Monday, 9 May 2016

Bat basing part III


Shire billmen
I covered around a half of the bases from my last post with static grass using an electric applicator, and then glued tufts on top of them, perhaps 60 on each base. I then added some flowers (less is always more with flowers) and weeds. Finally I matt-varnished the base and clumps. These units are now ready to march into a hail of Wars of the Roses arrows.

Shire bowmen
The majority of these lovely Perry miniatures were painted by mate Shaun (Redzed painting) alongside some minis painted by Patrick Connor.

I've just put most of my Bat Bases on 20% or 25% off promotion for one week, if you would like to try some out for yourself!

Saturday, 7 May 2016

Bat basing part II

This is part II of a three piece posting on using my new irregular bat bases.  In part I I prepared the base and attached the minis.


Above I have carefully applied BigRedBatGunk to the wooden Bat Bases using a small palette knife. This is a basing compound of my own invention that is pre-coloured so that it doesn't need to be primed and which saves a heck of a lot of time.  I really need to get that into the BigRedBatShop...

Below, the bases have been dry-brushed with two highlights (I use a mix of Games Workshop Steel Legion Drab and cheap Buff Titanium on all my bases).  Finally I add a wash of matt acrylic varnish with a couple of drops of Army Painter Strong Tone ink in it, to protect and add a little depth. The base is now ready for flocking (during which I'll cover up most of the lovely groundwork; go figure!).


In part III later this week I will flock the bases and then take some proper photos of the finished units. 

Wednesday, 4 May 2016

New Oriental booklet for To the Strongest!


Chinese miniatures beautifully painted by Ross of http://figurepainting.co.uk/

I've just published a new To the Strongest Oriental booklet containing eight Chinese lists (written by Roger Calderbank) and the two existing Japanese lists. The free booklet can be downloaded from here.

I've added a bunch of armies recently and if you'd like to see what lists are available, you can find them here in the Army list Index.

Wargames Foundry French Artillery Battery for Sale

...I promise the BigRedBatCave won't turn into a shop, but I have one more lot to sell.


Wargames Foundry French Napoleonic Artillery

SOLD

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

Chariots for sale


In a recent tidy up I've come across four spare Foundry Gallic chariots.  Nice models with lots of accessories (severed heads, quivers etc.).  £14 each at Foundry; yours for £10 each plus postage at cost!  

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Bat basing part 1

With Raphia behind me (at least for the moment) I've been able to make time for another project which has been burning slowly in the background- my Perry Wars of the Roses army. 

I thought it would be useful to explain my basing system, using my new Bat Bases, which are MDF bases cut to an irregular shape with holes to fit rare earth magnets, which I use so that my minis can be safely stored and transported. The bases shown below are just a bit larger than Impetus bases and  designed so that seven can be stored in a 4L Really Useful Box.


Above, I am in the process of fitting the magnets to the bases. The easiest way of doing this is to lay the bases on waxed paper (or better still the foil parchment paper) on a steel tray. A strip of magnets can be seen on the middle bases- these drop into the holes on the bases. The bases should be weighed down with coins or similar to ensure they lie flat on the sheet. In the top picture, a dot of super glue has been applied to fix each magnet in place. The whole process takes rather less than 1 minute per base.


Once the glue has dried (allow at least half an hour) I chamfer the edges with a craft knife as above; this avoids the step one sees around most bases. It is possible to sand them, too, giving a lovely smooth edge.


Finally for today, the minis have been glued in place using PVA (Elmers glue in the US). This sets slowly and means that the minis can be moved around until a suitably aesthetically pleasing arrangement is achieved. These minis were mostly painted by Redzed, they are stunning and I'll take some proper close-ups when the basing is complete.

If you'd like to try some of the bases I have the sample pack on 25% off sale for this coming week.

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Raphia and other battles

...so last Friday I drove to the Wargames Holiday Centre and with Mark Freeth, set up the five games from the boxes in last Thursday's post. Along the way we set up the phalnx and Mark shot a video; here's a link to the video on Facebook with an explanatory voice-over.

The largest of the games was Raphia and I shot quite a few photos because, after six months preparation, I was more than a little excited about seeing it on a table. I should say that I have plans to make the terrain more arid for when I next run it, since the site of the battle was probably covered in sand and scrub. Jeff Jonas tells me there were limestone outcrops and cacti!


Here's the game set up, as the players were arriving, shot from behind Seleucid lines. We had sixteen or eighteen players over the weekend who each played around five games, which kept me and Mark very busy. All of the 25-odd battles were fought using my "To the Strongest!" rules.


Above is a shot of the Ptolemaic Machimoi, in three units each of 96 miniatures. We had a very entertaining rule to depict them; if they killed any enemy units, then the Seleucids would win a moral victory (as the cocky Egyptian peasantry would have revolted after the battle). I don't believe they did kill any units, but they came close! They were commanded by Sosibus the Eunuch, who died in at least one of the four games.

Below are the Seleucid Arab allies painted by Craig Davey, they got a lot of admiring glances.



Above are the Ptolemaic Galatians, who did sterling service, hacking their way through the Medes in all four games. Below; from behind; break out the Factor 40!


The below shot caught the spirit of the game in action. The Ptolemaic cavalry are desperately manoeuvring in the foreground, whilst a Seleucid elephant threatens a flank charge. 


My personal high was this charge by Echecrates the Thesslian which snatched victory form the jaws of defeat- we only had two victory medals left at the point of victory.



We fought Raphia four times; there were three Seleucid victories and one Ptolemaic. Antiochus Megas died twice and Ptolemy once; go figure!


There were other games of course, Leuctra with Epaminondas' phalanx (above) and below Sotium with Caesarians and, well, Sotiates.

And finally here are some of the players; the extrovert is Mark Freeth who runs the Wargames Holiday Centre and who is a super host. it was a terrific weekend, certainly the best so far. I shall return in the autumn with a new set of games!