This weekend, I have been assembling an mdf house that I bought from Charlie Foxtrot Models last week. The kit fitted together very neatly. I especially like the engraved roof, complete with broken and slipped roof tiles. Kevin from Charlie Foxtrot advised me to render the outside walls with Chinchilla Bathing sand, which is made of very finely ground cork. Alesia at my local pet shop was a bit disappointed that we weren't getting a new pet, but didn't bat an eyelid when I told her it was for plastering a model house. In my first attempt to cover the walls, I watered down the pva glue too much and it left bald patches on the wall. I also varied between dipping the walls in the sand and sprinkling it on from above. My conclusion, based on this first attempt, is that the smoothest finish is achieved by applying undiluted glue to the surface, then rolling this gently in a bowl of the sand. I need to spray the walls white tomorrow, before coming back with colour from a Duluth tester pot. This model doesn't come with shutters, but I will try to make some to reinforce the French feel of the building.
I am really enjoying this project and suspect I'll be picking up a lot more houses in the coming months. For one thing, what else would I do with all that Chinchilla sand?
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I have nearly finished my first 22 British infantry for Bolt Action. I have assembled two sections of ten men, each with a Bren team and a sten gun-armed Corporal. The first section is varnished ready for basing and the second just needs highlighting on faces and hands. In addition I have made a two man PIAT team. There are three figures left to assemble. I will leave these until after my next purchase, to see what would be the best fit with whatever I pick up. I imagine a good candidate would be runners to join the HQ. I am not that scientific in the early stages of building an army list. What comes next will depend on what second hand figures are on sale at Colonel Bill's stall at Valhalla next Sunday, or on what figures I most like the look of at the Warlord stand. I am, however, pretty sure I want a 6pdr anti tank gun and a universal carrier to tow it. Regarding points, so far I have the following. 1st Regular infantry section, 10 men, 1 Bren gun, 1 sten. 123 points 2nd Regular infantry section, 10 men, 1 Bren gun, 1 sten. 123 points Regular PIAT team. 40 points I will need an officer, let's say a First Lieutenant for 75 points With 2 Regular runners at 20 points That makes 381 points so far. A QF 6pdr would cost 75 points, Universal Carrier 70 points Subtotal at that stage: 526 points. If I can pick up one more section for 100 points that would be good, as two sections feel like too few but I don't especially want a full box of another 25 plastics yet., how about a Vickers MMG for support, with its own carrier? That would be another 120. I'm starting to wonder if the Carrier platoon boxed set would be a cost-effective buy, since it gives 3 carriers and 15 infantry for £50.... The Bolt Action project is under way. Matt has started on a US force; Ian has ordered some Fallschirmjagers and I have assembled two British sections and a PIAT team. I began painting these last night. I used Coate d'Armes British khaki, which is a good colour but however hard I stir it, it seems to stay a bit shiny. Once the base colours are blocked out, I'll wash the figures with GW Agrax. The plan is to finish these figures before Valhalla on 19 June, when I'll pick up British command, an Anti Tank gun and a vehicle or two. I am tempted to but some universal carriers, a favourite ever since I made the Airfix model in 1/72. In larger game systems the universal carrier is a bit vulnerable all round. Perhaps at Bolt Action scale it will have a practical application.
A few months ago my painting plans were put on hold by the arrival of several boxes of old Minifigs 25 mm Ancients, mostly Polybian Romans plus a smattering of Carthaginian and Spanish opposition. They had belonged to Marius, an old sparring partner of my friend Keith. Marius died last year and his widow asked Keith to find homes for his Wargames collection. The Ancients came my way, as I have owned Minifigs 25mm Greeks and Macedonians from the early 1980s. In fact, my figures are from the last Minifigs range, which is still available through Caliver Books The figures Keith gave me are from the Minifigs PB range which preceded this one. The PB figures are smaller even than 'standard' 25s and some of the spears are on the trunky side. They reflect the accepted picture in the late 70s of how troops dressed. Thus, Carthaginian citizens have pointed shield bosses and all Spanish scutarii have cloaks and are bare headed. Animation is a bit staid and all rank and file in a unit are identical. However the proportions are good, some of the poses are very nicely done and, well, I just love them. I decided to paint up the Republican army to face my Successors. Several units of Hastati/ Princeps had been painted but most of the figures were bare metal. Marius' collection included a great many Romans with spears, far more than would be needed for Triarii. I converted one 16-man unit of Spearmen to pilum-armed troops, by pruning back the spears and sinking sections of wire in the tops to represent the long metal shafts. The conversion worked quite well as it changed their silhouette, although it was a bit rough and ready. I decided to stick close to the colour scheme used by Marius and to keep to a simple painting standard. I used Army Painter soft and hard tone washes but otherwise used very little highlighting.
I have now completed enough units to field a small army for Sword and Spear, amounting to: 4 units of Hastati/Principes 3 units of Velites 2 units of Triarii 1 unit of Latin allied foot 2 units of Roman cavalry 1 unit of Allied cavalry 1 unit of medium Spanish horse 1 unit of Scutarii I am very pleased with the look of the final army and hope Marius would have approved. I have been working my way through a project to rejuvenate some very old Minifigs Republican Roman 25s. They came my way after the widow of Marius, a childhood opponent of my friend Keith, asked if he would find homes for her husband's figure collection. Keith knew I already had several Minifigs figures and offered me a big box of Romans, Spaniards and Carthaginians. He remembered gaming with these figures in the 1970s, although they had evidently spent many years on a shelf, replaced by more modern projects. Rediscovering these old castings has been great fun. I am not expert in the history of Minifigs but I believe this collection is from their penultimate (or original?) range, which had certainly been phased out when I started collecting ancients in 1981. They are even smaller than 'true' 25s, especially the horses, and the detail is superficial. However the proportions and poses are good and I find the look en masse very pleasing. It turned out on inspecting the box that there were more unpainted than painted models in Marius' collection. I started by rejuvenating the painted models, all of which were of Hastati/Principes holding pilum over-arm. They had shiny blue shields with copper bosses and strips and were based in old style with filler painted green. I made up three new units of 16, leaving one of them with blue shields as a link to their past livery. Most of the repainting was of shields, plus an Army Painter soft tone wash on the flesh and bronze paint on helmets. After repurposing the painted models I started creating new units to supply a respectable Republican Army for Sword and Spear. I found that I have a huge number of Triarii Spearmen, but no more troops with Pilum to reinforce the front line. I created a fourth Hastati/Principes unit by shortening the spears of a Triarii unit and inserting brass rod in the tops to provide the long shank of a pilum. I am pleased with the result. I will use other surplus Spearmen to create allied legionaries. I have kept the paint jobs on new units simple and compatible with the older figures. The shield transfers are by Veni, vidi, Vici. I think they look impressive, even with telegraph pole spears, and if wanted to go super detailed, I shouldn't be using 1970s figures in the first place. I have also completed a unit of Carthaginian Spearmen, holding shields with bosses, as they were portrayed back in the 70s. I know today's thinking is that bosses would have made fighting in a phalanx uncomfortable, but they look good, reflect the received wisdom of the day and that's enough to earn a place on my table.
This has been a really enjoyable exercise and I am glad Keith thought of my interest. I hope Marius would feel that I have kept to the spirit of his army and that he would be pleased to know they will keep on fighting for, I hope, another several years. So here's to the memory of Marius and to the pleasure of getting veteran wargame figures back onto the gaming table. I recently picked up four 25mm elephants on EBay. They had been advertised as Sassanid but looked more Classical and I tracked them down as Carthaginians made by the late lamented Garrison. They came with a job lot of slingers, jevelinmen and a couple of Persian-style spearmen, as well as three crewmen for each animal. I think they are my best ever EBay find. The elephants needed a fair bit of filing down and filling, but I am delighted with the end result. Lovely animation and they fit very well with my mostly Minifigs army. I will use them to represent Successor elephants but am sorely tempted to buy more 25mm Carthaginians. One down, three more to go...
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