Lace Wars Project Part II; Another Regiment joins the ranks

I am trying to stick with a disciplined painting schedule and have been working on this unit for a steady hour (minimum) a day. They still lack flags and groundwork but they are otherwise completed. They can be used as either Spanish or French line troops with a simple swap of flags.

As always comments, curses and jeering are welcomed....

 

I find it harder to paint the simple gray uniform than the blue jackets of the colonial troops

Progress on the Lace Wars project

     I decided that the only way I was going to make headway on this project was to sit down and work for a solid hour on it at least five days a week. At first it seemed a daunting task. As I got used to the routine I began to look forward to the quiet period of time painting miniatures. After a week I managed to get one battalion finished, the (almost) finished models can be seen below, they only require matte finish and flags to be complete. Just eleven more to go!

A tiny fortress

The NPS gift shop at the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine Florida had these on sale for eight bucks each. They looked perfect for Age of Sail land fortifications so I bought four. Unfortunately they don't appear on the list of items available on the park website so you will have to go there in person to get them (or offer me absurd sums of money for mine). I also saw them at the Fountain of Youth, but they don't list it on their website gift shop either. Or you can wait until next spring when I'm heading back that way and place an order with me and I will be happy to pick them up when I visit.



Upcoming RPG Stuff

Hey, y'all. Been a while, but boredom is a wonderful motivator and frankly I don't want to bother people all through email about this. Given most of us comment on the blog, I'll put this here.

"Down the highway and through the brush, to Ho Chi Minh's house we go!": A Charlie Company Battle Report

Our friend and commenter Dobbers Wargames had wanted to put on a Vietnam game for quite a while, and he chose one hell of a night to do it. Not only was Honest Dan in the house on leave from Fort Bliss, but just about everyone in the group managed to show up, and Mr. Dobbers brought his own friends along to fill out the crowd.

On one side: Dobber and his evil communist advisor the Old Sarge.

On the other: myself, Anton, Honest Dan, R.U.P., Housemartin, Crowag and a host of others trying to work within a chain of command.

Oh, this was going to go swimmingly...

Slow and Steady: A "Rock the Casbah" After-Action Report

   I'm going to finish this largely because I wonder if RUP reads the blog, and what he'll do if  I finish it. At any rate, the game was set: the Israelis were meant to clear a town that a small group of Syrians had forgotten to actually pull back from; the Israeli spearhead was to take the town while the Syrians and PLO were there to take what they could and hold until relieved... or at least that's what I think they were to do. As an Israeli, I found their actions and methods inscrutable, and thus do not deign to try and explain them.

Enter the Infantry

The weather in these parts has been utterly abominable so I whiled away the hours putting together a couple of boxes of Lace Wars infantry. This was a surprisingly simple procedure, the hardest part was deciding which version of the figures to build, the kit provides so many options that it can be distracting. I steeled my nerves and stuck with building straight-up regular infantry and not doing too many dramatic poses with the officers and drummers.

 Now I just need a break in the weather so I can get them primed.

A misspent afternoon.......

The other day I wasn't really feeling like doing anything productive so I spent a few hours assembling plastic figures for my next Big Project, the Lace Wars. I hope they are as easy to paint as they were to build! The biggest obstacle was avoiding the urge to customize every figure (the kits provide so many options that it is silly!) One box of cavalry and three boxes of guns, just three more boxes of guns, six more boxes of cavalry and eight boxes of infantry and I can start painting!

the small mounted unit is the officers that come with the artillery set,

I will use them for my command officers

 

 

D&D Saturday

J&R will be running his D&D campaign this Saturday 9APR16 at 1900hrs, be there to play, observe or just pick on us as we stumble from one blood-bath to another

Aging Gracefully, the 28mm Dark Ages/Fantasy Fort grows up

I heeded the advice of the comments here and on TMP and added a very thin dark wash to the 28MM Dark Ages fort. As usual the Vox Populi was right, it does look so much better. I used the same paint that I am now using as a standard for all my terrain. This makes it look like it is part of the the groundwork. Thanks to all for the brilliant suggestion!

 

just enough color to take the edge off and blend it with the surroundings 

Thank You to the work detail

I promised photos of the stuff we got done on Saturday. The worst part of the job was finding someplace to put all the hills while the paint dried! Flocking or sanding was applied directly to an additional coat of standard latex house paint and, after being shaken off, was then top-coated with the cheapest hair-spray I could find (stuff works wonders, much better than expensive spray sealants).

Behold the wonders of our labors my comrades!

 

the Steep Hills selection, two UWSSU hold enough terrain to cover a 8x6 foot table 

safe from chipped corners or scratched flocking!

A big thank you

To Crowag and J&R for showing up and moving mountains (OK, it was scale-model terrain) on Saturday. We completed two boxes full of Rugged hills and two more boxes of steep hills, both enough to cover a 6x8foot table. Painted flocked etc.

These heroes get to pick the next half-dozen games..........

Photos to follow