Yet more terrain!

The TSS 'Space Saver. boards arrived today, along with the rural road sections and the resin river bridge from Small Terrain Miniature Scenery. I wasted no time in placing the boards on my table to bring it up to a full 6 x 4 wargame table. I'm happy to say that even in the small spare 'box room' there is ample space to move around the table. The room has been cleared of any unwanted stuff - it had been an art room for many years as our girls grew up, and then became a sort of storage room - and is ready for it's coat of paint. I'll just need to move the boards out into the hall while I redecorate, but it's a much  easier task than it would have been. I laid out some of the new  for a couple of photos, but it will need to go back into boxes, everything now stores beneath the table in units for which I bought loads of file boxes that are in the process of being labelled up. I would say that this is something I have wanted for many years, a dedicated wargame room where I can leave games set up with everything neat and tidy - I'm a tidy person.

I'm about done now with 28mm terrain, the rural roads are good for 15mm FoW games too as are the narrower river sections so it gives me flexibilty. I have loads of trees in both scales, the hedge sections make great 'bocage' in 15mm scale and standard hedges in Bolt Action. I only ever intend to fight tank battles with lots of tank models in 15mm.

More French and Indian War figures have gone off to John from Kingscolours, another 10 British Regulars, 7 Rogers Rangers, 6 Canadian Militia plus a French and British artillery crew each of 4 figures. All are front Rank. Intention is to bring the British regulars up to six companies each of 8 figures including a light company and Grenadier company, I'm slowly working on the later now. I'm keeping all the facings the same buff colour so they represent a regiment on the table of 48 figures! In Sharpe Practice these groups can operate individually or collectively, seems daft to have loads of different facings.

Here's the newly organised room with the 6 x 4 table up and a couple of shots of the shelves etc. I'm very gradually getting there.

The new 2 x 2 'Space Saver' terrain boards from TSS. These are just 20mm thick and much tougher than polystyrene.

A fast growing collection thanks to John from KingsColours.

Trees and hedges by Simon at S&A Scenics.

Resin cast bridge over river by Small Terrain Miniature Scenery as are roads and rivers.

And here is my new 'snug' painting desk downstairs in the lounge, much more sociable and comfortable. Researching British Grenadier caps for the figures I'm painting. I still use my trusty 30watt CFL 'daylight' bulb in a desk lamp for painting is it gives a really crisp clean light.

Indians, French line and news on BA 2nd edition.

John from 'Kings Colours' returned the 30 painted woodland Indians to me on Friday, having turned them around in 48 hours, I think they actually represented a days work! To say that I am delighted with the result 'in the flesh' is an understatement, the choice of shades and colours, especially the warpaint is excellent, and they have a nice consistency in detail that is just what I wanted. I will be placing a link to John's painting service on the blog shortly and I can highly recommend his services.

As you can see they represent a 'British' and 'French' allied warband, each of 12 warriors and a 'leader' in Sharpe Practice terms. There are a few extras that I will use later in vignettes etc. All the figures are by Front Rank. I have been researching the history of the native Americans with regard to the French and Indian War and it's a fascinating story.

Things are really coming together now and another 20 figures will be off for painting by John on Monday, they will bring the total of painted figures up to 100, more than enough for a first game of SP. I have done little painting myself recently, but have managed to complete the second company (or 'group') of French line. hat lace should be silver but it looked messy so went with white.

Some pics, tried to show as many of the Indians as possible to show the variety. Front Rank 28mm.

French line infantry painted by myself! Again all Front Rank.

Bolt Action News!
So after months of speculation the second edition of Bolt Action rules is now on pre order. I got my order in yesterday, not cheap at £30.00 but that's rule sets for you these days it seems. You do get a free General Patton figure with them though! The interview below with author Alessio Calvatore by Wargames Illustrated is worth a watch if your into BA, he explains that there are no major changes, the errata and F&Q have been integrated into the new edition, and a few things tweaked, Officers now become less passive, templates replace the hit rolls for High Explosives ( so keep those men spread out chaps to the maximum 1"), and I'm pleased to see that transports CAN now fire their mounted machine guns even after the squad has dismounted, common  sense. Machine guns generally have been given a little more punch, there had been a lot of comments about this factor and clearly Warlord have listened to the feedback. Think they due out early September.

New terrain items & Indians!

With the hobby room currently upside down for sorting out and repainting I'm looking forward to getting the table set back up so I can lay out some of the new terrain items that are arriving. So far I have the excellent hedge sections from Simon at S&A scenics, far better than my own efforts that have now been binned having salvaged a small mountain of clump foliage for future use. At 30mm tall they are just about right for 28mm figures and look more realistic. Great product, highly recommended and available for scales 6mm upwards.

12" & 6" sections, a great product.

This shot shows the S&A scenics hedges lining my metalled road sections from Small Terrain Miniature Scenery.

Again apologies for the poor lighting.

I also have the resin painted river sections from Small Terrain Miniature Scenery and again I am very happy with the product. Photos not brilliant due to poor lighting up in my room, the new sections are slightly darker in reality..

The river sections are cast in resin and supplied fully painted and textured. The new rural road sections will integrate with the river sections and I also have a painted resin bridge coming, all from Small Terrain Miniature Scenery.

Couple of 28mm FIW figures to show scale.

Unpainted village pond and craters from same company, these are for Bolt Action.

Some may recall the wider river sections I bought some months back from another company via eBay, I was never really 100% happy with them although they do have a quirky hand made quality. Eventually I decided to replace them with these narrower sections that line up far better and have a more consistent look. You can see a comparative photo below. Should the wider sections be of interest to any fellow blogger you would be most welcome to take them off my hands for £30.00 including postage. The set cost me £50.00 + p&p  (less than the new resin sections) just need to clear any unwanted stuff from the room.

Old wider sections at front, total of 11 hand made pieces including a quirky hand made bridge!

Close up of the bridge. 11 sections £30.00 inc postage. 28mm figures for scale.

The ford.

You can see they don't line up brilliantly .... I'm a fussy sod!

Still waiting on the new narrower 'rural' road sections from STMS and the TSS terrain boards to arrive in due course.

On the Bolt Action front I'm sitting back and awaiting the release of the 2nd edition rule book, probably in September to see what changes they bring.

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Late news! Received some great photos of the completed Woodland Indians from John at 'Kingscolours'. he certainly does not hang about. I'm delighted with them, they are just as I wanted them to look although I left it to John how he painted them. I'll get a few group shots once they arrive home, My Sharpe Practice project has been given a huge boost and I can't wait to have a run through of the rules.

We have a plan in place going forward, and next week I hope to send John the Front Rank Canadian Militia, Rangers and artillery crews to follow on with. After that will come 3 companies of French line infantry at end of August and these will all be Warlord figures. I will paint the 2 guns, the second company of Front Rank French line, British Grenadier company and personalities. I'll need to order some FR light infantry too.

Front Rank Woodland Indians, painted by John.

First French!

Yesterday I completed the first of the French line infantry for Sharpe Practice FIW. Pleased with how they turned out, the Vallejo London Grey base coat worked well when drybrushed with Ivory before beginning the detail painting. I just followed the painted figures on the Front Rank website as I have not yet really done much research on the uniforms. I'll follow up with another 8 figure company of French line then treat myself to painting 8 British Grenadiers.

I'm delighted to say that John from 'Kingscolours' has agreed to help this project along, I'll be posting off 30 Woodland Indians by Front Rank today and he will paint them for me. These will make up 2 warbands, each of 12 figures plus a 'Leader' and a few spares. The FR Indians are superb castings, you can see a few examples from the Front Rank web site below.

After that, John has agreed to paint some more French infantry for me, another 24 figures to give me a further 3 companies. This will give real impetus to the project. I will paint the Canadian Militia, British light infantry, artillery and personalities that I have here.

Things are quite busy at home as we are clearing out cupboards, the garage and garden shed etc plus redecorating so my painting time is more limited for a few weeks. The hobby room is also being cleared out for a coat of paint and then the 6 x 4 table will go in there once the TSS boards arrive. It will be tight as the room is only 9 x 7 so with the table lengthwise it only leaves 18" each side plus 3' at the end, but seems managable so long as I don't put on any more weight! Storage will be under the table. There is of course the option of setting up a game downstairs. My painting space has moved downstairs to a lovely little desk left by my Mother in Law and it's very comfortable so all in all things are working out nicely.