Rebasing 15mm figures for use with ADLG Renaissance

I've just uploaded a new video to the Madaxeman YouTube Channel, showing the process of rebasing some 15mm Renaissance wargames figures from "DBx" bases (40mmx20mm) and rebasing them into (the really cute!) integrated Pike & Shot units that are used for L'Art de la Guerre Renaissance.  

The video is pretty straightforward (OK, "basic") and takes you stepwise through a set of simple techniques for quickly and effectively rebasing 15mm (or any scale really) figures that would work for any change from one ruleset to another.

Rebasing can often seem such a huge PITA that any ruleset that requires rebasing is instantly discarded, but I've now come to accept that it can be necessary, isn't that painful to do, and does actually leave me with better looking bases than the ones I was making 20-odd (or more!) years ago.

If you are baulking at the thought of rebasing troops for ADLG-R then hopefully this video will give you some confidence that it's not a life-threatening operation, and instead can be done quickly and easily to generate good end results. 

And let's face it, these single units on 80mm x 40mm bases look really cool, and if you are honest with yourself you already have far too many 15mm Renaissance Pike and Shot based for other systems, so changing just a handful of 'other system' units will give you the half-dozen or so Pike & Shotte units you will need to play pretty much any nationality in ADLG-R (if you slot different flags onto the pikes)

ADLG-R is a semi-official mod of ADLG written by Simon LeRay-Meyer and can be downloaded from the "files" section of the L'Art de la Guerre Renaissance Facebook Group.

15mm Han Mixed Units for L'Art de la Guerre

With Han Chinese coming out as the most popular army for the 15mm L'Art de la Guerre competition at the upcoming Roll Call event, and with a bag of 48 Museum Miniatures Chinese crossbowmen bought second hand from a clubmate burning a hole in the lead pile I decided to have a go at cooking up some double-based  crossbow/swordsman units for a variety of my Chinese armies.

Here are the Warring States/Han versions:

What I've done here is glue together 2 bases worth of Essex Medium Foot Warring States halberdiers, originally on 40x20's but now on a single 40x40 base.

I've then "dug out" the halberdiers from the base at the back, and replaced them by dropping Museum crossbowmen into the "pits" in the rear base that the Essex halberdiers have been dug out of. 

The Essex halberdiers have exceptionally tiny bases, so it's not that tricky to dig out new "pits" in amongst the existing 3 halberdiers on the front base and drop in (well, glue in) the other 3 guys into a new, denser front rank. 

These halberdiers were painted some years ago now, so I had to mix up a paint to sort of match them as I couldn't find (or remember) the originals.

The newly settled-in figures are then bedded in with a few more dabs of the woodfiller I use for basing, as well as doing the same for the join between the 2 original bases.

Wood Glue on cardboard and wood filler if very, very strong, but for added insurance to make sure the 2 bases stick together I shave off the magnabase from the bottom of each one, spin it through 90 degrees and then glue it back onto the base. This poor unit has some particularly skanky offcuts of magnabase for some reason, but at least you can see that it is at right angles to the bases.

 And Voila (if that's what they say in China) - a tidy little mixed unit, with a wall of spearmen at the front and some rear rank crossbows as well.

The basing isn't as perfect as doing it from scratch I freely admit - but it does save time and work and basing material in totally rebasing everything.

These are WiP shots showing the unpainted guys being dropped in the back rank. 

Sometimes you need to tidy up the extra basing material - see the feet of the chap at thee front 

The Museum Miniatures guys are a little taller, but you can't see it unless you are looking for it. Their bases are also a lot bigger than the Essex guys, so I did cut them down a bit with pliers to fit them in. 

 And this is what the Halberdiers look like on their own.

Painting Snowstorm

He's a big hairy Wendigo, trapped next to a Silent One.. and is sort of pivotal in many Rasputina crews, so me, like many others, have been waiting for this fella to come out in plastic for quite some time. 

This is a walk-through of the challenges of assembling the model, and how I chose to paint him up.

Gentlemen, take your baggage....

In possibly one of the least inspiring posts on this site in quite some time, I have photographed some newly rebased Ancients baggage elements which have been re-done to better suit the L'Art de la Guerre rules.

Click and be both amazed and enthralled in equal measure ...

Malifaux - the final Arcanist Crew, Colette and the Showgirls!

The 7th, and final, Arcanist crew has been released in plastic, and I've now painted it up. This involved a bit of innovative basing (for me), some cute use of mini magnets and a lot of flesh coloured paint as Colette and the Showgirls take to the stage for the first time!  

See how they were painted, assembled and based in this painting walkthrough 

Breaking the to-do list with 28mm TYW Gunnes

Remember that post from a few weeks ago with my gaming "to do" list on it?

Of course, I managed to prioritize something that wasn't on the list, wasn't necessary and didn't add any new models to my collection of usable figures - a rebasing project for my 28mm TYW Regimental gunnes onto 50mm round bases.

Ta-dah!

Perry Miniatures Arab Cavalry for Saga Cross & Crescent

With the Cross & Crescent book now out (and looking lovely) I've picked up some Perry Miniatures Arab cavalry from Dave Thomas at Britcon, intending to use them to bolster out the Gripping Beast (plastic) infantry who've been seen here before. The basing is also like the post that appeared here before too.

Usual painting style, this time with a white undercoat and a final coat of Army Painter Strong (ie the mid) tone. The photos are larger than this - you can click them to see a bigger version.

Here they are, based up but not yet inked/Army painter'ed

Unusually I elected to hand-paint the shields here.

I mixed up the horses and riders a little, so they don't quite map onto the photos on the Perry site

 They are a mix of Syrian / Seljuk / Turkish types, although some look to be a bit more Turkoman

The guy on the left is actually a Conquest Games Norman knight, with a spare head from the Gripping Beast infantry. The Conquest Games Normans seem to fit very well alongside these Perry troops - the horses are a little chubbier, but they are still decent.

Geometric and floral patterns on the rather simple shield designs.

I did some of the turbans in stripes, which I have seen as an Omani thing in today's Arab world - it looks more interesting than a plan turban thingy so worth a try every now and then.

They will get an outing soon along with the accompanying infantry from Gripping Beast. There are probably some of the Gripping Beast Arab infantry on eBay UK if you click that link too..

Basing Saga Arabs for Cross & Crescent

I've posted a video showing how I used wood stain and builders sand to create a pretty decent looking basing system for my Saga figures - its online now and can be seen on Youtube or also on the blogger part of my site.

The video also has some photos of the new Saga Gripping Beast plastic Arabs, along with some North Star Berbers mixed in, which you can see here too.

Basing Figures - The Movie

I've created a short YouTube movie on how I base my figures - its available by clicking this link. I will dig out some more links to basing guides and add them to this page soon - if you know any such sites please email me with their url's.