Putting the cart before the horse

Today we have some very useful items from Mr. Lathan at Burn in Designs.  While these wagons and carts would be great for a number of gaming systems and RPG, you can guess how we will be utilizing these!!!

The link:

http://www.burnindesigns.net/p/quick-kits.html

Yes indeed, the town of Wappelville will have some nice new wagons and carts for its citizens.

This is the original sheet of wood...

Take the tape off carefully, as there are a number of smaller bits, such as the wheel caps.

Two carts.

Two wagons!

And my new stash of punch out pieces!!!  Remember... always hang onto these, as they are VERY helpful in creating terrain and bases of your own.

Just keep in mind those charging stations!

There's a few ways you can put together the carts.  This one has the closed end on the back...

I used a regular super glue and wood glue.  The wood glue offers long term holding power.  The super glue helps to get things assembled more rapidly, but keep in mind that the wood will absorb some of the super glue.

Two carts ready to go!

I kept certain parts un-assembled so that they would be easier to paint.

I did a few smaller assemblies on the big wagons, such as the seat base and the axles. 

Remember to keep the textured sides facing up!

OK, this is about as much as I will assemble for now, as I want to get the paint on there first.

The hitch and yoke in position...

And hub caps on the wheels.

Carts ready for paint!

And the wagons.

We are definitely considering some rules for the wagons... if I can find some appropriate horses.

The idea is to have the wagons move through the streets in a manner similar to the civilians.

There would be some minimal stats applied to these, as far as movement, armor and such.  A posse member could have a few options... these might be jumping into the back and going prone, or even try to take control over the wagon itself!

That could add some serious cinematic effects to a game.  Also, we could work out some ramming stats if one of these out of control wagons happens to run over a hired hand or two.

I am definitely tempted to turn one of these wagons into the Wappeville Fire Department engine.

You have seen me postulate on some rules for the fire engines as it applies to buildings on fire.

I will take lots of pictures of the painting process, and then some shots with miniatures to give you an idea of scale.  Stay tuned!!!!

Not a snow angel

I believe that this lady is from Red Box Games, but I will confirm that and make adjustments to the text here as soon as I find out.

The sculpting and casting seems quite similar to the Tre Manor resin figures from a few months ago...

A few more of these gals on the way!

Advance!

As more of the cavalry is filled out, the more I realize how many horses I have painted in recent months. :-)

I have painted a lot of them over the years, but this is even more than my Lord of the Rings armies combined.

It has been very strange to be so restricted in the choices of colors...

Aside from white horses, there's not much variety.  However, that will change with the Wild West Exodus Warrior Nation!!!

Pack of Rhinos!

As promised, the group shots of all six rhinos together!

These guys are so huge, it was no easy tack getting them to all fit!

Hopefully these views also show the color variations I tried to make from one rhino to the next...

Seeing even more subtle grays and browns on these guys makes me even more glad that I went with the more fluorescent green on the Eye of Balor.  It's the one little 'oomph' of color.

However, it still has enough related colors around it to keep it from getting too noticeable. :-)

More to come!  Stay tuned...

Sunday, December 7th

On this particular Sunday, I am reminded even more of a future project I want to attempt.

It would be a split waterline diorama of the USS West Virginia, BB 48.

The concept is to create two models on one rotating display base.

One side of the diorama would show the West Virginia as it appeared on December 8th, 1941.

The 'waterline' style display would let me create the sunken version of the ship, with a painted backdrop to separate it from the other part of the diorama.

This would be the raised and refitted West Virginia as it was in 1944... primarily during the Battle of Surigao Straight.  Once again, a painted backdrop will divide the two eras.

This particular model scale intrigues me.

It might be very difficult to deal with all the brass etched parts, however.

This is also a very expensive it!  It's $135.

I look forward to painting the markings...

And to creating the damaged version from a pristine kit.

Amazing to think that these two ships are one in the same!

This is probably far in the future, but it is definitely something on the hobby bucket list!!

Sound the Bugle!!!

You can just hear the sound of the cavalry charge being played by this guy!

No respectable cavalry unit goes without one!

Lots of different poses on this unit... about 4 main types of horses...

Which meant a chance to create a little variety in the tones, despite the fact that type of horse breeds to choose from is quite limited.  Brown, dark brown, and darker brown. :-)

I thought I saw a pussy cat...

You saw the glazing process on this bad boy, and now some finished images for you!

I wanted to have some lion-like golden browns and sienna on this, but I also wanted to give it more of a Chaos appearance.  So, I tried to work in as many greens and purples as I could.

Those colors are also nice compliments to the golden browns and such, which helps to create more variety and depth this large creature, avoiding lots of monotonous areas of color.

While it's even more necessary to do such things on these big guys, it's also a little easier.  You don't have compressed areas which might look too crazy with so much color variation.

I also was aware that I had the snow as a contrast... but it was also something that had to influence the colors facing the ground.  Much more green in the shading there!

And now for a size comparison. The Beastman is on a 30mm base.  Yup... big kitty!!!