Terrain week part IV

          The M&T terrain is in a holding pattern as I ran out of foliage. My undivided attention is on Force on Force terrain now. The goals of this week have shifted to completely all the buildings, and getting them based.
          Game Craft Miniatures foam board 20mm buildings. I had order a butt load of these years ago. And they sat like everything else. I want more of course to represent Afghan villages. Therefore I need to knock them out, and clear out some space.

The  WIP

 Assemble. Wood glue and rubber bands














Then "DAP" wall spackle to fill in the assembly holes and wall tops. After that dries, I use it again to texture the outside walls. Then a quick pass with some sand paper to remove the point and high ridges.

The whole thing is washed twice with a cheap craft paint, yellow and a redish/brown mix water down. The bottom half inch or so is stained with a grey wash. Tonight I will dry brush it up nice.

Terrain Week part III

          Lots of WIP going on. Everything takes sooo long to dry. I have been bouncing in and out of projects. My work space is a mess.

         First up is a blockhouse from Galloping Major. I base coated with a kyron dark brown. Then sprayed it again from a high angle with Testors' Model Master light brown. The whole thing was dry brushed with a sand color. Next I washed the building and roof with Army painter strong tone, not the vanish.
          I started to pick out the steps. This is where I stopped. The fence needs to be done and I want to base it before going any further.


If I do not note the paint brand, they are cheap craft paint.



         Gamecraft Miniatures. Another 20mm Middle East building. The MDF buildings are much easier to work with than the foam core. The foam core is killing me. I will not ever order any more. they are too much prep work.
         First up is a 3 story with pull out floors. Base coat was Army painter desert spray. A flat light yellow followed by a cream was dry brushed on. The building is boarding and dull. I used blue painters tape to add color and some lines. Then royal blue was used to stencil in the area. One more line to add between the 2nd and 3rd floor. Then clean them up and done.


     









            At Cold Wars, I grabbed some walls. In every Force on Force mission there are walls all over. I wanted something tall and modular. Battlefield Terrain Concepts had 4 sets, tall whole and ruined, short whole and ruined. My funds were drying up, so only the tall were dumped into my basket.

         Last night I got them primed. The bricks blocked in and the walls base coated. The first wash on, one more and matte seal.

Terrain Week part II

          Only had just over 1 hour to paint. I finished flocking and sealing the Architect Of War walls. I could not use the supplied trees. They are all summer looking, small and the clump foliage. Small in that, the trees in the time frame I am gaming were massive. The trees in the Wilderness War are reported to be 15' thick. So I tossed those trees in my bitz box.

         I end up stealing some of the dog's sticks he bought into the yard. Selecting a 27mm thick stick, snapping off the branch ends, and sawed it flat. The bottom was super glued and left to dry. This gave me a good hard surface to use when attaching the tree. This tree I will leave bare and dead looking.

         Another was selected in the same way and glued down. The goal is a birch tree. First one I have ever done.
          This one I painted white and added some black marks. Then I added some wire branches by twisting them on.Using hobby TAC I attached "Yellow Boardleaf Maple Foliage" from Scenic Express. Of course I ran out and had to order more.

Terrain week starts. Part I

          Terrain Week. What it is? A week where all I work on is my gaming scenery. It happens every time I get feed up with the condition of the current pieces, required expansions, and all half finished projects clogging up my area. The goals for this week are completing all the 20mm Modern buildings anf as much of the M&T terrain as possible. 
          Plus a date night with the wife, move a mates pool table, and a game night. I will have to squeeze Easter in there too.

Force on Force Terrain

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           My buildings were taking a beating. There were others still in the packaging. I had to get hot and knock them out. As I need more, but should finish up what I got before ordering more. I have declared a terrain week

          There are 3 more large compounds being repair, fixed up and painted. Plus 2 sets of walls I picked up at "Cold Wars."










           I push thru 3 contractors and a technical. The technical was giving me fits with the way a vehicles paint reflects light.

Galloping Major"s Rogers' Rangers part III

          Not Much progress. We were turning two all week at work. Plus visiting engineers from Japan and an install crawling along I had little time to paint.

          Old Puff face's leggings got the 2nd layer. Also the Jacket cuffs and lining are up to the final highlight.
          Rogers leggings are waiting on the final highlight. His jacket lining and cuffs are blocked in. I finished his face. Then quickly chipped it.
         The weapon's stocks got their initial base layer.

Jacob got the most attention. His legging and ties are awaiting the final highlight. The pants are blocked in. Along with the weapon stock. The jacket has been completed. I wanted a very sharp highlight on the jacket. I am trying to show the heavy use and long time service of the jacket.

           To do this a very light highlight was used along the edges and at the wear points of the garment. Then a bright green Vallejo ink was applied. Just as the green ink was about dry, I coated the whole thing with Army painter strong tone wash. The idea with the strong tone was to make it appear dirty.
           You can see the difference in a side by side comparison.

Conquest Indians part II

          Two more conquest Indians finished. No war paint for either one. I did a lazy man’s job with the bead work, the Indians had all over their belts and bags.  It will look good from arm’s length, but up close pretty crappy.  When you click one the pictures you will see.

          The blue leggings surprised me. I love the way they turned out.

          They both have that crazy hat again. The only reference in my collect was an Osprey book. The hat in itself shut me down. I am not a fan. I didn’t know what to do with it. It does not fit in with what is pictured in my mind. I could wrap my brain around it. The hat still seems out of place.

          While at "Cold Wars," I picked up this bag of rocks. Yep I paid for rocks. I didn't even know what I was going to do with them. It is not like I don't have Bonsia rocks. The rocks were used on both Indians' bases. The snow was changed to have a melted look, spring skiing looking.

 

          I have been bouncing in and out with an ancient commander. I have been reading "Tyrants of Syracusa," and some about Pyrrhus of Epirus. Only adding to my A.D.D. 

          He will end up a command character for my Sicilians. Old boy is giving me hell. I had painted over his eyes. Then porked them on the touch up. The hair and beard are being problematic. I just have a long way to go!

Thursday Night Gaming

         Everyone showed up last night. Seven of the lads. Which was good and bad. We were going to play Force on Force, a snatch and grab mission. Most the lads just wanted to drink, knock about, and BS. We only got through 3 turns. The players were distracted with the non stop ball busting. My 2 year old was more interested in playing. The night turned into a giant refresher. Afterwards I was disappointed that the night didn't work out. It was a late night and today am I tired, beat down.
         This weekend I am home. There is little on the honey do list. I'm hoping to paint for most the time. Also my river from "foofighter" should show up today.

Galloping Major's Ranger characters part II

          Returning from Cold Wars, all that got done was putting away all the crap I snatched up in the flea market. More greeks! Exactly what I needed, but they less than a buck a dude. I also got 2 hummers, 3 tahoes, and 2 police cars for 30. They will need to be painted but I 'll use them in the FoF games until then.
          Last night after moving a face cord of wood and hitting the gym, I got to sit down for a hour and paint. The goal was faces and jackets base coated. I knocked out alittle more.

           I poured over all the green paints looking for a proper green for their coat's and pants. I need a darker green for Rangers and one slightly light too. The ranger officers wore a different cloth than the enlisted. It was not better quality. The cloth had a finer finish to it and the cloth was darker. I choose foundry's forest green, #26. The base coat is on.
           The moccasins got based, layered, highlighted, and washed. I used foundry's deep brown leather #45. The wash was Army Painters "strong tone." The same recipe will be used for all the ranger's moccasins.
           Rogers' leggings will be a light tan. Because of this I base coated the ties foundry's sky blue, # 21.

          Everyone says Rogers had a black man with him. They argue over his name and if he was a slave or not. I am going to say his name is Jacob and he was Rogers' man. He will than have the darker color green jacket as well. Assuming Rogers would have handed his old one down.
Being a hand-me-down jacket, I did not want it as dark. I want it used and wore looking. Then still using green 45 I added a drop of water and applied multiple very light washes. In reality just staining the coat.
          Jacob's leggings are also foundry's sky blue. Uniformity in a unit can be kept with a limit paint palette. I always try to keep the number of different colors used down. It is crazy important to record what paints you use. You will not remember what was used for future repairs or if you need to add minis to the unit.

         My favorite cheek JO. A copy of the process used on Rogers. His Scottish bonnet was base coated with the same sky blue. I thought about doing the leggings blue also, but there would have been too much blue.
         

Cold Wars Day2

        I only got in another 3 games in. Kind of pissed the earliest game started at 9am. When the games started at 7 and 8am, I could play in 4. I plan my games weeks in advance. Once the PEL is out I start first by highlight rules systems. Next I look at time periods and for friends hosting games. I start with the latest game and work backwards. I don't get many games in during the rest of the year, so a binge.

      I only got in another 3 games in. The 1^st game was Tom Bookwalter’s themed game “The Mobile Guerrilla Force, the Black Box, and Bo Gritz.”  Tom used 20mm minis with FNG rule set to recreate the action. The GM went to extra lengths to represent the dense foliage.This game was a treat as, it was an actual engagement.  We even had a real life Army special forces Colonel, who operated in theater, to lead the US forces. The terrain and napalm blast were showing of a gamers love. 

               Tom used hidden unit markers until the VC were in spotting range. They added a lot of tension to the game and I got a huge kick out just moving them around.

       My 2nd  game was at 4pm. I had time to eat and troll the flea market. Bad idea. I added 41 28mm to the mountain. The game was remember the Alamo. US forces trying to relieve a garrison with a Mexican army closing fast. 

       The rules were a total pain in the ass. One references his army list, performs a some math, looks at a chart, references another chart, and finally rolls against a different chart. Crazy right, I still have zero idea how one determines cannon fire power. Now with that said it did represent unit engagements really well. 

        I did have a lot of fun. The Daves, father and son, same name were my direct opponents. The son was very aggressive and the father was a tough player. Bad dice plagued us. I got nothing done and then they turned on big Dave. Once that happened, I roll his flank and my cavalry were in the rear causing units to collapse left and right.

        The 3rd game was 15mm Regimental Fire and Fury AWI. Another 8pm game with extremely fun group of player. One guy had corn moonshine, another brought some grog and all shared. After the moonshine I was off the sauce and in search of water. A great time was had!

        The British were trying to land in Maryland and trap the Colonial army. The Brits were against the clock as the tide was rising, cutting off the land bridge of the main army. The Brits had to secure a beach head, take and hold the bridge, and sweep and clear the town. The Colonials had to defend the road, hold the bridge, and keep the Brits out of the town.

 

The British closing in on the hasty works across the road.     

The marines trying hard to establish a beach head.

 The road put up a stiff resistance. Wave after wave of Regulars beat them off the breastworks. Once the Brits penetrated their line, it was a mad rush across the bridge and back to town The Colonials and British Marines were in a slug fest for the beach. But with the Colonial road guard in retreat, they would soon have British regulars charging their rear. In the end we were past midnight. The town was theirs with the beach and bridge in British hands.

Cold Wars Day1

       

          My first game Friday morning was Phil Gibbons’ “Advance to Longueval” on  14JUL1916. 28mm WWI Highlanders trying to push the Germans back. Rules were quick to pick up. Phil used a deck of cards to activate units. The game moved fast with little to no sitting around.

Objectives:

German; Cross and hold the road. Hold the Ridge on their left flank.

·          Highlanders; Take and Hold the cross roads. Sweep the ridge clear of enemy.

         To help the Highlanders out as they marched into the German HMG positions, a cavalry squadron would come on in turn 4. Also the Piper could play once to remove all wound counters in 12”.

   

      I lead the Highlander right flank. Early hot dice kept the HMGs focused on my side. My platoon was tabled by turn three. The center 2 platoons were able to clear, take, and hold the house and cross road. The Highlander left performed outstanding, rolling up the Germans and taking 2 guns.

           The second Friday game was Shawn Reis’ WWII 28mm Force on Force.  I had a blast. Force on Force is a tough game to teach in a convention setting. The game flow was slow. Shawn did not have any handouts for the players. So they had a hard time with turn sequence and of course reactions were rough. I was on the German side and Shawn on the US side. The others had zero experience with FoF. By the end the lights started to come on and the rounds of fire became quicker.

         I didn’t get tabled, but got zero objectives.

         My 3^rd one was at 8PM Friday. No one seemed to want to play. Only Phil had pulled a ticket. Which was great, we all grab what was left. Phil, Berry, James, and me played Brinkerhoff’s Ridge at Gettysburg. Berry and James took the CSA. We got the Union. Phil wanted the CAV, I took the INF.

Objectives:

·         Union; Keep the CSA off the ridge. Stop any from leaving the table thru our deployment area.

·         CSA; Take and hold the ridge. Exit the table down the road on the right flank.

        Once again early hot dice completely stalled the Confederate advance. The MA marched on and James took a beating. Berry shot his way in and charged. That charge swept the ridge. The Union INF was shaken and being pushed back. NY cavalry came pouring onto the table, charged.  Then everything went up in flames. We got mauled. They took the ridge and exited the table.

         I just about got tabled again, but it was the best game of the day. There were beers and 4 friends laughing at each other’s misfortune.