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This year I will be taking a Hellenistic army to the King in the North competition in October. As I've mentioned, I'll be using borrowed troops for the bulk of the army but to complete the list I will need to paint half a dozen units or so of Thracians.
We've all done it!. Bought something on impulse that is. In my case I bought the Arab Conquest Army Deal from Red Copper for a mere 30€. The deal includes both 15 & 28 mm versions.
I want to make it clear that I do not own a 3D printer nor do I intend to go down that route due to lack of space in my new home. This makes the purchase seem somewhat less than sensible, but I do think 3D printing is the way forward. Somehow, I managed to convince myself this would be a sensible medium term investment.
No. Not cutting your fingers with a scalpel or stabbing yourself on a pike. This is a bit more serious and a cautionary tale for all avid modellers and painters. Please bear with me as the background is important.
For some time I've been suffering with a problem with my left shoulder and the left side of my upper back. In 2019 it got a lot worse and I thought I'd injured myself in the gym. I had tingling fingers and pains in my left arm. My GP thought I might have something more serious so I had an MRI scan and was tested to see if I had Multiple Sclerosis.
Thankfully all the test were negative and I was referred for physiotherapy. A set of simple exercises eased, and then eliminated, most of the trouble with my back and tingling fingers. My shoulder still had the odd twinge but nothing too serious.
Lockdown came and went. I painted a lot; almost every day. The twinges persisted. I tried all sorts of stretches many of which helped but nothing really eliminated the problem.
This is one of my "hobby haul" from Phalanx last month. They are the first camels for my Arab Empire armies. Imagine an Arab army without any camels!
I wanted Essex figures as I usually find them a pleasant change of "painting pace" compared to Forged in Battle. Plus I have no intention of fielding large numbers of camel riders so buying a large pack from Forged in Battle wasn't really an option.
In the end I was glad only bought one pack. Usually, I find Essex figures quicker and easier to paint, but not this time.
Here's the latest addition to my Arab Conquest army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG). It is the penultimate group of infantry in my army.
This is a post showcasing the third, and final, infantry command base for my Tudor army at Bosworth. The base represents Sir Rhys ap Thomas of Dinefawr, his standard-bearer and livery captains using Donnington New Era figures.
I already have a set of three mounted, and two foot commanders based for Art de la Guerre (ADLG) but I felt the need(?) for one more commander on foot. Any excuse to re-use the flags I created.
I'm quite some way off finishing my Arab Conquest army but even so there's pleasure to be had reading the various Arab Art de la Guerre (ADLG) lists and day dreaming about what the army will be like when it's finished.
During one such session I noticed the option to use medium spearmen with missile support (see the end section for what that means in ADLG) and after reading the rules I realised this would be a good thing.
Although not strictly necessary, I settled on using LI bases at the rear of the spear units to signify the missile support. On checking my pile of unpainted figures I realised I did not have enough figures for these markers and would have to buy more from Forged in Battle.
The extra pack duly arrived but as I sorted through them I spotted that one casting was prone to a fatal flaw.
And so it begins. New year: new army!
In choosing a new army I wanted something versatile and something outside my normal bailiwick of late medieval armies. After a bit of reading I decided on the Arab Conquest period (600 - 800 AD). This was partly because it would give me my first "Dark Age" army, allowing me to enter more competitions, and partly because the period offers lots of armies to chose from but all with a common core.
This post marks the completion of my late medieval (or Muscovite) Russian army. The three commanders below are put together from some left over figures and a pack of musicians.
Ever since I returned to wargaming in the 1990s I've used metal toolboxes to store and transport my finished armies.
Painting white horses is an important technique for every wargamer to master because we all know that throughout history all important leaders "always" rode a white horse.
In January this year I began using more and more craft paints. They have some clear advantages and a few disadvantages but, used with these in mind, they offer lots of useful results. Here's what I've found so far.
Introduction
We all buy things online. In recent years buying online has become the
only way we can buy certain hobby items.
Setting up an e-commerce web site is now very easy. There are lots of "boiler plate" solutions out there. So much so that every man and his dog seems to have a shopping cart. However easy it is to get started, running a website well and complying with all the UK regulations is a different matter
Regular readers will know that I used to run an online business selling toy soldiers until I retired earlier this year after nearly twenty years. So what follows is somewhat of a whinge based on my background knowledge and my recent buying experiences as a regular punter.
If you don't want to read a critical article stop now. However I always use the issues below to assess whether a business is being run properly and safe to buy from.
Somehow I've ended up assembling a medieval Russian army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG). I've already done a few generals, some hand-gunners and some light & heavy cavalry. However, these were all really intended for use with my Polish & Litnuanian armies. Now I've decided to do a full army as a spin off.
So far I've used figures from Roundway but for the spear (& archers in progress) I've switched to using mainly Essex with a few Roundway figures, where possible, for extra variety. For those interested I've listed the figure codes below.
I have recently acquired two new painting accessories. The first was a tiny ceramic palette and the second a "helping hand" mainly to help me glue those tricky bits that require three hands .
This was bought to alleviate a recurrent problem. Five years ago I started using a cheap plastic palette in a takeaway food carton as a "sort of" wet palette.
I no longer own just one rulebook for Art de la Guerre (ADLG) V4. I own two! Strictly speaking I now own two "halves".
Four years ago I decided that ADLG V3 was too heavy to cart around and the binding was never going to survive use in games. I therefore used the services of my local print shop to split the book in two and re-bind with wire spirals.
ADLG V4 is an even bigger book so this morning it received the same treatment. I'm really pleased with my new, slim rule book.
I have been flagging recently. That is putting flags on to 15 mm flag poles. So I thought I'd put together a post on my current method.
Painting the different shades of human flesh on 15 mm can be a trial. To make the figure "pop" it's important that there's enough contrast in the flesh to define muscles etc.
Single colours look flat and uninteresting but if you highlight the areas too much the effect is garish and looks false to me. In the end it's all about balance.
I've recently painted a some early Libyan, Bedouin, and Nubian warriors with lots of exposed flesh and have developed quite a few new recipes which I thought I'd record for myself and anyone else interested.
This is my basic recipe and I use it for most Eurasian skin types as it really brings out the faces. However, it's not ideal for lots of bare skin as it's far too bright.
| Base | Red Brown | Plaka 52 |
| Shade | Tanned Flesh | Miniature Paints 72 |
| Highlight | Shade plus Pale Flesh | Miniature Paints 71 |
What now follows is a set of three recipes from tanned through to African flesh illustrated with very unforgiving close ups of 15 mm figures. To see the overall effect click on each image.
This is the first part of my mini-rebasing project. In addition to rebasing I have repainted the faces and most of the legs and shoes as they were damaged during removal from the original bases. Wherever possible I kept as much of the original paintwork as I could; it's over twenty years old after all.
In addition I stripped and repainted the two figures third and fourth from the left as I wanted to switch their livery colours. I also added new livery flags and in doing so I replaced the standard bearers with new Feudal Castings figures from my lead pile.
