Stuff to report but nothing to show...

Despite working on various projects none are in a position to be shared, so as I'm off for a well deserved rest next week I thought I'd do a quick update post as to what I've been up to recently, that I thought might be of interest

Dropzone commander escalation league:
The DZC league I started in February that was due to finish in May finally finished this month!
The league was great at first, but as it went on it did get a little tiresome as some players were unreliable.
Lessons have been learnt and I know to handle things differently if I do another.

3k DZC game!
That's right! I took part in a 3k game of DZC. I used my Scourge and was defending a town, against the UCM.
It was an interesting setup as I controlled the Scourge, and three of my friends controlled the UCM.
In the end it was a scourge victory.
We played on a 6x4 board, half of the board was densely populated with buildings, with a river and two bridges.
The Scourge had a 3ft deployment zone and the UCM a 1ft deployment.
We played up the length of the board
Scourge were deployed as "blips", the theory being that the UCM knew they were there but they didn't know what units. The blips were revealed if in los of a UCM unit, if a UCM FM went over or if they the UCM opponent chose to fire at one he's roll on a table
1 - Nothing discovered, shot failed
2-5 - unit discovered
6 - all units within 6" of the intended target are discovered.

The mission was for the UCM to secure and hold two bridges (a focal point each), the landing pad (focal point). A sub-mission was for the UCM to discover and reveal the three pieces of Intel hidden in three building these were shown as normal.

We also disregarded several rules:
1. All UCM transports started in their deployment zone.
2. Scourge unit that brought transports didn't have to start inside.

It was a great, albeit long, game, resulting in a Scourge victory,

We soon plan to play the reverse layout, so looking forward to that!

On the project table:
500 point soviet force: All built, only the infantry in the position of being painted (post about those coming soon)
Ghar starter set: Battle suits almost complete (post about those, also coming soon)

So as I said, next week I'll be on holiday, so all going well I should have a painting post the week after

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: 82mm Mortar

This week I have been working on the Bolt Action Soviet 82mm Mortar that came as part of the Warlord Soviet 500pts deal.

The Packaging

Standard blister pack, where some pressure can pop out the back panel, allowing reuse of the pack if required.

The models

This pack contains 3 crew, 1 mortar (2 pieces: stand & mortar) and a base.
The models are nicely detailed however one crew member appear's to be wearing a longcoat which doesn't really fit with my summer uniform force. This, of course, is a minor issue.

The building of the models

These models had a lots of flash and mold lines, which took several minutes to remove. The mortar was carefully clipped free of it's metal tag then glue was added to the rest part of the stand and the legs, these were then positioned on the base. Glue was applied to the base of the mortar then the mortar was carefully aligned with the stand. Once the mortar was in position the crew was positioned around.

Once the models were tidied up, it took no time to set up the base, I'm looking forward to painting these.

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: Maxim MMG

This week I decided to crack on with putting my outstanding Bolt Action Soviets together, so I can have a game with something other than infantry. In this post I am reviewing the Maxim MMG.

The Packaging

This blister is like most "modern" blister where no cutting is required and just a little pressure from the front will pop out the back panel, releasing the models from their sponge walled plastic prison.

The models

Inside the blister are 3 crew, a Maxim MMG consisting of 4 parts (chasis, two wheels and the MMG) and a large round base.

The crew are nicely detailed, but the MMG lacks depth. (hopefully paint will resolve this)

The building of the model

The crew contained a fair amount of flash and mold lines that needed removing, as did the MMG with the added difficulty that the MMG wheels and chasis are made of a thin light metal so care had to be  taken to clear off excess metal.

The MMG was a little fiddly to build, and did result in me super gluing my fingers together along with a wheel. Despite this the building of the model wasn't challenging.

The MMG and crew were positioned on the base without glue then, once I was happy with their positioning, I glued them down. The gunner needed to be held in the correct position while the glue dried; as he is in a kneeling position I found he couldn't be left on its own otherwise he would fall out of position.

All in all this took little time to prepare and glue together. I'm looking forward to painting it up

FOR THE MOTHERLAND!!

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari:Dreamsnare

While I'm working on other projects, none of which are ready to post about, here my Dreamsnare that I painted while ago as part of the DZC escalation I ran,

Details on how I painted it are below

Like always colours are from the Valejo game colour range unless stated otherwise.

• I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
• I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone, apart from the shield boosting relay which I accidentally covered in Soft tone. This will teach me to read the label. However I feel that it doesn't stand out too much.
• Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed several times with Bonewhite (72.034) 
• I then drybrushed Dead White (72.001) several times
• The pads were painted Electric Blue (72.023)
• Then the Microwave-cannons, leg joints and leg points were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
• Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White. 
• The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
• The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Gauss cannon barrels.

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcast Disruptor cannon

This week’s post is about the Ghar Disruptor cannon that came with the Ghar Outcasts as part of the Ghar Starter set.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.

Disruptor Cannon

• I started by undercoating with Halfords Black. I decided to use this undercoat instead of white as I feel that there are more black areas than white. 
• GW Ceramite white was used on the cannon's legs, weapon shielding and Outcast's flesh.Then several coats of watered down Dead White (72.001) were used on the weapon shielding and legs 
• Outcast was washed in Army Painter Strong Tone, then once dry, drybrushed with Dead White (72.001) (yes once again I forgot the bonewhite stage and you can see the difference in the first photo with the two models together) 
• Black (72.051) was used to tidy up the line on the legs, cannon, Outcast spine support, straps and wrist/ankle clips. The solid areas of black were then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
• GW Mephiston Red was used on the eyes, spine support power cells, ankle/wrist cells, leg power cells, cannon power cells and the power cell at the top of the back.

That's the model done, now the base.

• As the base had been sprayed black I just glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.

Loader

The loader was done in the same fashion as the other outcasts:

• I started with Halfords White undercoat 
• Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. As mentioned in my last post this really helped bring out the detail 
• Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the ammo cartridges, belt, bag casing, claws, wrist & ankle clips 
• GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between the legs), and the ammo bag. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas 
• GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, and the nodes on the wrist/ankle clips 
• The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands. 
• The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
• The strap to the ammo pack was painted brown and then I went over with leather 
• I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it. 
• Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red. 

Now onto the base.

• I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051). 
• Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034) after which Static grass was added.

That's the Outcasts from the starter box complete; only the battle suits and flitters to go...

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcasts

So as mentioned in my last post I have been working on the Gates of Antares Outcasts. These are from the starter set I mention a few posts back.

I can tell how excited I am to paint a model by how quickly it gets to my painting station and is finished. As an example these Outcasts jumped ahead of 20 Soviet Infantry for Bolt Action and the 6 Battlesuits from the 2 player Gates of Antares starter set, all of which have been started yet not finished. 

Now the Outcast unit does come with a disruptor cannon and loader; the loader has been completed along with these guys however the disruptor cannon has not, so those will be in another post.

Anyway, I digress, on with how I painted these Outcasts. Now I wanted a sort of Albino look to them so thought I tried to apply a similar theme to that I used on my Shaltari.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.

• I started with Halfords White undercoat
• Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. This really helped bring out the detail which I struggled to see when they were in their unpainted state, and so allowing me to defrentiate between the areas.
• Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the weapon, belt, spine support, claws, wrist & ankle clips
• GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between their legs), plasma grenades and casing areas of the weapon. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the weapon casing and the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas
• GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, power cell on the weapon, trigger on the grenades and the nodes on the spine support 
• The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands.
• The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049)
• Now two of the Outcasts have protrusions on their weapons, I was unsure as to what this exactly is I assumed it to be a scope of some sort and painted it as such, using Magic Blue (72.021) on what I believed to be the glass on the scope; a small curve of Dead white (72.001) was added to it.
• Next I painted the teeth Plague Brown (72.039), then, once dry, covered with Army Painter strong tone.
• I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it.
• Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red and the weapon "scope".

That's the models done, now the base.

• I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051).
• Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.

There we are, 6 Outcasts done.

Out of interest, for those of you that read and enjoy my blog posts, what do you prefer: my step by step guides with pictures of each stage or this bullet point guide with the end result picture?

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Ocelot

I'm currently working on my Gates of Anteras Ghar but they aren't ready for the a blog post yet so instead I'll post about my Ocelot that I painted in June as part of the DZC escalation I ran.

Details on how I painted it are below

Like always colours are from the Valejo game colour range unless stated otherwise.

• I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
• I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone
• Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed several times with Bonewhite (72.034) 
• I then drybrushed Dead White (72.001) several times
• The pads were painted Electric Blue (72.023)
• Then the Particle cannon, transport nodes, leg joints and leg points were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
• Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White. 
• The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
• The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Particle Cannon