Scaling Ladders for the Siege of Ulsan

Of course, these could be used other scenarios too. Picked these 3D printed resin scaling ladders up from ebay. They're very nicely sized, however, the ladder steps are too close together to put figures onto them directly.

They look better than the balsa wood ones I scratch-builed earlier. Wanted to up the look of my game for the convention after seeing some of the other ones folks will be hosting.

The ladders on the carts are moveable, and I used brass rods for axels to allow the wheels to spin.

Still need to playtest the game, but these ladders should be it for actual terrain and figures.

First Attempt At Airbrushing - 1/48th Tamiya Jagtiger and 1/50th Corgi Panther.

I just tried out a newly acquired airbrush set and paint booth with fan and air filter - both were on sale from Amazon. The airbrush with compressor was $59 USD - so couldn't pass it up. I also ordered a set of Vallejo airbrush acrylics - also on sale - about $30 for 16 bottles. The primary use for the airbrush was to apply camo to German armor. So - my first attempt was a repaint of an old Tamiya Jagdtiger I had painted green camo stripes on by hand. Never was really satisfied with the results. Immediately after the Jagdtiger, I added camo the Corgi Panther that had been given a coat of dunklegelb. The results for both weren't total disasters, and learned a lot of how to apply the spray. Namely, hold the airbrush close to the model to reduce unwanted overspray. And also to apply successive light coats rather than single heavy ones. I did the latter a few times as I tend to be impatient.

The lines on the Jagtiger are a little closer than I had wanted - wanted to leave more of the dunklegelb basecoat showing. Also, the green for both tanks is a bit darker than I wanted. I mixed the colors by eye, and rather haphazardly and quickly. The colors looked okay on test paper, but spraying too thickly on the models made the colors darker. I may drybrush dunklegelb over the finishes to lighten it up a little. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the airbrush and paint booth. Again, this was my first time using an actual airbrush - the only previous experience was a time or two with those old Testors airbrushes needing a can of compressed air. The few times I used it the airbrush would clog up after a minute or two - leaving me with a barely used can of compressed air.

Here's what the Tamiya Jagdtiger looked like with hand-painted green stripes. I was able to remove the decals that were on using decal softener - a tip I found on YouTube. The decals were on for several years and came off with little effort.

Here's the paint booth and airbrush with compressor. The paint booth has nice LED lights and a small removable turntable. It has a decent fan to suck out overspray and fumes, which aren't much as I plan to use acrylic water-based paints. The airbrush compressor isn't much louder (or more powerful) than a good aquarium pump. You can't hear it over the paint station's fan anyway. Cleaning up the airbrush between colors and afterwards wasn't as bad as expected. Just had a dropper and cleaning solution onhand the whole time.

The paint booth fan comes with an expandable hose for the exhaust. Since I painted it indoors without venting outside, I placed the end inside of a flower pot. I didn't notice any residue inside the pot afterwards.

Well, I'm in the big leagues now that I finally have an airbrush. We'll see if I'll have other uses for it. I've seen YouTube videos with folks using it to prime figures and also for larger areas as a basecoat. Until next time, thanks for your visits and hope you find it interesting. Best wishes to all.

No Big Whoop, Just A Few Painting Projects

These are the first painting projects that I've done in about 7 months or so. The Ottomans and Mamelukes from TAG and Gringo 40's were the last figures I painted - last July or August. Nothing serious here, just a few Bronze Age Greek sample figures that Mike Evans from Relic Miniatures sent me last year. Also, a Montgomery figure from Rubicon and also a WIP repaint of a Corgi Panther another buddy gave me - also last year. I just found the motivation to paint these up today. I actually spray painted the Panther last night with a can of Tamiya Dark Yellow.

As usual for me nowadays, these figures were given a basic block painting followed by Minwax Tudor Satin stain. In fact, stain is from a can my buddy gave me a long time ago. I had to open it as the remnants of my old can had gone solid. Not surprising as there was only a little left in the can.

The Relic figures bare metal. They are on the more slender side - sort of reminds me of the older Newline Sea Peoples range. They are smaller, all-around, than Redoubt and Foundry Trojan War figures. One thing I like is the size and shape the figure-8 shield. It has a nice bulbous shape about it, much like how it is portrayed in period art.

The Rubicon kit for Monty als includes a figure of General Hobart. I like how he was fired and re-hired several times before and during the war.

Prior to re-painting the Corgi Panther, I had to fix a broken road wheel. I cut out a piece from an inner road wheel and used some Green Stuff to attach it to the outer wheel. For the record, my buddy gave it to me not because of the broken wheel, but because it's too big for the 1:56th scale vehicles he uses.

The road wheel repair isn't the prettiest, and should look okay after weathering. The earlier paint job my buddy added was stripped off using DOT 3 brake fluid. Not the environmentally friendliest nor healthiest to use but got the job done. I had tried 99% rubbing alcohol and it didn't work; I'd also given up on Simple Green ever since they changed the formula and it's also pretty much useless to remove paint. Plan to add camo to the tank using an inexpensive airbrush kit I just ordered from Amazon. My only previous experience with airbrushing was almost 20 years ago using one of those old $10 Testors airbrushes that had to be used with a can of compressed air. The airbrush kept clogging up before I could even finish the tank it was used on - coincidentally another Corgi Panther.

Anyway, guess I'm getting back into the hobby again - ever so slowly. Thanks for dropping by and checking out the blog.

Confessions of a Re-Baser (Unrepentent)

As it happens, no sooner our annual big convention, Enfilade! is over, I'm already starting to think of next year's games. Looking into my cabinet, I noticed my remaining Napoleonic figures - mainly Victrix and Perry plastics - hadn't been on the gaming table since 2012. I'm still deciding what rules to use, but whatever is decided upon will be quick play for convention players. It may be either a version of Lion Rampant or a modified/simplified version of Black Powder. In any case, I wanted the cavalry to be on 50mm squares; they were previously singly-based. The French skirmishers were based 4-figures per 40mm squares, but have been re-based 3-figures per 40mm, like the British Rifles already had been. I ran out of 50mm squares so am awaiting the arrival of more from Litko to complete the KGL Hussars.

As normal for me, the figures are plopped onto the bases using acrylic caulking. I also need another Voltiguer figure to complete the last stand. They'll be used in units of 6-figures each . Thanks for stopping by and best wishes to all.

Perry WotR Infantry and Foot Knights Completed

After a couple of false starts and setbacks, here are the core foot troops for Wars of the Roses games. Intending to use Lion Rampant as the set of rules, there are 10 Foot Yeomen units (12 figures each). These can be used as separate bow and spear units, or they can be combined in Mixed weapons units. There are also 6 units of Foot Men at Arms (6 figures each); one more unit of Foot Men at Arms will be added using the free metal command figures that came with the Army deal.

Note the banners on brass rods on either side of the front ranks - these can replace the ones held as the standard bearer hands have been drilled out.

The delays mentioned above included my failed attempt at adding Citadel Six livery badge "decals" - and the non-arrival of Dom's Decals (which he kindly refunded my payment for). Also, part of the delay was the basing and re-basing of the figures themselves. This was due to me using a handful of existing 40mm Litko bases I had and then what I thought were more 40mm bases which I had ordered. It was only after basing the figures (using acrylic caulking) and painting the bases that I found out the new bases were actually 1.5 inch bases. Ken apologized for the mix up and quickly sent out the correctly sized 40mm bases. As far as not using livery badges, I think this actually works out better, as the figures can be used for different retinues more easily. For instance, the blue and white livery was used by many families, both York and Lancaster. To identify units, the flags supplied with the kits can be switched out as the hands of the standard bearers were drilled out. The flags themselves are attached to brass rods.

Yorkist troops; the banners of Lord Fauconberg, Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick with Foot Men at Arms in the foreground.

These red liveried troops can be used for the Earl of Warwick (currently represented by the large standard), or the Earl of Oxford. For the First St Albans game they will be with Warwick; for the Bosworth game, they will switch to Oxford's.

Henry Beaufort's standard lead these troops for now, but for the St Albans game they will be Henry VI's soldiers, and for the Bosworth game they will belong to the Stanleys.

The white and green livery is mostly associated with Henry Tudor, who was not even born when the Battle of First St Albans was fought. However, these troops will be used for that game, as well as for Bosworth, of course.

The remaining figures for this project in my possession are the 6 metal command figures, a box each of Mounted Men at Arms and Light Cavalry, and a cannon and crew (also included as a freebie with the Army deal). The Light Cavalry and cannon will be used for the Bosworth game. In fact, I may even get a box of European Mercenaries for the Bosworth game too. Heck, I still have an almost full can of Minwax stain. Until my next post, best wishes to you all!

Perry WotR Foot Knights - WIP +1

The box of Perry "Foot Knights 1450-1500" as well as the 12 fully-armored WotR Infantry guys are painted; just need to add livery badge decals to the guys wearing jupons or tabards.

Edit: I just noticed I still need to paint the feather plumes on several of the figures. :)

These were, dare I say, a joy to paint. I find fully armored figures easiest to paint - I first discovered this when I painted up a Norman army (for WAB) with most of the guys in chainmail. Just black undercoat and dry-brushed silver and very little exposed skin and clothing.

Besides the 3-step armor painting process (described in the previous post) and the jupons/tabards, the only parts painted were the few exposed faces, wooden staffs of weapons, leather boots and straps, and the hilts and pommels of the swords. The faces, wood and leather parts were given a wash of Vallejo Flesh Wash mixed with some Sepia.

With the completion of these figures, the core units for this project are done. Next up are the six Yorkists Foot Command figures which were included free with the Yorkists Battle (3 boxes of Infantry). They'll be an additional unit of Foot Men at Arms - per Lion Rampant. Thank you for visiting and checking out the blog!

Perry WotR Foot Knights - WIP

The box is actually titled "Foot Knights 1450-1500" - but, for this project they are WotR Foot Knights. Still awaiting the arrival of the livery badge decals, figured might as well start on the foot knights/men-at-arms box, and the remaining fully armored guys from the infantry boxes. Here they are with the armor painted. They still need their faces, leather straps and wooden staffs painted, as well as the jupons on some of them.

The armor was painted using a simple 3-step process. First, sprayed the figures with Rust-Oleum Metallic Aluminum - I wanted something darker than silver, like gun metal, and this was the closest I could find at the local hardware store.

Next, they were given a wash of Vallejo Black Ink to bring out the details and black line the armor plates, etc. Finally, they were dry-brushed with Vallejo Silver (the first image posted).

The guys with jupons will be given basic livery colors and then badge decals will be added. Thanks for stopping by and checking out this project.

Perry WotR Infantry - WIP +3

Added some highlighting after spraying them with Testor's Dulcote. They're pretty much done, except for the addition of the livery badge decals. Anyway, these will be the core figures for a couple of games I hope to host at next year's big local convention, Enfilade! Granted it's still a year away, but I like to have stuff ready early and then veg out for a while prior to the con.

As these are production line painted figures, the highlighting is haphazard and not really following the folds of cloth and such. I just added a few strokes of highlight here and there.

This rear view shows how nicely the stain worked to pop the rivets on the brigandines. Oh, and it's probably apparent, but I didn't add peripheral items like swords, bucklers and quivers. Just down and dirty gaming figs.

Next up in the paint queue are the Foot Knights which I plan to spray with silver as the base coat. More to follow!

Perry WotR Infantry - WIP +2

Here are the foot (less the fully plate-armored guys), with a Minwax Tudor Satin stain applied. They'll get a shot of Testor's Dulcote and some highlighting. Basing will be done after the livery badge decals are applied. Just wanted to show the nice detailing the staining accomplished.

Glad to get this far on the project!

Perry WotR Infantry WIP +1

Finished block painting all of the grunts, at least the ones not in full-plate armor. They'll get the Minwax treatment later today after the paint sets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Perry Wars of the Roses Infantry AND Foot Knights - WIP

Just a quick post to show you all that I haven't given up on this project - the first one in some years. Started block painting the the infantry, and also glued together the foot knights. Swapped some of the arms and heads from the two sets. I ended up painting the foot in very uniform colors - probably way more than historically accurate, but I wanted them easily identifiable as belonging to the same units, as well as simplifying the color scheme. Also ordered some livery decals from both Dom's Decals and Citadel - only realizing after placing the orders that a lot of the infantry have padded jacks or brigandines which don't need badges - oh well, they were fairly inexpensive.

The Foot Knight set has some great figures and poses, however, some of the helmeted heads appear a bit on the smaller side. The helmeted heads for the command figures in the Infantry box are actually nicer - and I used them on the knights. Oh, there is also a very nice Richard III figure with crowned sallet that will be painted separately at a later date. Hope to get the infantry done this weekend - managed to pick up a can of Minwax Tudor Satin which has worked wonders in the past. Best to you all!

Perry Wars of the Roses Infantry - WIP

Here are 108 of the 120 infantry from the three box "Yorkist Battle." The other 12 figures are the command in plate armor and will be painted separately - probably using a can of silver spray paint followed by ink wash. There are 60 archers and the balance with pole arms (including the command figures). Although the ratio of bow to bill was historically higher in period armies, I wanted more pole armed troops as the scenarios I envision using them in will have more melee than missile fire. In fact, a box of 38 Foot Knights will be added, and also a box of 12 Mounted MAA. These will be the core troops for the First St. Albans scenario. I also plan to add a box of Light Cavalry and some mounted personalities for a Bosworth scenario. Both will use Lion Rampant for the rules. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I best get these figures primed.

Took Up A New Hobby - Painting Miniatures

This may come as a shock to some, but I picked up a brush today. Thanks to Anne O'Leary's blog contest back in June, I ordered a pack of Perry War of the Roses personalities from the WarStore. The figures are Margret of Anjou, Henry VI and the Duke of Buckingham. They could be useful as victory points in future games.

The Margret figure is one of those that is cast as one piece atop the horse. I prefer riders and mounts separate to facilitate painting, but it is a fine sculpt nevertheless. Here are images of Henry and Margret for reference.

Anyway, we'll see how long it takes me to paint these up.

The Gude Lude - OG Revolting Peasants!

Picked these Old Glory "Revolting Peasants" off of ebay last week. Needed them to be part of a Battle of Worringen scenario. As the "Gude Lude", or Good People of Cologne, turned the tide of the battle in favor of Jan of Brabant, they had to be included. Tired of the heavy handed tactics (and taxes) of Siegfried, the Archbishop of Cologne, the peasantry sided with the forces of Brabant right before the battle. Here are the figures sprayed with Testors Dullcote over a Minwax stain of Tudor Satin.

They were quickly block painted using only three muted colors - red mixed with flesh, a pale green, and blue mixed with light grey.

This is a very nice set as there are 10 different poses - and each with different head swaps. The large bladed farm equipment being especially eye-catchy. They will be based 3-per 40mm square.

Trojan War Project - Rebasing Phase

Using some left-over Litko plywood bases, I decided to rebase existing Bronze Age figures - they still need flocking. The guys in the metal tray are mostly Redoubt figures, with a few Black Tree Design and  Foundry. They are still on their 20mm squares and attached onto 50X80mm stands, 6 figures per with adhesive putty. The four stands in the foreground are 50mm squares with 3 command figures per. The guys in the back are Old Glory figures based 3 figures per 40mm squares - they are more permanently affixed using acrylic caulking. Units will be 6 or more figures and used with a simplified version of Hail Caesar.

Except for the Old Glory figures, the rest were previously based on larger movement trays for WAB - 21 and 28 figures per unit. I prefer Standard-sized units with 80mm frontage with 6 figures randomly based. This frontage makes the unit look decently sized, and also allows more maneuver space with multiple units. The command figures would probably look better on round bases, but since I wanted to leave the figures on their 20mm squares, a round base would be too large looking

Not counting chariots or the command stands, there are over 30 units with 80mm frontage. I envision Trojan War battles having smaller groups of warriors moving around the battle line. Also, with the mechanic of supporting units in combat, the more units the better IMO.

Flocking is next - will have to pick up some static grass and tufts though.

"Saddle White Surrey..."

“Saddle White Surrey for the field tomorrow; Look that my staves be sound, and not too heavy.” Here is the mount for King Richard III from the "Gold Knight of Nice" kit in 1:8th scale.

Rust-oleum Bright Coat Silver was used for the armored parts. It's give a really nice finish. I chose not to black-line breaks in the armor plates as I liked the clean look.

It's a quick build with minimal parts; only the large size made handling it sometimes challenging while painting.

Here he is next to a 28mm BTD mounted figure to give a sense of scale.

Richard is up next - and although a few more parts should be a lot easier being a more manageable size. Below is a nice illustration identifying parts of the horse armor.

Warlord Games EIR Auxilia - WIP +1

Here they are - less their shields - with a fresh brushing of Minwax Tudor Satin stain.

These guys painted up with no problem. Wish I picked up the other box that was for sale at the bring and buy last week.

The mail took the staining well; I guess I was a bit too vigorous with the brushing as I broke one of the spears.

The image below shows them block painted prior to the staining. I noticed only after applying the stain that I forgot to paint their wrist bands, as well as the bandage over the eye on some of them.

I plan to paint the shield either a pale blue or green.

Warlord Games EIR Auxiliaries for the Cantabrian War - WIP

Picked this box up at the bring and buy at last week's game day at Fort Steilacoom. Couldn't pass up on the price, and always wanted some Auxilia to complement the Legionaries. Anyway, here is the start of the 24 figures - which consist of four poses and some separate arms. The set doesn't come with a command, but does come with water-slide decals that go over shields painted in whatever color you chose. The shields are left off and remain on sprues for ease of painting. The heads, arms and spears are ready for production line assembly.

The figures will be part of a Battle of Las Rabas scenario set during the Cantabrian War of Augustus Caesar. Granted both contingents will have a slightly anachronistic look - Romans in lorica segmentata, and nekid Gauls and Spanish Scutarii doubling as Cantabrians.

Hinchliffe Models Taisho - WIP +3

In the home stretch - only need to do the weapons - bow, quiver and sword/scabbard; oh, and the large knot for the back of the armor.

I got lazy and failed to paint the inside of the shoulder armor.

The dragon fly motif was a favorite for samurai as it was believed to never back up - that is, retreat.

A large knot will go on the back of the cuirass.

During the Heian period, kote - or sleeve armor, was usually only worn on the left, bow holding arm.