Cemetary, 10mm

Hello there! I completed this recently, for a wargaming friend. He uses a number of 10mm size buildings for his games using 15mm figures. This smaller building footprint makes it more practicable and more fitting for the ground scale used in many different rule sets on the market.

Considering that this was only about four inches square this little model was packed with detail. I placed the head stones against the wall, along one side, so that figures could be placed inside the surrounding wall.

Desert Terrain Drop on Items Part Two

Hello there! With a few days off work I have been able to make some progress with some projects.

I originally used loose Cotswold Buff Chippings, spread randomly over the games table. This made it a bit of a chore to tidy up afterwards and players simply moved them out of the way when it suited them. Probably not something that happened while under fire!

When I introduced a game rule that they could not be moved, it proved very unpopular and slowed the game up a lot.

With rocks fixed to drop on bases they can also be used  as hard cover as well.  

 

These have all been painted, in yellow ochre, washed in watered down raw umber and burnt umber and dry brushed in various mixed shades of yellow ochre, and buff titanium. These are all artists paints and they allow you to keep your terrain a consistent colour and shade. Especially useful as I have been adding to my terrain stash over a number of years.

The Buff Titanium is very close to Iraqui sand from the Vallejo Model Colour range. I have previously made my own stock of this colour by mixing Raw Umber, White and Yellow Ochre to suit. I also add neat PVA for extra grip, (as I use this to dry brush the desert terrain before varnishing), so it holds the sawdust surface of the terrain together and hardens the surface up.

 

I have also added a slight shade of pale pink and red to the terrain, as it matched the the larger rocks above.

Here are some SHQ British Mediterranean infantry to give you and idea of the size of these drop on items. I do need to dry brush the infantry bases again!

I may add to these at a later date but have enough for a game, at the moment.

Latest shelving for the wargames Cabin

Hello There! This last week, I have managed to make more progress in the wargames cabin. This has meant I am able to provide some storage for the, (Ah Hem!), rather large amount of scenery and wargaming paraphernalia, that I have made over the years!

I had a load of modular scenery, which was stored in really useful boxes. It occurred to me that while everything was already on trays I could construct a set of racking which could hold the metal trays that I already had. After a load of drilling and painting I came up with this.

As the trays are heavy, I placed a support at the rear of the rack.

Next up a similar set of shelves that could hold some of the smaller desert terrain tiles. Thankfully they fitted snugly together in one corner of the cabin.

With these now packed away in the corner, I can now get back to completing the last amount of painting to complete the desert terrain and the drop on items to suit.

Ancient/Old Style Haystacks

Hello There! Now that I have ceased trading, in my small business, I have had the opportunity to transfer some of the completed scenery to my collection. 

I made the original masters for these. I had seen many resin examples of haystacks and none seemed to be historically accurate. After a little searching I came up with these.

This partial haystack is based on a thin sheet of plywood, painted, washed, dry brushed and flocked.

This s a complete haystack. treated the same as the partial haystack above and can be dotted around the battlefield to break up the open areas on the board.

I have a few unpainted items and plan to add to these painted versions soon.

Battle of Quatre Bras 16 June 1815

Hello there! I have started to catch up on some of the games I have attended at the New Buckenham Historical wargames Club.

The original buildings at Quatre Bras, are now sadly demolished. I visited the site in 2016 and the area was boarded off but I managed to get some photos of the buildings before they were lost.

These are 3D printed buildings.

There were plenty of extra figures on the table.

The Waterloo Panorama has these figures on it. These are Perry Sculpts.

This was a very enjoyable game with many club members in attendance.

There are further pictures on the New Buckenham Historical wargamers Facebook page here.

The Royal Armouries, Leeds, 2025

Hello There! As I had arranged to visit the FIASCO show I also went into the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The wargaming show is held in the Royal Armouries building, next door to the exhibition area. It was difficult to find a parking space as we had a mobile home but managed in the end and not was not too far away from the venue.

I could have spent all day taking photographs as the collection is so comprehensive and spans a very large part of military history. However that would have meant I would have not been able to 'take in' everything. 

This was a commission by David Marshall and the Perry Twins.

The lighting was poor and the glass cabinet it was in caused a lot of reflections. Suffice to say it is a spectacular display and the figure painting is of good wargaming quality.

There is another blog here, which has better pictures than I was able to get. It also includes further photographs of the Sibourne Waterloo Diorama below.

The firearms display is massive but among the exhibits, this was a strange subject!

There was a full size diorama of a couple of figures set in the Waterloo period.

I did not realise that there were two Siborne dioramas. I have seen the other one in the National Army Museum, which is much bigger than the one here. The figures are approximately 15 to 18mm.

As you can see its not just wargamers who have joins in their wargaming boards!

Overall the museum was very large and comprehensive, going up to the modern day.

It is highly recommended for a visit, and perhaps next time we shall go in small transport so that we can more easily park!