Flames Of War - Rural bases arrived!

Just a quick post to signpost the fact that there will be a few Flames Of War updates in the future containing these -

Click for larger image..

These are the Battlefront Games Rural Bases. In effect they are bases with ready-made details. Trees (damaged), logs (fallen), fences, (wonky), ruts, mud footprints, rocks, wagon wheels etc. All you need do is glue minis on and away you go. You still have a bit of 'patching up' to do as you have to add mud effects to the minis' bases and cover up all of the joins. Well, we'll see ... the detail is good and it might lead to quicker bases than having to build walls and such like for yourself (see previous post - PaK 40). More later.

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Posted in: Flames Of War

Flames of War - Open Fire! Painting update.

Just so you believe me - here's some stuff I done.

So, what you have here is a team of US Parachute Rifle, with prone machine gunner and some mud/grass stuck on the base for scenic effect. Basically, it's a bit slow going, however I am making progress. Next up will be a US rifle/MG team and a German rifle/MG team. Look out!


Down in the dirt!



Stug G and commander.

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Posted in: current projects,Flames Of War

Review: Jimmy Corrigan - The Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware.

Not strictly a comic strip, or maybe it is. Not strictly a graphic novel, or perhaps it is. Not clearly sure how I would characterise this 'book' at all.

 My brother suggested this to me and although I had read excerpts before I'd never been sufficiently interested enough to actually get it. So he bought it for me to save time... with the added note, 'Enjoy! It may take some time to get through!'

This is the story of three generations of Corrigans told in two main time narratives - that of Jimmy, an office 'dogsbody' ('our hero') and that of his grandfather (Jimmy), growing up in the late eighteen hundreds. But both are sad stories. Both Jimmys are bullied, brow-beaten and have truly tragic (or pathetic) lives. There is a real and constant sense of loneliness and isolation. Just when you think human warmth is going to shine through, it melts away in the snow that falls. And there is a constant longing, on the reader's part, for life to be fairer, more just and not quite so unremittingly bleak. Grandfather Jimmy has a painful relationship with his lone-parent father. Contemporary Jimmy attempts an unsuccessful reconcilliation with a father long absent from his own life -  the chain-like apron strings that exist between him and his mother pervade the novel. Is it a novel?

It would be too easy to say that it's quite depressing fare. That's not it at all. There is not much in the way of text but the constant thought-provoking nature of the story does mean it takes time to digest and 'mull over'. (My brother was spot on!) It is powerful and affective. That's it! The sadness Ware creates is so human, so recogniseable. Relationships are seen to be complex, unsatisfactory and often fragile. The tragedies are human ones, even everyday ones. But as we read, we feel and that is what makes this book (?) stand out from the rest. It's oddly all too real.




Add caption

 
A lot has been said about the muted colouring and simple drawings. Mignola only uses half a dozen colours in 'Hellboy' and Spiegleman's 'Maus' is in black and white. It's clever, it's carefully drawn and, in my opinion, if that's your crticism, you've missed the point. In art (?), form and content have a relationship. And that is clearly seen here. The story panels don't quite tell the story sequentially, the mind wanders, Jimmy's (both of them) mind wanders, there is a kind of 'stream of consciousness here'.  It works.

This is genuinely an extraordinary text. I finished reading it a couple of days ago but I still haven't settled on what I think about it fully yet, the ideas are still lingering. Top job Mr Ware. There's so much I have read that I have forgotten. It won't happen with this comic book.

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Posted in: graphic novels

Flames Of War - German Grenadier PaK 40, painted and based.

Today's post will focus on progress I've made on the Open Fire starter set - and in particular the German PaK40 anti-tank gun.

Step one = paint the German gun crew just like the figures in the previous post, with a selection of GW (metal) P3 (wood and leather) and Vallejo (uniforms).



Troops on a stick.



Step two = paint the gun, just like the StugG.



Two step.



Step three = dry fit on base. Then add a little GW mud effect textured paint over base.

trois

Step four = build up a small dry-wall out of bits of slate. I used superglue then repainted the rocks to cover the glue marks.



four - glued wall





Step five = cover base and any gaps/holes with thin layer of Stirland Mud from GW.



With dry brushed wall.



Step 6 = Add clumps of grass. Not that happy with the GW grass clumps, the colour is a bit useless but from a distance and at eye-level, it's OK.



grass



Step seven = add rest of static grass and sand/mud effect under wheels and loading area of gun.



more grass



Step eight = Add gun and ...

see gun here

Finally add crew over left gun trail and photo in natural light!

left

right

All in all, a decent day's work.

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Posted in: Flames Of War

'Boneshaker' a steampunk novel by Cherie Priest. Read, reviewed.

Having read the Mortal Engines series, I was was just about ready to give another steampunk novel a crack. Summarised as a steampunk novel in 19th Century Seattle, with zombies (Huzzah!), I was intrigued by the premise of Cherie Priest's 'Boneshaker'.

There's a lot of story, but I'll try not to spoiler too much. Essentially Seattle has been subject to a disaster apparently caused by the heroine's (Briar) husband, Leviticus Blue. The upshot is that a gas is released causing people to become 'rotters' (read zombies) and the city becomes a no-go area and walled off. Years later, Briar's son wants the truth about his father and breaks into the city where drug runners and other very random characters have made a (sort of) life for themselves. Of course Briar goes after him and the truth of Leviticus Blue's death, or otherwis, is revealed.

But that's not even a small proption of all the shenannigans! In fact, for me, that is the key slight weakness. It's not a long novel, and it's not that the descriptions are too slight compared to the action. It's just that the events and places come so thick and fast that perhaps any real sense of place and character is diluted somewhat. There is atmosphere, but we are at such a pace that it isn't given time to 'brew' sufficiently. To that extent the writing style was similar to a movie script. Particular dramatic moments seemed to be over-written in amongst a dramatic series of events in a longer quest story. There were very strong and simply drawn characters with clearly defined (and predictably developed) relationships. I think the movie script idea holds - indeed I have read that the rights have been bought and I think it would make a great film.

I liked Briar though, fiesty, at times awkward and unsure. Strong-willed and independent. The other characters were not so 'rounded' and left me a little cold in my opinion. There was a pantomime villain at the end and some interesting allies. But what do I know? For me it was a 2 and a half out of 5, but with potential.

Overall then, not as successful as my first steampunk outing. Modern steampunk may still be finding it's feet, so might Priestly. thnakfully still a few more to read though ... watch this space.

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Posted in: books,Steampunk

Mortal Engines : A steampunk novel series.

Well, this was all a bit of an accident.


I stumbled on the book title while researching steampunk novels. You see, since finishing Martin's 'A Game of Thrones' and Robin Hobbs' first Farseer series, I'd been in a bit of a book lull. Casting around the interweb, I'd thought I'd read some of this new/oldfangled thing called steampunk. I was curious. I liked the Philip Pullman 'His Dark Materials' series - a bit steampunky. I like the Dystopian Legions figures (and got some). I like Warmachine. So ... what else was out there?

And when I say stumble upon I literally stumbled upon the first in the series of Phillip Reeve's 'Mortal Engines', just lying about. I think one of my boys must have read it at some point. Having seen it mentioned, I flicked it open and started to read...

Immediately sucked in.

While there may be a very valid claim that these are 'kids books' - and I can't really dispute that description - just like Pullman and Tolkien’s 'The Hobbit', there is a charm and allure about these novels which is beyond merely children's fiction. The characters are vivid and engaging, the locations threatening and sinister, and the events are dramatic, tense and frequently sombre.

I'll try not to spoil too much.



P.S. Respect to the chapter titles...



Tom Natsworthy works on London. On London because it's a moving city. Cities move in this time - thousands (how many?) of years in the future after war has ended civilisation as we know it now. But how do these cities survive? By 'eating' other cities, after all that's what Municipal Darwinism means. Swallowing other cities to take what is needed to keep your city going. But then there are the anti-tractionists who live in static settlements at war with the moving predatory mechanical conurbations. There are the icy wastes where Anchorage roams and the hidden city under the sea where the Lost Boys creep out.



But this is merely (almost apocalyptically?) a back drop. The lives of the characters - at first Tom, then troubled Hester then Valentine, Shrike the dead mechanical soldier and so on - all come into focus over the course of the four novels. And in time moves on... the story evolves. The history rolls forward, the narrative expands. More characters, stranger locations. But all held together with a desperate desire to hold on to life – and love.

But I could give too much away.

This series is highly recommended – at least by me. It’s not just children’s fiction. Reeve’s skill, compared to other novels I’ve read in the steampunk genre, is that he doesn’t try too hard. There aren’t endless explanations about the backward steampunk technology. Or overwritten dramatic moments which have a movie script in mind. The novels have a very human and frequently, tragic thread. Everything isn’t always alright. Pain hurts. Tension is unpleasant. People are scarred.

But then there’s the power of human experience and the strength of the connections you make with one other.

I was sold.

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Posted in: books,Steampunk

Flames of War - painted US Parachute Rifle HQ and Grenadierkompanie team.

In this post you can have a gander at the first troops I've painted up from the Flames Of war - 'Open Fire' starter set.
The first ones up are the US Parachute HQ and a Grenadierkompanie team with a Panzerfaust. I've used a combination of GW, P3 paints and Vallejo paints. Basically I've followed the painting-by-numbers guides in the 'Open Fire' set and mixed and matched where I've needed to. There are also a variety of guides and tips on Battlefront Games' website.
The uniforms, helmets and equipment have Vallejo paints, wood and leather was P3 browns and, of course, there was a brown GW wash thrown in there somewhere. Metals were GW too. Faces GW with the fleshwash.
Overall - pleased with the results. Love the poses and look forward to getting the rest off them on the table and painted during the summer. Fun but fiddly. Not for the faint-hearted and require patience if not lots of skill.


First a bit like this.




The a bit like this



Then the finished bunch.

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Posted in: Flames Of War