Tools of the Trade 3 - Brushes, Tufts and Paints (plus some other stuff)

Over the last few days my initial orders from Mighty Ape arrived:

- 4 x Italeri 00 sables
- 4 x Italeri 1 sables
- A bunch of Warlord FIW blister packs (Armed Settlers, Frontiersmen, British personalities, Last of the Mohicans, and the 4 Indian leader pack)
- 10 x Army Painter Tufts packs ( 2 each of Woodland, Swamp, Highland, Mountain, and Lowland Shrubs - all 2016 editions)
- Army Painter Tweezers



I have to admit I was swayed by the price and the handle shape - I'm not at the skill stage where I can justify spending oodles of $$$ on Winsor & Newton Series 7  but to be able to have separate brushes for metallics, reds and white at an affordable cost is huge for my peace of mind.

I picked up the Army Painter tufts that were on special (the 2016 ones that are not as consistent as the more recent editions) as I preferred the look of them to the newer ones. Thankfully I have enough tufts now to base all 450 miniatures and bases that this project will entail as I'll be mixing them up as much as possible - I already have several packs in storage that will get mixed in as well.

Yes, 450 figures. Originally I'd estimated around 360 figures for three forces. That went south as soon as I bought some Warlord FIW and also decided that I would be adding a few more civilian/settler types to expand the scenario types I wanted to model. Project creep is real.

I popped into a local games store just for a nosy and was very pleased to see they were now stocking the entire Vallejo Model Colour and Game Colour ranges - so I grabbed some core paints that I don't have including that most vital of Vallejo products - Surface Primer Grey. An absolute must when painting lighter coloured civilian figures as I will be doing over the next 2 months. I made sure I also grabbed a few different reds so I could experiment with the shade of the British red coats. I'll almost certainly favour the darker, deeper reds over the palette that moves towards the Napoleonic red.

And because Mighty Ape only had one set left and I wanted to try painting a formal unit anyway, I picked up a box of metal Colonial Provincial Regiment - which I'll end up having to buy a second box anyway to have multiples of 6 for Sharp Practice.

Still a couple of things awaiting arrival, notably leader bases, 25mm round bases and shock dice/frames and the storage options I'm taking a punt on just to see if they are worth a long term plan.


Pete

Project FIW 2 - Choosing Miniatures

I've always been a little bit contrarian in nature, so the idea of choosing a lesser known miniatures range has always held a certain amount of appeal. Given that I'm starting from scratch, I didn't want to spend too much time obsessing about constructing the perfect force. I also had to bear in mind that I needed to plan the acquisition of miniatures reasonably  carefully as this is going to be a long-term project lasting at least 12-18 months just for the miniatures alone.

A quick google search and a disciplined return to PMT turned up some interesting choices. AW miniatures seemed to really suit my initial thoughts on how I was going to approach this. In terms of inter-range compatibility, well let's just say I put that aside as an unhelpful distraction. I can pretty much get everything I need from the one range, and if I do find some particular minis I like from another manufacturer, I'm quite happy to mix rangesd within a force, if not within a unit should the disparity be significant.

AW really helped themselves by selling their miniatures in Sharp Practice bundles, the prices are acceptable including postage and handling. I did like the the simpler nature of the castings, not too fussy or overly-detailed which suits my projected painting needs and style. They are on the larger end of the 28mm genre which I don't mind at all.

I did look at the Conquest/Warlord Games range which have the advantage of being available from Mighty Ape, but the availability of the entire range can be sporadic and I dislike having to order a range from two suppliers, particularly as Warlord have some figures available direct only.

In terms of numbers of miniatures, I'm trying to limit myself to around 100 figures max per belligerent so around 300-350 minis in total including civilians. This should give me some flexibility as well as being an achievable and affordable amount over the next 12-18 months.

So AW miniatures will form the basis of my FIW collection at this stage of the project.

Pete

Project FIW 1 - Why 28mm?

Why 28mm?

Choosing to play with 28mm has its disadvantages and advantages without a doubt. When I last built and played with 25mm historicals, foot were 50 cents, mounted troops were $1 and artillery were around $5 for a gun and 3 crew. (note these are NZ prices from the mid eighties so that tells you just how long it has been)

Back then I was dealing with a 1500 point Renaissance (Gush WRG) Persian army that featured around 70 cavalry, 3 guns and 130 foot., not exactly small or easy to transport (no plastics back than), and the selection of manufacturers was very limited.

If I was going to work with 28mm, I wanted something that wouldn't inveigle me into an ever-expanding arms race of miniatures purchases (hence Sharp Practice and FIW as opposed to British Grenadier and AWI) and also would meet the Goldilocks principle of wargaming - not too big to wear me out from painting fatigue and pressure to complete, and not so small as to seem somewhat half-arsed or paltry.

I did consider AWI with the plastics (TBH, I will almost certainly go down that road in a couple of years anyway - I know my foibles all too well) but I didn't want top faff about with a large amount of  assembly of miniatures (one of the reasons my CoC 28mm WW2 stuff is still sitting in boxes). I appreciate the heft of metal, particularly when handling individually based  figures and dealing with casualty removal/sabots.

Another reason for going with metal is that as I am re-learning how to paint in effect, I'll almost certainly be stripping my initial attempts once I've reached a standard I'm happy with.

The real clincher is my eyesight - brought home to me with a vengeance in the last 4 months. the thought of trying to paint even twenty 15/18mm figures fills me with dread. I've just had to move to a combination of three different pairs of glasses - Distance, Reading and PC/Office work - after 40 odd years of a single catch all prescription.

One of the reasons I stopped painting and modelling was that I was getting severe headaches within half an hour of starting a painting session which sucked all the joy out of creative endeavours. So moving to larger scale was always going to be on the cards.

I'm not going to try and create masterpieces in 28mm, so decent table top standard will suit me down to the ground and I'm happy to do without painting eyes or details that can't be seen without picking up the figures anyway.

Pete

A New Direction - Deciding on a Period

When choosing the new period to model, collect and most importantly game, there were three options under active consideration. I had already discounted the Seven Years War, Napoleonics and Marlburian Warts, mainly because they would best be done in 15mm and at a larger scope than I really wanted if I was going to attempt them and that disqualified them out of the box. I'm just not capable financially or have the mental energy to assemble entire armies.

One Mile to Bushy Station

1. French and Indian War

This has quite a few points in its favour: low-level conflict (large skirmish effectively); regular and irregular troop types; minimal variation in uniforms through the period of the conflict  by comparison with other periods; several rules options, including some specific to the conflict; several ranges of modern generation 25/28mm figures that cover most if not all variations; minimal mounted troops (I want to be a much better painter of 28s before I even think about painting cavalry); and the interesting prospect of both Major Powers having Native American allies.

Warlord Games Liberty or Death set

2. American War of Independence 

I'd already played a little bit of AWI in 15mm, using rules such as British Grenadier (which I enjoyed) and Koenig Krieg. I havesome basic uniform guides and references plus Warlord and Perry Miniatures have solid ranges in metal and plastic available. In fact I was very tempted by Warlord's boxed set, which would have seen me with enough figures on both sides to get off the start line very quickly. However that would be counter-intuitive as the whole purpose of this new period was to make it a very relaxed and comfortable pace of project, and avoid at all costs making completing a force into a chore. In 15mm, I'd also run into the issue with the AWI of feeling bound to assemble forces for three distinct eras of the conflict which would again undoubtedly cause me some angst. If the chosen period worked out well, I'd probably end up doing this as well.

The Round Tops

3. American Civil War

The ACW  has always been an abiding interest of mine. My first set of Airfix soldiers was the Federal Troop box costing all of 99 cents. Feathertone's Battles with Model Soldiers and Wise's inspiring Centerville battle report as well as the Airfix Guide to ACW wargaming were seminal influences on my early wargaming days. However between 1984 and 2014 I'd played enough ACW in 15mm with On To Richmond, Fire and Fury, and all three iterations of Johnny Reb to confirm that for me the ACW was best suited to gaming in 15mm and my end goal with the ACW would always be to refight days 1 and 2 of Gettysburg. Not something remotely realistic in 28mm.

So the French and Indian War it will be.



The Rules

The next question was which rules to use. As I've grown older, the attraction of points-based, 'balanced' forces and mundane encounter battles has palled significantly.

These days I want an experience that provides entertainment, flavour, movement and activity rather than consulting charts. I already get all the competitive and complex gaming I want from my continued involvement in Advanced Squad Leader., so I'm looking for a different level of immersion.

The realities of size, feel and budget demand a focus on a narrative aspect that is both plausible and fun at  the level of a large skirmish with around 50-60 figures per side.

I knew of Sharp Practice in theory, but most of my knowledge was based on the original edition and mostly Napoleonic in subject matter, which had caused it to not factor in my original thoughts.

I'd picked up a copy of This Very Ground as part of a job lot when obtaining the original AK-47 and Troo[ps, Weapons & Tactics for previous projects. However I was unsure that they would generate much appeal among local wargamers - and as my intention is to be an active gamer rather than a collector of armies this time around, that meant they were a fall back option, although being a period-specific set of rules was a significant positive in their favour.

Black Powder was briefly considered, but I had a less than enchanting experience with Bolt Action and these days my expectations of rules published by figure manufacturers is not high. Plus the cost was a factor.

It was early on in the piee that I started watching battle reports and reviews on youtube as well as searching for blog reviews - I haven't paid attention to  PMT for quite some time as a resource for rules reviews. Muskets and Tomahawks was a tiotle that cropped up a lot but it had a couple of strikes that put it out of contention: firstly it was from the same studio as Saga which just didn't grab me at all, but secondly and most importantly, it is out of print and the cards are also out of print which is a sine qua non.

What I did notice was that Sharp Practice 2 had been released, and it seemed to do much of what Muskets and Tomahawks was offering, and substituting chips instad of cards appealed to me aesthetically. So I watched a few videos from the Lardies and especially Tabletop CP as well as the excellent AWI battle reports from The Tactical Painter. Sharp Practice 2 ticked off a fair few boxes - budget, scope and narrative in particular. I've pretty much had an epiphany about Too Fat Lardies rules  and design ethos of late. But the clincher was that I could almost certainly guarantee I would be able to find local gamers who would play Sharp Practice.

To be honest, Sharp Practice was always going to be the winner after my experience with Chain of Command and I Ain't Been Shot Mum. It definitely helped that I'd been listening to  various podcast interviews of the Lardies where I discovered that what I wanted out of miniatures gaming had changed over the years to match the Lardies ethos.

So now I had both the period sorted (French and Indian War) and the rules (Sharp Practice 2). Initially I'd make do with the PDF version while I assembled the forces, terrain and accessories, then invest in a hardcopy along with the full monty of cards, chips and marker the closer I got to completion.

Next up, which miniatures would I choose and coming up with a definitive project management plan.

Pete

Tools of the Trade 2 - Selecting a Painting Station

Due to a change in personal circumstances, I no longer have the luxury of a dedicated area for my hobbies.For the most part, my hobby time is effectively restricted to 90-120 minutes in the evenings during the week or whenever the marauding three year old is otherwise occupied safely on weekends. Almost certainly this will be in the evenings as well.

My area of operations is effectively confined to the living room, so my set up must be portable, easily set up and broken down, and capable of being secured against the cats and the fore-mentioned two-legged Destructor.

So I'm going to need some kind of painting station set up that fits the above criteria and is within a modest budget of around $100-120 AUD. It will need to provide storage for all my tools, paints and basing materials while being capable of fitting within a 70L capacity plastic roll-away container.

Ideally, if my budget was not so constrained, I'd be able to go for the Frontier Gaming case although even then it does have that annoying issue of no self-contained integrated space for a cutting mat. 

I looked at the Army Painter paint station but it was a bit too basic for my needs and I've seen several issues raised regarding durability in other reviews that gave me pause.

In the end I went with a more expensive option: the Paint station from Miniature Scenery at $75 AUD including postage

There were a few points that sold me on this product:

1. Customisable at time of ordering. I could select different storage options and set ups for left and right sides to suit my needs.
2. An A4 sized cutting mat is included in the package
3. The inbuilt tablet/phone stand was a clincher - I will be using my iPad for reference purposes while painting and modelling, and having the phone close at hand offers me a separate option for other audio.

I originally was veering towards the option on the right which included a paint rack for a project sized selection of Vallejos. However I was recently also gifted some Vallejo paint racks (1 straight and two corner racks) as below:

This was an absolute boon, as I use 60ml and 200ml bottles a lot anyway. So I plumped for the paint station option that provided two media device stands and two storage drawers on the reverse. This also provides the option of two water pots and additional storage for tools.

There are a couple of additional storage options on the way with a view to the future but that can wait until next time.

The good thing is, I now have my painting set up on order and can concentrate on acquiring the first lot of miniatures and sorting out my basing options and theme for Sharp Practice.

Pete

Tools of the Trade 1

For the last 20-something years, I've effectively only gamed and painted 15mm (1;100th) WW2.  Sure I dabbled in Warhammer 40K occasionally, but those armies were very much vehicle heavy armies (Eldar, Tau) or creature types (Tyranids) and apart from the latter, the paint schemes were almost invariably modern camouflage schemes - notably Swedsh 4 colour schemes with white alternate panels.

As a result my current palette of paints is very limited in scope. My 15mm AWI/ACW/1859-1870 armies were either bought painted or were still bare metal. I've been using Vallejo paints since they first became available locally in the late 90s I think, as I found GW paints expensive and definitely not value for money.  Nor did they meet my requirements or suit my painting technique in 15mm and the 28mm stuff I did paint was mostly airbrushed using VMC anyway.

So I will need to purchase a fair few paints in order to expand the palette for the FIW project.  To that end, I'm grabbing three boxed sets of Vallejo (Colonial American, American Revolution and Native American colour sets) plus what I call my British and French supplemental colours. Thankfully the duplication across the 48 bottles is extremely minimal and the duplicates are core paints anyway such as Black, White and Buff. 

As far as basic tools go, I'm good for files, pin-vise and drill bits. I will need to buy some tweezers as the one pair I have is very much reserved for my boardgaming. I would hve liked to get the two Tamiya tweezers below but they're out of my allowable tools budget:

 Instead I've gone with the 75% cheaper option of the Army Painter ones here:

In regard to mediums, varnishes and retarders, I'm sorted in that respect as I still have all of those still, just in storage awaiting the right time to retrieve them.

Brushes are still a work in progress, a while back I was able to get a set of the Army Painter brushes for dirt cheap new in box, but never ended up using them, so they will get some use finally, until I can afford to invest in some more Roymac Purity Sables and Revolution synthetics - I do need multiples of the same brush because I'm going to be keepinmg separate brush sets for Reds, Whites and metallics. I still have nightmares of painting red markings on a mostly white Zero model airplane when I was younger - The Pink Zero was not a great memory.

A few more things for modelling and painting are going to be needed, but the most importatnt first purchase will be a portable painting/modelling area. More on that anon...

Pete

Late to the party

I've never been much of one for podcasts - preferring to watch videos or listen to music. However of late I've been trawling through the archives of Meeples & Miniatures and also enjoying The Miller's Tale. Being in Australia, many of the in-jokes and references have passed me by, particularly the UK-centric references and news.

However what I have found exceptionally illuminating are the various interviews with Nick and Riochard from Too Fat Lardies. Given that I'm effectively only just beginning my journey into The TFL rules experience, listening to the ethos of Richard and Nick in terms of rules design, approach to gaming and history, has been both entertaining and thought provoking.

I'm getting that same sense of wonderment and discovery that first struck me when I saw my first 1/300th moderns game back in 1977.
The path I'm on is new to me, but it feels right. I'm shedding years of encroaching and accumulating disillusionment with each step I take forward. I'm now looking forward to the arrival of  my new figures, paints and materials.

It's not going to be a smooth journey as there is so much I have to re-learn and re-discover, but that is also part of the attraction and enthisuasm.

An Introduction

I started war-gaming as many of my generation did, via the books of Wise, Featherstone and Grant the Elder, courtesy of the Khandallah public library. In 1975/6 while in the UK, Military Modelling published a directory of war-gaming clubs which I used to join the Wellington Warlords upon my return to New Zealand.

In terms of "formal" structured war-gaming, I pretty much started with Bruce Quarrie's Airfix Guide to World War two rules, then moved on to 1/300th Moderns using Heroics & Ros models and the very new 1950-1985 modern rules from WRG. The mid-late eighties were primarily spent playing TTG's Challenger and Firefly sets (again in 1/300th) along with a significant diversion into 15mm and 25mm renaissance gaming using the Gush rules.

I returned to World War Two in 1995, this time in 15mm, with  Barrie Lovell's Overlord: Normandy 1944 and Grey Storm, Red Steel rules. I then got involved in the pre-publication play-testing of what became Flames of War and was pretty much heavily involved until mid way through the life of the second edition. I continued collecting WW2 armies in 15mm but my enthusiasm for actual gaming was on the wane - although I didn't realise how disillusioned I was with the hobby until much later.

In the last 12 months, a significant change in personal circumstances meant that I no longer have any of the 15mm armies I collected over the years and effectively I'm starting from scratch. This has allowed me to refocus my interest on some periods and a scale of gaming that I find has provided me with some well-needed motivation to get out of bed and function again.

This blog will document a hopefully long and fulfilling journey back into a hobby that I still love but that desperately needed a reboot for me.

Now on to the French and Indian War in 28mm...