Category: Painting and Modelling

More Colonial Irregulars

I’m planning to get as much use as I can out of the Gripping Beast plastic Arabs I painted for Ayton, which means using them for colonial games too. Yes, there are a few too many bows in evidence, but I’m not really bothered. That said, I’m adding some musket-armed figures to bring them a bit more up to date!

These are from First Corps’ SYW in India range. They’re a bit shiny despite 2 coasts of varnish but hey. I’ve used the same colour scheme as the medieval types and they should fit together OK.
I’ve painted, but yet to base, a further 6 plastic guys with spears, which takes me to 44 figures. I think I need another half pack from First Corps to get me to 48 (and increase the musket count), which will make a healthy total of 4 Sharp Practice groups of Wallahs.
Additionally there are 4 plastic figures I’ve done as artillery crew, which I just need to base too.
When done, I’ll get the whole lot together, with the leaders and cavalry, for a photo shoot. Then I just need to finish some scenery and we’re off to the conquer some jungle-clad islands in the name of Medetia!  🙂

The Dreaded Re-basing

We all hate it, but most of us have to (well, choose to!) do it from time to time. This one was worth the effort as I wanted my irregular sepoys to be on single rather than multi- bases so that they work better for Sharp Practice. They can still go onto sabots for games where they need to form up in a battalion.

They’re RSM figures, a mix of their Ottoman figures with some minor conversions in the form of weapons added to hands. They’ve seen service in several games, as a battalion made up of 6 bases of 5. With a couple of spares kindly donated by Count Belisarius I will be able to make 4 groups of 8 or 3 of 10 (militia) for Sharp Practice.

Then: the ‘soak the mdf base in water’ method:

Now: on 20mm washers:

Much happier!

Big Buildings!

Back in January I made an effort to get through the MDF mountain (more of a hillock really), assembling a number of kits and painting most of them too. I was stalled with these 2 Timeline buildings as I needed something to tile the roofs with, so they sat unfinished while I searched the web (in vain) for what I wanted. In the end I decided to just get on and make my own, using the time-honoured card strip method. They’re not perfect, but they’ll do and are better than the standard flat MDF roofs.

I added some texture to the walls to cover up the construction slots and joins, and painted everything in shades to roughly match my existing 28mm buildings. I decided to ‘hinge’ the doors with insulation tape as I didn’t want them fixed in place, but wasn’t up to anything more complicated. The are no features inside as, for me, wargame building interiors are best kept simple and clear, as figure bases are oversized anyway.

I added the usual bit of texture around the bases and declared them finished. I like these kits a lot. They’re big buggers, but should look good on the table, especially for skirmish games.

 

 

 

Another MDF Cart

I can’t resist a cheap MDF wagon/cart kit – here’s the latest, bought last year from 4Ground. There were a couple of options for the final look, including not adding the high sides. I just wanted something generic so left them on.

 

It even came with full illustrated instructions, which help a bit. A quick three-shade drybrush and it was sorted. It’ll get use in a variety of periods, even just as scenery.

Pack Mules

I have finally painted half a dozen pack mules (and ponies) that I thought I’d bought a couple of years ago. Turns out it was 2011..

Three are from a Warlord Games ECW pack and the other three have been converted from TAG Cossack ponies which I declared too small to look right for wargaming (although I appreciate they may be technically accurate!) To keep things simple I just stuck some spare blanket rolls on them which came from the Perry plastic AWI British infantry box.

It always feels good getting bits and pieces like this done, so next time I need a supply convoy for a game, I’ll be able to dig these out 🙂

Some Arab Artillery Crew

With the Gripping Beast Arab infantry painted for the Ayton weekend I decided to use a few of the remaining figures for something else.

Plastic figures are fairly easy to convert (the drilling is easier for a start!) so I have produced 4 artillery crew for my planned foray into 19th century imagi-nations colonial gaming. I’ve equipped them with items from Minden/Crann Tara artillery packs, plus a powder keg and some cannon balls.

They’ll be painted to match the rest, nice and simple in black with white turbans.

The final 6 figures have been assembled as more bow/spear guys, which I’ll paint at the same time.

Saracens Done

The gaming and drinking extravaganza that is Ayton 2017 is fast approaching, and I’m actually on track to have everything finished in time without a last minute panic. There’s a first for everything it seems!

My Lion Rampant retinue represents an Italo-Norman and Saracen alliance, for a bit of variety.

The Saracens make up the the bulk of my force, in terms of quantity if not quality. I’ve used a box of Gripping Beast Arab infantry to produce 3 units; 12 spearmen (to be yeomen or fierce foot), 12 archers, and 6 bidowers. To help speed things up I’ve kept the pallet very small, with black robes all-round and no fancy shield designs. I think this looks OK and it’s simple enough to not put me off adding more in the future.

I am most of the way through the Normans, which should be finished off this weekend.

I’ll be digging out a few buildings and bits of scenery to contribute to the collective efforts of the group, and am really looking forward to catching up with the guys and rolling a few dice in just over a week’s time.

Bit of a Catch Up

Although there’s been no blog activity for a while, there have at least been some hobby goings on.
Not much was actually getting finished so I wasn’t taking many pics, but there has been some gaming, and progress on a number of projects

The best of the gaming was a weekend in Newcastle with Andy hosting an excellent ACW game using his newly re-based collection and Fire & Fury rules. He’d devised a scenario and set up the terrain too. The game took place in meeting room upstairs at a commercial stables, which added to ambience!

It was an encounter battle which 5 of us played to an entertaining draw. Plenty of flank attacks, charges and counter-charges as the advantage swung back and forth. Plenty of beer was had on the 2 evenings as well, which with the excellent company made it a very good time all-round.

 

 

 

 

I’ve spent some more time evolving my 15mm fantasy dungeon game, which is pretty much sorted and has seen some solo and 2-player games recently. Now I’m just having fun adding the odd monster, character or dungeon feature, plus some background fluff and additional rules that come to mind.

 

 

This year’s Ayton weekend (coming up very soon) calls for Lion Rampant forces from anywhere between 1100-1500, so I’m taking a very early Medetian force from their Normans-in-Italy era. It will be supplemented by Saracen auxiliaries, together making a standard 24 point retinue.

I’ve painted 6 knights (Conquest plastics) and 30 Gripping Beast Arab foot, leaving 2 units left to finish before the end of the month. I’ll try to get the whole force together for a pic soon.

I’ve tried yet another method for making islands for my scratchbuilt naval games, this time it was 6mm blue foam (painted green and gridded to match the sea boards) on thin card (painted sandy for beaches). With the odd building, tree or airfield they should look OK.

Two prototypes:

Maybe they’ll be the start of an overhaul of my islands in general, or I’ll just add them to the pile!

I just need to get back into the routine of updating the blog now, so more soon hopefully!

Frosty Ruins

Another couple of bits of MDF scenery completed. These kits are from TT Combat, good value and easy to assemble. I decided to base them on 5mm styrofoam so that I could easily etch some paving slabs into them, and carve a slope to the edges.

I left the bases reasonably plain instead of covering them in lots of rubble, etc, as they’re just intended as gaming scenery for figures to be placed on, not an exercise in modelling!

Although I may not ever go the whole hog and collect enough winter-look ruins for Frostgrave, I fancied doing these in that style. I’m going to be expanding my winter terrain this year and am intending to build up some more generic scenery. The nice thing about these arches is that they’re not so big that they won’t work for 15mm as well as 28mm.

SYW in 6mm – Project Update

I thought I’d post a general round-up of progress with this project.

I’m still working on these armies, but have made it to the point where I can play modest-sized games, which was always the first objective. I’m coming up to the half-way point with both the Prussians and the Austrians, and intend to keep chipping away at the remaining units.

So far I have completed 20 Austrian battalions and 12 cavalry units, plus some batteries and Grenzers. The Prussians are a little behind these numbers, but I will switch back to them soon to get them caught up. The flags keep slowing me down so I’m going to reward myself by doing more Grenadiers next, who of course generally don’t have them 🙂

A few pics of a recent tabletop outing, using the new under-scale buildings from Supreme Littleness: