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.

VSF Russians

I finally finished a couple of units for my VSF contingent for GASLIGHT.  It is 2 units of 10 figures, Russians fom the Russo-Turkish war.

The figures with the chevrons on the base are the NCO's for the units.  I had no idea what the insignia for a Russian NCO was, and I need to be able to identify it quickly in the game.

I have some more figures coming for this that I hope to get posted soon.  I am also doing some figures for Pulp Alley.

In a lighter vein, my friend Ken had posted questions on his blog that I thought I would answer:

What was the very first wargame you ever played (board, strategy or miniature

My father bought my brother and me a Civil War game one Christmas.  It was a boardgame, but had little plastic figures of infantry, cavalry and artillery.  We loved it.  We played it till it fell apart.  My father bought us Panzerblitz next, and we played boardgames for many years.  I had a subscription to Strategy and Tactics for many years, and had a large collection of boardgames that I ultimately sold when I got into miniatures.

What was the first Miniatures focused Wargame?

I was living in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the late 70s.  A friend introduced me to ancients gaming with WRG 3^rd Edition rules.  He was using 15mm figures.  He only had one army done, so we divided it in two and played against each other. 

What was the first Wargame Army you collected and fielded as your own (painted or not, but your own)?

After playing my first ancients game, I went to the local hobby shop.  It had almost no 15mm ancients, but there were some of the old Minifigs 15mm strips of figures.  They were molded 5 to a strip, as I recall, and you had to cut the bases apart.  I bought three strips, some Humbrol paints and a brush, and started painting.  They were Greek light infantry slingers.  I ended up with a fairly large Greek army after going to Denver and buying many more figures at Bonnie Brae hobbies.  The paint job back then was awful.  I didn’t realize that priming the figures was a good first step.  J

I went to England in 1978 for two years.  I was in the service, and ended up at a base about 30 miles from Cambridge.  I met some gamers down there (who were astounded anyone would drive 30 miles for a wargame) and started doing 25mm Greeks, again for WRG. 

I gave up on ancients years ago, but doing that first army was terrific.

What has been your favorite Miniatures Wargame you have played?

After gaming for most of 45 years, its hard to pick out one.  I did play on American Revolution game with some friends back in the ‘80s.  We started after work on Friday night, and it was a set of rules we were playtesting for two of the players.  It was a fun tactical situation, and when it started getting late, no one wanted to stop.  The game was finally over around 3 am, by which time we were all punch drunk and laughing nonstop.  Larry’s wife finally got up, came down, and told us all to go home.  J  Any time I think of that game, it brings a smile to my face.  Then, to make it perfect, my standard transmission locked up in 2^nd gear and I drove 20 miles home at about 20 miles an hour.  

Another Year, and What Have We Done?

I got a lot started this year, but not a lot finished.  :)

I decided I was never going to paint enough Seven Years War for Black Powder by myself, so I sold the ones I had to my brother.  He is now trying to duplicate my paint job.  Good with that, bro.

I did do some small scratch building projects.  I made about 8 feet of fences to give to Jaye.  Our group games at Jaye's house, so I wanted to contribute something.

I made a couple of small hills.  I started work on some GHQ hex terrain.  I need to do more, but I have a good start on it.

I did get interested in Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame Project.  I have started some WWII figures for those rules, and made a board for it.  The rules use a board marked off in squares.  It will certainly reduce questions about whether something is in range.

I have almost finished 2 units for Gaslight.  I got some Russo-Japanese War figures from Outpost.  They are Russian infantry.  I decided to black prime these instead of my normal white priming.  Much quicker to paint, and less strain on the eyes.

I did pick up an Optivisor this year, at the suggestion of Phil, the owner of the local hobby shop.  (Tabletop Games)  I am very glad I did.  It made it possible to paint again.

I decided to make some wargaming goals for the new year.

1)  Make a contingent for Gaslight, consisting of 3 infantry units, a steam tank and a walker.
2)  Run at least one game this year at the regular Thursday night gaming session
3)  Finish up a 15mm science fiction army for Gruntz.

I hope to do more, but I want to set goals I can reach given the health problems.

Keep on gaming!

40mm Sort of Seven Years War

I recently won an ebay auction that was 2 Prince August 40mm molds, an officer and an infantryman.  I then went a little crazy, and got 2 more molds from Prince August in Ireland.  They are very easy to order from, and ship quickly.

I became interested in this from reading posts about the Not Quite The Seven Years War project of the HAWKS club.  I had always wanted to game using the Charge! rules, and I loved the look of the 40mm partially round figures.

I had my first casting session today.  It went pretty well.  The two molds I had gotten off ebay cast the best.  They had been used before, the seller said he had cast the molds and painted figures for a client.  They were not vented, but still cast well.  I had bought in addition bought 2 molds that were double molds.  They had an NCO, a drummer, a grenadier and a standard bearer.

I got 6 of the basic infantrymen, 3 grenadiers, 4 officers, one standard bearer, one drummer and 2 NCOs.  I will probably only keep the best two officers and melt the others.  That mold casts well, and I don't need that many officers right now.  I plan on casting on a regular basis.  I am casting outside, and I don't think it will work too well when it gets cold.

All in all, a good afternoon.

Little bit of everything

Well, its obvious.  As a blogger, I suck.  :)  Long time since my last post, and a lot of changed directions.

I have been working on a French fleet for Dystopian Wars.  I bought the starter box, and then some more ships.  So far I have finished the 9 small ships, and work is progressing well on 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers, and the pocket battleship.  I am not sure where the other people in my group are in this process. 

I started painting some 15mm Franco-Prussian war figures, intending to do an Imaginations project using The Portable Wargame.

http://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.com/

I got small units for each side done, but in 15mm they look quite similar from a distance.  I am not sure how I feel about this.  The figures are not exactly painted for FP war, its my own take on this.  I may end up using a much lighter blue for the French to make them easily distinguishable on the table.

The last project comes from my long interest in the old Charge! rules.  About the time started reading about the Not Quite the Seven Years War project that the HAWKS wargame club has been doing for a while.  http://nqsyw.blogspot.com/

I liked the idea of the 40mm figures, and I managed to get two Prince August molds of an officer and a soldier off of ebay.  I then went a little crazy and ordered more molds from Prince August in Ireland, metal from a company in  California that gave free shipping with orders over $100, and am scrounging for a suitable pot for melting the metal.  I plan on initially using a burner that is on my gas grill, but may buy a melting pot made for casting bullets later.

So, as usual I am involved in more stuff than I really have time for.  This is in addition to a bad World of Tanks habit with my brother and my nephew. 

Gotta get better at posting...