TFL Painting Challenge: Bank Holiday Update

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Huge numbers of figures have obviously been painted over the Christmas break. Here are today's submissions in the run-up to the end of this year's challenge:

  • Joakim with some pulp and nativity figures (yup, I did say nativity)
  • Andy Duffell adds some very nice terrain to his collection
  • Jason Ralls just manages to finish twenty-four 28s and a host of little Gauls
  • Matt Slade has obviosuly had a busman's holiday, submitting tons of new painting: most of it pulp and VSF
  • Geoff Bond adds some cowboys and priests
  • Dave Humm adds some fantasy figures
  • The Bowler Hat finally finishes his WOTR collection and previews his next project again: the Romans
  • and finally Pedivere sends in some more of his excellent Foreign Legion

I was tempted to have today's picture being Joakim's nativity figures, but it's the 28th and the moment has passed. Here are Pedivere's resting legionaires, Jason's Gauls, and Matt's Amazons.

Still a few days to get your entries in!

15% Off Sale at the TooFatLardies

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For those who need to buy some more Lardy products (cough, my scenario books, cough*), Rich is running a 15% off sale over at the main TooFatLardies webstore. You can get there by clicking here.

Not sure how long the sale will last: Rich says until he's finished the Xmas Special...so Easter then!

*all my scenario books are updated for IABSMv3...and if you don't fancy them, there's always Q13!


Gebirgsjaeger: 15mm Opel Maultier

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Earlier this year I added Waugh Games to the list of WW2 figure manufacturers. If you remember (assuming you follow this blog fairly regularly) I ordered three Opel Maultier from them at the bargain basement price of £2.50 each: under half the cost of the Battlefront equivalent. I've now had a chance to paint them up, giving my Gebirgsjaeger a bit of additional transport.

So, how did they turn out?

The first thing to point out is that they come with a HUGE base built in i.e. on one side of the truck the base sticks out at least an inch; on the other, at least a centimetre. I'm not sure why they come like this, but they do. Here's the picture from their website that shows what I mean.

The other thing the picture shows is the holes in the resin: you can see a big one on the door, and lots of little ones in the main body's wooden panels.

Well, I could do something about the bases - snapping them off to a decent distance from the tracks wasn't too difficult - but I decided to ignore the resin bubble holes: far too fiddly to fiddle with.

A black undercoat was followed by an all-over coat of a medium dark grey. I then dry-brushed the canvas top in a lighter grey, then  dry-brushed both canvas and body with white. The windscreen and other glass was dark blue and then my (only slightly successful) attempt at a glare effect. The tracks were my usual gunmetal covered with flesh wash. Here they are:

As you can see, the resin holes aren't really significant: they just look like wear and tear. The bases are still a bit thick, and aren't very even...but that won't show on the tabletop either. The only real disappointment is the bit between the tracks and the main body paneling: there's a big resin bulge that looks like, well, a big resin bulge.

In all, however, not bad for £2.50 a time. The old adage that you gets what you pays for has certainly held true! 

 

TFL Painting Challenge: 22nd December

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I'm settling nicely into my Christmas holiday now: no work until the new year!

Here's today's patch of painting challenge entries:

  • Mr Slade sends in a pic of some very familiar looking figures
  • Lloyd 'the hat' Bowler finishes off his WOTR collection with a couple of command stands, and starts up the Ancients with a unit of Romans.
  • Carole pops in a couple of hover tanks
  • Mr Plowman also adds some sci-fi goodness, with some Clear Horizon robots
  • and, finally, Mr Helliwell manages another 30 Panzergrenadiers

Today's pic has to be Matt's familiar, but unavailable, figures:

Well, there is one more entry to come. Treadhead has submitted a picture of his brand spanking new games room. I can't score this for the challenge, but I can include the pic here:

Very nice!

Still plenty of time to get your entries in for the challenge. Doors don't shut until midnight on the 31st!

TFL Painting Challenge: Wednesday update

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It's been a long time since I've needed to do a mid-week update, but the weight of entries now coming in demands it.

Mind you, a lot of them come accompanied by a note that says "this will be my last entry this year...". Rubbish, I cry, plenty of time between now and the new year to get something done!

Anyhow, in no particular order, we have:

  • Mr Naylor with some 28mm sic-fi and some desert scrub
  • Andrew Helliwell with some 15mm German tanks
  • Jason Ralls with his usual eclectic mix of subjects
  • Dave Humm with a few 25's and a bit of terrain
  • Mr Luther with more 6mm 'planes than you can shake a stick at
  • Stumpy stomps back into things with a mix of painted and re-based figures. Loving the Russian/Afghan stuff!
  • Carole enters some more sci-fi figures for Q13
  • Chris Stoessen squeezes out some civilians
  • Mr Burt has painted lots of little ships, all of which look very fiddly indeed!
  • Joakim sends in a mix easily as eclectic as Jason's
  • and, finally, Mr Douglas submits some skeletons

Today's pictures?  Well, see below...

Stumpy's Russian air Ambulance

Stumpy's Russian air Ambulance

Carole' hover bikes

Carole' hover bikes

Steve Burt's little ships

Steve Burt's little ships

Scorecard will be updated today or tomorrow, once I can get to it on m home PC.

Sarissa's 15mm Factory

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Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days:  been horribly distracted with real world affairs.

Anyhoo, to get back into the swing of things, here's a quick post showing my latest 15mm building for anything from WW2 right up to sci-fi: Sarissa Precision's factory.

The factory is mainly a single building with a nice roomy inside. There is a walkway halfway up one wall, and the windows and doors are made from heavy card stuck to the inner walls: nicely robust. There a small powerhouse plus chimney on one side, and the kit comes with a steps-and-gantry walkway that leads to one of the doors portrayed on the upper floor.

Now this is quite a challenging kit to build, but the instructions are excellent and easy to follow. It's just a bit fiddly in places, and I don't really do fiddly! The result, however, is definitely worth the time and effort. The outside looks brilliant, even with my rather crude paint job, the gantry is a very nice touch, and the inside is amazing. That walkway is surprisingly easy to build, and will provide a nice little fire step.

On the whole, highly recommended.

TFL Painting Challenge: Early Friday Update

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I'm making sure I keep ahead of the end-of-year rush here!

Today we have submissions from:

  • Matt Slade with an epic re-basing project and some Kobolds
  • Nice to see Carole back with some Stargunt sci-fi figures
  • Ralph Plowman is also back, with a handful of 28's
  • Mr Douglas, who rarely misses a week, has some more ancients
  • Koen sneaks in a couple of 28mm squads
  • and Mr Helliwell adds to his vast numbers of Confederates

Today's pictures are from Ralph Plowman and Carole. First up are Ralph's marines/sailors from the late 19th Century:

And here are Carole' sci-fi figures for Q13:

Just twenty days to go to get your final entries in for 2015.

New Chain of Command Markers Available

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News that the Lardies have released a new set of markers for Chain of Command. I'll let Rich tell all...

"Two of the things  we are regularly asked for are a set of Patrol Markers and a set of Jump-Off Points for smaller figures such as 20mm or 15mm.  We thought it would be a great idea to kill two birds with one stone and, in partnership with our chums at Warbases, we have produced sets of eight markers for both the Axis and Allied forces.  Each set contains four robust MDF Patrol Markers with either the Allied star or German Baltic Cross.  The four Patrol Markers are 5cm diameter circles and four smaller jump off points are 3cm diameter.  Both are in 3mm MDF laser cut and etched for each painting.

"Here’s what they look like “naked”.

"I decided to slap a bit of paint on my own sets.  I went with a black undercoat for both before applying Vallejo Russian Uniform Green to the Allied ones and Middlestone to the Axis ones.  I then added some camouflage to the German one before detailing the Allied Star in white and the Baltic Cross in black.  The German one then got a yellow rim to make it stand out on the table.  On reflection, I think I might do the Baltic Cross in white and maybe replace the yellow with a bright red.  Early War Panzer grey would be a nice look too.  Part of the fun is deciding how you like yours!

"The best news is that both the Axis and Allied sets are now available on the web site for just £3 each.  Now, there’s a stocking present for you!"

You can buy the Allied marker set by clicking here.

You can buy true Axis marker set by clicking here.

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Update

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Things are certainly hotting up as we draw to the end of another year's challenge.

Today's entries are from:

  • A first entry of the year from Mr Skelton, proving that it is never too late to enter!
  • Now under full steam, Koen smashes in another series of submissions
  • Messrs Yuengling and Luther fill in a few gaps in their galleries
  • Lloyd adds in some more WOTR figures and teases us with a test figure for his next project
  • and finally Mr Duffell sends in some more WW2 28's

Today's pics? As it's almost Christmas, you get three today: it's got to be the Hat's command stand with hand-painted banner, and then Andy's 28's, and then one of Koen's entries.

Plenty of time for everyone to get their entries in BTW. This year's challenge doesn't end until midnight on the 31st. Come on! Get to it!

IABSM AAR: Les Attacques

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Vaggelis has begun playing his way through the Defence of Calais scenario pack, beginning  with scenario #01:  Les Attacques.

It is May 1940, and with British troops being evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, the ancient port of Calais stands on the critical western flank of the Anglo-French lines. In a desperate bid to shore up this flank, Churchill has committed the British 30th Infantry Brigade to defend Calais to the last...

Click on the picture below to see the full AAR:

IABSM AAR: Action in the Far East: Ban Sadao

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Cracking game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! at the weekend, with a scenario from the Fall of the Lion Gate scenario pack.

See if the British can stop the Japanese advance into Malaya at the village of Ban Sadao. Click on the picture below to see the whole report.

TFL Painting Challenge: Last Update in November

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How time flies when you're having fun! One moment we're all talking about the 2015 new year, and the next it's the end of November already!

Still plenty of time to get your entries into this year's painting challenge. Here are some that other people have submitted:

  • Mr Bowler is back with some more 28mm WOTR figures. Given everything that Hat has completed this year, his table must be quite impressive when a game is on.
  • Steve Burt adds more Zulu War figures
  • Mervyn pops in some Ancient Brits
  • Mr Helliwell has foolishly let work get in the way of his painting lately...but has still found time to knock up 24 Confederate skirmishers
  • Mr Luther fills in a few gaps in his gallery
  • And Pedevere sends in more French types: lots of what I think are Legion Etrangere.

Today's pics are from Pedevere: his staff car and Dodge truck...very tasty!

Battlefront's Desert Fort

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Those of you who read my post about Battlefront's Dust Cloud terrain markers will know that I have had some stuff on backorder from them for some time. One of the other things that was on backorder was their Desert Fort and expansion pack.

Now I can't remember exactly how this worked, but I think that they said they would only produce another batch of these if enough people agreed to buy them: a bit like a mini-kickstarter. Well I agreed to do so, and then promptly forgot all about it until the e-mails saying they were on the way started to arrive in my inbox, followed shortly afterwards by two quite big boxes.

Here's the fort itself:

It's a lovely piece of battlefield terrain. The walls and turrets are really chunky...and I've just realised I've set it up in the picture above with all but one of the walls the wrong way round...but you can see from the left hand wall what it should look like! Plenty of room for figures on those parapets, and for at least light guns on the tower-tops.

Here are a couple of views with a figure in them for comparison:

fort02.jpg

The expansion pack contains two ruined walls and two mid-wall towers that would allow you to double the length of two of the wall sides, provided you were happy to have the ruined walls included to make up two of the sides. Or you could just have the ruined walls as part of the original square fort.

Here's a pic of the fort set up as a square with on side bashed in:

In all, this is a lovely set of kit, ideal for portraying the desert forts of the western desert in the early 1940's. It would also do, of course, for sci-fi wargaming, and for Beau Geste-style games as well. Recommended.

PS  Sorry about the pictures: I seem to have got most of the walls round the wrong way. That's what comes of drinking a bottle of wine whilst gaming, and then deciding to do a bit of photography afterwards!

The Stalingrad Mill

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The last building I had to put together from Commission Figurines was the gigantic Stalingrad Flour Mill.

Retailing at £45, this is a cracking piece:  two joined buildings, one large, one small; five floors and a roof, with each floor having its own little ledge on which to place figures. You actually have to build it twice: once for the internal frame on which all the shelves sit, and once for the outside walls.

Here's a modern-day picture of the mill itself:

And here's a picture of my completed model:

Not the sharpest of photos, but you can see what I mean about the sheer size of the thing, and how well it compares to the actual building.

I painted this in orange, and then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. It didn't need any sort of highlights dry-brushed on, so I didn't do any. The inside I left in raw mdf, as it looked okay and painting it would have been a real pain now that I had put it together. The outside pavement I did in the usual dark grey, black wash, light grey highlight, but I left the highlighter brush a little dirty from when I painted the orange on, so some of the pavement has a little bit of a brick hew, as if covered in brick dust or rubble.

The only thing I'm not 100% satisfied with the way I've painted it is the roof. You get two bits of flat roof, and then a sort of tunnel-walkway-attic as well. These I painted in dark brown, again with a hint of dirty orange in it. It looks okay, but I'm not sure quite how else to do it. Suggestions on a postcard please...

To finish, here are two close-up shots of the inside so that you can see how good it will be for actual wargaming. As I said above, cracking piece: highly recommended.

Chain of Command: Another Pint-Sized Campaign Released

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Yesterday saw the release of another pint-sized campaign scenario book for Chain of Command: The Scottish Corridor.

This supplement focuses on a German counter-attack on the salient held by 15 Scottish Division on the Odon river in the latter stages of the war. As ever, it is available for £3.60: the price of a pint in Richard's local.

Here's the blurb from the TooFatLardies website:

"The Scottish Corridor is the fifth Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command, designed to be played using the campaign handbook, At the Sharp End.  

"Twenty nine pages long, The Scottish Corridor follows the established Pint-Sized Campaign format, with an overview of the forces involved on both sides, their deployment shown on period maps and the course of the campaign described in detail before going on to present a mini-campaign covering the initial German counter-attack against the narrow corridor projecting down to the Odon river and Hill 112.  A mixed force of two Kampfgruppe attack in the hope of isolating the British spearhead and restoring the line.    

"The campaign is a total of six game tables with the duration running between six and eleven games.  Briefings are provided for both sides, along with measurable objectives, period maps, force and support option listings and everything you need to play this campaign through to its conclusion.  

"Like all of our Pint-Sized campaigns, this is available for the price of a pint in our local pub.  We're sure that you'll agree, that is great wargaming value!"

You can buy The Scottish Corridor from here.
 

Q13: New Manufacturer Added: Evil Bear Wargames

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Another new 15mm sci-fi figure manufacturer added to the list: Evil Bear Wargames.

So far, EBW have but two listings in God's own scale, but they are very nice indeed. First up are hard suits: 21mm tall armoured suits with weapon and shield. I particularly love these and will get some as soon as the lead mountain is small enough to justify a rebuild:

Next up is a very nice patrol/command and control vehicle: the British Army Panther. Again, a lovely piece of kit:

You can get to the Evil Bear Wargames website by clicking here. Note that both the above are also available in 28mm.

Another Ruined Building from Commission Figurines

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Here's the second of the three buildings I purchased from Commission Figurines at Warfare.

This one is Potsdammer Platz, and very nice it is too. Goes together very easily - literally the work of minutes - and then simple to paint as well. This one I undercoated in dark grey, then added a heavy wash with black ink, then dry-brushed with dark grey, then light grey, then bleached bone to bring out the relief. Again I painted the inside dark grey.

Looks good to me and I can't wait to get them onto the tabletop.

You can find Commission Figurines by clicking here.

Dustclouds

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I must have been feeling very flush one day, as apparently I've had the 'Dustclouds' terrain pieces on back-order from Battlefront for some time.

Now just why anyone would need a marker for dust in the desert I don't know...but then again, they do look good and I obviously felt the need at some point! Whatever the reason, and whether I really need them or not, they were a nice surprise. Some people, eh: more money than sense!

One of my as yet unused T-55s with dustcloud!