April Miniatures Status

It's time, I suppose, for an end-of-April status check of how I have done against my expectations for the  month. With only a couple days to go (and workdays at that), I think I have done fairly well.

Some of what I have been up to...

By way of a status update, I scattered a variety of the things I have been working on on top of a custom terrain board I have made. The terrain board itself is a 2 foot by 3 foot representation of the "Brecourt Manor" scenario (the first scenario) in the Fireball Forward rule book. In the gun emplacements are 4 stands of 15mm WW2 German field artillery, with crew. The 15mm figure stands elsewhere are the troops required for this scenario, as well as the added stands necessary for the second scenario in the book. Hedgerows are pieces from the terrain project described here earlier. Leo and I have been talking about getting together to play some Fireball Forward, and what better way to get the proverbial juices flowing than to have the terrain and troops all ready to go. Leo, if you are out there reading this, I am ready when you are...

Toward the back of the picture are two test pieces I have made of "palm tree" terrain for my Crusades project. They look pretty decent, I just need to make about a dozen more. The pieces are simple balsa wood bases, sanded and painted, with palm trees glued down along with an assortment of Woodland Scenics brand talus (model railroad rocks) and foliage clusters. On the right side is one piece of "farm field" terrain that was a test piece for playing around with artists' modeling compound. I'm not sure what period this kind of thing would be useful for, so I am still tinkering with this.

Along the back edge are five 15mm Italian buildings from the old Architectural Heritage (AH) range, now sold under the JR Miniatures brand (although I understand JR has gone under, and these will be sold elsewhere...). I use these for both Italy and Spain in the Napoleonic era.

In the middle center are three thatch roof and wooden buildings that will serve for 15mm WW2 Eastern Front.

On the left side, back, is one Architectural Heritage building in the 15mm "Prussia" range that can serve for any period from post-medieval through WW2. To the right of that building is a 5mm AH version of the church from the famous Napoleonic battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809. It is a beautiful little model, and goes with the huge amounts of 5mm (tiny) Napoleonics that I have but never ever use...

Lastly, there are four ruined buildings of various types for use in 15mm WW2 games. The front-left one is an old AH casting, but I am not sure who made the other three. The right-most two are by the same manufacturer, and are beautiful multi-part models.

Pictures of my Crusades project re-basing progress will be posted separately, but all things considered, I will end April roughly where I had hoped to be. Re-basing efforts are moving along. I have finished a few projects in the terrain making area, and I have been able to knock out the painting of buildings in a number of eras that have been primed but languishing in the "partially done" box for quite some time. Hopefully I can continue this progress into May and June...