Some recently painted stuff... Black Seas and Warlord WW2 Americans...

 

Hey all!

Got the lights set up, thought I'd take a few photos.  First up, some of the nearly finished Black Seas ships...

I'm also working on a nearly complete sprue from a recent Wargames Illustrated... some WW2 Americans I'm painting up while I watch Band of Brothers.

A first test game of Black Seas!

Well, I finally got a few ships done, so thought it was time to try out a game of Black Seas!  My son, who is always a willing opponent, was the opposing admiral!

He had two ships, a third rate and a brig, while I took two frigates.  I started with the wind in my favor.

We sailed towards each other, and my two frigates split up, with the hope of catching his third rate between us.

The third rate returned fire, as did the brig.

My frigate closed in, and hammered on the third rate, actually causing a massive fire to break out!  

As the crew of the third rate put all of their energy into putting out the fire, my other frigate cut across its bow, crossing the T and pouring fire into it...

...while my other frigate crossed the T from the stern!  This was BAD for my son's man of war!

My lead frigate passed between my son's third rate and brig and fired on both!

He, however, took fire in return.

And my frigate continued to fire, and then passed right by the third rate...

... which promptly passed my stern and absolutely unloaded at point blank range, doing an insane amount of damage and outright sinking my frigate!

My other frigate sailed in and began to pour fire into the stern of the third rate as it sailed on.

And started a fire!

My son put all his efforts into putting out the fire and so his third rate went off the board, reappearing a bit later behind a nearby island.

(Off camera, the brig struck its colors, leaving just my frigate and the third rate fighting.)  The third rate came from behind the island and the two ships raced at each other, each trying to cross the other...

My frigate crossed first, pouring fire into the bow of the third rate...

... but my son sailed on and promptly boarded my frigate, his men causing such slaughter that my crew threw down their weapons and surrendered!

So overall, it was fun!  A lot of checking of charts for shooting and criticals, but still, a good time.

Got paint on my first "Black Seas" ship, a frigate...

... and I'm not convinced.  Not sure why I don't like it, but something feels off... like, it isn't detailed enough.  I tried contrast paints for parts of it, like the yellow... maybe they aren't ideal for this.

Argh.  And not in a good, pirate way either.

My islands for Warlord's "Black Seas", and a How To...

Hi all!

Well, like many of you, I am super excited for Warlord Game's newest offering, "Black Seas."  I saw the ships, and while I've always wanted a ship collection, this is the one that really sucked me in.  So I bought a few sets on pre-order, and then thought 'Self... it's time to make terrain!"  

So this past weekend I went ahead and made a board and some islands!

So the board was simple... just a piece of ply, spraypainted with several blues, and then some random lines and chart-like things drawn on with a paint marker.

Here are some of the islands!

Island #1: a super cool arch.  The beaches are actually courtesy of a buddy's idea... it's just kinetic sand, a toy made for kids!  It holds together, and can be sculpted easily, and can be picked up, piece of cake!

Island #2: which features a lighthouse!  The lighthouse, btw, is the cap of a bic pen with a bit of wood for the door area, and then on top a small button topped off with an unused dial-holder from X-Wing.  A little paint and voila!

Island #3: with a little cove.

Island #4: A flatter one, with cliffs on one side.

Island #5: my "tabletop" island.

Island #6: the largest one, very flat but with a hilly part at the end.

And Island #7: the double table top!

And here are some rocky outcroppings that a buddy gave to me years ago, which never really found a home... but they have now!

So... here is a little simple guide to how I made them!  First, of course, I had to clear a workspace.  I worked in the garage, because I knew I'd need some room, and I wanted to be able to spraypaint easily.

Now, the bases for the islands were some some 3D printed hills made by Ghiniflip, on ebay.  But they come totally unfinished, so I knew I'd have to make them look nice.

Here is my assorted flocking and basing material.

And some palm trees, purchased at Fall In some years ago.

So here is what they look like, when they come.

Back and simple.

Here is one of the larger islands, which I had to glue together.

Once I glued the larger ones together, I then went in and sanded all of the flat areas with a very fine grain sand.  A little white glue held it all on.

Here they all are, sanded.

The double tabletop, with the sand.

Next up I added a larger grain sand where there would be tumbling rocks and the like.

Here is the lighthouse island, with the larger sand.

And the cove, again with the larger sand.  You can see where I tried to add it.

Once they were sanded, I just had to undercoat them all black.

Then came painting!  I did the first layer in burnt umber, and then built that up with two lighter shades.  I actually used gray, which isn't pictured here.

Here they are with the first few layers of paint.

Then came flocking! I flocked in five steps.  First, the basic flock.  Then a lighter flock in a few, higher-up spots.  Then some bushes and the like in the same places I put the larger sand.  Then an assortment of tufts.  And finally, the palm trees!

Here the islands are with just the two layers of flock, the underlayer and the lighter top highlight layer.

And here is one island with the superflock (the bushes) tufts and a tree!

Overall I'm SUPER happy with how they turned out... now I just need some ships!

Oh, and here is what's on the other table right now... a Napoleonic battle between my son and me:)

Anyway... thanks for coming by to look, and feel free to ask any questions you'd like!:)