A Viking Army in Under Two Weeks!

At Salute this year I bought some of Gripping Beast's new plastic Unarmoured Dark Age Warriors. As I already had some armoured plastic Vikings from them, sitting in the plastic pile, I thought I would make myself a Viking Army. I added some archers from Crusader and got to work.

The new plastic figures are really easy to put together and I had a box full (40) ready to undercoat pretty quickly. I undercoat in brown enamels so this was done and they were left to dry.

I then set to painting in batches of 10-12. First a batch of unarmoured, then some armoured and so on; sneaking in the archers as I went.

I managed to get 1-2 hours of modelling/painting in each day. Now, 13 days after Salute I have a little army. Big enough for Dux Bellorum or Basic Impetus. Total 85 figures.

I sneaked in 3 metal GB figures that I had already painted and 12 of the plastic Vikings had been painted to double up as Gallowglas in my WotR army. So 70 figures in 13 days.

Here are some pictures (done on iPhone). Note that I used a couple of heads from the armoured box on the new figures (fit perfectly).

Frosted toys

Yesterday I sprayed three 28mm ECW figures with GW Purity Seal Satin Varnish. They looked great.

Now I usually avoid sprays because I have had disasters with frosted figures. I used the spray because I was in a hurry.

Today I sprayed another 13 figures. They frosted! Same can of spray, same shaking, sprayed in same place (outside).

Today is more humid - so that must be the issue.

I managed to fix the figures. Here's how.

First I brushed on some Daler-Rowney Soluble gloss varnish.

When the figures were dry I brushed on Windsor and Newton Galleria Matt Varnish

Worked brilliantly with no frosting.

The picture shows the result.


Now I need to base them up.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Roman and Punics on Parade

I had the table out for a game last night. This morning I thought that I would get a visual representation of how my Punic wars armies are coming on. So here are some pictures.



Romans



Carthaginians

A few close-ups

Republican Romans

Just a few pictures of my Renegade Republican Romans.



Velites - two small units for Hail Caesar


Two more units of Velites


Two of Hastati


More Hastati


Two Principes


The other two Principes



One of the two units of Triarii


Small unit of Equites


More Equites


The whole lot. Javelinmen in front are from Crusader.





Overview shot.

Hope you like them.

Carthaginians so far

Attached some shots of my 28mm Carthaginians. Figures are mostly Renegade. The Elephant is from Aventine. Slingers and Numidians from various manufacturers.

Bases will be finished when I have most of the army painted.






Spanish infantry. I am building the army for Hail Caesar. Standard units will be 160mm wide. Medium infantry will be 12 figures per unit. Heavy infantry will have 16 figures.







I will add some shield transfers later.












The army so far. I can add a good horde of Celts and I have two more units of North African Infantry to paint.

Current Projects

Not updated this for ages.

Just thought I would pop in a quick update on what I am working on.

Ancients
Carthaginians - I have almost enough to play a game with. These are 28mm renegade figures and I am really pleased with how they look. I will try to post some pictures soon. They will match up against my Republican Romans.

Medieval
Wars of the Roses is coming along very slowly. I have half painted the horses from the fantastic Perry plastic set.

ECW
I have been working very hard on these. I now have a credible army and they have had some outings in "Pike and Shotte" games.

The Wargames Room

Most wargamers long for a place to call their own, the Wargames room. I now have mine. It is not strictly speaking mine, I have to share it with the kids, but its pretty close.

I have a good sized space in my recently converted garage, with a table and plenty of storage.

Table from far end of the room, painting desk in the background. Lots of military history and rules in the book cases.

Table and storage (Kids TV and Sofa)

Storage for figures etc

The table is made up of two 6 foot trestle tables from Amazon. They are very sturdy and a bit wider than I expected at 2 foot six each.



On the table is a solo game using Black Powder and my 28mm ACW figures. These are a mix of Perry, Sash and Saber, Redoubt, Crusader and just a few Foundry.

View of the table, Two brigades and a battery each side

The Zouaves are Redoubt figures

Perry Union troops peer across the teddy bear fur field

Perry Union artillery

Front regiment is made up of Redoubt "Ragged Reb" figures

Confederate firing line of Sash and Saber miniatures

These Rebs are a mixture of Crusader and Foundry figures. Home made fences.

The game ended in a draw. Both sides had a brigade break in the same turn. With the stats I use for ACW with Black Powder the games are pretty attritional. Units tend to blaze away at each other trying to do enough damage to make a charge worth-while. (I lower the hand to hand value to 5).

Next step. Play some real games in the new room.