Plans for 2020...

While this is in no way a new-years resolution, I do have some plans listed for the coming year...

Hexes...
I aim to expand my Hex terrain considerably. Not only do I have plans to double the number of snowflake Hexes to enlarge the surface of my Hex terrain, but I also want to create more different Hexes to further increase the diversity of the set. The Hex Terrain Toolkit offers plenty of options I haven't even used yet...

6mm...
Even though I already finished quite a few of my new 6mm stuff, I still have plenty of tanks and armoured cars waiting to be painted. I hope to complete my stock of vehicles and infantry, expanding my range of models to be able to play larger battles.

Play more games, fight more battles...
In that regard 2019 has been a very, very slow year, but 2020 is looking to a lot better already... Having recently discovered What a Tanker!, getting in more games should be quite easy... I also want to try the Battlegroup, I Ain't Been Shot Mum and Crossfire rules in 6mm, ad well as play a few games of Flames of war, also in 6mm...

Dungeon...
While most of my hobby time and effort is being absorbed by the 6mm WW2 Hex terrain project, the Hirst Arts Dungeon isn't forgotten... I do have some interesting pieces waiting to be finished as well as an abundance of very nice furniture and assorted clutter. I also have a growing collection of NPC's and monsters to populate the massive dungeon...

3D-printing...
I already have a bit of experience when it comes to 3D-printing, as I have an Ultimaker 2+ in my classroom. While this is an excellent printer, it's hardly suited to print 15mm or 6mm miniatures. At the moment I am saving up to purchase a resin 3D-printer, most likely an Elegoo Mars, preferably the updated Pro version... This type of resin printer has become surprisingly affordable and seems to yield impressive results...

Whatever comes my way...
Last year, the whole Hex project and the 6mm miniatures came rather unexpected, so there's no knowing what I will stumble upon this year...

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army... pt. II

Slowly but surely my force grows...

Painting all those little tanks and vehicles is quite different from what I am used to... On one hand, due to their size, painting them is quick. On the other hand, it's a challenge to get all the details across. Things like tools, spare tracks and tow cables are often so small it's hard to get some decent colour on them to make them noticable...

The motorpool so far...
The three models on the left are 3D prints from Shapeways, the rest is GHQ...

Early War German panzers are grey, no two ways about that. I tried to keep the models as light as possible. The first few models were decorated with decals but the results weren't quite what I expected. In the end I decided to paint over the decals and stopped using them altogether. Very few of the miniatures have enough flat surface to put them on neatly, even with decal softener...

One of the prototypes with decal... 

I am thinking about adding crew to the open topped vehicles, just to add a touch of realism and a bit more detail... Just a matter of making them fit, I suppose...

On another note, I just received my order from Heroics & Ross. I am very impressed with their infantry, so much that I am already putting together a new order! I also purchased several gliders to go with the Fallschirmjäger I ordered. Neat little aircraft that will provide some tactical options.

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army...

At Crisis in Antwerpen I picked up my pre-ordered package filled with GHQ Micro Armour... While I had previously bought a sample pack, which gave me an idea of the scale and level of detail, the quality of these miniatures continues to amaze me.

This is no review, there are already enough of those, but I will say that these models are among the very best I ever had the pleasure of working on... Extremely sharp casts, little to no flash and highly accurate.

I ordered several different vehicles, all suited for the Early War period, 1939 to 1941. These models will represent my Blitzkrieg Germans, fighting in Belgium, France and Holland. They will also form the basis of the force invading Britain in our what-if Seelöwe campaign.

Over the coming months (or even years, depending on the speed of the project) this force will be expanded, reinforced by infantry (probably  Fallschirmjäger) and newer vehicles.

So far I have the folowing vehicles from GHQ:

SdKfz. 221
SdKfz. 222 Leichter Panzerspähwagen
SdKfz. 231/232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen  6-rad/8-rad
SdKfz. 9 Famo
SdKfz. 265 Kleine Panzerbefehlswagen
Panzerjáger IB
StuG ausf. B

I also have several Panzers, ranging from the smallest, the Panzer I to the Panzer IV... The main reason to start off this project with Early War peroid is the wide selection of lightly armoured vehicles you van choose from. I aim to include as many different vehicles as possible in my collection!

To make this collection as complete and diverse as possible I will be adding 3D-printed models as well... The first few have already arrived (as can be seen in a previous post) and more will surely follow.

I also placed an order at Heroics&Ross... They have some interesting vehicles, too. And at a nice price...

Below are some pictures that serve as inpiration...

A column of Panzer III...

Panzerbefehlswagen... I really like this vehicle...

8-Rad with bed-frame antenna...

Panzer I... As far as tanks go, it's pretty damn small...

Panzer II ausf. C... One of the best looking tanks in my opinion...

Panzer IV ausf. A... Armed with the short 75mm cannon...
My army will include a few of the, very similar, ausf. D...

SdKfz. 221, 222 and 232... 

The SfKfz. 232 6-Rad... This is one of the reasons I wanted Early War Germans...

Cooling down from CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real! pt. III

Visited Crisis Antwerpen yesterday, and it was as good as ever... It must have been the 9th or 10th time I visited the show and it seems to get bigger and better every year.

This year, my main interest was getting some 6mm stuff. Several weeks ago I had placed a pre-order at Magister Miliitum. Quite ideal, as they have the option to pick up your order at one of the shows they visit. They had the order ready, neatly packaged, 100% complete and including the original order form.

About 2/3 of that order was for me, the remaining 1/3 was for my battle buddie. He ordered Early War French and British miniatures...

A total of 21 blisters of GHQ Micro Armour, my part of the order...
All Early War Germans.

I have already begun assembling and painting these, but that's something for another post...

Next on my list were some rulesets... I picked up the Crossfire rulebook first, which actually looks more like a magazine than a proper book; all black and white, soft cover and staples...

Astoundingly, this cost me €30,- I really hope the rules are as good as I have read/heard them to be...

Funny enough, I also paid €30,- for the two hardback, full colour Battlegroup books (picked those up at the PSC stand)... About 200 pages each, filled with interesting background information on the theatre, army lists, scenarios and inspiring pictures. I only intended to replace my digital rulebook with the paper one, but couldn't pass up on their special CRISIS offer... The army lists from both these books (Tobruk and Torch) should be compatible with our Seelöwe campaign...

And right across from the guys from PSC was the trade stand from Too Fat Lardies, where I purchased the I Ain't Been Shot Mum book. Forgot to pick up the cards though...

Next was some paint for my Early War German Panzers and Infantry, which I picked up at Foundry.

And last in the bag were some packs of grass tufts...

All in all a good haul! Assembling and painting the Micro Armour has started and we are getting ready for our first 6mm game.

Already looking forward to CRISIS 2020...

A bridge too far...

My set of river Hexes only has one bridge. Too few in my opinion, but at the time of construction I didn't want to 'waste time' on building more bridges...

So, now I want/need more bridges. But I also want/need another multi-Hex town module...

The sollution to this issue presents itself, a multi-Hex town module which includes bridges... Should be easy, right?

The base of the module...

A simple mock-up to show where all the bridges and buildings go...

A small detail...

With all the bridges completed...

It's hard to see in these pictures, but all three bridges are slightly different in design.

A detail of one of the bridges...

As a point of interest I added a small factory complex...

The factory is also a nice change of pace from the regular buildings. The fence is made from two gate pieces from a wooden fence in a larger scale. I shortened it considerably and now it looks like a proper iron fence suitable for a factory like this. The chimney is made by cutting a piece of plastic tubing to length...

The factory has an enclosed yard with its own access to the river...

The finished module, ready for painting...

With a GHQ Panzer III for scale...

Before I finish my Hexes and buildings I tend to check the scale/size with a miniature, in this case a Panzer III from GHQ.

For good measure I also made two new bridges to add to my river Hexes.

Two new bridges...

Can't wait to get some paint on these... The river Hexes do require some time to build up the depth of the water.

Attending a Northern Wedding...

Whenever I start a new project I first do some research online. I search for inspiration and examples of what has been done by others. All of this helps me to formulate a plan.
In the case of the new 6mm Hex terrain I found a veritable treasure of inspiration on the following blog: NorthernWedding This blog was mentioned in the previous post, but warrants more attention and credit.

NorthernWedding is filled with pictures of hand crafted Hex terrain, both of finished pieces and work in progress shots. The blog also includes numerous battle reports, all featuring that amazing Hex terrain. The author also showcases his GHQ Micro Armour, another source of ideas and motivation.

The authors multi-Hexes in particular were an eye-opener... I made some already, but more elaborate ones are on the way.

On the pics below you can clearly see how this Hex terrain inspired me. Check out more on NorthernWedding!

Gearing up for CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real!

CRISIS 2019 (Mainland Europe's largest Wargaming convention, organised every year in Antwerpen by the wonderful people of TSOA) is just six weeks away, so it's about time to get a proper shopping list ready...

I have been to CRISIS for more than a decade now and it's interesting to see that my enthusiasm for Wargaming hasn't diminished in the slightest, but the focus is ever shifting...

All those years ago I was playing mostly Fantasy games (WFRP, Warhammer Fantasy, Mordheim), at that time I was already building the Dungeon, so I only bought stuff related to that. After that came Flames of War, and for several years I mostly bought 15mm miniatures.

And now there is this new project, 6mm WW2... I intend to give all the stands selling 6mm/1:285 miniatures my full attention. I am somewhat ashamed to say that in all those previous years I mostly skipped anything smaller than 15mm, writing it off as way too small. How things can change...

As always, I will be looking for furniture and other cool stuff to put in to the Dungeon. But this year I will be mostly getting some 6mm miniatures to use with my new Hex terrain. While I love being surprised by finding cool stuff I am not taking any chances and will place a rather substantial pre-order at a merchant who stocks GHQ Micro Armour...

Into 6mm wargaming...

So, on to a new project!

WW2 Wargaming and modelling has been a hobby of mine for years, and recently I decided to get into 6mm Wargaming. Both as a challenge to paint (because 6mm is small, very small) and an excuse to start making a whole new set of scenery and terrain.

I ordered two of the sample packs GHQ offers, just to get an idea of the scale and level of detail of these models (and to get my gaming buddie all fired up with a few small Russian Tanks). These models are incredibly detailed, maybe even more so than some of my 15mm miniatures...

In the background is a 15mm PSC Tiger... The GHQ Tiger still needs some proper cleaning, but the cast is extremely sharp and the amount of flash is minimal... This Tiger is, for want of a better word, CUTE!

One of the main reasons to embark on this new project is definitely the chance to make some new terrain. For this, my attention was drawn to Hex terrain. GHQ has their own system (which is pretty solid), but as I live halfway across the globe, shipping is not an option... Besides, where's the fun in that? I like to make my own terrain! So I went in search of a way to make my own Hexes, and boy, did I find one...

I found a review of the Hex Terrain Toolkit and from there it all went Hex-shaped...

The Toolkit consists of a wide selection precise laser cut plywood pieces with which you can make a whole range of different pieces... For now, I will concentrate on plain Hexes, rivers and hills.

The Toolkit, fresh out of the box...

The Toolkit is meant to be used with a handheld hot wire cutter. I have a Proxxon hot wire cutter with a table, but with some very minor adjustments to the kit I made it work just fine... I use high density insulation foam, but any kind of styrene will do.

Once you get the hang of it, cutting basic Hexes is quite easy and within a couple of hours of cutting I had around 100+ to start with. As can be seen on the picture, the Hexes are absolutely precise!

Besides the Hexes, I intend to make all the other scenery from scratch... Houses, trees, you name it...

Some of the buildings I made, in varying degrees of being finished. All are made from high density foam... I had to wait a couple of days for my toolkit to arrive, to kill the time I experimented a bit with my wire cutter, making a lot more buildings than I originally intended.

The first batch of trees... Some individually based, some in small groups. The trees are made from thin wire and clump foliage. More trees will be added, both as separate pieces and fixed to the Hexes.

The start of a winding river, complete with a water wheel and a bridge. More bridges will certainly be added.

I chose to draw the roads straight onto the Hexes rather than adding them as separate pieces on top. Note that these Hexes don't have a foundation of snowflake-Hexes yet, so they don't line up as neat just yet... Difficult to see, but the last row of hexes are actually hills, the transition from flat Hexes to hills is very smooth.

The first few finished Hexes... On this picture you can still see the glue underneath the grass as it hadn't properly dried yet.

Lets dust off this old blog...

It has been so long I almost forgot I had this blog... The last update is from a year and a half ago, way too long...

Have I done nothing since then? Far from it! Before being thoroughly distracted by the launch of Fallout 76 I spent several months working on my Hirst Arts Dungeon, adding lots of pieces to it and updating the furniture and other smaller terrain pieces.

More recently I got hooked on hexes... Big time! These hexes will be used to make the terrain for my new 6mm project, using GHQ Micro Armour. Both projects could do with some form of documenting, if only for the benefit of myself...