Update #4 Keeping Up The Momentum

     Update number 4; who'd have thunk yet here we are; maintaining some sort of blogging momentum....marvelous. The last fortnight's hobby has been mainly focused on Bolt Action terrain and getting the garage up to scratch and usable as there is a plan afoot to celebrate that fact. A plan which just happens to coincide with my mucker, Danny, being back down south from up north...if you follow me..Anyhoo, we have a three player game of Bolt Action planned for next week set in East Prussia during the final weeks of WW2 which has forced me to concentrate on getting some new terrain finished alongside my other BA projects. Let's have a look see, shall we, at what I have achieved in pursuits of this noble aim...

    Firstly, and most importantly, the garage is all but done. The walls are now insulated and though it looks a mess in the photo it's really a matter of tidying up and squaring away some bits and bobs; something I will do this coming Monday as I have the day off. The end wall now has enough Ikea shelving for all my terrain boxes; large and small, and there is a decent amount of gaming space once the place is tidied. 

     One of my Bolt Action projects (and I use that term very loosely; it's not like I sit down and draw up a list and plan each project accordingly. It's more an excuse to buy stuff that I have seen online and taken a shine too...like I need an excuse..😁) is a 21st Panzer Division force for the Normandy campaign and Kampfgruppe Von Luck in particular. The Unic P10f7 half track and self propelled gun crews are just about done. Alongside these are a Warlord Games motorcycle combo that I have converted for my late war German force and the sniper set from Warlord Games Winter Germans that I stripped and am in the process of repainting. The only progress I have made on the Unic PC107 and Geschutzewagen H39(f) are that I have added the decals and a couple of small pieces of stowage...

     And so to the forthcoming grand garage re-opening game (must try saying that after a couple of stiff snifters..). As I mentioned above this game will be set during the final weeks of the war and set in Prussia. The mission is based on a scenario from the Campaign Stalingrad campaign book and I featured a battle rep previously in the blog( Schaft's Pioneers Take The Fifth) but with three of us playing I have altered the gaming area to 6x4 rather than 4x4 which means more ruins to fill the table. As well as ruined buildings I have done this wrecked Hetzer model that I picked up at the Vapnartak show will also make an appearance. There's still a lot to do on it but I reckon a couple of hours will see it table top ready.

 

     Not terrain but another essential piece of equipment for my Soviets is this light howitzer that I bought. It's a single piece resin sculpt of Soviet 76mm regimental light howitzer and I think it looks jolly nice. Only got as far as basing it but it won't take long to get it table top ready using the patent (pending but unlikely to be granted 😀) General Jimbob Just Dry Brush It paint job.

     And so to the more substantial terrain pieces starting with Sarissa Precision's Water Tower. I bought this a while back when I was planning/thinking/hoping to play Zona Alfa (which hasn't happened yet but it will...it will....trust me....) Quick and easy to assemble and a nice looking piece of terrain. Just beware if you do buy one that those cross members on the legs are quite fragile which isn't great if you are a sausage fingered numpty like me. It got a really simple paint job. I based it with the wargamers textured paint of choice, Sandex Bitter Chocolate then, once that was dry it received a brisk dry brush with a light green emulsion from a tester pot I bought in B&M. A quick scatter of different shades of flocks on the base and, hey presto; job's a good 'un!

     Then it was onto the big beasties of the terrain pieces; TT Combat's Tank Factory ruin and the Ruined Factory. I had started these a while back but with a deadline to meet (hullo deadline, how do you do?) I bit the bullet and cracked on. 

     Though I had coated the walls etc with Sandex Bitter Chocololate I decided to add more texture to the walls by applying a coating of watered down ready mixed plaster filler to the external walls. Before this dried I stippled it with a piece of torn sponge to give the surface a more pleasing appearance. I allowed this to dry over night then mixed up some mid grey coloured from a couple of cheap craft tubes of acrylics paints and painted the outside of the ruin. I then added more white to the mix and, after allowing the walls to dry thoroughly I gave it a dry brush, added more white to the mix etc, etc and so on till I got this result.

    The intermnal walls were painted a very light, pastel green shade whilst the metal girders and row of metal lockers were coated in a slightly darker pastel green. 

    Once that was dry I worked on the details, albeit in a rough and ready manner. I tidied up the paint job on the walls, gave the doors, clock and notice board a bit more attention, I dug out some space amongst the cat litter rubble to allow the factory machinery to fit in and then added a rubble mix that I bought on eBay which has scale red bricks in it....woohoo! This rubble mix, along with grass flock, was attached in place with watered down PVA glue. And lastly I took some torn pieces of packing foam, dabbed it in some dark paint, dried the majority of the paint off and then dabbed various places on the walls and girders before dabbing some bright orange spots here and there on the metal girders etc to represent rust and the Tank Factory ruin was done. I made up some hoardings with factory name on them to give it a sense of location; in this case Germany. I will make up some more in French, English and Russian to allow for more game adaptability.

    The Ruined Factory received similar attention to the factory....

......however I wasn't happy with it and I have now realised why; it's too monochrome looking so tomorrow evening when I get home from work I'll revisit it. Another thing that I have just realised is also wrong with it is the open end of the ruin. It should have a larger base with rubble extending out from where the wall has collapsed. I can't think why that didn't occur to me before...Doh! That being said or spotted, it won't be too difficult to remedy...

    So, barring the extended base and lightening the tone of the walls all that's left is to make up some hoardings for it and it should be ready. I am sure it will look the part come Wednesday but for now, that's this update done. A bit less scatter gun than my previous updates and it's good to get these pieces of terrain finished...well almost finished.

     I must say I am very much looking forward to this forthcoming game and getting more gaming done in the garage. It's a real, genuine plus to have your own gaming space and I can't wait to make maximum use of it. And, of course, it'll be nice to have folk over and to get back into all various games I enjoy.

That's it for the mo, folks, thanks for dropping by, for sticking with it and for getting this far 😀 Next blog post should eb a meaty batrep from the (highly fictitious) Eastern Prussian town of Bentdich, till then,

pip pip,

General BobJim

Update #3 As the Nun's Outfitter said "This is getting to be a habit..."

     This is indeed getting to be a habit. This update will focus mainly on new purchases as I was helping out on Colonel Bill's trade stand at the recent Vapnartak Wargames Show held at York Racecourse on 6th Feb this year. We had a very busy day however I was able to sneak away and do some shopping and I will come back to my purchases shortly. I have also made more progress with  my current projects; the ruined factory and warehouse. I'll record that separately in another post but suffice to say I managed to drum up some terrain mojo and take a few more steps toward getting them table ready.  Firstly, painting!!

"From the right...number!!" Okay, we're far to casual
for any of that parade ground drill stuff but for the
record and from left to right; Tom, Stu's son; Stu the
boss, Scotty and then myself. Beats me how anyone
comes near the stall 😄 

     As I mentioned above I helped out Stu at Colonel Bill's at the Vapnartak Show on the Sunday but, since my missus was away visiting family in Madrid for the week it was planned between Stu and myself that my faithful canine sidekick, Otto, and I would stop over with Stu, his lovely wife, Amanda, and their faithful canine sidekick, May, so that I could help out at Colonel Bill's Depot as well as enjoying the lovely countryside around the Depot, cracking good food and plenty of beer and single malt whisky. 

Otto (l) and May (r) who both suffer from over size
cute glands; say "Aaaaaaaw!" everybody

     That took me up to Thursday when Otto and I headed back to Glasgow. Back home and with time on my hands as I was still on holiday, I took a notion to paint up some more figures to use in Inq28/Inquisimunda. I started by painting up more Adeptus Arbites. To be more specific I painted the four figures on the right as the chap with the grenade launcher and the chap with the shotgun next to him I had painted an age back. I love these Arbites figures and can't hep wishing they weren't so flipping expensive to buy. Still, it's a sellers market and I'm not desperate for them (oh yes I am!!😁). The two figures to the right of the photo are by Foundry Miniatures and are from their sci fi range, they are Empirical Absolutionists and sit somewhere between the Adeptus Arbites range of figures and Judge Dredd figures, which makes them perfect for what I have in mind...whatever that is? I dunno, I am easy prey to my whims...

 

     As well as those chaps I have few of the old GW Imperial Guard Storm Troopers left that I also painted. These will probably be part of either an Inquisitorial warband or an Imperial Navy security force like those that appear in Dan Abnett's Inquisitor novel, Xenos. I replaced the sergeant's left hand with the plasma pistol years ago however I still have his original hand and I might put it back on as I think a plasma pistol might,I say might be a bit of over kill in a game of INQ28/Imquisimunda.  

      I am speaking from ignorance as I haven't played either INQ28/Inquisimunda. I can easily find out though as I recently bought these on eBay. Inquisimunda, as you can probably guess is based on Necromunda and after watching a couple of Youtube videos by a chap named Arbitor Ian I thought "I should really get this game"....like you do...or at least I do..😉

     Another old GW purchase was this Codex; Imperial Guard as I was flushed with GW nostalgia and have a hankering for painting some of the old Cadian figures, a few of which I have in a box somewhere at home....

     

     Another painting project are these machine gunners for my various German halftracks and a crew for the GeschutzwagenH39(f) I. These should be complete by my next update...should...

     And so to Vapnartak and my bulging shopping basket: what did I treat myself to whilst at Vapnartak? Quite a bit as it turns out. It's amazing, to me anyway, how one can go to a wargames show with no plan to buy anything and come away with a s**tonne of stuff. So here is my stuff though not all of it; tufts of static grass and packs of adhesive backed magnetic sheet make for dull photos. The colourful stuff, that's what you want; right? Let's start with a handful of Napoleonic French flag sets for my 28mm Black Powder battalions....

....lots of Artizan Designs Panzer Lehr figures...will soon be able to field a platoon of these hardy veteran types....

 ....some nice resin cast terrain pieces from a small company called Urban Terrain (I think); a wrecked Hetzer and a VW Beetle......

.....from Warbases I bought one of these MDF Figaro Landers that I plan to use a terrain pice in INQ28/Inquisimunda/Judge Dredd. I will need to add lots of gubbins and things to it though as it looks a tad plain..

....for Warlords of Erehwon some Northmen Cavalry who will be painted up as Bretonnian-esque mounted squires....

....and sticking with the fantasy theme, a rather spiffing looking wood frame house from 4Ground. This will also do for Mordiem and, at a stretch, late war Prussia if I trim that strange black bit on the apex of the roof...

...continuing with the fantasy stuff, I stopped by Crooked Dice's stand and bought this fantastic looking Orc Warlord. He's a huge bruiser as you can see from below. He's already primed and ready to go, just need to fit him in to the painting schedule

...back with Black Powder my 6mm French Army got more reinforcements..

...and last but by no means least I acquired a Warhammer Fantasy Empire army. It's painted to a fairly basic standard so all I need to do is add washes and some highlights then figure out how I am going to base them. I intend to do some work on them like remove the shields from a lot of the figures and to replace the spears on units that have them with pikes as I want them to be a Renaissance themed force for either Pikeman's Lament and Pike & Shotte. I can easily build two forces for Pikeman's Lament which will be fun. There are also rules for playing Sharp Practice in this period which I would like to give a try out at some point in the future 

I am in awe......

     Stu was also good enough to arrange a game of Donnybrook for one of the evening's I was there. The skirmish was set in the period of the Monmouth Rebellion with some corkingly painted Front Rank figures from their 17th century period range. Needless to say Scotty and I, as the rebels, were runners up to Tony's goverment forces but we all had a great time, which is what it's all about.

     So that's it for this update. My next few updates will be a bit more focused on individual projects so look forward to them and some actual, recorded progress...no pressure now, Jim

Till then, 

pip pip,

Jimbob, General, nuisance 

Update #2/2022

Yes folks, it's time for update #2 of 2022. Now wait a minute before you start rushing out and panic buying Christmas presents, calm down, just because I am at update #2 for the year doesn't mean it must be December already. No, this is the new, improved (?) approach I am taking to the blog; no more write a blog update, take out a mortgage, pay off said mortgage, write the next update. No, I mean to be more regular....and also post updates more often too...boom boom! <cue tumbleweed......😁> if only so that I can keep up to date with what I have done.

So what have I done since last you gazed upon my works; well I have been vusy, very busy..yes, busy but not focused. Following up from my last update here's what I have got done 

1/1 Scale Terrain. I have managed to find time to put some more boards up in the garage. The hold up here is that I need my good llady wife to assist me by holding the rather large MDF boards while I make light of the sawing by employing our circular saw however she has been busy researching stuff for a job interview so I have tackled what I could. It's coming along however it's back on hold as I am off to visit Colonel Bill's and help out at the Depot and the Vapnartak Wargames Show this coming Sunday, 6th February.

getting there..a bit rough and ready but it will do.

Another reason why I need Mrs General Jimbob
to assist; I tend to make gaffs when operating
machinery without supervision such as cutting
through my gaming tables with my circular saw;
I wondered why it seemed to be making hard
work of cutting through the MDF.....

1/56 Scale Terrain.....nuffink. I have completely avoided doing any work on the factory buildings, despit my best intentions...

1/35 scale Models....Nothing to see here...move along..

1/56 scale Well here I have made some minimal progress. I have spent some more time working on painting the collection of German armour and had gotten as far as dry brushing them when I realsied I didn't have suffcient Balkan Cross decals for them so I went onto the Warlord Games site and ordered a sheet as quick as flash. The decal sheet has arrived since then but in the meantime I had become engrossed in other stuff, of which more in a moment, so while they have been put on the back burner but only for a brief time as the decaling and weathering will be at most two evenings work. Then it's the crews!

One of the other things I got diverted with was more German Infantry. And purely because they were based and ready to start, I was packing for a sleep over shift at work and of all the portable, ready to stuff I had at hand the German Infantry were the easiest to get done.

Continuing with the 1/56 scale theme, I have based the Victrix Napoleonic French figures I had for Black Powder. As nice as they look I have to build and paint more and more and I need to replace these Line types as I used them for Sharp Practice. But for now I am really pleased with these guys.

And here's where I got diverted. My chum Danny is coming down to Glasgow from way up north in Scotland in March and we, Danny, Richie and myself are organising a days worth of gaming and we might, just might fit in some Mordheim so I decided to finish off two more warbands; a Skaven warband (Thank you Bill King, Gotrek and Felix, Audible and Jonathon Keeble 😀)......

and a Witchhunters warband.....

...only I forgot to paint up this chap...doh! But he's next on the list

 

Lastly, and sticking with a fantasy theme I bashed out this orc stone thrower from Black Tree Designs. 

Why red I hear you ask; well this rock lobber from Games Workshop really inspired me and I figured if it's an orc rock lobber and it's red then it stands to (Orc-ish) reason that it will shoot faster.....well, it might. Anyhow, that's for Warlords of Erehwon and another day. That's all for another day and another update, til then I am off to write out my shopping list for Vapnartak; sci fi vehicles; Rhinos, Valkyries etc are a definitely on the list. Till next time  pip pip, General J