Reveiw: Master Basing Kit

Spectre Hobbies was good enough to provide a Master Class Scenery & Basing Kit for review here at Chicago Terrain Factory. The package includes 4 seasons of turf & static grass, long strand field grass, snow cover, assorted cork, wood chips, white glue, water effect, sand, Texture Paste - White, Mineral Texture Gel and a few supporting items such as bases and stir sticks. The kit retails for $21.99 and is a quick and affordable way to stock up a modeling collection.

Plus

My favorite components of the basing kit are the two jars of paste. The Texture Paste is a creamy white material which applies sort of like shaving cream. Mineral Texture Gel contains sand and does a fine job of adding grit to the base of a model. Use either to cover slota base holes or to provide dry brush ready texture. The Mineral Gel dries solid, but retains an elastic property - I found this the hard way when trying to cut holes for field grass. Once my jars run dry, I’ll be looking to restock from Spectre.

Weighing in at .2 oz, the bags of turf and static grass are more than enough for an army sized basing project. When finishing my Pirate project, I based 19 figures using both turf & flock and barely put a dent in the amount supplied. The color range is similar to ground covers sold by Woodland Scenics, adding the stronger colors sold by Noch would be a nice upgrade to this kit.

Push

I’m not sold 100% on cork as a rock substitute - it always seems to look a bit “corky”, but look at the example base to decide for yourself. Rather than supplying three types of cork, the kit might better supply single sheets with instructions to rip into rocks. I used one of the flat sheets on the base above and quickly began to generate my own cork rocks.

The one part water effect provides a high gloss finish to an already textured surface (see Texture Paste above). I’d rather have seen a 2 part kit included that is able to create a 3D water effect.

Minus

The field grass packages are much too small - creating 4 plugs for the pirate bases used up half of supplied grass.

The wood chips for use as slate are much too big. Of the two pieces, the smallest covers a 30mm base and the largest is better used on a CD sized base.

Full Disclosure: Spectre and CTF have an on going business relationship. This review is not compensated and not part of that relationship.

Lava Bases

Concept pieces for a new line of lava bases. A friend of mine is building a new demon army and is looking for a set of custom bases to highlight the force. His design calls for solid rock over glowing lava cracks - sort of like the thumb nail to the left. After creating a pair of bases matching the design, I threw together two other ideas just to see what else I could come up with.

The first two bases are made using Apoxie Sculpt. The material is inexpensive, but continues to display deficiencies when sculpting fine detail. The lava channels in base #1 are shallow due to the loss of flexibility in the epoxie after about 10 minutes of working time. Surface texture is from a piece of concrete. Base #2 is all “cold lava” with no channels for hot lava. Texture is from a bit of resin rubble.

Base #3 is made with Procreate. This epoxie has none of the rubberyness of green stuff and takes detail very well. The same concrete rock is used to apply the texture, but this time the detail is much more complete and deeper. Base #4 is a complete departure from the design request. This base uses floor tile to create free floating flagstone in a pool of lava made from basing paste.

WAB: Arabs and Saracens army building

I’ve taken a recent interest in Warhammer Ancient Battles. Building a list is a bit more complicated than the 40K/WFB rosters I’m used to, not only do I need to figure out a new set of rules with hundreds of army lists available - but I also need to hunt down appropriate figures for the army.

Army Selection

When creating a new army I look to balance four elements:

1. Will the army look nice? I have to enjoy the models.
2. Does it have any fun units? The army has to have several ways of playing.
3. Will the army play well? I have no time to paint up a force only to find the list is a dodo.
4. Is it affordable? I know the hobby is expensive - but there is no need to spend $600 if $300 will do.

I think a Muslim force may meet all of these goals. The units are well priced for both calvary and infantry. In the absence of any true heavy cavalry in the game, skilled horse archers will need to take care of my need to play with horses. The list has access to Elephants and flame throwing archers - how cool is that! The Arab style units with robes and turbans will allow for natural color choices and keep metallics to a minimum. I’ve also been advised that the list covers about 800 years, making it an easy army to keep in period. Finally, the list can also be allied to a Crusader force - a good way to recycle units if the list does not work out.

Arabs and Saracens 1000 points

General - composite bow, light armor, shield, Warhorse 152 pts
Arab Light Cav #6 with Thrusting Spear, Light Armor and Shield. Leader, Standard, Musician 135 pts
Turkish Light Cav #6 with Composite Bow, Leader and Musician 118 pts
Turkish Light Cav #6 with Composite Bow, Leader and Musician 118 pts
Arab Spearmen #24 with Leader, standard, musician, Thrusting Spear and Shield 183 pts
Religious Volunteers #23 with Leader, Standard, Musician, Hand weapon and Shield 153 pts
Auxilliary Infanty #7 with Javelins, Shield and Naffatun 62 pts
Arab Archers #10 with short bow, Musician and Naffatun 79 pts

Miniatures Choices

Arab/Moor forces are produced by a variety of companies, most of whom are based in the UK but have retained US distributors for those of us who like to shop in dollars and want nothing to do with customs roulette.

Perry Bros on sale at War Store : Well done figures in the Crusades - Islam army, but I’ve been advised that the figures are a true 25mm and may not fit well with other figure lines.

Musketeer Minis on sale at Little Wars: More pleasant looking figures in the Armies of the Caliphates line, price is similar to the Perry Brothers with $6 horsemen and $2.50 infantry.

Gripping Beast on sale at Old Glory 15s: This group may well be the winner. Not only are the figures recommended, but the line prices well with $4 horsemen and $1.50 infantry. One slight problem, Old Glory has the Moors product line on their web site, but not the Armies of Islam line. I may need to do a bit of mix and match if I can’t get cavalry in the US.

Artizan Designs on sale at BrigadeGames: Forgot to mention this line of Moors. The infantry are attractive, the calvary not so much. But to their credit, Artizan is one of the few to post large, clear photos of their figures. Price point is $2.50 infantry and $6.50 calvary.

One minor rant - I had trouble finding lines on the US retailers at both War Store and Old Glory 15. For reasons know only to themselves, the product lines are re-titled in the US listings, causing all sorts of confusion for a WAB rookie like me. Fortunately, both stores promptly returned emails detailing were the product was listed.

Spectre Hobbies now stocking CTF castings

Spectre Hobbies is now stocking gaming products cast by Chicago Terrain Factory. The initial release includes:

• 40mm Urban Bases
• 25mm Urban Bases
• 25mm Rune Bases
• Fallen Banner objective marker
• Alien Pod Mouth terrain piece

Look for the Chicago Terrain Factory products in the Bases category.

40K 5th Ed: LOS Rumor Reaction

Bell of Lost Souls posted the latest round of 40K 5th edition rule rumors.  For the most part, I don’t get worked up about changes to 40K rules- I’ve only played 2-3 times in the past two years.  But this one really burns me:

Line of Sight:
There are no height levels, all terrain is true LOS (even jungles and woods). They will need to be modeled appropriately if they are to block LOS.

Now even the terrain is made obsolete by a new rule set!  As the person who frequently brings the terrain, I now need to bring and build taller terrain if I want to make sure LOS is blocked equally for all units.  Short trees need to be replaced by tall trees.  Short, fragmented ruins need to be replace by larger, more complete buildings.  If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know that most of my terrain pieces are cast in plaster.  Bigger terrain will mean heavier boxes, more sore backs and even worse fuel economy getting to events (OK, that last one is a bit of a stretch).

In related news - stay tuned for a new Warhammer Ancients army - those Chinese from 500 BC are not changing any time soon.

Quick Links: Alkemy Jungle board

Fabulous 4×4 jungle temple board created for the Alkemy game.

Drop by the Alkemy forums for 27 more pics of this board, discussion in French. Work-in-Progress shots also on Alkemy. Discussions in English by the builder on Wyrd forums.

Construction appears to be mostly foam board shaved to fit with details scribed in pencil. Statues could be aquarium pieces. Figures in relief are gaming figures. All terrain items are modular - enhancing the playability of the board.

I particularly like this board because it would be so flexible to play on. Alkemy is a medieval fantasy game, but the board would work equally well for pulp adventure or High Seas with a eastern spin.

Pirate Crews

Getting ready for Adepticon next week with three pirate crews for the Legends of the High Seas demo table. Crews are constructed from Privateer Press Sea Dogs, Games Workshop Empire Militia, and Wargames Foundry Scurvy Dogs.  Paint plan is simple with brown, black/grey & beach bone with a primary color for each crew.

Sea Dog Pirate

Pirate Captain

Pirate Crew

Pirate Crew

Pirate Crew

Pirate Crew

Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Captain

Foundry Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Crew

Foundry Pirate Civilian

Sea Dog Pirate Captain

Sea Dog Pirate

Sea Dog Pirate

Sea Dog Pirate

Sea Dog Pirate

Gamer software - anything better than free?

If there is one thing gamers like, its free stuff and the web is full of open source and advertiser supported programs to help out your gamer hobby.

Before those pictures of the new project can be posted online - the pics will need a little clean up. Paint.net is my current favorite editor to crop, size and retouch photos. Picasa can do a lot of the same and can help organize & post your photo collection. For heavy duty work GIMP is the one you want (be warned - the tool bar has enough buttons to launch the space shuttle). Or for light work, check the various online editors.

Getting ready for the weekend game? Write up your roster or track the league play at Zoho or Google Docs. Need a bit of artwork to spice up the list? Inkscape will let you create the vector drawings needed for a new look.

If you’re reading this post, chances are you already have a blog. But if you don’t and want to jump in and start your own, WordPress and Blogger are both self hosted (and nearly idiot proof) platforms. Want to go old school & write your own web site? Kompozer & Coffee Cup have free HTML editors and the web is full of free hosting sites. Don’t forget the forum, us gamers love to talk. Ever wonder why a lot of hobby stores look alike? They are all using the same shopping cart.

This post is just the tip of the iceberg. What software and services do you like to use with your gamer hobby?

Baegor: Adepticon Masterclass

Baegor the One Horned painted for the Adepticon Masterclass auction.

The figure is cleanly sculpted and cast with an attached rocky base.  Detail on the model is crisp and easy to identify for painting.  Cast in two pieces, the left wing is separate and requires assembly. 

Assembling the wing joint was a bit of a chore.  The figure comes with a small peg and hole as an attachment point.  Not trusting the peg to hold the metal pieces together, I used (an over-sized) pin vise bit to drill a pin hole.  The bit was much to large for the wing & ripped through the outer skin of the model.  (Ever pin a Daemonette or anything by Rackham?  It was sort of like that.)  Plan B was to fill the hole with super glue and stuffed a ball of green stuff into the void.  GS does a marvelous job of taking super glue and bonding metal parts together over large gaps. 

Paint plan is white primer with GW brown ink base coat.  Body is GW Dark Flesh blended to highlight with Vallejo Flat Red.  Wings are GW bleachbone with GW brown ink wash.  Details in light grey and bleachbone.  Metals in bright silver and gold with brown ink wash.

Del.icio.us links from Chicago Terrain Factory

Cleaned up my bookmark collection and posted the links to Del.icio.us.  350 book marks to various terrain builders, gaming forums and figure painting gallerys along with a few links to the technology sites that I have been reading lately.  The collection is still a work in progress, I have links from several other sources that need to be integrated such as the blog list found on the Community RSS FAQ page.