Big Time Backdrops!

Since our return from the east coast, I have been experimenting with the new MacroMats photo backdrop kit made by TableWars.

I am especially excited, since it has several key elements which will be so helpful for what I am doing nowadays!  That is size (the mats are 15 x 30), portability (see the case below) and durability.

The backdrop setup comes with this rig, which is easy to assemble.  I am familiar with this format, since one of my camera tripods is very similar!

You have a few options when it comes to putting together the crossbar.  You can do one piece, or both, and all you have to do is snap them in place.

Again, this is all very rugged, and that is essential for photographing large numbers of figures, or massive figures, and even terrain pieces as I intend to do.  

Speaking of terrain pieces, I thought I would grab one of the largest structures that I have at the moment and give it a try.  I have not been able to photograph this yet, since I didn't have any backdrop that came close to covering it.  You can see that it was not a problem at all...

I grabbed a few of my portable LED lights, which can be positioned in any number of ways, to snap a few images!

This is only a few minutes after taking the kit out of the box.  I have more elaborate lighting set ups that I will use with this kit.

It comes with 3 different mats, including the blue to white fade, which is great for me.  Over many years, that was the type of backdrop which needed to be used for cover art and blister packs, and it is nice to know that I can add more images of these new large scale things with a similar background.

This large box is my own photo rig that I created for taking pictures of big stuff.  I have 3 under cabinet LED light strips that shine down on all parts of the figures at once, eliminating shadows.

The top bar is the longest at 18 inches, while the strips on the sides are 12 inches.  You can see the nice padded clips that come with the MacroMat rig!

I set down some of my early war German Bolt Action vehicles, and snapped a few pictures.

I was amazed at how nicely the pictures turned out, and that I was able to put so many vehicles on there at once!  In fact, I could have put more on it, but my photo box was actually too small for the mat!  Incredible.  

There is also a larger size photo mat in the works, which will be 30 x 30 inches.  I cannot wait for those!  It will be the final piece to the photography puzzle.

Here's a link to the TableWar website where you can get yours:

http://www.tablewar.com/the-macromats/

Ye Olde Saurus

Here's something from many years ago... over ten in fact!  This Saurus warrior was part of the very first unit that I tried using the Shaded Basecoat technique.  The figure itself is quite ancient, since this variety of Saurus was replaced be new plastics in 2003.

It's a bit scary to think of this figure being around 20+ years old, but like some of the other ancient out of print figures I have done in the past, it is neat to see something such as this with an "updated technique".

Sometimes what is old can be new again!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/322738479921?

A Cabin in the Woods

In yet another terrain experiment, I was able to turn some very nasty looking toy Christmas trees into something a bit more realistic!  I don't have the before pictures just yet, but I am planning on doing a how to post for the next batch.

We needed something that looked less like normal deciduous trees to make the log cabin and lumber mill pieces make more sense!  

They still work just fine with the rest of the tree stands, and will provide just as much line of sight blocking and cover.

In addition to the conifer trees, I experimented with a "Swamp stand", where I had a set of trees but also a decent size pool.  That pool had some dead stumps sticking out of it, with the idea that I could extend the swamp aspect of the board for our Prypiat Marshes campaign.

It was not very difficult to make those pine trees look less like neon green plastic with white splattered frosting.  I simply painted trees with the airbrush, wiping out all the unnatural tones, followed by a few layers of flock.

I will be very curious to see what happens when we play some games on this.  Up until now, most of the board has been urban in nature, with a few small tree stands... and roads!

On our Barbarossa board, the only roadways are waterways.  You can also see a few more of the pine tree stands by the lumber mill.

It is quite ironic that those nifty sawed off tree logs were originally the stands that held the fake pine trees!  I had to yank the tree wires out of those, which was a challenge to avoid smushing the branches.

I was just about to toss those away, when the idea struck me to use them as terrain.  Sure enough, they looked fantastic!  They are also big enough for individuals to hide behind them.

Infantry should really dominate these games, with tanks and artillery very limited in their fields of fire.  This will also take some getting used to, as observers, snipers and vehicles can hold down entire areas of the board by themselves.

These small rickety bridges might also end up as key positions, which was the whole point of the multiple forks in the river.  While a different game system was originally intended for this board, it turns out that it is fantastic for our upcoming Bolt Action games.

Here is a view of that swamp tree stand.  I will also try to do an article on this piece.  It is not very difficult if you save up plenty of nifty branches!

Roy's Soviets seem right at home in this environment.  Can the marauding Wehrmacht make them feel a little less cozy?  The wait is nearly over, so stay tuned...

Let's Dance!

Here's another one of the purple people!  Once again, I have dozens of figures under way that require some form of purple, and it is always a good idea to splash some of that color on as many as you can.

This one was balanced out a little more with blues vs the purple, but I still had to get some range in those blues, making some more teal, more 'icy', and cooler in general.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322730507677?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Raging Vestals

I really enjoyed these resin Blood Vestals that were painted as part of the Adepticon 2013 Dark Eldar tournament army.

The original color scheme was more in the red family, but I did a few that would be unit NCO's etc.

A wide variety of bases were made using all kinds of left over 40k bits, including a few vehicle parts.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222623096133?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Purple Ninja

I think my favorite combo for Gold NMM is to match it up with purple robes.  Since purple can be made cooler, almost towards blue (I did this in the shadow areas of the folds).  This lined up well with the coolest color in the golds, which was green.

Reflecting the warmer purples into the metal surfaces means that I can get some variety in those metal colors, and then have the cooler blues turn the metal a greenish tone.  That provides some saturation contrast, making my highlight areas seem even brighter by comparison!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322722632614?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Dunkirk Sprit

As more squads and vehicles are completed, the BEF force continues to expand, and we grow ever closer to our France 1940 campaigns.

There's another Bren Carrier coming too!

I already did some posts on the captured Opel Blitz trucks, but it's nice to see them with passengers too!

I added the MMG team and the Matilda to this shot, but there are many other things that were not included, such as the artillery teams.  A few of those pieces are still under way...

This is just a portion of the total infantry as well.  As large as this backdrop is, I still can't fit everything on it.  I think the massive army shots will have to be shown on the terrain board itself.

There are about 38 to 40 completed infantry, as well as anti tank and light howitzers.  A big 25 pounder gun is nearing completion.

Some of the additions to this force also take it beyond this early war era, such as lend lease vehicles and other things that would be seen in 1944.  This was done to maximize the number of eras that could be covered with a "single" army.

The priority for the time being is on early war, which extends all the way to Barbarossa!  Stay tuned...