Dropfleet Commander first look

After a some what frustrating week I was fortunate enough to call in at the Dropfleet Commander launch event at Wayland Games. I was handed some sprues and asked to come up with some simple but effective colour schemes. 

 With access to limited paints and supplies, I built 8 UCM Frigares, and 8 Scourge Frigates, and primed half of each with Army Painter Uniform Grey spray, and the other half with Army Painter Plate Mail Spray.

Paints I had access too were the following:-

Vallejo

990 Light Grey

Game Colour Sun Yellow

Game Colour Glorious Gold

Game Colour Bloody Red
Game Colour WhitePrimer

Game Colour Black Ink 

Game Colour Chain Mail

Games Workshop

Waystone Green

Averland Sunset

Druchii Violet

Nuln Oil

Brushes used were an Army Painter Regiment Brush, and a Citadel Shade Brush, with other tools being Citadel Superglue, Army Painter clippers and an xacto blade.

For ease of handling I have superglued the ships to a length of sprue, the models can then simply be cut off with a sharp blade and the paint work neatened up ready for use.

Uniform Grey primed ships

UCM

Step 1 Drybrush Vallejo Pale Grey

Step 2 Pick out spot colours with Averland Sunset or Bloody Red

 

Step 3 Shade with Nuln Oil (Ship A was washed with Druchii Violet)

Step 4 Dry brush white

Step 5  Pick out details with Black Ink

Step 6 Dry Brush engines with Glorious Gold

Step 7 Give engines another coat of Black Ink

Step 8 Pick out spot colours again to make them brighter and bolder using another coat of either Bloody Red or Sun Yellow

Step 9 (Optional) Paint exhaust of engines white, then give them a coat of Druchii Violet) Pick out centre with white again to give impression of glow.

Scourge

Ship A

Step 1 Paint with Druchii Violet

Step 2 Paint stripes of Black Ink

Step 3 Drybrush Glorious Gold

Step 4 Paint Eyes and engines white

Step 5 Paint Eyes and engines  Druchii Violet, then give them another spot of white

Ship B

Step 1 Drybrush Bloody Red

Step 2 Shade with Nuln Oil

Step 3 Dry brush Bloody Red

Step 4 Dry Brush Glorious Gold along the top ridges

Step 5 Paint Eyes and engines white

Step 6 Paint Eyes and engines  Druchii Violet, then give them another spot of white

Ship C

Step 1 Dry Brush White Primer

Step 2 Dry Brush Averland Sunset along ridges and top edges

Step 3 Shade with Nuln Oil

Step 4 Dry brush white areas white

Step 5 Dry brush yellow areas with Sun Yellow 

Step 6 Paint Eyes and engines white

Step 7 Paint Eyes and engines  Druchii Violet, then give them another spot of white

Ship D

Step 1Paint stripes of Waystone Green

Step 2 Shade with Nuln Oil

Step 3 Drybrush Glorious Gold along ridges

Step 4 Paint Eyes and engines white

Step 5 Paint Eyes and engines  DruchiiViolet, then give them another spot of white

Plate Mail Spray

UCM

Ship A

Step 1 Shade with Nuln Oil

Step 2 Drybrush white

Step 3 Pick out Bloody Red details

Step 4 Paint engines and weapons Black Ink

Step 5 Paint lights Averland Yellow

Step 6 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 7 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 8 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship B

Step 1 Paint with Waystone Green. (May require several coats to get a bold green)

Step 2 Drybrush Chain Mail

Step 3 Paint Waystone Green again

Step 4 Paint turrets and details Light Grey

Step 5 Paint Weapons and details White Primer, leaving some grey showing at edges

Step 6 Paint engines and weapons Black Ink

Step 7 Paint lights Averland Yellow

Step 8 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 9 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 10 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship C

Step 1 Paint with Black Ink

Step 2 Drybrush white

Step 3 Pick out Averland Sunset details

Step 4 (Optional) Paint Averland Sunset details Sun Yellow

Step 5 Paint engines and weapons Black Ink

Step 6 Paint lights Averland Yellow

Step 7 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 8 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 9 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship D

Step 1 Shade with Nuln Oil only in the deepest details

Step 2 Drybrush Chainmail

Step 3 Pick out Bloody Red details

Step 4 Paint engines and weapons Black Ink

Step 5 Paint lights and details Averland Yellow

Step 6 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 7 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 8 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Scourge

Ship A

Step 1 Shade with Druchii Violet

Step 2 Drtbrush Glorious Gold

Step 3 Shade with Druchii Violet

Step 4 Drybrush Chainmail

Step 5 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 6 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 7 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship B

Step 1Paint stripes of Druchii Violet. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 2 Paint stripes of Waystone Green. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 3 Drybrush Chainmail

Step 4 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 5 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 6 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship C

Step 1Paint stripes of Druchii Violet. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 2 Paint stripes of Black Ink. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 3 Dry brush Chainmail

Step 4 Dry brush  spines with Glorious Gold

Step 5 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 6 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 76 Pick out Engine Centre with White

Ship D

Step 1Paint stripes of Averland Sunset. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 2 Paint stripes of Black Ink. This may take a few coats to get a strong colour. Allow each layer to dry before doing the next.

Step 3 Dry brush Chainmail

Step 4 Pick out some details with Glorious Gold

Step 5 Pick out lights and engine exhaust with White

Step 6 Shade engines with Druchii Violet

Step 7 Pick out Engine Centre with White

These techniques are designed to be quick and easy, and I managed to get all 16 vessels from sprue to painted starting at about 12:30, and finished around 21:00, including a drive home at peak traffic, lunch, dinner and time to look at toys. 

Real time I think I probably spent no more than 5-6 hours in total.  These are fantastic little models and deceptively big too, the cruisers and battle cruisers are really quite significant models, and I can't wait for the battleships to be available. 

I haven't had a chance to try the game yet so can't comment on the game play, but seeing games in action there appeared to be a lot of movement and focus on objectives, but hopefully I'll get a game in soon!

I'm going to try some airbrush techniques in the next week or two on some cruisers and more frigates to try out some colour schemes in readiness for my Kickstarter arriving. For those unfamiliar with the Dropzone/Dropfleet universe you can find out more in my over view of Dropzone here, and visit the Hawk Wargames Website for more info. 

As ever, you can see more of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service

 

Perry Miniatures Battle in a Box

Earlier this year Perry Miniatures released their 'Battlefield in a box American Civil War' set. This is the Perry's first attempt at a starter type set, and it's certainly impressive. 
Amongst the first, possibly the very first, 28mm plastic multipart figures to come out were the Perry's American Civil war infantry set some years ago now, and since then they have massively expanded the range, with packs of Zouaves, Artillery, and Confederate infantry now added to the range, as well as a range of buildings and terrain.

This set brings some of all of that together, in a package that contains 170 figures, as well as buildings, flags and rules for £95. I'll break down the contents before talking a little about the rules.


Contents

12 cavalry.

 These can be assembled as either Federal or Confederate models, and are spread across 3 sprue. Each sprue comes with a mix of arms equipped with swords and pistols, as well as parts to make a guidon bearer, bugler and officer. There is also a choice of head gear for the models too.










65 Confederates and 8 Confederate Command.

 These figures are split across 13 sprues of 5 figures who can be assembled as line infantry, at either the charge or right shoulder shift position, again with a mix of either caps or hats, with enough to equip all the models with one type or the other.





 There are also 4 command sprue, and these allow you to build standard bearers, officers and drummers, again with a choice of head gear. at a pinch these could be used as Federals, although the jackets are the wrong shape and are inaccurate for this purpose. In their intended role the figures work very well though, and are especially representative of Confederates from the mid to later part of the Civil War. 

48 of the original American Civil War infantry.

 These sets contain 12 figures per sprue, which can be assembled in a variety of poses, though a few are single piece. These can be built as either Confederate or Federals, and each sprue also contains command models.

Some of these figures are a little dated by todays standards and in comparrioson to the other figures in the set, though they still do look quite nice. 

24 Zouaves and 4 Zouave Command. 

These figures break down as 6 models per frame, with a choice or Turbans or Fez for head gear. Each model may be armed posed at right shoulder shift or the charge. 
 
The command figures again allow you to add standard bearers, officers and drummers.











2 mounted officers. 



 These two are unique to this set, and feature one figure with a choice of heads, one bearded and one moustachioed. Pose allows for a few options, including with binoculars, pistols and swords.


 




The horse only comes with the one pose option, however this could be mixed or swapped with one of the cavalry mounts if you wanted a little more variety. 










18 gunners and 4 cannon. 


 These are from one of the most recent Civil War sets from the Perry's, unfortunately unlike the boxed set these do not contain the limbers that the full set does, however apart from that the rest of the set is great.  the 18 gun crew can be assembled with a mix of Kepi's, Caps, and hats, and the figures are dressed in shell jackets with a range of poses on offer, with separate arms for each crew man. 
 


The 4 guns also contain several options, this taken directly from the Perry website 'there are 4 gun barrels for each gun; Napoleon 12pdr, 3 inch Ordnance Rifle, 10 pdr Parrott and 12 pdr Howitzer.'





The set includes a pile of bases for everything too, with multibases provided for the bulk of the models.











Terrain wise, 4 feet of fencing is provided across 4 sprue, and the Perry's plastic American House is also included. This looks to be a very nice little model, and the fencing will be handy too. 










Rounding out the contents are a Flag/colour reference sheet. This sheet contains a good number of flags for your regiments, whilst on the reverse are some great colour plates and uniform guides. Personally, I'd be inclined to replace the included flags, as I'm not a fan of the thick printing paper used for these. Colour and detail levels are impressive however. 






Rule/scenario book

 This booklet is a small A5 soft back document with 12 pages, half of which contains the rules, whilst the other half contains scenarios. No army lists are provided. 

The Firepower! Rules are quite simple, regiments consist of 18 figures in 2 ranks of 9, with cavalry in a single rank of 6 figures, and guns as individual models. Turn sequence has each player use all all their models, before their opponent gets to do the same, with most scenarios running around 6 turns long.

 Movement is very simple, a unit moves 2D6", stopping when it comes into contact with cover.

Shooting is resolved by rolling 9 dice for an infantry unit, 6 dice for cavalry, or a single dice for artillery, then having to role over a certain score depending on range. Cover provides a 4+ saving throw to counter hits, and once a unit of infantry has taken 9 hits it is removed, with cavalry being able to take 6. Melee is resolved in the same way, with bonuses applied for charging and flanking an opponent. 

Morale is handled simply, once a casualty is inflicted a check is taken, having to roll over the amount of hits taken by a unit on 2D6, if this is failed the unit retreats until it can be rallied, and that's about all there is too it.

These rules won't impress the purist, but could be a great in to the period for someone just starting out in the black powder era who wants to use massed formations rather than skirmish level games, before moving on to something like Longstreet or Black Powder.






To sum up then, this is a superb value set, and a great cornerstone to a Civil War collection on a budget, especially if you were to split the set with a friend. You can check out the Perry's ACW range at their website, along with the supporting range of metals they produce here, and you can catch up with more of my work on Volley Fire Painting Service and listen to the Brit the Yank and the Hobby Podcast for some historical gaming discussion.

Brit The Yank and the Hobby Episode 10

In this episode we take our first look at the American Civil war, and cover the bloody battle of Spotsylvania. 

You can find the episode at the following links

iTunes

RSS feed

Libsyn

And join or Facebook group to interact with us and see the photo gallery that accompanies this episode. 

Sash and Sabre 25mm American Civil War Union infantry review

For our latest episode of The Brit the Yank and the Hobby, we covered the Battle of Spotsylvania.

Naturally this involved a bit of reading and being absorbing American Civil War history, so I decided to finish off some figure I started painting years ago. The figures in question are a couple of packs from American manufacturer Sash and Sabre Castings that I acquired a few years ago. 

For the purposes of this review, I'm looking at sets US1 Federal Infantry Command Advancing (right shoulder shift), and US2a Federal Infantry Advancing (right shoulder shift). I'm assembling my regiments in blocks of 20, with figures based on penny size bases and with movement trays from Warbases. 

Each pack contains 10 figures in a sealed bag, with all models for the most part being very cleanly cast and only a minimum amount of flash, and with mould lines in sensible places and east to access.  Each pack of 10 consists of unique poses and sculpts, so within a regiment of 20 figures each one is different, although not so much as to break the unity of the complete formation. 

Uniforms and equipment are very nicely sculpted, with some nice anatomy and facial expressions. I particularly like the mugs hanging from the figures water bottles, and shapes of the straps across the chest, really does give the models a very natural look. 

I don't have any comparative pics as these are the first ACW figures painted for my own collection, however having worked with most other ranges they seem to size best with the likes of Perry and Foundry. 

Paints used were Vallejo Prussian Blue for the tunic, Sky Blue for the trousers, and Black Grey for the equipment. shading was carried out using a combination of Army Painter inks, sing blue for the trousers, strong tone on the equipment, and a mix of soft tone and blue tone for the tunics. 

Flags came from Flags of War, and had some weathering applied by me.  In this instance the flags represent the colours of the 28th Pennsylvania.

I'm a big fan of this range, and at $14.50 for ten models, or £10 when ordered through Old Glory in the UK, represent excellent value for money. The range is extensive  and thoroughly worth checking out. 

As ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service, and you can come over to The Brit  The Yank and The Hobby Podcast for some history and gaming chat.