My Blog

First Prussians

2012-01-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

I have stayed on course and have been steadily working on my Pendraken figures for the Austro-Prussian War. These are my first Prussians. The pictures and my poor paint job does not do the figures justice as these are really well done. I am about done with the first batch of Austrians as well. Looking at the painted figures I am very happy with my choice of 10mm Pendraken figures for this project.

Terrain and some Hungarian-Slovaks

2011-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have been fooling around with putting together some terrain and decided to experiment this holiday. I used an approach inspired by Mhluther as he has demonstrated on the GHQ forums. If anyone is not familiar with his 6mm games take a look at some of the stuff posted on this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/6mmgaming/sets/ absolutely amazing.
I started with a plain tan bed sheet put down some cloth elevation and then used some pastels to draw in a road network and river. I do not have any felt strips so decided to just throw down terrain flock mostly from my mixed terrain box (this is just the mixed leftover after I flock things). I tried to go for a Russian steep look although I had to much dirt and green terrain mixed in. Overall I think the experiment worked out well. I will have to try and find some good cloth to use as well as a good green color bed sheet. Still a work in progress but I think with practice I may be able to produce some good results.

We need some focus!!!

2011-12-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

This blog has been kind of all over the place recently and so has my workbench. Once again I have fallen into the familiar trap of painting a bunch of different stuff and having nothing resembling an army painted. So here we go in an effort to focus I am going to list and try to stick to four projects for the foreseeable future (lets try at least till mid 2012):

1) WWII 6mm- Hungarians and Slovaks only.
2) WWI Austria and her enemies 15mm- Austrians/Italians/Russians/Serbs
3) Austro-Prussian War 10mm- Prussians and Austrians/Saxons/Bavarians
4) 1930's Banana War project

The good thing is that I already have figures for a good deal of this stuff. The Hungarians and Slovaks are well underway. I received my Pendraken Prussians and Austrians a week ago (more about these figures in the next few posts). I also have some more Eureka Italians ready to be painted and based. The biggest issue is the Banana War project. I kind of abandoned my storyline and am no longer sure I want to do this in 15mm. The 10mm Pendraken option is growing on me. At some point I want to get this shorted out.

Workbench

2011-12-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

Okay I am slowly getting some 6mm 1938 Slovak and Hungarian forces put together. I decided some time back that this was a small manageable WWII project for 2011-12.

GHQ has most of the tanks and guns needed for both sides and I have been able to do an adequate job converting Adler infantry. The Hungarians were an easy choice just WWII Germans painted appropriately. At 6mm the helmet differences are not very vi sable (actually used WWII Germans for Chinese as well). Slovaks were a bit more problematic but I finally settled on Italians. You can judge for yourself how successful the conversion has been. I know that in 38 they did not have the blue striped helmets but this makes them stand out and I will probably use them for 41 at some point.

GHQ Terrain Maker: What is to be done?

2011-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

Those following the Blog are aware that I have been experimenting on and off with GHQ terrain maker product. I am good with Google and consequently have probably found all positive and negative reviews and comments about this stuff on the web. Some people do really amazing work with this stuff as evident by the picture above of someone else work I found online (sorry about not giving credit not sure where I found it saved to my PC years ago). The biggest criticism I have encountered is that the hexes do not fit together well.

In the last few weeks I put together some extra plain hexes I had laying around and finally decided to take a real look at my terrain maker stuff. I was hoping to make some real final decisions; do I invest in more of this stuff? Should I put the blank hexes and finished hexes away in long term storage? Is this a real terrain option?

As you can tell from the hexes I did above my stuff looks fair at best. I highlighted the big problem areas and you can really see some of the hexes just do not fit together well. That being said I just can not bring myself to abandon this stuff.

I do have several terrain sheets made from old blankets. I also have a terrain mats sheet (can be seen in my 15mm SCW photos). And there is also the great looking stuff from TerraScapes problem is this stuff seems to have shot up in price!!!!. I also do not want to use above ground roads and rivers. Terrain mats has no rivers or roads on the sheets themselves and TerraScapes have great rivers but no roads built into the boards and $100 for a river board now!!!. So far looks like no real option yet. I may end up trying to paint some roads on my terrain guy mat as an alternative. I have seen the new old glory mats and they look interesting I may think about them as an option.

Random Update

2011-12-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

Only one random picture today. I saw this picture of my Grandfather in my Grandmothers apartment as a little kid and always thought maybe I had imagined it. I was shocked about four months ago when I found a copy of it hanging in my Uncles office. He had no idea where the original was and would not part with his copy so I had him scan it. I then printed and framed. So I at least have a copy of it. My Grandfather was probably about 17 when the picture was taken. The note on the bottom reads Grandfather Shlomo in the Polish Army 1935.

Now back to business, well toys that is. So what have I been doing? I have been painting a lot and buying to much with no real plan or purpose. Looking at my desk I see 20mm Hungarians (my two year old nephew came over last week and destroyed most of these so they have to be repainted and based my brother was like well looks like he likes your toys), a bunch of 6mm Adler Seven Years War that I am painting as an imaginary army, some 6mm Adler Seven Years War Prussian and Austrian artillery I plan to add to the existing armies and a mess of GHQ WWII German and Italian vehicles. My hope is to use most of the GHQ stuff for planed Hungarian and Slovak force three days war style. Thinking about some of the Germans as Chinese to fight my Japanese. I have also realized I have been reading like crazy last few months mostly Cold War histories. If anyone is into books on tape I bought and have been listening to The Rise and Fall of the Third Rich by William Shirer which is amazing. I tend to put my headphones on when I go for walks with the dog and he is now going out like six times a day.

As usual no real armies just painting a bunch of stuff. I am also starting to look at my old Volley and Bayonet rules again and may try a solo game with my Seven Years War stuff. At some point I will take pictures of some of this stuff and post. Let me know if anyone wants to see anything in particular.

Downtown fighting

2011-11-15T16:56:00.001-08:00

Just some pictures today of Peter Pig Israeli's, PLO and some new terrain. A fight in a strangely lush part of Lebanon.

RCW Madness

2011-10-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Finally an update!!! I took some of the Russian Civil War stuff out and snapped a few photos of a pivotal part of the battle, the white drive at Red held village. The buildings are mostly paper terrain trees timecast and mat itself is made up of a few rugs I bought at Target. The figures are all Peter Pig and one picture features my fearless White commander waiting for the game to end so I can take him out.

2011-10-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time for a progress update. I expanded the collection in several directions last month. Thanks to the "Daddy's Little Men" Blog I inquired about and purchased the Matchbox Build a Road set off ebay. The set cost me about $15 and I think is well worth the price. Specifically, the set includes several easy to put together paved roads and signs. I believe it will work very well with 15 and 20mm modern urban games.

I have also had my eye on Field Works 15mm urban buildings for some time and finally purchased several of them. I ordered the painted buildings and they arrived within three weeks. The buildings look fantastic and I will definitely order more of them in the future. Again I think these work perfect for 15 and 20mm modern games.

I also made an order to Eureka miniatures USA for some more WWI Italians Serbians and WWII Philippine infantry that I hope to use in my fictional Latin American 1930's armies. I placed the order on a Wednesday and the package actually arrived by Friday!!! I am always amazed at Eureka USA's turnaround rate and cannot recommend the figures or company enough. I am working on painting the Italians and hope to have pictures of all this stuff up shortly.

Lavotia to send troop to Youslav!!!

2011-09-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Breaking news from Rome this evening as Lavotian officials emerging from high level meetings with Italian leadership announced the commitment of a small contingent of troops to aid the Italian effort in "protecting the ethnic minority in Youslav" (decided to go fictional instead of Yugoslavian, so a Yugoslav inspired fictional setting). The units will ostensibly be under Lavotian command but will fall under the general Italian command structure.
Rumors have it that the deal involves Italian commitment to provide Lavotia with several blueprints and tracked vehicles along with specialists to train the experimental Lavotian armored corps.

Trees, Italians and waisting time.

2011-09-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

Finally back to posting sorry about the hiatus. I was actually working non stop for about three weeks, 14 hour days, but that's over and good since I now have some extra cash for miniatures. I already made a purchase for some WWII figures from Adler and took advantage of the GHQ sale at the start of the month.

Last weekend I did have some time to work on some trees from Woodland Scenic and finally paint the 15mm Eureka WWI Italians. The trees were not that difficult to put together however, do to my impatience I used way to much glue and now some dried glue is unfortunately visible on some of the trees. I tried to cover this up with limited success. So the trees came out fair usable but not great. The 15mm Italians are great looking figures and as far as I know the only early war 15mm Italians around.

15mm SCW

2011-08-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

After writing the last post about my 15mm/10mm Spanish Civil War dilemma I ventured onto the miniatures page and found a post noting some new sculpts in the Spanish Civil War range. This is a very interesting development, aside from making my choice of scale more difficult, as the range is well done however, several of the sculpts are older and could use a recasting. I hope that the new figures are the start of several new additions to the range. I would love to see some CTV.

Above most of my SCW nationalists. They consist in majority of a Moroccan force. I have the foreign legion still in their bags from Peter Pig but they will be added shortly. As a note the tanks are from QRF and Peter Pig and the buildings from a company called Monday night productions.

15mm 10mm?

2011-08-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I am back from vacation and slowly settling back into real life. I hope that I will have some additional free time the next few weeks and as a result will be able to stop neglecting the blog.
Back to miniature related thoughts my indecisiveness has crept up again and I have begun alternating between the idea of continuing the 15mm banana wars project in that scale or moving to 10mm. The 10mm thoughts are mostly motivated by Pendrakens new Spanish Civil War line. The figures themselves look very nice and my understanding is that the new packs are composed of figures in several poses unlike some of the one pose packs that soured me on the WWI line. I even went so far as to order and paint some of the pendraken figures.
Obviously there are pluses and minuses with each option. I hope to settle on a choice shortly and expend my energy painting rather then browsing 10mm and 15mm web pages and pictures.

North recognized

2011-07-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

News from San Bernadino this afternoon as the country officially recognizes the military government set up in the north of Costa Soneblo. Technicians have reportedly already crossed the border to conduct surveys of the mineral rich north. Rumors of a new series of trade agreements have begun to circulate. Above a photo of San Bernadinian regulars marching to the border region "in defense of the rightful government of the people of Costa Soneblo".

2011-06-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Disappointing news posted on the Miniatures Page that apparently Khurasan miniatures has temporarily suspended operations. The good news is that they assure that this is only temporary and that they will shortly be up and running again.
In my limited dealings with Khurasan they are a fantastic company, my order arrived within days of being placed. The figures are also fantastic and the company produces some stuff for lesser known conflicts which I am always on the lookout for.
I guess the expansion of my Bolivians will have to wait. Lets hope they will be back up shortly and when they are back I hope to place a larger order and give them my support.

More Modern Middle East

2011-06-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

I tried my hand at painting some Jordinians in 15mm. These are Peter Pig WWII British infantry figures. I also have a few SHQ armored cars for them. I think they look the part at least 67 to the 80's.

more modern 15mm

2011-06-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes figures themselves get me into a period, well more interested, or at the least interested in buying and painting the figures. The Peter Pig modern Israeli figures along with the Lebanon blog linked below pushed me over the edge in this case and I just had to paint these figures.

They were a joy to paint and I think came out very well. I used primarily the Russian WWII green color which I think matches Israeli uniforms I have seen (well some of them in real life these look all kinds of colors not to mention the tanks which I have personally seen from light green to a yellow tan).

I am not sure I will ever even use these figures for anything but they are nice. Anyone looking into the period should consider them. One note, they are defiantly geared to +1982 so if wanting to do earlier periods you can use some of the figures, I bought the Israeli's with ak47 just in case, but probably should look into other figures available.

Things are heating up

2011-06-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Images from the capital of Costa Sonedlo today as forces loyal to Parliament erect barricades. Several ministers have fled to the South as Parliament has declared marshal law. Reports have circulated that militias are being formed under the commands of several officers with the apparent intent of marching north to crush what is being called the "generals rebellion".

SYW dustup

2011-05-27T20:00:00.001-07:00

Was able to get the Seven Years War armies out for some fun a few weeks ago. British Prussians vs. Austrians. Did not get to finish but did have a chance to snap some pictures. Game was on the basement floor so ignore the shoes in the background and enjoy the pictures.

Austrians!!!

2011-05-24T10:28:00.001-07:00

Austrian maneuvers lets say sometime around 1913. My obsession with Austrian armies continues as the 15mm Austrian army keeps slowly growing. These are all Peter Pig figures which I can not recommend enough. I used a shadow blue color for the uniforms which is consistent with color plates in the Osprey book and others I have found online of early WWI Austrian uniforms.

I also have a fair amount of early WWI Russians painted and some Eureka Italians. At some point I will have to get a solo battle going.

New Government in Costa Soneblo?

2011-05-21T12:02:00.001-07:00

This afternoon General Ramon Mendoza a career military officer made the following statement:
Due to the continuing inability of Parliament to form a legitimate government in the face of continuous internal and external threat I take upon myself the mantle of leadership and hereby call on all nationalistic members of the armed forces to join with me and defend our homeland.
General Mendoza in his capacity as military commander of the Northern district holds actual control of that mineral rich area of the country. Light fighting has been reported to have followed the generals announcement as garrisons loyal to the general and forces loyal to Parliament clash.

Polish Army in France

2011-05-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

As followers of the blog are aware I like Peter Pig figures and have an interest in WWI especially the Eastern Front. Some of the first figures I painted in this scale were a mix of Peter Pig figures in an attempt to model the Polish Army during the Russo-Polish War.

Recently I purchased a few more of the Peter Pig specific Polish range figures to expand on the figures I had painted for the Blue Army that fought against the Soviets. These figure casts are modeled after Polish troops that fought in France, which is an interesting force itself, but work okay for the new model Polish forces.

I went with a sky blue type of color and mixed in a few Spanish Civil War figures with adrian helmets. I have found it almost impossible to obtain clear uniform information on this force so I have left a lot of the figures plain. I think they will pass well for scenarios in France and in the East during the post war period.

Going Modern

2011-05-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Something a little different these are 15mm Peter Pig Vietnam figures. I have had these for years but recently repainted and based them. These figures can are from the Vietnam range but will likely be used when I bring my fictional South Americans to the 60's-70's. These guys will be perfect for American intervention forces in the region.

Still plugging away at the Spanish Civil War stuff and will probably have some updates to the 1930's story line and pictures up shortly.

Parliament Responds!!!

2011-04-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Cables out of Costa Soneblo today gave word of Parliaments response to the crisis caused by the threatened return of the monarchy and declaration of support in areas of the South. Several parliamentary members (pictured above), have declared a state of emergency and the establishment of the Second Costa Soneblan Republic. A new constitution has been commissioned with the stated goal of establishing a liberal democracy. Representative Eva Calderon gave the following statement: "The move by the monarchy is obviously a grab by forces of reaction to claim the new found wealth located in the North of the Republic from its rightful owners, namely the workers of Costa Soneblo. Any return by the monarchy, or support for the forces of reaction will be met with combined force of the people of Costa Soneblo."

Independent reports note that voices of decent were apparently voiced as well. Several members of parliament noted that a vote of government was never conducted nor was a vote commissioning the establishment of a new constitution. An unidentified member of the house is quoted as stating (that), "this is simply a grab for power by several members of the body. They have no legitimacy and we oppose this move." It is unclear how events will transpire.

Chaco War

2011-04-24T22:40:00.001-07:00

I finally finished (apart from flocking the bases), the Chaco War Bolivians. I think the figures themselves turned out very nice even though my poor painting skills do not do them justice.

The third photo shows the figures next to a base of Eureka Bulgarians painted for my fictional South American army. I included this picture just to show a comparison of the figures. I think they can work well together although the Chaco War figures are a bit more "beefy" and for lack of a better word a bit cartoonish in my opinion. This is not a problem for me and I think they painted up nicely. The one figure I do have a problem with is the officer. I think his cap was sculpted a bit to big and he looks odd in my opinion. You can see what I mean if you enlarge picture one. In the future I may just substitute Eureka Bulgarian officers.

Finally Back

2011-04-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long unintended vacation from blogging and I apologize for the lack of updates. I do have legitimate excuses I was terribly under the weather for about two weeks with what I believe were extreme allergies and poor reaction to allergy medication. Then my great aunt passed away and I had the inevitable influx of family into NY for the funeral.

A bit about my great aunt. She was a real giant born sometime around 1913-1915 in Poland (she always lied about the age at the funeral they said she was 100). Her father shot his foot in order to be released from the Russian Army in 1914 and shortly after moved to America. Funny because on the other side of the eventual family my great uncle was fighting for Austria Hungary.

A few years later the family home in Poland was burned down by what she described as Cossacks and her and her mother were forced to depend on the charity of neighbors. Eventually they were able to migrate to the US around 1920. She arrived in Grand Central Station met her father, who she obviously did not remember and moved into his tenement apartment in Brooklyn. There they lived and the family purchased a grocery store. She herself became a bookkeeper and in WWII served as a neighborhood air raid Marshall.

A few years ago she reluctantly moved to an assisted living facility in New Jersey next to her daughter. She saw her family for passover the night before she died and did mention that she had a dream that her sister and brother in law (my grandfather and grandmother both deceased), came to visit her the previous night. She went to sleep that evening and passed away. She is survived by two children four grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. I always called her and thought of her as a second grandmother and although I will miss her greatly can say she lived a full life and died on her own terms the same way she lived. (she eventually got her drivers licence at age 85).

So there you have it a full life. As for miniatures I am still working on the Bolivians for the Chaco War and hope things get back to normal so I can get some serious painting done this weekend. I promise more pictures and miniature related updates within the next few days.

Khurasan Miniatures arrives!!!!

2011-04-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

I made the order to Khurasan miniatures on Wednesday and the figures arrived this morning!!! Talk about quick turnaround. The order was simple, one pack of Bolivians and one pack of Paraguayans. I took the figures out cleaned off the flash and snapped the pictures above. First impression, very good. The figures are clean, have a good deal of character and look comparable in size to the Peter Pig and Eureka. I am going to try and get a few painted and perhaps even based this weekend at which point I will add some pictures of the completed figures. Now I need some Vickers tanks.

South for Sancho?

2011-04-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Representatives from several Southern enclaves have declared a provisional government under the control of king Sancho. Sancho who was raised in the more traditional agricultural south traditionally enjoyed support in several of these regions. For the time being there has been no reply from either the republican government or Sancho himself. This is the setting for my 1930's South American or Balkan war campaign. Events will continue until I have several factions fighting for control of the country and Northern oil and mineral region. Thinking something like a mix of Spanish Civil War and Chaco War. I am still painting forces which consist primarily of Peter Pig Spanish Civil War figures and a mix of Eureka miniatures. And I have noticed that the new Chaco War figures are out in 15mm and I think these will fit in nicely.

Crazy Ivans!!!

2011-03-29T23:10:00.001-07:00

Strike force Georgia or any modern Russian ex republic. These are liberation miniatures modern Russians. Very nice figures.

Return of the King?

2011-03-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Several radio stations have reported that a statement has been issued by former Costa Soneblan monarch Edwardo Sancho emanating from his current residence in Portugal. The statement reads as follows:

"Due to the current political crisis caused by the inability of the republican politicians to form a coherent government and rule the people in the form to which they are accustomed I have once again taken upon myself the burden of servicing the nation and will immediately make arrangements to return to Costa Soneblo and assume responsibilities of leadership of the government. I hereby pronounce a new age of stability and prosperity for our beloved country."

As historians of Costa Soneblo are aware Sancho was forced to resign and leave the country after the democratic protests and strikes of 1930. His decision to leave the country was further influenced by the public release of evidence of intensive royal corruption and embezzlement of funds from the state treasury as well as the publication of several high profile articles evidencing a history of mental illness in the person of the king himself and the existence, names and stations of several of the kings mistresses.

It is hard to anticipate the impact the statement will have on the current parliament or on the population. It is clear that the Sancho enjoys very little support amongst many elements of the population which as a whole was largely in favor of his removal from power.

Meanwhile

2011-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile.......................... As the international community monitors the situation in Yugoslavia representatives of the Costela mining concern announce the probable existence of large oil and mineral deposits in the Costa Soneblan Northern region. With the Costa Soneblan Parliament in a state of flux following the resignation of king Sancho it is unclear what the impact of the discovery will be. The international community watches and many hope this will be the start of a new era of prosperity and peace for Costa Soneblo.

6mm Japanese

2011-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

For some time I have been slowly assembling a small force of 6mm Japanese. I have been using Adler Russian infantry and recently bought some GHQ Japanese vehicles. I want to base this force on Japanese troops fighting in China during the late 30's. At some point I hope to use WWII Germans as Chinese maybe with some Africa Korps for figures in caps. The Russians will be the standard Adler Russians which will have to due even though the helmet is wrong.

Paper Terrain

2011-02-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

I like Paper Terrain products. I finally finished the Russian hamlet pack a few months back and recently purchased the Mediterranean hamlet pack pictured above. This weekend I spent a few hours constructing the buildings and although there was some frustration, mainly due to my impatience and lack of artistic ability, I believe the completed buildings are very serviceable despite the numerous defects do to my poor construction ability.

Long story short I would encourage gamers and modelers to consider this product. Even I can put this stuff together somewhat which speaks volumes about the simplicity of building these things. The price is also right, it cost me about $20 for this village. I will base the buildings in the next few days and they will probably see use in my Balkan settings as well in fictional South America and SCW. These buildings could actually even work for Florida.

Italians arrive

2011-02-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Pictures taken from the front of general Braulio arriving as the new commander of Italian forces in the war torn region. Here the general is seen conferring with the newly organized black legion comprised of local volunteers as well as what appear to be troops of the Italian army. Some of the troops appear to be clearing the village. Rumors have spread that Italian forces have begun construction of base camps in cleared villages as well as construction of a small airfield in this sector.

These are some more of the 20mm Axel WWII Italians. Overall these are very nice figures although I did think some of the poses were a bit odd. I may try to add some of the shq Italians to the collection. The Italian force continues to grow and now I have to find some 20mm Italian armor.

The Italian Army Grows

2011-02-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Angered and somewhat embarrassed by the slow progress of his volunteer legion someplace in Yugoslavia along with several setbacks in clashes with troops loyal to the government Mussolini expands the Italian presence by "allowing" further Italian volunteers free passage to the war torn region. The force is reported by observers on the ground to be steadily growing thanks to an influx of newly painted Axel 20mm miniatures. Stay tuned for further updates.

2011-01-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

Eureka Order Arrives

Quick update today just had to comment on the great service from Eureka miniatures USA. I placed an order last Thursday and received the package in the mail on Saturday!!!!

The order mostly consisted of Balkan War Serbs and Bulgarians as well as a mix of stuff I thought would be usefull for my 15mm fictional South American setting. The figures are all very nice but I was especially impressed by the WWII Philipine infantry which I painted as fictional San Bernadino para militaries or light infantry.

Crisis in the Balkans

2010-12-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of the French and Italians in action. The French are SHQ 20mm while the Italians are Bandara 20mm figures. The village is from paper terrain. If you look to close, aside from my poor painting on the figures, you will also see all the errors I made in putting together the village. Patience is not one of my virtues and with this village I worked fast. I actually built a lot of it in about an hour with a second hour spent basing and flocking. Nonetheless, although far from perfect I think the village looks fine and will work well. Although it is 15mm scale I think it can work okay if not perfect for the WWII 20mm as well as the 15mm Russian Civil War stuff.

The figures themselves are all great and easy to paint. The Italians were bought from Liberation miniatures and I think look very nice.

Crisis in the Balkans?

2010-12-27T23:06:00.000-08:00

For some time I have contemplated the idea of a hypothetical war between France and Italy during the late 1930's. It would give me a chance to use some of the lesser used WWII forces plus all of those cool 1930's tanks and guns. Tensions were definitely high between the two nations throughout much of the 30's although the idea of Mussolini taking on one of the big European powers on his own at this time is somewhat implausible. I thought of the idea of an African conflict but decided I wanted a somewhat European type setting.

I finally thought up the idea of setting this thing in Yugoslavia. With some creative licence it could work. We know that throughout the 30's Mussolini fomented tensions from time to time in Yugoslavia by backing Croatian nationalists. So what if some mess occurs in Yugoslavia and some Croatian groups are in open rebellion. Mussolini sends in some "volunteers" to test Italian fighting mettle. They subsequently take a bloody nose in some clashes with the Yugoslav army. Now in order to save face Mussolini is forced to send in a serious force "to protect the Croatian people". The French political scene is somewhat more adventurous then historically and sends its own mission to protect their Yugoslav allies.

So there we go. Again not historical, or probably even plausible but fun wargame setting nonetheless. This conflict would seemingly set up interesting tactical situations for both sides. The Italian infantry would probably be more aggressive however, would seem to have no answer to French tanks. On the other hand the Italians would probably have the advantage in the air.

To start I have a paper terrain Russian village I have been working on which can kind of work for parts of Yugoslavia. I also have some SHQ French and finally painted some Bandera Italians I had laying in a box for about a year. Who knows at some point I may even add some partisans, or if I can find some 20mm WWI Serbs, to act as Yugoslav army.

2010-12-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

My newest fad 20mm early WWII.

2010-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Okay part two the Pendraken 10mm German East African figures. I have been fascinated by this front ever since I was a kid and watched an episode of the Young Indiana Jones set on this front. My orginal intent was to try this in 15mm but I could not find suitable figures which worked out all the better as I instead purchased some of these great looking Pendraken 10mm.

The pictures show two of the poses in the pack. The pack also contains a European officer however, I have not painted any of them yet. Overall very nice figures and highly recommended.

2010-08-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have been continuously drooling over some of the pictures on the new Pendraken miniatures forum. The contributors to the forum are very nice and I thought I would try and add some of my own pictures. I think a lot of people are interested in seeing pictures of the figures painted and based so I hope I can provide a small contribution. So this week is going to be kind of Pendraken 10mm WWI week. I am going to try and add pictures of the German East Africans, Reds and Austrians next.

So first here are the WWI Russians. I have a real interest in the Eastern Front and have Russians and Austrians in 15mm as well. The Pendraken figures are very nice, a great value, and easy to paint. I have about another 100 or so Russians that I will get to at some point. My only real issue was the limited number of poses however, I was advised on the Pendraken forum that some of the Russo-Turkish War figures would fit in as well. This is good to know and I will purchase some of these packs in the future to add more poses.

As of now my 10mm projects are all pendraken and include WWI Eastern Front, some WWI East Africa, Franco Prussian War French with Austrians to follow maybe someday if Pendraken add one pack of resculpted Austrian regular line infantry. Sorry, I know the old figure is adequate but I am spoiled by the fantastic looking new French figures.

2010-08-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

I finally sat down this weekend and got the Reinforcements by Post 6mm SYW Prussian Army based and ready to go. I even took some pictures. I can not recommend Reinforcements by Post enough they are easy to deal with, will work to customize orders and, as can be clearly seen from the photos, produce a great product. The also seem like really nice people.

The figures are going to form the base for my SYW Prussian Army. I hope to expand on this force as I plan for the Prussians to eventually be my largest period force, although I have to admit I would much rather paint good and just French and Austrians then evil Prussians. Nonetheless the first step is to add some generals as the starter army does not include any. I think I may have an Adler figure for the Prussian king himself that I may add. I also think I have some unpainted artillery someplace so will have to dig them up and get them painted and based. Then an order to baccus as I will need more infantry.

Aside from miniatures I recently finished A Game of Thrones which is the first book in the a Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I thought the story was fantastic and highly recommend the book. I am going to try and grab the other books of the series off Amazon this week.

2010-08-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today some pictures of the fictional South American Forces. These are all Peter Pig Spanish Civil War figures painted as Republicans. In my fictional world they represent regulars of the El Andostadorian army. The republic is in the middle of a military reorganization and as a result uniformity is not always standard.

I like the Peter Pig figures although they are older casts and think that I finally got the SCW republican colors right. I am not to sure about the Flames of War bases. This is more of a modeling project then anything else at this point and I tend to be a bit crazy about bases I think look right. I thought Flames of War basing would be practical and at first I was happy with the look however am now thinking of moving the figures to smaller bases. At some point I will decide. I also plan to paint some non historical based units for this project at some point so look out for further updates. Any feedback on these fictional based armies would be greatly welcomed as well.

2010-07-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

So what have I been painting? Well the past few months have not been very productive. I have managed to paint some Peter Pig 15mm Spanish Civil War figures. I am painting these with the intent of using them as both Spanish Civil War forces and as the base for my fictional Latin American 1930's nations. The South American project is based on a war between a republic and dictatorship in the 1930's over control of a third weaker country. I have been developing these three nations for years and at one point even painted some 6mm modern figures for them. About a year ago I decided to move the idea to the 1930's (I think 1890's would also be cool like a Great Pacific War type of thing), so I can use all the cool 1930's equipment. I hope to get pictures up as soon as I have some stuff based.

I also placed and received an order from Reinforcements by Post for a 6mm Baccus SYW starter army. Those following the blog know that I have built French, British and Austrians (well bought the Austrians), so I thought the natural next step was to get some Prussians. These figures will form the base for my Prussian force which will be expanded as I think I will need many Prussians since they will probably be fighting either Austrians and French or Austrians and Russians once I get some Russians painted. A good thing is that I now have some nice matches and can even do some WAS with the Austrians against the French in Italy. Just need some more of the great timecast Italian terrain.

2010-07-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of the new terrain I have been sampling. I purchased these boards from a company called TerraScapes http://terranscapes.com/products/playingsurfaces.php.
I think they are very nice especially with 6mm figures. As soon as I get some extra cash I am going to put together an order for a few more. As usual you should be able to enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

2010-05-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Okay long time no update. I am hoping to start catching up on the blog shortly. For the time being some pictures of Peter Pig Russian Civil War and WWI stuff. Enjoy.

Action at Jena

2010-01-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update with some pictures of the first of my 6mm Napoleonic armies. I finished of my sample order from Adler and will shortly start expanding on these forces. I am trying to keep focus and decided I will only order figures for the French at this time until I get a good sized force up then I will move on to expanding on the Prussians. As for the adler figures as usual I think they look great and I am very happy with the basing.

New Years Part 2

2010-01-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

I wonder if it is a good idea for me to record proposed projects. Miniature painting is my hobby after all and I tend to like to paint and purchase what comes to my mind (and what I can afford), at any given time. I am an organizational person but often like the fact that my hobby allows me to use my creative and even impulsive side.

Then I ventured down to the basement this morning and happened to glance at my boxes of half completed projects and unpainted miniatures. The ever growing selves of shame. This is where I store unfinished stuff after I finally come to the realization that I just have really no interest in finishing them or when something else interests me. Last year I really tried to get more organized and have been happy with the results. I now find that I have more actual units and even armies put together. So I have concluded that I should lay out some general projects and try to stick with them or at least not start one if I decide to replace it with something else. So in attempt at organization here we go 2010 general plans:

1) 6mm Seven Years War- The endless project. I am going to try and save up for a Prussian starter army from Reinforcement by Post. I also want to try and paint either some Russians or more likely a smaller army maybe Bavarians.

2) 15mm Russian Civil War- This project is ongoing as well. I have sizable Reds
and White forces and a good number of Polish and Freikorps. My goal is to
expand the Reds both regular army +1919 and early Red Guards.

2b) 15mm WWI- Okay I am going to cheat a bit and call this 2b. Basically Eastern
Front Austrians and Russians. I have a good amount of Austrians so would like to
add a few more Russians by 2011. The Russians can also double as Whites.

3) 6mm Napoleonic- A big one here. Over the last few months I have finally
definitively settled on a time period and figures. I am going to use the Adler 6mm figures and go for the 1806 campaign. I have started on the Prussians and want to build a good sized force of Prussians and at least some French by 2011.

4) San Bernadino 15mm/20mm- My weird one. I invented San Bernadino in college
on a rainy day. I put together a history and even some units in 6mm. Now I am going to try and bring it back. Basically 1930’s South American nation fighting civil war and neighbors. I have already started on some of the forces using Raventhrop figures and will post more info in the future.

5) All the rest- Okay my safety. Something else is going to be done in 6mm not sure
what but something. Maybe more Swedes or some WSS stuff or even Franco Prussian War. What ever else I will consider it a win if I have actual sizable forces complete. Also I am sure I will paint more of the beautiful Adler WW2 figures.

New Years Part I

2009-12-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

New Years Part I

The New Year is coming up which usually causes me to take stock of my never ending miniature projects. A big reason for starting this blog in the first place was to have a record of what I have been doing and what I was thinking before my mind inevitably changes focus and moves me to an entirely new project. So how did I do with last years projects:

1) Terrain- This was a big hope last year and I accomplished just about nothing. I decided the GHQ terrain system was not going to work and that I was just not into hexes. I am currently looking into Angel Barracks and other terrain board options. I am even thinking of building my own terrain board.

2) Seven Years War- Good job on this one. Saved up and purchased a very nice looking Austrian army. Also painted some terrain and camps. So now I have French, British and Austrians.

3) 10mm 18th century/6mm Ancients- Non starters. I decided I did not love the 10mm 18th century base system I was using and kind of ditched the project. For ancients I am still not sold on Baccus for the period. I may still end up going 10mm for ancients although also not to happy with the choices in this scale.

4) Everything else- Did well keeping at least somewhat focused. I painted a bunch of Pendraken 10mm. I did a good job of keeping this focused to Eastern front WWI Austrians and Russians and Franco Prussian French. Now I have starter forces for the three armies. I also did a good job with the WWII 6mm Adler stuff staying mostly with Russians, Germans and French early war stuff.

So I think I did okay kind of a B. Overall things were really in transition this year so I probably did not get as much done as I would of liked. I did not really begin any non starter projects only to abandon them which is a big win for me. I also thought out projects a bit more and decided not to start a bunch of stuff I would probably have ditched. By next post I will try and get next years big projects laid out.

2009-11-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

To all American viewers anyway and finally an update. As usual I have been painting little bits of just about everything. I find that I can usually put aside about 35-40 minutes every few days for painting and in this limited time I tend to just pull out my unpainted boxes and grab whatever comes to mind. Last few weeks saw a bunch of 20mm WWII Germans and Early war Soviets get painted. These are very nice figures from SHQ miniatures. SHQ provided great service as well I received the figures from the UK in about a week. On the WWII theme I also recently painted the WWII adler French and Germans pictured above as well as the GHQ Soviet tanks. I can’t say enough about the adler figures as these are truly works of art. I never really seriously considered WWII but am now developing more of an interest simply as an excuse to buy more of these figures. Just wish I could find cheaper GHQ tanks and guns to go with them.

2009-10-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well almost two months and no miniature updates, well sorry about that. Life in general, like usual, has intruded. I have not really been working much on the miniature front. Mostly painting odds and ends such as in 6mm Adler Civil War, Baccus Franco Prussian War (I know I have 10mm but these are really nice as well), and a some Peter Pig 15mm WWI and WWII. At some point I am going to decide on a project for the next few months and get moving. Above are some pictures of some odds and ends I have painted the last few weeks.

2009-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

No more Shea!!!

Okay so anyone following the blog knows I am a big Yankee fan and baseball fan in general. Well my Dad and brother are huge Mets fans. I decided to take my Dad out to the new stadium “Citi Field”. It happened to be the last Mets game of the year as they did not make the playoffs but we both enjoyed the new stadium nonetheless. An absolutely great looking park although I do miss the old Shea even though it was a dump in comparison.

As for the real teams unfortunately I would not be surprised with an Angel Philies series. Although I am hoping for a Dodger Yankee matchup with Yankee victory of course. Above some snap shots I took at City field.

2009-08-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

I am what I would classify as a fair painter at best. I think the most enjoyable aspect of this hobby for me is the actual assembly of figures on the table. I like the look of a good sized force all laid out. To that end, I usually collect smaller scale figures 6mm and 10mm. I would say my approach to painting is to slap on paint and then base the figures. If they look okay from a few feet away then I am fine with them. That being said I still love the look of well painted figures. I often spend time marveling at the 6mm photos on the GHQ forum or other web pages.

A few months ago I mentioned that I had made and received an order from Reinforcements by post. This week I managed to actually take them out for a good look and snap the above photos. I have to say these figures look amazing. My directions were followed perfectly and they were even based on litko bases like my other 6mm SYW forces. I can not recommend the company enough. I hope to save up some extra cash in the near future to order some more figures from them. The one and only drawback is that these figures put my own poorly painted SYW figures to shame.

2009-08-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Painting has been somewhat curtailed since the last post just a bunch of personal stuff and real life getting in the way of my miniature world. When painting I have been trying to stay focused and chug along with the 10mm World War One Austrians and Russians. I ordered a bunch of these last month and really want to get them done. Basically, as kind of shown in the pictures in my last post, when I have time to paint I try to tackle a bunch of these at a time. In 10mm, like 6mm, I find the block approach works. That is I do about 30-100 figures at a time in parts, base them, prime, paint flesh uniform etc… I find this way I can do a step a day and get a sizable force actually done.

The above are pictures of my 10mm force to date. I staged a small battle using rules I have been trying to write. Still need a little tweaking but think I am getting there. Anyway, hope viewers enjoy the pictures all figures are 10mm Pendraken. Next step is to finish off a pack of cossakes and hundreds of Russian infantry.

2009-06-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

10mm madness!!!

Since painting and basing the 10mm Austrians which were the subject of my last post I decided I like them!!! In fact I like them a lot. So I naturally went online and purchased a bunch more as well as a bunch of Russians for them to fight.

Good thing is I have been painting the Austrians like crazy (have done about 100 of them), and have even started on some of the Russians. Bad thing is I ran out of bases and now have to wait the inevitable month for litko to send my order of bases out. Once I do receive the bases I should have a sizable force of Austrians ready to go.

Now as I mentioned I like these figures but, I specifically like how they look en mass and based up. The only real problem I have are the poses. Both the Austrians and Russian packs come in 3 poses. The Austrians have one good pose guy bending down and advancing. One I would say almost useless pose guy on one knee and a very nice Commander advancing with pistol drawn. The Russians are worse. The advancing infantry pose has no bayonet which would have been really nice on an advancing figure. As is the pose just looks a bit odd. The second pose is on one knee like the Austrian however with a very nice bayonet. I have no idea what to do with these guys. The last pose is a nice looking commander.

The whole is better then the parts:
Okay so I do not love the poses. Nonetheless like I said I still like the figures. I put the kneeling figures in with the advancing figures and just based them. Nice, not great but from a few feet away looks like a mass of figures advancing. So I have the look I am going for. Now I have read that Magister militron will be doing WWI Eastern Front at some point so who knows maybe when these come out I will take a look and supplement the Pendraken figures.

2009-05-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

Since the last post I completed the 6mm GHQ rebasing project. I also painted several more liberation miniatures 20mm modern figures. Mostly some soviet types as Iraqis and Eastern European Balkan types. I also received the Reinforcements by post order. The figures are very nice. The only thing I am not used to is that the rows infantry are based very close together which is a bit different then how I have based my figures. I think I like the farther apart look a bit better. Once I find the time to attach the flags to the bare poles I will post some pictures of the new Austrian force. My collection now consists of the French, British and Austrians. Next up I am going to paint tons of Russians myself and save money to eventually buy painted Prussians, probably a huge force, maybe double the Austrians. I think with the Prussians I will request that the rows of figures be based a bit apart.

I have also been playing around with 10mm WWI figures. I have a few packs from pendraken and have started painting and basing the Austrians. Although not as detailed as the 15mm figures it is much easier to paint and assemble a sizable force in 10mm. I am not sure I will buy more 10mm WWI but I do think these are nice figures. I have posted some pictures above. Also pictured are photos of 1919-20’s reds in 10mm. I think 15mm is probably better for forces like the Reds and Whites which are not as uniform. I would need to add many other packs into the 10mm Reds bases to have the variation which red units of the period had. I did try to vary the uniforms a bit. I think the more uniformed Austrians look great in mass even better then my 15mm Austrians.

2009-05-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

I have had some progress with the massive GHQ rebasing project. I would say I am about 90% done. I still have no idea what I am going to do with these figures as I have relatively small forces done and very few tanks. I love the GHQ tanks and APCs but they are just so expensive!!! At a time I used Navwar but the GHQ are just so much nicer and fun to paint. I am going to try and organize the infantry into some kind of army or at least theater. From what I have put together at this point I have small forces for the following that I may try to build on:

1) Modern Africa (FFL, Rebels, Fictional government troops, Cubans)
Need: American backed government troops, Mercenaries, Russian advisors, South Africans, many more tanks APC’s).

2) Balkans/E.Europe (Soviets, Serb/Croatian mix, Muslim fighters, UN, British).
Need: More Serb and Croatians and UN.

3) South America (Fictional Russian backed, Cubans, Dutch Europeans, 1960’s US)
Need: More tanks, American backed government troops, more Europeans).

4) Middle East (Egyptians, Iraqis, Jordanians, Muslim fighters, Syrians)
Need: More tanks, Iranians.

5) Vietnam (some French for 1st war and some Americans)
Need: If I decide to do this more Americans and N. Vietnamese and NVA

Basically I have to choose one of these options and go with it. I will probably end up going with 1 or 3. Above are some pictures of the rebased troops. Mostly the Africans, rebel forces and Soviet backed government troops.

2009-05-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

I suspect like most miniature painters/gamers at times I look at figures I painted and based a few years ago and think how I can improve on them or rebase them to my current standard. Also, I suspect, like most painters/gamers I do not enjoy the actual process of rebasing. In some respect I would almost rather buying new figures. I have two big rebasing projects I have put off for about a year. This weekend I decided to finally get started with one. I am going to rebase the GHQ modern infantry figures I painted and based about two years ago to conform with my current GHQ figures which I think look much better and are based more or less for cold war commander. Above are some of the figures mostly modern African forces getting soaked Friday night and initial steps of rebasing on Sunday.

2009-04-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have been sent some preview pictures of the Reinforcement by Post order so I decided to post them. I think these look very good and can’t wait to see them when the order arrives. These will make a nice addition to my SYW armies.

2009-03-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of the growing Pendraken 10mm WSS army. These have been painted to represent Spanish troops of the tercio and will eventually form part of the French Army I am hoping to put together for the Italian theater of the war.

I have always been fascinated by the lace wars period however, have tended to focus on the Seven Years War. Recently I started to read a bit about the WSS and the amount of small states involved as well of contingents of small forces in each army really appealed to me. I decided I would make a go of it as it gave me an excuse to purchase some of the Pendraken 10mm 18th century figures. I hope to start by building a French army for the period. Those following the blog know that I already have a French SYW army in 6mm with Baccus and that it would probably make more sense to expand that army into the earlier period as some of the regimental uniforms would work at this scale. Then again also evident if following the blog is that my projects and purchases never really make sense. Usually more of what I feel like painting and dreaming of assembling during my increasingly rare free time. So therefore I present the Spanish contingent of the French army. Very colorful in the old uniforms.

2009-03-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Some better pictures of the GNW Swedes.

2009-03-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

Some poor pictures of the GNW Swedes. I will try to take and post some better pictures shortly. Like most pictures on the blog if you click you will get a larger view which may be a bit better then the smaller pics. Hope someone is reading and will enjoy?

2009-03-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

Over a month since my last post, wow time flies. So what’s been going on? Well I have actually been painting a great deal. Maybe it has something to do with job stability (I seem to be the only one as just about everyone I talk to has either been downsized, let go or transferred although I guess I was hit early on when downsized from my last job), and relationship stability who knows.

Okay, I shamefully have done nothing with the 1956 project listed in my last post. At first I ran out of bases then just got sidetracked. Going back over it I decided it is just not a great project in 6mm. The main reason is that I like infantry stuff even in 6mm and for 56 I would have to use primarily British WWII infantry for both Israeli’s and Egyptians. Just not enough variety for this scale. I also do not really see anything in the GHQ catalogue that I would use for Syrians and Jordanian infantry for what ifs. So when I do get back to this I have decided it will be 1967. Much more variety as the Arab armies really develop a more soviet look as opposed to the Israeli’s. There is also more potential for inter Arab fighting which I am really more interested in then Arab-Israeli. Egypt and Syria as well as Egypt and Jordan had very tense relations in the late 60’s not to mention Egyptians in Yemen which would be interesting. I also have a small force of Syrians and Iraqis that could already be used for the time period although the Iraqis are really more geared to 70’s-80’s+.

What have I been painting then? Mostly Baccus figures. While rummaging through my unpainted piles of miniatures I found a bunch of Baccus GNW Swedish stuff that I bought several years ago piled away at some point and forgot about. Well I am happy to report that they are now all painted and based. I now have the start of a very nice looking Swedish army. I also painted a bunch of extra artillery packs that I found in the same bag and now have some artillery for the Swedes and some more artillery for the French painted and based.

Now what’s next. Well I made a big purchase from Reinforcement by Post for a Seven Years War Austrian army. I was just looking through the pictures on their site when I somehow justified this to myself. I do not remember my reasoning but it seemed to make sense at the time!!! So at some point these will be painted based packed and sent to me. Upon receipt expect pictures. I am actually not in a rush for this order to be complete as I am sure it will at least initially depress me as the figures will look about 110% better then the French and British I painted myself. I have also been putting away money every week to try and soften the eventual pain I feel when the actual bill for this arrives. So the longer it takes for them to be completed the longer till I have to pay the bill. Then again I am sure the figures will look great!!!

2009-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

I have not posted pictures in some time so decided to take a few last night. This is the start of 1956 Egyptian army using GHQ figures. As usual I am attracted to fringe periods and armies and this one fit right in. In 56, the Egyptians use all kinds of equipment and uniforms. In the picture below we have one of the heavy hitters in the Egyptian arsenal upguned Sherman with AMX turret. I will be using WWII British infantry for most of the Egyptian infantry.

No real idea where this project will end up going. I am looking at it more from a modeling perspective. Kind of a unique force to put together in 6mm. I may add some 1956 British and French at some point as well. Simultaneously I am hoping to get some of the desert terrain together. One of the hexes can be seen in the picture and I think it came out nicely.

2009-01-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

With the wedding and all that entailed I realized I did not provide a new years post. Usually a miniature related new years post takes inventory of last years completed projects and sets goals for next year. Kind of the end of year emails and meetings you get at work. Then inevitably these projects and deadlines for completion are not met also like at work. So why not, I will probably get a kick out of reading this in 2010.

Last year was a mess painting wise. The year started out well with a good deal of Adler WWII getting painted and Baccus 7YW. However, then I moved, got engaged, helped my wife then girlfriend through the Bar exam (which she passed!!!!!), lost my job, found a new much better job and then had a wedding. Besides all this during this period I had the great idea to switch to Adler 7YW for no reason and GHQ WWII infantry again for no reason.

Needless to say everything turned out a mess. The result was for the last four or five months of the year I more or less stopped painting. I felt completely overwhelmed with boxes of half painted useless miniatures. I did do two good things right after getting married (like two days later), I reorganized my workstation and painting area. I also put away all the old projects and decided to start new and concentrate on what I wanted to do and do it well in 09. Since then I have been more motivated. So here is a list of things I would like to get at least partially done in 09:

Terrain- I suck at building things and I love great looking terrain. I want to build 2 terrain maker 6mm boards. One European and one Africa/Middle East. I have them started but can’t seem to really get going. I am also having a hard time building the hills which sucks. I am looking all over for prebuilt really good looking 6mm terrain boards. I also want some 15mm terrain probably order some paper terrain Italian sets for Balkan terrain. Also, I want some timecast factory and urban terrain I can’t stop looking at that Stalingrad grain elevator!!!!

2) Seven Year War- I have decided to stop the madness and go back to the Baccus figures. Will need to get Prussians and Austrians not to mention tons of Russians.

3) 10mm 18th century- Decide on a basing size and get these going. War of Spanish Succession Spanish and French to start and fictional Free State in the colonies.

4) Ancients in 6mm- I have been slowly redoing my heroics and ros armies in epic scale. Problem is Heroics are no longer going to be available from Spirit Games in the US and rumor is that they may be closing? Time to switch to Baccus?

5) Anything else- This is kind of my catch all as I know tons of other stuff will come to mind I will order figures and then decide no I am no longer interested. What I want to do is at least get 50% of new stuff I buy painted. At least then I can reason it is not a total waist as I can get back to it and have a something other then a base or two done in the future.

2009-01-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

Before anything else I want to thank everyone for comments and emails regarding my last post and the wedding. Everything went very well and it was fun spending time with family and friends.

Now enough distractions and back to miniatures. Shockingly I have been doing some painting!!! I organized the work station and I have been somewhat motivated. Mostly been trying to set up small goals for each evening like prime one pack of Peter Pig Austrians, next day paint them then week goal get them on bases and off the painting table. So far it has been working, at least better then my output for the prior few months which was more or less paint nothing. I have been mostly painting 15mm stuff. Specifically, I have been working on the Japanese and Russian infantry for 1939 which are moving along. The Russians are mostly old glory with some Peter Pig thrown in for variety which I want for a 1939 force. The Japanese are Peter Pig and have been supplemented by Eureka figures which I ordered a few weeks ago.

The Eureka order was an impulse buy (well they all are), because I wanted some Balkan Wars stuff and some Early WWI Italians to face my ever growing Peter Pig early war Austrians. I was more then pleased with the service and figures. The fact that the online catalogue has pictures makes it a pleasure to order and the package came within a week.

The figures themselves are crisp and easy to paint. They look very good next to Peter Pig figures and I have even mixed some of the Japanese together as the Peter Pig Japanese in helmets have limited poses. The only thing I am not thrilled about is that many of the figures are in firing poses which looks okay but poor if you want to put the figure bases in column one behind the other. Some of the poses are also very animated which is a bit different then Peter Pig but nice as well, although I stayed away from the Turks as these look a bit to animated in the online photos. In sum these are very nice figures and Iam sure I will need more Bulgarians and Austrians at some point soon.

2008-12-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

I have been reading The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Let me fist preface by saying I have strong view points on Israel and the Middle East. I bought this book hoping for an interesting read which would highlight some of the problems associated with American lobbyist groups and the Israel Lobby in specific. I was very disappointed. In general the book takes a completely revisionist view of the history of Israel, is very loose in use of quotes, statistics and events to the extent of often omitting the larger context. The latter is probably the most disturbing aspect of the book as actions are often presented in a vacuum without consideration of broader events. I would point anyone considering purchasing this title to the excellent review posted on Amazon the fact that many of the other reviews are positive is mindboggling:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0374177724/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_2?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

The review by L. King

The authors could further benefit from reading some history regarding the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his policies towards the Yeshuv. In conclusion if you want a well balanced argument regarding the problem of lobbyists in US politics I would suggest some of Ralf Nader's books. If you want a very good explanation of international relations I would suggest Politics among Nations by Morgenthau. Skip this title.

Now back to miniatures. I have been trying to obtain some motivation by looking at nice pictures of miniatures on the web. So far this has not encouraged me to paint that much but has worked to convince me that I need to buy a bunch more stuff. I have been good however and only succumbed to one purchase which was peter pig figures on sale from Brookhurst Hobbies. I bought some more Russian Civil War stuff and some WWII Japanese on a whim. After purchasing some 15mm t-26 Russian tanks off ebay (okay 2 purchases dam ebay), to go with my early Russians I decided maybe the Japanese were not an impulse purchase after all and I can paint Russians and Japanese for 1939. The Russians already fit the part. For the Peter Pig Japanese I have been using grey kaki for the look of Japanese troops fighting in China in 1939. So hopefully I will have some Japanese and Russian pictures for the next update.

Above just some random photos of my growing 10mm French. When is Pendraken going to redo the Austrians!!!!

2008-11-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

As general Pecard watches the vaunted Prussians lines advance he advises his somewhat shaky men. "Not to worry, these Prussians are nothing but rabble when confronted by French volley." Then quickly rides off to the rear!!!

Here they are some of the 6mm Adler Prussians. These are the first batch of rebased infantry and a few hussars (the general is painted as a Russian). Not sure exactly what to do with them since I invested in Baccus for the period but they look real nice. I still can't decide if I like them more then the Baccus figures. In general I think I do but they are a real pain to base and I was forced to use tons of crazy glue just to keep them upright on the bases. Then again I think the final product looks good.

2008-11-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time between updates and a lot has been going on. Was downsized from one job, got hired at another. Freaked out about my mortgage, relaxed again once I found employment. All the while I thanked god I was not heavily invested in the stock market when the world seemed to be crumbling down around me (working in downtown Manhattan things really seemed like that). All the while I am trying to plan or more accurately help my fiancé plan our wedding. So as you can see I have legitimate excuses for not updating in some time. Lets just say for the past three months or so miniatures have not been on the top of my priority list.

Now things have started to settle down a bit. Been working at the new job for a few weeks getting acclimated. I am still having some problems working out a suitable painting area in the house which has caused a general lack of motivation to paint.

Well what have I been doing miniature wise? I have been working on 6mm GHQ Russians painted as Syrians. I have to say I am not that pleased with my efforts on the infantry. It has been very hard to get the camo down in this scale and the right look. I have also unfortunately become torn on the SYW 6mm project. This occurred when I took another good look at my Adler figures and decided they look really cool. So now I am in the process of rebasing them to the polemus standards. Not sure how much I like the mix of Adler and Baccus even in different armies.

Everything else is kind of on the backburner. I have been reading some interesting wargame discussion relating to an English Civil War in the 1930's which I am considering looking into modeling with Peter Pig figures. Thinking of rebasing all the Peter Pig stuff as well on the thicker litko bases. I think my primary concern will be to set up a work station in the house. I believe once I have an area to paint in motivation will increase.

2008-07-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Back to 15mm these are WWII French from Peter Pig. Very nice figures which I think painted up very well. I am not sure of the manufacture of the tank. I picked it up on ebay and think it looks really nice my only complaint is that the guy only had one and I would never be able to paint camo like this so I really wanted to buy about three for a tank section.

For some time now I have had an idea to game a 1930's conflict between France and Italy in Yugoslavia following a coup and civil war. Basically the Italians send "volunteers" to support a side that get routed be Serb irregulars then to save face send in tons of troops, tanks and aircraft. The French react with their own mission. This would be a good setting to use early war armor and even aircraft (gaming the air war would be fun). In general I would think the Italians would have the air advantage while the French tanks would reek havoc on Italian infantry and tank formations. I would want to keep this as a local thing collecting French Italians and Yugoslav allies. I have some Peter Pig Italians some French and could use Russian Civil War stuff as irregular Yugoslavians.

What about dumping 15mm and going with 20mm? The big question. I think the Liberation moderns are great and very easy to paint. For WWII the figures I have been looking at, AB, are very detailed and I don’t know how successful I would be at painting them. I dislike taking a long time to paint each figure probably part of the reason I like 6mm. Then again with 20mm I could get prepainted tanks or the cheaper model kits. 15mm has a huge selection with Battlefront (I don’t own any Battlefront figures), and Peter Pig. My Russian Civil War/Polish War is also 15mm. I guess I should standardize but from what I can see its not much of a difference using the two scales. My terrain is 15mm and works well with 20mm and 15mm. So still not sure for the time being I think I will stay with both scales.

2008-07-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

A few more random pictures this time 20mm Liberation miniatures. I painted the figures as modern Russians. They could also double as Soviet Russians without much of a problem, just have to ignore the Russian Federation flag on the shirt sleeve. The tank is the easy models T-10 in Egyptian markings and does not really go with the figures but it is the right scale so I thought why not.

Still not really sure what I will end up doing with these figures. They are really fun to paint and look good so I am sure at some point I will buy more. Right now just working on collecting easy model tanks. They are not cheap, but better looking then anything I could paint and save a ton of time as they come painted and ready to go.

2008-07-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today just a few bases of WWII Hungarian infantry. These are 6mm figures by GHQ actually from the WWII German infantry pack. I think GHQ are scheduled to make Hungarian infantry at some point but the Germans work fine. I like the GHQ infantry especially the modern packs. The WWII infantry are a bit stiff when compared to Adler but also more proportioned and less cartoon like. I am still not sure which I like more but I can say that I like the way the Hungarians pictured came out. GHQ also have a newer German infantry pack with additional posses. However, surprisingly from what I can tell from the photo in the GHQ catalog the posses do not excite me. In general they appear to be a bit awkward looking and not in action poses. Not really interested in modeling to many rear area units hanging out no matter how realistic it is.

Why Hungarians? Well if reading this blog you know that I am interested in German allies especially on the Eastern front. I think Hungarians look particularly cool in the brown khaki uniform with German style helmets. So there you go. I can also use them, if I ever get a force painted up, to fight in 1939 against Slovakians or in pre war against Romanians and Polish. Post 1941 of course they make good target practice for the Soviets.

2008-07-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Some new pictures this time the Franco-Prussian War 10mm French from Pendraken. I really like how these first two line bases and the commander came out. I have a pack of Zouaves and artillery which I can’t wait to paint and add to the force. I am trying to follow a plan with these and build a modest sized French army (probably will finish this in ten years given all the other stuff I am painting), before moving on to Prussians/Italians/Austrians. The hope is that by the time I finish painting French Pendraken will have redone the other armies in the range. Looking forward most to the Austrians.

I was rather surprised Friday when I got home from work and found a big package containing my Bacuss order. The package arrived from Baccus US distributor in less then a week!! My first impression was hey that was fast and that I went a bit nuts and ordered to much. I then reasoned that I would have bought the stuff anyway in different orders so I saved myself on shipping and as long as I get it all painted well then it would make sense. So I got to painting, did a bunch this weekend mostly the ancient packs consisting of one base of Pike Phalanx and some Roman Legionaries. Hope to get the bases flocked as soon as possible so I can decide for certain how much I like the look. Then I want to paint the Napoleonics (tentative date by next weekend?), which I am excited about. The stuff looks really good, and I hope to have the start of a good sized Austrian force shortly.

2008-07-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here they are the first of the brave Austrians, Imperialist defenders of Europe. I thought about it and decided the best place to start for any Napoleonic collection would be Austrians. Why? Well they always fight the French and they lose a good deal of the time. As a result they can often be used, and nobody really likes to build them since they are not the most flashy but you still need them. Plus I always like Austrian white uniforms.

Decided that in starting with the Austrians there was no better place then with loads of line infantry. These are the grunts, the regulars of the period. They are not as cool as some of the elite units but I would say you can’t really do the period without a good deal of line infantry so that is what I will build around.

I think the bases came out nice. I was looking for a massed look and that is what I got. I will experiment with other formations on the bases once my order arrives and I get more Austrians painted. The two bases in the picture were made from one infantry pack.

I have been reading Iron Kingdom the Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark which although at times seems written to impress academics has a very good analysis of the political situation between Austria and Prussia during the French revolution and early period of the Napoleonic Wars. I have learned a great deal from reading it and gained a new found respect for the Austrians who contested the French all alone for parts of the period and refused to back down even after huge defeats.

What’s next? Well, I have so many different things on my mind for the weekend. I have a few more 10mm 18th century stuff and a pack of 6mm French to paint. I also want to start up a fictional lace war army probably with the 10mm figures. I have been experimenting with uniforms. Thinking something very simple for a poorer Duchy or even free state in Eastern Europe or maybe Italy that gets sucked into the wars. How about an Italian or German Free State that gets invaded by the French sometime in the early 1700's.

2008-07-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

Took a few quick pictures last night before I went to bed. Granted the lighting sucks but I decided better some pictures then none. These are shots of two of the 10mm bases I finished last night. As you can see I decided to go for the Polemus size bases for the French. I think this was a good decision and that the based figures look really good. I will have to take better pictures but readers can at least get an idea of how nice these figures are. I am surprised there are not more pictures of them on the web.

The other base is from the Pendraken 18th century range and are painted as Portuguese infantry of the Tercio. I like the grey uniforms with green cuffs and think they look nice. I painted the flag myself and it will look okay after some touching up. In front are a few rebased adler artillery. I am thinking of using them with my baccus figures. I may try the mix of baccus infantry with adler artillery and cavalry. I need to find a reason to buy and paint the great looking adler figures. I actually screwed these up a bit by not removing the guns during the flocking process (just forgot). As a result the guns got berried in the flock and covered in green. I did some dusting off but while these are still serviceable they certainly do not look as good as the adler artillery can look.

I also picked up another of the easy models tanks off ebay. This is an Egyptian JS3 tank which I think looks great. I have no idea what I will use it for and it was not cheap but I really like these models. I now have a West German Leopard and the Egyptian tank pictured. I also noticed that they make an Egyptian t34 which I will have to get my hands on as well. What I am really looking for are some t-55/62/72's.

2008-07-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

I could not help myself and last night made a big order to Baccus. To much time thinking, which leads to thoughts about miniatures which leads to crazy ideas about new projects and well then my money seems to disappear.

So what did I get? Like usual the order was a mess. All kinds of different things that catch my eye and imagination. It started out fine as I need some more of the Napoleonic Austrians and Prussians (I finished the first two packs I bought). Then I needed grenadiers and then artillery and another pack of commanders and then some flags for the Prussians. Now it started to go wrong, since I was ordering I got some French line. Can never have to many line grunts especially when talking Napoleonic French or Austrians in any period. So bought two packs.
Then one pack of grenadiers and artillery. If I had any kind of discipline I would have reasoned that I should build the Austrians first and bought all Austrians but I crave variety and as a result a complete army never seems to get done.

At least this was all one period. And it does present a good start to the armies I would like to build. But now I went off course completely. I really want to see some of the Baccus ancients close up so I bought some Pikes and Roman legionaries and commanders. Then why not a pack of War of the Roses Knights just to see how they look. In short I have a bunch of stuff on the way. Good thing is I have been painting a bit more the past few weeks mostly 10mm French and 18th century. The Pendraken figures are really nice although I need more French line. I hope to post some pictures within the next few days. I also here the pendraken late Romans are really nice.

2008-06-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of my recent painting. I am getting into the 6mm Baccus Napoleonic’s and painted the entire pack of Prussians which made two nice looking bases. I put these together in line formation seeing as how the early period Prussians would probably look nice in older formations. My French will be based in column while the Austrians (finished first base last night) will be a mix. I kind of want the stuff to look something like the massed formations on this page:

http://paintingshed.blogspot.com/

Problem is I am still tempted by other Napoleonic figures. I took out a bunch of my 6mm Adlers the other night and. these are just such cool looking figures. Problem is I have based and rebased them many times and just can’t find the right look when they are based. They are also not in strips (or close strips), like the Baccus figures and to hard to deal with individually, a real pain to base. Who knows I could see myself buying some more Adler anyway. They make early Prussians so why not. As a note the newer baccus casts like the Prussians pictured are very nice. I was surprised how nice they look from a farther distance such as the bases posted.

As you can see I am also working on rebasing the ancients looking for a real mass look. This is an ongoing thing. I seem to get into it then think I should switch to Baccus ancients or 10mm. This page seems to always pump me up. This guy does amazing stuff with the heroics and ros figures. Really shows what can be done with massed basing. In general his page has kept me using heroics and ros for many years as I vainly try to imitate what he has done with the figures.

http://folk.uio.no/arnsteio/DBXin6mm/

2008-06-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Got the camera and some of the figures out of boxes last night and took some admittedly poor pictures. I still do not have much light in the basement so these are rather dark but I hope to get some lamps down there shortly and post some better pictures in the future. These are the 10mm Pendraken War of Spanish Succession and Franco-Prussian War French.

In all as per my previous post these are very nice figures. I kind of like the proportions of the GHQ 10mm a bit better, and the poses are better as well, but GHQ are out of my price range at the moment and don’t have complete ranges in 10mm so for the time being they are out. Pendraken have a very large range, and I hope to buy more once I get a painting area set up in the new house. My one and only big complaint with these figures in the lack of poses. Although this is fine for the Spanish Succession stuff for the 19th century I would have liked to see more then two pose variations for the French line infantry even if some are just subtle differences like GHQ figures.

So what’s to come. Not working on much as I am still trying to settle in at my new place. I have a pile of stuff I bought before I moved so I hope to get at least some of it painted shortly. These include the 10mm WWI Austrians and a bunch of 6mm Seven Years War cavalry and Artillery for the still expanding British army and German allies. Also took the plunge and bought some 6mm baccus Napoleonic. I see a deep dark hole and mountains of lead in my future.

2008-05-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Apologize for the lack of updates. I actually did a good deal of painting over the first half of the memorial day weekend but used the second half and most of this week (aside from work) to move and settle into my new place. So right now the miniature collection (well a good deal of it anyway), is tucked away in my new closet. I hope to set up a painting workshop type area in the basement this weekend and get back to painting and taking pictures. I also have to find my digital camera which is packed someplace.

I did do a bunch of painting. I went a bit nuts and painted most of the 10mm Franco-Prussian French pack in about an hour before I realized I can’t base them yet since I don’t have the command pack. So an excuse for another order to pendraken for more of these great looking figures. They are really very nice. I also painted and based two regiments of 10mm pendraken War of Spanish Succession infantry. I decided to model two regiments of the Spanish "old tercio" forces. So I painted the Yellow and Green regiments in the old uniforms. I used the pack with the poses with muskets behind the shoulder. These came out very nice but again I need some flags which I think I will have to hand paint since I can’t find anyone who makes 10mm Burbon Spanish army flags for the period. Before the move I was working on a base of Portuguese using the second pack with muskets forward in a kind of ready position. These also look really nice. I also painted some more 6mm Hanover cavalry for the British army. Like usual I think the baccus figure look really nice.

I have been moving along nicely. Still got tons of lead to paint. I hope after I set things up this weekend I will be able to get some photos up and maybe start on the 10mm WWI Austrians. I have to decide on WWI in 10mm before I make a new order to pendraken. Still not sure about them unlike the other 10mm stuff. The lack of poses let them down a bit, and the Peter Pig 15mm range is just so large and nice.

2008-05-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

I received the pendraken order last weekend, well part of the order, the 18th century stuff were apparently sent from another location so I am waiting for them to arrive this week. I did receive 1 pack of Franco-Prussian War French Imperial line infantry 1 pack of Franco-Prussian French mounted commanders and 1 pack of WWI Austrian infantry.

Overall these figures look really nice. Once I primed a bunch black the details really came out as you can see from the pictures. They also paint up relatively quickly despite the detail. The French figure pictured took me about 15 minutes and this was a test figure for uniforms and details which always takes me a bit longer then once I get the figures down in assembly line.
As observable from the pictures the Austrian WWI figures seem a little smaller then the Franco Prussian French which have been recently redone. However, actually this is not really the case as the Austrian figures are mostly all hunched down which makes them look shorter and is actually accurate for a WWI figure apparently trying to avoid rifle, artillery or machine gun fire.

I like the figures. So now what? Well I plan to paint the French as fast as I can and base them and buy a bunch more. These are going to look really good en mass. I just can’t wait for the rest of the range to be redone so I can build the Austrians and Danish. I may buy some old Danish anyway just to see what they look like. The only issue I had with the French was the mounted command pack. The figure pose is very nice and paints up well (painted one of them last night), but the problem is ONE pose. The pack contains only one pose and while there is a general staff pack listed in the range I still don’t like the idea of all my lower level mounted commanders looking exactly the same. I will have to mix this up with other packs at some future point. I wish they would vary commanders a bit kind of like the Baccus command packs.

For the Austrians I am not sure. I don’t think I am ready to abandon my 15mm Peter Pig yet. These guys are really a lot smaller then 15mm. Also the poses are okay. Really only one good general infantry pose the others are an officer and a knelling soldier which looks okay but not really sure if he really fits in other then as a unit waiting to attack/advance. The other two poses are clearly of units advancing so this guy does not really fit in. The pack does come with 30 figures and they look easy enough to paint so who knows. I think for the time being because of the lack of poses I will stay with 15mm for Russian Civil War (tons of variety in uniforms and figures with peter pig), and use the 10mm stuff for eastern front WWI. My fictional Austrian Russian War of 1912 will probably be done in 10mm.

2008-05-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well a bit of painting getting done of late. Finished a few of the Venexia 15mm Landsknecht arquebusiers to add to the base troops for my Spanish army. I am not entirely happy with the paint job and not sure I will post pictures. Painting 15mm especially with respect to the colorful troops of the Italian Wars period is very time consuming and requires much more effort then my usual fast en mass approach. I have concluded that I still need a lot more practice painting 15mm for the renaissance period so resultantly getting an army sized force together will take a good amount of time.

Other then that still excitingly waiting for my 10mm sample order from Pendraken to arrive. I did purchase a book Armies and Uniforms of the Marlburian Wars: V2 from on military matters http://onmilitarymatters.com. The service was great, got an email from them literally an hour after I placed the order confirming that it had been sent out. The order itself arrived three days later. Although they are apparently located in NJ and I am close by in neighboring NY still great service.

The book itself is very good and worth the price. A lot of good otherwise difficult to find information on the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese armies of the period. Also thrown in is a bunch of stuff on the French and British. The only thing I would like now is a book dealing with the uniforms (preferably color plates) of the Austrian army of the period. In general a great reference and read and recommended. I think it will give me a good starting guide to painting the pendraken figures when they arrive. Just not sure if I want to start with Austrians, Spanish, Portuguese or some of the lesser states. The idea of building the entire army of Piedmont is tempting.

2008-05-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have not posted pictures in some time so I decided to finally base and put up some pictures of my first 15mm Venexia Italian Wars figures. These are meant to represent heavy armored knights/cavalry (the tanks of renaissance warfare), and can really be used for any side although I will probably use them to represent the Spanish.

The figures themselves are very nice and I have a bunch of pikemen and others to paint and base. I want to base the pike on a somewhat larger base, like a double element since they did fight in blocks and I like a massed type of look. Problem is I have to order a few more bases first so getting them all based up may take some time. I think I did an adequate job painting these figures but do hope to get much better at painting 15mm with more practice.

So what’s next? Well have you taken a look at the Magister Miltron 10mm catalog? The WWI range now includes Belgians, and think how cool it would be to have a 1914 Belgian force dog carts and all!!! The only thing more useful would be a 1938 Czechoslovakian army. No joke I actually once considered building one in 6mm. I don’t know why but I am really attracted to these lessor armies. I may buy some Belgians and Germans in the near future. Who knows maybe I can come up with some what if battles or use them as a fictional force, or just as Belgians.

PS
I still have no idea what is going on with the comment section. I keep getting these spam comments and don’t know what to do? Can anyone please give me a clue how to fix this? Or generally any feedback as to the blog would be great. Are people enjoying it? I can be email at lekw2001@yahoo.com

2008-04-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Although not much has been going on painting wise I thought the blog needed an update. I have been kind of in a lull painting wise as other things have been on my mind more or less the last month so the miniature projects have suffered. I am hoping once things settle down, family life gets back in order and my girlfriend starts final exams and prepping for the bar exam I will have more time on my hands to paint.

For the time being I have been painting the 15mm Italian Wars stuff when I get a chance and am waiting for the bases to arrive so I can base them up and take pictures. In 6mm I am actually rolling along with the German allies for the British. Mostly these consist of some Hessian and Hanover regiments. In 6mm the Hanover guys look a lot like the British except for the flags. The Hessian’s however are in blue which adds a nice mix to the army. Also painting some French grenadiers to add to the just about complete French army.

So what’s up next? Well I hope to finally finish the SYW French once the grenadiers and added artillery are done. The British are also just about ready and I am moving along with the German contingent. Basically I would like to get the SYW stuff done and the renaissance figures based. Then who knows the modern 6mm and WWII 6mm stuff has kind of hit a wall for the time being. This is probably because money is a bit short for hobbies at the moment and I can’t afford the hefty price of the GHQ tanks. So we shall see. I have a feeling some more 15mm pictures will be coming up soon.

2008-04-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well it has been some time so I apologize for failing to update the blog. I have a good excuse, my computer completely crashed and I am in the process of setting up the new one. The Vista operating system is a bit odd and taking some time to get used to. My NBA live 2008 game looks awful and high heat baseball wont even start correctly which makes me think I should have just shelled put for a Mac or buy an old laptop with XP.

Anyhow enough of my complaining and back to miniatures. Well I have not been good very little painting going on. I did do some Adler 6mm WWII Russians (pictures to come), and a few 1/72 modern plastics. I also made an impulse purchase, as I knew I would, and bought some of the 15mm Italian Wars Venexia figures while ordering the French and British 6mm grenadiers and extra artillery. The pictures of these figures just looked so cool and I have been wanting to do some Italian Wars armies for some time. I bought a bunch of the lanskernecht pikemen as they can be used as the base for many of the armies of the period. I intend to later buy some specialist figures for the Spanish army which will be my first 15mm army for the period. The figures I have painted this far are very nice, although the painting job is not close to as good as the pictures of these figures on the web.

I have also been seriously considering some 15mm Napoleonic figures from AB miniatures. This is crazy since I have 10mm GHQ and 6mm heroics and ros. The thing is the AB figures look really good and there is tons of variety!!! I like the idea of French and Prussians for Jena. For some reason I always seem to gravitate towards the early Prussian army for the period. They just look cool, and are just a bit outdated. I can’t do these armies with GHQ and want some nice looking figures for them. The heroics and ros are to plain, good for mass use but not what I am looking for. Same for the Baccus and Adler. Only good thing is that I am short of cash thanks to the computer fiasco so can’t spend a bunch of money. Maybe with time this idea will fade.

2008-03-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

A few new shots of the Baccus stuff. I think the armies are coming together very well. A look at both armies on the mat however makes it obvious that I need more artillery. Right now I have four guns for the British and Two guns for the French (two light guns as well). I am afraid to make any orders to Baccus because of my lack of will power. I know that before I know it I will have placed an order for some Seven Years War artillery a few grenadiers and then something like a Russian army pack (still on target though not needed yet), A bunch of WSS stuff (off target), and a French Franco Prussian War army pack, French Napoleonic army pack, some siege guns, a bunch of flags, some War of the Roses figures, and well you see what I mean. So the artillery will have to wait until I finish off the remaining British cavalry and a bunch of the Adler WWII stuff.

2008-03-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Since February is over I am no longer restricted to my resolution to paint only 6mm Baccus Seven Years War or 15mm Russian Civil War. So I changed gear and finished the 10mm Prussian pack and the artillery. I think these look very nice. I also really like the casualty marker I made which is visible in the pictures. I am still looking for alternatives to the GHQ range but nothing strikes me as on par with these figures. I thought about Baccus 6mm and am rebasing the few Adler Napoleonic I have but think I like the GHQ stuff more. I really would rather use something else as the range is limited and expensive. The figures do look great however, and I am thinking of getting some more.

I also painted some more 6mm Adler WWII Russians the other night. These are nice because they are fast to paint (basically one color, a gun and some skin tone). I actually spend much more time getting the bases ready then painting the figures. I plan to use the Russians to fight the Spanish, Italians, German mountain division and Fins which I intend to build using WWII Germans and Afrika Korps packs.

Other then that I have been good and have not ordered anything new. I really need some more bases for the Seven Year War and modern stuff. I am going to try and continue my resolution and finish off as much of the British Army as I can till the 15th. Then I think I am going to switch to WWII stuff in 6mm.

2008-02-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

I am still moving along with the February painting resolution. Last night I put the final touches on some German allies for the British (still need to paint the flags), and some Peter Pig priests and nuns for the Russian Civil War and Russo-Polish war. I saved a few of them for the Spanish Civil War as well.

So it is the last day of February and I don’t think I will have time to do any painting tonight. I have stuck to the resolution to a greater extent then I thought and that is a good thing. Yet I did not paint that much this month. Honestly I am mostly to tired after work so I either watch TV or I play Steel Panthers WW2 windows and Steel Panthers Modern Battles for windows both of which I have recently reinstalled, and still get some fun out of now and again. I seem to like the WWII game a bit better don’t really know why. I have also been playing some NBA live 2008 which is a poor representation of basketball but a fun game to mess around with (go Celtics).

I also finished reading Chechnya Calamity in the Balkans by Carlotta Gall and Thomas de Waal. An interesting book about a terrible conflict although I thought the authors had a very anti-Russian viewpoint. That is the Russians really come off as the bad guys, while the terrorist tactics of the Chechians are explained as a reaction to Russian brutality. The book is also outdated, but still a very interesting read.

So what am I going to do miniature wise. Well I am going to extend my resolution till the 10th of March. This way hopefully I finish off the British and get whatever Russian Civil War stuff I can get done finished. I really need a new order to Peter Pig for more figures. Hopefully by the 10th I can get some money together then on to WWII Adler I think until the order comes in.

2008-02-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of one of my Red units finished last weekend. I have more or less stuck to my resolution to paint only Baccus Seven Years War and Peter Pig Russian Civil War this month. A few 10mm Napolionics and 6mm WWII thrown in but more or less staying with it. The one problem is that it was kind of a slow paint month (family stuff, work stuff and got a bad cold for about a week), so not as much done in these periods as I hoped. I also realized as outlined in the last post that I need more 15mm figures to get the variation I want in the units. Also I need some more Baccus to fill the British and French out.

2008-02-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Been thinking a lot about miniature related stuff Iwant to buy. As usual the problem is I have no money and a pile of unpainted stuff so I am trying not tobuy anything new. I thought it might be helpful to just list the stuff I keep looking at and maybe this will provide some relief, well probably not.

1) GHQ 10mm Napoleonic
This has recently risen to the top of my list. I don’t know why but I like them. I want a bunch so I can start to have some battles and a nice looking collection. I thought about buying some Old Glory for the French (cheaper and in strips so they will beeasier to paint), but then decided I really like the look of the GHQ stuff and I think I may go on a binge and buy a bunch more Prussians and a ton of French in the near future. The problem these are so expensive,and take a good amount of time to paint. Yet I really want more of them.

2) Pendraken 10mm French 19th century
I don’t know why this came up but I think about this periodically but recently I think I have been bittenby the bug. Maybe it is all the constant good reviews relating to the newly sculpted figures. Also there isa nice photo on the Pendraken site. I have been looking for other photos of the 19th century range but can’t find any. One problem is the Danish and Italians have not been redone yet but I could always star on the French.

3) Peter Pig 15mm Russian Civil and Spanish Civil War
Breaking with the 10mm cravings (I actually own very few 10mm figures but seem to always want some), I really want a lot more Peter Pig stuff for the20's-30's. I need a lot more Reds and cavalry for the Polish. I also need a lot more figures to flesh out my Spanish Civil War stuff.

4) All the rest!!!
I want a bunch more GHQ tanks for both Modern Syrians, Africans, and WWII French and Italians. Some more terrain maker for vietnam. I want more Baccus figures. I need grenadiers for the French and British and more artillery. I also want to move to the eastern front and paint Prussians, Austrians and Russians. I think Russians will be next. Something ancient and medeival. I have kind of soured on doing this in 10mm as I think I loose the mass look. I don’t know about heroics and ros and baccus while nice also just don’t do it for me and the post ancient range is small while the War of Roses range does not look likeit will expand. Also cant stop thinking about 15mm French and Indian war!!!

2008-02-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of my 1/2400 figurehead age of sail ships. These were painted several years ago and I thought I would put up some pictures. One picture is of Napoleonic ships engaging although some of these ships were painted so they can be used for the earlier Seven Years War period as well. The other photos are of my renaissance Spanish fleet. I like the figurehead ships a great deal. They are very detailed and easy to assemble and paint. At some point I hope to buy and paint more of them. Maybe even move into the 19th century ships. I did try1/6000 WWII some time back but they were a bit small for my preference. I like the look of the 1/2400 GHQ but they are just so expensive. About $14.00 for some of the capital ships.

On the painting desk still chugging along with the Baccus Seven Year War British. I got a few generals done this weekend and some Germans just to add some color other then red to the army. I just need to finish up the cavalry (one pack of dragoons left), and then I am about done. I still need to expand on the British and French in my next order with some grenadiers (these don’t come in the army packs) and some more field artillery. Then probably on to the Russians.

2008-01-30T21:12:00.000-08:00

I have been working hard on clearing up the 6mm WWII stuff so I can start on my February resolution to stay with 6mm Baccus 7YW and 15mm Russian Civil War for the month. Here are a few shots of my Adler Italians both European and desert. I still have some more machine guns to paint and will try to get those done tonight so I can start afresh with the February resolution. Or maybe I should change it and go WWII adler in 6mm. I still have more French and a pack of Soviet infantry to paint?

2008-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Here are the WWI Austrians I painted up the other night. For some reason I seem to gravitate towards Austrian armies (part of my family has origins in Austria and WWI Austrian army so maybe that has something to do with it, yet they left Austria as soon as they could to get to the US and never seemed to look back). I like the white uniforms they usually tend to wear and they are usually a big time underdog since historically they loose so many big battles. However they are the ultimate survivors and seem to keep coming back whether in the Seven Years War, against Napoleon, Moltke or in WWI. They usually put in some brave hard fighting as well. The Peter Pig figures are really nice and I have to paint up some Italians and early Russians as well to fight these Austrians. They may also see some double duty as WWII Norwegian troops to fight my German mountain division.

So I said I would make a decision and while I am sure I will not stick to it I am at least going to try. So for the month of February I will be painting in 15mm Russian Civil War figures and in 6mm Baccus Seven Years War. So I have two days to finish off the Adler WWII Italians (put up some pictures), and then its Seven Years War in 6mm till March.

2008-01-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

Here is some of my latest work with the GHQ terrain maker system. Some improvement over the early desert terrain hexes. Still having some problems keeping the hexes together and filling out enough clear hexes to maneuver larger bases of figures on the hexes. I think I will have to primarily use them for 6mm micro armor. The figures on the hexes are 6mm Adler infantry and GHQ T34 tanks.

So what’s next? I don’t know. I have really been all over the place painting as of late. I want to finish off the Adler WWII Italians (both desert and European), to fight the French. Then I have to get some tanks for both sides. Also should get back to the Baccus Seven Years War stuff. I have really lost momentum on the British. I really want to paint Prussians and Austrians but will not purchase anymore 6mm figures till the British army pack is done so I at least have two small armies. I really need to just choose two periods one in 6mm and one in 15mm and stay with that for a few months. Okay 15mm Russian Civil War and 6mm Baccus Seven Years War or Adler WWII? I will make my choice by next update.

2008-01-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Probably like many miniature gamers I got sucked into this hobby when young reading about, and seeing pictures of Napoleonic armies and uniforms. My first real figures were plastic revel 1/72 Napoleonic figures I used to collect and paint in high school and college.

As I grew up in a miniature hobby sense I kind of got turned off by the Napoleonic period and focused more on the somewhat less popular Seven Years War and then Renaissance wars. As evident by this blog my interest has tended to move all over the place, but I do seem to generally collect figures for lesser know conflicts or lesser armies of well known conflicts.

Although I have stayed generally out of the Napoleonic period I have played around with figures now and then. I always thought to do this I would need massive armies probably 6mm and bought a few Adler and heroics and ros here and there. Eventually I put it aside as I was not ready to try buccas and was not fully happy with the heroics and ros bases I put together and the Adlers just seemed to drown in the detail. Adler are more suited to the simpler 18th century uniforms in my opinion (to bad they never finished the range!!!).

To make a long story short in comes GHQ. In my last order for some modern tanks for the Syrians and British I thought why not and bought some Prussians. Well after they arrived and I painted them I think they look great. These are really nice figures I love the poses and just the general look on the base. I even put an order in for some artillery.

The Good:

I think these figures look amazing. I like painting them and really like them based. They have much more detail then any other 10mm I have seen and better posses.

Because the figures are 10mm I can paint a fair amount of detail and still skip the little stuff I just do not care to paint. I can also get a fair number of them painted fast.

I get to start on a new period to a small degree at first with some Prussians and then French line units adding in cavalry and others in the future.

The Bad:

These guys are really expensive!!! $15 for a pack of infantry. Amassing even medium sized armies is going to be a big time investment (the figures are really nice however, and until I see something in 10mm of equal quality I will stay with them).

The range is small and incomplete. I promised myself after buying and painting tons of Adler Seven Years War I would not buy into an incomplete range again. Well here I am but hey I really like the figures.

No 1809 earlier armies. I really wanted to do the earlier period with the French in Italy fighting Austria and fighting the old Prussian army. This period presents the French at their finest and a kind of 18th century Austrian and Prussian armies trying to keep up with the new French way of war. Yet the Prussians and Austrians still fight hard and bloody the French noses now and then.

The GHQ stuff is based around the later period particularly French and British (little interest in the British for me) at Waterloo. Well I decided to try the Prussians. Still an interesting army putting to use the lessons learned early in the period. They can further be used in various historical and fictional encounters against the French. I know the Austrians would have been more useful but I have them in like every other period so decided to start with Prussians.

Where to from here?

Well not sure. So far I have a pack of line painted and artillery waiting. I also have WWII Dutch in 15mm on the painting desk and WWI 15mm Austrians (pictures to come). So needless to say this will probably be a slow project. But who knows I can always dream about a bunch of Prussians French and some day even Austrians and Russians.

2008-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of my GHQ terrain maker. These are the desert hexes I have done along with some GHQ British armor and a T34 tank painted as Egyptian. Still not sure about the terrain maker stuff. These are some of my first tries so I think they look okay. I am working on a wadi which also looks okay, not as good as in the GHQ pictures but not bad. My biggest issues are the hills which I am not sure I am doing right and the fact that at times the hexes just don't fit together well. At some point I may just glue them down although then I would lose the variety of moving them for different layouts.

2008-01-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Newyear!!!!!

Well decided to put up the first post of 2008. Thought it was about time to add a new post as I have not updated in some time. Things have been very hectic with family stuff and work getting really busy. As a result I have not done much painting. Instead much of my free time has been spent drooling over the pictures of terrain on GHQ’s web site forum and trying to understand why my terrain maker hexes do not fit together.

I have continued to play with the GHQ terrain maker and have done some snow and desert hexes as well as summer European type hexes. Overall they come out nice but require a lot of time. I also am having lots of problems building hills as per GHQ’s instructions. In the end I fear I just will not have the time to make enough of these and get them to look right. So I am considering commercial completed hexes (wish GHQ had terrain maker that came done), but cannot find much other then plain terrain mats. If anyone knows of anyplace I can get something like this let me know. I would be willing to spend extra for the saved time.

Other then the odd figure here and there not much painting of figures being done. I did paint some 10mm GHQ Prussians which are really nice. I wish they would do 19th century stuff in this scale. My true dream would be GHQ or Adler doing 6mm WWI. Actually we don’t even need a full range just an infantry figure with hat for Russians and British. The rest could probably be modified from the WWII range (what about even a mixed pack of WWI types with hat like the Bush Warriors pack). So that’s about it for the time being. I also did allow myself to make one order to Brookhurst hobbies for some more 15mm Russian Civil War figures. I promise some pictures shortly.

2007-12-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of some Adler 6mm WW2 French infantry and cavalry. I particularly like the cavalry figures. The horses are very good and well animated. I have this running idea in my mind for a French/Italian late 1930's conflict in Yugoslavia following a Yugoslav civil war. I have some Italians painted as well and hope to at some point get some tanks done as well.

2007-12-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well I took the plunge and bought some of the GHQ terrain maker product. Placed the order last Thursday and it arrived yesterday. I played around with it a bit last night, instead of posting more pictures, and formed some initial impressions.

1) The hexes are small. Yea I knew how small they were before I bought them but in pictures on the web they looked larger for some reason. So the natural conclusion is that I will need a lot of them. A second conclusion I reached is that I have to resist the temptation to put to much detail onto each hex. As I intend to use them for several periods I need room for my larger bases for periods like Seven Years War, as well as the smaller modern bases. Since the hexes themselves represent small areas although several will be roads, forests and streams many will have to be plain clearings and fields as well. So to make a long story short if I use them I will need a lot of them.

2) They can look very nice. With some work even with my poor artistic ability these things have great potential. The few test bases I did look very nice. I built a road, stream and forest base which all look good especially for only a few hours of effort.

3) I may need to glue several together. This is both a consequence of them being small and the fact that I need to form some kind of plan almost general map of what I am building. They also do move apart if not careful so gluing a few together into a bigger hex would help. In general I hope to build something resembling Eastern Europe with some hills and primarily flat land. I also want a coast that I can add on for an amphibious invasion just because I think that would look really cool.

So those are my impressions at least initially. I will post some pictures of my progress with this stuff shortly.

2007-12-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

Decided to put up some pictures of my newly completed North Korean infantry and armor. I played around with some snow bases for the infantry and tanks and think they came out nicer then expected. These are GHQ Russian WWII winter infantry painted as North Korean infantry and copies of GHQ t34 tanks I won a while back on ebay.

2007-12-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

A few close ups of the battle. Here the French mass to rush the Austrian positions after arriving at the battlefield. The French cavalry impatient mass to charge before the infantry deploy. The rest of the pictures did not come out that clear (I have to remedy my problem with lack of light), so I am unsure if I will post them.

I still have not decided on a terrain system. I am leaning to GHQ terrain maker. Although they do appear to be a great deal of work they look really nice done and allow for a good deal of detailing and flexibility. I may order a few and try them out.