October 2021 review
Halloween is over and we've reached November. In this month, we've covered the Nexus Syphon and plastic Gunfighters as reviews.
Beyond that, I've been taking further care of my stock and preparing articles. A few things that I scanned, along with getting rid of boxes and packaging. On top of that, I am working on a motorpool article - similar to the US American post - covering the British in North Africa. I have prepared some Rubicon kits, on which I will go in detail this month (they're already built, the pictures are taken, just missing the text). I picked up the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 build again, as well as another captured vehicle for either the British or Germans in North Africa.
Twelve months, 20,- Euro Part 10
Didn't I say I'd be painting more in October? Well, it worked out well this time, as I unexpectedly had a bit more time than I originally thought. So I finally managed to finish painting the regiment of mercenaries that I had started so long ago.
Diamachos' mercenary squad is thus complete and brings a coherent picture to the table. From left to right: Glaukos, Patrobos and Sfairon, the experienced peltasts in the posse. Then Diamachos, the fearless leader, and Dromeas, the young and yet inexperienced newcomer among them.
Great Escape Games – Dead Man’s Hand Plastic Gunfighters
Great Escape Games, the company behind Dead Man's Hand, released a plastic set of Gunfighters earlier this year. They sent over a sprue of these and we're going to cover it today.
Dead Man's Hand is not the only game they carry, beyond the Western skirmish, Great Escape Games has a broad variety of rulesets, like the world war 2 platoon sized Rules of Engagement, 1920's gang fights in The Chicago Way or Clash of Empires, a mass-combat rule sets that covers the Ancient to Medieval era. Most of these games are not only supported with rules and supplements, but miniatures as well and in the case of Dead Man's Hand they released this new set of plastic gunfighters. Two sprues per box at 15 GBP.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realmscape Nexus Syphon
Among the Realmscape terrain kits released along with the new Age of Sigmar edition, is the Nexus Syphon. It is either part of the Extremis boxed set or available individually.
The overall design of the new Age of Sigmar 3.0 terrain was moved from ruins of battle, towards new towns and outposts under construction, rebuilding and forging new settlements. The Nexus Syphon, a magical construct to channel the energy from the realms to power and protect these newly founded colonies of the Dawnbringer Crusades.
Twelve months, 20,- Euro Part 9
Slowly the warm time of the year, and with it the hobby summer hole, is coming to an end. In fact, with falling temperatures, I have begun to pick up speed again. The children sleep much better when it's not that hot, and occasionally I get an evening out of it too. So I have, despite a long dragged along flu, finally painted something up again:
September 2021 review
Sum up comes a bit early, but as I'm on vacation from today on, that's how it is going to be.
I am heading back to Northern Spain, for some family time. Last trip to Cantabria was 2016, and I covered Covadonga, MUPAC - Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria among others while I was there. This time will be more R&R, but I still hope to cover things like Castillo de Argueso, Corrales de Buelna and Comillas.
US Motorpool – Part II
I got around to build the transporters for my late war US Americans. The latest addition were these kits, build around the half tracks and a "heavier Jeep" if you want.
As Tabletopper.nl carries Empress Miniatures as well, I got myself some matching crew for the kits. I'm not a huge fan of the infantry by Rubicon, they are to slender for my taste and with the option to get some Paul Hicks sculpted minis, the choice for me was easy. Going with the Empress codes. As you can see, they fit very well with the plastic kits and are not just generic drivers, but wearing the matching winter gear.
Blood Bowl in the Empire
Picking up Dino's Idea on the Blood Bowl team names, I did a bit of fluff crafting with a short list of team names below, that make sense - at least for me - from a Empire fluff point of view.
GenCon 2021 Previews by Games Workshop
With the new way of communication, Games Workshop is more open on their previews. Along with the limitations of participating on shows, they opened up even more and do quite broad coverage on their Warhammer Community page.
Earlier last week, there was a preview, that we would see some new announcements on GenCon. For those of you not familiar with GenCon, it is the largest tabletop game (not just tabletop wargames, but any kind of game played upon a tabletop including related things like cosplay, video games and so on) event in North America. Comparable to the SPIEL in Germany, but in a much more professional, user-centred way.
Games Workshop just posted the logos of the systems that would be covered, Warhammer 40,000, Blood Bowl, WarCry, Warhammer Underworlds, Necromunda and Kill Team.
US Motorpool – Part I
As mentioned in my reducing the stock and moving posts, I cut down on open projects. This affected among other projects Bolt Action. I merged some off the themed armies and sold the surplus, especially the vehicles.
I made a mindmap for the projects that will stay. And the Bolt Action armies, which will be set up in a way to be able to put to use in other systems as well, for example like Battlegroup, are:
Late War - Winter of 1944/45
- Germans (Ardennenoffensive / Wacht am Rhein, Unternehmen Greif)
- Combined Allied battle group of Americans (Battle of the Bulge, later Operation Lumberjack) and British (rougly Operation Queen, but British troops fighting their way from Belgium/Netherlands towards middle rhine)
Mid War - Desert and Jungle
- Deutsches Afrikakorps
- 8th Army
- Chindits