More Pantile Walls and Scatter

They say you should build bridges not walls, but my bridge kit is still on order so walls it is for now ... plus a few other bits!  These splendid pieces are from Hovels, at a good price too.  They’ll complement my Charlie Foxtrot walls very nicely.  The resin required minimal prep and had only a very few tiny air bubbles which were trivial to fill.  Highly recommended!

The painting recipe was Americana Honey Brown on the walls, Americana Terracotta on the tiles, followed by GW Agrax Earthshade. Highlight using Americana Honey Brown, Americana Fawn, VMC Dark Sand, Foundry Boneyard Light. The tiles were simply the original colour followed by a highlight with some VMC Dark Sand mixed in.  Base is Americana Honey Brown, VMC Tan Yellow then VMC Dark Sand followed by Colonel Bill's Winter Static Grass and some clump foliage.

This covered well is from the Waterloo Papelotte Farm range but, with suitable paint on the roof, I think it blends in nicely.

These are a pig shed, a stone water trough and a village fountain, followed by some crates and sacks - ideal as a barricade - plus some barrels of fruit and veg.

These stacks of barrels are from Debris of War.  Recipe: Americana Dark Chocolate, Agrax Earthshade, then highlights of Dark Chocolate, VMC Flat Earth, VMC Gold Brown and finally VMC Dark Sand.  Pick the barrel hoops out with VMC German Camo Dark Brown and highlight sparsely with GW Tin Bitz or similar.

Merry Christmas to all my friends!🎄🥳😁

Confederate Cavalry

More troops for the Confederacy!  Yes, the infantry now have some mounted support in the form of eight cavalry figures and a leader.  All Perry figures, the leader is metal whilst the troopers are from the excellent plastic boxed set.

The painting recipe is basically the same palette as used for my infantry (see links in the Painting tab, above) with Foundry Bay Brown and Chestnut used for the horses.  Socks and other markings were done using Foundry Boneyard.

Given the increasing role of cavalry as mounted infantry during this period I felt it was essential that in addition to the cavalry I also have some dismounted chaps.  But then I’ll have to get some horse holders too!  Given that these are primarily for use with Sharp Practice, the eight mounted figures become six on foot plus horse holders.

All Perry metal figures.

Thanks for looking!

New Banner and Pantile Photoshoot

Painting and gaming has been a bit thin on the ground recently, due in the main to illness.  However, I'm on the mend now thank goodness, so I recently decided to do a little photo session with my Napoleonic terrain and figures.  These are mainly aimed at playing Sharp Practice in the Peninsular War, although the buildings will also see service in WW2 for Crete and Italy using both Bolt Action and Chain of Command.  I was looking to create a new banner for the blog and photoshop-whizz Colin was kind enough to do a little bit of magic to replace the 'bookcase & armchair background' with some sky.

The majority of the buildings are from the superb Charlie Foxtrot Models pantile range, with extras from Grand Manner and some scratch-builds too.  Scatter terrain and animals are from Hovels, Redoubt, Warbases, Warlord, Debris of War, etc.  My good friend George has picked up some Last Valley horsehair style trees for me which I think will suit the terrain very well.

Here are a few more pics.

Happy gaming! :o)

Star Wars Legion

My good friend Paul has been steadily building a large collection of beautifully painted miniatures for Star Wars Legion, mainly Rebels and Droids plus a few special characters.  I visited last weekend and had a fab time with Paul and the lovely Mrs MB eating lots of tasty food, going for walks along the coast and, of course, getting in some games of Star Wars Legion.  It's a brilliant game!  So brilliant that I've now got my own collection under way (thanks mate).  In the meantime here's a few pics of Paul's fantastic models.

C-3P0, Luke and R2-D2

Chewie, Han and Leia

Rebel Commandos (Sniper Team)

Rebel Troopers

Rebel AT-RT

Rebel Speeder

FD Laser Cannon

Medium Blaster

More Rebel Troopers

May the force be with you!

ACW Snipers

Initially I was a little surprised to read about snipers in the American Civil War, but really I shouldn’t have as ‘sharpshooters’ had been around in some form for perhaps a hundred years or so.  Anyway, I decided these were a ‘must have’.  This Union sniper is a Dixon’s figure.

The Reb sniper is from 1st Corps and I’ve paired him with a Perry artillery limber to give him some suitable cover.  The 1st Corps set has two kneeling figures with a selection of heads - highly recommended!

A while back I mentioned posting up some army pics for my Union force.  So here they are!  The gaming mat is Geek Villain, Sicily and again is highly recommended!

There are still some troops to be added (e.g. cavalry and maybe a unit of Zouaves or a black/coloured unit, etc) plus a host of supports.  This lot comes in at around 100 points so plenty to be gaming with.

British 2lb AT Gun

The QF 6lb AT gun did not enter service in North Africa until around April 1942, so up to that point the Allied forces had to rely on the 2lber (plus 25lb howitzers in a direct AT role) to knock out enemy armour. In order to game these early desert war battles (e.g. Compass, Brevity, Battleaxe, etc) I’d need a 2lb AT gun.  This is a Warlord Games kit.  The extra crew are actually from the mortar set… but shhh!

Thanks for looking.

North African Interlude

A change is as good as a rest, or so they say.  So here’s a few more troops for my North African WW2 collection.

All Perry metals; a Vickers with a couple of extra figures, a 2” mortar team and a spotter with binoculars to accompany my radio operator and make a FOO team.

Here’s a couple of closer pics.

Made a nice change from all the ACW and SP2 stuff I’ve been working on recently.  Also, on the painting table at the moment is a 2lb AT gun.  Painting recipes can be found on the Painting tab above.

Cows, Pigs and Rabbits

Our miniature landscapes need, in my opinion, to look a little ‘lived in’ to get the most from our games.  Given that many of our battles are set in rural, or at least semi rural, areas then some suitable livestock are an obvious choice.  So, I’ve painted some.

These are from Redoubt (cows and pigs) and Warbases (rabbits).  Bases from Charlie Foxtrot Models.

Here are a few closer shots.

I felt that painting the cows the usual black and white would limit them to a European setting, tho I may be wrong.  A bit of Googling resulted in me opting for a more generic looking scheme of pale brown and creamy off white.  This is Foundry Buff Leather and Foundry Boneyard, respectively.  Want to add another couple of bases.  These could just as easily be objective tokens in scenarios such as foraging raids too.

Again Google helped choose this reddish brown scheme for the piggies.  This is Foundry Spearshaft.

Just for fun, I wanted some rabbits!  Foundry Bay Brown plus a bit of white for their tails.  I can just imagine a group of Rebel skirmishers getting ready to hit the Yankees but then suddenly being distracted by the prospect of rabbit stew for dinner.