Miniature Games
About this Section
Due to my current time constraints I have very little to devote to painting or playing miniatures. I did in the past however devote a lot of time to this hobby and it’s something I plan to get back to once I have the time/time to play again.
Scouring the analytics of previous iterations of bostich.com uncovered the fact that much of the traffic for the site is directed at content around my miniature gaming hobby. Because of this I have decided to go back through my archives and post as much of that content back on the site as possible, for reference purposes. One of the features I’m hoping to get working first is an Image Gallery, so that I can have less posts but more content. Until then I may post an odd image here and there just to keep things interesting.
I will be posting images/content pre-dated back to when it was originally done, which in some cases goes back to 2005 or 2006, so content that now appears on the current page will slowly slip backwards. This also means this post is going to be at the top for a while. Once I’ve caught up to the present new projects will naturally occur above this post.
January 25, 2012
WWI Royal Navy 1/6000
Figurehead Jutland Fleet Box
Similar to the German Navy, these ships had also been sitting on a shelf for many years unopened. Once I painted and mounted the German (Hochseeflotte) it was time to paint and mount their opponents. I used the exact same method here as for the German Navy and except for there being nearly twice as many ships, it took only slightly longer due to my painting method.
Once again the difficulty came when basing and labelling the ships. I went through several iterations of the labels before I got them right. I really needed to do a better job of keeping track of which ship was which when I pulled them out of the baggies.
Not much more to say than has already been said. The sheer number of ships means I have 2 boxes dedicated to the British Navy vs. only 1 for the German, and that does not include the Destroyers which I have yet to touch.
UPDATE: Since I didn’t cover this in my previous post I’ll just write a bit about the fabric I use as ocean. I chose denim because it can easily be bought, comes in many varieties, and creates enough friction that the ships stay-put. This last part is an essential component as the location, and distance of vessels is one of the key components in naval gaming. The fabric is also heavy enough the whole sheet doesn’t slip too much. Lastly it comes dark enough to resemble the North Sea, if I was doing mainly the Pacific I’d have to choose a lighter color or wash this sheet several times, but as it stands this is perfect for my chosen theatre.
Ships: Figurehead 1/6000
Magnets: Litko Game Supplies (updated link)
Ocean: Denim
Labels: Unfortunately the file is lost.
WWI German Navy 1/6000
Figurehead Jutland Fleet Box
These ships had been sitting on a shelf untouched, probably since 2004 when I picked them up along with the British Jutland box at Origins Game Fair down in Columbus, Ohio. World War I is the last true or mainly true naval war. The advent of planes really pushed the Second World War at Sea to an Air War; this is less true during the early war in the North Atlantic, but in general this stands I think.
A year or two ago I painted an IJN fleet box for a friend and while a nice break from 28mm, it was a lot of work. I knew there had to be a better way of painting these ships, recent work on 6mm had shown me that. The approach I came up with (Image 5) was to prep all the ships in rows by placing them on upside-down painters tape. Then I used grey Gesso to prime and base coat them in one go. From there it was a relatively easy job to apply some wood decking, brush them with black ink to bring out the detail, then apply white wherever there are ships lifeboats.
Maybe because the actual painting of the ships took so much less time, I decided to base the ships differently. I’ve become a very big fan of sheet magnet (Image 4) as a transportation system. It takes up much less space than foam, is possibly more secure, and the magnets make a great bottom surface for the miniatures; magnet slides easier over felt than wood. So thin sheets of wood laminate are applied to flexible sheet magnet, and cut to standard sizes. Then I apply the ships with a drop of glue, paint the ocean the blue I’ve chosen, and apply the label. I actually wrecked a few bases with incorrect labels and had to start over at one point. I’m still not sure about adding cresting whitecaps to the bows of the ships or not, they do give a sense of motion but are easily overdone.
Ships: Figurehead 1/6000
Magnets: Litko Game Supplies (updated link)
Labels: Unfortunately the file is lost.
6mm - British - War of the Spanish Succession
These 6mm figures come from Baccus, probably the best if not only supplier of many ranges of 6mm figures. The advantages of 6mm are: they are relatively easy to paint and you get a real sense of mass. If you’re planning on doing really really large battles on not really large tabletops, 6mm is pretty much the way to go.
I picked these up for playing with the Ottawa Miniature Gamers, who were testing out Sam Mustafa’s “Blucher”. Update: That system has now morphed in to “Maurice”, however many elements appear to remain the same.
My figures are based on the order of battle for the Battle of Blenheim which occurred during the War of the Spanish Succession. I chose this battle mainly because it involved most of the British units that fought in the war. The keen eye will also notice a brigade of Hessians. I had more figures than I needed (each stand being a regiment), and Hessians were allies of the British in this conflict, and they allow me to round out some of the Brigades, which are mixed.
Regiments at this time are fairly small; on the order of around 500 men for foot, and 300 men for Horse.
As anyone who follows my painting knows I go for ‘Tabletop Quality’ , which simply means they look on the tabletop as I expect they would from that distance. They are not really meant to be examined closely for great detail, because there is none. There are some fine painters out there who get insane levels of detail on these figures, and I’m envious.
Originally Posted: March 12, 2011
HOTT - Undead Horde
While I was working on my DBA Early Imperial Romans I also started work on any army for Hordes of the Things, a spin-off from DBA geared more towards fantasy or science fiction armies. For the upcoming club game we are using G. Branco’s New Army Lists. These lists are geared towards giving a greater theme to what is a very generic game relative to it’s ancestors. The list I am using:
UNDEAD
nor dead nor alive, led by a powerful wizard. Reward may be eternal rest.
Mandatory Units: 1x Magician; 3x Hordes.
Maximum Units: 1x Magician; 2x Knights; 12x Hordes.
Unavailable Units: Airboat; Cleric; Dragon (brittle undead dragons are behemoths); God; Hero; Paladin.
There is still a lot of room for flexibility in this army so I decided to pick up a variety of units. Although HOTT doesn’t make the same distinctions as DBA ( 3Bw vs. 4Bw ) I’ll be describing the units using the more specific terminology.
1x Magician - Lich Lord
I’ve used a 28mm model for the Lich Lord. I’m not sure exactly what the figure was, I think an Efreet. Unfortunately I tossed out the packaging before writing this article. I think any wizard-like figure will do for this army.
6x 5Hd - Skeletal Horde
The rest of my figures are from Black Raven Foundry and purchased from Old Glory 15s. At 1pt each and room for 12 in the army list I could have painted a lot more, but I decided 6 was enough. I prefer a bit more variety in my army.
2x 2Kn - Skeletal Knights
I built the maximum number of Knights the army list would allow.
1x 4Cb , 2x 4Bw - Skeletal Archers
HOTT does not make the distinction (as previously mentioned) between Crossbows and Bows, but the figures I purchased came with both so why not use them. I prefer to have the same pose on an entire stand to show well ordered units.
4x 4Sp - Skeletal Spear
Here I differed a little, showing each unit of spear with a “Captain”. I did this because I didn’t think the standing spear figure looked similar enough to the others (The spear has teeth). Plus I didn’t have 4 of each of the other kind so would have to have done 4x 3Sp, which isn’t a HOTT troop type.
2x 2Sn - Wraiths
Wraiths as sneakers, good for attacking the opponents key units (General or Stronghold).
2x 3Wb - Ghouls
Included to give some more non-skeletons to the army as well as some flexibility to unit types.
Undead Horde
The full Horde laid out with the “stronghold”, which in this case is just a graveyard. So far Strongholds have not been my forte, with several aborted attempts to come up with something better, this is the fall-back.
DBA – II/56 – Early Imperial Romans
Like many new DBA players I decided the best way to get started was with one of the Army Boxes by Corvus Belli. For my first army I picked the Early Imperial Roman box. I chose this army mainly for being aggressive, and because I am familiar enough with the period to be interested in it. From what I’ve read on other DBA blogs, the Early Imperial Roman army is fairly common starting point.
The makeup of the army is as follows:
1x3Cv or 4Bd (Gen), 1x3Cv, 1x3Cv or 2LH or 4Bw or 2Ps, 4x4Bd, 4x4Ax, 1xArt
I decided to paint my army as traditionally as I could. The shields are my own designs but loosely based on some examples I found.
Originally Posted: October 31, 2010
Tip: Keeping track of painting schemes
One of the challenges of painting miniatures is going back to add to a set you’ve painted a long time ago. It can be very hard to remember which paint manufacturer, let alone which shade, was used for a given model. I’ll never be able to replicate the paint job on more models than I care to name, all because I didn’t have a system in place. When I started out I just didn’t think about the need to possibly repair or add to models later on. Once I realized I was going to be in this hobby for the long haul I decided on developing a system for recalling what paints I had used on what models. Using Index Cards came out of my earlier attempts to keep track of all my paints by creating large sheets of paint swatches. Scaling down allows me to keep a well organized library of paint sets by era, unit, anything I desire.
I’ve chosen 4×6 glossy photo paper as my “card” for it’s ability to render the paint colour accurately and without bleeding through to the back of the paper. With that you just need to note what part and what paint you’ve used. Because of the various manufacturers of paints I’ve devised a shorthand to identify them:
VJ = Vallejo Model Colour
VG = Vallejo Game Colour
P3 = Privateer Press P3
RP = Reaper
CD = Citadel (The New GW Pots)
GW = Games Workshop (Older Pots)
Hope whatever system you’ve devised works as well for you.
Originally Posted: March 09, 2010
Naval Miniatures
One of the things that can be overwhelming when trying to get in to a new area of miniature gaming is understanding the various scales and costs involved.
When I decided to expand my collection to include WWII naval I came up against just such a barrier. To make things much easier on myself I decided to buy a few of the same ships form different manufacturers and in different scales.
One of the factors is what are the models made of?
Plastic: Axis & Allies War at Sea models are plastic, and this gives them only a medium level of detail despite being the largest scale (covered here). In addition some ships come warped, either from cold or heat, and while there are methods to fix them, they can be time consuming.
Resin: Panzerschffe models use resin which is slightly harder than just plastic. An increasingly popular choice for models as the price of metal soars. You can achieve a fair amount of detail in resin, but some pieces can be brittle.
GHQ and Skytrex/Davco use metal, usually what’s called non-lead pewter or white metal. Metal casts are very durable, and can vary wildly in level of detail and construction. Older moulds tend to have excessive flashing which then needs to be filed off. Too much detail can also be very tricky to handle as guns or masts break.
Before I get to the ships I just wanted to add a note about 1/6000 scale. I didn’t include it here because it’s another thing entirely. Ships are quite small and the level of detail needed isn’t as much. At that scale it’s much more about the sheer number of ships you’re able to field. As well, there aren’t as many options from who to buy.
H.M.S. Ark Royal
$3.00 1/8000 Axis&Allies War at Sea
$6.00 1/2400 Panzerschiffe
£1.70 1/3000 Skytrex/Davco
Of the three the Panzershiffe is the clear winner in my book. Here the larger scale is nice, but the Skytrex Ark Royal is very rounded on the edges and clearly a mould in need of some work. Hard to pick out here but the deck is pitted. Aircraft carriers however need less detail, and the PS still ekes some nice detail out. 1/2400 is a much more expensive scale however, and a bigger play area is required. Those are two factors that should definitely be taken in to account.
H.M.S.Hood
$13.50 1/2400 GHQ
$5.00 1/2400 Panzerschiffe
£1.70 1/3000 Skytrex/Davco
You really are getting what you’re paying for here. GHQ Models are almost insane in the level of detail they reproduce at this scale. There’s really no contest between them and any others. Here you can see that for capitol ships, the Skytrex has more detail than the larger Panzerschiffe model, even at 1/2 the price. If money is a concern 1/3000 becomes very tempting for this reason. For me the Panzerschiffe is the loser in this comparison.
H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth
$5.00 1/2400 Panzerschiffe
£1.20 1/3000 Skytrex/Davco
Here it’s a bit tougher call. This model is another that needs some TLC from Skytrex, whereas the Panzerschiffe model has a reasonable amount of detail. I didn’t have the Q.E. in GHQ when I took this shot, but you can guess the level of detail and price difference.
Conclusion
Personally I like detail and ended up purchasing mainly GHQ models. Even though they’re 3x the price they will last a long time, and look great. Not being brought out at conventions however as these are strictly for my hands only. I also purchased a few boxes of 1/6000 both to make for some easier painting, and to have fleets which were more complete in overall range.
What you get will largely depend on your wallet, and how much detail you need. At tabletop distances you don’t need as much as GHQ offers to have a good tim. If the ruleset you’re using is fun you won’t even notice.
Originally Posted: September 27, 2009
A Call to Arms - Babylon 5 - Brakiri
The Brakiri are technically a major race in the Babylon 5 universe, and we do see these ships, the Avioki, in a few key battle sequences. In reality however, the Brakiri are a secondary race within the framework of the show and aren’t explored to the level of detail of the 6 main protagonists, except for the excellent episode “Day of the Dead” written by Neil Gaiman, and with an appearance by Penn and Teller.
From the perspective of the game; this is not a great race to play. There isn’t a great variety of ships and the Avioki can be lumbering and underpowered. They were interestnig to paint however and if I was running any major Shadow vs. Alliance battles I’d want one or two of these to throw in.
Originally Posted: December 07, 2008
Terrain - Asteroids & Planets
Along with spaceships come outer space itself. What a boring experience it would be to play on just a flat space mat.
Asteroids
The asteroids are scrunched (technical term) up tin/aluminum foil painted with really cheap black tempra paint, the kind used at primary school: no sense wasting the good stuff. Once that was done I used a sponge to add a teal green (P3 Meridius Blue) and bright purple-red (P3 Sanguine Base). These are meant to represent various mineral deposits on the asteroids as well as just for general highlighting. Once all that is done a liberal coating of Matte Varnish and they’re done. I had previously attempted the styrofoam method but was not happy with the results. The idea for doing them this way came to me as I was throwing out some used aluminum foil from a food wrapper.
Planets
I had a lot of fun painting these, so different from miniatures and just an infinite array of possibilities. Each of these is made of either a full or half styrofoam ball purchased from an art store. If it’s not obvious my favorite has to be the grey planet with the deep red scar running down one side; no good reason for it to be red other than looks. After that I’m very happy with the blue planet; a mixture of techniques here: the blue was done with successive layers of sponge work using deep and blue-grey, the polar icecap was done using a mixed medium with small stones. Lastly there’s the small “Sun”-like planet, but really more Jupiter-ish than anything: this was done with lots and lots of short brushstrokes in layers of different colours.
There really isn’t much work involved in making space terrain like this and it adds so much to the battlefield.
Originally Posted: January 27, 2008
WHATEVER INERESTS ME
SINCE 1998
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
WHERE TO FIND ME