Blog to check out: Demo Gamers!

I listen to a lot of podcasts while I’m working in the studio. Lately as a lead up to Adepticon I’ve been listening to various Bolt Action podcasts while I put the finishing touches on my Team Tournamet Germans. The Ghost Army podcast guys mentioned this blog on their show: thedemogamers

The guys who do this site do lots of demo games at events in Austrailia, and much of the content of their blog is about the process of coming up with scenarios and terrain for these events. I get a lot of inspiration from folks pages on making terrain, designing units, and other hobby topics, so this site really works for me.  I especially love the comic book blurbs about various parts of the game…

http://thedemogamers.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/close-quarters-are.html

These guys are cpearly having a good time with this.

Check it out!

Panzer IV for Bolt Action

One of the units which I am running in my half of the Bolt Action team tournament at Adepticon is a Panzer IVh. This is my armor support for the list that I am running with John for the tournament. Its been performing well in recent games, I feel that I am learning how to run a medium tank in a infantry heavy list.

Some of you may recognize this from this post where I showed some work in progress on the modeling.

Norman Warlord

Recently I dug out some Norman knight models that I had been using for Hail Caesar. The plan is to use them for SAGA. One of the models was a Norman leader made by Crusader models. The character’s horse had its weight on a single leg which was starting to bend. It was only a matter of time before the model collapsed entirely or broke so I decided to re-sculpt the leg.

One thing lead to another and I ended up turning the model into a proper conversion. I’ve been doing lots of sculpting for Wreck-Age, and working on this guy has been a good way to use up excess putty, and to bide time while my freelance work sets up fully.

Bolt Action Panzerpioneers

Last week I picked up the excellent Warlord games Pioneer kit based on the new plastic Blitzkreig kit.  These are a vast improvement over the previous plastic set. The metal parts that allow you to make interesting pioneer models as well are excellent.  These include more equipment on their backpacks, some new heads, and additional and more characterful weapon options. These guys are the latest addition to my force for the Adepticon team tournament which I am participating in with John at Plastic Legions.

I wanted to update the look of some of these guys to give the unit a bit more of a mid-war period look, with camo smocks, and helmet covers.  Three of the models which I modified are shown here to give you an idea what I have been up to.

I don’t know too much about the ‘pole explosives’ which some pioneers used blow up hard to reach places.  Some photo reference shows that it is essentially a box on a stick. I added some wiring to give an impression how a pioneer may set the explosive off after put into position.  This is largely my design, I’ve not found any examples of these sorts of triggers on these things, but I get the impression that they are sort of ad-hoc, so they may come in all shapes and configurations.

This guy may be a NCO, or simply a trooper with an SMG. He has the camo smock that the Panzergrenadier units were occasionally given, especially as the war went on.

Last but certainly not least is the flamethrower!  I also took some liberties with the design of this figure’s modifications as well.  Its only somewhat modeled after the flamethrower which comes with the pioneer kit.  I made some changes which suited me when modeling this. Now I can run two units with flamethrowers which should be pretty sweet in upcoming games!

Gore-grub

For Adepticon I’m building a 1000 point Nurgle Warriors army for tge Rodgepodge event. The Gore-grub chariot will be a centerpiece to this force.

Rather than have a Gore-beast pulling a chariot in a conventional manner, I think that a massive resurrected swamp-grub, enslaved in undeath by the foul magicks of Nurgle, toting a Howdah would be very in theme with a highly mutated Nurgle army.

The body of this model is made from a tinfoil armature and layered with super-sculpy and Apoxie-sculpt. The details are primarily done with Greenstuff.

Check out my insect leg tutorial to see how the legs were achieved: Sculpting Insect Legs

The crew for this beast are coming together. More on them later!

1500 point Panzerkompanie

I am going to slide up to the Dice Dojo today to try to get a game of Flames of War in.  Its been forever since I’ve run a Panzer company, and I wanted something quick and robust after several games with US infantry and Soviet Tankovy.  This list comes out to precisely 1500 points according to Easyarmy which is thrilling news considering my patience for list-building on a Saturday morning!

The list

Company HQ

Panzer IV H Platoon

StuG III Platoon (if this is the anvil…)

Tiger Platoon (than this is the hammer)

Panzer II L “Luchs” Platoon

The more I ponder it, I really like this force.  I usually like lists which have more of a combined arms element to them, but I think that this one will be fun to play.  There are subtle variations in the units, as well as some very clear roles.  The Panzer IIs will be on security and recce duty, the two combat platoons with the HQ will be on the attack, while the Tigers provide long range AT support or get up in the face of any dug in infantry I find.

Sturhaubitze 42 Work in Progress

A local Bolt Action tournament called Operation Sting is happening this weekend, and I have a few models to finish up for the event. I’ve been getting back into an early morning painting routine which has been helping in getting stuff done. I was able to make some progress on the StuH 42 which I am very excited about.  The plan is to get it to the same point as the SdKfz 222, which is about 95% done, and then to move on to some other touch ups that need to be done.

Armored Car and Sturmhaubitze on the work bench.

In addition to the Stuh 42, I will need to wrap up some basing and some details on a heavy mortar team. Tomorrow I am meeting up with my buddy John to play a practice game with our tournament lists!

Bolt Action SdkFz 222 Armored Car

I’ve been running this thing in the handful of Bolt Action games that I’ve played, and its often been a solid performer. Cheep, fast, and with a kickin’ auto-cannon, and now finally painted! This armored car has taken the field half painted for over a year now, so its great to get it done.

This is done just in time for the ‘Operation Sting’ tournament happening this weekend. I need to wrap up some basing, paint a mortar, and finish a Stuh-42 model. Its going to be tight!

New Tutorial: Insect Legs!

Check out my latest tutorial on how to make ghastly, sinister bug legs for your miniatures and models.

Sculpting Insect Legs

Lots of gaming lately!

Someday, if my social situation changes, or if I move from the Chicago-land area, I may experience a period of gaming drought. In this period I will think back to the present time, and realize how great it is to have gaming opportunities and options!  I should appreciate it more, I know. Its easy to underrate the great things in your life if they are relatively common. Looking at my gaming & hobby activities from the last several months makes me realize that it has been pretty great.

Recently we started a work gaming group.  We usually play a game or two every other week after hours.  Last week we played a board game called Cave Evil which was pretty sweet in atmosphere and game-play. It has a heavy random factor, but that mostly helps people stay in the game, even when another player seems to have a lead.

Last weekend was Blood in the Sun IV tournament.  I jumped on the paint judging team again, looked at some sweet armies, and judged them. Most of that weekend was spent kvetching about gaming and hobby.  It was an excellent time, and it was great to catch up with the Garagehammer folks again!

This week my Flames of War group kicked off our modified Italy campaign!  I am very excited about this. I played my first game running the ‘Hoch Und Deutchmeister’ Grenadier Company with some tanks in support.  My opponent was JP, one of the owners of the Dice Dojo here in Chicago, which is also hosting our campaign. He brought his dismounted US cav recon company.  This is the force I would seriously consider running were I playing allies in this event. I was able to take the game 6-1 largely thanks to the static face off (each side had minefields and barbwire galore!) nature of the game, and JP’s lousy dice.

Tomorrow I am rolling out to John’s (of Plastic Legion fame) for a game of Bolt Action.  It will be good to get my revised German list on the table again. We are going to try to get some more folks over for BA, and going to talk shop about the upcoming Operation Sting tournament.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY… Descent with my buddies Mike & Adam.  Dungeon Crawl action.