Terrain Time

I'm continuing on my mission to finish off things that I left sitting around prior to my sabbatical. This time I decided to complete some terrain pieces. I have plenty more to do but taking things one small project at a time will see me get through the backlog pretty quickly.

First up is some 6mm buildings to go with my 10mm Marlburian troops. I decided to go for the smaller scale because I prefer the smaller footprint of the town tiles. They don't look too weird next to the 10mm battalions. All the buildings are from Total War Miniatures and I still have more to paint up.

This is a small village tile based, I think, on one of the hamlets around the Waterloo or Ligny battlefields. The buildings are resin and the tile is made of latex.

This is Papelotte Farm from the 100 Days range. It's a nice little self contained model. It sits in the palm of my hand pretty comfortably. I also have Le Hay Sainte and I'll paint that one up soon.

This one is Ligny Chateaux from the 100 Days range. This came in 3 parts and looks fantastic. Its footprint will make it a nice fortified village to be fought over (hopefully many times).

Attack of the 50' Woman!! 

Just for scale, here they are with a 28mm figure.

I also finished this small forest. These are 3d printed spooky trees. I got them as a set from Temu. From memory I got them from a dealer in Queensland. They look great and I think I might get another set. They are mounted on some mdf blast-crater-marker templates that I found. The shapes are nice an irregular so they work well. If I get more trees I might have to try and find some more of these templates.

The canopy was made with some cheapo artificial moss that I got from Amazon. It came as a 100 gram pack which was vacuum packed and quite small. However, once I opened it it started to expand and due to the very light weight of the material I ended up up with quite a quantity and I ended up using less than half of the pack. Even better... I ordered in in the morning and it arrived around dinner time.

And here they are with some of my forest dwellers, all ready to defend their new woodland abode.

Thanks for reading and I'll post some more as soon as I can.

Cheers.

Back From The un-Dead

 Greetings folks, it's been quite a while since I posted anything here. The reason for this is that I lost all interest in the wargaming side of my life and didn't do anything for quite a while. I did actually paint a brigade of 10mm English for the War of Spanish Succession but I never photographed them and never posted anything. I started painting some guns for them and that's where my interest ended.

But things have changed and I've hopped back on the wagon with a decision to look again at the solo zombie game I wrote during covid: Infection Z. I put it to rest for a while but now it is time to look at it again with fresh eyes. So here I am again, back from the dead with some undead.

Having lots of time to think I came up with a new concept. One of the problems I was having with the game was discerning Active zombies from Inactive zombies. This is important to the game because active zombies react differently to inactive ones. The solution I've come up with is really very simple. Inactive zombies are grey. When they meet the criteria to become active they are replaced by a fully painted zombie figure. They might get replaced straight off the mark before the first turn even begins or they may remain inactive for the whole game.

As it is, it's nothing to write home about but the concept has changed a whole raft of rules that were making the game difficult to write up as rules. I understood what I wanted but when trying to write the concepts they seemed convoluted, confusing and overblown. This idea has helped streamline a lot of these issues.

Painting these guys also gave me a very simple little project that I could start and complete in a couple of days (I had to let the black wash dry overnight). This was good as it got me back upstairs and into the hobby room. A couple of weeks back I took a bunch of stuff to a bring & buy. In amongst the stuff I found a bag of unpainted zombies. I pulled them out and put them aside, and that got me thinking. 

There are 36 zeds here. To place them on the table for my game it's a matter of dropping them and where they land is where they start the game. I'm not too precious about plastic zed-heads, even my painted ones live in a box all jumbled together. I do have some metal figures and I do take care of them but these guys are for dropping and standing them up.

I also dug out this mini-supermarket building that I started making a couple of years back. I started and then got bored with it. I've decided to finish it off. It takes a surprising amount of time to make these terrain pieces look nice and then semi-destroy them to make them look derelict. But the results are worth the effort. I've made a few in the past, some MDF models like this one and some from scratch.

The kit is from Sarissa Precision and it comes with a service counter and a couple of small shelves. I made the larger shelves with thick card. There's enough shelving to make it look like a proper mini-mart and to enable easy placement and movement of figures as well as plenty of places to scavenge for potential loot.

Well that's it. Something small to get me back into my hobby. I'll finish off the guns for the 10mm WSS English in the next few days and take some photos.

Bye.

Baby Got Some Bad, Bad Gas...

A change of pace. I've been keen to get back to work on my zombie apocalypse game; Infection Z, for some time now. So I've been reading through the rules and decided to work on some terrain to get me into the mood. I already have plenty of zombies and survivors and don't feel like pianting more of either at the moment. I have about 80+ zombies and 40 odd survivors (although there's really nothing wrong with adding more zed's to the herd!).

As it is I've had a couple of Sarissa Precision buildings constructed and undercoated for a long while and decided to finally get them finished. First up is this little gasoline station:

This is a nice little kit but it was pretty fiddley to paint. That undercover piece and the signage on top was really awkward. As you can see the arrow at the end of "gas" broke off because it was a bit delicate and, despite how it looks now, I painted all the parts with a high level of accuracy. I knew I'd be messing it up but painting it neat and tidy beforehand really makes a difference to the final effect.

I decided to keep that front awning/undercover piece separate and didn't glue it in place. I'm hoping the slots for holding it will be strong enough to keep it in place during a game. Keeping it separate will make storage easier.

The windows are just thin acetate. Nothing special but they give the illusion of glass. The sign on the front is just paper. I made it on photoshop and painted the silly face and skull.

The interior is pretty basic. It only came with a door and a counter. I made the little shelf stack out of thick card. Unfortunately the front door is just etched into the outer wall and doesn't open. 

This will go well with my other terrain. When I finish a couple more buildings I'll have have more than enough to set up a little abandoned, dilapidated town. 

Anyway, it's about time we left the Atomic Gas station and it's friendly proprietor to their own business. Y'all come back whenever you want. Drop in and say "Hello," and try not to get your face eaten off.

A Fanfare for the King

I've had this figure of Henry VI for a while abut but I didn't know what to to do with it. It's the Perry figure that comes in the same set as Margret of Anjou and Buckingham. I wanted to keep Henry separate for a purpose but I didn't know what to do with him.

Last week, as mentioned in my previous post, I visited Eureka and found out that they have a range of Wars of the Roses figures that don't appear on their webstore. Because the horses in the plastic set are far too animated for what I wanted, I ended up using most of the metal Perry horses I had on my Margret/Buckingham command base. So I needed a few replacements for the King's base.

Eureka only had 2 horse options but I thought they would work well: and they did. They don't have saddles so I had to sculpt one for the Perry "Lord Wenlock" figure that I used and ended up with the rider and horse as a single figure. I pained this figure not as Wenlock but a more generic "Kings Counsellor." I like the way the figures work together. It looks like Henry is explaining some complex piece of theology and the "Counsellor" is rubbing his chinny, chin. chin and thinking..."Ummm... Okay?"

The standard bearer is from the Eureka range. I don't like this figure much. His pauldrons are studded and look like a fantasy figure and the figure itself is quite flat. I trimmed down the left pauldron and sculpted a cloth on top to match the plastic Perry arm that I grafted onto its right side. He already had a saddle which fitted perfectly onto the horse.

The musicians are from the Eureka range and as soon as I saw them I thought: "I know what to do with these," and what to do with the Henry VI figure. They are fantastic and I'll be getting another set of these to add to my Hemmingseatic League Imaginations medieval army. A great little set.

That banner on the trumpeter was tricky. Using photoshop I cut the actual banner down and then re-sized the image. Because the figure is hand crafted one side of the trumpet banner needed a 14mm square and the other side a 13mm not-quite-square, square. Both hands got in the way too so there was some micro-trimming required. Then I had to try and match the paint to the banner.

By the way, this base isn't supposed to be a command base. It's a King Henry VI base, meaning that it will mark on the table where he is if he's present. He could be in the custody of the Yorkist, or sitting under a tree with the battle rages all around him and the Queen takes command. Whatever situation he finds himself in, I really like how this base turned out. Lots of colour, pageantry and a little bit odd.

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I also made some other pieces. As you can see below I made some stakes for the archers and some Re-Load tokens in case they are needed for any particular set of rules. The stakes are individual little things on a base as are the bunches of arrows. Both from Eureka. The stakes are on 6" bases.

One Delivery... And Then Another...

 A package arrived yesterday. It was soft a squishy, like a pillow. What could be within?

It was a mat from Geek Villain. I can't remember what inspired me to order this but I did and it arrived (from the UK to Australia) within a couple of weeks.

It's very nice and very well made. It's the 6' x 4' "Autumn" design. It's fleece and has a really nice feel with a very clean print. I chose this one because I like the non-uniform look with those sandy/bare earth patches that break up the grass pattern.

It's a bit larger than 6x4 with a few inches overhang on the long edge and a small overhang on the short edges. One reason I wanted a fleece mat is so that I can place hills underneath to get that seamless effect as well at the prospect of placing small pieces of cottonwool (or whatever) to take away some of that that golf course flatness we all know and love.

There were creases in it (see pic above) from being folded and packed but the creases were almost undiscernible once it was laid out on the table.

As I said it has a really nice pattern with little patches of printed shrubbery.

I'm very happy with this purchase and there is only one thing better than this mat that I can think of. And that is...

A second mat!

Yes I ordered a matching pair so I can use them on either 6' x 12' or a 6' x 8' table.

And a second delivery arrived just this morning.

Two days in a row. 

What could this one be?

I tried to pick this up whilst I was in the UK recently but I was just out of time to get it. I think it was released the day I left for Greece so I had to wait until I got home to order it. When I did go to order it I discovered that the average price in Australia is about $60.00 which is one of the reasons I wanted to get it in the UK. However, I ordered it from Book Depositary instead and it cost $41.00. How is that possible?

Anyway; it looks nice and I'll delve into it this evening to see what goodies await within...

Nice artwork, that's for sure!

New Recruits and Other Goodies

I'm back to painting Napoleonic's at the moment. I had a look at what I had on hand and realised that I don't have very many French. I have a good force of Prussians but not nearly enough French. So, last week I painted up a new regiment of legere and this week I did a horse battery. I also just started the first battalion of a new ligne regiment. 

These figures are from the Perry's and I've had them for quite some time. Each gun had 4 figures but I only used three which worked out fine because I could make each of the crews look little different. Nice figures and easy to paint although I'm never a fan of painting guns (or horses!)

And what are these other goodies that I'm referring to in the title of this post?

Well I bought a battle mat.

I got this from Warzone Studio which is a Russian company. I will admit that I was a bit apprehensive about the origins of this mat and wondering if I would just be throwing away my money but I was wrong. The mat is really well made in a thick material that feels synthetic. The print looks really nice with clear detail. They constantly kept me informed about shipping and just what leg of it's journey the mat was on. Also, the price was very good compared with other double sided mats I looked at. I'm really happy with it.

I didn't know what to get on the underside but I chose a desert type. It's more of a cracked/parched earth image which would work great for sci-fi, fantasy or similar scenario.

And to top the whole thing off... It came in this handsome, rigid felt case. It even has fake retro leather elbow patches on it for the discerning gentleman wargamer of bygone era. All it needs now is a beard and a pipe.

But there is one thing I'll say: As far as a desert mat goes I think I prefer my el Cheapo desert that was made with cheap white cotton, dyed with Tynee Tips Tea, and stained with International Roast Coffee.

It don't come much cheaper than that!