Enemy of the Revolution

A long time coming, but finally the Red Bloks agents have tracked down imagery of the No.1 Enemy of the Revolution, who's crimes are well documented (and well converted I might add) in earlier posts.......

Battlelore Heroes Expansion - Contents revealed!

More sneak peaks on this new expansion, which will contain:

* 10 Miniatures (5 Heroes on foot, 5 mounted)
* 5 Hero banners
* Rulebook with 7 new scenarios
* 2 location tiles
* 5 adviser pieces
* 12 Treasury pieces
* 12 Experience pieces
* 2 Alchemist pieces
* 110 Cards: 40 hero Skills cards, 65 artefact cards, 4 location cards, 1 Map card

Dice Tower Update 2

OK its boring, but at least Codex grey is a start (and a shed-load better than my first botched attempt to do a spray can cam). In fact, I've started a WW2 style battleship dazzle cam scheme in greys to jazz it up a little.

Importantly though, its functional so goodbye to scrambling below decks looking for errant dice!

Man Cave Southern Oz Annex

Finally, a few months after moving in, I have managed to reorganise my ManCave into a usable modelling space. Key features include a modelling table, and the boardgame collection which is my gaming pedigree...

Comrade James

Russ project - Update 5

Black undercoat has now been applied, though it took two full days in Canberra's cold weather...the paint just wouldn't dry! Anyhow, two light dustings with Flat black with some brushwork to fill in any missed bits (done after this pic actually).

You can see that on reflection I removed a bit of detail (fuel drums, baggage rolls etc) to make hull painting easier and more even.

In the meantime I have cleaned-up and started undercoating my Guard Command Squad. I got up the old metal Cadian one off Ebay for half the price of the new plastic one - it has a Commander with power sword, banner bearer, medic, Vox guy, Heavy Weapon trooper and injured soldier who might make a good objectve marker.

Russ Update - Part 4

Got some green stuff into the gaps (first time user BTW, I've always been a Milliput guy but I had this lying about so I thought I'd give it a try). Most were pretty minor fixes but you can see there was a significant gap across the front plating which needed fixing up.

That was about the worst part of the whole model, which otherwise went together very well indeed. Now for a black undercoat!

Naval Diplomacy!

Communications at the Man Cave were down, smashed by that last raid by Tojo...(or was it Jerry?) We were down to Mk 1 eyeball and field glasses employed in the Coast watcher role. The unexpected appearance of warship masts on the horizon sent the locals into a spin. Alarms were raised, sirens wailed, the gin was stowed in protective crates and the non combatants rushed off to shelters in anticipation of an offshore bombardment.

Then, the ensigns of the approaching flotilla came into stark relief - behold, a friendly squadron. Indeed the brave and daring lads of the RAN have come to visit!

Thanks to my mate DC of the London Man Cave annex (AKA the Raleigh factorium) for the kind donation of these four ships for War at Sea, which he has based up beautifully. Not only do I recall giving him some advice on what ensign the RAN used during WW2 (before the introduction of the RAN's own white ensign) but what makes these really special is that I have served on the modern namesakes of two of these ships: HOBART and ARUNTA.

Thanks a lot David, its most appreciated.

Watch out Comrade James; Ive got reinforcements for our next War at sea game!

Russ Project - Update 3

Got the tracks on now - fiddly little blighters! Still can't decide on the track guards though...

Dice Tower Update

You may recall that sometime ago I planned to build myself a Dice Tower: http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2009/03/dice-tower.html

Ok, Ok...its been some time. AT-trition demonstrated once again the Lad's skill at scattering dice at critical gaming moments so I was re-energized to build one. And last week I did. A nice little model using scrap bits of plywood etc.

I gave it a quick spray of undercoat this evening (after a disastrous attempt at doing some urban camo - tip: Spray Cans are not airbrushes!). Hopefully I can do something with it in the next few days and get some pics up. However, Owen has seen it and can verify its existence!

Wizard Hero Preview

Now available at the FFG website and looks awesome!

Look for the "Calling down the Thunder" article at their news page

Russ Project - Update 2

A chilly Canberra day saved me from endless garden toil today and I got much of the detailing done on the Russ.

I've decided to add the treads now before painting, but am still undecided on the tread guards. I'm going with the twin bolter for the cupola turret weapon and the hatch cover is just loose at the moment to allow a Commander in the future. In theme with the Battle tank focus, the dozer blade wont be fitted.

Overall its a very nice model to build, though a little green stuff will be needed for a few small gaps before I get into painting.

Leman Russ Project Part 1

Having finished Uni and enjoying my last few days on holidays, I have delved into a new project and one outside my usual sphere - a Warhammer 40k scale tank. An Imperial Guard Leman Russ Battle tank to be precise. I'm making this one up as a Command Tank and plan a basic Codex Grey style paint job (aka Early War Germans) at this stage. I haven't made a plastic kit for literally decades so this is quite fun, and I see that the skill of small parts to hide in the carpet has not dulled with age! This kit was kindly donated by Oberst Owen so to thank him I'll post pics as the project progresses (note I haven't specified a timeline!). Here we are at Day 1; not too exciting really. I've left the tracks of deliberately at this stage as I ponder to paint the hull first and then affix them.

Man Cave on Tour

The smaller denizens of the Man Cave and I have just spent a busy week down in Melbourne, catching up with family and friends etc. Two gaming related highlights were:

A visit to the Man Cave's southern Annex (AKA Owen's House) - here you can see his impressive painting desk, though no picture can do it real justice!

and the Lad's first visit to Mil Sims!

Battlelore Heroes: Sneak Peak

If you've had your head stuck in the Man cave for the past week or to like I have, you have have missed FFG's preview of the forthcoming Battlelore expansion titled Heroes, which looks awesome!

Coming this Fall, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to release the long-awaited expansion for BattleLore, BattleLore: Heroes. In this expansion, leaders and champions will be called to the fields of battle to aid their sides with new skills and artifacts. The road to adventure and glory is never easy and fledgling adventurers will begin their campaigns with only the barest of abilities and must survive the harsh realities of war to become a legendary hero.

So far sneak previews have been posted for Hero Clerics:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=641

and Hero Rogues:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=641

Looking forward to this one!

Car Wars...for Real!

Uncle Al, MONDOS, linked Autocannons, motorcycles with rocket propelled sidecars. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stop reading now. The rest of you used to play Car Wars - right? If so, you gonna love this real life autoduellin' show on the Discovery Channel: sweet! http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/weaponizers-weaponizers.html

Sin of Alacrity

I found this great 3D Space Hulk terrain at the Parasitic Studios website. I've always wanted to build a 3D Hulk set, though I would built it true to the board game layout so I can use all the scenarios. Perhaps if the long rumoured 3rd Edition comes out later this year...

http://www.parasiticstudios.com/gallery74.htm