" A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon!"
~ Napoleon
~ Napoleon
Just got back from a whirlwind crash course at L'ecole du
Laser, in Montreal, where I got plenty of hands-on experience and super
valuable instruction from my friends, Luke and M.P., up at UMake.
While there we cranked out a bunch of troops to sell at GenCon, as well as doing some test runs on
upcoming pieces. When I get a chance, I'll post some pics of that battle action! Warm work - that.
Otherwise, not much else to talk about this time around, as I have 4 more
units to finish up before the 14th. Cool thing of note - not only will I be premiering
Wooden Wars at Gencon, but I designed the Neverwinter demo which will be running
there as well. They say I can sleep on
the plane ride out...
Before I start monologuing, I wanted to give a shout out
to my pal, the Black Cavalier, who "painted" up a soldier I sent to him using felt
pens, and with great success I dare say. Check out his blog, two tharks one cup for more info and cool pics!
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| Medals in the raw, and some reinforcement coins. |
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| As soon as I unpacked and kissed the family, I put paint to these! The medals take very well to painting them directly on the sprue. |
(wood)Medals:
As I research uniforms, I keep sketches or scans of things
that catch my eye. I realized I have a folder chock full of Jpeg's and quite a
few sketches of medals. Now who, I
thought to myself, doesn't like getting medals. So, I made some (albeit of wood).
I'll be handing these out at the GenCon convention games, and they will also
be rewards for my (fast-upcoming...I promise) Kickstarter. I may have a couple of complete sprues for sale at
Gencon - so if you want one, hit me up quickly!
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| New gun, bigger Grenadier hat option, cleaner lines! |
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| This season's officer is a bit meatier- and look at the size of that plume! |
New Recruits:
Here are the updated and ready-for-action foot soldier and
foot officer sprues. I cleaned up the line definitions, made a slightly larger musket which now has
the flintlock on the correct side (sheesh) and enbiggened the Grenadiers bearskin a few ~mm. The soldier stands a sturdy 80mm from foot to shako-top (95mm with plume) and the Grenadier comes in at 90 and 100mm respectively.
The foot officer sprue got a clean up around the sword hilt,
and I made him 2mm larger overall. He was a bit wee compared to the other
troops - although at work, when I mentioned this, folks said that a smaller
officer is less apt to be hit. No medal for them!
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| One of the guns for the "Reddish" army. |
Finished up the "red" army's gun battery. Only
have a shot of one gun and crew here, but you can see how I painted up the
trousers to look like horse artillery coveralls.
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| Empress Fossling decorates her own troops. Parents, if you want your kids to paint, please give them decent brushes and paints. It makes the experience, AND the outcome, so much more pleasant! |
Cheers for now - I hope to post once more before the campaign
starts. So keep checking in and thanks for all your kind words, thoughtful
critiques and encouragement!
I do enjoy visiting this site.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon, of course, knew better than to believe that it was the bit of ribbon soldiers fought long and hard for. Just as iconodules don't really worship pictures of their deity of choice, but what those images represent; so soldiers fight for what the ribbons symbolise. Had napoleon really believed the ribbon thing, he would never have been able to hold the loyalty of his troops the way he did.
Of course, the baubles have to look as though they really mean something. The examples abovefulfil that task admirably.
Cheers,
Ion
This continues to be an amazing project and I wish you the best of luck at GenCon. What your friend did with the markers really reminds me of the old Playmobil Color line. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/items/3608.htm
Jason
Felmarshall- I'm glad I never saw these until now- I may not have come up with Wooden Wars! Cool
DeleteThanks
Ths
I think it's a testament to the superb design of these soldiers how great they look whether they are unpainted, quickly colored with markers, or beautifully painted by a skilled hand.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to hit a perfect note - appealing as both collectibles and toys. I hope they are a great success.
I have to confess that I am absolutely hooked by the progress of the project. I wish you every success with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to the kickstarter. Marshal Rocco has painted a sample trooper in a uniform of his own devising. I'll send you a picture soon. He needs a little practice, but we have plenty of time to sharpen his brushwork while the recruits are mustered!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the awesome feedback! My blog has had a staggering 1,500 hits this week alone. I am agog and excited!
ReplyDeleteMichael- Glad you are hooked. Me too!
Aaron- very much looking forward to the pics! I love using your own designs- one mate of mine has painted up his force from Baron Bomburt's troops (Chitty Chitty bang bang).
Archduke- I agree totally with your comment. That being said, everyone loves a bit of flash loot- Even the Emperor- exemplified by Napoleon's Portrait of his coronation.
I've had the good luck to see that painting- it's an awesome 32 feet long and 20 ish feet high. That's a baubble that looks like it really means something (as is the crown he is getting)!
cheers all!
Thomas
My son, Eli (seven), won one of your medallions, and it was definitely the highlight of his Gen Con experience this year. He could not wait to get home and show it to me. He and his father both had a lot of fun playing your game and meeting you. Thank you for sharing it with them and for showing them a good time. You have a wonderful project here, and I wish you much success with it.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, traci
Traci- Eli was a true champ and earned his medal to be sure!
DeleteThis totally makes my day to hear that he and his father had a great time and a memory to share!
Cheers
Thos