More Wargames Atlantic giant spiders

About a year ago, I posted about the excellent Wargames Atlantic Classic Fantasy Giant Spiders. Back in January I decided that I really had to assemble and paint the rest of the box, and here are the results. I've taken two pictures of them. Firstly a simple shot showing the spiders against a plain backdrop and, when you scroll down a second picture set up as a small action diorama.

As you can see the six big spiders are absolutely huge posed with a Bad Squiddo Freyja's Wrath female Berserker (who I use as my Barbarian character for D&D). The smaller spider is the Barbarian's latest acquisition, Fluffy the giant wolf spider.

I wanted to use a simple but menacing dark palette for these spiders. After assembly, a tricky job,they were glued to 5cm MDF bases which were then covered with a mix of PVA glue and calcium sand (which is used in reptile vivariums). 

I undercoated the spiders in Halford's matt grey spray primer and, once dry, gave them a wash of Nuln Oil. Next I set about a series of dry-brushed layers in dark, medium and pale grey and then set them aside.  Once dry, I then finished off the spiders with a wash of diluted W&N Indian ink and, when that was dry, I picked out the fangs and eyes in a pale grey. The Indian ink had dripped down onto the bases, which was what I wanted and I finished the bases off with a simple wash of lightly diluted Agrax Earthshade

I should have made seven giant spiders and one large one, but somewhere over the last year, I seem to have lost the head/thorax part for one of the big guys, I might have to look at some kind of human/arachnid mutant at some point.

Anyway, as promised above, here is the diorama;

I'm pretty happy with this picture. I think it has come out really nicely.

The scene was set up in my lightbox, using a Jon Hodgson backdrop, a selection of my 3D printed ruins and a floor made from my Warbases dungeon tiles. I took several shots with aperture priority using different light intensities and different apertures, shooting at an exposure range between ISO 100 and ISO 800 with my Pentax K-70 DSLR. 

Moon Goddess statue

OK, this is my first attempt at a photo using a background from one of my new Jon Hodgson backdrop books.

I got two books via a Kickstarter; one is a fantasy set and the other is sci fi. Both are excellent. They are available from a few different places, including Bad Squiddo and Handiwork Games.The figure is from Bad Squiddo, but she isn't available in the Shop. Originally supposed to be Genepil, the last Queen of Mongolia. Annie designed her as part of the Bad Squiddo Community Miniatures project but later withdrew her as it turns out that the source for her was actually a photograph of an anonymous Mongolian noblewoman. So, she is never going to be available and is therefore rather exclusive.

I didn't need a mini of a Mongolian noblewoman but I definitely wanted to use the mini, so I decided to turn her into a statue. I put her on a resin plinth from Fenris Games and then added a couple of MDF squares to create a set of steps. I added some textures to show that the status is of great age, both ballast and, after painting areas of moss and lichens.

For the photo, I simply posed her on one of my Warbases pre-coloured dungeon tiles.

My idea was to create an arcane statue of a Moon Goddess, sheathed in precious metals and with a prominent silver crescent Moon on her headdress. I have slightly overexposed the image to make it look like she is being illuminated by the light of the full Moon. Below is an alternative shot, which was taken without any exposure compensation.

I like both photos, but I think that the brighter one suits the purpose of making her look like she is absorbing the power of moonlight.

Now, all I need is to work out a game setting where she might come in handy. She could definitely be the objective in a Back of Beyond Pulp game.

Carts!

I have had these two carts for ages. I bought them from Warbases at Colours back in 2019. I thought it was time to finish them off.

 

As you can see, one is a water cart and the other is for ammunition. As I said, I bought them from Warbases, who also provided the horses, but you need to buy them separately, they don't come as a kit. I've got another cart from Warbases somewhere, which I'll make sometime but I don't currently have any draft animals for it. The tufts are from Gamer's Grass and the base texturing is AK Terrains Dark Earth gunk.

I decided to make the bases look like a spot of rough going, because it adds interest, hence the luxuriant grass and foliage.

I've posed them with Austrian pioneers here, but they will be useful for lots of different 28mm armies. Ammunition and water carts are useful support options in Sharp Practice.

Four more swashbuckling Elizabethans.

 First, two swashbuckling young ladies;

I see the somewhat dishevelled young gentlewoman on the right as the sister of the dashing swordsman in black, here. The young lady with lilac hair and the blunderbuss is her companion. The Celtic Cross between them is a simple MDF kit from Warbases. It doesn't look much when it arrives, but once glued together and painted it comes alive rather nicely. I decided to give it an aged appearance, which will make it useful for all manner of settings.

   

To gain sufficient expertise and experience with a blade, a young lady needs an expert teacher, so here is her Fencing Master, accompanied on his left by his manservant, a rogue who carries out all manner of nefarious deeds for his master. The fencing master looks like a bit of a rogue himself. He's clearly someone with a chequered past. The pair must have spent some considerable time fighting in the wars in the Low Countries and the German lands, maybe even against the Turks in eastern Europe.

These figures are all, once again from the Foundry Seadogs and Swashbucklers range.

Annoyingly, the photo of these two shows up a couple of small errors, which I may have to correct at some point.

Overall, though, I am really enjoying working on these figures, which I will have completed before the end of next week, because I need to get the dining table cleared and ready for the seasonal festivities.

Hopefully, the end of wargaming painter's block

 Well, I finally finished off the last of my Roman auxiliary cavalry. There are seven figures in total.

Two groups of equites.

And to lead them, a second decurio.

To distinguish these riders from the other two groups, who have red or blue neckerchiefs, I have given these green ones. I have also used one of the heads on the sprue which is supposed to be for praetorian cavalry for the decurio, and why shouldn't I? I am sure that there was plenty of variation amongst the different cohorts and we know that there wasn't really as much standardisation as Hollywood, and many wargamers too, would have us believe.

Once again, these are all Victrix plastics, on Warbases oval bases and movement trays and the excellent tufts are from Gamer's Grass, which is stocked by Bad Squiddo Games.

I still have a few auxilia bodies left, and I'll probably use some to make up another deployment/ambush point, but I really need a break from Romans for the moment. I might do some recreational 15mm figures for a change. I have some 18th century impact cavalry to do for Syldavia and Borduria, or I might finally start doing something about my essentially pointless Volkssturm project for Germany in  late 1944 and 1945. At best, they will be a minor irritation to any British, American or, more likely Soviet opponents.

Another group of auxilia

I did a group without javelins, for variation, and I added in a couple of figures from the command sprue, based on the Cornicen and Signifer bodies.

I used the Imaginifer arm from the auxiliary cavalry set, because I thought it would make a nice variation to have an Imago for my cohort. I also gave the other body from the command sprue a gladius and a small parma shield (this is actually because I am running out of oval shields).

I have enough bodies left to make up another group and also another deployment point vignette. I shall have to stick these together and get them underoated.

Auxiliary archers

Another rush job! I need these for Sunday and only had them undercoated this morning.

These are from Aventine Miniatures, a company that I haven't bought anything from until now, but who are definitely on my radar now. The best thing about these figures is that they scale up well against the Victrix plastics that form the rest of my cohors equitata. They are also really nice sculpts and clean castings too. They were a joy to paint.

There is a decent amount of variation in the figures, some are in mail and others in scale armour and there are little details that make them all look a bit different from the next one along.

The last group of auxiliary infantry (for the moment)

The last group? Well, yes, because I need to get on with the cavalry for my cohors equitata.

Here they are, pretty much looking the same as their comrades I've already posted;

I don't really have anything new to say about them, because everything has already been said.

I am currently working on some auxiliary cavalry, once again Victrix plastic ones, and I need to get at least one group of six plus their Decurio finished before Sunday, because the Lincombe Barn Wargames Society is back in action and I have a game planned for the 26th. I want some hooves on the table as well as caligae.

Eight more auxiliaries

The strength of the Cohors Primus Syldaviorum Equitata Luperci grows as eight more recruits are mustered before their Praefectus.

As you can see, I am now able to put these on their movement sabots from Warbases. I decided to do all of these carrying their javelins, mainly because it means I don't have to take a scalpel to their scabbards!

Once again, these are all Victrix plastic auxilia and the shield transfers are made by LBMS, and can be purchased from the Victrix website too. 

I now only have  one more group of eight auxiliaries to finish off and then I can start on my cavalry, who are all primed ready for painting.

The final items for my FIW French

Here are the final pieces in my French and Indian War jigsaw puzzle. The wagon has been sitting around, half-finished for ages, mainly because I hadn't got round to undercoating the horses.

The wagon and horses are from Warbases, and the wagon is really a Gribeauval wagon limber, at least, that is what it said on the MDF sheet. However, I think it will be fine as a support option in lots of different guises, because I am not going to get all nitpicky about whether it is the right sort of wagon or not. Life is too short ..............

The figure with the barrel is a from a pack of Perry AWI metal civilians, so he fits in pretty well. I've painted him so that he looks like he might be a member of the French infantry without his uniform coat. The wagon and horses are from Warbases, who have some rather nice carts specifically for Sharp Practice that I will probably buy at some point. I've got another one of these wagons still not made up. I will probably modify it in some way and not use the cover.

Finally, here is the last part of my Régiment de Guyenne, a Colour Party. These are from the Warlord box set, including the flags, which are on the leaflet in the box. I've got a few figures left over, so I'll hang on to them in case I suddenly have a need for some more 18th century French characters.

So, I am now all ready for the monumental clash of French and British in the great North American wilderness at the end of january. 

Now, on to my next project, which I shall get started on next week, probably.

More from my French and Indian War project for Sharp Practice

I began this project towards the end of 2018, and I wrote about it here. Since then, with a few distractions onto other things, I've finally finished off the rest of my forces for the Sharp Practice day at Bristol Independent Gaming at the end of January.

Here are three groups of fusiliers from the Régiment de Guyenne, accompanied by a Senior Leader, Capitaine Philippe Au Brion (drawing his sword), a Junior Leader , Lieutenant Pierre Lardon (armed with a musket and a sword) and a Musician (drummer).

First, here they are in line, ready to fire;

And here they are in a marching column;

These are all Warlord 28mm metal figures, based on 25mm circular bases and mounted on Warbases movement trays. I chose to paint them in pale grey rather than pure white, because there was considerable variation in the actual colour of the cloth used for French uniforms in this period, and a pale grey-white seems entirely appropriate to me. Indeed, in many paintings you will see that the uniform coats were not actually pure white, and the terms "off-white" and "white-grey" are often used to describe the actual colour. I think that the cloth used was actually made from undyed wool, and you never see pure white sheep.

I am reasonably happy with how they have turned out, eventually, and I will explain why. Now, I don't like to say bad things about manufacturers generally, and this is really a rare gripe from me. However, I bought two boxes of these French infantry at Colours last year and while I have no issues at all with the sculpts, which are great, one box was considerably worse than the other one from a castings perspective. It wasn't just flash, the issue was quite large blobs of superfluous metal on a number of the figures, requiring a lot of work with a knife and a file to get the figures in a fit state to paint. In a couple of cases, the cleaning up was pretty extensive, requiring the use of metal snips to cut off the worst of the extra "growths".

Anyway, moan over. I still have a couple of odds and ends to finish off, including a Colour Party, which I hope to get finished next week.

Dice holders for recording unit shock

Ha! The above has to be one of the most dull titles I've ever written, but sometimes there isn't really an easier way of doing things.

There really isn't a great deal to be said here, but when I was at Colours recently, I picked up some little single and double dice holder cells from Warbases, my Go To people for all things MDF, plus some 7mm D6 to fit in the holders.

I now have 15 double cell and 15 single cell bases which I will be using to record Shock in my games of CoC, Sharp Practice and IABSM.

It was a simple job to glue these in place on some 25mm round bases (also from Warbases) with PVA glue, flock the bases and then give them a spray with varnish.

I've already used them, as shown in this post. This means I can stop using the little red plastic markers for Shock and can go back to using them for marking Pinned units and other unit statuses.

Colours 2018

So, last Saturday morning, up bright and early, fried egg sandwich and coffee for breakfast and then off up the M4 to Newbury for Colours.

The journey was uneventful and I got to the carpark with about 20 minutes to spare before the doors opened. Once inside, I made a beeline for the Bad Squiddo stand where I had a nice chat with Annie and Bruce, before picking up my pre-ordered Pulp Explorers and also some additions for my Swordmaidens.

After that, the world was my mollusc, but I knew that I needed to visit the Warlord stand early to buy stuff for a Sharp Practice FIW project I need to get finished before next January.

These will give me enough figures for three groups of skirmishers and at least three groups of line infantry, plus leaders, a musician (drummer) and a colour party. Any left over figures might end up as vignettes to be used as deployment points.

I also visited the Crooked Dice stand for some extra figures for two of my 7TV casts. Actually, I currently only have two casts, but I am planning a couple more, not sure what they will be yet, though.

I spent a lot of time wandering around, looking at the various stands and seeing what was available. Unfortunately, Wargames Foundry weren't at the show, so that meant I wasn't able to pick up any figures for a project I've had in my mind for ages now, so I won't go into that yet.

I did look at the range of 15mm figures and chat to a helpful chap on the Essex stand, which helped me to firm up ideas for an extra force for my 15mm Sharp Practice 18th century Syldavia and Borduria imagi-nations project. That is now looking like a distinct starter for 2019. I also had a helpful chat with a nice man on the Warbases stand about custom bases for my Sword and Spear 28mm Late Roman army, allowing me to reuse my Saga Romans on movement trays. While I was there, I also bought two carts and draft horses which will be useful for my 28mm Peninsular War Sharp Practice troops, together with some single and double dice frames and 7mm dice for shock recording (for both SP and CoC).

After that I visited the Coritani stand for more magnetic discs, some resin bits and textured paint. There is a nice 15mm gate and wall set, which will be useful for lots of things and a  couple of 28mm tree stumps which I think will make nice deployment point markers for Sharp Practice.

I bought two useful-looking MDF trays which fit inside Really Useful 4L boxes. I am hoping that these will make transporting my 15mm ACW and imaginations forces easier.

I couldn't go to Colours and not see Ground Zero Games. I've not really been doing a lot of 15mm Sci Fi stuff recently, but I've always like the Ixx figures, so I bought some, together with a few Darghaur. My plan here is another army for Alien Squad Leader, probably a Children Of The Gods one.

I am a big fan of the resin pieces made by The Square and these thatched buildings caught my eye. I can see them working for 15mm Sharp Practice, but also for CoC, especially Eastern Front. The oil drums piece is also going to be hugely useful for WW2 games.

Last, but most definitely not least, I bought this lovely collapsible dice tray from Saddle Goose Designs, which is run by Deborah, the wife of painting expert Matt Slade of Glenbrook Games.

It was nice to catch up with various people, Matt and Deborah, Jon Tuffley of GZG, Geoff of Ham and Jam, Annie and various others.

The club also had a presence at Colours, in the shape of Alex, Nick, Owen and Richard who were running a game of Alien Squad Leader, 100pts each of Human Cultists and Biker Gangs.

More Late Roman Archers

I've had a lot of Late Roman Gripping Beast plastics ready to paint for ages now, but I really needed a break from Romans, plus it was too hot to paint and I was also on holiday for a while. Anyway, I've completed all my remaining Late Roman archers, eight more designed as additions to my Saga warband, above and, below 16 archers based up ready to be used in Sword and Spear. Of course, I will be using all my Saga Romans for S&S too, I just need to buy a load of movement trays for them.

I am planning for my S&S army to be on 12 cm wide bases, mainly 6 cm deep, but deeper for cavalry, obviously. My idea is that foot units will be on 12 x 6 cm bases, which can be stacked one behind another to make up large units, with skirmishers also on 12 x 6 cm bases, but with only six figures per base. I am hoping that I can get Warbases to make these up as a special, together with a number of 12 x 6 cm bases with 4 rectangular 4 x 2 cm slots for cavalry. I need to ask about this, though.

Rebasing a Sci Fi army

Last year, I posted about my GZG sci fi armies that I was planning to use for Quadrant 13 games. Here is the piece I wrote about my Corporate Ashigaru army.

Anyway, no one at my club plays Q13 so this army, which I like a lot has been languishing away in a drawer, not being used. However, in the new version (so far unreleased) of Alien Squad Leader, written by the club's very own Alex Self, there is a new army list for "Far Eastern Corporate Mercenaries". "Bingo!" I thought. "Perhaps I can reuse my figures."

Of course, this meant a rebasing exercise, which I've been avoiding because it seemed like a lot of hassle. So far, so much Nothing Much Happening. Until now. 

Having been away on holiday, I didn't have any plans for games for the next few weeks but on Sunday, I arranged to play ASQL next Sunday. My original thought was to use my Human Imperial army again, a force I very much like, but the idea light bulb flickered into life and whispered "What about a Corporate Mercenary force?" in my ear. "After all, you've got the figures."

I couldn't see any compelling reason why not to do it, so I've been setting about the troops with a Stanley knife and deploying the Bostik, PVA glue, 5cm MDF bases from Warbases and the right basing material (crushed limestone grit designed for reptile tanks) and flock and getting an army ready to deploy on the table.

And here are the results. First are eight elements of Corporate Ashigaru (including two command stands). These are basic infantry compulsory choices.

Next are two Ashigaru Support elements with heavy weapons and two stands of Cyborg Guardians, who are classed as Robotic Infantry. I still have a couple of heavy weapons to be rebased at some point.

Next up are two Ground Attack Craft. I've decided that these GZG drones fit the bill perfectly.

Now four stands of Ninjas, elite infiltration infantry.

Next, some overkill. A total of seven stands of Samurai Stormtroopers wearing power armour. In the first picture they are acting as bodyguards for the Clan Commander character stand, and in the second one, they are led by a Sword Master power armoured character.

And finally, some vehicles; three Teishin AFVs and two Teishin APCs. Note that these models are hover vehicles, designated as Air-lifted Vehicles in the rules. This means that they have a reduced saving throw but they have other advantages, including the ability to cross certain types of terrain and rivers without penalty and they can also make pop-up attacks.

Of course, I have far too many elements for a 150pt game, even for a 200pt one, especially when in comes to power-armoured Samurai Stormtroopers, but has that ever stopped a wargamer before? I had a lot of power-armoured troops and I was reluctant to leave then in the drawer. What really makes me happy is that I can finally get to use these troops, the techno Ninjas in particular (they count as "stealthy" in the new ASQL rules) because they are terrific little figures. Well done Ground Zero Games for producing such excellent miniatures!

All I have to do now is stick some magnetic sheeting to the bases and I'll be ready to take on any opposition on the tabletop. There are a couple of other troop types in the army list, so I will definitely be doing some shopping at some future date to give me more options.

At last, the Bordurian cavalry arrives!

I finished these off last night. They were mostly complete, they just needed flocking and varnishing.

These are two groups of cavalry for my Sharp Practice Bordurians and are, once again Essex 15mm Prussians on Warbases movement trays.

First off, some fearsome Lancers from the Kashkaval Regiment. The lance is a traditional weapon for horsemen on the plains of Northern Borduria and there are three regiments of lancers in the Bordurian army. They all wear a traditional-style uniform. There is one group of eight lancers, plus two leaders and a trumpeter. In Sharp Practice, these are classed as Scouting Cavalry.

The trumpeter will probably serve as a Musician, according to the SP rules.

Next some more conventional types, a group of eight troopers, two leaders and a drummer from the Tchestikov Dragoons. I shall be using these as Impact Cavalry. Not sure what I'll do with the drummer, though.

Finally, I have painted up a few more infantry leaders.

The chap in white on the left will be a leader for a group or two of Freikorps Schtroumpf grenadiers when I get around to buying some. I've decided that Schtroumpf Grenadiers will have red turnbacks to indicate their elite status.

The one with his arms akimbo will be an engineering officer and I am sure that I'll find uses for the two on the right. I painted the guy with the sword as having red turnbacks, so he could end leading some infantry from a different regiment to the ones I've already painted.

That pretty much completes the first round of my Bordurians. So, with the Syldavians already done, all I've got left to do are a load of resin buildings from Hovels (I bought a complete Eastern European village set) and some ammunition and water wagons, six pack horses to form two mule trains and some labourers to serve as an engineering party (to be used by both sides), all from Magister Militum.

These are all going to have to wait for a while, though as I am off on two weeks holiday soon.

More Bordurian infantry

Now, to continue my imagi-nations project, I am returning again to Borduria and back to the core troops for my Sharp Practice force.

Having already shown you the Freikorps Schtroumpf, it is now time to look at some Bordurian line infantry. Here are three groups of eight infantrymen, one NCO, one officer and a colour party representing the Krupski Fusilier Regiment;

As I have already said, Prussian influences were strong in Borduria in the mid-18th century, and in 1745 the Autocrat decreed that all Bordurian, as opposed to foreign, line infantry would henceforth be designated as Fusiliers and would therefore wear a Prussian-style fusilier cap.

The standard uniform for Bordurian line infantry was decreed to be, in the regulations of 1740, as;

 "a mid-green coat with buff or red small clothes, coat linings and facings in the distinctive regimental colour, white gaiters and white belts. Those regiments designated as fusiliers should wear a fusilier cap in the regimental colour and with a brass front plate. Other regiments will wear a black hat, with a white trimmed edge.

Officers of the rank of Kapetan and above should wear the same coloured coats, with white small clothes, an orange sash and a black hat, trimmed white. Officers may wear black leather top boots at their discretion."

These are all, as usual Essex Miniatures 15mm figures on Warbases bases and movement trays.

There were no grenadier companies attached to Bordurian regiments, although some of the foreign regiments in Bordurian service did have grenadier companies. Bordurian grenadiers were organised into two separate regiments, the Schtropov and Zlinkov Regiments. Neither of these ever distinguished themselves in battle and both were disbanded in 1763, following the disastrous Poletje Strele War.

My Syldavian core infantry are now finished

Painting 40 15mm musketeers took longer than I thought it would, because I spent a fair bit of my time gardening over the last week, but finally they are finished.

And here they are, representing the musketeers of the Istow regiment;

These are all Essex figures, Austrian SYW ones. I used two drummers to fill up the spaces left by two figures that I painted separately as NCOs. I think that they look rather good and they add a bit of colour and contrast. I decided that drummers should wear uniforms in the Syldavian royal livery of yellow coats with the regimental facing colour of red and that their drums should be yellow and black.

They are based on 1.5cm MDF bases and grouped on movement trays, all from Warbases.

Together with the grenadiers, officers, NCOs and colour party I've already done, this is the core of my Syldavian army for my Sharp Practice imagi-nations project.

Now I have to get started on some light troops, cavalry and artillery. Then, after that, on to the Bordurians.