I Have a Great Idea

Start a New project and Not Finish Painting My High Elves 

With only two high elves left to paint to finish off the army, then surely that has got to the top priority?

Well, actually no, I got distracted by idea of doing a dungeon bash with the Slann. I really liked playing through the Escape from Goblin Town scenarios as a mini-campaign and thought wouldn't that be a good idea to do a Slann based mini-dungeon bash campaign. 

Since I have already the Escape from Goblin Town wooden boards and dungeon tiles from the Oakbound Calendar then I would only need to make a few more...

So, Itzcoatl, apprentice of the mighty Tanqecl-Tlo'ectlutl has been sent on a mission to recover some ancient artefacts from deep in the Lustrian jungle. After completing a few new dungeon tiles. 

First Game played with Itzcoatl attempting to escape from a sudden arrival of bunch of plague goblins. 

Anyway time to paint some high elves.... 

Rob 

Dwarf Basing Test

Always Good to Try New Ideas

One of the elements that I really enjoying doing is working out a basing scheme for each army. For the dwarves I wanted more browns than greens on the base. To represent a more heath or moor like setting. Looking at some reference pictures I probably need some dried long grasses and brackens. 

To make the scatter,  I mixed a selection of brown scatter, autumn grass, yellow/orange sponge, brown lichen, beech pollen and grey gravel.  And then tested on a couple of spare bases. I decided to make a waypoint for one of the bases as this could be used as an item of scatter  terrain later. Some small dwarf statutes would also add a bit variety. 

Rob 

Green & Pleasant Land

 More Scenery for the Shire

Not a lot of time for hobbying at the moment but I did manage to finish off a bit more scenery for my Shire campaign. This time it was a vegetable patch. I even recycled few bits from the old mark one, in this case the sign and some of the veg. 

Not tonight's beer, but I very nice one I had while away. 

Rob 

Toll Booth Detail

Follow the Rules

I was asked to give a bit more info on the toll booth I made for the Scouring of the Shire campaign. Including what rules I posted inside the booth. The sign simply says toll road. The rules I had to cut them down, as they were just too big, I am sure must be against the rules!

Rob 

Reclaim the Lost Baggage - No Really!

Ready for Scenario No.2?

STOP !! This is all WRONG

I just settled down to play the second scenario (Reclaim the Baggage) when I realised, I had made two mistakes:

1)    First I picked up the wrong dwarf Nori instead of Bifur. Now in terms of gameplay not much between them. But still a bit of faux pax!

2)   Second there was no baggage for the dwarves to reclaim. So, a root around the bits box uncovered some rucksacks from Combat Zone gangers (which also got used for some of my halflings) and a few spare tools from Oathmark light dwarves (which seemed very appropriate 😊). 

Disaster Averted - We found the Baggage

'Bofur discusses the returns policy'

After all of this emergency painting, I didn't actually get time to play the scenario. Still next time. 

I also managed to finish off the first of my DIY walkways including some press moulded bones and dubious looking stains to complete the goblin chic look.

Second disaster of the evening averted, I  found the last bottle of beer in the fridge - Old Speckled Hen. 

Rob 

 

I Painted Something from Salute!

Finally Got a Gibbet

This little scenic piece has been on the list for a little while, especially to finish off the countryside scenic base. Not surprisingly it didn't take long to paint. 

'Who's Laughing Now!'
Shouted Even Handed Eddie...

The ranger noticed a figure in the shadows
as he approached Dark wood gibbet.

Rob

Cityscape Board Finished

Doing the Job Twice

After building the board, I thought the hard work was done.... With a few washes followed by a quick bit dry brushing  and all would be done. And so, it started that way. 

I am not sure if the PVA glue was too thick, the texturing (with the tin foil) was too rough, or the foam bounced back a bit. But after the first wash and dry brush most of the roads and some of the raised areas didn't seem very well defined. I tried a couple of different washes (& drybrushing with different shades of grey) to try and bring out the definition but it wasn't enough. 

So, I finally went back and remarked out all  the roads and a good portion of the raised areas with a pencil. This was just as laborious as the first time. Ironically the definition, looked better in the pictures but didn't look very good by eye. 

After the remarking with pencil, the wash was able to sit better in the recesses and drybrushing was picking up the detail. Then it was onto the scatter and bit of discolouration with a couple of inks. 

After setting the board up for a few trial photos, I now realise I am quite short on scatter terrain for this type of board. So, a few items such as outhouses and rubbish that will have to be added to the build and paint queue.  And some city walls would look good as a backdrop. 

Proud Regulars at the pub

After remarking

Fourth or fifth wash and after remarking

Finished

Watch Out!

The other side of the board!

Rob 

New Scenery Board

 The backdrop 

After reading an interesting feature on Jays Wargaming Madness for Minas Tirith scenery which included a link to an excellent You Tube channel Zorpazorp (A guy who builds massive scenery. Its mainly LotR and Wh40K but there is some inspiring stuff). I decided it was time to build the alternative scenery backdrop for my stuff which I have been thinking about for some time.  

I wanted a cityscape as an alternative to my usual countryside backdrop. One of the key lessons from the first backdrop (Countryside Scenery Board) was that it has too much scenery. Which means its difficult to put anything more than a small warband. So the new one will be much flatter. 

On to the Build

I have been having difficulty finding pink polystyrene recently for board building. So I decided to try removing one of the card layers from some spare foam card. It was surprisingly easy.  After that it was a very pleasant afternoon in the garden marking out the board with an old ball point pen. 

The stone work on the raised areas took ages but I pleased with the final result. The roadways were much quicker with the regular design. I hadn't planned to add a raised area  to the centre of the crossroads. But I realised it would make a good focal point which could be given a choice items such as signposts, gibbet or a well etc. Once built a textured the board with a rolled up ball of tinfoil. 

Finally it was stuck to base board with hot melt glue. I was bit concerned but the foam card boards were a bit warped. But they seemed to stick aright. Then a libel coat of PVA glue was applied. 

The first test stone work.

Later

Much later.

Much, much later... it was starting to take shape. 

The fourth section is deliberately free of stone work as I plan to paint it as an area of waste ground. To give  bit more variety to the board. 

Thankfully the roads were much quicker. 

Stuck to the base board and ready for the PVA glue. 

In the Sunshine

While out and about at the weekend, I spotted this dark Green Fritillary Butterfly, which looks a bit worse for wear. But this is quite an unusual butterfly, so I thought it was worth a photo. 

A rather knackered looking Dark Green Fritillary. 

Rob 

A Change of Scenery

 Scenery Board Mark 2

Finished board with sunset sky

Over Christmas, I decided my photographic scenery board needed an upgrade. I wanted where possible to use stuff I already had instead of buying a load of extra stuff (leaving more money for figures!). And I just about had enough pink polystyrene when I chopped it in half. Also found a suitable bit of board lying around in the garage.  I wanted a raised area  at the back to give a couple of levels and to hide the horizon. 

The board chopped and glued. 

First mistake was to use PVA glue to stick the polystyrene to the base board instead of hot melt glue. The PVA glue took over a week to dry even when left in the office and there was still  little bit of glue was still leaking out two weeks later. Rather than have a couple of small hills, I chose to made a cliff face instead to break the horizon. Using broken up corks from wine bottles. Funny we had enough of them left over after Christmas. 

When selecting corks make sure they are made from solid pieces of cork and are not made of little bits of cork glued together. I cut foam back so that cork could sit under the front of the cliff face giving an overhang. I remembered to use the hot melt glue this time.  

After a bit of vigorous filing with a coarse file, the basic shape was formed. Pound shop filler was applied to blend in the over hang for the cliffs and reinforce some of the features. I did think about adding a water feature but this board is smaller than my original board even with the cliff. So I decided against it in order to have enough room for larger groups or battle scenes. 

Time for filler and sanding

After this it was time for lots of coarse sand and PVA (Sorry no photo for this step) and then was painted with a large (cheap) tube of burnt umber from the local hobby shop. Followed by dry brushing in light browns, greys and a bit of green. Finally dark green scenic scatter, grass clumps and small pieces of dyed sponge. 

Finished board with early evening sky

I have ordered a second bag of different coloured flock as the grass needs a bit more mixing up and I will get a couple of dead model trees to help break up the skyline. The statue isn't fixed so I can swap it, I have seen a gibbet which would make a good alternate. I now need to work out how to light and photograph this new board. But overall I think it makes a nice improvement on the mark one board. Now back to the dwarves... 

Trusty mark one board. 

Rob 

Salute in a Day

 A Day Out in London

Most of my Salute Hoard 

A friend and I managed to get to Salute yesterday for the first time in about four years. And a great time as had by all. Obviously there were some differences  from normal years but they were not all bad - Salute 2022 is now less than 6 months away!  Salute is normally the same weekend as the London marathon, so there are normally lots of fit types wandering about getting registered however  this year as it was in November, the other main event at the Excel centre was ' Destination Star Trek' so there were many people dressed in Star Trek costumes and a randomly, a couple of people from  the film Aliens.  Sadly I wasn't able to get any photographs but some were extremely well done. 

The event looked well attended and was spread out over a much bigger area, so we were able to wander around without bumping into people.  Most of the traders listed on the map were present but there did seem to be a couple of last minute cancelations. However we found more than enough traders and games to keep us entertained for the whole day. 

My biggest gripe of the day was that in the conference hall, the lights had been turned down so it was dim and a bit straining on the eyes after a few hours. I have no idea why as the all the sections outside the conference hall were well lit. 

Managed to get some bargains and show specials including good selection of paints for £1 and the set of fine detail brushes for a fiver. I particularly impressed by a number of companies doing laser cut MDF scenery for good prices which seems to have expanded greatly in the couple of years that we have missed Salute. I picked a Rohan style watch tower for £7.50 from Blotz which I thought was a  cracking price. Plus stocked up on MDF laser cut movement trays and bases. 

Salute 2020 - Battle of Britain

Spitfire & Hurricane Displays

The theme this year was Battle of Britain anniversary (1940-2020) and there were full size replicas of a Spitfire and Hurricane in the display hall.  The Salute mini is sculpted just for the show and there is a short article on its design and commissioning in the Salute magazine. In keeping with the theme it is a  1940's  school boy holding a model plane. As usual it well sculpted but I just can't see me painting it as doesn't fit in with any collection I have.

The Salute 2020 Mini from the magazine

Random Oldhammer

On a random Oldhammer note, I picked a very attractive A5 flyer advertising a display of John Blanche's work at Foundry Miniatures. Its a long way up from the south coast, so it is extremely unlikely that I will be attending but Flyer alone is work displaying. 

The Pictures

A few of the pictures that I took on the day. 

Oakbound's Excellent Trolls -
Which I got and are now waiting for Christmas!
I only just noticed the gruesome remains on some of the troll's bases

Oakbound Elves

Oakbound - Pixie Riders

Fenris Games - New Kickstarter

More Fenris Games

Northumbrian Tin Solder

Northumbrian Tin Solder

Rob