Wow - What Happened There?

Yikes! So, "I'll post some AK47 tomorrow" in April turned into a five month gap between posts. Hm. Well, glossing over the various reasons for that, I can reveal that I have not been idle! Well, OK, I have been, but recently I have started a couple of new (arrgh) projects.

The first is a Wars of the Roses collection: as I live in Warwick, I have become more and more intrigued by Richard Neville, the Kingmaker, Earl of Warwick, and his role in those bloody days. As a Scouser, and a Lancastrian by birth, I had some reservations about siding with Warwick (the Yorkist devil!) at first, but then I realised that he'd seen sense and turned coat to fight Edward IV. Much good that it did him!

So, anyway, I had mentioned my desire to do some Perry Miniatures' plastics as Warwick's men to my Dad, and he obliged by buying me a box and the Earl himself. This is what I did with them:

They are based for The Perfect Captain's A Coat of Steel / A Crown of Paper rules and campaign set. In the rear are five bands of Liveried Men-at-Arms including the Earl and his standard (replete with the pun-filled Neville family motto; Ne Vile Velis - 'No Base Wish'); then there are five bands of Liveried Archers and three stands of Levy Archers.

In addition to this, I have begun refocussing onto 18th century Old School Wargaming in the shape of the Principality of Molgravia. So far, my own imagi-nation, Molgravia, can count its armed forces as an entirely paper construct: one flag, painted, and an initial army sketched out on ticket stubs from work.

However, my esteemed pater has collected a few Spencer Smith and Holger Eriksson figures for this project, and I present them here for your viewing delight (primarily because I named them for him!):

Here we see the Alliance of Barwald and Lilliembourx - the Grand Duchy of Barwald and the Serene Kingdom of Lilliembourx - in all their glory. From left to right we have a half-regiment of Lilliembourx foot sandwiched between a squadron of heavy dragoons and a bridging wagon, a full regiment of Lilliembourx foot; a squadron of Barwald Dragoons and a second Squadron of the Lilliembourx Heavies; then four regiments of Barwald foot - the Hanseburg Grenadiers, the Von Adler and Plattwitz Regiments and the Liebgrenadiers - advancing in column behind a screen of Jagers and in front of four guns from the Barwald artillery train.

Off to the left of picture and mostly out of shot are an assortment of spare command figures.

Low angle shot of the Barwald Jagerkorps' 1st Regiment advancing in line, with the Liebgrenadier, Plattwitz, Von Adler and Hanseburg Regiments behind them.

Left to right: standards of the Lilliembourx Royaume, the Petit-Rouge, the Von Adler, Hanseburg, Plattwitz and Liebgrenadiers.

For my own part, my immediate aim for the Molgravians is to buy and paint one regiment a month. The first regiment will arrive for my birthday - the Liebgarde zu Fuss - and the rest will appear month by month. A full list of the intended Molgravian army follows:

IR1 - Liebgarde zu Fuss - white coat, green facings, white smallclothes
IR2 - Von Marwitzen's - green coat, red facings, grey smallclothes
IR3 - Tobias' - green coat, blue facings, grey smallclothes
IR4 - Prinzess Sophie's Grenadiers - green coat, white facings, white smallclothes
IR5 - Butyrsky's Bergjagers - green coat, light green facings, green smallclothes
IR6 - Rupprecht's Jagers - green coat, light blue facings, green smallclothes
IR7 - Von Talinsky's - green coat, purple facings, grey smallclothes
IR8 - Schauffenberg's Grenadiers - green coat, pink facings, grey smallclothes
KR1 - Royal Molgravian Dragoon Guard - white coat, white facings, white smallclothes
KR2 - Gravinsky's Dragoons - green coat, yellow facings, grey smallclothes
KR3 - Von Hilfe's Totenritter - black coat, black facings, black smallclothes
KR4 - Stepanov's Huzzars - green coat, black facings, red smallclothes

In addition there will be an artillery train, wearing green coats with black smallclothes; pioneers in grey coats and smalls with green facings; waggoneers and pontonniers in green coats with brown facings and smalls. Tricornes throughout the army will be black with white lace for enlisted, silver for NCOs and gold for officers. Musicians will have reversed coat/facing colours.

The armies are organised for the classic OSW rules - CS Grant's The War Game.

Next time - more madness! I hope to - as always - update regularly, once a day at best, but at least three times a week. I am also going to restart the painting points thing, from scratch, so:

Painting Points:
This Week: 41
September Total: 41
2012 Total: 41

With AK-47 To Africa

Many years ago, when I were a lad, a schoolfriend and I decided to get into the modern imagi-nation period of post-Colonial Africa. We were devout followers of Peter Pig, who remains one of the finest 15mm manufacturers in the world, and so it was quite soon thereafter that I bought the first edition of that wonderful rule-set 'AK-47 Republic', and put my school number and name on it, to ensure that the cads and bounders of St George's School, Windsor Castle didn't steal it during prep. This was quickly followed by several purchases of little metal figures to build the armies of my fictional African statelet, Gshandemala. This country actually had some 'history', for a few months before getting the 15mm bug, the Darkest Africa craze was in full swing, and the aforementioned friend and I had bought a handful of Wargames Foundry Africans to try and do some 19th Century African skirmishing.

Neither project ever came to fruition back then. However, while the Darkest Africa figures were abandoned in a box and are yet to see the light of day, my AK47 force slowly grew over the years, and I have now three reasonable forces for a Dictatorship (Gshandemala), a Superpower Backed Client Force, and a White Settler/Colonial Power. There are plenty of stands left to paint, and I will crack on with them over the next few weeks with the aim being to get them finished so that I can start adding to them again.

Here are some pictures of some of them. Featured here are forces from the People's Republic of Mbantuland (Soviet-backed) and the Gshandemalan Armed Forces (dictatorship).

Above: Mbantuland Army. On the left are five infantry platoons, a weapons platoon, and a HQ platoon making up the 'uWele' Company of the 7th Regiment. On the right rear are a BMP and BRDM from the 19th Armoured, right middle are a T-55 and a T-34/85 from the 1st Armoured, and at right front two UNIMOGS with their AAA guns from the 329th Artillery Regiment. At the extreme right can be glimpsed a Gshandemalan BRDM.

Above: Some of my Gshandemalans. In front is a reinforced platoon of Civil Defence Force militia with their Land Rover 'technical', and behind them are a platoon of the feared Internal Guard security troops with their trademark black berets. The BRDM is an Internal Guard vehicle.

Above: Finally back to Mbantuland, and the shameful unpainted. These are an understrength company of Mbantuland People's Militia - a part-time territorial force that is of better quality than many militias, but still less reliable than a regular unit. They are, however, well equipped, with each platoon having a DSHK 12.7mm HMG and a stand of RPGs... not to mention the recoilless rifle with the HQ!

Tomorrow I will post the rest of my Gshandemalans, and show off my white colonial force (which is, of course, mostly black Africans) together with some of the (in)famous 5 Commando!

It's Only Been A Few Months, Let Me Blow This Dust Off...

Phew! What a cloud of dust has gathered on this little site!

I have been distracted, by many things; most of all business and family. Things are changing, however, and I hope (soon) to return to the glory days of a post-a-day with at least an hour's painting done each day over and above ATP Painting Studios.

This post is mainly to say that my esteemed and venerable pater, Al Front, has taken the plunge into the 21st Century with his own blog: War Diaries of a Little Englander. It is well worth a look - he's only just started but go! read! And learn. I will see you all tomorrow! With pictures, even...

Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

As you know, fine readers, yesterday I said that I would be consolidating my collection of toy soldiers by, well, selling a lot of them off.

I intend to (re)focus my collection largely on skirmish games, as they a) usually require less figures, and b) are more fun, I find. So with that in mind, I sat and thought about what I will be disposing of, and what I'll be keeping.

I will be selling off most of my bizzare and eclectic collection of Warhammer stuff, with the exception of my Undead (and associated army books), and figures that I have an attachment to - like my Dwarfs, for example, or my Oxenford Bretonnians. I can justify this with reference to Mordheim (hurrah) and Song of Blades and Heroes.

Equally, whilst I will be parting with my Pirate crew, I will be retaining my armed SF/near-future civilian mob for use in Gangs of Mega-City 1 (most likely as Total War terrorists and the like). The gist of it all is this:

Out go the armies and forces that I haven't used in years, if ever, and in come (or stay) the skirmish warbands, gangs, and platoons that I have and will use in the future. I have, of course, one eye on my son - it is an inevitability that I will end up playing wargames with him relatively soon, and  I want to have something in every scale that I can pick up and run with - and another on my father, with whom a wargame is seriously overdue and to whom my VBCW stuff is going.

I am actually quite excited, and am raring to dive into my shed and my parent's loft to "rationalise and downsize my assets" - keep an eye on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, the Forum of Doom, the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour, Warseer, and - of course - ATP Painting Studio for sales in the near future.

To the bright new dawn and the end of Rabid Butterfly Syndrome!

Oh, and to maintain the picture-per-update ratio, have some Dark Eldar:

PS: I forgot about the Gran Chaco War - if I can ever get hold of 'Green Hell' I will take the plunge and do it in 15mm. Mainly to annoy my friend who lives in Bolivia by reminding him of Paraguay's great victory!

Good Grief, Charlie Brown, an update!

Good lord the interface on this webular doohickey has changed.

Anyway that's besides the point! I have been concentrating (rightly so) on my business, ATP Painting Studio, of late, which is why I have not updated in almost two months. The reason I'm updating tonight is twofold:

1) I intend to return to daily updates as of tonight.

2) I am coming down VERY HARD on my excess of enthusiasm for multiple projects, with the intention of selling off a large part of my model soldier collection via ATP Painting Studio's shop. So,to that end, here is a list of projects that I will be continuing with:

6mm:
Epic 40,000

15mm:
AK-47 Republic (1st Edition)

20mm:
Cold War Gone Hot/Ultra-Modern Imagi-Nations

25mm:
Seven Years War Imagi-Nations

28-30mm:
Judge Dredd: Gangs of Mega-City 1
Necromunda
Warhammer 40,000
Mordheim/Song Of Blades and Heroes
Inquisitor/Dark Heresy

And that's it. So I will be getting rid of: Pirates, VBCW, Chinese Warlord, Vietnam War, Ancients (yes I have some!), all my SF stuff that isn't compatible with either my GoMC1 stuff or my 40K stuff. All of this - except possibly the VBCW stuff - will be sold off via my business at ATP Painting Studio. To keep you entertained, I attach some pictures of my Dark Eldar that I have resurrected:

And there will be more tomorrow! If you want to see what I've been up to between September and now, check out ATP Painting Studio.

ATP Painting Studio

Today I created my business's website (ATP Painting Studio). I am confidently awaiting thousands of orders!

On a more serious note, I have also (finally) got pictures of some figures wot I ave painted. In this instance they are Lamenters Space Marines, for an army I'm creating for a Doubles Tournament at my local club on the 24th of October.

A short post, this, but more tomorrow hopefully.




Lamenters Veterans: Sgt Zell of 4th Squad (drop pod assault), Brother Baethor of 1st Squad (Chapter Master's Honour Guard). Note Terminator Honours and Zell's Deathwatch shoulder pad.



Lamenters Codicier Librarian Xanadu. A junior Librarian trusted and tasked with leading a mobile strike force.



Lamenters Scouts. Due to their crusade of penance for siding with the Astral Claws in the Badab War, these Scouts are not Neophytes but full Marines. Note the arctic camouflage and low-visibility chapter icons.

Exciting News!

Hail, my readers!

The reason I have been so quiet of late is because I am setting up my own business. I have decided to take the plunge into the world of figure painting for a living, and thus ATP Painting Studio was born.

I am currently working on things like getting a dedicated website up and running, sorting out customers to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, and painting figures for money.

As a result this blog will probably not be updated until October, so I apologise. In the meantime you can keep an eye on ATP Painting Studio on Facebook; I will be updating the page there fairly regularly.

I am cheaper than Artmaster Studio (by quite a bit) and less expensive than Golem. I will paint anything, from 6mm Prussians to 120mm busts, from My Little Pony to Waffen-SS Grenadiers.

Please do e-mail me at: patrickcullen317 [AT] btinternet [DOT] com if you want to commission me: I have favourable rates and discounts are available. A full price list will be going up on the Facebook page within the week.

And because I am not a liar:



Derpy Hooves, a character from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, painted to sell (search 'Derpy Hooves' on eBay).

What? It's a miniature! :p

The Last Words-Only Post, If I Have Anything To Say About It

I just wanted to make a little post detailing my current wargaming plans for the remainder of this year.

Currently, my wargames stuff is spread between my parents' house and mine. I don't have anything like the storage space that I want for it all, so what I'm aiming to do is rationalise what I have, gather it all together in one place, and organise it properly. Off the top of my head, I have the following armies, either started or half-way complete. I don't really have any 'complete' armies because I'm a classic Wargaming Butterfly...

1:whatever:
Battlefleet Gothic: Imperial Navy and Chaos fleets

6mm:
Epic Imperial Guard, Orks and Space Marines plus Titans and flyers
Battletech

15mm:
AK-47 Republic armies (Dictatorship, Popular Front, Super-power Backed, and White Supremacist)
Vietnam War US infantry company (1 figure = 1 man) with support

20mm:
WWII 1940 British
Russian Civil War Bolsheviks
Vietnam War US Infantry platoon

25-30mm:
Historical: Pirates! Just one crew, though
Historical: Chinese Warlord army
(A)historical: VBCW - BUF, reds, Skye Battalion
Moderns: Mogadishu
Moderns: Congo Simba Revolt
SF: Foxglove's Fighting Band - desert-based mechanised mercenaries (company)
SF: Force Generica (platoon)
SF: Women's Battalion of Death
SF: EuroFed Police and Rioters
SF: Viridians and a Triad gang for Urban War
SF: Gangs of Mega-City One gangs
40K: Imperial Guard (lots), Space Marines (three kinds), Chaos (LatD and Marines), Inquisition, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks (lots), Tau, Necrons, Tyranids.
Gorkamorka: Grots, Gorkers and Morkers
Necromunda: Escher, Goliath, Orlock and Ratskins, plus Hired Guns galore
Mordheim: Vampires, Skaven and Mercenaries
WFB: Empire (Wissenland), Empire (Solland), Vampire Counts, Bretonnians, Dwarfs, Dark Elves, Wood Elves
LotR: Haradrim, Gondor (Last Alliance) and those ghosties that are bad.

1:35 and 54mm:
Inquisitor warbands (two)
Operation Squad: Germans, with Russians on the way

Which is a conservative estimate. That's a minimum of about 64 armies, not counting all the 1-5 model starts for some armies (like my Savage Orc Shaman, Skaven Grey Seer, or Nova Castellan command squad) or any of the random crap I have like my 1:48 figures or the two 1:200 US carrier aircraft.

Even if we just narrow it down to rules sets, I have:
Ak47 Republic, Operation Squad, Stargrunt II, DropWing, LotR: Return of the King, WFB 6th Edition, 40K 4th edition (and 2nd), Necromunda, Gorkamorka, Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40K, and a good few others.

So what I am aiming to do is sell off the stuff I don't need or want. A shortlist of that includes, but is not limited to:

Some of my Imperial Guard,
My 15mm Vietnam stuff,
My BattleTech,
My Pirates,
Some of my Inquisitor 54mm stuff.

More will probably go on the 'sell' pile as and when I find it. I am aiming to stop being a butterfly by the end of the year, and instead stick firmly to my PLAN-PURCHASE-PAINT concept developed earlier on this blog. As part of that, from now on I will not post any updates unless I have pictures of stuff I've painted to show you.

More for OpSquad

A collection of thoughts regarding weapons not included in the rulebook that perhaps should be:

Rifle Grenades:The rifle-grenade fires, using a bullet-catching device, an explosive charge over long distances, giving infantry squads a handy extra 'punch' in combat. As such, the following stats may be used to represent this:

Rifle Grenade: Short +1d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A),
Single Shot
The rifleman may alternatively use his rifle as a standard weapon of its type, e.g. a Kar 98K or an SMLE.


Shoulder-Launched Anti-Tank Rockets: There are two significant types of man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers; the re-loadable Panzerschreck or Bazooka, and the single-shot Panzerfaust. As such, they really require two different statlines:

Panzerfaust: Short +2d6, Normal -, Long N/E, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1 10(A), One Shot, Bunker Buster

Bazooka (etc): Short +2d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 10(A), Single Shot, Support Weapon, Cumbersome

One Shot: May only be fired once per game.
Bunker Buster: -1d6 from any cover.

Incendiary Weapons: By which I mean Molotov cocktails, flamethrowers, and WP grenades.

Molotov Cocktails, WP Grenades: Short +1d6, Normal/Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A), Minimum Range 10, Incendiary
Flamethrowers: Short +3d6, Normal +2d6, Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire Special, Incendiary, Cumbersome

Incendiary: Any figure hit by an incendiary weapon will be set on fire. A figure on fire must roll 2d6 each turn, adding one every turn after the first, as though shot (e.g. they can be pinned, wounded or killed). A friendly figure may attempt to put the fire out by spending one turn in base contact with them, and rolling 10 or more on 2d6 + VT.
Rate of Fire Special: Draw a straight line from the flamethrower operator up to a maximum of 50cm. Anyone within 3cm of the line is hit.

And, lastly, Body Armour: Rarely worn, but most of all by Red Army assault squads and combat engineers, WWII body armour comprised sheets of shaped steel. Any figure wearing body armour may roll an extra d6 when being shot at.

I'm sure those will alter as playtesting reveals the kinks and weaknesses, but should suffice for now. In the meantime, I've built the first four Germans for my late-war Eastern Front force, and worked out what I'm getting for my 1944 Western Front stuff - two boxes of Dragon British Infantry, a box of Tamiya British, and a couple of boxes of Tamiya Germans (which I intend to paint up as straight German Whermacht, rather than my late-war W-SS/random squad). So in the end I'll have two German squads, a Russian squad (from Zvezda) and a British squad. Depending on how that pans out, I may splash out and get some US Airborne or something as well.

Look! Pictures!

Right then! I will now post a flurry of pictures of the commission work that I have recently done for a few people. If you are interested in commissioning me, my prices are as follows:

Toy Soldier Style (block colours, gloss varnish): £2 (£1 for 20mm, £3 for 54mm and up)
Wargames Standard (basic highlights, semi-gloss varnish): £4 (£2 for 20mm, £6 for 54mm and up)
Display Standard (at least 3 highlights, specific varnishes to give effects, etc): £6 (£3 for 20mm, £10 for 54mm and up).

1:12 scale statuettes, busts, and other large items (e.g. tanks, walkers etc) are costed seperately, usually in the region of £15-25. I don't charge extra for 'special figures', one infantryman costs the same as one cavalryman or character. I will paint anything, at any scale, and do my best to ensure a one-week turnaround.

Discounts are available for large orders.

P&P is 10% of the total cost or a minimum of £5. I send all items by Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class (48 hours for delivery). I can be contacted for further information at patrickcullen317 [AT] btinternet [DOT] com.

And without further ado... the pictures!





Airfix 1:12 statue of Julius Ceasar. Display Standard.



Wargames Foundry Gladiators. Display Standard.





Wargames Foundry emperor, Warlord Games Romans. Display Standard.



Wargames Foundry Roman Slave Auction. Display Standard.













Immortal Miniatures' Greek Hoplites. Display Standard.



Napoleonic French (1812). Wargames Standard.




Games Workshop Dwarf Warriors. Display Standard.



Revell (?) British Paras. Display Standard.






Games Workshop Dwarf Longbeards. Display Standard.



Warlord Civilians, Foundry Praetorians and Officials. Display Standard.









Warlord and Foundry Romans. Display Standard.

And that's all for now! Still to come: Dark Elves, Dark Eldar, Grey Knights, Roman Legionaries, Veterans, Auxiliaries, a Testudo, more Emperors, Turks, ANZACs, 1/35 W-SS... and more!