Scatter basing 15mm sci-fi.

 After watching years of the Terrain Tutor on You tube, I thought it was time to use some of his wisdom with my own terrain. I base very quickly and the I didn't like the idea of painting sand on this larger scenic base. I flock whenever I can and thought these big sci-fi bases are a good place to try new techniques.

 So I laid out all of the flock tubs in a row and sprinkled the various shades on one after the other onto the wet wood glue in the areas I wanted them to be. I was happy with the result and it was fun to do.

 I kept the green areas around the structures where weeds would grow and placed dirt patches in the worn areas near doorways etc. Fun stuff and very quick and instant.

 Can't really tell the difference from painted sand with all of the grit under the flock and static grass tufts. I might try it next on some of the vehicles and it might be fun to try my ACW bases with this technique.

Sci-fi Jungle Fever

 A giant seed pod, this fruit stone has been in my stone box for years. I had scoped up the stones from the garden and the fruit stone was in them, glad to see it finally be of use.

 These plastic flowers were found in a garden centre, all I did was pull them off a larger stem and they were good to go. They look more like an alien woodland rather than a jungle. I stuck round pebbles on them to add to the effect.

 The bases were flocked using different colours and lots of blue grass again.

 Don't breath in...get that mask on trooper!

A Sand Titan smashes through the Yong yong trees in search of prey.

15mm Sci-fi Jungle

 The other day I found a packet of bright blue static grass in a hobby shop, 'great' I thought, 'that would be perfect for my 15mm project'.

 Now with sci-fi stuff you have two options, you can either go Near future...where everything is kind of like now with a few advancements, or you can go real outer space Sci-fi. I have deduced that with my Mech walkers and alien races I had better go for the latter. So, that said, I thought blue static grass would be weird but would defiantly show that it is something not of this earth...very Sci-fi.

 "You're not in Kansas anymore soldier!"

 Blue grass helps to give the bases an off world feel and also gives the troopers something to listen too as the burn the world.

 Well, one thing lead to another and before long I had pulled out the bags of Aquarium plastic plants I had been collecting for over five years. These I had picked up cheaply if and when I came across them with this project in mind. They gave the look of a very different kind of jungle to what we are used to seeing. My wife hated them and thought they looked silly, but it's like I told her, things up there are very different to down here. It always takes time to adjust and not to be scared.

Resin corals too come into their own when placed out of context.

Just got back from a lovely trip to Neblos 4

Well what can I say...it was lovely. The weather was typical Nebloian, although there were patches of intense flare now and then. The Yong yong trees were in full spackle and the smell was something else. It will take a bit of getting used too but I must admit the colours on Neblos are to die for.

 I mean I did get a bad case of Bore grecks on the second day which laid me up until Tuesday, but that wasn't bad as It gave me time to get the Lung spores flushed. All in all an amazing trip and one I would highly recommend.

Clear Skies.

The Loneliness of a Solo Wargamer...

It's a tough life being a solo wargamer sometimes. Keep your head down and keep on painting until the battle is won.

Hell on the Potomac!

I don't know why but I started to listen to some music entitled 'Celtic rock' on You-tube and this picture came out... sorry.

My New Eyes!

Thanks to a handy tip off the other day in the comment section, I followed a link to Amazon and acquired a nifty pair of new eyes for £19.99. I have to say they are really good and have made the world of difference to my painting. I can actually see belts and straps now where before, even with my painting glasses, things were getting difficult to see.

They come with about five different lenses of varying strength and a very handy head torch built in which does actually make a big difference. The benefit I have noticed over painting under the magnifying lamp thingy is that your brush is a lot freer and doesn't keep bashing into the lamp. It's very early days at the moment but the difference is huge, my eyes have been opened so to speak.

Since making my purchase I have noticed other brands on Amazon going for much less, always the way.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AL2YAQ6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

"More machine now than man, twisted and evil..."

Don't Tread on Me!!!

Working out basing for AWI

 Here is a few quick shots of me trying to work out a good base size for my AWI project. The rules I will be using are the Bonnie Blue Flag rules for the ACW but obviously with a few range tweaks etc.

 It's a toss up between having three to a base or four and still using my bases cut for my ACW collection which are 30x45mm. So basically, three with a 45mm frontage or four figs with a 30mm frontage. Both have their strengths... however, I know that the author of the rules mounts his four to a base and numbers are always good so I will probably go with the four to a base. In BBF it is recommended that units are six bases strong for a regiment. This works out well for the Continentals with the Brits having seven bases with the Grenadiers included.

 I will be using 'Loyalists and Patriots' rules for the regiment strengths as this is a great place to start for unit composition for new comers.

 The smaller 30mm frontage will help with getting more units on the board with the extra bonus of a slightly higher head count too. One of the things I like about BBF is it's use of skirmishers that can screen units and are an active part of the regiment. For my AWI collection I plan to have a base of three' light' figures but also three loose, single mounted figures that can skirmish. I love the look of this. Having a solid base of light bobs also means I can put light bases together to form converged units.

The Black death sweeps American in the late part of 1775.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am 47 this year and after a life time of drawing and painting for a living, my eyes are really starting to fail me big time. I recently bought some Old Glory AWI figures and was horrified to find that even with my painting glasses on I was struggling to see the detail. The results were disappointing  and have lead me to buying Front Rank miniatures which are a delight to paint with nice big details.

However, one stroke of luck was the discovery of this light with a magnifier glass inside. It really helps see the detail and after a while I am getting used to painting under it. It can be a little tricky but I think I am getting there. Painting is slower which is annoying but the results are better.

In the old days I would take pictures on my i phone and blog them, only then seeing them close up would notice mistakes and go back and fix them.

Another eye test is on the cards too I think, joy!

American ground cover flock for basing ACW / AWI

Above is my old flock with various leaf scatter added for a bit of extra colour and pop to the base.

 Lately I have been making some tweaks to my American ground cover. Those of you have seen my basing ACW post will remember to save time I just flock my bases with various colours to save time with basing. The Blended Turf colour of 'earth blend' was my first layer as this was a nice dry looking base colour to build up from for the American continent.

 However, while making Birch and Aspen trees for my ACW collection I realized that I had buckets of tiny tree 'sponge' left over in piles around the table. These autumn colours said 'American woodland' to me, so I scrapped them up and added them to my earth coloured flock. The tiny oranges and yellows really give a sense of fallen leaves. I'm really looking forward to using this new base blend on my AWI project where stalking through Autumnal woods is all part of the atmosphere and look of the war.

 So far the early tests on my rail fences seem to be good. This tree scatter foam stuff is very satisfying to work with and I found myself sprinkling it all over the tree bases to act as leaf fall. Also rather than just use one colour on the actually trees, I found the best results were to mix the different colours to produce trees that were just beginning to turn.

 Aspens are very yellow in colour and say American woods more than anything else.

 large boulders offer a little more protect against musket balls... Also my old trick of using mixed herbs from the Supermarket as bracken and dry leaves also comes into it's own on these tree bases. Cheap and very effective...tasty too.

 It's worth saying that once done I give the whole base and tree a good covering in watered down wood glue from a spray bottle just to set everything and make it gaming proof.

 Here are the bare trees before they get any flock, quickly sprayed with various spray paints to produce a basic Birch colour. To this I will add tiny black brush strokes to create the Birch bark look.

This idea of basing tiny trees on tiny scatter bases is new to me but one that should work well. I bought these birches from eBay for a very good price. They should work well scattered in amongst fences and around building to break up the terrain..

ACW/AWI fences Emperor Toads Emporium

 I treated myself to another set of American fences from the model maker Emperor Toad's Emporium. I think I paid £26 for 16 fences from eBay. The strength of these products is that most of the heavy lifting has been done when they arrive. You are meant to use straight as they come, but I like to spend a little time and 'jazz' them up slightly.

 I started off by digging out an old tube of Raw Umber paint and coated the whole lot with a big brush. I added a few more pebbles to the bases with hot glue to add to the look of the fences. ( My god that glue is hot, my fingers and thumb are still hurting today).

 I then dug out an old pot of Tamiya grey paint from my 'bits' box. I wet brushed the fences with this, the brush too was an old one and had split into many points, this was great as I used the feathered brush to create lots of tiny lines on the rails. They ended up looking like birch trees quite by accident.

 These bases also gave me the opportunity to use my new American ground flock I have been working on for my new AWI project and my ACW collection.

 To this ground flock I also added some lighter flock and some mini bushes to grow up the old rails. It was worth doing and the extra effects took me about three hours. I had been looking forward to getting these fences for a while and once tweaked I am really happy with them. Not having much time to create scenery these days I love any short cut I can take.

 Union troops take cover behind the new fences. Now the question is...what is a fence like this counted for as cover. In Bonnie Blue Flag rail fences get no cover bonus but with these having a small wall of large stones pulled from the fields at their base, I may have to rethink that, maybe a +5 modifier.

When I get home tonight I might add a green wash to some of the rails coming from the ground and put a brown wash on some of the boulders. I had a good time doing these last night, I have got into the unhealthy habit of watching people paint on YouTube rather than do it myself. Although this is a great way to past a late evening after work It means you get nothing done yourself, so last night was a blast.