Shop News – Page 2 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

Exciting times at Lucid eye!

Arcane Scenery have been associated with Lucid Eye since the very first sculpts were released. I have always been a great fan of the style and standard of Steve Saleh’s sculpting and thought that the Neanderthals and Cromagnon were the best interpretation of ‘Cavemen’ figures that I had seen. The fact that they were a natural fit for our DeeZee range helped!

As with many sculptors in the trade, Steve was often frustrated by the necessity to follow a brief to complete a range rather than follow his own imagination and sculpt figures that excited him. The Lucid Eye brand was an opportunity for Steve to do just exactly that. There was no commercial pressure to model figures in a particular way or follow a style or the latest trend. That said, there was always a plan for the range and a new partnership has launched the Lucid Eye brand with renewed vigour. The partnership is with Steve’s son, Joe. It was initially launched when Steve and Joe worked together on the creation of the Savage Core rules. Joes’ background, fresh from University and an avid Art/Comic book fan enabled them to produce a set of rules from the Savage Core range that is a different take on the standard skirmish game. As is often the case, the partnership is greater than the sum of it’s parts and the energy and enthusiasm generated has resulted in an explosion of the range.

So with Steve focusing on the sculpting and Joe ‘doing everything else’ (his words not his Dad’s!), Lucid Eye is growing into an exciting range of figures that will have both Gaming and Collectors appeal. Joe’s keen eye for design, together with his understanding of how new technology and media allows them to reach out to customers, has allowed Steve to give free reign to his imagination and talent to produce a unique range of figures. Steve and Joe have deliberately adopted a policy of releasing the miniatures as soon as they are ready. They are just as keen to see how gamers will use their figures as provide a structure for them. But make no mistake, there is a structure to what is coming.

So what is in the pipeline? Well, The Savage core range will continue to expand, albeit in slightly new formats. The new Age of Ice range has allowed the reinterpretation of some of the figures as well as adding a new twist to the range. There are plans for an ‘Age of Darkness’ that will further extend this foray into the ‘Pulp world’ of the Savage core. Of course, these new figures will be supported by rules extensions to Savage core, available through PDF’s. In addition to this range, there are a further four completely separate ranges in progress. As Joe says (with a smile), they are doing a bit of a ‘Kubrik’ and taking on each gaming genre, but giving it their own twist.

The ‘Plot Device’ is the first of those genres. Described as ‘Extra Dimensional Sci Fi, Future history or just Weird’, the range is already populated with Nazi’s , Goth Cowboys, Teen gangs and Psychedelic Investigators. A rule set will follow, perhaps in the style of Savage Core but for now, the priority is to populate the range.

‘Treasures from the Cosmic Vault’ is Steve’s project with a rules set that is a game set in a gladiatorial conflict on Titan. There will be a limited range of figures for this game, allowing Steve to really express himself in producing some high quality sculpts and the plan will be to eventually produce a boxed set which will allow players to collect all the figures together along with a rules set – essentially a game in a box format.

‘The Beast of Birchwood’ is Joe’s project. Described as a ‘Victorian Horror Dreamscape’, the figures will act as playing pieces that will allow players to act out a game in a mapped environment. A slightly different take on a miniatures game with RPG elements to immerse the players into this strange world.

I’ve saved perhaps the most exciting news for last. The final project (for now) is the ‘Red Book of the Elf King’. A fantasy skirmish game (Players will need 25 to 30 figures) based on the fall of the Elves and the Elves Civil war, with the figures being ‘Heroic 28mm size’ that’s at least 32mm. The rules are being written by none other than the rules Meister himself, Mr Rick Priestly. With Rick writing the rules and Steve sculpting the figures, I am confident that we will see a game that is both exceptionally playable and easy on the eye! I will bring you more news as I have it. In the meantime, I’ve included the links to the various Facebook groups and web sites below.

Steve Saleh at work

I hope that you are excited about Lucid Eye as I am and I am sure that Steve and Joe will continue to produce some of the most innovative rules and collectable figures on the market. As you can see, there is plenty more on the work bench!

The Links!

To see the Lucid Eye Range at the Arcane Scenery shop, click here:

LUCID EYE

To see the DeeZee range, click here:

DeeZee Range

To see the Lucid eye Web store & the latest PDF’s, click here:

LUCID EYE PUBLICATIONS

The various facebook groups are here:

SAVAGE CORE

THE PLOT DEVICE

TREASURES FROM THE COSMIC VAULT

THE BEAST OF BIRCHWOOD

THE RED BOOK OF THE ELF KING

Victorious Miniatures

The launch of a new range of miniatures is always an exciting prospect. However, it’s not quite so easy as it looks and many start ups fall by the wayside once the initial enthusiasm has passed. I hope that this is not the case for the latest range that we are happy to support! Victorious Miniatures is a venture undertaken by long term wargamer and enthusiast, Keith Tait. I have often had the pleasure of facing his armies across a wargames table, so I was intrigued when he told me of his plans to launch his own range of figures.

NAPBR15 Duke of York

My first reaction and words of encouragement were ‘are you mad..?’ I reminded him of the well known quote, oft repeated in the industry ‘how do you make a small fortune in the model soldier business? – Start off with a big one…’ Keith was undeterred. His project was to be a labour of love and he was planning to build a range of figures that he had always wanted. The commercial side was only important in as much as he hoped that the range would eventually become self financing and grow accordingly. And so Victorious Miniatures was born.

NAPBR16 Sir Ralph Abercrombie

The initial ranges have been sculpted by the very talented Mark Simms and focus on the British Army circa 1793 – 1795 in the Flanders Campaign. The figures are compatible with Perry, Warlord and Victrix miniatures. Even better, they compliment the Trent Miniatures range, who cover a similar period and are great favourites of mine.

NAPBR01 Round hat command

The two main commanders have been sculpted, the Duke of York, who led the expedition, and one of the Generals, Sir Ralph Abercrombie ( also spelt as Abercromby). The Line infantry is represented by four packs: a command pack, Centre Company Infantry marching; Flank Company Infantry Marching and Skirmishing Infantry. These infantry are all wearing the round hats and long tailed frock coats of the time. In addition to the standard line troops, there are also some very nice Highlanders. Before you reach for the tin of tartan paint, fear not! The Highlanders in the Flanders Campaign were wearing standard issue trousers. So there is no excuse why you cannot have a Battalion of these in your collection!

NAPBR03 Round hat Flank coy

Following on from the initial releases, will be British infantry in bicornes, giving another option for your growing army. Although designed for the Flanders Campaign, I think that these new figures will be useful in other settings. The troops sent to the Caribbean at this time would have been similarly equipped and I guess that they will be suitable for service in Ireland. To be fair, my knowledge of uniforms in this early period of the Napoleonic wars is still lacking, so don’t take my word for it!

NAPBR05 Highland command

However, I have just finished reading the first part of Wellingtons biography by Rory Muir ( an excellent if somewhat lengthy read). I was intrigued to find out as early as 1793, Britain had planned to invade France in support of the Vendee insurgency with a force under the Command of Lord Moira. The landing never took place due to a heavy defeat of the rebels but the possibility of ‘What if’ scenarios would make an interesting game. Sharp Practice would provide an ideal set of rules! Wellington was present in the Flanders campaign. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 33rd Foot. His first action was at the Battle of Boxtel where although not involved in the initial attack, his regiment successfully covered the First Guards withdrawal, repulsing a French attack ‘throwing a few cool and well directed volleys into the enemy’s squadrons, obliging him to decamp’. So I guess that I have an excuse to get my first battalion of Victorious Miniatures!

Boxca01 Chinese Dragon cannon

I digress! Back to Victorious miniatures ranges. Also available are some very nice Chinese cannon for the Boxer Rebellion, the next period in which Keith intends to build his range. I am very much looking forward to more of this period becoming available. That said, if I can use these for the earlier Taiping Rebellion of 1850, I will be able to scratch another wargaming itch and my special edition Flashman figure will find a use on the gaming table!

The Victorious Miniatures range is now available to purchase from both Keiths own web site here:

VICTORIOUS MINIATURES

or, from the Arcane Web store here:

Arcane Scenery/Victorious Miniatures

Please take a look at these new models and of course, if they appeal, your support will be most welcome. If you are not ready to purchase, a ‘like’ click on the Victorious Miniatures facebook page will at least help cheer Victorious Miniatures on!

Victorious Miniatures Facebook page

Keith will need all the help that he can get in building his range. I know that he has some great ideas for future releases and of course all of us here at Arcane scenery wish him the very best of luck with his new venture.

New British Heavy Cavalry from Warlord!

OK, the title is a bit of a tease. I don’t have any painted examples to show you other than the ones currently posted on the Warlord Games site but I do have some of the sprues! I have been asked to write a step by step painting painting guide for a forth coming issue of Wargames Illustrated so I have been given early access to the sprues as part of the project.

I’m not in a position to do a full review, as I don’t have the full boxed set and I have yet to start my research but here are my first impressions. Actually, I would further qualify that statement by saying I’m not the most objective when it comes to reviewing. I either like something or I don’t and I don’t get too hung up on the miniscule detail. If I don’t like something, then I don’t review it…so I guess by now you will know that I do very much like the look of these new additions to the Warlord Range.

For £20 you will get a nice box of 12 plastic Cavalry figures ( 6 sprues), plus a metal Officer figure and a metal Buglers arm or in the Union box a metal bugler, so 13 or 14 figures in all in the set. I guess that for most of us, that will mean that we will have one or two bonus spare plastic figures as wargamers will tend to build their units for Black powder in 12’s. Also included in the box will be a leaflet explaining how the British heavy cavalry were organised and some basic painting hints to supplement the box art. I think that this is very good value. I particularly like the effort that Warlord Games have gone to in terms of the packaging and information leaflets that are enclosed with their sets. It is yet another example of how this company is making historical wargaming more accessible to the new entrant.

Union Brigade Sprue Front

Union Brigade Sprue Rear

The pictures above show the front and rear of the Union Brigade sprues. You will be able to use this set to make the following regiments: 1st Royal Dragoons; 6th (Inniskilling) and of course the iconic 2nd Royal North British or Scots Greys. The Horses are well posed and in full gallop and they look like the big horses that were used in the heavy cavalry regiments. I’m not sure but it looks to me as though you can mix and match the four halves of the horses to get a variety of poses but I have yet to put this to the test. The horses tails are ‘docked’ which is generally correct for British cavalry – it is said that officers often left their horses with full tails as they looked nicer on parade but lets not worry about that now…

Union brigade heads

The cavalry men themselves look well molded and very well posed. When combined with the choice of the five sword arms supplied, you should be able to model some nice action poses. I like the arm holding the sword ‘at point’ and the arm with the pistol is a nice touch. There are six choices for the heads. Bearskins both with covers and without are supplied. For those that would like a ‘correct’ Waterloo look, the covered bearskins are the ones to use. For others, the chance to use the uncovered Bear skin headwear will make a nice change and the models will look even prettier on the wargames table! You also have the standard Heavy Dragoon helmet from 1815, an oil cloth covered version as well as the bicorne for the Penninsular Campaign. There are also Watering caps supplied that will unlock further conversion options – mounted 95th Rifle officer perhaps?

The parts all look well molded with little or no flash apparent and no sink holes to fill. I also like the way that the water bottle and sabretache fit onto the body as a separate piece. First of all, it is clear how it should fit and secondly the join should be nice and solid. I think that painting these as a separate item and attaching them later will be a good option and should simplify the painting process.

The House hold Cavalry sprue is very similar but has less in the way of headware options.

Household Brigade Sprue rear

Household Brigade Sprues Front

As you can see, the horses and riders are identical to the Union brigade sprues, it is just the headwear that is different. The heads come either with plumes – used in the main for officers & trumpeters or without, for the troops. It’s also worth pointing out that there is a bare head with a bandage – just in case you would like to model the regiment either after the battle or perhaps as one of the ‘riding wounded’ from Quatre Bras!

Household brigade heads

The box will let you model the main Household regiments, the 1st or 2nd Lifeguards, Royal Horse guards ( the Blues). To model the 4th regiment in the Household brigade ( at Waterloo), the 1st Dragoon Guards, you will need to use the Union brigade box to get the helmets with the ‘horse tails’.

I think that these sets are a fantastic addition to the range of plastics that are now available. My next project will be a ‘batch paint’ of 24 of these, representing the 1st and 2nd Lifeguards. They should go nicely with my existing ‘Blues’ and no doubt, the next project will be another 24 from the Union Brigade to go with my Scots Greys. It will be nice to have a representation of the British Heavy Cavalry Brigade at Waterloo and having them in plastic will mean that I wont need a fork lift to transport them! Now whether I ever get them all onto a wargames table at the same time will be another story…

The official release date for these sets is 17th June. Unusually for Arcane Scenery we will take pre-orders for these sets as we are close enough to release not to delay dispatch by too long! If you would like to order your sets just click on the links below and as usual we send our orders post free to most worldwide locations. As soon as we have them – we’ll send them …..CHARGE!

BRITISH UNION BRIGADE CAVALRY POST FREE!

BRITISH HOUSEHOLD BRIGADE CAVALRY POST FREE!

Ahoy there matie!

Arcane scenery at Partizan

To be truthful, my modelling and painting progress has been curtailed over the last week or so. The weekend was entirely spent preparing and attending the Partizan show at Newark. Normally, this in itself would be the subject of my blog. However, we were so busy that the only time that I left my stand was to go to the toilet – I’m sure that this is too much information – but the upshot is that I have no pictures of the many great games that were on show. As you can see, I do have some pictures of our stand so you can get an idea of how we looked!

Deezee and the new Woodland Scenics range

Our Aprentice Pete Harris with Julie. Meanwhile in the background, Duncan is laying out Trent Miniatures!

I would like to repeat comments that I have made in previous blogs and on social media. Partizan is my favourite show of the wargames circuit, both as a trader and on the rare occasions when I venture out from the stand, as a customer and enthusiast. The new Venue is superb. Well lit, plenty of space and a decent cafeteria and seating area for refreshments. The show team led by Laurence Baldwin, could not be more friendly and helpful. The show is neatly split into four sections; Traders, Historical Societies, Demonstration games ( look but please don’t touch) and Participation Games (get stuck in).

The Blitzkrieg team, Jake, Gav, Paul & Phil receive their award from Show organiser Laurence. Photo courtesy of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy.

I was delighted for our colleagues at Blitzkrieg Games as they were awarded the prize for the best Participation game. And well deserved it was too. Their table was constantly in use and the highlight of the day was a fiercely contested battle between Father & Son that drew in onlookers through the sheer enthusiasm of the game. A fantastic advert for our hobby. Well done to Paul, Gav, Phil and Jake for creating such an open and inviting game. Watch out for Partizan 2. In the meantime if you would like to see pictures of the day, follow this link across to the official facebook page:

Partizan Wargaming and History Show

So what is the nautical title of my blog all about then? Well, once I had recovered from the exertions at Partizan, I did find time to start some modelling. I had blagged a ‘first cast’ of the new Trent Miniatures ships boat that Duncan is about to launch (Yes, the pun was intended). I still have ambitions to create a Napoleonic Marine landing force, primarily for use in some future Caribbean campaign and when I saw the new release on the Trent stand, next door to ours, I couldn’t help but get yet another boat for my force.

As yet there is no crew available but they will come in time. The boat is also without oars or a mast, again they will be added, either as part of the model or as a separate accessory pack. In the meantime, I just wanted to get one painted. Here’s my progress so far.

The new Ships Boat from Trent

I have gone for a fairly basic paint job. Once I had washed the resin cast, I primed the boat with Army painter Leather brown and when dry, gave the whole boat two liberal coats of Dark tone ink to bring out the grain and detail on the planking. It was then a case of dry brushing with various mixes of Vallejo Golden Brown, New Wood and Old Wood and finishing the details in black, as you can see. Unusually for me, I didn’t really think through how I intend to finish the boat. I was just too eager to get some paint on! So I am now debating with myself as to whether I should add a mast and sail and make it a supply ship (which is my favourite option) or whether to buy or convert a crew and have it as yet another landing party.

I also have vague ideas of converting it to a rocket launching ship. The fact is, I now have the basic hull finished and I can now experiment over the coming bank holiday, weather, Family barbeques and gardening duty permitting…

You Need Personality

To paraphrase the song by Lloyd Price ( it was released in 1959 so I’ll forgive you if you dont know it….) you need Personality in your army to really make it interesting! Which is just one reason why we are such fans of Trent Miniatures here at Arcane scenery. As well as producing the usual range of Rank and File troops for the Napoleonic Period, Trent have gone to great lengths to ensure that there are figures representing some of the lesser known characters of the time. If you are building an army you will of course want Generals and Leaders and whilst most manufacturers will produce generic officers, not many of them stray beyond the ‘Big Names’ Napoleon, Ney, Wellington, Picton etc

Trent Miniatures produce quite a collection of Characters from the Revolutionary period and from quite separate theatres. So if you are looking for something a bit different, have a look through the Trent Range. If it’s British Characters, how about Sir John Moore, Sir David Dundass, Stapleton Cotton or even the Grand old Duke of York himself!

The Grand Old Duke of York!

The Irish have plenty of choice too. There’s Joseph Holt, Michel Dwyer, Robert Emmet and the main man, Wolf Tone:

General Wolf Tone

The French Revolution also had a counter revolution by Royalists in the Vendee and Britanny. The leaders included de la Rochejaquelin, de la Tremouille, d’Eblee, Marquis deLescure, Francois Charette & Jaques Cathelineau, all available as personality packs from Trent.

A gathering of Chouans!

The picture above shows Chouans with the flags of (from right to left) Brittany, The Prince de Talmont (Antoine Phillipe de la Tremouille), and the standard of Charette (Francois Athanase charette de la Contrie). The flags are produced by Flag Dude, should you wish to obtain them.

The French have their own Generals to sort out the rebels across the Empire. You can choose from General Brune, General Humbert, Joachim Murat and yes, there is a Napoleon as he was as First Consul.

General Brune is just one of the French Generals available

Other personalities include Tousaint L’Overture from Haiti, Andreas Hofer Hofer, fighting in the Tyrol; Pasquale Paoli, rebeling on Corsica and even Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader who fought from the American war of Independence through to the 1812 War in the USA.

The Hofer gang taking cover in the tyrol

Back to the European theatre, there are a couple of Polish Generals to collect, General Antoni Kosinki and General Jan Henryk Dabrowski.

The joy of all of these models is that the personalities tell their own story. A quick search on Wikipedia will reveal details of the careers of these characters and help to bring to life the detail of the Revolutionary wars. This is often a good way to discover the background to a particular conflict.

Many wargamers have to deal with the dreaded collectors bug that strikes from time to time! These characters wont help cure this affliction but they are nice to collect and paint simply to add to your collection. I cant ever see myself painting a Polish Napoleonic army but I am tempted to have a go at painting Kosinki or Dabrowski as a display figure for my cabinet. I find that sometimes a break from churning out units and armies to just paint one character figures is a good way of getting your painting mojo back, if ever you are feeling a bit jaded at the thought of yet another battalion of redcoats or blue coats!

Pascale Paoli would make an interesting Guerrilla leader on the Peninsular.

To view the full Trent Miniatures collection, follow this link:

TRENT MINIATURES

At the time of writing, they are all available post free from Arcane scenery – if you are not familiar with the range, you may just be surprised at how many useful items they have!

Tori Gate

No, it’s not a headline from the Sun Newspaper regarding a scandal in the Conservative party but the first piece of scenery that I have made for Test of Honour. A very straight forward and easy piece to finish, it is the simple Tori Temple Gate from the Sarissa Precision range.

Made from Laser cut MDF, assembly is very simple using PVA glue. Painting is just as straight forward. There seem to be a lot of questions as to how easy is it to paint MDF. The answer is very easy. I just use the same paints (Vallejo) that I use on my miniatures, unless I am painting a large area. In which case, match pots of emulsion from B&Q (other DIY superstores are available) also work very well.

Completed Tori Temple Gate

So, once I had assembled the gate, I sanded down any obvious mis matches on the pieces to get a smooth surface. I left the main gate separate from the base and just sprayed it with Army Painter red. The first coat will bring out any imperfections and it is easy to remove these with another sand over with fine wet & dry paper. Once this was done I just resprayed it a couple more times to build the colour and that was that. I’m not sure if it’s the right shade of red but it will do for me!

As for the base, this was just as easy. I took a fairly large brush and simply dry brushed it, with out priming, in a Dark Grey. I think that I gave it a couple of coats to cover the wood. This technique ensures that the laser etched detail is not covered. I then repeated the dry brushing with a Medium grey and then again with a lighter grey until I was happy with the effect. I picked out the etched cement between the flag stones using a small brush and a watered down pale grey to get the effect shown above. It was a simple but laborious job to follow the pattern.

Tori gate & warriors

So with my first piece of scenery made the next job was to sort out a playing surface. Of course I could use one of my other mats but I have a cunning plan for Test Of Honour. I think that it is an ideal club night game and my intention is to put together a ‘Pick up Set’ where by I can just grab a couple of boxes of Scenery and figures and head off to the club knowing that everything is there, ready to play. The solution to a playing surface can be found at Aldi at the moment if you are quick! For just £6.99 you can get a 1 metre by 2 Metre green Awning mat. Cut it in half and you have two ideal sized mats for Test of Honour, so if you ‘go halves’ with a mate, you pay just £3.50! Here’s mine:

Aldi Mat

OK, it’s not as glamourous as a Cigar Box mat but then at the price…If you look on the Test of Honour Face book page , I’ll post some pictures of how it looks with scenery and figures on it later. If you follow this link, you can see details of the mat online:

ALDI GRASS CARPET

You will also notice from the pictures I have some trees in Blossom. The story behind these is that I picked up a job lot of trees that were being discontinued by a supplier two years ago to sell on the stand at Salute – just £1.99 for a pack of two. Nobody wanted trees in Blossom and these were left over after the show. I decided that they would look nice on my table and here we are two years later and I cant get Blossom trees at such a price to sell for love or money…. They still look nice on my table though!

So if my playing surface and scenery box is taking shape, how am I doing with the figures. As usual for me, painting is slow but I am getting there. I now have six spearmen done.

My war band takes shape.

The basing isn’t really finished – I need to add some grass tufts or even better flowers but I haven’t quite decided on the final scheme. I am also waiting on some decals to add onto the back banners. They are ready for tonight’s game though. Next up, the archers and I will give a bit more information on how I went about painting my war band.

Close up of Spearmen – I’m not sure why they look so happy.

In the meantime, you can see the range of Samurai items that we have in stock, including the superb Sarissa Japanese buildings range, here:

SAMURAI RANGE

Sarissa also make a really nice range of Far East buildings that are also very suitable for more rural settings:

FAR EAST RANGE

If it is paints that you are after:

VALLEJO PAINTS

Turning Japanese!

Well, it turns out that have I succumbed to my urge for something different and my Easter present to myself was a copy of the new Test of Honour game. I am not an ‘early adopter’ by any means and get far more pleasure from deferring a purchase than actually making one! However, I had played a couple of games and had really enjoyed the simplicity of the game mechanics. The fact that I had a great deal of fun playing the game also helped – I don’t remember laughing so much in a wargame but that may have had more to do with the poor Japanese movie impersonations that were being carried out as each Samurai moved…

My first game – unpainted figures!

I had also been slightly put off by the chatter on some social media pages by the apparent problems with the Wargames Factory/Warlord plastic figures. Having seen the completed figures for myself, I thought that they looked pretty good and the painted ones that I had seen had convinced me that I could work with the figures in the set. So I grabbed a box whilst I still could and spent some of my spare time over Easter building and painting Samurai.

I wont do a full unboxing review – there are plenty on You tube and other forums but here are my general thoughts. First of all, I think you get a good deal for your money. In effect, you have a complete game for £35, including, albeit 2D, card board scenery. As well as all of the cards, tokens, rules, and markers that you will need to play, you also have the sprues & parts to make 35 Samurai and Ashigaru miniatures. All you need to supply is a Tape measure and a 3 foot playing surface. You do have to assemble those plastic figures though…

Ashigaru Archers Assembled!

So first things first, yes the figures are plastic! If you don’t like plastic figures then jog on son, you’re in the wrong aisle! Metal figures are available from other suppliers and may just cost a tad more than those figures included in the game. Are they complicated to put together? I don’t think so, you’re not going to be building the Battleship Yamato. Each figure has about 7-8 pieces and there are some clear assembly sheets included in the game. You just need to take some time to look at them.

Are they fiddly to put together? Hell! Yes! I lost count of the number of heads that I dropped and even with my small fingers, the parts are a challenge to handle. Don’t even try to rush the assembly, you will get into a mess. Here’s my best advise on how to proceed.

Spearmen assembled and undercoated

First of all, you need to be seated comfortably, at a decent work station with a nice cup of tea and plenty of time – don’t rush!

Study the assembly sheets and match them up with the correct sprues – Spearmen, Archers and Samurai.

You need a good sharp pair of clippers, A good scalpel and a sanding sheet, whether it’s an emery board or something similar, what ever suits your budget!

For assembly, use a good polystyrene glue – I prefer the Revell Contacta glue with a needle applicator. Don’t use super glue – it may be faster but the beauty of polystyrene glue is that you will have some working time to position those fiddly parts. Because the glue melts the surfaces you will get a bit of ‘Fill’ to hide the joints and actually the bond will be better than superglue once the glue has dried. Here’s a tip, when you put the glue onto a piece, don’t immediately slap it onto the model. Wait a few moments to let the glue start to melt the plastic and then put the part into position. It will stick into place but you will still have some working time to position it to your preference.

Start with one of the simpler models. Either a spearman or bowman using the one piece torso. Once you get the hang of assembly and become familiar with the pieces you can be more ambitious and start to try different poses and combinations.

I found that the best assembly method was to stick a pair of legs together. Then attach these to a base. From there it was easier to handle the model and build the figure from the waist up.

Once you have built a few of the models, you will find that it becomes easier & faster as you become familiar with the process. The real joy of plastics though is that you will be able to customise and convert your models to make a really unique warband.

the warband takes shape

It took me about a couple of hours to assemble my first 12 models. In fairness, I was taking my time and as I became familiar with the different pieces I started to change the poses and think about conversions.

I also wanted to start to paint the models. Once again, they look to be a challenge but I am going to opt for a simple approach. For a start I don’t intend to spend too much time on research. I have one book on Samurai in my home library ( The Book of the Samurai by Stephen Turnbull) that I have been flicking through and the rest of my information has come from the Test Of Honour Face Book Group. If you haven’t joined , then it is worth it just for the pinned post at the top of the page which has some fantastic links to resources.

TEST OF HONOUR FACE BOOK PAGE

For me the process of painting will be just to produce some gaming figures and not to get too involved in historical accuracy. If I really get bitten by the Samurai bug, I may revisit that statement but for now, my intention is to produce a couple of small warbands that I can use at the club to take a break from my Napoleonic Games. So at the moment, my ambition goes as far as painting the 35 figures in the box and perhaps building a few nice scenery pieces.

Painting the warband

You can see my progress so far. I’ll use these test models to see how I get on and to figure out the best way for me to paint the models as a batch. At the moment I have simply primed them with Army painter black, dry brushed them with neutral grey, Faces and hands are dark Flesh and red for the Trousers(?). There’s a way to go yet so I’ll return to these in a future blog. In the meantime, I’ll finish this entry with a picture of the limited Edition Samurai that came with the set. I really enjoyed painting him and his ninja mates….

Banzai! The limited edition Samurai takes on some North Star Ninja’s!

You can see our current stock of Samurai and the Test of Honour range in our shop Here:

SAMURAI

If you need tools, click here:

TOOLS

You can get glue here:

Adhesive and Glue

At the time of writing, most of our products are available post free to most worldwide locations!

New Weapons for Saga

Those thrusting spears can be pretty effect!

We do carry a large range of accessories to help you get the best from playing Saga and painting and finishing your Saga warbands.

If you would like to see our range of Saga accessories click here:

Saga Accessories

On the off chance that you have followed the link from Facebook, either because you were simply curious or that you couldn’t believe that a joke could be so bad, I’d better confirm that this was an April Fools joke. I do have to thank Nick Buxey, as it was indeed him that originally told me this tale whilst we were sat having a coffee at the Hammerhead Show at Newark. To be fair, Nick had me fooled right up to the punchline. I really did think that he had uncovered some new research and that I would have a new product for Saga.

If you have just stumbled on this by accident, here’s the story:

‘Thanks to some excellent research by Nick Buxey, Arcane Scenery is pleased to announce a new weapons option for Saga Warbands. The new rules allow Normans and Bretons to be armed with Thrusting Spears. Using these new spears will allow you to attack in close combat and should you fail to hit, you can repeat the attack. The new weapons are known as Brittany Spears.’

Ah well, as you are here you might as well watch the real thing….

Enjoy!

Hammerhead 2017

Just a brief report on the latest Hammerhead show held at the Newark showground on Saturday 4th of March. Hammerhead is just one of three shows that are held in Newark, the other two being Partizan 1 and 2. So why a third show? Originally, I think that the idea was to have a show that was dedicated to the Fantasy and Sci-Fi elements of the hobby. Over the years, this emphasis has diminished and as you will see, there is plenty to occupy war gamers what ever their taste. What distinguishes Hammerhead from other shows is the games are all participation games so if you so wish you can join in with the fun and try out some of the superb games on offer.

The event has expanded this year and now occupied both the large George Stephenson exhibition hall as well as the Cedric Ford Pavilion. The two locations are just a short walk away from each other and this was certainly no hardship on the day. The weather was kind and it was nice to grab a breath of fresh air and take a break from looking at all the goodies on offer. Both locations had catering facilities, which meant that queuing for refreshments was in my experience, non existent. Even better, the food on offer was better than many shows that I’ve attended and not too expensive.

The Bunker game close up.

I wont cover the traders that were at the show – the usual suspects were in attendance, so there was plenty to tempt you to part with your money! I gamely resisted opening my wallet but eventually was tempted into buying some flags and a set of ladders – they will appear in a future blog project no doubt. The real stars of the show were the games on offer and here are just some that caught my eye. Perhaps the biggest, with the most figures on a table was the display from Shaun and Terry of the Bunker fame. Shaun is a master at creating scenery and always manages to pack the table with figures so there was plenty to look at!

Just one of the castles on the table!

Just as impressive, was the game by Reveille, the battle of Pellenor Fields. How many Oliphaunts were there?

Attack of the Oliphaunts

Another ‘wow!’ moment for me was the Bolt Action game. I’m afraid that I would fail as a reporter. I was too busy admiring the 1/56th (?) scale U boat that formed just part of the action to write down who was running the game…

Plenty going on here! Look at that U Boat!

I also liked the V1 that was incidental to the game.

It’s a V1!

And so, senses overloaded with the gaming goodness on display, I ventured across to the other pavilion where I joined Andy Callan, Ian Callan and Peter Dennis to play the latest ‘Paper Soldiers’ game ‘The Spanish Armada’. Ian and I were the British. Peter Dennis the dastardly Spanish. As with all Andy Callans rules, they are straight forward and simple to pick up, so within a turn I was immersed in the Game. Although Andy was giving his brother Ian a bit of stick for losing the Admiral and his flag ship, Ian and I continued to chip away at the Armada, reducing many of the Spanish transports to drifting hulks. It was all part of a cunning plan, as with the Admiral out of the way, the British would have more prize money!

As you can see, the game looks great and the book, which contains all you need, other than a pair of scissors, some PVA and access to a photocopier, retails at just £12.50 – amazing value and great fun. Having seen off the Spanish, it was back to the main hall for another look at the games.

Sands of the Sudan

Sands of the Sudan caught my eye, again, plenty of figures on the table and great scenery. Perhaps I will have a go at this period.

Beautifully painted Naval detachment.

By now, it was a case of sensory overload and constantly being distracted. Ooh look Daleks!!

and then Wow! Tripods!! With A10’s!!!

You get the idea, there was plenty to admire and my short blog post has barely scratched the surface. In fact I have missed many of the super games that were on offer. I’ll leave you with a look at another very well designed game. Who built it escapes me (bad reporter!) but what a temptation to start gaming this period.

Aces High!

So, plenty to see. Plenty to inspire. Plenty to motivate. All in all, a very good show , very well executed. I look forward to next years show. In the meantime, if you do fancy going to Partizan in May, I will be there with Arcane Scenery, so come along and say hello.

A Test of Will Power…

I believe the technical term in wargames circles for unbridled enthusiasm on the release of a new game or product is ‘frothing’. With all the product that crosses my desk, you would think that I am immune from such a condition but I’m afraid I am just as likely to get excited about new releases as ever. Of course, we are entering the peak ‘New Release Season’ as manufacturers and designers get ready to launch their new products at Salute down in London, so there is plenty to froth about.

Three forthcoming releases have caught my attention. Unfortunately for me, none of them are from periods that I already have troops for and so whether I actually get to play the games will be another matter. That said, for now I’m happy to dream about painting the miniatures that I may never actually own…

New from Warlord Games, Test of Honour

First up is the new game from Warlord, Test of Honour, a skirmish game involving Samurai Warriors and their retinue. Warlord have been very clever in marketing this game in that it involves repackaging the Wargames Factory plastics that they have recently acquired. If you would just like to have a look at the rules, they are available as a free, yes, free download from the warlord games web store. Just click this link to go there:

TEST OF HONOUR RULES

The game isn’t actually released until late March and of course, Arcane Scenery will be stocking it – watch out for our special offers around launch time! Having the rules will give you some idea of whether the game is for you.

I mentioned that the miniatures are the repackaged Wargames Factory figures but it being a Warlord release they have supplemented the plastics with some very nice metal sculpts, an example of which is shown above. I know that plastics in general and the Wargames Factory figures in particular are not to everyone’s cup of (green) tea but once assembled and painted, the models do look very nice. I am particularly taken by the Archers and the Cavalry.

Test Of Honour Mounted Samurai

Of course, Samurai are a bit of a speciality subject and not everyone is going to want to refight the sort of skirmishes that you see on the big screen where the Samurai warrior can take out a group of enemy in three moves whilst barely twitching an eyebrow. You either like this stylised ritual approach to combat or not. I suspect it is a bit of a marmite subject for wargamers. That said, I find myself drawn in two directions. I really admire the discipline, tradition and self sacrifice shown by the Samurai whilst acknowledging that such a regime would drive me mad! I reckon that a group of English Longbow men would have sorted out the Samurai as effectively as they dealt with the French without all that messing around – now there’s a sentence to start an argument…

Samurai Armour is just beautiful!

Of course, the other attraction is the beautiful arms and armour of the figures and the colours and designs used on the armour and clothing. I suspect that in attempting to paint these figures I will be stretching both my eyesight and painting skills but the thought of having a small Samurai band in my show case is too much of a temptation. Just to prove the point, once I had seen the release details of Test of Honour, I was inspired to dig out the only Japanese figures in my lead mountain and get painting! I have three ninja figures that I acquired sometime ago from Northstar games and so I thought that I would give these a lick of paint.

Northstar Ninja!

Ninja aren’t exactly representative of the Samurai that I have been frothing over but they are close enough. I decided to paint one in traditional blacks and greys, the other in Reds. The third I am still thinking about! It’s got me in the mood to paint more Japanese warriors, whether Samurai, ninja or the humble foot soldiers of various types. It will be a nice change from my Napoleonics for sure! The fact that I need only paint 6 to 20 models to be playing Test Of Honour is a big draw. If it grabs me the way that I think it might I can gradually add to my Samurai entourage!

Now what colour should I paint the third one?

There are of course other Japanese rules sets out there if you fancy a change yourself, and of course plenty of figures for sale. Two recent releases spring to mind,

DAISHO

Written by Craig Cartmell and Charles Murton, this is also a skirmish rules set for mythical Japan.

RONIN

Is part of the Osprey series of Skirmish rules and is supported by some beautifully sculpted figures produced by Northstar.

Of course, if you are going to jump into this period, you will need some scenery and I would suggest you look no further than the Sarissa Precision range of

JAPANESE BUILDINGS

and also very useful, the

FAR EAST RANGE

I think though ,the attraction of getting everything in a box, rules, dice, figures, cards, scenarios is too attractive a proposition to miss out on so I will be adding Test of Honour to my repertoire of games – I’ve just got to persuade a couple of my gaming buddies to join in!

I did mention three games that had caught my eye. The other two? Well I’ll cover those in a future blog but here’s a clue, one involves Africa and the other, some spooky goings on out West…

Whoops! Santa got it wrong again…

If December is a busy month in the wargames industry, January and February out shines it every year. People are often puzzled by this and would have guessed that December and in particular, the Christmas Shopping rush would be the time of peak trading. There’s a number of good reasons why it is not the case. In a business governed to some extent by the Post office, Christmas provides an artificial barrier to overseas customers who are put off by the Last Day of Posting advice and the chance that their parcel will be delayed in the Christmas peak posting period. The result is that trading is slightly down for our overseas customers. Also, as we go into the Christmas gift buying period, our largely Male dominated customer base, leaving things to the last week or so, realise that they better sort out the Christmas gifts that they need to purchase and so are distracted by other issues. Suddenly, the Marks And Spencers underwear department is no longer off limits or they get trapped in the everlasting queue in the Pandora Bracelet shop. I’m sure that it takes three days to get anything in the Victoria Centre branch – there’s even a queue to get into the flipping shop.

This clip from Father Ted could easily be a group of wargamers rather than priests….

The real issue though, is the lack of present buying by our non wargaming friends, relatives, partners and wives when it comes to our hobby. Now I know that I am in danger of being consigned to the Donald Trump Feminist Appreciation Society with my comments above but there is a certain truth to the following. In the run up to Christmas, it’s not unusual for wargamers to be asked what they would like for Christmas. The reply goes something like this: ‘Well I would like a Panzer III Ausf. J with a long barrelled 75mm gun and if you can get it with side skirts, even better… Or… I could do with a new shirt for work’. My bet is that it’s the work shirt that gets wrapped up nine times out of ten. However, the aforesaid non wargaming present givers usually redeem themselves by tucking a tenner or two in your card ‘ to treat yourself to that tank thingy….’ So a slight famine in December turns into a feast in January as wargamers search out that elusive model that will complete their army.

So if you find yourself with a pile of nice new socks, pants and a new work shirt at Christmas but you do have some Christmas cash to spend, please visit us at Arcane Scenery and Models , we may have just what you are looking for. And to make your cash go a bit further, we offer free postage worldwide on most of our lines. Even better, if you enter blog2016 as you go through checkout, we”ll knock 10% off of the bill. The code is valid until 20th January 2017.

Happy New Year!

Painting War

Marvellous! Just as you finish a project ( my Irish Warband) along comes the ideal publication that would have helped get an even better result. I’m talking about the release of the latest magazine in the Painting War series, ‘Dark Ages’. If you haven’t come across this series before, then I think that you are missing out. Each magazine, or more accurately, bookazine, takes a particular subject and using a guest artist, shows you how to paint a series of models. They have previously covered WW2 German army, French Napoleonics, WW2 US and Japanese Forces, British Napoleonics, The Spanish Civil War, Feudal Japan and now the Dark Ages. You can see the range here:

Painting War Magazines

The Dark Ages Magazine is by Alberto Mateos. It starts with a general painting guide and some basic techniques before covering general subjects such as how to paint skin, hair, fabric (including tartan), Armour, shields, flags, horses, accessories and even terrain. All of these subjects are referenced against the colours the artist has used and have clear step by step instructions. That’s just the first half of the mag! In the second part, there are 39 tutorials showing you how to paint individual figures, practically all of which are taken from the Saga Warbands. Most of the figures used are from either the Gripping Beast or Crusader ranges but of course, the techniques are applicable to any suitable Dark Age model. An example page is shown below:

With so many practical examples of how to paint your Dark Age army, you really cant be lost for inspiration or ideas. There’s one other clever idea. A colour reference chart in the centre of the magazine. So if you want to know how to paint Lambs skin, turn to page 63, not sure how to paint Red hair, turn to page 70, Scottish tartan – Page 20 – you get the idea and it’s very useful. So it’s another title that I will be adding to my reference library and I thoroughly recommend it for yours. If you would like a copy, just click here:

Painting War – Dark Ages

Meanwhile, back at the work bench, the Portuguese are slowly coming along.

Portuguese on the workbench

I am at stage 5 out of 8 in my batch painting process, with the red piping to complete before tidying up, and painting the details – brass plates, buttons etc.

Red Piping done. Brass & other details to complete

I think that I will struggle to get both Battalions completed in November but given a good couple of sessions, these boys should be ready for basing next week.

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