More Painted Minis

I managed to finish some more miniatures that I started in March. I wouldn't call what I did multitasking, but I went back and forth between scale and genres during each painting session. Some were ones that I had started awhile ago and never finished. As usual, forgive my crappy photography.

I finished up more of my Splintered Light Orcs, but didn't finish the command, so no new photos of them, yet.

First up is Khurasan Miniatures DIMOG Amoursuit Mk 1, or is it Mk 2? I don't know. I bought it a long time ago, I can't tell the difference based on their website pictures. This is the miniature where I lost the driver's door, but my aunt-in-law's granddaughter found it. I went with the autocannon and  missile launcher configuration. The missile launcher really looks more like a big recoilless rifle:

You probably can't tell, but in addition to using the old Future floor wax and black ink wash, I also gave its lower end a wash using brown. For highlighting, I did some with silver to simulate wear and tear on it. Its mounted on a large washer.The barrel of the autocannon is very bendy. I am not sure how long it will last before breaking.

Next up, a 15mm Mastodon with howdah:

 I can't remember who made it. I want to say its an old Grenadier, but I am not sure. They came with some dudes to put in the howdah; one archer and one spearman. I have to figure out what fantasy army this guy belongs to.  I am not quite finished with it. I still need to paint the shields that are on the howdah and put him on a base.

Last, but not least, some microarmor.
First, is an tractor-trailer from Shapeways:

The number of shops that make micro scale figures on Shapeways seems to be growing. I can't remember who specifically made this. Shapeways, IMHO has a lousy website. I find it hard to find things, or to go back to specific shops that I liked.  So far, I have purchased a few items, mostly aircraft. I have yet to be impressed my miniatures made by 3D printing. Its not so much the detail, or lack of it, but I don't like that fuzzy texture (frosted ultra-detail) that I get on a lot of models. Plus, I think the price is still too high, especially for the quality. I didn't bother to prime this truck. Normally, I would have given it a wash, but the fuzzy texture would really show up on it.

Next, is another in my line of technicals:

I have not painted it yet because I want to use a spray-on primer, and its that its been raining more often than not. High humidity/rain and outdoor aerosol spraying is not a good combination. I can't remember who made the truck, but the gun is a WW2 German 20mm Flakvierling 38 made by Heroics & Ros. I would prefer a Soviet ZPU-4 Quad 14.5mm AA gun, but I've read on Micro Armour Mayhem that GHQ's model is awful to build, plus I don't feel like paying $10 for it. Scotia-Grendel has one, but its HUGE! It would definitely not fit on this tiny truck.  I have three more of these little trucks of unknown origin. Heroics & Ros does make a reasonable ZPU-23 that I have put on another truck. I will probably stick one on one of these little trucks.

Last, is a WW2 BK1125 Soviet armored gunboat:

This is also made by Heroics & Ros. It is a pretty simple model. As part of the Northern Chalupistan river fleet, I plan to modernize it. I will build a tripod mast to hold a radar dish, but I am not clear what else I will do to it. The small machine gun turrets will probably go. I will keep the T-34 turret. I tried fitting some other spare turrets, but they were too long in the back and rammed into the pilot house.

  

Quick Update

A million things have kept me from doing much of anything hobby-wise. This is mainly due to a major spring cleaning effort at home followed by lots of dull, mind-numbing administrative duties at work (not to mention a chronic pain-in-the-@ss colleague). None the less, I've managed to do a few things, at least on paper.  Sorry, no pictures now but will do so when I report on these projects later.

1. Managed to paint up more Splintered Light orcs. Thanks to severe allergies at night, I've managed to get some painting done while waiting for the anti-histamines to kick in. I'll show them off when I have them based. Splintered Light has just come out with some 15mm adventurers that look great, as well has more orcs on dire-hyenas. Must...resist...temptation...to...buy...

2. Started planning/designing a hacienda in 1/300 scale. That's been a difficult ongoing task. They are a million different styles and the style I am interested in are very hard to visualize. As best I can put it, they are like a bunch of different buildings that have been attached together. I think I've managed to draw up some sketches and plans for what I want it to look like.

3. Boat building is back in the works. In a previous post, I decided that 1/300 river boats weren't a priority, but there were a couple of posts on TMP about a building material called Sintra that got me interested. It seems to be foam core consisting only of the core. Its supposed to be pretty strong and comes in ridiculously thin sheets. I ordered 3mm thick sheets but they even have sheets 1mm (!) in thickness. The cost itself isn't too bad, but the companies that sell it ship by UPS, which really jacks up the cost. I have already worked up plans for the Brazilian river monitor Parnaíba, which is the oldest active warship in the world, being commissioned in 1938. I've drawn up the plans based on the few photographs of the ship that are out there. In addition to the Sintra, I bit the bullet and ordered some brass guns that ship modellers use to improve their models. There are none for 1/300 scale, but I bought some 5" guns at 1/350 scale that will hopefully be small enough to look like  3" guns in 1/300 scale.  If it turns out well, I will build a second one and maybe sell it...maybe.

Blank Dice

I've always like warships of the pre-dreadnought age. When I was in elementary school, I read all I could about the Spanish-American war. I had a great-grandfather who was in the Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War. My favorite piece in Monopoly still is the battleship. There is something about those ship designs...

As I said in my previous post, Bob Cordrey modified his naval rules to use conventional 6-sided dice. Silly me, I didn't know this until I ordered some blank dice. Oh well. Now I have a whole mess of blank dice.

I bought them from Blank Dice. Its a UK company. They have a whole mess of different colors. I have since found that I could get them from a whole bunch of other places on line, including Amazon.com, but hey, this company was recommended on TMP. The prices didn't seem to be too bad, but I'll be honest, I don't remember how much I paid. They shipped pretty fast, too. Not EM-4 Miniatures fast, where they have packed up and shipped out your order before you even know what you wanted, but still pretty fast.

Blank 6D's from bBlankdice.uk.co

They are indented to insert stickers. They don't sell the the stickers but have free pdf templates that I assume are properly sized.

Size comparison with US Quarter

 They seem to have a proper heft to them. You know what I mean...the difference between the crappy dice set you got in the D&D starter set in the 70s, and a pair of dice you use for craps at a casino. That was one of the things I was worried about. I thought they might be very light.

What am I going to do with them? I have not decided yet. My daughter has already asked me what I have planned for them, so I better think of something quick!

I want to thank my friend Karin at the college where I teach for taking the pictures for me with her camera phone.

OMG, This is Fantastic!

I've been tinkering with the idea playing some games of Bob Cordrey's The Portable Naval Wargame, formally known as Memoir of Battle at Sea. Had I paid more attention to his updates, I would not have ordered the blank dice originally needed for these rules. He made some minor changes that included using standard dice rather than color-coded dice. Based on my read of them, they are a simple (but not simplistic) set of rules that emphasizes playability and a fast game, but seems to have a good degree of flavor for pre-dreadnought and dreadnought naval battles.  I have not been able to give them a try (big surprise there), until now....

...anyway, from Bob's site, I found that another site, Three by Two Tactics, has taken his game and made a virtual board game for it (see here). Its not an online game.  You do need to have the rules handy, but it allows you to run games and test the rules without investing in physical miniatures. Plus you can play it anywhere...like in your office...when you are trying to grade final exams.

Bob's rules are free, and its free to run the game board. Another plus is that it runs on Macs as well as PCs. That's a big plus for me! Give them a try.

Now, back to grading (cue "Volga Boatmen").

FYI: New Discussion Group on Google+ for 15mm Fantasy Gaming

Over at TMP, there was an invite to join a 15mm fantasy figure discussion group on Google+.  A number of years ago, I joined the 15mm fantasy group on Yahoo! It petered out not long after it started. It is still active, but barely. Hopefully, this one will generate more interest than the Yahoo! group did.

March Paint Fest

Sorry for the lack of gaming-related posts. Work and home life has been crazy. At least things at work will calm down once the semester is over in a few weeks. Back in March, I realized that I needed to address the HUGE backlog of unpainted fantasy figures that have been piling up. So, I made an attempt to put a tiny dent in the pile. I started with the most recent purchases first, and have been slowly working backwards.

Splintered Light Miniatures Kobold Command

Splintered Light Miniatures Orcs

I painted more, but I didn't want to photograph them until I've based them. I'm bad about painting a batch but not basing them. In my view, they are not officially done until they are on a base.

Ants Climbing Trees

Ah, I got your attention! Nope, I have not gone to new depths in 1/300 scenery and modeled some ants climbing up trees. Its just another Chinese recipe. You won't find Ants Climbing Trees (ACT, for short) at your typical Chinese restaurant. None the less, its a very good dish. Originally, my wife taught me how to cook it, but I have exceeded the Master!  My daughter loves it and I have gotten a thumb up from my mother-in-law.

It is a Szechuan dish using mung bean noodles, also known as bean thread noodles or Chinese vermicelli. These are very thin, almost transparent, dry noodles that are usually wrapped up into small bundles. They have no flavor to them, but soak up the flavors of whatever they are added to. They used to be dirt cheap at Asian grocery stores, but I've noticed a rather steep increase in price lately and a decrease in the amount of noodles that come in the package. Recently, I've seen them sold in the Asian section of Walmart, for a higher price, of course.

Nowadays, you can find this recipe on the internet, but closest who comes to the recipe I know is Emeril Lagasse's. Why is it called Ants Climbing Trees? Its because the meat will stick to the noodles, looking like ants on branches. Onto the ingredients...remember from the last food post, I don't really measure anything, particularly the spices, so, the numbers below are rough estimates.

• 1/2 pound of ground pork
• 3-4 packages of brean thread noodles [1]
• 3 green onions, well chopped
• 2 slices ginger root, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Szechuan bean paste [2]
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 can of chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil

[1] This is an estimate, as I said the amount you get lately in packages is smaller than in the past. I use as many packs as it takes to make about 2 1/2 cups wet.

[2] Szechuan bean paste can be sweet or hot. Sweet doesn't seem to be all that sweet, and I have not found the hot to be overly hot. As an interesting substitute, I often use Korean fermented soy bean paste. It gives a nice little sharp bite to the dish!

Soak your noodles in a large bowl of cold water.  As they start to soften, use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut them into smaller lengths. Soaking them for about 1/2 hour should be sufficient.

In a wok or a deep frying pan, heat up oil until its sizzling. Add the garlic, ginger, and about half the green onions. Quickly fry them, but avoid burning them, no more than a minute, Then add your ground pork to brown. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the meat into small crumbs. You don't want fats ants on your branches!

As the meat is browning, add the the bean paste, soy sauce, sugar, and white pepper, mixing it in well with the meat. You will have mixed well if the meat gets darkened by the bean paste and soy sauce.

Lower the heat. Remove the noodles from the water and add to the wok. Be sure to constantly toss the mean and noodle mixture. The liquid from the noodles will evaporate quickly and if you don't keep turning them, they will burn to the bottom of the pan or wok. 

After a few stirs of the meat and noodles, add the can of chicken stock small amounts at a time. It will initially look very soupy, but the stock will quickly soak into the noodles. Again, keep tossing the mixture, or the noodles will stick to the bottom of the pan. It should only take about 2 to 3 minutes for the soup to evaporate. While it still looks slightly watery, remove it from the heat. The stock will continue to absorb and evaporate. You don't want it too dry. 

Give it one more toss and then put into a bowl or deep-sided serving plate. Before serving, I take two forks and pry apart the noodles. They seem to have more starch in them than what they look in the beginning and you may end up with this big blob of meat and noodles, but they will separate out very easily using the two forks. Add the remaining green onions as a garnish. 

I hope you enjoy this dish. It may seem complicated, but it really isn't. As I said in note 2, I use Korean bean paste, which has a sharper flavor than Chinese bean paste. My family seems to like it that way. I am not sure what you can use as a substitute for any of the bean pastes. You can always order bean paste on line. You don't use a whole lot, but if you refrigerate it in an air-tight container, it should keep for a long time. I suippose you can freeze it, too. The Korean stuff comes in a big tub. We've used it for over a year and it has not spoiled in the frig.