Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

Looking a lot like…

Back in February I wrote a blog post about the Flames of War buildings and one thing I said was:

Though I do like the design, I would like to see some differing styles, more so than just roof, roof colour, wall colour and shutters. The issue for me is that the houses are too similar in style. Maybe we just need more houses? I would like to see some cafes or shops in addition to the houses. Then maybe some farmhouses and outbuildings?

Well Battlefront were obviously listening… 😉

They have announced five plus one new buildings. One of which we have seen before is the Bastogne Church.

Bastogne Church

I do like the church, even with the “blue” windows. This would work well with the existing buildings, and would also suit areas elsewhere that just the Ardennes.

In addition there will be a large house, a corner shop, a manor house and a farm house with a barn.
So far we only have pictures of the large house and the corner shop.

Terraced House: Dieppe

I like the large house and it’s pretty obvious that this would sit well alongside the houses I already have. Yes it may be a little too similar, but the dormer windows in the roof are a nice feature. At £35 it is just under three times the price of one of the existing houses, so I think it is a little overpriced even if it does come with the attached outbuilding.

Corner Shop: Nijmegen

This is a nice corner buildings, but for me it is a little too bland. Hopefully there will be some signage supplied with the building. It needs a little more character.

I do like the idea of the manor house and the farm, which will add much needed variety to my building collection. I did think that the houses, though, nice, were a little too similar.

What’s the plus one? Well if you subscribe to all five you will get a ruined church for free.

Church (Ruined): Lille

I do like this ruined church and think it’s my favourite of all the pictures we’ve seen so far. There needs to be a few more ruins.

The only downside of the subscription is this:

A deluxe subscription to the full range of five premium properties. This subscription will not only hold you one of each code aside but will also entitle you to receive a Free Ruined Church with your fourth property. This Ruined Church will only be available this way and it will never be sold separately. You will be billed for the entire subscription at the start to secure this special offer and get your hands on what will be a truly unique model.

So you need to stump up £175 (US$250) now, you will then get a models in July, September, November this year and January and March in 2014.
Unlike the house subscription which took the money every time they sent you a house (and you got the freebies) this deal means paying all of the money up front. I would love to do this subscription deal, but don’t think I can afford £175 in one go! I am also slightly concerned about what happens if something went wrong, I would be out of pocket.

There is an alternative subscription deal, where you are billed monthly, but you will need to pay P&P and you won’t get the ruined church.

So are you going to get these buildings, if so how are you going to do it?

The Prussians are coming…

The first Dystopian models I finished painting were some Prussian naval ships. The main model was a Blucher Class Dreadnought. Alongside this large ship I have six Arminius Class Frigates in support.

Though I have some Airships, two Pflicht Class Scoutships and a Sky Fortress, what I wanted to get was a few more naval vessels in order to have a naval battle group for the Prussian Empire.

I did initially consider getting the Prussian Empire Naval Battle Group boxed set, but the only models I actually wanted from the box were the battleship and the cruisers. I already had the frigates and, as mentioned elsewhere I am not a great fan of the flyers and the bombers. Buying the blisters of the battleship and the cruisers would be a lot cheaper than buying the boxed set.

In the end I got three more blisters of Prussian ships. Another Blucher Class Dreadnought, Konigsberg Class Battlecruiser and the Hussar Class Gunship.

Maybe a little heavy in firepower, but I can if need be get a blister of frigates and corvettes to balance out the force. However I think I have just the right number of ships.

One of the reasons I went with “bigger” ships was less to do with cheese and beards, much more to do with ease of play, at this stage playing Dystopian Wars, I am still getting use to the rules, so less models (in my mind) does make it a little easier to play.

At this stage I do feel that I now have sufficient models for Dystopian Wars and I don’t think I will be buying any more, well not many more. In a recent game I did capture an FSA Lexington Cruiser and I did consider buying one of the models to paint up in captured Kingdom of Britannian colours. I also recently saw the Covenant of Antarctica models and I did like the look of the Dreadnought!

So never say never…

Flames of War Game

I recently had a game of Flames of War, which I lost convincingly, but did give me a chance to try out all those Flames of War houses and scenery.

Due to getting into the subscription in time, I now have a fair few houses.

I put them alongside the cobbled roads.

The ruined house is from Total Battle Miniatures, but fits in quite well in terms of size and appearance.

Undercoating the Flyers

After constructing the Kingdom of Britannia Eagle Class War Rotor and the Illustrious Class Sky Fortress I gave the models a white undercoat using a Citadel White Skull spray can.

I also gave the two Doncaster bombers from the Naval Battle Group an undercoat too.

Eagle Class War Rotor Workbench

Illustrious Class Sky Fortress Workbench

Naval Battle Group Workbench

Basing the Robot Mummys

Back in the 1990s Harlequin Miniatures produced a licensed range of 28mm metal miniatures and I bought back a few of the blisters, including the robot mummy.

The Robot Mummy in the TV series was quite an aged light brown colour, certainly not white.

After painting them I started on their bases. The Robot Mummys in the TV series were running around a Victorian Gothic mansion in 1911 rather than the surface of Mars; so I decided to give them grassy temperate bases rather than Martian sand.

Here are all four.

Get the Pyramids of Mars on DVD from Amazon.

Australian Army Centurion Mk5

Battlefront have put up the details about their 15mm Australian Mk5 Centurion for Vietnam.

It’s a really nice looking model, very crisp with lots of detail.

I have already made the decision not to play games for Flames of War Vietnam, as the era isn’t one where there were lots of tank battles and to be honest that’s the main reason I play Flames of War. Secondly I already have way too many models to paint anyhow…

However looking at the recent releases and I will say I much prefer the castings from Battlefront compared to some other manufacturers I have been thinking if I could use the models for another era. For example I wonder if the NVRA T55 tanks could be used for Middle East battles or for Warsaw Pact for a Cold War era game getting hot!

My first thought when I saw the Centurion Mk5 was how close was it to the early versions, could I get away with using it for my Late War British forces in say a 1946 scenario? Only a handful of Mk1s were made when in November 1945 the Mk2 started coming off the production lines. The Mk3 did not enter production until 1948, so for a 1946 scenario, it would be the Mk2. The main difference between the Mk5 and the Mk2 would the main weapon, with the Mk5 having the L7 105mm gun, whilst the 1945 version had the QF 20 pdr. Though it would appear from the Battlefront site that the Australian Army Centurions were armed with the QF 20 pdr. So maybe not too much conversion work then?

I am going to try and find some photographs and see if any what are the differences.

Putting the Eagle Class War Rotor together

Having cleaned the resin and metal parts I put the Eagle Class War Rotor I have for Dystopian Wars together.

Though the model did go together easily, there was quite a large gap in one of the wing roots, so I filled the gap with Green Stuff.

The next stage will be a white undercoat.

Undercoating the Cybermen

After preparing the bases on the Cybermen I gave the models a white undercoat.

The next stage will be a metallic basecoat.

Putting it all together

Putting together the Kingdom of Britannia Illustrious Class Sky Fortress was not as simple as I thought it was going to be and certainly not as simple as other Dystopian Wars models I have made.