New Years Resolutions

With the new year coming at midnight tonight, it is always traditional to make a resolution of what one wishes to change or accomplish in the new year. Traditionally this usually had to do with weight loss, or other mundane ambitions.

As a modeler and minis painter, have bigger ambitions. While losing a few pounds might be a prudent thing to do, I've got lead to paint! Thus, here are my "new years resolutions." Let's see how well I keep to them!

1). Finish building and painting my Normans from Gripping Beast. I have an ambition to finally go to Historicon for the first time this upcoming year. Part of that is because Historicon will, for the first time, be in Valley Forge, which is around an hour from me. This means no need to arrange a flight, get a hotel, and the like. Plus I can simply drive home and sleep in my own bed while the Con is on. To that end, I need an army to play in the WAB tournament, and the Normans were one I had been working on previously. Due date for this is a bit earlier, by necessity the beginning of July 2010.

2). Finish building and painting my High Elves from Games Workshop. Well, technically the building phase is done, and has been for some time. But definitely not the painting phase. There are rumors of a new edition of Fantasy Battle coming out this summer, and that would be a perfect time to wrap up this army. Now I haven't played WHFB since maybe 4th edition, and there has been some changes, but I've managed to keep up with the High Elves specifically, collecting army books as they come out, and buying figures here and there. Although I have a lot of classics (including some 40 classic plastic spearmen), I've also bought some new stuff for this army as well. Much of the army is already either started or done, so this should be a relatively easy goal to achieve, just like the Normans. Due date again is July 2010, the rumored release date of WHFB 8th Edition.

3). Build and Paint a Dark Elf Army from Games Workshop. One of the frustrations I often run into is that none of my friends collect minis for gaming, or at least for the games I want to play. In historical circles, often gamers will build two parallel armies that conceivably would have fought (i.e. Early Imperial Romans and Britons). Dark Elves and High Elves are a classic match up, and who knows, maybe I'll convince someone in my game group to actually get a game in. Due date end of the year 2010.

4). Finish Eldar Army from Games Workshop. Eldar were the first army I started collecting for Warhammer 40K, but for various reasons not the one I ever really finished. I already have a lot of stuff for them, much of which is not finished: 12 Jetbikes (including 3 Shriekers), a bunch of Fire Dragons, and a load of Guardians. Although I can supplement the collection by additional purchases (some of the Aspects I need to "max out" as I only have 5 for some), with what I have I should be able to form a pretty rounded army. And maybe I can convice someone to have a game with me too. Due date end of the year 2010.

5). Collect remaining figures for a Sisters of Battle army from Games Workshop. I really wasn't expecting this to make the list, but there are rumors that they might get redone by Games Workshop. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, one of the negative aspects to this is that if the core figures go plastic, there is a chance they won't mix well with the current metal figures I already have (which amount to a command squad and a single combat squad). That being said, the closer to release date we get, the more information we should get. Part of the rumors I've seen so far have to do with vehicles, and a vehicle update might be worth waiting for. Due date end of yea 2010.

6). Start and Finish a Late Roman army for Fall in. Late Romans have always been a fascination for me. Still retaining their classical trappings to a certain extent, the Roman Empire by this time was also very troubled, from succession crises, Sassanian Persians, and German Wanderlust, to economic failures and a decline in authority. This combines to make a compelling story. Part of this will depend on where Fall In will be this year, but considering that the 3 largest conventions on the East Coast US are in eastern Pennsylvania, I really don't have a lot of excuses.

7). Finish a few models from my "stash." Model Building was my "first" real hobby, and the one that gives the most satisfaction. Over the years I've built a massive collection of kits I haven't finished yet. In my defense I always start a model, but finishing has been a challenge. Because of that, I plan on focusing my efforts on finishing a few kits in my collection. I also plan on having a "moratorium" on kit buying, with only the M-41(G) Walker Bulldog in German colors and the German Jagdpanzer Kanone as my only purchases. Special concentration will be focused on my two most expensive projects: the Chieftain Mk.11 and the T-64B (expect to see some updates in the near future). Unless something comes out that completely wows me of course. Due date end of year 2010.

That's it for the list, and it breaks down fairly well into 2-month projects, so it should also be do-able. I'm sure that I'll pick up other projects along the way, and interests will wane and grow as go along. But I think it's a do-able list, and we'll see how well I can stick to it...

Project: 1/35 T-64B Progress II

I finally got the Miniarm turret today, well packed from Historica Hobbies. It was an expensive turret, but it also is chocked full of parts, including a 2 piece turned aluminum cannon!

Of particular note is the delicate casting of the NSVT machine gun, and some of the interior parts that can be seen through the turret hatches! Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a cannon breach, but for what is there, and the size of the actual hatches, simply placing a figure in the hatches should obscure any further detail anyway.

I'm probably going to start laying into this conversion tonight. The nice thing about the turret is that it is modular, so I don't need to wait for tracks or a detail set before I can slap it together, paint it, and call it finished.

Project: 1/35 T-64B Progress

I'll have to admit, I already started working on the hull of this model. As the aftermarket parts are mainly focused on adding details -- and replacing the turret outright -- I could feel safe in progressing in this project.

One of the generalities about Eastern European model manufacture is that the level of technology and finesse is not on par with the West (including Japan and China). That being said, ofttimes it isn't necessarily bad, but may require more work. For example, in the West, the lower hull is often a single piece, using multi-part molds and slide molds (that is, multi-part molds that use sliding sections to de-mold the components, and allowing details on more than two sides). However, the Skif kit like a lot of Eastern European kits has the hull built up from multiple components. Usually this isn't a problem, just a bit more work...

Well except in the case of this kit.

Upon construction, I discovered that both the hull floor as well as both hull sides were warped, with the floor bowed upward, and the hull sides bowed outward. It took a lot of patience and gluing to get the lower hull to assemble correctly. What I did was remove the locating pins on both sides of the lower hull, and used liquid cement to glue the forward and rear portions of the hull sides first. Once the glue had cured sufficiently, I started gluing the hull floor, going a bit at a time. Nonetheless, the plastic still had a tendency to pull away, so I ended up reinforcing the glue join with a dab of cyanocrylate glue instantly cured with accelerator (you can see where I did this in the top-down photo below).



The rest of the construction was much less painless. The upper hull was slightly warped as well, but fortunately rubber bands came to the rescue here.

Much of the detail on this kit is a little soft, so I am awaiting a set of Eduard photo-etch to add general details on the kit. Sadly, the model is missing the light guards on the forward hull, and the Eduard set is necessary to recitfy this, either on their own, or as patterns for styrene rod or metal. Finally, the Eduard set adds important details to the spare fuel drums (not shown in the photos).

The next phase of this build will be either the turret or the Eduard details, whichever comes first!

Project: 1/35 T-64B

When the West first learned of the existence of the T-64, it caused quite a stir. Abandoning the evolution started with the late-WWII T-44, the T-64 was a radical departure for the time. Featuring a small, 2 man turret and a low profile hull, it incorporated advanced tank design features like an auto-loader for the main cannon, hydro-pneumatic suspension, and an advanced fire control system. The T-64 seemed to herald a new "tank gap" for which the West had to catch up.

With the fall of the Soviet Union and thawing of relations, much more information has come to light. The T-64 was not quite the threat the West believed it was, and the initial designs were nearly a turkey. Produced alongside to the T-72 , which was intended for Motor Rifle Divisions (rather than the T-64, for frontline Armored divisions), if the baloon had gone up in the '70s, the West would more likely had to face hordes of T-62s and T-55s, since the value of the T-64 was questionable.

Although many of the issues that plagued the T-64 were mostly resolved, and it still serves with the Ukranian Army, it was never exported, and still has issues to this day (such as reliability in very cold weather -- ironic considering its country of origin).

Over the years, I have built my fair share of Soviet Cold War era tanks, but the T-64 was always elusive. Lacking good photos or captured examples, the T-64 remained a garage kit until Skif (of the Ukraine) came along and produced a kit in styrene.

While one would think that a model manufacturer producing a kit of their country's tank would ensure a very accurate model. Unfortunately not. The kit I selected (T-64B) has a reasonable hull, but a very inaccurate turret. While the kit could be built out-of-the box with modification, to get a real show-winner requires quite a bit of work.

Luckily, Miniarm comes to the rescue with a very fine (if expensive!) turret for the T-64B, which I still have on order. Add to this the Eduard photo etch set (for general details -- though the picture shown is for the T-64BV, the set is suitable for the earlier variant) , and possibly the Miniarm track set, and you can have a very nice model. The last part I'm not sold on, beause the end connectors are attached to one track shoe, and thus do not bend realistically, but in the end it really depends on how well I can get the kit tracks to work. There is also a styrene set of tracks from Skif as well, and that might be a good, cheaper alternative.

All in all, I am very excited about getting this kit going, and should be a unique addition to my collection, especially next to the Chieftain.

Project: 1/35 Chieftain Mk.11 Progress

A short update on the progress I'm making on this kit.

The first two pictures show the replacement upper hull glued to the Tamiya lower hull. I haven't put on the suspension units yet.



The second picture shows the model at a higher angle, showing off the Accurate Armour hull to better effect. So far I've only glued on a pair of stowage bins.



This next picture shows the turret. So far I've assembled the TOGS unit (the forwardmost component in this shot) as well as the auxiliary power unit on the turret rear, as well as a few stowage bins.



So far the kit is coming together nicely. Some of the pour stubs for the resin components were put in some pretty awkward positions. The TOGS sight in particular was a bear to seperate from its frame. Also, both of the stowage bins on the hull had a sub-surface air bubble right at the pour stub, and removing it caused a corner (on each!) to shatter. Luckily, I recovered the fragment for one and repaired it, and the other stowage bin's flaw is hidden by the hull. Nonetheless, it was a fairly painful process getting these pieces cut out.

Quick comment about assembly. Due to the weight of the parts, I'm using mostly epoxy to assemble the kit, and superglue where it doesn't really matter. For example, the TOGS sight was epoxied onto the turret, but all the stowage bins I simply used super glue.

Project: 1/35 Chieftain Mk.11

One of the great things about model building is ripping open the box and lovingly looking at the parts. It's even better when the parts in question are aftermarket, and you dream about how this will dress up a tired old model kit.

The Tamiya Chieftain Mk.5 tank is one of those. Although a decent kit from an assembly standpoint, unfortunately it is not particularly accurate for a Mk.5 Chieftain (I've heard it better represents a Mk.3, but that is academic for this discussion). This is a real shame, as I have serious doubts another company is going to revisit this subject in injected molded styrene, especially for a "modern" tank that is now out of service, and has never seen any high profile conflicts (the only ones that come to mind are Iranian Chieftains, and Kuwaiti Mk.5s during Gulf War I).

I've always loved the Chieftain; it was a real beast of a tank, and mounted a 120mm cannon during a time when most other NATO forces were still using the 105mm (or in some cases the smaller 90mm or 20lber cannon). During the 1970s it was probably, on paper, the most powerful and capable battle tank in the NATO inventory, at a time when the US Army had been gutted by the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Despite this, the British had chosen to use a multi-fuel engine in compliance with new NATO requirements (that would largely not be met again until the introduction of the US M1 Abrams). While the Leyland L60 engine offered a lot of strategic advantages, it had a large number of teething problems that directly affected reliability of the British tank. Later these reliability issues were resolved for the most part, but the bad reputation prevented the tank from getting large scale overseas purchases (mostly from Iran, Jordan, and Kuwait).

While the only game in town is the old Tamiya kit from the early '70s, Accurate Armour comes to the rescue with a number of conversion kits to accurize the Tamiya kit. For my project I chose the Mk.11 set, which is essentially a Mk.5 with improved ammo storage for APFSDS ammunition, "Stillbrew" enhanced armor package and TOGS (Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight). This was the last variant of this tank, and was used into the '90s. Accurate Armour produces the resin and photo-etch metal kit as CO27K.

One thing is evident in this kit is its sheer size and heft! It includes a complete upper hull and turret with "Stillbrew" armor modifications, as well as a large number of other parts that generally improve the detail over the Tamiya original parts. Casting is near flawless, with only a couple air bubbles, either in areas that will not be seen, or under the surface and just visible through the transparent resin. I test fitted the resin upper hull to the plastic lower and fit was near perfect, requiring only a little filing of the front lower hull.

I can't wait to start slapping this kit together!

Wrestling with a Bear, Pt. 1 Vol. I

One of the great things about building models is the sense of satisfaction one gets from completing a challenging project. Nearing completion, my M4A4 Sherman (Dragon kit #6035) is such a subject, and it turned out to be a lot more challenging than I had initially thought.

When Dragon came out with this kit back in the '90s, the market was not yet well served with Shermans, with only a few kits from Tamiya and Italeri. When Dragon came out with this kit, is was in many ways a godsend, the first time this specific model tank was done in plastic. I had built one soon after it was released (getting French markings; something more colorful than the comparatively rather subdued British version) and it builds well.

I had originally bought the kit as a response to Tasca's M4A4 series. While response to the kit has been fabulous, at between $70 to $80 for a plastic kit, it basically prices me out of the market. I bought the Dragon kit knowing its flaws for cheap, and it isn't a bad kit. That being said, the kit had a number of issues that need to be corrected, 2 of them major.

• As it is, the kit's lower hull is much too long, creating an incorrect "profile" for the tracks and requiring more links than the prototype.
• The suspension was originally from Italeri, and while a well detailed suspension for the time, it is an unlikely one as applied to the M4A4; it was of a later type using upswept return roller arms, entering production after the M4A4 manufacture ceased.

Neither of these problems are insurmountable, but does require a bit of work to correct.

I solved the suspension problem by investing in AFV Club's FV35029 M4 Sherman Vertical Volute Spring Suspension Unit, not a bad set, and a real godsend as it also includes the bolted pads the suspension units mounted to (also missing from the Dragon kit). Unfortunately the road wheels are open in the back, which I resolved by using a set of FO41 metal stamped road wheels from Formations Models. During the build process, I forgot that the hull was too long, and in the process completely destroyed the idler mounts. Easily solved by another Formations kit, FO52. The hull itself was simply cut behind the engine plate details, however it is more accurate to completely cut off the plate and move it an equal distance forward. This would require a lot of work most people would not see, so I took the easy route.

The rest of the kit was built mostly as it is out of the box. The turret contours were subtly altered to make it more like the prototype, and I replaced the cannon rotor with a spare item from Tamiya (better detail and profile) and the M34A1 rotor shield was a resin piece from an unknown source. The cannon was replaced with an aluminum item from my spares box (manufacturer unknown). All this was mounted in an altered port, lowering it slightly to make it match the profiles better.

The kit originally came with individual link tracks. However, the Sherman series used a type of track called "live" track. This style track had a property that when laid out with the track pads facing up, it would tend to curl back on itself. The purpose was to reduce the chances of a thrown track, allowing it to "grip" the idler more securely. From a modeling perspective, this means the track should have no sag.

One of the big advantages of individual links is that they make modeling track sag much easier and realistic (they mimic the actual properties of tracks, or otherwise can be manipulated to do so). That is however unneccessary on a tank with live track, so I opted to use AFV Club's flexible T-62 tracks instead, which are for the "long" body Shermans of the M4A4 series.

That's it for the build process. Next time, as I continue the series, I'll discuss painting the beast, hopefully with some pictures!

What rules to use?

So you've decided to start the rewarding hobby of miniatures wargames. Now that you have the figures, the natural question is what do I do with them? Obviously the intent is to game battles, but what rules should one use?

Depending on the period you focus on, there are a plethora of rules available currently. In many ways wargaming is in the "Silver Age" (to borrow a comics reference), with a resurgence in rulesets, quality figures and interest (as opposed to the "Golden Age" of the '60s to the '80s, when the industry was dominated by rules from Featherstone and Bath, with figures from Minifigs, Scruby and others).

I use a variety of rulesets, depending on the era I wish to play:

For Ancients (and here we'll use the "wargamer" definition and limit Ancients to the periods between 3000bc to 1500ad), I am currently enamored with (in 15mm) Might of Arms and Fields of Glory. Both use "element" basing (that is, multipe figures on a single base or element), and try not to simulate combat from a loss basis but from an effects basis (it is top-down rather than bottom-up). While I vastly prefer MoA for its "psychological" approach to armies, FoG is currently very well supported, with its own line of army books and a very slick website. Other rules that exist include De Bellis Magister Militum, De Bellis Multitudinous, De Bellis Antiqitas, and others.

For 25mm Ancients I vastly prefer Warhammer Ancient Battles. The advantages of this ruleset is that the Warhammer rules are well known outside the historicals arena (making recruitment a bit easier), the rulebooks are very well published with lots of good photos of minis, and the army books tend to be very informative besides being a simple list. In this way, the game very much is inspired by its fantasy counterpart. For someone that does not know anything about the history involved, the books can be a very good introduction to the period.

On the downside, Games Workshop recently dropped the Warhammer Historicals imprint and will be devolving game support to Forgeworld. How this will pan out no one really knows. The hope that with the new edition of the game, it will continue. However, if the game collapses due to Forgeworld's mismanagement, the game that almost single-handedly created the 25mm figure rennaisance in historicals will be a sad loss...

Finally, in the historicals arena, I tolerate Flames of War. Again, basing itself on the commercial model of the Warhammer game, Flames of War tends to be very pretty, and the rules easy to pick up. The downsides are that the game sometimes plays a-historically, and of course there is always the occasional German player with maxed out King Tigers.

On the Fantasy/SF front, I also enjoy the well known games Warhammer Fantasy Battle as well as Warhammer 40,000.

Finally, no blog of mine is complete without a plug for Battletech. A game that has been going for 25 years, and has arisen from its supposed death more popular than before, Battletech is a game that has stood the test of time. While not strictly a miniatures game, it is very well supported with a minis line, and so I include it here for that reason.

Old School Minis Rennaisance

With a plethora of minis manufacturers, both current and in the past, a D&D gamer would presumably be well served with minis to use in the game. Unfortunately, with the plastic collectable minis game still in-market, there is no official unpainted metal minis for the D&D game.

While over the years several companies have held the license (Minifigs first, then Grenadier, then Citadel, then TSR directly, then Ral Partha, and finally WotC directly) and a lot of minis have been made in that time, some are hopelessly obsolete (Minifigs), very hard to find (Citadel), or out of scale (Grenadier, first TSR line, and Ral partha) with the current ranges of figures on the market. And while the DDM collectible pre-painted miniatures are good for either casual gamers (or those that do not want to paint), they lack detail, the paint is sometimes overly thick, and cannot be stripped easily.

Otherworld miniatures burst on the scene a few years ago. Using a loophole in the OGL contract from D&D 3e era, they have been producing miniatures using the old artwork from first edition AD&D. I have a few, and in general really like them. Not only are they very well sculpted, but are dead ringers for the old AD&D artwork.

Recently, I was excited to see new releases of the venerable Hook Horror and the Owlbear (set to release on 30 September 2009). Both of these minis are very welcome; there has not been a Hook Horror on the market for decades, and the closest substitute from 3d party manufacturers is less than stellar, while the Owlbear is always welcome (again, with all 3rd party substitutes being sub-standard). While I already have the old Chainmail metal Owlbear (which is fantastic), a current and in-production version is very welcome!

The Hundred Years War: A Conundrum

Of all historical periods, perhaps my favorite is the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). This conflict between England and France was never a simple war of succession, indeed never really ending (the Kings of England only struck the French blazon from their heraldry in the 19th C). It was also characterized by tremendous changes in equipment (this was the transitional period, where knights changed from being equipped primarily with mail armor, supplemented with plates, to wholly plate armor), social change, as well as changes in recruitment and the status of the army (in England, a system of indenture -- or contract service -- while with the French Ordonnance of the mid 15th C saw the establishment of a permanent army of a sorts).

One would think there would be a lot of lines of miniatures for this period in 15mm, and you would be right. The problem is that many of them are just not that good. My two "go-to" manufacturers (Old Glory 15s and Essex Miniatures) are both problematic: Old Glory's range is of questionable accuracy, is all over the place in armor styles (remember this was a conflict that lasted over 100 years!) and generally are poorly sculpted. This is a real shame as I like OG15s a lot for other ranges (though any range can have its duds). Essex has a different problem: while sculpting is adequate, the range is all over the place, and difficult to zero into. They sell by packs in a generic "Medieval" range, and it is up to the consumer to select the figures they need. This is problematic as the figures often do not have good descriptions, and worse the website is neither fully illustrated, or often the picture link is broken.

There are a few other ranges, such as venerable Minifigs, Lancashire Games, Black Hat (ex-Gladiator), and a host of others The problems with these ranges are usually either very old (i.e. Minifigs), or just poorly sculpted (Black Hat ex-Gladiator, some of the worst figures I've ever had the displeasure to see). So the situation is that there are no really good Hundred Years War ranges on the market.

Enter Corvus Belli.

Now, I have to admit I am a huge fan of the Infinity range: anime inspired and some of the finest cast miniatures I've ever seen. For multi-part metal figures, fit was as good as a plastic kit! Amazing!

I'm less enthusiastic about their HYW figures. I had originally bought some of their 25mm figures (Bowmen specifically, now sold by Crusader), and while cleanly cast, they were not very well detailed, with little variety or interesting equipment, and had a disturbing resemblance to Gerard Depardeu. Their 15mm figures are somewhat better, however, but suffer from a bit of hypercephalism.

Here the figures pictured are the from packs Billmen Standing and Billmen Attacking. These represent the best figures of this era on the market right now, in my opinion. I find this dissappointing, especially considering all the high quality 25mm figures there are (chiefly Front Rank, Perry Miniatures, and Foundry). I bought a few packs of these, and have been laying around for some time. I'm going to go ahead and paint them, but should there ever be a good, high quality range for this period, I'll buy!

Starting Another Army...

One of the things about historical wargaming is that you can never truly be done with it. With games like Warhammer and other fantasy/sci-fi systems where the figures are very closely tied to the rules, there is only a finite number of armies you can build before you have built them all. With historicals, however, it is impossible to ever complete every army, so diverse is the field. Alone in Ancients typical rulesets span between 3000bc to 1500. Even a game like Might of Arms boast 200 unique armies.

I've been selling old toys on Ebay, and made quite a tidy sum. My financial situation right now is stable, but doesn't encourage reckless spending. Nonetheless, I just had to buy a few packs (especially since that paypal account has been burning a hole in my pocket).

One of my long-term objectives has been to build the entire Roman army through history. Roughly this translates into Early Republic (army of the Tarquinian Reforms, i.e. the classic Roman Hoplite Army approx 509bc to 280bc), Middle Republic (that of the Camillan Reforms, i.e. the 4 classes or approx 280bc to 100bc), Late Republican (i.e that of the Marian reforms or approx 100bc to 27ad), Early Imperial (approx 27ad to 200ad), Middle Imperial (200ad to 300ad) and finally Late Imperial (300ad to 476ad). Certainly a lot of work to be done...

So it was that I was recently inspired to pick up a few packs to further this goal. From Old Glory 15 I decided to pick up RR03 and RR07. After the Camillan Reforms, in which the Roman army was reorganized into the triple lines (i.e. Hastatii, Principes, and Triarii), the Hastatii were made up of the younger inductees to the legion. Equipped with a large shield called a Scutum, and armed with a sword and two throwing spears called Pila. They formed the first main line of the legion.

Nice thing about Romans is that they're nice and easy to paint. Tunic white, shield red, and bronze parts, well, bronze, and that's it. Hopefully I can get these guys into action shortly...

A beginning...

If you're a wargamer, and anything like me, then you probably have a lot of projects underway. Burnout, changing interests, and perhaps The Family can derail a project faster than a sarissa in a Persian. And thus the proverbial "lead pile" continues to grow, insuring immortality for thousands of wargamers worldwide (because you can't possibly die before all your lead is painted!).

The purpose of this blog, just like my book blog, is to catalog my minis related projects. However, this isn't a simple review. Instead it will serve as a project log, tracking progress on various projects. It is also my intention to use pictures of my projects to further track progress, and provide a painting record as well.

Most of my interest in wargaming lies with historicals; however, I do have an interest in fantasy/Sci-Fi as well, so that should feature here as well. Specifically, on the SF side, I'm a big fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game and setting. I'm also a huge fan of FASA/Fanpro/Catalyst Games Battletech game and setting. Hopefully I'll be able to feature projects from these game systems. To start things off, I've already mail ordered a bunch of knights and spearmen from both QRF/Feudal Castings, as well as a few from Black Hat (ex-Gladiator). Also I intend to pick up from the FLGS another Chaos Space Marines Bike to finish off a 1500pts World Eaters army, so watch this space!