Welcome to "First Rank - FIRE!"

"First Rank - Fire!" is the chronicle of two long-time hobbyist and their quest to budget their time and money in order to participate in the in the hobby of tabletop wargaming.

We hope you like our blog. We know your support and enthusiasm will keep us motivated to complete our armies and continue to grow in the hobby (In spite of our hectic schedules).

Friday, October 22, 2010

1st Place Prize from Battlefoam!

So one Saturday after a Cross-Country meet I am online checking results for my Sabinal Yellow Jacket Cross-Country Team.  After finding my reslts I decided to check on the results of the Battlefoam design custom trays for Warhammer Fantasy armies contest.  I scrolled down the page to the results an saw that I had won first place.  So I call Battlefoam and asked them about claiming my prize and they were absolutely fantastics.   I won the Battlefoam P.A.C.K. 1520 XL Custom Loadout  with a complete loadout of 22 inches of Battlefoam trays.  Romeo and his staff are great and really assisted me in getting the most of of my loadout.  When my bag arrived I was amazed at the quality of the contruction of the bag and trays.  The folks at Battlefoam truly make a quality product.

Thanks to all the staff at Battlefoam for such a generous prize package!

You can find their website at http://www.battlefoam.com/ .

-----Kyle

Thursday, April 1, 2010

"Hobby How To" Issue Number Two - Skulls Pits to Swamps


Here is the .pdf for converting skull pits to swamps on your Citadel Realm of Battle Table.  It is also available in the DOWNLOADS section.  I did not post the full article on the blog because of the length of the article.  I hope you enjoy this issue of  "Hobby How To".  Please leave us your thoughts on these articles so that we can improve on them.


Thanks,
Adept & The Captain

Monday, March 8, 2010

Broken Link Repaired

This is to let you all know that I repaired the broken link to the first "Hobby - How To" issue in the downloads section.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

The next issue is on the way.  I promise.

Later,

The Captain

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Table Update - Skull Pits to Swamp


 
This is the large swamp area.  The dark green flock represents the boundary of the difficult terrain created by the swamp.  The trail through the middle can be designated as a ford site.

 
This is a picture of the smaller swamp area. 

  

Here is the project so far.  I have some more flocking to do and some more details on the cliffs.
The next step-by-step Hobby How-To! - SWAMPS should be ready next week.

Thanks,
The Captain

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

New "Hobby - How to!" Section

Part of our goal with this blog is to share some of the techniques we have learned over the years. In the "Hobby - How to!" section you will find PDF files of our paint plans and some step-by-step instructions on how we completed some of our hobby projects.

Thanks!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Realm of Battle Table - PART 1: BASIC PAINTING




I started this project almost a year ago when I used two cans of Citadel Chaos Black Primer to prime all six panels. The table has been riding around in its carrying bag since then. So right before the holidays I broke out all my supplies and focused on completing the project.

PRIMER
2 cans of black spray primer - Citadel Chaos Black Primer works well but there are less expensive options available.

BRUSHES


These are the applicators pictured above.
3" Foam Trim Roller
Small rolling pan
1" Painter's Brush
1" Flat brush (Cheap Wal-Mart type)
Citadel Large Flat Drybrush
Citadel Tank Brush

PAINTS

...And here is a list of the paints I used (pictured above).
Ceramcoat Paints (available at Michael's)

Black
Magnolia White
Rain Grey

Citadel Paints
Brown (from the Citadel Scenery Painting Pack)
Ochre (from the Citadel Scenery Painting Pack)
Scorched Earth

STEP 1 - THE BASE COAT

Take the 3" foam roller and put two even coats of the Citadel Brown on each panel. I cheated big time on this step and let my four year old nephew go to town on the panels with the roller. He did a fantastic job and we had a great time. Way to go Tuckerman!

STEP 2 - THE BASE COATING THE CLIFFS AND ROCKS

Using the 1" paintbrush paint all of the rock and cliff areas Ceramcoat Black.


STEP 3 - THE FIRST DRYBRUSH

 
Flat Areas
Use the 1" Paintbrush to drybrush the rest of the board with Citadel Ochre.
Rocks
Using a 1" flat brush apply a heavy drybrush of a 1:1 Ceramcoat Black and Ceramcoat Rain Grey mixture to all of the rock areas.

STEP 4 - THE SECOND DRYBRUSH

Again, using the 1" flat brush apply a medium drybrush of Ceramcoat Rain Gray to the rock areas.

STEP 4 - THE THIRD DRYBRUSH AND EDGE SHADING

Rocks
To finish the rocks use a Citadel Large Flat Drybrush to apply a final drybrush of Ceramcoat Magnolia White to all the rock and cliff areas.
Shading
Using a Citadel Tank Brush stiple around the borders of the rocky areas using a 1:1 mixture of Citadel Brown and Ceramcoat Black.

STEP 5 - FIRST DRYBRUSH ON THE SHADED AREAS

Using Citadel Large Flat Drybrush apply apply a medium drybrush of Citadel Brown to around the borders of the rocky areas.



STEP 6 - SECOND DRYBRUSH ON THE SHADED AREAS


Repeat Step 8 above using Citadel Ochre.

THE COMPLETED TABLE

Well...There you have it the first installment on painting you very own Citadel Realm of Battle Table. In the next update I will show you how to hide all those pesky piles of bones and skulls.

COMING SOON ---  Realm of Battle Table - PART 1: BASIC PAINTING in .pdf format

Thanks for your time and happy painting!

The Captain






The Realm of Battle Table for Any Scale!



This update takes "First Rank - FIRE!" in a slightly different direction. I wanted to complete the Citadel Realm of Battle Table I have been carrying around for over a year now. After careful consideration Adept and I decided that we wanted the table to work for any scale. I have seen over 25 completed Realm of Battle Tables and I took what I thought were the best techniques and combined them to create multi-scale table. However, with all the skulls and bones scattered about and the pits with the skulls I knew it would take a little work to make the table work for scales ranging from 15mm to 54mm.

I broke the process up into several parts:

1. Basic Painting.
2. How do I get rid of those pesky skulls?
3. What the Flock?
4. Creating a "Swamp" to fill in the skull pits.

The first installment is almost ready to publish!

Thanks,


The Captain