Small but Perfectly Formed

After a bit of Googling I have come to the conclusion that I need to scratch build some of the buildings I will need as no one seems to have all the buildings I want and some of the ones which are available may be incorrect.  Beware, what follows is the result of entire minutes of detailed web surfing so may not be accurate! 

That warning aside lets look at the first building I'm interested in Henry Hill House from the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run.  A number of models of this house are available in different scales and mediums.  Below is the Leven Miniatures 6mm version in resin.

From the Leven catalogue - Henry House as most models show it

As with all Leven models it really is a lovely casting but sadly it is too big for 2 or 3mm use and it may not be as the house looked in 1861.  That is no reflection on Mick at Leven,  as every other model of this house is the same.  In fact I used the Leven version as an image as it is such a nice item.  Until an hour ago I would have unflinchingly accepted those models as accurate (damn you Google search).

All of the models I have seen are based on the building which sits on the site now.  The original was very badly damaged during the battle and demolished sometime before 1870.  According to the US Library of Congress >>Link<< the existing building was built on the site of the original property in 1870.  The Library of Congress site says that it was "Built of wood frame construction on a fieldstone foundation, the Henry House originally consisted of two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs, with an external chimney centered on the north gable. By 1883 an addition had been constructed at the north end of the house, adding another room to each floor, and including a cellar." 

The chimney is the key as the modern property has the additional two rooms beyond the location of the chimney.  Photo's of the present building clearly show that there is a join at that point with the pre 1883 extension to the left in the photo below.  So it looks as if the original house was smaller than the current one and so smaller than the available models. 

You can see the join in this shot.

Another factor is that several Civil War websites also have the drawing below listed as a drawing of the damage to the Henry House after the battle.  If that is accurate it does have the chimney on the outside of the gable but there are no windows to the upper floors as the roof comes down to sit level with what would be the ground floor rooms' ceiling.  (Source is the Civil War Wiki).  The upstairs rooms would have had to be in a loft or attic space.  Its side doesn't look like the Robinson House which has a prominent extension to the roof forming an attached rear room and porch and the only period photo I have found doesn't have windows in the end elevation of the building.

Is this really the Henry House after the Battle?

Fearing the growing  power of the Pictish Kingdom Riderch King of Strathclyde has determined on a show of force.  The target is the region of Menteith to the immediate North West of Strat Clut and an important link between Pict and Scot's-Irish lands.  Riderch gathers all his might at Cambuslang and heads North.  He is met close to Mucetauc (Modern Mugdock in Sterlingshire) by a force lead by the Mormaer of Menteith supported by the men of  Fib and Strath Erin.  This is close by the site of an actual real world battle between Strathclyde and the Picts a century earlier.

I diced for sides and the Picts fell to be managed by the solo rules.  These determined that they would be formed up in five groups (the DBA solo rules require groups of no more than four elements and cavalry to be in two groups which means that the first turn for the AI is usually sorting the groups out to a more sensible arrangement I think I want to change this).  The Pictish spearmen (3Pk) were two elements deep in two groups on a crestline in the centre.  Cavalry and Light Horse on their right and Light Infantry on the left.  The plan was for the spearmen to push forwards with the horse and light Infantry protecting the flanks of the spearmen.

The initial deployment.  Picts are furthest away

On my side after the Pictish defenders had deployed I placed my Spearmen in two lines in the centre with a frontline wide enough to overlap the Pictish spearmen on both ends of their line and as far forwards as possible.  All my cavalry bar one element on my left facing the Pictish horsemen and all the Light Infantry along with the remaining cavalry element on my right.  My plan was to engage the two flank groups and hold them back while dealing with the main Pictish threat in the centre.

You know what they say about plans though!

The overall tactical stance of the Picts was aggressive which to be fair to the solo rules seemed right given the situation.  They started with a general advance and closed up the two groups of infantry in the centre into one body.  Their cavalry pushed ahead of the centre trying to engage the Welsh cavalry and prevent it getting around the back of the main body.  In response the Britons of Strathclyde push their own cavalry forward to clash with the Pictish light cavalry who form the front line opposite them.  In the combat they destroy one LH element and recoil the others, 0-1 to the Welsh.

The Pictish massed spears pour down from the distant ridge

The Picts continue to plod forwards in the centre and a swirling cavalry melee erupts on their left wing as they feed the second line of cavalry into the fight.  They destroy a Welsh cavalry element 1-1.  In return the Welsh also feed their reserves into the cavalry fight but then seem to loose all of the fights with recoils along the line.  Those Pictish light cavalry are tougher than they look.  On the other wing the light infantry fight is inconclusive although the lone unit of welsh cavalry does get into a flank position.  Next turn the Picts get the dreaded single pip just when they don't want it.  They elect to continue to push the mass of spearmen forward but this means that there is no movement on the two flanks and the centre is starting to push too far ahead of it's flank guards.

So far so good the Pictish infantry have advanced beyond their supports

In response the Britons withdraw their centre and try to reform line with their horse.  Over on the right the light infantry fight is still see sawing.

The Strathclyde Welsh refuse their centre

The Pictish command still favours aggressive action but doesn't have the pip score to do all it would like.  They prioritise stabilising the cavalry wing and attacking with their light infantry while they still have it to attack with.  They manage to destroy one light infantry element making it 2-1 to the Picts.  The Welsh get a good pip score and take the opportunity to deploy their reserve of spearmen.  One unit moves into the front line and the remaining two head out over towards the right wing in case the light infantry fail to hold over there.  The cavalry regroup but loose another cavalry element in the melee. 3-1 to the Picts.  This was not how the plan was meant to unfold!

The Picts continue in their attempt to come to grips with the Welsh shield wall but are still a move away from contact.  To try to offset the overlap on their spearmen they add a light Infantry element to the end of the line.  On the left flank things are falling apart with another Welsh light infantry unit destroyed, 4-1 to the Picts and only two elements off the Strathclyde Welsh's breakpoint!  The Welsh can see the day slipping away from them and having a reasonable pip score they advance in the centre hoping it isn't too little too late.

The Welsh centre commits and starts to turn the left flank of the Picts

The dice Gods now turn their face away from the painted men of Pictia and narrow their options with a low pip score.  In a do or die move the surviving Pictish light infantry attempts to hold the Welsh cavalry in place for a turn to prevent a camp run.  They hold for a turn and then succumb to a flank attack from the Welsh spear reserves. In the centre the main infantry action starts.  Pictish 3Pk stacked up two deep for a cumulative opening factor of six against Welsh spear on a basic factor of four.  Again the dice Gods turn away and the Picts only kill one spear element in the first round of combats 5- 2 to the Picts.  In an equivalent to Wellington shouting 'Now Maitland. now's your time!' the Welsh close onto the flanks of the Pictish Infantry line and attack all along the line.  It will only take one Welsh loss and it is all over.  The first attack goes in with flank support and the Pict Light infantry recoil, except they can't,  5-3 Another kill in the centre of the line 5-4 and the flank attack on the other end of the line kills another element 5-5!  There are some Welsh cavalry on the field ...they think it's all over! and with the destruction of one more element it is, the Welsh have pulled it out of the bag.

There are some Picts left but they are all intent on going home, without further delay

Menteith has passed into Strathclyde Welsh control.  There were no command casualties, but there will be lamentations in Pictia and Strathclyde for the small folk who never came away from this field.

Strathclyde losses
Strat Clut 1 x Cv, 1 x Sp, 1 x Ps.
Rheghed  1 x Cv, 1 x Ps

Pictish losses
Menteith    1 x Ps (now SC Welsh)
Fib             1 x 3Pk, 1 x Ps
Strath Erin 1 x 3Pk, 1 x LH, 1 x Ps

These casualties will have an effect in later games in this five year turn as destroyed elements from this fight will not be available until the next full game turn and Strathclyde are to be attacked by Northumbria and the Picts are attacking the Dal Raitian Scots.

I learned that a solid wall of spears can hold off a pike armed body but only once they start to get overlaps can they do real damage to them.  Pike have to be used aggressively before their flanks can be turned.  Light Cavalry are stronger in these rules against cavalry than I expected and light infantry are a nuisance if allowed to do what they want so they have to be neutralised early. 

Strathclyde Welsh figures are from Baccus’ Goth range.  The Picts are from Irregular.  Buildings are Leven and 2D6 Miniatures.  The sharp eyed will have noticed that I had to proxy some figures as I need more Picts and Strathclyde Welsh.  I really wish someone did some Picts that were a better match for the Baccus figures. Plus I need to do something a bit more creative with the built up area than dumping buildings on a bit of felt!

Last but not least the chronicles have another entry.

798 AD In this year in spring, on the 25th day of May, there was a great battle at Mucetauc in Pictia and there the Peithwyr were put to flight by the Britons of Alt Clut and divers were slain of both peoples.  Such a slaughter has not been in these lands since the time of the Romans.

Lockdown has actually slowed down my painting output, odd isn't it.  I suspect it is because while still working, I'm now doing this from home every day and not just three days a week.  That means I have more freetime and things I would have been putting off are getting moved up the priority list which means that figure painting is being moved down!  The good news is that I haven't bought any more figures so the leadpile is still diminishing.

The photos are pretty poor I'm afraid its really sunny here today and my phone camera doesn't seem to cope well with contrast.

As well as the 6mm stuff, I also painted a couple of old castings in 25mm (or possibly 28mm) that have been sitting in the lead pile for a couple of decades or more.  I think they are Grenadier fantasy figures from the 1980's or 90's but I'm not sure.  They don't feature on the leadpile statistics as they aren't part of the 6mm pile.  I'm not sure how I am going to texture the bases yet.  I might try something different from my usual sand and flock approach.  These are big beasts at 30mm from the soles of their feet to their eyeline.  I have an idea in mind to use these to throw a spanner into the works for any French and Indian Wars skirmish games I might host in the future.

Not sure what these are but they will be fine as Sasquatch

During April I managed to complete 11 elements based for DBx or ADLG totalling 60 cavalry figures and 56 foot figures all in glorious 6mm-arama.  This is made up of two Late Roman Auxilia Palatina bases, 2 Sassanid LMI Javelinmen bases, 2 Gothic heavy cavalry (Roman Foederati), and 4 Late Roman Heavy Cavalry (Equites).  On top of which my resin pile is slightly smaller too.  I have completed 3 Dark Age buildings and a Roman villa.  The buildings are a mix of Levan and 2D6 and are as always lovely sculpts.

Auxilia Palatina with home made transfers on the shields

I have used Moorish Infantry for the Daylami LMI as they are Ax(Fast) in DBA and Light Medium Infantry in ADLG so a less well regimented look seemed right.  There are only 12 figures per base compared to 16 for DBA Solid Auxilia or the ADLG Medium Infantry Sword which also helps distinguish them.

Daylami Javelinmen for the Ssassanids.

The Roman Equites are part of the revamp of my Late Imperial Romans they are Baccus late Imperial Roman Heavy cavalry.  To be honest apart from the lack of cloaks they seem almost identical to the Goth heavy Cavalry.  If need more I may try the earlier period Heavy Cavalry instead just for some variety.

Roman Equites

The Goth heavy cavalry are the first ones I have actually painted as Goths.  All the previous ones to cross the painting table have become Strathclyde Welsh noble cavalry.  I have some Goth medium cavalry in the queue and likewise those will be the first of those to be actual Goths too.  I really like the Gothic range from Baccus, nice sculpts and capable of being proxies for a huge range of other armies as they are generic Dark Age migration period barbarians.  My only historical quibble is that none of the foot have the strange, stepped shoulder, coffin shields, although that would stop them being such useful proxies.

Gothic Heavy Cavalry.  Lets claim it was at dawn and they riding out of the sunrise...or something!

The buildings are a Leven Roman Villa which has been sitting around for a year or more a small viking hut also from leven and two thatched 2D6 dark age buildings.  These work well with the leven anglo-saxon and viking range but seem a bit big compared to the leven Roman villa, still tey are never going to be side by side on the table so it's all fine, and both are simply lovely sculpts.

More Urban sprawl.  I remember when this was all rural drop terrain

The leadpile is still ahead by 265 6mm figures compared by the start of the year, but I have actually painted more cavalry than I bought so I'm ahead there by 19 figures.  Still not going to run out of figures anytime soon though, although I may need to give Irregular Miniatures some of my money for some castings that Baccus don't do, or at least don't sell in small enough numbers for what I need.It's not going to be much of an order mostly foot command figures, but you know how it is once I start to look at the online catalog almost anything could happen!

After a couple of weeks where I have been painting Viking Age figues I wanted a bit of a change.  I had some Leven 6mm buildings I had bought last year which for various reasons had either not made it to the painting table or hadn't been finished so I turned to these for a bit of light relief.  Or so I thought, I quickly realised that I had forgotten what techniques I had decided on using to paint buildings and my system for 6mm figures doesn't translate to buildings.  The problem is that they have large areas of flat, often textureless, space and making sure to get a good even cover is difficult.  This easier for the buildings cast in the cream resin than it is for those cast in the grey resin but in both cases I am coming to the conclusion that an undercoat is vital.

I have a mixture of Timecast and Leven buildings.  I prefer the Leven stuff myself but the Timecast Anglo Saxon buildings are still top notch castings and I have no hesitation in mixing the two together, I just prefer the proportions of the Leven ones.

Leven Norman Chapel with the large Anglo Saxon Cottage and the Great Hall behind

Over the last couple of days I have tidied up the Anglo Saxon Great Hall and started on the two Anglo Saxon Cottages.  Those were fairly simple paint jobs as they are wattle and daub with a thatched roof which don't provide that many options for colour schemes, darker thatch for older roofs white wash v natural cow dung and straw coloured walls and you are about there!  However, lurking at the back of the queue was a Norman Chapel with stone walls and a slate tiled roof.  There are a couple of examples of this style of church locally so I have a decent handle on the colours for the materials but getting them right on the model was another thing entirely!  The variance in tone from block to block of the sandstone is really causing me some heartache as I just can't get it to look right.  It probably doesn't help that I studied Geology in my youth and I know that a rock isn't just a rock.  Sandstone colours vary based on the individual grains of sediment which up the rock, those in turn vary based upon the rocks that were eroded to create the sand that is the basis of the sandstone.  Sandy Limestones look different to Gritstones and so it goes.  I'm two far into the red sandstone end of the spectrum which is fine if i'm recreating Buildings that use Old Red Sandstone or New Red Sandstone but isn't right for south and central England where the stone is a more, well, sandy coloured.  I agonised over that paint scheme until I realised that no matter how hard I try my painting will never rival the detail nature puts into real building stone and probably nobody will care anyway.

I have just order some of 2D6's new Anglo Saxon buildings which should arrive in a few days time so once those arrive I will provide a review of this new manufacturer's products.  The photos on the website look good and reviews of their WW2 stuff have been universally positive so I have high hopes.

I've been a bit lax with blog posts of late.  In my defence real life has intervened in the shape of work and home improvements.  On the plus side I have had the chance to play some games with Trebian's 'Monday Night Gamers' who confusingly get together on Tuesdays (see some of my earlier posts).  I have also found time and space to set up my painting table.

I have been painting some of the 6mm figures from Baccus which I have had since last year.  These are mainly figures for Viking age games for the period 795 - 1066 AD.  I'm not just working on the obvious Anglo-Saxon and Viking forces but also on the nations around the fringes.  These consist of the british remnant states of Dumnonia (in the South West of England covering modern Cornwall and parts of Devon in the 790's), the Welsh princedoms and Strathclyde.  Along with these are the two other Scottish factions of the Picts and Dal Raitian Scots, who may or may not have been one kingdom in all but name by this stage.

The range from Baccus covers almost everything I need except for Picts and Scots.  I can proxy Gothic horse and foot for generic Early Medieval types  Which covers off the limited cavalry options, only the Strathclyde Welsh seem to have had any significant heavy cavalry in this period.  The welsh have some lighter horse which I can cover using the Gothic Medium Cavalry figures from Baccus.  Their Gothic Infantry also work well as Strathclyde Welsh Pedyts (Spearmen) and Anglo Saxon General Fyrd.  Moorish Foot from the Roman range provide some nicely animated figures for the various LMI javelinmen and welsh medium Infantry types.  The Picts are provided by Irregular miniatures as are Scots - Irish swordsmen.  I'm only really left scratching around for proxy figures for the Pictish light infantry and Scots-Irish Kerns.

I'm very happy with the quality of the baccus figures and would really like to use then for everything.  If only Peter would do a Pictish range!  Irregular Miniatures are a mixed bunch some castings are as good as anyone might wish others could do with a re-sculpt.  I bought a couple of their pack mule figures which are lovely little figures with crisp clear details, although noticeably smaller than Baccus, I'm going to claim they are boys with pack ponies rather than mules!

On the terrain front I do a lot of scratch building for fields and woodland (watch this space for details of how I make these).  Buildings are from Leven Miniatures and Timecast and are sat in the paining queue.  So I have been busy just not with blogging. 

Baccus Gothic Medium Horse as Welsh Cavalry

I have done the occasional how to do it article in the past  I thought a more regular update on whats on the work bench might give me an incentive to clear things off it!  Feel free to comment with constructive criticism, suggestions on techniques or to ask how (or why) I do things in the way I do.  If you see a review of a purchase that doesn't crop up in one of these posts it will probably be sat in the lead (or resin) pile waiting it's turn, and not in any way shape or form represent a project that has just stalled.  My projects don't stall they just sit patiently waiting for me to get my ass in gear!

At the moment the next job is terrain items. I have a small village worth  of Leven Miniatures buildings I need to finish off.  These consist mainly of Dark Ages period stuff.  Plus a Roman Villa which I couldn't resist as it was such a lovely design.  For those who haven't yet seen Leven Miniatures in the flesh, they are lovely castings.  The range is entirely 6mm and covers most wargaming periods.  If It's not in the range contact them and ask if it could be added, Mick (the owner) is very helpful and will seriously consider creating items to fill gaps in the range.  His customer service is first rate too.  I ordered some Small Saxon Roundhouses and received the Orc Huts from the fantasy range in error.  I contacted Mick who sent out the correct items by return and told me to keep the Orc Huts rather than send them back.  I'm sure I will find a use for them before long.

Leven 6mm village awaiting my attention

The buildings are cast in a resin which holds the details really well.  Apart from the very occasional small bubble I have never had a bad casting from Leven and they do paint up really nicely. Compared with the Timecast buildings I have the resin is slightly less weighty which may be why there is such good detail as I expect a thinner resin would allow a mould with more detail to be used. I like the fact that the buildings dimensions aren't changed to match game ground scale.  I have a church model which is an extreme example of this it looks tall and thin because of the distortion.  While it may mean that troops weapons ranges stay realistic compared to the footprint of the building it just looks wrong.  Take a look at the image below to see what I mean.

That church is just weird

I prepare the buildings by washing in hot water with a little washing up liquid and then pat dry to get the worst of the water off.  I then put them to one side for 24 hours to give them time to thoroughly dry out (that's the hardest part of the process as I'm itching to get to work on them by that stage).  I start off with an undercoat in white.  I use white because small scale stuff needs to reflect as much light as it can.  To me black undercoating dulls the colour too much.

I read a long time ago that the smaller the scale the brighter the colours need to be.   The logic is that a real person is still the same size no matter how small they seem to appear due to distance.  So the surface area from which light reflects is always the same and that is what determines the colour you see..  A model is trying to look like the actual thing but has less surface area to reflect light from (everything we see is light reflected from the thing we are looking at).  We have to enhance the effect of colour to offset the smaller surface area hence white undercoat and brighter colours.

I start by block painting the main areas and then add the details.  I go over and touch up any paint that has gone over the edges of the casting area I want it to be restricted to and then ink wash in a brown.  Lately I have gone over to Agrax Earthshade by GW.  The reason being it acts as a filter rather than just a shader.  Meaning it gives a very thin cover to everything rather than just pooling in the low points.  That ties the colour schemes together.  As a nod to zenithial lighting I hold the casting upside down while I apply the wash.


My two favourite models so far are the Saxon Great Hall and the Roman Villa.  It may not be a coincidence that these are both larger buildings.

Saxon Great Hall

Roman Villa - part painted