Home Studio Experiments.

At last, I have got round to buying myself a home studio for miniature photography. I bought this funky little kit from Amazon.

I'm really really chuffed with it, it takes seconds to put up, comes with 4 coloured back drops (white, black, blue and red) and best of all it all folds away into its own self contained little bag (formed by the soft box itself). Genius! Only criticisms is that the tripod it comes with is probably a wee bit flimsy if you have a huge heavy DSLR like I do- compact cameras and the budget DSLRs should be OK though, and the lights aren't particularly bright. Bright enough for miniature photography but maybe not for some other uses. A cheap alternative is a pair of halogen builders lamps. I may treat myself to some as a back up.

Anyway here's a couple of test shots with it- these were done with a little bit of added flash. Still without my flashgun (will this saga ever end!) I used the onboard flash but masked it with some tissue paper to soften it- it seems to have worked well.

First up is part of my US army battlegroup for Blitzkrieg Commander - there are still quite a lot to finish basing and varnishing, but seeing as on Sunday I sprained my thumb that may have to wait a couple of days! I reckon the pics have come out well, and I am very pleased with the paint jobs so far.







Next is a few Wild West figures I did for one of our Legends of the Old West game- a great fun system, and some nice characterful Wargames Foundry minis. I painted these at speed as it was looking like for once, everyone in my gaming group was bringing a painted posse to the session. I'm fairly pleased with how these turned out- they don't hold up to close scrutiny but they held their own on the table top.

Painting Frenzy Pt2

The relatives have all gone home, and the wife is in the bath, my son in bed, so time to take some pics of some of the work in progress.

First up the Shermans that i posted pre weathering and decals a few entries back.


The weather was dry and not freezing today so I nipped pout and gave a tentative first coat with Dullcoat to matt the gloss varnish down. I say tentative because in the past I have nightmares with mat varnish and have turned lovely painted 28mm figures into frosty white looking lumps of upset. Anyway, these guys are the first fully painted, weathered, based and varnished vehicles for my BKC US army. Im really pleased with them, especially the weathering and decals (of which you cant really see many due to the positioning of the models- doh!).


Next up is a couple of my recent Minifigs order- a M10 and a couple of jeeps. They are painted, varnished and decal'd but yet to be weathered, based and mat coated. If you can excuse that, you can get a vague idea of what they look like and where they might be heading.




And last but not least- my first company of infantry. These are Pendraken infantry with one or two Minifigs dotted in for variety- they mix fairly well in my opinion.
I initially wasn't happy with how these turned out- I'm used to painting 6mm and 28mm and to suddenly paint at 10/12mm was a wee bit of a shock to the system. What saved these in my eyes was a liberal splashing all over (sounds like Brut) of the new Citadel Washes (Devlan Mud iirc). I reckon it does a great job at this scale. Obviously these are yet to be based etc, but the figures themselves are finished saved for the varnishing.






On the photography front (not sure if anyone is really interested in this bit) I decided to dispense with my nice zooms this time and use my first lens I ever bought. A Canon 50mm 1.8f. Its the cheapest lens in the Canon range and for the money is fantastic. Sure the build quality is piss poor (I broke my first one of these so I guess this isn't really the first lens I ever bought!)having a body made mostly of plastic, but the optics are great and in fact it works really well for taking pics of miniatures. Maybe I don't need to buy that Macro lens after all- more money for miniatures.
Still need a lightbox though- this was a jerry rigged affair again with 2 mismatched light sources. I would also like to bounce a bit of flash around, but seeing as my Sigma flash is still broken and still awaiting a new hot shoe. I think I could be waiting for ever though, as of yet despite emailing Sigma about 10 times I have had no reply. Apparently the part is buyable and costs $15! A replacement flashgun will set me back £200 quid. Not happy at all.

Painting frenzy

Spent the last few days in a bit of a frenzy of activity.


My orders from Pendraken and Minifigs arrived on Monday and I have been a whirl of superglue and paint since then.

The Pendraken stuff arrived very quickly and I must say the quality of the figures far exceeded my expectations. I don't know why but I had been led to believe that they were of significantly inferior quality to Minifigs and far smaller. This doesn't appear to be the case. Side by siding the M3 Scout cars from Minifigs and Pendraken there is a massive difference in quality and detail. They are almost identical in size, and while the Minifig Scout car is crisp, the lack of detail compared to the Pendraken one is very obvious. The Pendraken Scout car is superb, and has masses of detail, right down to fuel cans and baggage hanging from the sides. The other thing to say is that the Minifig models seem a lot more complex in construction- I was left scratching my head at the bits that came with the jeep models, and had no idea where to stick most of the strange bits that came with it. Saying that they do look great! The Minifigs order took twice as long as the Pendraken one to arrive and was incomplete- not enough jeeps and scout cars in the packs. I think when I move onto my German project i am going to stick with Pendraken- they are much cheaper, better customer service and the models are just as nice. I am particularly impressed with the Pendraken infantry- while the Minifigs infantry are probably more realistically proportioned, they lack the animation and character that the Pendraken ones do.

So far the painting tally is 6 Shermans, 3 Stuarts, 2 Jeeps, M3 Scout car, Dodge light truck, 3 57mm guns, 3 stands of infantry and a MG section. Still got quite a bit to go, and have some more bits on order with Minifigs (some Sherman 76s, 105s and M10s). I also need a few more infantry models from Pendraken to get my infantry stands up to 12 and detail my CO/HQ bases. The transfers from Minifigs really set the vehicles off, Im very pleased with them. I will try and post some pics when I have got them based after this weekend (relatives staying this weekend so no painting for me). Only trouble is they are all smothered in gloss varnish at present, and I am really nervous given the weather of Dullcoating them- I have had some disasters in the past with spray matt varnish and damp cold weather!

Blitzkrieg Commander Demo Game

Today I put on a game of BKC for my gaming group. Strictly speaking this is untrue as due to us awaiting the release of the new edition of BKC, we just used the Cold War Commander rule set instead. It has to be said it worked extremely well, and the 5 of us really enjoyed it.
We used my friends Rapid Fire armies they have been collecting for a few years now, hence why if you look at the pics carefully the bases look a bit weird- we just blue tacked the individual miniatures onto appropriate sized bases
.
The game was a meeting engagement of Brits Vs Germans in July 1944, fought around a small French town. It was a very close affair with the Germans reaching the town quickly and securing the buildings but finding themselves flanked on their left very quickly but counterflanking on the right. The Brits won by a very narrow margin and everyone went away happy.


I was very happy with the way the board looked- my new roads worked a treat, and Adams other scenery really looked great. Now I cant wait for my Minifig and Pendraken orders to turn up so I can finish off my Americans.



NB- photos were taken with my new phone, a Nokia E71- fantastic smartphone with Blackberry-esque functions. Camera aint up to much though, but thats about the only downside.

War in the Gulf

Last night I hosted a great Gulf War game, a fictional Search and Destroy scenario with British forces attempting to locate pockets of Iraqi resistance in a hilly region.
First off I want to make some apologies (or excuses!). One, I broke my Sigma 500 DG Super flashgun so have had to resort to on board flash for these pics, hence why they look pretty terrible. Second, I am yet to get round to buying a desert terrain mat, so lets pretend this is a particularly fertile part of Iraq and third my printer ran out of ink so hence the strange shade to the Iraqi flags I used as blinds. With that out of the way lets introduce the forces.

Brits- Led by my mate Jamesy, who is fairly new to CWC and is in the process of sorting out his own Israeli force.

CO
3xHQ
FAO
3x Scorpions (recce)
18 infantry all with LAW
3 MMGs
2 FV432 mortar carriers
12 Warriors
8 Challengers
2 AVRE Centurions
3 Swingfires
3 155mm M109 artillery
Lynx attack chopper
Chinook
2x Spartans

Iraqis- ME!
CO
3x HQ
2x AML60 (recce)
9 x Militia with RPG 7s
3 ATGW Saggers (deployed as ambushes)
6x T62s
9x T72s

I also had 4 minefields and a plethora ( great word) of anti tank ditches.

The board looked like this-


The South of the board saw a small town nestled in a valley with a industrial area to its West. The town was heavily fortified with minefields to its south and it was almost entirely ringed by anti tank defences and hills. The north had another small town surrounded by fields of crops and wooded areas. It was also defended by mine fields.

The Iraqis mission was to basically cause as much damage to the British as possible. I deployed using hidden set up and had 10 blind cards, enough each for all the CO and HQ units, the recce units and some spare to confuse and confound Jamesy! If you look carefully in the pic you can see the hidden markers which I used Iraqi flags (printed in the wrong colour) for. I spread them across the board, fortifying both towns and some int he wooded areas to the east of the board.

I had no idea where the British would deploy from as they could choose any board edge. Jamesy chose the West edge (long edge) and using mobile deployment spread his HQ units wide. The British mission was to search out the Iraqi forces and do enough damage to break them while taking as little damage as possible- they vastly outnumbered the Iraqis but had no idea where they were likely to spring from.

Turn 1
The Brits cautiously deployed in the south west corner, behind a large hill , 2 companies of Challengers, a AVRE Centurion engineering squad and 4 platoons of infantry is Warrior IFVs. They slowly rolled over the hill and straight into an ambush as a unit armed with Sagger ATGW, hidden in a derelict factory complex opened fire, suppressing a Challenger squad. The return fire from the other Challengers saw no damage dealt and as they rolled nearer the town an Iraqi militia company was revealed in the buildings all around them. RPGs rained down and a Challenger squad was annihilated as well as a Infantry platoon and their Warriors.


The British traded fire with the well dug in Iraqi militia suppressing some platoons and destroying a Shilka that was hidden in he streets behind the factories. The Brits took the worst of it though and 2 other platoons of Infantry found themselves in disarray and suppressed.
It was looking good for Iraq, and the Brits had learnt the foolhardiness of AFVs trying to move into a built up area.

Turn 2
To the north, a cautious probe by the Brits revealed 2 companies of T62's dug in at the edge of a (very tall) field of crops. Artillery immediately rained down on the tank group suppressing their HQ and one of the T62's. This was immediately followed by an attack by a Lynx chopper that which suppressed two more T62's. Liking the odds more, an under strength company of Challengers and a company of dismounted infantry and their IFVs in support, cautiously rolled on skirting the woods to the north and thanks to some great command rolls from Jamesy, opened fire repeatedly on the hammered T62's in the cornfield. 2 T62s were reduced to smoking wrecks and a further 1 was driven back out of the field. Things were looking bad in the north, but what other surprises were in store?








In the centre of the board a company of Swingfire ATGWs deployed but within seconds a sagger from the own to the south flew with unnerving accuracy at such a range and left 2 Swingfires feeling vulnerable.

To the south the British armour continued to get punished for its foolhardy advance and another Challenger was lost to a hail of RPGs from the industrial estate.

Turn 3
It was turning into a game of two halves to use a footy cliche. In the south the bulk of the British forces were being repeatedly punished by a foe that they were struggling to inflict any damage on, while in the north the Iraq tank group had been pretty much neutralised. Now was the time for the Brits to take revenge on the Southern town. An artillery strike was called in, in the hope of flushing out the Iraqis, but a well timed blunder saw the FAO taking friendly fire and aborting the strike. A hail of tank shells into the factory saw the loss of some Iraqi infantry, but the Brits were still failing to make any advance into town and things were further complicated by the detection of a T72 company supported by another well dug in company of RPG armed militia in the town itself. The T72s seemed hesitant to engage and skulked behind the town out of site as the brave Iraqi infantry held off the armour alone. The unit of infantry with the Saggers took out another Swingfire and withstood a huge amount of return fire from the Challengers and Warriors, unlucky rolling from Jamesy (something like 32 dice and no hits) saw to that!
In the north the Brits continued there advance now supported by 8 platoons of infantry who had been dropped into the town by a Chinook.

Turn 4



The Brits frustrated by the inability of their armour to put paid to the hail of RPGs from the factories used a good old fashioned bayonet charge and flushed out a platoon of Iraqis and the heroic Sagger team, who found themselves now outside looking in, and in the aim of 2 challengers, who quickly took them both out. Despite starting to take infantry losses in the Southern town things still looked good for the Iraqi held South. The T72s decided now was there time to support their struggling brothers and began to flank round the town to engage the British, but as they went behind a large cornfield confusion reigned and they ground to a halt unsure how to proceed.

In the north as the British rolled East towards the small town, confident that it was theres, 2 companies of T72s appeared from the north east of the town. Jamesy cleverly opted for spreading his fire amongst all the T72s in the hope of causing enough suppression to cover their advance, but hit by bad rolls again, he only managed to suppress one squad. This apparently was enough though as the T72s seemed in disarray and were unable to return fire at the advancing Brits, losing the advantage in a dramatic fashion.


Turn 5

Although the Iraqis were holding bravely things were beginning to look dodgy as they began to near their breaking point. In the north a lone HQ was over run by British infantry but luck was still on the Iraqi side as another artillery blunder saw the poor FAO killed outright this time, and an attempt to bring in a Lynx to further suppress the T72 companies in the north failed. In the south the Iraqis took a few more casualties in the factory district, and the damage began to tell on their morale, as the Iraqi CO decided now was the time to call their retreat, having pulled off a huge amount of damage to the advancing infidel British.





The game ended in a Minor Victory to the British who had managed to break the defending Iraqis but who in doing so had taken 2025 points worth of casualties for the Iraqis 1335.

A great game and a good learning experience for both of us.
Jamesy learnt that AFVs and heavily built up areas are a very bad ideas- like real life infantry with AFV support are definitely the way to go, and I learnt about the dangers of trying to use troops who have a 15cm initiative range in an ambush when they carry a weapon with a minimum engagement range of 20cm. Very dumb...

Hope you enjoy the read, its long and the pics aren't as good as they should have been, but it was a very fun battle.

Flexible Roads

Saw a great tutorial to make flexible rubber roads the other day and thought I would like to give it a go.

Check this link out- How to make flexible roads


I used dish cloths as my backing fabric (you can see the reverse of one in the photo), and Cerafix Decorators Caulk (Brown) from B&Q. 10 dish cloths for 30p in Asda and the Caulk was £1.89 for a large cartridge (too large to fit my standard size cartridge gun). Not sure how much 1 cartirdge will make- so far Ive done 4 1/2 foot of road and only used about a 1/5 of the tube.


The cool thing is if they get bent or warped you can iron it (reverse side obviously, otherwise your Mrs might murder you). They really are very flexible and seem pretty robust. Equivalent flexible roads will cost you around £30 for 6ft or so.



Also notice my now fully painted and based Sherman in the photo- still waiting for the bloody decals from Minfigs, hence why I haven't matt varnished the gloss varnish coat, who still haven't posted out my order 9 days after making it. Not happy with that to be honest.

My first CWC project

I found some pics of my very first CWC project- a British army for the Cold War era circa 1987. This was my first army, and some other members of my gaming group made purchases at the same time, buying Russians and West Germans. Both are still yet to paint them, the slackers.

To be fair I am notorious for buying lead and never painting it, but for some reason microarmour has me hooked and I can't not paint them. Im usually a very slwo painted, especially in 28mm, but with 6mm (and 10/12mm) I seem to be able to whip through them.

Anyway enough of my blathering here's some pics. These were taken a while back and make use of my gaming mat from Terrain Mat. The figures are all GHQ apart from a couple of Navwar pieces. The infantry hadn't been painted at this point- I will have to take some pics of them and the support stands at a later date as they look rather good in my opinion.