Battletech elementals

here is a base of elementals i made to look like they are jumping

just stuck them on some thin brass rod and covered it with cotton wool, bit of paint and boing!

imperial guard

Anyone who has ever had any Mutant chronicles warzone plastic figures will know they are quite resistant to normal polystyrene cement when it comes to gluing them together, this can make constructing them quite a slow and frustrating process. I don't know what it is about them but they are made in a different kind of plastic to normal model kits, the other day i came across this in the local hardware store

This was just the job, it made constructing them a breeze and here's the result of an evenings work

 

wargames illustrated 307

just like the other mags this month WI has got a lot of Gettysburg content, including a 10 page battle report (too long!!!!)and then a 12 page battle report considering neither is of the whole battle this is overload, battle reports are good but this is too much detail for a magazine. the space could have been better used for some coverage of other periods, also featuring heavily is FOW Vietnam not surprisingly since its battlefronts latest release. now I've seen many a comment about how battlefront is trying to ram tanks where they don't belong and pretend they were there all along which i kind of agree but they do take a bit of what if to it so if they sold it as recreating the war that America wanted rather than what happened  that would make sense but nonetheless you get 3 articles on FOW tour of duty (interestingly the advert for FOW box sets shows more tanks than infantry even though they date the rules 1965-71 before any of the actual large tank battles) rest of the magazine has a look at tanks in the first world war and a brief overview of vikings couple a looks at demo games and a play through of some gunfight rules. so good if you like ACW if not avoid

A game!

 a lack of gaming has been causing withdrawal symptoms so to get a quick fix i set up a game of battletech yesterday when i had a spare hour. The forces involved were a clan Thor vs a star league Avatar and Owens.

starting positions

the star league mechs advance into the forest while the Thor jumps into cover

The avatar walks forward while the Owens makes a run for the edge to try and flank the Thor, the Thor meanwhilele lines up a shot, the Thor and avatar exchange fire but no-one hits(lousy dice)

Having lost the initiative the Thor sits still while the Owens sprint for the rear and the avatar walks into better range. The Thor scores a pulse laser and srm6 while the avatar only hits with its large laser

the Thor isn't having any luck and loses the  initiative again so jumps back but it doesn't stop the Owens from getting to the rear , the avatar closes the range.

boom the Thor blows and arm off the avatar with a ac/20 hit but takes a bunch of mrm's in the centre torso along with 2 medium and 1 large laser causing criticals and when the Owens hits in the back of the centre too its all over 3 engine hits, i think the Thor was all ways struggling when it couldn't win the initiative after the first turn but still my blood lust has been slated for now.

Miniature wargames

Managed to get into a smiths last week and get a copy of the revamped MW.
now MW and battlegames have been merged together starting with this issue, i would have to say that despite the title this is battlegames they just kept the MW title because its better known. The editor states that they will keep sci-fi and fantasy in the mag but apart some reviews of models and making a Saladin for U.N.I.T (a real vehicle not really sci-fi) its all gone only time will tell if non historical comes back i for one I'm going to miss darker horizons. I liked having all the news from the smaller manufactures gathered up in one place because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to search around the Internet for it (and anyway there's nowhere to plug my PC into in the bathroom and the wife says having an extension cable in the bath is dangerous). i understand the decision to merge the two mags it is silly for one publisher to print two wargames magazines but even though the new MW is a fine mag, nice range of articles the old MW was the only mag left that dealt with sci-fi, fantasy of a non gw variety( i suppose that should tell me that sci-fi doesn't sell) i wish the ancible still did print.
As for the mag itself its new look is good bright clean, you've got a couple of battle reports (dark ages again!) one of which does drag on a bit but i suppose since its for the new game dux bellorum it would help would be purchasers. a basic photography article (read it all before, should start listening) quite a long construction article on building a house , some rules for using toy (and i mean TOY)soldiers in a wargame, a mini campaign for the armada, some scenarios for hells highway using blitzkrieg commander(yeah!) even with the long report on dux bellorum you get dux a second time this time of the dux britanniarum variety (you can have any wargame you like as long as its the dark ages!). a piece on using 2d figures for wargaming ( this really is a Battlegames article) usual reviews with quite abit of opinion especially  against FOW (mind i like opinions good or bad) with ANOTHER dark age rule set and a book about Arthur, and i used to like the dark ages arrgh! still if you liked battlegames you'll like this mag if you where more of a MW fan you might be left a bit sad for what once was.

Pe-2

Russian Heroics& ross 1/300th PE-2

Wargames soldiers & strategy 66

just a quick review of the latest WSS, bit of coincidence that the main theme is Gettysburg like wargames illustrated.both trying to get in on the interest with the 150Th anniversary in July but if you haven't got any interest in the ACW it means its a slow month on the wargames reading scene. rest of the mag has a look at the vikings game by peter pig ( dark ages in Vogue at the moment) bit of biblical and another of the lets play articles on skirmish sangin. plus usual reviews of new figures games and books plus don't forget boardgames, and in a shock a review of some 6mm figures from rapier miniatures nice!
with the usual columns from priestley et al makes it a worth while read i recommend it

EPIC imperial guard

Had  re-think about my imperial guard force for epic and decided to ditch an assault company and use the saved points to bring my baneblades up to company strength (100 points for an extra one) and add 2 more shadowswords to make that company strength aswell plus and an extra hellhound unit for 100. It means i am very tank heavy and will have to rely on the orgryns for hand to hand but i much prefer to blow things up from a distance leave the dirty fighting to space marines they like that sought of thing.

                                                  all painted and varnished

close up of the baneblade

in some unbelievable state (for me anyway) this means this armies is technically complete all it needs now is a couple of commissars to go with the new companies. I can spy some Pansy eldar that need to feel the emperor's righteous fury from this lot very soon.

Heroics and ross

With the loss of Fort wargames  website and Heroics and Ross not having many pictures there is no where to go to see H&R models without paint so you know what you get. One day i might get a website up for all these pics but in the mean time i'll post photos of any new models i get before their painted as well as after.

Heroics Ross He177

Heriocs Ross Mosquito

Heroics Ross Me410

Heroics ross Pe-2

Heriocs ross vikings

XENOS

some pics of the opposition that i painted for my 2 sons armies

 

Here is the result after a spray with dullcote

Still a bit shiney in places so i think the next batch should get matt varnish then a spray

Got my latest order from Dom's decals so spent some time putting them on all the aircraft I've already painted, Dom's is a great source for decals, real great value for money too. the only thing is you need to allow plenty of time when you order his not the fastest but he is only a one man band and only does decals in his spare time.

1/300th aircraft Heroics ross

IL2 sturmovik

The ranks of my air forces continue to enlarge, here is the latest a couple single seat IL2 by H&R

Heroics Ross il2

Church

Did i quick paint job last night on a resin church i picked up off ebay, in fact i got 7 buildings for a few pounds they were classed as miscast but since they are ruined buildings any way i cant see anything wrong with them.

Dipping

 Had my first go at dipping a couple of days ago. on reading about it on the net i decided to go with a cheap Wilkinson's wood stain rather than the more expensive army painter dip as it is supposed to be the same thing and it wouldn't be too  much of a waste if i don't like the effect.
I didn't dip the figures when it came to it i just painted it on for better control. I have to say the effects don't really seem to be any better than using a wash which has been my preferred method before this but it has to be remembered that this has also given the models a very hard wearing varnish,I'll decide for certain once I've got some more dulcote and seen if the shine goes.

                                The whole squad

                                          Close up of the Sergeant

         before
             &
          after 

Wargames illustrated 305

WI 305

 slightly better magazine from WI this month all though the theme of 1066 was a bit of a damp squid with just 2 battle reports (OK 1 was a mini campaign) and no history but some nice articles on Turks vs Britishh in Iraq (with history!) and Egypt in 1882 with some of the usual nice pics of dioramas/battles and modelling articles and only a minimal advert article from battlefront (Vietnam), worth a purchase.

FW190

A pair of H&R FW190's in Russian front winter camouflage

Heroics ross FW190

i must say the h&r model seems to not quite capture the shape of the FW190 might upgrade to a raiden one

Typhoon

A pair of H&R typhoon 1B's

Heroics Ross typhoon

Didn't know British aircraft had such colourful spinners but googling some images for colour schemes and they all seem to have it

Wargames illustrated 304

I suppose it should come as no surprise that this months copy is full of articles on operation market garden since battlefront has released some new books for that campaign but they go maybe a but over the top. We have some new army list variants which you cant use unless you buy the German book a scenario but how many people are going to build dutch style raised up roads? apart from all the battlefront coverage there is game based on a real incident during the Zulu war featuring a Bonaparte which i never knew.a couple of reviews of an ACW rule set and battlegroup kursk as a nod to non battlefront/osprey stuff a game for french and Indian wars and some modelling articles make up the rest apart from the start of a series of articles over the coming months on the development of the tank which this month actually features ancient chariots but not in the form of information piece but as 3 short pieces of fiction featuring chariots in battle very strange! not sure where WI is going with this not actually any help for the wargamer at the moment. As it stands at the moment WI still trails behind Wargames soldiers and strategy, and miniature wargames in the magazine stakes.

He 162

A pair of H&R He162 German fighter jets

Heroics ross HE162

one of my favorite aircraft of WWII ever since i read the commando book 'The jets from nowhere' as a boy great!

Yak-1

A pair of H&R yak1's, i got a .05mm fine liner pen and thought i would give a go at drawing in the flap lines and it is much easier than trying to paint the cockpit.

Heroics ross Yak-1

Battlefield

When i actually get round to it this is where my battles take place

Progress

my first squad for my imperial guard army painted in their base colours.I'm going to try dipping these guys . heard good things about wilko wood stain so will give that a go

 
Also me and the kids have been learning 5th edition WH40k rules (cheap but still nice and shiny) , easy enough even for my ten year old and his Tau(he's loved firewarrior on the PlayStation since he was 7).

FIELD OF BATTLE

where the magic happens

 

Eldar Warlock Titan

After about 20 years i finally finished my Epic eldar warlock titan