This is the start of a regular hobby update article from me. I’m not going to start off with a promise of a regular schedule for it because chances are that won’t work. Here I’ll just briefly run through what I’ve been up to lately.
Firstly a good chunk of my hobby time has gone to prepping for a Bag the Hun solo campaign. You can find a detailed description of my prep work here.
However like any wargamer I usually have a lot of irons in the fire…or minis on the bench….
Moderns
First of these I’ve been working on lately is the “Containment Team” minis from Enemy Spotted Studios (ESS) for their modern game InCountry (INX for short). These models clearly take some inspiration from things like SCP Overlord and to me they’re some of the coolest looking moderns in my collection. I finished them up a few days ago so now I’ve begun work on three other sets of modern minis.
-ESS African Forces
-ESS African Militia
-Spectre Miniatures Insurgent PMCs
So far they’ve all be based, primed, and basecoated. My printer is currently spewing out several months worth of Enemy Spotted Studio’s My Mini Factory Tribe- QRF – releases. The intent is to build up a large Insurgent force by combining those releases with the physical InCountry kickstarter minis I received in February. To supplement these forces I’m printing some vehicles from Modern Miniatures. I backed their first Kickstarter in March for a modular Humvee set and I’m curious to print them out and get my hands on them.
Chain of Command / Bolt Action
In the non-airplane historical docket I’ve got three projects underway with a few more in the planning stages. These are all being done for use in both Chain of Command and Bolt Action.
-Generic France/Northwest Europe board: currently this is just running my FDM printer around the clock. I’ve got a ruined farm printed and next is the Norman Church from Printable Scenery. Last to print will be a larger farm before I move into making things like fields, hedges, roads and orchards/trees. I’ve ordered a felt mat from Cigar Box Battle, and I’ll be sure to share my thoughts once it arrives.
-WW2 French: I’ve written an article about the planning stages of this force. I’ve got the minis and I’ve been slowly getting them built and based. I’m planning to release another article soon covering the process of acquiring and building up the force.
-WW2 USMC: this is a rabbit hole I’ll write about on its own later. It’s set to devour the majority of my hobby time once it kicks off as it involves several forces, terrain, and a display board. Notably I did print an M3 Stuart, some artillery crewman, and received an order of three Rubicon M4A2 Shermans for it. In addition I’ve backed the Studio Historia First to Fight Kickstarter to supplement my options. I think Studio Historia’s kickstarters are a great value if you’re interested in the subject matter.
-Additionally, I’ll no doubt need some Japanese forces and Pacific themed terrain at some point. These are only in the earliest planning stages, although I have recently received the files for Studio Historia’s Sons of Yamato Kickstarter.
More Airplanes
The big one as always, is tiny planes. I won’t go on too much but I’ve been converting files to 1/300, test printing them and saving the supported versions to build myself a library for future projects. The next wave of Japanese reinforcements for the Bag the Hun campaign consisting of another 9 zeros and 6 G4M1 “Betty” bombers. I’ve also begun assembling the planes needed to make a force for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger, or ML-KNIL for short). That will be the first step in an eventual project to cover the air war for the first six months in the Pacific, additionally I’ve planned some IJA, RAAF, RAF, and USAAF planes for that.
I’ve also subscribed to the Blue Falcon Hobbies Decal of the Month Club Patreon for 1/200 decals. I’m getting two sets of interesting decals a month which will provide some cool projects down the road for Blood Red Skies.
Well, that’s the hobby madness I’ve been up to. Hopefully next time will have some solid updates on at least a few of the above projects. Thanks for reading! -Evan
Iron Dice Gaming 