Ice Queen

Here are the finished images from a Facebook Live session that demonstrated the use of the Reaper Clear and Liner paints.  The idea was to show how to bring something like this from primer to nearly complete, using the Shaded Basecoat and Glazing techniques.

The link to that session:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212023583879015/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

This Mierce Miniatures figure was a lot of fun, and I even added some carved bits of sculpey on the base to make the figure mesh with the base.  It also gave me more faceted surfaces on which to demonstrate the glazes.

In the live session, you can see me lay out the lights and darks very rapidly in my Shaded Basecoat technique.  The original Painting Pyramid video on this subject is now included on my Patreon Page for supporters to watch.

Not only am I doing the live sessions, but I have now added some of those Painting Pyarmid videos to the Patreon Page, as well as new patron only content...even Bolt Action battle reports!

If you can support the page, it would help me secure more interesting minis such as this one, and provide even more time to do these videos!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Rolling out the Tundra

After several articles on both the mat and how these terrain pieces were made, I just had to see what they would all look like together!

Obviously I will be making many more pieces, not just of these types, but frozen rivers, hills, and iced over ponds.

Here's a link to the kind of mat I'm using:

http://www.tablewar.com/copy-of-6x4-alpine-f-a-t-mat-gaming-mat/

As you can see, I was able to mimic the printed pattern of the battle mat (from TableWar), which has been the point of all my terrain building.  While it would have been OK to have terrain pieces completely covered in snow, those would have been better on the Alpine mat, which is covered in a similar manner.

If you look through the previous tutorial posts, you will notice how I tried to plan every layer of my terrain pieces in advance, down to the color and coarseness of the flock.

The larger clumps of flock not only matched the greenish tones of this mat, but it made it very easy to brush my snow mix right onto the applied flock to make that scattered snow pattern.

When it comes time to film battle reports on this mat, I will be using some snowflake Christmas decoration to make additional ground cover snow.  This will help to mesh the terrain elements and mat even better, and provide an extra level of detail for up close shots.

Just imagine trails being left by the treads of the tanks in the 'snow'... should be quite a sight!

By the way, I will also be doing plenty of tutorials on painting these winter vehicles... you can see how I winterized this T-34/85 on a Facebook Live:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10211859089046747/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

The last article that I created showing how these were done was posted here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/02/heres-another-adventure-in-winter.html

This one shows how I made the bigger pieces:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/winter-returns.html

More tutorial articles are coming... and I think I might even have enough equipment to start doing video terrain tutorials!  Stay tuned...

If you would like to see even more terrain posts, and the battle reports that are under way, you can support me on my patreon page here.  Now that the first sample reports are up, I will start doing Patron Only battles and campaigns.

As you can see, these will cover every theatre and era of the war:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Video Battle Report #1

At long last, I was able to get the first battle report filmed, edited and posted to YouTube!

Overall it was about 18 hours of work, but hopefully that will be trimmed down somewhat now that I have been through the process of making opening and closing credits, overlay screens and more essential pieces.

The entire game was a learning process in what the limitations would be on time, equipment, and what could actually be shown.  My preference is to show as much of the game as possible, and that means order dice draws and dice rolls.

Seeing the action play out is much more fun than getting turn reviews.  On the other side of this, it means that I have to react as if I am playing two tournament games at once, which means that an order test or another detail may have been missed here and there.

I am also trying to do more than just 'standard' games, and my goal is to try and base a few "what if" scenarios based as closely on the historical situation as possible.  Hundreds of hours of research has gone into all this, which may be hard to comprehend... but I felt like it was worth it!

If I did miss something, I tried to put a correction or at least an alert on the screen in post production.  Since filming this first report, I have gotten some new equipment and some new filming regimens that should cut down on the overall time of the game without missing out on the tension of finding out who gets that next order dice, and trying to make those critical choices when you do get that all important first dice :-)

Here's a link, and there are many more to come!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9pVSD3FIs&lc=z231hffoexaaxbv2gacdp43a05kxa3cu4u5zo0uz4kpw03c010c

The Warped One

It is really interesting to be working on old Confrontation figs after all these years.  I think it was back in 2003 when these were really at their peak, and something that had never really been seen before.  That went for the painting as well as the sculpting.

They had more flow and motion to them to be sure.  Poses tended to be a lot more static in those days.  I seem to remember that a goodly portion of fimo was used in order to get the kinds of details that were usually not found in sculpts in the late 90's, etc.

Anyway, it will be a lot of fun to work through this massive set of classic figures!  Stay tuned for many more. :-)

Snow Pack

Here's another adventure in winter terrain!  After the discovery of the tea leaves that you saw in the last post, it was time to put the snow onto these tree stands.

I have already made a post regarding this process (see the completed stand on the right), but these are a little different, and I have made a few adjustments to that process.

This bit is the same, taking a few of the Vallejo mediums like stucco and snow texture, which is mixed with a tiny touch of blue/gray from Badger paints.  I added that tiny bit of color to match the color of the snow on the battle mat.

With a broader 1 inch brush, I started to add this snow mix onto the trees.  It was important not to pile this up too high, because I don't want complete coverage of the ground!

The various snow piles are arranged on the ground cover as closely as they are on that battle mat, and gently brushed over some of the clump foliage which was applied.  Here's a link to that battle mat:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/snow-patch_17.html

Once the paste has been added, the snow flock is drizzled over the top.  The paste is just sticky enough to hold this material, giving it a fluffier appearance.

The rest of the snow flock 'blends' in with clump foliage too.

Overall, this yields a very nice effect! :-)

Painting some snow on the fallen logs and exposed tree branches adds on extra level of texture.

The newly completed tree stands!  A little bit of hair spray is dusted over the top to keep more of the snow flock in place.  You can use a spray fixative as well, but the hair spray is a bit less toxic.

While these tree stands look quite real, you can see that there is plenty of space for entire units to move through them and take cover, etc.

My next post will show what all these completed pieces look like on the mat!  I can't wait to see myself :-)

If you can support these kinds of terrain projects, that would be very helpful.  There is a never ending chain of supplies which much be purchased to continue this process, and that support is appreciated.

Here is my Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Hello Kitty

Here's the rest of the Confrontation set with the requested tiger markings.

Some of you probably remember the original post where the 'tiger' was discussed...

Here's a link if you missed that:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/show-me-your-stripes.html

Once the tiger stripes had been accomplished, I had to think of a way to make the character controlling the tiger 'match' somewhat.

Fortunately, I had used the Secret Weapon Weathering paints for most of the tiger, and I was able to use a series of glazes with those paints to get a similar feel to the cloak and even some of the armor on the other figure.

Reporting From the Front

Over the last few months, I have been trying to prepare for my ultimate goal of filming battle reports for Bolt Action games.  This has meant a huge amount of work... starting with painting the armies!

I have enough of the early war French and Germans ready for some scenarios, with some variety in the army construction as well.

You have seen numerous how to articles on the terrain, the game mat, and even the painted backdrops.  There are dozens of articles alone showing how this Ardennes forest table was created.

Compiling dice, counters and other items also took a while.

There are even some units that I scratch built, such as this medium 105mm howitzer for the French.  I have learned a lot over this massive project, to be sure.

It is hard to believe how much my approach has changed since I first started.  Now I am using oil paints for most of the figures and vehicles, and these are also demonstrated in several Facebook live sessions.

Here's another scratch built vehicle, the SDK 222.  It is great to finally see it on the table in a game, and not just in my photo booth!

These are the kind of scenes that I had been hoping to see for so very long.  As I have been filming, I have tried to find the best way to balance out the action, the tactics, the mechanics, and the results.  It can be a lot harder than you think!

I have been modifying my approach with each turn in this first game, so if you notice a different approach or different angles, it is because I got a new tripod or made another realization on the fly...

For my very first battle report, there are already some very classic scenes, such as the PZ 3 driving right up to the pesky sniper team (which had been on ambush the entire time), and then destroying a more distant Panhard armored car that was seriously threatening the entire German left flank.

This is the kind of thing I had hoped to capture, which is why I will be using the longer format style.  In this way, you will get to see my reaction to such crazy rolls of the dice, and the suspense of the next order dice, etc.

This will mean a lot of extra work, and a lot more editing, but I think that it will be well worth that additional effort.  Filming those live rolls and draws can mean finding a place for the camera to rest as you use both hands for other things...

You also have to think very quickly on your feet, as you don't have much time to mull over and ponder every possible strategy or action.  In some ways, it  is a bit like a tournament environment.

This picture really shows what I had hoped to capture in video form.  Something that looks as realistic as possible, so that it almost feels like you were watching a movie as opposed to a green board with some dice flying across it.

I try to capture that feeling of reacting live to a situation, such as the very unexpected result of a few random machine gun bursts setting fire to the Opel Blitz transport full of troops!

The other element I will try to bring to each of my reports is how terrain can really affect a battle.  There were so many instances of units being within a foot of each other, but no clear sight lines... just like the Ardenne forest!  

I have been observing forests and hills for a very long time, so see how limited sight lines are, and what a nightmare it would be to move large forces through them.  These games will be very cat and mouse, and also very bloody.

I will try to vary the scenarios, forces, missions, and the terrain as much as possible form one report to the next.  Campaigns will be arranged, and I might try to do the 'flip the coin' style reports, in which the same game is played over again, with the two sides switching defender/attacker, and so on.

Re-learning the video editing software has taken a while, since the original machines where I did this work are now long gone.  I definitely need to update/replace several items of equipment to make this happen as frequently as I would like.  That is why a good portion of the videos will be part of the Patreon Page, so that I can try and get these new items.

It also takes a long time to create each report, with up to 13+ hours of filming and editing, followed by the rendering and upload times.

If you want to support this effort, and be sure to see all of the reports yet to come, here is a link to the Patreon Page.  I will also be offering more raffle figures of a Bolt Action nature too!

Cheers!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel