Painting Update

Over the weekend, I managed to get two sets of Peter Pig Character packs primed. I started to paint them on Monday night. The hats, pants and duster are done with one of them. They are fun to paint up. I should be able to finish up at least one pack this week.

I have been eyeing some terrain to purchase for WAC. At the moment, I am sold on some Warbases 15mm Cactus Creek buildings. In working our the area surrounding the town, I am trying to figure out buildings that can be part of the town and in the outskirts as well to get the most bang for my buck. But I just found a new to me company - Tre Games. They are US based which is helpful for me as postage will be less. There are a number of buildings that are of interest. Some will be of use for ACW or AWI as well. I am particularly interested in the windmill and the mill building. The mill would be fantastic for AWI games.

Using the Knuckleduster book Cowtown Creator as a guide, I am looking at making a "trading Post" and a "Hog Ranch" for the outskirts area. A Trading post would be a single business structure with some outbuildings that would offer trade opportunity for outlaws, homesteaders, Indians and others living outside of civilization. The Hog Ranch is an illicit pleasure district that would spring up outside of a town. There would be saloons and several small cabins with some outbuildings. I focused on these buildings for my pending Warbases order. Turner Miniatures just released a new set of miniatures for British Legion Cavalry. That has gone into my cart at MyMiniFactory. I need to get back to painting up my British Legion. Maybe I will do so this week. There are just two groups of Infantry that need wrapping up. Also I have cavalry that are next on the list. I paint so slowly but hopefully I can find some time to get a bunch done. I need to get a game on the table.

I started painting the bases to my British Legion last night and finished up the painting on one of the Peter Pig Character figures. It needs a little help with the basing but it is mostly there in mounted, foot and deceased form. The room was dark and I ended up using the flash. The picture is better but still bad.

I also started work on the base of one of the Turner Miniature horse casualties for the British Legion. I need to pick up the pace with the British Legion. I pushed it to the side too much lately and need to wrap this up. I have at least one more group of cavalry to do. I have five mounted troopers and three mounted officer figures. I will use at least one of the officers as another trooper. I also have a pair of standard bearers and something like 3 buglers.

Somewhere along the way, I managed to delete all of the files on the thumb drive I was using to 3D print with. Not sure what happened there. I also had some trouble with my vehicle. The radiator cracked and it was overheating. Too much money later and I have a working vehicle again. Ugh. I need more miniature time to recover from that.

Weekend Work - Mostly What A Cowboy

With the storm rolling in and all of the conflicting events that I had canceled, I did manage to get quite a bit of painting time in. I was able to glue and prime some Peter Pig Character figures for What a Cowboy. I really like the character packs. They come with a mounted, foot and dead version of the characters. The aim is to field at least four gangs of up to five figures each with a mounted, foot and dead version. I would eventually like to get some plains indians as well to complete my Battle of Adobe Walls scenario.

The first thing I finished was a World of Pratheron small adobe house. I painted the roof and the base building separately and apparently forgot how I was painting them. I may have to redo the roof as it does not match the base of the house. I really don't want to redo the roof. Will see if I get around to this.

Then I was able to work on the bank building from the same vendor. It is a really nice building that was designed for 28mm figures. I shrunk it down to 1/100th scale and had it printed. It came out great. Some of the details are a little less distinct in the print. Painting the walls, doors and floors under the overhangs was painful. I was wanting the building to come our closer to the bottom portion of the small house above but instead more of the base color came through than I thought would. I think I am happy with it as it is and will not tinker with it too much further. The interior of the buildings are just painted black. All 3 levels can be opened and they fit together with small pins glued to the bottom portion.

To the right of the bank building are two of my design. I don't know how to apply textures to 3d Prints yet so the canvas tops of the two buildings are a bit plain. I attempted to give them a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone but that beaded up and looked very strange. I ended up repainting it once that dried. The false front tent is going to get some signage for a Cafe or a Diner. Something along those lines. The print came out well. The wooden planks on the front and the lower wooden portion are visible but not as distinct as they were in Tinkercad. I may just use a fine point sharpie and draw in some lines holding down the tarps. I haven't decided yet how to finish these.

In the background you can see the Bear, Bison and wolf that I had painted earlier. I messed with the bases some. Still not overly thrilled with them but they are done enough for the time being. These are also visible in the picture of the campsite along with the single Longhorn that I have painted. The woodpile and tents are nice. For somereason, the one bedroll that is not fur is shiny. I didn't use any gloss paint on it so I don't know what happened. Hopefully I can get a can of matt varnish soon and fix it. I need it to protect the buildings I have painted anyway. The tents came out OK. The models had plenty of texture for the soft tone wash. I have a campfire to paint but didn't feel like painting it. I have several camp fires for my Sharp Practice armies but the basing is better suited for the AWI than the desert. I will have to get around to it at some point.

One interesting piece so scatter terrain that I had printed up was a hand water pump and bucket. This is a neat little item. It printed well in 1/100th even though the print was designed for 28mm models. This will be great for any yard in a town or farmstead.

Lastly, I have a house under construction. I actually have 3 different ones that I have had printed out for me. I like the model but I don't like how the first one came out. I also have three piles of cut lumber that I can place as scatter nearby. I painted it in Army Painter Pale Sand and then washed it with Soft Tone. It just doesn't look right. I have looked but I have not found anyone with a painting guide for fresh cut lumber. Any suggestions? You can see where the soft tone just beaded up on the model. I guess that the texture on the model is not workable with it.

British Legion Project

I worked on rebasing some of my militia again. I have four groups on the new basing scheme and another 8 figures on the new bases of 10. I still have a number of militia to rebase still. I will also be rebasing my Provincials. I need to figure out how to complete out these bases. I am thinking of just painting the base and then adding some sand and glue. This will need to be done on the trays as well. The trick will be to not allow it to overlap. That is the part I haven't wrapped my head around. I will just have to give it a try. I may prime the movement trays black. That way I will only have to deal with the top and outside edges.

I spent some more time and now have five and a half groups of militia rebased.

3d Printing

I got some more printing done. I think that the water soluable resin may be an issue. The definition seems softer and there is a tendency to warp. I am not sure what to do about this. I printed an adobe jail building. The base structure seemed OK but the roof is bent. The details are OK but not great on both parts. I am printing some henchman bases for What a Cowboy. Will have to see if I have the same issues.

I received the roofs for the store and the train station that a friend printed for me. His prints are much crisper in both filament prints and with resin. I have to conclude that the issue is with me.

Singling

I am pleased to note that my Singling Supplemnt for Chain of Command and What a Tanker has reached Copper status on WargameVault. Thank you all for helping with this.

What a Cowboy Items

I am very happy with the initial prints of the two buildings I made in tinkercad. The first is a large tent and the other is a test that has a false front for a store or the like.

I need to trim a bit of support from the chimney on the store tent. The one disapointment was with how poorly the wooden slats show up when scaled down to 1/100th scale. I will need to be careful when priming to not loose the detail that is present.

I have an old book from Knuckleduster called Cowtown Creator. It is a great reference for how to build out an Old West town. I am using this to build out the towns I am working on for my What a Cowboy games. It divides towns into multiple types based on the way they were created and provides a good guide for what buildings would be present.

I also managed to paint up some animals that printed out a while back. I picked up a couple of colors of Speed Paint and went to work. I am not sure how well they came out. I am thinking that the bison may need to be darker. But I am just not sure.

I have also done some small camp items as well. I printed out some small camping tents, some bed rolls and a wood pile with an axe. All of which are in process. The bedrolls came in two types - one with fur and one without. I printed several of each. The details was really good even thought the model was for a larger scale.

I started to paint an adobe house. I am not sure I like how it is progressing. Hopefully a few more drybrush coats will fix it. At the moment it looks terrible. I started to print an adobe jail last night. I need to check on the print later today to see how it turned out. I also think I have sorted out henchmen basing for my What a Cowboy games. I have henchmen based on small 13mm wide washers. I found someone who had made a base for henchmen that I was able to adjust to fit my existing models. After I print the roof of the jail, that will be the next print job.

Lastly, I found an old site that had an old west campaign that was set up for another rule set. The map is laid out so it shows settlements, ranches, small soddies (dirt houses/farms), mines and other things that could come into play. My thought was that each "faction" in the game would have their own motivation to go places and do things. Where they go, they will run into people who may oppose them that are not necessarily from an opposing faction. So I threw together a quick table to roll up to figure out what the area would be defended by. Anyway, it will give me an excuse to get some figures on the table for a few games.

Buildings for - What a Cowboy

I pulled together the buildings I just had printed. I have also started the job for another print session for my tent building today. I managed to give each of these a spray undercoat. For the "new suburbs" area of my main town, I have three buildings under construction. These are models from Project Wargaming. I also have the models for their three shop models. These are nice as they are basically a mix and match set of models that allow you to construct more than the three models that they are designed as. Other than them having the same footprint, they give you some great flexibility. They have a few other buildings that I am interested in but I don't have a large enough print bed on my 3d printer to make them.

On MyMiniFactory, I found the World of Pratheron. From them I have bought a number of models. I had a train station printed. I am still waiting on the building roof as it was not cured when my friend brought the print to work.

From the same vendor, I also bought their Small House 2 model, a Large House, a Bank and a Jail. I have not had the Jail printed yet. But the others are printed. There is also a store that I had printed that I believe I purchased from Wargaming3d. Not sure who the author was.

These multi level buildings have pins that you can add that help align the models. I have started to put those in place but they will need some more glue.

I started on a Sarrissa Cantina building a while ago. It is mostly assembled but needs work before I can finish it off.

The plan is to plaster the cantina. I will look at Rich's recent videos on how he plastered a few MDF buildings.

I have a few older painted buildings for my Mexican village. These are mostly old JR Miniatures models. I am nto sure what else is there.

Painting and Printing

I was able to start printing some more this week. I wanted some more terrain for a mining camp or prospector's camp. Between previous purchases at Wargaming3d and MyMiniFactory plus some finds on Thingiverse, I had a few things I could use. I printed a set of tents for prospector housing. Of the three that i tried, two printed perfectly. The third failed. I also printed a set of bedrolls as well, some cut wood with an axe and a few other bits of dressing for the camp. It looks good. These are drying now. I also started my large tent building. The print failed and I need to figure out what settings that I have that are wrong for it.

I also started to paint. I wanted to make progress on my British Legion troops. To that end, I managed to paint some dark green on the jackets of the third group. I painted the saddle blankets on five horses as well as three dead horses. This didn't hold my attention and I drifted over to where my What a Cowboy figures are. I managed to paint up three different casualty figures. These were very simple and are just to suggest the standing miniature to use in their place. I need to give them a wash and some basing but they are coming along nicely. Two are for the law faction that I have, and one was for one of the outlaw gangs.

My next priority is to buy another can of primer. I used up the last of my primer on the dead British Legion figures. I will likely get another can of white primer as I like the effect with the speed paints I have been messing with.

Saturday saw some more painting. The fourth dead cowboy was finished. I also worked on wrapping up the horses for the British Legion Cavalry from Old Glory. I need to use some Army Painter soft tone on them and figure out the basing. I also worked on the third group of British Legion Infantry. Their coats, boots and helmets are painted. I did the webbing but still have their cartridge box, canteen and bag to finish off. The last thing I managed was to rebase another group of milita making the total to four that have been rebased. I have to figure out what I will do for basing the skirmishers still. I have one that I want to print as a test.

I also started to rebase a unit of Provincials. I am seeing some chipping on some of the miniatures. I may need to give them another matt varnish.

Today (1/15), I picked up the prints of the buildings that I had done. Most of these are for my Mexican village for What a Cowboy. I have a large home, a small house, a jail and a bank. All perfect for What a Cowboy. I also had a train station printed. With the new primer, I should be able to get started on these soon.

What a Cowboy Tents Revisited

I am pleased with the first tent structure that I made. I still need to print it but got caught up in working with Tinkercad. So I put together a second building. This one is a false front store on a tent structure. Again, I used a Whitewash City building as the inspiration for this.

I have run both buildings through my slicer and want to print them this weekend. I have also purchased a few buildings from MyMiniFactory and will give printing those a try.

Rebasing Militia

I did something British Legion adjacent as I worked on rebasing my militia. I have rebased two groups of 10 militia. I started another. I have five groups left to work on plus a group of 6 militia skirmishers. The Big Men will remain based on US Pennies. The infantry bases are 3d printed and are a unified size between militia and regulars.

I am really liking the look of the new basing. I have my two finished groups of British Legion so based. But I have six more groups of Provincial Infantry to rebase. Some are on small washers. I still have some on my original basing which was three to a plastic square. I have not figured out what I will do for a cavalry base yet. I only have one completed unit of British Legion Cavalry. My thought was to make a sabot that will fit the bases that these are already mounted on.Who knows if that will stick.

I have six figures of a regular Continental unit painted up that will need rebasing. I want to complete these out to a group of 8. I will see if I can get my STLs from Henry Turner to match. Will have to see. I also have two groups that have yet to be primed of Georgia Continentals. Those are lower on the to do list.

If, I can get my British Legion troops finished and all of my existing troops rebased, my next priority is to print some Continental Dragoons. I want to have some as Pulaski's Legion and William Washington's Dragoons. I have a single group of 8 Militia Cavalry. I have Henry Turner's Militia Cavalry STLs to print out to add some more. I have Horse Holders for the British Legion from Peter Pig. I will need some for the others as well. Anyway. it was almost progress on a project.

What a Cowboy - Terrain

After placing an order for seven packs of Peter Pig Cowboys for What a Cowboy, I started to review my terrain. I am close to satisfied with the small Mexican village I have been building. I have assembled but not plastered or painted the Sarissa Cantina that I have. My town terrain is currently all paper terrain from Eric Hotz. While I have a large number of Whitewash City buildings built, I am not quite sold on the look. The paper terrain does provide some inspiration to make my own terrain.

In looking at the sample map from the WAC rulebook for the campaign, there are 10 areas on the map. Over a year ago, I bought some houses under construction from Project Wargaming. These were right at the edge of what my printer could manage. I have a friend printing these for me with his larger printer. These would be useful for the New Suburb area, the town and even the lumber mill. I do have some models for other buildings as well that I may attempt to print sometime soon. I have a Battlefront Rail station that would be pressed into service as well as rail tracks. I am lacking a train. I printed a mine head and have some small outbuildings for the mine area. But one thing I wanted was a large tent building that would be used for either a headquarters or an important temporary building.

I looked at what was there with Whitewash city. i found a suitable structure and wondered if I could build it in Tinkercad. I spent some time on it and managed to get something suitable.

I am pleased with it and it will fit on my printer's build plate. I found some good other smaller tents on Thingiverse and have downloaded those. They will need to be shrunk as they area all for a larger scale. If I get these printed and based, it will make a great start for the Miner camp or for the timbermill. I have some camp items for Sharp Practice for my AWI games. These should be usable as well.

This leaves a school house. I do not have one of those. I may buy a church either from Sarissa or possibly Game Craft Miniatures and add a graveyard to it. The suburb and town are still needing some attention. The rules suggest a 4' x 4' play area. That is actually great as that means I can still use half of my table as a painting area. Lets see if I will be able to get this moving.

I am looking to have a multi faction game going. I will dice for townies that are looking to defend what they have in addition to other factions looking to interdict the others. This could be fun.

Cold War is Hot Again!

Flank March Miniatures has published a set of Cold War modifications for Chain of Command. These looks really promising. They rely heavily on Chain of Command 2 as the base with slight modifications to make them fit the period better. I am keen to try these out. It has a nice array of Soviet, British and US troops available. I have reached out and run some ideas about how to change these to represent Cubans and Sandinistas as well.

I was comparing the force lists to FM 7-7 for the US Mechanized Platoon. I have both the 1977 and the 1985 editions of these documents. That provided 3 distinct formations in them all based around the M113 troop carrier. I have a base platoon for both sides ready to go for the game. I have been eyeing the files from Flank March for their Soviet Engineers and went ahead and ordered them. I think these will offer some great fun this year.

Check out the rule for yourself: https://www.flankmarch.com/downloads