Monday, 17 June 2013

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):
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

Monday, 10 June 2013

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! 

Monday, 3 June 2013

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!

Thursday, 30 May 2013

IHMN - Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary

As promised, photo's of my first company for In Her Majesty's Name - Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary (HMMC). (I did think of calling it the Royal Martian Constabulary, but decided to use the rules' name as a theme.) The company is based upon the Scotland Yard list (from the rulebook) with a few twists, mainly supposing that the best and brightest candidates are at the heart of the Empire - i.e. Scotland Yard - and those who wash up in the British Martian Colony are (for varied reasons) not as ... competent or disadvantaged in some other way ...

In the descriptions below, IHMN figure types from the Scotland Yard list are in bold, as are extra equipment that the figure may have and game values not on the list. All the figures except for Frannie are from Ironclad Miniatures.

So, first up is the company's leader their Consulting Detective, the Countess Adler, more commonly called Lady Eileen, who is pictured to the right. As you can see, she is holding a bouquet of her favourite Martian Orchids. These sweet smelling flowers have an uncanny knack of clearing noxious vapours very rapidly and are as effective as a breath preserver. Her female intuition (intuitive) has been of great benefit to her and HMMC more than once.
Points: 50 = 43 [Consulting Detective] + 2 [breath preserver] + 5 [intuitive]
To the left is Lady Eileen's plucky young maid - Frannie, an orphan from the mean streets of New York (tough). She is very plucky (4+), a superb shot with her pistol (SV +3), but not terribly good in a fight (FV +0), much preferring to use her natural speed (Speed +2) to run away, although the protected clothing (brigandine) supplied by her mistress has saved her from harm more than once.
Points: 20 = 4 [Pluck 4+] + 4 [SV +3] + 5 [tough] + 2 [speed +2] + 3 [pistol] + 2 [brigandine]
Next is Lady Eileen's ... assistant perhaps is the best word ... Mr Sheldon Cooper-Holmes. A veritable encyclopaedia of knowledge, he is lacking in social skills, and although on Mars he aspires to be a consulting detective, in London he would almost certainly be a Chief Inspector. Although he lacks leadership ability, the strange way that his mind works does make him impervious to the mystical powers his company has occasionally faced. Although Mr Cooper-Holmes believes that he has a most erudite wit, he doesn't ... not at all ... in no shape or form ...
Points: 30 = 31 [Chief Inspector] -6 [remove Leadership +2] + 5 [impervious]

The Good Doctor - Dr Leonard Hofstadter-Watson is Mr Cooper-Holmes' great friend and colleague and is hopelessly enamoured with Lady Eileen. No more of a leader than his friend Dr Hofstadter-Watson is constantly mistaken for a medical doctor when he is, in fact, a doctor of engineering - Frannie has suggested that, perhaps, he shouldn't carry his tools in a doctor's bag, but he has yet to listen to this sage advice ...
Points: 24 = 27 [Good Doctor] -3 [remove Leadership +1] -5 [remove medic] + 5 [engineer]
Inspector Corbitt was a Sergeant during the years that he spent at the Metropolitan Police with his good friend Barker and although an 'inspector' in HMMC, he remains a Sergeant at heart, readily deferring to those he sees as his betters (mainly Lady Eileen, occasionally 'Dr HW' and (rarely) Mr 'CH').
Points: 18 = 18 [sergeant] 

Sergeant Barker served in the 'Met' with Corbitt as a constable, and, like Corbitt, although of higher rank in HMMC he remains a Constable at heart. His many years on the beat have given him a wide knowledge of first aid techniques though (medic)
Points: 16 = 11 [constable] + 5 [medic]

The Constables of HMMC are equipped as their Scotland Yard brethren are, although they do regularly carry carbines. Also, due to the relative paucity of street lighting in Martian cities, they are issued Carbide Lamps for night shifts
Points: 11 = 11 [constable]. Equipment options as Scotland Yard, plus can carry carbide lamp at +3 points

So there it is! opinions requested!

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

In tomorrow's post ...

Just thought I'd let you all know that I've finished my first IHMN company - "Her Majesty's Martian Police". I've done 14 figures - all from Ironclad Miniatures - and it will be based on the Scotland Yard list with some tweaks.

I hope to get photos of the figures done tonight and if I do I'll publish them here tomorrow; it is really hectic at work though, so it might be Friday before I can publish them :(

In other news:
  • I've also done my 2mm mediterranean village from Brigade Models, so might get some pics of that up tomorrow as well
  • I've ordered some figures from Brigade and Black Tree to experiment converting into Martians
  • Got some stuff from Irregular on the way, more 2mm and some of their 42mm to use with my 40mm

Friday, 24 May 2013

Clearco Miniatures 02

I got some more photos done this morning before leaving for work and these are a bit better and are probably as good as I'm going to get until I get my lighting sorted properly.  So first up is a line-up style shot with the Clearco girls mixed up with other manufacturer's figures as a size indicator.

From left to right in the pic below the manufacturer's are: Copplestone, Clearco, Clearco, Copplestone, Clearco, Clearco, Studio (I think!), Clearco, Clearco, Black Cat Bases.
As I said before, the figures are on the large side, but as you can see they fit nicely. They are also different heights (as real people are funnily enough!) and are help by not being on slottabases, although if they were, it wouldn't be an issue - for me anyway. Obviously YMMV.

Onto individual pics of each of the figures; in each of them the Clearco girls are paired with Van Fampi and Zed-Me, two figures that I have used a lot for size inidication.
added right hand (RH) pistol
no hands added
added RH pistol
added RH pistol
added RH pistol & LH hammer
open RH, put spade in it
So there you have it - my painting of the Clearco Female Survivor set. One thing I should mention is that Juan, the man behind Clearco, mentioned that the spade in the last lady's hand was intended to be held by the lady in the second photo - I guess with the handle resting on her hand - and the lady in the last pic was intended to hold the crowbar ... I might change them to match the intentions, but I'm not sure.

In other news:
  • Did some more painting last night and decided on the uniform colours for Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary; need to check how it looks in the cold light of day yet though ...
  • Did some work playing with Stoelzel's 'The Cottage' yesterday to 'redden' it up for a Mars version; the prints look good
  • I was right - 6 IHMN companies identified and in the process of quantifying them

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Only one - but it's a biggie!

I finished the Clearco ladies last night, but the photos I took this morning have not come out well at all :(

Therefore I'm going to try again tonight - hopefully with better results!

I also finished Talos and that photo came out better and has a Clearco lady in for comparison. I'm very pleased with how he's come out, but the magic dip I used has given a very glossy finish - I don't think it did this last time I used it .... perhaps I didn't shake it enough ...



In other news:
  • I fished out my VSF minis last night and started painting them - really getting into this painting lark again now ...
  • I had a quick guestimate at how many IHMN companies I could make and I got to about 6 without even trying! more details on that after I've finished my Clearco series - and read the rules of course!