There's a first time for everything

So many dirty memories... anyway this isn't about those, it's about these!


A while ago (ok, ages ago) I said something along the lines of finally getting into model aircraft.
I never built up a kit as a lad you see, and for some reason the idea has always been something I put into the too-hard basket and ended up doing something more familiar instead.
Over the years I have built/painted/customized/sculpted many things in the 28mm Sci fi and fantasy sphere, I just never managed to get it together enough to give a kit a go.

No longer! I am very happy to relate that I have completed my FIRST EVAR model aircraft!

Here is (after a metric fuck-ton of wanky self doubt and deliberation) my FW190 A5-U12 =)


The kit - Academy's FW190 A6-8 1/72

 The kit is exhaustive in details - you can use it to build most of the popular production models of the FW-A series fighter/fighter bomber and includes 20mm gondola pods, a drop pod and bombs... Fuckin awesome!

 My attempt...

Yeah so its not perfect... far from it actually.

Basically I did my utmost to fail miserably at this project; starting with deciding to spray undercoat the entire model on its sprue - meaning that I ended up supergluing this kit together instead of using Poly-cement... sigh, oh the humanity.

Next up would be the fact that I used the wrong cowl over the engine - resulting in an Fw190A5 with MG17's instead of the 13mm guns it should have - then I managed to fit the 'blown' canopy instead of the 'straight' canopy, oh dear... 

The propeller looks good though.

And these are the bits that make this a 'U12' version of the type - 4X20mm cannons in two under wing gondolas. Designed to add even more firepower to the Fw's already substantial armament, specifically to deal with the 8th Air force's B17's and Liberators.
It might be worth noting that I doubt an FW190A5-U12 operated over Tunisia (which is the camo scheme I opted for) It might also be worth noting that desert camo Luftwaffe units probably didn't use 'scribble pattern' over the RLM tropic splinter scheme and that I lost the cannon barrels for the wing root guns... Whatever =)

But in the end the front bit is at the front and the back bit... is a bit crooked, but still essentially pointing in the right direction.
And doesn't she look nice =)

Yes I used a CD for the base terrain - it's all I've got right now ok?!


Here are the next two projects;

 This will be the last Swordfish that I build FOR A LOOOONG TIME... Airfix, I love you but... why??
(Looks cool though, I like to make plane noises while I glue it together... ahem)

And an unfortunately shit photo of a Spitfire Mk XIVC that is actually turning out rather well (being my 2nd attempt and all) I decided to go with the South East Asia/Burma camo on this one (even though technically that would mean this would be a MkXIV-E? - Technically, my dear, I don't give a damn...)

So there you go!
Lots of stuff on the table for other peeps ATM - but don't worry, I have all kinds of mindwarp on the horizon for you.

Bye!

Ace

Bog of Eternal Stench part 2 + Jabberwockey

More smells from the land of stench, and a shot of the er... 'thing' that dwells within them!
Absolutely atrocious weather this week has curtailed my ability to give this terrain a nice matt spray finish - fuck it.
Here is a new one anyway.

Starting on a series of destroyed stone defences/dwellings (Swamp Castle?? - didn't that burn down, fall over and then sink into the swamp?)

 Nothing better than free bits of crap to make more crap out of!

 The way I've photographed this makes me think of that 'lightcycle' bit in Tron...

And here is Jim the Jabberwockey - dweller of swampy terrain and sniffer of smells.
I think he is from the Ral Partha range? Not sure - bought him a loooong time ago with the intention of using him to spice up a Heroquest adventure or two.
Probably a bit too much light on him in this pic - after cleaning him up I was originally going to go for a 'Chaotic' scheme of lurid glowing greens, aaaand then wussed out and went for earthy tones instead =)

I have a couple of weeks planned to do things for other people so prob no terrain for a fortnight - however we should be playing a game of Hybrid this weekend and there will be shots of that for you to peruse =D

Ace

Bog of Eternal Stench...

Bog of eternal terrain pieces more like...

Hey ho, a while ago my friend let slip that he had in his possession all the rules necessary to give RoC a try. Not having had the chance to play 3rd ed WFB back in the day (I'm not THAT old... ok, yes I am...) I got very excited.

Anyway, he had the rules and I had some figures; but we had nothing to fight over!

Being the procrastinatory itinerant comatose that I am, I endeavored to think of the easiest way to make up some suitable battleground terrain - and viola! Le Swamp!

Here are the first of many pieces I hope to get done for this project - all the scenic pieces have to fit on old CD's and be made out of readily appropriated materials; again this has mostly to do with indolence and financial challenge...

 Most of the colour scheme was inspired by a recent trip to Nelson.

 I'll have to do a photo shoot with my recently painted Jabberwockey soon. I like him.

 'We're lost, aren't we?... Walnuts make interesting rocks. I used them because when you can't afford to do it right, you should do it interesting.

 'I claim this land for Spain!'

 I find the best way to simulate trees is to use wood...

 And can anyone name the region of the Empire that this wandering lout hails from (or his shield at least...)

 Big impressive tussock things courtesy of my wife's ingenuity. She's very good at this sort of thing.

 So there we have it, seven done and many to go. I thought I might stop when the entire board is covered evenly with terrain. Then again I could just paint up another board...

 Speaking of the board. Don't ask me why there is a compass set on my floor. IDK.


More Hybrid thrills and spills soon.

Ace

A game of Hybrid!

Hello all!
Fuck me but does life get busy.

But despite my job (and various other things...) getting in the way - look! I managed to do some gaming!!

After tying up some loose ends at his work my gaming buddy and I managed to squeeze in a practice session of Hybrid yesterday.
The basic idea was to get to grips with the 'famously' difficult rules translations - my friend (being a translator by trade) had a jolly good time pondering the insane uses of English words =) Despite his best face-palming efforts his forehead should be back to its normal shape soon.

But with his diligence and a VERY helpful rules re write by Universal Head from 'League of Esoteric Gamers' (thank you dude!) we managed to get a brief encounter underway.

Um, not like the movie.

(Please excuse the excellent 'supernatural phenomenon' photos I seem to have taken... the lighting was a bit poor officer...)

 Griffin troops struggling to capture the central room.

 "HAVE AT YOU!"

 We decided to only use two different troop types each for this battle. The other figures were just there to offer moral support.

I constructed a bunch of pillars to give a more three dimensional feel to the boards, the game does come with single tiles to show their location but I felt like being a bit flash.

Did I mention the boards look fantastic?!


Well, there you go. Had to cut it short because of life and reasons, but hey, "Alea iacta est!"

Ace

Ps - I should be able to post a bit more freely soon as things are clearing up at work so, yay me =)

Griffins Finished!

And now the fun can begin! =D

I'm so happy to finally have all of my Rackham stuff finished, and now get to look forward to battles in the dark labyrinthine corridors of the Hybrid Project!

So here is the Rescue Team, L-R A Knight of the Lodge of Hod, an Executioner of the Red Monks Order, The Venerable Ambrosius, The Griffin Minelayer (personal fav) and another Executioner.

I am not often struck with the urge to create scenic bases but just love these figures so much I thought it had to be done!
To be honest they were actually a lot of fun to put together and, surprisingly, didn't lead to some sort of unintentional drilling and pinning mishap!
My favourite character to paint has to be the Minelayer as he came together so easily and gave me no trouble at all (again, totally out of character with my usual "back to the drawing board" approach to painting!) The Knight and Ambrosius had their own challenges - lots of metal on the Knight meant that I had to relearn a few armour techniques I used to use (I have been painting dark, dirty Nurgle Chaos things for so long that metal without rust is strange indeed!)
Ambrosius has so much detail on his person that I think the sculptor must have gone insane after creating him! I wanted him to look grim and embittered - I don't know if the photo of his face does it much justice, but he looks pretty determined to me!
The Executioners were the most troublesome, again there is a wealth of tiny details to be picked out and this time through the swirling mass of their cloaks and robes. Not that I would complain, one thing the Rackham sculptors could do was depict flowing material, and I think it lends a majestic air to all these miniatures.

So, what next??

On to Glory!

Ace

Blam blam dakka dakka!

More trials and tribulations from the very 'Heavy Burtation!'

Here she is as of mission 6 (or 7... something like that)
Still finding small fish secreted away in cubby holes and panels due to a rather impromptu landing on a big wet version of the runway (the Channel...)

 This is what happens when you try to stop off in Amsterdam for a pint...

After being rescued by Mermaids the lads paddled back to the hanger for tea and scones.
Blam blam and Lance managed to get themselves a nice cushy bed in the infirmary for the next mission (Lance 'the dodger' finally copped a round to the knee and Blam blam pulled a sickie...)
making way for Darris' sister's former roommate Fingers to sully the left hand side of the cockpit with his presence and someone left the bomb bay doors open again allowing Hotlips to sneak back into the tail gun for a nap.

The next death defying (and sleep depriving for Darris) mission would involve a near suicidal attack on some ports near some place in Belgium that no-one bothered to write down.
Not suicidal because of the massed air power of the Luftwaffe concentrated in the area, but more from the fact that flying over the sea always confuses the shit out of Squeezy and Fingers was having trouble remembering how to fly the plane.

After some stirring words from C.O Total Bastard that went something like;
'You screw up just this much... you're gonna find yourself flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog-shit out of Hong Kong!'
Darris and the lads filled the Burt' with Bourbon, painted a giant penis on the plane in the next hanger and (nursing hangovers) climbed aboard.

Long story short, Squeezy totally fucked up. Wankeyes decided to drop the payload onto the 'water' bit instead of the 'Port' bit. The plane with the giant penis on it seemed to attract a lot of attention and, unsurprisingly, decided to make a vertical landing in a field near Antwerp. Darris snored the whole time which luckily meant that Fingers didn't fall asleep. Fuzzy added another German bullet to his collection and the Luftwaffe, who were obviously feeling generous, added a few holes to Dogmothers' Ball turret - and Dogmother...
Klum once again fainted when a BF110 came into view and had to be revived by Fuzzy, which was pretty impressive given how much blood he had just lost!

After landing the plane safely into the side of the nearest hanger the boys walked slowly to the de-briefing office to face the music...

...except for Ratbrain who was still waiting in the bomb bay for Dogmother to turn up with the cards...

The end.

Hybrid progress and some weird shit

Hello everyone. Look what I have for you today...

First off are the Seneschal and his merry band of Purifiers. The 'good guys' faction of the Rackham board game 'Hybrid'

The chance to finally get to play this game in the proper 'grown-ups' manner, you know with ACTUAL PAINTED MINIATURES, is almost here! 
There's still a handful of Griffin troops to go before I can sit down and get to grips with the rules - but it's so close, so very close...

Great models to paint. I cannot express how sad it makes me to think that this once awesome and passionate game company is now gone. I can only hope that Jean Bey and his team resurface in another effort soon!

And here are some of their adversaries...

The quick and slimy little Pests of Flesh. These were actually painted almost ten years ago! Time flies when you have to waste it working for a living!

The versatile Hybrids, again from my original attempt to finish the games mini's and play a decade ago.

Two of the big scary beasts; the Nemesis Clone on the left and the Aberration on the right. Can't wait to use these!

A few more angles...

Fantastic fun painting these up. I used to be quite frightened of tackling the large miniatures but actually find them easier to get to grips with than the standard 'human' sized figures now. That reminds me, I must do some more cavalry soon =)

Last but not least are my two Skorize Warriors - I believe I have already posted them, but I'll include them here for the sake of completion.

Scary. And awesome.

So, some weird shit then.
I never had an opportunity to play 'Rogue Trader' back in the day and have always wanted to give it a go, I just really enjoy the feel of the 40k universe as it was then - lots to explore and plenty of individual variety to the rules. I prefer games that are about playing WITH rather than expressly AGAINST another person/s, especially when the game has as much wacky shit going on as RT does!

So here are the first of many new additions to my figure collection for playing games from a more interesting GW.

I cant remember exactly when I posted the original 'undercoated' versions of these guys, here are the finished results.

From left - A Badlands Preacher venturing into the unknown to save the souls of the unbelievers. Space Marines Field Police, sporting ammonium veldt camo scheme and Plasma pistol. A rescued Space Crusade Chaos Android (seriously, you should have seen the painting originally applied to this guy...) now making his way through the wastelands as a rogue mech for hire. And finally my own original creation, a Jokaero mutant bearing heavy weapons!

Look at that monitor screen - any chance I get to use Scorpion green!

Cool, thats it for now - another round of painting should complete the Griffins and I hope to bring you a Battle Rep asap. More B17 has been played and hopefully a couple of 'big' projects will near completion soon. Also, Fighting Fantasy's 'Seas of Blood' play through is nearly there!

Now if I could just stop having to go to a job to earn money...

Ace