Legion of Ever Present Glory, part 9

The first set of my Ever Present Glory troops are finally completed!!

With spears level



With spears raised



Command group



The business end



Oblique

Feels pretty good to get these done, especially since I purchased these minis just over three years ago. I'm not completely happy with the bases, but I think that they will look just fine on the table. Now, another 18 more to go, then I can start on Legion of Sérqu...


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Work-in-progress

These projects are slowly taking shape. My order from The Last Square arrived - mostly steel bases and one Austrian ironclad, Drache - and the bases have already been put to use.


I'm using 40mm x 80mm bases for my WW1 ships. The trio on the right are the German torpedo boats... they are a dark grey with a darker grey deck, maybe too dark! I will wait until I have the bases painted but the small boys might get another, slightly lighter coat of dark grey paint for their hulls and superstructure. In the middle you can see the backbone of the Russian cruiser force - Admiral Makarov, Bogatyr, Oleg, and Bayan. And finally, still on the painting rack: Rurik and Novik for the Russians; minelayer Albatross, light cruiser Lubeck, and armored cruisers Prinz Adalbert, Roon, and Prinz Heinrich for the Germans.


The ironclads have not been forgotten:


All of my current squadron of Italian ironclads are assembled and on bases, with varying degrees of completeness. The stack of minis on the right includes five Austrian ironclads and five generic wooden steam ships. These bases are 30mm x 60mm.

Another note on Figurehead - availability

I did not realize it at the time, but in my Links section, I did not provide the correct information for buying Figurehead minis. Noble Miniatures is the manufacturer of Figurehead (among many others) but they do not engage in retail sales. However, there are retail outlets for these fine ships - in the USA The Last Square carries the entire line from Figurehead, and Magister Militum is your shop in the UK.

I am in the process of updating my Links section.

A brief update

Progress is slowly clicking along here - no pics though as the batteries for the camera are on the charger.

For the ironclads, I now have 10 Italian ships assembled, mounted, and with assorted amounts of paint. This is not the entire line-up at Lissa, but is plenty for the near future. Four Austrian ships and six unarmored 'generic' ships are waiting for their turn at the shipyard. I have yet to decide if I should use some of the unarmored ships for the Austrians or use them as the foundation of an Ottoman flotilla. One point that I did notice with the unarmored ships - the sails and masts are one piece, unlike the ironclads with the sails separate. A little more work will be needed to create new masts but not much more. It is odd that they are so different from their armored brethren, unless the mast/sail combos are just pieces from Figurehead's line of Age of Sail ships. I have ordered more 30mm x 60mm metal bases for this project.

In the Baltic, more loose ends are being tied up. All of the ships involved for the WW1 Götland scenario now have some form of paint applied. I probably should not call it the Götland scenario any longer, as my version is a bit different. In my Navwar order (from long ago!) I forgot to get a mini for one of the German light cruisers. That ship is being replaced by Prinz Heinrich (from WTJ); a slight upgrade there! I am also one destroyer short, so the Germans will only have six. I might need to lighten the paintwork on these destroyers - they are very dark grey. The Russians will get to keep Novik in their OOB - some sources do not mention Novik but he will be there in my games. Bases have been ordered also - 40mm x 80mm.

I promise pics when I can!

Finally some activity...

Today, I have ordered the first of the minis I hope to use for the mass-battle games for the Half-Continent.

Not knowing exactly which ones to use, I ordered three different 15mm sets from Minifigs - Dutch, French, and Russian musketeers with tricorne, in the classic March/Attack pose. A pic of the Russian minis is here. I am hoping to be able to use all of these, perhaps as differing factions in my battles.

Also, I have back-tracked in my choice of rules. Previously, I had wrote of a desire to use a historical set for the mass battles, but I have switched back to using a fantasy set, namely Fantasy Rules! by ChipCo. It is a simple yet flexible system that does need much for rosters or markers. If this fails I could always use a variant of Command & Colors, provided that I get a suitable hex grid...

Varnish experiment

There has been an obstacle to my finishing of miniatures lately - varnishing. I have been unable, for some time now, to use spray paint/primer/varnish due to the fumes and also the lack of a proper place for spraying. The primer problem was solved long ago - I now use either gesso or Reaper Master Series Brush-On Primer. But varnish has been a thorn in my side, until now.

Coyote, on his blog The General's Tent, advocated the use of Pebeo Matte Varnish. I was intrigued by this, as this varnish is water-soluble - not solvents or spirits for clean-up. So, I finally ordered a bottle and gave it a go.

Here is a pic of the test subjects:


These are some 15mm Essex minis, HYW or early renaissance, that Taeklonn had painted a long time ago. These have been coated with neat Future floor wax - gives them a nice glossy sheen which some people like. I don't mind it if on certain subjects - In The Grand Manner/Charge-style games with massive battalions of 18th century troops looks good with this approach - but not for most of my stuff. I am using it for a protective coat, and the ultimate test of the matte varnish.

Now, with the matte coat:


Quite a difference I do say! This is using neat Pebeo; it could be diluted slightly with some distilled water for better coverage; I might try that in the future. NOTE: This pic is only about 2 hours after the application of the matte varnish, it might be even more matte after 24 hrs.

A close-up of the sword-and-buckler on the right:


I deliberately left half of the shield untouched by the Pebeo just to see the difference.

The Pebeo product seems to work very well!


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Some naval calculations

As I worked on a naval gaming project at one of my other blogs, I found myself a bit distracted with thinking about the ships of the Half-Continent. As none of these ships are available commercially, I will need to scratch-build the entirely. First, I needed some rough dimensions.

At one of DM Cornish's web sites - daviddraws - there are a series of drawings, some of which involve the Half-Continent. Specifically, this page has line drawings of some of the various naval units. This is the start of the scratch-build project (although I am using the version of this same drawing found in my US copy of Foundling - it is just slightly different.)

There is a scale on the bottom of the pic, and I am using this as a base for all other miniature dimensions. By my rough calculations, a main sovereign ram could be 850' in length. That is a rather long ship. For comparison, HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, is only 227' long and USS Iowa (battleship 61) is 887' in length!

This, of course, needs to be scaled down for the table-top. A typical miniature scale for the table-top, commonly used for sailing ships and ancient galleys, is 1/1200. 1" (on the table-top) = 1200" (actual) or 100'. Our main sovereign, in 1/1200 scale, would be 8.5" long. Now, if one has a large table this would be fine - the mini would be beautiful with lots of detail. Unfortunately, I do not have that sort of luxury so a different scale is needed. Another common naval scale, used for many types of steam-powered ships, is 1/2400. Using this scale, our main sovereign would be 4.25" in length. This is a size that I can accept comfortably - still large enough for detail but not cumbersome in gaming.

Here is a rough listing of the different ships types, and their approximate lengths in 1/2400:

Main Sovereign - 4.25"
Main Ram - 3.25"
Iron Dought - 2.75"
Drag Mauler - 2.5"
Frigate - 1.75"
Gun Drudge - 1.25"

(For those who are wondering how long Hogshead, Poundinch's ship from Foundling, would be in 1/2400 - a paltry ½" long!)



These numbers give a rough start on the ships - beam measurements are next!

Italian ironclads, part 2

Again with the slow progress...

Just a pair of work-in-progress pics:

Principe de Carignano

Palestro, with Re de Portugallo

I only have a few more Italian ironclads after these; Austrians are next then some of the unarmored ships. I have yet to finalize a shopping list for the Lissa engagement - I know that I am short several ships especially Austrians. But the handful that are in place already will give me enough to start testing some rules. I'm looking forward to trying the ironclad version of DBSA. I also have a copy of David Manley's Iron & Fire, and his Lissa supplement.

Russian ships, part 1

Not much progress here, as I am suffering from an increased work-load, and a sore and swollen left knee. My recent computer upgrade was more successful but just as time-consuming!

A small amount of work was accomplished, as seen here:


Basically, a before and after pic of the Russian destroyer Novik. The Navwar mini appears to be the WW2 version, also known as Yakov Sverdlov. I trimmed down the tripod masts and added pole masts of brass rod. It is still not quite the correct profile for Novik, but it is close.

A bit quiet

Just a quick update - things are a bit quiet here hobby-wise, with the work schedule warming up and now a sore and swollen left knee. Add a computer upgrade and you could have chaos!

I did make an important purchase that I hope to try out soon - some brush-on matte varnish for the miniatures. No chance yet to try it but that will happen soon - including pics...


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