Painting my own Flags

So I was watching YouTube videos of painting figures and terrain while painting the last of my Spanish Renaissance army and I came across this video Carrying the Banner.  So I watched it and was inspired to try it.  After heading out to the local art supply store to pick up some Japanese Brush Painting Paper, which I ended up buying three different types after looking at the 5 or 6 different types they had at the store.  One came in a roll called Hosho Paper and the other two were different types of Rice paper.  The Hosho Paper was in a roll and cover with a paper label so I couldn't see how thick it was when I bought it.  Once I got it home and cut a piece off, I found that it was transparent enough to trace a design but a little too opaque to make out fine detail.  So I decided against it.  I then took out one of the other sheets of Rice Paper.  It was thin enough to see details while I traced a flag.  Now I will preface this whole project that I am no artist.  I am terrible at freehand drawing, hence the reason I needed a thin paper to trace the flags.  If you watched the above video, you will notice that she drew in a lot of the detail for the flag she was working with and it was 28mm.  I was going to work with a 10mm or 15mm flag.  I ended up using 15mm flags for this project with 10mm figures.  The 15mm flags allowed me to see detail and paint them.  Also these flags were going to be added to the commander bases so having a larger flag seemed appropriate. 

Now on to how I tackled this project.

The top flag is the one I started with and I thought it would be easy to transfer to the rice paper.  

After taping the flag to the table and then placing the rice paper on top, I grabbed a ruler and started to draw in the straight lines. I found out that the pencil point I was using was too thick.  I needed a mechanical pencil with a thinner point.  The thicker point made drawing in detail difficult and actually did the tracing part twice.  The second time is what you see above.  The first one was rather ragged.   Like the video states you have to use a pair of scissors to cut this paper as it will tear if you use a knife.  The paper is like fabric in certain ways. 

The colors I picked for the flag.  I also used black to outline the edge of the flag so there wouldn't be a white edge. 

The brown stripes were painted. I used the paint straight out of the bottle. Only on occasion did I thin some of the paint a little.

Now I painted in the white.  I should have thought this one through a little more and applied a light grey to the flag first.  The white didn't POP the way I was hoping.  I did a second flag as well with white and coated it with Sky Grey first and the White looked fantastic.

Now I applied the red.  You can see that some of the brown and white stripes aren't even in thickness.  Part of that came from my failure at tracing the lines with a thinner pencil point.

Now just like the video I took the flag and flipped it over and applied a coat of scenic cement (she uses thinned PVA).  The paper was thin enough and I had coated the flag really well that it was difficult to peel off the table.  So using a the edge of an exacto knife I picked up a corner and started to apply it the flag pole.  This took the most time.  Just trying to align the edges was fun (read sarcasm into this.).  

Once I finally got it all aligned I dabbed a little bit of Cyanoacrylate to the base of the flag and flag pole. That helped in keeping it on the pole.  As the glue dried I started to shape the flag.  Because I did such a horrible job with the initial lines I decided to make the flag look like it was flowing in a strong breeze.  Like in the video the rice paper is very workable and you can shape the flag in almost any direction very easily.  You just have to be patient and as the glue is drying keep shaping it. Once you have the shape you want keep a little bit a pressure on it and it will set.  The flag dried to the touch in about an hour.  It's been several hours since I took this above photo and the flag is very stiff and wont move now.

Despite the difficulties I had with the first flag I pushed on and did two more today. I did all three flags in one day. Now mind you I did have to stop and do a few things around the house and so on, so I didn't work on these straight.  From start to finish, from tracing the flag to placing it on the figure took about 45 minutes.  That was also taking a few minutes to let paint dry and so on.

The middle flag is the one where I painted the sky grey on the white areas first before painting on the white.

The above photos are of the three flags I did in one day.  The red and yellow striped flag was my last one and it is ( I think) my best one.  These will now become part of the command stands for the army.

I do like this technique and I'm sure I will get better at it as I practice it more. I have a French army to work on next but I have decided that I will only use this procedure for the command stands.  The regular standard bears with the units will get paper flags.

I hope you found this interesting.  Please take a look at the video link if you want more details on creating your own banners.

Battle of Birmingham Meeting House 1777- Enfilade 2016

Our local convention, Enfilade, was this weekend and I ran my American Revolution battle during the first period on Friday the 27th.  Like my earlier play test post about this battle we used Eric Burgess' rules "Guns of Liberty" which you can find more about here: GOL.  This set of rules is fast becoming my go to set of AWI rules.  They play cleanly and within a turn or two the players are managing the game themselves.  I highly recommend them to anyone who has an interest in this period.  I had 4 players for my game which worked out very well. 

The figures are all 10mm on 1" square bases and the table size is 8' x 4'.  The scenario came from the book "An Army of Professionals 2nd edition" by Robert Haworth published by Stenhouse Game Productions.  This is great book with 8 scenarios with maps and army lists. I recommend this product as well.

Now on with the AAR for this battle.

The general pre-game setup. The British are on the far hill with the Patriots on the near hill with the woods and meeting house as their flanks. The game length is only 9 turns with each turn equaling 15 minutes of "real time". The scenario starts at 4pm.  Turns 8 and 9 are twilight and dusk.

On turn 1 the British had the restriction of only being able to move their cavalry and their light troops due to the 11 hour force march they had conducted that day. This is turn 2 with the rest of the British streaming off the hill and advancing to wipe the Patriots off the hill and hit Washington in the flank.

More British with the cavalry moving through the light woods in the hopes of going around the meeting house and flanking the Continentals.

The view of the oncoming British over the should of the Patriot commander Stirling. The Patriot cannons drew first blood while the Continental commanders performed a delaying retreat. 

As the British pushed forward the Continentals fell back forcing the British to chase them and never being able to bring their full weight of fire or melee advantage to use.

One of the Hessian units present at the battle continues to pursue the falling back Patriots.

The British light cavalry pushes through the light woods.

The British line advances hoping to catch the Continentals and let them feel their cold steel.

The meeting house in the back ground would see some bloody action soon.

The continentals using the meeting house to secure their flank as they wait and allowing the British to close and then falling back.

The lone battery inflicted causalities on the British enough to slow down some units as they regrouped and rallied.

The battle is coming to a head with the Continentals trading shots and using the stone walls to their advantage.

The Continental left falling back over the hill using the heavy woods to prevent the British from turning their flank.

General Greene arrives a little too late to do much with this battle.

The British light infantry opens fire on the retreating Patriots.

Causalities start to mount for the Patriots but they are able to hold their morale together for another turn. 

The 3rd Monmouth held their ground under withering British gun fire providing time for their friends to retreat.

The British march into the Continental musket fire and pay a heavy price.

Trading shots with the British, the Patriots inflict some damage.

The British crest the hill, firing at the retreating Patriots. Stand losses on the Patriots started to mount by turn 7 but it would be too little too late.

More British reinforcements arrive having to force march their way to the battle. 

The British make contact! The British seething with blood lust crash into the Continental line.

More contact made. The battle of the stone wall would be bloody.

The Patriots hold their ground and force the British to fall back from their failed melee.  

The battle for the meeting house was bloody as the Patriots held their own forcing the British back with heavy losses.

The Continental left didn't fair as well as the right. They took heavy losses and fell back in disorder or routed away.

The collapse of the Continental left gave the British hope but it was too late to win the day!

The above series of pictures shows the final positions at 6pm the final game turn with the British unable to break through the Continental line and sweep up Washington's flank at Brandywine!

The victorious Continental commanders! Their choice to fall back and put space between them and the British gave them the victory. Instead of standing their ground and fighting the battle out right they helped save Washington's army.

The British commanders exhausted from their force march and ensuing battle fell back for the night to rest and then retreat back to Philadelphia. 

Overall I was very pleased with the game.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and the players all enjoyed the rules.  It's time to paint more figures for this time period so I can put on larger battles!!!