Q13: Vasseth Strike Tanks for the Chuhuac

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One of my favourite sci-fi ranges are the Chuhuac from Loud Ninja Games. These are like mini velociraptors with body armour and guns, and paint up really beautifully.

Up until now, however, the only armoured support they have had is from what are called 'Battlesuits' : one man fighting vehicles with a big gun and missile launcher on top and a couple of small guns in front. Nice, but not proper tanks!

Now, however, that gap is filled with the release of the Vasseth Strike Tanks. These are wedge-shaped hover vehicles with the same asymmetric armament as the Battlesuits. I bought seven of them: one squad of three for each of my platoons, and one for the Company HQ.

The models come with loads of different armament options. I used the big main gun for them all, and added either a twin-barrelled autogun or a small missile launcher to all except the Company HQ vehicle: that one I fitted with a much larger missile launcher that I found in the bit box.

Here it is:

Watch this space for the jungle and desert camouflaged versions coming up tomorrow and Wednesday!

TFL Painting Challenge: Sunday Update

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Entries have been slowing down lately: but then there's lots of people still to make their first submission of the year.

Today, in no particular order, we have:

  • Mr Douglas with three separate entries in the same week, including some re-basing
  • Andrew Helliwell sends in another platoon of WW2 Germans
  • Matt Slade submits for the first time in 2016: slamming in sixty-five beautifully painted 28s
  • Carole completes her 15mm sci-fi infantry company with a platoon and some support weapons
  • Kev's entry is a toy re-painted for use with X-Wing:  looks fantastic
  • Jon Yuengling sends in his first submission of the year...very welcome, even if I had to guess what it was!
  • And finally Richard Naylor sends in some more terrain: rocks and a yards worth of graves.

Three pics today as I can't decide between them:

Some of Matt Slade's baddies from Crooked Dice

Carole's 15mm Support Platoon

Kev's Conversion for X-Wing

6DW: Egyptian Army SP Tank Destroyer Platoon

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Those of you who follow this blog regularly will know that when I bought Battlefront 15mm plastic SU-100s for my WW2 Soviet army, I also bought another box to use for the Six Day War Egyptians.

The WW2 models turned out pretty well, so I was looking forward to a similar result with the Soviet-cast-offs-now-in-Egyptian-service versions.

Building them was easy: just the same as before but with the additional of an extra storage bin on the right front wing. An undercoat in sprayed on desert yellow was followed by a dark brown wash followed by two highlights: desert yellow again then what I would call a Bleached Bone colour. Tracks painted black with a light dry brush of dark grey, a few other details done, and Bob's your uncle.

Well, that's what I thought.

One thing about metal-and-resin tanks is that you rarely get a totally smooth finish on the model. The very nature of the stuff that they are made of makes them a bit rough: a roughness that comes up during the wash and dry brush process and makes them look a bit less like a toy.

Plastic, on the other hand, has a very smooth finish:  the 'finished' tank destroyers looked way, way too clean, even for me, who likes a car-wash finish to his vehicles. These, however, were supposed to represent old vehicles: old vehicles that had spent plenty of time in the desert as well...and with an army not known, even today, for its high standards of maintenance.

They needed weathering in a big way, so it was off down to GW to see whether I could find anything there to help. The very helpful store manager not only sold me a pot of what they call Typhus Corrosion, but even showed me how to use it.

This stuff, TP we'll call it, is like a dark brown wash, but has a sediment in it that sticks to the model as well, nicely roughening it up. It's a bit like the stuff I'm now using on the bases - from the GW Technical range - which is like paint with little mini, mini ball bearings in it.

I painted the TP on just like any other wash, and practically had a heart attack. My lovely, pristine tank destroyers now looked like horrible, crusty brown blobs!

This was only the first stage, however, so once they had dried, I dry brushed in Bleached Bone again, and suddenly the detail came back up again...and came back up again very nicely. I particularly like the effect on the roadwheels.

So, here they are: Soviet cast-off WW2 tank destroyers in Egyptian service: looking every inch of how old they must have been. They'll be a nice contrast to the Israelis (when I get around to painting them) who I'm aiming to do in a showroom finish!

Q13: More Dwarves!

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I've finally managed to finish another unit of Space Dwarves for my nascent force.

These are the second unit from Cactus Miniatures: a platoon of PBI to go with the chaps in powered armour painted last year.

Nice figures: not the works of art of some ranges...but very well-priced and, as you can hopefully see despite the poor photography, do have the character that a dwarf army needs to have.

IABSM AAR: North of Caen

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Recently, Martin981463 posted the text of an IABSM after action report onto the TFL Yahoo Group. He also popped the pictures to accompany the words into the Group's photos section.

I hope he doesn't mind, but I've joined the two together in the AAR that you can reach by clicking on the picture below. That way, you can see words and pics together.

It looks like an excellent game of IABSM, unusually fought in what looks like 28mm scale. Click below to see all:

TFL January Sale

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News from the front: the TooFatLardies are having a January Sale. Here's what Rich said on Lard Island News:

"It wouldn’t be January without a Sale, and this month we have not one but two great deals on offer.  Firstly we have all of the Sharp Practice range available at 35% off list price, that’s the rules in hard copy or PDF format and all of the supplements.  You can find them on our web site here:  Sharp Practice

"Secondly, we have a focus this month on I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, our hugely popular Company sized rules for the Second World War.  The rules and all of the huge range of supplements are available at 20% off for the rest of January.  Our IABSM products are listed here:  IABSM

"There’s never been a better time to get hold of two Lardy classics!"

You can click on the titles in bold to go straight to the TFL online shop.

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Sunday Update

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Many of you are still very slow off the mark this year...unlike some of the below, who seem positively prolific!

So, today, in no particular order, we have:

  • New entrant, Oracle, with a couple of 28s and some re-based 6s
  • More X-Wing craft from Kev
  • Some drones from Carole
  • Continuing the sci-fi theme, four beautifully painted 15mm infantry from Mr Plowman
  • Lots of 28s from Mr Davenport who, for a new entrant, is already piling on the points
  • And finally Stumpy makes a return with a mix of new painting and re-basing

Today's pics are, unusually for me, both examples of re-basing: first up Oracle's 6mm WSS French, then Stumpy's Napoleonic Brits...

SU-100 Tank Destroyers from Battlefront

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I've been wanting to get some Soviet SU-100 tank killers for some time. I've had the lesser SU-85s for ages...but, frankly, they are so last season...and I just wanted the ones with the bigger guns...and I wanted them now! The trouble was, I didn't fancy shelling out for the metal versions at £8-£9 a time.

Fortunately Battlefront came to my rescue with the release of their box set allowing you to build five plastic SU-100s for the princely sum of £23.40 or £4.68 per model.

Now I actually quite like plastic tanks. Yes, nothing beats the heft of a decent metal or metal-and-resin tank, but the relative pricing (allowing you to build big units), incredible detail, and the way that they paint up make plastics a very viable option. I'd almost go as far as to say I prefer plastic tanks:  try dropping a plastic and a metal tank and see which one survives better!

The box set comes with all sorts of options, including just what I wanted: five SU-100s.

The kits go together very easily (less than 5 minutes a tank) and paint up very well indeed. These were done with an undercoat/basecoat of Army Painter spray, washed with GW Agrax Earthshade, then highlighted with one of lighter GW greens...Loren Forest IIRC. I put together, painted and based all five in about four hours in all.

Excellent value, great kits:  which is a good thing as I have another box of them to do for the Egyptians for the Six Day War!

TFL Painting Challenge: Weekly Update

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Things are starting to motor along nicely now, with twelve people (including me) now having sent in their first or even second and, in one case, third, entries for the year.

Today, in no particular order, we have:

  • Paul Blankenship with his first entry of the year, and it's a monster one comprising lots of tanks a a few bits of terrain
  • Carole also sends in her first entry: some nicely done 15mm sic-fi infantry
  • Sapper has painted some more Egyptians
  • New entrant Jon Davenport makes his first appearance: some Hessians in 28mm (don't worry about the cat hair on the table!)
  • Mr Naylor sends in his first three entries for the year: sic fi again, but different scales
  • Mark Luther adds to his already gigantic collection with some more 6mm tanks and 'planes...and, no, Mark, there is no such thing as "enough"!
  • Our own favourite Fat Wally adds some more Star Wars kit to his gallery
  • and, finally, Mr Helliwell pops in his second entry of the year: more Germans

Today's pictures are some of Mark's tanks, some of Mr Helliwell's Germans and Jon Davenport's Hessians:

Some of Mark Luther's Jagdpanzer IV 70s in action

Andrew Helliwell's command post/objective marker

New entrant Jon Davenport's Hessians in 28mm

As always, you can see everyone's full roster of submissions in their galleries, and the Scorecard will be updated tonight from my home PC.

The Soviet 203mm Howitzer from Battlefront

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One of the great things about Battlefront is the huge range of models they produce, even if sometimes the vehicle or gun that the models are based on only fought in one particular theatre or weren't produced in very large numbers. 

Their recent Berlin supplement and its related new releases contain many good examples, one of which is the giant Soviet 203mm howitzer: something that, showing appropriate restraint, I ordered as soon as it hit the streets.

This thing is a monster. It's also easy to put together, easy to paint, and looks absolutely cracking. A very worthwhile addition to the arsenal!

TFL Painting Challenge: First Entries for 2016

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There are some of you obviously determined to start the TFL Painting Challenge 2016 off with a bang!

Already we have entries from:

  • Sapper, with four (yes, four) submissions already
  • Mervyn Douglas, with more for his Sudan collection ("they don't like it up 'em!")
  • Andrew Helliwell, who continues the post-Xmas theme with a platoon of late war Germans put together from the leftovers
  • Ralph Plowman, with some rather nice new figures from the new Moongrunt range from GZG
  • Doug Melville, with some Aeroneuf ships
  • and last, but by no means least, Kev "Fat Wally" Lowth with some lovely X-Wing Star Wars ships

Today's pictures will, I think, all have a sci-fi theme. Here are Ralph, Doug and some of Kev's entries:

Ralph Plowman's figures from the new moongrunt range from gzg

doug melville's aeroneuf submission

some of kev's x-wing models

Remember that you can see all the entries in the various people's galleries.

NB  The scorecard will be updated tonight, once I can load the numbers onto my home PC

TFL Christmas Special Now Available

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First chance I've had to publicise the arrival of the TFL Xmas Special 2015, available as a pdf for just £5 from the TFL website by clicking here.

For those who aren't familiar with the format, the specials are a twice-yearly collection of Lard related articles and features that provide hours of good reading and gaming. Here's what's in this one:

  • Introduction:  A Festive greeting from Lard Island. 
  • Malaya 1942:  A Chain of Comand campaign set in the jungles of Malaya sees an Australian force attempt to delay the Japanese invaders. 
  • Chain of Command Abyssinia:  Supporting the vast collection of Army lists available via Lard Island News, Rolf and Jim provide some tactical notes for the Ethiopian Imperial Guard and the French Foreign Legion. 
  • Now That’s What I Call Magic!  Providing a system of plausible Dark Age magic for Dux Britanniarum and The Raiders. 
  • “The Reccies”: The Reconnaissance Corps has a brief existence between 1941 and 1946. Here we look at their structure, training and how to represent them in I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and Chain of Command. 
  • The Swan: A mini-campaign for use with I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and the Reconnaissance Corps set in late 1944 as the Allies drive North through France and Belgium.
  • The Devil’s Garden: A Western Desert scenario for Chain of Command using the Reconnaissance Corps lists.
  •  The Roundwood Report:  Sidney quizzes Rich about movement in wargaming and chats about the forthcoming Sharp Practice v2.
  •  Painting German Camouflage: Ben Fiene dips his brush into the complex world of German Camouflage patterns and provides some great easy to follow solutions.  
  • Chain of Command:  Undead ParanormalSid Bennet presents a thought provoking approach to Zombies and how to make your opponent’s hair stand on end when he thinks he’s playing WWII.
  • Division Azul: Alfredo Vitaller, Anibal Invictus and Julio Martinez of Club Dragon in Madrid present this guide to the Spanish Blue Division, lists of Chain of Command and a scenario
  • Mrs Slocombe Rides Again:  Fat Nick tells a Christmas Tale which should probably never be told.
  • Going with the Floe: Building Ice terrain for the North Pole. An idiot’s guide. Literally. 

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge 31st December Update!

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Looks like everyone has made a huge effort to get their last minute entries in under the wire.

In no particular order we have:

  • Doug Melville with a couple of Cold War vehicles
  • Koen with some Frostgrave figures
  • Mr Helliwell with some more of his late war Germans
  • Mr Hodge makes a welcome last minute re-appearance with some Spanish Guerillos
  • Jim Catchpole sends in a huge multi-scale submission: his first and his last for 2015!
  • Mervyn Douglas has moved to the Sudan
  • Joakim whacks in a quick witch
  • Sapper also makes a welcome reappearance with loads of 28mm figures
  • The Mad Padre also adds vast numbers of figures to his collection
  • Matt Slade sneaks in another couple of submissions
  • Paul Blankenship pops in another of his huge micro-army entries
  • Paul Baldwin slides in with loads of 28mm figures
  • Nils Hedglin with some dwarfs and halflings (not half points though)
  • and finally Leif (spelt correctly!) isn't left out, with some fine 28s and a few bigger still

Pictures for what may be the final post of this year's challenge? A mixed bag...

Mr Hodge's rather fine Spanish Guerillos

Some dwarves from Leif

Sapper's SYW French Currassiers du Roi

 The Mad Padre's 20mm Revel Krupp Protze truck with AT Gun