Bio Hazard Containment Team

I've had these figures left on my desk for some time (there is an earlier post or two regarding them in different colour schemes) and I still actually have one more left, who will be painted like this. 

I wanted to paint them up as a creepy quarantine team wearing red bio hazard suits under webbing and tin hats. I decided to paint the hats in a take on CS95 style camo. I quite like how they turned out, and I'm going to get at least another four or so and paint them up the same way. Long term I will add some zombies and maybe even get a post-apoc game, who knows. 

In other news I've started constructing the first 5 of many houses for a demo game at Partizan next year, pictures will follow when they are put together. 

Another few pics of the other three figures below. 

Pause for thought

Whilst between meetings today with time on my hands I realised I was near the David Stirling memorial and as I had nothing better to do I thought I would have a look. The memorial itself is situated atop a hill with a bronzed statue of the man himself looking purposefully out.

Located around the memorial there are stone inserts at floor level naming those that died whilst serving with the SAS. I took the opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made by the men who were listed at the site, volunteers doing daring, dangerous things. If you are ever passing the memorial located near Stirling/Dunblane in Scotland it is worth a small stop to pay your respects.

I have included some other pictures below, the last of which is the metal description plate providing a brief history of David Stirling and the SAS. I have left this last picture full size so upon opening it can be expanded and the text remains legible.

Royal Rifles

 Just finished painting the first four of my Partizan haul. These are from Muttonchop Miniatures (Paul Hicks Shop) and are his ceremonial guards. I really like these figures and enjoyed painting them up. I opted to paint them up in a uniform similar to the Victoria Rifles of the Anglo-Zulu war era. But I think I might use them as Post Office Rifles in VBCW, I have the other four figures to paint up, probably do them some time in the next few weeks.

I had a go at painting with a black undercoat with these, as I usually undercoat in Grey which I find is a nice neutral tone. The black was troublesome (for me) to paint over, and to be honest I found it tough on my not great eyesight. I'm not convinced the finish is any better or noticeable different than my usual grey. I will therefore be continuing with my grey undercoat.

In other news there is a possibility of a new job (again) this time close to home in Aberdeen so no living in Glasgow during the week and trundling home at the weekends. Hope fully I'll find out about that in the next few days.

Re the quality of these pictures, I'm afraid its a bit poor as I'm painting in the flat in Glasgow and don't have access to Photoshop or decent lighting. Another reason why I would like to be working at home again!

                                           

Total Fail

As you may work out from the title my wife and I went to see the new Total Recall film this afternoon. In a word it was wooden, and just made me want to watch the original Arnie version. The whole film seemed to have lifted the best (or most well known) bits from the original reworked them a bit, made them generally lamer (and waaaaay less gory) and chucked them in the film. Colin Farrell's performance is seriously wooden, although I think he's been crippled by a cack script. The only character/actor who works is Kate Beckinsale she seems to put in a real effort and her scenes are good. There's a fairly hocky reworking of the original plot, that in my opinion just doesn't work at all, and some pretty massive plot holes. The other stupid thing about this is there are tons of British actors/characters all talking with British accents but for some reason Bill Nighy's character speaks with a weird British/american accent for no apparent reason as america isn't in the film (ie doesn't exist any more)

Overall I give this a generous 2 out of 5 and don't recommend it, if you are thinking of going to see it I would recommend picking up the original and watching that instead. Ultimately all this film did was make me want to watch the original, oh and the 12a rating should tell you all you need to know as the original was an 18 and had some seriously gory old school scenes. I'll get off my soap box now.

The Other Partizan 2012

 I spent a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon (and morning) at The Other Partizan show at Kelham hall near Newark. Myself and some of the other chaps from GWP and VBCW Forum put on (Unsurprisingly) a VBCW game. This was our third show, I having been part of the first, and third shows (I was working abroad for the May show). Above is a picture of our table setup, which is supposed to be Houghton on the hill in Leicestershire. The BUF/Royalists are fighting to take and hold the village with the Socialists trying to retain ownership.

The royalists won and are now within striking distance of Leicester itself!

 My lightly armoured shed crashes through a socialist barrier as it approaches the village. Surprisingly my mighty shed survived the game.

 Another shot of the village, the eagle eyed will spot the lovely french cake provided by Monsewer Crapaud.

 My ambulance stands ready in the village, also my painted up Mutton Chop phone box.

My supply wagon sits in the rear, ready to reload the troops, another of the Mutton Chop phone boxes in the back ground.

The figure that nearly never was

Well I didn't think I would ever finish painting this figure, which has been standing on my modeling bench for months. I started painting him a while back and painted the kilt as a red with yellow and black stripping (and actual tartan, the name escapes me). However this came out rather badly as I rushed it and in a fit of pique I stopped painting the figure.

Now I came back to him today as I needed a 2ic for the Partizan game at the weekend. I painted over the terrible red kilt which we will never speak of again, with this nice green kilt. Its a lighter tone variant on the dark green tartan I have painted previously, and I quite like it. The top was of course painted as a red coat. I'm particularly pleased with the stock on the tommy gun which I think came out rather nicely.

All in all I'm chuffed with how this turned out, given that I previously started and cocked up this figure!

In other things war games related I purchased a silver membership to the Osprey site, and have to say its the best £3 a month I have spent in a long time. The site is heaving with uniform plates similar to those usually found in the osprey books. Basically I can now go onto the site, search for a period/soldier etc and it kicks up a plate showing the requested uniform.

Personally I think this is great, you also get money of books and some other stuff I (to my shame) haven't looked into yet. But if you reference the great osprey plates often then I recommend the subscription, which at £3 a month is about as cheap as it gets.

Car Geek

Just ignore this post if your not a massive car geek like me. This is my new (to me anyway) car, I mentioned the other day I think.

Its a Vauxhall Vectra SRI, 3.0 Litre V6 CDTI engine, which developes 174 BHP with a 0-60 of circa 8 seconds. Limited to 140 Mph (although I cannot imaging going that fast). This is my baby, puts out a ridicoulous amount of power and torque on acceleration, but I still get like 400 miles to a tank.

With the traction control turned off I rekon I would kill myself on the twisty back roads where I live within about 5 minutes. I've been driving just shy of 10 years and waited a long time to pick up a lovely motor like this.

Cargasam over, I just wanted to record my lovely new toy for posterity as the wife says that when this dies (hopefully far far in the future) I have to buy something sensible...............some chance (said very quietly in case she's listening.