A Roman Interlude

I started putting together my Warbases 15mm Roman buildings. In a word, they are great. I got one of the villa sets. It comes with the main villa house, two towers and two long stores. Oh, and a pool. I have one store left to put together. It really looks good. I want to update the roof with plastic tile sheeting I think it will really make it pop. The second building that I bought was the mansio. This is a very complicated build but it looks excellent. I am still trying to figure it all out. their website has instructions for it but they are for the larger 28mm version. There are somethings that didn't make it to the 15mm version such as door hinges. But that does not matter to me.

The biggest aid I have in assembling this is a tray i bought that has magnets to help keep corners square. I forget who I bought it from but it is a huge help. It has allowed me to build my MDF terrain without worrying that my joins will be crooked.

On another track, I started to paint the chicken coop. Lots of interesting details modeled on it. Especially the chickens.

Working on on Terrain

I picked up some railroad terrain pieces a while back and I started to work on them. The first up is a chicken coop. It is an interesting model. It seems like it could be useful for the East Front in 1941. It is more of a dilapidated shack than anything else. It has lots of character and a half tin, half wood roof. It comes with a number of chickens as well. However, the chickens are tiny compared to the 15mm chickens that I bought from Donnington miniatures. I am still trying to sort out in my mind what to do with them. At this point, the coop is primed and unassembled. I think I will have to paint it before assembly given how it goes together.

Next up is a piece I actually finished. It is a dock from 6 Squared in Canada. Mad Padre Mike recommended these guys a while back. They have a limited selection of 15mm offerings but they are great. The dock is a lovely piece that I actually like better than the 4 Ground piece I did earlier. However, it is not long enough for what I want. But it is too nice not to paint up.

I am very impressed with the scatter terrain that Warbases did in 28mm for Chain of Command. So I have been on the lookout for something similar in 15mm. So shopping around on eBay got me some rail road terrain that looks like it will fit the bill. A rabbit hutch, dog houses, a smoke house, a corn Crib and small barn will all be useful for the AWI, ACW and the eastern front. Some might see service on my table top for a Normandy campaign as well. Hopefully, I can work on these this week.

Terrain Expansion

I just received in my 4 Ground Corduroy Bridge. In looking at it online, I came to the conclusion that it would actually make a very nice warf or dock for my pirate game. Having just assembled it, I still think so. I bought the bridge and the expansion for it. It should do the job.

In addition, I have finished assembling the Star Fort Miniatures 15mm Russian Watermill. It is a really nice building. I had a few issues with the kit. The chimney was missing and the dowel that you mount the water wheel on was missing. The dowel has been replaced by a length of straw that fit perfectly. I need to fill the end in and paint. The chimney was not a big deal. The roof covering needed to be cut to accomodate it. I just did not cut it. So you can't tell that it was supposed to have one. The roof is removable. It is a really nice addition to my east front terrain.

Now I just need to get moving on painting this stuff. I did receive my Peter Pig order. I have more pirate gun crewmen to flesh out my three man crew I currently have. And I have my seated government troops for the ships boats. I figure I will paint two as militia and two as regulars. That should be enough to give the impression of what I want. In addition, some late war German WWII mine sweepers, US Engineers and some Soviets with SVT rifles made their way here. That should close a few gaps I have in my Chain of Command Supports.

UPDATE:

Here is the finished stuff.

Terrain Building

I managed to finish three deployment points for my Pirate forces. These are sound plywood bases textured with latex caulk and sand. The palm tree was one that was broken off of a piece of inherited Burma terrain that I had. The chest, boxes, barrels and bags were from an order I placed a while back to ... honestly, I can't remember. Donnington maybe? It came with an order that included chickens, pigs and goats. Not that description is particularly helpful. Anyway, I like them.

Then, I started on some terrain that I had forgotten about. Last year, I went on a buying binge and picked up a number of MDF terrain pieces. Reading the Vis Lardica blog about his recent purchase of the Red Vector terrain, I remembered that I had bought the Russian Village pack. I rooted around my cupboards and found them. They went together very easily. I did not even need the instructions. The houses are rather nice. I will be texturing the roofs to make them look like they are straw. I found some useful instructions on the Red Beard Baron's youtube site for that. The thatching would cover up the roof joins nicely. Paint will fix the wall joins. The nice part is, the way the buildings are constructed, the buildings have lift off roofs. Except for the livestock pen.

I also picked up some Starfort Miniature's building at that same time. The one I am eyeing to build next is the Russian Watermill. I will work on texturing the bases of these current buildings first. And getting them complete. I need to figure out what I will use for pirate tavern and some houses. I think I have some AWI shacks that could possibly fit the bill. We will see.

Painting Progress #8

I finished the basing for my latest sets of pirates. The more I look at the museum miniatures blunderbuss carrying troops, the more I dislike the figures. While their boarding pike wielding fellows were not bad. These look more like Orcs than Pirates to me. They might have been better if there was some variety in poses.

Anyway, here is what I have managed to finish up over the weekend.

I am starting on some deployment points. I have been struggling with what to do. For one, I am doing an "X" marks the spot with a palm tree. I have some terrain items to work on as well.