Parthians Coming along nicely and preparing to return to the Stalingrad project

 

A 6mm Parthian forces has been painted up and based.  All that's left is to scenic the bases and these chaps will be ready for the tabletop.

These figures are part of the Baccus miniatures Hail Caesar Army Pack plus one pack of 36 armored camel cataphracts.  The Baccus army packs come with a nice discount and do give you a very broad set of troop options.  As with my Republican Romans these are based to be used for the Age of Hannibal ruleset but the basing is flexible enough to use with just about any ancients rules set.

I'm still fiddling with the color scheme for the base scenery - I want a more arid look than the standard "European Field" I used on the Romans.

I  am looking forward to getting these guys on the table soon as cavalry heavy armies are a lot of fun to play in just about all ancients rule sets.  My track record as a commander of horse armies is actually pretty poor but I always have fun zooming around the tabletop.  Plus who doesn't dream of commanding a charge of cataphracts mounted on armored camels?

Once these gentlemen are finished, I think it's time to return to my Stalingrad project, roughly 40% of the table is done and using my AMAZING math skills, I am able to calculate that implies there is 60% remaining to be done.  I'm hoping be able to put this game on at Historicon this year.  I know it's a pretty iffy proposition on the chances of Historicon being held but let's think positively.  Perhaps a more precise way to set the deadline is the earlier of Historicon'21 or the next HMGS convention.  

A picture of the North section of the map, which is bounded to the North by the January 9th Square /  Pavlov's House / Grundin Mill area.  I'm thinking of darkening the road sections as they look a little too "bright" to me.  The game table will cover most of central Stalingrad down to the Univermaf Dept store and Red Square.

Republican Roman Army with Italian and Spanish Allies (Challenge Submissions 1 & 2)

 

My first two submissions for Challenge XI consisted of a 6mm scale Republican Roman army along with some support troops from Spain and Italy.  The figures are all from the Baccus 6mm line and were a joy to paint.  

These chaps netted me 610 points and consist of 150 mounted figures and 920 infantry of various types.  The troops are based on 40mm square bases which is the standard used for "Age of Hannibal" at the club.  These rules were written by a club member and are a very nice fast play set of rules that allow player to recreate entire battles and finish them in an evening.  They're a lot of fun and I enjoy playing them a lot.

On the left side are the Spanish troops:

- 4 Bases of Scutarii medium infantry with 24 figures per base)

- 6 bases of Caetratii light infantry with 8 figures per base

- 9 bases of Spanish light cavalry with 5 figures per base

15 Mounted Roman generals.  The different sized command bases denotes rank with the larger the base, the higher the rank

The heart of any Roman army - heavy infantry.  8 bases of Hastati, 8 bases of Principes and 2 bases of Triarii, all with 24 figures.  In the back are 6 bases of Balearic slingers and 2 bases of scorpions for a little fire support

On the right side are some Italian allies - generic hoplite infantry in the front. Italian medium cavalry.  In the rear are 12 bases of Roman Velites.

The final group are 4 bases of Samnite infantry.

I'm planning to also use the Spanish and Italian troops as Gauls and maybe even Germans if the need arose.  We don't have a full Gualic at the club but could probably cobble together a respectable force with pieces from peoples various collections.  

As you've seen in a previous post, next up on the "Ancients Hit Parade" are some Parthians.  Depending on how hard Mr Berry cracks the whip at the Baccus Casting Furnace, there will also a medium sized Dacian force (with Sarmatians!) and a relatively large Successor Army (cause who doesn't want to paint Ellies?).

With the Republican Romans and their allies done, next up on my list of 6mm Ancients are the Parthians.  When the Baccus cart was last opened I purchased a Hail Caesar Army pack of Parthians plus a pack of Camel Cataphracts because who wouldn't want to paint armored camels?

The Baccus army deals are a great way to get started as they are offered at a nice discount so if you're just starting out give them a look.

Assume I don't break anything this army pack should yield the following:

18 bases of mounted Archers, with 4 figures per base

4 Bases of javelin armed light cavalry with 4 figures per base

12 bases of cataphracts with 6 figures per base

6 bases of camel cataphracts with 6 figures per base

4 bases of spearmen with 24 figs per base

6 bases of foot arches with 16 figures per base

2 bases of skirmishers with 8 figures per base

9 Generals 2, 2 figure bases and 5, 1 figure bases

All of the bases are 40mm squares which have just been purchased from the good folks at Litko.  I ordered them on Monday and got them in two days.  Really top notch service.

I really like fielding cavalry heavy armies for ancients games and am looking forward to trying these guys out on the table.  My first few outings will likely result in complete disaster as cavalry armies tend to be finicky forces to field but they are always fun.  I doubt all 6 of the Camel units will ever get used at the same time but their just too fun not to paint up.

When the Baccus cart opens up, I'll likely pick up another pack of Spearmen (for another 4 bases) and maybe another pack of horse archers.

Now for some research on how to paint Parthians.....

 

Merry Christmas from my Lair to Yours

 

Merry Christmas to you and your families from St Michaels, Maryland.  I know 2020 has been a difficult year for all of us and we're learning to celebrate the holidays in different and "more distant" manner.  Still we can test new ways to celebrate and it's better to have a positive outlook than not.

At my house, this will be the first Christmas we will not have our son in the house with us Christmas morning - an inevitable outcome but one that will take some getting used to.  On the positive side we will get him and his girlfriend for a socially distant Christmas dinner and is suspect Mary Beth will be pulling out all the stops to impress his young lady.  Impress or Intimidate - I never under this  higher level female communication stuff.  It's probably best if I don't trouble my pointy little head about such matters.

We'll be trying to create some new traditions this year and will likely be having a large Christmas dinner with the extended family over Zoom.  It will be a shambles but a shambles that I will really enjoy.

Speaking of new traditions, I finally broke down and built a Eastern Shore of Maryland holiday mainstay - a Christmas tree made out of crab traps.  Yes these little beauties adorn houses, docks and boats during the holiday season and the scream out class and sophistication.  I bet you can hear from wherever your reading this blog right now if you listen carefully...

Anyway, I kind of like the tree and it's nice to see peeking through the trees as one trundles up the drive way.

Be safe and be positive this Holiday season - we will get through this period of trial to better days in 2021.

"And So it Begins" The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge version XI.0 has started

This year's Painting Challenge has started and after a fairly long painting session yesterday, I've painted and based the majority of my planned Republican Roman army.  All in glorious 6mm with the figures from Baccus.  The bases need to be painted and have some scenery added which will be today's project. 

Along the left side of the picture is a row of partially painted Spanish and Italian allied troops and some Roman generals in the back.  I'll try to get those chaps finished before Christmas.  In addition to being Spanish, Italians or even Samnites, these figures can double for Gauls and Celts in a pinch.

All of the figures are based for the ruleset "Age of Hannibal" which uses 40mm square basing for all units.  Generals are based as single figures on round 25mm bases.  The rules are simple but very fun and allow one to play very large battles to a conclusion in an evening.  They were written by fellow club member Greg Wagman and I suggest you check them out.

There has been a rather silly logistical failure on my part for this year's Challenge.  I seem to have forgotten that is one is building several armies that all use 40mm square bases, one should check ones supply of said bases.   Let us just say the currently my demand for 40mm bases exceeds my supply.  Well my failure is the gain of those fine people at Litko as an order for a rather large number of 40mm bases was placed yesterday afternoon.  Let us all hope their base making machinery has not gone on Christmas break yet.  Crack that whip, Mr Litko - I NEED those bases!!!!!!

Ok, that last line might be a little over-the-top.

 

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - More and Betterer Preparations & Annoying Social Commentary

 

Its roughly 5:16am on Dec 19th and preparations for the impending start of the Challenge continue at a frantic pace here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Legions of tiny 6mm Romans have been glue to popsicle sticks and primed.  This morning's efforts have shifted back to terrain making for my 15mm Stalingrad project.  I need a bunch of hexes made to finish up the table - about 350 to be exact.  I cut these ones out this morning.  Most of them are the standard 1/2 inch think but the ones on the far right are 1/4 inch thick and will be used for the Volga River and making terrain with depressions - like trenches!

Here's an example of a test trench section I made a few weeks ago.  The area in front of Pavlov's house (upper left of the picture) was heavily entrenched and for the Campaign version of the game I want to give players the option to build trenches and "alter" the terrain board.

I will need to get a ruling from the snowlord on how to treat some of the "landmark" buildings that have been scratch built but not painted prior to the start of this year's Challenge.  Two examples are the Univermag Dept Store and the Soviet State Bank building.  I think I should discount their points by 50% but there is a logical argument they should not be able to earn any points.  Either way is fine - I've got plenty of other buildings to make!

The reason the trench is so wide is to allow standard Flames of War bases to fit.  These trenches need some more design "flourish" to be really look good but the basic concept works.  And yes I have purchased some pre-painted Germans and Soviet troops from Gajo Miniatures.  They are way better than I can manage and having 3/4's of the needed figures "done" makes this project doable.

*** WARNING: SELF IMPORTANT ETHICAL LECTURING FOLLOWS BELOW ***

The other major activity this time of year is Christmas preparations, which this year are pretty easy.  MB and I elected to go light on the whole "gift" thing - we really don't need anything and have decided to use those funds plus a little more to make a donation to our local food bank to help them cope with the unprecedented level of demand.  One of the cruelists aspects of this plague is it exacts its highest toll on our most vulnerable population segments and has economically savaged the lower end of the economic ladder.  The level of demand on our local food bank is at a historic level.  I was speaking with the head of a local Food Bank and she was in tears recounting how they had to turn some families away because there was no inventory.  There's a double whammy at play here as a large source of food donations are local restaurants and they just can't do that right now.  There is no shame in needing help during a crisis - there is shame in choosing not to provide that help when you can.

Please note, this isn't a veiled rant against social distancing - those restrictions are needed and more than justified.  Its more that the rest of us need to step up and help out rather than whine about the injustice of wearing a face mask to protect others.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI: 6mm Republican Romans Assembling for for duty

Preparation efforts for the AHPC XI are accelerating to a frantic pace here in the Lair.  On the work table getting ready for priming is a good part of my planned Republican Roman army.  All of the figures are from Baccus and there are Romans, plus Italian and Spanish allies.

There will be a lot of 6mm ancients painted during this challenge.  The last time the Baccus cart was opened up in early November, I think I can safely say there were some unwarranted exuberance in the shopping cart.  Somehow over the course of a few days 4 different armies were purchased.  Historical scholars will debate for years on what exactly transpired and if I was lead astray by the wiley Peter Berry and his cunning and diabolical marketing ploy of "superb miniatures for a very reasonable price".  At this point, it's best I do not comment further as my lovely, yet fierce wife does peruse this blog and any statements I make can and will be used against me in a future tribunal.  We live perilous times.

In a addition to said Republican Romans, there other armies to be painted are some Parthians, a Dacian/Sarmatian force and a Successor army with lots and lots of Phalanxes.  

on advice of consul, I can not comment of the prospects of a 5th or 6th army as that does require the Baccus cart to be re-opened.  But there are candidates under review......
 

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI: The Pigment Arsenal is Being Readied for Action

 

With the commencement of AHPC XI now less than 3 weeks away, there are fevered preparations being undertaken down in the Lair.  

The first step is a moderate cleaning of the painting desk.  It will need another pass but at least now I can actually see the wood top.  As with past challenges, I like to start off with a brand new set of Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes in sizes 0, 1 and 2.  They are super expensive but I've yet to find anything that matches their quality and durability.  Challenge XI will see two new forms of pigmenting weaponry deployed.  A magnifying visor and some extra fine sharpie paint markers (white and black).  There will be a lot of 6mm miniatures involved in this years effort and my eyes are struggling a bit to see the details on those wonderful Baccus casts.  I'll be using a magnifier visor to help with the painting.  It will take some getting used to but it's already a huge help.  On the plus side, I do look truly dashing while wearing them and am hopeful that images of me in the visor will lead to lucrative modeling contracts in the near future.  The markers may be considered a bit of cheating but are really handy for drawing in straps and reins.  We'll have to test to see how durable this method is on the figures.

The terrain work bench has also been cleaned up in anticipation of finishing off the remaining 60% of the Stalingrad table I've been working on.  Pictured are pretty much all the tools I use for scratch building outside on large contraptions like my 3D Printer (when it chooses to cooperate) and my Cricut cutter (ALWAYS dependable).

Here's the north 40% of the Stalingrad table which is pretty much done other than weathering and is not suitable for this years Challenge.  Don't worry there is another slightly large section that will go on the left side of the picture which will require a good deal of terrain work.  Expect to see some 15mm Soviet and German miniatures along with the terrain.

There also may be a little Napoleonic related terrain to work on that will be used for an upcoming LWTV episode but that's top secret so don't go blabbing that to anyone else.  I'm sure I can trust your discretion.

Points wise, the "official" points target will be 2,500 but who knows what's going to happen.  At least my hobby time will not be curtailed by business trips for the next few months.  I really do miss my monthly sojourns to London where I can pretend to be a "investor".  

Stay safe everyone.

"Fabricator Cart" Complete

The rolling cart for my Prusa 3D printer and cricut cutter is complete.  The cart was originally designed to allow the Prusa printer to fit on the bottom.  Why? because the lower center of gravity reduces any wobble cause by the printer as if prints.  That idea was abandoned after realizing the cart is really solid (it doesn't wobble when the wheels are locked) and I tend to need to fiddle with the 3D printer a lot more than the cricut.  The Cricut is super dependable but I'm batting under .500 for 3D prints.  That's not a knock on the Prusa it's a superb machine and the companies tech support is one of the best I've experienced.  There are just a lot of factors the impact the success of a 3D print and I have yet to really grasp how they all work.  Good old bog standard "user error" at work here.

A ways back, I made a simple tool caddy for the 3D printer which was attached to the cart.  Almost like I planned it that way - which I, of course, did not.  

It's always better to be lucky than smart.

The cart has a big drawer to store the bits and bobs associated with both tools.  It also fits the chip and mat board used with the cricut.

I may add a shelf in the middle to hold filament spools for the printer.   It will be really nice to have all the tools and supplies I use with these two machines located in the same place.   There is a good bit of terrain work remaining for the Stalingrad project so this setup should get a good work out.

It's not very pretty but hopefully she'll be functional, which is a type of beauty all its own.

The cart is built out of construction grade materials.  The four legs and cross braces are 2x4 studs I cut down to 1.75x1.75 inches on my table saw.  The two platforms and drawer unit from scrap 1/2 inch plywood.  The drawer face and sides along the top are cut from a 1x6 board.  I think the total wood cost is under $20 bucks.

Doing little projects like this one to organize my workspace always proves to be a nice break when I get in a hobby rut and helps me figure out ways to change up my modeling workflow.  This hobby of ours has a lot pieces to it between paints, minis, terrain materials and tools so doing a little thinking on organization is actually very helpful.  I also tend to find things I forgot I had when doing these projects which is kind of like getting a prize at the end of the project.   

6mm Ancients - UNLEASH PRIMER!

 

With the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (version 11.0) a little more than 3 weeks away, it's time to start prepping mini's.  In addition to finishing up my 15mm Stalingrad project, you'll be seeing a lot of 6mm Ancients - literally thousands of the tiny blighters.

My first of two orders from Baccus has arrived.  In that tiny box were figures for a Republican Roman army and a Parthian one.  The second order, which is still being processed has a large Sucessor Army and my favorite - Dacians.

First up for priming are some Roman Hastati, which I will be basing in 3 ranks of 8 on 40mm square bases.  40mm squares are the standard used for the rules Age of Hannibal, which we use at the club and I highly recommend.  I also used 40mm bases for my Russo Japanese armies.

Lighter infantry, such as velites Velites will be less dense, with maybe 6-8 figures per base.  Dense formations like Phalanxes will have 6 ranks of 8 figures so 48 per base.  Steve from the club has a beautiful Macedonian army and has 64 figures crammed onto a 40mm square base.

My Republican Roman army will have 16 bases of Hastati/Principes, 2 Triarii, and handful of Roman cavalry plus both Italian and Spanish allies (mostly light troops)  

 

Fabricator Cart

Building terrain is the aspect of the hobby I enjoy the most but it's both messy and some of the tools take up a lot of space.  The biggest culprits in that last category are my 3D printer and Cricut cutting machine.  Rather than take up precious gaming table space, I decide to build a rolling cart so I can stack these devices and store them out of the way.

The first picture is the base frame flipped on it's side while checking for square.  The joinery for the frame is a "floating tennon" which provides a great opportunity to get some practice with my Festool Domino cutter.  I need that practice because the next big woodworking project is building some new nightstands as a Christmas present for my wife.  Given the year she has had treating Covid patients, she deserves a really nice Christmas.

Here's a picture of the frame right side up and clamped while the glue sets.  There will be 2 main shelves - one at the top and one along the bottom.  The 3D printer goes on the top shelf and the cricut machine on the bottom.  There will be 4 locking caster wheels which will keep this unit from shaking as the machines do their thing.

Todays task will be to add a drawer along the top section for storage.

I should get this unit done in a few days.

The overall dimensions are 18 inches wide, 24 inches deep and 30 inches tall.  The wood is cheap construction grade pine 2x4s cut down to a 2x2 size.  The plans are - well there aren't really any plans, I'm kind of making this thing up as I go.  Usually not the best method for woodworking are building anything.
 

Quatre Bras at the Club, Part 2

 

Last night we finished up the Quatre Bras game.  Tom and Ed returned to command the Allies.  For the French we had new commanders in the form of Greg and myself.  The ruleset was General D'Armee.  Since I was playing, I didn't take any pictures except at the end.

The game resumed at turn 8 and the French attack continuing with the Allies getting ground down.  Last game Josh had effectively formed a grand battery of all the French Artillery and it continued to pound the Dutch troops.

Greg sent in Jerome's Brigade, which had the best French troops in a series a attack columns and punished the Dutch the Dutch in the center.  At the same time both Ed and Tom launched calvary attacks on both Flanks - one forced a French brigade to retreat while the other was me by French Cavalry and pushed off.  Their two British Infantry brigades deployed along the cross roads and became a formidable defensive position.

After a few turns of trading blows, the French managed to break the 2 Allied cavalry brigades on either flank.  That brought our broken Allied Brigade tally to 4, which was enough for a French victory.  It was kind of a cheap way for us to win but there you go.  Taling on those British brigades would have been difficult as the French infantry was pretty chewed up by then.

Greg did comment that the club has played Quatre Bras a number of times with the "Age of Eagles" ruleset and every game resulted in a resounding French Victory.  It's a tough scenario for the Allies to win.  Our game was a little closer run but the French moved with a bit more alacrity than they did historically.  Perhaps a better way to balance the scenario is to put some limits on the French command dice.  I really like the overall scenario and will run it again with some tweaks to make it a little more fun for the Allies.

Announcing LWTV "Caesar Awards"

 

We have a new project on the LWTV channel - The Caesar Awards - which are meant to celebrate excellence in wargaming video and other online content.  There are 10 categories of media type which you, the great unwashed public, can make nominations to by going to our web page CAESARS AWARDS.

Categories include Favorite Wargaming Youtube Channel, Best Painting Tutorial Video, Best Wargame Podcast and even Best Wargaming Blog.  The only rule for nominations is that content from the LWTV channel can not be nominated as it would be a little unseemly to create an awards show just to give yourself an award.

Did I mention there is a "Best Wargaming Blog" category?

Anyway,  Please take some time to nominate your favorite content creators.  People put a lot of work into this hobby and there are some really very well produced videos and other online content out their - even humble personal blogs about geeks in their lairs pursuing the hobby at their own personal uber level of effort.

I think I mentioned there was a category for Best Wargaming Blog.  Yeah I'm sure I did.

OK, unsightly groveling for blog nominations aside, please take some time to nominate your favorite content creators - who knows - maybe they'll win one of the coveted Caesar Awards?

Quatre Bras Using General D'Armee

 

Last night at the club, we re-fought the Battle of Quatre Bras using my 15mm Naps and the General D'Armee ruleset.  I was the GM with Steve and Josh playing the French and Tom, Greg and Ed commanding the allied forces.

I used the scenario for the excellent 100 Days General D'Armee scenario PDF which you can get from TooFatLardies.  The scenario started with 7 French Brigades on the board against 2 Dutch brigades of questionable quality.  The allies will receive a brigade or two per turn.  The French have a heavy Cavalry Brigade coming on mid game and by then the sides will be "evenish" with a troop quality advantage to the French.

The French attack got off to a slow start given some bad luck with ADC rolls and a good number of resulting Hesitant Brigades.

Finally the French made contact Bylandt's Brigade - one of Bylant's battalions managed to form a square and the other, well, didn't.  Lancers and Infantry don't mix well.

On the other side of the table Steve's French finally started moving and began enveloping the Dutch - to their rear there are two British Brigades coming on the table and none-too-soon.

We got to turn 8 of 18 last night and will continue the game next week.

This will be a hard one for the Allies to pull off.

Stalingrad Project: Practical Issues

 

Scenery progress is a little over the halfway point.  One of two 6x4 boards is pretty much done and most of the iconic buildings for the second have been scratch built.  The needed miniatures are also in process and I’m getting some help there from some club members which is greatly appreciated.  

The term “done” is a bit misleading as I’ll keep tweaking with the terrain.  I “may” have found a source of images of a newspaper from Stalingrad dated August, 1942 that I can shrink down to add to the rubble look.  They will be illegible at 15mm scale but still period appropriate.  I’ll pause here while you all roll your eyes......

Finished?, great lest move on.

Terrain making has been paused as I need a break and want to test some rules - I might even publish a set of rules for city fighting.  Sadly, the later point is likely more an act of personal ego inflation than actual contribution to the hobby.

There is one practical issue to work out - how do I organize all this stuff for both storage and transport up to the club or a convention.  The full table is 30 x18 hexes and each hex will labeled on the bottom by row letter and column number (01A all the way to 30Q) so that will aid in setting up but still its 540 hexes.

I need to source or build some containers to hold all this stuff.  Weight really isn’t and issue given the materials I’m using and hexes can be oriented to reduce wasted space in a container.  The total volume of the entire table setup is roughly 20 cubic feet, with the mini’s adding maybe another 5 cubic feet..  All of that will fit in my vehicle and likely may be a lot easier to transport than most of my convention games.

I’m leaning toward just buying some bog standard plastic bins but am intrigued by concept of how cool it would be to rock up to Historicon with all this stuff packed up into replica Soviet ammo and rifle crates.  The mere fact that I could even conceive of such a thing as “cool” proves this blog is aptly named.

Stalingrad Project: Playing with Pigments

 

The final step in scenicing the Stalingrad table is weathering the buildings.  My normal goto method is somewhat crude - washing with a black/brown wash and then some quick dry brushing.  That usually works "OK" but may be problematic for this project as the vast majority of the buildings are made of MDF, chip board or mat board.  All 3 of those materials don't react well to water and I was worried I'd end up with warped or fraying buildings if that tried and true method was use.  So it's time to try something new (for me) - Pigment Powders.

I've used pigments from my days as a model railroader and had some black, orange and red/brown on hand.  I also went on Amazon and picked up 4 vallejo pigments (Light Slate Grey, Desert Dust, Dark Slate Grey and Natural Siena).  I'm using air-brush thinner as a fixative.

Lets look at some before and after pictures of the test subject - a one hex MDF building.  The building is from a polish company Terrains4Games and I am really impressed with their products.  I'll do a post about them later on but they make really great stuff.

Here are the before pictures:

I added a styrene angle piece along the corner to cover up the seam.  I should go back and mask the floor tab slots with wood filler....

It's a nice little building with a hint of rubble

Now lets look at the same building after my first attempt at using pigments for scenery.  

I ended up using mostly black (for soot) and the light slate grey (concrete dust)

The pigments were applied in two ways - for horizontal surfaces (ground, rubble piles) a old worn brush was used to apply the pigment directly and then it was fixed in place bu dropping a little air brush thinner using capillary action.  Because everything names a name, this method has been dubbed by me the "Direct Method".

The method used for vertical surfaces was very similar to a wash - I mixed some pigment with the air brush thinner and then painted it on trying to simulate streaks.  Lets call this one the "Slurry Method"

The "Direct Method" seems to work really well and is fairly easy to apply (remember there are a lot of building and rubble hexes to weather).

I'm not the happy with the "Slurry Method" as it looks streaky.  A replacement for that method could be applying the pigments directly and then fixing then with a short spray of dull coat.  I've got plenty of buildings to experiment on 

For me the key to weathering is to put just enough on to suggest dirt and grime without going overboard and hiding the model details.  It's something that I'll likely never perfect but just get closer and closer each time I try.

Let me know what you think

Stalingrad Project: The North Section of the Board is Just About Done

 

Like the majority of wargames projects, the northern section of my 15mm Stalingrad board is 95% done.  I'm waiting on an order of styrene strips and other bits and bob's from Evergreen so I can add the rails to most of the track hexes.  Then the last thing to do is add a wash to all the building to tone down the colors.  I need to experiment a bit before doint that.

I'm really happy with the progress so far.  The southern half starts on the left side of the second picture and will run all the way down to Red Square and will have such iconic buildings as the Univermag Dept Store, the Nail Factory and the House of Specialists.  Technically its the lower 60% of the board.

The Western side of the board

Grudinin's Mill defended by a Soviet Rifle Platoon.  I had to get some mini's on the table just to see how things looked.

The Mill is way to "bright" and that will get toned down during the wash process.

and a German Grenadier platoon attempting to cross January 9th Square - that's a lot of open ground to cover under Soviet fire.

We'll keep chugging along here in the Lair

The Seven Steps to Hex Making Nirvana

Several people have asked "How do you make your hexes" so I thought I would publish a step by step guide.  My hexes are sized at 4" across (flat side to flat side) and match the standard used by GHQ.

In order to use the method I'm describing you need 3 tools:

- A hot wire cutting table.  I use a proxxon, which is superb but there are other options out there.  Don't go cheap on your hot wire table - you use it a lot in terrain making.

- A hex cutting jig - these are not all that hard to make  and are required to make precise hexes.  How I made my jig can be found this link: Hex Cutting Jig

- A robust straight edge cutting guide - super easy to make and really is the first thing you should add to your hot wire table tool.  How I made mine cand be found at this link: Straight Edge Guide

Cautionary Words:

Cutting EPS foam with a hot wire cutter does release toxic gasses which you should NOT breath in.  How toxic?  I'm no medical expert but have reliable information these fumes are worse than those produced by two day old gas station burritos.  Yeah, it's nothing to screw around with.   I do my cutting in the garage with the door open and I have a fan behind me blowing the fumes away.  Doing so also gives me a wind blow hair look which is a truly glamorous thing to behold.  Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

So without further ado, I present to you :

The Seven Steps to Hex Making Nirvana: 

Step1) EPS Foam Prep:  

I like to use pink or blue insulation EPS foam panels that are 1 inch thick and 24 by 24 inches in size.  Given there is some precision cutting here that's the largest size I can easily manage.  I get mine from Amazon in a set of 6 for $35.00.  There are cheaper ways to source this material but none that are more convenient.  Time is money

Make sure to clean up the material if it's been stored in the open - a few shakes and quick brushing and your ready to go. 

A word on dimensions - the thickness of 1 inch is rock solid but the 24 x24 inch sizing is more aspirational - these panels can vary +/- 0.5 inches on the length and width.

Step 2) Set the Guide to 4 inches: 

This is the most precise cut you need to make so it's important to take your time.

One of the most valuable tools I have for model making is a set of steel rulers that a have a flat end.  These are way more helpful than a standard tape measurer for precise marking.

Step 3A) Make Your First Cut:

Place the EPS foam up against your guide and passi it across.  Using a guide is really important - free-hand cutting just ends up with wavy sides.  

Friends don't let friends make hexes with wavy lines

Step 3B) Check Your Work:

With the first cut done, double check to make sure the width is 4" inches.  Surprisingly, I got this one right.  

Once you're sure your at 4 inches go ahead and cut the rest of the material into 4" inch strips - you'll end up with 6 but make sure to keep track of the last one....

Step 3C) Check the Last 4" Strip:

As I mentioned earlier - sometimes these 24 inch panels are actually 24 inches and the one I used was a little short so the 6th strip of foam is only 3 and 3/4 inches wide.  This one CAN NOT be used to make hexes so needs to be put aside.  It's not really wasted as I'll use the off cuts for other scenery projects.

Step 4) Set the Point to Point Distance:

The next step is to cut they 4x24 inch strips into blocks that are just a tiny bit longer than the hex is point to point.  I made up a few 4 Inch (flat to flat) hexes to use a marking guides and use that to set up the cutting cutting guide.

If you want to get into hex terrain having a few of these lying around your shop is really helpful

Once the 4 5/8" cut distance is set cut the 4"x24" strips into 4"x4 5/8 inch blocks.  You'll end up with 5 blocks that will make full hexes and one short block that can be used to make hal hexes or be tossed into the "available for future scenery projects bin"

Cut the 4" strips into blocks,

At this point you should have 25 blocks that look like this.

Step 5) Break Out the Hex Jig!  

Place one a block in the hex cutting jig and make sure it's firmly seated as shown in the picture to the left.

Make a pass across the wire by pushing the jig forward.  Turn the block leaving the first cut on the same side as the cutting wire and pull the jig back across the wire.

Now flip the block so you newly created point faces away from the cutting wire and repeat the two step process above

Wala' you now have a perfect 1" thick hex and four right triangles

Step 6) Set the Guide to 1/2 inch:

We now need to reset the cutting guide to 1/2 inch so we can cut down the 1inch hex into 2 1/2 inch ones.  Rather than risk messing up one of our shiny new 1" hexes I test my guide set with one of the triangle cut-offs

They're great to use to test the 1/2 inch setting.

Step 7) Make the Final Cut:

Place the 1 inch thick hex up against the the guide and ....

pass it through the wire (I'm pretty sure you knew that was the next step)

At this point most of you will be doing the happy dance that all hex makers are legally required to perform after their first successful hex.  This dance can be physically taxing so make sure to stretch before your performance.

Do that 24 more times.  Performing the Hex making dance is really not recommended after each hex as, frankly, most of us are just not in the proper shape to do so.

and boom you've got some hexes!  The yield this time was 50 hexes from a 2x2 sheet of EPS foam - sometimes if the foam is cut a little large you can get up to 60.

It took me longer to write up this blog post than to cut 50 hexes.  Start to finish the entire cutting process took 33 minutes, which include the time I took to take pictures and added a few minutes to the production time.

There is some foam wastage - I don't find the triangle cut offs all that useful and end up throwing most of them in the bin.  I do keep a few as they can make nice braces to pin in place and support a glue up but most, sadly, end up in the bin.

I've been making a lot of hexes.