More 15mm Greeks

I moved a few more 15mm Greeks to completion yesterday. These are part of a commission of 15mm Xyston figures. The owner will base them so I have just blue-tacked them down for the photos.

I'm still learning with the decals. Some I applied to metal-coloured shields. Others to shields with painted backgrounds. I think the latter are better so will do the last 16 figures with all-coloured shields.

These Xyston spears are sharp. I stuck one in my knuckle while adhering them to the figures and pulled it out with my lips, not noticing it had a dab of crazy glue on it. Crazy glue does not taste good.

There are also two bases of ballistae. These were nice models to build--the pins lined up with the holes, etc.

The loader looks a bit like he's playing the base but otherwise the poses are good.

Up next: The last 15mm Greeks, Pandemic at the club on Tuesday and some flying units. I'm also completing a big my-junk-for-your-junk (MJ4YJ) trade that will see my HiTT armies reinforced while most of my spare medieval, dark age, fantasy and sci-fi minis will depart for greener pastures. Now if only I could find someone looking for a bunch of unpainted 15mm ancients!

FS 15mm Romano-Brits

The great Labour Day 2011 purge continues with this Romano-Brit DBA army. These figures are 15mm Splintered Light Romano Brits painted by me. They come from a smoke- and pet-free home. The army's record is about 5 and 9, but that is more about my generalship that the army itself.

First up are three bases of 3Kn or 3CV including a mounted general with standard. Bases are 40mm frontages with proper depths.

There are three auxiliary units. On the left, we have a base of dogs. If you were using the army as a HoTT army, these could be beasts or a magician. In DBA you could use them as a horde. Then there is a base of 2LH. And finally a base of 2Ps.

There are 8 bases of 4Bd/4Sp including an optional general base. There is a close-up below of the general base with druid on the far right.

There is a custom Barker-marker with some standing stones and two mounted figures.

As this is my last 15mm DBA army (I'm moved to 28mm), I'm also including a cool camp. This is a 6mm camp with a bunch of druids sacrificing something (a sheep? a Saxon?) on an altar amid a henge. I will also throw in a 2x2' GW cloth mat that matches the flocking on all of the bases. This is cut from GW's newest battlemat.

I'd like $100 OBO plus $20 shipping in Canada or the US. If the shipping is less than $20, I will refund the difference; if it is more than $20, I will eat the extra. All bases individually bubble wrapped. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca .

Up next: Some 15mm Greeks then some more 15mm Greeks. Then some 1/72 AWI Americans.

FS 28mm Black Peter's Santa Army

I'm cleaning out my games room and have run across this 28mm HoTT army that I'm ready to sell. This is Black Peter's Christmas army; Black Peter is, according to my step-father, a Germanic version of Santa Claus who beats the hell out of bad kids instead of leaving them a lump of coal. That always struck me as a hilarious tradition thus we have Black Peter's army.

First up is Black Peter riding a steam-punk steed. Peter is a GW plastic miniature while the steed is a Heroclix figure. He could be a mounted hero or hero general in HoTT.

Every despot needs a right-hand man to tell him who has been naughty and who has been nice. This is a metal GW miniature and I would use him as a cleric or magician. The bases are white with blue shadows--the shadows didn't show up that well in the pictures.

For base security, Santa employs a variety of dogs and a gameskeeper. These are GW metal miniatures and I would classify them as beasts.

Lurking among the snow drifts is this savage creature. A GW metal that I would use as a lurker.

The bulk of the army are these five bases of elves. There are three shooters (snowballs), one blade and one that could be a blade or a shooter as well as (optionally) a general elements. A mix of GW metal and plastic.

To supplement the the elves are soulless hordes of snowmen raised by the magician from the frozen hellscape of the arctic. These could be hordes or spear.

Finally, Santa's workshop does just turn out whorey Bratz dolls and Hot Wheels. This well armed fellow is a behemoth. A Heroclix figure with additional firepower added. Look out Walmart, Santa isn't going to let you muscle in on his turf.

I'd like $100 OBO. Shipping is roughly $20 in Canada or the US; I will refund anything under $20 and eat the cost of any additional postage. All bases are individually bubble-wrapped and boxed. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca.

15mm Greek Hoplites

I'm working on finishing a small commission by the weekend. I moved these fellows to the end last evening.

The owner is going to base them thus they are affixed to some blue tack for the photos. They are 15mm Xyston Greeks (Thebans).

The owner sent along some decals for me to use. To apply, you pull off the plastic, affix to the shield and then wet (which disengages the paper backing). The difficulty I ran into was that the decals are flat and the shields are appreciably rounded so there was "too much" decal at the edges for it to sit flat (a bit like trying to stick a road map to a globe).

Eventually I was able to mostly burnish them down after I used a couple coats of Future to soften and adhere them. I think the quality of the shield design is pretty amazing. For these, I simply laid them down on a metal-colored shield. The second set of figures (drying now) has a mix of metal and coloured shields and the coloured shields provide more contrast. For the third set of shields, I will be going all coloured.

Up next: More hoplites and some 15mm ballistaes. Then more hoplites and some 1/72 AWI. Then maybe onto some 6mm biplanes and 25mm Star Wars. Then back to 1/72 WW1?

WW1 tank and 100,000 views

Slightly more than two years from when I started this blog, I've crested 100,000 page view (100,709 this morning). This works out to about 300 views per post. That is staggering to me; thanks to all of the readers!

I finished a 1/76 WW1 tank from Airfix last night. This is a large vehicle--the frontage on the base is 60mm. I decided to assemble this as a male (came with male and female options) and struggled only with attaching the wheel and radiator assembly at the back.

This is the first unit in a WW1 HiTT (Hordes in the Trenches) army I'll be assembling. I ended up with a tonne of plastic WW1 British so I intend to turn them into something useful. I also have a couple of cool ideas for units.

As the leaves begin to turn, my mind wanders to what to do this winter. I am hopeful I can paint my way down to the bottom of the pile by Xmas. I figure that is about 400 or so figures (mostly 28mm plastic renaissance and some 1/72 AWI and WW1). This would push my annual painting total over 2000 (almost at 1800 now). Then I'd like to turn my mind to making some nicer terrain in 2012 as well as gaming a bit more.

Up next: 15mm Greek hopliltes, bolt throwers, and more hoplites and then onto some 1/72 AWI troops. After that likely more WW1 stuff.

Lundy's Lane Redux

I replayed the Lundy's Lane scenario from the club a few weeks back using DBHx. Bruce dropped by and I was keen to see how DBHx handled things differently than For Honor and Glory.

American "General Hilfiger" opened the game by throwing out a flanking probe on his right to see if he could unhinge the British grip on the hill. A nasty firefight ensued that stalled things for him.

Eventually his reinforcements came on and marched forward. At this point, things were looking bad for the British, whose own reinforcements were still several turn away.

A lucky shot, decapitated the reinforcement's command structure and also caused them to test on the optional morale chart we were using and they stalled. Had I risked a long-odds shot at Bruce's other general, I could have completely crippled his command structure but instead I popped a militia unit.

Undeterred, Bruce surged forward onto the hill as my reinforcements appeared and night fell (no more shooting attacks). My original command held out just long enough for the reinforcements to get to the hill before failing their morale roll and beating a retreat. But the weight of the reinforcements was too much, pushing back and breaking the intact American command before wheeling right to dispatch the leaderless American reinforcements.

An almost historical result that would have been better had the British reinforcements been forced to come in from various points on the board. Comparing DBHX and For Honor and Glory, I'd say DBHx emphasized the war while For Honour and Glory emphasized the game. Neither was superior--just a different feel.

Up next: A WW1 tank is based and drying. Some 15mm Greeks are done and more are underway. And I need to pull out Pandemic and read the rules for the club next week.

Black Cat Bases

Earlier this summer I repainted a bunch of 28mm Heroclix superheroes for the upcoming Ganesh Games rules Power Legion. At the time, I based them on washers with a park-like theme.

After some consideration of the terrain I will be using, I decided that a more urban-looking base might be good and ordered some resin bases from Black Cat Bases.

They arrived a couple of weeks ago. There is a mix of sidewalks and sidewalks with gutters. I painted them up and then transferred Bats to one. Overall, the effect is nice and is largely what I was after.

The quality control on the Black Cat bases is not great. No bubbles but a bit of excess resin in a few placed. The biggest issue is that the thickness of the bases varies quite a lot (some are twice as deep as others) and many are not level (see Bats above for an example). I'd hoped for a bit more quality control. I suppose I could sand them flat, but sanding resin is not good (dust).

Up next: A 1/72 WW1 tank is being based and some more 15mm Greeks are underway. I also have a game tonight with Bruce: Lundy's Lane in 1/72 using DBHx.