Off to the Circus!

   And not the Barnum & Bailey sort either! 

      Housemartin has pulled one last con on me; he needs a place for those chariots (with the "oh-so-lovely" charioteers) to run their races. He sort of left that lying there and, being the twit that I am, I said that it would be dead easy to make a spina and then paint a track based on the board that he showed me. Thus I find myself painting a terrain mat to match the track that his boardgame came with. For all my complaining it is a simple matter as you can see below.

 

a 6" by 30" space in the center for the spina and a series of 4" wide pathways around it,

the first layer is in a darker shade, a lighter shade will highlight the track

The Housemartin's Arabs

   I started this project a long while back and was determined to complete it before moving on to other subjects. It took a fair bit of time but I have completed the Cavalry and the Arab Commander and his cohorts. Nothing great but they are off the workbench finally (all that remains are a couple of dozen Jannisaries).

 

the whole lot so far

No Biga deal

Time for the Quadriga ... Lets get this Circus underway. 

A Person of Significant Power

     Actually just a darned fine figure that I tried to paint well enough to honor the ultra-talented sculptor that made it. Brother Vinny makes a range of (rather pricey) resin models in 28mm. I don't know if they are intended for gaming or just display but I sure wish that I had the cash and painting-talent to have an army of these to call my own. Housemartin had this figure in with a few others that he had left lying about, it didn't look like much until I hit it with a coat of white primer; then it left me a bit stunned. Simply superb. Like I said I did my best but I'm not sure my brush is up to this level of sculpting.

 

Charioteers completed

     Having a few moments to myself I threw a quick wash on the charioteers. I think it helps the look a fair bit. Now they are finished and I can get back to the Arab Cavalry that were so rudely interrupted by this little side job.

 

The Housemartin Speaks, Chariot Racing

     Well, since Anton got all excited and started cranking off the drivers, I decided I should get my act together and get the rest of the circus under way. 

     The company 4Ground makes all manner of interesting things out of laser cut MDF in various scales.  In what they call 28mm (it might be 20mm) they happen to have a series of Chariots.  There is no particular rhyme or reason to the range as far as I can see consisting of Egyptian and Celtic, although both can be use for other groups with a little conversion work. 

     So in looking around I could only find the Egyptian chariots on offer from a company in Italy and they only had three sets (2 chariots to a pack) in stock so I ordered all three and picked up a pack of Celtic chariots from a U.S. Supplier.  Both were companies on Ebay and each pack came in for around 6 dollars including postage.  So 24$ total bought me the collection.  Herewith the assembly. 

       This is the Egyptian package out of the bag.  Plus my friend Elmer.  With a little patience it goes together easily enough. 

A Spot of Paint

      I had intended to make The Housemartin paint the charioteers that I had assembled for him. They looked so sad, sitting there on the workbench all naked and everything. I figured that I would just prime them when this happened.........at least they are finished now.

the Housemartin tells me that the "teams" were color-coded 
and fans went so far as to paint themselves to match, much like modern football fans 
thus you see the colors of the famous Crayola "basic eight" 
three primary colors, three secondary colors, plus black and white

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...

     The Housemartin has long played upon my gadfly attention span to goad me into projects for him. His latest triumph was to talk up a set of Roman Chariot Racing rules and get me interested. I should have seen the other shoe waiting to drop........ nobody makes 28mm charioteers (or so I've been told). Could I be so kind as to suggest a source? He knows very well my enthusiasm for plastic figures and is also well aware of the vast pile of the same in my "toy room". Of course I suggested that it would be a simple thing to build some out of the many Classical period figures that I have, and he only needed eight of them (all different; if you can).

   Well I spent an hour after work knocking these little fellows together out of some Wargame Factory boxes I had lying about.

 

the lead, umm, plastic pile

A Second Look at Flintcon

     My Co-Editor Justice&Rule acted as a roving reporter during Flintcon. As such he captured pictures of many more games than I did. He has uploaded them to the blog. Unfortunately I cannot provide commentary as I was busy running a game myself. This is very picture-intensive, it might take a minute to load. If anyone who was running a game, or played in one, would like to provide info please do so in the Comments section and I will attach their note to the corresponding photos.

 

 while the much-vaunted snowstorm failed to materialize

the media hysteria surrounding the non-event probably depressed attendance

And finally; Something different

    The Housemartin long ago learned that if you leave things on my workbench they might just catch my eye and end up painted. Exactly such a thing happened last night. Long ago I assembled some Gripping Beast plastic Arab Cavalry for T.H. and (despite repeated reminders) he has failed to take them home and paint them. I had spent an hour or so cleaning up my newly aquired western town buildings when I got the itch to pick up a paintbrush (mind you, this doesn't happen often so I never let the urge pass). I cast around for something primed and ready to go and my eye caught on the cavalry. They are delightful figures so I did some quick research and got started. A couple of hours later I had this:

 

a few infantry crept into the process as well

        They have another couple of hours to go before they are ready for the tabletop. It was fun painting something that wasn't uniform for a change. Combined with the Arab foot that I did a while back T.H. has the basis for a Saga or Pikeman's Lament force.

A First Look at Flintcon

     I just returned from Flintcon, despite dire warnings of an approaching Snowmageddon R.U.P. drove and we made the trip in record time (BTW weathermen.......3" of snow is just another day here in Michigan, stop blowing things out of proportion!). I ran the Siege of Saint Augustine again and had a jolly time doing so, the players seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

     Between arriving and setting up my game I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of games in progress and blow my entire budget on two purchases. Apologies to anyone  running a game that I missed. J&R was roving the hall throughout the convention and will certainty be posting a more comprehensive report soon. But, for now, here are the photos.

 

anybody that knows me is aware that I'm a sucker for any game with jungles and/or steamboats, 

this one had BOTH, and some very nice water effects as well

Differences and Distinctions

     Despite being quite happy with my model starfort which I refer to as the Castillo de San Marcos I must confess that it is not a proper scale model.  Concessions to playability have been forced on me by the dimensions of the thing and the reach of the human arm. This is combined with the fact that, over the centuries, the fort itself has changed appearance. I must also confess that certain mistakes have crept in as well.

     In the spirit of full-disclosure I will now enumerate the differences that I am aware of between the model and the real thing.

the source of all this trouble; the real thing, courtesy GoogleEarth