campaign will start with the Germans sailing into Dakla, while the Danish garrison make ready to leave for their northern capitol at Semar.  The Germans will make their presence known to the Sultan by demanding use of some of his troops to police their new territory.  I see cultural problems already.
Photos of some player characters soon as they are finished.

Early Walker

I made this a couple, more like ten years ago, and thought I would post it here since AAI recently gave it a new base when the old one broke, these two washers are a bit small but should work.  I have yet to come up with a scenario to use it, maybe vicscifi.  Underneath is a gun turret sporting a gatling gun and a US Naval fig from the 1860s.  This was made from a plastic engine that I shortened. The only thing I should finish is the interior of the drivers comparment, and maybe the coal bin.

Destroyermen series

I just finished book five of the Destroyermen series "Rising Tides" by Taylor Anderson.  This alternate history series removes two old WWII destroyers and a Japanese Cruiser to another world, very similar to Earth except that feathered dinos and large Lemurs are the inhabitants, as well as a few other lost souls from previous transports.  The Dinos are the obvious enemy, helped by the Japanese, to conquer the world eating the enemy.  The Destroyemen and Lemurs  form an alliance against the Dinos.  Pretty great read as have been the previous four. Can't hardly wait until Oct. 4th for the next book.  This series ranks among the best I have reead, right up there with SM Sterling and Eric Flint.  Highly recommended.

Cowboys and gunslingers

I finished these two batches of Dixon cowboys to attempt to sell at cons.  These came out really a lot better than I expected them to, they were easy to paint, except to moustaches, I can never get them right. 

I originally bought about 80 figures and there are about 18 different poses, some of which I only got two of since I thought they weren't very attractive or active poses.  There were a couple of benefits found here, the biggest being the Vallejo Panzer Aces Light Rust paint as a hair color (center front above) and Transparent Red for blood (right front above).  Now if I can just find a decent blond.  I still have more to paint of these but for now I am going to start rebasing my hordes, first up are the Warlord Chinese soldiers.  Then I'll move through the drawers of figures rebasing and organizing the troops as I go.

Small terrain piece

I'm always looking for scale vehicles for modern stuff like Geezers or Zombies,  I found this about six months ago and lost it on the paint table until two weeks ago when I decided to finish it off as a terrain piece or hard cover.  It is probably a 1/43 scale MG? whatever, which came as you see it - no wheels, seats or grill.  It started as a nice deep blue that I just couldn't leave alone.  Just under the drivers side front wheel well you can make out a dark spot on the ground.  It is dark blue, green and black ink drops representing oil spill from the engine.

The car is heavily rusted as well as having oil spots.  Where the front seat is I decided to plant a small dead tree (well you know Zeds are dead), it is a twig heavily painted with glue with Hudson & Allen leaves at the top and under the car.  The doors close but  give better protection open,  Next Geezer or Zed game this will endup behind the garage.
Other figs on the paint table ready for clear spray are 27 Dixon 28mm cowboys for sale at our upcoming cons. I have about 30 more to paint.  I bought these on spec to sell, but now that I have painted them, they are really quite nice figures with some personality and animation is ok. 
Last week a new Joann's fabrics opened and had loads of 50% off coupons that I used to purchase six plastic cabinet sets of six drawers each.  I have since put my cigar boxes (67) of soldiers away in the drawers, leaving five free of the 36. Now I need to rebase the figs (probably over 3,000, I just found a box of 100+ camels and riders for the Sudan) to 1 inch washers and horse bases (oooh that will be expensive as the drawer sets).  Next I need something for vehicles, terrain, and buildings.  Ben already has three or four drawer sets for his figs and probably needs a few more. 
Next time I may photo my early 20th C Chinese Warlord army after I finish rebasing and touching-up their paints.

New Books I just read

Matthew Reilly's Ice Station, Area 7 and Scarecrow are three of the fastest paced action novels I have ever read.  They are centered around a US Marine Recon Capt. nicknamed Scarecrow and takes him and his squad of marines into action that defies my ability to describe it.  The action starts on the first page and does not slow down until the last page. They have been the hardest books to put down that I have ever come across.  Highly recommended.

Blogger sucks

I have been trying to post for weeks and blogger has not allowed me to do much of anything, I am tired of this crap and may be looking for somewhere else to keep my diary of gaming.

ATZ game one photos

These two photos show the game table set-up for our first game.  You can see the cab of the yellow oil truck at the garage, the furthest that the Zs got from the hospital.  In the background are my sailing 'navies' that are gunned and ready for backyard action, well as soon as it cools off.

The photo above  shows the rear of the hospital at turn one with the police in position as the Zs come out door 3.  Just to the right is the closest edge of the park.  One thing quite obvious is that we need real streets rather than just the tabletop (waxed masonite covering plywood.  Just below the tables edge  runs a 6 inch ledge for drinks and supplies, in this case a stash of 1 inch fender washers we use for bases (they cost about $0 .05 each by the 100 or 1,000).

First ATZ Game

We finally got around to gaming ATZ today.  With the table looking thus:
We used a 4 foot by 4 foot part of the table.

Since this was our first ATZ I thought we would begin with an initial outbreak starting at the hospital.  The Zeds started moving inside the hospital and the police were called. They parked facing door 3 and I rolled for the numbers of Zs and at which door.  I controlled the police (since I only got to page 7 so far) and Ben had read through the rules so he became the game master, it worked out quite well.

I controlled five police all armed with automatics and three with flash bags.  With move one the police activated and moved toward door 3.  The Zs activated and came out of the hospitals 2,3,4 exits.  Civilians were located one each at the garage, outside the florist, diner, and 5 in the park.
The Zs at door 2 went toward the park, toward the police at door 3 and toward the church from door 4.  All the cops decided to fire at the Zs from door 3, one tried to throw his flashbang and he dropped it, he was safe but the female cop was out of action, the other three fired at the Zs killing 2 and knocking one down.
Turn 2
 Cops moved closer to the Zs and the one who tried the flashbang got up and had to meelee with a Z (cop won), two moved toward the park to stop the Zs, my character tried to revive his partner but could not; the Zs from door 2 attacked a man on a park bench from the rear, but they missed and had to melee with the cops. One cop was out of action while the other killed his Z. The Z from door 4 made it to the church but the door was closed.
Turn 3
Cops fired at Zs and killed the one from door 2, but more activated out the front door #1 and moved toward the florist and the man there. The cop near the parked killed the remaining Z. The other cops moved in his direction.
Turn 4
More Zs activated out door 1 and moved toward the florist.  The cops tried to revived the downed officer didn't work. The Zs from door 1 attacked the florist. The Z at the church attacked the priest and killed him but the Nun killed the Z
Turn 5
More Zs activated out door 4 and moved toward the florist.  The Zs at the florist finished with him and moved toward the garage the Zs moving from door 4 joined in.  The others out of door 2 moved toward the Post Office van then they saw the ganger at the diner and moved toward him.
Turn 6
The 3 remaining police moved toward the florist and the Zs going toward the ganger.
Turn 7
The Zs made it to the ganged and killed him.  My character got into range and killed a Z after the ganger died.  Two other cops moved and fired killing the last Z.
Turn 8
More Zs activated out of door 1 and moved toward the florist and the other moving Zs. My character went behind the florist toward the moving Zs. The other two cops moved toward the Zs in front of the florist.
Turn 9
The Zs made it to the garage and one charged the mechanic. My character got behind the those Zs and shot one, the mechanic had a grinder and was able to kill two Zeds attacking him.
the two cops in front of the florist shot and killed a Z. We activated a doctor, nurse and candy stripper out of door 2. 
Turn 10
These turns were really moving fast. More Zs activated out of door 1.  The Zs attacked the two cops, one Z was shot and one killed in a melee. My character oved and shot a Z. The medical staff moved toward the downed officer.
Turn 11
More Zs activated out of door 4 and moved toward the Z moving toward the garage.  The medics were able to revive the downed cop.  the other three cops moved and fired at the Zs killing two and knocking one down.
Turn 12
One Z activated out of door 1, my character moved and shot the downed Z, the other two shot and killed two Zs, this left 1 Z.
Turn 13
The medics and cop moved toward the other downed officer.  The last Z was shot.
Turn 14
One more Z activated right in front of the medics from door 3.  The Candy stripper had a gun but missed the cop shot and killed the Z.  The cops moved toward door 4.
Turn 15
A Z activated from door 4. The medics made it to the downed officer and revived her.  The other cops killed the Z and moved to the medic group.
Turn 16
Three Zs activated from door 3 and moved toward the group and had to climb on top of a car to attack the cops, everyone fired and the three Zs died.
We decided to end it here since to Zs could just keep activating.
All in all I had a good time and Ben did a great job game mastering.
The cops were Copplestone, the Zs ours mostly reusing the Hospital Zs, the civilians were either plasticville (park) or heroclix.  Vehicles were a mixed bag either 1/50 or 1/43.  The buildings were either plasticville or OG Chicagoland.

Update on figs

Lord Siwoc asked, nay begged for photos (just kidding), I don't know why I'm not a great painter, just adequate but here goes.  First up is the creature from the black lagoon, followed by a representative sample of my Chindits.



 Below is the future men's clothing store, from OG, not quite finished just a few detail to work on for the exterior, we'll work on the interior someother time.  This big red thing is my deep diving submersible.  I was hoping that the interior would be somewhat visible but the light is reflecting too much off the paint.  This was made from some GI Joe type sled thing, a cigar tube, a christmas ornament and a dishwashing liquid cap.  The interior contains a small computer part, as an on board computer, two figures, and some decals to represent control surfaces.  There is also a deck and ladder to the hatch.

 

 This photo shows some of the Egyptians for archaeological gaming along the Nile.  Everyone in white was just a rebase while the two diggers are new paint jobs.

My conversion of our hardsuit, there is a new backpack with nuclear motor and gas tanks for the flame thrower all scratch built.

I'm having problems moving the photos around where I want them Sorry.

Above is representative sample of my Connon Fodder US Naval figs that were rebased.  I really like the additions to the rear most fig who is now holding a Springfield '03 and a Bowie knife in preparation to defend his ship.

Finally, the OG small warehouse, that still needs a few details painted on the exterior.

I am looking for some machine shop tools for the interior of the model.

Painting update

The Chindits are finished, Ghurkas are based and primed along with Hinterlands figs: two 25 woman coys, a machinegun plt. and a half coy of trench raiders.  I also based six of Brigade Games female Zouaves to use as scouts.  Also completed were about ten Egyptian archaeology/smugglers/diggers.  I have slowly been rebasing figures (Egyptian figs and US Naval late 19th C and 1920s Naval) that were either on pennies or tiny washers (those fit for 15/20mm figs).
Last night we ordered a bunch of SCIFI figs from Antenociti's Workshop ( I got some female troops for an Honor Harrington scenario I've been developing. Terrain pieces from Ainsty Casting; including space station items and the stone wharf, among other bits.
I am working on two more OG buildings, one a factory the other looks like it is going to be a mens store with law offices above; so it needs to be fitted with stairs and a floor.
I bought from Syr Hobbs 12 packs of early war (II) US Marines and mostly all the civilians that Platoon 20 or Elheim had.  This pretty well finishes off the figures needed for my Japanese campaign against some So. Pacific Islands in the late 1930s (Tales of the old Monkey). 

Figure painting update

Two weeks ago I finished painting 115 Moro's for a commission.
Then I painted my remaining Obelisk and Pulp Chinese, they were a lot of fun to paint. Also finished 8 Egyptian diggers for archaeological games.  Next I painted a  TSATF 25 man unit of Chindits, a heavy weapon's unit of 2 mortars and 6 crew and 4 machine guns with support. Then I rebased the Pulp movie unit, based my 25 TSATF Gurkha (WW2) unit and another 2 mortars with crew; 12 misc. figures including Frankenstein's monster and the Creature from the Black Lagoon; 4 more Egyptian diggers; rebased my US Navy 1920s unit; and, based one of each of Tiger's new Sand Pebble Sailors.  I love these TAG Chindit/Gurkha figures, but I'm not sure how I'm going to use these, maybe fight some Tongs, I don't really want them to fight against the Japanese, maybe Malaysians if I can find the natives.  Tiger is working on Aceh natives for the Dutch Colonials to fight maybe I can use them.  At the Gurkha museum they had some really great displays and a couple of worthwhile autobiographies from the 1950/60s that were brilliant, sooo.

Mars/VSF/Aether scout boats

We got a bunch of these at Target for .99 each for four different ships, but only two different body types.
The first ship was a challenge for awhile, then I saw the possibilities that the bumps and protrusions could infact be painted to simulate propulsion systems or some such.  So all I did to change this was to cut out the orange life preserver on the front, cut a gun position with sliding overhead door, I glued a floor in for the gun to sit on and may add a black background piece.  Unfortunately there was only one of these ships, but got seven of the others just below.

The first thing I did was to pop the deck off of each ship, then cut off all protrusions from the body.  Then I made a templete for a wood deck to sit within the body.  I cut three wood decks, simulated decking and gave them an ink wash made with rubbing alcohol so it will dry fast and not warp the balsa.   I added a brass rod and a model plane prop to this one below.  I then tentatively put the deck in place.  I took the original deck housing and inserted a block of balsa for some heft then added the  white plasticard to give this new deck house some height.  I used 1/2 inch straight pins to hold the plasticard to the balsa and orange deck house, did not work out too great but OK enough.  I used a couple of Ramshackle armored hatches to provide some protection to the pilot.  The two plastic things in the bow represent a bollard to tie the ship ti a landing mast.  The gun on top is from Richard Houston- part of his alien gun collection, unfortunately no longer in production.  There is also a hatch and ladder not visible on the rear of the deck house.

This ship body below I cut down by an inch, just to make a different boat body, the gun is again a small alien gun by Houston, the protective shield is made from some piece from Ramshackle backed by thin plasticard that I tried to make look like it had rivets.  I used a Tandy leather pounce? wheel I got from Hobby Lobby.  It comes with three different punch distance wheels.  Running this across the card makes a dimple on the reverse side that looks just like a rivet.  I just need to make an open pilot house for this.

 This ship has a square deck house with armored view slits and hatch by Ramshackle.  I don't really care for this pilot house. I used grooved plasticard and L shaped edging by Evergreen, the edging was enhanced with the pounce wheel rivets.

New Photos

These recently finished projects needed some photos so I took some today along with the latest from Tiger.

This first photo is our 28mm hardsuit I modified with a scratch built backpack and flame thrower.  The suit is a slightly modified Belgian dive suit from the 20's.

This is my first model painted from the Old Glory Chicagoland Buildings.  The roof does fit very well but it is OK.  The interior has been painted and we are considering what to do with the building, I think it will turnout to be a print shop specializing in money in the back room.  I got the printing office from RLBPS's Frontline collection, should be a nice place for the cops to raid.

These two photos, exterior and interior, are 'a la' Grim's Plasticville structures.  This building is a converted firehouse for the local gang, where they brew booze and can hang-up and spread arms to torture good guys (that's the red thing on the left). Plastic scale lumber was used to board up windows on the street side. Sprue bits have been used to make electric and water connections. 

This is the latest from Tiger Miniatures, Pack Mule 04 - the left mule I think is random pack mule, but the right mule carries a machinegun.  The gun could be water cooled Browning or a Maxim.

New Figures Arrive from Tiger

Now that we are back from Nashcon and normalcy (well for us anyway) DHL brought us a restock and new figure line from Tiger.  One new addition is a pack mule set ($8.50) with one carrying ammo boxes and the other a maxim MG. 
Very new from Tiger is the Renaissance Knights with five packs to date RN01 General Command Mounted 2 mounted figs ($10); RN02 Mercenary Pike Standing (with Cmd.) 20 figs ($34); RN03 Arquebus Unit (with cmd) 20 figs ($34); RN07 Mounted Lancers 6 mounted figs ($30); and Mounter Reiter 6 mounted figs ($30).
We will be slightly expanding the Splintered Light line we carry as well as taking orders to Cons that David cannot attend.  Also soon as we get them ready we will be carrying unsaddled horses in at least four poses.

Off to Nashcon

Now that the tornado has past us and hopefully there will be none tomorrow as Ben and I are off to Nashcon in Franklin, Tn.  We were last there two years ago since last year we spent May travelling around England.  Nashcon is usually our smallest con of the year.  This year I am surprised at some of the vendors appearing here. 
So far this has not been a big sales year. We had hopes of being able to afford a small store front and have looked but cannot find affordable space.  Places that have been empty for more than a year are still asking for ridiculously high rent, with ceilings falling in, disgusting floors, and not alot of foot traffic. I know it can all be fixed easily enough, but if I owned those properties....

New Projects, new figures

Trent has sent our restck as well as some new additions all will be up soon.
My new project is a trio of aether scouts.  The source is a kiddie plastic pool boat about six inches long and costs a $1 from Target.  So far I have taken the boats apart and made a templet of the deck space.  One ship has a deck house.  More descriptions and photos soon.  I also have finished the first Chicagoland building from Old Glory and am beginning the second, photos of both soon.  I bought more deck guns, ladders and davits from Houston so I will be finishing off the first Commerce raider I began so long ago.  Anyone know who makes open boats I can use for lifeboats. I have been putting off finishing it because the second commerce raider will be designed based on an Osprey book.
Finally, well almost, I found a Hotwheels hemi looking big van that I have taken the decals off and will be painting up for my SPRU unit. I purchased 1936 1:48 White opentop bus, which I have taken apart to spray paint the exterior.  I plan to use the bus for archaeological expeditions in the Back of Beyond.

Final Diner pics

During a brief spell with no rain I managed to spray the 3 small walls of the entrance.  The Chrome spray looks great, runs very fast so you have to be careful.  Once sprayed and dry I glued and puttied the entrance to the diner. I touched up the putty with Chrome Steel from Testors and it worked quite well not exactly matching but close especially since I weathered the joints and entrance with some of our new Secret Weapon Miniatures wash which worked wonderful.  I was going to also use their pigments to weather further but decided not to at this time.  The work is just about done--paint the doors, window shade, and a couple of other small things.  You can't see it in the photo but the front entrance wall has a window with sign "OPEN", the window made from a small sheet of plexiglas I got at Hobby Lobby or Michaels for less than $2, it could make up to 50 windows.
This is the last post for the diner, next I'll be working on a small aether flyer runabout or painting the Chicagoland buildings we got from Old Glory.

Diner Extension

I glued the three pieces together and added some modeling putty in the gaps.  If and when it stops raining (at least 10 inches since Thursday) I will spray. 

The photo above shows the locations of cuts to the extra walls.  On the left (left end wall) the cut was made next to the window and also cut off the connecting tabs.  The middle set (right end wall) is the front facing window also cutting off the tabs.  The right wall (front wall) was broken just passed the door, so that came off first then the final cut close to the window.  I left the clock in place and may cut off the clock on the diner.

In this photo, with parts balanced before collapsing, is the interior view with floor in place.

This photo, which maybe too close-up, shows the relative location of the new extension.  Since this photo was taken I added a plasticstruct roof and putty in the outside edges to cover gaps.  Hopefully by Thursday I can spray the extension with chrome spray.

New stuff

Since the last post I went to the local hobby shop and found a can of Testors Chrome spray paint, also a couple of packs of Evergreen strip styrene quarter and half round.  I have the three walls super glued and hopefully the strips will cover some of the corner misalignment's.  I will dry fit to the diner filling in cracks with putty.  Once the dry fit is ready to go I will separate and spray the new entrance.  If I can I will mask off the upper walls of the interior of the diner and also spray them with chrome. 
I did take some photos which I'll post tomorrow.  Ben and I have been driving around town and calling real estate brokers concerning a store front.  Unfortunately so far all we have been able to find is a 160 sq. foot office space in the back on the second floor in our price range.  Not a great location.  We've also been ducking undercover from tornadoes (one a mile to the northwest, two others about ten miles to the south) raging through here over the past couple of days and coming week, ugh!

Plasticville Diner Entrance Addition

Today I received my copy of Model Railroader's "How to model Railroads of the 1950's".  It contains two great photos of 1950s diners that match pretty well with Plasticville's diner. Well, except for the entrance, there is a 'mudroom' at the front door (an addition to keep the weather out.  This looked so much like I remember diners that I decided to add one to mine.  Fortunately, I had a couple of parts (two complete end walls and a portion of the front wall that contained the door) from a second diner that I could cut to fit my diners front door. 

So far I have cut a side door and the front door to less 1.5 inch wide, so they will end up being opposing entrances.  I then cut from the end wall that only has windows, one window with complete side designs.  This piece covers the space between the two doors.  This addition will have a flat roof and the window will have a sign that reads 'open'. 

You can see from this photo of the Relish Diner in Brooklyn the entrance I am trying to describe.

The only problem I see will be matching the chrome of the original since the new parts are grey.  Hopefully some photos tomorrow.

Secret Weapon Miniatures

We just received our first shipment of Secret Weapon Miniatures Pigments (22), Washes (20) as well as all four of the Scenic Kits.  We'll soon have them online and will be taking them to all conventions.  The scenic kits contain everything you need to finish a base with grasses, small rocks, snow, water, and each has white glue.  The 20 different wash colors can add depth in folds and creases to nearly every color on a painted miniature.  The pigments will add interest to painted vehicles and buildings such as rust, dust, snow, patina, and icky sewage.  Anyway these appear to be much more useful than the limited selection of colors from Vallejo's washes and pigments.

Little Wars

The new venue is very favorable for dealers, while I wasn't that enthusiastic about the P. Run hotel.  Next year we'll stay elsewhere.  Sales were ok but folks were on tight budgets this year, gee, I wonder why.   It was nice to see Richard Houston attending with some marvelous ships and bits o' ships.  I spent a bit of money there, relatively speaking, on bits. I also bought some more Platoon 20 US Marines from Syr Hobbs for my interwar war with Japan in the Pacific (a'la The Gold Monkey, see older posts).  We will definitely attend next year.

Hinterland 's new figures

Earlier this week I received an order from Hinterland http://hinterlandminiatures.weebly.com/ Princess Viktoria's troops.  I have decided to use these figures in my imaginary nations19th/20th C world, I'll probably also use Brigade Games female Zouaves as regular infantry.

I am thinking of making these figures a six company (10-12 man companies) battalion/regiment with a MG section (2 guns).  I'll be using the trench raiders as the Grenadiers and the skirmishers as light or voltigers or whatever.  A horse holder or two would make these mounted infantry.  I may change and make them 6 man companies with two batttalions to a regiment and two regiments to the brigade.

I have a great book on a section of a west central German area with maps and photos, population info, history, etc etc. and I think that Princess Viktoria and her sisters will be commanding a brigade sized army in the near future. 

Last night I ordered enough more troops to fill out the first battalion/regiment.

I wonder if I should also have male troops, well no country has just a female population, an equal sized unit of men couldn't hurt even if they are commanded by women.

New Stuff

There were several problems with ordering Geezers and a few other items that Ben has found and Fixed.

Hopefully, we will be attending The Evansville Old Time Train Show and Flea Market as a dealer in September.  Where we will display our Vallejo paints and terrain mixtures, S Guage vehicles, and people.  Maybe a few other things from Tiger like wagons and carts.

Tiger Restock

A large heavy package arrived from Pete at Tiger in the UK filled with loads of miniatures.  Of particular note are two new sets for the Balkan Wars BWT02 Turks fighting and BWG014 Mounted Evzones.

Well, I was wrong about the interior measurements of the diner, in this photo you can see our Zombies on 30mm bases where they will fit.

In this photo are two figures the Am. sailor ACW is on a 1 inch base and will fit pretty much anywhere behind the counter.  The Trent Highlander is on a 2 pence piece and will only fit between the stool and some behind the counter.  Without the stools the measurements work fine and 30mm bases will go anywhere in front of the counter.

This final photo shows our Zombies after a fine meal of local citizens in the local diner.

Comment on the comment.

Thank you Lord Siwoc.  The floor plan was designed around our base size (1 inch).  There is 1+ inches behind and 1.5 in front of the counter so there is plenty of room.  Stay tuned here for a photo with zombies filling the diner, hopefully tomorrow.

Stupid comment section Rant

OK, this is not a post against anyone but the stupid way you have to put in a comment. I can't believe the stupid system, that does stuff you don't want it to, does not recognize me after signing in to comment on a comment.

The Plasticville Diner

I thought awhile back I mentioned building this model and soon putting up a photo.  The Plasticville Diner itself consists of four walls and a roof.  I added counters, interior door, stools, wall dressing, and people.  The counters are from the Plasticville Frosty Bar with the wall sections cut off.  The cooking area is also from the Frosty, with stove like printed card stock , cabinets and backsplash from The Virtual Arm Chair General's PI's apartment interior (I think).  The door from the Frosty was in good condition and has a round window which I thought looked just right for the door between the kitchen area and the front.

In the photo above you can see some of the back wall with the printed card stock.  The front of the diner was silver and looked rusty so I left it that way only adding some red to the name and the lights next to the door.  The window blinds were yellow plastic and I painted them white. (That's a seven inch ruler).

In this photo above you can see the left side with customer sitting at the counter.   The stools are made from plastic pipe painted silver and a drop of white glue as the cushion painted red.

This last photo shows the entire interior, two or four more figures will be added to the scene to make it more realistic through the windows.  A little touch up painting and the roof will soon go on and will look patched and be weathered.

Plasticville buildings by Bachman are either HO (1:87) or O (1:48) guage are generally available in most trainshops and on ebay for similar prices.  We use O guage since the buildings were originally made to use with both S and O, so that our figures, 28mm (or there abouts), fit right in.

Over the last year I was lucky enough to find five or six bunches of misc.O guage buildings, anywhere from two to 20 buildings in the bunch some with missing parts but generally in good condition, a little dirty but they wash up easy.  For the missing parts I just found a solution at the Evansville, In. train meet and flea market.  I met Jim Jaehnen and he had a pile of Plasticville buildings in O guage for sale.  Ben bought 5 or six buildings and I found out about his parts and pieces.  So I made a list of missing walls and cupolas to send him.  If you want his address please ask, he does not have a web site.

While putting together a list of missing parts I had to temporarily put together my buildings and they number 25 plasticville buildings and that is not the entire line of Plasticville buildings.  Ben has five or six more and with Old Glory's Chicagoland buildings we have over 40 modernish buildings for pulp and whatever gaming.

On the way back from Cold Wars

After breaking down the booth and packing up the truck we made it Ohio, just, before stopping from Sorrus butticus.  Well, it wasn't our best Cold Wars but better than our first in '07.
We have several packages waiting: one from Micro-mark - tools for sculpting, filing and making models.  Best from Historifigs with our latest production of a Martian style (?) skiff for 15 or 20mm figures.  It is scaled for 15s but I think 20s will also work well.  I was going to put a picture here, but this will not take the 3D program it is in.  So it will have to wait until Ben can photograph it.
The Cold Wars dealer area was great, well obviously, there were more dealers here than Historicon and probably as many gamers.  Although the Host parking lot did have three empty parking spots Saturday night--amazing!  We both spent money like we had it; I finished buying Old Glory's Chicagoland buildings and some roof top bits.  I also bought from Age of Glory some Moroccans regulares (20 figs) for my Spanish Foreign Legion to operate with, a small artillery piece and mortar with close enough uniformed troops to be Legionnaires.  This gives me two 20 man units of SFL, one Regulares, and some heavy weapons.  It should be sufficient to fight the Rifs in a campaign planned for next year.  I also picked up from On Military Matters a Spanish illustrated history on the Legion 1920 to 1931.  I already have several others in Spanish and one in English which I will list soon all very good.
We should get home by mid-afternoon on Monday, then unload the truck and return it to Enterprise.  I'll have to place an order with Tiger to replace all the figures we sold out of over the weekend.  I am slightly surprised that we sold quite a bit of Trent Miniatures stock with no notice or advertizing.  Very nice stuff and Duncan Macfarland (Trent's owner) lent us his display figures and I am sure that the excellent paint job and great figures help to sell them.

Cold Wars

Another day and we're off to Cold Wars to see friends and hopefully sell a bunch of stuff.  We'll probably use our Old Glory Army card to get the accessories for their Chicago buildings we got at Fall In.  I'm looking for 20mm WWII pacific figures, mostly Japanese.  I'm pretty close to having all I need for a small project I have been working on, less than 200 figures mostly plastic.  But thinking about getting some 28mm figures for the Pacific as the range is greater and I'm going to get a Gruman Goose through the hobby shop in Owensboro. 
We just got in today a large order from Hydra with their new rockets, I forgot to order more War Rocket rules so hopefully they'll get them to us in time but I'm not holding my breath.  We have so much new stuff we'll be hard pressed to display it this time.  But we ordered some display units that should allow us to display everything we carry that can hang.  We will also get some shelves to display painted figures from specific ranges hanging on that panel.  That should do away with the most of the tables we now have to get at shows.

Our Zombies in review.  Bryan S. in England has bought a number of our figures, Zombies and Civilians and has reviewed the Zombies at http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/  I was impressed with this web site,even before he reviewed our stuff.  Bryan is a very good painter and his painting gave me some ideas for my Zombies (when I pull them out of the bins).  Bryan has reviewed loads of Zombies (he wrote that his number some 1200+) that's a lot of Zombies.

New Figures

Trent Miniatures has sent us the first four cases (317 packs of 80+ numbers) of their miniatures.  They include, DeeZee Miniatures (ice age and earlier mammals), Newark characters (Napoleon, Prince Rupert, Bromhead, Godiva, King John, Marion and Friar Tuck), French (foot, cavalry and artillery) and Russian (foot) French Revolutionary War, Caribbean (Haitian) Revolution, Irish '98 troubles, and some equipment.  The foot figures measure 28mm and the cavalryman 28mm on the Barrett scale, the horses measure 25mm to the shoulder.  
At first look, that's all the time I have had to look, they are quite well sculpted and nicely animated.  We'll be taking them to Cold Wars and Little Wars soon.  Hopefully, they will be on the website in the next month or two.  Email us for a list.

New Sand Pebbles arrives and other stuff

Tiger's new SP003 Shore Patrol has arrived, I matched these against my painted Cannon Fodder's Sand Pebbles.  Tiger's are between one and three mm taller and slightly thicker.  But I think these will fit right in together.

Each of the figures carry a billy club and the officer is attempting to draw his pistol.  I don't know what the fig second from right is doing, maybe I shouldn't ask and he won't tell. (It was almost funny).

We're still waiting for other Tiger figures ordered a month or more before these to arrive.  This came DHL not bad timing since I think it was sent on 2-17.

I have been working on a Plasticville Diner and I'm just about finished with the interior, photos when done.  It will be part of our town for Pulp gaming.  Next up is a Plasticville hospital, they come two storey.  I plan to cut the top off the second storey of one and the entire second storey of another to make a three storey hospital with removeable roof and two floors.  Photos from the beginning.  Following that in no particular order will be a gas station, church, police station, and fire station.



New Figures Arrive

Finally, our first shipment of six packs each of Tiger's new US Navy Sand Pebbles has arrived and we expect more of them during the next week.  Weapons include in SP002, 2 BAR, 7 Springfields, and a pump shotgun.  The four officers SP001 carry 45s and the NCO a Springfield. Coming next week is SP003 a real shore patrol armed with billy clubs.
These should go quite well with my Cannon Fodder US Navy Sand Pebble figures, although I think these new figs might be slightly taller at 30 to 31mm to the eyes.  But then no everyone is six foot tall as long and the heads are the same size it should be fine.
Ben has posted some photos of our new civilian figures on his blog http://www.leadbones.blogspot.com/
Lots more stuff coming in the next couple of weeks stay tuned.

Ion Cannnon for Star Wars gaming

Painting is just about completed on this 'Ion Cannon', the computer screens need some space ships pictured.  It is constructed from the motor and shaft from a blender while the top from the blue ceramic up is from a gas oven igniter, I don't remember where the radar dish is from but the computer controls come from the Playmobil ship fittings.  I think the motor gives the cannon a nice realistic feel to it.  I didn't paint very much of the model as I chose the electric pieces precisely because they looked real.  The gas oven igniter is very nice especially since the igniter is from our oven when I had to replace it.  Unfortunately the cannon cannot depress any further than pictured, OK so it is for planetary defence only.  To power the cannon I have a massive generator I bought from Rudy Nelson's Time Portal Hobbies years ago.

New figures coming soon

We received a package of masters today for a set of 8 modern civilians that can either be armed or unarmed, a pack of 4 African or whatever fetishes, and another of 4 Tikis.  These will go into production asap so we should have them in stock by Cold Wars.  Ben will be putting them up probably on his blog in the next couple of days http://www.leadbones.blogspot.com/

Info came from Tiger today that loads of new packs will be in the mail soon.  They include: US Navy Shore Patrol (see below) (interwar period), Bolshaviks for the Winter War (at least 6 packs), and Balkan Wars Early Turkish infantry.

Converting a Playmobil ship

As I mentioned last time I am working on my first convertion of a Playmobil ship. This photo shows the full ship from aft, it is approximately 30 inches long.  The top deck has a ships wheel and you can just makeout an officer next to it.  On the bridge deck you can see a sailor with a  heavy machinegun in a permanent mount.  There is one on the other side as well as between the two bollards on the rear deck. The top deck is removeable with the bridge, radioroom, chartroom and stairs to the next deck down open to gaming.  Still left to finish from the obvious include painting the deck and drybrushing rust.
Click to enlarge



Here you can see the bridge deck interior, on the right is the radioroom the center white space is the stairs down, well suposedly, as the piece to hold the upperdeck in place goes here. 

You can see in the photo below the hatch covers are on with the single deck gun in place.  The balsa wood pieces surrounding the gun are part of a quick drop packing crate that hides the gun.  The gun is a 1:72 88mm gun which is approximately a three inch gun in 1:64 scale.  The gun is mounted on a magnet with a large washer glued to the hatch.  The next ship will be more of a large construction project as I want to make it closer to a commerce raider than an armed resupply ship.  So that I will be cutting into the hull for two or three 4 inch guns, and a different bridge complex.  I am starting on my drawings this weekend so maybe a pic of that next week.

In the background you can see my workbench, Ben's is a mirror image in the other corner.  Under the heatpump is my collection of MWANs, rule books, Ospreys, and magazines.  The ship is sitting on our 4 X 10 gametable, with what I thought would be loads of storage underneath.  But my son has more stuff than me and I have been collecting stuff for 50+ years.  Behind the back wall is a storage are that is 4 by 20 but has a sloping ceiling so we could really make the gameroom bigger than the 16 by 20, including the stairs up from the garage, the storage area has been very helpful as my wife doesn't want much of our gaming toys in the house.  I have some stuff in my third floor/attic library.

Tales of the Gold Monkey

I started watching Tales of the Gold Monkey and must say it is wonderful for ideas in Pulp Gaming.  I've even started making a list of figures to begin purchasing:
Bluemoon: Japanese Agents
Copplestone Honest Citizens and Sleuths
Perry: Samurai 7, 24, and 43 for the Princesses personal guard
Pulp Figs: each of the Japanese packs making two units of 20 figs each for the secret island base, several of the weird war Germans, and the Island warriors
Artizen: too many to list for civilians, island bureaucrats, Germans high command, and civilian contractors
Valiant: has some really nice Geishas and head Personal guard for Princess Koji
I might still need some Japanese pilots for the Zeros at the secret Japanese airfield on island x.
I have two Playmobile ships, see below, that I am converting into German commerce raiders.

 

 

Major renovations need to be made to these ships particularly the superstructure, as it is made for 2 1/2inch figures and is too modern looking.  The ship is approximately 30inches long and 8 wide.  There was a long series on LAF about converting this ship.  It is a great read and an even better job than mine will be.  Soon as I finish the first ship I will post photos, probably next week.

 

 

1930s in the South Pacific

On Saturday Mike S. a new customer from, almost, nearby Paducah, KY. came by.  While talking about what he was going to use the Cannon Fodder US Navy figures we have for sale it turns out he is working on a campaign scenario for the South Pacific during the 1930s.  Think South Pacific, Sadie Thompson, Tales of the Gold Monkey and you get the basic idea.  Well shiver me timbers says I, so am I. SO, we swapped stories about what we were considering doing.

I would really like comments, questions, figure ideas, however you can help me.

I was considering 20mm figures, but am having trouble locating the civilians I want to use for the opening moves. I have the Japanese and Marines in 20mm as well as bunkers and trench system for the Japanese as the Marine try to take the island back.  Well, I think that may stay that way.  I am currently thinking of using Pulp Figures  Japanese as well as some other figure officer types, I don't really want WWII uniforms until much later in the campaign I am contemplating.  My early ideas still work after taking with Mike, now I need a gruman Goose and  perhaps turn a Catalina into a Pan Pacific passenger plane.

Here are my thought so far from my notes:

The island is located between the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, it is a midway point for flights from Oz to Hawaii. It also was a coaling station. A small copra plantation on the south end of the island with ca. 200 islanders and an Aussie planter.  The island is shaped like an atoll, I think.
The island has a protected sea plane harbor that can also accommodate a small freighter at the docks - hence the coaling station. The airline is constructing an airstrip secretly for the US Navy. A navy LT CMR and a PO oversee the construction.
In the area of the harbor is the airline hotel, company store, 3 to 4 houses, warehouse near the dock, coal bunkers next to the dock, partial hanger for sea planes, radio tower and shack, plantation house and a couple of dozen native huts on the south end.
The native village consists of the huts, fishing boats/canoe, drying sheds and storage for copra. The natives have a fresh water stream. The planter grows his own food and sells the surplus to the airline, wild pigs and goats inhabit the island.
The airstrip consists of a cleared area big enough for the runway but not fully cleared of stumps, the beginnings of a tower, barracks for the construction workers, partial hanger for planes, construction equipment, fuel bunkers. Power is supplied by generators in each area.
The harbor area has a desalinization plant that supplies a water tank of x,000 gallons. There is an established road between the harbor and the airstrip and the planter. NThere are numerous other trails.
An old volcano is on the north end of the island. The island is nearly surrounded by sandy beaches except for cliffs at the north end from ancient volcanic activity. There are small passes through the coral reef surrounding the island. The passes are only bit enough for a small freighter.
Vehicles on the island:
The planter has a flatbed or pickup truck. The airline has a pickup, 2 cars, gas truck, and small bus.
The construction crew has a pickup, flatbed, bulldozer, steamroller, steam shovel, grader, and dump truck.
The navy has a car.
There is also a water truck and gas truck.
The barracks, tower and hanger are at the south end of the runway to take advantage of the fresh water stream.

Guns on the island:
The planter has several rifles and a pistol.
Navy personnel each have a .45.
Civilians at the harbor have a rifle, shotgun and a couple of pistols.
Construction crew have 3-4 pistols and 2 rifles, up to 3 crew can be WWI or later vets.
　
Pan Am first flew Sikorsky S-40 in 1931 (American Clipper), then S-42 in 34 (Hong Kong Clipper) and Martin M-130s in 35 (Philippine Clipper, China Clipper)
ON Guam the Pan Am had a hotel on a quad with band stand in middle, and small pool. Water tower, small buildings, some palms, small bushes forming hedge along walkways.
The dock was 2 to 3 feet high, with buildings at one end, planes do not have to fit in to the hanger on/at the dock.

Wake and Midway each had:
12 prefab buildings
2 diesel engines for elec.
2 windmills for water pumps
1 CAT blade and crane
2-4K gal tankers for AV gas and water
1 38 foot power launch
8 antenna masts 35’ above ground in special pattern for radio control, direction finding and transmission
400’ dock with barge as floating dock for planes

New Figures

I ordered the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III) figure sets from EBOB, as well as two sets of horses and skeletons with a commercial license for some figure to come out later this year. 
The figures are really quite nice and they cleaned up very quickly, maybe every third figure had a mold line to scrape off.  Most standing up straight figures are 27mm from sole to eyes, the not "Steve McQueen" figure is 29mm as is one other.  Buying a set gets you a couple of extra stoogies or the Kommandant in the case of the Germans.  I can't wait to paint these up, don't know what to use them for yet.  Hmmm! use the British and American prisoners as captured during a secret operation in a lost German colony in the Pacific during the 1930s?  Sounds weird so maybe that will work. Yeah I can see it now.

New vehicles arrive

Twenty-five new Lledo 1930s cars and 80 trucks arrive this am.  These include 3- Packard Town Vans, 19-Model A vans, and 53-Model T vans.  We shipped to Historifigs our two latest creations of four alien eggs and a 15mm VSF/SCIFI skiff; and hope to have them in our hands by mid-March for Cold Wars.  We are also waiting for Old Glory to ship us our latest figures (8 civilians).  Finally, three new greens arrived for our modern horror line.

Book review

Just finished Men of Color to Arms! by ELizabeth D. Leonard and I am really disappointed, the Osprey Buffalo Soldiers was much better.  If I was interested in Fort Davis, this might be a useful book, but it is just a rehash of previous secondary works.  I found one interesting paragraph (alright there were more but this really stood out as an excellent opportunity to further her thesis that was missed). In 1871, William Shafter took two expeditions to explore areas around Fort Davis, they were away from one to four months covering 500 to 2,500 miles and she wrote one paragraph about it. An excellent, but missed, opportunity to discuss what Leonard called the "essential work in the postwar nation-building enterprise." (96) There is practically nothing concerning the participation of Black troopers in the Spanish American War. 
I could go on but will refrain, save your money, I would not recommend this book.

New figures coming from Tiger and Trent

We are expecting by the 27th two new packs of figures from Tiger Miniatures. The figures are available for pre-order now.   These are sculpted by Richard(?) and are 1920s US Naval personnel based on the 1966 'Sand Pebbles' movie. The first is a pack (SP001) of 5 figs command figures four officers with 45s and an NCo with a Springfield ($10.00). The second pack (SP002) contains 10 figs of Other Ranks 8 with Springfield rifles and two with BARs ($20.00).
Also, coming soon are 80 Lledo Days Gone By trucks and 25 cars.  These will be selling for $5 each.  Ben has updated or stock of Lledo as the resent TMP announcement was quite sussessful and will update again when the new stock comes in.
Finally, we will be receiving a stock of each pack of Trent miniatures lines French Revolutionary Wars, SciFi, DeeZee, as well as the Trent Personality figures North Star in the UK and RecreationalConflict are the only retailers for Trent.

First Post

I plan to use this blog to organize my thoughts and ideas on wargaming campaigns, figures and terrain. As well as reviewing books I read particularly historical and novels. Campaign reports will be posted as gaming time permits.  My gaming interests are Colonial (28mm), early WWII Pacific (20mm), Back of Beyond (28mm), Pulp adventures (28mm), Seven Years War (28mm), Napoleonic skirmish (28mm), Star Wars (30mm), 40K, and soon to come Naval gaming as my ships continue down the slipways. 
My sailing ships are approximately 1/87 to 1/72 scale and number 20 vessels.  Currently under construction is a tramp steamer/sub-tender/commercial raider, next in line is a tramp steamer/commercial raider/troop carrier (for miscellaneous badguys) for the South Pacific, followed by an interwar destroyer and trampsteamer "The Venture".  Two subs are available for use (one from Brigade Games and one from Stan Johansen), these ships are for 28mm figures. The ships are for outdoor gaming, I think I have permission from my wife to add some small 10-15mm ceramic structures in the garden to act as towns and cities to represent coastal cities of my naval imagi-nations.
By the title of this blog The Heliograph I tend to game the colonial period and have close to 2K figures of varying types.  I was also the editor of The Heliograph for ten years and remember that time fondly.  I have an imagi-nation - Byzantium- for my SYW and later period gaming up to the Pulp era.
We also have purchased an Old Glory Army membership and with it got most of the Gangland buildings, which so far have been cleaned up and are awaiting a warm enough days to prime.  To add to these buildings Plasticville has been a wonderful find on ebay and we have loads of parts and pieces as well as Miniature Building Authority's European and Middle-Eastern buildings.  While we were in England last May (2010) we purchased vehicles and building materials from every hobbyshop we could find so we could eventually game the "Geezers" from Killer B Games and have a good English feeling about them.

I will present figures, paints, vehicles and terrain pieces that Ben (my son) and I sell at http://www.recreationalconflict.com/ Ben will probably do some of the same at his blog http://www.leadbones.blogspot.com/