Le Monastère de Zinderneuf

A very long time since I posted, in fact this is the first post of 2013!  Mainly because my available hobby time has been spent on gaming, modelling and painting,  so no great guilt on my part. 

I confess I drifted from Naps for a while as I got distracted with working on my long-neglected Wars of the Roses collection (all the media coverage of Richard III's discovery rekindled a lifelong interest in the period), but we've had a number of Napoleonic games over the last few months,  along with a return to WW2 that saw my Soviets actually victorious for once.  So no lack of wargaming activity in one way or another.

Yesterday was our second Napoleonic game of the year, and frankly the less said about it the better.  "Debacle" doesn't begin to describe it- the most lopsided Allied victory it's been my misfortune to take part in!   Due to shitty design on my part, the scenario allowed for all the tactical finesse one would expect to find in a pair of paralytically stoned winos duking it out in some meth-induced  brawl outside a seedy skid-row bar.  

Gutted. I won't dwell on it any longer lest my still falling tears short-circuit my computer keyboard.

I will be posting some pictures of past games once I organize the photo albums, but in the meantime here is something different-  the building of Le Monastère de Zinderneuf, or "tarting up" an Airfix French Foreign Legion fort!

 

This one has had a long history.  I seem to remember having bought the model at some decrepit hobby shop up in Ishinomaki years ago, largely out of nostalgia.  Since then it had been to Canada and back (don't ask!) and for ages had just been gathering dust with no real use to man nor beast.  

About a year ago I finally took it out of the box and put it together, but as I don't do any colonial gaming I didn't really know what I would do with it.  Until around last Christmas, when I suddenly realized that with imagination and a fair bit of work, it may well do as a centerpiece for our Napoleonic games.  

I thought it might be worthwhile to create something generic enough to serve over a variety of theatres and eras, from Spain to Germany and from medieval times to WW2.  

With no real prototype in mind, I looked at the model and thought that:

• Those poorly-moulded beams projecting from the walls had to go.  They really gave it that French-Foreign-Legion-in-Morocco look that I definitely did not want.
• Unsightly holes, windows and other openings would be blanked off with plastic card from the interior.
• Like all Airfix buildings, the walls are way too thin.  I decided to build them out with wood and plastic card where I could, and to use thick card and filler to make the crenelations a little more substantial.
• The surfaces needed to be heavily textured, and I would add a lot of simulated stonework. 
• The whole thing would be placed on a foam board base to make it a little more imposing.
• Finally,  I would provide a detachable roof for the tower top, just 'coz it looked nice.

After solidly gluing the joins and filling in the more glaring gaps with putty and slivers of card, I firmly attached the fort to its new base using epoxy.  

Then out came the cardboard stock and general-purpose glue, and I set to the rather scary task of cutting out stonework.  

Lots of it.  

Somewhat laborious, but made easier while listening to podcasts and watching documentaries on YouTube about castles! I soon got into a comfortable rhythm with the project.

 

This picture shows it after the walls had been made thicker with plastic card and wooden beams, the whole model having been mounted on a base made of two layers of insulation board.  

The pathway leading up to the gate was then carved into shape, and you can see where I glued on the card "stonework".  Lots of fun, and boy, did those glue fumes ever stink.  Got loads of grief over that...

In a mad moment of masochism I had decided to cut out flagstones for the courtyard before filling in the area between the beams with papier-mâché.  Worked a treat.

Many moons later, the whole structure was coated liberally with a creamy coat of acrylic filler mixed with PVA and some fine sand.  This textured the whole thing nicely, and it lost its "plastic toy fort" look.

I decided to give the structure an illusion of greater height by bringing the stonework down over the foam board base, and fairing it in with putty.

 

 Sand and grit glued down over the path and base edges.

Painting!  Stonework sprayed with Panzer Grey Tamiya enamel, and then a coat of matching acrylic using a brush to make sure all the nooks and crannies have been coated.

 

Leave to dry out for a few weeks.

In the meantime I decided to work on the gate.  The one provided with the kit is a pathetic, thin little thing with unconvincing hinges, one which wouldn't keep out even a moderately aggressive real estate salesman.  It didn't even fit its doorway.  

So using it as a blank I got out some plastic card and strip stock, and beefed it up with new planking and beams on both the inside and outside face.  Small flat washers for the ornamental knockers.  Gotta love knockers.

Front...

And back.  The fit into the wall still isn't what it could be, but a big improvement on the original, I think.

  

I decided to paint the door a weathered green.

 

 

The rest of the model was being painted in a series of consecutive coats of washes and wet-and-dry brushing.  I worked up through successively lighter tones ranging from battleship grey to sandstone, culminating in a light drybrushing of ivory for the highlights and edges.  The whole thing was then given a couple of filter coats using very-well thinned raw umber to tone it all down and to give it a soft, aged look.  

All this took some time, and I found that the shading had to be fairly high-contrast for it to stand out at a distance.

While I was doing all this I began work on the roof.  I had found a suitably-shaped block of wood at the local craft store, and glued it on top of a slightly smaller, square piece of wood that would drop into the tower top.  I then had loads 'o fun adding the roofing tiles!  I had ordered these from Antenociti's Workshop (a treasure house of modelling goodies for gamers).  

 

Produced by Builders in Scale, (website here), they came in sheets of tile strips with adhesive backing, and once applied could be trimmed to shape.  They took some practice at first, as you have to be careful how one row of tiles lines up with the one immediately below.  But once I worked this out, I soon found that they became very straightforward to apply.

I coated the whole structure with watered-down PVA for strength, and the tiles took paint well. 

Here it is after painting.  It's detachable for ease of transportation, and if I want to give it an earlier look- say for games with Giovanni's Norman army in Sicily- I can leave it off.  You can see I added some planking to the walkways, along with a ladder.

The last touch was adding static grass to the base, and painting in the windows and doors.  There are still a few more internal details I would like to add as time goes on, so as to give it more of a "lived in" look, but here it is all ready for the gaming table.

 

 

 

Reference shot, including curious tabbycat for scale purposes. The base measures about 30cm x 30cm square, and the whole structure stands about 25-32cm tall, depending on whether the roof is attached or not.  Height of feline currently undetermined.

I'm very pleased with it, and it should pass muster for a wide variety of games.  We have no problem using 20mm terrain with 28mm miniatures.  The buildings take up less space on the battlefield, and the footprint taken up by a unit of 36 28mm miniatures is out of scale to their height anyway.

Now all I need to do is think of someway of transporting it to club games, along with all my other terrain and miniatures...

Under the Spreading Apple Tree

The village smithy stands.  Or it may be a chestnut tree, but I don't have a lot of confidence in my arboreal knowledge.

Neither am I all that sure it's a blacksmith's, it's probably just a barn of sorts.  What's most important is that it is another building finished and ready for the next game.

This is another Resin Building of Unknown Origin that I picked up in Vancouver back in the eighties. 

The more I look at it and at the last building I completed, the less I think that they were actually Gallia models.  I also have a two-story timbered cottage that I know for a fact is Gallia, and the  moulding was a lot cleaner than was the case for these two.  

This one was covered in bubbles, oozing resin eruptions, chips, and scars; it took a lot of work just to  make it look presentable. 

Still, when placed on a base and decorated with a GW tree, a barrel and spare wheel, and a pile of cannonballs painted up as a supply of (overripe) fruit ready for plundering, it looks decent enough for the tabletop.

Rear Window!

I'm glad to get these done, as it leaves considerably more room on the painting table to work on miniatures.  

There is one more building I need to work on for scenario I have in mind for the upcoming game on the 21st, and this one will be considerably bulkier!  The good thing is that I'm getting considerably better- and faster- at making buildings.

This Old (Resin) House

My eyes needed a break from close-up painting work, so yesterday I treated myself by painting up some buildings.  I managed to finish this well-known tavern, La Belle Alliance, so that at least the boys will have some refreshments available when waiting for their turn to slap around Matt's 74th Foot.

 

When I was back in Vancouver earlier this year, I had taken the opportunity to sort out the closet full of wargaming items still in storage at my parents' place.  In the process, I came across a bunch of resin buildings of what are pretty much unknown origin.

Definitely useful for our games here, so I promptly had them shipped back to Tokyo.  I bought this one at the old Sentry Box West gaming store many, many years ago.  It may be an old Gallia model, but I wouldn't swear to it.

 

Regardless of provenance, it was designed for (back then, true) 25mm figures, and is on the small size for 25mm at that.  As such, it actually scales out very well for both our 20mm and 28mm games, as for the latter it does not take up such a large footprint on the tabletop.

It had been very simply block-painted for fast service on the tabletop, and was in this state when I bought it back to Japan.  Since then we've used it for both Napoleonic and WW2 games.   

You can see it as it used to be in the centre left of the picture below, from a game we had last autumn.

Basically it is still a good model after all these years, so I decided it was worth tarting it up a bit.  So I gave it a fresh new coat of paint and placed it on a wooden base, taking the opportunity to go for a new blue slate tile roof instead of the original dull red.  I thought this would make a nicer contrast with the brickwork.

Attaching it to its new MDF base proved  more difficult than I anticipated as the model did not sit flat on the table.  But I used lots of epoxy and a sand/ PVA mix to build up the baseboard and to fill in any gaps that appeared along the bottom edge. Worked like a charm.  I then painted the base in a raw umber and flocked it in.

"Alors, right now a glass of claret would go down well, mes amis, Non?"

Oh, and when working on buildings and terrain, I go through paint like a frat party goes through cases of Schlitz.  I really appreciate those Ceramcoat craft paints, which remain very economical for this kind of work.  

All told, I think it looks great, and Bob Vila and Norm Abrams would be proud.  I have a few other buildings which need the same treatment, too.  I'll be working on them between my miniatures.

Over the Hill.

I finished a trio of hills and rough ground to go with the trees for this Sunday's game.  I wanted them to be quite rocky, as it makes them more interesting visually.  That, and I was running out of (pricey) flocking so I didn't want to cover them completely in "grass".  

They are simply carved pieces of foamboard, covered with a sand and PVA mix, with cork chips and small pebbles added as boulders and rocky outcrops.  They were then sealed with a final coat of brushed-on undiluted PVA, and then painted using artists tube acrylics.  Static grass was again glued on using- you guessed it- PVA. 

I tried to make them generic enough to pass muster in battles ranging from the Peninsula to Russia, but also with an eye for a future project we are thinking of where something along the lines of Gettysburg's Devil's Den may prove very handy.

I had fun doing these, but I'm ready to get back to working on miniatures again after a refreshing break. God knows where I'll store all these, but I'll find a way.

Out of the dark woods at last!

It has been spring vacation time here, and I spent a few days in Sendai with family and friends.  Sendai city itself is very much on the mend, and while a few buildings remain damaged or shuttered up due to the earthquake, things are otherwise getting back to normal, with well-stocked shops again.    

However, to the east of the city- the port side and the areas all along the Pacific coast- they are still dealing with the huge task of cleaning up from the tsunami.   

 

Natori, a suburb of Sendai, a photo taken by a reporter not long after the tsunami. Much of the area still looks like that now. The desolated landscape reminded me of one of those bleak pictures you see taken during the Passchendaele battles in 1917, but with wrecked and abandoned Toyotas and Hondas instead of tanks. 

 

Very, very sobering.

So when I got back, it took a while to get into a hobby frame of mind, but I really wanted to finish those trees- if for no other reason than to clear my painting table!  And finish them I did.  Here they are.

The bases were textured, with cork chips and small pebbles added for variety.  I then "fleshed out" some of the trees with more hobby flocking, and sealed it all with a clear matte lacquer spray.  

After that, I took a can of matte black acrylic spray and sprayed some of the interior areas for depth.  Then I gave them all a few passes of Armour Yellow spray paint, from one direction only.  

 

After looking at some trees in the sunshine, I realized that the sun and sky can make them appear many shades of green, yellow, and even white.  So I decided on an impressionistic approach, and using the side of a fairly broad brush I just "tapped" on successive layers of light green,  mustard yellow and finally (and sparingly) bright yellow.  I'm very pleased with the way they turned out.  

The bases were painted with artists acrylics, raw umber drybrushed with some raw sienna.  I picked out the rocks with various shades of grey, and ran a brown ink wash over them for depth.  Finally, I just added some static grass and that was it.  In a few days I'll seal the flocking with another spray of matte lacquer spray.

So they are all set to go for our Black Powder game this coming weekend.  No doubt they will be used by Matt's riflemen as cover from which to shoot up my Frenchies.  

"It's a Fair Copse"

Work on terrain continues, and I textured the bases of the tree stands that I posted last week.  Since then I've made some more, along with the first part of what will be a Russian village that I hope will do service with both my 20mm WW2 Soviets and my 28mm  Napoleonics. 

The village unit consists of a resin cottage from Britannia Miniatures, and one of the wonderful Pegasus Hobbies Russian farm houses.  The white patches are glued-down bits of old dishcloths, with the rest of the base textured with a "putty" made of white glue and sand.  Once it has all dried out, I will prime and paint it all.

 

click to enlarge 

The buildings are fine for my 20mm miniatures of course, but they should also do for 28mm as well.  The Pegasus Hobbies building kits in particular are on the larger end of 20mm, and given unit footprints for Horse-and-Musket games, going down a bit in size for terrain pieces does not look out of place.

The pine trees were easy enough to do, and are ready for painting but the deciduous trees will require some more work, as the flocking drops off the branches at a drop of a hat(chet?).  I will just do the messy job of soaking the foliage with watered-down white glue to seal everything together, and adding more flocking to the trees for depth.

Pining away

Yesterday saw the West Tokyo Wargamers hold its first gaming day since the big quake on 3/11, and it was great to see so many people turn out- even if it did mean space was cramped!

No Napoleonics this time, as Achilleas was celebrating the Easter holiday while Matt was playing host to a visiting friend, so instead I took part (sort of) in a fun British vs German WW2 game.  

However, I did get to meet a first-time visitor to the club, Rod, who is interested in doing 28mm Napoleonics and even has his own copy of Black Powder.   So at our next outing it in May it looks like there might be five of us playing Napoleonics! 

In the meantime, here is a work-in-progress photo of a quick and simple terrain project I've been working on.  

I've long been meaning to put some effort into "tarting up" our table with some better looking terrain pieces.  So inspired by an article I was reading in a past issue of Battlegames magazine, I took a hot glue gun and tacked down some old GW trees onto some unwanted CD's (after gluing card over the holes, of course).  

I then took some papier-mâché and spread it thinly over the bases.  When dry the papier-mâché set rock hard with no warping, and this evening I will be adding some patches of sand to the bases for more texture.  

After painting, I'll then glue down some foliage, fallen branches, and flocking around the bases so as to match our table mat.  

These are looking pretty good so far, and when complete I have some deciduous trees ready for the same treatment.

One of the discs is/was an old compilation of country music that somehow managed to find its way into my otherwise-country-&-western-free CD cabinet.  The only decent use I could find for it, in my honest opinion.  Sorry, Garth Brooks, but different strokes 'n all that.

Redoubts for the taking!

I finally finished that redoubt I was working on.  

View of the Tofusky Redoubt.  Russian Horse Artillery ready to dish out some Licorne cannister to Johnny Crapaud and his chums.   

I'm really pleased with this one.  You can see more pictures here, where I've detailed the whole (at times heartbreaking!) story of its construction.  

With this project of the way, I can now work on getting some more miniatures done for next Sunday's game. Some French artillery, and more infantry.  If we decide to have another game in January, there will be some horseflesh on parade as well.

Protecting the Armoury

With the prospect of more Napoleonic games on the horizon, and more gamers at the club, it was clear from our last session that we need more terrain- buildings, woods, rivers, roads- the lot.  So I've been working on my allotment of trees as well as some buildings and structures for 28mm games.

I've made good progress with a redoubt I've made from old tofu tubs, and prepared bases for a row of resin buildings I ordered years ago from Hovels.  These are great buildings, and will look good once painted and glued on the base with a surrounding fence.  But being resin, they are heavy.  I've also got  the Hovels' carriage house, but that will be for later as it will be quite an undertaking.

In the background is the basic shape of what will be a small(?) armoury, something which seems suitable for opposing forces to fight a battle over.  

I knocked it together this morning in about thirty minutes from various pieces of foam packing material- the crumbly white stuff- which I cut into shape and glued together with cocktail sticks and PVA.  The whole was covered with packing tape to cover gaps and prevent the foam from crumbling away, and then I brushed it liberally with undiluted PVA to seal it.  

I will then face the whole structure with foamcore panels, and add doors, beams, gables, chimneys and the like before the laborious task of roofing it.

Being Styrofoam it is extremely light, so should transport easily to the club despite its size.

The 10 pdr. howitzer in the redoubt protecting it is the next in line in my French for priming and painting.  I've just about finished its companion, the 6 pdr. gun, and will post pictures of that once it is base is finished off.

Yes, I know I should be spending more time on painting miniatures! But to me good wargaming is a coming together of good companionship, fun rules, well-painted miniatures, and attractive terrain.  

As terrain is notoriously difficult to cart around, and I have only a short distance to travel to the club compared to others having to take the train half way across Tokyo, it makes sense that I work on the buildings as others are already painting up a good number of miniatures as well.  

And I do love making terrain, even if I keep on avoiding the annoying problem on how I'm going to store it all.