wargaming

3D printing isn't anything new, however we're still far from finding it's full potential. People have talked about 3d printing miniatures, but I've not seen anything solid, until today that is. Introducing Pocket-Dungeons by dutchmogul . A free to reproduce set of rules and figures for a dungeon crawl type game. Ok so it's far from polished and I'm not sure it counts as truly free, I've yet to see a 3d printer for under £1,200 and the medium costs around £400. But it is interesting to ponder as to what the future might be like. Picture this, I've got some friends over and we decide to play dungeons and dragons. I don't own a copy and my nearest wargames store (Heroes and Legends, Surbiton) stocks it, but it's the evening and they are shut. So I go online, pay a fee and download the rules as a PDF and a set of .stl files for the miniatures. I set the printer running and by the time we have had something to eat the game is waiting to be...

First off, for anyone that is curious, is a photo the the set up I use to photograph my mini's. The camera I use is a Canon 400d with a 50mm lens and the lamp is a daylight hobby lamp from Hobbycraft. First up is a repaint of some figures that have appeared on the blog before. I was never one hundred percent happy with the way these Russians looked before and after playing a bit of the somewhat disappointing Battlefield 3 I decided to go for a more modern, grungy/partizan/pea pattern look. The colour is too light to be realistic but the aim was to create the feel of the camo, not an exact copy and so for that I am happy with it. 20mm ultra modern Russians from Liberation miniatures. Britannia and Platoon 20 cold war Brits with a Liberation miniatures Ferret AC. BAOR, Britannia and Platoon 20 Brits with an Airfix centurion. Platoon 20 NVA fallschirmjäger with a sniper in a gorka. Platoon 20 NVA fallschirmjäger with a sniper in a gorka. I wa...

Anarchist militias run to defend Barcelona and the republic.   SCW miliria are from Irregular and the ruined building is from Italeri's rather splendid terrain line. Militias defend the printworks from the Facists. The building is the German brewery ruin from Airfix's fantastic but very expensive range of resin terrain. Two Guardia civil, loyal to the Republic, keep watch on a Barcelona street corner.

I bought these fellow (Kennington miniatures) from SHQ a couple of Salutes ago. I dug them up the other week during a sort out. I really like them, they are fantastic castings. I intend to get a few more and add to them with some of the offerings from Stonewall. As is normally the case, figures seen need basing.

...not quite. You might have seen some of these bits before. This is just to prove I haven't given up on Rhodesia yet. Buildings from Frontline's 15mm range, civilians are from Irregular miniatures SCW line, but painted up as Africans. The small Baobab tree I made from a bastardised woodlands scenics armature and some polyfiller.  Liberation miniatures, Russian anti-air with African crew. RLI scouring the kraal. Figures from Liberation.

I was inspired by moif's blog , to get some Back of Beyond figures (British, Chinese, Russians or Turks). I bought some British and some Turks from Tumbling Dice at Colours 2011. The Turks are nearly all done, the British I have only just started.  Tumbling Dice British Infantry discussing directions with a Frontline Rolls Royce armoured car. The Rolls Royce I couldn't resist. It's probably a little late for the years Im going to be gaming, but it really captures the 'look' of the era. Tumbling Dice Turks guarding an Irregular miniatures Krupp Gun. The Krupp gun is from Irregular miniatures 'really useful guns' range, Gun Type Six D (£1.50) and is  available here.

You've seen a lot of what the Nationalists have. Now take a look at the support for the Republic. A Skytrex BT5 fast tank accompanied by a Frontline T26b.    I really like the T26 model, I have two more still to paint. I'm currently thinking one more the same and the third with Nationalist stripes on the turret. The T26 gives support to some internationals. Figures from Irregular.

It's been a while but here's some of the figures I've worked on 'recently'. First up some Guardia Assaltos for SCW. These guys are being lead by a commissar. All from Irregular miniatures. A Vickers Mk2 Medium tank from Frontline. Good for patrolling the Empire.  Some Indian infantry, these will be used from the 20's to the end of the war, with the help of a little imagination. From the Britannia WW2 line. The thin red line. These chaps will be patrolling the Yangtze, fighting up the Khyber, policing the Pacific and standing on the sidelines in Europe. Figures from Tumbling Dice.

Not long to go, anyone following my blog thinking of going?