Huaxtecs, part 6

(Potentially NSFW!)   

It has been a busy time here, but slow progress has been made.  Here are the first two Huaxtec, complete except for basing:

I am glad to see that the ink used for the tattoos did not run during the varnish stage!


And, a view of the hobby table:

Base colors for more Huaxtec shields in the lower left, more slow progress on the Shén in the upper left, and the rest of my stuff waiting patiently...


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Ships from WTJ!

Finally had some time to post this... my small, test order with WTJ arrived some time ago.  I ordered just a few ships - SMS Magdeburg and V167 for the Germans, and cruisers Oleg and Bogatyr and TB Boiki for the Russians.  Here is a quick pic:

Bogatyr is the top, Magdeburg is the bottom.  These ships are in 1/1800 scale.  The translucent material makes it difficult to get a good photograph of them, so once they are primed I will take a better set of pics.  Right now, they are soaking in some soapy water...

SCW, part 1

The first test order of 20mm Spanish civil War figures, produced by Minairons and purchased from Scale Creep, has arrived:

Simple and attractive packaging.

And a nice painting guide on the back of the box.


Here are the contents of the Infantry box (excuse the poor pics):

Two NCOs, one with a rifle and the other with a SMG, and thirteen riflemen, in a mixture of poses with no repeats throughout.  One of the riflemen (third from the right of the top row) is a two-piece casting.  He is carrying a container (ammo?) on his left shoulder with the rifle separate.  These figures are very nice, with a minimum of flash and a variety of headgear that would be expected of a Republican force.


And, the contents of the HQ/Weapons box:

Standard bearer, two officers, two LMG, one Maxim HMG with three crew, one light mortar with three crew, and the two-piece rifleman - the only repeated pose between the two packs.

Flags are also included in the HQ/Weapons box:

Marvelous flags!




Of course, just two days after placing this order, I discover that Early War Miniatures is working on a comprehensive range of figures for The Abyssinian Conflict in 20mm!  Ahhh, decisions, decisions...


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Reptus, part 1

While planning the next set of projects, I have worked a bit on some of the older figures in the hobby mountain, my Reptus force from Reaper.  I left off, some time ago, with this post of  some of the Reptus going for a swim in some Simple Green:

After a few months, and some rebasing, they look like this:

The 3 figures that were soaking have a patina on them that seems to come off with some effort from a knife or file.  I do not expect that it will have an effect on the primer coat, however.

I also took some time to alter one of the Reptus figures.  I did not realize that I had a duplicate of one fellow, so the unsoaked figure received a slight modification - I removed the armored tail and sword blade from one Reptus and put them on the duplicate.  Here are the parts (in a poor pic):

The top pic shows the miniatures before swapping parts, and the bottom pic shows the new figure ready for assembly.  I did not use the razor saw to trim the parts, just some nail clippers.  The parts were drilled out for a small length of brass wire, using the drill bit shown.  These bits are some of the last of my stash from my old printed-circuit manufacturing days, and I find them to be a useful tool for drilling pewter or plastic.  The shank is 1/8" and can be rotated without the use of a pin vise.


And, after re-assembly, a side-by-side comparison:

Not a big difference, and one that would have no effect on gaming, but it was nice to get back into the swing of things.


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Books for the new project

Searching for and acquiring books for a potential gaming project is one of the easiest parts of the gaming process.  I can find it difficult to keep to a budget!  But, one has to start somewhere, and here is what I have found so far with regards to my 20th century project:

These are my most recent acquisitions, and should be a hint as to what direction I am heading.  With the very recent work on a fictional Abyssinian Crisis and the earlier material for the Spanish Civil War, my desire to get back into 20th century gaming has been stirred.  WW2 was the period that I first started organized gaming in, back a long time ago, but had largely been given up until just recently.  Part of this might be because of the TooFatLardies rules, Chain of Command, but part of it is my desire to play with tanks again!  

I have had this book for some time now:

Joining the above books is this one:

This book was found, quite unexpectedly, at one of the local used bookstores, Pegasus.



So, right now the tally is two books and a wealth of gaming-related material for each conflict.

I am leaning towards the SCW for a couple of reasons.  One, there is a considerable amount of gaming materials available for the period, in many scales, including the one that I would use - 1/72 or 20mm (which is a scale, along with 1/285, used by my old group in Spokane).  The vehicles of the SCW period are interesting but not overpowering, and many of them are unique to this conflict.  I also believe that it will be easier to manage 'project creep' while pursuing the SCW, where the Abyssinian Crisis could be a stepping stone towards more WW2 gaming, which I am trying to avoid.

There is much to think about yet, but the process is slowly grinding along!


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January 2016 table

A good way to start off a new year is to take a peek at what is lurking on the hobby table:

Much of the usual suspects - Huaxtec, Scots, orcs, Shén, and the addition of a few Reptus from Reaper Miniatures that suddenly caught my eye (plus the need to clean up some of the off-camera shelves of stray packages like those bases!)  I am replacing square bases with round for just about all of my figures.  The Huaxtec are almost done, but two tasks are stalling the process - the shields need to be painted; and I am a bit reticent to test the fastness of the ink used for the tattoos when I clear-coat them.  The deed needs to be done, but I am not brave enough yet!


Here is another pic that relates back to my previous post:

A boxful of 15mm miniatures.  I need to sort these fellows out, and then they will be listed as For Sale.


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