Some Hasslefree Characters

I think Hasslefree sculpts are among the best available, so I regularly buy a few during their sales. Here's a small collection of them which were, I think, not showcased yet on the blog. The majority are female characters, something most 28mm boxed sets lack.

 

Schultze-Böhnstadt Navy Frigates

The Schultze-Böhnstadt Navy was originally to be comprised of three vessels of the same class, but as it usually happens with government purchases (believe me, I have the experience), not everything turned out the way the mighty Princeps Erhard Berthold von Jazygen wanted.

Thus happened that of the planned class of three similar ships, one became a razée of 40 guns, modernized to the standards of the day and packing quite a punch; one more of a ship-rigged sloop with a heavy battery, but still having an open deck; and the last one a quite old vessel purchased from the Glambrian East Continent of Rot Company, or shortly CCOGG.

Sir Guillaume the Brave

Next up from the batch of 28mm painted figures is a dismounted knight and two servants. His device is the princely beaver, his colours are red and green.

I've really come to like the Perry HYW figures, as they easily pass as generic fantasy bods to fight orcs and other things. Lots of versatility too, especially if you combine the different boxes.

 

Northern Barbarians

 

Continuing with the influx of 28mm figures, this time I present you some GB Dark Age Warriors and a pair of ladies made by Hasslefree. The former are leftovers from a bunch I gave away, and the latter were actually shown some time before, I just gave them a better paint job and a layer of varnish. 

Pimp My Dinosaur

 

A while ago I had the idea of fielding large reptiles along my fantasy-esque 1/72 armies, mainly built of figures bought from Aliexpress. Of course, these reptiles would be suitable for 28mm games as well, such as the Stegodon-like thing presented here.

It is from the higher end of 'Made in PRC' toys, as its neck, jaw and other appendices were posable to some degree. This, unfortunately, meant leaving huge gaps around the joints, which I filled with greenstuff, then textured. Improved the look a lot, just as overpainting the crappy paint job did. I think the hues are really cool, and I even painted the eyes.

Now let's root for the creature because the hungry Orcs would be arriving at its part of the jungle soon...

Reaper Monstas

I wished to include my significant other in some games, and it turned out she prefers skirmishes with larger figures, so I sort of went and stocked up on 28mm ones, which is rater unusual for me, being a 1/72 (or smaller scale) enthusiast.

Here's the first lot, four bods, made by Reaper and ordered from Fantasywelten: a pair of weeping angels, a wraith thingy and the (so be it) Yeti. They all painted up nicely and will be useful for our games.

The angels were the easiest to paint, I placed them on washers and after some inks and grey drybrushes they just looked the part. No issue with the paint sticking to the resin.

The wraith I coated in a glossy varnish to protect the resin from UV rays.

The Yeti is a fun sculpt, it also has an integral base that I painted up to look like snow. I would usually use baking soda for the snow, but there was none to be found, so I used some decorative white sand instead.

28mm Cheapo Ruins

This lot was built from materials found around our home, plus some balsa wood. I've also got some smaller pieces for scatter terrain, not yet photographed.

Printable Ships in Action

Almost two years ago I wrote a post about a few Age of Sail warship sketches I made, and how they could be used as proxies for their more expensive alternatives. It took a while, but now I could put the thought to practice.

The doodles were printed in colour, pasted onto 2mm balsa pieces painted white, and mounted on blue circular bases, which are just coins topped with texture paste.

Some tokens representing forts, landing parties and boats were added for variability. I also found the perfect material for quick and easy islands - thick vegetable cardboard boxes from your local supermarket, their outer side is coloured green.

A squadron of three ships attempts to take an island fort - the defenders sally to meet the landing party.

Barbary galleys stage an attack on a West-bound convoy in the Ionian islands.

Using favourable wind, the Red squadron approaches the bay held by the Blue line.

USS Arizona '36 Edition - Completed

Long time no see, dear blog readers, but that does not mean I'm completely lost or forgot about the hobby. In actual fact, I have been rather busy these past few weeks, I just focused more on producing stuff and less about taking photos and writing about them.

Among other things, I managed to wrap up the Arizona kit, with a lot of swearing re photoetch related misadventures. Lesson learned: I bought a professional PE bender. It's a hefty piece and produced locally. 

The kit could still be improved, for example I tried to replicate the bilge keels but failed, however, it was a learning experience from the beginning, and I think it turned out fine, especially compared to the original material.

Here follows a showcase of the few worthwhile pictures I could manage: