Thursday, May 16, 2019

Battle Masters Tower (Part 1)

Greetings!

Recently the notorious Bob and I have been chatting about getting together for another WFB game. Last year we played, and although we had a lot of fun, it was obvious that our local game store is a bit lacking in fantasy themed scenery. I wanted to get a few things for this next encounter (whenever it may occur) so I scoured Ebay for some cheap (-ish) options. As luck would have it I found a guy selling a bunch of parted out Battle Masters stuff, and with that selection was a small tower fort that looks like a little keep. I have always loved that game and everything that came with it, and decided that this would make a fine addition for our Fantasy gaming.

The Battle Masters Tower.

As you can see, the thing is a simple 5 piece model, and since Battle Masters was designed to be disassembled and put back into the box once the game was finished (a novel concept, huh GW?) the tower is easily snapped and unsnapped together.  And, due to storage space reasons, I think I will keep it this way.

You might also notice from that top pic that there is a sticker for the banner. All the pieces in Battle Masters came with brightly colored banner stickers for identification during the game. In fact, when that came out (1992) GW was starting to get into a banner craze where damn near every other model in both WFB and 40K had to have at least one banner per unit. Whoever was behind that vision must have had their dream come true with this game!

Masking the banner. 

I decided to keep the sticker and attempt to paint he rest of the modelled banner to match it. Removing it would a messy, joyless task, so that also influenced my decision to keep it. To preserve the sticker I had to place artist tape over it to mask it prior to applying the primer.

 Before the prime...

Next I took it outside and sprayed on Chaos Black to prime the model.

 ...Not sure if that was a twin-photo worthy event, but I was so thrilled to have a morning without rain that I did it anyway!

...after the prime.
While that paint is curing I figure I should plot out to you readers what my intention is with this paint scheme. I plan on having it match the scheme I used on Death Castle (yes, I know I need to finish it).  But for a minute there I was tempted to try to go for a lighter limestone or flintstone look, just to be different. But I settled on a cold grey granite look instead, considering how this thing is that color already it may have imprinted on my mind over the past 25+ years that it should be grey. So, grey it shall be!

Hopefully I can get it knocked out before the month is over...


5 comments:

Da Masta Cheef said...

I'm rather envious of the option of disassembly after painting for storage purposes. That lack is the only thing keeping me from finishing up my long neglected Stirland Tower, which I would otherwise have nowhere to store.

Zzzzzz said...

Ah, how fondly I remember the banner fest. All those stickers.

neverness said...

@Zzzzzz: Right? Remember that used to sell them in packs for some armies?

neverness said...

@Cheef. Do you want to dig those Stirlanders out for whenever Bob and I have that tussle?

Da Masta Cheef said...

I gave a bucket load to hoss for Frostgrave warbands aways back...so I doubt I'd have enough for more than either a Mordheim warband or a militia detachment for somebody else's regiment.