I am writing a BOOK!

That's right, fellow blog fans! I've decided to write a book about painting wargaming collections. It will be going to Kickstarter this Friday, March 16, at 3pm EDT (which is 7pm GMT, 12pm PST, and 6am on the next day for those of you on the east coast of Australia).

What is going to be in the ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES book? 

I'm glad you asked. I'm going to be writing down a lot of my thoughts and philosophies on the army building and painting process in the hope that it will be helpful for everyone who has occasionally struggled with finishing an army project. I'm going to take an in-depth look at Inspiration, Goals, Expectations, Planning, and Motivations - with the goal of helping the reader to be able to map out a path to success for their own projects. This book will also be "game system agnostic", the principles described can be applied to any wargaming project, regardless of genre or period.

I'm also going to be putting together some photo-heavy features of armies and projects I have completed over the years along with a few completely new projects. The list looks something like this:

• Sci-fi Mass Battle – 40K Genswick 33^rd Rifles

• Sci-fi Skirmish – Dark Age collection and terrain

• Sci-fi Big Project – 40K Warlord Titan
• Fantasy Mass Battle – Warhammer Nuln Empire army

• Fantasy Skirmish – Fabled Realms collection and terrain

• Historical Mass Battle – Napoleonic British collection

• Historical Skirmish – WW2 American collection and terrain

• Post-apocalyptic Skirmish – This Is Not A Test collection and terrain

What is the Kickstarter for?

I would really love to see this as a printed book. I'm running this campaign to help fund the creation of a 120+ page hardback book, so that's really the focus. I want to keep the campaign very simple and focused on "The Book". There are six reward levels - one is the obligatory $5 pledge for thanks, and the other five are for a PDF version of the book or a printed version of the book, or some combination thereof.

Stretch Goals are focused on adding some of the other armies that I have created over the years.

What prompted you to write this book?

As a part of the services I offer through Dave Taylor Miniatures, I was laying out a rulebook for a friend (Disposable Heroes II for Sinister Laboratories). I had also taken the photos and was editing the book as I went. The key thing I remember was thinking "I'm really enjoying this. Seeing all the elements come together. This is something I really like doing."

So, with the skills to take photos and design and layout books, I just needed a subject to write about. They say "write about what you know" and with over 10,000 miniatures painted since 1991, the topic seemed pretty obvious. This book isn't a "How to paint..." book. There are plenty of those on the market from great painters. This is a new kind of book that focuses not on the techniques, but the psychology and planning behind big projects.

What's next?

I'm sure I've forgotten something, so when I think of it I'll post again, but really all I'd like to do know is ask you to pledge your support when the campaign goes live, and share the hell out of it with all of your wargaming friends. If we can make this a great success, I'm going to be able to explore lots of other cool ideas with other talented folks and bring their dreams to life too!

Check the campaign for ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES out on Kickstarter from Friday, March 16th!

Secure the Colours!

I recently completed a commission for a friend of mine, painting up the three Waterloo vignettes from the Perry Miniatures Napoleonic range. Each of the vignettes represents the loss of the "colours" at some point during the Battle of Waterloo.

The first vignette shows a sergeant of the Scots Greys taking the Eagle from the 45th Line Regiment.

The second shows a Captain and Sergeant of the 1st Royal Dragoons competing to capture the Eagle of the 105th Line Regiment.

And the third shows a cuirassier of the 9th Regiment taking the King's Colours from the 5th Battalion of the King's German Legion.

Normally I would go with a slightly simpler basing scheme, mixing tufts and static grass and a few clumps of flowers, but all of these action took place on the battlefield, which was then (as it is now) a farmed field in summer. During my recent visit to Belgium, we walk past miles of fields full of barley and wheat (and sugar beets), so I decided that this needed to be represented.

I picked up some long grasses from Scenic Express and trimmed it to an appropriate length. I then gathered together small bundles and glued them down in a regular pattern, as though they had been planted in rows. I also gave a little more space in between each bundle to represent older farming methods. The tufts and flowers were sprinkled in around the base of the barley (or wheat) stalks to act as weeds and other grasses. Of course, much of the battlefield would have been trampled over, so there are a lot of stalks knocked over.

In order to send the vignettes to my friend, I asked Alex at Ironheart Artisans to cut this special shipping box for me. He took my basic idea and really ran with it! The bottom (above) consists of several layers of MDF with holes cut to accommodate the vignettes (as you can see below).

Once the vignettes were in place, I glued in the back wall of the box.

And the lowered down the "locking" layer, with circles a little bit smaller than the size of the vignette bases. This would lock in the bases and stop them from moving around.

The next step was to add the opposite wall, then glue in the ends of the box. Two angled pieces were added to the box at this stage. These will protect the vignettes from crush damage.

Finally, the lid was glued on (strapped here with rubber bands to hold it steady while the glue dried. I then wrapped it in bubblewrap and put it in a cardboard box.

This whole thing worked really well, apart from one small glitch. As the cavalry models were quite heavy metal minis, two of the horses ended up bending at the ankles. Otherwise, there was no damage.

Cheers
Dave

Geek Nation Tours - Battlefields of Waterloo 2015 tour!

Well, if I haven't told you about it before, I can tell you about it now....

I'm currently enjoying the awesomeness that is the Geek Nation Tours - Battlefields of Waterloo tour (celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the battle today, actually). We've done soooooo much in the last three days that I'm struggling to keep up. We've visited many important campaign sites, including Ligny, Quatre Bras, Genappe, Le Caillou, La Haye Sainte, the Allied line, Papelotte, and Plancenoit. We've also visited a few other sites not connected directly to the campaign, such as the Cantillon Brewery, the Lion's Mound, the Panorama, and the brand new Waterloo 2015 museum.

Additionally, I presented two painting classes on Tuesday, thanks to support from Warlord Games and The Army Painter!

So, it has been a lot of fun, with a few more days to go. I just hope I can keep up with it all!

Cheers
Dave

PS. I'll be putting together a full report on the tour for Wargames Illustrated once I return stateside : )

La Haye Sainte - The Warlord Games collectors' edition.

At Historicon in July of this year, I met up with an old friend and former GW colleague. We had a good time catching up and at the end of it all, he asked me if I'd be up for taking on the Warlord Games La Haye Sainte collectors' edition set. Basically this set is a huge playset - two opposing forces and some great terrain. I enjoy painting up Napoleonic troops and I thought this would be a pretty cool project. Thankfully my friend gave me a good amount of time to complete it, I've only recently finished everything, and been able to deliver it in time for Christmas : )

The first part of this post shows off the Allied defenders of the La Haye Sainte farmhouse, mostly German troops from the King's German Legion battalions, Hanoverian battalions, and Luneburg as well as Nassau, and British riflemen.

The second part of this post shows the French attackers, led by the man above, Marshal Ney!

This resin terrain piece represents the sandpit that stood down the road a little bit from the farmhouse, it was defended at times during the Battle of Waterloo by the men of the 95th Rifles.

And the final part of this post is the La Haye Sainte farmhouse. This is a great piece of Laser cut MDF, made for Warlord by Sarrissa Precision. The build was fantastic, and the painting went pretty smoothly (although there was a lot of it!).

So, I hope you like it as much as my mate does. Merry Christmas, Dean, and thanks for this big commission job!

Cheers
Dave

Waterloo… couldn't escape if I wanted to.

A little change of pace after posting all of those photos from the excellent Old Line Massacre event (HERE, HERE, and HERE if you missed them).

Next June I'll be heading off to Belgium to check out the battlefields of the 100 Days campaign, and check out the re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo on the 200th Anniversary of that most famous of battles. Will I be doing it alone? Heavens no! I'll be doing it as a part of the Geek Nation Tour's Signature Battlefield series!!!

Haven't heard of it? Well, clink on this link HERE. Read all about it, then hurry back : )

I'm very excited indeed!

To celebrate, I figured I'd show you a couple of shots of a Napoleonic French Supply Wagon (by Perry Miniatures) that I painted up recently for my friend Brien. It was a fun project, and I based much of the color scheme off those seen on the French artillery and their limbers and caissons. Brien is painting up the crew.

No doubt there were hundreds of similar wagons parked behind the lines at Waterloo ; )

Until next time!

Cheers
Dave

AdeptiCon Report - A preview.

After four incredibly hectic days at AdeptiCon (each 18 or 19 hours long and a complete blast!) I've finally made it back home, and will be posting photos from the show. Here are a coupler of teaser shots from our Guns Of April game on Friday night (below) and the AdeptiCon Titanicus game on Saturday night. I now hope to get a bit of sleep, and put a few more posts together later this week.

Thanks to everyone who made it such an excellent event!

Cheers
Dave

New blog post on the Guns Of April

It has been some time since we've posted on the Guns of April blog, so I thought I'd help boost the signal. Please head on over and check out the cool buildings we've been working on for AdeptiCon : )

Alexandria wasn't built in a day!

Cheers
Dave

Horus Heresy - Terminator Refurb

With the success of my Tactical squad refurb, I figured I'd try it out on the Terminators I built seven years ago. These took standard Terminators and added a few details here and there in an effort to create what would later become Cataphractii. The broad, curved pauldrons, the peturges at the shoulder, and the enhanced chest plate/gorget. Anyway, I think they turned out nicely (Note: the assault cannon will be used as a reaper autocannon).

I've also put up a post on the Guns Of April blog, showing off my latest French Infantry. Check it out, I hope you like them. : )

Cheers
Dave