Not Dead Yet

Hey folks,

Just a quick blurb to jump in and mention that Crisis in Alcovia is not dead. It has seen a pause due to various real life issues that myself and some of the other contributors are having. Along with these, there are other gaming projects that also require attention that I am in a much better position to move on right now.

There will be more crisis as soon as i can manage time and funds for expanding my forces and terrain.

Thanks,

-Eli

German Engineering for The BattlefieldHobby Den's New 1/72 Mercedes 260SL

Just a quick nod to Hobby Den for releasing yet more lovely 20mm(1/72) civilian goodness. Adding to their previous truck and SUV releases, they now have a Mercedes 260SL. This can add a bit of variety to any blasted battlefield or to a motor pool for a scenario.

They have also released an armored car which could be worked into militia scenario or even converted to an urban fighting technical.

Both are excellent vehicles and add greater variety to any street-level modern games.

Take care,

-Eli

Alcovian Forces Muster

  
Thought you might like to see the growing forces of Alcovia.

 Easy Model BTR 80s

Liberation Miniatures Modern Russians

Mark Griffin painted the Liberation Minis for me. He's a good bloke and I like his style of painting which is perfect for the tabletop. In this instance I asked him to replicate the 'partizan' pattern BDUs but 'larger font' so to speak, so that it can be identifiable on the gaming table. In all,  Mark has painted two platoons and a bunch of militia/rebels for me. The end result is really good and I'm very happy with them.

This allows me to fuss over the two tones of 'flora' pattern I'm slapping on the opposing forces without having to worry about painting the OPFOR before I can get some Red on Red Alcovia gaming in. And of course choice of opposing forces has been made more difficult by Shaun at S&S Models recasting his Motor Rifle troops.

Easy Models Hip from Rolf Hedges

Heather bought the BTRs for me as a gift via an Ebay seller and I subsequently bought the Easy Models Mil 8 Hip helo from Rolf Hedges. Don't need it as such but it's a nice statement piece and pure Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Cheers
Mark

S&S Models 20mm Lada Riva

 
Sunday morning is a time we blokes traditionally spend looking after the prize possession on our driveway. So to do all true Alcovians.

S&S Models Lada Riva

Here is S&S Models new Lada Riva Saloon straight out of the packet. A perfect one-piece casting, approximately 24mm wide by 62mm long, with separate metal wheels.

Just turning it over in my hands I love this little fella. It offers so much versatility from piece of urban defilade, to a taxi, police car or getaway for our Bond games; set dressing at a checkpoint and/or a militia command vehicle and run about. Those of you who play Middle East conflict games will find it perfect for Ambush Alley or even AK47. Plus, that classic shape makes the Lada Riva Saloon ideal as a proxy British 'Wayland' in our Winter of 79 and Geezer games.

I'm impressed with thhis versatile little model and will be building up a stock of them to dress my Alcovian tabletop, populate the forecourt of Hav's Motorz and give my militia much needed transport.

Cheers
Mark

     

Terrain Lab - Overgrown Hedges

Another quick build here, these hedges were done using scraps or card and styro for the understructure. I painted the styro grey and washed it with a dark brown before dipping the whole affair in loose model foliage. I hot glued a tree into each one to enhance the overgrown look.

Have fun!

-Eli

Terrain Lab - Garden Patches



My house looks like it belongs in Alcovia.

Lately, I've been working on some light weight terrain while I take the time to score some proper buildings or build them myself, whichever comes first. As I do not like to spend a ton of money and enjoy coming up with my own ways of doing stuff, I decided to dig into the junk drawers and see what was there. The answer? Old pizza box liners.

Oddly enough, you can keep this stuff around without attracting flies and the corrugated finish has a number of uses from cheap Spanish tile roofing, to corrugated iron, and now garden patches. The process is relatively simple, though you can layer it on as much as you like and to whatever final effect you want -

CONSTRUCTION

1. Cut corrugated pizza box liner paper to desired size.
2. Round off the corners of the pizza box liner.
3. Glue liner to stiff card, leaving a modest rim between the edge of the liner and the edge of the card. Make sure to minimize air bubbles and rippling in and under the liner. I used hot glue as it gives and instant result. Any unsightly ripples or air pockets can be taken care of by slitting the liner and then gluing it down. This has an added benefit of causing some nice irregularities in the relatively uniform corrugation.
4. Round off the corners of the card and cut little irregularities into the straight edges. You want the patch to be pretty much rectangular, but not mathematically perfect.
5. Build up a raised rim in the space between the edge of the liner and the edge of the card. I used hot glue again as it produced an irregular finish and hardened/dried quickly.
6. Coat the entire piece in white glue. Make sure to brush the glue along the furrows so as not to mute the detail too much but at the same time, don't be too uniform.
7. Dip the whole thing in fine grit and let dry.
8. Once the grit is dry, paint the whole thing with whatever color ground you feel is best. The paint will dry irregularly because of the sand and may require multiple coats. Let mostly dry.
9. When the earth color is mostly dry, run a fresh coat around the raised rim of the garden patch and dip the whole thing in flocking or turf. The idea is to get an almost uniform covering on the rim, with just  few stray patches in the furrows.
10. Apply two coats of spray sealer to affix the flocking.

ACCENTS AND VARIANTS

The above steps will produce a very basic garden patch that is good for unplanted or fallow ground. the irregularities in the paint and the flocking make it almost unnecessary to dry brush or shade. I did try brushing some dark brown ink over some of the patches that wouldn't darken up enough, but it looked fine without.

If you wanted to make the garden more or less "alive" you can add plants and minimize the amount of flocking you allow in the furrows or you can do what I did on one and heavily flock the furrows and then brush them flock around, creating a clotted and disturbed earth effect. More foliage on the furrows could give it a truly overgrown effect. I think I'll try putting some poles and strings in one of them to suggest beans or peas. I have considered adding squash, pumpkins, or other resilient self-starting vegetables in some of them.

How many Alcovian Special Forces can you get in a Jeep?

 Ten!

And on that bombshell, let's look at S&S Models 1/76th scale (20mm) UAZ 469B. Very much 'Top Gear' in it's own right.

S&S UAZ 469B disassembled

Gjergi? He's a Liberation Minis Modern Ruskie

  
Now, S&S Models normally sells the UAZ with 4 passengers for £8.50 (inc postage to UK). I wanted one purely to use as a prop, sans crew to be used for cover, as an objective for that get quick away by Soap and Price and just general set dressing of HQs, VCPs etc.

Shaun obliged and for around a fiver inc p&p he sent me this tidy, easy to assemble 6 part kit. I know I've said it recently but want to say again, that Shaun is a real gent. He's happy to help where he can and will give you a straight answer with no mucking about. This is important to me.

 S&S UAZ 469B assembled with Blu-tack

Some of you will be aware that I've spent the last three years plus, concentrating on 15mm Sci Fi gaming. I know the manufacturers, the men behind the products and the products themselves, very well. 20mm Moderns were very much a dark room, especially as my initial foray into 20mm Modern resin armour back in the eighties, left me with scars and a heavy dose of reticence about going there again.

It was a real leap of faith buying my first kit from S&S Models this year. And I'm glad to report that I haven't looked back since. The T64Bs in particular are a dream.

OK, that said, what about the kit at hand? The S&S UAZ 469B is a good, solid model designed for wargamers. It looks very much as it should on the tin - instantly says UAZ 469 to me. The wheels have a nice firm methid of being attached to the body making for sturdy construction. There was one small pin hole that needs to be filled and as you can see in the photos a little bit of excess resin to clean.

I quickly assembled the model with a little Blu-tack just to see what it looked like made-up and am pleased with the result. Looking good next to my Liberation Minis OMON sniper I think you'll agree.

S&S Model's catalogues are here if you want to check the latest prices (which include postage and shipping) or just generally browse Shaun's goodies.

Let's see how long it takes me to clean the UAZ and put it together, then I'll blog the results over the next couple of days.

Cheers
Mark