Having worked on my Russian, Turkish and "imagi-nation" fleets in 1/1200 from the 1870s and 1880s last year I thought I could do with some "flatiron" gunboats. Looking through Thingiverse I found a file for HMAS Protector which, although oversized for what I wanted, formed an ideal basis. I needed up the gun barrels, replaced the funnel with something better looking and revealed to give a small and medium sized generic boat that looks OK. I could do with some civilian ships as well, but removing the guns from some of the auxiliary steamers I have already should make that an easy job.
Don't Throw Bloody Spears At Me!
An irregularly updated blog whose purpose is to chronicle the development of my various wargaming projects, but primarily my foray into the joys of colonial wargaming set in the Sudan
Friday, 8 January 2021
Wednesday, 6 January 2021
Tuesday, 5 January 2021
BSG - The Blackbird
Alas "Battlestar Galactica - Starship Battles" is coming to an end as Ares has lost the licence to produce it. But the online discussion surrounding this has prompted a bit of 3D model building. Today I was pointed towards an STL for the "Blackbird" home-made stealth Viper that features in a few episodes of the reimagined series. It's just popped out of the printer and looks good. During tonight, paint job tomorrow along with a few more ships from The Expanse.
If anyone wants to try this themselves the model is by nic3pu and can be found on Thingiverse:
Blackbird by nic3pu - Thingiverse
Sunday, 3 January 2021
Ships of "The Expanse!
Many readers will be aware that I'm a BIG fan of "The Expanse", and that I have played Full Thrust foe decades. So it should be no surprise that I've wanted to add a few ships from the TV series to my FT fleets. I've got a load of old Halo models which look the part, but there are also a few 3D models online that cover actual ships n the series. In a brief window of opportunity before the printer has to go into hibernation again I flapped off a couple of UN Truman class battleships and an MCRN Scipio Africanus (which I think I should have printed smaller, but hey-ho).
I'd love to get these painted up but its way to cold in my "study" just now.
Friday, 1 January 2021
The Plan - 2021
Welcome 2021. I wonder what you have in store for us? So here's my thoughts on DM's plan for the year. Past experience will show that only a modicum will get done and that other stuff will come in from left field, but its a start:
Models
15mm Burma - having got the vehicles and artillery sorted out last year I will do the same with the infantry. Rules are still a problem, but I might just adapt the rules I have for 10mm Vietnam as they should work with a few tweaks.
AK47 - I will rebase the AK47 army I bought from Mike Slack many years ago. This was a pretty big haul of figures which I put on AK47 sized bases but never finished off. Some repaint and detailing also needed
10mm Vietnam - a hold over from last year, the Pendraken figures are on the bookcase shaming me every time I look at them. And its their 2nd anniversary in April.
ACW Naval 1/1200 - I have a load of riverine craft that i need to base and a couple of Union frigates to finish. I'd also like to build up my supply of riverside terrain such as buildings, wharves etc.
Sci Fi subs - tied in wit the rules below I want to expand the number of non-Stingray sci fi subs that I have on hand. I printed a few last year, just need to finish them off.
Other than that there are lots of “Odds and Sods” that I want to finish off, including making use of the the various ancient/medieval odds
to make generic “rabble” bases and a Mahdi command stand for my Sudan campaign. I have a feeling might also knock up a couple of new Full Thrust fleets in an "Expanse" style (there are a few 3D models that look OK and I have some old Halo models that also have the right look about them) - but thats definitely a side project.
Rules
Napoleonic fleet action. I've had "Far Distant Ships" finished for about a year, at last the rules themselves. They need to have "proper words" written around them. I may also look at a Crimean “bridging”
set to cover the gap between these and "Broadside and Ram". Once that's dome I'll just about have a complete set from ancients to the end of WW2 (if the fleet action set works well for the late 1500s to mid 1700s - I may need to work on that as well).
Narrow Sea - I will sort out the campaign system. Again, notes and the basis system are done, what will take the effort is the theatre specific tables and maps/charts that will provide the detail.
I will try to get my campaign for the War of the Triple Alliance finished. Lots of notes done, campaign system nearly there, the (very linear, given its a riverine campaign) map is there in rough note form. When its done this will work with "Dahlgren and Columbiad" but should be OK for just about any ironclad set.
Sci Fi Subs - with "Incredible Voyages" finished I will look to work the system back to its roots in future science fiction rather than Victorian. This will be a generic sci fi approach with background (but when its done there will, of course, be an unofficial "Stingray" variant as well).
Project X - to be honest this is done and dusted. I'm just waiting on a manufacturer to start producing the models which should have started last Summer but which was stopped in its tracks by covid. Details soon (I hope!)
Thats quite a lot I've put on my slop chit - I reckon of I get 2/3 of those done I'll be happy. Bring on 2021!!
Thursday, 31 December 2020
2020 - The Plan in Review
So, here goes:
1) 10mm Vietnam - I have a load of new Pendraken figures to replace the older types I've had for a couple of decades. So #1 on the plan is to sort out the new figures, fix the various bits of broken terrain that I have and then make sure my rules are fit to use.
No progress on this at all, apart from working on some Swift boats, PBRs and aircraft thanks to Nick Hewitt asking me to 3D print a few for him. I guess I also got to renovate a whole load of old riverine landing craft and monitors that I've had in a box for a decade or so, but nothing happened as far as the replacement figures were concerned. The rules I'm using look ok so probably no need to work on them anyway.
2) 15mm Winter Skirmish and 20mm Burma Skirmish. Yes, I WILL get these sorted and ready to play. Rules need to be decided upon (fast and fun, not too serious), I may just end up writing my own for quick games at Berkeley Vale. That or heavily modify Bolt Action.
These came on really well, at least the Victorian version has. With luck these will hit the streets very, very soon. I knocked up a good selection of models for submarines, sea bases, seabed crawlers and divers, again via the 3D printer. Good work here :)
4) WW2 coastal forces - I have a horde of new boats painted up as a result of getting this blasted 3D printer, so a major task will be to get them properly based. Then more games, especially some Pacific theatre ones. This will hopefully get me in a position to finalise my "Narrow Seas" campaign system as well.
The campaign system develops slowly, but the models are coming on well. I based up most of the printer "back log" - then went and developed a load of new models which then also needed to be based and painted. Pride of place I think has to go to the Finnish coastal battleship Ilmarinen, a ship I've wanted to have in my collection for many years. Another 3D print that came out well. I also worked on Finnish MTBs, Russian and Axis craft for Lake Ladoga, RN MTBs in Hong Kong and a small set of WW1 British CMBs and German LM boats (along with a couple of RN monitors and a German coastal defence battleship) so I can extend "Narrow Seas" back to the Great War.
Friday, 23 October 2020
Ten Years On
Today is the tenth anniversary of my first blog post (As well as my birthday). I was planning to put up a long retrospective looking back over the decade, but alas I've not had time to put something together. And that has been something of a theme as far as the blog itself is concerned - lots of good wargamy stuff happening here (I've painted over 200 Peter Pig AK47 and Vietnam figures in the last week or so - figures that have been languishing in the lead pile for longer than this blog has existed) but I don't seem to be getting time to record my various successes here. I will try to do better :)
For now though I'd like to that everyone who has encouraged me to do this, from Steve Blease back in 2010 who recommended blogging as a way to increase motivation, to all of you who have taken the time to comment on my various ramblings here. I do appreciate your interest and I hope to be able to get you more interesting things to read in the future.
For now I'll end with a few photos of things I
have managed to paint up recently and take snaps of.