About Bases - Litko & Shogun

     A few years ago when searching for movement trays I came across a company I had not heard about, Shogun Miniatures. As I was magnetizing my older kids' fantasy figures' bases the steel movement trays Shogun offered fit the bill perfectly. When my order arrived, they contained a few samples of the "Mag Bases". I was intrigued as they were sturdy, well made, and thin. I had always used Litko for nearly all my basing needs, but these got me thinking. I knew I had a couple of situations where I needed trays and magnetic bases. Namely TFL ACW and AWI SP variants.

Before I get too long winded, a few notes about their movement trays.
• They have ZERO sharp edges and corners, not even mildly pointy. This was a problem I had way back in the 90's when I experimented with metal bases.
• They can be made in custom sizes and they are really inexpensive.
• They can be primed, painted, protected and still hold magnets.
• They can be purchased with or without flanged edges.

     For TFL ACW, I want to individually base these figures, on 20x20mm bases, as depending on the situation and troop experience they can or cannot assume a skirmish formation. The problem is I don't want to move up to 80 figures individually each turn should they all be activated. The obvious solution was movement trays and preferably magnetic. I had originally purchased enough Gale Force Nine bases to cover the job, but I found these less desirable than I had hoped. The main reasons were that they were not clean on the sides and it took a fair amount of time to trim all the excess material off as well as them being so thick. I had thought about going with Litko as usual and as I did for my AWI skirmishers. However, when my order of Shogun trays arrived and I saw the sameples, the answer was right in front of me. These bases didn't need any special treatment and their trays made everything easy. The inexpensive nature of the movement trays meant I could load up for many different situations. Most ACW groups being 8 at full strength, I could get 160mm wide movement trays in either single or double ranks and simply place them together for formations. Pretty much cake at that point.

    For AWI skirmishers, I started basing these individually on 25x25mm using Litko bases and base bottoms for use in both skirmish games and placing them together on magnetized movement trays in 2's and 3's as is called for depending on troop grade in British Grenadier. After some warping on some larger wood bases, I decided to make the switch to Shogun for not only these, but as Shogun does custom sizes, I will be having some done for larger rank and file bases.

     There are a number of situations for which I will continue to use Litko. Namely Saga round and oval bases as well as hexes for use in such things as gladiator games. Now, there is little reason for magnetized bases in games like Saga or gladiator games, but I noticed he convenience of moving and storing miniatures with magnetic bottoms immediately. I can take a group of a warband or set of gladiators, put them on the steel tray, place it in the display cabinet and not have to worry whether or not I'll drop them if one of my kids practices their latest tackling technique on my leg or if I flinch suddenly stepping on a LEGO (the enemy of fathers' feet everywhere).

    The nice thing about both of these companies is that they represent the excellent choices we have. Both companies have great products and I've experienced great customer service from both. They've both rushed me items on short notice and I'll never forget Litko making sure I'd have a set of custom movement items for my oldest son's X-wing collection, on short notice and before Christmas. Hopefully the accompanying photos will give you an ideas as to thickness and other particulars.

Read More

American Skirmishers (1)

This could easily be entitled "Speed Painted Skirmishers". This somewhat eclectic group of militia/skirmisher types were painted over a couple days this week in an effort to clear the painting table. I could of spent more time on the details, but these are only the first group of this type that I'll do and the next batch will be better attended. That being said, I'm continuing to have difficulties with consistent lighting and photography and as a result I'm disappointed with how these figures appear. For being a speed paintjob, they are actually better looking in person and if you've followed my painting at all you know its rare for me to pay my figures/victims many compliments. If I get things figured out I may replace with new photos.

Once again I based them individually with magnetic bottoms so they'll work for my preferred skirmish trifecta; British Grenadier skirmishers, Muskets and Tomahawks, and TFL's Sharpe Practice AWI. One nice thing about basing them individually and magnetic for British Grenadier is that when it comes to mounting them as 2's or 3's I can mix and match to either make them look more militia like or more like seasoned riflemen, etc.

 

 

Read More

Perry Mounted British Officer - AWI

This is the figure that accompanied the multi-box deal they had for their plastic British Infantry. I decided to paint him as a General that could slide into any number of roles on the wargaming table. There was an absence of button hole lace and after much trepidation I decided to take the risk and paint some in place. I'm not real happy with the result, but they'll pass on the game table. It had also been a long time since I painted a pure black horse and since I was already going to risk the lace I thought why not risk the black horse. I've got some work to do in the future when it comes to black horses, but this one will likewise pass on the game table.

Read More

Horse Color Charts

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have your favorite references for painting different horse colors. I've personally always enjoyed perusing the pages of an old horse encyclopedia for ideas. Today however, I did a search looking for anything new or different when I came across these charts. You may have already come across them yourself, but on the chance somebody is interested I thought I'd post them.
They were authored by this fellow.

Read More

Pinkertons

I picked up a couple packages of Artizan's Pinkertons from Brigade Games last month as they looked both fun to paint and they looked ideal for some much needed shading/highlighting practice via their overcoats. They also allowed me some experimentation with colors for said overcoats. Not to mention one of the hats was painted using the Foundry Middle Eastern Flesh triad.

• 1 & 4 - Both of these were painted using the Andrea Color black set. A full 6 shades, happy with the result for the most part, but could have probably cut out a step or two and had similar results...especially when working toward a wargaming standard paintjob.
• 2 - This one was painted using the Andrea Color white set while leaving out the final (whitest) color highlight.
• 3 - This is where things get a little...different. I started with GW Steel Legion Drab and then washed with Devlan Mud. The first highlight was a mix of GW Steel Legion and Tallarn Sand. Another highlight was a mix of GW Tallarn Sand and Vallejo Model Color Khaki. with the final highlights being a very thinned VMC khaki
• 5 - Here I begin with a base of Americana craft paint color "Fawn" and then applied a thinned wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink. I painted up the highlights beginning again with Fawn then working with a mix of Fawn and Reaper Stained Ivory, I worked the mixed from 3:1 to 1:1 to 1:3 for the remaining highlights.
• 6 - GW's Baneblade Brown laid the base for this final attempt. I also used a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink on this one. The first highlights where made from mixing GW Baneblade Brown and Foundry Rawhide 11B. The final highlights were of Baneblade and Foundry Rawhide 11B and 11C.

When basing them I didn't want to go the usual dusty Tombstone like setting fitting for anything from the Southern Plains, Southwest or Northern Badlands areas. I wanted to go a more muddy route for all those mountain or Black Hills mining towns. The bases themselves for GF9 magnetic. I'm not sure if I like these as much as Litko as there is a lot of clean up and there is still is a distinctive seam on the side. The figures themselves were very nice to work with and I hope that my attempts didn't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse...

    

Not sure when I will be gaming the old west so I'm not sure if I'll keep these or put them up for sale in hopes of recouping enough to buy a pack of gladiators or maybe ww1 U.S. Marines.

Read More

Hessian Jagers

These figures, along with Rall's Grenadiers, were started a long time ago, but have been sitting idle for some time. Making a concentrated effort to clear stuff from my painting desk I finished these Jagers today. Borrowing the basic palettes from those done on Tarleton's Quarter, I gave these a basic paint job. After such a long lay off I hope to improve quickly as I have many more AWI figures to complete along with a number of figures from other periods in which I'm dabbling.

As seen with these figures, I'm basing my skirmishers on individual 25mm x 25mm bases by Litko. Starting with .8mm plywood bases I then back them with the same size heavy duty magnetic pieces, also by Litko. I think the resulting thickness is sufficient without being obnoxious. Basing my skirmish infantry individually gives me the flexibility to play a number of skirmish games yet easily conform to the basing standards of British Grenadier. The magnetic bottoms are nice for storage and transport.

14 Perry Miniatures, Barn by Architects of War

Read More

The Saxon Grant

When my wife and I play SAGA, we tend to make it a light hearted affair. We rarely put together WAAC forces without warning and tend to place poor dicing squarely on the shoulders of the Warlord on the table at any given time. The Saxons, as my wife's SAGA faction of choice, have gone through many leadership changes. Somewhat reminiscent of the Army of the Potomac's leadership during the early years of the ACW. Thankfully, I'm unable to visualize my wife as Lincoln... That being said, my desire was to paint her McClellan equivalent first so as to perhaps entice that figure on the table more often and thereby upping my win total. This was not to be and I found myself painting first her Grant. The interesting twist, this is my first SAGA figure completed, not to mention the first after some time away from the brush, and it is wanting in style and refinement...her McClellan will hopefully be much better dressed. It'll be interesting to see who wins my wife's favor, the impending better dressed Warlords or the victory laden Grant.

      
The figure is from the Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns box set. Decal by LBMS. The basing is minimal as I have yet to decide just how busy I want my SAGA bases to be.  
Photos are a bit off as my camera is down and I'm using the IPad to take pictures.

Read More