The last of the year and the last of the Masters of the Universe, for now....

Another year in blogging flies by, more toy soldiers lovingly painted, placed carefully in foam trays and packed away to wait patiently for an opportunity to roll dice. I shouldn't complain too much though, I did get some gaming in this year and youngest Lead offspring is showing more interest and attention span in gaming. I'm sure it won't be a blink of an eye before he is off wandering around wargame shows whilst Illustrious Opponent and myself just spend the day in the refreshment area holding court and nodding sagely as we inspect the wares that have been purchased.

The Analogue painting challenge has started up again with an incredible amount of toy soldiers already painted before the year is out. Getting time to paint in between the many Christmas events, chores and errands running up to the big day was a bit tricky, but I did manage to get at least one post in before Christmas. You can see the posts so far here and let me tell you, the speed and volume has not diminished the quality. I sometimes think if there was an expected standard of painting to join the challenge I wouldn't always qualify. (There isn't of course, they are all a lovely welcoming bunch and all levels of experience are welcome I am sure.)

For those not wandering over the to the challenge site, my first post included the last of my current Masters of the Universe Battleground collection. I am intending on getting the next wave of models, (including a dinosaur!) but for now I have finished.

This time the theme seemed to Orange, a colour I have never had much luck with painting before, but it seems to have worked this time. Once again I had to do some pallet mixing on my wet pallet to get some colours right, but I think I did okay. I'm still yet to get a game going (Youngest Offfspring has no interest in MOTU at all), I do have one friend interested and excited to try the system, although unfortunately he lives a couple of hours away, so we might have to wait. No worries, when he does visit I'll be ready to go...

I'm dreaming of a Corax White Christmas...

The goblin finally got added to a bauble and hung on the tree this year.

It's been a strange old year, only one wargame show (No Salute this year), extreme weather for Britain (hot and now cold), an unnaturally high number of Prime Ministers in Downing Street and on a personal note I started a new job after being in the same role for over a decade I really didn't see coming. (I won't bore you with the details of my day job, you are here to hear about toy soldiers after all). It has meant though that hobbying has slowed down a little bit of late. Some evenings I have just wanted to veg in front of the tv after learning lots of new things. Therefore I think I am due a recharge and what better than signing up for a second year to the Analogue Hobby Challenge again. Yep, I'm going to be trying to finish something at least once a week again and post on the challenge. I'm not sure I shall be as prolific as last year, but we shall see. I find it can be a little like an addiction once I get going, so who know. You can see my posts under the label PeterB. (Although any posts before last year aren't me, there was obviously another PeterB doing the challenge before me, I'm not sure how confusion will be avoided if he decides to come back again.)

Therefore I have been busy building and undercoating everything I can lay my mits on in the leadpile. If it needs painting, it has been prepped ready to go. On multiple internet recommendations I tried undercoating using Halfords white primer spray and I have to say, despite the subzero temperatures outside when spraying under the cover of the garage door, it still gives good coverage. A great cheaper alternative to wargaming branded sprays and a larger can too. (I do tend to undercoat spray in massive batches and always use a whole can in one go.) I shall definitely be using it again.

 

I have recently finished off one more model before the challenge begins. I have continued to purchase the new sets from Archon Studio for Masters of the Universe. One of which is the evil Scare Glow.  The original toy of which glowed in the dark. (I suspect they came up with the idea befor the character.) Well, I couldn't not have a go at making mine glow could I? A quick bit of online research and I purchased some glow in the dark paint pigment, a few experiments with some sacrificial GW Grots and I don't think it turned out too bad. The pigment did make the paint a little thick and I have lost some small amount of detail on the model but I think it looks okay. I can use the excuse that it is hard to photograph things that glow in the dark, but you get the idea.

In the light.

In the dark.

So for now, time to temporarily pack away the paints, wrap some presents for the kids and maybe have a sneaky mince pie and hot chocolate. I hope the holiday season treats you well.

My vague attempt at a battle report (its terrible, really)

Operation Perch

  ''It is eight days after D-Day. The 50th (Tyne Tees) Division is part of the British 21st Army Group's attempt to drive deeper inland, but blocking their path is Panzer Lehr, one of the German Army's strongest armoured divisions. The British division has been given the task of breaking through the German defences and, as part of its 151st Brigade, the 9th Durham Light Infantry have been ordered to capture the village of Lingevres. Panzer Lehr's Panzer Grenadier Regiment 902 is responsible for defending the village, and elements of its 2nd Battalion are dug-in on the outskirts and amongst the buildings, with tanks of Panzer Regiment 130 in support''

 

The sleepy village of Lingevres

Once again the Illustrious Opponent laid out an incredible looking table

 Recently the Illustrious Opponent invited myself and a friend for a game of Rapid Fire at his abode. The whole table and all the models were provided by IO, so all I had to do was turn up with my tape measure and some dice ready for an afternoon of excellent fun. With IO as umpire to remind us of the rules and a couple of laminated quick reference cards, what could go wrong? I opted to control the British division and tried a terrible tactic of dividing my forces as I advanced. I sent the Carriers down the left flank, the Shermans the right and the infantry slowly advanced through the woods in the middle towards the village (I am terrible at rolling for movement when neccessary.)

My artillery support performed terribly throughout the game, I am not sure if they were even firing at the right village on some occasions, although they did at one point manage to decimate the church to the point where IO got to demonstrate his wonderful Russian Doll like technique for revealing the destroyed version.

Post shelled church

I did manage to take the village with heavy casualties (with the remains of A,B,C and D company all making a hasty retreat) and I did manage to take out the Panther. Once reinforcements arrived however, we I knew I had no chance and we called it a day.

Driving up the road is safe right? (Don't be fooled, one of those Shermans has a wooden barrel and is just an observation post!)

 

 

 

 

 

The Achilles certainly did have an achilles, I am sure that crater is where I parked it.

The church before shelling

A dramatic shot before any Germans were spotted, smoke launchers deployed "just in case"

I was so joyous at doing any damage to this tank killer

Result! It took all my armour to achieve this though.

I must apologize to the Illustrious Opponent as I only photographed half of what was on the table. I can however provide details of what was there thanks to IO's help:

151st Infantry Brigade 9th Durham Light Infantry

 
Battalion Headquarters 

Lieutenant-Colonel Wood

Two figure PIAT team

Carrier Platoon 

Three figure PIAT team. 

Universal Carrier

A Company 8 figures, 

 B Company 8 figures 

C Company 8 figures

D Company 8 figures 

Support Company

3 inch mortar, 3 crew

Universal Carrier

6pdr Anti-tank gun, 3 crew, Universal Carrier Tractor

Universal Carrier

Machine Gun Company, 

2nd Cheshire Regiment. Company Command. Captain Simpson 

2 figure PIAT team

Universal Carrier

Vickers Machine Gun, 3 crew

Universal Machine Gun Carrier

4.2 inch mortar, 3 crew,

Loyd Carrier  

 

4 th /7th Dragoon Guards A squadron

Major d'Avigor-Goldsmid 

2 Sherman V tanks, 1 Sherman Vc Firefly 

Universal Machine Gun Carrier  

 

102nd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery B Troop

M10c Achilles 

 

86th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 341st Battery

Sherman II Observation Post 

2 25pdr Gun-Howitzers

Panzer Lehr Division Panzer Grenadier Regiment 902 2nd Battalion

Battalion Headquarters 
Oberstleutnant Welcsh

Two figure Panzerchreck team.

Sdkfz 251/1 half-track

1st and 2nd Company

7 figures, 1 Panzerfaust operator each

 4th Company 

MG42, 3 crew
120mm mortar, 3 crew

Sdkfz 251/1 

2nd Company, Panzer Regiment 130

Panther Ausf A

The reinforcements then consisted of:

6 th Company, 2nd Battalion

7 figures, 1 Panzerfaust operator

2 nd Company, Panzer Regiment 130

Panther Ausf A

Masters of the Universe, Fully Painted!

Bonus He-Man with BattleCat!

Oh boy was this more fun than I thought it was gonna be. I bought this starter set on a whim at Colours and it did not disappoint. (As my previous review post can attest.) There is a definite warm glow of nostalgia when it comes to these characters that wasn't even cooled off when recently I watched the old series again when they were added to Netflix. (I would also recommend the recent new animated series also on Netflix, Revelation, very good. Avoid the other one where Adam is a kid, not so good.) Yes the animation is ropey, including some sequences repeated multiple times to save money, but that is part of the charm. Even the blatant way the cartoon is there to serve the sale of toys as admitted by the people that made them in the excellent Netflix documentary The Toys That Made Us. There is something primal about a Hero that solves all issues by the application of a well placed punch towards the camera. (It's amazing how little he actually did with his sword.)

Everyones favourite moral learning Wizard, Orko

 

I have always thought that I have enjoyed painting fantasy/sci-fi more than historical as I had a choice of pallettes, but when I made the decision to paint these models strictly to their original colour schemes, I still really enjoyed it. I chose to go for a different style of shading/highlighting than normal, going for more distinct crisp lines and obvious highlights. This was really fun and I feel work well given the subject matter.

 

 

Ram-Man

The bases need a clear indicator of their front facing for the rules and so have a notch mark that I have painted white to make it really easy to spot.

He-Man and Skeletor facing off

 

Some colours I had to pallette mix to get a reasonable match to the original toys, although interestingly as they are toys, they would have re-used colours, so there are duplications.

 

Cyclops

 

 On the subject of repetition, I never noticed before but He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Cyclops all have the same waist and legs. Why waste a well sculpted waist?

 

 

Lockjaw

 

The sculpts from Archon Studios (that are different however) have just the right amount of detail to make the models not too difficult to paint, but also still look great. I sadly don't have a collection of the original toys to make a comparison myself (I did have an idea at one point of making a participation game for a wargame show of a skirmish involving the original models stuck to bases fighting over an original Castle Greyskull until I worked out how much it would set me back to Ebay them all) but I would hazard a guess that the level of detail has been raised a bit higher than the source material without straying too far.

 

Mer-man

 

It took me some time to get the Evil Lyn yellow right, especially important as basically she is just blue and yellow.

 

 

Evil Lyn

 

The models seem to have a mix of basing styles, some have rocks, some metallic, then for some reason just Orko has cobblestones. (I like painting cobblestones though, all those highlights and crack lines.)

 

Stratos

 

 Painting the characters was fun and simple, I am really pleased with how they all turned out.

 

Man-At-Arms

 

I then had to attack the job that was the large amount of terrain pieces that came in the box. I couldn't very well have these models fighting in front of plain grey plastic walls could I? So, after a lot of drybrushing I got all this done.

 

The mountain of terrain

Of course now I just need to get a game played. I'm looking forward immensely to it, the system looks good and as it has a hex board to play on I can definitely fit the game on the dining table. I'm looking forward to painting some more of the characters from this range when I get them. These include Teela, The Sorceress, Beastman and Scareglow. (I might need to investigate some glow in the dark paint.) If the range does expand into the She-Ra characters I think a winged unicorn or a sentient broom is definitely worth a go.

Masters of the Universe - Battleground, a review.

Master of the Universe.

As per my last post, I picked up this starter set on an impulse at Colours wargame show. I had seen it online when released and the reasonable price per kilo (Seriously you get a lot of heavy plastic in there) plus the freebie added He-man and Battlecat mini, was enough to convince me.

The box contains a cardboard hexed board, a lot of plastic scenery and ten minis, five each of heroes of Eternia and villains. Even if the rules were rubbish, the plastic components were definitely worthwhile. The terrain pieces are generic enough to be used for other games and the minis are great quality too.

The set is produced by Archon Studio who also make the Dungeons and Lazers range of plastics including their great range of dragons, one of which I own:

Like the dragon, the plastic pieces fit together so perfectly, there has been a lot of thought put in how these kits are made. I would say though, that to produce the dynamic poses they have, each model is comprised of around seven to ten pieces, meaning there is a lot of craft knife work to be done on their contact points to the sprue. (Not a project for a first timer.) It's took me a couple of evenings to glue them all together, but they look great.

I have yet to play the game, but a quick read through of the rules seemed to make sense. Each player has a deck of cards that they use to 'bid' for priority then use the same cards to assign mana and action points to their models. Mana is used to cast spells or re-roll dice, action points for moving, shooting etc. The cost of an action increasing if attempted multiple times in the same go. Resolving attacks is pretty simple, roll a number of dice equal to the relevant stat, succeeding on a 4+ and then the defending player cancels out successful rolls with their own test.

There are lots of exceptions to the rules on character cards and item buffs to keep the game interesting. For example, the sword of power can use mana to increase its attack. Characters can also spend a turn focusing to improve their odds the following turn.

A well set out and clear rulebook, an additional book of different missions and some high quality plastic parts make this a great starter set. There are two 'Wave one' add ons available now with a third 'Wave two' coming in October with extra characters and cards. Fingers crossed eventually we might even get She-Ra and Swift Wind! 

Review of the day, Colours 2022

This weekend I went to Colours 2022 at the Newbury Racecourse, hosted by Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. Regular readers will know I love this show and due to reasons we all know about, last year the show didn't go ahead. This year was a welcome return for the show.

The whole day flew by at such a pace, I had such a great day I was too busy to even take any photos! I started the day with a peruse of the always wonderful Bring and Buy then Brother in Law and myself had a demo game of Achroma, a new card game. Similar in vein to Magic the Gathering or Pokemon, there were some interesting ideas like the use of a mobile app to keep track of your life and as you are linked to your Opponents apps, you can steal their life directly from their phone too. 

There was of course the obligatory meet up with Illustrious Opponent and other friends, then for the afternoon my youngest boy joined me thanks to the Father in Law bringing him down. Keen to get some gaming in, my boy was a little disappointed with the less than normal number of games at the show, but we did get to sit down with the chaps from Liverpool Wargames. We had an excellent game of Saga using balanced Samurai forces and I have to say myself and the other chap I was partnered with took an absolute trouncing from the Enthusiastic Opponent. My son has the best luck with dice and a keen tactical mind. We were very grateful for the chaps coming down from Liverpool with such an excellent game. I've not played Saga before and I have to say, I would again.

For the rest of the show we got some great shopping in, even Pokemon cards, although Space Marines were thin on the ground around the show, so EO didn't get to add that wanted Dreadnought to his Ultramarines force. He did however choose some scenery of his own.

The scouts are his own too.

I had a lovely chat to the owner of Tangent miniatures who kindly gave EO a freebie miniature that has a distinct Buckeroo Banzai feel to it. As we watched Ready Player One this week, I am instructed to paint the model up as Parzival for him. (Watch the film, it will make sense.)

The shopping haul wasn't massive, but there was one heavy item.

I have to say, the set is so heavy my plastic bag split before I got home and snipping the sprues for the scenery was a workout in itself. We are looking forward to getting a game in. Today has been all about X Wing though, mainly because there wasn't any painting involved, we cracked on straight away learning the rules when we got home.

All in a fun day, can't wait till next year.

Old West Fighters.

I seem to be painting Bad Squiddo again.  This time some Old West Fighters. These are reasonably new sculpts from their range, a great addition to my ever growing Old West Town. I must photograph the set up one day for this blog, it is the largest set of scenery I have.

 

 

Painting these was the ideal opportunity to try out my newest tool at my painting station, a new brush, painting grip, craft knife? No, reading glasses. I have always been blessed with decent vision and never needed glasses before. However, I have been increasingly struggling with details. I have been taking photos of my models to then notice things I am missing and although I could concentrate on them to see details, it became harder as I got tired. I did consider one of these fancy sets of magnifying goggles you see at wargame shows. A cheap pair of reading glasses however has proven to be just the job. I do perch them on the end of my nose much to the amusement of my youngest son who declared I look like a librarian.

Talking of my youngest son, he has become a keen hobbyist already. For his birthday he asked for some Space Marine kits and we built and painted them together. He is a lot more interested in the gaming side of the hobby at the moment though and was keen to deploy his ever increasing army on a tabletop. Having long given up on current 40K rules I fished out the pdf of the playtest version of the new Xenos Rampant rules. (Based on Lion/Dragon Rampant rules, the book comes out in November.)

The Distinguished (Brother in Law) and Illustrious Opponents were both invited (or summoned?) over for a gaming session. My son (the Junior Opponent?) had a lovely time happily winning multiple games and quickly picked up the rules, in fact by the end of the day he would be correcting me on them. 

The Distinguished Opponents Dark Angel Space Marines bravely take on the Junior Opponents Ultramarines tank, bristling with guns.

My Chaos cultist army squeezing into the deployment zone.

The Distinguished Opponents old school style Beaky Marines.


Apologies for not including photos from the Illustrious Opponent, too much fun was being had to remember to record much of the event. I can safely say though, once the proper rulebook comes out, I think it will definitely become a household favourite.

Finally I thought I would add a photo of another quick project I did lately. Way back in the last millennium I had combined the arms from some plastic Genestealers with the bodies of metal Hormogaunts from Games Workshop. I was never completely happy with them as the heads had a clearly distinguishable face. So much more recently I have added some green stuff and blended in to make them look more recognisable and given the paintwork another touch up. I am quite happy with the finished result: 

Droids, droids and more droids

Just a short post to share these wonderful little droids/robots/sentient dustbins that came in a set from Bad Squiddo games.

A set of seven, they are 28mm scale but all a little shorter than a standard person as would be expected of robots of this type. The first two were asking to painted in the familiar colours of their obvious inspirations.

These next two wouldn't be out of place on a Robot Wars style arena.

I would like to point out that walking robots never fair well though, so "Razer" on the left here I think has the advantage.

These two have a great tin toy feel, so could even find themselves in a Pulp era game.

Finally this little tank was almost forgotten about, it was lost at the back of my painting tray and I nearly forgot to include them. 

I'm amassing quite a collection of robots in this scale so I might have to come up with some skirmish rules for them all. (Who said wargaming had to include people?) They are also going to be useful for Rogue Stars, Stargrave or even possibly Xenos Rampant when it finally arrives.