From TomB: Incoming!!! (28.14 points)

Finally Friday ~ Incoming!!! (22.5 Points?)

Embarrassingly overdue, but I've finally finished my first ever entry to the AHPC! I've been a gamer since I was a little kid.  My parents gave me a copy of Featherstone's Solo Wargaming for my 14th Birthday. I have a huge Collection of unpainted primarily Ral Partha lead and I've always wanted to play Large Army Fantasy Battles. I'll be sixty this Summer . . . Definitely past time to make it happen.

My Dear Wife Pat gave me a dog grooming kit for Christmas. We don't have a dog, so it seemed like a good idea to, um, trim my fur. (The fur mat is unfinished and is not a terrain entry ~ yet. It's a practice piece for a later project.)

Bad color drift, but I hope you all can get an idea of how the base looks. (I haven't painted a landscape in over forty years, but I've been wanting too. So I began this skyscape last night as practice for another later project.)

 Unfortunately I unthinkingly used W&N Galleria Matt Varnish on all of the Officer's armour.

But it is a better view of what my static grass actually looks like. (Now to get my fur mat to match.)

I repainted it, but I'm still not happy with the result. I'll go back and try a satin varnish later.

 Poor photo of the Loader.

You didn't?!? Well, yes I did! 

I've always been kind of bothered by how this thing would work. So I strung it with 28 gauge Sterling Silver wire. I'll satin varnish the strings, when my varnish gets here, so they won't tarnish. In Honor of, and to amuse, our Mighty Friday Minion ~ this obviously has to be some kind of an Italian weapon!

 I've had this classic Tom Meier since the late 70's. He's a simple conversion.

I chopped off his sword and the potion bottle, added a quillon and pommel nut. I made the plume from fine brass sheet, a simple repousse job. I wished I'd curved the edges down more to match the Citadel figures' plumes and I should have made the veining deeper; they looked good in metal but don't show up well once painted.

Oh yeah, the bases. I've been thinking about and tinkering with this project for years. The 1/8" bases I had custom cut were just too thin for me. The 1/4" ones I made were so thick they just didn't look right. I finally found 3/16" white board was perfect for me. I joined our local Senior Center so I could use it's amazing wood shop. I cut a 2' X 4' sheet into lots 6" X 3" bases. Why 6" X 3"? You'll have to wait for another installment!

These are all 25 mm. The One True Scale. So I figure split the difference between 20 and 28 mils? So 3 foot figures at 4.5 plus an artillery piece at 9? Plus whatever else our Worthy Friday Minion things warranted.

Hope you all enjoy! ~ Tom B

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A bolt-thrower! But elven repeater bolt throwers are the last thing I want. Wait a minute . . . maybe I could turn this thing into my advantage. If I could find a weapon who so offends the fantasy players that its very appearance would drive them mad.

But where would I find such a bolt-thrower?

Why am I asking you?
 

Perhaps by awarding it π additional points for conversion work? Genius!