About time for another wargaming update.
Plans continue back and forth via email with Stokes Schwartz for our game at the end of this month, fighting a slightly modified version of Charles S. Grant's Tabletop Teaser from Battlegames magazine issue 14. For those who haven't kept up with the details, Stokes will be supplying forces and table, and I will be commanding the troops of the Zichenau invaders remotely by email, with Stokes providing photographs and info of the battle each turn. I'm really looking forward to it. I've already written up my order of battle and initial orders, which Stokes will receive shortly before the game begins, after he's had time to select his own force. Neither of us will know the other's composition until the game begins.
The mailman has been helpfully delivering items since my last post, including another batch of Litko bases for my cavalry, and some more purple heart markers and mini smoke markers also from Litko. Also delivered were a small set of the new metal Spencer Smiths to finish out my troops on hand. Besides a few stray officers (two of which are even now being painted up by Stokes to command our forces in the game), my organization now provides a full 61-figure battalion of musketeer figures organized according to BAR's template, a 43-figure grenadier battalion organized on my own template, and a 12-figure cavalry squadron.
I also made my first attempt at assembling some of the movement bases that were delivered from Litko earlier. They fit very well, and I'm quite pleased, though I might have a go at finding a cheaper solution to be kind to the wargaming budget. At $5 or so a piece, they're not a bad price, but they do add up fast when you need 5-7 of them for a battalion. :>
I'm also pondering trying some black gesso as a basecoat, to see whether I like it or not.
Wal-mart has provided me with a half-dozen $1 porcelain Christmas buildings, which are a little larger than the 15mm J&R buildings, but perhaps still usable especially if I don't combine them in the same town. At any rate, the price was unrefusable. Home Depot also has contributed, with a bag of 21 flocked miniature trees for about $6-7. Five of them were too big for my purposes, but the other 16 should be quite usable. Not a bad price even for 16 trees.
Showing posts with label basing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basing. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
More News
I was going to have pictures posted last night, but the card reader didn't want to acknowledge that there were photos on the card. This morning, after unplugging it and plugging it back in, it finally admitted that I'd taken photos.
I had some big plans for yesterday, but they didn't turn out as I'd intended them. I was going to play a WW2 game using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers. This is not the same teaster stokes and I are using (more on that later). However, once I started looking at the troops I'd need for it, I realized I need to do more maintenance work before I can field them. My WW2 figures are unpainted plastic, but that wasn't the stopper. The stopper was that far too many of them still have to have the stubs of sprue cut off their bases so they can stand up.
So, instead, I ended up spending (besides more time online) some quality time with basing for the SYW figures. I repaired the bases on 10 of the Spencer Smith figures that had come unglued in shipping, and then proceeded to apply Litko bases to 6 that didn't have any bases, including 4 of the unpainted ones. Once I receive the new metal SSMs I ordered and get them on the same bases, I'll have the full battalion of SSMs based.
I also took my one sample SSM grenadier and the one Minden musketeer that I've had on my workbench and put them on Litko bases to see how they fit. I think the consistent basing will help the Mindens look that much better next to the other figures.
After that, I tried out basing one WW2 figure on a 3/4 inch round base from Litko, which I have 50 or more of that I received from a fellow gamer who'd changed his mind about what bases to use. Still haven't decided if I'm going to stick with it, but while doing this I had a sudden idea, and dug out some of my Revell plastic SYW figures. By gluing the figure on one of these thick 3/4 rounds, then gluing that onto my standard 1x1 square base, it produces a consistent footprint AND erases much of the height difference. While the 3/4 round is rather obvious in its thickness, I think the benefit in terms of making the heights more consistent is sufficient boon. So I based two 6-man companies of Austrian pioneers this way.
If you examine the photo below (click it to enlarge), you can see all of the above, with a RSM figure stuck in the center to show the height comparisons. Additionally, I glued together a 15mm paper cottage. I'm not sure where I got the original for that, but I believe it was a free sample from a producer of paper building designs. If I can dig up the original again, I may make more.
On the upcoming agenda, besides some more basing, is putting together my custom movement trays from Litko, which arrived last week. More photos to come when that's done.
Those of you who read the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will know that he and I are preparing to play a game by email/blog in the latter part of November. We'll be using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers, and the game will be laid out in Stokes' wargame rule with myself issuing commands from afar based on photographs. I will be taking the role of the invading Electorate of Zichenau forces.
I had some big plans for yesterday, but they didn't turn out as I'd intended them. I was going to play a WW2 game using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers. This is not the same teaster stokes and I are using (more on that later). However, once I started looking at the troops I'd need for it, I realized I need to do more maintenance work before I can field them. My WW2 figures are unpainted plastic, but that wasn't the stopper. The stopper was that far too many of them still have to have the stubs of sprue cut off their bases so they can stand up.
So, instead, I ended up spending (besides more time online) some quality time with basing for the SYW figures. I repaired the bases on 10 of the Spencer Smith figures that had come unglued in shipping, and then proceeded to apply Litko bases to 6 that didn't have any bases, including 4 of the unpainted ones. Once I receive the new metal SSMs I ordered and get them on the same bases, I'll have the full battalion of SSMs based.
I also took my one sample SSM grenadier and the one Minden musketeer that I've had on my workbench and put them on Litko bases to see how they fit. I think the consistent basing will help the Mindens look that much better next to the other figures.
After that, I tried out basing one WW2 figure on a 3/4 inch round base from Litko, which I have 50 or more of that I received from a fellow gamer who'd changed his mind about what bases to use. Still haven't decided if I'm going to stick with it, but while doing this I had a sudden idea, and dug out some of my Revell plastic SYW figures. By gluing the figure on one of these thick 3/4 rounds, then gluing that onto my standard 1x1 square base, it produces a consistent footprint AND erases much of the height difference. While the 3/4 round is rather obvious in its thickness, I think the benefit in terms of making the heights more consistent is sufficient boon. So I based two 6-man companies of Austrian pioneers this way.
If you examine the photo below (click it to enlarge), you can see all of the above, with a RSM figure stuck in the center to show the height comparisons. Additionally, I glued together a 15mm paper cottage. I'm not sure where I got the original for that, but I believe it was a free sample from a producer of paper building designs. If I can dig up the original again, I may make more.
On the upcoming agenda, besides some more basing, is putting together my custom movement trays from Litko, which arrived last week. More photos to come when that's done.
Those of you who read the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will know that he and I are preparing to play a game by email/blog in the latter part of November. We'll be using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers, and the game will be laid out in Stokes' wargame rule with myself issuing commands from afar based on photographs. I will be taking the role of the invading Electorate of Zichenau forces.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Waiting for More Stuff Too
I decided to jump while the cash was in hand, and order some basing supplies from Litko. Got an excellent responsiveness from them on an inquiry about custom movement tray sizes, so I am now awaiting the arrival of two separate orders.
1) 100 1"x1" bases. These are what the Spencer Smith figures came on (though in metal) and they seem suitable for most of the variety of figure shapes that I have in 25-30mm metal, so I decided to buy a set of them. This should be enough to base my RSM95 battalion, plus 40-odd leftovers which I shall later decide what to do with.
2) A set of custom movement trays to enable me to put my first RSM95 battalion in movement trays, as well as 4 companies of the Spencer Smith figures. Also in this order is a set of purple heart markers from Jim's Lab. He had the red life markers, and I put in a comment suggesting purple ones as another useful color, and they're already up there.
Shouldn't be a lot more buying after this, as I'm about tapped out. :>
My hope, though, is that being able to base the figures will do a couple of things for me. Firstly, I'm hoping that sticking the RSMs on their bases, even bare metal on bare wood, will inspire more painting work. The other is that I'm also hoping that having them based and on movement trays will make it easier to put together a small battle, since I can push the movement trays around rather than heaps of individual figures. Makes the movement faster while not sacrificing the individual basing.
1) 100 1"x1" bases. These are what the Spencer Smith figures came on (though in metal) and they seem suitable for most of the variety of figure shapes that I have in 25-30mm metal, so I decided to buy a set of them. This should be enough to base my RSM95 battalion, plus 40-odd leftovers which I shall later decide what to do with.
2) A set of custom movement trays to enable me to put my first RSM95 battalion in movement trays, as well as 4 companies of the Spencer Smith figures. Also in this order is a set of purple heart markers from Jim's Lab. He had the red life markers, and I put in a comment suggesting purple ones as another useful color, and they're already up there.
Shouldn't be a lot more buying after this, as I'm about tapped out. :>
My hope, though, is that being able to base the figures will do a couple of things for me. Firstly, I'm hoping that sticking the RSMs on their bases, even bare metal on bare wood, will inspire more painting work. The other is that I'm also hoping that having them based and on movement trays will make it easier to put together a small battle, since I can push the movement trays around rather than heaps of individual figures. Makes the movement faster while not sacrificing the individual basing.
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