15mm Model of the Stalingrad Fountain

This has already gotten some coverage on The Miniatures Page (TMP), but I think this is so interesting that I just had to post it. There is a company, I believe they are in Spain, that is going to market a 15mm scale model of the famous fountain in the center of Stalingrad that we are all used to seeing in the history documentaries and even in movies. For those of you have never seen this fountain before, let me just tell you that the photo of the real one (2nd photo) became one of those poignant icons of the contrast between peace and war. The release date of the model is reported to be January 9th. It looks like it will be a great way to add interest to any Eastern Front urban combat scenario design.

If you compare the model to the photo of the real one (2nd photo) you will see some differences. The real fountain only had six statues whereas the model has seven and about three more that have apparently been knocked down. Then if you look the the photo of the fountain as it was depicted in the "Enemy at the Gates" movie (3rd photo) you will see that apparently the 15mm model is patterned after the movie's fountain, not the real one.

In any case, it appears to be a nice model and a great idea.

Santa Fights Back!

I don't know about you, but every night after I get home from work I see yet another news story about the "War on Christmas." I never thought I'd live to see the day when there would be so many real live Scrooges and Grinches running amok. Well I got news for all of them, Santa can now fight back! You heard me right, there is at least one supplier of Santa wargaming figures out there. The figures in this photo comes from Amazon Miniatures. Apparently there was another supplier in the UK called "Wargame Supply Dump" but they appear to be closed down.
But that is not all, not only can you find minis, you can also get a set of rules for employing them in a combat mode; as a free download! Check out the "Free" page at Two Hour Wargames and you will see a little gem called "Santa Claus Wars." It, and apparently all their other rules, are based on a core set of rules called Chain Reaction 2, which is also available for a free download. These CR2 rules are generic enough that you can use them for almost anything you want to do!

28mm WWII German Troops in Hard Plastic

More interesting news concerning the ever expanding range of 28mm hard plastic wargaming miniatures. We just learned that the Wargames Factory is developing a hard plastic sprue of late war WWII German troops. There will be five figures per sprue. This photo is a nice preview for you.

Resurrection, Part Two

Painting proceeded on the recently rediscovered Blood Claws Bike Pack; however, come game day, they were simply gray/black/dwarf flesh.

I got the basecoat for the tires, fenders, gas tanks, and faces of the riders done, and even did a bit of metallic color on the twin-linked bolters, engines, and exhaust pipes.

However, undaunted, I took them with me to the Game Parlor to slap them on the table in defiance of the forces of Chaos!!

Unfortunately, due to some miss communications, and a lad that failed to show up, our lists required tweaking.

Calculator in hand, I proceeded to play with my list the best I could on the spur of the moment. What I came up with as a list was rather underwhelming, and it did not include my newly (nearly) painted bikers! Oh well.

Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and Orks (yes, Orks!) battled against the forces of Chaos. Some days, your old foe becomes your battle buddy. Go figure!

My Blood Claws held their own, primarily due to the presence of a Rune Priest who cast “Psychic Storm” successfully for three turns, defeating most incoming rounds.

In Hand to Hand (HtH), the Rune Priest fought like a rabid wolf, tearing apart Chaos troopers left and right. Unfortunately, the Blood Claws struck last in combat due to their lower initiative, and had trouble hitting and wounding due to their lower weapon skill and strength. They still managed to kill one unit of Chaos Berserkers, before being completely slaughtered.

We lost the game, but I think everyone had a great time.

I came away from the game with a new idea for vehicle camouflage, thanks to the OrkMeister! I’ll post some photos of my “winter” Space Wolves vehicle camo soonest.

Meanwhile, here is some “eye candy” from the game, Courtesy of Andy.

Resurrection

Due to a number of issues, not the least of which is stress at work, I have not been in my "war room" lately. I say, "lately", but it's been a really, really long time!

Bwana Bill nudged me into action by announcing an upcoming game of Warhammer 40K.

"40K Deployment Warning Order

Marshalling area is GP Woodbridge. D-Day is October 4, 2008. H-Hour is 1300. Table is reserved until H +9. All commands will report deployment readiness by D -2.

That is all.

Out"

I cautiously proceeded into the deep, dark, and very dank depths of my home, where my war room is hidden. A recent tropical storm caused a flood in the basement, which resulted in the excessive dankness, and discombobulation of the room.

I looked around, trying to figure out what I had lying about for my Space Wolves, that might be built, and even primed, but not painted.

Basically this effort is the resurrection of an army that I once painted and then sold.

I have re-acquired some of my original models from the lad I sold the army to, and have touched them up to match the paint job on my newer models.

I found a unit of Blood Claw Bikers that I had built and primed years ago, and have finally begun to work on them in hopes of deploying them on Saturday!

Stay tuned!!

Zulu War 28mm hard plastics

Here is another development in the expanding availability of 28mm wargaming figures in hard plastic. The Wargames Factory is now planning to come out with hard plastics for the Zulu War of 1879. This a photo of what the British figures will look like painted.

Correction on Army Painter spray cans

Thanks to Brett, who left us a comment on the Army Painter spray cans, we now know that what the Warlord Games web site says is wrong. These products will soon be available in North America, as a matter of fact you can pre-order them right here from the War Store.

And here is something else that is very interesting. This page from the Warlord Games site shows how to use the cans along with their Quick Shade. It sure does look like a quick and easy way to paint a large number of figures!

Army Painter spray cans

Here is another interesting thing that I just learned about; this is also from Warlord Games in the UK. They are marketing, only in the UK and Europe unfortunately, colored spray cans for quickly applying base colors to large numbers of figures. What is different about these spray cans is that they are also designed to take the place of the usual white or black primers that we use. In other words you can prime and start the process of painting colors at the same time. The can in this picture is "Plate Mail," imagine what you could do with that if you had just started painting a large army that is wearing a lot of armor! The other colors are Desert Yellow, Human Skin, Navy Blue, Red, Grey, Skeleton Bone, and Army Green. I hope we see this come to North America some time soon!

The new Testudo model.

Here is a better view of that wonderful testudo model from Warlord Games. From what I understand the entire thing is only six resin interlocking parts. I would really love to have one of these but unfortunately the Roman army I am building in this scale is for an earlier time period. Oh well, tough luck, right?

Miniatures Go On Vacation - Day 3

Today, it's time for the British Empire to lay down the law. Well, not really. The Woodland Indians now have some basic (very basic) warpaint on. They have not been inked yet but they looked "good enough" for now. I got the bases on the Woodland Indians painted and the first part of the flock on. These Conquest Miniatures are an absolute joy to paint. I will be ordering some in the near future! I also broke down and put the last bit of flock, long grass, on the British soldiers.

Then we took them outside and had a quick fight. The British were allowed to break up their formation into smaller formed units for this game.

"Get ready soldiers! Here they come!"








The warband that tried to sneak around and ambush the invaders.







BAM! The small detachment was ready!








But there are more coming!








The warbands are driven off by the brave soldiers holding the high ground and putting up a right good fire!

The mountain was held and the British detachment got away to fight another day.

Here's a view look out from where we were playing and taking pictures. We're off to have some fun for the rest of the day. I've discovered that swimming laps is great exercise for me so I hope to get to the pool for a long time today.

Miniatures Go On Vacation - Day 2

OK, so today are a couple of pictures from "our" work yesterday. Consul Kyle noticed I was painting some British F&I miniatures so he promptly pulled out his Crusader Miniature 28mm Carthaginian Heavy Infantry! I'm so proud of his effort and desire for someone only 9 years old.

The British are not quite complete. They do not yet have "eyes" as all my 28mm troops, especially those that are firing any weapon, need eyes. I think it helps the dice roll better. My problem is I waterdown my bottle of white (GW Skull White) before leaving way too much. So I'm going to put eyes on them when I get home. That and they haven't been fully flocked yet. I will complete that process when I get them home. They are also very shiny right now, as I did apply my black "magic wash" which is a combination of black ink and "future floor wax". This time I brushed it on instead of dipping the entire miniature into the mix. That give me better control as to where the black lines go I guess. I may continue to do this in the future.

The Carthaginians are starting to get their flesh tone on now. Consul Kyle (he needs another name, appropriate for a Carthaginian, any suggestions?) wanted this particular unit painted in gold. Hopefully he'll get the bases painted soon so they show up better.

I will hopefully start on the Indians sometime today after our horse ride at 11AM. I may not have them finished by the vacations end but at least I'll have a good start. Maybe tomorrow there will be a fight between the Woodland Indians and the British for control of Graves Mt.?

Miniatures Go On Vacation

Well, I'm at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, VA from today until leaving on Monday. No cell phone, but obviously, they have internet!

It's a great place to relax and do nothing. Look at the view from our Motel room door (and window too). This is their "Ridge Crest" motel, one of two or three, plus a lot of cabins/homes people can rent. This one has the best view.

So what does a miniature wargamer do on vacation when given the chance? Paint miniatures of course! I brought along some F&I Old Glory miniatures, British in Firing Line, One RSM95 British Officer and some Conquest Woodland Indians. The OG miniatures I found when looking for something else, which then led me to the Woodland Indians. They're not finished so I thought now would be a great time to do so. Here are some pictures of the miniatures in thier various states of completion before I begin.

British

Woodland Indians

I will take (better) pictures of them as I complete each group. I'm working on the British today.

Historicon 2008

Historicon is a convention that I’ve really come to look forward to. It's "Historical Miniature Gaming's Biggest Summer Vacation". Lots of games, vendors and a chance to see some friends. A journey to Amish country in 2008 was to be a quick one this year. I took my son (Consul Kyle, who’s 9) and we headed on up to Historicon 2008 for a weekend of gaming, shopping and talking. I got lucky as my boss let me have Friday off, which originally wasn’t planned so Consul Kyle and I packed up and headed out a day earlier. After a 3 hour ride and some traffic on Route 30 we finally made it!

First thing to do was check out the flea market that had just opened. Too many people in too small a space. I couldn’t move. I am beginning to wonder if this configuration isn’t a fire hazard. Luckily Consul Kyle, being 9 years old, could squeeze by most people. I am finding more and more that the flea market is simply not meeting my expectations. Many sellers would rather pack their stuff up than sell it off at the price they put on it. Heck, if it isn’t 50% AND negotiable, then I’m not interested. So most of the stuff in the flea market isn’t of interest I guess.

From there we walked around the rooms of gaming to check out what was going on and headed to the first round through the dealer hall. After buying a heptereme from Old Glory we met up with some of my friends, Brian and Patrick. We got a quick bite to eat on the patio in the back of the host. Apparently the Host decided we did not need to sit down to eat. They removed all the tables and chairs! Sorry no pictures of that!

Saturday Consul Kyle got to play in THREE games! The first was a 54mm or 1/32 scale WWII game. He had a great time and the GM was gracious enough to make room for him to play in.

The terrain was fantastic as well as the miniature collection! It was so much fun I wished that I could play.

Consul Kyle played in two other fun games. The last one was later at night. It was a siege game using some home rules. That’s two strikes against what I consider a fun convention game. Wow, was I proven wrong. The GM was very nice and attentive, he let Consul Kyle play the part of the Caliph of Baghdad. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera Saturday night.

Sunday we hit the dealer hall again. We ran across Bwana Bill and his family by surprise as apparently we had missed each other all weekend. It was great seeing them again and maybe next year we'll have some more time to talk and enjoy a game! This day Consul Kyle took pictures of almost every vendors displays, or portions thereof, in the hall. I had no idea the boy had such a desire to take pictures. A couple of pictures he took:

Warlord Games Preview of their Testudo

Dealer Hall on Sunday
This turned out to be the best Historicon EVER. I was able to talk to a lot of friends, play a game and shop. I even joined the Old Glory Army this year. Consul Kyle can now get his 28mm sized ships at 40% and even with his allowance will be able to buy once every 3 months or so.

Ancient Wargaming "Eye Candy" from A & A Miniatures

If you want to see some really beautiful stuff in 28mm scale check this out. I came across this A & A Miniatures company in the UK while looking for examples on how to paint imperial roman figures. I had never seen these figures before and they look really nice. I especially like the cataphracts. I might have to acquire a few of these some day.

More New 28mm Romans in Hard Plastic

Well there really does seem to be a trend developing in the miniature gaming world now. Yet another company has announced the release of 28mm miniatures in hard plastic. This time it is a UK company called Warlord Games. Their hard plastic Romans come from the early imperial period, so now you have a choice between the Caesarian era (from the Wargames Factory) and imperial era. It looks to me that if you want to acquire these you will have to order them directly from the UK. One nice touch with this new set is that it comes with shield transfers.

Perry Brothers ACW artillery

Check out this photo that I found. It is the new ACW artillery set that the Perry Brothers will be releasing. This set is not hard plastic, it is traditional metal. I like how they added the muzzle blast special effect. Almost looks real, doesn't it?

New 28mm WWII Rule Set

A lot of announcements on new products recently. Today we just learned that there will soon be another option out there for those of you who like to run 25/28mm WWII games. Mongoose Publishing will soon be marketing a new rule set called "Battlefield Evolution: World at War." Some of you may already be familiar with the "Battlefield Evolution" system that came out a while back for modern warfare skirmishing. My son and I have that system and some of the pre-painted models that they marketed along with them. We played a couple simple middle eastern scenarios and they worked quite well. So, this translation of that system into WWII could be interesting. I kind of doubt that it will turn me away from using "Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers" though because I am pretty content with that rule set.

Anyway, it is always nice to have more alternatives. For a while there it seemed like we would never get a decent set of WWII rules again. Now we have several to choose from.

Here is what Mongoose has to say about it.:

Using the latest generation of the fast-playing Battlefield Evolution rules, this is the action-packed rulebook that brings World War II to your tabletop.

Battlefield Evolution: World at War is a portal into World War II, providing everything you need to stage small firefights in far flung villages, or massive confrontations involving massed infantry, armour and air units, as the struggle for territory reaches a fever pitch.

The main rulebook covers Late War armies in the European theatre, with future expansions introducing new campaigns and different armies. In this mighty tome, you will find army lists for;

British Army Infantry
British Army Paratroopers
British Army Commandos
German Wehrmacht Grenadiers and Panzergrenadiers
German Waffen-SS
German Fallschirmjäger
Soviet Infantry and Motor Rifles
Soviet Tank Desant
United States Infantry and Armoured Infantry
United States Paratroopers

Battlefield Evolution: World at War is designed for 20-28mm miniatures, and 1/72 scale models. The rulebook includes complete army lists, advanced rules, scenarios and a unique Engagements system allowing you to create your own missions.

This game is fully compatible with the rest of the Battlefield Evolution line, and hobbyists and publishers alike will have a chance to produce their own material for the game, through the introduction of an Open Content licence.

Perry Brothers hard plastic ACW Cavalry

We just learned that you can now pre-order the next installment in the hard plastic 28mm figures from the Perry Brothers. This time it is cavalry and it will ship in May 2008. From what I understand each box will contain 12 mounted cavalrymen, 12 separate forage caps, 12 separate slouch hats, 12 separate carbines, 12 sword arms, 6 pistol arms, and enough parts to create 3 commands. Boxes also contains 2 Union guidons, 2 Confederate guidons, and a set of simple rules. Now that's what I call a flexible boxed set. And all for only an MSRP of only $28.32! If you are looking for a U.S. distributor, the War Store is the only one that I know of at this time.

What I've been up to lately

Y'all need to 'give it up' for Bwana Bill, who has been carrying the blog along for some time now. Thanks Bill!!! He has posted new products, games that he's trying out, and games he and I have played. That's a lot of work, and I really appreciate all he has done to keep this blog from the dusty rolls of 'deadblogtown'.

Here are some things I've been doing to stay busy:

Space Wolves - I sold this army off a few years back, but have decided to rebuild it and play again.

Here are the Rune Priest and Wolf Priest for this "space going Viking' army of the far flung future!











And this is my latest project: Some new figures from Artizan 28mm WWII!!

This is a 'work in progress' and is just begun! I've cleaned and mounted the figures on a large base, and added the pumice flocking stuff we use for a lot of our figures. I'll post more images as I get more work done!







That's it for now!!!

But this is just a teaser, have a look at those lovely Askari miniatures again.... Bersaglieri?? Western Desert?? That sounds like an area that deserves wargaming again!

Ciao for now!

New 28mm Italian Bersaglieri

Get a load of this! Here's something I never thought I would see! Askari Miniatures has just announced a line of Italian Bersaglieri figures suitable for colonial or WWII Western Desert games. They look really nice in the pictures. I have some of Askari's French Foreign Legion figures and I can tell you that they are nothing short of really beautiful! These look like they are just as nice, if not better. I would not be surprised if some of these "paisanos" make it into my collection.

Update on the new hard plastic ancients

We have just learned that the first two box sets of 28mm hard plastic ancients from the Wargames Factory can now be pre-ordered. (See our March 17, 2008 posting for background.)
The Caesar's Legions box set will ship on May 23, 2008 and the Celt Warband box will ship on June 13, 2008. We also have a list of future products, looks like you guys that do the medieval stuff are in luck too. Here it is:
Celt Cavalry
Roman Command
Celt Command
Medieval French Crossbowmen
Medieval French Men-at-Arms
Medieval English Longbowmen
Medieval English Men-at-Arms
Imperial Romans

And we now have the art work for the Celt Warband box too.

Perry Brothers hard plastic ACW figures now available for pre-order

The word is out that the Perry Bros. hard plastic 28mm ACW troops are now available for pre-order from Age of Glory if you are in the U.S. 36 figures with interchangeable slouch hats and kepis for $28.00. $1.50 from each order will be donated to battlefield preservation.

New 28mm Hard Plastic figures for gaming Ancient Warfare

Here is another new development that many of you should find interesting. There is a new company out there called the "Wargames Factory." They will soon be marketing 28mm wargaming figures in hard plastic. They are being marketed as companion pieces for the new "Field of Glory" rules from Osprey Publishing. From what I understand, the first box will be Marian/Caesarian Romans and the second box will be Celts suitable for use as Gauls or Britons. I have to wonder why they decided on those two topics for their very first products. It just happens to be exactly what I have been collecting and painting. Are these guys psychic or something?

The first picture below shows what the Romans are going to look like. They seem pretty nice, don't you think? There will be 48 figures in the box and it will be sold for only $29.95! That is only 62 cents for figure. This could turn out to be an extremely interesting, and perhaps revolutionary, development in the wargaming hobby! We'll see, right?

The second picture is the art work for the exterior of the first boxed set. I love that picture! What a dramatic concept of what a volley of pilum would have looked like! I have never seen such an awe inpiring depiction of this before. Now you know why you would not want to be on the receiving end of that! I wish I could buy it as a print suitable for framing!

"Field of Glory" and "Rise of Rome"

I need to mention that the highly anticipated "Field of Glory" rules from Osprey have now been published. They can be found almost everywhere from what I understand. Since the book (hardcover by the way) is from Osprey it is being pushed out to all the major commercial book sellers. You can also get the "Rise of Rome" and "Storm of Arrows" supplements. "Rise of Rome" covers the early, middle and late Republican Roman periods and all the many enemies of Rome from that time. "Storm of Arrows" covers late medieval. Many more supplements are coming.

Here is a list of what is covered in the "Rise of Rome" supplement, the Late Republican Roman list is where you will find the Marius/Caesar style of Romans:

MID-REPUBLICAN ROMAN
Mid-Republican Roman Allies
LATE REPUBLICAN ROMAN
Late Republican Roman Allies
Bithynian Allies
GALLIC
Gallic Allies
Ligurian Allies
PYRRHIC
LATER CARTHAGINIAN
Bruttian or Lucanian Allies
Late Campanian Allies
ILLYRIAN
Paionian Allies
ANCIENT SPANISH
Ancient Spanish Allies
LATER MACEDONIAN
ATTALID PERGAMENE
Attalid Pergamene Allies
Kappadokian Allies
NUMIDIAN OR EARLY MOORISH
Numidian or Early Moorish Allies
LATER SELEUCID
LATER PTOLEMAIC
PONTIC
SPARTACUS SLAVE REVOLT
EARLY ARMENIAN
Early Armenian Allies
PARTHIAN
Parthian or Media Atropatene Allies
Adiabene, Edessan or Hatran Allies
Elymaian Allies
Commagene Allies
Early Arab Allies
Later Skythian or Saka Allies
LATER JEWISH
Later Jewish Allies
Nabataean Allies
BOSPORAN

I bought my copy of the rules this past weekend at the "Cold Wars" convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I finished reading through the rules yesterday. I think the one biggest difference I have noticed so far is how these rules treat barbarian warbands. In many other ancient warfare rules if a warband beats you in close combat in the same turn in which it charged you, you are automatically (for the most part) broken. In these rules warbands are classified as "Impact Foot," which is perfectly fine, but wait, Roman Legionary infantry is classified as "Impact Foot" too! The logic being that a Roman unit is always going to counter-charge behind a volley of pilums so the "impacts" get canceled out. Which ever side loses still suffers a die roll penalty for losing to "Impact Foot" when it has to take its "Cohesion" test (kind of like morale/disruption combined), but it certainly isn't an automatic break and the charging warband could just as easily suffer the same penalty as the counter-charging Romans if the Romans were to win the combat. Interesting idea. I think I like that!

These rules and the supplements allow for a very broad range of options for army composition and size, so you can start out small or keep it small if you like. If I get time I might set a small experimental game this weekend and start teaching myself how to use the rules.

From what I gather, "Field of Glory" is already developing a pretty strong following. The book has only been available for purchase since February 7th and already there are tournaments springing up in the UK and even in the US. There was a small tourney at the "Cold Wars" con in Lancaster, PA this past weekend, and the Yahoo discussion group already has 647 members as of today! It will interesting to see where all this goes. We could actually have a widely popular set of ancient warfare rules here that does not feel like a glorified "dungeons and dragons," and developed by people who actually know how to express complex concepts through the medium of writing.

Peeps Competition: "Full Sugar Coating"

We have something really special to show you this time. Our good buddy "Karlmek," who is our 40K Ork expert, and scratch building expert, whose gorgeous models have recently been featured on this blog, has sent us pictures of his latest entry for the Washington Post Peeps competition. What is the Peeps competition you might ask? Well the idea to take those little sugary Peeps bunny candy that you see all over at Easter time and form them into a diorama. Karlmek likes to do scenes from movies; last year he did a scene from the cult classic film "Reservoir Dogs," which became "Reservoir Peeps." This year he chose a scene from another cult classic "Full Metal Jacket," which has been translated as "Full Sugar Coating."
Since it has a military theme we decided to post it on the blog. So, check out the pictures, everything is scratch built (except for the palm trees) including all the different weapons; they were not taken off toys. He did very well in the competition last year, so let's hope that he does even better this time!

Rome at War: Fading Legions

Well recently I returned to my wargaming roots a little bit. I grew up playing various board games, mainly those published by Avalon Hill. Lately I had my eye on this "Rome at War: Fading Legions" game because it looked like it might be an easy way to play out some ancient wargame battles without a lot of complicated rules and stacks of small pieces of carboard cluttered on a board laid out in hexagons.

I stopped playing board games quite a while ago because I got tired of dealing with stacks of cardboard and overly detailed rules, charts, etc. So I decided to take a chance and give Fading Legions a try. I'm glad I did! I have to say that I like it and find it to be a nice change of pace.

To begin with the pieces are extremely attractive. Many of them are long double length pieces; these represent the heavy infantry units. The rules allow only one heavy infantry unit per square so there are no large stacks to push around. Also, if there are any light infantry and cavalry in the same square as the heavy infantry unit there is room in the square to lay them alongside the heavy infantry unit. Same goes for leader pieces. So there really is no need to any stacking of pieces at all! This is a nice feature because it makes for a nice tidy playing area and you can see everything on the board without constantly picking through the little stacks to remind yourself what is there. And the graphics printed on the pieces actually make the game appear to be somewhat like a miniatures game. So with all the pieces laid out on the board it actually looks, dare I say it, somewhat realistic?! At least to me it does, but then maybe I just have a vivid imagination.

I have more to say about this game, but I will cover that later.

Larry Brom, out of hospital, back home

Well more good news, Larry has been back home for a few days now and working on recuperating there. He has some figures to work on; Lord Chelmsford (see below) and his staff. Do a good job on him Larry, and have fun with it! And good luck with dealing with that big beard, that is going to soak up a lot of paint!

Take Out that Baneblade!

Even though it was not contesting an objective, the Eldar fixated on reducing the Baneblade on the Imperial right flank to flaming junk. We counted approximately a dozen or more lascannon equivalent (or whatever those damned Eldar things are called!) hits on the Baneblade. Look at all the hit markers on that thing! By the end of turn two the Baneblade had only one structure point left and only one heavy bolter mount functioning. It definitely would not have survived another turn. Fortunately we ran out of time so there were no more turns!