Sunday, July 31, 2011

Unit Cards! Some for USE ME.

Gruntz is now released, and one of the things I like about this rules set is its use of unit cards. As I plan on playing different rules I want to have unit cards for those rule as well. So I gave Magic set Editor a try. This is a free tool to make CCG cards. By default all I needed was to download the full install version.

You will have to play with the template file till you find a card style you like, and will hold the information you want.    
Here is a simple look at the interface, showing one of my cards for USE ME.

Now here are six of the units cards I have created for my USE ME army. Mind you I need to change the color from red to some thing else.



There are a number of things you can do with unit cards like this. There and be used for blind activation, hidden deployment, quick reference just to name a few items.

Noel  


   



Saturday, July 23, 2011

Photos Using my new Light Box.

 So with the new light box I decided to flock the bottom this morning, then after is dried take some photos.

In this photo I have my APC unloading tech ops.
Close up of the team.
I like the close up of the second guy to the right.
More of the ops team.
Now the russ tank next to the ops team.
My Trike units.
Trike close up.
Over all I like the new light box, but I need to make a few tweaks. One is the lighting, I need a bigger bulb. Two I have to place the minis closer to the back of the light box. Three get more backdrops.

Noel 




Google + accounts once more.

Hi All,
I offered this before but did not realize that when you leave a comment it dose not put you email address there for me. So if you would like a Google + (facebook killer) account please send me and email.
noelvh AT gmail DOT com
Once I get the email I will add you right away.

I have created a Google + circle just for miniature war games.

Noel 

Friday, July 22, 2011

Behemasaur, and My New Light Box!

With the Behemasaur, being so big and not getting good photos I needed a new light box. I sent exactly 1/2 of an hour last night and built one. From the images below you can see a big difference in the photo quality. I do still have to flock the ground, but the light box it self is complete. So what did I use? I had a bucket the same size as a 5gal as far as its diameter, but not as tall. I think it is a 3.5gal bucket. I then use white foam for the bottom, and back on the inside. I spray glued them down. I then put tin foil on the inside by the opening, as a reflector, the back drop is a photo from google image search printed on legal paper. And that is it. Once the ground is flocked it will look really good. Now I put the photos before the project cause they look great.

Ps these photos are only taken with my Balckberry Storm II 3.2 mp. Not to bad.






























































































Noel

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sneak peek! Orc BEHEMASAUR!

Try as I might I have not been able to finish this new Orc weapon. So I am going to post a sneak peek at it.
The photo is totally crap as it is to big to fit in my light booth. This also means I will be making a new bigger light box to take its photo.


















This monster is an old Void miniature as seen below. I have converted it to be use by my 15mm Space Orcs. I have added fantasy trolls as the side gunners, and did not use the top section from the Void howdah. Instead I created a new tank try howdah using bits from a 28mm tank, and a WWII Polish armored car turret. Throw in a Orc in the top and bam one hell of a Orc weapon system. What's let to do? I would like to finish up on some detail, and add a few more bitz to finish it all off. Mostly is needs detailing done to it, and that is ware I will spend the most of my time on it.

















Noel

Monday, July 18, 2011

Cygnus III

This is some of the back story for my 172nd Royal Rifles aka The Praetorian Guard!

The battle fleet was in such disrepair, and  forced to make a quick jump. It was during this jump that they discovered that the nav-system suffered from damage, and dropped them far short of they intended system. They should have dropped out in there home and this was not it. It was the barren system of Cygnus III.

Cygnus III
A dust ball of a planet, with very little resources on the surface of the planet. The fleet made up of five broken down battle ships, sent in some probes. With the data back from the probes the fleet council meet to go over the data. There are resources here and plenty of them. We will just have to get to it. As it tuns out about a mile under the surface was a rich layer of minerals, and water. The fleet got the few engineers together and they came up with a plan. Send rocks (kinetic energy weapons) down on an angle to pre-drill a hole for us. They now needed to find the most likely spot for the hole. As most of the planet was just desert, there were some mountains regions ware the water was a bit closer to the surface, and had some type of vegetation. So it was set they would drill right in the middle of the southern mountains.

Five years later..........

This is now the home world for the 172nd, and one of the best arid training world ever settled. 172nd had bases all over the southern part of the world, as the north was way to harsh for human life. The 172nd, and remnants of other units that first settled here have created a new type of army, one that adapts to other units in the face of war. Made of a mixed unit, and army types this new 172nd has proven is self. They have been training new units for a three now, and most of them went right into combat with great success.

Present...............

Orbital sensors have been knocked out. Orange ball made impact in the northern part of the mountain range, send out the scouts.

Report back from scouts.

Alpha alpha this is fox fox........ We have seen movement on the edge of the northern regions about 500k north of the mountain range. There is what appears to be a new mountain there in the open waste. Shit that was not there last year. Fox fox this is Alpha Alpha copy, and continue north......... Report back at first light tomorrow...... Fox fox roger report back at first light.........

Alpha alpha this is fox fox we are with in  5k of this mountain........ Fox fox this is alpha alpha copy that........ Alpha alpha this is fox fox we have confirmed sittings of green skins, I say again we have seen Orcs........ Alpha alpha copy that you have confirmed an Orc sitting....... Do you have any numbers???? Fox fox come in fox fox this is alpha alpha come in....... Alpha this is fox we have been spotted and are pulling back,,,,,,, shit shit what is that shit shit shit it's friggen huge!!!!! What the Frig is that thing......... Fox fox what is it you see repeat WHAT DO YOU SEE????????? Alpha frig this man.... it's it's part tank part lizard thing,,,, shit shit its running towards us shit shit shit!!!!!!!!!!!! Fox fox this is alpha alpha retreat retreat retreat........ Fox fox do you copy, repeat Do YOU COPY!!!!!!!


At this time all we know is the Orcs are here, and they have new weapons............


Noel.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Review Time.

Well I have a few things to review and I thought I would do it in one post rather than more.

Gruntz.......

I had a hole review written up then scrapped it, as it makes the rules look really bad. So I am going to split it up.

The rules are well written (few typos, and errors), great lay out, and over all a great set of rules. I give the rule as they stand a 4.5 out of 5. We all knew this!!!!!

The PDF!! This is the only real issue with the rules. Try as I did it is not print friendly!! I have been buying PDF rules for years, and never had as many issues as I did printing these rules out. First run I printed as is, and took over an hour with the pages not fitting on the paper. The second, and third tires I had to scrap as the froze the printer before it even printed the first page. The 4 print was a heavily tweaked BW print that still took 45 minutes to print. The real problem is the spooling of the print job expanding the PDF to over 1.6gb of data. So I give the PDF a solid 2 out of 5.

I would not tell any one to pass on this great set of rules but, print it out with care, and no color. Sorry Robin I have to say what I feel.


Next review is on the Web Store called The Scene. I have been looking at them since they acquired the MJ miniatures a few years ago. I was hoping that my first order would have been some of those minis, but no I never got my order in. So In building my Praetorian army I was looking for some weapons. I decided to pick up some mortars, and heavy machine guns. While I was on the web page I also picked up 2 squads of  there
US Special Forces.

I placed the order on the 28th of June, and received them on the 13th of July. From the UK to the US in 15 days. I did not opt for special shipping. So they get an A+ for service. The weapons. They are a bit large for the standard 15mm miniature, but they were made for there Orc line. I will be using the Mortars for my guard army but not sure about the machine guns. I may just save the machine guns for the Orc I have. So I give the quality of these weapons a big 4.5 out of 5. They are big but they were mad to be for a bigger race. Now the Special forces. Love them......... Only issue is the bases are rough and flashy. I am still going to give them a 5 out of 5.

So over all I love the Gruntz rules, not so much the PDF file. Love The Scene for service, and products.

Pleas look for the minis to be up here soon.

Noel

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I am on Google + now, want an invite?

I just got an invite to the close beta of Google's + the face book killer (as per Google), and would like to give any one Invites if they would like one. Leave a comment here and I will send you one.

Noel

Monday, July 11, 2011

kit bashed mobile artillery WIP.

Over the weekend I was down in the painting room and found another Gear Karig mini I was not going to use. I opened the clam shell to see 2 large cal cannons, and these small tread units. I put 2 and 2 together and ended up with this.

In this photo I was forced to use a dying guy (the pith helmet guy) as I did not have any others I could use. I cut out his rifle, and repositioned his stance. The second guy is perfect as he is carrying the ammo crate. I was trying to put some kind of shield on the front, and what ever I did just did not look good so I keep it off. Click on the image for a larger image.














Noel

Monday, July 4, 2011

My Guard army

I have been working on the army list and decided to lay it all out. This is what I have so far with more still coming.

Army with two tank squads, two walkers, two sniper squads, one fast attack bike squad, two full platoons with 5 squads each, a mortar team, and the command squad. In the upper left corner is another gear karig tank I m going to use as a indirect rocket tank. Stuff on order is machine guns, mortars. I need
APC, and units for the machine guns,



































































Noel

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Happy 4th of July Post!!

I spent some time cleaning the garage this weekend, and found some old minis and stuff. I did not find much in the way of 15mm stuff, but I did find some of my forgotten 28mm stuff. One thing I found was my Gorkamorka fort I picked up on ebay last year. I also picked up two buggies with the fort. I hope one day to play GM, even if I convert it to 15mm.

I also found a Grear Kreag walker I had. I will be adding this to my Praetorian guard. I know it is onl one walker but better to have one then not to use it.

I have also started to listed to one f my Fathers day gifts The Starter by Scott Sigler. Scott is a NY Time best selling author, who strated out pod casting his work for free on Podiobooks. I have been hooked on him for years, and my wife gave me is second book of the football seires he created. I loved the first one called the Rookie and I think you can find it in Itunes from free. So if you are a football fan, and a SciFi fan you will love these audio books. He also dose them in print.

 

Noel