New arrivals

 

So a few things arrived this week and one item was found at a flea market.

First arrival is this new paint shaker. This is a new device that is hands free, which is the main appeal. Saw it on Painting Panzers and it looked good. The big question is, is it actually any good? I have not yet tested it as I am going through funk phase and not interested in painting (also my painting table is a mess) 

It is an adjustable hands free unit.

I have been looking at Moon Colony Bloodbath for a while now. The art work drew me in first then the concept. Intrigued I watch a review by Shut Up & Sit Down and that was it, I needed the game. So here it is all ready to play.

We gave it a proper test and after the first try, played two more games right away. It is more fun than it should be, all your plans and attempts to settle the moon are all for nought as disasters and robots will inevitably destroy your colony. Great fun!

More treasure from Hotlead

 

So, I went a little crazy, and picked up twelve 3D print buildings and a bridge, 1 old school (heavy) resin buildings and a bunch of scatter terrain last weekend at Hotlead. The 3D print buildings came from BEAVER AND BROADSWORD while the resin building (lower right) was from the bring and buy. 

Some 14 buildings for Pulp Alley Vice Alley campaign

 

So, I have been working on the buildings for the up coming campaign. Some of them had been started many years ago while others were started recently. Some, like the warehouse above (red brick and green) had been used before but had to be taken apart and redone. Still others were purpose built from either Dust tactics buildings or Pegasus gothic buildings.

Water, water everywhere

A while ago (3-4 months) I walked into a local fabric shop and found a nice blue faux leather on sale. It was what I was looking for but I really was not expecting to find it so easily. Kind of disappointing I so enjoy the hunt. I requested a 9' long amount (it was 54" wide) and I figured that should do well enough even if it was going to leave a border on both long edges. I figured, a place for unit cards etc.

A 3" border, not too bad I guess

It was only after I got home that I started thinking about what I bought and what I should have done. My wargame table (really a ping pong table) is 5' by 9'. I belatedly realized/thought through what I was doing and realized I really needed a sheet that was 10' long or even two sheets 5' long each. It would allow me to completely cover the gaming table.  However I was not prepared to buy another sheet as this was supposed to be a quick cheap fix! So all I could do was hope that a little extra had been left on, that maybe the sheet would be close to 10' . However my gaming table was a little crowded (see other posts) and I could not stretch out the material to properly measure it.

Now the AHPC is over, and I have had a chance to clean up my gaming table.

A rare sight, the table with nothing on it!

So today I was finally able to spread out the sheet, and lo and behold they gave me a sheet that is 126" long. By my math that means I can cut it in half and have two sheets that are 54" by 63" giving me a small overlap along the long edge of the table. It also means I can use one on my secondary gaming table (1/2 a ping pong table) Oh joy oh bliss oh lucky horse shoe buried up my....

So here is the sheet with some models on it. I do kind of like the light blue colour, not to bright not to dark. I had thought about staining it to give variable patches of blue, but I may just leave it for now. Any thoughts?

4Ground Fort

 As promised, a crappy video about the 4Ground fort (soon to be OOP?)

 

 It does not have full flexibility to rearrange the fort, pretty well one layout, which is fine by me.

Outpost fort 4ground

 

So, this arrived sometime before Christmas and was quick;y assembled.  It was an easy build, and despite coming from 4ground will require additional painting, and 'sanding'. While it has some texture on it and some colour it is less than what one normally see from a 4ground product. Now to be fair it is a line of products sold through 4ground so is different. What is also different is it comes with several packs of powder that one is expected to apply to the surface of the model.  

Oh how I look forward to that!

However this project is on the back burner for now as I continue to work on the Analogue challenge. Then again,  it would be worth 80 points...

 

 

 

Newly arrived items to be built

 

Received my Kickstarter package a week or so ago, thought it was time for a post. The Lurkers from the Deep for 7TV by Crooked Dice is based on the type of New England villages as described by H P  Lovecraft. Along with the building they released a number of new figures to complement these models. They also included a funky VHS tape container, that holds the scenario rules, markers and additional cards to be used in a game of 7TV. I opted for the buildings only, as I already have plenty of Deep ones, and Hybrids. The lighthouse was the item that attracted me the most, but the overall look of all the buildings also had some appeal.

 I have had a scenario in mind for quite a few years involving a raid on Innsmouth, and these buildings will certainly help bring that project to life. They are a mix of dilapidated and intact buildings,  much like the people that hover between soundness and decadence. 

The buildings are by Sarissa, and promise to be relatively straightforward to assemble. The details on the 2 that I have opened looks good, and they should be fun to build and to use. The lighthouse is segmented, so each section can be separated from the other, thus giving full access during play, and will make it easier to store. 

 

 

 

Prison walls go up

 

 Built these just the other day. No instructions but still easier to build than I was led to believe they would be...

A closer look at the Villa by Crescent Root Studios

I felt these deserved a better showcase than my unboxing/review video. So, I managed to clear off some space on one of my tables, dug out my old harbor/bay scenery (first seen here back in 2016's Pulp Alley Lagoon of Terror) and set up some trees and bushes. 

Unboxing and review of Crescent Root Studio's 'Villa' products

Well another unboxing video, go figure! This time you are there with me as I open boxes, and move paper to reveal...

Some truly excellent pieces of scenery from Crescent Root Studios.

Dollar store find...good for cover

 

 Found this during a brief excursion out of the house, looking beyond the flowers reveals two treasures!

Unboxing terraincrate2 pick 'n' mix

Thought it was time to do another video (probably not though)
Anyway here goes the grand reveal.

Some test paint jobs...

This, is the aquarium temple, a little bit bigger

Yet another item stting around gathering dust. Finally pulled out the Dremel and cut the base down. Original base was close to 2" thick so took off around 1 1/2 inches, and amazingly the temple is still level.

Something to post, not much but something

Finally finished off something, something that has been hanging around my basement, unboxed, for years.

So, it really has been out of a box sitting on a shelf for 3+ years, but amazingly, it was all intact.
Building it was not too much bother, the problem was painting it but because I chose a wrong base colour.

I was aiming for a grey base that would lighten up a bit, but instead of looking at source pictures before I started painting, I assumed I knew enough without research. Wrong! Most of the pics showed a whiter finish than this project was going to end up with. Also more of a tan/grey aging.

After painting a couple of layers on this I went back to the start, and worked my way up from a tan to a variety of off whites, a white and then a sepia wash.

I like it.

New how to make a mat, posted on my painting and building blog

I finlly start work on a 'fur' mat.

Starting some long put off projects

Recently we played a game of Battlegroup, a rule set that I am beginning to like. While setting up the table I did a quick inventory of my collection of trees, and other scenery bits. I have concluded it is woefully inadequate for my needs. However in my review I noticed a plastic container of trees, that I had picked up a year or two ago, but had never done anything with them. Well this week I took care of that box.
But, again, being unfocused I also started some other projects. I started with some CD based terrain items (as per Mel The Terrain Tutor), but after prepping five of them I remembered that I had some funky sheets of moss like terrain, so I paired up a CD with some off cuts of the terrain sheets, and started work on a bog/fell.