OK .. There may "just" be a case for AI .. Star Wars: A New Hope (1950s Version)

I cannot describe it .. you just have to watch it! (see link below .. "In a Galaxy Far, Far Away"): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxmlFW9IgYg

And if they made a feature length one, I think would watch it!

Random Sci-Fi Stuff: From the Photo Archive Bucket .. Dust Bucket World

The usefulness of some of the Revell Star Wars spin-off range 15mm(ish) miniatures is shown with this beautiful "Combat Shuttle". A pretty much snip and click piece. It is the focal point of a 'planet drop' scenario and an ideal centre piece for a skirmish around a local spaceport or emergency wilderness dust-off . Ramp down, the "Away Team" is covered by heavy cannons as they disembark (see below, sitting on a nice little diorama made from the local wargames club terrain and friends bric-a-brac science fiction extras): 

This reminds me of the 2000AD Cursed Earth style shanty town with "Muties" hiding in the shadows(see below, careful searching is required, kicking doors in and covering your arcs - notice, there is a platoon of Ground Zero Games [GZG] Star Grunt forces approaching in the background): 

Good stuff, I liked the feel of Star Grunt and the "Western in Space" feel to barren desert planets! 

Sci-Fi Additions

Post 'Star Gruntz' it was time to make a quick pass through the "old discarded toy-box" or rather the toys that the wife thought I had bought for the kids. Some "French PAV looking" cheap knock-off Matchbox/Dinky toys for example (see below, generic APCs IMHO waiting for "space" customisation):

Seen from a slightly different angle. Yes they are in the process of being undercoated Airfix Primer Grey - when I last had some! (see below):

Primed and all ready for a black or brown "Vallejo Dirty Wash". This is my cheap way on making the Yaeter 'land mobile' as well as 'air mobile' - er, on the very cheap. Perhaps I am suffering from 1940's style "Star Tank Fright", if such a thing exists (see below):

A "Star Wars Bi-Ped Walker" [soft plastic toy] gets the same treatment. Yes, nothing is sacred from the kid's toy boxes - you just have to be very quiet when you take them or play "swaps" with a video game (see below):

The "Clone Wars" Revell "Republic Gun Ship" was at least mine but despite being not 15mm I invoke the "anything flying can be smaller" wargame rule. I don't like the Republic colour scheme and it also needs a bit of filling - and it I am doing that I might as well go the whole hog and repaint the whole blooming thing (see below):

The Yaeter vehicle colour scheme is as per the "infantry suits": Satin/Gloss white with a dirty black/brown wash. If anything dirtier looking than the infantry - perhaps even with a bit of weathering rust courtesy of the Revell Weathering Pack!

Sci-Fi Project: The Yaeter (Part 3)

After the Airfix While Satin highlight I thought the (newly painted) Yeater were looking too parade ground shiny so I decided to give them a slight Yellow Sepia Vallejo Wash around the crevices and recesses. This meant a slight touch up of the Airfix Satin White was required, but IMHO was well worth it (see below):

The yellowy look gives the 'grime' effect I am looking for. Next up I will have to go back and do a bit of sand terrain basing before going back to do the "other twenty" before I start thinking of Xmas present additions to my forces from GZG (see below, nearly ready for the tabletop):

As I was painting the small GZG (New Israeli) Yaeter I couldn't help dabble with this 54mm Star Wars figure from my youngest sons collection. The colour schemes are very compatible and you can see where my inspiration was coming from. He is only party done. The top half is benefiting from the shiny Airfix Satin White. The rear has lots of kit details I may have to "just make up" (after all it is just Sci-Fi) or scan some Star Wars images (see below, may need to experiment with some washes and Humbrol weathering dust I pick up a while back but have not yest used):

One disturbing comment from my youngest son was that he preferred the smaller toys. I will have to watch out here as they may go AWOL!

Big Boys .. this is just a simulation (or rather a "painting exercise") .. not the start of a collection.

Tim Gow do not get excited I am NOT going 54mm "that is the way of madness" I was only practising some 'painting techniques' on my son's "big toy soldiers". There is no reason to be alarmed gentlefolk of the jury, this was a "one off", despite a curious feeling of enjoyment in not having to squint so much! (see below, two Airfix Australians, a Star Wars Storm Trooper and a Jedi milling around on the painting tray):

Note: I need to be concentrating on my naval for the Denmark Straits battle, you can see a pot of Tamiya Blue in the background ;)

Revell TIE Fighter (Completed)

It is nice to finish a project .. completely. I assembled the model back in 2016, then promptly decided it was too good for the kids to play with (aka break it, it is a plastic model not a Tonka toy) so it would have to "hang in display fashion". So I gave it a real dirty looking blackwash. So next was a clean up coat of Official Imperium Grey [for Imperial use only], with a little light grey highlight to follow (see below):

I was not satisfied with the perspex windows so black lined then painted grey over the top (see below):

Then followed the hanging from the ceiling pantomime (see below, note I am following the official Gerry Anderson hang it with cotton guideline, silver not black):

Job well done, one happy little chappie. Methinks more stuff may head to the ceiling. Not so sure the wife will let me use our ceiling in the same way ;)

Now back to putting those 28mm figures together!

X-Wings: MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

Just cracked open this starter level X-Wings game (only about ten years after everybody else around me had played it and raved about it). So I invited some old school friends around for some drinks and crisps and "had a ball" introducing them to "playing with toy (space) soldiers". Despite my best efforts the Rebel Scum won (no prises for guessing I was a TIE Fighter pilot) quite convincingly in fact, despite my intense cribbing of the rules (see below for some head-to-head lazer action):

The X-Wing YouTube video tutorials kicked things off nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuhwSma960Y

The key moment of the night came down to my TIE strike on the last remaining (battered) X-Wing with no shields remaining and only two hull points. I rolled good and he rolled poor dodging so I had two critical hits (see below, evil laughter "Ha, ha, I have you now"):

Except I manage to draw two critical hits that "cause no damage" but restrict his moves. I then soon disappeared in a blinding flash of light .... oh dear!

In short TIE Fighters need shields (kinda like a Japanese Zero fighter, fast and slinky but prone to exploding), X-Wings are like P-47 Thunderbolts and Y-Wings are like IL-2 Flying Tanks (much respect for that Trench Run on the Death Star boys). Looking forward to the next game, naturally I need more up-gunned 'baddy' models ;)

Note to self: Advanced TIE Fighter (see Darth Vader's) is equipped with Shields! A must have Xmas present for Santa's list

Micro Machines .. (another) cheap impulse buy

Passing time in "Home Bargains" is always a case of "can you spot the hidden wargame potential in 'end of line' discounted kids toys?" Cheap and cheerful. The Star Wars franchise provides many such moments particularly with the "MicroMachines" range, sets of three items in various dubious scales. One party pack included a "hover vehicle", so naturally I had to buy two (see below):

I was thinking them as logistic or light patrol vehicles for my Sci-Fi Star Gruntz.

TIE Fighter

Following on from seeing "The Force Awakens" my Sci-Fi hankerings were ignited and I resumed the "paused" Revell TIE fighter kit (see below):

It needed a complete Airfix acrylic (01) undercoat to cover the shinier than usual plastic (in my haste or rather excitement I forgot to wash in warm soapy water). I then decided to give it a deep space black wash (see above).

Star Wars X-Wing Xmas Gift

One of the coolest things I got from Santa was a Resistance X-Wing (see below):

Although it was clip-together it was technically in my eyes still a model as it came from Revell, bless them. Ahem, with the added bonus of "sound affects" (while the batteries last)

:)

Imperial TIE Interceptor: Star Wars

One of my favourite pastimes is clueless meandering through piles of model boxes in Model Shops, the more chaotic and disorganised a pile the better. Something shiny inevitably attracts my attention. In this case it was the unexpected pleasure of a finding a Revell TIE Interceptor (see below):

A nice catch to escort Lord Vader's special TIE when he takes on Red 2 and Red 6

:)

Painting Tray

A variety of toys on table (see below):

• Fairey Battle (mostly made and with it's base coat of paint)
• Renaissance Crossbowmen (Painted and Based)
• Mounted Renaissance Harquebusiers (slight bit of basing work to be done)
• Chaos Space Marines (Primes, Washed and in the throes of an experimental Gold and Red colour scheme)
• Five Mini Plaster Cast Lego Star Wars Figures (say no more)

They are cluttering up the bathroom shelf at the moment so I need to get a move on ;)

Er, Lego Spiderman and Wonder Woman?

I know, I know, it has to be seen to be believed, "How Far From Austerlitz?" as Alistair Horne would or could have said! (see below):

I picked these up at a Lego exhibition while on holiday and they were by far the cheapest items in the museum shop! Originally they came as white (blank) plaster-casts about 9cm by 4cm and my kids chose the characters which I had to paint free hand. Thank goodness for Google image search!

Ahem, I also have five tiny Star Wars ones to paint yet (Darth Vader, Luke, Princess Leia, Storm Trooper, Chewbacca .. watch this space), for the kids of course ;)

Note: No moving parts, so only a matter of time before they are chipped or smashed, despite the Satin Gloss varnish protection!

I Didn't Mean To Do All This Sci-Fi Stuff (Honest): Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle

It sort of just happened! Honest! Like a bolt of lightning from the blue. See this kit was innocently lurking around in the loft minding its own business gathering dust until I strayed across it. Then an "urge" simply took hold of me "Gotta make it". The Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle in 1:120 scale so it is almost, as in good enough for me, the correct scale for my 15mm Star Gruntz figures (see below):

I think it is pretty cool as the front opens up giving a landing bay. A bit of a mix between a Huey and a landing craft, although not in shot you can imagine teh 15mm Yaeter troopers poring out (see below)

Although it comes pre-painted, the act of cutting the parts off the sprues invariably chips and flakes some of the paint away. I am not too bothered as I want to "own it" in the modelling sense, so I was planning to add my own weathering affects to it. More so as my eldest son has taken rather a shine to it, introducing other bits of battle damage (aka drops) to it. Whether it even makes it to a wargame table is 50:50.

X-Wings: The Coolest of the Cool ('Red 2' and 'Red 5')

So I got myself another X-Wing fighter and finally put it together. I can now field 'Red 2' and 'Red 5' twin section (see below):

This is (yet) another Revell purchase from their "pocket money" series, but rather than pay full price (which seemed an awful lot of pocket money) I waited for a Hobbycraft sale last year. I'll be doing the same in January 2015 for other items, including perhaps another X-Wing, in the series.

Note: I never have seen a normal TIE fighter yet (although I do possess a model of Darth Vader's advanced fighter). The intention is to get three X-Wings (I need 'Red 3') and Darth's plus two TIE's for the 'Trench Battle' scene [shades of "633 Squadron"] as shown in the original Star Wars. May have to pay some attention to candidate rules soon!

Star Wars: Jedi Star Fighters

In the beginning (as in the Star Wars prequels, Epsodes I, II and III ) there were the 'original' Jedi Star Fighters: Obi-Wan_Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. I already had Anakin's but recently acquired Obi-Wan's (see below):

Small nippy little things, very good at blowing up the baddies. Same design for each Jedi but different colour schemes, which means if I see another couple in the bargain shops I could legitimately buy them for re-paint jobs. The snap together kits are speed-builds with decent detail, but I am always tempted to re-paint them.

Gruntz meets Star Wars

I found that when I inspected the "mountain of miscellaneous plastic" in the loft, I actually had more than the three Star Wars Republic Gunships than I expected for my "Yaeter" science fiction Gruntz project (see below):

Side on and close up Republic Gunships look quite impressive, troop lift capacity and close support rolled into one, but probably light on the armour side of things, er, we've all seen the films and theer is always a gunship or two that goes down (see below):

The click together models are impressively simple but still rather effective and fetching IMHO (see the "Diamond Dog" formation below):

I think the basic "Gruntz Squad" lift capacity is now fully covered (40 infantry figures), although I will keep an eye open for "something special" in the heavy weapons department

;)

Gruntz Force "The Terra Legion"

The Gruntz army of 40 figures (troopers), safely out of the reach of small children and animals on a bathroom glass shelf, which seemed a suitably Sci-Fi storage setting (see below):

Though Gruntz is mainly an infantry combat game a force still requires specialist elements. I have chosen an air element, as in  a "borrowed" Revell Star Wars (Attack of the Clones) kit. I am thinking of repainting it to s more bland dirtied Satin White scheme with plenty of weathering and washes (see below, I have another one to make up, one per wing of the force):

The basic Gruntz infantry close-up, the 40 figures are very nice "en masse" with sufficient variant poses to make two blocks/formations of troops 20 unique poses, which seems about right (see below):

In amongst the cool new 15mm kit from GZG is a more retro Airfix Apollo lander that I have deemed a "Command and Control" module, again weathering and washes are required  (see below):

Plenty of painting ahead in December, kind of a simple fun holiday task when Xmas TV gets too boring ;)

Star Wars

The Millenium Falcon rides again (yipee), courtesy of a Revell snap-together mini-kit (see below):

The excuse to snap this together was of all things a school project about erm, "Space". I might have been stretching the context to have a bit of weekend fun with my son ;)

Note: I did resort to the "let a responsible adult use superglue" to fix things I thought would 'pop-off'. I know it was advertised as a 'no-glue required kit', but neither the laws of physics or the consequences of kids playing with toys believe the marketing blurb ;)

Lego: Star Wars and Lego City builds

One of my "summer projects" was to sort out my eldest son's Lego collection (he has lots, but they are in pieces and it is all over the place) so we could finally find the right pieces when we needed them. Several wargaming "hobby boxes" and plenty of empty "ice-cream cartons" were conscripted into the task. The project was also to try and prove the point that you can make tons more 'stuff' than just what comes with the instructions on the side of each box.

The result, after a few tears after I was accused of taking over his collection (to be fair I probably did until I told off by the wife), was an interesting series of different 'things' (see below):

The "how to do it" instructions came from an App (search for "Lego Instructions" and you should see a free app or two).

Note: I still had to adapt the instructions to fit with the parts I had to hand, which I think is a valuable life skill to learn. Another point to note though, was that despite having a collection which I thought of as "considerable" there were several parts I could not lay my hands on. In my day (of twos, fours and eight blockers) that would have been unheard of, you might run out of them but you would have had some of them (perhaps not in the right colour)!. Anyway I think James May would have been proud of me and in the end my son thanked me.

:)