On the horizon - 2012

Well, my last post of 2011!  It should be something thoughtful and witty, but what follows will have to suffice...



First off, I would like to thank all of the people that follow and visit this humble blog.  Having something to say is one thing, but also having an audience is another and I do appreciate all comments, so please keep them coming in!



Second, projects.  I seem to be good at finding new ones and not finishing old ones.  The past six months were not too kind to my hobbies, but that is over now and 2012 is shaping up to be a better year miniatures-wise.  The Lissa project continues - I actually sat down and slapped primer on 5 Austrian ironclads recently.  Plan Rubber is still cooking along slowly.  The Götland WW1 ships are waiting patiently for me to decide the next step.  And of course there are more that might never see the top of a table...



Third, this marks the 3rd anniversary of the start of this blog.



Last but not least, have a Happy New Year!

Leviathans, part 3

After a long delay, here are some pics of another vessel from Leviathans, the French light cruiser Pontbriand:

Another nice looking model for the Leviathans game.

Plan Rubber links

A brief post for today, as we are having our delayed Thanksgiving get-together now that my step-daughter has returned from Iraq...





Plan Rubber on Wiki



Plan Rubber at Sixtant





A couple of links that explain the situation and the historical outcome - from which I plan to deviate of course!

Budget woes

Looks as if my planning tempo is going to slow down a bit - I'm facing the prospect of reduced hours at work.  This means that the GHQ project will slow down a bit until I get some funding.  It is not such a bad idea since I have yet to decide what exactly the project will encompass beyond getting some GHQ miniatures!

However, I am going to pick up on the MAATAC project as I already have some miniatures on hand.

Speaking of MAATAC, I believe that Eric Hotz is going to run another session for the Trumpeters on Friday December 2 - if you are in the Vancouver BC area you should stop in!

WW2 naval, part 3

I think that I have a good idea of what the US force will have available for Plan Rubber, plus a couple of additions.



CV Ranger

BB Texas

BB Arkansas

CA Augusta

CL Savannah

DD Wainwright

DD Lang

DD Wilson

DD Hambleton

DD Emmons



During March 1942, all of the above ships, excluding the battleships, were formed as TG22.7 for a brief time, patrolling the Caribbean and Atlantic near Bermuda.  The battleships were being used as convoy escorts. shuttling back and forth from Maine to Iceland.  This, I feel, is a good basis for my Plan Rubber US force.



Additional forces could be drawn from the following:



CA Tuscaloosa  -  assigned to the US Atlantic fleet, she spent much time operating with the Royal Navy as a convoy escort.  As USS Augusta is a thin-skinned Northampton-class heavy cruiser, the better balanced New Orleans-class Tuscaloosa would be a good option.



DD Rowan and DD Hobson  -  these two destroyers were just coming off time in the yards for refitting and could be available for escort duties.



CVE Long Island  -  the first US escort carrier, USS Long Island spent much time as a plane ferry later in the war.  For Plan Rubber, I envision her with a small deck-load of USAAC P-40 fighters to be flown off for use at a captured Brazilian airfield, and her normal naval aviation complement - stored on her hangar deck - would be available afterward.  She would be very vulnerable prior to the flying-off, but there is a lot of potential with more US aircraft in the air.

Still scheming, dreaming of a WW2 plan

It is a good thing that I have yet to buy any micro-armour - I keep thinking of different theatres to work on!

I have discussed the eastern front (Europe) previously.  The western front of Europe is looking good also.  One could start with 1940 France and, using virtually the same terrain, play games set in 1944 France.  There is not so much variety in nationalities involved, but lots of miniatures are available.

Another theatre would be North Africa, and by this you could stretch it from Beirut or even Baghdad to Casablanca and all points in between.

And to top it all off, GHQ has started production of their Wehrmacht '47 line of what-if German vehicles - vehicles that were on the drawing boards at the end of the war.  This could be used to extend any European front, but I wonder if it would work so well in North Africa...

WW2 naval, part 2

When it rains, it pours sometimes... Just when I thought that I had figured out a simple WW2 project, I find something else that catches my fancy.  Here are the two candidates:



Plan Rubber - US forces try to invade Brazil to insure the security of airbases in Northern Brazil, vital to the transfer of aircraft from the US to Africa/Middle East/Australia.



The Med - France vs. Italy in a what-if based around Italy's earlier entry into WW2 i.e. 1939.





Plan Rubber, although hypothetical, has a lot going for it.  Most of the US forces are available in miniature from GHQ.  It can be limited in scope, or expanded.  I am thinking of two different starts to this project.  One, the US invades in March 1942 and provokes an angry reaction from Brazil, and two, Brazil has already turned to an Axis puppet and the invasion is an Allied reaction.  The first option I think would make a great short campaign, starting after US forces make their initial landings and focusing on the Brazilian reaction.  The Brazilian forces would not need as much added, although they would still be much better than their historical counterparts, as the Brazilian dreadnoughts were barely functional at this time and there was a severe lack of modern destroyers.  The second option would see a greatly augmented Brazilian navy and air force operating against an Allied (US/British) force.  So, there is a 'Small Solution' and a 'Large Solution' for Plan Rubber, which would allow for the inevitable desire for project creep.



The Med is being sparked by the soon-to-be-released Bretagne battleship miniatures by GHQ.  Again, this would be a project that could start small and expand.  GHQ makes most of the classes of the Italian Navy (except for some destroyers and smaller) while the French fleet is growing.  Project creep for The Med would include adding Royal Navy units.



Both plans have interesting features, and I have suitable miniatures for each of them.



Decisions, decisions!

The Plan, modified

What am I going to do about my plans for little tanks?

Well, first off, scale.  That's easy as I am going with 1/285.  I do not want to sound too jingoistic but I am going to try and source the miniatures from US manufacturers if I can.  That means mostly GHQ but CinC has a good selection including tanks that GHQ does not make.

Second, theatre of operations.  A wide open field here, but I am leaning towards The Great Patriotic War i.e. the Russian front.  Lots of variety for vehicles, with Soviet, German, Hungarian, Romanian, Italian, and others represented.  And Lend-Lease also!

Rules?  I have yet to decide and this will take some research.



I have not forgotten my MAATAC stuff, but they might need some repainting as I will probably use the same terrain - to a point - for MAATAC as with WW2.

Looking at a WW2 naval project...

After a little bit of digging I was able to find a good quantity of GHQ WW2 naval vessels in various states of disrepair.  Many of them look like this:

The top pic shows, from the left:  a King George V class battleship, a Caio Duilio class battleship, a Littorio class battleship, and a Strasbourg class battlecruiser.  The second pic shows, clockwise from the top left:  Hood battlecruiser, Texas class battleship, Arkansas battleship, and a Graf Spee class pocket battleship.



Quite a disparate bunch.  Unfortunately, Littorio and Strasbourg have various amounts of paint, which would need to be stripped as I am certain that I no longer have those hues in my collection.  The others pictured above, along with Rodney and Barham, are bare or in primer.



The ships I have lean somewhat towards the Mediterranean campaign, but another idea struck me while digging for these miniatures.  I found this magazine during the search:

Inside, there is an interesting article:

The article details the planning that occurred in 1941 when policy-makers in Washington DC thought that Brazil might become pro-Axis.  While it seems to be a stretch of the imagination today, the population of Brazil contains a number of German emigrants and some of the Brazilian army officers were thought to side with the Germans.



The map above is perfect for the task, detailing airstrips of various sizes and the capacity of the ports.  The real task is assembling the miniatures for the campaign.  GHQ makes most of the US ships - including Texas and Arkansas which I have in my possession.  Panzerschiffe makes the Brazilian dreadnoughts Sao Paulo and Minas Gereas.



There is a lot of room for adding more forces to this what-if scenario.  Some of them are mild, such as adding German aircraft squadrons and U-boats.  Some are wild - adding Graf Spee and Prinz Eugen to the Brazilian fleet.  And there is the truly fanciful, with Bismarck and French ships making their appearance.  But I have to admit that the strangeness adds to the appeal, for me at least.

Weak-willed me...

Well now, another fork in the road of hobby project completion looms up ahead.  Recently, I have been playing the on-line game World of Tanks.  This has stirred a latent desire for micro-armour, something that I have not played for more than a decade, and collected longer than that.  So, I zipped over to the GHQ Models web site, checking out tanks and such, when the urge to look at the Micro-nauts hit me.  Those beautiful miniatures, albeit expensive, are a siren's call.



I have some old GHQ ship miniatures around here, so I am going to drag them out and see if I can paint them to a reasonable degree...

Still here!

It has been a while, but I have not forgotten!  Yes, I am still playing World of Tanks, but recently it has given me a new sense of impetus towards getting some paint on small lead tanks.  Along with the MAATAC stuff, I intend to get some of the fine models from GHQ just to see if I can paint them again - it has been 30 years since I first picked some micro-armour so it is a bit of a nostalgia trip.  I also found a nice site about painting micro-armour - some interesting tips there.

It might be a while but more pics are in store for the future.

Another month gone by...

Well, October did not come out as expected, but now the crazy work schedule is passed, unfortunately into what could be a too-quiet work schedule...

So, I am trying to pick up the pieces of the projects left off from September.

First, the Tékumel miniatures.  The priest of Hrü'ü is almost done, just needs basing.  The priest of Vimúhla is next but still needs work.  The others are just barely past the primer stage.  I still need to finish off the Hlutrgú champions and shaman.  There is a set of Sérqu spearmen on the table, but I seem to have hit quite a painting block with them; nothing looks right.  So, I might put them aside and bring out the not-quite-finished Ever Present Glory archers.  And the ships - yet another dilemma!

Second, my play of computer games continues, but I have not posted much about it for months.  I am considering splitting off the 'Pixel' part of this blog onto a separate site of its own.

Third, the other miniatures that I want to paint should get some attention also.  Dwarves, Reptus, etc. are waiting in boxes and bags.  Maybe soon...


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Again...

3 months between posts is too long.

As I am without any discretionary funds at the moment, and with a desire to paint up something 15mm, I am going to dig through my 15mm figure stash and come up with something to work on, just to see if I can paint this size of figure to my liking.  I know that there are some Landsknechts (Essex) in the box somewhere, and some late Middle Ages from Rank & File, among others, which is helpful as I am leaning towards a medieval project more than the classical ancients.

Pics, hopefully, will appear shortly...

Austrian ironclads, part 2

After a long delay, I decided to get the shipyards going again.  Here is a brief glimpse:

Drache

Kaiser Max

A couple of Austrian ironclads to get the ball rolling again.  I am cutting the masts down somewhat, as I understand the Austrians ships, at Lissa, had reduced their rigging in advance of the engagement.  It will help differentiate the Austrians from the Italians, although the hull paint will cover that!

Some general notes on nickers

After nosing through the novels again, I have a few notes on nickers for the Half-Continent.

In Factotum (chapter 16), Europe and Rossamünd encounter a creature that could be straight out of a Lovecraft plot - a creature that is fairly amorphous and can reshape itself, even divide into smaller yet independent units.  And in chapter 22, there is mention of a 'pillboy' (pillbug) nicker and also one that is more akin to a treant.

During the fight for Wormstool in Lamplighter, some are described as bulbous and pudgy, while some are thin and lithe, and another has the legs of an enormous rabbit.

All of these are in addition to the beastman types that seem to be the most common.

So, in general, a wide variety of monster archetypes exist.  In my personal opinion, I would stay away from those minis equipped with armor and weapons, although some do use them.  The ettin in Lamplighter is using a lamppost for battering the walls of the outpost and he is wearing a small, two-wheeled cart on his head for protection!

A good example of nickers can be seen at this post at Lamplighter's Haven.

Leviathans, part 2

Here are some pics of the British light cruiser for Leviathans, HML Hertfordshire:

The models for Leviathans are 1/1200 scale.  They are 'lightly' pre-painted in the colors you see in these pics, but I believe they come unassembled.

Of quartos and bogles...

With the recent work on getting ship-shape I have not forgotten about the land-based minis.  It is still my plan to acquire some 28mm minis for skirmish gaming, as the budget allows.  I am looking forward to the release of the WSS line from Ebor Miniatures, as they appear to be wonderfully sculpted.  And the nickers - that is a special subject and one that will require me to plunge happily again into the books for more snippets of information.

Along with the 28mm minis I do desire to collect a smaller scale force for mass battles, either 6mm or 10mm.  The smaller scale will make the appearance of massive monsters more likely, as 15mm or even 25mm minis could be used, and they would be appropriately large compared to the small-scale troops.  10mm WSS minis are available from both Pendraken and Old Glory, while in 6mm they are produced by Baccus.

And the rules.  As time allows I want to try Song of Drums & Shakos.  I dug up some old minis - some Old Glory French colonial troops (?), and some medieval crossbowmen that I will use as proxies to just try the rules.

All that is left is for me to actually get some of this done...

Trees, part 2

Continuing the slow progress routine:

Some of my first trees, specifically for Tékumel, with an Ever Present Glory trooper for scale.  The trunks need to be coated, the tops need flock, and then basing.




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A bit of clean-up

AS there is not too much going on at the hobby table at the moment except indecision, my thoughts are turning towards changing around the look of the blog.  Blogger is quite different now, with many new options that are readily available to the casual user.  Now it will not be like the last time I tried to change the look here - no huge swaths of red!

Also, I seem to have picked up an invite to Google+.  Is there anything there that could tempt a tabletop gamer like myself (I do not RP much anymore, never got past the hack&slash part...)


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A new book

Well, new for my library!

I was able to pick this up for $8 recently.  It has some great reviews and the price was right.  I intend to read through it with an eye for converting it to a more Tékumel-style game, but it could be useful for the oft-threatened ancients project...




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Ships, part 9

With just a bit of effort, I was able to take the plastic masts off the iron dought, and replace them with brass:

These are much taller than the previous masts, so there will be enough room at the top for spandarions.  I still need to add the bracing but it is close, finally, for paint.

Tékumel naval, part 5

A little bit of progress here with my first Tékumel-style naval vessel:

The original mini is a Xyston Hellenistic Quinquireme, which can be seen in its original form here.  In its Tékumel form, it shall be a Tsolyáni Qél.  I have changed around the deck somewhat as compared to the original, and readers of long standing will also notice that yet again I have changed my mind about the masts!!!    The base is a piece of 3mm thick plywood, 80mm by 40mm, from Litko.  


It is not quite completely assembled, as evidenced by the parts alongside the base, but it is really coming together this time and I am satisfied with my plan for the ultimate form.




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Getting re-organized

After having taken a 4-month break from this project, the first item on the agenda is to get re-organized.  The rules dilemma for the skirmish games is still milling around and needs to be seen to.  I have an idea that the blending of Ganesha Games' Song of Blades & Heroes and Song of Drums & Shakos would work for small scale actions.  SBH would have material for the nickers and SDS for the troops.  I now realize that I have copies of both of the rules although I do not remember getting SDS (!), and with the long week-end here in the US I should cobble together some minis and try it out!

Speaking of minis, there is a post on the Grimsby Mariner blog about more WSS minis coming out soon.  I have to admit I am not too interested in the new Foundry range - although if some nice infantry vignettes are produced I could change my mind.  There is a new range of minis coming from Ebor Miniatures - check their blog post about WSS minis.  Very nice!



And the ships - I am working on replacing the masts - originally made of plastic, to be replaced with brass.

Leviathans!

At the recently concluded PAX Prime convention, I had the rare opportunity to see a great new game just before launch - Leviathans, by Catalyst Game Labs.  We had next to no spare time as we were on our way to another presentation, but I had a brief chat with Randall Bills, mastermind of Leviathans, and as a token of appreciation (we were among the early playtesters - a few years ago - for the game) Mr. Bills gave us these:

A French light cruiser on the left, and a British light cruiser on the right.  These are nice models, and I will have more pics later!

A new Tékumel-related blog

Skein of Destiny is a new Tékumel-related blog with a purpose of gathering news and more links to all things of note with regards to Tékumel gaming.  Go have a look-see!




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It's a bit dusty here!

Apologies for the long delay - it is high time to sort things out here!

I have to admit that I hit a mental wall of sorts with this project, mostly because my budget for hobby materials collapsed somewhat.  I have been concentrating on the Tékumel minis more, but it is time to get going here as well.  However, the quartos and baskets will need to wait a while longer; I have yet to get any suitable minis for the skirmish games.  So, I am going to try and get the slipways going again for the ship project with a critical eye turned out towards making the ships faster and of course nicer.

The first ship still does not look quite right to me - the masts are too short and off-kilter especially.  I have yet to decide if I should tear it apart for another go or just leave it for now and replace it later when my skill level increases.  She is a nifty little vessel, if you squint a bit!

Tékumel priests, part 3

More slow progress:

On the left, the priest of Hrü'ü has received the first gloss protective coat.  I am still trying to sort out the reds on the priest of Vimúhla (second from left).  No major changes on the priestess of Dlamélish (second from right), and thanks to Chirine I adjusted some of the bare flesh areas of the priestess of Avanthé (far right), although I was a bit sloppy with their placement and will need to touch them up soon.




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Carnivoran RAATACs for MAATAC

Front, side, and rear views of the Carnivoran RAATAC.  These are a bit bigger than their Terran counterparts.

A comparison to the Fang class destroyer - the RAATAC is almost taller than the destroyer!

Hlutrgú, part 5

The first 5 of my Hlutrgú warband are finally complete:

I tried to give a little variation in the minis by slightly bending the arms and legs.  The metal used is a bit bendy and the pose can be altered just by using hand pressure.  I used some artistic license to alter the coloration also; three of the Hlutrgú above have splotches, and one is very pale in comparison - a young Hlutrgú in my book.


Another pic, showing the basing:

I did not go with a swampy scheme although I could change that in the future.  The materials are very simple, just Woodland Scenics flock and talus for the most part.  The larger, darker rocks are crushed walnut shells, which I found at the local pet store.  My 7-lb bag will last me several lifetimes!




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Tékumel big battles, part 1.1

One small detail that I should have noted in my previous post:

The vast majority of my Tékumel minis are mounted on 7/8" fender washers - which is unfortunately a really odd size and I kind of regret it.  Litko and others sell large bases for 1" or 20mm rounds; 7/8" is right in the middle of those two sizes.  I am not really desiring to rebase yet again but it might be the only way.


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My approach to Tékumel big battles, part 1

As part of my Tékumel gaming, I would really like to do some large battles; i.e. where the are units of soldiers on the tabletop not just individuals.  Now, I should have thought about it more before, as the round bases that I favor for my troops look great for skirmishes, but do have problems when trying to combine them for the units that I envision.  Here is an example:

In my mind, this would be a single cohort of the First Legion of Ever Present Glory.  They are sitting on a piece of magnetic sheet material that was a freebie with a phone book (remember those?).  It is 3 inches square.  A cohort should be the smallest unit in the big battles that I would like to play out.  The problem here is that I would like to have the cohort's base match up with the bases of the individual minis, which would mean building up the top of the base to help conceal the round bases.  The only item that would really be an issue would be making nice round holes in the cohort base for the individuals.


Here is another view:

Three cohorts in these pics.  One of the issues with the somewhat large size of the cohort bases is my desire to protect the lowered spears of the front rank.


At the most radical, I could try to make two different sets of minis - one on round bases for skirmishes and another set permanently affixed to cohort bases.  The lowered spearmen would be good for skirmish battles, but I dread the thought of not being able to utilize all of my minis for whatever battle I choose.


I guess I will need to sit down and try to make a cohort base for the individuals.  If it is easy and practical then I will be quite satisfied.




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Another MAATAC game by Eric Hotz!

Eric Hotz hosted another beautiful MAATAC game with the Trumpeters; full set of pics Here.

Eric, you mention that you use a modified, faster version of the venerable MAATAC rules.  Can you share some of the changes?

Hijacked

Sometimes things just happen!

That is a screenshot of one my vehicles in World of Tanks...  Fun and free to play, a dangerous combination!

Regular posting will return soon, I promise...

Tékumel priests, part 2... and TGN!

Just a work in progress shot:

The priest of Hrü'ü (far left) is nearly done - the plume needs touch-up and the mask (my third try) needs something more.  The priest of Vimúhla (second from left) needs more red!  I think I went a little overboard with the blue on the shoulders... but he is not nearly done yet.  The reds will take some work to look good.  The priestesses of Dlamélish (second from right) and Avánthe (far right) are just starting to get some paint and are a long way from being completed.




And, I have been added to the Tabletop Gaming News TGN Blog Network!  Thank you Zac, and Hello to the TGN network!






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Trees, part 1

No gaming table should be without trees.  And there is a multitude of good-looking pre-made trees out there of many sizes.  But, being short of funds and always desiring a unique look to my projects, I am going to try and build my own.

This is the base material for the trunks/branches.  These are cotton pipecleaners, not the nylon ones from the craft store.  I bought these many moons ago, and they have been sitting patiently in a box for just this moment.

Contents of the package.  There are 32 of them in each package.

Construction of the trunk is simple - just twist three of the pipecleaners together, leaving enough at each end for roots or branches.

These are made with six pipecleaners, mostly to give more branches and to make the trunk bigger.  I wish I had included the scale for the pics - maybe next time.

I cut approximately 1 inch off each of these pipecleaners prior to twisting to make some slightly shorter trees.


The next step is to coat the trunks and branches with some modeling paste to stiffen the structure a bit and cover up the obvious nature of the construction.




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Dusting off this blog!

It has been a while...

Despite my affinity for 28mm, I am reconsidering 15mm mostly due to cost and space.  Money is tight at the moment as is space for games.  Also, 15mm looks better in a mass-battle aspect; 28mm nails it for skirmishes.

Along with this, the rest of the project is up for reconsideration also.  Greeks/Persians are still a possibility, but I am also thinking about Successors, Romans/Gauls/Pontics, Late Romans, and 13th century medieval.  Rules are another aspect up in the air; there are many possibilities and I can not rule out the chance that I will want to paint up some fantasy armies as well!

So, hopefully much to blog about.

Tékumel naval, part 4

After some thought and research, I am dusting off this project and giving it another try.  A recent and sudden cash crunch here in my household is also making me go back to previously purchased minis instead of splashing out for more!

Of course, this project re-start could not be free of some minor drama... And the dilemma of the day involves rigging.  There are two styles - sails and masts up, or sails and masts removed.  For a great example of fully rigged ancient ships, take a look at Hetairoi's gallery.  Beautiful stuff!  And on the opposite tack, some great examples of un-rigged ancient ships can be found at one of the many Roman Seas galleries.

I am going with the un-rigged method, for a couple of reasons.  First, it will be quicker to get the ships fitted out for a game.  Second, from a historical viewpoint, oared warships, at least those of the Greeks and Romans, et al, went into combat with their masts and sails removed unless in extreme situations.  Third, the lack of masts might make the decks more visible, and I have some ideas for reconstructing the deckwork and adding shipboard artillery.

Of course, I decided this AFTER drilling holes for masts through the deck of my first warship!

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Terran Light War Machine for MAATAC

Yet another pic:

Terran Monarch class Light war machine.  The turret is a separate piece.


And, a top-down pic of the Terran light war machine, destroyer, and APC:

A MAATAC game...

Eric Hotz recently put on a great-looking MAATAC scenario for the Trumpeters club - wish I could have been there!

The hobby table...

Just a brief pic for today's post:

Some interesting if slow-moving projects here - a warband of Hlutrgú almost finished; a few extra Ever Present Glory troopers awaiting matte finishing; priests and priestesses of Tékumel with black undercoat; some high command minis of various Tékumel empires awaiting attention (thanks again Jeff!); the first few Sérqu minis; assorted generic fantasy minis; some of those MAATAC tanks; and assorted tools of the trade.  Oh yes, and an oared warship, whose project has been reconsidered and a tiny bit of progress accomplished!

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Terran Destroyer class for MAATAC

I am slowly progressing through the collection; here is one more installment:

This is the Terran Thunder class destroyer.  There are three beam weapons, and two of the Terran-standard small turrets, used I believe for close-in protection from infantry and missiles.

Terran APC for MAATAC

I am slowly progressing through what is left of my MAATAC collection, and here is another pic:

This is the Terran Lightning class personnel carrier.  The mini is a one-piece casting.  There are three light beam weapons (somewhat visible in this view) mounted on top.

To the best I can ascertain, my old Superior MAATAC minis are gone, along with my old copy of the rules.  All that is left is what I am slowly posting here.  These are all cast by Monday Knight.  I do have a good-sized Terran force, but only a small handful of Carnivoran and even less Entomolian minis, and no Aquarian or Avarian minis.  This is not a major problem though (although the loss of the old, painted minis is not good) as this is intended to be a slow-burning project.  The terrain especially will be different from anything I have tried previously - never have tried a snow environment!

Terran RAATACs, part 2

I should have thought of this with the first post, but here is a pic comparing the Terran RAATAC to the Conqueror medium war machine:

Tékumel priests, part 1

So, I have some Tsolyánu troops painted up, but no Tékumel force is complete without priests.  For quite a while, I did not have any suitable miniatures for priests/priestesses, but Chirine came to my rescue with a package of wonderful old minis.  Among these minis were some priests/priestesses:

From the left:  Hrü'ü, Vimúhla, and Dlamélish.  The priestess of Dlamélish is a Ral Partha sculpt, while the other two are from the now-defunct PHD Games.  These minis are definitely not the same size of today's '28mm' figures, but they look nice for being at least 33-year-old sculpts.  I do find the limbs, especially the feet and ankles, of the Vimúhla priest to be rather spindly!

From the left:  Avánthe and Karakán.  The priestess of Avánthe is another Ral Partha figure from the 1970's, while the priest of Karakán is another way out-of-production PHD mini.  The Karakán priest is well-proportioned for today's standards, although he has some flash.




I was a bit worried about how well these minis would fit in with my selection of 'heroic 28mm' minis, so I drafted one of my Ever Present Glory minis for a comparison:

With the old minis posed on my usual fender washer bases, I do not see anything to be worried about, at least with the priests of Vimúhla and Karakán.




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Terran RAATAC's for MAATAC

Terran RAATAC - from the left:  front, right, back, left view

RAATAC in MAATAC are a kind of robotic infantry, perhaps more akin to power armor infantry of more traditional sci-fi forces.  I believe that there are rules for regular leg infantry in the original MAATAC rules, but there were not any specific infantry minis.

Terran Heavy War Machine for MAATAC

After a bit of digging, I found two of these:

Two views of the Terran Devastation class Heavy war machine for MAATAC.  This is a good sized piece of pewter, with two twin-barrel turrets, a commander's cupola weapon, a bow-mounted weapon, and plenty of small anti-personnel/close defense turrets.

Ooopps

My new blog - Small Scale Stuff - should now be viewable, sorry 'bout that!

MAATAC project split

Just a brief note -  I am splitting my MAATAC stuff off onto its own blog - Small Scale Stuff.  (Yes, I do not listen to my own good advice!)


I am returning this channel to its previously scheduled Tékumel and other fantasy goodness...


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The Plan

Yes, a plan would be great!

If you have seen any of my other blogs, you will know that I tend to suffer from a combination of 'project creep' and 'Oh-Shiny-itis'.  I am going to endeavor to keep these in check with the MAATAC project...

First - find and catalog what minis I have in hand.  The previous post was a great start, but a copy of the MAATAC rules and more minis should be here someplace.

Second - find and list the other minis I need.  I am certain that I do not have any infantry or air support.  Other than the RAATAC's, the MAATAC line does not have 'infantry', so I will go off searching for suitable minis from other vendors.  Same thing with aircraft.

Third - terrain.  I have no 1/285 terrain, but I have a lot of ideas!  One issue that I discussed with my lovely wife (and primary gaming partner) has been resolved - a wintry landscape will be used, hence the white basecoat on the Conquerors pictured previous.

Fourth - rules.  I am a rules hoarder from long ago, and I will need to go through and list everything that is remotely useful, as this will provide much of the foundation for the minis shopping list.


Meanwhile, I will continue to slap white paint onto the vehicles I have already found.

MAATAC

(NOTE:  This is a copy of a previous post on one of my other blogs)


The recent announcement of five (yes five!) new vehicles for the venerable MAATAC miniatures line from Monday Knight Productions (see this link) got me to digging into my boxes of old gaming stuff, and, indeed, I do have some dusty, old, half-forgotten MAATAC minis. First up, Terrans:

This is the Conqueror class Medium war machine. This mini, and the entire MAATAC line, is nominally 1/300 scale, but as one can observe in the pics, they are large. The detailing is good, and this particular tank has twin turret-mounted cannons, a large bow-mounted weapon, and small turrets on the hull sides.

This is a Carnivoran Gnasher class Light war machine. Tracked, like the Terran above, with one main gun in the turret, this vehicle has a low profile.

Two views of the Carnivoran Fang class Destroyer. Low and wide, with an abundance of hull-mounted weapons (no turret) - if I remember the original MAATAC rules correctly these are torpedo (missile) launchers. Nice detailing, if you can get by the mold lines that I forgot to remove many years ago!

An Entomolian Black Widow class Destroyer. Again, legs instead of tracks, and a large fixed hull-mounted cannon.

An Entomolian Fire Ant class Light war machine. High profile, with legs instead of tracks. Lots of hull and turret detail on this one.

The group shot:

These vehicles are big, and I do not have any of the heavy war machines! Hmmm, I thought that I did have some, and some of the robot infantry (RAATACs); more digging for me then.
I am not sure what to do with them however. I do like tanks, but I would need appropriate rules and of course many more minis, including infantry and maybe even some sort of aerial support. And, interesting terrain. I have long thought to myself that if I was to launch a micro-armour style project, it would be in a very specific environment, with desert or snowy conditions being the major contenders.