North American Combine Laser Towers

Don Hawthorne very kindly sent me this. I'm overjoyed to acquire these, which brings me one step closer to completing my Ogre/GEV collection.*

One of my favourite wargames ever.

I shall get these painted as soon as I can clear my workbench of the current models I'm working on. I only now need to find an Vulcan cybertank to complete my Combine force.

*And with it total world domination.... muwhahahaha!

A Quick History of Wargames

Found this on YouTube, as one does, and enjoyed it enough to share it with you all here.

It also serves as a reminder of the need to get my finger out, and finish the unfinished rules sitting on my computer. Add to this the need to move the current conversions on my workbench, I need them for play-testing.

I know, I know, I could bathtub using other miniatures but, for me, miniature gaming is all about the toys.

Something about having a model of the actual person or vehicle to play with just clicks for me. I become immersed in the fate of the model. That of course is just how I play. Other ways or playing are perfectly good.

WIP: Magnetizing and Rebuilding

I finished the above model way back here, but I wanted to improve the arm joints, magnetize the weapon hardpoint, and rework the centre magnet to hold the torso to the legs better (more depth with deeper magnets).

Not only that, but updating the model will allow me to change out backpack missile pack.

You can see below (click to embiggen) the new recessed arm magnets, and the ball joints that allows for a wider range of movement and posing.

You may remember I broke the original model, which you can see here. Below on the left is the original build, and on the right the rebuilt comms array for the command variant of the CASE-2XC Dog.

So, slow work is slow, but it is what it is when one's joints ache.

Catch you all on the bounce.

OMWB: CASE-2X Version 3

I plan to do little other than magnetize the third Marine combat armor suit. Since the magnets have arrived (earlier than expected), I've advance all three models on my work bench.

So, left to right: a kneeling RAFM Heavy Gear Desert Shark Hunter; next my work in progress on the kneeling conversion of a Jager (lots of sculpting still to do; and on the right the standing Jager, which will only have the backpack modified to meet my needs.

That's all for now. Catch you on the bounce.

OMWB: CAS-3-Mod-1 Kneeling Conversion Progress

While drilling out the above, to add magnets, I had an oopsie moment. The drill bit in my Dremel bit into the metal resulting in a RUD event (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly), which will teach me, I guess? 

The pieces flew every which way.

As you can see, I glued the magnet in the center bottom section, mostly because it was something to do in between hunting wide and low for the parts that flew off at a rate of knots.

Eventually I found the other missing parts. Rather than reassembling everything back together I thought it would be easier to repair, and then reassemble.

So, I fixed the left leg to the base, and the right to a piece of wood to make it easier to handle. Then I started re-sculpting the damaged castings. I have a lot of work left to do.

And, now I've run out of magnets, doh! 

It never rains but it pours. My stupid fault, I miscounted the ones I had because I didn't check the sizes. I have a selection of heights and widths (3x5mm, 4x4mm, and 4x7mm), and mistook the 3x5s for 4x7s for some insane reason.

That's all for now. Catch you all on the bounce.

MARPACE Platoon

Finally, a platoon of exoskeleton power armour infantry mostly done and dusted, just needing a coat of matt varnish before deploying them for a game. This expands the original six I showed here so, I now have 22 infantry and 12 combat droids to make up a full platoon.

Extra pic from above.

MARPACE stands for Marine Power Armor Combat Enhancement suit.

With the platoon of insurgents shown here I have enough figures to start play-testing the rules I've been working on.

But, in my inimitable manner that few other wargamers fall into, I've gone and taken a step back with two of my mech conversions.

I wasn't happy with the aesthetics of what I thought of as the twin comm booms on the commanders version I'd built. Also, I wanted to bring the first Marine Dog suit up to the new spec with ball joints for the arms to allow for better posing.

The white stuff is foam padding to prevent me damaging both models while drilling and filing them.

Or at least minimize damage so I don't have to do a full repaint on them.

It is what it is.