Pimping my palms and (barbed) 'wire' we doing this?! - desert terrain progress

Over the last few weeks, I've being thinking quite a bit about desert terrain, due to being (only slightly) distracted by another project! Although my current main focus is on my Sudan The Men who would be Kings game, I've been painting up some 15mm World War 2 tanks, for a North Africa set up for What a Tanker! (WAT) rules, published by Too Fat Lardies.

Picture from Too Fat Lardies

I'm going to do another post in the future, about why - even after only 4 games - I love this rule set, but for those who don't know, WAT is a WW2 Tank combat game, which puts the player in the role of a tank crew and commander, fighting against enemy tanks and AFVs. There's a nice career 'ladder', which allows players to work their way up through different types of tanks, as the war progresses, and become a tank ace. It's easy to learn, but with some nice subtle nuances in terms of command and control, and above all, it's fun! I bought the rules last year, and decided to start painting up a few tanks for 1941 North Africa , with the British facing the newly arrived Deutsche Afrika Korps. I've purchased an A9 and an A10 for the British forces, and two Pz III E tanks for the Germans. All of these tanks are from Skytrex.

British A9 tank

German Pz III E tank

Thanks to my ongoing Sudan project, I've already got a couple of desert scenery boards, and rocky areas of ground, but I wanted some barbed wire and palm trees just to complete the initial set up. At some point, I'll probably pick up some buildings - maybe from Hovels - but for now, this will do....after all, it is only a slight distraction!...

So during a trip to the Hammerhead show right at the start of this month, I managed to pick up said barbed wire from Urban Construct and some palm trees from Hoka Hey. First for the 'Fall on Pell Mell' treatment, were the palm trees!

This is how they started...

I'm a bit of a nutter, where terrain is concerned - I love 'pimping' it up, making it fit in with the colour scheme I've chosen, or adding (quite possibly) unnecessary detail! The Hoka Hey palm trees, are absolutely fine straight off the shelf, but I wanted to make them even more special. I peeled the hot-glue-gunned trees off their bases, and then glued them onto some individual bases (they were originally all in pairs), or as in the case of one base, as a pair, but at different heights. The height was made using other mdf round bases, built up into a kind of pyramid affair, then smoothed off with ready mixed filler. I added my usual sand/tallus/cat litter mix, glued on with slightly diluted PVA.

Sand added to the new base, before painting

After that I got painting! The first task, was separating the top fronds from the trunk - thankfully they weren't glued on, just a case of pulling them off the 'plugs' they were fixed on, and then I mounted the fronds on some skewers to paint.

Fronds before painting - mmmm, plastic goodness! 

These top fronds were firstly basecoated with Wargames Foundry French Dragoon Green 70 A shade, before a rough drybrush of 70 B, and a final light drybrush of 70 B. The base fronds, still attached to the trunks, were painted to represent dying or dead leaves, so I did those in a different mix, using the colours described above, but adding other layers of Drab 12A, and Phlegm Green 28C, again both Foundry paints. Once this was done, I painted up the trunks and branches with Bay Brown 42 A, washed them over with a black wash, then drybrushed them lightly with Bay Brown 42 A again and  then drybrushed  gently with Rawhide 11A, to bring up the final detail. I then matt varnished them (.....yes, like I said, a NUTTER, when it comes to doing even simple terrain!). Once they were finished, I painted up the bases in my usual store mixed colours, based on Games Workshop Steel Legion (that used to be Graveyard Earth), as a base, then drybrushed with Foundry sand 10, A, B and C shades. Then it was time for a little foliage - tufts, and Javis scenic bushes, and I ended up with this...

...and this is how they finished!

Not bad really, for a few nights work, and certainly worth the effort! Like I mentioned earlier, the Hoka Hey 'standard', bought off the shelf, is nice enough anyway, but I love how these trees have turned out! They look even better with a tank next to them!

Next up was some barbed wire - I thought long and hard about this, but in the end, the first lot I've made used the classic 'roll' or 'coil' set up. To start off with, I got some 80mm by 20mm 2mm thick mdf bases, that I'd also bought from Hoka Hey. I then marked these up as shown below, starting 0.5cm in from each edge.(update: with each post being about 3.5cm apart, with only three posts)

Dots added for where the posts would go

Then I cut out some short lengths of balsa wood, about 15mm long, and glued these on using superglue. Add the PVA/Sand/gravel/cat litter (still unused thankfully - not sure what the cat reckons to her toilet slowly shrinking...) mix, and job done!

Sand added - with the original 5 post set up

It was at this point, that I consulted the oracle, where my wargaming 'modelling' choices are concerned, for an opinion on 'how it looks'. This oracle, who is also known as 'my wife' said ... 'Not bad, love, but the posts are a bit close together, aren't they?'.... well, yes, on reflection, they were. So I quickly pulled the 2nd and 4th ones out, and filled in the gaps with more sand and PVA, and then let them set. There was a slight amount of warping, but nothing too noticeable, probably about 2mm across the whole 8cm length. Paint the brown base coat, then I painted the posts in a suitable bleached wood colour (Foundry's Rawhide 11 A shade, then a black wash, then drybrushed back up with A, then B and finally C), and then I drybrushed the sand colour on the bases too, so that the posts would also get a slight hint of light sand around the base of the posts, to tie it all together visually. Then it was onto the barbed wire! Each 'length' of 8cm base uses a length of model barbed wire of about 40-45cm long. I painted this using Foundry's Bay Brown 42 A. I found that painting it as a long length (blue-tacked to my lamp!), before it was spiralled up, much easier, as I could paint along the whole length. Fiddly, but not as fiddly as getting the inside curves if it was in a coil!. It may seem slightly odd, to paint wire in brown, but it replicated the patina of rusted dull wire perfectly, and gave it an instant aged feel. When the paint was dry, but still 'flexible', I steadily wrapped each length of wire round a tube - an old biro about 7-8mm in diameter - and then stretched out the wire coil slightly to give some width between the coils. I then hooked each end over the edge posts of the base, made sure the centre post was sticking up through the coils - it's a case of trial and error, tweaking and stretching or compressing - then glued each coil onto the posts at either end, using a small amount of superglue, to secure things. I then washed the wire carefully in places with a black wash, and then added some thinned (very thinned!) splodges - almost a wash - of Coat D'arms 119 Rat Brown, here and there, to look like slightly fresher rust. This was dulled down here and there with more thinned black wash. Wash over the any superglue that was showing on the posts, with brown wash, add the dry grass tufts and dry looking foliage, and hey presto!

Close up of my finished posts

Double thickness wire - a nightmare to get through!

Definitely to be avoided! At some point I'll do some Minefield signs.

So, with some scenery completed, what better way to celebrate, than with a game of WAT! More on that, and my tanks in the next post, but here's a taste.

WAT acquired, aimed, buttoned up and loaded markers, laser pen, and the 'Universal tanker tool', for measuring angles!

Cat and mouse round the rocks...

3 Critical hits, and kaboom! The Pz III has had it!

A rather nice looking dice tray! Pint, anyone?

To round off this month, I managed to buy a new dice-rolling tray, from, Saddle Goose Designs! It's the first time I've ever owned a dice tray before, and it features the Pie and Pint logo, from Too Fat Lardies....my youngest thought it was a mince pie and glass of milk - ahhhh, the innocence of youth! I cant wait to use it in action for the first time - not bad for £15!

Next time, more news about What a Tanker!, and progress on the Sudan game! 

Feeling a bit Mahdi....

Well, less Mahdi, and a bit...., well, mardy......

For those of you who aren't aware, 'mardy' is a dialect word used (as far as I know - and I use it), in the Midlands of England, and means 'grumpy', or out of sorts, and not in the best of moods. Perfect to sum up my current mood, as far as the hobby is concerned. It's one of those times or feelings which most wargamers get, I guess, when we just have no drive for the pastime, no energy for it, or little interest. very unusual for me, but it is a feeling that creeps up occasionally. I'm not sure why- I still love the hobby, but over the last few weeks (or months), I've been a 'meh' about things.

So what better way, to feel less 'mardy', and more 'Mahdi' - or back on track with my Sudan project, than to kickstart my blog again. It's been a while - January(!) - since I last posted, so that is a good indication of how bad things have got. So, enough of that. Time to shake off the blues, and get cracking again.

With The Other Partizan Show in Newark, UK, just under 5 weeks away, and the RAWGamers putting on a game, it's a great motivation to get back into the swing of things. My Sudan project has been ticking along, with all the pace of a slow moving camel, but at least I've been doing something.

First up, the first of my base boards has been completed, bar the paint on the edges. This is made of MDF - 2' by 4', with battening strips of timber down the edges to form a frame, then a 1" thick polystyrene sheet interior, glued inside this frame using PVA. Coated over with my trusty PVA/Sand and tallus mix, with the odd larger cat-litter stones here and there, it's turned out quite nicely. I then paint it up using the sample pots of paint I use for all my basing now (more on this another post), and it's done. Lots of dry brushing to build up 3 gradually lighter shades on top of a brown basecoat, and voila! Desert!

The board - with some scenery - an old GW hill!

Detail of the baseboard - and the cat litter clumps.

I've added the litter in small clumps, so as to not get in the way of the hills and other scenery too much, and I have a plan to create some 'rough' terrain or scrubland bases any way. This leads me nicely on to...

The hills... Many years ago, I picked up an old Games Workshop plastic hill kit, from a hobby store. It was on offer in a sale, and far below a sensible price, even for a clearance item! Safe to say, I snatched it up, and even when I questioned the low price, the assistant didn't bat an eyelid, so I was able to bag a bargain! Sadly GW don't make these hills any more, as far as I can tell, and unless I see some more on E-bay or in a car boot or bring and buy sale, I'm unlikely to get any more. Painted up with my paint combinations, and desert foliage added.

I've painted the ends, so probably won't join them together unless I need to.



Painted up and together, but not linked.

 

Some of the detail of the foliage - sparse and scorched.

As for figures, well, some of them have appeared on the blog before, but I've done another small group of 8 figures since then. These are once again Perry Miniatures, from their plastic Mahdists box set. They form the second group of 8 figures for my 'Skirmish Kings' project, using The Men who would be Kings rules.

The next unit for my game.

Two 'skirmish Kings' units together, or one full group of figures for the rules

I've also made some markers for the game in August - Gone to ground, Pinned and Leaderless markers. These all show the state that the units are in, and I'm making some for all the units of the table.

I've also put together some movement trays for my British infantry. These are from Warbases, and each tray represents one unit for Skirmish Kings. A bit short of figures to fill these yet, but I'm working on that, and they're all assembled and primed, so watch this space.

Close up of the first base.

Soooo, hopefully this refreshes my mind concerning the hobby, and gets me back on track. The plan over the next five weeks, is to try and update the blog on a more regular basis, and go into more detail about various aspects of the project. That will get us together nicely for late August, and The Other Partizan! See you soon!

The countdown to Partizan begins!

I've not posted anything on here for a few weeks - since February in fact - but that's not to say I haven't been busy!

With only five weeks to go before Partizan weekend, on Sunday 22nd May, it's all systems go for painting and production of figures and scenery. The RAW Gamers are putting on an enhanced version of the 'Somewhere in Scotland, 1650' skirmish game we put on last September, and I'm working away to get units and scenic bits and bobs completed in time. We'll be using the Donnybrook rules again, with added characters and expanded forces to those we used last time.

So, to wet your appetites, and to give a brief snapshot of what I've been up to since February and the previous post, here's a few pictures. I find that blogging takes up valuable painting time in the evenings, so will keep posts to a minimum over the next few weeks, until I've finished, but I just wanted to keep people updated. I'll do a more in-depth post on each unit or item after Partizan, but until then, here goes!:

First up, some camp items - the troops need feeding after all. These were picked up at one of the Derby Shows over the last two years, from Irregular Miniatures. They are listed in the 'siege equipment' section on their website.

Next, a hastily dug grave. I had some Greenstuff left over from basing trees, so smoothed it into a pile on a Warbases pill-shaped base, and then added a cross made out of balsa strip and superglue. Just right for setting a more sombre atmosphere - it could have been bullet, blade or plague that did for the poor unfortunate victim, and is a definite 'multi-period' item!

The vegetable gardens were inspired by an article on the Too Fat Lardies blog, and judging by the searches online, it seems as though I wasn't the only one who liked them! The 'flowers' used to make the cabbages were picked up from a shop on the high street, in the materials and craft section, and painted up. Rather convincing, I reckon; though possibly overly large for 28mm scale.....must be good natural fertiliser! They made their first appearance at the last Partizan game, but haven't appeared on here before. I want to add some fences at some point, to keep nibbling vermin out.

 

 

I've always liked The Last Valley's stuff - their scenic items always seem to appear on gaming tables around the conventions, and in many wargames rules and publications. They're good value, and well made too. I bought a couple of their trees at the Derby show last year, and rebased them in my style - a bit pedantic possibly, but now they 'fit' in with the other trees I've made. The flock on the trees was sealed using a non-perfumed hairspray (a railway modeller's tip!), and so far, it seems to be working!

A while ago, I started making my own trees, out of twisted wire frames. These were then based up using a hot-glue gun, and covered in air-drying clay. This was sealed with PVA and painted, then they were based up, sculpting the roots with Greenstuff before adding my usual sand and PVA mix. When everything was dried and painted up, I added some Woodland Scenics foliage. Perfect for small 'gnarly' trees, that wouldn't look out of place in most wargames 'theatres' of conflict, from Scotland to Spain! I'm quite proud of these, as they're totally scratch-built.

Having completed a unit of dragoons for my Scots faction for the Donnybrook ECW project, which gave me my first faction 'point', it's time to show my next unit, the pike. These chaps have made a few appearances on the blog in recent months, but not in full force. A small unit of 4 figures was on the table at the Other Partizan last September, but now I've finished them all off. It was the figures in plaids that were awaiting completion! (Have I ever said I dislike painting tartan or checked patterns?....) These 8 figures give me a full unit of 'regular' pike, worth another 'point'.

A few close ups:

 

All these pike-wielding chaps are Perry Miniatures. The same goes for my first Scots Musket unit, which gives me another point for the Scots faction.. Again, these 8 figures are classed as 'regular' in Donnybrook terms, and include the very first figures I had painted up for this project when I started it, back in 2014! For ages, I only had these two musketeers, then the dragoons made an appearance, and now finally, this first unit of musketeers has been completed!

Tam issues the order to fire!

Once again, it was the plaid-clad figures that slowed down the completion of this unit, but last Monday, I was able to get them done. The casualty marker in the background is a figure from the Wargames Foundry ECW casualty pack, which I hi-lighted in the last post.

Foundry also provided the figures shown in the last pictures, drawn from their ECW civilians packs.

Màiri keeps a close eye on her brother, as he staggers back from the well...

...Wee Willie, with his not so wee bucket! Mind it doesn't spill!

I really like these figures, and I have a few more civilians to paint up, to populate the settlements that are going to feature in our game.

There's 8 more Scots musketeers to paint, and 8 characters 4 civilians, then a few more bits of scenery - walls and suchlike, maybe some more trees, then I'm done. I'm not sure where we'll be yet at the new 'Partizan' venue, but I'll post before the show with more updates so people can pop by if they wish. After the show, I'll showcase more of the units and bits of scenery, in greater detail. Then it's on to a new project, which readers can follow on here over the summer. Thanks for the continued support, and see you soon! Five weeks to go!... back to the brushes....

Feeling Two Tents? Not any more!

Hello again - it's been a while since the last post, so apologies for that! Up until a few days ago, I hit a wall in terms of painting.....real life, rubbish weather here in the UK, and general tiredness have take their toll in the evenings, so the brushes were being neglected. However, I finished off the last of my sheep earlier this week, which seems to have shaken off some of the lethargy, and I'm ready to get cracking again. No longer tense.....

Multi-period real estate from Renedra

Speaking of tents...... as mentioned in the previous post, I thought I'd write a small piece about the canvas shelters that are going to grace the tabletop in my ECW project. These are two of the lovely plastic tents from the Renedra Limited 'Ridge tents' set, which I picked up at the Partizan show last spring. I've still got two more to paint up at some point, as well as the camp beds that come with the set, but these beds are possibly 'out of period' for the 17th century. The camp fire is the other part of the set, which I've mounted on a circular base from Warbases.

Photo from Yahoo

Shelters in one form or another have featured in military service for thousands of years. Even if the rank and file still slept in the open, then at least their leaders or commanders would have had some form of tent or headquarters, befitting their status. During the wars of the 17th Century, shelters would have taken many forms, as shown in this woodcut of the 30 Years War.

Photo from Yahoo

There are many different types of shelter here - ranging from simple canvas sheet 'tents' in the foreground, to more ornate tents in the background, and shelters made from either canvas or wooden panels or 'sheets' on the left hand side of the picture. I like the idea of making some wooden shelters or canvas sheet tents at some point in the future, but for now I'll stick to the Renedra ones, and possibly get some dog tents from them as well.

The back of one of my tents, pitched near water. A soggy night ahead?

 

I put both of my tents on uneven shaped bases from Warbases, to protect them from damage and chips to the paintwork. They were undercoated in Wargames Foundry Canvas 8A shade, then painted over in the 'body' of the tents using Canvas 8B, leaving the 'sewn' lines where panels meet, and shading in the A shade. Then they were given a substantial highlight with Boneyard 9 B shade, followed by a final highlight of Boneyard 9B +9C mix, along the lines of the creases, ridges, and 'edges' etc. Having spent countless days and nights in these sorts of tents over 20 years  of re-enacting, I was especially keen to keep them to a more 'realistic' shade of canvas, instead of the more usual white that often graces the war-gaming table. Although these types of tents will be bleached by the sun, they often maintain at least a semblance of the pale cream canvas colour. The word "canvas" comes from the 13th century Anglo-French canevaz and the Old French canevas. Both of these words are derived from the Vulgar Latin cannapaceus for "made of hemp". Sadly the pictures haven't given a true representation of how creamy-white the models are, but I'm sure you'll get an impression.

Don't forget the tent pole!

The picture above shows off the entrance and interior of one of the open tents. I used a mix of diluted PVA glue and offcuts from a doormat to represent straw laid down on the floor of the tent. The tent pole is made of a cocktail stick, painted up. This only came about after I showed my significant other the (I thought) completed tent. "There's something missing," she exclaimed, "... a tent pole!" Thanks, love! So one was hastily added, and the subsequent slight gap was covered up by a small amount of foliage. On Living history camps, there's an oft seen sight of fresh herbs hanging in front of tents - either to dry for cooking, to prevent bad smells, or to ward away evil plague-bearing 'miasmas'! A simple touch, yet one that adds a touch (or should that be whiff) of authenticity!

Another aspect of camp life is the stowage and general clutter. I have painted up some stowage piles from Ainsty Castings trade goods range. I've now got a range of items, such as chests, barrels, fleece 'bales', and goods in wicker baskets, to go around my tents and houses. These not only give a sense of life to the table, but also offer cover for my troops.

Lastly for this post, a few words on some small bits of terrain I made earlier in the year, to show where there is 'rough' ground. These were put together using 3mm thick ply, cut and sanded to various shapes, then they were glued together with PVA. Modelling clay was used to smooth out the slopes, then I covered them in my usual PVA covered with sand 'mix'. Once dry, they were painted up, and various types of Woodland Scenics foliage added. I think they've turned out nicely, and again add another dimension to the table top.

Rough ground out of roughly trimmed off cuts...

Below are a few pictures of the completed assembly, and some scenes of camp life. I've still forgotten to take a group shot of my buildings, so that will definitely be in the next post! As will the start of the Scots......until next time!

Time for drill

A prisoner meets an untimely end...

... and Tam McLeod plans revenge!