P to the A to the K... uhh, um 40

As promised here are some photos of the Black Tree Designs PAK 40. It took a little research to work out what pieces went where but I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's a sizeable model for a metal kit so ot makes me wonder how big the Flakvierling 38 is going to be.

So here it is, shown with Afrika Korps crew (Wehrmacht crew should be here any day now with the rest of the order).

I think I'll give this the night for the glue to set and I'll attack it with the paint brush tomorrow night. Unless the Artizan cowboys turn up in which case I'll be puttin' on the spurs and paint me some hombres.

Black Tree Wins... Almost

Some of my order from Black Tree Designs arrived today, part shipment from the US, more to come from the UK soon.

Only four packs:
WW2192 - Fallschirmjager Characters (4)
WW2058 - P.A.K. 40 & Crew (1 & 3 Crew)
WW2066 - U.S. Para HMG Team
WW9028 - U.S. Para Snipers (2)

The PAK-40 that arrived was actually WW2173 - Afrika Korps PAK 40 with Crew but the crew from WW2058 should be arriving witht the rest of order from the UK.

I'm building the PAK now so I'll get some photos up when it's done. To help distinguish the weapon types on the table I've decided on the following basing sizes:

40mm round - LMG/MMG and Light/Medium Mortats
60mm round - HMG and Heavy Mortars
95mm round - Guns and Artillery.

The larger sized bases for the guns and artillery has plenty of room for the larger minis and also allows me to stretch those diorama muscles. Photos to come.

The Report of My Death Was an Exaggeration

It's been a while since I put up a post and I thought it best to let my readership (the small but faithful lot you are) that I am in fact still here and I will get around to posting some new stuff soon. As soon as I get time to actually do anything that is. The ever present Real Life just keeps rearing it's ugly head and dragging me back out of my warm-safe-game-world.

One thing I have managed to do over the last few weeks is give up coffee, well not completely but I've had a total of 7 cups over the last two weeks and a bit. That's huge for me, I'd normally do that in a day at work without even trying. I'm past all the headaches (both from drinking too much and then from not drinking enough), I'm even pretty much past the nervous shakes and impulses to run to the kitchen. I'm drinking lots of water, admittedly from my old coffee cup but I'm using a habit to break a habit. Long story short is I feel fantastic and I'm determined to make it last this time (previous record was two months).

I should, hopefully have my Artizan and Black Tree orders here in the next day or two so I post some photos of bight shiny things soon.

Artizan Update

3 hours after I placed my order with Artizan it was confirmed that the miniatures would be shipping that afternoon. That is hands down the best service I've had from any online miniatures store, even the local ones here on Oz. So to Nick and everyone at Artizan: I tip my hat to you all.

So with a little luck I should have these early to mid next week. Hmmm if I start building some terrain now then I could run a few games of Six Gun Sound at the next Badga meet.

Artizan Cowboys

I actually went online to buy an airbrush and ended up getting these... how do I explain this one to my wife?

Each pack has three minis which should give me more than enough for most Six Gun Sound scenarios.

The Good
AWW009 Lawmen II, The Earps
AWW016 Doc Holliday & Wild Bill Hickock

The Bad
AWW007 Bandito's I
AWW012 Bandito's II
AWW008 Desperadoes

The Misunderstood ?
AWW001 Ill Buono, Ill Brutto, Ill Cattivo (which translates to... ah I'm sure you can work it out)
AWW002 Gunmen I

So the race is on, my Black Tree Design order has got a little over a week head start on this one so it'll be interesting to see which gets here first. I'll post pics of the winner when they arrive.

T-34 Update

Managed to put the clippers and glue down long enough to get a bit of paint on the engine and gearbox of the T-34. I'm rather chuffed with the results, especially since most of the greasing and oiling work was done with a toothpick. The flash in the camera has made the colours look a lot stronger than they are, the overall effect to the eye is a lot more subdued.

I think I'll take a night or two off and get back to the small German 28mm horde that is sitting patiently half done.

Group Build - First Steps

Here's the first night's work on the T-34. It's a refreshing change building a tank from the inside out but dealing with all these fidlly pieces in such a cramped space is starting to give me an appreciation of how difficult it must have been for the guys who rode around in these things.

Pro Modeller Group Build: Great Patriotic War

I'm going to participate in the latest group build project on the Pro Modeller website. The theme is the Great Patriotic War and since I had this T-34 kit laying around I thought why the heck not? Everything I've built recently has been for wargaming so this is going to be a bit of a step up in terms of the quality and detailing required.

Entries don't need to be in until January 2010 so I've got a bit of time. Which is really good because all my miniatures won't paint themselves. I think I might take a break from painting the German 28mm miniatures and get some more of the German 1/600 aircraft done.

Or I might watch some Dr Who first, I have a lot of catching up to do... at the risk of sounding like a soppy nerd "Doomsday" had the saddest ending to any sci-fi show I have ever seen, period. We'll see Rose again right? I mean the Doctor can do anything... right?!?

Bag the Hun - Operation Bodenplatte Scenario 1

Just a quick post for my first Bag the Hun scenario of Operation Bodenplatte. Now with updated maps and correct aircraft listings (note to self: do not write scenarios while under the influence of head cold medication).

I've left out pilot names as I haven't decided if I'll go down that path or not yet.
I've played this scenario a few times solo and it doesn't appear broken, I'll give it a good run through down at the club this weekend. Any comments or suggestions welcome, also if you want a pdf version email me at tcoombes at bigpond dot net dot au and I'll get a copy to you.

Bag the Hun Scenarios - Operation Bodenplatte

Finally found some time to get back to Bag the Hun, and by "found some time" I meant I have a head cold and cough that makes painting almost impossible... unless I want the minis to look like a Picasso revival.

I've put together a couple scenarios based on the Luftwaffe offensive Operation Bodenplatte which occured during the Battle of the Bulge on January 1st 1945. It's been slow going but I've done three scenarios and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. The real tricky part has been trying to make them something more than "you have 8 aircraft and he has 6... have at it!".

I've dressed the first one up in publisher and I'm almost happy with how it looks. I'll post the pdf's here later this evening but right now I've been up for almost 40 hours straight and I think I'm finally tired enough to sleep through the coughing and any noise the kids could (and will) make... hopefully.

A New Order To Black Tree

No you read that correctly, I placed another order with Black Tree Designs even after all the hassles with my orders in the past. Why? Three reasons really:

The first is price, discounted prices compunded with free international postage is hard to pass up.

Secondly, in the past I've been kind of eager to get the minis into my excited mature age gamer hands. This time, putting the excitement factor aside, I don't need this stuff right now to play a game, I can wait.

Just on the amazing off-chance that my wife is reading this: no seriously I can wait, and by "I don't need this" I meant I'm happy to play games without all the miniatures I need to fully appreciate the... OK I'll stop, I'd probably just be getting *that look* right about now anway.

Thirdly is that I love their minis. The sculps are great and they have the widest range I've seen and some of them have around 20 individual poses. What more could you ask for from a mini?

Anyway getting back to the point of the post, here what I ended up ordering:

1 x WW2291 - Fallschirmjager Platoon (30)
1 x WW2192 - Fallschirmjager Characters (4)
1 x WW2133 - Fallschirmjager with MG42s (4)
1 x WW2208 - Fallschirmjager with MP44s II (4)

1 x WW9034 - Wehrmacht Officers (2)
1 x WW2058 - P.A.K. 40 & Crew (1 & 3 Crew)
1 x WW2138 - German le IG18 75mm Infantry Support Gun
1 x WW2197 - 20mm Flakvierling 38

2 x WW2103 - British 6lb Cannon & Crew (1)

1 x WW2066 - U.S. Para HMG Team
1 x WW9028 - U.S. Para Snipers (2)
1 x WW9027 - U.S. Para Bazooka Team (2)

I'll put up photos when they arrive. This may just be the incentive I need to get the minis I already have painted.

Well You Ain't Got No Legs Lieutenant Dan...

My last order to Black Tree Design was a pretty big one, the only problem is that the box wasn't so big. Figures were densley packed and most were bent, few like the two below were so bent that they broke when attempting to straighten them out. Thankfully (?) the ankles were thin so the break was clean with virtually no distortion to the legs or feet.



Step 1 was to take my pin vice and a 1.0mm drill bit and carefully drill holes into the calf of each leg. I went in about 3-4mm deep which should give a nice surface for the superglue to cling to. You have to be careful when starting the holes, I slipped a few times starting each leg and once the drill bit slid up under my thumbnail! No blood or tearsbut there was more than a little bit of cursing.

Insert some 0.9mm wire, I find it easier to glue in pieces of wire around 1-1.5cm in length as they're a lot easier to handle.

Drilling on the second mini

The two completed stilt-men. Now onto the bases. Drill one leg first, fit the mini and find where the last big of wire wants to go. You need to be close but not exact, you can alway bend the wire to fit.

Test fitting the holes. I guffed this one up when drilling and the side of the hole tore away. Once glued in place I'll cover it over with a bit of green stuff.

Here they are glued and free standing on their own two legs.

I'm really happy with the result, especially since most of my hobby project have a tendancy to turn out not as expected.

It's The Little Things

I honestly thought I was going to finish the Germans tonight, I had it all planned out. I wasn't going to try and paint any details except for the eagles on the shirts and caps. Well... they looked very nice painted up (even when I didn't stay between the lines). So started to think what about the Heer symbols on the collars? Yup they looked great as well. Well now I just had to do the shoulder boards. These were a little trickier than I planned but they can out really really nice.


The minis just look so much more... German.

The work isn't the cleanest I've ever done but from a distance you can't tell the really rough ones from the not so rough ones. I think any extra effort would look great in photos but would get lost on the table.

I'm tempted to try and freehand some eagles on the helmets but I'm really too tired for that now, maybe tomorrow.