Lots of German winter goodness released this week that i painted for Battlefront. White on White urggg not my favorite. (Especially when they are blown up to much larger than actual size...)
The big release is the Volksgrenadier Company which has a Sturm and Schutzen platoon in the box..
GBX72 Volksgrenadier Company (GBX72) Volksgrenadier Sturm Platoon
Volksgrenadier Schützen Platoon
next up a couple of blister packs. HMG Platoon (Winter) (GE844)
Mortar Platoon (Winter) (GE845)
Pioneer Platoon (Winter) (GE847)
So there you have it, roughly 3 weeks worth of painting in one hit.
Im a huge fan of the total war series of computer games as soon as Shogun 2 was announced I knew they would do a second Rome total war game. I waited and waited and after 2 years the announced Rome 2.
Its still a long way off (Quarter 2 of 2013- so somewhere between May and July 2013) but by god is it starting to shape up nicely as far as graphics and game play go!
This video was just released on Total War Centre - if your a fan of total war you will have been there before if not check it out its full of information and mods to enhance and expand the total war games.
This game play video has quite simply blown my mind! Honestly if they released it now in its pre alpha state id still buy it and play it with whatever flaws it must still have... Roll on the middle of next year where all my miniatures painting will stop and my computer gaming hat will be firmly in place.
This then there is the x-wing miniatures game, Zombiecide, Spartacus and the new 6th edition 40k to keep me occupied but i think ill be watching this video once or twice a week and dreaming right up till the games release. :)
YAY!!!!!!!!! it's finally here. Well actually it turned up 4 days ago but ive been too busy to post but ive just finished playing it all day with the lads and it's a massive amount of fun and im all amped about it..
All the parts promised from the Kick starter project were in the package including a spanky red t-shirt with the Zombiecide logo on the front. The game rules are very easy to pick up; and after playing the tutorial mission (where we kicked total zombie butt) we moved onto the first proper mission, we tried playing it three times in total and we jsut got our butts handed to us. We did discover that we were doing the odd thing slightly wrong (as is normally the case with a new game) but over all the zombies just were too overpowering for us. The game is extreamly action packed after the first few turns. The more successful you are in killing zombies or collecting objectives the harder the game gets and the brain eating buggers just keep on coming. It's just as well the game is cooperative because if you weren't all working together you would be eaten in a matter of turns. Its a really interesting mix between needing to sneak around and committing mass zombie murder.
Below is a pic of the game in process.
- the zombie hoard approaches!
- The sad demise of unlucky players. (in one turn 5 out of the 6 players died.)
It's been a blast of a day. Im so amped from playing ive undercoated all of the characters and am going to start painting them. Watch this space for progress pics.
Its Kick starter time again - this time is a superpower hero deck building game called Heroes of Metro City. Ive pasted a good section of the blurb below. If you like Card games and like super heroes this game is for you.
Each player represents a super-powered Hero of their own design who must stop their Archenemy’s nefarious plan to destroy Metro City. To succeed, the Heroes must do battle with hordes of Minions, diabolical Villains, and the Archenemy who leads them! The more Energy and Powers a Hero develops, the closer they get to defeating their Archenemy. But time is running out! For every moment the Heroes delay, the forces of evil destroy more of the city the Heroes are trying to save.
DEFEAT YOUR ARCHENEMY! The first player to defeat the Archenemy wins the game... unless the Archenemy destroys so much of Metro City that there's nothing left to save!
CUSTOMIZE. DEVELOP.REPLAY. Devastate your enemies with thousands of possibilities and choices for your character. The base game includes over 20 explosive Power cards and many iconic Energy Sources. A randomized subset of these will be selected for each game. It's an exciting array of possibilities for your customized super-powered Hero.
TELL A STORY. In Heroes of Metro City, we encourage our players to name their Heroes and describe the action as they play their cards. No, it's not required, but it sure is a lot more fun. Instead of just playing five or six cards onto your Hero Placard, we think it's a lot more fun to play those cards while saying, "My Hero, The Phantom Panther, is avoiding Ella Moondust's gaze attack by shadow-teleporting directly behind her. Before she can turn around, he unleashes a flurry of kicks combined with slashes from the deadly bladed claws that his mutation created. Ella Moondust has been defeated, and will not trouble Metro City again."
Heroes of Metro City uses dynamic deck-building combined with our unique Energy Source slots to create a power management mechanic (using your Hero Placard) that lets you decide which powers and abilities are most important for each turn (see below). The Hero Placard also helps to guide you through the six action-packed phases of each turn.
Want to consistently draw more cards? Develop lots of Travel Powers likeSupersonic Flight or the Armed Super-Vehicle. Want to deal massive damage from afar? Nuke your enemies with an Elemental Blast or snipe them with a Long-Distance Shot. Want to dazzle your foes with strange abilities from another world? Use an Ensnaring Ambush, Weather Control or the deadly Mind Spike to dominate your enemy. Developing more than one copy of the same card and adding it to your deck means you'll draw that Power from your Hero Deck more frequently on your turns. For instance, if you have three copies of Impenetrable Skin in your deck, bad guys won't often be getting past you!
Once you've completed your first turn in a game of Heroes of Metro City, you've learned everything you need to know. Each phase of your turn appears on your individual Hero Placard, so you won't ever forget what comes next. And yes, the game is easy enough for younger kids to learn, but deep enough for adults to find plenty of competition when they want it.
Here's what you'll be doing in each turn of Heroes of Metro City:
1. REINFORCE ENEMIES: Simple. Flip over a new Enemy card (face-up) if any of your Enemies were defeated during the last turn.
2. ACTIVATE POWERS: Now you get to slot all of your Energy Sources and Activate (play) your Power cards. You'll fly, teleport, leap across rooftops, swing a devastating uppercut, throw a bus, or watch as bullets bounce off of your chest.
3. BATTLE ENEMIES: Count up all the damage you can deal and see if it's enough to defeat one or more of the enemies. If you beat one, you can add that Enemy card to your deck, where it becomes a Storyline card that provides Plot Points.
4. STORY DEVELOPMENT: Add up all of the Plot Points from your Storyline cards and use them to Develop (add) a new card to your Hero Deck, chosen from the cards available in the City Supply.
5. CITY DESTRUCTION: Now it's the Enemy's chance to attack the city! But not before the City Defense has a chance to stop them. If you roll the City Defense dice and fail to roll high enough, the Enemies use their Destruction Powers to eliminate cards from the City Supply, placing them into the Rubble Pile.
6. CLEANUP: Take all of the cards you played, the cards you developed, and the cards you didn't manage to play and discard them. It's time to draw a new hand of five cards.
There is about 22 days left on the clock and they need another 17k to go ahead. Check out the site and put in your pledge now.
A few months back i reviewed a new painting station that i got from Back 2 Base IX - today i thought id do a review on the brushes that they produce. (Please note ive used pictures from the Back 2 Base ix website rather than taken pictures of my own brushes purely to save time)
In my line of work i go through a lot of brushes and over the last 20 odd years I have used many different brands of brushes. Generally speaking you get what you pay for. Once in a while though you do get surprised and the brushes from back to base ix fall into that category. For their price i find them an excellent brush with some interesting and useful differences from your standard hobby paint brush. Firstly they have a design which I can only compare to a woman compact make up brush that ive seen my wife use. The Brush it'self comes in two sections and when not in use the brush section screws into the handle section protecting the bristles from damage. There is a small hole in end of the handle to allow any trapped moisture to easily evaporate. This ability to put away the brush makes transporting your brushes a breeze and since the handle sections are made from Aluminium they are extremely durable.
The bristles are made from pure Kolinsky hair and after 2 months of solid use im very happy to say they have survived wonderfully. (As a side not i always use brush soap ans Vallejo Brush Cleaner and Brusher restorer and this not doubt has helped prolong their life but at roughly 40 hours a week of painting these brushes are still in great condition and look set to stay that way for a long time to come.)
There are various common sizes available that should cover most if not all of your painting needs (even painting 10mm-15mm miniatures ive never needed anything smaller than a 000 brush).
At AU $9.95 per brush this puts them into the realms of the GW brush price bracket but the quality of both the design and the bristles themselves is superior I can highly recommend them.
Here we have an SS unit i painted up at work for a spotlight. i really enjoyed this unit as i hadn't painted any late war SS before so it was nice to try my hand at pea dot camo. What do you guys think?
Here's another unit for my Romans i finished up yesterday. Numidian Skirmishers.
Also here's the Roman Auxiliary Cavalry from the other day with a simple blue background. I like this more than the other background and think ill use the blue as a standard from now on for all my pics of finished miniatures.
Last time i posted about my man cave re-organisation at the end of that post i had commented on needing a paint rack solution. Well ive found it (Actually I found it minutes after typing that Blog post the other week.) Back to Base-ix is an Australian company located in Adelaide and makes a wide variety of war-gaming aids and modelling materials - the coolest items they make in my opinion are the paint racks and draws for keeping your painting area neat and tidy - just what I was looking for.
Now to the actual product I ordered two of the Paint rack straight section - large. There are a couple of different options - the racks are available in MDF or Acrylic. You also have the option of having the holes cut to fit different popular paint ranges:
the two racks combined hold all my paints with a few holes left over. The racks come with some nice features which for the price i wasn't expecting:
Stainless Steel Nuts, Bolts & Washers for Assembly
Silicone Rubber Feet for a non slip unit
Rare Earth Magnets and locators to allow each modular unit to join to the next.
Easy to follow DVD Assembly Instructions
They came nicely wrapped as you can see below:
The DVD was interesting - it actually shows you how to build all of the different racks and draws available which gives you a nice overview of how all the products go together. I had hoped the DVD would have voice instructions but instead it has text prompts appearing at different points in the video. As a soundtrack it has a fairly easy listening tune in the background that i must confess drove me a little mad by the end of watching the whole DVD - easily solved by pressing mute :)
The Construction of the racks are so easy i imagine most people wont need to watch the DVD. Since my computer is right next to my work area i just had it running in the background.
As you can see the finished product is attractive and of course most importantly highly functional. I like the fact that the Vallejo paints can be stored both standing upright or upside down.
my newly set up workspace - what do you think? Im going to get a set of the draws next pay to clean up the area off to the left.
Aaron (the man behind the great ideas and owner of the business is a really nice friendly guy and was happy to answer questions i had about future ideas and listened to my suggestions and feedback). He's very easy to get hold of as Back to Base-ix has a Facebook page so you can send him a message and have a chat.
Im giving this product a big thumbs up. Its well priced and with lots of options available there is a solution for everyone's painting workspaces. I highly recommend you check the website out.
Today i was forced to go spend stupid amounts of cash at the dentist. This (as you can imagine) left me feeling a little blue..
To counter this I decided i was going to do something to cheer myself up so I decided it was high time I improved my man cave. Considering its my fortress of solitude from the wife and kids and also where me and the lads play games I figured it was well worth any money spent in improvements. After having a few minutes think i realised all I really need to improve was my painting area. Being a professional miniature painter you would think i have a great set-up but the truth is I do 90% of my painting at Battlefront HQ so i haven't really needed anything special. The picture below shows what my painting area looked like this morning. I think you have to admit its pretty small and cramped. (And almost never that tidy!!!)
I had a desk on the other side of my garage that i kept my gaming rig on and had been thinking for a while that the space could be much better used if i moved it around did some tidying up and put a large sheet of wood on top of the smaller desk to give me more space and allow for both the computer and a nice large area for painting or paperwork (making army lists ect). Several hours later and much cursing and swearing assembling a set of cupboards (my miniature collection had to be placed somewhere!) :)
This is the end result. The old painting area will now be (Once it's all cleaned up) my Airbrushing area.
The complete set up:
An improvement i think. Now maybe i can get a bit more painting done at home now i have a much better painting area. Now all i need is a paint storage solution.
Ive been very quiet as of late with a pile of work on and very little free time blogging has had to come last. But I have been playing some games and doing some modelling. My Field of Glory Kyrenean Greeks are at last finished after at least a year of sitting to the side of the painting table. Ive added several units to both my Carthaginian's and my Romans. The Carthaginian's have received some extra Numidian light horse and Iberian light horse as well as another legionary unit for the Romans. Ive also added a new game to my bookshelf - Red Sand, Blue Sky (This Brings us to the Gladiator section in the title) :)
Ive been trying over the past 6 months or more to get into playing games of Warhammer Historical's Gladiator Game as i really like the idea of Gladiator combat. - Unfortunately although kinda fun the first few times you play it quickly becomes a tad boring with very little tactics. None of the gaming group seamed to really enjoy playing it. The campaign rules are ok and the actual book itself is very nice indeed. however i wanted more!!! I wanted to be able to hit someone more than once or twice before they drop dead, I wanted to cut them and make them have to keep fighting as they bleed out.. (yes i know im slightly twisted). I wanted some tactics like having to conserve strength.
Based on the review I read at Delta Vector http://deltavector.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/red-sand-blue-sky-2hw-gladiator-rules.html and this utube video review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AqY7eEUA90 i decided to dive in and try the game, whilst not as fast to play as Gladiator i find the combat much more satisfying overall. It has a lot of dice rolling and at most points both the attacker and the defender are rolling dice so no one ever feels like they have to wait.(Something im looking for more and more in games lately). One of the things i liked the most about this game is that it can be played solo (Very useful if no Gaming buddies are to be found).
I blame my rekindled love of Gladiator action on Spartacus: Vengeance - Season 3 of the Spartacus TV Series. Although on the surface a B grade blood and guts type affair the story telling is actually not poor and the combat scenes are excellent. Characters interact well with each other and the acting overall is quite good. Undoubtedly not to everyone's tastes but if you haven't watched it yet i suggest you watch a couple of episodes and see what you think.
Now you wouldn't know it (since i haven't bogged about it yet) but i play Firestorm Armada. From my perspective its one of the most fun space combat miniature games on the market. Now a new spanky Hard backed edition is going to be released in a few months time and Spartan games is taking Pre-orders - needless to say i have my copy on order already.
Rob will be very happy as the front cover features the Aquan.
A complete list of stats, background stories, imagery... The Hardback Edition Master Rulebook has everything! This updated edition features the established core rules presented in a clear and concise fashion. It includes the latest errata and streamlined rules for Game Set-up, Terrain, Boarding and Wings. The opportunity has also been taken to include new photography, diagrams and illustrations throughout the book, complete with Fleet Lists for each nation and the current Firestorm Armada MARs; the perfect way to begin your campaign of terror in the Storm Zone!
6 Days to go and Zombicide has well passed its meagre $20,000 start-up goal it was looking for. If zombie games are your thing I think your going to like this one. Ive pledged a $100 which gets me the game and a pile of goodies check it out at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide. It not due to be out till September but that ok. Once it arrives ill do a review.
