My Gaming Den 3.0

I admit: I am spoiled.  My wife is very accommodating and has allowed me to claim the basement as my own domain.  She is supportive and came up with many of the ideas below. 

Over the years my basement Den has slowly evolved: from an unfinished concrete basement into a cosy warm cave. Lage TV, fireplace, 3 piece washroom, leather sofas, gaming area and plenty of display and storage options.  

For miniature display my den contains 4 large glass display cabinets, 10 wall mounted glass cabinets and 3 wall mounted antique letter press drawers converted into display cabinets. 

Asher is my main gaming opponent.  He usually wins. 

My gaming table is a 6.5 x 4 foot MDF board, with multiple gaming mats.  It is mounted on black resin shelving which holds all my board games, painting supplies and some terrain.  The table is bar height, 40 inches.  Smaller terrain is stored at the side, in a roll around storage bin.  

The side wall has inserts in the wall which hold terrain and buildings.  The two small display cabinets hold my first 28mm figures I ever painted.  Many are horrible or sub par.  I keep them on display to remind myself how much I have improved over the years. 

The TV is my middle son's primary video game area. The larger glass cabinets hold my old Warhammer armies, 8 in total: Chaos Warriors (Khorne, Slaanesh and Nurgle), Dark Elves, Orcs and Goblins, Beasts of Chaos, Ogres and Vampire Counts.  

Two book cases hold all my printed material: RPGs and gaming books. 

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Most of the wall mounted cabinets hold my 15mm collection.  

Just outside of the main room is a small alcove under the stairs.  It holds my hobby carts and larger terrain pieces in pull out plastic storage bins.  

This is my space, the place where I come to forget about adulting and be an irresponsible kid again.  

Clear Horizon 15mm Apocalypse Tank

Hello all. No, this blog is not dead. I have been absent online, but I have been painting, now and then this past year.  Remember, I am a lazy blogger. 

So, to restart things a little, here is some vehicle eye candy, the Apocalypse Super Heavy Tank by Clear Horizons.  I painted this beast in the same manner as the mammoth tracked Tohlic APC from Alternative Armies. See my other blog post for this paint recipie.  The only difference is that I washed it in Polyshades Tudor after painting.  There were too many lines and nick knacks on the model to shade completely with an airbrush. 

Clear Horizons 15mm Apocalypse Super Heavy Tank

I added a couple of Old Crow Gladius hover tanks to the mix as well.  They were kicking around and needed a home. 

The paint scheme, a rich red, matches my Laserburn Imperial Troopers.  Since it is Far-Future Sci Fi, realism be damned. 

The Apocalypse measures 100mm x 60mm

Overall I am pleased with the result. It goes with the Tohlic APC and gives my Laserburn Imperial Troops some much needed punch. 

15mm Sci Fi - Ground Zero Games Tracked Vehicle Pool

Continuing on with the vehicle porn (since I have nothing better to do), may I present my collection of Ground Zero Games 15mm Tracked Vehicles.  

These were the first vehicles I painted during my second foray into 15mm Sci Fi (for a history of my experience, and  how to avoid falling into my delusion, see this post).  I don't know why I waited so many years to photograph these together (the likely answer is that I am quite lazy).  

https://darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com/2021/12/how-did-i-get-into-this-my-history-with.html

These are all metal models, like all GZG materials.  As per my usual, I did modify some of them to my own taste.  

These were airbrushed with the Vallejo Russian Green Modulation kit.  I then airbrushed on Vallejo Model Air NATO Black and US Light Grey to create a feathered camo pattern.  They were then washed in thinned Polyshades Tudor Minwax.  

15mm GZG Tracked Support Vehicles - Artillery, MRLS, Mobile Gun System and Anti-Air Artillery

15mm GZG Self Propelled Artillery and MRLS Launcher

15mm GZG Mobile Gun System and Skysweeper Anti Air Artillery

I wanted a heavier version of the Cougar tank.  So, I took a Skysweeper Anti-Air turret and modified it to fit the heavy plasma gun that comes with the basic Cougar tank.  

15mm GZG Cougar Tanks, modified with heavy plasma guns & a different turret.

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks, modified with heavy plasma guns

To modified the basic Cougar turret lightly to accommodate rotary gatling co-axial guns.  You never have enough firepower.  

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks

If I were to redo these APCs today I would replace their twin plasma guns with newer GZG remote weapon systems.  

15mm GZG Tracked APCs

15mm GZG Tracked APCs

15mm GZG Tracked APCs

Scout vehicles & Drones

Since these are all metal models they are not the easiest to transport to other venues, so they tend to remain in their cases, waiting for the day to roll across the dusty plains of Altair IV.  

More Old Crow Vehicles

 I have not done much in these past weeks.  Quite simply I have not been inspired to do anything.  However, I did manage to take some photos of some very old paint jobs that I did years ago for my Old Crow vehicles.  These were some of the first I did, in a Hammers Slammers metallic scheme.  I don't play that system, nor have I read the books, but I liked the idea of a metallic vehicle pool all the same.

Old Crow 15mm Hover Vehicles

These were mostly airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Chrome and weathered with Tamiya pigments.  Stowage was added to cover mistakes and small casting defects.  I painted these over a period of years, so there is some differences between the vehicles (I am not always consistent in my techniques).  In particular on some of the vehicles I did an overall wash with thinned Polyshades Tudor, resulting in a slightly darker appearance vs the hover tanks.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV with Missile Launcher turret & Blower Hover Tank

Some of the vehicles had very bad mold lines that I was unable to clean up.  This was very uncharacteristic of Old Crow quality.  

The Blower hover tanks are not to the proper Hammers Slammers scale.  But that is fine with me personally.  I do have two of the large Blower tanks from Brigade Models.  Those will appear in another post.

Support Vehicles

I have a huge decal pool to choose from but none were from the Slammers range.  This is of no matter really since I dont play in that universe.  This vehicle pool is normally assigned to either my GZG Mercenaries or my Laserburn Imperial Troops.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV

I added GZG turrets you the Gladius vehicles. In hindsight I think I should have installed them forward in place of the hatch. Oh well. 

Old Crow Glaive Hover APCs

This brings my painted Old Crow vehicle pool to 96 models.  

15mm Sci Fi - Alternative Armies TOHLIC ARMOURED CRAWLER

Well, I am finally back to painting 15mm Sci Fi stuff.  My WIP pile is rather large, with buildings and vehicles needing paint jobs.  So, naturally I decided to pick the biggest model in the pile, the Tohlic Armored Crawler from Alternative Armies.

Tohlic Armored Crawler from Alternative Armies.

This is a beast of a vehicle, an all resin model over 105mm x 80mm x 40mm.  Assembly was simple two hull segments, 2 track segments, 2 turrets and two rear engine ports.  Unfortunately however both vehicles had a hull segment which was very slightly miscast at an angle.  That made lining up the hull and track segments difficult.  The gap on one of the vehicles was quite large and I had to make shims from scrap model material to close the gap enough in order to fill it with putty.  Annoying but not impossible and to be expected with resin.  While both turrets are fine I wanted both a main gun and missile armament (picky I am).  Luckily I have many spare barrels from Old Crow vehicles so it was just a matter of fixing a suitable one to the center of the missile turret.  

These models reminded me of the original 40K Land Raider model from the 1990s.  Therefore they were assigned to my Laserburn Imperial Troops which are Proto-40K Space Marines.  Since my Imperials were red these vehicles would be given a similar scheme....because Space Marines!

Here is the post for those interested in how I painted my Laserburn Imperials.

15mm Sci Fi Small Soldiers: 15mm Sci Fi - Alternative Armies Laserburn Imperial Assault Group (darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com)

Covered by heavy plasma fire, Imperial troops advance to the assault on Iconia IV.

The paint scheme was simple.  All were airbrushed.

• Primed Vallejo Black
• Tamiya Hull Red Basecoat.
• Games Workshop Contrast Flesh Tearers Red on all exposed areas, leaving the Hull Red in the recesses.

I then used a series of highlights in the center of all the panels, each being smaller in area than the last.

• Vallejo Model Air Red 
• Vallejo Game Air Bloody Red 
• Games Workshop Air Scarlet Red 
• Vallejo Model Air Light Red

The tracks were painted with Vallejo Real Steel (this line is for airbrushes, but it goes on well with a brush too....very smooth) then washed with Mig Track Wash.  I also used various Mig Filters such as Brown for Dark Yellow, Subtle Dirt and General Dust in various areas.  Filters tint the base color very slightly, allowing for interesting effects and gradual color changes to key areas.  

Alclad Gloss Varnish was then airbrushed on as a sealer.  Being a lacquer this darkened up all the colors, creating a rich vibrant red.  Decals were then applied, followed by weathering powders.  Vallejo Pigment binder was airbrushed onto the areas in question, followed by various pigments applied by brush.  I finished them off with Tamiya Weathering Pigments, specifically along the panel lines and edges.

The top of the vehicles seem to have storage areas.  So, to cover up some of the more unsightly gaps (and my many mistakes) I used my tried and true technique: Vehicle Stowage.  

The vehicles are big enough IMO to accommodate an entire Laserburn Imperial Assault Group: 60 troops in total.  I still need to do something with the top side sensor pod lenses.  Not sure what yet.  

This is a big vehicle, not suited for everyone.  However, I was looking for something huge and imposing for my Imperial troops and this model fit the bill perfectly.  One of these could easily transport an entire platoon of infantry or a power armor platoon.  

A+.

28mm Fantasy - Avatars of War Goblins

I am painting more this year, slowly but surely.  I purchased these guys off Etsy about a month ago, 6 Goblins in the style of Warhammer.  I normally dont work with resin figures, but I needed six guys to fill out a unit of Goblins that I had and they fit the bill.

Goblins Avatars of War - Etsy Canada

There were many options for weapons, spears, polearms, hand weapons and bows, along with many heads to choose from.  The many spare heads will adorn some of my standards in the future as severed head trophies.  

The skin tone scheme was simple:

Vallejo Black primer, followed by white, sprayed at 45 degrees.

Vallejo Game Color Goblin Green skin, washed with GW green wash.  

Highlighted with Goblin Green again followed by Vallejo Model Color Lime Green and Yellow Green.

Other items were picked out with various random colors.  

They are large enough to warrant 25mm bases, but I mounted them on 20mm squares to keep them in line with my old collection.  

I am happy in general with the result.  They blend seamlessly into my larger unit well enough.

Godzilla!!!!!!!

My youngest son is a huge Godzilla fan.  I had this little guy kicking around so I re-painted it for him.  He can fill a variety of roles in either 28mm or 15mm games.  He is squatting (unglued) on a 50mm square which seems to be standard for monsters these days.  I will likely move him to a 50mm round eventually  

He was airbrushed in Vallejo Dark Camo Green, then drybrushed with a variety of lighter greens until I was happy with the look.  The shading was done selectively, and only in the recesses with Army Painter Military Shade

He is pretty small, no bigger than perhaps a 28mm Ogre or Troll. 

His radioactive breath is simply cotton, airbrushed in Vallejo Game Color Imperial Blue, Electric Blue and Glacier Blue.  

28mm Fantasy - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Well, I am back painting again...slowly.  There were a lot of reasons for the hiatus.  One of the main ones is that quite simply, I had nothing to paint and nowhere to display it if I did.  

Anyway, I was inspired lately to convert an old D&D plastic miniature I had lying around, a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  With a quick visit to a Chaos Body-Chop-Shop he is ready for mayhem and murder.  I did two of these monstrosities; his brother is camera-shy.  

This guy was airbrushed in a simple scheme.

• Vallejo Model Color Iraqi Sand (all over)
• Vallejo Model Color Yellow Ochre (upper body)
• Vallejo Model Color Burnt Umber (spine ridges)
• Vallejo Model Color Burnt Umber mixed with German Grey (upper spine ridges)
• Vallejo Model Color Camo Black Brown (the lower legs)

Random bits and some chain was all it took to convert this rather boring miniature.

After the airbrushing I used a variety of colors to drybrush the skin.

• Vallejo Model Color Buff
• Vallejo Model Color Dark Flesh
• Vallejo Model Color Camo Olive Green

I'm a Unicorn Tyrannosaur.....with a sword arm and tail!

After the drybrushing I used a variety of Mig Filters to add transitions to the body.  

• Brown for Sark & Desert Yellow
• Tan for Tritonal Camo
• Ochre for Light Sand
• Orange for Desert Camo

The mouth and teeth were done in a dark brown, then picked out with:

• Vallejo Model Color Violet Red
• Vallejo Model Color Magenta
• Vallejo Game Color Bone White
• Vallejo Model Color Off-White

The metallic bits were very simple:

• Vallejo Model Air Black Metallic
• Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal (wet brushed)
• Vallejo Model Air Steel (wet brushed)
• Washed in selected areas with Army Painter Dark Tone

The base is not finished yet.  I need to get a 50x100 MDF base to finish him off.

Shake that ass!

He will probably make is debut in a Warhammer Fantasy game as a Chaos Slaughterbrute.  

As a footnote, this was what I had to work with.  

My eyes!  My eyes!  How horrid!