His goal was to recreate some Lord of the Rings style wargaming. I really like his approach. But personally I like to have a little more magic in them. Like in some of the larger battles of the Drow Drizzt series. Therefore I will probably alter them a bit. But first I need to come up with some forces.
I am thinking to do a 2 mm version. Bases around 60 or 100mm wide. And converting all distances to cm or 2x cm, and 3d print all forces. Just toying around in my head, and scribbling some designs on paper. Hopefully some time to create them in the near future. But probably better to finish some other projects first.
The last post was in March and then it happend. For my birthday in April, I received unexpectedly a 3D printer. A very cool tool, which I already made good use of. But for the printing a lot of preparation is needed, so the time behind the computer was not spent on maintaining the blog. Combined with some house renovation it, it got a little silent here.
The past period I haven’t gamed much. But I have used the 3d printer to create new miniatures and terrain. So I will try to make an overview.
From the projects already on the list, i mainly printed some terrain features for frostgrave. For the other projects no new development. But I have also started some new projects, were the 3D printer create most of the miniatures. I have bought the folllowing rule sets:
What a Tanker – Two Fat Lardies
The Balkan Naval War (Broadside and Salvo) – Long Face Games
Hordes of Things 2.1 – Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott and Sue Laflin-Barker
Portable Wargames – Bob Codery
I also came in contact with Remi. He is developing a aerial firefighting miniature game. And I have supplied some miniatures to him, and plan to play the game also myself. Lastly I have also found some nice scenarios in the WSS magazine, which I hope to play out. This all resulted in the Plastic pile.
Frostgrave
The first things I printed was terain for Frostgrave. As I already had a selection of miniatures I needed terrain to play on. As Frostgrave requires a lot of terrain I gave myself some options. I have started to paint some of it. But still need to finish it. Mostly some houses and ruins
What a tanker!
What a tanker has interested me since it release. Due to the quick flowing rules and simple dice mechanics. I have doubted for quite some time, finaly ordered the rules. With the 3D printer it is quite easy to print some tanks ans play. And with a large colelction available at Thingverse from Bergman, almost any type you wish is available. I have printed the first batch of tanks from all over the war. I have scaled everything to 10mm so I can use the terrain from Frostgrave/Pikemans lament. To complement this, I have also printed some Normandy houses. Everything now ready to be painted.
Hordes of Things
I have been following the stronghold rebuilt blog for quite some time. And have read most of the battle reports of last years weekly hott battles. This gave a good interest in the rules. After reading more online, it is a ruleset with easy rules. And I realy like the troop generalisation. Therefore I decided to buy the rules. To test them out, I need some armies. So I have started to print some earthenkind miniatures from Dutchmogul on Thiniverse in 15mm. For a second army I am still searching for a good idea. Maybe dwarves or a banana army (see Thingiverse). This is the most recent project and ongoing.
The Balkan Naval War
On this blog I have already mentioned earlier that I was interested in some naval wargaming. When the summer sale was on wargame vault, I got the Balkan Naval war with a good discount. In combination with a set of 3d files of most relevant ships. The ships are printed. So now should be painted.
Beside the above projects, i have also tried some other things. Trying to print some 2mm figures, as I already had bought the forward march library. Printed some other planes for the cold war forces I already have. Printed a fokker T.V. bomber for my may 1940 forces. And designed and printed some Dutch kazemats and sherman tanks for my father. Besides this there are a lot of other ideas. Sometimes even trying to print something.
I hope to take up the blogging and wargaming again. And trying to finish some of the project. I hope to write shorter blogs, to motivate me to blog more often. And also to be able to store all the odd ideas that pass by.
Last two of weeks I have made some progress with multiple armies. A week ago I painted the first cohorts of a Roman army. 1 legion consisting of 10 cohorts. 8 with red shields, 1 with blue shield and 1 with green shield. Finished they look very nice. Painting these 2mm blocks was quite easy. First painting the base in earth colors. Then the army blocks based in silver. Afterwards the shield in their color and banners in red. Next step army painter strongtone wash, which really put everything together. Applying grass, and a nice red border on the base, to make it easier to spot the correct owner and they were finished
After the Roman army I came across a youtube video on the one hour wargame book by Neil Thomas. Being inspirered and I already had the book, started to read it again. As I have a Napoleonic army nearly finished, I played a game of Napoleonics, realizing how quick and easy the rules are, and started fantasizing to start new armies. After reading the wo2 rules, I already was thinking to order some unit when I realized I had some after wo2, 1970s units in stock, planned to be used in the Ethiopean and african conflicts. So this resulted in trowing everything together, to have two 10 unit armies. Every army consisting of 2 tank units (t55 en t62, 2 anti tank units (bmp and sagger), 2 artillery units, and 4 infantry units (some stands with transports like bmp etc.) The red border army is in dark green, the blue colored in yellow green.
Finally some time to paint. This evening a little progress on the 10mm Pikemans Lament. 1 unit of shot has received all its basic colors. Only metals are missing, but these i will do for multiple units at once. After that a brown wash, some touch up and grassing on the base, will be all the steps in the proces. And repeating everything for all the other units. Maybe i can do 1 other unit color block this week.
The terrain mat has been finished. After the second layer, I have drybrushed all the details with a light fleshy color. Then put some variation with a dark brown wash. But used it more like a filter. Creating a very patchy color.
Next step was the flocking. A mix different short grasses and some turf and sand. Just made some different mixes and applied then with a seave. After that I applied some extra sand to create some rough pathes.
I am very happy with the result. I can roll it up to around 20cm diameter to store away. And use it both for 10mm as 2mm and bigger scales if I want to. Now up to the next part of the terrain. Some more forest, roads and waterways. But for these I need some new ideas, to get some visible pleasing results.
The mat with some 2mm armiesBut can also be used with 10mm, as this 10mm unfinished terrain pieces demonstrate
The airplanes are on hold. I have finished the color blocking and applied the first gloss layer. They are now ready for some decals, but haven’t had any time to continue.
Today I had some time to continue with the terrain cloth. And applied the second layer. Some sand mixed with paint and chaulking. Applied with spatula and textured with a large brush. Now it should dry. Next step adding some contrasting colors with washes and drybrusing. And finally applying some grass and turf. Hopefully I will find time to finish this quite soon.
I am making progress every evening. Most basic colors are blocked in. And all cockpits are painted on. Next step will be some detail painting. And some grey undersides. After thar I will give them a gloss varnish and prepare for decalling. Hopefully finishing the first planes next week.
The only helicopters are some allouette III’s one for rescueing downed pilots, the other used as scout. Maybe I will add some in the future. Also note this is the Dutch air force, and doesn’t jet include the marine air force.The hawker hunters. Unfortunately the tumbling dice version doesn’t do the nice shapes much justice..
The site has a collection with references for modeling, but also includes colorschemes used with the Dutch air forces. Most of the time showing the different variants and deliveries used. It has been very helpfull for me.
Yesterday and today I have spent some time painting aircraft. This is a slow progress. Every time referencing some photos and choosing what to paint. But it is progress and enjoyable. It will take still significant time to complete everything.
Yesterday evening. Some grey colors ont the modern jet fighters and the cockpits.This evening the USAF F86 Sabres stationed at Soesterberg AB.
A small update for last week. I have made some progress and played a game. My father and I have played our second game of chain of command. Knowing the rules better it went more smootly. But we have still some things to learn. The scenario was a village road crossing, trying to be captured by both sides. My father played the 1940 Dutch forces, and I the opposing German forces. It ended with a firefight accros one of the roads, with the fire power of my mg34 defeating the Bike platoon of the Dutch.
The crossroad. With my squads on the left side, and the bike cycle platoon on the right in a firefight.
Next to the game I have also managed to do some painting/creating. I have started to make a terrain cloth, with canvas lined with chaulk. I have mixed some color into the chaulk, creating a nice earth tone. This is the first very thin layer. Next I hope to apply a second layer, mixing some sand in it, to get a rougher texture. After that I will apply some grass/turf to create some random landscape.
Terrain cloth
I have also spend some time painting the cold war Dutch airforce planes, just spending an sunday afternoon hour. Still a lot of work to do. But progress is progress.
all the cold war Dutch Air force planes, and some USAF 32nd TSF stationed in the Netherlands. Also the B 52 didn’t fit somewhere else, so resides also in this box. I painted the F4’s, some Thunderstreaks and T33 and started with the gloster meteors. Hope to make some more detailed photos when they are finished.
