28mm figure painting

Last week I entered the painting competition at Dads War Room in Sutton on Hull. They provided the figures ready assembled and primed white. We got to pick one figure each, from a set of Warlord WW2 US infantry. We were given space, reference materials and encouragement to paint the figure over the evening. Paints were available if needed, but I had brought my own, a mix of Valejo and artists acrylic tube paints.

Three of us old skool painters sat together, sharing paints, palettes and reminiscing whilst the young un's did their thing at another table. One couple had travelled up from Portland for the night as they are setting up their own War Room in Havant.

This was the first 28mm figure I have painted in nearly thirty years! At the end of the night club members voted on their favourite figure and the winners got prizes. Mine didn't place, but I am pleased with him and want to do some more.

I painted his hands and face first with a jar of tanned flesh lightened to suit. After giving it time to dry, he got a spot of eyeliner and lippy to lift his features. I didn't have an authentic USA uniform colour so mixed up Valejo Russian Green and British khaki for his tunic and trousers. Then used a lighter khaki for his pack, webbing and gaiters. Burnt umber picked out his boots and dagger, Paynes grey did his pistol in a nice gun blue. A couple of thin washes of Valejo smoke picked up the sculpted lines, seams and details. Then a very quick application of grass green on the base. 

With a bit more time he might have got a light dry brush to flatten the shine on his uniform and give it some highlights. But my yellow ochre had dried up and the dark earth appeared too green. 

Only issue is, I now have a starter for a new army in a new scale. I will need at least a squad, more probably a platoon, then maybe some vehicles...

I tried Bolt Action rules last visit to the War Room. For various reasons I'm not struck on them so I will need to find something else. I have been looking at Nordic Weasel Games five core rules, and I really ought to have another go with updating my own WW2 rules S.M.L.E.

#WW2, #painting, #BoltAction, #SMLE, #USA

Updates to Starship Miniatures page

Since the last post, I have been looking at Battle Fleet Gothic. This was Games Workshop's entry to Space ships games but has been out of production for about ten years. Fortunately it still has a strong fan following. There are a couple of very active discord groups and living editions of the rules, plus fleet lists, house rules, campaign games and much more. There are also quite a few miniatures producers making ships suitable for 'Gothic Space' games. Many of these are 3d printed resin. This allows for a lot of customisation, but means models are printed to order rather than held in stock. 

There are a lot more races, factions or styles of fleet offering a pretty good range of designs within the Gothic Space aesthetic. Many of these would be suitable for Encounter One or other games. Some of the huge Chaos ships might make suitable Auregans!

Check out the Starships Miniatures page and click through the links to see what's on offer.

• 8th March 2026 - Added Hydra Miniatures.
• 26th February 2026 - Added Bits Blitz, Bunker Miniatures, and Soulforge Spaceships.
• 6th February 2026 - Added Battlefleet Colosus, and Printed Starships. 
• Amended links. 
• Updated Irregular Miniatures to new site.
• 2nd February 2026 - Added Battlefleet Galaxy.
• 19th January 2026 - Added Zero Hour Starship Designs.

 

Game File downloads

 I have started moving some of my downloadable game files from my Google Drive to Wargame Vault. Earlier last year in cooperation with Ivan Sorensen of Nordic Weasel games, I moved my Slammer rules to Ivan's site on Wargame Vault. This has been a success from my point of view. A lot more people have downloaded the game, and some of them paid us a little money for the privilege.  

There have been issues lately were people have been unable to access my game files from the blog. If they contact me, I can email the files out directly. However it seems a better idea to post my files on a public server. This has several advantages for me. 

• The files are directly available without accessing my personal drive. 
• If there are any issues with access, then Wargame Vault should be better able to fix them. 
• It puts my games in a vastly bigger shop window with a lot more exposure. 
• I get stats on how many times my games are downloaded. 
• And, while I offer all my games as Pay What You Want, so customers can still download them for free, I am happy to accept payment if you feel like contributing to my hobby fund! :o)

Currently, Slammer, Fokker Fodder, and Encounter One - 2021 are available for download on Wargame Vault. Other games and resources may be added as I get around to them.

Chris Nicole Games - Wargame Vault 

I do still have a few printed copies of Encounter One available. 

If you would like a set, I am asking £5.00 plus postage. Email me Chris Nicole with a request and your address. I can then create an invoice for the full amount via PayPal. 

Cheers

2026 First post

Updates to my Spaceship Miniatures page.

Just a quickie, I have updated my Spaceship Miniatures page. As it hadn't been amended since 2023, it was long overdue. 

I have removed Iliada Game Studios and Magister Militum. As far as I am aware they have ceased trading. Note. Iliada still has STL designs on Wargame Vault, but the physical miniatures are no longer available.

However I have added six new (to me) producers and amended my links to two current producers.   

Please contact me if you know of any other Spaceship Miniatures producers that should be added to the list.

Added 

• Added Combat Zone Scenery; 
• EM4 Miniatures; 
• Little Metal Spaceships; 
• Martian Models; 
• Scourge Scenics; and
• Zero Hour Starship Designs. 

Amended links to 

• Brigade Models; and 
• Khurasan Miniatures.

Removed 

• Iliada Game Studios; and 
• Magister Militum. 

#Spaceship, #Encounter One, #Miniatures, #Update

Slammer Legacy Edition on Wargame Vault

 A while ago I mentioned that I had been in discussion with a games creator and publisher regarding further development of Slammer. That creator is Ivan Sorensen at Nordic Weasel Games. Ivan is a long time supporter of Slammer and has often promoted the game.

If you are not already aware of Nordic Weasel games, then I recommend them very highly. They cover a wide range of periods and genres, using innovative game mechanisms. Examples include, Five Parsecs from Home, Renegade Scout, Laserstorm, Five Men at Kursk, History Dad WW2, etc.  Ivan is prolific in turning out new games and updating his existing range. They are very good and well worth a look through. 

Ivan has posted a copy of Slammer on Wargame Vault as a pay what you want.

If there is enough interest, we hope to look at creating a wholly new edition of Slammer, updating and expanding the rules. 

 Cheers, 

 Chris 

 

A message from Nordic Weasel Games via Wargame Vault.

Published back when the internet was young, I have worked with Chris Nicole to make his Slammer skirmish scifi rules available again.

This is a straight conversion of the original document, though in the coming months we hope to both tidy up the game and add some examples, diagrams and so forth as well as work to create a new, cool edition of the rules.

This Legacy edition makes the game available again, as the website had finally vanished into the ether and lets you enjoy a personal favourite game of mine. 

What IS Slammer? 

The Slammer rules are usable for a range of Hollywood-inspired science fiction skirmish action, complete with big heroes, cool space troopers and bug eyed aliens. 

Featuring a clever reaction table, the morale and well being of your troops will affect what actions they can perform each turn but gameplay still moves quite quickly. 

A starting game can play well with a handful of characters on each side, while you can easily play with a platoon once you understand how the game works. 

The rulebook currently clocks in at under 40 pages, giving all the basic stuff needed to play a game without a lot of waffling about. You are here to shoot bug eyed monsters right?"

It is available Pay What You Want (suggested 5 USD) here:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/519467/Slammer-Legacy-Edition

A new era begins 

It has been a while since I posted here. Last year I retired from work, and I have been busy. We have been getting our house in order, we have bought a Motor Caravan and we have been away seeing the sights and having adventures.

Last week, after nearly thirty years online I closed my web account and deleted my home web site. 

My website www.loran.karoo.net has been completely removed, Slammer Rules and Army lists, along with the TFT Codex 2000, Loran campaign and all my other Web pages. 

My Internet provider changed hands a few years ago. Apparently, they decided to stop hosting websites back then. Existing sites including mine remained online, but I was unable to access it or make changes. I was not notified and had assumed it was a technical issue or my password. As I didn't need to update much it was more an inconvenience to me.

I contacted my provider about updating the site. This was when they told me they had stopped web hosting. I decided to close my account and was told it would end in early March. The next morning it had already gone.

 

Now the good news. 

1. I have backups. If there is any interest I could restore my site or pages with another host.
2. My blog site is still online (Here). I will create new pages for my games rules on the blog in due course. Slammer is back online already in a truncated form.
3. I am in discussions with a well known game designer and publisher about a new edition of Slammer. I will provide more news as soon as I have any.

Please contact me directly if you have any comments or queries.

Cheers,

Chris

Encounter One - back in print!

 Is there still a market for home published rules booklets ?

Way back in the mists of time, a lot of wargames rules were published by their authors as A5 stapled booklets with card covers, black and white text, and minimal illustrations. They might include a printed card quick reference sheet.

They were often sold by mail order or at games shows that the authors were attending. Some of them sold well enough to be stocked by games shops or miniatures producers.

Now most gamers have internet access and a home printer, so digital downloads seem to have the market covered. 

Over the years I have published a few wargames rules that have been freely available online as pdf documents. 

Recently, I printed off a small batch of the new edition of Encounter One. 

My primary intention is to gift copies to people that have helped or encouraged the project, secondary is to have some rule sets available when I play the game for new players to pick up. If there are any left after that, I would offer them for sale and hope to recover some of my costs. Mainly, I would just like to see people playing the game.

Would you buy a printed rule set, even if you can download the rules for free then print it yourself? 

What would you consider a reasonable price?

A5 stapled rules booklet, card cover, black and white, 42 pages + A4 card Quick Reference Sheet.