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Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: War In 15MM on June 22, 2018, 11:45:31 PM

Title: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 22, 2018, 11:45:31 PM
More than a month ago I began working on my 15mm/18mm Boxer Rebellion/55 Days at Peking collection.  I have been thinking about doing this project for years; picking up odds and ends to serve as the legation buildings and figures for the Boxers, Imperial Chinese, and foreign powers.  It’s been a slow process… very much on the backburner of things I was going to focus my full attention on.  But about a year ago Blue Moon 15mm/18mm came out with their Boxer Rebellion line of figures and terrain, and I decided to adopt that as the center piece for my Boxer Rebellion efforts.  I purchased the Blue Moon legation package… five legation compounds (British, French, Russian, Japanese and US).  Because Blue Moon 15s are all about gaming (I’m not), they built all the legations with firing steps cast to the walls.  Since the British legation is the focal point of the foreign powers’ defense the British buildings are bunkered up.  I decided that I wanted a pre-siege and siege version of each of the five legations.  I’ll be doing a pre-siege and siege table.  That required that I modify and/or build the legation walls to give them a pre-siege look; no firing steps.  I’m probably the only one who thinks this is a good idea, but on the off chance that someone else might be interested this as an option I will use this thread to show how I attacked this project.  My first posting is of the British legation. The pre-siege walls are made from Evergreen, JTT, and Plastruct plastic.  At the time of this posting I am in the process of putting a Milliput base around the bottom of my British scratch built walls.  The British legation is unique in that the main legation building is bunkered as is the main entrance as well as the building referred to as the mission building.  To address this in terms of the pre-siege look I am seeking for the British legation I will be using an old Ian Weekley building as the stand-in for the main building.  I scratch built a new entrance gate, and modified the mission building (one of the few pieces of the five legations that can purchased independently).  I have been working on the pre-siege walls for all five legations for about five weeks… a lot of work.  I have completed all of them, but rather than swamp any of you who might be watching by dumping all five at once.  I will be posting pictures of each legation make-over one legation at a time starting with the British legation.  Hope you enjoy.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1805/42240150514_66b9df1820_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP89)888c (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP89) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1772/29086551798_9e7871af08_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbuo)IMG_1743d (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbuo) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1827/29086551518_5fc9fea434_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbpy)IMG_1743e (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbpy) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1777/42240150694_225b4b12d4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPbf)IMG_1854 (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPbf) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1774/29086551818_19fe5ea048_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/LjhbuJ)IMG_1855 (https://flic.kr/p/LjhbuJ) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/42240150604_cc108cb7a5_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP9G)IMG_1860 (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP9G) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1815/42240150984_093e11b65e_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPgf)IMG_1872 (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPgf) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1838/42240150854_a8b6e65d11_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPe1)IMG_1875 (https://flic.kr/p/27mBPe1) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1811/29086551898_0d2bcf793c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbw7)41480785264_163f147b59_k (https://flic.kr/p/Ljhbw7) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1831/42240150584_769e39d4c0_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP9m)IMG_1876 (https://flic.kr/p/27mBP9m) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 23, 2018, 02:44:53 AM
Great collection  :)
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look
Post by: War In 15MM on June 25, 2018, 03:58:14 PM
Thanks Jim.  I'm hoping that this project comes together as something unique and worth seeing over the next eight months or so.  Doing it in 15mm allows me to use my standard tables (2 tables 5 ft x 7 ft each) and get a lot of stuff on them... I am always drawn to buildings/settings more than the figures that populate them.  By the way, your Star Wars' posting led me to make a big order for the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Stormtroopers.  I used a lot of the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars' figures to populate my Spaceport collection, but didn't get into the Stormtroopers at that time.  I was working on a different concept at that time, but looking at your Stormtroopers, I couldn't resist them any longer.  Richard
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look
Post by: Deedles on June 25, 2018, 04:54:54 PM
Great start .
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look
Post by: Deano on June 25, 2018, 05:52:52 PM
great stuff
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 26, 2018, 12:46:19 AM
Deedles and Deano, thanks for taking the time to write and the kind words.
The next pre-siege legation compound I’m posting is the US.  In building the pre-siege walls for the five legations I will be using (British, US, Japanese, French and Russian), the two that gave me the most trouble were the British and US.  The British and US compounds shared one problem issue in common.  They are not simple rectangles.  This made it much more difficult to measure the different wall sections in an exact way, a way that would ensure that in the end all the pieces would connect in such fashion that there would be no gaps and that the overall shape would match the Blue Moon original.  The British legation had the added problem of the fact that the main gate, the main building and the mission building were all bunkered up and that had to be addressed in order to give the compound a pre-siege look.  I did not want to build new main gates for those compounds that weren’t bunkered, but when Blue Moon cast those gates attached to walls with firing steps I either had to cut the attached walls away from the main gates or hide the firing steps in a fashion that would not be permanent thus allowing me to give the gate the pre-siege look and the siege look.  I did this by building removable shrubs over the firing steps using Legos as the inner framework and covering them with Milliput scored to look like shrubs.  Another problem that existed with the US legation was that the tops of the walls were tiled so as to come to a point or peak in the center.  This was a much bigger challenge than simply having a tile top that ran in only one direction.  As was the case with the British compound walls, all of my pre-siege walls are made using Evergreen, JTT, and Plaststruct plastic.  Once the walls were built I then based them in scored Milliput for added strength and stability.  I should note that in my picture of the original Blue Moon US compound, the two main buildings are not properly placed.  They should set on either side of the main gate facing the inner compound.(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1807/42292225094_04c0f0e80c_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27rdH5J)888d (https://flic.kr/p/27rdH5J) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1800/42292225474_2c8138bd02_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27rdHch)IMG_1834 (https://flic.kr/p/27rdHch) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 26, 2018, 01:05:59 AM
Happy to be a bad influence  lol

Although this thread is making me want to get my 28mm Boxer stuff out again lol
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 26, 2018, 02:23:49 AM
A bad influence yes, but much appreciated.

If you have Boxers painted and posted please direct me to them.  If not and you want to take a moment to share a few Boxer pictures here, I would love to see them.
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 26, 2018, 03:16:43 AM
At the moment I've only got a couple of the Redoubt ones as I'm starting to sculpt my own for release in the coming months. I have got however plenty of Japanese painted up, some of which can be seen here (along with the buildings I've done so far) http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=107105.0 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=107105.0)
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 26, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
Thanks for the link.  I've pulled the figure picture over to my reference file.  The building I have seen before.  It, like all the structures you do, is wonderful.  I was talking about your work with one of the managers of Brookhurst Hobbies last week.  He and his brother do great terrain work, and he was talking about how much he admired the work you do.
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 26, 2018, 05:33:14 AM
Thank you kindly  :)

You might be pleased to know that I'm currently making the 28mm Chinese range into 15mm so you'll have some more options at some point soon.
Title: Re: Giving the Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (US legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 26, 2018, 04:55:27 PM
Something to look forward to.
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Japanese legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on June 28, 2018, 10:44:32 PM
In building the pre-siege walls for the Japanese legation I used the same method and materials I used with all five of the legations’ pre-siege looks… Evergreen, JTT, and Plastruct plastic, Legos to provide the inner structure/skeleton for the shrubs hiding the firing steps next to the entrance and for the rear gatehouse, and scored Milliput as the shrubs and base for the wall sections.  The Japanese legation was unique in that Blue Moon provided the bases for the two Foo Dogs that flank the entrance to the Japanese legation, but Blue Moon did not provide the Foo Dogs to go on those bases.  The Foo Dogs I used (shown in my pre-siege picture are from the Wyrd/Malifaux  Zen Accessory pack.  I was fortunate to be able to pick up one of those at the Brookhurst Bring and Buy for just $2.  I had to pay full price for the second Malifaux Foo Dog.(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1802/42172489045_225eb1ea51_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27fD2J6)15BRB-103-Japanese-Legation copy 2 (https://flic.kr/p/27fD2J6) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/833/42172489205_afd44721c0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27fD2LR)IMG_1833 (https://flic.kr/p/27fD2LR) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Japanese legation)
Post by: Smokeyrone on June 30, 2018, 03:22:43 PM
just great stuff here
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Japanese legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 01, 2018, 02:15:46 PM
Thanks Smokeyrone.  It took me five weeks to complete the five legation's pre-siege walls.  Now that they are done, I'm very glad I did it, but about half way through I had my doubts.  It's a lot of work.  I have two more pre-siege legations to post.  I'll post another one today or tomorrow.  For the last week I've been painting 15mm Boxers... a nice change from all the scratch building.  Thanks again for taking the time to write.  Richard
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Russian legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 01, 2018, 11:45:35 PM
The Russian legation is unique in that the main entrance is not cast to the walls so there was no need to hide firing steps with removable Lego and Milliput shrubs.  It was also unique in that the walls had more detail than the other legations and the tops of the walls are not tile.  The detail took time, but the fact that the top of each wall was flat and not tile made the work go faster.  The rear gatehouse is Duplos and Legos covered with Evergreen, JTT, and Plastruct plastic.  The corner wall posts are Legos covered with Evergreen plastic.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1808/43089743842_d42e6b0d4b_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28DGcBY)888g (https://flic.kr/p/28DGcBY) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1762/29268082658_1aa23a6cf7_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/LAjzhN)IMG_1822 (https://flic.kr/p/LAjzhN) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/919/43089743902_f82e4c7cc4_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28DGcD1)IMG_1822a (https://flic.kr/p/28DGcD1) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/915/29268082518_5eed534f6e_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/LAjzfo)IMG_1822b (https://flic.kr/p/LAjzfo) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1826/28270275647_6120c611b3_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/K59y2D)IMG_1822c (https://flic.kr/p/K59y2D) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Russian legation)
Post by: FifteensAway on July 02, 2018, 02:53:43 AM
So, do you have pre-siege and siege Foo Dogs, too?   lol

Keep going.  I'm curiouser and curiouser to see your companion Peking setups one day, sooner rather than later, though still a bit later.
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (Russian legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 02, 2018, 03:28:09 AM
FifteensAway, fortunately the main entrance to the Japanese legation will be the same for both the pre-siege and siege versions.  The only change I have made to the Blue Moon original is adding the Foo Dogs and providing the removable Milliput covered Legos as shrubs to hide the firing steps in the original when it functions as the pre-siege version.  Doing the two versions on two different tables is making this possible and will make set up a lot easier... just need to move the main gate from one version to the next. 
As of this evening I have painted 41 Boxers.  I'm moving along okay, but I don't think that this project will be done until around January 2019.  I'll post the last of the pre-siege legation walls (the French legation) next week and then this thread will be done.  I doubt that anyone else will buy into this idea since most people are gamers and the pre-siege version wouldn't be important to them.  On the other hand, there might be some folks who want to make their own legations for gaming and this might be of some help.  Over the years I have borrowed so many great ideas from people on LAF that I feel the need to give some ideas back from time to time.
I don't know if I will add a bastion to my Tartar War; I'm a little tired of building wall-related stuff right now, but I am definitely watching what you have done and will be doing in that area with great interest.  Richard
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 05, 2018, 01:31:57 AM
The table(s) I will be using for this project is 5 feet x 7 feet and offer enough space for five of the Blue Moon legation compounds.  I will be using two tables so that I can represent the pre-siege legation area and the legations during the siege.  The French legation was actually the first of the legations for which I scratch built the pre-siege walls.  It is now the fifth and final posting of the pre-siege wall project.  It involved pretty much all the types of work I did on the others: incorporation of the original Blue Moon entrance and attached walls with the firing steps hidden by removable shrubs made of a Lego framework covered by Milliput score to provide a shrub appearance.  The rear gatehouse is made of an inner core of Legos and Duplos covered by Evergreen and Plastruct plastic.  The corner posts are square Legos covered with Evergreen plastic.  The walls are made of Evergreen, JTT, and Plastruct plastic as is the case with the other four legation pre-siege walls.  With this posting I will end this thread.  I hope it offers some ideas to others thinking of doing something along the same lines.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1781/42486877404_448487ee33_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27Jqmr3)888f (https://flic.kr/p/27Jqmr3) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1830/28336350147_ab5652ce0d_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/KaZcFa)IMG_1800 (https://flic.kr/p/KaZcFa) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1804/42486877204_592e265f0c_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27JqmnA)IMG_1816 (https://flic.kr/p/27JqmnA) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1824/42486877214_4dfe86803f_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27JqmnL)IMG_1817 (https://flic.kr/p/27JqmnL) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1809/43205668491_8f0f04a787_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28PWkYP)IMG_1819 (https://flic.kr/p/28PWkYP) by Richard Garretson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158632126@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: Ray Rivers on July 05, 2018, 01:56:26 AM
With this posting I will end this thread.

 :'(

Was hoping to see the compounds painted.

It's a great project really well executed.

Great Job!
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: FifteensAway on July 05, 2018, 03:43:45 AM
Ray, not to worry.  We will see the legations painted - when he posts up his gallery.  Might be down the road a bit, but plan on seeing it.  Might see mine painted before Richard's but don't hold your breath.  Life is a bit crazy these days round here.
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 05, 2018, 06:24:17 PM
Ray, FifteensAway knows me all too well.  After more than five weeks of working daily on the pre-siege legation walls and my Tarter Wall, I needed a break from scratch building and was looking forward to painting some figures.  For the last week and a half I have been painting 15mm Boxers (mostly Old Glory 15s and some Frontier), and I am happy to say that as of today I have 69 of them done and based.  It will probably take me another two months or so to finish my Boxers and then a month or two (probably two) to complete my Chinese Imperial troops, Chinese civilians, Great Power and non-Chinese civilians.  It could be January 2019 before all the figures and building are painted, but when that is done I will be posting the entire collection in diorama form on two 5 ft. x 7 ft. tables... one pre-siege version and one the siege version.  Actually I'm looking forward to that myself.  Richard
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: archiduque on July 13, 2018, 03:32:22 PM
Excellent stuff again my dear friend!!! :-* :-*


All the best
Rafa
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 13, 2018, 08:54:10 PM
Rafa, wonderful to hear from you.  Thank you for the kind words.  Still love visiting your work... always the best.  Richard
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: DintheDin on July 13, 2018, 10:17:53 PM
A serious, methodical and historically documented work from scratch!
Many congrats! Following your project with great interest! Cheers!
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: marianas_gamer on July 14, 2018, 01:32:50 AM
I have really enjoyed following your work on this. Really great stuff and gives me solid ideas for future projects of my own. I look forward to seeing painted versions of both pre-siege and siege period legations!!!
Lon
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: Eric the Shed on July 14, 2018, 06:28:56 AM
great project...
Title: Re: Giving the Boxer Rebellion legations a pre-siege look (French legation)
Post by: War In 15MM on July 14, 2018, 08:52:13 PM
DintheDin, marianas_gamer, and Eric, thanks to all three for taking the time to write and letting me know you are enjoying the project.  Now that I have the pre-siege version of the legation walls for the British, Japanese, French, Russian and US legations built I am taking a step away from my legation work and spending some time painting related figures... right now that involves painting a lot of Boxers.  Thanks again for the kind words.  Richard