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Celebrating my Birthday

This week I spent some time celebrating my Birthday.

Normally, I like to go Broadsword in Hamilton to celebrate my Birthday in style by playing several participation games. This year, I attended Broadsword yet again and had a fantastic time!!! I even ran a game of Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago (Report still to come). While I often consider attending the May Broadsword Convention as my gift to myself, this year, I decided to do more.

This year, I also took a day off of work as a “me day” to work on projects that make me happy. My ambitions for this “me day” were high. I intended to write six blog posts, build three sets of terrain, assemble a Bolt Action army, and get some painting done.

Building Miniatures as a Birthday Project
Above is the pile of projects that I intended to work on for my Birthday – picture taken part way through my “me day.”

At the end of the day, I completed two sets of terrain, assembled a German Bolt Action Army and wrote one Blog post. I also watched a terrible movie on Netflix.

Model Assembly

One of the things that I love most about our hobby is assembling models and miniatures. I actually much prefer building kits over painting. My favourite kits to work with include plastic figures and MDF terrain. Because I like building plastic kits and MDF terrain, that was exactly what I treated myself to for my Birthday. In my “to build” pile, sat both Amroured Fury and Band of Brothers by Warlord Games. After doing some homework, I realized that I could make a 1000 point German army with what is in these two boxes. I also happened to have a number of XOLK kits that I have been meaning to get to for sometime.

For those that haven’t tried XOLK, they make some excellent terrain kits.

The Terrain Kits

In my to build pile sat three MDF Terrain Kits.

Stone Fences by XOLK - MDF Terrain
Old Stone Walls / Brick Walls.
Hedge Rows MDF Terrain Kit for 28mm Gaming - Bolt Action - XOLK
Hedgerows.
MDF Terrain - 15th Century House - Blood and Plunder - Fantasy - Bolt Action
15th Century House.

I completed two of the three projects above to the point that they are built and sprayed with Shellac. The 15th Century House and the Painting of the Hedgerows and Walls will have to wait for another day.

Stone Walls and Hedgerows by XOLK - 28mm MDF Terrain
How the Stone Walls and Hedgerow frames looked as I waited for the glue to dry. I know I went a little overboard with the clothes pins and elastics for the stone wall sections, but this ensures a tight bond between the pieces. When they dry, I will paint the stone walls grey. I plan to paint the middle wall of the Hedgerows grey and fill them with Hedge Foliage.

I am looking forward to getting these XOLK models completed and posting more MDF Terrain reviews onto Must Contain Minis. Since the weather was nice, I also coated my City Walls with Shellac along with the other kits that I coated today.

Bolt Action

Using the contents of the Band of Brothers and Armoured Fury, I pieced together a 1000 point army. I have a few other pieces in there that I bought in Blisters, but they add options to what I can field. Below is a picture of the completed army. Better pictures will come whenever these guys get painted.

Bolt Action German Army using the 2-player Starter boxes
A German Bolt Action Army made out of the contents of Armoured Fury and Band of Brothers 2-player Starter Sets. There are other pieces mixed in there from Blister Packs, but you can build a 1000 point starter army out of just the two boxes.

This army contains one Panther Tank, one Sd.Kfz 251/10 Half Track, a squad of 6 Veteran Heer Soldiers (each with Assault Rifles), another squad of 6 Veteran Heer Soldiers (with two LMGs and four soldiers armed with rifles – two are also loaders).

I made two of the figures in the squads above unique so they could double as a First Lieutenant and a Forward Observer / Air Observer. Using just the two boxes you can build a 1000 point army. So cool!!!

I also augmented the army above with a few blister packs of soldiers. We have a selection of Forward Observers (one will be used as the army Commander), a Panzershreck Team and a Flame Thrower Team.

Overall, I am fairly happy with the collection so far. Items that I would still like to get for this army include a blister of German Commanders and a 75mm LeIG18 light howitzer Gun. I would also love to take this force into Konflikt ’47 with a box of German Heavy Infantry and the blister packs that match. TotenKorps would also be cool.

Wrapping it Up

I had a very enjoyable Birthday this year. I went to a local gaming convention, took a day off work to spend some time building up miniatures, and I spent time with people that I care about.

Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Travis Keeler

    Dang.. that panther. Everytime I see a bolt action super-tank I have to remind myself that there is just no way! I can’t do it!! But that panther… ?

    Happy Birthday Jacob! Sounds like a great day.

    1. Jacob Stauttener

      Thanks Travis. That Panther is pretty cool. The Armoured Fury Box has two of them in there so I still have another yet to build. 🙂

  2. BDub

    Happy Birthday!

    Please do keep us updated on the BA army stuff.

    1. Jacob Stauttener

      Will do!!! I plan to sent those off to a buddy to paint and we will use them as my second army and as a demo army for convention and store based introductory games. 🙂

      BTW… Thanks for the Birthday wishes!

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