A Bit of Terrain, Fantasy Heroic Battles & WWII

Yesterday was quite a full on day supporting other parent carers, so when I got home I was rather pooped. To unwind I thought I'd do a bit of an update on what I've been up to of late, aside from the Normandy campaign.

BUA's

A few years ago I made some bespoke bases for a lot of my Leven Miniature buildings, but not all. In the mood for some terrain building of late, I finally got around to making some some more, specifically for my more European buildings. Not all have been completed, but the ones that have are featured below, as I will need them for the Normandy campaign.

A 3" x 3" base (or 76.2mm x 76.2mm for metric pedants😉).

The fences are HO/OO ones cut down to size.

I will add some vegetables to the garden at some point.

I try to vary the position and angles of the houses to add variety to the look when they are aligned along a road.

A veg patch to be added.

A 3" x 4" base this time for the churchyard, just to break up the uniformity and the fact that it looked better with more space.

I'm torn between making a few headstones and tombs, but can't make up my mind. Thoughts on a postcard?

Midgard or Dragon Rampant?

The Midgard rules are certainly the 'jeu de jour' at present, with plenty of virtual ink being spilt on various Blogs etc and I imagine they will feature at many a show next year. I must say they have piqued my interest, but I have not made my mind up with regards to them to be honest. I'm currently watching some Youtube videos to get a flavour for them, but do wonder if I would ever actually play them, given that I have Hail Caesar II and Dragon Rampant already. I have had plenty of ideas for games for the latter rules, but have not really explored them in any meaningful way, so I fear the same might be the case for Midgard.

But whilst I ponder and hover over the 'buy' icon at the same time (well it is Xmas soon), I dug out an old tin containing some of my earliest miniatures for way back in the dark ages known as the late 1970's. As you will see, sculpting has come on leaps and bounds since then I my painting too, but still only at a serviceable journey man level. I have planned on using these in Dragon Rampant, but see they could be used in Midgard too. Purists may complain to their MP at the thought of using 10mm figures with old school 25mm ones, but I think it could be fun and a good way to get these toys back on the table.

So just a few photos of some of my collection in no particular order:

This is a Fire Giant I believe, that I repainted nearly 30 years ago now and boy does it show!

A Frost Giant from the same range as the above, but with my terrible attempts at some sculpting using Milliput, to make him look more 'Viking' as he had really skinny legs IIRC. The paint job doesn't bear too close an inspection.

Another Frost Giant I believe, but this time a Ral Partha one, still in his 1970's Humbrol enamel colours. Still a favourite sculpt from that period and even now.

At this time we had a habit of using metallic colours for jewellery, and a thinned coat of red on weapons to look like blood.

I think another Ral Partha figure, a barbarian that inevitably was called 'Conan'. The paint has rubbed off his nose and I didn't take much care on storing him. I'm loathed to repaint him, but I think I may have to...

A real mix of figures and manufacturers, from left to right: A Werewolf, Dragon, Balrog, Thief and Wind Elemental.

I piece of terrain that would fit well with Midgard or Dragon Rampant, but I have used it for Sicily and the Italian Campaign too. I'd forgotten I had it so have moved it to where I can access it easily.

Normandy

As a little teaser for the next scenario, I set the table up last night and took a quick photo. Normally if I can, I will do this a day or two in advance, so that I can look at it with fresh eyes the following day and tweak things if required. It is amazing at what you 'see' when doing it this way that you missed first time around. 

Hopefully you found something of interest or even took a bit of a trip down memory lane. As always comments grealty appreciated!

TTFN.