High Elf Prince + Noble, plus OOP Collecting and Wargames Armies Book

   Today i went down to Caliver Books at Leigh-on-Sea. it's a wargaming shop that has now moved elsewhere, but the old Leigh store still exists for those that liked it, albiet being rather barren. Although it doesn't carry many products, it does have some boxes of old spare miniatures, which you can find some real gems in, plus, it offers good prices. It's only opposite from my bus stop, so I pop by without difficulty. Today i bought the plastic high Elf Prince mounted and foot kit, and an old GW book called 'Collecting and Painting Wargames Armies'. I got the lot for only £8! That's tonight's entertainment sussed! Below are some pics:

Codex: Sisters of battle in WD + New Vampire Counts Next Month

   i know it's been a while, and I'm working on Island of Blood High elves at the moment. I also did a few 28mm ww2 vehicles and US Ranger GIs. For this article, I though I'd spread the news out first. Next month, we will be getting new Vampire Counts models, with rules for new units included in next months White Dwarf. We'll also be getting a new Sisters of Battle Codex which will be published in WD next month! I know all this from the ltest white dwarf - here's the pics, scanned from the back page...

Also, there are some new oop finecast models coming back. That 'Lammasu' does look cool, albeit 100% daft! I love the way GW are making generic animals and monsters available for your armies with this 'Storm of magic'...

Games Workshop - Greedy, Careless of the Hobby - Finecast - Poor Quality and a Rip Off

As you know, I was adamant on making a Finecast purchase, but I turned away empty handed. Citadel Finecast is expensive, it has much flashing and imperfections, and is of a cheap material. I understand that the price increases are simply for many products, and not just Finecast ones, but although the product is the same sculpt, it is in a different material, and this means that the same price as the old material (metal) cannot be charged on what is practically a new product. In the business world, business doesn't care if the model is a 'Stormcaller' sculpt, or 'Uruk-hai' sculpt, but it does care about what material it is, and how much this material costs. This means that just because a 'Gandalf' in metal is now the same 'Gandalf', but in a different material (resin), and this doesn't make it the same product. It is now an entirely new product, and should be labelled with the according prices of this new product, and not with the prices of an old product which was completely different, except for that it resembles the new one.

Miniwargaming Matt has put together a video explaining Games Workshop's other greedy schemes...

Games Workshop are really taking the wrong move!

Men of Minas Tirith - Revamped from the Dust

   Hey guys, a few months ago (back in September), I picked up a second hand GW case with some LotR minis in it.  I decided to get to work at revamping the 'splodgy n'dodgy' paint job that was done on them. All I simply did was washed the armour with some black paint, overbrushed some Mithril Silver, and really just block coloured on the black, gold, skin, and brown. Took me no longer than half an hour!

Comparison of old and new paint jobs

   And, last of all, today I'm going down to my local (ish) shopping centre, so I'm gonna be picking up some WW2 28mm tamiya models, and a fine cast mini or two, so I'll give you the run down on Citadel Finecast very soon!

EM4 Miniatures: Universal Plastic Spaceships Review

  Hey, I know it's been a while, but you'll have my unmentioned Dark Eldar force upcoming, so i won't be short of stuff to write about! As for know, I bought a boxed set of 12 plastic spacecraft from EM4 Miniatures, for only £2.50! Awesome, it even comes with flying bases and a proper box! What a bargain! They are hard plastic (no flexible Italeri rubbish), and look pretty similar in size to a 28mm model (my DE Wych is there for comparison). Just think - that's only 3 school dinners for 6 boxed sets! I will paint 'em up soon, and may knock up some simple rules for them. Here are some pics...

Custom Apocalypse Datasheet Creation Service!

    Hello guys! Today, I will be taking up a commission based Apocalypse Data Sheet creating service. The standard sheet will cost you £2.50 via PayPal, which includes a possibly digitally tweaked picture from the internet to match your idea/model, or models, and a piece of specially written background information on the subject matter. It of course comes with all the rules and options for your subject. Anything can be done, from monster to swarms. It will look very much like the Enslaver sheet above, which I made a while back. You will receive it in digital form via E-Mail - it can be in PDF, or as a standard picture file. It will be in A4 size. You can also upgrade your sheet and have a unique and custom pencil sketch done of it, and imported onto the sheet in place of an internet picture, for a total of £5, including the rest of the datasheet as afore mentioned. Any datasheet I make can be as personalized and specific as you like, or you can give me some ideas for me to play with, and create the ultimate unit/beast! Simply email me at liam.heatherson@sky.com to find out more, and if you would like samples of my pencil sketches, simply ask.

WW2 Trip To France : Sword Beach/Grand Bunker

So, I've not posted in weeks! All for good reason though - I went on a trip to France. Some of these places were of historical significance concerning the Second World War. I'm gonna be posting features of this trip to act as not only a wargaming/modelling reference, but also out of sheer interest.

   To begin with, I will show you my one day trip to Sword Beach. Stopping off, on the journey back to England,  we detoured and set for Sword Beach, one of the five D-Day beaches, this one invaded by the British, with help of some French Commandos. Despite having a walk around the beach, eyes on the sand, but no luck (if you get what I mean), I also went to visit the German Grand Bunker overlooking the beach. It was pretty big, but not 'grand' as such, although it did not disappoint by no means. It was a museum inside, and had some stuff outside, without further ado, here's the pics...

German with Russian PP-SH on back in living quarters

MP40

MG34

Sentry with MG42, and below the front of it:

Generator Rooms

Entrance to bunker with the MG42 sentry at the end

Exit of bunker at back

A barbed wire trap

American Half Track

M4 Sherman

Barbed Wire Coil

V1 Flying Bomb 'Doodlebug'

An American tank

Barbed Wire Coil

Flak 88mm

British 'Big Gun'

Above are photos of an original restored D-Day landing craft, as used in the awesome film 'Saving Private Ryan'

A weapon smithy

Viele oft Steilhandgrenades!

MP40, then PP-SH

Two Panzerfausts

MG42s

An StG44 being serviced

A rack of Kar 98Ks

Luger, another pistol, Webley Revolver, another revolver

A sexy Sten

Pair of Webley Revolvers

Mills Bomb Grenade

A D-Day diorama that puts mine to shame!

Two Land Mines

A Big Gun

Sten, Lee-Enfield, Lee-Enfield

An MG13 or MG34 (dunno which)

A rusted, and sea-worn lee-enfield

A sea-worn and rusted MP40, then Sten

A Tommy's helmet, and a Bren, and a Lee-Enfield

Tommy helmet, worn Lee-Enfield

Bren

A slung Thompson

What is this gun, I guessed Gewehr, but I couldn't tell as the sling covers its front - tell me if I'm right

Browning .50 cal

Kar 98K

A bomb

MP40

Castemate's range finder

Views from the castemate

Above are two views through the still working range-finder - the pic looks old but it's not!

An old photo of the Grand Bunker and a German trench system - which butt got rid of/covered over/destroyed this!

An M1 Carbine for sale at 299 euros

Big Gun

Sword Beach - little signs remain

The memorial

The Grand Bunker

PP-SH