Of Dice and Army Men

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Han Solo Blaster

Greeting fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

As I said, there would be more to follow soon, and here you have it! Today I'm posting a little project I've been working on for Dragon Con 2024. Can't say too much, but maybe the below will give you a little clue.

The kit is a 3D printed multi-part kit of Han Solo's blaster from Star Wars A New Hope.

After cleaning up the remains of supports, sanding surfaces and gluing this together, I gave it two coats of flat black spray primer- base coat.

After letting it dry, I went at making it look worn and used. I only need to find to screws that will fit into the handle to look like those used to keep the handle grips in place.

After painting, I gave it two coats of matte clear coat for durability.

I had a lot of fun putting this one together and weathering it. I'll count this as one mini for tracking purposes and that takes me to '100' minis painted for the year on the record.

Remember, Han shot first! GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 100 (more to come...SOON!)

Ogre Kingdoms Army - Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Greetings Fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

It has been some time since my last post. Life had a way of getting in the way of all of the fun stuff. I hope to remedy that soon. I've also been in a bit of a painting funk, so I have been digging through my pile of shame and building minis to put into my new shelving units in my home office. At least this way, I will see what I have (get depressed at what is unpainted), prevent myself from ordering duplicates of items on ebay where not needed and send a pile of cardboard boxes currently holding these unbuilt, unpainted minis to the recycler.

Today, I'm posting some pics of a Ogre Kingdoms Army for WFB I finished earlier this year. I have a few other projects in the works (don't we all!) like more of my Tiger Claw Space Marines, a Reaper Fire Giant Jailer conversion to a Demon for yet another army I am building for Dragon Rampant and some additional trooper for my Brotherhood army for Xenos Rampant.

Of course, Dragon Con 2024 (Atlanta GA) is quickly approaching and that will put a halt to any painting projects for a week.

Hope you enjoy these pictures and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 99 (more to come...SOON!)

Monday, May 13, 2024

Star Wars Galactic Heroes

5/4/24

Greetings fellow Grognards and Young Guard! Hope you are all doing well! For this installment, I've dug into the picture archives, in honor of the May the 4th Celebration!

Last year, my daughter, cats (you'll see!) and I slugged it out on a 4' x 4' battlefield in a small section of Tatooine. The scenario set a Rebel force against local Imperial Police Force of Sandtroopers. Objective for the Rebels was to cross the board and highjack the cargo shuttle. For the Sandtroopers, it was prevent the shuttle from being taken.

Sandtroopers started with a stimulation that they could not proceed towards the shuttle, which was on the opposite corner of the board, same deployment side as their forces, until they were either fired upon but the Rebels or passed a skill test to perceive/ detect the Rebels headed to the ship.

Luckily for the Stormtroopers, it only took until the second turn when the Rebels decided to take the initiative and cut loose on the unsuspecting Imperial forces! Damn the Rebel scum!

The battle was fast and furious! Unfortunately, we had to cut the battle short! The Young Guard had done well, but the Imperial forces did enough damage to the Rebels to drive them off to call it a win for the Grognard!

REBEL STRIKE TEAM

IMPERIAL SANDTROOPERS

OBJECTIVE: REBELS STEAL THE SHUTTLE

CAPTAIN SAM: 'EYEING' THE BATTLE FIELD (NOTE: He only has one eye, so really, he is literally eyeing the battlefield.)

'CAT'-MAND DECISIONS

PONDERING THE BATTLE PLAN

THE REBEL OBJECTIVE

REBEL SCUM...er...STRIKE TEAM

BRAVE IMPERIAL SANDTROOPERS

DEPLOYMENT

SIR...THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME COMMOTION OVER THERE...

REBELS...BLAST'EM!

SWEEPING THE FLANK

PINNED DOWN

TROOPERS DOWN...REBELS NEARING THE SHUTTLE

CAPTAIN! DOWN GOES THE REBEL LEADER!

SANDTROOPERS PRESS THE BATTLE WHILE THE SNIPER FINDS NEW TARGETS.

SO CLOSE.....

CAPTAIN DOWN...SANDTROOPER CLOSE IN.

SANDTROOPERS CONVERGE ON THE SHUTTLE.

PRESSING THE BATTLE, SANDTROOPERS SURGE FORWARD.

BATTLE ENDS...AN IMPERIAL VICTORY!

FOUR REBELS LEFT, BUT SHOT UP HEAVILY....

FOUR IMPERIALS REMAIN, BUT HEALTHY!

OLLIE READY FOR THE POST GAME PIZZA PARTY!

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Dragon Rampant - Orc Armies swells!

Hello fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Welcome to another installment of 'Of Dice and Army Men'!

In the past, I posted pictures of my Dragon Rampant Orc Army consisting of a large number of Chronopia Assault Orcs. Well, the ranks continue to grow. I just really love these Assault Orc models, so when I see them on ebay, they are rare to come by and like to rescue them (for the right price of course!).

I have added the 10 Assault Orcs below to the ranks.

The trick is adding minis to an army you painted a while back to keep colors consistent and in the same style. I do keep a project book of color used. Unfortunately, that army was not recorded in the book, but I did remember the limited number of paints used on these models, so off I went. I highly recommend keeping a paint log for your projects.

Next up, in Jan 2024, I was able to finish painting my Ogre Kingdoms Army for Warhammer 6th/ 7th Edition, but not able to take pictures for posting. I hope to have those taken and the army posted soon!

Until then, gather the forces and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 59 (more to come...SOON!)