End of University Splurge (over the course of a few months)

As it came to the end of my time at university, I started to celebrate each milestone with a little and also not so little purchase. Finished the final assignment? Buy some figures. Pass all the assignments in a course? A set of kits. Finish all the coursework? Well then that had to be a large purchase. As you can imagine now that all the various things have arrived I have quite the haul. So what did I get? Well let's go over it all shall we.

It fills up my bed. Too much to go over in one caption let's break this down.

So I am going to give a run down of what I have got. Given how large this stash is I will be breaking it down by which imagination they will be used for. I will also give a brief explanation as to what they will be used for. Partially so this crazy splurge can make a little more sense but also because I would like to get your input as to what I should do with all this. This is going to be a very, very long post. Anyway let's start with the imagi-nation who perhaps more than anyone gained out of this splurge: The Pan Andean Peoples Republic (PAPR)

The S-Model kits and the Caesar Infantry. Getting two sets of Chinese and French infantry was actually an accident on my part.

The PAPR gets a lot from this splurge, I essentially have a complete force minus specialised elements such as artillery. I have a stash of 1/144 aircraft I can use for them too so not much left to get in future. Let's give a run down of what they have.

• 6x T-55s (2 x 3 kit sets from the Plastic Soldier company.)
• 5x BTR-60PBs (2x 1+1 S-Model kits and one in the ICM motorcade)
• 3x Urals in various configurations (Part of the ICM motorcade)
• 2x BMD-2s (one 1+1 S-Model kit)
• 2x Chinese infantry (from the combined French-Chinese Caesar set)
• 1x Vietnamese infantry (Italeri reissue of an Esci set)
• 1x Warsaw Pact Troops (same as the Vietnamese infantry, will explain more later)
• 1x T-72B (ModelCollect)
• 1x T-62 (Italeri, part of the Gulf War anniversary set)
• 1x Mi-25 Hind (same as above)
• 1x IS-4 (Trumpeter set)
• 1x IS-7 (same as above)

Now let's go over what these will be used for. Some of it is pretty self explanatory. The T-55s are going to form the mainstay of the PAPR armoured force, with rarer but superior tanks augmenting these forces. That's where the T-72B and T-62 come in and it is likely that others will be used in future. The BTR-60s and the Urals are similarly quite self explanitory.

The Vietnamese infantry will be used to represent the mainstay of the PAPR force, their dress being appropriate for the similar climate and mountainous jungle environment of the PAPR - Oronegro - Orotinian border region. This force will however, be largely untrained and not well equipped. Which will put them at a disadvantage. To complement this force the Warsaw Pact troops will represent different local and regional forces reflecting a coalition of people's within the overall PAPR. These forces will be highly variable with some being well trained and equipped with others being nothing more than hastily raised militia. The Chinese infantry will represent the most advanced special forces available to the PAPR. These troops will be uncommon, less common than the Spetsnaz I already painted, but will be equal to many of their rivals. Speaking of which the Spetsnaz will mostly be deployed by the Hind and the BMDs. I may get some BMPs in future however, given the terrain of the border the lighter BMD may be preferred.

Now some wild wards are the heavy tanks the IS-4 and IS-7. These will complement the IS-2T tanks I painted up before. Essentially acting as the command tank. They will likely also appear alongside the regional troops as surplus from the main tank force.

So these are the the first post WW2 kits in 1/72 made by the Plastic Soldier company. Having had a look at the spures I am impressed. Really looking forward to more from them.

Now let's go see what Oronegro gained. What did the land of black gold get in the mail?

• 1x Challenger 2 (Trumpeter)
• 1x Boxer Command Vehicle (Revell, Dutch variant)
• Modern US Soldiers in Action set 2 (Caesar, mortars and machine guns)
• American Special Forces (Italeri reissue of Esci set, Vietnam War era)

So the Challenger goes to reinforce the Oronegrean tank force, which will certainly need it given how many PAPR tanks they are likely to face. The Boxer has finally been accepted for services with the British Army which means that Oronegro, using British vehicles, can use it too. Now I don't know how strict I will be with the using British vehicles vs US infantry and that being distinct. It does give a good contrast to Gran Bolivia (see below) but I do think that overall it will be covered by the rule of cool. Talking of US infantry the Caesar miniatures complete my main force adding heavy weaponry to the collection. Meanwhile the Vietnam era US infantry can represent reservists, national guard or militia. They may even stand in for other nations, they are suitably generic

So some very exciting kits form ModelCollect. However, the one from Revell was 48% off so a real score there. Then there's the ICM motorcade another one bought while on sale.

With one Oro nation to another lets move to the very interesting country of Orotinia. Now I finally decided upon a theme for the former antagonist of the Latin Wars, it's actually to keep that the same theme. Namely a Germany analogue. Although this time with some other exciting extras such as the Swedish S-Tanks. Orotinia will be quite ecclectic although the German theme will make getting equipment for them rather easy. The previously painted Germans will be re-purposed for Orotinian infantry. So what did they get? Well quite a lot.

• 1x Modern German Army (Caesar)
• 1x Leopard 1A5 (Revell from the Leopard 1A5 + Biber set, got that at 48% off! A bargain.)
• 1x Biber, bridge laying tank (Revell, from set above)
• 0.25x Cold War German Infantry (from the Italeri reissue of the Esci NATO infantry set)

So Orotinia has some of the basics already with them getting more of the essentials from this splurge. The bridge-layer opens up some very interesting possibilities for games, with one side trying to set up a crossing under fire. The Cold War infantry can serve as reservists. Meanwhile the Modern infantry will be combined with the set I painted already to form the standard infantry. Whether the Orotinian forces will remain so consistent is another matter. But we will see.

So I am not sure what the "unicorn" horn on the boxer is for, I am guessing and aerial? More importantly these Italeri reissues of the old Esci cold war sets are something I have been really looking forwards to.

Moving onto Gran Bolivia we encounter another nation who has done quite well from the splurge:

• 1x M1A1 Abrams (Italeri from the Gulf War set)
• 1x AH-1W Super Cobra (same as above)
• 1x British Paratroopers (Revell reissue of the Matchbox Falklands War set)
• 1x British Infantry in the 1970s (A Call to Arms)
• 0.25x British Cold War Infantry (Italeri reissue of the Esci NATO infantry set)

Gran Bolivia then does very well. They will also be receiving the old Airfix NBC/CBRN cold war British infantry which I painted ages ago. So as you may have noticed Gran Bolivia is the mirror of Oronegro. US vehicles, British infantry. On the whole the equipment they have is slightly out dated, at least the units that are on the border with Oronegro are not first in line. Many old legacy units, including some ancient half-tracks I have had for a while but not painted yet. In future I may buy more up to date British infantry for them and it is not that hard to get some M113 kits or perhaps some newer vehicles for them.

So here's the tank corner, including another combined box set. Got for a song too. Although that Armata, now that's exciting.

Over in the infantry corner we have a nice mix. Revell seems to be confused as the figures are in 1/72, at least mine are. Confusing.

Now we do have a few wild cards too. These have no clear definitive use and will likely be used for many things. I am going to go over this in two bits. First the tanks.

• 1x Armata (Zvezda, a really fine looking kit.)
• 2x Black Eagles T-80UM2s (Modelcollect, actually innacurate, the hull is just a standard T-80 hull when it should be longer and include another road wheel, the sets do include T-80A turrets so can be used for that too)

These tanks may see service in the PAPR but more likely only for rare special instances. I don't want the PAPR to be too high tech. More guerrilla/asymmetric warfare, with rather outdated conventional kit. The tanks can also be used in the Kievalsk/Ororussia setting. Which may be where some of the Warsaw Pact infantry are also employed. Speaking of infantry let's move onto the infantry wildcards.

• 2x French Infantry (from the combined French-Chinese Caesar set)
• 1x Counter Terrorist Elite Forces (Caesar Miniatures)
• 0.5x NATO infantry (The set mentioned above but the French and Italian elements)
• 1x Warsaw Pact Troops (Mentioned above)

The real question is what to do with the French? Specific forces for one of the nations? replacements for UN Troops? A new faction? If a new Faction what to do? It a difficult one and I am not too sure. I could always paint them us as French infantry........ but that's boring so I can't do that. The Italians for the NATO set are going to be an interesting one to use. Same goes for the Warsaw Pact troops. Some will be good for the PAPR. However, the winter troops are less usable, although perhaps there's some high snow capped mountains? Might be more usable in the other setting which is temperate. The Caesar miniatures are suitably generic so will likely find themselves quite a range of uses.

To took two photos of the infantry corner and couldn't be bothered deleting them so enjoy.

Well that covers just about everything. This post took quite some time to write. For those of you who have made it to the end, well done. I almost didn't reach here myself. I am really interested to know what people think, what themes you suggest I follow, what alternative uses might be good for different kits. That kind of thing. I have finally got my airbrush with me so perhaps these kits will be churned out a little more quickly.

That is all for the future though. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I look forward to reading your comments.

Until next time I wish you all a good day/night.

Plans and dreams 2017

Now you may be wondering why I posted a picture of the sky. Well it's because many of the projects I am going to talk about are up in the air right now with only a few concrete ones.

So let's start with what is going on now and what I will continue in 2017
1. Is the construction of a Gunboat based off a drawing I found. It's coming along well and should be done relatively soon.
2. Oronegrean Militia! Getting close to completing these figures. No command figures for them yet. But for now any well dressed and dashing character will do.
3. Comrade Pirates. Now I really try and avoid bringing up my political beliefs here. So I hope you'll let me have this one moment of exposure. I'm a member of a socialist organisation and I decided to paint up some pirate figures for the other members of our branch. This project is always behind as new members join and I need a few more female pirates. So this one won't really be completed this year.
4. Oronegrean Civilians. Again 18th century. I want to get a few painted up. Will be useful for raids by native tribes. (See below)
5. Project: Sanctuary Lanes. This is something that needs a whole lot of lore fleshed out for it. The idea is of refugees coming to Oronegro in secret. The first people for this are from Japan (figure wise not lore wise) I have some Samurai and Ninga for this. Lore will follow later for this project.
6. Other figures. Plenty of random figures in various stages of completion. Some only primed. Some based. Others with paint. Look out for some new enemies for Oronegro.

Now what about projects I am about to start or have got the ground work ready for.
1. A fluyt this will be an interesting build with multiple decks making construction a challenge.
2. Natives of Oronegro! Finally some interesting things. I dug up an old set of Hät Thracians, some partially painted but without primer (oh how I've learned). Anyway black paint and PVA base and I'll paint up some. I have a few being "test" painted right now to see if this idea will work. Instead of steel weapons they'll have copper and bronze (more fitting for the Americas)

Projects in planning. Or projects Gowan thinks he can do but probably shouldn't or can't do this year!
1. A Junk! This is related to project: sanctuary lanes. (Spanish name pending) this will be an interesting and exotic addition to my flotilla. A merchant vessel of reasonable size it will play the role of target in games with the pirates.
2. ONE SHIP TO RULE THEM ALL! After the Junk I probably will stop making large model ships. (Because at that point all the bookshelves and window sills at my parents place will be occupied and we'll have to move to attic storage.) But before I close down my large shipyard I want to have one last hurrah! A frigate with two decks, based off various designs incorporating all my experience and skills.  This is a dream project, one that's probably not even going to start this year. But in the world of planning 5 years is considered a short period of time so this is definitely a near future project!
3. Catamaran. In contrast to the big ships I also plan to build a small vessel. Catamarans did not really take off in the West until the late 19th century but in Oronegro this can be different. Because of their speed this vessel can have many uses.

So is that all? No probably not. In all reality I will let these projects be put on hold and try a few others.
Oh and as always if you have any figures you want to get rid of please let me know. I might be able to give them a good home.  ;-)

Boats, Ships and maybe a raft or two.

So given that I just completed El San Francisco it is time to begin on the next round of ships. I have figures on the way too but while I am at my family's house I will make the most of having access to my materials to make ships, buildings and other larger things.

One ship complete... onto the next one.

 So what to do? Well there are a couple of other ships that I was working on:

4 of the six are compete. The top left and top right are yet to be done.

These ships are a small dhow and a pirate cutter crossed with a Greco-Roman warship. But these are relatively small projects and so I can think about what to do next. And for this I will look east, Far East.

A junk. But junk it certainly is not

Turns out it is rather hard to get a good set of boat plans for East Asian ships, or at least I am not that good at finding them. Anyway I have managed to download me some plans. I have three documents that allow  me to build ships from the following countries.

1. China: I have a plan (as part of a longer document) for a sea going junk used for trade. A larger project but certainly an interesting.
2. Japan: I have got the plans for a Japanese Warship what were held by the French Maritime Museum. An interesting design but slightly harder to use given the fact the writing is hard to read and in French (which I can't read).
3. Vietnam: Compiled during the Vietnam War I have a large document full of junk and sampan designs (this was to help the US identify potential smugglers - but it is very handy for me). Many of the ships and boats are quite small and so wouldn't be that diffucult a project.

Anyway I'd be keen to hear what you have to say about these potential projects. If there is one you'd like to see, any tips you have and if you know of some plans that I could use. Also don't be afraid to let me know of some completely different boats that I could do. :-)

expanding Oronegro and an unexpected colony

Well as soon as I put it to a map Oronegro had to be bigger. after that first initial map I made a larger one, which required me to cut and paste mountain ranges to hide an unwanted area of coast line. but Now perhaps I shall do it all again! Oronegro is set to expand if there is the story to go with it!

what is currently is like!

As you can see from the picture above I left ample room to expand down the coasts to the south, along the coast to the north and perhaps west (the Pan Andean Peoples Republic could be encircled by Oronegro.... a tribal group or groups that split and joined the republic when it formed.

To the south the land will get dryer becoming a desert away from the coast and rivers. a harsh landscape but also full of the valuable Oronegro the oil that keeps the nation strong! To the west it would get more mountainous and harder to access and to the east similar to the west but with sea on one side exposing the coastal area to violent storms (no doubt brought about by the energy created by the portals near by presence).

needless to say, this, my first map was too small for a land that just kept getting bigger in my mind

Ideas would be nice for these areas, but still tropical and warm (though the desert will just be plain hot and dry) is the main climate. perhaps snow and high winds on the mountains separating Oronegro from her northern neighbours. this would require them to be massive given the assumed location on the globe to allow cold enough temperatures but the climatic difference at at altitude is also a by product of the portal.

let us not forget this island! this is off the coast of Oronegro at some point.

All this extra land will be excellent for the 18th century arm and the 12st century arm of the Oronegrean story with the conquest of these lands and with the tale of the civil war respectively.

Now we come to the Colony! Why does Oronegro have a colony you ask.... let me explain. when I started making Oronegro in the 18th century I started to realise as I went on how powerful a nation that large in those times would be once it reached the 21st century! The United States of America was like Oronegro born out of a colony (well 13) which in the early 18th century had a population of roughly 1 million people! Now Oronegro might not have received so many immigrants since that time, why it is not even close to being as powerful. BUT! it would still have attained some power. enough to cause the Spanish to invade in the 1860's to assert their control on what was sort of (read the story) a colony.

Now where would a colony colonise? well the USA spread across a continent and then into the Pacific... Oronegro can't really go west (there are really high mountains and jungle that way) so it must go east! across the Neo-Atlantic Ocean...
... in other words the Oronegreans sailed around the portal (no mean feat as it is huge) and went to see what lay beyond! I will make a story... I like the idea the land was found by accident an Oronegrean merchant (not the brightest) who tried to go straight from some port in the desert region to Europe (instead of going north along the coast then east) and came across what to many would have seemed impossible eastern Europe...

what a strange place this is Carlos? aye captain they don't appear to speak Spanish at all. Do you think I may have gone to far south? aye captain I think you may have.

... Now this might sound mad and it is, But its useful as it answers some questions! a) how the Soviets got involved in South America to the extent they had whole armies there and b) what would happen if you missed the portal going the other way (going to and missing results in you visiting South America). Now the Next big question is why gowan did you do that? the answer is blame computer games!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks to Arma 2 I have been playing around in both desert and former soviet block style lands! Fun but not so great for building inspiration for a Latin nation.

its the games fault not mine!

Anyway I have decided to have a colony here also! But Now I can have some real fun! basically I have 3 main types of environment.

1. Hot desert, great climate for camels not so great for people who are lost. nasty giant gold mining ants! Which are actually described in the worlds first history/nonsense book... which I have read. thank you Herodotus!
2. the Jungle and Tropical area, nice for relaxing by the beach  but seeming that some of my plans involve monsters in the jungle I don't think anyone should try and impersonate bear grills here at night.
3. cold eastern European. snowy in winter (could even see some fun icescating... or what about Oronegrean ski tours... have fun on both dune and slope.) and pretty average in the summer. beware the bears and wolfs and you should be fine. just so long as its not the Russian bear in the woods some common sense and avoiding bear tracks should do you fine.

this is a cool vehicle! no other desciption needed... off topic but its the games fault for all this expansion eastards

Naturally the concept needs development! Naturally a map is needed. but apart from that this could be quite fun. it also begs the question who is connected to whom in this world but that's not important but the most fun part is surely that if I ever meet up with any of you we can play a game. Oronegrean support for US soldiers fighting the Soviet Union as it advances westward after the Re-union possible especially if the colony was at risk.

a very different landscape would exist in the colony... yes I have used lots of pictures form the game.

have fun guys! give me your ideas also.... think it would be cool to have a James Bond style bad guy layer in the Colony just say so. A link to Area 51 in the desert area (why area 51 might be such a secret) just say. ideas for a language for the colony why not. Just mention it because that's where I need help the most now.

greetings to my new followers! hello to fogsoldiers from fogsoldiers nice to have you on board. Welcome to Mike from mikes wargame blog thanks for joining.

making stuff with the old man? a plan...

well I have a cunning plan... not that cunning because it is only in 1/72 scale and not 1/1, which would be cunning. But I am going to make some bunkers! yes that's right, bunkers. I have been communicating quite a bit with my friend Michael with whom I have set up quite a good miniature people smuggling ring. but one of the things I offered to do was make buildings... my cunning plan; get some practice in making buildings, and make something we can both use.

But I also want to do something with my dad. its been a while since we last made something together so I thought it would be nice to get him involved in making something. a father, son project, seeming that next year I'm off to university with any luck I must make the most of the time left in which we can both work on something together.

I have found a site full of pictures and information from which to gather ideas.

but naturally I need to practice building, model buildings, and one thing I can practice on is bunkers. Why bunkers? because then I can improve my terrain building skills, get used to making more complex structures other than simple rectangular boxes that either have roofs and floors that slot together or are merely placed on top. The bunkers roof would be built in a similar manner to me previous building the little supply house but made from a different material.

built partially into the hillside this German 669 Open gunbunker would be a nice candidate

this is the business end

Now you may be wondering why is this cunning... I wish to make more than one! 3 in fact two smaller bunkers and one larger one. the Larger one I may sell, that's right sell depending on how nice it is, one of the smaller ones I shall send to Michael and one I shall keep myself. Now as usual I am not simply go on and do it all before I allow the followers of this blog to have an input!

Here is the site I am using for ideas; http://www.bunkerfotos.nl/english take a look around and perhaps you'll see something that would be cool. Besides if I do one to sell it would be good to do something that would be of interest to buyers.

well get involved, with the potential to sell something I make I am looking to get lots of feed back. will what I make be any good? I can't make any promises... when will I start? not sure depends on how much work my father and I have to do.

As Promised

Well, well here I go again... I have my first company of infantry on the painting desk along with a small group of civilians but I now really feel obliged to complete the two ships I planned to do in gratitude to those who gifted me figs before... namely Blue Willow (Matt) and Laurence Strong (Larry) to these men I owe these ships. The Willow and the Laurence, these two will either be naval ships or civilian. The Laurence has to be big as the Haul I received from Canada more than tripled my whole 18th century force!!!!! though I do not wish to make each ship comparative to the size of the gift Such generosity must be compensated with something BIG although not as big as the Abigail as I cannot fit another HUGE ship in my room.

SO WHAT TO BUILD????

One ship type I liked but was too large was the Batavia.

nice lines but way too big

Of coarse if I want to make a small version of this ship I will need to make some rather large alterations because naturally a smaller version would not have the same number of masts or same sail pattern... on the other hand perhaps there is a similar type of boat that can fit the role and look similar. My only problem now is what about the Willow, she will be smaller though smaller does not mean inferior or that she will be in anyway weaker than the larger Laurence.

the name Willow strikes me as a more passive one so I think the Willow should be a civilian/commercial vessel. This might be a good thing as then I can have some poor souls as a target for the Pirate sloop Abigail or perhaps even something to be defended by the naval ships.

WHAT SHIPS DO YOU LIKE??? is there a special type of boat you like or do you think that you would like another small ship... of coarse I can't build to many ships but a few more would be good some traders, passenger vessels, fishing boats and more pirates are all needed to represent a good maritime environment and I am always willing to take down ideas :-D

lets start this project then

well it is now the school holidays and although the teachers have oppressed me with homework I may just have enough to start this epic project. I have noticed a few problems with the proposed layout I showed before... the way the building open up means that other boards would need to be moved around for acces to the interiors of them. but I shall overcome this soon when I actualy get around to it. perhaps this week shall be used for school work but then the next can be used...

Right I got a list of nations which need to be represented....

1. Britain (my homeland)
2. Spain ?
3. USA 
4. Soviet Union
5. Franonia
6. Rayonia (need it after I had the diplomats)
7. Orotinia 
8. Gran Bolivia
9. Peterstan
10. France
11. Harad
12. Germany
13. Argentina

I hope that the number 13 does not mean bad luck for the embassies and legations (muhahahaha) anyway I must say that a few of the nations will be grouped together in one building. IF I HAVE MISSED OUT YOUR NATION PLEASE SAY SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there you go feel free to make recomendations

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embassy boards part 1 ALL FOLLOWERS REPORT

well I know that the poll is not over yet, but the small response is just enough to make me just start already!!!!

Give me the names of your nations NOW!!!!! so I can build you an embassy. as you can see from the following pics; there is allot of room to build.... so come on and get involved

they almost perfectly line up... this makes me happy

ah that main road will need to be shown in full. I'll add another main road to the mix as well. more realistic for embassies to be on wide roads

so come on guys join in the fun!!!! names, nations, and plans (for your embassy) are all welcome

progress is slow due to fathers cracked heel

I am sorry to report that my current progress is slow. this is because of many reasons but the main one is my work load has increased. the reason for this is that my father has cracked his heel, he did this while jumping off a rock at orua bay onto what appeared to be sand. I had jumped before and though it did seem a little hard nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately something was. It must have been only a thin layer of sand over rock because when my father jumped down... OUCH! so now he is in a moon boot for the next 5 weeks and has to use crutches to get around. so I am now doing allot more than I normally do, just to help out.

clearly this has meant I must reconsider what I can and cannot do. so first up what I cannot do, then change of plans then rethought projects

• I have abandoned the paper tank project until further notice. This may have happened anyway as the print outs were meant for a 1/35 scale tank not a 1/72 meaning that allot of the bits and bobs are hard to cut out and glue together, I may do an airplane I found free at paper tiger armaments as that is meant to be 1/72
• work on the 2nd board is also posponed until my friend and I can plan for the church. though I may do some painting and detailing on the first buildings in the mean time.
• I am going to be working far slower on figs for time and quality reasons, allot of comments about my terrorists made me realise that I must go back to putting love not speed into my painting. so I am going to finish my airfix figs and my WWI Russians (the secret figs) then move onto my S&S models and revel Germans and then finally my NATO ground crew and Russian paratroopers (which just arrived).
• my challenger II tank will be postponed until I can get my hands on more spray-on primer as my current one has run (practically) out and I only have a small bottle for figs. I may also wait until I can get some spray paint.
• the M113 is almost done sorry for not showing the progress here perhaps later on.
• I have thought about the bunker and the airfield and have thought about combining the 2 projects together to form a grand military complex for the rebels. I have also dug up an old die-cast eurofighter typhoon it is damaged and in need of repainting to fit in (missing some missles but that is fine). I also have a harrier and a tornado both in need of fixing up, the tornado especialy. these can for the basis of the rebel and/or national airforce.

so there you go not what I would like to tell you, that would be we won lotto and I have millions of dollars to spend on my projects. but never mind. tomorrow my parents are going away together for a couple of nights. I am staying here by myself, I do have watchful neighbours so there will be no parties. but work may get done though I am trying to force myself to get my graphics work done.

so now onto some good news :-D my new follower.

greetings 1939 though I assume that is not your name, from 1939 ,pola chwaly and code-name wargaming I am going to follow these blogs myself, they look interesting.