Mean green grassing machine

Being at home with man-flu (mucus seeping from my skull) gave me a chance to try out my new static grass applicator without endangering any other family members. Since this is a highly advanced electrical device, deadly in the wrong hands and not to be used by or on children and those of frail health, you can understand my worries.

No Beatles were harmed while testing the device.

The design is simple: the static grass is electrically charged by an electric source, one pole connected to the grass container, the other pole connected to surface you want to glue the grass to. In the old days you put the grass in a plastic container and shook it violently before pouring the grass out hoping that it would generate some static electricity. Another way which functioned marginally better was a "puffer bottle"; same thing, you shook the bottle and then pressed on it to blow the grass out. Anyway, the electricity makes the grass fibers stand on end while the glue dries and thus looking more realistic.

The wire inside the container is also connected to the metal mesh, charging the grass as it passes through.

A couple of years ago Noch unleashed their electronic grass applicator on the model railway market for a cost of about a couple of hundred euros or about hundred and fifty pounds. Other companies quickly followed suit, but the more ingenious railway modellers made their own from electric flyswatters. Now the fad has reached the wargames market. There are several different designs, but they all work on the same principle and yes, you can build your own, just google it. Being somewhat lazy I decided to buy a cheap Chinese version on eBay for 25 dollars including shipping.

It even has a "NO" switch. Luckily I'm a highly trained engineer with a specialty in "engrish".

A closer inspection revealed that it was indeed, a rebuilt electric fly swatter. No worries, it's not as if I paid a hundred pounds for it. I even got a small bag of unrealistically green static grass. So did it work? Read on to find out.

Even the sun has its spots

To supplement my Perry plastic Afrika Korps, I decided to buy a couple of their metal packs. At £7 for six figures they are not exactly cheap, and three packs cost as much as a box of their plastic figures. But I decided it was worth it, to get some different poses not possible to build from the box, and also because I really like the Perry twins' sculpts. In my experience metals are always better than plastic if all other things (like sculptor) being equal.

Perry Miniatures. Excellent sculpts, not so good casts.

I was in for a surprise though. The surface of the figures was quite uneven, with pits and even tiny holes were the metal hadn't filled the mold completely. Several rifles and one smg barrel were unformed, there were a lot of flash between legs on some figures, and the equipment on the back of some figures had big lumps of metal underneath. The figures are not unusable, but the quality is definitely not up to scratch. Either the Perry metals are extremely popular and have already worn out their moulds, or their caster is not up to scratch. A shame really.

As I now find that I need a few extra British figures I choose to buy another box of plastic figures instead of metals. Too bad, because Perry's metal British have long trousers instead of shorts and I wanted some variety but I do not dare to order them now.

Hugh Jarce, sculpted by Richard Ansell for TooFatLardies

Speaking of long trousers I recently found the Hugh Jarce figure that Richard Clarke commissioned for those who pre-ordered IABSM 3rd edition. He was buried in my lead pile under a bunch of Bushido miniatures. I originally planned to use him with my early war British, but now he gets to lead my desert forces instead. Armed with a drum magazine Tommy gun he's ready to bag the hun.

Bit of a disappointment and bit of a delightful surprise.

I'm slowly working my way through my backlog, but I can't resist adding to the lead and plastic pile now and then. As I needed some more riflemen for my DAK I ordered a bunch of Perry metal figures to accompany the plastics I already have. However, the order were processing for two weeks and only just got sent; in this internet age of instant gratification I naturally lost patience and bought something from my friendly local hobby shop to keep me occupied.

I decided to plonk out on a set of Italeri 1:56 German infantry. You can never have enough germans, right?

Kickstarter report

Hi gang!

Last year was a crazy year, crowdfunding-wise. I pledged on a bunch of kickstarters, both on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Well, stuff are starting to drop in. It began last year with Shadows of Brimstone, which I have covered in a previous post.

Cowboys, tentacles and strange glowing rocks, what's not to like?

I also funded the Oathsworn Miniatures' dwarf brewers kickstarter. I got all the minis already but I haven't been in the mood to paint them or review them on the blog yet. The sculpting is good and delivery was on time, so keep an eye out for future kickstarters from Oathsworn Miniatures. Oh, and you can order the brewers from their website if you missed the kickstarter. Hint, hint, Jocke.

"The beautiful, colourful, mathematical game" according to the box.

I also funded Prime Climb, an educational math game which I thought was going to make an excellent christmas gift for my kids, he he... Well, it just recently arrived much too late for Christmas but the kids like it, maybe they will learn something eventually too.

But what of the future?