New Terrain project

Lately Ive been feeling my FIW terrain, seen Here in the background, was lacking something. The collection was too dependent on trees. Just trees. Oodles of trees. then 2 weeks ago, Dave Hoyt of Much Ado About Nothing fame posted some pics of his WW2 early war French Collection.. One such picture was of some rock outcroppings he bought for his collection a few years ago.  When I saw these I immediately knew these would spruce up my FIW terrain.  Problem is I'm on a tight budge right now, and the original maker no longer makes them

Licukily I happen to know the guy who made these, ModelMakerChris.   Chris makes some of the most beautiful terrain you have ever seen.  most of my desert village collection was built by Chris.

Anyway, I know that these were something stacked, I just didn't know what he used. So I emailed chris on the off chance that he would let loose the secret of these pieces. Lucky for me he did: ceiling tiles.  Then, this weekend, Dave lent me one of his rock outcroppings.  Dave and I frequently game together at MIGS, so he knows he'll get it back in decent time, and good condition.

So this evening i went down to the MIGS clubhouse in Hamilton, Ontario.  MMIGS has 16 4x6 tables that are the perfect hieght for miniature gaming. They are also the perfect height for working on terrain while standing. Also, during the week nothing happens at MIGS, so it's the perfect place  to work on large-ish terrain projects that can be completed and cleaned up after in a week.

Before: ceiling tiles(

During construction( figures shown for scale

purposes are 3 of my 28mm Front rank 

Bavarians, converted to Baden,  on a 60mm 

round base)

After. One of Dave Hoyt's ModelMakerChris' Finished 

products used as a template for finishing

And as usual, with any project, I went a little overboard.  I decided I want at least one huge rocky outcropping for my FIW.  this one is 18 inches long, 8 inches at its widest, and 3.5 inches high.  it has 2 ways to climb it, at either end,  an alcove with an overhang, and a perfect position for ambushing fire. I'm going to build at least 1 more outcropping of similar size.


I've only used up about Half my materials, so there will be a lot of these floating around the club.


If anyone is ever in the Hamilton area and would like to come down for a game, or a terrain workshop, post a comment and let me know. I'm finding myself with a lot of spare time lately(obviously), and I'm always up for gaming etc. with new people.

French & Indian war Photo Shoot

*Warning, Picture-Heavy Post*

This week I received more Old Glory Figures for my Sharp Practice FIW project.  I got 2 cannon teams for both armies, 1 bag of command for both armies, as well as a bag of limbers and a bag of coehorn mortars.  I was quite surprised with the quality. Most of the command figures and gun crews were very much above what I have come to expect from non-2nd edition OG figures.  I though the line infantry were on the good side for OG! One looker-on at the club thought some of the command were Front Rank for a moment.

Anyway. I got these on Tuesday. Since then I have painted 3 commanders(or big Men, as sharp Practice calls them) for each side, a standard bearer, a Drummer and 1 gun team each. and to top it off, I painted My Indian village on Wednesday and made 8 more blinds on Thursday..  A pretty good week all in all.

So tonight, while I was at MIGS(gaming club in Hamilton Ontario) I took the opportunity to take a few pics of my collection.

So far my British army  has 3 groups of line Infantry and 1 group of grenadiers(all of the 44th Foot) 1 group of light Infantry,  1 group of Virginia militia, 2 groups of Colonial rangers, and 1  cannon & crew.  It also includes 8 Big men, among which is George Washington and his dogs.

Virginia Militia with George Washington & dogs 

By Eureka Miniatures

Front Rank Grenadiers

Old Glory Gun team & line infantry

My french Army Consists of  3 units of line & 1 unit of grenadiers(all of the Languedoc Infanterie), 2 unit of  Companies Franches de la Marine, & 1 cannon & crew. I also have 20 Indians to accompany them. I have  6 French big men and 2 Indian big men to lead them.

Old Glory French Cannon, crew, and line infantry

Conquest Compagnies franche de la marine 

Old Glory Infantry & command. 

The big man right of the Standard is from the 

Blue Moon Duelists set.

Perry Miniatures Indians  in the Village

Indian Close up.

In Sharp Practice, you usually start with 'Blinds' on the table instead of units. it is a simple and great way to generation the fog of war. here's a picture of the blinds  i have for my British army. I have another 10 for the french as well.

I have another cannon  team for each army, a pair of coehorn mortars,  and another unit of light infantry for the British. I plan on buying 5 packs of Conquest Indians and 3 packs of Companies franches de la marine for my French/Indians, and 2 more groups of 8 Virginia militia plus some  militia command.

Eventually I'm looking at doubling my line infantry contingent for both armies, and adding some Courier de bois.Canadian militia as well.

Settlement complete

Since it was cool and rainy today, I decided it would be a good day to finish off the village wall and base.  I started out today base coated in  in Krylon Camp system Brown. I started around 1pm and finished grassing the base around 7:30.  I tend to break up my hobby time a bit. so I take occasional breaks

Front entrance with Conquest Miniatures Magua

I Went through 6 test schemes for the wall before settling on a dreary looking  brown-grey.  I decided i wanted it to look a little more authentic.  Sometimes you see beautifully painted wargaming  terrain like log cabins and palisades and such that are so bright and cheery.  Real life logs just aren't that vibrant, especially after exposure to weather.   I also think the final paint scheme looks a little more in line with the long houses.


I still have another drying rack or 2 to build, and I'm going to build a pair of pots over a fire pit.   I only built 1 lookout platform for now, since I could not find any good information on them. If i do get some info, I'll probably build 3 that can move around inside.

I also got a package with my French and Indian war command and artillery in the mail yesterday. I plan to have it all done by Friday.

Indian settlement project continues

I am trying out  test schemes for the Indian Settlement wall colour.  I've used 3 of the removable wall sections to try 3 slightly different schemes. they are pictured here with my pre-painted Indian longhouses, from Conquest miniatures.


I'm not sure I'm completely sold on any of them. I'm not sure if I've managed to match the colour close enough for my liking.

I've also started construction of some drying racks. I decided to base these separately so that they could be moved around, if they are in the way. it also gives them a little more protection from clumsy hands, since if someone hits them, they will move. Now I've just got to figure out what to use that would be convincing as a skin being dried.

Modern Mayhem.

 this weekend saw my interest in my modern gaming collection revitalized.  back a little over a week ago, when my gaming club(MIGS) had it's failed open house and gaming day, i pulled out and set up my 28mm modern collection, seen HERE.  Well my friend Jon Holmes and played the first turns a week ago Sunday.  Jon could not make it this pas Friday,  so  my friend mike Garner(seen commenting on hte last post as Streetcar mike) showed up to the club and we finished the game.

The game was a meeting engagement between Iraqis and British. The Iraqi force had  Republican guard platoon(2 squads) in BMPs, a Iraqi regular platoon in BTRs( 4 squads, 3 BTRs) and a recon troupe of an AML 90 and a BRDM-2. the British had 4 sections of 8 man mounted in a quartet of Warrior ICVs, a 4-man platoon command squad, and a GPMG team. mounted in an FV432. on the 3rd turn we were going to bring in 2 T-72M1s and a challenger 1 for fun.


In the first turn, due to the luck of the cards, I  managed to destroy 1 BMP and half a republican guard squad. before any Iraqi knew what was going on. I won't bore you with too many specifics, but they the end of the turn,1 BTR-60 immobilized and 14.5mm MG destroyed 1BTR-60, 2 BMPs, and the AML 90 were destroyed, along with 1 Warrior destroyed and one disabled for the next 3 turns.  during the 2nd turn, the British ripped the heart out of the republican guard squad, destroyed another BTR-60, and did some damage to a regular squad. unfortunately, 4 of 8 British fire teams had been killed, 2 were at half strength and broken, and another warrior ICV was immobilized. Mike was rolling terribly high and wiped out more then half my platoon in a single turn! we called the game at that point, since he still had almost a full platoon of Iraqis, and i was struggling to make 3 fire teams of Brits.

 We were using modified arc of fire, which I have decided doesn't really capture the scale or flavour I'm looking for.  it doesn't treat cover in a way that works for what I am looking for.  It is clearly not really meant for urban areas, or very close-ranged fighting.  I have been planing to switch to Disposable heroes, and the Seek Out, Close With and Destroy  modern expansion. I've tried it a few items but had some issues with finding rules in the books. at that time i had come to the end of my interest in modern and put it all aside.

 So yesterday(Sunday), Dave Hoyt and Jon Holmes came down and we played the Disposable Heroes rules.  the game was much more to my liking, and with both Dave and I having at least a peripheral understanding of the rules, it went quite well. we only had an infantry battle between 2 platoons, but it worked well. especially since Jon kept hitting my poor Brits with RPGs (no easy task under the rules).

I See Fences In My Future....

So i was out at a local hobby store today and stumbled on a great find.  a box of 2000 2" matches sticks, exactly the size i need for fences. cots me $18.75 plus tax. that's slightly over $0.01 a stick after tax!  I see many many fences in my future.

Dundas Valley Hobby doesn't' carry any war gaming figures anymore(although she still has a dozen Warhammer fantasy boxes downstairs♦), but they are a fantastic store for raw materials. I buy all my plastic, most of my wood, and super glue there.  The also have the best selection and prices on trees.

The store owner/operator, Robin, Loves seeing people's work.  I've started keeping a handful of miniatures in her display cabinet to help advertise MIGS.

I also grabbed some trees While I was there to make some 1x1 foot orchard bases.  I only used 4 trees, Because I'm a cheap bastard. i got one surrounded by a stone wall mostly finish. just need to paint the base and flock it. I should have it done tomorrow  morning.

The Wall is Finished!

I just finished the wall of my Indian settlement! I  thought it would take 2 weeks, but i managed to pull it off in just under a week. Now I have to add the 4 lookout platforms along the walls, and a few drying racks inside.

Wall with removable sections removed

Birds eye view of the gateway

Random shot of a bucket full of wood shavings.

Polish Delight

In February, if you had told me I'd own and be painting a Renaissance polish army, I'd have thought you were nuts. In fact i only got into the period because of my friend, Jonathan Holmes.

Back in the first week of march, I introduced him to Sharp Practice(by TooFatLardies). He was immediately enamored with the rules. He saw in them the potential to final game Zaporosian Cossacks in an enjoyable skirmish game. I've known Jon for a little over half his life,he has been obsessed with Cossacks, Being a direct descendent of that region of the Ukraine himself. but he has never been able to find a skirmish set of rules that he liked.

 So i set about helping him locate some good and/or cheap figures. In the process I happened to stumble upon The Assault Group Website, and their beautiful Eastern renaissance range. I immediately decided i would be forced to buy some polish to fight Jon's cossacks. Lucky for me, I discovered at a Local convention that North Bay Games and Hobbies still had some TAG polish on clearance for $12.00 CDN.

I have put this project on Hold while i teach my friend Jon how to paint like I do (IE fast) Once he has caught up a bit i will continue to paint. I have another 27 Winged hussars, 9 Pancerni, 12 Reiters, 8 Guard Haiduks, 24 regular haiduks, and 24 more German style musketeers to paint.

ECW Dragoons

Since mid march I've been trying to talk other gamers at the club(MIGS) into doing 28mm English Civil War. Warlord Games has a wonderful Pike & Shotte line of 28mm plastics that will do very nicely. Even better, they are quite cheap.

I started in early April by picking up a box of Warlord Games Dragoons from Bayshore Hobbies.  the box comes with 12 metal riders, 12 plastic horses, and 12 dismounted dragoon plus plastic bases(50x50 for the cav, 40x40 for the infantry). I got them on sale for $39.95 CDN, but the regular price is $44.95CDN.  I Quite like these figures. I have only painted up 2/3rds of the mounted and 1/3rd of the dismounted figures so far, as a teaser to show of the figures, and get others into the period. Since no one else ihas bought into it yet., I feel no rush to complete these.

The only niggle I have with them has nothing to do with the figures. The cavalry base sprue comes with enough 50x50 mm bases to do all the mounted figures, but the infantry base sprues only have 2 40x40mm bases, 2 20x40mm bases, 2 20x60mm bases, and a load of individual bases. I don't know about everyone else, but i like to have all my units on the same size bases.  I do not need tons of individual bases. As I understand it, these base sprues were designed by Renedra, not Warlord, so it is really not their fault.  luckily, this is only a minor problem, since bases are easily bought or made elsewhere. it also helped that last weekend Derek Watson came down to MIGS with a bag of 40x40mm aluminum bases, to give away, that happen to be exactly the same as the Warlord bases. so now i have no shortage for them.

That being said, I have already purchased a Battalia box from Bayshore for 74.95. The Battalia box contains 80 pike & shot infantry, 24 cavalry,  and 10 firelock musketeers. This is a great starter for anyone thinking about getting into the period. I actually got 11 firelocks in my box.  If anyone has an extra firelock musketeer they'd be willing to part with, let me know. I'd like to round out the unit to 12.

Indian settlement construction

I've been quite literally whittling away at the indian settlement for the last few days. My thumbs are alternating between numbness and pain.


So far, I have 54" (288 pieces) of the total 80"  are complete.I figured it would take a few weeks to get this far, but I really seemed to have pulled out all hte stops on this one.

I have also worked in 4  removable 3" wall sections at the "corners", so that when artillery are used in scenarios i can have holes blown in the wall.

I think I'm going to take a break for a day or 2 so my thumbs can recover.