Soviet winter army nearly finished.... here are all the extra spotters for my inexperience mortars and other indirect fire units (??). 

Most of these came into being with only 3 days to go until MOAB 2019. Finally getting round to finishing them off, just a few canteen lids and a clear coat once the weather improves. Then I have to go through the rest of the army and see what didn't manage to get a second highlight and finally 4 vehicles, OK perhaps not nearly finished but perhaps the beginning of the end.

Dan introduces a new painting challenge; how to upgrade a second hand Waffen SS force hes purchased and incorporate it into his current armies.

Join Dan as he talks you through his work on creating a fairly era-and-front flexible, generic Heer army force for the tabletop For future games of Chain Of Command and Bolt action. We hope you enjoy this. Stay safe everyone and pick up the phone and call a mate or a family member who might be alone at the moment and say hi. 

Regards, Rex and Dan.

 I got these magnificent trees as a Christmas present in 2018 now I'm rushing to get them ready for the game in about 6 hours. Don't call me a procrastinator I started 6 hours before I needed them!

 "Master Crafted" YouTube channel is reporting that easyarmy for Kings of war is now ready for 3rd edition.

He is saying that its moved to "the mantic website" (inferring that its official?) its actually just another a subdomain of easyarmy.com and not Mantic. 

It's now a freemium model as well.

If you are a fan of easyarmy have a look at this video. I note that its also saying "This is currently a closed Beta testing site and is not yet available to the public. " so make your own investigations.

 Miniature XPS foam building first time build! Rex has lots of fun and ends up with a great result. Check out the finished product in this reveal video. A classic Mediterranean building for Bolt Action, Chain Of Command or any other 28mm wargame set in the Med. Hope the customer is happy! :-)

Infamy, Infamy forthcoming ancient wargaming ruleset.

I have to say I'm intrigued, not to sure about another whole wargaming period but it sounds interesting and who doesn't like a Roman or two? Look how pretty they are!. Two Fat Lardies I'm going to need more than a shiny new cover to satisfy cravings for a new rules-set, videos, diagrams and odd-cast banter should do it?

Join Dan as he reviews santas gift to him; boxed plastic Red Army kit from Wargames Factory. Unsatisfied with the info Dan could find prior to ordering these, he's reviewed the kit , assembled , and compared it for size with others on the market in 1/56 and 28mm so you can get a real idea of whether this kit is right for YOU!

 Mantic Vs GW twitter

XPS foam building, first attempt progress log, just a simple building for a start. Photos after the "continue reading"...

This time in the Valhallagames podcast we look back on 2019 from a wargaming perspective and we hand out awards in various categories for wargaming excellence. Bring your black tie and tuxedo or ball dress, find out who gets the imaginary valhallagames golden trophies.

Dan gives us the run down on his recent Bolt Action tournament "no surrender" along with all the cinematic drama.

Lastly, we look forward to all the new ideas valhallagames has for 2020 to do even better with the YouTube channel, podcast, and audience participation.

Web player here:
https://pca.st/31ung25h

Show-notes here:
https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/home/2-uncategorised/10-podcast-e10-shownotes

The best fantasy miniatures from a company that Rex had never heard of!! Firstly, I have to buy one of these Yeti's it would make a great "cave dweller" for my Kings of War Northern alliance army. But secondly I cant believe I have never heard of these guys! Click on the images below or go to: https://www.atlantisminiatures.com

While your there have a look at all the other miniatures, I think you will agree there is some outstanding stuff there. (NOT a paid promotion)

Something completely different, zero dollar secret Santa

The good the bad and the ugly of mass army painting:

OK I admit it I love skirmish games for a number of reasons but tonight's painting efforts have revealed just one more reason.

• The good; my painting has improved each new army puts the last to shame so that's a good thing. Still plenty of room to improve but heading in the right direction.
• The bad (and good); bad news is that these new plastic Northern Alliance Clansman from mantic games are too good! The amount of detail is amazing, sure that's a good thing but its going to take a huge amount of time to paint them.
  
• The ugly; how will I ever get a full Kings of War army painted with this level of detail? Did I mention I love skirmish games​?
  

See below for a couple of snaps of the first completed test model, after that I'm looking for something in a shade of camo green!

Test piece... on day when I have the real thing finished I will post a video.

If you don't know already, ​I am making terrain boards. I'm trying to do the best I can do to make them as realistic as possible, I'm using a lot of new techniques or pushing on further with techniques that I already do. To that end I have purchased a woodland scenic rock molds and have cast up and stuck on some plaster rocks now I'm learning how to paint them to my liking.  The "its easy just do it like this" video by woodland scenic didn't work quite as planned and its a lot harder then what I expected probably because i'm mixing my own acrylic washes rather then using theirs. That's because it would take me 1000 years to use up all the products and they are relatively expensive.

Test 1

​Test 1, too dark (WAY) to dark need to water down the paint a LOT more

Test 2

Test 2, this was a lot lighter but more or less the same result??? I must be missing something.

Test 3

 Test 3, getting better, nice in fact but too red...

Test 4

Test 4, I like the result (not yet finished) but not the red colour. Off to the shop to get some more paint. Plus a few more casts required!!

Test 5

Test 5, happy with the colour just a little too strong. Getting close to what I want.

Test 6

Test 6 too light hitting on a roll of 2+ next turn...

Stay tuned for more excitement. I have had to create a couple of new units of measure they are called the; The black-current (a "black-currents" volume of paint), a pea (slightly bigger than a black-current), and a "SG" (that's 75% of a shotglass of water). Yes... I know!

Improvised Hitler's buzzsaw (...and hot too)

In this episode Dan & Rex talk about "the trouble with 28mm". What even is 28mm… it's not a scale? Rex gets angry, will Dan soothe things out and will we come to grips with our scale woe's? Will we have a prime directive to give to all manufacturers to ensure that when we open the box will we have "joy"?

As well as that Rex talks about the performance of his new soviets at MOAB gaming convention in Sydney. 

Subscribe in your favorite podcasting app (search for vallhallagames) or click on the image below to view the web player.

Scientific analysis (not really!) of who talks most on the forthcoming podcast? Dan's waveform at the top, Rex's at the bottom. Next Podcast episode coming to a device near you very soon.