War of the Roses Basing

The men of Lord Hastings' Retinue struggle through the mud of Tewkesbury.

Vallejo thick mud was the perfect solution for the grim battle conditions of the war. Adding snow to this layer would look fantastic but would rather limit the battles. I think a generic muddy field is a good all rounder for this brutal conflict.

I broke my usual 69x60mm basing after seeing a friend's and decided to copy it. Partly because the cheapness of plastics allows for bigger units. I also have quite a few old Perry miniatures from the old days of Foundry. These old lead figures are great for sprinkling amongst the ranks to add character. The above photo shows the effect of these old sculpts. They have to be mounted on plastic bases etc to bring them up to the height of the newer plastics. The mud is great for covering these and making everyone level.

As the Vallejo mud was drying, I cut up some thin brush bristles and pushed them into the mixture. These make for great arrows and really helps to give the bases a War of the Roses look and feel.

The mud is also great for splashing up the legs and clothes of the soldiers. It's quite subtle but helps to  set them in the scene.

The mud isn't quite dry yet and there are a couple more things to do before they are finished. Layers of 'Rutted field' from Luke's APS should look good over the mud, as well as patches of static grass. Also the arrows will need some white goose fletching on them.

 These new bases are 80x60mm and give a more realistic look to a unit. I got a bit carried away with these bases and they grew to 10 men per base.

The figures In these units are a mix of old Foundry, Perry's plastics and Forlorn Hope metal figures. They all mix together well and make for characterful formations.

Canadian Basing

Here are my test bases for the French and Indian wars, using the Bonnie Blue Flag rules.

I quite like these bases, they have more character than the single ones for me. Hopefully, these few test bases will inspire me to do a few more and finish the unit.

Galloping Major figures are so nice that you want to do them justice.

These have just been flocked and need a bit of a dusting off.

Mixed herbs make great leaf litter that is a classic look for the ancient Canadian forests.

When painting these figures I used a few coloured fine tip pens to detail the belts and pouches. I also gave them a coat of Dark tone dip from the tin. I was trying to think of a way of speeding up the painting process.

The Huron, allied to the French.

I love the long muskets and rifles.

 Twigs from the garden make for great moss covered logs.

Finished Rock pools

The last stage was to gloss varnish the water in the pools. This really brought them to life and gave them a sparkle.

The kelp and some of the green rocks were also given a lick with the gloss brush too. Not too much, just enough to give them a damp look.

The bottom of the pools were painted with loads of people's of different colours. This was then given a green wash, then a brown one to add depth to the pool.

 

Halfords Mat Lacquer

I thought I'd give this a go as I had heard good things about it. I thought the scenic rock pools would be the perfect test subject, as if they dried glossy it wouldn't matter.

The results were good. I sprayed the models after I had added some flock, I thought the lacquer would help seal it.

After the scenic pieces I thought I'd try it on the new Irish figures. I consider this a tough, hard coat. Another layer of super mat varnish will be added with a brush when this first coat is dry.

The rock pools got a layer of flock really nail the realistic look.

 The flock and paint work is all sprayed with the new lacquer, seems to be a winner.

Dark Age Irish

Here is a small warband of Dark age Irishmen.  They are meant to be the Black shield Irish from the Winter King books. I struggled with just painting black shields as I wanted to paint some designs. I got around this by painting some fancy shields, then painting them black then rubbing off the paint.

This represents the warband painting over their war shields with black. After some heavy campaigning and harsh weather, not to mention dips in the sea, some of the black paint has started to wear off.

There's enough Celtic design underneath to show through.

Not many more to do now, just the druid and four skirmishers.

These are a mix of Crusader, Gripping beast plastic and Wargames Atlantic plastics. They have been very enjoyable to paint too.

 

The new rock pools are a perfect setting for Raiding Black shields.

Fomorian Coastal Scenery

Here are some rock pools to add to a coastal game mat. I've added some kelp seaweed to make them a bit more North sea.

There are also a couple of other prints that I plan to use as Fomorian shrines. Places where they honour their dead and stack weapons and armour in tribute.

To save on the greenstuff, I switched to Milliput as it's cheaper for bigger pieces. 

I'll add some more skulls and weapons etc to these bases.

Update: So the Fomorians crawled out of the icy North sea in the night and adorned the pools with their burial goods.

Fomorian skulls and weapons now litter the swallow pools, soon to be covered by the rising tide.

Barnacles were just grit stuck with PVA glue. After the glue was dry I gave the grit another wash of the glue. This should make it stand up to a good dry brushing.

One of the new swirly shields gets placed in the pool. I gave the water a coat of PVA glue just to get rid of the 3D printing texture.

I will add a little more seaweed now the skulls are in.

Update: These models were sprayed black then dry brushed with grey and white. Contrast colours were then painted over the highlighted pools.

To make them look a bit more aquatic and fantasy, I included colours like blue and purple into the palette.

Here we can see a highlighted model before the Contrast paint washes.

Update: started to pick out the barnacles and shields etc.