The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Muskets

Today, I just went ahead and made that goddamn hill that I´ve been worrying about for so long. My vacation was canceled by the volcano ashes by the way.

I drew the hill on the new game mat that arrived from Hotz a week ago. Then I cut out the hill with a knife and trimmed the edges with a pair of scissors. I bought two sheets of foamboard, drew the shape of the hill and cut the foamboard. Then I trimmed the edges of the foamboard to create a gentler slope. Then I glued on the mat and cut the whole hill in two pieces for easier storage and transportation. All that remains to be done is finishing the edges of the hill. I´m still experimenting on how to best do that. Probably glue, sand and green with a hint of brown.

All in all: The hill is not perfect but it does the trick.

Update on Progress for 1st Newbury

OK, work on 1st Newbury is under way. Lots of things going on, here is a few:

Today I got the new felt game mat from Hotz. This will be used for the hill. I will cut it up (a scary venture) and glue it to foamboard or something. The mat was not the color I wanted it and had agreed with Hotz. I will complain about that later, perhaps I can get a discount on my next order (a mat with a smaller hex grid for the 2mm project).

I have finally begun making all the roads that are needed for the scenario. The hard part is all those intersections and crossroads. I had worried about doing them. But 1mm plasticard solved the problem.

Trees... I need four hexes of woods. These are fun to do, and turn out well. The process is: 1) buy grapes and eat them. 2) save and then dry the twigs. 3) cut the twigs into small tree-looking pieces. 4) glue and attach green foliage. 5) base the tree.

Now I´m off to Stockholm for a two day conference. The week after that I´m going on holiday to the Canary Islands. I hope I can put work and this project aside for a while and concentrate on getting a tan and trying out different drinks. Maybe I should bring some 6mm figs with me...just in case I get bored? :-)

Pictures of the first batch of 2mm

Some samples of the 2mm figures, made by Irregular, ordered from Angel Barracks.

And I used to think the 6mm were small, see the comparison!

The photos are:
1) Artillery, heavy and small
2) Various pikeblocks, shot and commanders in front
3) Cavalry, with the 6mm behind
4) Brigades, two types, probably the best looking figures.
5) My finger as comparison.

They are really small, perhaps too small for my needs. This will require some thinking... I will probably have to drop to a smaller hex grid game mat, 1 or 1.2 inches.

As with the ongoing 6mm project, I want to use the heavy infantry brigades as the base for all other sizes and measurements. Why? They are my favourite units and look really cool.

As you can see below, the brigades (pike with musketeers on the sides) are very small. I might be able to use that big pike block in pic 2 and add rows of musketeers on the sides... Or something to that effect.

More to come!