Home Depot(s)

The Winter 1807 Campaign is just 15 days away now, and we need some markers for supply Depots. Each side will have a small number of these, which will serve as the terminus of their line of communications/supply route.

  I made these from of set of Renedra plastic sacks acquired at Historicon last year, some square MDF bases from Litko, white glue and some flock. We decided that it needed to be obvious to the players what they were if they encountered one on the table, hence the subtle labeling!

Over exposed and color balance off due to bright AM sunshine today, but still a useful close up of the simple construction. 

Various markers can be placed in the depot space for extra visual appeal. I think the wolf marker denotes a looted Depot, though!

Markers Made - Muskets and Blades!

    After the White Plains game in Tarrytown a month ago, it seemed to Jared and me that we could use some additional markers to indicate infantry units that had used their "First Fire" bonus, and also Leaders who needed to check for survival on the next Army Morale card. With the big Semiwitz game coming on, and some time off Thanksgiving week, it seemed a good time to produce some.

    From all the Old Glory cavalry I've been painting recently, I accumulated a large stock of spare parts that seemed to me to be ideal for the purpose. Many of the Old Glory Napoleonic Cavalry come supplied with Carbines. However, these have to be glued in place on the assembled horse and rider. Not happening as far as I am concerned; way too fiddly for my tastes, plus highly likely to come off as the troops are manhandled in the heat of battle.  However, they seemed to me to be tailor made for use as markers, battlefield debris, or the like. It turned out I had about 80 of them!

So, I glued the lot of them to 1 inch round MDF bases, using white/PVSA glue.  (I had so many carbines that I ran out of my supply of these, so the rest were glued to thinner and slightly smaller (about 20mm diameter) wood circles bought by the bag in 3 assorted sizes at Michael's craft stores at a very low price. Once the glue dried, they were sprayed with white primer. 

Many of the old Glory cavalry also come with separate sword arms; there are usually quite a few more arms than are needed for the figures in each bad - it turned out I had about 25 spare arms. These were glued to the largest size of the Michael's Wood circles (probably about 30mm diameter), and once again primed once the white glue had dried.

I then painted the elements - just dark brown and Oily steel for the carbines, and for the Leader Check markers I used 4 different color schemes for the "arms" Dark blue faced red (French/Prussian theme), Dark Green faced red (Russian theme), Red faced dark blue (British theme), and White faced light blue (Austrian theme). The sword blades were painted silver and the hilts Old Gold. 

The markers were then flocked - for the carbine/musket markers, I used thinned white glue with a mix of fine dark green and golden yellow flock - this is a different mix from my other markers ("Chickens" and "Rocks"); this was intentional to reduce the chances of mistaking them for a different kind of marker.

The Leader Check markers got flocked with ultrafine Dark Earth flock, once again very different than my other markers. Between the obvious design, larger foot print, and different flocking, there is little chance these will be mistaken for something else!

A Feast for Crows

As some of you may know, we like to use various animals as markers for Disorder/Out of Command, etc. in our games, referred to generically as "chickens", from the most prevalent variety that we have. I'm always on the lookout for new types, so when Mega Miniatures  announced that they would be ceasing production in 2013 and selling off their molds, I bought a bunch of their various types of birds and animals, which will gradually appear here. It just happened that I finished up the crows and a few others last night, and someone asked about the availability of 28mm ravens on TMP, so this post came to the top of the "to do list"!

Mega Minis crows with some Redoubt Renaissance casualty figures. 

George R. R. Martin would be proud of the carnage, no doubt.  "I find Lannister most to my liking!"

Here are the crows by themselves. They were painted Payne's Grey (a very dark blue grey), dry brushed Purple and then dry brushed again with Hippo Grey, a medium dark neutral grey. I gave them red eyes and yellow bills to make them standout a bit more, but strictly speaking both should be black. 

I did a little reading on Crows before I painted them - they are supposedly among the most intelligent of all birds, use tools, and cooperative strategies as well. All Crows (and Ravens) belong to the genus Corvus, a word perhaps familiar to most wargamers as the name given to the spiked boarding plank device used by Romans to even the naval aspect of the conflict between Rome and Carthage during the 2nd Punic War. Various species of Crows are found on all continents except Antarctica. Crows figure prominently in American Indian and other mythologies... as much as they are hated by farmers!

  

Along with the rows, I got a couple of squirrels. My daughter  having worked in a vet;s office for years (and presently in Veterinary school), we have rehabilitated quite a number of orphaned baby squirrels over the years - they are quite affectionate when they are young, and ordinarily are not weaned until they are 3-4 months of age. They are wild animals, though, and have to be released when ready, both for their own benefit and by law. 

 "Hmm, is that unit is acting a bit squirrelly?"

"Nah, the Commander is just nuts!"

(And one gamer at a convention asked us why we use animals as markers - well, they look a lot better than random chits, etc, and they are excellent fodder for bad jokes and one liners!) 

Now her's a fellow that I encountered coming out of the back door of the office late one night. At first I thought it was a stray cat - the staff had been leaving food out for one. Well, they attracted a Polecat, too! We put a stop to that after my nocturnal encounter, LOL!

"Your Generalship stinks!"

In our Napoleonic Imaginations campaign using Warplan 5/5, Barry's tongue in cheek country is Fuddland, with Elmer as ruler. Pepe le Peu holds some kind of office in the Fuddland Government; perhaps he'll appear on the tabletop in a future game?

Mini Flame and Fusion Blast Markers by Litko

I took advantage of the Litko Black Friday sale (20% off) to get some MDF bases that will be needed for coming additions to the Lead Legions. Of course with the money I "saved using the discount, I bought some markers for my Sci Fi Naval games....

Mini Flame Markers TS070 - 2 packs of 10, prior to assembly (one shown with "dry fit").

. 

The same after assembly using acrylic cement.

Fusion Blast Markers TS303 I got three packs of three - one pack sen prior to assembly - 3 pasrt to each marker. 

After assembly w/ Craftics #33 thick Acrylic Cement as suggested by Litko -  NCRAFT33. I am not a fan of plastic models in general and this is rather nasty to work with - smelly and sets ^very* quickly, flow is hard to control. They claim it takes 24 hrs to reach full strength, however. Adequate to the job, but not something I'd want to use every day!

Here are some of the markers used on my Entomalian ships - the Fusion Blast markers are for when the ship goes KABOOM, the mini-flame markers for having taken damage from enemy fire!

Another view of same. There are really all for visual enhancement of the game - they no effect upon game play. 

Not surprisingly the markers show up better on these mostly white Terran ships!   

"Have you seen the Terrans?" "They are only white!"  (very vague OA reference there). 

Another view - could use the mini-flames for near misses too (see the Stellar Destroyer with the markers not on the ship itself). Litko makes quite a few other markers for flames/explosions etc of various sizes... I may try some more styles with my next order of bases!

Farm (and other) animals on the wargames table

    While at Historicon last July, Barry pointed out to me two sets of barnyard type animals newly introduced by Architects of War, namely one of "Pigs" and another of "Chickens and a Fox". The figures are quite nice, but I especially had to have the Fox, as our small country town has been over run by semi tame foxes in the past year... I suspect due to escaped Foxes raised in captivity being released for the hunts that take place at times in our area. Anyway, as I've previously related, we use assorted animals (generically referred to as "chickens", but including those and other feathered friends, pigs, sheep, cows, etc) as markers in our games. Why?  They look good, and they're fun. Who can resist the opportunities for bad puns, etc, that arise with using these critters in the course of the game? All that keeps the game from getting too deadly serious and tedious as well.

Her's the painted contents of the two packs inserted into a pastoral scene; three rather sizable pigs, two piglets, five hens/roosters three chicks plus...    the FOX!

Here's the piggies all snug in their stye. The rather nice small fields seen at the top of the picture were also acquired at Historicon last year, this time in the flea market, for $5 each - an excellent value!

I painted whites of the eyes of the large pigs, which gives them a bit of a crazed look, LOL, but probably suitable for "Battle Pigs". No "Flaming Pigs" need apply, however.

Here's the hens, roosters, and chicks out pecking for grain, seen from above.

Another view of the chickens; the sculpting is very well done.

More chicken pics, and another shot with those fields in it as well. Is anyone looking out for the Fox? Guys?

"I tawt I taw a pootty-tat..."

"Long pointed snout,    Bushy tail...    and Sharp TEETH!"   It's the FOX! - Quick, everybody into the Coop!

Anyway, the Fox is just the thing to mark the disorder sewn among your troops by Michelle, the lady who adds a touch of class to the games of the Piquet/FoB crowd at Historicon! Now I just have to add some dogs to my animal collection!

Good gaming, have fun, and don't take our hobby *too* seriously!

Peter