Blog – Page 10 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

Prussian Jaeger – Bingham Napoleonic days

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:

BINGHAM NAPOLEONIC DAYS

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

Our range of Warlord Napoleonics can be seen here:

WARLORD NAPOLEONOIC RANGE

You can find the Vallejo texture paste here:

VALLEJO DARK EARTH TEXTURE

You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number or name into the shop search bar;

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy modelling!

Cry Wolf! A workbench round up.

Deezee wolf – test shot.

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

To have a look at the full DeeZee range of Ice Age animals and cavemen, click here:

DEEZEE MINIATURES

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here:

PERRY MINIATURES

Our range of Warlord Napoleonics can be seen here:

WARLORD NAPOLEONOIC RANGE

You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number or name into the shop search bar;

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy modelling!

Painting War Of the Roses Artillery

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 bal;ck and red livery.

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:

DONT JUST DO IT…B&Q IT!

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here:

PERRY MINIATURES

You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number into the shop search bar;

VALLEJO PAINTS

You can find the Vallejo texture paste here:

VALLEJO DARK EARTH TEXTURE

‘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:

WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED

You can find the Painting War magazine here:

PAINTING WAR #9

Happy Modelling!

Never mind the Bill Hooks – New Battle Report

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here:

PERRY MINIATURES

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:

WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED

Happy Modelling!

Work bench update. Mary Rose and Billmen

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here:

PERRY MINIATURES

Happy Modelling!

A bit of Flitting does you good!

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:

ARCANE SCENERY

Perry’s WOTR plastic range are here:

PERRY MINIATURES

Happy Modelling!

Good year – Bad Year?

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 the we use has units of 8 cavalry.

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!

One unit of Pikemen ( Crossbow men in the background)

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!

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Tattershall Castle

The year is fast running out and as always at this time, hobby time is at a premium as preparation for Christmas and the various social and family events move to the fore. I am also busy working on a project for the New Year, which although very much associated with expanding my War Of the Roses Army, has slowed my output. Here’s a preview of the figures that I am working on.

Billmen and Bowmen for new units!

So with little to show you from the work bench I thought that I would reflect on a very pleasant trip that I took in late September to visit Tattershall Castle. Situated in Lincolnshire and now owned by the National Trust, Tattershall Castle is unusual in that it was built of brick rather than stone. It’s less of a Castle in the traditional sense but more of a simple statement of power! The Main tower dominates the flat Lincolnshire countryside making it very clear who was in charge!

Tattershall Castle

Lord Cromwell, Treasure of England in 1433 was mainly responsible for upgrading the castle to an opulent stately home. Although not directly involved in any of the fighting during the Wars of The Roses, Edward IV, Henry VII, Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy and Charles Brandon all owned the castle during this time and through the Tudor period.

The top of the Tower!

The view from the top!

Visiting historical sites such as Tattershall Castle not only helps me to maintain my enthusiasm and interest for my hobby of wargaming but it is a great way of sharing that hobby with the Missus! We both had a lovely day out, with a nice meal in the sunshine and a bit of exercise to walk off the calories consumed! As a bonus, we witnessed a flypast from the Lancaster of the Battle of Britain flight, which is based nearby at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

Yes, that speck in the air is a Lancaster! I was too busy watching to take a better photograph!

To think that I have lived ‘down the road’ from this Castle for over 30 years and somehow neglected to visit it, is a bit of a shame. As we are at time of year when New Years resolutions begin to surface, my first will be to make sure that I spend a few more weekends visiting the many heritage site that surround me. Top of the list will be Bosworth Battlefield! To read more about Tattershall Castle and to visit the National Trust site, just click on the picture below.

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Nevermind the Billhooks!

Pikemen in the process of being based

Last week I said that I would detail how I painted the unit of Pikemen for my army – However, things have moved on! I have been somewhat diverted from my usual painting by the exciting news that Andy Callan’s rules set for the War of the Roses, ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’ is due to be published in the New Year. I’m afraid that I cant reveal further details at this point. I have been asked to produce a simple step by step guide to painting some figures to help to illustrate the Rules set and so this project has taken over the work bench.

English Archers Ready!

I’m by no means a ‘pro painter’ – my focus tends to be on painting units that I will use on the wargames table. The idea isn’t so much as to show people how to paint to a competition standard, just to give some ideas as to how easy it is to muster a retinue to play the game with some reasonably painted figures.

Billmen underway

This has meant that I have had to give a bit more thought and planning my normal painting routine to show the step by step process. The result is to have partly painted figures to do this, so that they can be photographed for the article. As you can see, I decided to show three different figures and how to produce a basic paint job on each to get them ‘table ready’. This meant building four of each figure in near as possible identical poses and working out a step by step painting plan.

Armoured Billmen

I won’t describe that process here – you will have to wait for the article! However, once these figures are photographed – assuming that they are accepted – I can then move on and complete the final units for my War of The Roses Army. Just to finish, Here is a couple pictures of the Army so far, as usual taken on my i-phone. One day, I must take some nice photos with a proper camera!

Harry Hotspurs Army!

Another view of the Retinue

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Pikemen and the Caribbean.

The mixed up title of the blog gives some indication of where my focus is….focus being rather inappropriate for my mind set! That said, quite a good weeks painting for me! I actually finished the unit of Pikemen that were on the work bench and also completed four figures for my Caribbean collection. Believe it or not, there is a tenuous connection between these two projects. First of all a look at the Caribbean figures. They are a relatively new pack issued by Trent Miniatures ‘Revolting Slaves arms blanche CAR04’.

CAR04 painting in progress

To paint them. once the figures were cleaned up, I primed them with army painter Leather Brown spray and started my usual block paint and quick shade method. The flesh was Vallejo Chocolate Brown and the clothing a mixture of Whites, Light browns and greys. One figure, who looks a bit like he could be a leader was given a blue coat.

Car04 block painted

I based (copied…) the colour scheme on the figures used on the web store picture. These figures were painted by the talented Dave Woodward. I very much admire his style of painting and his choice of colours and it was seeing these painted figures in the ‘flesh’ that made me grab a pack!

Car04 painted and ready for basing

Once I had finished the block painting, I painted the figures with Army painter Dark Tone quick shade. You could get similar results with the Dark tone ink but I like the tougher finish of the quick shade. I leave the quick shade to dry for at least 24hours and then paint the figures with a matt varnish. I then repaint some of the lighter colours, particularly the white to give a strong high light. It’s then on to basing, using my usual method of coating the base – in this case 25mm round MDF bases – with Vallejo Dark earth texture paste and simply plonking the figures into the paste. I draw some of the paste up around the figure to blend in the metal base and add some small ballast. The paste is strong enough to hold the figures in place, there is no need to glue them.

CAR04 ready to start the revolution!

Once the texture paste is dry, I use emulsion paint to paint and blend everything in, dry brushing this base coat to bring out the detail. Finally using PVA glue, I add the scatter and then some Gamers Grass tufts to finish everything off. They are now ready for the table.

Pike Block completed

So what is the tenuous connection to War Of the Roses pike men? Well, apart from the fact that I was using similar colours whilst painting and basing my Pike men, I have been enthused by the success of the rules set that Andy Callan has developed for our War of the Roses games. This success has made me dig out my embryonic ‘Conflict in The Caribbean’ rules set and following on from last weeks musings about what my next project will be after the War of the Roses army is complete, I am now resolved to get on and complete the Caribbean Rules set. My next play test should be this Friday. If all goes well, I hope to get the rules published in the new year. So, watch this space!

The plan is that in next weeks blog, I’ll detail how I painted the pike men but hopefully by then I will be onto the next unit. If you would like to see what I am up to I do post updates on the Arcane Scenery Facebook page. Just click like to see these in your Facebook feed.

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What’s on the Workbench – WOTR and Napoleonics

Lets start with what’s off the work bench! I’ve finally finished the battalion of Black Watch Highlanders that I started back in September. It’s taken nearly two months to get these finished and based, although my usual painting routine has been interrupted by a holiday and other domestic events. I have had to do some decorating, although I’m sure that this qualifies as mental cruelty. Some how, gloss painting doors and emulsioning the walls and ceiling of the bathroom doesn’t have the same appeal as painting model soldiers! That said, I have been dragging my heels with this project, so it was good to get them based and in the cabinet ready for the next Napoleonic wargame. Of course I have been working on other projects – WOTR Crossbowmen and the new DeeZee cavemen, so I cant really blame the decorating for the slow turnaround of the Highlanders!

The Black watch completes my Highland contingent at Waterloo.

I will now get back to my growing WOTR army. I have just about enough figures to game using our current big skirmish/small battle rules set, ‘Nevermind the Bill Hooks’. However, I do intend to build the Army to give me a bit more flexibility and the possibility of having enough figures for two players. I have now defined exactly what I need to complete this project. My WOTR army will consist of:

One unit of 12 Archers.

4 units of 12 Archers of which two are finished.

One Unit of War of the Roses Billmen.

4 units of 12 Billmen of which only one is complete.

One Unit of FootKnights

3 Units of 12 Foot knights – all completed – actually it’s unlikely they will ever all be on the table with the army and for the time being, I’m using one of these units as Billmen.

One unit of Pikemen (Crossbow men in the background)

2 units of Pikemen to form a Pike block – one unit completed, the other underway.

Six Mounted men at arms -the rules set that we use has units of 8 cavalry.

1 Unit of 12 mounted men at arms – Completed

1 Unit of 12 Light cavalry – yet to be purchased

The above will be deployed in units of 8’s and as with the Foot knights, I probably will have too many cavalry but will have options!

Unit of Hand gunners

1 unit of 6 hand gunners – completed

Unit of Crossbowmen

2 units of 6 Crossbowmen – Completed

one unit of Skirmishing Archers

1 unit of 6 skirmishing archers – completed

2 Artillery pieces – yet to be purchased.

Once this list is complete, my WOTR project will be more or less complete, although I suspect I will add a few character figures along with some baggage pieces and of course, some scenery. So this gives me about 84 or so figures to paint, plus the artillery.

Pikemen on the painting board

The pikemen are already on the painting table and in order to complete the unit, I’ve had to put a few men at arms with spears and command figures in the block to make up the numbers. It will just about pass though and should look good enough on the table.

So the plan is to complete this army for the end of the year, so that I can start the New Year with a fresh project. Quite what that will be I have yet to decide. I have a Napoleonic Caribbean force to get finished and I have a few Indian wars/AWI models in the lead pile. Perhaps I might finally get on with painting a few tanks for WW2…..

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Painting DeeZee Cavemen

In last weeks blog, I explained how we went about producing the new DeeZee cavemen packs. In this weeks blog, I’ll show how I went about painting them. Painting cavemen was something of a welcome break from the strict colours and details of painting my Napoleonic army. I also wanted to finish them quickly as I needed some pictures for my web store, so I resorted to a ‘batch paint’ job to get the 10 different figures finished in more or less one sitting – fast for me!

Cave men primed!

The first job was to clean up the castings, blutack the figures to their temporary bases and prime them. I used Army painter leather brown spray.

First coat of Dark flesh 70927

I decided to use the Vallejo flesh tones to paint the skin – Vallejo Dark flesh 70927 was applied liberally over the skin! I would be using quick shade at the end of the paining process to shade the models and bring out the detail. If you are not keen on this method, then I would start with a darker flesh tone, possibly a brown.

First dry brush with Basic skin tone

I then dry brushed the figures with Basic skin tone 70815 to get a contrast. With hindsight, another dry brush with 70955 flat flesh before jumping straight to the lighter colour would have helped.

Hair and loin cloth painted

I painted the loin cloths on the figures using orange brown 70981 to represent a basic animal skin. They have all got the same loin cloths – again for speed. I think that it would be fun to add a bit of variety and I will do this on the next batch that I paint! Their hair was painted 70822 German Camouflage black brown – again no variety!

Spears painted

I painted the spear staffs with flat brown 70384, the cuff guards with 70871 leather brown and the detail and bindings with 70914 Green Ochre. I also dry brushed the hair with flat brown ( as the colour was on the pallet!) to give it some detail. The spear heads were painted 70869 Basalt grey.

Strong tone applied

The final details were painted – I highlighted the spears by simply dry brushing with grey with white added, and finished off the very tips with off white 70820. I used off white for the eyes and then used the german black brown to paint the eyes and eye brows. Incidentally, I rarely bother to paint eyes on my wargames figures these days but I have found that using dark brown rather than black for the irises gives a more natural, less harsh appearance. The models were then brushed with Army painter Strong tone (dark brown) quick shade.

Matt varnished and based

Once the quick shade was dry (I leave for at least 24 hours to let it harden), I brushed the figures with matt varnish. As you can see, as well as bringing out the detail the quick shade has left a bit of a ‘dirty’ effect where I was a bit heavy with the paint brush! I decided to leave this, I guess cavemen were more likely to be less fastidious with bathing…

The full tribe – basing in progress

The picture above shows the basing process that I use. You can see that the Shaman is still being painted but I have put him on a 25mm round MDF base, added some Vallejo Dark earth Textured paste and then some small ballast stones from Woodlands scenic. The whole base is then painted and highlighted using my Dehli Bazaar emulsion from B&Q and highlighted by brushing with 70819 Iraqi Sand. I then add Woodland scenic Blended turf and finish off the bases with some gamers grass tufts.

The clan!

So the first batch of cavemen are ready for the gaming table! I will be painting a few more as I will be play testing a rules set that I am writing – but that is for the future!

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Prussian Jaeger – Bingham Napoleonic days

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Cry Wolf! A workbench round up.

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Painting War Of the Roses Artillery

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Never mind the Bill Hooks – New Battle Report

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Work bench update. Mary Rose and Billmen

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A bit of Flitting does you good!

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Good year – Bad Year?

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Tattershall Castle

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Nevermind the Billhooks!

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Pikemen and the Caribbean.

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WARS IN THE CARIBBEAN

What’s on the Workbench – WOTR and Napoleonics

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PERRYS MEDIEVAL RANGE

Painting DeeZee Cavemen

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