Painting Progress: Adding more colors

Over the weekend, Little Prince celebrated his 3rd birthday, participated in his first Christmas pageant, and got to watch the excavator digging the foundation for the new house.  That being said, there was little time to paint.  We did manage to add some paint in a minute of downtime.  The kids each got to use my oldest/worst brush to slather their cannon's carriage with paint.  I'll go back later and fill in the missed spots and get sharper lines.  

Gun Carriages and Miters Painted in Each Army's Most Senior Color

Painting Progress: Days 2-3

Representative Example of Each Army's Progress

Painting continues, even if at a slower pace.  Day 2 saw the Red Bears get their first and second coat of paint.  On day 3, the trees were painted with assistance from the kids.  Two hands on a cheap paintbrush with cheap paint makes for sloppy work. Luckily the trees can be cleaned up with a final coat pretty easily.  I do like how both sets are coming along.  I would have probably purchased better paint if I were to do it again.  The brand the kids picked takes at least three coats to get the right amount of coverage and intensity.

Armies on their drying trays

Closeup of Red Bears

 I’ve continued work on modeling walls with and without gates. I think they’re coming along well but may not be print-ready for a while. I’d like to get some/most of the bears finished painting before adding too much terrain work. The goal is to get a game playable by Christmas break. 

Day 1 Progress

We started with the Pink Bears. They’ve been primed with spray primer. The Princess herself out the first strokes of paint on each bear. I put on the 2nd and 3rd coats as well as getting the detailed areas.

The Pink Bears Get Their Coats

I’ll likely do the same efforts for the red bears next. Then I’ll start batch work like the head, legs, muskets, and tricorns before putting on final touches like noses, eyes, and facings. 

I’m open to critiques of the painting plan. I’m aiming for playable, not museum quality. 

Let The Painting Begin

 I successfully got the minimum requirements for two bear-armies printed. Each force is made of four line infantry companies, a grenadier company, a squadron of cavalry, and a field piece with its crew.  

Army on the March

Both Armies Arrayed

The kids got to go to the craft store and selected the coat colors for their armies.  The princess picked Peachy Pink and the little prince selected bright red.  Her army will have purple, baby blue, white, and yellow facings. His army will have blue, green, yellow, and black facings. Perhaps Highlander (Grizzly) or Norse (Polar) companies will join as foreign mercenaries, but for now both armies will be comprised of light tan teddy bears. 

Peachy Pink for the Princess

Bright Red for the Little Prince and/or The Old Man

Fur Color for All Bears

First Commission Designed, Printed, Sold and Painted

 It has been a particularly rewarding week for my wargaming hobby.  I received my copy of The Second Portable Wargame Compendium.  It is a great read, and full of interesting ideas.  It has been inspiring to see what everyone is doing with The Portable Wargame system.  It is probably the most adaptable system I've seen yet.  

My first commissioned 3D print work has also been completed.  In a matter of a couple early mornings before the kids wake up and a couple hours after they went to sleep, (using the theories discussed in my portion of The Second Portable Wargame Compendium), I was able to adapt existing models to fit a roughly Napoleonic force.  I would have probably expanded on some of the included detail but the customer preferred speed over detail.  I would have also tried to get a bearskin for the guard units and/or some more elaborate cavalry helmets.  The models printed over the course of a couple days, with a relatively high and unexplained failure rate.  I'm sure there's a setting off somewhere causing the failure rate.  The models shipped from Illinois to Wisconsin for $4.  The customer received them and immediately got to painting. Within a day or two he posted the following pictures.

It's great to see my work on the tabletop.  Hopefully this set gets some good years of use.  I retained the saved files for the set so if the customer ever wants to expand the set, it should be as easy as printing and shipping.  These are printed at 25mm.  I am confident that they could also be printed at 15mm or 20mm without too much hassle.  

Adding To The Range

It has been a while since posting here.  Life and other hobbies have been taking precedence, but I’ve been working on some additional models and thought I’d share some preliminary looks. I was approached by someone who wanted me to adapt my colonial models to Napoleonic.  I already had tricorne wearing forces from the Great Northern War that might work all the way up to the Revolutionary War. Side note, I have been working on grenadier miters for them but haven’t found anything that I really like yet.  The Napoleonic project should fit between the two other ranges nicely.  Because they are designed to form a solid block, I think their best use case would be to represent large formations of troops in games where other games would have several thousand men represented by a single figure.  Not being required to paint over 50% of each figure would allow a good painter to rapidly get a game-ready force together.

Colonial, Napoleonic, and 18th Century Line Infantry

Making the change from Colonial to Napoleonic has been simple enough so far.  The body, head, legs, arms (to include cuffs), and all of the weapons are completely reused from other projects.  I simply created a shako out of a cylinder and a severely slanted cylinder for the brim, merging the spaces between to complete the shako.  Embossed insignia provides some national distinction.  The “client”/requestor intends to use them in an imagi-nation setting so getting the details correct on a Belgic Shako vs. the French pattern are not important now.  That level of differentiation might be important in the future, but not today.  The coat’s turnbacks and iconic crossed belting will have to be painted if required.  I have also flared the cannon’s profile to be more reminiscent of the time period.  This remade cannon profile will be re-used for the 18th century forces as well.  I would like for the range to eventually include differentiated shakos, bearskins, cavalry helmets, and packs for the infantry.  More exoctic Hussar, Landwehr, Hannovarian uniforms might be possible if significant interest materializes. For now, the "client" only wants troops wearing Shakos.  

Saber Cavalry, Field Artillery, Light Infantry, Line Infantry, Lance Cavalry

For a more detailed explanation of my thought process behind how I design/model my simplified and exaggerated models, pick up a copy of the Second Portable Wargame Compendium.  Bob Cordery was generous enough to publish an article of mine in the 3D printing portion.  I hope it will be my most widely-read work to date. 

 

Painting Progress

I've spent the past few posts explaining how the ruleset I've been developing working with digital models.  I enjoy explaining with the digital models because they are very clear, but the main reason the previous posts didn't have physical miniatures is because they weren't painted.  I've written a longer article for an upcoming project explaining how I designed my 3D models, and how/why they might be a good fit for you.  This effort wouldn't be complete without images of the end result.  With the deadline for the article looming, my miniatures are finally getting the paint and attention they need.  

Shock Cavalry

12mm dice for reference

Three units of regular infantry

I still have to paint the bases, the hands and clean up some details, but the majority of the colors are in place.  The miniatures are painted in a color-block/toy soldier look.  They will get a coating of varnish to protect the paint and making them shiny toy soldiers. The base painting is still somewhat undecided.  The top surface will be a monochromatic green representing grass but the sides are undecided.   have considered painting the sides of the bases in the same color as the unit's distinguishing cuff color.  This will accentuate the differences between units, at the expense of immersion.  Being a game first and works of art second, I'm leaning toward matching the side of the base to the cuff color.  

Each force has 4 units of infantry 1 artillery piece and a shock cavalry unit

A better painter with better paints could get better results but, I think the miniatures are serviceable at arms distance for now.  They're definitely something that button counters should avoid, but they're durable,distinguishable, compact, customizable, and cheap.  I definitely have more money invested in cheap acrylic craft paint and brushes than the miniatures themselves.  

Interest in Updated Napoleonic Models?

With the release of Bob Cordery's new book, The Portable Napoleonic Wargame, I imagine there might be a surge in new Napoleonic players.  I have previously designed models for a Napoleonic project I had started, but never completed.  Renderings of them can be found in my blog post titled "Model Ranges".  If there is sufficient interest, I would rework them to at least the standard I am using for my 18th Century range.  This would involve designing some amount of period appropriate hair, cleaning up some of the headgear, and making everything modular so that people could design their own units and I would supply them with the printed models or the files to have them printed locally. 
I currently have models for Shako with and without Pom, a French style bearskin (needs work), a Landwehr cap, and a crested cavalry helmet (also useful for Austrian infantry).  Currently, all models are wearing coats with turnbacks, but I would consider designing a longer coat for the Landwehr and maybe even a great coat.  I'm open to designing more models critical to the period if you have any suggestions. 

Determined to Get Some Games In

I’m going camping on the beach this weekend and think I’ll have some time for a series of games.  v1.6 seems stable enough that I could probably manage a small campaign over the course of a camping weekend.  I’ve got a red army and a blue army somewhat painted.  Each features 4 regular infantry, 2 cavalry, 2 artillery, 2 dragoon, and 2 irregular units with 4 militia units unassigned to any particular army.  The dragoons, irregulars, and militia are in various states of paint, with some being near completion and others mostly primer gray. 

I have also been busy on the terrain front.  I have digitally designed and printed prototypes for hills, forest, forested hills, 3 types of built-up-areas, a road system, a river system, and the fords/bridges to make the two work together.  Unfortunately, my 3d printer had a malfunction that caused a part to fail.  The part is relatively cheap on its own, but my printer is a few years old, and the newer models can get very good quality at a lower price.  I have convinced myself that if I could sell my existing printer at a reasonable price, I would buy a new printer.  The new printer should be less likely to nickel and dime me on repairs like my current printer does.  I’ve been attempting to sell my printer, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for used printers in my area.  I’m also somewhat concerned that I’m going to lose my printing space in a few months.

Against my better judgement, and ignoring previous experience, I purchased a small piece of green duck cloth and am in the process of sewing the edges to prevent unraveling.  After that is complete I will be marking the corners of the hexes with a permanent marker.  Hopefully there will be enough contrast to make the hexagon pattern easily visible.  I had previously used a large sheet of paper and marked the corners with a pencil, but have decided I’m ready for something a little more permanent.  We’ll see if it turns out better than my last experiment.  Click “Hex Grid Failure” if you want to read about that debacle. 

Potential Uniform Plates

I've got enough miniatures 3D printed to field one army.  Now I just need to decide how to paint them.  They will all have a very simple paint scheme.  I won't be painting any buttons, sashes, belts, pockets, footwear, satchels, epaulets, or facings because my models don't have any.  The jacket will be one color and the pants will be another.  All tricornes will be black with a white or yellow brim.

Unfortunately I think I'll just be doing a blue army and a red army for now.  I'd like to keep them generic enough that no one looks at them and assumes a nationality, but historic enough that they wouldn't feel out of place.  I really like the look of a green and black uniform, but it doesn't stand out enough against green gaming surfaces and green forests. 

Below are my quick sketches.  I found the template from google, originally on emperor v. elector, and traced the outline in PowerPoint so I could easily fill the simple shapes. 

I appreciate all feedback on the uniforms.  In my actual painting, cuffs, belts, buttons, and scarves will be ignored.  They are included here only for reference.  I'm a little worried that Blue's irregulars and Red's militia aren't different enough.  I hope this is mitigated by the militia model being three soldiers and the irregular model being two soldiers.  I also don't really like how both armies use their color and white for regular/artillery and color and dark for all mounted units.  They seem too standardized to be from different countries.  I tired having a French-style white jacket and colored pants, but it didn't seem like it provided enough space for the national color to be easily recognizable, especially on the mounted and artillery units. 

Model Ranges

Here's an overview of most of the models I've designed for wargaming.  They are all 3D printable at 28mm scale (middle of head @ 27mm) or larger. I have not tried printing any smaller, but there's no reason to think that it wouldn't be possible with the right printer.  They could be used to replace blocks in Command and Colors type games, or ranked up and based for any number of games. 

18th Century
I'm still working on this range, but thought I'd share my progress.  I'm pretty happy with how the hair under the tricorn turned out.  Militia units will be based on the same models, but painted in muted/non-uniform color patterns.  Regular troops will have natural hair colors, while generals retain the powdered wig.  This range will likely expand to include grenadiers mitres and bearskins as well as cavalry units wearing Tarleton helmets.   

Colonial
This range was created out of a desire to actually play a game and not fiddle with rules.  They are intended for use with The Portable Wargame.  I have not yet finished a "native" army for them to fight.  The plan is for the native counter army to wear Ottoman style fezzes, with roughly half of the units wearing zouave style pants.

Napoleonic

This was the first range I designed, that I would call a success.  The Napoleonic range is built around the idea of having four unit types: Line and Light Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery.  All headgear is interchangeable with minimal effort.  Possible headgear includes: Crested Helmet, Landwehr cap, Shako, Shako with Pom (not pictured), and Bearskin (not pictured).  Most European nations could be modeled using these headgear types. 

More Models Coming Soon!

I think I successfully got a believable enough tricorne model designed.  Now to print and paint.  If it looks like it will be a success I'll put it out on thingiverse.  I know more people do imagi-nations with tricorne wearing troops than shakos.  Maybe someone will find a non-descript model useful for their imagi-nation army, since it isn't supposed to be just like an existing nation's uniforms.  Most people are probably good enough at painting to add extra details like cuffs and facings.  I'd really like to see what a better painter could do with these.  I think I'll stick with the shakos for my army though. 
I got to the tricorne by trying to make a believable bicorne.  The bicorne has eluded me for some time now.  I really could use a General to lead the Napoleonic armies, but have yet to develop a bicorne model that doesn't look exceedingly stupid.  Maybe some day...





Opinions/thoughts/feedback on the tricorne model is greatly appreciated.



Painting Models

My models are very simply painted.  They do not have faces, shadows, shading, buttons, buckles, shoes/boots, straps, or anything else that would be expected on modern plastic or metal miniatures.  What they do have is a coat, pants, musket, pack, headgear, and a spherical head.  That's it. The simple paint scheme is due to two primary factors. 
1: Materials
In an effort to remain budget friendly, I did not buy expensive brushes that would get torn up in painting the relatively rough PLA plastic my units are printed in.  I already had access to my wife's collection of cheap acrylic paints, so I just used those.  In reality the materials probably only have a minimal effect on the finished product.  The biggest reason for my results is my lack of skill
2: Skill
This is the biggest driver of my simple painting schemes.  I have little (no) painting skills.  I read "Grid Based Wargaming" and wish I had half of the skill required to paint 28mm miniatures in his "simple" and "fast" fashion.  He was very generous in explaining how he gets the results he does, but I think skill and experience is the missing link for me. 
My 3D design skill also influenced my simple paint scheme.  It would look odd to me to have detailed paint on simple models.  This simple modeling carries over to the terrain that I'm designing and will be similarly simply painted.


Here are some partially painted models.  For reference, the "equator" of the head is 27mm for the artillery unit.  As you can see there are some serious scaling issues going on here. 

 

Wargaming on a budget

As I get started in wargaming, I'm trying to keep my cost down.  I'd love to have hundreds of very high detail metal miniatures and piles of terrain, but those are out of the picture for now.  In this post I will attempt to show that with a little hard work (and some tempering of expectations) wargaming can be done on a modest budget.

Please pardon the unfinished painting of the units, bad lighting and bad photography.  This image is intended to show a somewhat encompassing image of the text in this post.



Terrain:  Currently my terrain is felt. It was bought at the chain craft store.  A 3'x3' piece of green costs somewhere around $5 USD.  I bought some 9"x12" pieces in other colors to cut up to represent hills, forests, roads, water, and built-up areas.  Each piece cost about $1 if I remember correctly.

Board:  $0.  I put the felt directly on the kitchen table.

Miniatures:  Ok so here's where I cheat a little.  I own a 3D printer.  I had it before I started putting this wargaming idea together.  I designed and printed my own range of vaguely Napoleonic miniatures. (Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2521148) Each stand cost me less than $0.25 USD in plastic.  I count my printer as a hobby, so I don't include my time as an expense.  Each vaguely divisional force is made up of six units, so a playable force costs $3 before painting.
My wife is a pretty crafty lady so we already had a small collection of cheap acrylic paint laying around.  I used that.  If I had to buy it all I think it might cost between $5 and $10 depending on how many colors you use.

Dice: Purchased from amazon $5.

Grand Total:  Less than $30.  Not too shabby.

I promise pictures are coming to the blog shortly.  I just need to find some time to actually take them.

Units Designed Thus Far

Units/miniatures are the heart of any wargame.  Most are highly detailed and somewhat realistic looking, although most are drastically non-proportional.  It is difficult to sculpt the human body in such a way as to make a sturdy enough to cast at the 15-28 mm scale.  I designed the models at the following link to serve as the units in my game.  They are intentionally void of complex detail. The metal and plastic miniatures can be beautiful, but I don't want to spend the time to become proficient at painting.  The models I designed can be painted very simply, which is good enough for me.  I figured that if I'm going to have a grid-based game where units can only move in set distances and only make precisely 90 degree turns, the simple uniforms and spherical heads are an acceptable abstraction. 

Link to models I designed: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2521148

The v1.0 rules include provisions for line infantry, light infantry, artillery, and cavalry.  I have considered adding more unit types, but those four make a decent start. I considered buying used and pre-painted models, but after realizing I could 3D print my models for very little money, I refined the models and started printing.  Some of the models experienced some quality issues, and I might reprint some in the future.

Each based unit would vaguely represent a regiment.  Four infantry (one being light infantry), one artillery, and one cavalry bases will make a division with attached cavalry regiment.  This will serve as the basic forces with which the game will be fought.  The army composition can be easily tailored to support history or customized to the player's preferences. 


EDIT:  If you're interested in having any of the models but don't have access to a 3D printer, let me know in the comments.  I'm sure we can work something out.  I considered putting them on shapeways.com, but thought their pricing was too high.