Panzerfäuste Futbowel: Orc Team

Having finished the Dwarf Panzerfäuste Futbowel team, I cracked on with the Orcs. The set I received was a pre-production set that contained one duplicated figure. Production sets will contain eleven unique Orc futbowelers.

Like the Dwarves they are in 1940's kit to maximise usage, though the goalie is in LOV (Local Orc Volunteer) uniform rather than the standard battle dress the outfield players are in.

Attackers:

Defenders:

Goalie (with "goal posts"):

Panzerfäuste Futbowel: Dwarf Team

I finished the Dwarf team for Panzerfäuste Futbowel yesterday and managed to take some in focus photos today!

Whilst the game is inspired by the 1914 Christmas Truce, the figures are sculpted in WW2 uniforms to tie in with the Panzerfäuste background and have use beyond the game as POW's, heavy weapons crews etc.

Attackers:

Defenders:

Goalie with "goal posts":

Panzerfäuste Futbowel: DIY Shell Craters

Yes, I am still alive! :-) Life, the universe and real work getting in the way.

Anyway, hopefully you are aware that Hysterical Games are releasing a beer and pretzels game very, very soon called Panzerfäuste Futbowel, "recreating" the games of futtie played during the unofficial Hognachtswatch truce.

Matthew Hartley has completely revisited the old Wessex Games Futbowel rules and come up with a playing card driven game that is really quite cute and a lot of fun. As befitting a game set in No-Man's Land, the playing surface is broken up by shell caters, the rules stipulating you need 18 with a 50cm diameter (you don't use all these at the start, there are unexploded bombs that may create new ones).

Now you could just cut out some card circles but I felt creative and decide to make my own.

The process is very simple and cheap. I used some brown air drying clay I bough from Hobbycraft, broke some off and rolled into a ball. I pressed this onto a 50mm slottabase (not necessary but it does help tie in with the figures and not sit proud of any rocks on my playing surface).

I then pressed my thumb down in the middle and wiggled it about to make the crater. The edges were then pressed down and smoothed to the base edge. I then stippled the inside of the crater with an old  toothbrush to give a fine earth effect.

Once dry (don't rush in an overly warm oven!) I then coated the outsides with some builders sand and then painted the same colours as the figure bases and board.

A couple I tried a gungy greenish water effect in (I think I still need to add some resin to these).

And two others had a damaged barbed wire post added made from paper clips and some "barbed wire" bought off SnM Scenics on eBay.

And that was that. Tomorrow should see some photos of the Dwarf team (hopefully in focus unlike today's effort!)

Panzerfäuste: Deathless Zombi

Having gone on a mini-spending spree at Devizes last weekend (more on that another day) I decided to try out the Zombiecide effects paints I bought on the as yet unreleased Panzerfäuste Deathless Zombi...

To be honest I only used the blood and gore paints from the set and they worked quite nicely, the rest are just Vallejo military paints for the Russian style uniforms.

To make them look a bit different than WW2 Russians I have decided my Panzerfäuste Dark Elves will be painted up as Drow with black skins and white hair, and consequently the Zombi had to be the same...

I think they've come up alright and might get some more soon.

Panzerfäuste: Skøgtroll Kongens Garde

I have a terrible problem in wanting to change things. Not content with painting a set of Hysterical's Panzerfäuste Forest Trolls, I decided I had to convert some into the elite Kong's Garde (King's Guard).

The trolls are based on the Norwegians and in real life the King's Guard fought off a German attempt to capture the King and his cabinet, whilst still dressed in parade ground undress uniform (and some hastily grabbed helmets).

This necessitated a bit of work, the removal of the breast pockets, extending the trousers and changing the head gear. I attempted to make a "Swedish" helmet which went "okay" on one troll, but played it safe with a side cap for the second.

In the sixties the regiment adopted a penguin from Edinburgh zoo and so, as this is fantasy,
I decided I needed a model of Sir Nils Olav. Now sourcing a penguin was not easy. Copplestone make some but they looked a bit small. In the end I used a toy one I bought off Amazon (six for £1.99 including postage) added a plastic British helmet from Warlord and et voila, the King's penguin who needs rescuing from the Dwarves. He's bit big but the trolls like big pets!

On the subject of animals in Panzerfäuste I also painted up the Kickstarter exclusive freebie, Hansi, the Kaiser's cat...

Panzerfäuste: Panzerbär

Two posts in a week, what is the world coming to? :-)

When I popped into Hysterical HQ recently Rob gave me a test casting of the Panzerbär for Panzerfäuste. It is a lovely and very impressive model and I couldn't resist slapping some paint on it...

The model comes with two turret options (Pz I and II), open and closed hatch options and two bear heads...

I used standard tank painting techniques, washes, edging highlights etc, plus some weathering...

And added some 1/72nd panzer decals I had sitting around...

Overall, I am very pleased with the end result and it's a model I think will be very popular with gamers.

Land Ironclads: Sprue Fortress III

You may remember a couple of years ago I started work on a small Sprue Fortress to go with my Sprue Village and Sprue Town for Land Ironclads and Aeronef games. Unfortunately I managed to lose the model (don't ask) but recently found it so decided to slap some paint on it before it went AWOL again...

Here it is with an aeronef and some Land Ironclads contraptions for scale...

Panzerfäuste: Forest Trolls

Although I didn't got to Salute this year, I had managed to get my hands on a set of the Hysterical Games Skøgtroll (Forest Trolls) for Panzerfäuste and have just finished painting them.

Sculpted by Alex Huntley of Warploque Miniatures fame, they are based on the Norwegian army of 1940 and I think they look pretty cool. 

I've found Alex's trolls to be probably the best on the market today, having a cool Scandinavian vibe, which suits the Norwegian theme perfectly.

They're impressively large models, standing on 40mm round bases...

I've got another three which I am thinking about converting into the Kings Guard...

Brexit Threat to French and German Toy Soldiers

I must confess to being quite socked at this morning's claim that a vote for the UK to leave the EU in June will have major ramifications on the UK gaming industry. Following on from ridiculous EU legislation that can punish you for taking a photo of a historic monument, it is being claimed that if the Brexit were to occur then EU states would refuse to give UK model and war-game companies copyright permission to manufacture model vehicles and toy soldiers based on their nation.

This would mean that UK companies like Warlord Games, Airfix  and Perry Miniatures would no longer be able to produce WW2 German infantry, Me109 fighters or French Napoleonic infantry.

Further it may be illegal for gamers  to use any existing figures they have in their collection in public (so at a club night or show) without obtaining a license (similar to a visa) from the respective nation's embassy.

Shocking though this is, at least it will see an increase in interest in British history and periods such as the English Civil War should receive a major boost.

Panzerfäuste: Deathless Zombi Troll

In Panzerfäuste, the Deathless are an unusual faction in that they are not allied to either one side or the other, but have their own agenda. Originating out of a war between the Dark Elves and Mountain Trolls, the Deathless have plunged the Dark Elf kingdom into civil war and that conflict has spread south to impact the Great Dwarven War.

The Brute for the Deathless is a Zombi Troll, a resurrected victim of the Dark Elf/Troll Winter War. In the game the Brutes have handlers and this model will as well, in the form of two demonic Likho, which I haven't had the chance to paint yet.

During the Kickstarter the sculptor came with the gruesome idea of having the model posed ripping a Dwarf in half. Normally I don't like models that tie themselves to specific opponents but the designer was so keen it do do it, that it became a Kickstarter exclusive variant figure...

Panzerfäuste: Orc Fomori Brute

One of the more interesting new items for Panzerfäuste is the introduction of some larger beasts (generically referred to as Brutes) who help reinforce the fantasy aspect of the game, as well as provide some heavy close combat capability (especially useful for the Gnomes).

For the Orcs, their Brutes, are a large beastial race of one eyed beings from the marshlands of the Orc homeland, called Fomori (the Orcs have a slight Celtic vibe in the game's background).

I managed to get my hands on one of the pre-release models being cast up at Hysterical Games for the Kickstarter backers and subsequent retail release and have painted him up here. I went for a red-brown skin to provide contrast to the "green" Orcs, and added some rust and steel to the tank cannon "club" and the Schürzen "shield".

The Brutes handlers, modelled in WW2 tank overalls with WW1 touches like the chainmail masks and helmet, were painted in British army Khaki.

I have a nice full box of pre-release goodies read I snuck out of Hysterical last week that I'll be painting up over the next few weeks... :-)

Panzerfäuste: Mushroom Forest

Having had a long hard think about why I was in a hobby funk I decided to blame it on my replacement brushes which were not as good as the old ones I used to get from Waylands Forge and the basing sand I was using, which was too fine compared to what I used for the previous few years.

This might sound silly but having now sourced some decent sable brushes very similar to what I previously used and a bag of recycled glass paving sand from B&Q (thanks to Ian for the suggestion) I now have some mojo back - so there!

First to see the benefits of the return of the mojo are a converted Panzerfäuste Dwarf and some rebased mushrooms I've had knocking around for over a decade having bought them off Oriental Art Studio (?) at a show in the Midlands. They were starting to look a bit fragile so I coated them in PVA to seal them and based them on two old CD's using the paving sand to tie the bases in with all my other stuff. Terrain like this is great for fantasy games...

The Dwarf is an old Wessex figure who had his tunic extended with some spare Green Stuff to make a greatcoat. This was a simple enough conversion and I might do a few more soon...