Pumpkin Patch

I've been thinking about terrain for the Matchlocks and Witches game. I decided that I needed a pumpkin patch, and a google search revealed just the inspiration I was looking for on Dampf's Modelling Page. (http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-pumpkin-patch-part-two-painting.html.) 

I ordered the terrain base from Warbases, and the undergrowth was from a hanging basket liner I picked up in Wilkos. I added a handful of Aquarium gravel, a dried grape stalk and finally the Putka pods for the pumpkins. I found the Putka pods on Esty for under £5, a cheap alternative when looking at scale models of pumpkins. The base was covered in pva glue and sand, then I used a wash of grey GW Contrast paint on the stones and dry brushed the model using greys, various shades of green from Vallejo and the Foundry Sand triad which I use for all my bases. I've had to pack all my models and paints away due to the impending move. The putka pods will be painted with Foundry Orange, static grass will be added to finish the base off. I'll update the blog with the finished model, hopefully in my next post or two (depends how I unpack the boxes!).

Walls and Gates

Just a selection of some MDF terrain pieces I've picked up. These are a mix of gates, walls and pillars   for 28mm scale from Warbases. I've added some 28mm Spanish Napoleonic from Eagle Figures for scale. The options I got were tall walls and low walls with railings.

These are nice kits, relatively easy to put together, I added a card strip under the gates so that they can be used open or closed rather than glue them in position.  I intend to paint the set up once I can get round to picking up some tester pots from a DIY store.

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GrandManner Spanish Peninsula Building

The start of the latest batch of GrandManner buildings, this time as part of my Sharp Practice Peninsula project. All the pieces I'll be painting up were part of the discontinued sale run earlier in the year, and as I have plane for several Spanish/Mediterranean projects they were a must have purchase even if a little unplanned at the time. My first thoughts centre around the Napoleonic wars in the Peninsula, though I also have a hankering to do Carlist Wars and the Spanish Civil Wars (but not for some time yet).

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Static Grass

Regular viewers of my blog might have noticed that I'm very slow when it comes to finishing off bases. Part of the reason is time, but mostly getting myself organised to sit down with a large bag of static grass, apply and blow on each base, something I find really tedious. So in an attempt to make life easier for myself I bought a static grass applicator from WWS, War World Scenery Manufacturer http://www.war-world.co.uk.

I opted for this version of static grass applicator as I want to use it on figure bases and make my own tufts. The unit is battery operated, simply attach the clip to your base, place static grass on the plate, hold inverted base over the plate and flick the switch, simples...

Well yes, once I got over the first 20 or so static shocks, I managed to work out a method that was more user friendly. I applied the static grass to the bases in the previous post, and below can be seen my first attempt at making tufts. The one thing I would add is when using this box it's best to lay a plastic sheet on the table, or place in a large box so that unused material can be easily retrieved for reuse.

All in all I'm really pleased with the results, WWS are excellent to deal with, lots of useful videos on their site as well for budding terrain modellers.

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City Blocks - Mars Attacks

Spotted these mdf buildings at the Derby show this year and immediately thought they were perfect for All Quiet on the Martian Front. They are 20mm scale from Commission Figurines, also available in 15mm and 28mm kits. If you're looking for buildings for your Martians to assault or the more conventional WWII set up these are definitely worth a look.

They also do other interesting kits and 6mm mdf Napoleonic figures -

www.commission-figurines.co.uk

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Palisades

As part of my terrain collection I have a Norman keep, it was made for me by POP Enterprises as a commission. The palisade sections haven't lasted the ravages of time so I've been on the look out for commercial options that would match in style wise, not wanting to make them myself as I've decided to concentrate on painting figures rather than make terrain. There has been an explosion of mdf kits over the last few years and although I like GrandManner these offer a very reasonably priced alternative to quickly assembling period terrain for the wargames table.

This particular kit is 28mm scale from Sarissa Precision. Very easy to assemble and I think it's a pretty good match for my Norman Keep. Now I just need to muster suitable SAGA forces to do battle.

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Palm trees

Some additions to the terrain set, this time cheap palm trees picked up on eBay and based up on mdf bases of varying size. These will be needed for future projects that I have in mind but not yet started, but it's always good to add to the terrain stash.

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More Carts and Wagons

It's just too hot to paint anything at the moment, so I thought I'd reveal a few additional carts and wagons I've recently acquired. All from Warbases these are nice kits and easy to assemble, included is an ammunition wagon, engineers wagon, water cart and finally hay cart. These can be purchased individually or as a pack.
Two of these will be making appearances on bases to the rear of my WSS French artillery, well that's the intention....

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GrandManner Holzhausen Thatched Cottage

The final of the three buildings I bought for my 1866 project, the Holzhausen Thatched Cottage by GrandManner from their 28mm Napoleonic Europe range. Yet another lovely model and a pure joy to paint.
I've included a couple of shots of all three buildings together.

Looking forward to fighting a few battles out over them once I've completed all the miniatures....getting close now.....

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Grandmanner - Lindenau House

It's been a little longer than I expected since my last post, a number of factors have been at play, EURO 2016 (and the outstanding performance of Wales), the Brexit vote (mentioned, but no politics here, unless they're of the 18th century variety); and the rugby of course with Wales losing to the outstanding New Zealand All Blacks in all three hard fought bruising encounters. So that's roughly how I've been occupied since the last post, and as a consequence I'm behind mostly on basing figures so there will be plently of posts in the offing.

Below are some pictures of the lovely Lindenau House from GrandManner (part of the 28mm Napoleonic European range) which I bought primarily to go with my 1866 project. I really enjoyed painting this piece, it's a lovely model and I'm looking forward to seeing it set up on a full table with the Austrians and Prussians battling it out.

On the progress of the 1866 project all the Austrian line infantry are now complete and the last 2 units are in the process of being based. Austrian Dragoons and the mounted officer are on the painting table nearly done, artillery is undercoated and next in line. Also coming are some recently acquired Jager for both the Austrians and the Prussians. Pictures will be coming soon...

My original intention was to play small engagements using the Black Powder rules, though I've just purchased Sharp Practice 2 from Too Fat Lardies, so will be looking into how these can be used for the 1866 conflict. I'm actually finding this conflict particularly interesting and am tempted to dip my toe into 6mm with armies for the Austro-Prussian War. Probably fair to mention at this point that lots of time has been spent on the Baccus website as well as all those distractions mentioned above looking at their lovely 6mm figures and trying to decide where to start (Austro-Prussian, Napoleonics, or maybe even Zulu War!). Something will happen, just not sure what yet (maybe even all three!).

I still intend to build an 1864 Danish force with North Star figures, but at the moment it's on hold until I get a feel for Sharp Practice 2 as that's probably the way I'll go.

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