I posted two of the miniature game rule sets I been working on over the last many years. Both are not complete, but it is better that they are available for comment than that they sit alone and unloved (except by me) on my computer. They are posted on the side bar, but you can also find them here:
Dissatisfied with the rules out there for large star ship fleet actions, I started work on my own set. While I have run a few games with them, they aren’t done, but you are welcome to use them as you wish:
Send comments to me via jokeefe at jamesokeefe dot org or voice/txt to (617) 863-0385.
That will have to do until I get around to updating them.
My By Will Alone site came about because of a nonviolent direct action miniatures game I have been working on. I haven’t done much with it since 2007, but if you want you can find the rules I wrote:
I have play tested it a few times, pictures of which you can see from the front page.
Send comments to me via jokeefe at jamesokeefe dot org or voice/txt to (617) 863-0385.
That will have to do until I get around to updating them.
I made a bunch of GHQ paper buildings and some more of IanH’s paper buildings recently.
I put together this photo set of step by instructions for how I built them. Hope you find them helpful.
I finally photographed the two IanH's 6mm Cognac paper houses I built awhile ago.
I printed the house, cut out reinforcements for the walls using thin styrene sheets, then glued the paper to the styrene sheets using rubber cement. After I put it together, I used styrene square tubes in each corner to reinforce it. See the next picture.
For the roof, I reinforced it using two really thin styrene sheets on either side of the roof, then glued it to the tabs I left from the paper around the walls. I am not satisfied with how the roof went on and need to glue them better in the future.
Looking at one of the houses from the bottom. You can see the thin styrene sheets I used to reinforce the walls and roof. After I put it together, I reinforce it by gluing styrene square tubes to the styrene sheet walls in each corner with Krazy Glue. The tubes were a pain to cut with a scissors, so next time I plan to use an L brace instead.
IanH's paper models are free and fantastic. The only complaint I had was with the model on the left. It looks to me like the sides were swapped and if you built it by cutting out in one piece, then the ivy on one wall wouldn't match the next one around the corner. To get it to look right, I had to cut each wall separately and then glue them together in the order I thought they should be in.
For Christmas, my wife was kind enough to get me a set of C-in-C miniatures, including my first World War 2 miniatures:
As always, the quality and detail of them was astounding. They proved to be quite clean and had little flashing. After cleaning them, I primed them with a gray spray primer. For the Soviet vehicles, I then sprayed them with Tamiya Olive Drab (TS-5). I fear that they are too dark and the fact that it was 43 degrees out today probably didn't help. A bit of dry brushing with a lighter olive drab will hopefully help.
I look forward to trying them with Fistful of TOWs 3 or Kampfgruppe Commander at some point.
My miniatures seem to be always half done, i.e. primed or with a base coat, but no camoflage or detailing. Unfortunately, my recent activities haven't been helping with that issue. I recently primed/sprayed a base coat on the following miniatures:
2 F-104 Starfighters (Viking Forge, I think)
2 A-7 Crusader IIs (Viking Forge)
2 F-4 Phantoms (Collectair)
2 Mig-29 Fulcrums (Luftwaffe)
2 Lynx helicopters (GHQ)
1 A-10 Thunderbolt II (C-in-C rebuild, amazing what crazy glue and spray paint will do)
6 Soviet 160mm mortars (Viking Forge)
5 TPZ Fuchs (C-in-C)
5 M105 Deuce Bulldozers (GHQ)
On the plus side, I was able to build two very cool paper buildings. More on those and other buildings I am working on later.
I finally got around to spray priming/basecoating a bunch of my 1/285th scale Cold War-era miniatures including:
15 Dutch YPR-765 (GHQ)
5 Dutch YPR-765 TOW (GHQ)
6 NATO M106 SP mortars (GHQ)
2 Soviet 2S6 AA (PFC C-in-C)
18 AMX-30 (PFC C-in-C)
11 Chieftains (GHQ)
10 Warrior IFVs (GHQ)
3 Central European apartment buildings (? resin manufacturer)
The British vehicles had already been painted various non-standard paint schemes, so I simply sprayed them with Tamiya Olive Drab 2. The Chieftains and half the Warriors haven't been touched in about 26 years.
The other NATO vehicles were primed in a light gray, then sprayed with Tamiya NATO Green. The 2S6s were primed as the NATO vehicles, then sprayed with Tamiya Olive Drab 2.
The buildings were simply sprayed black. I am getting tired of monopoly houses as my principal residential structures, so I may concentrate on my backlog of buildings before everything else.
Politics without principles
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
With Ravenstar's new Mauridian star ships out, I started updating my Star Bright star ship fleet combat rules. I liked some of the card based command/action systems out there, so I borrowed a few ideas and set to work. Not complete yet, but the basic mechanics are fleshed out.