Kiwi Colour Studio

More FOW Professional Work

2012-02-11T21:44:00.003+13:00

Busy week for Flames of War New Releases that i worked on for Battlefront Miniatures.

Tirailleurs 75mm Artillery Battery (FRX07)

Tirailleurs Heavy Artillery Battery (FRX08)

Legionnaire Sapper Platoon (FR746)

Libyan Fucilieri Platoon (IT752)

Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke (GE894)

I've been busy painting up a storm at work so expect lots more new release pics over the next few weeks.

Field of glory

2012-01-28T21:17:00.000+13:00

FOG game in progress between Mike and Rob at my place this morning. Rob is entering into the FOG comp at BattleCry here in Auckland in a few weeks time and needed some practice so Mike fielded his Koreans and Rob rolled out his Vikings.

A Few random shots I took during the battle.

The game went on for over 3 hours as Robs Vikings slowly marched across the table trying to close ranks with Mikes Koreans. Meanwhile Mike was sending a good selection of his cavalry around one of Robs flanks. The game ended in a solid win for Mike but i think Rob learnt a few useful lessons.

Thieves, thieves, Filthy little thieves!

2012-01-15T10:22:00.001+13:00

"They stole it from us."

Woke up this morning to find that my car had been broken into! Dirty buggers had taken some CD's my Work Bag and my FM tuner for my Phone/Car Stereo.
I found out my car had been broken into by being woken to the sound of my home phone ringing. A lovely lady had found my bag discarded in a nearby park and had got my details off my Drivers Licence. I Just got my bag back and the thieves have rummaged through my bag not touched my wallet - odd!, but took my paint bush set my painkillers and depression medication which i always keep in my bag encase i need them - odder! And to add insult to injury they poured water (god i hope it was water!!) all throughout my bag destroying a couple of books. (One being a nice new work one I cant name but lets just say im totally gutted!)

Awesome way to start a Sunday. Hope everyone's weekend is going better than mine.

First fully finished Infinity Miniatures

2012-01-09T00:27:00.001+13:00

Here is the first part of my Combined Army for Infinity.

Ive gone for a fairly simple scheme similar to how they look in the pictures. Not very creative i know but i just wanted to get a painted army on te table rather than partly painted.

Im currently working on a medtech mechanoid and 2 slave drones to round my force out too 150 Pts.

More Professional Painting Work.

2012-01-01T10:22:00.000+13:00

More work I've done for Battlefront . Click on the links to see more pictures on the Flames of War website.

SS Light Artillery Battery (GBX55)
The 10.5cm leFH18 has proven to be an excellent artillery piece during the campaigns in Poland and France and will surely carry on providing our troops with indirect support. There are two battalions are assigned to each Panzer division and form the core of divisional artillery assets.

SS Light Artillery Battery (GBX55)...

SS Heavy Artillery Battery (GBX56)
The 15cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH18 (German: "heavy field howitzer, model 18"), nicknamed Immergrün ("Evergreen"), was produced by Rheinmetall and Krupp companies and adopted by the German army in 1935. It was the first artillery weapon equipped with rocket-assisted ammunition to increase range. The 15cm sFH18 was also used in the self-propelled mounting of the Hummel.

SS Heavy Artillery Battery (GBX56)...

7.5cm leIG18 gun (SS) (GE556)
One of the tactical lessons learned during the first war, was that each battalion of infantry would benefit from its own artillery support. This led to the development of light guns that could be used in this role.

7.5cm leIG18 gun (SS) (GE556)...

SS Pioneer Platoon (GE796)
The pioneers create pathways for the army to move through by blowing holes in the enemy fortified line or using simple picks and shovels to clear and create obstacles. Either way, the Pioneers continue the tradition of leading assaults with the flame-throwers and enough explosives to reduce any fortress to rubble.

SS Pioneer Platoon (GE796)...

MMO Review - The Old Republic

2011-12-29T15:33:00.002+13:00

Over the years i have tried many different MMO's. I think it's because i miss my younger days of Role playing games where being involved in a story took you off to somewhere different than your normal everyday life. Unfortunately up to now most MMO's have have had ok story lines but i often found myself skipping pass the reading of the text - especially if i had done the story arc before.

Not so with "Star Wars The Old Republic". Bioware have utilised the system they used in their popular single player games Knights of the old republic and Dragon Age to turn drab MMO text into fully voiced and visual cut scenes where you get respond to the questions you are given with different choices that see your character responding. This system makes the whole experience feel so much more real and really brings the story arcs to life in a way no other MMO in my opinion ever has. On top of this great feature the game has an excellent stylised visual look that is kinda a cross between the Clone Wars Cartoon style and a very crisp clean look like in Lord of the Rings online. Although I've only visited 3 worlds so far I can say that the design of them is excellent and makes you really feel like you are in the Star Wars universe. Now yes i am a Star Wars fan boy but i know several people who are playing the game that are MMO fans and not really into Star Wars that have commented how good the game is so far. Now its still early days yet i only have 2 characters and the highest is only level 19 but in that time I've managed to try out the Instance system, the PVP system and the Space combat - yes at level 17-18 you get a spaceship and can do space combat quests - its a lot like Star fox in its combat system (if anyone remembers that game).

As i get more into the game ill post up more reviews on what i think of the crafting system and more of the mid level and high level content.

Till then my main character is a Sith Juggernaught called Korrum on the Vornskr server, if anyone reading this is playing the game or thinking about it feel free to PM me in the game. It would be a blast to run around with some of the people who follow my blog.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:57:00.000+13:00

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in blog land.

I got the best christmas present - a copy of Starwars "the old republic" MMO, (I fear my painting may suffer over the next few months).

I hope everyone gets some nice new miniatures for christmas.

Sturmtigers

2011-12-06T21:49:00.001+13:00

A few quick pics of something I've been working on during my lunch breaks, amazing what you can get done in a week with half an hour a day. This is probably how ill attempt to finish my next FOW army. (I suspect its going to take a while.)

Enjoy the pictures.

posted from Bloggeroid

More FOW Goodies

2011-11-27T21:20:00.001+13:00

A big blog post this time with 4 New releases that i painted for Battlefront miniatures up on the FOW website this week.

First up a personal favourite of my, the Italian AS42 Autosahariana Platoon (IBX11)

Vehicle #1

Vehicle #2

Vehicle #3

Vehicle #4

Vehicle #5

Next up the Italian AS37 Autosahariana Platoon (IBX10)

Vehicle #1

Vehicle #2

Vehicle #3

Vehicle #4

Vehicle #5

Next 2 Early War/Mid War SS platoons:

First a 15cm sIG33 gun (SS) (GE557)

Command Team

Observer Team

Sigg33 Gun #1

Sigg33 Gun #2

Group Shot

Lastly 5cm PaK38 gun (SS) (GE512)

Command Team

Pak 38 #1

Pak 38 #2

Pak 38 #3

Group Shot

Well that’s it for now, Let me know what you think guys.

Latest painting work

2011-11-22T22:32:00.001+13:00

A couple of new items i painted for Battlefront Miniatures are now up as spotlights on the FOW website www.flamesofwar.com

New Work up on Battlefront Website

2011-11-12T21:55:00.001+13:00

A few new things ive painted for Battlefront have gone live on the website.

The SS Pak36 guns were good fun to paint, i love doing camo .:)

3.7cm PaK36 gun (SS) (GE503)
with one Command SMG team, two 3.7cm PaK36 gun with crew, one Small base & two Medium bases.

The 3.7cm PaK36 was Germany standard anti-tank weapon at the outbreak of war in 1939; over 15,000 PaK36s had been manufactured by 1941. It proved to be an excellent weapon during the early years of the war until the introduction of well-armoured tanks such as the T-34 rendered it obsolete. This didn’t halt its career; it remained an important secondary weapon.

Check out the 3.7cm PaK36 gun (SS) in the online store here...

Above left & right: The Command SMG team.

The 3.7cm PaK36 had the advantage of being highly portable and reasonably effective against all but the heaviest Allied tanks. In 1942, the introduction of the Stielgranate round extended its service life a little longer. This specialised round could penetrate 180mm of armour at a range of 100m. But required nerves of steel from the crew, "shooting with the Stielgranate required more nerves than tank close combat" (official report from the 1st Infantry division).

Gun #1

Gun #2

The complected platoon.

Next up is the OSS operational Group. This was an interesting couple of platoons made up of figures from the standard American range and the American Paratrooper range.

OSS Operational Group (US802)
with one Operational Group & two Operational Group Platoons.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established on 13 June 1942 through the efforts of Colonel William J. Donovan. Using the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) as his template, Donovan set up the OSS for both intelligence gathering and conducting strategic operations, such as sabotage, raids and other similar missions.

Check out the OSS Operational Group in the online store here...

Command

Completed Platoon #1

Completed platoon #2

More painting work coming soon.

On the painting table

2011-11-07T21:50:00.001+13:00

Had a busy couple of hours spraying up some fow Vietnam vehicles. Basecoat and first highlight stages done, one final highlight stage to go.

New Work up on Battlefront Website

2011-11-06T18:44:00.003+13:00

Compagnie de Tirailleurs HQ (FR741)

Although fighting on opposite sides in the war, both the Vichy and Gaullist French forces in
Syria still follow the normal French organisations for an infantry company. Each captain
commands up to 200 men, whether they are locally raised troops, colonial troops from Africa,
or Legionnaires.

Compagnie de Tirailleurs HQ (FR741)...

Tirailleurs Platoon (FR742)

The state of the French troops in the Vichy Levant was not too dissimilar to mainland France
.While the majority of troops were made up of locally raised Levantine conscripts, the Army
of the Levant was stiffened with several well trained regiments of Moroccan, Senegalese, and
Algerian troops.

Tirailleurs Platoon (FR742).

Tirailleurs Mortar Platoon (FR745)

The 81mm mle 27/31 mortar is the basis of every 80-82mm mortar in use in every other army
in World War II. These are especially useful in the mountainous regions of Lebanon and Syria
where mobility is top priority.

Tirailleurs Mortar Platoon (FR745)...

Tirailleurs Machine-gun Platoon (FR744)
The Tirailleurs Machine-gun Platoon is armed with the ever sturdy and reliable 8mm Hotchkiss
mle 1914, the standard heavy machine-gun of the French Army since World War One. Capabile
of fire up to 500 rounds per minute, the weapon could be feed by either a 24 round strip or via a
250 round articulated metal belt.

Tirailleurs Machine-gun Platoon (FR744)...

25mm SA-34 Hotchkiss gun (FR501)
The 25mm anti-tank gun may not be modern enough to cope with the latest German Panzers,
but for the Vichy forces in Syria, it is more than enough to cope with Allied light armoured vehicles.

25mm SA-34 Hotchkiss gun (FR501)...

A couple of finished projects

2011-10-29T18:12:00.001+13:00

Heres a couple of projects ive finially finished.

Legends of the High Seas - the ship

2011-10-24T00:37:00.001+13:00

For a month or so now my friend Rob has been trying to get me keen on playing a pirates miniature game. Of course he never needs to try too hard to convince me to play a new game system as i love toy soldiers. Legends of the High Seas not ony allows you to create a pirate crew and fight it out on land but also on the sea.

This of course means that you need a ship. this means build one or buy one, building a ship from scratch seamed a tad time sapping and buying a ship that would work for 28mm figs looked expensive. wondering which way i should proceed i found some posts on TMP;the miniatures page talking about people using the pyrate range of mega blok ships and converting them. Now a few years back i remembered seeing some of these ships in local toy stores so i decided to take a trip and see if i could find any. As is often the way when you really want something i coulldnt find any. Next i checked e-bay - lots of choices but once you add in shipping well over $150 a ship (which is a little much for a plastic ship im going to have to pull apart and refit to make it work for gaming). Feeling a tad down and thinking i was going to have to part with some serious wargaming spending money i looked at Trademe (New Zealands version of E-bay) and found one ship. It was a cool looking undead ship covered in bone and with broken decking and three huge silly looking cannons - oh yeah and it lighted up when you pressed a button - it wasnt perfect but it was only $40. I went and picked it up this morning.

The first thing i did was strip back all of the unnecessary pieces (bones ect). This left me with this nice hull. Lots of work to do but a nice starting point. I need to buy some cannons, no idea where ill get them from at the moment, im thinking 6 per side in two bays of 3 - obviously ill need to rebuild the areas where these are mounted but im looking forward to this piece. I have a plan of allowing areas of the ship to be removable so that fights on the ship can take place in several locations and not just on the main deck. I plan to have the Captains cabin, the cannon hold and a section of the brig (this may end up being impractical but time will tell). Im also going to have to make new masts and a new crows nest - its impossible to get rid of the skeleton bone pieces from these pieces without destroying them in the process. This probally sounds like a pile of work and it may be but as i wont have a pirate crew till the end of the year i have time to work on it. :)

If anyone out there reading this has tried a similar conversion of a Mega Blok ship id love to hear from you about how you went about it.

the pieces removed:

More Lord of the rings fun

2011-10-22T13:19:00.001+13:00

This morning Rob came over and we played a game of Lord of the rings. Points wernt considered, we just set up a nice looking board and came up with two forces. Rob took control of my Isenguard force contining ome berserkers, some normal uruks and a couple of trolls with a uruk Shaman and a uruk Hero.

I used a small contingent of Rohan riders Lead by Eomer, another small contingent of ferlong the fat and some axeman and then my min force was Faramir with a Captain and a fair sized force of warriors.

In the end i managed to break the Isenguard force but only after Faramir fell to one of the trolls.

Here is some pics of some of the action:

Dark Menoth Project

2011-10-19T20:36:00.003+13:00

Ever since i first went through the Menoth background and looked at their models i knew that they cried out for a Dark Knight look. Not evil but just not pure looking, Something like a Death Knight from World of Warcraft, or a Knight of Solimina from Dragonlance . For months now ive been thinking about a scheme that would work. The first thing i did was scour the internet looking to see what others have done - there are lots of good ideas out there and i didnt want to copy anyone elses.

In the end i was inspired by a coulple of old school GW Chaos Space marine themes blended together. (at least thats the idea)

The overall concept is a extreme dark blue (almost black) armour with brass edging and metal rivets and spikes. Any cloth is black with grey highlights. The eyes and any venting lighting ect is to be glowing bright blue. (in the pic you may see some red as i tried that first for the eyes but it made them look evil.)

I have no idea on a basing scheme (any ideas greatly appreciated). I know the Menoth come from a desert area but im not sure desert basing will look very good with the all blue/black scheme.

Anyways onto the picture. There is a heap of work to go on them but i think the basic idea is starting to come through. keen to know what everyone thinks.

No battle plan survives first contact

2011-10-18T15:44:00.002+13:00

well my plan was good get something finished every day of the school holidays. seamed simple enough. Unfortunatly things havent worked out as i wanted them to so far. The girls decided that they wnted me to watch DVD's and play Lord of the rings with them. below is a few pics from one of our games. Uruk-Hai crushing their way over top of some poor men of Minis tirith desperatly trying to hold a bridge and old garrison tower. As you can probally tell from the photos it went badly for the Humans.

School holidays = a week of hobby fun

2011-10-15T12:05:00.000+13:00

Its the second week of the holidays and that means i get to do my Dad duty and take a week off to look after my girls. Whilst my eldest is 13 and able to look after herself my youngest is only 9 and needs an eye kept on her from time to time to keep her out of trouble. This means that although i need to be home i actually get a reasonble amount of time to spend on my hobbies amongst watching DVD's and playing games with the girls.

My plan is to devote one day to each of the game systems i am working on and hopfully by the end of the week i will have compleated a couple of projects that have been crying out to be finished.

Here is my basic breakdown:

Day 1 Warmachine - 25pt Menoth starter force (undercoated)
Day 2 Legends of the old west - 10 Mexican outlaws (half compleate)
Day 3 Battletech - 2 Mechs and 3 Burke tanks (half compleate)
Day 4 Gladiators - 8 various Gladiators (almost finished), do more work on the Arena im constructing.
Day 5 Legends of the high seas - Work on my chinese junk (project unstarted)

Every day i will post something new showing my progress - hopefully this will encourace me to finish some of these projects.

Lunchtime fun

2011-10-11T14:41:00.001+13:00

I managed to get in another 30 mins of painting at lunch. I almost got the shields finished - just a few more highlights to go.

More progress

2011-10-11T09:15:00.001+13:00

I managed to get in half an hours painting this mornning on the savage orcs. Added in details on the skin teeth and armour. Hopefully at lunchtime I can work on the shields.

15mm fantasy savage orcs

2011-10-10T19:49:00.001+13:00

Just a quick project post tonight. Work progresses slowly on the savage orcs. (I'm only working on these during my lunch break so after eating I only have about 15 minutes a day.)

Even so I'm finding these little guys a lot of fun to paint.

15mm fantasy savage orcs

2011-10-05T09:11:00.002+13:00

Something a little different this Morning. These little guys are from the demonworld range. I'm not 100% certain what I'm going to do with them yet but when I pay lien I knew I had to paint up some.

Another Battletech Game

2011-10-01T20:22:00.001+13:00

Yet another weekend of Battletech gaming. Rob, Kevin, Byran and Arthur come over this morning for another epic Battletech game. This time we opted for a 4'x4' city table with an objective of a powerstation right in the centre of the table.

The Forces:

House Steiner/House Kurita alliance

Commanded by Arthur
Warhamer
Rifleman
Wolverine

Commanded by me
3x Burke Tanks
Awesome
Grand Dragon
IS standard Battle Armour x1
Clan Jade Falcon

Commanded by Rob
Vulture
Clan Elemental Salamanders x2

Commanded by Kevin
Catapult
Madcat

Commanded by Byran
Quckdraw
Loki

It was an awesome game. It finially ended with Clan Jade Falcon retreating leaving the IS houses holding the powerstation.

Here's a few pics of some of the action.

4 finished Gladiators.

2011-09-24T23:15:00.002+12:00

Here is my first 4 gladiators from the ludus of Semerious longus.

Let me know what you think.

Latest FOW painting work

2011-09-24T01:09:00.002+12:00

Heres another box release from battlefront miniatures that i painted the miniatures for the box cover. Was a fast fun project.

New Battletech toys

2011-09-21T18:17:00.001+12:00

Yay got home to find some of my new battletech figs had arrived. Awesome service from ral patha Europe 5 days from time of order.

3 BUrke tanks and house kurata infantry... Damn they are small.

First finished gladiator

2011-09-20T06:39:00.001+12:00

Here is my first Gladiator figure - Attilius a Myrmillo.

Not the best pic but I'm sure you get the idea. I'll do some nice photos once I have all of my gladiators painted.

Battletech game in progress

2011-09-17T11:42:00.001+12:00

Got a few of us playing Battletech today. Rob, Byran and Kevin playing as house Marik and Arthur, Lee and myself as House Kurita.

The sides as they stand:

House Marik
Rob - Quickdraw and a Commando.
Byran - Grand Dragon and a Whitworth.
Kevin - Catapult and a grasshopper.

House Kurita
Me - Burke tanks x3. (Being represended by some panzer 2's till my proper models arrive in the post next week)
Arthur - Battlemaster and a crusader.
Lee - Grand Dragon.

So far only one casuality has been caused and that was Robs unlucky Commando taking 3 PPC hits from one of my Burkes. 2 onto his left torso which had already been damaged, the shots tore appart the armour and set off his SRM ammo which exploded and blew him to pieces.

Tomorrows Battletech table setup

2011-09-16T23:22:00.001+12:00

They say pictures are worth a 1000 words...

My current Malifaux gang.

2011-09-13T21:41:00.004+12:00

so Wyrd miniatures has created a site just for Malifaux. amongst the goodies contained within was a crew creator.

follow the link below to see my currrent Arcanists crew..

link

Club day

2011-09-10T20:47:00.001+12:00

Today was club day. Rob and I went along intending to play lots of Infinity however we ended up playing lots of games of Gladiator. With 8 people playing and a total of 24 different gladiators in the arena it sure was a bloodfest.

posted from Bloggeroid

Im still Alive!

2011-09-05T20:26:00.001+12:00

Im not dead just been super busy. I have been working on lots of projects though and hope to have lots of pictures up soon. My Combined Army for infinity nears compleation as does my Gladiators for The New warhammer historical game. Also in the post today my new Dark Age outcast warband turned up. So many projects so little time.

Mongo smash!

2011-08-13T21:54:00.004+12:00

Here are the first few stages of Mongos skin.

I apologise for the poor photos view don't do the work I've done on the skin so far much justice.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mongo smash!

2011-08-13T21:54:00.001+12:00

Here are the first few stages of Mongos skin.

I apologise for the poor photos view don't do the work I've done on the skin so far much justice.

posted from Bloggeroid

New miniature

2011-08-10T19:49:00.002+12:00

This is Mongo!!!!

This miniature is made by Dark Age Games. He's part of the outcast faction. I hope to get him all cleaned up and assembled this weekend.

posted from Bloggeroid

New painting work on the FOW web site.

2011-07-17T21:57:00.001+12:00

A few new releases on the FOW Website this week that I painted.

All-Terrain Towed 105mm Artillery Battery (FRX05)
Of more advanced design than the 75mm mle 1897, but fewer in number, was the excellent little Bourges 105mm Court mle 1935. It too had a relatively high rate of fire and was designed with a split trail that splayed the guns’ wheels outwards to provide additional protection for its crew.

All-Terrain Towed 105mm Artillery Battery (FRX05)...

Lorraine 38L Armoured Carrier (FR201)
A peleton de châsseurs portés (light mechanised cavalry platoon) is composed of well-trained, well-equipped and well-armed troops with twice the number of light machine-guns as normal infantry. More importantly each squad of châsseurs is carried to battle in a Lorraine VBCP (Voiture Blindé de Châsseurs Portés) 38L.

Lorraine 38L Armoured Carrier (FR201)...

Heavy Artillery Battery (GBX46)
The specifications of what would become the s10cm K18 howitzer were given to both Krupp and Rheinmetall for developed during the 1920s. Adapted for service in 1933-34, the s10cm K18 was actually an amalgamation of the Krupp designed carriage and the Rhienmetall designed gun.

Heavy Artillery Battery (GBX46)...

10cm FK30(t) Howitzer (GE569)
The SS Totenkopf Division, the SS ‘Deaths Head’ Division, was equipped with captured Czech weapons rather than German guns. It had a battalion of 8cm FK30(t) field guns and two of 10cm leFH30(t) in place of the normal 10.5cm leFH18 battalions.

10cm FK30(t) Howitzer (GE569)...

Is the glass half full or half empty!

2011-07-15T17:56:00.001+12:00

Nothing like a cold beer in a nice warm pub after a long day at work.

posted from Bloggeroid

Hordes Back on the Painting Bench

2011-07-10T21:27:00.000+12:00

Over the last month ive been trying to consolidate my hobby some what. This has entailed going through many, many boxes and deciding if i was going to keep models and play a certain game or get rid of them to generate some cash for other things.

I was doing well getting rid of a lot of models when i came across my Trollblood's in a figure case. One look and i knew i couldn't sell them so i decided i had to finish them. Here's what ive managed to get done so far:

More to come soon.

Last of the desert British and basing guide.

2011-07-10T08:44:00.001+12:00

Here is a final pic of the last unit i’ve finished touching up and rebasing.

Desert basing guide: (Note paint colours are Vallejo and the Basing materials and static grass are by Gale force 9.)

Step 1: Black Undercoat over a mix of fine sand and gravel.

Step 2: English Uniform.

Step 3: Heavy Dry Brush of Desert Yellow.

Step 4: Light Dry Brush of Buff.

Step 5: Very light Dry Brush of Deck Tan on the Highest points.

Step 6: Add very small amounts of Spring undergrowth and Straw static grass.

More desert British

2011-07-07T19:22:00.002+12:00

posted from Bloggeroid

On the work bench

2011-07-06T15:20:00.002+12:00

posted from Bloggeroid

8.8cm FlaK 36 - the mighty German 88!

2011-06-23T00:31:00.000+12:00

Hers some pics of a mid war German 88 as it would have looked on the eastern front in 1941/42.

Testing new mobile Blogging options

2011-06-20T21:00:00.001+12:00

First up bloggeroid.

posted from Bloggeroid

w.I.p infinity figures

2011-06-15T23:14:00.001+12:00

Lots of work to go, But its a start.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Another Mid War platoon finished

2011-06-06T11:09:00.001+12:00

Here's a few pics of my midwar Pak 38's.

New Midwar Toys

2011-06-05T13:45:00.002+12:00

Here’s some shots of a couple of SdKfz 7/2 (3.7cm) i just finished up. Nothing flash but they should add a little support from nasty Russian planes.

2011-06-04T22:44:00.000+12:00

Catalyst Game Labs have a new online database up and running. Its Called the Master Unit list and it contains 3500 variants for over 900 vehicles. Extreamly useful for anyone who loves battletech.

Follow this link to check it out: Master Unit List Online database - Build a force

Funny vids

2011-06-03T22:10:00.000+12:00

A couple of funny vids for all us gamer geeks – although its been a while since I've played a roleplaying game i can still appreciate the humour of these.

Totally bummed out

2011-06-02T15:58:00.001+12:00

I was hoping to have a post of some nice new finished Heavy Gears but alas fate has been cruel - my lovely dog Max has a stupidly big powerful tail and in a fit of dog inspired madness decided it would be fun to jump up and spin around knocking afore mentioned Heavy Gear models onto the floor. (Insert extremely sad face here).

Ive started to reassemble the pieces so as long as nothing is missing or too badly chipped the pics might happen by the weekend.

For something a little different ive decided to do a poll in the left hand corner of this blog. id love to know what everones favorite tabletop wargame is at the moment. Ive listed what i consider the most popular few but ive put in an option for those who like something else. Feel free to comment on this and let me know what you play and why its your favorite. if this proves popular enough (ie someone bothers to try it) then i might make polls a regular thing on the blog.

Rasputina and Crew - WIP

2011-05-27T20:58:00.002+12:00

I was so jazzed by my new Malifaux models that i just got that i had to get started on them asap. Here is Rasputina and her crew of a Hoarcat Pride, 3x Ice Gamins and of course my fav - the Ice Golem. I liked him so much i was painting till almost midnight to get him half done.

20 odd layers of Washes and multiple levels of highlights. He just needs his eyes brought to life a little and some snow on his base and he will be done.

As you can see Ive almost compleated the Hoarcat Pride and the Ice Gamins.

You may have also noticed that the quality of my pictures has improved somewhat overnight. This is because i finally got off my arse and set up my proper digital camera and light Box. Hopefully everyone likes the change.

People are Awesome!

2011-05-27T09:30:00.001+12:00

Was feeling a tad down this morning and i came across an older Utube video which after watching it made me feel all inspired to do stuff today. You may have already seen it but if you haven't watch it through to the end and tell me if you don't feel slightly inspired by how awesome humans are.

Rasputina's cult of December - Unboxing

2011-05-25T16:40:00.002+12:00

Here we have Rasputina's cult of December for Malifaux.

Contents:

In this Malifaux starter box you get 4 fantastic miniatures. Firstly you have Rasputina herself. She is the master of the gang. The rest of the gang consists of constructs, 3 ice gamins and a mighty ice golem.

Quality:

The miniatures are excellent. They have a small amount of flash but overall are excellent. They are made of white metal rather than lead and this makes them a little brittle. I found the ice gamins a little fragile due to their small size but as long as you are carefull with them this shouldn't be an issue when you use them in a game.

Rating:

Overall I think this is a great looking starter set. I'm looking forward to making some sculpted bases and painting them. I rate them 8 out of 10.

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so many new goodies!

2011-05-25T12:25:00.001+12:00

So I have this week and next week off and in preperation for this perfect time for modeling and painting I ordered myself some new toys around three weeks ago. Much is sadly Still to arrive but today a got a few small packages in the mail. My first malifaux gang of Arcanists, a purple fate deck, a puppet deck the malifaux rules manual and the latest edition of wargames illustrated.

I'll do an unboxing, and review after I've taken a look through it all.

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Photo Test

2011-05-21T17:56:00.000+12:00

been mucking around with Photobucket to see what it capable of. Heres a quick shot I've done up using Photobucket's build in tools.

What a Day

2011-05-17T02:04:00.001+12:00

My poor wife goes and slips over and cracks her head on the tiles. 2 hours at the local A&E and then 5 hours more at the local Hospital and we are finally Home at 2am.

Thank goodness she’s going to be ok,

Setup for Todays Battletech Game.

2011-05-14T02:07:00.000+12:00

Today is gaming day and I've just finished setting up my garage for a small band of friends who will be playing Flames of war getting ready for the mid war GT here in Auckland, New Zealand next Saturday and Sunday.

While that is going on ill be playing a couple of games of Battletech. Below is a picture of my terrain setup for the game. What do you think too much terrain or not enough??

During the game ill take some turn by turn shots and try and do a battle report.

Comments Gremlins

2011-05-10T21:39:00.000+12:00

Ive been made aware that some people are having issues posting on my blog. Till i resolve the issue Ive removed the password verification so in theory there wont be any issues - lets hope im not spammed to buggery.

Please post a comment or two so i can see this has solved the problem for the moment.

quick painting contract for a work mate.

2011-05-09T21:45:00.004+12:00

Not finished yet but getting close.

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More FOW painting work goes live on the FOW Website.

2011-05-07T20:17:00.002+12:00

A couple of new releases this week done by me.
4.5" Howitzer Battery (BBX22)
The origins of the Ordinance Quick Fire (OQF) 4.5” howitzer go back as far as the Boer War of 1899-1902. The British forces begun to realise that their own field artillery was being outclassed by the more modern pieces being fielded by the Boers. The British immediately got to work developing potential contenders in an attempt to catch up.

Hotchkiss 25mm Gun (BR505)
In addition to arming the French Army, the canon de 25 also saw service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). By this time, all available 2pdr anti-tank guns were needed by the artillery ant-tank regiments, so the infantry purchased canon de 25 from the French instead.
Hotchkiss 25mm Gun (BR505)...

This one is just a blister pack so no fancy box.

Scibor Miniatures

2011-05-07T17:03:00.000+12:00

I Just came across a company ive never head of before but after visiting their website i wish id found them sooner.

Take a look at this picture and then head over to their website and check out their excellent miniatures.

Simple intro to Heavy Gear

2011-05-04T10:45:00.002+12:00

As i wait for my heavy Gear Blitz: locked and loaded rulebook and minis to turn up ive been scouring the internet looking at reviews of this game.
Mini War gaming (www.miniwargaming.com) has put up an excellent review and shows of the basics of the game.

How to Play Heavy Gear Blitz

Check it out and let me know what you think.

New Games on the Horizon

2011-05-01T11:02:00.002+12:00

This year I've decided to branch out in my gaming experiences and have decided to give several new games a go. Mainly because i really want to expand my painting horizons but also because i don't want to burn out on games i enjoy playing currently.
The games I'm currently looking at (in no Particular order)
1) Heavy Gear Blitz: Locked and loaded
Website link: http://store.dp9.com/product_info.php?products_id=449
Although I've know about this game since it first came on the scene some 15 years ago my initial thoughts were nice models but kind of complex and slow rules. At the time i was heavily into Battletech and never gave it a try. Now a new version of the rules (this might be version 5??) Locked and Loaded has recently come on the scene and the rules look really streamlined and the miniatures have just got better and better over the years.
HGB Locked & Loaded Rulebook Rev 1.1 (Full Color, Softcover)
[DP9-9996c]

Welcome to the 62nd century and the world of Terra Nova. Colonized by humans, left to fend for itself, and divided between two rival superpowers, recent events have brought this formerly united planet once more to the brink of war. The harsh battlefields of Terra Nova are home to a new type of fighting machine: the 15 foot tall war walkers called Heavy Gears. Filling a role between tanks and infantry, it has radically altered the face of warfare. The battle for Terra Nova has begun. Will you fight for honor, for pride, or for the land to call your own?

Heavy Gear Blitz – Locked & Loaded includes revised, streamlined miniature wargaming rules, with plentiful rule examples. Faster to learn, faster to play. Also included within this book:

An introduction to the world of Terra Nova.
4-page map section covering all of Terra Nova.
A scenario generator that encourages tactical victory conditions, designed to work well with leagues and tournaments, including basic campaign rules.
Comprehensive Field Guides for the Northern Guard, Southern MILICIA, Peace River Defense Force, and Port Arthur Korps, along with individual Member League Armies and the Leagueless to support you in building your forces.
Regiments of Note listings covering the more interesting and unique regiments on Terra Nova.
6-page miniatures gallery including an assembly and painting guide. Timeline covering from before the Interpolar War to the formation of the Westphalia Cabinet and the Black Talons.
90+ datacards, covering all the standard vehicles used in the Field Guides.

A core miniature game rulebook for all players; Requires the use of six-sided dice (not included) and Dream Pod 9 miniatures. For two or more players, age 8 and older.

The Heavy Gear Blitz Locked & Loaded Rulebook Revised Edition Rev 1.1 includes some new pictures of miniatures not available when the book was first released. Plus small rules and text revisions along 1 new page of datacards and 3 pages of quick reference sheets at the end, that bring the interior page count up to 204 pages.

ISBN 978-1-897460-94-8

(This is how you advertise your product – from the description above i have at least a fair idea of what will be in the book.)

2) Malifaux

Website Link: http://wyrd-games.net/shop/home.php?cat=266

This game is pretty new on the scene. Especially here in New Zealand. It has some fantastic looking models and an interesting rules system where Dice are removed from the game and instead you use a deck of cards to resolve game effects – ive played one game of this against my friend Rob from – Painted addiction and think it’s kinda cool. Small outlay for Miniatures ect means this is a great place for a wargamer on a low budget.

Malifaux Core Rulebook

Wyrd Miniatures is proud to announce its character driven skirmish game, Malifaux. The game book is soft covered, with 216 full colored pages inside. Malifaux is diceless, utilizing our eye catching illustrated Fate Deck, you play a unique card based system that encourages tactics, strategy and resource management over the random fall of dice.
Based in an alternate Earth, Malifaux uses gothic, steampunk, victorian horror with a dose of the wild west to inject fun and depth into the magical lawlessness of a world rife with monsters, necropunks, manmachine hybrids, gunslingers, and power-hungry politicos. Actively using character-driven stories to define the world of Malifaux, seek your fortune in this fast paced and brutal 32mm tabletop miniature skirmish game. Assemble your crew and stake your claim!
No longer do you have to trust the fickle fate of a dice roll, in Malifaux you use cards, a Fate Deck, as you lead your Crew to victory with strategy, tactics and resource management, and if that isn’t enough, you can Cheat Fate. Looking for scalability? Malifaux has it. Jump directly into a Scrap with 4 – 6 miniatures, ensuring a quick and brutal fight with each character having unique skills and abilities. Want to escalate it? Take it to a Brawl, bring in additional members of your faction or hire out mercenaries to do your dirty work.
(Not a bad description but id have little idea of the book layout if i hadent actually had a flick through this one.)
3) Infinity
Website Link: http://www.corvusbelli.com/en/02_tiendainf_rtdo.asp?IDNOTICIA=397
This is another game that has been out for a while. The Miniatures are fantastic. However the 1st edition rules we awful – very hard to get to grips with as it was poorly laid out. The production values were top notch though – awesome pictures and heaps of colour when such things were rare in the wargaming world. With a second edition out ive decided that i will take the plunge and try my hand at this game before the end of the year.
INFINITY Rulebook - 2nd English Edition

Reference: 289903
Content: 2nd EDITION REVISED
Hard cover book, 232 pages, in full colour.
With pictures, illustrations, and everything you need to play Infinity: background, rules, complete army lists, markers and templates.
(Proof that some gaming companies really need to push their product a little harder. From this description i have no idea what’s actually contained in the rules.)
Ok so not really new games but pretty new for me and my friends.
I’ve taken the plunge and ordered a Rulebook and a starter force for each game. As they arrive ill do a full review of the figures and the books.
If anyone has played any of these games or more importantly is playing these games now id love to hear your thoughts on them and any tips for collecting, playing ect.

Battletech 3 way

2011-04-30T11:02:00.002+12:00

Rob, Chris and myself are playing a 3 way battletech game. Here are a couple of in game shots.

Even more Vietnam Goodness.

2011-04-22T10:51:00.002+12:00

Here’s three more box sets i did for the FOW Vietnam release. These boxes are available from FOW retailers or the FOW store today. Get them fast as the Sheridan’s and Patton's are screaming out of the NZ, USA and EUROPE Warehouses.

M48A3 Patton (VBX04)
The M48 Patton tank was completely modernised version of the WWII M26 Pershing heavy tank, designed to fight Soviet tanks on a nuclear battlefield. Oddly, many of the lessons of WWII had been forgotten and the M48 lacked a stabiliser and was likely to catch fire when penetrated. Its impressive anti-tank capability was of little use in Vietnam.
M48A3 Patton (VBX04)...

M551 Sheridan (VBX05)
The M551 Sheridan was developed as an amphibious cavalry tank or air-landing tank capable of tackling Soviet tanks. As a result its main armament was an anti-tank missile launcher that could also fire conventional shells. Getting this complex weapon system to work delayed the introduction of the Sheridan, but it finally reached Vietnam in 1968. Once there, its crews liked its firepower, speed, and ability to cross flooded rice paddies, but missed the thick armour of the much heavier M48 and its ability to smash its way through thick jungle.
M551 Sheridan (VBX05)...

PAVN Divisional Fire Support (VBX15)
Equipped with an array of different armaments for a diverse number of roles; the PAVN Divisional Support was armed with equipment that was either Chinese copies of Soviet equipment or actual Soviet-made weapons.
PAVN Divisional Fire Support (VBX15)...

That’s it for all my Vietnam work. If any of you want to know how i painted any of the miniatures shown over the last 3 weeks worth of posts just drop me a line.

More VIETNAM goodness

2011-04-16T08:23:00.003+12:00

The Flames of War Vietnam releases keep coming and that means i get to show off more of the painting work I've been doing for Battlefront Miniatures over the last 6 months.

M113 APC (VBX06)
The M113 APC (armoured personnel carrier) was developed to fill the same role as the WWII M3 half-track carrying infantry up to the edge of the battlefield safe from artillery and longrange fire. In Vietnam the mechanised infantry battalions used their M113 ‘tracks’ much more aggressively.
M113 APC (VBX06)...

M132 'Zippo' (VBX08)
The M132 was an M113 APC modified into a mobile flame thrower. The cupola was replaced with the M10-8 flame gun and the passenger compartment was taken up by four 50 gallon (190 litre) spherical flame fuel tanks.
M132 'Zippo' (VBX08)...

PAVN Infantry Battalion HQ (VBX12)
The basic unit of the PAVN is an infantry battalion called a Tiểu Đoàn Bộ Binh (pronounced tee-eh-oo daw-an boh bin), or just a Tiểu Đoàn, a battalion. The battalion commander is a Thiếu Tá or Major, but is usually referred to in typical revolutionary fashion as a D Trưởng or D Leader (after the code for a battalion, ‘D’).
PAVN Infantry Battalion HQ (VBX12)...

PAVN Infantry Company (VBX13)
The bộ đội, foot soldiers, are the core of the infantry companies. As the troops of B3 Front are some of the best in the PAVN, they have an almost equal mix of the newer AK47 assault rifles and older SKS carbines. The squad automatic weapon is the RPD machine-gun, a modernised, belt-fed version of the WWII-era DP ‘record player’ machine-gun. Each squad also contains a B40 rocket launcher, a Chinese copy of the Soviet RPG-2.
PAVN Infantry Company (VBX13)...

PAVN Weapons Companies (VBX14)
The PAVN weapons companies were equipped with an array of different armaments for a diverse number of roles. Much of the equipment was Chinese copies of either Soviet weapons or American equipment that was captured during the conflict in Korea.
PAVN Weapons Companies (VBX14)...

That's it for now, next up should be the Sheridan's and the Patton's.

basic step by step painting guide for US vehicles in the Vietnam war.

2011-04-11T21:23:00.001+12:00

As promised here is a quick run down on how to paint US vehicles in the Vietnam war.

Note: this step by step assumes you have an airbrush and have access to Tamiya colour acrylic paint.

Step 1: base coat the model with black primer.
Step 2: spray the model xf-62 olive drab.
Step 3: using the panel fade technique spray a 50/50 mix of xf-62 olive drab and xf-60 dark yellow.
Step 4: again using the panel fade technique spray a 25/75 mix of xf-62 olive drab and xf-60 dark yellow.
Step 5: once step 4 is dry apply a thin magic wash over the whole model.

At this point you have done all the basic body work for the vehicle. In my next post ill talk about detailing the model , dirt, dust and paint chipping ect..

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Newest FOW Paint jobs go live on the FOW website.

2011-04-03T10:32:00.003+12:00

This week two new boxed sets are released for Battlefront miniatures FLAMES OF WAR – Vietnam range. Both sets of miniatures in the box pictures were painted by me. I'm really happy with how they came out. Pictures of the boxes and links to the website below.

M113 ACAV (VBX07)
The M113 ACAV (Armoured Cavalry Assault Vehicle) was developed by the 11th ‘Blackhorse’ Cavalry based on feedback from South Vietnamese units. They fitted an armoured tub for the commander and gun shields for two machine-guns on the sides, converting the M113 into a (rather large) tracked scout carrier.
M113 ACAV (VBX07)...

M125/M106 Mortar Carrier Platoon (VBX09)
The M125 and M106 were variants of the M113 armoured personnel carrier that saw wide spread service during the course of the conflict in Vietnam. The M125 was armed with a M29 81mm mortar while its big brother, the M106 was armed with a M30 4.2in mortar. This allowed both vehicles to provide quick and responsive fire support to the
hard slogging grunts during a fire fight.
M125/M106 Mortar Carrier Platoon (VBX09)...

Over the next couple of months a whole series of FOW Vietnam boxed sets will be released that have my painting work on the box covers. – this is why my posts have been pretty thin for the last 4 months.

Happy birthday to me

2011-04-01T21:21:00.000+13:00

I'm 36 today!, as the fact dawns upon me that in all probability half my life my be over i sit here in the comfort of my nice warm house drinking a glass of port reflecting on how good life is. I work as a terrain maker and miniature painter for a popular war games company. I have a wonderful supportive wife and two fantastic children, two quirky but awesome dogs and some really good friends. All in all not a bad way to be. :)

almost finished

2011-03-30T22:11:00.004+13:00

The Camp nears completion - just the oxen handlers to go.

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Greeks in Libya!

2011-03-06T21:48:00.002+13:00

My new Field of Glory army is fully underway. When i first read about Cyrene or “Kyrene” I had no idea that the Greeks had established several cities in Libya. The more i read about this area the more i liked the concept of the army. One of the things i really was drawn towards was the fact that they used carts to travel to battle rather than walking – makes sense when you consider they wore heavy bronze armour! (makes a cool camp idea as well!) The other thing is that unlike other Greeks they utilized Heavy chariots for war. The concept of Greek Hoplite battle groups with 4 horse Heavy chariot battle groups and a hoard of skirmishing battle groups just sounded too good to not try it out.
A bit of history
Cyrene (Greek: Κυρήνη, Kyrēnē) was an ancient Greek colony in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.
Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The city was named after a spring, Kyre, which the Greeks consecrated toApollo. It was also the seat of the Cyrenaics, a famous school of philosophy in the 3rd century BC, founded by Aristippus, a disciple ofSocrates. It has been nicknamed then as "Athens of Africa"
Cyrene was founded in 630 BC as a settlement of the Greeks from the Greek island of Thera, traditionally led by Battus I, ten miles from its port, Apollonia (Marsa Sousa). Details concerning the founding of the city are contained in Book IV of Histories, by Herodotus of Halicarnassus. It promptly became the chief town of ancient Libya and established commercial relations with all the Greek cities, reaching the height of its prosperity under its own kings in the 5th century BC. Soon after 460 BC it became a republic. In 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Cyrene supplied Spartan forces with two triremes and pilots.^[5] After the death of Alexander III of Macedon (323 BC), the Cyrenian republic became subject to the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Ophelas, the general who occupied the city in Ptolemy I's name, ruled the city almost independently until his death, when Ptolemy's son-in-law Magas received governorship of the territory. In 276 BC Magas crowned himself king and declared de facto independence, marrying the daughter of the Seleucid king and forming with him an alliance in order to invade Egypt. The invasion was unsuccessful and in 250 BC, after Magas' death, the city was reabsorbed into Ptolemaic Egypt. Cyrenaica became part of the Ptolemaic empire controlled from Alexandria, and became Roman territory in 96 BC when Ptolemy Apion bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome. In 74 BC the territory was formally transformed into a Roman province.

Here’s what I've got done so far. I wont finishing basing them till the whole army is complete but it will give you an idea of what I'm aiming for.

W P C's

2011-02-27T16:56:00.002+13:00

Wooden Personel Carriers!

Below are some pictures of a camp im making for my new Field of Glory army.

The army is Kyrenean Greeks - History and info to come as i get further into the project.

Small yay moment for me…

2011-02-19T20:10:00.001+13:00

Today the first FOW Box Set that has my painting work on the box cover go’s on sale in retail stores. http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=2424

It’s nothing super special but its a nice moment for me as this is what I've been wanting to do and working towards for years. Over the next 6 months a fair amount of box sets will be coming out with painting work done by me (this is why my blog has been very quiet as of late as I've been painting like a mad man morning, noon and night!).

As always I'm keen to here your thoughts on how i painted the Jagdpanther platoon.

Hope you guys like them.

fog is back!

2011-02-13T20:37:00.005+13:00

Fog is having a resurgence in my gaming group so I've taken the opportunity to get back painting some battlegroups I've been meaning to finish for over a year.At the back are 3 battlegroups of Numidian lighthorse,then a battlegroup of carthaginian veterans and in the front of the picture 2 battlegroups of scutarii. Nothing finished yet but they are getting there.

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Big painting day

2011-01-22T09:19:00.001+13:00

Today is a big painting day for me and the lads. Normally we try to do one of these days at least once a month but with several tournaments coming up fairly quickly we may do more. Ive post pics during the day of progress etc..

Goliath hand cart (first attempt)

2010-12-26T13:07:00.001+13:00

Here's my first attempt at making the hand cart. I think I have the design down but I think I need to use a finer grade of brass wire... what do you guys think.

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Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T22:33:00.001+13:00

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in Blogger land.

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pioneer's and Goliath’s

2010-12-20T22:22:00.002+13:00

Slowly over the last 6 months I've been working my way through a German pioneer company for Flames of War. As with all my flames armies i look for something different i can do to add a certain spark to the army so when my opponents look at it they go “wow” or “hey that’s neat”. With tank armies this is often easy – do up some nice stowage and a good paint job and most people are happy. Unfortunately when it comes to infantry armies most people get wowed by fancy bases and the miniatures themselves are often overlooked in the face of flashy bases with lots of silflor grass tufts and little flowers (don’t get me wrong these things are cool). As this army is for next years MWGT in Auckland i really wanted to add some character to my army and up until today i didnt have a clue what i could do. At lunchtime i was struck with inspiration – a few months back id been reading up on the German wire controlled bomb: the goliath, and vaguely remembered a small note about pioneers carrying the Goliath around on a hand cart. I thought to myself that might make an interesting infantry stand in my force as the Goliath is meant to be represented in the game on a medium base until it is unleashed upon an unsuspecting enemy tank or bunker. With this idea in mind i decided to do some more research and found some pictures for reference as to what this hand cart looked like.

It would seam from these pictures that it can be pulled along without too much trouble by a pair of Pioneers and has several different wheel variety's.
Whilst researching the hand cart i also discovered that the Kettenkrad was also often used by pioneers on the eastern front to quickly move a Goliath into position. However finding a real photo of this seams to be difficult and so far all ive come up with is pictures of a Tamiya kit that is available. If i can find some historical photo’s of a Kettenkrad pulling a Goliath on a trolley then ill maker some of them as well.
Watch this space for pictures of my first attempt for this model conversion.

Flames of war EW Game

2010-12-18T22:35:00.002+13:00

Just had a great game of EW Flames of War with my mate Mark. Mark Took a nice swanky new French tank force (so new, it was shiny metal without guns ) up against my German Czech tank company.
We played Cauldron – a mission which i know a lot of people don't like. Personally i think its a good mission (although i will admit as the defender it was hard going for me).
Was a fairly bloody game with me losing most of force but only ending up losing one platoon in total. Mark faired worse as i managed to destroy 3 of his platoons. Unfortunately attrition meant that i didnt have enough tanks left on the table to defend both objectives and Mark managed to take one of the objectives from me in his turn 9 with the game ending in a 4:3. The way i see it if you have to lose a 4:3 is the way to go so I'm not too upset by the loss. Both of us had up and down luck in the game (i think i need to pray a bit harder to the dice gods because in the first 3 turns of the game i was rolling a truckload of 1’s and 2’s).
Overall great fun and looking forward to our next EW encounter.
- Sorry there are no pics, was too caught up in the game and forgot to take any shots.

New 35pt Troll List

2010-11-20T15:14:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow me and the lads will be playing Warmachine/Hordes all day long. This time ive decided that im going to stick to one list for a few weeks in a rob and see if i can make it work.

Here's the list i will be using:

Epic Madrak
Swamp Troll
2x Impalers
Fellcaller Hero
6 Pyg bushwackers
10 Pyg Burrowers
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin Champion Her0
6 Trollkin Fenblades with Officer and Drummer Attachment.

So there ya go, 35pts of troll goodness. Let me know what you think. Ill post some pics and combat results tomorrow night.

New Android Phone Gaming APPS

2010-11-13T13:34:00.001+13:00

Although not officially out in the NZ market the HTC DESIRE HD is available from several parallel importers for not too much more that you will pay for a Samsung Galaxy S (next closest phone in NZ to the Desire HD). I had been agonizing for weeks over which new smart phone to get as my 1st gen IPhone was starting to show its age and i have to say that paying the extra and getting the HTC desire HD was the right choice (at least for me). I'm using it on the New Zealand Vodafone network and I'm having no problems at all. My only complaint would be about the battery life but i haven't had it long enough to test it fully I'm guessing it will be comparable to my first gen IPhone (needing a charge every 2nd day on moderate use and once a day on heavy use).

Id be keen to hear if any other bloggers out there have got this phone and what they think about it. Any tips on getting the most out of it would be most useful.

AWESOME GAMING APPS FOR WARMACHINE AND HORDES

The real point of this post is the two great gaming Apps from the Android Market place for fans of Warmachine and Hordes.

The first I'm sure many gamers with iPhones will have heard of IBODGER.

iBodger is a free application for creating army lists for Warmachine and Hordes, two fantastic tabletop games of miniatures combat from Privateer Press. iBodger supports all factions, special forces, and rules up to and including MkII Trollbloods. It also includes links to Battle College and many of Chris Walton's sketches.
iBodger includes full support for both MkI and MkII rules (including all Theme Forces), along with the option to convert armies between the rule sets. It also lets you keep track of your collection of models.

The second App is BATTLE TIMER

A free turn timer/counter specifically for Warmachine and Hordes players.
Keep track of turn length and count game time with this handy timer.

This is very useful if you play Hard-core tournaments or just like to keep your games short so you can get in more gaming in a day.

So there ya go two great apps that are free to download and use go and give them a try and let me know what you think

For Sale

2010-10-12T21:52:00.003+13:00

Added a few items into the for sale page. Not sure what these are worth so if your interested drop me and e-mail me what your prepared to offer for them.

More stuff going up over next week or so.

Cheers

Mark

Not a lot happening!

2010-10-03T17:33:00.001+13:00

Well as the title says – not much has been happening lately, heaps of half finished projects sitting on my desk but nothing being finished.

With the NZ Late War Grand Tournament for Flame of war just around the corner I've been working on an IS-85 list (this should be finished by the end of the week all going well which should leave me some free time to finish up some other projects.

One other semi interesting thing is I've decided that FOG is a bit too slow for my liking and too that end I've decided that I'm going to make up my own set of rules using FOW as a basis and mix in a few elements from other systems that i like and see what i get. What I’m aiming for is too create a much faster set of rules to play whilst hopefully keeping the flavour of ancients.

If anyone has any ideas about this let me know as id love to know what you think.

Katyusha’s

2010-09-19T18:00:00.001+12:00

Hi Guys

Here’s some models i finished a few week packs for a friend. I rather like how these turned out.

Russian BM-13 Katyusha multiple rocket launchers, based on a ZIS-6 trucks.

EW Panzers

2010-09-11T10:58:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone

Been a busy first couple of weeks in the new job but im loving it. Making terrain and writing articles beats customer service any day :)

My Early war army is finally finished - Yay!! (Well actually its just the first 1500 points but its a good start. Im looking forward to trying this out at Rallypoint in Hamilton in November. A couple of games in and ive already noticed a few things the army is lacking. (Pics of the upgrades will follow in due course.)

I painted this army up for work - the first article can be seen here: http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=2146

Command HQ of 2 Panzer 38(t) with 18T Recovery vehicle.

Panzer 2 c (early) platoon.

Panzer 38(t) Platoon 1 and 2.

8 Rads.

The full 1500 Army.

Im Very happy with how this force has turned out, (considering it was painted over the last couple of week during my lunch breaks) Check out the Flames of War web site for lots of close up pictures.

Let me know what you think.

War Pig

2010-08-28T19:34:00.000+12:00

I've started work on my Farrow force. As soon as i learnt that the Farrow were being expanded by a Warcaster and a couple of warbeasts i knew i had to collect an army of these piggies!

I’ve decided that every model will have a sculpted base – it seams to be a common theme on the forums and i figured what the hell ill give it a go to. :)

Here’s where I'm at so far:

Here’s a couple of close ups of the green stuff work on the base:

Next to come will be a modified Lord Carver.

Kromac the ravenous.

2010-08-28T18:18:00.000+12:00

Today i decided to start work on something other than my beloved troll bloods. Chris had ordered Kromac intending to use him as his warlock for his circle army but had changed his mind after he had ordered him. I decided that although I'm unlikely to do a circle army any time soon i would really like to have a go at painting him (at least his human form).

I’ve started work on the base. As I was doing this more as a display piece than a gaming piece i put some thought and effort into the base. Kromac’s pose lends itself very well to standing atop something staring into the distance. I played around with several ideas. A fallen standing stone or a cliff face were two options i seriously considered. In the end i went with the idea of Kromac standing on the stump of a long ago fallen tree near the edge of a marsh. I started sculpting the base. At first i went for quite a high base which would have had Kromac well above most other figures but after looking at how this looked i decided a much lower tree stump was more practical option. (As knowing me i will one day undoubtedly start a circle force.)

this is where I'm at so far:

Not the best photos but I'm sure you can see what I'm aiming for. A small amount of water will sit between the rock and the stump and will pass under two of the tree roots.

Hopefully ill have this all painted up before the end of the day.

Update: Saturday 28th August:

Managed to get the base finished and put the starting work onto Kromac’s skin and clothing.

Still a long way to go but i like how the base has turned out.

Change is in the Air!!

2010-08-20T20:20:00.000+12:00

Well ive been pretty quiet over the last week and this is mainly due to a massive work load brought about by taking on too many contracts at once - silly me, (you think after all these years id learn!)

Anyways ive also just got a new job - Yay :) After working in sales and customer service for Battlefront Miniatures for the last 6 odd years i finally have managed to get myself a job as part of the studio team and will be taking on the Hobby Support Manager role. This basically means ill be making all the scenery that will be used in photo shoots for books and web material - exciting stuff, i finally get to be creative.

I have a pile of Warmachine and Hordes Projects on the go at the moment as well - hopefully this weekend i will get a chance to take a few photos.

WIP TROLLKIN LONG RIDERS

2010-07-27T11:37:00.001+12:00

Yesterday in the mail i received my Trollkin Long Riders. I’ve been waiting for these for a while and was slightly disappointed that of the 5 i received 4 were the same miniature. Not a huge issue though as i like to convert and sculpt so this was a great opportunity to get in some more practice. So far I've managed to modify two of these big bad boyz.

The first one seen in the picture about i decided to reposition the head so it was looking more up and to do this i needed to pin the head into position and then re-sculpt the whole neck. Quite easy and took maybe 20 minutes if that.

For the second bison i decided to pose him more like he was just butting something with its head. To do this i had to hack the leg off and pin it in a new position and then re-sculpt some of the muscle shape and hair. I also bent the position of the rear legs slightly and had to tidy up a few areas which had been damaged during this process. (the material the Privateer Press casts there miniatures out of is pretty tough and large models like these are difficult to bend without applying a lot of force!!). For this model i also decided that i wanted the head of the rider to be different so out came my trusty clippers again and i clipped off the head and replaced it with an armoured Kreil head that i had spare from my Kreil warriors box. A little bit of putty to rebuild the neck and it was done.

Overall I'm happy with how these have turned out. I will probably modify one more of the long riders so that all 5 miniatures are different. (after all I'm unlikely to ever do up a second unit so i might as well make them look as good as i can.)

- after noticing how bad the pictures turned out here are a couple of quick close ups.

Keen to know what you guys think.

IM BACK!

2010-07-26T18:51:00.001+12:00

xtranormal is a little program i just discovered. You just choose a scene and some characters and type a script and it renders it all for you. Pretty basic but lots of fun to much around with!

Im not dead

2010-07-23T07:44:00.000+12:00

Hi out there to anyone who follows my blog - im not dead, ive just currently got no internet at home. I swear you dont realise how important it is till its gone - i feel like im living in the dark ages!!!

If i ever manage to get connected again ill have lots of new pictures to put up.

Finished Dug in Markers

2010-07-08T22:27:00.002+12:00

Here’s a couple of quick shots of the Dug in markers finished.

Big Cats

2010-07-07T00:26:00.001+12:00

Just finished these three King Tigers for a friend. Figured id get a few shots before they go to their new home.

I think they have turned out really well.

Dug in Artillery Marker

2010-07-07T00:14:00.001+12:00

A work mate asked me if i could build him a couple of dug in markers for his German Artillery Battery he’s intending to use at an upcoming tournament.

Here’s what I've come up with so far. Its late so i wont explain the process at the moment but anyone who wants to know feel free to ask and I'll tell you how i did it. There aren’t finished yet and still needs a lot of detail work etc but i think they are looking good so far.

Posting Gremlins!

2010-07-05T08:37:00.000+12:00

Its come to my attention that some people have been unable to post on my plog due to the verification id under the comments not displaying fully. Ive disabeled the verification for the moment so posting should now be possible for everyone. I'll put the verification back as soon as i figure out why its not displaying properly.
Sorry to anyone who wanted to post a comment.

Header/banner third and final attempt

2010-07-03T22:20:00.000+12:00

mmm after having another think about effects the banner needs ive decided that the trolls skin needs to be lightened up somewhat. I was a little worried about trying this but its actually alot like painting layers onto a miniature. I also decided that the troll needed a bit of color for his eye and needed to have some rocky lumps added to his arm.

Im happy with the Banner now and will leave it like this. Now to think about how to do the blog background!

Header/banner Second attempt

2010-07-03T21:28:00.002+12:00

After going out for a couple of hours i thought about changes i should make to my banner. The first thing that needed to be changed was the colour of the troll. He had to be Blue!
After that i looked at some of the smaller details and made lots of little adjustments here and there – way too many for me to remember or list.

So here is the banner take 2. Let me know which one you prefer?

A new Trollblood blog

2010-07-03T17:00:00.000+12:00

Hey everyone

Ive been mucking around with Photoshop trying to learn how to make a Banner/Header for a blog. I figured the best way to learn is have something to push you to learn so i decided to start up a Fan Blog for Hordes and in Particular Trollbloods.

Here's what ive come up with for the Header/banner for the blog:

Its pretty rough, but this morning i had no idea how to make a header/banner at all so im rather happy with it for the moment. Ill come up with more ideas im sure but for now i like how it looks. The idea for the name is inspired from a sig on the PP forums created i believe by PG_Warsmith. (im im wrong please correct me so i can credit the right person.) Its excellent and very fitting and has become a bit of a funny dig/joke amongst our hordes gaming group as i have been making an ridiculous amount of tough rolls!

Love to know what you guys think? - go easy (remember its my first attempt!)

Flames of war goodies

2010-06-30T23:01:00.001+12:00

Here’s a few quick shots of a couple of Flames of War bits i did for a friend.

Trollbloods Work in Progress

2010-06-29T23:59:00.001+12:00

Just a quick post as its rather late – here’s a work in progress shot of the Kreilstone Bearer and some stone scribes. Not too much left to do on them a bit of work on belts and the weapons and some work on the Tartan of the scribes. After that its just the eyes and a few washes to blend the skin together a little better. I’m pretty happy with how they are turning out.

What do you guys think?