Slow but steady progress on the Great Relocation Project

        I have been greatly remiss about keeping blog posts up to date, my apologies to anyone who misses my often semi-coherent ramblings. The great distraction of late has been the relocation of my library from the basement to a disused upstairs bedroom and the concurrent movement of the minis collection from the dark and crowded area around my furnace and water-heater into the now (gradually emptying) library space. This has required a LOT of sorting and organizing, both of which I am not particularly talented at. As a result the process has been nearly glacial. Today I reached the halfway point with the library and the quarter-way mark with the minis and thus a celebratory post! 

 

the light-colored shelves hold the Osprey uniform collection 

and special interest books (forts, ships, and aircraft)

I should have thought to stain them (the shelves, not the books)

 to match the others before I loaded books into them

the long-term home for the boardgames is still open to debate 

 

 

the dark shelves hold my history books going from prehistory (far left upper corner) 

and then chronologically clock-wise through history, 

so far I've gotten as far as the Great War 

 

 

meanwhile, in the basement, the minis collection is enjoying their new brightly-lit environs

these to will go in a clockwise chronological order (at least that's the plan)

the use of standardized boxing has helped a lot 

       This project has lead to a fair amount of soul-searching about what I have in the minis collection, as I am reminded that I have serious overlaps in scale and period (at one point I had ACW in 2mm, 5mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm and 54mm, simply madness!). I guess that after I get things sorted I will have to host another "Free Stuff for Wargamers" session.

Just when you thought it was safe to step outside and take a breath of fresh air...........Trench Crusade Sniper Priests

       In the dark and hazardous world of Trench Crusade there is the lurking threat of snipers. Not just your ordinary bloke with a scope and a steady trigger finger, divinely inspired priests that have given their lives (and eyesight) to taking out bad guys from extreme range and with extreme prejudice.

        Produced by Archon Studios in Poland for Factory Fortress Inc in California I got my copy through Michigan Toy Soldier in Royal Oak MI. Inside the box you will find one sprue and a set of bases. The minis are multi-part models that will assemble into two Sniper Priests. The models are superbly cast in a medium gray polystyrene that displays an immense amount of detail with a good selection of options as to weaponry. An idea just how detailed the models are can be gained from examining the twenty-three page assembly guide! Not to worry, if you have built a Lego set with their step-by-step instructions you will feel right at home.

 

 

evocative cover art gives a good idea for painting 

A little place in the country

       I just finished a commission piece from the Dungeon Artifacts collection. These are 3-D printed buildings (there is a bunch of other stuff too, their catalog is expansive) that are very well detailed and nicely characterful. They are easy to paint as the detail is crisp and deeply molded. I use a rattle-can primer and Americana water-based paint and get excellent results. A big plus is that these are FDM prints which means they are nearly as tough as a hockey puck and can survive a lot of rough handling.

 

Trying out a few things

 

 

I started painting this guy as a test of how well printed minis look

 

       I have heard a lot of complaints about how minis printed using the FDM  process turn out. Having just printed a batch of minis for The Housemartin I took the liberty of printing another to slap some paint on. I am using a stock Bambu A1 Mini with a .02mm tip and cheap filament from Micro Center. The mini was printed standing with the usual supports generated by the Bambu software. The mini was primed using a rattle-can of Krylon Matte White and painted using Americana paints from Hobby Lobby. I managed to snap off his staff while removing the supports but a spot of superglue set that to rights. My meager painting skills provided this look, no award winner but he will certainly be inspiring my Dark Ages troops. He could use some more highlights/shade and his gloves need a bit of refinement to be presentable. The mini come from the Cruciform Order set from Hollow Crown Miniatures.