TotalCon 2026: Gaming Events and Highlights You Can’t Miss

TotalCon 40 is an annual gaming convention that is held in Marlborough, MA at the Best Western Conference Center. There are events for miniature games, board games, RPG’s, and much more. Attendance is well over 1,000.

This year it was held between February 19th and 22nd of 2026. I usually run several tabletop miniatures games there. This year was no exception. I ran eight 4-hour games across the 4 days.

Several players who participated in my games are eager to see some game shots. Not to disappoint, his post will be picture heavy and text light!

On Thursday of every TotalCon, there is a large flea market in an adjoining room to the main hall. From Friday to Sunday, I get a very big table in that room. Because of the flea market’s need for space, I settle for a smaller footprint on Thursday. That smaller table was fine for two games (afternoon and evening).

Battle for the Pond

This was a Combat Patrol:WWII retro sci-fi game using the pond that I described in my last post.

My game flyer.
The tabletop set up for action. The F.R.O.G. Commandos are on the near side, with the Star Ducks on the far end. The Star Ducks are Archive Miniatures Star Rovers figures from the late ’70’s/early 80’s. The Frogs are Critter Commandos figures from the early 1990’s.
The Star Duck players move up.
The Star Ducks use one of their two jet pack moves to occupy islands. In the game, control of the smaller islands was worth 5 points. Controlling the largest island earned players 10 points.
The Frogs were also jet packing. The Star Ducks used mortars to lay down a protective smoke screen against their automatic weapons fire.
In the end, the luck of the cards deserted the Frogs, with almost every island in Star Duck control.

High Noon at the Cyber Ruins

I ran this Combat Patrol retro sci-fi game at Cold Wars, but on a bigger table. I used a different mat and adapted the game to a smaller footprint.

Game flyer.

To win the game, both sides get credit (victory points) for inflicting enemy casualties and finding hidden ancient robots.

The game was definitely full!
Retrovians and Space Cowboys move into the ruined city.
The Space Cowboys find a robot (an Archive Robot Cook) and get it to join their side.
Reinforcements arrive! Here come the Space Roos.
Retrovians take cover under fire while trying to clear the walls.
Retrovian infantry move into the city.

In the end, the casualties on both sides were high. But, the Space Cowboys possession of robots allowed them a narrow 15-10 victory. That wrapped up Thursday’s games.

I decided not to run a Friday morning game this year. Last year, resetting the flea market room took too much time. It interfered with my morning game setup. Instead, I had plenty of time to move everything into the “big room” and set up on the “big table”. My first game was a Wars of Ozz game. It was titled “The Great Munchkin Heist”. I had also run it at Cold Wars. This time I had an even bigger table than I had there!

The Great Munchkin Heist

The game set up – I loved creating this panoramic expanse!
Players arrive – once again demand to play was high!
1st Munchkin Brigade set up
That’s a full game!
Nitpik’s “Morin’s Monsters” armed with napalm blasters hope to cook up some Great Pumpkinheads.
A regiment of Great Owls (Munchkin allies) overflies the Lemon Drop Legionnaires and hits them in the rear!
Jinjur regiments (female pirates and Munchkin allies) breach the wall.
The Munchkins breach the western gate and their light cavalry pours through to look for technological treasures.
In the center, two axe-wielding Nitpik regiments have had enough of the Munchkins. The Jade Automata and the Pink Nightmare regiments charge over their defensive wall. Their counterattack wipes out the Munchkin artillery and drives two Munchkin infantry regiments from the game.
Another view of that mechanical counterattack.
Meanwhile, the cleaver Jinjur pirates locate some of Nitpik’s technological wonders in a wrecked building.

The game ended – in a dead tie 23-23! A real nail-biter to be sure!

The next game builds on this one. The Munchkins have found technology, but welshed on their agreement to share! Thus, they betrayed their allies. As a result, their former allies have jumped over to the Nitpik side. The Munchkins are fleeing to safety, with Nitpik in hot pursuit.

Revenge of the Tin Men

Another big game! The players plan.
The Munchkins have 4 heavy crates of technology carried by 4 regiments. The crates slow down the Munchkins. The little folk need to cross a line with the crates safely to gain victory points. Additionally, each Munchkin base that escapes the Nitpik pursuers gets a point. Nitpik gets points for recovering crates and for eliminating Munchkin bases. The Munchkins have set up a delaying picket line of light cavalry and sharpshooters between the two balloons. This is to give those fleeing a chance to escape the Nitpik and allied horde.
On the right, the Munchkin picket line. On the left, the pursuers!
There were many Nitpik pursuers. This included those who switched alliances, like Frost Ogres, Great Pumpkinheads, and Jinjur pirates. Traffic control became a challenge as they tried to catch the Munchkins.
The pursuers coordinate their movements.
The Munchkin Aerostat frustrated several Nitpik regiments. As they tried to advance, the Aerostat laid down effective disruptive musketry on the mechanical men.
Nitpik cavalry broke through and tried to run the Munchkins down. Several crates were lost as the Munchkins routed in disarray.
The game ended with this scene showing Sam disappointed. The Munchkins nearly won the game. Her unit only needed 1 more inch to cross the line of the crater with the crate. So close! (well played though Sam!!) In the end, Nitpik won a VERY narrow 12-10 victory.

That wrapped up Friday night. The next game would happen Saturday morning set in North Africa.

Il Duce’s Desert Gamble

This what-if modified What a Tanker scenario also filled up quickly as well.

Vichy French armor facing the Italians.
Royal Italian Army armor facing the French.
The players plot their moves.
An Italian Macchi C.202 Folgore (Italian “thunderbolt”) dogfights a Vichy Dewoitine D.520.
Leif smiles as he records temporary damage on his tank. The damage was caused by Leif’s very bad dice rolling for a very old and worn out French FT-17!
A Vichy SOMUA S35 knocks out an Italian Semovente 90/53.
French forces advance.

The game ended with Vichy winning 540-440.

For Saturday afternoon, I ran Operation Torch: Vichy Mounts an Armored Counterattack. This was also a modified What a Tanker game.

Operation Torch: Vichy Mounts an Armored Counterattack

The Vichy players plan their assault.
The American players are ready!
The Americans watch as the Vichy French get closer. They have plans of getting air cover and naval gunfire on the French!
Knowing this, the French spread out to avoid massing a big target.
Mal considers his next move.
Aircraft are deployed, but the US Navy rules the skies. This allows for the Avenger to call in naval gunfire from the USS Savannah. This destroys multiple Vichy vehicles.

The US air superiority and naval gunfire carried the day – with the US winning a significant victory.

RETROVIANS MUST BE CLEANSED

Saturday night’s game was upon me, and I had decided to run another Combat Patrol retro sci-fi game. This time, the Retrovians would face the Archive Star Rovers Warbots. They would also confront my own creation – the Mark 1 Sphere tank.

Happy Gamers at the start! Retrovians are on the left, Warbots on the right.
A Retrovian Bra’sheer tripod moves out front of its infantry. The Mark 1 takes up a supporting position as the Warbots march forward to glory.
The Mark 1 safely delivers machine gun fire from its sponsons. Meanwhile, the Warbots also take fire and are stunned.

I did not take many pictures of this game. I do believe that the Warbots wore down the Retrovians. Yes, they were “cleansed”. It was nice to see these figures back on the tabletop.

This was the penultimate game for me of TotalCon 2026. I headed off to my room. I was ready for the 2026 TotalCon “Tournament of Ozz” on Sunday morning.

I had 7 out of a possible 8 players. At random, one player got a “bye” in round one. The match-ups were done at random and 7 different 21-point brigades were assigned at random. Inflicting the most damage on the enemy was the victory condition to move forward in the tournament. Tie breakers were also in play if that was needed.

Glory on the Line!

In Round 1 – the match ups were:

  • Impkins (Ken) versus Munchkins (Eric)
  • Munchkins (Bob) versus Gillikins (Dave)
  • Winkies (Brad) versus Gillikins (Jacob)
  • Winkies (Leif) got the round 1 bye
Round 1 begins!
Brad’s Winkies devastate Jacob’s Gillikins
Bob’s Munchkins get into a shooting match with Dave’s Gillikins.
Round 1 winds down.

The Round 1 results were:

  • Impkins (Ken) defeated Munchkins (Eric)
  • Munchkins (Bob) defeated Gillikins (Dave)
  • Winkies (Brad) defeated Gillikins (Jacob)
  • Winkies (Leif) got the round 1 bye

Yielding the semifinals as:

  • Impkins (Ken) versus Winkies (Brad)
  • Munchkins (Bob) versus Winkies (Leif)
The semi-finalists!
Leif casts a poppies spell to thwart Bob’s cavalry,
Bob’s Munchkins prepare to unleash musketry on Leif’s Winkie Guard. They would rout!
Meanwhile, Ken’s Impkins got hit hard by Brad’s Winkies.

The Round 2 (semifinals) results were:

  • Winkies (Brad) defeats Impkins (Ken)
  • Munchkins (Bob) defeats Winkies (Leif)

Yielding the FINALS as:

  • Munchkins (Bob) versus Winkies (Brad)
Brad and Bob get ready to rumble!

In the end, Brad outlasted Bob – though it was close! Congratulations to Brad as the 2026 TotalCon Wars of Ozz Champion! Congrats to Brad!

The 2026 runner up Bob, the 2026 champion Brad, and your happy GM.

Thank you to all who helped me at the convention. Special thanks to Leif and Brad.

I also want to extend a very special thanks to Bryan Clauss, Steve Parenteau, Kevin Baumann, and the entire TotalCon staff. They do a magnificent job running a great convention! BIG THANKS!!

Lastly, a few areas that you can check out if you dare:

References:

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous convention/club/game battle report blog posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/club-convention-games/

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous Wars of Ozz posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/miniatures/wars-of-ozz/

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous sci-fi/retro sci-fi posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/sci-fi-retro-sci-fi-projects/

Creating Realistic Ruined Buildings and Wreckage for Wargaming

Followers of this blog have seen several posts showing my “rusty” preparations. I have been getting ready for my numerous games at 2026 tabletop wargaming conventions. That preparation involves painting up figures and terrain for scenarios that involve a good amount of ruins and wreckage.

In a previous post, I shared how I built transmission towers and rusty walls for a Wars of OzzTM game involving Professor Nitpik’s Industrial City (the Robotic Sanctum). I ran that game at Cold Wars and will share more about that convention shortly. The theme for Cold Wars this year was “The Wild West”, so I also had planned to run a game involving Space Cowboys (technically Archive Texican Space Rangers” from Star Rovers).

I don’t run western games, but I could cobble together a retro sci-fi game using Buck Surdu’s Combat Patrol:WWIITM gaming system (with my modifications). In my game Archive “Space Cowboys”, and uplifted kangaroos  (“Space ‘Roos” ) combat blue-skinned “Retrovians” (from War Games Supply Dump). Both armies are searching for hidden ancient robots in the apocalyptic ruins of a long-dead civilization on a newly-colonized world called Dust.

To really make the ancient ruined industrial panorama that I wanted, I needed more buildings and structures than just my transmission towers, rusty walls, rusty generators and ruined chemical plant. I also wanted a lot of wreckage strewn about as terrain.

To those ends, I ended up making two ruined factory buildings, two industrial structures, and 61 scatter bases of industrial wreckage. These were all built at the same time. This enabled me to work around issues like drying and curing times as time was short. Oh yeah, and we had a few snow storms here in Massachusetts along the way that ate up some hobby time (not helpful at all).

I wanted to share my project and all its components here with you. As these were simultaneous efforts, you will see multiple project stages here. You may notice that I used a lot of repurposed bits of metal and plastic and Juweela products. The lists will be at the end of this post as is my habit. My concept was to achieve a Stalingrad-like look.

For the two buildings, I converted an iPad 16 box top and bottom. I used Apoxie Sculpt, steel washers, sand, multiple pieces of plastic, desiccant cylinders, and a lot of Juweela items to make the 61 scatter bases. And for two flat industrial structures, I reused two pieces of packing materials to repurpose them as flat rusted structures.

I started out with this iPad 16 box. I would use the top and bottom of this. It is plastic and cardboard.

I sawed out windows and doors on both box pieces and made each a bit differently in terms of architectural arrangement. I then hot-glued foam board to make rooms. For flooring, I broke up old popsicle sticks. These I had used previously to mount figures for painting on other projects. Lastly, I drilled out holes in the walls to simulate old bullet holes.

Cutting out the windows and doors on the first building.
Adding the walls, bullet holes, and flooring.

Then it was on to sculpting the outside walls. I did each building separately from here on so as to handle both curing times and to learn as I went as to best practices. Apoxie Sculpt and a Green Stuff World brick roller worked well.

Sculpting the walls. I used an awl to create and shape shell and bullet impacts on the outside.
Using the windows as gripping spots made the sculpting easier. I did need to then wait for curing.

While the walls cured, I worked on the wreckage bases – also using Apoxie Sculpt. I made the bases differently in terms of both size and shape. It helped to use one or more steel washers underneath the base sculpts. Using different sizes helped to make the shapes varied.

The biggest washer that I used and a base covered with Apoxie Sculpt.
Examples of the other sizes and shapes – all with steel washers underneath.

As the corrosion texture paint takes time to dry as well, I started adding that to various pieces of debris that I had saved up. I like to use a cheap old brush that could serve no other purpose – especially as it usually destroys it. The corrosion paint needed to dry and then got a second application.

Using the AK Corrosion Texture paint. Here I am using it on desiccant cylinders (from pill bottles), crushed plastic straw sections, and rubber inserts from a drain plug replacement.

After a day, the Apoxie Sculpt on the first building had cured. But I wanted there to be a small outside rim to it that could hold wreckage and brick debris. While a sheet of polystyrene was gluing to its bottom, I worked on the second building.

First building cured.
Bottom view – I needed more here underneath…but before that I finished the second building’s outside.
Second building outside sculpting…
….and second building flooring installation.

As the first building had cured, I started to paint it. Then I was able to glue a polystyrene base to building number 2.

Building number one with early paint work, and building number two being glued to the PS sheet under a heavy textbook.

As I was again dealing with drying and curing times, I went back to work on the wreckage bases. I used up some white sand on the Apoxie Sculpt bases and applied with PVA. Once that had dried, I added as much wreckage as I could to each.

Wreckage bases – I started with the largest. The two buildings are shown in progress as are the next batch of sculpted bases curing.
Close up shot of the larger wreckage bases in progress. Glue must dry…
Close up of building one with insides primed.

At this point, I added the flat clear plastic packing material to two square pieces of polystyrene by clamping and gluing them in preparation for corrosion texture. Then it was back to the wreckage bases. I had run out of white sand, so the next batch of wreckage bases got a PVA/grey sand application. As I used a lot pigments later, this made zero difference. At the same time, I also dirtied up the interior building walls and flooring using a sponge and various dark washes. The rim outside the buildings got a sandy texture paint covering.

The dark sand drying on the next wreckage bases, the flat structures with first application of corrosion texture, other bases in progress, and the buildings in the back.
A second coat of corrosion paint has been applied to the flat structures here. I also sorted the wreckage bases by size before adding pigments.
The flat structures and some other rusty paints I would add before augmenting with pigments.

Below you can see the wreckage bases after I added pigments to them. I fixed the pigments with Vallejo Thinner applied with a spray from a lens cleaning bottle.

Smaller bases done!
Medium-sized bases and flat industrial structures done!
Largest wreckage bases done!

Next, I added rusty industrial wreckage and scattered bricks to the buildings’ interiors.

After adding industrial wreckage and bricks to building 1…
…and building 2.

Clearly, pigments were needed at this point to make the bricks and wreckage look older and dirtier. More pigments and dark washes to the rescue!

The buildings after adding the pigments and washes to dirty and rust up everything.
Top view of both buildings as completed.

I was now ready to mock up the tabletop with everything! But first, the flyer for the game – which I finished before this project:

Game flyer.

The wreckage (all 61 pieces and the buildings really helped complete my vision. There are 24 possible search locations for the 4 ancient robots, known only to the GM. The four ancient robots I used were: “Folder Bot 3000” (aka Bender) from Armorcast Terraform Terrain Ltd.’s “Robot Townies” collection; and “RT22” from old Archive miniatures Star Rovers line circa 1977; and two Archive Miniatures Robot Cooks also circa 1977 (also Star Rovers).

The four ancient robots! Folder Bot 3000, RT22, and the two Robot Cooks.

I randomly select the locations for the four robots (see numbers on the map below). My playtest worked well, and here are some shots of the mock-up tabletop.

The mock up of the tabletop for the game. The Retrovians three squads and command group are in the forefront. The Space Cowboys are at the opposite side.
A side view.
View from the Space Cowboy’s side.
Generator side view.

I did not use all of the wreckage in the mock-up. I will share a Cold Wars post soon. However, as a preview here are a couple of shots of the game set up at Cold Wars in all its glory:

Photo of the game in progress at Cold Wars with me as the GM. (photo courtesy of Ken Howe).
Space Cowboys and Retrovians start searching for the robots.
The shoot out starts – while one robot has been found in the upper right. This was Bender, and he was not happy to be found and attacked and killed a Space Cowboy.

More about Cold Wars soon in a future post.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and seeing my rusty panorama come to life – on the tabletop anyways. If this WIP post helps you in any way, that is great! I am including these terrain pieces in Dave Stone’s PAINT WHAT YOU GOT 2025/2026 Challenge as these were completed in early February. For now, that’s it, until next time!

329 miles to Lancaster, PA and Cold Wars!

The materials are listed below as a reference for me (and you maybe).

For all of my previous posts on terrain projects, please see this page. For all of my previous posts on sci-fi projects, please see this page…for any of my previous posts on scratch-building, see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE TWO RUINED BUILDINGS:

  1. iPad 16 Box (top and bottom)
  2. Hot glue
  3. Foam Board
  4. Toothpicks
  5. Popsicle sticks
  6. Apoxie sculpt
  7. Vallejo Surface Primer “Grey”
  8. SIBE AUTOMATION “White Polystyrene 8″ X 12″ X 1/8″ Plastic Sheet”
  9. PVA
  10. Huge Miniatures “Brick Red”
  11. MSP “Brown Liner”
  12. Vallejo Game Color “Sepia” (wash/shade)
  13. Vallejo Wash FX “Dark Grey” (wash/shade)
  14. Liquitex “Burnt Umber” (ink)
  15. Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water”
  16. Vallejo Thinner
  17. Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
  18. Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
  19. AK “Dry Ground” (texture)
  20. Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
  21. Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Industry (23336)
  22. Juweela Debris Assortment (23316)
  23. Juweela Debris Brick Red (23315)
  24. Juweela Debris Assortment (23315)
  25. Juweela Bricks (23034)
  26. Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Gear Wheels (23317)
  27. Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
  28. Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
  29. Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
  30. P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
  31. Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE 61 WRECKAGE BASES/PILES:

  1. Play sand
  2. Apoxie sculpt
  3. PVA
  4. Various scrap plastic pieces
  5. Cylindrical desiccant holders
  6. Rubber sink stopper rim
  7. Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Industry (23336)
  8. Juweela Debris Assortment (23316)
  9. Juweela Debris Brick Red (23315)
  10. Juweela Debris Assortment (23315)
  11. Juweela Bricks (23034)
  12. Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Gear Wheels (23317)
  13. AK “Corrosion Texture” (texture)
  14. Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.080)
  15. Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.080)
  16. Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.069)
  17. Vallejo Model Air “Orange Rust”
  18. Citadel “Ryza Rust” (dry)
  19. Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
  20. Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
  21. Vallejo Thinner
  22. Vallejo “Dark Slate Grey” (pigment)
  23. Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
  24. Vallejo Game Color “Sepia” (wash/shade)
  25. Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water”
  26. Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
  27. Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
  28. Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
  29. P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
  30. Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE 2 FLAT INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES:

  1. SIBE AUTOMATION “White Polystyrene 8″ X 12″ X 1/8″ Plastic Sheet”
  2. Plastic packing material from a forgotten source!
  3. PVA
  4. AK “Corrosion Texture” (texture)
  5. Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
  6. Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.080)
  7. Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.069)
  8. Vallejo Model Air “Orange Rust”
  9. Citadel “Ryza Rust” (dry)
  10. Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
  11. Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
  12. Vallejo Thinner
  13. Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)

French Armor for Operation Torch: Hotchkiss H35’s, H39’s, and Renault R35’s

In November 1942, the Vichy French had a 8 division’s worth of troops in her colonies – from Morocco to the Levant. Under the terms of the Armistice of 22 June 1940, Vichy France was still obligated to defend its unoccupied lands as a neutral state.

And yes, they had more tanks than just the FT-17’s you saw in my last post. In addition to those old WWI relics, Vichy had Hotchkiss H35 and H39 tanks, as well as Renault R35’s. Both of the Hotchkiss models were “cavalry” tanks, in that they had been forced as a light tank on the French cavalry in the 1930’s (and later forced on infantry tank regiments as stopgaps). Contrastingly, the R35 was an “infantry tank”. After the Armistice, the Vichy Army had both types in the colonies. I did read somewhere that some R35’s were hidden away under hay bales behind horse barns to keep prying German and Italian officers of the Armistice Commission from finding them.

The H35, or Char léger modèle 1935 H, was a two-man tank, armed with the same cannon as the FT-17 (the Puteaux SA18 37mm cannon). The H39, or Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, was a 1938 upgrade of the H35 that also got a better engine, and a newer and longer 37mm gun – the SA38 cannon, that supposedly had increased armor penetration over the SA18 (how much I cannot find!). Both variants were in North Africa in November 1942. There are only two observable differences to an outsider between the two models. Both have different engine deck configurations and the mufflers of H35’s point forward – while H39 mufflers point rearward.

An H35 tank. Note the engine deck and the forward-pointing muffler.
An H39 tank shown in Israeli markings at Yad La-Shiryon (officially: The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun in Israel. Note the rearward-pointing muffler.

As for the R35, or Char léger Modèle 1935 R, it was an infantry tank under French Army doctrine. It too had a two-man crew, and was also armed with the Puteaux SA18 37mm cannon. It was thought to be slightly better mechanically than the H35/H39 variants. As the Armistice forbade Vichy from having pure tank units, these and the Hotchkiss tanks would be spread around into combined-arms units. These Vichy tanks and armored cars would play a role in Operation Torch in November 1942 against US forces in Morocco (and Algeria as well).

R35 tank at Saumur Museum in France.

In gathering appropriate models for my What a Tanker game for HISTORICON, I started with looking for H35 and H39 metal or 3D-printed models in resin. I found a two listings for some on eBay. One was for Sarge_s Stuff – he had H35’s that could be bought individually – and I ordered 4 of them. The other site was the same one I bought the FT-17’s from earlier – jacobsminis (aka HobbyHouse&Miniatures.LLC). I ordered 5 from HH&M as that was the minimum order. The tanks from HH&M were (and still are) listed as H39’s, but when I got them I realized that they were actually H35’s. Unlike their excellent FT-17 models, some of these had printing errors, and I ended up using just 2 of these. However, I did use all 4 of the Sarge_s Stuff ones as H35’s. For H39’s and R35’s, I decided to rebase the ones that I painted a few years ago. I had 1 H35 and 3 H39’s (documented here) and 2 R35’s (documented here). I rebased all 6 of these.

One of my 3 H39’s before I rebased.
My R35’s before rebased them.
All rebased!

This left me with 6 H35’s to paint to round out the tanks for Vichy (more armored cars would be coming!). As I was also working on many other vehicles at the time, plus running for reelection (I won), plus preparing for and attending HUZZAH, AND prepping for HISTORICON…plus golf…I was BUSY in April, May and even June and July. I am sure that you get the picture, and ironically I have few WIP pictures! But I’ll share what I have.

I used neodymium magnets and flat-head nail again to mount the turrets. The two H35 turret prints were slightly different, but I adapted with green stuff.

The 6 H35’s primed with the first desert sand color.

I used poster-tack again for masking/making camouflage patterns over the initial color. I did experiment with using Silly Putty as masking as I had seen someone do that – but it did not work for me. So I went back to what I knew would work – poster tack and touching up afterwards..

Poster-tack covered!
Then I applied a second prime with a NATO Green. Al paints are listed at the end of this post.
Now I had 6 H35’s. The third one from the left is one from an earlier project that I rebased, with the other 5 being new. The yellow is different on that older one, but ok enough I think for a game.

Now, I can share some limited…

Eye Candy

H35’s in column on my game tabletop.
Close up of the H35 column.

I am indeed – as promised – catching up on the posts I have backlogged for my What a Tanker Operation Torch game project- and yes there are more AFV’s to come. I do appreciate you, my readers. Of the eventually-painted 31 Vichy vehicles I had for the game, this brings me up to 24 Vichy combat vehicles that I have covered to date in this blog. I have 8 remaining Vichy armored cars to write about before I get to the USA. Those 8 will be the topic of my next post. Please, if you want, I’d love to hear any feedback – feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

For all of my posts on WWII games and projects – there is a consolidated list of posts and their links located here.

MATERIALS USED

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THESE H35 MODELS:

  1. Green Stuff
  2. War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 23 (1½” x 2″)
  3. No. 19 x ½” flat head nails
  4. Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
  5. Neodymium magnets (¼”)
  6. Gorilla Glue
  7. Wooden Blocks, steel bolts, steel washers, nails, magnets, steel screws
  8. Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
  9. Vallejo Primers “NATO Green”
  10. Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
  11. Vallejo Primers “Desert Tan”
  12. Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
  13. Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
  14. Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
  15. Vallejo Mecha Color “Dark Steel”
  16. Battlefront “Oxide Red”
  17. Reaper MSP “Carrot Top Red”
  18. Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Dark Wood”
  19. Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
  20. Vallejo Mecha Weathering Effects “Dark Rust Wash”
  21. Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
  22. Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sea Grey”
  23. Vallejo “Mecha Varnish Gloss”
  24. Microscale Industries “Micro Set”
  25. Microscale Industries “Micro Sol”
  26. Microscale Industries “Liquid Decal Film”
  27. Flames of War French Decal Set (FR940)
  28. Peddinghaus-Decals 1/100 2181 “World of Flames French tanks early war”
  29. Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
  30. Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
  31. Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
  32. Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
  33. Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
  34. Vallejo Flow Improver
  35. Vallejo Thinner
  36. Vallejo “Matte Polyurethane Varnish”
  37. Printed labels on card stock
  38. Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
  39. PVA Glue
Man of TIN blog two

Toy Soldiers, Gaming, ImagiNations

Gisby's Gaming Blog

Miniatures gaming projects, products, and reviews

Carrion Crow's Buffet

Narrative Wargaming, Fiction and General Musings on the Universe

Despatches from Fort Syllabub

An account of fictional adventures on the North West Frontier - and other times and places, real or imagined

Man of Tin blog

Toy soldiers, gaming, Imagi-Nations

Zauberwurfs Blog

Ein Blog über Tabletop und Miniature Wargames.

Frank Tank Rants

musings of a fat old bloke on tanks and wargames

Dragons of Lancasm

Games, miniatures, painting, books and more games

Tiny Painted Heroes

The Adventures of a lifelong Tabletop Gamer, Game Design hobbyist, and full-time Software Engineer

Steve's Paint Brush

Grimdark model making and mini painting

Wargamesculptors Blog

Life, Golf, Miniatures, & Other Distractions

Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging

Life, Golf, Miniatures, & Other Distractions

Guru Pig - the gaming Guru

Guru's thoughts on wargaming, life, and the universe!

Wisely lead... without a head!

History, Miniatures and Wargaming

Kuribo's Painting

Fallout Wasteland Warfare, Warhammer, and Hellboy Painting, Terrain, Dioramas, and Battle Reports

Don't Give Greg Ideas

Seriously, just don't

War Across the Ages, and other dark horrors

A discussion of miniatures collecting, painting and gaming.

Classic Warhammer 40K

Painting diary focused on Warhammer 40K 2nd ed., 5th ed. WHFB, related GW games, and miscellaneous whimsy

Colonel Mustard

WW2 Modelling in 1/72 Scale

Bogenwald

Random painting and terrain making.

Pat's 1:72 Military Diorama's

Scale diorama tips and ideas

Arcade Dreams

Building the Arcade Dream

P.B.Eye-Candy

Phil's 20th century wargame pages

SP's Projects Blog

A futile fight against entropy or 'Every man should have a hobby'? Either way it is a blog on tabletop wargames, board games and megagames

30mmdave

Wargaming Plausible reality?

The Imperfect Modeller

Miniature Figure Painting and Diorama Modelling

Double Down Dice

Painting miniatures and rolling dice!

Just Needs Varnish!

My ongoing wargames projects!

miniaturepopcorns

Sculpting some worlds

Despertaferres

Wargaming with the ability of a dull nine year old

Dawn of the Lead

Miniature wargaming and the occasional zombie

Rantings from under the Wargames table

Wargames, Figures, Sculpting and Converting Miniatures

Simple as War

Miniatures & Terrains

Buck's Blog

Life, Golf, Miniatures, & Other Distractions

IRO aka Imperial Rebel Ork

- I model - therefore I am -