More News, Shameless Plug Alert!

 Hey, I am a working author, and a working author has to sell books!

I am proud to announce my second collaboration with Cannon Publishing, and my first novel. The cover is out and pre-orders are due to begin "soon". Looking forward to the release, and of course, buy the book! 

As for what it's about? Well, it's about America under occupation by a bunch of fantasy races, led by some very sociopathic elves. Needless to say, the Elves are finding out humanity is a) not that much fun to occupy, and b) they will need a lot more Elves and Orcs. 

Isn't she beautiful?

So what does that mean for my writing here and elsewhere? Well, I am becoming more of a pro these days, so while I fully intend to maintain that side, I will be doing what I can to keep things up here and with other projects. I intend to try to keep up my one-post-a-month promise here, I ask you to bear with me though if the deadline's knocking at the door! 

I am very much excited about this though, and who knows, maybe I can convince JF and Lucas to let us Twilight 2000 types try and game this out somehow (though the magic makes the damn Elves and Orcs very bullet resistant). 

Mongoose Acquires Twilight: 2000 and 2300AD

The GDW gamers universe has been abuzz for a while with the news that Marc Miller has handed the rights for Traveller over to Mongoose. Well, both 2300AD and Twilight: 2000 have joined the exodus to Mongoose, marking this as the first time all three games have been under the same roof as active licenses since GDW left the scene in 1996.

There are questions, and Mongoose has answers:

https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/twilight-2000-2300ad-come-to-mongoose.125015/#post-984591

Am I very hopeful about this, yes? Mongoose has been a very good steward of Traveller and 2300, and I see no reason for this to change with Twilight 2000. I think they'll make enough room for us fans of the older versions of the game to go our own way, and fill in the blanks while they chart whatever course they choose to.

I'll have a regular post soon, but as it is news, I figured it needed to be posted sooner, rather than later.

MDF Buildings, Part 2, Painting

So I finished the building this weekend, and at first, I was freaking out. I thought I'd just about ruined it.

So what did I do? Well, Tactical Painter has a host of house paints to work with. All I have is white. I used that as a primer coat. It worked very well, but you must put on more than one coat for total coverage. News flash, you don't want or need it. Just enough to get some texture here. Next, I used some arts and craft paints, namely a milk color, and then a fawn color to kind of tone down the white and make it look a little more brownish grime and that sort of build-up. I then used Citadel Agrax Earthshade to work on the corners and the lines to bring them out. That worked well over the permanent ink pen I initially used.

What really made this thing pop was a mix of more craft paint, this time, another craft paint, this time, a True Red mixed with Vallejo Model Color Ivory. It nailed the "faded red look" on the doors and windows I was going for. And thus, I was very pleased with the end result. I might work on some other ideas, like curtains and the like, but who knows. It turned out pretty nice in the end. 

I am sold on MDF now, with a little work, and some forethought, you can really make a building sing. I have a lot more to paint, so I'll be doing them here. My future endeavors will turn out as nice!

20mm MDF, Part 1 Construction

 I felt this deserved a write-up as though there are not a lot of 20mm Cold War era buildings in MDF, there are some good reasons for this article.

1. There's plenty in 15mm and 28mm and the advice here is scale agnostic.

2. This is a newish development in the hobby.

What I built yesterday was Sarissa's Two Story Colonial House, it's a very simple kit. One sprue for the buildings, one for the windows/doors, and one page of instructions.

I hope mine comes out looking half as good! Pic taken from Sarissa's Website.

I've taken some improvement ideas from the Tactical Painter blog, which even though his ideas are geared toward WWII, makes a lot of good points for MDF. I'd certainly take his advice.

The first floor is not too shabby, also note the Chopper II in the background, it was a recent procurement, and well worth it. I see this thing getting a lot of use. 

The actual book construction was really easy and I liked how fast the actual construction was. It really was a snap, and white (PVA for those in the UK) glue is really the preferred adhesive, as it's far more forgiving than super glue for this sort of thing. 

The second floor, sans balcony

As I said, the model itself was a total snap. I think I had the basic kit together in about ten to fifteen minutes tops. 

I did make some improvements to the kit as suggested by Tactical Painter, first, I used some decorative toothpicks to make some nicer-looking columns for the balcony, and I used the remains of said toothpicks to make columns for the front of the building. I then used Woodland Scenics Foam Putty to hide the joins. That didn't work as well as I would have liked, but it did the job mostly. I will probably just use some regular home spackle next time.

I stopped my work once I got to the windows, as I wanted to get some emulsion or house paint to do the initial coat for the building. I know a lot of folks tell me that normal acrylic is going to get absorbed by the wood, and you need something a bit hardier. I don't wanna get the full-sized containers, hard to store. And I don't need that big, samples are fine for me. 

We'll see, as I have yet to paint any of my MDF as of yet. But if I can make this work, then I should be able to make the rest work well. Does anyone know a cheap source of samples online?

Here are the final results, thus far.

More to come as this project continues! 

Historicon, and Where I Plan to Go With This Blog

Am back from Historicon and I have much to report. First, the Flea Market was good, and I grabbed more than a few 1/300 planes and am building my modern stuff for a potential Central Front in the war that never was. It ought to be a lot of fun, and I can recycle some GDW Air Superiority/Air Strike scenarios. I'll also be building Iran-Iraq but that's not as big a deal for this blog.

Also managed to grab some 20mm Moderns from the old defunct Scorpion's Nest Terminus V game (I had the rules, but man, they were kinda odd). They were painted modern and I can use them for PC groups for Twilight 2000 or random encounter groups.

As for games? I got into some 20mm and 28mm Modern games using Force on Force rules. Their focus wasn't Cold War, but modern, and I have noticed a lot of Team Yankee games at the con. Frankly, I am leaning to try to put together some good old-fashioned T2K-inspired miniatures games to run at Historicon next year. 

What say you all to the idea of a game that did the ambush from Ruins of Warsaw? I am thinking of taking the orbat from the GDW Last Battle game, as well as working from the module itself. I actually ran it once before, but I wasn't nuts about the rules. I think I'd either use Force on Force or No End in Sight. I like both rules, but I think No End in Sight might run faster. Probably modify it a bit to work on the fact everybody in the game is running low on consumables.

Terrain might be an issue, but I am in contact with these fellas. I purchased some 28mm and 20mm terrain and I am quite happy with what I got. I can say their 28mm Spanish Church is nice and sturdy looking. 

All in all, just need to get a little terrain together and paint some figures, but it shouldn't give me too much trouble.

As for the future of this blog? I intend to keep it on the topics it's on. I think a strict focus is best for a blog, and I will just revitalize FestungPlatz for all things World War II. My Battletech blog is probably in cold storage for now, as I haven't done much CBT in a while. Hell, I haven't played Alpha Strike for a long time. That said, I am still a fan, just want to play my way in my universe. so that might get a new revitalization and slightly new direction soon.

SF 15 also needs revitalization. I have been thinking along some lines for my 15mm Sci-fi and I owe some painted projects to the masses. 

My own writing career has taken off. I've signed a contract with Pen and Sword on a project I can't say too much right now, and I have some other projects I am working on. So, the blog will be secondary, but I am monetizing at least this one. It will be voluntary. I don't like doing the hard sell. Like what you see, toss a few bucks to help defray costs? I am still working on Charters of Freedom, but it's taking some time. Got a source for maps, and it should make things faster. As soon as it's done, I intend to email Mr. Miller again and ask him if he'd like to license it?

That's it for now, but I am going to try to write more here. I've missed it here. 

So, What's New?

 Hi all,

 Been doing a lot of work on non - Twilight:2000 projects. That would include some stuff for Battletech, a novel I've been writing, and some other potentially paid gigs. That said, I am working on some miniature items of interest that I have recently come across, including...

• Some "rescue dog" M1 tanks I am fixing with the aid of some aftermarket parts and my spare bin. 
• A few kits I managed to source from fellow fanatic Jorge De Rio, who sold me some parts I needed for fixing the other rescue dogs, and some M551 Sheridan kits, a M106 Mortar Carrier, and a Leo 1.
• Rebasing and modernizing my 20mm lead collection. I am not happy with what they're based on right now, and I know I can do better.
• Writing my first real adventure "Charters of Freedom" for Version 2.2, and I am going to see if I can make it into something fun and miniatures suitable. 
• Discovered the joys of MDF buildings, and there's a few of interest to the T2K gamer that I'll be talking about shortly, including BILLBOARDS!!!! Nothing says "the world has gone to hell" like a peeling billboard. (Currently working on these, and I see it as an ongoing series).

So, if you like what this portends, stick around, I promise I'll have more out. I know I've been infrequent, but hey, when you're a working writer, deadlines and paying clients take precedence.

That said, if you'll notice the red "Buy Me Coffee" button, and you feel inclined? Throw me a couple of bucks. It helps me get more stuff to add to the collection, review and gives me more stuff to talk about here on the blog. You don't have to, but I'd appreciate it.

Anyhow, that's it for now, figured I'd let people know we aren't dead.

Plus, tomorrow, I turn 50. It was time to take stock, and think about a few things. And I admit, I missed this place.