Hearts of Tin ACW project

Recently I have gotten interested in more "old school" wargaming.  I have been reading Ross McFarlane's Battle Game of the Month blog.  http://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/

I decided I wanted to try Hearts of Tin, his old school, but ever moving target set of rules.  :)  (seriously, I like that you keep improving them, but they do change quickly)

Robb of The Army Collector and I have been painting IMEX 1/72nd scale figures for this project.  They are pretty cheap, not too bad, and paint up quickly.  (at least the way I paint)

So, I finished the first two units.

I have quite a few more figures on the way.  Usually you buy IMEX ACW figures in a box with 2 sprues of either Union or Confederate for about $9.  I found that Hobby Lobby has them in hanging bags with cardboard headers that have 2 Union and 2 Confederate sprues for $10.

I have ordered some artillery and generals from Musket Miniatures.  I didn't like the IMEX guns.

More VSF Tanks

Since my first little tank made from the toy bulldozer, I decided I wanted to make a couple more with gatling guns instead of a cannon.  My problem was where to find a gatling gun? 

I was walking around Target, and found this in the toy section:

Its hard to see, but it had a double gatling, two more gatlings, and a little thing that will probably find its way into a 15mm science fiction building.  They are customizing parts for toy cars.  I went to the website, which is badly organized and I never could find a listing of all they had available.

Anyway, I cut up the double gatling and put that on the tanks, as you can see above.

I now have a rather nice little force for GASLIGHT.

In addtion to the the tanks, I have a small unit of mechanical men.

Two units of infantry.

And a couple of little gatling armed spider walkers I got at a convention.

On seeing these pictures my wife expressed her displeasure at the trashed out work table background, and said we are going to make a background specifically for taking pictures of toys.  How any of us survive without women I will never understand.

France 1940

I have  been off work for 2 weeks recovering from knee surgery.  I had high hopes of getting a lot of painting and terrain done.  I have gotten some done, but its more difficult than I expected.

I did finish up a couple of things today.  The first is some French figures, the Bolt Action Miniatures Defenders of France box and a Hotchkiss machine gun and crew.

I like the figures.  They painted up pretty well, given my limited painting ability.  My group does Victory Decision for WWII gaming.  I don't think the French supplement is out for that yet.  I still have a French light tank to paint, and will probably get more infantry as well.