A few free minutes here and there have allowed me to finish one half of my 3D Incursion board basic floor plan. The weird snakelike stain is actually cement underneath of ‘cracked ice’ clear plastic overhead fluorescent light cover. Once painted, it should have a nice stone floor pattern. (At least that’s the plan.) Other floor texture highlights(other than the foamcore tiles) include the round burner from the same abandoned coffee maker that became Mr. Teleporter (see below), and sandpaper. Next I will spackle the floor tiles, and add styofoam and foamcore walls, complete with assorted computer fans, tubes, and other bits. I’ve also made some painting progress on my zombies.

Inspired by the work of several others on the Secrets of the Third Reich forums, I have begun a 3D board mounted on two MDF panels.  My plan is to use foamcore board, spackle, and much of the bits and pieces of garbage I have saved over the years, including computer cooling fans, wires, gears, pipe sections, and various random plastic detritus.  Painting on the figures has also past the primer stage.

Being easily distracted by new and interesting concepts, I couldn’t resist jumping into Grindhouse Games’ Incursion when TGN announced the “Mega Deal” opportunity to purchase all of Grindhouse’s figures at one low price. The figures arrived at about the same time that Grindhouse released the game rules, cards, counters, and board as a free PDF download, here.

For those who don’t know, Incursion is a Space Hulk like claustrophobic crawl through the bowels of an underground NAZI complex cut into Gibraltar. The Americans, armed with diesel powered suits of armor, must fight their way through gruesome German zombies and the bizarre genetically engineered children of a NAZI mad scientist, Hans, Gretel and Ilsa von X.

Painting is underway on the figures, and I am seriously considering making a 3D model of the gameboard. Below are pictures of the assembled figures, awaiting primer. Be sure to take a look at Grindhouse’s excellent website, complete with 1949-style newsreel flash animation.

On February 7, 2009, the Old Dominion Military Society held its inaugural convention, Williamsburg Muster. I took the opportunity to attempt the first public playtest of Polyversal, my homebrew rules for 6mm science fiction miniatures. The game scenario involved the separatist forces of the planet Waldheim defending the Derek Parfit Jump Port (nicknamed “Mr. Teleporter” by the convention onlookers) from the forces of the UN.

Photos of the game can be seen on the Ramblin’ Gamer blog http://gameroid.blogspot.com/, hosted by my friend Elliot Davis, who commanded the UN forces.

A photo of the ecstatic Mr. Davis appears below:

To his credit, Mr. Davis held his own in command of UN armor attempting to retake an urban environment from fanatically devoted infantry. In the end, however, he learned the age-old lesson of what happens when tanks enter an enemy town unescorted by infantry. (Hint: it’s bad.)

Again, the Williamsburg Muster was a great time. My thanks to Elliott, Mike Duffey, and the others who helped me playtest Polyversal,and to Chuck and the other ODMS members who made the con a success.

After almost a full year, I have finally painted one of the Old Crow buildings previously mentioned.

I have also painted some older resin buildings from Mayhem, a.k.a. The Drum. This manufacturer has disappeared, and I have had these buildings for at least 5 years. I have heard rumours of a company reproducing this line, but have yet to see anything. This was an excellent line of 6mm sci-fi terrain, and  forms the bulk of my 6mm building collection.

I am working on a set of modular city block tiles made from 1sq. ft. grey vinyl bathroom tiles spraypainted with a textured multicolored basecoat. I am laying out the streets, and will add plasticard to form raised sidewalks and plazas.  The buildings will not be glued down, to keep the layout as flexible as possible.  Stay tuned, more photos and progress updates will come.

My homebrew 6mm sci-fi rules wouldn’t be complete without my own homebrew universe in which to play.  I have been working on a detailed storyline that branches off from the earth of today, and takes place in the later half of the 21st century.  A major power of my in-game universe is the United Nations.  The UN of 2057, while descended from the League of Nations and UN of today, is not Ban Ki-Moon’s UN.  After the destruction of Israel in 2015, the United Nations underwent a dramatic series of changes from the top down.  Eventually, the UN became the greatest democracy the world has ever known.  The UN encompasses the vast majority of the earth’s nations, and operates as a global parliament.  It is a secular government, which is the very reason not all of the world’s peoples choose to participate. Many groups chose to leave earth for the promise of wealth, freedom, and adventure elsewhere in space.  Earthbound religious organizations and fundamentalist militias remain an ongoing threat to the peace and prosperity of the UN and its member nations.  Unlike the ad-hoc blue-helmet formations of the past, the UN constantly maintains an enormous military, much of which is ready at a moment’s notice to quell flare-ups anywhere on the planet.

The photos below represent some of the armored might of the UN.  The figures are a CAV Scarab tank, a pair of Battletech Myrmidon tanks, and a platoon of Games Workshop Rhinos.  All sport the new UN decals from QRF. Designed for 15mm modern armor, these decals are perfect for these oversized 6mm tanks.

As promised, I have completed the Land Raider Crusader, “Malum in Se,” for my Obsidian Swords Army.

Old Crow makes a fantastic line of resin buildings and 6mm science fiction miniatures. I recently began assembling and painting the buildings I got for Christmas last year, and I am impressed. The resin is very nicely detailed, with almost no imperfections. In fact, the only small issue I have found is that the 3-storey extension piece does not line up perfectly with the accommodation block it is designed to work with. Other than that, though, these buildings are some of the best I have seen. I highly recommend them for your 6mm science-fiction games.

Yes, after a near ten-year hiatus from collecting and painting Warhammer 40K figures, I was sucked in once again by Codex: Dark Angels. Rather than paint a straight Dark Angels army, I have created my own successor chapter, the Obsidian Swords. My first tactical marine stepped off of the painting table about a month ago, and a Land Raider Crusader is nearing completion (pictures to follow in a future post).

The insignia was created by carefully cutting the dark angel insignia decal and rearranging the sword and wings. Then, I colored the sword black using a .25mm technical pen.

After years of simply putting grav tanks flat on the table, I decided to create some simple bases that slightly lift the vehicle off the ground, giving it the proper look of skimming the surface of the battlefield. My solution involves pennies, a Dremel, and very short pieces of wire. Basically, drill a hole in a penny, insert a small piece of wire, paint, flock, and repeat. I think the result is preferable to simply resting the tanks on the table. They are hover tanks. They should hover.

My bases, supporting a few plastic tanks from Renegade Legion, by FASA (now available in metal from C-in-C).