2013 in review

Belated seasons greetings,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year, and of course managed to get hold of all the goodies you asked for from Santa.

Having just returned from the depths of winter in Scotland, I now have time to have a look at what i've managed to do hobby-wise over the last year, and of course list my plan of action for the coming 12 months.

2013 has seen me start this blog, with 18000 odd hits its doing ok, and many thanks to the 51 people out there who follow the blog.

I've generally be distracted by the new and shiny, as I cant seem to keep focused on any 1 project, perhaps its because I don't actually get any gaming, and don't have that need to get a particular unit or model done. That's my excuse anyway.

So, this year I have completed my Crusader army for Impetus, and with the addition of some command stands, now have the option of playing Hail Caesar too.

Click here for a look at the Crusader army -

CRUSADERS









To oppose the Crusaders I also finished off the Muslim forces of Saladin. I have yet to add any command stands for HC, but I plan to sort that out this year.

Click here for a look at the Muslims -

Muslim Forces





Next I started the long process of re-basing all my Greek and Persian armies, originally based for DBA. Whilst re-basing them, I also took the opportunity to add to the collection, so now I have two sizable armies for Impetus.

First off I have the Greek army, based around a core of Spartans. With the addition of a sizable allied contingent, this is probably my favorite army.

click here to see more of the Greek Hoplite army



To take them on, I have also started a Persian army, although I have been distracted along the way and have a few units to complete.I have a feeling that this army will be pretty big when finally finished, another job for 2014!

Have a look here -
Persian Army




If that wasn't enough, the 6mm Napoleonic project has chugged along, although very slowly. Having decided on a set of rules to use (Black Powder), there is some rebasing to do, and alot of painting before my Austrian army is ready for battle. The planned French army has failed to materialize, but will at the very least be started in 2014.

Have a look here for the masses of tiny Austrians - Austrian Army 1809


OK, onto the distractions! 

First off was my foray into 28mm Sci/Fi with the Pig Iron system troopers. I collected a platoons worth of them for use with Tomorrows war, although they have never been out of their box since being painted.


To have a look at the European Drop troopers, look here - Drop Troops









Next up is the Germans for Bolt action. Another distraction, having read some good reviews I decided to get myself the rulebook, and then decided to get a German platoon, but in 15mm. These still aren't finished either as i got bored painting German camouflage..... However, they are very close to being finished, so another job for 2014!!

To see ze Germans click here - BOLT ACTION Germans







Finally, since about September, ive been tinkering with Epic, and have painted and converted quite alot of 6mm marines and vehicles. I don't know what it is about epic, its the first real wargame I played many moons ago in the early nineties, but its still cool.  I just really enjoy painting the little buggers!!!

Here's a link to my epic page and here's a link to my "blog" over on the Tactical command site

-EPIC page
Yorkies 6mm painting log



2014?

So, whats the plan for the next 12 months? Well I cant rule out any random distractions, but my plan is to finish what i've got first and foremost. In no particular order, here's what I plan on getting done:

• Commanders for the Muslim army
• Commanders for the Persian army
• Lots of Persians!
• A Theban contingent for the Greek Hoplite army
• SS Troops for my Bolt Action German force
• Vehicles for Ze Germans
• Soviet forces to oppose said Germans for Bolt Action.
• An Anglo Danish warband for SAGA, to oppose the Vikings I finished a while back. SAGA 
• Finish off the Novamarines and start on their adversaries, The TAU for EPIC.
• Continue with the Napoleonic project, Finish the Austrian forces and make a start on the French.

So, lots to do this year, and barring any major meltdowns, I shouldn't start anything else............................who am I trying to kid!

Have a good new year!

Steve

EUDT Platoon finished!

Now then,

I've finished off my Tomorrows war force, with the addition of another 3 fire tems and a large Mech, for some fire support.

The platoon SGT's fireteam, callsign M10B

M12C, the guy on the left is another minor conversion, with a GW space marine head...

M12D, another conversion here, this time with a GW scout head.

Next up we have the platoons fire support, in the form of a medium Mech, the model is from Fantasy Flight Games, and is a medium panzer mech, for their Dust Tactics game.

Great model, and it comes ready assembled and primed grey, and with 3 different weapon configurations.

Anti tank variant, although in DT, i think its an artillery weapon, similar to a WW2 Nebelwerfer...

The AA variant, but very useful in a direct ground role too, with its twin massive cannons!

The standard model, with a rapid firing main gun and a close combat arm, more useful in an urban environment, for clearing debris etc.

The completed force.

I would have had these completed sooner, but the wife insisted on days out etc, so while in a nice village called Omodos, i spied this big stone die in a trinket shop, so being the nerd i am, i had to have it. I plan on using it as a turn marker when we have games.....

The full army can be seen on the TW page - HERE

So now that small distraction is out of the way, i think ill crack on with some more Persians...

Cheers for looking,

Steve

Force Multiplier, Sniper Team

Now then,

The production line is in full swing now, so today I have finished the bases on my System trooper sniper team.  I really enjoyed painting these, although the camo cloaks didn't turn out quite as I wanted them, but they will do.

You know your going to have a bad day when you attract the attention of these two...

keep low and move fast!

The full force so far is here - LINK

Thanks for looking,
Steve

System Troopers Command Team

Now then,

So my first "Multiple" is complete with the addition of my command team. The Platoon commander, his radio operator and 2 riflemen.

I decided to give one of the riflemen a head swap, just for a bit of variety, so he now has a heavily chopped up GW space marine head, plundered from my sons bits box.

I think the head is supposed to be half metal, hence the strange grooves on his head, but as he's a veteran, they will serve as scars..(maybe he should keep his helmet on)..

The Radio operator and the commander both have tablet type screens, I tried quite a few different methods when painting these, I tried painting maps etc, but it looked crap, so i went with what you see here.
The Rad Op had the small antenna removed and a spare Xyston spear put in its place, drilled in.

I'm now half way through the platoon, and I'm enjoying painting something different to what id normally do, but the Persians are undercoated too, and are making me feel guilty about not finishing them off....

The full force so far can be seen here - LINK

Cheers for looking,
Steve

System Troopers #2

Now then,

I've finished off my next fire-team for Tomorrows war, using the Pig Iron miniatures System troopers.

LCpl Woods, armed with the standard issue L270 assault rifle.














 Pte Horton, again, with the L270.
















Pte Evans, with his L270.














Pte Spence, armed with an advanced AV 300, a rapid firing laser weapon.

The full fire-team, call-sign M11D

Unfortunately I ran out of natural light so the pics aren't great, ill get the next batch out in the garden and get some better pics.

That's it for now, I should have the Platoon commanders group finished by tomorrow.

The full force can be seen here - LINK

Thanks for looking,
Steve

New Pages Added

Morning all,

I have added 3 new pages to the blog, so that those interested can keep tabs on the various projects, and everything is in one place, instead of searching round the blog....




Tomorrows War page - LINK

Impetus Greek army - LINK










Impetus Persian Army - LINK













The plan is that once I have updates for these armies, ill update the blog as normal, but ill update the specific army page as well, with a link.

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Tomorrows War System Troopers!

Now then,

I've made a start on my Tomorrows war troops. These are 28mm system troopers from Pig Iron Miniatures, and I think that they are ace! They are a real treat to paint, and i've tried to do the sculpts justice....

I bought a pack of alternate heads as I wasn't too keen on the standard ones, these almost look like spartans from the computer game HALO...

Anyway, here's the first fire team, call-sign M-11C....



Fire team leader, Cpl Dickinson, armed with an L270 assault rifle.














Pte Harris, armed with the fireteam support weapon, an AMX 70 capable of laying down a withering amount of firepower.











Pte Murray, armed with a L270 assault rifle.












Pte Smith, again with a L270 assault rifle.

 The full Fireteam, all ready to destroy some stuff!

A view from the rear, showing the detail on these models, which I think is outstanding.

As you have probably gathered, I'm really impressed with these Pig Iron minis, they are among the very best models I have painted, stay tuned for more of the platoon over the next few days.

Heres a link to my TW page - LINK

Thanks for looking,
Steve