Playing with myself.....

 I've been playing puzzle games on my phone via one of those collect points and get rewards apps, got enough for a decent Amazon voucher and sprung for one of these solo wargames books I've been wanting to try.

The book itself is rather flimsy so hoping the gameplay itself warrants the £22 price tag.

This is Waterloo at a Corps level game and on the face of it is quite simple, you pick an attack/action for one of your Corps a turn, the enemy bot actions a random attack or maybe a tactical event, you carry out your action.

Besides the book you need a single d6 and a pencil, and you record everything directly into the book.

Though as mentioned the book is quite flimsy so if you're wanting to replay anything a bit of acetate or tracing paper may be your friend.

24 "games" to play 12 as French and 12 as the Alliance split again into 4 challenging, 4 veteran and 4 tough bots. Each game takes about 30 minutes.

Looking forward to getting a bit of time with this, will definitely travel with me on my upcoming "Aldi project" and I may do a bat rep too.

Just a small maniple of big fighty robots.

 I've completed all the part assembled bits I picked up when buying a second hand starter set for Adeptus Titanicus, there were meant to be 4 Warhounds but a pair of legs were missing for the fourth, expect to see it featured in terrain at some point.
These were all speed painted with contrasts for the main part, armour edging Vallejo Gun Metal Grey, eyes and bases GW Technical paints then finished with W&N Galleria matt varnish.
I might add more to this if I rescue some part assembled pieces but plan for this to be a second force for AT.

Not a lot of typing today but next week expect some Spanish love as I go back to Historicals and Hail Ceaser for a spell.

Small scale ruination.

 So GW recently announced all the terrain they're relaunching for Legions Imperialis, and I must admit it is very pretty, but very likely to cost a pretty packet too. And there are lots of issues with those tiles I'm not going to get into here, but I don't think I'll be buying any of the GW terrain sets, well maybe the industrial set with the cranes etc,,,,,,,

A while back I was looking on eBay and I spotted some modular plastic terrain that I stuck in my watchlist then received a very generous discount as an offer a few days later, so like the sucker I am I bought it. Shortly after a flat white carboard box arrived with a bag full of multiples of the following plastic parts that had been clipped from their sprues. (The window shutter in the doorway comes attached.)

The edges are all bevelled to 45° angles so they can be glued at right angles in either direction, to make straight runs you'll need to use the buttress pieces which fit into the resulting channels.
The floor pieces also help hold the corners square. The panels are 5cm squares.

After a bit of gluing last night and then again tonight I got to this point.

A closer shot so you can see some detail.

And then a shot of all the pieces on a 2' by 4' board so you can what £27 will get you.

The kit, alongside others is available from Trouble Maker Games. (Alongside nuns with guns.)

Is it as pretty as GWs plastic? That's in the eye of the beholder, but realistically, no.
Is it limited? Yes, but so is any modular terrain system, it's plastic so can easily be cut and glued.
Is it cheap? That's always subjective, from my viewpoint it offers good value, was quick to assemble and should be painted quickly enough, my plan is to use some texture paint and washes, so on that note I'm off to B&Q to look at spray cans of Rustoleum project paint. (Well not right away, they're closed.)

Air to Ground

 Finished my Thunderbolts, decaling took as long as painting, with the "wings" having to conform over a bit of moulded on detail. This left the leading edges a bit crooked so have straightened them as best I could with paint. I also had to do different markings for a squadron leader as I didn't have enough black wings...........

I also turned to the bases on my Legio Furean Titans and House Perdaxia Knights that I'm speed painting. I've decided I want a "red planet" type of table so picked up a pot of GWs Martian Ironcrust, this is a coloured crackle effect paint that you trowel on rather than paint on, the thicker the layer the bigger the pieces, the thinner the smaller. With these being towering constructs I didn't want to put the stuff on too heavily and am quite pleased with the results.

Started painting another two Warhounds and completed the assembly of the second Reaver that I got in the bundle of part assembled stuff I had picked up and that will leave me a traitor force for Adeptus Titanicus and I can make a start on the Loyalist FireWasps.

Thunderbolts from above.

 This week I've decided to paint some of my Imperial Navy planes in preparation for Legions Imperialis.
I fancied doing my Thunderbolts in a bare metal like Mustangs from WW2 and discovered Army Painter do metallic speed paints.
So the options where to all out with aluminium Alclad, panel lining etc or try this out.

As you can probably guess by the bottle sitting on my desk I decided to try the speed paints. These come out of the bottle very thin, almost "airbrush ready" consistency and I did wonder how they would cover the pale prime as recommended. So over Grey Seer I slapped a load of paint about.

To be honest I was hoping for more of a contrast for the panel lines, there is a bit, maybe I didn't slap enough paint on to get the effect. But it'll do, going to paint the anti-glare panels on the nose and the vertical stabiliser in something approximating an olive green and see how I feel. Maybe I'll try a black undercoat on a figure as I've 9 lightnings to add and they may also suit the BMF.

Faking it.

 Not much painted this weekend, just two Cerastus Knights from House Perdaxia.
Speed painted with contrasts.

Though the decal sheets that come in the retail boxes don't contain the House Perdaxia coat of arms so I've had to either buy a sheet of House Fureans decals from GW or fake it.

Of course fake it is the correct answer.

Looking at the decals I decided these two might do the job well enough.

First I applied the House Malinax cog.

Then I painted the center red.

Then finally added the House Makabius 4 pointed star.

Looks close enough to my eyes.

Need for speed.

So in between other wee jobs I've been sitting speed painting 2 Titans today, using mostly contrast paints.
About 4 hours all in on this pair, picked up a part assembled, not as well as I would of liked and a bit further on than I would of before painting. So giving these the speed painting treatment, GW Contrast Basilcanum Grey for the structure, Iyanden Yellow for the armour plates. Flame decals from the AI Ork decals sheets, others from the box set decals. Armour edges in Vallejo gun metal, crest in Vallejo Brass with a sepia wash, GW Abbadon black for stripes and base of inferno, which then got a layer of Contrast Blood Angels red. Contrast Aethermatic blue for the plasma weapon.
Quick and not winning awards but they're on the table.
And yes they maybe should be orange but.......

(Basing I'm yet to decide on, I was thinking a red planet type of table but the new urban bases coming soon may sway me.)