Bag o' Bases

 I just wanted to show this. I bought it from eBay, but can't find it anymore. When I refer to my big bag of bases, this is it. I think it will last me a few years and to be honest I wish I had bought more. It was crammed full of mostly 3mm thickness MDF bases. They range from 20mm, 25mm, 30m mostly circles, some squares, some ovals, a few even bigger circles. Fanta bottle for scale, this is not a paid promotion. 

On Trees, and how to make them slightly less awful.

Trees. I hate trees. Luckily in 6mm there is a large array of cheap trees on eBay, but they aren't actually great on their own. They are shiny, the leaves fall off, and they are all perfectly shaped. I have been trying to figure this out for a while, and so here we go: Here is my tutorial for making stands of trees. 

1. Drill holes in MDF bases. I bought a huge box of bases on eBay that was like 1.9kg of assorted bases for £x. I can't remember. Maybe £10 or £20. The holes are the same width as the trunk of the cheap eBay trees from China. I did stands of 1, 2, and 5 trees for this experiment. 

2. Insert trees and attach with PVA glue. White glue? Elmers glue?

3. Texture the bases with my Vallejo texture paste. But insert your method of texturing here. My paste costs just under £10. This is my second tub since I started using it in 2016 or something. 

4. Messy part. I glued assorted bits of clump foliage to the tops of the trees. I watered down the PVA and just sort of went for it. My hands got messy and I found the most efficient way was to just drop clumps of foliage into the watered down glue, then scoop them out and press them onto the balding trees. You can see below that they are no longer perfectly uniform spheres. At this point I wanted to stop, but I figured the foliage would fall off at points and I should do my best to seal it on. I decided to carry on with two stand of trees to see if the rest of the method would work, and was happy with the result so went for it with all of them.

5. I sprayed the stands with a colour called Russett Brown. The can is from The Range and cost £6.99 probably. It is shiny, probably described as a satin sheen. At this point I got worried. I have had poor experience with this spray before and my memories came flooding back. 

6. I then sprayed them again with a green colour. Same place, same cost. You could see the darker brown colour underneath in places, which I liked. It would stop them being too monochromatic. Still too shiny though.

7. Paint the trunks with Vallejo Beige Brown. This is my go to wood colour. Rifle stocks, stacks of logs, fences, tree trunks. I gave them a heavy dry brush with a Citadel green that is so light it is almost yellow. The paint is in the other room though and I don't want to get up. At this point my fears started to dispell. I had a slight worry that they will all look a little too uniform in terms of colour, but shape is good. Also worth noting in some places you can still see the awful plastic green of the original leaves, but they tend to be on the underside, where I can't see it from wargaming height, so I ignored it.

8. Standard base colour. This was from The Works years ago and is still going strong. I use it exclusively for painting bases. I once used it to drybrush some T-34s and it was too shiny. 

9. Standard basing. I wash them with Cidadel Agrax Earthshade. This might be the most expensive part? Like I use this shade a lot, on all of my bases, and the little tub costs like a Fiver. At this point I breathed a sigh of relief. This is also the longest drying part. 

10. I painted the edges of the bases with some brown colour. I think it was Vallejo German Camo Brown. This is just to neaten it up. I could have gone a green, and maybe I should have.

11. Static grass in a few places (not too close to the trees, as grass struggles to grow around trees), and some blobs of clump foliage, this time that will stay as is. I then seal it all with a matt lacquer spray which got rid of any residual shine from the first layers of spray paint. Here they are in their woods. 

The next time I make tree stands I will likely try a few different shades of green, which will help my woods look a little less samey. All in all though, I am really pleased with them. If anything I am just annoyed that it has taken me nearly 10 years to be bothered to try something like this. 

February WIPs.

Here are a few things on the bench. I would like to have a game at some point, but to be honest I am liking just painting miniatures at the moment. 

Trees. I have some nice coniferous tree stands which are great...if I want to game only the Ardennes. I wanted more stands of trees, but also hated the uniform roundness of these cheap Chinese trees. Being advised online to add clump foliage to them has been helpful. I will then spray them grey and paint them up. Or I will do that to at least one of the stands as an experiment. I like the less uniform look already.

Another squad of soviets along with some trucks, an AT rifle team and a sniper team. The 88mm and the giant Russian gun are more likely to be used as objectives than anything.

January 22 - Boardgame Night

Friends! Games! The very thing for which I have been looking for years. Being a mostly solo gamer was not by choice, it just sort of happened. Since getting back into this hobby I have had a few things happen which shaped me into a solo gamer: I worked a job with odd shifts, which meant it was hard to find a wargaming group, a tough few years in my new career with a heavy work load, young children, other commitments. The one group of wargamers meet on a Tuesday night about a 30 minute drive away, but Tuesdays hadn't worked for me. Southampton on Board met on Monday nights, but again, not good for me. No other convenient groups. A thread on Boardgame Geek unsuccessfully trying to organise some kind of gaming meet-up in my area for a few years. 

Then a couple of months ago someone took the plunge and booked a space nearby. The first meet-up was in November and had a few people, but I didn't hear about it until too late. The December one was cancelled due to Covid caution, but last night it was on. I went, bumped into a co-worker who I had no idea liked boardgames. Then played games with a bunch of strangers who will hopefully become friends. It was great.

I arrived just behind one guy who I ended up playing Carcassonne and Citadels with. It was a little awkward at first as the others had all grouped up just before we arrived so we were stuck doing 2 player, but everyone seemed apologetic and felt bad. So I really liked the atmosphere. I won the game of Carcassonne, and won Citadels. Carcassonne is a fun game. I get a lot of pleasure from games that start with not much on the table and it  grows, whether it is tiles, cards or anything else. Citadels I had only played twice before. It is pretty fun, quick and simple, but requires some thought and strategy. My kind of game. I would like to play it with more than two players though.

The night ended with a six player game of Colt Express. It was just a really fun time. I feel like that game is less about winning as much as it is about just shooting, punching and running along the train! I didn't win but to be honest I didn't really care much about winning. It was all about the interaction with these people and the laughs we had.

I am very much looking forward to February's meet-up!

Irregular Miniatures WW2 Soviets - First batch.

I painted up one squad, a Maxim MG team, three T-34s, and a 76mm ATG with a tow. I did a little research regarding colours, but don't really want to purchase any new paints right now. Luckily, I have all I need to paint the infantry, but deciding on a good green for the vehicles proved more difficult. 

I am really pleased with how the ATG and truck turned out. It felt a little awkward painting the crew while attached to the gun, but in the end it worked out pretty well. The truck looks good. I decided to paint the windows blue, after I had washed the vehicle in Agrax Earthshade. The windows are really pleasing me. They make me feel like I have progressed as a painter. I genuinely think the cannon with crew attached might be the way forward for me now.

The tank at the back is a different colour - the same as my US vehicles. The other two are a mix of Russian Green and Medium Green or something. I'm not too bothered to be honest. I highlighted with Khaki of all colours. I had originally planned to highlight with a light green. My next tank platoon might have more experimentation. I like the commander. While he seems almost cartoonishly big, I like that I can use him as an easy-to-spot officer. So far so good with Irregular Miniatures.

I was nervous about the infantry. Firstly they are all SMG armed - which isn't ideal. Then, their bases are really tall. When painting, I really struggled to see where the weapons were on some of the figures. It was frustrating. But, to be fair from table distance it won't really matter all that much. It looks to me like I will still be buying the new Heroics and Ros Russians, as they look amazing. I am, still though, pleased with the Irregular vehicles.

Here is the Maxim MG team. I imagine they are pretty good. But again, the infantry moulds don't seem all that clear. I sort of painted some bits and hoped for the best.

 This is them all together. I experimented with putting little bushes on the stands - no real reason behind it. I like them. From a distance all seems fine. If anything this photo is better than the others. I need to look at my backgrounds again. Having moved house, I got rid of my little photo booth thing.

I look forward to painting up more. I need to paint up two more squads and some other support weapons. 

2021 Review

 What a year this has been, personally, professionally, hobby wise. I just realised that this will be my 10th year running this blog. Insane.

Personally

We moved house, into what should be our forever home. Children are growing and moving through school. My DIY skills have improved a bit. Our house has a section of dedicated storage for my hobbies now. It is pretty inefficiently stored as it stands, but I look forward to filling it up as time moves on. There is also the intent to have a desk in the same room, which can be used as a permanent work station for computer use. If that happens, I should be able to start my YouTube channel, something I have wanted to do for a while.

Professionally

I have taken on a couple of roles at work, and am now experienced enough that I can be a better support for newer staff members. My immediate superior seems to be able to rely on me, and knows I get stuff done. Things are much more secure here, and while there are crunch times, and certain periods of high stress, I am note worried about my job security as such. I attended the wargaming club, but it is centered mainly around Warhammer, and is on a day where I can't stay behind. I feel conflicted about opening a possibly competitor to that club. I also had a vague hand in helping set up some board game clubs, but don't attend often. 

Hobby wise

I had a good start to the year, moved house and enjoyed some Five Parsecs gaming. This autumn/winter we had our kitchen replaced and our garage converted into a dining area, which shut down my hobby time completely. However, I am really happy to have started up again over the Christmas break. Here are a few things that I have achieved:

WW2

I have created better storage for my 6mm WW2 miniatures. They are in A4 plastic folders, with a Nutella lid in the middle to stop them getting damaged. I have also put part of a towel in there to stop them slipping around so much. I could have gone with magnetic sheet, but I can't guarantee that my bases are all magnetic. 

Earlier in the year I played at least one Battlegroup game - it was solo. I am aiming to join a gaming group and see if there is any interest in playing with me. I picked up the Tobruk expansion at Black Friday, and have pre-ordered the Blitzkrieg reprint. A large shopping list has been compiled, but funds will be tight for the first few months of the year. I do, however, have some Soviets from my brother and started painting them this week. It will make Fall of the Reich a little more interesting, and maybe even some Kursk game options. 

I had planned to try and use the Platoon Forward! book to try and create tables and missions to use with A Sergeant's War but that never progressed beyond a mission planned in my notebook. I am half tempted to use it with Battlegroup. Or just drop it altogether. As much as I love painting WW2 miniatures and playing games, solo just feels a little less fulfilling right now. 

Sci Fi
A Billion Suns was purchased at some point this summer. I made a couple of spacecraft out of junk. Then I realised how expensive it was going to be to put together a decent array of ships. I dabbled with using Star Wars Pocket Models, but don't think it would have looked as good. This is very much on the back burner. I had seen some inspiration on social media where someone is making spacecraft out of wooden clothes pegs. I might give that a try? 

I also tried writing my own set of rules. I vaguely recall starting that back in June. I am happy to report I haven't touched the rules since then. I did a brief play test to see if the combat mechanisms work. I liked it at the time, but have just drifted away a little. 

Five Parsecs from Home is my biggest thing this year. I picked up the third edition from Modiphius and love it. The book is gorgeous, the games were fun, the RPG between the games was also amazing. While I haven't touched it since early August, I will continue that same campaign as soon as I can. Currently my efforts are in painting some Russians and finishing a bunch of terrain and miniatures. Actually playing a game will come second, although I might give it a go this month. I would love to have more to report on that. Here they are, being hired by some local lawman.

Reaper Bones Miniatures
For lack of a better sub-heading. I have various Reaper Bones figures in differing states of finish. This year I think I managed to only just finish the large wolf figure from my last post. I may have also, nearly finished a tavern owner. This all comes down to whether I feel like I want to paint them or not. I have an Army Painter wet palette, but honestly every time I use it I get disappointed. I mean, yes, it keeps paint wet for a few more days, and makes it the tiniest bit thinner. But then I won't paint for a while and I come to find mold growing on it. I don't want that. I have tried putting copper coins in, which helped. It has basically come to the point where unless I can guarantee I will paint for a few nights in a row, I won't even use it. 

I have used my Reaper miniatures to get my three children into painting figures. We have had about three painting sessions this year, where they each took charge of a figure. My six-year-old took to it, and her female mage looks pretty good to be fair. My four-year-old just loved putting paint on. My two-year-old just loved brushing a big tortoise warrior various shades of green. I hope, once more settled, that they will join me more. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my dad and brothers while he walked us through how to use insanely sharp blades, white spirit, polystyrene glue... I sometimes think he was crazy. I had a box of knives at age 7 I am pretty sure. I just want to normalise my hobby, so that they see me doing it more, while right now I tend to only paint in the evenings, or early mornings when they are still in bed. 

Other things.
My laptop has a weird line across the bottom, which makes me not want to play any computer games. Also my laptop sucks anyway. I am intending to save up for a new, more powerful laptop, with the intent to play games and create videos on it. That is likely an end of the year purchase though. Maybe Black Friday 2022. 

Looking towards 2022.
I have a bunch of things on the horizon then for this year.

1. I intend to clear as much of my backlog as I can. The building work has drained all our funds, and we are going to be living very frugally for now. This means no new purchases for a few months. I will work hard to paint up as many partly finished Reaper Bones figures and other various 28mm figures that I have lying around. I just found two lady zombies the other day. They should be fun. 

2. I will paint up a platoon of Soviet infantry with some support options. I just need to figure out what colour to paint them, as I have lost the colour scheme sheet. I will just research online. I am hoping for green helmet, one shade uniform, one shade gear, then guns. As simple as possible. My brother is coming over from the USA in May, so I hope to play as many games with him as I can. 

3. I want to finish my Five Parsecs campaign, and paint up more miniatures to populate that universe. My issue here is there is a lot of scope for far out aliens, but 6mm aliens are fairly hard to come by. I might do a 28mm campaign next using Star Wars Miniatures, of which I have a couple of thousand knocking around.

4. I am joining this board game group. This means I will be able to play a board game or two each month. They meet every third Friday. I am actually really excited for it. They cancelled the last one due to Covid and Christmas. I want to brush the dust of some of my games, that have sat in my cupboard for ages. 

I hope you all have a good new year, full of lots of happiness, success, and a shrinking lead mountain.

Wolf, APCs and the art of finally finishing something.

 On this, the second day of the year, I can celebrate finally finishing a couple of miniatures. They have been sat in various containers in varying states of finish for what feels like forever. 

Two SAC APCs from Brigade Models. These are based on a 2p coin each. I just did a generic green paint job. They will likely appear in multiple future games.

This is, I think a UK Jackal? It is the six wheel variant. It had been largely finished for likely a couple of years. Another thing that can move from my bench into an actual box of completed miniatures.

I painted this up a while back. I wanted to make it more of a diorama to be honest. Quite a bit of bushy undergrowth on the base. I am really pleased with this pup. It is a Reaper Bones miniature, that I have had sitting around since 2013.

On the Bench at the end of 2021

 My at this point almost traditional NYE hobby session has been a success. The following has been achieved:

1. Flesh painted on 2 squads of 6mm Wehrmacht troops and 2 squads of US GIs. 

2. Ground painted on a number of terrain features.

3. Three Sci Fi figures mostly painted, along with two APCs of some kind. 

4. I attached some WW2 Soviets to bases in preparation for a test painting. These are the Irregular Miniatures figures.

The APCs and some burng out buildings.

A  stone circle of some kind, a based Flak 88.

The three Sci Fi figures. They are lawmen. I need to finish their gear. They will be ready before the end of the weekend.

The Soviets ready to paint. I am sure the vehicles will be fine, once I choose my couple of shades. The infantry will be more of a challenge. I want them to stand out from their bases, but their uniforms will be some kind of khaki, brown or so.

WW2 Soviets - Irregular Miniatures

 So myself and siblings have an annual secret Santa. This year we drew names, my brother Alexander from The Players' Aid immediately messaged me to ask me what I wanted. I said WW2 soviets. A week or so later we cancelled the whole thing, but he still got me a soviet armoured division pack from Irregular Miniatures. Now, my 6mm WW2 collection is exclusively Heroics and Ros, so I was interested in seeing what a different manufacturer looked like. Well here are some images of them. No comparison to any H&R figures yet though. 

T 34s. Some with commanders, some with one rider, some with multiple riders, some with nothing. Guns are all mostly bent, but that is easily fixed. The wheels and tracks look a little rough, but then it is 6mm. I will hide that with mud. I don't know how they compare to the H&R miniatures.

Trucks. Good. Three 76mm Zis 3 guns (I think). They also have their crew moulded to the gun which I think i prefer to buying them separately. I love the look of those giant guns also.

This looks enough to be a good platoon with an extra squad. I have four Maxim MG teams, what look like four sniper teams, four mortar teams and two command teams with a mounted figure. I like the idea of someone on a horse. I might have some AT Rifle teams, but am unsure.

They all seem to be SMG armed infantry. So that is fair enough, but I want rifles. At the end of the day, it looks like I will be making a purchase from H&R anyway: the superb looking Summer Russians, some early war tanks, and some 45mm ATGs. It won't be £67 worth of Russians though, which will save me some cash. Or...give me more money to spend on other miniatures...desert stuff for example to go with BG Tobruk.

The command strip. It excites me with the prospect of 6mm horse mounted figures. I want to get some ACW dismounted cavalry from Baccus for my 6mm Sci Fi collection. There is also a new set of mounted militia over on Brigade Models, specifically for Sci Fi.

Just a close up.

Welcome to Back Water outpost.

 A tiny outpost. An unregistered freighter. This can only mean hijinks are afoot. I finally flocked and did some drybrushing on this. I have been dormant in this hobby while the building work has been going on. It is now the Christmas break and I intend to spend a few evenings and early mornings doing some painting and building. I have quite a backlog to clear of half finished stuff. 

New work laptop. I can't seem to edit photos on it, and I refuse to boot up my personal laptop which will take 40 minutes to load, then crash.