Camoflage Question

My 15mm New Israeli armoured infantry platoon has arrived from GZG. Now, I plan on building a board with a lunar landscape for this sci-fi army, and have been looking at Urban Camo patterns that would fit a moon colony setting.

I found these images here

It seems that the pattern is 4th Airborne Brigade Chrudim, 1996, Cezh Republic. Anyone have any idea what paints and colours were used here? I've been experimenting a bit with absolutely no success with either the base colour (a grey-green I think) or the dark green camo colour and could use some suggestions.

Thanks.

P.S More daily/weekly tables and Sci-fi worlds for my Cascade Failure campaign sandbox will be posted in the next few days.

The Miniature a Day Challenge (and Merry X-Mas)

Merry X-Mas one all. Now, on to something gaming related.

I know that many of you out there share my perennial problem: motivating yourself to paint your mini's. Now, even thought I love painting, I'm quite often too tired, too bored or else too busy to paint more than a few dozen a year. Well, no longer.

Up to know, my motivation has come from the "Paint 'em as you need 'em ,"school of thought. In otherwords, if I know I need twelve orcs for an adventure and have just ten painted, I'll go paint two more. Likewise, my wargaming armies only ever seem to earn a lick of paint whenever I have a tournament to go to.

But this coming year, starting on my return from Holiday on the 24/01/2011, I am going to paint a Miniature a day! That's right. 351 Miniatures by the end of 2011 -and you can follow my progress on this blog. Now don't think for one second this means I'll actually paint a miniature every single day. Some days I'll paint four or five (or work on four or five), others day I'll paint nothing at all. But over the course of the year, it'll work out at an average of at least one a day.

Which means that, assuming I keep this rate of painting up indefinitely and don't go buying any more figs in the meantime, I should have cleared out my unpainted boxes by about 2020. Ah well, I can hope can't I.

January 24th. You heard it here.

Miniatures on the Cheap

I may sound like a broken record at times, but there's a lot to be said for stretching your miniatures budget as far as possible. Myself, before being a mini I ask myself "how much bang am I getting for my buck?" Or, in other words, how much use can I get out of this one little miniature?

There are miniature manufacturers out there than produce amazing figures, but you're paying for that quality. Moreover, the really great manufacturers (or at least, those who produce excellent quality items AND happen to be a large company) tend to produce miniatures dedicated to a specific game world or game system. Privateer Press is probably the best two example. The company makes magnificent figures, but unless you regularly play a Steampunk game (in the case of Privateer Press) you're not going to get much use out of most of them for anything but playing Warmachine or Hordes. Games Workshop's Warhammer and Warhammer 40K miniatures have the same problem, but not to the same extent. In fact, it's the much-maligned (By British RP gamers at least) Games Workshop that I want to discuss today.

Here's a fact: I refuse to buy miniatures I can only every use for one gaming purpose. Hence, I no longer collect such things as GW Space Marines, Elder or Warhammer Empire figures. Each range is either too iconic, or else to themed to use in any other game system. Warhammer Empire figures for example, are humans. You would think then that they would provide a lot of replay value but, in fact, Empire miniatures have certain thematic elements (such as their style of dress) that makes them all but unsuitable for use in anything outside of a very narrow range of games.

However, this doesn't mean I've written off Games Workshop entirely. Many of it's ranges have much to offer the Gamer on a budget. Off the top of my head, I can think of several dozen boxed sets of GW plastic miniatures which I either own and use regularly as roleplaying miniatures or have on my "wish-list".

Here's a sample listing:

Warhammer Saurus Warriors and Skink Regiment(Plastic Box sets): Used as Troglydytes and Lizardmen respectively in all the fantasy RPG's I play. I used science fiction weapons from by bits box to kit-bash some "reptile" aliens for sci-fi RPGs as well.
Warhammer Skaven (Plastic Box): For were-rats (my favorite lycanthrope), rat-men and (again with a few sci-fi weapons) my home-brew sci-fi Ratmen (technically weasel-men, but the models are close enough).
Warhammer Skeletons (Plastic Box): A box each of the Tomb King's and Vampire Counts varieties gives me more skeletons than I'll ever need (even in the Caves of Chaos). I use the remaining parts (and whole skeletons) to create scenery elements and basing features. Alas, the warhammer zombies are too-period specific for my tastes.
Warhammer Wood Elfs and Dwarfs (Plastic Box): Nice enough but a "off" in proportions. Go for the Lord of the Rings plastic boxed sets instead.
Warhammer Brettonians (Plastic Box): The mounted figures are nice, but how often would you use them, really? On the other hand, the infantry box set provides a nice batch of generic medieval footmen and/or archers to represent typical human guards. The figures themselves aren't as nice as other GW plastics and the poses are rather static. However, your still making a considerable saving compared to buying a like number of metal miniatures.
Warhammer Norse (Plastic Box): Good for generic unarmoured savage barbarians (though the muscle tissue is a little too cartoonish). Give a few of them modern guns from your bit box and you've got the beginnings of a Post Apocalypse road-warrior gang as well.
Lord of the Rings Plastic Box Sets: I can't recommend these enough. 24 excellent plastic miniatures (no assembly required) at a dirt-cheap price. I use the Moria goblins as goblins, Mordor Orcs as Hobgoblins, Uruk-Hai as orcs. The Gondorans work as elite guards, the Rohirrim make excellent medium troops and the Rangers work well for light infantry, militia and townsfolk. Easterlings see lots of use as "evil" elites in my games while the Haradrim see use as dervishes, nomads and the like. Finally, the elves and dwarfs are used for exactly what you would think while the Corsair miniatures make for excellent brigands, pirates, slavers and common thugs. If you want to expand your gaming collection quickly and cheaply, I can't recommend Lord of the Ring's figures enough.

Finally, some GW plastic boxed sets to avoid:

Any of the Warhammer Orc and Goblin plastic miniature ranges: Far far too muscular. These are cartoonish parodies of just about any other orc concept you will ever come across. Which is a pity, because back in the eighties and early nineties, GW produced some of the greatest orc and goblin metals (and plastics) around.
Any of the Warhammer Chaos boxes other than the Norse: Unless, that is, your looking for suitably Elric-esque foes.
Any of the Warhammer Empire range box sets: Very nice miniatures, but unless you play a lot of WFRP or intend to buy an Empire Army for Warhammer, I can't see you getting much use out them.

Old School Miniatures: On the Cheap

Times are hard. Metal figures are expensive. Buying enough lead figures to make up a decent band of brigands, for example, can set you back forty or fifty euro's. And then, of course, there's the whole new issue that most modern fantasy rpg miniatures are targeted for the modern audience/gaming industry. By which I mean late medieval armour, dress and accoutrement's as opposed to the more traditional "old school" dark-age style.

However, all is not lost. You can still acquire decent looking miniatures for your RPG while keeping up that all important Old School feel -and without putting too much of a dent on your pocket book. The answer: wargames miniatures.

Plastic mould technology these days is so good that it's possible to produce plastic figures that rival (or even exceed) their metal counterparts. Moreover, even metal wargames miniatures (from historical specialists at least) tend to be cheaper than roleplaying miniatures and even most fantasy wargames ranges.

True, you can splash out ten or twelve pounds for a pack of random pre-painted miniatures, but going down that route might cost you a veritable fortune before you get enough figures of a given monster type to use in an encounter. Plus the paint jobs tend to be terrible. Contrast the painted miniatures at the beginning of this article with any of the D&D figures available on ebay. I bought a pack of 32 of these plastic vikings from wargames factory's Hammer of the Gods Range for £18 (You lucky Americans can get them for $19.95). These figures here, 8 of them, took four hours to assemble and paint and cost me the equivalent of £4.50. If I'd bought 8 viking looking types in single figure Reaper miniatures packs, it would have cost me at least £24 (probably as much as £30, depending on where you shop). How many packs of D&D boxes would I have had to fork out for to obtain 8 human warriors in chainmail? A heck of a lot, let me tell you.

As it is, I intend on painting another four of these guys for gaming purposes. The last twenty (plus 8 figures from the Saxon Fyrd box) are going to make a Viking Mercenary unit for my Norman WAB army. The remaining 24 Fyrdmen are going to be split into a unit of 8 archers (on stone, roleplaying bases) and 16 unarmoured RPG melee types. And voila, for a grand total of £36 quid, I've got myself another wargames unit AND all the armoured and unarmoured human NPC warrior-types I''ll ever need for an Old School RPG campaign.

Of course, it would be nice to have some more disciplined looking armoured warriors as well. Which is why I bought 8 metal Norman spearmen from Wargames Foundry for a grand total of £8.00 as well. I'll paint these guys up and use them as henchmen and hirelings for my PC's. Pictures to follow when I've finished painting them.

I also forked out another £8 for a pack of Saxon "outlaws" from the same firm -giving me a nice mix of armed civilians for use in gaming as hapless civilians, prisoners, mule-skinners and even torch-bearers for the party. I'll post up my painted versions here at some point too,

Grand Total: £52.00 for 80 gaming miniatures. How much would it cost to order all that from Reaper Miniatures eh? £300 quid at least, I reckon.

Dangerously Mad

Well, Ive finally bitten the bullet. Three years of nag nag nag from my mates and no-no-no from me and my willpower has given in like arrows through chainmail (well, chainmail IS just a suit of holes linked together, you know). What finally broke the camels back (first post and my mataphors are mixing like a bad cocktail already) you wonder?

Normans.

Yup, that's right. You heard correctly. Bloody Normans.

You see, it all started about a week ago. I was just minding my own bussiness, browsing through the miniatures page list of manufacturers when I happened to chance upon the listing for Perry Miniatures. Hello, I thought, not the Perry Twins surely? When did they start up their own line? Arn't they still working for Foundry? Aha! No! It transpires that Perry Miniatures is more of a hobby, something they do on the side, according to the Press Release. So I think, why not take a look.

(You can take a look too if you like, the URL is :http://www.perry-miniatures.com/ )

I was blown away by the craftsmanship of the Warring States Samuari, but luckily I have a samurai force for Clan War thats never been used, so I resist temptation and refuse to buy. But then I see the First Crusade Miniatures and Im hooked. Alas, I've just been reading up on the old Bloodstone modules for AD&D and day-dreaming about adapting them to 3.5. The period is late dark ages and it involves the player characters leading armies in the defence of a Barony and then involves them in a war to liberate their entire country! Arrgh. Next thing you know, I've got a £140 put down on mini's I`ll probably never use. Or so I thought.

You see, when they arrived, they were even better in "person" than on the web. I just had to start painting them right away - tough luck my Flames of War Germans, you are gone but not forgotten. So not only have I been madly buying and basing miniatures (on Games Workshop 20mm bases - more expence) but Ive been buying up civilians from Foundry (for the villagers) as well, along with shield transfers and Banners from Gripping Beast.

My one complaint about the Perry Miniatures is to do with the shields - the miniatures are supposed to be Franks, and yes, the boys would naturally pick up turkish shields when their own ones were knackered, but why make half of the shields Tirkish? Especially when the mini's shown are all armed with Norman-style Kite shields. Sheesh!

Well, the one consolation is that if I hadnt been looking for Norman shield packs from another manufacturer, I`d never have come across the Beast's shield transfers and banners. Lovely. Ten quid for a sheet of 24 banners and £2-3 for a sheet of 12 shield transfers. Hmm, not so lovely. More money spent and here I am supposedly saving up for a new house. Still, their worth a look if your interested.

Gripping Beast:
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=60

And oh, yeah. I had to buy a new craft knife (the old one broke) and I ran out of black spray paint early on. Why is my bank account being made to suffer so? And why has my blog turned into a forum for moaning on entry one already?

Cos I'm a gamer,I cant help myself thats why (and thats the answer to both questions).

Thank God for the savings account. That hasn't been touched (yet!)

Anyway, somehow, I make the obvious connection that if I`m going to use these minaitures for a roleplaying game, I may as well make use of them for wargaming as well. But the only Warhammer Ancients supplement with a First Crusade army list is out-of-print (Armies of Antiquity). What to do? What to do? Ahah! The old cogs begin to turn (squeekily I might add, cos Im suffering from the cold) . Crusaders are Franks right? Normans are Franks right? Theres a Norman list in the Shieldwall supplement right? Saved!!

Actually it turns out the Norman list covers Western Franks in general, so I could make them Bretons, Flemish or Carovingians if I wanted. Right now Im not sure if I want too or not, as Normans get the amazing ferocious charge ability, which is just brutal. But I may have a think later. At the moment though, the concept is that the Army represents the forces of a wealthy churchman, an abbot or bishop, and that the top man himself will lead them into battle, escorted by his bravest knight's. Conversion opportunties aplenty, methinks.

Later I'll go through my Army list choices and explain why I picked what I did in keeping with the armies theme. I`ll also explain what models I`m using for each unit and why (though it might be better to save that for when I actually stick pics of the completed units up on the blog). I'll even post up battle reports to chronicle the glorious exploits of this and my other (half-finishes) armies in order to humiliate my enemies (and my opponents). Assuming I can keep my interest up long enough to even get a battle, that is.

Bet your just quivering with excitement

I may even be tempted to use this blog for its "natural" purposes and even keep a diary of "real life" online. But personally I`m not sure about that at all. My life's not for the sharing with all and sundy. But we'll see.

Anyway, thats how I went from an army of roleplaying game figs to creating a new wargaming army. But what has that got to do with creating a blog?

Well, somebody suggested that if I keep track of my progress on a blog, even I wont get bored and start on something else ( remember those Germans?). Well, it seems to have worked for Dave Woodward ( http://paintermeister.blogspot.com/ ) so hopefully it should work for me too.

Fat chance.