Wood Working World

While catching up on my outdated tv knowledge I have been binge watching Parks and Recreation. It has been a little while since I posted progress but here it is. I was channeling my inner Ron Swanson and crushed some laser cut MDF.

This was the shipping box from Angry Mojo Games.They are helping sponsor the Las Vegas Open Bolt Action Event.

50 lbs of laser cut MDF is indeed not a children's product. The kits are from their rubble and ruins, train, bunkers, and Quonset hut line.

Rubble and Ruins

The ground work has been laid for Bolt Action tables in the city of sin!

Meanwhile, back in Kiev...

 This is a XL custom army tray from Mini Duels. The MDF builds into a large rectangle with 2 drawers on either side. It is 3 inches tall and each of the top inserts is 6x12 inches. The inserts lift out so you can swap for whatever army you maybe using. These were custom cut inserts that I submitted to fit my display board layout for the Germans in Kiev.

You can arrange the drawers however you like and I left one rather large for a dice rolling area. Avoiding the figure bowling situation that happens when rolling on the table.

Currently the inserts are based and primed along with the army. November 5th deadline is fast approaching. 

Batte of Kiev: Uncut

The first of my battle of Kiev diorama is going live! All the models are based and ready for paint! This is one image that really inspired this display piece. I also have just really wanted to do a German force since the beginning but never got around to it. Since making some battle of the bulge snow covered shermans, this cemented my terrain season for the force.

 The Bolt Action list rests in the eastern front because of the first introduction of the Panther tank. The rules are cool because for a reduced point cost, there is a fun theme of the tank potentially breaking down each time you move it.

 I also really wanted to make this piece be a giant action scene. Who remembers the Halo 3 ad campaign? This building has the debris explosions added. It is simulating an artillery round coming from above. Inside will be my very own ARC reactor....

I Tony Starked it and cut up some of these tap lights. They will be inside the building shining bright to simulate the exact moment the round explodes. Total Hollywood.

This thing rocked. I wanted to translate that to a World War 2 setting. Just absolute chaos with mini scenes unfolding all around. Each time you look at it you see something new.

 The models have a lot of Hollywood poses and each model is caught in its own heroic movie moment. This is a raw version. 75% of the special effects and fine details cannot be added until after painting. This half track has a T34 armor piercing round flying through it on its way to hit the panther....

 There are around 40 magnets all over this piece each allowing different models to be moved to bases for game play, special effects to be removed or attached. Blood splatters, snow clouds from shock waves, exploding bricks, ricocheting bullets, mid-air tank rounds, mortar muzzle flash are all in store.

The tank top comes off and inside is a PoweredPlay LED board. It is set to flicker to simulate sparking wires in the engine.

Winter Wars

 That is not the snow. Or winter. Or Ice..... Just finished up two Auto Sahariana with 20mm Breda. These guys form up my Royal Italian Anti-Aircraft Division! If the Italians can't do much, at least they can shoot down those pesky airplanes!

 A little kit bashing with Company B's Breda and Warlord's truck.

 For those single platoon situations, one of the 20mm cannons is magnetized and detaches for the ground deployed version. 

 Ah, here are those snow flakes. Added some wrecks and and trenches for our Ardennes table! Got some wrecked shermans, grey hound, and a crashed p-51.

 Got some great results with just elmers glue and woodlands scenics snow flock. mixed about 1:1for a slush effect.

Lego My Eggo

4Ground terrain shipment arrived and it took me right back to the time of building legos. It was such a crazy feeling to be building wargames terrain and not having to take it to the next step of painting afterwards. Quite a relief to be honest.

Once you the hang of the instructions the kits build quite quickly but they go take some time getting used to.

So I popped on Patton and The Longest Day and got to work gluing...

 That escalated quickly...

The Adepticon build has gotten back on track. Even had the exact amount of ballast to seal this baby...

February 1st is the final edits to rule packets for Adepticon so things are getting close. I have something really special planned for all those in attendance at the doubles event. 

My great Uncle was part of an observation crew that mapped enemy positions from the air. He was involved in the end of the Africa invasion and primarily flew missions in Italy. His family saved all the big headlines from the Chicago Tribune back in the day. 

I framed the big names ones, 1939 German attacks, French blitzkrieg, Pearl Harbor, liberating Rome, and D-Day. Complete with maps and all the speculation of the day.

We will also be tracking all the results of the days battles on a world map. Seeing how people change history fighting in some of the most famous battles of the time. Normandy, Pegasus Bridge, Stalingrad, Foy, Caen, Berlin, Tunisia. 

On the space front, the United Defense Force has discovered a secret Zentraedi asteroid base.

Really happy with this table. Last minute touches will be mounted it about 6 inches taller on PVC pipe stands. Get that floating look.

Adepticon 2014

Adpeticon!BANZAI!

Yeah so that happened.... onto the news! Don't touch that dial! 

With the multitude of post Adepticon posts I will throw mine into the hat. We are going to start off that lone NCO above. His squad was eliminated, he passed his check, and he readied himself. The next turn he charged the German machine gun team, with sword drawn and a prayer to his ancestors wiped them out. There is no spoon. 

 Friday started with the Lord of the Rings tournament. A low key event with a bunch of new faces this year. I brought my Orcs of Dol Guldor to get some more game time with this fantastic force. This was my first game against John at plasticlegions.blogspot.com He brought a Rohan force from the Pelenor. The hill was bloody with the orcs coming through in the end thanks to the powerful, ghostly shade.

And then I forgot to take anymore pictures.

In the end, my orcs and ghosts received a best appearance award, winning the tie breaker with a fantastic Game of Thrones themed force.

Friday night was the Legends of the High Seas event. This was a bring and play event with each player bringing a royal navy or pirate crew. My previous post showed off the Perry Brothers Hessians I used for royal navy.

They were also fortunate to come away from a tight appearance battle and won the tie breaker from multiple Golden Demon winning judges having to decide.

The navy engages the pirates at the foot of the Spanish ruins

 Saturday I had to work so I missed on all those events. But if you played or saw the Adeptus Titanicus game, wyrdhobbyservices.blogspot.com supplied the smoke markers and giant, light up mushroom clouds.

 The Japanese fought hard all day, facing tough Russians, Germans, and Finnish forces. From my tournament experiences, the folks down in Arizona love air support. The folks in the mid-west love armor.

The whole field was saturated with double platoons and double tanks. Really tough for a mostly infantry powered armor to combat. Something to consider when playing in different parts of the country.

The deflector shield was fully operational....

 An armored car squared off against the ineffective Japanese anti-tank gun.

 People really seemed to enjoy playing on wyrdhobbyservices.blogspot.com German North Africa Airfield. A lot of cover, just how it should be!

The double tank onslaught destroyed the Japanese forces. 32 machine shots a turn were devastating.... Could have really used some bazookas. 

The Japanese tied for Best Appearance, but this time the award went to John at plastic legions, linked above, for his Red Devils. 

And that was Adepticon. Up next for me here will be some Malifaux Neverborn. Followed by some more Iron Hands terminators for an undisclosed future Adepticon Project. 

Also, a new bolt action army is in the beginning stages.

Sand Storm

 Just about to wrap up construction on the North African Airfield. As seen, there is some sandbag work to finish up and 2 of the ruined buildings.

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Everything is modular and it can all switched into different variations. The runway can also be broken down and made into different lengths or set ups.

For game play, all of the flat ground will be regular terrain to facilitate faster flank play. Just have to maneuver around the rocky outcroppings.

Adepticon is just days away so check back for post event coverage and battle shots of Bolt Action forces battling for supremacy of the airfield.

Dol Guldur Rises: Pt 2

 Here are some more remaining shots of the castle and diorama before moving onto specific models and event coverage from this past weekend. Enjoy the shots!

 Hobbit models released: I hate the new orc look
Elf Cavalry: I love the new cavalry models
Army Planning: I plan elf cavalry and need a counter force.
Buying hunter orcs: I get my hands on them and things start to turn.
Finished army: These orcs maybe my favorite models to date in the GW model line.

They screamed Native American style when I was considering paint schemes. I heavily based the face paint on the movie, "The Last of the Mohegans" and some pop culture; braveheart, the joker, and Johnny Depp from that awful lone ranger movie...

 This piece of work was developing all the way through getting primer on it. The late addition of the lit hood in the center was possible by having some open space where the 3 models meet.

 Big props to the helpful hints I got from friends, the main one being the addition of that creepy hand busting out of the ground.

This is a public service announcement, thank you, and humble brag. If you have not seen previous posts, the lighting effects used were from a great company called PoweredPlay Gaming. They came to being from a successful kick starter and really deliver.

They got the product completed and shipped fast and it allowed me to get this lights in the diorama. If you have any projects or models you want to add light to, you have to look into these. Battery powered based, window kits, and light effects circuit boards are all great additions to standard lighting.

Finally, I wanted to thank them for giving my work a shout out on the website showing off completed projects. http://www.flickr.com/photos/poweredplay/

Lots of other great projects from hobbyists over there as well.

Check back for model close ups, event coverage, and more nonsense in the days to come.