Hlutrgú, part 4

A little bit closer to completion, every week - here is a pic of the current look:

On the left, the mini has its second coat of neat Future. On the right, the mini has a coat of Pebeo matte finish on top of the Future - cuts the shine right down, although I appear to have missed a few spots. Also just visible on the right-hand mini is a mottled stripe pattern, although it seems to be just a bit light compared to the rest of the skin.

One more pic from the table:

The first set of shields for my Sérqu troops (and two for some dwarfs), coated in Reaper Master Paint brush-on primer.

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Line-up

OK, it is time to stop and take stock of what is going on at the hobby table. I have to do this on occasion as I suffer greatly from 'oh-shiny'-itis and as my lovely wife says, I do need to keep to three projects in order to get anything done!

Top of the list, of course, is Tékumel. My Hlutrgú warband is nearing completion (pics soon!). Sérqu is next and the Qól after that. The big problem at this moment is getting organized and ordering all of the new stuff Howard has lined up for the Tékumel Club! I also have some recent additions (thanks Jeff!) to get into the painting queue as well. And, with almost enough minis finished for games, the need of proper terrain is rising.

Next - I want to set up several groups of minis for fantasy skirmish gaming a la Song of Blades & Heroes. SBH is a generic set, so almost anything goes. I see this project as a salve for my oh-shiny-itis, as I can purchase and paint small quantities of diverse minis and they will go together on the table. I envision mixing Landsknechts, Romans, Vikings, and Sumerians with dwarves, elves, Reptus, orcs, and maybe even *shudder* Tékumel...

Way in the distance, I am preparing for one more try at a historical project. 5th century BCE is leading the pack - Greeks and Persians. Mini selection is not a stumbling point here - lots of great minis out there - but the choice of appropriate rules is key for me and that might take a while. This is a project for the future, maybe even next year.


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Award!!

I am rather shocked and a bit pleased to announce that this blog has been nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award! (I suppose that this means that I should update it more than once a month then.) Many thanks to David Manley for the tip-of-the-hat!

There are four rules that need to be followed after receipt of this award:

1. Link back and thank the nominating party - Thanks again Mr. Manley!
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Nominate 10-15 other blogs for this award.
4. Contact those bloggers above about the nomination.


Seven things...

> I like naval wargames but can not swim.
> I like air combat games but have never been in an aircraft of any sort (in the air at least).
> I have a degree in history.
> And work as a chemical lab technician!
> I have been to... Yaak Montana (and the Dirty Shame Saloon!).
> My sons paint much better than I.
> In my household, I am 'geek second rank' after my lovely wife.


And now, in no particular order, the next nominees:

A Wargaming Odyssey
Hetairoi Wargames
Geordie's Big Battles
Col. Campbell's Shipyard
The Single Handed Admiral
Baron's Blog
chirine's workbench
The Tékumel Project
Geektactica



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Tékumel naval, part 3

With a little bit of free time at the table recently, I turned to making my first scratch-built Tékumel ship, a srügánta (comparable to a Greek bireme):


Plastic and balsa together for the hull. Oh boy, is it a chunky ship! Just goes to show that simply measuring things does not make a nice mini. The srügánta drawing in Qadárdàlikoi is much more sleek, although it does have an interesting sternwalk. Also, when I realized that my ship was not coming along, I made a very simple mistake and did not test-fit the aft superstructure piece before gluing it down; if you could see the mini from a top view it would be obvious, and too wide.

With the above in mind, I tried to draw some designs for more suitable ships:


The versions of srügánta here are still fairly chunky compared to the original, so I need to work with that. The zírunel, however, should be properly large and imposing and the drawing tries to be. I am also experimenting with slightly different architecture styles for the different nations plying the seas. I would like the ships of Tsolyánu flotillas to not only be a different color but a subtly different shape from their Mu'ugalavyáni counterparts.


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Projects

It has been a little quiet here at this mini-shipyard, so as an aid to get back into gear I'm listing the current naval projects:

1. 1/2400 Armada - The discovery of some long-lost Hallmark ships was a pleasant surprise, but I have not done anything else to them since. The two small squadron packs contain plenty of ships for now, but I am thinking of spicing them up a bit. I discovered just the trick for that - Tiny Tin Troops has a set of flags for Armada-era ships, so that has been placed on the To-Buy list. After that, just some paint and a set of rules then I'm set!

2. 1/2400 Ironclads - Ten Italian ironclads have been mostly finished, and there are 8 Austrian ships - 5 armored, 3 unarmored - waiting. I'm hoping to try a variant of DBSA to start once some Austrians are done.

3. 1/3000 WW1 - Still work to be done on these Baltic squadrons. Rurik and Novik are still not finished, and most of the German ships are only partially complete. These, however, have been stashed away since my recent move, but just a smidge of work would get this project afloat. DBSA will be the starter rules for this project as well.


And now for the 'other' naval projects I have been puttering around with lately:

4. 1/600 Tékumel naval - Fantasy gaming in the world of M.A.R. Barker - follow this link for a little bit of info.

5. 1/1200 Half-Continent naval - Also known as Monster Blood Tattoo or The Foundling's Tale, this set of novels details a blend of the fantastic with alchemy and the 18th-century. More information on my take of the story here.


Apologies for the lack of pics, and thanks for all the votes and comments on the previous post!