6mm Infantry

6mm infantry don’t take to much paint. Just trying to pick out the weapon is hard enough. When I based these year ago, I used modellers White Pumice to fill around the tiny bases which is messy stuff but looks okay.

These infantry were sculpted by Germy and sold by Brigade Games.

6mm Mech

I have had this model for a couple of decades I think, I really can’t remember where it came from, who makes it or why I bought it. As a first Mech for Horizon Wars it will certainly do. I may have to add a shoulder mounted weapon of some description.

I have two Battletech Mechs that are still in the packs that I will have to build and paint, one is a Madcat, my favourite Battletech model.

6mm Anti Air

Next up in my Horizon Wars 6mm project are more Brigade Games models, three Shershen Anti Aircraft Vehicles and a Lisa Command vehicle

6mm Tanks

One of the appealing aspects of a game at 6mm scale, is the ability to field loads of tanks.

These are Bizon Main Battle Tanks from Brigade Games, those above have some extra skirt armour on the sides, whilst those below have fully exposed tracks.

6mm APCs

I have been getting ready for our first game of Horizon Wars recently and painting up some armoured units.

I have had a small (no pun intended) 6mm army kicking around for quite some time waiting for a set of rules to try out. Most of the models are from Brigade Games with a few other random bits thrown in.

First up are some APCs with a nice simple and quick paint job.

When I was buying stuff not really knowing what rules I would be using, I went for units of three models in most cases.

I’m A Tea Pot

At Salute recently, Andrew May of Meridian Miniatures very nicely let me have one of his new steampunk special weapons. This armoured walking clockwork teapot can best be utilised as a flamer weapon I would guess.

I think this will be added to my Prussian force.

Rossi Wins At Jerez

Not the best race of the day at Jerez, but I will take a Rossi win any time and any way.

That is it for my MotoGP interruption, it will be back to miniatures in the next post…

MotoGP Jerez

There is life in the old GOAT yet, Valentino Rossi gets pole at Jerez. After 20 years in Grand Prix, he can still turn it on. He just needs to turn it into a win!

The GOAT, Greatest Of All Time!

The Next Big Thing

The next big thing that I am starting work on is a steampunk aircraft carrier for the British Empire army.

It will be big and take a while to finish…

My first idea, and this was a few years, ago was to scratch build the whole thing, including the hull, but I don’t quite think I have the modelling skills (or the time) to make a ribbed hull from scratch. My ship building projects so far have always used a toy hull as my starting point. So I started with the idea of using a Playmobil Cargo ship hull as my foundation. So after much searching eBay for one at the right price, I finally got my hands on one.

But then I spotted an aircraft carrier toy on eBay for a few quid and I bought that as well.

This means I can use my Playmobil ship will get used for something else in the future.

Having a deck that is already the right shape should save a lot of time.

I went hunting for some images online to get more inspiration and found this scratch build which started way back in 2009 and ran on for many years on and off. It really is inspiring stuff. The amount of plasticard used must be staggering. This chap Klaus is in Germany I think, and he designed and built what was going to be a flying aircraft carrier for Warhammer $40K. As it evolved, it became a flying Destroyer, instead when he decided the deck was not wide enough. Christened The Athena, all of the weapons were scratch built and have provided some great ideas that I will try to emulate.
The overall construction of his Athena was really quite something as it was built from the hull up with a ribbed construction and incredibly detailed superstructure. I have recently been able to locate a good plasticard supplier (Hurlbat who deliver in ridiculously fast) and will have to make some small pieces up to gauge what I feel I can attempt.

My overall plans are a bit more straight forward compared to Klaus’ Athena as I at least have a hull to start with. However, I do plan to scratchbuild the control tower and raise the height of the flight deck somehow.

New Steam Wars Faction

One of the impulse buys at Salute was another box of Dystopian Legions Automotans and a large Blazing Sun Ironclad. After the experience I had putting together the last box of Automotans, I surprised myself by purchasing some more. How quickly I forget, but on the plus side I picked them up for £8 and this now means I will have a total of twenty, which is the infantry core of a new army. So I am going to work on a new Steam Wars army list that is a mainly robotic force. I think these will be used as a scenario force in some games, the idea being to have two opposing sides trying to capture some intel or technology from the roboforce.

To go with the foot troops, I talked myself into buying the large ball shaped tank from the Dystopian Legions from the Empire Of The Blazing Sun catalog.

I think if it is painted primarily silver and grey with plenty of brass bits, it will turn out very nice.

The final purchase from Salute was a robot model from the new Mauser Earth range. This is a nice resin model that stands about twice the height of a normal sized model. I really like the design and this model may get used in more than one steampunk force.

I am also wondering what else I can find that can get used in the roboforce, I am thinking that my old $40K Dreadnoughts may be suitable.