Latest update

First I want to acknowledge what I should've done to start with, that all the photos on both my blogs are provided by my lovely wife, the Protector of Pelarcona, who is a wizz with the digital camera.

I've been trying to advance several projects simultaneously, which means each of them goes slowly, so there's not much to report or show. However, here are the first three of the Hundred Years War figs, from the wonderful Perry's range.





On the WW2 front, the Russians have been suspended for a while as we ordered some Pendraken models for North Africa, and I decided I'd try to "speed paint" these, to compensate for the other projects which need more time. First stage is to spray paint both sides (8th Army and Afrika Korps/Italians) Army Painter Desert Yellow as undercoat. This covers pretty well.

Next stage is to "dip" the models. Except I don't dip it, because this generally gives effects which are too extreme for my taste, and also limits your control, as well as potentially wasting dip. So I brush it on.

I decided to use two different dips for the opposing sides, so they could be more readily distinguished on the table.

I'm using Army Painter "Strong" for the 8th Army. This gives a rather greyish, stone coloured effect. And for the Axis forces, I'm using a teak woodstain/varnish mix. This gives a reddish brown result. Both these "dips" result in a gloss varnish. Being a confirmed matt varnish man, I've surprised myself by quite liking this gloss on some figures and may start a more "toy soldierly" project to use it - but it's not right for these 10mm models. So I had to matt them down before further work.

Then I apply the same technique to both forces, a simple drybrush with Vallejo Sand Yellow (916) and then a further, much lighter drybrush on the edges with a whitened highlight of the same sand yellow.

The result of this process using the two different dips is shown below (Axis on the left, 8th Army on the right):



I think this is pretty effective, and the two sides are distinct. Of course, some detailing is still needed on the models, but basically they could be played like this. The actual time it took to paint these models to this standard is probably less than five minutes per model, in total - just a lot of waiting time between stages.

The SYW ImagiNation project is progressing along several lines at the same time. I've learned that I get bored easily (with everything!) so try to have different irons in the fire all the time, then I can move from one to the other as the mood takes me.

Presently, for the SYW, I have three foot regiments underway (one of them nearly completed can be found on the Mendelstadt blog), I'm three quarters of the way through the ACW to SYW dragoon/cuirassier conversion (12 figs), and have some jaegers on the go as well (aiming for 12 figs).

But I've actually spent most time following a suggestion from one comment on this blog, for which I'm very grateful: to do some "green-stuff casting" of the compnents I need for my conversions. Basically this involves making a mould out of greenstuff (from a previously made master) and then casting any number of copies using greenstuff again in the mould.

So far I've had mixed success. I made two moulds for turnbacks, and one for a tricorn. I made all three were too thick, pressing the masters too deep within the mould, meaning I've had to do some sanding and carving to get usable components out of them. In addition, the tricorn was a badly chosen master, with not enough definition, so I will need to make a better one. I ended up spending more time shaping it to fit than I would have if I'd started from scratch. But the turnbacks are working very well, and have speeded up part of the conversion process enormously. I think if I can get a decent tricorn cast, I can convert a regiment of cavalry (12 figs) in an afternoon. So that was a great tip.

It's not going to help a great deal with the major conversion, though: the hussars. It should work for the mirlton and sabretache, but each pelisse will remain a patient labour of love. So don't expect to see a completed squadron in the near future!

First at the Post

This is an occasional blog for my wargame projects, most of which never get finished. The aim is to push them all along, and maybe get encouragement and advice from anyone else who happens to drop in. Presently, I've six major projects:

World War 2: Flames of War: Foolishly, in our house we have WW2 models in just about every scale you could name. But the focus is mainly on 15mm Flames of War at the moment, with 1944 Brits, US and German forces under construction. I'm in the UK, but my son, Owen, in the US is also building two forces (Panzer Lehr and US opponents) so we're hoping to develop some sort of cross-Atlantic campaign.

World War 2: Blitzkreig Commander (10mm): I've only come across this recently. I really like Warmaster, so am keen to try this. We're starting with the Russian Front, c. Winter 1942 (ish). Again, I'm painting both forces, so it's slow going. This has introduced me to Pendraken's 10mm (really 12mm) WW2 models, which are great, and a good price, so already plans are underway for a Desert War campaining, too. And, hey, if that means we need different models, well, so be it.

Field of Glory (28mm): I'm not sure if I like these rules yet. I bought them because I needed something to read in hospital recently, where I couldn't game, and the release of Warlord Games Celts gave me a great army to paint for them once I was discharged, at relatively low risk whilst I recovered. It was going to be a fast, fun project, also testing out the Army painter "magic" washes. But this has stalled somewhat due to eyesight difficulties, though this might improve soon. I'm also really waiting for Wargames Factory in the US to produce their Celts, so I can get a really good mix of figures, but they've been having development problems.

Imagi-nation: this is what really excites me at present, and where most of my painting time goes. As what we eumpemistically might call a veteran gamer, I've become interested in the Old School Wargaming idea. It seems like putting the fun back into historical games. So I'm building an imaginary Eighteenth Century army, and a country to go with it, like many people before me, following the models of some of the ancient heroes of wargaming, Charles Grant and Peter Young. (You can find the begininnings of this project at a separate blog at http://majorwittering.blogspot.com/)

As with most of my other projects, I'm painting both sides here: the Landgraviate of Mendelstadt is vagely Prussian in origin whilst its suspect neighbour, the Freistadt of Pelarcona (run by a lady very close to me) appears to admire Austria. Figures are to be Minden as much as possible, though to start with I'm using any and everything I've been able to lay my hands on, so we have Minden, Front Rank, Foundry, Hinchcliffe and Minifigs all working together. This is one of the advantages of a fantastic approach to wargaming, you can get away with anything you like, as long as you enjoy it.

Napoleonic (10mm): The grand plan is to refight the 100 days campaign with all brigades represented (I'd like to get down to battallion level, but probably could never field the figures required, even in 10mm). I'm mainly using Old Glory figures, though most manufacturers of 10mm also have a look in. So far the armies of Wellington and Napoleon are well developed, but Blucher is a poor third. As it stands, there's probably around 2500 figures committed to this project, but it's on the back burner for a while. (Long term, I'm hoping to get around to Leipzig, too. My plans are nothing if not grand!)

Hundred Years War: in 28mm. The aim is to use mainly Perry Miniatures, and Foundry's "Medieval Warfare" rules, but in order to get a game soon, I'm recruiting all odd medieval figures I can find in the lead mountain. I'm painting up both sides, so that slows things down. Despite the superficially high production quality of these rules, there seem to be some flaws in them, so I'll be interested to see how workable they are.

I'll be posting pix of the state of play of each project from time to time. Here's some from the Russian Front for the time being: