A few more shots of "The Grassy Lane"

I am going to be giving this guy away as a gift on Christmas morning, so I thought I would post up just a few more photos!

It is a shame that two of my coolest pieces that I have ever done... indeed, all THREE of my dioramas, are all gifts! I should really figure out how to make some for myself:)



Anyway... here are the photos!

For the holidays - Buy My Skaven Army!

Hello all!

Just in time for the holidays, I am posting and selling my Warhammer Skaven army!

Here is the link to my new blog that outlines the force, unit by unit!

Click here for MY SKAVEN BLOG!

And HERE is the eBay link to MAKE IT YOURS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Buy This Painted Skaven Army!

"The Grassy Lane"

I finally finished!

This little scene, which I have titled "The Grassy Lane," is a Christmas gift for my father-in-law. He is a big Rev. War buff, and I thought he might enjoy this.

I bought the figures for this at Fall In. They are 25mm from Eureka; they make some EXCELLENT ragged Continentals, designed to fit in flawlessly with the best miniatures in the biz, the Perry figures.

I went with a brown jacket/red turnback jacket combo... I realized only after I finished up that I hadn't done the white and hearts on the turnbacks, so I'll do those soon, but probably not until tomorrow. Anyway, overall I think they came out pretty sharp.

The base is a piece from Gale Force 9, with pink insulation foam to build up both sides to represent the slightly-worn sides of a New England path. Some sand, some bark, and voila! In the pictures it is hard to see, but the land is built up on both sides of the men... they are in a neatly worn depression, where they can, at least, find a modicum of cover!

I had to put a little thought into how the men should be set up... in my head I saw the two guys in the center as the centerpieces, as the heroes of this little vignette. Someplace they must have had a near scrape, or dove for cover, or clubbed down a British redcoat, and so both have lost their hats, but they fight on. Are they, in fact, father and son? A ragged veteran of Bunker Hill and Bennington, and the new recruit he is trying to protect? Who knows. These ragged Connecticut boys have formed up on a little worn grassy lane and begun to exchange fire with some nearby Lobsterbacks... surely they won't all be standing shortly!

Anyway... I think it will be a neat Christmas present. Heck, I'd take it anytime!

The Workbench

Here are the finished AWI troops!

The photos of these boys definately do not do them justice. I did a pretty sharp paint job on these guys, and then followed up with some mid-shade dip, which does cover up a lot of sins! It glopped a bit around one guys feet, but it will be fine once he is all grassed. These guys represent a Connecticut unit, and I do enjoy the brown and red!

25mm figures courtesy of Eureka miniatures... thanks Giles! :)

An old 15mm ACW gift

Here is a piece that is actually no longer in my collection!
I made this piece as a gift to a gent who very generously gave me the original 1864 double pack that I have in my wargames room. I know he is obviously a big Civil War buff, and I know that he also enjoys painting larger soldiers, so I figured a nice little scene would be a good return gift!
Obviously the scene is a bunch of Confederates holding a fence. There are actually about four dead men among the feet, and if you look closely you'll see three more taking hits... one clutching his stomach, another his face, and a third running off, having also taken a minie ball to the face, groping blindly for help. There is a mounted officer in the back, just stopping by to yell some orders before galloping off. The rocks are just some drybrushed bark pieces, and the fence made from some simple balsa wood.

All of the figures from the scene, with the exception of the dead, are from Battle Honours 15mm. The dead are Old Glory.

My first book review!

Hey all!

Time for my first book review! The book is "Human Interest Stories from Antietam," by the well-known Civil War guy Scott Mingus. I had the pleasure of meeting Scott at Fall In, and was thrilled to get a copy of this book!

Format first; it is a soft cover, fairly no frills collection of personal stories from the battle of Antietam. Small (albeit easy to read) text makes it a wee bit daunting at first glance, as it could look to be a touch dense, but after ohhhh, about a sentence you realize that the easy flow of the writing and incredibly personal nature of the stories will make this a good read:) The stories are anywhere from a short paragraph to three paragraphs long, so it is also an easy book to read in "chunks;" no having to devote an hour to "keeping up with the story" or anything.

Scott packed the book with all sorts of fantastic stories from the lead up to the battle, the battle itself, and the aftermath. They include stories about foraging parties gone awry (these guys foraged so much, when did they even find time to fight?!) near misses and bravery in the heat of combat, and a few of our most famous generals and even future presidents... who knew that Rutherford B. Hayes was such a total bullet-riddled badass?! Some of the foraging stories are, in particular, fascinating, not only because of what the men ate (who knew apple butter was so valued?) and how creative the men were when it came time to find some food, but also in that it really drives home how poorly fed the troops often were. The writing is clear and enjoyable, with just the right mix of somewhat sharp humor and an understanding of how horrible some of the stories do, indeed, turn out. The writing actually has a certain elegance to it that feels very period, but it is still very clear. Good stuff.

Animal lovers will enjoy that there are a number of anecdotes about adopted mascots for units... not counting, of course, the various pigs that made their way into the breakfast pans!

Anyway... a very enjoyable read, full of well researched personal stories of the thousands of faceless men who fought in the American Civil War. If I were to do book reviews on a regular basis, and were to grade books on a 5 point scale, I would give this one someplace between a 4 and a 4.5, with the only deductions really being for lack of beautiful color photos... which obviously was not its intended purpose. A GREAT Christmas book too, as it isn't too expensive... given the current economic times, this is something to consider.

Scott's books can be bought here, for a pretty good price if I do say so myself!

The Workbench

Merry December all!

Well, the start of the month was slow, as work was in a really rough patch. However, things are slowing down a bit before the holidays, so I thought I would post a few new photos!

Since it has been awhile, here is my Workbench... in this case, the sunroom table where I was painting. I am actually tackling my first 25mm AWI figures as a gift to my father in law for the holidays... he is a big AWI fan, and I though he would enjoy a little scene of some Connecticut troops defending a fence. I undercoated them white this time, with the idea of leaving the pants white, but now I somewhat regret it... white is an unforgiving undercoat! At least with black you don't really see any spots you missed in the deepest recesses of the figures.

Anyway... this is them, half done. Faces look a bit dark, and there is a lot left to do on them, but at least this way folks know what I am up to!

25mm Nap. Russians - First Wing Officers

Happy December, everyone!

In honor of the coming of winter, I thought I would post some wintery folks; namely, the first set of foot officers of my 25mm Napoleonic Russian army!

Like my French army, my Russian army splits rather neatly in two and each wing is commanded by a group of foot officers, who in turn report to the General. Unfortunately I could not find enough officers in great coats; however, I didn't really mind, as I don't want a Russian army totally devoid of green!

This trio includes a Grenadier officer, who is ready to report back to his troops, a rather demanding infantry officer who is pointing towards the piece of the enemy line that he wants his men to attack with most vigor, and of course the wing commander himself, who is urging his men forward.

All of these chaps are courtesy of Sash and Saber.

Woo hoo Google search!

So a random post today... now, when you do a search for "25mm napoleonic russian" ... the House of War is your first return! And in a search for "25mm napoleonic french"... the House of War is number two!

For "15mm Confederate", the House of War is number three... "15mm Federal" results in the House of War at number 1!

Pretty cool, I think, for a dorky little blog!

Above picture courtesy of The Lordz "Napoleonic Total War 2."

New 15mm scenery - The Fields

Hello all!

Well, I hope everyone in the U.S. has had a lovely Thanksgiving! Personally I have now consumed northwards of 12 turkey sandwiches... and am about to tackle maybe 14 and 15. The trick is that cold mashed potatoes and cold stuffing can all be sliced to exactly the size of the bread! Then cover them in gravy, throw on some turkey, microwave for 40 seconds, and voila!

Anyway... in between downing sandwiches at the in-laws, I figured I would put up a new blog entry! This is a new piece of scenery, given to me by a friend as a generous house-warming gift! Sweetness, right? Forget the blender, get me some snake rail fencing!

So; it is a piece by Battlefield Terrain Concepts; the first such piece that I own. It is a hill with a few fields built in, and a bit of an empty slope on one side.

What is nice is that I currently use a few tubs of flock to blend my table, and the blending works very well on this piece to hide the seams with the table. I dropped a few piece of lichen on it that match the other ones I have on the table, and even ran a small hedgerow up to it, again to blend it into the table. Overall it is a cool ass piece; a few of them would look great, but unfortunately the expense is a bit much for me at the moment. Thank god for friends!