Happy New year! and my 2011 Projects list

First off I'd like to say a pre-emptive  Happy New Year!I hope 2011 is a great year for everyone and my best wishes to all.
The weather we are experiencing really does make one sympathetic for the troops that fought at Valley Forge!
The year 2010 was a decent year in project painting,but not stellar.I'm hoping for a more productive year in 2011.My overall goal like most wargaming painters is to complete more and buy less which is always difficult,but I hope to do better then usual this time.This is primarily for two reasons with the first being to reduce the lead pile of course,but more importantly I want to save a few coins to renovate my hobby room from what is now more a less a storage room with a table and cheap metal shelves to a first rate gaming room.This will be quite expensive and so I'll need to put in some overtime at work and cut back some on expenditures.I'm hoping to start the renovation in September/October 2011 and I'm very excited to see how my dreams will turn out.

So,my project plans for 2011 are(crossed fingers):

Will do for sure due to club commitments or personal:

-BG AWI-Due to the fact I've met another gamer interested in this period I now have additional motivation to paint this period as I'll actually get to game it!I don't expect to get a great amount completed as this period is difficult to paint and so progress will be slow,but there will be progress nonetheless and even some gaming. :-)

-DH Fallschirmjäger(28mm)-Fortunately this project does not require a lot of miniatures which is a blessing due to the difficulty in painting these troop types and since I already have a decent start I have high hopes to finish enough to at least start to game with them.

-FOW Fallschirmjäger(15mm)-Half the project is already completed and so I stand a reasonably decent chance to finish this one.

-Chaos in Cairo-This project stands an excellent chance of seeing completion as the miniature count is very low and the terrain not to difficult to either build or obtain.

-WAB El Cid Christian Army-Since I plan on cutting corners with a this army and the fact that it's all mounted resulting in a lower miniature count should see this one completed.

-The Dead Walk-Yes,we have been bitten by the Zombie bug at our club and will be gaming this next year.Films,TV series and Hasselfree miniatures tipped me over the edge.Again,miniature count isn't that high with each member painting a few Survivors and a handful of Zombies plus card terrain gives this project a very high probability to see it completed.We have decided to try some free rules first and then perhaps some others as well.I have to say this project is easy to generate interest across the board at the club probably due to the fact that killing zombies is very appealing to everyone!!(LoL!)

-Hobby Room- As stated,the most important project in 2011 and I just really hope things come together to see it happen!

-Read More books-Not really a miniature project,but something I've wanted to get back on track again.

Other projects on the lead pile that may get started:

-TVG F&IW Indians-I wasn't sure if this would go in the planned or not as I would really like to do it,but decided the others are more important.

-DH Finns-Really like the mini's,but need a Russian opponent.

-SCW-Love these Empress mini's,but again no opponent so staying in the lead box for the moment.

-WAB ECW-A huge collection,but again no interest at the club and so staying on the back burner.

-WAB Ancient Germans-One of my friends is collecting Romans and so depending on his progress could see this moved into the planned projects.Fantastic Foundry sculpts btw.

-WAB Praetorian Romans- This army is actually painted,but really needs an overhaul and so again largely depends on my friends progress to see if I move it up.

-WAB Assyrians-Lovely Foundry sculpts and very nice colours makes this army very attractive to start........and my Trojans need somebody to fight!

-Impetus Aztecs-This is largely a painters project where the fantastic basing system of this system has inspired me to build a very colourful Aztec army using the outstanding Foundry Aztec range(their best range IMHO).However,since this is a personal project I couldn't place it in the planned as I feel I should do commitments first,but you never know.........

-Impetus Samurai(both 28mm & 15mm)-This is both a personal project and vaguely planned one with a friend.The reason it's not in the planned is what the reason always is.......procrastination.I'm not sure what type of Samurai I want to do with a pleasing uniformed look or a more historical approach of wildly contrasting colours and mons etc..also,I'm not sure if I want to start on Samurai or Sohai Warrior Monks first as I'll being doing both.Also,the high level of difficulty in painting this has me concerned as well.

Not yet on the lead pile,but thinking of.

WAB WOTR-A friend is collecting this period and I'm interested in doing an army with Warwick the King maker,but again project overloads and attempting to save money has me waiting.

WAB Swiss/Landsknechtes-Italian Wars and the colourful period is very attractive,but is a serious commitment in terms of painting requirements in both amount and difficulty which keeps this on the thinking about list for now.

Zulu/Boar Wars-Empress sculpts keep me thinking!

Japanese WWII -Fun to paint,but no club interest in terms of gaming has me holding off on this for now.

WAB Romano British-Would really like an army for this,but waiting to see if Bill at Musketeer does any as he said he will.If Bill makes this line then this will be a buying exception and will move to planned projects.

As you can see I'm a really bouncer in terms of interest and have my greedy fingers in plenty of pots and so there is no end to my to do list.

Very Best Wishes,

Christopher

More Fallschirmjägers(28mm)

Here are some new pictures of my growing Disposable Heroes Fallschirmjäger force in 28mm.First up is a team firing a MG 42 on an assault.I really like the dramatic posing of this team as it gives a great impression of a moving assault,but I imagine the FJ holding the MG up might not hear very well for a few hours!The other is a FJ with a FG 42 assault gun that was designed specifically for Fallschirmjägers.It was light weight assault rifle and was one of the most advanced weapons of the war and influenced subsequent assault rifles in the modern era.However,it only saw limited use in the war.
Miniature Company-Artizan Designs



Fallschirmjäger MG42 Team in a mix of Sumpmuster(Marsh/Water) 44 and Splittermuster(Splinter)camouflage

Fallschirmjäger with STG 43/44 in both Sumpmuster 43(Marsch/Water) and Splittermuster(Splinter)Camouflage

Fallschirmjäger Command Group(15mm)

Adding some pics of my FOW Fallschirmjäger while still waiting for my package!Every company needs a commander and here is mine going from left to right and front to rear.
CinC,2ndC,Tank Hunter Team #1,Sniper,Tank Hunter Team #2 as shown above.
Next up for these will be a light mortar platoon.
Miniature Company-Battlefront FOW

A few close ups.

Johnathan Tinsdale (Chaos in Cairo Character)

Johnathan Tinsdale
Status-Senior Party Professor(Stone Expedition)
Date of Birth-1864
Current Year-1926

Professor Tinsdale of Cambridge University is a Brilliant teacher and scholar of Archaeology with a specialisation in Egyptology and archaic languages who has authored several acclaimed works and is considered amongst the best in the field world wide.About the only thing that rivals his love for the past is his daughter Elizabeth herself a professor and an up and coming scholar of some repute in Egyptian mythology and language.

There is a hitch though in that he is also considered to be a few marbles short of a bag,but we will politely say he is a known eccentric.The reason is because he tends to wander off in thought in the middle of lessons deep in thought leaving the class waiting minutes or even the entire class period for him to continue and as of late has even begun talking too himself to include asking and answering questions out loud which has given the board of professors much concern indeed.

If the professor's mental state can be called into question his physical condition cannot.For a man of his age,he is a remarkably fit at 62 years old who could easily keep pace with any reasonably fit 40 year old man even though he likes walking around with a cane that isn't needed at all.He also happens to be a very good shot through his trials as a young British officer in the Anglo-Egyptian War where he was wounded twice and received honours.However,this is a subject the Professor doesn't much like to discuss and will happily turn the conversation to what he does....all things related to past civilizations.

Recently Professor Tinsdale published a book on ancient writing that supported the belief of long dead Egyptian Pharaohs would once again walk this earth and that secret cults were set on taking advantage of powerful relics to seek control of regional governments.Professor Tinsdale took the view that these things are true and felt a warning needed to voiced and these activities to be promptly and thoroughly investigated.

Well,with the professor's strange behaviour and now the release of this book was really all too much for the Cambridge board of Professors and Professor Tinsdale was politely,but firmly asked to take a paid indefinite leave.However,out of respect for his standings the board publicly announced Professor Tinsdale was taking a leave of absence for specialized study on a new source book and to their regret they must let him pursue this goal.

Professor Tinsdale is not a bitter man nor one to sit on his laurels and so took the extra time to research his favorite topic that being the location of Ramses the great.Through research,guess work and study Professor Tinsdale believes he knows the location,but understands he cannot do it by himself and thus contacted his old friend Jack Stone who he met while on a dig.Jack was more then happy and said he would get things started and organize the expedition.

Jack is fortuitously already in Cairo exactly where the professor needs to go and so books a ticket on the next liner to Cairo accompanied by his daughter Elizabeth who is also keen on finding this tomb.While travelling they noticed or believe they noticed shadowy individuals following them.This has continued even after meeting Jack where they are all waiting on the arrival of their sponsor.

Miniature Company-Coppelstone Castings

More Fallschirmjägers(28mm)

A couple more Artizan Fallschirmjäger's for my Disposable Hero's FJ platoon.

Fallschirmjäger in Splittermuster(Splinter Pattern) with MP40

Fallschirmjäger with in Sumpfmuster(Marsh Pattern) camoflage with Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon.

 

I'll be adding more FJ's when I get time.I did these while waiting on my El Cid order which still hasn't arrived.I also finished another character for Chaos in Cairo,but still thinking up the background so no pics of him yet.Plenty of logs in the fire.
Miniature Company-Artizan Designs

El Cid

Coming soon..a friend and myself will be playing armies for WAB2 using this Supplement.I've been wanting to play the period for years,but the timing was never there,but now I've finally ordered my Christian army and just waiting for it to get here to start building and painting.My friend is collecting Andalusians.
It's going to be an all mounted force that is mercenary in nature where at times it found itself employed by Muslim Taifa Kings ,but more often then not in the employ of the Christian kingdom of Aragon between the years 1090(King Pedro) and 1135(Alfonso I) covering both El Cid's period and the early Reconquista under Alfonso I "The battler".The time line,personalties and armies involved,plus the look is my favourite for this period.
The General is Christian by nature and for using the lists in the book,but after that it's going to have a real mix of Christian and Moorish cultures in appearance to reflect their various masters over the years.It will start off with the various Caballeros and Jinetes and I'll add some military orders to the list when playing the Christians during Alfonso's period.
I'll be using various miniature company's together to include Conquest Games,Artizan,Perry ,Crusader and perhaps some Gripping Beast as well.
When this is finished I'll do a Almoravid army using largely Artizan and Gripping Beasts fantastic Moorish collections.
If your asking how I'll ever finish all this......army painter or the normal method and just not painting the damn eyes!

Jack Stone(Chaos in Cairo Character)

Jack Stone(aka Leonard Hurtbottom)
Status-Expedition Leader(The Stone expedition)
Date of Birth-1890
Current Year-1926

Born in Minneapolis Minnesota USA to a brick layer father and a waitress mother.The Hurtbottom's lived in a state of semi-impoverishment in the inner city where life could get hard at times.Habitually picked on for his name led to young Leonard to engage in fist a cuffs on a regular basis often with older,bigger and crueller children.Tired of receiving a beating Leonard joined the local gym and learned the sport of boxing.Soon the tables turned and the taunting ceased as Leonard engaged the biggest tormentors he could find in a bit of back room brawling leaving them all in bruised heap.Leonard in fact became so good at boxing that at the age of sixteen he became a junior state champion and something of a neighbourhood celebrity.

In collage Leonard joined the men's rugby team where he looked to be a rising star until a confrontation with the coaches son caused him to be removed from the team.... over yes you guessed it an insult/tease to his name whereby the coaches son had to spend a few evening in the local infirmary.

In 1912 Leonard joined the French Foreign Legion to see the world as he put it.When the Great War broke out Leonard had risen to the rank of captain where he saw action on both Somme and Verdun among other gruelling battlefields.During the war he was awarded many medals including the highest Legion d'honneur.

After his entire company was wiped out at Verdun due to an incompetent commanding officer ordering Leonard's company to assault a near impregnable machine gun position over open ground leaving him a badly wounded sole survivor.This caused him to return in a fury whereby he beat the man senseless.

Not wanting to execute a national hero for fear of the demoralizing effect it might have Leonard was quietly demoted to a lieutenant and sent on garrison duty to North Africa/Egypt to command a very small undermanned remote outpost.When not fighting off the Turks and renegade Arabs it was here that he learned the study of archaeology and acquired a fascination with the occult from celebrated British professor Tinsdale who was conducting an archaeological excavation who was to later join Leonard in many future adventures.

After the war Leonard resigned his commission and changed his name to Jack Steel so as to have no record hanging on him and also tired of the trouble his name caused.It was from here that he started his life as an adventurer, investigator and artefact seeker of both historical and occult objects.

It was actually Leonard who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb,but John Carter wanting the glory for himself had him drugged and kidnapped and held in a basement in Cairo.Leonard escaped by being able to trick his kidnappers a into believing he was having a heart attack and feigning unconsciousness whereby this lured them into the basement where he sprung into action and overpowered them.However,by then the damage was done and nobody believed his story.

Disgusted Leonard left Egypt for adventures in the Himalayas where he accrued some fame,but that is another story.In 1925 Jack as we will now call him as this is his preference returned to Egypt with rumours of Ramses the Great suspected tomb location being found by his old friend Professor Tinsdale.The problem was funds were low and a mysterious group was shadowing their moves and making things difficult thus bringing investigations to a standstill.....that is until Jimmy arrived and this is where the story will begin.

Miniature Company-Coppelstone Castings

Chaos in Cairo

This is a pulp skirmish game by Blue Moon Manufacturing that I'll be starting with a friend.The background is more or less during the mummy serials and movies set in the 1920's Egypt.It includes archaeologists/adventures,monsters,cultists and fanatics all battling for their own goals.
Each "Warband"(Group) is made up of between 5 and 10 miniatures which is nice as it keeps the figure requirement low as I have several other projects on the go.The real work is in scenario designing,storytelling and terrain making for the various locals the campaign takes place in .
I'm curious to see where this goes as it's not my traditional wargaming format,but does allow me a break to just enjoy painting different things and letting my imagination has some outlet.
I must add a certain Jason(http://geektactica.blogspot.com/) fantastic work in this type of gaming had a huge influence on getting me interested in this,although his setting is in the Gothic Vampire and Werewolf movies using Chaos in Carpathia rule set from the same company.I will be using some of his ideas for inspiration.I just hope my storytelling will be just half as good as his and I'll be happy.
As their is no rush to finish this I'll be releasing posts when I have material finished or seeking general advice.

I'll be playing an archaeologists/adventurer warband(good guys?) and my friend will be playing cultists of The Cult of Set(bad guys?)Basically,I'm trying to recover ancient artefacts,arcane knowledge and unearth tombs for science,education....... oh and of course some small fame along the way.;-)While my friend wants them for personal power to further the aims of his group....something along the lines of control of state and perhaps beyond by the mysteriously evil nameless ones.
When ready,I'll start my posts with character introductions and then terrain making updates and eventually on to the scenario's themselves to include game results and some hopefully half decent attempts at story telling.The story telling will be done in Journal form as Jason did as that really seems to work very nice.You really should check out his blog,but please don't hold me to the same standard or I will likely disappoint.
See you in desert!
Cheers
Christopher

Fallschirmjäger MG42's Machine gun platoon(15mm)

Adding some more pics of my growing FOW Fallschirmjäger army.This is a much needed addition to keep those allies heads down as MG42's can really lay down the fire power in a rapid volume.
Miniature Company-Battle Front(FOW)

Fallschirmjäger Pak40's gun platoon(15mm)

Another unit added to my Fallschirmjäger to deal with any tank surprises.I'm kind of in a rush to finish some more Fallschirmjäger,because I'll be in a tournament end of next week and it's going to be tight.
These guns are large enough to deal with most armor the enemy will bring.I wasn't sure if I was going to camo up the guns,but decided to paint them up in the standard field colors straight off the line.
Next up is a machine gun platoon and then the headquarters.
Miniature Company-Battlefront(FOW)
Christopher

Japanese scout surveying the land

An interesting thing about this scout is his grass/reed camouflage jacket.These were often used as a "raincoat" by Japanese fishermen and farmers,but was taken and used by the military for it's camouflage potential.

Miniature Company-The Assault Group

Japanese scout taking a quick glance

An interesting note Japanese scouts is the often also acted in the role of snipers,but how the Japanese employed them tactically was different from their western counterparts.The Japanese when acting in the role of snipers were a form of rearguard were their primarily mission was to slow the advance of the enemy until eliminated, while western snipers often acted as hunters of a sort with mission objectives of hit and run with a get in and get out plan of action .

Miniature Company-The Assault Group

Japanese scout in the bush

Continuing on with the Japanese for the moment.So far,it's been fun experimenting with them as it's something different.I hope it's proving enjoying for some to see.I've now tried a darker green shirt and pants for a different combination and will continue to mix up the lighter and darker styles together.

Miniature Company-The Assault Group.