*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 09:58:38 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686454
  • Total Topics: 118100
  • Online Today: 811
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.  (Read 26364 times)

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« on: March 22, 2019, 10:28:27 AM »
Hi all,

A little context to start, so grab a cup of tea and some biscuits. The last time I played a wargame was during the 2009 Secrets of the Third Reich tournament, at (google search) Derby World Wargames. Yep, 2009. Not too long after that I moved 200 miles from the Midlands to Brighton (UK). Limited space meant leaving all my toy soldiers behind, and sadly, yet invariably, the hobby drifted from my mind. Skip to early this year I visited my parent's house and was rummaging around, which turned up all my miniatures. Deciding that a decade was long enough out of the hobby, I resolved to bring back what I could manage to haul in one bag on the train. This gave me a handful of brushes and paints (I had to throw so many dead pots away!), and rulebooks/miniatures for the last games I could recall being into: Infinity and Secrets of the Third Reich. In playing catch-up, it's been quite interesting to see the changes that have occurred in the hobby over the last 10 years (youtube, social media groups, miniatures ranges coming and going etc). Trying to track down resources and paint schemes I could vaguely remember, I also found that wow, forums are still a thing, but many have vanished. The lead adventure remains however, and though my post hstory was limited and didn't provide me with help from 2009 me, I thought I'd make a home here for my current hobby endeavours. That cup of tea will be cold now.

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2019, 10:39:45 AM »
Anyhow, preamble over, lets talk toy soldiers. I've resolved to paint my SoTR miniatures (I have both Soviet and German forces). Aware that the world has moved on even if I hadn't, I intend to initially paint up things to play a few small games. The idea is I might be able to run some introductionary games if I can find some interested players, but mostly have enough fun returning to the Weird War setting to hopefully just enjoy the painting. Given I hadn't picked up a paintbrush for a decade, my first choice was something that would hopefully be quite forgiving: Zombies! Here's a pic (my photography skills are as bad as they were 10 years ago):


Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2019, 10:47:37 AM »
Next up was what I think might have been the first SoTR miniature I'd purchased, a Jaegerhund. Think Nazi science Werewolf. Given the miniature sculpt, and that I'd grown up with Rottweiler's in the family, I knew how I wanted to paint it. Think it turned out sort of how I imagined it when I first bought the mini. A pic:

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2019, 10:54:04 AM »
Switching my attention to my Soviet miniatures, and with a view to playing the Sniper! mission from the SoTR rulebook, a Sniper Team was my next choice. A lot of online reading had encouraged me to pick up some of the Citadel shades. This was my first time using Agrax Earthshade, and frankly I didn't do well. Went on the minis all glossy, and left them wet looking. Since I took the photo below, I've added some matt varnish, but it still hasn't toned the sheen down much. Apparently I didn't shake the bottle well enough. Anyhow, the Snipers:

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2019, 11:00:59 AM »
Final update today as you're up to speed with my progress. I knew I wanted to offer a choice to anyone that might want to play a game...well a choice between German or Soviet forces initially at least. This guided my next choice, so I painted a German alternative to the Soviet Sniper Team. After that I'll get a couple of infantry squads done, one for each force. Anyhow, Mech Grenadier Snipers:
« Last Edit: April 02, 2019, 07:47:32 PM by Bowiefan »

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 9302
    • Ultravanillasmurf
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2019, 01:42:37 PM »
Welcome back to the hobby.
They look very good.
Keep up with the painting and posting.

Offline Michi

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4146
  • Hoist the colours!
    • Tableterror
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2019, 02:17:09 PM »
Yes, welcome back! Good, that you are still in the same subject - old love never dies! Keep on painting and good luck to find a gamer near you.

Offline Storm Wolf

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 892
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2019, 04:57:52 PM »
Hi Mr Bowiefan,

Yes welcome back to the hobby, and good luck with SOTR. I have the rules , but alas have never played them ::), so  please let us know how it goes?

Good luck

Glen
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.

Offline Ballardian

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1585
  • Too old to stop now
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2019, 06:08:02 PM »

 As others have already said, welcome back to the hobby,  SoTR is still an enjoyable game & I hope you find some opponents :)
 With regard to your glossy snipers, I'd recommend Windsor & Newtons Professional matt varnish (rattlecan) - it'll certainly be able to take the annoying shine off & help protect your paintjob (& is available in most art supply shops).

Offline Glenn

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 93
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2019, 10:28:57 AM »
Welcome back  :)

I'm in some respects in a similr position. SOTR was the game that I bought into more than any other other miniatures wargame I've played (with the possible exceptions of WH and FOW...I'd have to check the bank statements  ;)) and absolutely loved its storyline and miniatures and the fact that Westwind/Grindhouse semed more than happy for players to develop things in their own style and image. Haven't played it much for a long time although I do keep adding WWW2 minis and related stuff to the hoard I've already got. Whats kind of cool is that a few people recently seem to have started taking an interest is SOTR again and that means my own little gamer group (for example) are up for it as well...so hope to see batle reports and updates in future.

Enjoy and indulge

Glenn

 :)

Offline streetkern

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 112
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2019, 04:47:47 PM »
Welcome back to the hobby!

I think weird wars is the perfect way to jump back in with a mix of historical WWII, pulp, fantasy and sci-fi elements.

Looking forward to seeing your progress

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2019, 11:49:51 AM »
Thanks for the replies and welcome back messages folks.

@Ballardian: I've tried Vallejo brush on matt varnish so far on those shiny snipers, and it did very little to reduce the shine. Will keep an eye out for your suggestion, though spray varnish does make me nervous.

@Glenn: Yes, think SoTR was one of the games I really latched onto when it was released. As much as my hazy memory recalls, I was moving away from Games Workshop related interests at the time and SoTR did a great job of filling the void. Hope your personal revival gathers steam.

@Streetkern: Yep, weird wars certainly ticks my interest boxes. I do sometimes wonder though if it works against itself in a general sense. By that, I mean I've spoken to a few people, and if they like sci-fi, it is pure sci-fi or future stuff, historical has to be textbook only etc. Jack of all trades, master of none maybe?

Just taking a painting break now, but should hopefully have a squad of German infantry finished today.

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 9302
    • Ultravanillasmurf
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2019, 05:40:23 PM »
I use Humbrol brush varnish to flatten any gloss areas that should be matt.

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2019, 08:30:07 PM »
Last day of a week off work, but got a squad of German infantry done. These are from West Wind's Berlin Or Bust range. Fairly generic given their intended use for intro games, but good practise to work out some of the paint choices. In all their washed out photo glory:

Offline Bowiefan

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 82
Re: Returning to SoTR/The Hobby after 10 years.
« Reply #14 on: March 29, 2019, 11:46:39 AM »
Does anyone have a copy or remember the details for a SoTR mission called 'Jaegerhund'? It's one of the many things that I know used to be on the now vanished SoTR forum. I believe it was a variant of the SNIPER! Mission Dossier, pitting a squad or maybe 2 snipers against a pack of Jaegerhunds.

Getting closer to having all the necessary forces painted to play a few of the smaller intro games (including the Jaegerhund mission). Last night I finished something a little more 'weird' than my previous infantry, the Jaegerhund Alsatian miniature. Taking the Übermensch concept and applying it to the SWD experiments with lycanthropy, it seemed inevitable that there would be a blonde hair/fur werewolf. Took some trial and error to get a contrast between the flesh and hair/fur, but hopefully it works.