I can work in these conditions...

Right - we're in business - got my set-up sorted and I can now start taking pics.

 

Last day at work before we break up for Christmas too so expect a lot more progress over the weekend...

Here's the opening shots for the Kachas Pass scenario -

I can't work in these conditions!

Afraid no battle report yet folks - I've hit another small glitch.

Hit a new snag in re-taking the pics under better conditions - my set-up isn't big enough to do it justice!
As my table usually sits nicely in the corner I've been able to get away with blu-taccing the backdrop to the wall. However, I need to add the other fold down leaf of the table to fit everything on, and now the table no longer fits in the corner, against the wall...

Solution - pull it out and build a stand-alone frame for the backdrop that will now stand on the table edge itself!
 

I will endeavour to get a crack on with things tomorrow....

A prayer's as good as sword on a day like this...

The stormy weather outside is certainly fitting as war darkens the horizon for the follk of Ramalia...

No battle reprt yet I'm afraid - I managed to postpone the game from last week and got to Recon down in Pudsey - great show as ever and luckily Four A Miniature's new Kev Adams Goblins weren't out yet, so my wallet got off relatively lightly!

The big game is now set for this weekend and I'm just about done packing the 132 or so minis that will be needed. Time of course for a few last shots before the last of the terrain is packed away - especially as I've finally finished the fence and hedge sections I've been dragging my heels over for a while now!

Not especially exciting in themselves so I've set the table up according to the Orc's Drift map - enjoy and hopefully I'll have some battle reports posted in the next week or so...

Last minute subs!

Well the storm clouds brood threateningly over the lands of Ramalia and the time for great deeds and foul treachery is almost at hand...

... but there's just time to get a few last minute minis painted up!

As some of the Norse members of the Linden Way Militia decided that there fortunes were better served in hotter climes (more of which later...) two more likely lads have been scraped off the tavern floor and been given the King's shilling.

Can't remember (seems a long time ago now!) which kindly member of LAF traded these fine fellows with me but many thanks all the same!

And I must correct an error of mine as well - A few posts back I managed to convince myself that the Wood Elf mini that was co-opted in for Orc's Drift from his usual position, as champion in Oreon's Wood Elf regiment of renown, was strangely intended to be the ill-fated Hendril Merl. He is in fact Fernbreth - the last remaining patient of the Druid Snart that I had been keeping an eye out for... D'oh!!   

Anyway - I had to paint him up and restore him to his rightful place, where his small stature fits in just fine with the other minis of a smilar vintage!

And as a bit of a pre-match warmup here he is helping Bertolac fend some attacking Orcs off as Snart makes off with a cart that was part of the barricade, in an attempt to evacuate his patients...



The big game is still planned for next weekend, but I've just realised that it's going to clash with Recon - a great little Wargames show over in Pudsey - link here for any locals - http://recon-wargames-show.blogspot.com/2011/11/welcome-to-recon-show-blog.html

May have to see if I can reschedule...



Sticks and Stones

Hello to everyone - remember me?!

Well I'm back in the saddle again after a rather frustrating (in hobby terms) couple of months. Work seems to have been sapping all my creative energies and coupled with a dearth of free weekends lately has meant a little pause in proceedings - not to mention this little morale-sapping disaster ...

I knew there might be some problems with shrinkage on an area of this size but didn't expect the cracked ice effect I got! Answers on a postcard if you know of a clever way of rectifying this without stripping all the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water effect off the piece, along with all the painted gravel and sand beneath it....

However, I have good news! Not only have I resumed construction of the last few scenic elements required for Orc's Drift, but I also have a date set to play the scenarios back to back! All being well the weekend of the 2nd December should see Bloodbath played in its entirety with photo-laden reports of each scenario to come out in subsequent weeks - when I get round to fiddling with pics and typing it all up.

To whet your appetite here's a few shots of the now complete terrain for the Kachas Pass scenario - a small border outpost manned by Wood Elvesof Fendal Forest which guards the Kachas mountain Pass.

The idea for the log stockade walls and gate were pinched from the extremely telented Silent Invader from the LAF - so all credit and thanks to him!



The Vile Rune Tribe attack!

Various views of the main gate and compound beyond - I've made a few more of the old card buildings so the same ones don't crop up as scenery in each scenario.



The Elves are beset on all sides!

Close-up off the main gate.

Erdolas Thringal directs the defence...

Silas Meel, the Elves' Half-Orc prisoner escapes!

Fangor Gripe, The Vile Rune Chieftain, looks on as his tribe overwhelm the Wood Elf defenses...

Intensive terraining...

Well I've certainly been busy since finishing the painting minis side of things!

After I'd written down all the "little" jobs that needed doing to get ready for playing the scenario I soon discovered I was nowhere near out of the woods in terms of work for this project....

Talking of woods, I thought it was about time that I finished off the Woodland scenics realistic trees I bought ages ago and now I have 11 more to make up a veritable forest on my table. While I had the clump foliage out I thought I may as well make a load more underbrush bases too, which you'll spot dotted about in the following pics.

Placed an order with Amera and for under £20 (if memory serves me right!) I got my hands on 2 small and 1 big hill. The big hill is large enough to glue one of the small hills on top to create a 2 tier hill as you can see on the right in the pic below.

I also put a bit of gloss varnish on the river sections which I had forgotten to do earlier...

Talking of Amera - while I like the ruined wall sections I bought from them ages ago, they don't fit together very well to form a well kept boundary - being ruined and all! As I cast about for ideas on making a better stone wall, I remembered the bag of  Hirst Arts fieldstone blocks I bought on a whim on ebay for a couple of quid a long time ago. Always pays to hoard stuff away as I had enough bits to make a load of wall sections as seen below! 

Also pictured are two carts - also ebay purchases from ages past. Not sure who they're from but they'll do nicely for the final showdown at Orc's Drift...

... as can be seen below - just what Ferndale Snart needs to evacuate his patients!

I've also painted up the mealie bag defenses I got from Redoubt Miniatures (along with some Zulu and Rourkes Drift characters for a future project!) and purchased a set of the brilliant barricades that Ainsty sell to complete the defences prepared by Osrim Chardz's Dwarf engineers.

... and that's not all folks!

Got a few WIPs I thought I'd share -

Log pallisade section test piece for the garrison at Kachas Pass - inspiration taken from SIlentInvaders fantastic ACW log fort on the LAF.

Not terribly exciting this one - just some fencing sections to go round the animal enclosures and suchlike from the scenario...

This next one's proving to be a bit of a head scratcher - I need several sections of drainage ditch for the Ashak Rise scenario. The only way I thought of modelling it was to suggest a depression with the small bank. The only problems are that I'm not sure this will look right on the table and that the sections are going to have to be rather wide for a ditch to fit 25mm slotta bases in them - should any Orcs feel the need to jump in...

Let me know if any of you has any brighter ideas!

The sections, by the way, are being made that short so they fit with the wall sections pictured earlier.

 And finally - quite chuffed with this one - is the mountain tarn. Plasticard base, milliput banks and stones out of the plant pots in the front garden! I was going to have a go at adding the water today with the EZ water effect pellets I've got, but chickened out in the end! You have to melt the pellets down and pour it in one go to avoid it setting and creating lines where you don't want them and, as this was a large area with a winding and shallow stream coming out of it, I thought I'd play it safe!

So I ordered a big bottle of woodland scenics realistic water from Antenocitis, which happily is discounted at the mo! I've heard it has its problems with shrinkage and the like, but the beauty of it is that it pours straight from the bottle and is a bit easier to control. Also saw a good vid on making ripples with it so may have a go at that too...

The time for battle draws nearer as the to-do list diminishes!

Jobs left -

finish fencing

add water effect to the tarn

dig the ditches

make a hedge

finish the pallisade

Take me to the River...

.... Drop me in the water...

Good tune that from Talking Heads and its been doing the rounds in my head all week, while I've been painting these river sections up!

Nice little set this from Magnetic Displays, although I may have overegged the amout of talus and other stuff as all that pva keeps distorting the rubber as it dries and doesn't let the piece sit totally flat on the table. Bit of bending here and there seems to have done the trick in flattening them out mostly...

Anyways - here's the piccies!

The river comprises of 2 curved and 2 straight sections

A bridge section -

... and a ford section.

Next - another water feature in the way of a shallow lake and boggy area...

You mean your only plan is to stand behind a few feet of mealie bags and wait for the attack?

Just put the finishing touches to the thin red line that is Brommedir's Bows and with that I have officially finished painting all the minis I need to play Bllodbath at Orc's Drift!

Sound the fanfare, beat the drum, cry Hallelujah and get busy with the fizzy - I'm done!!!

Of course there are a few recent acquisitions I'd pegged to replace some minis already painted up in various units cos I liked them better, and obviously I'll be painting up any of the other original character minis  if I can lay my hands on them before I get round to playing the scenarios - however as I am now in a position where I can play the damn thing this seemed as good a time as any to wrap the mini painting side of things up.

 

 

There are a few bits of terrain I need to get done yet - a lake, some more trees, bushes and fences, and a nice set of rubber river sections I picked up from the Magnetic Displays stand at Vapnartak earlier this year.

Should make a nice change from squinting down my brush at little lead men...

Oh nad mustn't forget the big group shot!