Ships, part 1

Finally made it down to the hobby shop today and grabbed some materials for making some ships:



The thicker material - 0.060" and 0.080" - will be used as the base for the decks. The v-groove material will be the planking of the decks, and the assorted pieces are there Just-In-Case. I have plastic rod for the masts from other projects.

For the first build, I am going to try 1/1200 scale - an iron dought such as Coryphaeus would be approximately 8 cm in length, which is large enough for details and small enough to get several ships on the table for a game...

Developments

There have been some exciting developments in the world of Half Continent gaming...

1. DM Cornish posted an excellent drawing of a H-C ship, and color plates on uniforms at this page on his blog. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peak at these some time ago, and I am glad that they can be shared with everybody!

2. Tradgardmastare has started his own H-C gaming blog here. I look forward to sincerely imitating his progress!

3. The third book of the series, Factotum, has been released in Australia/New Zealand. It is set for US release on Nov 11 - I have already ordered it.

4. My second test order of 25mm minis - Old Glory - has shipped and will be here next week.

25mm minis, part 1

The first order of 25mm minis, from Imperialist Enterprises, arrived a while ago but I am only now getting to take a close look at them. I ordered a wide variety of minis as a sampler in this small order, as I have never seen them up close before.

Left: MO-1 English officer, button hole lace Right: MO-3 English musketeer, on guard

The spontoon on the officer is a separate piece. I like the drawn sword, although it is a bit thin for a sword, more like a rapier.

Left: MO-5a English musketeer advancing, plain coat Right: M-12b English grenadier, marching

Left: M-18 Austrian musketeer, advancing Right: PO-1 Palatinate Musketeer, marching

Left: FO-1 French musketeer, advancing Right: FO-4 French flag officer

The French musketeer was a freebie thrown in by Mr Hagerty - thanks!

F-15a French dismounted dragoon

H2 - Heavy horse, running

Imperialist offers five different horses: 3 heavy and 2 medium. When one orders mounted figures, the choice of mount is yours.

M23b Austrian cuirassier, drawn pistol, tricorn

The saddle is cast with the rider as one piece.



So far I like the selections from Imperialist. All of the minis in this order measure 25mm from sole of foot to the forehead. There are some differences in sculpting, with some being smoother and some being more detailed. My favorite is the Palatinate musketeer, although all of them will be used in one fashion or another.

Sérqu, Sword of The Empire part 2

Didn't feel like painting much today, so I got out the next unit of my Tsolyanu forces - Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire, 14th Imperial Heavy Infantry.

Here is the start:


The first four minis. The spear shafts are plastic; the spear tips come with the mini. The demon-faced shield is not shown as I prefer to keep the shields separate until after the painting is done. I have slightly modified the trooper on the right to have his mace equipped instead of a spear. A few more of the Sérqu troops will have either a mace or a sword drawn.


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200 and 5

Not certain if this really calls for a celebration, but this post is number 200. It is also the fifth anniversary of the start of this blog... 200 posts in 5 years is not much - some bloggers get that many in a year or less, but I guess it is a mark of doggedness that I continue to slog along.

Projects have come and gone over that time: Tau, Empire, renaissance, Punic wars. Mini sizes also, with dabblings in 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, and 25mm.

At least the size is sorted at 25mm now; I just need to focus on getting things done and play some games!



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Shifting gears once again

Once again there is a change in the plan here. If you take a look at this post on Threwdish Ways, I write about switching sizes for the Half Continent project. That decision makes Battles in Fifteen redundant - it will not be deleted anytime soon but it will go stagnant.

For the project list, Tékumel is going well, with some new minis about to hit the market. My old fantasy mini lead pile is getting smaller, slowly, with the painting of the orcs and Reptus close behind. Two things will change in the coming year, though: I need to get serious with selling off minis and games that are just taking up space; and I am considering a new historical project (ha ha ha). But, the fantasy and Half Continent stuff need attention first.


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Old Glory orcs, part 2

I have spent a little brush-time with some of my older minis, and here are the pics to prove it:


They are still a work-in-progress but not much needs to be done, bases mostly and some details.



I have tried to keep the color scheme simple, with only the few repeat poses having much variation.



I am pleasantly surprised with the skin color - Reaper Pro Paints Ruddy Flesh with a wash of GW Ogryn Flesh, and the non-green orc look suits me just fine!

I have 2 more sword-armed orcs and 6 with axes, with the final set - 6 bows - on order, and these will be done...


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A ship sketch

Here is a pic of a page of my gaming notebook, with the first doodles of a plan for a Half Continent naval vessel:


It is a 24 guns-broad frigate, and the sketch is the approximate size of the model in 1/600, although it is probably distorted a bit by the pic. The measurements at the top of the page do indicate the actual length and beam of the model.

The drawing is rough. It lacks a lot of deck detail, and the ship's boats are definitely way off in scale, but this is close to what I think the frigate might look like in model form. This page on DM Cornish's art site has some much better (by the originator of course!) of the ships I hope to imitate.

I will need to make a trip to the local hobby shop for some balsa and sheet plastic so I can start to put one together!

Table

Nothing new yet, just a pic of the painting table. I cleared it off, putting away stuff that I'm not really working on and making room for something new. Some old projects are still on the table: Tékumel, orcs, WW1 naval, and 1866 naval.


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