Warlord Epic ACW - Part two

 Having weakened and bought the boxed starter set, I found that it comes with some mdf terrain pieces made for Warlord by Sarrissa Precision.

These comprised of a flat-packed large dutch style farm house and a selection of rail femces.

While looking on Firestorm's website, I'd noticed that Warlord also sell  additional packs of mdf ACW scenery (all Sarrissa sourced).   The set I spotted was simply called ACW Scenery Pack and was made up of 2 x mdf houses and 1 x dutch style barn - three buildings for £13.50 looked to be very good value for money, so I ordered a set.

When I came to assemble the models, they went together as a complete dream. I used PVA throughout and there was no trimming, sanding of fettling needed of any kind whatsoever.

I finished them by firstly spraying one coat of Halfords grey primer which covered extremely well. I'd left all the roofs off to ease painting as they could be attached at the end. 

Then the bulk of the paintwork was completed using the airbrush. Black for the recessed windows (the window & door frames lightly picked out with white using a fine brush), The wooden walls in a muddy brown and the stonework and roofing material a light grey.

The brown walls were sprayed with vallejo brown wash to pick out the shadows and the the roofs with Vallejo grey wash for the same reason. The brick chimney stacks were brush painted with a vallejo brick red.

After attaching the roofs, the bottoms of the walls recieved a light spray of sand to give the impression of dust and the edges of the roofs, walls etc. were all dry brushed white. They were completed in very little time using this method.

Then the penny dropped. These are all models from Sarrissa's 15mm Range with no adjustment for scale.

They are actually rather large when placed against Warlord's epic figures. Not a game changer, but worth being aware of. On the table these buildings will look fantastc, but they do have very large footprints!

The fences are really neat. They easily punched out of the laser cut mdf sheet and simply slot together to produce zig-zag fencing of whatever length you desire. |The laser cutting process leaves them various shades of brown, which means there's absolutely no need to paint them to finish them off. They're ready to go straight away!

Must get on with painting some figures now. I've finished one sprue for each faction so far, that's all. There are many more to go and this is before considering cavalry! ........

Cruel Seas Ship Data Card Holder - Mango Terrain

I found these rather interesting items on eBay the other day.
(https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/mango_terrain?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.c10)

They are simply designed mdf card holders that also allow you to track the loss of hull points value as your vessel takes hits.

Starting at £2 each (for a pack of 4), the price drops the more you purchase (£1.50 each if you buy 6). This price includes post and packing and, as you can see from the picture above, they come well packed. Time from placing the order to arrival was just 5 days.

A little assembly is required but it's not a big deal and instructions are included. The main parts come on two mdf sheets, the parts push out cleanly and you can glue them together with either PVA or (if you're in a rush!) SuperGlue.

The rings that slide over the hull points values come in a separate bag. Be careful to let the assembled sliders dry completely before completing assembly to ensure they can slide smoothly.

It's your choice whether you paint the finished item. I chose to just paint the rings red to help them stand out a bit more, but left the rest. If you turn the finished card holder over, there is a window cut out to reveal the points values printed on the card's reverse.

I rather like these. I think they are practical, good value and will prevent the cards coming to harm. The slight raised edge will also avoid damage counters ending up on the floor if the table gets knocked accidentally!

Thoroughly recommended.

Pegasus Bridge 15mm

I've long held a wargaming dream of re fighting the coup de main attack on Pegasus Bridge on the night before D-Day 1944.

Now I'm finally close to living the dream. I've slowly but surely been beavering away on the models I require to achieve this.

Firstly I purchased a mdf model of the Bridge from the Wargame tournaments eBay shop. It cost £20 which I thought wasn't bad for the bridge and control tower. It does, however have a few issues to take note of. Firstly now it's finished I'd say it's nearer 1/144 than 1/100 so would suit either 12mm or 15mm figures. Secondly it lacks the ramp that stands on the cafe Gondre side of the canal. Finally when I checked my pictures from my visit to Normandy in 2010, I noticed it's actually a model of the current bridge - not the wartime version!

Nevertheless it looks the part and will make a fine objective. The control building is a little too big, but can accommodate based figures inside.

The other essential I now have is three Horsa gliders. These are the wonderful mdf models from Warbases. At just £2.50 they are fantastic value. They make up flawlessly and are pre-engraved with all the detail you need to give them an accurate paint job. Strictly speaking, they too are 1/144 scale but they are only there to act as markers on the table and a magnificent job they'll do.

Next I'm working on dug in Germans and some barbed wire entanglements.

Ultimately I hope to fight out the battle with Crossfire, BKC and IABSM to see how the results differ.