Thursday 8 December 2016

Amera Wilderness Terrain

Quite often wilderness settings on the tabletop are mostly flat and in forests. After recent visits to Glen Trool and Killicrankie it came to my mind that even smaller scale encounters in real (historic) life take advantage of terrain and I've been fancying some rocky hillocks for my future battles.

Tuesday 6 December 2016

New Building Work

I've been feeling pretty grotty for the last couple of weeks and definitely not been wanting to be hunched over any figures with a paintbrush. However I did take the time to do something a bit more sedate (in theory) and build some new 15mm scale Dave Graffam buildings, of which I have quite a few (unmade!).

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Trees

I was going to give this post a catchier title, but inspiration fails at the moment. Also it's about trees. On the surface not very exciting, but in reality (or at least the tabletop version) a couple (or more) of trees dotted on the table really bring it to life.

One of the problems for a cash strapped Dad like myself is the cost of quality trees. So when hunting on Ebay I stumbled across a supplier of cheap trees (with that terrifying ebay tag "from China") for around £9 for 20 (18 months ago) I thought I'd take the plunge. They arrived in due course and then sat in their bags until now.

Plastic textured trunks and plastic parsley like foliage. I liked the shape of them, they just needed some touching up. So some light spraying of green paint,a bit of dry-brushing to the bare plastic trunks and a little light green foliage highlighting (or blobbing to be more accurate) and here we are. Based on 25mm mdf bases I bought from Warbases at Targe. Pretty happy with how they look even with my quick pimping. Only another 16 to go...

Saturday 19 November 2016

More 15mm.co.uk Undead Arise

Fresh off the paint table (or as fresh as the Undead can be) are a bakers dozen of Skeleton Warriors from 15mm.co.uk (codes HOT99 "Skeleton Eternal Guard", HOT40 "Skeleton Archers", HOT41 "Skeleton Spears"). Just looking at the online catalogue pictures I seem to have lost one of the archers in the months between purchase and paint table. I wonder where?.

For all their perceived simplicity, skeletons miniatures can be a mixed bag at any scale. These are more recently released than the packs containing my previous skellies from 15mm.co.uk  and to my eye are nicer sculpts with some interesting realistic poses, with archers reaching behind themselves to their quiver or nocking an arrow. In fact I don't know if I have better skeletons in 28mm!

This should bolster out my Undead force and give me enough not only options to have a full skeleton warband but give me better numbers for an opposing force when playing solo (quite a few figures can sometimes be required for Two Hour Wargames PEF resolution).

Friday 11 November 2016

Caravan Carnage

One May holiday we took a trip up to the lovely East Neuk of Fife for a quick break in our caravan.. The weather wasn't quite as lovely all the time, but fortunately I'd looked at the forecast and taken up the Skirmish Board and accompanying kit, all compactly stored in a Pizza box. Almost as a demonstration of concept, when the rain started I cleared the small caravan dining table, set up and had a game with Arabiansquire. Almost in keeping with the pseudo impromptu nature of the game I'd forgotten my camera, so had to borrow the wee lad's ipod for photographic duties. That is the first of my poor photo excuses. If you need more, please apply in writing - I have loads!

The board was set up as above. Barbarians (Leader, Warriors and a couple of ranged slingers) in one corner and the Undead (2 Cavalry, inc the Leader, Warriors and Walking Dead) in the opposite. It was set to be a simple straight battle.

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Skirmish Box Introduction

A project I've been working on for a while is the construction of a new custom board for my Skirmish Box idea.
So I've used Dave Graffam's Cobbled Streets Kit to construct a new tile set. This kit has mud, gravel and grass layers that can be used for wilder areas as well (which is a planned future second board)

After several town layout designs and lots of pixel gazing the final design is done. It should fit better with the number of buildings I'll be putting on the map. The previous one is lovely but seems to have slightly too many roads for the building population. The gravel section at the bottom to the map is to allow a link in with a future planned forest\wilderness map.

My test print of the board had a couple of print issues (the printer I used didn't seem to like the card surface much) but I've made it up anyway to get the design in use and tested before taking it further.

Additionally I've been working on the scenery sheets to maximize the print efficiency. I now have two buildings and some walls on one sheet of A4 card. The whole thing is another testament to the flexibility of Dave Graffam's photoshop file format option. I've settled on using two distinct texture layers for each house design and I think 6 houses with the the walls is just about right.

15mm.co.uk Undead


My first 15mm warband ever painted up, the Undead.

4 Walking Dead, 4 Skeleton Warriors and the Cavalry. All from 15mm.co.uk's "HOT Fantasy" range.

15mm.co.uk Barbarians

My second painted Skirmish Board warband painted - The Barbarians.

Figures are all from 15mm.co.uk's "HOT Fantasy" range,actually under Celtic Warriors.  (Codes HOT18, HOT19 and a single figure from the Tabletop Fantasy Rnage Human Barbarian pack (Code MDA81P)

The scenery is all from my 15mm Skirmish Board set (copies of which will be made available soon from this very blog).

15mm.co.uk Orcs


Completed warband of 15mm Orcs from 15mm.co.uk's "HOT Fantasy" range (Codes HOT91 "Orc Command", HOT4A "Orc Horde" and HOT89 "Orc Boar Riders")

A slightly mixed bunch I think. The "Orc horde" warriors are a bit more finely sculpted but slight. Almost a bit more goblin in fact, but their faces have great pointy features. The larger orc's a bit more blocky (if not crude) in sculpting style but once the base paint and highlight was on what seemed blocky turned into 15mm bulk and muscle - just the job for these guys. Together the two styles manage to work together.

I'm not really a big fan of the bright green skin for Orcs and Goblins in 28mm, but at this scale it really brings the warband to life. Still enjoying finding things out at this scale!

15mm.co.uk Dwarfs



15mm Dwarven Warband from 15mm.co.uk's "HOT Fantasy" range (Codes HOT1 "Dwarf Command, HOT2a "Dwarf Polearms", HOT2B "Dwarf Hammers").

If you remember my Orc Warband I was commenting on the rough and ready nature of some of the sculpts. These guys are anything but. Great detail which a real joy to paint. They are pretty heavily armoured which made me think they were from a well supplied stronghold. A feeling backed up by the inclusion of a King!

I had a bash at free handing a banner. The front is obscured by a couple of tassels, but the back is exposed. It'll not win any awards, but fills the space.

The colour scheme was inspired by the blues and metal of the cover of "Oath Breaker" by Nick Kyme (Black Library) which I read a few years ago.

Friday 4 November 2016

Start of an Era?

Hello and welcome to my new blog. As some of you may be aware from my other blog, Weeblokes, I am a skirmish gamer through and through. Usual convention seems to say that this happens in 28mm scale. I know that until a while ago that's where my attention lay. That was until I started down the particular project of my "Skirmish Board". More on that in future posts, but the crux of it is a skirmish level wargaming set up that can entirely fit into a pizza box. This had started me down a road of using 15mm scale figures. Real life unfortunately got in the way after some adventures, but I'm back in the saddle and the intervening months has heightened my enthusiasm.

The Skirmish Board