10mm Napoleonic Spanish buildings

Hey all!

I just found these photos on my camera, and realized that I never posted them.

These are my Spanish compounds done for my 10mm Napoleonics.

Pretty happy with the way they turned out... there is one left to finish, but overall they turned out very nice!

Here are some photos of them on the table:)

Food

Hey all!

So I do have a few things to post, some toy soldier, some not... so here is the first!

First up... food!  Above you can see the first of my homemade pizza.  Now, the dough was bought at Whole Foods, but the tossing and all of that took some learning... but almightly Lord it turned out DELICIOUS.  Just great:)  Five cheeses, tomato sauce, onions and peppers and artichokes and ham... yum!

Then to the right you can see some burnt BBQ ends that my future brother-in-law bought for me... just threw them on the grill with some BBQ sauce for five minutes, and serve!  Delicious meaty goodness.

Anyway... more coming up soon, including a new miniature that just arrived today!

Oh, I've GOT to buy this miniature!

Hey all!

First off, so sorry for it being so quiet around here... haven't been hit by the muse recently!  I do have a few things to post (the chain for my wolf, a piece about painters thumb) but there hasn't been a lot recently.

HOWEVER!  I HAVE had a wonderful time watching old HBO shows courtesy of their new HBOGo service... and I've FINALLY gotten around to watching Deadwood.  Holy CRAP what a show... just fantastic!

And of course, now I want to paint some miniatures!  Namely... I want to get my hands on one of the Al Swearengen seen in the photo above in the center!  I'd love to pick him up and maybe do a little bar diorama of him in the Gem... what fun!  The figures are from Brigade games, and I did find them!

Here they are for sale!

So... do I go for it?  Ahh decisions decisions!!

(Oh, and picture courtesy of Sgt. Perry's Heroes!)

Fourth Wolf Guard is finished... one left...

Hey all!

Well, Wolf Guard #4 is finished!  I think he came out pretty well, all things considered.  I may touch up his hair a bit, because right now the beard lining is dark but the head hair isn't at all... so I want to get them to match up a bit more.

This guy is armed with a thunder hammer, and again I went with a greyish/beigish (woof spelling) color for the weapons, much like the storm bolters and lightning claws.

One more to go... the captain.  Hm.  Still going to be tough to figure out the wolf...

A GREAT (and cheap!) WWI toy soldier video game!

Hey all!

So, I recently gave the game "Toy Soldiers" for the XBOX a try... and I'm so glad I did! 

Fantastic!  I can't recommend it enough:)  It is a tower defense game, so you build defenses and guard your base from wave after wave of attack.  However, it is not only set in WWI, but it ALSO uses toy soldiers!  Yep; miniatures come to life!

I have to say, it is a LOT of fun.  You build your defenses, using machine guns, mortars, AA guns, howitzers, and a few other weapon teams, as well as laying down barbed wire.  You can upgrade them, of course... and then you hear the whistle blow, and out of the far trenches the enemies emerge!  Enemy infantry, stormtroopers, cavalry, biplanes, bombers, tanks, armored cars... and there are a LOT of them!

There are a number of other neat little touches... for example, you can personally take control of ANY of your weapon teams, turning the game into a first person shooter.  You also can jump into biplanes, bombers, and a few different tanks and rumble across the field (or fly above it) slaughtering the enemy. The biplanes in particular are a lot of fun... not only is it WWI dogfighting, it is WWI dogfighting in a miniature airplane over a richly detailed wargames table!

Of course, the toy soldier lover wants to know more about that part of the game!

Well, first off, the battles actually take place on a wargames table.  You can actually see lamps hanging over it, the painted edges around it, shelves of toy soldiers in the room beyond... when sweeping over the battlefield to start, you can even see boxes of toy soldiers stacked around the table, and even the paints and paintbrushes stacked up (as you can see in my blurry photo to the left!)

And it doesn't hurt that, as you move on through the game, you unlock your toy soldier cabinet, where you can go take a look at the minis on their display bases:)

Even the load screens are great, showing old-school boxes of toy soldiers from fictional toy soldier companies.

So... I can HIGHLY recommend the game.  You can download it on XBOX Live... it costs maybe 5 or 10 bucks (can't remember) but it is definitely worth it.  A LOT of fun!

Newest Terminator painted, and a set-back

Hey all!

Okay, Terminator #4 is done.  Another blond beard, this time with a thunder hammer and storm shield.  The hammer is done in the same style as the storm bolters, a lighter, flesh-highlighted color that I think looks good, and it is close enough to the armor colors in some ways to keep that single-color scheme consistent.  Good stuff!  Going to go dip him now.

One note... I got the wolves, and they seem good... a few potentials.  However, I can't get the bases cut off!  They looked thing and doable, but holy COW it is the strongest metal I've ever seen on a miniature!  Tried cutting and sanding, and neither works.  Not sure what to do with them:(

Terminator varnished... done working 'till the wolves arrive

Well, here are the first three, done.  Did a little more work on the bases.  Not sure what I'll work on while I wait for the wolves to get here... I suppose I can start the next one.

A repainted beard... and another photo

Well, I repainted the one guys beard to white... I think I like it better.

Also took a lower-angle shot of the guy I am almost done with... I'll varnish him tomorrow.

Another Terminator almost done... and time to make a call on the wolf!

Okay!

Another Space Wolf terminator is almost done... the chap with the blond hair on the right.  He needs his dullcote (it is AMAZING how weird it looks when they are shiny!) but otherwise, he is about done!  I think he looks pretty sharp.  I want to add or two straw straw-ish tufts to a base, but otherwise, they look pretty good. 

I actually just decided I am redoing the beard of the first figure... I don't like the way it came out.  Might go pure white.  We'll see.

Here is a shot of the guy with the twin claws... I think he turned out pretty good, and I like his beard for the most part.

Two more to go, including the commander... I had actually forgotten my play to put a wolf with a leash on his stand, and assembled him!  Thankfully the pose will still work.  I've got to cut the sword out of his hand, but otherwise I think it will look fine.  Strange; I wasn't looking at the box of the figures, but he came out almost IDENTICAL to the sergeant on the box!  Same head, same pose, same weapons... great minds, I suppose!

I actually just ordered the wolves... went with the Ral Partha pack of wolves, which is FAR more wolves than I need, but what can you do... at least this way I can make sure I have the best post... here is a shot of them.  I think maybe the guy on the back left corner is the one.  If the middle one was facing to his left instead of his right, he'd be perfect, but he isn't.  I guess it really depends... do I want him looking in the same direction that the sergeant is shooting?  Or off to the figures left, at the flank?  Ahhh decisions.  Once the wolves come, I can pick one and then pick which of the two remaining bases works best.

RISK night!

Hey all!

Had a good night last night... went over to a friend's house, and after a good dinner of pasta with some GREAT homemade tomato sauce and garlic bread, we played some Risk!  Now, three of the five people had never played before, so it took a while to get up to speed, but still... a very good time!  One player ended up taking Australia and working on Asia... another took Africa and worked on Europe... another took South America and got a bit stuck... the fourth got stuck in Europe, assailed from all sides... and I took North America and buffed up my borders!  We never got a winner, but...  we also didn't get to use my cards that I made for the game (you get one per turn and save them up, and they give all sorts of bonuses!) but it was a good time.

Also on the subject of RISK, check out this AWESOME project I found on Coolminiornot.  A guy named James Travers made, for his fathers 50th birthday, a Zulu-themed Risk game.  It is METICULOUS... he made sure that the "continents" had the same number of territories, and even that they have the same number of connections to other lands... really detailed work.  The forces are made using miniatures, and he used photoshop to make a lot of great pieces.  Go on over to Coolmini and give it a look!