Elegy from a Country Churchyard

Just a short post about the completed churchyard for my 15mm AWI terrain. I completed the Magister Militum church back in August, but it looked a bit stark and bare:

 

So I built a small churchyard using some cut-down Renedra fencing and Peter Pig gravestones and tree. I was careful to leave enough room inside to take a battalion of two bases, 60mm x 30mm:

 

 



So once it was fully painted I flocked it with dark green grass powder. This looked too bare, so I added some coarse turf and some clumps of bushes and grass to make it look a tad more realistic:

 

 

And in situ:

 

 

....and finally, containing some highlanders:

 

Only a small side project, but enjoyable for all that. I'm currently working on a secret project for The Santa Clause, so Paint Table Saturday may suffer this week!


Until next time............

 

 

 

All Hail the Royal Mail

Surprisingly my last post got the most page views of my (albeit short) blogging career, which suggests that my terrible sense of humour is more entertaining than my hobby-related stuff! Yikes!

Moving swiftly on, our postie (who is one of the grumpiest people ever born) came up trumps with two lovely packages. Firstly my pre-order of Lion Rampant by Dan Mersey, via Amazon:

 

I'll let you know what I think of it once I've had a good read.

Then my (discounted) goodies from Peter Pig - more Continentals and some more British dragoons:

 

 

 

Paint Table Saturday this week showed Tarleton's boys, some guns and command figures, plus the ongoing little churchyard:

 

 

The churchyard needs a little more paint, some flock and shrubbery before it's finished, but I am relatively happy with how it turned out, simple but effective:

 

 

This week I also managed to complete the Hessian Jagers and Fusiliers:

 

 

I actually really enjoyed painting the Fusiliers. They are meant to be Von Dittfurth's battalion, and I love their 'toy soldier' look. I am not a great fan of  'old school' wargaming - complete with lime green table - nor the fad for imagi-nations, but I can perhaps see the attraction of the uniforms.

 

Until next time..................

 

 

 



 





Paint Table Saturday

Continuing my goal of completing two small armies for the AWI, I have been working on some Indians to act as skirmishers for either side - these are almost finished:

 

 

Plus some Hessian Jagers which I failed to finish, despite my best intentions:

 

 

 



Nonetheless I got quite a lot of painting done this week despite my working life being very demanding.
Yesterday my back order of Tribal Class Destroyers sailed in from Magister Militum ahead of schedule which was nice.

 

 

Looking ahead, in a few weeks time my mate Mog and I shall be visiting Normandy for the first time, walking the beaches and museums, plus a trip to Pegasus Bridge, the Falaise Gap and Hill 112, so expect this blog to suddenly go all WW2 when I get back! I shall take plenty of pictures to bore you with too!

 

Until next time.........

Waaaaaaagons.......ROLL!

Apart from the varnish and flock the AWI wagons are finished:

 

I enjoyed painting these far more than I thought I would! They seemed like a chore when I started, but they were extremely relaxing to do. My favourite is the mobile forge at the back.

I also started work on the churchyard to accompany the church I posted about on August 5th (Go here if you want a peek).
This will sit on one side of the church once it's painted and flocked. The white metal bits are PP, and the fence is cut-down renedra picket fence:

 

 

As you can see in the picture below there is just enough room for one of my AWI battalions - in this case some light infantry:

 

 

 

 

I'll post a pic when it's complete. Working tonight on some hessian jagers, from Peter Pig. Many thanks to Gingerbhoy Roy who told me about PP's current discount code, and thus saved me a few quid on my latest purchase - yet more continentals!

 

Until next time..........



AWI Scenery Items

Whilst my troops have been my main painting concern, I have also been beavering away at some scenic items for the battlefields of the American Revolution. Most of the buildings are by Hovels (http://www.hovelsltd.co.uk/), and I have gone for a dirty, lived-in look for them so that they will blend into the battlefield rather than being all bright and prominent.

A Small Farm

Barn and Field

Cabin and Prosperous Townhouse



I find building and painting scenery extremely satisfying, and it also produces fairly quick results when compared to painting figures!

Until next time...........

Paint Table Saturday

Got some more done to the dreaded highlanders for my AWI British Army. These have been a real bugbear and I re-started them once - It happens sometimes with figures that you just have to stop and start again because things are definitely not going right.

Thankfully they are nearing completion now! I like the buff leggings so I'll probably try those on some other troops (I am obviously the Gok Wan of Wargaming)!

This means that the forces of the Crown almost total eight battalions:

 

 

I think 9 or 10 battalions plus a small amount of cavalry and artillery will suffice for now to get gaming (although I haven't even started the Continentals yet!). I can always add more later if the games seem to need it. Still not sure if I'll use Will McNally's rules (http://willawi.blogspot.co.uk/) or a version of Andy Callan's classic Loose Files & American Scramble (http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/resources/callan/lfas.htm), or something else entirely.

 

I've also been working on some scenery so will post some photos of that soon.

 

Until next time............

Back in the AWI

Progress has finally been made on my peter pig 15mm AWI troops. Whilst not particularly well-painted (my eyes aren't what they used to be) they look just the job on the table-top!

Firstly the Grenadier battalion:

 

 

Then the light bob skirmishers:

 

 

 

 

And then when this came through the post yesterday.........

 

 

 

.......I was sufficiently inspired by the eye-candy therein to have another go at tackling the highlanders that caused me so much bother the other week!

 

I have a busy Thursday and Friday, so you may well be looking at Paint Table Saturday in the picture above! Rebellion is an excellent book. I don't play Black powder, but the pictures and info within are well worth the admission price. I got mine via ebay from the excellent NannyOgg999.

Until next time...........

 

 

 





A Mixed Bag

Just a quick update following a long weekend in Kent. We always stay in the delightful Miller's Arms when in Canterbury, and it was a great weekend as usual. On a minor note, I know that hops form a sort of currency in that neck of the woods, but why do they have to put so many in the beer?! It seemed over-hopped to the nth degree, but what do I know - I've only been drinking the stuff for decades now!

On the painting/gaming front I finally managed to finish some dead livestock that have been lying around (literally) half-completed for ages: Warlord Games' Dead Cows. Ideal for WW2 Normandy, and possibly a good name for a backing group (Pendragon Without & The Dead Cows?!). This pack comes with a dead horse too, which I have already used in my Indian Mutiny set-up.

I also completed 4Ground's excellent 15mm Militia Blockhouse. I can't fault it - it does exactly what it says on the tin. Now it needs a bit of a scenic base to complete it, and possibly a thin wash just to darken it down a bit.

And finally, I received through the post some extra naval bits for my 1/6000 games - some merchant ships from Bend Sinister (www.bendsinister.co.uk). Some are afloat, and some are sinking, but all are very nice! Ideal for convoy games as you can imagine.

 

 

Hoping to post on PTS this weekend, so until next time.............

Paint Table Saturday and New Scenery

I had to put the highlanders to one side as I was getting frustrated with them JUST NOT GOING RIGHT! I shall return to them once I have calmed down a bit.....

As a consequence I started the British Grenadier battalion, but didn't get far:

 

I also dug out a piece of scenery I bought a while ago - a 15mm Militia Blockhouse. I appreciate this is probably/possibly a bit anachronistic for the AWI, but I'm sure there must have been a few still in use during the conflict?

 

 

I am still undecided when it comes to laser-cut scenery - some of it looks great, whilst some of it looks exactly like what it is - some bits of wood glued together! We'll see how this turns out. It's a pretty simple shape and should lend itself to a small, irregular stockade with maybe a small cabin included.

 

 

Until next time........

 

 

 

AWI Guards Battalion and New Perry Goodness

So, the speed painting turned out reasonably well. Using the strong tone wash didn't significantly reduce the painting time, but certainly helped. I still had to build the colours back up from the shading effect it created, but they look ok from relatively nearby so should be fine on the tabletop once based.

 

 

 

 

I also spotted the imminent release of the new Perry Foot Knights as advertised on their website:

 

Now how on earth am I going to resist buying those?!


Until next time...........

 

 



Paint Table Saturday - AWI Reinforcements

I am trying some speed painting techniques in order to increase the production rate of my AWI battalions. This is a Peter Pig Guards battalion painted with strong tone from Army Painter. I've yet to work up the red and white before adding some detail. Of course, at 15mm tall, once they're on the table top they'll just look like red and white blobs, but you do your best don't you?!

 

I also found time to base up a selection of wagons I've had for a while - a selection of PP and Hallmark if I remember rightly:

 

 

I'll probably do them in a light brown/fawn and then a dark wash, with a drybrush to bring out the detail.

 

Until next time.....

 

 

 

American War of Independence Church

I have finally finished the church I purchased from Magister Militum. It's a big lump of resin, but in the end it came out reasonably well, although I can't say I enjoyed painting it - it was difficult to make all that white look like anything interesting! It also looks better in the flesh than my poor attempts to photograph it, but you'll have to take my word for that!

I'm now planning a small churchyard using cut-down renedra picket fencing and some Peter Pig gravestones.

Until next time.......