Dollar Store 3D Landmarks - Completed

Well I spent an hour or so last night putting together the 3D puzzles from the dollar store (see previous post) that I wanted for my own kaiju gaming:

They went together pretty well, except for the Petronas Twin Towers, which are going to require some gluing because of the way they are packaged (the tall towers are folded in half in the packaging and come out...a bit limp).

The rest work, most are closer to 1/1200or smaller (way smaller in the case of Petronas and the other tower), but a couple are probably near spot-on 1/600 (or 3mm).

So I got 10 models out of the deal, my nephew will get 10 for his gaming.

Dollar Store Find - Cheap 3D Landmarks

I was in a local dollar store (Dollarama in Canada) searching for some cheap plastic hand soap dishes to use as the top cover for an underground giant monster prison (that makes perfect sense to me!), when I came across a rack of cheap (pack of 2 for $1) 3D puzzles of famous landmarks.  I bought them all - really, every one, even the doubles - right away!

Here they are spread out:

It's hard to tell what scale they are until I put them together, but I'm guessing most range somewhere along the 1/300 (6mm) to 1/600 (3mm) to 1/900-1/1200 (2mm/aeronef) continuum, though the windmill seems like it may be large.

They are definitely at the low-end of the 3D puzzle (never mind wargames terrain) quality scale, but I see two uses for them;

1) A quick and dirty way to add a landmark to a city for kaiju (giant monster) gaming.  I have Tokyo, New York, Toronto, and a generic Monster City layouts in development using higher end 3D puzzles and other trinkets as landmarks and cardstock buildings for the rest, but by dropping one of these on a table with some generic buildings gives me Moscow, Barcelona, Istanbul, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, etc.  Great for a worldwide kaiju campaign (or recreating Destroy All Monsters or Final Wars)!

2) Giving away to my nephew for his kaiju gaming/playing.  He has a city board I made of foamboard and spare foam cutouts, and now I'll give him whatever doesn't work for me (he's scale immune - action figures and 3" Godzillas on the same table are fair game) and all of the doubles I picked up.

And ironically, I couldn't find the soap dishes!  I did find some crystalline space monsters and a space station disguised as Xmas decorations though, as well as the big find above.

FYI, there isn't any brand name on the puzzles, just Made in China and $1!

Let's Walla-Walla Down By The Rubber Trees

Thanks to the movie Meatballs for the title.  This is way late, but here's how I am putting together some rubber trees for rubber plantations in 3mm Vietnam-land.  They'll also work for peach orchards and the like in Terrible Sharp Sword (ACW) and Sharp Practice (Nap) games.

First up is the parts - dollar store (on left) and craft store (on right) mini pom-poms, the cheap dollar store ones are actually better in the long run - easier to paint and some of the colours can be used without any painting.  I also use 13mm pins, inserted through the pom-poms, as in the three examples out of the bag in the pic, and some craft store wood sticks.  I used an awl to poke some holes in the wood sticks, for sticking in the trees later.

As I said, some of the pom-poms didn't need any paint touch ups, but a lot did, so I used some basic green craft paint (Hunter Green) to touch them up.  The pic below isn't the finished pick, but "in progress".  The pom-poms absorb a lot of paint, so it's a bit of a bugger, but it worked in the end.

Below are pics of the trees once I glued them into the craft sticks.  There isn't much depth to the holes, so it took a bit of work, but it came together.  Now I just need to add sand and paint the sticks, and the trunks.

Where'd that miniature go?

Sometimes I wonder if all the project planning I do is actually any more productive than just throwing darts at a the order form. After my initial trial order for my 2mm India project, I followed up late last year with an order that I thought was filling in the gaps for the project, at least to the point where I'd have a few of everything. I might still be short the numbers I'd need for Panipat or some other large battle, but I'd at least have everything started.

Yet after spending July dutifully cleaning my 2mm and 15mm India figures and putting them back away in sorted boxes, I've spent the last few nights basing everything for 2mm. Except...I'm still missing entire unit types!

I've gone through my ACW, ECW, and fantasy 2mm boxes, and they aren't hiding there (although I did steal some more ABG-6 figures from the fantasy box and all the BG-18s from the 19C China box).

How'd I do that? My sheet of units clearly shows I needed some ABG-3s...but nothing. I'm short BG-2s as well - and I even had the bases for them sitting there for a year, waiting the figures, so how could I have NOT ordered enough of them? I knew I needed some ABG-4 and ABG-8s too...and zip.

The only good thing out of this is at least I did order all the replacement elephants I needed for the fantasy project; I raided it last year for the Hathnal units at Plassey.

New 2mm Goodies from Irregular

It's been a good few months for 2mm fans, with Irregular's earlier release of horse and musket columns, and flagless versions of their H&M line troops. Now they've released some cool new terrain bits for us, which I'll be using for some 2mm fantasy and 18C India, and probably in other projects too.

I've liberated this pics from Irregular's page, since their frames won't let me link to them directly. Town (or large castle) walls:

Vauban style town walls and bits:

Modern buildings, although in this case that really means for any time in the 20th century and beyond. Some may even work for the 19th century, if you paint them in suitably Victorian industrial colours.

Istanbul Wannabe WIP

Here are some shots of my first VSF (Aeronef) city, something vaguely Ottoman-ish, or at least eastern Mediterranean. This first shot is after the walls, palace, and a few key buildings around the square went up:

The last two are after some more work - turns out I need a lot more sprue cut-offs than I thought to fill it!

Sensodyne Tragedy!

One day after posting about the usefulness of Sensodyne toothpaste caps for 2 and 3mm terrain, I pick up a few tubes on sale, only to find they've changed the cap!  It's still the same shape and dimensions, but the 6 sets of vertical ribbing around the sides are gone, it's completely smooth.  It might now serve as oil tanks for targets for air gaming, but they aren't neo-classical buildings any more. 

Just used 3 of the old ones on New London, better make my supply last!

6mm Dollar Store Finds & 2mm Cities

Here are some more photos of what I've been up to. First we have four scenic pieces I found in the pet supply section of a Dollar store (Pound store for my UK friends):


Most of these will be for 6mm, but I think the bridge/tower combo might be better as 2mm, or could be used for both. The bit under the bridge is kinda dumb, to lay down a river beneath it will mean the river goes up and down a hump. I'm also thinking I should buy a second Aztec temple and spray paint it a sandy colour to use for 10mm Africa. I may even just do it for this one - since I don't have a single Aztec or Aztec-like fantasy culture in my plans! (well, maybe Warhammer's lizardmen)


Based on an idea I saw on The Miniatures Page, I've started putting together some 6mm sci-fi city buildings from cheap trophy stands available from a local craft superstore (Michael's). I've glued the matching pieces together, I just have to sand them, then glue them together as towers. I noticed last night the craft store has different shapes available now, but I'll wait for their next 25% off everything coupon before I buy more.


I'm also working on some 2mm cities to use either as representational scenics for Aeronef (based on CDs) or as edge-of-the-table pieces for Land Ironclads, Kull, Imaro, and my 18th/19th century historical projects. The latter aren't meant to be fought on, rather as the obejctive behind a defender.  I'm basing them on 2 12"x6" flooring tiles, and they're meant to be a bit closer to true 2mm scale than those on the CDs, which will be more like 0.5mm.

For the CD-cities, I'm doing several for my take on Victorian Venus (basically Space 1889's Mars), Ottoman-esque, and a generally European city or two (should work for North America as well). I may do an Aeronef NY, but bigger and on a tile, using my mini Statue of Liberty. For the bigger 2mm cities, I'm doing a bigger version of a Venuvian city, Victorian Mars (Wells' idea of Mars), a general European one, 18th century India, Valusia (Kull), one of the Giant-Kings' cities (also Kull), and an African-esque city (Imaro).

Then as a special project, I'm doing a "New London", aka Sky City, for Aeronef. Here are some early shots of the basics. Each CD is supported on a heavy bolt, glued to the cap of a toothpaste tube (Sensodyne makes great caps for 2mm scenics), which in turn is glued to the centre of the CD. The three CD's were then joined with popsicle/craft sticks underneath, which will be painted as monstrous girders.


One CD will be the industrical area, one the rich/administrative area with parks and the like, and the other the main city. I have anchors planned, as well as bridges, a telegraph line cable, aeronef docking and repair stations, factories, skyscrapers, etc.

In my universe, it will roam the Atlantic, as sort of a floating place of business for the British Empire (also a backup capital, if the Germans/French/Russians/Turks invade England!).  To defend itself, I'll be picking up some British turrets from Brigade this summer.

New Dossouye Novel by Charles Saunders

The next installment in the adventures of Dossouye, that war-bull riding heroine of Charles Saunders, is now available at Lulu. This is a full novel, rather than the collection of short stories of the first installment (also available at Lulu).

Here's the sweet cover art:Although technically her world is different than Imaro's, I'm going by the 1970's map and keeping them together for my 2mm and 10mm fantasy Africa projects. 2mm is my mass battles project using Advanced Legendary Battles, 10mm is my skirmish project using Eureka's cool figures (including war-bulls!). I just need Eureka to come up with more stuff (rhino riders, etc.).

I ordered my copy of Dossouye II last week, it should be here today or tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think. Charles' website is: here

Star Wars Timeline

There's been a lot of discussion about Star Wars, where Lucas went wrong (if anywhere), and how people game the setting. From past posts it's obvious I love Star Wars and have plans to game it in 2mm (big battles), 28mm (skirmish), and fighter-scale and fleet-scale space battles.

However, I am a fan chiefly (essentially exclusively) of the original trilogy and assorted fluff that came out from that, up to and including Timothy Zahn's sequel trilogy (which chould have been filmed, if anything, as episodes 7-9) and some of Michael Stackpole's Rogue and Wraith Squadron series.

The prequel trilogy just had too much wrong with it, both from a movie-making point of view - I still can't figure out some of the plots going on - and from a backwards continuity point of view. Anakin Skywalker was too young, the Clone Wars would have been AGAINST the clones (not with), and there's no way Anakin/Vader had an idea he had twins, much less had a past on Tattoine.

So working with the canon timeline as a starting point, I've written my own timeline and incorporated it into my rules conversions, just as a refresher as to what's going on. I will even do some gaming in pre-Episode IV periods, but according to my feelings for what was going on.

So, for what it's worth, here's my history, starting with the birth of Chewbacca. BE = Before Empire, NO = New Order (Empire's founding), BBY = Before the Battle of Yavin (= 19 years, 4 months after Empire founded), where a number follows a slash, that is the month of that year.

181 BE – Chewbacca born on Kashyyyk.

55 BE – Palpatine born on Naboo.

52 BE – Obi Wan Kenobi born (71 BBY).

50 BE – Palpatine joins the Jedi Order as a padawan apprentice.
50 BE – The Old Republic has become stagnant, complacent, even corrupt. The reputation of the Jedi has become tainted by their association with politicians and politics.

48 BE – Obi Wan Kenobi joins the Jedi.

37 BE – Anakin Skywalker born (56 BBY).

32 BE – Major advances in cloning made, initially can grow adult clones in two years, later (by start of clone wars) this increases to 6 weeks. Initial successes tempered by instability in the clones, either physiological or psychological. Some improvements made, by never entirely eliminated.

30 BE – Palpatine elected Sectorial Senator, representing many systems, and resigns from the Jedi Order, discovers secrets of the Sith and begins to explore the Dark Side of the Force and restoring the Sith cult. He later uses the cover of Darth Sidious in some of his clandestine meetings, but he is not a true Sith Lord, preferring his own path to power.

28 BE – Anakin Skywalker is discovered by Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, who recognizes his strength in the force. Over the opposition of the Jedi Council, including Yoda, he becomes Jinn’s padawan. The other Jedi warn that Anakin is too emotional, too temperamental, despite his great power with the Force, to be a Jedi. When Jinn is killed shortly thereafter, Kenobi takes over as Skywalker’s master.

26 BE – First mass-cloning facilities built, intended to create soldiers for the Old Republic, reducing the need for citizens to serve. First military units available shortly thereafter. Templates for clones taken from existing Old Republic soldiers and officers, as well as mercenaries (Mandalorians) and bounty hunters.

24 BE – Palpatine takes Darth Maul as his apprentice in the Sith.

23 BE – First coup attempt by a Republican general empowered by his massive number of available clones. Coup is stopped by the Jedi, but this unleashes the clones themselves, now self-lead and rebelling all over the Old Republic – the start of the Clone Wars. The clones are able to reproduce and reinforce themselves quickly, having first secured all major cloning facilities. The clones regularly commit atrocities, from massive orbital bombardment to death squads, as their mental instability dominates their behaviour. Palpatine covertly aids the clones, hoping to eventually step in and gain control of them. Their souless-ness however, hinders his ability to control them with the Force and he does not overplay his hand.

21 BE – Senator Palpatine is elected Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

19 BE – Obi Wan Kenobi is made a General in the Old Republic (Grand Army of the Republic). He and Anakin Skywalker serve together.

17 BE – Clone Wars end with the victory of a much-weakened Old Republic (36 BBY). All clone vats and clones themselves destroyed, but both individuals and facilities do escape.
17 - 0 BE – Fall of the Old Republic (36-19 BBY) as a weakened Jedi Order and Republican Senate has difficulty controlling the outer fringes of the Republic as well as internal power-plays by worlds and corporations. Violence, trade disputes, political deadlocks all follow. Later in the period, the Jedi are increasingly discredited through a propaganda campaign orchestrated by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The order starts to fall apart, with fewer recruits, fewer resources, increasing “disappearances” and other losses to its membership. It is, however, still a force to be reckoned with.
17 BE – Anakin Skywalker first approached by Palpatine and given hints as to where teachings on the dark path to greater power could be found.

16 BE – Han Solo born on Corellia.

0 BE – Skywalker twins are born after Queen Amidala is spirited away from Anakin Skywalker by Obi Wan Kenobi and those loyal to the Old Republic. Amidala is hidden within the Royal Household of Alderaan, in Bail Organa’s family’s service as a nursemaid and servant (tutor). The daughter is kept as Bail Organa’s “daughter”, the son is taken by Kenobi back to Tattoine to be raised by Owen and Beru Lars; Owen Lars is a cousin of Anakin Skywalker. Kenobi stays nearby to protect the son, but Lars’ isolation as a farmer works well. Anakin was only vaguely aware his wife was pregnant, as he was busy serving Senator Palpatine and saw her only rarely. She had also concealed she was pregnant with twins.
0 BE – Anakin Skywalker finishes his fall, becomes Darth Vader after he and Obi Wan Kenobi battle at Mustafar and he is thrown into the lava pits. The massive damage he sustains leaves him dependent on his protective armor and life-support, and limits his powers in the Force.
0 BE – Empire declared, with Palpatine becoming Emperor, now year 1 of the New Order (NO). Emperor makes Darth Vader the Dark Lord of the Sith, his special agent to deal with the Jedi and ensure the security of the state. Palpatine renames the Senate as the Imperial Senate, with limited power and controls.

1 - 10 NO – The Jedi Purge, orchestrated by Emperor Palpatine, conducted by Vader and Imperial forces under his control.
1 NO – Queen Amidala, living under the name Padme, dies on Alderaan.

2 NO – Stormtroopers, using armor based on those of the clones during the Clone Wars, appear as the new standard line unit in the Empire.
2 NO – Eye of Palpatine station begun, later destroyed.

7 NO – Ghorman massacre, Captain Tarkin promoted to Moff as a result.

11 NO – Darth Vader finally has time to search for his lost child (not realizing there were twins), finds no trace and dismisses the search.
11 NO – Death Star design work begins, Grand Moff Tarkin in command.

16 NO – ISD design finalized, orders begun.
16 NO – Death Star design finalized, completed prototype components joined, construction of remaining sections begun.

17/6 NO – Corellian Treaty signed, Rebel Alliance is formed, first HQ is on Chrellis.
17/6 NO – Mon Calamari ships ordered to be constructed in secret for the rebels.
17/8 NO – X-Wing plans stolen by fleeing design engineers, turned over to rebels.
17/9 NO – Construction of first SSD’s begun.

18/4 – Rebel HQ moves to Orion IV, then begins moving every 6 weeks or so, until it ends up on Dantooine.
18/6 NO – First ISD’s received and operational by the Imperial Navy.
18/7 NO – First X-Wing fighters completed by rebels.
18/10 NO – Death Star plans stolen.
18/12 NO – Death Star plans uploaded to consular ship Tantive IV by rebel spies.

19/1 NO – Princess Leia and Tantive IV captured by Darth Vader; he reports it destroyed with all hands lost.

Still Here

Have a longer, themed post to do next, but wanted to actually talk about miniatures before I put it up. The last month has been busy with work, weekends away and women. Well, one. So there was a pause, but some figure prepping was done (despite being against my resolutions for 2011) and the last two nights saw some actual painting done. The 2mm Star Wars stuff was painted to a point where I could safely pause, and then I got onto a priority - practicing my 25/28mm painting so I'll be in shape to do some Xmas gifts.

I am also working to cross everything off a list I prepared of all the half-started or nearly finished projects lying around. I want to get them done before anything new begins...

A Tale of Two Parcels

So back in early September I sent in a large-ish order to Irregular, mainly for some 6mm fantasy armies, assorted 6mm extras, and 2mm terrain. It was large-ish enough that even with international surface shipping (20%) I was paying $50 shipping or so.

Normally it's about a 3 week turnaround to mail in the order and get it from Irregular, but this was a large order and it was surface shipping, so I didn't fret as mid-October rolled around.

Then last Wednesday (19th) I get a parcel from Irregular with the interesting additional label supplied by somebody (Royal Post) I presume, reading "Mis-sent to Australia". Australia!?! The label rather clearly says "Canada", how'd anyone miss by two continents?

Upon opening the package, I see a note from Ian that my order was coming in two parcels. So, hmmm, this one went from the UK to Australia back to the UK then to Canada, and it's here first? The shipping stamp said it was sent Sept. 19th, so it spent on a month on its world travels, but now I'm worried about the other half of the order.

Did it go to Australia too? Did it go even further? Antarctica? Mars? Or did it just get an everyday sort of lost?

I was going to give it a few more days, probably till the end of this week, before I checked in with Irregular. Then this morning I check the front door before work, as parcels often arrive before 9, and nothing's in between the doors. I open the outer door, as sometimes in their infinite wisdom the mailmen leave the parcel sitting in the open on the porch, but there's nothing there.

Then I notice my blue recycling bin is sitting about a foot away from the wall, and somethings behind it. Lo and behold it's Parcel #2. But I just had the blue bin out Monday night for recycling, putting it back on the porch last night (Tuesday) after getting back home from work, and I swear nothing was there then. So it must have been delivered this morning and the mailman decided to really mess with me and hid it behind the blue bin.

I don't think there's a moral here, though I am happy to have my package. But 5 weeks to get here and the mailman has to hide it on me? As the kids say, "What up with that?"

2mm Star Wars Works in Progress

I've shown off some pictures before of my 2mm Star Wars project as I've been working on painting the bases. I'm still working on the green bases (for temperate worlds), and a few test runs of the snow bases, and to keep my enthusiasm up, I've dabbled with painting some of the figures themselves, "as pilot projects" mind you.

Here are some of the works in progress. The bases aren't finished, and I'm not entirely happy with the texture of some of them, but like I said, I needed a break from two weeks of painting one shade of green and one shade of white!

The Rebels at least have the sense to camouflage their speeders on temperate worlds. I still have to do the detailing - cockpit, blasters, engines, but the camo's done, just a simple two-greens scheme.

The Stormtroopers of course just challenge you to shoot them, in the "we're so dangerous we make it easy to see us, fool" school of camouflage (c.f. Cylons). Besides tidying up the bases, I need to add a simple black line to show where the rifles are. It's actually easier to see where the rifles are supposed to be after the wash (black) and drybrush (white); before I couldn't even figure out where the front of the base was.


Gaming distance shot:
The AT-ST's also don't believe in camo. I've painted these a lighter shade of gray than the snow AT-AT's and AT-ST's, as you'll see below. I thought it contrasted better. Still need to detail these:
And the snow walkers:The base coat needs another application, then I can get into detailing and drybrushing.

I think I'm almost out of the green phase other than touch-ups, just a bunch more of the Hoth units and then I can paint the figures en masse (unless I get distracted...).

On the Table(s)

Right now projects are spread out over three different tables, and I'm trying to clear off at least two of them to get my efforts in synch, rather than the usual "start something, get distracted, leave it on the table for four months".

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them, as usual.

Of course, yesterday my Brigade Models UK parcel arrived after their Land Ironclads and Aeronef sale, so I promptly used some of the new big textured bases I got to mount some of my 2mm alien army:Some are purchased shells from the dollar store (have a bunch more for terrain) while the various snails are from a local beach. I've turned the bigger snails 90 degrees so they have an obvious front.

I'm not sure what these aliens will be in my VSF world, they don't really fit into my Wells+Space 1889 visions of Mars and Venus. Maybe from outside the solar system, maybe the wildlife of Mars, maybe Martian bio-units. I'm going to try painting a hole underneath some of the snails so they'll look like they're worms emerging from the ground.

I've finally gotten some progress on various wooden birdhouses and Creatology puzzle that I'm converting for various uses. The two on the left will be Tudor-esque, the one of the right more of a North American wooden construction. Two got fancy roofs, the leftmost will just be painted up.


Some 2mm forts and castles. Front and back are for India, in the middle is a Vauban fort for 18th century Europe.
Star Wars + 18th Century India here!To the left are some Indian units I'm painting up the bases for. Snowspeeders are in the background. The AT-AT's (and one AT-ST) are for Hoth, so I'm trying for an ice planet paint job by going white, then blue wash, then white wetbrush. I've gotten through two out of three...

More Star Wars 2mm in progress. These are the green world forces (sand world and ice world are the other two) for both Rebels and Imperials. You can also see in the background a Roland two-seater I'm working on for WWI.

English Civil War in 2mm Plans

For the past while I've been planning to get into the English Civil War in 2mm, and landed on the Polemos rules, although I'm keeping some options open to use others. After doing a "buy one of everything in the Renaissance range" order from Irregular last spring, here's what I landed on for 2mm figures. All go onto 40x20 (inf. and cav.) or 20x20 (command, artillery) bases.

Shot: 3 x BG31
Shot Heavy: 3 x RBG-3
Mixed: 2 x RBG-6
Pike Heavy: 2 x RBG-9A + 2 or 3 RBG-12 + 2 x RBG-11
Pike: 3 x RBG-9
Cavalry (Swedish): 2 x 2 x RBG-16/18
Cavalry (Dutch): 3 x 2 x RBG-17/19
Cuirassiers: 4 x BG-11
Scots Lancers: 4 x BG-10
Mounted Dragoons: 4 x RBG-22
Dismounted Dragoons: 3-6 x RBG-11 + RBG-35
Artillery: 2 x RBG-29 or 30 (if needed, limbers of BG-25/26)
Commanders: RBG-24 and/or 25
Clubmen and Levies: BG-23
Irish: RBG-11 + BG-3 + BG-23
Highlanders: BG-3 and 23
Scottish Archers: ABG-12
Scottish Horse: BG-11
Frame Guns and Very Light Guns: 2 x RBG-26

Now for another order to Irregular! I'll start with some basic forces for each side, rather than jumping into one of the bigger battles. So 30 cavalry and 30 infantry bases per side, plus artillery, commanders and a few odd units. The Scots Royalist and Covenanter forces will have to be a future effort.

Yay Pictures!

I finally took some pictures of what's on the painting table, as I've again skipped resuming work on my 3mm Vietnam project in favour of more scenics and terrain. As always, you can click on the photos for a larger image.

First up is an overview of 2mm and 3mm scenics, the 2mm bits in front are being prepped for SYW India in the northwest frontier (or double duty in the Middle East), and the 3mm pieces at the back are for Middle East tank battles.The 2mm pieces are from left to right: Irregular's castle, being done Crusader castle or Afghan fort style; Middle East town; Middle East village. The 3mm bits are the resin buildings by a company I can't remember (and is out of business) available from Picoarmor (NOT the SPC Wargames Scenery stuff). They aren't very good, but servicable for a battle-scarred landscape. I have some of their Vietnam boats and F-106 (or was it the 102), and the resin is pretty poorly cast, with lots of work needed. Picoarmor was good with this though, and some items were so bad they eventually refused to sell them when they couldn't get good casts.

Everything has been given a couple coats for the "sand" and at least one coat for the roads and town centres. The sand will be drybrushed later with the lighter coat used for the roads. I've also given the windows a quick hit with grey so I remember where they are once I start painting the buildings.

Here's another view of the 3mm pieces:
And here are some bridges from SPC Wargames Scenery (or whatever they call themselves now, they used to be Simply 6):I'm not quite happy yet with the paler grey used to paint the tops of the railings, I need to darken that a bit. The road on the grey bridge got a bit messed up when i tried a wash, so it needs some help too. The red brick bridge will be for 3mm ACW, the other one will be for ACW or Europe, as needed.

In the background you can see my first 2mm castle, still awaiting final touches. I have a third, to be painted in an Indian Red Fort of Agra style. I also have a couple of Irregular's Vauban fortresses mounted and primed, one to be done for India (red stone), the other for Europe (grey stone). You can see one of them in the back right in the first picture above.

The church on the left you've seen before, but it's now done. It's shiny because it's had a coat of Future Floor Polish, but not Dullcote yet.The ruins are a work in progress still, hence why the church hasn't had a final Dullcoting. I have a bunch more individual ruins or intact houses primed, they're just awaiting space on the table.

And finally for today, some Afghan mercenaries for my 2mm SYW in India project (seen the last time I posted pictures). They've had the sand coat, and are awaiting dirt and grass.

With Clive in India in 2mm

As mentioned in my "Hmmm" post, I've been working on a 2mm SYW in India project. Actually I think I've been mentioning it for a while! I have been processing my first batch of figures recently, and have most of them mounted. It's amazing how I'm managing to not order enough of so many things - battalion guns, organ guns, brigade and wing commanders, etc. but I'm happy with the progress so far:

Some of the native units - mobs of paiks (melee-only levies) in the front, Afghan mercenaries (mounted and foot) in the middle, and Arab camelry (dismounted and mounted) in the rear.

Native artillery in various varieties - platform guns (heavies) in the front left (see below), the princes' super-heavy guns ("Moghul Monsters") in the left-rear, backed up a heavy gun in a redoubt. In the front right, with two elephants for their limbers, are everyday heavy guns, and back-right are field guns, with a variety of limber combinations - elephants, elephant+caissons, elephant+2 caissons, elephant+field of rock

A close-up of the platform guns (heavies). The "horses" will be painted as oxen (as I will for most limbers), and the gun's base will be painted as a wooden platform. I imagine the guys at the back of one base are the official elephant pooper-scoopers... To make this, I put a standard artillery base on two uncovered wagons. Here's the inspiration, from a relatively local 25/28mm collection. I played in their Pondicherry game last March and my fellow commanders had to face this in the centre of our line.

Native organ guns are the three bases in the middle-ish, otherwise at the top/back of the photo are some caisson/supply trains, with English (with caisson) and French (limber only) guns in the foreground. The French artillery often had supply problems, so I've depicted that by not showing their ammo caissons on the limber's base.

A whole slew of bases, at front centre is my standard infantry battalion, with officers to the front and battalion gun on the line's left. The unit beside that is a specific one without a battalion gun (others to the rear are just missing theirs). Front right is the French (Compagnie des Indes) volunteer battalion. The square-ish bases with three-horse figures are wing, division, etc. commanders. Behind them are three units of hathnals - elephants with big guns - that may or may not have been at Plassey, but are too cool to ignore. Towards the far back, behind the infantry, is a unit of Rajput cavalry.

More stuff. CdI and EIC dragoons/mounted infantry are front left and centre, with more of the regular, company, and sepoy battalions behind them. Further back-centre are command stands, the native ones with elephants. A unit of native bodyguard cavalry are back-right.

As always, you can click on the pictures for a bigger version.

I have a few more to mount (mainly cavalry) with what I have on hand, then another big order goes in to Irregular. I figure this is about 1/3 of what I'll need in total for the project, which will include an Afghan army, variations of a native prince's army (Moghul, Mahratta, Mysore), and the French and British. I plan on later extending it into the "Wellington in India" and Sikh War eras.

Hmmm

So over six weeks have past since my last post, but it hasn't been an unproductive period, just a scattered one (and no real pics). My land VSF forces are now awaiting their Dullcoat protection, more 2mm terrain pieces are prepped for painting, another 40 aircraft are primed, another dozen (big 'uns) have been mounted, and a ton of SYW in India forces are about to get mounted tonight.

I also got some nice books on TYW, SYW and WSS uniforms, for another set of 2mm projects.

I even gamed Star Wars skirmishing over Easter with a brother and sister-in-law (their damn rebels won).

But it is April/May/June, my busiest and most tiring period for real life work, so pictures and more coherent posts will be scattered.

Mostly VSF

I'm out of town for a few days, so here are some shots of things that have progressed over the last couple of days.

The Ottoman and Imperial Chinese land ironclads have progressed to the touch up phase, with some muddy tracks added to liven up the bases a bit. The bases need the most work at the moment.

The French fort-house has also gotten to the touch-up phase, although the main door needs some work. I was trying for a massive timber beam door look, and instead I got a Caramilk bar gone wrong. The windows also need their frames.

Two of the French Victorian SPG's are done except for windows and doors on the cab, and touching up.
The 2mm Hoth ion cannon piece is also at the clean-up stage. I went with some metallic pipes and wiring, not exactly well-camouflaged, but it breaks up the white, and I can see the piece being needed for double duty at some point.
And finally, for fun, I started painting up some of the 3mm Microform Models cars I got back in the summer. These are for 3mm Vietnam, but will be for other eras as well. On the left is a hatchback, in my mind it's a Pinto, the middle two are VW Beetles, painted up as my parent's first two cars. The overexposed one on the left is a baby blue colour. And on the far right is what I'm calling a '57 Chevy Convertible, in a turquise base colour. I have another couple on hand, one for a AK-47 dictator's personal ride.

Missed one!

In my pic parade last week I forgot this in-progress picture of Irregular's 2mm castle:This is painted up as a generic medieval/fantasy castle, it's actually a light gray, not white. Some of the interior buildings will be wood, and I need to fix the lip on the road where the piece's base meets the wood bases. I also need to work on dry-brushing this, there are some finer features in piece that don't show up well.

I've got a couple more on order, one to do as a red fort from India, the other more malicious-looking.