Tinkering with Terrain

What little hobby time there was this weekend, I was able to make a few small terrain pieces. I need more trees. So I started with this in mind. I began to create a small orchard, a small wooded area and an open field. I began each of them with a section of fiber board (have no clue of the name of the stuff anymore. It is the fiberglass board that they make computer motherboards with). Then I glued the bases of the Woodland Scenics trees to it. Then covered the whole mess with a mixture of Elmers glue, sand and small fine rocks - all mixed together. Once that dried overnight, I painted the result with a Woodland Scenics ground paint. and flocked it. The small stand of trees came out quite nicely.

The orchard still has work as I did not have a chance to finish out the trees. I just finished the orchard out last night. The Raw Ochre Woodland Scenics paint, when dry, left some of the sand from the glue mixture a lighter sand color than I wanted. I repainted those areas. It came out better than I expected.

The field is also not done. Here I was experimenting with a scenic kit that I had purchased. I had some standing grass that I attempted to use. That was a miserable failure. I ripped that up and glued a bush over the attempt. I will add some more bushes on it later. It is supposed to be a spot of rough ground with a path. The rough ground was finished out with an additional tree.

The pictures came out so bad, that I will have to update this later with new ones. I had some time and tinkered with some trench sections that Terry had given me about 4 years ago that I had sitting in a box. I have several more pieces to work on but this was just a couple of test sections that I needed to try out.

Well, the pictures are up. Please let me know what you think and what I can do to improve them. I have several more wooded pieces that I want to do to have a decent stand of woods for my table.

Just Checking In

Not much to report lately. Family and work have kept the hobby side of things to a minimum lately. Been working on furthering the Desert War Air Campaign for 1940. It is really coming together.

Books, and other things.

It has been a while since I posted something here. Well, work and family have kept me busy and away from my queue of painting. The Frigate is on the shelf waiting out my indecision on what to do for sails. I think I have resolved that issues and I will attempt a furled main sail in the next couple of days. In terms of writing, the Prequel to the Desert campaign is coming along rather nicely. I have found a couple of great books that have greatly helped resolve the orders of battle and what units transferred in and out of theater and when. My current favorite is "Courage Alone" by Chris Dunning. This has proven to be quite helpful, especially where non-fighter units are concerned. Lots of other places have details on fighter units. Very few have anything on bomber and reconnaissance units. Even better, it covers every theater that the Italians fought in. Not much detail on individual actions but that is not what this book is about. Two books on my inter library loan list are "Desert Prelude: Early Clashes" and "Desert Prelude: Operation Compass." Both of these are by Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo. Håkan Gustavsson is the author of the fantastic Håkans aviation page web page. It is a must visit if you have any interest what so ever in biplanes in WWII - for any front. It is pure gold when it comes to getting good information on how biplanes were used in the war. Since the Gloster Gladiator and the CR.42 are two of my favorite all time airplanes, this is a perfect place for me. I have spent countless hours pouring over this site. Lastly, I have looked at working more on a follow up to "With Fire and Sword" for Sharp Practice. It seems about time now and I really want to get in some more Sharp Practice games in. "With Fire and Sword" Left off after Musgrove's Mill and Fishing Creek in Mid August. The next one would cover Kings Mountain and the Cowpens Campaign. I am not sure how far to go with it. I want to cover Col Elijah Clake's South Carolina actions but not his Savannah adventure. I don't think I will cover any of Francis Marion's actions and instead stick with those of Sumter.

6mm AWI Sale!

Update 3-15-2012 - These have been sold. ========================================= Well I have been sorting through the lead pile and decided to sell some of my miniatures. I have been trying to get the motivation to finish these for years now and it just is not happening. About 10 or so years ago, I was looking for a set of AWI rules. I decided that 6mm miniatures was what I wanted. I discovered the Red Coats and Rebels rules on the web and thought they would fit the bill. Adler had just started to release their AWI lines and I jumped right in. I quickly painted a couple of stands and then, they went on a shelf. A few years later, the TooFatLardies published a special with Taxes, Tea and Tories (2006 Christmas Special). Back out the miniatures came. Another unit got painted and some Baccus AWI figures were added to the pile. Then they went back in the drawer.

I have reevaluated and decided that mass battles are not really what I was looking for. Sharp Practice skirmishes are really what I have been looking to do. As such, I am selling off these figures, hopefully to a happy new home.

Rebel Forces:
Adler Minis (4 miniatures per strip)
5 bases of six figures each (7 on the command base) - Painted, Virginia Continentals (Firing pose)
5 bases of six figures each (7 on the command base) - Painted, GA Continentals (Marching and Charging Poses)
7 bases of six figures each (7 on the command base) - Painted, MD Continentals (Marching and Charging Poses)
3 bases of six figures each - Painted but basing work needed. Blue coated Continentals
1 foot officer painted and based carrying a sword (converted figure)
2 loose painted unbased figures
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123 miniatures

11 strips of Tricorne Infantry in Marching pose on painting sticks - some primed black.
2 strips of Tricorne infantry command on painting sticks - primed black
5 strips of Slouch hat infantry in marching pose on painting sticks - some primed black
1 strip of slouch hat command on painting sticks - primed black
6 strips of slouch hat infantry in firing pose on painting sticks - some primed black.
4 strips of tricorne hat infantry charging on painting sticks - some primed black.
--------------
96 Miniatures

2 individual flag bearers in tricorne hat.
1 individual slouch hat officer with sword
6 individual Tricorne hat infantry firing
4 individual slouch hat infantry firing
2 individual slouch hat command figures
15 individual tricorne hat infantry charging pose
A few other odd assorted figures as well.
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> 30 Miniatures

Adler sells new at £1.95 for 8 strips of 4 (or 32 figures).

Baccus Rebels
10 Strips of Dragoons (3 figures per strip)
5 strips of Dragoon Command (3 figures per strip)
2 strips of Mounted Officers (3 figures per strip)
2 guns and crew (4 crew per gun)
1 painted baggage mule
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62 miniatures - All unpainted and unprimed

Baccus sells the dragoons at £5.50 for the 10 strips plus 5 command strips

For the all of the figures above I am asking for $45.00 US plus whatever the shipping and handling is to your location.

British Forces
Baccus AWI
1 unopened pack of SBR6 - British Artillery (4 guns and 4 crew per gun)
4 guns with 4 crew each on painting sticks - unprimed.
3 command strips of light dragoons on painting sticks - unprimed. (3 figures per strip)
6 strips of light dragoon command on painting sticks - unprimed (3 figures per strip)
44 strips of Infantry on painting sticks - unprimed (4 figures per strip)
8 command strips of infantry on painting sticks - unprimed (4 figures per strip)
6 strips of Grenadiers on painting sticks - unprimed (4 figures per strip)
5 strips of highlanders on painting sticks - unprimed. (4 figures per strip)
1 strip of highlander command on painting sticks - unprimed (4 figures per strip)
6 strips of Light Infantry on painting sticks - unprimed. (4 figures per strip)
3 strips of mounted officers on painting sticks - unprimed. (3 figures per strip)
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356 figures - All unpainted and unprimed

Baccus is selling these in an army pack for £17.08. I am looking to get $20.00 US plus shipping to your location.

If you are interested in any of these, please send me an e-mail - cstoesen@corecard.com to make an offer.

Scenario Background

I have figured out the scenario for my next Sharp Practice game and how I will incorporate the Frigate into it. Now I just have to get time to finish the Frigate and play the scenario. For the write up, read here: http://platoonforwardstories.blogspot.com/2011/10/captains-courageous-or-light-company.html