28mm Ancient Thracian Commanders Base - The Peloponnesian Wars.

28mm Ancient Thracian Commanders Base:

At last I've started the Thracian Army for my Peloponnesian Wars campaign. All the command bases are 60mm frontage by 80mm deep to give me a chance to add a bit of character to the base.

Thracian general 'out on a jolly'.

Thrace was a bit of a wild country but the Thracians I'm trying to depict are those which were recruited to fight in the Peloponnesian War i.e. throughout mainland Greece.

 Visual guide to basing Thracian command vignette:

sandless pollyfilla smoothed onto the base.

Slate shards superglued on, the standing figure has been pinned to the slate. A hole was drilled through the slate.

sawdust and 2 grades of small rocks are PVA glued on.

Slate is very easy to work with and very easy to drill.

I thought about having the warrior in the green cloak stand on top of the rock, but half way up seems to have a more subtle effect.

sawdust added to the top of the rock. This will be painted a grass colour.

figures manufactured by Wargames Foundry

and painted by me at theminiaturepaintingstudio@live.co.uk

Not sure about the Thracian Army standard colour, I might repaint it red, black & white. 

Glue dried ready for the next stage: Painting the base.

I forgot to take pictures of the painting stages :) but the dirt is burnt umber oils mixed with tan enamel, then progressive lighter shades of the same colours mixed with yellow then white to give a gradual tonal effect. The grass was washed in green mixed with tan, then highlighted with the same green + tan mixed with yellow.

Finally testors dullcote matt varnish was sprayed over the whole vignette.

The slate was repainted in part in enamels where necessary

Oh and of course I've added grass tufts and a few flowering weeds which I produce, available through pjwalke@live.com

Anyhow, Cheers for now, Peter.

The Hundred Years War - French Commanders

The Dauphin Charles

Another 28mm French Medieval commander from the Hundred years War: The Dauphin Charles 1356, this character was to be the future king of France Charles V.

This mini is currently available on ebay, either search for Ebay seller: peterw3169 or item ID: 121385222759

THE FIGURE
Manufactured by 'Front Rank Miniatures' painted by me (at theminiaturepaintingstudio@live.co.uk) in oils. enamels and acrylics, a matt varnish was sprayed on with 'testors dullcote'.

REFERENCE
Usually I use any source available this time it was osprey's 'French Armies of the Hundred Years War' Men At Arms series No:337

THE BASE
The base is plasticard 25mm x 50mm ground texture 'sandless polyfilla', different grades of stones were used The ground textures once dry were flooded in washes of browns (burnt umber oil paint mixed with tan leather enamel), then highlight with grades of tone of tan, tan+yellow, tan+yellow+white.

The Grass tufts were made by me (available on ebay, just search for ebay sellers ID: peterw3169 or lord_jaggard ). The flowers again just grass tufts with PVA glue brush onto them and dipped in red sand. The shrub is a cut down tree glued in place with bostik.

Cheers for now,
Peter.

28mm Ancient Boetian (Theban) Greek Army - The Peloponnesian Wars.

Ancient Boeotian (Theban) Greek Army.

And so onwards with the recruitment for my Peloponnesian Wars campaign. The idea is to fight a number of campaigns based on 'clash of arms' boardgame: The Epic of the Peloponnesian Wars, partly because they have a fantastic map ideal for wargamers, see below and also because it has good game mechanics especially for sieges. To that end I have finished the Spartan and the Athenian contingents which are full armies (see earlier posts), these will be supplemented by smaller contingents e.g. the Boetians, Corinthians, etc.

The Epic of the Peloponnesian Wars map has overlayed hexes each with its own serial number, so no mistakes in jotting down movement orders there then !?!. 

So with that in mind here come the Boetians:

Hoplites wearing Classic helmet styles waiting for their more 'peculiar' Boetian helmeted comrades.

After spending a several days painting 24x upper class heavy hoplites for my Boetian Army, I figured that the classic Boetian helmet wasn't really used for hoplite formations, it seems to be a cavalryman's helmet, also there is no evidence that it was made of bronze either?!?

So ignoring this assumption I have added 6x Boetian style helmets to my hoplite phalanx just in case :)

Boetian style helmets.

Boetians ready for action.

Heavy Cavalry forms part of a small Boetian cavalry contingent.

The Heavy cavalry have a varied mix of helmet styles and clothing. I like the blue Thracian style 'smurf' helmet.

The Grass Tufts are available from me from my eBay listings just search for user id: peterw3169

After studying a lot of greek pottery I realised than tunics cloaks had a lot of zigzag multi-coloured etc. patterns on them.

stored ready for battle

storage box 4 litre box from the 'Really Useful Box Company'

All these Figures are from 'Wargames Foundry'

Hoplite spears from 'Aventine miniatures'

Next on the workbench are the Boetian Light infantry comprising some peltasts, archers and slingers.

Then next are the Corinthian,  Thracian mercenary, Syracusan, Greek mercenary and Thessalanians contigents, then at last The Peloponnesian War can begin :) 

The Argives come in half way through the campaign apparently so I can leave these till last, with the Persians potentially near the end of the war (Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus's armies).

Cheerio for now.

Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

French Siege Artillery & Dutch Garrison Guns.

There were a number of sieges during the French-Dutch war of 1672-78. As part of a mini campaign I'm preparing to play in the future using 'The Perfect Captains' Tinker Fox rules available for free at http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/captain.html  

I managed to acquire some artillery produced by 'Warfare miniatures' through the 'League of Augsburg' at http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/shop/products-cat-16-15.html  comprising of a French positional gun in traditional colours of red gun carriage and bronze gun barrel.

French Positional Gun on wooden planking

 Wooden planking using 2mm scored plasticard mounted on matchsticks. I thought about adding some foliage to the base later though this would be trampled down pretty quickly with bushes removed and ground levelled off by the army engineers.

French Siege Artillery, gunners match made out of wire rod with fuse wire wrapped around and painted. 

The Crew are North Star's 1672 range

These positional Guns are lead and available from the League of Augsburg

A Dutch positional gun in traditional colours of red gun carriage and black painted gun barrel.

A French heavy mortar in traditional colours of red gun carriage and bronze gun barrel.

siege mortar from Warfare miniatures 17th century range available form the League of Augsburg

A Dutch garrison mortar in traditional colours of red gun carriage and black painted gun barrel.

I think the mortar crew are away at Tiffin.

Also from NorthStar a supply wagon to create a supply dump vignette. barrels from Hinds figures ltd. 

Supply wagon with Amsterdam munition mark funded by that city.

Of course I need to acquire and paint the gun crew next.

Also a French supply wagon vignette to follow...

And at least one remaining Dutch Infantry Regiment to paint.

And some command bases.

And some gun emplacements with Gabions etc.

Oh and of course a walled town....not sure how I'm going to tackle that one!?!

And then the campaign is ready to play :)

I hope.....

Cheers for Now.

4mm Grass Tufts (made to order).

4mm high SUMMER Mix random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

One of the aspects of collecting and painting miniatures is trying to find a way to create scenery for bases. I used to buy grass tufts, and found it was better to make them myself as I can get through a huge amount sometimes.

The tufts add an extra dimension to the miniatures and can be used in a variety of colours, a good mix I have found is 4mm Summer mix which can be used to depict grass & scrub from the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean.

approximately 80 clumps per box.

4mm high Summer mix Random tufts, ideally represents Grass & scrub.

4mm high static grass seems to be the ideal height for 28mm figures, 2mm high tufts look like fuzz whereas 6mm tufts are too tall for my use.

French late 17th century Officer, grass/scrub and white flowers.

French late 17th century Officer, grass/scrub

I've started to market these grass tufts through pjwalke@live.com



Each box contains at least 80 random sized tufts which maybe torn in two as required. They are Self-Adhesive, just peel them off the backing and firmly push onto your miniatures base.

Nobody seems to make these random clumps of grass tufts at the moment, I will also make them in neat ordered tufts in the near future just see my listings.

'How to' instructions:

1. Take the tufts out of their box.

2. Use tweezers or your fingers to pull the tufts off their silicone backing paper.

3. Place the tufts on the miniatures base, they are self adhesive, just push down with your finger.
That's all there is to it.

Specs:

Colour: SUMMER, Greens & Brown mix good for the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of varying sizes. Good for 28mm cavalry bases, artillery bases etc. They can be torn in two to make smaller clumps.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green & brown summer mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

I also produce: 

4mm SUMMER mix Regular sized tufts. 

4mm Summer mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing grass/scrub.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: summer, greens & brown mix good for the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green & brown summer mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.


4mm high SPRING GREEN Mix random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

approximately 80 clumps per box.

4mm high SPRING GREEN mix Random tufts, ideally represents Grass & scrub.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes) 
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: SPRING GREEN mix good for Temperate Grassland/Pasture scenics

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of varying sizes. Good for 28mm cavalry bases, artillery bases etc. They can be torn in two to make smaller clumps.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a SPRING GREEN mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm SPRING mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm Spring mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing grass/pasture.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: SPRING, greens mix good for Temperate Grassland, Pasture scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green SPRING mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm WILDERNESS Mix Random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: WILDERNESS, grass/scrub, greens & brown mix as pictured. A Darker colour mix which can be used to depict grassland/scrubland/moorland/heathland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Russian Steppes scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of random size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green WILDERNESS mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm WILDERNESS mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm WILDERNESS mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing wild grass.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: WILDERNESS, grass/scrub, greens & brown mix as pictured. A Darker colour mix which can be used to depict grassland/scrubland/moorland/heathland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Russian Steppes scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green WILDERNESS mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm Leafy BUSHES, three colour mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm Leafy Bushes in tri-colour mix Regular sized tufts 130 in each box.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: Leafy BUSHES, in three colour green mix as pictured. The leaves on each bush are Light Green/Olive Green & Dark Green mix which can be used to depict scrubland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120  bushy clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Leafy Bushy clumps using 4mm static fibres in a three greens mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

Cheers for now :)