I just could not avoid mentioning Covid -19 or the Corona virus crisis in writing my blog. In such strange times it would have seemed somewhat perverse to ignore what is probably the most momentous event to affect the country, if not the world, in my lifetime. However, I’m not going to record all of my thoughts on the subject here. There are enough comments, opinions and people minding other peoples business on social media and the mainstream media without me adding to the torrent.
I also have no idea how to pitch any comment. Anything that I write in a serious vain could be considered too preachy. A joke, and I’m not taking things seriously enough. That said, I cant help but try to find some humour in a very dark time. To put things in some sort of perspective, rather than my modelling output increasing, my painting hours have actually decreased over the last week, due in some part to lack of sleep and my mind being elsewhere as I firefight the next stage in trying to keep the business going through these difficult days.
Salisbury, Gloucester and Faulconberg in the process of being based
At least I still have a business – at the moment. Thanks to the incredible support of my small, loyal team, my suppliers, the fantastic postie ( I must get his name!) and of course, my very loyal and supportive friends and customers (often one and the same), we are still trading and sending out modelling supplies across the world. We will continue to do so as long as we are permitted to do so.
Everyday, for the last couple of weeks, we have been having a Grass Snake meeting at Arcane ( A grass snake meeting is a bit like a COBRA meeting, only shorter and less toxic) to work out with Julie, Hayley and Kevin how we will operate. Each day the plan has lasted until about 5.00pm when the latest announcement changes everything. For the moment, our latest plan is holding. Julie and I are working three days together, Hayley (AKA the Packaging Princess) is taking the two ‘quieter days’ and working on her own. Kevin is supporting from home and in reserve should one of us fall ill.
Another gun crew nearly finished, ready to join the York army.
As I have been married to Julie for 40 years, we have practiced social isolation on a number of occasions and staying 2 meters apart at times has certainly kept one or both of us alive…There, I couldn’t resist a joke!
Gun crew ready for basing
So Arcane Scenery is still trading, along with other online retailers and if we can help you with your hobby, we are here to do so. Despite everything, I have found some time for painting. I’ve said before that I find it very helpful and allows me to tune out of the world and for a short time forget whatever is causing me stress. As you can see from the pictures, my War of The Roses army is still growing. I may even get it finished over the next few weeks!
The next batch of figures primed and ready to paint.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
I thought that in this weeks blog that I would show the progress on my War of the Roses light cavalry and show the method that I used to paint them. Once I had assembled the riders, I mounted them on painting sticks by drilling a hole in them and mounting them onto a wire. The picture shows them primed with a grey primer and the first two colours, Vallejo flesh and Army Painter plate mail applied.
Riders primed and ready.
The next stage was to block in the main colours, in this case Off white and Flat green. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have no intention of creating a specific unit or retinue from a battle in the WOTR. The idea is to create a generic army to fight club battles. So although these colours are more appropriate for Tudor bowmen, these troops may well be fighting for a Yorkist retinue!
Block painting the livery
The next picture is a bit of a jump in the painting process! I finished the block painting by using a Buff/white mix on the bow covers and arrow bags; Vallejo old wood was used for the bows and the riding boots were painted with Vallejo Orange brown or light brown to mix things up a bit! The belts and accessories were painted with either leather brown or burnt red. I then brushed on Army painter Dark Tone quick shade. Once dry, the figures were sprayed with a matt varnish and then the white, flesh and metals re highlighted to give a crisp finish.
Finished figures on their horses.
Close up of Light cavalry
Once I was happy with the riders, I finished the basing using my usual technique that I have covered many times before in my blogs.
The completed unit of light Cavalry
Close up of the unit – I have since been back and added some detail to the Commanders face.
With eight mounted bowmen finished, it was on to the remaining four cavalry in the box! I have painted these as Scurrers or Prickers and again, I have chosen the livery colours at random, using burnt red and yellow. Here they are still mounted in their painting sticks!
Scurrers!
Here’s the completed models on their horses. With these now finished I just need another four to make up the unit. I’m not sure whether to get some metals or see if I can just get an extra sprue. In the meantime, I’ve taken a break from the cavalry and I’m now working on some more Footknights and Characters.
Light Cavalry on the prowl!
I do need to add some flags and Standards to the unit – I’ve just received some very nice standards from Citadel six flags but have yet to try them. My army is approaching completion, with some 200+ figures now painted and based. It is lacking flags though – watch this space!
War of the Roses Army
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the June edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
This past Saturday I attended the ‘Bingham Napoleonic Days’ event with the NG13 Wargamers. We were putting on a demo game and for this year, Andy Callan had found a nice set of scenarios that had been published in the ‘Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy’ Magazine. The articles, written by Rob Harper, detailed how General Lecourbe was able to conduct a rearguard defence of Eastern France against the invading Austrian Army. As well as giving a nice overview to the campaign, Harper also provided a series of linked scenarios that gamers could use to re-fight the campaign. We chose our favourite rules set ‘Black Powder’ for the battles and for the skirmish scenarios, used ‘Rules for old wargamers with short memories’, a home brew mash up written by Andy.
First Scenario. French defend the Tile factory
As a group, we are happy to use what ever troops that we have available in our collections to fight scenarios. We dont get too hung up on getting exactly the right regiments on the table. Indeed, as I had no Austrians to field, I took a brigade of Prussians to fight alongside their Austrian allies. It added a bit of colour to the Demo game and we were happy to point out the discrepancy to our visitors both verbally and in our briefing handout. We were playing Second Edition Black powder and the only minor rules amendments that we made were to take away the ‘Follow me’ rule from the Austians and to remove the order bonus for Columns. The Austrians had shown a remarkable lack of ambition in the actual campaign and we felt that these amendments would be enough to reflect this Austrian caution in our games.
The Prussians push onto the French Right.
Andy and I took the Austrian/Prussian Alliance and Pete Harris, fought as General Lecourbe, leading the French. As usual, I was playing and trying to take pictures, so although I had plenty of pictures, they weren’t necessarily of the key moments – I was too engrossed in the game!
The French reinforcements arrive and move to the front.
The first battle of the series had The Austrians struggling to deploy their forces against a French force in a good defensive position in a tile factory on a hill in front of the village of Dannemarie. Both sides had reinforcements that they could bring on, the Austrians being hampered initially by the ‘traffic jam’ on the main road. The French had no such problem but they were out numbered – if the Austrians could bring their army onto the table.
General Le Courbe oversees the defence of France!
The initial part of the battle saw the French comfortably holding the Austrians in front of the Tile Factory. The Prussian detachment was able to flank the building and move to threaten the French right. Lecourbe was able to deploy his cavalry and push the Prussians into square whilst moving reinforcements to counter the threat. As the pressure built on the Tile factory the Austrians were presented with a relatively weak French right flank. All they had to do was to deploy their Cavalry brigade and bring on the extra Infantry brigade that was dawdling off the table…
Prussians attempt to by-pass the tile factory, only to be met and contained by the French reinforcements.
The Austrian Cavalry failed in six turns to throw a command roll of 8 or less!!! Clearly, the Austrians thought that they were going to a dance, but didn’t even send the three and four pence!!! With no reinforcements to exploit the weakened flank. The French tied all of the Prussian infantry into squares and began to out-shoot them, bringing them close to breaking point. Although the Austrians did eventually manage both to deploy their cavalry and break the French Brigade defending the Tile factory, the game had reached it’s end in the allotted twelve turns. It was a tactical victory for the French who were then able to fall back in good order ready for the next battle.
Battle Two The defence of Chavvanes-sur-L’etang. The Prussians push on!
After a bit of scenery shifting by Andy, we were ready to fight the next scenario, the defence of Chavannes-sur-L’etang. The Austrians were again partially deployed off table but this time, there was a bit more space for them to deploy and the main bulk of the army was soon threatening the French, who were deployed in and to the rear of the Village. Once again the Prussians moved aggressively forwards onto the right flank of the French. This time they by passed the village, leaving their Artillery and Austrians to deal with this threat. The initial stages of the game were dominated by 5, yes, 5 blunders during the orders phase with 4 for the Austrian/Prussian alliance and one for the French. Although not fatal for either side, the result was that the Austrians were once again slow to deploy and support the Prussian advance. The Austrian cavalry were doing their version of the Hokey Cokey – In Out- In Out of the game!
The Austrians attempt to pound the Village into submission!
Despite these tribulations and the difficulties in encountered in crossing the various streams, some progress was made by the Alliance, with a French battalion being destroyed in the village and the Prussians driving off an artillery battery on the right. Lecourbe kept his cool and was able to steady the line. He sent a replacement batallion into the village, reinforced the right flank with an infantry battalion and sent his cavalry to hold the Austrians to the left.
An aggressive move by the French cavalry holds the Austrians
The Prussians charged home, threatening to break yet another French battalion, but the French were able to pass their morale test, hold on and lock the Prussians in a vicious hand to hand combat that continued over the next couple of turns. Although eventually beaten back, the French had inflicted sufficient casualties on both of the Prussian battalions to shake them causing the brigade to fall back. The supporting Austrians were too late to help out and unable to exploit the weakening French right flank. Meanwhile, on the left, the Austrians tried to push through the French cavalry, only to be counter charged and were soundly beaten! The Austrian cavalry then managed, to not only fail their morale throw, but the supporting units also broke as well. The Allied advance was in tatters and the French were victorious!
The Prussians fail to break the French in combat and are periously close to losing the brigade.
We then moved onto the third scenario which was a skirmish game. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures and so will not include it in the report. In view of the superb French performance, it was clear that Pete had done Lecourbe and France proud and won the day! In real life, Lecourbes campaign was described as a “master class in defence” which Davout thought worthy of a Marshal’s baton. Sadly, worn out by his exertions, Lecourbe died in October 1815. His name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe – a well deserved recognition of his achievements.
The French Cavalry charge home and are victorious! Both Austrian Cavalry regiments break as well as the supporting Austrian Infantry!
The event itself was, as always, a very pleasant and enjoyable day. My only regret was that I was so engrossed in the games that I did not attend any of the Lectures or have a chance to browse the books on sale! We had a good number of people through to watch us and to join in with the games. Wargaming isn’t really a spectator activity but I hope that those that did get a chance to roll dice and make some of the command decisions enjoyed themselves. As always, it was great to meet up with friends and like minded hobbyists.
Bingham Napoleonic days Look out for the 2021 event!
We are very much looking forwards to next years event. If you are available in early March, put a note in your diary. Entry to the event is free and I know that the programme of speakers will be of the usual top quality.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
To get full details of the Bingham Napoleonic days, including a list of speakers, click here:
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
Trent Miniatures make a lovely model of General Lecourbe ( as well as a few other revolutionary Generals!). I you would like a Le Courbe to lead your army you can get him here:
My War of the Roses army is approaching completion, although the project is suffering from a bit of ‘creep’ with my habit of finding that just one more unit would be a good idea! The light cavalry were supposed to be the final unit that I would add. The challenge to my OCD/collectors habit was that the Perry Miniatures plastic box set gives you 12 light cavalry and I only needed 8 to make a unit. My solution to this dilemma was to decide to build 8 of the cavalry as mounted bowmen and then make another unit of 8 Scurrers by adding some metals to the four remaining plastic figures.
Perry Light Cavalry assembled
But first of all, I needed to get the plastics completed. I assembled all of the figures in the box first and then decided to paint them, six at a time, starting with the horses.
Primed horses
As you can see, I primed four of the horses in brown, one in black and the last one in grey. The different base coats giving an indication of the different colours that I would paint the horses! By the way, I use army painter rattle can sprays to prime my models. When it came to the colours for the unit, I had decided that I would paint them in green and white for no other reason than I fancied this combination. History purists might find this cavalier approach ( Ooh! Good pun!) somewhat unacceptable, particularly as the colours are close to Henry Tudors’, who was a Lancastrian and the rest of my army is based on Yorkist commanders. However, I am painting units for the rules set that we are using’ Never Mind the Billhooks’, rather than creating a specific WOTR army and I feel comfortable in mixing and matching as I see fit. Lets just say that these troops are Cheshire journeymen happy to draw a bow for who ever pays them – in this case, Lord Harry Hotspur!
The four brown horses.
I painted the four brown horses more or less as Bays, using a mixture of browns and washes layered on using my dry/wet brush technique. The horse with the light mane was painted using Green Ochre – I would never have chosen this colour based on it’s name but it does work well! It was then a case of painting the livery in green or green and white.
The black horse
The Black horse was highlighted with black/grey and then very lightly with light grey. I used Buff to pick out some of the livery, again not because of any historical accuracy but because I liked the effect!
The white horse was painted in exactly the same way as I painted Richard III’s horse (see last weeks blog) and so I had my first six horses ready for basing.
Six Light Cavalry Horses ready for basing.
In next weeks blog. I’ll detail how I painted the riders and completed the unit, but for now here’s a picture of the first six figures that I have completed – The basing is still to be finished.
Mounted Bowmen
The sharp eyed amongst you will see that a Prussian Jaeger has sneaked into the picture! So with the six mounted bowmen completed it is onto the commander and standard bearer to give me my eight mounted bowmen.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the June edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
When the remains of King Richard were discovered in a car park in Leicester, (just down the A46 from us), there was a great deal of media attention, as you can imagine. As far as I was concerned, the nicest item that I saw to commemorate the event, was the model by Perry Miniatures. I really liked the thought that had gone into the model and the gentle humour in showing King Richard bursting out of the car park on his steed! I had wanted to get one from the moment it was released but had been obsessed with my Napoleonic collection and so had not added it to my lead pile. With my interest in the War of the Roses, and the new rules set that we had been play testing, I now had an excuse to get the model. I also wanted to paint something for the rules writer, Andy Callan, who has spent hours re-writing and fine tuning the rules set after each of our play tests, having had to put up with yet more ‘feedback’.
Preparing the models for painting.
So rather than one model, I bought two, figuring that it would not take very much longer to paint two of the same model. I had also decided to convert one of the models slightly, so that King Richard was holding a banner rather than his sword, showing off the title of the rules – ‘Never Mind The Billhooks!’. Just to give myself a bit of a challenge, I decided to paint the models ‘properly’ rather than my usual block paint and quick shade method. To start with, I cleaned up and primed the individual pieces, using a black primer for the base, grey for the horse and Plate mail for the figure.
The car park space bases!
The base was quite straight forward to finish. I simply gave it a dry brush with Vallejo Black grey, 70862 and then followed this with a lighter dry brush of Light grey 70990. It was then just a question of picking out the markings on the car park spot in off white 70820. I could have used yellow – there are two painted models on the Perry web site that I was using as a reference (copying….) – but I preferred the white markings.
The horses being painted
The horses were first painted or rather wet/dry brushed with Light grey 70990 and then Silver grey 70883 as the first coats. I wasn’t too worried if the priming coat of uniform grey was left in the deepest of the creases. The wet/dry brush is my best description of the technique that I used, The paint brush wasn’t loaded with paint but neither was it wiped off, as with a usual dry brush. I also made sure that the ‘high points’ on the model were well covered in paint. I then used the same technique to paint the horses with a coat of off white, but this time, using a drier brush to leave the shadows in the darker colour. The horses manes were painted in Black grey 70962 and the horse furniture in flat Red 70957. The decoration on the horse furniture was done using Brass 70801.
Completed horses on the bases
I then touched up the details on the horse, using Ivory 70918 for the hooves, Platemail for the bit and hooves, black for the eyes and I lightly dry brushed the mane and tail with a neutral grey to bring out the detail. I then carefully black lined the model to sharpen everything up. I really liked the stark appearance of the Perry’s painted model and so I followed this example. For this reason, I didn’t worry too much about highlighting or shading the red – I like the extreme contrast against the white horse!
Painting King Richard – highlighting and details to do next!
It was then onto King Richard. As mentioned, I primed him with army painter plate mail and then gave him a good coat of Dark Tone or Black ink. Once this was dry, I dry brushed him first in Plate mail and then in silver. At this stage I then started the slight conversion to one of the models and carefully snipped off the sword and then drilled the hand so that I could insert a standard. I also needed to very slightly bend the arm but this was done without a problem. It’s always a good idea to go gently and ease the model in the position that you need – by it’s very nature, the metal will flex if you are careful. The details on the models were then picked out. Red for the belt and leather wear, Flesh 70955 for the face, followed by a skin wash, and then highlighting with another coat of flesh and then light flesh 70928. The hair was Chocolate brown 70872 with a flat brown 70874 hightlight and then a wash of brown ink. The details on the sword were picked out in brass.
King Richard completed and on his horse!
The next challenge was to make the standard. It turned out to be simpler than I thought. I photo copied the standard for King Richard that comes in the Perry Miniatures Foot Knights set and used a Dymo electric printer to print the title. This was cut to size and stuck onto the flag, which in turn was cut out using a fresh scalpel blade. I then used watered down PVA to stick the flag onto a cut down spear and the job was done!
Never mind the Billhooks!
The standard King Richard…without a standard…
The finished model with the standard is for Andy and I have the original with the sword for my cabinet. Incidentally, I did make two standards – one was the Billhooks version and the other a normal Royal Standard – I think that the Billhooks version looks best on this model!
I am very excited about the release of the ‘Never mind The Billhooks’ rule set. It will come as a free full colour 24 page supplement with the May issue of Wargames Illustrated. I have now seen the draft rules, and they look great. I can only hope that other Wargamers have the same fun and enjoyment that we have had when they finally get their copies!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the May edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
After my diversion with the wolf enclosure last week, it was back to the projects on my work bench. With storm Dennis causing mayhem across the country, it was a good weekend to spend safely indoors painting model soldiers. I had two items that I wanted to complete. The priority was painting a couple of models of Richard III emerging from his tomb under a Leicester car park! I’ve already posted a picture of one the completed models on our Face book page – I’ll detail how I went about painting and converting him in next weeks blog. Here’s a picture of the original version.
Richard Triumphant!
The other project that I wanted to complete was a batch of 6 Warlord games Prussian Jaegers, who would be bolstering my force at our demo game at the Bingham Napoleonic days in March. To be honest, I didn’t really need to paint them but I had a spare pack at work and it would give me an extra unit of Jaegers to use in the game, either as a small unit or as Skirmishers in front of a battalion attack column.
Bingham Napoleonic days
The Bingham Napoleonic days, now in their fourth year, take place on the 6/7 March at Longacre Studios in Bingham. As usual I will be with my gaming buddies, the NG13 gamers and we will be running a series of Demo games based loosely on General Lecourbes campaign against the Austrian army after the battle of Waterloo in 1815. There is a link to the Bicorne site in my Commercial section below giving more details but it’s worth pointing out that if you are at a loose end, entrance to the event, including the lectures, is free. It’s not the biggest show that you are likely to attend – possibly the smallest and definitely the least commercial, but if you fancy a drive out to the Nottinghamshire countryside and a pub meal, it’s a nice way to pass the day.
Prussiajn Jaegers – primed and ready for painting
Back to the jaegers – I should point out that the Prussians weren’t involved in the original campaign but we have included them to add some colour to the table and give me an excuse top dust off my Prussian contingent! I followed my usual painting method for churning out units for my Napoleonic army – Prime, block paint, Quick shade and base.
Block paint started – first colours on
I’m not going to detail the colours for the simple reason that I was a bit lazy when it came to researching them. I usually spend a bit of time finding the correct colours but on this occasion although I consulted both my Osprey books and the Mont St John web site, Pinterest and of course, the painting sheet that comes with the Perry Miniatures Prussians, the details seemed to be confused. I sort of lost patience in trying to work out the correct facing colours and exact uniform and just decided to copy the painted models on Warlords web site.
Prussian Jaegers – detail added prior to quick shade
This means that they wont technically fit in with my Silesian Prussian regiment but I quite liked the red facings for a change! So they will appear on the wargames table with the Silesians, regardless!
Jaegers based
Once they were painted with quick shade and matt varnished, I started the basing process. I spread Vallejo dark earth mud texture paste on to 20mm square MDF bases and ‘plonked’ the figures into the paste, using a sculpting tool ( a cocktail stick would have been fine!) to draw the paste around the figures bases and blend them in. There is no need to glue the figures to the bases, the paste will hold them securely. It was then just a question of tidying up the edges, painting the bases and adding some scatter and tufts and another six figures are ready for the wargames table.
All based up – just waiting for the tufts!
Not the most ‘loved’ of projects that I have done but sometimes it’s nice just to get another unit off the painting bench, even if that means dropping standards a bit!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
To get full details of the Bingham Napoleonic days, including a list of speakers, click here:
If you want to join us for the wargame, we are there on Saturday only but you are welcome to find us out in the back room and have a chat, may be roll some dice and of course discuss why a batch of Jaeger are in the wrong facings!
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
It’s been two weeks since my last blog but I have been busy – it’s just that I haven’t actually finished anything for myself! I was somewhat diverted by a request from my Granddaughter, Emily. We were tickled pink when she phoned up ( she’s not quite seven yet!) to ask me for some help with her school project. She was learning about wolves and had to make a wolf enclosure – did I have a model of a wolf and could I help? Well, Arcane scenery has the DeeZee range of animals and we have a pack of Dire Wolves that would do nicely. As I had not painted one myself, I thought that I better do a test piece before Emily came over to paint her own version. So above is my first attempt at painting a wolf. I also prepared and primed the other 5 in the pack and then based two of them so that Emily could finish them off.
Emily’s wolves in their new enclosure.
It’s worth pointing out that DeeZee model are not toys and made of metal and not designed for children. However, even at 7, Emily is sensible enough to understand the difference between a model and a toy and will use them as such. When it came to painting the wolves I gave Emily my best brushes and we used ‘proper’ paint. My advise would be that if you would like children to take up the hobby, let them loose with the correct tools for the job and just take the time to explain how to use the tools safely. When it comes to painting, that means how to hold the brush, how to thin the paint and how to clean the brushes in between coats and so on. Mind you, I was told off for licking the brush! It’s a bad habit but the most effective way I know of keeping the point on the brush….
The completed wolf enclosure – the pink pipe cleaners are their food!
Once Emily had painted her two wolves, we made a start on the enclosure itself. It was made to Emily’s specifications using two shoe boxes. My job was to wield the hot glue gun and stick stuff together where directed- I would have let her have a go with the glue gun but Nanny said no! Emily did slap on the PVA glue where needed though! Of course, having access to my stash of scenery made the job a bit easier. We were able to line her two shoe boxes with some off cuts of scenic mats that I had and add some Arcane Scenery trees. We built a ‘den’ using some slate and the pond was just a painted piece of foam board. We used arcane scenery scatter to blend it all in. Emily helped herself to some of my Gamers grass tufts and some twigs and lichen and we had more or less finished. The project took most of Sunday but as ‘Storm Ciara’ was beginning to blow outside, it was a Sunday well spent.
Sabot bases under construction
As for my own projects, well, as I have said, I’ve been busy preparing stuff but have finished very little. I have completed some sabot bases for my War of the Roses command figures. I used the same techniques outlined in in my blog article ‘Painting War of The Roses Artillery’.
The completed command bases
Perrys Light Cavalry
I’ve also assembled and prepared 12 War of the Roses light cavalry. I assembled eight as mounted bowmen (to use as mounted Skirmishers) and the other four as ‘scurrers’ – I could combine these with four of my other heavy horse to make another unit. I’ve got as far as priming six of these light cavalry, but I’ll probably show these in a later blog.
Additional command figures
I’ve also assembled four more command figures – three of which will have standards. I don’t need any more commanders for my army; the extras will allow me to divide my force into two, to allow an extra player to play, if needs be.
Prussian Jaegers primed and ready for painting.
I have a Demo game to prepare for in March. It’s the Bingham Napoleonic days and as usual the NG13 gamers are putting on a display. I actually have enough troops for the demo but decided to add another six Jaeger to my Prussian force. I got as far as priming these before being distracted yet again.
Special project on the go!
It was my birthday last Thursday and I had asked for some additional Perry Miniatures to bulk out my War of The Roses force. I had also asked for the special ‘Richard III Commemorative figure’ that they make. Actually, I asked for two as I have an idea for converting one of them as a standard bearer for the new rules set ‘Never Mind the Billhooks’. So these models have found their way to the top of the painting list. Again, I’ll show the finished models with a bit more detail in a future blog, but as you can see, the horses are about done for now. So lots of modelling but nothing quite finished. That’s the way it seems to go in my hobby!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
My War of the Roses army is approaching completion. I now have most of the infantry that I am likely to need whilst playing our rules set ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’. In fact I can actually muster two small opposing retinues if necessary. There are two gaps in the roster though; Light Cavalry and Artillery. I went for the easy option and started to paint an artillery piece. As usual, my manufacturer of choice is Perry Miniatures and as the rest of my army is made up of Perry Plastics it made sense to continue to use the same source. Of course, other manufacturers figures are available!
Artillery!
It was a straight forward task to file down the flash and casting lines on the pieces. Some of the Metal Perry castings can be troublesome in terms of mold lines and excess metal but this pack was well cast and not a problem. I then undercoated the gun in black primer and the crew in grey primer. To paint the wooden carriage of the gun, I followed the article for painting wood contained in the last issue of ‘Painting War #9 – Holy War’. On the face of it, it seems like a bit of a long winded way of producing a wooden effect but I think that it is well worth the effort and time and I am very pleased with the effect.
WOTR Artillery – first coat of Vallejo Chocolate brown 70872
You start by painting the wooden parts of the carriage in Vallejo Chocolate Brown using the normal painting technique and cover as much of the black undercoat as you can but where possible, leave the black metal barrel of the gun and other metal parts. Next you start to dry brush the carriage using Flat brown. This stage can be done with a fairly heavy dry brush and you will cover most of the Chocolate Brown.
Next heavy coat is flat brown 70984
Now use Flat Earth as your next dry brush coat. This time use a slightly lighter coat and less paint on the brush. You just want to catch the details and grain of the wood. This is followed with Orange Brown. Once again, this is a light dry brush and you are just picking up the highlights.
Added dry brush coats of Flat Earth 70983, Orange Vrown, 70981 and yelow ochre, 70913.
The final dry brush is done with Yellow Ochre. You need to be using a really dry brush and a light touch. I tend to focus just on the edges of the model. The magazine article suggests a further highlight using flesh as the top highlight. I decided that I was happy with the finish that I had and stopped there.
The finished gun. Black re painted – I need to go back over the wheel rims with steel.
I then went back over the barrel and ironware on the cannon with matt black to cover the over brushing that I had made whilst dry brushing. I also then gave the wheel rims a dry brush with gun metal to represent the paint chipping off these due to use. The gun is ready for action.
Gun crew block painted in their black and red livery.
When it came to the crew, I decided on a straight forward red and black scheme for their livery and didn’t get to hung up on the accuracy of this. I just wanted them to match my ‘red faction’ of my retinue. I did consider painting the Gun Captain in a different colour as he would probably be independent of the Lords household, but in the event, went with with the easy solution.
‘sabot’ base under construction
Crew in position – you can see that I’ve painted the crew with quick shade.
On to basing. I created a base that would allow me to remove the crew individually as in the ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ rules, this is how hits on the gun and it’s effectiveness is measured. With each ‘hit’ on the gun, you remove a crew member. So once the crew were mounted on 20mm x 20mm MDF bases, I created ‘sabot spaces’ for them on a larger 80mm x 65mm base. See the picture for details. I used some spare thin strips of wood and MDF to make the frames and super glued them into place. This is a bit lazy, I like to use PVA for gluing wood but I was in a hurry to get the base done. I did pay a small penalty for my idleness. I managed to get super glue over my fingers and as a result, even though dry, I couldn’t use the touch unlock facility on my i-phone as the glue blotted out my finger print!
Base coated in texture paste – Vallejo Dark Earth 26219
Once the base framework was completed, I coated it in Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste and then followed my usual basing method.
WOTR gun completed!
This involves painting the base with my favourite coloured emulsion paint ‘Delhi Bazaar’ – Vallejo is too good to waste on bases! Once dry, it is a case of dry brushing with lighter mix and then adding some scatter and tufts. If you would like to know how to get pots of emulsion to match your Vallejo colours, have a look at my earlier blog here:
So another unit is ready for my Army, next up, the light cavalry, although I suspect that they will take a bit more than a week to complete!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the April edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
It’s been an exciting week for the ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ project. On Tuesday, Andy (Author and rules guru), Pete and myself met with Dan of Wargames Illustrated for a photo shoot for the forthcoming publication of the rules in Wargames Illustrated magazine. Dont worry, it wasn’t us old geezers that Dan was photographing but our WOTR armies. The photos would be used to illustrate the rules and to explain how the mechanics of assembling your army, movement and combat works in the game in detail. The plan is to include ‘Never mind the Bill hooks’ as a separate colour supplement with the April edition of the magazine so you will soon be able to get you hands on a copy of the rules and try it for yourself, if you fancy a bit of WOTR tabletop action.
Two armies on display – not all of these units will fight in the battle!
To give you a flavour of the game, here is a battle report of our game played on Thursday evening. Well actually, it’s two games, but more on that later. Sir Harry Hotspur (Yorkist) and retinue were giving battle to the Lancastrian sympathiser, Lord Bingham and his retinue on Woodborough fields! The Armies were of a similar size but Andy, playing Lord Bingham had randomly generated his retinue from the battle cards, once he had taken his mandatory core force of Bows and Billmen. I had opted for a cunningly designed bespoke retinue that would allow me to try out a different strategy to my usual suicidal charge in the centre…
Sir Harry Hotspurs retinue ready for battle.
On the Yorkist side, Sir Harry Hotspur was commanding two units of Bowmen, supported by a unit of Men at arms. On the right, Sir Eric Diehard commanded a ward of a bowmen and Bill men and on the left wing, Sgt Danny Rose also stood ready with his ward of Bowmen and Bills. The army was supplemented by three groups of skirmishers who are allowed to act independently of the main command. There was one unit each of Bows, Crossbows and Hand gunners.
Lord Binghams Ward
The Lancastrian side took the field with Lord Bingham in command of 2 units of bows supported with two units of billmen. On his left, Sergeant Longacre commanded a unit of Light Horse and to the right Captain Buttercross commanded two units of Bowmen and a unit of Billmen. Again, the Lancastrians were reinforced by three independent units of skirmishers, two of hand gunners and one of Crossbows.
Sgt Longacres light horse
Both armies deployed within 9 inches of the table edge and after dicing for the first turn, the Commanders began to move their units. At the start of the battle, commanders are free to move units alternatively. The Yorkist skirmishers hurried into cover in the woods on the right of the battlefield just as Sgt. Longacre led his light horse in a flanking movement, threatening Sir Eric Diehard. Sgt Longacre had ventured too close to the wood and so the Yorkists skirmishers let loose a well aimed volley of arrows, bringing down two of the light horse men. This first shot signaled the start of the battle and from now, commanders would rely on their card being drawn to activate their units!
The Lancastrians are coming!
On the left wing, Sgt Danny Rose advanced cautiously, supported by a unit of hand gunners. In the centre, Harry Hotspur edged forwards to bring his bowmen to bear against Lord Binghams ward. It was Lord Bingham who took the initiative, moving forwards and unleashing an arrow storm on the Yorkists. The wind was clearly against them and although they caused a number of casualties, the Yorkists were able to weather the storm and launched their men at arms into the fray. The Yorkist men at arms were met by the Lancastrian billmen, who were no match for the fully armoured Men at Arms. Having lost the combat, The Lancastrians then failed their morale check and routed from the table. This meant that the units within command range had to test their morale – Andy’s dice appeared to be cursed and the bulk of his army ran off the table! Game over and victory for the Yorkists!
Take one! Men at arms charge home!
It was only in the post mortem that Andy then remembered that he had a special event card that he had won, that would allow him to protect one of his units with a terrain advantage, causing the charging unit to loose it’s bonuses and fight as ‘disarrayed’….
Take two! Men at Arms charge home – this time disarrayed by the hidden terrain.
As the night was young, we rewound the combat and played on with the card in place. The combat this time was more even, with the Bill men holding the Yorkists – game on!
Sgt Longacres last hurrah!
So with the centre locked in combat, attention turned to the two wings. Sir Eric Diehard was way out of position but cautiously moved around the wood to attempt to come to the aid of Sir Harry. Progress was slowed by the need to protect the archers from the marauding Sgt Longacre and his light horse. Sgt Longacre lost patience and as Sir Eric moved ever closer to the centre, Longacre launched a forlorn charge at the waiting Billmen. It was always going to be a difficult task for the horsemen to break through but my dice were only rolling 6’s – the light horse were wiped out!
Sgt Rose under pressure.
On the left wing, Sgt Rose had suffered an injury and his bowmen were out numbered and taking casualties from the superior force commanded by Captain Buttercross. The unit of bowmen under his command were wiped out to a man by the superior archery of the Lancastrians – the left was looking shakey! Unlike his namesake, Sgt. Rose soldiered on, carrying his injury and thanks to another special event card (only two special event cards are permitted in a game) that caused confusion in the Lancastrian ranks, Rose was able to charge home with his Bill men.
Sgt Rose makes progress against all odds!
The Lancastrian archers were put to flight and the supporting billmen were left in disarray by their retreat. Sgt Rose pressed home his advantage and charged again, his dwindling band of billmen once again locking the enemy into combat.
Trouble in the centre for Lord Bingham!
Back in the centre, the hand to hand combat continued, with the Yorkist men at arms now held. A glimmer of hope arose for the Lancastrians when one of Hotspurs Bowmen units was put to flight, causing two units of Yorkists skirmishers to run off in panic. The victory was short lived, the remaining bowmen on the Yorkist side, although now desperately short of arrows, were able to reduce their opposite number to just four men. In desperation, Long Bingham pulled away from the combat forcing a morale check on his own men so that he could direct the last undamaged unit of bill men to attack the Yorkists archers. The Bowmen managed not only to evade the attack but turned and fired their last arrows into the Bill men. Once again, the dice were kind ( an understatement !) for the Yorkists and they decimated the Lancastrians.
It’s over now!
At last the Yorkist men at arms broke the bill men forcing them to retreat. In one last desperate attempt to win the field, Lord Bingham challenged Hotspur to a duel. A draw ensued and as Eric diehard finally arrived to bolster the centre, Lord Bingham left the field, his army in tatters! Victory for Sir Harry!
As usual, I apologise to my gaming buddies for the one sided account of the battle but in keeping with the chronicles, history is written by the victor and the man with the camera…. By the way, I should point out that the dice were borrowed from Andy and not my own. even I was beginning to think that they were loaded – 10 hits of 5 & 6 from 12 dice is pretty unusual. I wont put into print Andy’s response…
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
As already mentioned, the rules will be available as a full colour supplement with the April edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
This weeks blog is just a progress report on this weeks modelling. I am somewhat consumed by my War of the Roses army but progress is slower than expected, partly because the model of the Mary Rose that I am working on has been a pleasurable diversion from ‘grinding out’ more billmen!
Mary Rose – washed with Strong Tone
As you can see from the picture above, I have used similar techniques to paint the ship as I would one of my figures. I gave the hull a couple of light washes with Army painter Strong tone ink. Once this had dried, I gave the ‘deck’ ( it’s actually a representation of the rope grid that was there to prevent boarders – in the event it is thought that this prevented the crew from escaping when the ship capsized.) a dry brush with Vallejo Old wood, lightened with Iraqui Sand. I also gave the rest of the hull a very light dry drush with the same mix. It was then a case of carefully picking the guns out with matt black.
Mary Rose – Decals added
The next stage was to add the decals. Well, what a fiddly job. It took about three hours in a couple of sessions to get these on. I used the Vallejo Decal Medium and Decal fix to help with this job. There was a reason to do this job over a couple of nights – I was very concerned to make sure that one side of the ship had dried thoroughly before handling it. The decals are so small it would have been easy to unseat them whilst they were drying.
Sails – dry brushed
In between fixing the decals, I went to work on the sails. I dry brushed them with a mix of Army Painter Skeleton bone mixed with white, gradually increasing the white until I was happy with the effect. I then gave the sails a wash of Army Painter soft tone ink mixed 50:50 with the Army Painter mixing medium. The mixing medium helps to dilute the colour and helps the ink to flow over the larger surfaces of the sails. Unlike when thinned with water, it doesn’t pull away from the edges.
Sails – Spars painted
I’ve then painted the spars with Vallejo new wood and it was back to the hull. When fixing the decals I realised that parts of the hull should have been painted white. This would have been easier to do before applying the decals but as I said in a previous blog, I had tended to ignore the instructions and just did my own thing! This particularly applied to the paint scheme. I have broadly followed the picture but where it has suited me, I have used ‘artistic interpretation’ to emphasise details or just to get a nice finish.
Mary Rose – hull about finished.
So with the hull and sails about done, the next stages will involve fixing the sails to the hull, painting the stand and adding the rigging. However, I was happy to pause there as the Billmen on my work bench were glowering at me and demanding that I get back to finishing them!
Bill men ready for basing.
As you can see, I’ve nearly completed another unit, with another 12 underway. My army is approaching completion. To celebrate, I bought a Perry Miniatures Artillery piece…
Artillery!
Once the Bill men are complete, I’ll add this to my army and I am nearly done!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
It doesn’t take much to distract me sometimes. In this case, whilst on an ‘enforced’ shopping trip at Lidl, I spotted that they were selling some Airfix ship kits for just £4.99. A bargain! But could that price be an excuse for me adding another kit to my stash? Well, one of the kits was the Mary Rose and as I am interested in the War of the Roses at the moment, the Mary Rose was close enough to the period to justify my interest – and it would look nice in the display cabinet. So the Mary Rose kit, along with the ‘Victory’ (‘might as well pick it up – it could work with Black Seas… and a tenner for two kits…you cant go wrong.!’) were added to the trolley.
The Mary Rose under construction
Despite the more pressing nature of finishing my WOTR army, I decided to break away and build the Mary Rose kit. I quite enjoyed the change from making Perry’s WOTR bow and bill men and it looks as though Airfix really have upped their game. The kit went together beautifully with the minimum and sanding and no filling. In fact, I became a bit over confident and did the usual bloke thing of straying from the instructions. As a result I missed out a couple of pieces but no matter, nobody will notice…
Mary Rose under coated
Once assembled, I sprayed the main hull with a Leather brown primer and the sails in Skeleton bone.
Mary Rose Sails
I then painted the decking or the deck covering with Vallejo ‘Old Wood’ and then painted the masts with Vallejo New wood. I should point out at this stage, that I had done no research regarding colour scheme, or for that matter, anything else. My only reference was the box art and the painting instructions supplied with the kit. I just fancied building a kit for a change! Incidentally, the kit does include paints, glue and a nice brush, so it’s a lovely little starter kit.
Mary Rose with decking painted.
It was at this point that I realised that I had a play test of ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ looming and I needed to finish off a couple of extra Archer units. So the Mary Rose was pushed to one side and it was back to the Archers!
More arrows please!
In fact I have completed two more units, making 4 Archer units for my army now.
Yet another bowman unit ready for battle!
The ‘red faction’ of my retinue!
So with a photo shoot of my army due, I’d better get on with the Billmen units. I will get back to the Mary Rose, it was fun to just to do something a little bit different during the Christmas break that didn’t require too much thought. But, I will finish the Mary Rose before I start another project – honest…..
Bill men on the work bench.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
As we approach the end of 2019, it’s a good time to reflect on the year and what has been achieved or not. No doubt, there will be plenty in the ‘official’ reviews of the year to keep us entertained, one way or another. Whilst the big things in life often define the year, it’s worth reflecting on the smaller things. My hobby is a case in point. I look back at the models that I have built and painted, the games that I have played and the places that I have visited and by and large, it’s been a very satisfying year.
Life sometimes throws rocks! My attempt at Iron Gates Scenery Trebuchet.
The headlines are that I have added 258 painted figures to my collection; played at least 40 wargames in 8 or 9 different genres; rediscovered my love of board games; participated in two demo games and attended 8 or so wargames shows; and visited at least 6 historical sites. Add to that, the reading and research that I have done and the great company that I have enjoyed, and it’s fair to say that I have had a good year, thoroughly immersed in my hobby. So whilst there have been some ups and downs in both my personal and business life, my hobby has kept me grounded and given me something to look forward to when may be other things were going tit’s up, so to speak.
I wont bore you with everything that I have painted but here’s a few pictures of my favourite projects.
An Officer observes the launch
One of my favourite Vignettes that I built was the Rocket troop from Warlord Games – the horse holder is a conversion.
One of our Demo games – Combat at Foz D’arouce.
We used the superb table built by Pete Harris in two Demo games. Above is the version played at the Bingham Napoleonic Day, below, the game played at the Warlord Games day.
I used my Portuguese for this battle – including my newly painted Portuguese Artillery
Much of the year has been spent working on my War of the Roses Army and play testing Andy Callan’s rules set, ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’.
Six Mounted men at arms -the rules set that we use has units of 8 cavalry.
I very much enjoyed this project as I felt I didn’t have to be too precise with colour schemes but could use my imagination.
One Unit of FootKnights – I have four in the army!
The unit of Pikemen ( Crossbow men in the background) that were completed this year.
I still managed to add to My Napoleonic Army and finished the Highlander battalions that were at Waterloo.
The Black watch completes my Highland contingent at Waterloo.
I rediscovered my enjoyment of board games and found that the modern board games such as ‘Ticket to Ride’ and ‘Settlers of Catan’ were just as enjoyable to play as the classics. However, it was a classic that provided a fun evening for my friends, who had never played Space Crusade!
Space Orks – coming to get you!
When it came to gaming, Black Powder remained a firm favourite although as a pleasant change from Napoleonics, our gaming group has been working through the American Civil war, courtesy of Andy’s ACW army.
Pour it on Boys!
Perhaps the one time when I did over indulge in wargaming was a whole weekend playing back to back games. A fantastic weekend in a superb setting with great company, the highlight being a massive Zulu game!
All is lost! The Zulus have broken through!
As the year closes, I am busily painting away in what ever spare time that I have. My focus is on finishing my War Of The Roses Army but as ever there is plenty to distract me. Whilst I don’t think that I will ever finish my Napoleonics, I will keep adding units as the whim takes me.
The next unit of archers on the workbench
So to close for now, I would like to hope that anyone else in this funny little hobby has as much enjoyment as I do. I wish you all a happy and productive New Year!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Should you wish to see more details of the projects above, just click into my blog using the link at the top of the page or just explore a section using the category headers down the side bar. You can also follow my activities in the hobby by ‘liking’ the Arcane Scenery facebook page. As well as updates on my various projects, you will find information and news of new releases and products as well as our ‘On this day in History’ feature.
If you need help in completing a project of your own we have a massive range of stock in the Arcane Scenery shop. Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are currently available POST FREE from my shop here:
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