Black Ops [6]

My minimalist approach to this project is paying off, albeit in a very minimalist way, with the Blotz pillbox now finished in a spare half an hour this evening. I went for what I think is a non-descript concrete shade, using an undercoat of Halfords Ultra Matt Khaki, followed by a two stage dry brush in Foundry Cadaverous Green and a wash in GW Agrax Earthshade. I think it looks OK but could possibly do with a bit of signage or some weeds to brighten up the boring gravel effect base?

Black Ops [5]

I've now undercoated the Black Ops tactical team ready for painting so, while they were drying, I assembled the first bit of military - industrial terrain in the shape of a WW2 British pillbox from Blotz. This will be used as a checkpoint at the entrance to the complex, so I based it on a laser cut terrain template from ERM and added a central floor slab to keep the building from sliding around all over the place. I also added a square of fine grade sandpaper on the roof to add a bit of texture and to hide the joints. It's a really nice little kit, easy to assemble and only three quid, so well worth getting hold of if you need a small bunker or control post for your WW2 games.

Top Guns of the Luftwaffe

I was taken to Lyndhurst for Father's Day this afternoon, primarily so the kids could see the luxury sports cars in the Ferrari / Lamborghini show room and so the wife could look at up-cycled iron fire bowls, neither of which I'm remotely interested in but went along with as a dutiful dad. There's a really good discount bookshop there too, so I had a good look through the military history and aviation sections, which turned up this excellent hardback for a tenner. It's a great resource for Bag the Hun, especially as the mid-war RAF v. Luftwaffe conflict over the channel is one of my on-going projects, alongside my existing late war Defence of the Reich collection of 1/285th scale aircraft.  

Summer SAGA [13]

The up and coming SAGA campaign at the club means I will have to pick up my Norman warband were I left off and finish at least one unit to complete a four point force. This will be a twelve man levy unit of archers, as they are an essential element of a Norman warband and pop up all over the battle board, which means that I will lose out big time if I don't have one. I have them undercoated and ready to paint, along with an eight man unit of warrior spearmen, which may or may not get painted along the way. The deadline is the beginning of July, so I better get cracking!

Black Ops [4]

I finished basing the eight figures for my first Black Ops team yesterday, using a combination of 25mm laser cut mdf bases and Miliput to blend in the metal tabs on the feet with the ground surface. The single slotta base figure, an EM4 commander with assault rifle and UGL, was first glued to a washer after the slotta tab was removed, so that he matched in height with the other figures. The idea will be to paint the bases in a fairly neutral urban shade to represent wasteland, gravel or similar. The team itself will be used as a G.I.G.N. or R.A.I.D. French police counter-terrorism unit or as a generic SWAT team. I reckon I've got about 100 points of good guys here, give or take, so more than enough for a standard or stealth scenario.

SAGA Age of the Wolf Campaign

As I expected, there's a move afoot to have a casual SAGA campaign at the club based around the Age of the Wolf supplement. I'm really pleased about this, as it will mean that I have a good reason to finish off my Norman 4 point warband with the last unit that has remained unpainted for far too long. It also means that I now have a painting project for the Summer holidays, which may or may not be a second SAGA army, this time the Cornish or 'West Welsh'.

I set out to do this way back in February, so it's about time I got on with it, avoiding the mistakes I made the last time I tried painting an army in the Summer holidays abroad, which was the Norman war band funnily enough. I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong then (wrong paints, poor lighting, bad approach), so this time it should be a better end result...fingers crossed!? It does all depend on when this campaign will run, however, as I'm away in August so wouldn't be able to take part then.