Paint It Black! Black as night.......

       Nope, not the Rolling Stones song (which is a pretty good song but not the subject of this post)

 

there is something about he fluorescent light that penetrates the 

gray paint and black wash to bring the tan primer back to the surface

(at least in the photos, they look fine in person)

      OK, so I was griping about everything being black. It isn't exactly true, but darned close. On the other hand it certainly makes it easy to get stuff finished. This afternoon I assembled and painted these little beauties; the Monitor, 2 x Roanoke, Milwaukee, Passaic. They were painted the same way as the last batch; light khaki spray primer, a couple of light coats of medium gray then a couple of washes of black. I still have to go back and pick out in pure black the gun muzzles and the deck fixtures. The white turrets on the Roanoke models is suggested by the instructions from Thoroughbred and I don't know enough about the period to argue with the fine folks who produced these kits. After this I just have a few side-wheel double-enders and a couple of steam frigates. The jury is still out on the issue of bases. There is a lot of fragile mast and yardarms on the sailing vessels.

 

the growth in size in just a couple of years is stunning;

the Monitor (far right) 1861 next to the Roanoke (three turrets) 1863

 

not pretty ships but there is something brutally honest about their appearance

Monochrome

 

I haven't glued the masts down just yet there are some deck details that still need gluing in place

       Having assembled some of the ship models I took a try at painting them. I must admit that I was somewhat intimidated by the level of detail on these kits but after I had gotten started it turned out that they were an easier task than I had anticipated. My biggest beef is that there was apparently only one color for ships during the Civil War; black. Sure, sure, there is the odd bit of brown decking or the occasional splash of white but overall these are dreary things to paint. Seriously, how many shades of dark gray are there?  I guess that I will get used to it eventually........

 

then there is the question of bases, on models this large I hesitate to add bases

 but there will be a fair amount of frail masts and rigging when these are done

Ironclad Madness

 

this batch consists of New Ironsides, Dictator, a CSS gunboat and the CSS Alabama

and two turreted ships being built for the CSA Navy but seized by the British 

government before they were turned over to the Rebs

       So I signed up to run an American Civil War ironclads game at Battlefields (7MAR20) and until yesterday I hadn't even opened the packages. Needless to say I have procrastinated beyond all reason. I started assembling them just last night and was surprised at how well thy went together. The quality of Thoroughbred models are simply stunning, especially when you consider that a good many of the sculpts are twenty plus years old! No CAD or CinC work here, these are the product of old-school craftsmanship at its best. I shot a coat of primer on the first batch this morning and hope to have them painted tonight so that I can get started on the next group tomorrow.

 

one of the trademarks of Thoroughbred minis is the perfection of the casting,

 even on tiny parts there is no flash and barely the trace of a mold line 

NOTE; They are primed in a medium tan color, I have no clue why the photos are that odd olive color

Gaming Update 20FEB and 22FEB

My place 1900hrs 20FEB20  and 1900hrs 22FEB20

Rules are made for breaking........right?

        I have made it a rule over the last couple of years not to buy more figures than I have painted. By the by and in large I have conformed to this rule. But (and there is always a but, right?) I was at FlintCon perusing the flea-market of wonderful minis on offer when my eye caught a largish box of Thoroughbred 1/600 scale ACW ironclads. I have always loved their models so I was inexorably drawn toward the innocuous cardboard box, as I peered in I saw that the box was nearly full of these little beauties. As I stood, deep in thought, the owner leaned in close to me and said in a conspiratorial tone, "They are more than half off". I felt my will begin to waver as I reached for my wallet, then saw it collapse entirely when he suggested "I can do a little better than that". Moments later I was the happy owner of a box brimming over with superb models.

 

mea culp, mea culpa

my penance will be to assemble and paint these excellent models

        I find myself the proud owner of the following  ship kits; Milwaukee, 2 x Roanoke, Sassacus, Hartford, New Ironsides, John Paul Jones, 2 x HMS Scorpions ( a pair of ships that were built for the CSA but seized by Britain after they were launched), 2 x Mohican, Confederate Gunboats, CSS Alabama, Passaic, Monitor, Floating Battery, Dictator, Five-Gun Fort. My main concern is that they will all end up being painted black which would be a rather drab look.

Convention Report, Flintcon 2020

       Well, FlintCon has come and gone, and a great time was had by all. Despite snow and slippery road conditions more than 200 gamers showed up and packed the two halls set up for the convention. All proceeds go to the school programs and the door and kitchen were staffed by parents of the students, they were most cordial and helpful through a long day. This is a very well-run (thanks to Rod Cain, who is a seemingly tireless organizer) convention that exudes a warm and friendly atmosphere. Once again the flea-market had many wonderful things, I broke my own rule and bought a couple of dozen Thoroughbred ACW ironclads at a great price (so much for my "no new minis, no new periods"  rule!). The food was good and plentiful and located just down the hall between the minis games and the Pathfinder area.

         Kudos to Rod and his cheerful helpers!

the gymnasium was pretty well filled all day long

A Great Resource

 

I find it odd that 400 years ago they could drawn better maps than most

 modern history books can manage, all without satellite imaging

       Everybody who knows me is well acquainted with my interest in maps (some might even call it an obsession). I have a large collection of maps, I draw maps of my own and i just love websites that have cool old maps, from back in the day when true artists created them. A friend of mine, Joe, pointed me at this beauty; George III may have been mad but he had one heck of a collection of maps! Take a look at this site. It loads kind of slow but it is well worth the wait, by the way, get a comfortable chair you are likely to be shuffling through this for a while.......I was poking around for two hours before I even noticed.

A Change of Pace

 

the future is plastic!

these figures really deserve a better painter than I am 

      I was getting my stuff together for Flintcon after spending a week working on terrain projects and stopped to look at the 28mm Greeks that I had assembled for the Paint & Take table at the show.  I was once again struck by the excellent detail and proportion of the miniatures (Victrix makes some lovely stuff!) and I just couldn't resist trying my hand at just one of them. I decided to narrowly limit my palette and to try to paint the figure as fast as possible. I have always found painting a bit of a drudge particularly if there are a large number of figures involved so I wanted to see just how fast I could get one figure up to a decent table-top standard.

Historic Saint Augustine Florida, Visitor Center and Governor's Mansion Museum

        Saint Augustine is the nation's oldest continually occupied European city, at four and a half centuries it is ancient by American standards (please don't scoff you Europeans and Asians, the Great Wall and the Coliseum were new once too) and is suitably proud of its heritage. Not only does it have the magnificent Castillo de San Marcos but the downtown still conforms to the original Spanish layout. In honor of their heritage and to help orient a tourist the city has built a very impressive Visitor Center which borders upon being a museum in and of itself. I am confining the following photo essay to those portions that may be of interest to wargamers and military historians.

 

this wonderful display of craftsmanship is in the main hall,

a Spanish galleon from when Spain ruled the waves

Gaming Update 25JAN02 1900hrs

The Housemartin has offered to run a game of Flint and Feather this Saturday at my place starting around 1900hrs. Be there to witness this event!

Book Review The Battle of Killiecrankie The First Jacobite Campaign, 1689-1691

        The Battle of Killiecrankie
        The First Jacobite Campaign, 1689-1691
        Author; Jonathan D. Oates
        Illustrator; Mark Allen
        Helion &Co. Century of the Soldier  #31
        ISBN 978-1-912390-98-4

                The title is perhaps a little misleading, the Battle of Killiecrankie features large as it was early in the campaign and a stunning victory of the Highlanders over regular Government forces but this book covers the entire Jacobite cause from 1689-91. Oates covers not just the military campaign but also significant portions of the political situation and the logistics of trying to campaign in the unforgiving terrain of the Scottish Highlands. The text is clear and easy to read (except for some of the lengthy quotes from the period; a combination of the local dialect and the lack of standardized spelling makes interpreting them a bit difficult) and moves along at an easy pace.

Gaming Update 18JAN20 1900hrs

      I haven't made up my mind what we will be playing just yet but there will be a game this Saturday, January 18th at 7pm.