Gallery – Page 35 – An Archive For The Steinberg Shed Space Blog

Steam Wars – Finished Vehicles.

Coronasan commented on his blog recently that the Steam Wars Navy has yet to claim its nationality…

Consider that claim made. We are Children of the Stars and Stripes (mainly because I found some 1/72 and 1/48 American naval flyer decals recently).

As the tanks were finished and weathered recently, I had to get the decals out and slapped them on just before I varnished them and called them done…

I first liked the decals for the large NAVY lettering on the sheets along with a vast selection of small warning labels and markings. But the Stars and Bars also go well on the grey base colour.

Hull numbers are always good to apply as they make me think that this is a section of a larger national force.

The Brass Coffin has again been a problem as it has no real flat surfaces to apply larger decals to.

But plenty of space for smaller warning labels…

White infantry uniforms and Stars and Bars, why I hadn’t seen it before I don’t know. It also opens me up for adding in some Navy flyers at some time as well.

Simple paint jobs always benefit from some detailing (something I cannot do with a paintbrush).

Even my Artillery tow got a couple (mainly to avoid friendly fire when I do get some flyers).

Something about red triangles always attracts me…

All in all they are a fine set. Although how I am going to get them into a KR carry case without busting off the MGs, I don’t know… Especially worrying are those long fragile legs…

It didn’t really need it but the Steam launch got a couple too.

(Then I realised I had stuck them where the hover engines are meant to go…)

Steam Wars – Deck Guns.

The Steam Wars Navy is coming along nicely and now my mind has turned to smaller jobs, think of it as me putting on some of the finishing touches.

As this is a Naval force I need to add in a few Naval icons. Making up some deck guns is a nice way to do this. I already have a couple. One is glued to the front deck of the large paddle steamer that I have. Two more are loose and came with some trucks via eBay. All of these I recently tracked down on the web and am now fairly sure they are old PMC models.

My paddle steamer and steam launch were both gifts bought over eBay and for a while I thought they were scratch built but now I know better. The launch is definitely PMC as it is still available on the Miniature Figurines website. Main Gun and HMG as above.

As I can never have enough of a good thing, I have scavenged all over the shed for parts and started building some based on the basic design of the PMC items.

My Black Pyramid towed gun came with a few other weapons options and the autocannon is almost perfect for a deck gun barrel. Some MDF offcuts and an old tube plug from a broken clothes drier (I’m not proud I will use anything).

The anti air gun is a spare Dust Tactics weapon (again why I bought just one on eBay when the model it comes from needs two, who knows).

When I started, as with a lot of my projects I had no plan. I found lots of bits and tried to fit them together in the best way I could. The learning opportunities this hobby gives are almost endless…

Gun shields are always good to use to make a mounted gun look the part (and hide your most glaring mistakes). This one was from an old style GW Rhino I think. Enlarging the viewing port slightly and turning it upside down worked well enough for me.

Scale wise they are good and not too chunky. I will leave them loose so they can be used on boats, and on the backs of the multitude of trucks that I have.

Other finishing touches to follow soon…

Steam Wars – Big New Year Game.

Coronasan has a tradition of playing a big game at Xmas. Usually this is held at the Stoney Stratford wargames club run by the Milton Keynes Wargamers Society. This year that was all set to be a very large Steam Wars game with four players and 2 combined forces…

As with all great plans it stumbled at the first hurdle as the building was not available for us to use as planned. Such a large game could not be played in the shed so a smaller but still ‘quite big’ game was planned instead. Still planned for 3 players but using 3 slightly smaller full forces.

Again fate took a hand and I was struck down with a life threatening cold (yes it was that bad – I could tell by the way my womenfolk looked at me – my daughter was actually offering to make me Lemsip…)

When I was ‘back from the brink’, we did get a big game played, but with only 2 players and 2 forces…

Mine was bigger than I had ever fielded and had all my infantry and guns, 4 tanks and, as I had more points than I could spend, I fielded a hover motor launch (with Blutac holding her engines and guns to the hull).

The hover launch was to be my fast assault carrier (next time I will give it the fast rule as it crept along at a measly 6 inches per turn). This hardly even managed to deliver any troopers to the middle of the table, but did soak up a lot of fire, and return some with its deck gun too… My assault troopers looked great stacked on its decks as well…

The real work was done by my steam tanks and infantry as they were more mobile and effective.

Sadly Coronasan also had a selection of steam tanks and some equally effective troops on his side of the table.

Our unarmed troop carriers also managed to play their part as both transports, and blocking terrain, when used to cover the troopers advances.

I teamed my lightly armed tanks up, as their weight of fire was not heavy enough by themselves. Coronasan had his bikers out in force. Their twin linked LMGs are a real pain…

Slow steady advances were made across the board and a lot of fun was had. I am still waiting for an, all day, proper BIG game of this though. Maybe one day in the next year we will get that missed big game played…

Steam Wars – New Tanks And Another Good Game.

My Ironclad order, put in before Xmas, was made after receiving a gift of these Ironclad Steam Tanks. Veganman (a beneficiary to the shed on many occasions) donated these unpainted tanks for my growing naval force. He now has a quite few painted ones and was unlikely to use these ones as he has never picked up a brush in the fourteen years I have known him…

The benefit of a non painting friend is the knowledge that, in time, I may benefit from other impulse purchases. These tanks got the usual resin treatment, a wash down with soapy water and warm rinse, but dried with a slight sheen that left my undercoat cracked and crazy paved…

I don’t know what caused this but I do wonder if the water was too hot or the drying process too slow. Whatever it was, I now know my tanks from any others by their distinctive pain job (likely caused by transporting over salty seas…)

One reason for this may be my foolishly rushing to get them ‘table ready’ for a game and not paying enough attention (or being patient enough). Patience has never been one of my hobby talents.

It was to be Veganman’s initiation into Steam Wars as we had a very large game planned for Xmas and needed another player.

I cobbled a force together from his classic old Mordian Iron Guard and Praetorian Imperial Guard, from his vast, unplayed, 40k collection. They actually did well to look the part with their pith helmets and formal uniforms.

We both had plenty of infantry and a couple of Ironclad steam tanks and set too over a city board with plenty of cover. The Ceri Design mats I now own managed to set the scene nicely I think.

Praetorian jump troopers took to the centre of the table early on while I advanced on both flanks (why consolidate your efforts when you can spread your force thin on 2 flanks).

Surprisingly I held the centre and the flanks. Somehow I managed to force Veganman to draw more forces away from his attack in the centre, leaving us both spread decidedly thin.

My artillery and HMG teams gave me an edge and I managed to rebuff his attacks long enough to claim a victory.

I was helped by some very lucky artillery dice rolls…

As well as some plucky lone troopers holding their ground against overwhelming odds…

All in all a good game, even if my tanks were rushed into service. More on the tanks later as I did get to finish them off nicely in the end.

But only when I gave them the time and attention they deserved…

Steam Wars – Assault Teams

Things have been quiet on the blog with Xmas and New Years causing far too many distractions. Add to that a plethora of work commitments and family causing even more distraction (a house full of women will do that to you) and I think I have enough excuses for anyone to forgive me my lack of attention.

Grovelling apology over… I have, however, continued to do some work in the shed.

I gifted these lads to myself over the pre Xmas period and planned to have them done for a big game in the Xmas break. Half have been completed but the other half remain base coated white while I struggle get back some focus and direction.

The miniatures are from the Ironclad Miniatures British range and are their naval boarding party miniatures. Some have sword and pistol whilst others are rifle or shotgun armed.

I decided to make 2 squads for Steam Wars. One is a true assault squad mostly armed with pistol and sword. The command figures are a pair of chaps with helmets off. I added a few pouches and a water bottle from my bits box and made the older chap into a military doctor type, this lets them benefit from some medical support while they are out and about. A slight conversion made to one of the basic troopers gave a special weapon to the team. This was done by simply adding one of Black Pyramids Aether pistols to the model.

Painted in my simple stark white uniform and grey trim they fit in well with the Black Pyramid troopers and add some much needed close combat clout.

With the first 3 done the other 3 were not far behind. They have now been bloodied in the field but I will let you see them in action later.

The rifle armed troopers I picked up will be more of a Breaching or Storming team. They are made up of heavier weapons options and will be destined to go where everyone else would be reluctant to tread. It would seem that they are themselves still a little reluctant as they have not managed to face even a paintbrush as yet…

Black Ops – Private Military Contractors.

Steam Wars is not the only project to have been on the go this winter. I picked up some Empress miniatures SAS when I was in Reading, at Warfare, in November.

These guys got a non military pain job as I want them to represent a private military contractors unit (Mercenaries to anyone else). I got a full set of these along with some Taliban bikers that have always intrigued me.

I plan to use the 6 photographed miniatures as a Black Ops crew. They are a small band of professionals, armed to the teeth and suitably experienced.

A couple of specialists, one with a sniper rifle and one with a LMG, supply some added punch but I wonder how well this will help when the game calls for stealth in many of the missions…

The miniatures are a joy to paint although I over did the ink wash in one or two cases (painting skin has never been one of my strengths). The bases got the Steam Wars sand treatment but with the plan being more of a desert scrubland theme.

This game will also let me get some use from these old Battlefield Evolution miniatures. Battlefield Evolution was a prepainted miniatures game we loved until Mongoose publishing pulled the plug on it a number of years ago… I still have laods of miniatures for this game and nothing to do with them, until now…

Ceri Design Mats

Some new mats are on the market after a successful and very well run Kickstarter.

Ceri Design is the effort behind these printed felt mats with photo quality images.

The ‘sublimated artwork’ is nicely coloured and robust so as to keep its image without fading or rubbing off. I got 3 mats from the kickstarter. Each was only £19 at that time. It would seem the low price is still available from the website today as well.

Mine are a 3’X3′ cobbled road system in scrubland…

…and a 3’X3′ fully cobbled mat. (I also got a Frostgrave themed one as a gift for Veganman, as he is always finding bits and bobs to pass my way…)

All the mats are currently available in 3’X3′ only, but Ceri is looking to continue expanding the range, so I hope that means he will be able to do larger mats in time.

Check them out if you need a small mat or a couple of mats to use together (as I have done here) on a larger table.

Steam Wars – Command And Crew

A few more bits have managed to get passed through the paint table…

The remaining members of my command unit and the spare crew for the Black Pyramid Artillery Train got done at the same time as a pair of HMG teams.

HMG teams were based on MDF 3 part bases so crew can be removed as they get killed. These are actually the 3rd bases they have been glued to as I started square and then went round before finding the removable bases you see before you.

Good job I don’t get that picky too often… Overall these came out well. The figures are from Tiger Miniatures and their Bulkan Wars range. Not the best sculpts I have in my collection but they do fit in well with the other figures used for my naval ratings.

The command unit now has (from left to right) a clean and calm Medic, a surly Sergeant, a rugged Engineer, an Able seaman with SMG and a wizened old Captain with one of those new fangled Aether pistols. These are from a range of Pulp miniatures that I need to find again.

My Black Pyramid artillery now has its correct crew. This does mean that I can field a pair of big guns when we next roll up onto foreign shores and take the battle to the enemies of our (yet unnamed) nation…

Steam Wars – Turrets, Tows And Tanks

The painting has not progressed as well as planned over the last couple of weeks. Some parts of the overall plan have been done, but without the progress I had hoped for, being made. Work, Colds and Xmas do sometimes get in the way of important projects when you least like them to…

The Brass Coffin has been sat in the shed for over a year without any real purpose. The Steam Wars project has finally given it a place all of its own. When I put it together it got a spray of grey, and a dark tone wash, then I just sat it to one side. The fact it has no weapons limits its use in any game in my opinion.

A touch of brass and silver matches it into the other Steam Wars vehicles without much effort. The addition of the spare turret (sent by accident with my West Wind landship) and a couple of Aether weapons and a naval head (from Black Pyramid) and we have a Twin linked light tank.

With another vehicle for the army done, I was pleased to see a package arrive in the shed from Veganman’s vast collection of unpainted purchases. These were Xmas and Birthday gifts and aptly timed as I thought I would get lots of painting done in the Xmas break.

Three small tanks from Ironclad Miniatures, that I think I recall he had bought at one of the first Birmingham Games Expos. All still in their boxes and perfect for my slowly growing Naval army.

Sadly a persistent cold and commitments at work continue to keep these unpainted and me out of the shed…

Steam Wars – Flying Boats.

I have planned to do something to allow my boats to play a part in my Naval force when they are gaming on land.

The only way I could get this to work was to play them with wheels.

Or to make them fly…

As this is a Steam Punk game I guess that flying would be the more fantastical option…

So the hunt began for a way to get them to fly…

The answer is hover craft engines. Resin cast and surprisingly larger than I expected (thankfully, as any smaller and they would have not been obvious enough on the larger boat), they are going to be easy to attach with a few magnets and the addition of a flight stand.

I will be painting these up soon and getting the magnets hidden under the hull of each boat as soon as I can. The flight stands will be something Coronasan may be able to help with when he perfects his design for his Prussian airships.

I wonder what else I can sort out for other naval themed vehicles…?

Any suggestions, please let me know…