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Friday 25 February 2011

28mm Modern Italian Special Forces by D&P Minis

These figures are beautifully sculpted by Paul Hicks (Bolt Action Miniatures) and Mark Sims (Crusader Miniatures) on behalf of D&P Minis of Italy, and available in the UK through Vexillia Limited. They retail at £7 for four (Unpainted) and come with seperate heads.

They are well detailed and nicely proportioned. In fact a pleasure to paint.
20 assorted Italian Carabinieri

I've finished them as Carabinieri dressed for anti-terrorist duty in their plain grey combats and blue berets (I have also seen them in Red Berets, but I felt the blue looked better!).


They are armed with a variety of weapons, not just the Beretta SC70 5.56mm Assault Rifle;-
 
Command Group including radio operator
Support Squad with Panzerfaust AT Rocket Launcher
Rifle Squad with kneeling Minimi Gunner
Rifle Squad with Sniper
Support Squad with MG1 Gunner
All in all an nice group of figures. Useable not only for Modern Skirmish games, but also near future Sci-Fi gaming.


An sadly they have to go........ I have no use for them so they'll be on ebay either tomorrow or Sunday. If you're interested in them drop me an e-mail or have a bid!

Sunday 20 February 2011

Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Russians - the Finished Articles

the Finished Articles.
Well I can't fault them.

They've painted up extremely well ....... and very quickly too!

The sculpting is very fine for a 15mm figure, in fact I'd hazard to say that the proportions of each figure was about perfect. Figures this finely sculpted cannot be easily cast in white metal, which leads to the somewhat chunky finish we're used to. All the same these figures will match in well with my Forged in Battle Germans.

I've already painted these figures in their 28mm guise so have become familair with the 1 or 2 dodgy poses. In PSC's defence there's only so much you can do with an injection mould, and if you don't like a particular pose...then change it, it's easy with a plastic figure!

Anyway, enough of all this, I'd better get on with some more painting...... only another 121 figures to go.

Oh and let's not forget the T34's as well..............

Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Russians Part Two

...continuing the painting
....sidepacks painted sand and the metalwork of the weapons and the boots in black....
....Flesh in er...flesh! And helmets Vallejo Military Green.......
...the bases picked out in earth brown.....
...now a something completely new to me. The figures were dipped in Vallejo's Sepia Dipping Wash. At £5 a pot it's a fraction of the Army Painter equivalent and extremely easy to use. Just dip the figure and tap on the edge to loose the surplus (don't drop it in like I did!)
Once dry, the figures were glued to the mdf bases with super glue.....
....and the bases textured with Vallejo's Grey Pumice. What another completely amazing modelling product from this manufacturer......
...when the pumice was completely dry, it was painted earth brown....
.....once dry a dry brush of sand picks out the highlights of the pumice...
...to protect my figures, I firstly coat them with GW's Purity Seal and then (when totally dry) follow this with Army Painters Matt Coat to give a flat finish....all that's left is to flock the bases and we're finished.

Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Russians

I have for a couple of years now, enjoyed Blitzkrieg Commander rules for WW2. I play these using Skytrex 1/200th vehicles and a mixture of different manufacturers 10mm figures.

Recently I have decided to collect a few WW2 armies to use for BKC in 15mm.

This has come about as our local model shop in Hereford now stocks the F.O.W. range from Battlefront and Firestorm Games in Cardiff (where my youngest son lives) stock the Forged in Battle range, making it far easier for me to get things to paint without the misery of paying P&P!

I'm afraid I have to say that Flames of War as a set of rules leaves me cold, so I won't be going there. However their 15mm range of vehicles is good and I enjoy assembling & painting these. I am particularly impressed with the Forged in Battle range which is both good value and very high quality.

Anyhow, enough of this.....what about the Plastic Soldier Company 15mm range?

Box Art

Well in line with my plan to collect WW2 armies in 15mm for BKC, I treated myself to a box of the 130 Russian Infantry and 5 x T34 tanks at the recent Crusade Event at Penarth.

And most impressive they are....

26 figures per sprue - no flash!

Figures coming in at less than 14p ea and the T34's at £3.50ea can't be bad. But what do they paint up like? I thought I'd paint up 9 figures (3 bases worth) to try them out.

First I mounted them on a plastic strip using low temp hot melt glue (makes them easier to handle)

Then they get undercoated using Army Painter White Primer.
(More about the vehicles in the picture another time..........)

A liberal coat of Vallejo Tan Yellow........
.....weapon's woodwork and leather equipment picked out in Beasty Brown....
....rucksacks and straps in heavy brown....
...blanket roll in olive drab....
to be continued....................

Friday 18 February 2011

HotT - Dwarf Army

I painted & based a 10mm Dwarf Army for Warmaster about 6 years ago, using figures from the Kallistra range. This left me with 16 Dwarves armed with bows that were surplus to requirements, languishing in my spares box!

As these figures are from the same sculptor who created Pendraken's 10mm Fantasy range I decided to invest in sufficient additional Hill Dwarves to build another HotT army.
10mm Dwarf Army for HotT
Actually I ended up with slightly more figures than I needed, so (as with the Wood Elves) it's possible to mix-and-match the army up to the 24AP limit.
Dwarf King borne by Dwarf Monks - The Army General
In total I have;-
  • 1 x Dwarf King (General) @ 4AP
  • 10 x Blades @2AP
  • 4 x Shooters @2AP
10mm Dwarf Bowmen (Shooters)
10mm Dwarf Warriors (Blades)
The recommended Stronghold for a Dwarf Army is a bronze door in the side of a hill. However I decided to go for something different and I found just what I wanted in the aquarium section on ebay...for only £2.99 delivered!

A coat of Vallejo sepia wash, some highlights on the bushes and a decent base job and Bob's your Uncle! Altogether I'm very pleased with the outcome - and the whole lot only came to a little over £10.

Come on Colin there's no excuse you can even download the rules for free (WRG).......time for a game I think!

Thursday 17 February 2011

HotT Wood Elf Army in 10mm

I said I needed some opposition for my Undead, and here they are..........
10mm Wood Elf HotT Army
I've had some of these 10mm figures for probably 10 years or so, without getting around to painting them up. I bought them as a ready made HotT army from Pendraken Miniatures at the WMMS Show when it was still held in Walsall.
Wood Elf Army
 There were originally barely enough figures to make up the 24APs so I've bought a few more to create a mix-and-match force from which a 24AP army can be selected. Including bases, this army has cost less than £10 to create!

Spears
In total there are;-
  • 2 x Magicians (1 a General) @ 4AP
  • 1 x Hero @ 4AP
  • 6 x Shooters @ 2AP
  • 4 x Blades @ 2AP
  • 2 x Spears @ 2AP
  • 2 x Riders @ 2AP
Riders
Blades
Hero & retinue
 For every HotT battle, the defending side has to have a Stronghold on their base edge. For the wood Elves I created a wooded clearing and for the Undead (In keeping with their Tomb King/Egyptian styling) a Pyramid.
Wooded Clearing for the Elves Stronghold

The Tress and Pyramid are both resin castings by The Square. The strongholds, and indeed all the figures, are mounted on 2mm MDF ready cut bases from Warbases.

The Undead's Stronghold - a Pyramid
Next time.......The Dwarves are coming!!!

Tuesday 15 February 2011

HotT - Undead Army

After a number of years my interest in WRG's Hordes of the Things rules was rekindled by a 99p purchase from ebay.

If I'm honest, I think my favourite scale has to be 10mm and a quick search through my sapres box revealed that I had sufficient Warmaster undead figures to cobble together a  24AP army.

These figures have been hanging around for about 8-9 years and I'd nearly put them on ebay! Good job I didn't.



In total I have;-
  • 1 x Magician General (4AP)
  • 1 x Hero (4AP)
  • 1 x Knights (Chariot 2AP)
  • 2 x Riders (2AP ea)
  • 3 x Shooters (2AP ea)
  • 4 x Hordes (1AP ea)
Now allthey need is some opposition...........

Welcome to my Blog

I've finally decided to give this a go. I've been wargaming since 1976 and felt it was time to share with the Wargaming community what I've been up to over recent months......

I have to confess to being more of a painter/collector than a pure wargamer. I live in a rural part of Herefordshire and as such I am somewhat short of opponents! But never mind this never stops me getting the armies together for the next big set of rules that appeals to me...even if I have to solo play them.

Anyway enough of this... on with the show......

Monday 14 February 2011

My Workbench

Here's where it all happens. My Workbench (or as my kids call it - my "Thrapshed").

What's on the bench at the moment?
  • D&P 28mm Italian Special Forces
  • 15mm Forged in Battle Waffen SS
  • Xylon 1/600 Triremes
  • Warlord 28mm Plastic Germans
  • 15mm Peter Pig Pirates, and
  • 10mm Pendraken Fantasy figures based for HotT.
Waiting in the wings?
  • 15mm Plastic Soldier Company Russians + T34's
  • 15mm Forged in Battle Tiger 1
  • 15mm Battlefront Sexton
  • and numerous other unstarted projects...........

Sunday 13 February 2011

My new Blog

This is my new blog where I shall show you some of the things that I have made.