Latest Distraction - Blood Red Skies MiG Alley

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well on your respective sides of the internets. So yeah, another squirrel moment…I’ve played a game or two of Blood Red kids with Mike and Duncanover the last year or so. Most recently we gave it another go to give Duncan some prep for a tournament that he had signed up for. Well, we got talking about the game and the modern spin with BRS MiG Alley and the expansion from Lead Pursuit Podcast, Beyond MiG Alley for Vietnam and 1960s/70s Cold War.

Anywho, long story short…I’m now getting into MiG Alley…sigh/lol. I recently picked up a box from Amazon and finished up the 4 aircraft that came with it, a couple of F86 Sabre’s and MiG-15’s. The box comes with the cards, models, and decals to complete the models, USAF for the Sabre’s and Soviet Air Forces or North Korean Air Force for the MiG’s.

Hope you enjoy the pics…it was a bit tricky getting the silver finish of the aircraft paintjob without just hitting them with silver…you know what I mean, an OCD sort of thing.

Enjoy.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

1/200          4, +4

15mm         134

28mm+       44

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        12, +4 (mig alley box) 

Progress   +172

Red Dawn Objective - Wonalds...ish

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well as we crest past a far too warm Halloween. This is just a quick post to showcase another completed element from the Red Dawn VDV BMD Air Assault Battalion Starter Set. This fabulous box came with a Red Dawn (1984) inspired unique objective taken from the movie stills showing a few commies posing it up for mommy in front of a distinctive/iconic fast food establishment.

Battlefront elected to go with 'alternate' branding inverting the yellow arches into a W...in my haste to unpack the box and look at the goodies and then ignore them for a random amount of time before hitting the work bench...I inadvertently lost the decals to declare my objective as Wonalds.

So, adapting and overcoming...I instead took inspiration from the fact that any given small town in the Canadian Prairies is home to its own Chinese food restaurant. This of course is due to the reality behind the internment of folks who were of Japanese or Asian descent and living on the western coast of North America during World War 2. This happened in the US and certainly in Canada and resulted in the aforementioned proliferation of small-town Chinese restaurants. Having lost all when they went into internment, these folks had to adapt and overcome (with much much more at stake than missing decals) and provide for their families.

With those folks in mind, and their contribution to their communities, I present you with appropriate signage for Won's Chinese Food emporium. Complete with BMD-1 at the curb, along with a couple of Ruskies and a sufficiently mid-winter grimy/dirty street to stand in.

Enjoy!

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         134, +3

28mm+       44

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +172

Painting Update - Sam Wilson, Captain America

Howdy folks,

I thought I’d do up a quick post just to give some proof of life that I have actually been painting something other than Flames of War, and that yes…Marvel Crisis Protocol is still alive and well on my side of the internets. Admittedly, this one had been sitting partially completed on the work table for much longer than he should have. I had originally started off on both War Machine and Cap, but I was not happy with how War Machine went together…I had some considerable assembly issues with parts not lining up and not seating into each other.

Which is what probably soured the Captain America figure…even though I had completed the base and the base coat…it nonetheless had to sit through some considerable uncertainty. I did not follow through with the War Machine figure as its dysfunction was painfully obvious and no amount of paint was going to save him. I do have to say, good customer service, I explained my issue with Atomic Mass Games and their Canadian supplier and while they could not supply me with a new War Machine, they did provide me with a box of my choice that was roughly the same cost…so I did appreciate their assist there.

Now onto Captain Sam Wilson America…great looking figure, very dynamic pose and the explosion on the base was a lot of fun to paint up. Once I got my head settled, he did not take that long to finish painting…I actually think he’s been done and in the display case for almost 4-6 months. I did refer back to Sorastro’s awesome guide for Captain Steve Rogers America to help keep me close in colour pallet.

Anywho, please enjoy the pics.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         131

28mm+       44, +1 (Cap)

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +169

Currahee - Flames of War US Airborne

Howdy folks,

Happy October and all that spooky stuff. Fresh off of my last post, and my fantastic ability to get distracted, I thought I would post a progress pic of my Flames of War US Parachute force. Inspired heavily by Band of Brothers and the anniversary of Market Garden (nope, I can’t explain why now), I have finished up my first platoon for the force.

As mentioned last post, this platoon comes from the initial plastic sculpts released by Battlefront inside of their Open Fire turned Hit The Beach starter box. I am currently working through a second platoon of metal figs from the first release of the US Parachute Company box and it has been interesting to see the difference in the sculpts, but also to see how far Battlefront’s plastic figures have come along.

The main con that I have is that the first kick at plastics have some pretty epic “flash” on the figures, particularly between the arms and torso. I call it flash only because I don’t know the plastic equivalent, regardless this plastic excess is really tough to deal with and in most cases (definitely in mine) I cannot bevel it out. The second con I have, and this is for the prone MG figures, they originally came in 2 different pieces for each pose and they went together poorly. From what I’ve seen of the latest release of the plastics, they have gone away from that initial method and gone to a solid singular molded piece. 

The main pro’s…dynamic poses with a great amount of detail on the faces…dynamic poses with arm and leg articulation…and they paint up so well.

Anywho, here are the pics…I decided to go with a post D-day/Market Garden uniform colour.

Take care.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         131, +31 (para platoon including 60mm mortar)

28mm+       43

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +168

No Shortage of Distractions - Airborne

Howdy folk.

I hope the summer has come and gone well for everyone. I cannot believe that we are already hitting the end of September. I thought I’d pop a quick post so that I have at least one for the month. I haven’t been sitting still, work is, well…work. Never a dull moment and always busy. In between those times, I have been continuing to put paint to brush a brush to figures.

With September upon us, it was rather fitting that I found my way into catching up on a classic as well as a really great mini/limited series. Both of which came about because I got sudden inspiration to dig into the bowels of lead mountain and pull out some of the last frames from the Battlefront “Open Fire”…which I guess has become replaced by “Hit the Beach.” I had finished a large portion of this box years ago, but had left the infantry alone. So, I went in and grabbed the US airborne platoon that came in the box..and while I was there, I pulled out a purchase I made many years ago and was keeping in wait until the time was right.

So, September was the perfect time to watch “A Bridge Too Far”, which I had not seen in quite some time.

As always, a classic with an amazing ensemble cast. Watching this led me to my Open Fire box…which led me to painting up the US troops, which led me to “Band of Brothers” which has similarly led me to the first US Parachute Company box, the one that came out with 3 platoons. 

So, distractions…yeah, I’ve got tons of them…but am having fun painting up some figs that I found pretty intimidating to paint years ago. And which is starting to lead me back to Flames of War. So yeah, got that going for me. I’ll see if I can take some progress pics.

Take care folks. 

Red Dawn - Soviet Airborne VDV

Hey folks,

I hope the week has been well for you on our respective side of the internets. Just a quick post to bring in the weekend, I finally got around to finishing up the BTR’s and the troops from the Red Dawn VDV BMD Assault Battalion. It doesn’t feel that long ago that I finished the BMD’s and its a good feeling to get the AAA and grunts finished.

The BTR’s are resin and metal…and I think I preferred the plastic BMD’s…the prep on them felt about the same and the metal figures painted up really well. All in all it didn’t take to much time to get the 2 platoons finished, along with the special Red Dawn command stand, and I think they look great…even with all their berets. I think I would’ve preferred a mix of headgear…but they look really movie cool,so there’s at least that.

The box came with some extra command figs, Officer and radioman, so I did them up as singletons for Force on Force and whatever other modern ruleset I can fit figs into.

Anywho, here goes with the pics…enjoy.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         100, +51

28mm+       43

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +137

Painting Update - 15mm Odds & Sods

Howdy folks,

I hope your end of summer is going well. I know some folks are literally wading through a buttload of precipitation and rainfall, so best of luck to them, here’s to keeping dry in challenging times. This is a quick post to showcase some pieces that I was able to get off the painting table recently…and it’s kinda neat because the majority of them are some old-school Battlefront/Flames of War ‘bailed-out’ crew markers/figures.

I was rooting through my bits boxes in the past few months and found a few figures from various US, UK, Soviet, and Germany blisters from the early years of my dip into the hobby. Anywho, given that FoW stopped including bailed crew, I thought I’d paint these up for Force on Force and themed to include Afropia as well as the standard modern warfare settings. 

You can see a few of these figures are sporting Desert Yellow coloured headgear…that’s in line with FoF to discriminate the leaders from the line troops. I think these figs will do great as resistance fighters for WW2 or postwar, criminal elements, or militants for Afropia.

Enjoy the pics…

I had found a couple of random leftover figs…front rank has SMG packing soviet soldat and Commonwealth warrior from Battlefront’s Monte Cassino warrior pack.

Journey up Lead/Plastic Mountain

Painted

15mm         49, +22 

28mm+       43

Fabricated

Terrain        2

Bought        8

Progress   +86

Marvel Crisis Protocol - Battle Report

Hey folks,

Here’s hoping that the summer is treating you all well. Looking at the month of July pushing to an end, it feels like the summer is flying by. A few weeks back, I had the chance to get a game of Marvel Crisis Protocol in with Mike and Duncan. Not only a great chance to get together but also gave me the chance to get a team of bad guys on the table.

Now, to be fair…I honestly an’t remember all the finer details…but here’s what I do recall. The game plan was pretty simple…about 15-17 points of threat per team, a couple of mission objectives, and away we go…i guess, went…

Enjoy!

The happiest and classiest crew in town: Green Goblin, Ghost Rider, Doctor Octopus, and the Rhino.

The setup and initial deployment…Mike on the left with the Sentinels, Duncan at the top of the pic with the Soviet Avengers (I can never remember their name), and me on the right with the Spiderman fan club + 1…Red markers are things to grab a hold of and carry, they can cause damage if the character holding it generates too much energy. And the blue markers are portals…secure/hold a portal, build up points.

Initial moves by Duncan, brings up his Russian Bear, the Black Widow heads for the portal…

The Green Goblin and Rhino move up on my side; the Goblin is heading for one of the red energy markers. The Rhino is just making his way forward, one S at a time…

Mike makes his move on the left with his big damned Sentinels…by this point, Doc Oc is securing the portal (with the side effect that it flames out folks who are securing it)…GhostRider gets into the action and sizes up one of the Sentinels.

The Rhino literally gets dragged into the back alley by one of Duncan’s Soviet mind warriors…again, can’t remember the name…the Green Goblin remains the happiest guy in the game, he is literally flying around with a huge grin. 

One of the Sentinels decides to try the Doc on for size…the Doc has some laser arm attacks that are pretty amazing.

The Rhino continues his foray into the back alley, trying out his charge attack…

The Goblin tries out his pumpkin attacks on Mike’s Sentinel

The Goblin is turning and burning around the streets…Doc continues to hold the portal, and GhostRider keeps trying out rando attacks. The lower pic is an overview of the current action…

If I remember correctly, at this point, multiple characters have been taking boatloads of damage and we’re flipping cards.

A great size comparison shot of the Doc and those nasty Sentinels.

By the end of the game, we had gotten about 6-7 turns in…it was a bit of a slugfest, lots of characters taking damage and getting close to getting taken out of the game. With victory points, I think Mike came in tops, then myself, and Duncan fairly close. All in all, a good game, great chance to get figs on the table…and the Spider Friends were a lot of fun.