I got very inspired by John Yorio at the 54mm or Fightwhen he painted his Sci-fi Warhammer miniatures and a Space Marine for his son. I'm impressed how he managed to bring out the details in the miniatures. I found this so inspiring that I wanted to try a similar project my self, but as I'm not into Warhammer miniatures it had to be some readily available 'Space Marines-Army men' I brought to the workbench in july (but not completed before now).
Since I'm not into GW I had no preferences to paint these 'Marines', but this year it's actually 40 years since the TV-series "V" was aired, and I saw it on Swedish television the first time. Perhaps I could turn a handful of these 'Space Marines' into lizzard troopers??
The miniatures
The bucket of futuristic soldiers are usually available in regular toy stores from time to time:
I picked out the reddis/brownish figures as these were closer to the uniform-color I was looking for in the first place.
I'm also very impressed by all the figure-conversions made by James at Quantrill's Toy Soldiers, so I decided to try a simple one and just remove a bayonet and add visors to their helmets with miliputty.
This time I only primed them with 'plastic-primer' from a rattle-can...
...and a orange color-primer. I hoped that the primer would serve as base for the uniform color, but it didn't match so well...
So the uniform needed to be painted as well. Here are all the basic colors added:
And then they're given a dirty brown-ish wash, drybrushed with a lighter color and adding texture to their bases:
Some close-ups of the completed figures:
The Spaceship
My figures needed a space-ship so I found a 'Skyfighter' for free at Thingiverse, re-scaled it so it would look about right size for my figures and 3D-printed it. Even if it was 3D-printed as a kit the Spaceship needed a lot of filling and sanding:
Then it was given a couple of coats of spray filler, which revealed that further filler and was needed.
Then it was given a couple of final layers of spray filler, and the last parts added:
Finally some paint to bring it all together:
I'm looking forward to finally deploy these V-miniatures and their landing-craft in an upcoming game soon. Please follow the blog for updates.
So, what is this free 3D-file I recently found and printed?
Here are a couple of hints:
When mounted on a LGB-wagon it becomes a G-scale camera-wagon:
And here is a video when I tried it out at a friend's garden railway yesterday:
Here is a link to the stl-file to the mobile-phone stand if you would like to print one for your self.
...more 3D-printing:
I recently played an 'Old West' game and realized that I was lacking some essential scenery for such scenarios. At Thingiverse I found some free Cactus-files, but since they would take some time to 3D-print, I decided that I would run a testprint with low resolution as it would be quicker and I could se how they turned out.
I painted them to get an idea how they would look, but even if they're printed in low resolution I think they turned out just OK, so I'll probably just keep them as they are.
Since the cactus' turned out OK, I was curious to see if other scenery and terrain for model railways could be 3D-printed an still look OK. This tree is actually a wargame scenery file, but if it's looks good I might consider using it with my model railway.
Painted:
And this is how it looks compared to another spruce which is actually made as 'model railway scenery':
It would be interesting to hear your point of view and opinions on the 3D-printed scenery in the comment-section below. Yea or Nay?
...findings at the local 'Pound Shop':
During a visit to a my local 'Pound Shop' I found a couple of modelling and wargaming related items:
4'x6' Grasmats for only $8.85/ £6.88. I guess they will work great, either modified or unmodified, as 'battle-mats' for wargames:
I also found a very cheap set of make-up brushes in the shop as well, and decided to get them as I've found a YouTube-video that recommended make-up brushes for drybrushing miniatures.
The only 'challenge' was to get them passed the Cashier as he was the talkative kind of type that might have been likely to use them him self. -Off course he asked if I was using them for make-up or technical purposes. - I was tempted to answer 'for make-up' like he would belive me when I answered the latter anyway...
Some new, and very long lasting projeckts are about to hit the 3D-printer:
PS: More info on the drybrushed miniature (and his colleagues) above will shortly follow in this blog. Please follow.
This modelling project did not actually start with a boat or ferry model, but with a railway wagon. It seems like 'Murphy's Law of Combat' also strikes when coming to modelling military railways. The LGB starter set I used for making my Heeresfeldbahn was originally a starter set for a German narrow gauge railway from the Frisian island of Wangerooge. It was a nice livery, but it didn't seem that LGB had much other rollingstock from that island railway except for those in the starter set itself. So the decision to repaint it and make it into a Heeresfeldbahn was easy. During a weekend trip to the German town of Kiel last autumn, I visited a small model railway shop there; Scharly's Lokshop. It deals mainly with second hand items, and in the shop I saw a very beautiful LGB model of an open goods-wagon from, off course, Wangerooge (!). If I'd knew that LGB had made more models from this particular railway, I would have considered not to convert the starter set in the first place. -But that was just too late now, so I ended up buying the Wangerooge-wagon anyway, just to repaint it grey so it would fit the rest of my 'ex Wangerooge Heeresfeldbahn-livery'.
The Prototype
Since it was an open wagon, it would improve the look if some load could be added to it. While I was searching for paint-schemes and information about the Sturmboot 39 in connection with modelling them as a load for my G-scale Heeresfeldbahn, I discovered that these Sturmboots also were used to power German military pioner ferries - Flosssackfähre, which were made up of a couple of large inflatable rubber dinghies - Grosser Flosssack 34, with wooden beams and deck between them. They could carry infantry, motorcycles and small PKWs.
Boxart from Dragons very nice kit of such a ferry. Too bad for me it's only made to 1:35 scale, as I needed one in 1:19 scale
The Model
I made the Sturmboot 39 originally as a homage for my son who had recently done his service in the Norwegian Coast Guard, where he was operating fast patrol boats.
Now he is studying to become a 'First Mate', and last summer he took a summer-job as a 'Mariner' at a ferry in Northern Norway to finance his studies. This inspired me to make those Sturmboot 39s into the propelling part of a (pioner-) ferry; a 'Flosssackfähre' by adding the rubber dinghies and wooden beams and decking as train loads in my new wagon.
I found a free STL-file of a Grosser Flosssack 34 at Wargaming3d, which I resized to 1:19 scale. The process form 3D-printer til ready for painting can be seen in the April Workbench update. Since the originals are made in rubber, I decided to use the real thing and cote mine with black rubber as well. I used some black plasticote spray found at a car accessories shop. This worked very well to cover the layer lines in the print too (which were printed in a medium resolution).
Now I found out that this wouldn't fit the ex-Wangerooge wagon after all, so I purchased another flat-wagon of the same type as was in my LGB starter set and I used for the Sturmboot 39s in the first place, to use for the 2 newly printed Flosssack 34s.
Since it was looking the same (all black) I painted it slightly different...
...and got fancy and downloaded and 3D-printed a brakeman's cabin to add to it.
Bringing the painted flatcar, brakeman's cabin and the 2 Grosser Flosssack 34s together:
Then I could use the ex-Wangerooge wagon for the wooden beams and decking needed to make the ferry complete. First I had to mock up the ferry it self so I knew how many pieces of wood and in which lengths was needed to be cut to complete it...
...-and then it had to be stacked and loaded to the wagon. I chose to make a removable floor to the wagon to attach the load according to my last blog post, so I can choose to use the wagon for other loads if I wish.
Together with my earlier 'Sturmoot 39', the 2 rubber dinghies and the wooden beams and decking makes up a complete Flosssacfähre.
When the complete German military pioner ferry of the Flosssachfähre-type are loaded onto railaway wagons it looks like this:
And loaded on the train 'the ferry' doesn't look so much like a ferry anymore (unless you've seen the prototype). But it shows that's possible to model a large scale car ferry and load it onto a narrow gauge train in a prototypical way.
First run on a 'day out' (in a friend's garden as my own garden railway is temporary out of service) transporting a group of Sturmpioneren:
This 'military load doesn't look so offensive, neither does any of my other loads on my Heeresfeldbahn. Initially I optet for more offensive loads like armoured cars and fighting vehicles, but I've not seen pictures of such so I think my loads seems credible for a narrow gauge railway.
Last summer saw
the release of some ElastoWitt 54mm Planet of The Apes figures (I think) from
the original movies. At the same time, I saw several reviews of these figures
on other blogs and Facebook groups. I'm a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes
series and I've been planning to do a 'fantasy' and 'sci-fi' gameplay, so a POTA-scenario would be ideal. -But as with all
miniatures and soldiers; These Planet of the Apes figures are just impossible to
get in Norway, and the shipping costs, rising prices in general and bad exchanges rate can't justify it.
While writing the
blogpost on prehistoric warfare, I found information that chimpanzees not only
went to "war" and fought other chimpanzees, but they were also found
using very simple weapons such as simplified "spears" for hunting. Chimpanzees
have also been reported to have attacked both humans and gorillas. Chimpanzees
are very territorial, about 4 times as strong as a human of similar size, and
they can reach speeds of 40 kph/25 mph.
This got me
thinking if Planet of the Apes could not only be a good sci-fi story, but with
some liberties and artistic licenses could it really have happened somewhere in
'The Darkest Africa' for example? At least for a fantasy wargame scenario?? Just
"What-if"???
Records show that
soldiers have been attacked by wild animals during conflicts in the past. One
of the most famous attacks was from World War II when reports claim that
hundreds of Japanese soldiers were attacked and eaten by crocodiles during the Battle of Ramree Island in 1945. Could such a thing have happened if soldiers
encountered a group of enemy chimpanzees armed with spears in "Darkest
Africa" defending their territory ? It's probably not very likely, but it
makes an interesting scenario for a skirmish wargame; one side with ranged
weapons vs. the other side that doesn't, but that is faster and far more superior in
close combat.
Creating an Ape Army
Since I wasn't
going to buy the POTA figures from ElastoWitt, or from any other manufacturers
either, I had to look elsewhere to build my 'budget ape army'. On
Thingiverse I found some free Planet of the Apes files (#2 and #3) that I decided to resize, repositioning and print on my new (and upgraded) 3D printer, a FlashForge Adventurer 3. -It's
still an FDM printer though (with all it's limitations creating miniatures...). Some step-by-step photos of creating the ape army can be seen in the 'March Workbench updates'.
Click for larger image
The human army is
simply made up of regular army men I've painted and used in previous wargames.
Click for larger image
The Rules
For this little
skirmish game I wanted to use Thor Sheil's OMOG - One Man, One Gun rules in
combination with OMOK - One Man, One Knight rules. They are very 'similar' (just
for different periods) so I use OMOG for the 'human army' due to their ranged weapons and OMOK for the
ape army because of their pole arms.
To keep it
simple, I used the quick reference sheets created by Steve Snark, which can be
downloaded from the OMOG Facebook group's files section.
However, some
house rules seemed necessary; Since Chimanzees are very fast, I let them move
twice as fast as a "human move". They have brutal strength, a strong
bite and deadlier teeth, so I think they will be far superior to humans in
hand-to-hand combat, so they get an additional +1 in melee for their physical strength.
The Scenario
To keep this related to the Planet of the Apes, I have placed this scenario to the same
period as the original POTA book La Plaète des singes was written by Pierre Boulle in 1963. Wild
chimpanzees are only found in West and Central Africa. Fortunately, I already
have miniatures covering that region and period. During the Congo Crisis,
troops from the newly independent Republic of the Congo, the Armèe Nationale
Congolaise (ANC), were sent into the South Kasai region to fight the rebels
there due to a rebellion and insurgency there in the period of 1960-63.
Some time during this
campaign, a lightly armed squad (among several) of 8 soldiers from the ANC was
on a search and destroy patrol at outskirts of the jungle in a very remote area
of the South Kasai region in 1962 to look for Kasai rebels there. To be able
to move quickly, they were lightly armed, only with rifles and a submachine gun.
The squad fights as 2 fire teams with 4 members in each.
The ANC squad is
totally unaware that they are moving into territory claimed by a group of 15
hostile chimpanzees armed with simple thrusting spears. Unlike the human army,
they have no ranged weapons, but are superior in hand-to-hand combat. The
'ape army' is not 'organized' but fights as 3 groups of 5 each.
The Game
The ANC search and destroy patrol...
Click for larger image
...are totally unaware that they are about to enter territory claimed by a pack of hostile Chimpanzees and that they are being watched doing so.
Click for larger image
Suddenly groups of Chimpanzees armed with spears came rushing out of the bush, screaming, towards the ANC squad...
Click for larger image
...the soldiers are taken by surprise but some of them managed to open fire (before it became too late), and kill some of the raging Chimpanzees...
Click for larger image
-But the Chimpanzees didn't care if they lost some fellow members of their group, and just kept storming into the ANC squad and entered hand-to-hand combat...
Click for larger image
...and clashed into a brutal fight...
Click for larger image
...even if some of the soldiers managed to kill a couple of Chimpanzees in this nasty close combat...
Click for larger image
...they just didn't have a chance against the Chimpanzees. The rearmost soldiers tried to retreat when the rest of their squad was wiped out...
Click for larger image
...but the raging Chimpanzees were faster and kept following the retreating soldiers...
Click for larger image
...until the last man standing were surrendered and killed.
Click for larger image
Even if they lost about half their members, this was a victory for the apes as they managed to take out all the intruders of their territory.
Click for larger image
When the remains of 'the lost patrol' was later found by others, it was clear that the casualties had injuries matching both Chimpanzee-attacks and spear injuries. The apes was gone for now, and so was some of the rifles from the eliminated ANC squad..... (did the Apes take them?)
When these observations was later reported perhaps that inspired Pierre Boulle to write 'La Plaète des singes', the book which the later films of 'Plante of the Apes' was based upon...
Conclusion
This scenario took just about 10 turns and 20-30 minutes to play, so I actually had time to play it 3 times. In a fight between someone with firearms and those without but having better close combat weapons, it's clear that those with firearms are only effective if they manage to keep their opponent at a distance for a time. In such a scenario the side with ranged weapons does not have a lot of time to use them and their advantages, before being in close combat, where other weapons are more effective.
Some updates on Thor Sheil's OMOG and OMOK rules
At the time it looks like the late Thor Sheil's salvaged army men website are 'down' again, and so are the links to his free wargaing rules. I'm not sure if his website will be online again this time, so I'd thought I'd share some links where you can still find several of his free wargaming rules:
The Facebook-group 'Shambattle and OMOG Toysoldiers Games' are created by Thor Sheil himself and dedicated to his games. In the groups filesection many of his wargame rules are uploaded. This is an open Facebook group with few members, so in courtesy feel free to sign up as a member when using the rules.
If Thor Sheil's website doesn't return, I must consider to update this blog's link sections and replace inactive links to his rules with my own downloads. Updated: Already done thru Waybackmachine with those few URLs which were saved there. Too bad not all of them were.
.jpg "a planet of the apes wargame. a game with free OMOG and OMOK wargame rules by Thor Sheil. how to create a budget POTA looking ape army on budget.")
