Bolt Action Senegalese Tirailleurs

Picked up a box of these Tirailleurs Sénégalais from Warlord Games some time ago for my French Army.



Tirailleurs means skirmishers or rifles and were French Imperial colonial troops from sub-Saharan Africa. They fought bravely for France in both WWI and WWII, where they were usually murdered when captured by the German Army as examples of an 'inferior' people.

These are great models, made from white metal, that add a bit o' colour to a French army. They cost a princely fifteen of our English Pounds.

From Warlord Games. 

Kent Walled Garden

As it's pretty dismal in Kent at the moment, I thought I would remind ourselves of the Autumn. Photo of a Kent walled garden taken on the last day of October.

Battle of Calth - Tabletop Game

My friend David let me sit in on a Battle of Calth game that he ran as a tabletop wargame.

As I understand it he only made the following changes:

1. One hex equals four inches.

2. Allow  units to make two actions per activation. This rewards aggressive play such as jumping out of cover and firing.

3. And, er, that's it folks.

It all seemed to work fine. I am moved to get out my 40K stuff that has been in deep storage for years.

Dr Who Miniatures Game- Zygons

For a 3D rotatable image: click here.

I had better press on and write the Zygon Rules!

Yo, Ho, Ho, Merry Xmas Heretics: Purge & Cleanse

Photo stolen from Frontline.

A very Merry Xmas from John's Toy Soldiers.

Eat, drink and be happy, for tomorrow we get purged.

Freikorps Officer

This is a Freikorps officer and bodyguards from Copplestone Castings where they are sold as 'German Mercenaries'.

It is not too much of an exaggeration that the Stormtroopers of WWI became Freikorps, then SA, then SS.

To understand the nihilistic mindset that ended up with death camps one could do a lot worse than read Storm of Steel by Junger.

Antares Concord Force

Terrible bounce-flash photos of my Concord Force: NuHu command, strike command, six strike sections, light drone section, medium drone and EW drone plus buddy drones.

The models are a mix of Warlord and Studio McVey.

I gloss-varnished the finished pieces to give an impression of energy fields.

Happy Xmas

Have a great Xmas and a Happy New Year

Review of Kharne, Eater of Worlds

I used to buy a great number of GW fiction, going right back to the novels by excellent writers like Kim Newman and Ian Watson. But I kinda tailed off as they became a bit samey. All the quirky, interesting characters disappeared and there are only so many ways you can describe battle scenes.

Nevertheless, I still buy the odd one when I fancy a bit of pulp action blood and guts.

My latest purchase was Kharn, Eater of Worlds, by Anthony Reynolds. I like Reynolds' work. He writes a good adventure tale.

Now I don't normally review other writers' work and I don't intend to start now beyond saying that Reynolds does a good, solid writing job and I was really getting in to the story when: it stopped!!!

The eBook I had just paid £8.99 for was incredibly short. How many words I can't extract from my Kindle Reader but Amazon lists the paperback scheduled for next year as 240 pages. That's about half the size of a normal SF novel and £8.99 is a premium price for an eBook.

I kinda feel ripped off. Now you don't buy a novel by the word but an author needs space to develop the characters and the plot, especially with epic multi-POVed space operas. I felt Reynolds was just getting into his stride when his tale was chopped.

I noticed something else recently when I was browsing in Waterstones at Thanet. GW books were relegated  to one tiny section on the bottom shelf. And they consisted mostly of bundled omnibuses of already published material. Not sure what this portends, if anything.

Antares Ghur - Humbrol Multi-Effect Spray

I experimented with a new paint spray for these.

It's called Humbrol Multi-Effect spray and is intended to recreate the multi-hued, refracted-light paint used on the metallic paint of premium cars where the colour changes and blends according to the direction of the light. Up to now this effect could only be reproduced on models by mixing refractive crystals into the paint, a clumsy and difficult procedure.

We have nothing resembling sunlight in December in Kent; it's dark all day. So I tried to reproduce the effect by firing a Speedlight straight at the model. That doesn't really work, unfortunately.

The paint is designed for flat surfaces, like car bonnets, not the splintered surfaces of the Ghur models, but it does give an interesting effect.

To use, first prime the models in matt black then undercoat with black gloss before spraying the multi-effect in thin layers.

The paint comes in various colours and retails for a little under £10.

Recommended.

Rochester War Dead Memorial

Every village, every town, every city in Britain has a war memorial to our war dead. This is Rochester's, set in a little park between the Cathedral and the high street. I took this photo in late November.

VBCW Militia - Sloppy Jalopy

Panzerkaput's excelent VBCW site has alerted me to some wonderful militia troops for VBCW.

Like me, you probably associate Sloppy Jalopy with, ah, sloppy jalopies but they do these as well for the giveaway price of £15. The miner's pack above apparently even has a choice of heads - miners hat or otherwise.

Two six section militia chaps from the village cricket team: also for £15.


Ace.

Betrayal at Calth - Word Bearers

Finally finished my Betrayal at Calth, Word Bearers.

Very pleased with these models.

I largely used Tamiya paints. The red is Tamiya Metallic Red spray can. This is a superb colour. It looks much better in sunlight than in a flash photo. The base is Tamiya 'pavement' coarse paint. It dries to a rough stony look that is great for a cavern battle.

Now for the Ultramarines.

Fake Ardennes M10 (Panther)

This is a neat model from Warlord Games.

One of the German Panthers in the Ardennes that were faked up to resemble M10s.

Bond Villain Minions

Secret base to dominate the world in an extinct volcano, check, so what does the aspiring Bond Villain need next? Why minions of course, preferably with machine pistols and bright clothes to make them easy targets for when Bond arrives.

Another batch from 7TV.

Joe McLarens Fighting Dwarves

Joe McLaren, famed Kings of War player of this parish, is interviewed on Counter Charge about his Kings of War Armies.

I have played against his Dwarf Army with stone giant allies (see above) and they steamrollered my undead.

Got to this link for more piccies and the podcast.

Wolf In Shadow

It takes an awful long time to work out whether a book is making or losing money because of the complexities of the publishing business. Just had the latest figures for Wolf In Shadow and it's still selling. The book is now into royalties. For an author, that's one important definition of success or failure; whether you sell through the advance into royalties.

What a great Xmas present.