[Steelonsand]

Hi Andrew, the only option that springs to mind is the ‘Savage Ape’ buried in the Alternative Armies’ catalogue:

552 Savage Ape

I have some of these and they are large, although not as tall as the Crom’s Anvil/CP models ape, indeed are sort of hunched over/rising from their haunches, so although gorilla like, are not too huge…..

As an aside, the 15mm large primate on a trunk from Irregular is a cute looking monkey half way up an upright, short palm trunk – less a King Kong and more of a marmoset ! – it would look good as some background in a Pirates game, but wouldn’t really pass as a character in its own right…

Hope this helps !

[Steelonsand]

Hi Thaddeus, thanks for the in-depth review and excellent close-up photos – I had been admiring these new designs, and was wondering how they might be in the flesh – you’ve just answered all my questions !

They really are Monsters….. and I mean that in a good way – I’ve had a hankering for some OGRE-style forces in 2/3mm for some time now, so these definitely fit the bill, being absolutely mahooosive !

I appreciate your well-reasoned take on turret placement and likely/deployment and usage – although it has to be said that military designers don’t always get it right – just look at French pre-dreadnought tumblehome battleships and the 1930s vogue for multi-turreted madness like the Soviet T-35 tank……

That said, pretty nifty that the turrets are swappable, and agree that a multipack of spare greeblies would be good.

Look forward to seeing how they paint up – remember, photos or it didn’t happen !  🙂

 

[Steelonsand]

Nice – those colours really make the small pieces ‘pop’ – and if you freehanded the picture on the green screen, that’s pretty darn good !

I was thinking, now you have the gangplanks /gantries – throw a blue cloth under the whole, and you’ve got Waterworld ….. !

Just need a web-footed Kevin Costner in miniature…….

[Steelonsand]

Absolutely gorgeous work as usual – 10mm ! – how you get such detail into them is nothing short of miraculous !

-Loving the Death Coach, but the mounted Countess is a thing of (strange) beauty…..

can’t wait to see more……

[Steelonsand]

Superb work as usual – these platforms are such an excellent idea – particularly with the differing levels – will give a 3D feel to any ‘flat’ gaming surface – so much more interest to the eye, and a definite Spacey/Sci-Fi look.

Some great painting there, too – the ‘chipping’ effect with the sponge is another cool idea !

[Steelonsand]

Fickle away, old son ! – I fully agree that it is often having a case of wargamer’s itch, when you just can’t find exactly what you need….. and just can’t let it go…..  😉

How about a Dodge Weapons Carrier for the truck style ones ?

http://www.robertsarmory.com/wc51.htm

Pretty sure H&R doe these – might be a decent stand-in ?

[Steelonsand]

My recollection is that the H&R IT16 is a sort of tiny tracked ‘bulldozer’ -looking affair, the following:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat-OCI_708_CM

so not what you need !

I always thought the AS 37 looked a bit like a Humber Pig:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber_Pig

I wonder if you could do a conversion with a bit of filing/sanding down ?

No advice on the Ford station wagons, sorry – if they exist, might be more of a Shapeways thing ?

[Steelonsand]

Maybe the closest stand-in might be the Belgian FN-8 Command Car from Scotia Micromodels in their ww2 section ?

https://www.shop.scotiagrendel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=224_225_4_22_27_36&products_id=2597

Although might be a bit big-looking.

EDIT: there is also this Toppolino Fiat in their Polish section:

https://www.shop.scotiagrendel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=224_225_4_22_33_127&products_id=3581

I have a vague memory that Ian Armstrong’s Armstrong Models did one back in the day, and his stock was subsumed into the current Heroics and Ros catalogue, but maybe I’m misremembering……..

 

[Steelonsand]

Holy Heck – you’re a painting machine ! – don’t know where you find the time – some lovely looking shields there – would be nice to see a Svinfylking too:

https://bavipower.com/blogs/bavipower-viking-blog/viking-war-tactics-svinfylking-the-boar-formation

 

[Steelonsand]

Ah, of course – I was thrown by the overhead view – shows off the drum like bastion towers at their best – useful list of the parts used, though – and yeah, the Temple is a monster, but as you say, in keeping with architecture of that type….. I was considering the Ancient building range by Rod Langton as a possibility too – his temples look a bit smaller, and he has some useful looking domestic buildings:

http://www.rodlangton.com/ancient/ancframe.htm

 

[Steelonsand]

Oooh, nice – so the walls are home made/scratch built ?

They really look the part – should be a cracking piece once ‘populated’…..

[Steelonsand]

Utterly stunning work as always – your Blog/website is a masterclass in how to produce ‘small scale’ works of art – absolutely full of inspiration – now hungry to hear more about how the battle went !  🙂

 

[Steelonsand]

Looking great – I’ve seen the use of pipe cleaner before, but the cotton buds are a really clever way of making small scale trees – they look great – I’ll have to give it a try !

[Steelonsand]

Looking great Mike – really has a feel of a whole MASS of men on the march – even with the smaller base – loving your card command board set up,  by the way – surely you should sell the licensing to Warbases so that they can produce them commercially !

[Steelonsand]

My copy of the book has long since moved on to the charity shop, I’m afraid, but my recollection was that it said it was ‘based’ on a true story…..

I can certainly believe RAMC / RASC types escaping the initial Tobruk encirclement and haring back Alexandria-bound across the desert, but can’t imagine there were any (spoiler alert) German spies on board, nor nurses as attractive as Silvia Syms, either !

To be fair, we have to credit the film’s director, J Lee Thompson with his contribution to the screenplay alongside Landon…..

[Steelonsand]

Monty Bob wrote:

I had to dig out the old OKI5000 decal printer to do the decal for the bonnet. I had a decal printer for making slot cars, but the print driver only works on Windows 98 – so I also had to dust off an ancient laptop so I could install ‘98 😅

Now that’s dedication for you ! – mustn’t forget, of course, that Katy the K2 Ambulance is just as much a character as the human ones !

John D’s video clip sums up the whole feeling of the movie – “Worth waiting for….”

As to it being a ‘true story’ – I think this was a probably bit of poetic license….. although Landon did serve in the RAMC in North Africa, so if anyone should know – he would have done…… sadly, I believe he died partly because of the ‘demon drink’……. So was likely the model for John Mill’s character of Captain Anson…..

[Steelonsand]

Stunning work – really captures those characters – I spot Otto Lutz up to his usual tricks…… !

What a movie – has to be a candidate for one of the best British War Films – and the original novel by Christopher Landon was great, too – although interestingly, the love affair was with the Harry Andrews character !

[Steelonsand]

Thanks for the tip, Mark – may just have to follow up on that !

Bedriacum, eh ? – great stuff – what’s not to like – Roman on Roman action, and Gladiators to boot – sounds great.

[Steelonsand]

Cheers Cyrus – definitely more to come in the tiniest of scales, don’t worry – as long as my eyesight holds out……. 😉

I’m only holding back on the phalanxes because I’d really like to get my hands on some of the up-and-coming 3D printed types – my Lead Mountain contains dozens of the metal ones from Irregular Miniatures already, but they are a bit on the underwhelming side….. only time will tell as to which I end up deploying….. (patience  isn’t one of my virtues…..)

[Steelonsand]

Good to hear from you, Mark, nice of you to drop by – can’t thank you enough for all the inspiration Strength and Honour has provided – will be great to see your take on the earlier Romans and Successors – I’m itching to deploy some phalanxes !

[Steelonsand]

Wow ! – if it wasn’t for the items visible in the background, I would swear they were photos of a group of re-enactors !  Real life 1:1 scale in action……

truly the use of ‘individual’ minis makes the unit look like the real thing – quite an achievement – loving the Horse unit behind too – the buff coated reiters with the raised visors on their helmets are very cool !

[Steelonsand]

Amazing – incredible that you can see individual bayonets, finials on the flagpoles, etc – but, yes, I would worry about brittleness…… still as you say, potentially as cheap as chips to produce……. Seconding the call to see some painted – en masse of course !

[Steelonsand]

Excellent explanatory video, as always – I was sure Boudicca was going to win when she deployed the ‘An Cat Dubh’, but it was not to be !

Interesting to see how fast the game plays, even with you feeling your way through.

[Steelonsand]

These are brilliant, – undercutting the bases away was a master stroke – looks like they are straight out of the Death Star trash compactor !

May I ask, what colour paint are you using that produces that sort of faded, ‘limey’ green colour ? – it contrasts so well with the greys and metallics…

[Steelonsand]

Thanks Mike – glad you like them so far – it used to be the case that there were only really the undersized ‘area’ items from Irregular and a small range from Rod Langton that would suit 2mm, but now with Brigade’s frequently expanding output we are spoilt for choice – as you intimate, putting together a walled town should be no problem !

[Steelonsand]

Another update posted on the 2mm Strength and Honour project – beginning to look at doing some buildings and scenery:

http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/2022/05/2mm-strength-and-honour-buildings.html

Baby steps at first – but hopefully more to come as I re-discover my Mojo !

[Steelonsand]

Beautiful work, and a very clear explanation of how you constructed it, thank you – I found it interesting how you used drops of various washes to build up layers of colour – a useful idea.

You have some great videos there at DioramaBox !

[Steelonsand]

Fantastic as always – I was about to ask how you attached the downward pointing LED light to the side view when I realised it was a paint effect !

Holy cr*p that’s good !

A bit of pink light spillage from the neon sign out front too !

That is some righteous creativity for a 15mm sized model…….

[Steelonsand]

That is so cool !

Puts me in mind of the SeeHund:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seehund

 

[Steelonsand]

Cheers Ian, more grist to the mill – so many goodies to contemplate!

[Steelonsand]

Nah Mate – SteelonSand dates to 2009, so I get bragging rights !

Looking forward to seeing you do some proper minis to replace those paper ones though…… actually, they are pretty nice, and a great idea

[Steelonsand]

Go on Guy, jump on in – the water’s lovely !

A very timely review by Herr Abwehrschlact, and as always with his YouTube work, a great production introducing lots to ruminate on……..

I still think he nicked my ‘STEEL’ moniker, though……  😉

As Mike flagged up above, the ‘hazard’ process whereby you can cede initiative to your opponent is 0ne of the nice mechanics of this ruleset

[Steelonsand]

@DSG: I think Mark Backhouse intends to expand the range of the rules in coming iterations, bringing it forward at least into the later Roman period ? – as Mike says, see no reason why it couldn’t cover a Dark Age Arthur, or similar Fantasy/Quasi-Historical/Imagination battles…..

I’m yet to play a proper game myself, but oh, my the Rulebook is mighty pretty ! – who doesn’t like a bit of eye candy….

@ Jim: given your pedigree with 2mm, there really is no excuse for not giving some more a try !  😉

@Thaddeus: Yes, I’m trying to remember how sparse things were small-scale wise back in the day in terms of both internet exposure and visibility in the real world – seems like a different era now – are we living through a Tiny Troops Golden Age…?….. just as my eye-sight is beginning to give out!

There’s a handy set of videos on Youtube courtesy of those Lardy types (Their word, not mine) with a run-through of the rules:

https://www.youtube.com/user/toofatlardies/featured

 

[Steelonsand]

Next post with lots of links for inspiration is up on the Blog:

http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/search/label/2mm%20Strength%20and%20Honour?m=0

Go for it Jim – the beauty of 2mm is that it doesn’t take much time or investment to have a bash !

[Steelonsand]

Thanks Tony, glad I could get your brain box working in the right direction !  🙂

My next post on the Blog will draw together a lot of links on the subject, including the Australian ‘wooden’ minis you mention – I agree that the big draw is how the Phalanx can be depicted  – I love the idea of seeing the Sarissa at different angles in the ranks, presenting a hedgehog of spear points- would be very cool !

I agree about the Irregular strips – they are on the small side, so you need a heck of a lot to get the best impact – quite an undertaking – particularly as they tend to need a lot of prep – I’ve filed my fingers to the bone flattening off the venting remnants on those bases !

The good thing is that with the buzz around Strength and Honour, hopefully our choices should get better with time…..

[Steelonsand]

Cheers Mike, you’re very welcome to fall under the spell of 2mm….. I’m quite happy to bear the responsibility for any cross contamination!
Mind you we’re all getting older, so maybe larger scales are the way to go….. I certainly made use of an optivisor/magnification on this project !

[Steelonsand]

Hi Thaddeus, good to hear from you ! – my advice is to give in to temptation….. (evil grin)…… it’s a very easy synch into the Ancients period without much fuss or expense – whether you went with Strength and Honour or not – there are also a lot of 3d printed options for miniatures coming on line as well – I’m going to post soon about some internet resources that I’ve been using as inspiration…..  lots of ‘ooh shiny’ (can resin/plastic be shiny ? Hmmmm) new toys !

[Steelonsand]

Thanks guys, it’s good to be getting back into the swing of things, and with the ‘broad-brush’ approach to painting these up, it’s been a relatively easy way to get back into the habit…. Since I was working on projects regularly, so many new things have come on line – paint triads, contrast paints etc, etc – so a lot of challenges to come in catching up and being able to produce stuff that measures up with everyone else’s output – I guess I was staying in my comfort zone for now with the 2mm !

[Steelonsand]

Hi Andrew, – yes, where did the time go ? – regular posting petered out in 2013…… and an active commitment to the hobby not long after – I moved cities and boxed everything up, to languish in the garage, unsorted…and so most of it remains – just regained a bit of Mojo in recent months….

Not that my self imposed sabbatical stopped me buying stuff, of course – the Lead Mountain increased exponentially with loads squirrelled away for future use – just think it is about time I started making inroads again, before it begins to become too big a mountain to climb…..

As Mike mentioned, the older Irregular Miniatures stuff is very much as it was, with some of the moulds maybe becoming a bit tired – I’ve had a few pieces that were quite blobby and/or with undercast parts, etc, but the more recently added codes are much crisper, and the newest scenic items sculpted by Geoff Addison are really great – worth a look !

 

[Steelonsand]

Cheers Mike, I think I had a lot of pent-up energy having not really done much wargaming-related stuff in a number of years !

I did sort of shoot myself in the foot by subbing in mostly Irregular Miniatures’ 2mm for the Roman army – their single blocks were of course more work than the all-in-one units by Antonine, but my simplistic approach to painting certainly helped – cheating with the paint pens instead of using brushes ! – sacrilege I know, but worth a try if you’re not progressing as fast as you might like…..

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