HOOCH Kickstarter

My friend Mike from Da Green Skins blog has a new Kickstarter going.  It is for a new card game called HOOCH.  The game is set in the during the Prohibition era where you build and lead your own crime syndicate.  The game looks pretty cool so if you like these types of car games you should check out this Kickstarter.

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun

I picked up this model off eBay a while back.  I have been looking for the metal one for a good price for a long time.  Even though this model was already painted, poorly, I went ahead and bid and much to my surprise I won!  The price was great but when it arrived I was shocked and angry.  Turns out it is Finecast and I had just assumed it was metal (always read those eBay listings carefully).  I had sworn to myself that I would NEVER waste my time on a Finecast piece of crap.

When I gave the model a careful examination I was surprised to see very few flaws (though there was one and if you look carefully at the first picture you might be able to see it).  The paint was terrible and being Finecast I was not sure if I should try and strip it or just paint over it. My courage failed me and I decided to paint over and maybe even salvage some of the original paint job.  Turns out I repainted about 95% of the model.

This model has so many fine details it can be tough at times to determine exactly what you are looking at.  This can lead to repainting certain features as you get a better understand of the model.  I painted this guy with a shirt but as the project progressed I realized that he might not be wearing one.  In the end I left it as I think it works either way.

I really like this model but I do wish it was the metal version.  This turned out nice but not good enough to get me to change my mind about Finecast.  I think this is a better looking model than the new plastic version.  The new one looks like Max Headroom to me.  Way too blocky on the facial features.

Mek with Kustom Forcefield

The march of the Orks continues.  Next up is the Mek with Kustom Forcefield.  This is the old metal model.  This model has tons of character and I always wanted to try it out in a game. That probably won't happen but it will look great in the box with all the rest of my Orks.

This is not the end of the Ork updates.  There are couple more in the pipeline!

Grukk Face-Rippa

This is the new plastic Warboss from the Stormclaw box set.  This is actually the only new Ork model in that set, which is bit of a ripoff.  All I wanted was this one model but I ended up having to buy all the Orks from a local gamer.  The good news is that it was a pretty good deal.

I really like this model a lot!  It is so much better than the Warboss from the Assault on Black Reach set.  More Orks coming...

Ghazghkull Thraka

Time for another gear change.  I have been painting lots of Flames of War and I really needed to look at something else for a while.  This usually means painting the old reliable 40K figure or two.  I have finally got around to painting my Ghazghkull Thraka model.  I have had this for several years and I started painting it a couple of years ago.  If you love Orks you have to have this model - it is BAD ASS!

I painted up a bunch of Orks so stay tuned for more updates.

King Tigers for Flames of War

My ever increasing late war German collection now has a couple of King Tigers.  These are Battlefront models and they come with both the Henschel and Porsche turrets.  This makes then rather expensive models but the good news is you rarely need more than two and usually only one.

The Henschels will see there battle debut next weekend at a local late war tournament.  I was hoping to get in a test game or two but it is not to be.

Even though I have no plans to run the Porsche version any time soon I painted up these turrets at the same time to ensure a good match.  These turrets don't fit as well as the Henschels and probably need magnets.

All in all a nice kit and they should be fun to play.  I am not sure what I will be working on next.  I just got more Napoleonic French so I should probably work on that for a while.  But I also got a deal on some more 40K Orks (that I have no need for) and I am really getting the bug to work on those for a while. 

StuG Batterie for Flames of War

Here is my StuG Batterie for Flames of War.  I have always loved the StugIIIG and ever since I started FoW I have dreamed of building this army.  But my cheapness kept me from making any real progress.  The first tanks in the collection were a couple of the original Open Fire! stugs that I traded for.  They were crap and I was sure I would end up throwing them away.  A few weeks ago a friend had all the Germans from the new Open Fire box which included three stugs.  Well, now I was getting close to having a start on the army.  Once I realized that the plastic schurzen from the Plastic Soldier Company stug set could be used to salvage the crappy old Open Fire stugs I was off.  I bought a box of PCS stug and got started.

The complete company.  The army includes Battlefront models and Plastic Soldier Company models.

The commander is from the Panzer Kanonen set.  I did not like the metal schurzen that comes with this model so I upgraded it with a set from PSC.

This platoon is made of the Battlefront plastic stugs from the current Open Fire box.  These models are OK but seem a little too wide to me.

The second platoon is a mix of manufacturers.  The command tank is from PSC.  The other two are modified Battlefront models from the original Open Fire set.  The tanks were one piece casting ans the schurzen has a bad habit of breaking off.  I used my Dremel to remove the schurzen and also to remove the huge casting on the base of the tank.  I then used PSC schuzen as replacements.  The are not perfect but they look good.

This is the StuH 42 platoon and all the models are PSC.  I left off the schurzen (because I used them to fix the other tanks) to help differentiate the models from the stugs.

Initially, I will be fielding this force as the 280. Sturmgeschutzbrigade from Bridge by Bridge.  I will be able to use my Fallschirmjagers to fill out the support.  Some of these models have already been on the table in support of my Fallschirmajagers and they will eventually backup some standard German infantry as well.  All in all these tanks will see lots of table time for mid and late war games.