Austrian Salute 2016

Posted on March 14, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

This is my third visit to this show, my second as an exhibitor. I’m lucky as this is fairly local to me as I too am based near Salzburg.
We got here at 08.30 on the dot and were greeted by an empty room with tables set up and neatly labelled. My thoughts were, “Oh dear!” Or something similar but more vernacular, I could have had some more sleep. But people soon turned up and very soon the room filled.

This version of Salute is slowly growing and I think that soon a bigger venue will be required. But when I spoke to Walter, the show organiser, he was keen to keep the show at this current venue, “Small is beautiful” were his words on the matter.
Grumpy Old Tin was sited right next to the entrance and it proved to be a sweet spot as people browsed as they came and went.

Here are some of the games and exhibitors at the show. If you want a more eloquent description and more photos I’ll refer you to this post from Battlebrush Sudios.
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2016/03/show-report-austrian-salute.html

The day starts off with Walter’s address where he greets everyone. Walter, or El Cid as he is also known, runs the local gaming club/store and is the organiser of this event.

First up was an extravagant Forgeworld Zone Mortalis board and loads of Forgeworld models. They were running a Heresy game using 40K rules.

There was a game of Commands and Colours with Ancients. They were using Hexon terrain and I wanted to look a little later at the figures and terrain, but I blinked and vooom they had disappeared.

Next to this was Templates and Widgets selling laser-cut bases and markers. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for disrupting my Wife’s skiing plans, but that is another story for another day.

In the far corner was Casual Painting. The painting was well done but quite reliant on airbrushing which would have been nice if they had demonstrated it.

There was a game of Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games and displayed on the table were some of the Halo Fleet Battles boxes which caught Number 1’s eye as he is becoming a little Halo addict.

In the middle was a table with a rather lonely man showing off his DBA/DBM rules. I’ve since learnt that he is an authority on the ruleset so it was a pity that noone was really interested. He had some cabinets of some painted 15mm figures for use in the game. He told me that he gets them painted in Sri Lanka. We are at opposite ends of the painting spectrum he has more money than time and I have more time than money.

Close to me me was a game of Infinity with a container full of the sadly no more containers from Rackham’s AT-43. They are very nice.

Directly behind me was a table playing Malifaux. There was an interesting use of carpet tiles as a playing surface which I shall bear in mind.

Flames of War modern using the Team Yankee rules. Nice looking terrain and scenery and the armour was painted well.

The painting competition. Sadly not enough light for my poor old eyes and not enough space to get a look at the figures which was a pity as there was some good painting. This year it was single figures; Historical, Fantasy, Sci Fi and Steampunk. I entered three figures, but didn’t get a mention. So I need to up my game on that front.

This was a very nice looking 6mm Napoleonic game using rules from Kugelhagel.

The figures were beautifully painted, sadly my little camera wasn’t up to capturing them in all their glory.

There was a Chain of Command game using 15mm Battlefront figures. It used a battlemat which looked quite nice but it was very thin. I’ve been thinking about battlemats but I haven’t found anything, as yet, I’ve been totally sold on.

Being 2016 there was the inevitable game of Frostgrave which it seems is “The” game of the moment. Nice buildings from Battlefield in a Box, but as with everything I like, are discontinued, The boards were very good and were made from sheets of insulation foam.

Right at the back was a display game of By Fire and Sword which was tied in nicely to an actual shop selling that and a few other bits and pieces.

After lunch up popped a game of John Carter of Mars, where the ancients game had been. They were running it using the Heroscape ruleset and were using Heroscape hex terrain.

Triumph and tragedy. Tales of Adventure, Fortune and Fate. A 28mm skirmish game.

The big game was Guns at Gettysburg a big 28mm American Civil War game using the General de Brigade rules.
They won a prize for the best table at the show.

Then finally there was Battlebrush Studios with Sigur doing painting demonstrations.

I left Number 1 Son in his capable hands.

Here is Number 1 Son with his number 1 painted soldier.
This year was more positive for me. Time didn’t drag. I sold more stuff. And I was approached to exhibit at a show in Germany.
http://www.die-gruene-horde.de/index.htm

Dezember workbench

Posted on December 5, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

A Treewoman from Ultraforge. She will be a giant in my Warhammer Fantasy armies. I’ve been looking forwards to painting her. This is my Christmas treat.

This is a unit of Pixies for my Albion Army. I’d already started painting them in England, but I’m not impressed by the work done. So this is a rescue job. They’re all individual figures so I’m not batch painting.

This is the Ork jet I’d started earlier this year and I’d like to finish it.
I’m not too much out on my painting targets for this year and I need to think about what my targets are for next year. I want to spend one month finishing my Field of Glory Roman Army. That would bring completed armies up to the grand total of two. If I solidly paint for the rest of the year I could finish my Napoleonic Army, but I think go bonkers painting eight infantry, three cavalry and two artillery. I’m going to split it up between Albion, Napoleonic and the Imperial Guard Army that I seem to have accumulated. Plus some one offs as treats.

Scribd

Posted on July 22, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Am I the last person to the party with this resource?
http://www.scribd.com
I just spent an afternoon reading and adding to my “Library” all the books that I had thought of tracking down on eBay.
Warhammer Ancient Battles for forty quid? I don’t think so. Most of these titles I’d only look at once or twice a year so money (I don’t have anyway) saved.

24th (or the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot

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24th (or the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot

Here is my first unit of Redcoats finished. I am very happy with the finished result. Apart from the two casualties, who are from Offensive Miniatures, the Company is made up of Foundry figures (sculpted by the Perrys). The bases are from 4Ground drilled and fitted with neodymium magnets. The movement tray I made. Standards are by GMB Designs.

Another four Companies to go, two Highland Flank Companies, a Company of Portuguese Foot, three Companies of Cavalry and two Artillery.

The wife is away cheffing at The Taste of London festival so painting time has been reduced this week. However I am using what time I have by making more Napoleonic movement trays. I’ll post how I make them, it is a fairly simple job.

Can you tell what it is yet?

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Can you tell what it is yet?

Can you tell what it is yet?
A little side project.

June’s workbench

Posted on May 24, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

A unit of Napoleonic infantry, ready to go

Goblinaid

I finished my Romans early so I did a Goblinaid figure, Paul Hick’ Napoleonic Goblin. It was an opportunity to try out paints for my Red coats. After a bit of looking through books the uniform looks rather Frenchie. It is fantasy so I don’t think anyone will complain, too much.

If I feel brave I might take one of my 95th Rifles and experiment with darkening the uniform as it is too light.

Another basing interlude and thoughts on motivation

Posted on April 16, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Just trying out a new product for basing. No More Nails. I have no idea what the German name is. I’m using this to glue the figure to the base and to fill in between the figure base and the base.

So far the result is fairly promising, the only thing that I need to work on is smoothing it out afterwards, it’s not as easy as the ready mixed plaster I have been using.

I really should be getting on with the projects that I said I would rather than getting distracted. I have just about finished the Albion heroes and the Albionican unit. They just need varnishing and photographing. The Reaper Necromancer Babe is underway. I will need to do some interweb research on what near naked skin looks like. Surely there will be sites I can study in great depth? Other distractions have been the Goblinaid Spacer Goblin sculpted by Mark Cragg. Prepping a unit of Napoleonic English and a Raging Heroes female kommisar.

Peter from D6 Painting and Gaming wrote a good article on his blog about what keeps him motivated to paint. At the moment I have been distracted by various models rather than committing to paint. I think that everybody has some form of reward system. Mine is if I paint a unit I can paint a hero/leader. I love painting individual figures and find painting units a chore.

There are two things I use to keep me on track. The first and probably the most important is to keep my Lead Mountain out of sight. Only one project on the workbench at a time. I love opening boxes and picturing the painted model in my mind, or discovering a model that I had forgotten that I had. It is also slightly discouraging seeing how much work there is ahead of me. At the moment all bar a couple of boxes are in storage in the lager. The second thing I use is a list. One item on the list a month. It helps me stay focused.

Next month is my Roman Army. I need to finish my Scorpions and a unit of Auxiliaries. Add metal highlights to all the other units. Photograph, catalogue and put on the website.

After that:

A unit of Napoleonic infantry

The reanimated DKK Troopers and command vehicle from Ramshackle Games

GW Squig Mangler

Unit of plastic Warlord Games Celts for my Albion Army

Three Ork jets from Puppets War which will be proxy Deth Kopters

Finish a unit of Faeries and a unit of Undead for my Albion Army

Finish my Bolt Action Home Guard and a unit of British Infantry

Ultraforge Tree Woman a proxy giant in my Albion Army

So if I stay on target, this will be the next nine months work. This doesn’t allow for any distractions like taking any commissioned work (no takers yet), any Kickstarter bits arriving or the bust of Kevin Adams which I am itching to get started on.

Another brief basing interlude

Posted on April 8, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

I don’t know about you but I have been using basing sand since year dot. Then I spend ages painting and highlighting it to make it look like soil.

Is there another way?

I thought I’d try out something I saw in AK Interactive’s Weathering Magazine where one modeller used soil. That’s right soil!

So I went out gathering, some dark forest soil (shown here), some fine pale river silt and a mid tone.

This is the first test piece, I put some gloss varnish on one side to represent wet soil. I think that the “crumb” (blame programs like “The Great British Bake Off”) is too big. This is a result of the size of the sieve. The bits of root give it a slightly more random realistic look.

Recently at a fleamarket I picked up a new addition to my painting tools. This should deal with the size of the crumbs.

95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War

Posted on April 3, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This is my 95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War, from March’s workbench.

The figures are mostly Foundry, sculpted by the Perry’s with a couple of Perry plastics thrown in. I’m not happy with the colour as it is much too light, they were known as the “Sweeps” as the uniform is a very dark green. Maybe in the future I’ll do a black wash over the uniform to darken it. Hopefully any opponents won’t complain too much about the inaccurate colours.

The movement tray is a custom cut from Wargames Tournaments

http://www.wargamestournaments.com/

Black Powder Command Group

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Black Powder Command Group

This is my Black Powder Command Group for my Napoleonic Peninsular Army.
Figures from Front Rank.

What’s on April’s workbench?

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What's on April's workbench?

What’s on April’s workbench?
There is a small squad of Albionican Empire troops from Warploque Miniatures. This is for my “Not-Empire” army.
Some heroes for my Albion Army, miniatures from Studio McVey, Hasslefree, Celtos and Privateer. These just need a little touching up and basing to match the Halflings.
Finally, if time allows, a necromancer babe from Reaper.
This month is a relaxing one as I found the unit of 95th Rifles a bit of a slog.

Ten Books

Posted on March 7, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

These are the ten books I would recommend for a bookshelf. Bear in mind that this is my choice and that it isn’t to everybody’s taste. I would welcome any suggestions as there is always something new to learn regarding our magnificent obsession.

So here they are in no particular order.

Editing is an arse on WordPress. I want my text aligned left and the bugger centers it!

FAQ 2 by Mig Jemenez.
It was a toss up between this or the excellent Tank Art by Michael Rinaldi. This won by a gnats as it covers so many techniques. Military modelling is leading miniature figure painting and these techniques can feed into miniatures.
As an aside, I am really surprised there is no brass etch after market for GW/Forgeworld vehicles. I suppose I could just look out for 1:48th scale accessories.
You are going to see these techniques more and more often so it doesn’t hurt to be ahead of the curve. Don’t be surprised if GW bring out some form of chipping medium in the near future.
In the also rans is Forgeworld’s Model Masterclass Volume Two

Art of War published by Battlefront.
This is a bit of a cheat as it is two magazines. Sadly Battlefront haven’t followed up on these. This has proved to be inspirational showing it is possible to paint 15mm figures to the standard of 28s rather than the blobs of paint that I see so often.

These are great for seeing the uniforms of the armies I am painting “in the flesh”.

British Napoleonic Uniforms by C.E. Franklin.
A bit dry but a useful reference. The only things missing were Aide des Camp (?) and artillery which is covered in another volume.

Foundry Miniatures Painting and Modelling Guide by Kevin Dallimore.
The three colour paint style popularised by Kevin and supported by Foundry’s paint system is a bit cartoony, but when you apply the “Three foot rule” (ie you look at the figures on the tabletop, not in your hand) it works very well. I want to perfect this technique. My figures look quite good close up, OK not competition standard, but tend to be indistinct at a distance. I have a friend whose armies (he has quite a few) really Pop on the tabletop but are a little disappointing close up. My aim is for Pop and Wow.
This book is full of examples and step by step guides. Starting with One Colour models, tournament basic standard, then Two Colour and finally Three Colour painting. Helpfully the guides use the same model so you can compare and contrast.
If I had to pick one book from this list of ten, it would be this one. The techniques can be applied can be applied to any manufacturers paint system. Or a mix’n’match as I do.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Rules Third Edition and Warhammer Armies. A bit of a cheat again again having a two in one. There is a joy in these rules. A game can be fun. I do miss the humour of the Fluff from the eighties. This is what got me into gaming when I was reading my friends White Dwarfs. I think I’ll stick to these rules rather than spend another fifty odd quid on yet another humourless set of rules and army book. Rumoured for later this year.
There is a growing community of gamers going back to Third Edition rules with a friendly forum to exchange ideas.
Oldhammer
http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk
Saying that I’ll probably get some of the new Orc figures when they come out. It would be nice to see some new Orcs, Goblins, Wolfriders and Chariots.

http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk

Cool Mini Or Not Annual. Sometimes the photography is a bit iffy. But it is so inspirational to see figures from manufacturers you’ve never heard of painted to really high standards. I’ve bought figures on the basis of what I’ve seen. Reaper I name and shame you!
I haven’t yet dared to enter any figures on the site, but nothing ventured etc. I’ll post when I have.

This one is a toss up depending on your tastes. Sadly Rackham are no more, so unless you have won the lottery their figures are out of reach of us mere (skint) mortals. So this is just meditation material. Gaze with amazement at the figures you’ll never be able to paint.
The GW catalogue is also another dreamers book. I would love to have pictures of the individual sprues next to the models. Sadly GW no longer do parts, just imagine the kit bashing opportunities?

Next on the workbench

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Next on the workbench

This is the next job on the workbench, or rather the kitchen table. A unit of the 95th Rifles for my Black Powder British Peninsular Napoleonic Army. Most are by Foundry (thanks CSM) and there are a couple of Perry plastics in the mix as well.
Everytime I finish something now I put away the paints, clean brushes, new paper towels, basically a clean slate.
I’ll post a picture of the command group that has just been finished later this month.

Time rich, money poor

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Time rich, money poor

My plan is to have every unit in my collection kitted out with a movement tray. This has been easy for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Black Powder and Field of glory. I spent the last few months at my last job, when I knew I was being made redundant, making stuff in the workshops. Three aluminium/brass carry cases and more movement trays than you can shake a stick at. They’re easy: a rectangle of plastic cut to the right size, a border strip made of six mil plastic and a thin sheet of mild steel cut to the unit’s size. Glue together, Dremmel sides, superglue some sand on and undercoat. Job done, ready to be painted up when the unit is ready so that the bases match the movement tray.
Now with 40K and Bolt Action there are round bases. Not so easy. 40K uses, for the main, twenty five mil circular bases. Bolt Action uses two pence coins. Foreign readers may question why so many English wargamers use money to base there figures on. Are we extravagant? No, the answer is that the two pence piece is more enough worthless. Plastic bases cost more to buy. Plus, if you get the older coins, they are attracted to magnets. Another love of mine is magnetised units, I have seen plenty of instances where an opponent has placed a unit on a hill only to see them slide away. Not me, I’ve magnetised more or less everything.
Anyway back to the circular based movement trays. 40K has twenty five mil bases and Bolt Action has twenty six mil bases. So what is one millimetre between friends? I don’t think anyone will notice a slight gap on my 40K units between base and movement tray.
OK. Time rich money poor. That’s me, plus I’m a tight bastard. I have seen some laser cut trays on Fleabay for between two and three pounds each, plus postage. I’ll probably need thirty odd. So the money mounts up. So what does one of these fancy laser cut movement trays consist of? Two sheets of MDF. The bottom one is plain and the top one has holes cut in it.
What am I not capable of doing?
I drew up some templates in Indesign, just to work out the size of the base. A ten man movement tray worked out to be ninety five mil by one hundred and thirty mil. Wouldn’t mind some five man movement trays and some twenties. Bauhaus has one square metre of three mil not-quite-MDF for four Euro something. From this I can get thirty nine movement trays. Went to Bauhaus on Monday morning armed with cake to bribe the wood cutter. Got the wood cut and purchased a twenty six mil hole cutting attachment for my drill. In all it came to twenty one euros on the nose.
All that is left is to drill the holes for the bases, stick them together and finish as appropriate for the unit.
The biggest chunk of that was the drill bit at Fourteen something Euro. But I have that now, so any time I want more movement trays it’s just the cost of the wood, which is minimal.
Result!

Black Powder Command Group

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Black Powder Command Group

Next project on the workbench. A command group for my British Peninsular Napoleonic army. I have been prevaricating about starting this project as Napoleonic wargamers have a reputation of being very picky about accuracy.
If I can do my Napoleonics well and get some praise for them I reckon that I can consider myself an OK painter.