A Mars a day keeps you busy ...

Today's post is mainly about terrain I have been making for my upcoming IHMN game (and future ones) set on Mars. I've also included some pics of the steam tanks I painted a while ago as I might be using one on Friday, and the 1/1200th stuff I've been painting off and on ...

In my last post, I included this photo of the beginning of my Martian Fort ... as I said then, its moved on quite a bit, as the following photos show.

This one is a close up that (hopefully!) allows you to see the detail of the plastic sheeting I've used to clad the foamboard. The sheet has an embossed pattern of 'stone setts' and not bricks as I mistakenly said in my last post.  You can also see the wall filler I put inside the wall to give it a bit more weight and stability - which has worked very well!

 The pic to the right shows the wall post undercoating (using Halfords' Red primer) with the cocktail stick palisade in place ...

 A close-up with Sgt Barker behind the palisade ...

Another close-up, but from behind the wall this time.

I'm very pleased with how this has turned out so far; it still needs some paint so we'll have to wait for that  before final conclusions are drawn though ...

To the left is the first of the Martian tiles I've made. It's from the World Works Games Mars Station set and it'll certainly do the job until I can get some flock'n'stuff on it. FYI, it's a 7 inch square

In this pic to the right is my first attempt at Martian Flora using some of Products for Wargamers DIY jungle plants. I was wondering how I would be able to get paint to stick to the plastic plants effectively, so have tried using a red permanent marker. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far.

Next up is the first of the terrain pieces I got from 'The Square' at Valhalla, "The Hatch". At only £2, I think it was a bargain and am looking forward to using, not in the first IHMN game, probably the second. (If you're reading this Andy, I do have cunningly cunning plan! BWAHAHAHA!!!)

And here is the set of "Alien Trees" from 'The Square'. To be honest, they look a lot like they've been moulded from pine cones, but I like them and the tentacles at the base are a nice touch. Once I get them painted and some orange scatter stuff on them, I think they'll look a lot better (I hope so anyway!)

Some steam vehicles I painted a while ago ...

Steam01

Steam04 

Steam06

And finally, on the left is a Turkish Aeronef and the right a section of Turkish Ironclads.  I was hoping for some feedback on the colour scheme; do you think it works?

   

New Shop and New Terrain

Andy had mentioned to me that there was a model shop close to me that I knew nothing about, so Saturday saw me in the new(ish) realworld presence of the webstore SnM Stuff.  Despite the myriad numbers of goodies sold by Sean (the proprietor), I was able to discover some self-control and spend less than £15! You can see to the right what I purchased - some red(ish) flock, orange scatter stuff (both for bases of my mars figures), 1mm drills, slottabase pack, a new pin-vice and a large plastic sheet with moulded brickwork on it. A very nice haul, I thought, and I'm already planning what to get next time!

Something I will definitely be getting again is the brick-sheeting, as I've already used most of it in my first piece of terrain for the game of IHMN this Friday. I'm planning to get at least one wall of a Martian fort on the table - here's a WIP photo of it:

I took that pic on Saturday and it's moved on considerably since then - it's almost ready for undercoating now ...

In other news:

• An informative (as usual!) post on the evil mastermind Colgar6's blog may well see me making first  mail order to Japan in the near future!
• It seems that Wilkinsons' have tiles that are useful for IHMN - as seen in this post
• Still trying to get the latest issue of 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy', but it's not in WHSmiths (where it normally is) nor can I get the pdf yet :(
• Vampifan's condition seems worse than I had at first thought :(  Vampi's brother (Mikie) is keeping us up to date via comments on the latest post on Vampi's blog here; thanks to him for doing that! Get well soon Vampi!

Game Arranged, Andy's Eye Candy and List of Projects ...

I've arranged an actual wargame!! woo-hoo!! that's right, a real, live game against another person no less!!

Friday 28th June (unless something intervenes) will see my first game of "In Her Majesty's Name" against my buddy Andy. At the moment it looks like it will feature Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary against Andy's Chinese Tong (if he gets them painted in time!), but I might get something else finished before then - possibly the French Legations Entreprise des Opérations Spéciales (which Google translate tells me is "special operations company" in le frog) or possibly the German Empire's team, we will see. If it is a new company, I'll be sure to post on it here (and the LAF as well)

Andy also informed me that while he has not been wargaming (and that's only about 5 years he claims, not the 12+ that I asserted in my post) he has been busy modelling, as you can see with this British Grenadier he made:

More photos of his rather superb efforts are through this link

Finally for this post, I'm listing the myriad projects that are currently within my butterfly like wargaming attention span as an FYI for you all in no particular order ...

• 28mm VSF (Ironclad and IHMN)
• 1/1200th Victorian Science Fiction (Brigade Models; not fixed on rules yet)
• 15mm Very British Civil War (Peter Pig figures and "A World Aflame" Osprey rules)
• 40mm Greek Mythological Skirmish (various figs; no rules yet)
• 28mm Dark Ages (Gripping Beast plastics and SAGA)
• 6mm Marlborough (Baccus and assorted rules to try)
• 6mm ACW (Baccus and Cheer, Boys, Cheer!)

and of course, 28mm Zompocalyspe! as well as others we won't go into right now ...  ;)

In other news:

• Just read the Osprey New Vanguard series books on 'British Airships 1905-30' and 'Zeppelins: German Airships 19??-40'; very informative and inspirational
• Has anyone been in contact with Vampifan? last I heard he'd had surgery and was recovering .. I emailed him, but have not had a reply ...

Valhalla '13 Loot

Despite finishing last week with a migraine (wiped out Thurs & Fri, and made me feel grotty most of Sat), I made it to Valhalla 13 yesterday, and as it was Father's Day as well, I had my 12-yr old daughter in tow ...  I was very conscious of not getting her bored as I stood and gawped at eye-candy so I didn't take any piccies.

I did, however, bump into a gaming buddy that I don't think I've seen since before my daughter was born (!) although I might have slightly after that momentous day ...  anyway, the long and short of it is, he's intending to return to gaming and hopes to be able to make it to the Farnborough club! This is good news as one of the many reasons I stopped going was nobody was interested in the genres that I was, whereas my buddy - let's call him Andy* - was! So I hope to actually play some games soon! Woo-hoo!

*- well it is his name after all! ;)

I also, picked up some new toys and other bits that you can see in the pic. In the pic are (in no particular order):

• anti-shine matt varnish spray to finish off my 'magic' dipped miniatures
• half a dozen paints to replace some that dried up completely as my last painting break had been so long ...
• ODD07 Armed Staff from Ironclad Miniatures
• PR03 Prussian Jaegers from Ironclad Miniatures  and PR08 Prussian Officer from Ironclad Miniatures (to finish my Germans on Mars IHMN company)
• BR07 British Tank Commander from Ironclad Miniatures and a miscast figure John gave me to use the head from - very nice guy!
• From The Square [although existing, that website has nothing on it :) ] a hatch in the ground and some alien trees - again for Mars
• From Ainsty Castings, 5 Apes with SMG (Crooked Dice I believe) and their own AGG104 St Johns Ambulance or Traffic Wardens
• And a whole bunch of stuff from Products for Wargamers:
• plastic foliage to make Martian plants
• steel 6x6cm bases to finish my altitude stands after a successful post-salute 13 experiment
• steel 5x5 and 2x2 sm bases for basing my 2mm buildings
• two bags of hex bases for my cunning plan for VSF aerial combat ...

As always, it was a good, if somewhat cramped, show - well done to Farnborough Wargames Society!

In other news:

• I got the Osprey on the Balkan Wars for father's day - cool!
• Still not got the latest issue of 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy' :( will get the pdf in the next couple of days

This is not the blog post you are looking for ...

Nothing to post about really at the moment ... not done much hobby-wise recently other than to carry on experimenting with colour schemes for my Land Ironclads ...

I've added a page to the blog that will ist the IHMN companies I create (link is on the right side at the top) and has some ideas for future companies

I also wanted to say "Get well soon!" to Vampifan, author of the superb and highly inspirational Vampifan's World Of The Undead who is currently in hospital.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to Broadside yesterday, the show organised by Clint over at Anything But A One yesterday ... couldn't afford the money for the new toys plus petrol cost  :(  next sunday (16th June) is my local club's (Farnborough Wargames Society) show Valhalla 2013, so I will be there.

Hopefully I'll have something a bit more substantive next time.

In other news:

• Finally started on decorating my daughter's bedroom
• My main LOTRO character has got all the way through Moria and is now in the Dimrill Dale! 

Brigade Models' 2mm Middle Eastern Village

I'm not entirely sure that I've mentioned on this blog that one of my (many!) ongoing projects is 2mm VSF using the wonderful Aeronef and Land Ironclad figures from Brigade Models and infantry figures from Irregular Miniatures' 2mm range.  Anyway, to go with these, I got Brigade's 2mm Middle Eastern Village at salute and finished painting them last week:

Not that they took much painting really ...  After gluing them to coffee stirrers, I sprayed them with Halfords' matt grey primer as undercoat then covered them with Coffee, White or Unbleached Linen paints. Then I picked out the windows and doors with black before using medium tone magic dip. I'm not entirely sure how I'll base them for gaming yet, but I am pleased with how they've come out.
(Note: the tower at the right end of the back stirrer will be attached to the building at the right end of the front stirrer to form a mosque.)

In other news:

• DIY disaster over the weekend; discovered that what I thought was the water mains stopcock actually wasn't when I cut through the water-pipe ...
• Martian conversions are ready for undercoating (well nearly anyway)
• Irregular Mini's 42mm amazon figures leave a lot to be desired in their face scuplts ... :(
• I intend to be at Broadside next weekend; if I make it, I'll wear my t-shirt with my blog address on the back, so please say hello if you see me!