I have been missing doing some historical guys, so I decided to try and start a new historicals project. I've always wanted to do Hastings and the battles before it, but the thought of painting hundreds of 28mm miniatures of Saxon-looking guys for all three armies (Norse, Saxons, Normans) was just too depressing to fathom for me. But, painting that many of my wooden guys? That's an option!
However, I have done some Dark Ages/Early Medieval guys before and didn't really like them much. They never quite captured the look of the mail coat look that most of these troops have. However, with my new way of doing the fantasy figures with the upside down milk bottle body, cool nasal helm head, and paper "skirt," that is exactly the way these figures should look. So I decided to start a new historicals project, that being Hastings, and kicked it off with a test base of Norman Archers.
I wanted to do a game that is more of a stand-based approach rather than individually mounted figures (or even pairs as I had been doing in my ancients games). I decided to go with the precut thick 3" by 1" wooden rectangles I get from a craft supply place online. The bases are so thick that people will be likely to pick the figures up by the base instead of by the figures. I usually don't like thick bases, but I think for these guys it makes the most sense to use a thick base to protect the figures as much as possible. But, the issue with that is that the figures are not very stable on the larger base, and any sort of tipping, etc. will likely loose the figure from the base, regardless of how much glue one uses. But I came up with a solution.
I knew I wanted to screw the figures onto the base from the bottom. I thought I could countersink the hole on the bottom and use a flat head screw. No problem. I also realized that the milk bottle "top" (the lower legs of the figure) actually has a little indentation in it, which is almost like a guide hole for a screw. So this should work perfectly. I should be able to drill a hole in the base, glue the figure down, and before the glue dries screw the screw in from the bottom and into the base of the figure. Glue + screw should be plenty strong. Turns out if I was right!
Here is the base from the bottom. You can clearly see the two screws that go up through the base and into the figures. They are countersunk (is that a word!?) so the base still sits flat on the table top.
And here are the two archers. I wanted them to be a bit "un-uniform" so one is in a hood with a mail coat and the other is in a leather coat with a nasal helm. Standard milk bottle body construction, paper hood (where appropriate), paper skirt (bottom of the mail coat or leather coat depending on the figure), tile spacer arms and quivers, with tile spacer feet. Ah, the feet. I couldn't do what I was doing with the fantasy figures. Screwing up through a rubber tile spacer and then into the wooden body of the figure would have been a nightmare. I'm sure it would have turned out where the body would have spun around because of the torque of the screw driving process, or the feet would have become unglued from the body, etc. So, I still like the looks of the feet, so instead I just glued them to the base of the figure up against the body of the figure. First, they are not likely to come off because they are in a position where they will not be touched by human fingers. Second, the figure is no less strongly attached to the base because the feet do not enter into that equation. They are a bit shorter in height than the fantasy figures, since the bottom of the figure is not sitting on the top of the tile spacer feet, but I still think they look pretty good, and with a whole table full of the same construction, no one will know the difference.
No swords and such for these guys. Just the basics. I plan on doing four bases for each unit, so I don't have time to put a lot of the details on them like I do for the individual fantasy rpg character figures.
I think they turned out pretty good, I'm pleased. Next up is a base of Normal infantry. I can't decide whether to do three or four per base. What was nice about these archers was that I actually attached the figures to the base first and then painted them (there was enough room to do that). This is very handy because I did not have to try and hold the finished figure in place while screwing it onto the base. I think trying to do it that way could get very, very dicey and I might end up breaking a figure (arms off of it I mean) if I try and screw them into place after I've painted them. If I did three Norman infantry to one base I could probably paint them after screwing them onto the base. If I do 4, I'm going to have to paint them first. Not sure what I'm going to do yet.
Yes, countersunk is the word. Why did you feel it necessary to screw the figures down? Did you start getting damage with your other army figures?
ReplyDeleteI find your comment that painting the figures is faster than a standard 28mm figure? Considering your wood figures require building also (although many plastic figures on the market do too) why do you find wood figures faster to the table than commercial figures?
Me, I find it faster because I am less likely to repaint and straighten lines with wood than with lead or plastic. And it is not the medium, it is that my wooden figures are basically canvases with few details 'cast' on the figure. So painting within the lines is not an issue. Pretty much everything is freehand. Is that what you find too is the reason it is faster?
Yeah, these turned out really well.
I did not start to have more damage with my other figures, but I did start to think that there has to be a better way for my designed figures to be more securely attached to the bases. Of course I will not be able to do this with the cavalry figures, but I’m okay with that. The only time I ever had any problem with the other figures was if they were dropped. Sometimes the guys would break off the base when this happened. What I’m most worried about with these new milk bottle guys is that they are noticeably taller than the other figures, and if I am putting more figures onto a base with them the base itself will be bigger and if they are dropped they are probably more likely to break off, especially on those chunky three inch by one inch bases as they weigh a lot in themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The building takes longer than either removing flash from metal figures (although IMO this is the WORST task involved in our hobby, I absolutely hate it!), and longer than building plastic miniatures (most, I’m talking more about the historicals, here, not the contemporary GW figures that have 10,000 parts and you need to be able to read an engineering schematic to build them correctly). But the painting, as you indicate, takes less than 1/3 of the time. I think there are several reasons for this.
1. I agree 100%. It is a flat and undefined canvas and so you are more free to paint freely on the figures. This adds to their individuality, but I think it also adds tremendously to speed because you are never painting within the lines, you are painting purely from your mind’s eye.
2. Except for certain parts (like the helmets) I usually go with only two colors, a darker base color, and then a lighter variation of the same color to define the thing I’m painting (like a cloak for example). And then with other areas, like the flesh, I use only one tone except for the fingers and toes which I use a lighter flesh tone to define them. Often, the base color is actually the “primer” color. I use a very dark brown as a base color for all my figures now, and often I just use it as the base color for the cloak or whatever, so I am only painting on one tone on top of that, leaving the dark brown behind unpainted for the recesses. On metal or plastic figures, I do three colors minimum.
3. I can’t paint more than about 4 of the same metal or plastic miniature at the same time. So at most, I can do one base of heavy infantry (as an example) at a time. I can do easily 10-12 wooden figures of the same type at the same time. This greatly speeds up getting them on the table.
4. The things I really hate to paint are much less aversive to paint with these craft wooden figures. For example, I hate painting horses, and I hate painting doo-dad details on modern fantasy figures (potion bottles, scroll cases, etc.). For me, I’ve always hated painting horses even if it’s just the horse and a blanket, and the thing that I hate about modern fantasy figures is how detailed they are. They are beautiful, but I don’t need all these details for what I use them for. I’m not painting them for a painting competition, I am using them in games. In these wooden guys, horses are a piece of cake, and I just don’t put very many details on fantasy figures unless I want to.
There is also something motivating about finishing the figures quickly, from the finished build to the finished paint job. It keeps me focused on the project I’m working on.
I have to say, I love the painting style you use - that sort of highly stylised 'cartoon' look. I'd love to hear more about how you go about choosing colours and patterns for your colour blocks... Splendid stuff!
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