Colonists

In preparation for what will hopefully be this summers campaign I have painted 4 Ground Zero Games (GZG) miniature colonists. Having found myself constantly refering to the miniatures as having a nice finish and good detail, I don't know what else to say because that's what they are. I tried to paint them in earth colours to make them look more like colonists living in farmlands rather than in a larger settlement.

The minis were painted with my standard 15mm miniature painting technique: 1) a basecoat of a foundation paint, 2) a appropriate wash to create a shadow, 3) a lighter colour drybrushed as a highlight and 4) a gloss varnish and matt varnish to protect the miniature. I usually paint with GW paints, but has recently bought some Vallejo Game colours. I rather like the bottles, which will make mixing a lot easier.

The plans for the summer is to run a narrative campaign in the Tuffleverse using the Flying Lead rules. I only have to finish my Kra'vak strikeforce. I've got a new P3 red ink to try out, I'm contemplating whether to use that instead of the red wash on the Kra'vak armour. I wonder if the colonists can hold their own against the aliens.

WW1 Austro-Hungarians and Germans

It's been a while since the last post. I havn't done much painting, but a few miniatures are finished since last. I have focused on painting up two squads of WW1 soldiers. My favourites, Austro-Hungarians, and some Germans too. The Peter Pig miniatures are really well produced with great detail and different poses. I ordered these and some Belgians a while back and I am very pleased with the miniatures. But it makes me angry to read on Peter Pig's website that their miniatures have been counterfeited. It is sad that a small industry and hobby has to put up with this. If someone made their own copies of miniatures from the large corporation that take outragous prices I couldn't care less. But in this case it is a small company that has some very good prices and that give you good value for your money. It's sad and just plain wrong.

When I read about it I decided to paint my Austro-Hungarians and Germans to show just how good their miniatures are. The Austro-Hungarians are painted with an Astronomican grey basecoat, followed by my traditional wash, this time Asurman blue, and then drybrushed with Space Wolf Grey. I like the pose of the Austro-Hungarian Officer as well as his mustasch, which I find to look very much like Emperor Franz Josephs.

I can't remember whether or not i basecoated the Germans in Adeptus Battlegrey of Astronomican grey, but I think it was Battlegrey. They were then washed with Badab black and given a Codex grey drybrush to finish them off. All the minis have been given a gloss varnish coat and waiting for their matt varnish when i photographed them.

487th Raums Stosstruppen in Power Armour

Finished painting and basing these a while ago. They have a double coat of Asurman blue wash on to the bare metal. Got the idea from Dropship Horizon and the post about HALO Spartans. The 487th are blue instead of green, and they are a part of the Neu Swabian League (NSL). The 487th is an elite planetary assualt force, often spearheading assaults. They have been given the honorary name 'Kaiser Franz Joseph', after the 19th-centry Kaiser of Austria.

I am pleased with how they turned out. Painted a whole platoon of NSL infantry to go with them, in the same colour scheme. I'll put them on the blog when I have based them. The unit will be supported by the NSL Jaegers.

I'm a Hero...apparently

Found this through Kobolds blog. It is a rather fun test. I found out that I am a Hero and a d8 :-) A fun coincidence is that I once tried to create a set of wargamingrules based on d8's, they were never finished. Can't remember where I put them.

According to Dicepool:

You are a d8: You are the true adventurer! Dragons rescued, princesses slayed, and all that business while O Fortuna plays in the background. Your social calender is crammed with heroic deeds, and you've personally saved the world from ultimate destruction at least twice. You are reliable, perhaps a bit predictable, but overall a shining example of what happens when courage meets determination.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Preparing for more Flying Lead

Have started to prepare for more gaming with the Flying Lead rules. Have made the squad roster using a handy little program called Comic Life. It is a program that you can create comics with. I am planning to use it to create fiction about the characters in the upcoming games. Comic Life might also be suitable to create after action reports in. The results of my trial run can be seen below, a short scene from Neu Habsburg and a roster for Survey Expedition Arctos.

Comic Life

Explorers, Space Pirates and Adventurers

Finished a bunch of mini's a while back. I am going to use them for different settings in a variety of rolls. The three minis up front can be used as explorers, space pirates and adventurers in almost any sci-fi or post-apocalyptic setting. However, I can only see the three in the back used in a post-apocalyptic setting. The six miniatures will be used as a Kasr Station Exploration Patrol for my Mutants and Death Ray Guns (MDRG) post-apocalyptic setting.

The second mini from the right is 'Mike' in my Tuffleverse setting. Mike is a freelance trader and adventurer with a knack for computers and technical stuff, luckily he also knows how to use his automatic rifle. The miniature is a GZG Ravager, a very nice sculpt. Unfortuneatly, the picture doesn't do the mini justice, but I will post a better one a little bit later on. I am specially pleased with the back of his coat. The coat was painted Calthan brown and given a heavy Badab black wash. In a Traveller setting he will be used as a space pirate/free trader.

Corporate Security Team

Attached to all Krupp, Skoda and Siemens (KSS) colonial installations are corporate security. Often these corporate security teams are made up of former military personnel, but just as often these teams consists of wash-outs or former shoppingmall security officer. The more remote the colony, the higher the risk of the security teams being of low quality. The corporate security team on Neu Habsburg consists of a mix of a few ex-military types, but most are newly recruited men and women seeking fortune on a newly colonised planet.

The corporate security team have been painted in Hormagaunt purpule and given a Leviathan purple wash, followed by a Hormagaunt purpled drybrush. I had to sculpt a cap on to the head of some in the security team, to get some variety from the GZG minis I have. Painting them was pretty easy, and the detail on the GZG miniatures was good. I must admit that I like GW's washes, as they are simple to use and they look very good when finished.

The team will be expanded upon and I am thinking of giving them one or two wheeled MAWP's with an autocannon or a plasma cannon. Although they are equipt with non-military personal weaponry, I imagine them having some high grad support weapon. The KSS can after all affored some good kit, at least to be used in case of emergency. The corporate security team will also be expanded and get some more members.

AAR - Clash of Patrols

X7-P23 a newly discovered habitable planet, that currently is contested between the Neu Swabian League (NSL) and Saeed Khalifate. The planet has one large continent that is largely covered in jungles and wastes around the equator. The north and south are covered with mountain and woodland regions. Both the NSL and Khalifates have landed forces in the northern parts of the continent. They are aware of each others forces and the situation is tense. Unknown to both sides, hostillities are about to break out when two small recon patrols clash close to some uncharted colonist hut.

So, it is time for the first after action report (AAR). Me and a friend have tried the Flying Lead rules. We also decided to just keep to the basic rules. Flying Lead has a turn system that makes the game flow between the opposing players miniatures randomly, depending on the number of action and Quality roll of the miniature. One turn ends when all minis on both sides have moved.The AAR was created using a really nice program called, Battle Chronicler.

Since it was our first game we kept it simple with 5 minis each, 4 regular troopers and 1 support assualt weapon gunner aside. All minis were equipt similarly with assualt rifles and body armor. The Jaegers were deployed in the upper right corner behind the wood and the Khalifates in the lower left corner behind the wood.

The game started out with the Jaegers approaching from the north-east and the Khalifates from the south-west. During the first turn the Jaegers made some pretty bad dice rolls, forcing them to advance slowly, while splitting there forces in two. The Khalifates on the other hand made some good rolls and advanced on both sides of the wood in the lower left corner. The Khalifate SAW gunner and a regular trooper took up a firing position behind a hedge close to the woods. From there position they could overlook both the open ground in the middle of the board, the far left side of the board and also the back of the colonist hut and woods to the north-east. Meanwhile the remaining 3 Khalifates moved towards the hedge and woods in the lower left corner of the board, with the object of taking up position along the hedge in the middle in front of the colonist hut.

The Jaegers moved 2 regular troopers on each side of the upper right hand woods and the SAW gunner through the woods. As the first Jaeger on the far right moved along the hedge he came into the line of fire from the Khalifates on the middle of the board. The shots hit home and the first Jaeger fell to the ground. First blood to the Khalifates. In the meantime the Khalifates on the left fired on the Jaegers emerging from the woods in the upper part of the board. Their shots also hit and the Jaeger was Shaken.

Now it was time for the Jaegers to strike back, as their SAW gunner moved out of the woods in the middle of the board and into a position to fire on the 2 Khalifates behind the hedge in the middle of the board. A good shot hit the first Khalifate trooper and scored a Groy death, taking him out of action and also forcing the trooper next to him to take a morale test. Seeing his squad mate go down was to much for the trooper as the failed morale test sent him running one short move towards the table edge.

As it again became the Khalifates turn to act, the trooper who was running away turned around and made a move back towards and fired against the Jaeger who previously hade fired on him. The shots hit but only forced the Jaeger SAW gunner to retreat into the woods, thereby hiding him from any more fire. So instead of being able to fire at the Jaeger SAW gunner, the Khalifates SAW gunner on the left fired against the second Jaeger trooper emerging from behind the woods close to the northern table edge. The fire hit and that Jaeger was also Shaken. On the far right the last Khalifate trooper fired on the advancing Jaeger and took him out of action. The Jaegers were now down to 3 troopers. One more casualty and the Jaegers would have to start taking morale tests.

In the next turn the Jaeger SAW gunner again moved out of the woods in the middle of the board and returned fire on the Khalifate trooper in front of him. The fire took him out of action and the Khalifates were also down to 3 troopers. For a short while the game seemed even, but now it was time for the Khalifates to act. The Khalifate trooper on the right moved in towards the centre and took a shot at the Jaeger SAW gunner but missed.

On the left the Khalifate SAW gunner turned towards the Jaeger SAW gunner and let loose with his weapon. The resulting fire was devestating and the Jaeger SAW gunner was out of the fight. The following morale test forced one of the Shaken Jaegers to stand and run off the northern table edge. The other Shaken Jaeger stood and made a single move towards the table edge. With only one trooper left, the Jaegers concided and the victory went to the Saeed Khalifates.

As the game came to a close we had a chat about the rules. It took about 40 minutes to explain the rules before the game, and about 30 minutes into the game to understand them. In my opinion they are a good set of rules. For my opponent this was his second time ever to play a miniature game, and he very quickly got a hang of the rules. Even though the rules are pretty simple, there is an elegant degree of complexity that probalby will make the game hard to master. Thereby I hope the games will keep on being challanging and fun as we introduce more rules and special abillites. It was fun to play a game of Flying Lead modified for the Tuffleyverse. I also have to recommend Battle Chronicler, as it is a very good tool to make AAR's with.

New Paintstation

Bought a GW paintstation last weekend. I most say that it is a very useful piece of kit for painting. The upper shelf is specially made for brushes, 2 water pots and there is a lot room for painting pots. The best part is that all miniatures currently being painted can be placed there together with all relevant colors and washes. Before I had to pack and unpack both miniatures, paints and brushes when I was going to paint. Now I save a lot of time by just having everything placed on the paintstation. I only have to put away my paintstation and can easily take it out when I am going to paint. The paintstation has made painting possible even if I have less than an hours hobby time.

Ps. Check out the minis in the right lower corner and the greenish creatures on the shelf, more about them both later on.

NSL Jagers

Started painting these Neu Swabian League (NSL) Jagers this morning, while watching Stargate SG-1. Took all day to finish them, but I am pretty pleased with them. Gave them a Gretchin green basecoat, Thraka green wash followed by Orkhide shade camoflauge pattern. I then gave the uniform a light drybrush of Gretchin green. The Jagers have been given a black hat, which is the traditional hat of the NSL Jagers. I like their hats, which gives them a unique and very germanic look. All in all they are some nice miniatures, I like the design.

The 5 Jagers are to be used in my first game of Flying Lead. I'll pit them against a small squad of Saeed Khalifate mercenaries. I painted the mercenaries a while back, but havn't got any pictures of them yet. I'll post a few pictures during the week. I have used GZG Islamic Federation (IF) infantry as the Saeed Khalifate mercenaries supported by Eurasian Solar Union (ESU) produced power armor. Hade to use IF and ESU as Saeed Khalifate, since GZG doesn't do Khalifates in 15mm.

If all goes according to plan the battle will be fought next weekend. I am looking forward to trying out Flying Lead. Although the game is designed for a modern setting, it's also applicable to near future gaming. The Weapons bulider and Squad builder on the Ganesha website, www.ganeshagames.net, is simple to use, and makes it possible to design weapons of the future.

Since all Ganesha games use the same core mechanic most of the special rules from other settings will be usefull in a Sci-fi setting. But for my first game, I'll just stick to the basic rules and similar forces, to learn the game. For later games I'll paint up an entire platoon as a recon unit for the the 487th Raums Stosstruppen. I just have to make some decision on whether or not the Jagers will have vehicles.

Mercenaries and Scientists in Arctic Gear

I painted these miniatures a while back. They are to be used both in the Tuffleyverse as a Scandinavian Federation (ScanFed) mercenary unit and as artic gear troops in most other game settings. I like what GZG has done in making the miniatures. I do however think, that the line of ScanFed minis has to be expanded if they are to become a seperate faction. Furthermore, the ScanFed minis has to be given non-artic gear otherwise they risk being confined to only one type of gameboard. Saying that I do want to stress that I really like them in artic gear.

It is acually their artic gear that gave me an idea for a campaign, out of which the Survey Expedition Arctos was born. The survey team is now also complete, although I had some problems with creating their bases. Now I ony have to complete their vehicle.

The ScanFed is known for their high quality mercenaries in the Tuffleyverse. This particular squad are apart of the mercenary company Heimdall's Spear. Currently they aren't hired by any employer. They have just finished a contract for Krupp, Skoda & Siemens (KSS) providing security for their corporate colony. As a part of their former contract with KSS they have been given the opportunity to conduct arctic training on Neu Habsburg for a maximum of 3 months. It is a win-win situation, KSS gets to have troops on the ground almost for free. Heimdall's Spear gets to conduct training in an arctic environment, enjoy R&R and has a 3 month free accomodation (stipulated by their former contract). It is only the Neu Swabian League representatives that are sceptical, since the agreement tilts the internal political balance towards KSS.

Basing - Need a tutorial

A lot of minis have been finished lately. As the painting has finished and the varnish has dried the time to base the miniatures has slowly been approaching. Basing has never been my favourite step in the process of finishing a miniature, although a neccessary one. Unfortuneatly, I find it difficult.

Basing with watered down PVA glue and just green basing grass is pretty simple. But, it is getting the base to look good that cases all the difficulty. As you can see in the picture, the bases are alright for just the casual everyday playing piece miniature, but it isn't very inspiring. I cant even seem to get a highlight to look good on an all grass base. I am even getting afraid of trying to make a scenic base.

When making the Survey Expedition Arctos team I tried making bases covered in snow. The snow was created by basing it with normal green grass, which was painted all white . They are not perfect, but will do. With these bases I use gloss varnish on top of the white painted grass followed by matt varnish. This, however, made the painted grass look yellow, so I had to paint it white again all over the varnish. Do I varnish the base? or do I ruin the basing material? How do I apply static grass if I want to? Ahhh...all these questions on basing...

Have tried to find some good tutorials on basing but have found non. The painting miniatures books I have (both Citadel and Dallimores) only touch upon the subject. Dallimores book offered the best advice, saying that if your not pleased with how the base looks after the first dip of green grass, then paint some more watered down PVA and dip it twice. This might seem like a really basic tip, but sometimes the most obvious is the hardest thing to think of or do.

I'd like a step-by-step tutorial supplemented with a scenic base tutorial covering diffrent types of bases. This could be specified by climates and vegetation, but also covering combinations of basing materials. Preferably the tutorials should include pictures and tips. I feel that this is a neglected part of the hobby, or I am just lousy at finding the right tutorial.

Belgian Black Devils

On August 4 1914 German forces entered Belgium, executing the wide left hook of the 'Schlieffen Plan' in an attempt to out-flank the French fortresses along the Franco-German border. The Belgians also relied on forts to keep them safe, but after they would eventually fall as the Imperial German army brought up heavy artillery. But the germans would also face another formidable enemy in during their short campaing through Belgium. The country had one regiment of sharpshooters, the Carabiniers who's Black greatcoat earned them the nickname 'Black Devils'.

The Belgian army in 1914 has always seemed interesting to collect and play with. I particularly like their Carabinier and also their Minerva armoured cars. With the release of Flying Lead I feel that I have to give WW1 a try in 15mm. Since Flying Lead only uses few miniatures and have vehicle rules it offered me a perfect oppertunity (or excuse) to paint up some 15mm Belgians and Germans.

I have started painting the Black Devils. The uniforms turned out to be easy to paint, since they are mostly black. I gave the minis a black undercoat and mostly a Chaos black basecoat, except the trouses, which i painted Adeptus Battlegrey. Washed the entire model in Badab black. Finished the entire mini off with a light highlight of Adeptus Battlegrey.

Now I only have to get som Bouche painted and then I am ready to try out the Flying Lead rules... oh I might need to varnish the miniatures and get there bases done to. I might unfortuneatly take some time. Hopefully I'll have an After Action Report up on the blog...not sure whether it'll be Sci-fi or WW1.

Surveyor II for Survey Expedition Arctos

Started painting the Surveyor II for the scientists of Survey Expedition Arctos. Have given it a Macharius Solar orange basecoat. Tried to blend Blazing orange on the surface of the vehicle. After that I gave it a heavy drybrush with a 50/50 mix of Blazing orange and Skull white. The windows have been given a basecoat with Mordian blue. It is going to be interesting to see if I can blend the windows to look good, specially the cupola on the roof. Hopefully the scientists are going to get a good looking ride.

Kra'vak Strike Force

Finished painting the first Kra'vak fist yesterday. I tried out a red colour scheme, that turned out to be very good. Started off with Mechrite red coat, followed by a heavy drybrush of Ruby red and a light drybrush of Skull white. After that I gave them a Baal red wash. All in all a very simple and effective way of painting the Kra'vak. I think I'll go for this colour scheme, as it will enable me to paint up several Kra'vaks quickly.

The Heroine - Rachel Drake

Painted this miniature a while back. Not extremely pleased with the face, but otherwise I think it's okey. I can imagen this lady in quite a few different game settings. Rachel can pass for an adventure in Traveller, the Tuffleyverse, Laserburn/Imperial Commander, close to the Pelagic Dominate or Garn Confederation or even the Protolene Khanate or Kaamados Dominion. I might even throw her into the post-apocalytic world in Mutants and Death Ray Guns (MDRG). I specially like the yellow stripes running down her pants, got the inspiration from Han Solo.

Imorian Crimson Rebel colour scheme

The Crimson Rebels are gathering. According to Imperial Intelligence the Imorian Crimson Rebels under command of Zakir the Mighty are wearing dark deep red robes and a brighter red armour. So far no reports have indicated where they are gathering or what their intentions are. There intentions will hopefully become known in my next game of Laserburn.

For my Crimson Rebels I have adopted a red colour painting scheme. Went for a Mechrite red basecoat for the robes, armour and boots. Gave the armour and boots 2nd coat of Ruby red. The boots looked wired so I changed them into Astronomican grey and gave them a Badab black wash. I like to focus my painting on washes followed by highlights, as my other painting techniques aren't up to the standard I'd like. Got a lot of inspiration for using washes from Dropship Horizon.

Anyway, continuing with the painting. After the red basecoat the robes were washed twice with Baal red wash. Although I have grown a bit tired of GW games, they do make very good paints and washes. The foundation paints are excellent as basecoats or as the base when mixing a coat. Furthermore their washes are very easy to use and give a very good result. The robes were also given a light higlight of Mechrite red, after the wash had dried.

The armour was, after being painted Ruby red, given an Astronomican grey highligt followed by a double Baal red wash. Was trying to get very light red areas on the armour. It didn't give the finish I hoped for, so I think I'll try using a Skull White highlight instead on the next miniature. The weapon was given a simple Badab black wash on the bare metal. Quite a handy little way of giving the weapon a metallic look.

Achtung! 1st Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia

After evening and a days painting the first Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia is finished. As I have been painting them some background fiction on the unit has started to appear in my mind. I have included their back-drop story below, including some pictures on them. I have come to realise that they need some transportation, as their story has evolved. I see the squads mounted in Old Crow Goanna scout and Gecko scout vehicles.

The Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia has recently been formed to protect the newly establish Neu Swabian League (NSL) colony. The primary function of the militia is to provide security for the central settlement, star port and the few farms close by. It's secondary function is to operate in a policing function supporting the Koloniekommissar who is in charge of legal issues in the colony. Neu Habsburg was established by Krupp, Skoda & Siemens (KSS), but the profitability of the colony has forced the corporation to open up the planet for further colonisation of non-employed NSL-citizens. As a result the planet has come under the jurisdiction of the Koloniebüro.

Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia has been issued a standard uniform in a blue-grey colour. It is recruited from local colonists and has been given basic military training. The militia is commanded by Kommendant-Oberst Herbert Eppstein. The militia unit consists of only 2 six-man patrol squads and a 4 man weapons support squad. The Kommendant-Oberst also has a Leutnant Schiller as his aide, who also functions as the newly formed units technical officer.

Attached to the Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia is Koloniekommissar Melissa von Stetten and her assisstant Kolonieinspektör Franz Kohl. Their main task is to act in a policing function in the colony, mainly conducting investigations. The pair also work for NSL Intelligence, but this is unknown by everyone. Usually the Kommendant on a newly established colony is given this responsability, but the current Kommendant-Oberst is considered to be incompetent by several high-ranking officials within both the Koloniebüro and NSL military. However, he has several high-ranking contacts within NSL politics, which has helped both his military career and earned him the Kommendant position on Neu Habsburg. His incompetence is one of several reasons why Koloniekommissar von Stetten and he often finds themselves on opposite sides of an issue.

The uniform of the Koloniekommissarat personnel is the same as the Colonial Militia, but with a red stripe runnig down the side of the pants. In all policing issues the Koloniekommissar has jurisdiction over the militia unit, but in military matters the Kommendant calls the shots. The dividing line of responsibility is clear when the Koloniekommissariat conducts investigations, but when it comes to matters concerning civil order or security issues of the colony conflicts in the chain of command arises. In military matters the Kommendant has final say, although Koloniekommissar von Stetten has more military experiance than Kommendant-Oberst Eppstein. To make matters even more complicated when it comes to issues concerning KSS, the jurisdiction of their corporate security takes preference over both the Colonial Militia and the Koloniebüro.

With all the conflicting jurisdictions concerning Neu Habsburgs security the colony is far from ready to defened itself from any outside threat. Although there is at least one circumstance that should be benefitial to the situation, since the colony was established by KSS, the CEO of Krupp, Skoda & Siemens on planet is also the acting Koloniegouverneur, Direktor Matthias Tann. The vunerability and riches of Neu Habsburg hasn't gone unnoticed by others interested in the planet.

Colour scheme Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia

This is the first trial run on the Neu Habsburg Colonial Militias colour scheme. The miniature is a 15mm GZG SG15-C1 Colonial Militia. Unfortuneatly the casting of the miniature isn't up to the normal standard of GZG's miniatures. A lot of preparation of the miniature had to be done before painting and still it felt like the edges of the two halfs of the miniature were slightly off, creating an edge along the casting line. But, I do like the concept of the Colonial Militia miniature, specially the combination of male and female militia. The gender mixing and the choice of uniform captures the feel of a citizense militia in a newly estabished colony or a growing colonial community.

For the Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia I have opted for an Astronomican Grey coat followed by a Asurmen Blue wash and a highlight of Space Wolf Grey. This gives the uniform a blue-grey feel, that I even might use for my 15mm WW1 Austro-Hungarians. I imagine the Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia only being issued with one type of uniform, a standard uniform and without any terrain specific camouflage. The standard uniform is mainly to be used within the colonial settlement, and the militia's main task is to uphold security and policing functions within the colony, not conduct military combat.

Hopefully, my current vacation will make it possible to have the 16 miniatures I own painted and based before bedtime today. The miniatures will be organised into 2 patrol squads and 1 heavy support squad.

It's all about the brush

It still amazes me how important the brush is when your painting. This evening my painting has centred on the faces and hands of my Neu Habsburg Colonial Militia and Imorian Crimson Rebels. Applying a simple Tallarn flesh basecoat, an Ogryn flesh wash followed by a drybrush of Tallarn flesh turns out to take all evening, although I only have 23 faces to paint.

The quality and speed of your painting is strongly dependent on the point of the brush. Even though I know this, I always find myself painting with the same brush for far to long after I should have replaced it. Today is one of those days when the brush needs to get replaced. After finishing the faces and hands on the 23 miniatures I threw away the brush on the left and replaced it with the one on the right.

Knowing that it was a while since I went through all my brushes, I decided to do just that. The brushes I have saved... A tip to all miniature painters out there: Make sure you take a good look at your brushes on a regular basis and throw away the really bad ones. Three of the brushes I found in my hobby tools box were the sadest sight. The left brush is a detail brush, the middle a small drybrush and, my personal favourite, the one on the right is a fine detail brush. Yes, you are right, there isn't a single straw on the brush and still I have saved it. One could definitely wonder why I have save it... I certainly wonder why. Well, these brushes are history.

Got to get back to my painting now.

Converting and Painting Survey Expedition Arctos

One of my initial Sci-fi projects is Survey Expedition Arctos. The scientific expedition consists of a couple of explorers and scientist set on surveying an arctic region of a newly colonised planet. As of yet it is undecided if the team is going to be sent to survey the northern pole of Neu Habsburg or if they are going to be sent on a pre-colonisation phase survey of the iceplanet XZD-6897, maybe both...

The team is made up of 6 miniatures all of which are from the GZG range. All of them has been modified to fit into an arctic or at least winter environment. The conversions are pretty simple, but being that they still are some of my first ones I am happy with the result.

The miniatures have been painted in an individual colour scheme to personalize them. The expeditionary team consists of free-lance scientist not affiliate with any university, but rather for hire by a corporation. Which corporation will change depending on setting, I can imagene them both in the Tuffleyverse and in a Traveller setting, probably in the Spinward Marches in the vincinity of the Sword Worlds and Darrian Confederation.

A Surveyor II will be added as their transport vehicle in a flashy scientist orange colour. That way there will be no doubt about them shining on an all white snowy ground. A perfect target for space pirates in a nearby hideout, landing Kra'vak forces, Sword Worlder gunrunners or anything else that might be lurking under the icecap....

The first ever...

So I guess the time have come for me to take the first step into the blogging community. This is my first post ever and I am happy to be writing about miniature gaming.

For me it all started in the late 80's. I was playing roleplaying games and was looking for miniatures to use with them, when I found a lot of interesting little lead figures. I bought a bunch of 15mm sci-fi miniatures as they were the cheapest ones. But as I was standing in the store I got very interested in a rulesbook with the words 'Rouge Trader' in the title. A couple of weeks later I had saved enough money to buy the book and a blister with three Space Marines and that is how it all started. My gaming interest would accelarate with the boxed edition of WH40K, Epic Space Marine and WHFB in the early 90s.

My GW addiction faded as the new millenium approached and I slowly matured, only to find historical miniaturegames fascinating. As the first decade of the 21st century started to come to a close a google-search helped me discover Dropship Horizon. Little did I know what impact it would have on my gaming. 15mm had been an interesting scale as far as my historical miniaturegaming interest was concerned...

All of a sudden I found out that 15mm Sci-fi miniatures were thriving, I instantly got hooked on Sci-fi gaming again. This time I found myself looking att GZG, Critical Mass Games, 15mm.co.uk, Khurasan Miniatures, Rebel minis, Old Crow and so on. The miniatures were, and still are, excellent in quality and in quantity. To make things even better a bunch of rules to play with were available and the constraints of the WH40K setting were no more. I sat out to try as many rulessystems as I possibly could. My only concern is: I am unsure if I can find an oppenent...

However, being hooked I remembered a bag of old 15mm miniatures laying around somewhere. I had used them for a roleplaying game in the late 80s and early 90s. As it turned out I still had them. When I had a good look at them I realised that they were old Tabletop Games miniatures for Laserburn. I had owned them for 20 years not knowing that there was a Sci-fi rulesset to go along with them. Not only that, it was one of the oldest Sci-fi rulessets (30 years old), that accually had inspired Rouge Trader and it was still available. What a twist of fate. It had all started with 15mm Sci-fi miniatures and now my intrest got a new kick-start with the very same miniatures and a whole lot more.