Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

June has been a busy month.  I've been adding to existing projects and getting to a point where they are considered finished, i.e. I have enough forces for both sides to play the games I currently want to play. I've also started on a new project which has got me excited.  It's another long update! Completed The only thing I had on the go when May ended was some plastic zombies.  I finished these off early in June and they can be seen in their gruesomeness here .  Keeping with 20mm and the whole Zona Alfa/neo-Soviet vibe I completed some Elhiem modern Russians and a religious leader.  Lovely figures of which you can see more of here . Following fast on the heels of those fellas I completed some support for the Legion in Algeria, in the form of a .30 cal machine gun team and an 81mm mortar team.  More of these grognards here . The last of the completed bits was for my new project the South African Border Wars.  I ordered and completed a selection of vehi...

It was during the first year of the pandemic that I started to build up a collection inspired by the Zona Alfa rules.  I've always liked the Post-Apocalyptic neo-Soviet look and these rules struck a chord with me.  So that I could use my existing terrain, I decided to do this project in 20mm using figures from the Elhiem Modern ranges.  Most of the figures are great but I've never been happy with the Zombies.  This year I found a seller on eBay knocking out sets of 12 individual figures split out from the Dark Alliance boxes.  It was worth a go so I ordered them. There are 48 figures in a full box, 4 of each type.  I don't want any duplicates in my collection so even though it was more expensive per figure when compared to buying a full box, this worked well for me.  Generally I avoid soft plastic but persevered with these.  I did attempt to remove some of the flash and mould lines, but it was going to be a right bugger to do, so I left it on....

Here's some more figures for Zona Alfa and other games with a neo-Soviet feel. They're all 20mm Elhiem from their Modern range.  The 3 "stalkers" (I dislike that term, conjures up horrible thoughts) are Modern Russians in Gorkas and body armour.  The other figure is described as a "cleric or boss pointing up" who works very nicely as a leader for my Fanatics gang.   Unlike their Zombies the figures from Elhiem’s Modern Russian, Insurgents and Survivors/Gangs ranges are excellent.  They’re crisply detailed and lovely to paint. All of the figures in this project are individually based on pennies.  For 20mm figures I don’t think you can beat pennies either aesthetically or for ease.  They are a perfect size, all uniform, need no prep and stating the obvious you’ll not get cheaper!  I add a layer of Javis urban scatter.  Once dry I add a mix I made up of various sands and gravels of different sizes.  Once this has dried I stick on bits of ol...

Over the last few weeks I've added some more French Foreign Legion paratroopers to the Algerian War project.  I took advantage of Elhiem’s pre-Salute sale to fill the gaps in my collection with some supporting troops.  With a couple of exceptions of figures that I didn’t want I think I have the whole range now. First up is this medical party.  These figures add such a nice element of narrative that within days of finishing them off I had based a game around them ( AAR here ).   I added some support in the form of this pair of snipers and a recoilless rifle gunner. And finally the Legion got some heavier support in the form of a 81mm mortar team and a .30 cal medium machine gun team. It may be something like 12 years ago since I painted the first batch of these, before the days where I kept notes.  I tried to match the colours as well as I could but they are a bit different.  I had real trouble trying to match the green of their berets, but when they’re...

On the hobby front May has been a mix of finishing and fiddling about trying things.  At first I thought I hadn’t done much but on review I have, so this is a long one! Completed I started the month making some scatter terrain for swamp/marsh areas:    I then spent some time looking at micro armour, painting up some Heroics & Ros and Butlers' Printed Models samples I've had for years.  I wrote up a comparison which you can see here . Going up a notch in scale to 10mm I painted up the two Pendraken M24s that I bought at Salute.  Lovely little models.  Not sure what I'll do with them though.  And going up to 1/72nd scale I finished off painting the H-21 and H-34 helicopters for the Algerian War project.  I also painted up the 6 helicopter pilots from Elhiem to go in them.    You can see more of them here .  Completing the 'copters got me back into the Algerian War mind set so I knocked out 4 more ALN fighters.  These were act...

I finished off the two 1/72nd scale French helicopters last week, a Piasecki  H-21 and a Sikorsky H-34.   These are both Amercom Collection diecast and plastic pre-built models from the Helicopters magazine series.  I got these off  eBay at the start of 2022 from a local seller, we did a deal on the pair and I picked them up which saved a lot on postage which was nice. First off the Piasecki H-21C.  These helicopters made a real difference when they became available to the French in Algeria.  Their capability to take 20 men meant whole platoons could be transported quickly.   My favourite is the Sikorsky H-34.  These were used in a variety of roles.  Most famously they were armed with various machine guns and light cannons and used as gunships.  The French in Algeria were the true pioneers of helicopter warfare.   When I got them, the H-21 was in USAF camouflage and the H-34 in French Marine colours. I ...