Some progress updates

 Couple of things I’ve managed to do or get photos of in the last week, nothing particularly exciting but progress nonetheless.

I bought a naval wargaming mat. I wanted another Cigar Box Battle Mat but unfortunately Northstar seem to have stopped stocking them. When I inquired I got quite a brusque reply which said no they no longer stock them and didn’t give any other options. Looking at Northstar’s site though I discovered that they now sell GeekVillain gaming mats from the U.K. (presumably its cheaper for Northstar). I bought a naval mat from them (cheaper than CBBM) and when it arrived took it outside to look at it in the sunshine.

It’s a big blue sheet. And my poor Black Seas brig that’s had to be repaired twice from dropping and crushing. 

My opinion? It’s O.K. It’s just a fleece blanket dyed blue and has none of the quality you feel you’re getting with CBBM. I know it’s only the sea and there’s only so much that can be done artistically but it still feels a bit phoned in. The slight textural pattern that is present looks more like it is due to the dye interacting with the fleeces structure rather than artistic additions. Maybe once I play a few games on it my mind will change but I still keep looking at CBBM and wishing they had a U.K. distributor. 

I also managed to get a test tree painted (having re-scraped it and filled the trunk join with Vallejo plastic putty) after noticing how scruffy they looked in the last pictures. So I took my test tree, picked up my new, much coveted can of Vallejo spray paint and sprayed it brown. Trees aren’t brown though, but unfortunately the spray I had was. A couple of minutes pass where I consider buying a grey spray paint. I decide to see what I can do and set too the trunk using my standard basing grey (GW Mechanicus Standard Grey) followed by a dry brush of Ushabti bone and a wash of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. On this one I also tried some GW Skeleton Horde contrast to bring it all together. As you can see from the picture Archimedes (Archie the rescue parrot) was in a very helpful mood during this process and I did not manage to work at peak efficiency - he’s all about parrot inclusion.

Once greenery (the non psittacine kind) has been added the base will blend into the table.

Archie in his chosen habitat. It turns out kitchen cupboards are just hollowed out trees but come full of jam and other exciting things. Open cupboards in our house with trepidation.

I also managed to paint about half my Peter Pig Chain of Command British platoon for Normandy. They seem a little dark but are painted in the Coat D’Arms British battledress triptych of paints so I know they’re correct and don’t really want to lighten them to allow for scale. Either way they are helping keep me motivated.

That’s about it (there was more but Blogger is almost unusable currently and after three re-writes and an hour of swearing I’m tired). Stay safe and well,

BALM

Wood for the trees, or at least palms

 One of the things I’ve been doing during lockdown (actually since just before last Christmas) is work on scenery for my WW2 games. I’m working on a bocage country and european style countryside on my Grasslands Cigar Box Battle mat and the Tunisian desert and later Crete/Italy using my Arid land mat. I chose to start working on the ‘42-‘43 period in the desert for a couple of reasons. Some interesting belligerents (Italy/DAK/First Americans) with unique or specific vehicles, very different open terrain compared to Normandy and Europe (but not the vast open spaces of the earlier desert campaign which would be better in 6mm) and it doesn’t take too much scenery to do a good representation. A couple of buildings, some rock formations and a relatively small selection of trees. 

Unfortunately for the generic green classic terrain (Something I would like for WW2 Normandy/Europe and Very British Civil War) there is lots to do. The bocage is a very time consuming type of scenery that usually doesn’t turn up enough on tables/or in suitable amounts and is often much more work than it’s probably worth. I’m still determined to make some, luckily a lot of the hedgerows in the area around Herefordshire where I grew up and intend to set my VBCW games are very like bocage giving it a second use. Trees are a key bit of scenery I need to do and something you always need more than you think. 

For the past six years my favourite opponent and I have used his trees made from Woodlands Scenics armatures and clump foliage. These were the pine tree shapes (done as poplars) and can be seen in all my past game pictures. He recently gave them to me as after six years of gaming they were starting to suffer and I volunteered to try and revive them. Whilst they are a great start I realised I’d need to make some more and based up 25 large deciduous armatures on metal washers and based them with sand and slate. Its only a start and I’ll need to tackle coniferous trees at some point but at least it’s something.

A word of advice about Woodlands Scenics tree armatures. They are brilliant and make reasonably realistic trees possible in a relatively short time but...... my experience of them has been that they often have quite pronounced mould lines and it can take an awful long time to trim this down with a sharp knife and sand it with an abrasive pad. Literally ages, I thought they were ready for paint, took a photo of them and started seeing mould lines and just spent the evening re-doing them, again. Next up some paint and then I’ll do a how to on making them look like trees (If I can).

I also made trees for my desert/arid setting using spare renedra bases (60mm and some oval ones that came in my fire forge cavalry) and a range of plastic palm trees bought from eBay. I bought a good range of sizes I thought would be appropriate for 1:100 or 15mm (and gifted those that were too big to my friend for Bushido) and drilled guide holes, glued them into place and added weight with slate pieces before covering them with fine bird sand. The trees needed a lot of cleaning up as they weren’t brilliantly moulded but hopefully once painted they will be serviceable. The oval based palms allow a line of trees to be placed or areas filled. Apart from Olive trees and some bushes the only vegetation I need for Tunisia is cactus patches (something I need to think about).

So not the most exciting update but a true representation of the work needed if you want to play pretty looking games with little soldiers. I haven’t painted them yet as I need to work out how to get the tone I need to match my mat (I have a test piece thats a WIP).

Stay safe, feel free to comment about your own terrain project I always need inspiration.

BALM

A worthy cause and a great man

 I haven’t really achieved very much during lockdown, I say that but it’s not entirely true.... I’ve made progress and pushed a lot of things a little bit further to completion but nothing I ever feel is worth blogging about. Maybe I need to just start showing what I have done rather that what I think people would look at. Either way moot point. 

Some people this year have achieved amazing things; none so much as Sir Tom Moore. Today Warlord Games announced/released a special pack of miniatures featuring Sir Tom Moore in his WW2 role as a member of the Royals Armoured Corps. You can get a 28mm model on foot or a bundle with a foot model and a M3 Lee and Sir Tom as the tank commander.

The miniatures are being produced by Warlord Games and all profits are going to NHS charities. The single figure is here and the bundle pack can be found here.

I know I don’t publicise this blog much but hopefully anyone who does see this may be tempted to spend some of their hobby funds on one of these models and help out NHS charities, and get a model of an awesome national hero.

Thank you for reading, stay safe

BALM