This is going to be a beach (honestly!). I have designed it to fit on one end of my ever so useful "Zama" boards, so that I can use them for my BigRedBat-on-autumn-tour Thapsus game. I have built up the near side of the board to 10mm high with wood and balsa. I've also applied a couple of coats of filler over the "beach". The far side of the board will become the Mediterranean Sea, some 10mm below the level of the land boards.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Over-exuberant reeds
I've completed the first of the four reed banks, here with a figure, for scale. The figure is standing where the water will be. The image is clickable.
I'm very pleased with the effect, but they are quite a bit taller than I'd anticipated! I could have cut the feathers smaller, but then I'd have had to waste a lot of material. So these reeds will remain huge: think Nile, or somewhere deep in Darkest Africa...
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Reed Banks III
Back from my summer hols, rushing to get my act together for Partizan. Here is a reed bank with bull-rushes and some plastic plants in place:-
...and below I've started to add the "reeds", which are a mix of dyed feathers and bits of a cut-up feather boa. Verdant, neh?
Each feather needs to be cut, trimmed and stuck into place. This is a messy and tricky job, which would have been easier with smaller feathers... but I reckon the end result will make it worthwhile.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Reed banks II
I've primed the 4 mud-bank bases brown, and prepared a lot of "bullrushes"- these latter are green plastic bristles from an old broom, cut to length and with a double thickness of PVA over the top 5mm. Later I'll paint these tips a reddish brown. I'm going to raid the loft for aquarium plants.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Reed banks I
The above (and 3 others, not shown) are going to be reed-banks for the salt lake* flank at Thapsus. Each is 30cm long, 10mm thick and built of 2 layers of foam core on a card base with a pine "rib" running along the back for strength.
The Impetus units are finished, but I won't post until after the article has been published. This is a wee bit frustrating, as they are a couple of the nicest units I've ever turned out...
*Strictly speaking, they are more Nile river bank than salt-lake bank, but I won't tell if you won't!
Saturday, 3 August 2013
A little Impetus army
A WIP shot of some used minis I'm restoring to form an Impetus army, that will hopefully appear in a future Wargames, Soldeirs and Strategy.
In the front, on the traditional Jenga painting blocks, are some pieces of Roman battlefield debris from 1stCorps, which has bags of character and which I'd heartily recommend for collectors of smaller 28mm minis, such as Foundry, Gripping Beast and Warlord. A nice company, 1stCorps.
Note to self: basing colour was a mix of SLD and brown umber as the base coat, with a wash of dark brown ink in Klear wash, then SLD as the highlight.
Note to self: basing colour was a mix of SLD and brown umber as the base coat, with a wash of dark brown ink in Klear wash, then SLD as the highlight.
Friday, 2 August 2013
Hi-definition Romans
I'd noticed that the quality of my painting had been suffering, particularly when I didn't wear my specs, but even when wearing the glasses I have been using (an old prescription). Today I have taken delivery of a new pair of bifocals, with a focal length of around 12" that is perfect for painting, and a long distance prescription that will help me focus on my other favourite hobby, watching the box! They are glare free which should also help whilst painting under my lamp, and lightweight.
When I just looked at these minis, painted by Andres of Einar Olafson, I could see detail I've never noticed before! :-) On the downside, my painting rate will slow right down... :-(
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