Building of the Week - Barn Store

Ooops another week almost over, must be time for another building. Well I have decided to change the name to Terrain piece of the week from next week as I have ideas for some terrain as well as the buildings but don't see how I can fit in a building every week as well. 

So this week I have added to the town set with the Leven Miniatures FAR05 Barn Store at £1.50 in a farm setting (I will buy another for such) it indeed looks the part of an extended barn. Here though it also could be a store house or workshop in a town so it's nice and flexible.

As I have come to expect from Leven, great texture to get the most out of the dry brush style of painting. The roof tiles have the look of tiles as you would hope. Again the lack of windows for a barn is perfect. Slightly less so for a workshop but then Leven have made no claim of it being such. 

The two windows are to the back of the building, of course I could have set the building back from the road and made a working area around it but liked the idea of having it obviously used for wagons to enter through the wide doors and as such a small storehouse for lower valued goods.

It's on the usual 60x60 base with a slither of road to join other tiles, I will have to do some corner only tiles with the building taking up the centre of the tile but I have plenty to be going at for the time being. I also plan to add already finished buildings to tiles so that they can fit in with Willies Town  ;-)

I lost my voice! Or who took my comments away?

No, not really but I did loose the ability to leave comments both on my blog and on many others. Seems I am not the only one, for a start Big Lee also had the same problem and posted on the help forums and was got the info from a rather nice chap. 

Lee noticed I had the same problem as he and posted the link to me so I could correct it, and that my friends was what I did and it was quick, painless and actually worked so I thought it a good idea to post it here.

Go to Template for your blog and click on link near top of page to back up your template. 

Once you have a secured a back up of your blog template, click on Edit HTML and you will see the html editor come up. Scroll down to the bottom of your template to where you see code that looks like this.

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'>
      setTimeout(function() {
        blogger.ui().configure().view();
      }, 0);
    </script>

Change the 0 to 500 so it looks like this.

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'>
      setTimeout(function() {
        blogger.ui().configure().view();
      }, 500);
    </script>

Click on Save Template. Hope this helps.

So if you have wanted to post comments and not been able to try again. Big thanks to Big Lee for the help.

Don't forget the blog giveaway for the book, still time to get your name down if you want a go at this slightly different giveaway.

Leven Miniatures Supply Dumps and Sandbagging.

No not sandbagging as in Ray, sandbagging as in defensive works. You see Leven Miniatures has started to make some things a bit different to buildings. First up for sale is the Dragons Teeth and Supply dumps but Mike will be releasing packs of sandbagged positions and Fuel Dumps, at the moment he has a set of four Fuel Dumps for £2 which again is a real bargain. 

Here we have the basic horseshoe position, to give you an idea the base it is sitting on is 60 x 60mm and no the sandbags are not glued down. 

Here we have a corner section, a gentle curve (note the flower middle section for firing, and a straight section. The utility I just painted up for scale as I no longer have any 6mm tanks any more.

These are really nice, they are for AA positions but would work as well for most ATG's Painting wise it was a quick spray in grey and then dry brush in Iraqi Sand (I think) with a little touch up of buff to give a bit of depth.

Here are the two different ammo dumps, these painted as desert items, again sitting on that 60 x 60mm base not to mention the old pick up.

Same oil drum types but painted green and given a bit of a cammo net for fun. All the bits I have sent to Big Lee as I know he can make good use of them. Indeed he even got in touch with Leven and bought some of their buildings so I hope he is happy with what he has bought.

Not sure when these will be released or the price they will be, but if you drop Mike a line I am sure he will give you the information you want.

The Joy of Six this Weekend

Well it's the Joy of Six this weekend, being the first actual convention just for 6mm and you can expect it to be top draw for sure. Some of the displays just should not be missed, the ECW battle using a scale of one 6mm figure to represent one actual soldier and users a 30' Table. 

That's not the only display game, in fact never has so many display games been put on in 6mm at any UK show I am sure. This is only matched by the number of participation games on offer! Peter at Baccus has certainly worked his magic to bring this one off and given the buzz around the blogs and the Baccus forum it's going to be a cracker.

It's well worth getting there early as the first 100 through the door are getting a goody bag with amongst other items will be some figures and inserted in these bags at random will be gift vouchers to use with any of the traders. Top marks I feel, so with that in mind my plan of campaign was set out nice and early.

Now for a few weeks now I have been rather smug in the knowledge that I would be attending the con whilst my main opponents are otherwise engaged, yes I know not the best of human traits but I am a gamer when all is said and done ;-)

So the irony of today was not totally wasted on me. You see after just under four months in gainful employment and more than the odd early start or late finish (with the odd early start and late finish) and a tendency to do the odd couple of hours Saturday morning and Sunday Evening (China works Saturdays and is seven hours ahead of us) I have never had to work a full day over the weekend, indeed it's only expected when I am over in China to do so. So it was more than something of a surprise that I HAVE to put in a lot of hours over this weekend and Saturday really is off limits, I have a trip to Foundry to check it out for Blog-Con nicely dovetailed with taking the family to the food fare followed by my nieces 18th Birthday family get together. It's unavoidable, between now and two weeks time I have to do a lot more hours just to stay on top of a number of projects, let alone get ahead so I can take time off whilst the kids are on holiday. 

All this obviously means no Joy of Six for me, a real bummer as I had planned to meet up with a number of other bloggers and games related friends and to be honest it's possibly the most looked forward too show for me as the main attraction for me was the relaxed feel of the show, something only Blog-Con looks to share with this show as commercialisation is not the byword. Obviously Baccus and the other traders hope (probably even expect) to make a profit but that's not really what the show is about, it's about CELEBRATING 6mm. When did you last go to a show and feel the love? Again harking back to Blog-Con that is very much the core of James idea and that's why I do not just expect both to be a success but actually KNOW they will. 

This is why missing the first Joy of Six really sucks, those who can lean against the bar in ten years time loudly proclaim that they were at the first Joy of Six can rightly take the glory of the day and bask in the knowledge that whilst they may be fat, they may be ugly, they are likely to be old as well, but sure in the knowledge that they can piss off all of us off who can not make that claim!

So Peter and the rest of you, have a good day, do play to hard, do laugh to loud and please save me a seat next year. I may well not be missed but I will miss you.

The Chatter Behind the Bike Sheds

Having seen a few photo's of other bloggers paint desks I thought I would have a closer look at mine tonight. I'm not brave enough to zoom out and show you the rest of the desk but instead lets take a tour around the epicentre of my miniature world.

The old and the new all in one shot. Centre back of this photo you may pick out the three British cavalry from the charge of the light brigade dio, well I have continued to work on the prep, filling in the holes and gaps, just need to sand it down and prime it then it will be started. To the left of it is a WWII British Fighter Pilot from Ultracast a 1/32 model I am painting up for my boss so she can give it her husband for Christmas (yes I am that much of a creep!) This will push me to work on the Crimea one as well so it's not all bad.

The jumble below is some of the 15mm ECW I preped at the end of last month and will be starting to paint sometime this week and some old Baccus French that are supposed to be painted as French allies but keep being put off by other needs. I think I have to put all five battalions back in their box to await their turn which has been pushed back further and further.

My work in progress of the moment. Three battalions of the 12th Prussian reserve regiment. These I hope to have finished by Wednesday allowing me a good run at Matt's ECW. I have just the two regiments to finish then I can move onto his Zulu's. Also in shot is the Ox Gall Liquid I hope will work the same as the none delivered Flow Aid but having read a few comments I have my doubts. It may be that they have used too much so that's what I am pinning my hopes on.

The other three French allied battalions and a Leven building that just is waiting it's turn for more work, should get to it soon but all the new stuff keeps getting in the way. 

Anyone remember the French command figures? well I still have twelve figures to finish which is another round to it and hiding in front of them are two Prussians that have not even made it to being sprayed yet.

So quite a few hours worth of work sitting in the wings, a mix of getting a job and the hour heavy Project Waterloo mean that some of these items would have been painted and off the table by now but still sit there. The good news is that the painting of the Prussians is speeding up and I am finding that I am starting to get a few more hours a week at the desk. Monday to Friday I try to paint on average somewhere between one and two hours which does gallop through the figures. This month looks to be the best month since I started back at work so things look good.

Don't forget the blog giveaway of the Mithridates Book, a good read even if your not into the enemies of Rome.

Blog Giveaway and Paying it Forward

You may remember that the fine upstanding geezer Seb at Back to the Minis had a giveaway a few months back and I won this rather interesting book. about Mithridates and his opposition to Roman power. It stuck me part way through reading it would make a great Giveaway with a difference.

My wife is always mentioning Pay it Forward, this is where on receiving a gift or giveaway you then do something similar through your blog. Well I thought something slightly different would fit the bill so read on my good friends.

I offer up the book Seb sent me as a giveaway. The only provision is that after you have read the book you then either do a blog giveaway for it (if you have one) or just pass it on to someone else you know with the idea that they do the same. It would be great to see the book do the rounds and enriching as many people as possible.

The usual rules I play by.

You need to be a follower but can join to enter the giveaway. You need to leave a post here saying your interested in it and if you run a blog it would be nice if you linked a post to this giveaway as the more the merrier.

I will run the giveaway till the 22nd so plenty of time to join in.

So the book itself. I really enjoyed the read and learnt about a character I knew nothing about. The book is well written though Philip Matyszak trys a little too hard to be slick and funny, not a normal style for military history but on the whole it works for him.

At 168 pages of written text it romps along and I was soon finished. A few possible battles to wargame if desired and it's worth reading if only for the end. 

So it's a good general read and even better for those who have an interest in this period of war. If your not really interested in the period it still would be a good read, the style and length of the writing making it a quick read that maintains the readers interest.

Farm - Building of the Week

Last weeks building of the week was just the start of a planned group of buildings. Lee has used the same three buildings putting them on a tighter base and making typical Belgian walled farms and given that I will be using the same buildings in battles I thought I would try something a little different. All three buildings are from  Leven Miniatures. The stables is FAR02 Stable Block and costs £2.00 and the barn is in fact a Granary Store FAR03 at £1.50 so you can do the whole thing for £5 plus the cost of what ever you mount it on. 

I actually painted up the other buildings at the same time as the farmhouse. I timed it at about an hour in total for all three buildings and you can add another hour tops to base them and add the ivy to the side of the stables so quite a dash really.

Here is a view looking towards the barn (granary store), I really like the fact that the stables does not quite match up to the barn and it lends the look of the stables being an extension rather than a all built at the same time feel.

The back of the stables is pleasingly plain. I really like Leven's style as Mike is not afraid to produce buildings that are realistic and as such he is prepared to allow them to have boring aspects which is perfect for a balanced set up. Given that we look to be using Leven for Quatre Bras and Waterloo that's probably a good thing. We will have a few hundred buildings over the two I think and if we do Ligny I think we could double that!

Cath was quick to point out it was a bit "boring" and was surprised with my pleased response, again I do plan to do a version with more detail but I really like this one. My plan was always to add the ivy, though originally it was going on the house but that side wall just begged to be used. All told that took five minutes to add and I think heaps on the character.

The base is 80 by 120mm and was supplied by Warbases my supplier of choice. This is a stand alone piece so does not form part of the town, originally was going to add hedges but I lacked space to do that as well and this way it can be used a little more freely.

So not only is building of the week a little bit earlier than the last two weeks but you get a bonus building free. Yes I know I'm too good to you ;-)

Not sure what I will throw your way next week but I do know I have a few really nice buildings that I need to get on the table soon. Also you have not seen the last of this building base as all parts of it will be used on a painting tutorial planned to be both on my blog and on the Leven website if Mike is happy with the results.