Review | Space Dinosaur Minis 2024

And so another year comes to a close. This was the year of exploration for me, as I tried a plethora of new games, from the far distant future of 40k to naval warfare during the age of Napoleon. Of course, a few little models got painted as well. I joined a few challenges from various other blogs, and now I'm a part of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge to finish of this year and start the next. Overall, I would say that it's been a good year. 

Paint Recipe | Spanish Navy

I’m moving through all of the major nations present in Black Seas, and now it’s the turn of the Spanish. I have painted a Spanish ship before, a large merchant vessel, but it’s not the “official” scheme used by Warlord Games to denote our Iberian friends. I use official loosely, as there weren’t really standardized paint schemes in this timeframe, more like pick a color out of this pot, and it was almost always a variation of yellow it seems. Regardless, here’s the red version.

Tutorial | Making a Brigantine for Black Seas

Black Seas has a great set of models, but if there's one ship type you get a lot of, it's brigs. Not that there's anything wrong with brigs. It's just that, at least in terms of plastic models, you jump from tiny little un-rated brigs up to 5th rate frigates. And there's also a jump from the even more minuscule gunboats to the brig. Yes, there are resin models that fill those gaps, but they are harder to acquire as you have to get them direct from Warlord Games, which gets expensive, or hope you get lucky on Amazon or Ebay. Luckily, other folks have noticed this problem and have converted up some solutions. This is my attempt.  

Hobby | Stop, Martello Time

One thing that's really easy about naval wargaming is that the terrain can be really easy; just throw down a blue cloth and you're done. That doesn't mean that there's no terrain either though. A lot of naval actions happened fairly close to shore, or involved land elements as well. That includes these little guys known as Martello Towers, which is a misspelling of the Italian martella, or hammer. 

Paint Recipe | French Navy

I’ve been working my way up in ship sizes to the largest plastic model available in the Black Seas range: the 3rd rate. They come with generic figureheads and stern galleries on a standard 74-gun body. However, you can also purchase unique ships that come with their own bespoke ornaments cast in white metal. This particular example is the Bucentaure, of Trafalgar fame, that comes in the French Navy box. 

Paint Recipe | United States Navy

Last post, I painted up an American brig using more generic ship colors. That wouldn't do for the USS President, one of the famous six US frigates. I went for the classic black hull with white stripe that you can currently see on the USS Constitution in Boston harbor. I visited that ship earlier this year, and what I saw informed a lot of the decisions I made. 

Hobby | Black Seas American Brig

With the Necromunda campaign wrapping up soon and a lull in the action as we look towards another Mordheim campaign, I’ve been venturing back into the world of Black Seas. I have another brig painted up, this time for the American side of things. However, I didn’t paint this up in the “official” US Navy color scheme, instead opting for a more generic look befitting a privateer or a merchant ship pressed into service with the fledgling navy. 

Hobby | Lost Tombs of Hakir Terrain (Spooktober)

In what is perhaps the quickest turnaround for miniatures for me, I received my Reaper Miniatures Bones 6 Kickstarter a few days ago, and then managed to paint all of the terrain in the Lost Tombs of Hakir expansion box. This is a desert themed expansion, more specifically Egyptian, more specifically a fantasy Egypt. It comes with lots of Egypt themed enemies, NPCs, and heroes. What I was really here for was the terrain, as I thought it would make a nice addition to my collection (hehe). 

WIP | The Unsexy Business of Movement Trays

The hobby can’t all be flashy games and pro painted minis. There are the unsung heroes of the game, those things that make life just that little bit easier. For games of The Old World, where moving large bricks of soldiers across the battlefield individually would be a nightmare, that hero is the movement tray. And I had to spend way more time on making them than I thought I would, so now you get to read about some plastic squares. 

Gaming | Indiana Jones and the Template of Doom

We find ourselves back in the ruined wastelands of Hive Secundus as the Necromunda campaign continues. Some of my misgivings about the game have been slightly addressed this go around. Some. Because in this game, we were playing a high octane game driving about on motorcycles ala Mad Max. 

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