Have boat, will pillage.

My thanks to Lennart, who tipped me off about this.

What self-respecting Viking sets out on a raid without his trusty long-ship? Or dragon-ship as the characteristic flatbottomed boats also were called, at least according to popular belief. Well, since most of the raiding was far away and the fastest way to go was by boat, the answer is no one! So I just had to get me one of these babies for my Viking Warband for Saga.

It's a plastic model. Scientists think Real Vikings probably used wooden boats instead.

Angel Barracks pulls through!

I want to talk a bit about Angel Barracks. It's a site, or company if you will, that sells 6mm terrain and stuff. Since the start Angel Barracks has branched out into 2 and 3mm scales as well! They have also released a couple of rulesets but I can't comment on them since I have never played them. Michael who runs Angel Barracks has an interesting blog where he shows off some minis and terrain and the occasional battle report if you want to check them out.


As well as stocking other companies terrain and figures Angel Barracks have started to release their own small (pun intended!) range of sci-fi scenery and figures. While I do enjoy a game of Epic40k now and then they aren't really my cup of tea. However, Angel Barracks recently added some sandbag emplacements and improvised barricades that wouldn't look out of place on a WW2 battlefield. 

The emplacements are approx. 40x25mm.

Three dwarfs walk into a bar...

Well, my small band of merry dwarves are growing!

No, I have not completed any more figures, although I am in the process of painting several dwarves. But I have long been curious about Scibor miniatures and during the last sale by Maelstrom I ordered three to check them out.

Dwarf Slaughterer.

Scibor miniatures are beautifully sculpted fantasy miniatures in the 28-30mm "heroic scale". They come molded in grey resin and you need to glue one or two bits on. The fit is good and while there are a little flash it only takes a couple of minutes to clean them up. The dwarves came with scenic resin bases as well, depicting broken stone floor tiles.

Dust Tank Busters

First a bit of nomenclature; I was going to write something about Tank Bustas and do some little stint on Busta Rhymes or something. Then I realised a Tank Busta is an ork from Warhammer 40k, while these are Allied Tank Busters from Dust Warfare. I still haven't even played Dust Warfare but I was curious about painting some allied figures for a change.

"Heavy Ranger Tank Hunter Squad" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Chocks away!!!

Just a quick heads-up that Squadron Forward is now available from Too Fat Lardies. Like Platoon Forward, Squadron Forward is a solo campaign system that bolts onto your favourite WW2 fighter game. Too Fat Lardies' own Bag the Hun would be particularly suitable, but as it's non-system specific you can use whatever you fancy. I will be picking this up and maybe it can motivate me to restart my long dormant Battle of Britain project, who knows? Anyway, at a mere £8 for a PDF download, it's a steal.

You can find more details on the Lard Island Blog. Tally Ho!!!

Panther by Toni Canfora

As well as a wargamer I'm a bit of a modeller. I don't claim to equal the professional model builders out there like Steven Zaloga or Doug Chaltry, but I still try my best and can enjoy building a model just for the building part. Other times I like a fastbuild without much details, it really depends on wether it's for display or gaming, and if I'm building only one or a whole platoon!

The cover looks tasty!

Because of that I enjoy to read books about modelling and I couldn't resist Panther from Toni Canfora.

This book is a little bit different than other modelling books in that it showcases ten different takes on the same subject, namely the famous Panzerkampfwagen V, nicknamed Panther by both the Germans and the Allies.

There are pictures of the historical subjects as well as the WIP shots of the models.

Each builder has chosen a historical subject from a photograph or written account. Some of the subjects are straightforward, such as a Panther abandoned during retreat and documented by the Soviets; the builder choosing to depict the crew realizing they are going to be overrun. Other are more elusive, such as one based on a photograph believed to be a vehicle belonging to the Hermann Göring division at the eastern front, only for another photograph turning up, clearly taken during the battle of the bulge!

The finished models are of course displayed in all their glory.

In the same vein the book differs from other modelling books because most of the text is about the various vehicles and researching them, rather than techniques used. The book does mention the methods involved in building the models but it doesn't explain them, so you need to have another book (or Google) to look them up if they are not familiar.

Various battlefield debris still found today give clues on how to paint the models.

The book features a small bonus of a couple of pages with photos of battlefield findings and a short text advising on how to research a subject from a photograph. There are of course a lot of photos of the beautiful models during the building stages as well as finished.

A Schurzen is examined to reveal it's original painting.

I think this book can be a huge inspiration for modellers also interested in the historical aspect. What I was most surprised of however was the different techniques and colours used; one modeller did his own photo etched accessories even, while another used Citadel paints and recommended the Forgeworld Imperial Armour books!

To summarize I give the book five out of five if you like looking at pictures of beautiful models and reading about WW2.
As an instructional text it only receives three out of five.

Dust WIP

So yesterday was the 68th anniversary of D-Day, and at the same time the Swedish National celebrations. There is no historical precedence for exact this day, but Sweden has been celebrating on the 6th of june since the late 19th century.

Given an extra day off I decided to drag out my compressor and try out some airbrushed camo on the Dust Walker I bought earlier. I also managed to find my box of Vallejo Model Air panzer colours set that I hadn't used for at least two years. To my delight the colours were just in need of a good hard shake to spring to life again.

Liquid gold.

Spare a coin for some poor dwarfs, guv?

Just a quick note about this funding campaign from Avatars of War. As you might know Avatars of War is a miniatures company making some beautiful and evocative 28mm fantasy figures. The ranges are compatible with the Warhammer imagery but in my opinion often superior to the official Games Workshop figures. This is probably very deliberate as Avatars of War was started by former GW sculptor Felix Paniagua. 

The backstory is that he sculpted a couple of very nice character models but GW wanted him to sculpt lots of rank and file models without the level of detail he wanted to put on them. I'm sure there were other issues such as time/workload ratio and not being allowed to work on the subjects he wanted. In the end he left GW and set up his own company, much like some other very talented individuals that have left the GW stable over the years.

Anyway, Avatars of War have been releasing mostly character models, but have made a couple of plastic box sets, such as plastic slayer models and a couple of plastic "not-Chaos Warriors" boxed sets. Now Avatars of War is looking to launching their own army level game called "Warthrone of Saga" or something like that. First up is the dwarf army and they are looking for funding to be able to start up the whole range. The whole thing is done through Indiegogo.com, which holds onto the money until the project either is funded or the time runs out. If the funding fails you get all your money back, so no risk there.

So go to http://www.indiegogo.com/aow-dwarfs and have a look at the concept sketches and see if they tickle your imagination. Or go to http://www.avatars-of-war.com/ to check out all the awesome models already available. Oh, and sign up to fund the project so I can get some sweet and hairy stunties for my army.

May your beard grow long and your axe-arm strong.