General Update

Apologies for the lack of posts.  I had my fill at KublaCon and then was met with some work travel and domestic projects.  Getting back on track now though.

One of my favorite movies growing up was Red Dawn.  The remake a few years ago was absolutely horrible ... but the original is a classic.  Between that and Call of Duty Modern Warfare - in which the US gets invaded by Russia, I've always want to extend my "Russia Resurgent" project into North America.

Original Red Dawn ... the only
Red Dawn I will acknowledge :-)

Considering all the Russian's we have laying around ... why not do a "modernize" Red Dawn type invasion scenario.  My setting will be a small town in Washington state that gets hit by elements of a Russian division that have crossed the Bearing Straight and pushed through Alaska and down through Canada.  This is good because I've always wanted an excuse to buy pre-assembled/painted Woodland Scenics O-Scale buildings.  Specifically ...

All of these buildings are on order for me.  I'll modernize them a bit and weather them as needed.  I'll fill in the rest of the board with fur mats and roads as normal.  The layout and scenario are not 100% in my head just yet ... but I'm sure I'll figure it out once all the cool toys show up!

In other news, my Vietnam figures have all finally shown up so I'll be sending those off to Artmaster Studio ASAP this week.

I'm also looking to host a game at some point before the July 4th weekend.  Domestic duties and other stuff is making this a bit challenging ... but I'll figure something out.  July 4th I have the whole week off so I'm looking forward to getting some gaming in during that week as well.

So stay tuned ... more updates to come!

Bolt Action Modern Game - US versus Russians

This past weekend I headed over to my buddy Dan Kerricks house to play a game of Bolt Action modern.  We incorporated most of the new rules from v2.0 of Bolt Action and played it out.

Unfortunately the weather was very cold last weekend here and I think it infected our dice rolls ... I didn't manage to knock out a single vehicle ... nor did Roy who was playing opposite of me!  I played the Russians advancing through the field while Dan took the other half of the Russians up through the town.  Roy was opposite me with US and Matt ran the US troops on the town side.

We just played a simple meeting engagement ... the US was under strength for the battle ... but the dice rolls were so cold all around that it really didn't matter.

Dan's Russians in the town managed to do some damage ... enough to call it a minor victory for the Russians ... but it was a draw in my opinion.  Might as well have been using foam pool noodles to fight each other ....

Anyways ... I took some pictures with my phone ... they are below :-)

 

Canadian LAV III (1/50th) Arrived

My first LAV III arrived from the printers at Shapeways and I have to say that I'm very happy with the results.  Pictures and a bit more below.

Here is how the 3D model looks with all the parts
separated (see previous renders here).

And here is the real thing, I used a black wash to
make the details stand out better for the picture.

Compared to an Empress Miniatures Stryker.

Compared to an Empress Miniatures Stryker.

Compared to an Empress Miniatures Stryker.

Assembled LAV III.

I'm going to use a thin washer under the turret to accomplish two things:

1.  Raise up the turret off the hull a bit.
2.  Add some weight to the turret (it does stay in place, just would like some weight on it).

Assembled LAV III.

Assembled LAV III.

There you have it.  It isn't cheap ($96.89 USD) ... I guess I could cast it if I wanted to, but I only need 3-4 total.  If you want to buy one for yourself I've made it available to purchase from Shapeways here.

28mm (1/50th scale) Canadian Army LAV III

Just a quick post today ... the first 3D renders of the Canadian LAV III are in and I thought I would share them.  Still making some adjustments but the turret will be removable and the tires will be separate.  The model is 1/50th scale so that it matches up with my Empress Miniatures vehicles.

Once this is done I'll be uploading to Shapeways and getting 3 or 4 printed off (since the G-Wagen came out so good).  Then these, along with the G-Wagens and Leopard 2's will be off to the paint table.

Will have the Canadians deployed on the tabletop in no time :-)