Works in progress

With the young master being ill almost every week (yeah, we pay for daycare and he spends 2 workdays a week at home) I can't paint as much as I like. Sure, the compressor for my airbrush is quiet, but my workspace is right next to the little one's bedroom. So, I glue and fill and sand and hope that his immune system will help me finish some of this stuff soon.


I have some Italieri Shermans and Priests all ready for paint. Some small seams need sorting out but it won't take me more than half an hour with a cotton bud and some nail polish remover. The Italieri T-34 was another story entirely as the amount of filler can demonstrate. Stay away. Italieri has been hit and miss lately and this is (unfortunately) one of the misses. The other T-34 needs no introductions. Although part of the gun assembly is damaged (Revell or Matchbox must have done something wrong to the mold) it fits together like a dream and its a great kit. People might complain that it's 1/76, but I can live with that.


The contents of this box are familiar to all of us. The lovely Airfix Matilda (with small modifications to help it appear more suitable for the fields of France in '40), 5.5" gun and assorted tractors. I still haven't finished the 25lbr but I think I'll be done with it before the week is through.



Here are some more figs and guns. Italieri PaK-40s with crew (Italieri) and a SHQ Neberlwefer and crew. After I'm done with the ratmen, they will be next on the paint block. I have the trucks waiting to carry them ready for almost a year now. And finally the Irregular ratmen and some GW rat swarms. The Irregular figs "paint up well" as does a lot of Irregular's stuff. And they are cheap. So, no complains.

That's all that's cooking in Athens this windy and chilly evening. Apparently, fall, if not winter, is finally setting in.

6mm Fantasy Project

I had started on a 6mm fantasy project a while back but, unsurprisingly, I got sidetracked on other projects (including my 2-year old son). Still I kept at it and so far I have 9 bases of elves and 3 bases of orcs for Fantasy Rules! I plan to fight battles in early Middle Earth so I'll do elves and orcs and eventually humans and dwarves. Most of the figs are from Irregular Miniatures with the only exception being so far the High Elven pikes which come from Baccus.

Here are the pikes. They'll form the backbone of my battle line. Lovely figs, easy to paint. I don't think I did them enough justice as the amount of detail is phenomenal.

The other options for the main battle line are archers and swordsmen. I have a lot of Irregular archers but I've only painted one base so far. I also have some Baccus archers that I'll use for the elite regiments of the King's guard.

The Irregular Cavalry is also superb. I'll only use 2 bases for now as I want an infantry-heavy army. I might get some Baccus horsemen to use as heavy cavalry and Irregular Wood Elves to use as light cavalry. We'll see.
Finally my monsters: ents as heavy monsters and giant eagles for small flying monsters. One ent and two eagles per base look pretty good in my eyes.

In its final form, the army will have another 3-5 bases of archers, 2 bases of swordsmen, 2 ballistae, 2 heavy chariots, 2 bases of small monsters (giant eagles) and one of large (ents). This, together with characters and sundry stuff will give me up to 1300-1500 points, large enough for large battles and some mixing and matching. Hopefully the elves will be done before Christmas this year.

Have a great day from (yet again sunny) Athens.

My Orc Army

I finally received the (almost) final installment for my 6mm orc army. I initially went with the Irregular Miniatures Orc Army pack. At GBP11 it was hardly a major expe
nse and it provided me with the basis of my units:In Fantasy Rules 3rd Edition using 15mm basing (40X40mm) and ranges is recommended when gaming with 6mm figures. In this case I've broken each unit in two 40X20mm sabots, allowing me to use the figures with either Warmaster or HOTT if I later use any of these sets.
With everything included in the Army deal I was able to make:

• 2 HeavyChariot Units
• 2 Light Cavalry Units
• 3 Handweapon Units
• 2 Skirmisher Units

Not bad for 11 pounds worth of stuff. To add to this I ordered the Orc Brutes from Microworld Games (Steve is a great guy and his miniatures are topnotch), some more stuff from Irregular and the Goblin Hordes from Baccus. With all these I plan to make an additional 2 skirmisher units, 2 handweapon units, my 2 elite handweapon units, 2 (or maybe more) goblin mobs, 2 more light cavalry units and one more heavy chariot unit. Considering that the average FR!3 game is around 1000 points this is (massive) overkill, but it is easy to get carried away with 6mm stuff.
What else is left? The heavy hitters. Large and Small Monsters in the form of giants and trolls will provide bowfire and melee support, behemoths will provide long-range firepower, together with catapults and a siege tower. I initially didn't want to include heavy cavalry because the Irregular chariots looked so good, but Microworld Games sent some free samples with my order that included excellent boar-mounted heavy goblin cavalry, so that will be included with my next order.
Before I sign off; I'd heard horror stories about Irregular's sculpting. True, they are not up to the standard of Microworld or Baccus figs but they are hardly horrible. They paint well, as can be seen below, they have interesting units and they are practically indestructible, all of which are important points for me.
That's all for now. Hopefully I'll finish my dwarven warband for Song of Blades and Heroes soon so I can post those pics.