Hanging on the ceiling of my new barbers, measuring nearly 10′ x 5′ is Gericault’s painting of “the Charging Chasseur”. I remember being blown away by the original in the Louvre as its scale is basically 1 to 1 and it just dominates the wall on which it is hung.
So while wargaming has taken the backburner as COVID restrictions start to ease here and all those social interactions and chores that were delayed are now having to be done, this was a great reminder that, firstly, I have chosen a great barber, and secondly, I need to get a move on with some of my WIP, the “leadpile”, and building a table for actual gaming.
Hope you are all making more my progress than I am?
PS: I passed 1000 page views sometime last week. Not sure if that’s regarded as a milestone, but it was nice to see the counter tick to 4 digits.
Although he was born in Torquay, my father spent much of his formative, and post war years, living on N.Castle St in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. And were it not for the immigration of his family to Australia in 1960, he used to tell me he would have continued with his military service and how different his, and by extension my life would have been. Without delving too far into family history, in short, dad resigned his commission to emigrate with his parents and sister rather than be left alone in the UK.
The “old man” turned 80 this year, and failing eyesight and Parkinson’s not withstanding has always been a keen supporter of my interest in both Military History and Wargaming, always eager to see what I have painted, or what I have been designing and 3D printing, I think his support sprung from both his interest in things “army” and of his own interest in model railways, he always being particularly keen to see what terrain I have made.
He has, and continues to be my most ardent fan. (well maybe apart from mum*)
So in some ways all this malarky is partly his fault, though I think it’s a blame he would gladly shoulder, and grin cheekily while doing so.
* sorry to my readers from the USA…it’s how we spell it in the Commonwealth. (You know…the yoke you threw off while keeping their antiquated measuring system, while the rest of the world embrace the French loved decimal system. hehe)
So part of my recycle and re-use efforts included this “gate”. Originally made before Age of Sigmar existed it was inspired, and poorly so from the Stargate series, and served as nothing more than an objective marker on the tabletop.
AoS of course incorporated the idea of gates between the realms as a central tenant of the new Lore and thus I decided to not just recycle this model, but rather up-cycle it and add some “bits and bobs” to enhance it’s over all look.
Inspiration: Here.(it took me ages to re-find this image to give credit where credit is due. NTS: get better at bookmarking.)
Although I have supported a number of 3D model Kickstarters (Printable Scenery) that included Realm Gates or Portals, I decided to use the inspiration above and create the extra bits I needed using SketchUp and then printing my own embellishments. Thus all the metal pieces, cogs (the small one is Lego), and Dwarf Runes were printed then painted: using Black, a dry-brush of Plate-Mail, a liberal dabbing of Typhus Rust, followed by another dry-brush of Ryza Rust, and then some edge highlights of Plate-Mail (all paint colours are Citadel or Army Painter). The stone work is Hirst Arts, either regular Plaster of Paris or Woodlands Scenics Hydrocal, and the timber bits are simply cut and shaped balsa wood.
I probably went a little heavy on the rust, but I wanted it to look like it was rarely used, or even abandoned. The ramp and bridge section are a separate model so I could swap this out for something less damage if I had the inclination, but again I like the ruined and damaged look that Age of Sigmar sort of inspires. This is probably one of what will only be a 2-3 fantasy specific elements, but I did enjoy the challenge of melding the Hirst Arts with 3D printing, and did give me lots of other ideas for future projects.
The Gun Bar 