Three Colour Method (attempt 2 & 3)

Here are a few shots of my next two levy painted with the three colour method. Just gotta stick some spears on 'em and get them based up. Once that's done they can have a proper 3-on-3 battle with those plebeian, dipped levy.

Funny, I accidentally left the spear off of the first figure I painted. Now I like not having to work around the weapon when painting faces, so it's become a habit.

Inspiration (Part 6)

I've been watching this Swedish miniseries about a Knight Templar. It's not all action, but it's very well done. I read in one of the reviews that it was the most expensive movie ever produced in Sweden. Not sure if that's true, but it sure looks the part. The armor, weapons and historical detail are very impressive.

I guess there are two versions. The shorter movie-fied version on Amazon and this longer miniseries on Netflix. I've been mostly focusing my viewing on the Dark Ages period. but that content is few and far between. This is so well done that I don't mind though. I just hope it doesn't lead me to going off and buying little Crusaders...

Oh, BTW, the blog hit 3k views. Thanks all! I'll be posting a few more painted levy next time around.

Inspiration (Part 5)

I've just finished another Rosemary Sutcliff book and it was brilliant. Definitely a little deeper and darker than her Young Adult fare I've read previously, but also more powerful and haunting. I highly recommend it. Especially for Dux Britanniarum players, since it's an Arthurian tale set in post-Roman Britain.

Speaking of Dux Brit, I wanted to buy the rules after hearing all the hoopla (and seeing all the great games posted). I've become hypersensitive to price of shipping things "across the pond" however. So when I saw that TooFatLardies offered a PDF download, I jumped at the opportunity to be able to peruse the ruleset and not have to pony up for shipping.

Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to read these rules on the couch instead of the computer." Afterall, I sit at a computer all day for work. So I began to print it out. And it printed and printed and printed. Meanwhile I ran out of two of my ink colors and had to go buy more. In order to save a few quid shipping I spent $26 on ink cartridges! Sigh. Live and learn.  =]

Making slow progress on the next two levy. Hopefully I'll have something to post soon...

Footless in Florida

Looks like I don't know my own strength. I went to remove a figure who'd been blu-tacked onto a bottle cap for a while and lo and behold he snapped right off of his base leaving his foot behind!

Luckily my lord and master, Kevin Dallimore covers drilling and pinning in one his books so I was well up to the task of repairing him. My wife has more hobbies than I do, and one of them is jewelry making. Luckily she had a tiny push drill and some wire for me to use. After I had super glued the pin in place and allowed it to dry I pasted over the gap with some GW liquid green stuff. Which is not so liquid-y, by the way (unless I've gotten an old bottle).

Sadly I did not snap pics of the whole process, but I'm sure its documented out there somewhere. Here are some after pics of the levy ready to be sanded.

           

Also, a quick reminder that James' blogger's conference is coming up soon. Details below by clicking the image below:

Mock Battle

After some discussion that followed a previous post, I decided to take some snaps of the dipped and highlighted levies at a distance.

With all the extra time devoted to him, our three color method levy seems to have gotten a big head. He rather fancies himself a hearthguard now and has taken on all three of the plebeian dipped levies!

As you can see, they all look pretty good at this distance. Up close I really can't stand the dirty look of the dipped figures though. So unless an actual game of SAGA appears on the horizon, I'll be slowly plugging along with the three color method.

My Warchest

I finally broke down and ordered one of Sally 4th's Warchests. The shipping to the States was a turn-off, but since they used one of my ideas I kind of felt like I had to get one.  It arrived with no instructions. They haven't put those together yet according to the kind bloke that answered my emails. He was very helpful though and answered all my daft questions as I'd never messed about with MDF before.

I'd seen Legos used to square up miniature construction projects in an issue of Wargames Illustrated. I couldn't seem to track down any Legos, so I used some of my daughter's alphabet blocks instead.

The guy from Sally 4th recommended rubber bands to hold things together while the glue set. I only had one big enough to round the whole thing though.

Here's the finished storage box with the 25mm insert and the Perspex lid. The latter being my idea.  =]

Here is my numerically unimpressive levy force going for a ride. I gave the box a bit of a tumble and shake to see how well the insert did at keeping the figures standing upright.

For the most part it did a fine job. It won't take a serious jostling, but as long as one is relatively careful I think it will do just fine. One of the figures repeatedly had issues though. The levy laboriously painted has a cape that is rather large and windblown. I think this raises his center of gravity too much and makes him prone to falling over.

I ordered the 2mm thick insert and in hindsight I probably should have gotten the 3mm one.  I'm tempted to order another 2mm and plop it on top of the current one. The shipping one one insert would be ludicrous though. I may see what I can jury rig on my own. There is that 3D printer at my new job...

Head-to-Head

My three color method test levy is finally finished and based so I could take some head-to-head shots with my Army Painter dipped levy. I chose to use the two that had the same color tunic. Hard to believe they are the same color. That dip really muddies things up!

If you ask me there is no comparison. Well, perhaps the three color method spear looks too much like zebrawood. But other than that the difference is night and day. I guess the question now is, do I have the patience to paint the other forty guys this way...