Really great image resource for Antietam

 This blog post has a load of really great photos of the Antietam battlefield in Autumn.

Autumn in Antietam

 

Confederate forces ready for BF&F

 

Border Horse - red caps

 The border horse for ECW forces has begun, this is the final stretch for my expected ECW troops.

Closing in on the completion of the ECW project for the tabletop minis.  I have begun to put more thought and assemble the materials for an ECW campaign system (beyond a simple digital mapping tool).

I only had enough piano wire for two units, this was the first of them, then an opportunity to search for wire in Victoria came and I found some that will work, the store clerk said that getting the wire in was getting harder and the exact thickness I wanted was not in the store, nor had they had any for more than a year.  The hobby world is having supply issues also...

Again I used the fast paint method, though the troops got to the ink stage in only three days, (painting for about 30 minutes at a time) - it was more than a week later that I got the time to put into getting the later stages done.  They have been finished for a week now, and I was only able to get them out for a few photos and assemble this blog post as the 'life' workload has suddenly jumped up.

no shots of bare metal this time
as I had the shots of them bare in an earlier post

after the base coat, comes the dark chocolate under layer

then a 'damp brush' white light tan highlights layer

earth tones under color
(you can see how wet it is as it just went on before the photo)

ink stage
then they all sat for a few days
which was probably for the best
in letting the ink dry completely

first of the colour layers
I did dark blue to go under the
brown inked silver chain-mail I was planning

the red goes on, with some orange highlights

the riders are all then mounted to the horses
before getting the matte coat spray

all matte coated, and flocked, awaiting their use in battle
or at least one more photo shoot on the base stands

the unit assembled on the metal base stands
with teddy bear fur and flocking

the beauty shot, featuring the commander
with a crown on the St George cross on their shields

forward, reverse view, showing the armor a bit better

Now I have some space ships as a project for my middle son to do up - before returning the the ECW forces.

House changes are still looming as the family seeks changes, there's a big game in November now (see previous post here) and I'm still on call for the tones dropping with the volunteer fire rescue along with regular and possible extra training in the coming months.

GAME PLAN! Saxe-Bearstien will march again vs. Vile Stagonia

 Once again the forces of Saxe-Bearstien will take to the field.

the elite Von Becks

Just as we did four years ago in 2021, at the evacuation of Kaallais, the troops of Bluebear Jeff from Saxe-Bearstein will take to the field this November 16, 2025.

These troops were entrusted to the Cod Sticker, and as before he shall be designing up the scenario, likely using black powder rules.

As always there will be an after action report AAR here and possibly on Cod's blog as well.

If you find yourself in Campbell River area, look up AJ's Games on 11th Avenue in Campbell River, where we expect to arrive at 11 am, begin moving metal by noon and finish game action by 4:30 pm.