2012 WHATS NEXT ?!

        What could it be ?

Well, let me begin by looking at what I have achieved in 2011, the first part of the year, Jan, Feb had me continue on with my Zombie Apoc Project buying and assembling terrain pieces for my terrain which I named 'Small Town USA', in March and April I started painting Zombies and acquired more terrain pieces, in May I started a Wild West Project but was interrupted by my House purchase / move and unfortunately I never got back to that project in 2011, June - July I spent my time moving and setting up my new house, August I jumped straight back into it, I allocated some gaming space in the garage and even set up a gaming table ! then I got back to painting more zombies and survivors, by this stage I was a little Zombie burnt out, after having worked on my Zombie Apoc Project from May 2010 to August 2011, that's more than one year on one project, that's a lot for me! after realising this, I decided that I needed to work on something fresh, so I added a couple more projects, a Fantasy project and a Prehistoric project, the Prehistoric project ended up being my main focus for the rest of the year.

Terrain detailing pieces 24

Zombies 12
Survivors 9
US Cavalry 10
Animals 13
Neanderthals 4
Total miniatures 48

All in all not a bad year for me I painted about the same amount of miniatures as last year but across a couple of extra projects, I'm six posts down from last year but I did miss a couple of months while moving, its been a fun year and I have quite enjoyed the hobby side of things, heres hoping for a more fruitful one this coming year. 

Next years project

So what about next year? I am hoping to continue on with my current projects and maybe even finish some of them, now wouldn't that be something... but aside from trying to focus on 'finishing projects' at the top of the list for next year is the Dark ages, I will be concentrating on the early part on this time period about 400 - 500AD, Roman rule has just been withdrawn/ collapsed and the Saxons, Irish/Scots and the feared Picts are starting to make incursions into the south of Briton, theres no one left to hold them back except the Romano - Brits, did some one say Arthur ?

NOTE: I have officially shelved the WW2 Eastern Front project due to a large inconsistency of figure sizes, and crappy fragile resin vehicles, I will rethink this one maybe mid year, curses!

Oh and I forgot too say...

 HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!        to all my followers and fellow bloggers !!!

TERROR BIRD

I am now attempting to finish my Tusk project stuff, my latest offering is another Prehistoric predator, a Terror Bird, or Phorusrhacids as its known in the Archaeological world, this beast was basically a terrifying large flightless bird, that could run like hell, reaching speeds of up to 48 km\h, its believed that this beast stood around 9ft tall, and was the dominant predator of the grassy plains until the arrival of the Saber Tooth Tiger, which is believed to be one of the causes of its extinction, at nine feet tall brothers that's a lot of Chickennnnn !

So again, this is a 15mm miniature, this time from Splintered Light Miniatures a great little sculpt, with plenty of detail, I found this difficult to paint for some reason, took me ages, at first I had this mini painted all white, I looked at it and thought this looks like a big chicken! so I added some colour to its body and now it looks like a large seagull ! Ahh well, this will have to do, its good enough.

So as far as my Tusk project goes, there is not much left to do, I have already started the terrain, I also have one wolf pack to paint and the remaining four Elephants to make my Woolly Mammoth Herd.

WOOF WOOF ?!?!

"Tear him to shreds boys!"

So I did some more Tusk related minis, this time a pair of 15mm Neanderthal raised wild dogs / wolves, the Tusk rule set allows the player to use dogs as hunting party members, the dogs in game have an ability to help direct the hunted Wolly Mammoths, and can generally harass and aggrivate them, which has its uses, unless of course the dogs get trampled !

  

I originally bought a pair of hunting hounds from SLM (splintered light minis), on arrival these turned out to be a little oversized, so I threw them on the obsolete minis pile (sadly, this is getting big !) and I did a little research which ended up yeilding me these little beauties, a pair of SLM Wolves, these size wise turned out just right.

I really liked how the low growling wolf turned out, the way it was sculpted and its overall pose, heaps of character, so I might actually order some more and use them as a predatory wolf pack, well see, thats all for now.

WW2 PROJECT EASTERN FRONT

Another small project started, this time on the Eastern front in some remote Russian village a Resistance group fights to survive against the German war machine, so with this project I will start it in the reverse, terrain first and then the miniatures, usaully I do it the other way round, so the sides will be something like this: 10 Resistance fighters take on 15 German Fallschirmjagers (paratroopers), in a close quarters gun battle, the Resistance will have the element of suprise, but the Germans will have the firepower .

The Russian Houses are log houses from Pegasus Hobbies and the church is from Lancer Miniatures, gates are HO scale fences from Atlas, all of these are in there raw form and are not even primed yet, I was playing around with the layout of the terrain to see what looks and works best for the scenario, I will start to work on the ground and surrounding forrests once I am happy with the layout of the buildings, I will post progressive updates soon.

NEANDERTHALS

My Tusk project is coming along very well, I have taken yet another step towards the finish line, my Neanderthals are now complete (minus basing), a group of four hunters, covered in animal furs and armed with sticks and stones ! I think they turned out nice, very natural looking and a bit grubby, I tried to vary the brown tones a bit just for variety and I must admit that I am craving to paint something way more colourful, but, I am glad there done.

Again these miniatures are in 15mm and are from Archeson Creations, great sculpts with good detail, making them very easy to paint, these guys are sculpted a little bigger and broader than a man would normally be, which is correct historically, I am hoping that Richard(sculptor) will sculpt more Neanderthals, and some Cro Magnon man, there really hasn't been any new releases in 15mm since about June I think, But there is talk of some releases either at christmas or early next year! we shall see.

VISITING CANCON 2012

Well, made an official decision the other day that Ancient Warriors (me) will be visiting Cancon 2012, Rang my brother and booked him in for the trip up to the state known for its plethora of porn and availability of fireworks (illegal in every other state), we are going to hire a comfy vehicle for the weekend and we are going to cruize up their and check this event out, plan is to bring lots of dollars for purchases, I have a particular interest in terrain materials, and we have both agreed to try some free participation games, who knows maybe a few more projects might be born out of this expedition, not that its needed. So the show will happen on the weekend of the 27 - 29th of Jan, so you can expect pics and a run down of the event.

LITKO - FIRE

Moving along with my Tusk Project, I got a package at work today which contained my fire tokens and some Litko bases for my elephant Herd (wont be reviewing the bases), the fire tokens are actually flame wreckage markers, but they will do just fine as raging grass fires in my Tusk games, they are made from transparent acrylic and just slot together for a really cool effect, I bought three small fires and three large raging bush fires, I based there sizes as per the Tusk rule set, fires markers are to be 2 1/2 cm, I also added a home mod rule that if two fires collide they will transform into one large fire (5cm wide), the fire tokens obviously come in different sizes, I also included the sabertooth tiger for scale.

WOOLLY RHINOS

My Next completed items for my Tusk Project, are a pair of Coelodonta or simply known as the Woolly Rhinoceros, these miniatures are again in 15mm and are again from Primaeval Designs, Richard Deasey (sculptor) has again done a fantastic job on the sculpting side of things, accurate characterful, proportionate and detailed to the max, these were a joy to paint up and have turned up a treat, I tried my hardest to find a fault with these miniatures but they are simply perfect !

So these Rhinos will be just something else that can be hunted, and will add to the overall animal population and food count, now I received my order of extra mammoths, but I realised that I had ordered the wrong ones !! so Craig at Archeson Creations was kind enough to resend me the correct mammoths, these should hit my shores in about a week and a bit.

 once I receive the mammoth herd then its straight onto the terrain, I also have a few Terror birds and Hunting Dogs coming from Splintered light Minis, the only other things I want to get is probably a pack of wolves and some wild boars, and of course more Hunters and Hairy Bipeds when and if they are created through Primaeval Designs.

QUEST FOR FIRE

I wanted to share one of my favourite movies based in prehistory, its called Quest for fire, the general premise of the movie is about a clan of Neanderthals who early in the movie get attacked by a local clan of Hairy Bipeds, many members get killed in the ensuing fight and they also lose the ability to create fire, so they assign to some of their best warriors the task of recapturing fire, the movie follows this band of warriors as they journey through differing lands on their Quest to find Fire !

HOMININAN APE TYPES

So I have been a little slack lately, taking plenty of time between posts, so I will post a few times over the next few days, anyway, today I have finished painting some Hairy biped types, these guys will be an opposing local clan to our protagonists, both parties will use the same hunting grounds, this of course will cause some heated encounters, these guys will be stronger than the human types, but will be governed by low intellect and low tech weapons.... there fists, I believe according to history that some of these Hominid types were also cannibalistic, so they will raid human camps looking for food !  

These miniatures are from 15mm.Co.UK, decent enough sculpts, but I think they were intended to be used as angry apes, but I will use them as Hairy bipeds, they came with a little flashing but nothing to serious, the only complaint I have is that they sent me six all in the same pose (I hate it when they do this), so I bent the arms at different angles to get some slight variation, I actually considered sculpting some human like faces on them, but doubted my skill at sculpting so I didn't, there are also some Khurasan hairy biped types that I want to get, these ones have clubbing weapons, perhaps I'll try sculpting human like faces on these miniatures, well see.

WOOLLY MAMMOTH

So continuing on with the Prehistoric theme, we have the Woolly Mammoth, again in 15mm, and again from Primaeval Designs, this miniature is beautifully sculpted with lots of detail, getting the colour right was my biggest challenge, just that right reddy brown colour, in the end I settled for Vallejo's Mahogany Brown, the miniature comes with the body and tusks separate,  the tusks connect to the body via a couple of pins and your choice of glue, all in all a fun unit to put together and paint.

Anyone for steak ?? Yumbo !

I have ordered an extra 4 Woolly Mammoths so as to create a small herd which will be the objective in most of my games, I'm hoping Primaeval designs sculpts some Woolly calves to go with this herd, that would be way cool, I believe they have done this for there 28mm range, so fingers crossed.

On the prehistoric workbench I am in the process of painting up the first of my Neanderthal hunters, primaeval Designs has only made one set of five guys so far, more, we need more !!! damn it! will post these guys up when finished.

10,000 BC ? TUSK

Hi again everyone, so I have begun my foray into the world of Prehistoric survival, as mentioned in a previous post: (click here to be whisked away to previous post) I will be using the Tusk rule set with my own personal tweaks added, my intentions for the rule set is to make it harder to kill the woolly Mammoths (this is the point of the game), I will do this by giving them hit points, I also intend on changing the animal reaction system, and expanding the predator encounter tables (more danger more fun!).

So, tonight I'm showcasing Smilidon populator aka the Saber tooth Tiger, he will be one of the many predators on the predators encounter table in the Tusk rule set, there will be a chance that you will attract Smilidon to your immediate area, due to the noise and commotion of your hunt, you will have to deal with him or become his next meal.

All miniatures purchased so far are from the Primaeval Designs range and can be purchased from Acheson Creations, these guys will easily become the go to guys for any miniatures Prehistoric, I recieved great service and good communications from this supplier, the sculpts are extremely well done with high levels of detail and a lot of attention has been given towards the accuracy of the sculpts, this within itself speaks a lot for the talent and skill of there sculptor, especially considering that this range is done in 15mm ! thus far this is a faultless range of miniatures.

close up shot... Meow!!

Editors notes:

1) I wont do bases until the terrain gets done so they can match.

2) Next post the Woolly Mammoth gets a showing.

NEW FEATURE - SALE PAGE

Hi all, just quickly posting to inform everyone that I have added a sale page to this blog, I have many many many ...so many miniatures that I will not use, and therefore I must sell, all miniatures will cost one pound each + postage, first in, first served, I will continue to add miniatures to this page so check back often, who knows what you will find !?

SOME MORE SURVIVORS

So here are some more survivors to add to the Zombie munching machine, a real good mix of manufacturers, from left to right is Hasslefree, Cold war minis, Spinespur and Foundry, the Hasslefree mini is an unarmed woman, What? I hear you say....not only is she a woman, but she is also unarmed, stop shaking your head, not everyone is armed in a zombie apocalypse ya know....geeez, the next survivor is a Cold War Mini he looks like a Redneck trucker swinging a tyre iron, he would have to be one of my fav survivors, I think he oozes character and faithfully personafies what a redneck would look like, only thing missing that would make this mini even better is a mullet hehehe. 

Nice ass ?

The next mini being a spinespur mini I am in two minds about, he has painted up well but there is just something about him that is unnatural or awkward, dont know what it is but I am 50 / 50 on this character, having said that, how he is outfitted and armed will present some problems for the ole Zombies, the final mini is a Foundry mini and again captures what I would imagine a Jamacian gangster would look like, you know like in Bad boys II, yer I know, I watch to many movies, aside from that check out the sheer size of this Lad, he is huge, the zombies had better not get in his way, hand to hand this guy will be one tuff customer, if his G3 assualt rifle doesn't get them, his big hammer fists will.

Check those dredies out !

SOME MORE ZOMBIES

'The Creepy Little Kid'

So I'm adding some more zombies to the hoard, these guys are from Cold War Minis, I must say that Cold War miniatures produce some of my favourite zombie miniatures on the market today, everything from there stances to the amount of character sculpted into the minis and the level of detail that these miniatures have, easily make Cold War miniatures one of my top three Zombie producing Companies

So from left to right we have a Redneck Zombie that looks like he had his knee munched out, then there is the Creepy kid that we all like, but hate, he has multiple wounds to his abdomen and legs, then there is the business woman who has bite marks to both arms and to her shoulder and finally there is the Fast food cook who has bite marks to his thigh region and multiples to his abdomen, if that wasn't enough he also has a bung leg, life can be cruel sometimes even for a zombie.

THE GAMING TABLE

So, as you all know I recently moved house, from a single storey unit to a double storey apartment, and space has always been an issue, I am approaching (at breakneck speed) a place, where I want too get some friends together and actually have a night of miniature gaming at my place, but being short on space where was I going to host this event ? in the end I decided to take over the garage and devote this space to gaming, once I settled on where, I then stumbled into 'on what', what was I going to use for a gaming table? it just so happens that at work we recieved a new showroom display unit which came via a courier inside of a wooden crate, as soon as I saw it , the light bulb went on in my head, with a few choice words to the boss, I took that sucker home, a few days later I went to a hardware store and had them cut me a top, made of basic MDF wood, I screwed the top down to the base and SHAZAM ! a basic but very useable gaming table, the table will be a great help when making terrain, cause I will be able too lay everything out and build upon it bit by bit, anyway, in the end the playing surface measures 2metres long x 1.2metres deep, I was very happy with how things turned out.

NEW PROJECTS

I have been getting inspired of late to start many new and different projects, which as you can understand can become a bit of a problem, this can put a massive strain on your resources and potentially cripple other ongoing projects... I bet there are a few of you out there that know what I'm talking about, Right? that's what I thought, anyway, I decided to briefly post on my new and upcoming projects, as some of you know, I already have a few projects on the go, A Gladiator project, American Indian Plains War project and my Zombie Apocalypse  project, now to these existing projects I will add another two projects, the first one being a Dungeon Crawl project using a basic D&D rule set, this will be done in 15mm, I will put together a party of about five adventurers, build a dungeon of sorts and fill it with dungeon nasties, with this project I am hoping to recapture some good old fashion 1980's dungeon adventuring, I am going to kick this one old school. 

The second project I will be adding to the lead mountain is a project based in Prehistory, a time when Cro-magnon man and Neanderthal man lived and hunted side by side, a time where man was not at the top of the food chain, a time where Woolly Mammoths roamed the northern tundra freely and where Smilodon lays hidden in the grassy plains awaiting his next unsuspecting meal, for this project I will be using the Tusk rule set, probably tweaked to the max, I own the rule set and believe that it needs a little more depth, other than that it reads like a fun and exciting game, this project will also be done in 15mm, my preferred scale, I will post more on these projects as the miniatures turn up and the terrain gets made, thats all for now, will post again soon, chau chau. 

HOUSE MOVED

A quick post to let everyone know that I am back up and running, house has been moved and my miniature painting station has been set up and is ready for production for the remainder of 2011, what was that ? ...what do I have in store for you for the rest of 2011? well, I am glad you asked, I have a new project to add to the lead pile (more on this later), and there is more American plains Indian war miniatures, and of course lots and lots of Zombies.... I would like to finish my zombie project this year if possible, I still have under fifty zombies to paint, and I also have all the fencing to assemble and paint for my Zombie Apoc terrain 'Small Town USA', was also thinking about adding a suburb section to my Zombie Apoc Terrain (I will think more about this), I have also acquired a small US army chem squad from Eureka minis, these guys will need a touch of paint, so I am back at it again, you all can expect at least one post a week, next post due this weekend.

'Eureka Chemical Squad'

MOVING HOUSE

Hi fellow bloggers and followers, I just wanted to let you all know that I am in the process of moving house (bought an apartment a couple of months ago, Yay me!), the blogging side of it has been real quiet, everything is packed up and boxed so there is no chance of getting much done here, its going to be this way until after the first week of june, which is not that far away right ?.... so for now, keep on blogging everyone! and here is a bit of a terrain teaser, this is my terrain for my zombie apoc project, its called 'Small Town USA' its not completely finished but its close enough, see you all in a few weeks.

'Small Town USA'

COWBOYS AND INDIANS ANYONE ?

Hi everyone, I have made a start on my American Indian Plains war project, this project will feature open prairie terrain with a cattle ranch to one side, fighting sides will be the Ranchers, Plains indians, the Cheyenne and the Sioux, US Cav, Confederate outlaw rebels, leftovers from the civil war, prob some Mexicans and maybe some Apaches. After doing my Zombie Apoc project I realised that 28mm scale is not the right scale I want to game in, so this project (and most likely every other) is being done in 15mm (1:87or HO scale), there are lots of reasons why I made the change, the main reasons being, storage, price, amount of time spent per figure, size of terrain needed, quality of 15mm sculpts, etc... I am still continuing with my Zombie Apoc project, and will add to them and post them as I collect and paint more. 

So the first unit I painted up is the famed 7th Cavalry, A Troop, they are painted 'Hollywood style' with white hats, yellow handkerchiefs and a very uniformed look, this was not reality but it is the way I remember them from when I was a young fellow, watching all those Sunday afternoon Cav vs Indian movies, these guys are the dismounted version of the 7th Cav, and are not yet based (Litko order is already on the way). 

A few things too note are a couple of conversions I made, the LT had his riding gloves and his shoulder boards rank added with green stuff, also the corporal had the front of his hat bent back to resemble how some of the troops wore there hats in those days, I think these adjustments made those figures stand out and gave them a little extra character, the miniatures are Bluemoon, from there War paint range, these are great miniatures, with good detail making them very easy to paint, only disappointing thing was the miniature's faces, the sculpting on them was average.

MINIATURE STORAGE

As a few of you know I will be moving house at the end of May, and having just recently joined a gaming club, storage and transport has become an issue, so I did some research and located this cool storage / transport option 'KR multi case' got this little baby from Evilbay (Ebay), its about the size of a small suitcase and it can hold 200 minitures in the 28mm scale, not bad for $27 + postage.

You get four foam trays with a foam lid for the top tray, so thats 50 miniatures per tray, four trays per case and each miniature compartment will fit a 28mm miniature snuggly, the foam is made of a soft sponge type material, soft enough to protect your minis but stiff enough to hold all your miniatures, the case itself is made off thick cardboard, same stuff as your average cardboard boxes, only difference is that this case is designed in such way that the corners look like they could take a substantial hit.

Infact! their website claims that they threw a case full of miniatures out of a moving car, and the most that happened was that the case took minimal damage to a couple of its corners, miniatures were safe and the case was still more than re-useable, not bad at all...    
I believe that you can also get different types of trays that will fit different types of miniatures, everything from more foot troop trays to cavalry and vehicle trays, I quite like this system and would happily recommend it to anyone.