Midgard Heroic Battles : Making the Map

Here is a brief run down on how I created the map for my Midgard : Britannia campaign.

The finished map (electronic version without annotation)...

Map - 1st computerised version 

Firstly, I grabbed a piece of paper and taped it to a flat surface. This will stop the paper from creasing too much when a wet teabag is applied, but we do want a little puckering to make it look more realistic...

Paper taped to a tea tray

Next, I took a used teabag and smeared it all over the paper to give a brownish effect (to emulate old papyrus or vellum). I then left it to dry for an hour or two to allow most of the puckering to flatten out naturally as the paper dries...

Wet teabag applied

I then used what looks like a quill, but is in reality an ink nib with a feather effect handle, to draw the basics of the map...

Quill and Ink

The basic finished item (it still needs a legend and labelling)...

The basic map

The map has a number of accidental ink splotches on it; some from ink dropping from the quill and others where the tea stain hadn't quite dried out yet (I should have left it another hour maybe to stop the ink from spreading/bleeding). I did consider re-doing the map but I think it adds authenticity.

I then scanned it into a graphic design programme so I can manipulate it electronically going forward.

Arboreal Interlude

When I put my order in for the new miniatures to fill out the gaps in my Celtic collection, I also ordered some model railway trees from New Modellers Shop. These arrived shortly before my figures but I have only just got around to opening the bags and taking a look at them. To my mind, they are nicer (that is, I think that they look better) than the Games Workshops ones, albeit a tad smaller. Hopefully that won't detract too much from their appearance as they will be clumped together into small groups, and I will be basing them for more stability for when in use. Hopefully, I should now have enough trees to allow me to create a few small copses for the tabletop - I have always had a dearth of scenery...

A forest

Deciduous trees

Fir trees

Mixed forest

Spring trees

Each pack goes for around £10, and each contains around ten trees of varying heights, ranging from a few centimetres to around 14cms.

I will base some of these up soon, but if they don't get done in time for the first game, I will just place them in groups on the tabletop for an aesthetically pleasing scenic distraction.

Midgard Heroic Battles : Making the movement trays

As I had a fair number of movement trays to make for my Midgard : Britannia forces, I thought I would log my procedure here. This is not a particularly difficult process (especially if I can do it), but I wanted to log it here for completeness sake and as a reminder for how I achieved what I did for future reference.

Here is a picture of a finished movement tray with the first unit of Roman legionary figures... 

Roman Legionaries - based 10 to a movement tray - representing a full century of contuberlanes

When movement trays are purchased from Warbases, they come unassembled. I have already posted a picture of the un-prepped bases in their box (re-added below for completeness sake below), but I have also photographed the stages of how I assembled them etc. and shown the process in order below.

Here they are in the delivery box...

As they appear in their basic form...

After the component parts have been glued together...

The glue I used was from an old tube of PVA that I found in a cupboard that was used to do arts and crafts with the kids back in the day when they were still at school - so it is likely several years old, but it still appears to work...

Once the bases had dried (I left them overnight to be sure, but they most likely only took an hour or so), I then spread PVA glue over the top layer of the movement tray and added some sand to give the feel and appearance of ground texture...

I then inked the sand mixture with Winsor and Newton 968 : Peat Brown Ink to give it an earthy look...

and highlighted it by heavy dry-brushing with Miniature Paints' 62 Sand paint to complete the look...

I also painted the insides of the figure slots with Citadel's Base Rhinox Hide paint to blend them in a little better...

Finally, I added a little flock and some tufts of grass and flowers to finish them off...

Here is a picture of a finished base with added magnets to hold the UK penny mounted figures...

For completeness, here are the magnets I used - you have to be careful to insert them with the correct polarity upwards to enable them to hold the figures properly...

And the finished movement trays with added figures...

The next few posts will hopefully feature the stats for all units that will be in use for the two forces, and then details of the two starting 300 point units.

Games Workshop's Texture Paints

On my travels to various comic shops last week I also snuck into Games Workshop, or Warhammer as the store on Tottenham Court Road, London is now known. I only popped in to grab a new pot of black and white paint but came out with a couple of pots more.

The staff were very friendly and helpful and they talked me through the new range of textured paints that GW have recently (a year or two back?) introduced.

Apologies for the poor quality photo, but hopefully you can get the gist of what these paints can do. I was especially struck by the qualities of the Realm of Life and Realm of Death paints. These effects are what I have been looking for for quite a while for my Gondor and Rohan troops' bases. I usually just coat the base in PVA glue, apply sand to the base, liberally apply a dark brown wash to it, add a highlight or two and finish it with some flock and a tuft or two of plants or rough grass. These seem to do that in spades, as well as give a few other effects like the "crazy paving" dried earth look which I especially like.

I talked myself into buying one each of the texture paints as well as an applicator tool - yeah, I know GW's own tooling stuff is expensive and cheaper alternatives can be found but I got caught up in the moment.

Hopefully I will get round to using these soon. I will post some details as and when.

Modelling Tips

I don't usually have many modelling tips to pass on as I am quite conservative in my modelling abilities; most of my minis are as they come out of the box, are painted as per the source material and very rarely converted. Safe, safe, safe. It is a bit like doing DIY in my home - I rarely want to go off the beaten track or try anything new in case I muck it up. So, I am hoping with this resurgence in my gaming mojo I will try to do a few of these things in a different way.

First up is a little tip I picked up many years ago when plastic minis first came on the scene. At a trade show (I cannot remember which one) I got chatting to an old grognard about painting and modelling and the virtues of plastic miniatures versus metal ones. He suggested that to give my plastics a little more heft so that they are less likely to be "blown away" during a game, that I fill any cavities on the minis with Plasticine (for those outside of the UK, this is a kids' modelling clay that does not dry out). The reasoning behind this was that it was cheap, flexible enough to fill the cavities, gave the miniature a little more heft and because it does not dry out will remain serviceable for a long time.

Above is a picture of the plasticine that I bought the other day (it was only £1.50 for the pack from Hobbycraft) alongside the horses from one pack of knights of Minas Tirith that have been snipped from their sprues and cleaned up in readiness for preparation for painting.

I previously followed the old gamer's advice with my Norman knights from a few years back, so this is the reason for going the same route this time with my Lord of the Rings minis. All of my plastic animal miniatures (mainly horses at the moment, but there are others that can benefit from this treatment) will be treated in this way.

Once the horse halves had been clipped from the sprues I tidied them up with a scalpel and needle file to get rid of as many mould lines as possible. I then tested them so that they went together correctly and then filled the cavities with Plasticine.

I then tested the fit again to make sure that the filler did not bulge and thus not allow the two halves to come together neatly. Any excess was scraped out with the spatula that came with the clay until I got a good, tight fit. I then used standard plastic glue to stick the two halves together and then the completed horse to the base.

It does not make much difference to the weight of the miniature (only a few grammes) but it is noticeable and allows for just a little more "grip" by the figure on the gaming table, especially on slopes.