Friday 29 September 2017

ADG - Setting up the Minoan camp.

Having previously posted work-in-progress shots of my Minoan camp for L'Art de la Guerre (part 1 and part 2), I can now show off the final stages and the completion of this mini-project. I really should get on the purchasing and painting some of the army to go with it...

When the 60x40mm bases arrived, the painted and unpainted elements were placed out and shuffled around a bit until they looked 'right'. You can see the pencil line of the water edge along the back. I wanted to have a truncated beach on the base, but didn't want water along the entire edge because we rarely have water features on out tables. The overall camp will have an 80x60mm footprint.

The water edge was scraped away with a hobbie knife and a beach area of sand was applied along the back edge of the camp. All unpainted elements were blued down. 
The previously painted elements were removed, the remainder was then undercoated, base painted and the 3D elements (sacks of stuff, figures etc) were painted and given a brown wash. The beach was painted and a clever system of fading blue water into yellow sand was developed. I won't go into it in any detail, because it didn't really work. You can see in this shot that the first layer of PVA glue was added and allowed to dry at this stage to start building up the water. The pre-painted elements were now glued back onto the base.

My regular basing sand was then added to the rest of the base and some haphazard highlighting done. The only thing left to do at that stage was adding flock. Te final results can be seen below.






Wednesday 27 September 2017

Are you not entertained...? BSC at Hetairoi Wargames


Over at Hetairoi Wargames, Edu is running a series of interactive gladiator games using Blood Sweat and Cheers. There will be a number of fights played with the results posted on his blog. He is giving readers a theoretical pot of coins to place bets against each of the fights, and will award prizes (sponsored by Ganesha Games) to the people with the most success at the end of the games.

Do have a look <HERE> and please do get in involved when the games are ready to go.

Sunday 24 September 2017

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Slowly, the Minoan camp comes together

This is just a quick work-in-progress shot of the elements of my Minoan camp that I have so far. I am still waiting on my Rapier order (not the first time I've written that!), so I have just been working off what I have already had floating around in my bits box. Some thoughts, and the first phase of the camp creation was posted HERE.

I have tried to stick to my chosen colour themes of blue, yellow and white, and have repeated a couple of motifs (the wave and the double axe) to try to bring the disparate bits and pieces together. The double axe (labrys) was probably a religious symbol on Bronze Age Crete, as it later remained throughout the Greek world, Anatolia, parts of the Middle East and Rome. I have a neat little 6mm barbarian wearing a loin cloth and holding a double axe from Perfect Six Miniatures who will eventually be mounted in a Rapier chariot as my C-in-C.

In the meantime, here is my Myrmidon/Cycladic Islander unreliable sub-general. While the main army is blue and yellow, this command will be black and orange. All figures are Rapier: both chariots and the drivers are Mycenaean, the armoured general is a Seleukid/Perisan scythed charioteer, his companion in the other chariot is a Sea Peoples ox wagon driver. I will be using Sea Peoples for all the infantry in that little command as well.

Saturday 16 September 2017

Palaeo Diet - the smorgasbord of options

There are is now a veritable hunter-gatherer's smorgasbord of options for buying Palaeo Diet: Eat or Be Eaten

A digital copy of the rules are now available from Ganesha Games or Wargame Vault. A hard copy, full colour, paperback can be found at Amazon (UKUSAGermany etc), or from Lulu


Mycenaean/Minoan Camp for ADG

"Far apart from the battle were their ships drawn up on the shore of the grey sea; for these had they drawn up to land in the foremost row, but had built the wall close to the hindmost."

Thus spake Homer (Iliad 14.30 ff.) of the Achaean camp at Troy. You might never have guessed it from my last post, but I have come to the realisation that my next project will be to build a 6mm Mycenaean army for L'Art de la Guerre. I once owned the same army in 15mm for DBA (v.1 or 2), but it was sold off in the dark teenage days when I turned my back on gaming. Back then I ran my army as Bronze Age Cretans or Minoans. I am looking to do the same this time, with a potent mix of heavy chariots, heavy spear and light archers (all to be bought, ultimately, from Rapier).

However, I've been pondering the problem of my camp. What makes a Minoan camp? Obviously, we just don't know, but Homer can perhaps add some inspiration. The Minoans were a mercantile culture with far-reaching trade links in all directions. They clearly had significant cultural influence over the Cyclades which may also have been (probably was?) political in nature. They certainly had a fleet of vessels which could transport them across the Aegean/Mediterranean.

The so-called House of the Admiral at Akrotiri, Thera, was decorated with some splendid frescos which, among other contemporary representations, give us a fair idea of what Bronze Age Aegean vessels looked like. So what about having a beached galley as part of my camp? It makes sense - on the assumption that the sea is somewhere nearby, off table of course.

Unfortunately, no one actually makes a 1/300 scale (6mm) Aegean galley. After a fairly extensive search and considering all sorts of different scale possibilities, I've decided to try and make one myself ... and so started my fourth and most testing Milliput experiment so far. I can't say I was 100% successful, but I think it will do the job.

Starting with a 6mm Grumpy Chinese junk (a spare from my Galleys & Galleons VOC fleet, lower right HERE), I attacked it with my new and very sharp stanley knife. The junk has a square bow and stern, so these both had to be carved away to better reflect the graceful curves on Aegean ships. as my G&G fleets are 1/450 scale, I have always removed the Grumpy crew figure. Now that I am using it as a 6mm vessel, I was happy to leave him in.

Stiff card was cut to form the skeletal bow and stern projections.

Which were then fleshed out with Milliput. Some of the vessels depicted in the House of the Admiral have animal figures projecting from behind the covered cabin/tent. I didn't have any appropriate animals, but I did have a spare 6mm harpy from Rapier Miniatures. As this will be a beached vessel in the process of being unloaded, I also put a couple of piles of sacks from Perfect Six Miniatures. There will be more of these on the base itself, around the foot of the gangplank. 

While I had the Milliput out, I also converted a Baccus civilian to give her the flounced skirt of an Aegean lady. I also trimmed back her veil and added a ponytail, and accentuated her breasts. It doesn't look much now - especially not zoomed in this much! - but I think she will work once painted.


 After the Milliput dried, I went over it with a blade, smoothing out the hull and trying to capture all those graceful lines. 

Again, I'm not sure that I have nailed it, but I think the model now approximates the idea and I am happy that she is close enough to suit my needs.

I have also tried to Bronze-Age-up a spare medieval tent from Levan miniatures. My army is going to have a blue and yellow theme, so I've replicated that on the tent, and tried to also keep to the maritime theme with a swirly sea motif. Again, not perfect, but then, neither am I.😏


Friday 15 September 2017

Painting inspiration

I'll just leave these pictures* here. Oh, and also this useful link HERE.
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*All lifted from the web - I make no claim to ownership or copyright.