Yesterday was reasonably productive here in Stollen Central. The slate grey sky and blustery November weather surely helped that!
Most of the afternoon was spent carefully cutting out hills and ridges from 1.5" thick sheets of styrofoam packing material, which I have carefully hoarded since last April, when the Grand Duchess and I purchased several new book cases for our library, which came packed in the stuff. Much to my joy, many of these sheets were 72" long by 22" wide, along with all kinds of additional odd-sized chunks and sheets of the stuff. Much Sonja's chagrin, all of this stuff has been taking up space in a basement alcove next to Zum Stollenkeller ever since. Ah, marital bliss! ;-)
Anyway, careful examination of the scenario map in Charles Grant's "Reconnaissance in Force" Table Top Teaser (as featured in Battlegames #14) revealed that I needed to get busy with hills, so Jonathan Broadus and I have enough for our play-by-e-mail game, scheduled to commence on Saturday, November 29th. Look for details from the game, on a turn-by-turn basis, right here!
An hour or so later, I had enough hills and ridges cut out. Then, it was time for the Olympic "Meadow Green" latex paint. Managed to get one good coat of paint on six of the hills/ridges. Hopefully, I'll have time to apply a second coat this afternoon, following a walk with the Grand Duchess. Photos to follow this evening.
After a solo dinner (the Grand Duchess was away with students on a day-trip to the art museum in St. Louis, Missouri), I moved to the painting table, and went to work on those two vintage Spencer Smith figures that Jonathan sent me last week. Two hours later, one of these (the Zichenauer officer) was all finished, and mighty fine he looks if I dare say it myself. A picture of him will appear here after a coat of Future/Klear has been applied, but I am pleased with the way he turned out. A steady hand last night also meant that the application of colors on top of a black undercoat left crisp black lining behind, which help give these lovely old demi-ronde figures a bit of added depth. I also got started on this as-yet-still-anonymous Zichenauer officer's Stollenian counterpart.
And if that weren't enough, it looks like I might actually have that second squadron of Zichenauer hussars finished by our game-start date, so Jonathan very probably will have the choice of a squadron or two of gaudy hussars for his force. Hurrah! The translation is slowly coming to an end, which has meant that painting has picked up a bit here in the last week or so.
Ok, ladies and gentlemen -- Stay tuned for photographs later this evening!
Most of the afternoon was spent carefully cutting out hills and ridges from 1.5" thick sheets of styrofoam packing material, which I have carefully hoarded since last April, when the Grand Duchess and I purchased several new book cases for our library, which came packed in the stuff. Much to my joy, many of these sheets were 72" long by 22" wide, along with all kinds of additional odd-sized chunks and sheets of the stuff. Much Sonja's chagrin, all of this stuff has been taking up space in a basement alcove next to Zum Stollenkeller ever since. Ah, marital bliss! ;-)
Anyway, careful examination of the scenario map in Charles Grant's "Reconnaissance in Force" Table Top Teaser (as featured in Battlegames #14) revealed that I needed to get busy with hills, so Jonathan Broadus and I have enough for our play-by-e-mail game, scheduled to commence on Saturday, November 29th. Look for details from the game, on a turn-by-turn basis, right here!
An hour or so later, I had enough hills and ridges cut out. Then, it was time for the Olympic "Meadow Green" latex paint. Managed to get one good coat of paint on six of the hills/ridges. Hopefully, I'll have time to apply a second coat this afternoon, following a walk with the Grand Duchess. Photos to follow this evening.
After a solo dinner (the Grand Duchess was away with students on a day-trip to the art museum in St. Louis, Missouri), I moved to the painting table, and went to work on those two vintage Spencer Smith figures that Jonathan sent me last week. Two hours later, one of these (the Zichenauer officer) was all finished, and mighty fine he looks if I dare say it myself. A picture of him will appear here after a coat of Future/Klear has been applied, but I am pleased with the way he turned out. A steady hand last night also meant that the application of colors on top of a black undercoat left crisp black lining behind, which help give these lovely old demi-ronde figures a bit of added depth. I also got started on this as-yet-still-anonymous Zichenauer officer's Stollenian counterpart.
And if that weren't enough, it looks like I might actually have that second squadron of Zichenauer hussars finished by our game-start date, so Jonathan very probably will have the choice of a squadron or two of gaudy hussars for his force. Hurrah! The translation is slowly coming to an end, which has meant that painting has picked up a bit here in the last week or so.
Ok, ladies and gentlemen -- Stay tuned for photographs later this evening!
Comments
Alan
Stokes, I don't know just how you are doing your hills, but if you've cut them on an angle please be aware that the 'thin edges' are very prone to chipping.
Yes, paint helps . . . but so does some white glue.
Have a great game!
-- Jeff
I base my styrofoam hills on the hardboard/masonite stuff and they've held up well (not many games played with them yet - just the long ago fantasy stuff before I got sucked* into 18th century ImagiNations! *happily :-D). The styrofoam used in packing is generally not very sturdy so definitely some protection is a good idea.