A blog about my wargaming projects, armies and battles. The ups and downs of my imagi-nation, Medetia, is one focus, but like most gamers my interests extend into lots of other areas too.
Another nice model kit from Warbases, this wagon was quick to put together (once I’d worked out the assembly order). Everything fitted neatly and the engineers’ equipment load can remain loose for removal when not required.
Great value and perfect for Sharp Practice, either as a general wagon, engineer option, or just as a piece of scenery.
A couple of months ago I painted some 15mm fantasy figures for use with Dragon Rampant and my dungeon adventure game. Before I went back to the 6mm SYW project I did paint a force of Bear Clan/Cultists but have taken forever to get the bases done.
Now they’re finally finished, here are some pics:
Leader, champions and shamen:
Shapeshifters (Copplestone):
Crazy bear:
The men are mostly Splintered Light, with a few Copplestone and a Demonworld leader. The bears are from a variety of companies too, in small, medium and bloomin’ big sizes. I’ve kept to a very simple pallet and, with most figures having some bearskin on them, that’s provided the overriding look.
I have another batch of about 20 to finish, which will allow me to field more options for a Dragon Rampant force. When I’m fed up with painting 6mm I’ll switch back to these and get the rest finished off.
I’ve been carrying on with painting the Prussians and Austrians for this project, and the forces are growing slowly but steadily.
I’m aiming to develop the armies in reasonable proportions so I can get some use out of them as they expand – in other words I’m not painting all the cavalry first, for example. The Austrians have received the most attention so far, partly because they were starting from scratch, and partly because a fair number of the Prussians need re-basing which isn’t a lot of fun!
For the Austrians I’m painting in batches comprising 5 infantry, 4 cavalry, 1 artillery battery and 1 Grenzer unit, plus commanders. I have about 7 or 8 of these batches to do to end up with the overall army I’m after. I’m currently painting the infantry that will complete batch 3.
Austrians so far:
For the Prussians the batches are a little smaller, due to the make-up of the army. They’re running a batch behind the Austrians – although there’ll be some quicker catching up once I’ve done a bunch of re-basing.
The Prussians so far:
I’ve found myself putting a bit more effort into the flags than I thought I would, no bad thing I guess. They’ll certainly do for me. I wasn’t going to do anything more for cavalry standards than just paint the base colour but I’ve done a bit more for the first Prussians and may now have to go back to do something on the Austrian ones too.
Lots more to do, but I’ll get there eventually!
Recently I’ve been doing some prep on the next batches for my 6mm SYW project. I was spurred on to base up some more units when I realised I had nothing actually ready to paint!
So, the next batch consists of 5 more Austrian musketeer battalions, 2 dragoon units, a Grenzer unit and a couple of generals.
When I finish this lot I’ll have just over 30 Austrian units done, and will then focus on the Prussians until they’ve caught up. Fortunately, a fair few of the Prussians are already painted and just need re-basing, some touching up, and new flags.
While getting these prepared, I’ve also made a start on my central European buildings, which will be used for the villages of Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia in the SYW, and for other 6mm projects where I need some scenery like this. The bulk of the buildings will be generic single storey thatched houses with some timbering. I’m not going to overdo the timbering for the same reason I’m steering clear of tiled roofs – I can’t be bothered with all the extra work!
Here’s my first attempt. 30x20x20mm, made from card with a plaster/filler thatch. I know most thatched roofs are
Painted in fairly muted tones:
And here’s the rest in pre-fab kit form:
Yes, I appreciate that this pile will take a bit of assembling!
I’ll also be adding a few different structures, including some larger barns, and a couple of churches etc. There will also be paddock fences to flesh out the settlements a little. I want to be able to place several villages on the table when required, to reflect the types of battlefields that were fought over.
Hopefully working on these buildings will offer a nice break from painting the figures themselves, and I can progress with both aspects of the project in parallel.
I’m aiming for a game or two with this collection by the end of the ‘summer’. We’ll see…
Although I made my riverbank terrain sections some time ago, and have bridges for 15mm and 28mmm, I have only just gotten around to making a bridge to get across it for 6mm games. I do have a couple of pontoon bridges, but nothing fixed and proper, as many a good scenario demands.
So, yesterday I did a quick bit of measuring and quickly started marking out and cutting some card. I was after a useful generic stone bridge that would serve for all my 6mm gaming from the mid-17th century up to the present day (should I ever dabble again with Moderns, or even WW2). I would normally have gone for something a bit narrower, but my recent SYW efforts in this scale have generated figure bases 24mm wide, so I decided the new bridge would have to be wide enough for these.
With about 90-100mm of river to span, I decided on a flat roadbed rather than anything fancy, largely due to my modelling limitations. A few arches would add some visual appeal and, although curves are never easy with a knife and card, it went OK. I could also mask the dodgy cutting with some arch stones made from thick paper.
I made the structure first and then added the road layer (a thin piece of card) after.
Everything was black undercoated first and the stone got a couple of shades of grey, plus some light weathering with a pale buff shade. I textured the road with sand and painted it to match my terrain.
The finished bridge:
I may return to this model later to add a removable customs house/arch at one end, which I think would be a nice touch.
Here it is being made use of, by Austria’s finest (not my usual river board but it’ll serve):
Now, back to those Heroics & Ros!
A shortage of posts doesn’t mean I’ve been totally idle – I just haven’t finished much recently so have held off taking pics.
I have made short work of a recent order to Fantasy Arte in Germany though. They sent me some very nice pieces I can use in my 15mm dungeon game, and being intended for 28mm they’re nicely oversized and look impressive in my setting.
So, a portal arch, a couple of skull-clad pillars, some braziers/fire bowls (I’ve only painted 2 of one type so far, and they’ll be placed on stone plinths soon) and a free sample figure base that fits in perfectly and will be used in the game as a certain type of marker.
It’s all very high quality stuff (resin except for the plastic braziers) and a pleasure to paint.
I’ve also ordered a few Reaper Bones figures which will serve as (very) big monsters in my game. More on those when I get a couple painted.
Also, taking just a few minutes from start to finish, I assembled and painted the Warbases water cart, which is a very nice model and will get used in Sharp Practice and other 28mm games. I’ve got a couple more of their MDF carts to do and will get onto them soon.
Apart from these few bits, I’ve painted most of a new force/faction for Dragon Rampant and made more progress on the 6mm SYW Austrians that had been stalled for a while. As soon as the bases are painted I’ll get all of this lot posted here too.
.. to be variously abducted, rescued, escorted and protected in Sharp Practice scenarios. It’s a hard life being a 28mm non-combatant.
I bought these very nice painted figures from John D at the AMG weekend. I’ve textured and painted the bases with my normal pallet and they’re good to go.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on something that I’ve fancied doing for a number of years – creating a dungeon exploring game for 15mm fantasy miniatures.
I made some initial notes over Easter and got stuck in during April and May, although the Ayton painting deadline did have to take priority. Lots of discussions with a friend, who shares the same nostalgia for D&D and likes games like this, led to some early rules playtesting and the making of trial floortiles. Last weekend it all came together and we managed some 3 player games for the first time, and actually had a good time!
Which door next?
After trying card and high density blue styrofoam, in the end I took advice and went for 4mm cork tiles for the rooms and corridors. It takes paint well, doesn’t warp (if you paint the other side too), cuts easily, has a nice texture for representing stone, and is very cheap. The whole set I made (2 dozen rooms and a dozen pieces of corridor), using about 8 square feet of the stuff, cost less than £10.
Doors are deliberately oversized (bigger monsters don’t want to get stuck do they?); 28mm scale from Warbases. Pillars are cotton reels donated by Goat Major, other dungeon scenery is mostly scratchbuilt. The game is still developing, but the core is there already. I want to add things like sewers, fire pits and other stuff, and these will all be made to fit in with the basic kit.
Going to see the Boss:
Figures are from a mix of ranges, with Demonworld furnishing the majority. Characters get nice floortile-matching bases, while the monsters and other enemies are largely borrowed from other parts of the collection and are based for the outdoors – which actually helps to spot who’s who!
As with all things like this, the game started out pretty simple, but has grown in detail – though hopefully not in complexity. The core things the group and I wanted were; levelling-up between games, finding treasure/magic items, end-game Boss encounters, and generally not having it too easy. I.e. a challenging game with rewards. Level 1 characters are weak, as they should be, and completing the first game is a mission in survival more than anything. From there, capabilities increase and more skills, spells and abilities can be obtained to give the party (made up of 4 characters, which come from the usual stereotypes) scope to tackle increasingly tougher dungeons.
“No, don’t open two doors at once!… Oh dammit!”
Every game starts with the descent to a new dungeon level, with things kicking off when the first door is opened. Sensible precautions – Fighter at the front, Magic User in the middle:
Our first session was fun, but we took our time getting through 2 complete games due to some bad dice-induced protracted combats and lots of wandering monsters. Next time, though, we’ll be 3rd level and those Orcs and Gobins better watch out!
With the big game weekend at Ayton now looming (in a good way) at the end of the month, it’s time to return to my 28mm 18th century forces and get everything ready for this year’s adventure.
I am making some modest additions to my Medetian and Fleurian armies (which inexplicably put their centuries-old differences aside and unite to fight foreigners in Henry Hyde’s on-going campaign!)
The first of these is on the workbench at the moment – the Savoy Regiment of the Savoy/Piedmont army of the mid-18th century, which I am increasingly using as the inspiration for my Fleurian forces. These are figures from Crann Tara, with a couple of Minden battalion gunners waiting for their gun. They’ve been blessed by the talented brush of Dave Jarvis, who previously painted for me the La Marine regiment who are lined up behind them. When the flags arrive from Mark Allen, and I’ve added the gun and finished the basing, these units will combine to make a rather stunning brigade for action in Grenouisse at the end of April.
I’d better get cracking then!
A tabletop battlefield can sometimes look better with a bit of relevant clutter on it (especially if kept conveniently out of the way of the action). To that end I’ve been working on some 6mm camp bases that I can use in a number of periods, from Renaissance to the 19th century.
I’m mixing some Baccus metal tents, including their nice command tents, with some simple scratchbuilt ones I made a while ago but am just in the process of re-painting.
Here’s the first batch, Baccus in the background, my own in front. Mine are a bit bigger, but I think they look OK together on the table. They’re just intended to give a sense of the big army camps anyway. To be honest, I think a Baccus miniature would have to remove his over-sized headgear, and possibly even his head, to actually fit inside the smaller tents! 😉
And here’s everything finished:
I have some ideas for how these camps may play a part in certain types of scenario. I’m thinking of things like the night (or even the morning) before some battles in history, like Blenheim for example, where the scouting out of the enemy’s camp formed part of the attacking general’s battle plan.
There may be some scope to have a the defending player set out his camp as a pre-game indication of his army’s dispositions, from which he will have to deploy on the day of battle. Having 2 styles of tent rows, in addition to the command tent bases, will allow for distinction between infantry and cavalry formations. One to try out sometime, perhaps with the SYW project when it hits the table.
I’ve also managed to paint (well, dry-brush really) a couple of Timecast buildings. Here are a rustic railway station and a generic wooden barn (I think it’s from their WW2 Russian range so I tried to cover the drain pipes with foliage to make it less period-specific!)
