Sunday, November 24, 2013

Earthen Artillery Emplacement from Forge World


As I'm hoarding all my toy soldiers for the start of the Challenge I thought I'd get a bit of work done on some terrain before it's 'all hands to the oars' for the next three months.

Back in the day, Forge World used to make a wide range of wonderful resin scenery, yup, not just whacky sci-fi tanks with guns that look like their compensating for something and armoured 'humans' who look more like walking volkswagens, but stuff you could actually use for things other than the GW family of pocket-emptying games. 


I've managed, through hook and by crook, to pick up a few Forge World gems over the years. You can see their wonderfully sculpted 6mm castle and windmill here, but for todays post I'm featuring their excellent 28mm artillery emplacement which features finely sculpted gabions, log buttressed earthwork, assorted barrels, etc. 


No assembly required! It's all one piece. I like that - nice and simple. I think it will be a great objective in a 'Sharpe Practice' skirmish game or to serve as cuirassier-bait as one of the smaller fleches south of the Great Redoubt at Borodino.


To provide a sense of scale, I've manned the emplacement with a 28mm French 12pdr and its crew. The gun is an old Elite model (a hefty beast) and the crew are from the venerable Foundry range.


Anyway, if you come across any of these rare lumps for a reasonable price (I know, what are the chances of that) I recommend you to pick it up as it's a great bit of terrain. 


On a side note, I've decided to conduct a little experiment regarding my photography for the blog. My old warhorse camera, a wonderful Panasonic Lumix, is dying a dignified death so I thought I'd let it 'diminish and go into the West' while trying something else. So I've been casting my eye around for a replacement camera, reading reviews and consulting with friends who are photo buffs. I was ready to plunk down some substantial dosh on a new rig, but then I had a wonderful discovery - my new iPhone 5s actually has a pretty decent integrated camera! So, for for the balance of the Challenge, all of my personal submissions  (starting with this one) will be photographed with an iPhone. In addition, I'm going to audition various photo app software and try out nifty lens add-ons, like these from OlloClip to see how their macro, telephoto and polarizing lens work. All this should be dorktastic good fun!


35 comments:

  1. Some of the forge world is terrain is beautiful but a little pricey but that is a thing of beauty my friend!

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    1. Very true about their cost Francis. From the price of Forge World products I often think they must be either laced with some illicit drug, composed from ground-up baby seal teeth or something along those lines that causes sensible people to happily slap down their hard-earned dosh. :)

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  2. Great looking terrain piece

    I'm very happy to be Wild Buncher #40 and my goal is 1,500!

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    1. Thanks Miles! And thank you for declaring your target. If you make it that score should place you near the head of the pack. I'm eager to see you crack along with your various projects (especially your Bolt Action and All's Quiet on the Martian Front initiatives).

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  3. Nice earthwork!

    As for you playing with toys and having dorkasms, we'll have none of that if you don't mind - we expect you to be far too busy posting our submissions and updating the scores table! :)

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    1. I'll tell you, young lady, working like a Trojan galley slave, playing with toy soldiers and having a dorktastic good time are not mutually exclusive. Odd? Certainly. But not exclusive. ;)

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you Michael, but the sculpting of the detail almost makes it paint itself.

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  5. Nice piece indeed. Packed with character and well painted to boot.

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  6. Very nice Curt, obviously usable over several closely related periods. and seems to have good space for cannon and crew.
    Best of luck with the Iphone pics!

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    1. Thanks Scott! I'm already mulling over a scenario to feature this little beast...

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  7. A very nice gun emplacement. You are of course joking when you say "if you come across any of these rare lumps for a reasonable price". Reasonable price and Forge world don't normally sit in the same sentence to me.

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    1. Thanks Clint. Agreed, that is why I had to include my parenthetical comment on the slim chance of nabbing one at a good price. Though that being said, I managed to get this one at the end of a Games Day event where they were selling them at a discount, to which I jumped at the opportunity.

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  8. Very nice piece of terrain, Curt. I'd love to see cuirassiers try to get through that!

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    1. Thanks Johhny! Yes, when I read the accounts of Borodino I shake my head at cavalry charging these things.

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  9. Forgeworld really used to do some decent stuff and your wonderfull painting really brings it to life.

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  10. It is one of the elements of Forge Word catalogue I have seen with great interest for many years. Very nice painting work!

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  11. Thanks Juan. Yeah, unfortunately their current catalog is pretty much streamlined for 40K and Fantasy in 28mm scale. Their Epic stuff was gorgeous and I really enjoyed their 10mm Warmaster terrain as well. Who knows, maybe they'll bring them out in the future again (with a premium 'limited edition' cost attached!).

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  12. Nice piece of terrain, it looks great and I wasn't aware that forgeworld also produced this sort of products.

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    1. Thanks! Actually, Forge World doesn't produce these products anymore. You can still find them on ebay from time-to-time but they are quite rare. I also have a larger emplacement/breastwork from them that I need to get done...

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  13. Fantastic piece of scenery and excellent painted if I may say so! I'm jelous! I want that camera! A gorgeous tool!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  14. This entrenchment is a real gem from the old Forgeworld stuff. Unfortunately they seem to do only WH40K stuff currently. And the painting you decorated it with is excellent once more.

    Cheers
    Stefan

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    1. Thanks Stefan. Yes, their old catalogue had some very inspired pieces listed. I'm sure the runs on them were pretty limited so perhaps we'll see them again some day.

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  15. That is a really nice terrain piece, very useful to have.

    But I am really quite amazed at the little lens for the iphone and will follow this with interest.

    John

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    1. Thanks John. Yes, I have the polarizing lens en route so I'm quite eager to see how it works out as I typically use natural light for my photography and always struggle with controlling glare. Fun!

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  16. That is an old piece Curt! Pretty sure that is one I picked up for you at a Games Day in Baltimore like 10 years ago! Funny enough I just dug mine and the fortifications that go with it out a little while ago to paint to.

    While they are out of print, if you don't mind supporting places that are not quite above board, several of the Forge World'ski places out of Russia still produce the piece. Forgeworld-discount has it for $35 euros, and I have seen it on others copy sites too. All depends on your views of the "secondary producers" markets though. With this piece, I wouldn't feel bad ordering a copy though, since the original is no longer produced.

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    1. Thanks Byron, for the great info! Actually I think the one you picked up for me in Baltimore was the larger 4-piece entrenchment, but I can't be sure.

      Mmmm, I'm definitely going to have to check out this lead you've provided. As you say, if the castings are no longer being produced... (and the fact that I've given Forge World a couple pounds of my flesh in my time as GW Fanboi)

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)