4 More 28MM Terrain Pieces

 This weekend I continued the terrain making focus and completed 4 28mm terrain pieces.  First up is the American Farmhouse from Perry Miniatures.  This is a very simple kit to put together and I need to add a few more details to the front porch.

 Next up is the Church/Meeting House from Architects of war.  This kit is made of resin and has some heft to it.  It also has a complete interior which I still need to finish.  I think this one came out nicely.

 The third piece is another plastic kit, Renedra's "Ramshackle Barn".  Like the Perry house above, it's easy to put together.  I need to add a lot more weathering as it looks more "just built" than "ramshackle".

 Lastly, and perhaps my favorite of the group, is the Architects of War pig sty.  This is a great little kit which features a resin bases and metal detail parts.  It also comes with four pigs who are still on the painting workbench.  I've played numerous games at Ernie's when the pig sty was on the board and it always tended to become a focal point of any battle.  The details in the casting are very well done and include everything you'd expect to find and/or step on in a pig sty.

 Here are some more shots of the various terrain pieces.  Why all the 28mm terrain?  I'm planning to GM another largish ACW or War of 1812 game at Cold Wars and I want to get all the major terrain pieces out of the way by the end of November so I can focus on fleshing out the armies.  I also find that building terrain requires a lot more space and is messier than painting minis - the ground flock gets everywhere.  I've found in the past it's a lot more efficient to batch up my terrain projects and get them done in groups.

I'll likely be shifting over to some more trees and some new sectional terrain pieces.  October is a very pleasant time of year to be doing  carpentry work outside!

It's official

My son's Eagle Scout certificate finally came in today.  He was approved for his Eagle rank last May but it takes some time to get the official response.

I texted him a picture of the cert and he was very excited to become an official Eagle Scout.

I realize that I sometimes babble on about Sean, in that annoying "proud parent" way, but getting to Eagle is a pretty big deal as only a very small percent (4%) of Boy Scouts attain the rank.

Game Table Changes

 The clean up of the game room continues and I've made some repairs to the gaming table.  I really enjoy coaching robotics but sometimes high school aged boys can be both messy and a bit rough on the furniture - a shocking revelation to be sure.

 The sliding doors have been replaced with new tracks so hopefully they'll stay in working order.

 Look it now slides open!!!!!

The tabletop has a piano hinge along one side and can be propped open at a 45 and 60 degree angle to be used as a drafting board.  It was a great idea on paper but I think we've used it maybe 3 times.

A Little 28mm Terrain Work

 Today's task was to clean up my gaming area and begin to organize the ever-growing lead pile.  Well, to be honest, the ever growing lead, resin and plastic pile.  I decided once the clean up was done to build some 28mm terrain - namely Architects of War's Stone Wall and Forest sets.  These are nice little kits to work with and went from in-the-box to done in about three hours.

 The stone wall set consists of four 9 inch straight pieces and two small ends.  I primed everything in a light grey auto primer and dry brushed a darker shade of grey for highlighting.  Add some ground foam and it's done.  I think they came out nicely.

 Next up was a set of 4 tree stands - this is a nifty way to make a forrest and works with both 15mm and 28mm scale figures.  The product comes with resin base and pre-made Woodland Scenics trees. It's a simple but very effective way to build decent tree scenery.

 The "completed" forrest.  I've got another of these sets to finish which will provide a nice sized forrest for my War of 1812 through ACW gaming.  Like the walls, these were a snap to both assemble and paint.  The resin bases have lots of details in the undergrowth.

Last, but not least, I also assembled the Architects of War Meeting House/Church kit.  This kit is a bit more involved as it has a fully detailed interior but it will make a fine North American themed focal point for an upcoming battle.

All in all, it was a productive day.  And my Saints won and are now 3-0 - yes it was a very good day indeed!

Perry British WW2 Infantry Almost Complete

The basic painting is finished for the first 30 Perry plastic British 8th Army infantry.  These troops will be part of a force I'm building for WW2 skirmish gaming.  The current ruleset of choice is Bolt Action which gives a great game and a good feel for the period.

 First up is a 12 man squad of SAS guys - the Perry set has extra heads for the SAS so a little surgery and you're good to go.  I'll likely field these guys in smaller sections for Bolt Action.

 The second 12 man squad is regular British infantry.

 A Bren Carrier - this is the first of three that come in the Bren Carrier Platoon deal from the Perry's - it's a one piece resin model that was a lot of fun to paint.

 Another view - it needs some decals doesn't it?

The Perry box comes with 38 figures and here are the last eight on the painting table.  These should get done in the next week or so.

Whole Lotta Maus

 As you know, I'm a big fan of the new Blitzkrieg line of 28mm armored vehicle models.  Architects of War just got a huge shipment in and I rushed over to see what's new.  Included in this batch is a limited number of 1/56th scale models of the German Maus "super-tank".  It's huge!  The first picture shows it next to a 28mm Warlord german halftrack.

The model is just about seven inches long and it's looks to be both entirely impractical and a must have model.  I managed to resist the temptation this time but I'm not sure how long I can hold out....

I wonder what the Bolt Action stats would be for a Maus??????

Late Summer / Early Fall Garden Action

 Yes, what wargaming blog isn't made complete by the inclusion of exciting "action-shots" of in-process gardening.  It seems our garden has regained a new lease on life after a rough summer of insects and horrible weather (way to much rain and cold).  I suspect the reason for the insect issue  being resolved has been having 15 or so of the rather largish (2 inches!) Yellow Garden spiders move in.  They seem to be  voracious eaters and our pest problems have disappeared.  Of course, now my wife has an excuse not to go in the garden, which leaves more work for me...

 First up is the Kale and Beet bed which is going great guns.  I'm not really a fan of either but the wife likes 'em and they grow well in our weather. There are some fall green beans in the back which will grow up and along the back fence.

 Our Broccoli and Egg plant are still recovering from the insect attacks - I doubt we'll get a lot of broccoli but one never knows.

 The weather really took a toll on our tomatoes and we actually lost a few plants.  The rest seem to be coming back and we have a lot of green tomatoes growing right now.  You can also see that our Mellon's and cucumber vines have come roaring back.  I've never seen a mellon vine do that before.

Another pic of dead tomatoes to the left (see the gap) and mellon vines going crazy.

Pepper plants - we've got two kinds, normal green peppers in the lower left and then some hot peppers in the middle.  At the back are some Zucchini and beens.

 This bed's not doing so well - the Zucchini are on there last legs and the eggplants didn't really take. I'll be pulling these out and replacing with garlic bulbs (at least that's what the wife say's I'll be doing).  The Okra in the back is doing fine.

 In the back corner are some fall egg plants, some beans and my pride and joy - brussel sprouts!  The planter to the right has a raspberry bush.

 A close up of an Okra flower - for some reason Okra grows gang-busters here on the Eastern Shore

 Obligatory pepper shot

This mornings pickings - tomatoes, green and hot peppers, okra and green beans.  Can anyone say Salsa?

Crusader Tank Review over on the WWPD Bolt Action site

I wrote up a short review of the new Blitzkrieg 28mm Crusader Tank kit and it's posted on the WWPD Bolt Action site - go on over and take a look.

Blitzkrieg Miniatures: British Crusader Tank

 A quick in-progress shot of a 28mm British Crusader tank from Blitzkrieg models.  I picked up a few of the Blitzkrieg from the Architects of War booth at Historicon to flesh out my British 8th Army unit I'm building for use with Bolt Action.  My overall impression of the kit is extremely positive.

The Blitzkrieg models are all resin and this one came with 7 pieces.  I would say the resin casting is the finest I've ever seen - the Blitzkrieg line is VERY impressive.

I've also started a bit of work on some of the 28mm Perry British 8th Army figures.  The plastics are up to the very high Perry standard - they are just head and shoulders better than the Warlord plastics.

I'll post a more detailed review and walkthrough of the Blitzkrieg model in a few days.  I need to good find some decals....