Heroes of Bronze "Approaching Storm" Concept Teaser

 

This looks promising, support it if you can!

Maybe we can get a REAL historical movie about the period instead of crap like "300"

Midgard at Michigan Toy Soldier, November 1st

 

       November 1st at 1pm I will be running a Midgard demo game at Michigan Toy Soldier. This will give me a chance to field some of the Medieval minis I spent the summer painting and will offer the opportunity for new players to give Midgard a try before taking the plunge.

Protected Cruiser Atlanta, Part 8, Completed and commissioned

        Just some formal shots before handing over to my buddy Steve. The model looks so much better without the workbench clutter. Therer were compromises (of course) in reducing this to a manageable size; a pair of six-inch guns went missing as well as about one-third of each of the foredeck, midships and stern. I tried to maintain the overall look of the vessel.

Protected Cruiser Atlanta, Part 7, details, details, details, and some paint

        As a project gets close to completion I like to go over the model and make sure that the little details are all squared away and any painting issues are touched up. I check the sub-assemblies and small details before permanently installing them. It is far easier to correct problems beforehand that to try to guide a paint-laden brush past a load of details to fix a paint flaw.

 

starting the painting, Steve opted for the scheme with the least amount of yellow 

Protected Cruiser Atlanta; Part 6 Railings, Rivets and Gun Shields

        Now that all of the bulky item have been sorted out I move on to the fiddly stuff.  These will get progressively tedious as I move forward but they are the thing that make the model "pop" so they cannot be overlooked. Rivets (of course) are everywhere, railings were nearly as ubiquitous but the guns shields were present for only part of the ship's life so they have to be removable (I think the ship looks better without them but YMMV). 

 

I forgot to prime the pins that I used for railing stanchions

 so now I'm going to have to resort to a rattle-can and some masking tape

Protected Cruiser Atlanta, Part 5, The last gun position and scratchbuilding a Gatling gun

        It didn't take long for applying a zillion rivets to turn into a trudge so I decided to turn my had to fabricating the last two gun positions. These mounted 47mm "anti-torpedoe-boat quick firing guns" and were mounted amidships with a protruding casement to allow for a wide field of fire. These guns had more range and hitting power than the Gatling guns albeit at a slower rate of fire. The task was simple enough as the casements were simple half-cylinders. NOt finding enough difficulty in those I decided to have a go at scratchbuilding the gatling guns. This was a much more engaging task.

 

a simple cylinder of card stock rolled to double thickness with a flat cap glued to one end

Protected Cruiser Atlanta; Part 4, Riveting developments

        Not terribly exciting but essential. I make rivets using puffy T-shirt paint. This is tedious and slow but rivets are the thing that held ships together, Millions, if not billions, of rivets. Each one heated red-hot and then pounded through the metal and hammered flat to hold the steel sheets together. My method requires far less work and no working with red-hot metal.

 

 this will take quite a while and I will take breaks to make other detail items such as boats, railings, etc

 

 

I still need to add the last two tertiary gun ports between the square six-inch gun ports

 

       I am somewhat apprehensive about finishing this model as the U.S.Navy painted their ships white with buff upper structures. White is (to me at least) the hardest color to weather effectively. Darn You Teddy Roosevelt!

Protected Cruiser Atlanta, Part 3, Gunports and such

       Things are moving on apace. Having finished the main guns I moved on to the secondary and tertiary gun positions. The Atlanta is an unusual ship with an odd layout in many ways, the secondary guns are in a battery firing through gun-ports much in the manner of wooden ships of the line. The tertiary guns are in peculiar little towers positions at the corners of the superstructure. These battery positions were closed with shutters that folded outward to allow the guns to rotate and bear on targets.

 

 

we saw the cylinders that are the gatling towers in my last post, 

they had to be cut to fit the curved superstructure,

this was (as usual) an all-guesswork operation

Protected Cruiser Atlanta, Part 2, Upperworks and armaments

       Not having much time today I stuck with beginning the upper works and the main guns. I detailed the con and began the process of making cylinders for the Gatling turrets and the funnels. The forest of ventilators will have to wait until I can make a trip to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies.

 

the con got framed in

Protected Cruiser Atlanta; Part 1

 

       The first step was to gather as many images as possible (OK, as many images as possible after a ten minute search on the internet). Ships are complicated things with often lengthy life-spans so getting a decent grasp on the changes is important. The Atlanta was subject to many changes but the most significant was the addition of shields to the main guns and the reduction in the rigging plan. The vessel also had an unusual hull shape so getting a feel for that was important as well. Once I had a decent understanding of things it was time to get out my old friend Proxxie and to start cutting foam, 

 

it has been a while since I tried cutting curves, and boy does it show!

Off to visit Atlanta

        The protected cruiser Atlanta that is! Recently a friend of mine asked if I would build him a model of the USS Atlanta to go with the model of the USS Kearsarge that I had made for him a while ago. It has been quite a while since I built one of my per-dreadnought boats so it was easy to agree. He asked that it be in the same style (Impressionistic rather than an exact scale model) as the Kearsarge model. A quick image search provided the drawing you see below. Of particular interest are the staggered turrets for the main weapons and the open mounts for the same. This was certainly an unusual looking ship!

       Of course I leapt at the idea, more to follow

As usual, I've overdone it!

        Having finished the Fireforge knights I decided to get them organized and sorted out to be placed into storage boxes. It was then that I realized that I might (just maybe) have gone a bit to far into the deep end of the pond. Fourteen stands of knights exceeds by a considerable margin any reasonable requirements for  a Midgard army, even if I down-rate some of them to sergeants. The only comfort is that I can easily field enough forces for two complete armies. Be that as it may, I now have all of them painted and based and can tick that box off the list.

 

in total since the beginning of June I have painted one hundred seventy-five Medieval miniatures

A Few More Knights....

 

 

after pushing through the Hospitallers I took a deep breath and leaned into getting the rest done 

       Having survived painting the Hospitallers I decided that there was nothing for it except to just endure the misery (or, as the saying goes, "Embrace the suck") and push through and finish the whole mass of the knights. I decided that a couple of bases of Teutonic Knights were in order and then just a mess of mixed colors to provide some variety on the table. Many hours of sitting at the painting bench later I was finished. Now I need to go see my chiropractor about my neck.

I'm Feeling Quite Cross Right Now, Updated!

 

 

twenty crosses on the knights, at least twenty crosses on the horses

what was I thinking?

       I have realized that trying to paint thirty-six cavalry at the same time is beyond me, thus I have chickened-out and I am concentrating my energies on getting the Hospitallers finished first, Things were going just fine until I discovered that the decals that I had planned on using had gotten damp (sometime between when I bought them twenty-plus years ago and the present) and were spoiled. Too stubborn to change my mind, too impatient to wait a couple of days for new decals and too stupid to realize the work I was getting myself into I asked myself "They're just crosses, how hard can it be?"

        It turns out that they are a LOT harder than I figured.

         Well, the shields were easier than the minis, mostly because they were large, mostly flat surfaces. I think that they turned out pretty well. Decals would have been FAR easier but probably too uniform to my tastes.

 

I removed the minis from the painting trees in an attempt to make it easier to paint the crosses

 

they turned out OK, I will hide the less attractive ones in the middle of the formation

 

 

 

based up and ready for ground effects

Taking A Break From The Ponies, or, Chainmail Blessings

 

 

grrrr!, there are thirty-six of these as well, at least they only have two legs apiece! 

       Having gotten the basecoat on all of the cavalry, and some shading done on the Knights Hospitallers horses I needed a break. I know myself well enough not to step back entirely from a project lest these remain unfinished for decades so I grabbed the knights and got to work on them. First order was to paint any exposed flesh then to coat all the areas of mail with flat black ( and the fabric on the Hospitaller Knights as well). Next was a medium wet-brushing of the mail or armored areas to lay down a basic metallic coat. After that had been given a chance to dry I came back and started touching up the shield faces and any clothing that had been splashed with black of steel. This is where I stand now, next is highlighting the black uniforms of the Hospitallers. Wish me luck.

Let The Drudgery Begin! Starting painting thirty-six cavalry horses

 

       I know it is my own fault, I built all of them at once, and thus they all need painting at the same time. To top it all off I have decided to paint some as Hospitallers and some other as Teutonics, one in white and the other in black. Both are colors I find difficult to paint, particularly the white. Happily the rest are subject to the usual palette of colors which will reduce my boredom.

       And no, The Muse is not singing, this is sheer bull-headedness that is driving me.

Good Heavens, what have I done?

 

        So, I found three boxes of Fireforge Middle Ages knights and sergeants while rummaging around in The Vault. I briefly thought of just pushing therm back into the dusty corner that I found them but I remembered the old saying "Cemeteries are full of people that thought that they had more time". I sighed and moved them to the head of the Painting Queue. I spent a couple of hours cleaning them up and assembling the minis last night. Now all I need is the motivation to paint all thirty-six of them!

Wot's that then!

        You know the feeling, a little whisper in the back of your head. A nagging idea that you've forgotten or misplaced something. That sneaking suspicion that, even though you can see that you have finished the job, something isn't right. Yeah. Ever since I finished my Middle Ages figures a few weeks ago I had that feeling. A shadow at the edge of my vision. Just yesterday I found out why.

        As I was sorting things to bring to Pro or Con to give away  I began moving boxes in the depths of The Vault, particularly in the Heap of Embarrassment when I found an oddly light box. "What would have possessed me to put an empty crate this far back into the corner?" was the thought that passed my mind as I opened it up and found these guys lurking inside.

 

thirty-six more figures, mounted no less, sigh 

I reviewed them ages ago and had it in my mind that I had given them away

       Now I have to track down The Muse and chain her to my workbench so that I will these done before the end of the year....

"To the moon, Alice. To the moon!"

        If you are old enough to recognize that quote I hope your arthritis is doing better than mine. A friend, Zhodani Commando, called recently asking if he could get me to handle a rush-job terrain feature. He is planning on running a campaign game at Pro or Con on the 27th of September. Normally I prefer more than two weeks notice but the job seemed simple enough; he needed a bit of moonscape, steep hills to block line of sight and provide safe areas to maneuver. I agreed and drew up some sketches of the hills that would meet his needs (see below), he gave it the "thumbs-up" and I was off to the workshop.

 

I try to make terrain in a way that allows it to be used in more way than one

 

quatering the hill allows for two hills at the edge of the table 

or one larger one on the playing surface 

Just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you

        This one is for my buddy Housemartin.

 

"The Lady of The Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. 

That is why I am your King!"

And "POOF" it's gone

        I have been on a painting bender for the last three months (as much as I hate painting, I absolutely refuse to play with un/semi-painted minis) grinding out forty mounted figures and 153 foot minis. I do try to answer The Muse on the rare occasions that she calls to me and I get the urge to paint. Largely in an effort to get through as many of my unpainted minis as I can before I die (an impossible task, to be certain). But, today, the fickle nymph that she is, she has moved on. I sat and looked at a tray full of primed Gauls, paintbrush in hand, paints arrayed all around me, and .....nothing. Not even a hint of any energy to apply paint. I guess that the Gauls will have to wait; the poor things have been waiting for literally years! 

       On the other hand the itch to make some terrain has fortuitously matched with a request from a buddy for some "moonscape",  bleak hills and craters and such. I guess it is just time to shift gears.

Better Markers for Midgard, Part II

        Pleased as I was with my markers for Heroic Actions in 15mm I decided to further explore markers for other aspects of the game in a less scale-specific manner. I recently built several boxes worth of Middle Ages Knights and foot soldiers and one of the hidden bonuses of plastic minis are the "spare bits", these would provide basic components of my markers. Stamina Hits and Shot Markers are two of the most common ones that will be used on the table (I made some shot markers using spare arrows but they are proving fragile during use). I gathered up spare shields and quivers for this little exercise then cut a bunch of 20mm squares out of matte board and got to work.

 

I went with square markers to distinguish them from the Heroic Action markers

there are loads more shields, I used small ones starting out

small blobs of Liquid Nails form the base of the build

 

I smoothed the glue with a wet fingertip (no licking! I'm watching you!)

once a skin had formed on the glue I stuck the shields down on the base

 

quivers were stuck down in a drop of TiteBond,

I decided to give an upraised sword a try as a Charging/Following-Up marker

 

once it all had a chance to dry a quick visit to the paint shop and they were ready

the arm rising out of the ground holding the sword seems a bit out of Monty Python

I may have to re-think that

        This is an experiment, we are currently using casualty caps (very unsightly) to mark Stamina Hits and small cubes in red and green for Shot and Charging markers. It remains to be seen if we are organized enough to keep the markers with their relevant units during play. Small loss if they don't work out, but as they are essentially free, a great bonus if they do.

A wee bit of painting, 25mm Hinchliffe Middle Ages spearmen

        I had a few hours to kill and was trying to avoid any big projects but the Muse wouldn't leave me alone. Forced as I was to find something to paint I dug these elderly warriors out of the Mountain of Shame and gave them an Old-School style paintjob to match the figures that I painted thirty years ago. Then I based them up for Midgard and sent them to their barracks.

 

simple figures from a more simple time

 

the dark faces are an artifact of the lighting, not an overly energetic application of wash

 

I will have to scrounge up a flag or two for them

Taking The Whip Into the Shop For Some Work, or, Middle Eastern Re-Armament

        The Housemartin is a fearless buyer of things via the internet and his eagle-eye had spotted many a deal over the years (especially painted figures, he likes painting no more than I). On occasion this can backfire as things are mislabeled or dishonestly presented, but on the whole he has done very well. The biggest risk is when the minis are turned over to the attentions of the USPS or UPS for shipping; any sort of misadventure can befall even the most carefully packaged goods. Recently he came to me with an Assyrian heavy chariot that was much worse the wear from its travels to see if there was something that I could do to bring it back into service. And so, I says to the lad, we'll take a look.

 

honestly, I've seen worse

Making the markers more attractive

        One of the aspects of Midgard that some people object to is the use of markers to indicate Heroic Actions and types of status. We have been using small colored cubes to represent such things on our gaming table. It occurred to me that using markers more in tune with the rest of the painted minis on the table would be less jarring and add to the enjoyment. As I was once again rebasing minis onto Midgard bases (out of the Jon Williams Memorial Collection, R.I.P.Little Jon!) I had some spare minis. I decided to base individual minis on pennies to use as markers for Heroic Actions (instead of the blue cubes that we have been using up until now).  I think That you will agree that this is an improvement.

 

notice the blue cubes near the Command Stands, how unsightly!

 

 

now, instead of blue cubes, there are actual attendants!

SO much more attractive

 

       I like this development and am now trying to come up with similar markers to use instead of the ones currently employed. Little piles of skulls for Stamina hits?  Bloody swords for Charging/Following Up? Empty quivers for Shot markers may be to hard to model......

Artaxerxes Triumphant, Midgard in the Ancient World

 

 

in a fabulous display of cunning cunningness Artaxerxes directs his troops to victory

         Having presented The Housemartin with his new commander we decided to put him to use directly. Basing our armies on the venerable WRG army lists we both drew up forces to reflect our understanding of the historical armies. Housemartin chose Later Imperial Persian while I went with Later Hoplite Greek. A die roll decided that the Greeks would be the aggressors so the Persians deployed first. Below you will find a photo of the armies deployment.

 

you will notice a tiny hillock under the Persian Emperor,

 this has no tactical value but is there simply to grant him the proper level of grandeur

Wargames Atlantic Medieval Shield Decals

       I just picked these up (sad to say a few weeks too late to go on MY figures) and they look great! brilliant colors, crisp lines and specifically designed to fit on the shields of Wargames Atlantic minis (they would most likely work on a lot of other companies products). If your painting skills are anything like mine you will rejoice in the idea of not having to try to paint heraldry on a shield less than a half-inch square. Another big plus is that these are water-slide decals so there won't be any fussing about with those bothersome dry-transfer decals! Just remember to paint your shields white and put a coat of gloss on the shield before you apply the decal and you will be good to go.

       My only complaint is the set of "battle-damaged" decals.  Knights would avoid being seen with such under any circumstances aside from mid-battle. Shields were inexpensive and knights kept back-ups, particularly if jousting. Additionally, if I felt the desire to have "battle-damaged" shield on my minis I could easily enough create the effect on my own with a razor-knife and a dash of paint.

UPDATED: Cool old minis Xerxesbates the distractions!

 

       I would love to blame some medical condition for my gnat-like attention span but I must admit it is the product of a near total lack of discipline. Having dug out some minis from the Mountain of Shame I foolishly decided to catalog them. Seemed like a nice, orderly sort of thing to do as long as I had them all out. What a mistake that proved to be! Half-remembered projects from years (decades!) gone by left me nostalgic for the days when Hinchliffe was the King of Minis and hordes of new releases were announced monthly in the British wargaming magazines. 

          Then I stumbled across this pack (actually there are TWO of these, The Lord alone knows why I thought I needed two, I no longer recall). All bets were off and the cataloging project fell away like leaves in the Autumn. I NEEDED to paint this set-piece for my buddy The Housemartin (he being in possession of a Persian army).

 

unlike the freak depicted in The 300, 

Xerxes was actually a pretty chill dude who liked to dress in the latest fashions

Roman around in The Vault

        Recently a friend of mine asked if I might have a few figures that would double for Roman Auxiliaries, certain that there were some stashed in the bowels of The Vault I started mining through the Mountain of Shame. After thirty dusty minutes I had found the two boxes of miniatures that were squirreled away in the back corner behind the piles of crated ammo. Along they way I finally found the box that contains my collection of (as yet) unpainted elephants and I stumbled into several trays of partially painted minis. The cobwebbed recesses of my memory could not bring to mind why I had set these aside in their unfinished state and, having nothing on my painting bench at the moment I decided to put brush to them and finish the job.

 

the Gauls will be the next group to go under the brush

Stop Russian Me! Fireforge 28mm Russian Foot Soldiers

 

 

I reviewed these guys ages ago

       In between cavalry units I knocked out these guys. It seemed like they were finished in an instant (probably because there weren't any horses to paint). The box provides 25 miniatures which translates to three Midgard bases with one spare figure to act as a commander. I assembled the figures but left the shields on the sprue to simplify painting of both the figure and the shield. The only downside is the raised pattern on the shields; while it eases painting you end up trapped two patterns provided.

 

I included a smattering of archers because the Russians used a fair number of missile troops

 

 

the remaining figure got promoted to Boss

Good Knight Sir! 28mm Conquest Medieval Knights Painted

 

I reviewed these minis on this blog quite some time back

       The unrelenting bug to get all of my Medieval minis assembled and painted caused me to plow through these in fairly short order. The assembly of these was very straightforward as the shield arm was already attached and there was very little flash to clean up. Again I posed all of the with lances held upright to ease storage and game play (despite the urge to use some of the huge selection of alternate arms). In comparison to the Wargames Atlantic knights they are a bit less detailed but there are sixteen in the box and the horses are simply beautiful.  

 

I rather wish that I had painted the whole mass of cavalry at one time,

 I could have mixed and matched the models on the bases for better variety