Sphinx hijinks!

I finished this sextuplet of Sphinxes that I obtained from Acheson Creations earlier this year. 

We are all familiar with the Great Sphinx at Giza, but they were common symbols through the history of Ancient Egypt; notably the 1.5 mile long road connecting Luxor and Karnak, "The Avenuie of the Sphinxes, estimated to have had over 900 of the staues!

The Sphinxes will be appearing on the table at my Egypt vs Sea Peoples game at Historicon. I am often amazed how few people now days are familiar with the famous "Riddle of the Sphinx"... even if that is more Greek in origin!

 

Egyptian and Assyrian pieces from Acheson Creations

With the Portuguese army expansion already done, I have been working on some foamboard hills for my Waterloo game at HAVOC in a few weeks. I had original thought I would do that for my 3 Historicon Waterloo games last year, but ran out of time. There isn't much to show yet, but there will be in the next week or two. 

I am planning on running two different Chariot era games at Historicon this July, using the To the Strongest" rules by Simon Miller. While Acheson Creations sold off quite a bit of their extensive line of scenic items last year, there are still quite a few excellent pieces that remain, and they are still introducing some new items. Here are some I acquired this winter with a view towards those games. 

A set (? Set) of six smaller sphinxes; these are about 30 mm tall. 

These were found in several locations lining the approach to an important Temple. 

Assyrian Tree of Life; these panels are about 75 mm tall.

Nisroch, Assyrian god of Agriculture; about 65 mm tall.

Smaller Assyrian Winged Bull (I have two large ones already). 

Side view; about 35 mm tall. 

Celtic Steles.. perhaps suitable for the future Viking armies?  The stone pattern is from Scenic effects, purchased several years ago. I plan on using these to help build the walls of Nineveh. 

A Gaggle of Gabions!

Got all of the (29!) Gabion sections I purchased from Acheson Creations last month painted and  ready for the Siege game Saturday! 

We will be using the near final draft of Eric Burgess's forth coming siege warfare rules, "Vauban's Wars". 

I am very happy with how easily and nicely these painted up!

A couple of British guns for scale comparison purposes. 

The height and width are just about perfect for use with my bases. 

Same thing for these British infantry. 

Steady, men!

Hold the line!

Once again, the scale looks just right. 

"Old Nosey" takes refuge in a gabioned bastion. 

"He's just another pounder!"

Acheson Creations delivers!

Acheson Creations is a company I have not dealt with before, but they had a 20% off sale that ran through November 18th, that happened to be announced when I realized I needed some more items for my next siege game. They are located in not too far away Rochester, NY, which meant US shipping; Yay!

I got this box (some of the packing removed) a week after the sale ended.

These are the items I was really after - 4 gabion sections, each about 2.5 inches long. That's just right for a Gun emplacement for my troops! The base price is only $1 each - 80 cents each on sale. Wow!

That meant the 20 sections above cost a whopping $16 altogether. A real bargain, IMHO!

While I was at it, I got 4 corner sections, because, well, you never know when you'll need them! these were just $1 each also (80 cents on sale) . All the items are cast in an odorless firm grey resin. As you can see, some are light grey and others dark grey. 

 I needed to spend more to get "free" shipping... fortunately, they have quite a variety of items available. 

This quite nice and quite large bridge had me in mind of crossing the Danube before Wagram, or the Beresina...

Stacks of barrels; useful as scatter terrain, or to indicate supply depots, etc.

Likewise for some  stacks of crates!

Some Egyptian style columns...

Suitable for the great temple of  Amun-Re at Karnak, perhaps? 

I have been slowly accumulating items for a "Darkest Africa" kind of setting. 

Thus these huts were a natural addition. I also have the latest edition of The Sword and the Flame on pre-order, in part motivated by the abuse Larry Brom's daughters suffered at the hands of an unethical customer. It's about time I owned a copy of these classic rules anyway! They just funded a successful Kickstarter with a lot of cool items for an African Exploration setting, so imagine those products will be added to the site in 2020. 

I lost little time applying some spay paint I had around already from my various mat creations.

Some dry brushing and a wash, and this should be ready to use soon!

Likewise for the crates and barrels!

Back to the Gabions!  I tried staining some with dark brown, but decided it didn't add much if anything, so the rest I just dry brushed Delta CC "Mellow Yellow" (also known as "Old Parchment" over the medium, brown base coat. Looks pretty good already. A few more colors, etc, and the whole set will be ready for the next Vauban's Wars siege game in 2 weeks!