The Book of Artifacts

 

This just arrived for me, a print-on-demand product from DTRPG.

It's pretty much what it says on the cover: a whole bunch of magical artifacts for AD&D2e. It also includes some notes on the use of artifacts within an AD&D2e campaign, and a bunch of tables with which to generate the various random powers the artifacts are supposed to have.

I like the concept of these artifacts in a campaign. They tend to be ridiculously powerful and unbalancing, but at least they're each unique. I'm not a huge fan of the vast number of generic +1 swords and Potions of Healing and what-not that tend to give player characters their superhero powers.  I think magical doo-dads should be a bit special, or else they just become a stand-in for modern or sci-fi technology.

Plus, I like the idea that magical things should be just a little bit perilous to the user. Knowing that using an object of Mighty Arcane Power™ might make your legs fall off means that employing it becomes a meaningful action, not just a handy deus ex machina. 

Will I actually use any of the contents of this book? Probably.  They're a hoot.

The key is to make sure that they don't stick around long enough for a character to make them the major part of their personality, or else players will get quite upset when they're taken away, one way or another. Unless that would be amusing to me.... in which case, we'll see. 

Giant Hag

 

This is an FDM print of a fairly old Duncan Louca design, one of a set of three hags he did. I've printed it at a height of 75mm, as I had a need for a giant hag in a game session I was running, though that need passed long before I ever got the mini painted.

It's painted entirely with glazes (Army Painter Speedpaint and Vallejo Xpress) and washes, apart from the metallic gold of her piercings and the strings dangling from her waist. It's a very quick way of getting a reasonable tabletop result, though the mini would benefit from some more deliberate shading and highlighting, especially about the face.

My Ender 3 FDM printer is getting pretty old and a bit outta whack now, and I'm getting quite a lot of stringing, blobbing and adhesion issues. It may be time to start saving up for an upgrade. 

Vallejo Xpress

 

Vallejo Xpress is another entry into the colour glaze "speed-paint" style of mini paints.

I noticed them on the rack when I went in to my FLGS  for some normal Vallejo paint, and thought I'd give them a try in my constant search for hobby materials that cater to my laziness.

They work decently well, though there's nothing startling about them. They dry to a glossier finish than Army Painter Speedpaints, but otherwise seem pretty similar.

The part-painted hag in between the two bottles is FDM printed at 75mm size, and not very well printed at that. FDM isn't well suited to colour glazing, as its layer lines are quite apparent. Plus, my printer is a bit out of whack, and I'm getting a fair amount of stringing and blobbing.

Speed-paint glazes, of any manufacturer, are fine if all you want is a quick and okay paint-job, but they're really not a one-and-done solution. If you want a really decent paint job, they're still just a starting point. They work best on models with plenty of well-incised surface detail. However, they're useful for what they are. 

They're a bit tricky to mix reliably, but not impossible.  I assume they'd need the appropriate glaze medium for extending if you want to lower the intensity of the base colour; I haven't experimented with plain water, but I think it would tend to interfere with the paint's pooling and self-levelling qualities.

The skulls on the bottle caps are FDM printed from a file I got on Thingiverse; they provide me with a good visual indication of what's going to come straight out of the bottle. They're just stuck in place with a blob of blu-tak in a socket underneath.

WotC Displacer Beast

 

This is an old mini from the early 2000s, when WotC was newly the owner of D&D and had just published 3rd Edition. They also started producing a range of white metal miniatures to match the art in the Monster manual, of which this is one — the Displacer Beast.

I don't know who the sculptor was, but it does a decent job of replicating the skinny, almost skeletal aspect of the MM artwork. It was a hell of a thing to assemble though.

 

It originally came with a plastic "slotta" base, but I've mounted it on a bit of steel I ground to shape, and added some groundwork with superglue and baking soda. It's supposed to be blue-black, though my one is more blue than black. never mind.

Bristol Beaufort (1/144)

 This is a 1/200 model by PlanePrinter (on Patreon), up-scaled to 1/144 scale and printed on my elderly Ender 3.

It's intended for my WWII Desert Air Force, to support my 15mm WWII Brits in North Africa and the Mediterranean. 

More Model Photography

 

Some time ago I made myself an MDF box to use as a portable photographic stage for shooting models. I painted the inside matte white, to keep as much light as possible bouncing around in there. Ever since, from time to time, I've been tinkering with various setups to get the best out of it, and in the end it seems that the simplest is best.

For light, I'm just using a single cheap equipoise lamp with a 14 watt cool-white LED bulb.

For camera/phone stabilisation,  I'm using an old tripod head screwed to some bits of plywood. A wheat-bag or something would also do the trick, though it would take more faffing about to set up, and to change if need be.

I have a bunch of quick-change mounts for the tripod head, so swapping between the camera mount and the phone holder is very quick and easy. Again, not essential, but it does make life easier. 

 These two were photographed with my iPhone 14, and the setup shown above. Apart from cropping them, and assembling in this attractive frame, I haven't edited the photos at all — no sharpening, no tonal correction.

The cyber-gorilla is a largish miniature, 60mm to the top of his mecha-fist, and photographed fairly well. The Roman centurion, a plastic Victrix (I think) 28mm figure, shows the limitations of the iPhone's digital zoom, and the detail is a bit indistinct. The tonal (dynamic) range is fairly compressed in both photos.

 

This photo of Vibius the Centurion was taken with a Canon EOS 50D, with a macro lens.

Again, no editing apart from cropping and resizing. 

The detail is a lot cleaner, and the tonal range is wider than the photo taken with the iPhone.

On the down-side, the camera is a lot bulkier and more trouble to use. 

On the plus side, the resulting images are much better. 

 

15mm Afrika Korps

 

I've had these Battlefront 15mm Afrika Korps sitting around, based, primed and waiting for paint, for years now. I don't know for sure exactly how many years.

I've finally pulled finger and got them sufficiently finished that I can use them in a game without being utterly ashamed.

For some reason, and I can't quite put my finger on exactly why, I just don't enjoy painting infantry. So they tend to get shoved to the back of the queue again and again.

Note: The idiots have assembled the tripod for their MG34 back to front. You just can't get good help any more. 

For reference, the paints I've used are as follows:

• Helmets and other metalwork, plus trousers — VMC Desert Yellow
• Jackets — VMC Green Brown
• Helmets, jackets and trousers all dry-brushed with VMC Iraqi Sand 
• Rifle stocks — VMC Flat Brown
• Gun barrels etc. — VMA Gunmetal 
• Boots, ammo pouches, water bottles — VMC Saddle Brown
• Faces and hands — VMC Flat Flesh 
• Bases — VMC Iraqi Sand 
• Overall wash — Citadel Seraphim Sepia 

 

The wash tends to pool on the top of the helmets, creating a blob of the darker colour.

Ideally, I should have just wicked it off with a brush while it was fresh and wet, but I often forget.

So instead I go back afterwards and paint a highlight in Iraqi Sand on top of the helmet, and at the same time I take the opportunity to crisp up the lines of the flared brim of the stahlhelm.

 

The Seraphim Sepia wash isn't usually my first choice — that would be Agrax Earthshade. However, in this case the Agrax would have darkened everything too much; the Sepia remains brighter.

 This is a 28mm model, a freebie from a Kickstarter, scaled down to 15mm to fit in with my BF metals.

For the most part, the scaling worked without issues, but the rifle definitely should be replaced with something a bit chunkier and sturdier — the barrel just printed, but the sling is nearly all gone. 

Also, I need a much better macro photography setup. This is taken with my iPhone, and none of my fancy-schmancy DSLRs would produce anything as sharp.

 2026-01-31

I've taken that Kickstarter STL and done some head-swapping, as well as giving it a beefed-up rifle that should print a lot better.

I haven't tried printing them yet, but since the original printed just fine I don't anticipate any major issues. 

DM Screen for AD&D2e

 

I've printed out and assembled my new DM's screen for AD&D2e.

Structurally, it's 2mm grey-board covered with some of my home-made book-cloth. I didn't have enough of a single pattern to do the whole lot, which is why it's in two different patterns.

The most useful in-game charts are on the two centre panels. The outer panels are less likely to be needed day-to-day, and I've added some hinged smaller pages (to the left) with other less important information. If I find there are other charts I feel the need for instant access to, I'll put other hinged panels on the right.

The main thing is to learn where everything is, so that I minimise searching time and garner a wholly undeserved reputation for omniscience.

The pages on the outside are more or less temporary; that's where I'll put any player info. In this case they deal with how I'm handling saving throws and critical hits / fumbles.

NOTE: I laminated the sheets before I glued them to the panels, and in hindsight I think that was a mistake. The glossy surface makes the content more difficult to read due to annoying reflections.

Strelets Streltsy

 

Strelets includes this little guy, or a mini like him, in all their soft plastic 1/72 figure sets, regardless of the actual subject matter of the set.

He's a member of the Streltsy, the Russian firearms troops from (I think) the 16th century up until the 18th (I think).

As you may have guessed, I don't actually know anything much about them, though I'm sure that Wikipedia could help, if I could be bothered to look.

He's been sitting on my painting desk for quite a few years, so I gave him a very quick speed-paint, just for the hell of it. 

Will I ever have a use for him? I kind of doubt it. 

Note: the paint-job looks kind of crappy in the main photo, but bear in mind that the figure is only about this size, as shown to the left. 

It's still kind of crappy, but not as crappy-looking. 

Ambulance

 

Once upon a time I had an Airfix kit of the Austin K2 ambulance, from the RAF Emergency Set I think. I have no idea what happened to that model.

Now I'm taking Bergman's 1:100 model of the same vehicle and titivating it a bit for my own purposes.

The dark yellow bits are all the original model, all the other coloured bits are my replacements. 

It has a separate cab roof, to ease both printing and painting.

I think they more usually had a tin cab roof, but I like the look of slightly flappy canvas, so I've modelled it like that.

 

I'm painting it in all-over SCC2 (Service Brown), so it will fit in all over the place for mid-WWII service: Tunisia, Sicily, Italy. Later on the base colour changed to SCC15 (Olive Drab), but older vehicles weren't repainted unless they'd gone in for fairly major repairs.

SCC2 is a slightly tricky shade. There seems to be quite a lot of variance in what people think it should look like. The official description, of (I kid you not) "slightly milky tea" is pretty vague. This model is sprayed with Vallejo Leather Brown surface primer. 

I find I need a much better circle cutter for cutting my masks. My ad-hoc compass-and-craft-knife is only barely adequate. 

2026-01-11

Finished.

And I've about had a gutsful of painting crosses for the moment.

Model Storage Sabots

 

I have a number of relatively cheap plastic storage boxes that I use for a variety of purposes, one of which is to store wargaming models.

The models can go straight into the box's compartments (I've removed the dividers from this one), but that's not completely satisfactory — the models tend to get shoved around a bit, and they can't be stacked without risking damage to the ones on the bottom.

 I made my first ones out of heavy grey card, about 2.5mm thick. The later ones are all made from 3mm MDF.

The card versions have one advantage: the PVA I use to glue them together sets quite quickly. However, cutting the thick card with a craft knife is a bit laborious.

Since I'm lucky enough to own a small table saw, cutting the MDF components is as easy as pie, and repeatable precision is simple. However, the MDF isn't as absorbent as the grey card, and as a result the PVA takes a lot longer to go off. The sabot is more solid than the card version, but for the weights involved, that's not really an issue.

It would be an ideal project for a small laser cutter, but I don't have one of those. One day maybe.

The main reason to use a system like this is that it makes the storage modular. I can secure everything for transport with chips of soft foam, and get only the items I want in and out of the box without having to disturb everything else.

AB-41 to kick off 2026

Base colour applied

Resin print from Elegoo Mars Pro

I'm starting 2026 with a model I've done before, the Italian WWII Autoblinda AB-41 armoured car. However, those earlier models were FDM printed, and painted up for the Italians in North Africa.

This time I've printed it on my resin printer, and it is intended for service with the Germans in Italy and/or the Balkans.

So far I have its basic camouflage paint applied. Getting consistent skinny lines with my airbrush is a bit of a task; the paint has to be just right or else spattering or spidering becomes unmanageable. These paints are all from Vallejo. 

 

The base colour is German Green Brown surface primer. 

That was dry-brushed with 70847 Dark Sand

 Then it was panel-shaded with 70.031 Middlestone and 70.117 Camouflage Brown.

The green disruptive stripes are 70.017 Russian Green 4BO. 

The usual Agrax Earthshade pin-washing to bring out detail, and a bit more dry-brushing.

AD&D2e DM screen redesign

I've been redesigning my DM shield so that its table contents aligns better with those presented in AD&D2e. The old one was a bit of a mish-mash of OSRIC, AD&D1e, and my house rules — this one still includes a little idiosyncratic content, but not much. Pretty much just accommodating Ascending Armour Class, really.

• I've put the PDF (approx. 4.5MB) on my Google Drive, at https://drive.google.com/file/d/12rM7SYIBZ3WpQLH4ZaTIOkmAN7M3jkAl/view?usp=sharing

I originally designed it in Serif PagePlus IX, but when Serif abandoned that software and went over wholly to the Affinity suite of vector, pixel and layout apps, they elected (for some incomprehensible reason) to devote absolutely no effort at all to creating any sort of import filters for their own old software. It caused a degree of discontent in their clientele, I can tell you.

Anyway, it's done now, and updated not only in content, but in format, so I can edit it in the new and shiny Affinity 3 software. And I've learned a bit more about how to handle the software, which is all to the good.

Until they change their minds again and abandon this one as well. 

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

These last two pages are smaller, just A5, and they're intended as flyouts mounted on the folds between the main pages. If I find there's something more I want to include with the screen, I can add pretty well as many of these as I like. And, in fact, it would probably be a good idea to transfer all of Page One's content to these sub-pages, and leave the main fold-out screen at four panels — five is a bit wide for our table.

[Edit]  In fact I did that. All of the Page One info is now duplicated on these smaller flyout pages, so you can choose which ones to print.

Sub-Page 1 

Sub-Page 2

 

Sub-Page 3

Sub-Page 4

15mm Stuff for Italy

 

This is all the 15mm stuff I currently have that is suitably painted for a 15mm British force in Italy 1943-ish. It's not a lot, but it's a decent start. Now that my copy of Battlegroup: Italy has arrived, I've got them out and dusted them off.

At a pinch, I could draft in some of my North Africa kit as well, but they tend to be painted for the earlier pre-Tunisia campaigns. 

Somewhere I have some old BF "Mediterranean" British infantry, which I shall have to find and dig out. They're modelled in shirt-sleeves and BD trousers, so they look the part — in fact, if I recall correctly, they were some of BF's better offerings in metal, which were a bit.... shall we say, variable in quality. 

Staghound

Back

Front

---

I've been occupying my insomnia the last couple of nights with this — it's a British armoured car, the Staghound Mk.I, from WWII, modelled in Blender in 1:100 scale.

It's not completely finished yet, as usual. There are bits that I've forgotten, like the headlights. I'll get around to it.

I've piled it up with a whole bunch of clutter, and there may well be more of that to come. 

 A bit later on...

I like to have human figures in my vehicles, both to give a sense of scale and to make them seem less like an army of autonomous robot vehicles when I'm playing at Toy Soldiers with them. 

To that end I've opened up one of the hatches and bunged a generic AFV commander in the hole. 

NOTE: I've put the STLs up online, and they are available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_staghound_mk_i 

 

An Indeterminate Number of Days Later...

Here is concrete evidence that I am in the process of printing this model. It's my Mars Pro, printing this model.

I would have got on to it sooner, except that I had to replace the FEP after a misprinting disaster about a week ago, and I'd been putting it off due to my Chronic Procrastination Syndrome (I hear that a cure is years away).

 ...and later that day

The test print went well. No issues at all to speak of.

We see it here with both turrets, closed and open, though I only printed one hull and set of wheels. 

I've given it a brown primer coat, and I'll be painting it in the Light Mud (SCC 5) and Black scheme for Italy.  I already have a Battlefront Daimler armoured car in those colours, so I might as well continue.

 

 

 These are the Vallejo paints I'm using:

• For SCC 5 Light Mud — VMA 71.028 Sand Yellow.
  VMC 70.987 Medium Grey is a good brushable match.
• For SCC 7 Dark Olive Green — VMC 70.888 Olive Grey 

I have, in the past, used VMC 70.988 Khaki for SCC 5, and it looks okay, but in scale I think it's a touch dark, especially when washes and what-not have gone over the top. 

 

 Xmas Day

Shiny! So shiny!

 We're at an intermediate stage of painting now.

All the various bits have their base colours on, along with a few washes here and there to accentuate detail, and now I've given everything a couple of coats of gloss varnish in preparation for some oil washing.

The gloss finish helps to stop the pin washes from discolouring the underlying paint, and it will be mitigated at the end of the painting process with an overspray of matte varnish. 

 Boxing Day

All finished (probably). 

I do have a tendency to discover things I've missed, but I don't think there's too much left undone on this one. 

Next day:
I sprayed on a bit of dust, which I think helps
to tie it all together.

 

Raupenschlepper Ost 1942 - test print

Quite some time ago, I designed this model in Blender. It's a simplified version of the Raupenschlepper Ost, with the cab made from plywood instead of stamped from steel, and with a canvas roof. They went into production in 1942, with the aim of making production faster and cheaper.

But I never did actually get around to printing it. Mainly because its hollow cab would have made printing quite difficult.

Today I filled in the cab and cargo bed with a solid block, but in the cab I kept half of each of two crewmen visible, so that they could be painted in a kind of bas-relief style. It seems to have worked reasonably well, and the model printed on my Ender 3 without any issues at all (except that I initially assembled the running gear the wrong way round, and had to tear it off and re-glue it). 

It means, of course, that there's no interior detail visible, but for a gaming model that doesn't disturb me too much. 

 Several days later...

I've got it painted now, in a post-1943 colour scheme. All in all, I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. 

Old Character Minis

 

I took some photos of some of my old character minis with my iPhone, just to see how they'd turn out. Meh. The lighting is pretty crap, but then it was all pretty ad-hoc.

From left to right: Fnord, Smirnoff, and Aedan Comarren. 

 Here's another attempt. Also pretty meh. Somehow I kept activating the iPhone's focus lock, which was annoying, and the tonal range is quite compressed. It's certainly a convenient camera to use, but I think a proper SLR is going to be more useful for this sort of thing.

And here we go with a photo taken with my Nikon D3500 on my lighting stage. The tonal range is wider, though the details are not as sharp — I can set the camera to do some pre-sharpening, but I prefer to do that sort of thing in a proper photo editing app. I don't have a macro lens for this camera, so I have to stand off a metre or so. One day, when I win Lotto, I'll get a macro lens, but until that happy day it's not a high fiscal priority.