Recent Hobbying

 Things have quiet on the old blog lately - I really haven't had tons to blog about. I've been working on some paper buildings over the last week or so. I shrunk them to 1/72 scale and had them printer on 110# cardstock up at Staples. They've turned out nicely and will provide a nice change of pace for my WW2 gaming which tends to be rather rural.

Not bad for $4 (pdfs) + $18 (printing) + labor. Easier than scratch-building and painting, that's for sure. The low building's got rather dubious door positions if you select doors on both a long and short side! The buildings with support columns we reinforced with a length of 1/8 inch wooden dowel inside the support to provide some real strength.

I'm working on some new fighters to accompany these ruins.

Caesar Miniatures WW2 Partisans. By a wide margin some of the best 1/72 plastics I've come across. Solid castings, no flash, no sprues. Only downside was there were five decidedly civilian models in the box, but that's peanuts. They've got some reinforcements on the way, particularly some heavier weapons to deal with Wehrmacht armor that will no doubt be present. 

I'm thinking of using Forcce on Force rather than my usual Rate of Fire with these guys, given the asymmetrical nature of their fighting against the German occupying forces. Force on Force is perfect for these sorts of engagements.

Of, we drive down to Jacksonville on Thursday evening to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Amazing as ever and if you have the chance, it's well worth attending.

Rock on.

Standing the Test of Time

I wanted to pick up a few Italian Renaissance "flavor" buildings for the 1/72 plastic troops and has trouble finding anything I was terribly happy with. Either the cost was too high or the models just didn't have the right "it" factor. I started perusing Wargame Vault for paper buildings and found quite a few suitable candidates. Just a few bucks and less than 24 hours later, I had them printed off at Staples on heavy cardstock. The PDFs were scaled down to 65% to be scaled for 20mm.

I've only put two of them together so far, but I'm quite happy with how they've come out. The trick is NOT rushing anything. I've mounted both on foam.

I implanted pennies in the foam bases to provide a bit of stability with a low center of gravity.

Magically, the bottle of glue fit perfectly in the tower, holding the base flaps secure while the glue set. 

Et voila! A completed tower and carriage house. A first go of Swordpoint may occur tomorrow and it should look a bit more period-appropriate with these inexpensive additions.