Ethnic uniform variants

I'm currently modifying some German infantry to create Sikh Tiger Legion infantry. This will mainly involve simple head swaps, as most of the uniform remains standard German issue.

However, I'm getting distracted after watching the "Days of Glory" film, with French Algerians wearing ethnic variant uniforms. 

The film is worth a watch and for me it seems to be re-reinforcing lessons learned from recent gaming campaigns where I was trying to enter towns and take buildings. The clip below certainly reminds me:

• sub machine guns at close range are very effective
• hidden in a building, you can draw the enemy in close enough for sub machine guns
• Make sure you take out German MG42 and Panzershreck at the start
• Don't do a group move down the main street!

Fallshirmjager

I have added a few pics of the 50 Fallshirmjager to the Gallery. I painted them up quite swiftly for a the Arnhem campaign we are currently playing (we need a lot of them!), and will probably use them tomorrow night. They have the plain jump smocks as they are going to be used for my early war Seaford project at some point.

The campaign continues...

German transports hit at extreme close range by PIAT teams in the building they were trying to take.

Last night we played a battle in our "Bridge Too Far" campaign. The campaign is working well using the map and campaign board from Flames of War, and then selecting the most decisive battles to play on the tabletop in 28mm.

More distractions...

It's another HassleFree piece that I think I picked up at  show. It makes me think of the Hancock film where the delinquent super-hero sometimes did good deeds while he was drunk and improperly dressed.

If you are a super-hero called upon in the middle of the night to save lives, why waste time putting on your Lycra suit and cape? Dashing straight out in your Y-fronts could save vital life-or-death seconds.

Falshies progress

Base colours done for jump smocks and trousers.

Caught out by forgetting some officers and command had special tunics!

Distractions

It can get very boring working on 50 Falshies, so I feel this little bit of self indulgence is justified. I'm repainting this model. It used to have Space Marine shoulder pads and was a chapter standard bearer I used to put on the table at the start of 40K games to provoke my opponent.

I tried to paint the base with a disco/Manga or alien bar (a la Star Wars) feel. Not too unhappy for a first try with about 30 seconds of thought and planning!

Falshies....I made a start today

 

I managed to prepare, base and undercoat 50 Falshies today. 

A Little Milestone

OK. So it's not a Golden Demon entry. But this cute Foundry Ork is precious to me. He is the first thing I've painted using my new detail spectacles and after having a little bit of treatment on my eyes. Two weeks back, I couldn't even see the end of my paint brush.

The optician said start off with simple bright contrasting colours to begin with, and then progress at whatever pace I am comfortable with. As we have 2 long weekends coming up (Easter and a royal wedding/May day), I think I'll be starting on all my WW2 stuff. By that I mean falsmegger Fulscumugger Falchemeegs Falshimeggger German Paratroops.

Gallery

Finally, I have sorted out the gallery. There are only 2 entries so far: Empire troops and 40K IG troops. These are just to see how the JavaScript and HTML hold together. Having said that, I've tried to put a couple of colorful pictures in each.

The gallery has it's own static page and is accessed from the page menu in the right margin of this blog page. Feel free to leave comments. I'm also open to having a few guest pictures, so if you've something painted up that deserves a showing, let me know.

It seems i can have up to 10 static pages on this blog, so expect some more soon. I will probably do a site/self profile, and a couple of pages on stuff like projects, tutorials or related items (computer combat sims etc).

Old Dog learns from younger pups

Well, I had planned a 4 day weekend painting Napoleonic Old Guard, German Falshies and some Frontier Indians. All painted to correct colours after researching and reading a pile of Osprey publications. That was until I saw these hard boiled egg miniatures. Yes, that's right, hard boiled eggs. These were painted by my friend Rachel's kids, Rebekka and Alex. These are so colourful and look like a ton of fun. So I've now changed my painting schedule to something more colourful and enjoyable. Sometimes you just need a reminder that you started doing a hobby because it was fun! New weekend painting schedule:

• Indian hill tribesmen in India silks
• Mussolini....in pink
• Heterosexually challenged war orks in silks and **BLUE** feathers
• anything else that I think will be fun.

I just hope my painting is up to the standard of Rebekka and Alex!

Here come the Girls.....

Rare Female Catachan Jungle fighters

Tallarn Desert Command Squad

OK. I've put some more rare goodies on Ebay this week. I'm selling the troopers from an all female Catachan command squad. I've put them on in separate listings with a start price of £9.99 each.

I'm amazed at the price some people are selling these for, and flabbergasted at some of the re-casts available (just study them for the shear lack of detail). The idea of wild women running about with machettes and grenade launchers is frightening.

Also up for auction is a Tallarn Desert Command Squad. Its painted and ready to field on the battle table. Officer has a bolter and the troopers have 2 granade launchers and 2 meltas.

More rare stuff for sale

I have a WD 30th Anniversary set for sale. It's like the one pictured except its brand new and boxed. Bidding starts at £10 (English pounds). I can post worldwide.

Rare Goodies on Ebay

Some rare stuff for sale including Tallarn casualties. Links will be displayed in top left of this page in the "items for sale" tab while the auctions are still active.

English Civil War

I finally got around to playing a game of English Civil War last night. Still a bit puzzled about the name as most of the troops involved in the game were Sottish or Irish. I've never been inclined to play ECW as it seemed a poorer cousin of Napoleonics. However, I now know otherwise. The miniatures are more fun and varied and offer opportunities for colourful painting (if only I could find tartan paint!). 

Gaming Room part 1

Finally, I have made a start on the gaming room. Over the last 6 months or so I've played a fair few games on other people's tables. The one thing I've learned is that the scenery of the table-top battleground can make the biggest difference to a game. It needs to be functional, pleasing on the eye, and convincing(in a caricature sort of way).

Gifts from India

Haven't had time to do much gaming (or posting!) lately as Xmas, work and other things got in the way. One of those things was a business trip to Chennai in India. I've been visiting India for a good few years now (most IT work seems to be outsourced to there). Every time I go, I've always tried to get some India produced miniatures or wargaming stuff. I've always failed. The closest I ever got was a box of Tamiya German tank crew in a Delhi toy shop. The proprietor had got them years earlier as a freebie from a rep at a trade show, and happened to find them in his stock room. As he and his staff had spent ages looking for them (while I drank a complimentary cup of tea), I felt obliged to buy them afterwards. A massive sum of 200 rupees, so a bargain anyway.