Turkemen, part 1

The first post regarding some of my Half-Continent hobby work in a long time can be found here   < link

Situation

This blog is being altered somewhat.  It is not being deleted, however any new content will be posted to my main blog Pewter Pixel Wars.  All of the posts from this blog have been added there, and hopefully there will be more pics and maybe even a game or two featured on the other blog.


Thank you for following along!

Picking up the pieces

As it has been quite a while since I have done any sort of work with this project, it might be a good idea to take stock and figure out a direction, once again.

First off, I am thinking of the dreaded rebasing task for the troops.  Currently, they are based of ¾" washers.  The smaller footprint of the washers is good, but it has one disadvantage - if I decide to move up a notch from skirmish games, then base trays would be needed, and I have yet to find a manufacturer that makes ¾" sabot bases as a regular item.  (And yes, I still think about moving up to bigger games!)  Therefore, I am considering moving to 25mm bases.  This will make the transition to sabot bases much easier, as they are commercially available from many places.  A new shop has come up - Supreme Littleness - with interesting products and competitive pricing.

Second is the subject of rules.  Always one of my prime friction points, single/sabot basing will make it easier to switch from one to another.  Of note, there is a new version of Sharp Practice coming, according to the TFL blog.  It looks to be great fun, and will be considered once it hits the printers.

Third, terrain needs to be constructed/purchased.  On this line, I have purchased some tree kits and am looking forward to finally getting something to decorate the table with instead of just figures!

Another year!

Happy New Year everybody!

It has been a little too quiet on this blog, but there have been some stirrings of late.  Just before the holidays, I had the inklings of getting the troops (and monsters!) back onto the painting table.  Also, there is a nice little project that another enthusiast has been working on which has put some energy back into this project.

There are a few things that I need to straighten out first:

1.   The first quarto of my Boschenburg troops need to be finished - they are mostly done;

2.   Baskets need to be completed as well - a couple are finished, but the grinnlings and that big fellow from last year are waiting;

3.   Rules - many contenders;

4.   Basing - my little experiment with Warbases did not work out so well as I ordered the wrong sizes!  However, subsequent orders, for other projects, have shown that they should work well.  Now, do I stick with 20mm or go to 25mm for the humans?

Direction, and plans

After a bit of a painting session last night, I realized that I needed to review exactly what I am doing with this project.  Shiny new projects have been a bit of a distraction, especially in the manner of other horse-and-musket genres.  But, I think that the Half-Continent is going to see some more work regardless!

Two items need to be sorted soon.  First, basing.  Currently I am mounting my miniatures singly on 3/4" washers.  This could be a problem, as the washers might not fit into existing sabot basing, and I do not really want to make my own.  So, in conjunction with another project, I ordered a small tester of bases from Warbases, just to see how their products look.  I have a good amount of Litko bases, but I found that the products from Warbases were less expensive, even with shipping, for similar products.  If the quality is similar or better, I can see more coming in from Warbases - this small order should be in soon.

Second, rules.  In conjunction with the basing above, I need rules for both skirmish and mass battles.  I am fairly familiar with the skirmish side - there are some from Ganesha Games that would work (Song of Blades & Heroes, Song of Drums & Shakos), Sharp Practice (TFL) might be good as well, among others.  I am not so sure about bigger battle rules, where the typical unit is a battalion.  I would like to keep the figure ratio to about 1:20... Still searching so stay tuned.

I'll have some pics up on the week-end - the big basket is nearly done!

Too quiet...

Unfortunately, I have been off-line for a bit, a situation that should be resolved by the week-end.  I have been able to get some things done, and pics will appear as proof soon.

Slowdown...

Well, the progress here has taken a bit of a back seat to the surprising amount of work I have done with my Tékumel miniatures, but I should mix it up.

I am still undecided on the color to paint the bases; once I finally make up my mind on that minor detail some of the bogles will be nearly complete.  Currently, I am thinking a mid-grey will work.  Also, the search continues for a uniform scheme for the lesquins, but nothing decisive there as well.

Pics, of course, when something gets done...

Where to now?

It has occurred to me that I have reached a milestone of sorts, finally, on this project.  With the veritable flood of new miniatures that have arrived (and another set that has been delivered happily - more on those later), the miniatures needs for skirmish gaming have been met.  I definitely have enough monsters and troops for some good gaming, so the procurement portion of the project will need to tack to a new heading.

Which direction is that?  Terrain, of course!

Simply put, I have no terrain pieces, save one, that could be used for a proper setting for gaming.  Everything will need to be obtained, from trees to fields to streams to buildings.  The one piece that I do have is a table covering, which I purchased very late in the previous century.  Simply described, it is a four-foot square of green-flocked rubberized felt.  I will need to drag it out from the closet and see if it will lay down flat on a table, and to check the color for base matching purposes.


Slow but steadily, the project plods on!

Brief update...

Sorry no pics this time - upon the week-end perhaps!

Slow progress continues - the little monsters have been given a dark wash and a bit of drybrushing to attempt to rescue the job!  They are still darker than I wanted originally but they should be fine.  The Grackle's cousin is soaking in some Dettol; I hope the paint is loosening off of it.

Pics later!

A very brief update

Just received another small package of miniatures from Ebor, enough to fill out a small 16-piece battalion.

Pics will be up on the week-end!

Decision time

One of the key points that always bugs me about any project is the ultimate goal; i.e. what do I see myself doing with these miniatures when the project is mature.  There are two directions that I can foresee (and they are not mutually exclusive).  One would be the grand skirmish - small quantities of troops with a wide variety of troop types collected.  The second would be larger battles, where a player would be pushing around groups of miniatures representing battalions.  Miniatures-wise, there is nothing preventing either course, except maybe the need for specialized individuals like wits or scourges (and of course proper nickers!).  There is another aspect, mostly peculiar to the battalion-sized units, that is necessary, and that is flags (spandarions).  One could get away with few or no flags for skirmishes, but with battalions, part of the spectacle (for me at least) is seeing lines of colorful troops with equally colorful spandarions fluttering away in the distance.  The addition of multiple spandarions changes the shopping list that one needs when looking at miniatures somewhat, and I try to carefully plan my purchases.

So, what is the ultimate goal of this project?  Despite the added time and expense, I am aiming for the battalion route.  However, since I have mounted my miniatures singly - by a combination of choice, luck, and hard experience (my Tékumel miniatures suffer a bit from some poor choices but that experience has paid off here) - I can play skirmishes as I progress towards the battalions goal.

Now that the goal is set, another key decision looms...  What forces are involved?  When I first imagined this project, the vision was about a struggle between some of the Soutlands realms (Brandenbrass, Boschenburg, etc.) and their eastern neighbors (Burgundia, Gott, etc.)  I am not so certain of that now, at least in the large-battle mode, although I can see small skirmishes happening between them.  Another direction would be North, with the Haacobin Empire, with Soutland support, vying off against the Turkemen.  There is some mention of this in Foundling.  The third direction is West, between the Haacobin Empire et al versus the Sedorner Kings, briefly mentioned in Factotum.  Each of these directions has its own merits - miniatures can be proxied for each new realm - and pitfalls - a dearth of hard information on each of the Turkemen and Sedorner Kings.

So, that is where I stand now.  My newest miniatures are mounted and primed, just waiting for me to decide on their colors...

Rolling on...

After quite a bit of distraction from this project, I am ready to give it another go.  Perhaps I just needed to set it aside to let my thoughts come together for the right approach, or most likely it is the promise of some hobby funding for my fast-approaching birthday!

I am trying to put together an order for some 28mm miniatures and trying to decide between Ebor Miniatures and Front Rank Figures.  Both companies produce beautiful miniatures.  Ebor is the newcomer, with a limited selection at the moment, with many new figures to be produced soon.  Front Rank is the well-established standard to measure all others.  There is still some time before the funds are available, so I will research it some more and get some input from my chief artistic officer (my lovely wife)!

The naval aspect is also being reviewed.  I am wondering if I should stay at 1/1200 scale or move to another, perhaps 1/900 or 1/1800, although the largest rams would be 'very' large even in 1/1200 scale.  Fleet actions or skirmishes between squadrons will be the deciding factor and I am still working on that - either one works for my gaming table!

Of quartos and bogles...

With the recent work on getting ship-shape I have not forgotten about the land-based minis.  It is still my plan to acquire some 28mm minis for skirmish gaming, as the budget allows.  I am looking forward to the release of the WSS line from Ebor Miniatures, as they appear to be wonderfully sculpted.  And the nickers - that is a special subject and one that will require me to plunge happily again into the books for more snippets of information.

Along with the 28mm minis I do desire to collect a smaller scale force for mass battles, either 6mm or 10mm.  The smaller scale will make the appearance of massive monsters more likely, as 15mm or even 25mm minis could be used, and they would be appropriately large compared to the small-scale troops.  10mm WSS minis are available from both Pendraken and Old Glory, while in 6mm they are produced by Baccus.

And the rules.  As time allows I want to try Song of Drums & Shakos.  I dug up some old minis - some Old Glory French colonial troops (?), and some medieval crossbowmen that I will use as proxies to just try the rules.

All that is left is for me to actually get some of this done...

It's a bit dusty here!

Apologies for the long delay - it is high time to sort things out here!

I have to admit that I hit a mental wall of sorts with this project, mostly because my budget for hobby materials collapsed somewhat.  I have been concentrating on the Tékumel minis more, but it is time to get going here as well.  However, the quartos and baskets will need to wait a while longer; I have yet to get any suitable minis for the skirmish games.  So, I am going to try and get the slipways going again for the ship project with a critical eye turned out towards making the ships faster and of course nicer.

The first ship still does not look quite right to me - the masts are too short and off-kilter especially.  I have yet to decide if I should tear it apart for another go or just leave it for now and replace it later when my skill level increases.  She is a nifty little vessel, if you squint a bit!

Finally

The hobby table is set up once again:


Now, I just need to get some balsa and the shipyard can start up again.

And, some 28mm minis are in my future as well...

Getting back on track

We have successfully changed residences. Even though we moved only a short distance (still in Seattle), the process has jumbled up everything! My hobby area is not set up yet, as you can tell from this pic:


So, I am plowing my way through the trilogy again, making notes on scenery and buildings and such. I am also going to look into using either balsa or basswood for the majority of the hulls for my naval project, simply because it will be easier to shape than the plastic sheet I tried before.

What's Next?

Well, I just finished Factotum, and I find myself energised once again to procede with my gaming plans. Unfortunately, the workbench has been almost completely packed up for the move! So, I am going to vent a bit onto this medium.

The plan is morphing a bit - a problem of which I am particularly susceptible. Despite a desire to pick up the collection of 15mm minis again, I am going to try and stick with 28mm. The budget might make it a slower path but in the end it will look much more the part. It should be easier to come up with figures for the various bogles, although any that are particularly large, like The Misbegotten Shrewd, will require some work. Maybe action figures? Smaller monsters, like the grinnlings, could need special attention also, as they are reputed to fancy human clothing.

I am hoping to start up a series of blog posts on the figures that I think will make good, or even reasonable, proxies for the monsters of the Half Continent. But, for now I am off to continue packing...

25mm minis, part 2

I ordered a pair of test packs of 25mm Old Glory 'Age of Reason' minis from Grandiosity recently, and here are some examples:

MW-2 Marching, collarless coat

MW-3 Advancing, collarless coat

The Marlburian Wars packs are packaged a bit differently - 10 minis per pack for $14.50, not 30 per pack for $32. Grandiosity has them for a bit less, and purchase of the Old Glory Army card brings a big savings. Each pic shows the variations that were included in my packs.

However, I am the type of hobbyist that needs to be inspired by both the subject and the minis. Although these are good figures, and would look magnificent en masse, I will be starting out with skirmish size encounters and working up from there. These minis are just not inspiring me to paint them. Also, there is not much variety in the packs, and I think that I would like a bit more. This implies no fault to OG; it is just my view. Plus, I will note that the pics are not the best. I might take a look at their artillery when the time comes.


There won't be any more purchases for the rest of the year - I have spent far more this year on all of my gaming projects that the past two combined - so my planned purchase of the next set of samples, probably Front Rank, will need to wait until January or February 2011. So, until then I plan on working on the ship minis and searching through (and hopefully posting links and pics) other manufacturer's minis that will work with the Half Continent setting.

Developments

There have been some exciting developments in the world of Half Continent gaming...

1. DM Cornish posted an excellent drawing of a H-C ship, and color plates on uniforms at this page on his blog. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peak at these some time ago, and I am glad that they can be shared with everybody!

2. Tradgardmastare has started his own H-C gaming blog here. I look forward to sincerely imitating his progress!

3. The third book of the series, Factotum, has been released in Australia/New Zealand. It is set for US release on Nov 11 - I have already ordered it.

4. My second test order of 25mm minis - Old Glory - has shipped and will be here next week.