Backs (or flank) against the wall, Heavenfield, 633 CE

The Battle of Heavenfield (ca. 633-634) was fought between a Northumbrian army under Oswald of Bernicia and a British/Welsh army under Cadwallon of Gwynedd. Bede, who refers to it as the 'Battle of Deniseburna' notes the proximity of the battle to a section of Hadrian's Wall - which it is thought that Cadwallon secured one flank of his army on.

'The place, on its noth side, is close to the wall with which the Romans once girded the whole of Britain from sea to sea to keep off the attacks of the barbarians...' Bede, Baedae Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, iii.2 My 2mm DBA (v.2.2) forces being complete for Oswald's Northumbrians (II/73 Old Saxon) and Cadwallon's Britons/Welsh (III/19a Welsh), it is time for some terrain! The most iconic item of terrain is surely the (then ruinous) Roman wall! Here is a prototype section scratch built from pvc sheet. Paint job is a WIP with Vallejo grey undercoat and Army Painter Speed Paint first coat (Runic Grey for the wall and Sand Golem for the ground and to highlight the 'fill' in broken areas of the wall. More pictures to follow once I get a few sections done.

Miniatures by Irregular Miniatures, of course!

Great War terrain in 6mm

I’m a dyed in the wool lead miniatures guy. 3-D and plastics just don’t feel right to me but each to their own. So, when I’m not scratch building, my default range of scenics for 6mm and 2mm is Irregular Miniatures. 

I’ve had a bunch of their shelled buildings awaiting attention for some time. I’m itching to get into some Great War gaming so time to upgrade the terrain. Here’s a few work in progress shots of a couple of shelled villages. 

After mounting a number of pieces from the 6mm scenics range on MDF, I based with ground up cork (for additional fallen masonry surrounding the buildings), gravel, find sand then grout. These were sprayed black then the masonry painted with Vallejo French Mirage Blue followed by Army Painter Runic Grey Speed Paint. I picked out some additional features in various colours (more to do on this). Following this was a drybrush with Army Painter Drakes Tooth then finally a Nuln Oil wash.

The Poilus are Irregular Miniatures 1914 French Infantry (GWF01-06). 

Still a WIP as I’ll do more dry brushing and details then flock when all the washes are dry.

Green, Blue and white stuff - adventures in casting

I’ve been fascinated by casting ever since I was taught to pour plaster into animal tracks as a Cub Scout. In later years watching experiments in archaeometallurgy fired my imagination and is something I hope to experience first hand one day.

More recently I had an opportunity of a lifetime to be taught a little of the art of miniature casting by a friend in the business. In this case I was casting with  pewter using a centrifugal air pressure spin casting machine. 

Alas, metal casting at home is a bit beyond my capabilities at present so I have to be satisfied by simpler techniques. Enter stage left, Blue Stuff by Green Stuff World! This magnificent thermo plastic allows simple one- and two-piece moulds to be made just by heating the plastic in hot water. These moulds are often used with epoxy putty - such as Green Stuff or Milliput. 

When casting with Blue Stuff I favour having the mould supported with a small box to reduce warping during the casting process. It also allows for a nice flat finish to the back of the piece when using one-piece moulds.

The Blue Stuff mould was pressed into the supporting box made of coffee stirrers and MDF before the impression was made. While the master was in the Blue Stuff, I flattened the upper surface by inverting it and pressing it down onto baking parchment on a work surface. You have to have to experiment a bit to get the exact amount of Blue Stuff required but this really improves the end result. 

While I’m happy with the mould, I’ve had varied success with Green Stuff putty and Milliput in these moulds. The success of the final casting depends on carefully pressing the material into the mould to pick up all the surface detail. Incomplete edges and corners are common.

In a rare trip into the city today (over two years now happily working from home!) I stumbled across Green Stuff World Acrylic Resin (350g) in Mind Games’ CBD Melbourne store which claims to offer a non toxic ‘ceramic’ when mixed 3:1 resin powder and water. Setting in under an hour and mixing to a pourable consistency, I felt it presented a solution to the problems I was having with epoxy putty (and a significantly faster drying time).

Careful measuring always pays off. I will get small plastic ‘shot glasses’ for mixing in the future.

28mm windows poured with acrylic resin with Green Stuff and Milliput examples beside the mould

Green Stuff and Milliput bell tent castings showing loss of detail and incomplete casting. This Blue Stuff mould was also formed using tye surrounding box - it is just pictured here removed from it.

It’s early days but the first set of castings (windows for 28mm buildings and 6mm Bell Tents) suggest the acrylic resin to be a viable alternative. The edges of the window broke off in the mould possibly due to my handling and the need to allow further curing time. But the crisp detail is definitely encouraging. Is it too brittle for fine work? Time will tell!

Green Stuff Acrylic Resin castings demoulded after less than one hour!

I’ll keep experimenting and will certainly branch out into using proper silicone moulds and resin in the future, but Blue Stuff and acrylic resin are very useful tools to add to my modelling arsenal!

Wolseley versus Arabi Pasha, 1882: HotE in 6mm

Exploring how I might use the Wargames Research Group fantasy rules, Hoards of the Things, has been on my to-do list for years, nay, decades! There is an active Facebook group and WRG released a second edition in 2002. There is talk of 2.1 being out there but I have yet to track a set down. 

While the fantasy setting has some interest to me as an another option for gaming in the style of Osprey’s Of Gods and Mortals, the adaptations of HOTT:

1. Hordes of the Empire (HotE): the Victorian colonial Mr wars adaptation of HOTT by Paul Potter, Blake Radetzky and Terry Webb.

HotE and related resources can be obtained through the DBA & HOTT Wargaming Facebook group. If I find a reliable web link I will update this post.

2. Hoards in the Trenches: the Great War version by Matt Kirkhart.

There are some (somewhat questionable) downloadable versions of HitT for those Google savvy types among you, the only link I feel comfortable advertising is the v.5 http://ianjgow.blogspot.com/p/hordes-in-trenches.html?m=1

To that end, my first project for HotE will be the Anglo-Egyptian war of 1882. I came separately, rather surprisingly, to the same view as Featherstone that Lieutenant-General Wolseley’s 1882 expedition to overthrow the dictator Said Ahmed Arabi foreshadows the British expedition to the Falkland Islands to eject the Argentinian junta one hundred years later (Featherstone, Tel El Kabir 1882, Osprey Campaign 27). 

Both campaigns lasted four and a half weeks and, due to logistical constraints, required the British to deploy their crack regular regiments not normally used for these purposes. While in wargaming terms the engagements are a little unbalanced, the variety of units on both sides make for a fun miniatures project - household cavalry, armoured trains, the Naval Brigade, Egyptian veterans redrafted into service, Sudanese conscripts, Bedouins, Krupp ordinance! 

There are no doubt some great new lines in 6mm Colonial  miniatures out there - more-so with the growth of 3-D printed options - but I am an avowed metal figure gamer and rusted-on (or the non-ferrous equivalent) user of Irregular Miniatures. https://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/6mmRanges/6mmColonial.htm

In typical fashion, I rushed into the first set of elements, probably sacrificed the paint job a bit and went with what I had for basing - I may add some detail later - but here they are (With HotE/HOTT descriptors):

Egyptian/ Sudanese lancers would be classified as ‘Riders’ in the HotE Egyptian 1882 army list.

A Bashi ‘Hoard’ (back left), two Sudanese ‘shooters’ (centre) and Bashi-Bazook ‘riders’ (right).

Egyptian infantry in foreground (Shooters) 

3 bases of Krupp artillery (foreground) and the ‘General’ in the centre. The army list only calls for 1 artillery base but given there were 75 Egyptian guns at Tel El-Kabir, I upped the numbers!

Another shot of the ordinance - I’m a gunner at heart!

Another shot of the irregular infantry 

‘Lurkers’ Bashi-Bazook skirmishers 

The Egyptian army of the Arabi Pasha mustered

Split rail fences for 2mm ACW

Felling the timber, splitting it into rails and stacking it along your farm boundaries must have been a punishing task in the 19th century.

Punishing, in a very different way, is an apt description for scratch building split rail (snake) fencing for my 1:800 (eg. 2mm) ACW terrain!

I have to admit these little guys spent more time stuck to my fingers than to their bases. Nevertheless, the struggle yielded the equivalent of 14 chains (chain = 22 yards) of fencing for Wilmer McLean’s farm.

The method, while fiddly, is fairly strait forward.

I cut a series of 50mm x 1mm strips (sorry, back to metric for this) of 0.5mm Evergreen Styrene sheet which was scored every 5mm on opposite sides.

I then bent each scored point to form a zigzag long enough for my bases. This was attached to the base (via being glued to various fingertips) using Superglue. Then 5mm lengths were scored in the centre and bent into a right angle piece using tweezers. These were glued to the outward facing points of the fence to represent the crossed over rails.

The roughed up 45mm x 10mm base of styrene was coated carefully with fine sand (using PVA) and then undercoated with Vallejo grey primer (73.601). I washed the dry undercoat with Liquitex raw umber acrylic ink. Then, I painted the fence rails dark brown. These were dry-brushed with Army Painter Drake Tooth. My flower meadow mix of flocking was glued in place then a light coat of Vallejo Mecha Dark Rust wash (a staple in my paint collection) was applied on the rails. Done!

These simple 2mm terrain pieces add, I feel, some period flair to ACW battlefields at this scale. Maybe cornfields and a peach orchard next!

The Isolation Chronicle: Desperate Gunfight! Tin Men Defeated! Strange Creatures from Airships Attack Town!

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🜌  The Isolation Chronicle, 28 March 1871  🜌

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Strange Creatures from Airship Attack Town!

Desperate Gunfight!

Great carnage!

About 6 o'clock this morning the early risers of Isolation Gulch were astonished at the sudden appearance of a flaming airship which has been sailing throughout the Territory[source]. It was traveling due north and sailed over the main street and appeared to crash on the outskirts of town. Early reports that it was an Army balloon in distress were soon quashed with the arrival of a sight that fixed in those townsfolk present a fear of Judgement Day come early!

Dramatis Personae

The chill morning air was rent with the terrible clanking of what appeared to be two men wrapped in iron and brandishing pistols! With these armoured strangers came three creatures, grey, diminutive, almost child-like, who soon proved to be the greatest threat the town has faced since the terrible Cholera plague of 1852. Shambling behind these intruders was a deathly, corpse-like apparition. It still wore shreds of butternut uniform suggesting it was animated at the nearby Confederate cemetery.

The townsfolk, having run to balconies and sidewalks to investigate the commotion, were heartened to see that the Territory Troopers had turned out of their camp by the New Cemetery to confront this strange host.

Witnesses recounted that Captain Morgan, who led the Troopers, gasped audibly when he saw the alien posse that entered the main street. 

Morgan was heard to cry, "How can it be? It's the Kelly Gang! Surely my eyes deceive me! And who are those grey children they bring with them ...?"

Morgan had recently returned from two years the British Colony of Victoria and in recent nights had regaled the patrons of the Opal Saloon with the exploits on the Goldfields of these infamous, iron-suited Bushrangers.

But, this correspondent can assure his readers that the good Captain's exclamations were cut short that morning, when the abominable grey creatures unleashed their lances of fire!

The infernal weapons shot beams of red, scalding light which struck Sergeant Collins and Trooper Bowman as they rounded the corner of the Undertakers' salon sending the rest Captain Morgan's troopers scattering for cover wherever they could find it. The smell of the charred flesh assaulted the sense of all present.

The townsfolk stood transfixed, as if enthralled by feats of illusion and thaumaturgy at a travelling circus. Then a voice called out "They must have come from that crashed airship!" Others fell to prayer, fearing they witnessed the Book of Revelation come to life before their very eyes!

The loathsome grey creatures stalked ahead of the Kelly Gang, no doubt sensing their unearthly weapons had advantage both in range and accuracy. Jacky Jacky the Tracker was observed by all making a valiant charge into the fray to try and turn the tide of the fight.

Jacky Jacky let loose a wild yelp and charged headlong down the street strait into the path of an awful, reanimated carcass from the recent Succession War. Being the bare-knuckle champion hereabouts, Jacky Jacky opened with the 'Hook to Hammerfist' blow, that won him his recent bout against"Sailor Tom" Sharkey, but the horror shrugged it off and closed on him and with his flesh rending talons and fangs.

Just when the day seemed lost, Trooper Taylor appears from Isolation Gulch's back alleys and lets loose a hail of shotgun pellets at the grey invaders at close range! Ichorous fluids dripped from the pellet wounds and they fell back by the survey office, seeking cover.

Readers! It was High Noon! Not in a temporal sense, but certainly it was the tipping point in this bitter fight for the main street of Isolation Gulch. Jacky Jacky traded blows with his undead foe. Both now terribly wounded. 

Captain Morgan fell, bleeding heavily after trading shots with the Kelly's from behind a horse hitched outside the Milliner's shop. 

Corporal Stone, wounded, valiantly charged the armoured bushrangers drawing blood from both. 

Trooper Taylor's shotgun finished off the second grey fiend and was saved a death blow by their Leader when its fire lance fell silent!

Fearing the outcome, panic set in among the good people of Isolation Gulch and, I regret to report, your correspondent was not immune to this hysteria. 

Shots rang out! The infernal weapons seared the morning air. When, finally, I peered over the Saloon's balcony, bodies, human and otherwise, littered the street. The Grey Leader stood alone, it's weapon alive again, sweeping the street seeking Sergeant Collins, now our only defender!

Collins charged with a 'huzzah' worthy of the Light Brigade, his fate similarly directed. Seeing the wrath of this seasoned veteran advancing, pistol blazing, the Grey Leader sought cover in the alley by the Livery Stable. Into that Valley of Death Collins charged, but a full blast of the alien's weapon downed him within feet of his prize. A terrible moan rose from the people of Isolation Gulch, as one. Fearing what was to come. But the Grey Leader seemed to disappear in the shadows, for no-one saw it leave. 

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Readers, the toll was too great. Captain Morgan and Sergeant Collins perished in the dust that morning. 

However, I am relieved to report that the remaining Troopers are recovering under the watchful eye of our very own Sawbones, Doc Gregor. The remains of the grey invaders were inspected but quickly turned rancid and were burned for fear of unknown pestilence. The Kelly's have survived their wounds thus far and they moulder in the lock-up awaiting interrogation and trial.

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Notice:

A meeting of the Town Council held in the Opal Saloon shortly after these extraordinary events has called for a posse to be formed to search for the leader of the Grey invaders.
Volunteers of sound constitution and steady temperament are asked to gather tomorrow at dawn.

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Rules: Shootin Iron, from Dave Bezio's Grey Area Games

Miniatures:

• Grey Aliens by CP Models
• Troopers and Kelly Gang by Great Escape Games, Dead Man's Hand miniatures - 'State Police' and 'Kelly Gang' sets.
• People of Isolation Gulch variously by Artizan Designs Wild West range; Eureka Miniatures Pax Limpopo range; and, Shadowforge Wild West Women.

Terrain scratch built by author.

Sci-fi crystal outcrop scatter terrain (scratch built)

Rocky outcrops seem to be a staple piece of scatter terrain for all sorts of skirmish gaming. I've wanted to try may hand at crafting crystal terrain for sci-fi gaming and role playing for some time. I have never tried any sci-fi skirmish gaming so I though this might kick-start that with a bit of cool and adaptable terrain.

Here is a quick summary of the project!

The The base structure is built out of 30mm and 50mm XPS insulation foam from Kanuf. I used the 30mm for the base and (a combination of both for the crystals. 

The cutting was all done with a craft knife with a new blade so as to minimise tearing. The best result visually is achieved if you have an odd number of crystals per base and a range of sizes - I didn't always follow this rule, though! I used angled cuts with the knife to give texture to the edge of the base and to great some cracks in the crystals (see below). 

Then, I applied a stone-like texture to all the surfaces (before gluing) with a ball of aluminium foil. The crystals were hot glued to the foam base and in some cases I used a toothpick to help reinforce the join.

The whole piece is then coated with a sealing coat of Matte Mod Podge with black acrylic paint. The mix is roughly made up as follows: 4 parts Matte Mod Podge to 1 part black acrylic paint. The ratio is not critical - just use what looks good to you. I left these to dry completely. It looks glossier in the picture below that it does in reality.

The first top coat is a dry brush with Mont Marte Emerald Green for their Dimensions acrylic paint range. You can use any cheap paint you like but I did find this colour was particularly good for this project. I left a fair bit of the black undercoat showing through - especially in the thicker sections of the 'crystals' to create a sense of shadow and lower opacity.

Next, I applied a black wash to all the surfaces using a mix made up of approximately, 20 parts water, 1 part black paint, 1 part acrylic medium and 3-4 drops of dish washing detergent (see below). This must be allowed to dry completely.

Finally, I mixed about three lighter shades of the Emerald Green and blended them out towards the edge, leaving the centre pretty dark to give a sense of depth. The edges of the crystals were then picked out with white (especially where they intersect).

Here's a couple of shots of the final product with some Eureka Miniatures 1980s US minis in NBC gear (painted for post apocalyptic gaming).