More dinosaurs and police

He next three dinosaurs are done.  As are my police vehicles and an MLRS. Productive night. I am not massively happy about the picture quality though.

Dinosaurs and civilian vehicles

Last night I finished off the dinosaurs and exploratory vehicles. Also some rock formations. I habe some quite light highlights on the rocks which really make them stand out. I think these are my best yet. 

I also based a few stands of pirates ready for my school event, and a few individual figures on 9mm washers. I was dubious of the size when they arrived on my doorstep, but I am sold on them right now. 

They are magnetic,  small, and the hole in the centre helps the figure stand straight even if I messed up cutting them fro the sprue. This is a definite win.

Bank holiday painting

Here we go. A few more projects nearing completion. 

Some rocks...can't have enough of those. Some civilian vehicles...can't have enough of those to litter the board. Dinosaurs...amazing. I have never painted those and for £1 it was a bargain.

The Defense of New Charon pt. 2 - One Year Later

Months ago the engagement in the Western Reaches of New Charon that took place about a year ago had  been written off as pirate action. Such skirmishes, while not common, happened often enough that it didn't seem out of place. 

Mining had been continuing smoothly and the stakeholders at Sunspoke Mining were happy with the steady stream of profit coming in from the New Charon operation. Originally a Sunspoke self contained mining colony, it had been steadily profitable for roughly 10 years now, and the bosses at Sunspoke had long since moved on to newer, more lucrative mining ventures, happy to turn New Charon over to the colonists and simply take their cut of the profits.

 Isaac Forgrave was staring through the HUD of his CSMP as he approached the unidentified landing zone. Out here in the Western Reaches of New Charon there wasn't much other than a few farming communities who were aiming for an even quieter life than the already quiet life out on the edges of known space. 

"Probably pirates again, or someone looking to keep a low profile for a short time to avoid the authorities", he thought to himself. Keying the comm system he checked in with his small detachment and received the all clear from everyone. "Eyes peeled and check scanners as we pass through this rocky outcrop, people."

AMBUSH! Unknown assailants open fire on the Forgrave's partner mech, causing significant damage. Shaken, the column begins to disperse as infantry seek out cover and Forgrave's partner tries to get out of dodge!

Fire rains down on the militia, now caught in a deadly crossfire. Casualties mount. "Find cover, I'm calling this in to Central!" Forgrave calls over the comms.

In an attempt to steady his team Forgrave charges forward, unloading a volley of missiles on a unit of enemy infantry, utterly destroying it! While this happened a unit of militia holed up in one of the enclave buildings.

In response to the destruction of their comrades a squad of attackers opens withering fire on the militia, killing an entire unit.

Taking the initiative the unknown mech fires a round of missiles at the damaged militia mech blowing it into pieces! Forgrave's partner, gone. Things were looking grim for the militia, and Forgrave hadn't been able to get a message over to Central. He commed the militia unit garrisoning the enclave. 

"Harrison, it is up to you, get a message to Central, they need to know what is going on! These don't seem like ordinary pirates!"

"Affirmative, sir. Wilco!"

 As if to underline the precariousness of the situation another militia squad gets blown away by the unknown attackers!

 In the intense firefight casualties are taken by infantry on both sides. The air hot with high velocity pulse rounds, the worst of the casualties get taken by the attackers, their squad getting wiped out. Forgrave takes this as his moment...

Advancing into the trees he engages a squad of infantry at close range. Bodies fly, armour shreds, and there is not much left to hint at there having been a battle.

 "On your six, sir!" the message screams through Forgrave's comm. Rounding quickly he manages to engage the enemy mech. Rockets explode, damage is caused, Forgrave is getting the better of the exchange until a squad of infantry join the fray. His mech collapses and Ian Forgrave struggles to breathe, his vision goes black and he drifts off. "Get... message... Central..."

Unsettled by the loss of most of the militia force, one of the remaining squads gets caught under heavy tank fire, going down. Rifle fire joins and then stops. There is no-one left to fight back. 

Back at Central Command there is a buzz. Merissa Cantos has lost contact with three militia units, all investigating unscheduled landings. Something is going on, this is more coordinated than mere pirate raids. Something more sinister is at play here and Cantos will be damned if she was going to let the colonists bear the brunt of something like this. It was time to call in the big guns. It was time to fully mobilize the militia.

Morale Chits

I knocked these rough and ready morale chits up for wargaming. They are to be used with Horizon Wars as my house rule of morale in order to make the game more interesting to me. I used this system last year once and thought I would actually make some more permanent chits for it.

After the destruction of a unit the commander draws a random chit. If at any point the total on the chits exceeds the army's P value, then they break and withdraw. There are also a few that have random events on them, which may bring something cool to the game. 

I am toying with this system for my Activities Week event this year. Four days of wargaming. 

Poundland Dino-score

Now I don't consider myself particularly into the pulp sort of scene, but when I came across these in Poundland this morning I couldn't resist. Now to find a way to include them in universe.

Motorway sort of...

So i tried making some motorway sections so I can have them cross the table. I am not sure how I feel about them. Each lane is wide enough for a coin wih a miniature on.

Also I made some more modular hills but in an easier way. I sprayed the cork with a brown spray paint and then stuck static grass. Painting them was far quicker.

Song of Blades and Heroes measuring sticks

I own Flying Lead and Songs of Blades and Heroes. Flying Lead I have played twice, the latter i have played zero times. I have had the idea to create measuring sticks for some time now but never got round to it. Tonight I finally finished them off. The smaller set is for smaller scales, so I will likely use them for 6mm. The larger set is for my 28mm fantasy miniatures and 20mm WW2, which I won't realistically use for some time.

Over the Easter break I had big plans on many different hobby fronts. Starcraft 2 ladder games to get promoted to Platinum league, which went well for the first few days, but I haven't played much in the past week. Play Northgard, which I haven't done. I started a new XCOM campaign, which I sort of regret doing, because it took over Starcraft time. My wife and I also watched the first season of Knightfall, which to be honest was pretty lame. I did not enjoy it much. Only in the past two evenings have I done any miniature hobbying: making the measuring sticks and putting together some motorway sections. Once those are finished I will post them, probably this weekend.

Help with Terrain

Here I have a terrain piece that has been languishing on my bench for almost a year now. I just can't decide what to do to finish it off. Foliage around the edges? More dry brushing? A wash to sink into the crevices? Some sort of cheaper ink wash? I just don't know. This sort of paralysis is stopping me from making any strides with any of my projects now.

Flanel Fields 2.0

It has been a bit bare on this hobby front over this half term. I installed Star Wars the Old Republic and played that a few days before accepting that my computer can't handle it. I then moved back to playing Northgard, agame I experimented with a couple of years back and have fallen in love with this month.  I have played at least a couple of games per week since school started.

Then over the half term holiday, when I had planned to complete any hobby projects, I discovered a guide to improve how you play Starcraft 2 and have ended up prioritising that this week. All I managed to paint was a couple of new fields. 

I really like how they look and how they will break up the battle mat from just green