Stylish Bugger more like...

Hoi,

Mister Rosbif from http://rosbiffrog.blogspot.com/ has nominated me for the "Stylish Blogger Award". Thanks for that! Now while I am really not at all sure I deserve this grand award at all, it gives me the chance to thank some people, tell something about myself to bore you with and point out to you some great blogs.

Now As mister Rosbif says on his blog these are the rules:

Apparently there are some rules attached to this thing;

  1  Thank and link back to the person giving you the award (done)

    2 Share seven things about yourself. (done)

    3 Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award. (done)

    4 Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

 7 things about myself:

1. 1. I am going to be a dad soon...

2. As a history teacher I'm surrounded by history pretty much all day and I think that is where my love for  Sci-Fi and Fantasy originated: as a counterweight for all the historically accurate stuff. Sci-Fi and Fantasy give you the option of painting mini's the way YOU want it! 

3. At first I had a website, lamely called "True Colours" which I found a pain to update regularly and so this blog was born.I think a blog is a decent showcase of your interests and hobby's but a bit less open to all then a forum. Actually I don't really promote my blog I like people to get there by accident or by mouth to mouth referral.

4. Periods in history I dislike are not many but mostly include Old Mesopotamian Cultures and Old Southern American Cultures like Maya's and Aztecs and the sort. Sorry can't help it...

5. In some time I will start a new plastic soldier project, I'm not going to  spoil too much but it'll be in 28mm and will entail an army for "Hail Caesar" the new Black Powder Ancients variant. It's therefore also historically accurate...ish...

6. over the years I have gained some great Dutch gaming friends and I'd like to thank them here for helping me move on in the hobby: First one is A.M. he's introduced me to all sorts of games and gaming styles and has been my buddy for around 10 years now. I can still hear myself saying "Nah I won't be playing that game far too intricate for me" when he introduced me to Classic Battletech, now I own mini's for 5 factions... hmmm

Mark is a co-worker annex gaming-buddy turned real-life friend as well, he feels like the older brother I never had. I have a younger one, brother that is, and wouldn't do without him, (love you bros!) but it's nice to not be the eldest once in a while ;-) Jan Willem or Pijlie I first encountered at the DUCOSIM games-con and was taken a-back by the grand way in which he approaches gaming and making demonstration- and participation tables, since he lives quite a way from here we see each other way too little but sometimes I think that's all for the best, since we would be at the games all round the clock.  Koen is a recent addition to the inner circle and is great for sheer fun in gaming, with his relaxed devil-may-care outlook on things and since he does live closer by we get the chance to game at a more regular interval.

7. Other people who have influenced me a lot over the years are many of course and I will probably forget heaps of them but Hans (http://www.historyinminiature.nl/) is one of my oldest hobby friends and still going strong, Martin of www.miniatuurwereld.com has been supplying me with figures, good company and the occasional attendance to a fair or con for about as long. 

Another old friend whom I haven't spoken in a long time is Charles (http://www.kesselaer.com/laligne/frameset%20engels.htm) who has shown me the workings of the hobby indeed, thanks mate! It would be bad form to leave out my German-speaking friends Uwe, Tom, Thomas and Michael I have been corresponding with them on and off for quite some time, great friends with a lot of knowledge, very decent figures and a lot of good humour in store! Yes Germans do have a good sense of humour, well granted not all of them but these ones do! 

Now on to my recommended blogs

10 Blogs:

Now I could easily do more then 10 but let's start with these and see where it'll end right? I cannot help but state some blogs also mentioned by Rosbif already but they are very good indeed.

1. Uwe from http://historyin172.blogspot.com/ he's really the man for promoting the 1:72 scale hobby by making masters for new ranges and sharing uniform information with un-ending professionalism.

2. One also mentioned by Rosbif is Francesco at http://franznap.jigsy.com/  he's doing some great sculpting, the results of which might actually be bought from him soon.

3. Shad at http://derkleinesoldat.blogspot.com/ is also a really nice bloke with a good and frequently updated blog. 

4. Duncan of http://osborneradloff.blogspot.com/ shares my love for all things Colonial Warfare and does some great things with our beloved 1:72 plastics.

5. Mister Secundus at http://iron-mitten.blogspot.com/ makes for a brilliant read and the cartoons are just simply fantastic!

6. Scott at http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/ is a joy to follow and I can't believe how detailed his painting is on those Braille-scale mini's of 10 and 6mm!

7. Doc at http://docsartofwar.blogspot.com/ is always a joy to read and I specially like the look of his blog. 

8. Mister Carmen at http://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.com is some sort of painting guru surely! I came along his blog searching for Prehistoric figures and skulk the blog frequently, it´s just darn inspiring the way he gets the atmosphere of whatever project he´s begun across over the www.

9. Matt at http://matratmatt.blogspot.com/ his blog I found while researching the battle for Mons in 1914 when preparing a demonstration game with Pijlie, great stuff and shame that the Grand Manner blog was closed!

10. On a more personal note this blog http://italktoomuchtoo.blogspot.com/ by A.M. is not always easy to read for you English/speaking people but maybe that´s all for the better, still I enjoy it very much. 

Now the big task of contacting everyone I nominated starts  so see you later!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: nothing since I had to concentrate too hard on what I was writing... oh and it's just 07.46 o' clock here

ATZ Battlereport

Hoi,

Yesterday was Queen's Day here in the Netherlands and part of the celebrations is a flea market which is held in practically every town and while I like perusing flea markets it was also a good opportunity to invite a friend for some gaming and painting.

So we started a game of All Things Zombie. For this game I adopted the role of GM and devised the following scenario. Somewhere in the woods of Northern America, a secret army lab had concocted a "supervirus" which, with all predictability, caused all the base's inhabitants to turn into zombies. Some of the scientists of the base succeeded in getting away and seeking refuse in a secluded village. There they boarded up some log cabins and waited for the cavalry.

My friend Mark played a 4 man rescue team which had to rescue 3 scientists from 2 separate cabins and extract them off table.Here are some pictures we took.

The team advance on the village

First zombies are sighted

 Different angle of the village

 One of the troopers uses his shotgun to good effect and blasts 3 undead to their end...

After splitting up, the team nears the target building from the left flank

 Zombies appear to be harder to crack then thought and the shotgun trooper is overwhelmed and eaten

The shooting draws more zombies near. Since I had only painted up 10 male zombies and 10 zombie dogs I had to resort to using unpainted ones

Zombies start gathering in great number around turn 8

A second trooper succumbs to the undead-attack.

Right about this time the batteries of my camera went empty so no more pictures, sorry. What happened was that the dead trooper drew most of the zombies for a feast and gave the rest of the team a chance to get two of the scientists out off their hide-out. They then went for the last building with just a small amount of undead in pursuit.

They managed to free the remaining target and call in extraction by helicopter before turn 10 ended. A very fun game to play indeed!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "AC-DC Live" By AC-DC

Moritori Nullumus Mori II

Hoi,

Last Update I promised you pictures of my Foundry Roman Gladiators. Well they're done now and here they are. Before we take a closer look I have to make some comments of things I'll do different next time. The base sizes differ because I've painted the African gladiator separately from the rest and placed him on a smaller base. The wounded guy is on a round base since he wouldn't fit on a square one, this also gave me the option of adding a shield as added interest on the base. Now I know there would probably be no grass in the arena but the bases were really bare and so I added the grass to break up the empty space.

The idea behind the colour schemes is that they are paired off in 3 different colours: 2 blues, 2 whites and 2 reds. Either they're from 3 different lanista's or one lanista has divided the gladiators from his ludus in 3 teams. The shield designs are more personal to depict the gladiators own preferences.
To me these chaps turned out to be a test of skin-tone painting skills. I think I partly succeeded; both the blue gladiators turned out okay, the others which I tried to give a more Mediterranean skin-tone turned out too light.

Given all that I'm pretty contend with their overall appearance, so without further ado here they are!

A group-shot:

The Blues: an African- and Germanic Tribesman

The Reds, my personal favourites due to their armour and the shield.

The whites.

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "Tron Legacy, the soundtrack" by Daft Punk

Moritori Nullumus Mori!

Hoi,

Finally, another update! I've been terribly busy with all kinds of stuff not hobby related. Today I found a little time to finish off one of the little projects I had lying around being some Foundry Roman Gladiators

http://wargamesfoundry.com/historical_ranges/single_packs/ancients/roman_-_gladiators/circus_favourites_glad013/?sector_id=12

I'll take pictures asap to put up here.

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "Roots" by Sepultura

More Nappies!

Hoi,

Some time ago I posted pictures of HäT Napoleonic Prussian Jäger, now I have finished their command stand, so here they are. I also got round to flocking their bases.

Closing up the Allied files is a HäT Austrian Landwehr trooper converted to Brunswick Avant Garde with a head from the HäT Brunswick Infantry box.

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "Industrial Silence" by Madrugada

Bag o' Babes...

Hoi,

Yesterday I got my missing zombie figures in the mail. They are some female zombies from the same series as my dogs and male zombies.

Close up they look like this, but let's be honest: who wants to get that close?

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "The Wee Free Men" a Pratchett Audio book read by Tony Robinson

Napoleonics galore!

Hoi,

Some time ago I was staring at some of my Napoleonic artillery bases and couldn't loose a certain feeling of un-ease. I have always based my artillery (arty for short) on circular bases and they just didn't get the feel right. I love the arty bases done by the Perry's and Front Rank but couldn't get why mine didn't look like that. And then it hit me: they are on rectangular bases. So here are the results of my trials with a rectangular base. Some Revell RFA with both a six pounder and a howitzer. The guns was left off the base so that I can switch between guns but also use the gun with the limber when mounted for transport.

Howitzer

Side view 

Front view

another side view

With six pounder

Some casualty markers made using esci and airfix figures

Cheers Sander,


Listening to: "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes