Just an update

I finished the Reaper Bones reclamation project a week or so ago. I ordered some 30mm bases to match the rest of the collection.

The crimson guy on the right, the guy with the minigun and the flamethrower guy had previously been "painted" by my son a few years ago. A little Simple Green and a quick paint job to match the rest and job's done. The crimson guy has 10 squadmates of similar design and the same colors not pictured.

I also had an order arrive yesterday. Along with those 30mm bases, I got these:

They were a good price on The War Store and will make fine additions to my Litumsian Imagi-nations.


Ziggy and I are going to play Dystopian Wars Fleet Action this afternoon. My Eclipse Company will have a go at the Britannians. I'm really looking forward to it.

Welcome to the Jungle - AK47 Republic AAR

30 September

MCC forces attacked government troops near Lumbasa. The insurgents had heavy tanks and armored vehicles supporting a large contingent of infantry. 

WPA deployment. The insurgent commander ponders.

The MCC forces appear from the south. Tanks and infantry look lined up to take the village and bridges, while the vehicle squadron seems to have the boat ramp in its sights.

WPA tanks move to hide from the enemy tanks. The MCC infantry swarms through the village.

By the lake, Johnson's troops hide from the vehicle squadron that has just burst onto the scene.

Insurgent reinforcements arrive! A large group of infantry appear from an uncovered corner of the battlefield.

Litumsian Autoroute 17 becomes the scene of quite a firefight between the tanks and infantry of both factions!

Disaster! The rebels capture the boat ramp. They'll have access to all the best fishing spots on the lake!

But just then, one of the armored cars erupts in a gout of flame!

Cannon fire from the PT-76es across the lake smashes into the MCC vehicles, caught unawares. Two of the armored cars are wrecked in no time.

The rest of the squadron pulls back, but keeps their barrels trained on the woods, knowing the WPA troops are in there.

Quite a turn of events as the Lion Cadre on the bridge decide they've had enough and quit the field. Between the tanks, heavy machineguns and a lucky artillery bombardment, they took quite a beating in a very short span of time.

The WPA troops in the woods make a dash to the dock to reclaim the objective. The gunners in the vehicle squadron exact some revenge, gunning down the exposed infantry.

Reinforcements finally arrive! Two truckloads of infantry heading up the road to the President for Life Johnson Memorial Bridge Number 87.

The PT-76es good fortune continue as they take out both a recoilless-armed jeep and the M163. The remaining armored car would end up fleeing.

The MCC reinforcements take over bridge 87 and prepare to fight off the freshly-arrive WPA troops. Their arrival freed up the rebels tanks to deal with the government tanks.

Hardly Kursk, but a glorious tank battle nonetheless! The PT-76es completely dominate the Pattons, a victory owed in no small part to "Extra Determination" earned in the previous turn.

The battle ended - it was a stunning win for the defending Worker's Party Army of President for Life Johnson. The Militia Campaign for the New Congress slunk back into the woods to strategize for the next battle. 

We could get all high and mighty about not blaming dice and all that bullshit, but my wife's dice rolls were miserable compared to mine. I failed exactly four morale tests all game. If you've ever played AK47R, you know that's pretty great. I never really felt as though I had the upper hand until the very end. Her tanks kept me worried most of the battle - I was fortunate that they were stuck babysitting the bridge objective waiting for the slowpoke reinforcements to arrive.

A very enjoyable evening of gaming with my best gal. Oh, and for those of you keeping track, this is the first time I've beaten her in a game of AK47 Republic.

Ryushi - Firestorm Armada Winds Down

I am disappointed about Firestorm Armada going out of production. The models were/are top-notch. I mentioned a month ago that I'd ordered a starter box of Ryushi ships the day Spartan announced they'd closed up shop. I finished them today.

A carrier, four cruisers and six corvettes. 

A different angle of the smaller ships.

And the carrier.

It's a color scheme to be proud of - a little bit Joker-mobile for sure but I like it. I'll have to let them get out and take a spin using the Firestorm Taskforce rules.

I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

I ordered some cheap coconut palms on Amazon the other day. I think I done good! For the princely sum of $18 and change, I got 45 trees ranging from 5" to 2.25" tall, measuring the trunks. In all fairness, I did have a $5.00 Amazon credit, but still, $23 would have been very much worth it. So, what are they like? I've got pics.

 Bagged. Nothing fancy at all.

The contents of one bag. Three each of five different sizes.

The ends have spikes. I imagine these will be useless to many of you; the trees will be severely top-heavy and the little peg won't hold well at all. I'll lop mine off and employ hot glue or Gorilla glue.

So, how do they stack up against miniatures? I've got pics of each size tree with a 32mm trooper, a 25mm cowboy (half painted by my son), a 20mm (1/72) German, and a 15mm elf.

The 5 inch tree

 4.25 inch

3.25 inch

2.5 inch

2.25 inch

They'll all be useful - the big ones are way too large for the 15mm figures for sure, but all will be useful with larger scale minis. The tan trunks aren't terribly appealing, but given the price, I'm fine with it. If you're interested, you can find them here. I'm not on their payroll 😁I just thought they were a really good value.

Some Bones

I picked up some Bones minis over the weekend and they churned they had a remarkably short stay in the painting queue.

They are IMEF sci-fi troopers and will look nice alongside the NovaCorp guys I already have. I think I have some more of these guys floating around that my son vandalized once upon a time. I think I'm going to try to find them and paint them up to match. I do need to pick up some 30mm bases for these guys - the molded-in bases are a bit weedy.

Re-Forestation 2: The Jungling

I cranked out another 17 clumps of jungle foliage this morning. They're just re-purposed aquarium scenery of course, but they sure do get the job done! This makes 43 jungle foliage clumps I've added to my collection this year! I had close to 70 prior. I've got some tall plants too that I'll finish up one of these days. I think they'll need to be wired to stand up properly.

The ones on the left are simple single-piece things - hot glued to a wooden disc, then some flock on the base. The eleven on the right are two-part affairs made from these two pieces:

I glued the bit with the long leaves first, and a few minutes later added the middle bit. It certainly creates a more interesting looking thing. The hot glue had the added benefit of "encouraging" the long leaves to spread out instead of just sticking straight up.

I have been doing a bit of painting this weekend too.

What may be my last ever Spartan purchase - the Ryushi have made it into the painting queue.So far just white primer, black magic wash and a white drybrush. Colors are next!

Post Irma

Savannah was fortunate to escape Irma's wrath. Very little damage, all things considered, especially compared to Florida. My mom's house got flooded at high tide on Monday as the storm surge pushed in at the same time.

The street to her house. Note the hydrant and mailbox. She got about 3-4 inches of water inside the bottom floor which is really just a garage and work shop. My dad's old office and a guest room had their carpets wrecked, but nothing tragic at all. It was fascinating to see all the insects swimming and climbing for their lives.

We're pretty well back to normal now, I hope to get in some gaming this weekend. Be well!

Nothin' Quite Like It

Like an evacuation, that is. Being that my county is under mandatory evacuation, it's been a pretty lazy weekend here at the casa. I got some painting knocked out yesterday and this morning - some more Malifaux minis this time.

They're from the Open Graves box - some punk zombies, necromancer, a grave digger-upper and a fun vulture. The flying stand was my addition. Sorry the pics a bit fuzzy. Maybe I'll do some others when the weather outside improves. It's overcast with sporadic drizzle right now. It should heat up quite a bit tonight.

I took out the ASLSK this afternoon and played some solo Squad Leader.

It was Bersaglieri (the gray counters) vs some very well-trained Greeks. The Italians attacked and were trying to push the Greeks out of the village.

The Italians failed to capitalize on this situation.

But then shifted their attack and were able to pull off an assault to clear this building. Avanti!

After another turn or two, the Greeks were well-contained and would continue to be hammered. Call it an Italian victory.

ASL was a nice way to kill time on a Sunday afternoon. We need to play more often and this was a good rules refresher.

Minor Painting Update and an Unearthly Announcement

They sat for months, but yesterday I finished off a couple of Firestorm Armada ships. The models went OOP well over a year ago when Spartan revamped the Terquai line. Since I already had a couple, when I found another blister for sale I couldn't pass it up. These are Terquai Torpedo Cruisers.

I like how the different patterns on the side bits turned out. I've always wondered if the side bits are supposed to be retractable because on the finished models it appears that they are extended away from the ship's body. The massive rear engine and pipes just begged to be done up like a car engine.

These two join their two sister ships in my Alliance of Kurak fleet:

It looks like we're going to be spared the major part of Irma's wrath here in Savannah. Although we're expecting some trouble, it'll be nothing like we expected two days ago. David and I may get in a game today, not sure what though. Be well and good gaming!

 Oh... yesterday the Visitor of the Beast hit my blog. 

In honor of that...

Cheesy video, awesome song.