Disqus - Latest Comments for Stu

Re: World of Warcraft

Stu — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:58:18 -0000

Man, you can pick up a copy of WoW for $30nz from EB Games.

It's been a while since it's cost $100nz for a retail copy. Heck I think I paid $60nz for mine in some past sale.

Re: World of Warcraft

Stu — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:58:57 -0000

Soloing is pretty pointless too. You might as well play Oblivion. MMORPGs are all about gaming with real or 'cyber' friends.

Re: Sony Ericsson M600i versus Nokia E70

Stu — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:59:07 -0000

I've always found Nokia's strength is in their user experience so to be honest I'm not surprised you favour the E70.

A couple of years ago I was developing on the P900 family and quite frankly was rather unimpressed with their user experience. Wonder if it's improved at all?

Re: Is Firefox 2 A Buggy Nightmare?

Stu — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:40:09 -0000

Funny, works fine for me in Ubuntu 7.04...are you sure the browser is the problem ;)

Re: MOSH with Nokia

Stu — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:34:15 -0000

Ah but wait Ben, all Nokia need to do is start shipping the client so it's on their phones out of the box and they instantly have a potential audience of millions of people in a couple of days...

Re: iPhones for New Zealand: iPhone Unlocked

Stu — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:20:48 -0000

Vodafone NZ have UTMS 3G but yeah it ain't cheap and the service is pretty sub-standard imho. Despite the fact UTMS promises fast connection times for data Vodafone's mobile data network still takes 3-4 seconds to form a data connection in my experience which is rather poor.

Mind you the iPhone doesn't really grab me, I've used a lot of smartphones with large screens in the past and frankly find them a hassle. They simply don't work as phones without some kind of hands-free kit. Otherwise you're mashing a delicate touch screen up against the greasy side of your head regularly...

Re: OMFG: Team Fortress 2 Beta on September 17th

Stu — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:36:36 -0000

I look forward to a full review of TF2...

Re: Beating the Wind: Parkzone F27 Stryker

Stu — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:26:56 -0000

Why a pusher configuration? Does that get you anything much? Protect the propeller at all during landing?

I thought pusher style flight was abandoned post WW1.... ah guess not!

Re: Wii Remote Jacket: My Saga

Stu — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:31:44 -0000

But Ben, why does your Wiimote need a condom?

Re: Super Mario Galaxy

Stu — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:09:51 -0000

Sounds like it'd be worth buying...trying to resist a Wii purchase for Xmas. Hopefully nearer Xmas there'll be some bundling action going on...

Re: Microsoft Office Communicator URL Fix

Stu — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:43:12 -0000

I love the way Microsoft has just turned stuff off in LCS that you'd reasonably expect to be there because MSN Messenger has had that particular feature for years...

Re: Well, at least it was exciting

Stu — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:07:00 -0000

Isn't that why you do aerobatics at reasonable altitude?

Re: Pilot lands helicopter without a tail rotor

Stu — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:37:11 -0000

Dang that is impressive. Can you do this with helicopters normally? Or was he aided by the fact the R44 has a streamlined vertical cowling - does that act partially as a tail fin if you maintain forward momentum?

Re: Pilot lands helicopter without a tail rotor

Stu — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:57:52 -0000

Regardless you'd still have to give me a stiff drink and a reasonable sum of money to get in one of those things :)

Re: Games for Zune

Stu — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:26:18 -0000

Now bloody Apple needs to do the same for both their iPods and their iPhone lines.

Re: Construction Site

Stu — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:12:48 -0000

Does that mean there's one guy building it or what?

Re: Gundam Modelling

Stu — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:22:41 -0000

Nice. Hard to build? Glued or snap-together pieces? Fully poseable I hope.

Re: iPhone Google Reader/Gmail/Facebook Cookie Fix

Stu — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:24:34 -0000

Dude...an iPhone? They're not even 3G for goodness sakes!

Re: LCD TV Selection

Stu — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:17:40 -0000

www.thedeal.co.nz maybe?

Re: Dick Smith online ordering SUCKS

Stu — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:43:41 -0000

Oddly enough I find Dick Smith actually have competitive pricing these days on a lot of electronica.

But yeah I'm only ever a walk-in customer. I only use their online store for comparative pricing.

And yeah caveat emptor and always check the box seals.

Re: N-Scale Trains: A Slippery Slope

Stu — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:56:40 -0000

DCC sounds great, totally the way to go as I've seen my father in law's antique Hornby Dublos struggle to change circuit loops, and your initial rail yard/spur line set up looks ok but dammit man you need more track!

Also if you've got a Canadian diesel locomotive you're going to have to get good at simulating snow in N scale :)

Re: Hotwiring

Stu — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:25:50 -0000

Madness! Seriously Ben, build some kind of simple sprung armature for your ni-chrome, even a bit of U shaped MDF because you can get a lot more leverage that way which makes cutting easier. 3mm MDF also makes for excellent stencils for hot wire cutting as well.

Also if you're looking to cover and level that polystyrene a bit I recommend Selley's Pollyfilla as it adheres very nicely to polystyrene and is easily textured/cleaned up with a wet brush. This is what I used to cover and texture my North African 15mm WWII gaming table with.

Re: Hotwiring

Stu — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:31:32 -0000

I should also add you might like to try lightly sanding the polystyrene back to smooth out the gradient, do it outdoors with a fine grit paper and a facemask imho. This is where extruded high density polystyrene -really- shines because you can sand it freely, with closed cell expanded polystyrene incautious sanding will break off individual balls giving you a pitted surface. This is just is a minor annoyance that can be rectified with Pollyfilla mind you - it's just bloody messy!

Re: Hotwiring

Stu — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:49:04 -0000

Wonder if there's any way to gauge N gauge demand in NZ (pun intended)? As I've mentioned I've often considered trying to set up as a reseller in NZ for some of the 15mm lines I war game with, but haven't really got a spare couple of thou to sink into setting up a company/web-site/stock/advertising. Have you researched N scale suppliers widely in NZ? Surely somebody is doing it here?

Re: Slow Train Progress

Stu — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:29:25 -0000

Shaping up nicely I think Ben, here's yet another random tip - if you want to turn those cut polystyrene 'cliffs' into more natural looking rock faces, find some wood chips and spend some time pressing them into the polystyrene. If you angle the woodchips consistently while pressing you can get a nice sedimentary looking rock face. With a bit of careful painting you could end up with a representation of something like this. Alternately just say hang it all and actually bit your cliff face out of cut down woodchips.

Re: The Elephant in the Vodaroom

Stu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:24:40 -0000

Imho the NZ market is unlikely to even have decent data rate plans for mobile devices given the size of the customer base and the infrastructure here - there's simply not enough competition, and the market is too small for the Telcos to warrant taking the hit.

What are the options for Aussie iPhone 3G users btw? That would be an interesting comparision...

Re: Google Android G1 on T-Mobile

Stu — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:57:48 -0000

From a developer point of view it looks like a mildly interesting platform. It's Java based (rather than J2ME) which is nice. However the downside of that is the hardware and UI libraries are all Google code. This means essentially you're coding to yet -another- vendor specific platform - about the only code you'll be able to keep common is your business logic. As lightweight as J2ME is, at least it's standards based.

The G1 as a device doesn't grab me at all though with that fugly Sidekick-like design. Hopefully future Android devices will be sexier...

Re: Saturn V - One Giant Gadget

Stu — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:00:31 -0000

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Never mind watching a launch Ben, I'd love to BE in a launch before I die, which may be less of a possibility due to the current global economic fubar alas.

Re: FACT: Rock Band out-rocks Guitar Hero: World Tour

Stu — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:57:48 -0000

Dammnit, missed my chance for 15 minutes of faux fame :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Old Crow Models

Stu — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:21:59 -0000

Hi Harald, that's unfortunate...they were pretty responsive when I emailed them a question...coming back within 2-3 days with an answer. Have you fired them another email?

Personally I usually avoid ordering stuff in the month of December because I live in New Zealand, so most sites I order from are going to airmail me the goods and in my experience the postal service is generally a bit overloaded at this time of year. Also postal theft seems to increase near Xmas too.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Old Crow Models

Stu — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:21:44 -0000

Top stuff Harald! Any chance of some photos of 28mm minis next to the pipelines online anywhere? I'm curious to see how they compare, err without actually spending any money!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Mordheim Canal Progress II

Stu — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 15:10:07 -0000

My skills are actually pretty minimal :). It's just the combination of mini-tripod, normal daylight (flash photography sucks for miniature photography) and macro mode.

The depth of field effect occurs because macro mode has focussed on the bridge itself so both the foreground and background are out of focus.

I really need a couple of 'sky/cloud' posters I can put in the background of the mini shots. Possibly some print of a romantic period painting with lots of roiling clouds would do.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pardulon Fantasy Terrain

Stu — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 15:07:08 -0000

I did like the look of their accessories including the bay windows, dormer, outhouses etc. In fact they seem pretty reasonable price wise too. I might just go ahead and order some!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Freebooter Order

Stu — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:43:23 -0000

Hi Chris, sure thing :). It was a toss up between:

http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/shop/index.p...

And the gentleman I did order. The Imperial Noble, while a very nice figure...didn't really fit in with a Reiklander warband. A few too many frills and a bit too much lace I reckon - he looks more like a Mairenburger.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Freebooter Order

Stu — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:52:29 -0000

Imperial Assasin! That's a good point.

The other thing I like about Freebooter Miniatures are that a lot of their figures seem to have a few options in terms of weapons or clothing. Did you notice the Imperial Noble has a full wig so you can build with or without hat?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer Plastic Giant Sprues

Stu — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:56:53 -0000

Yes, as always Games Workshop prices will probably make it considerably less attractive to purchase.

I've noticed that while a number of plastic kits are coming out that are replacing metal kits, the prices seem to have changed very little and I've also noticed the plastic kits themselves seem to have gone from 20 figures down to 16 in the new releases.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm North African Terrain

Stu — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:31:59 -0000

Fortunately I sorted something out with the owner of Crescent Moon studios and should have a few of these pieces arriving in the next couple of weeks!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Miniature Photography Tips

Stu — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 15:32:55 -0000

Heh, yeah I did see that...I almost considered making it a post but decided it was a little too off topic really (hmmm this is despite some upcoming off topic posts)!

I think the artist on that site gets mixed results really. Some of the images are *really* effective...and some of them just look like bad, blurry photos...imho of course.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Detailed Press Molds

Stu — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 19:01:24 -0000

I use the odd press mold, but this is a more advanced technique. More of a way of creating filigree really.

People seem to score greens low on coolminiornot...maybe they can't imagine the piece painted or something? Imho the base detailing is great as well on that figure...that corpse is really convincing.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Game?

Stu — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 22:06:27 -0000

I was surprised that 40k won the poll considering I've have very little 40k content on here recently. I guess 40k is just Games Workshop's most popular game.

Odd that we didn't see any LOTR votes...but then I have zero LOTR content on here so I guess that's not much of a surprise.

Some of those user added options were quite interesting to Google for though.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Game?

Stu — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 15:37:54 -0000

dlonnon that's superb information! I may just edit your post and make it a follow up to this post in the blog.

Ahhhh...Jeff Valent...that's probably where I've seen those 'Great Rail Wars' figures as I've often bought supplies from JVS.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Game?

Stu — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 15:41:34 -0000

dlonnon, nice blog too btw!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Game?

Stu — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 20:49:37 -0000

Corrected my post thanks Richard. Warmaster and Epic 40k have always attracted me, particularly since the core rules are now available for free download from the Specialist Games web site.

Fortunately sanity has prevented me from venturing into *another* scale and another game system to date...plus I'm not sure how many players there are in New Zealand.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Favourite Game Poll Results II

Stu — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:07:27 -0000

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with Flames of War. The manufacturer Battlefront has very clearly looked to the Games Workshop systems for inspiration and the games have a similar 'flow' of play with different mechanics.

It is most definitely a 'game with WWII units' rather than a simulation of any kind. Although having said that the units reflect the strengths and weaknesses of their historic counterparts to a reasonable degree.

Can't hurt to give it a try! And as you say...plenty of 15mm manufacturers to chose from and quite a lot of very nice terrain available too.

Don't feel obliged to play the Brits though unless you really want to. There were plenty of Commonwealth forces in North Africa...what with Canadians, South Africans, Indians, Aussies, NZers etc.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Studios 15mm Middle East Buildings

Stu — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:34:47 -0000

Yes they are. A very good deal considering $18us of the $50us I paid was for shipping. So really I only paid $32 for all those buildings! Easily enough for a North African town.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pirates - Yarrgh!

Stu — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:07:05 -0000

Yes. The only thing I'm unsure about is their eyes don't look right to me. Skulls should have big round eye sockets...not evil frowns.

A bit of drilling and green stuff would fix that though I reckon.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral…Should I?

Stu — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 03:02:16 -0000

Heh. You guys raise some interesting points. It WILL weigh a ton once built so I best base it on something sturdier than 3mm MDF. Or at least build a layered stepped base from 3-4 3mm MDF pieces. Fortunately one of my gaming tables is an ex-factory steel work table which I'd quite happily shelter under in an earthquake.

I don't think I'll build the full Cathedral, but rather a ruined one. For two reasons...I want to use it for CityFight, 40k and Mordheim which all need ruined terrain and I can't be bothered casting and assembling all those tedious gothic roof sections!

I've actually started counting blocks according to the plan and blow me down if I don't already have close to half of the basic gothic blocks I need due to previous casting. Still a *LOT* of casting to go though before I actually start sticking bits together though.

I hear your burbsee. My attention span is a little longer than that...but I definitely need 3-4 projects in the air at any one time so I can swap to another when I get bored.

And no Daniel...if and when I finish it you can't blow it up...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral…Should I?

Stu — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 15:23:45 -0000

avoided religious structures (with a few noteable exceptions) but I figure forces in the Dark Millenia are probably less discerning...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Modelling Frenzy

Stu — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 16:23:51 -0000

Search for 'Painted Fortress' in the blog :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Stone Henges II

Stu — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:04:33 -0000

Yes they look great 'out of the box' and just arranged in a circle. Now I've got them glued down to a high density foam hill they're really starting to radiate ley energy ;).

You know what would work *really* well would be a layer of coloured perspex slid between several of the henges to suggest evil magikal energy. Something suitably swirly and green maybe lit from below with LEDs hidden in the base...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Stone Henges III

Stu — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:23:55 -0000

Sick day today. The cold I've had all week is hammering me still. Possibly I stayed up too late last night rolling dice...

I painted this in about an hour while my codrex morning dose was peaking before returning to the house and laying very still wishing I was dead.

I flock in parts, not all at once. Thick layer of undilued PVA, thick layer of Woodland Scenics flock. Apply 3" house painting roller vigorously to force flock into PVA. Do the same with fingers in details. Tap off excess. Spray lightly with water (helps wick the PVA into the flock). Impatiently take photos while PVA is still drying...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Stone Henges III

Stu — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:25:24 -0000

One advantage of painting terrain with interior house paint products is once dry they're very resistant to water. I suspect because they're mostly designed for normal washing down with a damp cloth once they're on your walls.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Stone Henges III

Stu — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:31:47 -0000

Tons of flock! So much flock it's about 5mm thick over the base. Really smush it down into the PVA with the roller. No roller gets lots of flock on it (so no more housepainting with it) but that's fine. Excess flock is tapped off back into a container.

Games Workshop's crappy 'neon green' flock isn't waterproof I don't think so the colour will run.

Woodland Scenics flock however is designed for use in model railway scenery and is definitely water proof because most people spray it this way I believe.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Stone Henges III

Stu — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:19:44 -0000

Oh btw, I initially tried cutting up some grass mat and using that for the hillside. But I couldn't get it to work nicely with the terrain and it was the wrong colour to blend with the rest of my flock too. So I fell back on my tried and true method of flock application.

So now I own some slightly butchered grass mat...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral…Should I?

Stu — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:26:00 -0000

The good news regarding the casting is I'm actually more then halfway there for most of the basic blocks. Some of the fiddly little blocks are going to take me a while to cast as I only just got the required Gothic Tomb mold. Plus (annoyingly enough) I need to do a bunch of casting before I can even start laying out the floorplan!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Vampire Counts Tower

Stu — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:28:48 -0000

Thanks :)...I really must finish this piece!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer Plastic Giant Sprues

Stu — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 19:19:23 -0000

Gak! $75NZ locally for one of these lads according to the latest WD! Lovelly figure but far to rich for me! I was hoping it'd be around $60-$65 like the similarly sized 40k tank kits.

Guess not.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Paper Terrain Roundup

Stu — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:30:31 -0000

here on www.rpgnow.com

For $10us you get the Dungeon 1, Dungeon 2 and Orbital starter sets bundled. That's around 200Mb of downloadable PDFs...so I took a plunge and am downloading them now...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Games Workshop Rapid Prototyping

Stu — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:36:36 -0000

Very cynical Daniel...why surely a decrease in production time from model to boxed plastic sprues should *decrease* cost!

To be honest though, the last GW Asia Pacific price increase (to $55 a regiment box) was what caused me to start looking at alternate systems like Flames of War.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Games Workshop Rapid Prototyping

Stu — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:40:14 -0000

3d models means you can easily 'paste' together a figure from a larger 3d object library...in which case the process does become more technical and less artistic imho.

As for the traditional 'boutique' sculptor like the Freebooter Miniatures, I believe there will *always* be a place for them in this hobby. As long as gaming exists there will always be a market for unique, hand sculpted metal miniatures imho. After all you'll still be buying them surely? As will I!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Games Workshop Rapid Prototyping

Stu — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:42:45 -0000

Burbsee, as far as I can tell the only way Games Workshop can *increase* their sales at this point is to lower prices. Adding new figures and ranges doesn't interest me in the slightest at this point, because I believe they are simply no longer good value for money - at least for my budget.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » The Dice Tower Podcast

Stu — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 18:43:41 -0000

Nuts. I didn't win anything :(...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Paper Terrain Roundup

Stu — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 19:17:42 -0000

Stalingrad paper terrain for free download as well.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Shockini Action Figures

Stu — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 19:43:40 -0000

Interesting comment! What scale are these guys? I've yet to see them in the flesh. 'Perils of the Bold' mixes Shockini's and Hirst Arts terrain quite nicely so I assume they must be around 30-40mm tall...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral: Casting

Stu — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:25:14 -0000

Heh. Nah it's not that bad. The trick with Hirst Arts molds is just to cast them more or less constantly :). I usually do a couple a week in my spare time. That way you have a stock of common pieces built up. Around half of the simple gothic blocks for this project came from my pre-cast stores.

Plus with such a large project it's built in sub-parts...so I can cast and build at the same time. I'm just about to start doing that for the Cathedral.

The only annoyance is that this project will pretty much clear out my stock of pieces...but that's ok since I figure it's going to be at least a year of work to get it finished anyway - plus I have at least 2 other half finished Hirst Arts projects to complete.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral: Casting

Stu — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 18:10:46 -0000

I enjoy working with balsa wood and have a fair selection of it in my garage so I was going to build a set of lightly detailed beam-work in the Cathedral...

I guess I could go the extra distance and actually make it robust enough to support a cast plaster roof...that way I could build a removeable roof in the future?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » City of Death Sprue Photos

Stu — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:47:58 -0000

I agree, they look very interesting. Although as always I'm sure the GW price will be higher than you expect.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Paper Terrain Roundup

Stu — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:33:45 -0000

Eric Hotz is an artist that also sells paper buildings. I particularly like his 'Whitewash City' Western paper buildings.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hasslefree Miniatures Etched Brass

Stu — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 02:40:25 -0000

Interesting Daniel! Where about in New Lynn is that...and it's really called 'The Model Shop'? Inspired naming there...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Medalist Hobby Engraver Kit

Stu — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:18:09 -0000

Sounds intriguing Ben, might have to check that out too. Although I have to admit I can't see a lot of use for the flexi-shaft for the kind of close work I'm doing...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » City Fight CD Terrain

Stu — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:30:08 -0000

Hi Jonathan, yes indeed, nothing much will adhere to an intact CD unless you use a polyurethane plastic glue. So I really attacked the CD surface with 180 grit sandpaper, making it very rough before applying a thin layer of builder's PVA and smoothing air drying DAS over that.

The first row of building bricks and flagstones where then heavily pressed into the DAS and secured with more PVA. The end result seems secure enough once dried. I think the central hole in the CD helped give the DAS some purchase too.

Interesting looking blog you've started too btw.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hasslefree Miniatures Etched Brass

Stu — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:34:21 -0000

Hi Bob, thanks for that link mate. The original creators have a much more extensive product line in a variety of scales with some very interesting looking products!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Medalist Hobby Engraver Kit

Stu — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:24:03 -0000

I am concerned I will Dremel a hole in my limbs with just the battery powered one actually so probably best to stay away from mains powered...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Design Preservation Models

Stu — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:34:11 -0000

Hi David, that is a nice site I've stumbled across before and is the source of the .45 Adventure terrain tutorial too funnily enough.

Although I've heard good things about cork tile (and seen a few from Dustan) I'm a foam card man myself...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » City of Death Sprue Photos

Stu — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:06:21 -0000

100 GBP x 10 building set.

Or $30nz a building at today's exchange rate. Yet another case of an interesting looking but far too expensive (for me) kit from Games Workshop. Particularly considering that $30 is roughly half a Hirst Arts mold which I can use indefinitely.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Paper Terrain Roundup

Stu — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 18:23:39 -0000

Sacretis, thanks for your comment. For sci-fi terrain I was more impressed with Stone-Edge's offering but I admit WWG do have a great looking fantasy line.

I've throw together some paper terrain and it's certainly pretty easy to create. I have two problems though...I haven't mastered 'black lining' yet and the UHU paper glue I'm using appears to be pretty poor at holding the pieces together - despite being the recommended glue.

I'm wondering if PVA combined with a bit of weighting wouldn't be a better solution. What do you use?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Paper Terrain Roundup

Stu — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 18:24:27 -0000

I should add there's nothing better than a good user community! It's one of the reasons I enjoy using Hirst Arts molds so much. That particular community is full of friendly, creative people.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Germans from Artizan Design

Stu — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:43:12 -0000

Hi Zac, Copplestone are probably going be receving some of my trade shortly too!

I figured since I've already started making a North African table for 15mm Flames of War then I might as well finish that and use it for desert 28mm scenarios. For Pulp in the desert soft capped German soldiers are definitely req'd imho.

The 15mm hills will look more like wadis in the 28mm scale. So I may expand my terrain collection with some 28mm scale rocky sand dunes as well.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Germans from Artizan Design

Stu — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:45:58 -0000

one of these might be required too.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Whitewash City Paper Terrain

Stu — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 04:10:11 -0000

Heh. Well they'll feature indirectly in any photos we take! Still searching for plastic toy cowboys locally without much luck. Odd because I swear I've seen them all over the show in toyshops here.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Whitewash City Paper Terrain

Stu — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 15:10:36 -0000

That's a fine idea. Painted balsa walkways would look superb. I've considered adding a little weight to the buildings too by glueing some old coins to the interiors too.

The original cardboard stovepipe chimneys do seem almost impossible to assemble.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Whitewash City Paper Terrain

Stu — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 02:13:27 -0000

Wow those are very nice! The balsa decking and solid awnings really do add to the buildings. Nice to see solid smokestacks too...what are they made from?

My buildings were all printed out on 22gm card stock so they're not too flimsy. Mind you they're not that solid either!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action 28mm German 88 Flak Gun

Stu — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 02:31:28 -0000

Yes...to be fair the whole kit is in white metal and as you mention can be assembled as emplaced or ready for transport.

An '88' in this scale would probably be a good candidate for scratch building too actually...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action 28mm German 88 Flak Gun

Stu — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 15:50:09 -0000

Nice link Pagumb! Regarding scratch building field guns I imagine the 'show stopper' is the barrel basically. Mind you plastic rod of different gauges would probably suffice with lots of pinning and patching...

I don't confess to know much about the details of German field guns either but I gather the '88' was widely as AA and also as AT as its high velocity rounds were apparently good against armor (they're fearsome in Flames of War). Plus the 88mm gun made it into the famous Tiger tank but who knows how it or it's shells were modified for the different roles. That's one for the historians!

Spike Milligan's War Diaries actually mention the 88 explicitly too. Apparently you couldn't hear the shells arriving overhead (maybe the high velocity again?) so coming under 88 fire was particularly harrowing because there was little or no warning you were under attack.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action 28mm German 88 Flak Gun

Stu — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:13:35 -0000

I bought a 'real' modelling magazine recently because it had some Desert Rats articles and madly enough I'm now tempted by those Tamiya 1/35th scale kits.

Fortunately I have no idea how to paint at that scale (spray cans and/or airbrushes I assume) so I have a good reason NOT to rashly purchase a Tamiya kit in the future. Phew.

Maybe once I'm retired and sick of gaming I'll get into the serious modelling and diorama scales.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Copplestone Castings Pulp Figures

Stu — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:17:34 -0000

Yes there was a lot of agonising over the Copplestone figure lines believe me.

I went for a mix of weapons, appearance and sexes basically. Naturally I also had to pick up a suspiciously familiar looking gentleman with fedora and bullwhip and there's at least one or two figures in there that could reasonably be played with a ridiculously Pommie accent.

The DAK Germans actually arrived this evening! Just writing a post about it at the moment so keep an eye out tomorrow. Hopefully the Artizan Designs and Copplestone Castings scales play together nicely.

I don't know if you've been reading long but you may have noticed I tend to purchase in 'bursts'. That's because my hobby purchasing power is directly related to the orders I receive for the 15mm terrain I also sell on the site!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Germans from Artizan Designs Arrive

Stu — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 23:34:58 -0000

Nice site. I like his painting style...it's that very 'European' look that I could never hope to emulate!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Germans Based

Stu — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:00:07 -0000

Pollyfilla is a wall repair product for filling gaps and holes. Don't you call it 'spackling' in the US?

Basically you smooth it on with a knife and sand it back once dry. It's some kind of water based air drying polymer plaster that's mixed with ammonia (presumably to kill mold) from the smell of it.

Just look for something suitable in the wall repair section of your hardware store I guess!

It's quite good because it dries very hard. A lot of people here use it for basing their Flames of War figures. It dries so hard many people don't even bother supergluing the figures down.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Resin OP (Observation Post)

Stu — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 03:27:57 -0000

Tell you what Aaron, you want the painted 'shop floor demonstrator model'? These little pieces are pretty dang easy to paint after all.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Resin OP (Observation Post)

Stu — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 15:25:55 -0000

Art, sorry for the delay! My thrown together PHP form is getting to unwieldy so I've been slowly trying to move to an online store solution. Unfortunately it's considerably more complex than a simple form so I've been battling with it on and off for months now.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Copplestone Castings Pulp Figures vs Artizan Design Germans

Stu — Tue, 02 May 2006 04:34:55 -0000

Ebob Miniatures do interesting looking 'bare' camels and horses in 28mm too btw!

And Crocodile Games have some great looking 'trinkets' but unforunately they want to charge some ridiculous fee for shipping them to NZ...so I'll probably end up sculpting my own...

Cobras and scorpians would be very handy :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » North African Table IV

Stu — Tue, 02 May 2006 22:29:58 -0000

Yeah I'm still sadly lacking in NA terrain though...I definitely need some hand made (or etched brass) palm trees here and there.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Did Tau need a New Codex?

Stu — Mon, 08 May 2006 02:52:59 -0000

Yes White Dwarf is just a glorified catalogue for GW. It does have interesting modelling articles occasionally - particularly sculpting tips but articles like that 'J Files' one are a travesty. I mean I basically summed his article above in two lines :). If you know nothing about the product or system you're talking about...why write a two page article?

I agree that GW's main games are pretty poor compared to some other system. Flames of War is for example a considerably more balanced and enjoyable game...and that's 15mm too. I've effectively abandoned 40k for several years anyway...so it might just be time to admit defeat and box the IG up for good.

I'm currently pretty happy playing 28mm skirmish games to be honest. Mordheim is always fun, Gutshot was enjoyable but I'm really looking forward to getting a .45 Adventure together sometime this year. Must try Necromunda too.

I think I'll always own 28mm figures just because they're so richly detailed and there's so many fine manufacturers around these days although I hear you on 15mm gaming.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Did Tau need a New Codex?

Stu — Wed, 10 May 2006 16:40:15 -0000

Wow sounds good! I'm about to put in an order to Hirst Arts for some of Bruce's Egyptian molds. I figure once I have them it'll be incredibly simple to whip up some ruined pylons, temples etc. for Pulp gaming in North Africa/Egpyt. Then I just have to paint up my Pulp figures and I'm set.

Just got to stop playing damned World of Warcraft first! Fortunately the account expires this weekend so must make sure I don't update it. You may have noticed the lack of updates on the site...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Gutshot 25mm Western Skirmish Review

Stu — Wed, 10 May 2006 16:42:45 -0000

Yes with the Whitewash buildings it only took me a few evenings to get a decent sized Western town together. Definitely worth the $15US I paid to RPGNow.com for the 'Pioneer City' kit. Looking at picking up a few more expansions PDFs as well just to round the buildings out.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is great fun, I watched it again just recently. The story is straight out of a 1930's Adventure pulp magazine :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Hirst Arts Order

Stu — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:36:35 -0000

It'll probably take me a while unfortunately...unless I can get really inspired. Painting terrain I can do in a couple of nights...but a decently painted figure seems to take me at least a week of modelling time. I really should knuckle down and paint them though!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Did Tau need a New Codex?

Stu — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:38:54 -0000

Heh yeah, that whole email (from a GW Forum I assume Burbsee?) is pure marketing bs. I particularly enjoyed the paragraph that admits it'll be cheaper for them to produce figures using the new system, but that prices will just keep going up and up. Ridiculous.

GW have already priced themselves out of my 'hobby' bracket. Each price increase just alienates more GW gamers imho...and they wonder why their sales are stalling.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Scale Palm Trees

Stu — Mon, 22 May 2006 18:57:31 -0000

Thanks, I plan to build a few more this weekend so could throw together a photo tutorial easily enough. There's a few tutorials on the web for various techniques but they're hard to track down in Google for some reason.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Scale Palm Trees

Stu — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:57:49 -0000

Heh. I guess I did have you in mind :). I've noticed in winter though I'm just as likely to knock stuff over because I'm wearing my 'gaming swandri' out in the garage.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War DAK Armored Coy II

Stu — Sun, 28 May 2006 06:06:41 -0000

Really? Crikey it must be a monster! Wonder if I can get Vagabond in town to order me one?

Hmmm, well only 15cwt's for my Artillery Staff team which probably won't cut it for the Panzergrenadiers.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War DAK Armored Coy II

Stu — Sun, 28 May 2006 16:35:01 -0000

Heh...well, I wonder if I could rig up some removeable recognition flag system...? Probably could with a bit of carefully sculpted green stuff and some rare earth magnets.

That way all my Panzergrenadiers could ride in 'borrowed' NZ 15cwt's and Quad gun tractors and I could save $14...

You're tempting me to do a bit of vehicular conversion Daniel you fiend!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 40k Cities of Death vs Hirst Arts

Stu — Mon, 29 May 2006 22:40:00 -0000

Hey Zac, what in particular are you having difficulties with? Two things helped me a lot when dealing with plaster:

The 'wet water' method (search the Hirst Arts site).

Casting using smoothed on CD Jewel cases rather that scraping...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 40k Cities of Death vs Hirst Arts

Stu — Tue, 30 May 2006 00:24:05 -0000

Your painting skills still apply, you've just got to make sure you seal the plaster with a primer first. Enamel sprays and/or latex/acrylic interior house paints work best for me.

What are you making? Got any photos :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 40k Cities of Death vs Hirst Arts

Stu — Tue, 30 May 2006 16:32:46 -0000

Christopher, what kind of plaster are you using? I'm inordinately lazy and mix by 'eyeball' these days. But I'm using Ultracal 30 which seems to have a fair amount of leeway either way. I've also mixed so much plaster I guess I know what consistency works as well. I just manually mix until it feels right. Adding water and more plaster if req'd.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Finishing my NZers Flames of War Army

Stu — Tue, 30 May 2006 20:56:22 -0000

Jeez there's a painting competition?! Where's all that tournament info again?

Thanks guys, but these have all been 'speed painted' to get my NZers finished :).

I'm looking forward to starting in on the Germans and spending weeks painting a single Panzer IIIj. I really want to try some new techniques on the Germans, particularly with weathering the tanks.

Anybody else up for a second FOW Army? Aaron you seemed to be hinting at it last night :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Finishing my NZers Flames of War Army

Stu — Tue, 30 May 2006 22:56:49 -0000

Whitewashed tanks would be cool, any probably not too tricky to paint once you've figured out the technique.

When I was originally looking at Flames of War I was reading Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' and I was sorely tempted to start a Russian Armored Company 'ex-factory'.

Ie. Paint them like they'd just rolled out the doors of the STZ and try and make all the crew and tank riders look like overalled factory workers fighting in The Great Patriotic War. But then I realised sculpting overalls and modelling lots of tank tools in their hands might be a bit much work! Not to mention I was unsure of the STZ T-34 undercoat colour :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Finishing my NZers Flames of War Army

Stu — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:22:55 -0000

Oh and this post is already out of date...painted two more Rifle/MG bases...only one to go to finish that second platoon!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Finishing my NZers Flames of War Army

Stu — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:05:11 -0000

Yes, looking at that front one it should probably hang down over the edge a little more... not sure what happened there...possibly the edge broke off in the months and months it was kicking around my painting tray :|

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Willard Wigan Sculptor

Stu — Wed, 31 May 2006 22:40:32 -0000

I had to admit I thought it was a hoax site until I noticed there was a permanent exhibition of his work on...with a microscope for viewing each piece :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 40k Cities of Death vs Hirst Arts

Stu — Wed, 31 May 2006 23:36:07 -0000

Ah yes, definitely invest in Ultracal 30 or Hydrostone from USG. There is a noticeable difference between these two btw.

Ultracal 30 sets in about 45 minutes after pouring and it's final set is a little harder than Hydrostone and is a greyer stone too. I suspect Ultracal 30 contains more Portland Cement than Hydrostone.

Hydrostone however sets in about half the time of Ultracal 30 and is whiter. Hydrostone actually gets surprisingly warm when setting too.

Really the only reason I use Ultracal 30 these days rather than Hydrostone is it's slightly cheaper locally.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War DAK Armored Coy II

Stu — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:39:05 -0000

Yes true, I must read the Desert Fox army book in great detail before long.

I'll probably leave it the way it is. The IV's can lurk a little back offering some fire support to the forward IIIj's. Not that desirable to have the Company HQ in the thick of it, but it is an Armored Coy after all!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Games Workshop’s CAD Sculpting

Stu — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:46:54 -0000

the playing card scheme instead, if you aren't already!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Games Workshop’s CAD Sculpting

Stu — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:01:25 -0000

already know how to make terrain and I'm not terribly interested in using the new GW plastic building sprues BUT I would like to play the 'updated' City Fight. I'm sure a lot of people are also in this position...basically anybody that was already playing City Fight.

So why not make the scenarios and stratagems a downloadable PDF file? I'm sure they don't occupy more than 5-6 pages of the rulebook. Or indeed simply publish them in WD like the 'Kill Team' or '40k in 40mins' rules were in the past?

But no, instead we're expected to shell out $50nz for a rulebook that essentially contains a set of re-written scenarios and some pretty pictures (which I could care less about).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Games Workshop’s CAD Sculpting

Stu — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:10:12 -0000

Well yes Ben, that's a given, and of course their other argument is that the new CAD system didn't come cheap, but then one wonders how many freelance sculptors suddenly find GW are not returning their calls?

But in any other market, reducing your manufacturing costs would eventually lead to a reduction of the retail price so you could increase market share surely?

I guess the real problem is GW are essentially a monopoly at this point, being the largest player by far in such a niche market.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Fun with Terragenesis

Stu — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:34:28 -0000

I just find it insulting to imply I'm deliberately trying to steal from them. The advertising revenue this site generates hardly covers the cost of running it and keeping the domain name registered.

I'm a hobbyist and this is a hobbyist website. I do sell a few pieces of terrain - all of which I made for myself first. Any 'profit' I make from that is poured directly back into the hobby in the form of sculpting/casting supplies and the occasional box of figures.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Fun with Terragenesis

Stu — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 19:36:16 -0000

Ah Aaron, the eternal question! Check out:

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answ...

The short answer is clicking is better than nothing (but not by much), but buying stuff from a clicked through link is much much better!

I checked my reporting...my average earnings per day are actually at .22c now. Still not time to retire mind you.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Fun with Terragenesis

Stu — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:33:25 -0000

Thanks everybody. I occasionally post links in various forums to stuff I think other hobbyists may find useful, and that particular forum post generated a discussion about technique, but if it's a problem for TG that's fine.

To be honest I'm just happy doing my own thing on here.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Desert Rats Sherman III’s

Stu — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:00:48 -0000

Finished all three of them just in time for gaming on the 13th! That's the main fighting force of the NZers fully painted.

Just two Quads, two lorries and a jeep to go.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » The Madness Unleashed II

Stu — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:33:27 -0000

That hex table is already looking interesting. I see you've got roads down and have started planning hills. One thought: have you actually searched for any historical relief maps of WWII battlefields? They might provide some interesting inspiration.

Those hexes fit together a lot better than my hacked up MDF squares too...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Proxy Hobby Spending

Stu — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:29:32 -0000

It's actually already a kind of hobby service :). Aaron was kind enough to give me full retail price for the blisters despite the fact we all get a 10% discount from the particular store for being regulars basically. Thanks Aaron!

I can't browse without buying unfortunately. So I daren't enter hobby stores unless I have modelling funds to expend.

Heh, I'm good for CD's. With a 2 1/2 year old son in the house we too have a fairly continuous supply of (now) useless CDs and DVDs. Must finish up that second CD of Egyptian terrain too.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Barbed Wire

Stu — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:05:10 -0000

Years ago I tried the old 'double twisted' wire strands which give you barbed wire that looks *exactly* the same as GW's. I must say the www.armorama.com technique while presumably taking a little more time produces a very nice looking barbed wire.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Strippers !!!!!

Stu — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:16:59 -0000

Meths is 'methylated spirits' for our non-NZer guests. I'm not sure what it's called in the US (or indeed if you can even purchase it) but it's basically just methanol alcohol I believe.

The local version is treated with a regurgitant (ideally to stop sadder souls from consuming it) which gives it a light purple tinge. It's typically used in spirit burning camping lights and portable stoves here.

I use it as a solvent because it's dirt cheap ($3nz for a litre) and is perfectly harmless as long as you don't drink it or set it alight. It's also quite volatile so after removing figures from stripping they're dry to paint within an hour.

It also has no effect on plastic figures.

But you're right Chris, it won't remove a good primer from a figure. But I prefer to leave that on because most primers are etching so a few rounds of priming and stripping can start to effect a metal figure's surface.

Once I'm out I might try Simple Green though.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Cities of Death

Stu — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 03:54:58 -0000

Yes I was quite surprised to find they don't slot together in any manner. That kind of kills their usefulness for a lot of younger gamers I imagine. Me, I like pinnning stuff!

It's most likely I'll pick up the manufactorum this week and try trimming down or padding out the pieces to fit in with Hirst Arts gothic blocks. I notice from a bit of quick measuring of Aaron's sprues above that the wall and doors pieces appear to be constructed to NO standard whole measurement. Meaning they're not round inches or cm's in width. They're some annoying dimension like 2 7/12ths of an inch.

The paranoid delusional cynic in me imagines GW have probably done that deliberately. Particularly since they are definitely aware of the Hirst Arts products as they've featured in US GW constructed scenery and White Dwarf.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Ed Air Support

Stu — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 21:04:17 -0000

I wouldn't sweat it until we're all playing the 2nd Ed rules which probably won't be for a while.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW NZers Finished: Rifle Company

Stu — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:25:41 -0000

At parade rest :)?

Might be hard to take a decent photo considering they're all 15mm and getting everybody in frame will make them look pretty small.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW NZers Finished: Rifle Company

Stu — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:25:49 -0000

Heh, technically I still have five transports to paint, but I think I'm going to try and create some removeable green stuff 'recognition flags' so I can re-use the lorries as tranports for the DAK Panzergrenadiers.

Yes, I'm that cheap!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Professional Freelance Sculptor in Auckland

Stu — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:03:20 -0000

Yes, I think if you were going to do a custom commission just for yourself it'd have to be a fantasy or sci-fi representation of, well, yourself!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Cities of Death II Manufactorum

Stu — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 20:40:05 -0000

I was briefly tempted by the large+standard building+rulebook boxed set that Aaron ended up with. However it contained no Manufactorum pieces which were what I was really after! So GW missed that sale.

Keep your eye on the blog because I'll post some WIP progress pictures of what I'm building once I actually have something worth posting! I hope to get the basic structure put together this weekend.

For 40k style sci-fi terrain the Gothic blocks are pretty much it! Mr Hirst has recently expanded his lines with some sci-fi molds, but they have a very clean 'Star Wars' feel to them that doesn't grab me.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Cities of Death III

Stu — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:48:01 -0000

Stil it's nice to see a GW building actually dwarfing an Imperial Guard Basilisk! That's what I always imagined City Fight should be like.

Of course practical considerations mean most CoD tables are going to have quite wide streets in order to actually move figures around during gaming.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW NZers Finished: Support Platoons

Stu — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:55:25 -0000

I'd be interested to see how much things change. Currently I don't believe the Stuarts are mis-priced. In fact they seem about right for what you get.

The Shermans however do seem a little steep, particularly since they're only Trained.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Cities of Death IV vs Hirst Arts

Stu — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:29:02 -0000

Interesting idea but I can't think of any way to make it work :(.

Creating a one sided mold of the archways is easy enough but you couldn't embed anything that actually projects out of the archways at all while pouring - because of course then it'd be projecting into the space occupied by the actual mold material.

Err if that makes any sense!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Ebob Miniatures Order

Stu — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 16:13:17 -0000

Pagumb you must be psychic :). Check out the post that's coming up this morning!

Yes I have seriously considered the 1/48th scale, both for vehicles and airplanes too! The only sticking point is finding a local supplier.

My Opel Blitzes actually arrived last night and they're lovely. I'll be posting about them next week sometime. Seems there's a lot going on with my hobby at the moment!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Ed Rulebook

Stu — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:05:37 -0000

I'll definitely be buying the hardback 2nd Ed rulebook as soon as it's available from Vagabond.

A *third* army? What force are you thinking of?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Kim’s Painted Trench Kits

Stu — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:33:23 -0000

Interesting! Chromacryl...the name sounds familiar. Where do you buy them? Are they a student's acrylic range? Warehouse Stationary carry them? Hmmm I know I've seen them around.

Possibly I should investigate student's acrylics again. I use Resene interior house paints for all my terrain. Cheap (by volume) and very robust but not so good for blending or more subtle effects. Drybrushes ok but does tend to dry quite quickly doing so.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Ruins Site

Stu — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:09:17 -0000

Looking at the detail work several of those buildings are the same...wonder if they're bashed from some Euro 28mm scale building kit? Either that or it could be carefully cut fretwork from a template.

I can see lots of template cut foam card or MDF in there too. That highway bridge for example.

Damn now I'm tempted to drop everything and start cutting up MDF with a bandsaw!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Painted Artizan Design DAK German

Stu — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 19:36:42 -0000

Mmm yes. That's what I tried originally. It's almost impossible to paint a black iron cross over a white one at those scales...or maybe I just haven't painted in 28mm for a while!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Painted Artizan Design DAK German

Stu — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 20:00:45 -0000

Jeff, that's not a bad idea at all. I don't use technical pens normally (being an ink washer rather than black liner) but I may have to buy one shortly...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm African Steamer

Stu — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:25:09 -0000

It's a good point, you do suddenly need a whole lot more 28mm period terrain. I've got around this by reusing my 15mm North African Flames of War table as a well, dry desert gully in North Africa or Egypt! I'm also re-using all of my NA palm tree terrain pieces which are forunately sufficiently between scale to be useable in both 15 and 28mm.

For terrain it's all been Hirst Arts Egyptian pieces so far. I'll probably build a few more of them too.

I'm eagerly awaiting Crescent Root Studio's release of their 28mm scale North African buildings too. Hopefully they should be out shortly. As soon as they are I'll be nabbing several for a Cairo city street.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm African Steamer

Stu — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:32:55 -0000

I'm a big fan of making terrain as you can probably tell. 1930's style buildings have me daunted at the moment (hence the NA theme) but I'm sure I can come up with something decent given enough time.

I mean you can only play Pulp in Egypt for so long before that travelling red line returns to Chicago or New York!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Giving up GW games?

Stu — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:03:52 -0000

Hard to say! Are you sure that you can honestly say you've never played them though :). They have a long and chequered history and have marketed many board games in the past.

Probably the most well know of their past efforts was a little game called 'Talisman' that I played a lot in my youth.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Giving up GW games?

Stu — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:33:42 -0000

I assure you sir there's no shennanigans involved! I barely have enough time to model let alone worry about rigging blog polls :).

I suspect the results are skewed towards GW though given the history of this blog. It's predominantly Mordheim, with a little 40k and WHFB thrown in. Only recently has it swung more towards 28mm Pulp and 15mm WWII. Most of my visitors are still coming in from Google hits on the earlier fantasy terrain I've built.

Ah Talisman! A lovely game if not wildly unbalanced, particularly once you add the handful of expansions it has. The Talisman sets you're playing with must be rather dog earred by now! The last time I played it was around 1989. There's a game that sorely needs re-releasing! Or have GW sold the rights away?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Giving up GW games?

Stu — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:37:08 -0000

Incidentely it amazes me how many simply superb independent figure companies currently sell their wares on the Internet. There's some astoundingly good work out there available at reasonable prices.

If you think GW figures are excellent you owe it to yourself to have a look around. I think you may be surprised what's out there.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer: Mark of Chaos RTS PC Game

Stu — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:38:39 -0000

Well my World of Warcraft retail is about to expire...so I'll get back to modelling shortly, unless I can scrape up $25nz to spare from somewhere :). Probably best I don't!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Crescent Root 28mm Middle Eastern Buildings

Stu — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 16:45:20 -0000

Here (painted) and here (unpainted)!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Back From Holiday

Stu — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:32:05 -0000

Actually the latest White Dwarf (despite being almost 50% LOTR stuff which I could care less about) contains some interesting Army Spotlights and modelling articles that have got me a bit inspired to bust out some 40k figures and give them a once over with green stuff, or to review my doomed Vampire Counts army for the nth time.

No Aaron, no platformers yet :(...going to email Olypmia Games shortly as it's been almost two weeks since they supposedly shipped.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Urban War Bio Toxin Plant

Stu — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:02:39 -0000

There's three 'families' of kit, Hexagon, Platformer and Toxin. The Hexagon family is 'snap together' and comes with little connected pieces while both Platformer and Toxin plant are glue together kits.

At a guess (I haven't tried anything yet) I'd say the Toxin and Platformer kits would mix fairly well. But the Hexagon kit is probably only going to mix with other Hexagon kits both because of the connector pieces required and because of it's hexagonal nature (most of the pieces are hexagonal or triangular shapes).

I'd say grab a few sets anyway because they look ideal for Necromunda. I suspect that's exactly what Aaron is going to do with his kits.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Edition Full Rulebook

Stu — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 19:38:43 -0000

Yes it's definitely worth it I reckon. It's hardback for starters, and has very sturdy binding by the looks of it so will stand a lot more gaming than the mini rulebook.

A full A4 page is a LOT easier to read in a dingy garage at night than a dense, glossy A5 page for sure :).

I haven't had a good look at the 'extra bits' you get in the full rules yet but I do like the idea of finally playing some historical scenarios with FOW rules. Points based armies still have a very '40K' feel to them...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Edition Full Rulebook

Stu — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:54:06 -0000

To be honest you don't really need it to play the game if you've got the mini version. But it is a LOT easier on the eyes.

It just felt right to give $75 to Battlefront after they'd given us such a great 'free upgrade' to 2nd Edition.

I believe it indicates they've got their heads in the right space regarding customer loyalty and goodwill. GW don't seem to give a shit about either these days and it's certainly one of the reasons that prompted me to look elsewhere for my gaming pleasure.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Edition Full Rulebook

Stu — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:44:53 -0000

Grant, this is a good time to start playing Flames of War. The second edition rulebook is a considerable improvement over the original. Particularly because they've paid a lot of attention towards clarifying definitons and rules and provide a lot more examples in 2nd Edition.

The rules themselves have also changed from 1st Edition, although not greatly. They've removed some niggly, problematic rules to do with combat and air support so hopefully you'll find the game pretty smooth to play as a beginner!

Be interested to hear how you find it. Flames of War still has a few issues (I dislike the core I-go-you-go mechanic) but it's generally a fairly enjoyable game. The armies in particular are nicely balanced so you typically end up with quite close games which I find are usually the best because nobody likes to be walked over!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 2nd Edition Full Rulebook

Stu — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:26:55 -0000

Ah yes, that is the one down side to the new rules. First Ed did have basic army lists for each army but to be honest nobody used them, we all used the specific army books. Mainly because you'd get more special rules for your army and unit prices were generally tweaked in the army books.

I assume you're referring to the 'Afrika' and 'Ostfront' books? Those are 'combined' army books that contain something like 3-4 of the old books each.

I believe the OLD army books should work fine with Second Edition rules as Battlefront published '2nd Ed updates' for each of them on the web official Flames of War site.

Might be worth trying to find a store with the old army books, or pick them up cheap off Ebay?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 17:44:14 -0000

Thanks, cast ample over the weekend so I'm building up the next stage. You've guessed correctly btw. These are actually intended to be office rather than house windows.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:05:12 -0000

Hirst Arts forums.

Hmmm maybe I should do a mastering/molding/casting tutorial since I'm in the midst of mastering and molding a bunch of small pieces (like these frames) to build into a larger project.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:00:36 -0000

Hi Kim, plan is for a four storey facade at this point. Hopefully I'll have something up on the blog by the end of this week but some of the parts are giving me trouble at the moment. Might have to re-master some bits and pieces :(...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:20:04 -0000

Hi Shawn you need a good mold making RTV rubber (room temperature vulcanizing). These are sold in two part kits that you mix together usually in a 1:10 ratio. The only recommendation I'd make here is make sure it's a coloured product where one of the parts is NON-white. That way you can mix your first mold by measurement and them mix every other mold 'by eye' using colour matching to your first set mold. I've been doing this for years with a blue RTV product and it's a big time saver. I'd ask on the Hirst Arts forum for a US product if that's where you live.

You'll need sundry products (MDF, foam card or lego blocks, masking tape, plastacine) to build a 'pour box' around your master. I glue all my masters down to MDF or plasticard and build a foam board 'pour box' around it, sealing the outside edges with masking tape and plasticine.

I also *always* brush my first coat of mixed RTV onto the master with a 1/4 inch hog's bristle brush. This ensures the RTV covers the master well and helps reduce bubbles. I then pour the rest in from a corner. Don't forget clean your brush with mineral turpentine/white spirits!

Once you have a mold then you'll need either a two part polyurethane resin (expensive) to cast in, or a hard plaster stone (cheaper) of some kind. I use Ultracal 30 and Hydrostone both of which are a US Gypsum product so should be readily available in the States.

You use resin for smaller, thin, high detail parts. For example the guard tower and observation posts I sell are cast in resin because they're thin flat sheets 2-4mm thick) that would break too easily when cast in plaster.

A good hard plaster is fine for anything say 6mm-10mm thick. I'm currently mastering a 5-7mm thick four storey building facade I intend to cast in Ultracal for some Stalingrad office buildings.

I'd suggest starting small and tackling larger projects once you're more familiar with the working properties of RTV and resin/plaster. Low wall sections sound like an ideal starting project.

I'll try and put together a tutorial in the next couple of weeks.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:38:55 -0000

Hi Shawn, FYI I hope to put a tutorial together maybe over this weekend as I'm mastering a few pieces in the next couple of evenings I need to mold and resin cast.

From your window question I assume you're hoping to mold and cast building walls with detail on both sides? That can be tricky depending on the height of your walls because you may end up with quite a deep mold. Molds like this can be difficult to pour and lead to bubbles in the casts.

I do most of my working using one sided molds. I'm about to cast my building facades one sided so they have no interior detail, but a wealth of exterior detail. I plan to use them for ruins so it doesn't matter too much if the interior is flat. A few strips of plasticard or balsa wood will add sufficient interior trim imho.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Window Frames

Stu — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:10:49 -0000

forum post.

Then we can talk at length and trade photos etc. and I'll try building up my tutorial in there a bit too before posting it.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Heresy Miniatures Giant Scorpion

Stu — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:13:06 -0000

Yeap well, just ordered two of them for Pulp .45 Adventure gaming. I figure they'll be useful for all kinds of fun and games! In fact we could have used them in our last game instead of poisonous vipers.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making I

Stu — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:30:33 -0000

Thanks. Next installment goes up Monday (NZ time). I would have put it all up at once but it would have been a massive post.

My masters are usually a combination of cheap builder's epoxy putty (for the basic shape) and green stuff for detail work.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Back From Holiday

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 02:41:49 -0000

Now I think about it more (and whine about it less) the best way to inspire me is to play a game! No matter what game it is I'll get to the end and think 'hmmm I really need some more terrain' or 'damn I wish more of my figures were painted'!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Model Military International #2 in NZ

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 02:43:31 -0000

I thought so too. Partially stripping a tan base coat off a grey undercoat would probably work pretty well in 15mm if you could apply the solvent in a suitably delicate manner.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm vs 1/48th Scale

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 02:44:50 -0000

Phil! Let us know how it goes man. I'm this close to picking some of those 1:48th Tamiya kits from Acorn Models web site.

I'd be interested to hear how useful you find the Citreon.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making II

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 03:38:25 -0000

Btw Haywire on the Flames of War forums made the interesting point that some molders use dry rice to estimate the mold volume.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making I

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 03:44:47 -0000

Happy Hands you say Phil? I assume you've experimentally verified that it's sulphur free :).

My first block of Klean Klay was free as I inherited some from a mate (thanks Ben). My second block was $10nz from Topmark although I haven't used it yet.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making II

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 04:45:02 -0000

Richard, that's a touch painful! Unfortunately mistakes are the best way to learn anything imho :(. I've only had a couple of molds go bad:

One where I undermixed the catalyst and it stubbornly refused to set, even after a week. That was a mess to clean off my masters for sure.

Another where I peeled the mold too early and the interior was still gummy. It came away from the masters fine but totally ruined the mold.

Definitely try it again!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making II

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:17:31 -0000

Nice idea with double mixing pots there Phil. Hmmm I may try that in the future. Pouring from a good height is another. I forgot to add that in the text but you can see me pouring from a reasonable height in the photo.

I use that 'overflow' technique for actual resin and plaster pours but prefer to estimate mold volumes for RTV. That also means I can make sure the RTV will cover the masters to a satisfactory depth.

I don't use any 'mechanical assistance' in my mold pours and casts but I can imagine what you're talking about.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Mold Making II

Stu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:16:26 -0000

Hi Art, yes it's for a one sided, open faced mold. I'm mastering and casting 15mm terrain most of the time so one sided molds are sufficient for that.

I have tried garage two sided molding in the past, but as I said in the tutorial usually find the resulting casts a little disappointing. Mainly because of problems with registering the two mold halves and pouring with resin/plaster.

I imagine using a more rigid high-temp RTV product and pouring with white metal you could probably get reasonable results. I may try this in the future.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Model Military International #3 in NZ

Stu — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:27:24 -0000

Ah the voice of reason! But don't you see? I need 1:48th vehicles for Pulp Gaming! It all ties together really :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Model Military International #3 in NZ

Stu — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:52:36 -0000

Heh. Well, considering any 1:48th I delve into will be stricky for Pulp gaming I probably fall into the later category by default. Not to mention the setting we're playing in is deliberately vague...it's around Egypt/North Africa, but is it inter-war before 1945? Or sometime during WWII?

I have to field mid-late war German tanks prior to WWII I can always get away with the 'mad scientist/early prototype' argument :). Now doesn't that make the historic gamer in you cringe!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Flashpoint Miniatures Mid-East US Army

Stu — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 01:03:49 -0000

Lovely ta! I shall read them with interest...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Frenzy

Stu — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:49:04 -0000

Yes, I'm quite tempted to pick on up along with the Sd.Kfz and just use it as an adventurer's jeep by just taking all the Vickers off.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Those Devils in Baggy Pants

Stu — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:38:30 -0000

My copy was actually published in 1956! I'm always happy to do a swap if you want to borrow it for a while after I've finished it.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flashpoint Middle East Modern Ruleset Beta

Stu — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:32:54 -0000

Odd, looks like the beta rules have been removed!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scenario: Cairo Museum of Antiquities

Stu — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:31:17 -0000

What DTP tools do you use btw Jonathan? I'm having a devil of a time creating tables (which is all .45 character sheets are) in Scribus.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scenario: Cairo Museum of Antiquities

Stu — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:36:23 -0000

Ah, it seems I need to RTFM for Scribus...here's the hoodoo you do to get an Open Office chart into a Scribus generated PDF:

http://docs.scribus.net/index.php?lang=enpage=i...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scenario: Cairo Museum of Antiquities

Stu — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:15:42 -0000

Heh, I prefer totally free tools myself. Sure they can take a little more work but y'know the price is right for a home user!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer Orc and Goblin Battalion Box

Stu — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:03:01 -0000

No no Aaron, we're sticking with the 6th Edition of WHFB. I'm not going to pick up the new O Army Book, but rather play the 6th Ed one I already have.

This is just something I've wanted to do for a while, since I started playing the Mordheim Orcs in fact. I did a bit of scrabbling through my bitz and found I can easily assemble an additional 11 Orcs and goodness knows how many Goblins. In addition to the 12 or so I've already painted (including a Shaman) for my Mordheim warband.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer Orc and Goblin Battalion Box

Stu — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:27:48 -0000

I do like the Orcs I will admit. As anybody has seen me play my Mordheim warband will know :). Funnily enough I find the old Orc plastics totally inoffensive. Nothing wrong with them, don't know why GW are re-releasing!

Oh? Do you know something about what actually CHANGED in 7th Ed then? How does it impact the VC?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » We’re Back! Again…

Stu — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:29:54 -0000

Unfortunately the tabletop-terrain.com domain is still in their evil clutches, but the other domains were transferred away from them without difficulty.

The root cause of the problem is their support is useless and I couldn't get a straight answer out of them either way so was forced to cancel the pending Namecheap.com transfer simply to renew the domain.

I'll give it a few days and then initiate a new transfer away from them I reckon, then finally I will be free! FREE!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » We’re Back! Again…

Stu — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:45:49 -0000

Nice to know somebody missed us! FYI both

www.tabletop-terrain.com

AND

www.tabletopterrain.com

both resolve to this site now. Namecheap.com's hosting service is so ridiculously cheap (funny that) I nabbed a second domain just because I dislike the 'dashed' name I originally registered with :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm vs 1/48th Scale

Stu — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 17:03:27 -0000

Got any photos Phil? Almost picked up the Tamiya 1:48th Panzer during the weekend.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 50c Gliders for Fun

Stu — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 19:59:27 -0000

What? Isn't that what I typed? Nah...corrected it ta. Not bad little models.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » In the Streets of Cairo

Stu — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:24:32 -0000

Yes the PI was alarmingly friendly to the Nazis until a zombie ate the head off his trusty dog!

It all went downhill from there...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » We’re Back! Again…

Stu — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:29:03 -0000

Ah thank the Internet Gods. I've finally prised all my domains away from iPowerweb. Huzzah!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » In the Streets of Cairo

Stu — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:01:57 -0000

Since we actually have a month's hiatus from .45 due to one of the players being unavailable I've actually started casting Hirst Arts pieces again...hopefully I can get something interesting finished in time!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Super Air Gun Airbrush

Stu — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:09:56 -0000

Thanks for the tips everybody! It's a no-name brand airbrush but it is double action. I'm not sure about getting replacement needle/nozzles for it (because it's no-name) but will investigate that for sure.

Good point on the Resene paints too Kim. Since I'll have to seriously dilute them to get them through the brush. Hmmmm. I'm pretty sure I can find fairly close Tamiya colour match to the base coat I'm using for the buildings and a little colour variety wouldn't hurt anyway!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Dawn of War Anthology

Stu — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 19:34:05 -0000

I'm partial to Chaos too, but thought I'd start with the good old Space Marines. If they can't win a Campaign there's something seriously wrong!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Dawn of War Anthology

Stu — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:20:55 -0000

Bad news man. I believe Relic have stated Tyranids won't be coming to DOW in it's currently incarnation. Something about not being able to do the Tyranids (with their high model count) justice in the current engine?

Me I'd like to see a 'City Fight' edition of DOW, where you can get into buildings etc. like you can in Company of Heroes.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Super Air Gun Airbrush

Stu — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:22:23 -0000

Fired it up in the weekend and sprayed some diluted Tamiya paint through it. Unforunately my touch isn't quite fine enough yet...blowing too much air and not enough paint basically.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Gloire Review on Tabletop Gaming News

Stu — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:04:19 -0000

We're usually playing with 2-3 players so use a 2" x 2" table which is sufficient because it means you can get into the action after a couple of turns.

For more players you could bump it up to 4" x 4".

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Hieratic Dawn Cultists

Stu — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:07:11 -0000

Heh. They'll be back don't you worry! Although possibly toned down a little when they do re-appear so as to not cause so much grief...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Zombie Tribesmen Riding Zombie Camels

Stu — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 19:02:14 -0000

Ordered some today...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Enraged Mummy

Stu — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:13:51 -0000

Table lamps are $9.95nz each from the Warehouse. They're only rated for 60W bulbs but I just run them for a few minutes of photos with 100W 'daylight' bulbs from Lighting Direct. Daylight bulbs are hotter than normal and have a blue glass bulb.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Pulp Cultist

Stu — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:19:50 -0000

Ah but then everything is a little too dark. Possibly I need to arrange the camera further back from the figure and still use the flash. Then the washing out won't be so obvious but the flash will get rid of any shadows cast by the twin lamps.

Figure photography eh? Who knew it'd be so dang difficult.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Pulp Cultist

Stu — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:20:20 -0000

Still I am looking forward to the next Pulp game. A completely painted table with completely painted figures! Woot!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Another Pulp Cultist

Stu — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:04:46 -0000

What wait? You'll be playing in that game won't you?! In fact I think you're British chaps gain an unfair advantage next scenario since you recovered the original translations from the Museum?

Hmmm but only the Nazis captured a native guide. Curses...I can see I'll have to actually think about how the next scenario will play out.

But yes, definitely lots of photos this time!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Space Hulk

Stu — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:32:01 -0000

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a reissue of Talisman and a few of the expansions. Towards the end the expansions started to get a little silly but the first couple were good.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Dice Wars

Stu — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:16:04 -0000

I find it's an excellent way to kill 10 minutes. The beginning and middle game are most interesting. I usually just exit when it's pretty clear I've either win or lost.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Scouring Pad Trees

Stu — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:57:56 -0000

I like your results Kim but wonder how long they last on the gaming table? Considering the amount of bashing about my wire palm trees have taken while being gamed over I wonder if the flock would be denuded from the branches quite quickly.

How have you found your trees last?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 15mm Scouring Pad Trees

Stu — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:12:10 -0000

Morgan, I think you're very sensible to try a range of approaches. I see different methods could be nicely mapped to different forests. Kim's trees for example look quite Italian, and with less flock of a lighter colour you could create nice olive groves. While the above tutorial produces a basic pine tree.

Do you have a blog btw? Got any photos of your tables online at all?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Art Dice Tower Plans

Stu — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:05:03 -0000

Ben, you're a heathen.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Art Dice Tower Plans

Stu — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:09:55 -0000

Basically it's a small prison for dice. Generally one drops the dice in the top somewhere and they emerge from the bottom, rolled for you.

Generally dice towers have baffles inside them, combined with the gentle action of gravity to roll the dice.

The usually also have fenced areas near the bottom (hmmm unlike this example) which stop the dice escaping too far.

Dice rolling damages the table because it tends to chip things...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Art Dice Tower Plans

Stu — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:51:35 -0000

Wait until you see my Sketchup Plans for a Beer Tower.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Corvus Belli 15mm Ancients

Stu — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 16:55:04 -0000

By god I can try though!

Seriously. 15mm Ancients in North Africa. I can reuse all my FOW terrain again, even the 15mm ME buildings I have are suitable.

Romans? Numidians? Nobody is tempted? Even if I buy two armies and paint them up! :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Corvus Belli 15mm Ancients

Stu — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:10:02 -0000

Hard to say if no terrain is a plus or a minus really! I'll investigate both rulesets before spending any $$$ I suspect.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Corvus Belli 15mm Ancients

Stu — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:50:28 -0000

Good man! Doing some research. Warhammer Ancients sounds like it's just a derivative of Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition which is actually kind of a turn off for me. I particularly dislike the I go, you go system all GW's games use.

DBM sounds like a harder read, but is potentially more rewarding in terms of tactical play possibly?

Either way I suspect some more reading will be required for historical gaming (which is a good thing). Heck I don't even recognize half of the races and periods mentioned in some of the DBM army lists!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Corvus Belli 15mm Ancients

Stu — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:54:28 -0000

Doing a bit of lunchtime reading and I'll probably go with the Romans and Carthaginians for some 15mm Punic War action.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » CD Spindle Terrain

Stu — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:26:08 -0000

Hi Topo! Nice to hear from you :). I've admired your work in the past, particularly the ruined water tower which I was going to copy for my Mordheim terrain. Keep up the good work!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: 15mm Palm Trees

Stu — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:13:16 -0000

Glad we could help Tobias! They should look good since these end up looking like Pacific coconut palms rather than African date palms...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Figure Scale?

Stu — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:42:31 -0000

Maybe that should be my next poll: Do you display paint?

I've never got to the point of purchasing a figure solely for display painting but I can see the attraction of simply attempting the best possible paint job you're capable of (and maybe trying a few new techniques to boot).

Artemis wouldn't look out of place as statuary with a marble finish in a 40k city ruin imho. Maybe she'd need a discrete Imperial Eagle or two though :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Figure Scale?

Stu — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:11:24 -0000

Makes sense to me! I've long entertained a hobbyist's fantasy of scratching up a Necromunda Scavvie gang from WHFB Zombies, Ghouls and greenstuff. Maybe with a Heresy Miniatures Ogre in there for the heavy support...

I enjoy the hobby aspect more than gaming (particularly for GW systems) but do still enjoy rolling the dice and moving away from GW systems has given me a lot of gaming pleasure in recent years with Flames of War, Pulp .45 Adventure etc.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Figure Scale?

Stu — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:30:13 -0000

Bob, I'm not sure if they can do a Cthulhu-esque source book because of licensing restrictions since Chaosium still publish the Cthulhu RPG game don't they?

Having said that though .45 Adventure would be great fun in a Cthulhu setting (I used to play Chaosium's RPG game years ago) and it wouldn't be too hard to come up with some suitable stats for Deep Ones etc.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Unofficial Guide to De Bellis Antiquitatis

Stu — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:23:57 -0000

They have some historics, including the WRG publications, Essex 15mm metals and Italeri 1/72 plastics which isn't a bad start. I like the look of the Corvus Belli figures more, but should eyeball the Essex ancients in UW at some point.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » WWII Bunker Plans

Stu — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:20:27 -0000

Well, to be honest I wouldn't hold your breath...I'm notoriously slack when it comes to creating masters. Look at the 15mm building facades I've had 1/3rd completed for about 6 months now!

The other difficulty with bunkers is you'd want to make a one piece pit style mold...but creating the windows could be interesting then!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Gaming Genre?

Stu — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:02:06 -0000

Wee Toy Soldiers site. I have a large pot of artist's canvas prep Gesso that I use for terrain texturing occasionally but I haven't tried it on a figure yet - Citadel Skull White used sparingly is what I've used for years.

You don't have problems with chipping/flaking down the track with Gesso at all? I use a spray primer because I understood they contain an acidic etching agent to help the primer bond with plastic/metal.

I'm lazy too and much prefer spray priming where I can hit 6-8 figures in a couple of minutes rather than brush priming (which I used to do years ago) which takes considerably longer.

Mind you there's a hidden bonus to brush priming - in that you get to examine the figure quite closely prior to painting. Whereas spray priming means you can sometimes miss details until you've done a fair bit of painting. For example I inked a couple of 28mm DAK Germans last night only to notice one of them has 'DAK sleevebands' modelled onto the figure which I would have liked to have highlighted prior to inking...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Gaming Genre?

Stu — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:12:13 -0000

Interesting information thanks! Citadel primer is getting ridiculously expensive locally - almost $25nz a can now up from $18nz a year ago. So I am definitely looking for a replacement once my current supply is exhausted.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Favourite Gaming Genre?

Stu — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:35:34 -0000

I always ink wash 28mm figures. It's really the only way I know how to paint them! Probably explains my preference for white primer :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Pinning with Blu Tack

Stu — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:01:55 -0000

Cobalt, I have tried that but it's hard to dry fit the parts properly if you've already got a couple of mm of pin sticking out of one part, which can lead to the hole being in the wrong place and a bad final fit. With nothing more than a little blu tack in the way you can fit both pieces together very well to create the guide.

Hyun, I've got a cheap $20 battery powered Chinese knock off of a Dremel that works very well. For these pieces I drilled a guide with the pin vise and actually dremelled the hole out to 3-4mm. For smaller, flatter pieces I'll always use the pin vise because you can control the depth a lot better and I've almost drilled my hand several times through a thin metal part :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Pinning with Blu Tack

Stu — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:41:30 -0000

Ah sounds nice! Dremel branded tools are ludicrously expensive in New Zealand unfortunately. So much so that it would be considerably cheaper for me to order off the web, even with shipping included.

Hmmm, perhaps I should set myself up as a Dremel reseller :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Unofficial Guide to De Bellis Antiquitatis

Stu — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:27:25 -0000

It's enough to play the game I believe, EXCEPT it's lacking the official DBA army lists that appear in the back of the full rulebook.

Got my DBA bases cut and have prepped the Carthaginians for basing and am half way through doing the slightly historically inaccurate Romans too.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Adventures in Jimland!

Stu — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:20:47 -0000

Heh, yeah that's how I found their site!

So what's NAGS/Fudge like? I have to admit it sounds interesting judging from the Amazon customer reviews.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1930’s 15mm Building Facade Mock Up

Stu — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 02:51:34 -0000

Hi Tankred, thanks for that advice! I had started building the master with sash windows on the ground floor, but will pop them out and go with four paned windows all around. Master is coming along nicely. I suspect it'll be finished in the new year sometime...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Adventures in Jimland!

Stu — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:19:04 -0000

Hey man it's a FREE game! Free! Try it I'm sure you'll like it since it's essentially a board game.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Pinning with Blu Tack

Stu — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:17:45 -0000

Yes, that's why I started using blu tack. It's quick and dirty and gives you a good pin almost every time.

I like quick and dirty solutions that work...mainly because I'm a lazy devil at heart :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » More Pulp Germans

Stu — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:23:53 -0000

Bolt Action Miniatures
Army Group North
Chieftan Models

that are calling to me. In particular I'd like a German armored car to convoy with the Opel as well.

Have a good Xmas too!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Corvus Belli Carthaginians

Stu — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:18:37 -0000

My train of thought went something like this:

Wow those 15mm Corvus Belli Romans look great!
- I wouldn't mind painting some of them...
- Crikey they're cheap too..
- And I don't need many for a DBA army...
- And Olympian Games sell them...
- And they'll need an opponent...
- And Carthage was in North Africa...
- And I already have a NA table and some 15mm terrain.

Now I just have to base, paint them up and parade them before the Garage Gamers at an unsuspected moment of weakness...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action Miniatures 1:56th Sdkfz222 Scout Car

Stu — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:31:24 -0000

And we all know how reliable they are :).

But yeah, armored cars will be much more suitable for Pulp gaming than a Panzer. Since you know, players might actually have a chance of destroying a couple of armored cars...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action Miniatures 1:56th Sdkfz222 Scout Car

Stu — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:48:12 -0000

Are you mocking me sir ;)

I've got two cupboard in the garage full of stuff that needs to be assembled / painted. I swear no more (major) purchases until I at least finish ONE WHFB Army...and the FOW Germans...and my Pulp figures...and their vehicles...and the 15mm Ancients and the 17mm Moderns...

Should be about Dec 2007 by then.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action Miniatures 1:56th Sdkfz222 Scout Car

Stu — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:24:59 -0000

with a friend. That time I lasted less than three weeks before I cracked.

This time I'll last longer - hopefully the 15mm Ancients will keep me distracted for at least a month!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » GW New Zealand Prices

Stu — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:23:29 -0000

Yes, it seems almost too good to be true. They ship by weight though, so shipping costs could be higher than 16% I guess.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » GW New Zealand Prices

Stu — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:36:30 -0000

Some of the discount comes from avoiding Australian and New Zealand sales tax at each end, which naturally limits the size of your order. Even so $350NZ of GW figures is a fair amount.

I don't quite understand how Scrap Dragon can offer a 20% discount on the normal Australian retail price though. Certainly resellers get a discount from GW and normal reseller discount is around 25-30% I believe? Even so I'm surprised they can afford to offer 20% off and still make it worth their while.

NZ GW prices are simply too rich for me. If I can get a discount like this from 'across the ditch' then I'll definitely do so.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » GW New Zealand Prices

Stu — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:46:41 -0000

Hi Mick, thanks for that comprehensive reply!

Would you object if I reposted your comment in the main blog? Hopefully we can generate you some hits and corresponding sales.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Evil Pulp Masterminds

Stu — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:20:13 -0000

Yes, I can't quite understand why any gamer would want EIGHT identical SS She Wolf figures? Particularly when the mixed pack of five contains such good figures.

Modelling in general has stalled, I've simply got too many things on the go at the moment and it's summer down here in New Zealand which never helps! Believe me I'll post things as I paint them.

Your wife knows how much you spend on figures! Crikey, that's never going to go well :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Chilled, not Frozen Polyurethane Resin

Stu — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:29:56 -0000

Normal setting is an exothermic catalysed chemical reaction. Chilling the two parts simply seems to slow the onset of that reaction so freezing mixed resin wouldn't gain you anything I don't think.

People do freeze mixed epoxy putties because it does extend their working time. But with 'green stuff' and the like you're talking a couple of hours of working time instead of a couple of minutes. So the reaction involved is a lot slower.

Exposure to air moisture (ie. when you open the bottles) degrades the resin parts involved (I don't know the chemistry involved), reducing working times and eventually making the resin useless. Although that can take years in my experience.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Learning to Airbrush

Stu — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:43:32 -0000

Works fine for 15mm vehicles as well, although obviously you have to be more careful while applying the marmite. I use a ripped up square of the packing foam that comes in every Flames of War blister.

I'm hoping to master the airbrush well enough to batch paint and entire German Flames of War armored company one weekend!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Learning to Airbrush

Stu — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:08:29 -0000

The wiper fluid is just a mild pre-mixed detergent. I read some where that it helps paint flow through an airbrush because of that. More or less so than ordinary tap water I couldn't say!

Coverage is a bit spotty, mainly because I had to remix the Vermin Brown while waiting for the top of the vehicle to dry so I could spray the undercarriage. Unfortunately my first mix was spot on, while my second was far too watery. Some areas will be touched up by hand prior to applying Marmite and additional coats.

GW/Citadel paints seem to airbrush ok as well.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1930’s 15mm Building Facade WIP

Stu — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:57:24 -0000

main details tonight. Now all I have left to do is some minor trim around the sides and lots of patching.

I need to fill minor gaps in the resin and plasticard parts prior to pouring the mold because that'll make the finished product easier to demold.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Black or White Primer?

Stu — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:06:08 -0000

What specific brand of gray auto primer do you use Kim? And where do you source it from?

I'm on my last can of Citadel's Skull White primer, but at the ridiculous local GW prices I'm certainly looking for a replacement product.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Black or White Primer?

Stu — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:21:39 -0000

Yes, Dulux flat black is what I've used for a lot of terrain in the past, particularly anything for Mordheim or Fantasy.

I've yet to try it on figures yet though. It doesn't obscure detail too much? It's pretty thick paint in my experience. Plus I have a lot of problems with nozzles clogging before the can is empty. I've got a couple half full in the garage at the moment!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Black or White Primer?

Stu — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 18:50:52 -0000

Thanks for the input everybody. I should mix and match my priming more, because for example I have a old Citadel metal troll that I've half painted Dark Angel's Green and that certainly took several coats over a white primer.

And George, ta for the brand names, I'll definitely be checking out Duplicolor shortly! Even at $12, that's HALF the price of Citadel's primer cans.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1930’s 15mm Building Facade Complete

Stu — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:55:13 -0000

Yes I'm pretty happy with this piece. Curse my stupid day job, because if I could work 18 hours a day on this stuff I'm sure I'd have a great lineup of products!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1930’s 15mm Building Facade Complete

Stu — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:23:44 -0000

Heh, the same thought crossed my mind regarding creating a scaled up 28mm version. Technically there's nothing stopping me from doing exactly that.

However the cost of the materials involved, both for creating mold(s), and casting copies make it a little uneconomical for me unfortunately. This is the primary reason I make 15mm terrain, because the scale reduction makes it worthwhile in terms of cost.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Jonathan’s 15mm Building WIP

Stu — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:29:45 -0000

Yeah I thought so too. The fact he broke his cast and glued it back together adds to the whole effect as well...looks like the whole structure is about to come tumbling down on the hapless Jerry HMG team...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Jonathan’s 15mm Building WIP

Stu — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:41:43 -0000

True, plus FOW 2nd Edition has rules for street fightin' as well. I really need to master a side wall and at least one other facade type. Then we can standardise the way we're going to base the ruins and I can hand a few out, and instant Stalingrad!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Glass Sheet Casting Method

Stu — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:36:55 -0000

Glass is flatter and considerably less flexible than CD covers I've found. That means the whole process is quite sensitive to the mold itself being quite flat on the open side. If there's anything under the mold (i.e. plaster rubbish from previous casts) I've had problems. So I always make sure the area under the molds is reasonably clean before trying a casting run.

The other problem I occasionally have is I'm cheap so try to save RTV rubber by making reasonably thin mold walls. However if you push down too hard while covering the mold you can sometimes deform the mold walls enough to end up with casts that may be slightly bowed.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Imperial Guard Retrospective: Basilisk

Stu — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:53:57 -0000

Pagumb, I like kids, they never sugar coat anything! Personally I have no problem admitting I play with toy soldiers. Like any hobby it's a nice break from the insanity of modern life.

At least soldiers is moderately educational as it involves history, basic maths, geometry, probability and the ability to comprehend and apply large, often complex sets of rules!

Now I'm getting better at photographing my minis I'll probably do a wee bit more retrospectin' too since there's a lot of posts back several years ago that have no related photographs.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Osprey Publishing Books

Stu — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:47:32 -0000

To be honest a firebase gun pit shouldn't be too hard to sculpt. Considering they're most constructed from a bulldozed earth berm and a lot of sandbags...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Imperial Guard Retrospective: Sentinels

Stu — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:28:32 -0000

Heh, 26! Wait, not in the same force org chart right? Do you happen to have any photos?

I assume some of those must be Cadian armored Sentinels? Do they fare any better in 40k or not?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Imperial Guard Retrospective: Sentinels

Stu — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 01:18:06 -0000

Bob, that's pretty impressive and to be honest I'd love to see photos of that lot so it's a pity about the Yahoo site.

I take it all those Sentinels are in boxes in the attic/garage/basement now? Funny how much time 40k takes up isn't it - that's one of the reasons I started playing skirmish games.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Imperial Guard Retrospective: Sentinels

Stu — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:15:25 -0000

I suspect a lot of adult gamers are in a similar situation. I know before I got these IG down from the cupboard to show my son, they'd been up there for a good couple of years at least.

You can see why GW targets the 12-24/school children/university student demographic really. They've simply got the most time, and most income to waste on toy soldiers...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Learning to Airbrush II

Stu — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:47:49 -0000

Thanks guys, I went a little overboard rust wise. In the future (for those German 1:56th armored cars) I'm going to tone it down a little.

But this Opel is meant to have been rattling around the back streets of Cairo and out on rough desert trails for a good while, changing owners regularly over bad Backgammon throws.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Learning to Airbrush II

Stu — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 03:17:19 -0000

I think they used to apply tar to the undercarriage of old cars to waterproof them, but I could be wrong...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » City Walls

Stu — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:42:22 -0000

I haven't tried that to be honest. You're looking to create sewers or tunnels of some kind? It's certainly possible, but I think the hardest part would be timing it right so the plaster simply doesn't just pour out of the mold.

I've seen other people bend molds like this while they set, but using resin instead of plaster. Resin has a longer curing time and will stay quite flexible while it's setting.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Heroes

Stu — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:28:02 -0000

Yeah, plus it's hard to paint in summer! I'm very tempted to flag my New Year's resolution and start buying figures again, because as you say it does inspire you to paint stuff :).

Plus I've had a bloody cold hammering for a week and a bit and a mad stupid software death march happening at work. Kinda puts a crimp on my modelling time.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » THQ to Create 40k MMO

Stu — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:18:30 -0000

Yes well, I'll believe it when I see it. It's never a good portent for any game when the publisher changes mid-stream.

And lets face it a Warhammer Fantasy MMO has an uphill battle to fight against the behemoth that is World of Warcraft.

Whereas a Warhammer 40k MMO is an entirely different genre. In fact have we seen a decent science fiction MMO that isn't ship based yet?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » So Much for Resolutions

Stu — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:15:57 -0000

I'm not sure I appreciate your tone young man.

Seriously though, I've got too much Pulp stuff that needs painting...now I gotta paint some of it.

I'm priming a bunch of stuff tonight (after I succumbed and bought another Citadel skull white can) - three Pulp figures, two Ebob camels and those two 1:56th Armored Cars.

I'll probably post them up post priming as well since they look so nice assembled and with stowage.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: How Many Unfinished Armies?

Stu — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:15:45 -0000

I agree with you Bob - one can always add new units to an army. However I'll consider my Flames of War NZers 'finished' when I've painted and varnished all of the required units to field a 1500pt army with transports. Despite the fact I naturally have various half painted optional units I can swap in and out if I feel like it.

Calling an army 'finished' gives me a nice sense of closure. Any additional units that get purchased and painted are 'expansions' to the 'finished' army. Semantic I know but it does allow me to justify things to my lovely wife :).

Now I think about it I find I paint a lot of terrain for display in 28mm and 15mm scales...but never figures. Odd, possibly it's because I find I can throw terrain together and get it painted to a reasonable standard in say a couple of evenings.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » PitYak Burnisher

Stu — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:06:30 -0000

Might be a chance to sell them with a healthy mark up maybe?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Musketeer Miniatures Sculpting Tutorial

Stu — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:24:04 -0000

So have you used the tutorial to start sculpting a figure Dustan? Do you have in any progress shots anywhere?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Primer Madness

Stu — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:08:24 -0000

Thanks for the links MrGunn! I found that primer testing page interesting. Believe me I only use Citadel primer because it's readily available locally (ie. I can pick up a can on the way home from work). I live in New Zealand and locals have recommended gray auto primers in the past as a cheaper alternative, but I've yet to pick up a can to try.

Pagumb, variety is the spice of life!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: Zombie and Camels

Stu — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:45:03 -0000

Primer Madness post.

Next Pulp adventure is probably not for a few months as I've got to paint up a bunch of stuff and then write a little three-act/scenario 'mini campaign'. I'm hoping to come up with something a little more original this time too.

My Pulp players seem very quick to whip out the hardware so I'm trying to think of unobtrusive ways of reducing that kind of carry on. Possibly some scenarios that will reward working together a little more, or at least encourage some kind of temporary alliances.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: Zombies and Baboon

Stu — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:40:18 -0000

You'll have fun painting them I'm sure, they're great little figures and actually have quite a lot of detail on them if you want to paint it.

For example many of them have large tears in their flesh exposing underlying bundles of muscle, which I largely ignored painting wise.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Primer Madness II

Stu — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:13:15 -0000

Wait...what? Does that mean Daniel's finished painting your Germans? ;)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Primer Madness II

Stu — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:16:24 -0000

Corvus Bellis' 15mm Ancients are very nice figures, I can definitely recommend them. For basing I'm using slightly poorly cut 1.5mm plasticard. You can see the slingers and elephant in the foreground already on their bases.

Plasticard is nice and sturdy and should stand up to a lot of handling.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: Baboons and Bull Mastiffs

Stu — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:51:10 -0000

Thanks! The dog turned out very well. Of course mere instants after taking these photos I dropped him hard enough to chip his paint job in two places. Sigh.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Handmade Tool Roll

Stu — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:30:23 -0000

The odd thing is it's actually inspiring me to sculpt...seeing all the sculpting tools arranged like that. Weird.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Middle Eastern Tower

Stu — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:24:09 -0000

Cairo civilians as well before we start campaigning again.

I'm also thinking of putting together a few simple clothes lines (thread and PVA'd tissue) to string up on the a couple of roofs.

And I need crates...lots of crates!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Middle Eastern Tower

Stu — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:58:43 -0000

work area a while back. It's half of a double bay garage. Since then I've added a second storage cabinet. Painted stuff typically goes in these cabinets, while unpainted and unassembled stuff lives in boxes in the garage rafters...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Middle Eastern Tower

Stu — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:10:42 -0000

Hi Peter, I thought I'd mentioned my painting recipe in the past, but I can't find it on the site. So here's what I'm doing:

- Base painted with Resene Sandcastle, wait till it's completely dry.

- Washed with a mixture of Kiwi liquid brown shoe polish, Indian ink, Klear floor wax and water. The Indian ink is added to the Kiwi shoe polish bottle (after snapping the foam pad lid off) to kill the red tones and turn it into a darker chestnut tone. I mix that by eye.The floor wax/water is mixed at around 30% wax. Then I add the shoe polish mix until I get a suitable wash.

- Wait overnight until that mess dries.

- Drybrush with Sandcastle again, the highlighted with a little Resene Pearl Lusta drybrushed over that.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crates

Stu — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:40:34 -0000

Thank man. I'm actually looking forward to painting them because I want to put a few white DAK palm tree stencils on a couple. I've got to cast a bunch more first though.

I also have plans to build some 28mm scale trunks, suitcases and hatboxes for the first scenario of the next campaign. These will probably take a little longer though because I'll have to sculpt details on with green stuff...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crates

Stu — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:22:35 -0000

I'm secretly hoping if I can supply an entire cupboard of painted 28mm Pulp terrain and figures one of you gents will get inspired enough to run a campaign :).

Individual crates are in resin because I anticipate them getting knocked around a bit because I want to throw them around the table, chuck them in the back of trucks etc. You're right regarding the detail though, there's probably nothing stopping me from casting them in UC30.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Middle Eastern Tower

Stu — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:41:17 -0000

No worries, nice site by the way Peter! Where are you based in NZ? Auckland by any chance?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crates

Stu — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:12:05 -0000

Nice scenario :). I still have about 80% of the cathedral cast and kicking around under my gaming table. One day I'll get around to sticking it all together...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crates Painted and Stacked

Stu — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:43:34 -0000

Heh. Thanks man. Drybrushing is your friend for simple textured pieces like these.

To be honest I'm looking forward to sculpting some 28mm scale luggage too...but there's never enough hobby time!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Crescent Root 28mm Towers Painted

Stu — Sun, 06 May 2007 03:39:46 -0000

Maybe if it was smoother, but it's actually quite textured, including cracks that make it pretty obvious it's masonry.

Besides I think traditionally only Mosques merit golden domes...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1:35th Dragon Fallschirmjager

Stu — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:59:24 -0000

Wait, is that a compliment or criticism?

This isn't really a random purchase, but relates more to the current "Display Painting" poll that's running at the moment. I've never really display painted anything and these models seem like an ideal time to try painting non-gaming pieces.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1:35th Dragon Fallschirmjager

Stu — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:54:02 -0000

Heh yeah I've seen that before :). Thankfully I'm not quite that far gone...

I had considered picking up a 1:48th or 1:35th vehicle to build up, but frankly I think that's beyond my skill level at this point. 1:35th figures seems like an ideal place to start.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1:35th Dragon Fallschirmjager

Stu — Mon, 07 May 2007 21:13:24 -0000

To be honest I don't find lack of focus to be an issue for me. This is a hobby after all, a past-time if you will :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Crescent Root Middle Eastern Tower

Stu — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:42:22 -0000

Hi Jon, that's a fine idea, although it is kind of handy to have removable towers with flat bottoms because you can use them as small, separate buildings too.

In the end I went with applying metal pins to the main building that the towers sit on - again so they're still flat on the bottom.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: Cairo Crowd

Stu — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:53:20 -0000

Thanks for the compliments Jason! I certainly have the technology to post just such a tutorial (ie. a digital camera and thousands of unpainted figures :).

Personally I'm never really that happy with my figure painting, as I tend to focus on getting figures finished as quickly as possible rather than spend any time doing a lot of blending/highlighting etc.

But I'm happy to put together a tutorial if you'd like :). I also have a bunch of projects on the go at the moment too that I desperately want to get to the stage that they'd merit actually posting about.

You know how it goes, real life keeps getting in the way of my favorite hobby :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: Cairo Crowd

Stu — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:31:12 -0000

past poll here) helps to contribute to the 'clean' look?

White priming certainly contributes to the speed at which I paint figures, because getting decent coverage is much quicker over white primer imho.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1:35th Dragon Fallschirmjager

Stu — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:21:44 -0000

Fallschirmartz, your site looks good. I'd be interested to see your Holland Fallschirmjagers painted up!

I was thinking of making a simple diorama in an old photo frame I have in the garage. Maybe not all four figures, but just a couple of them to start with, most likely crouched behind some cover.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crate Stacks Painted

Stu — Sun, 20 May 2007 03:34:02 -0000

Hi Aquilonien, the white balance for those photos is off slightly so the crates appear a touch yellower than they are in real life, but the recipe I use is:

1) Prime white.
2) Base coat GW Scorched Brown slightly watered down.
3) GW Flesh Wash mixed with a few drops of India ink (to darker it to a more chestnut tone) and mixed with a 30/70 blend of water and Klear floor wax.
4) Drybrush GW Bestial Brown.
5) Drybrush a mix of GW Bestial Brown and Bleached Bone.
6) Some crates also get a very light final drybrush of GW Bleached Bone for a lighter tone.

The metal parts are based with a 50/50 mix of Chaos Black and Brazen Brass and then ink washed at step 3). They're then drybrushed with a 50/50 mix of Chaos Black and Boltgun Metal, with a final touch of Boltgun Metal on the edges sometimes.

As you can tell, I have several GW Mixing Pots on my paint station with various blends in them...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Advanced Squad Leader Starter #3

Stu — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:03:03 -0000

About two box lids worth for the basic S20 I wanted to try. The maps you can see above are folded in half and I can happily play it on a kitchen table :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Cairo Crowd Inspiration

Stu — Thu, 24 May 2007 00:57:10 -0000

Hmmm, I wonder if some Foreign Legion gentlemen could be convinced to become Arabic police with the suitable addition of headgear...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Cairo Crowd Inspiration

Stu — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:08:16 -0000

Pagumb, I can't recommend Tintin enough both for yourself and your children! There's a reason they're still in print almost 80 years later.

Definitely pick some up, although try and get the larger single books rather than the smaller hardback bound compendiums around. Herge's artwork is excellent and deserves to be seen in all it's glory imho. He's also noted for being very accurate in terms vehicles, ships and aircraft from the 30's-40's too.

In terms of story lines they're very Pulp, with Tintin being a multi-talented and intrepid young reporter who travels the world.

The earlier Tintins do suffer from being originally printed as newspaper serials - in that they're full of slap-stick and running gags. However the later Tintins are excellent, with "Tintin in Tibet" probably being my favorite in the series.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Crates Pricing

Stu — Sun, 27 May 2007 17:37:25 -0000

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen.

I was thinking of offering:

An Ultracal 30 six piece crate set for $8us.
A Resin six piece crate set for $12us.

It certainly can't hurt to post them up.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 1:35th Dragon Fallschirmjager

Stu — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:44:25 -0000

Hi Hugo, by all means send me photos of your work! I'm always keen to see other people's modeling. My email address for the blog is:

tabletop_terrain@fastmail.fm

Nail clippers is an interesting idea, I might just try that for some of the smaller details...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » ASL: Online Resources

Stu — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:24:36 -0000

Thanks man! VASL uses the large VASSAL engine which apparently hosts a number of war games. The biggest problem with Pulp I guess is it's 3D nature...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » ASL: Online Resources

Stu — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:35:51 -0000

Actually I wonder if an open 3D system like Second Life could be used for online figure gaming...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Painting: A Mixed Bag

Stu — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:37:15 -0000

Obelisk Baboons for example.

People I feel would be in a more civilized environment get the basic 'sand' treatment, like the Cairo civvies.

I plan to put together a basing/painting tutorial shortly because I've got a few more Germans I might as well paint up!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » 28mm Pulp Luggage

Stu — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:50:35 -0000

Thanks Pagumb, damn I need to get my act together and get a decent web-store up and running, because quite frankly my current order form page is really awful for ordering stuff and announcing new lines...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scenario: Luggage, Lost

Stu — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:10:28 -0000

You -should- be expecting to play it in around a fortnight. I have four more Cairo civilians half painted and I intend to mold and cast some luggage this weekend.

The scenario set up is entirely random and driven by encouter cards, so you can read it if you like but there are some minor surprises you'll miss out on if you do.

Up to you really, since I have to admit I'd really appreciate your feedback as a fellow Pulp .45 gamer/game master! When are we trying your campaign out btw, got it finished?!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Flames of War 6pdr Battery

Stu — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 04:50:15 -0000

Hi Tankred, 4" isn't much I agree, but it might save a few of them at least!

I really just want to flatten that shine a bit. For example in the battery shot look at the very shiny sand on the closest gun, compared to the gun immediately to the left. That's the old varnish I was using compared to the newer brand I'm using now.

Your new tables look great btw. I wish I had a room to dedicate to gaming, since my garage is rather cold in winter!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scratch a Pulp Tramp Steamer

Stu — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:55:18 -0000

Sorry Jonathan, I'm on a Pulp bender at the moment it seems.

I will finish a second 15mm facade soon. Perhaps you could buy me a late war Flames of War army? That would certainly inspire me to build the table :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Scratch a Pulp Tramp Steamer

Stu — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:58:25 -0000

Oh and Tintin does occasionally have reasonably racist content, particularly in the earlier books.

But then FFS they were largely written in the inter-war years, when society itself was openly racist!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Song of Blades and Heroes

Stu — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:03:40 -0000

Hello Andrea, thanks for stopping by and commenting!

The inclusion of the six scenarios does certainly give you an entire game in a single rulebook so I can see why they're there. As I've been in an out of this hobby for around 20 years I sometimes forget there's still people encountering it for the first time, the lucky souls!

Your comment about SBH being designed as an entry level game is also interesting. I think you've certainly met that criteria while still managing to create a game with some interesting tactical possibilities for more experienced gamers.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » EBob Opel Blitz Painted

Stu — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:14:41 -0000

Ta. I'm kind of wondering what I should do with the second Blitz I have unassembled in the garage to make it distinct from this one.

Maybe a tarp over the back or some more stowage or something. I was also vaguely wondering how hard it would be to scratch build an engine block :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » EBob Opel Blitz Painted

Stu — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:36:28 -0000

Good idea, but might be a bit hard to do in practice. Unless I replace the fenders with lead foil maybe? The cast pewter parts are actually pretty thick, up to 2mm in places which makes the whole truck pretty robust (and weighty).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Bolt Action Miniatures Sdkfz 222 Painted

Stu — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:40:42 -0000

Thanks, yes the whole vehicle could do with a little more detailing. Airbrushes and spray cans make painting easy! Although airbrushed paint does tend to dry slower I find.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Anglian Miniatures Moroccans

Stu — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:28:59 -0000

Hi Tankred, yes they're great figures and reasonably priced too, only costing me $20us for 8 figures shipped to New Zealand from Great Britain.

A few of them might see paint this year, but I doubt they'll all be completed.

They also represent the last of my Pulp purchases as I honestly have plenty of figures for most any Pulp scenario I can think of based in Egypt!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Pulp Tramp Steamer IV

Stu — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:06:48 -0000

Mmm good point but yes, possibly a little late! What I'm actually considering doing is applying a layer of spray varnish before I start painting anything, just to try sealing the cardboard a little.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll: Which Unfinished Project Next?

Stu — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:03:09 -0000

I have to admit I'm quite curious to see what the final outcome will be. I suspect I may regret putting the HA cathedral on there as it represents the largest, incomplete project I have. The pieces have been languishing under my gaming table for over a year now. The real show stopper on this project is I can't find a decent glue to hold such a large HA structure together.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll: Which Unfinished Project Next?

Stu — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:16:59 -0000

Phil, I haven't tried liquid nails, but that's a fine suggestion! My previous attempts have been with builders woodworking PVA and 'gorilla glue' (another PVA-like product). Both of which take far too long to dry when you're trying to assemble a long flat clock tower for example.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:28:27 -0000

Yes, personally I think GW have finally 'jumped the shark' with 40k Apocalypse. Although I do think the product is quite aptly named!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:17:22 -0000

Actually after a little reflection I think what's more likely to happen is that these boxes will probably sell quite well.

But it'll be because gaming clubs and groups are combining monies to buy them and then splitting them apart to effectively get a bulk discount on figures and vehicles.

So whatever sales Apocalypse does net will be at the cost of loss of sales of individual 40k boxed sets...

Apocalypse the game also seems rather impractical to me, considering the vast amount of terrain and/or table space you'd need to play it effectively. The practicalities of figure movement will dictate the kinds of games you can play. You'll either have to play along a very long front with a typical 6' table width, or play a 'defense in depth' style game where you both have very deep fronts across a 6' wide table.

I suspect the impracticality of such huge battles in 28mm scale is also one of the reasons 40k Epic in 6mm originally came into being.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update

Stu — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:46:06 -0000

Is there an echo in here? Dammit I really need to STOP playing Half Life 2 and start doing some serious modeling again.

I've made a reasonable amount of progress on the second facade btw. I've stalled because I need to master and mold the resin detail pieces. Vertical columns and decorative doodads basically. All it would take is a couple of focussed evenings of sculpting and molding to get over the hump too.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update

Stu — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:19:58 -0000

water based version of it. That might be my best bet.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:27:04 -0000

Star Mogul by Alpha Forge Games which you can use with any generic sci-fi figures.

There's also plenty of OTHER manufacturers out there with much more reasonable prices, like Pig Iron Productions and indeed Pig Iron have some nice looking killer robots that could be used for Star Mogul.

GW actually have a classic 40k skirmish game called Necromunda which is now FREE to download! Why not play that with a handful of figures?

In short I guess I'm trying to say if you want to play with sci-fi soldiers, don't feel you have to buy GW! The independent market for both figures and rules is booming thanks to the Internet, which I'm sure has had an effect on GW's share price...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:31:22 -0000

this post I made earlier this year, about Scrap Dragon, an Aussie discount GW reseller.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Desert Basing 28mm Pulp Figures

Stu — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:52:15 -0000

No worries, glad it was useful. I based all my FOW NZers in just permafill which gives them a nice sandy texture, although it's a little plain (I was trying to get my first FOW army painted asap).

I've got a bunch of DAK Germans and 15mm Ancients I'll be basing using the same technique, but I'll pay a bit more attention to their bases and try and get some more detail on there in terms of rocks, small shrubs etc.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:05:44 -0000

Hi Curon. Games Workshop is an interesting company. They're moving steadily towards plastics for their miniatures and using various rapid design CAD systems we've discussed in the past to reduce their costs in terms of design and manufacturing.

And yet year after year their prices go up and the number of figures in each box steadily decline.

Having said that they do have some of the best multi-part plastic figures in the industry. I largely stopped playing 40k/WHFB though because I find their rules systems are secondary to simply selling you figures. Consequentially there's much better tabletop games out there to play. In fact several of GW's older skirmish level efforts are great games (Mordheim for WHFB and Necromunda for 40k) and only require 10-12 figures per side.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Which Unfinished Project Next?

Stu — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:12:11 -0000

I think certainly the first two on that list should be completed. After that I'm not so sure. The DAK Germans really should be painted, but the last figure I applied paint to was actually a 15mm Carthaginian Hoplite.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Which Unfinished Project Next?

Stu — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:47:58 -0000

Hah yeah Dustan, you're right about the time involved. However I've taken a bit of a hiatus recently with the arrival of Harry and this blog has slowed a little because of that.

However I'm feeling strangely revved up for some serious modeling now. I've picked up some water based 'Liquid Nails' and hope to find some time this week to experiment with it. If it works out well we should see some progress on the Cathedral.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update II

Stu — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:21:31 -0000

I like your architrave suggestion there Dustan, unfortunately my miter joining skills aren't that good.

I was thinking of building a simple riser using three layers of 3mm MDF for a 9mm thick base. That should be sufficiently rigid to support the Cathedral I believe.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update II

Stu — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:10:28 -0000

Gerrie, I cast all my Hirst Arts pieces in a US Gypsum product called 'Ultracal 30' which is a blend of plaster and Portland cement that works well to capture the details of Mr Hirst's molds as well as have a high strength once dry.

I don't really know why some blocks are a different colour, however the pieces that are being used to build the Cathedral were cast over a period of months using several different batches of Ultracal 30. So possibly it's because the plaster used was slightly different. I'm also quite lazy and mix my plasters 'by eye' so it's also possible some mixes are thicker than others.

At any rate it's all going to get painted over at some stage!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses

Stu — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:13:00 -0000

Ashton, 28mm is around 1/48th scale. We typically play 28mm scale figures and buildings but use 1/56th scale vehicles so they don't take up too much table space while gaming.

The doors are far too small for Mordhiem, but you could use the basic textures (brick, stone walls and slate roofs) for Mordheim, plus the windows too I suspect since the windows in Fantasy/Medieval buildings are typically quite small because of the difficulty of making glass.

Hey! Nice to see you're just getting into Mordheim too judging from your blog. Mordheim (along with Necromunda, the 40k equivalent) are two of Games Workshop's finest games imho. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself...particularly playing the Skaven.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses

Stu — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:43:46 -0000

British OO scale which mentions British OO uses the same track gauge as 1:87th HO scale - which I wasn't aware of. Possibly that's where the confusion arises.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » The Asus Eee: A Wargamer’s Laptop

Stu — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:49:42 -0000

Gerrie, the screen is 7" at 800 x 400. It's quite small I'll grant you, but being an LCD is very crisp and clear.

Possibly the example document in my photo was a poor choice - because it's a low res scan of a photocopied set of Linka building instructions!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » The Asus Eee: A Wargamer’s Laptop

Stu — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:19:31 -0000

Geany) at at roughly the weight of a thick paperback book they're completely portable.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:36:00 -0000

Nick, interesting comments about the price of GW models in Japan! It makes sense really though when you think of the staggering amount of competition for the Japanese hobbyist that GW have to go up against when entering that market.

You mention Tamiya of course, but there's all those fantastic Mecha/Manga robots, figures and spaceships from various manufacturers not to mention that large market for character models from the seemingly infinite Anime shows.

Do Japanese people play a lot of war games? I was always under the impression modeling in Japan was predominantly of the display/diorama kind.

Games Workshop products as a hobby also tend to take up a fair amount of storage space (half of a double bay garage for me) for terrain etc. which one imagines is also an issue for war gamers living in Japan?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:16:36 -0000

forum too where we (attempt) to organise regular games.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses II

Stu — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:17:54 -0000

Ah the eternal Linka scale question...

Scale is wrong sorry Daniel. Linka is 1:76th. Far too big for Flames of War. You can however use the basic textures for Flames of War of course. In fact you could create some spiffy brick walls and brick wall ruins/burned out buildings.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses II

Stu — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:00:24 -0000

Hi Gerrie, yes for display purposes only. They'll be put down on his Hornby Dublo railway tables as background.

Really they're intended to maybe spur him into building some simple diorama around his extensive layout as it looks a little bare at the moment!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Cities of Death II Manufactorum

Stu — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:20:45 -0000

galleries here or here for inspiration.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update III

Stu — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:08:54 -0000

I mix my Ultracal 30 by eye too, but use the 'glass sheet' method so while the pieces are often a range of different tones, they're usually fairly regular.

I'm just thankful it's only the small gothic windows that seem to have an issue because there's not really that many of them in the building.

Yes, I must finish this building! Even if just to get all the loose Hirst Arts bricks out of my way!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Into the Trenches!

Stu — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:55:53 -0000

web-site here.

Prices are in US$, but let me know what you want and I'm sure we can work something out locally. Postage in NZ is also only $3.50 of course.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses Complete

Stu — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:36:55 -0000

own facades for Flames of War.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Linka Dublo Brick Terraced Houses Complete

Stu — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:43:28 -0000

Sid, I'd love to visit Bovington, but it's been a while since I've been to England! Our local war memorial Museum has a couple of restored WWII era fighters (a Spitfire and a Zero) and I remember being surprised at how large these single seater fighters are when you're standing next to them.

I guess we forget how much of a proving ground WWII was for new technologies and how quickly armor/engines/weaponry improved over those short and bloody years. It was WWII that essentially gave us modern rocketry and the jet engine for example...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hello… I Play Magic

Stu — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:11:43 -0000

Ah yes I forgot to mention proxies which is a nice way of trying out cards you don't have. I don't do that myself because I'd probably just be tempted to try and then purchase expensive Rares, but don't mind playing against proxy cards at all.

The other thing I forgot to mention about Magic is that because it's been around for so long, there's all kinds of options for cheap second hand bulk purchases on the web. Particularly if you don't mind playing the older sets.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hello… I Play Magic

Stu — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:18:53 -0000

I think latest is greatest is implied by the collectible aspect more than anything. How do you get casual players to buy the new cards? Making them marginally better than the old cards is the most obvious route. By 'better' I mean same ability for less mana cost, same ability but broader scope etc. more than new abilities.

It's quite subtle (compared to say GW's ham fisted approach with their armies) but I think it's definitely there...particularly if you spend a lot of time reading cards back in the older blocks like I seem to do.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hello… I Play Magic

Stu — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:49:01 -0000

Thanks for the comments gentlemen.

Jason: I know exactly what you mean about the printed cards - they certainly have a distinctive scent about them straight out of the box or foil. I just hope it's not some fiendish 'card buying' pheromone WotC spray in there!

Having picked up sundry cards from older blocks I have to say the artwork on the newer cards is universally attractive. The cards themselves certainly appeal to the collection fetishist in me regardless of the game involved.

I've also played the Pokemon game in the past with younger friends of the family and found it enjoyable in the short term although as you say it's a much simpler CCG. I have to admit I'm something of a Pokeman fan too - I still own and play the original Red/Blue Gameboy carts that started the whole craze. How old are your children? My oldest son is four years old and is already enjoying Cranium board games like Zooreka and Cariboo. He's probably just a little young to start playing card games though - maybe next year!

DarkWing: I play mostly Commons/Uncommons due to the cost involved in Rares. I probably don't have more than one or two Rares in any given deck I've built myself. I certainly hear what you're saying about Uncommons being generally more useful than Rares which tend to be powerful but often in fairly specific situations. It's also nice to see there are some Common cards that are incredibly useful depending on your deck.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rant

Stu — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:57:55 -0000

Netterrain
* Terragenesis
* Terrain Thralls

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hello… I Play Magic

Stu — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:05:47 -0000

Heh, seems I'm coming to the game a little late then! To be honest it's not bad playing at this stage of my life because the cost is so cheap relative to the other games I play. For example the $300nz I've spent on a moderate card collection is one new Flames of War army or about half a 40k or WHFB army. I typically spend about $5-$8 dollars a week on sundry cards from King of Cards who specialise in selling single cards locally which is what I typically spend on a work day lunch, so it's not like I'm breaking the bank!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: The Art of War Book

Stu — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:26:18 -0000

Heh 'wargaming porn' is a very apt description!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: The Art of War Book

Stu — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:27:40 -0000

Hi Tankred, no worries. I was after reading your review that I picked up the AOW book and actually had a good look through it. The first time I saw it I dismissed it as some kind of expensive brochure.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Peter Pig vs Battlefront 15mm WWII

Stu — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:27:46 -0000

Art, I admit it I'm terrible at actually getting new products to the stage actually being sellable (seems that final step is harder than it sounds). I do have another Zeltbahn variant sculpted but have yet to mold it, but that wouldn't be a big deal.

Contact me at tabletop_terrain@fastmail.fm and we can talk about sorting out a sale.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge

Stu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:13:26 -0000

Hello Richard, nice to have you aboard! Seems we're all assembling, basing and priming stuff ready for the 1st. Do you have a blog/site at all? I assume this isn't your first FOW force since you're playing Late War, or is it?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge

Stu — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:26:26 -0000

Nice to hear you've been inspired to start blogging! First and foremost I started this blog for myself, essentially as a diary so I could see my modeling progress and a place to gather handy references. It's sort of just grown from there. Hard to believe it's been online since Sept 2002.

I'll be interested to see how your Sword Beach table goes. I can see a few challenging points to it (sea water effects mainly). I'm thinking of trying to put together a Stalingrad/Berlin ruined urban table myself sometime this year but have to knock a few other outstanding projects on the head first (as always)!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge

Stu — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:43:42 -0000

Ahhh nice! I do like opening those FOW boxed sets. What extra bits do you get in the Armored Rifle box? Some stowage for the half-tracks? Anything else?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Intermittent Signal

Stu — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:02:56 -0000

Yes I saw that too. Must be those pesky sunspots.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge

Stu — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:07:55 -0000

But tis merely a flesh wound! Sounds like a mis-cast to me. I usually go through box sets looking carefully for mis-casts and other damage. Battlefront (the Flames of War people) are pretty good about replacing flawed figures.

Mind you if it's just one guy maybe don't sweat it. Nobody will notice if one base is missing a single guy.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Hirst Arts Cathedral Update V

Stu — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:51:47 -0000

A lot. Even one gallery is hard to pick up. I need to glue the thin 3mm MDF base onto either more MDF (plied to make stairs) or something more substantial for the base.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Ready For Three Month Painting Challenge?

Stu — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:40:48 -0000

Hi Tankred, yes we've discovered throwing out challenges semi-regularly does help us collectively paint armies! One challenge a year seems about right too.

I've been keeping a close eye on your Messina project and have to say it's a fantastic looking table! You guys are going to have a blast playing FOW on it.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge II

Stu — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:30:32 -0000

Hi Tankred. Yes, it's a 'yeast extract' whatever that means! Although really as a New Zealander I should be using Vegemite because Marmite is Australian I think.

Your troops are looking good. I like the base coat colours. Green and tan - reminds me of those bags of plastic soldiers we all had as kids :).

Is that Citroen staff car a Flames of War model? Or from another manufacturer? It looks very nice...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge II

Stu — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:17:40 -0000

Thank you Aaron, for that most elucidating history of the yeast spreads of the world.

Although I have to admit I'm slightly concerned about the depth of your knowledge regarding this particular topic...!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge II

Stu — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:33:08 -0000

Tamiya's 1:48th model of this car? Definitely makes sense to use it as the old man's personal transport. I might have to nab some for an urban table I'm considering. Do you know if Peter Pig do any other WWII civvies? Vans maybe? I guess I could browse their awful site to try and find out!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: Three Month Painting Challenge II

Stu — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:41:16 -0000

I worked up some tutorial photos last night funnily enough, while base coating my DAK Famo tank recovery half-track. I plan to have a short tutorial up this week.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Tutorial: Weathering Vehicles with Marmite

Stu — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:16:28 -0000

Salt is an interesting idea, but does it mask well? I guess you'd probably get a nice stippling effect where it didn't anyway which would add to the effect.

One concern with using salt is I wonder if it could effect your spray paint at all? Would caster sugar work in a similar fashion but be potentially less of a problem with paint?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: 15mm Zeltbahn Tent Variants

Stu — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:06:05 -0000

Hi Peter, sure. I'm just casting up a few now and they'll go up on the store page next week most likely. I'll be selling them for $2us a piece, cast in a sturdy white resin.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Play a Collectible Miniature Game?

Stu — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:56:23 -0000

I concur. I'm not playing GW's main games any more but am going through my collection of unassembled/unpainted figures and thinking about building Necromunda warbands, finishing my three Mordheim warbands and just generally scratch building and converting stuff.

With the US economy in such dire straits and GW's constant price increases and quality decreases I wonder how GW US's bottom line is going to look in the next couple of financial years.

Plus I'm playing more Flames of War, 15mm is a much more economic scale to purchase...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Poll Roundup: Play a Collectible Miniature Game?

Stu — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:06:42 -0000

Well, it's certainly an excellent time to be entering the housing market that's true. Here in NZ the interest rates are pretty high (in excess of 10%) but in another year or so I suspect the housing market will have lost enough ground to make things attractive for first-time purchasers, even at those rates. Also one hopes they're unlikely to go up again in the next year or so, meaning if you do your figures and can afford a house at those prices it's win-win if/when? rates start to ease off.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: German Zeltbahn Objective

Stu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:05:27 -0000

Thanks guys, Daniel I'll trade you for some Necro scavvies maybe! Tankred I shall do just that as I've got a copy of AOW kicking around - thanks for reminding me :)

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: German Zeltbahn Objective

Stu — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:08:07 -0000

They did? That's why I generally don't post to those types of forums. Not the first time they've deleted a post of mine I don't think? Who knows - maybe I should have used BF figures.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » FOW: German Zeltbahn Objective

Stu — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:19:36 -0000

Hah! I said pretty much the same thing too. Hey perhaps they just can't take honest criticism :).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Pig Iron Kolony Rebel Heads

Stu — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:23:55 -0000

Glad I could help! They really do represent good value for money in my opinion. One baggie gives you plenty of heads to swap around.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Moment of Reflection

Stu — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:01:04 -0000

Thanks for the kind words everybody and stay tuned as things will get back to normal shortly. Life must go on after all, just rather differently...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Warhammer 40k RPG Announced

Stu — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:23:31 -0000

Hi Distel, interesting comment. I'm curious though, do you play Inquisitor with the 54mm figures from GW, or just converted standard 28mm character figures from Warhammer 40k?

I believe Inquisitor probably died because GW weren't that interested in supporting it if they couldn't generate sales for their expensive 54mm scale figures. To be honest I can't see any reason why you would use the 54mm figures when there are so many superb 28mm character figures in the 40k range now.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Surplustronics Power Pack

Stu — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:35:30 -0000

Just a cheapo AC/DC adapter, I guess AC/AC would work just as well though wouldn't it? The ni-chrome is just high resistance wire after all so it'll heat up either way surely?

Can't say I'd want to use a decent adapter to make a hot wire cutter like this though because it's a bit shady (my adapter tends to warm up a fair amount too).

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Wings of War - Famous Aces

Stu — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:07:55 -0000

I'm heading down to King of Cards to pick up the 'Watch Your Back' boxed set today. I noticed they had all three sets there on the shelf yesterday. Might pick up a plane or two as well, goodness knows which once though...?

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Review: Wings of War - Famous Aces

Stu — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:16:42 -0000

Well I picked up a copy of 'Watch Your Back' and have to say there's some very interesting planes in there. Generally they're not as tough as those in 'Famous Aces', nor do they do as much damage but there are a few that seem very maneuverable.

Combining the two box sets should be good fun, although I'll have to come up with a system to keep Griff's and my boxes separate!

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Seeking Horde of the Things?

Stu — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:18:49 -0000

Hi DarkWing, thanks for that link, it does look promising.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Seeking Horde of the Things?

Stu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:27:02 -0000

Hah. Nice find Daniel. I just assumed nobody on TradeMe would be selling a copy. I bid. $20 is a bit more than I'd want to pay for a second hand copy of a decade old ruleset, but what the heck.

Also thanks for that link Brian, I've snagged a copy of the PDF and will have a look at it.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Seeking Horde of the Things?

Stu — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:18:21 -0000

Picked up that copy of HoTT btw so thanks for pointing it out Daniel.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Ancients: Carthaginian Slingers

Stu — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:26:00 -0000

Hi Tankred, yeah I notice all the blogs I usually hit up are pretty dead these days too and weetoysoldiers.com has actually closed down! I'll post if you will :).

I've been struggling to get any modeling done since earlier this year. I really haven't had the heart to get much done, but these Ancients figures seem to be a pretty good tonic so far. I've since finished a base of Light Horse and hope to have the Elephant and crew finished this weekend. The shrubbery is just some cut down and dried moss I pulled off a tree at the end of our driveway. I originally intended to use it to represent thorny bushes for my North African DAK FOW Panzergrenadiers but haven't got around to painting them, so these guys got it instead. Works ok doesn't it? Think I'll probably scatter a bit around on the bases for this army.

Played (and lost!) three mad games of DBA last night, suspect we got a few of the basic rules wrong but seems like a fun system, certainly very fast to play.

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Ancients: Carthaginian Slingers

Stu — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:44:06 -0000

I'll finish the three Elephant crew tonight and probably the Elephant over the weekend. As you well know being a 15mm gamer, it doesn't take much effort at all to finish a 15mm army! DBA is good too since you only need to paint twelve bases of figures...

Re: Tabletop Terrain - War Gaming and Modeling for Pulp, Warhammer, Mordheim and Flames of War » Ancients: Carthaginian Elephant, Numidian Horse

Stu — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:02:24 -0000

Glad you like them. I'm looking forward finishing the entire army! I think what contributes to the soft effect on the figures is that I prime them white and then base coat them with watered down Games Workshop 'Scorched Brown' and then paint over that.

You can probably see this best on the Numidian Horse figures if you look at the enlargement. In particular look at the legs of the riders (the brown lines are just base coat showing through) and the horse's legs which weren't over-painted, so they're basically the scorched brown base coat.

It gives the figures a much softer finish and lets me do 'brown lining' instead of the much harsher 'black lining' most 15mm painters seem to prefer. If I ever paint winter/Ostfront forces for Flames of War I'd use black lining though because that would be perfect for a harsh, cold winter feel imho!

Yes lots of bending was tried :). Unfortunately I couldn't bend the elephant's ears out any further because they were pinned and patched.