Dan and I just finished recording a podcast with Steffan of Flank March Miniatures about his currently running 3D printable 28mm WW2 Soviet Naval Infantry Kickstarter.

We had a great time and learned a lot of interesting things about the Soviet Naval Brigade, also known as the Black Death, plus an interesting (unique?) extra at higher pledge levels.

Not only great looking printable miniatures but a huge quantity all sorts of different options.

Podcast to follow ASAP but in the meantime have a look at this Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flankmarch/black-death

Also, (rather cool) share this post:
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid05jbJnUvgB8GmcDG8YAG3x1npcyr6k678iTSPK1EDoftZZZ8nyXqY7RavS2hhA9fAl&id=100089882083627
… on Facebook, and if it gets enough shares some extra stretch goals get added.

If you have an interest in historical/actual 20th and 21st century Army organization; Squad, platoon, Company etc. This is an outstanding video explaining how it all works including using Easy Company from Band of Brothers as an example.

Thanks DigitalBattlefieldTours on YouTube for putting together such a fantastic resource.

I'm in [small scale] production, just what I need, unlimited near free minis to add to my pile of shame :-/. What do you mean 8 British airborne jeeps is too many?? :-)

I asked Skynet a couple of important questions just to make sure we were on the right track with things and this was their response... (for your mid-week amusement read the response in the second image below)

Also for completeness...

In this episode of the Valhalla Games podcast Dan and Rex talk about the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Sicily and Italy game day held in Sydney, 18 March 2023.

Will the allies get a foothold in the soft underbelly or will Italy kick them off, back into the Mediterranean? Perhaps more importantly will the Primosole bridge book scenarios and terrain stack up against the expectation of the veteran Bolt Action players of Western front gamers in Sydney Australia?

Subscribe in your podcast app by searching for Valhalla Games or play in the web player by clicking on the image below.​

Images and video of the day to follow at https://valhallagames.net/youtube shortly(ish).

Share your progress?

Ancient olive trees, the final result (well, enough for the event tomorrow at least) I'm pretty pleased with these I sculpted the bases on the bottom of the trees along with the rocks (the centre one is by games workshop for comparison) and made the all flock from scratch. I have also finally worked out how to glue the flock on in a way that it will stay!

Here is more on the construction process: https://youtu.be/mzXmLBeq3lA

 Testing out that twitter thing the young kids are using... Still not so sure about all that tweeting nonsense but I'm looking for a way to share MORE content but in a less obtrusive way... or should I just spam you? :-)

#80thAnniversaryItalyCampaignDay still love this, it's the best part of the game board! A few repairs needed before the event this weekend. pic.twitter.com/mqPNVKmtoU

— Valhalla Games Rex (@ValhallagamesR) March 13, 2023

I needed some pretty specific trees in a hurry and the manufacturer the we used last time has gone out of business, so... here we go!

Rex's 2023 hobby goals status update. OK 3 weeks off with an ear infection didn't help my cause but I'm back now and that March 18 deadline is fast approaching.

Dan, give us an update on yours? fiends of Valhalla Games feel free to share your own goals for 2023. Your not going to achieve goals if you don't set any!*

*So long as goal setting is fun for you and a good way to motivate yourself.

Join Dan and Rex as they go on a rambling journey that somehow turns up a whole heap of nuggets talking about:

- Italian Campaign 80th Ann. Campaign Day Sydney Australia
- Hobby Goals for 2023
- Storage space for your hobby kits and a solution to maximize it
- Display solutions for your collections
...and a heap more! 

Subscribe in your podcast by searching for Valhalla Games or click on the image below to listen in the web player.

New year, new Bolt Action army for Rex. A quick look at my new (slightly used) army that I got in the post a couple of days ago.

What are your new years wargame army aspirations? Let us know in the comments.  

Coming soon 3D printed terrain, just wanting to get my own images of my own printed and painted terrain and I will be listing these on https://valhallagames.net/store/ We have the seller rights to this building (all versions) and will be offering it for shipping to Australia and Zealand only (well... you welcome to buy from else-ware by the shipping may be prohibitively expensive). In fact we have seller rights to lots and lots of different buildings but this is a standout.

I already have stock printed so its immediate shipping for whatever is listed.

Don't worry were not 'going all commercial' just a sideline to offset costs. If your interested drop me a message here: https://www.valhallagames.net/contact

This is where I keep all my fully painted minis... :-)

Seriously though this is my new [used] display cabinet. 

Apart from the false start with another one that didn't fit and the glass door breakage carnage, and the removal of noticeboards from the wall carnage which required a fill and full wall repaint and apart from all the masking and respraying of the slightly chipped black bits, it was an easy job. Only lights and top and bottom boards to be replaced, and new doors.

All that aside I'm looking forward to getting some minis out of boxes and putting them on display after 5 plus years of... 'negotiation' for the space. Its also bigger than it looks 600mm wide and 2100 high, industrial strength for lots of lead.

I have found an interesting bit of software for modifying 3D files. Its both powerful and intuitive for your average wargamer who really just wants to get the job done so he/she can get back to rolling dice.

SelfCAD (https://www.selfcad.com/) is a Freemium product that you can use to edit your 3D print files make changes, damage things, erase parts, join things together, split things, add pins etc. There is one caveat however, and that that is the Freemium product doesn't do all of the things mentioned above, you have to get the paid version, either on a monthly subscription or a one time purchase.

In the past I have used tinker-cad (https://www.tinkercad.com/) which is great especially for creating things from scratch but as soon as there is texture in the STL files they are too big to be edited in tinker-cad.

Consider the following 3D building, it looks good and prints 'ok' (not well but OK). Once its printed removing from the print bed becomes a major problem. Because the portico has no floor the leverage when removing each of the print bed contact points the leverage on the areas marked with arrows means that its going to snap 95 times out of 100.

​The following modified model has had a section of floor duplicated from the centrer of the building, trimmed, and added to the portico joining the columns etc to the main floor therefore removing most of the leverage on the breakable parts and reinforcing the whole section. It prints better as well.

Final note, this is a wargaming blog not a 3D printing blog, if you would rather see less of this content (or more?) let us know in the comments below.

A couple of images from a game of Bolt Action last night with Wargaming buddy Ian, thanks for a great game, a draw. I tried some brand new tactics which worked well, just need to rework the tactics that didn't work.

In this bumper episode, we are joined by Jon Russell of Warlord Games fame. In addition to his dedicated work for Warlord, Jon is a multifaceted wargamer and also veteran of many years service.

In this episode we spend time learning about Jon's wargaming pedigree, before learning more about his role at Warlord, the writing of 'Bolt Action: Korea', and Jon shares with us what he can about what Bolt Action V3 might look like, and the 'Raiders Attack!' Supplement that still has much life left in it.

All this plus Warlord event support, balance in tournaments and other definitely non-controversial(!), highly entertaining and informative topics. Sit back and enjoy a chat with Jon, and us, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Subscribe to Valhalla games in your favourite podcast app or listen in the web player here [link].

Thanks again to Jon for giving us his time and thoroughly entertaining us!

This afternoon I stuck my nose into 'War in the North', a Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (Lord Of The Rings) tournament put on by Andrew Medbury of Medbury miniatures (https://www.medburyminiatures.com/).

Looked like a great day everyone looked the be having fun and there were some fantastic painted armies there and great terrain. Good to see a wargaming event run on the New South Wales Central coast, well done Andrew and Whitney I bet you will sleep well tonight.

(always hard getting good photos in a hall with very basic lighting)

Dan & Rex go to the MOAB 2022 gaming event (short for Mother Of All Battles) in Sydney, Australia and fight it out in 5 games of Bolt Action. A great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones post COVID-19 restrictions in Australia and New Zealand over the past 2 years.

Yes we are back, its been a while since you last heard from us due to the launching of our campaign book. We have lots of plans for the future both podcast and YouTube, you can see all our content here:

• https://www.valhallagames.net/
• https://www.valhallagames.net/youtube
• https://www.valhallagames.net/patreon
• https://www.valhallagames.net/store