Friday, 13 May 2016

Sorting out the lead mountain

This week I've been reorganising the downstairs portion of my Lead Mountain. Most of the downstairs lead mountain is stored above the bookcases in my lounge. Here are the "befores". The Foundry boxes would occasionally collapse leading to what I refer to as a "lead shower" - a very unwelcome and uncomfortable experience!



And below are the "afters" shots, with the minis sorted into new storage drawers that I picked in a sale at out local Futon Shop. I've added trays inside the boxes but still need to label them. The black objects are speakers. Alarmingly, all the boxes, together, have space for only half of the Lead Mountain, the rest of which remains piled up in the loft.



I clearly need to paint more minis or buy less!

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.