Valley of the Wind pt3

 Finished painting the first unit for my Valley of the Wind project. This team represents the Talmiki unit that assaults the castle and airship. The miniatures are not an exact match but I think the paint job makes it clear what they are.

Forest update

 Got some work done on the Old Growth Forest. The store did not have MDF so I went with a think plywood. I used my template to cut out three base sections. Then I arranged the trees and glued them on. Books were places to put pressure for the glue and to prevent warping. 

Valley of the Wind pt2

 Next up I have finished assembling the forces for the nation state of The Valley of the Wind. These were hard to decided what to go with as in the movie they have a cowl/hood like covering that goes from head to shoulder. However in the books they are depicted with helmets. I put these guys together from a large range of blister packs. 

This is how they are depicted in the entirety of the film and I could just not figure out a miniature solution without sculpting them (which I dont know how to do). 

This are from the books shows them with helmets. This is how I decided to depict them.

Here are the 8, kit-bashed, soldiers. They were assembled with Fireforge Games bodies; Arms, Guns, Swords, and Shields from Wargames Atlantic Afghans; Heads from Parry Miniatures 100 year war range; and pouches from Warlord Games WW2 Germans and US Marines. All in all I think I nailed the feel. Cant wait to paint them.   

Valley of the Wind

 I really love all the Studio Ghibli films. One of my favorites is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. After watching it again recently (for 15th time at least) I decided I'd like to put some small skirmish forces together representing a few factions from the film, mainly those from Talmiki, Pegite, and The Valley of the Wind. I did quite a bit of reaserch on google and came to learn that there was a 2 part manga that the movie is based on. I ordered the manga and started reading. As I don't have any experience sculpting I went with the kit bashing route. once I had enough research I placed an order with both Anvil Industries, Victoria Miniatures, and some Fire Forge blisters of ebay. Once all my orders arrived I got to work assembling the first faction, Talmiki. 

I wanted to represent the two main units we see in the film. The heavily armored melee soldiers and the assault soldiers.  

This is what I came up with. I dont think they look super close but I think, once painted, they will get the message across. 

The assault soldiers were next.

 

I am really happy how they turned out and will paint the one with the sword and knife as the leader with the white helmet. 

Old Growth Forest WIP

 For my French and Indian War games I have been unsatisfied with the quality of forest I can put on the table. So for the F&IW and earlier I will be making an Old Growth Forest. One thing I dont do enough when I embark on a terrain project is planning. I'll often to some research on what it should look like but not laying it out before hand. To get this project right I'll spend some time working on a plan, mostly focusing on a template for the layout.

First I gathered some reference photos with a google search.

Next I gathered information about the structure of an Old Growth Forest.

I then gathered up the trees I had printed up in 2019-2020

I took 4 pieces of A4 paper and taped them together to make a big sheet. Then I took some time to arrange the trees in a way that would look good but be playable. When I settled on a layout I traced the position of each tree then worked out where the shape of the base and of the removeable canopy. 

The next step will be to cut the triangular shape out of MDF. The canopy shape will be cut out of 2in foam insolation and then flocked with clump foliage.

Arthur, King of the Britons

 Broke down and ordered the cast from Mighty Python and the Holy Grail. Figured I could use them in their own game using Fist Full of Lead or as silly additions in other games like Lion Rampant and Baron's War. The miniatures are from Studio Miniatures and, while beautiful, are pricy. 

First Painted is Arthur, King of the Britons and his mount.