Wargame news and terrain

Wargame news from Victrix, Warlord Games, ...

2012-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hi, lots has happened on the wargaming front in the last weeks! Here are some of the exciting new releases and sneak peaks that were announced. First of all we have the greens of the Indus Miniatures multi part infantry! In an attempt to make these miniatures as posable as possible you have seperate right arm and shield options. These excellent miniatures can be used from the 1700's through till the 1800's. The owner says that they would work for Plassey, Assaye, Indian Mutiny, Pulp, Pirates, Imagnations, what ever you can think of ! So don't hesitate to visit his website with online store!

Secondly we have the new "Lord of The Rings" releases from Games Workshop! These awesome releases vary from new command packs and lots of other interesting beasts such as "The Great beast of Gorgoroth", "The Watcher in the Water" and "The Dweller in the Dark". My personal favorite is the Beast of Gorgoroth of which you can see a picture below. The only shame is that the new monsters are all resin finecasts but the good news is that they are better priced than the smaller resin miniatures. Games Workshop has also released a whole shedload of new Lord of the Rings rulebooks probaly to warm us up for the upcoming miniatures of "The Hobbit"!

Secondly we have some exciting news from Victrix Miniatures! They have announced that they will release their first Ancient miniatures around April/May and the miniatures look stunning, well detailled and with realistic body proportions. They are going to release with the Greeks such as Athenians, Spartans, Thebans and then Mercenaries. With a 2 to 3 week gap between each set! Each of these sets will contain 48 figures with many variation possibilities by using interchangeable heads with separate crests. Arm positions including thrusting, at rest and sword arms. Below are some images of the master resin castings of the Athenians. And they look absolutely stunning! Other castings of the Spartans and Thebans can be found on their website, make sure you check them out as they are even more beautiful than the Athenians, hard to believe? Go to Victrix's website!

Warlord Games has also made the announcement that their Macedonian pikemen are avaible for pre order! This box contains 40 multi-part Macedonian Phalangites with sufficient shield decals and metal arrows to add extra detail to the models' bases and shields. the retail price of this boxed set is £20 which is a really good price for a full phalanx, this release will enable you to recreate the glorious battles of Alexander the Great from the vast plains of Persia to the dense forests of India!

The Perry Brothers have also released some new packs including some metal Napoleonic Russians and Austrians but their nicest new miniatures in my opinion are the medieval workers or unarmed peasants and the wounded soldiers. I really love the character of these miniatures and because they can be used to add some a realism and life to the battlefield they inhabit.

Mantic Games also announced that their Corporation Marines are avaible for pre order! These Marines can be used in almost every scifi setting and will probably end up fighting swarms of Orcs, aliens and other nasty intergalactic beasties. When they face hordes of aliens they can always call in some heavy weapon support! As always these Mantic Games miniatures are extremely well-priced! Ten figures for £12.50, well you also need lots of them!

Last but certainly not least are the gorgeous new miniatures from Lead Adventure Miniatures sculpted by the talented Igor Karpov! First of all we have the Kampftauchers in diving suits and they look extremely good, ideal for some modern and post-apoc settings! I really love the facial expressions, poses and weapons. Well, about everything really!

The second release are some Kampftauchers in their landing uniforms! These miniatures are also sculpted by the genius Igor Karpov for the "Contaminated Seas" theme. All of these miniatures will be released in February!

I hope you liked this update!

Greets,

The results of the Wargames Factory painting contest!

2012-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hi, Finally I'm able to post some more wargame news as my studies took lots of my hobby time! Some while ago I started to regulary visit the Wargames Factory website to find some exciting news for my "wargame news" posts. There I stumbled upon their latest news, an upcoming painting contest with 9 categories based on their existing ranges with 45 chances to win - $2700 worth of prizes!

Five awards in each category:

1st Prize is a $100 gift certificate
2nd Prize is a $80 gift certificate
3rd Prize is a $60 certificate
4th Prize is a $40 certificate
5th Prize is a $20 certificate

I carefully read the competition rules and saw it was allowed to enter with already painted and published miniatures. Therefor I decided to test my luck in the "Wars of Empire" category. I entered several new and old photographs of both my Zulu's and British soldiers. The amazing result? Two of my entries won awards in their category and granted me $140 of Wargames Factory miniatures! Not sure what I will buy but I guess there will be heading a lot of plastic to me from America.

First prize worth $100

The fourth prize worth $40

Stay tuned as I'm currently building a Maori Pa and I don't have any Maori! I've also started to paint some more Zulu's and other miniatures for my projects!

Greets,

How to: British colonial fort

2012-01-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, I've finally managed to write a new tutorial on how to make a British colonial fort, illustrated with lots of pictures! Some loyal blog followers and visitors may have already seen these pictures but now I will also give some more details on the construction of this powerful fort such as the used tools and materials. The fort is based upon some of the massive blockhouses you could find in North-America and South Africa but isn't a historical correct copy as my wargame setting is Central Africa. Therfor I simply gathered the nicest features of all sorts of colonials forts and added them to my wargame fort Henry. Enough talking up to the terrain making!

Tools used

- Metal plier

- Stanley knife

- Brushes

- Scissors

- Saw

- Sanding paper

Materials used

- Twigs

- Branches

- Left over wood

- Hardboard

- Sand

- Paints

- PVA

- Hotglue

- Flock

- Static grass

- Aquarium plants

- Thick cartonboard

- Corrugated cartonboard

Step by step

The first step of the build was to saw the hardboard base and sand the edges with some medium graded sanding paper. After the base I've added the light brown wooden beams with some dots of hotglue. These beams will support the entire construction of the fort and must be secured extremely well. Then I've added the darker wooden beams which will form the skeleton of the fort and will be the support of the wooden exterior facing of the fort. I've also added extra beams to support the two doors of the fort, one door whcih leads to the exterior artillery placement (surrounded with sawn off branches) and the other door is the main entrance in the front of the fort.

After the skeleton of the fort was built I've cut up a large amount of wooden planks which would be used as the exterior facing of the fort (see the picture). At regular intervals I've added some shooting holes. The placement of these planks is the most laborious job of the construction and will take several hours of carefully cutting out the planks and glueing them in place with either hotglue or PVA.

Another view of the fort in construction. See the entrance door to the artillery emplacement and the scale of the fort by looking at the 28mm miniatures.

After you have finished the exterior wooden facing you can now add the second floor and the roof of the fort using a cartonboard base with wooden planks glued on it. Don't forget to first add the door of the first floor! On the roof I've also added a small tower which will act as the entrance point for the roof. When this is done you can texture the base with PVA and fine white sand, after that' s dry you can paint the fort and base. The base was painted with a light brown basecoat that matches my other terrain pieces. The fort was basecoated with a household paints which is an exact match of Gamesworkshop's Scorched Brown and drybrushed with several mixes of this paint and white.

The fort is almost ready for play! All you now need to add is a corrugated steel roof for the small tower and paint it in a medium gray color with several drybrushes of a lighter grey. To further enhance the roof I've also weathered it a bit with Gamesworkshop's Devlan Mud. You also need to drybrush the base with a creamy color (the color was called "Tiramisu"). Now that all the painting is done you can add some static grass, flock and aquarium plants or what ever fits your terrain piece! A thada, the fort is finished and ready for some tabletop action!

The fort with a partially removed roof to show the bare interior, now you can add some beds, cabinets, weapon racks, etc On the picture you can also clearly see the weathering of the corrugated roof.

As I've finished this piece months ago, it was already used in a battle in which a supply column needed to reach the besieged fort in an attempt to bring some much needed ammunition to the garrison. The battle report and the fort can be seen here, Supplying Fort Henry.

I hope you enjoyed this old terrain piece but new tutorial as much as I did!

Greets,

In search of Miss Alison, part two

2012-01-04T01:15:00.000-08:00

Hi, Here's the second part of the battle report! Will Miss Alison be rescued?

At dawn, the expedition early left their campsite in search of the missing Miss Alison, the march towards the Mpopo canyon would not take more than three hours of steady marching. Under the cover of night, the natives gathered more warriors to stop the rescue expedition but still they decided to await for the ideal time to launch their final large attack. In the meanwhile, several warriors were tasked with harassing the expedition with throwing spears and demoralizing the porters by leaving signs of witchcraft! Afraid by the witchdoctors of the Kapiti, the porters slowed down and were soon forming the back of the column, this was the moment the natives were waiting for!

Suddenly the bushes changed into native warriors, instantly clubbing the helpless porters and looting the precious ammunition and food supplies. As fast as the natives appeared as fast they again disappeared! The Ironclad troopers who rushed to the scene found nothing more than the mutilated bodies of the porters. Aware of the lurking danger, the expedition quickly marched towards the Mpopo canyon. It was then that a Royal Navy soldiers saw the smoke of a campfire, most likely the campfire of the missing Miss Alison! Suddenly most of the soldiers sprinted in the direction of the campfire as the smoke would also attract the attention of the Kapiti!

What followed was a race in an attempt to find Miss Alison! The native warriors’ war cry could be heard in the distance as they also raced towards the campsite! Luckily for the expedition Miss Alison had already started to run in the direction of the expedition. This brave and daring move of the lady made it possible for the rescue expedition to quickly protect the lady. Just able to protect Miss Alison hordes of natives ran out of the cover of the tall elephant grass, throwing their javelins as they advanced. Outnumbered 10 to 1, the expedition decided to retreat, covered by a sole brave Ironclad trooper, who was last seen repelling dozens of natives!

“Dear Montgomery,

It has been an nerve breaking time as I was lost in the vast Mbuij Mayian jungle during one of my many trips in search of new plant species. It was on the second day of the Mpopo trip, I had noticed several native warriors scouting the area near the most northern canyon in an attempt to evade them, our party which consisted out Bhutu and Azunde, my two Turi porters who accompanied me on several trips and often defended my life at the risk of losing theirs. As the native warriors cut off our path back to Fort Henry we continued our trip further into the dark jungle, eventually I even lost contact with Azunde and Bhutu! Alone in this dangerous and extremely hostile environment, I decided to follow my tracks back to the Mpopo canyon! There I waited for help! And help soon arrived as Captain Edward Dougle commander of Fort Henry had sent out a rescue party in order to find me! Now I’m back safe at Victoriana and I’m ready to return to Oxford.

Your darling, Miss Alison”

Greets,

In search of Miss Alison, part one

2012-01-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Hi, here's the battle report of a solo wargame I've played some time ago using some of my painted miniatures, jungle pieces and Heroscape hexes! I hope you enjoy the write-up.

At noon, the rescue expedition was finally gathered and ready to leave Fort Henry. The expedition consisted out of four Ironclad troopers, seven Royal Navy soldiers, four native porters and Royal Navy Officer Stanley Morton, all united under the command of the famous Ironclad Captain Henry Helford! The expedition made quick progress as no native would wage an attack within one mile of Fort Henry. But as soon as they left the relative safety of the British controlled territory, the natives started to shadow the expedition, patiently waiting for an appropriate moment to attack! The rescue expedition had now been marching for over three hours and had finally reached the Twisted Peak region.

Suddenly it started to rain spears upon the expedition, several natives jumped out of the surrounding bushes and sprinted towards the Ironclad troopers which were the leading elements of the expedition. Captain Helford was severely wounded at the head while he was evading several throwing spears but in the end the attack was repelled leaving several dead and wounded native warriors behind. Cautiously the rescue expedition continued his advance as Miss Alison could be in great danger as war drums were heard in the distance. The head wound of Captain Helford severely affected his ability to lead the expedition and the inexperienced Royal Navy Officer Morton took over command. He immediately gathered the Ironclad troopers to scout the area, leaving the rest of the expedition without any form of close combat protection. With the deadly Ironclad troopers out on a patrol, the natives decided to launch a second attack upon the rest of the rescue expedition.

What followed was a fierce melee as Royal Navy soldiers engaged the natives with their bayonets. Unable to protect the wounded Captain Helford he found himself surrounded and outflanked by several native warriors. Firing his pistol and evading the first attempts to stab him, he was finally overwhelmed and brutally killed by the savages! The first Ironclad trooper who risked his life to recover the body of Captain Helford was also killed. It was only when the remaining Ironclad troopers joined the fierce melee that the tide turned and the body of Helford was recovered. With the help of the brave Ironclad troopers, the rest of the expedition was able to repel this brutal attack. The advance stopped as the Ironclad troopers decided to give Captain Helford a military funeral. After a short but emotional ceremony, the expedition decided to move on as thunderclouds were gathering above the jungle canopy.

Now not only slowed down by the natives but also by the heavy torrential rains, the expedition’s marching speed fell dramatically! During the evening, the natives launched their final attack of the day losing dozens of warriors and causing the brutal death of four Royal Navy soldiers. For the Ironclad troopers it had been enough they decided to counter attack, the huge native force in what followed huge numbers of Kapiti warriors were killed and routed as most of the native weapons were unable to pierce the Ironclad armor! The most experienced Ironclad trooper, William Ewart was outnumbered 4 to 1 and still he was able to kill half of his attackers and managed to rout the others. For the rest of the evening the expedition camped at the most northern border of the Twisted Peak region without further harassment by hostile natives.

Will the decimated rescue party be able to rescue Miss Alison?

Stay tuned for part two!

Greets,

Projects for 2012

2012-01-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, first of I want to wish you all a happy new year! Hopefully the new year will bring us lots of new miniatures and random happiness! As part of my yearly blog ritual I decided to sum up some of my ongoing projects, stopped projects and eventually new projects. We will start with the almost dead projects.

England invaded 1812 project. (click the title for more pictures and posts)

This project was started in 2011 and was intended to be a small skirmish game around the fictional French invasion of England involving all sorts of strange devices and robots. The used miniatures were part of a large lot of miniatures I had bought and included several Hinchcliffe French and British napoleonic troops. Most of these troops have been painted but I simply can't finish the remaining 10 miniatures.

The three musketeers (click the title for more pictures and posts)

This project was started when I was offered some 25mm Black Hat miniatures at bargain prices! I immediatly bought the miniatures as these were also intended to be used for skirmish wargaming using the "Gloire" rules. Again some of the miniatures were painted but all other are already basecoated and based. As part of decluthering my wargame cabinets, I've decided to put these miniatures up for sale at an even greater bargain price! The retail value is around €35, my selling price is a measly €21.50 for 26 miniatures and you don't even have to basecoat and base them! And about nine miniatures are already painted to a good wargame standard.

Now it's time for some ongoing projects!

The Pacific theatre of war (click the title for more pictures and posts)

This 20mm project is almost finished as all I need are some American, Japanese vehicles and finish two Japanese battalions. After that I need to make some island terrain!

Operation Sealion (click the title for more pictures and posts)

This project will probably be finished in 2012 as I have purchased most of the infantry and all I need is some motivation to paint them! Now I need to search some cheap and decent British artillery and some German and British vehicles and tanks. At the moment this is one projects I love the most due to the research and my love for the Second World War.

Conquering the unknown (click the title for more pictures and posts)

This massive 28mm projects is still in progress as I need to paint up dozens more of native warriors, arabs and British units together with some more terrain! But I hope to play some more games this year.

The new projects will be a Napoleonic Haitian rebellion skirmish project and many others but more on those in the future! Stay tuned as 2012 will bring some reviews of lovecraftian, fantasy and scifi books! I'm even granted to give away some signed copies of award winning authors!

And what are you new projects or promises for the new year?

Greets,

German artillery, Airfix 7.5 cm Pak 40

2011-12-29T00:44:00.000-08:00

Hi, here's the last gun for my German Artillery park! This time I've built and painted an Airfix 7.5 cm Pak 40. This gun came in a set together with an opel blitz and some crewmembers. These crew members however were to big to be used with my other 20mm miniatures and so I ended up using Hät crew members. This 7.5 cm Pak 40 will give my earlier war Germans the much needed ability to destroy some allied medium armour!

Development of the PaK 40 began in 1939 with development contracts being placed with Krupp and Rheinmetall to develop a 7.5 cm anti-tank gun. Priority of the project was initially low, but Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and the sudden appearance of heavily armoured Soviet tanks like the T-34 and KV-1, increased the priority. The first pre-production guns were delivered in November 1941. In April 1942, Wehrmacht had 44 guns in service. By 1943 the PaK 40 formed the bulk of the German anti-tank artillery.The PaK 40 was the standard German anti-tank gun until the end of the war, and was supplied by Germany to its allies. Some captured guns were used by the Red Army. Source wikipedia

I hope you enjoyed this post! And welcome to the new followers enjoy your stay!

Greets,

Wargame news from Perry Miniatures, Foundry, ...

2011-12-27T09:21:00.001-08:00

Hi, here's another round of exciting wargame news! Way too many so this will be a very long post, grap some popcorn and check these awesome products! First of all we have the preview of the Defiance Games bugs. These fearsome critters will be the all-round opponent of the different humanoid factions of the "Alien War" universe. The miniatures will be made out of hard plastic and will come in multiple parts so you can make multiple poses. These swarms of bugs will be the ideal proxy for some "Starship Troopers" warrior aliens or some sort or lesser species. I can easily find dozens of different settings for these beasts, so were are you waiting for?

Secondly we have some new releases in the "Condottiere" range from Foundry Miniatures! This new Condottiere collection features the Spanish; tough and experienced professionals, both as mercenaries and fighting for the Spanish crown. They would also make great additions to your Conquistador forces! This collection includes; Spanish Pikemen and Crossbowmen, Stradiots, Ginetes, plus a Demi Cannon and Artillery Crew!

Next their are the greens of the Mantic Games, Corporation faction! But first of all some more information about the massive Corporation faction. "The galaxy is burning. The malevolent Corporation is ever expanding its sphere of influence, annexing more and more star systems. Their strategy is to make contact with alien civilizations, dazzle them with a few gifts of techno-bauble and then offer membership ‘as equal partners’ in the Great Galactic Co-prosperity Sphere. In the space of a few years, of course, the governments of those worlds will be changed by bribery, corruption, political intrigue, blackmail, threats and assassination, into puppet-states. They will devote all of their planets’ resources to enriching the Corporation and the few local bureaucrats that ‘run the business’ for it, while their populations plummet into a state of poverty and servitude.." Here's an awesome green sculpted by the talented Paul Muller and the magnificent artwork. I really love these grim futuristic foot soldiers pressed into service for the Empire, euh ... Corporation! It's a pitty that they will be released in plastic resin as the waiting queue at Renedra was too long.

Other new releases can be found on the massive online store, Northstar Figures distributor of dozens if not hundreds of manufacturers! The first new releases are from Trent Miniatures, which manufacturers an amazing range of rather unusual subjects such as the Hawain Rebellion, Irish insurgents for the 1796-1800 French Revolutionary Wars and many others. The new releases exist out of seven packs of Irish Militiamen for the French Revolutionary Wars which are beautifully sculpted, check the picture!

Another release that can be found on the Northstar Figures website is made by North Star Miniatures themselves as they own an own range of miniatures! You can never have enought Tarzan's and Jane's! Not mentioning the chimp and little savage! These miniatures can be bought as a pack here!

Another bunch of new goodies is avaible for preorder at Wargames Factory! The first set is the 16th Century Ashigaru Warriors Set is made for model builders and war gamers interested in warfare during the Warring States Period of Japanese History. There are 25-multipart hard plastic miniatures in this set which can be assembled into Ashigaru with bows and arquebus. Up to 20 arquebus soldiers and 5 bowman or 20 bowman and 5 arquebus soldier. Models require painting and assembly to be completed.

The second set is the 16th Century Ashigaru Yari Spearmen set is made for model builders and war gamers interested in warfare during the Warring States Period of Japanese History. There are 25-multipart miniatures in this set which can be assembled into Ashigaru with Spears. There are also provisions for Standard Bearers, Musicians (both the conch shell horn and signal drum with drummer) and (non-Samurai) unit leaders. Models require painting and assembly to be completed.

But the coolest releases must be the new carts from Perry Miniatures! These carts and their handlers are intended to be used for the War of the Roses range but can be used for more settings if you change the handlers and some of the carriage! As a bonus you can buy the oxes and horses seperate, so you can easily use them for other purposes or enlarge the amount of draft animals! Sounds good!

I especially love the oxe wagon filled with baggage! So I will probably end up buying some of the oxes. The other set is a horse drawn covered wagon.

The last release is from Warlord Games ,their magnificent Light Brigade lancers! What could be finer than the 17th Lancers making their ill-fated charge into the Russian guns at Balaclava? Nothing – that’s what! They couldn’t do the Light Brigade (yes, the Hussars and Dragoons are already being sculpted…) without casualty models could they? So they are also avaible for purchase.

I hope you enjoyed this large post! So what will you buy?

Greets,

German artillery, 3.7 cm pak field battery

2011-12-26T01:37:00.000-08:00

Designed by Rheinmetall in 1924 and first issued in 1928, the 3.7 Pak36 was first intended to be drawn by horse. As the German Military decided that motorised warfare was the way to go, the wooden spoked wheels were exchanged for modern wheels. During the Spanish Civil War, the German Condor Legion made great use of these guns as the armour on tanks was still weak.

The Pak 36, being a small-calibre weapon, was outdated by the May 1940 Western Campaign, and crews found them inadequate against allied tanks like the British Mk.II Matilda, and the French Char B1 and Somua S35. Still, the gun was effective against the most common light tanks, such as the Renault FT-17 during the Battle of France and the T-26 during Operation Barbarossa. The widespread introduction of medium tanks quickly erased the gun's effectiveness; miserable performance against the T-34 on the Eastern Front led to the Pak 36 being derisively dubbed the "Door Knocker" (Heeresanklopfgerät, literally "army door-knocking device") for its inability to do anything other than advertise its presence to a T-34 by futilely bouncing rounds off its armor. The addition of tungsten-core shells (Pzgr. 40) added slightly to the armour penetration of the Pak 36. Despite its continued impotence against the T-34, it remained the standard anti-tank weapon for many units until 1942. Source: Wikipedia

My 3.7 cm pak 36 field battery exists out of three Hät guns and their crews. I decided to make a three gun battery as this is the standard size for artillery batteries in Rapid Fire and I only had three guns left. The guns and crew were painted using vallejo's German Field Grey as main color.

I hope you enjoyed this new update!

Greets,

German artillery, an 88' battery

2011-12-24T02:43:00.000-08:00

Hi, here's some more progress for my Operation Sealion project. This time I managed to finish an 88 gun battery for my German forces. The Flak88 was one of the best artillery guns during the Second World War as it could be easily transported and could be used as both anti aircraft and tank gun. During the Spanish Civil War, earlier versions of these guns were succesfully used against tanks. Also during the invasion of France in 1940, the gun proved a powerful weapon capable of penetrating the armour of the Char B1 Bis and Mathilda II. During the invasion, the guns were able to destroy 152 tanks and 151 bunkers.

For my wargames I decided to built a battery of two gun as more would take too much place on the tabletop. Building and finishing these guns also triggered me to finish my other German artillery pieces. One of the guns is made by Airfix and came in a boxed set with a tractor and a limber, the other gun is of an unknown manufacturer but was easier to put together.

A view of the entire 88 gun battery, the towvehicles will follow in the future.

A close up of the limber

I hope you enjoyed the battery! And a Merry Christmas to you all!

Greets,

Operation Sea Lion, German supply issues

2011-12-22T04:43:00.001-08:00

Hi, I've finally managed to do some more research for my Operation Sealion 1940 project. This time I decided to research some more about the German supply lines as these would be of vital importance for the German army and their possible victory. Surfing on the internet I've stumbled upon a huge amount of documents which contained lots of useful information. To make it possible to research the supply issue I narrowed the research to the ports of Dover, Ramsgate and Folkestone as these were some of the main objectives because of their proximity with Calais.

Dover, 1940

First of all I estimated the number of used German divisions for the 1940 invasion. These numbers were gathered from a number of sources including the internet and some publications. The first assault wave would probably exist out of eleven infantry division supported by a fallschirmjager division. The second wave would exist out of eleven divisions including four panzer divisions and one luftlande division. The third wave would exist out of six infantry divisions.

Another number I found was that an ordinary German division would use up to 300 tons of supplies a day including everything from fuel to ammunition. A Panzer division would probably need more so I roughly estimated 500 tons! So the first wave would consume 3600 tons, the second wave would use 4100 tons and the third wave would consume 1800 tons! The total of needed supplies for the entire invasion force (not mentionning reinforcements) a day would be 9500 tons a day!

Where would they unload these huge quantities? I found a short list with some of the British ports within the reach of the invasion forces. The numbers used are when the ports are fully operational but when the Germans would invade the ports would be destroyed together with the storage facilities, derricks and docks. These damages would probably cause that only 30% of the shown tonnage could be unloaded. The ports marked with a (*) are ports which are already partially destroyed by British engineers.

The ports of Folkestone, Dover and Ramsgate would be the primary targets of the first invasion force as these would enable the Germans to unload heavy equipment such as heavy artillery (such as 88's) and some much needed tank support (second wave). These ports however would not be sufficient to supply the invasion force so beaches would also be used for unloading supplies. The next picture shows some more number about the German capacity of unloading supplies.

The first wave would consume 3600 tons a day, the Germans would be able to unload 5200 tons (under perfect circumstances). The second wave would probably land within some days after the first wave so the total of needed supplies would be 7700 tons. As you can see there's already a shortage of 2150 tons! The third wave would probably land after a week, the total of needed supplies would be 9500 tons, the unload capacity would be 8400 tons. Again there's a shortage of 1100 tons! There's a small possibility to fly in some supplies using the Junkers but it would not be sufficient to fulfill the needs.

Edit, Thanks to the Angry Lurker, there's also the idea of Germans living off the land. As I don't think there was some sort of full scale scorched earth policy in Great-Britain. I guess some installations and supply depots would be destroyed but not all of them because of the surprise element of both fallschirmjager and some Brandenburg units.

I hope you found this an interesting read as always this "research" is purely made to be used as a base for my wargames. So there's the possibilty that the numbers aren't correct.

Greets,

Operation Sea Lion, British Army

2011-12-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

As the start date the Analogue painting contest comes close I decided to start preparing both of my Operation Sealion forces starting with the British units. The first unit will be a regular infantry battalion with some support such as Piat's and heavy machinguns. This unit will probably take some days to finish but won't be too much of a hassle. The paintjob will be quite forward with a lot of drybrushing and maybe some washes.

The rest of the army will exist out of a pair of Bofor guns and their tractors. As I haven't managed to collect a lot of british equipment at Crisis as there weren't much 20mm kits that I liked. These guns will be a real nightmare for my German Paratroopers and the German light armour units! I hope to extend the army with some proper transport, homeguards, some tanks and some AT guns. But that won't probably happen during the painting contest!

I hope you enjoyed this small post.

Greets,

The 2nd Annual Winter Painting Challenge!

2011-12-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hi, finally I found some time to post a new post! No painted miniatures however but those will follow soon as I joined the 2nd Annual Winter Painting Challenge! This contest is organised by Curt from the Analogue Hobbies blog!

The goal of the contest is to paint as much miniatures as you can between 20/12/2011 and 20/03/2012, the only rule is that painting the miniatures may not have been started before the start date except for the basecoat. When I saw the contest I thought why not? I have just basecoated a whole bunch of zulu warriors by hand, have lots of 20mm World War Two battalions eager to receive some paint! The points given for painted miniatures dependent on their scale and what they are (for example a painted 20mm is worth 4 points, a 28mm is worth 5). The best bit is that wargamers from all corners of the world joined and that the three best scores win prices from an online store!

The final goal, paint some miniatures as my leadpile is really starting to take epic measurements!

What will I try to paint?

- Four battalions of 20mm Germans

- One battalion of 20mm British

- Two Flak 88 with crew (20mm)

- Three Pak 36 with crew (20mm)

- One Pak 40 with crew (20mm)

- Forty Mahdists painted as arabs

- Twenty Zulus

- ...

Greets,

On the paintingtable, more Foundry!

2011-12-04T01:34:00.000-08:00

Hi, here's another post about my painting progress! I'm currently painting up several miniatures for my Victorian colony such as a small colonial police force and some civilians. All the miniatures are made by Foundry and were purchased at Crisis. The policemen already received a basecoat of chaos black followed by another basecoat of regal blue (this is not shown in the pictures). The civilians will be painted in several fancy colors except for the woman with the rifle as she will receive a more khaki color scheme.

Here's a picture of the civilian lot I've purchased at Crisis both from the B&B and the Dave Thomas stand. You may also notice a lone african scout in the lot, this miniature will be used as guide for my colonial British.

There are many more miniatures on the paintingdesk which are not shown but are all basecoated and ready to be painted! A large bunch of zulu warriors, a zulu command stand, some members of the Foundry Juno crew, some inuit warriors!

Greets,

Victoriana, Edward station

2011-12-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hi, finally I've managed to scratchbuild another building for my Victorian wargame table! This time I decided to build a train station which also can be used a some sort of warehouse or trading station with a loading dock. The building was build by constructing a cartonboard structure and then I glued some different sorts of textured wall paper on it representing brickwork. The windows and doors were made by using bits of cartonboard and wood. The building only took some hours to construct and the painting took about half an hour!

The building was based upon an old of hardboard wood that I had found earlier this week! I've also added a signboard which could be removed as it's attached with some cheap magnets. I'm really pleased with the building and I'm looking forward to build some more houses which can be used for some Victorian wargames and VBCW wargames!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Greets,

Defiance Games USMC marines!

2011-11-29T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hi, here's some exciting wargame news I've received recently from Defiance Games founded by Tony Reidy! This relativly new company is specialised in 28mm hard plastic science fiction miniatures which will be released under their range called "Alien War". Their first release are the feared USMC marines! Probably one of the toughest factions of the universe. These marines will receive support from hardsuits, female elite soldiers and heavy weaponry in the near future! So don't hesitate to order some of these magnificent warriors as these can be used in several future settings such as Battlestar Galactica and even Starship Troopers! More factions will follow soon including panzergrenadiers and bugs! Lots of those buggers!

The boxed kit contains twelve sprues each packed with sufficient bits to make two marines. You will have probably figured it out all ready, the boxed kit contains 24 marines! Ready to establish beachheads on foreign planets! Preorder yours now!

Happy to share you this news!

Greets,

Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar assembled

2011-11-26T06:53:00.000-08:00

Hi, following the review I've written about the Perry Miniatures Ansar boxed kit, I will now show some of the assembled miniatures and share my personal opinion about the assembling progress. The assembly of the miniatures is easy as pie as the miniatures are well placed on the sprue and they are made of good quality hard plastic. The minor disadvantages of this boxed kit are if you are a bit too eager to get the swords loose you can easily snap one in half as these are really thin. The other disadvantage is the weak link between the feet of some of the models and their integral bases. But as said these disadvantages are very minor!

I will now show some miniatures I've assembled using about 2/3 of the boxed kit, the miniatures may not look as Beja or other Sudanese tribes as I tried to make them look like some sort of Arab slaver caravan or Arab pirates. The first miniatures I've assembled were the command miniatures including a drummer, flagbearer and commander. All of these miniatures are very well detailled and especially the commander has turned out well!

The rest of the miniatures I've divided in three groups of eight of which two have handweapons such as swords and spears while the other group has been equiped with captured Remington rifles. The first picture represent one of the handweapon groups which will see extensive action against the British crown colonies of Mbuij Mayi!

The second group of Arab slavers with handweapons, you may notice that some of the miniatures have been assembled with Beja heads. These miniatures are intended to be mercenaries drawn from the fierce Beja tribes of the Sudan. These mercenaries however few in number have been in Arab service for several years as they hate the British colonists the most!

The last group gives the Arab contigent enough firing power to deal with native warriors or the British army. Equipped with the Remington rifles they captured in the Sudan and by boarding British supply vessels, they are among the best riflemen in Arab service. I had the intention to have at least two groups armed with rifles but the box only contained eight of them.

As last a picture of the entire Arab slave/ pirate contigent which will be used in several games as opponents or allies for my British colonial force. Remember this is only 2/3 of the boxed kit, the other miniatures will be saved for conversions or new projects!

I hope you enjoyed this small update,

Greets,

Wargame news from Empress Miniatures, Foundry, ...

2011-11-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hi, it's time for some more wargame goodness today! Lets go! First of all we have a new Ramshackle Games modular vehicle kit, the GNU military Transport. As all of the vehicles made by Ramshackle the entire kit is modular and made out of an extreme durable resin! Make sure you check out their shop as it's stuffed with useful sci-fi bits and some rather nice fantasy trolls!

The second new release is a Scrap Tank of MaxMini! This manufacturer is known for his good quality as their kits are probably one of the most detailled ones in the industry. Just look at the tracks and gun on that tank! Their online shop also contains lot of conversion bits ranging from heroic orc bodies to a whole arsenal of weaponry!

Wargames Factory has also shown some pictures of their asssembled Samurai kit. The set will represent 16th century Samurai's and will contain 25 miniatures and bases with an assortment of different weapons . If you follow the link shown here (click under the large picture on their site) you can also see some of their samurai painted and they look stunning!

More exciting news is that Wargames Foundry has released a whole new range of miniatures called "Tribes of Legends"! All I can say about the range that includes all sorts of mythological creatures such as Centaurs, Satyrs and even an Bronze Bull, that it is really stunning! The miniatures look better than before and the examples shown on their website are painted to the best standards ever seen!

Finally Warlord Games and Empress Miniatures have shown some painted examples of the unmarried Zulu's! I really love the dynamic poses of these warriors as they are also a multi-pose kit! And above that the kit include no less than 32 warriors and one metal Induna! And if that isn't enough they also released some stunning colonial terrain such as mealie bag barricades!

Of all the new terrain pieces this one is my favorite! What a formidable barricade! Let them Zulu's come!

I hope you enjoyed this small update!

Greets,

Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar (1881-1885)

2011-11-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm presenting you a review of Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar. This boxed kit has been on my list as soon I've heard the news, The Perry brothers were going to make it. I've been patiently waiting for the release and the next discount moment of Maelstrom online shop and then decided to buy them! The miniatures can be used for their intended role as the different tribes of the Sudan or they can also serve as proxy Arab slavers or traders with some minor conversion work or none at all!

General information

Just like most of the wargame industry, the Perry twins also invested in a plastic range of miniatures. However their plastic range is made to bulk out armies and their metal range fills the ranks with artillery, command and other specialised units! This is a good balance between quantity and the pricetags. As the Mahist forces mostly consisted out of foot soldiers supported by some irregular cavalry units, the creation of a cheap multi-part Mahdist Ansar kit isn't such a surprise. The boxed kit is intended to contain the follow tribes in several time periods during the Anglo-Sudanese wars, the Ansar, Beja, Northern Nile Arabs and the Kordofani.

The box

Just like their other plastic boxes, the artwork is done by Peter Dennis and is breath taking! But the most important is the content. The box contains 40 foot soldiers which can be assembled in all sorts of ways such as charging, advancing, firing, ... The combiniations are endless as the kit is packed with tons of parts such as different heads, arms and other equipment suchs as drums, pipes and flagpoles! The box also includes a short but useful guide of the different tribes of the Sudan together with details of their weapons and clothing. As you can see on the following detailled photograph of the main sprue.

The boxed kits contains two of the following command sprue which enable you to make a two man command. The sprue contains enough material for the creation of a captain and a drummer or flagbearer. However I'm not sure if all the Sudanese tribes had a flagbearer.

The most interesting sprues of the boxed kits are the main sprues packed with fierce warriors and all sorts of different weaponry and equipment! As previously seen the kit contains enough miniatures to make 40 warriors which all can be constructed as Beja or other tribes! The bodies of the warriors come in three sorts, bare chest, partially covered chest and clothed. The bodies which are partially naked are probably most suited to represent the early Beja but there were exceptions in which some Beja were totally clothed. The sprues are also packed with different heads ranging from the Fuzzy Wuzzy hairstyle of the Beja to the heads with the more civilised skull-caps.

Each main sprue contains the following number of heads

12 Fuzzy Wuzzy heads
5 Heads with skull caps
6 Heads without headwear
1 Head with a turban

The main sprue also contains the following interesting bits (not all parts are mentionned)

Several arms grasping a sword
Several arms holding a spear
Two arms holding or firing a Remington rifle
Twelve rhinoceros-skin shields

I've also managed to assemble some of the miniatures but forgot to take pictures! But all I can tell you the parts fit ideal and you don't need tons of greenstuff to fill gaps. The poses you can form are also very realistic, they really look as they are ready to storm a British square! The boxed sets also includes some useful plastic bases which enable you to base your miniatures in an instant!

Opinion

In my humble opinion the Perry brothers succeeded in releasing yet another stunning boxed kit of which the alternative in lead is too expensive. The miniatures really look stunning and are dirt cheap! The box I've bought with Maelstrom was delivered in a week and was delivered free! I also took advantage of the regular discount moments of the site, so I was able to buy the box at a retailprice of £13.45 or €15,70! That's less than €0,40 a miniature!

For the assembled miniatures go to

http://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/2011/11/perry-miniatures-mahdist-ansar.html

I hope you enjoyed this small review!

Greets,

Zulu impi assembled!

2011-11-10T11:11:00.001-08:00

Hi, here's some more progress on my Wargames Factory Zulu's. Not as much as I wanted but all the Zulu's are finally assembled and based on five eurocent pieces. With all these steps done I can now give them a black basecoat all by hand! I hope to finish them this long weekend as I have ordered a box of Perry Miniatures Ansar which will probably arrive monday or tuesday. As soon as they arrive expect a full review of these beautiful miniatures!

The loot of this years crisis will also appear as soon as I finished this bunch of Zulu's. But here's a small list of things you can expect to see within several days. First of all two boxes of Airfix Bofor guns and their tow trucks, two Airfix Scorpion kits, two Hät guns, some small Black Cat Bases items, Foundry Victorian police, European and African civilians and some other bits!

So stay tuned for more miniature madness!

Greets,

Even more natives!

2011-11-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

Hi, Finally there will be a new and steady flow of new blog posts! As I'm trying to finish my unassembled and unpainted Zulu warriors. As I've heard the news that Warlord Games will release their new plastic Zulu's within two weeks! Motivated to finish my Zulu's before I buy some new ones! I've managed to base eight warriors and I have assembled another eight! I hope to finish them before Crisis, fingers crossed. When I finish of these last warriors my Zulu or native army will count 50 warriors! I'm aiming to build my Mbuij Mayian army with some more additionnal Warlord Games Zulu's and some Perry Miniatures Ansars which could also be used as generic Muslim warriors or Barbary pirates!

In the meanwhile I even managed to assemble 16 Victrix Imperial Guard units, well they were just grenadiers from the flank companies but I will use them as a small elite unit! Assembling this unit made me almost mad as the plastic bits are way to fragile for my hands. in progress of assembling a 12-men unit I've managed to break two rifles and one banner pole! Therefor I've decided to make my own banner pole made out of rather strong plastic!

I hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for a bunch of purchases within several days!

Greets,

More natives

2011-10-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hi, I've finally managed to write a new post for the blog! I've been painting a lot recently so you will probably see some painted miniatures and terrain the coming weeks! The first miniatures I've started to paint are some more native warriors for my ongoing VSF project. And when I was painting some new reinforcements, I decided to partially repaint the older natives as their shields were quite boring! So I've added some black and brown patches to represent a cow's hide. First of all the partially repainted miniatures.

And secondly some reinforcement which will be used as elite unit as they wear rings in their hair. The units contains nine warriors equipped with assegais, spears and knobkerries, the chieftain is equipped with a knobkerrie and wears a ring decorated with feathers.

A close up of the elite warriors, I've decorated their shields in the same way I did with the older natives.

I hope you enjoyed this small update!

Greets,

Landingcraft

2011-10-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

Hi, here's a picture a recently assembled 1/76 landingcraft made by Airfix. This model was made without a plan as I lost it when I was moving all my wargame related materials to the attic. The model will be used for my Pacific project as part of the Marine landing units. I hope to build some other landingcraft for the transport of both men and machine. As I have three Marine battalions and one Combat engineer battalion that will need to island hop!

I hope to buy the last units and vehicles that I need for this project at Crisis in Antwerp. Otherwise I will need to buy some kits online which I don't like due to the high postage rates.

Greets,

Inuit hunting party

2011-10-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi, here's a picture of one of my most recent purchases. I always wanted to have some Inuit warriors or hunters and when I saw some for sale on The Lead Adventure Forum at a good price I bought them together with a whole bunch of other miniatures! These miniatures were partially painted so I will need to repaint some parts and paint the unpainted miniatures to fit with the rest of the hunters. I also hope to buy some polar animals as game for some sort of hunting game on the polar ice! Yes, that will be another project! As my 20mm Pacific project is almost finished! All I need to do is paint the details of two Japanese battalions, some landingcraft and vehicles which will hopefully be avaible on Crisis 2011!

Greets and sorry for the delay in post as I started a three week during intership at a accountancy office! Quite hectic!

New purchases!

2011-09-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hi, I've recently started school again what result in a major decrease of posts! However much has happened on the wargame front as I'm steadily painting up some more figures of my "The Three Musketeers" project. I'm hoping to finish the street rubble bunch of 9 figures this weekend! I've also bought a lot of Foundry, Copplestone, Bob Olley miniatures which contained the follow miniatures.

9 Copplestone or HLBC inuits with both bow and harpoons (I've always wanted some of these miniatures) some were already painted but I will touch them a bit up when I finish the unpainted ones.
3 Bob Olley gangsta's though they were bigger but I will use them as youngsters.
5 Foundry cowboys, the first recruits for a LOTW posse.
1 Foundry gentleman to be used in my VBCW militia (now counting 4 members)

Pictures will follow soon as I already undercoated most of the miniatures!

Greets,