40K: My Son's (age 7) Dark Eldar and my Daughter's (age 4) Necrons

My children were always very interested in dad's hobby's. They both started painting miniatures at the age of about 2. On that age they just slammed paint on the miniatures (marines and empire), regardless of colour and drying times.

My Son
A couple of months ago my son (then 6 years old) asked if he could start a real army...and while on holiday, exploring an unfamiliar city, we came across a hobby store. In holiday-mood, the kids could pick a toy for the rainy days. My son stopped at the Games-Workshop shelf and asked "Can I have one of these ?". "Sure, but only one small box." was my answer. So he was, with dad's help, exploring the different army's.
I suggested Space Marines and Imperial guard to him (as dad already has a nice collection of the emperor's finest), but he said "Dad, which of these are enemies of your armies ?". I was shocked, why not the righteous path of the Imperium like his dad ? Well, shocked as I was I pointed out the enemies of the imperium...and he chose the Dark Eldar, because they looked the vilest of all.
My own son.....a traitor.....(sigh)

Well, two weeks ago he finished his first Dark Eldar miniature:

Last month we started painting. Then my daughter asked if she could paint some of his miniatures, but he said no, because he wanted to paint his whole army. Having witnessed the whole ordeal with his army, she naturally asked if she could have an army of her own. Hoping for someone following the footsteps of the Imperial creed, daddy said "Yes, ofcourse". 

Next we searched the website of GW so she could choose an army. Browsing the armies, she chose Necrons, because they were robots and had scorpion-like ships in the arsenal. Maybe I could turn her to the good-side if we would go to the local GW-store, so she could see some miniatures in real. Well, that wasn't the brightest idea of daddy either. She managed to select the three  most expensive boxes of the Necrons altough we agreed she would only get one box of infantry. She held on to her choice of Necrons and I managed to reduce the amount of boxes to two. The only requirement she had was that these Necrons could be coloured purple and/or pink.....Well, here is her first finished model.

Maybe you would think that dad had a great hand in these miniatures, but that wasn't entirely the case.

With my son, the assembly and painting went as followed;

- Son chose figure and weapons.

- Dad checked the codex for legality and removed the mold-lines

- Son glues the mini together, only the difficult arms with weapons are done by dad.

- Dad does the cleaning and undercoat (black).

- Son drybrushes two layers of green and the basic skintone, basic hair, basic  metallic parts of the weapons and the base for the blue parts (skull-white)

- Dad does the washes for the skin, metallics and the blue parts (transparant blue) and does some retouching and lining in the face.

- Son does the sand and the grass.

With my daughter, the assembly and painting went as followed.

- Dad checked codex and removed mold-lines

- Daughter glues the body-parts, dad the head and arms.

- Dad does the cleaning and undercoat (black), and mixes the metallic purple and metallic pink.

- Daughter does the drybrushing of purple and pink and the metallic part on the gun.

- Dad does the eyes and weapon (white and transparant green) and the wash on the metallic part of the gun.

- Daughter does the sand and grass.

Well, although they are both enemies of their father, daddy is quite proud of what they have achieved with these miniatures.

The only problem now is the rules, maybe the standard 40K rules are a bit too complex for them to have a fun game.......

Any great ideas are more then welcome.

FOW: Panzer Lehr, the inventory with good and bad news

Last sunday at Ronfest, someone asked me how many Germans I still had to complete. Since I have the units I always wanted (and some more), I tought it would be a good idea to make a work list with the miniatures I minimal would have to make for my Panzer Lehr and 101 SS.

After a couple of hours work I completed the minimumlist with the book at hand. In this list only the miniatures which I have and belong to the Panzer Lehr / 101 SS are mentioned and listed.

The good news:
a) I have completed my panzer Lehr list many times, and always wanted to add some more. But now I am satisfied with the list. Ofcourse I still have some small wishes some extra's, but these are overviewable now.
b) At the local club, there is a FOW fanatic organizing FOW games and I'm quite confident he will keep it alive, which hopefully will keep my attention to it alive as well.
c) I have seriously started with building of the army.

The bad news:
Averaging 2 days to complete 1 vehicle or stand (1 day for assembly and 1 day for painting when working in batches) with 380 vehicles and stands to go, I'll need 760 days to complete this army.....
I am hoping to come up with some genius way to speed that up, because I hoped to finish it in one year.

Any good ideas are welcome.

FOW: Aufklarungs Kompanie, first assembly

Well, I have finally been busy again with FOW.
Early this year I cleared out my hobby-zone and the loft to put all my hobby stuff in the basement (I am renovating my house....for about 3 years now), so I haven't done much with my hobbies.
A couple of weeks ago I played a little game of FOW, which got my interest back in the miniatures.
So, after a few days of sorting the hobby stuff, I found most of my FOW stuff and started assembling.

Well, here are the first assembled aufklarungs SdKfz250's. I am quite proud of these little buggers.

Scenery for a skirmish game, Part 1

I'll first explain which materials I have used (so far) and how I've used them. In the upcoming parts there will be more how-to's.

The materials are selected for a desert-like theme. As I never before painted a desert, I had to get some groceries for paint.

Posts on this subject:
Scenery for a skirmish game, Preview
Scenery for a skirmish game, Introduction
Scenery for a skirmish game, Part 1

Materials used

Materials used, in addition to the 'normal' materials a gamer has (vallejo paints, detail brushes etc). As I'm trying to make scenery as low-budget as possible with recycled materials, I have bought most materials in a bargain store (Action) and in a DIY store (Hornbach).I'll mention the prices (estimated totals) in Euro's.

The materials are listed from left to right, top to bottom. 

3x roll kitchenpaper (1,50) 

1x household filler (4,00)

1x Bird pearlsand (3,50) - for filling and basing

1x Future floorwax (6,00)  - for diluting paints for washes

3x PVA glue (10,50)

1x Hairspray (3,00) - for rust and wear and tear effects

1x Primer (automotive) grey (2,50) - for concrete effects

1x Gloss (automotive) (2,50) - for sealing

3x Primer (automotive) black (7,50) - for priming

1x acrylic paint 200ml viridian green (2,00) - for green shades in brown paints and washes

1x acrylic paint 200ml middle yellow (2,00)

1x acrylic paint 200ml middle yellow (2,00, not shown) - for blue shades in grey paints and washes

1x acrylic paint 400ml burnt umber (3,50) - basecoat

1x acrylic paint 400ml sienna brulee (3,50) - for rust effects

1x acrylic paint 400ml black (3,50) - for shades in all paints and restauraion of the primer-color

1x acrylic paint 400ml black (3,50) - for highlights in all paints

1x acrylic paint 500ml raw sienna (10,00 - high grade paint) - for midtone desert color

1x fishing line (3,00) for wiring and barbed wire effects

3x cardboard box - for signs and other effects (don't use this brand, its bad for your children)

1x pack of satay sticks (1,00) - for pinning foam and poles etc

1x pack of toothpicks (0,75) - for pinning foam and small poles etc

1x pack of rectangular party-sticks (1,50) - for rectangular poles and signs

1x pack of straws (1,00) - for piping

1x gardners wire (3,50) - for barbed wire
1x masking tape (2,00) - for the chimney
6x caps from bottles (0,00) - for fluid storage tanks
1x cardboard tube (photo-transport) (0,00) - for the chimney
2x caps from drinkyoghurt (0,00) - for aircleaning vents
1x mesh wire (9,00) - for fences
3x foamboard XPS (7,50) - for all the bases


Furthermore;
Scissors, sandingpaper, measuring devices, knives, different glues and cheap and simple brushes.
I have also used some tubing from an old tent (not shown) for piping.


So for about 100 euro's I have bought all what's needed to build the scenery.
You may think that it is a lot of money, but most of the glue, paint and materials will not be used.
My estimate is that the genuine scenery cost will be under 50 euro's. That's acceptable when it turns out right.

Scenery for a skirmish game, Introduction

Together with a friend I was organising the next Ronfest game. Ronfest is a monthly game and/or event that I and some friends attend.

Posts on this subject:

Scenery for a skirmish game, Preview

Scenery for a skirmish game, Introduction

This scenery was planned on the Ronfest in early February, but I felt ill and skipped. The guys decided that they would play another game (...they didn't play at all...). That was a lucky thing for me, because the scenery wasn't finished (I was only 1 step further than the basecoat). I'll tell the whore story, as far as I can for the Ronfest game in early March.

As we play a pitched battle most of the time, or make up a mission on the Ronfest day itself,  we had the idea of actually preparing a mission for the next Ronfest. 

I should be a 28mm skirmish game (as we are playtesting our own set of action based rules, called 'scrimmage'), with a few miniatures which should be in play a long time. In the past we did a 'Call Of Duty'-like battle with respawning of the miniatures. So the idea was born for a kind of paintball-like mission. So, the mission 'Capture the flag' was born. We did throw in some extra's to (hopefully) make the game more ecxiting.

Extra rules:

There are four players, each with a flag and a team of four soldiers, which he can use to cause murder and mayhem, and/or to capture the flag of an opponent.

Random turn sequence:

For the random turn sequence a deck of cards will be used, without the aces but with the jokers. Every player will be assigned a symbol (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades). This deck will determine which player gets the turn. Every turn a card will be picked from the deck and the symbol dictates which player has the turn.

If the card is a joker, a special rule will be used for a given number of turns (see 'The Joker')

Capturing flags

Flags will be captured when a model comes in base-to-base contact with it. The catch is that the player has to bring the flag back to his own homebase to earn some points. Flags can be (re)captured by knocking them down, injuring them or killing them. A flag can be given to friendly model if the models or the flag are in base-to-base contact. Taking a flag doesn't cost an action, but it will end any movement action (for instance; A model can move 6". After walking 3" inch, the model captures a flag. It cannot move the other 3" of its current movement phase). This resriction does'nt count for letting go of the flag. As the model needs one hand to carry the flag, the model can only use one-handed weapons while carrying the flag.

Respawn

Models that are ou of play (killed) kan respawn at the end of the owning players turn. A respawn can occur anywhere on the table as long as it meets the following criteria:

- Minimal 30" away from any flag.

- Minimal 10"" away from any homebase.

- Minimal 10" away from an enemy model

The Joker

There are two Jokers in the game. When a Joker is drawn, roll a D6, check the special rules below. The rolled rule is in effect immidiatly:

• 1: No more ammo! (all ranged weapons are out of ammo, this rule is in effect for 8 turns)
• 2: Fog of War! (all models have a maximum movement and line of sight of 5", this rule is in effect for 8 turns)
• 3: Flag reset! (all flags return to their homebase, no points will be awarded)
• 4: Incoming! (some lunatic has decided to shell the entire playing area with heavy artillery, all models are Knocked down)
• 5: World of Pain! (all models that get Injured or are Knocked down are automaticly Killed, this rule is in effect for 8 turns)
• 6: (un)Holy Handgrenade! (Ranged weapons are useless, instead every model with a ranged weapon has now Holy Handgrenades: 5 AM, SC, TH, MB) (The stats mean a range of 5", template, the effect of a 40K frag grenade with the damage of a krak grenade and a scatter which makes it possible for the model to blow itself to smithereens)

Teams

Every team consists of 4 models: 1 Squad leader, 1 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and 2 Soldiers. All teams are equal in stats.

Points

Every enemy flag a player brings back is worth 5 points. Every friendly (own) flag a player brings back, without it ever reaching the homebase of an enemy, is worth 3 points. If a flag reaches an enemy homebase, the points are awarded and the flag immediatly respawns at the homebase of the owning player.

End of extra rules.

Well, my pal Jase has done his job, by creating 4 equal teams (see his blog http://quodmanica.blogspot.com/2011/01/capture-flag-teams-done.html) ;

Red team, Diamonds - Jase 

Black team, Clubs - Andy

Green team, Spades - Ron

Blue team, Hearts - Lenno

As the gamerules were set, I had some toughts about the scenery to be used.

First I needed some ideas for some nice scenery pieces. I started with a theme. I liked to go in the vinicity of pulp. It would fit the capture the falg principle and I could go over the top with the details on the scenery.

As I recently purchased a new printer, I could also make some nice looking signs.

For the size and placement of the scenery there should be some things to take in account. As the table is about 2.5-3 feet by about 4 feet, and the homebases would probably be positioned at the corners, there should be some scenery to prevent the fights only happening at the players nearest to eachother, which would make the game split in two seperate games of 2 players. Also there had to be a centrepiece for the game where most of the fighting can take place, preferrably a maze-like thing with 2 levels. A homebase for every player was also needed, and it should be easy to recognise to which player it belongs. The scenery should also be able to direct the fight to the centre of the table for some proper murder and mayhem. 

To sum it up, the requirements are;

- a homebase for each player with markings of the owning player

- a centrepiece for the looks and the centrepiece of the fighting

- scenery to influence the direction the models will take

- themed: 'over the top pulp'

- as the miniatures are on a desert-like base, it should be a desert-like scenery.

I made a drawing (on paper) how the scenery should be arranged. Specially for you I made a digital version.

Below the drawing of the minimum number of scenery pieces needed. As I don't know the exact size of the table I guessed the scenery pieces in general to the size of  1 foot and for the centrepieces somewhat bigger.

So I would minimal need the following scenery pieces:

4x Homebase, approx 1'x1'

4x Directional, approx 1'x 1-2"

2x Centrepiece, approx 1.5'x1'

Well, next post I'll go into the materials and the building.

Scenery for a skirmish game, Preview

Well, I promised to someone to post a preview of my scenery-in-a-week project. So below some pictures of the progress. I don't have a lot of time at the moment, so the extended explanation will come in a few days.

Posts on this subject:

Scenery for a skirmish game, Preview

Scenery for a skirmish game, Introduction

What am I building:
4x home bases
1x Hazardous research facility
and some other pieces of terrain

Maybe I'll throw in a 'house of horror' but I don't know if I've got the time for that. It has become busy at work.......

The desk

That's about the game !

Homebases

a wall section

More signs, ther will be 50+ signs.

What's that ?!

A homebase.

If you smell it, you'll be sick !

Well, that's it for now.

FOW: Counting and Organizing my Panzer Lehr & 101SS SPz Abt

I have started with painting and building of the miniatures, but finding the right parts was a bit of a challenge. I had boxes and blisters everywhere. So I started organizing the parts and counting the vehicles.

Below a photo of the vehicle count. There are still 4 SdKfz 251 in backorder (1 flakvehicle arrived today) and  I forgot to order 1 Kfz68 radio.

The count: 202 vehicles and a lot of parts.

The count is:
37 Unarmoured vehicles (kubelwagen, Kfz11 etc)
54 SdKfz 251 of various types
10 SdKfz 250 of various types
 6 SdKfz 234 Puma
 5 Stug III G
 4 Panzerjager IV
12 Pz IV
12 Panther
10 Tiger
 1 Konigstiger
50 Support vehicles (Flak, Artillery, OP etc)

I also purchased some airplanes, because I used to use Fortress Europe for my army lists regarding the expense of Panzer Lehr in the Villers Bocage book. With Earth and Steel I'll use the Panzer Lehr list again, because of the point reduction.

As I am supposed to have finished my purchases for the Panzer Lehr, the counting made me realize that I want some extra SdKfz 250's and some Puma's. Not because I need them, but because they are so cool.


Next was to organize the parts and men. The stuff lay in different cabinets, some still in blister, other unpacked. I wanted some more storage space, so I wanted to cram as many parts as I could in the boxes.
I tought it would take me an hour or so, the picture below was taken after 2 hours...... A lot of work and still not finished.

the organizing.

The result of the organizing.

130 Panzer Lehr

101SS Schwere Panzer Abteilung

I also started to basecoating in large numbers. I like it. Some 30 vehicles in one go !

Big numbers basecoating.

Next time I will show the armylist.

Till next post.