3mm epicer than epic

[Deleted User]

I like the semi-circular command base, Makes the formation look like RN naval rank insignias.

[Jon Williams]

Nice one Thaddeus, the green eyed monster is whispering in my ear I want them lol.

Absolutely stunning work there and the lighter flock really does make them pop. I’ll have to send off for a pack or two now.

I’ll have to pop back and have a look at your blog again, but really truly amazing figures and basing thanks for sharing 👍 and stay safe all the best . Jon

[Jon Williams]

<b>I just visited the Bacchus 6mm site and have seen two pictures of their Pony Wars range dismounted US cavalry, the Hollywood type of course and I believe their Indian villagers, totally blown away by them, hope that they can reopen the shopping cart soon </b>

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Here  is where you can buy the light green flock:

https://modelshop.co.uk/

These guys are an incredible resource for British-based gamers.

….and here’s the flock itself. It is very fine:

https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Landscaping/Item/4D-flock-L01-yellow-green/ITM4689

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

[Jon Williams]

Thanks again Thaddeus for the link to the model shop.

How many packs of ACW figs would I need to have a small but gameable  force ?

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Well, what you’re seeing there is 1.00 pack of infantry, 0.5 packs of Zouaves, 0.33 packs of officers and colors, and 0.2 packs of smooth bore artillery (plus the horses for drawing the caisson).

It’s a brigade-sized force, so it depends on the rules you want to use. Maybe six times this amount will give you two reasonably sized armies, so, say 7 packs of infantry, 2 of zouaves, 2 of officers, 1 of artillery, a pack of horses to draw caissons,  a pack of skirmishers (for the odd specialized sharpshooter unit) 2 packs of cavalry and two packs of dismounted cavalry (you could easily get away with one each of the later).

Add in a few more packs of stuff to bring it up to an even twenty – say another artillery pack and two more infantry packs).

At USD 4.25 a pack, that’s two pretty big ACW armies, for 85 bucks. You should get three large infantry formations and a cavalry formation for each one, plus a handful of special units like Berdan’s rifles and extra guns for the Union artillery reserve. If you’re playing Fire & Fury, this will give you the better part of three U.S. corps and four C.S. divisions.

You could easily get away with half of that if you were playing something like Longstreet.

 

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

[Jon Williams]

<i>Cheers Thaddeus, I was going to give black powder a try, I might even be able to source an old fire and fury, if I base similar to yours I should be able to play both, one more question, is it just the core black powder rules I’d need or is there a supplement for ACW, ? </i>

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

There is an ACW supplement to Black Powder, but you don’t really need it to play.

My bases are done so that four of them make an average sized Black Powder regiment.

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

[Jon Williams]

I just managed to look at the supplement  online it seems to be a bit of background into the conflict more than anything, glad I didn’t listen to the local model shop who said I’d need it to game the ACW .

Thanks again for all your help Thaddeus your a great help and inspiration.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Damn you, Jon! Now you have me rebasing my entire ACW set up! 🙂

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

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

(Btw, be prepared to do a LOT of rebasing, until you find the “perfect” solution. This is also why I disagree with using superglue to stick your figures to bases and texturing gel to hide the bases. Basing is at least half the game in this scale.)

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

[Jon Williams]

No way Thaddeus, why oh why are you rebasing them they look fantastic .

Finally started back painting my Bacchus ECW, really do have to finish them off I’m 20% of the way through the royalists, I’ve decided I’ll stick to what I have with the ECW and not buy any more until I’ve had a few games to see how the rules play. Then it’ll be move forward with 3mm .

[Jon Williams]

Thaddeus I quite agree on the use of PVA adhesive, I find it strong enough to hold everything I’ve based so far, and as you say it’s a hell of a lot easier to take apart if necessary.

I’ll have to get my act together and finish the ECW project and start playing the polemos ECW rules and see how they work, I wish now I had bought 20mm by 30 mm bases and based the musketeers and pikes separately, but I’m not going to re base just yet , I’ll give the rules a few games and see how things pan out.

[Mr. Average]

I definitely have had to get used to living with my “mistakes,” but that’s okay. At 3mm scale it’s usually just been the infantry and with the economical little packs I just keep loads around for when I change my mind.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

No, I’m basing them to the new standard in the photo above! Right now, most of them are on those dark 20x20mm bases.

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

[Jon Williams]

True enough Mr Average, I’m looking at 3 mm scale now as a way to try different periods for less outlay, and space hopefully to set up a game play it of an evening and I’ve not had to re arrange the furniture.

I’ve had little success trying to find canvases of 60 cm by 30cm, but have had notifications off Amazon re interlocking foam mats which are 30.5cm by 30.5cm and 10 mm thick a pack of which will cover 6ft x 4ft for a little over £20 which is sorely tempting me.

I’m terrible for starting projects and leaving them unfinished when something else catches my eye so I must resolve myself to finish project 1 first, I believe I can run the Dark Angels and ACW side by side and switch things about it shouldn’t cost a great deal to get to forces up and running with them and hopefully by then Bacchus will be running a more normal service and I can delve into Pony Wars again, and again have a fun game with a small surface area.

Limited time is a big problem, what with work a family commitments, I don’t know how others feel regarding painting figures, but I have to really be in the mood to do it and sometimes that doesn’t correspond to the time I have lol.

[Jon Williams]

Well in that case Thaddeus I think it’s a really wise choice your new basing system looks totally awesome, the figures really pop and you can form columns of march , line and more, that’s what’s bugging me with the ECW I’ve based, I see the sense in a big base but miss being able to have a marching column, plus if I’d based them on 20x 30 mm bases I could easily form all shot or all pike units, damn I really should stop thinking lol

[Jon Williams]

Gulp I’ve just sent off another order to vanguard, getting a Trojan transport pool, a Mailer transport pool for the termies, the transports I had for them I’ll use for the librarian stand, chaplain stand and Captain stand as command vehicles, I’ve also gone for the novan elites 6mm small thunderhawk proxy to be  the carrier for my assault squads, the gulp was for me totaling up my spend so far nearly £50 for 1 full company plus transports, I was hoping to get another marine company but they’re out of stock 😭

[Jon Williams]

Back to the topic in hand, I’ve just sanded 10 bases for my Trojan/Rhino APCs, I’ll definitely need slightly larger bases for the landraider proxy, also just had confirmation my order from vanguard has been posted so happy days.

I’ve gone for the Trojan transport pool, that’ll give me enough APCs for a 2nd company/ or large pre heresy company with the transport pool you also get 12 turrets with twin storm bolters, and 12 with twin las cannons, my plan is to have 3  for each company done as razorbacks 2 with storm bolter turrets which will transport the captain command stand and the other a lieutenant stand for my tactical squads, the third will mount a twin las cannon turret and will be the command vehicle for a lieutenant command squad for the devastator squads.

The razorbacks will be my command vehicles, and additional fire support to the squads they’re with, well that’s the plan lol.

Any turrets not used will hopefully end up as parts of fortifications.

[Jon Williams]

Talking of basing failure 70% fail on basing my Trojans, it was all looking good until 7 of the 10 parted ways with the base, so busy re sanding said bases and cleaning off the tracks arrrrgh

[Jon Williams]

[Jon Williams]

I’ve named them Faith, Hope and Charity lol

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Nice! These are three mm? How’d they fall off? Were you using white glue or super glue?

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

[Jon Williams]

Hi Thaddeus yep they’re my 3mm Trojan/Rhino APCs,I used PVA glue to sand the base, then did my normal wash with a dark brown and dry brush with 3 lighter tan shades, then glued with super glue then on picking them up I noticed the vehicles were starting to come away from the base all except for Faith, Hope and Charity lol it was only on the areas the super glue came into contact, after cleaning up the bases so I’ve pvad the area again sanded and left overnight, so hopefully it’ll work 2nd time around.

I was looking at my spend so far and have been thinking perhaps this could be a costly side project trying to do it all myself as is so I’ll await my new arrivals and get them ready and see how the gods of wargaming lead me lol.

How’s your ACW re basing going ?

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Almost finished with the Union. I’ll have some photos of them up, presently.

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

[Jon Williams]

[Jon Williams]

65 Deathwing in a box can you spot the chaplain and librarian ?

[Deleted User]

I can see the chaplain and librarian in the photo, but I wonder how they’ll look in game and spread out. The chaplain darker colors kind of blend into the base while the librarian is very similar to the grunts.

[Jon Williams]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>True enough Thomaston, I have toyed with trying s light green drybrush on the bases, but overall I’m happy with them, whether I’ll remember to play the chaplain and librarian in the game that’s a good point lol, I’ll be sending for another affray company, and my first bash will be Dark Angels fighting their Fallen brethren , so that’ll solve the cost an an opponent and get me back into the game.</p>

[Jon Williams]

Finally hopefully found a base for an attempt at modular terrain 60cm by 60cm interlocking floor mats, £12 for 6 in B&Q, only 10 mm thick tho.

My thoughts I’ve been thinking about attaching polystyrene to the tiles and I’m also thinking about attaching the edging to the tiles as I think it’ll be easier working on a square rather than trying to plan things taking into account the teeth of the mats.

Awaiting the arrival of 25 600 x 400 10 mm thick polystyrene slabs, and a hot knife, the hope is to attach the polystyrene to the mats and to use the knife to cut in roads and rivers, I have loads of corrugated cardboard which I’m planning to use to make that hills.

Two reasons why I am trying the square approach instead of using the interlocking teeth on the tile, A it’ll be easier running roads and rivers and getting a good match without to much headwork .

B ihad been thinking about possible damage when piecing together and taking apart.

My search for canvases was hitting a dead end especially in price so saw these and thought bargain lol

[Jon Williams]

Back to the drawing board, I’ve had 2 days off work so began marking out the teeth of the foam mats onto the polystyrene sheets.

Results total failure, I tried the hot wire first ended up with the edges beveled and gaps to wide, next attempt was with the hot knife edges were much better but still to big a gap when joined.

So back to the drawing board, I was hoping to use the polystyrene to give a little extra thickness and hopefully  a little more rigidity to the tiles and also to cut in rivers to give them a depth.

As is I might try using the hot knife the carve out a channel at least a few mms deep and try that, as for the polystyrene that’ll be used to provide hills at least for my 6mm.

The best layed plans of mice and men oft times go astray 🤪

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

You can use a sharp woodworking tool to gouge the rivers out of the PVA mats. You’ll have to lay down a thick layer of glue or resin afterwards to smooth them out, but I think that would work.

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

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

PVA is such a bitch to smooth, neh?

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

[Jon Williams]

Lol thanks Thaddeus I think I’ll raid my dad’s old tool box and look for some chisels and try them out I was planning on trying to run a clear acrylic sealant along the rivers after painting them in

[Deleted User]

One way to get a smooth groove is to use heated tea/table spoon to trace the river. Tea spoon might be a bit narrow for rivers but makes good streams and good for deepening the table spoon groove. You’ll need a candle and preferrably a copper spoon but any metal spoon would do. A thick glove or cloth to hold the spoon is advisable. Use the bottom of the spoon until you’re comfortable with how the foam reacts. Do the whole river before going back to deepen it for more consistant look. Also a wiggly river is better than a straight one if the foam bending is a concern.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Jon Williams wrote:

Lol thanks Thaddeus I think I’ll raid my dad’s old tool box and look for some chisels and try them out I was planning on trying to run a clear acrylic sealant along the rivers after painting them in

Just make sure they are sharp and stay sharp.

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

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Deleted User wrote:

One way to get a smooth groove is to use heated tea/table spoon to trace the river. Tea spoon might be a bit narrow for rivers but makes good streams and good for deepening the table spoon groove. You’ll need a candle and preferrably a copper spoon but any metal spoon would do. A thick glove or cloth to hold the spoon is advisable. Use the bottom of the spoon until you’re comfortable with how the foam reacts. Do the whole river before going back to deepen it for more consistant look. Also a wiggly river is better than a straight one if the foam bending is a concern.

 

And, FFS, don’t let your partner catch you doing this.

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

[Jon Williams]

Lol luckily happily divorced and single no worries on that front. Just been to the local Hobbycraft bought the last 2 and a half meters of dark green felt with the thought of sticking it over the tiles and trimming off

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Check it out, gentlemen! I snagged a 1:700 scale elder dragon, originally made for the Spartan Games fantasy naval combat system.  Here she sits in her Pinesol paint stripping bath, being taunted by some orcs. Now THAT’S a dragon.

Robert Mapplethorpe ain’t got nothin’ on me!

I am thinking of making this a high elf ally and sticking a rider on its back. What do you reckon? Any ideas as to what sort of paint job I should give it?

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

[Jon Williams]

<b>Being a proud Welshman Thaddeus there’s only one colour for a dragon that’s red my friend 😂.</b>

Nice irks by the way they 6mm ?

[Author]

Posts