Bolt-Action Ruined Hamlet Part 2

Some time ago I posted about the Warlord Games Bolt-Action Ruined Hamlet I had acquired; well, finally, here is the update. However, I have - in true fashion - only completed one, so far; due to my wandering attention and unfocused approach to all things wargaming.

  

The box contains three sets of these components, which allow the construction of a ruined farm-type house and/or two smaller ruined structures; depending how you decide to utilise them. There does appear, upon closer inspection, to be a discrepancy between the two doorway sizes of each set, in that one appears to be 1/56 scale and the other, closer to 1/72; although, to be honest, I didn't find this to be a major issue once construction had taken place. 

The older, rural nature of the buildings these kits are depicting, would probably lend itself to irregularities in construction (that's my take on it, anyway).

Here is one of the finished products, which I mounted on some stiff card - please excuse the poor photography (I used my phone under the kitchen lighting, as usual).

I added some additional 'rubble' using sand and cat litter and employed some old coffee stirrers to act as battered, floor boarding  for the interiors.

As you would expect, there was a fair amount of filling and cleaning up of join lines during construction; but, overall the model was very clean and flash free.

To keep costs down I used black car primer to undercoat and Dulux match pots to paint the building , along with some commercial matte varnish, all of which, I think, achieved their respective aims for a fraction of the cost of 'dedicated' wargaming products.

I plan to use all three buildings as part of small-scale Normandy-type skirmish games and have recently got hold of some Bolt-Action plastic British and German infantry to use for these - more of which later.  Although, as a brief insight, here are a few 'Tommies' to illustrate how the structure fits scale-wise.

To sum up, for those into 28mm gaming from Pike and Shotte to modern, you really can't go wrong with these as an addition to your table top; just do what I did and shop around for the best price beforehand.

That's it for now,

Monty

Warlord Games 'Boadicea Triumphant!'

I've almost finished Warlord Game's excellent 'BoadiceaTriumphant' model and have attempted to do it what limited justice I could.

I would have completed it weeks ago as unlike me, I decided to mount a big push and get it done in relatively quick time.  The little woman had, after all, bought it me over a year ago and it was only fair I should make an effort to show her the completed version in order to ensure her continued procurement policy towards my chaotically disorganised hobby. However, my hospital stint and four weeks' convalescence put paid to that and so it was inevitably delayed.

The constituent parts prior to clean-up and priming; the figures have a nice, heroic feel to them, with 'Boadicea' herself bearing a passing resemblance to actress Alex Kingston, who, coincidently featured in a woeful television drama about the warrior queen some years ago.

There's not a great deal of room aboard the chariot, and so with this in mind and to ensure a good grip, I drilled locating holes in its bed and pinned the models' feet to assist their gluing later.

The (almost) finished model;  due to the unforgiving scale, I drilled the horses' bits prior to priming in order to feed thread through to act as reins but have yet to fix them. The problem will be where to feed them to as neither of the figures has been sculpted with them in mind.

I was thinking of maybe scattering a spare Roman scutum onto the base and even fix a couple of (bent) pila into the side of the chariot to represent battlefield chaos, but decided against it as being too 'busy' and distracting.

Really enjoyed building this one and look forward attempting more Warlord stuff in the not-too-distant future.

That's it for now,

Monty



The Butt of all Jokes...

My usual slow plod has come to a temporary halt due to me being laid up following a minor operation on the old Farmer Giles; with the post-op convalescence of which I don't recommend to anyone, proving a considerable pain in the arse - boom,boom.

Suffice to say, I am unable to sit comfortably ('ooh, er, missus') for any length of time to paint, and in any case, my modelling stuff lives at my work flat in London; so I am separated from it for at least another week  - doh!

However, prior to this unfortunate occurence, I was cracking on (no pun intended) in two unrelated directions - nothing new there - primarily on...Warlord Games excellent 28mm 'Boadicea Triumphant!' model, which the little woman kindly bought me for my birthday.

As you can see, the chariot remains distinctly unoccupied at present, although both Boudica and her faithful charioteer are prepped, primed and ready to go; I decided to approach this project as three separate parts; horses, chariot and figures to maintain impetus. This is probably the single most ambitious  model I have attempted, despite 'wargaming' on and off since 1996; therein belies the extent of my achievements and vision in this great hobby to date! In fairness, I tend to concentrate on smaller scales primarily, so perhaps I am being a little harsh on myself...ho,hum.

I had intended the horses to be both white (cliché, I know, but who cares?), but after a couple of cock-ups with the washes I was using - I tend to overdo them - they ended up like this, which I quite like. My aim is to complete the model by Christmas - I know, my ambitions know no bounds!

...and secondly, some Colonial British infantry from my favourite 15mm manufacturer, Peter Pig, and their excellent 'Patrols in the Sudan' range. Those that have read my sporadic posts in the past may recall my liking of Two Hour Wargames (THW) and these troops  are the first finished for use with their Colonial Adventures rules set. All of THW's products are designed to use any basing systems you may already have, so I decided to base my rank and file on multiple stands -  to allow flexibility for use in other rules sets -  and the NCOs on separate bases as originally intended.

THW games can be as big or small as you like - the latter of which suits me perfectly - and still give a dynamic, entertaining experience. They are equally suited to head to head, same side or solo play and are designed with all three in mind.

I will post more progress reports once I get up and running again; my apologies to those of a reserved or squeamish disposition regarding the introduction of this post; but I believe in spreading my self-pitying misery to as many unsuspecting recipients as possible in a vain attempt at sympathy; and we all know where that can be found in the dictionary... :)

That's it for now,

Monty





Random Painting Part 2

The summer with its fleeting sunshine, along with the usual work constraints and relocating, continue to prevent me producing reams of stuff for the present; however, I have managed a few bits and pieces. 

Here are a few shots of a couple of things I've been doing lately - not much admittedly - as I  have to decide with the limited time I have available whether to concentrate on smaller scale stuff, as I have done up now, or maybe branch out into something larger...hmmm.

Pendraken 10mm Confederate infantry - I've had these knocking about for a while and ACW is a definite for a new period, but which scale...? I intend to use THW's Rebels and Rifles rules set which I've recently acquired and like a lot.

Essex 15mm Early Imperial Legionaries for DBA or RRtK.

I've moved on in my painting approach now and prefer the less uniformed, grubbier approach compared with my earlier attempts at 15mm Romans, which were all clean and identical...

My latest prezzie and next job courtesy of my other half, who is determined to add to my metal and plastic mountain - bless 'er! I will have to dust off and finish my Warlord Romans, which I enjoyed first time round.

Having thought about it, the priority I think, is to concentrate on focus - easier said than done for me, anyway - and just get back to painting stuff -  however little - regularly; while I game at skirmish level, before moving onto to greater things...

That's it for now,

Monty

Warlord Roman Command

Here is the second Impetus-based Warlord Roman base (this time command) which I finished a while ago prior to going into my Airfix frenzy. When painting these I wanted to try and introduce a little more diversity with their uniforms and equipment as well as practising my scalpel skills for some small modifications which I will highlight shortly.

I've said it before, I think these figures are great for a variety of reasons, not least their character and quality of finish which I believe to be a plastics benchmark at present. The centurion figure is joined by the cornicen and signifer to inspire and lead the troops.

The signifer and cornicen share the same torso and arms and even head, so I decided to give the former the parade mask to wear to add variety. Whether or not these were actually worn in battle remains conjecture; although one was discovered at the Teutoburg Forest; and caused a rethink among academics, it may simply have been part of the owner's baggage. When assembling the figure, a light application of green putty to his shoulders was needed to allow his head to sit correctly and unfortunately, despite trying, I was unable to give him a wolf's skin.

The cornicen was a little more straight forward and needed no real adjustment to make him 'work'. The only real criticism I have with him is despite many attempts, he refuses to 'play' his cornu. Oh, well, never mind.

The centurion with drawn gladius and scutum, leads his men forward; I went for the 'warry' look for him and dispensed with the optional vine staff.

The chaps above are showing off their added sword hilts which I (almost) successfully transplanted onto them allowing them to hurl pila with a guilt-free conscience instead of being confined to just wielding gladius.

The unit above, based on its movement tray base and showing off their differing tunics and equipment; as well as including the odd bronze helmet I gave the remainder additional fittings to further differentiate them.

Well, that's all for now, I think it's back to WW2 again now for a little while as I continue to jump around wildly and confusingly between time periods, scales and rule sets...

All the best for now,

Monty

I continued my usual practice of painting the legionaries' tunics in varying worn shades of either red or off-white, trying to capture that soldierly cheap, massed-produced look. The centurion's red tunic was deliberately made to look newer, brighter and hopefully more expensive than the common soldiers around him, with the other two officers sporting white versions.

Warlord Imperial Roman Legionaries

Just finished my first batch of Warlord's Imperial Roman Legionaries which I based on Gale Force Nine's magnetic 20mm bases before placing them in on a scratch-built magnetised movement tray/base for use with the Impetus rule set. This way, they may also be flexibly used individually with WAB for a skirmish game. I decided to reduce the Impetus recommended base width of 120mm to a more manageable 100mm and the figures to eight for the legionaries to represent the Roman army's contubernium unit while keeping the figure count per base visually appealing. The appeal of these rules is that they allow you to get going with relatively few bases per army. I haven't decided who the foe will be yet, but am edging towards the new Warlord Dacians.

It took me a while to finally get round to painting the first batch and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Much has been written about the quality of Warlord's Romans and while stylised in appearance they are high quality and full of character. Their selection of interchangeable arms and heads further add to the possible variety available.

Easy to paint, well-defined and proportioned, they and the similar hard plastic offerings now available from a variety of different manufacturers represent the way forward for affordable collectibles and war gaming generally.

When painting these chaps I deliberated over among other things the colour of their tunics. Much speculation surrounds this subject with many theories being forwarded. I wanted to stay away from the uniformal bright red, so I followed the latest thinking and tried to give them each a slightly different appearance based around faded madder red or the grey/brown of undyed wool.

As per usual I used the Army Painter to produce the effect you now see, on which I am totally sold on and wouldn't consider going back, even for individual figures - too much hassle!

The only real issue I had was with the supplied water slide transfers, which I feel don't really work that well. I followed the various snippets of advice published and applied them after first coating the shields with the strong tone dip and prior to application of the matt varnish, which was straight forward enough with a little care. However, once the matt varnish was then applied, some of the transfers decided to peel away - most frustrating. I have since solved this with a little PVA, however it is a mar to an otherwise quality product. I will probably look to other suppliers of transfers with a little more adhesion in future once I've seen if non application of matt varnish on the shields works .

I am now alternating my time between the remainder of the Warlords and the start of a Baccus 6mm Warmaster army (Romans, again of course) which all gets bit confusing...oh well!

That's all for now,

All the best,

Monty