Wargamers Odds & Ends Sale - Spring 2019

It is that time again and I am running a sale on all of my old scenario books. I have created a new webstore with PayHip that should work out the rough patches I have had with direct sales before and there should be no waiting on me to email you the file.

To celebrate getting all of this uploaded, I am offering a discount code for the Month of April. Using the code "ZWOSESMPIF" will get you 50% off each of the scenario books that are availible. I have included a number of my one off scenarios in there as well for $0.99.

Please let me know what you think of the new web store and if it is any better than what I have been doing.

Work on the Second Kharkov Supplement is moving along but won't be ready in time for the sale, unfortunately. But I may do a sale on it when it is released.

Head here for the sale: https://payhip.com/ChrisStoesen

New Web Store for Wargamer's Odds & Ends

I am busy attempting to set up a new web store for my books that hopefully will be a better option than the direct PayPal links I have been using. PayHip is the service that I am using. So far it has been pretty easy to use. I hope that I can get everything loaded today. I am trying to update some of my older books that don't have covers and lack graphics to make them look better. That is a longer term task that I may not be up to.

According to what I am seeing, I should be able to provide discount codes to run sales from the site. That will be great. Once I have everything set up, I am going to run a sale to test is out.

Health update: I had to go back to the ER yesterday. Severely dehydrated and very low blood pressure. They loaded me down with fluids and sent me home. Doing better today. Hopefully I can get back to writing and painting to have some more stuff to show off.

Progress at last

I finally got some painting done. Two of my Red Vectors russian village pieces are now complete.

I used an old washcloth for the thatching and I think it came out alright. I still have another shed and two houses to do as well as a pig sty. Then that little corner of my village will be complete and I can move on to Things From the Basesment's Russian village. Those are far more intricate buildings and have intimidated me to paint them so far. I am hoping to overcome that and knock them out by next week.

Speaking of Things From the Basement, they are run by a great guy who is adapting his 28mm chicken coop to 15mm for me just because I asked. I ordered some fences from him and he offered to send me a test run of the chicken coop in 15mm. That is an item that I have been wanting for some time. I have an HO scale chicken coop that I am not entirely happy with.

Yesterday, I engaged in retail therapy. Besides the fences I ordered, I also ordered the ruined version of the Red Vector's Russian village. And some roof shingles from Warbases. I am excited about this and it should help me finish the Second Kharkov campaign. Speaking of which, I and well into the second campaign that will be in the book. Have been working on scenario 2 of 6 for the second campaign. The map is done and I think it looks pretty good. I am doing all of the game maps in Campaign Cartographer instead of using aerial photos like I did in the first book. Hopefully they will be clearer.

Once this is done, I will be back to making 1/300 sailing ships to wrap up the last bit for my KMH supplement. Onward and upward.

Painting Time

I have been getting busy on my Russian Front Terrain. I have two buildings primed now and waiting for the Gesso to dry. The buildings are from Red Vectors. I have three houses and two sheds on the table right now. As I am working on these, I liked them enough to order the ruined versions. With the new changes in Chain of Command in the France 1940 supplement, I will be able to replace the complete buildings with the right destroyed ones. What I haven't figured out is how to model burned out thatched roofs.

If I get these finished this week, I plan on moving over to the Things from the Basement Russian buildings. Their website is phenomenal as it has plenty of tips and tricks to get the buildings done right. One thing I have noticed, is that he has more items in 20mm and 28mm than in 15mm. I am casting a covetous eye on his chicken coop. The website doesn't show it in 15mm but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Who knows, he might make it.

I have also started surfing Warbases again and found out that they do roof tiles in 15mm. Definitely ordering that if I can.

Lastly, I am very sad to see that the Star Fort Miniatures site is down. I have two buildings from them that are fantastic. A Russian Water Mill and a southern European building. I wish someone else had picked up the range but I haven't been able to find anything, yet. Does anyone know if they are still availible?

Also, it looks like Foundations of War has closed as well. I bought a fantastic warehouse from them a few years ago and have been meaning to shop them again. Very unfortunate. Need to look at ebay, I guess.

Thatched Roofs

One thing I have been wanting to do was to create thatched roof buildings for the Eastern Front. I have the buildings that have some rather plain MDF roofs. I have been struggling with this. I attempted to copy what the Red Beard Baron did on youtube with caulk. The caulk I had dried clear and looked bad. I switched to spackle. That was worse, brittle and ended up needing to be cut off of the roof. Furiously searching the net I came across the War Bard's article on his towel roofing. I decided to give that a shot. And... It looks like it works. I have three of 4 buildings with strips of a worn out wash cloth across them. I glued them down with a mix of tacky glue and water. Then once attached, I have covered it in more glue and water. It has dried hard and looks sturdy. The tough part is working around the chimney's of two of the buildings.

My goal for tomorrow is to give the whole mess a base coat in black. If I have any motivation left after that, I may even paint some. I'm not holding my breath though. Still really tired and weak from the hospital. But at least I am back home.

With these four buildings, I should have a decent amount of terrain to start laying out my Second Kharkov games. The buildings are really nice but I can't remember who the manufacturer is.