Two Minis and a Hurricane

Sorry about the lack of updates this past week.  I had several posts planned but mother nature had different plans for me.  Isaac, though uninvited, decided to come pay my island home a visit.  Since the highest point on the island is only eight feet above sea level, any tropical system deserves my full attention. I've spent the last week pulling my personal boat out of the water, prepping and tying lines on the two work boats, and getting the house ready for a good blow.  Now that all the hard work is done, I'm sitting in my shutter-darkened office, having a nice cold adult beverage, and enjoying the calm before the storm.  And while I still have power, I though I'd just combine a few of the posts I had in mind to form a quick update.

This Isaac

  Not this Isaac

Now for the update. The sweet little lass below is a great mini from Hasslefree Miniatures (Barwench HFV001).  She is part of the villagers line, of which I have several others.  As is usually the case from Hasslefree, the sculpt is wonderful, the details are sharp, and the mini came in with very little prep work to perform.

She is destined to mainly serve in my Legends of the High Seas campaign but like some of the other miniatures I'm using as inhabitants of Port Largo, she is pretty much genera-neutral.  She would be equally at home in the Golden Age of Piracy, medieval Europe, or any fantasy setting. 

 

I've painted her up to be a fairly young serving lass.  I tried to invoke a bit of innocence in the color scheme instead of the bawdiness I emphasized on most of my other "ladies" of Port Largo.  I also moved away from my normal female skin tone and used slightly darker colors.  I was attempting to portray an islander of mixed descent but I'm not sure how well I succeeded.

I was also able to complete another pirate/privateer (I'm still undecided) from Black Scorpion Miniatures.  There's not much to say about him except I'm rather pleased with the gaunt look I was able to achieve on his facial features.  I wanted him to look hungry and a bit desperate.  I may have done that with his face but I failed to factor in his clothing.  He's a bit well-dressed for a man with nothing to lose.  Oh well...

I've also finished off three fantasy miniatures, with an additional four almost completed, but they will have to wait.  My frosty adult beverage is now empty and I just felt another early outer rain band hit.  Time to go and watch the wind blow.  See you all on the other side.

"Squalls out on the Gulf Stream, big storm's coming soon..." -- Jimmy Buffett

The Ladies of Port Largo - Part 3

Perhaps this entry should have been titled Lady of Port Largo since I only have one miniature ready for the blog at this point.  But to keep the titles of the ongoing series symetrical, I guess I'll leave it in the plural form.  Anyhow..... although this miniature is destined to serve as a character in my Legends of the High Seas campaign, just like the barkeep a few weeks ago, she is well suited for use in a number of settings from fantasy to medieval and even into the closing stages of the last century.  I have no doubt that I'll get quite a bit of use from her.

The miniature is from Fenryll and is part of their Villagers line.  She comes in a blister containing three minis, all of which are well-sculpted and suitable for gaming.  She scales well with Reaper miniatures but not so well with Black Scorpion, which comprises a large part of my pirate collection.  That's OK though.  She is to be used mainly as a background piece and not so much as a character, unlike some of the previous Ladies of Port Largo entries. 

Although I did just say that the model is nicely sculpted, there is a problem with the eyes.  It may be difficult to tell from the photo, but the recesses are definitely offset.  I tried to cover the flaw with paint but the raised areas only showed the flaws in a unflattering light more readily.  I suppose I could have taken a very very very small file and and removed the sockets but I lack both the skill and the patience, so she will remain as is.   Still, she is a wonderful miniature and I'm quite happy with her.  Now I need to go and create a proper background for her so that she can join the campaign.

The Ladies of Port Largo - Part 2

Hurricane Irene thankfully spared the Florida Keys (though my thoughts are with family and friends in the Carolinas) with a timely right turn up the East Coast but ventured close enough to scare away all the tourists for most of the week.  With no boat trips to run and unexpected free time on my hands, I've been able to catch up on some long overdue hobby projects and painting.

The denizens and inhabitants of Port Largo remain near the top of the to-do list and they've seen quite a bit of attention lately...especially the ladies that call the port home.  Two more "maidens" have moved out of the painting queue and are now available for game play.  Watch your coins sir for you are about to be parted from them by their not-so-subtle feminine wiles.

Both figures are available from the Reaper Townsfolk collection.  The miniature on the left, called Maggie by the inhabitants of Port Largo, is from the Townsfolk III pack.  She is a local girl, part of the first generation to be born on the island.  Her father was some sailor or buccaneer, or at least that is the story that has been told to her from time to time.  Her mother wanted to be nothing more than a sailor's bedwarmer and was want to disappear now and then with some salty ner-do-well only to reappear with more lines on her face and another babe in her belly.  Four years ago she did not return at all and Maggie found that she did not grieve for her.  Instead, she found work at the inn, first as a serving girl then as...entertainment.

Maggie of Port Antigua

She is amongst the favorites at The Wind and Whistle and has a smile and a wink ready for all who enter.  Though friendly and flirtatious, she does not suffer the unclean.  A large copper pot sits in the corner of her room and the water is changed often....more so when a ship has come to port. It is said you can always tell the man in the street that just left Maggie's arms by his freshly washed look and grin on his face.

All is not well with Maggie however.  She was recently beaten by a mate from Captain Barkley's sloop and some of her saved coin stolen.  If the tales be true, she has taken to hiding a dagger under her pillow and tells the other girls that when His Majesty's warship arrives, she plans to become quite friendly with the crew so as to gain a bit of protection from the sorry lot the Governor has been allowing to walk the streets.

Caroline Walsh, formerly of Charles Towne

Next is a miniature that I call Caroline.  She is from the Townsfolk II package but can also be found in the Village of Kullhaven boxed set.  Unlike Maggie, she is new to Port Largo, having arrived only four months ago with her elderly Grandfather.  It is no secret that they both came from Charles Towne in Carolina from a family with some wealth.  It is said that Willard was sent by his son to help set up trade between the booming island economy and the family business in Charles Towne but that Caroline was whisked away with the elder Willard due to some scandalous behavior on her part.

 

Things have changed for the two in the few short months they have been in Port Largo.  Willard's health is failing quickly and what money the two brought with them is rapidly running out.  Either the family business is not going well back in Charles Towne or the younger Willard has disowned them both.  As for Caroline, she has taken work at The Wind and Whistle to help care for her Grandfather.  As to what that work might be, she has kept to herself and away from the ears of Old Man Willard.

The Ladies of Port Largo - Part 1

While the title of this post may sound like a bad calendar idea or worse yet, something you might find on cable TV late at night, it's actually something much more benign.  My slow but steady painting methodology has been moving right along (at a snail's pace) and another batch is ready to join the action on the gaming table.  Since I have quite a few pirate and naval miniatures already completed, I wanted to start fleshing out the inhabitants of Port Largo and what better place to start than with the tavern --- the place where adventure, intrigue, and more than a few fights always seem to start. 

The first two ladies to grace Port Largo come from Reaper and Black Cat Bases.  Although I very much like both of the sculpts, the character of each could not be more different.  I'm always pleased at how some miniatures, just by the virtue of their sculpts, speak to me and guide my decisions on color scheme and background.  Anyone else ever experience this?

First up is a serving lass from the Reaper line of Townsfolk.  With her short hair and innocent looking face I simply could not paint her anything other than blonde.  Actually I tried initially.  I wanted all the women of Port Antigua to be more than a bit shady so I painted her hair jet black.  But I quickly changed my mind and reverted to a more open and less threatening color to do the figure justice (that's not to say that dark hair equals dark intentions though...Just for the record, I'm quite fond of brunettes).  With the fair face and hair, the dress had to match so I went with a "country lass" type scheme.

She was fairly easy to paint as all the features on the model were large and bold.  The only problem I encountered was the food that sits on top of the serving platter.  You can't see from the angle of the photo, but there is a bowl of soup and a plate of meats and vegetables resting on top.  I had a devil of a time trying to paint that food.  No matter what I did, all the colors seemed wrong and I must have changed my mind ten times before I found something that worked.  Go ahead and laugh if you like, but really, how often do wargamers have to paint food items?

Next is Catherine, or Cat, or sometimes known as Black Cat.  She's quite a striking sculpt from Black Cat Bases based out of the UK.  I first saw her in the Legends of the High Seas rulebook but no information about the model was provided.  I took to the internet in search of her and had a difficult time of it but finally stumbled upon Black Cat Bases.  If you're interested in finding her yourself, the name above is one I've given her.  She is listed under the Civilians and Townsfolk section and called quite simply "Wench".  Of course, I'll be nice and provide a direct link here.

To me she is a perfect sculpt for a pirate town.  The sculptor has managed to combine beauty, innocence, flirtation, seduction, and danger all in one model.  Well done I say!  I tried to paint her to accentuate some of those features.  The red dress signifies her devilish side while the whale bone corset shows that she is still a lady.  But beware gentlemen of fortune, though she is smiling and flirting, danger is oh so close.  Behind her back she wields a wicked dirk that could easily change a sailor's moment of rapture to one of death.

Three more ladies are very nearly complete with several more in the early stages.  Stay tuned for part 2 in the near future.

Any Port In The Storm

Warning: This will be my first attempt at posting from my iPad. I want to try blogging from alternate locations besides my desk or couch. Though I have a wireless keyboard I am not quite used to it yet. No doubt, I am bound to make many mistakes as my fingers stumble around on the tiny keyboard. If I fail to correct all of the mistakes, please forgive me in advance.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program.....

I spent last night and part of today cutting out frames for my pirate port project and putting them together (don't you just love alliteration?). So far I have two single story houses along with two "government" buildings. One of the buildings is destined to be the governor's mansion while the other may find duty as a customs house. They are just bare foamboard and without roofs right now. I'm afraid they will remain so until I have enough for a small port town. Since I plan on using spackle to cover the exterior of all the buildings, I'd rather make a big mess one time rather than on multiple occasions for multiple buildings. The tile for the roofs will have to wait as well. Though I have a few sheets of plastic tiles, I plan on trying a method I read about online. Someone suggested that corduroy could be used to simulate tile if stiffened with PVA glue. Considering the cost of the prefab sheets, I hope the corduroy trick works....I have many buildings to cover.

I was also able to finally finish my navigator. He has been on the workbench longer than any other pirate miniature. The reason for the delay was mainly his jacket. I envisioned him as an old weatherbeaten sailor with a few pieces of finery left to him but mainly dressed in threadbare garb. I gave him a nice waistcoat but wanted to make his jacket a dark burgandy color that looked stained and faded. Unfortunately, no matter what color or mix I tried, I just could not get the color to match my vision. I must have painted the jacket ten different times and on each occasion the resulting color varied from pink to purple to bright red. Finally I gave up and decided to accept whatever color appeared on my last attempt.

I'm still not happy with the jacket but he stays as is....at least for now. I am quite satisfied with the parrot however. Feeling rather defeated due to the jacket fiasco, I decided to really spend some time on his pet and work on blending the blues, greens, and yellows into a seamless transition. For the most part, I feel like I succeeded. More importantly, I think the parrot creates a nice strong contrast with the rest of the figure and acts as a focal point for the eye.

I would have posted a photo of him tonight but troubles with the base caused yet another delay. The miniature is standing on wooden planks or flooring but at the edge of the base, the wood ends and sculpted sand begins. I'm not very happy with this arrangement but I was too lazy to re-base the figure after all the delays I've encountered with him so far. So I decided to apply glue and sand around the edge of the base in hopes that I would cover the sculpted sand and maybe match the bases of my other pirates a bit more closely. Well, that plan failed miserably. The sand grains, though they look great as basing material, are the wrong scale to match the wooden planks. The result looked terrible. So now I have to clean off the glue and sand tomorrow and either paint the sculpted sand or rebase the mini on a standard base.

As a quick and humorous aside, this is also the miniature that I knocked off my painting desk last week. I was lifting another figure out of my stand when its sword caught the navigator under the arm and pulled him out as well. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch him before he tumbled several feet to the floor. If he had landed on carpet, perhaps the damage would have been minor or nonexistent. However the vast majority of floors in the Florida Keys are covered in hard tile in case of hurricane flooding. My house is no exception and I can't begin to describe what a three foot fall onto tile does to acrylic painting on a miniature. More delays....

I hope this navigator has better luck in-game than he did on the painting table. Otherwise his ship may end up on a well-charted reef or worse.

What miniature has given you the most trouble and why?