Blog – Page 29 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

Prussian Artillery 11 June 2015

Prussian Artillery – Work in Progress

With the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo fast approaching. I’m desperately trying to finish another unit for our ‘Grand Battle’ planned for this Saturday. It’s not going to happen though! I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to do too much and not actually finishing anything that I’ve started.

The ‘Grand Battle’ planned for this Saturday will be our annual tribute to Waterloo. We don’t actually re-fight the battle as such. It’s more a case of that we put as many troops as we can muster on a battlefield that has some similarities to Waterloo. After spending an hour or so admiring the scene and having a chin wag over a cup of tea, we then roll some dice and play a huge game of Black powder. It takes all day, and the result is largely immaterial, but it is great fun and the random results of the dice throwing usually causes some merriment and some good talking points. You can see last years battle report here http://arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk/battle-report-waterloo-2014/

with the need to field more artillery, I thought that I would crack on with my next Prussian unit, a battery of three guns, 6pdrs to be precise, made by the Perry’s. The first task was to do some research as to what colours to paint the guns and the Uniforms of the crew. My usual quick source, the superb Mont St Jean web site gave me this picture to use.

I always use this website as a starting point. That and of course, and the Manufactures’ own painted examples. You can be fairly confident that they have done their research when producing the models and the pro painters will be following their own research. I also consult my collection of Osprey books and various other references that I have and then finish off with a trawl through the internet – google images is a good source! By the time I have done all of this, I have a picture in my mind as to how I want the figures to look. The are always discrepancies and contradictions in the material. For example, I have found pictures showing the short sword scabbard in both brown and black. And the blanket covers & straps in both dark grey and leather. At the end of my research, I just make a decision as to what I think will look the best for me, no doubt to the horror of some purists!

So onto painting! The guns were painted in Vallejo Prussian Blue, with the ironwork in black and the gun barrels in brass. The crew in Vallejo Dark Prussian blue jackets, Neutral Grey trousers, Black Grey gaiters, red turn backs & facings, Black collars, cuffs & boots, much as the picture above. The first gun and crew are now almost finished, the the other two not far behind but they are not going to be ready for Saturday!

Prussian Artillery – nearly complete!

Prussian Artillery Battery – still much to do!

I could possibly rush them, but in reality I know that I have at least three more ‘sessions’ to go before they are ready for the battlefield. Even the first gun will need a final highlight & tidy up, and then there’s the basing. Rather than cut corners, I’ll wait – they will be ready for next year! What really caused the problem was that I was diverted and panicked into trying to finish another project that has been sat around on the bench – Papelotte Farm! Talk about biting off more than you can chew! I started to paint this as well and again, it is nowhere near finished….

Papelotte Farm – Under construction!

It will end up on the table – even in this state it will be OK but it’s not quite what I had in mind. And just to show how I have engineered my own failure, whilst preparing the Prussians I decided that it would be a good idea to get this Field forge ready for painting…

Never mind, at least the Cavalry are now finished and ready for battle!

Prussian Cavalry ready for battle!

Black Powder for Club Nights

Playing Black Powder with Napoleonic figures continues to be my obsession, with no sign of ‘game fatigue’ appearing. I still play at least once a fortnight at the club, only recently having a break every other week to play Muskets and Tomahawks. The other guys at the club are quite amused at our adherence to this rule set and period and we are now known collectively as the ‘Black Powder’ lot! That said, our ‘gang’ is growing and whereas it used to be just two of us slugging it out over a table, there are now at least six ‘hardcore’ members of the sub club, so to speak, with a few more that are happy to join in and even more that come over to check our battle progress during the evening.

So whats the secret that keeps us locked into this rules set. Well, read the opening line of this blog. We are well aware that we are playing a rules set with Napoleonic figures and we are not too hung up on how realistic the rules may or may not be, we just know that we will have a fun game. Of course, there is a nod in the direction of historical realism, but thats all. When ever we play there will always be a talking point about what may or may not be realistic. Our current debate concerns the use of Howitzers and the limitation on the effectiveness of these guns at close range. The rules say that you cannot fire on an enemy that has closed within 6 inches of a Howitzer, which pretty much implies that you have no closing fire option. It also prevents you from firing canister into Squares at close range.

Is this historically accurate? Probably not, but I don’t think it matters too much when playing a table top game. The rules are clear, and you take a howitzer in your ‘army’ knowing those limitations. Of course there are benefits in the game for Howitzers and when you put your army list together, you take the rough with the smooth. That’s not to say we haven’t modified some of the Black Powder Rules to suit our style of gaming. The two Napoleonic Supplements, Albion Triumphant 1 & 2, introduced some new rules and ideas, some of which we have adapted, some not. The beauty of Black Powder is that it allows this, provided everyone is clear at the start of the game.

For anyone that is interested, here’s the points system and a few of the rules modifications that we use for our club night. They are designed to allow us to play a reasonable game on a 6 foot by 4 foot table in an evening or a couple of hours.

The 30 Point System

Level 8 Commanders are free. +1 point for each addition level (Max 10)

Regular Line Infantry = 2 points

Regular Light Infantry = 2.5 points

Militia, Conscripts, Reserves = 1.5 points [Cannot be upgraded]

Foot Artillery ( 1 Cannon = Battery) = 1.5 points [No half Batteries]

Horse Artillery ( 1 Cannon = Battery) = 1.5 points [No half Batteries]

Regular Heavy and Lancer Cavalry = 2.5 points

Regular Light Cavalry = 2 points

Vetran Status = + 0.5 points

Elite Status = + 0.5 points

Rifles = + 0.5 point

Old Guard = + 0.5 points in addition to Veteran and Elite Status cost

Large units = + 0.5 points

Small units = – 0.5 points

Tiny units = – 1 point

Unit Sizes

Standard Infantry = 12 to 16 figures

Small Infantry = 8 figures

Tiny Infantry = 4 figures

Standard Cavalry = 6 figures

Small Cavalry = 4 Figures

Tiny Cavalry = Not Permitted

Unit Restrictions (Maximums)

Rifle Units = 9 points

Old Guard Units = 9 points

Lancer Cavalry = 9 points

Regular Light Infantry = 15 points

Notes:

Small and Tiny units cannot constitute more than 25% of a brigade and do not count towards the Brigade’s morale.

Infantry brigades must have a minimum of three infantry units and Cavalry a minimum of two units in addition to any Artillery.

Mixed Brigades must have a minimum of two Infantry units.

Brigades and Army break on greater than 50% loss

Cavalry may retire in the movement phase when disordered.

Mixed Order Columns do not benefit from a column save bonus if you are shooting at the skirmishers or from artillery fire.

French Columns do not benefit from Pas de Charge – they already have a bonus from being in column.

British first fire only applies if you have not moved more than once during the orders phase.

British troops fight in line and do not form column

Now I guess that there will be a few dissenters out there with regards to these amendments but don’t worry, they are not official and you will only be asked to use them if you join us at the White Hart…. In the meantime, I can only hope that other gamers enjoy Black Powder as much as we do.

Prepare for Battle!

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry 28th May 2015

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry – Nearly finished!

It’s been a slow week or so for painting but at last, my Prussian Landwehr Cavalry unit is nearly ready to leave the work bench. As you can see, the command group is just about finished, with just the bases to highlight and detail. I’ll finish these off with a quick dry brush with an Iraqi Sand and Chocolate brown mix, and then a final highlight with pure Iraqi Sand. Once that is dry, I’ll add the Static grass ( I prefer the flowered field mix) and then my usual mix of grass tufts & flowers. I find that a bit of colour on the base will tend to lift the figures, particularly when they have a dark uniform. It will also unify the army if the basing is similar.

Prussian Landwehr Command Group

I’m quite pleased with the way that the horses have worked out – see my last blog post for details of the paint ‘recipes’ used. I’ll have a last look over the figures as I base them to decide whether to add any further highlights. It’s always difficult to know when a unit is really finished. There’s always a compromise between producing my best possible finish or moving on to the next unit. Do I spend another session adding a few more highlights to the uniforms and a bit more ink to add shadows to some of the equipment or do I just get them on the table?

Regardless of the above question, the final job will be to add the lances and pennants and the flag for the unit. I have these ready to go, you can just make out the first two Lances added to the figures in the background and it will be another evening session, to finish that job – so these boys are about two evenings away from the war games table…

Close up of the Trumpeter

Actually, there is one other job to do before they are ‘table ready’ and that is to make the movement trays. I could use a ready cut MDF tray but will probably make my own as I have a different style that I prefer to use rather than a normal tray. It’s a straight forward job and I think I’ll show how I do this in another blog post.

So my Prussian brigade now consists of 2 Battalions of Regular Infantry, 2 Battalions of Landwehr Infantry, a Command base and a Regiment of Landwehr Cavalry, all in Silesian colours, making a total of 110 men and 14 horses painted. Next up, some Artillery – now can I get them finished for the 13th June, the date of our next big battle…..

Painting Horses – Prussian Landwehr Cavalry

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry – Work in Progress

I guess that you can make painting horses as easy or as difficult as you like, from just a brown coat to the more complex spotted greys. I have tried quite a few of the different techniques over the years but I’ve been trying to improve my results to make the horses look a bit more interesting without spending too long on each horse. It’s also been a good way of practicing highlighting and shading, without relying on Quickshade or Inks.

There are two techniques that I’ve been trying with this latest batch of horses. Both are very similar and both are based on using the three colour; shade, main coat , highlight technique that the professionals, such as Kevin Dallimore use to such good effect. Lets be clear, I’m a long way from that standard and I’m still set on producing regiments for wargaming rather than high quality figures for photography. However, practice makes perfect, as they say, and learning a particular style will help me speed up my painting process.

If any one is interested in seeing a master class in how to paint horses using this method, then I recommend this youtube video by Toby of Art Master studios – it’s an hour and a half of watching paint dry but still better than 90% of the stuff on TV these days! There are some great ideas here and I’ll just summarise them, as much for my own reference, although I hope that it will be useful for other wargamers.

First choose your colour pallet for your horse – using three colours will allow you to get variation on horses, even when using the same colours on a batch of horses. Here’s a few of my favourite recipes using Vallejo paints! All of them are used over a black undercoat.

For Browns: German Cam. Black Brown,70892, Flat Brown,70894, Orange brown 70891 or Mahogany Brown 70846. Be careful with the mahaogany brown, it is quite red and adding white to it will make your horse look pink so if you want to lighten it, use a Light brown, 70929. Another useful combination is Chocolate Brown 70872, Flat Brown,70984, Cork Brown 70843.

For a light brown or cream horse, try Flat earth 70983. Cork Brown 843 and Green Ochre 70914. Or try gold brown, 70877 as the mid colour.

For black horses, use Black 70950, Black Grey, 70862, and highlight sparingly with light grey,70990.

For Grey horses, Dark grey 70984, Neutral Grey 70992, Light grey 70990.

And for White horses ( still Grey really!) Light Grey 70990, Sliver grey, 70883 and Off White 70820.

So that’s the horses body done. I stress that these are just some of my paint combo’s that I have tried. There are plenty more out there but using three colours in combination will give you plenty of variety. I mentioned that I was trying two techniques when painting. The first one is to carefully paint one colour over the other building up the highlights by picking out the muscles on the horse. This is the most time consuming and if done well gives superb results. The other method is to use a dry brush technique with the the colours. This is much faster and the results are still pretty good but you will need to go back over the harnesses etc as the paint will cover them if this method is used.

Prussian Landwehr Lancer on Brown horse

Next up, is the detail on the horses. The obvious ones are the mane & tail. You can either paint these in the same colour as the body of the horse or use black or green ochre to give variation. On the Cream horses, Biege 70917 looks good and on the greys, either a dark grey or white mane & tail looks fine. As these areas tend to have more texture, using an ink and then dry brushing with a light shade or even white will really bring the detail out.

The next area to look at are the legs – painting white or black ‘socks’ on one, two, three or four legs is fine and will give variation in your regiment. Finish off the legs with the hooves. I paint them either black or a dark brown, it just tidies them up. You can also paint the horse shoes in steel if they are showing but it’s something that I tend to leave as a detail too far – besides , my thought is that they will be covered in mud…..

The last thing that I paint is the head. Again, a bit of variation here can make all the difference. I usually paint a white ‘blaze’ on the horses head. You can leave the muzzle the same colour as the horse or paint it black, dark grey or even a dark flesh colour. The eyes are painted black, although I will sometime use gloss black for this to get a shine.

The final bit is to paint the horse furniture and that is dependant on your Regiment and an article for another time. I have mentioned variation in horse quite a bit. Some of the elite cavalry regiments would of course ensure that the opposite was true. For example, the Household cavalry would be mounted on all black horses but I think that other regiments were less fussy and of course when on campaign or in battle, so long as the horse had four legs, it would do!

Work in progress – light brown horse

The pictures in the article show my latest regiment, Prussian Landwehr Lancers. As you can see they are yet to be finished, with some based with riders & some still not quite painted fully and none of them with their lances yet! I tend to paint horses in batches of three using one colour combo and then finish with the command group. As the trumpeter usually rode a grey and the officer would have had his own ‘posher’ horse, I leave these until last of all. Once they are all painted, I’ll go back over them all adding a few last quick highlights, correcting any obvious paint errors and of course detailing the bases with a few tufts and flowers.

So that’s my take on painting horses – Cheers!

The latest resident in Little Bingham – just the basing to finish!

Small is beautiful!

The setting for the Show was somewhat rural!

Having recently attended the largest Wargames show in the UK, Salute at Excel, this Sunday gone, I went to probably the smallest, at Owthorpe village hall, Notts. The show is hosted by Shaun Mclaughlin, who is well known for running the Wargames bunker holiday home. The show was themed as the Last of the Mohicans but it is worth having a quick look at the event page on face book to get an idea as to what was there.

There were lots of bargains!

The beauty of this event was its size. I have found recently that the larger events are great but it is difficult to settle at a stand or game to have a chat without feeling that I was in the way of somebody else. No such problem here. There was one large Demo game – a last of the Mohicans scenario, beautifully constructed with hundreds of miniatures and a fantastic scenic board as the centre piece.

The British Evacuate the Fort!

There’s more Indians coming!

Supporting this were a few other games. A science fiction game with a very nice Thunderbird two at the centre!

Thunderbirds are Go!

The other game to catch my attention was a Dead Mans Hand participation game run by James Woodward from my local club. James had taken the Bushwackers and Jayhawkers scenario from Wargames Illustrated 320. Once again, there was a superb table to play on with all the figures provided so it would have been a shame not to join in! I actually played twice, completing the opening scene and second scene from ‘Ride with the Devil’. The games were played at a leisurely pace, as befitted a relaxed sunday morning, with plenty of banter from the spectators and much amusement at my ‘demise’ in both games. The photo below sums up my performance in the game…

The last man standing was about to meet his maker!

And so on to the trade stands. I won’t list them all but I must mention the ‘Galloping Majors’ stand. This company specialises in the French Indian Wars and AWI periods and has a delightful range to support these periods. The owner, Lance, was happy to spend time explaining the differences between the various Indians tribes involved in the conflicts and was clearly an expert in this area. I came away with my first pack of Indians ( Mohawks) and an enthusiasm for a new period….It looks as though I will be painting an army for the Muskets and Tomahawks rules after all.

The Galloping Majors Indians – coming soon to my work bench!

So all in all, a morning well spent! A couple of games of Deadmans Hand (I’ll be painting cowboys for this game as well it just plays too well to not have it as an option!), a few extra figures from the bargains stand for the lead mountain and a lovely pack of Indians that I will be painting sooner rather than later. Of course, the coffee, Kit Kat and conversation were pretty good as well. There’s a lot to be said for the smaller show and I’ll be going again!

Scenarios for Black Powder

The Guards line up ready for battle!

In an ideal world, where we all have plenty of time and unlimited resources for our hobby, we could spend hours re -enacting all the battles of the Napoleonic era, exploring the ‘what if’s’ and ‘if onlys’ of history on accurate terrain boards, with all the right troops in all the right uniforms! It would be the ‘Carlesberg wargaming club’. However, for me the reality is that I get to the club once a week on a Thursday evening and we fight a battle that lasts for about 2 hours using the troops that I have to hand with a rules system ( Black Powder) that allows an easy flow to the game on a gaming cloth with a few pieces of terrain to make it look pretty. Sure, once in a while we get to play the ‘mega’ battle on a posh table with special scenario rules and the correct force but that this is a rare exception in my gaming calender.

The real problem is that there is a tendency to just line our armies up on the table and try and win the game by breaking more of the enemies units than he breaks of yours. OK, it’s still good fun but it can get a bit repetitive. So we were looking for a quick fix to make our games a little bit different and to start to introduce a bit of narrative into the games – this is the ‘back of a fag packet’ ( in our case more likely to be the back of a crisp packet….) solution.

The Line Advances!

We quickly came up with a list of 6 simple scenarios and before our game we roll a dice to decide which scenario we will play. The exception being of course, when the same one has come up and every one groans ‘we played that last time’ – just roll again and let the dice decide. Here is the list that we are using at the moment. The intention of course is to add to them, rolling a D10 or D20 would be even more interesting!

Scenario 1 – The River

The battle is fought on a table with a river running across it. We use strips of painted paper to represent the river. It’s not the quality of scenery that you would find in Wargames Illustrated but quite adequate for a club battle. The river sections are about 12 inches long and we place a dice on each section. As a unit attempts to cross the section of river, roll the dice. On a 1 to 3 the unit will become disordered as it crosses. A roll of 4 to 6 means that the unit crosses safely. These are just our basic river rules – we have quite a few variations but these simple rules add another dimension to the game and will give commanders something else to think about when planning their battle.

Scenario 2 – One of your brigades is late!

Just pick a brigade on each side and roll a dice. The dice roll indicates on which turn ( 1 to 6 ) it arrives in your deployment zone. A variation on this scenario is to test each brigade in the army. Roll for each brigade, on a 1 or 2 ( or whatever you deem appropriate) the brigade is late. Then roll to see when the late brigades arrive. Great for players with Prussian armies…..

Scenario 3 – Flank March

The two opponents roll a dice. The winner will get the flank march option and can choose a brigade that will deploy on one of the side table edges. Roll a dice to decide which on turn ( if it’s turn 6 it can be tricky…) your brigade will arrive. When the turn arrives for deployment, roll a dice. On a 1-3 you can deploy on your left flank, 4 -6 it’s your right flank. We allow deployment anywhere on the side of the table so beware – you may have an enemy brigade that is effectively deploying in your rear!

Scenario 4 – Off Table Deployment

Both armies start off the table. Before any orders are given to a unit, roll a dice. In the first turn, on a roll of 5 or 6 you may place the unit in your deployment zone on the table and issue it with an order as usual. On this first move, movement is reduce by one order. In other words the maximum that you can move is two ‘orders worth’ of movement. You can apply the rule to individual units or brigades or a mixture of both. After that, movement is as per normal Black powder rules. On turn two, the dice required to deploy is reduced to 4,5 or 6. Turn three, you need 3 to 6, turn 4 you will need 2 to 6 and this stays in place so if you throw a one in turn 5 your brigade still will not arrive! It happens and can be quite frustrating. We rename those units as the Grouchy Brigades…

Scenario 5 – Capture the Flag!

A simple objective is placed in each half of the table. The objective is to capture the opponents objective whilst protecting your own.

Senario 6 -Pitched battle

Straight forward enough – back to the usual set up in deployment zones and beat the enemy. You can give this a bit more flavour by altering deployment zones rather than just lining up along the back of the table.

The other interesting variation is how to place the scenery. Rolling a dice for this is a good idea but we just tend to take it in turns to set the table out each week. We have had some interesting results when we have asked a non participant player from the club to set out the scenery though!

Stopped by the Cavalry!

The scenarios have certainly thrown out some interesting games. The pictures that I have used for this blog article are from our game last week where I had the Flank March. I thought that I would easily pin my opponent and out flank him with an extra brigade of three battalions of Infantry. As it turned out he held those battalions in check with his cavalry and after forcing them into square, proceeded to pound them with his artillery. I was then forced into trying to rescue my flank and more Battalions were drawn out of position and the army was eventually broken as they were pushed into square as well and shaken by artillery fire. It was the most effective use of cavalry in a Black powder game that I have seen and despite the musket fire that the cavalry were facing, by clever use of rotating the cavalry and rallying them it was the infantry that broke first!

The Flank is in Trouble!

Muskets and Machetes!

I’ve been blathering on about my Carribean force for sometime now but have yet to use it on the field of battle. There have been two problems; one, the lack of a rules set and more importantly, the lack of an opponent! I started to collect and paint the Trent Miniatures Caribbean figures because I thought they were superb models. The sculpting is of high quality with some really characterful models in the range. Add to that, the uniforms look pretty good and there is plenty of scope for all sorts of variety when putting together a force. The theatre of action, the Caribbean islands in the late 18th Century provides plenty of scope for all sorts of battles, from small scale skirmishes to full on battles, naval landings and sieges. And of course the scenery will be interesting – anything from Plantations to Jungles.

The History of the region is also fascinating, if somewhat poorly documented. As well as the fighting between the ‘Super powers’ of Britain, France & Spain, there were multiple slave uprisings, none more successful than Haiti, the former French Colony of Saint Domingue. Indeed this uprising resulted in the independence of Haiti, which was the first Caribbean nation to gain independence from European powers in 1804. Under the leadership of Toussaint l’Ouverture ( sometimes referred to as the Black Napoleon), the former slaves defeated the French army (twice), the Spanish army, and the British army, before becoming the world’s first and oldest black republic, and also the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere after the United States. This is additionally notable as being the only successful slave uprising in history.

So, with all this fascinating background, a superb range of figures, never mind the possibility of adding in Voodoo, Zombies and Pirates, it’s a mystery to me as to why there isn’t a rules set for the period!

Well, as usual, the answer was right in front of me. There is a superb rules set by the very talented Alex Buchel of Studio Tomahawk called ‘Muskets and Tomahawks’ for skirmishes in North America during the 18th Century. I could see immediately that it would be very straight forward to transpose the Caribbean forces over the North American Forces in the rules set and I could use my figures on the wargames table! Luckily there are a few players at my local wargames club that play M & T’s, so I asked one of them, John Grant (or Nice John as he is known locally!) if he would take me through the rules with a practice game. John has a terrific set up with plenty of scenery and AWI figures, so the game was great fun and confirmed my impression that the rules set would transpose to the Caribbean. The next step was to ask if I could use my Caribbean force in a game!

60th Rifles prepare to fire!

John was happy to oblige, and so my 60th Rifles became British Light infantry ( actually, not much of a change here! The 60th were after all founded in America…) The Black regiments became Militia and the freed slaves were used as Indians. Although this was our first ‘rough fit’ as we played through the game it became clear that we would perhaps modify some of the rules to reflect conditions in the Caribbean. So for example, the freed slaves or Maroons were given the ‘blood thirsty’ rule in combat and their shooting ability down graded accordingly. There was some debate as to the quality of the Black regiments and whether they should be re classified as normal infantry or have the same stats as ‘ Compagnies de la Marine’ from the French Army.

The Black Chasseurs advance!

It’s fair to say that it is early days before we get to a rules modification that suits this period but for the time being, it’s a close enough fit and I hope that over the next year or so, I can produce a stat’s board for the Caribbean and the correct cards to match. I see that Wargames Illustrated are giving away a free figure of Toussaint l’Ouverture at Historicon this year so there is obviously interest in the period – who knows, perhaps they can be persuaded to do a supplement…

Pikemen, Prussians and Pterodactyls

It’s been one of those weeks when life has got in the way of my hobby! So I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I would like to have done with my various painting projects. The result is that nothing is actually been finished although things have moved on. One of the benefits of having a dedicated hobby area means that if I have just a spare five minutes, I can do a little bit here and there – add some static grass to a base, undercoat a figure even slap some paint on!

Perry Pikemen

So the six Pike men for my Wars of The Roses army are very close to being finished, just a bit of extra detail needed for the bases – a few tufts & flowers! the plan is to have at least one unit of 12 pike men for my army, probably two, but as the next Lion Rampant Day is not until September there is no rush to complete the unit. I have a box of the plastic Perry Mercenaries and the plan is to make two blocks of Pikes, a small unit of mercenary Crossbow men and the remainder as hand gunners.

I also started on my Prussian Landwehr Cavalry. There will be 12 in the unit and they are all prepared & undercoated and I am painting the horse in batches of threes. Here the first batch nearly complete. The difficulty I have had with this unit has been trying to find details of the uniform. The figures are from foundry and whilst they are very nice, they seem to have different head gear to my Mont St Jean Reference:

CavLandwehrSilesie01

Just to add to my confusion the detail on the sheepskin saddle cloth is showing as a Yellow trim ( makes sense if they are Silesian) but other pictures and references give the colour as Red regardless. In fact the reference material for Landwehr Cavalry is thin and as usual contradictory. I think that I will have to overcome any ‘button counting’ tendencies and go for what I think looks best – in this case yellow trim to match the yellow facings! So here is the progress so far:

2015-04-16 09.34.30

As you can see, still plenty to do!

Pterodactyls

Finally, the Pterodactyls are nearly completed! This is all part of my project to get one of each of the DeeZee codes done. The pterodactyls are certainly straight forward to paint but detailing them is a challenge that is beyond my eyesight & patience these days! I just gave them a spray on top with dark green & a spray underneath with light green. Then a quick couple of dry brushes to try & bring out the detail, followed by a brown wash. They are mounted on a 25mm MDF base using thin wire. The final stage is to detail the bases and I may have a go at painting the eyes……They are only 15mm or so wingspan so no one is ever going to look that closely but as a group of 10 they look quite impressive and will add chacter to a model.

It’s All About the Base……

Bases, Faces and Flags – these are the key areas for ensuring that your war gaming figures look the best on the table top according to top commission painter Dave Woodward. Well, I’m a great believer in the first and last of these but painting faces on my rank and file troops is not really going to happen. I’m afraid that I rely on a quick wash or shade over a basic flesh coat and that is about as far as it goes for the troops. I will spend a bit more time on the officers and characters and add a bit of a highlight to the nose & cheek bones – I’ll even attempt to paint the eyes, although as often as not my figures look as though they should definitely go to spec savers….

Foward with the Colours!

As for the flags, it goes without saying that if you can add these, your unit will certainly stand out on the table. Part of the attraction of painting Napoleonic troops is the flags and with so many good suppliers out there – the Flag Dude and GMB designs, to name but two – it’s a shame not to ensure that your unit has a flag or two!

Sir Stapleton Cotton – a bit of a Dandy!

So for me, it’s all about the bases. And so we enter another realm of controversy or taste… If you are in the Dan Faulconbridge (Wargames Illustrated) school of basing you will like a straight forward non fussy finish. This view is based on the notion that the figures should blend into the table top – it makes for better pictures don’t you know! I tend to prefer a nice bit of vegetation on my bases – I cant resist adding a few clumps of flowers! It does mean that my units have to drag the scenery around the table and my opponents usually ask where the park keeper is, but I like to amuse! There is also the matter of what colour to paint the base sides. Leaving them black used to be the fashion, then the there is the green edge following, whereas I prefer a brown edge to my bases.

The Prussian advance was halted when the Park keeper shouted ‘get off them flowers!’…

Whatever your taste, I think the guiding rule on bases really is to ensure that you stay consistent with your army and that it really is worth a bit of time spent on finishing your bases off with a bit of detail. One last tip, I have spent ages trying to blend figures onto bases and I have ‘discovered’ the product that I find easiest to use is the Vallejo Grey Pumice paste or the coloured textured pastes from the same Company.

Grey Pumice

I’m working my way through a pot of Desert Sand at the moment. It’s really easy to apply and will ensure that your figures blend nicely onto the bases without an obvious ‘edge’ showing. The textured paste will take a coat of paint with out undercoating and a quick dry brush will enhance the detail. I still prefer to add sand or a scatter and just use the paste to blend the figures on to their bases. Here’s my next batch of figures on the work bench. The pikemen just need the bases finishing and they are ready for the table. The Prussian Cavalry need a bit more work!

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Glyptodon and Mammoth clear the work bench!

As we go into the Easter break it seemed appropriate to paint something vaguely egg shaped and as the Glyptodon had been sitting forlornly on the work bench in just an undercoat I decided his time had come!

He is nicknamed the ‘kinder egg’ by the Arcane team due to his rotund shape but there’s plenty of detail in the casting that can be brought to life with a bit of dry brushing. I had hinted that I would use an airbrush to finish him but that will be a project for another day. I have put off buying an airbrush for now. Although I can see that it will be invaluable when painting Tanks and larger subjects like Mr Glypto, I am not quite in the right frame of mind to learn a whole new skill, particularly when I am still learning to paint with a brush! That said, I am of a mind to jump in to this mysterious world and who knows, I might just treat myself for Easter…..

Anyway, I digress, back to painting the Glyptodon. I had a quick look on Google for some inspiration and colour schemes and was pleasantly surprised at how many pictures there were! In the end, I went for a fairly safe option using a variety of browns in various combinations. To be specific, Vallejo light brown 70929, Flat brown 70984, Chocolate brown 70872 and to lighten them, Iraqi Sand 70819.

DeeZee Glyptodon

There was a slight problem when I started to paint. I had failed to follow my own advice and I had not washed the model before priming. The result was that the primer had started to flake off due to the release agent still on the casting. I confess, I was too lazy and impatient to start again, so I re primed the model with Model Mates Light grey primer. I have started to use this brand more often recently in favour of my usual Army Painter primer. It seems to be a much more effective primer and in this case, solved the flaking problem. However, lesson learnt, next time I will wash a resin model before painting! For the sake of 5 minutes, it will save time and heart ache in the long term!

So back to painting. The shell was done in the flat brown and then dry brushed with a couple of coats of the flat brown & light brown mixed. The fur was done with light brown, dry brushed with light brown and Iraqi sand. I picked the detail out around the shell with Iraqi sand and then I then gave it all a wash over using a dark tone ink. As with all these things, you have to fiddle around until you get the general effect that you are looking for and even now, I’m not sure whether to go back and add another lighter coat to the shell. The next task was to pick out his eyes, nose using black & claws using ivory and to paint some of the detail on the base. I then mounted him onto a renedra base and blended the model to the base using Vallejo Desert sand paste. If you haven’t tried these pastes from Vallejo, give them a go – they are superb for basing and once dry you can paint straight over the paste as there is sufficient texture. I like to add sand to give even more detail.

Glyptodon painted – working on the base

I finished off the base by adding some detail to the rocks, painted the tree stump and painted the grass and of course the sand. This was all done using virtually the same pallet of Chocolate Brown and Iraqi Sand, with plenty of dry brushing of lighter combinations of these colours – the final dry brush was done with some white added in. To finish off, I added some Static grass and of course a few clumps of flowers! I’m reasonably happy with the result for now – as I said, I may add a final lighter coat to his shell but he’s off to the cabinet.

The finished Glyptodon!

I often find that it’s difficult to know when a model is finished so sometimes it’s best to put it to one side and then have a look after a week or so. If I’m still not happy then I might try a bit of retouching. This was the case with the baby mammoth. I just wasn’t happy with the way he looked, so he has sat on the paint table whilst I decided what to do. In the end it was a case of cutting down his tusks – they were too big even for a baby Mammoth – and giving him another even lighter dry brush to add detail & adding some ink to bring out the shadows. I also gave him a snowy base with some frosted tufts. I’m still not entirely happy but he is looking better for now. Perhaps I’ll have a go at another one – I have a diorama in mind that involves a nasty Sabre tooth……

DeeZee Mammoth Calf

Little Bingham Population Explosion!

Little Bingham is the name of the Town that occupies my war games table when it is not being used for war gaming. To be fair this is most of the time – I get my ‘fix’ at the local club, The White Hart Gamers, every week almost without fail. So the table is more like an over-sized diorama that doubles as a photo back drop as well as a reserve work bench!

In the last work bench post I hinted that I was a bit fatigued with painting red coats so I decided to have a sort of a break from painting Regiments and picked a few bits from my ‘stock’ of unpainted figures. In the last week I managed to paint four new occupants of Little Bingham, all female, and here they are:

Fetching the water!

Milk Maid!

Feeding the Geese!

The final figure is part of a mini diorama that I am slowly making. It’s an army encampment that will be part of ‘Little Bingham’. The tents are by Renedra and the figure is an spare one – a Frontline, I think.

Comforting her son!

As well as these civilians, I also finished the Black Sapper for my Caribbean contingient. Apparently there will be a Caribbean Game at Salute this year and Wargames Illustrated Magazine will be giving away a Toussaint Louverture figure, so I may yet get to use my Caribbean force in battle soon. I based the colour scheme for this figure on an Osprey print of a Chasseur Pioneer of Saint Dominque.

Chasseur Pioneer St. Dominque 1797 ish!

Finally, I managed to paint two mounted officers for my Sixth Division at Waterloo – they will be seconded to the lead Hanoverians into battle. I’ve yet to finish the horses, so these are the next models to be finished. Although I’ve only painted seven figures over the last couple of weeks, I’m still pleased with my progress and I have been busily preparing and priming the next batch of figures for painting.

Mounted Officers – work in progress.

So that’s it for this week. The only other thing that springs to mind is that I must apologise for the quality of the pictures. They are taken with my i-phone and it is all to easy to take a quick picture with my phone rather than set up a proper shoot. It’s something that I need to address, but for now I suppose a bad picture is better than none at all!

The Imperial War Museum North

On Sunday 15th, I was up in Manchester (Old Trafford, to be precise) to watch Tottenham play Man Utd and rather than just visit the Theatre of Dreams, ( or on this particular day, Theatre of nightmares – Tottenham lost 3-0!), I made a day of it and visited the Imperial War Museum North.

The good news is that admission to the museum is free, although you are encouraged to buy a souvenir guide book for £5.00. To be fair, it is well worth doing, as the guide is beautifully produced. The building itself is spectacular and the setting in Salford Keys is also superb. There are plenty of iconic buildings around and for those interested, the museum is right next to the Coronation Street Studios. For an even better view of the area , you can ride in a lift to a viewing platform at the top of the museum, a trip worth taking.

The museum itself is thoughtfully designed with plenty of space. The restaurant/cafeteria is well placed with lovely views over Salford Keys. There is a high Graphic/pictorial content to most of the exhibits and whilst this is very well done, I felt that it was too much so in places. The Museum tells the story of War in the Twentieth Century and in this respect does a good job for the casual historian, particularly for children. The exhibits are quite First World War ‘heavy’ – understandable, given it is the Centenary of this conflict. However, this means that other conflicts are very much overlooked. For example, I could only see one small reference to the Falklands War, in an Argentinian News paper that was on display.

Where the Museum disappoints is the lack of hard exhibits given the space available. From memory, there were just five ‘show piece’ exhibits. A T55 outside the museum, and inside a T34/85, A U.S. Marine version of the Harrier, the AV-88B (a strange choice, given that the Harrier is a British invention and it’s role in the Cold War and the Falklands), a Sopwith Camel ( I think – it was suspended from the ceiling in the darkness!) and an unusual mine resistant vehicle from the Rhodesian conflict.

There were plenty of smaller exhibits, such as handguns, rifles etc but even here they seemed sparse. I don’t actually remember seeing an AK-47, a poor state of affairs given it’s role in every modern conflict since WW2. I was intrigued by the nuclear bomb on display! It is frightening to see just how small they are now. The small section on the Cold war and the nuclear threat was quite chilling. It is scary to think that in 1976, the government was still sending out protect and survive leaflets – in fact if memory serves me correctly, this happened again in the 80’s with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Building a nuclear fall out shelter in your house using a couple of doors & some pillows seems to be a bit desperate now.

The final nod to modern conflicts is a piece of the wreckage from the twin towers World trade Centre 9/11 attack. A sobering reminder of many of ongoing conflicts in the news today.

So to sum up, if you are in the area, the Museum is well worth a visit as a general overview to warfare and history in the twentieth Century. It’s certainly a good introduction for children, with plenty for them to look at. However, I would have been disappointed if I had driven up to Manchester just to visit this museum. There are plenty that are better and the lack of military hardware on display and the lack of detail and depth to the exhibits is a let down to what could be a much better facility.

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