Future Project

I have been itching to get back to some of my gaming roots. Can you guess what it is?

&

I will finish up my Samurai project before jumping back in to this.

WIP Anglo Saxon Hut pt 2

Work and school have been keeping me pretty busy lately, so I have not had a lot of time to work on the fun stuff.  However, I was able to peel away for a couple of days to finish up my work on the Anglo-Saxon hut.

If you remember from the last post, I was using teddy bear fur to simulate the thatch roofing. In my head, and online, the look was spot on, except I wasn't quite able to pull off the look I was going for.

I took the teddy bear fur off and decided to try the below method I found on YouTube. Thanks to Red Beard Baron for this great idea of using caulk for the thatch roofing.

I used the same method of applying caulking to the roof, but instead of doing each layer separately and waiting for it to dry, I took his suggestion and used balsa wood to add the layers first and then covered that with caulk. This helped speed the process along and gave the layered thatch look I was hoping to get.

I did struggle a bit with the painting, as I did not allow enough time in between applying the different color coats, so I would up blending some of the colors together. It took a bit more time to get the highlighting effect. I am not known for my patience when it comes to this type of project, so I tend to rush through the steps.

As this was a test build for me, I did not take any pictures of the building process. I will do a more in-depth "how to" on my next go around. Speaking of which, while I am happy with the results, I am going to give the teddy bear fur another shot. I think if I cut the fur into strips, and apply in a layered fashion, I will achieve the effect I am looking for.

Caulk Added

Layers made up of balsa, then caulk applied over.

When the caulk dries, it is pretty rigid and adds weight to the structure

Painted

The color came our more yellow than I was shooting for, so I toned it down a bit with GW Delvyn Mud, or whatever the new name is for it.

The pictures came out a bit dark. I moved from Picasa to Photos, and I am still working through the compatibility process with Photos and Google+.

Change in scale

It looks like I will have to make a switch to 15mm for the time being on many of my projects. I have been really happy with 28mm, but I am sorely pressed for space. When we moved, we left a 3500 sq ft house to a 1300 sq ft apartment.  Don't get me wrong, 1300 is a lot of space, but we have no storage. I have minis in my closet, under the bed, and in offsite storage.   When I look at the amount of space needed to store my minis and playing surface, I just don't have the room. So, for my next few projects, I will be moving over to 15mm until we decide to buy a new house.

WIP Anglo Saxon Hut pt 1

I thought I would give it a go at making some Anglo-Saxon huts.  I settled on an A-frame dwelling as this seemed the easiest to build until I become more familiar with scratch-building.

I was going to take pictures throughout the process, but I got caught up in the flow and did not take any until the frame was done.

Materials:

• Frame - 3/16th Black foam board
• Wood facade - Various thickness balsa strips 
• Roofing material - Black teddy bear fur, which will be in part 2 of the build

I built the frame out of the foam-core, using two 3"x6" pieces. I joined these together in the basic A form, using hot glue. After this set, ran a narrow strip of more foam-core along the top ridge to help firm up the join.  When this was set, I cut a couple of wedges and inserted them on the interior of the "A" along the roofing to add further support.

Once this was all setup (which is a short period with the hot glue), I began cutting pieces of the balsa wood to add as a timber facade along the front and back of the hut.  I had to think a few minutes on how to add the door lintel, and door - which I just wound up doing in layers. I first laid the facade, then came back and laid the lintel over those pieces. I made sure that I left the door are free of any wood at this point. Once the lintel was setup, I used thinner balsa and cut to door size. Before I inserted into the doorway area, I cut each section down the middle, to five it a more ragged, rough-hewn appearance. After this had been glued down, I overlaid with the door braces.

Overall, I think it looks pretty good. I am a little concerned though how it will look after being painted, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Front    The odd cut angles along the ridgeline will disappear when I add the roofing material (hopefully)

Door Closeup - Brother Ane looks likes he prancing about 

Back

Army Lists for Landwasters and Raven Feeders

As with many projects, smalls ones turn into large ones. What started off as a couple of lists for my Vikings and Anglo-Saxons soon turned into 27 different armies.

I referred to my copy of Shieldwall for inspiration and soon found myself doing "just one more" list. When I was done, I wound up with lists for all armies/regions in the book.

My intent with the lists was to add a little bit of "color" to each army for a little bit of distinction from the others. With that said, you may find some lists similar in units or abilities but will see that there are subtle differences between the two. I did not go to great effort to point out the differences, but they are there.  

Link to List

Landwasters and Raven Feeders Army Lists

Armies

VIKINGS

HIBERNO-NORSE

ORKNEYINGA

KINGDOM OF THE ISLES

WESSEX

MERCIA

NORTHUMBRIA

ANGLIA

KENT & THE HOME COUNTIES

DAL RIATA

ALBIAN

PICTS

SCOTLAND

STRATHCLYDE

GWYNEDD

POWYS

THE SOUTHERN KINGDOMS

DUMNONIA

MUNSTER

LEINSTER

CONNACHT

ULSTER

CAROLINGIAN FRENCH

COUNTY OF FLANDERS

DUTCHY OF NORMANDY

THE BRETONS

CAPETIAN FRENCH

New Abilities

I have added some new special abilities to the lists, some of which are modifications to special abilities in Dragon Rampant, or modifications (sometimes breaking the rules) from Lion Rampant. Some of these new abilities are listed as optional and others are already built into the unit, with the points and stats already adjusted. If an ability is optional, the points to purchase are listed in the unit stat line and in the special ability column.

Any standard or upgrade special ability not listed in Lion Rampant has been added at the bottom of each list, and at the end of the document.

Balance & Playability

Ok, I make no promise of fairness, equality, or game balance between the lists. I am still going through some playtesting (ok, I am actually getting stuff together for playtesting). With that said, I am open to any input or constructive criticism.  After all, this is just for fun and to hopefully help enhance your group's enjoyment of the game. 

Viking Warband list

At some point, I will figure out how to embed a PDF into my post. Blogger acts squirrelly sometimes with Safari. Until then, below is a link to my Viking Warband list for Landwasters and Raven Feeders (Dark Age Lion Rampant)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6V6WfzN52zQdlFrdzFUZTNNSUU/view?usp=sharing


A JPG version is below.

Relaunch/Rebrand of my old blog: Pushing Lead

For some reason, I cannot remember why exactly, I deleted my old blog: Pushing Lead. As it has been so long, I am unable to recover the blog in its original format and heading, so I created this new one.

 Some of you may be wondering "Buck 95" seems like a strange title for a wargaming blog. Well, it is, but it has its roots in a public post made on TMP (a well known Miniature forum), by the Editor. The post in question revolved around a remaining balance of $1.95. A comment I made on that post, including a picture (which was immediately deleted by the Editor) led to my account being locked indefinitely. The name of this blog and the header picture is in remembrance to that incident.

Anyway - enough of that. I will be re-posting some old images from the old blog, and some newer ones. I have a lot of new projects I have been working on, and some that have been dragging on for a while, namely an El Cid project in 1/72, and for some reason now in 28mm. I blame Scrivs for the move to a concurrent project in 28mm. His stuff is absolutely beautiful.

Hope to see some of the old group come back around the blog to share their comments, and input. Many of which have helped guide me on my gaming path.