Progress, well some

Well, its been a little while since an update and I would like to say that I hate winter! I am sick of it and all its snow. We received 8-12" of snow friday and saturday and Friday it was 65 degrees. Come on spring.

So...the feared basement remodel has happened, so I had to box up and put away a bunch of stuff cause my workshop is getting redone along with the  rest of the basement. So good for me in the future, not so good for production right now. And I am doing most of the work myself.

What have I been working on? Well, I got another great present from the wife for my birthday on february. A GZG 15mm Grav force with NAC infantry. Its awesome. I just love 15mm scifi. I have so much I want to buy its killing me. I may clear out the closet of doom and concentrate on just a few periods. I dunno. Sure is tempting.

I have rebased the Demonworld Wood Elf army for Battlelore, and that is going nicely. I am painting a unit of Armored centaurs currently, although they may have been packed away in the chaos.

I have so much I want to do and no time, frustrating.

I may add one new project to the list. I dunno. I played Fast Play Grand Armee with the Basement Generals at Ze Barons house on thursday. Scott had his 6mm Bacchus stuff to game with. Pretty. Fun. Easy to play. No arguing. I may redo all of my 15mm Napoleonics (its a huge collection) and rebase on 3" stands for FPGA. This would be a major project. Probably 2-3 months each night straight through. Currently they are baseed for Age of Eagles/NApoelonic Fire & Fury/Napoleons Battles. I hate rebasing. More than anything in gaming.

I have made a commitment to finish the basement by Mothers Day, so I should be back in full swing by June, I hope.

On the reading front, I am currently reading the John Carter adventures anthilogy. Its great. Never read the pulp stuff before. Next up is the Doc Savage books my step-dad loves so much. Just finshed Burning Lnads by Cornwell. Its is the 5th book in the Saxon Tales series. It was fantastic as ususal. Its building to a nice confrontation in the next one. Also rereading The Mercenary by Jerry Pournelle. I loved it the first time. Its as good the second time. So much opportunity for gaming in the series.

Recruits is coming this weekend. Happy Gaming.

Another quick 15mm update

OK so here's a quick progress update:

I am finished with the Alien Mercs. Based, flocked, finished. I need some support stuff, and vehicles, but that hopefully will be coming once GZG release their next release. Check it out
here:http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/

How cool have the New Israeli's become? And the UNSC troops finally have some new sculpts. So now with the New NAC, NEw Israeli's, and UNSC troops, plus the Alien Mercs, GZG has the infantry to back up all of that wonderful armor and support equipment.

I hope I am getting the Grav Sled fighting force for my birthday in Feb with NAC troops. I was waffling on the NI's cause I have the Critical Mass recon, but I have to get them now that they have the grav bikes. Somebody makes a sci/fi Merkava, cant remeber who at the moment.

I am also planning on purchasing a 8 wheeled force when GZG releases it, and the Hi Mobility wheeled force. Then this summer getting a whole order for buildings and building add ons.  Speaking of...

I am a horder of packaging materials for reuse as gaming material. and the last couple of weeks it has come to a great fruition. I have about 15 buildings and terrain pieces based for 15mm and some for double purpose for 28mm. They look great so far. I'll snap pics when they are painted.

And finally, we almost had a FPW(Full Party Wipe) on the old school sandbox campaign  am running with a friend on blog spot. Here's a link. No die roll fudging going on. If they hadn't of killed the last zombie, he was gonna kill the main character. Link:http://hrothgarsfolly.blogspot.com/

Quick Update

I have gotten the resin sand mixture on the bases of the Alien Mercs army from the post before. Hope to finish painting and flocking this weekend in between date night, poker night, and nfl playoffs, and rpging with Ze Baron and the BG's on sunday afternoon.

I also have gotten the other two DP9 Jagers painted. so almost home. I will then need to decide which way I am going on their vehicles. I really like the GZG 8 wheel series, the original Grav force, and the Kravak forces so I am torn. Not a big fan of the Critical Mass vehicles yet, but haven't seen them in person yet.

Working on #4 - 15mm sci Fi - Progress

Well, I had a pretty productive weekend at the snowed in homestead. I painted Friday night for a bit to unwind from the week, while the boys played 360 and the wife played WoW. And got a couple of hours in Saturday listening to the K-State game, then almost all day Sunday in between watching the NFL wildcard games. What a great weekend. Oh and got in some serious lincoln log time with the youngest on sunday. At one point we had the whole family (except the teenager) doing lincoln logs. Pretty fun.

So here are some quick pics I shot this morning before we went out to the bus stop of the weekends work. I will post better when they have basing and flock.

These are my Alien Mercs army. The figs are all GZG, except the Command Walker, which is of course a DP9 Heavy Brawler Black Mamba (1/144). They work great with the 15mm scale of the GZG stuff. Just big enough to get a guy in, but not so huge to be rediculous. I will be using all the RAFM 1/87 scale Heavy Gear stuff for 28mm. They work great too.

The army is:

1-Command Walker

1-Commander

2-Elite Commandos

7-Line Mercs

2-RAM Mortars

3-HMG Support

3-Remote-Missle Vehicles

3-Remote-AutoCannon Support Vehicle

I also have a couple more Heavy Gear Mechs (Jagers) I will do for a 3 man team of Mechs.

Need to add some heavier firepower and some modility, but GZG has crap tons, so no problems there. Anyway, it was fun getting this whole 22 stand army done in a weekend.

Ze BAron and I talked and I think we are going to use Future War Commander, and barring that, we may just write our own.

REMINDER: Recruits Con is coming up last weekend in March.

Working on #8, #1, #11

So santa was very good to the ole lead addict, and came through with the Litko ITS Mega Bundle. Its all kinds of Industrial tower and walkway goodness.

So I decided to jump right in and make a huge mess in the basement and wirk on #8 from the Winter projects list: #8 Build Base for ITS Towers. I'll be making 4 of these for use with Necromunda but primarily Mutants and Death Ray Guns from Ganesha Games. Great, fun system.

What a mess

2'x2' precut MDF base with varying heights of pink insulation foam as a base. I wanted to do a canal and some drainage ditches so during combat you had obstacles to maneuver around and through and provide lots of reasons for the walkways.

you can see the canal that runs from top to bottom on this picture. also there is a ramp on the right side. It reminded me of the docks/port map from battlrefield 2142.

You can see the piling lining the canal with I beam supports, and the landing leading into the canal. This is to allow figures to have an exit point from the water without having to waste a turn climbing out , or making strength tests to haul themselves up.
Close up of the ramp. Figs prone on the ramp can get cover from the sides.

Walway across the canal. No cover. Better run!

Just a detail of how I am doing the surfaces. Thin card main surfaces, with vacu formed grid and sheet styrene details. Also some plastruct channels and t's for detailing and some dowels. Simple. I want the ITS pieces to do the talking too.

So the D&D Heroes figs(#1) is going well. Here's the first 15 completed. More glamour shots as I finish the lot of 30. I need to get some halflings. I realized I don't have any.

And here's the next lot. A barbarian lot, some more Elves, a couple of dwarves, and more humans.
And here's a sneak peak of the builds I am doing for #11 Post Apoc Rubble Buildings. I have 2 completed and painted, this one is basically detailed and ready to paint. I have 5 more after that, plus 2 big governmental buildings.

Winter Projects

Lucky 13. Thats the number of items on the list.

Since I have a hard time staying on target, I thought I would publish another winter project list. This one looks different than last years. I accomplished about 3 things of last years list, but I would say that I focused on my Nappy Brits for a good while and it was nice to get Phase I of that project done. Even though it has 3 more phases to it.

There was a lot of wishful think on the last list, so I hope I am much more focused on this list. So here it is:

0. Redo The Closet of Doom
1. 28mm D&D Heroes (2-3 dozen)
2. 28mm Dungeon Denizens (about 100 mixed)
3. Board mount SkeletonKey Games tiles
4. 15mm Sci Fi
5. Rebase 15mm Fantasy for Battle Lore
6. Make Ground Cloth and terrain for 15mm Fantasy
7. Build Litko ITS towers
8. Build Base for ITS Towers
9. Paint 4-5 Warbands for Mutants and DeathRay Guns
10. Paint 28mm Hudson and Allen Buildings
11. Finish Post Apoc rubble Buildings
12. Start Wralord or Arthur Armies inspired by Bernard Cornwell

0. Redo The Closet of Doom - the Closet of Doom needs a really bad make over. I am tired of the chaos. I plan to totally redo the closet and redo all the shelves and lighting and storage. This will probably coincide with the biggest speed bump in fornt of me for painting - A full basement redo. The wife and I are planning on a full basement remodel (new ceiling, new wiring and lighting, paint, new hardwood floors, new bar and poker table, new big screen tv and custom entertainment center, custom book shelves). this will seriously cut into painting and projects if it happens, but we shall see.

1. 28mm D&D Heroes (2-3 dozen) - Talked about these guys last post. I have over a dozen done, I am doing 1-2 a night average. So should be done by end of xmas.I also may paint during lunch at work. Should be done by Jan 1. :)

2. 28mm Dungeon Denizens (about 100 mixed) I have so much fantasy lead and plastic that picking 100 will be the hard part. It will be ratmen, lizardmen, gnolls, orcs, kobolds, trolls, spiders, owl bear, bugbears, undead, etc. All kinds of varied stuff for the Heroes to fight.

3. Board mount SkeletonKey Games tiles - I have about 30 sets of the wonderful Skeletonkey Games Tiles. I will print them and mount on foam core for a quick project that makes them a little more permanent (even though I have about 30 Hirst arts molds I want to have these so we can game quicker).

4. 15mm Sci Fi. I got bit by 15mm Sci even though I resisted it for years. Not sure on rules yet, but I like the GZG stuff a lot, and I also like Quick and Dirty Sci Fi Rules. I hope to get the Dog aliens and Lion Aliens for xmas to go with my Garn, Karks, Alien Mercs, and Arc Fleet.

5. Rebase 15mm Fantasy for Battle Lore - Played BAttle Lore at the Barons for the first time a couple of months ago. Loved it. I have all the Demonworld Armies still unpainted (except for the wood elves and orcs which are mostly done) and a ton of other painted 15mm fantasy. the BAron and I are going to rebase our 15mm fantasy armies to play BattleLore on the tabletop.

6. Make Ground Cloth and terrain for 15mm Fantasy - Need to make a ground cloth and hex grid for the tabletop version. Also terrain.

7. Build Litko ITS towers - I asked Santa for some of these great Litko ITS towers that harken to the days of original Necromunda. If I get them we will use them for Necromunda but probably more for Mutants and Deathray Guns. Can't wait.

8. Build Base for ITS Towers - I will need to make an industrial base for the ITS stuff. I dont want to play on a flat table. I will use pink stuff and make some similar to the ones on Litkos website, influenced by the videogame Battlefield 2142. I have so much stuff I can scratch build for this its sickening.

9. Paint 4-5 Warbands for Mutants and DeathRay Guns - If you are gonna have terrain to fight on, better have some figs for it. This is a left over from last year. Combination of NEcromunda figs, Pig Iron Figs, Copplestone figs, and anything else I have.

10. Paint 28mm Hudson and Allen Buildings - I have about 20-30 beautiful Hudson and Allen buildings and the GW plastic fantasy buildings and Mighty Fortress. I need to get them painted.

11. Finish Post Apoc rubble Buildings - A project I started in 09 to get a break from Nappies. I have 2 completely finished and I think they are the best terrain work I have ever done. I have 1 more thats been detailed and needs to be painted. I have 6 more to do. They are urban multi story buildings perfect for after the fall of civilization or for just really bad urban decay. Take your pick.

12. Start Warlord or Arthur Armies inspired by Bernard Cornwell - The biggie. I have been wanting to do this for a while. I just don't know which one to start. I have most of the figs already. Time will tell.

Well thats it. I am going to restrict myself to working on something on this list only. That way I can hopefully stay focused on fewer options. Its still an overly ambitious list that I know wont get completely done, but hopefully I will have enough done to :

1. Play with painted minis and monsters on high end graphic geomorph tiles for D&D .

2. Play Necromunda and Mutants and Deathray Guns on a fully 3D industrial tower layout.

3. Play Song of Blades and Heroes on some really great looking terrain.

4. Play Battle Lore with miniatures as a dedicated tabletop mini game.

5. Start a project that will last a very long time (Fall of Rome to Dark Ages).

I hope that in the end I will have 2 of these fully realized by the end of the winter, assuming the basement redo doesn't get in the way.

On the lead acquiring front, I really need to catch up with the Pig Iron releases, and there is so much good 15mm sci fi out there. And I know I may need to fill in here and there with a few fantasy figs.

Happy Gaming and keep your ferrels clean.

A little bit O RPG madness

Well maybe a lot.

I have been rebitten by RPG madness. Specifically D&D Basic and Gamma World. The Baron and myself are trying a couple of things using blogspot and available resources on the interweb to try blog roleplaying. Its going pretty good. Its slow, but thats ok.

Here's the links:
http://hrothgarsfolly.blogspot.com/

http://burningwastes.blogspot.com/

These are the two we are starting.

I also have been totally energized by the romance of the D&D basic/expert rules (red and blue) and I am also playing tabletop versions with my sons and the Baron and his son. Totally fun.

I also have been invited in by the mad chgowiz to participate in trying to see how well google wave can be used for RPG online. this should be a great experiment.

chgowiz's blog has really energized me as well.

chgowiz's website:
http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/

google wave website:

http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

the is also something of a great idea in rpging that has probably been a round for a while, but has really come to light for me getting back into old school rpging, which is the idea of a sandbox world. and the best idea surrounding this was and idea that is known as the West Marches. A campaign that was run by the guy at the ars ludi website, Ben Robbins. http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

It is a totally open environment but it is different. No meta game plots, just adventure and it is player driven. The DM is just the set up guy. All rolls are done in the open, no fudging. Death abounds. But its not players vs DM its players vs environment. Its a great idea and I am using it for my new D&D campaign games. check it out if you like roleplaying.

On the painting front, I have been painting characters for D&D in 28mm. I only have about 200 siuitable models. Its been fun painting the specific characters that match the ones Baron and the Boys have been playing. I found out I need to find a female cleric for my Niece. I have about a dozen done. It has been really fun. Pics when I finish the characters.

another dozen then I will do dungeon minions. Which I have tons. I want to play on all the Skeletonkey games dungeon tiles I have.

I picked up a bunch of discount GW stuff at a discount store. I got my hands on a GW giant for practically nothing. It will be a blast to paint up and play with.

Going to start a winter project based on Bernard Corwells books. Torn between doing vikings and saxons from the warlords novels, or the late roman/arthurian briatain stuff. Got all of the lead sitting in boxes, any suggestions?

The BAron and I have also decided to base up a bunch of our painted 15mm fantasy (I'm drwoning in it, Demonworld mostly) to be played with the great BAttleLore rules. I will do a big terrain mat with hexes and 3d terrain. I t should be a lot of fun, and BattleLore is a great fun no argument game.

As always stop by the Barons site for more updates than I do, and the Basement Generals site for our gaming groups blog. since the Baron tends to be the most active, you will get some double posts on the BG site from the Barons personal site.

Generals:
http://basementgenerals.blogspot.com/

Baron:
http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/

Happy painting and gaming over the holildays.

Ken