Monday 31 July 2017

TRUCKS!! and a few more TRUCKS...


Howdy everyone,

I hope you all have been enjoying the summer...it occasionally hits here every week or so, but it has been rather nice.  So, between trying to do summery stuff, home reno's, and a few other unwelcome distractions I have not been able to get any computer time this month...

Luckily I have been keeping up with the painting...I just have to get some time to get some pics of a few pieces that I literally just dull-coated this morning.  But, I have these trucks that I finished near the end of June...

I wanted to get back to some Cold War/Team Yankee painting...back to some 15mm...and back to some vehicles.  I think in the fall I had bought Battlefront's BM-21 box...enjoyable little models...they came up very quickly and took very little to prep and put together.


 
I went with my standard basecoat...but wanted to give them a different shade than what I have so far for my T72's and BMP's...I went a little brighter with some of the highlights and then weathered with some Army Painter Strong Tone and VJ Beige Brown and Tan Earth. 
 
Still playing around with flash and no-flash shots...mixed reviews on the flash shots...but it could be the location...I just ordered a photo station, so I'm curious to see how that will work and how it will change my picture results.

 
No-flash shots...

 
Next up, I bought some Zvezda Ural trucks at Cangames in May...I didn't want these guys languishing too long on the pile, so I got them put together fairly quickly and then went at them with the brush...they came up very quickly and weren't too bad to put together.
 
The truck for the BM-21 uses the Ural as well, so I was curious to see the subtle differences in how Battlefront and Zvezda approached their models.  I'm not too hung up on the differences, the models all look great, I think the big difference is that the BF truck looks a little 'squater' in the cab, the Zvezda trucks look a little more evenly rounded out...but again, they all look great. 
 
I had a few Force on Force scenarios in mind, so I elected to model a couple of vehicles with open caps so I can put in some cargo and left the cap on one, so I could try my hand at painting it...and to break up the uniformity of the trucks.
I used the same colours for these trucks as I used for the BM-21's...put a little more weathering on the covered cap...all in all, I'm very happy with how these came out.

 
Hope you enjoyed the pics...I think up next, I'll have some more additions to the Team Yankee family...try to get my picture taking caught up with my completed models...
 
Keep on trucking, have a great summer.
 
Painting so far in 2017:
 
Painted:
28mm - 55
15mm - 11

Bought:
28mm - 53
vehicle - 1

15mm - 0
vehicle - 7
 
Overall PROGRESS: +5

 

Tuesday 4 July 2017

Foray into the Northern City

Howdy folks,

Between house reno's and work, I'm making a concerted effort to keep up my painting as well as make sure I've got momentum on my posts...this latest post on the Northern City has been sitting in my to-do box for a few weeks, but nonetheless, is here now!

If you'd like to read some lies and overblown statements on the game, Mike gave his version of events here...

Funny enough, there was some miscommunication before this game between Mike and I...long story short, we agreed to meet up for some gaming...there may have been issues with the calendar, some of us understood Wednesday...others Saturday...and well, coincidentally we ended up getting together with the intent of gaming the same game in mind...

Oh, and I may have just jumped into a game between Mike and Serge...but just before they started.  So....Frostgrave Ulterior Motives, yeah! It was kind of funny, but at least we all had the same game on the brain...

Mike and Serge did an excellent job of adapting and overcoming...and we quickly had a multiplayer game each with our own set of hidden agendas...

Mike is on my left, Serge is on my right...I'm pushing centre with my Necromancer @, his apprentice, a couple of soldiers, a thief, a knight, a crossbowman, a thug, and a nasty looking direwolf as a dog.  Great looking table as always...

My ulterior motive...place 2 or 3 items...can't remember, but the goal was to have an object on the table (in this case a zombie) that would be activated once any player was within 6 inches...and then if the zombie was killed, I receive 80 experience pts...or anyone within 6-ish inches of it receives 10 experience pts per turn...
 
My company moves into the centre...there are a couple of treasure drops within fairly close range...Mike is visible past some buildings on my left...there is a heavy line of trees blocking line of sight between Serge and I...Mike and Serge meet up and trade shots/spells on the catwalks at the other edge of the table...
 
My Necromancer, @, activates the soldiers and the thief pushing them past a crypt towards the first treasure...
 
My apprentice pushes right with the crossbowman and thug...
 
Overhead shots...
 
There is a gaggle of zombies in the centre of town...all with various strings attached...or unattached?
My soldiers push to the statue near centre...they guard the treasure, the thief is coming up on their right to take it and run...
 
My knight and thief run up to our 'front line'...@ deploys a line of fog t block line of sight...my direwolf is busy patrolling the left flank, keeping Mike guessing on my intentions...
 
My apprentice raises his own zombie...and prepares to send it forward...my thug collects another piece of treasure behind a large boulder and starts to make a run for the table edge...
Mike sends his scrawny looking wardog to attack my Necromancer...poor little bugger...
 
The little bastard takes a sizable chunk out of @'s leg...my knight moves back to contain Angus the miniature wardog...my thief make a run for it...
 
the fog remains...and the direwolf decides to hide in it...
 
The fog dissipates and the bulk of my company, emboldened by the loot captured so far, push further into centre...my apprentice lays down another line of fog...tactically it was the right thing to do...however in a turn or two, it became rather annoying as I didn't have the legs to run Mike's treasure hunter down or fire some spells at him...Line of Sight, well blocked!
 
the bulk of my action took place on the left flank, however I did try to get a shot off at Serge's adventurers with my Crossbowman...there was a couple of shots...I think they both deflected...so very little going on there...a the end of the game, my treasure was taken off the table, my troops were patrolling the centre and I think all of the treasure had been recovered.