Following on from last weeks blog, I seem to have made some progress with my painting but as we are still working (thank goodness) and busy posting and packing other peoples modelling supplies, I haven’t quite finished as much as I would like. The strange thing about the ‘lock down’ is that it seems to have sapped my energy and whilst I have more spare time at the weekends and evenings, I seem to have done less.
The second gun in the army – a nice field piece from Perry’s
So here is a quick round up of progress. I have now finished the second artillery piece for my army, completing the gunpowder section! I will add some tufts – I tend to do this as a session on it’s own and ‘tuft up’ a number of bases in one go. I have no plans to add any more artillery – I now have more than enough for the average game of ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’. That said, at some point in the future I may add the heavy Bombard that Perry’s make, just for fun and because it will make a nice centre piece.
The Artillery section of my army.
You can see from the picture above that I am missing four light cavalry from the rear rank of my Light horse. These are currently under construction and will complete the two units that I have planned. As regards, heavy horse, I’ve completed three metal Yorkist Command of Edward IV, Lord Faulconberg and Lord Hastings.
Yorkist command
This gives me 15 heavy horse but the plan is to buy the other Yorkist command pack with Warwick, Gloucester and Salisbury. I will then have 18 heavy horse. Two units of 8 and two commanders, again ideal for Billhooks!
Heavy Horse ready for battle.
The other sub project has been to finish the standard bearers. I intend to do a mini tutorial on Standards and how I apply them but I still have plans to add more. Here’s the couple that I have done using Little Big Man studio decals.
Banner men!
I have gone back and painted over the edges of the banners to hide the white edges but I notice that in the pictures of them in their units, I’ve managed to miss a few bits!
Warwicks Men at arms!
Norfolks Colours, I think but Faulconbergs men…
So My army is approaching completion. Just 4 light horse, 3 heavy horse and 12 more billmen and that will be it. Project completed. I wonder what I will do next?
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Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
I just could not avoid mentioning Covid -19 or the Corona virus crisis in writing my blog. In such strange times it would have seemed somewhat perverse to ignore what is probably the most momentous event to affect the country, if not the world, in my lifetime. However, I’m not going to record all of my thoughts on the subject here. There are enough comments, opinions and people minding other peoples business on social media and the mainstream media without me adding to the torrent.
I also have no idea how to pitch any comment. Anything that I write in a serious vain could be considered too preachy. A joke, and I’m not taking things seriously enough. That said, I cant help but try to find some humour in a very dark time. To put things in some sort of perspective, rather than my modelling output increasing, my painting hours have actually decreased over the last week, due in some part to lack of sleep and my mind being elsewhere as I firefight the next stage in trying to keep the business going through these difficult days.
Salisbury, Gloucester and Faulconberg in the process of being based
At least I still have a business – at the moment. Thanks to the incredible support of my small, loyal team, my suppliers, the fantastic postie ( I must get his name!) and of course, my very loyal and supportive friends and customers (often one and the same), we are still trading and sending out modelling supplies across the world. We will continue to do so as long as we are permitted to do so.
Everyday, for the last couple of weeks, we have been having a Grass Snake meeting at Arcane ( A grass snake meeting is a bit like a COBRA meeting, only shorter and less toxic) to work out with Julie, Hayley and Kevin how we will operate. Each day the plan has lasted until about 5.00pm when the latest announcement changes everything. For the moment, our latest plan is holding. Julie and I are working three days together, Hayley (AKA the Packaging Princess) is taking the two ‘quieter days’ and working on her own. Kevin is supporting from home and in reserve should one of us fall ill.
Another gun crew nearly finished, ready to join the York army.
As I have been married to Julie for 40 years, we have practiced social isolation on a number of occasions and staying 2 meters apart at times has certainly kept one or both of us alive…There, I couldn’t resist a joke!
Gun crew ready for basing
So Arcane Scenery is still trading, along with other online retailers and if we can help you with your hobby, we are here to do so. Despite everything, I have found some time for painting. I’ve said before that I find it very helpful and allows me to tune out of the world and for a short time forget whatever is causing me stress. As you can see from the pictures, my War of The Roses army is still growing. I may even get it finished over the next few weeks!
The next batch of figures primed and ready to paint.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
I thought that in this weeks blog that I would show the progress on my War of the Roses light cavalry and show the method that I used to paint them. Once I had assembled the riders, I mounted them on painting sticks by drilling a hole in them and mounting them onto a wire. The picture shows them primed with a grey primer and the first two colours, Vallejo flesh and Army Painter plate mail applied.
Riders primed and ready.
The next stage was to block in the main colours, in this case Off white and Flat green. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have no intention of creating a specific unit or retinue from a battle in the WOTR. The idea is to create a generic army to fight club battles. So although these colours are more appropriate for Tudor bowmen, these troops may well be fighting for a Yorkist retinue!
Block painting the livery
The next picture is a bit of a jump in the painting process! I finished the block painting by using a Buff/white mix on the bow covers and arrow bags; Vallejo old wood was used for the bows and the riding boots were painted with Vallejo Orange brown or light brown to mix things up a bit! The belts and accessories were painted with either leather brown or burnt red. I then brushed on Army painter Dark Tone quick shade. Once dry, the figures were sprayed with a matt varnish and then the white, flesh and metals re highlighted to give a crisp finish.
Finished figures on their horses.
Close up of Light cavalry
Once I was happy with the riders, I finished the basing using my usual technique that I have covered many times before in my blogs.
The completed unit of light Cavalry
Close up of the unit – I have since been back and added some detail to the Commanders face.
With eight mounted bowmen finished, it was on to the remaining four cavalry in the box! I have painted these as Scurrers or Prickers and again, I have chosen the livery colours at random, using burnt red and yellow. Here they are still mounted in their painting sticks!
Scurrers!
Here’s the completed models on their horses. With these now finished I just need another four to make up the unit. I’m not sure whether to get some metals or see if I can just get an extra sprue. In the meantime, I’ve taken a break from the cavalry and I’m now working on some more Footknights and Characters.
Light Cavalry on the prowl!
I do need to add some flags and Standards to the unit – I’ve just received some very nice standards from Citadel six flags but have yet to try them. My army is approaching completion, with some 200+ figures now painted and based. It is lacking flags though – watch this space!
War of the Roses Army
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the June edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
My War of the Roses army is approaching completion, although the project is suffering from a bit of ‘creep’ with my habit of finding that just one more unit would be a good idea! The light cavalry were supposed to be the final unit that I would add. The challenge to my OCD/collectors habit was that the Perry Miniatures plastic box set gives you 12 light cavalry and I only needed 8 to make a unit. My solution to this dilemma was to decide to build 8 of the cavalry as mounted bowmen and then make another unit of 8 Scurrers by adding some metals to the four remaining plastic figures.
Perry Light Cavalry assembled
But first of all, I needed to get the plastics completed. I assembled all of the figures in the box first and then decided to paint them, six at a time, starting with the horses.
Primed horses
As you can see, I primed four of the horses in brown, one in black and the last one in grey. The different base coats giving an indication of the different colours that I would paint the horses! By the way, I use army painter rattle can sprays to prime my models. When it came to the colours for the unit, I had decided that I would paint them in green and white for no other reason than I fancied this combination. History purists might find this cavalier approach ( Ooh! Good pun!) somewhat unacceptable, particularly as the colours are close to Henry Tudors’, who was a Lancastrian and the rest of my army is based on Yorkist commanders. However, I am painting units for the rules set that we are using’ Never Mind the Billhooks’, rather than creating a specific WOTR army and I feel comfortable in mixing and matching as I see fit. Lets just say that these troops are Cheshire journeymen happy to draw a bow for who ever pays them – in this case, Lord Harry Hotspur!
The four brown horses.
I painted the four brown horses more or less as Bays, using a mixture of browns and washes layered on using my dry/wet brush technique. The horse with the light mane was painted using Green Ochre – I would never have chosen this colour based on it’s name but it does work well! It was then a case of painting the livery in green or green and white.
The black horse
The Black horse was highlighted with black/grey and then very lightly with light grey. I used Buff to pick out some of the livery, again not because of any historical accuracy but because I liked the effect!
The white horse was painted in exactly the same way as I painted Richard III’s horse (see last weeks blog) and so I had my first six horses ready for basing.
Six Light Cavalry Horses ready for basing.
In next weeks blog. I’ll detail how I painted the riders and completed the unit, but for now here’s a picture of the first six figures that I have completed – The basing is still to be finished.
Mounted Bowmen
The sharp eyed amongst you will see that a Prussian Jaeger has sneaked into the picture! So with the six mounted bowmen completed it is onto the commander and standard bearer to give me my eight mounted bowmen.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the June edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
When the remains of King Richard were discovered in a car park in Leicester, (just down the A46 from us), there was a great deal of media attention, as you can imagine. As far as I was concerned, the nicest item that I saw to commemorate the event, was the model by Perry Miniatures. I really liked the thought that had gone into the model and the gentle humour in showing King Richard bursting out of the car park on his steed! I had wanted to get one from the moment it was released but had been obsessed with my Napoleonic collection and so had not added it to my lead pile. With my interest in the War of the Roses, and the new rules set that we had been play testing, I now had an excuse to get the model. I also wanted to paint something for the rules writer, Andy Callan, who has spent hours re-writing and fine tuning the rules set after each of our play tests, having had to put up with yet more ‘feedback’.
Preparing the models for painting.
So rather than one model, I bought two, figuring that it would not take very much longer to paint two of the same model. I had also decided to convert one of the models slightly, so that King Richard was holding a banner rather than his sword, showing off the title of the rules – ‘Never Mind The Billhooks!’. Just to give myself a bit of a challenge, I decided to paint the models ‘properly’ rather than my usual block paint and quick shade method. To start with, I cleaned up and primed the individual pieces, using a black primer for the base, grey for the horse and Plate mail for the figure.
The car park space bases!
The base was quite straight forward to finish. I simply gave it a dry brush with Vallejo Black grey, 70862 and then followed this with a lighter dry brush of Light grey 70990. It was then just a question of picking out the markings on the car park spot in off white 70820. I could have used yellow – there are two painted models on the Perry web site that I was using as a reference (copying….) – but I preferred the white markings.
The horses being painted
The horses were first painted or rather wet/dry brushed with Light grey 70990 and then Silver grey 70883 as the first coats. I wasn’t too worried if the priming coat of uniform grey was left in the deepest of the creases. The wet/dry brush is my best description of the technique that I used, The paint brush wasn’t loaded with paint but neither was it wiped off, as with a usual dry brush. I also made sure that the ‘high points’ on the model were well covered in paint. I then used the same technique to paint the horses with a coat of off white, but this time, using a drier brush to leave the shadows in the darker colour. The horses manes were painted in Black grey 70962 and the horse furniture in flat Red 70957. The decoration on the horse furniture was done using Brass 70801.
Completed horses on the bases
I then touched up the details on the horse, using Ivory 70918 for the hooves, Platemail for the bit and hooves, black for the eyes and I lightly dry brushed the mane and tail with a neutral grey to bring out the detail. I then carefully black lined the model to sharpen everything up. I really liked the stark appearance of the Perry’s painted model and so I followed this example. For this reason, I didn’t worry too much about highlighting or shading the red – I like the extreme contrast against the white horse!
Painting King Richard – highlighting and details to do next!
It was then onto King Richard. As mentioned, I primed him with army painter plate mail and then gave him a good coat of Dark Tone or Black ink. Once this was dry, I dry brushed him first in Plate mail and then in silver. At this stage I then started the slight conversion to one of the models and carefully snipped off the sword and then drilled the hand so that I could insert a standard. I also needed to very slightly bend the arm but this was done without a problem. It’s always a good idea to go gently and ease the model in the position that you need – by it’s very nature, the metal will flex if you are careful. The details on the models were then picked out. Red for the belt and leather wear, Flesh 70955 for the face, followed by a skin wash, and then highlighting with another coat of flesh and then light flesh 70928. The hair was Chocolate brown 70872 with a flat brown 70874 hightlight and then a wash of brown ink. The details on the sword were picked out in brass.
King Richard completed and on his horse!
The next challenge was to make the standard. It turned out to be simpler than I thought. I photo copied the standard for King Richard that comes in the Perry Miniatures Foot Knights set and used a Dymo electric printer to print the title. This was cut to size and stuck onto the flag, which in turn was cut out using a fresh scalpel blade. I then used watered down PVA to stick the flag onto a cut down spear and the job was done!
Never mind the Billhooks!
The standard King Richard…without a standard…
The finished model with the standard is for Andy and I have the original with the sword for my cabinet. Incidentally, I did make two standards – one was the Billhooks version and the other a normal Royal Standard – I think that the Billhooks version looks best on this model!
I am very excited about the release of the ‘Never mind The Billhooks’ rule set. It will come as a free full colour 24 page supplement with the May issue of Wargames Illustrated. I have now seen the draft rules, and they look great. I can only hope that other Wargamers have the same fun and enjoyment that we have had when they finally get their copies!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the May edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
After my diversion with the wolf enclosure last week, it was back to the projects on my work bench. With storm Dennis causing mayhem across the country, it was a good weekend to spend safely indoors painting model soldiers. I had two items that I wanted to complete. The priority was painting a couple of models of Richard III emerging from his tomb under a Leicester car park! I’ve already posted a picture of one the completed models on our Face book page – I’ll detail how I went about painting and converting him in next weeks blog. Here’s a picture of the original version.
Richard Triumphant!
The other project that I wanted to complete was a batch of 6 Warlord games Prussian Jaegers, who would be bolstering my force at our demo game at the Bingham Napoleonic days in March. To be honest, I didn’t really need to paint them but I had a spare pack at work and it would give me an extra unit of Jaegers to use in the game, either as a small unit or as Skirmishers in front of a battalion attack column.
Bingham Napoleonic days
The Bingham Napoleonic days, now in their fourth year, take place on the 6/7 March at Longacre Studios in Bingham. As usual I will be with my gaming buddies, the NG13 gamers and we will be running a series of Demo games based loosely on General Lecourbes campaign against the Austrian army after the battle of Waterloo in 1815. There is a link to the Bicorne site in my Commercial section below giving more details but it’s worth pointing out that if you are at a loose end, entrance to the event, including the lectures, is free. It’s not the biggest show that you are likely to attend – possibly the smallest and definitely the least commercial, but if you fancy a drive out to the Nottinghamshire countryside and a pub meal, it’s a nice way to pass the day.
Prussiajn Jaegers – primed and ready for painting
Back to the jaegers – I should point out that the Prussians weren’t involved in the original campaign but we have included them to add some colour to the table and give me an excuse top dust off my Prussian contingent! I followed my usual painting method for churning out units for my Napoleonic army – Prime, block paint, Quick shade and base.
Block paint started – first colours on
I’m not going to detail the colours for the simple reason that I was a bit lazy when it came to researching them. I usually spend a bit of time finding the correct colours but on this occasion although I consulted both my Osprey books and the Mont St John web site, Pinterest and of course, the painting sheet that comes with the Perry Miniatures Prussians, the details seemed to be confused. I sort of lost patience in trying to work out the correct facing colours and exact uniform and just decided to copy the painted models on Warlords web site.
Prussian Jaegers – detail added prior to quick shade
This means that they wont technically fit in with my Silesian Prussian regiment but I quite liked the red facings for a change! So they will appear on the wargames table with the Silesians, regardless!
Jaegers based
Once they were painted with quick shade and matt varnished, I started the basing process. I spread Vallejo dark earth mud texture paste on to 20mm square MDF bases and ‘plonked’ the figures into the paste, using a sculpting tool ( a cocktail stick would have been fine!) to draw the paste around the figures bases and blend them in. There is no need to glue the figures to the bases, the paste will hold them securely. It was then just a question of tidying up the edges, painting the bases and adding some scatter and tufts and another six figures are ready for the wargames table.
All based up – just waiting for the tufts!
Not the most ‘loved’ of projects that I have done but sometimes it’s nice just to get another unit off the painting bench, even if that means dropping standards a bit!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
To get full details of the Bingham Napoleonic days, including a list of speakers, click here:
If you want to join us for the wargame, we are there on Saturday only but you are welcome to find us out in the back room and have a chat, may be roll some dice and of course discuss why a batch of Jaeger are in the wrong facings!
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
It’s been two weeks since my last blog but I have been busy – it’s just that I haven’t actually finished anything for myself! I was somewhat diverted by a request from my Granddaughter, Emily. We were tickled pink when she phoned up ( she’s not quite seven yet!) to ask me for some help with her school project. She was learning about wolves and had to make a wolf enclosure – did I have a model of a wolf and could I help? Well, Arcane scenery has the DeeZee range of animals and we have a pack of Dire Wolves that would do nicely. As I had not painted one myself, I thought that I better do a test piece before Emily came over to paint her own version. So above is my first attempt at painting a wolf. I also prepared and primed the other 5 in the pack and then based two of them so that Emily could finish them off.
Emily’s wolves in their new enclosure.
It’s worth pointing out that DeeZee model are not toys and made of metal and not designed for children. However, even at 7, Emily is sensible enough to understand the difference between a model and a toy and will use them as such. When it came to painting the wolves I gave Emily my best brushes and we used ‘proper’ paint. My advise would be that if you would like children to take up the hobby, let them loose with the correct tools for the job and just take the time to explain how to use the tools safely. When it comes to painting, that means how to hold the brush, how to thin the paint and how to clean the brushes in between coats and so on. Mind you, I was told off for licking the brush! It’s a bad habit but the most effective way I know of keeping the point on the brush….
The completed wolf enclosure – the pink pipe cleaners are their food!
Once Emily had painted her two wolves, we made a start on the enclosure itself. It was made to Emily’s specifications using two shoe boxes. My job was to wield the hot glue gun and stick stuff together where directed- I would have let her have a go with the glue gun but Nanny said no! Emily did slap on the PVA glue where needed though! Of course, having access to my stash of scenery made the job a bit easier. We were able to line her two shoe boxes with some off cuts of scenic mats that I had and add some Arcane Scenery trees. We built a ‘den’ using some slate and the pond was just a painted piece of foam board. We used arcane scenery scatter to blend it all in. Emily helped herself to some of my Gamers grass tufts and some twigs and lichen and we had more or less finished. The project took most of Sunday but as ‘Storm Ciara’ was beginning to blow outside, it was a Sunday well spent.
Sabot bases under construction
As for my own projects, well, as I have said, I’ve been busy preparing stuff but have finished very little. I have completed some sabot bases for my War of the Roses command figures. I used the same techniques outlined in in my blog article ‘Painting War of The Roses Artillery’.
The completed command bases
Perrys Light Cavalry
I’ve also assembled and prepared 12 War of the Roses light cavalry. I assembled eight as mounted bowmen (to use as mounted Skirmishers) and the other four as ‘scurrers’ – I could combine these with four of my other heavy horse to make another unit. I’ve got as far as priming six of these light cavalry, but I’ll probably show these in a later blog.
Additional command figures
I’ve also assembled four more command figures – three of which will have standards. I don’t need any more commanders for my army; the extras will allow me to divide my force into two, to allow an extra player to play, if needs be.
Prussian Jaegers primed and ready for painting.
I have a Demo game to prepare for in March. It’s the Bingham Napoleonic days and as usual the NG13 gamers are putting on a display. I actually have enough troops for the demo but decided to add another six Jaeger to my Prussian force. I got as far as priming these before being distracted yet again.
Special project on the go!
It was my birthday last Thursday and I had asked for some additional Perry Miniatures to bulk out my War of The Roses force. I had also asked for the special ‘Richard III Commemorative figure’ that they make. Actually, I asked for two as I have an idea for converting one of them as a standard bearer for the new rules set ‘Never Mind the Billhooks’. So these models have found their way to the top of the painting list. Again, I’ll show the finished models with a bit more detail in a future blog, but as you can see, the horses are about done for now. So lots of modelling but nothing quite finished. That’s the way it seems to go in my hobby!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
My War of the Roses army is approaching completion. I now have most of the infantry that I am likely to need whilst playing our rules set ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’. In fact I can actually muster two small opposing retinues if necessary. There are two gaps in the roster though; Light Cavalry and Artillery. I went for the easy option and started to paint an artillery piece. As usual, my manufacturer of choice is Perry Miniatures and as the rest of my army is made up of Perry Plastics it made sense to continue to use the same source. Of course, other manufacturers figures are available!
Artillery!
It was a straight forward task to file down the flash and casting lines on the pieces. Some of the Metal Perry castings can be troublesome in terms of mold lines and excess metal but this pack was well cast and not a problem. I then undercoated the gun in black primer and the crew in grey primer. To paint the wooden carriage of the gun, I followed the article for painting wood contained in the last issue of ‘Painting War #9 – Holy War’. On the face of it, it seems like a bit of a long winded way of producing a wooden effect but I think that it is well worth the effort and time and I am very pleased with the effect.
WOTR Artillery – first coat of Vallejo Chocolate brown 70872
You start by painting the wooden parts of the carriage in Vallejo Chocolate Brown using the normal painting technique and cover as much of the black undercoat as you can but where possible, leave the black metal barrel of the gun and other metal parts. Next you start to dry brush the carriage using Flat brown. This stage can be done with a fairly heavy dry brush and you will cover most of the Chocolate Brown.
Next heavy coat is flat brown 70984
Now use Flat Earth as your next dry brush coat. This time use a slightly lighter coat and less paint on the brush. You just want to catch the details and grain of the wood. This is followed with Orange Brown. Once again, this is a light dry brush and you are just picking up the highlights.
Added dry brush coats of Flat Earth 70983, Orange Vrown, 70981 and yelow ochre, 70913.
The final dry brush is done with Yellow Ochre. You need to be using a really dry brush and a light touch. I tend to focus just on the edges of the model. The magazine article suggests a further highlight using flesh as the top highlight. I decided that I was happy with the finish that I had and stopped there.
The finished gun. Black re painted – I need to go back over the wheel rims with steel.
I then went back over the barrel and ironware on the cannon with matt black to cover the over brushing that I had made whilst dry brushing. I also then gave the wheel rims a dry brush with gun metal to represent the paint chipping off these due to use. The gun is ready for action.
Gun crew block painted in their black and red livery.
When it came to the crew, I decided on a straight forward red and black scheme for their livery and didn’t get to hung up on the accuracy of this. I just wanted them to match my ‘red faction’ of my retinue. I did consider painting the Gun Captain in a different colour as he would probably be independent of the Lords household, but in the event, went with with the easy solution.
‘sabot’ base under construction
Crew in position – you can see that I’ve painted the crew with quick shade.
On to basing. I created a base that would allow me to remove the crew individually as in the ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ rules, this is how hits on the gun and it’s effectiveness is measured. With each ‘hit’ on the gun, you remove a crew member. So once the crew were mounted on 20mm x 20mm MDF bases, I created ‘sabot spaces’ for them on a larger 80mm x 65mm base. See the picture for details. I used some spare thin strips of wood and MDF to make the frames and super glued them into place. This is a bit lazy, I like to use PVA for gluing wood but I was in a hurry to get the base done. I did pay a small penalty for my idleness. I managed to get super glue over my fingers and as a result, even though dry, I couldn’t use the touch unlock facility on my i-phone as the glue blotted out my finger print!
Base coated in texture paste – Vallejo Dark Earth 26219
Once the base framework was completed, I coated it in Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste and then followed my usual basing method.
WOTR gun completed!
This involves painting the base with my favourite coloured emulsion paint ‘Delhi Bazaar’ – Vallejo is too good to waste on bases! Once dry, it is a case of dry brushing with lighter mix and then adding some scatter and tufts. If you would like to know how to get pots of emulsion to match your Vallejo colours, have a look at my earlier blog here:
So another unit is ready for my Army, next up, the light cavalry, although I suspect that they will take a bit more than a week to complete!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ will be available as a full colour supplement with the April edition of Wargames Illustrated. If you would like the current issue, click here:
This weeks blog is just a progress report on this weeks modelling. I am somewhat consumed by my War of the Roses army but progress is slower than expected, partly because the model of the Mary Rose that I am working on has been a pleasurable diversion from ‘grinding out’ more billmen!
Mary Rose – washed with Strong Tone
As you can see from the picture above, I have used similar techniques to paint the ship as I would one of my figures. I gave the hull a couple of light washes with Army painter Strong tone ink. Once this had dried, I gave the ‘deck’ ( it’s actually a representation of the rope grid that was there to prevent boarders – in the event it is thought that this prevented the crew from escaping when the ship capsized.) a dry brush with Vallejo Old wood, lightened with Iraqui Sand. I also gave the rest of the hull a very light dry drush with the same mix. It was then a case of carefully picking the guns out with matt black.
Mary Rose – Decals added
The next stage was to add the decals. Well, what a fiddly job. It took about three hours in a couple of sessions to get these on. I used the Vallejo Decal Medium and Decal fix to help with this job. There was a reason to do this job over a couple of nights – I was very concerned to make sure that one side of the ship had dried thoroughly before handling it. The decals are so small it would have been easy to unseat them whilst they were drying.
Sails – dry brushed
In between fixing the decals, I went to work on the sails. I dry brushed them with a mix of Army Painter Skeleton bone mixed with white, gradually increasing the white until I was happy with the effect. I then gave the sails a wash of Army Painter soft tone ink mixed 50:50 with the Army Painter mixing medium. The mixing medium helps to dilute the colour and helps the ink to flow over the larger surfaces of the sails. Unlike when thinned with water, it doesn’t pull away from the edges.
Sails – Spars painted
I’ve then painted the spars with Vallejo new wood and it was back to the hull. When fixing the decals I realised that parts of the hull should have been painted white. This would have been easier to do before applying the decals but as I said in a previous blog, I had tended to ignore the instructions and just did my own thing! This particularly applied to the paint scheme. I have broadly followed the picture but where it has suited me, I have used ‘artistic interpretation’ to emphasise details or just to get a nice finish.
Mary Rose – hull about finished.
So with the hull and sails about done, the next stages will involve fixing the sails to the hull, painting the stand and adding the rigging. However, I was happy to pause there as the Billmen on my work bench were glowering at me and demanding that I get back to finishing them!
Bill men ready for basing.
As you can see, I’ve nearly completed another unit, with another 12 underway. My army is approaching completion. To celebrate, I bought a Perry Miniatures Artillery piece…
Artillery!
Once the Bill men are complete, I’ll add this to my army and I am nearly done!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
It doesn’t take much to distract me sometimes. In this case, whilst on an ‘enforced’ shopping trip at Lidl, I spotted that they were selling some Airfix ship kits for just £4.99. A bargain! But could that price be an excuse for me adding another kit to my stash? Well, one of the kits was the Mary Rose and as I am interested in the War of the Roses at the moment, the Mary Rose was close enough to the period to justify my interest – and it would look nice in the display cabinet. So the Mary Rose kit, along with the ‘Victory’ (‘might as well pick it up – it could work with Black Seas… and a tenner for two kits…you cant go wrong.!’) were added to the trolley.
The Mary Rose under construction
Despite the more pressing nature of finishing my WOTR army, I decided to break away and build the Mary Rose kit. I quite enjoyed the change from making Perry’s WOTR bow and bill men and it looks as though Airfix really have upped their game. The kit went together beautifully with the minimum and sanding and no filling. In fact, I became a bit over confident and did the usual bloke thing of straying from the instructions. As a result I missed out a couple of pieces but no matter, nobody will notice…
Mary Rose under coated
Once assembled, I sprayed the main hull with a Leather brown primer and the sails in Skeleton bone.
Mary Rose Sails
I then painted the decking or the deck covering with Vallejo ‘Old Wood’ and then painted the masts with Vallejo New wood. I should point out at this stage, that I had done no research regarding colour scheme, or for that matter, anything else. My only reference was the box art and the painting instructions supplied with the kit. I just fancied building a kit for a change! Incidentally, the kit does include paints, glue and a nice brush, so it’s a lovely little starter kit.
Mary Rose with decking painted.
It was at this point that I realised that I had a play test of ‘Never mind the Bill Hooks’ looming and I needed to finish off a couple of extra Archer units. So the Mary Rose was pushed to one side and it was back to the Archers!
More arrows please!
In fact I have completed two more units, making 4 Archer units for my army now.
Yet another bowman unit ready for battle!
The ‘red faction’ of my retinue!
So with a photo shoot of my army due, I’d better get on with the Billmen units. I will get back to the Mary Rose, it was fun to just to do something a little bit different during the Christmas break that didn’t require too much thought. But, I will finish the Mary Rose before I start another project – honest…..
Bill men on the work bench.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
As we approach the end of 2019, it’s a good time to reflect on the year and what has been achieved or not. No doubt, there will be plenty in the ‘official’ reviews of the year to keep us entertained, one way or another. Whilst the big things in life often define the year, it’s worth reflecting on the smaller things. My hobby is a case in point. I look back at the models that I have built and painted, the games that I have played and the places that I have visited and by and large, it’s been a very satisfying year.
Life sometimes throws rocks! My attempt at Iron Gates Scenery Trebuchet.
The headlines are that I have added 258 painted figures to my collection; played at least 40 wargames in 8 or 9 different genres; rediscovered my love of board games; participated in two demo games and attended 8 or so wargames shows; and visited at least 6 historical sites. Add to that, the reading and research that I have done and the great company that I have enjoyed, and it’s fair to say that I have had a good year, thoroughly immersed in my hobby. So whilst there have been some ups and downs in both my personal and business life, my hobby has kept me grounded and given me something to look forward to when may be other things were going tit’s up, so to speak.
I wont bore you with everything that I have painted but here’s a few pictures of my favourite projects.
An Officer observes the launch
One of my favourite Vignettes that I built was the Rocket troop from Warlord Games – the horse holder is a conversion.
One of our Demo games – Combat at Foz D’arouce.
We used the superb table built by Pete Harris in two Demo games. Above is the version played at the Bingham Napoleonic Day, below, the game played at the Warlord Games day.
I used my Portuguese for this battle – including my newly painted Portuguese Artillery
Much of the year has been spent working on my War of the Roses Army and play testing Andy Callan’s rules set, ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’.
Six Mounted men at arms -the rules set that we use has units of 8 cavalry.
I very much enjoyed this project as I felt I didn’t have to be too precise with colour schemes but could use my imagination.
One Unit of FootKnights – I have four in the army!
The unit of Pikemen ( Crossbow men in the background) that were completed this year.
I still managed to add to My Napoleonic Army and finished the Highlander battalions that were at Waterloo.
The Black watch completes my Highland contingent at Waterloo.
I rediscovered my enjoyment of board games and found that the modern board games such as ‘Ticket to Ride’ and ‘Settlers of Catan’ were just as enjoyable to play as the classics. However, it was a classic that provided a fun evening for my friends, who had never played Space Crusade!
Space Orks – coming to get you!
When it came to gaming, Black Powder remained a firm favourite although as a pleasant change from Napoleonics, our gaming group has been working through the American Civil war, courtesy of Andy’s ACW army.
Pour it on Boys!
Perhaps the one time when I did over indulge in wargaming was a whole weekend playing back to back games. A fantastic weekend in a superb setting with great company, the highlight being a massive Zulu game!
All is lost! The Zulus have broken through!
As the year closes, I am busily painting away in what ever spare time that I have. My focus is on finishing my War Of The Roses Army but as ever there is plenty to distract me. Whilst I don’t think that I will ever finish my Napoleonics, I will keep adding units as the whim takes me.
The next unit of archers on the workbench
So to close for now, I would like to hope that anyone else in this funny little hobby has as much enjoyment as I do. I wish you all a happy and productive New Year!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Should you wish to see more details of the projects above, just click into my blog using the link at the top of the page or just explore a section using the category headers down the side bar. You can also follow my activities in the hobby by ‘liking’ the Arcane Scenery facebook page. As well as updates on my various projects, you will find information and news of new releases and products as well as our ‘On this day in History’ feature.
If you need help in completing a project of your own we have a massive range of stock in the Arcane Scenery shop. Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are currently available POST FREE from my shop here:
Last week I said that I would detail how I painted the unit of Pikemen for my army – However, things have moved on! I have been somewhat diverted from my usual painting by the exciting news that Andy Callan’s rules set for the War of the Roses, ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’ is due to be published in the New Year. I’m afraid that I cant reveal further details at this point. I have been asked to produce a simple step by step guide to painting some figures to help to illustrate the Rules set and so this project has taken over the work bench.
English Archers Ready!
I’m by no means a ‘pro painter’ – my focus tends to be on painting units that I will use on the wargames table. The idea isn’t so much as to show people how to paint to a competition standard, just to give some ideas as to how easy it is to muster a retinue to play the game with some reasonably painted figures.
Billmen underway
This has meant that I have had to give a bit more thought and planning my normal painting routine to show the step by step process. The result is to have partly painted figures to do this, so that they can be photographed for the article. As you can see, I decided to show three different figures and how to produce a basic paint job on each to get them ‘table ready’. This meant building four of each figure in near as possible identical poses and working out a step by step painting plan.
Armoured Billmen
I won’t describe that process here – you will have to wait for the article! However, once these figures are photographed – assuming that they are accepted – I can then move on and complete the final units for my War of The Roses Army. Just to finish, Here is a couple pictures of the Army so far, as usual taken on my i-phone. One day, I must take some nice photos with a proper camera!
Harry Hotspurs Army!
Another view of the Retinue
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
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