Project Check, Fall 2016: "Odd", Fleet and 6mm

   With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, I think this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

Fleet Scale (smaller than 6mm)

1. Dystopian Wars (DW) Federated States: playable
2. DW Prussian: playable
3. DW Indian Raj: planning
4. Sky Galleons of Mars (SGOM) British: inactive
5. SGOM Martians: inactive
6. Aeronef Italians: dead
7. Terrain: inactive

6mm

1. VSF French: inactive
2. VSF German: inactive
3. VSF British: inactive
4. VSF Venusian Lizardmen: planning
5. VSF Martians: inactive
6. OGRE - Combine: playable
7. OGRE - Paneuropean: playable
8. Quar: inactive
9. BattleTech (multiple unspecified houses): playable
10. Modern/Cold War US: planning
11. Modern/Cold War Soviet: planning
12. WW2 Allied North Africa: planning
13. Kaiju: planning
14. Terrain: inactive

"Odd" Scales

1. Matchbox Scale Car Wars: playable
2. Silent Death: dead
3. X-Wing: playable
4. Dark Future: inactive

   That pretty much does it for the smaller stuff. Unfortunately, these are the shorter lists - 15mm and 25mm will be longer, and will each get their own post in the next few days. Each has more than thirty entries...

Oldest Figure I Still Have

   This is him, a halfling from the old Grenadier Miniatures box set 2002 Halflings.

   I got the boxed set for Christmas when I was in fourth grade (I think - maybe fifth). That was 1981.  I would have been nine years old. He was painted with Testors Model Enamels and a Q-tip for a brush.

The old box

For almost 35 years old, that enamel really did hold up pretty well.

From the halls of Montezuma...

   I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday prepping a lot of 15mm WW2 US Marines. The figures are from Peter Pig, and are destined to be the core of a Marine Rifle Company in Flames of War - Pacific.

A selection of Marines, ready to charge to the spray booth.

   So far, I have trimmed up and de-flashed (not that there was much of that) and glued them to 'jumbo craft sticks,' aka tongue depressors. Each stick is a mix of figures that will make up an individual base or team, if you prefer. I've done enough to make:

• 24x 4-man BAR Infantry teams
• 4x 3-man HMG teams
• 3x 3-man 60mm mortar teams (plus the mortar, of course)
• 4x 3-man 81mm mortar teams (plus mortar)
• 2x 2-man observer teams
• 6x 3-man command teams (CO, 2iC, platoon commanders)

   If my math is right, that's about 158 figures on 43 tongue depressors. It nets out to two infantry platoons, two mortar platoons, a HMG platoon, and a scout platoon. I will still need a few things to finish off the force, like some more LVTs, some war dogs, and the Marine Engineer Assault Section.

This may be what made me decide to collect a USMC force.

War dogs!

Images from Battlefront and the Flames of War website.

   Next step is priming. I have an ultra flat olive drab spray that I am thinking would work as a base. It would speed up the painting process, maybe, since these Marines are all in the old pickle suits. I'm going to try it on a couple of 'extra' figures and see how it works before I commit to the whole company.

Tigrid Air Support

   I recently finished painting this Matchbox Turbo Tornado aircraft to fit in with my Tigrid alien force for Gruntz. These were produced in 2014 and 2015 in different color schemes. They run a couple of bucks on eBay.

It started off like this:

Now, after a shot of black primer, and a lot of Vallejo Ochre Brown, it looks like this:

   I'm pretty happy with it. I just need to figure out a flying stand for it to make it more useful on the table.

Affirmative, Master!

   Another little fun project I have been playing with has been some Doctor Who figures. These are more for fun and maybe for background civilian figures than for serious gaming. Unless of course I paint up that mighty Dalek Horde sitting upstairs in plastic.

   At any rate, I have a few figures: Third and Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and K-9. So far, K-9 is finished. The rest are about 80% done. I just dug them out of a box, though, so maybe in the next week or so I will get to them. Not that I don't have plenty of other things that actually need my attention, both painting and otherwise...

He's a good dog.