Hordes & Heroes

Hindu Indians

2010-02-12T07:39:00.010Z

Hi,

The following images show a DBA army-worth of Hindu Indians from a larger force I'm re-basing for a demo game I have planned for later this year (more on that over the next few months).
All of the miniatures are from Essex - I'd originally bought 3 DBA armies during a 3 for 2 sale they had a while back, but some of the figure choices provided weren't quite what I wanted so I've added to them since, buying individual packs here & there..

Anyway, first up we have a couple of images of the entire army arrayed. This particular DBA list, III/10c, allows for an artillery piece in place of one of the elephants and although I have painted up the bombard I'm not 100% happy with it. I've since bought some rocketeers which I feel better represent the artillery option, and I'll add those in once I've painted them up.

Next, the general and the elephants. I posted more images of the General's elephant in an earlier post, showing off the hand drawn details on the howdah canopy.

This section of the army can intimidate opponents, unsettling them before the battle has even started, and have the potential to win battles on their own. Used incorrectly however, they can become a liability.

I kept the saddle blankets simple. I've seen some beautifully painted elephant blankets on other miniatures, but I didn't feel confident enough to do them justice (I'll keep practising though).

These elephants come with 4 javelinmen & a driver (there's also an option to have bow armed crew) but aesthetically I prefer 2.

To break up the mass of greyish-brown, and to give the elephants a bit of individuality I painted flesh coloured areas on the trunks and ears to represent the de-pigmentation that can occur on Indian elephants.

Now we have the cavalry. I went with the unbarded horses here, choosing to use the barded cavalry miniatures a Rajput nobles in another command.

The bowmen. These are your core troops - excellent v's mounted opponents, but you need to protect them from heavier foot.

Essex provide a mix of poses which gives them a nice irregular feel. They are simple to paint (I managed 24 elements worth in 2 evenings) and look effective en-masse.

The Blade and Psiloi elements. The psiloi are effective at seizing and holding areas of rough going and can, with some luck and support, take out opposing elephants. The blade give you a means of going toe-to-toe with heavy enemy foot.

Finally we have the camp. This is a Persian command tent from Baueda painted up in red & green to match the colour scheme running through the army.

thanks for looking, and enjoy!!

Bob Mcleish

Hindu Command Elephant

2010-01-22T11:46:00.004Z

As well as working on my 15mm AB napoleonics for DBN, I've been working away at re-basing, and adding to, my Hindu Indians for DBA/DBMM and possibly (although i'll have to check the lists) Tony Aguilar's brilliant DBA-RRR. It's also likely that elements of this army will see some HoTT action (the club I've started playing with tend to do 15mm HoTT).
Anyway, I recently finished an additional command elephant and thought I'd share a couple of photographs. The miniature is from Essex. The elephant's pose is a bit static, but I quite like that - it conveys a sense of a slow, purposeful advance. There are 3 head variants available within this code so there's a bit of variety there, but I would prefer it if Essex added even 1 other pose for the mahout and the command figure in the Howdah.
I painted the elephant with GW's Charadon Granite, a nice brownish grey colour. I didn't bother highlighting this, and just gave it a wash with my Klear floor polish & Peat Brown ink mix. For the Howdah and saddle cloth I've kept with the red, white & green colour scheme I've used with the rest of the army. GW's Dark Angels Green with Snot Green highlights, and Vallejo's Black Red & Carmine Red. To break up the expanse of grey I've been going backs and adding flesh coloured mottles and markings to all of my Elephants trunks and ears. For this I used the Foundry 3 colour flesh (5A,B & C).
The design on the Howdah canopy was drawn on freehand with a soft pencil before being painted. I've just started experimenting with freehand stuff and, although I'm happy with the results, I expect to see improvement over time..
The terrain in the background are some marsh & jungle sections I'm working on specifically for this army.
Anyway, that's it for now. Enjoy!

Bob Mcleish

Napoleonics - Peninsular basing

2010-01-20T23:18:00.005Z

Hi,

After a few solo games of DBN I'm convinced they're the Napoleonic rule set of choice for me; smallish armies mean I won't get bogged down, and ultimately lose interest in, large painting projects, and it means I can, in a relatively short space of time, put together armies for the 2 campaigns that interest me most; the Peninsula and Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia.

Having finally settled on a ruleset I've started re-basing my 15mm Napoleonics for use with DBN rules; all of the elements are on a 40mm frontage, with the majority of the infantry on 20mm deep bases.

My usual basing colour scheme of black/graveyard earth/bone wouldn't really work for the more arid Spanish peninsula, so I needed to find some colours that worked. A recent Wargames Illustrated (#263) focused on Desert warfare and contained a feature on desert basing colour schemes. They suggested 4 colour palettes none of which was specifically designed with Spain in mind, so I just went with the one that I found most aesthetically appealing. I ordered the relevant colours from Maelstrom Games here in the UK (decent prices and free P&P) and started gluing figures to bases..

The paints arrived and, as usual, I decided to finish one base completely to make sure it was the effect I wanted.

I covered the base with PVA glue, dipped it into a box of sand and set it aside to dry. I started off by painting it black, followed by a heavy drybrush of Vallejo's English uniform (921), when this wa sdry a lighter drybrush of Vallejo Green Ochre was applied (914), with a final drybrush of Vallejo Dark Sand (847) to finish off. Once this was dry I glued on some small patches of GF9 parched Straw static grass, and a couple of clumps of GF9 Spring Undergrowth flock. Finally I glued on a small piece of olive coloured shrubbery (from a big bag of Woodland scenics foliage I think)

I'm quite pleased with the effect and will use this colour scheme to produce some matching terrain..

Best regards

Bob Mcleish

Napoleonics

2010-01-18T19:46:00.003Z

Hi,

Today I painted up 4 Peninsular British infantry for my DBN army. The figures are by AB and, along with some of the Fantassin ranges, are probably the best looking 15mm Napoleonics around (although they're closer to 18mm).

The bulk of my 15mm Napoleonics were bought painted - the prospect of all that lace and fiddly crossbelts, just didn't appeal. I was also underwhelmed at my previous attempt; painting some Battle Honours Brits a couple of years ago. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with todays result and have some Highlanders undercoated and waiting on my painting table for tomorrow.

Regards

Bob Mcleish

Jungle Shrine

2010-01-11T12:13:00.009Z

Hi,

I thought you might like to see the overgrown "Jungle Shrine" terrain piece I've recently finished. The Psiloi element on the steps uses 15mm Indian Javelinmen from Essex Miniatures.

I got the statue figurine for £3.00 from the homeware section of a discount department store a while back, but it had just sat on my gaming shelf gathering dust waiting to be used.

I was getting close to finishing off my Hindu Indian BBDBA/DBMM army and the desire to make some army specific terrain and baggage was just the inspiration I needed..

The jungle plants are sections of artificial aquarium plants from a local Tropical Fish store, and the base is 2.5mm MDF, with the edges & paving stones shaped with a craft knife. Once I'd glued the statue to the base I undercoated the whole thing black (the statue was originally a garish gold colour), and simply drybrushed it with gradually lighter greys. I then washed some areas of the statue and steps with GW's Thraka Green wash to give an impression of lichen and mould on the stone. As I wanted to convey a sense that this shrine had been neglected, or forgotten, and was gradually succumbing to the ravages of the jungle I glued sand onto the steps, and added plants and static grass in areas where I thought windborne seeds would gain a foothold.

At 160mm x 120mm it is makes a good sized Built Up Area (BUA) for DBA & DBM.

bye for now..

Bob Mcleish

A quick update

2009-12-06T22:09:00.006Z

Hi all,

It's scary to think that I haven't posted anything here since July!
The last few months have fairly flown by and in that period my life has undergone a couple of changes; most significantly the birth of my son Arlo on the 12th of October. He's gorgeous, and I love him to bits, but I still can't fathom quite how someone that small, and who sleeps so much, can consume so much of your day...!?
The 2nd change relates to my work situation - basically a major restructuring at work provided me with the opportunity to take Voluntary Redundancy. Arlo's birth, a decent VR package and a desire to work for myself made the decision quite easy and I finished work on the 20th of November. I'm treating the time between now and the New Year as a bit of a holiday before knuckling down and getting my business up and running early in 2010.
Despite not being at work I've found it very difficult to actually find time to sit down and paint some miniatures although, as Janine is keen to point out, I still seem capable of finding more than enough time to buy more miniatures, rules and other "wargaming rubbish"..!
T'was ever thus!!

However, I have emerged from this gaming & painting hiatus; joining the Wakefield & Ossett wargames group. They meet weekly and play a wide range of games & periods. I've been along twice now, getting my 6mm Early Imperial Romans into action against Ian's nice 6mm Sarmatians one week, and controlling a couple of commands of some Chinese army in a game of DBM last week. My recent DBx gaming had mainly been DBMM, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed playing DBM 3.1 (which used to make my head hurt) - compared to the myriad factors and bound specific outcomes of DBMM, DBM 3.1 was refreshingly straight forward and I look forward to playing it again soon (just as soon as I've unlearned some DBMM stuff!!)

HoTT-wise, I've managed to pick up another pair of old style GW Dwarf Gyrocopters which, once painted, will give me the option to field a significant aerial threat.
Other recent purchases are a bit "rule heavy" and include the Piquet: Hostile Realms Fantasy rules - they're en-route from the US, but I'll post my initial thoughts once I've got them and had a read through. I've also bought a copy of the Age of Eagles rules, which are based on the popular Fire & Fury ACW rules. I've read through them and they show a lot of potential - I'm playing Fire & Fury tomorrow night which should give me an idea of how AoE will work in practice.

During a visit to Go Outdoors with my dad in October I found, in their fishing tackle section, a Prologic tackle case which could have been designed with 15mm DBx armies in mind; 5x compartmented trays, 2x smaller trays in side pockets (perfect for dice, counters etc) and an A5 sized zipped top section (currently housing terrain) - as if all that wasn't enough it has an internal pocket which is the perfect size for DBA/DBM rules and army list books. No doubt it will strike some as a bit "nerdy" - getting excited by a "box", but I've always found storage of armies a real pain in the backside!! I'll post some photographs and more product details within the next couple of days.

Anyway, that's it for now..

Bob

6mm DBA interlude...

2009-07-12T17:24:00.014+01:00

Hi again,

Despite my best efforts I was ambushed, distracted and ultimately sidetracked by the F1 Grand Prix and "Le Tour". An afternoon hogging the TV for minority interest sports come at a price, and I had to do a number of chores afterwards before I could get the paints out.

So, the Dwarf miners remain, for the moment, unfinished..

Anyway, over on the Fanaticus site I mentioned that I would post some photographs here of my 6mm Early Imperial Roman DBA Army, so here we go..

First off a couple of images of the army arrayed. There are a few options within the Early Imperial Roman force but I decided to keep it simple to start with as I planned on using it to introduce my son to DBA. With this in mind I went with 3x Cv, 4x Ax, 4x Bd and 1x Art. The figures are all from Baccus who, in my view, produce the best 6mm figures around..

Next we have the 4x Auxilia elements (Ax in DBA). These guys are great for clearing bad going and half decent in the open too. The DBA rulebook suggests doubling the number of 6 mm figures per base but I found this unsatisfactory for foot and opted instead to use how ever many figures looked right. In the case of Ax I used 3 strips of 4 figures, giving 12 per base and allowing me to easily identify them from the rear - sometimes an issue with 6mm figures (especially given my eyesight)

Now the backbone of most Roman armies, the Legionaries. These have 4x strips of 4 figures per base, giving the impression of a large body of close formed troops. I didn't bother with lightning bolts etc on the shield, feeling that they weren't worth the effort at this scale, particularly when viewed from 2 -3 feet..

The cavalry, including the General element. I decided to stick with the suggested number of figures per base for the mounted troops. 6 figures look good and fit nicely on the base.

Last up, the compulsory Artillery piece. Nice little models that were easy to assemble and quick to paint.

These were all based using my standard technique, although I didn't use the longer static grass.

take care

Bob Mcleish

New Terrain

2009-07-12T10:45:00.006+01:00

Hi,

I seem to be working on lots of bits & pieces at the moment; the Limited Edition Games Workshop Games Day 2006 Dwarf Slayer model, my Dwarf miner Lurker element as well as some historical 15mm miniatures. On top of this I'm also working on a number of new terrain pieces; marshes, rivers, rough going and some willow hurdle fencing - some to sell via eBay, but most of it for my own games.

As with most of my projects I like to work through one piece, be it terrain or a miniature, to completion; once I'm happy with the technique and outcome I'll then start work on multiple pieces.

Anyway I thought you might be interested in seeing some of my completed terrain:

First up is a piece of Rough Going; reed choked and boulder strewn - the perfect place for light troops to hide. This piece is sized for 15mm DBA, but I'm working on a number of larger pieces suitable for DBMM, Field of Glory and/or 25mm miniatures. My marsh sections are essentially the same, but with areas of water.

Next, some river sections. Designed to compliment the other pieces as well as matching my figure basing.

I currently have a number of these listed on eBay and am working on a bridge and a ford.

Anyway, that's all for now..

My Dwarf Miners should be finished soon (if I can avoid watching the F1 Grand Prix & Le Tour de France!)

Painting Miniatures Quickly: a step-by-step guide.

2009-06-29T18:19:00.012+01:00

Hi again,

I’ve been painting fantasy & historical figures on and off for over 20 years and can, I think, paint to a better than average standard, although not particularly quickly. On top of that, I’ve tended to paint in fits & starts, meaning that very few projects were ever completed, resulting in half finished forces being sold on or shelved for “another day”. Being part of a regular gaming group just seemed to exacerbate the problem, with whatever everyone else was doing looking much more appealing than my current project.

For a number of reasons most of my current and immediate future gaming is likely to be either solo play or occasional one-on-one games with my son, meaning that I’ll need to provide, and paint, both sides for whatever period/genre I’m doing. Faced with this I needed to ensure that I didn’t end up with yet more unfinished projects and mountains of unpainted metal.
I decided to focus on a few key projects and work out a method of painting lots of 15mm & 28mm figures quickly and, more importantly, to a standard I was happy with.

After reading loads of painting articles, on Blogs & in gaming magazines, as well as experimenting with various techniques, I finally settled on the following method, which gives good results and is quick and easy to do.

Excluding undercoating, the miniature below took about 15 minutes from start to finish - not too bad for a 25mm figure!!

Stage 1: Clean and assemble your miniatures.

I wash my miniatures in a solution of warm water with a little washing up liquid, rinsing them thoroughly before placing them on an old towel to dry.
I then assemble my miniatures using an appropriate adhesive; UHU for metal miniatures, and polystyrene cement for plastic miniatures. I attach all shields etc at this point too. I do 15-20 at at time.

Stage 2: Undercoating.

I used to use Games Workshop’s Chaos Black spray paint to undercoat my miniatures but found that getting 100% coverage was an issue, and by the time I’d touched up any bits I’d missed I wasn’t actually saving much time. I didn’t find this particularly cost effective either.
I now use Daler Rowney System 3 Acrylic Mars Black: it’s an inexpensive artists colour which is thick and needs to be diluted with quite a bit of water. It covers well though and works out very cheap per figure. Once undercoated, I set the miniatures aside to dry, usually overnight. I tend to undercoat my miniatures in batches of 15-20.

Stage 3: White Drybrush.

This stage was the discovery for me, and was the key to increasing my output.
Using an old brush give the undercoated model a heavy drybrush with white paint, then set this aside to dry. The idea behind this is that when you block in your base colours at the next stage, the white & black undercoat will create natural looking highlights and areas of shadow. You don’t have to use white - I used GW’s Fortress Grey as the drybrush colour on my Perry ACW infantry, and the resulting highlights on those are very subtle. I guess you could take this a stage or two further, adding extra layers of highlights by drybrushing with progressively lighter colours; dark grey, grey, white for example..

Stage 4: Base Colours

Dilute your base colours with slightly more water than you would ordinarily and block paint your miniature (the white you drybrushed on earlier has the added advantage of making detail easier to see..) Although you won’t necessarily notice it too much at this point, the base colour will be slightly lighter where you’ve painted over the parts of the miniature you dry brushed with the white paint at the last stage.

Stage 5: Highlighting (optional)

By this point the base colour over the drybrushed miniature should provide enough highlighting, certainly for your rank & file troops, and you can just go straight to the next stage if you like. At this point I mix a little white into my base flesh colour, and quickly paint it on to the nose, cheeks, knuckles and any obvious muscled areas (I usually just lightly drybrush it on and don’t worry too much about being overly precise).

Stage 6: Klear Wash

Once the paint has dried I give the entire miniature a wash with a mix of Klear Floor Polish (at least that’s what it’s called in the UK – I think it’s called Future in the US), water and Winsor & Newton Peat Brown Ink. I find that 1 part Klear to 4 parts water and 1 part ink is a decent ratio (feel free to experiment but keep it light to start with – you can always do further washes). The capillary action of the polish pulls the pigment into the recesses, eye sockets etc, creating shade, which further accentuates the highlights.
The wash dries to a tough gloss finish (not too high a gloss) so I don’t bother with varnish.

Stage 7: Basing

As per my basing “How to”

Using this method won't win you any painting awards, but it will enable you to get nice looking units painted quickly and on the table...

take care
Bob Mcleish

HoTT Dwarfs - Plastic Miners

2009-06-25T13:31:00.000+01:00

I just received 8x plastic Dwarf Miners through the post; 5x rank and file Miners, a champion, Standard bearer and musician from the Games Workshop Battle for Skull Pass game. If these are the latest GW interpretation of this particular troop type then I have to say I'm quite disappointed! Gone are the exaggerated features; the big, stubby fingered hands, and large bulbous noses that characterised the GW Dwarf ranges for so long. These miniatures may well be more "realistically" proportioned but I feel that they are missing the humorous touch that made GW's earlier ranges much more endearing. Put bluntly, these are bland and lacking in any real character and, perhaps most tellingly, I didn't open the pack and think "Wow, I can hardly wait to paint these!"
Anyway, I managed to assuage my disappointment by finding a regiment of the older style GW Miners on eBay - I paid a bit more than I'd have liked, and bought more miniatures than I actually need, but these are a better fit with the miniatures I have and I know I'll be much happier painting these guys.
Once the Dwarf Miners (the final element for my HoTT Dwarfs) are painted, they'll be based up as a Lurker element (and I'm going to try something a bit different with this base...)

take care
Bob Mcleish

HoTT - The next project

2009-06-25T08:18:00.003+01:00

As the first 24AP worth of my HoTT Dwarfs near completion I’ve started thinking about possible opponents for them. My son thinks Lizardmen are cool, but I haven’t managed to pick up too many of those (at the right price) on eBay yet, so they’ll have to remain a future, future project for the time being.
Beyond that there was no army jumping out and screaming “paint me” – All I knew was that I wanted some “baddies” to oppose my Dwarfs, and preferably something which would work thematically with lots of Hordes - purely on the basis that, traditionally, Dwarfs like nothing more than gruffly hacking their way through overwhelming numbers of enemy..
Anyway, during another trip into the loft (putting away some clutter) I unearthed a few older, but still available, GW Orc & Night Goblin character models – enough to give me at least 12AP worth of Hero & Magician elements. I thought about if for all of 5 seconds before deciding – Goblins it would be..!
Thinking about it a bit more, Goblins seemed the ideal choice, “ticking all the boxes” as it were -archetypal bad guys, and sworn enemies of the Dwarfs. On top of that, the innumerable ranks of puny Goblins just screamed out “Hordes”. As if that wasn’t enough, I knew that GW did a large range of easily available, quirky Goblin models which could be used to represent most other HoTT element types.
After some patient searching on eBay I managed to pick up 10x Goblin Spider Riders, some Night goblin Netters & Clubbers, a Squig Herder Team, and a box of 20x Night Goblins all for under £20.00.
That little lot alone gives me more than enough models to put together a 24AP force; something I can get on the table quickly, and add to at my leisure.
Based on the figures I have I’m looking at a starting force of something along the lines of this:

Orc Shaman General – Magician 4AP – the Big Boss, using fear and magic to keep his diminutive troops in line..
Night Goblin Chieftain – Hero 4 AP – Hopefully adding a bit of “oomph” to the Goblin battle line..
Night Goblin Shaman – Magician 4AP – Supporting the “boss” by assisting with those vital spells…
Squig Herders – Beasts – 2AP – Giant Fungi – 80% big teeth and attitude, goaded in the right direction by Goblins wielding a giant trident.
Goblin Netters & Clubbers – Lurkers – 1AP – Opportunists hoping to ensnare, then pummel, the unwary..
Goblin Spider Riders x 3 @2AP – 6 AP – Riders – helping out the hordes with those all important overlaps.
Puny Goblins Armed with various weapons x 3 @ 1AP – 3AP – Hordes – expendable, replaceable and, hopefully, entertaining…!

As I say, this is an initial list based on what I have or have managed to pick up so far. Eventually, I’d like to increase the number of Hordes to about 5, drop 1 of the Spider Riders and add in a Troll (behemoth), possibly at the expense of the Goblin Shaman - I can easily imagine the Orc dispensing with his minion as his head is “turned” by the lure of the raw power of a troll..

Anyway, I still have 1 or 2 Dwarf bits to finish before starting this project so I'm still a few days away from assembling or painting these Goblins - I just thought you might be interested to know what's coming next!! I'll chart this army's progress here..

Take care
Bob Mcleish

2009-06-24T11:01:00.000+01:00

Hi again,

Just a quick update and a couple of pix.

First up, Burlok Damminson, Master Engineer. This figure is based alone on a 60mmx40mm base and will be fielded as a Hero and the Army general. He was very simple to paint as the model is dominated by his metal arm, beard and massive hammer; all of which respond well to the black undercoat/white drybrush/block painted base colour/inkwash technique. I think this figure took about 30 minutes. I'm trying out a couple of banner design ideas for his back banner and will post pix of those as soon as they're finished.

Next, we have the Slayers. these are based on a 60mm x 40mm base and, as expalined in my previous post, will be fielded as a Paladin element. These figures also responded well to the painting technique mentioned above, espcially the beards, and all 3 were completed in about an hour. I used GW's Foundation colour, Macharius Solar Orange, on the beards of 2 of the figures but wasn't 100% happy with it (it just wasn't bright enough). I rooted around in my paint box and found a bottle of Vallejo's Orange Red (910), and used this on the Slayer with 2 swords. I was much happier with this colour and will use this for any future Slayers. The Flesh was all done with GW's Dwarf Flesh, with a spot of white added to highlight the nose, cheeks, and musculature - this wasn't too precise, but my inkwash hides a multitude of sins...!

Lastly, the 2nd element of Thunderers which will take to the table as Shooters. Being all big beards and exaggerated features (big hands and noses) these Dwarfs respond well to very quick and simple paint jobs. the beards on these guys were painted using Vallejo's Middlestone (70882)
That's all for now; I'm finishing off the bases of my Ironbreakers, and hope to post some photographs tomorrow. I'm also doing a quick "how to", covering the painting technique I used for these dwarfs, and hope to finish writing that up later today..

Take care,

Bob Mcleish

HoTT Dwarfs - Progress Report

2009-06-20T16:54:00.000+01:00

One of the things I love about HoTT (and DBA for that matter) is the small number of figures & elements that are needed to field an army. Take my Dwarfs for example; my force consists of 32 pieces - 30 infantry, an artillery piece & a Gyrocopter, and this even includes a couple of extra elements that can be swapped around for a bit of variety! Enough elements to give me some tactical options, whilst remaining manageable enough to be painted up before my interest switches to one of my other wargaming projects...
I've listed my army below, along with some comments, where appropriate, on how I've classed the elements for HoTT. This list has undergone some changes since I first started thinking about this project, and will probably see some more changes once I start playing with it.

Burlok Damminson Master Engineer (Hero) 4AP - a suitably heroic looking figure to use as the army general.
Gotrek & Felix (Paladin) 4AP - Arguably the most famous Slayer of all time, and his human companion. After much consideration, and some discussion over on the Fanaticus Forum I decided that fucntionally, Paladin was the best fit with how I envisaged Slayers; their high Combat Factor giving them a decent enough chance to defeat whichever behemoth they sought out on the battlefield, whilst the Quick Kill reflected their "kill or die trying" approach! On top of that, the Magic damping effect of Paladins seemed a good fit with Dwarfs natural resistance to magic and could also encompass any magic items they might be carrying.
Organ Gun (Artillery) 3AP - I couldn't imagine a Dwarf army without artillery of some sort, particularly with an Engineer leading the force! This might be the most difficult element to use effectively, but I'll see how it goes. I also have an old Flame Cannon model, as yet unpainted, which I'll use for a bit of variety.
Dwarf Miners (Lurkers) 1AP - I was torn between fielding these as Lurkers or Sneakers, and I imagine they'd work well equally, flavour-wise, as either. I imagine them tunnelling up beneath an enemy element, or launching an ambush from some long forgotten mine entrance.
Ironbreakers x 4 (Blades) 4@ 2AP - What can I sy - a decent core to any Dwarf army...
Thunderers x2 (Shooters) 2@ 2AP - Another core troop type which fits particularly well with the Engineering Guild Expeditionary force I envisage..

That's the core force which, on paper at least, looks like it has a decent enough mix of troops to hold its own .
The extra elements I have available at the moment are

Slayers (Paladin) 4AP - see comments re Gotrek above. I can see the Organ Gun & Miners making way to accomodate this element, particularly against an opponent wielding a lot of Magic...
Gyrocopter (Flyer) 2AP - To keep with the Enginnering theme I'd probably swap this in for an element of Ironbreakers or Thunderers when dropping the Organ gun - more for thematic & aesthetic reasons, rather than any tactical nous on my part.

I welcome any & all comments on the element choices I've made above.

The bulk of the list has now been painted, with work well underway on the bases. Photographs to follow tomorrow.

take care
Bob Mcleish

Basing: a step-by-step guide

2009-06-18T23:15:00.000+01:00

Hi again,

I've always been of the opinion that good basing is essential to good looking miniatures; improving the look of even an average paint job, and pulling an army together into a cohesive whole. Conversely, well painted figures can be let down by poor basing.

Over the years I've tried various basing techniques, with varying degrees of success and an inability to settle on one method. If I break it down I guess what I've been striving for is something that:

i) Is relatively quick, and easy to do.
ii) Uses cheap, readily available materials.
iii) (Perhaps most importantly) looks good.
iv) Ties in with my terrain collection.

I feel that my current method meets all criteria outlined above.

Equipment:

PVA Glue (Elmers Glue in the US I believe)
Sand - I use builders sharp sand, dried and sieved to remove the larger bits of gravel.
Coarser gravel/Modelling rubble (I'm currently using some Talus modelling rubble but will use the gravel sieved out of the Sharp sand once this is finished)
Static grass/hairy Grass - I use 2 lengths: Javis Scenics Spring Mix and Noch's longer variety (I can't remeber the exact name)
Broom Bristles - for reeds or dry grass (with 25mm figures)
Scenic scatter/foliage clumps - for bushes. mine is from Woodland Scenics I think.
Paint - Black, White (I use Daler Rowney System 3 Artists Acrylic) and Games Workshop's Graveyard Earth and Bleached Bone.
All Purpose Adhesive
Super Glue

This may seem like a lot of stuff, but it is all relatively inexpensive and once bought, will last a long time and enable you to texture the bases of hundreds of figures. Of course, it's not all absolutely necessary - you could use just one length of Static grass for example.

One more thing before I start, whilst this technique works well on my pre-cut 2.5mm MDF bases, it's not quite so effective with card bases which have a tendency to warp after a while. IMO buying, or making, wooden bases is well worth the little extra effort/cost.

Once you've painted and varnished your miniatures attach them to your base using a good, strong All Purpose Glue (I use UHU). It's a good idea to glue any clumps of reeds to your base at this point using the same glue.

I'll get round to doing a small article on making reed sections but for now here's a quick "how to". I tend to make them in large batches, doing enough for 50 - 60 bases at a time. Basically, I gather a small bundle of natural broom bristles between my fingers (1.5 - 2cm lengths work well with 25mm miniatures) and cut them from the broom. Next, using my Hot Glue gun, I apply a small blob of glue to one end of the bundle, dip my finger into cold water and quickly tap the glue blob flat at the bottom before setting it to one side to dry. (Be careful when doing this as the glue gets VERY hot). Once this has dried you can glue it on to your base. Although the reeds look good "as is" I tend to give them a quick drybrush with Bleached Bone when I'm painting the bases.

With reeds I find that "less is more", and stick to 1 or 2 per base, and then not on every base..

Anyway, once the figures are firmly attached to the base cover the entire base with slightly diluted PVA glue (a 4:1 mix of PVA to water works well) and sprinkle some of your coarser gravel on to 1 or 2 areas on the base, gently pressing it down with your finger. Next, dip the base into your box of sand, tap it to shake off any excess and set it aside to dry. It should look something like this:

Once the PVA is completely dry (I do a few bases at once and leave them overnight) paint the entire base with well diluted black paint. Leave this to dry. Wait for the black paint to dry fully then drybrush the base fairly heavily with the Graveyard Earth colour. Set this aside to dry.

Now, using a bit less paint, drybrush the entire base with Bleached Bone.

You can, after this stage, go right on to applying your static grass, but I prefer to give the entire base a very light drybrush with white paint, concentrating on larger boulders and the edges of the bases for definition. It's barely noticeable in the photograph I took so I haven't included it..

Apply 2-3 patches of barely diluted PVA glue to the base, and sprinkle on the longer of your static grass, pressing it down gently with your finger. After a few minutes turn the base upside down and tap off the excess. Add a few more small patches of the PVA and sprinkle on your shorter static grass, repeating the process above.

You could finish at this point, but I generally add some patches of bush to add some more interest. Tear off a small clump of your chosen foliage and apply a small amount of superglue, before pressing it firmly on to the base (tweezers might be handy here).

Below are some images of the completed Dwarf Organ Gun

Thanks for reading...

2009-06-18T09:46:00.000+01:00

Hi,
The main purpose of this Blog is to follow the development of my armies for WRG's Hordes of The Things (HoTT) fast play fantasy wargames rules, although I may well mention some of the other wargaming projects I'm working on along the way.
I've been playing WRG's Fast Play Ancients rules, DBA, on and off for the better part of 20 years, along with some of the Big Battle sets that have developed from DBA; DBM and, more recently, DBMM. I was aware of the existence of HoTT, and even bought the 1st edition rules at one point. Unfortunately, my gaming group at that point were more interested in Warhammer Fantasy Battles so I couldn't find anyone willing to play it. As a result the rules sat on a shelf, ignored, until I was having a clear out and stuck it on eBay. My interest in Fantasy gaming waned and a lot of my figures were either sold or stuck in boxes, put in the loft, and forgotten about.
I was in the loft recently and discovered a box containing various Games Workshop Dwarfs; a mix of infantry units, special characters and war machines - some painted, some not. I took them downstairs and, realising I had the core of a small army, decided to get gaming with them. I wasn't really interested in playing Warhammer - the prospect of shelling out for the latest rules, army lists, some additional Dwarfs and an army to oppose them (as most of my games will be against my son) filled me with dread. It was whilst browsing on the Fanaticus Forum - an excellent site run by, and for, DBA gamers that I started thinking about HoTT.
http://www.fanaticus.org/discussion/index.php
I read the available HoTT content there and thought"yeah, this sounds good" and immediately ordered a copy of the 2nd Edition rules. A quick read through them convinced me this was the way to go so I quickly put together a list using some of the Dwarf figures I had available and ordered some appropriately sized, pre-cut MDF bases from East Riding Miniatures http://www.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/
As soon as they arrived I made a start, basing some of the figures that were already painted..
Gotrek & Felix were based first, and were soon followed by some Dwarf Handgunners..