Atomic Empire: a Game and Comic Store in Durham, NC

 Hi Kids, although I hesitate to call this place local being 75 miles from home, I think its worth reporting just cause it has a ton of cool stuff for sale.  It's on Westgate Road, just off Biz 15/501, about 3 miles north of I-40.  Just out of sheer dumb luck there was a War$ Fantasy tournament going on the day I turned up.

 Some of the armies were funkier than expected.  Fuzzballs with eyes?  I think they look pretty damn cool, but they don't call me king of the proxies for nuthin.  Your mileage may vary.

 Unpainted figs?  This is North Carolina.  Painted armies are crazy rare.  Just ask anybody.

 That's a pretty honkin' big unit of orks.  As Stalin said, "Quantity has a quality all its own."  And I'm sure Uncle Joe would approve GW's business plan and price points!  (Yeah, yeah, I know...   its a cheap shot.  So purge me.)

 A big pile of loaner games.

 Gaming space?  Oh yeah, a great big yeah.  They even have a snack bar.

 A rack of used and/or discounted stuff.  You don't see "Blood Berets" or "Psiworld" everyday!

Most of the racks were this steel variety, great for displaying stuff, but looks strange in pictures.  Where does one rack end and the one behind it start?  Flames of War looks to be a big seller.

Variety is the spice of life, here we have Infinity, Bolt Action, and Malifaux all in 12 feet of shelves.  Somewhere in there is a few feet of Battletech minis.  When was the last time you saw Battletech on the shelf?  It's been awhile for me.  They stock a couple different lines of paint also.

Looking down the GW 40K row.

GW War$ Fantasy.  Overall GW has about 24 feet of these racks.

Reaper has about 12 feet of display space.  Hooks are pretty deep with stuff!  They are even arranged by numerical order!  How crazy is that?

Warmachine and Hordes, at least 8 feet of it.

RGP's.

X-Wing and Star Trek.

Plastic minis, I think Wargames Factory.

Bolt Action (aka Satan's Rules).  For those gamers too wimpy to handle "Disposable Heroes," The Best WW2 Rules Ever!  And other stuff, too.  How often have you seen TSR's (ex-SPI) "Firefight?"

A few shots of Euro Games.

Privateer Press a-go-go!

Dust and that new 25mm action from Dystopia Wars.  I'm really curious what the new owners will do with Dust, I think the idea, artwork, and figs are all pretty honkin' cool, but so far the rules have left me cold.  If they can come up with something in an anti-Bolt Action vein we might be able to do some gaming!

Score one for the Chuckster! Wargames Illustrated Oct 2013!  The store 62 miles from home (Parker, Banner, Kent and Wayne) was sold out, but I got lucky and bought the last copy at Atomic Empires!  WoooooHoooooo!  I've been jonesin' to check out the Arab-Israeli stuff in this issue.  You're damn skippy that I already have some of the tanks and infantry painted up ready to go!  In fact, I blogged about it awhile back.

World of Tanks Amazing Game

Hi Kids, Just played another amazing game of "World Of Tanks" the free internet game.  It's basically a first person shooter except you are driving a tank instead of running around with a rifle.  Every once in a great while I actually manage to live through a game, and at least once a year I end up on the winning side.  This is mostly because I am lousy at this game, and the matchmaker subroutine hates my guts deep into its soul, but I still have a lot of fun playing.  It's a good thing people can't exclude specific players or I'd never be on a team at all.

 I was driving my KV-5, which is a "Premium" tank.  That means it cost actual real world cash to buy. Premium tanks generate more computer cash so you can afford to buy and operate bigger and better tanks, which just use computer money.  Although the KV-5 didn't show up in WW2 it can still be a lot of fun.

Here's the detail report showing how many rounds, hits, damage, etc. A Type 59 was kicking my butt pretty good but a KV-5 takes a lot of killing!  I got him first!  Yes, I know the Type 59 was not a WW2 tank, but this game takes A LOT of liberties with stuff like that.  In fact, if you play long enough you can work your way up to M-48, T-54, Centurion, M103, IS-7, etc etc. This game would be perfect if they'd just reduce the insanely overpowered German tanks and add the Chieftain (sexiest tank ever!).  They just added the Leo 1 a couple updates ago. BE ADVISED!  If you are a rivet counter treadhead this game will not make you happy.

Here's everyone on the two teams, yeah, that's me on the top left.  An exercise in destruction!  Needless to say, most of my games are nowhere near this impressive.

15mm Sci-Fi Company assembled

I have finished assembling my 15mm Sci-Fi Company for 5150: Star Army. With some more Old glory 15mm Soviet Riflemen I picked up from Chuckaroo I was able to round out the two platoon and one company command teams. I also based up a Medic figure, which I think will come in handy in a campaign.

I originally planned to just use my Flames of War soviet army to play 5150. Then I found out that regular rifles had little or no chance to hurt the power armor troops some of the other locals planned to play with, I decided to convert up some laser rifle troops. I worked up a bunch of troopers for a good start to my army, then I picked up the rulebook and found that they organized their squads into eight man squads not the ten man squads I had painted up. So I reorganized them to eight man squads and added rapid fire lasers to each squad and a couple command figures to make up six eight man squads. I converted them up and started painting them, just in time to discover each platoon needs a four man command team and the company needs an additional four man command team. So after basing ten more riflemen, a company commander and a medic the company is finished. Now I just have to get them painted.

ColKG

15mm Sci-Fi Soviet and Epic progress

After a few days with no Hobby time I put some base colors on My 15mm Sci-Fi soviets.

Still a ways to go on these, just a burnt umber base coat and a graveyard earth dry brush.

The Epic Dreadnoughts with a base coat of scab red. My plan is to use these as SYMON synthetic troopers in games of 5150: Star Army. I intend to paint them close to Flesh Tearer Space marine colors, the Chapter I intend to paint up for Epic.

More new troops. A new Company commander and two more troopers for the Soviet Sci-Fi company. With these I will have six full strength eight man squads and three commander models but still need nine more troopers to fill out the three command fire teams.

I have made arrangements with Chuckaroobob to acquire some more Old Glory Soviets so soon I will be able to finish my over strength company force.

ColKG

Epic Models for 15mm Sci-Fi, possibilites?

After talking to Chris over at Sippin on Paint Water about possibly using Games Workshop Epic scale models for some 15mm Sci-Fi gaming. So I broke out some figure and took some comparison pictures.

I used one of my Old Glory 15mm Soviet conversions mounted on a washer as the baseline model. First are these Epic Imperial robots. The metal robot I think will work but the plastic one look too small to use.

Next an Epic Bombard. I think it can work as a tracked super heavy mortar.

An old Epic Manticore. I think it can work as a robotic missile launcher or an automated air defence drone.

A little blurry but an Epic Space marine Dreadnought. I think these will work well as a synthetic trooper for 15mm.

Here is a Slaanesh Questor daemonic engine. Another blurry picture but I think it will work as a combat walker in 15mm.

An Imperial Knight titan will also make a good combat walker.

Another daemonic engine, a Slaanesh Hell Knight. Another one useful as a walker with a support weapon.

I bought a copy of the 5150:Star army rules and after a better look at them I am still going to be nine riflemen short to field a company. Right now I have 48 figures but I need to have enough figures for three four-man command teams. It looks like I am going to have to buy another bag of 50 Old Glory 15mm Soviet Riflemen to get the nine I need to complete the company. So much for not spending any more money on this project.

ColKG

More additions to 15mm Sci-Fi Platoon

I dropped by Hobby town in Greensboro last weekend and found some of the 15mm Sci-Fi crowd gearing up for some games. I had my first real look at 5150: Star Army rulebook. The first thing I noticed was the squads were organized into eight man squads not the ten I was planning on. So I was going to need more figures. I also needed some commander figures and I decided to add a rapid fire laser to each squad. So adding two commanders and six rapid fire lasers. They will give me enough troops to field six eight man squads.

Here is the first commander. I used the same beads as the riflemen and just added them to his sub machine gun.

The commander of the second platoon.

At Chris from Sippin' on Paint Water suggestion when I started converting up the rapid fire laser rifles with two aerials. I used some white glue stretched between the aerials to form the electrical arc between the aerials.

I trimmed down the back of the model and them drilled a hole above the belt. I used a piece of 28 gauge wire I bent and twisted to form the aerials. I glued the wire into the hole and then sculpted the backpack power pack. Last I sculpted the bedroll back around the backpack.

Now I just need to get them painted.

ColKG

15mm Sci-Fi platoon Ready for the Table,

But not Finished. I have completed the base painting of the 15mm Soviet Sci-Fi Platoon. I block painted them and then gave them a chestnut ink/Future wash to blend all the colors together. I could put them on the table now and not break the tenet from Kadlec's Rules for the Gentleman Wargamer that frowns upon playing table top games with unpainted figures.

I need to go back and do a few touch ups and dry brush some highlights over the base colors. I am thinking about trying a lightning effect on the tips of the rifles. If it doesn't work out I will fade the color from the blue they are now through to a white point on the tip. Once they dry I will drybrush the bases and add some static grass and/or some green flock. I have also primered up some 15mm half tracks and started painting them, in case I need some transports for the troops. I have base coated the Micro Gundam so I can field it but I am still thinking about the final paint scheme details.

Now I just need come up with some background for my Forces and to set up a game.

ColKG

15mm Sci-Fi Platoon nears completion

I have finished converting up twenty more 15mm Sci-Fi "Tesla" particle beam rifle armed troops.

This gives me 40 "Tesla" rifle armed troops, divided into eight 5 man fire teams. Each fire team also has two antitank rockets for a total of 16. This would give me four ten man squads and a support walker, or an over strength platoon. I am still deciding on making up a commander but I haven't decided what kind of weapon to give him. For now I will use one of the troopers as a stand in. I still may base up some light machine gunners to be able to switch in for a firepower boost if I am not facing a bunch of power armored troops.

I also looked through my Soviet Flames of War models. I can pull out some heavy machine guns and some anti tank artillery to add a boost to the force if we decide to fight some larger games. I have a few other ideas but I need to get them in order before I post them up.

ColKG

15mm Sci-Fi Progress

It looks like I have jumped on another bandwagon, 15mm Sci-Fi. Chris over at Sippin' on Paint Water and Impcommander at Skies of Flies, Ground of Rust have started building armies to use with 5150:Star Army. The original plan was to use my Flames of War 15mm Soviet army as low tech troops and just see how many they could shoot before I swamped them with bodies, just like a regular Flames of War game. After a few questions, it came out the Chris' Power armored troops were virtually impervious to bullets, so I needed a new plan. So I started shopping for new 15mm Sci-Fi figures. They have some real nice figures out there but the hobby fund is about tapped out. Then it hit me, I would just use the left over 15mm Soviets I had and convert them over to Sci-Fi figures. A bonus would be, being able to double duty them for Weird World War Two gaming.


The first thing I considered is the troops need energy weapons and Anti-tank rockets. After several brainstorming sessions and debating the work involved in sculpting "Tesla" style rifle muzzles on a pile of 15mm figures, I headed to Hobby lobby looking for beads I might be able to use. My original idea was to use a small sequin and a round bead to make the rifle muzzle. Alas, Hobby lobby didn't have any sequins small enough to use. I started searching the beads for something useful for the rifle muzzle and a rocket warhead when I found the daisy spacer bead and it all clicked into place.


Voila! the 15mm Soviet rifleman armed with his new Tesla Particle Beam rifle. Construction was pretty straight forward, I filed down the rifle sight and the bayonet. I slid the 4.5mm Daisy spacer on till it touched the filed down rifle sight, added a drop of super glue and slid the 2.4mm round bead on to the filed down bayonet. On some of the models I had to trim the bayonet off at the bead and then either add a bit to fill the hole or file the bead down even.

The next step was adding some rocket launchers for that extra anti armor punch. The closest thing to a diamond shaped bead small enough for my use was a 3mm corrugated bicone head bead. To make the rocket, I filed down to a point a piece of .20 Gauge brass wire. I added a drop of super glue to the wire and slid the bead onto the end until just the filed point was exposed past the bead. I then measured six millimeters behind the bead and cut the wire with some side cutters. I glued the rocket to the models back and then used a piece of green stuff to make a rocket carried on the models back.

A front view of the rocket armed model. I think the corrugated texture of the rocket head will look good once I get them painted. I have also based all these figures on a half inch washers. I was planning on mounting them on pennies but according to Kadlec's Rules for Gentleman Wargamers, mounting models on small coins is very bad form. The coin is legal tender and represents the realm and any defacing of legal tender is a slight against the realm.

My 15mm Sci-Fi/WWWII forces as they stand now. It consists of twenty men armed with Tesla particle beam rifles and their walking tank a micro scale gundam capsule toy I found in a grocery store parking lot. Each five man squad has two anti tank rockets. I have about twenty or so more riflemen I can convert up and probably need to convert some command models too.

Thanks to the 50% off metal bead sale at Hobby lobby I picked up enough beads to make 90+ Tesla rifles and 60 rockets. For about five dollars I have more than enough parts to field a good size force instead of the fifty dollars I was wanting to spend for new models. The soviet riflemen have been sitting in my bits box for more than five years but will finally get their time on the table. I still might end up having to buy another bag of Old Glory WWII Soviet riflemen if I need to build the force larger.


ColKG

Parts for New Project

I made a run to Hobbylobby ,the mecca of hobbying, and came back with vital components for a new project.





Any Guesses on what these will become?





ColKG

From the Workbench

Here are a few pictures of models in progress on my Painting table.

Her are a few I am painting for my friend Tuna. The Executioner has the forgeworld turret and is actually finished. The Valkyries need a bit more work but I should have them finished soon.

A close shot of the Executioner for a better look.

A Great Unclean One, one of the Greater Daemons of Nurgle. This model has been in the bits box for several years. I picked it up from a friend of my with a bunch of plaguemarine and nurgle bits. He had bit ordered a bunch of stuff for another acquaintance and the guy never showed to get the bits. I decided to build this one to add to my nurgle apocalypse forces and maybe in a chaos daemon army.

The one short coming of the model was it was missing the tip of its tongue but a quick pick from a chaos mutation sprue and voila new tongue tip.

A side shot to show some of the join detail. A simple tongue swap to make the model unique.

Here is a forgeworld Vindicator kit I have assembled as a Death Guard chaos vindicator. Another addition to my apocalypse Death Guard force. When I get this finished it will give me two chaos vindicators and three imperial vindicators for one hell of a Line Breaker Squadron

A close up of the pintle gunner. I used a Plague Marine head to help blend in with the army theme.

Another close up of the gunner. I joined the Plague marine head into the gunner torso, added a Death Guard shoulder pad and converted the combi-flamer to a combi-melta. I really like the combi-melta. They always knock out the demolisher cannon but the combi-melta still makes them worry.

Another close up with a better view of the combi-melta conversion. I used the combi-flamer bit that comes with the chaos vehicle sprue. I cut off the bottom tank and the flamer barrel. I them added a drilled out piece of sprue for the melta muzzle. I finished it by using green stuff to make the barrel, add the muzzle detail and turn the flamer fuel tank to a melta tank.

Another oldie but goldie an Imperial Guard Landspeeder. It is destined to join my Adeptus mechanicus Guard army once it is finished.

A side view of the IG Speeder. I received the model in a trade and it was missing its original plasma cannon. I originally added a multimelta but with the release of the new guard codex giving sentinels a plasma cannon I swapped it with an old Ork heavy plasma gun. The ork gun is bulkier than the old imperial plasma cannon but I now I can field it in my Adeptus Mechanicus army in a regular game as a sentinel.

This is a bubblegum machine Mecha that I am planning on fielding as a 15mm Weird World War Two unit. My plan is to use it as a proxy unit in my flames of war army but I haven't decided which unit it will represent.

Her are a couple test models I have been working on. I think they will become part of a veteran squad once i build a few more. I was inspired to try the conversion by an Adeptua Arbite unit I saw online. the guy had converted the lasguns to look more like H&K MP5 submachineguns and did a great job of it. My Las carbine conversion is a piece of styrene rod as the muzzle and two pieces of styrene strip glued together with a little green stuff to make the magazine. The other is a shotgun. I cut off the barrel of the las gun at the front site and drilled it out to make a shotgun sized muzzle. I then cut off the lasgun magazine, trimmed down a boltpistol magazine and glued it in place. A touch of green stuff and a new combat shotgun.

These are a couple catachan officer that I am painting up to join my Adeptus Mechanicus guard army

Some mystery men models but they are rogue trader Commissars that I have stripped, rebuilt and reprimed. Several of them had stormbolters and had to have a weapon swap to be legal under the new codex.

These are a couple Mummies I have been painting up for some Pulp goodness. I just have to finish the bases and they are ready to go. I also plan to double duty them as proxy Wraiths on my warhammer Vampire Counts army.

This is Nog the Minotaur pirate. It is a Reaper model that I have repaired the broken horn and converted the sword from a cutlass it came with to a minotaur sized Rapier. The model is based on a npc character from my old Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying group. The group had taken a Minotuar captive. They named it Nog and proceeded to bring it into the light of civilization by fighting in pit fights. It was an interesting addition to the game. It was always trouble having inside a town even if they did have him chained up or hidden in a wagon but out in the countryside he was always a surprise for a bunch of adventurers to have a pet minotaur. They eventually taught him how to use a rapier and entered him in the Middenheim minotuar fights were he went undefeated. Eventually the player retired several characters and Nog went with the to the west and the ocean.

I imagine this as the later Nog. Separate from the restraints of his companions and now the leader of a cutthroat band of corsairs. You can take the Minotaur out of the savage forest but no matter how much you beat him, make him wear clothes and not eat people, you can't take the savage out of the Minotuar.

A couple more Rogue Trader Models. These are two Keepers of Secrets that are greater Daeamons of Slaannesh. I have had these models since I started playing warhammer long ago. I recently stripped them and then reassembled them. I was going to use them to go with the Eldar Harlequin Solitaire data sheet Matt P made for Apocalypse games. The basic premise is that whenever the solitaire is killed a Keeper of Secrets shows up to take its soul, but this is a trick and the solitaire returns the next turn. Si as long as you have spare keeper of secrets to solitaire can return every turn.