The Fighting Retreat to Dusters' Drift

Our Colonial game this week was a LOT of fun!  It saw a British Column, led by the 3rd Foot & Mouth Regiment (Major Backsight commanding) conducting a fighting retreat to the small logistics base at Dusters' Drift. Opposing them were the Impis of Zulu noble Oomagooglies (the Zulu King's cousin twice removed, on his mother' side).

  I've done something a bit different and stitched together a video of the after action dispatches!
 

"We come on the orders of the Great White Queen!"

My Imperial Force

As promised, here is the British and Boer forces for the Zulu war.  The British Cavalry bore the worst of the damage to their lances and swords but otherwise this whole thing is a testament to the wonderful Testors' dullcoat - and always use two coats! The lad helped me build this - my first wargaming video. Its a but self indulgent but it was fun to make For those who prefer stills, here are the key ones.

24th Foot: The Thin Red Line

The 60th Rifles

Stout lads of the Naval Brigade - with Gatling Gun!

Fire support of the Royal Artillery

Breach loading 9pdr - note the VC on the right most figure (painted on during a game in which this gun, down to the last man, held off and then broke the last Zulu Regiment to claim the day!)

British Cavalry - 17th Lancers and Hussars

Boer Irregulars

Hoping to get them onto a table for some action shortly!

Lord Chelmsford and the senior staff

"Zulus Sah! Fousands of 'em!"

Massed warriors (around 350 of them)- how a Zulu Impi should look!

This is a post some 24 years in the making. Some time ago I quite enjoyed Colonial gaming and the Zulu War was my conflict of choice.  Some mates and I put together armies in 15mm and had a great time.  Early in 1994 I had a major life change and the figs were packed away.  I've since moved house some 18 times and the figs have remained unopened; the awful noises that came from the box made me shy away.  Then last week when there was interest at the club about doing some Colonial gaming and I realised I (might) have all the figures.  Depending on how they fared at least. Here is what greeted me once I plucked up the courage to open the Zulu Box...

The Horror... The Horror...

And after 23 years this was the sum total of damage - other than bent spears and knoberries which needed reshaping

The vast majority of these figs, if not all, are from Essex 15mm colonial range

Usuthu!!!

I love the warrior in the bottom right corner wearing a captured British flag as a trophy!

And if one of going to cross the Buffalo River into Zululand, you need some terrain to fight over right?

Semblance of a small veldt hamlet named after an Irishman

British tentage and a Kraal

Next Up: The British and their Boer allies.

HMS Steady

H.M.S. Steady, possibly the most inappropriately named vessel in the Royal Navy and built under contract by Vanvlak Industries. The Monopaddlewheel is seen patrolling offthe coastof Fernandea with a Sopwith Archaeopteryx drone ready to be launched. 

Another great scratch built creation by Mssr Vanvlak, this time in 15mm.  
I particularly like his addition of signal flags!

The Heat Ray comes to life!

I was looking for this today and thought I had reposted it here - it certainly needs to be so here it is!
Courtesy of the TMP boards and the modelling brilliance of Scott Washburn.  Bravo Sir! Bravo!
Here is his post in toto:

From the first moment I saw the All Quiet on the Martian Front Tripods I thought they just cried out to have some lights in them. Well, I figured out a way to do it!

How? Well, first, let me tell you that I know as much about electricity as your average 4-year old, so my method had to be very simple! Step one was to find a self-contained power and light kit that would fit inside the head of a tripod. No way was I going to try and have a remote power supply or lights and then try to send wires or fiber optics through the narrow legs of a tripod! A very little searching on-line found exactly what I was looking for:

This beautiful little set includes a battery, battery-holder, switch and LED light for about 5 dollars. The provided light was a bit too small so I got a bigger one for another couple of bucks. It's all available from here:  link

Now, how to mount it? Well, the light itself is simple. Just drill a hole of the proper size through the nose of the tripod.

A little drilling, a little clean-up and it's ready.

I toyed with the idea of making another hole and poking the button of the switch through the body of the tripod, but I decided I would just leave the top of the head loose and access the button and the battery that way. The pegs in the top of the head fit very tightly into the holes in the lower part of the head. I wanted to loosen that up, but not too much. A little careful drilling did the trick.

After that, it was just a matter of hooking the wires of the LED up to the wires of the switch/battery and stuffing the whole thing into the head of the tripod with the light poking through the hole. Oh, I strongly recommend finishing all your painting before mounting the light!

And voila! 

I have no idea how long the batteries will last, but they are easily replaceable and cheap and I keep them turned off when not in use. Sadly the apparatus is too large to fit in the head of a scout tripod, but I've got a lead on a smaller one.

And no "Rudolph" jokes, please!

All Quiet on the Martian Front Playtest

Miles has posted some great pics and thoughts on a recent test game he played of this game.  I managed to resist the Kickstarter because nobody else around me was interested and its in a scale I don't usually use.  I'm now starting to really regret that decision.
http://lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/all-quiet-on-martian-front-playtest.html

Tripods Ahoy!

Earlier this year there was a kickstarter for "All Quite on the Martian Front" which I missed while I was away.  In catching up on my aethernet news I saw these smashing pictographs from Historican 2013 in July of these wonderful models in action!

These pics are not mine, all credits to:
http://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/historicon-2013-thursday.html
http://www.wwpd.net/2013/07/lukes-historicon-picture-dump.html
http://agamemag.com/archives/6025

All Quiet on the Martian Front

Yes, another kickstarter, but one which VSF fans will enjoy - check it out!
http://www.martianfront.com/kickstarter

German Zyklops Landship

The Armchair General has sent me these great pics of his German Zyklops Landship, which is a 15mm(!) scale leviathan being produced by JTFM.  She has nice detail and at CAD$35 looks like a great acquisition. Click for Larger pics

More here:
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/337611/

HMS Rocket

Another YIAWWS Exclusive - by Vanvlak Industries!



HMS 'Rocket' is the lead ship of the MkII Airborne Steam Shunt (A.S.S.) class of unarmed vessel, a short range flyer used to shuffle cargo around docks. The long rail at the rear is used to attach cargo onto. The MkIIa is similar but has a redesigned aft section and is a dedicated dirigible and aeronef tug, although the MkII itself is sometimes put to the same use. The MkIIb is identical to the MkII but has an enclosed cockpit for space use.

'Rocket' is currently attached to the Mediterranean fleet, and has seen service in Malta and Graham Island.*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinandea




It's the first model in a new collection of vehicles I intend to build (no bets on whether I'll actually get them done...). They will be a loose assortment of Victoriana, mostly vehicles with some troops, all in 15mm scale. I'm currently working on the second vehicle, a Mk I Conveyancer. The vessels will be part of a joint British (Imperial)/Venetian force. I still have no idea what they are up to in the Mediterranean, or who their enemies would be (Barbary Coast Pirates? The Russian Navy?).

Peter Pig sailor at the helm.



Bravo old Boy - we've missed your unique style and great skills around here!

15mm terrror birds

After much searching, I've finally discovered a source for terror birds in 15mm scale:

scroll down to the bottom here:

http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/miscellaneous.html

These will be just the thing to chase those intrepid explorers and hunters!

Tusk pics posted

Irregular Minis make the fun Dino hunting game "Tusk", with accompanying figs in 15mm.

Until now, pics of the figs have been rather scarce, but some have now been posted to their site here: http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/15mmRanges/15mmTusk.htm

The pack contents are:

Victorian Adventuers Set:

1 x Sir Harry (stout chap he is too! - as seen above)

1 x Colonial bugler

6 x Colonial British infantry

2 x Boers (use as trackers)

1 x Colonial British Gun and crew

2 x Native Guides (gun porters dont you know old boy!)

2 x Animal trap pits

4 x Dinosaurs

The Caveman Pack has:

2 Og the Heroes

2 Cavemen with fire brands

4 Dogs

4 missile armed cavemen

8 other cavemen

4 Mammoths (3 Adult, 1 baby)

A Good Word For Eureka Miniatures

I just got my order (in under two weeks from Australia no
less!) of 15mm WWI Italians from Eureka Miniatures. These
are great little minis, the machine-gun stands are minor
works of art! Very nicely done and as always a breeze to deal
with.
http://www.eurekamin.com.au/

Bloodaxe Minis!

I just got my order of 15mm WWI Russians and inter war Soviets,
I must say their sculpting is excellent! The figures compare in
size with those from Peter Pig but have I think a nicer animation.
The price on Bloodaxe miniatures is also far better for we
American customers since there is no exchange rate or high
shipping costs to deal with.

I bought one of their 1914 Russian Infantry Regiment WWI
UNIT PACKS for $14.95, this one was a particular good value
it is based around the Spearhead system and contained 50 infantry
2 officers and 4 machine gun teams. I'll be getting another of these
soon along with their German WWI pack.

I also got some of their interwar period Soviet infantry in Budenka
Cap, very nice figs!

This is a very new company that seems to have allot going
for it and great future lines soon going to be released like
FIRST ITALO-ETHIOPIAN WAR. I do highly recommend
this one guys, they are fast and communicate with their customers
every step of the way. I'm really looking forward to more from this
bunch!

Don

http://www.bloodaxeminiatures.com/

15mm Dirigible

I grabbed one of these at Toys R Us yesterday - its a movie toy from "The Golden Compass" which I think will make a superb 15mm scale Dig! A gondola, a paint job and some inevitable steampipe work and gubbins and she will be ready to take to the air!




Maybe I need a couple more now I think about it...
Didnt find the aerial galley behind it, but that has loads of potential too!

Mechanical Madness!

I've found another new VSF blog this week; "Northwest Historical Miniature Gamer" Kevin has some great pics of a VSF game he ran with his friend Mark called "Mechanical Madness!" as well as a precis The Sword and the Flame on Mars with some nice photos. http://nhmgs.blogspot.com/

Mark also has kindly sent me the variant he has written - its great stuff!
Can't wait to get my 15mm VSF forces together to try them out on the sands of the Red Planet...

Native Venusians sighted!

A Wine Wine Sauce exclusive - direct by aethergram from Venus!

Field researchers from the London Natural History Society have made contact with a native intelligent life form on the planet Venus. In the spirit of international cooperation, the famed naturalist of the Institut de Paris de Biologie, Professor Pierre Aronnax, has been dispatched with all haste to work with the team studying the Venusians.


The Venusians are very large, average 10 feet in height and have 4 arms - each with a hand and opposable digit. They have a rudimentary language and appear to have a rigid family and clan heriachy. They typically operate in groups of 3, though strong individuals may lead multiple groups of 3 warriors. They favour melee weapons though have also developed a primitive type of projectile weapon, of which little is known. One thing we can be certain of though, they would make fearsome opponents!

More pics here:

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/pauljamesog/15mmVSF/

Modelling notes:
Well these guys are the first models Ive painted this year since I moved house., and the start f my 15mm VSF project - Huzzah!

The models are from Peter Pig's "War in the Age of Magic" range as "Large Green Martians" (and they ARE large compared to a 15mm figure. They were painted using GW Goblin Green as the base colour and then 'dipped' using Wattle Satin Woodstain (Walnut).

This is the first time I have used a dip method, which was kindly detailed here last year by Patrick. While I sponged off much of the excess, I think these are a little too heavily stained and next time I will thin down the dip a little as the surface tension kept too much in the crevasses I think. A great effect for the time investment though and certainly they got to table top standard in minimum time. I'll also need to touch up a few highlights again (like the eyes).

Bases are 1/4inch washers with Mulliput. I'll finish off the bases with flock and grass shortly.

Sorry about the dark shadows, I'll take some proper pics once I've done the bases.