Eagle still scream..

More photos of my Screaming Eagles..
Not much better, but some are more detailed

What eagle scream ?? Eagle scream - What a shitty photos you idiot !

This is my entry in Forum Strategies Modelling competition. Squad from 506 Regiment of 101 Airborne Division. Normandy. I painted them little unit insignia, i painted them drop codes, i even painted each one a stars and stripes on the right arm, but i miserably failed at photographing them..

They will form half of my Normandy (and 1/3 of my Market garden) of my parachute platoon for Chain of Command.

Curraheeee

Christmas looting - Pirates !

A surprising gift!! (As a rule I don't get miniatures from Santa to not annaoy my mother and mother in law :)
But this year  Ive got GW miniature I like most from this year releases.
Plastic Black Arc Fleetmaster !!
Beauty ! (I like most of the plastic characters - best line from GW in years, and I habe most of them in some distant plans (strangely more from WFB) to be converted into some 40K characters.

Here we have great Dark Eldar leader.. or bad Ass Eldar pirate, or even old school Eldar mercenary. I liked the miniature so conversion was minimalistic-hardly visible except the gun)  Leg exchange for Dire Avenger ones (i hated his sabre leg - silly idea !) and strange weapon swapped for a Splinter pistol (I love large and long wild west revolver looks of those!)
So behold menacing presence of Pirate prince. This guy is menacing - its hard to do in miniature, especialy plastic but he IS..!! Those miniatures are getting better and better and have lot of character, especially when one remembers bland old plastics.. But this guy is special in this regard. He is simply bad ass.. I was worried by his height but he blends well with other miniatures.

Now i just have to make him pirate crew :)

Over the catnip fields PMC 2640

I had a chance to play a game of PMC 2640 (by Assault publishing)

We played a little ad hoc scenario in witch evil Space Zionists interpenetrated border of Babutiland in a raid to destroy narco-producing fields of catnip (local equivalent of Coca) thats finance rebel splinter faction of kamrade Miao – rebel cat commies.

Proud communist cat rebels finance their operations by growing catnip – powerful drug mostly smuggled offworld but some is dealt into local colonies and into system mining facilities on the Bulandas numerous moons.

4x4 battlefield of Catnip fields and bush

We played transborder raid of 42 Colonial division security task force into bush in seek and destroy operation. Target was catnip plantation near Kobango. Mission of Collonials was burning of 4 fields of Catnip defended by the rebel militia and forces of Cat Rebels. As it was found to a grim surprise of federal soldiers a unit of elite Serpensis infiltrators were present and trap was set.

Dots near unit are their point-thing value

In the bloody affair Federal forces were heavily pounded and conceded a game without burning any fields ! Total victory for Comendante Miao and his sidekick Telamon the Dachshund.

(In a test we run to check wherever federal side could score a draw it was found that Federal commander (GRZ) conceded to early )

Federal forces procedes

Commencing attack

And failing

trap is unfolding

And closes

Generally i liked the rules (although I prefer systems where there is c and c mechanism which is lacking in PMC) although i had some doubts about game balance that needs more looking into. Game is apparently built as combined warfare game (and some units works like rock-paper-scisors so we did not have full scope of the gameplay with infantry only present.

But apart from that its quite simple and interesting little system well worth checking.

Photos are courtesy of Sarmor.

PS: first time when my Sci-fi 15s played as they are intended and not as proxies (well mostly  :) 

Way to go !

Hector

And now for something different.. Hector DD221
I haven't painted any starship for an almost decade, but had Mauridian fleet lying around since then. I wanted to do something different so here he comes !

Dirty hands of the Jasmine Throne: Alien Foreign Legion 1

I finished (apart from grass on the bases but that will await for whole unit) first team of my beautiful jasmine Throne Foreign Battalion JTFB from Khurasan miniatures. Each guy is different species of strange and bizarre aliens that share same Armour (fitted to his physiology) and weapons of Jasmine Throne Army.
They are dirty hands of the Queen acting as gentle reminder of her far menacing presence or a sledgehammer for those who dare to forget !!

Models are beautiful. My photos  don't do them justice !. I opted for strange, alien  camouflage (earned some tricks while painting SS blouses) which masks their armor detail to some extent but looks quite striking in comparison to their colorful bodies :)

Second part of the first squad  is being painted as we speak.. Petal throne build up on Bulanda is imminent !!

Lazy terrain - Sandbags

Earlier this year Ive been visiting my friend Umpapa home and I managed to see many interesting ideas and he uses in his painting and terrain (amount of his terrain is insane !) But one thing struck me as elegant and simple method of action i could easily replicate in my 15 mm gaming. The ubiquitous sandbags.
We wrześniu udało mi się odwiedzić szczeciński loch Umpapy na końcu świata. Jestem pod wrażeniem ilości i jakości modelarskiego dobra które zgromadził i zbudował. Zawsze w poszukiwaniu patentów zainteresowałem się jego prosta w jednocześnie wierną metodą produkcji tanich i szybkich worków z piaskiem. Produkował je w 1:72 ale metoda łatwo daje się przeszczepić na grunt moich 15 stek.


As it happens there is a way to make them simple an yet good looking. So here is my take on Umpapa - Stetin style Sandbags: The Tutorial.
Sandbags ingridients: You need modeling clay (not to sticky), hobby knife and clay sculpting tool (quite soft) piece of nice linen fabric.
Oto więc prosta i szybka metoda na produkcję realistycznych worków z piaskiem szkoły szczecińskiej Umpapa Style.
Składniki: Termoutwardzalna glinka modelarska z empiku, nożyk modelarski, narzędzie do rzeźbienia gliny i GSu oraz kawałek lnianej tkaniny - w moim przypadku była to koszula.

Cheap modeling clay (for heating) - any kind should be Ok. 

 Step 1
You have to form your clay in round strips of needed size. I was using size that i considered good looking than really measure. Single sandbag measure 7 by 4 mm this looks OK for 15mm.
Then you have to press them in a controlled fashion for a nice baggy shape.
Next step requires stamping shaped clay with a pattern from linen. You should gently press linen fabric onto clay from the top and sides. Its important for clay to be not very sticky and stay on the table and not on the fabric. The bigger you want your sandbags the more visible pattern is preferred. In 15 mm it should be probably smooth byt fabric pattern make them look more cool and real.

W pierwszym kroku musisz wykonać zestaw podłużnych rolek glinki. Które musisz ugnieść kształt workowaty (albo spłaszczony grzbieto-brzusznie :)  Dobrałem rozmiar na oko by wyglądał dobrze z 15 mm modelami (worki mają mniej około 7 na 4 mm).Następnie musisz odcisnąć dokłądnie fakturę z materiału  z góry i z boków rolek. Glinka powinna być niezbyt lepka by pozostała na stole a nie na koszuli.. Im większe skalowo worki tym faktura powinna być lepiej widoczna. W zasadzie w 1:100 worki powinny być gładkie ale delikatnie tkana koszula sprawia, że wyglądają naturalnie.

Step 2
You just have to make bags in stamped  stripe of clay. We don't want to cut it (unless you want to make your sandbags from scratch or you need finishing singles so we use blunt part of the hobby knife. Its sharp enough to do the job but should not cut through. You might make knife wet first but that depends on your clay - on some kinds it  reduces sticking to the blade but with my clay it make this worse so I did not do it.

Następnie należy ponacinać zafakturowane paski w kształt worków. To czym tniemy powinno być dość cienkie ale niezbyt ostre. idealna jest niezaostrzona krawędź nożyka modelarskiego. (W zależności od glinki możecie zwilżyć nożyk jeśli to sprawi, że nie będzie ona przylegać, ale w przypadku niektórych glinek nawilżenie wzmacnia lepkość !)



Step 3
You put layers of produced sandbaggy stripes onto one another and stick them together with clay shaping tool (mine are made from silicone) and try to make them natural Its good to have few single bags or cut some stripes in random places to make them feel hastily laid.
Na koniec układamy paski jeden na drugim, dobrze dodać kilka luźnych worków zwłaszcza na górze bu nie były idealnie równe.

Step 4 - bake the clay (or wait it cures - depend on material used). And then paint them. I used base from ice cream stick. Potem pieczemy glinkę lub czekamy aż zaschnie i malujemy - ja zastosowałem jeszcze podstawkę z patyczka po lodzie

Step 5 : Profit ! Voila: Gotowy szybki teren 

Tip: If one 5 layered set takes you more than 15 minutes to be ready for baking  you are doing something wrong :)