Bison's Tales of Hobby Crafting

[Bison]

A clean and tidy painting station, the calm before the storm. 

Indeed the mess will eventually happen!

[Bison]

Knocked out a paladin or fighter tonight. I really, really like this sculpt. There were some areas I probably should have taken the time to clean up but the pre-priming on a Wizkid mini makes it a hassle. I was also in a mood after having located all of my ongoing projects except the ones I wanted to find. For the life of me, I cannot remember how or where I packed my English foot knights and archers. I wanted to work on that project some more since I have the new Lion's Rampant rules. Anyway, back to tonight's project.

White is a pain to paint and I find Citadel's whites to be very chalky. I did try mixing a few batches with some different mediums but it only marginally helped. I went with a very, very watered-down blue wash for the shadows. It worked out ok but the cool tone drove the color selection for the cape. And after I called it tabletop ready, I found the apothecary grey contrast paint I had picked up to specifically test on shading whites and light greys. But such is life.

[Bison]

Painted a couple of stands of ACW over the last couple of days. I am trying some different blues from the Model Color line. I like Dark Prussian Blue but after the wash and from a distance I think the models are too dark. 13 mm is small. Like really, really, really freaking small. So I have a couple of lines painted with Model Color blue. It's a lighter color but seems to be working well. I have also trimmed the slouch hats to kepi caps. Minor pain in the ass but I think it looks better for the union. I will post some comparison photos once I finish the third test infantry. I have also been bringing the Army Painter Strong Tone down a few shades to help reduce darkening on the models. I do not love the Army Painter products but they seem to work well enough.

And because I am an idiot who does not have a big enough pile to work on. I have some early medieval/crusader period knights and footmen to work on too. I want to do a Saracen army next. But for right now it'll just be a couple of medieval armies on the project list for Lion's Rampant.

[bayonetbrant]

And all of that before you've even made it over to Hangar 18 hobbies to pick up a bunch of minis from those guys

[Bison]

And all of that before you've even made it over to Hangar 18 hobbies to pick up a bunch of minis from those guys

I know and am looking forward to going. I called the store this past weekend to inquire whether they carried Victrix, Gripping Beast, or Fireforge miniatures. However, the person who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about but he did know Warlord and let me know they had some in stock.

[Bison]

Somehow I managed to get super glue on my new sable hair brush tip when I was assembling medieval cavalry figures. The brush was on the opposite side of the table too. Anyway, I was not at all happy with myself after I discovered it.

[Undercovergeek]

It’s like a rite of passage - that and throwing nuln oil everywhere

[Bison]

It’s like a rite of passage - that and throwing nuln oil everywhere

The other rite of passage I have found myself in is buying miniatures without a plan.

So there I was last night assembling horses and riders…realizing that I thought I was building for Lion’s Rampant but want to use the miniatures for other systems. What system? Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB)  or Hail Caesar (HC)…then the shiny object of  rules comes crashing in like a comet exploding into the ground…in the aftermath  I sat there realizing I had no plan other than “KNIGHTS”…

Simple fix. Look at the rules I have and review the army lists…WAB…huh Normans and Crusaders…HC feudal France, Germany, Poland, Plantagenet, Crusaders…spend time looking at the kits on my desk…go back to army list…back to kits and the built models and realize I really should have thought this out…so now the basing is an issue and the historical armies are unknown…all those dudes with swords and maces and axes…probably should have just been crossbows and spears….lord knows I need to reevaluate my situation but I think I am just going with the original plan…generic knights doing knight things individually based for Lions Rampant.

[Bison]

I need to make a list of projects and prioritize them. (Of note, I did inform my wife she would have to deal with a massive amount of plastic and metal miniatures in the future. She simply remarked well if you life another 30 or more years, I will have armies from around the world and across history to deal with and unload. I think that is a positive remark...maybe.) Project creep and sidebars are a real thing.

On topic, the current projects are in various states in no particular order of priority:

1. ACW Epic Scale. I have 2 regiments of Union done and have primed another 4 to 5 regiments. I need to reprime with black and zenithal. It will make working with these little buggers much easier not having to address every recessed speck of white showing. Then I need to work on some artillery and start the same formations for the Rebs. I have cavalry and leaders (Grant, Lee, Jackson, and some other union guy but I do not remember who) to work on too. They are metal sculpts so I need to pick up a good set of files first. Also, I need to build the MDF build terrain I have and some N Scale woods. I also want to find a couple of suitable bridges. It's pretty surprising how many times the two sides fight on, near, or over a bridged river crossing.

2. Warhammer 40K. Hmm...a squad of Space Marines and Necrons left to paint. There is also a Rhino and some Necron thing I do not remember the name. The Aeldari...build, prime, and paint. This is my boy's priority. They loved playing 40K and really want to play 3-player battles.

3. Knights. I have 6 of 36 cavalry models built. Another 140+ foot, crossbow men, and archers to build. Nothing has been primed or painted. This is my current obsession. The multi-pose weapons and arms are a 3D jigsaw puzzle to put together. It's a good side project for something other than painting at the table. These models will be for Lion's Rampant. I do not want to build out 2 full armies for a mass battle game although I guess I am pretty close to having enough for small WAB battles.

4. 100 Years War. I cannot find my English foot or archers I built. This is on the back burner until I find or hopefully not find myself replacing them. I want to build this out for WAB or HC.

5. Gaming table. I have a rough draft made for a table. Need to clean the garage to make space. I do not want to clean the garage because that means I have to deal with boxes and unpacking, repacking, and all that. Maybe if I just push them all against the wall in a corner the wife will not notice. Mental note: Work on deception plan of having completed Honey To Due List #3421.

6. Gaming terrain. I have a bunch of 40K jazz than needs a quick prime and paint job with the airbrush. I am not going all in on the details. I do need to make some more forests and build a river and several hills. I did locate my foam and most of the crafting kit. This is doable. I can make terrain.

7. Long-term goals: Republican Roman, Carthaginian, and Gaul Armies. Read Sharpe's Practice and build out OOB for French and English or English and Americans. Ok first, I need to decide Nappy's wars or America's Independence.

8. On-going D&D miniatures. I need to go through the box and sort it. I have some dungeon terrain I want to paint and need an inventory of monsters. We are good on PC figures. Of course, I did use glass beads and coins today for the monsters so no rush. These are the I do not feel like dealing with the above projects but want something to paint or work on need techiques miniatures. No rush.

[Bison]

The mounted sergeants and knights are coming along. So far, I have built 48 of them and have 12 mounted knights to build. But I might build some foot sergeants and knights first.

These are Fireforge sculptures and for the most part, I really like them. They are pretty chunky and easy to work with in comparison to the more detailed and finer models from Perry. I will say the multi-pose and piece arms take some getting used to. The crossbowmen were, frankly, a pain in the ass. The crossbow arm and the free arm have a certain configuration that goes together which I didn't figure out until halfway through when I was struggling to pose the last couple. They still look nice but without any sort of assembly guide, it becomes a bit of a puzzle.

And you can see the ongoing ACW project in process in the background.   

6 Heavy men-at-arms with mixed weapons.


6 Mounted crossbowmen.


12 mounted sergeants with lances. One I modeled with a mace and cape for a potential leader and one has a horn. The musician looks cool and if I use the models for WAB well I have the musician covered.


I still need to glue the riders to the horse and base them. I am going to individually base on 25x50mm stands. The initial goal is to play Lion's Rampant and I am looking at picking up Baron's War too. It is a campaign skirmish game set in England during the unironically Baron uprising against King John. Eventually, I will most likely add another 6 mounted crossbowmen and 6 heavy men-at-arms.

[thecommandtent]

Those are some cool looking models but I think they would drive me crazy trying to assemble. I look forward to seeing how you paint them!

[GROGnadsUSA]

Hoi y`all as 'moi' did NOT thoroughly read/peruse/scrutinize the entirety of this, while I wanted to 'impart' some from when I "messed around" with those "Battle Master" figurines. So, I wanted to 're:position' them so's NAUGHT A-L-L were exactly similar to any other! The  "Weapons Wielders" would then have these 'rearranged' into differing 'Poses' of that. For the 'Cavalry Troops', they too would become 'rearranged' FROM: 'Lance Upright'-(original position); 'Begins Slight Lowering/Tilted Forward'; 'HALF-Tilt'; 'FULL Tilted/Lowered' into "Thrust"-mode!.

THE better of 'moulding procedures' WERE dipping the 'Part' for "repositioning" into small container of "HOT Water" a moment or '2'  upon its length, and then quickly put into 'place' as manipulated for thus! I might as well begin MY OWN 'pages' about "Hobby Slobbers" *Secrets* and "Magical Moments" over 'moi' 'Decades'! Truthfully Historied

[Bison]

Those are some cool looking models but I think they would drive me crazy trying to assemble. I look forward to seeing how you paint them!

Me too! I think I am just going generic medieval.  I want them to be agnostic as far as nationality as much as possible. Anyway it’s a good reason to figure out the airbrush setup since I have a metric ton of plastic to prime.

[Bison]

I wanted to 're:position' them so's NAUGHT A-L-L were exactly similar to any other! The  "Weapons Wielders" would then have these 'rearranged' into differing 'Poses' of that. For the 'Cavalry Troops', they too would become 'rearranged' FROM: 'Lance Upright'-(original position); 'Begins Slight Lowering/Tilted Forward'; 'HALF-Tilt'; 'FULL Tilted/Lowered' into "Thrust"-mode!.

I did a variety of poses with these warriors but some were certainty more amiable to being repostured than others.

[Bison]

I had hit a bit of a hobby funk over the past couple of weeks and the work schedule did not help. So to shake myself out of the funk I sat down to build a couple of more pieces of tree scatter terrain. Of course, this was bound to happen, the desk is a disaster of creative laziness.

The boys had won a couple of prizes during the raffle at Southern Front a box of Warlord Airborne Soldiers and a Tiger tank. When they saw me working on some projects, they decided today was the day to build some models. *By saw I mean occupied by force my walk-in closet workspace.* As you can see, the desk is in no shape to assume command of two 7-year-old hobbyists' building desires. Heck, I was having trouble just finding a proper tool or the super glue. So there is only one thing to do in such a situation...