Bolshevik Commanders

Another small addition to my Russian Civil War collection. I resolved to pick some small, easily achievable goals to get my painting back up to speed. These chaps fitted the bill perfectly. Copplestone Castings miniatures are always a joy to paint and with their greatcoats providing some large areas and minimal additional detail I got them finished and based in double-quick time.

Wayside Cross

This little project kept me happily occupied and out of mischief on a Sunday afternoon. The capped orthodox cross was made out styrene strips, scored with a sharp point to add some 'wood grain'. Constructing and painting the cross took up the majority of the work. The base was already textured, painted and ready to use. It had originally been intended as a test piece for some snow effects, but I had abandoned the idea and it was just waiting to be repurposed. Drilling a few holes for the foliage and cross, gluing everything in place and adding some ground cover was all that was needed to complete the piece.

I think it should look right at home as a terrain piece for my Russian Civil War project.

Bucketheads

It only took 269 days to get these guys done. Boy did they kill my painting mojo dead. Endless shades of pale grey, white and black with nary a hint of colour just drained all my motivation. If you were wondering why this blog had stagnated, now you know the answer.  

To be fair, I can't pin all the blame on a bunch of Stormtroopers. There have been other factors at play, but really my enthusiasm and energy for painting has been at an all time low.

Never have I been happier to finally add a splash of colour!

Now, at last, my Star Wars: Legion Rebel Scum have some opposition.

So now that I'm happily wielding a paintbrush again, what's next? Well maybe some more additions to my Star Wars: Legion collection, or perhaps my long neglected Russian Civil War project. Or some other distraction? Watch this space ;-)

Bank Holiday Bits and Bobs

I've been stuck indoors today due to the typically sh*t Early May Bank Holiday weather - high winds and heavy rain. The upside is I've had a bit of a hobby day, in between drinking copious amounts of tea. Yes, there was toast too.

I don't often post uncompleted stuff on the blog, but it's been a while - and, well why not.

Currently on the painting desk are a bunch of Star Wars: Legion Imperial Stormtroopers. I love painting endless shades of pale grey and white. Not. They are great figures, just not very inspiring to paint, which is my way of excusing myself for my usually glacial painting progress. Don't tell their boss, or he'll find some "new ways to motivate" me! Still, I'm happy to have done some more work on them. One step nearer to completion.

"and over here we have... more unpainted miniatures!"

While I painted away, the 3D printer has been humming quietly in the background. Fresh off the build plate today; another terrain piece for Mythic Battles:Pantheon board game. It now joins the painting queue behind the Stormtroopers.

The ruination that is Mythic Battles.

I like some background listening while I'm painting - a chance to catch up on a backlog of podcasts. Queued up today and in no particular order were:

WSS Podcast - The Wargames Soldiers and Strategy crew. Always worth a listen.

The Grognard Files - The inimitable and eminently listenable Dirk the Dice. This one scratches my RPG itch, though it's a good few years since I last role played anything. (TSR's 1980's vintage 'Top Secret' revisited briefly in a fit of old school nostalgia in 2018). Sadly, it didn't last.

Lead Pursuit Podcast - Blood Red Skies (and other aviation wargaming topics). Usually something interesting, though I tend to 'tune out' when they get too much into 'the meta'. Great website too.

The Mad Axeman Podcast - I tend to skip through the chatter about about ADLG (Art De La Guerre) rules and competition games (not my thing at all), but there are usually some gems in amongst the general chatter, not least the now regular 'I'm sorry but I think you're an arse' feature. Check out Episode 77 if  (like me) you have never seen the attraction of wargaming the American Civil War.

I've also been busy making cards - specifically a Fortune deck for Pulp Alley. I've had a PDF copy of the 1st edition rules for a long time, but never had the opportunity to try them out. Cue an email from my cross-channel gaming buddy Ian, hatching another game idea and asking whether I had the rules. Well, we are going to need a Fortune deck, so I got busy with the printer, card and hobby knife. 

Pulp is on the cards

Over the past few weeks, Ian and I have been battling it out with Bolt Action via Skype using Ian's DAK and 8th Army forces. We have another game lined up this week, so I spent a bit of time re-reading the rules, the next scenario and pondering whether I'd made a good choice with my force selection. 

Speaking of Bolt Action, Warlord Games recently had a Spring Sale, so I took advantage and a couple of books came winging my way; Close Quarters for Cruel Seas and Air Strike! for Blood Red Skies. I've not done much with either game recently, but I like the simple pleasure of flicking through rule books - so I was able to indulge myself a bit today.

Light reading for a rainy day.

All-in-all, a pretty good day hobby-wise. 'Every cloud...' as they say.

New Adventures In The Third Dimension

I finally caved in and bought a 3D printer. I'd been dithering about it for some time, but when I spotted that Anycubic were running a brief promotional offer I decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up. It was my birthday too, so I had an extra excuse to splash out and treat myself. 

So now I'm the proud owner of a Photon S resin SLA printer.

I'm still experimenting with different print settings, support configurations, slicing software (Anycubic's own, plus Chitubox and Meshmixer), but I'm rather enjoying the whole process. This is like a whole new hobby!

As with every hobby, the list of tools and 'essentials' soon grows. Top of the list was a big 5-litre bottle of IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol, not India Pale Ale) which is a must for cleaning the prints, print bed and resin tank. I will soon have to sort out a UV lamp to speed up curing times. I'm using good old sunlight to cure the finished prints at present, which is a less than reliable resource here at this time of year. I would really like to get Anycubic's all-in-one Wash and Cure machine, which seems to get favourable reviews, but that is an expense that will have to wait for a bit.

Amazon - free sample by Francesca Musumeci / ArtizanGuild

I fancy trying some different resins too. Anycubic bundle a 'random' 500ml bottle of resin with the printer, but from what I can tell its always of the transparent green variety, which is exactly what I got. I'm happy with the results so far and being transparent, the prints probably cure faster in natural sunlight than they would do with opaque resins. Still, some grey resin and Anycubic's water-washable, low odour Eco resin are on the shopping list.

Kingdom of Mercia, Praying Hero - free sample by Lost Kingdom Miniatures

Of course, a 3D printer is useless without files to print, so my web wandering lately has taken me in search of free files to try. I'm not short on choice, but the amount and quality of paid-for content has also opened my eyes. I suspect that nascent 3D hobbyists like me are in danger of "Ooh shiney" syndrome every bit as much as we were with traditional metal and plastic miniatures. The amount of new Kickstarter and Patreon content offering 3D files for home printing is relentless. Having looked at a few of these, they are generally bundles offering a collection of 3D files, rather than single miniatures. Some subscriptions add new bundles monthly and I have to wonder how anyone is supposed to print, let alone paint and play with all this stuff. We wargamers are used to lead mountains and even plastic mountains, but I forsee that the STL mountain will become a new thing, if it isn't one already. 

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral by MiniWorld 3D

3D files are, of course, even more dangerous to our wallets than their 'physical' counterparts since the digital files are intangible and it is easy to convince one's self that they don't count as a hobby purchase. When the postman or courier delivers that heavy package full of all those new miniatures you ordered or backed on Kickstarter, you know you've spent your hard-earned cash and have something to show for it (or perhaps something you need to hide from your better half if you are in the habit of explaining away your hobby addiction). With 3D files, you click 'pay', receive your download in seconds and feel - nothing.  And you still want more. Very dangerous indeed.

HMS Grey Goose - fresh out of the printer

I shall no doubt be returning to the topic of 3D printing in future posts, but for now I need to go pull on my rather fetching blue nitrile gloves, strap on my mask and goggles, wield my plastic scraper and break open the IPA as another completed print awaits my attention.

Till next time.

Mythic Battles: Pantheon - Scenery

These are the terrain pieces from Mythic Battles: Pantheon - a selection of 'Broken Columns', 'Crow Trees' and 'Lugubrious Trees'. Lugubrious, huh? That's the first (and probably the last) time I've ever heard any gaming piece described as lugubrious. Anyway, they are suitably twisted and gnarled as befits Mythic Battles rather dystopian vibe. 

The trees were modified a bit. Some of the 'Crow Trees' had their avian occupants clipped off so they don't look quite so identical. The 'Lugubrious Trees' all had an animal skull and a Spartan shield moulded on, most of which I carved off. A couple of the trees had replacement shields added, scrounged from the bits box. I think they were from Foundry miniatures originally. As the shields had identical patterns cast on, I filed one smooth for variety and painted a Classical Greek style dolphin on it freehand. This took a bit of trial and error, not made any easier by the fact that I had already glued the shield in place before I decided to paint the design, meaning the overhanging branches kept getting in the way of my paintbrush. Hopeless planning on my part, but the final result was worth the effort

The trees all come with integral bases, but the columns don't. As they are plastic and very light, they are rather prone to being accidentally displaced when in play, especially the taller ones. To give them a bit more stability I decided to base them.  They are intended to be individual pieces on the game board, so that heroes and monsters can pick them up and hurl them about, but I decided the taller columns would be based in pairs as they are most at risk of being toppled inadvertently. There are still enough single column pieces to replace a 'double' piece when one gets thrown and removed. The bases were built up using thin plasticard and textured with a mix of PVA glue, filler and fine grit. Small stones were used to represent rocks and rubble. After painting, the addition of  some grass tufts completed the bases.

As a bonus, the trees and the broken columns will do double-duty in other games, but it did make me realise just how little usable table-top terrain I have. I suspect that the focus of my efforts in the New Year will be to rectify that.

The Perfect Captain - A Farewell

We take many things for granted. Things that have been around for so long that it feels like they have always been here - and always will be. But, my friends, all good things must come to an end.

If you follow any of the popular wargames forums, it probably hasn't escaped your notice that The Perfect Captain's website is set to close sometime this month (October 2020). We can only hope that all the files will be available in another format, but that isn't very certain right now. TPC do have a Facebook group, (I will refrain from expressing my views on FB for fear of upsetting someone) but I shall miss the webpage.

I can't remember now how I first stumbled across The Perfect Captain, but it was the discovery of their Red Actions! rules that first kindled my continuing interest in the Russian Civil War. 

What I do remember is being struck by the quality of presentation, with graphics that would not look out of place in a commercial rule set.

And here's the thing. These are not commercial products. Everything on the Perfect Captain's website is available 100% free, gratis and for nothing. Their only request is that if you download the rules you make a donation (or give up some time) in support of a charity of your choice. Undoubtedly some will have ignored this request, but I like to think most wargamers are basically decent and willing to give something back. I can't help wondering how much all those donations have amounted to over the years. So apart from providing us with a wonderful and inspirational wargaming resource, perhaps The Perfect Captain's enduring legacy is also a humanitarian one. It's a heartwarming thought.

Thanks and farewell, TPC.

Love this artwork

Unit cards for Ironbow - perfectly capturing that period feel

The Perfect Captain channels Blue Peter.
Make your own sanides-style tablet for the Hoplomachia rulebook 

Red Actions! cards and counters. 
Where have I seen that face before comrade?