MotoGP Silverstone

Off to the races today at Silverstone for the MotoGP. I think that Marc Marquez, having been beaten at Brno last time out and for the first time this year, Marc will be all out for the win. As he starts from pole position, who would bet against him.

EVENING UPDATE: Marquez does indeed win, just beating Lorenzo after a fantastic battle. Rossi Third.

Bushido Waka

The last of my Bushido Savage Wave, Waka the Rampager.

I also took a mould of the statue head and made an extra piece of blocking terrain for when he chucks the head at the enemy.

The pile of skulls is just a random objective marker for whatever…

Steampunk Heavy Support

This is a variant on the golf ball sized Armorcast steamers. It has a much bigger gun than the other two and does not really look good balanced on the tracked power unit, the legs work much better.

Battle Of Brighton

No sooner has Relic Knights arrived, I get an email saying that the Rivet Wars expansion is being shipped to Europe for distribution – thats three Kickstarters delivering (including the Battle Dog tank).

I am looking forward to this one and the ability to add air power to the games. I have no idea how the air combat will work but I’m sure it will be fun!

Steampunk Medium Support

This golf ball sized steampunk support tank has two locomotion options, tracks or legs. Using some 2mm x 1mm magnets, they are interchangeable.

It is armed with twin rocket launchers and a medium cannon.

This is another of the Armorcast steamer models, I don’t have many left to paint now, but at least that means I can start on the rules for a steampunk supplement for No Quarter.

Relic Knights Delivered

After a Kickstarter campaign generating $909,000 and a huge wait, the Relic Knights Kickstarter has landed in the UK. A somewhat smaller box than I was expecting, but it does seem to have the rules, counters and two factions. The trouble is, it has been so long since I completed the pledge manager, I can’t remember what I was expecting to get.

The rulebook looks pretty good, plenty of background fluff and a rule section that does not look too large or complex. There is also a quickstart mini booklet with just the rules.

The first of the factions I opted for were the Black Diamond faction. Basically armoured human soldiers.

The second faction is the Cerci Speed Circuit, chicks on hover bikes I think.

Due to several other projects on the modelling table at the moment, this will have to wait for a while. I do need to try and check that everything I am expecting is actually there and I may put together a model or two to see what they look like. I just hope the resin/plastic is better than the Sedition Wars material.

Battle Dog In Progress

I have finished putting together the first of the three Battle Dog / Püg tanks from Ramshackle Games. It needed very little trimming really for a kit of this type. The hull and the tracks went together very well.

With so many weapon options on this model and the option of having either the turreted tank for the turret-less tank hunter, I went over the top with 2mm diameter magnets to have this vehicle as variable as possible. The first magnet was for the main turret weapon.

Once the turret was together, all the weapons had magnets inserted to fit. To line up the magnets, I used a bit of masking tape on the weapon and pressed the weapon into place, this left an indent in the tape which showed exactley where to drill the corresponding hole.

The same process was followed for the hull so all the main guns will fit.

Here are a few examples of the finished build, first up, the siege gun.

…and the tank hunter, I think this version will be perfect for the Steampunk Prussian Scrunts from Olleys Armies.

I think it even works as an infantry support APC armed with just a machine gun.

Two more to go, maybe completed by Tuesday and ready to undercoat on Wednesday, although I do have a cunning plan for the optional sponsons that may require a bit more work.

Steampunk Bots

One of the great benefits of rummaging through the Loft Full Of Lead, is coming across such gems as these Armorcast resin robot things. With the recent spurt in enthusiasm for all things steampunk (Olleys Scrunts, Meridian Infantry, Support Weapons etc), these models were perfect to add support to one side of another.

There were five models equipped with large fists and some for of machine gun weapon. All of the casts are the same pose, bust the arms can be positioned differently and the body and legs can be angled to give some variety.

Two had rocket pods added to operate as a support unit for the assault bots.

Dwarven Prussian Miniatures

Bob Olley has launched his second scrunt Kickstarter, following on from the Victorian Scrunts a while back, the new one is for Dwarven Prussian Army Scrunt Miniatures. There are three sets of models, eight heavy weapons, eight light weapons, and fifteen infantry with rifles and including some command models.
These will work really well as the opponents for the Meridian Steampunk infantry I backed on Kickstarter last year.

First Go Of Rivet Wars

This has been sitting on my shelf for several months now, but I finally got it out and had a game. Great fun! The rules are a bit light and vague places, but once we worked it out, it played really quick and would swing one way and then the other. Its grid based, models need a 5+ to hit, most things take a single wound and reinforcements just keep coming back into play, simple but with a subtle tactical element.

I can’t wait for the Battle Of Brighton wave two models to arrive, which should apparently be soon, ish.