Battle Mat day 2

After yesterday's adventure with spray cans, today is the day to play with pva glue and flocks. I used watered down pva glue with a little screen wash (I read that this helps to break surface tension and makes adhesion easier). A little thing I discovered is to paint this on to the mat in circular motions rather than straight lines, for a more natural clumping look. I used a one inch decorating paint brush for this stage, I could have saved time with a larger brush.

Flocking time

I used a selection of flocks that I had in my terrain box. A medium green for the majority of the covering, with a yellow green for a few sparse highlights. I also had some very dark (soil) flock which I mixed with the medium green for a dark green shade. I tried to make distinct clumps of green with a few darker areas in between.

Flocked

After the flock was added I sprinkled on some clump foliage, to represent scrub, weed bushes, etc. It's tempting to go to town here and really start blending it all in, but this is just a quick game board so it was on to the next step. Some very diluted pva and screen wash was sprayed over the whole mat, I tried to give it a really good soaking. Then I lifted the whole thing and dragged it down in to a sunny corner in the garden to dry off. The fact that most of the flock and foliage did not tip off at this stage I took to be a good sign.

Sunny corner

I guess I spent about two hours in total, spraying paint, applying pva and flocks, then soaking the whole thing. Hopefully, when it's fully dry it will stick to the mat and not shed flock in the house. Time will tell!

Battle Mat on the cheap

The other day I was in the supermarket (Aldi) and spotted these grass mats, priced at £7 each. With a size of 2m x 1m (roughly 6ft x 3ft), I thought it would be ideal for my dining table, which is sized 5ft x 3ft. The original mat is rather a lurid green shade, but I had a plan.

Vivid green mats

Armed with a trio of rattle cans and a window of fine dry weather, I sprayed some random patches to dull down the green.

Field Grey, Dunkelgelb, British Uniform spray cans

After a few minutes, the first pass looked like this. The next stage is to add some flock and grass.

Already looking less uniform green

Less than ten minutes to get to this stage. I want the paint to be fully dried before I move on, and have a browse through my collection of flocks.

Royal Armoury of Malta

On a recent spring break in the city of Valetta, Malta, I visited the Royal Armoury, dedicated to the arms and armour of the Knights of St. John. It was a huge collection, based in two rooms stuffed with cabinets. It's not really a period of history I know much about, but for sheer spectacle it was a memorable visit. Photos below with captions, hopefully they are mostly correct from memory. The official website can be found here.

Armour Room

Armour of the Grand Master

Shield (ceremonial) of the Grand Master

More ornate armour

Cases of helmets

Ottoman Turk arms and armour

Arms room

Cannons large and small

Powder cannisters

Viking Longhouse WIP

Returning from a spring break holiday, I was looking for something quick and easy to do to get me back into the hobby groove. I know, I thought to myself, I will get the roof on the viking super hut, that should be simple enough. What a mistaken idea that was!

I bought the tiling sheets from the ever dependable warbases. They come in A4 size and are strips of a thick card, laser cut. You have to cut each strip to size and glue it on to your roof. It's probably quite easy with a standard roof, but with all the slopes and angles it proved quite time consuming. Two afternoons of pretty tedious hobbying later, and it looks like this. Almost there I think, I am pondering whether to put a beam across the apex.

It looks good, but it's definitely a job for the dedicated enthusiast. All future roofs will probably be turfed!

Flippin' eck....

.....these goblins are big guys. Yes, I did manage to fit in a pancake day pun.

These are black goblins from Knightmare Games, part of their Greenskin Wars range. I ordered them not realising they are bigger than your average goblin, but that's fine, I like size variation. As you can see, they are single piece metal sculpts, oozing with character and good levels of detail. The eyes have an iris and a pupil!

How big are they? Here's a comparison with a couple of plastic figures, a goblin and an orc. They tower over the little goblin, almost reaching the height and bulk of the orc. These are going to be the bruisers in my goblin force, either the bodyguard of the general or maybe an elite unit.

Just like their cousins the Black Orcs of the Warhammer world, or the black uruks of Tolkien's world, they are the biggest and toughest in the army. Conveniently, that suggests a palette to me - black skin with dark robes and armour. So here's a few examples of dark skinned orcs to act as inspiration.

March of the Goblins

Goblins have been a part of my wargaming history since the beginning. From my first few tentative games of Talisman and Heroquest, to full blown battles of Warhammer, they have always been around, as grunts to be killed, enemy to be defeated. When I bought my first set of Warhammer Fantasy Battle it contained dozens of single pose goblins, none of which interested me as a collecting or painting project. Years later I painted the night goblins of the Skull Pass boxset, more to provide cannon fodder for my dwarfs than anything. They have always been second best, on the periphery of my collection.

But that is about to change. Last year I spent a good deal of time reminiscing about those early days. I started to collect a few models from 1992, the first year of my personal involvement in Warhammer. They are not easy to come by - you might be lucky and find a few on various groups or ebay, but prices can be very expensive - my rose tinted specs have not blinded me enough to pay some of the ridiculous levels asked by some sellers. And then I found another way.

Knightmare Games have a range of metal goblins sculpted by Kev Adams, the sculptor of much of the early 90's goblins for Games Worshop. They should fit perfectly with the few figures I already have in my collection. At around three euros a figure they are still not a cheap option, and would be eye wateringly expensive if I was trying to collect the big regiments required by the old games. But I am building a force to use in Erehwon, and maybe Saga, so it's much easier on the wallet. I can buy about fifty or so figures and that's enough for a complete force, not a couple of regiments. So that's what I am doing. I have put in my first order and await delivery with keen anticipation.

And so begins the March of the Goblins.