Almost ready for take off

The Blues - five Hueys ready to drop off a platoon of infantry.

I've been a little slack on the painting and blog front over the past few weeks as I have managed to spend the last six weeks feeling less than 100%.... However I did manage to get a little painting done and whilst I really should be painting some Warjacks for a tournament in two weeks, the lure of the Flames Of War choppers has been too strong. I still have a way to go (painting the rotors, crew, decals and final weathering) but I have 16 or so choppers nearly finished!

The one thing I am not too sure about is the way I have painted the glass - I think I am the only person that likes the blue... of course it is an easy thing to change if I get to the end of the process and decide that it is a little too much..

As for the rest of the paint scheme, it has been surprisingly easy. Quick airbrush of US armour, give the model a wash using the MiG Brown Filter for Dark Green, then pinwash the details with with MiG Dark Wash. They will need a little dusting and maybe some targeted washed later, but they were good enough to get the customary "these look like someone who could paint has been working on these, those washes must be good" from one of my friends - high praise indeed  :)

Next up are a few of the new plastic Loaches, then the crews and infantry.

Huey Hog - two choppers armed with rockets and canons ready for some close support.

Heavy Hogs/Frogs - another pair of Hueys, this time armed with a pile of rockets.

Cobra - nice mix of rockets and a chin mounted grenade launcher / minigun

Gatling Cobra - the next step forward, less rockets, but more chaingun!

Heavy Cobra - lots of rockets!

Medivac - looks like I need to fid the tail for this if I want it to fly

Battlefront and Dust!

Earlier today it was publicly announced that Battlefront would be taking over the distribution of the Dust Tactics and Dust Warfare games from Fantasy Flight. For those of you who do not know much about Dust, the game is set in 1947 and World War Two is still very much a current affair. Thanks to a mysterious substance called Vk ore the three main factions Axis (German, Italy and Japan), the Allies (USA, Britain and the Commonwealth, and France) and the SSU (Soviets and Chinese) have pushed forward techology to build wonderous walkers and flying machines. Yep, it is WW2 on steroids (and in 28mm) and I cannot wait to get a copy of the Dust Warfare rulebook to read up on the "history" and rules of the game.

It is pretty easy to tell from my blog that I am a sucker for cool models and these guys take the cake for coming up with some really cool things to put on your table. I am very excited to have the opportunity to pick up a few (nobody tell my wife) and play some games over the coming months - of course the hard part is choosing a faction. The models themselves come with a basecoat applied, as well as some decals so you can put them on the tabletop immediately, but I feel that some of the fun will definitely come from putting a little paint on. Luckily I have been sharpening up my airbrushing skills on those Vietnam choppers because these models look like they will really pop on the tabletop with a few minutes with an airbrush, some filters and a wash or two.

Stay tuned for more info!