What to sculpt next? + Switching to G+?

Christmas times passed, there is still one more battle report to be told and it looks like my New Year's Eve will be busy and presumably very hazy (hope I won't try to get run off by cars or convert an advertising column to Catholicism ~ in case you wonder, that actually happened). 

So the first question is, should I connect the blogger profile with Google+ or not? What are the advantages? I've seen some of my readers switch to that version and need some advice on the matter.

And here are some random ideas what to sculpt next:

• Still thinking of upgrading some Mars 30YW Imperials,
• or converting ACW/late 19th century figures to steampunk (speaking of which, I've completed the Airfix tank and will post photos next week)
• Civilians - 19th century era to be mixed with my ongoing stuff
• Space Troll British Rifles - space trolls in Napoleonic rifle outfits
• Anti-Tank Dolphins (carried in small pools, in case dogs don't work)
• Canadian Mounted Bear Police - because we know, all Canadians are half bears (but at least 30%)
• Dorfainen Yellow Islands native tribes / World in Chaos archipelago headhunters - it's the same, hungry savages not to be disturbed unless armed with superior firepower.

It's planned that I play a game of both SDS and Inter Arma with my JCW Imagi-Nations troopers for fun and see how can I improve the DIY rulebooks. Some serious censorship has already been done to them but they're closer and closer to perfection. You will see in the next report that bad luck really decides battles (this time bad luck was on my side). For later gaming, I think I'll buy some Alban figs first (especially the Sharpe look-alikes) and then maybe some Victrix as I don't need a full box and they sell separate sprues.

Winter of 10596 campaign - page added

I've added a secluded page in which I'll follow the events of my winter campaign. Will sign in later with reports from the terrain and figure painting front, too.

Winter of 10596 Campaign

Off to a campaign with the completed collection of my minature armies- Somewhere in the East Mountains in Jackewline, a few, tired but experienced Jackewlinese regiments are facing new Dorroseani units coming from the border. The campaign will begin tomorrow.

Objectives at the beginning of the campaign:

-Dorrosean: the main army with its four regiments is commanded to break through the Jackewline line and destroy all opponents facing them. The southern units shall protect the rears and flanks of the main attack force and capture/loot anything they find in the undefended or lightly defended villages.

-Jackewline: The Maquirech and Sannereid Regiments are supposed to counter the enemy attack (which at the moment they are unaware of) and rout or destroy all enemy troops within the area to secure it.

Roles

-I will conduct the main movements and decide which unit acts how in the strategic map while in the battlefield my brothers would take charge (of course with my supervision).

Legend:

Unit sign with dot over it - Regiment

Unit sign with darker dot - Irregular Regiment (in this case, Dorroseani militia)

Unit sign with golden dot - Guard Regiment

Unit sign w/o dot - secluded Battalion

Villages - black-red squares

There is an old Fergh (fort) NE of the two main Jackewline regiments which the opponents desire to take for a base of future strategic movements.

Roads - brown lines

Paths / passages - dotted lines

Woods - green lines

Hills - ochre curves

Water - blue lines

Additional terrain, Planning Phase

During the Xmas holiday I shall tend to:

• Finish the matchstick church
• Create scratch-built roads (using the rest of the sand I have, cause there won't be any chance to resupply till the weather gets warmer, unless I want to make a mess with drying it) -yet completely missing from the table (used to replace them with cards)
• More buildings for battlefield versatility (small and bigger scale either) built from that lot of spare notebook covers and other cardboard accessories

Occupation and plans for the next few weeks

These two weeks are going to be busy, have a lot of tests scheduled and they're all stuffed to the same few days midweek, kinda studying a lot. I haven't given up my plans on some handcrafted Mesr Wars AFVs, I'm getting home the following weekend and will have a look around what to use. About the clockworks, I'll execute a search in the antique shops and flea-markets whenever I'll have time.
Planning to create a new type of Cossacks game with more terrain modifications (villages and roads) and significantly smaller units (15 foot per battalion, 10 cavalry per squadron, 1 gun per battery) and develop into strategic maneuvers. I also have some more papercraft material so may do some buildings as well.

Off: Greetings to the new 'regular reader', DIZASTER156!

Mesr Wars vehicles and thoughts on Games Day

Mesr Wars vehicles
1. The AFVs must have some visible clockworks on the surface for coolness (although I'm not quite sure how they help in combat). Basically I could put my hands on some sorted-out or crashed clocks and watches to acquire some, and combine them with existing models, such as a KV (still hanging around this idea, may try it once). They'd also need chimneys for the steam engines. - Planning to go to a close-by flea market to find other useful material.
2. Multi-turreted vehicles and extremely high "siege towers". Let the imagination speak and use unhandy designs.

Games Day 2011
Just wished to have an overall sight of the events and how and what was happening, so hadn't settled down to play any games, mostly watched. Some were eventually slow, like the Fifteen Years War and WWI table, while others went on too fast to catch up while wandering between tables. Next time (as I'm quite sure I'm gonna go next year too) I'd like to spend more time in there, sit down and play a game (preferably historical). By the way it's hell awesome how those figures could be! (This oft reminds me of improving my skills with the brush).

How could steam engine 'steampunky' tanks be made?

I'm planning to do the Mesr Wars (read up this previous entry about the wars and eras on Dorfainen), but above all I'm in need of some heavy land vehicles. So what are the possibilities, I thought today (as I also oughtta post a blog entry following up some 'radio silence').

1. Scratch-built from paper. The only problem is the wheels of the track. On the other hand, I can try my own designs. For instance, 'tis vehicle below.

(clearly a sketch, just something I made up now)

Another solution is to use some old toys (from those cheap 54mm 'made in China' sets) for conversions as the vehicles are significantly smaller scale than the figures themselves.


2. Conversions from existing vehicles. I've had the idea in mind that a KV-2 turret on anything (presumably an AFV with an uncomfortable height on battlefield, just as they were originally) would look rather odd (thus totally acceptable) for the task.

Staying to the topic, the early USSR designs (T-35, T-28) are kinda similar in this way, at least they look weird. Could also manage to get WWI vehicles (Airfix Landship Mark I etc.)

Thinking more about it, almost every early WWII designed vehicle could have some use with minor conversions as many of them looks rather primitive (no offense for the Panzer I/38t lovers, of course).

'Planning phase' - what I've got and what I wanna have

Summary - I have these:

Jackewline

Infantry
Red infantry
Green guard infantry + Fists of Mackowskill
Yellow infantry
Marines (mixed clans)

Heavy cavalry
Red Fesselssorwilon heavy cavalry

Light cavalry
Fricklander light dragoons (only 4 figs)

Artillery
1 battery of green clans' artillery

Dorrosean

Infantry
Line infantry
Chasseurs a pied from Crontaineville
Light infantry
Militia

Heavy cavalry
Cuirassiers

Light cavalry
One half-battalion of mounted chasseurs

Artillery
A battery of militia-artillery

I don't have and am not planning to collect any Methorin/Klagimir troops until I've got a decent amount of the main warfaring opponents' armies (the last two were just additions as allies anyway).

From this it is clearly visible that I need light cavalry at both sides, and I've gone through a bit of a hesitation between choosing some Zvezda hussars above the IS-2s (it turned out to be the right decision with the 'easter egg' bonus). I'm gonna have some Blue clans uhlans as soon as I can, also trying to fetch the Hussars again when in sight and, obviously, I can afford them (an alternate but less glorious solution is Italeri's British light cavalry).
The other thing is: I'm totally in need of Blue infantry (actually any Blue units) so I could make up mixed regiments. I always imagined the Blue infantry with chasseur hats (or whatever it's called) and lately I've ran into the review of the HäT Austrian Landwehr at PSR, and thought these would perfectly make it! Sadly, HäT is totally out of reach in Hungary, so I'm planning to buy one from abroad. Also, it's 60 figures so this might make 2 lesser battalions as well.
Less needed, but way earlier to acquire: Zvezda SYW Prussian grenadiers as Fricklander FNGs and French Cuirassiers as Green clans Royal Guard.

Other news: going to Games Day event next weekend and trying to put my hands on some stuff (it's mostly a non-historical tabletop gaming event as I found out but who knows?)

Wars and eras in Jackewline

Ancient wars against Veuden and Dorrosean

The First Escape
Methorin Wars (medieval environment) against varied countries

The Tidguri War (Late16th/ early 17th century environment) (against the Veuden Confederation)

Wars against the Veuden incursion, in aid of the Esqerin Alliance and Dorrosean (against the Veuden Confederation)

Second Methorin Wars (against Klagimirya)

Borderland conflicts with Dorrosean (early 18th century)

Colonial wars with Dorrosean, the tribes of the Yellow Islands and realms at the Cape and Teverattia

The Dorroseani invasion, the Second Escape and the First War of Windscourt (late 18th century)
The Civil War
The Second War of Windscourt
Te War of Independence (Napoleonic era)
Punishment campaign against the Klagimir Republic

The Third Soqssani War (expedition at the side of Methorai against the Island Kingdoms) (mid 19th century)

The Mesr Wars (steampunky-magical awesomeness!)
Ha! Unexpected!
Things turned out a bit different in Dorfainen when people re-discovered the mesr, the source of thaumaturgy, which lays in the 'remnants of the Creation' and allows its masters to move things and make mesr-machines using the material named cold gas...

Off: Hey to the blog's new (and very first) follower, StuG... A small step for a blog, but a great one for me :b

The next plan - waters and mills

Painting never seems to end, though I've got some other ideas in mind... First of all, to make my waters a bit more fit to the like. Actual material isn't either pretty nor very usable. So I got these thick papers for my cavalry bases:

Bases and WTB list

Coming up with a plan of increasing the numbers of my 1/72s for the Jackewline Wars, it seemed necessary to count how many bases I have. My quite newbie experiences made me to use very simple ones: change coins with plasticine. By far it proved to be enough - also, the coins can be changed and reused multiple times. At the moment I'm using three types of coins (all Hungarian Forints): 2, 5 and 20 HUF ones (2 HUF is out of use now). The amounts:

• 172x 5 HUF coin;
• 88x 2 HUF coin;
• 9x 20 HUF coin (for mounted/command figures).

Guess that's plenty enough, though I had the idea of having more. Bases themselves are quite simple: put a small piece of plasticine onto the coin, cover it with, push the base of the figure on the top, and make the surface look better with a rough paintbrush (with plastic hair; I personnaly don't wanna waste the more expensive ones to this task).



Moving on the WTB list: I've built up the Jackewline/Dorrosean armies (and other neighbouring participants) in mind, but it's gonna take an insane amount of money and paint 'til they will be finished. My final decision is to buy 5 sets:

For Jackewline armies:

• Zvezda Polish Uhlans: Blue clans light cavalry
• Zvezda Russian Grenadiers: Green clans elite infantry
  Zvezda Prussian Grenadiers: FNG intervention

For Dorrosean:

• 
  Italeri Austrian Infantry and Grenadiers: Line infantry
• Italeri Prussian Cuirassiers (may be not in stock) / Zvezda Russian Cuirassiers: Heavy cavalry

Also, if I manage to buy the prussian grenadiers, I'll convert my Airfix 1776 British grenadiers to Dorrosean chasseurs (oh my gosh, it's a 10yr old set), so the actual forces will be quite equal.

Besides these, most of my figures need repainting, so I'm going to have some entertainment 'til finishing them.