Work in Progress Wednesday

This week we start off with some Sci-Fi rogues and scoundrels  from Stephen. The miniatures are all converted using various bits from other sets and miniatures.

Ricard Snyder – a soldier of fortune from the colonies
Jesrick Yoon – a bounty hunter with a fearsome reputation
Babu Dor – a Jovian pirate from the Don-Andros system
Acton Ianov – a ex-naval pilot who now makes his way as a smuggler

Next up Andy has made more progress on his Ox cart. I wonder if any of Andy’s terrain pieces will fit inside?

Travel in the olden days

Now we have some RAF and Luftwaffe forces from Marcus.

Aces High!

And finally (why do I always leave my stuff to last?) I’ve made some progress on my Tudor buildings. I’m trying several different colour schemes and seeing how grey thatched roofs look, since that is normally the colour of thatch after a short time.

The many shades of Tudor

See you next week.

 

A Quick Camping Trip

Jeremey puts the Romans to shame by building a marching camp in just a few hours!

This all started because I wanted to expand my Wars of the Roses army to the point where I could field both sides. In many rulesets dealing with Medieval warfare a camp is required for each army. I only had one camp as I previously only had one army.

I therefore set about making a camp from scratch. Yes I could have ordered some tents and camp equipment miniatures but I was in one of my “Just make something” moods.

The Start of a basic palisade

I thought the easiest option would be a stockade/Palisade style camp. I already had a base and dug out the air drying clay to make the bank and interior terrain of the camp.

It was at this point things just didn’t work, the clay just would not stick to the wooden base as I was sculpting it into shape. So I took it off the base and continued on the work mat. But then I realised I needed to make an indentation for the cocktail sticks, sorry wooden palisade fence before the clay dried.

At this point I threw my toys out of the pram as I couldn’t see it working and I’d have to wait for the clay to dry. Then I had a eureka moment and turned to my old modelling friend EVA foam. I make everything out of the stuff so why not the camp.

The air drying clay is ditched in favour of foam

I cut off of a EVA foam floor mat a couple of strips to act as the defensive bank and also (just because I could) another couple of pieces to turn into a hut/shed.

Life would not be worth living without a hot glue gun

I then fired up the hot glue gun and stuck the foam to the base. Instant results and no waiting for clay to dry.

20 minutes later and the palisade is complete!

Ah I hear you cry but how did you create a gap for the palisade. All that was needed was to cut down through the top of the foam bank and then push the cocktail stick down through the cut. I simply used a little bit of superglue to stick them together. I then went across the top with my wire cutters to trim all the sticks to the same height.

Back to the hot glue gun

At this point I could have gone back to some for of putty/clay to model the inside terrain of the camp. But I was on a roll and wanted the camp finished in a day!
So I went back to the hot glue gun and used it to build up the ground against the foam banking, and I also used it to create the muddy path between the two entrances. This is easy to do, you just use the nozzle of the glue gun to melt the glue as you run back through it. I also made a little pile of logs for scenery.

A splash of brown and a bit of flock

I then turned to painting the camp. A simply covering of brown followed by a bit of dry brushing with lighter shades took care of the camp and surrounding palisade. Once the paint had dried a bit I spread PVA glue and sprinkled some flock.

The hut/shed takes form

Having to pause to let the PVA glue dry I turned to the other piece of scenery the hut/shed. To build this I stuck two pieces of foam together wit the glue gun and then cut out the entrance, I then cut the top of the block into a slanted roof shape. The roof was made by cutting a very thin layer off the foam floor tile and sticking it down on top. This formed a nice curving roof.
To create the look that it was thatched was done by drawing the craft knife gently across the top. Just enough to score it not cut it.

The finished camp

A quick paint job on the hut including painting on the wooden beams in the wall for that medieval look took moments and then I stuck it in place.
At this point for finishing flourish I added some different flock to break up the grass areas. I do have a couple of figures I might add to this, but for a model that took me about 3 hours I’m really pleased with the results.

MWS Quiz 24th February 2021 – Answers

Here are the answers to Peter’s latest quiz…

Q1a: “Green Grow The Rushes Oh” was widely sung by American troops in which war?

Answer: 1846 War with Mexico

Q1b: What nickname did the Spanish/Mexican population give these troops?

Answer: “Gringos”

Q2a: What TV series usually ends with a rendition of ‘Over The Hills & Far Away’?

Answer: Sharpe

Q2b: In which century was it first regularly sung by British troops?

Answer: 18th – it was a folk tune in the 17th (at least), but ‘army lyrics’ were 1706.

Q3a: Many regiments in the 19th Century had a band. Apart from signalling & boosting morale, what other key function did they often perform in combat?

Answer: Helping with the wounded.

Q3b: How did the Romans employ musicians in actual combat with Carthage?

Answer: Used to help scare the Carthaginian elephants.

Q4a: For a full orchestral staging, what unusual instruments do you need for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture?

Answer: Cannon!

Q4b: What was the WW2 ‘Red Orchestra’?

Answer: German intelligence name for a loose network of Soviet spy rings across Germany & Europe.

Q5a: The song ‘Lili Marlene’ was already very popular among German troops before WW2. Where did the British army first start to take it up?

Answer: North Africa.

Q5b: “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn is sung during the closing credits of which famous Cold War film?

Answer: Dr Strangelove.

Q6a: Why did Beethoven’s 5th Symphony have such massed appeal in Britain during WW2?

Answer: The opening 4 beats formed the morse letter V (for Victory).

Q6b: Which award-winning Sci-Fi film used five notes as its main theme/signature?

Answer: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Q7a: A special version of ‘Men of Harlech’ is sung in a famous scene from which film?

Answer: Zulu.

Q7b: What is the full title of the British army unit primarily depicted in the film?

Answer: 24th Regt of Foot (2nd Warwickshires). Note – they only became South Wales Borderers in 1881.

Q8a: Hollywood notwithstanding, the song ‘Garryowen’ was most famously adopted by which unit?

Answer: U.S. 7th cavalry

Q8b: ‘The British Grenadiers’ was introduced to the UK by William III, but actually first adopted by which British army unit in 1716?

Answer: Royal Artillery.

Q9a: Hail The Conquering Hero’ was played in the film ‘Waterloo’ on what occasion?

Answer: Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels (entry of the Duke of Wellington)

Q9b: For which victorious British Commander was it originally devised/dedicated?

Answer: Duke of Cumberland, post-Culloden

Q10a: General Grant famously said he could only remember two tunes. Which was his favourite?

Answer: Dixie (he couldn’t remember the name of the other one!)

Q10b: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ has been the national anthem of the USA since 1931. Which war was it written to commemorate?

Answer: The War of 1812

Q11a: Music has often been used to intimidate the enemy. Which track was played by the 1st / 9th (Air Cavalry) in their Hollywood debut?

Answer: ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ by Wagner; during the air-assault in the film ‘Apocalypse Now’

Q11b: Where was ‘rock music’ actually first used officially as a psyops weapon?

Answer: 1989 assault on Panama (attack on General Noriega’s palace)

Q12a: Which BBC series was one of the first ever to use all-electronic theme music?

Answer: Dr Who

Q12b: Why was ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ banned by the BBC in 1942?

Answer: Because it was thought that the clapping chorus caused too much production loss by factory workers!

 

MWS Quiz 24th February 2021

Peter sets the latest quiz with a musical theme. Answers on Sunday.

All together now…

Q1a: “Green Grow The Rushes Oh” was widely sung by American troops in which war?

Q1b: What nickname did the Spanish/Mexican population give these troops?

Q2a: What TV series usually ends with a rendition of ‘Over The Hills & Far Away’?

Q2b: In which century was it first regularly sung by British troops?

Q3a: Many regiments in the 19th Century had a band. Apart from signalling & boosting morale, what other key function did they often perform in combat?

Q3b: How did the Romans employ musicians in actual combat with Carthage?

Q4a: For a full orchestral staging, what unusual instruments do you need for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture?

Q4b: What was the WW2 ‘Red Orchestra’?

Q5a: The song ‘Lili Marlene’ was already very popular among German troops before WW2. Where did the British army first start to take it up?

Q5b: “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn is sung during the closing credits of which famous Cold War film?

Q6a: Why did Beethoven’s 5th Symphony have such massed appeal in Britain during WW2?

Q6b: Which award-winning Sci-Fi film used five notes as its main theme/signature?

Q7a: A special version of ‘Men of Harlech’ is sung in a famous scene from which film?

Q7b: What is the full title of the British army unit primarily depicted in the film?

Q8a: Hollywood notwithstanding, the song ‘Garryowen’ was most famously adopted by which unit?

Q8b: ‘The British Grenadiers’ was introduced to the UK by William III, but actually first adopted by which British army unit in 1716?

Q9a: Hail The Conquering Hero’ was played in the film ‘Waterloo’ on what occasion?

Q9b: For which victorious British Commander was it originally devised/dedicated?

Q10a: General Grant famously said he could only remember two tunes. Which was his favourite?

Q10b: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ has been the national anthem of the USA since 1931. Which war was it written to commemorate?

Q11a: Music has often been used to intimidate the enemy. Which track was played by the 1st / 9th (Air Cavalry) in their Hollywood debut?

Q11b: Where was ‘rock music’ actually first used officially as a psyops weapon?

Q12a: Which BBC series was one of the first ever to use all-electronic theme music?

Q12b: Why was ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ banned by the BBC in 1942?

Work in Progress Wednesday

This Wednesday we start with some adventurers for Perilous Tales painted by John. Above we have the Gentlemen and below the Ladies.

and the Ladies

Next up a rarity from Phil showing his new Quar project.

Creevin and Fidwog cavalry

Steve has added a bounty hunter to go with his recent Spaceship model.

This is the notorious bounty hunter, Boone Sadist, with his ship Scourge Reaper…

Continuing with his Dark Ages theme Andy has an Ox Cart on the workbench.

And finally for this week I decided to scratch build a new camp for my 15mm Wars of the Roses army. I’ll probably do a post about how I built this camp.

See you next week.

Reinforcements Have Arrived

Jeremey shows off his Wars of the Roses army now that it’s complete (well almost).

On the 17th February 2020 I put up a blog post about the first Wars of the Roses units I had managed to paint up. This was the start of my very first historical army. Fellow club member Stephen was also painting up his own Wars of the Roses with the idea of fighting the various battles thoughout the year.

We managed one battle before lockdown scuppered getting down to the club.

First battle to test our Wars of the Roses armies

So I packed up the army for the following months and turned to other ptojects. But I kept drifting back to the army and found myself making terrain. Given the first Battle of St Albans was essentially a town battle I started making tudor houses.

Still a lot of work to do on these buildings. More plasterwork and thatched roofs

But Stephen started to post a few solo battles using his army and mentioned adding a few additional units, so I caved and ordered some more for my army. using the Sword and Spear army lists I went for a few of the support units. Welsh Longbows, Welsh Spearmen, General Spearmen and Mercenary Crossbows.

Welsh Longbows and Spearmen on the Painting Table

I painted these using the same method as my existing units. Stephen had painted his units in uniform colours but I wanted a much bigger variety. Although armies of this time were starting to wear their lords Livery, but I didn’t want to tie my units down to any particular faction.

I picked out a range of colours (various, browns, greens and the odd khaki shade) and painted different parts of each miniature so that no two miniatures were the same. This was potentially more time consuming but I still went through the miniatures like a production line.

Another new aspect for this army was to make the flags changable, in order to allow my army to represent any side in the conflict, or for when several lords bring forces to the battlefield.

Changable Flags for my Units

I simpy glued the flags together and left a loop to fit over the flag poles on the units.

And so finally I got to a point where I had a large enough army for a real epic battle.

The whole army with a multitude of flags
The Left Flank of the Army
The Right Flank of the Army

The Battle of Northampton – 10th July 1460

Stephen continues his refight of the War of the Roses…

This one was never going to go well for the Lancastrians.

This is the third battle in my plan to re-fight all major encounters of the War of the Roses. Like previous games I am using the Basic Impetus rules. There were a couple of important aspects to this battle that had to be reflected if it were to be a faithful re-fight.

Firstly, due to the rain (typical British summer) the Lancastrian artillery could not fire due to wet powder. They were in the line but totally ineffective. That was easily dealt with.

The Lancastrian Battle Line

The second, and most important thing, was Lord Grey’s betrayal of King Henry. As Warwick and the Yorkist army marched north they entered into secret talks with Grey and promised they would not harm him in return for his help. What happened in the actual battle was that the Earl of March (on the Yorkist left flank) advanced against Grey (on the Lancastrian right). As March’s retinue crossed the ditch and bank Grey’s men gave way and allowed them to roll up the Lancastrian line and capture King Henry.

This would have to be reflected. I was in two minds about how to deal with this. It didn’t help that this would be a solo game so I could hardly spring a surprise on myself. In the end, I decided that if March’s troops neither fired nor attacked Grey’s troops then Grey would give way when contacted (effectively counting as loses against the Lancastrian army). This, of course, would have a major impact on the Lancastrian army, but then that’s exactly what it had in reality!

Order of Battle

OK, so let’s get on with the battle.

The Lancastrian army had ensconced themselves in a bend in the river Nene on the opposite bank from Northampton. They had put a ditch and defences in front of their position. King Henry VI was with them but the army was led by the Duke of Buckingham.

The Yorkist forces were led by the Earl of Warwick with Lord Fauconberg on the right and the Earl of March on the left. With Warwick’s skullduggery and plotting with Grey, the advance of the Yorkist forces was led by March.

Armies Deployed

Like the previous two battles, this was little more than an attack on a prepared position. Therefore, I gave the Yorkists the initiative until things got within bow range.

The last thing the Lancastrians wanted was poor dice rolling. Being in a stationary position meant their fire should be more effective. But no. The God of Battles (the dice) were against them. Warwick’s troops in the centre got within bow range of the artillery and they soon sent the gunners packing.

Warwick Urges His Men Forward

March’s men started moving up. Now, it may seem like it would be a done deal – why would I engage the Lancastrian line with March’s men? However, I did decide that if the Lancastrians gave a good account and their bowfire proved effective, and the Yorkist looked like they would take a beating, that this would prove enough motivation for Grey to reconsider and then engage March’s troops. However, the poor rolls by the Lancastrians made that look unlikely.

Fauconberg also started exchanging bowfire with the Earl of Shrewsbury.

A couple more turns, and it still wasn’t looking good for Buckingham and his men. In truth, neither side was rolling that well for their archers, but the Yorkists had the edge. March’s men carried on with their advance, still holding back from loosing their arrows.

The First Casualties

Buckingham moved up his plate armoured men at arms and his billmen, hoping the Yorkists would have the decency to engage in melee rather then sit back and keep shooting.

March’s Troops Contact Grey’s

Finally, March’s men started clambering over the Lancastrian defences. No casualties had been caused to Grey’s men and so Grey dutifully pulled back and allowed March into the Lancastrian defences!

Across The Line They Go

It was now only a matter of time. It wasn’t a case of if the Lancastrians would lose but how much damage they could cause the Yorkists before they did.

March Engages Buckingham

Buckingham swung his billmen around to try and put something in the way of March’s assault. However, the levy spearmen in March’s retinue got stuck in and charged the Lancastrian archers. After a brief melee the archers fell to the spearmen.

And that was that!

The Battle Is Over

A Yorkist win. It had been a convincing win at that – Warwick’s troops hadn’t taken a single casualty. Exactly how it happened historically. The real battle lasted less than an hour and my re-fight took only a bit longer.

Next up then, is the battle of Wakefield. Unfortunately I will have to bypass that one – Wakefield was a large cavalry engagement and I don’t have anywhere near enough cavalry bases. Shame, because the castle would make a great backdrop to the battle. This one would make a good club game when we can get back together.

Therefore, I’ll move on to Mortimer’s Cross…

Work in Progress Wednesday

First up this Wednesday we have some more 6mm Hammers Slammers from Mark.

The first detachment for Hammers Slammers

I’ll let mark explain a bit more about the paint scheme “My first Slammers section almost completed minus the infantry, this is a Zaporoskiye strike detachment painted in a Berlin Brigade inspired urban cameo scheme; given that I’ve used green in place of grey I guess you could say it’s semi urban.  This section includes my second prototype which has a lighter brown, feel the darker works better at this scale. 5 more sections to do then I’m ready for battle.”

Next up Paul has well … Paul can explain the madness. “I have had a rush of blood to the head and replaced my 1/200th WW2 and Post War Armour Infantry, with 1/300th. Currently finishing off 8th Army and US in Tunisia, good start on the 16th Parachute/Air Landing Brigade (for post war interventions) and a Japanese WW2 Independent Brigade.

We’ve all suddenly decided to switch scales, haven’t we?

Andy has got close to finishing his Dark Ages figures, with just some shield transfers and bases to do.

The Dark Age mob is almost finished

And lastly for this week I’ve decided to paint yet more 15mm Wars of the Roses Men at Arms.

Two more units of Men at Arms and a couple of commanders

I didn’t paint these originally because I’d already done two units and the Sword and Spear army list said that was the maximum. But I’m hoping to have enough units to field both sides in a battle, and so added these to the painting table.

See you next week.

You can never have too much terrain to hide behind!

Andy’s latest set of scatter terrain.

Around five years ago I bought a selection of Ainsty Castings trade goods, so it’s about time I painted them, after all you can never have too much terrain to hide behind! There’s one each of packs E (Timber stacks), F (Ivory, Skins, Furs), H (Supported bales), I (Stacked Sacks) and L (Mixed piles).

They were given a quick wash in soapy water, rinsed and dried. I then removed what little flash there was and undercoated them with Halfords grey primer.

What I should have done next was to paint the recesses between some of the components of the mixed piles matt black, but no, I forgot to do that didn’t I!

To give an idea of the size of the pieces, the grid in the pictures is 20mm square.

Trade Goods E, Timber Stacks

The timber stacks, crates and barrels were painted in various shades of brown. One of the timber stacks has what looks like sawdust, so these were dry-brushed with Dark Sand. They were then washed with Army Painter Soft or Dark Tone depending on the shade of brown used.

Trade Goods F, Picture, furs and ivory

The Ivory was painted Deck Tan or Beige and washed with Army Painter Soft Tone. The Lion skins were Brown Sand washed with Army Painter Dark Tone and German Camouflage Black Brown manes and tail tips. The smaller animal skins were panted a mixture of greys and browns. The wooden bases are German Camouflage Medium Brown or Beige Brown, liberally washed with Army Painter Dark Tone.

Trade Goods H, Supported bales

The supported bales were painted London Grey with Beige Brown poles and German Camouflage Beige rope.

Trade Goods I, Stacked sacks

The sacks were painted in various shades of grey, beige and brown, with suitable AP washes. The bases were painted grass green.

Trade Goods l, Mixed piles

The crates and barrels were painted in various shades of brown, and the sacks and wicker baskets in various shades of grey, beige and brown. The glass containers in the wicker baskets were Deep Green. The wrapped bale contents were Japanese Uniform and the wrappings Light Grey.

Once painted (and the weather outside suitable) they were all varnished with spray matt varnish. The Glass bottles were then given a coat of gloss varnish.

The Falling Tower

Stephen describes his latest building project…

I just fancied making a ruined tower.

And what gamer doesn’t love a ruined tower, eh?

The basis for this were some Wills Scenics embossed styrene sheets stuck to two layers of 5mm foam board to give the walls thickness. I cut the styrene and windows before sticking to the foam board because it would make it easier to both cut the styrene and so the styrene would act as a template when cutting the foamboard

The four wall sections

The next step was the render the inner walls. The inner walls of medieval stone buildings often had some kind of plaster on the wall and were then painted. So roughly applied Milliput on the inside would look like plaster rendered over rough stone. The broken edges of the walls were covered in Milliput as well and then jabbed with a bit of balsa to create a rough finish.

Once done, the walls were glued together and stuck on to the base. I also put a broken arch into the ground floor. When the glue was dry I finished off the Milliputting.

The assembled tower

As it was going to be a gaming piece I wanted some floors on it (let’s not worry about how the floors would have stayed up) and some detritus on the ground floor, but not so much that it prevented moving models around.

The floors

The wooden floors were made from balsa sticks.

The ground was given a sprinkle with some coarse sand with broken bits of plaster and cork in it. I then stuck on some Milliput bricks I’d made, and some broken balsa sticks to look like wooden rafters.

That was essentially it for the build.

With rubble and fallen floorboards added

So on to painting.

I use Humbrol model spray no.29 ‘Dark Brown’ for most of my undercoating, be it miniatures or models. This was no different.

This was then given an all-over wash with dark brown (GW’s Agrax Earthshade). I decided to paint the model to look all fresh, and then go in and weather and distress it afterwards.

My usual stone colour is a mix of brown and grey. I tend to make the first dry-brushing in a khaki colour. I then add a drop of grey to take off the brownness, but careful not to make it grey either – a sort of ‘is it/isn’t it’ colour. Successive blobs of white are then added in subsequent dry-brushes.

Castle interiors in medieval times were quite gaudy affairs. Although this is a ruined tower, I envisioned it being used in medieval/fantasy games, so probably a period not long after it had fallen to ruin. So some of that interior decoration would still be intact. The interior walls were all given a heavy dry brushing with a beige colour. This was then lightly dry brushed with white – not too heavy – I want to leave the beige showing beneath to make it look dirty. I then made a compromise. Medieval interior walls really were VERY gaudy affairs full of colour. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that. So I kept it simple and just some red dado railing.

I had to be careful with the wooden floors. As wood ages in the weather it tends to go a grey colour. But I’d used a mix of grey and brown on the walls so didn’t want to repeat that. So I just kept it with brown and white. Once the paint was dry I superglued the floors in place.

Painting completed and floors added

Now to make it all grubby. Dark brown washes in the corners to re-establish them were done, as well as on the outside. Then a dark green added to look like moss and damp. I thought that it would be likely that some of the interior plaster would have come away, so in some places I repeated the exterior stone colours – a dark brown base colour and then follow the same steps of brown/grey to match the tone of the exterior wall. I did this by stippling the brush to try and create some kind of texture.

And then the final phase: flocking.

Nothing special here, a coarse mix of railway ballasts first and then some static grass on top. I also added some bits of clump foliage to look like thistle and plant growth.

And there it is – a ruin worth exploring.