Knights of Dice's 1889 Mignola Avenue Part 1

Last week my FLGS, Mind Games, got a huge resupply of Knights of Dice MDF terrain kits:
https://www.knightsofdice.com/store/

I had painted a few Western pieces (from some other manufacturer) a few years ago and wasn't overly impressed at the time as they didn't paint well and looked too much like theatre sets (boxy and plain). Partly my fault I think, so I decided to give this MDF terrain thing a second chance.

So far I'm glad I did.

I bought the 1889 Mignola Ave set as I'm been thinking of creating some generic urban terrain that can be used for 1930s gangster, superheroes and zombie apocalypse games:
http://knightsofdice.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51_52&products_id=42

Now that, minus the graffiti, is the look I want to achieve. I didn't buy the cable-runs upgrade pack (as seen on the roof space), as I just wanted to see what the Knights of Dice kits are like. This is what it looked like when I did a dry fit:

Pretty good detail, went well together as the PDF instructions are clear. At this stage I was already happy. But how to get that final look?

The Terrain Tutor and Viv (from Knights of Dice) own videos were instructive and easy to follow. I'm basically following a mixture of these two videos:

First stage was to glue the inner walls and roof together, the front elevation molding (see below) and the front steps together. I then spray painted all the components black (I used Fiddly Bits - it's cheap and works for me). Here you can see the front elevation molding:

I then brushed a raw umber craft paint (Kaiser colour) over the brick sections, followed by a bright red dry brush (an old tub of Citadel Blood Red):

This was then followed by a rough dry brush of Vallejo Stone Grey (70.884). I was experimenting on the section that I knew would be covered by the other components, mainly trying to get a range of colours and textures:

The next part was messy. Using simple chalk ($2 from the Reject Shop) I followed Viv's method:

After wiping it down, I repeat the steps two/three times in the section I missed. I skipped the dry brush stage and just sprayed matt varnish over all the surfaces once to lock the chalk in:

Things are starting to take shape, I painted the concrete sections with two/three thin coats of cool grey craft paint (Kaiser colour):

Next step will be a highlight dry brush on the concrete sections and then start to glue it all together with PVA before washes, dry brushing and tufts, etc to make it more cohesive.

Tribal and King of Tokyo

Just a few games of the last few games I played yesterday at Ara's place. First we played two games of Tribal, dusting off the cobwebs as I plan on going to Cancon in January for the Tribal tournament.

We played with a Chief (armed with a long weapon), a Hero (with a short weapon) and two bands of Warriors (one with long weapons, the other with short ones) each. First was a straight up fight, where I got slaughtered, the second game was the 'Revenge' scenario where I managed to reverse my fortunes.

Defintely loving the game, and has kept my motivation to paint up my Maori.

We also played a game of King of Tokyo. I lost to a seven year old (who won by causing three wounds to everyone including himself). Say no more.

Castles of Burgundy

I used to board game a lot growning up, and it's what got me into wargaming (along with plastic model kits). Last night I joined a friend at Gamezilla, a board game meetup at a Japanese restaurant for a game of something. The guy that was running things was nice enough to choose something for us. He introduced us to Castles of Burgundy.

Shut Up & Sit Down (that I like to watch game reviews every now and then) also liked Castles of Burgundy. Their review is pretty accurate of my thoughts of the game:

https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/review-castles-burgundy/

Board gaming is definitely I could get back into again on a semi-regular basis.

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)

Heard that this United States Navy Wasp-class amphibious assault ship was in town for a few days and decided to go down to Port Melbourne and check her out.

First thing I thought - she's friggin' 'uge! And rusty.

More on her can be found on the Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(LHD-6)

The Fokker Scourge 1916

My planned game this month fell through, so I joined the large multi-player Wings of Glory event that was being hosted by Trevor from the Nunawading Wargames Association. All the WWI airplanes were supplied along with the beautiful terrain that he had made.

The mission was simple:

Oberleutnant Max Immelmann
Feldflieger Abteilung 62

Your orders are to patrol above the trench lines in sector 23456e and support allied Roland aircraft of FFA 229b engaged in attacking the British ground forces. FFA 229b has been attacking without any resistance for the last four days, but it is suspected that the British will soon send scounts to stop them. Protect the aircraft of FFA 229b from British scout attacks.

Available aircraft:
x4 Fokker E.III
x2 LFG Roland C.II

We deplayed first, with the British then appering anywhere (they had dropped out of the clouds).

The game was a lot of chaos, fun and the terrain was a real pleasure to play on. The buildings were Brigade Models and the aircraft were Ares' Wings of War / Wings of Glory 1/144 scale miniatures. I wasn't able to play in the afternoon games, but definitely has me thinking I should pull this game out again.

Battle of Tanga 1914 Refight

Mark put on another one of his sumptuous games, this time a WWI Ost Afrika game using Games Workshop's 'Warhammer Historical Great War' (basically Warhammer 40k without all the silly stuff).

This was the battle that more than anything was the foundation of the von Lettow-Vorbeck legend. You can read more on the battle here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tanga

The game would see the Anglo-Indian force attempting to take the town of Tanga, while the German Schutztruppe and Askari force would do their best to defend it. The British was something of a mixed bag in terms of troop quality but had numerical advantage, along with their opposition not being quite the grizzled veterans they would later become. The game had the blinds for the Germans, with a dummy counter for each company or command unit (see the yellow counters below). There were also secret bonus points for  the British if they were able to capture the Hotel Deutscher Kaiser in the centre of town (bottom right in the photo below), while the Germans would be rewarded if they captured the supplies at the docks (top middle in the same photo).

The view from the German right flank:

Matrosen Kompagnie infantry defending the Hotel Deutscher Kaiser:

British tourists disembarking their cruise shipping, thinking that this was a package holiday in Dar es Salaam:

Leutnant zur See Hammerstein with a bottle of Hefeweißbier Dunkel getting ready for the fight:

More British rats crawling through the jungle:

The sailors (who were my wurst quality troops) charging (okay they shuffled forward, then shuffled back before shuffling forward again) ahead to meet the British threat:

My army's elite Schutztruppe showing the sailors how it's really done:

Before they were wiped away by the Bengal tigers:

The Löwe von Afrika himself, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, holding it all together (well it's me holding him):

The game was tense (the Germans were outnumbered 3 to 2 and my firearms were old and therefore had shorter range), with the balance shifting a few times as fortunes charged, I was able to grab victory when my Askaris held off the British assaults on my right flank:

All in all a great game, that looked good and was a huge amount of fun.

Conversions - Mantic's The Walking Dead Liam, Sandra and Patrick

Here are some quick conversions of Mantic's The Walking Dead Liam, Sandra and Patrick from the base game.

Liam has a Games Workshop Warhammer 40k Kroot bag and Green Stuff strap, as I wanted him to have a weapon. Sandra has an added Warhammer 40k Cadian weapons belt (to house her knife and make her look more like a runner), and Patrick's bat has been extended with Green Stuff are it looked way too short.

Conversions - Lead Legion Space Marines

The Lead Adventure Forum decided that it would be fun to create our own chapter. Further information can be found here:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=102072.0

I decided to join in, as the 8th edition Warhammer 40K had actually got me to pull out the unpainted 40K miniatures and maybe even paint something. Or, crazy, buy something new.

The previous post was a colour test, and I think I'll stick to it (but first I'll test out how Vallejo Khaki and Buff look side by side). I was originally thinking of just painting this guy (apologies, black doesn't photograph well):

He was originally just left over from my Space Marine army, so I made a Space Wolves ronin-type character (as a proxy Cypher). He's been unpainted for... never 20 years 😲

Then on Friday I walked into the Melbourne store at lunch time, as I heard that Games Workshop was giving away the new Primaris Marine as samples (to see how they paint up, etc). The dude (he was pretty chill) said he'd unfortunately run out of them, but broke open a set of the Space Marines + Paint Set to give me the three Marines in them. I have been out of the game somewhere between 3rd and 4th edition, a lot has changed (I've seen the bad models over the years).

These guys were quick to put together, and I couldn't help converting them with some Chaos and Kroot bits to make them less Ultramarines and more Space Wolves/White Scars. Hopefully some paint in the next few weeks.

Lead Adventure Forum Space Marine

Cars Wars First Game

So played my first Car Wars game the other night.

All I can say it was in game a few seconds of complete brutality and chaos, while real time was a few hours of fun and hilarity (one guy flipped onto his roof after ramming another player, continuing to shoot at anyone that crossed his sights).

Bolt Action Sea Lion Game

Played a 1000 point game of Bolt Action at the League of Ancients today. Was a fun Sea Lion inspired game. The scenario was a basic hold the crossroads, I managed to get shot to bits as the German invader.

Things I Love - Very Stubborn Mule

Very stubborn mule from the Dragon Bait Miniatures' Venus 1888 Kickstarter:

Source:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676985183/venus-1888-woman-at-war/posts/1910326