20 June 2009

The 6mm Distraction...

Yes, yet another distraction! Now, I do have some history with 6mm/micro scale gaming. The first minis I ever purchased were GHQ, Soviet T-55 tanks if I recall. I also had a small collection of 5mm ACW minis, painted and based for Johnny Reb 2. Of course, this was 25 years ago, but the memories of battles with lots of small minis still linger on.

So, in a fit of manic inspiration, or maybe desperation, I placed an order for a small amount of 6mm Baccus minis from Scale Creep Miniatures. Absolutely no hassles in the ordering process - several e-mails on the order's progress, funds charged at time of shipment, and actual postage charged! Thanks Mark (proprietor of Scale Creep).

Here are the samples I ordered:


There are twenty-four strips, of 4 figures each, in each of these bags, 96 figures total. The phalangites are open-handed, which I kind of like, as I can place my own pikes on the minis, probably brass rod.

The key, in my opinion, for 6mm gaming is mass. You need to have quite a few of these guys in your units to get the right look. Here is an example of how the phalangites could look:


48 minis on that base! The strips are 20mm long, so it would not be too hard to fit several more strips onto that base. This pic fits into one of my manic thoughts for their use however; if I actually get these painted up and based you will see.

Here is a close-up:


(please note: the line in the foreground is actually straight - there seems to be some sort of aberration with my camera in Super-Macro mode)


And a shot of a single strip, with a scale in the background.



The ashigaru are a bit different - the strips are 30mm in length and are in ranks (the phalangites are in files). Still impressive:


Once again, 48 minis on the base outline.




Some good detail for such a small figure, and not much flash. These seem to be a bit bigger than their Macedonian cousins.


Yep, the ashigaru are a fraction taller and somewhat more beefy than the phalangites. The ashigaru are on a slightly thicker base.


Now, to paint these up!


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05 June 2009

Action off Gotland, part 1

Way back on this blog - here actually - I started some notes on my WW1 naval project. After a bit of digging, I have found a few of the missing pieces of info.

First, the scenario now has a title - Action off Götland. The battle was fought in the Baltic near the island of Götland.

Second, I did find the 'missing' cruiser that was cruising with Prinz Adalbert - Prinz Heinrich, an older armored cruiser in the German Navy. To the best of my knowledge, there are no minis for this ship in 1/2400, so some conversion work will be needed.

Third, the budget does not seem to be an obstacle at this time. A proposal was made to the household CFO (my lovely wife) and she approved it! I will be waiting for one of GHQ's sales before ordering, but hopefully I will send off for the Panzerschiffe ships very soon.

Slow posting

My apologies for the slow posting rate - I have not picked up a brush for weeks, and now the hobby area in our apartment is about to be used as storage as we move furniture around. Patience please - I will return!

I have been working on the naval side of my hobby lately. You can see some of that here:
my other blog


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