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2mm Bits, Bobs and Elephants!

Today, as it is officially the last day if my holiday, I decided to just kick back and do nowt, apart fro shopping, being Dad’s taxi etc… but on the whole I had a chilled out day. I started off by working on the Woodsford the 2mm forces. I decided in some dry brushing and went for an army painter green and mustard yellow with a light Iraqi Sand top coat… I think it came out OK…

I then trimmed the chariots and friends off their supports. Surprisingly there was inky kne chariots casualty… the horses pinged one way and the chariot the other…

So from left to right we have the chariots, a whole horde of slingers and some light cavalry with shield. Next to them are some heavy cavalry… these came with the Romans. And behind them two sets of Romans with printed integral bases, which is why they are painted.

I also did a pile more work in the 6mm Italian buildings. These are pretty much finished apart from some touch ups around the window frames – basically when I painted the models I didt do the inside of the windows.

And finally this evening I downloaded more 2mm troops and just had to print the elephants. These come with either armoured armoured unarmoured elephants both with and without a howdah.

I decided to put a couple of grains of basmati rice in front of them just to show how big they are. The other thing is a 6mm ancient village I got ages ago, same time as the Ancient Galleys in fact… I had no use for it then, but now I have an interest again. So I shrank it down to 30% of its original size.

I am going to scratch build my hill fort, but as this one was sitting there I thought why the heck not.

So still to slice and print from the new stuff are some hoplites or similar, some infantry with an oval shield in a more ragged formation and some other infantry with a crescent shield.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get some of the undercoated Romans painted up.

The Blood and Honour Rules that are in the making have huge forces per base, so basically a legion per base. Now I will see how much they cost and to be honest printing the 2mm stuff in pence per printing session so it wouldn’t be too big a jump to have them as well as something else… Next thing to hunt for are some other suitable rules… someone has mentioned Scutarii as a rule set, but at £28.00 a shot then I want to find it what they play like, before jumping in.

I just remembered that I had Warmaster Ancients, and went to look it out…Strangely they don’t have Carthaginians in any of their lists. They do have celts and Numidians, but not Carthage, which as a major power of the Punic wars then you would think they would be there. Talking of books, I have ordered the WRG Punic wars book… https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1326256564/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_dp_f1

I had this book years ago when I was gaming in the Newcastle club. Time for a reread I thought… especially as I am going to be wargaming the period again.

Right I am off to ogle at some teeny tiny elephants again…

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Repainting Take Three

Today I sprayed the bases I did yesterday with watered down PVA and this evening got on with painting them. Three repainting later and I am still not happy with them…

The first colour was too dark,the second,mint green and we are now back to a different version of ‘too dark’. I will get them dry brushed tomorrow and see if that helps.

The brown base in the front is going to be a hill fort or something similar.

Now if you remember absolutely ages ago I printed some triremes etc… they don’t look to bad next to the 2mm stuff.

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A Busy Old Day

Today, was the day I tackled converting the old stable roof into a polycarbonate roof, to complete the conversion into a greenhouse. My estimate of a couple of hours was ay off. Seven hours later I got the thing finished. I had made sure that the original roof was not going to fly off in the gales, this meant it was an absolute swine to get off when I wanted it to do so. Anyway I did manage to get some bits and bobs done this evening too…

First off I got my next lot of 2mm sprayed…

A mix of Romans and cells, not to mention a 6mm wagon and 15mm Mahdist.

I also slapped some paint on this lot…

The bases in front are for the 2mm stuff. The malker Irregular ones for woods and the larger for a hill. I still had my bag of vivarium sand from when I had the lizard so I decided to give that a test run.

And finally after what seems like weeks (it probably is) I eventually got some basing material on the fanatics…

I am heading off into work tomorrow to meet my new teacher and get some stuff sorted it ready for next Wednesday.

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Severe Encounter With Mahdist Troops

Intelligence has been received from our reporter, Fanhard, who has been with a column near the troubled town of Khufurah.

As we reported last week, after a great victory and subsequent setback the Allied Garrison once more set out to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Fanhard was allowed to travel with the Durham’s and returned his copy immediately after his return to camp.

It was decided by Stewarton that a large force should assemble to return once more to the Khufurah plain.

Our troops were an Anglo Egyptian force comprising the Durham’s, the Guards, along with a naval crew manning a gatling gun, protecting our right flank were the colourful gentlemen known as Bashi Bazouks. They carried more weapons upon their persons than was normal. To the left of the British forces were a mixed force of Egytians and Sudanese troops, with lancers and cavalry protecting the left. After we broke our morning fast the sun was already searing the sands. We set forth into the unknown, our target was a small wadhi where numerous vultures were circling. As we advanced a great shout came from our front and left flank as numerous enemy forces appeared as if out of the very earth itself. Their guttural war cries were, demonic as they bounded forwards, intent on our downfall.

The Bashi Bazouks sensing an easy prey galloped forward to engage the enemy. However, as they did so a unit of enemy horse appeared out of the heat haze behind them.

The Durham’s to which I was attached, fired at range and stopped the advance of the horse. The Guards poured fire towards the infantry to their front, as the range was extreme, few casualties fell. Off on our left more and more enemy forces appeared heading straight for our Egyptian allies. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the enemy’s strategy. Some units would attack without delay and others would merely melt away into the sands. On our left flank, the cavalry always ones for glory, rashly charged a unit of Mahdist infantry.

The cavalry on our right suddenly seemed to rally. The Officer commanding the Durham’s ordered a square to be formed, which they did with military precision. Fortunately, they did so as the enemy spurred their mounts and charged into a withering fire. Across our whole front more enemy appeared. With regular volleys, the Gurads and Durham’s kept the enemy at bay. The Sudanese troops were assaulted by fast moving camel riders and after taking heavy casualties were pushed back. The lancers on our extreme flank were unable to exploit any enemy weaknesses as their officer, unfortunately, dithered over what to do.

Sensing that the weakness in our force were the Egyptians, the the enemy threw everything at them, but our plucky allies managed to hold them and turn the tide of battle. After it’s initial problems, the Gatling gun was brought to bear on the camels and in a roar of fire reduced them to an insignificant trifle.

The gunners had certainly got their aim in and enemy after enemy were scythed down in their droves. The roar of the gun bolstered the morale of our Egyptian allies who advanced into the fray. Sadly the dithering of the lancers meant they were charged at the halt by overwhelming odds.

They fought bravely, but with mounting casualties they were forced to retire as a spent force. The Sudanese however, carried on with their advance even though reduced to less than half their number.

The Bashi Bazouks mopped up forces as they galloped along the enemy flank. With mounting casualties the enemy eventually melted away into the haze and our forces halted to help our wounded and collect our dead.

Wounded enemy were dealt with accordingly. Once everything was organised, with our wounded and fallen protected by a small force we marched onwards to meet the horror of the massacre the week before.

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Small Chariots etc.

Well we had a good game today, I will get it written up tomorrow… sorry but no spoilers this evening. Did Joe and I or Mr Babbage succeed? The Illustrated Gazette will reveal all tomorrow.

After plumbing in the new dishwasher today I got it installed this evening then set about painting some chariots and light infantry and cavalry.

Cavalry horses need to be a bit lighter I think as the Roman ones back left look a bit dark…

I contacted the miniature designer and he has given me all of his printer settings so I will give the Romans another bash tomorrow.

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My Printer Hates Tiny Romans

So after various failures over the last couple of days I decided to try again doing some Romans. I did two on a 40×30 base and some in the standard format. I checked the bottoms to ensure that there was suitable support and set it away. Sadly they once again fell apart as I took the supports off. I might out one into Mesh Mixer tomorrow to see if I can see what is going on. You would think that a big block would work well, but sadly not, they dropped to bits, as did the velites.

The ones on the multi base seem to be holding together. To the right of them are the cavalry I added a .5mm base to each block and to the left the multi base cavalry (they aren’t finished yet). I have yet to try the flexible resin, but I don’t think that it will stop things falling apart. The other thing I will do as ask the designer what his settings are. I am probably just either over or under exposing them.

Anyway enough moaning about the Romans… Boudicca lives in 2mm in her war chariot….

So here we have eight chariots, singers back left and light cavalry back right. Hopefully these will come off their bases properly.

Tomorrow we are doing our 48 point Sudan game against Mr Babbage… in case you are wondering Mr B. Is the opponent in the solo play game of Men who would be Kings. Joe and I are going to join forces with 24 points each against a 48 point imaginary opponent…I only hope he doesn’t beat us

Posted on by maenoferren22 · 13 Comments

2mm Success and Failure

So after yesterday’s balls up with the Romans I went on a different tack today. First off I made a 3mm base in 3D builder and added two cavalry units to it. It printed off reasonably well apart from a weird bowed back, this is hapf a mil out so can be saved down or something. When I brought it in I realised my MDF bases are 2mm. But as it wasa proof of concept then it worked. Uses more resin, but miniatures come pre supported.

I then decided to try and integral base per unit, this was extremely fiddly and was sort of okay when I tested it at a 45 degree angle. I added the infantry units on their rears with supports, to be honest it was a total mess… I am not sure what went on. So back to the drawing board there. I finished the Gauls that I printed yesterday, some seem to be missing bits so are sitting at about 1.5mm. But as you can see from below it doesn’t really show en masses.

I am not sure on how many men these are meant to represent, but it does look like a fair few. So if I said 200 men to a base then this is a unit of 1000 warriors. It kind of looks like it to my untrained eye.

I also did a proof of concept for some woods using a bit of mdf and some clump foliage.

Today I ordered some light cavalry, skirmishers and some chariots. I will still work in the Romans as it is really beginning to bug me now.

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Legionary Troops

Tonight I tried painting the Roman side of the equation. They painted up absolutely fine, but when I was painting them I noticed that they, for some reason, had a whole more supports. These proved problematic in getting them apart. I also noticed that the horses seemed to be missing some legs. As these are new to me it will take a while to get things right. It is basically 6ml of resin and 45 minutes of time.

As you can see the units are really broken up. I will try again tomorrow and see what I can do. They work better without a base. I have ordered some flexible resin to mix in with my normal stuff. It should help a bit.

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Zealots, Towns and something Very Small

Today I got the 6mm terrain under coated white. I started on the Italian houses and windmills…

I also finished painting the zealots…

Two of them failed to be included in the photo. I will add some flock to the bases tomorrow and also do some form of writing on the book and pages.

And finally as I have absolutely no common sense or will power for that matter I thought I would try something a bit different… Project Wargaming don’t just do fabulous 6mm Samurai and Italian buildings. They also do printable 2mm ancient armies… so this happened….

I decided to get a couple of sets, Gallic infantry and some Republican Romans. I was pleasantly surprised in how well these printed as well as painted up. I blobbed some green and brown paint on a 30×40 base and I now have a base of Gauls.

The Romans have their three troop types. The heavies have either the pilum or the long spear (l just forgot the name)It also comes with Equites too.

Now one thing about this lot is that they don’t have the flex of the 6mm spears. I can evidently mix flexible resin with the ordinary stuff. I might just have to give it a go

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Religious Zealots

Tonight I managed to get a whole lot done on my unit of flagellants.

I was hoping to get them finished, but sadly it was not to be. Hopefully I will get them done tomorrow. Now quite often I see these type of miniatures with pale skin, but they way look atitthey were out and about throughout the lands so mine are a bit tanned.

I also managed to get the ruins successfully printed at 18% size…

While was having a mooch for things to paint then I came across the trees too. I had printed some last nightwith the reduced sized cows… yes I really am that bonkers! The trees really could have done with some supportsas there are some pancakes on the bottoms, but,they still work, and to be honest they were a test to see if they would print.

As I have decided to go for 6mm Italian wars then, as you can tell by the blog, I have been reducing 28mm buildings to fitmy 6mm.this was because I couldn’t really find any suitable ones to print. Now if you remember, a while ago I found a guy making 6mm Samurai, I didn’t bother looking in the moderns section. Outof the blue today YouTube decided that I would want to watch one of his videos, lo and beholding January of this year he made Italian style buildings, so asylum can imagine I am quite chuffed and am printing a villa, church, some barns and smaller farm houses right now. I will photograph them tomorrow. You can watch the video below…

Italian Buildings from Project Wargaming