Hobby Miscellany

Bit of a catch all as I come out of a bit of a slump. Delaying tidying up from the battle of Kleindorf was a logjam on my mojo. 

Quar 

Let's see.... painting got stalled. Glue failure and frustration made me stop assembly (fortunately as it turned out), and I've kept the Toulmorean quar and the rest of the PPCLI on hold until more parts arrived yesterday from the Vegas Foundries. 

I have also been invited to join the big battles This Quar's War playtest group. I'm still reading the rules, but they look promising, and I hope to push figures around this weekend. 

I have a company for each side, plus supports, so it'd be rude not to.

Also this month on the MyMiniFactory Tribe there is an entirely new faction being released as .stls. 

These are the Gloam-Hyyn, coastal marsh dwelling Quar who gave really grabbed my imagination. 

First week's release, 6x rhyflers 

Note camouflage helmets and functional sandals 

Their tractor is called the Squeedle, and we're speculating that it's amphibious. Which makes sense in a swamp. 

I just like that it looks like a teapot. 

For uniforms I'm going to draw on WW2 Japanese, but in my mind they're speaking Creole and singing sea shanties, since they'd rather be fishing or shrimping when not fighting. 

But that's for 2025. I've got Toulmoreans to do first. Although I'm going to build them as an opponent for the Gloam-Hyyn, so I'm leaning towards greener uniforms than my Crusaders. Olive green at least, if not a jungle green.

More Big Sexy Trees!

Model Builder Supply shutting it's doors and not finding anyone to buy the business, and running a 30% off sale, prompted an expenditure on quite a few of their really lovely trees. I got myself several 8", 6" and a few 5.5" trees that look properly in scale to 28mm figures. 

Hot glued to heavy washers. Waiting for paint to dry before flocking

The elves will finally have woods worth defending. The Quar and 28mm Napoleonics will enjoy them too, I'm sure. 

Close up of 28mm Austrians with 6" trees immediately behind

I also grabbed a pack of cherry trees. Because samurai games need flowering cherry trees. Don't ask me why, I don't make the rules.

Mantovia 

A recent posting on Bluesky featuring recce forces clashing in a 1980s Cold War game got me pondering what recce units would look like for the Mantovian and Tartarian forces.

Mantovian light cavalry will be driving Ferret armoured cars, because they're adorable. A Patrol will have two Ferrets and an 8 man section of dismounts in a pair of Landrovers.

I asked for 4. But looks like I've got an entire Troop of three AC patrols now.

Tartarian Combat Reconnaissance Patrols will have a section of Motor Rifles in a pair of BTR40s supported by a T34/85.

Don asked if I had enough BTRs for the Battle of Kleindorf. So He printed a whack more.

Poking around for appropriate air support revealed that the Soviets liked propeller aircraft for ground attack until the mid-50s. The Il-2 Sturmovik kept flying with the Czechs and Poles until 1949, and with the Bulgarians and Yugoslavians until 1954. It's successor, the Il-10, was in frontline service with the Soviets until 1956. So my Pe-2 twin engine bomber is entirely appropriate. 

The Königlich Mantovisch Luftwaffe could be realistically flying Tempests, or F8F Bearcats, or Corsairs, or any number of piston engine aircraft, but I found the Saab J29 Tunnan. It's cute, very Cold War, and apparently a better ground attack airframe than the F86 Sabre. 

Flight of J29! 

Perhaps the Americans need their F86s in Korea, and a back alley deal with some CIA money is used to buy the J29s from Sweden in an effort to get them to join NATO.

Now I need to decide upon wing rondels that are unique, and I can paint.

Midgard 

Surprisingly I am not getting any desire to buy more figures with this. Surveying my armies I can easily put 300 pt armies out for everyone. Possibly even 400 points. Although the orcs might need a few characters. Even my Middle Empire Romans will be 400 pts easily, although I haven't played around to see if I can put that many Goths on the table yet.

Once I sort out movement trays and measuring sticks I will try to make some armies and roll some dice. 

If I get excited about new toys, perhaps this will motivate me to finish my Conqueror dwarves and build some baggage for the orcs.