Down in China town

Well, not quite :-)

A nice little commission that's been ongoing for a short while is a set of six Chinese shops from the latter half of the 19th century. I was lucky enough to get a couple of period photos from the client and they gave me the basis to work from.

Made from different layers of acrylic for the frontages and just a simple box construction for the rear they were rather fun to make. I'll be making some more for myself at some point soon when I get back onto doing the Boxer Rebellion.

Here are a selection of photos of what's gone on so far. I'll take some proper shots when they are all complete (and when I've finished my decent backdrop).

The detail fret work is either a simple mesh with various bits cut out for a Chinese feel of lasered acrylic. The roofs are Wills pantiles sheets which work fine until I get my own tile sheet sorted.

Unfortunately the pictures are a bit yellow but hopefully the difference in tone etc will be apparent. I've also altered the sizes ever so slightly to help break up the monotony.

ttfn 

Edo period buildings

Having recently been to Hakodate on Hokkaido got me in the mood to make some Edo period buildings. The town itself is full of Edo history, it being one of the major ports to open up when Japan came back onto the international scene and there are several excellent examples of preserved buildings just waiting  to have models made of them.

First off I started with a simple kura (storehouse) from the period. Brick instead of the usual plaster construction. This, like many of the buildings I will be releasing in the next few months, is in kit form. I haven't got a picture of the kit parts as this one is the first to see if it went together (it did, rather well :-).

It will be a sort of multi media kit as the roof tiles are resin but are cut to shape and already stuck to the roof plate so there isn't any real difficulty.

Like all the kits I produce, the roof is removable.

Just got the windows to shortcut out and it's good to go :-).

The next one I've started is quite possibly the first proper 'department store' in Japan, certainly in Hokkaido. All the goods would have been sold on the ground floor and the upper floor was for storage etc. Again, this will be multi media and will also have a wooden floor attached to a floor plate to give better texture. More pictures over the next week or two as it gets finished.

I've scaled it down since I made this one as it was a little on the large side and a bit impractical for cutting etc.

The figure is from Bac Ninh miniatures who will hopefully be adding to their range very soon. When this happens I'll be able to play something from the Boshin War or Satsuma Rebellion :-)

ttfn

Army painter

Not the product but a little project on the Lead Adventure Forum.

The idea is to paint an army unit a month to try and clear the backlog of unpainted figures (a problem that the vast majority of us suffer).

I think there are about 20 people taking part with many varied armies being done. My choice to start the Games Workshop Dogs of War figures I've had lying around for a good many years. Excellent figures by the Perrys (there are figures by other sculptors but I'm not so interested in them) of pike and crossbow armed units with the galloper gun in support.

At the moment I have done a 'unit' of ten and will continue to do so but I might up it to 15 or even 20 a month as I have a fair few to get through.

First unit as stated and I'm rather pleased with the result, a simple colour scheme and bases. I also have the idea to use them as a free company in our Game of Thrones games.

Leader chappy (obviously).

And the standard bearer. I did think of doing something a bit more special for the banner but realised that I probably wouldn't finish it.

I can't find the picture of all the figures I have to do which might not be a bad thing...

The next ten are primed and I will make a start on them tomorrow.

ttfn

And now the terrain for the figures

Following on from my last post about War of the Roses and Game of Thrones I mentioned that I would post some terrain relating to it. This time has now come (albeit rather later than intended).

The first piece, which is complete, was actually started about 12 years ago I think just after when I finished university. I only finished it a couple of months ago so this makes it the longest running project of mine (so far...).

It was meant as a tower house for my GW Empire force (back when I still used to play GW) but now it will certainly suffice for a holdfast for Game of Thrones and a tower house for the War of the Roses at a push. The details are a bit more on the fantastical side but I think I can get away with it.

The tower is made from card with the walls being 1.5mm mounting card and the bricks from thin, normal card. They were all stuck on individually along with the roof tiles and it was rather therapeutic to do :-)

Nothing special about the painting but I did give it a bit more weathering than normal to give it a windswept look.

The other piece that I'll be doing is a Peel tower. This one is based on Dalton castle on the Furness peninsular (about four miles from my home town) and I believe it's the most southern Peel tower going but I may be wrong.

Just the basics for now but I should be putting the details on at some point over the next week or two.

It's from a cast Wills sheet so there might be a few bubbles in it but they shouldn't be too noticeable.

Both are based on 160mm diameter discs and the idea is to make some simple surrounding walls with a corresponding hole to allow both towers to be swapped round depending on what we decide to play.

The style of the walls (as with most things I need to do) is undecided as of yet but it'll be a choice of wooden palisade or simple stone. Only time will tell :-)

ttfn

And now for some figures

For those of you that front the LAF you'll have seen these before but I thought I would post them here before returning from Japan and carrying on with other projects that I intend to show.

It's a long term War of the Roses/Game of Thrones project that includes terrain and figures alike.  The figures are mainly Perrys as having seen other peoples projects on the same they seem to be the most suitable for both.

The WotR initial retinue is of the fictional character, Sir John Aspley of Guildford. A simple colour scheme of blue and pale green with a white crescent (I later found that I have probably put it on the wrong side of the tunics but never mind...).

This is the retinue as it stands at the moment. The advantage with using Perry figures for both projects is that several of them will be able to be used in both settings (I might even use the WotR figures as a small house from the Reach or some such).

I have a few more undercoated at home and will hopefully put some paint on them this coming week including a converted character for Sir John himself.

The GoT project has been inspired by the TV program and although I'm working my way though the books it does look very good and I like their take on it.

My chosen main house is the Karstarks (mainly as the sigil is fairly easy compared to most) and again they will be mostly Perrys with some conversions (woollen additions and cloaks etc to imply soldiers from the winters north).

The hero is a Gripping Beast Age of Arthur figure with a head, shield and sword hand swap, fairly easy but gives an impression of a different figure all together.

The details on his shield were done with a technical pen and are the same as the banner (I haven't taken a decent shot of his shield yet).

I also wanted to try some different coloured armour so went for black on the banner bearer and my do some more of the same that would work for a household guard or some such.

And what is a project without terrain... The unfortunate thing is that the pictures of said terrain are on my phone but I will sort out a separate post with it in when I return on Wednesday.

Just as a final shot we have all the figures so far, not many I know but they get more :-)

On a final note, bravo to Blogger for allowing the placement of pictures in the post content on the pad :-)

ttfn

Mikasa

A few days ago I got a chance to go and see the battleship Mikasa. A fantastic must for anyone in the Tokyo area (even though it took about and hour in the car to get there, it's easily reached via public transport).

It's in the top three memorial ships in the world with the other two being in Boston (USS Constitution) and Portsmouth (HMS Victory) and is in rather good condition, even though it is buried to the waterline in concrete...

Unfortunately, the shop and guide book (English version) aren't that good considering but there are a English information points around the vessel where you press a button and a chap tells you parts of the history of the ship.

There are also plenty of display boards below deck that have both English and Japanese explanations and you can spend a good hour or so just going through them.

Needless to say, I took plenty of photos (about 350 odd) but the vast majority are for reference and the ones here are the best of the rest. It was surprising to see that they have built a 200 seater cinema in the bows but unfortunately there wasn't anything showing when we were there. There was also plenty of height below decks but with the modern addition of air conditioning and moving through hatch ways I still managed to bang my head four times...

One of the more pleasing things about the Mikasa, apart from the fact that it is an excellent bit of kit, is that is was built in my home town of Barrow-in-Furness and there also might be a possibility that my great grandfather worked on her. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to tell :-) There is also a street of the same name and it was only until a couple of years ago that I made the connection between the two :-/

Above is one of the 3" battery guns of which parts are still working and therefore were getting a lot of use by the kids :-) Fortunately it wasn't that busy (being a week day) and there wwe're no tour groups so I was able to get several pictures without anyone in them.

It's had several coats of paint over the years and there are modern additions (air conditioning etc) but you can still almost get a feel of what it might have been like... Almost.

A very enjoyable day out if a bit hot. Needless to say that I will be looking into making a scale version for naval games with the possibility of doing an entire range but a little bit more research into the period and other ships is needed along with popular gaming scales, rules etc.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures of this most excellent battleship :-)

ttfn

A long time coming

Well, once again life has gotten in the way of gaming :-(

Too much work and a back injury has put me out for longer than I hoped but with any luck that is going to change. My back is well on the way to recovery and our holiday in Japan is filling me with inspiration for new Oshiro releases and projects.

To keep you going I've got a few photos from Goryokaku which is the star fort on Hokkaido, Japan's northern most main island.

It's not the only star fort in Japan but it is certainly the best preserved...

This is the main bridge into the compound. It's difficult to imagine what it would look like without all the foliage but there is a model in the small exhibition centre that helps to realise it that way.

This is a view from the observatory showing the whole layout (official photos must use a wide angle lense as the window mullions are rather close together).

The first photo was taken from the open area to the bottom left.

This is the model in the observatory, I took plenty of close ups for reference but this is probably the best one to the show the fort as a whole.

The only unfortunate thing is the lack of mounted guns and garrison.

This is the magistrates building in the centre of the fort. It has only been complete for three years but it has been built from the original plans, the original having been burnt down. According to the chap we spoke to all the materials used in the construction were the same as the original with the wood for example coming all the way from the Osaka area. The tower on the top is the drum tower.

I'll post another history post in the next few days about the type of buildings found in 

Hakodate (Hakodate is the town where Goryokaku was built and was a principle harbour town for Japan towards the latter half of the 19th century) but I'll leave you with a view from the top Hakodate-yama which is reputed to be one of the best in the world.

ttfn

I've finally got a layout!

After much poncing and suggestive moving of buildings by my wife we've finally got the layout sorted for Saturday. Just two or three more things and we're in great shape :-)

And of course the figures, it wouldn't be a game without the figures but they are not coming out till the day (the are too bloody many).

I'll leave some piccies for now but will have a more concise post after the big day.

ttfn

Even more Salute progress

Of a sort...

I've slightly changed the arrangement of the building bases to better fit the ever so slightly differing sizes of them.

Just one wall top to paint and put on along with the wooden supports at the rear and the water to paint and thats the boards complete. I've still got a few things to finish that will go on top. A simple base for the shrine to sit on and some more walls for the poncy houses.

I'll hopefully get a chance to take some decent photos on the day before the madding hordes decend but I'm sure (hoping) there will be plenty of photos on the net afterwards.

Salute progress

Just a quick post to say that the layout for the samurai game is pretty much sorted and the pictures are below.

The third main wall needs completing along with the land across from them. The three white patches are imprints of three building bases that I'm borrowing back from a good friend.

I'm hoping that there's enough time left to make it look finished ;-)