Sabots and Magnets

My latest change in the way I do things is use sabots and magnets as supplied by our good friends at Warbases.

A sabot looks like this:

This is a 4x2 with 1p (UK) slots and precut magnet holes. Ideal for an 8 figure group in Sharp Practice.

Here are the magnets, 5mm wide by 2mm deep, same as the holes in the MDF. They are small and powerful. I would be careful putting them near a credit card or any other electro-magnetic storage device.

This is a sabot with magnets installed.

As it happens the first one or two times I used these the magnets were slightly smaller than the holes so I secured them with a touch of superglue. This time I had to gently enlarge the holes with a small round file as the magnets wouldn't otherwise fit in. They did not need glued.

This is a completed sabot base (2x2 for Black Powder) with figures based on UK one pennies which are steel centred.

Matching up the terrain on the pennies with the terrain on the sabot marries the two together.

Tipping the sabot over does not dislodge the figures.

Nor does turning the sabot over.

The beauty of this technique is that you can have the same figures mounted on 2x2's for Black Powder and 4x2's for Sharp Practice. Just change the sabot. If you have a ruleset which requires 3x2's just make more sabots.

Woodland Indians - Hurons

If you go down to my woods today you'll sure get a big surprise.

Well I did.

I actually finished a unit, first time for at least a couple of months. Amazing what a touch of laziness tempered with a lack of focus and a four week holiday in the sun can do to you.

So, here are a group of 12 Huron Indians sans leader as part of my Sharp Practice French 1755 force.

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18&zenid=41b630253e13b125a522a9bdf72fea3f

Figures by Galloping Major.

http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/index.htm

Painted by my good hands, mucked up by my bad eyes.

Figure bases by Her Majesty's Mint, sabots by Warbases.

http://www.royalmint.com/home

http://war-bases.co.uk/

Note the embedded magnets.

What do you think guys?

UK Politics

I must admit I am not a very clever man but I have always got by.

The current political system in the UK is in terrible disarray. I don't understand what is happening.

I like to use analogies to explain things.

Here is my best stab at UK politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZwGk5xmlq0

Tribal Award by Galloping Major

As a thank you for completing my massive charity sale on behalf of a deceased chum I awarded myself an prize comprising of a tribe of Huron warriors for my new French & Indian project.

They are by Galloping Major, 5 packs of 6 figures at a tenner each plus postage and measure in at 31-32mm from foot to top of head so I would consider them to be heroic sized 28's. I also received a 'freebie' character figure.

http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/

 

 

These will form the native allies to my French forces for the French & Indian War but will have to wait for painting as I'm just about to pack up for a month in the sun.

 



My Day at Carronade 2016

Yesterday I visited one of the best of the Scottish shows, Carronade in Falkirk.

I ran, with the help of a couple of friends, a trade stand some of which was in support of charity.

After a slow start we did manage to clear away a fair bit of the goodies that we had on view raising about £140 for charity, £20 of which went to a neighbouring charity stand in support of Motor Neuron Disease and another £20 to the Falkirk Club for their own charity so about £100 was added to the Combat Stress fund.

I also sold a few of my own un-needed items which went towards my AWI project, my 10mm WW2 project and my new Sharp Practice project.

The AWI project saw the addition of 6 packs of Kallistra British regulars at £30.

My 10mm WW2 project gained some MDF buildings from the Pendraken (or was it Minibits) Bargain Box, £42 worth discounted down to a tenner.

My new Sharp Practice project saw the purchase of the new edition of the rules at £25 (holiday reading).

I also snapped up a unit of French infantry for the French and Indian Wars which I could sneak into my AWI project as well. The figures are by Crann Tara and cost me £30 on the day.

Finally my supplies section received support from Magnetic Displays at £8.

A nice but exhausting day out so I'm sure all of you will not mind that I'm off to the Sunshine State next weekend. A month in the sun, no kids, no family, no wargames, no problem.

Cart Blanche or in this case Cart Vert

I recently agreed to preview some newer products from an MDF company (whom I'm sure you know). A fairly hefty parcel landed on my doorstep soon afterwards and here is some of what came to follow. They are all suitable for 28mm figures.

I first looked at the Engineers Cart, a Warbases production endorsed by Two Fat Lardies (hi Rich) and priced at £6.

The kit comprised of a couple of sheets of laser cut MDF and a lump of resin cunningly formed into a wagon load of engineering goodies.

The MDF easily broke down into a number of components.

These parts went together quite easily but I did spot one little hiccup (which is the bane of many MDF models). The planking of the cart sides could be visible from both inside and outside the wagon body. I put the planking detail to the inside as this is the most visible at tabletop height.

The kit comes sans chevaux but that is easily solved by the selection of one of several suitable horses available from Warbases. This adds another £2 or £2.50 depending on your choice.

A coat of paint transforms them thus.

Note: The planking is only on one side of the MDF so I marked the blank side in a similar fashion with a lining pen.

I painted this one in French Artillery Green as I expect it to join a friends Napoleonic French Army but it is sufficiently generic to enhance many armies and periods.

So, what do you think of my Cart Vert?

The next pack I looked at was a French 6 pdr artillery piece including a limber in the Gribeauval style. It is priced at £4.50.

This glued up very nicely, only took a few minutes.

I made one small addition to the gun. I added a couple of little brackets over the trunnions. I made these from spare pieces of card from the other kits. It adds just a little bit of detail which improves the appearance enormously.

The gun and limber paint up nicely.

(Painting Tip: I basecoat bronze gun barrels in a chocolately brown before dry brushing with bronze and highlighting with gold)

I'm not sure yet whether I am going to complete this model as limbered or unlimbered.

I'll need to source some gunners. I think there are some in the Perry range.

I also added a couple of horses as you do!

All in all a nice little kit. (Wonder if there are 12 pdrs in the pipeline?)

Of course Artillery doesn't last long in a game if you don't have an ammunition supply.

A problem easily solved with an Ammunition Wagon (£3.00).

Or even some Caissons (£4.00 each).

Of course you'll need some more horses (£2.00 to £2.50 each).

All these horses need a bit of shoeing from time to time.

No problem! Call for the Blacksmith.

Sorry, but the Blacksmith isn't quite available at the moment but his Field Forge (£4.00) is.

I made a couple of little changes to the kit. I changed the screen between the bellows and the coals from a rectangular shape to a curved shape. All the illustrations I could find supported this. I also added a few small pebbles with a cunning little paintjob to suggest a hot coalbed.

A nice little set which can be modelled both limbered up and deployed ready for forging.

Since the Artillery get all these nice support vehicles the rest of the Army also gets into the act.

There is not One:

Not Two:

But Three different Baggage Wagons (all at £4.50 each).

Again, they are an easy build.

And, they paint up nicely.

All the based models above are on MDF bases, from Warbases and are 50mm wide and a variety of lengths from 100mm, 110mm and 120mm.

The paintjobs are very simple (apart from the horses). None of the MDF was primed or undercoated. A straight basecoat of French Artillery Green (Howard Hues), metal parts base coated black, dry brushed gun metal, canvas in, well, canvas colours, everything washed in Army Painter Acrylic Soft Tone and matt varnished with Winsor & Newton Galeria Artists Matt Varnish.

My painting style for horses is detailed here:

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/a-troopers-tale.html

Gravel and Sand from a wee box in my bottom drawer and static grass from Kallistra.

Now is a good time to browse the many new products which many of the trade suppliers and manufacturers are diversifying into. There's a whole new world out there. A good place to start would be Warbases, I'll be at their stand first thing this Saturday morning coming at Carronade.

Rolls Royce for Size (Scale or Whatever)

This is a quick size comparison: (for a webfriend)

 

The Rolls Royce Armoured Car here is 1:56 (or 28mm).

 

The figure (Valiant Miniatures) is 1:72, often equated to 20mm.

 

 

Gamewise these are just about useable together, particularly if you base the figure appropriately.

However, I do understand that Valiant Miniatures are large-ish compared to other 1:72 manufacturers so the size mismatch may not improve.

Can anyone help here?