Sci-Fi wargaming in 1/72: more aliens added

Because 1/72 or (not entirely accurate) 20mm scale is The One Scale for people my age and to give some opposition to the tide of beautiful 15mm and 28mm sized stuff here is an overview of my 20mm Sci-Fi wargaming stuff, mostly made for Stargrunt II and its worthy successor Tomorrow's war. As you will find it is an eclectic mix of 1/72 figures and kits, large 15mm stuff and random toys. Not all is pictured here but I refer to my other blogposts of Tomorrow's War especially. 

The 1/72 figure shown for scale with the vehicles is a Dark Dream Studio SF figure. 

Critical Mass Heavy Arc Fleet Grav tanks

Critical Mass Merc grav APCs

A Void grav tank destroyer. 

Critical Mass heavy Merc tank

Revell Leopard IIs and a Critical Mass Heavy Merc tank

Khurasan APCs

Revell APCs (2 Fuchses and a Marder)

A scratchbuilt APC from Aliens (cardboard and bits)

Dark Dream Studio 1/72 combat walkers

Dark Dream Studio 1/72 hunter/killers

Various scratchbuilt artillery pieces (AT gun, Missile platform and AA gun)

Some toys of unknown brand or type

RH Miniatures Colonial Marines 

Alien drones

Dark Dream Studios 1/72 SF troopers

RH Miniatures Imperial troopers

Aliens for TW: comparative shots of a Khurasan Felid (small alien), a Caesar Delta Force trooper (above), a RH Miniatures battle armoured trooper (below) and a GW Tau (big alien) 

Millin' around in 10mm Pike & Shotte

I always say there's no real Pike & Shotte wargame without a windmill stuck somewhere in a corner of the table. Dunno why, maybe it's because I'm Dutch, but in battles with pikes, big boots and wide-brimmed feathered hats there should be a windmill in the background. And I did not have one yet, so I decided to make one. 

The sails gave me the most food for thought. 10mm is a small scale and I really liked the squared structure of the sails to be there, as they are so iconic for a windmill. But how to make such a fine structure that would still be able to hold up against the rigors of gaming? 

Then I came upon the solution of a strip of flyscreen stuck to a narrow strip of plasticard (below) which turned out to be perfect! 

I decided to make the base and body of the mill from foamboard, which is easy, light and strong.

The top of the structure is a simple house-shaped box. Details would be added later through timbering. The roof was made from simple cardboard from the backing of a notepad.

The base is a square-footed pyramid. Slivers of wood (cut from coffee stirrers and such) were glued to the base to resemble timbering. The base was glued upon an old credit card.

The upper structure is mainly timber. Slivers of cut coffee stirrer were glued to the foamboard box....

...and cut to shape with clippers. 

I decided on a thatched roof made from a cheap towel (see below) glued on top of the cardboard roof and then the upper structure was glued (using a hot glue gun) to the base.

The same glue gun was used to attach the sails to a pin, which was then stuck into the upper structure. 

 And now the windmill starts to look like one. There is a door in the back with a stairs leading down.

Here are some 10mm Pendraken figures shown for scale.















And below there's the windmill painted. Sprayed black, highlighted dark brown, grey and light tan with some flock added to the base and the roof in some places.

And some bases painted in recent weeks shown for good measure. Cuirassier and Croat command bases....

...and a heavy gun

More 10mm Pike & Shotte: Battle of Fleurus AAR

A few weeks ago we played the battle of Fleurus at the club. Our growing 10mm armies easily filled a medium table as the Catholic Spanish force clashed with the German Protestant army. Above the Protestant line of battle, classically made up of battalias in the center, ordnance up front and cavalry in reserve at the back.

Below the Spanish line, likewise deployed, only with their cavalry in classic fashion divided between the flanks.

On the right the Protestant Cavalry moves to the right wing in an attempt to
outweigh their Spanish counterparts there.
The Spanish did not counter the move, hoping to get the advantage where their cavalry would have the upper hand.

An overview of the entire battlefield.

Below Protestant Cavalry masses for the attack....

... while the infantry in the center awaits their moment. At this time the Spanish were advancing and Protestant guns were at play.

The Protestant gambit paid off. The Spanish failed to mount a coordinated attack on their right wing where their cavalry outnumbered the Germans and were stalled and driven back piecemeal. 

On the German right on the other hand the mass of German cavalry charged their Spanish counterparts and despite fierce resistance eventually overwhelmed and destroyed them. They then proceeded to threaten the Spanish tercios there who where obliged to withdraw into hedgehog formation. These in turn suffered terribly from Protestant guns and musket fire and were eventually broken by the attacking German infantry. On the left the Protestant still held on, but their fight was over: the Spanish broke and withdrew! 

A most unhistorical and convincing victory for the Protestant cause. Figures used were mostly 10mm Pendraken. Rules were Warlord Games' excellent Pike & Shotte rules. Great game and many thanks to Gerco, Ivo, Rob and Patrick for participating in it! 

We faced the 2014 Crisis....

...and lived to tell about it! 

Once more we, my son and his girl and yours truly, visited the largest and most enjoyable of all continental wargame shows, hosted by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp: Crisis!

Under a clear blue sky in  most un-November like weather we waited in line until we could plunk down our entry fee in exchange for the traditional goodie bag, the free figure and a day of games and chat (and some minor shopping, of course). 

 Usually the goodie bag is emptied of the free figure (a rifle-wielding king Albert I this time) and discarded, since it is usually filled with well-meant but useless commercial advice. This year however the bag contained a veritable treasure of 5 plastic figures, a field-of-fire template, six laser-cut bases and a bag of crisps! And the Crisis Gazette, which I only viewed once back home to discover that it had held a most comprehensive map of the event. If only I'd known....

I had subscribed to the Battle of Keren Game by the Newark Irregulars. Having seen pictures from Salute of this game, I was very much looking forward to it. The table surpassed my greatest expectations! It was an absolutely smashing table, beautifully painted and about 1.80 meters high and filled with lovely figures. 

The game featured a climactic phase in the Battle of Keren, the fall of Fort Dologorodoc, taken by storm by British and Indian troops after a prolonged bombardment. We used the Chain of Command rules and the British launched a susprise attack up the hill while the Italian and Colonial troops were supposed to hold as long as possible. 

 The view downhill

Above you see Scrivs tirelessly explaining how this game came to be. 

 Below you see the view uphill. 

A tremendous amount of research and ingenuity went into building the Keren game. Everything you see here folds up so neatly it fits in the back of a Mini!

Here you see me on top of the mountain (the Italian player actually has to stand on a stool to be able to see his troops) directing my ever-dwindling Italian troops.

HOW many casualties you say you just scored?

And finally the British troops reached the summit, ending the game with my Italians still unbroken and fighting (if largely killed)! My sincere thanks to James and Scrivs for the privilege to play this magnificent game, that not only looks amazing, but delivers a thrilling game as well! 

After the Keren game I immersed myself in the chatting. gaming and shopping crowd. I met a fantastic array of tables, paintwork.

A magnificent steampunky winter landscape

Goblin Town from The Hobbit

An undisclosed Victorian display. 

Most of these pictures were taken by Annemarie and everyone who knows her, knows she loves her purple....

Next year I will built ten houses, sit in the Bring and Buy for an hour and sell them for insane prices. Then I will have more to spend than any other year before....

Vikings pillaging and burning (hopefully in the right order) a hapless Dark Age village

An impressive breach in Jerusalem's walls.. 

Freebooter once again made a great entry with this pirate table full of shipwrecks. It was unplayed at the time, a view I saw quite a lot actually. A lot of games either weren't particiation games or lacked players and/or hosts. Too bad, since there was a lot to be enjoyed playing the games.

Above to the right you can see what wide expanses you can build when you play small scales like 10 or 6mm.

 Above my son makes eyes at the impressive Deadzone table. 

Prodos also presented the prototype  of their Alien vs Predator game. 

I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will release the figures separately....

PS:
My son informed with the Prodos people whether they were planning to release the figures separately and it turns out they are!!!

Ohww Golly, where wil I get the money....?

Some paintwork defied belief, so well was it done. 

The illuminated demon idol and the Amazonian dragon below were just a few examples. 

And finally: Da Loot! 

I came away with the barest necessities this year: the 7TV ruleset with cards, dice and counters and the paranormal exterminators by Crooked Dice, Indians by Redoubt for my Roanoke Witchfinder General project, 10mm musketeers and swordsmen by Pendraken to fill out my TYW army, the B-Team by Foundry just for the heck of it and a Warlord German anti-tank gun to better kill Jasper's tanks next time. 

Many thanks to the boys and girls of the Tin Soldiers, who made this a fantastic day!!!