Tag Archives: basing

Terrain Week

I needed a break from painting my Germans for Chain Of Command, so starting this past Thursday, and finishing today, I worked on terrain.  I planned on making some bocage, but after a trip to the hobby store, I ended up with some strip styrene to make tank traps with.  Then, I saw some great 15mm stone walls on Brookhurst Hobby’s site, so I ordered those.

bocage_start bocage_start_cross_sectionIn the model airplane section of my local hobby store, I found this curved piece of wood, as well as the flat pice I used as a base.  This will serve as the basis of my bocage.  I glued them together, let it dry overnight, then cut them with a circular saw, since I don’t have anything more subtle.  Then I sanded the sharp edges to a slight curve.

tank_traps_start tank_traps_start_2At that same hobby store, I found this strip styrene.  They had all kinds – I beams, hollow square, etc.  I thought it would be perfect for tank traps.  I used superglue to make the tripods, and glued them to some leftover wood from the bocage base.

The mini is a 15mm Sci-Fi soldier from Rebel Minis.  I’ll be using him as a size reference today. For you Flames Of War players, he’s almost exactly the same size as Battlefront’s plastic soldiers.

walls_startThese are the 15mm walls, cleaned and ready for primer.  They are resin, and are made by Peter Pig.

bocage_primed bocage_with_rocks bocage_with_rocks_paintedI primed the bocage black, glued some model railway ballast rocks to it, and let it dry overnight. Then I used some leftover Citadel sepia shade on it, and let that dry.  Last, I dry brushed it gray.  I like the black / brown / gray combination.

tank_traps_primedI used some vinyl spackling mixed with sand to fill in the base of the tank traps.  I talk about that process in several other blog posts.  I let that dry overnight, then primed it all black.

 

wall_primedAt the same time, I primed the stone walls black.

tanktraps_top tank_traps_completeI painted the tank traps and base.  I used the sepia shade on the base to good effect, I think.  I could probably use more practice painting rusty metal, though.

walls_closeup_full walls_extra_closeI’m really happy with how the walls came out, and they were really easy to paint.  A dry brush of gray, followed by a dry brush of white.  Then a green dry brush for the grass, some light dabs of tan, and a tan paint for the weeds.

The gate is brown, with a yellow-brown highlight and a black wash.

bocage_complete_side

bocage_closeup_2The bocage was a lot more work than the rest.  I used Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue.  I spread it all over the top, then stuck the foliage on it.  I used several different colors.  After it was dry, I touched it up with some more glue and foliage.  When that was dry, I soaked the whole thing in watered down PVA glue.  That took 2 days to dry, but they are pretty solid now.  Nothing is falling off these bocage.

Finally, some static grass on the edges.  I think I need a “greener” static grass.  This is “winter grass”.  I need to get some “summer” grass or something like that.

treesI had originally ordered some Woodland Scenics trees from Amazon when I ordered the foliage, but they turned out to be too small to stick on the bocage, so I based them on the last of the leftover base wood from the bocage in 2 groups of 4.

all_terrain_on_workbench all_terrain_on_grassThe fruits of 7 days of labor.

I’m going to get back to painting my Germans, but at some point I need a lot more trees, some more tank traps, some farm fields, roads, minefields, etc.  The list goes on.

I really enjoy making terrain.  It’s a nice break from painting minis.  Now I can attack my Germans with renewed enthusiasm.

SAGA: 4 Points & Warlord Painted & Based

My SAGA starter warband is completed at last.  The warlord and 4 points – 2 points of hearthguard and 2 points of warriors.

SAGA_4pts_warlaord_painted_based

In the back is some terrain I made – I’ll have a post about that later.

Next up is 1 point of levy: 12 bowmen.  I test assembled a bowman from the Wargames Factory unarmored saxons, and I just don’t like the way it looks.  So, I actually bought some GW minis.  My first ever.  I got a box of Warhammer Bretonnian Peasant Bowmen.  They look pretty good, and they come with a bunch of extras, like a wooden stake and chain defensive fortification, a dog, a nice flag banner, etc.  They are a touch shorter than the Wargames Factory minis, but no so much that it’s noticeable.

Also on deck is 1 point of hearthguard, metal minis from Gripping Beast, and 1 point of warriors, also metal from Gripping Beast.

Assembling and Painting Wargames Factory Saxons

Over the last several weeks I’ve been assembling and painting Wargames Factory’s plastic Saxons.

what_i_deal_withThey come on several sprues, body, head, each arm, shield, and weapons all separate.  It took me about an hour to do 4 soldiers.  Clip off the sprue, choose and fit the parts, clean up the mold lines, and glue.

ready_for_decalsshieldsI used Little Big Men Studios’ shield transfers.  I read that it was easier to apply the transfer if the shield was not attached to the soldier, so I did the shields separately.  If I were to do it again, I’d go ahead and attach the shields from the beginning. Applying the transfers was pretty easy.

all_assembled A bunch of them assembled and ready for primer.

dane_axes_primed_and_chainmailOne point of Hearthguard.  I primed them black, then dry brushed The Army Painter’s Gun Metal over the metal parts – helmet, chainmail and axe heads.  When I do this step next time (for my levy) I’ll use a leather brown primer instead of black.  Then I can paint everything but the belts, straps, etc.

dane_axes_washedGetting close to done.

basedTwo points of Hearthguard painted and based.

Wargames Factory’s plastic minis get a bad rap in some circles, but I think they are great value for the money.  I got them for $15.99 at The War Store, and there’s 32 soldiers in a box, so that’s 50 cents each.  Each box also has more weapons, heads, and arms than you need, so you have a lot of flexibility in your poses and armament.

SAGA and Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda

A friend at my local game store has gotten me into SAGA.  (Yu know who you are (that’s a pun that one person in the world is going to get)).  I’ve not played yet, but we have some games scheduled in a few weeks.  I’ve just started painting my army, but tonight I finished my warlord.

I used Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda figure, but I’ll use him as a generic Anglo-Danish leader.

out_of_package Here’s what you get in the package.  I ordered from Gripping Beast’s USA partner, Architects Of War.  They shipped fast and have good prices, and an easy to use website.  I got my SAGA rulebook from them, also.

 

size Harald is BIG.  I read up on him, and he was a big guy in real life, also.

 

unpainted_back This is where the shield attaches to his back.

 

shield_decal I used a decal for the shield front.  It was easy to put on.

 

decal_applied The shield after the decal was applied.

 

before_shield_attached When I primed the figure and the shield, I put a bit of blue tack over the parts that I would need to glue, so that I could glue metal to metal with no paint in the way.

 

after_shield_attached The shield is attached.

 

after_wash Harald is painted and washed with The Army Painter Strong Tone ink.

 

Gripping_beast_Harald_Hardradda_front Done and based.  The sword on the base is from Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns.  He’s on a 30mm Litko.net wood base with a heavy duty magnet base underneath.

 

Gripping_beast_Harald_Hardradda_back

 

I am really looking forward to playing SAGA.  I’ve started on my Anglo-Danish warband.  Hopefully I’ll have some pics of them for you soon.

 

Army Painter’s Color Primer Review

I recently got a buttload of 15mm Sci-Fi minis from the Critical Mass Games Kickstarter.  I need to paint them, so I can have a full company vs. company to try out Quadrant 13.  I looked into how to speed up the painting process, and I came across The Army Painter’s Color Primer.  They spell it “colour” but they are wrong. 🙂

I use Army Painter’s washes – Strong Tone and Dark Tone, and I like them a lot better than the Citadel washes I had used previously, so I was already feeling positive toward the company.

The genius thing that Army Painter has done here is that they have a “100% match” regular paint for each color primer.  So you can, in theory, spray your minis with the colored primer, paint the other colors, then touch up with the 100% match paint.

Anyway, I wanted to try it out before I sprayed it all over my CMG minis, so I tried it on Kurasan’s “Terror Of Clambake Beach.”  These were perfect, because they are mostly one color.

raw_terror cleaned_terror The Clambake Beach minis before and after cleanup.

 

terror_primed After priming with “Ultramarine Blue”.  In the back is the spray primer and the 100% match paint.

 

Khurasan_terror_of_clambake_beach_15mm_PLA-6The completed minis.  I drybrushed a mix of the 100% match paint with a bit of Citadel’s Runefang Steel, then painted the eyes, mouth and teeth.  Of course I messed that up, so I had several touchups to do, and they blended perfectly.

Then I washed with Army Painter’s Strong Tone mixed with acrylic medium to thin it.  Basing was done my standard way.

 

The color primer really sped the whole process up.  I’m a fan.  The 100% match paints really seal the deal.  I think this will save me about 25% time when I paint the 79 infantry from the CMG Kickstarter.