The greatest gift at Christmas is...

...Time!

At least that's how I view it. Time away from work to do the things you want to...

Christmas of course, is time with family at home, sharing some quality time, enjoying the kids tear through their prezzies like a hot knife through butter... and of course the Christmas lunch which for most of us Antipodeans means a BBQ in the sun... which I have to say this year was a bit touch and go weather wise, but we struck lucky with the sun breaking through right on cue and lasting long enough, for full tummies to roll inside before the rain started... feet up, DVD on (The Hobbit), and snore the afternoon away... lets face it, up till 12.30am the night before, wrapping and arranging prezzies, then up at the crack of dawn to excited children who can't wait any longer... full tummy, and several glasses of wine later... is it any wonder the adults crash out Christmas arvo? ;-)

As for the Christmas prezzy haul... actually we don't bother for adults... for us its about the kids... but I did lash out in a moments silliness, buying myself a $4 bag of glue sticks and a $4 egg slice for the missus ;-)

Actually, with thoughts leaning towards LOTR / Hobbit I ordered up on a couple of gaps in my collection - I ordered a hobbit set; Paladin Took, Lobellia, Fatty Bolger and Horn blower via folks in UK, and Bullroarer Took from GW NZ online as it wasn't listed on the UK site... sometimes you just have to bite the bullet on price... so they were my Christmas gifts to myself....

Ah, a wonderful time, but what I really enjoy at Christmas is the statutory holidays off, for us poor retail schleps; means Christmas and Boxing day ( if you're lucky - my wife had to work Boxing day arvo), Friday for me was back to work, then luckily enough the weekend free, and rinse and repeat for this week with New Year nearly upon us...

So with this extra time off, whilst kids are busy playing with their new toys together, Dad can potter on ...

I managed two more 2kg bags of Polyfilla (making 3 in total) to add more layers to the Victorian base board to even it up, and allowed it to dry...

I based the Victorian corner tavern to help square it up, and chopped and glued matchsticks to frame out all the windows....

An undercoated 'Baskerville' from EotD Requiem for scale...

Also with the Hobbit/LOTR juices flowing once more I decided to make some repairs / improvements to my Helms Deep board, repairing chipped surface and after a visit to my local hobby store for supplies, poured in more Realistic Water to build up the stream layer. This is to stop models falling over if standing in the stream area... one of my bugbears with skirmish gaming and single based figures... you can make excellent looking terrain, but if its not a flat surface they'll fall over... annoying! Especially banner bearers who you need right up with the action, and if they fall over everyone else gets knocked over too!

'Realistic water' poured... awaiting drying (approx 24hrs)

Great stuff, but not cheap!

Whilst getting my hobby supplies, I included some lemon trees and tomato plants I happened across... perfect to add some life to my proposed Hobbiton build...

 ... and big bag of lichen to make woods look like woods. Had some time with eldest to start the LOTR/ Hobbit, Fall of the Necromancer campaign... the starting scenario pits 4 giant spiders and 2 giant bat swarms against Thranduil and a bunch of wood-elves, on a wooded 24" x 24" board... simple fun...

Mirkwood - Fall of the Necromancer campaign

The odd thing with the SBG LOTR rules are that they define difficult terrain areas, eg. woods, by for example, an area of felt, which affects move rate (if you're not a wood elf, spider or bat swarm) but this wooded area does not impede LOS nor provide cover unless there is an actual tree or bush modeled on it... So a big bag of lichen clumps made for some instant bushes and cover saves (3+ in the way), compared to the trees (4+ in the way)... worked rather well... I did also re-base the trees on 60mm round MDF discs (I bought a new bigger hole cutter) as the smaller bases used previously were not enough to stop them toppling over when knocked...

After gaming was satisfied, and plaster skim coats had dried on board it was time to equip up, and break out the Dremel... its noisy, dusty work, so safety gear is a must... and Ipod music inside ear defenders helps the time pass pleasantly...

 Bzzzzzzzzz, Whirrrrrrr  ...

After about 45 mins I have done a roughly 6" x 6" area... yep this is going to take a while, but I think the end result will be worth it...

I'll keep plodding on with this bit by bit, with breaks... don't want to get 'white finger'...

I am still plodding on with more figure painting too for Curts Challenge, and am focusing the time on the fortnightly themes so I get to score some points!

Just a quick thought on your local hobby store... I must admit I am the first to try and source stuff cheap online where possible... especially model figures, but I do find the local hobby stores great for terrain and craft supplies, and try and support these guys where possible. They are not always the cheapest but you sometimes want something now to crack on with that terrain project, so anywhere selling hobby railway supplies etc., locally can be a goldmine for a wargamer. And compared to GW prices you are bound to save $$$'s...

Hope you are all enjoying your festive time, with family and hobbies...

Regards to all
Scott

Merry Xmas!

Merry Xmas everyone!

Kids asleep, finished wrapping all the prezzies and placing under the tree... all set,  even assembled drum set for eldest and scooter for youngest... glasses of wine quaffed, looked into wifes eyes and smiled on a job well done... now half past midnight kiwi time, happy xmas to all , off to bed, no doubt an early start with the kids...

The Hobbit - another terrain distraction!

My will power to stay on target with the Empire of the Dead stuff is taking a battering... I can only blame The Hobbit ! And a certain someone...

Mt heart always warms whenever I see the Hobbiton scenes, from any of the movies; LOTR or The Hobbit... I am convinced I was a Hobbit in a prior life ! ;-)

Here Gandalf meets a young Bilbo at Bag End... from the movie...

... and the front of Bag End, not only a movie set, but also a tourist attraction, near the town of Matamata (Google it!)...

And where did all this thinking come from... I blame Loki and his Tajima Tufts! ;-)

As soon as I saw these on Lokis site I wanted some... and then couldn't help but think what they could be used for... flowers immediately made me think of Hobbit Holes...

A rummage in the games room found this LOTR supplement...

... in which I remembered reading about making Hobbit holes...

My son had a mate round for a playdate weekend, and since he had seen the Hobbit but never seen the LOTR movies, we enjoyed Saturday night watching the Fellowship of the Ring (Ext Ed) with him... and yes I still get attacks of 'hayfever' while watching it, when Gandalf sets his fireworks off from his cart to the hobbit childrens delight, when Gandalf falls from the bridge at Khazad Dum... , when Boromir dies... "I would have followed you, my Captain, my King..."

Quick pass the Kleenex... watched it dozens of times and it still gets me, I must be getting soft in my old age...

Sunday they spent fighting the Helms Deep assault against the Deeping Wall game with terrain I made years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it...

So I realised I can still enjoy MiddleEarth even if I am not buying the new Hobbit models, as I still have a literal bunker of LOTR models to paint...

So as usual I find myself torn in several directions... ah well, such is this hobby life!

I will press on with the Empire of Dead stuff, and today did the second skim coat to the Victorian base board, and once dry sanded smooth. I hope to press on with more work today on the Victorian Pub... and I have to find time for Curts challenges painting too... but don't be surprised if you see the odd MiddleEarth terrain piece popping up now and again too... ;-)

Victorian Base board continued...

Well the Challenge is well and truly on, but there's still other work to do too!

Over the weekend, in the lead up to Challenge kick off, I kept busy with terrain matters and got the drain covers sorted for Victorian base board.

The protruding pipe uprights were trimmed flush to board with the dremel, and interior of pipe painted black. Plastic mesh was also cut to size, sprayed black and glued into place. Finally a length of square section thick plastic rod was cut to two small lengths and these glued over the top of the mesh to effect the drain.

This would also gave me an edge to plaster up to when I skim coat the table.

Here's the two drain covers

Whilst various bits of this process were drying, I also managed to make a couple more under table storage units for the games room after redo-ing the table arrangement.

under table storage

Made from 5mm MDF sheet and some timber posts... So plenty of space now to store all the planned EotD Victorian buildings :-)

OK, tonight, whilst some shade wash dries on my current Challenge models... I went back to the base board. I had bought a 2kg bag of polyfilla (not really knowing how much I would need), and a plasterers spreading tool, to try and get the surface as smooth as possible.

After about half an hour I had used the whole bag, making a batch at a time, spreading, and making some more, till I had it as well as I could manage.

So we ended up with this...

I think I am going to need to add another layer of filler to build up a little more as the drain covers are still protruding. I'll wait till it dries fully and get more filler at the weekend...

Start to painting Challenge delayed by Rampant Dragon!

With the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge immanently about  to kick off on Sunday at 7pm NZ time, I knew I would have to wait a while longer until I could pick up a paintbrush, as at the time I would be half through watching...

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug

at the cinema...

Well I have prep'ped as much as I think I have any chance of completing in the time frame allowed by the challenge - I just need to dig out some suitable casualty figures and a cowboy... and come up with an idea for the  "Last Stand" final theme bonus round...

But on to the movie, and what did I think?... [warning - contains Spoilers]...

Well pretty much a rip roaring ride, thoroughly enjoyable, though I did find myself pondering how PJ was going to stick to the book's story line and also deviate from it to elaborate the tale and make it his own... so it was a case of watch and see as the story unfolded...

There was a good mix of following the tale as written, and further elaboration, in terms of filling in the background info as to how the tale came to be...

I really enjoyed the Dol Guldur scenes, the sense of the return of the Necromancer, as Sauron begins to regain his strength and build his armies again... the whole leading up to the eventual War of the Ring, though still some decades off at this time... but this back drop of menace, and the threat that Sauron/ The Necromancer could use Smaug in his army, being Gandalfs underlying 'niggle' and why he feels the Dragon must be dealt with before it can be used in such a way, in the future,... Thus having met Thorin, Gandalf has the plan to send him to Erebor to do just that, one way or another... yes Gandalf is using him a little like a pawn in the scheme of a much grander game, but that is the reality of the game Gandalf finds himself forced to play...

So we follow the Dwarves on their on going quest, and watch them tangle with all manner of foes, allies and beasties along the way...

Beorn the WereBear skin changer is wonderfully done. Azog and the orcs continue their chase, at their Masters bidding, and Bolg comes into play too...

The Spiders of Mirkwood are really well done, and frankly terrified my young daughter (nearly 8yrs old), who burrowed into my arm, whimpering! But she recovered with the continuing story, and more popcorn was nervously munched, eyes peeking over the top of the carton at the screen...

Thranduil and the elves proved to be a further obstacle to the dwarves with the spiders barely past, the elves come to the rescue, but then become the next threat to the dwarves timely passage to Erebor.

Here we get to meet the delightful Tauriel, and thus the love interest of the movie...  and get to see Legolas once again... Here in Mirkwood we get a glimpse of Thranduil's mindset, and his concerns about protecting his kingdom from the growing menace...

Barely have we pondered this then we are racing to Lake Town in barrels... and having dispatched many orcs along the way, bump into Bard. I did find Bards character development interesting and not quite how I envisaged him. Nor had I expected  the grim pervading sense of worry and foreboding hanging over Lake Town and its Master, played charmingly by Stephen Fry, and his little sidekick with whom I couldn't help but draw parallels to Grima ...

By this point the tale is jumping back and forth as differing story threads diverge as differing characters are caught up in varying locations... including the orcs led by Bolg raiding Lake Town, hotly pursued by Legolas and Tauriel... I didn't see that coming! Legolas even shows he's finally fallible, getting a bloody nose for his troubles!

We also finally get to see and meet Smaug - superbly done and his interaction with Bilbo wonderful... The dwarves get in on the act as they try and contest with Smaug in the hopes of reclaiming their halls...

At lot of the action becomes a little over the top, and I certainly didn't see a giant golden dwarf coming ... I prayed it wouldn't open its eyes and start romping around... thankfully things didn't get that silly...

Finally their efforts get Smaug out of Erebor... but at what cost?

Tune into the next movie dear viewer to find out... just one more year to wait!

.... [End Spoilers]

In the time honoured fashion - I think I score this movie 4.5 stars out 5.

If you are a Tolkien fan you'll be seeing this anyway, if you're not, go see it anyway, as it's an excellent Roller Coaster ride of a movie, suspend disbelief momentarily and just enjoy your adventures in Middle-Earth!

---------o0o---------

By movies end, my daughter had just about given up the ghost and had started to slumber... its a long movie for a little one to watch... however elder son, was raving about this Hobbit Lego set and that Hobbit Lego set he wanted - guess who's going to be broke for Christmas!

For myself I would of course be thrilled at the prospect of some of the new models, but costs are prohibitive, and in an annually increasing way... Still I can't wait to see what they do about Smaug as a model!

So quite wonderful stuff, and a much quicker pace than the first movie... and after finally getting home having regained my breath, I did find a little time to finally pick up a paint brush... and managed to base coat 'Nanny' from the EotD Sherlock Holmes set, and get the tracks painted on 5 Panzer IVs, before bed-time called... a slow start to the opening days paining, but a start none the less...

A Gentleman's Game?

Whats in a game?

Do differing types of games make us play differently, and behave differently whilst playing them?

Does how you win the game, thus affect how you strive to play it?

Does it matter if you have fun actually playing it, or are we just there as an exercise in trying to win, not necessarily at all costs, but the win is foremost in our minds, and without that win, the game is less 'fun'?

Do we sit there staring at our man dollies, trying to figure out the exact stratagem that will hopefully work, at the same time trying to run over in our minds the probability of what the Dice Gods are going to do us as our little chance-cubes clatter across the table... their results lifting us in joy or sending us crashing to the depths of despair...

Does it matter if our opponent enjoys the game, whether they win or lose? Does how the game makes us play and thus act, affect this?

Come on Smithers - your move ol' chap...

Having a physical opponent introduces a social aspect to the game, giving us someone to interact with as we play the game. This then to me should be an important part of the game, as if it isn't important, then I may as well just play computer game against a faceless opponent, whether 'real' or AI...

There's a whole gamut of games available to play out there, some perhaps by their nature being more competitive than others.

Anyone who has followed this blog will probably know I've been playing a lot of Flames of War over the last couple of years, with probably an average of roughly a game per week. Sadly my win/loss record is not the best, despite my best efforts to learn the game, its tactics and try and mitigate my luck. (It really bugs me when people say you can make your own 'luck', by learning the odds and playing accordingly, hmm, I'm not so sure... if you roll one dice needing a 6 and get it, that's lucky in my book! If you roll two dice, needing either of them to be a 3 or more and roll snake eyes, then that's unlucky).

Flames of War, is clearly a tournament game. You typically win the game, by either capturing an objective (or conversely defending one), or breaking (destroying) your opponents force... However, how well you manage to do this, scores you points for the game, that then can be thrown into the tournament pot to see who's the better player overall over several games...

... and I think its this tournament mechanism that can lead to 'frustration'... not only can you beat your opponent, which is fair enough, but you can morally grind him into the dust by getting the best score too...

... or perhaps it encourages ridiculous do-or-die defenses, when the game is clearly already won by one side, the other guy stubbornly refuses to give up, in some Hitler/Stalin inspired 'not one step back' approach... perhaps the hopes of stealing a point off the opponent for the tournament score level, encouraging this playing style...

Not one step back!

I think its this aspect of the game that's perhaps getting to me, as I like the game for the most part otherwise - I like the look, scale, miniatures, and game play for the most part - a couple of things niggle me but I can live with them...

For me I think, there is clearly a point a which the game is won, most people can see this a mile off... a gentleman at this point would concede defeat and resign, he wouldn't keep playing on manically. Having offered up his resignation, I wouldn't expect his opponent to force him to play on, just so he can score more tournament points... so maybe the game and I are at odds? Its not my opponents fault, its the way the game is making him play?

When this scenario is played out repeatedly, game by game, week after week... is it any wonder the player who loses the most becomes more and more frustrated despite his best efforts?

When you play the same opponent with the same army repeatedly and keep losing, how long before the nervous tick develops?

Cartoon fun .. inspired by Larry Leadhead - thanks Larry for the laughs!

The reality is some players have a better gamer's mind than others, perhaps simply being more intuitive, quicker learners, better able to assimilate the requirements to pull off the wins repeatedly; the optimum force composition, tactics and probability to succeed in getting these wins.

This is clearly shown by the same names appearing at the top of the tournament rankings, with us other lesser mortals down the other end of the tables as also-rans, patsies and whipping boys...

So I do not deny there is a skill level here, probably not something I will ever have in abundance....

So perhaps to stay sane in a leisure time activity that is meant to be fun and enjoyable, and distract us momentarily from the stresses of real life and work, I may have to find a game that better suits my approach to gaming? Or perhaps concede I am simply not a good player generally, resign my gaming commission, hang up my dice, rulers and templates and simply paint for fun, and perchance become what GW and Mr Johnson et al, wants me to be ... a 'Collector'... Perish the thought!

Or perhaps the game can still be fun and enjoyable if approached in a differing manner, must we strive to beat and crush our opponent...?

I am not just poking the finger at FoW here... I assume other tournament orientated games have similar issues; WFB/40K? I suppose any game which score you points for how well you did or didn't do, will be affected by the problem...?

I cannot help recall the introduction of the Black Powder rules, with its 'Gentlemanly' approach to the game... with units not even having a points value... the whole thing being scenario driven... and played out for the fun of the experience of the game, with the winner or loser, almost not seeming to matter... it certainly seemed a more pleasant environment to game in...

I say, can you see where I dropped my die? Darned things over here somewhere...

Please excuse this cathartic ramble... there are times when one needs to clear ones head...

I think a gaming break over the Xmas period and an indulgence of painting simply for the enjoyment of it, thanks to Curt's Painting Challenge, is the way for me to chill out and to return to sanity...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... Hope you get all the man dollies, paints and brushes you need to keep you smiling!

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug! The price of plastic...

Only a few days before the release of the much awaited sequel in the Hobbit trilogy...

Just thought I'd check out whats happening on the GW site, just out of curiosity.... BANG!

Sure enough, only one movie and one year on and prices have jumped again... info from GWs New Zealand portal...

One year ago and the price of 10 plastic toy soldiers had jumped, then, to an astronomical $NZ65...

To be totally eclipsed by the latest incarnation... 10 plastic soldiers now setting you back a cosmologically eye watering $NZ80 !!!

Sheer lunacy, and frankly taking the p*ss!

Oh well, I can still enjoy the movie, and look on bemused at the current price of a plastic soldier from the GW stable...

What do you predict for next years post movie releases? Will it crack $NZ100 for 10 soldiers, ...nah I reckon they'll go for $NZ120, for 8...

[UPDATE - had to share this -

brilliant! ]

Games Room Redux

I had hoped to get more done on the Empire of the Dead stuff over the weekend, but circumstance, and experience, led me in a differing direction, and I decided it was high time to 'adjust' the "Gentleman's gaming parlour"...

I was in a very fortunate position, several years ago, in being able to plan and have built, our home...  now this was a rather novel experience for a person from the the UK, where the norm is more to buy, and move house to house... Back in the UK the idea of having a house built never crossed my mind... after all, where would you put it? Anyone from the big smoke, or urban sprawl, will know what I am talking about...

Here, in 'God-zone'...AKA, 'New Zealand',  I was lucky enough to afford and find a plot of land to do just that...

So top of my list of must haves for my home was a dedicated games-room... wifey-poos attended to the rest ... ;-)
Bedrooms check, kitchen check, lounge check etc etc...

Having a realized man-cave/shed/zone/"get outta here its mine"- kinda thingy, with oodles of space, sent my space restricted Pom-ey mind into a frenzy of apoplexy... and with visions of grandeur I designed and put forth the biggest table I could muster, this being 12' x 6', or approx 360cm x 180cm, for you jolly ol' colonial types reading this ;-)

The idea being to be able to host those 'big battles' you see in magazines or on the web, or whatever...sadly such games have been as rare as  the proverbial 'blue moon' around here, and for regular sized games, the table has always been over sized, making 'regular gaming' a bit of pain, it being difficult to reach towards the centre, or end of the board, unless you are over 6' tall, which sadly I am not...

The games room was also a place I had hoped to foster gaming for my young son and I, but he has never had a shit show of reaching the table, and I guess always having had to have had Dad reach for and move the models for him, has dulled the experience... so hence additional boards were built and stuck on the dining room table, to allow him to participate... which the whole point of having the games-room built, was meant to avoid... (to keep 'SWMBO' happy)... he's 10 now, so I feel at that pivotal step, in really grasping gaming before being 'hard-wired' does for him forever...

So push come to shove, with most games being played in 'Chez-Bowman' requiring a 6' x 4' or 4' x  4' area... it was time to bite the bullet, and cut the over-sized grandiose table into three smaller 6' x 4' tables... This will allow 'No.1 son' to participate in the 'man zone', and to even have several differing games on the go at once, none of which need tidying away until completion! So perchance, FoW, LotR and EotD, could all be going on at once! Perhaps even a return to LotHS...

The mind boggles...

So here's a quick snap of games room redux...

... Three 6' x 4' tables, with enough space to move around them... heck I could perhaps host a mini-tournament too, should the desire so move me...

Biggest job today though was actually sorting the under-table storage as this all had to be reconfigured to fit under three smaller tables, not one big one...but we managed (No.1 son helping with the lifting and carrying, Gods bless his cotton socks), with Ipod blasting my ear canals with groovy sounds, and power tools humming!

I swear, a man needs nothing more than good music, power tools and wood glue to be happy! Though a bit of spray paint in a confined space works wonders too ;-)

I now relish the chance for some decent father and son gaming in the man-zone!

So that was Saturday... Sunday being the family trip to Wello for the Santa parade, fingers crossed, we get good weather...

Oh, just to prove why I need to move 'subsidiary' tables from the dining room, given any length of time unattended, they are immediately occupied by one of four, interloping unauthorized personnel... for some reason cats just love to be up high and hidden from view... it's a comfort thing I guess...

"Monica", captures Jerusalem, ... or was it Minas Ithil... I cant recall! ;-)

Happy gaming folks, and a very merry Seasons Greetings to you all... and for all those in Curts Analogue Hobbies Challenge - get prepping!  ;-)


Cheers
Scott

Corner Pub / Tavern - WIP - basic shape

Whilst working on the Empire of the Dead base board, and with the MDF side panels gluing into place one at a time, I made a start on the next building for my cityscape -  a corner site Public House or Tavern...

Again, 3mm MDF forms the basic structure. PVA glue is dry enough to hold it together after about an hour and should get to full strength over night...

Three level building again, measuring about 10" x 11", with an angled main entrance way, and rear yard area...

While this was one drying, I made a start drawing out the plan for the next building... this time a high street shop... I'll try and get it cut out and assembled over the weekend...

The beast is tamed!

Ha... think you can out expand me eh? Well we'll see about that... Take that! And this! Ha ha, not so clever now are we? Biff, bash, cut, hack, slash and saw!

Actually it was mostly saw and sand! But it worked...

Once set the material is fairly easy to work with. The outer skin is crusty , whilst the inner surface still retains a slight spongy quality.

So after a bit of work, we are back to this...

I had to be little careful during trimming so I didn't cut the ends off the uprights, just still visible poking up through the surface.

OK next job will be to clad the sides of the board in more MDF, for rigidity and strength and then skim coat the whole top surface in polyfilla. After that sand flat and smooth and, well... I still want a cobblestone pattern over the whole board... and am still leaning towards etching a pattern in with the dremel... it will probably take an age, but should look good in the end...

Cobblestones

I haven't found a cost effective way of covering the board in a suitable pattern. Several suppliers do cobble patterns in pre-made pieces or molds to make yourself... but these cost the earth in pre-made pieces to cover this size of board, or the rubber latex mold making material and then casting material will all add up and probably end up taking just as long to cast it all and fit it all together...

So I think the dremel will be the cost effective way to go... time will be the only factor...

Smoke

On the smoke making front I have run into a slight problem - getting the dry-ice. BOC in Wellington sell it, but thats 50kms away, and they are only open Mon-Fri , the same days I work. When I am free to go down at the weekend to get it, they're closed... what a pain! Shame I can't just nip down to the local store and grab a pack when I need it... curses! Plus even if you can get it, its time sensitive stuff due to storage conditions... it literally goes off. You cant keep it in the domestic freezer either as it could knacker the thermostat... it seems really a buy and use immediately type thing, which is tricky with the supply situation here...

I looked at another way... CO2 fire extinguishers can be used to make dry-ice; just wrap a pillow case tightly round the nozzle and set it off, the pillow case catches the dry-ice formed coming out the end. But CO2 extinguishers are not cheaply or locally available either...

So I am now exploring smoke machines... these things seem to run on 'fog juice' which seems to be a mix of distilled water and glycerin, both of which I can get from the pharmacy. Heat this mix up and it gives off smoke vapours... I'll have to have a play about and see what I come up with...

I have also made a start tonight drawing out plans for the corner pub/tavern... Just need cutting the bits out of the MDF sheet now and start putting it together...

[UPDATE - Millsy suggested split peas for cobblestones so I went to grocery store to have a look. I thought the split peas were too big, but did find some red lentil that looked a smaller better size - I'll have a play with these]

It Lives...!

It lives master, it lives... heck, that's what it feels like using this stuff...

With the poly sheet and piping glued down I decided to fill the void around the pipe with expanding foam filler... I'd used a can of this ages ago, thinking it might create some rather cool cliffs I could carve and sculpt, but I found it too uncontrollable, when used without a controlling frame of reference... and ended up with a huge uncontrolled and unusable 'blob' and just biffed it in the bin... that was quite sometime ago... I do recall it made a right mess and was a bugger to try and clean up, darn stuff seem to stick to everything...

So with that vague memory haunting me somewhat I set to again, read the directions... yeah I know, men don't read instructions ;-)... and even read the ones on the can of clean up spray I got too...

With latex gloves on, and hearty high ho silver, I let rip... is that it...? OK squirt a bit more... still seems a bit thin and hasn't reached the top of the poly sheet yet... hmm, squirt a bit more ... there that'll do... OK clean up time... wahay this stuff is pressurized spray acetone... wee ...nice smell,  splash it on all over, eh 'arry? 'arry? Wheres 'arry?

Thank the Gods I had opened the windows, or I'd be floating round the ceiling somewhere...

Anyhoo... I got cleaned up so I can use the rest of can for something else... gave it half an hour or so, (drying time on can) and came back, and its swelled like you can see below!

... by the end of the night, its just about doubled in size again... I foresee a hearty time with the bread knife and dremel tomorrow! Wish me luck!

If your gonna use the one on the left, make sure you get the one on the right as well! You have been warned!

Oh, and you can probably use about half the amount you think you're gonna need, coz yep, it expands, ...just not instantly...

A foggy day in old London Town! - WIP - Empire of the Dead base board

With Curts painting challenge approaching, over on Analogue Hobbies blog, I have been hard out all week prepping stuff to paint for the challenge... So far I have 5 15mm PSC Panzer IV F1's, a Battlefront 15cm sFH18 Howitzer battery of 4 guns, another pack of Battlefront Begleit Tank escorts, for my StuGs, my Hobbit set of 13 Dwarves and Radagast have been rescued from the back of the painting table, and I made a start on my Requiem EotD stuff, prepping the Gentlemen with Guns, Lycaons, and the character pack of Dracula, his brides and Renfield. I've also done the 4 40k terminators to go with the test Das Reich terminator I did sometime ago...

So if I get through that little lot over the next couple of months I will be thrilled. I am keeping an eye on the fortnight theme aspects of the challenge too, and have some ideas for civvies, casualties etc...

After all that figure prepping, I thought the weekend, should give me a little time to work on terrain, and a wet and windy Saturday gave me a perfect chance to make a start on my Empire of the Dead London base board...

Now since some fine fellows suggested I should try and add some fog effects to my terrain board to go with the Building lights and Gaslamps I did, I thought I had better make a start...

I got a sheet of 5mm MDF and a 2" think sheet of polystyrene, cutting both to 48" x 48". I also got some 15mm dia plumbing pipe, with simple screw-fit connections, and made a start on a piped sewer system. I blanked off the ends of the pipe and added an upright to each that will just stick up proud of the poly sheet for now. This will be covered with a pastic mesh that will look like a drain cover...

The pipework will allow dry-ice to be pumped into the game, giving a foggy ground layer to the game.


Here's the pipework in place, on the MDF sheet.

I also used the pipework as a template to cut out the poly sheet...

Then the pipework was glued into place, and the poly sheet glued down around it. This will all dry overnight, giving the PVA glue a good chance to dry out. The books weigh it all down while it sets... I knew all those rule books, supplements, magazines and history books would be good for something! ;-)

While all that is drying... I finished off my 'smoke machine'... an empty 900g powdered food tin, a 2.5" 2nd hand computer case fan, a 9v battery cap connector was soldered to this, to power it up, glued to the plastic lid of the tin, that I had cut a fan sized hole in, so it blows down into the tin. An off cut of plastic pipe, and a bought piece of flexible pipe from the plumb shop, and we are ready to go... hot glue and insulating tape finishes it off...

...so this is all connected to the pipe 'sewer' system, via a screw fit straight connector... all I am waiting for is a test run...

...I need to get some dry-ice... the trick is, put some boiling water in the tin, drop in some dry-ice, put lid on and whack the fan on and, hopefully, hey presto - a smoke laden gaming board...

...for the chemically curious among you, the dry-ice, sublimes, i.e. goes from a solid, straight to a gas, missing out the liquid phase... to create a cold ground hugging fog effect... common to all those 70's pop group stage videos etc. and cheesy horror movies...

Warnings! - the dry-ice is seriously cold ( −78.5 °C), handle with thick gloves to avoid frost burns, oh and the gas is  CO₂, so open the windows too, to avoid hypercapnia!

If I get it all to work, I'll upload a video... fingers crossed!

Another summer, another annual challenge from Curt!

Summer is just around the corner for us Southern hemisphere types... and in the miniatures hobby world, that can only mean one thing; Curt's 'Analogue Hobbies' Painting Challenge...

This years challenge

I have taken part in the last couple years events, with varying amounts of output, but its always great to be part of the global challenge, no matter where you are placed at the end. There are some painters out there who can churn out vast quantities of quality figures, that I could only dream of matching in output, so for me its not about the winning, just taking part...

Whilst our northern cousins can take solace in the poor weather and long dark evenings, that are thus perfect for guilt-free indoors hobby painting, the challenge is exactly that for those of us in south enjoying the summer weather. But I guess that is in effect part of our challenge too, finding the time to squeeze in some time when possible at the painting table - almost praying for a wet weekend! ;-)

This year, Curt has widened the subject matter allowable to include sci-fi and fantasy, and that I think is a great thing, which I openly applaud! Nice one Curt - we are really in for a visual feast of varied submissions! And I can't wait to see what starts rolling in... you are going to have your hands full judging this lot my friend. But no doubt you have a few years practice under your belt to know how this is all going to run...

For myself, well I have a few things lined up as potential entry material... as always there will be 15mm Flames of War... also I have yet to start work on my Requiem Empire of the Dead figures... there are still 'tons' of LOTR/Hobbit figure backlogged stashed away to do... and there are some Foundry Saxons that are scheduled for possible SAGA service... So lots of scope for the paint brush...

However, a couple of caveats to my potential output... I still want to make more terrain for my Victorian London board for EotD, and that is time consuming work and beyond the scope of the challenge...  on top of which, my father is visiting with us, from the UK,  for a month over January/February, which typically will mean family activities together, and evenings chatting and imbibing a dram or three of whiskey... my liver has been in forewarned!

But that all said and done, we will do what we can!

So what my real output will finally be, it's hard to judge, but I have set myself a nominal challenge score of 600 points. Its at least, something to aim for!

Wish me luck.

And of course, best of luck to all the other participants!

Victorian Terrace #2 - Completed!

Finally finished Victorian Terrace #2 today, despite coming down with the lurgy earlier in the week and not really feeling like doing any hobby work. I visited the local apothecary, was prescribed a suitable potion, kept calm and carried on! ;-)

 So without further ado, here's the completed building, all painted and lights in working order...

Front view

I decided to go with a different brick colour, after reading an interesting blog post on East London buildings by the Legatus, here.

Side view

I also added some posters to the gable ends, some themed from EotD and other general Victoriana I found on the web.

Rear view

I also added some grassy weeds to the rear yard, just to give it a little life and contrast.

Another side view

Close up posters

Infernium, the fuel of the future, rumored to be the crystallized blood of fallen angels!

More posters

Some street scenes...

Having two buildings complete now means I can start to get some decent cameos, with one building providing the back drop to the other. As you can tell I also went back and added posters to the original red brick terrace building and again added weeds to its rear yard too.

Lights go on as twilight approaches (main room lights off, just display case halogens on)...sorry pics get a little blurry here, the camera struggles with the low light and shaky hand! Sorry.

Proper night time shots (room lights off completely)... very pleased with these, rather atmospheric I think!

And finally the two buildings together, on the 4' x 4' base board I made for goblin town. It will do till I sort out a board with a fully cobbled surface.

So final total build time on second house was 7.5 weeks. Much better than the 5 months the first one took me! But I did concentrate more purposefully upon it, once I knew Requiem was immanent and I had learnt a lot from building the first one...

What next then, I hear you cry? I need to clear the painting table, as its currently got some FOW begleit troops on it before I can make a start on the Requiem figures... And as for the next building... I am thinking about doing a corner public house...