Bison's Tales of Hobby Crafting

[Martok]

I concur that the ACW soldiers are excellent, Bison.  Seriously well done! 


And despite your self-critique, I really like the Carthaginian War Elephants as well.   

[Bison]

Thanks, Martok. I am really enjoying painting 15mm. The figures are a little more forgiving for painting mistakes on the table. The elephants are maybe an inch long and tall. The one thing with 15mm is color contrast is much more important for the figures to pop on the table. The Army Painter shades apply more like a gel than the citadel washes which makes it a pain for clean application.

[thecommandtent]

Great looking minis as always! I always like the look of ancient armies.

[Tolstoi]

Bison, the ACW figures look amazing. What am I typing, they all look amazing! Once you get the entire ACW formation complete, please share the finished results with us. 

[Undercovergeek]

Thanks, Martok. I am really enjoying painting 15mm. The figures are a little more forgiving for painting mistakes on the table. The elephants are maybe an inch long and tall. The one thing with 15mm is color contrast is much more important for the figures to pop on the table. The Army Painter shades apply more like a gel than the citadel washes which makes it a pain for clean application.

I think if I was painting for myself I’d go 15mm - they’re lovely minis - I recently saw a game of war master the old GW game and it looked great

[bob48]

Years ago, I did a huge amount of ACW 15mm stuff, its a great scale - lots of detail can be added. I did some 10mm stuff as well but was never very happy with it. Somewhere I have a box full of 10mm Franco-Prussian War figures that never saw a brush :-(

[Bison]

I recently saw a game of war master the old GW game and it looked great

I picked up a copy of warmaster at a game con flea market a few years back. Interesting set of rules. The only downside is it is a 10mm scale on 20x40 mm basing which is not how I am basing my figures.

The plan is to use my DBx-based ancient armies and expand out into a fantasy game eventually adding in orc, elf, or some other suitable fantasy races eventually. Right now I am not overly impressed with the DBx rules I have read. The magic rules in most cases seem very underwhelming but I will need to play a few games first. I will just need to pick up a few hero figures and some giants or some such monsters to add to the armies.

[Bison]

Years ago, I did a huge amount of ACW 15mm stuff, its a great scale - lots of detail can be added. I did some 10mm stuff as well but was never very happy with it. Somewhere I have a box full of 10mm Franco-Prussian War figures that never saw a brush :-(

Interesting conflict and not one you see often minis painted up to play out.

[bob48]

I got very interested in the whole period of European history from 1854 to 1871. There is much happening that resulted in some significant changes that shaped Europe to how we know it, and, as you say, it does not enjoy a lot of cover in games terms.

So we have the wars with Denmark, the wars of Italian Unification, the Austrian-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War.

[Bison]

I learned tonight that pewer can snap. Much to my surprise, I had a horse's tail snap off the model as I was attempting to bend it downward for basing purposes. Well I should have pinned it back on but being not in the mood to deal with it, I simply super glued it back into place. I will probably regret this decision.

[besilarius]

Bison, it may be too involved for 15s, but if you want such repairs to last a good long time this may work.
We used to hold the broken piece with a very tiny drop of super glue.  When that set, make a tiny bead of epoxy and roll it over the break.  After that has set, maybe two days, you can file it down to the natural lines of the figure.

And Bob, if you enjoy the wars of the nineteenth century, the age of Moltke, try looking up "The Art of War, Waterloo to Mons" by William McElwee.
It's a really fun read with lots of interesting anecdotes.

[Bison]

Bison, it may be too involved for 15s, but if you want such repairs to last a good long time this may work.
We used to hold the broken piece with a very tiny drop of super glue.  When that set, make a tiny bead of epoxy and roll it over the break.  After that has set, maybe two days, you can file it down to the natural lines of the figure.

I ended up pinning the tail before I even to got to basing the mini. If this does not hold, I will give your suggestion a shot. It is a good one but of all of the crafting materials I have on hand epoxy is not among the collection.

[Bison]

I have a couple dozen Gaul and Ancient Spanish painted just need to base. Republican Romans are on the table. However, I have been sidetracked by playing 1e AD&D random dungeon delves and overland hex crawls solo and the oldest daughter. So the latest craft involves hex paper, colored pencils, an ink pen, dice, and the DMG.

This is the starting area map for our anti-hero AD&D adventures. The wilderness areas surrounding Mayhill. It is a large village sitting atop a hill on the banks of the Hald River. Mayhill also serves as a well-situated stopping point for adventures, traders, and other travelers at the crossroads of the Amythest and Durwine roads. Our mega-dungeon with is currently a 9x9 sheets per level dungeon called the Tomb of Xagyg. We have so far ventured as far down as the fifth level of the dungeon thanks to a slide trap. Poor halfling thief was quite alone and afraid for a while. We discovered a treasure map indicating the location of magical items and treasure two days journey northeast of Mount Boji, an active volcano in the Copper Range. My daughter is convinced a dragon lives near Mount Boji. Well...we shall see what the random tables have to say as we explore an as-of-yet uncharted part of the wilderness.

[thecommandtent]

Awesome stuff as usual!

[Bison]

Awesome stuff as usual!

Thank you. It's quite a relaxing process and using the DMG random tables is actually quite fun as a solo game as well. It really plays out more like a skirmish wargame than a story-based RPG but I find myself linking the random events and creating a story. I roll up 4-5 characters on a single page with just the key vital stats, gear, and spells and off I go. I think I have four or five dungeons going for the map. One of which you might experience at some point in the future...