Gallery – Page 44 – An Archive For The Steinberg Shed Space Blog

No, I’ve not died

Hopefully some of the people who have viewed this blog have noted my absence over the last months…

Ok, maybe you haven’t.

I have, however, been remiss in not updating the blog since late July. Very poor form.

So, without any more grovelling for your forgiveness…

Question: What have I been up to?

Answer: Not a lot.

Just before I went offline I had finished some oversized wolves.

Which looked quite flat without a bit of deeper basing. They got a touch up with some cork tile, and a games workshop crackle paint job using Agrellan Earth from their ‘Technical’ range.

A little banshee was also on the table and got a similar treatment, to keep in theme with my Gods and Mortals force, and offer some more hero options. (Another game that is never going to be played but gives me a great reason to pick up a paintbrush.

Before these were were even dry I was then off to the grand old USA. Destined for the bright lights of Disney.

Sci-Fi – Pocket Sized (which is good, as your pockets will be empty)

After Salute this year I was gifted a set of rules and a starter faction by a friend. A starter faction in 10mm… I have somewhere stored safely away upstairs, unplayed for many years, 3 full armies (with extras) for Epic 40k. Why would I need another tiny game?

That friend was being kind and generous because he wanted me to join him in investing in Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames. As it turns out, it is a really great game. The only problem seems to be that as I age, my eyesight finds tiny miniatures very hard to see. Now, that may make my painting look slightly better as I can’t see the mistakes, but does give me a headache after painting tiny shoulder pads on 30 or so wee fellows.

A small starter army for Dropzone Commander usually retails for £50 on a good day and gives you a couple of infantry platoons (6 stands), 2 APCs and a medium dropship. You also get 2 platoons of tanks and their own medium dropships. The starters are made from fine resin that gives great mould quality. My starter was from the 2 player boxed game and made up of their newer plastic range. Mould quality is equally good and they go together easier than the resin models in my experience. Side by side with resin equivalents they look and feel no different.

To get your hands on models to expand your army further, it does mean you have to go for the more expensive resin moulds. Any saving that the two player starter has made you is soon lost in the highly priced resin models. These resin moulds are exquisite though.

A simple colour scheme does them no justice and many better examples can be seen on other websites. Mine manage to look good purely due to the original beauty that even I cannot hide under paint.

The force now sits at about 2000 points and is flexible enough to be fielded at the mid to lower end of the game sizes suggested by the rules. My flyers are the latest purchase and please me every time I get them out to play.

Being a fan of scenery I have added to the existing card stock buildings that came with the game. N scale cars, all the way from an eBayer in China, and hedges made from clump foliage are soon to be joined by fruit trees and lamp posts from that faithful eBayer in China (they supplied the items post free in less time than UK suppliers can for £5 p+p)

Every Chinese supplier I have tried has proved, so far, to be honest and helpful!

So, for now, I have what I need… Soon though I will be tempted by more of Hawk Wargames models and another mortgage will be required!

The Plague Cometh, But No Thanks, I’m A Reb…

The plague came to me via a friend… Sounds worse than it is… No, not that kind of plague…

This kind of plague… This is a very nice model by Mantic Games who have launched their board / tabletop game of future war: Deadzone. As I understand it a plague has come to the universe that is spreading through the galaxy and affecting the mega corporations cash flow. As all good capitalists would, they decided to treat this plague with a systemic quarantine and annihilation of the populations of the affected planets. All so that the story never gets out. As such bad press could seriously affect their share prices…

They have been less than effective in their quarantines, and their annihilations, as rebel factions of unhappy inhabitants and resource hungry mercenaries have been fighting back. Not to mention the initial victims of the plague who have been warped into vicious beasties and mutant zombies, all set to ravage the unprotected civilians…

This arrived by Kickstarter and was bought into by a friend in no small way… He then managed to sell me a faction and eBay supplied the remainder of my needs, enabling me to be ready for a game.

The Rebs was the faction to follow for me, as they were the plucky defenders of their worlds against both plague and those pesky corporations. A rag tag band of mismatched aliens and humans with one goal binding them together.

The one fault I see with this game is the mould quality and planning that mantic have put into the figures. Soft resin / plastic materials and heavy mould lines in faces and hair leave me wondering why this still happens. I have read posts bemoaning these problems for the last few years… Is no one listening to the customers? And don’t get me started on the ill fitting and often missing Mantic bases!

My faction pleases me on the whole though and can often be found at the old White Horse Public House when not out saving their world.

Not the easiest faction to play in the game in my opinion (but that may just be an excuse for my current losing streak).

This force is also going to be the mainstay for my larger No Limits force (No Limits being the brainchild of friend and fellow blogger Coronasan). This larger force will be featured later as it is a current work in progress and contains models from a range of manufacturers collected over the last 20 years… The joy for me of No Limits is the freeform army building allowing any miniatures to be used in any army.

The other joy that Mantic supplied me with their Deadzone game, was a fine set of modular sci-fi scenery (as always a passion of mine). Again you can wait for pictures of that project to come up later, as it will be the focus of a couple of posts in the near future.

A Dusty Old World

I have been a little lax in keeping up with the initial flurry of posting that I kicked off this blog with. It would seem that it is easy to start these things and much harder to maintain them. The initial urgency to tell my story has not faded but has been tempered over these last few weeks by the realisation that I must pace myself so as not to dry up completely… I am coming to the end of my historical retelling of the last 2 years. That means all the easy stories have been written and then all the new posts will need to be based on what I am up to these days.

What am I up to these days? With work and family commitments at the moment, not a lot… But that’s ok, as I still have things to show you.

Dust was where we left of and where we return to… These buildings (I know I get very boring when I go on and on about houses…) These buildings are the Original Dust Tactics builds released by Fantasy Flight Games. Available for purchase individually as a two storey block, or as a single storey build included in the Zverograd expansion pack. One quick roof later and a base coat of light sandstone and away we go. Roof top scenic bits are from the very good resin range by Ainsty Castings, their Streetwise flatroof selection if memory serves me..

The Dust builds are quite large and imposing and easily fit models inside for ease of use. However, my table usually falls back to the 4’x4′ standard of Post Office, Pub, General Store and Terraced Houses by Warbases. Their range appeals to me in its simplicity and its versatility. I have played games like victorian sci-fi, steampunk and gothic horror in its cramped streets. World war 2 games (weird and normal) often find tanks roaming its roadways. It never fails to please. Recently new walled gardens, pathways and pillars have been added and don’t get me started on making chimneys…

A town sign has been seen by the duck pond (Hmmn, must get some ducks sorted out…) and park benches are popping up in its quiet corners. When I get around to it, public telephones and post boxes are waiting in the bits box, ready for some bright red paint. The age old questions also plagues my sleep; can you ever have enough lamp posts?

Plague… That leads me nicely into the first of the final two projects that have been seen in the shed. These last projects have taken me away from my well loved town and into the depths of space. Sci-fi returned in two very differing guises both trying to corrupt me again…

After that I will have to find something up to date to tell you.

World War Walkers

The Infantry, although great, and definitely interesting with their Apes and Zombies, is only part of the ever expanding Dust package.

The most iconic part of Dust, and most likely the biggest draw for many players, are the walkers…

From the fast, light walkers.

To the multi role, medium walkers.

These two chassis types alone can provide all the support roles that your infantry would need. Anti air, anti tank, anti infantry, close combat and engineering roles are all fulfilled.

For more specific roles there are the specialist walkers. The medium chassis can provide a great, mobile, artillery platform.

There is even a command/ troop transport option to ferry your troops about in safety, if not in comfort.

But it is when you get to the big boys that the game really excels itself. The heavy chassis can provide a superb level of anti air that will also make mincemeat of any light vehicles and troops.

It can also be fielded as a super-heavy, anti tank monster… No other model in my collection comes close to the size of this beast…

And its not all about ground warfare. Flyers are also part of this ever expanding game and provide a very different challenge to me as a player and to any opponent I face.

In short, the game offers a great range of options for play. Tactics gives the board gamer a way into table top wargaming, and Warfare expands on the basics to add a level of complexity that only improves the game and promises more with each expansion.

With the game now in the hands of Battlefront Miniatures (makers of Flames of War) it should be safe to expect a continued commitment to new expansions. However, as I write, a third variant, placed between Tactics and Warfare, is being planned for release. Dust Battlefield looks to be the next change in direction for Dust and offers players the chance to play Dust Tactics on an open table… Will this replace Dust Warfare? Only time will tell…

World War 2.1

I’ve broken my own rules in the end. I said I would not take new photos to tell old stories… I lied! (Well I had to if you were ever going to see what I was about to talk about…)

I don’t know why but I have only two photos to show what happened when we were expanding out from our World War II games. That expansion started with our 15mm tank battle, and then went a little wild, with a return to 28mm (1/48 scale really) and the help of a fantastic range of miniatures from Dust Studios.

Stop the press… Dust Warfare had come to town.

We had played Dust Tactics a lot about a year earlier, and we were really into collecting the releases as soon as they came out. That slowed down as the cost crept up. What that period of time left us with, however, was almost enough miniatures to play Dust Warfare as soon as the rulebook hit the shelves.

Dust is set in an alternate universe created by Paolo Parente. Its much like our world but with a twist. Alien tech has been captured but the Germans and used to affect the outcome of WWII. Tanks have been replaced with walking guns and a new breed of science and technology has resulted in all manner of armoured soldiers and advanced weaponry.

The WWII setting attracted us initially, as we were coming out of a lot of Bolt Action games, and the alternate reality appealed to our Sci-Fi tastes. The final push for me (as if I needed one) was the Germans flair for the dramatic and the fact they fielded BOTH Zombies and Intelligent War Apes. That almost eclipsed the fact they had Laser guns and Walking tanks too…

As I said, we had lots to play with from our Dust Tactics collections. The Dust Studio Miniatures are usable in both the Tactics and Warfare games. 2 for 1 is always better…

Tactics focuses on a more free form army building style, while Warfare is probably a more sensible system with a strong focus on plenty of infantry backed up by a few key support vehicles and walkers. This meant that I would have to get to know my infantry’s strengths and weaknesses and not rely on heavy walkers to win the day. Something I still haven’t perfected…

As Dust Tactics is basically a board game I had the excuse not to paint the miniatures because, as a friend pointed out, “they are only playing pieces”. In Dust Warfare they are an army, so deserve to be painted. One extra special bonus with Dust Studio miniatures is that they come primed and base coated already in the colour of your force. They are therefore really easy to finish with a few colours and a decent ink wash.

Grenadier X here is a great example of what can be done. Zombies armed with Pizza Cutters anyone?

A friend, and fellow blogger, Coronasan, has recorded all his Dust painting exploits on his Loft Full Of Lead blog. My painting so far only equals one squad of 5 laser grenadiers and 1 zombie… His command Squad is shown here being evicted from the sweetshop that they so liked to hide in in many of our games.

Next up (and likely to be as slow to appear as this post). The Axis continues to muster its forces…

Preparations for war…

World War II is a staple of many war gamers. Many, many rule sets are published, almost yearly, that explore this setting. From big battle actions like Flames of War to small skirmish games like… Actually I don’t know of any skirmish games for WWII…

What I do know is that a great game can be had at squad to platoon level with the brilliant rules by Warlord Games – Bolt Action.

Not too big to make me dread all that painting and not to small to lose the feel of a real fire and manoeuvre wargame.

The start point for me was the German half of a two player starter set. Lots of infantry and customisable enough to make up some heavy weapon teams and a command section. The starter army in the main rulebook held our attention while we grew our armies to a comfortable size.

Add in some vehicles and the game starts to become more rounded and more satisfying. Get your hands on the army books and a wide choice of options become real possibilities.

The vehicles in question were found in the form of 1:40-1:48 scale die cast models. A slight repainted and a small amount of imagination and we were fully kitted out at a modest outlay. Timing again helped, with Warlord Games holding a half price sprue sale at the most opportune time. Something they appear to do on a semi regular basis.

Our battlefields would change from game to game and the variety helped to keep our enthusiasm for the game going.

We fought them in the country sides…

We fought them at the airfields… We would never surrender…

More vehicles arrived as reinforcements. Some needing a bit of paint.

Others were playable from the box.

As usual our eyes would become dazzled by new shiny things in time, and we moved on!

But our new era seemed somewhat familiar…

Never a copper about when you need one…

Early March 2013. A friend emailed me to let me know about a new Kickstarter campaign that was being run by West Wind Productions. What is it with friends justifying their own purchases by getting someone else to buy in too?

Empire of the Dead was getting a new lease of life and would include lots of new factions and new rules. Of course I was not able to resist. I was however a little new to the whole Kickstarter thing and didn’t know what to expect. I bought in at a reasonable level and sat back to wait for the campaign to close and to get my product. The wait lasted until November of the same year. I learned later that this is a swift turn about for a Kickstarter, as another game I bought into, Heroes of Normandie, took a whole year to come through in the end.

I have to state here that both have been well worth the wait…

To bide my time as I awaited the fulfilment of the campaign, a campaign that provided more extras than I could ever have expected, I picked up a few London bobbies and a town mob deal that provided me with more civilians than I would ever need. My trusty matt varnish again deposited a slightly frosty tone on the test models, to my dismay… I am still trying to find out what causes this on the odd few figures…

I had chosen to invest in the West Wind Kickstarter for the chance to get my hands on a new Peeler faction known as, Supernatural Branch, including the boys from, Hell Division. These were a police force that sported all kinds of toys to deal with supernatural troublemakers. Net guns, Gatling guns and mechanical guard dogs being the best bits!

By the time all the bits came through we had found a new passion in place of Empire of the Dead. These guys were, however, special enough to be painted up forthwith and a special game laid on in the cramped city in their honour.

That cramped city was growing thanks to the VBCW range by Warbases. Post office, shop and pub were added along with their Flemish house. All work well with each other and I think that they fit the style I was searching for from the start. Posters add to the flavour and a few more items, to add to the imagery, would be seen on the table in time.

Some of these guys friends have been seen recently on my painting table as not all were painted up first time round.

Next up, we discover Bolt Action!

A hunting we will go…

The Zendarians allowed me to get into the game swiftly and provided a good starting force. I had thought about starting a second faction but fancied a different style of play for my next force. I was also in a phase of painting again, with the troopers for the Zendarians coming out so well that I was confident that I could run up a new force in no time.

Where to start then? I knew I wanted a force that did not rely so heavily on its ranged combat this time. Our scenery was becoming more cramped and line of sight was not so easy to gain as our games progressed. A normal gentleman’s club was to similar to the Zendarians and vampires are not altogether my thing. It came down to a choice between Werewolves and Wulfen Jaeger (Werewolf hunters). My sensible head won over with my choice being made with versatility in mind. Werewolves can only be used as Werewolves but a small force of hunters could be used in a number of other games with just a little imagination.

Hunting dogs feature strongly in the Wulfen Jaeger so were a must for me. A strong set of heroes and a small number of close range blunderbuss wielding troopers would soon follow.

I actually enjoyed painting these more than any figures I can recall in the last few years. The sculpting is clean and the detail is clear enough for even my unsubtle, block painting, style. It did, however, leave me feeling that you can never have enough brown tones in any paint collection you own.

After a game of two I needed to add in an new dog and it’s handler. West Wind only have two sculpts for hunting dogs so I decided on another chap and his faithful companion. Not quite in the same style as before. All went well until my matt varnish again dried to a dusty frosted look. As the figure in question is an older fellow, this was not a total disaster as the dusty look just made him look even more characterful.

Our scenery was again progressing well with the newest buildings being a couple of large blocks from the weird world war II game, Dust Tactics. We had played about with this particular game in the year before the shed was built, and as the newest expansion of the game would allow me to use these buildings in this, and a number of other games, they were a must have for me. Dust Tactics (and soon afterwards, Dust Warfare) would make a reappearance on the gaming table in the next year but that is a story for later…

With all the buildings available to us, the gaming table gave us the cramped alley strewn look I wanted, but the differing building styles were not quite how I wanted the look to go! It would be time to invest in a look that would see me through the next phase of this game and on to the next game too.

Another faction beckoned but it would come from a new source, and this one would take longer to mature than even I expected. The age of the Kickstarter was about to begin.

To be continued…

Anything For The Empire…

After all that historical stuff we were craving something a little out of the normal. One of my friends has a habit of leading us astray by buying stuff for me to read and thus influencing our gaming habits (sometimes not to subtly).

This time he simply went out and bought 3 copies of Empire of the Dead by West Wind Productions. Its a great, simple and small scale game which we could proxy figures into to start with (my Malifaux crew have been on more EotD missions than anything else).

Empire of the Dead is set in an alternate, gothic Victorian era where a steampunk style of imagery has clearly influenced the world view. A great twist on a game world and one that lends itself well to the stories many gamers would have read as youngsters. A world where vampires and werewolves can be seen side by side with Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. All on a backdrop of high tech steam power and mechanical servants.

A few reinforcements were needed as this is designed to be a campaign game. As members of a gang die or new members are recruited I would find that my Malifaux range would need to be complemented with figures that didn’t look too out of place.

Starting with a Zendarian gentleman’s club I had my leaders and heroes already. I needed basic troopers to represent their footmen and personal guards… West Wind do a range of Victorian Gothic types and they fit well with the Malifaux range too.

To play this game the way it deserves, a new terrain setting was again needed. Some of my buildings would work well but the cramped smokey cities I wanted would need something more. I think my modelling bug truly started here… The table deserved all types of extra touches like the lamp posts and gardens pictured.

This was an endeavour that would go on for some time as one gentleman’s club is never enough for some of us…

To be continued…