Sharp Practice - WFR Russian Jager Officer (Nick)

Another one finished courtesy of the new 'paint on brush' every day routine mentioned last time, it's definitely working (and I hear Carl's still on track too, with some Roman archers no less).

This time a Russian Jager officer as a counterpart to the French officer in the last post, and another 'rescued' Contrast Paints experiment - again, figure from the Wars of the French Revolution range by Eureka Miniatures:

This one actually took longer to finish than anticipated as the finer details took some complex, cross-referenced research but I now feel a lot more confident going forward although NCO's and troops are different again!

I guess the good news is that in the meantime paint has been thrown at other random models so there might be more finished before year end.

Sharp Practice - WFR French Chasseurs Officer (Nick)

Time to hang out the bunting and ignite the fireworks? ...maybe not, but another miniature has been completed as the nights draw in at the end of the year.

Yet another departure from anything I've done before, and my first proper Napoleonic(ish) figure since those Airfix plastics of my youth - I say Napoleonic(ish) as it's a French Light Infantry officer from Eureka Miniatures and their 'Wars of the French Revolution' range, a completely new period for me just before what is generally accepted as the Napoleonic era and quite fascinating.

Starting as another experiment with Games Workshop's range of Contrast Paints this one didn't quite go to plan originally and so was put to one side in shame!

This last week he has been 'rescued' with the application of some highlights and detail using more usual acrylic paints and techniques, and I'm beginning to see how useful the Contrast Paints can be when used in conjunction with other mediums as a basecoat & wash all in one - something my good friend James Morris suggested when I was looking at buying into the Contrast Paints.

This week has also been a revelation for both myself and Carl's painting regime, as we had both stalled due to other commitments and finding it very hard to find time and/or motivation for a 'painting session' - then YouTube suggested I watch a video by the always excellent Zumikito Miniatures on how to get/keep yourself motivated to paint on a regular basis: 6 tips to paint more miniatures when MOTIVATION is low

Now we already know about being set up ready to go, and removing other distractions etc. but the one thing that stood out for me, and then Carl when I shared it, was his #4: set an easy daily target ie. put some paint on your brush even if you don't paint anything - silly as it may sound it was just what we needed, and a real game changer that hit home with both of us... the above is just one on the results for me, and Carl has finished at least one figure too so one week into painting rehab and we're both doing good and getting to our paint station at least once every day because of it.

Onwards and upwards, I can hear my paint station calling and a brush with no paint on it... Vive la France!

Warhammer 40k - Ork Boy (Nick)

Yes, it finally happened, I managed to move something from the half finished to the done pile... and it's only taken me 16 1/2 months since the last one!

What a crazy year it's been and this certainly isn't what I expected to be my first and, so far, only finished miniature to show for it - an Ork boy from Games Workshop.

The inspiration to dig out my 40k Orks came with the release of the latest edition of the 40k rules and the new narrative 'Crusade' style of gaming, which instinctively appealed to both myself and Carl and the way we like to play (when we can once more that is).
I know one of Carl's ongoing 40k armies are old skool 80-90's Orks, which I have quite a few of myself, but I also have a good handful of the newer style Orks even though these too are about 10 years old (but never got beyond a few being built).

With this in mind we decided to have an inter-clan Ork rivalry as the basis for our Crusade campaign, or more specifically as both of us favour the same Bad Moons clan, an 'old' Warboss vs 'new' Warboss power struggle and the 'War of da Teef' was born (Orks use teeth as currency, and Bad Moons are known to grow theirs quicker than other Orks).

As I was effectively starting this project from scratch (even though I already have just enough figures to build the required force), I decided it was an ideal opportunity to upgrade the boyz with the new, larger 32mm round bases and keep all the 25mm ones for something at a later date - might as well bring them up to date while I'm at it?
It was also an ideal opportunity to experiment with Games Workshop's 'Contrast Paints', something which I've been wanting to try and bought into very soon after 'lockdown' came into effect earlier this year.

I started with a brown Zenithal highlight prime using Badger Stynylrez 'Ebony Flesh' primer followed by Vallejo 'Skeleton Bone' surface primer at a 45° angle, an idea I had picked up from a suggestion in one of the excellent Little Wars TV YouTube videos - the idea being that it creates added depth to the 'contrast' effect but with a warmer colour than a standard black/white Zenithal prime (especially important for the yellow colour scheme) but also muting the 'bubblegum' finish often seen with the Contrast paints over their standard base coat.

This guy is 90% Contrast Paints over the Zenithal prime with just the metal being in gunmetal metallic and Strong Tone wash, and the yellow armour receiving a quick Skeleton Bone highlight and Golden Yellow glaze to bring the brown/yellow of the Nazdreg Yellow contrast paint back up to a warmer shade I was happy with - before adding some scratches and chipping, an extra level of detailing for what is otherwise is supposed to be quick paint job but something I felt it needed and quite a focal point of the model.

I also decided to try out my new portable LED Lightbox from Green Stuff World which worked very well I think, and certainly provided plenty of light just where it was needed... I didn't even require my usual mini tripod either.

So one down and plenty more to go, I certainly won't be completing a figure per day this year (much like the previous attempts then!) but hopefully I can get a few more table-ready before 2020 thankfully draws to a close - several are quite close already.

2019 that was, and into 2020... what's left of it! (Nick)

After quite a promising start to 2019 various changes with work made it very difficult to really get stuck into anything with any conviction, especially setting up my own business which then meant all my 'spare' time was gone - so including the pin markers I only completed 5 minis last year... eek!!

2020 - well unless you've been in outer space you already know what a weird year we've had, and while others were furloughed and got stuck into their Lead Mountains for me work just got busier and busier - coupled with the non-existent gaming opportunities as an incentive meant a lot of stop/start and half finished projects but mostly working evenings, weekends and/or sleep.

I know Carl has painted stuff although I'm not sure what and how much, but most is being saved for his next publication which is due very soon I believe - hopefully he will find time to pop by sometime and give us all an update as I reckon he must have at least 50+ minis not shown yet.

Not much of the year left now, however my brushes have been dusted off at last and things might start to happen... no promises though! LOL!!

Bolt Action - Fallschirmjäger (Nick)

I only finished the first of my Aussies just the other week, but with the 75th D-Day Anniversary fast approaching surprise, surprise yet another change of tack from me and one of those other projects that I mentioned was calling to me at the end of my last post!

Once again another miniature that has been waiting over two years to see completion, however on this occasion not even so much as primer had been applied just cleaned up and stuck on a base along with some buddies ready for the painting to start.

This is a project I started to join in with a Bolt Action campaign when a last minute Axis place became available, and I specifically needed something suitable for Normandy which I didn't have.
As time was of the essence and generally preferring metal miniatures when practical I plumped for the original Fallschirmjäger range from Warlord Games, wonderfully evocative sculpts as ever from the talented Paul Hicks.

The campaign (which never really got going) would have required my core troops to be regular rather than veteran Fallschirmjäger, however a quick chat with my good friend, and font of WW2 knowledge, Andy Singleton followed by some Googling and I would be portraying the Fallschirmjäger 3rd Division, in particular the newly formed 9th Regiment.

I struggled for quite some time deciding how best to paint this one (probably the main reason I stalled so long), in particular the Splittermuster B (splinter pattern) camo and the colours to use for this and all the equipment.

In the end I used a culmination of information found in articles by the afore mentioned Mr Singleton (link) (link) of Volley Fire Painting Services, Stuart McCorquodale (link) of Great Escape Games and the go-to Mick Farnworth (link) and his Artizan Designs painting guides.
I also found this excellent blog as my final inspiration to get started (using the same minis too), as well as the colours suggested in the relevant Vallejo paint collection from Warlord Games - always a good reference.

Many of the Vallejo colours I ended up using were in fact Model Air equivalents of Model Colour paints I didn't have, but applied with a brush.  However this isn't much of a problem as they work really well especially on small, intricate areas like the camo scheme where having the paint slightly thinned is an advantage anyway.
Basing was deliberately finished to match the 101st Airborne I completed in January.

Hopefully I can follow this up quickly with the other FJ's that are primed and ready to go, so that Carl and I can get some games in based around Hill 192 and St Lô in the historically authentic June and July period - then Operation Cobra maybe!

Bolt Action - Austalian Jungle Division (Nick)

Well it's been a while but finally the second actual miniature of the year is finished, with several stalled attempts/projects in the meantime - and while it may look like I'm still doing better than Carl he just hasn't managed to blog his progress yet and is actually miles ahead of me!

This time the first of my Australian Jungle Division for Papua New Guinea from Warlord Games and the chance to try a few new ideas.

This is another one that has been part painted for over 18 months, being just base coated with ultra quick pva/brown ballast basing for a new release display/demo at The Other Partizan back in August 2017 - thankfully the rather poor lighting in the darkest depths of the hall saved many blushes on the day!

The good news this time is that a load of his buddies are also in the same part painted state, so I could in theory have 500pts up and running in no time.

 

I followed what are commonly suggested colours for the uniform, especially the recommendations from Bryan Cook in the FREE Australian Bolt Action pdf (with him being a bit of a guru for all things Australian and WW2 related,  and an Antipodean himself) which is also at the core of the even more excellent Campaign: New Guinea supplement for which this range of figures was released.
Although I did substitute Vallejo Game Colour 64 Yellow Olive for the uniform as I didn't have any Model Colour 888 Olive Grey to hand at the time and they are near identical, and for some reason that escapes me the helmet started as Brown Violet rather than Russian Uniform but it 'all came good in the wash' as they say and we all know campaign uniforms aren't an exact science anyway.

This particular mini has been a bit of a personal battle for me as for some reason it just wouldn't go right, a mix of old and new techniques and impatience to get it finished being the culprits I think - in the end I had to keep walking away and coming back for another go until it took me a week of 20mins here and there to get a result I was happy with.

One of the biggest issues seems to be the areas of exposed skin, I think maybe the detail is a lot softer than the previous US Airborne figure and I had to do more work with the brush in this instance rather than the sculpt doing the work for me.

The basing was a chance to try out the Fine Base Render from Warlord Games/War World Scenics as it was something I obtained at a similar time as the figures were released and wanted a chance to compare against my usual Basetex from Colour Party - at the time I was also trying to keep everything Warlord for the demo force.

It worked pretty much as expected although seemed grittier and less compliant than my usual, however this could be down to storage and is easily overcome with a small amount of water.

Another product I've been waiting to try is Puddles by AK Interactive (which I picked up from the excellent PK-Pro at Tactica Hamburg, a superb show in Germany which I was fortunate to visit 2 years ago) and the often 'very' wet conditions of the New Guinea Jungle floor seemed an ideal opportunity although I didn't want to go too mad.
Before I dived in and applied it to my finished model I checked out a few clips on YouTube, especially the one from AK themselves: link definitely something I would recommend especially as it showed that although pre-coloured the finish is essentially clear unless you add extra colourisation of your own.

So all in all progress this year is somewhat pedestrian for me (nothing new there), and the bad news is that the last 2-3 weeks have seen me changing project more than half a dozen times before anything stuck just long enough to see its way onto and off the painting table as finished - even now with the next of these Aussies in progress other things are calling to me!
It seems I'm doomed to a life as the worst of hobby butterflies, there is no hope anymore... we'll just have to wait and see if any more beautiful butterflies emerge from this extended period of gestation and cogitation, but don't hold your breath.

Pin Markers (Nick)

Do these count as completed miniatures? ...I don't know to be honest, but I'm going to count them anyway just don't tell Carl shhhh!

I first made these as bespoke Pin Markers while playtesting Rick Priestley's 'Warlords of Erehwon' fantasy rules, released just a few weeks ago by Warlord Games!
Originally developed under a different working title, these are an adaptation of the 'Beyond the Gates of Antares' sci-fi rules and affectionately referred to as 'Fantares' during the early stages.

Pin markers are a way of showing a unit's level of attrition and combat efficiency during the game and was first introduced by Warlord in their best selling Bolt Action WWII game.  Whilst very appropriate in the games where firepower and artillery bombardment are prominent and often represented with small explosion tokens like the red plastic ones Warlord Games sell it didn't sit quite right with me.  I wanted something that seemed more in keeping with the fantasy/medieval setting we were gaming, and they could easily be used as more traditional wound markers or even a turn counter.

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These are the first two prototypes I designed from scratch in Tinkercad as files for 3D printing on my Wanhao i3 plus filament printer, and thought it was about time I painted them up ready for battle.  There have been several changes in design to tweak certain elements as well as trying both PET-G and PLA filaments, however they all functional for my own games until I settle on the final design which I may put into production.

The first design spins on two 3mm neodymium magnets to show numbers from 1-10...

...whereas the other has a 3mm peg as part of the design instead:

Not sure which ideas will win out, but I may just paint them all up as easy wins and tabletop eye candy... oh and I might just have to paint some more minis too!