Back of Beyond Terrain Bits [8]

I meant to get some figure painting done today but time was short so I finished off this North African building from Lasercraft Arts instead. I managed to find enough grass tufts, albeit the wrong colour ones, to add some vegetation to the base, otherwise it would have been a bit monotone. It's a really nice little kit and easy to assemble, so well worth getting hold of if you need something like this for colonial or old west games. I've been thinking about other uses for my desert terrain as well, with a cunning plan for something to do with WW2 skirmish in 28mm which isn't Bolt Action or Chain of Command, although it might well end up that way in the end.

Back of Beyond Terrain Bits [7]

I've finished off the last of the terrain pieces for the Back of Beyond, pending the arrival of some more grass tufts, so only have the North African building to finish. The latest additions are a basic stone edged field, an expedition campsite and the finishing touches to the oil derrick, which include some pipes made from cotton buds and a bit of additional weathering. The campsite needs some finishing touches but it'll do for the moment. I'm having trouble getting a decent matt finish at the moment, with the usual Army Painter spray just not quite doing the job, so I'll go back and sort it out at a later date, when I've found a workable solution.

NEWSFLASH - Snap Presidential election in Zubuto (Reuters)

President Dudu at Z.I.P. rally in Mpangi

From our political correspondent in Mpangi

In a surprise move, the President for Life of Zubuto, Dr Depe DuDu, has called a  snap presidential election to be held this weekend across the nation. At a press conference in the presidential complex in Mpangi, President DuDu stated that the election was necessary in order to address accusations of corruption that have been levelled at the Zubuto leadership by foreign critics, most notably the President for Life of Mbote, Colonel Banga Boum:

'We shall see how the loyal and dedicated people of Mpangi respond to these wild and unfounded accusations! I have full confidence in the wisdom and gratitude of the Mpangi electorate!

Under the Zubuto constitution, all men over the age of fifty are entitled to register for the ballot, although registration documents and an administration fee are a pre-requisite for entitlement. The administration fee is currently set at Z 34,000,000, approximately US $1000, while the registration documents have to be completed in Ancient Greek or 'the language of democracy'.

The President later appeared at a rally spontaneously organised by Z.I.P., the political party affiliated to Dr DuDu, at which he pledged to retain his presidential title and strengthen his role as elected leader of the nation. As President for Life of Zubuto, Dr DuDu is entitled to retain his position of power indefinitely, subject to popular mandate and 'in order to ensure stability in the on-going state of emergency' which has been in place since 1956.

(in other words...it's AK47 at the club next week)

Back of Beyond Terrain Bits [6]

This is a bit of a 'knock it together' job, consisting of an old terrain template for Patrols in the Sudan, re-sprayed and re-painted before adding some indeterminate crops to make a basic field. The crops are some green tufts from the Gamers Grass range which I bought for another project but found to be far too dark to look right. They've sat in a storage box for a rainy day, so I dug them out and glued them down with PVA. I still think they need toning down a bit but at least they've found a useful role to play, even if I have no idea what they're supposed to be!

Sharp Practice 2

I've been reading a lot about the second edition of Sharp Practice lately, so thought I'd get the basic pdf of the rules to have a closer look. I don't have any immediate plans to do anything with them but, in the long term, I do quite like the idea of either historical ACW or a Malburian 'imagi-nation' using plastics to keep the cost to a minimum. With that in mind, I've also got hold of a box of Perry Confederate infantry, to see what I could do on a tight budget with this set of rules. I reckon that a company of the 5th Alabama Regiment could just about be squeezed out of the forty four figures in the box, although I'd also need some skirmishers....ho hum.

Villa and Zapata

I've had a heavy week, so I'm really looking forward to Friday when I can finally down tools for the weekend and I've promised myself a decent reward for slogging through the marking over the last few days. I'm also doing some background thinking on the Mexican Revolution but I've yet to decide exactly how to go about gaming it. I'm building up a good reading list including this book, which has been recommended as a good overview of the war. 

Back of Beyond Terrain Bits [5]

It's a bit hectic at the moment but I did find half an hour or so this evening to almost finish the oil well terrain feature for the Back of Beyond and the not so Old West, although it still needs some tidying up and detailing. I also found some old terrain templates that I made for Patrols in the Sudan years ago, which I can re-purpose as fields, animal pens or gardens with a minimum of effort. In the meantime, I've now run out of tufts so I'll have to order some more before I can finish off the scenery that I've started. 

Back of Beyond Chinese Warlord Army [2]

I spent most of the weekend on fun things, so it's very much back to the daily grind and a pile of GCSE controlled assessment marking. I did get the first unit of the Back of Beyond Chinese Warlord army based and undercoated, however, which is a twelve man bodyguard unit, Tactical 4 / Morale 4, Stubborn with bombs worth a very decent 120 points. This is one of three 'special' infantry units allowed in the army list, of which you are allowed to field up to two. These figures were leftovers from my previous Japanese army, so a good use of some surplus lead.

I have decided to prepare this army in the order outlined in the army list, taking each unit in turn before moving on to the next one, thereby breaking it down into a manageable schedule. I'll do the same when it comes to the painting stage of the project. This means that the next one to base up and undercoat will be a ten man Assault section armed with Bergmann sub-machine gun 'trench brooms'. I'd really like to have twelve of these but you are only allowed to have a maximum of ten. At Tactical 3 / Morale 5, Ferocious with bombs, they'll still pack a hefty 110 point punch.

South of the border, down Mexico way.

A clue about one of my project ideas for later in the year. I know absolutely zero about the Mexican Revolution, apart from a few notable film references, so I'm starting from scratch on this one. I do have a clear focus on rules and figures though, with more to follow once I've got my head around the various Villistas, Zapatistas, Constitutionalists, Conventionalists, Federalists and all the other sombrero clad whatsumathingamalists involved.

Back of Beyond Terrain Bits [4]

It's been another busy day but I have assembled, based, textured and undercoated the second of my Back of Beyond buildings, a very well-designed Lasercraft Arts 28mm North African single storey three room house. This went together really easily and I only made a few alterations to the building, leaving off the gateway doors and filling in a couple of the hatches in the roof. I also added a base to bring it into line with the compound that I've already finished and raised the flat roof position a few millimetres for the same reason. I now need to undercoat it in Halfords Matt Khaki before starting on the external paint work. I'm enjoying the smoky whiff of lasercut mdf, so will have to get some more adobe style building kits to add to my production line.