Heavy Gear Blitz

I picked up a new game at GenCon- Heavy Gear Blitz. Its been around a long time in one form or another. There is a RPG of it, and there has been a tactical game for it for ages. I last looked into it back in its last revision and the newest rules are much better. They are designed to play large forces against one another in a reasonable amount of time. Think of it as a flames of war weight Battletech and you’ll get the general idea. Most of the time you only fire one weapon per gear per turn. Its a squad activation game were you move everyone in one of your 3-4 squads at once. Pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: Gears, GenCon, Heavy Gear, Jager

Malifaux Goblins

I’m finally to the point where I can show off my goblins to the world. These guys are pretty awesome models. I tried out some new stuff this time around. I tried using the triad paints from Reaper. It’s a great idea, but I find myself having great difficulty with layering. The paint gets so thin it wants to run into the cracks instead of stay where I put it. The water is a whole lot of inks over a blue base. I think it came out pretty well. I went back over the water with Future floor wax after I matte coated the minis to make it shine again. The bases I made myself out of epoxy putty. More pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: Goblins, Malifaux, Outcasts

Italian CR.42 Fiat Falco Biplanes

After many trials and posts on the blog about them, the Fiat Falcos are ready to fly. The decals turned out pretty nice I think. These guys are Reviresco plane kits. I clipped the props off them since they look better that way, as if they were in flight. The decals are blank sheets from Experts Choice. I show how I did the decals here. The last thing I need are some flight stands. Top Gun has some nice looking ones, but I’m interested if anyone else has some ideas. Let me know in the comments. More pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: Aircraft, Early War, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, WWII

British 5.5″ BL Battery

I realized this afternoon that this battery had never got posted up on my blog. I finished it awhile ago and the basing was done with what colors I had on hand. Maybe I should have waited for greener static grass and flock, but its an interesting look.

The gun performance in game is great . It is nice to have something that really give the heavy tanks something to worry about. Pair it up with an AOP and its a very potent force. More pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: 5.5" BL, Artillery, British, Flames of War, FOW, Late War, Mid War, WWII

Scratch Built Auster AOP

Not all projects are a success, and sometimes you learn from your failures too.  This little gem is an Auster AOP that I attempted to build out of green stuff, a Popsicle stick, and a little floral wire. First up is the wood in Popsicle sticks doesn’t shape well. It likes to splinter instead. The wing doesn’t have any cross section on it. Second up, is its almost impossible to get floral wire to go in perfectly strait lines. I should have bought brass rod and used that instead. Third up is the green stuff itself. Its the first time I’ve tried to make anything of it except filling gaps in models. What I didn’t realize is that it even really gets hard. Or at least the stuff I have still remains “flexy” I was intending to build the basic shape and then use  files and sand paper to refine it and smooth it out. The green stuff never got hard enough to do this right. At least it isnt bittle I guess. All in all it makes a sad little airplane model, but at least its useable. Pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: AOP, Auster, British, Flames of War, FOW, WWII

AS 42

Since the new North Africa book came out, I have been excited about the reorganization of the Bersaglieri into the AS42 forces structure. They moved up a step like the Soviets from platoon sized units to company sized units. The new basic combat companies include one Bersaglieri infantry platoon plus the old weapons platoons- A platoon of 47/32 anti-tank guns, a platoon of heavy machine guns, and a platoon of optional Solothurn ATR or 20/65 AA guns. This makes for a huge 16 team strong unit that can have an impressive weight of fire and will be difficult to drive off the board.

Of course this new organization means I had to go buy a few new models for it. I got 2 blisters of 47/32. Too bad you need three and can only buy them in packs of two. I have the Bersaglieri HMG on order, and I finally finished up the Solothurn ATR that I never painted from the old company HQ. I also finished up a platoon of 81mm mortars that I’ll need to make up the newly reduced points, and the ground bases for the 20/65 AA guns that I already owned as portees. Gallery after the break. Read more…

Tags: AS42, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa

Armies of GenCon

I ran around during the painting competition and took pictures of as many armies as I could. Unfortunately I didn’t get anywhere near all of them. These are all from the Grand Tournament. The Ironman armies were never on display as there was no painting competition. The last 5 pictures are the prize armies from Paintedfigs.com They generously donated their painting for the tournament. Battlefront donated the actual armies and much more. Pics after the break.

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Minis for sale…

My buddy Paul is cleaning out his gaming collection and has a large catalog of painted mininatures for sale. I was over at his house today taking pictures of all of them. They come from Confrontation, Dark Age, Warhammer 40k (and variants), Blood Bowl, and Flames of War. They’ll all be headed to ebay soon. Check after the break for the gallery. Read more…

Tags: 40k, Blood Bowl, Confrontation, Dark Age, Flames of War, FOW, Mid War, Warhammer

Italian 20/65 SP AA

I have a tournament this weekend based in Sicily. Of course we have to use only units available in Sicily. Unfortunately for my Italians that means that quite a few of my units simply aren’t there. The Lancia da 90/53 Gone. The M14/41 Gone. Only L6 and R35 tanks were available there. No demolishers either. My collection of Italians is pretty small and mostly of the units that I can’t field.

So I ran out and got the last couple units to fill this platoon. I’d had part of it sitting around in my gaming closet for years. It’ll fill the last few points I need to make 1500. Hopefully my force won’t be too rag-tag to work well, but Italians were pretty handicapped in this fight.

The painting of these consistent of a Ochre Green base, Brown ink and Dark Sand dry brush. A few highlights of silver on the cab and gun. I’m slightly disappointed with the guy mounting the gun. I forgot which colors I used for my older Bersaglieri troops and this didn’t come out as well. I might repaint, but it’ll be fine for Saturday.

Tags: 20/65, AA, Flames of War, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, Paint, WWII

Midwar Bishops

These Bishops had been sitting around on my painting table practically since I started playing Flames of War. I bought them along with a whole bunch of armor from War Web. Most of the Old Glory minis like this come 3 to a pack. Its really a great deal, but unfortunately you need 4 guns for the Brits. I ordered without bothering to look this up and when I got them I had 4x 25lb guns I got with my army box and 8x Priests I ordered at the same time so I never bothered to get that extra Bishop to complete the unit.  If you look closely you’ll notice one is not like the others. I finished this unit out with a battlefront model rather than buy 3 more Old Glory Bishops.

The Bishop in the war was a bit of an odd duck. Its a 25lb Artillery piece mounted on a Valentine hull with a fixed thinly armored plated turret. It was cramped and hot to work in and had very little traverse. The Bishop had to have ramps built for it to elevate its gun enough to get maximum range out of it. It was very unpopular with its crews and was abandoned as soon as the Priest became available in numbers.

I painted these Bishops in the colors of the 6th Armored Division in Tunisia. They were service color with dark brown patches. I think I have the markings correct, and even though most of the photos of Bishops don’t have prominent camouflage there has been quite a bit of analysis showing that they were camouflaged. Pics after the break. Read more…

Tags: Artillery, Bishop, British, Flames of War, FOW, Mid War, WWII