Random roundup

Phew, where does time go?! Between this that and the other I haven't had much time for any kind of painting or gaming for ages, but am trying to scrape together a few moments to get various projects back on track.

I went and visited my parents for my Dad's birthday and Father's Day last weekend, which was a perfect excuse to get some DBA in! We played Rome (Dad) vs Carthage (Me) and the game went something like this:

1) The Carthaginian army approaches the Roman battle line.

2) Contact is made and a lengthy melee ensues

3) I lose really badly...

In my defense I was suffering from a really bad cold, which I had picked up the Friday before, but it was still a pretty poor show on my part...

In other news, my wife's Edward Monkton 'Madness Hamster' keyring broke. It was pretty old and battered by that point so it was not greatly mourned, but, being a wargamer who plays Hordes of the Things, I immediately thought "Oooh behemoth for my ratman army"...

One quick paint job later....

I thought it was a fun inclusion for when I want a 'less serious' kind of game.

To round up other events:

1. I went back to the club after an absence of several weeks and had a good couple of games of Saga. I was planning on using my Normans, but illness prevented me from finishing them. On the other hand, playing again has spurred me to try and complete them.
2. No pictures yet, but I now have a 15mm Dark Dwarf HotT army from Irregular. I will be reviewing this in the same style as the ratman army a while back.
3. We saw World War Z a while back and, I have to say, very much enjoyed it. It seems a lot of the criticism seems to stem from it not being very closely tied to the books and also that it is only a 15 rating. Ultimately I would say it is less of a zombie film than 28 Days Later etc, but works better if you view it as a thriller rather than a horror film. It was certainly tense and exciting (although it helps if you overlook a few large plot holes!). Basically it made me want to play more zombie games with fast zombies, so I guess it did its job there!
4. I have two more 'secret' projects on the go at the moment. Won't say much about them right now as it will probably just mean I lose focus on the things I need to finish first...

Right, better go. The postman just arrived and by the sound of things he has delivered my recent order from 15mm.co.uk!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Painting Challenge. Complete! (And new projects)

Well, the challenge has been completed! The picture above is of the finished army (sorry for the poor lighting).

So... time for a new project. I have been meaning to play more Victorian Sci-Fi for a while now and have everything I need to get started. My aim is to use the following with the G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. rules:

• 20 British soldiers (Zulu War period)
  
• 2 British officers
• Mina Harker
• Allan Quatermain
• 1 steam tank
• A bunch of plastic dinosaurs.

This should be everything I need for a dino hunting game (and probably a bit more!). I have a 30 day deadline for this as that is when my trial runs out on Comic Life. Comic Life is a handy bit of software that allows you to design comic pages using your photos. I put together the below in a couple of minutes using pics from my last LotR game. (Apologies for the 'ferry' typo, I didn;t check before I exported it.) I'm hoping this software will be a good way of producing interesting battle reports, especially for skirmish type games.

So that's it for now. After this I am toying with a modern project using Force on Force, but I'll have to see how that goes...

Painting Challenge. 0 days remaining

Well, what a difference a day makes! 8 of the 12 elements are fully complete. The remainder (3xCv 1xCvGen) are painted and partially based. I just need to finish the basing and varnish them, which should not take too long.

With a bit of luck they will all be finished by 5.30pm tomorrow when I depart for the club! I'll varnish the Cv elements first thing so they have time to dry. Then all I need to do is paint, shade and apply grass to the bases.

Job done! Phew. Now what's the next project?!

Painting Challenge. 1 day remaining

Here we go! A fair bit of progress today. As you can see from the picture, 8 elements are now painted and stuck on their bases. They just need a quick ink wash and varnish. I was hoping to get the bases complete too, but that might be a bonus depending on how tomorrow goes. They may just have to make to with a base coat like the Art, Ps and Bw elements.

That said, I only have 4 elements left to finish and they are well under way! Who knows what might happen tomorrow!

Painting Challenge. 2 days remaining

Some progress made today. All of the figures are now at least undercoated. Some more work done on the infantry elements and most of the horses painted.

However... the big error of the day came to light when I noticed that my small pot of black paint was in fact gloss paint... I had undercoated most of the cavalry before I realised. I checked to see if they were dry and noticed they were more shiny than they should be.

Nothing to be done about it at this point. It isn't so bad once other paint is put on, but it is annoying. I'm also running low on dark brown. Hopefully there will be time tomorrow to go to the shop to pick up more paint.

I hope to complete a lot more of the painting tomorrow. That will leave time on Monday for making sure they are based and varnished.

Painting Challenge. 3 days remaining

Here is a view of the work area in my man-cave at approximately 21:10 today. As you can see, I have cleaned and superglued the Lh and Cv and undercoated a few of the others. Not the most triumphant of starts, but something is better than nothing.

Hopefully the glue will dry okay and I can get up early tomorrow to undercoat the army...

Painting Challenge. 4 days remaining

Those of you who know anything about me will be aware that I am a slow painter. I usually need a little motivation to get things going. Fortunately a new buddy of mine has come to my aid.

A challenge has been set, one which may make you laugh, but really demonstrates just how awful I am at getting my lead decorated. Mr G has challenged me to paint my DBA Ottoman army by Tuesday and I am to bring the evidence to the club that evening.

There are two main problems:

1) I have not even undercoated most of it yet.
2) It is a predominantly horse army, meaning I have more area to cover than I might like.

I will post updates here with my progress, along with pictures for evidence.

Can I succeed at this challenge? I'm going to try my hardest!

DBA Wallachians

I have finally finished my Wallachians for DBA, thanks in no small part to encouragement from the Fanaticus forum!

Just two points:

1) I know my general is wearing red armour. Just a little Dracula related film reference I could not resist
2) I based the general element this morning without checking how I had done the rest of the army. Argh! At least he stands out, I guess...

One done. Now time to start on my Ottoman army. And do further work on the Vikings and Saxons.