More Tiny Terrain

 You have probably noticed a delay in fighting the next Dark Ages campaign battle.  That is due to my wanting to create a better terrain piece for the boggy ground which is going to be used in that battle.  I made an initial version a few weeks ago but wasn't at all happy with the design or the execution, to be blunt, it looked pants!  I did like a couple of things and I learned some useful lessons.  The key lesson being that Woodlands Scenics' Realistic Water shrinks as it sets and can warp the terrain base if a large area of water is being modelled, even with thin pours.  I did learn that it is worth taking time to paint the area under the water to show deepening water through darkening colours though.

This time I changed the design.  I decided that using several small areas of water on a felt former would be easier to model and less prone to problems.  It cuts down the chance of warpage and gives flexibility as the water elements can be used on different felt outlines for different shape/sizes of boggy ground.  

I used some heavy card salvaged from some packaging for the base layer of the pools, I painted the under side with a cheap craft acrylic to help stop warping. I then edged each pool shape with my normal PVA and sand mix which was left to dry for a couple of hours until hard. I followed that with a dry brush over the sand in an orange tawny colour to represent the sedges and reeds fringing the open water and gave a final dry brush of olive green for the areas of new growth.  Once that had dried I worked on the pool floor areas which were painted chocolate brown, then a darker brown then black in concentric rings from the edge towards the centre to give the look of deepening water.  This looks a bit stark at this stage but pouring the water effect compound in the final stage softens the impact.  A word of advice here DO NOT shake up the realistic water as it creates bubbles which are next to impossible to remove from the pour. 

I pour some of the realistic water into a container and add some blue acrylic ink to tint the clear fluid and gently mix it with a bamboo skewer (an old a brush handle would do just as well) the secret is to be slow with the stirring action as speed creates those pesky bubbles. You can use quite a deep tint as you are only going to use a thin layer of the water effect (although I went a bit OTT in this case).  That said where I grew up boggy water was always stained with peat so it needs to be dark.

The mark two bog!

The problem with the Realistic Water is avoiding bubbles and getting a smooth final finish right up to the edge of the pour area.  I used a small measuring syringe we get with liquid medicine for our dogs (not the sort with a needle) if you don't have dogs then they can be found online I'm sure.  I suck up a few mils of the tinted water effect in the syringe and place a few drops onto the bases and gently tease it out with the skewer point.  If you get any bubbles the syringe can be used to suck them back up which is a bonus. By using the skewer it ensures that the fluid flows right up to the edges and adding more drops of the 'water' once that is done gives the depth as it flows across the are already covered.  If there ant areas not covered just add a drop to that place.

Now comes the hard part! Put the terrain aside and wait 48 hours for the water effect to completely dry.  A good trick is to do a test piece you can check for drying so you don't ruin a piece you have spend time on...don't ask how I learned this it was a painful experience, but touching tacky water effect leaves marks that are impossible to smooth out or cover over!  

Looking at the photo I can see a couple of places where some touching up is needed along the edges of the water features and a couple of tufts of longer grass might add to the effect.   I may add a layer of clear to the water to mask the slight ridges in the card which are showing through too but overall I'm fairly happy with the look. 

Tiny Terrain

Building terrain is one of those things I do for fun or when I can't get exactly what I want from a retailer.  I often turn to terrain building when I'm in a bit of a painting slump to give me a change of focus.  Terrain is more freestyle than figure painting as I create from scratch rather than try to recreate an actual uniform or colour palette.  Plus I only make a single version of each.  Over the years I have built lots of small scale items and a selection is presented below.  Mostly made from bits from the parts box or stuff I found laying around.  

First up are a pair of log bunkers I made for World War Two micro armour games about 15 years ago.  made from matchsticks and cocktail sticks held together by a generous blob of Bostick.

Log bunkers.   Not sure that the flock works though.

Next up are two bridges which are the first 6mm terrain items I ever made, probably in the early 1990's when I started getting into 6mm in a big way.  Back then there was very little 6mm terrain to be had, and in any event I didn't have a lot of cash to splash.  They are for general pre-mechanised era games and still see a lot of action.  Construction is matchsticks and card.

Two versions of the one bridge - before and after a heavy traffic day

More recently I needed some ruined buildings so it was out with the cereal package card and the trusty matchsticks  plus some model railway ballast.  Floors were printed using MS Paint..  The floor plan is based on the block of terraced cottages I grew up in.  We lived in the right hand end house.  It seemed bigger when I was a child!

They looked better in reality, with roofs and everything

The sand dunes are the latest thing I have completed, they are primarily for DBA use. The dune shapes are from Milliput and textured with basing sand.  I'm not fully happy with them to be honest as the dunes should be 'thicker' in cross section with a longer downwind slope, but they will do for now.

 My favourites are the bridges, because they work as well for 2mm as for 6mm and they can cover a long period of history.  Which probably accounts for their gaming longevity and frequent use.  

I'm working on some DBA bog and swamp markers at the moment (I'm bored of painting horses and wanting a break) but I'm struggling to get the look I want.  I know how they should look but just can't get it right in small scale reproduction!  Any ideas gratefully accepted.

The Dark Ages campaign - 799AD Scots v Picts setting the stage

With the dawning of 799AD comes new strife. It's in the North in the lands of the Picts and Scots where a dispute over the little travelled region of Comgail has erupted into armed conflict. Although nominally allied under a single family in reality there are different clan allegiances within the ruling blood lines and it is by no means certain which line of descent will rule North of the Forth- Clyde line.  The Pictish side of the family have decided to strengthen their hand or at least weaken the Dal Raidian side

The Picts have assembled a royal army led by High-King  Caustantin mac Fergus which extends the area they can recruit from.  The Dal Raidian Scots have a much smaller recruitment base but are assembling every fighting man they can muster under their King Taidg mac Donncoirce.  For this clash the forces arrayed are as follows:

Pictia will have two commands.  King Caustantin has the first command of 8 elements and the Mormaer of Moravin commands the second made up of 12 elements.  These consist of:

• The King (Cv) plus 1 x Cv, 4 x 3Pk and 2 x Ps.
• Mormaer of Moravin (Cv) plus 1 x Cv, 2 x LH, 5 x 3Pk and 2 x Ps.

While Dal Raidia is fielding a single command of 11 elements commanded by King Taidg

The King (4Ax) plus 3 x 4Ax, 5 x 3Wb and 2 x Ps

This is the second outing for the Picts in this campaign turn and losses from the earlier fighting have reduced their numbers.  Strath Erin is still recovering from casualties suffered against the men of Alt Clut.

The Dal Raidian Scots will be the defenders and will choose the terrain.  The dice gave me the Scots so I can determine the terrain without using the solo rules.  Their home terrain is Littoral so I chose a waterway (compulsory) a difficult hill, a marsh and a woods.  It will look something like the image below.  Picts deploy on the bottom edge Scots on the top.

It will look something like this.

In reality we don't know for certain who was king of Dal Raidia at the turn of the 8th Century.  the Annals of Ulster give names but these may have only been kings of the Irish Dal Raidians.  Still I needed a name for the campaign so King Taidg mac Donncoirce it is.

The hunt for a Late Imperial Roman shield pattern

back when I war gamed with 25mm Hinchcliffes I bought a copy of 'What the Soldiers wore on Hadrian's Wall' from lovely little bookshop on The Shambles in York.  Long gone now of course as online book stores have conquered most of the world.  The book was written by H Russell Robinson and illustrated by Ronald Embleton.  

A classic and still worth a read

It has some lovely colour plates including this one which was Late Imperial Roman period.  As a modeller the thing which grabbed my attention was the nice simple shield pattern and a British association to boot! The booklet only describes the carriers as Roman soldiers of the 4th Century.

It's the shield that grabbed my attention.

The same pattern (albeit the other way up) crops up again in the Osprey Men at Arms title 'The Roman Army from Hadrian to Constantine' again illustrated by Ronald Embleton.

It's that shield again

The same shield (perhaps) this time described as Infantrymen c. 300 - 400AD.  There is still no identification of the unit or where the design comes from.  It's not in the Notitia Dignitatum and the Osprey simply states the design is associated with infantry of the period in the sketches...of H Russell Robinson.  

I hunted but could find no source for the shield but it was a nice simple design pattern to pain and one of my Hinchcliffe legions received it.  Since then I have reproduced the shield on 6mm Late Imperial Romans from irregular miniatures and am currently re doing that unit using Baccus 6mm figures.  However, in the 30 odd years since putting brush to 25mm Hinchcliffe legionary I had never found any original source for the design or even anything close.

Then in one of those little side expeditions we all tend to take when looking something up on Google I found this.  It comes from this really useful site http://lukeuedasarson.com/NotitiaPatterns.html in the section discussing the authenticity of the illustrations in the Notitia.  In a link to an article on Roman Shield patterns of the 3rd Century I spotted this which is from Piazza-Amerina Mosaics a set of 4th Century hunting scenes.

At last I found a source

I still can't tie it back to an actual military unit but at least I have a clear example of the basic design.  some times Google really does come good.

Random thoughts # 10 - catching up on my music backlog

 I recently discovered the joy of Spotify the music streaming service.  I normally either listen to CD's, vinyl, or iTunes all of which are my own purchases.  Spotify is a free service which allows me to listen to stuff I might not necessarily wanted to buy but did want to listen to again or in some cases listen to for the first time.

Now I'm of a 'certain age' my teenage years spanned the late 60's and early 70's so there is a fair amount of music from that period which I recall but haven't listened too in the intervening years, and as I said some I have never listened to at all.  A prime example of that is Lindisfarne.  I have the first three albums but hadn't heard any of the later stuff other than singles on the radio.  The break up in 75 spawned Jack the lad who I saw live once but never sat down and listened to on record.  Coming to it with fresh ears after 45 years was 'interesting'.  I made me realise how much of the pull of the music from that time is based on the memories it triggers and not necessarily the music itself.  A lot of it is good music but it simply doesn't speak to me in the way stuff I knew well back then does.  it's almost an intellectual exercise listening to it as I can hear not just the band I am listening to but the echoes of bands they have influenced (possibly at two or three removes) that I do know well.  Bands I expected to really enjoy have done very little for me while bands that I didn't expect to enjoy suddenly ring a chord and I realise that I know a track because I have heard it before.  in other cases bands I once liked but haven't heard in years have caused me to wonder what I ever liked about them!  

But the most saddening thing is finding a service that opens so many doors into the past and finding some doors are resolutely shut as the records are not available.  I guess I may never hear those again unless I find a CD in a charity shop.  Curse you Spotify you have made me melancholic!