A record of various projects involving smaller scale Wargaming Miniatures...
I’ve started work on sourcing and painting up some scenic elements and terrain for the 15mm Terminator project, and am kicking things off with some wrecked cars and a suitably scrappy junkyard. I’ve found that 15mm vehicles in a pristine state can be fairly expensive to buy, given that in the Post-Apocalyptic wilderness they will be just heaps of rust - so have resorted to utilising some HO/OO…
I wanted to add a bit of extra ‘flavour’ to the 15mm Terminator project, so thought it would be good to have some civilians that could be either NPCs or act as plot points or objectives - Terminator must kill, Resistance must save sort of thing….. so delving into Alternative Armies’ extensive catalogue, I invested in some ‘Stellar Refugees’:…
Comparison shots, now, to see how the Alternative Armies’ Terminators match up against the CP Models’ Human Resistance - pretty well as it turns out ! As the Resistance are mainly in ‘tactical’ poses - running, crouching, firing etc, and the Automata are stiff and upright - jut as they should be, they scale really well, I think - the CP Models’ Human sculpts are of course, somewhat well-fed by…
I’d been searching around for some opponents to the Alternative Armies’ Terminators I completed a while ago, and was having difficulty finding just the right look for my Human Resistance. Whilst in the original film, the forces represented by Kyle Reese and John Connor had a sort of futuristic but not-too-far in the future vibe, I was more of a fan of the near-future washed out Mercs and Special…
Moving on to the Austrian side of the forces for Wagram 1809, a round-up of how they look arrayed on the tabletop- well, at least a table top , in that my terrain mats remain buried somewhere in the garage ! On the upper left in the photo above, we see the mixed forces of the Advance Guard under Nordmann, an interesting unit that was perhaps ahead of its time in pairing cavalry, conventional…
I’ve finally got to a semi-successful state with my test bases for the French right wing at Wagram in 1809, namely a representation of the main part of Davout’s III Corps in 2mm, so thought I’d show them all laid out together. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how things turned out, the 90x60mm ‘Brigade’ basing giving me the effect I wanted - a sense of Mass with multiple representative formations…
Absolutely and unapologetically excited about the latest release of 2mm siege equipment and sundries sculpted by the redoubtable Geoff Addison for Irregular Miniatures - so I took a quick run through of the majority of the items as soon as they landed at SteelonSand towers ! Trojan Horses, Siege Towers, Penthouses, Battering Rams, Trebuchets, Ballistae, Onagers, Bolt Throwers and on and on flow…
A bit of a curve-ball here, in as much as I was looking at something different from the hordes of 2mm that I have been concentrating on lately…… I wanted a small diversion that would be self contained, and relatively straightforward in terms of painting, so took advantage of Alternative Armies’ recent sale and took the plunge in obtaining some of their characterful Automata.…
Thought I’d take a look at some of the latest releases in the 2mm Antonine Miniatures Ancients range - I’m a little late to the party in that they have been available since before last Christmas, but I’ve only recently taken the plunge and bought some. Antonine have added to the range available at Warbases in the UK, including six packs of Roman buildings with a useful variety of types, and a…
I thought I’d put down some of the impressions and conclusions I’ve come to in the course of working on the 2mm test bases, and also take a look at some of the inspirational and interesting approaches to the same subject provided by others. I’d always shied away from plunging into Napoleonics due to what I perceived as the sheer scale required to do the period justice, and was hoping that the more…
I’ve made good progress with the balance of the blank test bases I made up for the 1809 campaign as detailed in my last posting - I’ve been experimenting with various block types and the positioning thereof, as well as playing around with some temporary labelling. I’ve thrown in a couple of MDF rounds as Corps commanders, and also some stand-alone artillery bases on smaller sized 60x60mm squares -…
So, a return to a subject that has been tugging at the edges of my Wargaming consciousness for a number of years; namely depicting Napoleonic tabletop forces using 2mm miniatures….. so much so that I last blogged about it 12 years ago (!) without any satisfactory resolution ! http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/2010/07/2mm-napoleonics-some-musings.html For a number of reasons, I just couldn’t get…
Thought I’d show some progress on the new 2mm Ancient buildings from Irregular Miniatures - mainly to prove that I’m still working on things when time allows….. don’t know where November went…. And now it’s already the New Year ! …. Sigh…… Anyway, Compliments of the Season to All, and let’s crack on with some photos…. I’d had an itch to mount a pair of Irregular’s temples onto a piece of area…
I thought I’d do a short review of some of the recently released 2mm buildings from Irregular Miniatures, and see how they compare to another manufacturer, particularly with regard to those in my Strength and Honour project. Now Irregular have had scenics and terrain to go alongside their 2mm figures for many, many years, but they were mostly very much in the ‘area’ category, with multiple…
I thought it was about time I put all the various items I’ve been working on alongside the Dungeon Tiles and saw how it all fits together - sort of a dry run, rather than an actual game, to give an idea what all the fuss has been about ! I laid out all the tiles from the TT Combat set, here covering a footprint of around three feet by three, and added random items of scenics from the collection,…
A mini-hiatus from hobby work has seen a bit of a delay in the project, but pleased to report that some progress has been made with a few of the ‘Baddies’, who will be the adversaries of the dungeon adventurers. These are all from Ral Partha Europe, and as always, are interesting and characterful sculpts, fitting nicely into depicting various magic-users and dealers of dastardly deeds in the…
I’ve started the process of tackling the painting of my first group of player-characters for the dungeon crawl, as introduced in my previous ‘Roll Call” posting, with so far, some mixed results…. The minis I chose were principally from Ral Partha Europe, and are all excellent, well-defined sculpts with plenty of detail and character, so in terms of initial block painting, went quite smoothly -…
A quick insert post with some small progress on the project, as things have been somewhat delayed with the recent passing of HM the Queen, so not much chance to work on hobby related things of late. Stepping in, then, are a few of the grosser inhabitants of the dungeon, namely the deadly slimes and moulds that drip and ooze their way around winding passages, and the gelatinous predators that stalk…
I’m beginning to move on to the more familiar dungeon denizens now for this project, as I get more comfortable with painting these large ( ! ) 15mm figures. It’s been a bit of a steep learning curve, and I’m keeping things deliberately simple for now, with block colours and washes and drybrushing, rather than highlights and other subtleties….. hopefully improving enough so that I can eventually…
I’ve got a bit obsessed with the Tomb scenery that I created recently, and have been busy making additional pieces for the dungeon when I should be progressing the completed figure count…..oh well…it’s just that these small items are fun and easy to make, so I got a bit distracted….. I realised that no self-respecting Liche Lord / entombed mummified Wizard would be seen dead (geddit ?) without a…
Working on more Dungeon scenics at the moment, namely treasure piles, trade goods and some traps for the unwary. These are a combination of scratch-built and store-bought items, often including various accessory pieces as described in previous posts. We’ll have a look at what’s on offer, and then send our reporter on the scene, Harry, to check them out…. First up, a combination of some translucent…
No self-respecting dungeon is complete without its garrison of the undead - whether liches or zombies or skeletons……lots of skeletons…… and my small scale effort will be no exception - I’m looking to include lots of re-animated skeletal warriors, alongside, as plot points, some freshly dead, who could go either way….. First up is the absolutely superlative resin piece DFE01 ‘Mummified Wizard on…
Getting back on track recently, with some more traditional dungeon denizens; to whit - all that creeps and crawls ! A range of the gross, horrifying and down right disgustingly ooze-laden critters that would frighten any self-respecting adventure party, have climbed their way up onto the workbench, and squirmed their way under the paintbrush…… First up, some very Old-School blasts from the past…
From my laboratory in the castle east To the master bedroom where the vampires feast The ghouls all came from their humble abodes To get a jolt from my electrodes They did the monster mash (The monster mash) It was a graveyard smash…… I know, I know, perhaps not your traditional Dungeon monsters - but I’ve been having fun with a few examples of monstrous miniatures, who at least might be found in…
Thought I’d begin to set down just who and what will be populating this dungeon adventure, and take a look at the miniatures available as well as some inspirational online resources for adventures in 15mm. In the photos above and below, you’ll see the characters that will form my first go at an adventure party - all the usual suspects of course, to whit, female and male magic users, a ‘ranger’…