Cartoon Wednesday

 

Sledgehammer BFG - Pin Wash

I know I need to dig up some of the missing parts but I'm moving forward with what I have. I have applied the pin wash, still needs to be cleaned up but that big step is done. After that I'll follow up with some chipping in a couple of different colors.

World War II Project - STuG III Pin Wash - Complete!

Finally have finished off the pin wash on the STuG fleet. Now I can move on to something a bit more interesting; chipping!

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Sledgehammer BFG - Back to the bench

This bad boy has been sitting for at least 18 months on the back burner. Since it looks like ReaperCon 2021 might really happen I figured I better pull it out and get started so it has a chance of being ready for Labor Day weekend (Sep 2-5).

While I was fairly happy with the initial airbrush work at the time I am decidedly unhappy with it now. So back to the airbrush for some camo work. I essentially change the color of green I used and widen all the green and brown stripes so the dark yellow wasn't so glaring. I also cleaned up all the bad spots from the previous airbrush work. Which goes back to do it right the first time and you won't have to come back to it.

After looking at the pictures I realized that the crane is missing. I need to find out it and do a little work on that as well especially since I switched out the green!

The camo that was completed 18 months ago (or there about). The bright light over the airbrush booth tends to wash the colors out a bit.

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A new shade of green

Widening the brown stripes

At the end of the airbrush session. Note the missing crane which seems to have wandered off on its own.

This session's colors. I may need to put in a paint order soon.

World War II Project - STuG III Pin Wash - Vehicle #211

 Found some time to at least get started on the third STuG. This is really dragging out but things just keep cropping up and taking me away from the painting desk. As it stands the pin wash on this STuG is still not finished. All the initial lining work is done but the clean up is only about 1/3 done. So it continues to sit on the desk.

This is a reminder to myself to apply the wash neatly. Sloppy application requires more time to clean up and time is a precious commodity.

My brush selection for most of my weathering work. Lots of nylon and taklon and couple of poor (and double ended) kolinsky sables (those are from the Games & Gears Kickstarter, worst kolinsky brushes I have ever bought).

Today's wash of choice, Dark Wash from Ammo by Mig

An unsung hero my Badger paint mixer, which I can only use in wide mouth jars which is a shame.

Sloppy application of the wash leads to a lot of time spent cleaning it up. Be neat the first time!

Kickstarter Rewards - Tiny Epic Pirates from Gamelyn Games

 I received my copy of "Tiny Epic Pirates" along with ghostly expansion "Curse of Amdiak" yesterday. Another on time Kickstarter from Gamelyn Games. Obviously we are dealing with a Pirate theme here. The basic goal is to bury three treasures to win. The map is made up of "terrain" cards and will be different every time.

I opted for the All-In Deluxe version and it hit all the upgrades so for Kickstarter supporters you get a lot of cool upgrades of the components starting with the box. The deluxe content includes the Crimson Silver Expansion adds floating fortresses and silver as a resource, as well as the files to print and play and the Curse of Amdiak expansion. The Curse expansion was also available as an add on.

I have yet to be disappointed with anything I have received from a Gamelyn Games Kickstarter. Happy enough that I jumped on their latest Kickstarter "Tiny Epic Dungeons" before my copy of Pirates arrived.

Here is a quick look at what you get in the deluxe edition:

Two small boxes, really saves on the shelf space

Back of the box for Tiny Epic Pirates

A ton of loot, note the art work in the inside of the box top.

The plastic ships, unfortunately I'm missing a mast for the orange ship and I apparently forgot to put all three masts on the white navy ship.

Wooden tokens for everything!

A look at the captains and their crew

All the big cards; helm "mats" Legend "mats", the map cards and the market card

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The Crimson Silver Mini Expansion

The rulebook

Before I started taking things out it all fit in the box, now the box doesn't quite close!

The "Curse of Amdiak" ghostly expansion.

Napoleonic Rules - Lasalle 1st Edition vs 2nd Edition

 

I was going to do a comparison between the 1st Edition (The hardback in the picture) and the 2nd Edition (smaller softback) of Lasalle. I have gone through both editions at this point and I actually find very little to compare. While some of the basic concepts are the same, like the use of base widths (BW) for measurement. these two editions are very much two different animals. 2nd Edition isn't a simple revision of 1st Edition, it is a complete breakdown and re-thinking of the concepts and ideas introduced back in 2009. 2nd Edition is more rules "heavy" in that the book is dedicated to the rules themselves. The army maker (I would call them army lists) is available as a free download on the Honour Publishing website so it doesn't take up space in the rule book. I would call that a bonus as it allowed Mr Mustafa to keep the rule book as slim as possible and to update the army maker as needed.

I don't know when I will have an opportunity to try these out, my Napoleonics are sitting in a box somewhere in a room full of boxes. I'm especially curious to see the Momentum concept in action. I have other rule sets that use a similar concept but not quite the way its presented in 2nd Edition Lasalle. I do have one beef with the rules as presented, and this is not unique to this new edition of Lasalle, basing. 2nd Edition basically says that as long as both opposing armies are using the same basing then there is no need to rebase, great! Who wants to rebase? My issue is that if I were new to Napoleonics and I'm getting ready to build my army I have no guidance on how to base them, in fact I would almost have to buy another set of rules in order to base my troops. It seems to me, that based on a graphic that shows the actual ruler measurement for a BW, that Sam knows exactly how he would like to see troops based simply based on that graphic and the rest of the fabulous graphics in the book. I think spending one page and giving a suggestion on how to base would have been appropriate. In the end its one of those little nit pick things that just bothers me. Personally, I still have a good number of troops that are mounted for Napoleon's Battles, I'm simply going to take two stands from that system to represent a single stand in Lasalle, problem solved.

From a production standpoint this is a beautiful book, lots of graphics, illustrations and pictures. The binding seems sound, unlike the issues with the 1st Edition binding which tended to give up the ghost rather quickly. It "reads" better than the 1st Edition and I think the organization of the rules is much better. It is broken into two sections; basic rules and advanced rules. It feels like you get a really good game with the just the basic rules, the advanced rules add a little more meat and flavor and you can add which ever ones you want, you don't need to do it all!

From my standpoint, it looks great, reads well and I think it will provide a good game. Hopefully I'll be able to at least get some troops on the table and give it a go solo. I do feel motivated to go dig out by British troops and maybe get those Portuguese allies painted right now.

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Phoebe in her element - Snow!

We had a pretty good sized snow storm over the weekend. Although we didn't even close to what they were predicting. Its hard to tell exactly how much snow fell, I would guess somewhere between 14-18" total. With the way the wind was blowing and drifting the snow it is hard to tell. Of course none of this bothered Phoebe. If we had let her she would have just stayed outside through the whole storm. A Pyr in her favorite element!

A little camera shy

You call this deep? Well not at that spot, maybe 6-8" where she is standing.

That is a rather large tongue. A bribery shot if I ever saw one.

Cartoon Wednesday

 

World War II Project - STuG III Pin Wash - Continues

Just a quick  look at the two STuGs with their pin washes finished as compared to the other two. The pin wash really heightens the contrast and the clean up helps darken up the exterior colors a bit.