Dollar Tree Tombstone Corner Scenery (Finally!) Painted

    Figuring it was about that time that stores start putting out their Halloween merchandise, I thought it was about time I finished panting the Tombstone Corner scenery pieces I bought at the local Dollar Tree store around this time last year.  You can see my original post on the subject here.

   I had painted the gargoyles last year, but I still had the bigger pieces to complete.  They had been languishing on  my workbench for a year now with nothing but a flat black primer coat applied.

So, this past week, I finished them up, and here are the results.  While not the greatest pieces of scenery, considering their $1 price tag, I think they'll do quite nicely to fill out a table. 

 Shown with a 28mm Reaper Bones figure.

     

I'm hoping they produce more pieces for this line this year. But, so far I have not seen any in my local stores.

HAWKs Hold "Armies For Kids: BARRAGE Edition" Painting Bee

  This past Saturday members of the HAWKs got together to paint over 400 20mm plastic WWII German soldiers for an "Armies For Kids" giveaway game they will be running at their upcoming one-day miniatures gaming con, BARRAGE .

      Six lucky kids who take part in the game at BARRAGE will walk away with both an Allied and a German army, complete with tanks, infantry and machine guns.

    The HAWKs had already painted the Allied troops at an earlier painting day.
    This project was made possible by Ed Mohrmann who donated a large box of 20mm WWII figures, and John Acar who donated four  20mm tank models.  A couple of the HAWKs also chipped in items from their own collections to fill out the units.

Where it All Began...

   While sorting through a stack of rulebooks in my warroom, I came across my original wargame rulebooks: "Rally 'Round the Flag"  and "Angriff!".    I got RRtF first, in the late '70's, at a small regional con at a college in PA. My parents had taken me because of my interest in Avalon Hill games, and at the con I was first exposed to miniatures gaming.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Heritage had a booth there and tending it was Duke Seifried himself.  We asked what I needed to get started in this "miniatures gaming" thing, and he set me up with some 15mm ACW packs, basic paints, and this rulebook. Kindly purchased by my mom & dad.  Needless to say, I was hooked.
 

     A year or two later, I purchased the "Angriff!" rules as my interests expanded into WWII.  Sadly, I don't remember where it came from, but I suspect a small brick and mortar hobby shop; as it became my standard procedure that whenever my parents and I traveled anywhere, I would look in the local phone book for any hobby shops and we would have to visit to see if they had anything miniatures related.
   Though I haven't played "Angriff!" since the early '80's, RRtF is still a great set of rules, which I would still pull out now and then to play as late as the early '00s.

Sam Fuson's Big Birthday Gaming Bash

   Last Saturday some of us from the HAWKS went up to Warhorse Farm in PA to help fellow HAWK, Sam Fuson, celebrate a milestone birthday in style; with a day of gaming hosted by his wife, Kathy, and himself.   Fifteen of Sam's friends gathered for the event. In the morning we ran three games, A Mexican-American War game using modified "Muskets and Tomahawks" rules, a Civil War game using "A Union So Tested" rules, and a Victorian Science Fiction ACW game using GASLIGHT rules (Which I ran).
 

My ACW GASLIGHT game featured a celebration of General Grant's birthday being interrupted by some Rebel raiders. Here we see the start of the battle as some army cooks pose with the huge birthday cake they baked, as assorted dignitaries look on.

As the Rebels attack, saving the wagon full of whisky becomes a priority for the troops!

The Rebels use their infernal mole-machines as well as other contraptions to crash the party.

The Mexican-American War battle.

Caldwell Clears the Wheatfield was the other game on the morning roster.

    Around midday, when the morning games ended, we took a break to feast on fried chicken coleslaw, and potato salad.  Then we all enjoyed some of Sam's two birthday cakes. :)  With full bellies, we began the afternoon's gaming session.  There were two games, a WWII Eastern Front battle using "Look, Sarge, No Charts:WWII" rules, and a Western Front battle, using "GAMER" rules.

Soviet and German forces clash on the outskirts of Berlin in this "LSNC: WWII" game.

A view of the WWII skirmish table using GAMER rules.

An American Anti-tank gun takes aim at approaching Germans.

The birthday boy himself (in cap) gives a short speech before blowing out his candles. 

   We all had a blast with good friends, good games, and good food.  Popular opinion was that this should become and annual event. :)

10mm Mage-King of the Lizardmen (Games Workshop Conversion)

   This week I completed the commander-in-chief figure for my Lizardman Army: The Mage-King of the Lizardmen.  For the base of it I used the Games Workshop Lizardman "Tetto'eko" figure, which I was fortunate enough  to get a good deal on from a friend at last year's Barrage convention Flea Market.

    To make the conversion from 28mm to 10mm I did a couple modification.  First, I cut the tall feathers off of each of the side partitions to reduce the overall height appearance. And then I simply didn't add the pair of pillars that are suppose to go on the deck, and the three that are mounted underneath. After I assembled the throne, I test fit different arrangements of Pendraken 10mm Lizardmen until I found a pleasing composition.  It was then just a matter of painting the throne and its occupants.

  I am pleased with how it came out.  I think the original model is just scale-neutral enough to make a convincing king-sized 10mm throne.

Reaper "Bones 3" Kickstarter: Only 3 Days Remaining!

  I just wanted to let folks know that the Reaper Bones 3 Kickstarter has just over 3 more days to go.  It's a great opportunity to get a lot of minis for a really reasonable price.  The Core Set has well over 100 minis, and there are a lot of great add-on sets as well.   If you haven't done so already check it out: Bones 3 Kickstarter

10mm Mind Eaters

   This past week, I completed a warband of 10mm Mind Eaters.  Recently, I painted up a pair of  Reaper 25mm Mind Eaters and mounted them  on a base for Bear Yourselves Valiantly to represent giant Mind Eaters.  You can see that post here.

    While working on these figures, I was struck by their passing resemblance to the adrenal/toxin sacs that come with various GW Tyranid sets; and I got the idea that some of these bits might make good in-scale 10mm Mind Eaters.  So I ordered a set of them off of Ebay, and painted them up.  I think they turned out pretty good.

    I statted them up so they have ranged attacks that do Morale results only, and gave them a modifier that penalizes any troops trying to close with them or stand against their charges.