Footage of sunken U-boat

This is quite intersting, all about a WW1 U-Boat U40 that has been just been discovered.
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Unusual Vehicle

A photo of one of the more unusual vehicles in my 15mm sci-fi collection.
Picked the vehicle up on a Bring and Buy stand at a convention many many years ago I think. From what I can gather it is part of the now defunct Zoids range.
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15mm Sci-Fi

Two things today. Firstly if you haven't checked out Marks 'Dropship Horizon' blog recently you need to do so. There is lots of great stuff to look at on there for anyone even slightly interested in 15mm sci-fi.
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Here's a photo of one of my favourite 15mm models. A GZG Heavy Gunsled.
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Dark Age II - Play By E-Mail Game

Today my Darkage II play by E-Mail (PBEM) game finished today. This is a simply but yet brilliant game set in Darkage Britain after the Romans had left and turned the lights out.
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"Dark Age is a game of power and conflict in Dark Age Britain. The game system is simple and straightforward, with plenty of scope for skill and skullduggery, combining the finesse of Diplomacy and the fluidity of Risk. To win the game you must expand your population to become the dominant kingdom of Britain. Only warfare will provide the room for your population to grow, but only peace will allow you to secure your gains. Wars must be decisive, and your diplomatic efforts may be the key to victory. Life in Dark Age Britain is often short and brutal. Even a king had better find some friends and allies quickly, or he's likely to find that first contact is the pointy end of a sharp stick (we really mean this - you can be chopped up and out of the game in the twinkling of an eye - this is a fast moving game and you need strong nerves). At the start of a game the map is split between sixteen kingdoms belonging to the nations of the Scots, Welsh, Irish, Picts, Angles, Saxons, British and Vikings. At the end there will be only one, and it doesn't't have to be the English. History doesn't't always repeat itself. This is the age of Beowulf, of Arthur, of Alfred the Great, Eric Bloodaxe and Ethelred the Unready. This is an age of bitter war, of ever-shifting alliances and great population movements, as the kings and people of Britain pursue their destinies with sword and plough."
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I took over a drop out position (Vikings, Yellow on the map) on Turn 11 and fought my way to an runaway victory on Turn 49. I can't recommend this game highly enough.
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Here's a short movie showing my expansion across the map :)
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Darkage-V1.wmv
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The great thing about Software Simulations International the people who run Darkage is that you can have your first game for free. All the details can be found on their Darkage II web site.
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'When All Is Quiet' - STOP MOTION MOVIE

Felt inspired for another stop-motion movie just after I finished off painting another GZG vehicle, in this instance a V15-31A Kra'Vak Heavy Grav Tank. I've gone for an arctic camo scheme after seeing an F16 'Aggressor' aircraft painted in these colours.
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Star Wars 'Battlegrounds' - Small Movie

My brother-in-law Mike was visiting at the weekend. He brought his lap-top along and joined with my son and I racing around in the Star Wars 'Battlegrounds' universe shooting the bad guys up. Great fun :)
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PRESS RELEASE - GZG V15-55A - Heavy Grav Tank - Entering Service - STOP MOTION VIDEO

Bloggers Interplanetary Buzzer Service reports that another new vehicle fresh out of the GZG production facilities, the V15-55A Advanced Heavy Grav Tank with High Energy Particle Cannon (HEPC)has been seen undergoing shake-down trials with the 667th (Heavy) Assault Brigade.
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Beamstrike Rules Stat Information:

Description: Anti-Grav Heavy Tank.
Vehicle Category: Heavy Tank
Armour - Front: VH-VA
Armour - Side: M-VA
Armour - Rear: VL-VA
Propulsion: Grav
Crew: 3
Weapons - Turret: Beam Cannon.
Auto-Defence: Yes
Sensor 1: MAD
Smoke Dispensers: Yes
Shielding: ES & PS
Points Total: 246
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Battlelore - Fantasy Boardgame

At the Club on Thursday night I had my first game of 'Battlelore'. This is a Fantasy Board game made by the same people who do Memoir 44. My opponent Joe had assured me it was an easy game to pick up, and I found he was correct in this. I don't intend to do a review of the game here, but suffice to say it is a well set up game for playing on a club night, one I would quite happily play again. As for the actual game I had, Joe was rolling very badly, fortunately for me this more then compensated for my tactical ineptitude and I managed to emerge victorious, although how I'm not quite sure :-)
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Wings Of War Miniature Arrives

In the post today came the first of four Wings Of War miniatures that I ordered from Amazon at the weekend. I was somewhat surprised how small the aircraft was, although on reflection I shouldn't have been because the photos on the web show them to be not much larger than the cards in the box. Here's a small movie of the Sopwith Camel with a 15mm sci-fi figure shown for size comparison. -

FAD 4 Released Today

The free rules written by Ivan Sorensen called 'Fast And Dirty' (FAD) have been refreshed. Version 4 is now available to download. F.A.D. is a skirmish rules set for science fiction and 20th century. I would recommend anyone interested in sci-fi gaming to check them out.

Company Of Heroes

Yesterday I picked up a copy of the PC game 'Company Of Heroes'. This is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game set in WW2 on the Normandy front. I can see why this game has been the success it has. The controls are easy, the game play is entertaining, and graphically it is beautiful. Below is a small movie I made of one of my Skirmish games using the screen capture movie software Camstudio.
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Company-Of-Heroes-Stug-V1.wmv
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My First Wings Of War Game + Vid Of A Restored Panther

At the Huntingdon club I played my first 'Wings Of War' game. Suffice to say it is a well thought out nice little game, which is great for a club night. After roaming round the skies shooting away, my Sopwith Camel managed to down my opponents (Joe) Abbatros D.VA. Neither of us had played before but within 15 minutes we had the basic game mastered, so 10 out of 10 to the designers from that point of view. The miniatures you can buy to go with game look very attractive, although they are not cheap at £8 to £9 each.
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On a completely different tack, I found this nice Video of a restored Panther on U-Tube that I'd like to share with you.
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An Impromptu Inspection - STOP MOTION VIDEO

Realised that I hadn't gotten round to posting a stop-motion video I did in Feb before I restarted this blog. There's a lot of swearing in it, so it's not suitable for children and those easily offended. In terms of sequence, this should be watched before the one I posted on 2nd Mar where the 3rd Mech Company depart for the front.
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The 3rd Mech Company Depart For The Front - STOP MOTION MOVIE

After a bit of hassle with Windows Movie Maker, which delayed things, my latest Stop-Motion movie is ready :)
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Colonial Warfare & Running King Tiger

Not much activity today other than assembling a couple more new GZG vehicles. They are part way through getting an initial coat of gray spray. I'll start on with painting them tomorrow. On a different note altogether, anyone with a passing interest in Colonial Warfare should check out a web site of an old friend of mine (Ray), who attended the Huntingdon club for a number of years.

Changing tack again, here's some footage of the only running King Tiger in the world.
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Battlefield 1942

Out at a friends house (Stuart) last night for a computer 'frag' session. After a very frustrating time trying to get his Vista machine to talk to my XP machine, we eventually got a few games of Battlefield 1942 and Star Wars 'Battlefront' in. Bat1942 although its been out for several years now, is just a brilliant game. Managed to shoot down a Jap fighter of his with a bazooka ! Fabulous ! The Wake island map is just great fun.
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Press Release - GZG V15-57A Reports For Duty - STOP MOTION MOVIE

Bloggers Interplanetary Buzzer Service reports that one of the latest vehicles out of the GZG production facilities, the V15-57A (Nickname: 'Ridgeback') has entered service with the 667th (Heavy) Assault Brigade. Shipped to the Vulture's Roost in its (4) component parts, final assembly was conducted in the 667th vehicle workshops. After a short shake-down trial which included a full test of the weapon systems, the vehicle was formally handed over to the 1st Battalion 3rd Mech company. "This vehicle armed as it is with the Long Range 'Nutcracker' Missile will be used in role of Heavy Weight Sniper, neutralising enemy armour beyond normal projectile engagement ranges", explained a delighted Major Wadkins. "The lads can't wait to try it out !"
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Beamstrike Rules Stat Information:

Description: Anti-Grav Heavy ATGW.
Vehicle Category: Heavy Tank
Armour - Front: VH-VA
Armour - Side: M-VA
Armour - Rear: VL-VA
Propulsion: Grav
Crew: 2
Weapons - Hull: ATGW.
Auto-Defence: Yes
Sensor 1: MAD
Smoke Dispensors: Yes
Shielding: ES & PS
Points Total: 236
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Wings Of War

A friend of mine (Mike) who goes to my local club, told me what a great game 'Wings Of War' is, and showed me some miniatures he had bought to go with it. After chewing on the idea for a week or so, I finally made the plunge, and ordered the starter set off Amazon. I'm now looking foward to getting my hands on it :) On the modelling front I've almost finished one of the new GZG 15mm vehicle releases. But more of that in another posting...
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White Scar - Space Marine

Been doing bit of work on a couple of my sons 40k figures. Here's my first effort on a White Scar Space Marine. Spray undercoated him in grey car primer, then followed this by two light coats of a very light grey, followed by a good dry brushing of white. Lined the detail in black. The gun is done in GW's Boltgun metal with a bit of Scab Red to finish it off.
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Flames Of War Game - Photos

As promised here is a slideshow of some the photos from my FoW game on Thursday. The figures and vehicles are 10mm scale.



Harrogate Wargames Club 2009
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Flames Of War - At The Harrogate Wargames Club

Was up in Harrogate last night (visiting the out-laws), so used the opportunity to drop by the Harrogate Wargames Club and meet up with some old friends of mine. I joined in a Flames Of War Game. This is a set of WW2 rules that has been around for a few years now. Although I've seen the game played several times at my local club, (the Huntingdon & District Wargames Society) I had yet to actually have a game myself, so I was looking forward to how see how it played out. I must confess I was totally amazed how well the game played out, and how slick the whole system was. I’ll post some photos tomorrow, but in the meantime here’s a staged photo of some of my WW2 20mm German armour :) .
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C-130 Vs 20 Bar mines

Stumbled across this on U-Tube, couldn't resist posting it :)


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Vehicle and Pond Terrain - On The Workbench

I've started work on the TSS terrain I picked up Sunday,


and also on the GZG V15-57A Advanced Grav Fire Support Missile Vehicle (more on that in a later posting). The debate I've been having with myself is what colour to paint the area aound the water. The ground is very rocky, so one option is just to paint the whole think in a brown rocky colour. However, most of my gaming takes place where there is vegetation, and a rockly outcrop with no grass next to water would look very odd I think. We shall have to experiment...

Warhammer 40k: Space Hulk - Stop Motion Movie

I thought today I'd embed a link to, IMHO one of the finest stop-motion movies you will find on U-Tube. Made by a guy called Conlan, this is a great piece of work. Enjoy

Hammerhead Wargames Show

I attended the Hammerhead - Fantasy, Science-Fiction and Historical Wargames Show today. This was staged by the Chesterfield Open Gaming Society (COGS), and was held in Kelham Hall, near Newark in the UK.

As normal it was an excellent show with a good selection of trade stalls and games. I was putting on a Aliens participation game using a combination of Old Crow 'Tech Tunnel' scenery and Copplestone Castings Future War figures with my old 'home brewed' rules. Managed to get two games run. In the first it all went horribly wrong for the Marines and only 3 out of the party of 8 made it out alive. In the second game there was only 1 fatality however.

Spent a chunk of cash on buying one of each of the new vehicle releases from GZG that Mark announced in his excellent Dropship Horizion blog on 13 Feb. Hadn't planned to, but in the end just could resist them ! I'll post some pictures of them in the future once their assembled. Also picked up rather a nice pice of resin terrain made by a company called TSS. A small lake / pond that will do eqally well for 15mm and 25mm.

Anyway, here's the photos and a couple very short vids I took at the show.



HAMMERHEAD Wargames Show
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Restored Hummel

I've always been interested in WW2 armour, and especially German kit. Must confess that I almost fell off my chair with surprise when I stumbled across this short video of a preserved Hummel. I never thought I'd see one of these moving.

GZG Light Grav Tank

I've just finished off a High-tech Grav Light Tank (Code V15-43A) made by GZG. The model went together easily, with little flash to be cleaned off. The paints used were GW's Catachan Green and Kommando Khaki. All the detail was then black-lined in, followed by a very light dry-brush of Bleached Bone over the whole vehicle.

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Been off work this afternoon, playing Warhammer 40K 'Dawn Of War' on the PC with my son, and also playing with some of our joint collection of 40k figures. He's too young to use proper rules as such, so we make our own up. Strangely my side always seems to lose :) LOL. I'm using this post as an excuse to upload a photo of a Space Marine Dreadnought of ours.

Corridor Conflict - STOP MOTION MOVIE

I've been approached to run my Aliens participation game at the 'Hammerhead' wargames show here in the UK. I dug out the corridor scenary I use (currently made by Old Crow), to touch up some of the paint last weekend. At the same time I had some of my Warhammer 40k Space Marines and Orc outs. Inspiration hit for a another short stop-motion movie :)
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Yikes ! It's A Long Time Since I Up Dated This Blog !

Having not doing anything with my Blog for over a year, after reading Marks Dropship Horizon blog, I'm inspired to continue with mine.

So what I have been up to since Nov 2007. Well I've bought a bunch more 15mm sci-fi figures, mainly GZG, but some Old Crow as well. I've done some more on a Sci-Fi novel I started (more of that in later posting I think). Taken lots of photos. In fact my webshots photosharing website is bursting at the seams with all manner of wargaming / military photos, and a quite astonishing number of views (23,299) have taken place to date. I've tried embedding a slide show from the site within this blog, but irritatingly, without success.

I've also done several stop-motion movies using my wargaming figures and have plans afoot to do several more.

Here's the first movie I did:
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It's A Start

I've beening thinking about starting a blog, and for no particular reason have decided to grasp the nettle and get things going. I intend to use it this as a diary of my gaming activities, both in miniatures and also on the computer.

I already have quite an extensive web site which covers both these activities.

Last night I was working on some of my 15mm sci-fi figures and vehicles. This is the area of gaming and modelling that is currently inspiring me. Whilst the management (my wife Julie) was out last night I dug out some terrain and took a few staged photos of recently completed figures and vehicles produced by Ground Zero Games (GZG). I was torn between whether to post the photo in colour or B&W, but in the end decided on the latter. Here's a High Tech Grav Tank on patrol.
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