New Toys Have Arrived

I just picked up some of the orders that I have recently placed. First of all, I received the three ships that I ordered from Sea Dog Studios from their Kickstarter that did not quite go through. They produced some of the ships and sold them to backers at a discount. I picked up two Bermuda Sloops and a Brigantine. I was so happy with them, I put everything else aside and promptly went to work on one of the Bermuda Sloops.

The kits are really nice. The parts are not too fiddly but you do have to cut the masts and spars from longer portions of thin dowel. Assembly was rather quick. Painting it was a bear with the hand shakes that I have from my meds. But I think I still managed something usable. The decking came out darker than I wanted but I still like it. No sails are provided and it makes sense. The Sailpower rules talk about it in that 90% of the game, your sail set that you would put on a model would be wrong anyway. The masts are designed to be taken out for storage and to show damage. My only complaint is about the cannon. Even after trimming the flash off of them, they are too large for the ship. I can't get them to fit properly. I will end up having to file them down until they do fit. Still, I am very happy with what I was able to accomplish with the first model.

It went together well. Was very happy with it. Painting it was very straight forward. I enjoyed it. Been watching amazon Prime movies while doing it.

Very happy with these ships. Now I am just waiting on the smaller ships that I have ordered from Langton Miniatures. I might have to get some Sea Dog 15mm ships as well. But that is another story.

Also, I picked up some Litko Aerosystems movement bases. I have been basing 15mm miniatures on US Pennies for a while now. These movement trays will actually fit them now. I am debating on using them for either my British and French Napoleonics or for my Seven Years War Prussian FreiKorps. I probably need to just buy more and use them for both.

Then there was a large box with my order from Miniature Building Authority. In it was a Southern Plantation, Outbuildings, a Southern Barn and a Russian Village. All very nice. And painted already.

New Toys, New Manufacturer and Observations in Scale

I was surfing E-Bay looking to do a little retail therapy when I stumbled across a new miniature manufacturer - War Game Models of Ohio. They make resin vehicles in 15mm that are really nice.

When I added them to my storage trays, I did notice that the T-34 is bigger than my Old Glory (Command Decision) vehicles. It is about a millimeter longer and the barrel and turret seem beefier than the Old Glory models.

For the German trucks, I don't think this will be an issue. If my Radio and tanker truck are slightly bigger than an Opel Blitz truck, I don't think anyone will notice. But the tank is very noticeable when next to the others. I will still use it but I may pick up another Old Glory pack of T34 1940s at some point in the future.

I started to inventory my Early War Soviet collection to see if there are any gaps that I have for the support list in Chain of Command. Honestly, my vehicle recognition skills stink so I was trying to compare my vehicles with pictures on the internet to figure what was what.

I found I have three KV-1s from two different manufacturers. The odd man out looks like the little brother of the other two. I believe that the two larger ones are from Flames of War. But the smaller one has a resin body and metal treads as well. As such, I am stumped as to what it is.

My T34s I recognize without having to compare pictures.

I have a plastic flamethrower variant of a T-26 (Kht-26 maybe? or OT-26). I think it is a Zveda model. Nice but feels fragile.

I have three Gaming Models T-26s. Looking at their site, I actually don't see the same turret as the ones that I have. It looks like his Radio antenna model with out the antenna. Speaking of which, I want one of those.

I have five of the Gaming Models KhTz-16 tractor tanks. Love these models. They were built in two places, Kharkov and Stalingrad. They were a terrible tank and most of them ended up as fiery wrecks but they are just too cool not to have. Gamine Models is the only place to get these. The owner built them for me by request. He did it because he thought they looked cool. Very nice models.

Then I have three Ba-10 armored cars. Two are metal models but are not Old Glory. Not sure whose work they are. And one is a plastic one (probably Zveda again). The plastic one was fiddly to put together. The front bumper snapped right off. But it fits in very well with the others.

That takes me to seven vehicles that I have no clue what they are. I bought them as part of a collection that someone was selling off.

I think two of them are BT-7s. I still have to figure out the others. Back to the search.

More Retail Therapy

I have really been laid low by this illness (UC). It is starting to get me down. So I decided to engage in a little retail therapy. I found a book I have been wanting on Amazon - Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello's A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945 Volume II. This covers 1942 to March of 1943. It is a great, big, thick tome. I look forward to giving it a read.

Next up, I decided to revisit a dormant project - Dux B for the Romans. I looked at the figures that I have. I now have suitable Centurions that I am happy with. I have more than enough command for 3 Centuries at a 1:1 scale. I have enough auxillia for one century that is garrison bound and not full strength. What I was lacking was the junior leaders - the Optios. I have one Optio. It is a great figure from Corvus Belli. It looks fantastic. But, when I went to order more, I can't find any. Oops. Only one of these fellows came in a pack of command figures. I have so many other command figures that I hesitated ordering more packs just for one figure out of it. I thought I was stuck. Then eBay came to the rescue. There was a guy selling 5 15mm Early Roman Command figures from an unknown manufacturer. They looked vaguely like optios from the fuzzy pictures. So I clicked buy. They were cheap enough.

I just got them today. They are perfect. They have the same feathers on the helmet that the CB figure has. But they have some kind of mane running down the middle. That should not be too hard to remove with a little time with a file. Three figures are waving a sword while two are standing there holding a banner. I figure I will cut off the banner and they will be holding a pilum.

All in all, two great purchases. Now to find the energy to read or paint.

Impudent Mortal Kickstarter Arrived.

I just wrote about new toys but did not mention the arrival of my kickstarter purchase. The pack of 15mm buildings arrived. There is not a whole lot of detail that comes on them but they should be just the ticket to fill out a table in short order. A little paint and some creativity, and I will have a wonderful village. I am really thinking that this will be a Russian village when I am done. I have good farm buildings. I have urban ruins. What I am trying to have is an industrial area and worker housing. I think I have solved the worker housing situation now.

It is a poor quality picture but the products are great. THe roads on the right are the ones from Battlefield Accessories.

Now only to find time to paint or game.

New Toys & Santa Clause

I need to give a big thank you to Dean Rapp of Battlefield Accessories, USA. He has produced some spectacular pieces of terrain. I picked up a set of his roads and paid him to paint them to match a sample he has sent me a while back. They arrived today and are spectacular. I plan on using these for Roman roads in 15mm games as well as cobblestone streets. These with the other cobblestone roads that I have picked up, should enhave my gaming table. If I ever get to play this year. Oh well, there is always 2016.

On a related note, a nice size box just landed in from overseas. Marked on the outside is Santa Clause. I am very excited about receiving my first Christmas present. This will be placed aside until we put up the tree. That won't happen until after Thanksgiving. Thank you Santa Clause for teaching me patience. :)

Some New Toys

Its been a strange start to the year. I have yet to pick up a paint brush but I have managed to acquire a bunch of new lead. Yesterday I started to go through what I picked up.

First up is the US Infantry that I received last week. These are Cold War era US troops. There are very few poses. There are a bunch of fellows running, a few standing and shooting and a few kneeling and shooting. Then there are a few other sorts mixed in. I grabbed three packs in total and it provided enough for my 1980s Platoon.

The minis appear to be a bit on the small side. The prone figures are unbased. There is a lack of clear officer or NCO figures in the pack. There are some figures that look like a guy might be throwing a grenade. Those were promoted to squad leaders. Overall, I am OK with the figures but they are not the best. If Khurasan or Eureka were to come up with something, I would drop these for the newer figures.

I also splurged on some terrain. I grabbed the Battlefront Mosque and Mosque walls off of Amazon. It is a nice size piece of terrain and will be great for a Western Desert game of Chain of Command.

Next up is a moment of weakness while cruising through eBay. I noticed a pack of Baudea Romans They are the AUC1 work detail pack. I really don't need these figures and they were a complete impulse buy. I really need to learn a bit of restraint.

Last up was the arrival of my winnings from a blog contest. I am now the proud owner of a bunch of Napoleonic Prussians in 15mm. These are great figures and perfect for creating a small force for Sharp Practice. What I now have is 31 infantrymen, two NCO types, three officers, three standard bearers and three drummers. These are great! The only downside is having to paint them.

Painting totals for 2015 still stands at 0.

Back from Vacation and Look What I Found Waiting For Me

Paul Smith from the End Transmission blog recently did a contest and I found out that I had won. I received a box on my desk this morning. Contained within were a vast array of goodies. There are two plastic miniatures in gray plastic. One might be a zombie with a samurai sword and the other is a dapper looking chap holding a pistol in one hand. He could be from the cover of the old Top Secret book. Next was a bag of tokens from Wargames Tournaments. These look like they would make fantastic Jump off Points for a desert game of Chain of Command. At least this is how I plan on using them. Next up is a plastic sprue of what looks like 28mm Republican Roman troops. They appear to be skirmishy type fellows. These are very tempting. Next up is a robed fellow who looks like he could be a ring wraith or death or something like that. Then there are what appears to be 4 infinity figures. All in rather dramatic poses.

Thank you so much Paul. These are nifty.

Next up I received a great book from Edwin over at the Depressed Diplomatist site - Barbarossa Through Soviet Eyes. Fantastic book on Soviet point of view of the first 24 hours of Operation Barbarossa. This is something I have been looking for and am very glad to have received it. It was reasonably priced and I cannot complain at all about the shipping from the UK. Honestly, he has my favorite bookstore now. I told him what I was interested in and he kept an eye out until he found this gem. I am a very happy guy.

The disappointing part is the missing figures from Old Glory 15s. I ordered them on December 29th but still no sign. I will just have to be more patient.

I will post some pictures once I get home.