This evening was the second evening painting. I really enjoyed this as it was quite a while ago. But I have made some progress. Most allied tanks are almost ready to play. I have painted the tracks and added some details. And tried to paint some allied markings by hand as I do not have the correct decals. They turned out fine. There can still a lot of details be added. But they will do their job. Only left is spraying them in mat varnish, and maybe some wash after that. But that will be done as the germans are also this far.
I hope to get the forces ready to play a game of What a Tanker. As I will need more things to make, I try to minimize the time spent on items to get still a good result. In the background also some Normandisch houses. Have put on some base colors on them. Terrain is one of the other things needed. Also the germans use more camouflage, so will probably take some more time. Enjoy!
Today I finally had some time to paint some tanks. I have 3d printed some 10mm scale tanks for What A Tanker. Today I gave the airbrush a go, and put primer and a russian green on the allied tanks. Basic colors done now. Next step will be painted with the brush. Track work and some details. Then some sealing cote and they are ready for a game. German side has to follow suit closely hopefully
Last week I have played some games again finally. My father visited and we played some simple and quick games.
W1815 U&P games
The first 4 games where W1815. The famous battle of waterloo. This is a simple game which if you know the rules can be played in 15 minutes. But as it was the first time we played this game, it took 30 min for the first game. It is a very simple game. No movement, max 1d6 dice roll. And fixed orders.
It played very nicely, although I lost 3 out of the 4 games, I have really enjoyed them. So if you search for a gap-filler kind of wargame, just check it out.
One hour wargame modern (Ww2)
The second game was a one hour modern wargame. Two rusian equiped armies met each other in a standoff battle (scenario 1 from the book) we used the ww2 version of the rules, like some african countries withour air support available.
It worked reasonable well. The scenario is not very good for modern fights as it has no cover available. In the end I lost again. But we had a good game night. Hopefully some more games in the future..
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.
