Monday, 4 November 2013

Rump of the British chariots

Here are the rump of the first wave of chariots.


Above, chariot 3 from behind.  This one is entirely Wargames Factory, except for Foundry horses.


Above and below, chariot 4.  Factory passenger, Foundry driver, Newline ponies.



Above, chariot 5.  Renegade passenger.  This one is designed to be viewed from behind; it'll face away from the Romans and depict a retreating chariot- the plan is that the chariots will be going in all directions...


Above 6; all Factory, except Foundry horses.


Above 7.  Possibly my favourite; Black Tree charioteer (generously donated by Streetline), and Renegade passenger. The chariot colours on this one, are lovely .   


And finally number 8.  Foundry passenger.  The Green came out very well.

The Wargames Factory chariots, as supplied, are not very realistic, but there is a lot of really good material in the box, once the less useful bits have been discarded. A huge thanks to Nick Speller who painted all of the riders, his tartan is superb! One last special chariot to follow tomorrow or Thursday....

Sunday, 3 November 2013

Chariots 1 and 2


The chariots are finally finished, and I've grabbed a few snaps. This one, I've imaginatively named "Chariot 1"! It includes parts from Relic (wheels), Newline (ponies), Wargames Factory (sitting crewman) and Wargames Foundry (standing).


Nick painted the crew, and I painted the rest.


Chariot 2 has some Black Tree nags, donated (some years ago) by Streetline. The crewmen are Factory and, I believe, Renegade.

I'm hard pressed for time today, but will post the others tomorrow and Tuesday!

Friday, 1 November 2013

A highly charged experience


This morning I took my life in my hands and fired up the static grass applicator (purchased off eBay).  This made a humming noise, reminiscent of the Proton Packs in Ghostbuster.  At one point the sieve touched the crocodile clip and there was a terrific "zap"; it was a bit like "crossing the beams!".

My modus operandi was to paint wood glue onto the base (around 50% coverage), attach the crocodile clip to the element's base, press the on button and tap the applicator against my other hand, shaking the grass onto the glue.

I found the normal 2mm grass looked a little short, and mixed in some 4mm long strands, for variety. Most of these longer strands stayed in the sieve, but enough made it through to make a difference.


So did it work?  I think so.  Quite a bit of grass is on the bases, and it seems to be fairly vertical.  I needed to apply a second coat, in places, to make the grass appear thicker, but then I always do that.  It was a faster process than using my trusty Noch puffer bottle. All in all a success!

I hope to add tufts to the bases tonight, and then spray matt tomorrow (weather permitting), to conceal the gloss left by the glue.  After that I can finally attach the finished chariots to the bases.

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy 69


The lovely smell of freshly-printed magazine is wafting across my lounge...  this looks like a great edition, as it has a cover and article by mate Andres Fernandez, 3 (!) pieces by mate Allen Curtis, and another on matrix gaming by mate Mark Backhouse!  Plus there are several other great looking articles, including one on page 66 by this chap called Simon Miller...

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Chariot basing

I've grouted and painted the 9 bases, ready for flocking tomorrow with the Torture Implement.  An element of warband have joined them for flock-matching purposes.  


I've been trying to decide what to do after these; either another unit of Celtic warband, or perhaps I might revisit the long-postponed swan necked trading ship...

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

It looked smaller...

I bought a static grass applicator I saw on eBay.  It's just a leeeetle bit bigger than I'd imagined... that is a 28mm chariot.  However it should be very useful for the terrain building I need to start soon.


I'll test it later this week, on the chariots, and post my findings...

Monday, 28 October 2013

Chariots assembled and ready for basing


I finished the assembly of the 9 chariots last night. The riders are now all pinned and glued to the chariots, and the wheels to the chariot frames.  

I've decided not to fix the chariots to the bases, yet, as basing will be very much easier without them in place. I have, though, used greenstuff to make ruts into which the wheels can be securely glued at the end of the process. I'm not going to add harness, though, as I'm worried about the fragile reins getting damaged in play, and because life is too short!