Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Hobby Progress

I have decided that I really do not like the ground cloth that I have for my games. It is a dyed bed sheet that lays very nicely over the terrain forms I place under it. But the pictures that I have taken, one of my proof readers remarked looked as if it were a snowy background. Somehow, it was bleached out by the lights. That was disappointing.

I have plans to make one though. The problem is, i don't have enough materials at the moment. I have the ground sheet that I want to use. I need more Burnt Umber paint and caulk in order to make the mixture to coat the canvas cloth I have purchased. I have clamps to hold it in place while it dries. Trying to figure out if I can pull this off over the weekend. Until this step is done, I don't think I can make more progress on the Kharkov supplement. I am so close that this is frustrating.

Today I received my package from Blotz. The fences are really nice. They are laser cut MDF and fit together tightly. There are ten 4" long fence sections and three gates of close to two inches each. Since they are laser cut, only one side has the scribed details on it. They fix this by making a framework that is applied to the back of the fence. It is cleverly done and looks good. This should complete out my fence needs for at least scenario two of the first campaign. I had also bought the Blotz gravestone pack. There are a set of twenty nine tombstones. Of these, twenty one are the normal rounded headstone designs. Some are cracked and others are broken with most being whole. Then there are several crosses. four of them have what I would consider a "Presbyterian" cross with the circle around it. And four are a plain cross. the plain crosses will work but the others will need to have the circle clipped for the Ukraine.

So I am in a holding pattern for the moment until I can work on the revised ground cloth. The lure of Dux Britanniarum is calling. I have four Romano-British bowmen on the table as well as five Saxon cavalry. I just finished a Romano-British mounted noble. I also have four goats and a goatherd. The goats are now painted. I am going to try to work on the fences first but who knows. I lack reinforcements for the Romano-British. The bowmen will help as they are the first eligible reinforcement unit. I just ordered some Romano-British Warriors and a light cavalry pack from Splintered Light by way of Noble Knight on eBay. The second reinforcement is six warriors. With the pack I ordered, I will be able to field two groups of warriors. So that should be plenty. Light cavalry is the third reinforcement. The pack comes with six light cavalry and a cavalry group is four figures. So plenty there as well. That leaves me with only two packs left to get - Heavy Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry command. Ultimately, I want to pick up another pack of elites for the Romano-British as the career path allows for upgrades to groups and depending on choices, you could have 2 to 4 groups of elites. One pack of 12 will give me two groups. That should be plenty.

My Saxons are doing fairly well. I would like a pack of elites as I have plenty of warriors and skirmishers. I really would like just 4 javelin armed guys but don't want to buy a pack of 12 of them. I also would like actual light cavalry for the Saxons. I will probably buy some Khurasan Miniatures Germans as they have Cavalry followers that seem to fit and some of their infantry as they just look really nice.

The Picts are the last that I will flesh out. I have miniatures to paint but I am not sure what I am actually missing.

Also on the table is the ruined village from Red Vectors. They are glued together but I am not sure what to do with the roofs. I also have two T-34s that I am building as wrecks. I will probably break those out for What a Tanker games. lastly, there are a bunch of hay stacks that are the more rounded lumps of hay that I am not as fond of.

4 comments:

  1. Chris, I would just re-dye the sheet and then start spraying it in darker green and earth colors Use twice as much Rite dye as is recommended to begin with!

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    1. I may do that, but am experimenting with the new drop cloth first. I saw a video on it and have wanted to try it. I did a 1' x 1' section already.

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  2. So glad you made it to our Game Day You missed the French artillery officer getting shot twice in the ass by his own men in the Madame Duchermey game. He was a much disliked ugly character so there's that.

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    1. There were so many great games going on with some excellent terrain. Was very happy to have made it.

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