More paper army stuff

I've had a generous amount of feedback from the guys at TMP and using some of their suggestions I am making some new paper Napoleonics. I was interested to read that during the Napoleonic period wooden blocks with painted soldiers were used. The suggestion that arose a few times was to break the battalion into smaller blocks so that people can create the formations from a single set if company sized blocks.
I've done some initial reworking on the French and here is a quick preview.

 New group that includes command elements.

 

Another suggestion was to place the soldiers on a balck background to make the uniforms more visible, shown here on a command block. This has a 30mm frontage, 3 ranks that are 15mm deep.

Finally here is the 6 company French battalion to print, complete with 3 Fusilier, 1 Voltigeur, 1 Grenadier and 1 command company.

I've also made a start on illustrating some cavalry with everyone agrees will be a more difficult unit to pull off.

Paper Napoleonic battalions

In my day job I make stuff out of card. Mostly promotional stuff, point-of-sale and packaging. So I frequent the paper modelling section of TMP a bit and like to see and even try out other people's creations. There are lots of paper armies freely available on the internet and most of those are of the 2d stand-up variety. There are some really nice examples out there including the frankly bonkers amount of stuff at Junior General.
I had an idea to create Napoleonic battalions of a small scale (10mm) as 3D boxes rather than 2D cutouts and here are the results to date.

 British in line, column and square

 Card flags inserted into slots on the top

 Font and side illustrations

 The French in line, column and square

 The French advance in line (it did happen!)

 The French advance in column (thats more like it)

The boxes are actually about 12mm in height. The other dimensions, frontage and depth are still a work in progress as I'm not working to any rule set in particular. Line and column battalions are 2 to an A4/Letter sheet. Battalions in square are a bit more complex and are only one to a sheet. They can be scaled up or down for different gaming scales although I'd imagine they are less impressive at the larger sizes.

Once there are a few on the table they look quite convincing (I'm biased obviously). Below is an enlargement of the individual troop illustrations. I can appreciate that some purists will find errors in uniform and kit but they were never meant to be seen at this size.

Finally I have included a sample of the British in line:

and the French in column for people to try:

Please remember to click the image and then right click and select 'save image' to download and print.

More ebay stuff

Sold some more 40k stuff for my son on ebay, these posts are just to keep some sort of record of the stuff I've painted really.
These are the latest:

All are plastics from the Black Reach starter set.

95th Rifles character figures, sculpted

In my post about my converted French Sapper I mentioned some original sculpts to be used as Sharp Practice 'Big Men'. They are four 95 Rifles characters, completely original and not based on any existing fictional Napoleonic riflemen.

Sgt. O'Keefe sporting an unusual naval 'volley gun' and his C.O. Major Vaughn

Rifleman Haggis (christian name unknown) who is a bit of a 'wastrel' and Dan Hangman, ex-poacher and the company crack-shot

These figures will accompany the four Perry rifleman I shall no doubt be painting soon and the Perry Peninsular British that will form my 'West Essex Regiment', another completely fictional creation of mine.

More pics.

What a vivid imagination I have?

40K Chaos conversion

A while back my son expressed an interest in Warhammer 40k and used some birthday and Xmas money to buy the Black Reach starter set and some extra bits and pieces, as I was keen to share the interest I forked out on a Tau starter army.

The interest didn't last for very long and he has decided to sell off his plastic figures. During the peak of his interest we found some poorly painted chaos plastics at a local 'Boot Sale' (flea market for all you non-UK fellas). I have since stripped the paint as best I could with Dettol and while I was converting the Sapper in the last post I have been converting a Chaos Marine in tandem.

A Chaos Lord, or Captain. A marine slightly better than the bulk of the remainder at any rate.

Most of the converting was achieved in plastic. This was an earlier plastic Chaos figure (it's a slightly lighter plastic than the more recent releases). The axe is a combination of unused Kroot weaponry the teeth around his loincloth were from an Ork Loota. The belt knife is Kroot. The hand holding the bolt pistol is from an Assault Marine holding a power sword. The spike on his back is a sprue and the helmet also from an Assault Marine and the top-knot is from an Ork head.

The rest was fashioned from Green Stuff to resemble stitched skin and if you look closely you can see a crude face on the back of the cape in the bottom left-hand corner, hinting at human skin.

I don't play 40k (I used to many moons ago) but I do like to model and paint their product if I can get hold of it at a reasonable price. I've been painting my sons Marines and Orks in order to sell them on Evilbay and hopefully make back some money on his behalf.

These are the results currently.

Black Reach Terminators

5 figure Imperial Guard set (that boy just wanted to collect them all)

Only a marine Tactical and Assault squad plus a Dreadnaught and a Predator Tank to go...

...and then all the Orks!

French Sapper - Victrix conversion

I bought some 1807-1812 Victrix French infantry a while back on a whim (like you do). I glued them all and was inevitably left with a box of bits. Since then I have received, as a birthday gift from the family, an opposing force of Perry British and a set of Too Fat Lardies 'Sharp Practice' Napoleonic Skirmish rules.


The game requires line troops and special characters or 'Big Men' as they are referred to in the rules. I've managed to create some French 'grand hommes' from the standard Victrix parts but had the urge to do a bit of converting using the very versatile hard plastic and Green Stuff.

Et Voila

French Big Man 'Marcel Savage', ready to give my British men brown trousers with his big chopper.

The axe was converted from a musket and a halberd top supplied with the kit, the point was cut and used to make the hammer side of the axe. The only part I was a bit unsure about was the combination axe head holder and cartridge box on the right-hand cross belt. I'm inclined to think it might have been more ceremonial than practical as carrying the axe on your back plus your pack may have been quite uncomfortable.

I'm also currently sculpting some original 95th 'Big Men' to accompany the four Perry plastic ones. More info soon.

The fleet, finished.

The bitbox fleet finally get some paint. Not influenced by any major sci-fi franchises, much.

The fleet of the Bitbox Alliance

I've reading through the many pages on TMP of late and I've strayed into a few that I wouldn't normally consider 'my bag'. Specifically the Spaceship forum. Lots of cool pics of miniature spaceships. Eventually landed at Star Ranger where they review rules and chat generally about spaceship gaming. I downloaded the free Full Thrust rules and started to have a good read.
Now, despite the fact I have a number of unfinished projects on the go (haven't we all) I decided that spaceship games might be my bag after all. The rules provide some paper minis to have a quick game with. Not good enough, must have some minis, NOW! I've already exceeded my gaming budget of late with some Perry plastics and a copy of Sharp Practice so I needed an alternative source. Time to raid the bit box, we all have one, admit it. Mine is full of parts from 40k figures a few old Airfix kit parts and various other bits and pieces.
So I am proud to present my fleet of the Bitbox Alliance.

I've been aching to use all those bits for while now, the main hull shape are some old Airfix plane drop tanks and the rest is mainly 40k weapons.

Battlecruiser

Carrier

Cruiser

Frigate

I'll get these painted up soon and post more pics.

Modelling on a budget

As I get deeper into the gaming/modelling hobby, I find myself creating more pieces from scratch or converting existing models. The hard plastics used by a number of companies these days are well suited to conversion. It's easy to cut, and when glued with the correct glue stays together.

One of the most useful materials to the scratch builder or converter is plasticard. The kind made from the same type of plastic as the models themselves. I've stumbled across a free alternative, so I thought I would share.

My family consume a fair amount of ice-cream and the vac-formed tubs that they are sold in are a great free poly compatible substitute. The cheaper the ice-cream the thinner the material.

The white hull panels on this model are all made from vac-formed tubs, I'll never buy plasticard again, although I may buy slightly more expensive ice-cream if I need card slightly thicker.

Cap gets a costume, finally.

I have been looking back at some of my earlier sculpting efforts and have decided that some of them are worthy of a paint job. Captain America has always been one of my favourite heroes, probably because of the WW2 connection.

Nice primary colouring on Cap. Have used the three stage paint method with each colour in a dark medium and light shade. All stars, stripes and emblems are painted freehand (carefully). Finally finished with a green stuff base sculpt as pavement.

Victrix Test

I've not posted for a while. No excuses, I've been off pursuing other hobbies and interests. Santa was kind and I received my Sharpe Blu-Ray box set this year and the Napoleonic itch requires scratching once more. I have bought some Victrix hard plastic figures and here is a test of a group of four Peninsular French.

Lovely figures and a joy to paint and glue.

Bases are card with sand and coffee grounds glued painted and flocked.

Finished 28mm Late Saxons

Four late Saxon Fyrd. Round shields and spears apart from one brandishing his Seax. A mixture of different armours and helmets and a hatless man sporting the same hair style as me.

Four Saxon Housecarls, with Norman style kite shields and hauberks. A mix of helmets styles, including one that might be a loaner from Stamford Bridge a few days earlier. All wielding their Dane Axes. My axe heads are a bit on the large side but my original 'scale' versions looked a bit puny.

Late Saxon (Hastings) 28mm sculpts

I've not posted in a while but that doesn't mean that I've been slacking. This summer, the family and I will be holidaying in Hastings. The boys and I are looking forward to visiting the battlefield, it's a great excuse to buy a book on the battle while I'm there in the name of education. In the mean time I've been trawling the web soaking up as much info as I can, I've also been reading a fictional account of Hereward the Wake which is very entertaining. My own heritage is of an Anglo-Norman origin and my wife's maiden name even appears in the Domesday book (in it's original latin form) which suggests Norman ancestry. However, I've always had a soft spot for the Saxons, I live in a historically Saxon county (Essex) whose emblem is the three Seax (a Saxon sword). 

My next sculpting project is therefore some late Saxon warriors suitable for Stamford Bridge and Hastings. The eight sculpts will be of four Fyrd with round shields and spears and four Housecarls with kite shields and Dane axes. 

 I sculpted the kite shields around an old pot of GW ink to give them a convex shape the round shields was sculpted onto the lid. I then used a simple 'press' mould to replicate the original. You need to take your time ensuring the mould is filled properly, the finished items require a little finishing but a interesting experiment.

Finally, I had an interesting idea to create spears. I used a straightened paper clip, flattened the end using two hammers (one as a makeshift anvil) and used my trusty sharpening stone to form a point. The finished result was good but a bit skinny for 28mm, so I may use this technique if I branch out into any smaller scales. I shall be using these spears as a base to sculpt onto.

These pics are all a couple of weeks old and I'm actually close to completing all eight sculpts. Expect some finished images soon.