HO Scale Figure Suppliers

Here is a short list of HO gauge figure suppliers.

Woodland Scenic’s

Supply HO gauge people and wildlife figures. Figures can be used for multiple eras from 1940’s up until the present.Woodland Scenic’s provides painted figures, but does offer a few figures that are unpainted. The figures are those that accompany some of their metal kits.

Fun & Games

Supplies HO gauge people and some wildlife figures. Figures can be used to depict people in rural areas from early twenties through early forties.Fun & Games figures are unpainted.

Musket Miniatures, Llc

Offers a large collection of scale people and wildlife. Figures could be used from eras from 1890’s through the early 1940’s. Musket Miniatures come unpainted.

Preiser Kg

Preiser supplies figures that are mostly modeled after modern counterparts, but does provide some period figures (1890’s, 1940’s military, and American Civil War). Also provide many wildlife figures, and horse drawn wagons of European origin. Preiser’s figures are painted very finely. These figures come in sets and are on the expensive side.

Rusty Rail

Rusty Rail offers three sets of figures that depict characters from 1880’s through 1940’s. These figures are unpainted and although they are cast in some unique poses they are not highly detailed.

Browser-Selly

Browser-Selly provides a few figure and wildlife sets. Selly figures could be used to depict figures from the twenties through the early fifties.

Happy New Year-My Second Iteration

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you a happy and prosperous new year

With the start of a new year come plans and ideas for upcoming posts. I received several 1/72 scale diorama kits, paints, and several HO gauge kits for Christmas. I will be reviewing these kits in upcoming posts. The 1/72 scale seems to have caught my attention and I have plans on creating several 1/72 scale dioramas in the upcoming months

My Axis and Allies War at Sea Aircraft and Fleet

Haguro: Nachi-class Heavy Cruiser, (Imperial Japanese Navy), commissioned 1929

The Haguro played a major role in the conquest of the East Indies and in the Battle of the Java Sea, where she helped defeat the combined fleet of American, British and Dutch navies.

Terutsuki: Akitsuki-class Destroyer, (Imperial Japanese Navy), commissioned 1942

Terutsuki led a short and eventful life. The Terutsuki fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal was sunk by the US PT boat in the same year.

I-25: BI-class submarine, (Imperial Japanese Navy), commissioned 1941

The B1-class submarine was large enough to carry a seaplane in a small hanger on its deck. A B1-class submarine was dispatched to the Oregon coast during WWII to drop incendiary bombs on an Oregon forest.

G4MI “Betty”, Mitsubishi , (Imperial Japanese Navy), introduced 1941

The G4MI was the Japanese Navy, primary land-based, naval attack plane. G4MI “Betties” took part in the attack on Clark filed in the Philippians. Later the Betty was used for torpedo attacks at Guadalcanal.

USS Montpelier (CL57) Clevland-Class Light Cruiser, commissioned 1943

The USS Montpelier served as the flagship of CruDiv under Rear Admiral A. S. Merril. The Montpelier saw action in the battle of Solomon Islands.

USS Taylor (DD 468) Fletcher-class Destroyer, commissioned 1942

The USS Taylor also saw action during the battle of Solomon Island. The USS Taylor went on to sink three enemy submarines and earned sixteen battle stars during WWII.

HMAS Nizam

N-Class Destroyer (Australia),commissioned 1941

HMAS Nizam was paid for by Ali Osman Khan, the ruler of Indian state of Hyberabad.  Although the HMAS Nizam saw some action in the Pacific, she saw most of her action in the Mediterranean.

TBF-I Avenger (US) introduced 1942

The Grumman TBF-I Avenger served as a torpedo bomber and saw action in the Eastern Solomon’s. TBF-I Avengers were credited in the sinking of the Japanese light carrier Ryujo.

How to Make Arrows for War-Gaming Miniatures

This 4 ½ minute video will instruct you on how to scratch build small arrows that you can stick into the armor, shields, and the ground around your miniature figures. The materials used for the arrows are readily available and the process is very simple.

Two Tutorials on How to Paint a Horse

The Aspen Modeling Company is offering a tutorial on painting one of their S gauge Cowboys(S-23). The 15 page PDF will walk you through the process of painting of their highly detailed resin casting.

The second tutorial “How to Paint a Brown Horse” gives you a step by step instructions on how to paint a 1/72 Zvezda French horse. There a many images showing the transition from a highly detailed plastic casting into a work of art.

Excuse me, but I have go see man about a horse.

Dozens of Resources for the Pirates of the Spanish Main and other Versions of this Pirate Game

The Board Game Geek has seven pages of what amounts to dozens of resources, including alternative scenarios, and rules, reference and tracking sheets, wind and compass add-on's, cannon range finders, check lists, and guides, ship and crew cards, keyword lists, ETC.

There so many resources here that will make your game, regardless of what version you are playing, more challenging and interesting.

Terrain Pieces for Pirates of Dave Jones Curse and Mysterious Islands

Although I don’t know when these terrain pieces were first introduced or whether they are still available I thought I would include this related link anyway. These terrain pieces from Dungeon Terrain are cast in resin and include six islands and several palm trees. The palm trees will need to be assembled and attached to the islands. The islands, unlike those supplied with the game, are three dimensional and are highly detailed.

Pirates of Davy Jones Curse-Terrain Pieces

The Pirates of Davy Jones Curse game includes three terrain types: Fog Banks, Reefs, and Sargasso Sea. Each terrain type brings with it a set of attributes.

Fog Banks

When any part of a ship touches the fog bank the whole ship must be placed on the fog bank and ships turn ends. Once in the fog bank the ship is considered lost, it cannot fire cannon, be shot at, ram, pin, be boarded or board other ships. A fog bank has the numbers 1 through 6 printed around its edges. On the ships next turn the player must roll a die and exit from the number on the side of the card that matches the roll die.

Using situation cards, I have other ideas for this terrain piece, like being able to enter a fog bank if being pursued by or being fired at by an enemy ship.

Sargasso Sea

This is another terrain piece that will need to be worked into the game, with a situation card. Depending on the roll of the die the player could become entangled in the Sargasso Sea and lose her ability to move or become detangled allowing the ship to continue to make her move action.

Reefs

When any part of a ship touches any part of a reef, the player must roll a die. The result is the reefs rating until the end of your turn. Compare the result of the die against the amount of masts the ship had when it was constructed. If the reef rating is lower than the number of masts, the ship loses that many masts.

If the ship sustains more damage than she has masts she is wrecked and stays on the reef as a wreck. I am not really sure I will work this terrain piece into the game, yet. Perhaps I could create a situation card for this piece.

12 Weapons That Changed Everything

“History is shaped by technological innovations”. “12 Weapons That Changed Everything” is slide show with some accompanying materials that define twelve weapons that revolutionized warfare in their day. From The Greek Phalanx to the modern day tank, man has looked for ways to perfect his ability to exterminate his enemies (so much like an insect under foot)…so much for the maxim - proximos ama sicut te ipsum.

Vintage Card Reference-Pirates of the Spanish Main Check List

Vintage Card Reference features an interesting page entitled: “Allen & Ginter Pirates of the Spanish Main Checklist”. The article describes a set of 50 collectable pirates’ cards that have become even more of a collector’s item, having been published back in 1888. I thought the article warranted a mention and have added the link to my Pirates of the Spanish Main label. Each card is numbered and has a picture of a pirate and a brief biography of the pirate on the back of the card.

Axis and Allies-War at Sea-General Scenario-How to Win

The first player to accumulate 150 points wins. You can score points in three ways:

• When you destroy an enemy unit, you score points equal to the cost of the destroyed unit
• Seizing an objective sector gets you 50 points (There are there 3 objective sector markers on the map)
• You also score point points when the enemy has no ships remaining, other than Torpedo Boats. (Submarines and Aircraft don’t count)-You get a onetime bonus of 50 points

Check your points at the end of every turn. If both players archive there 150 points at the same time, the first player to obtain the highest score wins.

If, at any time, your opponent has no unit left at the end of phase, the game ends.

Taken and adapted from the Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures Rulebook.

Axis and Allies War at Sea Sequence of Play

The game is played in turns, player 1 and then player two. Here are the following phases:

1. Initiative Phase
Roll two die and add the result to your best Flagship bonus. The highest score gets the imitative and goes second. This is beneficial because after watching the other player make their move you know where they might be heading.

2. Sea Movement Phase
You can move ship and submarine the number of sectors equal to its speed.

3. Air Mission Phase
Place you aircraft squadrons in any sector on the map. Both players can move their aircraft into one sector each turn.

4. Air Defense Phase
If aircraft enter a sector where a ship resides, the ship may use its antiaircraft guns to attack the aircraft in that sector

5. Air Attack Phase
Use available Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Bomb, Gunnery, or Torpedoes to make attacks on Ships and Submarines

6. Surface Attack Phase
Attack enemy ships and submarines using either ASW, Gunnery (each particular, when within range), Torpedo or all three.

7. Submarine Attack Phase
Attack enemy submarines with torpedo attacks.

8. Air Return Phase
Return you aircraft to land base or aircraft carrier.

9. End of Turn
Claim victory markers and check victory points.

Taken and adapted from the Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures Rulebook.

Is 1-250 Scale Impossible Small or Just Fascinating?

Recently, while performing some research I came across the following 1/250 models made entirely out of paper. These are micro-sized models that are a bit smaller than the 1/285. I find these micro-sized models are so fascinating to me.

Seven WW2 Legendary Tanks Paper Models

You will find a whole set of WWII models here.

Sport Fishing Boat

I am particularly interested in this model; I appreciate its lines and study build.

Moon Base

This model might be a start of a Science Fiction diorama. C in C has a line of 1/285 scale SCIFI vehicles that might work well with these paper models.

Artizan Designs' Painting Guides

I recently purchased a copy of Zvezda’s British Machine Gun w/Crew 1939-42. This set includes four 1/72 miniatures, three British soldiers and one machine gun. I have been searching for painting guides for British army figures and came across Artizan Designs' WWII Painting & Camo Guides. Each guide is cross referenced with a general colors and a Vallejo Model paints color.