DeeZee Woolly Rhino and Cavemen

It’s been nearly three weeks since my last blog but I have been busy with all sorts of projects. As far as my War of the Roses project goes, The heavy cavalry are now complete – I have 12 ready for action. I have also built 12 Crossbowmen, 6 Handgunners and 10 more pikemen as well as painting 12 Pavises for the crossbowmen. I’ll write an update on this project in a future blog along with a report on the playtesting of ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’ – the WOTR rules set that Andy C. is developing.

Mounted Footknights ready for action.

Likewise, my Napoleonic project continues, with the next 12 highlanders, representing the Black watch, primed and the batch paint is underway. I use any ‘spare’ time to add colour to these until I get to the tricky tartan bit, when they will get my full attention!

Batch paint on Black watch with pavises in the foreground

Batch paint on Black watch with pavises in the foreground

I have been distracted by the latest addition to the DeeZee range. Not so much a new item as a re working of an old one. The mold on the Charging Rhino DZ8 was beginning to burn out, so we took the opportunity to re do the master and put the model into resin. I dont think that it’s a secret that we have a very good working relationship with the folks at Footsore and the master Resin Caster, Vince, was happy to take this on as a project. I was delighted with the results and the detail of the model shows much better in resin than it did in metal.

DZ08 Whoolly Rhino Charging - now in resin

DZ08 Woolly Rhino Charging – now in resin

This coincided with the production of the first ‘shots’ of the new range of DeeZee cavemen that we have commissioned. They are being sculpted for us by the very talented Matt Lupus, of Knuckle Bone miniatures. So I had a good reason to ‘park’ both the WOTR and Napoleonic projects and move further back into history to paint some cavemen and a Woolly Rhino!

Cavemen and Whooly Rhino primed and ready to paint!

Cavemen and Whooly Rhino primed in Leather brown and ready to paint!

I will write a future blog explaining what we are doing with the cavemen – for now, I’ll just say that there will be 10 cavemen in the initial release and of course if they sell well, we will add to the range. It’s a new venture for us and once the figures are available for production, I will be pleased to show them off in full! For now, I’ll focus on the Rhino and tease you with them in the pictures as I was working on them at the same time as the Rhino!

Fur now painted Chocolate Brown.

Fur now painted Chocolate Brown.

Once the Rhino had been primed with Army Painter Leather Brown, I painted the fur with Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872.

Flat Brown Dry Brush

Flat Brown Dry Brush

Using a large flat brush, I then gave the Rhino fur a heavy dry brush in Flat Brown 70984.

Fur Highlighted by dry brushing.

Fur Highlighted by dry brushing.

The picture above shows the rhino with his fur highlighted again with Flat Earth 70983, then Orange Brown 70981 and finally a light dry brush with Orange Brown lightened with Green Ochre 70914. I used the same large flat brush for all the dry brush coats. The toe nails were then picked out with Black Grey 70862 and the Horn painted with Iraqui sand 70819. I added some ink to the inner ear and around the legs to give these areas more definition. Incidentally, the horn should probably be the same or a similar dark colour to the Rhino fur as it is not really bone but I wanted the horns to stand out on the model!

Basing The Whoolly Rhino

Basing The Woolly Rhino

I gave the horn a brush over with Ivory 70918 and painted the eyes black 70850. The rhino was then mounted on a Sarissa MDF base and using Vallejo Dark Earth Texture paste, blended in. The large ‘rocks’ are small stones from the garden, the smaller grit is ballast from the Woodlands scenic range.

Base painted with Emulsion.

Base painted with Emulsion.

I used my tried and trusted basing routine to finish off. The base was painted with Matt Emulsion – Dehli Baazar  and highlighted with dry brush coats mixed with Iraqui sand. I’ve covered how and why I use Emulsion paints for basing in a previous blog here:

DONT JUST DO IT…

It was then just a case of adding some Woodlands Scenics green scatter to the base ( I had decided on a Spring time look rather than Winter!).

Grass added to the base

Grass added to the base

I had also toned down the brightness of the horn by painting with Army Painter Soft Tone – this also brought out the detail at the base of the horn.

Gamers Grass Tufts added to base.

Gamers Grass Tufts added to base.

Finally, I added a mixture of Gamers Grass tufts to the base to finish things off. I’m quite pleased at how he looks and also how straight forward the Rhino was to paint.

Woolly Rhino completed and based.

Woolly Rhino completed and based.

As for the cavemen…all being well, I expect to have them in production for late September – watch this space for more details. In the meantime, they are off to catch their dinner!

Here comes dinner!

Here comes dinner!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

Deezee miniatures, including of course, the Woolly Rhino, are available post free from my shop here:

DEEZEE MODELS

We carry a huge range of Vallejo – to find individual paints, tyope the number into the search bar:

VALLEJO

You can buy Sarissa bases here:

SARISSA MDF BASES

We have a huge range of basing materials but check out Woodland Scenics here:

WOODLAND SCENICS

and Gamers Grass here:

GAMERS GRASS

Happy Modelling!

 

Warlord Open Day – Salt Peter Demo Game

British Exploring Officer scouts the terrain!

British Exploring Officer scouts the terrain!

As good neighbours and friends of Warlord Games, we were very pleased to be invited to their Open Day to put on a Black Powder Napoleonic demo game. It’s no secret that I am a great admirer of the Black Powder Rules system in general and the Napoleonic period specifically. After a conference with my gaming group, the NG13 gamers we decided to re-run a version of an early demo game that we had played, ‘Combat at Foz D’Arouce’, this time using Black Powder as the rules for the game. You can see the battle Report for the ‘original’  Foz D’Arouce at the Bingham Napoleonic Days Event here:

COMBAT AT FOZ D’AROUCE

Foz D'Arouce - setting up the table.

Foz D’Arouce – setting up the table.

The challenge in using Black Powder was that the table is only 4 foot by 4 foot. However, we have our own version of Black Powder that we use for our club games called ‘Salt Peter’. This stripped back version of Black powder allows us to play a decent club game on a six foot by four foot table in an evening. To be fair, it’s not so much ‘stripped back’ as sparing with the use of any of the additional rules or supplements. All measurement is reduced by two thirds and the units used are generally half the normal size, so a Battalion of troops is represented by 12 figures. Of course, there’s no reason why they should be referred to as a Battalion. They could just as easily be a company, with the ‘Brigadier’ or commanding officer, in charge of a detachment of Company’s. Purists may baulk at such a thought but the aim of our games is to spend a couple of hours in good company, using the figures that we have painted and collected.  We try to restrict the ‘serious’ side of the hobby to our research, reading, painting and modelling. Gaming is for fun!

French Hussars - these troops would be late for the battle!

French Hussars – these troops would be late for the battle!

The game would again be using the superb table that Pete Harris had produced and this time, it would be Portuguese versus the French, for no other reason than I had a Portuguese Brigade that needed an outing on the table! Having said that we had stripped back the additional rules in Black Powder, we did have some extra Scenario specific rules that we had agreed on before the Battle. These related to deployment, command structure and limitations imposed by the scenery. These are listed below in the additional PDF.

The Portuguese Army Deploys

The Portuguese Army Deploys

And so to the Battle itself. Pete, playing the French, had won the roll to choose the table side for deployment. I won the roll to decide who went first. Apart from a small unit of Skirmishers (Cacadores for me!), both armies were deployed off table and had to be ordered on. In addition, the units would initially be in march column. The commanders might know that the enemy were coming, but our troops didn’t! We had also placed a limitation on the number of orders that could be given – two was the maximum, which not only restricted movement but made fancy formation changes a bit trickier…. My Portuguese Army deployed in full but was somewhat crowded as it attempted to cross the river using the bridge and the ford. The French had no such obstacles to negotiate and the first brigade marched on without hindrance. The second brigade, however, failed it’s order and stayed off the table.

Portuguese delayed by the river crossing

Portuguese delayed by the river crossing

By Turn Two the French advance party of Skirmishers had reached the top of the Village and a Company of troops also marched towards the gates to fortify themselves inside. However, the second French brigade still refused to come onto the table. What should have been a bonus for the French then turned into a slight distraction. We had said that any commander rolling under 4 on an orders roll would receive a ‘bonus’ unit of skirmishers. The French achieved this in turn two and the second unit came on to the table – they also headed for the village.

French Voltiguers secure the village.

French Voltiguers secure the village.

The Portuguese had managed to get a squadron of Dragoons across the river to threaten the French advance, as well as deploying their artillery. However, the balance of the force was still either on the wrong side of the river or stuck in it. The Cacadores, who were supposed to be rushing to take the footbridge at the top of the village had decided that a slow walk to admire the view was more appropriate and were making poor progress. The opening shots of the battle started with little effect but it was game on!

French about to march into the Village

French about to march into the Village

With the possibility of getting both units of skirmishers into the village the French commander halted his other battalion and diverted them to the main combat. The second French Brigade still refused to come onto the table! After all, Pete had spent the last few days lovingly painting a unit of French Hussars just for this scenario…why would they want to get into action and spoil their uniforms! If the French were being shy, the Portuguese were still struggling to clear the river. Once across, each unit had to test to see if it was disordered. To pass the test a 4+ was required. 3 out of four of the Portuguese failed! Meanwhile, although now joined by a ‘bonus’ unit of 95th rifles, the Cacadores were still taking their time to move up to the footbridge and now decided that it was time for tea!

The only good news was that the French were slow to take advantage of the Portuguese congestion. Their advance delayed by the move towards the village. The Dragoons had put a French unit into square under the nose of Portuguese artillery, holding their line. This at least kept the French at bay.

Portuguese cross the river but are caught in march column.

Portuguese cross the river but are caught in march column.

By now, Pete had a sudden moment of clarity and realised that with his General off table, he was entitled to a re roll should his missing brigade fail their orders! In addition, instead of trying to move the cavalry first ( Who required an 8 on two D6) he would start with the infantry, who in column, needed a 9+ to get moving! This new strategy worked and the second French brigade moved onto the table. Things were not looking so good for the Portuguese. To add to their woes, one of the Portuguese units attempted to reinforce the first one over the river only to find itself stuck in column with it’s flank facing a French unit… merde!

Portuguese caught in Column!

Portuguese caught in Column!

It was too tempting for the French to ignore, they charged in to attempt to batter the March column and break through. Confident of victory in this part of the Battlefield, Pete directed half of his second brigade up the hill behind the village to head off the threat of the very slowly approaching Cacadores and 95th units. The Portuguese were made of sterner stuff! Despite having to take the attack in the flank, with no reply permitted, they survived the first round of combat passing their morale test and turned to face the French unit, eventually winning the combat and pushing the French back! The Portuguese artillery fire into the unit in square was beginning to tell and casualties were mounting on both sides.

The French attack!

The French attack!

One of the French units broke under fire, running from the battle, forcing the French Commander to march his other brigade back down the hill ( Hmmm that sounds like a British tactic, first perfected by The Duke of York….) to support the forward brigade. Despite this set back, the French inflicted sufficient casualties, using additional fire from the skirmishing units now safely in place in the village, to break the Portuguese brigade, who retreated back across the river. Meanwhile, in all the chaos, the second Portuguese brigade had started to deploy and mauled the lead French brigade, causing it to break. The Cacadores had made it to the bridge….

Portuguese under pressure

Portuguese under pressure

Although the Portuguese had taken a beating, with the lead brigade broken, the second brigade had now deployed successfully in strength and started to hammer the French. The French were now in a worse position. The retreating brigade was hampering the movement of the second brigade, blocking line of sight and because of the earlier attempt to flank the village, the brigade was strung out and it’s forward units vulnerable to fire. A successful round of shooting from the Portuguese persuaded the French that the battle was lost and they started their withdrawal from the field. The Cacadores never did cross the bridge!

The Portuguese advance!

The Portuguese advance!

Cacadores reach the bridge

Cacadores reach the bridge

A marginal victory for the Portuguese and a most enjoyable game on a most enjoyable day. We played the game at quite a slow rate as we were stopping to chat to visitors to explain how that game was going and answer questions regarding the scenario.

The Warlord open day was a great success and I think the best yet. The main hall was packed full of demonstration games – I was very pleased to be able to try out the forthcoming Black Seas game – it looks great! I’m sure that Warlord will be running the event next year and I would recommend attending. As well as the chance to meet with the Warlord team of sculptors, designers and staff, try out the various Warlord games, there are plenty of other guests there to talk to – Sarissa Precision, Mantic Games and the Terrain tutor to name a few.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I’ve added the Quick Reference sheet that we used on the day for the shorter ranges etc here:

BlackPowderUnofficialQRS_66p

It’s a Black Powder Edition 1 sheet, so ignore the modifications for skirmishers hitting  with +1.

The ‘house rules’ for the game are here:

BLACK POWDERFOZ RULES

Arcane Scenery have most of the Warlord range available, as well as some 60 other manufacturers. Even better, we send post free to most world wide locations. You can visit our shop here:

ARCANE SCENERY

You can see the Warlord report of the day here:

WARLORD OPEN DAY

Happy Modelling!

 

 

The Battle of Pea Ridge Arkansas 1862

Our gaming group continues to work its way through the Battles of the American Civil War, with this battle, based on the action at Pea Ridge, Arkanas 1862. Our small group has long been fascinated by the American Civil War and all of us had a large collection of  Airfix /72nd scale armies – conveniently produced in grey plastic for the Confederates and blue for the Union, that we played with and gamed with as kids. I also had a lovely collection of the Britains ACW figures, including the beautifully produced artillery limber. So the temptation to collect armies in 28mm scale has been there and gnawing away, particularly as the Perry’s produce such a great introduction to the period with their Battle set.

PM_ACW_BB1However, recently, Andy has treated himself to a huge collection of beautifully painted miniatures that covered both the Union and Confederate forces and this has allowed us to branch out into the American Civil War without having to paint armies! We have already fought a number of battles using these figures and you can see our version of the First Bull Run in an earlier blog here;

The First Bull Run

We are using Black Powder Rules, modified with the Glory Hallelujah! supplement, as well as some house rules that enable each battle to reflect some of the challenges that the Commanders faced on the day. For this battle, the main consideration was the large wooded area on the Confederate left flank, Morgans Wood, bordered by the road. The house rules were that no brigade orders could be issued to troops in the wooded area, each regiment would have to receive separate orders. In addition, units could only move a maximum of two moves per turn in the woods and would suffer a -1 on firing if two moves were made. Musket/Rifle range was limited to 12 inches in the woods. The Union forces were able to deploy first but were permitted to ‘hide’ some of their forces. The Confederates had to indicate their deployment on a map of the table, without first being able to see how the Union forces were disposed.  Pete would be commanding the Union Army as General Osterhaus, I would command the Confederates as General McCulloch. Andy was umpiring.

Table layout for Pea Ridge, Arkansas

Table layout for Pea Ridge, Arkansas

As ever, the battle report is somewhat one sided and picture heavy, with the highlights from the Confederate point of view!

Initial Deployment, with Confederates advancing into Morgans Woods

Initial Deployment, with Confederates advancing into Morgans Woods

Despite the limitations on movement in Morgans wood, I deployed a full brigade into this area. Taking advantage of the new Black Powder rules, which gives brigade commanders a re roll if the Army Commander is present, General McCulloch was moved to oversea operations on this flank. It was not clear how the Federals were deployed as some of their units were off table and hidden. The centre appeared to be unguarded with most of the visible Union forces far out to the right. I had decided to place my strongest brigade in the centre, supported by the cavalry, concealed behind the tree line. The right flank would be held by a weaker brigade under the command of General MacIntosh. The plan was to pivot the whole army on the right flank, with a probing attack through the woods on the left.

General Osterhaus commanding the strong Union Brigade on the right.

General Osterhaus commanding the strong Union Brigade on the right.

Confedrate Cavalry concealed behind the tree line.

Confederate Cavalry concealed behind the tree line.

Confederate Centre commanded by General Herbert

Confederate Centre commanded by General Herbert

The brigade in the woods were extremely successful in their advance. Not only were they able to maintain cohesion through the difficult going but they surprised an advance Union Regiment and immediately put it to flight with superior gun fire. Or to be more precise, my strategy of having the General on hand for re rolling failed command rolls worked as planned and my dice throwing was extremely fortunate when it came to combat!

Union Outflanked!

Union Outflanked!

With the successful march through the woods the Union Centre was now out flanked and to add to the Unions woes, their reinforcements were late arriving. By the time they were able to deploy their reinforcing brigade, the advance brigade had been broken and once again, they were out numbered and out flanked.

Union advance on the right!

Union advance on the right!

An aggressive move by the Federal troops on the right flank was more successful, pinning the Confederate brigade and inflicting severe casualties. However, the Rebel cavalry were able to push back the Skirmishing line and threaten the rear of the advancing Union Brigades. Despite the Unions success on this flank the centre was crumbling as a second Brigade succumbed to superior fire power!

Pour it on Boys!

Pour it on Boys!

A lull in the battle, whilst the advancing Confederate troops reorganised and negotiated one of the many fences on the battlefield, allowed some respite for the Union. The Union almost stemmed the tide but the damage had been done and the retreat was sounded.

Forward! The confederates clear the fence and push on to Victory!

Forward! The confederates clear the fence and push on to victory!

Another victory for the Rebels and a complete reversal of the actual historical result! The surprise was, that despite the additional rules, the Rebels were able to force their way through the woods without any disruption and effectively outflank the Union forces. Add to this, thanks to some unfortunate dice rolling, the Union reinforcements arrived far too late, allowing the rebels to deal with one brigade at a time, effectively winning the battle on the left flank and the centre. The aggressive move by the Union forces on the right caused some consternation and badly damaged the Brigade commanded by General Macintosh but not enough to influence the overall outcome.

The Confederates march on – things will get tougher as we get further into the war. I suspect that my jammy dice rolling will also take a turn for the worse at some point….

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

If you would like to build an ACW army, a great place to start is with the Perry Miniatures plastic boxed sets. They are available, post free from my shop:

PERRY MINIATURES ACW RANGE

The Black Powder  ACW supplement ‘Glory Hallelujah’ can be found here:

GLORY HALLELUJAH!

To follow us on Face book click here:

ARCANE SCENERY FACEBOOK PAGE

Happy Modelling!

Portuguese Artillery – Part 2

Following on from last weeks blog, here are the final steps in completing my Portuguese Artillery guns and crews. The figures were more or less complete but before I painted them with Army Painter quick shade, I added some detail to the equipment, painting the bucket and ram rod staff with first flat brown and then with a highlight of flat earth. I also gave the soldiers plumes and the ram rod head a coat of black grey as a highlight.

Portuguese Artillery - details added.

Portuguese Artillery – details added.

The next task was to paint them ( not Dip them) with Army painter dark tone. This will add some definition to the block painting, add some shading and provide a protective coat for the miniatures, reducing the likelihood of damage during gaming.

Portuguese Artillery - quick shade and matt varnished.

Portuguese Artillery – quick shade and matt varnished.

The figures are on temporary bases – I toyed with the idea of basing them individually and using a sabot system for the Artillery base but discarded this idea as too complicated. With the figures more or less complete, it was onto the guns!

Guns under way

Guns under way

After priming the guns, I painted the carriages with Vallejo Basalt Grey 70869 and the barrels in brass 70801. I usually use a foundry triad for my artillery but there is a slight blue tinge to their paint so I decided to go for a grey as this is thought to be more accurate.

First dry brush

First dry brush

I then gave the carriages a dry brush in 70870 medium sea grey.

Second dry brush

Second dry brush

I followed this with a second dry brush in 70990 Light grey. With hindsight, I think that I could have used a heavier dry brush for both coats as when using the quick shade, the finish is darker than I planned.

Detail picked out in black

Detail picked out in black

I picked the detail out in black – it was at this stage that I realised that I had glued the elevation screw in upside down…I’m not changing it now – just don’t mention it if you see me….I painted this and the wheel tyres and plates in Vallejo steel.

Guns - quick shade on the right hand gun.

Guns – quick shade on the right hand gun.

I then painted the guns in quick shade Strong tone. I’ve shown one gun done in comparison to the left hand gun that is awaiting a coat. I think that it illustrates how the quickshade brings out the detail, although, as I mentioned before I have finished with a darker look than planned. The guns were then coated with matt varnish, although on this occasion, I have left the gun barrels in a gloss finish – I just liked the look.

Basing in progress

Basing in progress

I used 90mm x 60mm bases that are actually made from two 60mm x 45mm bases glued over a piece of 40/000 plasticard cut to the correct size. Why? Because I have these bases spare from other projects and the size is about right for Artillery. I positioned the crew around the gun a lightly glued them in place. I then Covered the base in Vallejo textured dark earth paste and added some gravel (Woodland scenic ballast) and some rocks (from the garden!). The guns are not attached to the base at all – I can limber them up if required.

First coat of Emulsion

First coat of Emulsion

The base was then coated in my new emulsion paint – Dehli Bazhar – see my previous blog for details!

Bases Dry brushed

Bases Dry brushed

The bases were then dry brushed with successive layers of Delhi Bazhar and Iraqi Sand mix until I got the look that I was happy with. I added some white to the mix to really highlight the rocks. I wasn’t too worried if I caught the boots of the figures with the dry brush and I also lightly dry brushed the guns, particularly the wheels with the base earth colour.

Scatter added to bases

Scatter added to bases

Using watered down PVA white glue, I added some green scatter to the bases. The final touch would be to add some gamers grass tufts. In the back ground you can see my battalion of Gordon Highlanders that I was basing at the same time. I often ‘batch base’ my units as it saves on paint and glue!

Potuguese Artillery ready for action!

Potuguese Artillery ready for action!

I used a mixture of the Gamers grass dry and beige tufts to represent the drier look of the Iberian Peninsular. The guns are ready to take to the battlefield!

Gordon Highlanders completed

Gordon Highlanders completed

I also finished basing my battalion of Gordon Highlanders, so two projects off the desk – back to my War of the Roses Cavalry now!

THE COMMERIAL BIT

Nearly every thing that I use in my modelling projects comes from the Arcane Scenery shop. We supply post free to most worldwide locations!

VALLEJO PAINTS AND TEXTURES

If you are looking for a particular paint, use the code that I have given in the shop search bar.

RENEDRA BASES

GAMERS GRASS

WOODLANDS SCENICS

Happy Modelling!

Portuguese Artillery Part 1

It might seem that I am jumping around with different projects but there is a method in the madness. I have a Demo game coming up at the Warlord Games Open Day on 20th July here in Nottingham. The NG13 wargamers will be re running a Black powder version of the game ‘Combat at Foz D’Arouce’. We thought that it would be fun to show how Black powder can be adapted to run a Company level game on a small 4′ x 4′ table. Rather than use a British force, I thought that I would get my Portuguese detachment on to the table. Whilst I have plenty of troops, I have no Portuguese Artillery. The Demo game was a good excuse to remedy this.

Warlord Games Portuguese 9 pounder.

Warlord Games Portuguese 9 pounder.

As you can see, Warlord make a nice Portuguese Artillery set, available as a 6pdr, 9pdr or Howitzer. I went for the 9pdr version and ordered a couple to compliment my Brigade of Infantry, even though I only needed one for the demo game!

Portuguese Artillery from Pinterest board.

Portuguese Artillery from Pinterest board.

The next issue was to research the colour scheme. I guess I could have taken the easy option and just copied the Warlord photo but I wanted to check to see if there were any alternatives. Unfortunately, that resulted in the usual confusion as different references gave slightly different schemes. The Osprey book that I had gave the colour scheme as ‘Dark blue coat of infantry style with red collar and cuffs…’ However, the Napoleonic source book gives the uniform as ‘Dark Blue infantry style coats with black facings and plumes.’ It also goes on to explain that there were four different regiments but gave no idea if they had different uniforms. As you can see from the picture above, The second Regiment appeared to have yellow piping – nice, but is it accurate?

Another version of the same regiment?

Another version of the same regiment?

After trawling through the rest of my references and numerous google and pinterest searches I resorted to asking on the TMP forum. As ever, I received some excellent help and information. I was refered to the Osprey books again – this time to volume three of the Portuguese army – I only had two volumes so had missed this! The information was:

If you have Osprey vol 3, turn to page 3, Table C.

It shows the regimental distinctions for the four regiments (1st to 4th). Coat blue, then collar and cuff in a combination of blue or black – blue blue, black black, black blue, blue black in that order.

Turnbacks and piping were red for all regiments. Britches were blue in winter, white in summer. Gaiters black. Buttons yellow.

Stovepipe shako replaced barretino in 1810. Brass plate. Black plume.

Does that help?

Another contributor kindly supplied the above picture. So on balance, I went for the second Regiment but despite my liking for the yellow piping, I have gone with red!

Portuguese Artillery - primed!

Portuguese Artillery – primed!

So, decision made as regards the colour scheme that I would use, it was on with the painting. As usual, I will batch paint, which will involve a combination of colour blocking, Army Shade and highlighting. First job was to clean the figures, attach them to temporary base and prime in Army Painter grey.

Portuguese Artillery - Flesh

Portuguese Artillery – Flesh

I use Vallejo 70955 flesh for the face and hands.

Portuguese Artillery - black

Portuguese Artillery – black

Vallejo 70950 black for plumes, hat, facings ( collars & Cuffs) boots, cartridge case and sword scarbard.

Portuguese Artillery - hair and accessories.

Portuguese Artillery – hair and accessories.

I used 70822, German Camouflage black brown for the hair (I could have used Black but wanted a slight contrast between the hair and shako) and as a base for the Artillery equipment.

Portuguese Artilery - Uniforms.

Portuguese Artillery – Uniforms.

The uniforms were painted Dark Prussian Blue, Vallejo 70899.

Potuguese Artillery - white belts

Portuguese Artillery – white belts

I use Vallejo Off white 70820 for the belts and prefer the softer look to this than the normal Vallejo white.

Portuguese Artillery - Brass

Portuguese Artillery – Brass

Vallejo 70801 brass for the cap badges, plates buttons and sword hilts & scabbard detail. With hindsight, I have gone out of my usual sequence here. I should have done the red piping next and the brass last. It keeps the brush cleaning water free of metallic specs and the piping will run over the buttons as I was to find out…

Portuguese artillery - Red Piping

Portuguese artillery – Red Piping

The red piping, turnbacks and ribbons on the shako were done with Vallejo 70957 red and the figures are nearly complete. That’s as far as I have got with them but all being well, they will be completed for next week and I will return with pictures of them based and ready for action!

Still to do – I will highlight the Plumes and ram rod heads in black grey, add the blue ribbon and detail to the shako’s, add the detail to the buckets and other equipment and then use quick shade to bring out the detail and seal the figures. A quick coat of matt varnish and re highlight the white belts if necessary.

The beauty of the batch paint method is that there’s no need to do the figures in one sitting. In reality, these figures could be completed to this stage in a few hours. However, my back and eyes wont last more than an hour and it’s rare that I get that much painting time in one session. The batch paint sequence allows me to make progress even in the smallest time gap. So Although I watched the Footie on Tuesday, I used half time to slap some paint on!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

First of all, if you would like to visit my pinterest board to see other pictures of Portuguese Napoleonic Army, click here:

PORTUGUESE BOARD

To see the TMP discussion, click here:

THE MINIATURES PAGE

We sell a huge range of Vallejo paints and finishes in our shop. Just click below:

VALLEJO PAINTS AND TEXTURES

If you are looking for a particular paint, use the code that I have given in the shop search bar.

Happy Modelling!

Don’t Just Do It…..B&Q it, again!

As a retailer of model paints, I’m not sure that I should be sending my customers off to the local DIY chain, B&Q, but as a hobbyist, I like to share the tips that I have picked up over the years. I’ve mentioned before that I use  DIY type emulsion for the bases of my figures. My particular favourite being Dehli Bazaar, which is a nice greeny brown colour, or as my father would have said, ‘shitty coloured dim’. I was coming to the end of the tin of the Dehli Bazaar emulsion and the dregs were getting too thick to use, even with thinning, so it was time to get a new tin.

Paint samples and the originals

Paint samples and the originals

I also decided to try out the in-store colour matching facility at B&Q. Whilst I was replacing my usual basing paint, I thought that I would see if I could get some emulsion pots pots of the two other colours that I most frequently use when basing; Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872 and Iraqi Sand 70819. I just brushed some samples of each paint onto a scrap of paper and off I went to the local B&Q. The young lady behind the counter did warn me that the colours may not be an exact match as they were using Valspar Emulsion as opposed to Vallejo pigments but she would do her best. The sheet above shows that the two vallejo colours are a bit ‘off’ and on the light side but close enough for me. After all, I will be using these for basing, not to replicate a uniform colour.

B&Q sample pots next to Vallejo for size comparison.

B&Q sample pots next to Vallejo for size comparison.

The process took about ten minutes but here’s the best bit. The cost was £3.00 a pot! Each pot contains 263mls! So for £9.00, I have enough paint to keep me basing for the next couple of years. They even kept my details on file so when I need another batch, they can just make a batch up from the details on file. Brilliant!

The beauty about using emulsion for your bases is that it is water based paint and can be thinned with tap water; you can wash your brushes in water and it seems to give great coverage over sand and basing material, even when thinned. If you need to you can mix it with with Vallejo or other actrylic paints – I often add a small amount of White to the last highlight to get a final dry brush highlight on my bases.

Gordon Highlanders - These are just about ready for basing

Gordon Highlanders – These are just about ready for basing

So, with my new basing paint purchased, I’m ready to finish off my next Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders. As you can see above they are just about ready for basing. I need to touch in the green squares on the hat bands and tidy up any obvious errors. You can see that the back packs are all done and waiting to be fixed on. Then it’s just fixing the flags, which I have ready to go.

Portuguese Artillery

Portuguese Artillery

Next up, Portuguese Artillery! The painting goes on!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT!

We don’t carry B&Q paints – you will have to find your own local depot. At Arcane Scenery, we do have a range of nearly 6000 lines, most of which we will send post free to most countries in the world! You can visit our shop here:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Rain interupts painting!

Horses awaiting their undercoat!

Horses awaiting their undercoat!

Well, the recent deluge has caught me out and I was unable to continue with my WOTR cavalry as the next six models were yet to be undercoated. Mrs W made it quite clear that spraying indoors was unacceptable, even in the garage, which is accessed through the kitchen door. So I have had to wait for the weather to brighten up before continuing.

The six completed cavalry.

The six completed cavalry.

As you can see, I have now completed six of the heavy mounted men at arms, so I have made some progress. I’ve also mounted the riders for the next batch on the temporary holders ready for spraying, so I am good to go once the rain stops.

Let us Spray...knights ready for undercoating.

Let us Spray…knights ready for undercoating.

Despite this hitch, I always have something on the work bench and so I continued with the batch paint of the Highlanders that will make up the balance of the 92nd Gordon’s. The beauty of the batch paint approach is that you can keep a unit progressing and know exactly where you are in the process, even if you have to pause to do something else.

Batch painting highlanders

Batch painting highlanders

So a bit more progress in a slightly different direction. The decision I have to make now is whether to crack on and finish the Highlanders or once I can get the Knights undercoated, go back to them. I’m under no real pressure to do either at the moment as I now have sufficient troops to fight club battles in both Napoleonic’s and WOTR. I am favouring the Highlanders though as now that I’ve started them, it would be good to finish them. In reality, I’ll probably do a bit of both, depending on the time I have, after all, nothing like a bit of variety to spice things up! So long as I don’t end up with tartan on my WOTR knights all will be well….

White cross straps and lacing next!

White cross straps and lacing next!

So a short blog for me – besides there’s a break in the rain – I’m off to do some priming!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

Just a short reminder that nearly everything that I use for my modelling is available post free from my shop. You can see the huge range of models, paints, glues and accessories here:

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

Perry Miniatures Mounted Men At Arms

The next additional to my WOTR army is to be a unit of Cavalry. From the little that I know about the battles in the War of the Roses, it seems that the cavalry were used as a shock unit to punch through already demoralised troops or to cut down those that were retreating. The power of the long bow and the defensive blocks of troops with Pikes or Halberds were usually able to hold Cavalry at bay. I am also told that there were very few, if any major cavalry versus cavalry engagements.

However, no WOTR army would be complete without a unit or two of light and heavy horse prowling around the flanks, looking for the opportunity to sweep away those on foot in a glorious charge!

Perry-Miniatures-Mounted-Men-at-Arms-1450-1500-28mm-Plastic-set-400625436222

The obvious choice for my army was a box of Perry Miniatures Mounted Men at arms. I wanted to go for the ‘Heavy’ option first. To be truthful, I thought that painting armoured horses would be the easy option! As with all of the Perry Sets, assembly was fairly straight forward, with plenty of choice when it came to weapons and poses. There are seven different horses heads and the horses sides are interchangeable. There is also a choice of armour for the horses.  I went for the fully armoured option in most cases, with only two of the horses, lightly armoured.

The assembled Mounted Men at Arms

The assembled Mounted Men at Arms

As you can see, most of my Knights will be armed with lances! At this stage I decided to paint the riders separately from the horses, so they are not yet fully attached! Despite the amount of armour, I undercoated the horses in black primer and then painted the armour with Army Painter plate mail.

Horses primed ready to paint

Horses primed ready to paint

The next stage was to paint the armour in Army Painter Dark tone.

Armour washed with dark tone ink

Armour washed with dark tone ink

I then dry brushed the armour with plate mail, followed by Vallejo Silver. In the picture, you can see that I have over done this – I was trying a new dry brush out and wasn’t careful with how much paint was going onto the models! I then started to under coat the horses. I use Vallejo Chocolate brown as a base.

Starting to paint the horses.

Starting to paint the horses.

I use three shades of Brown to paint the horses but I’m quite happy to mix things up a bit. The colours are ‘wet brushed/dry brushed’ on from dark to light and I use a light ink wash to tie things together. So the list of colours used are Chocolate brown, Flat Brown, Flat Earth, Mahogany Brown, Orange Brown, Cork Brown, Green Ochre and strong tone ink to wash. I don’t use all of those colours on one horse – just take three and layer them on. When it came to the details , I went a bit OTT with the colours. I was inspired by some pictures of miniatures that I found on the web and I have attempted to copy these. I thought that the brighter colours would look good on the wargames table, so I cannot vouch for any degree of historical accuracy!

Horse flesh done, stating to block in the details.

Horse flesh done, stating to block in the details.

I’ve also added a bit more shading onto the armour with a light wash of dark tone ink. The next picture shows another two horse in progress. I decided to embellish the armour on one of the mounts with gold and add some ‘socks’ to these horses for variety. I’ve also painted the horse shoes and teeth – a bit OTT but I understand that the horses like to get involved in the fighting, using these as weapons!

Another two war horses!

Another two war horses!

With three horses done it was time to get some Knights done! I temporarily mounted them on wire and used blu-tack to hold them in plastic tube ready for priming.

Knights ready for priming

Knights ready for priming

To prime them, I used Army painter Plate mail spray.

Knight primed!

Knight primed!

I then gave them a good wash of Dark tone ink, before dry brushing them with Plate mail and then again with Silver.

Knights after dry brushing

Knights after dry brushing

Once again, I went for a ‘pretty look’ rather than do any real research and I have been free and easy with the few colours that are used on the knights belts etc. I’ve also copied an idea to make the lances stand out and used a spiral design on them. I stress, I have no idea how accurate this is, I just thought it looked good!

Mounted Knight completed - basing started

Mounted Knight completed – basing started

I used Expo 2mm flexible masking tape to get the spiral effect. If you look closely, there is some bleed on the painting as I simply brush painted the blue over the white base. The next two Lances that I painted were better as I became used to using the masking tape. It really does do what it is supposed to do – It’s flexible and it masks well without taking off the bottom coat of paint!

Three knights ready for basing

Three knights ready for basing

You can see that I have started to base the figures using my usual method. The figures are attached to the Renedra base ( I tend to use plastic bases for plastic figures) and then I cover with Vallejo Dark Earth Textured paste and press a few small stones into it.

Basing on the Knights completed - well, nearly!

Basing on the Knights completed – well, nearly!

Once the paste is dry, I paint over it and dry brush with successive layers in a lighter colour to bring out the texture and show off the rocks. It’s then just a case of adding scatter. I will be adding some Gamers grass tufts to finish things off but will wait until all of the figures are done and complete this final task for the complete unit.

So my first knights are ready to take to the table. They are perhaps a bit more suited to a Jousting tournament but I think that they will look imposing on the wargames table once all twelve are completed!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

Nearly every thing that I use in my modelling projects comes from the Arcane Scenery shop. We supply post free to most worldwide locations!

I have some offers running on the Perry Miniatures WOTR range so that you can build an army similar to the one that I am working on. To see the range of Perry Plastics for WOTR, click here:

PERRY MINIATURES MEDIEVAL RANGE

Vallejo paint and textures are available here – use the shop search bar to find a particular colour;

VALLEJO PAINTS AND TEXTURES

The Army painter range can be found here:

ARMY PAINTER RANGES

You can find a range of masking tape here:

MASKING TAPE

We have a huge range of scenic scatters here:

SCENIC SCATTERS

My favourite scenic range of the moment is here:

WOODLAND SCENICS

To see the rest of my WOTR articles just click on the War of the Roses category in my blog:

WAR OF THE ROSES

Happy Modelling!

Never mind the Billhooks

My gaming groups foray into the War of the Roses continues as we play test the rules set that Andy Callan has developed. As you can see from the title, there is a nod in the direction of the Two Fat Lardies style of play. The WOTR rules that we are using have morphed from our ‘Rules for Old wargamers with short memories’, which we used for our Napoleonic skirmishes, also written by Mr Callan. Andy has a long history of rules writing and tinkering. Indeed, his rules set ‘Loose files and American Scramble’ originally published in Wargames Illustrated back in the ’80’s (and incidentally, the only article to be republished in the magazines history) has often been copied and they are still in use today. More recently, Andy has collaborated with Peter Dennis on the ‘Paper Soldiers’ Project, with Andy writing the rules for many of the books.

Andy Callan's rules set are included with the book.

Andy Callan’s rules set are included with the book.

The battle report that follows is a run through of the latest manifestation of the ‘Never mind The Billhooks’ rules. As usual, I was playing, so the report will inevitably be biased and one sided, which makes it totally authentic when compared with accounts of the actual battles in the War of the Roses as written by the chroniclers of the time…

The Battle of Bingham Fields - the set up.

The Battle of Bingham Fields – the set up.

The initial set up allows the players to deploy their troops as they see fit, with the army being commanded by a number of officers or characters. In our battles, the commanders are all fictitious, with my commanders named after Tottenham players, Harry Hotspur being the leader.

Sir Harry Hotspur makes ready to advance.

Sir Harry Hotspur makes ready to advance.

The Commanders are activated by  drawing cards and once activated, they can give orders to the appropriate units within their command range. To speed the game up, at the start, players are able to freely move their units, one at a time, until either the first contact or shooting action. At which point the game is then controlled by drawing the cards. This allows the players to manoeuvre before battle is joined!

Skirmishers!

Skirmishers!

Skirmishers are semi independent of the control system, in that they are activated by their own card but can also be given orders if they are within range of a commander.

My cunning battle plan - go right!

My cunning battle plan – go right!

My cunning battle plan was to send my cavalry (out of shot in the above picture) and one unit to the left as a feint, whilst switching the main attack to the right. This would allow me to bring the bulk of my archers to bear against Lord Binghams force. In the game, Archers have a limited arrow supply, so it is important to choose your target carefully. You can see that I had one gun to provoke the enemy into moving. Whilst Artillery isn’t too effective in the game, it does wear the enemy down if they don’t get out of the way!

Archers Loose!

Archers Loose!

With my archers screened by both the woods and skirmishers  on the flanks, they were free to unleash an arrow storm on Lord Binghams forces whilst the Men at Arms advanced in the centre.

Irish Kern attack!

Irish Kern attack!

There was a moment of consternation when a band of Irish Kern skirmishers burst out of the woods and hit the flank of my archers. Lord Bingham had also finally managed to move his archers around the other side of the wood to threaten my flank.

Lord Bingham's Archers - down to their last two shots!

Lord Bingham’s Archers – down to their last two shots!

However, The Cavalry, commanded by Lady Ravenshead were able to halt the enemies advance and Sir Harry Hotspur chased off the Irish to secure the left flank.

Hold the flank!

Hold the flank!

Meanwhile, Sir Eric Diehard had closed with the enemy, and true to form, was giving them a good kicking (you need to be a Spurs fan to appreciate the tactical nuances…), pushing Lord Bingham back.

Captian Eric Diehard secures the right flank

Captian Eric Diehard secures the right flank

With Harry Hotspur now able to join his loyal Captain in the push, Lord Bingham’s force began to waver.

Harry leads his forces to Victory!

Harry leads his forces to Victory!

With numerical superiority established on this side of the battlefield, numbers began to tell and as casualties mounted, Lord Bingham was forced to withdraw from the field. In fact, Lord Bingham was forced to retreat across a turnip field to make his escape! He would be back to fight again once he had cleaned up his armour!

Victory for Harry!

Victory for Harry!

Not quite a resounding victory for Sir Harry but a victory nonetheless!

The battle was a good run through of the rules and many lessons learnt. To be fair, my opponent, Pete, had not played this particular version of the rules before, so I was at a slight advantage. During the post battle discussion, Andy has since come up with some amendments that will allow the battle to flow more easily. As usual, with rules writing, there is a conflict between allowing the rules to reflect some of the character of the period whilst allowing the game to flow. I think that we are getting there. I haven’t described the effect of some of the ‘special cards’ that can be introduced into the game that allow for say, an arrow resupply or for a commander to waver or even change allegiance. The method of calculating a units morale is still quite cumbersome and will be refined.

I particularly like the idea of naming your characters and using them consistently over a series of games. I have found that they can take on a life of their own and add extra fun to the play. Once we have a settled rules set, with Andy’s permission, I will publish a PDF for download.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

If you are a wargamer or modeller you will find that Arcane Scenery has a very well stocked shop that should be able to help with most of your modelling requirements. Even better, we supply post free to most worldwide locations! Click here to see our ranges:

ARCANE SCENERY

 

Should you wish to read more about my WOTR project, click on the War of The Roses Category in the side bar of the blog.

Happy modelling!

Trebuchet

Back in February, I picked up a Trebuchet and some other bits and pieces from Iron Gate Scenery at the Robin Show in Nottingham. Although it was a ‘generic’ model, more fantasy than an accurate scale model, it looked great and I thought that it would make a nice objective for my WOTR army.

Napoleonic Trebuchet!

Iron Gate Trebuchet!

As my current focus is on completing my WOTR army, I thought that I would have a break from painting figures and get on with completing the Trebuchet. I had also just picked up a copy of the latest ‘Painting War’ magazine that covered the Holy War in the Middle ages. There was a nice tutorial in this issue that showed how to paint siege engines and I decided to follow this guide to complete the Trebuchet.

The latest 'Painting War' Magazine

The latest ‘Painting War’ Magazine

So here is the stage by stage process that I followed.

Trebuchet primed with black spray.

Trebuchet primed with black spray.

The first job was to prime the model using Army Painter Black spray primer. This gives a good base to work from and if I miss any of the difficult parts to get to, the black undercoat will look like shadows.

Next coat - Chocolate brown

Next coat – Chocolate brown

The next stage was to paint everything in Chocolate Brown, Vallejo 70872. Use the biggest brush that you feel comfortable with. At this stage I was using a sort of ‘wet brush’ technique, to make sure that the paint covered everything and got into most of the deep cracks.

Trebuchet Stage 2 - Flat Brown

Trebuchet Stage 2 – Flat Brown

Stage 2 was to use a heavy dry brush of Vallejo 70984 Flat Brown. I covered most of the model  but the dry brushing technique meant that some of the Chocolate brown was left in the recesses.

Trebuchet Stage 3 Flat Earth

Trebuchet Stage 3 Flat Earth

Stage 3 and another dry brush with Flat Earth, Vallejo 70983. This was a lighter dry brush than before and I was careful to take nearly all the paint off of my brush before starting the technique. I found that the edges of the model picked up the paint quite quickly – a bit more care was needed on the flat surfaces.

Trebuchet Stage 4 Orange Brown

Trebuchet Stage 4 Orange Brown

Stage 4 was to dry brush with Orange Brown, Vallejo 70981. Again a lighter dry brushing technique was used. Had I not been following the article in the magazine, I might have stopped at this stage! But onto to stage 5.

Trebuchet Stage 5 Yellow Ochre

Trebuchet Stage 5 Yellow Ochre

Stage 5 and another light dry brush with Yellow Ochre 70913. I would not have chosen this colour without the guidance of the article but it certainly brought out the detail and looks very realistic.

Trebuchet Stage 6 - Basic Skin!

Trebuchet Stage 6 – Basic Skin!

Stage 6 and the final dry brush with Basic Skin Tone Vallejo 70815. I would certainly never have thought of using this colour as a highlight on wood! To be honest, at first, I chickened out and only gave the model the lightest of dry brush highlights with this colour. However, I think that it works well and I have learnt something new!

Trebuchet nearly completed

Trebuchet nearly completed

The next stage was to wash the whole model with Army painter strong tone. I watered this down very slightly but the effect was to tie all the dry brush coats together and to add shade and depth to the model. I then went back and used the driest of dry brush coats  with the Basic Skin to bring out the detail again. You can also see that I have picked out the iron work in Plate mail and then washed this with Army Painter Dark Tone Ink. I’ve also painted the leather pouch holding the stone with a coat of Leather Brown, Vallejo 70871. I then dry brushed this with Orange brown and a mix of Leather Brown and yellow ochre. The whole thing was then washed in Army Painter Strong Tone.

Trebuchet - Nearly completed

Trebuchet – almost battle ready!

Two other points to note. The stones were painted with Stone Grey, Vallejo 70884 ( currently my new favourite colour…), washed with Army Painter Dark tone and then highlighted with stone grey and a mix of stone grey and white. The string that I am using is just some parcel string that I had in my ‘spares box’. It is slightly thinner than the stuff supplied with the kit. To make it less white I dyed it in some tea…Yes, standard Yorkshire tea from the tea pot!

Trebuchet read to fire!

Trebuchet ready to fire!

The final task was to add the ‘rope’ to the trebuchet. I have taken a few liberty’s here. The model doesn’t allow for a practical firing mechanism and a close look will show that if it was fired, the stone would never release. There is also no clear firing mechanism or a convenient way of recovering the firing arm once it is released. I made my own attachment for the windlass to the firing arm from a small piece of plastic tube. That all said, it’s a wargaming piece not a museum model and I am happy with the final result.

Trebuchet ready!

Trebuchet ready!

Finally, an apology to any one reading this blog on a tablet or phone. I am having problems with displaying some of the pictures in the correct format. They all look fine on a desk top but for some weird reason, the portrait pictures lay on their side on other devices…. I’ll keep trying to resolve this but I hope that you can still make sense of the post!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

With the exception of the Trebuchet itself, all of the paints and washes are available post free from my shop.

You can get the Painting War #9 here:

PAINTING WAR MAGAZINE

We carry a huge range of Vallejo paints. You can see them here but use the shop search box and the paint number from the article above to get to a specific colour quickly!

VALLEJO PAINT RANGES

We don’t carry the Iron gate scenery range but you can get it direct from here:

IRONGATE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!

 

WOTR – Project Update

Mustering my WOTR Army

Mustering my WOTR Army

I now have about 100 figures completed for my WOTR army. Actually, completed is not strictly accurate, as six need basing and I want to revisit some of the Men at Arms to add some detail. The Foot Knights will form the core of my army and they are made from a box of Perry’s Foot knights that I have almost completed. Of the 36 knights in the box, 24 are in ‘plain’ armour and so were quite straight forward to paint. A further 12 have tabards over their armour and it was these that initially slowed me down when it came to completing them. Assembly was straight forward enough, although with one exception, I decided to go for ‘sleeved’ tabards, which reduced the choice of poses and weapons available.

Knights with tabards, assembled and ready for priming.

Knights with tabards, assembled and ready for priming.

Incidentally, in the background of the picture above, you can see that I have also assembled the final 2 of the 38 figures in the Perry’s set – Richard III and his standard bearer – they may not make it into the army but I will complete them. Painting the figures was fairly straight forward, it was deciding on the colours of the livery that caused me a problem. Despite doing  a degree of research, I reminded myself that I was initially building a generic WOTR force for our club games rather than a specific order of battle. This did simplify things in my mind and so I went with a fairly limited set of colours for the livery and I haven’t worried too much about what or who the livery represents at this stage.

Basic colours blocked in.

Basic colours blocked in.

I followed more or less the same procedure for painting the armour. I used Army Painter plate mail, gave this a heavy Dark Tone Ink wash and then re highlighted by dry brushing with Plate mail and then Vallejo Silver. The Tabards were just block painted, although I did use soft tone ink and red ink to do some shading.

Tabards painted and figures based.

Tabards painted and figures based.

The picture above shows three of the finished figures. You can see that I attempted to paint Warwicks badge on one of the figures…It just about passes from a distance but I decided that I would leave the others without a badge until I can find suitable decals. Besides, my eye’s were at the limit of their endurance!

Foot Knights ready for action!

Foot Knights ready for action!

The final six Foot Knights are almost complete. I just need paint some of the details, add some washes and finish the basing.

The final batch on the work bench

The final batch on the work bench.

With the core of my force completed, we have already started to test our rules set and have played our first game of ‘Never mind the Billhooks’. The rules have been written specifically for generic WOTR battles by Andy Callan and played well on the first game. Once we have knocked them into shape, with Andy’s permission, I’ll put them up on the blog as a free PDF download. We plan to fight a series WOTR battles using our own House retinues over the coming year. Sir Harry Hotspur being the leader of my band. No doubt, Lord Bingham, Sir Peter of Woodborough and Lady Jasmine of Papplewick will be just as capricious at choosing allegiances as the real participants of the War Of The Roses!

Of course, my retinue is far from complete. I need a few more skirmishers and badly need some cavalry support, so I will add these in over the next few weeks. For now though, let battle commence!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

We carry the full range of Perry’s Plastic sets. You can see the WOTR sets here:

PERRYS MEDIEVAL RANGE

We have a huge range of paints and basing products in stock. We carry Vallejo Model Colour and the Army Painter range. Also in stock is the full range of Renedra bases. Even better we post free to most worldwide locations!

ARCANE SCENERY AND MODELS

Happy Modelling!

Get them when they are young!

I often read articles that are bemoaning the lack of youngsters coming into our hobby. I dont think that there is very much truth in this – if anything, thanks to the power of the internet, the hobby is growing. I’ve been reading the same old stuff since I was a youngster myself, with the same complaint occuring some 50 or more years ago. If anyone doubts me, I have the original issues of Wargames Illustrated and  Miniature wargames Magazines and you don’t have to look far in the letters page to find evidence. Like all hobbies, it is either in your DNA or not. Wargaming is never going to be a mainstream hobby, it is a niche at best and I suspect that in itself is part of the attraction.

I will concede that Historical wargaming is now, I believe, a minority part of wargaming itself, with Fantasy and Science Fiction taking the larger share and certainly attracting the younger player into the hobby. Many will stay with this side of the hobby, a few will stray into the historical thread. In terms of introducing my children into the hobby, I have been largely unsuccessful. They did take an interest for a while, particularly my son, who was attracted to Orks in particular and 40K in general but alas, the hobby didn’t stick and he has taken up golf…. My daughter quite enjoyed the the painting and crafting side of the hobby for a while but she too is more interested in sport, specifically scuba diving and swimming. I’m not sure where they got the activity bug from – I like sport but prefer watching it these days! As for golf, I’m happy to agree with the sentiment that it is a good walk spoilt. That said, I do like a game of crazy golf at the seaside!

2019-04-19 10.50.58

However, another generation comes along and so the opportunity comes along to try and convert the grand children into willing opponents! Emily is now 6, about the same age that I was when I started making models, so when she stayed over at Easter and asked if she could sit with me while I had sneaked off to the garage to do some modelling, I was pleased to have her company. At first she was happy to watch me working on my WOTR project and we had a nice chat about the ‘Cousins War’. She was intrigued by the story of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ and that a major battle, Stokes Field, took place just down the road from her school.

Memorial stone at East stoke Church

Memorial stone at East stoke Church

It didn’t take long before she asked if she could have a go and so I looked through the ‘lead pile’ and found a figure primed and ready to paint that might be suitable. In the past, I have been quite protective of my paints and brushes but I decided that if Emily was going to try and paint something, she would be better off using the correct tools for the job! So with gritted teeth, I gave her my best brushes and we started to paint a Japanese Peasant lady.

Emilys' first model

Emilys’ first model

I was surprised at just how good she was. Of course, you have to explain how to hold the brush, how to thin the paint, how to use the point of the brush, how to draw the brush over the bits that you want to paint, how to hold the figure. Gosh! I had forgotten just how much I had learnt but in teaching Emily, I remembered just how much technique there is to learn. When it came to the colour scheme, I let Emily choose which colours she preferred – I actually quite like the combination that she came up with – I’ll be using that again!

2019-04-22 09.43.24

Overnight, I did the basing for her, in that I super glued the figure onto a base and added the texture. Superglue and kids are a dangerous combination! The next day, Emily added the scenic bits and to finish the figure off, we used some washes and did a bit of highlighting and dry brushing. Again, once I explained the techniques, Emily was happy to apply the washes and paints. The result is not too bad and I am thinking about what figure Emily can do on her next visit!

Catan, Ticket to ride and Camel Up!

Catan, Ticket to ride and Camel Up!

At six years old I think she is too young to start wargaming but she has already mastered Junior Cluedo and Camel Up so we are not too far away from a more complicated board game – say Space crusade. Another year or so and I think that I might just try her out with a simple wargame. I think a good skirmish game such as Test of Honour or Lion Rampant will be a good place to start. I may yet ensnare her into the hobby….