Blog – Page 32 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

Battlefield Visit – La Haie Sainte – Waterloo

La Haie Sainte Farmhouse

I mentioned a while back that I had been over to Belgium for a short break to visit the Waterloo Battlefield. I went with my war-gaming buddy, Pete Harris. We spent a couple of days visiting Ypres looking at WW1 museums and then went on to spend a couple of days at Waterloo. It’s surprising how much you can fit into a few days if you are well prepared – there isn’t space in a short blog article to cover everything that we saw, so I thought that I would put together a few short pieces reviewing various facets of the trip.

The great thing about visiting the actual battlefield is that you can see for yourself just how things were, how the land really lies and gain true perspective on the size of objects & the distances involved. You can also walk in the footsteps of the combatants and try to imagine just what they would have seen and how they would have felt. I have been reading about the Battle of Waterloo since I was 15 – I still have the first book that I read ‘Waterloo – A Near Run Thing’ by David Howarth. Interestingly, it is David Howarth who has written the Official Guide to the Battlefield that is sold in the Battlefield Gift shop.

So although I had seen many pictures of the battlefield, read many accounts and looked at the maps, it was only when I actually saw the battlefield did I begin to really grasp what may have happened. Incidentally, one of my favourite quotes from Wellington is as follows:

The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance.

The Crossroads & La Haie Sainte

So with that in mind, here are a few pictures of La Haie Sainte with some of my observations. The photograph at the top of the article shows La Haie Sainte as we look to the west from the Lion Mound. The first thing that struck me was how big the Farm was. It more of a large complex than I had imagined and although set well forwards from Wellingtons main defensive line, nestled down on the side of the valley, it made an impressive defensive position. The photograph to the right shows the position of La Haie Sainte in relation to the crossroads. Any attack on Wellingtons Centre would have to pass by this strong point.

La Haie Sainte – Road view

The next picture shows the western side of Farm and the road as it is now. This road runs straight on to to the cross road and from there to Brussels. The slope on the road is about right – it’s not me with a dodgy camera angle! It just goes to show that the area wasn’t flat ( I think that wargamers prefer nice flat tables but it doesn’t really reflect reality!) The other thought that struck me was how tall the walls were. It wasn’t going to be easy to climb over those in full kit, especially with the Kings German Legion defenders inside doing their utmost to stop you!

One of the mysteries of the battle is why the french didn’t use artillery to breach these walls. I just wonder if because of the position of the farm in the landscape, none of the French Commanders could see how difficult it was to breach these walls. The main gate was particularly defensible and the higher walls could probably be left unmanned as unless the troops had ladders, there was no easy way over. Of course, the buildings face into the farm complex, presenting the sheer sides to the outside – the owners built this farm to keep out intruders! The picture below show the Main gate and part of the higher wall that runs down the West side. la Haie Sainte gate & wall

La Haie Sainte was eventually taken by the French during the battle. At around 6.30pm, exhausted and practically out of ammunition, Major Baring, leading the defense, ordered the remnants of his command to retreat to the British lines. Only about forty of the 360 defenders made their escape – a terrible toll to pay in the defense of the farm.

For the French, any sense of victory would have been tempered by the fact that although they had captured the Farm house, the British lines remained intact further up the slope.

Even worse, the Prussians were coming!

Whats on the Workbench 29th May

Gun Boat!

Oh dear! I’ve been distracted from finishing off one project by the lure of something more interesting…..

I guess it’s a common occurrence and it explains why most of us in the hobby have a ‘lead mountain’ lurking around in a secret location. A bit like the Wife’s handbag and shoe collection…

Well, last year, at the Derby war games show I saw a lovely model of a naval gunboat and thought that it would make a nice addition to my collection. I justified buying it as I could use it in the Caribbean campaign that I will one day play. Having had the instant gratification of buying it and showing it off to my mate, once home it went up onto the shelf – ‘for later’.

Well, I was tidying around in the garage this wet bank holiday weekend and came across it. What a great little project to complete, I thought. It wont take long as the uniforms are pretty straight forward to paint and they use a similar colour scheme to the Prussians, so I might as well have ago at finishing it. 2014-05-25 18.01.28

Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple. The figures weren’t quite as cleanly molded as I would like. Now I dont mind doing a bit of cleaning up, scraping down mold lines , getting rid of flash etc. – but these figures were just hard work! In fact, rather than cleaning up, it felt at times that I was re-sculpting them….Nevertheless, I persevered and I did make some progress. In fact, actually, the figures turned out to be quite nice and when put all together on the boat, do make a nice model. So the boat and the crew are finished. Just 5 marines and the ten oarsmen to go. So much for a quick project….

The full crew awaiting painting…

What’s on the Workbench 22 May 2014

Landwher Casualties

Despite a busy couple of weeks, including a short break in Belgium ( more on that later!) I did manage to finish off the 5 Prussian Landwehr casualties – not literally, of course – but they are now painted and based and ready to join their unit. The figures have been painted with the following Vallejo Paints:

Face & hands – Flat Flesh 955; Hats & coats – Dark Prussian Blue 899; Boots, Hat detail & cartridge case – Black 950; Musket straps, packs & equipment detail – Leather brown 871; Misc. equipment – Iraqi Sand 819, Powder horns – Dark yellow 978; Musket Stocks – Flat Brown 984; musket barrels, buttons & other detail – natural steel 864, Detail on muskets & straps – brass 801; Trousers & Straps – Off white 820; Blankets – neutral grey 992.

As these figures are from the Silesian Region, I gave them Yellow facings (yellow 953) and red shoulder tabs (Flat red 957). Technically, the colour of the tabs should vary by battalion, but I like the red & decided to go with this scheme with all my troops. The only other variations were the hair colouring – I just use a random mix of brown & blond! Oh! and one of the figures has light brown (Val929) trousers.

Once the basic colours

2014-05-22 10.14.46

were on, I painted them with Army Painter Dark tone and when this had dried for 24 hours, I sprayed them with Army Painter Anti shine varnish

I then go back and highlight some of the colours to make them stand out, notably, the white, yellow & flesh and I finish the bayonets with a bright silver ( val 997).

For basing, I re-based all the figures on Renedra 20mm square bases. I use a filler to level out the bases & then paint them chocolate brown. The next stage is to cover with Forest Brown scatter & then Flower field Static grass. The final step is to add some flowered and plain grass tufts for a bit of interest on the bases. The final picture shows three of the figures with their battalion as they advance into battle!

As a final thought, whilst I was over in Belgium, I visited the Battlefield at Waterloo and of course a full report will follow; but it only seems appropriate to include a picture of the memorial to the brave Prussian soldiers that fell during the battle for Plancenoit. prussian memorial at plancenoit

What’s on the Workbench 15th May 2014

Well, last week it was the Prussians and if all goes to plan they should be finished for next weeks post. This week, there is something different to show you, a baby mammoth- aaaah! We are gradually rebuilding the DeeZee range of animals and have had two

2014-05-08 12.42.33

new models sculpted by our very good friend Cedric. The first one is of the baby mammoth. Here’s the little darling being painted. I’ve still got the tusks to add and some more detail to add to the base but you can get an idea of how she (he?) will look when finished.

Once I’ve finished the baby, I’ll publish some pictures on the blog with the rest of the mammoths that we stock. The idea is to create a herd of mammoths for another project that we have on the go…….

Watch out for more information in the coming year and also for the next cute releases in the DeeZee range….

What’s on the workbench? 8th May 2014

It’s been a while since I have managed to to add to my blog in any regular fashion. I’m afraid that I have had other distractions that have prevented me from writing a regular blog – just finding some time to actually paint & do some modelling has been a challenge. I hope that this has now changed and I now have both the time and the facilities to keep my blog up to date. Of course as well as keeping me amused whilst writing the blog, I hope that there will be some content that is useful to anyone who is good enough to spare the time to have a look at my musings….

I thought that one way of giving some continuity to the blog would be to show just what I am working on at the moment. The danger being that some of my projects drag on as I am not the fastest when it comes to modelling & painting. As I usually have three or four projects on the go at any one time. I will perhaps alternate between a couple over the weeks. So what is on the workbench at the moment?

Prussian Landwehr Casulaties from Warlord Games

I’m working on Prussian Landwehr at the moment. I am in the process of building a Prussian Brigade for my Black Powder games and I need to add a couple of units of Landwehr to the brigade. I already have two command groups painted, as well as 30 marching troops ( The Warlord games plastic boxed set). I’ll need another 15 troops to be able to make up two battalions of 24. Rather than just buy some more of the marching troops, I thought that I would add in some Prussian Landwehr Casualties for a bit of flavour! The picture shows my progress so far. They have been cleaned up, undercoated & received the base coat of Flesh & dark Prussian blue. I’ve added a picture to give you an idea as to how they will look when they are completed an added to the unit. Of course they are on temporary bases at the moment, so they should look a bit better once the painting & basing is complete! Prussian Landwehr advance into fire!

Blitzkrieg tanks – What scale do I choose!!

We now carry Blitzkrieg tanks in both 1/48th scale, 1/56th scale and claim that both scales are suitable for 28mm figures so which one do you choose?

The 1/48th scale range was originally designed because although manufacturers claim their figures to be 28mm in size, they are often larger & closer to 30mm. In addition, the sculpting process tends to favour a ‘chunkier’ look to the figures. Add to this, the fact that most wargamers will mount their figures on bases and you finish up with that figures that will look on the large size when placed beside the 1/56th scale tank models. So we introduced the slightly larger 1/48th scale tanks in resin, feeling that they looked more realistic and more imposing on the battlefield. After all, when you put a Tiger tank on the wargames table you want it to look as though it would terrify the troops!

The 1/56th scale range was designed for the wargamer that already had other vehicles of this scale in their collection. We realised that if you already had a PZIII in 1/56th, you wouldn’t want a different variant in a different scale. 1/56th scale is often the standard scale for the new breed of plastic kits, such as Bolt Action and Rubicon and so these Blitzkrieg models are the identical scale and completely compatible. This scale also goes well with some of the ‘smaller’ figure ranges such as the new Perrys miniatures plastics, which are true 28mm or the foundry range which tends to be smaller sculpts than later ranges.

So which range do you choose? Well, if you already have 1/56th scale vehicles , it makes sense to stick with this scale. If you haven’t, my choice would be to go for the larger 1/48th scale as they just look more imposing and realistic when on a gaming table.

To see our range of Blitzkreig 1/48th scale tanks, click here:

1/48th Scale Blitzkrieg tanks

To see the 1/56th range, click here:

1/56th Scale Blitzkrieg tanks

Incidentally we have a comprehensive range of 1/48th scale Tamiya models that look superb on the wargames table. In addition, we have a small range of Hobbyboss items in this scale – links below!

1/48th Tamiya military range

1/48th Hobbyboss range

What ever scale you choose, we hope that you enjoy your modelling!

Bolt Action Tanks!

Tiger in snow camouflage Scheme.

I always like to see other people’s models – you can always learn something new from seeing how other modellers produce their masterpieces. In this case, our guest modeller Darek Wyrozebski, is an expert in weathering down tanks and vehicles to produce some of the most realistic battle worn models I’ve seen!

JagdPanther.

He uses a whole host of techniques to produce the battle worn finish and is a great advocate of the Vallejo weathering pigments. So here is just a small selection from Dareks’ collection:

Hetzer

Opel Blitz

Kubelwagen in Polish Army Service!

M10 Tank Destroyer

Darek uses an airbrush to get the basic paint job done and then uses a variety of filters, washes and even a bit of dry brushing to get the different layers of weathering. Add to that the use of pigments, careful replication of scratches using a fine brush, and he even uses hairspray as a barrier to allow the careful removal of layers of paint to get the worn look on the Hetzer. If it all sounds a bit like alchemy, Darek assures me that once you have a go at using these methods, you soon learn to get the results that he has…..as with all things, practice makes perfect!

Spotlight on Zvezda – new in this week!

The rate of new releases has yet to slow down, in fact there seems to be even more new releases this week, despite the fact that we have entered the summer months, usually a quiet time for the modelling world. Again, rather than list everything, I thought that I would just use the new releases to highlight a part of our range. This week it’s the very popular Zvezda ‘Art of Tactic’ series that’s in the spotlight.

Zvezda are a Russian kit manufacturer who traditionally have produced a great range of military subjects in both 1/35th scale and1/72 scale. That changed slightly with their release of the war game/board game hybrid ‘Art of Tactic’. To support the game, Zvezda have released a huge range of mini packs retailing at around £2.99 that features infantry and artillery sets in 1/72nd scale, tanks & vehicles in 1/100th scale and aircraft in 1/144th to 1/200th scale.

However, even if you dont plan to play the ‘Art of Tactic’ game, the models are just superb. At 1/100th scale the vehicles are ideal to supplement a Flame of War force, and the small units of 1/72nd scale figures are a great way of putting together a force to use with any number of rules sets from ‘Mum I aint been shot yet’, Rapid Fire’ , Rate of Fire and even the forthcoming ‘Bolt Action’ rules set.

The latest releases include a 1/100th scale Sd.Kfz 222 armoured car:

In 1/72 scale, a set of German Gebirsjager or mountain troops:

And finally, Soviet a 76mm infantry gun with crew:

There are some 40 of these sets already available, with more on the way. Although the existing sets are primarily focused on German and Soviet forces, there’s good news for modellers – Zvezda have plans to release some early war British and Allied subjects. If you like the format, you may also be interested to know that Zvezda also do similar sets of Samurai models. I cannot begin to tell you how well modelled and moulded these sets are. If you have n’t tried them, at £2.99, you wont break the bank in checking out a pack!

The zvezda range is available in our ebay shop here. We also stock a huge range of rules sets.

MiniArt Models – New Releases

We’ve recently added Miniart models to our range and we are gradually building the selection available for our customers. As usual, we’ll add in the new releases as they become available and also work back through the range until we have everything available. This may take some time as there is currently 289 models available but if there is a particular model that you would like, just drop us an email & we’ll get back with a price & delivery time.

I particularly like the miniart range as there is a good selection of diorama bases to help customers display their models and the range contains some really interesting subjects not covered by the more well known suppliers.

An example of this is the recent release of the Ya-12, Soviet Artillery tractor. It’s a really characterfiul subject that will look great as part of a diorama and will make a change from building the usual T34 variants! The kit has 458 parts, including photo etched parts for even greater detail. We particularly like the Miniart instruction book that comes with the kit, It is has a full colour painting guide and comprehensive instructions.

It’s available now in our ebay shop along with our other MiniArt items.

News This week!

Some of our regular readers will have noticed the drop in content recently. This is because our Girl Friday, Lotte, has moved on to greater things, leaving a gap in our resources and the office a slightly quieter but less interesting and attractive place…. So it’s back to me writing the blog for the future, which means that we will be dropping the regular history posts and just producing a weekly post.

Rather than try to cover all of the new releases every week, I’ll just pick out the ones that catch my eye or are part of a new range. There really is so much new stuff coming out it’s as much as I can do to keep it listed. But it is all listed! Check out my ebay shop for the latest releases & restocks.

As for modelling articles, I intend to keep you up to date with whatever is on my work bench but as I am a slow painter, this will be about once a fortnight rather than weekly. As you will be aware, I tend to focus on the Napoleonic era at the moment and I’m trying to build a good sized British contingent as well as some of their allies such as the Prussians and later on I have plans for the Portuguese! However, I occassionally get diverted, particularly when a good new rules set comes out so watch out for Muskets & Tomahawks related stuff and of course, with the impending release of Bolt Action, a World War II army.

Whenever possible, we’ll also publish pictures from guest modellers which hopefully will help to inspire you or give you ideas for your own projects. On that note, here is a selection of pictures of some Perry Miniatures Russians painted by Chris using our Expo brushes.

I’m sure that you will agree that the painting is superb, and I particularly like the basing detail. Nice Work Chris!

Chasseurs Ste. Domingue – Carribean part 3!

Well, having finished my first unit of Caribbean figure, the Chasseurs de Irios, I thought that I would carry on and paint the Chasseurs de Ste Domingue, also based in Haiti and of course from Trent miniatures. The uniforms are very similar, except that the coats were red and the headwear more like a traditional shako with a white plume.

Rather than go through the stage by stage painting, I’ll just give you the colours that I used, as the process is very similar. All the paints are vallejo as usual! The flesh is mahogany brown, 846, red, 957 for the coats, equipment & hats were painted in black, 950, muskets were painted with flat brown 984 for the wood, 801 brass for the gun details & belt clasp & steel 864 for the musket barrel & buttons. the facings were painted in green 968, which is probably a bit brighter than it should be but my preference is for the colours on the facings to show! Finally the trousers were finished with off white, 820.

The other difference was that despite my previous comments, I decided to paint over a white under coat and I used the Vallejo matt white spray, which I find gives a perfect base coat to paint over provided you are patient and build the undercoat and not ‘drench’ than models to start with. The reason I usually use a coloured undercoat, is to save on painting when using quick shade. Of course, I am used to painting Redcoats with grey trousers, so it made sense to undercoat in grey. As these figures have white trousers, I’ve reverted back to a white undercoat.

Once the figures were painted, I gave them a coat of Army painter quick shade, the dark tone or black variety, and when this was dry, I sprayed them with matt varnish to get rid of the gloss effect. The quick shade does tend to ‘dirty down’ the white too much for my taste so I have repainted the plumes with a pure white, 950 and used the off white 820 to highlight the trousers.

I also used the base colours listed above with a bit of Off white to give some extra highlights on the muskets, facings & hats & straps. Once again, the basing will follow exactly the same procedure as the previous unit. So here’s a picture of the finished figures just before the final touches on the basing.

So that’s two units of twelve ready for the gaming table. The next unit on the paint station is the 60th rifles!

The products used are available in my shop and are as follows:

Trent Miniatures Chasseurs Ste Domingue Car06

Renedra 20 x 20mm bases

Vallejo Paints & white under coat

Army Painter Dark Tone Quick Shade & Matt Spray

Basing Sand

New in this week. Airfix, Zvezda & Italeri New releases!

We’ve just recieved a whole batch of new releases from Airfix, Zvezda and Italeri. First up is the new King Tiger from Airfix. The encouraging news is that Airfix are now back on track and growing the range of tanks and military vehicles available, with new releases appearing at a steady rate now. I dont remember Airfix ever having a King Tiger in their range before, so this looks like a new model to me, rather than a reissue.

Also added to our range this week is the Revell 1/35th scale Marder. Although this is not a new release, we are now beginning to add the full range of Revell 1/35th scale kits to our range, so keep checking in to see this range as it grows. If there is a particular model that you are looking for, please contact us and we will always do our best to source it quickly.

New from Italeri are a Ruined church door in 1/35th scale, and in 1/72nd scale, a set of train tracks. Both of the items are ideal for diorama bases or even for scenery for your wargames table. The latest vehicle from Italeri is the Sturmmorser Tiger in 1/35th and in 1/72, we have the Sherman M4A3 76mm version from WWII and for more recent conflicts, the M163 Vulcan. The former is a quick build kit that includes two models – ideal for wargamers. The M163 Vulcan is the fearsome electric gatling gun mounted on a M113 APC. It was used in the 1991 Gulf War by both US and Saudi units.

Just in from Zvezda is their new Historical Wargame set, Samurai Battles. The box weighs in at 2600 grams and is packed full of goodies! There are two versions of the game in one box. You can either play a card driven rules set called Command & Colours written by Richard Borg or you can play the Art of Tactic version, the Zvezda in house game designed by Konstantin Krivenko. Either way, you get to command an army of beatifully sculpted Samurai figures, with 122 included in the box. To go with the set, Zvezda have been releasing the small box sets of figures and we’ve just received the two latest, the Samurai-Naginata and the Ashigaru with Arquebus. Whether you are a collector or a wargamer in 1/72 or 2omm figures, these are super little sets, sculpted to a very high standard and in great detail.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, the next release from Victrix has arrived , the Spartan Hoplite boxed set!

To see all of these new releases and more, click in to either my ebay shop or independant online shop. As ever, at the time of writing all of these goodies are in stock and ready to ship!

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