Saturday, November 28, 2020

First, strip your figures...

Hauling the figures off the lead pile the other day made me look again at the collection of Minifigs 15mm medieval stuff I was given years ago. I now think they're far more appropriate for the First Barons War of 1215-1217, when King John refused to abide by the terms of Magna Carta, sparking a revolt in the Kingdom. This is a good thing because it means more actions were fought than occurred during the later war, and the abortive French involvement gives scope for another faction. 

The only issues I have with these is they will need broken spears and lances replaced (an unfortunate fact of life with Minifigs), and the existing paint has to be stripped off. The replacement is going to be a bugger, involving trimming off the broken parts and drilling out the hands to accept wire spears and lances. A look online turned up many different methods for stripping old paint off figures, but soaking them in isopropyl alcohol for a couple of days seems to be the easiest and cheapest for me to use.

Rules-wise, I read good things of Lion Rampant. The collection I have now is adequate for a couple of core retinues, and I'll only need some mounted sergeants and a few more crossbowmen to have a diverse force to choose from.


4 comments:

Matt Crump said...

Re purposing old figures can be time consuming but very rewarding if they can get on the battlefield.👍

A J said...

Agreed. I was given these in the late 80s. Some look the worst for wear, most need paint stripping off them, but others only need a clean up and a coat of matte varnish to dull the shine of the original paint job.

Anonymous said...

I really prefer Simple Green for stripping paint off of figures. Been using it very successfully for years. Works on metal alloys and plastics. Also, doesn’t harm plastics if you forget about a jar for a couple of years. Added bonus, it’s biodegradable and you won’t be breathing the alcohol fumes. Though I do use rubber washing up gloves when using it. Hope that’s of some help.
~ TT

A J said...

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.

 

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