Bad Kitties and Friends

Its a new year and a new focus and enthusiasm for war gaming. Much of this can be attributed to the opening of a new game store in my area. Well, its not new but it moved to a new premises which is only 25 minutes away door to door. Its a big store with tons of space and lots of product. Its amazing just what those 2 things can do to your enthusiasm and to the contents of your wallet. The store itself used to be called Sci-fi Genre and is now called Atomic Empire.

What that means is that I am getting in more gaming and I have also met a few new people. Hell, I have even managed a few small games of 40k which will be part of my next post.

This post more concerns my small but growing Flames of War army. Over Christmas I went halvies on the Open Fire box set. I kept the Germans and my friend Kenny took the British. I was also able to aquire a few pieces of individual armour, hence the name of the post.

This amounted to a new Tiger 1E, Panther A and Konigstiger. Painting and assembly went well. I changed my method putting them together and used 2 part epoxy instead of super glue and I am very happy with the result. Those tanks will NOT be falling apart.

This brings my total up to 2 Tigers, 3 Panthers and 1 Konigstiger.

As mentioned I also put together the contents of the Open Fire Box set. All in all I am very impressed with what came in it. 2 full platoons of Grenadiers plus HQ, the 2 Pak40 guns and the 3 StuG G's. All went together well and look good. The infantry does have some issues with being single piece plastics but nothing thats noticable on the table top.

In a frenzy of hobby enthusiasm I assembled and painted everything in less than a week. I will say that doing the 81 infantry figues almost crushed my will to live.

 The 3 plastic StuGs. They look good and are a teeny bit bigger than the resin versions. I think the extra width actually makes them look better. Also brings my StuG count to 8

The 2 Pak40's: Lovely models and very easy to put together. 

Grenadier HQ stands 

 

Grenadier Platoon. There is a 2nd platoon but it looks the same so didnt take pictures.

Terrain Madness

I have read that its like a drug. An addiction that has to be met. An itch in constant need of scratching and I have fallen prey to this scourge.

What I am talking about is the dreaded Terrain Bug!!!

Everywhere I look and everything I see now falls into 2 categories. Things I can replicate as scenary and things I can use to make that scenary. I am brimming with ideas and have been scouring the internet to fine ways and methods to bring those ideas into life.

It started with my roads that I posted about previously. Its now moved on.

First came the MG nests. These were inspired by and article on Modeldads and then from BigLee's Miniatures.

http://www.modeldads.co.uk/Life-at-the-Front/wordpress/?p=1524
http://www.blmablog.com/2011/03/scratch-built-mg-nest.html

My efforts:

Then came the trench line. I built roughly 24 inches of trench line. This was accomplished with nothing more than some packing styrofoam and coffee stirrers.

 In Progress. And no, the superglue is NOT what I used to glue the styrofoam.

Finished Product. Not all of it but enough to get the idea. No idea why it came out so dark in the photos.

Next was my stone walls. Again using styrofoam as a base and fish tank gravel I made 6 feet of walls in 6 inch segments.

Again, just a selection of the finished product. I am quite proud of the gate :)

Some of the walls next to one of my road segments.

And last but not least I was feeling whimsical and also wanted to do something quick and easy. So I did a well. This took me all of about 25 minutes to make.

 In Progress: Made from gravel and square toothpicks. They were from a party pack hence the colours.

Finished product.

And there we go. Some of the things I have made in the last week. Yes....its all one weeks worth. Like I said, I have the bug bad!