Head comparison

A quick comparison of Crooked Dice heads and Crossover heads.

Crooked Dice and the Goon Leader head sprues.

Commandos

Here are the first of my Warlord Games Commandos.

The Lieutenant.

And yes, he is using a captured weapon.

First squad.

Second squad.

Sniper team.

Warfare 2014

Warfare at Reading is a two day gaming and trade show.

This year I managed to get there.

Thanks to all those I talked to (and relieved me of my money ^___^). If I forget to mention you, I apologise.

First up was Crooked Dice, for their recently released Once And Future supplement for 7th Voyage, more X-Commandos, the new Chronal Commandos and the licensed Danger 5 box set.

Empress had the new British troops, an M113 for use by Federated Security and Skirmish Sangin.

The nice lady at the Plastic Soldier Company had to pirouette around the hall to get a signal on the card machine so I could pay for the Rubicon plastic tanks. They had a special offer on three non Tiger models (I also bought a Tiger). The best location was adjacent to the Ainsty stand, much to the amusement of a member of the Ainsty team.

Ainsty had their new Musketeers miniatures and the 15mm scale etched brass tank bustles (the latter may end up on a T34).

Additional scenery items and the Tank Girl charity set were added to my shopping bags.

Next was Warlord Games. They had their new Armoured Fury starter set and the new Cromwell. I had a look at the Panzer IV plastic kit that is due for production shortly.

Pendraken supplied some more Crossover miniatures super hero figures.

Antenociti Workshop had their one piece taxi and two person cars and some some MDF buildings.

More later.

Once and Future options

Crooked Dice have just released the Once and Future Supplement for their 7th Voyage game (currently as PDF with a printed version out shortly).

This includes three new settings, Beowulf, King Arthur and (topically) Robin Hood.

Now, this gave me the inspiration to dig out some of the plastic box sets I bought a while back (and buy a new one at the weekend).

Beowulf and the sagas are an opportunity to use the Viking and Saxon figures from Gripping Beast (and Wargames Factory) and perhaps the Celts by Warlord Games.

 Gripping Beast Saxon and Viking together with a Wargames Factory Saxon.

Bring Me Sunshine...

Warlord Games Celt.

The King Arthur setting (I know he was Dark Ages, but the normal setting is more 14/15th century).
Perry Miniatures do four box sets, Men at Arms, Foot Knights, European mercenaries and Knights.

 Two Men at Arms

Foot Knight (with a Wargames Factory Survivor head).

And finally a comparison shot:

A Million to One...

All Quiet On The Martian Front was a Kickstarter financed 15mm scale miniatures game involving the second Martian Invasion, this time in the USA.

The Martian tripods are available separately, and here are some pictures of the first one I have assembled.

The box set (purchased from Ian Allan in Birmingham) contains three identical sets of two sprues (see above, the brown circular object is a 25mm base). There is a bit of flash and minor mould lines, easily removed with a scalpel blade. Two of the legs are not articulated, one has a ball joint and two normal joints allowing that leg to be posed. The joins on the articulated leg need some patience (something I am lacking) to get the two pieces that wrap around the ball joint to fit neatly but they go together eventually. Dry runs are a must.

The sprues contain all the options, default Heat Ray, Heat Ray plus Green Gas grenades and Heat Ray plus Black Dust Launcher.

For the first one, I went with just the Heat Ray. Just to be different, I used the Green Gas grenade holding arm rather than the normal one.

William Killan volunteered as the scale figure.

Even scaled at 15mm, they are large compared to a Crooked Dice 28mm figure.

The two tentacles are quite delicate, I managed to break its left one while cleaning up the mould lines. applying plenty of liquid poly to melt the two faces of the join and then steady pressure allow the tentacle to be re-attached.

Not shown is a sort of hip/waist piece that joins the legs to the body, I did not think ti added to the figure and it goes together fine without it.

 The carapace is quite plain

the face is also quite plain, the eye could do with being a bit more distinctive with some lens detail to aid the painting.

So, quite a nice Martian figure, or where you want a tripod.

Some Assembly Required (Part 3)

Charles Connor was a brilliant scientist who unfortunately found COSHH rather limiting.

Crossover Miniatures RAMJAM with the Goblin head, with Anastasia for scale

Crossover - Crooked Dice Crossover

There was a question on the Nexus Miniatures forum about the sizes of Crossover Miniatures Super Heroes figures and mine (and many others) default size for "28mm" figures which are the  Crooked Dice range.

So here is a comparison picture (and two sneak previews of Assembly Required figures).

From the left, a work in progress Crossover Paramilitary Goon with Strike Team head.
Next a work in progress Crooked Dice X-Commando, followed by the Crossover Super Soldier. The fourth figure is a slightly converted classic Pandora King and the last figure is the Crossover Hoplite.

The main problem with the Crossover miniatures is their integral base. This needs to be removed with careful use of a razor saw.

I am going to do version of the Super Soldier for Weird War II, which means I will not need to remove the base (30mm lipped base should hide the metal base).

BMP3 Work in progress

Admittedly glacial work in progress (spot the dust).

Empress (formerly Imprint, probably was when I bought it) BMP-3 IFV supporting The Patriot.

Some assembly required (part two)

Anastasia is a former Iron Ceiling operative who is now works with The Patriot.

Name	Move	Def	Hits	Str	Agl	Int	Morale	Ratings
Anastasia	8	4	2	2	4	3	4	62
Good Offence Kung Fu Dodge Tumbling Body Armour Snap Shot Loner				Brawl 3+ Pistol 3+ Bolas 3+

Using the Crooked Dice Classic Pandora King figure with a gun from one of the spares from the Dare Sisters. The ammo pouch is a Bren magazine pouch from Warlord Games British weapons sprue and the holster is a combination of Greenstuff and Slaters plastic strip.

People's Liberation Army - the prequel

Empress Miniatures have recently brought out a range of figures of ultramodern soldiers of the People's Liberation Army.

This is a Special Forces figure from set PLA8.

 Armed with a QBZ-95 bull pup rifle, he is directing the other members of his squad.

The base colour for the uniform is Vallejo German Field Grey. Boots are Vallejo German Black Brown.

 The camouflage pattern is based on the Type 99 pattern and is represented by Vallejo extra dark green, German black brown and Humbrol 90 (i.e. Humbrol undead flesh).

The body armour is Vallejo US Dark Green and the pouches are Russian camouflage green.

Lighter shades were used for dry brushing.

A wash of Citadel Athonian Camoshade brought the colours together.

The skin was painted with Citadel Kislev Flesh, washed with Citadel flesh shade

The scene of the crime

In an episode of The Beat, Annie, the plucky scene of crime officer confers with DC Paul Rivers over the evidence of arson.

Annie uses a Crooked Dice Scientist and an original Daughter of Shiva head.

DC Rivers uses the Man From 3000 body (the last one I had, I restocked at Salute) and the Minion Technician head.

Oh, and the fuel can is a plastic one from the Warlord Games SDKFZ251 half track.

M8 Grizzly Medium Walker

Clockwork Goblin Miniatures had their new range of 28mm War Without End figures and vehicles at Salute this year.

One of the models was the M8 Grizzly Medium Walker. Rules for incorporating the walker into Bolt Action games are available as a download on their website (it is classified as a Walker, Light Tank equivalent armour - all round, armed with a medium anti-tank gun).

The M8 Grizzly Medium Walker is supplied as a mixed resin and white metal kit.

The resin pieces are cleanly cast, with very limited mould feeds. As can be seen above, there are feeds on the shoulders and the hip joints. It was not until I examined the picture that I realised that the gun mantlet was not in the picture.

The only major work was to widen the turret hatch openings and make the hatches a slightly smaller diameter so the hatches were nearly flush.

The hip joints were pinned, and a circle of milliput provided a secure joint. The dark areas are where I painted the inside of the vision slits and parts of the body.

The walker compares well in size with the M4 Sherman tank from Warlord Games.

William Killan for scale. I should have been more careful removing the mould feed on the shoulder.

Warlord Games BEF infantry man.

A quick comparison between the M100 Comanche light walker from Westwind (SOTR).

The model will be finished as a Lend Lease vehicle in British service (as will the Comanche) when I get round to it.

Some additional shots of an undercoated M8 with an M4 for comparison.

Warlord Games/Italeri M4 Sherman

The first plastic kit from the teaming up of Warlord Games and Italeri was released at Salute 2014.

The kit comes in a standard Warlord Games box and comprises two well moulded sprues, a transfer sheet and a set of instructions.

 The kit goes together well and the only areas that needed any minor filing on the side of the upper hull (the eagle eyed will notice I need to go back and file an area near the rear appliqué armour on the right hand side). The join between the top and bottom parts of the turret needed a bit of filing as well.

 The only problem I had was with the towing shackles, I was unsure of which way up they should go.

The other thing to remember is to put the engine exhaust boxes in before gluing the top and bottom parts of the hull together. You can add them afterwards, but it is hard work (read the instructions ^___^).

Here are some views of the assembled kit after undercoating.

See what I mean about going back and removing the remaining mould line behind the appliqué armour.

Overall it is a nice simple kit to put together and it certainly looks like an M4.

Salute 2014

Salute started the same as always, a well organised but long queue, this time back in units N1 to N4.

First up was a visit to Crooked Dice to pick up the recently released Vlad's Army expansion for 7ombieTV and the new Ocelot Games figures.

Next was Hasslefree and a year's supply of their goodies. Excellent range and a well organised stand.

Then Fenris and a number of different figures including some North and South troops and some blue skinned infantry.

Then it becomes a bit of a blur.

So what other bits and pieces did I pick up?

Warlord Games had their new M4 Sherman tank and a new set of plastic walls.

CD's William Killan examines an assembled and undercoated model.

Clockwork Goblin were attached to the Warlord Games stand and had 15mm and 28mm Weird War 2 models including a replacement Shock turret for the T34 and a Grizzly walker.

The turret is mounted on a Warlord Games resin T34, which had been left on one side since they issued the plastic model.

Renedra had their new Mud Brick house, sandbags and accessory set.

William Killan examines the accommodation.

Ainsty provided a number of items, including their resin shipping containers.

Sarissa had a nice MDF landing craft, and Pendraken had an MDF barracks.

Anvil's new Afterlife range of power armour looks good (pictures to follow) and Crossover miniatures superheroes.

Other pictures will follow as I get them photographed.