Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tavern Complete

Well, that went fairly quickly, compared to the other projects.

I'm looking at this set of game rules for use on my board, since the Swashbuckler rules are dated, slow and clunky .... http://www.eurekamin.com.au/andoneforall.php

So, here is the completed work:







Say hi to my friends on your way through ...


A bit of action on the floor:


Stairs detail:

The chandeliers were an awful fiddly struggle, but they turned out ok:

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Abartho's Tavern


Here's some more on my Swashbuckler Tavern.





Monday, December 20, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Painting the Circus

I can't wait for the last bricks to get done before getting right into the painting.

Here are a few pics of the Circus wall with most of the large scale paint done. I expect I'll be driven to add a lot of detail later on ...







Monday, December 13, 2010

Quick Build Tavern

Another work in progress.

I remember this old boardgame, Swashbuckler, which is about swordfight duels in the spirit of Erol Flynn or Three Musketeers.

Boardgamegeek

My original plan for this one was at 1:72 scale, but I couldn't get really good miniatures for it at that scale. So I'm looking at 25mm or 28mm instead.

The board is a medieval tavern, and will get decorated with tables, chairs, chandeliers and other furnishings. I'll make those out of wood bits.

The basic shape is simple, and I had a great pile of leftover bricks from that other project, so I laid out the parts like this:



I was fairly happy with that, so I glued it together in stages over a couple hours:





And here it is ready for painting:



Only problem with that is the weather -- it might be March before I can get outside with a spray-paint can.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Getting Closer to Complete on the Circus

It's been a bit of work, but I can see the end of this project getting closer.

Here's an overview of the track from today:







The curving end of the track was a bit of a job, with lots of grinding and fitting to get the bricks into the curving shape.







I'm planning some wooden parts to complete the seating and roof portions.



My favourite part are these pass-through gates. I'm almost surprised I got them to work, and I'm looking forward to getting this part painted.





The last part I need some more curve floor tiles to complete. This might take a while to get done, I have to cast the curve tiles two at a time ...



So, nine months into the project, not out of steam yet.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Decorative arch for the Circus

Here are a few pics for the arch that will stand at the front end of the Circus model:




To either side of the arch, these statue lions will be standing guard. I've painted them in a sort of bronze colour.


The pedestals have magnets hidden in the plaster so I will be able to switch out the art in the future without too much trouble.

Troops for Successors

I've gone and finished some troop figures for use with Successors. This is one of my favourite games, pitting the players against each other as the major figures in the war for succession following the death of Alexander the Great. Check out the game description at Boardgame Geek: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26457/successors-3rd-edition

The Royal Macedonian troops follow the general with the greatest ranking of legitimacy in the eyes of the army:


Loyal Macedonian troops are the best part the generals' might.


Mercenary troops are easily gathered and easily lost.



The Silver Shields were the best forces in Alexander's army, and one lucky player might be able to bring them on to his side:

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Proud ships ... and toy soldiers

While I've been putting most of my efforts into the Circus, I'm still working a bit on the toy soldiers for my ships project. Here are some pics of the Greek soldiers. The shields are decorated with transfer images from "Little Big Men" in England. I like how the art on the shields looks ... now I need to finish painting them. Might keep me busy for a long time, since I have several hundred of these.