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