Making for a Mutiny

Like lots of other wargamers I invest a lot of time and effort into collecting and painting figures and models. My terrain; however, could use some work. As I've recently been collecting figures for the Indian Mutiny, my existing collection wasn't going to cut it. 

I also have figures for Napoleonics in the Peninsula Campaign, WW2 in Sicily, plus there's Mexico if I wanted to do Maximilian, Northern Africa.. etc. So I figured that with a bit of cunning and some removable roofs, I could bash together something that (if you squinted a bit, and with suitable specialist pieces) would just about pass muster for all these. 

The base models were bought very cheaply from ebay JB models for £12 for 5 basic adobe shells. White glue and chinchilla sand masked the obvious 'flatness' of the MDF. 

Some Wills HO pantile sheets, thick card and a hot glue gun were used to make the roofs.

I then attached them to bases, added walls from foam, brush bristles, and my usual pva and sand textured base mix.

But who knew the foam walls would melt under an aerosol undercoat...  oops.

Well, that's annoying, but crack on, and slap on coats of cheap acrylic umber, ochre, cream and sienna for the tiles.

Ok, looking the part, and usable in a number of terrain regions. Now add roofs...

And suitable for a few more. I also had another building..

More upmarket this one. Still needs a trellis and benches on the deck. I also picked up some 'Arabic' buildings, from the same source, that got a similar treatment.

 Just some tufts, dried grass and bushes, and a few bits of scatter to add, and I will have quite a nice little conurbation.  I also have a nice ornamental Indian fountain, some carts and villagers that I think will really make this work. Not bad for a couple of days building.

New printer

I managed to just about kill the old Photon S printer, so decided to bite the bullet and get a new one...

The build volume is about 5 times that of the Photon S with quality very similar. It does open up new possibilities like buildings...

Perry figure for scale...   and of course, very easy to print off loads of teeny tiny tanks.

For some reason, unlike the green translucent stuff, this one came with a free 1 litre bottle of the basic grey. I think I prefer this  it seems a little more elastic than the green. 

So now I am on the hunt for more free building files...  and I need to buy more resin!

Claymore 2022 - Picture Heavy

The first wargames show I have been to since 2019. And to be honest, pretty much the first time I have been out in a 'crowd' since February 2020. I think in that time, my going out has been two visits to family on the West Coast, two funerals, and two restaurants, other than the fortnightly game with one other wargamer. 

So once I got over my shock at being among people again, as always the venue was Edinburgh College where the bring and buy was in what seemed to be a weights room (all those mirrors) and the games and traders in two decent sized halls. I saw (I think) two people wearing masks. It also came as a shock how close and up personal people want to get - 'in your face' it felt like. But I caught up with a few folk I hadn't seen in years - so that was very pleasant.

So here are the games:

Carentan - Rules - Battlegroup Normandy - Club?

Tunisia - Rules - Battlegroup Normandy - Club - Leuchars

Bautzen - Rules ? - Club - Tyneside

Bautzen again

Blackhawk Down - Rules and Club Unknown

Somewhere in Russia - Rules- Bolt Action - Club - Dunfermline 

Somewhere in the West - Rules - Dead Man's Hand - Club - Dunfermline

Edinburgh Playtest Group

Extreme G Racing - Glasgow?? 

Trouble in The Borders - Rules - Border Wars - Flags of War

Frostgrave

Adam Park (Singapore) - Rules ? - Club - Gothenburg Gamers

Adam Park (Singapore) - 2

Imjin River in 6mm - Rules - All Hell Let Loose - Club ?

Iron Brigade

Samurai Naval - Rules -? - Club - Kirriemuir

Battle of Lemnos - Rules - ? - Club - Gourock

Viva Mexico - Rules - Sharp Practice 2 - Club - ??

Pod Racing

Pydna - Massed Pike

Pydna 2 - Rules - 'Nemo me Impune Lacessit' (unpublished) - Club - Immortals

Pydna Details

Mons Graupius - Rules - Strength & Honour - Charley 

Sci Fi? 

Indian Mutiny - Rules - ? - Club - SPIT

Test of Resolve - unsure of Club

Not a clue, but all the buildings are available from Warbases!

So that was it. I have to say, none of the games really inspired me. The Imjin River one is superb but in my view, the impact is limited by the scale. I liked the Iron Brigade game a lot. The Indian Mutiny game had visual impact but I would have preferred the MDF buildings to be tarted up a bit, the Mexican game suffered form the same thing. The Mons Graupius game was very cool, but I can hardly complain about Imjin in 6mm and let Charley get away with 2mm... 

And what of loot... ? well, I felt obliged to spend some hard earned on Perry plastic, and Supreme Littleness Designs do some fantastic MDF buildings... a rummage in Colonel Bill's 50p bargain bin usually pays dividends, and then a Russian School from Warbases, and some Wild Boar. also Warbases. Finally in addition to some decals, I picked up some Pendraken 10mm Early WW2 French to go with all the vehicles I have been printing.

Couple of Indian Mutiny, Russian Flamethrower, WW2 Italian Officer and casualty.

I was handed the inflatable shell.. no, I don't know either...

On the whole a pleasant day out. And it looks like being the only wargames show in Scotland this year.

1/150 WW2 for Iron Cross and BKC

As promised, I followed up on my WW2 US forces with a roughly Normandy themed German force. Again, all 3d printed. I wasn't so keen on the infantry, but they will do. 

Similarly to the US, I wish I had added crew figures to the open topped vehicles. This time I added some foliage to add a bit more interest as well. Just some small clump foliage added with PVA, then lightly drybrushed yellow ochre. 

The painting was very simple - the airbrush got a workout, added tracks etc. washed everything in Agrax Earthshade, lightly drybrushed Vallejo Buff. My only annoyance is that the I94 decals from Pendraken are quite badly out of register on all 6 sheets I used. 

The stl files were all from Thingiverse again, scaled down to 66.7% from the 1:100 files from M. Bergman. 

I also printed myself off some 1/150 1940 French and some 1941 Russians. Next up will be some 40/41 Germans who can face off either (yes I know, but a PzIVD is a PzIVD, especially in 1/150). 

Hopefully I will get to Claymore in Edinburgh this weekend, and collect some more bases. I might do some Early War BEF as well... we shall see.