Prussian Maxim HMG - GASLIGHT

Finally got my Prussian Maxim Heavy Machine Gun team finished for my prospective GASLIGHT games.

As much as I would like to equip my Zendarian Gentleman's club with it for Empire of the Dead gaming, I fear this may be beyond the scope of the rules... shame though as I love the idea of mowing down zombies, werewolves and Nosferatu with it!

Now its just as well this is a 'sci-fi' setting, and not strictly historical, as I have to come clean with the set up of the team...

Obviously there were no instructions in the blister pack, and I messed about with getting the right fit for the gun and crew. Everything looked OK, until I went to the web for some colour reference material for the gun, found what I was looking for then then realised the belt feed goes in the other side of the gun... bugger!

What I had not contemplated was that the loader would have his back to the action... that and the relative heights of the gun and tripod to the loader seemed a good fit for where I put it. As it was I had to entirely cut off the cast base from the loader otherwise the belt feed was just too high... greenstuff also was used to join feed belt to the gun.

Ah well I still think it looks pretty cool. I'll just have to come up with some fiendish new gun to explain this alternative feed mechanism... maybe some 'infernium' enriched rounds... who knows!

Prussians - GASLIGHT / Zendarians - Empire of the Dead

Well they have taken a little while, and their painting has been interrupted by several FoW items, but they are now finally done; my VSF Prussians, for GASLIGHT. And a wonderful surprise was finding they are also perfect for depicting the Zendarian Gentleman's club for Empire of the Dead. Two games with one set of models - more bang for your buck, can't be bad I say!

For those who missed the earlier WIP post, they are 28mm Paroom Station figures from BrigadeGames.

20 trooper models in a good advance attack pose (in 5 subtle variants) that will suit the skirmish nature of these games very well. 3 Officers that will no doubt be various Hauptmanns, Feldwebels and what have you (must research German military ranks!) and two Extraordinary Prussian officers. No doubt perhaps an Oberst and Major. I'll have to name them of course... I can see Ottos, vons, Ludwigs and all sorts of other Germanic name combos coming up...

I must admit I painted them as quick as I could, and skimped on a few details, I didn't bother doing eyes on the troopers, nor did I do a top highlight, but I think they have turned out well enough for the tabletop. The flesh tone appears a bit yellowy in the pics but they are fine to the naked eye, I think this is a lighting effect during photography.

Please excuse the odd tuft of static grass clinging to the models, this will fall off with time.

Next up, a WIP; a fiendishly nasty Maxim heavy machinegun. Not terribly steampunk in appearance but hopefully quite terribly deadly to its targets none the less ol' boy! ;-)

Again Paroom station from Brigadegames.

Right, wheres that Colonel O'Truth got his redcoats hiding? Ah yes that tropical place Ah-Pul Sh'Napps, somewhere on the Dark Continent, we'll find 'em and giving a sound Prussian thrashing!

One for the Colonel! VSF Prussians - a start is made! WIP.

Well after much spouting and pontificating, waving of arms, stamping of feet, and conducting polls, I have finally put paint to model and made a start on my VSF Prussians!

The poll results, along with comments received, supports the portrayal of the Prussians in their traditional uniform of the period circa 1880.

And so I have set to with this scheme in mind. I have got 20 Trooper figures, 3 Officers and 2 Characters on the go at once.

 Humble beginnings so far, with black undercoat, dark grey trousers and a mid blue tunic painted up to now, though one officer has been taken a little further.. The skin tone looks very yellowy in the pictures but that's just the nature of the lighting...

The figures are very nice sculpts, from Paroom station via BrigadeGames in the US. I also like the pose of the troopers, in an 'advance' stance, which suits the skirmish nature of the game. The officers and characters have nicely animated poses too , which befits their nature.

Whilst the Prussian Uniform has come out on top, I still like Rolys idea of the Bavarian light blue uniform and plan to use this for my proposed 'Aeronef-waffe' troops.

I have also been doodling about with ideas for Steam vehicles to add to my infantry, so I'll see what bits and pieces I can source to start making some creations. Watch this space...

PS... anyone got a spare pair of arms! I've got that many projects on the go at once I'm running out of space to have them all part done in their WIP status! ;-)

A return to VSF!

Many moons ago, four gentleman gamers, (Myself, Roly - Dressing the Lines blog, Joe - Colonel o'Truths Miniatures Issues blog, and 'Notorious Greg' - no blog that I am aware of) got together with the notion of exploring the world of VSF, using the GASLIGHT rules.

More here for a recap...
http://scottswargaming.blogspot.co.nz/2011/08/foray-into-vsf.html

However, being the eclectic group that we are, much distraction appears to have ensued, as I disappeared off into the 15mm world of WWII gaming with Flames of War, and Roly has been on his Maori Wars odyssey using Sharps Practice. I'm not sure what Notorious Greg has been up to!

Of our quartet, only Joe stayed on target, and over the past 6 months or so has put together an amazing array of VSF scratch built goodness! More can be seen on his blog here:

http://colonelotruth.blogspot.co.nz/

So, I believe with a view to giving the rest of us a virtual 'thick ear', an impromptu meeting was called at Bowman Towers, where Joe brought all his recent creations for us to drool over, and become suitably inspired once again to get back on target...

Here's a pic of Joe's amazing collection, as Roly looks in amazement, and my son decided to buzz them with his planes. The enigmatic mysterious Notorious Greg can also be seen lurking nearby, minus a head, who is this 'masked man' I hear you ask...?

Roly had actually shown up to grab some dense foam from me to use as a base for his Maori Pa (that means 'fortified village' and not 'father'), the same stuff that Joe has recently used for his river board sections, though Joe had sourced his own.

 So we all ogled Joe's handiwork, and probably all inwardly thought; "Christ, how the hell am I going to top that lot!"...

 Above, Thomas the Tank engine meets Star Wars in a bizarre and suitable VSF twist, whilst below we can see a possible early prototype of the Dreadnaughts of a futuristic period set 40,000 years from now ;-)

 And Gargantua herself, aptly named, this thing is massive! So suitably 'enthused' (read - brow beaten, chastised and sent to the naughty corner!), I promised to make some progress on the VSF world...

 All those months ago I did place an order for the Paroom Station Prussians from BrigadeGames, but they arrived and languished in the 'to do' pile, as mountains of 15mm WWII goodies bypassed them to front of the painting queue...

My current batch of Late War WWII projects are nearing completion, and unless I suddenly feel the need to make an early start on MidWar Desert or Eastern Front stuff, I can take a WWII  break, and have a crack on with these guys below (Don't worry Paul, I will get your Typhoon finished!)

So above is the first start on prep'ing those Paroom station Prussians. I must admit, when they first arrived their rifles were badly bent in the packs, and I was a little concerned they may just snap off as I tried to bend them back into position, but thankfully the quality of this pewter is rather good and they bent back no problem.

The first 12 figures trimmed, filed and glued to 20mm washers.

Now I have another slight dilemma...

I have used the word 'Prussian' a lot and also loosely thrown around the word 'Bavarian' too in connection with my proposed VSF 'dastardly huns'. I had not thought more about it, until several weeks ago, Roly pinged me an email with a specific uniform depiction for the Bavarian army. I had not realised they had a separate army! Of course, 'Germany' of the period was broken into many separate States...

The Prussian uniform would be a mid blue jacket with dark grey pants, whilst the Bavarian uniform, would be a light blue jacket and pants.

I'm undecided which way to go. I still like the idea of the Prussians, but the Bavarians would be a novel twist, and a lot easier to paint up with the airbrush!

I thought I might run a little poll, whilst I trim the remaining figures, to see what opinions are out there on the subject in the blog-o-verse...

 Poll in side bar shortly. Thanks for voting!

Another discussion arose between us all about whats the difference between VSF and Steampunk, and some intersting thoughts and opinions were aired. I asked as I was thinking about making an Aeronef for for my VSF 'huns', but wondered if it would be appropriate for our setting...

I'd welcome your opinions on VSF vs Steampunk, and indeed is there actually any difference or is it just nomenclature???