Titan Terrain NZ and more Easterlings

Recently a new terrain company has started up down in Dunedin, NZ. Joe has turned his hobby into  a wee business and started up a 28mm terrain making company called Titan Terrain NZ  using laser cutting and was kind enough to send myself and Kent of Galpys 15mm paintshack a few samples of his products.

I must say that I am impressed. Tonight I built the 28mm Wattle and Daub hut and even without the instructions it is easy to put together with just a little trial and error (the instructions are sent via email but since when have I needed instructions?) I gave mine a quick paint as I went to make it easier than painting once fully assembled and this particular model comes with teddy bear fur for the thatched roof.

The building comes flatpacked.

Initial assembly- positioning pieces before gluing together.

 Assembling the roof.

 Painting as I go.

I wet the teddy bear fur with watered down pva, hopefully it will look the part once dry, it should do.

My new Easterlings (Fireforge Medieval Russians) protect the barn.

The semi finished product- I've yet to put the windows in and weather it a bit but I'd be happy to field it on the table top as is.

My thoughts

The building was easy to assembly and well constructed-  Joe has obviously done his homework there.

Retailing at $19.90 NZ the building is good value and a great addition to 28mm gaming and there are plenty of others in the range and are pretty reasonably priced. I can definitely see myself getting more to add to my 28mm buildings collection and highly recommend them to other gamers both here in NZ and overseas. 

A wee bit of info about Joe and Titan Terrain NZ

Joe spent his teenage years playing Game Workshop games then took a break from war gaming for around ten years before getting back into it around three years ago. Last year he was about to spend a reasonable sum on buying terrain from overseas when he figured that he could buy a small laser cutter for not much more than he was planning on spending and that if he  bought one then he could have as much terrain as he could ever want. Friends told him that what I was making was good enough to sell and it kind of took a life of it's own from there.

Joe had never used a CAD program, a vector editor or a laser cutter until a year ago so it's been a bit of a steep learning curve but thanks to the internet he was able access tutorials to help him when he was stuck. 

Joe was selling a bit of stuff through Facebook last year but only launched the Titan Terrain  NZ website in March of this year. He's already got a good range of buildings available and plans for a lot more. including a few more things for his 28mm WW2 range, fleshing out the sci-fi range a bit more, doing some 15mm stuff for Flames of War and Team Yankee (some industrial buildings that can be used for both) and then maybe do some medieval/War of the Roses stuff-so as you can see the range is bound to grow.

Based here in NZ Joe will ship all over the world and is able to get very competitive rates on overseas orders using DHL.

Good luck with the enterprise Joe, you've got a great, reasonably priced product which is a welcome addition to the field. I look forward to picking up a few more pieces for my table top games.

Craig 

WIP- Easterlings for Middle Earth

I've been slowly working away on my Anglo-Saxons but not really doing much painting the last couple of weeks. Real life has decided to intervene. My wife and I have sold our house so I'm in the middle of downsizing/ getting rid of shit in preparation for the move which happens in the next couple of weeks. I have managed to pack up most of my gaming stuff, but have  a whole lot of sorting to do at some stage- and some serious downsizing needed of my 15mm terrain collection but fr now it is all safely packed away and stored.

Yesterday however some Fireforge Russian infantry and Gripping Beast Noble Goth Cavalry arrived. I've been waiting for these for a few weeks now, my plan was/is to use them as Easterlings for Middle Earth gaming. I've not bought any Fireforge before so was interested in how they'd work out.

Below is the sprue. 5 different figures and a variety of weapons, shields and armour. I'd like to see a couple more hand weapon options and also a couple more arms. The 2x guys with scale style armour only really have 2 sets of arms that work for them so that does limit the poses a wee bit. However with the variety of weapons available in other ranges (such as the Gripping Beast Saxon and Vikings) it should be easy enough to kit bash the figures and indeed that was my intention with these guys.

I've added some Gripping Beast Tumerid shields to the figures to give them a uniform/middle eastern look.

The second unit are armed with hand weapons (for offensive heavy foot in Dragon Rampant) and using the shields they come equipped with.

My plan was to combine the Gripping Beast plastic Noble Goth Cavalry with the spare heads from the fireforge Medieval Russian's to give a more eastern/Easterling look to the Gripping Beast figures and am happy with the results. Again I've used metal Gripping Beast Tumurid (shields (plain ones this time) to add to the look. 

Once painted up, I think they'll look the part.

Today is ANZAC day here in NZ, I'm back from the Dawn Service, and so intend to spend a few hours today on this little project...

Craig

BA Free French vs Germans

I've been busy the last few Wednesday's but tonight managed to pop around for  game of Bolt Action vs Kent. Kent showed me his latest unit and I was very impressed by the dynamic basing. I can't wait to see more of his barbarian horde as it is completed. The figures are Wargames Foundry. Fantastic stuff Kent.

We  had a similar game to last time, basically a Flames of War Free for all.
I ran my Free French force:

• 2x 75mm Shermans
• 1x 76mm Sheran
• 1x M10
• 1x 57mm At gun
• 1x bazooka
• 1x Tirailleurs squad
• 1x Medium mortar

Kent ran his stug zug

• 3x stugs
• 1x panzer IV
• 2x Ss squads
• 1x Medium mortar

Turn 1 and I got a run of about 6 dice in a row, not what I wanted at all.

 My 57mm AT gun takes up position near the building, the M10 is hull down near the objective in the foreground.

German infantry advance towards the ridgeline.

The panzer IVa rrives and destroys my commander with its first shot!

Followed by a tug destroying the M10. Turn one and I've already lost half my tanks, this might be a short game...

The stugs advace towards the ridge, protecting the infantry.

End of turn 1 a view from the German positions.

Turn 2 the bazooka creeps forward and takes a pot shot at a stug in the distance, the panzer IV is to the left of the stug.

The victorious stug commander surveys the battelfield, unaware of the danger (bazooka) lurking int the nearby hedges.

The German infantry use the hedges and woods to cover their advance. The infantry in the foregorund maing a beeline across the board towards the bazooka and now undefended objective.

A stug rumbles forward in support.

The panzer IV and stug on the German right silence the 57mm AT gun next. This is not looking good.

At last we ger some revenge. On my righ flank the Sherman uses the building as cover and knocks out a stug. 3-1.

In the centre one stug is hulldown on the hill, the others advancing on the bazooka (who went to ground) in the central hedgerow.

The German infantry advance to flush out the bazooka.

The French mortar again fails to range in on the German infantry.

e
The bazooka is barely visible in this shot- just visible to the right on the German infantry. .

One of the bazooka team is knocked out

Meanwhile on my right flank I destroy the second infantry squad with my remaining 75mm Sherman and small arms fire form my infantry squad.

End result no Germans left on my right flank.

The German infantry have just assaulted and destroyed the bazooka and are now heading to the objective. The stug on the hill has been immobilised by the 76mm Sherman.

The 76mm Shermans luck can't hold and it too is knocked out

End Result. An 8-6 Victory to the Germans. We both captured an objective but the Germans destroyed two more units than I did. Still after the start I had, losing 2 tanks on turn 1, I thought the game was going to be a German walk over but ended up being pretty close and was in the balance right until to the last die roll.

Cheers Kent, it was a good fun game and I look forward to another one soon.

Craig