15mm and Scale Compression

One thing I always like about 15mm is even if you use 24" shoot/6" move it 'looks' right.

Unlike 28mm where it seems like a nerf gun could out-range them. I mean, if a 28mm/1" mini is ~2m then guns if to scale would have a hard cap at 24"x2 = ~50m extreme range!

 However I'm about to commit the same sin I decry. You see my tankmunda tank-centric warbands of ~6 tanks need a compressed scale to fit.

I say 24" is ~1000m or the 'normal' range most armour/gun values are measured at. Upper range depends on the gun - higher velocity bigger guns like 88mm PaK would shoot to 48" (2km) where most normal 75s would cap at 36" (1.5km). This allows bigger guns to reliably out-range and out-shoot on our 4x4 or 4x6 table and 'fits' with conventional wargame ranges. 

However, I am using small squads of infantry. They are used to seize objectives and loot aka "scrap" - a catch all for valuable resources in the post-apocolptic landscapes of the 1930s-40s, where overuse of gas in WW1 has created a hellscape of mutants and zombies.  

The aim is a mix of Frostgrave/relic hunting and Dropfleet Commander using vehicles to ferry troops. 

Now if 12" is 500m that makes normal small arms ranges quite short! Even for 15mm...

Support weapons like sniper rifles or LMGs might go 18".... 

I kinda handwave the short ranges in tanks as vision in WW2 era tanks was very restricted. And given most tanks can comfortably shoot across most of the table anyway (albeit at a penalty if over 24") shooting tends to pivot more on crew skill (pass crew test to acquire targets or get extra actions to aim carefully).

But 15mm rifles shooting 12" irks me as much as 28mm rifles shooting 24". 

Also there's infantry spotting range to consider - stationary infantry in cover may not even be visible at 500m especially if I use some sort of "gone to ground"/hide mechanic where you forgo shooting to regroup/stay safe. 

So normal rifle guys exchange fire at 12" (500m) but are safe beyond it. If someone hides/goes to ground they might only be able to engaged at 6" (250m) or less! Given the game is designed around tanks, it's probably OK. Infantry are mostly to hold objectives and retrieve warpstone/relics/scrap so they probably should be hard to spot and wrinkle out of ruins and heavy cover. 

I count 15mm troops as .5 of a mini so we've got +65 US and Soviet troops painted this holidays bringing my 2026 total to 748. ....and I still haven't cracked open my Frostgrave plastics for the Forest/medieval STALKER warbands...

OK some quick rules. 

Troops are in fire teams of 4-5; or less for a weapons/sniper team.

Say 3+ or 4+ to hit (-1 cover, -1 if suppressed) with troop training making a "save" of say 3+ (veteran) 4+ (regular) or 5+ (green). Maybe save modifiers of +1 if in cover, +1 if heavy armour.  Normal rifles shoot 12" x1, SMGs 6"x2, and LMGs 18"x3-4. So far, so very Bolt Action/Flames of War/40K.

Troops can either move or shoot in any phase of the tank turn. Movement is 4" (or 3" if armoured).  

If troops take any hits (even if saved) they are suppressed, and must make a crew check (3+.4+ or 5+) in order to move or shoot: or else they skip their turn to recover/remove the suppression (hiding and recovering). One suppression token per source of hits (Bolt Action?) = you only get one suppression max for each unit per phase attacking regardless of hits.

If troops take any casualties once have taken 50% or more; pass a crew check or remove unit. Likewise if suppression tokens exceed current troops in unit.

Some sort of 'hide'/'recover' order where perhaps you can re-roll any saves to block hits but can still accrue suppression normally? Maybe to 'recover' roll a crew check for each suppression token and remove one each success. That way better troops survive and function under pressure better and recover faster.

Ok pretty generic but I literally recalled invented them as I typed. Creativity is overrated - the aim here is to be easy to explain, and 'slot-in' to existing rules. In addition, I can be pretty confident it will work out the box with perhaps a +1/-1 modifier here or there to tune the lethality.
 

These 15mm are painted too dark. They need to go 'one shade brighter' but I haven't got to that yet as I got bored with their teensy details and I have school planning to do. Still count as tableworthy, but I'll probably circle back to them when I'm in the mood. Still have 30 or so insurgents/Chechyans/Soviet militia to go....

Hmm while12" gun range irks me, it may be OK themastically. In the post-apocalyptic 1930s-40s world, troops are transported by tank or halftrack to their destination, which is invariably scavenging in city ruins, so there is a much higher proportion of armour, as well as gasmasks/NBC-esque gear and automatic CQB weapons. Think the mech suits from Fallout or Soviet engineers in breastplates with SMGs. I'm largely using GZG sci fi infantry in the role. 

15mm is Back, Baby!

Unfortunately for my STALKER/Mordhiem "Forest" project, all 5 boxes of the miniatures arrived at the same time, due to delays (instead of arriving spaced out over a month). Combined with the lack of instructions, this has paralysed me with indecision (I have 5-6 warbands to create, shared from the boxes).

Then, I got a Black Seas started box (the pirate craze continues) and assembled them, but lost momentum when looking at rigging them.

So... I needed to regain momentum, and where better than the scale where I have a 99% completion rate at painting? Tomorrow's War, Gruntz, FAD, Dirtside were where I really expanded away from the sphere of GW, Battletech, Warmachine in the early 2010s and 15mm was the scale I used. There was a wide range of manaufacturers - GZG, Rebel, Khurasan, Blue Moon, and (now defunct) Critical Mass Games.  

I count 15mm as .5 of a model, so +25 today is 683 models painted so far in 2026. I also painted the bases of another 200+ 15mm infantry and assembled 10 sailing ships so I am steadily progressing despite my low official numbers this month....

It also solved another dilemma I had. In my Mortal Tank Engines/WW2 tanks+zombies/Fallout/Mad Max universe of mercenary tank platoons, I wasn't sure how to base my infantry. In a FoW block, or individually like the sci fi above? 

Digging through my sci fi collection, I realized the FoW squad-on-1-base just didn't spark joy. The big square bases dwarf the boring drab WW2 minis. 15mm is a scale more focussed on vehicles than infantry, and 15mm WW2 infantry is dull even by 15mm standards. So why was I using WW2 infantry? Exactly. 

I've decided to use much cooler and more distinct sci fi infantry alongside my WW2 tanks. It also makes my universe more distinct, not just rebadged WW2. Also means I already have plenty of minis painted ready-to-rock. Still need some 15mm werewolves and zombies, though...

 I cunningly bought my daughter a label machine for her birthday which she enjoys using...

I've got quite a lot of sci fi armies. Back before postage cost more than the minis, you could get a platoon of 30-40 infantry and a handful of vehicles (basically a 40K army) for $70-80. At the time, it was cheaper than a single 40K tank. 

I shudder to think of what the weight of metal in the boxes above would cost to post in 2026... 

You get a lot of toys for your buck (probably still do if you live close to the manufacturer) and storage is great.

Something I dislike in wargames is a very "fixed" universe where all the background is coloured in for you in immense detail. Like 40K, or Battletech, or LoTR. You feel there is a"right" and "wrong" way to paint stuff or build armies. Inspiration is good, but too much fluff can stifle creativity.

 

For example, this army has mostly GZG troops but the mechs are suits from DUST (28mm!) and the metal chicken walkers from some unknown indie manufacturer.

This not-Soviet army uses GZG infantry and vehicles from Khurasan (not 100% sure of the mech but I bet it's a John Bear Ross sculpt).  

I also discovered some unpainted modern 15mm (Peter Pig?) which are now sitting on my bench. I always disliked the scale of Bolt Action (24" range rifles for 28mm just looks 'off') but with 15mm the 24" shooting range looks fine and allows vehicles to fit in better....  I wonder how much a Konflikt 47 rulebook costs...

Delta Vector 2026 Space Drift Mechanics

 Ok, I was bored on a car trip again, and I'm rehashing my space/drift mechanics for my homebrew space game.

I had a system with counters showing where ships would "drift" to - a kinda projected location which was simple and precise - but with 6 or so ships per side, a dozen counters on the table got messy. 

So now I'm trying to remove the markers. I'm trying to abstract it a little so there are some "speeds" or "velocities" that are a factor of thrust. I.e. T0 = ship is stationary, can move thrust in any direction, T1 = ship should move 1xthrust in direction of travel, then can apply thrust to move from there. T2 = ship moves 2x thrust in direction of travel, then can use thrust to change final location. I can show this by a little directional triangle with a velocity number on it, touching the ships' base.*

Perhaps a napkin sketch will help:

 

I used 4" as a standard thrust (say a cruiser); with perhaps 3" for a capital ship or 5" for a faster vessel. The precise number isn't really important at this stage - it's just to align to a 28mm infantry 4" walk/8" run/12" sprint so it's easy for me to visualize.

Ships can pivot on bases. The ship model itself shows the direction the ship is facing for weapons/shield directions etc. But a triangle next to the base shows the direction of drift. (I'll probably label the triangles 1, 2, 3 etc to denote the "velocity" i.e. "thrust x "). 

 A turn sequence will look something like this:

 

^A: You start out with an imaginary "drift point" - where you will move to if you just let the ship drift. This is determined by a directional triangle against the base, which also shows how fast velocity is. In the example, the velocity shown on the direction triangle is 1; aka 1 x thrust (which is, say 4" in the previous example)

^B. You can then move the actual destination to a new spot - up to thrust (in inches) from the original drift point. 

 

^C. Place a directional triangle to mark the new drift point, facing away from the original position. (This drift is mostly independent of the actual spaceship's facing). A new drift path has been established - this is the actual route the ship will take across the table.

 

^D. Now slide the ship base from the old location up to/touching the new drift point (aka the directional triangle you just put down in step C.)

This will be the most time consuming bit if I allow reaction fire which was my original design as the ship pauses on its path to exchange fire with other ships in range.

^E. Once you arrive you are done. Begin at "A" next turn. 

It sounds complicated but the only thing that is quite time consuming is "D" as the ship may have to interact/react/fire at enemies as it moves along its path. So reaction mechanics will be the real time consuming bit. 

Also at "D" there is a question of facing - what way does the ship face as it moves along its path? Again, if there are reactions this is very important during the movement.

My current idea for ship facing is this. If a ship moves its full thrust away from its original drift point in step B i.e. a 4" thrust ship moved to new drift point 4" away - then it must face directly away from its old drift point. 

 

Perhaps if a ship moves less than its full thrust - say 2", or 3" (maybe depending on how bulky the ship is) it may face any direction as it uses its excess thrust to pivot around quickly.

*Ok, let's back up to the velocity thing. Velocity is denoted by a directional triangle with a number on it - 1,2 or 3. If it is 3, it is 3x the max thrust of the ship. So a 4" thrust ship moving at "2" would move 4"x2 = 8". Or that's where it will drift to if no thrust is applied - in the direction of the directional triangle.

So how do the ships change between these velocities? By moving full thrust further along the direction of travel, you can increase to the higher velocity. By moving full thrust back towards the direction of travel you can slow down to the lower velocity. Hmm maybe I need my napkin again:

 

 

#1. I keep wondering if I've missed something and there's a simpler way to do this. I want

a) minimal tokens (so far, just a small triangle with a number on it, next to the base)

b) a sense of "drift" where ships are predictable (but higher thrust allows you to move further from that predicted location)

c) ability for a ship to face one way and drift another.

#2. Probably my biggest takeaway was thinking about how to do reactions/firing etc. My original manifesto called for "reaction mechanics" so ships couldn't just teleport past each other. But unless I limit these they will eat up a lot of time (in stage D). If a single ship moves past 2-3 opponents that's a lot of shooting/damage to resolve in a single turn, which means a single wrong move would not only be slow to resolve, but may wipe out a ship fast.

Note: I may change things here rather than clarifying/correcting myself in comments I may use italics and brackets near the relevant bit in this OP rather than respond in comments...

Pirate PC Games & 30 Years War

 Just realised I've yet to register my monthly post. I'm still painting and hobbying but at a reduced rate as I am waiting my budget to recharge.

The Forest (haunted forest where overusing magic makes you lose your characters) is awaiting more ragged aventurers/wizards to complete three warbands (King's Rangers, Baron's men at arms, and the Mage's Guild). Parcel just arrived today! I continue to experiment with rules, namely (a) making a RPG 'feel' without the crappy/clunky mechanics that infests 99% of RPGs and (b) melee combat that has decisions without being too complex in its mechanics. 

30 Year War/ECW. I've painted my Bloody Miniatures characters (recommend!) and have based/prepped another ~30 or so pike/muskets/horse each side. I don't have an exact project for them as yet - I've painted them blue/cool tones vs red/warmer tones as I often do to make matched enemies. I do know it will be bloody, violent, civil-war-esque and there will be a twist - some sort of dark twisted undead/sorcery/plague/hellmouth to mirror that very violent period (some parts of Germany lost 50% of their population.)

I bought these minis to revive my disinterest in my boringly similar Warlord ECW minis. I've found lately sometimes you need to buy more, to revive a project (kinda the opposite of the sunk cost fallacy) e.g. my Frostgrave plastics have allowed me to use/kitbash many unused sprues.

 I'm still working out a suitable grimdark 'setting' for these minis that isn't just a zombie apocalypse. Suggestions welcome!

 Given I haven't done a final highlight my paint job certainly does not do the minis justice. They ooze character and will spice up my boring rank-and-file collection.

Skull & Bones. But a lot of my gaming times has been spent rewatching Pirates of the Carribbean with my kids and playing Skull and Bones (a pirate ship PC game) with them as well.  

Skull and Bones is a good example of how expectations and advertising can ruin a game. It was hyped as "AAA" and "Black Flag but multiplayer" and failed miserably. Compared to Assassins' Creed it's like 1/4 of a game - it's like they pulled the ship portions of Odyessey/Black Flag, turned it into a game but removed everything else - you can only leave your ship to go shopping(!) and as such it's inferior to Sea of Thieves (or Windrose) and even ancestors like Sid Meier's Pirates. However, if you view it as a pirate ship game where you roleplay as a schooner/brig it is competing more with indie titles like Windward or Tempest. It's also quite user-friendly, and shines in co-op.

....I call this "Anthem syndrome" - the game sets massive expectations, flat out lies/fails to deliver most of them, and gets hated into oblivion and nothing about the game can be good by players who have jumped on the hate bandwagon - many without even trying the game. It's possible for a game to completely fail to live up to expectations/deliver promises AND still be fun. They're not mutually exclusive. E.g. I paid $5 for Anthem, enjoyed zipping around in an Iron Man suit on an alien planet with mates for 30hrs. I don't plan to ever play it again but I certainly got my money's worth and had fun. Would I have been mad if I bought into the hype and bought a premium pre-purchase edition? Sure. But anyone who does that - it's kinda on them.

Anyway, Skull and Bones cost us $5 for each PC (Ubi panic sales ftw) and we can team up fighting ships, convoys, forts and (naturally) sea monsters in a mythic Indian Ocean. I've played 50 hrs and I and the kids haven't "ground" anything  yet (i.e. we are still doing new missions and tasks and haven't had to repeat old ones ad nauseam to get stuff). 

...and a red team to be the opposing civil war faction. Maybe the Holy Empire to take on the Schismatics? 
Anyway, I'll count the dodgy paint jobs. 658 minis painted this year - so far. 

My pirate craze has inspired me to finally push past the first episode of Black Sails (I'm now on S2, really enjoying it) after trying to get into it twice previously. Naturally,  I am now eyeing off age of sail ship miniatures but Black Seas (surprisingly affordable in Australia) has rigging (blegh!). I do have some 1:2400 from Tumbling Dice but I can't figure out what ship is which....    ...if someone knows how to identify them please let me know...  They are also a bit too chunky to "spark joy" though they are very sturdy playing pieces. Heretic that I am, I'll probably pick easy/fun AoS rules like Fighting Sail instead of "proper" nerdy rules. 

2026 Goals Check

As I am waiting for my hobby funds to recharge for The Forest project, and am currently vacilitating between my remaining major painting projects - Quar/ECW/Greece/Japan - I thought I'd stocktake where I'm at with my hobby goals.

Terrain. 'Create 3 store-able terrain sets.' Exceeded - Blood Bowl pitch, dungeons, forest, 15mm WW2 ruins. Plus found and painted various ladders, barrels, fences - with some sci fi furniture out on the paint bench.

Thoughts: Terrain is a huge 'blocker' - not of line of sight, but as a preventer of projects. I.e. building sci fi terrain to allow myself to play Zone Raiders also inspired me to paint and use my 40K miniatures and launched my d12 KillFinity Team project which has been my most fun this year. Building a forest for my medieval STALKER project also unblocked my French Indian Dino Wars projects. Each time I built new terrain, it spawned a whole lot of new painting and rules projects. "If you build it they will come"

This has made me really aware of how I can unblock other unused projects. My Japanese project will probably get suitable buildings, and I'll add some cherry trees to my forest selection. I'm going to make some "Greek/Roman" columned ruins to inspire ancient projects. 

I don't super enjoy terrain building. Like buying paints and brushes it is kinda the 'job before the job' - e.g. I don't mind mowing but I do dislike changing mower blades and oil filters before I start.

But I've realized terrain (and storing it) is pretty integral to my hobby momentum - inspiring painting and working on projects - and overall enjoyment. 

 

 I try to do something hobby related each day. Today some ECW miniatures got based...

 --

Minis. 'Assemble 50 models or two warbands from spare/unused sprues.' Yep - easily with various 40K, ECW, fantasy and medieval minis. 'Buy minis for existing project' - yep, I bought some Dark Eldar and Mechanicus once all my old 5th ed 40K stuff was painted* for KillFinity, and some reptoids for my French Indian (+dino) Wars. *Except orks. I hate painting those guys.

Thoughts: Having a big selection of sprues (bitz box) can conversely help remove waste - by buying some new Frostgrave and WA boxes I could use their spares parts to convert previously unwanted miniatures. I cleared my backlog by buying more!

The lesson I learned was sometimes you need to spend a bit more to 'unblock' a project. Which is why I now own 25 or so Bloody Miniatures ECW - to inspire me to revive my rather bland Warlord ECW rank-and-file... 

 --

Rules. 'Design and play-test one new home-brew system.' Success! d12 KillFinity (a mash-up of a simplified Infinity using d12s; a flavour of old-school Kill Team with a bit of a BLKOUT vibe) was really fun to play with my kids and it's one of my favourite homebrew sets. 

One goal was to 'print out and review existing old-school OOP rulebook or free indie set.' I feel Mordheim counts so yes. Also have printed the new Quar (free) rules.  

I have not 'bought one new rule book that works for existing minis/project + one new rule book that just looks cool.' .......That's because I refuse to play $25 for a pdf or +$30 postage for a book. Wait - I did get Acolyte, Grimdark Future and Planet 28 so they must have either been cheap or free. I got Symbaroum (RPG!) - thanks Humble Bundle - as it seemed uncannily like my Forest project (I can steal ideas.)

I have not  'revised and playtest 3 out of my many sets of homebrew rules.' That's because KillFinity and The Forest projects have eaten so much time. But my son is reminding me about our "World of Tanks/Tankmunda/Tankhiem" post apocalyptic-tank-RPG which is Mortal Engines+Mad Max+WW2 tanks+Necromunda and he is asking it to be revived.

He complained: "We need to give it a name that does not sound like a rip off of another game."

"Tankwarrior?"

"No."

"Battletenk?"

"No" 

He's hard to please. 

The current 'lessons' I've learned is that RPGs generally have very clunky mechanics - I've been exploring some to see if they can be converted to wargames. In most cases, they are mechanically very poor. I'm interested in mechanics where the math is done pre-dice roll (i.e. you decide a target number, modify, then roll dice vs you roll dice then add or subtract modifiers. I'm also interested in area (abstract) terrain vs precise LoS. In one, the mini may be 'in cover' even if it is 1" or so from the actual cover - the actual location of the mini is pretty imprecise. At the far other end of the spectrum, even the model's hand position matters. Most wargames lie somewhere in between. 

I'm beginning to prep my Quar. While I'm more interested in the original skirmish SoBH spinoff Songs of Our Ancestors, I have downloaded their new (free) platoon-ish level set, Clash of Rhyfles and have begun experimenting with them. Some interesting ideas in the rules...

Blog. 'Two posts per month.' Easy so far. 

Paint. A goal was to 'paint at least 100 minis'; and ensure I've painted amount of existing minis = new purchases. Well I've painted 631 and whilst I've bought 150 or so so I've chewed through ~400 or so of my backlog. I've also painted not two but three unfinished projects (40K, Dino Wars and SOTR) and am about to embark on a fourth. 

The lesson learned so far is how important it is to paint regularly. I make a point each day to do something - it could be just basing 10 minis, or just painting on all the belts and boots.  Or just undercoating some terrain barrels. It all adds up staggeringly fast - I've painted 635 models this year and built 3 tables of terrain. Friends often relax with a glass of wine each night; what if I spent the same time painting?

 

.....even undercoating barrels with craft paint counts towards painting daily....

Budget. OK I've gone well past my $350 baseline - boxes of Frostgrave/Wargames Atlantic being the prime culprits ~$200, with some $150 in 40K boxes (Dark Eldar, Mechanicus), ECW metals ($120), French Indian Dino Wars ($100). That said, 95% of purchases have been instantly painted and played with so it's not like they are sitting around in a pile unused. 

There's no lesson here besides "it's easy to spend money online." That said, my "you must buy less than what you recently painted" rule has kept things under control. I.e. I want to buy more Frostgrave plastics but am waiting til I paint double that from my backlog.

Downsize/Storage.  'Get rid of 4+ A4 IKEA boxes of rules, minis, old terrain etc.' Yep. Despite building new terrain I'm down to 8 from 40 trays of projects, and have cleared 4 complete wall shelves in my shed.

The lesson learned here is the neater things are, the easier it is to find/use them. It's something I parrot to my kids but don't always apply to myself.  I've 'discovered' and painted quite a few random minis in weird locations. I've moved much of my materials from deep big boxes in shelves to ~20 now-vacant project trays which can be easily labelled... and thus located with less rummaging.

Overall I'm pretty content with my year so far in wargaming. I'm on track to beat my old yearly paint record (which was 800-900ish) and I'm not only clearing my backlog but completing entire projects (i.e. rules + terrain + all minis painted + games played) as well as condensing my hobby space...

Secrets of the Third Reich 2026

This is a forgotten game, in the surprisingly crowded Weird War 2 category. DUST, AT43, and now Bolt Action spinoff Konflikt 47 have all been higher profile. But SOTR is still available while the DUST and AT43 are long since defunct, although SOTR's online presence is practically nil. In fact one of the first hits was my 2015 comparison with Bolt Action.

 

I've added some female 3D print heads to appease my daughter. LOTR is one of her favourite movies which proves she doesn't need lots of girls, but there must be some.

These 2011-era minis were dug out and painted as (a) my son and I have been playing Zombie Army 4: Dead War on PC and thus I was inspired and (b) I need to paint more minis before I purchase any more - which is stalling my Forest project. +39 minis to my current 555 makes 594 this year. It also makes it easy to retort if queried."Buying more minis? Have you painted and played with the last ones?" "Yes" 

I've bought (and also promptly painted!) about 100 fantasy plastics for The Forest and 50 for the French Indian Dino Wars so I'm comfortably "in the black" eroding my lead mountain this year by over 400. 

SOTR is a 40K-a-like based on the earlier versions of 40K. Or rather 40K+ with suppression, reaction and orders which give more detail (and ironically more gritty realism than Bolt Action). It also scales down to smaller forces.

I'm halfway through with half my Soviets and 2/3rds my Germans yet to go. Hmm I notice Wargames Atlantic have generic zombies with a range of heads including WW2...

 

I suspect the Soviet chimps are instead from AE:WW2 (another Weird War game SOTR has outlasted!). While the SOTR sculpts are oldskool chunky, AE:WW2 had some weird/spindly/disproportionate ones: most have been purged from my inventory by giving them to my then 5-year-old as a "decoy/distraction" miniature. I reckon I may even have a cyborg gorilla if I hunt around a bit.

I've eyed off some Konflikt 47 models just to add some random cool stuff but so far have resisted easily enough - in Australia Warlord have equivalent pricing to GW but without the quality... *shrugs* 

The rather drab uniform nature of the minis makes them quite quick to paint, but a tad dull. I reckon I might switch  to some colourful Quar or finish my Dark Eldar as a 'palate cleanser' so I don't get bored.

Eeek it's late already so I'm signing off while there is time to watch a movie - probably a WW2 movie for paint inspiration. (I have 1500+ DVDs which are an answer to the question I posed a year or two back: How many DVDs could you afford if you cancelled all streaming services? Answer: A lot. ....Especially if you buy from charity shops...) 

EDIT: Another 37 this week means I have finished all SOTR (ticking off a goal for this year) and my 2026 paint total stands at 631

 Being pretty bland and somewhat uniform means I can get away with a lot....

 Now - on to Quar or the as-yet-undecided ECW-era project...

French Indian Dinosaur Wars - Project Complete(ish)

Well I've now got the models and terrain to play, it's just a matter of "tidy up" stuff. I've got Reptoid tribesman/dino herders, Indians (both sides), French regulars, marines and irregulars/trappers; as well as colonial militia, British regulars and Rangers - as well as civilians, log cabins and some fenced areas for farms. If budget permits later I could expand to some "nice to haves" like grenadiers, highlanders or light companies for some variety, but The Forest fantasy needs more purchases at the moment.

I painted the militia in vaguely Pennyslvania and Virginia colours so I can have two separate groups or one combined group.
 

I've also kept ~12 Reptoids unassembled as they come only with javelins and muskets and I'm hoping some future purchases (Oathmark gobbos?) may donate bows and club/axe hands to go with the spare Ungor shields I've got earmarked for them. 

I can work one rules (I have a random ideas notebook for boring car trips) but I'm simply adapting ME:SBG to keep it quick and easy. So really only: 

(a) add some Reptoid "psychic" powers to MESBG rules; telekinetic/pyrokinetic/mind control - this will be fun

(b) add in musket rules ("reload" = once fired, skip a turn to reload; denote unloaded musket with a cotton wool ball)

These 30 militia (Virginia-style pictured above) raise my paint total to 555 in 2026. The Warlord plastics do not perfectly match their metal line with much finer weapons and hands but overall size is fine. 

Dinosaurs will simply be multi-wound monsters, aligned with similarly sized ogres/trolls/etc from MESBG. I'll probably dispense with might-will tracking and replace with a "out of mana" or "out of might" token; basically you roll a second dice and if that fails, you are out of might/mana until you skip a turn to "recharge."  Right now I can fudge it enough, offhand, to play a game with my kids whenever, so we're good.

While the British got 20 of the box, I assigned 10 to the French to give them their own irregulars. They got knit wool caps and can be ceourer-de-bois or whatever they are called. 
 

I always base and assemble miniatures during downtime, so I always have some projects ready to go. I've got some ~60 Secrets of the Third Reich Soviets/Germans/British on my bench, some to receive headswaps for mages... and a few token female heads to appease my daughter (she says she 'gets' that realistically girls make a small proportion of active soldiers but she 'likes' to see the odd pigtail in amongst the troops so *shrugs* I had lots of unmistakably female heads 3D printed).

I've a solid selection of French Indian (Dino) war for skirmish games and while I'm awaiting my Forest budget to recharge I'm going to switch to a new painting target to keep up my progress.... luckily I always have 2-3 projects based and ready to go at all times...

I've also got some metal Quar under my workbench. I'm astonished they got their own WA plastic line. While they are pretty quirky - Anteaters fighting a civil war with WW1 tech, armoured tractors and featuring messenger squirrels IS fun... I just didn't think they'd sell that well?  The old rulebooks were characterful and awesome and the new ones seem quite interesting, mechanically (I may review them sometime as whilst free, they use some unusual mechanics.)