WAB classical campaign: Adepticon 2010

We are launching an online Warhammer Ancient Battles classical campaign.  Results of the campaign will feed into concluding events at Adepticon 2010.   Rules of the event are free and easy – its more of way to get a few games in than a simulation of the Successor Wars/Punic Wars.  If your interested in signing up, visit WAB.Adepticon.org for all the details.

As an aside – the web site is my creation.  I’ve been reading about web design for the past year & this is my first chance at a live site.  The base of the site is a template used as a starting point.  Version 2.0 should come later this summer (after I get my campaign army finished!) with a whole new, and original  layout.  If anyone has feed back on the design, I’d love to hear from you.

New Miniatures Company: Gorgon Studios

Gorgon Studios launches with their first miniature;  Temperance, a 40mm collectors scale figure.  Soon to follow are two line of Classics miniatures sculpted by Steve Saleh:  early Spartans and Etruscans.

I know the folks behind Gorgon Studios.  I’m both excited to see what they have to offer and confident that they can deliver quality productsto the gaming community.

Dipped Celts

Playing with two new toys – Wargames Factory Celts and WoodSheen by Minwax and I’m slowly warming to both.

The Celts are plastic 28mm figures for historical wargamming.  The figures are cleanly cast, without significant mold lines.  Assembly is a bit of a chore – the models are intened to be dynamic, which makes it a bit hard to sort out what angle an arm belongs at or where to hang a shield.  Sculpting is adaquate – hair stands out as the one area that needs improvement.  The figures are true to human scale, which means they fit with with GW’s Empire humans but are dwarfed by Chaos Maurauders.

Celts are played in a hoard – my tentative 1K WAB list has about 90 warriors.  There is no way I’m painting that many figures by next Adepticon.  The solution is dip.  I chose WoodSheen:  Rose Wood as an alternitive to the standard stain products as it advertises a 2 hour dry time.  I applied the dip by brush and with 24 hours of dry time, the figures were slightly tacky (which is still better than the huge stink and 2-3 day dry time of stain).  After two layers of matt spray sealer the figures were presentable.  The biggest adjustment in using this product will be the choice of base colors.  All subtle shades are lost under the dip, I’ll need to add more whole colors such as grey and white to my color scheme.

This figures need a bit of touch up on facial details and the shields need to be fixed.  But other than that, any other advice?  I’m thinking the dip is too heavy on the skin tones & that I might want to try a better brand of matt sealer to completely kill the shine.

Inspiring Sources

Terrain building is more fun with a constant stream of inspiring sources.  Look outside the typical hobby forums for photographs (and photoshops) of real life.

Source: bpkelesy photo used without permission

Could this become a Hirst Castle on an ice peak?  Why does our gaming terrain always have to be flat!

It does not take Photoshop to make something incredible, history is still in the world around us.  Travel logs are rich in photos of castles, forts, churches and abbeys.

• Cities of the Roman World
• Russian Forts
• Travels in Scotland
• Tynemouth Priory

The world of architecture has plenty to offer:

• BldgBlog
• Subtopia
• Unusual Architecture
• Modern Factories

Deviant Art is a constant source of images, both real and imagined.  Search by Urban and Ruin for a world fit for any battle field.

Painting decay, rust and ruin can be difficult to master.  Look to real examples to get the tone right at Smashing Magazine.

Source: daniel cheong photo used without permission

Finally, web design sites provide a plethora of textures.  Look at steel, stone, marble, rust and bone for real world color.