Speed gluing shields in 15mm

With our moribund ancients group coming alive again to play L'Art de la Guerre, I'm rushing to rebuild my 15mm ancients collection. This requires a bit of work since I sold all my armies last year, save one.  The upside to a collection of one is that I'll double it shortly.  I expect to double it again before the year is out.

After years of painting Old Glory, I'm finding Corvus Belli's ancient Spanish to be a nice change-up. I understand they've shut down so this might be my first and last opportunity to paint from their line. The sculpting on the figures is superb and they have some one-of-a-kind figures.  The downside is I underestimated the difficulty of gluing 200+ tiny shields.  My first go was so slow and messy I almost gave up at the start.  The backs of the shields have shallow dimples so they don't have much to grab onto.  Through trial and error and more error, I came up with a system that might be useful for anyone working with Xyston or Corvus Belli.    

Step 1: I glue my figures on Popsicle sticks, grouping like poses to speed up the painting process. My tools for the job include:

Super Glue-Quick drying version
Accelerator- described as an "instant cure."  It speeds up the curing process on metals to about 10 seconds so it's a bit short of "instant."
Sticky Tack.
Small wooden dowel to prevent fingers from being glued together.

Step 2: Spray a couple of shots of accelerator on the plastic work surface, enough to make a puddle. I resorted to the puddle method because the sprayer puts out way too much accelerator for 15mm.  It was soaking everything.

Step 3: Load up a bit of Sticky Tack on the end of the dowel. Grab the shield from the front.

Step 4:  Dip the back of the shield into the puddle of accelerator.  Holding the dowel + shield upright with your left hand, put a drop of Super Glue on the accelerator soaked shield with your right hand. You've got 10 seconds to get this on the figure before it hardens.

Step 5: Press the shield against the forearm of the figure. Count to 5 and you're done!  Now repeat about 200 more times and you're ready to prime your army.  

Warlord, Wild Bill Hickok and a Fish

I've been logging long hours at the painting table tying up loose ends and rushing projects to the tabletop.  As a result, today's drop is a bit eclectic.

Up first is Gripping Beast's Macbeth.  He's a giant of a man who serves as a hero for a Scottish warband in SAGA.  The 3rd photo down gives you some idea of how large this figure is.  Let's just say he was not impressed by the puny Wild Bill.

Wild Bill and the bank heist figures are for Dead Man's Hand.  I think Bill would be pleased with his sculpt, especially the long and lovely locks!

My dad found a ceramic fish at a yard sale over the summer,  Since it was badly worn, he asked me to repaint it.  It looked like an ideal project for an airbrush so I set it aside until I bought one. Six months later, I still don't have an airbrush so I gave it a go with my brush. I'm not used to working in 1 to 1 scale and the flat surfaces were a challenge. A green wash and a sepia wash helped hide my brushstrokes. I don't think taxidermists have to worry about me cutting into their painting business!

In the weeks ahead, my posts will be focused and fish free. Our ancients group is switching rules and I'm painting up two new 15mm ancients armies as part the changeup.  If I want to see our ancients group grow, I need to have spare armies to lend out or field at demos.  Seeing as how I sold off most of my ancients collection last year, I've got a bit of work to do!  

Paging Mr SAGA

Today's post is filed under "Loose Ends."  First up are 8 warriors to round out my Breton warband. I got tired of painting horses in my fall Breton run so these fellows sat while I rested. Combining my Bretons and Normans, I can field 20 mounted warriors and 36 mounted milites, enough for a Hail Caesar army!

I've meant to paint up baggage for SAGA for some time.  SAGA allows you to base baggage on 40mm x 40mm bases up to a 50mm by 100mm.  You can use livestock, civilians, wagons and/or carts to make up baggage.  Each player in the Grand Melee is required to bring 3 pieces of baggage to the event. With this fire under me, I finally got to painting mine up.  I went for a distressed grey wood and I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out. Carts and peasants are Gripping Beast, as are the mounted warriors above.  

EDIT: I've had requests for the wood painting recipe. Unfortunately, this time it's a little sketchy.  I didn't take notes because I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. 

I started with black primer, then dark grey applied with a wet brush.  Take care to keep black intact in the recesses where you can. I did this by using the side of my brush. Drybrush with a lighter grey and wash with Army Painter Strong Tone. Finish with a beige green drybrush & highlights on tips and edges. I think I used Vallejo German Camo Beige but I didn't write it down and I have LOTS of light greens. I hope this is helpful and I will take notes next time!

You'll note my baggage train isn't carrying anything at all.  My thinking is that villains and marauders will pass on sacking an empty baggage train and pursue something more loot-tastic. Let's see how this strategy works down at the club.

Last up is my reworked Norse Gael warlord.  After a frustrating stretch of 4 losses, I decided to tweak my list by running my warlord with a Dane axe.  This lowers his armor class but he'll dish out more hits and get 5 dice with the "Howling Axes" ability.  I repainted his base to match the rest of the warband and added a second figure.  The end result is a nice improvement on the original. In his first game out, my warlord not only survived a number of enemy strikes, he also brought home a win. I can only conclude that Odin approves of this revision.