Author: Nuada

A (Canadian) Thanksgiving Meli-Melo

On By NuadaIn Blogging, Cunning Plans, Review, Terrain, WIPLeave a comment

Well, it has been a long (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend. We had 2 turkey dinners and so will have leftovers for some time!

There’s a wide range of small updates that I’ll throw here rather than making many small posts (meli-melo means mismash in Canada’s other official language). Here comes the shotgun approach to posting:
  • I’ve been assembling terrain in preparation for Arnhem. I’m prepping buildings for painting and decided to use some woodfiller over the MDF plugs/lugs. I’m interested to see if it works as it was fairly quick to cover the joins.
First bit of filler over the joining lugs. I sanded it after this. More pictures once it’s painted
  • As part of getting ready for the Arnhem I’m making fencing. The scenarios call for wire fencing – linear obstacles that provide no cover. I do have about 8′ of 15mm fences that would work in a pinch, but inspired by John Bond’s work I figured I would make some wire fencing. I happen to have a fair bit of balsa kicking around as well as several hundred craft matchsticks. So, my plan was to push the matchsticks into the balsa, secure with white glue and then tie some thin picture wire I got from the dollar store. Alas, it was not to be. The wire was too strong (the balsa was too weak – MDF would be much better) and broke the matchstick posts off the balsa. Okay. So try to wire the posts together and then mount them! Nope. The wire was a little too strong and kept wanting to pull in one direction or another. I almost gave up but came up with another plan. There was no way I was going to be creating terrain as nice as John Bond, my goal was to look good at 2 or 3 feet. So, cheat! I tied wire around the sticks and then cut the excess off. Then, mount the matchsticks and superglue straight sections of wire in place, kind of like rigging a small model. And it works! So, I have a bunch of fences I’ll be assembling this week. My plan is to rig the fences, paint an undercoat, then flock and put rust on the wire. We’ll see how they look in the end.
A fuzzy picture of my first test piece. Yes, the wire is a bit too loose, but this was my first success of any sort so it remains!
  • Next up will be assembling and painting 2 sprues of FJs I just bought. More FJs? Yes. I’m intending to emulate Tiny Hordes (more here) and make some entrenchments using blue foam, cardboard, and clay. Once the fences are done I’ll be doing a post on how that works.
  • I recently purchased some roads and walls from Fat Frank on ebay. They look great. The walls are based on cork, the roads on rubber. The roads are scaled for 20-28mm and intended for small paths. They look great for a small country road for 28mm, fitting a Tiger’s tracks with a little room to spare.
A small road for 28mm vehicles
The walls look great. They are high enough that figures need to be standing tall to see/shoot over them. I think they’ll do well for enclosures
The roads also work for 15mm well enough as you can see.
15mm Soviets pushing forward on the new roads
The service was very prompt and quite reasonably priced. I know that making roads and walls isn’t impossible, but I needed to balance the time and energy required to do so versus the cost of the pieces. I’m quite happy with this purchase and may add to my collection in the near future.
  • And now – pretty!
The Uhlan
Another view
Lucius not only did a blog post om his North Novas last week, he also painted up one of my Warlord Uhlans. He’s pretty much done his WW2 stuff and is enjoying the Napoleonic uniforms. Lucius was a modeller before becoming a wargamer and as you can see, his pedigree shines through. I am still doing paint by number and hoping to improve. We are slowly getting forces to play some small Sharp Practice with a campaign centred around a certain Richard something. This will be sometime in the future but the forces are slowly coming together.
  • Another bit of news is this:
Shiny and new!
I received the new 2nd Edition Black Powder along with the heroic “Lucky” naval officer! I must say, the sculpt is incredible. I shall see if I can convince Lucius to paint him up! We have a lot of 15mm Napoleonics and are intending to use Black Powder and General D’Armeé for them. I have my Franco-Prussians that are spoiling for a fight so we can trot them out for fun. I’m hoping to try the rules in the next few weeks.
  • In other news, G+ is ending, which is too bad as I was just starting to get comfortable with it and beginning to draw some readers through it as well. This site is doing well though, with more readers every month. I’m still enjoying updating it so SPQVI will not be going anywhere.
  • This week I’ll be putting up another play report from my last OSR game. I’m also hoping to playtest my modified What A Tanker ideas. I think I shall bring out my Soviets to play against Lucius’ Germans…
  • Last but not least is the announcement of “The Cruel Sea”, (Beasts of War news here) a new naval warfare game that pits the light coastal forces against E-Boats! It is due to be released by Warlord Games around Christmas time. I am very excited about it – I have read a fair bit about MTB and MGB operations and the idea of fighting duels out on the tabletop is wonderful. The only thing I’m concerned about is the scale, but I shall try it out with the starter package and then, if necessary, buy other models. Won’t my wife be thrilled…
BT.

The Man-Cold Has Come!

On By NuadaIn Terrain, WIPLeave a comment

I apologize for the lack of posting. I was struck by a vicious man-cold (conveniently during a very busy week) and laid low.

I am feeling better now, but there hasn’t been much gaming-related work in the past week. I have managed to assemble the Warbases Late-Roman Church. It is a solid kit, but with many little parts dry-fitting is a must. Sadly, it must wait for finishing as I’m trying to get some terrain done for our upcoming Arnhem campaign.

The Church
From the front
The roof is removable, and there is a lot of room for people hiding in the shadows…

I’m excited for when I do have time to turn to this kit. The interior begs for some interesting treatments. It is a little small on the interior, but if you were to build this to scale there would be no room on the table.

Waiting in the nave…

I think they’ve done a good job at balancing the look of the building and playability.  There are bound to be assassins waiting in the shadowed arches… Warbases has a done a great job with this kit.

I’ve also been slowly building Warbases low wall for WW2 wargaming. These are great little walls. They are quick and simple to assemble. I did wrap them with some weak elastic bands to keep their form.

Low stone walls with short columns

The walls are low enough for standing figures to fire over.

A good defensive position

These walls will be given a textured finish in the coming days. I have about 4′ of these so they’ll be giving definition to fields and yards.

The last bit of work I managed to get done, was finishing up my Frostgrave Cultists. These figures I’m using as Red Cap goblins in my RPG. I’ve had them almost finished for some time so last night I did a last overview and then a thick dark wash. I’ve purposely left them a little plain, so once I’ve finished flocking their bases they’re done in my eyes.

My Red Caps. Kitbashed from a Frostgrave Cultists, Warlord Celts and Greeks, and some Gripping Beast Late Romans

The kit itself is pretty good, and provides a solid variety of options. I have used the undead parts to make some undead Saxons/Vikings, and have added shields from a variety of Warlord and Gripping Beasts.

Lastly, I’ve continued to add some blogs. Miles (at Lair of the Uber Geek) has recommended The Man Cave. Please take a look on the side as I slowly get the wargames blogs organized.

I’m hoping to get a fair bit done in the coming days (including the promised post from Lucius about his Brits) as work has settled down, and my man-cold has finally fled.

Happy Gaming!

 

 

 

Review: Timeline Miniatures MDF Outbuilding and Watchtower

On By NuadaIn Review, TerrainLeave a comment

I’ve been slowly increasing my terrain holdings and recently turned to on some of my Timeline Miniatures. I have never built any of their offerings, but I saw some great designs on their website and pleased to report that they are excellent in “the real.”

The outbuilding is excellent. It’s a great piece for northwestern Europe across a wide variety of time periods if you vary your roofing material. I’m intending on using it for WW2, so may be doing a tile roof on it eventually.

The product out of its bag

The pieces go together perfectly, and unlike some of their competitors, Timeline includes detailed instructions with every kit. They recommend, (and I always find it useful – even with such solid kits), to dry fit everything first.

The building dry-fitted but not glued
The fully built building

The building is a good size for a section to take up cover, or for an objective if searching for downed pilots or resistance fighters.

Some FJs to show scale. The figures are Warlord (metal and plastic)

Overall, I’m very happy with this piece. It was only 9 pounds, and was a steal. It was simple to assemble, and has great detail. I will be ordering more of the modern line from Alan (his Normandy farmhouse looks amazing).

Next up, a simple fantasy piece: a well.

All of the Timeline products come in plastic Ziploc bags with instructions

The well is a good piece, but nothing spectacular. I forgot how much I didn’t enjoy sticking MDF parts in a circle formation (as with Warbases Celtic houses) and this was no different. I prevailed and the piece is nice. It was relatively quick to put together and will do the trick.

A 28mm Blacktree Saxon for scale

Last, but not least is the Timeline Watchtower.

The beautiful watchtower kit

I was trepidatious about ordering this as many of the late Roman watchtowers on the market look wrong. They are too squat, or the tower walk is too wide etc. This tower is great.

The nicely proportioned tower. Warbases low walls in the background. More on Warbases in a future post.

The tower walk is supported by 24 supports, which was worrying. They fit in so well that it was simple to affix the walkway. In fact, everything fit wonderfully on this kit.

The view from below showing some of the many supports for the walk
The watchtower has an entrance room with fixed ladder into a guard room on the main level of the tower

As you can see, the tower makes sense. There is a ladder to get into the tower, with a lower room that can be fought over. Then another fixed ladder leads to the guard house (with a cutaway for those entering from below). Then the walk itself with its nice railings wide enough for 25mm bases. This is a perfect piece for Dux or any fantasy/medieval gaming. I highly recommend it.

Having built Warbases, Sarissa Precision, and Terrains4Games, these are by far the best quality MDF kits I’ve seen. Each company has some good points and some points that could be improved upon, but Timeline’s attention to detail, design aesthetic, and price point are excellent and outshine their competitors. I shall (to my wife’s chagrin) be purchasing more of their terrain in the near future. I hope that you check them out!

An Update – Tornadoes and Neglected Blogs

On By NuadaIn BloggingLeave a comment

It’s been 18 years since I moved to the Island and I consider myself well and truly a local now. It still hit home when my old city of Ottawa was hit by a big storm. The tornado hit outside the town and went along the river right by the capital and into the city of Gatineau on the other side of the river. This hasn’t made much of the international news, but CBC has a story that’s worth a look. Luckily, there are few injuries and no deaths reported. All of my friends and family are safe.

A tornado. Every area has its risks, but tornadoes aren’t something I associate with my nation’s capital. Frostbite and heat-stroke are.  That city has a 100 degree Celsius temperature range from the summer to the mid-winter. It gets so cold that when I was in high school our school caught fire and the students, after evacuating, were put back into the gym as we’d freeze before we burned. Ah -40.

In any event, as for the blogs, I have a list that I routinely check and it’s out of date. I regularly go to a favourite site, check the sidebar and then peruse what’s being looked at (by the way, Anton’s Wargame Blog even has SPQVI on his blog list, thanks Anton)!

I noticed that there are wargaming sites that I do end up visiting several times but are missing on my list. So, while this list is still incomplete, please take another look at the side/bottom. Of note, The Tactical Painter, A Terrible loss of Lead and Wealth, Jay’s Wargaming Madness, Lair of the Uber Geek. I’ll be adding more in the coming weeks and maybe even organizing the list so it’s easier to navigate. Sadly, WordPress isn’t like Blogger, and doesn’t show which blogs I visit when I’m signed in with my account. Hopefully this will make up for that. If any of the multitudes that read this blog have your own blog and want me to add it, please let me know in the comments.