3mm epicer than epic

[Jon Williams]

I’m planning on using epic Armageddon, which I’ve downloaded, perhaps not everyone’s choice but I was drawn back by find memories of years gone by collecting the old GW from original Adeptus titanicus, the first Epic Space Marine and all its later developments, all brought about by finding videos on YouTube showing battle reports, I realized lots of the minis weren’t GW, found vanguard myself and saw the 3mm and was blown away, I had thought about doing it in 6mm of course, but budget and space are two reasons why I went with 3mm, plus I just wanted something I remember as fun and enjoyable to play for a change of scene, plus I hope my son might enjoy and possibly get him off his Xbox lol

[Jon Williams]

here are some proxy terminator’s, they’ve been primed in white, a sepia wash added that’s it so far for the ones on the left, the ones on the right have had a heavy Ish drybush in tamiya light deck tan,

[Jon Williams]

Had a star buy yesterday in the local Tesco they were selling a 10kg bag of children’s play sand for 72p have currently got a couple of plastic container out the back with sand in drying out in the heat so basing materials no problems, and can possibly sprinkle it on when making terrain to add texture so happy chappy ,👍

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Nice! I can get it from the local beach, but I have to thoroughly disinfect it first.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Jon Williams]

[Jon Williams]

finaly 65 Deathwing terminator’s painted and based 

[Jon Williams]

Nice one Thaddeus I had thought about going to the beach , but didn’t like the thought of washing it out, as is I should be fine for basing sand now for a while, I can’t believe how much manufacturers charge for a really small bag for basing purposes, I’m all for supporting the hobby but you really do need to shop around for cheaper alternatives that’s for sure, my whole ethos is to make do with what I have to hand, I bought not to great paints for the figures not on purpose but because I went to the local hobby craft store and bought what they had, so I’ll use them until they’re done then probably try the reaper triads as Mr Average suggested ,

[Jon Williams]

[Jon Williams]

Termies with drybrushing done to base, not sure if I should brush a little green here and there

[Thomaston]

Looking good.

Tired is enough.

[Mr. Average]

Nice work on the basing! I always like to build up the little “platforms” so they disappear the same way you did them. Worth the effort for the visual effect!

[Jon Williams]

Thanks all, it’s taken a bit of time but I’m getting there slowly.

For the basing the first coat of sand didn’t take that well and had a load of bald spots, so left them to dry then used a 50/50 PVA and water slapped that on then sanded again result was a lot better once that dried and all the loose sand shaken off I used a dark brown wash over the base and let them dry overnight the wash nicely sealed the sand down, then dry brushed with base, mid and a high light tone . They are fidly little devils to base tho

[Mr. Average]

You may find that not watering down your glue will work better. Cover the base with it using a toothpick or some such, so that the whole surface has a coat of wet glue on it, like you can see the surface tension. Then drop the sand on the top – don’t dunk it in the material, drop the dry sand on the glue and cover the whole thing, then just tip the excess off, and let the whole thing dry thoroughly.

[Jon Williams]

The first attempt was with neat PVA glue, but I brushed it on so possibly I’ll try a toothpick or similar next time and yep I sprinkled the sand on I never dunk it always find sprinkling works better  , it’s all still a learning curve for me at the moment  just based up 6 tactical squads and 2 devastator squads and now I’m giving my poor old eyes a rest lol

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Another thing that works for me for basing is GW’s textured paints. These can be overpainted any color without losing the texture.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Jon Williams]

That’s a thought, I’ll put on my wish list, I’ve never used them before, I’m just using the Bacchus basing set I bought with my 6mm ECW but not using the static grass with the 3mm figs I’ll leave that for the big boys 6mm giants lol

[Jon Williams]

tacticl squads just waiting for the sand

[Jon Williams]

Devastator squad

[Jon Williams]

I experimented with painting the figures still on their sprues, I in one way find that easier than painting them on the base, but with the tactical and devastator squads I painted them on the sprue but then based them and picked out the weapons and sergeants helmets in red, I did have a bit of touching up to do on the terminator’s after I based them as I found I’d lost some of the paint no doubt due to sweaty fingers

[Mr. Average]

Personally I like to base my figures first, prime the whole thing including the sand, and then paint that.

[Jon Williams]

I’ll try that way next time, I was just lazy and thought I’d try painting on the sprue first just have to get my head around a new way of painting

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

I glue mine to popsicle sticks and paint them there, then base them later because I like a “firing line” effect and it’s hard to paint that on the base.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Jon Williams]

That was the one thing I was wary off by painting them on bases, I use lollipop sticks painting my 6mm ECW 3 strips to a stick but I use double sided sticky tape to hold them down so perhaps I’ll try that with my assault squads .

I managed to find 60cm by 50cm canvas frames for £2.99 a reasonable price I thought, but as yet haven’t been able to find 60cm by 30 cm so I’m not sure I may by a few 60cm by 50cm ones and put a ground cover on then make scatter terrain for them, the hope is that it’ll be interchangeable between my 2 scales 6mm and 3mm .

But that will be on hold for a minute as I’ve been running myself ragged trying to get my daughter sorted out for uni so wargaming on a budget will be even tighter now lol

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Be careful to check if the frames butt up together correctly. Some are off square. I also put a big chunk of styrofoam under mine so that I could pin terrain to them easily.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Jon Williams]

Thanks Thaddeus, I’ll be sure to try them out in the shop, I might get a few funny looks but it’d be worth doing rather than finding out when I get home

[Andrew Beasley]

Thaddeus Blanchette wrote:

Be careful to check if the frames butt up together correctly. Some are off square. I also put a big chunk of styrofoam under mine so that I could pin terrain to them easily.

You can also use cardboard to pack them out but you have to be careful using glue as the cardboard can sag and pull the centre of the canvas down. I found spray glue better than sticks or wet PVA.

I did notice that the larger the frames the more accurate they are – once tried tiny ones for 6mm and that was an absolute disaster 🙂

[ian pillay]

I’ve got a small board 36×18 using a canvas painting board. Found it in the Range in our town. Been searching for some 12×12 or 24×24 but they seem to be in daft sizes for sensible wargames sizes. The advantage is that they take paint really well are slightly textured and are thin, solid so don’t suffer from and canvas sag.

Tally-Ho! Check out my blog at…..
http://steelcitywargaming.wordpress.com/

[Mr. Average]

I often thought art panelboard might make a good base for 3mm terrain, but have never tried it.

https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-premier-wood-panels/

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Ooh! Nice idea, Mat!

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Andrew Beasley]

Never seen those – a quick search showed these on Amazon (none affiliate link) in the U.K. Not sure they have any advantage over the boards from Sarissa except they may be easier to cut rivers and lakes into by filling the bottom with foam.

I’ve come across card covered in canvas but only managed to get one to stay flat when painted so could not recommend that type unless you want built in hills 🙂

 

[Mr. Average]

Yeah I can’t speak to how dimensionally uniform they will be – they’re meant to be painted on, so they might vary in thickness or size very slightly in ways that might make them not tile exactly.  You’d have to try and see.

[Jon Williams]

Wow thanks all , that’s some good advice there, and yes I agree why oh why can’t you find 24in by 24 in or even 12 by 12 it would make a gamers life so much easier, I’ll definitely check out the local Range store hadn’t thought of looking there, and I know they stock Windsor and Newton Matt varnish in a spray can was thinking of using that to protect the figures

[Thomaston]

Just offering ideas now that you have boards.
http://leadnobleed.blogspot.com/2011/01/30cm-x-30cm-terrain-modules.html
http://leadnobleed.blogspot.com/2012/12/making-3mm-terrain-modules-part-2.html

Tired is enough.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Those MDF boards in the first terrain modules warped, Thomaston, which is why I moved to canvas frames and then PVA yoga matting with pin down terrain.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Jon Williams]

Hi Thomaston and Thaddeus, thanks for the links, sorry for the late response but it’s been a hectic few days with getting my daughter sorted and moved into halls at uni.

As yet I haven’t bought the canvases as I’m going to try the Range and see if I can get 60cm by 30cm, I’ll look forward to getting 5 minutes to myself soon hopefully to explore the link hope all is going well with whatever projects you are working on, now I’m thinking cowboys and Indians in the old West as I found my old copy of Pony Wars (B troop ain’t coming back) had a quick chuckle to myself reading through it, and I have heard rumours that Bacchus might be re publishing said rules , and I’d love the thought that they might produce the figures in 6mm .

 

[Andrew Beasley]

Jon Williams wrote:

<b>…</b>I’m thinking cowboys and Indians in the old West as I found my old copy of Pony Wars (B troop ain’t coming back) had a quick chuckle to myself reading through it, and I have heard rumours that Bacchus might be re publishing said rules , and I’d love the thought that they might produce the figures in 6mm .

No rumour – the news is here

Currently it’s about 10% funded.

 

[Jon Williams]

Cheers Andrew that’s great news and another blast from my past  oh for the heady days of the 80s , I’ll go check out the Bacchus site, do you know if they’re going to make figures in 6mm ?

[Thomaston]

Baccus already has the ACW range and some indians in one of the other ranges you could use as good proxy.

Tired is enough.

[Jon Williams]

True enough Thomaston but it would be impressive if they did

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Jon, at one point you wanted to see my 3mm ACW figs, I believe. Well, here is a brigade, based to my newest standard:

O8’s ACW were the first 3mm black powder figures I painted and I had to do a hell of a lot of experimenting. Here’s a photo of these figs alongside some earlier basing solutions:

Now, the paint job on all three of these types of stands is the same: only the basing differs. Can you see what a difference a lighter-colored basing scheme makes? The yellow flocking is, perhaps, the best of all at reflecting light up into the figures. My EARLIEST basing scheme isn’t here: if was just medium green flocking.

Also note that, when you base and flock light, you really can’t tell the difference, at arm’s length, between bases that have been “built up” to hide the castings’ bases and those where the casting is just glued down and painted and flocked around. I concluded that “covering the bases up” with wood putty or texturing gel or sand was just an added step that made for perfection, but was really not noticeable. I stopped doing it.

One thing I DID do, however, was use a strong and thin metal snips to break the strips into bunches of one, two, and three men, as well as trim them down a bit. These were then slightly staggered on the bases. This DOES make a visual effect at arm’s length. I think you can see that the new bases, where I have done this, look much more “organic” and more in line with the ragged formations common to the ACW. The handful of castings that were broke off their bases in this process have been sprinkled around on the back of the bases as casualties. You could also use them to mark unit quality (with green units getting no casualties,  veterans one, elite two and so on).

The bases have lots of empty space towards their backs to make it recognizable, at a glance, which way they are facing. Also, color parties are separate because I use these with a series of different rules systems — Fire & Fury, Longstreet, and Black Powder — so it becomes necessary to make differentially-sized units. Each stand is a 1/2in x 1/2in cut metal base (galavanted steel) with magnetic backing on the bottom. This gives the units heft and the ability to grip steel/iron surfaces quite tightly. I can line the whole brigade up on a footlong steel ruler and gently flip it around, over and under, 360 degrees, with nothing coming off.

This is the best basing solution I have so far discovered for 3mm black powder troops.

 

 

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Author]

Posts