Whats on the work bench? – Page 3

Partizan Personalities

My current collection of Painted minaitures from the Partizan Shows

No, I’m not going to discuss Richard or Laurence, the two organisers of the wonderful Partizan shows, or for that matter, the many ‘glitterati’ of the wargaming world that attend the show! No, my interest is in the free figures that are handed out as part of the entrance fee. In the past, I would accept these figures gratefully and they would simply end up in a box as part of my lead pile. However, since the lockdown, my ambition has been to reduce my lead pile and to paint whatever I buy or acquire at shows. My rule now is that I wont buy anything from a show unless I have painted the things that I bought the last time I attended that same show a year ago. That gives me a year to paint what I buy!

So far, I have actually kept to my promise, more or less….so when the first Partizan show opened after COVID in October 2021 I actually painted the free miniature within a week. The miniature was of the nurse, Edith Cavell who served in WW1.

At the next Partizan in May of this year, the miniature was King Stephen. Once again, I painted him fairly quickly after the show. So now I had two painted miniatures from Partizan – Oooooo! the start of a collection! As it turned out, I remembered that I had a third figure, Martin Schwartz, from the Battle of Stokes Field. He was actually part of my War of the Roses army that I was using for Never Mind The Bill Hooks! I had painted him sometime ago.

Martin Schwartz – painted some years ago!

That find sent me scurrying out to the shed to see what else I had squirreled away! I also did some research on the web to remind myself of what figures were actually given out. I was surprised that there are actually 45 according the the lost mini’s web page. You can see them here:

PARTIZAN – LOST MINIS WEB PAGE

A quick dive into the lead pile to find past freebies!

So after a quick search through the pile of shame I found that I had 12 miniatures from past shows. It seems that the earliest figure that I had was number 26 King Edward VIII. I suspect that I have picked up other earlier figures but not kept them or they are hidden deep into the lead pile. I certainly wont have had them all but I thought it would be fun to paint what I have.

I started with figure Number 41 ‘Dulce et decorum est…’ It’s a lovely sculpt and very straight forward to paint. It also goes nicely with the Edith Clavell figure.

I then decided to paint the earliest models that I had, Edward and Mrs Simpson, numbers 26 and 27 respectively. Which brings my ‘collection’ up to six painted models! I’ll work through the others as a break from what ever else is on the workbench. As a collection, they will look nice in the cabinet and they chart a bit of my own gaming history through my visits to Partizan as a Customer, Trade Exhibitor and most recently, Games Demonstrator! I wont be actively seeking out the missing models from my collection, although I would like to get hold of the Lambert Simnel model for my War of The Roses army, and for old times sake, I would quite like to get hold of figure number two, Duncan the publisher.

Partizan is without doubt, my favourite wargames show, more so since it has moved to its new venue at the Newark Show Ground. I am very much looking forward to attending ‘The Other Partizan’ on Sunday 9th October, where I will be assisting with a Participation/Demo game of the latest version of ‘Never Mind The Bill Hooks’ or ‘Bill Hooks Delux’ as it will be known. With Andy Callan and his brother Ian, we will be showing off the rules for Celtic conflict in the WOTR era with a fictional prequel to the Battle of Stokes fleld set in Ireland! If you are at the show, please come and say hello!

I am of course also looking forward to getting the next figure in the collection!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop.

ARCANE SCENERY

To find out more about the Partizan show tickets prices and who will be there, click here:

PARTIZAN SHOW NEWARK

Happy Modelling!

Detailing My Great Ship

I’m afraid that my commitment to to producing a weekly blog has been somewhat lacking in recent months. Fortunately, my modelling output has continued at my usual steady rate and I continue to make progress on the various projects on my workbench.

I have been updating my model great ship, which I have yet to find a suitable name for. It is based on Henry Vths Gracedieu but much reduced in scale so that it fits onto a gaming table. I have added some detail to the Forecastle and also a figure head. The figure head is a roaring lion and is made from one of the DeeZee models , DZ23 Lion attacking. A bit of a waste, in that I only used the head, cutting it off from the body and using greenstuff to blend it into the prow of the model. I think that it looks nice though! I have also added a couple of anchors to the bow. They are from the Expo range that we carry. I had agonised about how I would drill through the hull and keep the holes looking tidy. I solved the problem by using two eyelets from a hole punch set that I had. I’m quite pleased with the result.

I also decided to add some shields to the stern castle. I used the large Heater shields from Footsore Miniatures and decorated them using some very old Games Workshop transfers that I had found in my bits box. I’ve also painted a few free hand. The Percy Hotspur shield is a case in point. It’s a bit rough when viewed close up but looks OK from a distance! Incidentally, the coats of arms that I have used are either fictional or wrong for the time period. It’s not a problem for me, I just want something that is representational that looks nice on the wargames table. At my age, I’m not going to get too hung up on making a museum quality accurate scale model of something that didn’t actually exist anyway.

I have also made and painted a few more fighting crew for the ship. I now have another 12 archers completed. Again, I have been pretty easy going with the livery and have gone for a mixture of liveries rather than one specific type. As Gracedieu was built in the latter part of the Hundred Years war, rather than the Wars of The Roses, I have used the Perry’s Agincourt set for the retinue. That is also my excuse for not being consistent with the livery!

A few more archers added to the crew – just 8 more to add.

The Great ship is more or less complete now. I will add another 8 archers to the crew, giving her a compliment of 24 archers and 18 Men at arms. This will make the great ship a formidable opponent when playing ‘Boat Hooks’ – that is until my opponent plays the special event card that will make her run aground! I’ll also add another 12 shields on the stern castle to finish the decoration there. I am toying with adding some removeable rigging, for display purposes, made from wire but I am in no rush to do so!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop.

ARCANE SCENERY

We also have a category devoted to Never Mind the Bill Hooks:

NEVER MIND THE BILL HOOKS!

To see our range of Naval accessories, click here:

NAVAL ACCESSORIES

You can see the DeeZee range of animals ion the link below. As well as lovely models in their own right, they can be useful for figureheads, statues and of course, conversions.

DEEZEE MINIATURES

To find the large heater shields, click here:

HEATER SHIELDS

We have the eye punch on offer:

HOLE AND EYELET PUNCH

To see our range of glues, click here:

ADHESIVES AND GLUES

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

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy Modelling!

Half Way There!

We have just passed half way through the year, with June already disappearing into the distance. I’m about to go away on a fortnights holiday. Like many people, I haven’t been able to get away for three years now and it’s been even longer since I’ve had more than a week away. So it’s a good time to press the reset button and take a long break from everything- business and hobby.

Just before I jet off to a cooler climate (Mexico isn’t quite as warm as the UK at the moment!), I thought that I would do a quick round up of some of the projects that I have been working on and give a ‘halfway score’ on just how much I have painted so far this year. So, in no particular order here are some of the models that I have completed recently that haven’t made the blog.

My Flag ship, or ‘great ship’ for ‘Never Mind the Boat Hooks’.

The biggest project that I have been working on is a scratch built Great ship, based roughly on King Henry Vths Gracedieu. Quite why I haven’t written about this project escapes me. I think that for a few weeks it just totally absorbed my attention. I was too busy modelling and researching to write the blog! Here’s a few pictures of her under construction and I will do an article with a bit more detail in the future.

The great ship was built for a demo game of ‘Boat Hooks’ at Partizan in Newark. Here is a picture of just some of the action.

Never Mind The Boat Hooks demo game at Partizan

Talking of Partizan, I picked up the free miniature of Stephen Le Blois and he has been painted and now joins my collection of these miniatures. I dont have all of the Partizan figures but I have resolved now that when ever I pick one of the show figures up, I will get it painted rather than chucking it into the lead pile!

Stephen Le Blois – Partizan 2022 free figure.

Continuing with the Partizan theme, I committed to ensuring that what ever I buy at a wargames show, I will paint it before the next show. I have just about stuck to my commitment by finishing a nice Perry Miniature wicker wagon that I had bought back in Octobers Partizan 2. I am building a nice collection of the Perry Wagons and I have a reasonable baggage train now.

As reported in my previous blog, I’ve also now completed my Irish Kern that were also bought at Partizan. This almost completes my Irish Army for now.

Changing the subject, I have also managed to make a bit of progress with my LOTR project. I am just about to finish basing twelve orcs from issue 24 of the Magazine.

I must confess that I didn’t enjoy painting these figures. The molding of detail is a bit ‘soft’ to say the least but thanks to a good wash with Army painter strong tone ink, they look OK!

My gaming has been curtailed just recently. I have been busy with family and social events as have my gaming buddies, Pete and Andy, so the opportunity to meet has been limited. Wargaming tends to be a winter activity! However, one game that we did play caught my imagination. It was a refight of Islandawanda. The troops are actually made from Hair Curlers by Andy Callan! I dont think that I will be going down that route but I am always impressed by such ingenuity! The game was good fun as well!

Zulus – thousands of them….no wait they are hair curlers!

Well that is just a flavour of some of the projects that have gone across my work bench. I forgot to mention that as well as building the great ship, I made and painted the crew – another 20 or so figures. Which brings me to my total for the year so far:

152 Infantry figures;

8 Personalities

5 Medieval ships

1 Bren carrier

1 Deezee Elasmotherium

1 cart and horse

Lets hope that the rest of the year is as productive once I have re charged my batteries!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop but remember that I am away until the end of July!

ARCANE SCENERY

We also have a category devoted to Never Mind the Bill Hooks:

NEVER MIND THE BILL HOOKS!

To see our range of Naval accessories, click here:

NAVAL ACCESSORIES

To see our range of glues, click here:

ADHESIVES AND GLUES

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

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy Modelling!

Sarissa Precision Medieval Cog

You may have seen a number of blog posts and post to the Bill Hooks Facebook group regarding our new venture ‘Never Mind the Boat Hooks’, a set of wargames rules based on Medieval naval warfare. Many of the boats that we are using are models made from the Sarissa Precision medieval Cog. My ‘fleet’ currently includes two, so I thought that it would be useful to give a brief review of building the kit and show readers some of the modifications.

One of our early play tests – the sarissa precision cog The ‘White Hart’ has run around in the top of the picture!

First of all, a couple of disclaimers. The kit is a representation of a typical medieval cog rather than a precise scale model. It’s a very good representation and designed for 28mm wargames figures, so it is very practical and robust for table top use. If you are looking for a more accurate model there are some very nice ones out there – the Zvezda Cog in plastic, for example. However, you will find that they are far more expensive and less robust or practical when it comes to gaming. That said, from what I have read in the limited research that I have done, there are no plans based on actual designs that survive. Most of what we know is based on contemporary pictures and descriptions rather than actual plans. There are a few surviving ships that have been recovered but I think that it’s fair to say that our knowledge is limited.

The Sarissa cog fully assembled and rigged

The Sarissa Cog comes with full building instructions and I recommend that you read them first and familiarise yourself with the pieces before you start to build the model. I found that the model went together very well and in some places the pieces were such a snug fit, glueing wasn’t required! However, to be on the safe side you should assemble with glue. I used Expo thick Cyanoacrylic super glue. A good white PVA would also be suitable but I was impatient and the thicker super glue glue gave me sufficient working time. A quick blast with an accelerant made things even faster, once I was happy that the pieces were in place.

Note that the ribs with the ‘eye’s in the top fit to the rear of the boat!

A word of caution when building. It is worth checking and then double checking that the ‘ribs’ that will support the grey board sides are assembled in the correct sequence and that you are clear as to which ones are on the stern end of the boat and which ones fit to the front or bow. The same goes when you fit the deck – ensure that you are clear which is the bow and which is the stern! Otherwise, I found the assembly very straight forward. A bit of patience and care is required when fitting the greyboard sides. This is where I found that super glue was better than PVA due to the fast grab and set time.

The deck and stern castle deck in place. Note the winch goes to the front of the boat.

I assembled the mast but did not glue it in place as I intended to replace it with a ‘fighting top’ for my archers. The mast is snug enough to slide in and out as required.

The completed Cog – original mast is just in place temporarily.

Full rigging instructions are included but I decided that the rigging would restrict access to the deck and get in the way when gaming so I went for a simpler solution. I made a replacement mast with a fighting top from a piece of 10mm dowel. You can pick this up from your local hardware store for about £3.00 for a 3 metre length so you will have plenty spare! Using a saw I cut a slot in the bottom of the new mast so that it would fit into the existing mast hole. Next, I needed to make a fighting top.

I’ve used two different methods of making a fighting top. I have a square one for the ‘White Hart’ ( see above) and I have a round one for the ‘White Lion’ – see below.

Both of these fighting tops are made using 40mm bases ( round or square as you prefer). I’ve then made the sides with coffee stirrers cut to size and attached to the bases.

If you look at the top picture you can see that there are some very simple ways of making a fighting top – look carefully and you might just identify a certain fast food outlets’ sauce container!

With the new mast and fighting top completed, my Cog was ready for gaming. However, I wanted to use the original mast with a sail for display purposes. To make the sail, I simply cut a piece of old sheet to size. I then asked for some help from my next door neighbor, Carole, who is an expert with a sewing machine to run some panels into the sail. To get the design of the lion onto the sail, I printed off a picture from the internet and taped the sail over the picture onto my patio window! I could then trace the design onto the flag.

As you can see, I then placed the sail over a balloon and liberally coated it in PVA. Once dry, it was easy to peel the sail off of the balloon and it would now keep it’s shape with a bit of ‘belly’ in it!

It was then just a case of carefully painting the sail. I used standard Vallejo paints but I ensued that each coat/colour was very dry before completing the next one.

The anchor that you can see was from Expo – we usually have these in stock, as well as the chain, although as I write this I am waiting for more stock as I have used them all for my projects!

So my cog is ready to take to the table. I will publish a follow up blog, where I will detail how I have painted the model – although if you have followed my blog, you will be aware of my preferred method of painting to simulate wood. If you are able to attend Partizan in Newark on May 22nd, I will be there with Andy Callan and we will be running a game of ‘Never Mind The Boat Hooks’ – you are welcome to come and join in and if you have any questions regarding the construction of the boats, I will be pleased to answer them.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

If you would like to purchase the Sarissa Precision Cog you can see it here:

MEDIEVAL COG SAILING SHIP

We also have a category devoted to Never Mind the Bill Hooks:

NEVER MIND THE BILL HOOKS!

To see our range of Naval accessories, click here:

NAVAL ACCESSORIES

To see our range of glues, click here:

ADHESIVES AND GLUES

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

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy Modelling!

The Death of Nelson

Whilst I am still very much involved with producing my own Medieval Naval force, It’s good to have a break in between projects. For me, this involves painting something from the ‘Lead pile’. Regular readers will know that I am somewhat obsessed with reducing the number of unpainted figures in the ‘heap’ and the one minor benefit of the recent lock downs has been that I have made some progress.

The Death of Nelson – he certainly doesn’t look well….

So whilst I was in a nautical mood, I decided to have a go at painting a small diorama that I had acquired years ago. It is the Moments in Miniature model of the Death of Nelson issued by Wargames Illustrated Magazine. It’s a lovely piece, well sculpted and includes a nice resin base. A deep dive into my back issues of Wargames Illustrated and I found the original article that accompanied the release of this piece. I simply copied the pictures that accompanied the article. Well, up to a point. The article was by the master painter, Matt Parkes and showed how to paint the model as though it was illuminated by yellow lantern light. That was too fancy for me. I just wanted to paint the piece for my cabinet!

I’m fairly pleased with the result, although I have received a number of comments regarding how ill Nelson looks. I guess the clue is in the name. Poor Nelson is not going to recover from his wounds!

I have also been steadily working through the Battlegames in Middle Earth magazine figures and I have now reached issue 23, having completed the Men of Gondor and Gimli, the Dwarf.

Which brings me back to the lead pile. I have decided that my lead pile consists of three categories of models.

Models that I have acquired from friends who didn’t want them or through the business. They might come in useful one day but I had no real reason for having them other than I didn’t want to throw them away and I was too greedy/polite to refuse them.
Models that are just excess to requirements. You know, you buy a box of 60 Infantry and only use 24 of them for a particular project and the rest go onto the pile.
Models that I really liked and wanted to paint but didn’t fit into the particular project that I was working on at the time. Perhaps one day I would sit down and paint them.

The Fellowship of the Ring is gradually taking shape!

Well, my focus now is on Category three. I’m not going to worry about category one any more, other than to sort them and either get rid of them or put them into deep storage. As for category two, it’s just an inevitable part of the hobby. You will always have spares and bits. They are now sorted by category and if I need a type of figure for a project, I’ll check my stash before I buy but I’m not going to worry about painting these until I need them.

So, Category three will get my attention. That is in between the painting and modelling that I need to do to complete my latest project. And when it comes to my latest project, I have resolved only to buy what I need and can paint in a reasonable time scale. In other words rather than buy a whole army that then sits there whilst I summon up the energy to get on with it, I’m just buying one or two units at a time and painting them before buying anything else.

Meanwhile, as you can see, my Medieval fleet is still growing, I’m going to add at least one more cog and some smaller row boats for support.

Which reminds me, I might just scratch build a great ship to lead my fleet in action…

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Naval Gazing!

It’s almost a month since my last blog and my attention has been focused on a new project. My gaming buddy and ace rules writer Andy Callan has come up with a new variation of ‘Never Mind The Bill Hooks’ – ‘Never mind the Boat Hooks’. The game is based on Naval warfare in the middle ages and inspired somewhat by the Battle of Sulys that took place in 1340. Although this pre-dates the Wars of the Roses by some 100 years and in fact was part of the 100 years war, this type of Naval warfare continued for some time into the next century.

Grace Dieu – the For castle is 52 feet high!

Henry V’s flag ship, Grace Dieu, launched in 1418, although one of the largest ships of her time, carried only 3 cannon and her design was primarily to allow the English to over come the formidable fleet of Genoa by providing a high platform for the archers to shoot down on the lower Carracks used by the Genoese. Towards the end of the 15th century, gun powder based technology began to become the prime armament but even Henry VIII’s flag ship, the Mary Rose, launched in 1511, still carried a number of archers as the secondary armament to the 78 – 91 guns on board. You can see from the picture that the high Forecastle and Stern Castle would facilitate fire down onto the enemy ships and the netting over the main deck ( which may have contributed to so many casualties when the ship foundered) was there to prevent boarding actions by the enemy.

The Mary Rose – Note Galleys in the background

So for a period in the late middle ages, the primary method of naval warfare was to grapple with the enemy ships and board them with a view to putting the enemy to the sword! In effect, a land battle fought on the decks of the ships. This allows the adaptation of the Never Mind The Bill Hooks rules to Sea Warfare, without too many changes to the basic rules engine.

The detail regarding fighting ship design for this period is about as comprehensive as the detail of the battles of the Wars of the Roses. That is to say, scant, at best! Much of what we know seems to be based on pictures from coins, pictures in manuscripts and carvings in churches. I have purchased the rather lovely book by Susan Rose ( no relation to Mary !) and whilst I am yet to read it properly, the summary seems to confirm that we are very much in the dark as to how Naval combat was fought in detail and how the ships were constructed or operated in battle.

However, before you can have a battle at sea, the first thing that you need is some ships! For the first play test, Andy made some ships up from wooden blocks and cardboard! As you can see, the ships looked pretty effective and not that far away from some of the contemporary illustrations and as a result we were able to play test the new rules.

I then realised the Sarissa Precision have a very nice medieval cog in their range! So it was time to start building a fleet! You can see my first attempt at building the Sarissa cog in the picture below. I replaced the original mast with a fighting top. The replacement mast is just a plug in piece so I can revert to the original if I please.

The Sarissa Cog with replacement Fighting top

I also wanted to add some galley’s to my fleet but as there was no suitable kit, I decided to have a go at scratch building one. I tried looking for some sort of plan without much success but found plenty of picture references. In the end I decided to build something that looked like a galley and that would be practical when used on the table. The result is certainly not a scale model, nor is it based on an actual galley but is meant to be a representation of the sort of Galley to be found around that time. To be fair it is more like a Mediterranean Galley than an English one but I will use it as a Burgundian Mercenary crew!

My Fleet is growing Galley and Cog ready for battle.

As I’ve had no plans, I have to admit to making it up as I’ve gone along and I have made some more changes to the galley by adding some flags and a mast. I also have a second galley and cog on the work bench. I do intend to publish a step by step guide to making and painting both types of ships and I intend to make a more ‘English’ looking galley based on a Viking ship type hull.

The first two ships are ready for battle! You can see another Galley is under construction.

For now, this Blog entry is more of a taster of the project than a detailed guide. If you fancy having a go at making the Sarissa Cog, I’ll put a link below. The good news is that should you decide that you want to have a go at building your own fleet, Peter Dennis will be releasing a selection of Medieval ships and Galleys in his Paper soldiers range, so you could build a fleet for a very reasonable outlay. I will also publish the plans to the galley along with a step by step guide as to how to make one, either on this blog or possibly in Wargames Illustrated Magazine. My balsa Galleys have cost less than a fiver to make!

I’ll also get a battle report from the next play test published that perhaps will give an idea of how ‘Bill Hooks’ rules work in a naval setting. One final thought. There’s no need to build or paint any more figures. We are just using the War of the Roses figures, as you can see. They may not be strictly accurate for some of the early period but the idea is just to have some fun!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

To see our range of Never Mind The Bill Hooks merchandise click here:

NEVER MIND THE BILL HOOKS

To go straight to the Sarissa Cog, click here:

MEDIEVAL SAILING COG

Happy Modelling!

Workbench Round up – first of the New Year!

My output continues at a steady pace, with my new war room and hobby station making my hobby life easier. The only issue is that there is no over arching theme to my modelling output. I continue to follow the threads from last year. So I have completed a unit of WOTR Pikemen, two characters from the Lord of the Rings collection and a Bren Carrier!

The Pikemen were kindly given to me already assembled and primed ( thank you Jaz!), so painting them was straight forward. I used a white and green livery, for no other reason than I liked the combination. This Livery is mostly associated with the Welsh Tudors, although there were plenty of other Welsh houses who sided with the Yorkist cause and indeed, quite a few minor houses in England that had white and green as their colours. I’m not too concerned that my units should represent a particular faction. I’m happy to play fictional battles and scenarios rather than re-fight actual battles. So don’t be surprised if you see this unit marching with Sir Harry Hotspur!

Foundry Pikemen from Duncan’s collection

I’ve also re-based and re-touched another unit of pikemen that came from Duncan Mcfarlanes collection. I still need to add the pikes as the originals have been lost but I have replacements ready. I think that they are Foundry figures and I hope that they will continue to do battle in Duncans memory.

Grishnakh – basing not quite completed in this photo

I’ve continued with my ‘Battle Games in Middle Earth’ project, painting another three character figures. Ugluk, Grishnakh and mounted Eomer are now completed and in the cabinet. Of the three, I found Eomer the most challenging. Painting his armour was quite difficult as it is fairly intricate and his horse is also a strange grey – dark grey at the back and light grey up front! I’m not entirely happy with this model but he will do for now! I’ve now reached issue 18 of the Magazine and as issue 19 came with paints rather than a figure, I am about 20% of the way through the collection. When I complete the figures with issue 20 ( more Goblins), I’ll have a round up of my progress.

The bren carrier was the next on the work bench and was bit of a trial for no other reason than my airbrush seems to have developed a fault in the compressor. I just about managed to get the basic colours on the Carrier before the compressor gave up. The model is from Curteys 1st Corps and although not as precise as, say , the Tamiya 1/48th kit, it builds into a nice replica and of course is ideal for the wargames table. The markings, as with all of my WW2 armour are conjectural and not based on an actual vehicle. I have hand painted them, apart from the vehicle serial number.

Whilst purists might not like the idea of making up markings, it’s my way of ensuring that I get models finished rather than endlessly researching them to get every detail exactly correct. For me, the models are simply a representation of their type rather than an exact replica. Whilst I have total admiration for those modellers that are able to produce museum quality replica’s, exact in every detail, I have very little time for those in the hobby who seem to know everything but produce nothing – their hobby is different to mine!

To be fair, it’s this attitude that allows me to get my projects off of the work bench and onto the gaming table. I have been largely cured of my desire to seek perfection by my wargaming buddies, who favour practical solutions over fancy models! A great example of this is the latest game that we are playing – Never Mind The Boat Hooks – Billhooks on the sea! Andy Callan has very cleverly adapted his rule set and produced some Medieval Cogs from wood and corrugated card board. This meant that we were play testing and having fun rather than still thinking about how to make the models.

Never Mind The Boat Hooks…coming soon… early play test

Here’s a sneak peak but in my next blog I hope to show you a bit more progress!

The Sarissa Precision Cog on my work bench.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!

I may be a bit late with my New Year blog and end of year review but better late than not at all, I guess. I had hesitated when trying to decide how I would write a review of the year, hence the late entry. There have been some challenging times during 2021 that I have had to navigate. It felt like that even in a modelling blog, I should set my hobby in the context of some of these events. After much thought I have decided against this approach. Those that know me personally will be aware of them and those that don’t, will not need to hear of the personal challenges that I faced. I am sure that they have had plenty of their own ‘dragons’ to slay.

One consistent help through all of the year has been my hobby. It provides me with a respite and escape from the ‘real world’ and some semblance of control over at least a small part of it. I can only wish that you enjoy your hobby as much as I do and derive the same sense of satisfaction. So without further introspection and with time to fill on a rainy Saturday morning, here’s how I spent my time at the hobby work bench in 2021.

The Gaming year continued to be dominated by ‘Never Mind The Bill Hooks’. Although I had thought that my WOTR army was complete, I still continued to add to it. Without the need to produce units for actual gaming, I was free to take on some side projects such as Artillery, Baggage wagons and some of the more unusual troop types.

As well as the War of The Roses, my attempt to paint all of the miniatures that came with the Part work/magazine ‘Battle games in Middle Earth’ continued. As of last night, I had reached magazine number 16 and completed Ugluk, the Uruk Hai Captain. He is pictured below – not quite finished as the basing needs to be completed. I’ve also pictured some of my other models for this collection.

As you can see, I am also gradually adding to my Word War Two collection. This year, I added a Cromwell, Churchill and Beaverette Armoured Car as well as a couple of Home Guard units – A Northover Projector and a Blacker Bombard.

Ny Napoleonic collection wasn’t entirely forgotten. I added some commanders, a Vignette and a Battalion of KGL.

And finally, I manged to paint Mr Giraffe, who had been stood on the workbench for over two years…

Those are just some of my favourite models The actual count stands at 170 infantry figures, 8 Cavalry, 14 Personalities, 4 Artillery pieces, 3 Wagons, 4 Draft Horses, 4 Oxen, 6 Pavises, 3 Tanks, 1 Armoured Car and 1 Giraffe! All painted and based and housed in their new home.

Which brings me on to the most important development of the year in my hobby life – My very own war games and hobby room. Yes at the tender age of 64, I finally have my own hobby space into which I can relax and paint and game. It’s been a long time coming but is certainly a highlight in the year. I still have work to do to finish it but it is gradually taking shape. Even better, I have a home for my collection.

My Figure cabinets – nearly filled already!

To bring this blog to an end, I must add that I have also managed to enjoy a fair number of games, both with my regular Gaming Buddies, Pete and Andy and with other good friends. Perhaps the highlight for me was the Bill Hooks Bash, organised by ‘Other Pete Harris’ over in Derby. The day encapsulated the very best of the social side of the hobby. A full day of gaming against various opponents , all of whom were friendly, gracious and made the day inspirational. As the song goes, ‘One day like this a year will see me right’

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Command Bases and Vignettes

If you follow my blog, you will know that I have now occupied my purpose built ‘war room’ or hobby room. In the process of moving my figure collection into it’s new home I came across a number of unfinished projects and some unpainted figures in my cabinet. I thought that it was time to get these figures completed.

First up was the ‘Secure the Colour’ vignette from Perry Miniatures. This set depicted Captain Clarke and Corporal Stiles of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons capturing the 105e eagle at Waterloo. I had already completed the other Vignette that the Perry’s make for the British at Waterloo, ‘A Hard Contest’ with Sgt Ewart capturing the 45e eagle, so it made sense to complete the pair! You can see my attempt at the Sgt Ewart vignette in my earlier blog here:

A HARD CONTEST PART 1

A HARD CONTEST PART 2

My version of ‘A Hard Contest’ – I still need to add the flag!

You can see how far I have progressed with the next vignette ‘Secure the Colour’ in the photograph below. It’s still not quite finished as I need to add the long grass and flag. I have ordered both the 45e and the 105e flags from GMB, so once they arrive, I can finish off both vignettes.

The other projects that were nagging at me were the command bases that I had started some time ago for my Black powder army. I have a number of Wellingtons and Pictons in my collection, but I thought that it would be useful to base them on 40mm round bases, along with another suitable figure to make ‘brigade commanders’ for my army. I had a couple of nice figures from Trent Miniatures, given to me by Duncan and it was time that they were painted and added to my collection.

Warlord Picton with Trent Miniature Scotish Fencible officer

There are actually three bases that I have made. One with a Front rank Ensign and the other two with the Scottish figures. The Trent Scots figures are designed for an earlier part of the Napoleonic Wars – one is a Scottish Fencible officer, the other represents Sir John Sinclair who raised the Rothesay and Caithness Fencibles, the first of the Highland Fencible corps. The Caithness Fencibles would go on to serve in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798. I was happy to paint the Officer with the raised sword as an officer of the Black Watch and Sir John Sinclair was given a Cameron Tartan. It seems unlikely that these officers would have been dressed as such for the Waterloo campaign but they make a colourful addition to my army.

You can see from the pictures that I have once again used home made ‘sabot’ bases for the figures. Should I wish to change the setting in the future, it is an easy process to transfer the figures and replace them with something else.

By the way, if you would like to see just how many models of Wellington that I have, I have covered the issue in my blog here:

HOW MANY WELLINGTONS DOES IT TAKE…

Just to finish off, here are pictures of my new command bases/vignettes.

The completed Sir John as a Cameron Officer with Wellington

Yet another Wellngton and Front Rank Ensign!

STOP PRESS!

I’ve received my flags from GMB, so I was able to complete the ‘secure the flag’ set:

Captain Clarke and Corporal Stiles take the Eagle from the 105e

Another view with enhanced lighting! It makes my painting look sharp!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

The War room is finished!

Well, the building work is and I have now started to occupy the new space! The final task was completed on the 16th November, with the new floor being laid. The next stage was to get my cabinets and figures moved in from the shed and to purchase and build a desk. It’s worth reminding myself as to what I was trying to achieve. It wasn’t just a case of converting the garage but part of a plan to improve the house generally and to de-clutter my hobby. Like most of my friends that are involved in this strange hobby, I had accumulated a large collection of books, board games and a considerable ‘lead pile’ and heap of miscellaneous ‘stuff’ that might come in useful one day…. Of course you can add to that a large collection of painted figures.

The war room is finished – now to start moving things back!

The other issue was that I was painting at a work bench in the garage, perched on a bar stool, sometimes in the freezing cold and certainly not in the most comfortable or inspiring environment. So when planning the conversion, I had three objectives in mind. Firstly, I wanted a pleasant space in which I could model and paint and perhaps sit quietly away from the hustle and bustle of the house and do some research and planning. I also wanted to bring my collection of painted figures together and display them, as much for my own pleasure as anyone else. Finally, I wanted to create a space in which I could run my own wargames.

The desk is built and everything is moved in – just needs sorting out – Oh! and I need a new chair!

After two weeks of ‘put and take’, I finally have my figures in their new home and I have bought and built my new desk. There is still much to do, as you can see from the pictures. This has meant that I have done very little in the way of painting or modelling other than the occasional repair as I moved everything around.

My painted figures and models now have a new home!

There’s still much to do though. I need to upgrade my storage, particularly for my scenery and most of my book collection is still out in the shed. Something that I need to remedy quickly before they spoil in the damp and cold. So I think that I will be spending more time in IKEA and B&Q whilst I continue to work out how to get everything in it’s place and cull the stuff that I don’t want.

Just a part of my GW collection – theres another cabinet full of Space marines and Imperial guard in my office upstairs!

My Necron Collection, including a few conversions!

More Necrons – I still have some in the lead pile to complete…one day they will be back!

One of the many diversions that has occurred as I have moved everything is that I have been reminded of all the projects that I have started and perhaps not quite completed. This has given me the urge to revisit some of these ideas and perhaps finish them, in as much as you can finish anything in this hobby!

My Japanese collection. I have plans to expand this army in the future! ‘Never Mind the Bushido’ is bubbling in the back ground!

As I moved my Necron collection, I started to think about some of the new models that had caught my eye. But then I was saved from this madness when I started to move my Napoleonic collection and realised that I still had plans to expand into some of the other allied nations and then there was my Japanese collection….Of course, as I moved the ‘lead pile’ I came across plenty of models that I have had for years. Maybe it’s time to complete them.

My Early WW2 cllection – the home guard are ready for battle!

So, what about the wargames table? Well that will be one of the last things that I will either build or have built for me. I have a cunning plan to make something that is easily stored when not in use but will give me a reasonable playing area when I need it. If my plan comes to fruition, I will of course show the final results on my blog.

My growing collection of 1/48th scale tanks – the sheep have just lost their way!

For now, here are some more pictures of my collection! Now I must get some painting done!

Napoleonic Collection – a couple of vignettes

A rare French subject for me – Napoleons coach! and some of my wagons and limbers.

I have more than enough troops to play Never Mind the Bill Hooks but I keep finding excuses to add to my army!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Ox Cart – Final touches

The final part of the project was to paint the ‘crew’ and base everything. Painting the figures was fairly straight forward – as they are supposed to be civilians, there was no need to worry about whether the figures would be in livery or not! I did check pinterest and Google images for pictures of medieval clothing and the general impression that I had from these sources was that the clothing would be mainly muted colours.

So the driver was painted in Gold brown 70877 for his leggings, and deep green 70970 for his jacket. The finished figure was actually brighter than I intended but he looks OK and adds some colour to the diorama. The female figure (the driver or drover’s wife?) was painted with a light grey 70990 apron over a burnt red 70814 dress. The baby and her hat were painted white to add interest and to show the baby off. The little lad was painted with black grey 70862 leggings and a khaki 70988 smock. I gave him a bright red hat to make him stand out against the luggage!

Edith Cavell – the free figure from Partizan 2021

You may have noticed that there is a WW1 nurse in the picture above. It is the Edith Cavell figure that was being given out at Partizan this year. It made sense to paint her at the same time as the passengers, as I would be using similar colours. She is not included in the final diorama but here’s a picture of the finished model that I have added to my collection!

Once the figures were completed, they were based ( in the case of the drover) or added to the cart. The lady with the baby looks as though she’s is in a precarious position, perched right up on top. I’m sure that the Health and safety executive would not be pleased! However, this is where she is designed to go and from an artistic perspective, looks good!

The next stage was to construct the base. For some reason, I have a tendency to go for ‘sabot’ style basing for my dioramas and vignettes. It allows me easier access to paint the bases and should I wish to change things in future ( I have no idea why I would want to….) I can do so. I used a piece of MDF for the base – I think it was part of a discarded movement tray that I had in my ‘bit’s’ box. It was then a question of using Plasticacrd and some spare renedra bases to block in the spaces around the wagon, Oxen and drover. The picures show how I did this.

Once this is done, I covered the whole lot in Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste. I also added some ballast for some extra texture on the edges. I used my sculpting tools to stipple up the earth where the oxen would have walked, and created the cart wheel marks in the cart base.

When dry, everything was painted with my choice of emulsion ‘Delhi Bazaar’ and then dry brushed with Iraqi Sand. I was going for a dry look to the base rather than a muddy winter or autumn finish.

I then added some green scatter from the woodland scenics range, a blended green Turf.

The finished diorama – oops! I need to touch up the sides…

The final touch was to add a variety of tufts and flowers. My friends say that I use too many flowers on my bases but I like the colour that they add! I think that it adds to the rural look!

The final result with the edge of the base touched up!

So the Ox wagon is compete and added to my collection. There is just one more thing that I will add. I need a length of chain to connect the front oxen team to the wagon but unfortunately, I am O/S of the size that I want and more annoyingly, I’m sure that I have some buried out in the shed somewhere! For now though, I’m calling this done and it’s on to the next project!

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BASES AND MOVEMENT TRAYS

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Medieval Ox Cart

My latest project is a Medieval Ox cart from Perry Miniatures. I seem to have a growing collection of wagons and although they are of little use in most wargames, they do look nice on the table as scenery pieces. They also look nice in the figure cabinet as part of my collection, so I seem to keep adding to my baggage train! As an aside, I must get around to writing a scenario or two involving either rescuing or raiding a baggage train. It would at least add some variety to our games.

Wagon and Arrow barrow from my collection

I am a great fan of the Perry Miniature sculpts – there are other company’s out there with some fantastic ranges but I like the style and proportions of the Perry’s figures. The Perry’s have also been involved in Medieval re-enactment, so they know their stuff when it comes to the period. There is just two minor grumps that I have with their products. Firstly, the casting quality is not always as good as it could be., particularly with their horses and wagons. It took me a couple of evenings to clean up the parts for the Ox wagon – the wheels were a particular challenge. The other issue is that there is no assembly instructions with these kits and I think that they are complicated enough to warrant some sort of guide. If not supplied with the kit itself, a bit more information on the web site would help.

There are plenty of parts in the Ox cart kit!

So here’s how I went about assembling the wagon. I hope that it is useful. The first place to start is of course, the clean up. I used a couple of differently shaped needle files and a Scalpel with an old blade for scraping the mold lines. For assembly, I use Expo Thick Super glue. I find it ideal for assembling metal miniatures. It’s thickness gives the glue some ‘fill ability’ on the joints so they don’t have to be perfect to stick together. Also the slower set time allows me to make sure that everything is lined up before the glue sets. The set time is about 10- 12 seconds, depending on the size of the bond. You can speed things up by using an accelerant. Despite being careful, I usually end up sticking parts to my fingers and usually get enough glue on my finger tips to stop me logging into my iPhone…

One other thing, I always wash resin pieces in hot soapy water before assembly. Resin seems to be particularly likely to have a residue of the mold release agent on it, which will cause problems when painting. The picture above shows the main components for the wagon all cleaned up and ready to assemble.

Front wheels assembled. Load ready to glue to wagon base

The small wheels fit onto the front assembly. The Wagon load is fixed to the wagon bed. Note that the front of the wagon bed is the rounded bit and the rear of the load has the poles sticking out.

The sides look a bit wonky! They will straighten out once the top components are added.

Next, attach the sides to the wagon bed. They locate into the cut outs above the axle and may need a bit of filing to get them to fit. The two pieces in front of the assembly are the top connectors – they hold the railing sides together at the top.

Here’s the wagon with the wheels on and the top connectors in place. The next part of the assembly is to fix the ‘elbow’ reinforcements to the wheels ( I made that term up – I’ve no idea what they are actually called!). They will need a bit of careful bending to go around the wheels and attach to the railing of the cart. It’s important that the joints are cleaned up and I cannot stress how important it is that you test fit everything before getting out the glue! It was during this part of the assembly that I stuck myself to the cart a couple of times! Those joints are difficult!

With the elbow joints in place, the cart assembly is complete. What ever those things are that connect to the axles, they do make the cart look more substantial so I think it is worth persevering to add them.

The next part of the assembly is to make the draft oxen. After cleaning up the pieces, you will need to glue the heads on the Oxen at the same time as placing the yolk over the animals neck. I haven’t glued the yolk into place, it will stay there without the need for glue and the movement will allow me to prime and paint the animals later.

Once the Oxen are assembled, I cleaned up the ‘crew’ and you can see the finished wagon below ready for priming. I’ll cover the painting process in my next blog – all being well!

One final note, You get two types of Oxen – heads up or heads down. I decided to pair them. With hindsight, it might have been better to have one’ heads up’ with one ‘heads down’ as their horns tend to clash the way I have assembled them!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – remember that our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop:

ARCANE SCENERY

To go straight to the adhesives and fillers section. Click here:

Glue. Fillers and Paints

To see our selection of tools, click here:

Tools and Modelling accessories

Happy Modelling!

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Category Archives: Whats on the work bench?

Partizan Personalities

Detailing My Great Ship

Half Way There!

Sarissa Precision Medieval Cog

The Death of Nelson

Naval Gazing!

Workbench Round up – first of the New Year!

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!

Command Bases and Vignettes

The War room is finished!

Ox Cart – Final touches

Medieval Ox Cart

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