Rhodesian Infantry

Hi Chaps,

Just a very quick entry to display a snap of my Under Fire Miniatures Rhodesian Infantry. These little 20mm gems are easy to paint and really do feel like one is painting a 28mm figure because there is so much to paint!

The bases are a little vegetation heavy and the other two sticks I have will not be laden with as much of the green stuff.

The uniform camouflage was pretty easy in the end, I had worried about this as my previous attempts at camo have been awful. The base coat is Vallejo dark sand then just swatches of Warpainter army green and oak brown. The webbing is Khaki and the whole lot got a wash of Agrax earthshade. Ospreys excellent Bushwars supplement for Force on Force was used as a guide and is an excellent little book on Africa's modern wars.

Thanks for looking Chaps, helicopter next.

Keep Blogging.

Seasons Greetings from the Librarian

Hi One and All!

I do hope that you are all enjoying the festive season or at least surviving it! Santa has been good this year to me and I also hope to you Chaps as well.

It could be that Games Workshop get some money off me in the New Year though more internet crawling will be done before I decide for sure. Great figures, great back stories but pants rule sets that just keep seeming to endlessly expand and alter. Anyway grabbed an early start and painted a Librarian type of figure, he was actually a resin Ebay buy so I have no firm information on him...any ideas? He was fun to paint but will sit on my shelf along with a growing number of models that have no definite role in anything.(curse impulse buys and bids that should never have won auctions!).

The photo is as usual a little bit off colour (OK a lot) but when you consider the model is just over an inch tall it is not surprising that all the imperfections are shown when magnified a few 100%!

The 20mm Rhodesians will be complete and ready for action by the New Year so any new project will begin in the New Year, perfectly timed but completely by accident. What have you Chaps got planned? Please do post your ideas because I am a bit stumped at the moment-a combination of too much beer and too many books being read....may run a poll to solve this one.

Keep blogging, enjoy the festivities and drink more beer.

Under Fire Miniatures are Fantastic....

Hi Chaps,

It is not often that I am blown away by something unexpected in this hobby but I was driven to amazement by the quality of the miniatures from "Under Fire Miniatures".

http://www.underfireminiatures.com/index.htm

The castings are very well proportioned and detail is clear and recognisable even from a distance on these 20mm figures. The quality is so good in fact I had to check against another miniature to make sure that they were 20mm!

Being on a (strict) budget I was at first reluctant to pay £1 a figure (yes it is a damned tight budget) but as I wanted to field a few vehicles and a helicopter or two I was cornered into purchasing what turn out to be some of the best sculpted figures that I have ever seen. And yes they are well worth the measly £1 that I was worrying about!

The figures shown are a mix of Chechens which I had to oder just to look at. Originally the order just consisted of Rhodesian Infantry but the longer that you stay on the Under Fire website the more things will catch your eye.....I wonder what their World War Two stuff looks like? Bolt Action suddenly becomes more affordable despite the 28mm plastics when you take the vehicles and terrain into account is 20mm is the way to go?

The Festive season stuff has slowed my painting but a cheap ICM BTR152 has been completed-my modelling skills did not extend far enough to cope with all the drive shaft gubbins but they cannot be seen anyway!

Transport is now sorted for a few of my Warsaw Pact types, this vehicle will acquire a base soon enough.

Have a really good Christmas lads (and ladies?) and keep posting your plans for the new campaigning season, I steal your brilliant ideas constantly.

Alouette 3 and crew arrives

Hi

A short post to share some goodies that arrived this morning...

Whilst everyone is recovering from too much food and beer etc I am hoping to get the time to create a suitable helicopter for the Rhodesia conflict...more stuff is on the way including some footsloggers and some general modern militia from Under Fire Miniatures that I wanted to take a peek at.

Keep blogging.

Lesney Unimog for 20mm Rhodesia

Hi Chaps,

It has been a bit of a slow week thus far. A couple of kits are inbound from a rather drunken Saturday nights clicking so things should pick up....more figures are on their way to be put aside for a rainy day as well.

Mostly I have been occupied with converting old Lesney toys into something that can pass muster on the tabletop. These yhings have been picked up at car boots and nothing costs more than a pound....avoid the ridiculous ebay prices where a Unimog without tyres goes for around £5....you may as well go to RH Miniatures and buy a new resin one!

Once on an appropriate base I think that these things will be OK, my next batch will be some more civilian transport.

By the New Year there will be enough equipment and figures to actually start gaming-what a shocker! After action reports will be posted.

Keep gaming!

1/72 Scale Transport....and girls

Hi Chaps,

It has been a busy time but unfortunately not on the hobby front. Christmas shopping and general life duties have interfered greatly with the miniature life I like to lead. At last though I have had time to delve into my stash of toy cars (that does sound so sad) to produce some more 20mm transport.

The Lesney owners club will have a price on my head for destroying their historic little models but to be fair this lot must have had a hard life. Mud was still caked inside the wheel arches on these little vehicles which are now almost as old as myself...knocking 49!

The toy cars scale up rather well with the Landrover and Unimog being the best fit but to be honest will anyone notice when they are on the table? Obviously that was a rhetorical question as I play solo....

Die cast cars are easy to take apart, just drill out the rivet with a 5mm metal drill bit but do wear glasses or goggles, mazak is nasty stuff that is best kept away from your eyeballs. The Unimog and Landrover will be military green and the wagon the usual gaudy/effeminate Elton John finish.

You may have noticed the "Girls with Guns" in the first photo, I have had them for years and I have never known what to do with them...until I visited this webpage...

http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Morvalonga/Morvalonga_Armed_Forces.htm

After more than 30 years of war gaming I am delighted to say that this was something that entertained and inspired me. Actually a breathe of fresh air! This man may just be living my miniature dream! Toy cars, aeroplanes and helicoptors have been recruited into his world and a damn good job he has made of it too! When not trying to become serious students/gamers/analysts this is what we should be doing-having fun.

The webpage above was chanced upon because I asked a question regarding the war in Rhodesia on the Lead adventure forum.

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php

Whatever your gaming interests are please do visit this site the knowledge and the friendliness of the members on this site is humbling.

OK Chaps, a lot to read and think about, have a few beers over the weekend and enjoy Morvalonga....and have fun!