Miniature Minds

A quick update

2010-03-19T15:09:00.014Z

This will be just a quick post to show off something I painted recently that I'm really pleased with. Below are some pictures of a recently completed (um ... completed today) miniature from the Perry Brothers' Agincourt to Orleans range. Before I started on it I decided that I wanted to try and paint it to a higher standard than usual. I was aware of other painters using wet palettes before but had never got round to making one myself and so for this mini I decided to stop being a lazy git and get round to it. I have to say it made a huge to difference to the standard of painting, and also the painting speed. It was very satisfying being able to get a 28mm miniature to a standard I was happy with and if you have never got round to using a wet palette before I definitely recommend it! I haven't decided what I'll use the mini for yet (I have five more in the unit to paint)- possibly the beginnings of an Impetus army? My 15mm projects have taken the back seat for the moment as I've become reacquainted with 28mm.
On a different note I just discovered the Broadsword Adventures ruleset (you can download a demo here). I've been looking for a generic, miniatures-based RPG-style ruleset for a while now and came across this whilst reading about the .45 Adventure pulp rules which Tom has. Both are made by Rattrap Productions and both have excellent reviews and so I may be tempted to pick up a copy at Salute 2010.
Anyway, pictures... The highlights and shading are a bit more pronounced than these pictures would have you believe.

J

French cavalry, beware

2010-02-09T14:09:00.008Z

Painting has been as slow as ever round these parts but I thought I would write a post about my progress anyway. Here are the first three archers for the English Hundred Years War army I am working on. Bar one Italian light halberdier (shown in an earlier post) they are the first 15mm miniatures I have ever painted. The miniatures in brown and red still need the odd highlight before they're properly finished and, annoyingly, I need to buy a couple more paints to do this.
I used Medieval European Armies by Terence Wise and The Armies of Crécy and Poitiers by Christopher Rothero (both from Osprey) as reference points and I am going to try and keep the colours I use quite autumnal. If anyone has any pointers with regards painting HYW colour schemes or heraldry then please do leave a comment as they would be very much appreciated!

J

The Eagle's Claw completed

2009-12-06T13:16:00.010Z

So, finally, here is The Eagle's Claw in all their fully painted glory!

Record: P3 W0 D1 L2 F3 A7 Pts1 GD-4
They've been close to complete for quite a long while now. It has been one of those things where because they were basically finished I decided it was worth focusing on other things but never actually got round to completing the project ... until now. There was a slight delay when it came to applying transfers. I tried to apply them to the players' curved shoulder pads but, try as I might, I just couldn't get them to sit so I had to scrape them all off again with a craft knife. Anyway, here they are finished and ready for the field.

J

More miniatures

2009-12-02T12:40:00.008Z

Over the weekend I decided to order the bulk of an English 1330-1415 Hundred Years War army for Basic Impetus and I was surprised to find that it had been delivered on Monday morning. Unfortunately I was not in so this morning I went down to the post office to collect the box. I opened it up as soon as I got it home...

What a beautiful sight! The miniatures are all Corvus Belli and they were ordered from Vexillia Limited. I will continue to flog off the bulk of my Games Workshop stuff on eBay and will focus on this project. Also, in other hobby news, my Blood Bowl team (The Eagle's Claw) is now complete and so I will put up some pics soon.

J

First steps

2009-10-31T16:12:00.011Z

I have finally got round to taking some pictures of the beginnings of my latest project- 15mm. I have already decided on my first project in this scale which I have detailed in the previous post. 15mm does seem to polarise opinion: for some (me included) the minis are small enough to achieve mass effect and large enough to appeal to the painter in you, but for others it's the complete reverse: too large for true mass effect and too small to bother picking out all the detail. I have only completed one mini as a tester but I though I would take some pictures of the various ranges I have samples from to show how they scale up next to each other in case anyone else is interested in buying some.

From left to right: Mirliton (from their 'Condottieri Italiani' range), Venexia ('Italian Wars 1495-1559), Corvus Belli ('Hundred Years War'), and Peter Pig ('Wars of the Roses' and 'English Civil War').
Below are some better pictures of the painted Italian light halberdier.

J

Scaling down

2009-10-11T11:54:00.009+01:00

So as the temperatures tumble and the nights draw in you'd think that this time would be perfect for getting some hobby activities underway. Unfortunately life has got in the way for both me and Tom and so things have slowed down a bit over here.
Despite this I have managed to get some painting done, and I also intend to use today to crack on with my current obsession: 15mm. As an incredibly slow painter of 28mm, I am enjoying the novelty of actually starting and finishing a miniature in the same day! I'm also finding that due to the relatively cheap miniatures, it is easy to build up an impressive looking force in a short space of time. Those who've been playing 15mm will know this already but it is a bit of a hobby revelation for me!
I have been asking around for samples to try and decide which period to go for and I think I'm settled on the Hundred Years War- I will use Corvus Belli minis, and the rule set will be Impetus. This decision was mainly inspired by a similar HYW project going on over at the fantastic Geektactica blog- you can view it on our blogroll. I have also collected samples from Venexia, Mirliton, and Peter Pig (whose great WotR range I may collect next) and pictures will hopefully be up at some point this week.
In other gaming news, The Eagle's Claw, my Human Blood Bowl team, recently played Tom's Bolog's Brayn Broozaz again and this time managed a hard-fought draw: 1-1! I was a bit disappointed because I lost the lead in the game but I was pretty pleased because most of my players finished the game in one piece!

J

The Punic Project

2009-09-05T13:47:00.028+01:00

Ever since reading the Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC by Adrian Goldsworthy a couple of years ago I have been keen to wargame this very interesting and colourful period of ancient history. The Punic Wars spanned decades as two major superpowers struggled desperately for dominance in the Mediterranean. Its a period of history that has everything a wargamer could want; interesting characters, high drama, empire building, tactically diverse armies and a multitude of classic battles which are still studied for there tactical principles today.

With my 6mm Napoleonic project now well on its way to completion, and having received the latest edition of Ancient Warfare magazine (highly recommended if you have the money by the way) which focuses on the doings of the Barca family during the wars, my interest in this period has been re-ignited. Some of the excellent illustrations in the magazine reminded me how ethnically and culturally diverse the armies where with a large percentage, if not the majority of the armies fielded, being made up of a mix of client states, allies and bands of mercenaries. These could be Numidians, Iberians, Ligurians, Gauls, Celtiberians and Italian tribes which fought at varying times on both sides; the shifting alliances between the two major superpowers and the various smaller kingdoms, tribes, mercenary and ethnic groups being very dynamic. This is another useful aspect of this period as it allows you to use lots of the same miniatures (Gallic warbands, numidian light cavalry, Iberian Scutarii etc) for both sides or on their own as independent armies.

My plan is to do a lot of reading up on the period (with Nigel Bagnalls' The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean next on the reading list) while I sort out the dilemma of what figures to use from the extensive variety of ranges available. I already have a rule set picked, which is of course the excellent Impetus. I have been using these rules for games of War of the Roses recently and I think they will work well for games set in the Punic period. There are special rules for Roman line-relief, using pilum and the way that the 'Impetus bonus' works means that you will have to use different tactics depending on whether you have 'Impetuous' or more steady units. The large base sizes mean that whatever scale I go for the units should look impressive.

The Dilemma
So I have my period and my rule set, the problem is I am having a rather difficult time deciding which scale and manufacturer to go for, but I have narrowed it down to three options:

6mm is the scale I originally intended to do this period in. Using Baccus figures I was going to go all out for mass effect with lots of 6mm figures on the 15mm size bases (8cm x 3 or 4cm for heavy infantry). I would have to sacrifice a lot of the detail that distinguishes the various units but the armies would look more like real armies and would suit Impetus' top down approach to the battles. A typical unit of Hastii/Principes having 60 figures on a base but despite the large number of figures it would still be reasonably cheap with a base like this only costing a bit over £3 and bases of skirmishers and other looses order troops costing much less. This would allow me to collect more than the main two armies with enough miniatures to do all the other nationalities that participated in the wars and also collect some of the contemporary Successor forces. However with the prospect of this range (one of Baccus' older ones) being re-sculpted next year and doubts about whether I would find it satisfying to paint large numbers I have some reservations.

10mm is the compromise scale that would still have some of the mass effect of 6mm but with a bit more detail giving me around 30 Hastati/Principes figures to a base with more variety of poses but 50% more expensive. Magister Militum, have an excellent and large range of figures covering all the various forces with a nice level of detail for the scale and some nice characterful figures for the generals. Though I would have to compromise on just focusing on the main armies, if painted well they should look very good, giving a less generic looking army than 6mm. However I'm not sure whether the extra detail would make up for the loss of mass look.

28mm is the scale where any hopes of creating some the 'mass' look go out the window. One of the advantages of 28mm with Impetus' large bases is that you can create some nice diorama type bases with wounded figures or terrain pieces built in. This option appeals to the painter more than the wargamer in me with the chance to have a stunning looking army. Both Gripping Beast and Crusader, plus Armorum & Aquila, have some excellent ranges with a variety of stunning looking transfers for shields that would make the figures look extra special. However this is by far the most expensive option and I would probably have to invest the majority of my hobby budget and painting time into it to get it done to the standard I would want.

A tricky dilemma but I suppose quite a good one to have; lots of options all with their own pros and cons. I thought I would write this post in the hope that it would help me decide but am finding myself even more torn between the scales, so if anyone has some views or advice especially if you have embarked on a Punic wars project I would be very happy to hear from you. Meanwhile I'll keep painting my Adlers.
T.

Limbering up! - French Foot Artillery

2009-08-31T15:49:00.007+01:00

Completed this four gun battery a while ago and I am quite pleased with how they have turned out. One of the many advantages of doing Napoleonics in 6mm is that its not too much extra effort to paint up the nice little extras that make a collection of miniatures extra special. One of my pet hates are 'levitating' artillery batteries that seem to maneuvre themselves around the battlefield by some magical force or are man handled by crews who must have muscles the size of the incredible Hulk! So I'm doing my artillery in two versions; limbered and unlimbered which I can swop round when they deploy or need to make a quick get-away.

Limbered up and on the move (click to maximise):

Like the rest of my collection I've based these on magnetic bases, so its easy to swop the guns around and keep the limbers and teams on the table so the battery takes up a more realistic amount of space.

Crews hard at work preparing their guns:

The battery even comes with some neat artillery officers (I especially like the one with the telescope) and drummers which I put on a seperate base to prevent crowding the guns:

''Austrians? Where?'', ''The white bits over there, sir!''

Just a Legere regiment and a regiment of Chasseurs to do then my French division will be complete. Hope you like the pictures.

The Fellowship of the Ring (one down, eight to go)

2009-08-31T11:40:00.006+01:00

Here are some pictures of my recently completed Pippin figure from Citadel. Legolas and Gimli will follow next. I have also tried to brush up a bit on my photography skills - I messed around with the brightness and contrast as the pictures were quite dark. I am quite proud of his cloak but it looks quite flat in these.

J

Last Chancers - 2 down, 10 to go

2009-08-03T18:15:00.004+01:00

I thought I would post something other than 6mm for a change. These two are 'Grease Monkey' and 'Fingers' from Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers. I bought these years ago and have finially decided to paint them up so I can sell them to fund my next projects. So if you would like a well painted unit of Last Chancers please feel free to contact me (tomlandels@hotmail.com).

The Skirmish Screen

2009-07-29T19:23:00.005+01:00

I haven't been posting as much as I would like to and Joey seems to have disappeared into the ether (i.e. the real world populated with real people rather than little toy soldiers ; ). So as my Napoleonic project progresses I will endeavour to post more pictures and hopefully in the next month or so maybe even a battle report. Anyway I finished my voltigeurs in skirmish order and am very pleased with them, so I thought I would take the opportunity to post some pictures of my collection so far.

The French advance (click to enlarge):

The voltigeurs screen the advance and hold broken terrain like forests:

The voltigeurs make their way through the trees to the edge of a field ready for harvest:

On the other side of the crop field the Austrians wait, positioned on a hill:

French artillery and cavalry are next on the hit list and maybe a couple of the those humongous 28mm miniatures as well.

T.

March of the Austrians (3)

2009-07-08T18:05:00.005+01:00

Its been a month exactly since my last post; the blame for this can be fairly and squarely placed on the fine weather we have been having recently. It seems wrong to sit inside hunched over the painting desk when the sun is shining and there are barbecues to go to, so progress on the Austrians stalled slightly. Then the rain came back, I got back to work and have made lots of progress, in fact I have finished painting the little blighters! So.......

Step 7: Now all the white is done I can do all the fiddly bits. First up are the cuffs, collars and turnbacks. Turn backs are easy, cuffs are ok but those collars can be quite tricky. The trick as with all steps is to find the right angle of approach so you hit the area you want. These have been done in the regimental colours for Reuss-Greitz's regiment no 55 and Czatoryski's no 9 as below:

Step 8: Next up is the musket which I do with Mahogany Sand/Brown 846 and GW Mithril Silver.

Step 9: Then its the back pack with Flat Earth 983 and Neutral Grey 992 for the rolled up great coat which is just done by dotting the raised areas.

Step 10: The brass plate on the helmet is done with Gold 996. These details which can be quite tricky are made so much easier to paint thanks to the excellent way these guys are sculpted allowing you to just run your brush along the detail to pick it out.

Step 11: The crests on the helmet are done with Flat Yellow 953, followed by black to give a nice neat stripe. This is the final step for the basic infantry and for me makes them look really smart.

Step 12: Next up I do all the last little fiddly bits like the drums, Officer's mounts, blood and hair colours on the casualty figures which makes a nice change from the production line approach.

The horses are the only stage at which I do more than one layer. I've used GW Devlan Mud wash which seems to work well.

Well that's, that. Quite a hefty amount of painting and from now on I think I will only take on single regiments rather than brigades at a time. However now these are done I have all the regulars I need for a division, so I can enjoy doing more interesting bits and pieces like cavalry, artillery, skirmishers and commanders. As ever if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Happy painting,

March of the Austrians (2)

2009-06-08T17:16:00.003+01:00

Step 6: Just a quick update to let you know that I have painted all the white on the Austrians, as you can imagine that's a lot of white! Now this colour is done they are well on their way to completion. I won't give a step by step for this bit as its pretty obvious what I have done from the pictures. However I will suggest to anyone thinking of doing big batches of 6mm is to break the painting down into separate stages and bruch strokes, then just focus on getting these done one at a time as it can be quite daunting to paint 216 figures in one go. However the knowledge that once these are done I will have 12 battalions completed; enough for a reasonable game keeps me going.

Next I will do the cuffs, collars and turnbacks in the colours of Reuss-Greitz's regiment no 55 and Czatoryski's no 9. These are light blue and green. Next update soon (hopefully).

T.

March of the Austrians (1)

2009-05-30T09:49:00.010+01:00

As I mentioned at the end of my last post my next painting endeavour would be to complete 2 regiments/6 battalions/216 figures worth of Austrians to bring them up to strength with the French. Well this post will be the first of a few following my progress and also be a simple guide to how I paint Adler Napoleonics. It will hopefully encourage me to keep going as there are a lot of painting hours going into this but once complete my Napoleonic project should be well on its way to two table worthy forces.

Step 1: I clean the casts; getting rid of flash, mould lines and wash them in soapy water to get rid of casting residue. I think this step is especially important with 6mm as any faults in the casting won't be so easily hidden by a paint job at this scale. Adler figures do tend to have a lot of flash and the occasional casting flaw but do tend to clean up quickly and well.

Step 2: I use PVA glue to attach the strips of 4 or singles if command/casualty figures to lolly sticks, then undercoat them black using several thin coats making sure I get all the nooks and crannies.

Step 3: I then paint the earth round the feet as this will help with the basing later. As you can see in the picture I have cheated a bit as I had 4 fully painted Austrians left over from my other 2 Regiments so all I have to do is change the colour of their facings and their done (every little helps).

Step 4: I always like to start with the flesh no matter what scale I am painting as it helps to bring the figure alive and encourages me to finish it (can't resist their little faces staring up at me pleading .....paint me..... paint me.... ahem! anyway...). With 6mm figures (especially when you are painting lots of them) it helps to break it down into stages with as few brush strokes as possible and go along the line of figures on your strip and repeat the strokes on each. First I do one cheek with a single 'blob'.

Then the other......

I then join the two cheeks up with a single stroke across the chin

A light dot on the nose, just enough to show its there and a short line underneath for the top lip.

I then 'tighten' in the cheeks around the nose and 'dot' the hands to finish

Step 5: Next comes the white trousers. I break this down into a number of strokes that will enable me to get to all the areas that show. This is probably one of the most boring bits to do, no where near as fun as all the straps and things : (.

This is as far as I am now, I will endeavour to get as many other steps done and post an update next weekend.

The Impetuous Project

On a separate note, I have had a couple of 500 point games of Impetus now and have to say it is currently my most favourite rule set being both fun, exciting, tactical and historical. As such I am now very keen to collect some 6mm armies for the Punic Wars and have been playing around with ideas on how I want to do my armies. I've now decided to go with the 15mm scale bases giving me a 80mm by 30/40mm base size for heavy infantry. This should give me units of 60 Roman Hastatii/Principe looking a bit like this:

The rule set and base sizes seem ideal for 6mm Mass armies. After ordering some Romans from Baccus I am very pleased with the sculpts. They aren't as detailed as Adler figures but this is actually a strength when I will be having 60 of them to a base. They paint up very will, quite quickly and should look amazing on mass.

That's it for now. Hopefully more updates from Joe or me soon.

Pointless pontification

2009-05-22T20:09:00.011+01:00

A long overdue update by me but I thought I should drop in and outline what I'm currently doing hobby-wise and pontificate pointlessly.
The less said about my painting the better I think. I haven't don't too much since my last update, although I have completed a few of my Blood Bowl team. I am having a bit of a crisis of confidence at the moment though because I'm finding it hard to judge when a figure is finished. A part of me will look at a figure and think about adding just one more highlight or just one more glaze, etc. This usually happens when I have spent too long around one project (this BB team has been on the go for about seven or eight months) and I find you lose a bit of perspective.
Despite this, I feel I'm nearing the end on a project that, in the hands of any normal painter, would've been finished months ago! Anyway, must go an browse the Baccus website for my next project...

J

Painting Report

2009-05-12T17:21:00.006+01:00

Haven't posted for a while so I thought I would post some pics of the fruits of my labour from last weekend. First up is a British Riflemen for the Zulu wars from Empress Miniatures. This was a commission given to me by one of the guys at the club (Loughton Strike Force). He is doing Rorke's Drift 1:1 and will be sending this figure off with hundreds of his unpainted comrades to one of those painting companies in Sri Lanka to act as a painting guide.

I also based up another French regiment. However they still require some flock, I am waiting for the new small scale flock to arrive from Baccus so I can try this out rather than the longer stuff I normally use. This regiment brings me up to a total of 12 battalions of line, with only three battalions of Legere, a few brigade and divisional commanders, a couple of artillery batteries, skirmishers and a light cavalry regiment to go before my division is complete.

So whats on the painting mat now? Lots and lots of Austrians. I have set myself a bit of a challenge to get a whole brigade of six battalions done in one to catch up with the French. The handy thing with the Austrians however is that apart from command figures they are all identical allowing me to do some speed painting. I will be posting regular updates to keep myself motivated and also to act as step by step guide to how I do my Adlers as requested by David. Heres a pic of all 204 of them ready to go.

Also look out for a 500 point Impetus battle report in the near future.

T.

Impetus battle report

2009-04-26T18:55:00.022+01:00

Today we played the first game of Impetus using miniatures. Tom managed to make a bit of a killing on eBay and so we decided to recreate the Battle of Bosworth of 1487 - the final battle of the War of the Roses - using the 10mm miniatures he had bought. The outcome, as you will see, was slightly different though. Although we used fairly accurate armies it was by no means a serious recreation and was primarily a chance to 'test-drive' Tom's new minis.

Using the Basic Impetus rules we arranged some scenery on the table (two areas of boggy (difficult) ground, a forest and a hill). I was playing the House of Lancaster and Tom the House of York.

The green dice represented the VBU, or for those unfamiliar with the rules, essentially the remaining strength of the unit, while the red dice, irrespective of their value, represented whether a unit was 'disordered' thereby making them less effective than those that are 'fresh'.

By the time the scenery had been placed the army of the House of York was mostly arrayed on the hill with the forest on my left flank and two large areas of difficult ground separating us. This seemed to play into my hands as I had far more firepower than Tom and so decided to sit back and watch as his force slogged it across the bogs. Initially at least.

Here's how I set up...

And here's Tom's deployment. The hill was made by placing some appropriately-shaped sheets of corkboard under the mat.

Early on in the battle I decided to throw my original plan out and start marching towards Tom's army using my faster-moving ranged troops as a screen. Tom's Nobles and Light Cavalry units were making a flanking maneuver around the forest on my left and so, instead of giving them something to charge at, I decided to try something riskier and cross the bogs...

First blood to the House of Lancaster! Tom's Men-at-Arms take a hit from my Crossbowmen.

My army start the long trek across the difficult ground.

Tom's sneaky Light Cavalry unit biding it's time.

The armies meet...

An aerial view.

Charge!

My charge is repelled...

In the centre my troops are quickly warn down.

Tom's Nobles charge into mine and proceed to teach them a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat...

This picture tells pretty much the whole story. Tom's battleline has suffered no significant damage with all his units still on the board.

At the far end of the battle line my Men-at Arms await the charge of the Tom's Nobles whilst mine are looking vulnerable to a charge from Tom's Light Cavalry, the very unit and maneuver I'd been trying to avoid.

And the view from the Light Cavalry unit that, although not making it into combat, played a role in the battle and would have charged in had the game not ended.

So that was our first miniature-based game of Basic Impetus. It was certainly fun and looked fantastic and made a welcome change from just playing with pieces of card.
The game was basically decided on my choice to cross the bogs instead of waiting for Tom's army to come to me. I won't be making that mistake again! I think I should've been more preoccupied with trying to get my Men-at-Arms and Nobles into better positions. The Nobles basically botched their one charge of the game and the Men-at-Arms spent most of the game getting in the Nobles' way and ended up taking some damage when they retreated through them. My missile troops performed pretty well despite destroying none of Tom's units, they served to 'soften them up' somewhat.

J

An Impetuous project

2009-04-25T09:46:00.011+01:00

Well I had intended to make my first project for my new favourite ruleset Impetus a 6mm one and bought some War of the Roses figures from Baccus at Salute accordingly. However when I spotted a very nice and large WotR 10mm army with suitable basing I couldn't resist, so I bid and won them for a very reasonable price. They arrived yesterday and I am very pleased with them:

There are 63 bases not including the two camps and command bases giving me over 1200pts worth of units allowing me to field two large armies with options. So I will hopefully be posting some battle reports in the near future, starting with Basic Impetus games, then 300 point games of the full rules and then finally a big 500 point game.

Feed your ears!

2009-04-10T16:33:00.005+01:00

Painting hundreds of 6mm figures can often get a bit monotonous and keeping up the motivation to complete a unit that will give you that kick to start another one from the beginning is a key factor in getting stuff painted and on the table as quick as possible. Some people listen to music or watch a DVD but I find listening to music doesn't occupy my brain enough to prevent me getting bored and a film is a bit too distracting for my eyes when I'm trying to concentrate. BBC Radio 4 is a big favourite for a bit of background noise whatever I'm doing and generally has lots of varied and interesting content but for a while now I have been hungrily searching and consuming various pod casts. There is a lot of chaff out there but also a lot of gems, a few of which I would like to present to you.

Historical:

http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

This is an excellent podcast by Mike Duncan that details in easy to consume chunks the journey the city and entity that was Rome took through history with all the colourful characters, political and military shenanigans described along the way. Currently up to the Second Triumvirate.

http://historyzine.com/

Jim Mowatt produces a magazine style podcast with its main focus on the War of the Spanish Succession a period of interest for me and he delves into it very well. His 'Exploring the Phrase' sections and reviews also make for a very interesting listen.

Science Fiction:

http://escapepod.org/

This is a very professional podcast that presents varied and high quality science fiction stories occasionally from well known authors and always read in a convincing way. Not all of the stories may be to your taste but with the large archive I'm sure there will be one or two in there that will get your imagination going.

Horror:

http://pseudopod.org/

The little brother of escape pod and just as well produced. Lots of scary stories and a few quite sickening ones too (not one for the children), I still shiver when I think of the Bottle Babies and The Ashen Thing stories.

http://cthulhupodcast.blogspot.com/

Lots of stories, some by Lovecraft himself, others by authors with Lovecraftian themes, styles or 1920s settings. The pod caster 'FNH' also likes to set the scene with tit bits of history and music from the 1920s era that are often quite interesting and help you to picture the era many of the stories are set in. I especially like the theme music he has picked.

Pulp:

http://www.escape-suspense.com/AboutEscapeandSuspense.html

I've put this under pulp but these radio plays are quite varied, all with that vintage radio feel, most coming from broadcasts by the Columbia Broadcasting System with old fashioned adverts included (Roma Wine, that's Roma Wine, R...O...M...A). Great nostalgia inducing stuff occasionally with quite well known names such James Stewart and Vincent Price.
'Fed up with the every day grind? Tired out with the dull routine? Wanna get away from it all? We offer you....................ESCAPE!'

These are my favourites but there are lots of other great pod casts out there that will feed your ears while your hands are hard at work. If you find any particularly good ones please let me know as I am always looking for more stuff to listen to while I work my way through that endless lead mountain.

T.

Overdue update

2009-04-07T11:41:00.005+01:00

So, the Eagle's Claw are still unfinished. Not much painting has been done by me recently but I thought I would post a picture of the team as they stand. As you can see they are easily playable but it's those last few details that need doing and to finish the team I just need one last 'push'. Anyway, pictures...

J

Salute report

2009-03-29T15:44:00.016+01:00

Yesterday Joe and I went to Salute, one of the UK's biggest wargames shows and I for one had a really good time. From memories of previous Salutes there seemed to be a few spare spaces where traders would normally be but all the ones I was interested in where there and most traders seemed to have nice little crowds round their stalls so hopefully they did well out of the day. As for demonstration and participation games; the standards seem to be as high as ever, notable games for me where the Assault on Innsmouth game by Gloranthan Army, the Perry's Napoleonic game was very nice and the 6mm Wagram game by Newark Irregulars particularly held my interest. So what did I buy? Well I kept reasonably well to my shopping list only giving-in to some lovely GZG 15mm science fiction figures that they have just released and look suspiciously like these guys: What I will do with them I am still considering, any suggestions on 15mm sci-fi skirmish games would be most welcome. Pictures of the figures can be seen here. Other than that I purchased two 6mm Baccus War of the Roses armies for Impetus, I also picked up two copies of the rules - one for my good friend who works for the 'Evil Empire'. I got the Town People and Villager packs from the Perry's Samurai Armies range which I need for a little scenario I intend to do once the 6mm is in a playable state and some other bits and bobs.

I was also able to have some enjoyable chats with a number of people and 'interrogate' Michael Perry about the upcoming War of the Roses range (while admiring the 3-ups) and Peter Berry about future releases for Baccus. All in all it was a very enjoyable day and all thanks to the organisational skills of the South London Warlords, thanks guys.

Next post I hope to give a little review of the Impetus rules which look to be very promising.

PS: We would have pictures but we forgot to bring a camera : ( .

T.

Something old, something new...

2009-03-25T13:17:00.009Z

As it's Wednesday I thought I should post some pictures of what I'm painting at the moment. None of the Blood Bowl Human's are finished and I'm waiting until they are before I post a big team shot. In fact, there is very little difference between what they looked like in my last post to now. Instead I thought I would post a picture of Pippin from the Fellowship boxed set, my current project after the BB figs. Anyone who has painted these figures will know what a joy they are to work on. Brian Nelson's sculpts are pretty much faultless so you really don't have to work too hard to achieve an impressive set of minis. The downside is that they are incredibly detailed and so you'll definitely be using your fine detail brush and a steady hand most of the time. Alongside Pippin is a Night Goblin Warrior from the Battle for Skull Pass boxed set. Now, I'm not sure when I started this figure but it must be over a year ago - he's been almost done for a while - so I decided to just finish him off. As you can see he's pretty much there. He will form part of a 500 point Orc & Goblin Warhammer army which will be one of my next projects - a work-in-progress group shot should be up in the next week or so.

Oh yeah, as with all pictures on this blog you can view the figures in full, unforgiving detail if you click on them.

J

6mm Napoleonics - small but mighty!

2009-03-21T18:28:00.011Z

The following are pictures of my main project: 6mm Napoleonics using the General de Brigade rules. So far I have finished nine French line battalions and six Austrian/German battalions with a battery of Austrian artillery. The long term plan is to collect a corps-sized force per side based on Davout's and Rosenberg's commands present at Eggmuhl during the 1809 campaign. At the moment though I'm focusing on getting two playable divisions finished. (Click to enlarge)

More pictures to follow as I complete other units, bits of terrain and hopefully some battle reports once Joe and I start gaming with the little blighters. Other projects that will hopefully be appearing on the blog soon are more 28mm Samurai, 6mm WOTR and some other bits and bobs including Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers that I'm going to paint for sale.

The Eagle's Claw update

2009-03-18T12:34:00.007Z

Haven't posted as many pics as Tom so I thought I'd go some way to putting that right. This is where I'm at with my Human Blood Bowl team (played two, lost two, scored two). As you can see I'm pretty much there, just a few highlighting/shading jobs to be done, a bit of neatening up, bases and transfers and then I will have finished my first proper painting project. My Ogre is still lying in pieces (I haven't even put him together) but I'm going to paint him in tandem with my next main project: The Fellowship of the Ring. Anyway, here are some images...

J

Small but mighty

2009-03-14T06:44:00.020Z

Yesterday I finished painting my current batch of over 200 Adler 6mm figures for my main wargaming project: Napoleonic 1809 Danube Campaign using the excellent General de Brigade rules (a link to the rules own forum and the Adler Miniatures site can be found in my links). Now they await basing, but before I do this I thought I would post some pictures. (Click to enlarge)

The pictures show one line regiment of French and one Austrian both of three 36 man battalions. With these based and varnished I will have nine French and six Austrian line battalions plus a four gun Austrian battery complete. I will post some pics of the finished articles when these are done, before starting on another 200+ of the little blighters.

Shameless plug

2009-03-10T12:56:00.006Z

After deciding a new Ogre for my Human BB team was in order I looked around at what was available. eBay has a few classic minis but at ridiculous prices, GW has some newish figures that would fit well into my rather static looking team. In the end I settled on one of Heresy's Deathball figures. They're much more characterful and cheaper than the GW ones, plus you get lots of hand and head options. So I placed my order and the next day it arrived!

So my tip is: if you're stuck for options with regards your BB team and/or fancy something a bit different give Heresy a go, you even get a free packet of sweets.

J

Painting revelations and mould lines

2009-03-05T12:23:00.005Z

Work continues apace on The Eagle's Claw even though you wouldn't really notice it to look at them. Am down to the last few details on a few minis and should have some finished to post next week. I had a 'painting revelation' recently when I discovered that Mordian Blue is a perfect highlight for Necron Abyss (both Citadel Foundation). It was one of those satisfying moments where you realise you have to do slightly less work to achieve a great look mini than you first thought. Call me lazy, but mixing has always seemed like too much effort, although the results can be amazing, and I will always try and find a straight colour to highlight or shade the mini before getting my mixing plate out. Despite this though I'm getting a bit 'mix happy' on the Catchers' red gloves (see my first post) and it's looking pretty good.

I was attempting to clean up some Front Rank HYW minis last night. The mould lines on these things are quite strange, they seem to have two: one going from around the mini from left to right and another going from the front to the back. Needless to say it is not an entirely painless process cleaning these figures up, especially for someone as paranoid about mould lines as myself. I have to say I did get slightly frustrated and so I decided to ditch the project for the night and sought refuge by cleaning up a Citadel Skaven Assassin. You know where you are with GW...

J

Bolog's Brayn Bruzzerz

2009-03-01T18:30:00.005Z

Here are the promised pictures of my Blood Bowl Team the Bolog's Brayn Bruzzerz. Bolog's Juze, the company that produces every greenskins favourite light beverage; Bolog's Squig Braynz Juze is the teams sponsor. So far they are doing well having beaten Joe's Human team and drawing with another friend's Halfling team.

An Introduction

2009-02-26T17:52:00.017Z

Hello, Tom here. I see Joe has started the ball rolling with the pictures. I'll be posting some of my team soon, but for now I'll post some stuff I've done in the past. I'll also explain the idea behind this blog.

Both Joe and I really enjoy being nosy and looking at all the wide variety of projects, tutorials, discussions, battle reports and pictures other wargamers post on what seems like a vast number of blogs out there. We draw a lot of inspiration from this for our own hobby projects and thought it was time we gave blogging a go and contribute something ourselves. However as a bit of a spin on things we are doing this blog together, one of the reasons behind this are that we can motivate each other to keep posting (and painting!) knowing that at least one other person is reading. It will also mean that there should be a higher number of regular posts, something other blogs struggle to do. Joe and I also have quite different tastes in what we like to collect and game so there should be lots of variety.

So without further ado I'll post my first pictures.

GW Imperial Guard Commissar and Vampire Lady, two commissions I did quite a while ago.

Some lovely Perry Ashigaru. The first of hopefully a large Samurai skirmish collection and the Salute St. George and the Dragon limited edition figure.

Blood Bowl: The Eagle's Claw

2009-02-26T14:07:00.015Z

So I thought I would dedicate this first post to my primary painting project: my Blood Bowl team. They're called The Eagle's Claw and have only played one match in their partially painted state, a 3-1 defeat to Tom's Orc team. Somehow I took the lead but then the Orcs decided to beat my team off the pitch and I ended the match with only six fit players. I think my next purchase should be an Ogre... Anyway, here are some pictures!

J