A Two-Seat Jalopy for Mad Maximillian 1934

Here is my third car for Mad Maximillian 1934. This time out we have a two-seat flyer with a twin-linked gun position in the rear. I know, how wonderfully barmy.

This kit was good fun to assemble. Granted, the rear gun position was a tad fiddly to align the crewman and his two Lewis guns to the gun tub, but a little pre-planning and dry fitting did the trick, with it all coming together just fine. 

With the time-honoured knowledge that the best thing to accessorize a machine-gun is, well, with another machine gun, so I added a forward-firing Maxim next to the driver so she had something that could throw out a little brass and lead.

I airbrushed the body with two blue gradients and then gave it some French-themed decals as a counterpoint to my British and Italian cars.

I guess with three cars we could technically have a race, but I'd like to see if I can do up a couple more so everyone in our group can have a ride.

Thanks for dropping by for a look. Have a great weekend!

- Curt

Roadster for Maximillian 1934

  

Hi All!

Up next for me is an additional car for my Maximillian 1934 project. This time we have a single-seat roadster in classic British racing green. 

Similar to my previous tribekka, this model is from Eureka Miniatures. The resin was a little pitted, but it all went together without any fuss.

A quick blast of racing green with the airbrush and I was off to the races with brushing-in the highlights and other details. 

For this jalopy, I've gave it a different front end, which sports twin machine guns. I also mounted a forward firing anti-tank rifle on the right-side cowling (a handy thing to 'encourage' open-lane driving), and finally a rear-firing Maxim for the odd parting shot (burst?).  

For a bit of fun, I mocked-up a drum magazine from milliput for the Maxim simply for the looks-cool-factor.

With a bit of luck, I hope to get another two cars done, along with some motorcycles. Hopefully enough for a good-sized game.

Thanks for popping in for a look!

A Tribekka for 'Maximillian 1934'

 

Vrooom! Vroom! Dakka... Dakka... Dakka.... 

Happy Holidays everyone! 

It's another Painting Challenge, so in Curt's world that means that another new project (or two) has to be undertaken. 

This time, it's 'Maximillian 1934', a car racing game set in a post apocalyptic 1930s, and I thought a perfect candidate for the 'High Adventure Studio' location. 

I have to admit that 'Car Wars' and 'Gaslands' have not always scratched that itch, but I do love the vehicle designs of 1930s period, with their swooping, long-nosed cowlings, narrow spoked wheels and the whacky bauhaus aesthetic, so Maximillian 1934 really appealed to my lizard brain.

I have four cars and a few motorcycles from the range that I'm wanting to get done the Challenge. I figure they should be enough for a spirited race, with several varied vehicle designs for players to choose from. 

So, for my first effort, I present to you this sporty three-wheeled Tribekka. 

I gave it a forward facing water-cooled machine gun and a brace of linked Lewis guns on a rear-facing pintle mount. You know, 'cause these are obviously things you need on a vehicle. 

I built out a mahoosive engine for it and gave it big single, side-mounted exhaust pipe. As the game uses a template to move, and is a bit fiddly with arcs, I decided to base-up this guy and the others that will follow.

As I want the cars to be quite visible on the track, I sprayed it a bright yellow, reminding me of the 'Fun in the Sun' yellow we had on our sporty Ford Focus in our salad years.  

I hope to have a roadster up in a week or two. Wish me luck and thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt

Film Crew from the Golden Age of Cinema

Years ago I came up with a simple set of rules to (ahem) set the stage for madcap stunts and the off-the-cuff storytelling found behind the scenes of a movie set during the Golden Age of Cinema.

The rules challenge players to attain ‘Top Billing’ status by either having the most Fame Points by the end of shooting, or by simply being the last character to still be left standing on the movie set. The actors with the top Fame scores at the end of the shoot will have Top Billing on the movie playbill, and be able to bask in cinematic glory - perhaps having a shot at an Academy Award for their unscrupulous efforts.

A 'scene' from our Sword & Sandals game (note the 1.0 version of the film crew)

Previous victims, er, players of a 'Top Billing' game

...and their hard-earned Academy Awards!

The rub is that the actors are often forced to spend their Fame to gain the Director's attention, and so foil the plans of competing actors. With this, the actors have to strike a balance between protecting their accrued Fame while also spending it wisely it to seize the moment in order to burnish their reputations. 

For example, any player/actor can interrupt the action of another by demanding a 'screen re-write'. These re-writes can range from (but are not limited to) choreographing a complex stunt, constructing a scene where another actor looks the fool, or perhaps seizing the camera crew to get a closeup as they give a pithy line of dialogue. 

These 're-writes' are entirely up to the imaginations of the players and always create a huge amount of good-natured fun. In addition each screen re-write can be challenged by another star sparking 'Ego Trips' where the contesting stars bid-up their Fame points to try to convince the Director (GM) why their approach to the scene should be favoured. It's all good, silly fun.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. This film crew is offered by the talented folks over at Eureka Miniatures.  They are a wonderful set of minis, and a real joy to work with. Now I just need to get Byron to make me an acrylic 'field of view' template to fit the round base and I'll be set... 

Happy holidays everybody and thanks for dropping in for a peek!

- Curt 

Spanish Refugees from Malaga & Dr. Norman Bethune, 1937

 

Hi All,

Today I return to my Spanish Civil War project with this group of civilian refugees. 

Sarah and I have been fortunate enough to visit both Cebere France and Malaga Spain in previous vacations. Both of these communities are set in beautiful locations, nestled along the Mediterranean coast, but both share a dark history in that they were also sites to horrible events during the Spanish Civil War. I've written about Cebere before, but I've been wanting to do something specific for Malaga for a while now.

In February 1937, the Mediterranean port town of Malaga found itself threatened by the rapid advance of Nationalist forces. In a state of panic, 120-150,000 people, composed of men, women and children, fled along the coastal road leading to Almeria, 200 kilometers away. In an act of barbaric cruelty, the Nationalists and their Italian allies harried the refugee column for days, submitting it to both air attacks and off-shore bombardment.  Thousands were killed and wounded during the flight, in what many regard as a war crime exceeding that of the infamous bombing of Guernica. 

At this time, a volunteer Canadian surgeon, by the name of Norman Bethune, was working in the area with is independent blood transfusion ambulance. 

Hearing what was occurring along the coastal road, Bethune and his team quickly drove to the stricken column to give what assistance he could.  For three days and three nights Bethune and his assistants helped evacuate some of the most vulnerable to Almeria, and then provided medical care to the most grievously wounded.

In 2007, the city of Malaga officially honoured Bethune's heroic and humanitarian acts with a commemorative plaque and by naming that portion of the Malaga-Almeria road, Paseo de los Canadienses (The Canadian Promenade). In order to visit the plaque and pay our respects, Sarah and I spent a nice afternoon cycling up to the promenade, situated just a few kilometers outside of Malaga.

A fine way to spend a wonderful day in sunny Spain.

Accordingly, I've done up these figures and vehicles in homage to those events in Malaga. The saloon car and most of the figures are from 1st Corps, the Phenom Granit ambulance is from Empress Miniatures and the poor fellow with the crutches is from Eureka Miniatures. 

My only criticism of the 1st Corps range is that there are not many elderly people, nor any children depicted. I know it's tragic, but I think it is something that should be represented if depicting a refugee column. Maybe they will add some in future releases.

Small quibbles aside, I quite like the 1st Corps figures as they are well-sculpted and very characterful. Even more so is this wounded chap on crutches from Empress Miniatures - a brilliant mini.  

The two vehicles were fun to work on, especially the saloon, with its roof haphazardly overloaded with all manner of assorted household items. You really get a sense of a harried family who have just thrown what they could atop their car and pushed off down the road.

I had to get a bit creative in sourcing something for Dr. Bethune. I ended up using a German officer figure from Artizan which I cut away most of his military detail and modeled some baggy civilian trousers out of greenstuff. Granted, it's a bit crude, but I think it does an okay job at mimicking the good doctor.

Another 'one yard squint' is the ambulance. It's definitely not a close match to Bethune's vehicle, but has the benefit of generally having the right silhouette. 

I really wanted to include the identifying Spanish script on the vehicle's side panel, but my decal-making skills are sorely lacking, so I simply colour printed  what I needed, carefully cut it out, and glued it into place. Again, forgive me in my somewhat clumsy homage. 

Thanks for dropping in and have a great day everyone!

- Curt

The Chaos of 'Bruegel-Bosch'

When I was a kid, my mom was an active member of our local library board, so we always had lots of books around the house. In addition to the military history and craft books, I always enjoyed anything dealing with art, especially books focusing on the Renaissance period.  While I liked the Italian masters well enough, I was particularly fascinated by the painters from the Low Countries. Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch were two of my favourites, as their work was often quite bizarre, bordering on the grotesque. Here are a few samples:

Bosch's 'Garden of Earthly Delights'

Bruegel's 'Seven Deadly Sins'

With all this in mind, a few years ago I created a fictional setting that I call 'Bruegel-Bosch', a canal town in a composite Renaissance-esque Germany/Low Countries environment. I'm slowly populating it with all things strange and odd. In a way, it was my response to the loss of Warhammer Fantasy's wonderful 'Old World'. 

First I started with some of the brilliant Renaissance fantasy figures offered by Lead Adventure (sculpted by the talented Ratnik). Below is a trio of examples (not for scoring):

So, when I came across Eureka' Fantasy range I knew I had to get them as they fit in perfectly as denizens of 'Bruegel-Bosch'. 

They are so terrifically odd and macabre, with many being 'thematically adjacent' to characters in Bosch and Bruegel's work.

I mean there's a bird-faced creature with a bucket on his head, his tentacles holding a huge honkin' key. WTF? I don't have a clue what it's all supposed to mean (much like Bruegel and Bosch's work), but it really creeps me out, which I find super fun.  :)

There are 12 figures in this group and I still have around 16 still to do, each one a delightful study in the strange, macabre and the grotesque.

Next Up: Something for 'Lord of the Rings'

- Curt