A Very Merry Christmas

I hope everyone who reads this had a good Christmas.  I haven't been posting lately.  My wife had knee surgery about 10 days ago, and I have been pretty busy taking care of her, doing housework, cooking, etc.  It hasn't left much time for hobbies, unfortunately.  She is doing much better now, so I hope to get back to it soon.

Zori did get me several hobby related items for Christmas.  I got The Wargaming Compendium, which I am looking forward to reading.  Also, two rules sets, Of Gods and Mortals and In Her Majesty's Name.  She also got me another Defender's of France box of WWII French 28mm figures.

I have been reading Of Gods and Mortals.  I had heard it was based on Song of Blades and Heroes.  It is, but it looks like it may go a bit faster.  Instead of activating all figures one by one, the mortal figures are activated by units.  The God and Hero figures are activated individually, but there are not that many of them.

I have figures from Saga that I can use for the mortals.  I just need to find about 4-5 special figures and I will be ready to go.

In Her Majesty's name looks easier than doing GASLIGHT, which requires a fair bit of pre-game time to figure out your troops.  Also, GASLIGHT is a very large book or several smaller one.

I should also mention that I got 2 shirts for Christmas, so its not all fun and games.    :)

On a personal note, this last year was somewhat hard for me physically.  I also had knee surgery.  I am wondering if the fact that my house has spiral staircases has contributed to my wife and I both having knee problems.

We are going to Puerto Rico next month, so some time on the beach in warm weather can't do us any harm.

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year.

Bill

Charge! Regiment finished

I finished the third company for my first Charge! regiment.  Three 16 man companies each with an officer and NCO, and a Regimental officer with flagbearer and drummer.

This brings my total to 102 figures and 2 guns with the grenadier company, light company and gun battery.

As yet I have no cavalry.  I haven't had much luck getting the cavalry molds to come out right.  I also am not sure what I am going to do for a mounted officer, which I would like to have for my infantry.

I still have another company of infantry to start painting up.  That will probably be a different coat color for a different country.

I haven't painted this many figures in years.  I find I really enjoy the whole process of casting and painting up the figures.

Sails for the ship

I had posted a picture of this ship previously, but without sails.  I had started and stopped with this project a couple of times as I wasn't satisfied with the result.  I ended up buying slightly heavier cotton cloth, which looked better.
My current plans are to finish 2 x 10 gun brigs, 2 x 8 gun schooners, 2 x 4 gun cutters and 2 x 4 gun sloops.  I still have a lot of sails to cut.  I actually only have 3 ships ready to rig, but 2 more have the masts done and are ready to paint.
I want to mention once again that I probably would not have been able to do any of this without the use of my Optivisor.  My eyes are not what they were, and it works well not only for painting but for the stitching and running of small black thread.
The rigging is definitely for wargaming.  It only bears a vague resemblance to the actual rigging of a ship.
The next step is to buy a bunch of 15mm cannons for the ships.

NQSYW Light Infantry Company

Latest addition to the forces of the Grand Duchy of Waldo, the first company of the light infantry regiment.

This brings the total forces to:

2 companies line infantry
1 company grenadier infantry
1 company light infantry
1 artillery battery

My next project is the third company for the line regiment, which will finish that unit.

NQSYW - An Afternoon Casting

I had painted all the 40mm figures that I had cast.  The weather was going to be 65 and sunny, perfect day for casting some figures for winter painting.
I recently bought another infantry mold, in a slightly different pose.  That one and my regular infantry figure were both casting well today.  I got 2 full companies of infantry, and a company of light infantry.  Actually, I just clipped the bayonets from 12 regular infantry and will paint them in dark green.
With command figures, it all came to 51 foot.
I also tried again to cast cavalry.  I thought I was doing well, until I went to cut the sprue metal off of them.  All but five had the swords break off.  Oh well, I will try that again.
All in all, a great day casting.
This will give me the final company for my regiment, and a light company.  I now also have an extra company of infantry, which will get painted with a different coat color, as I plan to start doing a second army.

More Ships

I have built two more ships.  This is the original one, plus another small one, and a 10 gun brig.  I still have to figure out how to do the sails, and at some point I need to bite the bullet and order a ton of cannons.  I plan to do another 10 gun brig, two more small ones, and about 6 more either 6 or 8 guns ships.  I have 4 more in process.
When I cut the hulls for the next ship, I will see if I can do a tutorial on how I build them.  I pretty much have the process down now.

NQSYW - Artillery Battery

I recently finished an artillery battery for the Grand Duchy of Waldo's army.  That brings me to 2 companies of line infantry, a company of grenadiers, and an artillery battery.  I need to finish out one more company of line infantry, some light infantry, and some cavalry.  I recently got a new cavalry mold, and I have a second mold of my main infantryman on the way.

Small Ships

Last week at our regular game, Jaye started talking about doing small ship battles using rules in Rockets Red Glare, a set of rules for the War of 1812.

One thing holding us back from this is that we don't have any ships.  There are commercial ships available, but they tend to be a bit pricey, and a more toward the larger side than we need.

I thought I would make an attempt to scratch build something that would work.

This is my first attempt.  Its a bit rough.  I made the sides too high, and had to trim them off with scissors.  They are just made of cardboard.  I think it will look better with some cannons and some 15mm crew.  For scale, its about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide.  I also need to do something about sails.

As for cost, most of it was stuff I had.  There is a layer of balsa and a layer of 3mm light ply.  The masts and spars are dowels.  All in all, its less than $3 of materials.

I have 2 more cut out and waiting to be built.  Another one this size, and a larger ship about 10 inches long that will be a brig with about 5 guns per side.

If the guys think that this will be acceptable, I will go into production mode and make about a dozen in various sizes.

A Morning Spent Casting

I recently got a cannon mold and 2 molds of artillerists for my NQSYW project.  I also got an order of metal in from Rotometals.  It was supposed to be in the mid-70s until around 11, so I decided to take advantage of the good weather and see if I could get a battery done.

Casting brand new molds always is a problem, but I got them to cast after some careful venting.  The cannon mold was used, and cast pretty well once it got warmed up.

So now I have enough for a battery for my Grand Duchy of Waldo force.

More Progress, NQSYW

I recently finished the second company of my regiment, leaving only one to go.  The figures in the background are my company of Grenadiers.

My immediate goal is another company of line infantry to make up the regiment, a company of light infantry, an artillery battery and 2 squadrons of hussars.

The figures are fun to paint, and large enough that with the optivisor they go pretty quickly.

As many have mentioned today, Don Featherstone has passed.  He was an inspiration in my wargaming, as I am sure he was to many other people.  The first Historicon my friend Darryl and I went to, we were sitting at the bar and Don came up and sat down and started chatting with us.  Its about the only time Darryl and I have been at a loss for words.  

NQSYW Grenadiers

Whe Rob and I casted last time, I was able to cast a company of line and a company of Grenadiers.  These are the Grenadiers.

I am also almost done with a second company of line from when I cast figures a week ago.  That will bring me up to 3 companies.

I also recently got in the mail 3 more molds that are the cannon and 4 different gunner figures.  I hope to cast those up soon. to get a battery.

Sure hope I like this game.  I am having a great time casting and painting the figures for it.  :)

NQSYW More figures and a question for those who home cast

I don't have a picture today.  I spent a couple of hours this morning casting figures.  My basic infantry figure cast well, I have enough now for my second company of hatmen.  I got some specialty figures, I don't expect them to cast that often but I only need a few.

My problem is one piece cavalry molds.  I have 3 different hussar molds.  These are Prince August 40mm molds.  I must have cast them 20 times this morning and got two I could use.  (and those have a few problems I am choosing to overlook)

I have cut some vents in the molds.  It hasn't seemed to help much.  The problem is the body of the horse.  There will be a pit or a furrow along one side of the main body of the horse.  I don't know if this is air escaping during the pouring process, or what.  I have made vents at both ends of the horse's body, and on one of the molds even made a vent between the pouring hole and the back of the pelisse.  I still didn't have much luck.

If there is anyone who sees this that has experience, please let me know.

I got a cannon mold on Ebay, and I have artillerists coming from Ireland.  I am sure casting the cannon will cause me to pull my hair out also.  I had a 25mm cannon mold years ago, and getting the wheels to cast was a real problem.

NQSYW Project, First Unit

Rob and I recently cast some 40 mm figures from Prince August molds for our NQSYW project.  This is the first company of infantry finished for the Grand Duchy of Waldo.  They are in medium blue, with light blue facings.
I thought I would take a break from the 22m ACW figures I was painting.  I finished these with gloss, but I may spray them with a satin finish, I haven't decided.
I also am working on the other unit I got cast, a company of grenadiers.  My organization will be classic Charge!  The infantry will be 3 line companies.  I am doing stand alone Grenadiers and lights.

Casting figures for NQSYW

Rob ( http://thearmycollector.blogspot.com/ ) and I have been slowly working on casting 40mm figures from Prince August molds to try our hand at the NQSYW project some gamers back East are doing.  We are planning on using the Charge! rules, as is traditional.

Today that project took a large step forward.

It was an uncharacteristically cool day for Kansas City at the end of July.  It started off in the high 50s and ended up in the high 70s.  In short, a perfect day for casting toy soldiers.  We have quite a number of molds between us, and each managed to cast up 2 companies, one each of grenadiers and musketeers.  After running one piece cavalry molds many times, we each ended up with one cavalryman.  I keep getting a big divot in the side of the hussar's horse, and I am not sure what to do about it.

Between casting a bunch of toy soldiers, good conversation and Thai food for lunch, all in all a very successful day.

Hearts of Tin project update

I recently finished another 2 ACW units, Confederates this time.  That brings the total to 2 Union regiments, 2 Confederate regiments, 2 Union batteries, 2 Confederate batteries, and 4 generals each.  I am going to rebase one general from each side on a larger stand with a foot figure, to be the Division commander.

My goal for the first game is 6 infantry units per side.  I have a bunch of figures in various stages of painting, so it shouldn't be too long.

Hearts of Tin Project - More Progress

I recently bought metal figures for the generals and artillery for our Hearts of Tin project.  I didn't like the plastic artillery, and I got figures from Musket Miniatures.  So, here are all the figures I currently have done.  Two Union units, that showed up previously, 2 Union and 2 Confederate artillery, and 4 Union and 4 Confederate generals.  Now we just need to paint up more infantry.  I have two units of Confederate infantry on bases, still needing their final touches.

The Union infantry did something I have not seen in years.  I sprayed them with Dullcote, and they frosted a little bit.  Oh well, so it goes.

And for absolutely no reason, a picture of my cat with my dulcimer, which I need to start playing again.

That was taken a few years ago.  That cat is now about 20 years old.  She still hates my wife, and has for 14 years, for no reason except that she invaded our space.  You would think she would get over it by now.

PMC 2640 Science Fiction rules First Look

I had ordered this set of rules when it was published.  I ordered it from the US distributor,Pico Armor.  It took quite a while getting here, apparently it was shipped from Poland by surface mail.  Anyway, it arrived today and as my wife was taking a nap, I read most of it.

http://assaultpublishing.com/

The rulebook is 110 pages, black and white artwork and easily readable black text on a white background.  (Do NOT get me started on the tendancy of rules publishers to print their rules on colored paper.  They obviously do not want anyone over 40 playing their rules)  While it does not have the eye candy of some recently published rules, it is very well presented, and has obviously been proofread.  I did not find any typos or editing problems.  The rules are designed for individually based 15mm or 28mm figures, although there are optional rules for multifigure bases.  (you just keep track of casualties)  As multiple casualties are caused by exceeding the defence number of a unit, you do not have the problem of figures being too close together and taking extra casualties from blast weapons when they are on multi figure bases.

The breakdown is:
Intro, History, etc.  pages 1-22
Rules                      pages 22-36
Preparing for battle pages 39-40
Terrain generator    page   41
Scenarios                pages 42-52
Standard units         pages 56-80
Campaign system    pages 82-83

The rest is more information on aircraft and vehicles, some alien bug forces, solitaire scenarios (6 of them) and some optional rules.

Noticeably missing, a Quick Reference Sheet.  I looked on the website and did not find one in the downloads section.  Being as there are 13 firing modifiers, and several tables, a QRS is pretty much essential.  I hope they do one soon.

The basic idea of this game is that you do not use WYSIWYG.  Instead, they have various standard units.  A "rifle" unit is pretty much the same for all troops, whether you are armed with a flechette rifle, laser rifle, or assault rifle.  There are what is called tiers of troops.  Higher tier troops of the same type will typically have a higher firepower number, assault number and a little higher defence.

They do have many different types of troops, including light and heavy support weapons, mortars, etc.  One odd omission that jumped out at me is that nothing seems to have an area effect.  This seems to be deliberate.  The firing mechanism is that you take the firepower of the unit, add various modifiers and a 10 sided die, and if the total beats the defense factor of the target, you cause one casualty for each point over the defense factor.  This is obviously going to go quickly.  You roll a 6 sided die for each casualty.  You either cause no damage, suppression, or a kill.

There is no mechanism for attaching a support weapon to an infantry unit.  They are always separate units.

Activation alternates back and forth between the players.  If one side has twice the number of units the other does, they get to activate two units to each one for the other side.  You cannot activate a unit to do nothing.  If you have no units you want to perform actions with, the other side gets to do the rest of their units.

There are vehicle and aircraft rules.  I have not read them in detail, but the combat works the same as the infantry, except that instead of suppression vehicles take damage points.  When it has more damage points than its structure number, is knocked out.

There is a lot of information on scenarios, a campaign system, and a long list of standard units.

My overall impression is that it will move quickly, with the addition of a QRS.  My group plays a lot of different rules, and we always need reminders of how things work.  There are very few sets of rules that I have played in my 45 years of gaming that I can remember without referring to some aid during the game.

That being said, it looks like it might work well for us.  We play on weeknights, and have limited time.  I think this game will move quickly.  There is some chrome to the game.  There are two pages of Unit Special Rules.  There are command units that can affect other units and allow activating more than one unit at a time.  A unit with the hacking ability can redirect enemy drones to attack their owners.  Some units can mark enemy units for indirect fire.

I am going to suggest that we try the rules, and when we do a playtest I will post again.

Hearts of Tin ACW project

Recently I have gotten interested in more "old school" wargaming.  I have been reading Ross McFarlane's Battle Game of the Month blog.  http://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/

I decided I wanted to try Hearts of Tin, his old school, but ever moving target set of rules.  :)  (seriously, I like that you keep improving them, but they do change quickly)

Robb of The Army Collector and I have been painting IMEX 1/72nd scale figures for this project.  They are pretty cheap, not too bad, and paint up quickly.  (at least the way I paint)

So, I finished the first two units.

I have quite a few more figures on the way.  Usually you buy IMEX ACW figures in a box with 2 sprues of either Union or Confederate for about $9.  I found that Hobby Lobby has them in hanging bags with cardboard headers that have 2 Union and 2 Confederate sprues for $10.

I have ordered some artillery and generals from Musket Miniatures.  I didn't like the IMEX guns.

More VSF Tanks

Since my first little tank made from the toy bulldozer, I decided I wanted to make a couple more with gatling guns instead of a cannon.  My problem was where to find a gatling gun? 

I was walking around Target, and found this in the toy section:

Its hard to see, but it had a double gatling, two more gatlings, and a little thing that will probably find its way into a 15mm science fiction building.  They are customizing parts for toy cars.  I went to the website, which is badly organized and I never could find a listing of all they had available.

Anyway, I cut up the double gatling and put that on the tanks, as you can see above.

I now have a rather nice little force for GASLIGHT.

In addtion to the the tanks, I have a small unit of mechanical men.

Two units of infantry.

And a couple of little gatling armed spider walkers I got at a convention.

On seeing these pictures my wife expressed her displeasure at the trashed out work table background, and said we are going to make a background specifically for taking pictures of toys.  How any of us survive without women I will never understand.

France 1940

I have  been off work for 2 weeks recovering from knee surgery.  I had high hopes of getting a lot of painting and terrain done.  I have gotten some done, but its more difficult than I expected.

I did finish up a couple of things today.  The first is some French figures, the Bolt Action Miniatures Defenders of France box and a Hotchkiss machine gun and crew.

I like the figures.  They painted up pretty well, given my limited painting ability.  My group does Victory Decision for WWII gaming.  I don't think the French supplement is out for that yet.  I still have a French light tank to paint, and will probably get more infantry as well.

And They Shall Beat Their Bulldozers into Tanks

I recently found some small construction toys for children, called Construction Buddies.  Two of them were trucks, a dump truck and a cement truck.  The other one was a bulldozer.

Original bulldozer

I bought one, and it turned out to be put together totally with screws, so you can disassemble it easily.

After taking out all the windup parts and taking off the blade, I started the conversion.  I cut off the top of the  smokestack, and added a longer straight one.  I put a cannon in the front, after covering up the hole left by the mechanism for the blade.  I finished it off by adding small googly-eye rivets and painting.

I put a 28mm WWII French infantryman by it for scale, but this is going to be in my GASLIGHT force.  I also bought two more, at about $3 each.  If I can find a suitable gatling gun, one of them is destined to be more of  an infantry support tank.

Plastic figures

I recently have been working up forces for two sides for VSF using GASLIGHT.  I have two units of Russians, and decided to try some plastic figures for the British.

So I bought a box of the Warlord British Line Infantry figures.  How I feel about these is mixed.

Pros:

Price:  You get 20 plastic and 4 metal command figures for around $30.  Not bad.
Detail:  The detail is very nice.  Its crisp, and because you assemble them the detail is present in areas you don't normally see it in metal figures

Cons:

Fiddly:  Seriously, assembling these is a chore.  It took me about 3 days coming back to it each evening to get them done.
Light:  I fixed this with using metal fender washers to base them.  I am using them for skirmishes, and I think they would tend to be too light if they weren't based this way.
Kneeling figures:  I am not a fan of kneeling figures.  Each sprue has 4 figures.  Two are standing, and 2 are kneeling

These are ok.  I guess I would still tend to buy metal figures.  I am 60 years old, have been gaming for over 40 years, and it probably has something to do with being more comfortable with plastic figures.

All in all, they are nice figures.  It just won't be my first choice in the future.

VSF on Thursday

Thursday night was the regular game at Jaye's house.  On tap was a VSF game, with Prussians defending an outpost against a mixed force of British, French and Americans.

On the first turn, the Lady Hussars in the tower with the electrocannon managed to destroy the small spider vehicle on the Allied side before it could even fire.   A heavy blow for the allies.

As the British and French attacked from the front, on the left side the French and Americans came in supported by Le Feu, the French rolling electrocannon.

The Lady Hussar infantry fired on the opposing infantry, doing great damage.  The bicycle Uhlans which had remained in reserve. came forward and attacked Le Fue.

They managed to get a penetrating hit (unsupported vehicles in the game can be overwhelmed by melee) and was forced back.  They came back later, after the Killen Kannon had decimated the infantry, and remaining Uhlans managed to destroy it.

The game was called due to time.  The Prussians had been beaten up, but still held the compound, and it was called a minor Prussian victory.  Rules were our version of Gaslight.

We used an activation method Jaye came up with.  Each player got a number of cards equal to the number of units.  You assign the cards to the units upside down, then everyone turns over the cards and game proceeds.  Aces, Kings, etc go first, with ties being decided by suit order.  It worked well, and was fast.

Saga games

Rob from The Army Collector and I played 2 Saga games a week ago.  The first was the 2 bridges scenario.  The first time we played, I was not convinced as to the usefulness of the archers.  This game they showed they can be worth it.

It started with my main force advancing on the right hand bridge.

On my left, I positioned a blocking force of archers and warriors.

I opened fire with the levy and with astounding luck killed 3 out of 8 hearthguard.

We had a big fight on the right hand bridge while the warriors and archers whittled them down on the left.

It ended up with the Scots winning on the right and losing on the left.  Both commanders were still alive, but I had a lot more hearthguard left, and the points just did not favor the Vikings.

The second game was the one where you try to hold terrain and get points for your men that occupy it each turn.  I came out fast and occupied the woods closest to me by moving twice and taking the fatigue.

Unfortunately, I was completely destroyed in the center.  In just a few turns the Vikings completely had a complete victory.

Rob and I are 2 to 2 in our battles now.  We need to have another to decide the issue!

Millenium Falcon and Slave 1

I got X-Wing for Christmas,and have been adding more ships as they become available.  Today I got the Millenium Falcon and Slave 1.

Very nice models.  I am looking forward to games with these.

In other projects, I cleaned up my 28mm WWII French, and put them on fender washers.  I was going to prime them, but a spring snowstorm stopped that.  ( I prime outdoors)

I also have been working on some wooden crates to act as scatter terrain.  When they are finished I will post pictures.

More Scots, and a bridge

I am going to Rob's (The Army Collector) house on Saturday for a Saga game.  I have not played before, and am getting my 6 point army finished so we can try a couple of games.

I finished my archers, but from the looks of the picture I need to tone down that blue a bit, perhaps with a wash.  I also saw that one of the initial scenarios involved two bridges, and made one this evening.  Its not much to look at, made of basswood and hot glue, but it should get the job done.  I will make the other one after I buy another pack of the wood "planking" I use from Michael's.

The stream I bought from Pegasus.  Its not bad, but is a bit shiny.  I will probably hit it with some dullcoat this week.

My two units of Soer-chele are almost done, so I should be good to go this weekend.  I am looking forward to this.  I like what I have read of the rules.

Saga Scots

I recently bought Saga.  Jay, otherwise known as the The Baron bought these and they looked good.  I hope they are good, I am into it to the tune of the basic rules, the Northern Fury expansion, a dice pack and 6 points of Scots.

I finished the leader and the two hearthguard units.  (I know, they are called something else, but the rules are not to hand at this moment)

I posed them in my new terrain, instead of the little marble top table I had been using.

Not the greatest paint job, and I used shield transfers because a man's gotta know his limitations, to quote Dirty Harry.

I have been getting a fair bit done lately for a couple of reasons.  First, I managed to strain my back, and have been able to work for short bursts on wargame stuff.

The other is that for the first time in 2 years, we got a winter storm here in Kansas City.  We got almost no snow at all last year.  This is my desk as of noon today.

So no work today, probably not tomorrow either.

New Terrain

I recently bought some terrain from Amera, a company that makes vac-form terrain.

http://www.amera.co.uk/

 I was very pleased with it when I bought it.  I finished painting a couple of them.

This is a ruined building.  I sprayed it black, and used drybrushing.  I did grass and added a couple of small bushes.  I may do some more patches of different colored scatter grass before I hit it with a matte fixative.

The other is a bit larger, its a ruined tower.

I did similar treatment with this one.  It will provide splendid cover for skirmish games.

I ordered these from one of Amera's US distributors.  The prices were good, and they arrived very quickly.

I have some more smaller pieces to finish up.

Basing up trees

I bought some Woodland Scenics trees some time ago, but had never based them up.  A friend gave me some plastic that is fairly thick, but easy to cut.  I based up the trees, some two to a base, some just with one.  Its a small project, but I am glad to have it behind me.

This is my unfortunately disorganized work surface.  I have some of the bases with trees, others not.  The camera makes the ground parts look more yellow than they are.

Behind the trees, is the next project I am working on.  It is vacuum formed plastic terrain from Amera.  That is one of the smaller pieces, and I hope to have some ready to post soon.

I also am working on a Scots Saga warband.  I sure hope I like those rules, I am in them for the rules, the expansion that has the Scots, and an 8 point Scots army.

Get painting Jaye!

More VSF figures

These are some more figures for my VSF contingent.  I plan on buying some more of these soon to bump the force up to two squads of 10 figures.

On a lighter note, today is my 60th birthday.  My wife emailed everyone we know and got them to send me cards with the hope that I would get at least 60 cards.  It worked!  I got over 60 birthday cards.  She also gave me 60 presents.  Most were very small, in some cases small pieces of candy to fill in.  In addition to clothes, I also got $60 in gift certificates to my local hobby shop.  That should get spent this week!

Been gone to Puerto Rico

My wife made all the arrangements for a trip for my 60th birthday.  We went to the Luquillo Sunrise Beach Inn in Luquillo, Puerto Rico.

This is a picture from our snorkeling trip.  Well, it was intended to be a snorkeling trip.  Truth is, neither of us could get the hang of it.  :)  After falling down trying to walk with fins (yes, we walked backward like they told us) and generally not being able to do much of anything, we enjoyed an afternoon on the water.

The Luquillo Sunrise Beach Inn is a 17 room bed and breakfast in the little town of Luquillo, Puerto Rico.
www.luquillosunrise.com/ 

It is a terrific bed and breakfast right on the beach.  Most of the rooms face the ocean, and the second floor rooms have balconies.where you can enjoy the sounds of the surf.

The beach in front is a surfing beach.  There is a very good public beach for swimming and snorkeling about 5 minutes away by car.

I had read about an awesome restaurant around the corner from the hotel.  Its called Pasta Y Pueblo.  We drove right by it the first night, thinking it was a boarded up shack.  Its a small addition to a home made into a restaurant.  It has a small menu, but unbelievable food.  We went twice.  If you are going to Puerto Rico, look up Pasta Y Pueblo on google.  

I will be back to wargaming now that I have a sunburn and great memories.  

New VSF figures and new project

I have been trying to build a force for GASLIGHT.  I recently took some Robot Legionnaire figures from Hydra miniatures.

 http://www.hydraminiatures.com/index.shtml

I painted them bronze, with other metals for the weapons and details.  They are done except for a Dullcoat finish.

I have some more figures I am working on, plus some vehicles and an airship.

My new project is to finish up as much terrain as possible.  My wife is out of town around the beginning of February for several days, and I am planning to base trees, make hedges, and paint up some new terrain pieces from Amera.

I have a friend who has had some Bellona terrain pieces, which were vacform pieces made many years ago. The technology was not that great, and Bellona was made from fairly thin plastic.  It tended to get damaged over the years, and this stuff was made back in the 60s.

Amera is made from significantly thicker plastic.  It is still vacform, so the detail is not exactly what you might get on a resin cast piece, but its also cheaper and much lighter, while still being very sturdy.

Amera is an English company.  The URL is:

http://www.amera.co.uk

At their suggestion I ordered from one of their US stockists, Noble Knight Games.

www.nobleknight.com


They were very prompt, the order arriving within 3 days of ordering.  The prices were reasonable, but when I went to look, they were out of these items.  Apparently I ordered what they had.  They do indicate if something is out of stock, but don't give the price if it is.

My plan is to get all of these painted and detailed with flocking and extra rubble in some cases.  When they are done i will post them.

I looked on the Amera website.  The first piece here was 6 pounds.  I think the prices are about double in $.  This first piece is about 12 inches across.

Amera also makes pieces that need some assembly, but make up into quite nice ruined buildings suitable for 28mm science fiction or post apocalyptic games.  The plastic is heavy enough to support the models.