Men In Boxes

  I just saw Solomon Kane and he is definitely no pansy Van Helsing. Written and directed by Michael Basset and made on a modest budget, the film is a strong example of sword and sorcery adventure done right. The 80's Conan films with Arnold S. wasn't the Conan I've read in Robert Howard's stories. Neither was Kevin Sorbo's Kull. Now, that was a sad affair. There's been a dirth of good sword and sorcery adventure films, most seemingly made by artists not familiar with the genre. The reinvented Van Helsing ( played by Hugh Jackman in the film of the same title) is a pale imitation of Solomon Kane -- in fact, that version of Van Helsing was a rip-off  of Howard's anti-hero. But Solomon Kane... now, this is pure sword and sorcery as Howard and friends defined it. The film opens with Solomon Kane viciously assaulting a castle in North Africa. Here, we meet the titular hero and see him at his worst -- without remorse, bloodthirsty, greedy and extremely lethal...

I picked up two of each of these fanciful plastic tanks at dirt cheap prices. The bigger tanks cost around a dollar each while the smaller ones went at around 25 cents. The hulls and part of the turrets seem to be based on real world tanks but the main guns and accessories shout "Sci Fi". They've been primed black and will soon join the ranks of my 28mm sci fi armies. Check out these figs here and here. First, the bigger tank has a three barrel assembly as it's main armaments. Two smaller tubes flank a huge "powergun." A 28 mm Void figure is shown to show the scale of each model. The smaller tank seems to suit a light tank role but it has two main guns as well as two more guns at turret sides. The details are crisp, even exaggerated and may take shading and weathering really well. I'll be choosing a camo scheme for these soon, maybe inspired by what the troopers were painted in. All in all, a very good buy:)

Planned to upload new pics of my newly painted minis. worked in the garage and stood up to look for my card reader inside the house. My dear old Tumbling -- a long-haired Askal mongrel or native Filipino dog -- peeped at my work table and snuck off with my memory card. Lesson: memory card + dog = bad idea!

Here's a site that I've enjoyed for some time now. It's perfect for inspiration and instruction on making wargaming terrain. I've yet to join the forums though but the discussions seem active and friendly. Click here to go to the site. Now to get me some foamboards...

2009 has left the building. Happy new year to everyone. And as 2010 is ushered in, here are a few of my gaming resolutions: 1. buy less, model & game more 2. finally settle on a ruleset of choice for ancients, medieval, fantasy and sci fi. Only one for each genre. 3. organize everything-- my garage is due for some massive cleaning up and I've got boxes and boxes of model kits, plastic figure sets, unfinished terrain projects, books and painting accessories all haphazardly strewn about and are all in dire need of organizing and completing. I really have to research and find a storage system that will work for my hobbies and keep my life sane. 4. Sell or auction of models I dont use nor want anymore. 5. Select some prize models for display. More of my plans soon.

December ushered in a whirlwind of work and I haven't been able to game nor paint for a week. Arcane Legions made an appearance at my local gaming shop and I'm considering picking up some army packs first. Personally, I'm not planning on trying out the rules. Warmaster and Battlesystem seems to suit our needs quite well already and most of our minis are being based using these rules. On the other hand, I may buy these figures to bulk up my 1/72 plastics, especially with the magical/mythical troops. I've gone thru the Arcane Legions website and would like to get my hands on these models, especially the centaurs, guardian lions and bear cataphracts. Most of the cavalry and infantry though look uninspired and with only 1 pose per figure type, it gives more of a boardgame feel rather than a miniature wargame.

I've set aside the plastics for a while and have resumed work on the metal mageknight figures for my woodland themed army, save for the golems. These guys will be recruited to another themed fantasy army, this time for a steam-powered Atlantis. The figures have been cleaned and assembled and are now ready for priming and painting. The Firbolg and the Tree Men The Iron Golems