tiistai 16. syyskuuta 2014

Shape of things to come

I know there has been a small break in my posts, but bare with me. I have been painting air supports for three armies, some 88s, and some Long Toms. Since I made a decision early on that I wouldn't write any painting tutorial, I would not be writing about them. There is lots of blog and tutorials concerning figure painting, by more talented painters, so there you have it. I wouldn't be stepping on no giants toes.

Things I've done, vol. 1: I bought three huge boxes to house my terrain.

However, on the side I have been making US Fire Direction Centre - scratch built - that I'm going play as a normal staff team. Or in case of some huge Total War game, my artillery battery's second in command. Yeah, I have that sort of perverse idea.

Things I've done, vol. 2: Sturmovik - work in progress.
Also, I have a sheet of foam-core board that I'm going to turn into house ruins; I have made plans to make a garden for Manor House Arnhem (hope that the Wife - an interior design and garden blogger - concludes the plan); my minefields and barbed wire obstacles need to be finished...

Things I've done, vol. 3: Played a Bulge game with a convertee.
Sturmvogel pilot has madskillz in low flying.
So stay tuned. Lots of posts coming. In good time.


maanantai 8. syyskuuta 2014

New front


Yours truly was asked to join in VonRichthofen's Lounge and I gladly joined forces with them. I will be sharing posts from this blog there, so stay tuned.

keskiviikko 3. syyskuuta 2014

We wants a SHRUBBERY! - Making bocage

I think has came across, that I like to play Normandy battles, so there has to be bocage for those games. I started the project last year, have played almost every homegame with them, and today I finished. I think.

I bought two kinds of wood profile, triangle and half-round, for about 6 metres of 20 feet. Yeah, it was a lot, and theres still half of them in the first and second stage... But the half of it I finished.

At first, I drilled holes in the half of the profiles and then stuck a bamboo barbeque sticks in those holes. These would be the tree-trunks, because some of the bocage have, not only bushes, but trees too. Then I added some various grains to make the stones.

On the foreground, adding tree-trunks; in the background, stoned bocage.

After that I sprayed them brown.

And had a beer.
(Yes, it's lite, deal with it - even Homewargamer should look fabulous)
Next I forgot the sprayed and dry-brushed bocage outside - as I had sparayed them outside - and  came to realize, that birds don't mind if the grains have poisonous paints over them.

Notice the absence of stones.

 I didn't mind much about eaten stones, because I was going to add the bushes and it would not show.

Just turfed.

The only problem - that I later learned - was that I had used turf, that made really cool looking bushes, but all the loose turf fell off, leaving only a thin coverage.

Turfed bocage.
Notice the big clump of turf, that - and it's kind - lead me to believe it was okay.
It wasn't.

After a year of gaming, the turf had come to a really thin layer. The bocage didn't look like bocage. So this, time I added clump foliage.

Lots of PVA before adding clump foliage.
Finished. Looks a lot better.