Finish it! - WIP TT Combat Warehouse

 Date started: October 2024

Original topic: Warehouse for STALKER

 

 Right, I need the space for a Groupbuild so this one has to be finished by the end of the weekend tops. Need to finish the glazing today so it all can dry overnight, then final detailing on Saturday, Sunday at the latest.

A Daytrip to the TSA's Bring and Buy 5th of December 2025

 After weighing in if I should or not, I decided to take the trip anyway. Even if I would find nothing of my liking I could fill up my jerrycans with petrol (it's 40 cente per litre cheaper in Belgium, so yeah....).

Weather was pretty miserable, roads are still very Belgian (if you know, you know) and the trip uneventful.

It was a bit busy, as always, but not completely overcrowded. 

My most important purchase that had just been put out when I was about to leave (bloody typical) is a complete army for for AK-47. After a bit of back and forth I got it for a bargain. Army had been painted but never used in game (where have we heard that before...). I need to go over a few things and maybe get some magnet sheething for them and put them into their own RUB. I have the extra rules for this army so that is perfect :)

I paid about the same as it would cost me to order this, with shipping and the hit I would get from Customs, so.....happy. 

A addition to my rulesset collection to cross off my by now ancient Wanted list. According to Piers I have a mega bargain, and these sell for a whole lot more online. Well, into my cabinet it goes. (also I love it when sellers mark their stuff with a label and price, especially with my eyes!)

Lots of spares. 3 for 15 and the other box for 10.  I have gifted myself Baron's War and some boxes for it for Christmas, so these will go into my stash for later. 

Just for research purposes....not starting that period.


  

I picked up a blister in which recognised some Ghar, so for 4 euros I decided to take a risk. I ended up with 4 drones, a Distortion (?) cannon and 1 crew, and some Rebels, all outcasts. They should make a nice warband for a SciFi game I reckon. Nest to keep them in a bag to spend a hour cleaning them all up, assembling them and priming them white as pale skin seems to suit them. 

A really old Warlord Carden Loyd Carrier. I thought it was a MG carrier, but it seems to be just the normal unarmed tractor version. maybe it is destined to become a light gun or mortar tow for my VBCW BUF (something I have had in my mind for maybe 20 years now....) so maybe just make the occasional item to scratch that itch would be smart as I doubt I will ever make a full force for it. Something I, if I'm honest, should do more often instead of overinvesting? Also, why on earth does Warlord charge you 24 euros for a new one? These things are smaller than a matchbox!

After some Googling I found out this is a Cannone da 75/27 modello 11 with a 4 man crew. I pitched the idea to make scenery for The Last War, but maybe this too can make it into the VBCW box. Who knows. 3 euros was again a bargain. 

 

I saw these fences and thought they would work fine for Stalker etc. Just remove some of the flock here and there and add some of my own plants. Add some weathering but otherwise fine. You can never have enough fencing. 20 euros for the box. 
 
Then some books that my group had an interest in that I won't bother you with. Rogue Trader stuff :)

All in all a nice day out, but man I'm not very healthy. Took me a few hours to recover after arriving back home and tbh I'm still so damn tired. Did some glueing of MDF parts and a wash over the big gun I'm working on but that was it. Maybe I can get more done tomorrow. Well, something anyway. 

Pulping in 20mm - brainstorming

I've been looking on and off for Pulp in 20mm ever since I discovered Pulp Alley 2-3 years ago. But 1 hobbyist doesn't make a crowd so I've kept myself buy looking at possible options (plane, car, miniature) and there is actually quite a lot to be had.


Rewind now to a few weeks ago, and I was chatting to Evin about Pulp Alley and Pulp in general and how no one does it in 20mm. He was quite enthousiastic about the idea and getting back into 20mm, so we said, let's do this. So, what did we plan?


For both of us, a floatplane is the quintessential Pulp aircraft, so we will both starting from that. He likes the German army as a pulp force, but didn't want to do something like SS, so he asked me to order him some Britannia Gebirgsjager as a start for his pulp team. All dressed in field caps and carrying back packs, these chaps are quite characterful indeed, and weapon wise they don't look out of place in 1935-1938. For his aircraft, he is thinking big, he is looking at a Ju-52 with floats... a big bird indeed! He's looking around for characters to lead his team right now. As he's quite busy with Inquisimunda as well, it might be some time before we see something from him.


Now for me....as the Germans are taken, but I do want a "bad guy", what options are there for me? Well, after about 2 minutes of brainstorming I had that figured out. (Evil) scientist of course, finally a use for some of the Hydra robots that I have (tiny ones) as well as some headswaps on other figures. I have a Do-18 that looks the part, but I'm looking at something sleeker and more befitting a science team, so I have cast my gaze towards a Bv-138 Flying Clog. It can fit more people (crew of 6 plus 10) and could be a advanced prototype (which was built in 1937). I haven't got one though (yet). Robots and toys are no problem, and scientists are to be had from various companies. A great artifact hunting team!


Second option is back to the BUF. I already have men painted up, and finding troops and characters for it is no problem. A Supermarine Walrus would be nice, or a Stanraer, if I can find one, though there is nothing wrong with the Do-18 in black colours. I thought about a Catalina, but that is too modern for my tastes and this team. Everything would be useful for the VBCW. In bigger games they could buddy up to the Germans or the Scientists.


Third option would be the Church of England guys cause I really like their colour scheme. The Do-18 could be theirs as well, and again finding people for it is not a problem. A Church of England team would be perfect for hunting (and destroying) mysterious artefacts, and fits in with the VBCW.


No hurry for any of this, long term plans and simple, small plans at that. 5 Men and 1 aircraft (waterlined) is enough for what we have planned.

Back to the BUF

In May 2011 I finished my first 2 models for the BUF, namely these:

(You are looking at Reginald Petersbury-Archer and his chauffeur Ainsley Welkes)

And then did nothing with them. But every year or so the fever returns and I want to build some more kit for it. Having recently aquired 20mm scale BUF decals (Thx Taylor!) I thought it was time to get the ride done, plus some escorts.

Prelimanary work sofar:
Propaganda car with scratchbuilt speakers (recycled Vickers Light tank cuppolas)

 And 2 escort Vickers Light tanks with twin MG's

 I'm thinking the main colour for these will be grey, but lighter then German grey. Must do a few tests before I decide. Maybe even a camo job.

BUF Commander and aide

5 layers of matte and still satin, GW Gloss spraycan be damned! Oh well.

My BUF alter ego and his aid and driver. No names yet. Car is in the shop too.

Left (me!) is a Britannia model, the one on the right is a Battlefield model. I like irony, as they are both soviets! I gave myself a pair of glasses but that was it. Armbands came out pretty good too. And I drink my tea with 1 sugar and a dash of milk, thank you.

Edit: Thx to Ferry, they now have the following names: Reginald Petersbury-Archer and his chauffeur Ainsley Welkes

Attention span

I swear to God, if "gets easily distracted" was something you can add to a resume, it would be on top of mine.
Un-be-lievable. One of the, or even the main one, reasons that I never seem to finish stuff is because due to my gnat-like attention span there is always something else across the fence. And I'm not referring to the grass.

This is however the reason why I started this blog in the first place, as the Ooh! Shiney! syndrome is common with many gamers, but I for one have tired of it. Still, that doesn't mean it won't happen from time to time, and what do you know, it happend again yesterday.

So what happend? BUF happend. No, not the B-52 (thats a BUFF), but these guys:

British Union of Fascists

Don't worry, I haven't gone right wing all of a sudden. In the last few months, I've been browsing the laF forum and more recently a article in Miniature Wargames about A Very British Civil War, or VBCW for short. Something clicks inside my head when I read about it or see pictures. I've tried telling myself I should just look at the pretty pictures and be done with it, for a few very simple reasons:
- It's aimed at 28mm
- It's more of a Brit thing
- Who are you going to play with?

Still, I could not get it out of my head, so grabbed my bits box to see if I had anything suitable in 20mm to do up "just for fun" . 10 minutes later I had 5 models and a post up at The Guild enquiring for possibilities in 20mm. Which turned out to be a lot, there seems to be more available in Gods own scale then in 28mm. Which in turn nudged me to paint up 2 models, 1 being a representation of myself. The gloss varnish on them is drying now, I'll matte them tomorrow when it has fully hardend. Don't worry, you will see them.

Piers has already kindly offered to use his BEF to shoot them on sight so they will be with me on my trip to Ireland next week. And I'm hoping this is the end of my interest in the VBCW as I have more then enough work to do in other periods to be spending time on yet another one!

Now, to end this ramble, I have a short attention span. I've gobbled up a lot of information about the VBCW in a short time, and with these 2 models I hope to have fulfilled my curiosity. I should not spend any time on this when other projects, with deadlines no less, demand a lot of effort to get them done in time. So here goes nothing....