Figuring your bases for both summer and winter

I'm tired of waiting for Baccus to produce me some napoleonic Swedes so I'm starting my Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809 project using Heroics and Ros figures. There's one problem however. The battles I want to play took place both during the winter and the summer of 1808. I either have to play the winter battles using summer bases or vice versa OR I can design the basing so that they can be easily rebased.

Now, the battles that took place when snow was on the ground are not terribly big, none of the R-S war battles were. I won't have to rebase a huge army. As the winter battles are the first ones of the war, I can do those first, then rebase the models and reuse them for the summer battles. As a bonus they will be in the chronological order. So I'll need a temporary winter basing scheme.

First you paint the models obviously. It's better to have the bases of the strips painted in brown as white is more difficult to paint over for the summer phase. Put some white acrylic caulk on the base and just stick the models on top. The stands of Heroics and Ros figures are quite thin so there won't be such a big "step effect" to cover as with Baccus figures. This works to my advantage. Paint the sides of the stand white.

Now, sprinkle baking soda on top of the stand (no glue!), remove the excess and brush away any left on the figures. This is what you should end up with. You see a little bit of the brown base underneath but I think the result is quite acceptable. The soda might shed off a bit in use but the effect is wintery and non-permanent.
 

Now, after the applause on the blogosphere after seeing your winter battles have died down, it's time for the spring to come. I blast the soda away with an air compressor, but had to use a brush in addition. Take away the rear strip using a knife. As the models were not glued on, but stood on the caulk, they come off easy and with no fuss. The next step is to paint the base brown, maybe glue on some sand or whatever you would normally do.

Here the same base has been painted, flock glued in the space between the strips, the models glued back in and the rest of the stand flocked. The white showing through the stand is just undried PVA, not snow residue. Now the models have served in both climates. Maybe I'll add a tuft or a bush there...

Paukarlahticon III

Catchy name, right? It's the product of me having enough hubris to call having ten friends over to play over the weekend a "convention" but not having enough imagination to name it after anything else than my home village. We assembled for the weekend for a series of miniature games, sauna and beer. The event was also the first time we've used my workshop/mancave as a playspace and I have to say it worked well. The space fits three individual 4*6 foot wargame tables with plenty of room left to move around the space and I think we can fit a 24*6 foot table in there if we're so inclined.

The workshop converted as a playspace. There's still room for one more table but it was not needed this time.

The theme of the weekend wasn't to play a big battle this time (unlike the previous time and before that) but to play a series of smaller, "standard" sized games. I think it was a good choice and I played a variety of different games (seven in total!) during the weekend.

Battletech alpha strike on my work in progress scifi desert planet board. The weekend showed me that the board is actually quite versatile even though I designed the set just for 6mm scifi.

The "concrete slab" bases for urban areas work quite well for the amount of work needed to make them. Definitely better than just slapping down the buildings on the table.

We played three rounds of Battlegroup Kursk on three tables semi-simultaneously. I got to play with my recently finished Germans (I also shared my command with one player without miniatures). We got our asses handed to us in every round, naturally.

a German assault gun takes out a British tank in a 1945 scenario.

The desert table set up for a WW2 cityfight. The table shows just about all kinds of building bits we could scrape together but the result was satisfactory.

German defenders spot a Sherman approaching.

A Marder tank takes a direct hit.

The second game I played. Not enough anti-tank weapons in our list.

The 88 waits for the enemy armor to come in sight.

Aaand the third game. I admit, I did place that 88 in a position in which it was easy prey for the British infantry.

A 1500 point game of Warmaster. Orcs vs. Empire.

The Orcish cavalry wing performed admirably...

..but it's success was countered by Empire cavalry elsewhere. Another defeat for my permanent record.

A game of Trafalgar using Pirates of the Spanish Main ships.

The desert table transformed into a Western town for a drunken late night game of Legends of the Old West.

The Saloon keeper and his daughters look for a hidden treasure in the town.

A showdown on the thoroughfare.

The next gaming weekend is planned for the winter if I manage to keep the workshop warm enough for it to be usable (this is Finland, as you know). Thanks to the participants, I had a blast!

20mm WW2 German platoon complete

I now have 40 something infantry for my WW2 Germans from Plastic Soldier Company. I bought these to take part in WW2 games some of my friends play and now I have enough for a "platoon plus" sized game. Four squads of infantry including both moving a shooting versions of their machine guns, a truck, a Flak 88 and a Stug. Plenty enough to have fun with.

I'm glad I've managed to "complete" a couple of projects this summer. It means there's room for new ones! And yes, the word "complete" should always be in quotation marks as far as miniature projects go as you never know when you decide to expand! I know I want to add a few odds and ends to my krauts, even if the core is done.

6mm ACW cavalry and US sharpshooters

I finally painted my dismounted cavalry models! These are the last troops that were totally missing from my ACW collection, and I can now say that I have a bit of everything and mostly enough of it for a sizeable game. I am actually close to declaring my ACW project "complete"! I have some unpainted stuff left, but nothing I sorely need. I've found that a collection of 900 something infantry models plus artillery, cavalry, generals and such per side is quite enough for a medium sized game.

Union dismounted cavalry

Union mounted cavalry. I've painted these maybe three years ago but I've never photographed them for the blog so here you go.

Confederate mounted and dismounted cavalry. There aren't as many models as I have for the union as I needed more of Union cavalry when playing GB day 1 in Fire and Fury. The mounted cavalry hasn't been treated with anti-shine and the difference is telling when you see them in nature.

As a bonus, here's some skirmishers I painted as US sharpshooters in 2013. Also, never before featured.