25 Years ago today; Never Forgive, Never Forget

The Trojan Wars Grind

        If it wasn't for the fact that the box of minis is almost empty I might have given up by now. What started as a "fun side-trip" has turned into a serious trudge (mostly because of those wretched boars-tusk helmets) that is rapidly sucking the fun out of the enterprise. Yet I persist! All that remains is a few archers and a half-dozen or so chariots. Anyway, enough of my grouchy ruminations, I have completed the latest batch of Bronze-Age warriors and they are happy to meet you.

 

please excuse the tatty looking painting sticks, it was around 1am when I got these done

 and didn't have the energy to pop them off the stick and rank them up for photos 

Ship Happens, Part VIII Thoroughbred Miniatures CSS Charleston

        To take a break from all these figures I decided to relax a bit a build/paint one of the many excellent Thoroughbred Models ACW ships. I am happy to report that they are back in production after a recent hiatus! These are always a delight to assemble as the casting is without equal and the design of the models makes assembly a breeze. Not to mention that the ultra imaginative paint-jobs most ACW ships got also makes painting a simple process.

       Behold the CSS Charleston in all her glory!

 

Trojan Heroes, painting the Foundry Myceneans and Minoans 28mm minis

        Not really the heroes of Troy, I got these guys in a bulk-buy on Ebay and it seems that they are a mixtures of three different sets. I intend to use them as foot generals and as a unit of Myrmidons and, assuming there are enough left over, leaders mixed into units of spearmen. These are delightful sculpts (from the Perry brothers, if memory serves) but marred by casting flaws and a couple of short-shots that I had to remedy. All the same they painted up pretty well.

 

a combination of large heavy shields and tiny bases 

meant that I couldn't line them up for the usual "mug-shots"

 

my biggest concern is that they are very much more animated than the spearmen

 and will look out of place in the sedate ranks of the formation 

Painting the Trench Crusade Stosstruppen

 

 

you've met these guys before

 

 

       I reviewed these minis back in April when they were released but haven't gotten around to assembling/painting until now (which, by the way, is a rather fast turnaround time for my painting schedule which often runs to decades). Of course I struggled with assembly, not because of parts fit or lack of instructions mind you, just my endless fascination with the huge variety of poses that are possible. The vast selection of weapons was another distraction. But, in the end, they were assembled and marched off to the spray-booth for priming. I had decided early-on that they would be painted fairly closely to Great War Germans rather than the rather garish schemes posited on the box artwork. Muted bluish gray and natural leather were at the top of the list.

 

I'm still up in the air about blood-spatter on the bladed weapons 

 

they might need another pass with the black-wash 

 

next up will be the  Prussian Stosstruppen Warband

somewhere in The Vault I have some largish Balkankruze from WW1 tank kits, 

they would look great on the shields, dig I must
 

Upcoming Gaming Convention, Pro-Or-Con 2026, September 26th in Westland Michigan

 

        One of Metro Detroit's premiere wargaming events returns to kick off the Fall season on Saturday,  September 26th. Pro or Con has long been a staple of the local gaming environment here in southeast Michigan and has always been a fun show. Participation games are the main fare mostly comprised of historical miniatures events but by no means is it a purist event. One low entry fee gains you access to joining games, the retailers, the raffle and the extensive Flea Market. The mood is laid-back and friendly. Gaming runs from 9am to 11pm in three sessions.

      You can check out a list of games and pre-register through Table-Top Events 

       I will be running a (largish) Midgard game set in central Europe in the 1300s. 

Send in the Cavalry! 28mm U.S. Cavalry from Great Escape Games

 

       I got this set courtesy of Michigan Toy Soldier for this review.  Completing their Wild West collection Great Escape Games has released dismounted U.S. Cavalry. This set compliments the earlier Mounted U.S. Cavalry (and neatly includes the same selection of faces so that you can build mounted and dismounted versions of your characters). Compared to other manufacturers Great Escape doesn't release a lot of sets of miniatures, but when they do, it is something to pay attention to. Inside the box you will find ten multi-part miniatures with a good selection of heads  as well as a wide selection of weapons. Enough pistols and carbines are provided so that you can arm all of your miniatures alike if you choose. Of course there is a sword-armed hand, somebody has to be in charge and nothing says "I'm the Boss" like a sword. Included is a trumpet equipped arm as well as a loyal dog (does every military unit try to adopt a dog at one point or another?)

 

       The minis themselves are cast in the common medium gray plastic with no flash and nearly no mold-lines. The detailing is sharply defined and the proportions and posing is well done. The minis appear a bit thick around the ankles which may come from the style of boot worn at the time or the sculptor strengthening the miniature to avoid breakage. The holsters are all loose, three of the minis have cartridge belts but there is no trace of cartridge boxes for rifle ammunition. The figures are mounted on small puddle bases.

 

 

cover art is pretty good 

Les femmes fatales 28mm Wargames Atlantic Partisans 2: French Resistance Women

 

the front of the box 

some painting ideas 

       I just picked these up from Michigan Toy Soldier. We now have the "better half" of the French Partisans in hand. Wargames Atlantic has released the second part of their Resistance fighters series and it is a handy set! It is titled French Resistance Women but I am willing to bet that they would do well as Dutch, Belgian, or Danish. Careful choice of which figure to use as well as attention to how they are armed could easily extend these minis into Poland or even move them temporally to earlier and later conflicts (Spanish Civil War, Irish War of Independence or the chaos in eastern Europe after the Great War) or into gangster scenarios as well. 

       The minis are all conventionally dressed, no pseudo-uniforms or high fashion outfits here. The figures are well sculpted with good proportions and reasonable poses. The clothing drapes over the figure convincingly. This is a well-armed band of heroines, enough SMGs are provided to give every mini one; other weapons vary from open hands to rifles, with a choice of revolvers, or semi-auto pistols and a viscous-looking knife as well. Of course there is a hyper-abundance of heads with a wide choice of hairstyles and headgear. The faces are excellent with clear expressions and delicate features. 

       The molding work is up to the usual excellent standards we have come to expect from Wargames Atlantic; medium gray plastic, with no flash and only the faintest of mold-lines. The figures are cast without puddle bases.

More Chariots, now with Dendra Panoply

       Having a shortage of time last week and next I decided against taking on another forty-plus figure painting binge and instead grabbed another batch of chariots. As much as I don't like the extra work in assembly and basing, the much lower figure count speeds the process and gives me a sense of accomplishment. This batch has two warriors equipped in the "Dendra Panoply", the full-length armor suit named after the nearly complete armor found in the tomb at Dendra Greece in 1960.  Although it looks clumsy tests conducted with replica suits of armor and volunteers from the Greek military showed that it really is quite functional .

 

the Dendra panoply on display at Archaeological Museum of Nafplion

Come, up with you now, climb aboard my chariot! 28mm Trojan Wars chariots

       Having grown tired of painting infantry I turned to the Bronze Ages equivalent of knights; chariots! In most game systems they are either wildly overpowered or just a poor substitute for light cavalry. Midgard they can function as hard-hitting, but fragile, fast-movers. Depending on how you arm the crew they are a missile base or can charge home (preferably against the flank or rear of an already occupied opponent). The historical record is unclear as to how they were employed in Bronze Age Greece. I prefer to think of them as skirmishing knights that also acted as transports for the heroes who engaged in individual combat.  Either way they need paint and basing.

       So often I have seen chariot models popping off of bases. I don't care to do things twice so I worked out a method of securing my models that has held up across decades. Most important is that you are gluing the metal, not the painted metal, the bare metal. Even with commercial grade primer things will fall apart if you try gluing to paint. I get this by using a sanding board to strip the bottom of the wheels to shiny metal.

 

 

if it's shiny you have gone far enough, a little extra texture also helps the glue hold 

"...so many long-haired Acheans swarmed across the plain..." The first full batch of Bronze-Age spearmen

        I was satisfied with my first small test sample of spearmen so I went ahead and spent hours cleaning up a larg(ish) batch of spearmen for a "mass-painting event". Unfortunately the prep work took a huge amount of time. I always loved the sculpting that the Perry brothers did for Foundry but the actual castings left a lot to be desired. Flash, mold-lines in hard to reach places, vent sprues, and short-shots meant that I spent many hours with these lads before they were ready for primer (which instantly revealed all the places that still needed work). I hope that the current production is better than these ancient castings. 

       That being said they were fun to paint. Lots of colorful clothing and those wild boar's-tusk helmets were a great change of pace from the uniforms of later ages.  

 

these might be "later Trojans" I might just use them as Myrmidons 

A dark-drawn wall of sheilds, festooned with spears.....the first of the Trojan heavy spearmen

        This is a small test-batch before I start mass-painting the rest of the foot. I wanted to get a feel for the minis before diving in. I honestly was surprised at the difference between these (admittedly OLD ) minis and modern plastics. It seems that the millimeter has undergone considerable expansion in the intervening years as these lads are significantly smaller that the last batch of plastics I painted. I also noticed that the detail, while present, is both finer and a bit foggy compared to plastic kits.

       That said they turned out OK. I haven't based them yet as I wish to get the whole lot painted before I commit to basing the models.

 

 

the long spears promise to be a bother for both storage and basing 

 

the cow-hide shields remind me of Zulu warriors 

 

the sculptor was kind enough to include a post on the arm of the mini

 and corresponding hole in the back of the shield to help ensure a solid joint 

thank-you from the bottom of my heart! 

 

Heroes of Ancient Troy, or....stop Hectoring me!

        I'm still plugging away at the Trojan War stuff. This time it is the Heroes (don't ask me to identify them, I'm a bit rusty on my Bronze-Age mythical heroes). There was a nice variety to these, they all came with tiny swords to glue into their hands but some just looked more natural holding a spear. They would have made a nice looking unit if I had based them up for Midgard but I decided that I might just as well use them as leader figures, so they landed on pennies instead of a multi-base.

 

the boars-tusk helmets were a bit of a pain to paint 

 

as with all  Perry Bothers sculpts the posing and proportions are excellent 

 

 

if a more erudite reader can give names to these lads I will happily update this entry 

 

 

I'm not sure if the greaves are cloth-covered metal, 

or just canvas gaiters to protect the wearer from local thorny shrubs 

either way I think they look cool 

Happy Birthday to the United States of America

   I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July. 
Please avoid blowing off any fingers! 

Breed's Hill and it's earthwork

        I finished up painting the earthwork for R.U.P.'s Battle of Bunker Hill game and then cut the green board for placing under the gaming mat. The little earthwork turned out OK. I had to resist painting grass onto it as it was dug in the hours preceding the battle there would have been little time for grass to grow over it.

 

I only learned after the fact that there was no timber in the  earthwork

A great chance to lend a helping hand; 45th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, July 9-14

       Anybody in the Detroit Metro area feel like lending a hand to wheelchair bound vets? Here is your chance, this coming weekend the National Veterans Wheelchair Games will be taking place at several venues around Detroit. There is a need for volunteers to lend a helping hand to our injured veterans, they gave so much, they deserve a little payback from "we he people" that they were serving. No experience necessary! Just a willingness to give up a little of your time for those who lost the ability to walk protecting us. 

       You can follow this link to the volunteer page 

To far-off Ilium we shall travel

        Another batch of Foundry Trojan Wars light troops, this time javelinmen. These were a bit of as bother to paint as they were mostly, or completely, naked. Skin tones are a pain and I tried to hurry things along by using a wash, this which settled rather unevenly. After a quick touch-up I pressed on and got them completed and based.

 

aside from the skin tone issue painting the boars tooth helmet was a bit tiresome

This is a hill I am willing to die on !

 

 

 

       Some time ago Rich Uncle Pat decided to dive into the American Revolutionary War via the Warlord Epic Scale minis. He has spent the last many months laboriously painting the forces for the Battle of Bunker Hill (what better way to start a new period than with the very first real battle of the conflict). As he is approaching completion of that job I offered to build the terrain that he might need. I am currently painting the buildings that came with the minis but, if we are to refight the Battle of Bunker hill, it seemed incumbent upon us to have a hill (I was actually warming up to build the whole peninsular but that idea got shot down). To my dismay I found out that R.U.P. intended to place the hills underneath the game mat. That left only the redoubt thrown up by the Patriot forces on Breed's Hill. This I was allowed to build.

       For a small battle that was so well documented there is a bewildering assortment of maps of the fight. Precious few agree on the size, shape or exact placement of the significant terrain features, Happily they do agree on shape and approximate size of the simple earthwork that crowned Breed's Hill on the fateful day.

       Some fiddling had to be dome to accommodate the Warlord bases but in the end R.U.P. was able to provide a plan of the work. I rubbed my hands with glee and dusted off my trusted friend, Proxxie. The earthworks could be easily made with blueboard, but where am I to find a supply of logs for the inner face of the fort? Spaghetti noodles are thin round and straight!

Troy, at last

 

       It seems many centuries ago that Foundry began issuing their Trojan Wars range. They were delightful figures; well proportioned, active and accurately detailed. I bought them as they arrived in dribs and drabs at my local brick and mortar, fully intending to field an army for the (then current) WRG Ancients rules. Things being what they are my gnat-like attention span meant that something new and shiny came along and I was distracted. The Trojans were shuffled off into a box and packed into the Mountain of Shame under the "Someday" heading. Soon they were forgotten and dust covered. That is until recently; finding my box of soldiers still patiently waiting after all these decades rekindled my interest and I resolved that this would be their summer to get painted and be committed to battle!

 

scarcely a host of warriors, but it's a start!

two bases of Light Infantry with bows, 12 points each under Midgard rules 

 

Biblical Diversions

 

 

looks like a used war-cart lot, somewhere in the Tigris valley 2300BC 

 

       The Housemartin has been acquiring minis through Ebay for some time now. Recently he got some Early Bronze Age minis that included a single example of a war-cart and some strange saddle-wagon. He was unable to find sources to supply additional figures so he turned to me.  He has known me for far too long and knows that I am susceptible to a scratch-building challenge so he asked if I could knock together some additional vehicles for him. Of course I fell victim to the idea. Through the magic of 3-d printing I was saved the tedium of making over a dozen wheels and I was able to find some STLs of donkeys and zebras to provide a method of locomotion for the needed carts. That being done the carts were a simple thing to make and I got them squared away in an afternoon.

 

horse too small to ride?

asses to mean to try riding?

put a saddle on a log and make the contentious beasts drag you around! 

 

the fresh coat of Modge-Podge makes it a bit difficult to see

sorry about that 

 

 

then there is the fleet of war-carts 

I would never have managed to get a dozen wheels the same size without a printer

those wheels in the back of two of them are just to balance the model,

without them the wire harness tips the model nose-down 

 

angry, mean and barely domesticated,

 the asses were probably the most dangerous part of the ensemble! 

Horsing Around

 

why? where? how?

        In the process of the "Great Relocation" (wherein the library is moving upstairs and the painted minis are moving into the space that the books are evacuating) a great many boxes of "stuff" are being moved, opened, and examined. 

       Today I made this stunning discovery, a box weighing roughly twenty five pounds that is completely filled with 25mm horses of every imaginable type. I have absolutely no recollection of how they came into my possession or why they were stashed with the 7.62x54R ammo but there they are. I will be bringing these to Stellacon, so if you need horses, I have them at a very reasonable price!

Sniper Priests with a touch of paint

 

        You have seen these lads before when I reviewed them a while back. I was asked if I would try my hand at painting them as well (always a dangerous proposition because sometimes the Painting Muse doesn't visit for months) which I readily agreed to as they are simply delightful models.

The First Annual Sprue Swap at Stellacon 2026

        If you are like me you have been getting those free sprues on the cover of the British wargames magazines, plus a bunch of leftovers from various projects. They sit in a box looking to valuable/useful to throw away, making me feel guilty for not putting to use. Well here is your chance to be freed of that guilt, bring them to Michigan Toy Soldier on the 27th of June for the swap-meet. 

        Stellacon is the annual swap-meet hosted by Michigan Toy Soldier Co., you can also round up spare or unwanted minis, models, books and other hobby supplies and sell/trade them with fellow gamers. It is a great chance to find that unique item that you have been searching for or get rid of last years "new thing" that didn't work out.

        

The Bambu-Mini Free Company is ready to take the field!

 

the forces of the Bambu Free Company as it stands today

just under 100 points in Midgard terms

 

       Well, not entirely free, there is the matter of 1.3 cents per mini for the filament, and doubtless some electricity costs as well. I am willing to absorb such costs and still feel as if they were free. Some of the minis came out rather well, a few look a bit awkward (they get to stand in the middle rear row of the formation) but on the whole I am quite satisfied with the results. 

 

Making the Bambu Mini pay for itself UPDATED

       One of the things that always bothered me about plastic minis was the huge number of spare bits that were left over after a build; dozens of heads, arms etc that were heading toward the recycling bin. I held onto the sprues, swearing that they were too useful to cast aside, and for once I was right. I stumbled across a free STL of Middle Ages warriors. by a fine fellow by the moniker of Illhadiel on Cults 3-d. Among the many files were several basic bodies with legs but no heads or arms. In an instant I knew I could use all those spare plastic parts and make my Bambu Mini a fiscally sound decision (retrospectively at least). With each mini using about two grams of FDM and a spool of FDM costing about $13US the price per body was just pennies. 

 

it took a little work to get them the right size

 but after that it was off to the races! 

Amidst the digging I found a chest of treasure

        One of the few advantages of sorting through and relocating one's lifetime collections of hobbies is that you find all those things that had gone walkabout on you. Lost items, or in this case, whole collections of projects scarcely remembered that once were burning flames. One such flame was Wargames Foundry's Trojan War series released ages ago. The models were lovely, the subject evocative and the price horrifying. My kids going off to college meant that I didn't have funds for such pursuits at the time so I stashed the collection and promised myself that I would return to it later. No doubt you will be shocked to discover that was a promise that I failed to keep (putting five kids through college took forever and my interests wandered). 

 

when I found this tucked behind a stack of ammo-cans I wondered what it held... 

 

 

to my great joy it was the long-lost Trojans

with the group now playing Midgard instead of WRG 6th I no longer need 20 plus chariot models

suddenly fielding a Mycenaean Period army becomes a reality 

 

 

now "all" I have to do is assemble and paint them

I guess my Summer project has been decided upon! 

Trench Crusade, Trench Missionaries

        In the constantly expanding world of Trench Crusade Wargames Atlantic is offering us Trench Missionaries, the Mormon crusaders, right down to the white shirt and black ties (I almost expected to find a set of bicycles in the box). All kidding aside this is an excellent set that adds a new dimension to the game, I look forward to some expanded lore regarding this faction.

       As far as the models go they are cast in the usual gray plastic with no flash and just the faintest of mold-lines. The detail on all surfaces is sharp. As with most Wargames Atlantic kits there are plenty of posing options and weapon choices and the suit of "Power Armor" captures the Steam/Diesel Punk ethos perfectly. The figures are reasonably proportioned (no enormous heads or hands) and the clothing fits well over the models with the details sharply cast and the flowing capes deeply molded, both of which will make painting a breeze. I do like that the models are all solidly standing on both feet with no "athletic" running poses teetering on one foot or oddly posed crouching figures, but that may just be my rather pedestrian tastes showing.

 

 

box front, some interesting painting ideas on offer 

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 previous occupant of the room left me with this garish color 

 

but several coats of flat green produced a much more calming shade 

 

 

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 

 

 

the corners are the perfect location for rolled maps and gaming mats  

       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.