1/72 Plastic Adventure on Crusade

Hi Chaps,

Its been a productive week mainly because of the weather and things well just dropping right to allow some hobby time.

Hail Caesar is an interesting set of rules that I have had kicking around for some time so I thought I would give it a go with a few games. The only problem is that I do not have any armies! Now 6 mm would have been a sensible option but I have been reading a lot about Strelets and Hat and indeed in the past I have used these figures for a First World War army or two. An hour spent on the Plastic Soldier Review page made it impossible to resist trying a couple of boxes just to see how they would paint up.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/review.aspx?id=1564

Previous experience with plastics and a bit more reading revealed that if you want some of this wobbly shiny goodness you are going to have to be equiped with Bostik, PVA, cutters and a very sharp knife!

The bases are from Warbases and I chose to use a 40 mm frontage so that I can use DBA 2.2 (I just ordered a set as my original DBA is in Thailand!). The now dated ruleset is still available from Keep Wargaming for £6 delivered...an absolute bargain if like me your defense budget is under pressure.

http://war-bases.co.uk/

http://www.keepwargaming.co.uk/

I primed the figures and painted away and to be honest they were hard going! I have just completed 100 plus Games Workshop miniatures and trying to get used to smaller less well detailed and cast figures is taking a lot of adjustment!

Once completed the figures are coated in PVA (twice actually) this has dried matt and has given the castings some strength. It was like time travel....with no reference to Back to the Future at all. Strelets remind me of Hinchcliffe or Irregular miniatures in the best possible way. Each figure is pretty basic but each is a character which is no mean feat from a box set of mass produced plastic figures.

The figures don't really stand up to close scrutiny as you can see but because they are actually rather small they look far cleaner and effective on the tabletop. There are actually a couple more Crusader units completed but not pictured here.

Next up are the Italeri Arab Light Cavalry....because I chose a 40 mm frontage and not 60 mm like I should have I am limited and may have to number or label the bases....but as I only ever play solo or with my son this should not be much of a problem....

In total I have spent around £30 on figures which should give me two DBA armies or in Hail Caesar terms a division or more for each side. Strelets really are good figures and there are lots of variations in a box so my armies will have the character that I so strive to achieve in 28 mm but so far at only 30% of that cost!

A few sheets of 6mm thick Depron foam are on their way to my location so next week may indeed see the construction of a few buildings. Again my budget has to be taken into acount and this material is the cheapest way to make terrain, it can be easily cut or scored and it takes my household tester pots of paint a treat (let it dry for hours though...).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201424806969?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2661&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Good luck Chaps and if anyone else is creating an army in 20 mm plastic I would love a link or two to get some tips.....I wonder what Black Powder is like in this scale?