It's All Done with Mirrors and Painted Smiles

Last week, I had some time off, and since the nanny was here during the day to take care of the Young Lord, I spent much of those two days painting:


Fearless Men Who Jump and Die!

The Flames of War Open Fire! box is a heck of a value, whether or not you plan to play FoW. Of course, it's only a value if you actually do something with the included bits. I started this platoon of US Airborne last year, put it aside and then, suddenly felt the urge to complete them.

This is my first time ever using static grass. I don't know if I did it right or not, but i love it!

It Was Just My Imagi-nation Running Away from Me

I got a Risk set (the AWI looking bits) a few years ago, thinking I'd use the map for a campaign. But it sat in my closet. Lately, I've been reading about Imagi-nations and getting excited again by the idea. And so, inspired by Kaptain Kobold's Great Northern War project with Risk figures I pondered whether or not I could do something similar. And then it hit me, Riseling vs Sauvignon-Blanc 100 years before the current conflict.

Here are 40 Risk figures painted as the Saintonge Regiment of France, which participated in the AWI.  

There are four bases of line infantry, 2 bases of light infantry. 

I speed painted these to look decent as a group, at wargaming distance. Up close, not so much. (it doesn't help that the figures themselves are terrible. Misshapen heads, missing feet, etc). 

Leader of the PAK

1 1/32 Italeri PAK 40 - nice, easy to build model, it took 3 attempts at priming to get it to stick.

It fits nicely into the 6" grid I use for the 1/32 toys.

Itsy-bitsy Teenie Weeny

Sometime last year I picked up 2 sample packs from GHQ just to see what 6mm looked like in person (yes yes, I can look at a ruler but that didn't tell me what I needed to know).

Here are 3 GHQ 6mm US Army Infantry - painted the same way I paint my 1/32 stuff - this was a test to see 1)if i could paint 6mm, 2)if i would like the results. 

Oh. My. God! This may be my second favorite scale after 54mm (what can i say? I am a man of extremes). They painted up super easily - the details are easy to hit with a brush without painting over previously completed kit. I suspect could knock out a 1:1 company in in a few hours. It's just about all I can do to restrain myself from taking advantage of their holiday 15% off orders over $50.00 deal. 

Bonus:
This may not look like much, but some regular readers might know what's afoot.

On their way to a Slitherin village, two Riesling platoons, led by Feldwebels Feuerbach and Handel, are ambushed by lizard warriors.

Current Painting Table

Seriously, it must be the change in weather.

Here's what's currently in my painting queue:

I'm rather pleased with how the horses are coming along. I'm using this tutorial from Ken of All the Kings Men Toy Soldiers and despite being written for 54s, it works quite well on the 1/72 figures. These figures are Zvezda mounts for Russian Dragoons.

I am trying something new with this batch of Swedes (the guys in blue and yellow) - a white base coat for one (which I hate), and blacklining after the fact, rather than leaving a gap between colors (can't do that with a white base coat). After this group is finished, I will be focusing more on dragoons for both sides. And not just because i really like painting the horsies.

The Soviet riflemen may not look it, but they are primed; I use PVA. This has been my method of choice for most of this year for the big figures - so far, it seems to work. I will follow this up with a second coat of PVA once the figures are finished.

The buildings are birdhouses from Jo-ann's and Michael's that will be pressed into service for my 54mm games. The cabins, with a little work, will serve on the Eastern Front, primarily.

Another fantasy figure? (well several, if you count the rodents of unusual size)

What can I say, Song of Blades and Heroes is rather enjoyable and it's a great motivator for painting up some of my Bones minis. I have to say, they really don't take primer well at all, and still feel tacky a week later. A base coat of black acrylic seems to resolve that issue, however.

Oh, yeah. This guy., Skeletor, the Wraith Lord!! 

Paint Table Friday

I started in on Song of Blades and Heroes (part of my 10 games, 10 times challenge) and it's done two things: got me psyched about paper figures again but also, maybe I should try to paint some of the Reaper Bones figures I've got taking up space.

Shields need some touching up and the swords aren't finished yet.

And here's a blurry picture of a portion of my paper goblin warband (led by the red chaos knight):

Paint Table Saturday - I have no idea what number this is.

It's been some time since I've done one of these.

Although I have been painting, it's just rarely on a Saturday. 

Tonight, I  primed the 1/32 WWII figs in the back 2 rows. I cheated and included the Great Northern War Swedes I started last night. Shhhh! Don't tell!

I haven't done white primer in ages, but I thought, what the heck? Mostly, I was inspired by the painting tutorials over on All the King's Men..

For the Swedes, I'm totally changing my painting approach to follow along with the tutorial at ATKM that I linked above - although, I'm not doing washes I mean the order of what gets painted first. That explains why they are ghosts still (normally I painted like they are getting dressed). These 12 figures represent the 4th battalion to be painted. I really need to get some artillery and cavalry done after this.

I won't be changing the painting approach to the 1/32 guys, since I block paint with no black lines. The WWII figs are the first I've ever run through the dishwasher prior to priming. They feel VERY different than when i hand scrub and soak them in detergent and it's for the better. There are definitely little or no oils or mold release left on them when they finish the regular cycle. 

These 8 figs will allow me to field three 7-figure units for the US and Germany. That equates to a 21-figure platoon (three 7-figure squads, sans HQ), or, for the bigger games (like Blitzkrieg Commander,say), a company of three 7-figure platoons (1-figure platoon HQ, 3 x 2-figure squads). 

I think, for this scale, 7 figures looks right for a section in a platoon sized game, and I already play 1/72 with 7-figure platoons for a company sized game and think that looks fine. I might try to paint up a 30+ figure platoon in 1/32, but I'd probably have to reserve using that many figures for the living room floor.

1/32 Machine-Guns

Last night, I managed to finish up six figures for my 1/32 WWII forces.

With the exception of the tripod mounted MG-42, they are the "easy wins" of the figure painting world - prone figure; they only need to painted on the side you can see, thereby saving some time.

The 4 prone figures are Airfix, the tripod crew is CTS.

The CTS figures are, like most of the others in that set, undersized for 1/32 (in my opinion, and at least in comparison to Airfix and Matchbox, never mind TSSD). However, by themselves, on the cork tile base, they don't look too bad. 

Regardless, there aren't too many other options. I can't find anyone making a 1/32 tripod MG-42. I would like at least two more of these crews, which means two more CTS sets of figures that I will have no use for.

Even W. Britain has let me down!

The cork tiles are roughly 3" x 3" and are something of an experiment. The next game will undoubtedly see units based on the cork tiles with the help of poster tack. Although it does look like they are on very small cliffs, the thickness of the tile makes it easier to pick up than thin wooden squares.

1/32 German Force: Phase 1 Complete

On Sunday, as I hoped, I finished the two figures I needed to bring my Germans up to the "phase 1" numbers.

Here is the complete German arsenal available at present, including a Squad / Platoon of Waffen SS.

The Forces of Valor / Unimax / 21st Century (one of those) StuG is 1/32, while the Pz. IVs and Sdkfz are 1/38 ish (all CTS vehicles are undersized). According to W. Britain / Deetail, the kubelwagen is 1/32.

The figures are Airfix, Matchbox, and W. Britain.

Paint Table Saturday #4

After stumbling on a blog that gave some ideas about painting 1/72 fast, I decided to give it a whirl - it is definitely faster than I've been doing, but at the sacrifice of my beloved black lining. I am already planning to go back and add the line after, as it won't add that much time. Unless i totally botch it!

Here are 6 Swedish infantry from Zvezda for the Great Northern War after an hour of painting - they started out as black primer.

Like I said, definitely faster than I've been doing them. Another hour and they will be done.

And here are some 1/32 Germans I am working on to complete phase 1 of my WWII collection (the flame thrower was something I found in a box of primed items, so I decided to finish him too):

I believe the flamer thrower is Matchbox, while the officer and SMG are both Airfix.

First Phase of 1/32 WWII Forces 2/3 Done!

Last night I finished up 5 figures I've been working on (1 Soviet and 4 US) to bring 2 of my 3 1/32 armies to "first phase" readiness (3 infantry units of 4 figures + NCO  + 1 CO and 1 tank).

Here is the Soviet commander surveying the troops from a distance:

And here he with his full force (Infantry is Airfix + 2 Supreme figures. Armor is CTS) . In addition to an extra figure per unit, notice the abundance of armor!

The 2 Supreme Russian figures, ATR and mortar, will be re-painted
but are useable as is, despite their ugliness.

And here is the US force - considerably less armor! They too have an ATR and mortar, but also an MMG. Just over half of the US force is W. Britain Big Red 1 figures, the rest are TSSD. The tank is CTS.

The astute among you will notice I have not yet attached the Sherman's turret MG.

I plan to wrap up the 2 German figures I need before the weekend is out and Phase 1 will be complete - allowing me to field these forces for World War Risus, or to play 1:1 section/squad or smaller games.

Phase 2 will either involve getting everyone up to 7 figure units (6 infantry + 1 NCO) or getting all forces to have similar equipment (well, no one will have as many tanks as the Russians, but the Russians need a Maxim, and some kind of transport, the US needs a transport, the Germans need a tripod mounted MG-42). 

And yes, somewhere in there, I'll get around to finishing the Soviet and German bases.

Paint Table Saturday #3

OK, I've failed miserably on taking pictures of my paint table. On the other hand, I don't paint on Saturdays usually.

On the table right now are 4 US infantry, including an NCO and 2 BAR gunners, and a Soviet commander.

My immediate goal for my 1/32 troops are 3 units of 4 infantry + 1 NCO, and a single overall commander figure, for use with my World War Risus rules. So I'll either have 1 company, composed of 3 platoons of 5 figs each + Company HQ, or 1 platoon composed of 3 sections of 5 figs each + Platoon HQ

What you see here will give me that for the US and Soviets. 

Primed, but not pictured, are a German officer and NCO to complete my Wehrmacht "Company/Platoon." After they are done, I'll move on to support weapons - the US leads the way there with MMG, Bazooka and mortar ready to go, the Germans have a panzerfaust, and the Russians have nothing painted in that respect, unless you count the factory paint job on the Supreme Russians (it's hideous), in which case they have an ATR and mortar.

TSSD US Soldier to Lead W. Britains into Battle

On Sunday, I had the brilliant idea to test the use of white glue as a primer on plastic figures, and what better place to try it than with my TSSD US infantry. I was smart and chose just one.

The undiluted glue went on easily enough, although it was a little bit of effort to get it into all of the cracks and crevices. When dry (nope, sorry, no pictures), it gave the figure a sheen of protective PVA. 

Monday night, I decided to paint the figure, start to finish. The paint went on easily and, once dry, seems to stick well. When it's wet, well, it definitely came off more easily - every time I accidentally brushed against a wet part, the paint came off right down to the PVA. 

It only took the bulk of the night to learn that lesson. But he's done now, and I'm rather happy with him. I think a protective PVA top coat is probably in order.

Here he is, with a Britain:

Are you sure this is Utah beach?

A more "serious" composition:

Only tangentially related: about two weeks ago now, I decided to switch up my setup once again. 

It will be hard to be more low budget than this: the surface is a 3' x 4' Elmer's brand tri-fold display board (corrugated cardboard), the forests are construction paper and the hills are scrap cardboard. 

Don't worry, I'm not giving up on my Seussian trees (although I may try a new paper tree), I just didn't feel like carrying them downstairs when I played this game of Nuts! 2.0:

My squad in the foreground. Russian PEFs clumped to the left. 

OK, that Russian horde looks a touch ludicrous in that little patch of forest, but it was still fun!

I realize this is very much a love it or hate it affair. 

Me? I love it!

This actually looks a lot like I had been picturing my ideal setup in my head. Not a thing realistic about it - it screams "game with toys." And that's pretty much what I've been striving for. 

The hills are what make it for me I think; they are completely absurd. I think when the trees are in place, it'll be even better.

It took me awhile to get here, but I got here!

One of those Revelations That Happen Every So Often

I posted this picture yesterday on G+ - noting that I might have a small addiction now to W. Britain figures.

Other awesomeness in the picture: a d20 stamper, Wally Simon's Solo Secrets of Wargame Design and Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad #1.

In addition to the soldiers pictured (all birthday presents), I have a US MG crew and 3 more infantry en route (also b-day gifts).

I think I am most surprised by how much I love playing even the simplest scenarios with them (I've played a few tests of some rules I'm tinkering with). 

Maybe because they were gifts? Maybe because they're Britains? Maybe because it feels like I'm tapping into the same inspiration that brought forth Little Wars?

When I began miniature gaming some 7 or so years ago, I used unpainted plastic cheap army men. This was followed by home-made 1" counters (for Adventures in Jimland), and  finally unpainted 54mm plastic cowboys and Native Americans for some 1st ed. Six Gun Sound action.

I had a blast with all of that, but I kept seeing the pictures in blogs, and TMP and other places of painted forces, so when I moved into WWII, I decided to go to 1/72, and slighlty later, for Victorian Sci-Fi, 15mm, painting the figures seemed the obvious choice,  in both cases.

It's been a love-hate relationship with painting ever since. It is, mostly, relaxing. I find it enjoyable to research uniform colors and try to come up with something close. It's satisfying to paint a complete unit and see them arrayed before me on the table. 

But it is not quick, not for me.

If miniature painting was my hobby, this would be of no concern. After all, if painting is why you are doing it, then if it takes a long time, who cares? That's the most enjoyable, fulfilling and satisfying part. When you are finished, you admire it, and then paint the next figure that strikes your fancy. 

But painting has at best only been half of the equation. For me, it's the game that matters, at least equally, and generally, more so.

(to be sure, I could break "the game" into at least three components: research, rules tinkering, and playing, but let's keep this on point)

The inevitable delay between inspiration and the time the force takes the table means a waning enthusiasm , which makes the continued painting necessary a chore, not an enjoyable respite from chores, until the enthusiasm returns. But who is to say when or if it will return?

Witness so many gamers with partially completed forces tucked away in shoeboxes for projects that might never see the light of day.

I don't know why pre-painted figures (either from the manufacturer or others) never really occurred to me. But now that I have experienced the joy of getting the mail and being able to field a painted unit that night, I will expand my pre-painted forces.

Put down your pitch forks, please, I'm not abandoning painting. 

For one, I don't want my other 1/32 figures to feel badly about themselves when fielded with the Britains! 

Second, even painted plastic isn't cheap - this is not a grand scale approach, but rather, something to increase my enjoyment of the hobby when I can take advantage of it.

And, I do enjoy painting, for all of the reasons I listed above.

But, I can field units easily this way (we only have so much time to do the things we want to, do we not?), thus allowing me to spend that time on other things - like scenery construction, rules tinkering, research, painting figures (wait? what? Yes, but I can paint less of them!) and of course, actual gaming.

Paint Table Saturday (#2): Late Again

I didn't actually DO any painting on Saturday, although I did take this photo of what's on my table and awaiting cleanup/prep:

Zvezda Dragoons of Peter I

I plan to complete the two riders and horses on the right before the end of February, but we'll see.

On Friday night, I finished up the six Swedish infantry that were in the background last week: 

Zvezda Swedish infantry of Charles XII

FYI, my definition of "finished" does not include basing!

Paint Table Saturday (just a day late)

So there's this community on over on G+ where people share what's on their painting table on Saturdays. 

I painted last night but then forgot to take a picture, so without further ado, here's what's on my painting table:

Most of my painting time last night was spent on the officer's sash - so frustrating! But he's done now.

I also slopped yellow paint on the Swedes in the background, and today I took a brief moment to touch up the three left-most of those figures - mostly adding the black lining for the yellow. They "just" need their coats, pistols, pikes, ammo pouch, straps, belts, and hat lace.

You may have noticed the primer flaking on the Russians. Don't even get me started on that.

The Swedes are Coming!

These took forever, despite the rather simple color scheme. My colors (particularly the shade of yellow) might not match everyone's conception, but I based my paint selection on a number of sources, illustrations and photographs of actual uniforms (which have undoubtedly faded quite a bit over time). 

Most of the regular Swedish infantry regiments wore blue coats with yellow facings by the 1700s. I will probably paint all of mine this way:

One issue I had was the blue coat over the the black base - it was very dark. I painted white over the coat, and then blue, and the result was marginally better. From a time perspective, it adds substantial time per figure and I'm not sure I'm willing to do that. 

The next 6, I'll do without the white and see what the result is with multiple coats of blue.

Wheren I Finally Paint Some of My Reaper Bones Minis

The painting bug overtook me Saturday night and I finished the first 6 of my Reaper Bones KickStarter minis. Just 194 more to go.

A lot of people think goblins are green. They're wrong.

Why start with goblins and kobolds? Simple.

I have loved koblods ever since I first saw this image in the Moldvay D&D Basic book.

And it seemed to me that if they were going to fight anyone, it'd probably be goblins.

While these aren't my favorite kobold sculpts (the Splintered Light kobolds are my favorite), they will represent my favorite monsters in 28mm. I have 4 sprues of 3 for each side, which is enough for two small warbands for Song of Blades & Heroes, as well as other skirmish rules. I do plan on eventually picking up the Reaper kobold shaman and chief in metal to complete their force.

Back at the Painting Table

Last night, I managed to get my butt in the chair and make some painting progress on the next batch of 1/32 WWII Soviets and Germans. 

Once I started, I couldn't remember why I'd been so resistant to paint all through June. Quite silly really.

Perhaps the expression "80% of success is showing up" (usually attributed to Woody Allen) is true.

Great Northern War Russian Infantry Complete! (sort of)

Last night, I finished the Semenovski unit and that completes the infantry - sans basing, officers and the 6 grenadiers that I have. Here are some mediocre pictures of them (I really ought to work on my photography a bit):

 This represents two boxes of Zvezda's Infantry of Peter the Great. You'll no doubt notice a paltry number of pikes for an army that continued to use them longer than their European counterparts. By the way, the Swedish box has the same issue.

So, for now my units will be very unhistorical without any pikes at all - save one unit that will be made of 50% pikes, also unhistorical.

I'm torn on picking up some Irregular Miniatures 25mm pikes (the Irregular Minis seem to play nice with Zvezda), the Strelets box with tons of pikes (although the figures look chunky compared to Zvezda), or buy more Zvezda boxes.

 For now, I'm not worrying about it - I'll wait (so I tell myself) until I figure out whether or not it bothers me in an actual game. Which, given that I have the same number of Swedes to paint, plus horse and gun for both sides, won't be for some time yet.

The Long Weekend

While I was out and about Saturday picking up some maintenance items for my car, I swung by the library for their Memorial Day weekend book sale and to drop off some books. I had only intended to buy books for Young Lord Shadowmoss, but as these things invariably go, I purchased yet another 4 items for my own reading pile:

• Split Infinity by Piers Anthony
• Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony (best setup ever: "Will a mild-mannered dentist from Earth be able to make it in the high-powered politics of galactic dentistry?")
  
• Neuromancer by William Gibson 
• No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal: The memoir of Gen. Merrill B. Twining, USMC (Ret.)

As recompense for this tomfoolery, the universe deemed it necessary for me to slice my knee open on my way inside after mowing the lawn that afternoon. To explain exactly how this happened would be too complicated, but it involves a two car garage, a ladder, the garage door track, and thinking about what I was going to do, not what I was doing. The end result was 3 hours sitting around at urgent care in order to get 6 stitches.

In other, not unrelated news, in addition to watching war movies galore, I got a lot of painting done this weekend - my Soviet rifle squad is done, I'm nearly finished with the Semonovsky unit (a 12-figure battalion) for the Great Northern War and I started work on 4 more Soviets and 3 more Germans.

I also managed to squeeze in learning games of Iron Ivan's Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers, using my newly painted Soviets and Germans, and David Newport's "Tactical Combat" (available for free on the Lone Warrior site. Scroll down and look for 'Tactical Combat' WWII Rules), with my PTO collection.

Here's a blurry cell phone pic from the latter(turn 1 i think):

The stands represent sections, the individual figures are platoon HQ, and the individual in the center bottom is the company HQ. Ratio of figures to men is 1:3 in this case, but the figure count is irrelevant. You could got 1:1 or 1:5 (which i probably what I'll do in 1/32) or 1:10 (for battalion level games where each stand is a company).

I sent 1 company of USMC against 2 HMG teams and 2 rifle sections of Japanese in dug in positions guarding a cleared trail/road. The optional HMG rules - ignore long range penalty and roll 2 dice/choose the best result -make them pretty powerful. Although my marines won the day, we took around 30% casualties to clear those two positions.

As Lady and Younglord Shadowmoss are visiting her mother, tonight I will have ample time to paint and game, and plan to do just that, including working on the Semonvsky unit, and getting back into the Ever Expanding Dungeon (I haven't gone in there all month!).

Now With 50% More Navel Gazing

As I mentioned previously, I was going to put some time examining the unpainted pile of miniatures.  I've been pondering whether or not having a backlog of material - specifically miniatures - makes sense.

Lately, I have noticed that with a backlog comes pressure and not the fun kind.

There's a demand, self-inflicted mind you, to paint figures I'm not interested in painting, rather than working on my zine, world building/game prep, painting something I want to paint, or  playing a game I want to play (and for which those figures aren't necessary). What was supposed to be fun, now includes some measure of stress and guilt.

I know I am not alone in this - a quick web search for the terms "wargaming lead pile" returns ample evidence. The affliction is ubiquitous in the wargaming world. 

Everyone approaches it differently - some people, seeing how others have, in fact, lead mountains, not piles, feel better and stop being concerned, others make pie-in-the-sky promises to not buy another mini until the pile is painted (this is like going on a strict diet on January 1. By January 3rd you're probably cheating), still others thin the herd.

The last option is difficult; it means admitting you will never get around to painting them and that the purchase was probably a mistake. 

The problem is, simply unloading some or all of the pile probably isn't going to cut it in the long run. I need some kind of guideline for future purchases, and let's face it, I have Gamer ADD. 

As i mulled this over, I recalled advice my father gave me when I was a kid and collected coins, comic books, and baseball cards: specialize. 

I'm not sure if he had put a lot of thought into it. I'm not sure why he would have done so, since he didn't collect anything, or if he was just trying to keep his kid from blowing allowance money on passing interests, but when I finally took his advice, it changed everything.

Instead of buying every comic book that looked interesting, I bought only those that had the Silver Surfer in it. Instead of collecting random coins, I focused on Buffalo Nickles. Instead of buying grab bags and unopened packs of baseball cards, I collected Bobby Mercer cards.  It gave me focus that made visits to conventions and shops more interesting as I sought out particular items. With the money I wasn't spending on everything that caught my eye, I  could afford better examples of whatever it was I was in search of. And, of course, my collections were the better for it in that they had a sense of cohesion.

So, I sat down and did some thinking and identified the periods and scales, that I will focus on:

The TL; DR summary:
After much thought, I'm limiting myself to the Great Northern War in 1/72, WWII Europe and Eastern Front in 1/32 and  Pacific Theater in 1/72, leaving open the option for North Africa in 1/72 or 6mm.

Despite the beautiful 15mm figures available today, if I add a new period (other than North Africa), it will probably be 1/72 (25mm) or 1/32 (54mm).

I will keep, but make no further purchases for my 15mm VSF/Lost Worlds/ Colonial/19th C. Imaginations collection. Ditto for the 15mm Near future/Sci-Fi and 28mm Fantasy (which consists entirely of Reaper Bones Kickstarter minis).

I admit that 15mm Fantasy and 6mm Kursk are not going to happen and away they will go. I intend to sell or give away a fairly significant number of the Reaper Bones Minis 

Finally, on a tangential note, I don't need anymore rule books for any of the mentioned periods/genres.

For those of you with more time, and mostly for my future self:

Active
1. The Great Northern War - As I get further into The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough, I realize more and more how much I like this period. This is the largest amount of unpainted anything in my pile as I am well set for my initial foray into the period. All of it is 1/72 Zvezda. 

Once I have gotten to the point where I can play some small games, I may expand both the Russian and Swedish forces with more plastic and some lead (Irregular Miniatures 25mm seem to mix in nicely), after I identify what I need more of (cavalry, I'm looking at you) as well as add other participants.

2. WWII Land - There is a great deal of nostalgia here, and primarily it pertains to 1/32 figures and green plastic "army men". Despite not having nearly the wide selection of other scales, especially in vehicles, I have decided that the figures are too much fun not to use for my gaming. I use 20mm-28mm ranges for movement and weaponry and have a blast. So, for Eastern Front and Europe, it's 1/32. Not coincidentally, it's the 2nd largest unpainted collection, coming in somewhere around 120-150 or so figures + 4 tanks.

For the Pacific, I have a nice 1/72 force for both the USMC and Japan, painted at that, and plan to expand both sides with armor eventually (I've already started with the Marines), possibly at some point adventuring to naval and air combat (in smaller scales). I did pick up another box of plastic Marines, solely for the MG teams, as they worked out cheaper than metal minis. Picking up another box of Japanese is only fair.

North Africa is always a possibility - possibly in 6mm - but at the present, I have no plans for it.

Closed Until Further Notice

1. VSF / Lost Worlds / 19th C. Imaginations / Colonial - This is the first period I really got into, primarily owing to the French Foreign Legion and the fact that I could legitimately put them against Lizard Folk. I consider this collection in 15mm closed at present, I really don't need anything (some Lizard Folk cavalry would be nice, and maybe more Brits, but I have played many games without them just fine) and don't feel the need to expand.

I have 8 Chasseurs d'Afrique,  10 or so FPW Zouaves, and 2 Western Gentlemen unpainted. If you count the distinctly medieval Dark Elves and Amazons, then there's slightly more (15 more to be precise).


The only expansion might be into 2mm with knitting canvas, which I already own. I believe I can make up some fairly nice sized forces for my 19th C. Imaginations of Sauvignon-Blanc and Reisling , as well as some other nations, rather quickly. 

2.  Sci-fi / Near future. I have enough painted minis to play small skirmishes with systems like CR3: FV and Gunstorm! to make further purchases unnecessary. As it stands, very little remains unpainted in this group - just a pack of Khrussan Vespulids.

3.  Fantasy 28mm Skirmish- This collection really doesn't exist yet*, but with 200 Reaper Bones minis, that will change, with no further purchases.  I have no intention of fielding any big battles, but instead will use systems like Songs of Blades and Heroes or even combat rules from RPGs like USR, to fight small skirmishes. Mostly though, i'll probably just paint the minis for the fun of it. Even so, I won't be keeping all of the minis I get - some have no appeal to me and frankly, I don't see ever getting around to painting them all. I fully expect to get sell or give away 50% of them.

Abandoned Before They Started
1. I have a small pile of 15mm fantasy of some 70 or so minis, but mostly they will be unloaded in the not too distant future. The remainder will find their way into Lost Worlds/VSF games. The Splintered Light Rat Warband and the Badger Warband will probably be the only figures I keep from this group, along with 4 adventurers and a mule from 15mm.co.uk. The mule can work with any group of adventurers in a Lost World.

2. 6mm Kursk project. The idea was to use the scenario presented on the Junior General site which requires a very small number of vehicles. I have abandoned this idea. I love the tanks, but I don't see this as being something I"m really into making happen anymore.

The biggest take away, besides feeling some sense of relief, is that despite the proliferation of amazing 15mm sculpts, I'm done purchasing them for the time being. They don't take up any less space on my table - my WWII Pacific and my 15mm collections are all mounted on pennies - and they take as long or longer for me to paint usually.

Oh and relatedly, I do not need any more rule books for either of  my two periods.

Defending Mother Russia from the Advancing Fascist Machine! Urrah!

Another week starting out with more of the same.

I did manage to get some "proof of concept" Soviet troops painted up over the weekend:

For the curious, that's a copy of Ga Pa just behind them.

Painting is easy - they're basically one color: Vallejo Khaki Grey - and they look pretty much like I hoped. My plan is to paint up a Soviet rifle section for the first batch, which is, in fact, not a trivial task with Airfix figures.

Why? Because Airfix is in love with the SMG. I have3 boxes of  Russians and only enough rifle-armed troops to make one section and a few extras. I may have to look into some Marx Russians or some 1/35 scale models to pad the numbers or accept that most of the figures I field will be SMG-armed.

I'm not a huge fan of the Marx poses, but I do like their Officer/Kommissar figure and the rifle figures look useful enough. There's also the TSSD figures, which are beautiful,  but in winter gear and rather pricey, and the Italeri figures which suffer the same problems. There's a knock off of the Italeri poses available from BMC but the price is more palatable and I think i'd be ok with mixing them in.