Hotlead peninsular game

So I'm putting on a game at this year's Hotlead In Stratford, Ontario. I decided to do peninsular war skirmish, as a way to get it kickstarted. it also allows me to use all the spanish buildings I have made to date.

I also took the opportunity to experiment with a fur terrain mat. i managed to find a place that was selling fur ends in a tan-brown for about $17CDN a meter. they had a 5x7 piece and I also grabbed a 2-foot piece to experiment on. The total bill was 54 bucks.

I used animal clippers to vary the length of the fur and to shave out the ruts for the road. I then used an airbrush to spray the colours on.


I used this tutorial HERE.  It was a fantastic resource.

churched finished

Over the Christmas break I finally got the Spanish church finished. I had ordered and received the Renedra gravestones from J&M miniatures by the end of October, but due to school I didn't really get a chance to add them to the church yard until Christmas eve. Christmas night I managed to get the texturing and painting all done. I thought it was rather poetic to be building a model church over Christmas. the base is about 24" long and about 15" wide at the cemetery portion. the bell tower is 12" high. the tower is 2 pieces above the main level. and the roof of the church is removable.

anyway, over the weekend I had a few friends over, and we decided to have a game of Disposable heroes.   I decided  to pull out the completed Spanish buildings(i still have 2 more bases under construction). the excuse we came up with to allow the Spanish buildings was that German volunteers in the Spanish civil war were actually positioning along the french border for a secret  attack, and the french caught wind and launched a preemptive strike into a small Spanish border village to stop them.

we jsut through down an old green GW game mat some roads telephone poles and the buildings, and played. the game ended in a tie, leaning slightly towards the french.


This semester looks like it's going to be merely busy as opposed to the usual frenetic frenzy we have become accustomed to, so I'll probably be posting a little more often. although over the next week or so I'll be packing and moving into my grandfather's old house. I hate moving, but I'll have a decent basement that I should be able to set up a bigger gaming table in.

New movement trays

About a month ago a friend and fellow miniature gamer from my World of Tanks clan(I'm a Deputy commander in the [CARD]1st Canadian Armoured Reconnaissance Division)  put me in touch with one of his friends.  this guy has a laser cutter, and does custom stuff for his local gaming scene.  I should probably also mention that both of these guys live in the US, and I live in Canada. I only mention that because I find many times, in situations like these, some  Americans don't like shipping internationally.

I was looking to get some pieces cut to make movement trays for my skirmish cavalry(which are on GF9 pill bases).  so i discussed the idea with him and he game up with what you see here.

Finished trays with a pair of laser cut bits as-is.

I put together an order with 3 other guys. I bought 40, and between the other 3 guns there was another 80 added.  WE picked the order up form a US PO box just over the boarder last week, and i finished off 3 by mounting them on 1.5mm(1/16") plastic.  The pill bases fit perfectly.  I'm very pleased with the final product.

In other news,  after 2 months of waiting my local hobby store(not the Local gaming store, the actual model/RC/train store) finally got in my order of O scale   Spanish roof tile.  So now I can get going on the rest of my Spanish village.  I can't yet finish the Spanish church, but the grave stones will be ordered next time J & M miniatures puts in an order to Renedra.

Mor Peninsular Buildings

well last week I got back to college. any gaming stuff i do will probably slow a bit in pace.

 anyway, Sunday and Monday(I have most of Monday off), I finished the 3rd base of my Spanish village. these are 2 of the larger buildings in the village(only the church is bigger at the moment)

One thing I'm going to have to do is change where the roof braces are.  I usually place the braces to both reinforce the roof and make them snug with the inside edges of the end walls so that the roof does not slide around.  as you can see from the Coach house-type building the roof is lopsided.  I misjudged the braces on the one side of both buildings.

anyways, the church will be next, but I have to wait a few weeks, as i ordered a set of Renedra's Gravestones from J&M Miniatures to finish the graveyard. I'm also waiting on a local store to get in more Spanish roof tile sheets to finish off the other 4 or 5 buildings. in the meantime if i have any spare time, i may just paint a few peninsular figures.

The Beginnings of a Spanish Villiage

I have long been building a series of Spanish  buildings.  I posted WIP pics of a Spanish church in May 2001, and in July of this year I posted pictures of my WIP  Peninsular war Spanish village.

the Spanish church has largely been on hold until i could find a set of suitably Spanish grave stones.  as such i decided to try and get a few bases complete, and test out the texturing and colour scheme. I finished detailing and painting the small house  and yard, and the larger Spanish Hacienda.

Getting some terrain has long been a sticking point for really starting my peninsular war skirmish project. now that i have some buildings and one or 2 more bases on the way, i can realistically start thinking about getting more figures painted.

Small House  & courtyard with front rank gun team

Large hacienda, with Victrix British ambushing Victrix french.

Hacienda from the opposite angle

 I settled on a mixture of water, white glue, durabond 90 and fine balast for the texture. this is a modified recipe that i used for the rock outcroppings i made way back when i started the blog 2 years ago.  the druabond dries hard as rock, and the white glue makes it less prone to chipping. the combination is  very durable. you would not know from feeling teh courtyard walss that they were made out of foamcore.

For the large hacienda, i still need to put some plants in the planter in the courtyard.

I almost have another base ready to be textured, and if i can find some  more O-scale Spanish roof tile i can have 2 more ready to go, plus maybe a town hall.  the church will be last because i have to order some suitably Spanish graveyard accoutrements.I'm also looking at buying a nice set of doors for the front of it.

Ottoman reinforcements

After bolstering the ranks of the electorate army last week, i decided that i needed to do hte same for the Turks. I've had most of these miniatures kicking around for a year, I just didn't have any motivation to paint them.

Sunday night I painted the last 8 tufecis skirmishers, and another officer. These figures are of course The Assault Group miniatures. I highly recommend them for anyone doing Ottoman Turks. the price seems a little high , but the quality is second to none, and shipping is free.

The freshly painted Tufecis Skirmishers(TAG minis)

all 3 groups of tufecis with 3 officers in the lead.

Next up i decided to finish off the 3rd  group of Timarli Sipahis. these would be the feudal Sipahis. once again, these are The Assault Group miniatures.

8 new Sipahis.

all 24 Sipahis in 3 ranks, with command in the lead

I decided that I am going to field them in 3 ranks of 8 (each rank a group)  because lets the Lancers make up the entire front rank, while the other 2 ranks are  swordsmen. another interesting thing is that the musician is actually an extra TAG polish trumpeter.

I have eventual plans to expand the Turks with a unit of 24 light cavalry(haven't decided between Delhis or  Akinjis), 2 unit of 24 Levent infantry and, after all that,  unit of 12 Sipahis of the porte.

Giving the Electorate Some Love

so starting on Monday I began working on the remainder of the Metzger Kuirassier regiment for one of my Sharp Practice Imagination armies, the Electorate of Lustigzollern - Großgesaß. I had an officer and one squadron of 8 figures.  this week I've polished off the remaining 2 squadrons of 8 figures and the remaining 3 command figures. everything but Colonel figure  are crusader Austrian cuirassier figures. the colonel figure is a Front rank Austrian Curiassier officer.

the Metzger Kuirassier regiment with command front and centre.
Colonel Metzger at the left and Rittmeister Szólát at the right.

and tehn last ngiht i decided to finish of the battallion artillery contingent. i had 2 guns and 8 crew painted already, but i needed to finish the limbers and ammo carts. the guns and crew are Crusader austrians, and the  limbers and ammo carts are Front Rank.

Battalion artillery contingent of the Kurfurst regiment

Some people might ask why the battalion gun crews are all in artillery uniforms instead of some being in the parent regiment's uniform.  In the Electorate army, battalion guns are actually from a special light artillery company in the artillery arm. This artillery company is parceled out to the regiments upon the beginning of a campaign.  during peace time, they train with both the infantry regiment they are assigned to, and with the company in batteries.  this has come in useful in the field, as the battalion guns can be detached and from a light battery of their own if need be, and still be effective. but to do so, it was decided from the start that they need to be self-sufficient, and cannot rely on additional manpower from the regiments. thus the battalion guns are manned entirely by the artillery arm.