sixtwentyeight

Taking a break

2011-12-12T22:47:00.001+09:00

I'm taking a break. There are a few projects that interest me but the models and figures are not released yet, so I can wait. I have built quite a number of armies for me to enjoy or lend to friends now and I think a break from the blog will be very beneficial to refresh myself and come back with new ideas and models.

I must confess that I also found a big interest in Android and tablet programming and it's taking time. It's been years since I have been interested so much in a gadget and I really want to understand what it is all about. There are many small Apps I'm interested to develop and probably some for gaming as well.

So for the next few months I will be programming, and then (maybe) I will re-emerge. My mind is quite taken by this at the moment and once my curiosity is satisfied it will then be great opportunity for me to discover all the new releases that I have been missing. I'll be gaming and programming so I won't be too far away, just busy.

Nvertheless, I really wish to thank you all for the follow up, advice, interest. I have enjoyed this journey that I made recently in miniature painting and I hope to see you some time next year.

See you in 2012 and above all, Merry Christmas and happy New year!

BK

I'm probably stupid

2011-12-11T05:36:00.000+09:00

These are the army list books I have purchased for the V2. Six of them are rapidly becoming (or on the way to become) obsolete.
Can someone explain to me how for Pete's sake WWII units can become obsolete?

15mm Pz IV/70 - redux

2011-12-08T19:51:00.000+09:00

New version for Pz IV/70 hard edge camo

For some strange reason I like quite much this model. Probably because it is lean and mean box, and lends itself quite well to camouflage painting like a blank canvas.

In any case, I wanted to do a new version of the previous ones with more hard edge strips.

Comparison shots for soft edge camo and hard edge camo.

First version from a few months ago

New version December 2011

I liked quite much the first version that I had painted but unfortunately, I sold them as I made mysefl the promise that I would finance the armies and purchases with models.It nevertheless provided me valuable experience to directly use in the generation two models.

The painting steps are rather straightfoward:

basecoat
shading
first layer (the top paint actually...)
masking with silly putty
second layer (the base paint of the real life vehicule, should be last indeed)
chipping with a sponge
filter (adds depth to the model)
highlights & details
gloss varnish
decals and gloss varnish (direct from BF's video tutorial)
pin wash
Mat varnish

after shading the base coat

a first base coat of dark yellow (ligthen up)

The pattern added with Silly putty

Olive grun then sprayed

the models once the putty was removed

Application of a filter (on the right model)

details are painted, some highlight is done then gloss varnish

The finished model after decals and mat varnish

I thought at first that the decals were a bit small, eventually, I saw many examples where the numbers were as big as the identification crosses, so I'm fine with them.

As for painting, what have we learned:
What went well:

I like a lot the use of a very lighten up "dark yellow", it makes weathering a lot easier and looks better at this scale in my humble opinion
The silly putty works wonder and doesn't damage the paint underneath as blu-tac
The models with their customized sculpts are very nice, not overdone and keep things interesting
High

What could be better:

I figured out that the masking could have been made with two strips of silly putty, one as I used and one more on top zigzagging to add more randomness to the previous one. To try.
The decal may be a bit small but historical evidence show they are actually fine
I'm not sure I'd really do the mud again on the wheels. I didn't do it on the first generation models and I liked them like that.
The decals in the box are still offset and eventually useless
The tankers come in two different poses that are very similar and quite frankly one could have expected more from a premium box set.

Two exceptional pictures

2011-11-30T08:02:00.002+09:00

Panther Box

Late War red primer

I stumbled upon these pictures when I was researching WWII German tanks camouflage. From memory, the first one was taken by a gentleman in the 80s(?) and is a factory painted camouflage from very likely a Panther box.

The second one is maybe from a Jagdpanzer IV/70, very late war, with markings and camouflage painted over the red primer. It is doubly interesting as we get an idea of the primer color and of the dark yellow. The dark yellow is very much orangish in hue. For some reason, the words of a veteran still echo in my head saying that Dunkelgeb was more a honey like color.

In any case, I find those pieces of History quite astonishing and certainly of interest to the WWII painters.

Important remark: As much as I would like to credit in full the people who took those pictures, I can't. I don't know where I found them. For the sake of fairness, please if you are the person who took one of those pictures, let me know and I will credit you in full, unless you disagree with their posting. If you would like me to take down these pictures, let me know as well.

In regard of the extremely high historical interest, I am sharing them with the rest of the web and hope the rightful owners won't be offended. I really wish I could ask you for authorization to use them. Apologies.

Hetzers 15mm (forged in Battle)

2011-11-25T21:36:00.001+09:00

Forged in Battle Hetzer

Here are some Hetzers I had for 4-5 months already without really finding the time to paint them. Actually, I was waiting for new airbrush paints that I briefly mentioned in my previous post from DOA. I'll come back to the colors later but my airbrush never worked better with those paints!

I wanted to try out some camo with hard edges. I was deliberately avoiding an ambush scheme so as not to tie my tanks specifically to the Ardennes.

This is more or less an experiment. For this purpose I used silly putty. It worked like a charm, stuck to my models without destroying the paint under and very easy to remove.

I basecoated the tanks with a dark brown as usual. Instead of shading them, I painted them in green with my airbrush then highlighted the raised panels with a lighter green (mix of olivegrun and cream). Honestly, I regret having done so and think I would have had better results by shading the tanks first.

Green highlights and masking

I masked the tank with silly putty (some sort of child putty that sticks to everything without being sticky...). I then sprayed my dark yellow that I heavily cut with cream.

applying yellow (first modestly...)

...then more heavily

I covered my yellow parts with an additional layer of silly putty and then sprayed a brown over the models. Removing the silly putty, I then had sort of a hard edge pattern.

I was not entirely happy with the pattern but weathering always helps. Filter, pin wash, chipping and grime did help in the end getting the models where I wanted them to be.

The finished models

Since everyone is always asking, here are a few comparison shots with a model I had from Battlefront.

FIB on the left and BF on the right

The models are a bit different in shape

Honestly, I couldn't tell which one is more accurate than the other, having painted both, I would say that the FIB's look more delicate and angular while BF's is more chunky and squashed. Out of pure guess, I would say FIB's are more "realistic" but honestly, I don't want to start any war or any crap of that sort. Both separately can be played without any problems.

So, what have we learned?

The positive:

Forged in battle Hetzers are quite nice and very easy to assemble (3 parts if I remember well: gun, machinegun and main body)
DOA paints are very good to airbrush
The silly putty works a lot better than what I thought initially as a mask
Applying mud like suggested by the FOW painter works well (first wet brush dark sand, then wet brush on top dark leather)
When I bought the Hetzer platoon it was GBP 17.10, it costs now GBP 18.50. The same platoon from FOW costs GBP 27

The less positive:

DOA paints are nice to apply, however they are very dark and better suited for 1/35 scale. I don't like so much their green which tends to be close to "bottle green", and the brown is quite on the dark side as well. You need to mix the paints to get a lighter tone.
The pattern is not what I had in mind initially. It is a first try and I will need to sketch my patterns beforehand, it will help in the planning and painting.
I painted first the green base as it was in reality on late war tanks however using mask it actually works better to paint yellow and brown first then green. Competely counter-intuitive, at least for me.

new stuff - some purchases

2011-11-22T20:25:00.001+09:00

DOA paints

Here are acrylics from DOA. It's a new range specialized in armor paints. I bought a late war assortment for my German vehicles and will try them very soon. The dark yellow is a bit more yellowish than Vallejo's middlestone. They recommend to mix it with white.

grenade blasts from armorcast

I saw these painted and they really look good as artillery markers. In the background, there are flamethrower's flames that I intend to try as wreck markers. The brand is Armorcast for anyone interested. I think they are originally designed for Warhammer 40,000 but I'm sure they will work fine for WWII 15mm.

Another company of T-34

I eventually bought two more boxes of T-34s from the Plastic Soldier Company to make a tankovy army. I painted all the extra turrets PSC provides so I have the T34/85 and T34/76

German elite 15mm

2011-11-13T19:57:00.000+09:00

First platoon with command HQ

So here are some new troops I finished painting last week. This was actually a longish project and I took my time. I am not really sure I need those troops but here they are, my attempt I elite Germans.

Back of 1st platoon

Bases were made for late summer/early spring. I was rather thinking at first to paint them for autumn, early winter but I thought that Battlefront would be releasing a new set for the Bulge and I could paint the new set with muddy bases instead.

2nd Platoon

The faces were not so good compared to the Udarnys and it was a major disappointment. While the poses were quite dynamic, teh casting of the faces forces me to recreate the features with paints, not ideal.

2nd platoon back

Thinking it over, I think that after the uniformity of the zyllion soviets, I need to paint something highly different with a variety of colors and patterns. With Oakleaf autumn, Summer and peadot, I was probably painting a little more than I bargained for, but hey, they always say becareful for what you wish for... don't they?

The paints used for the autumn oak leaf were as follow:

Oakleaf Autumn

The Devlan wash from GW was to give a greyish tone to the base coat with 873. Whereas the Ogryn flesh wash was to give a reddish hue to the base coat for the summer pattern,

Oakleaf summer

One trick that worked well for the peadot pattern was to paint the camo over the base so as to let appear dots rather than painting the dot themselves. It worked quite well and saved a huge amount of time.

Generally speaking, if I were to do it again (probably next series), I would highlight again the lightest colors to really give volume to the figures. I think the camo could stand out even more. I'm happy how the figures turned out, there is always room for improvement of course.

So painting those troops what have we learned?

The good:

I'm quite happy with the colors for the camo pattern, they look 1944 enough for me
a drop of paint in the glue for the base, before sprinkling with the grass helps giving it volume and prevent "tranparency"
Again, strong contrast is key to define well the colors. I like for instance how the weapons look like piece of engineering and not a dark stick
I think that 3 to 4 figs a base looks a lot more to "scale" that 4-5. More space between the men, looks better in my humble opinion (and you have less to paint anyway)
The brass wire worked very well at representing the spent cartridges of the MGs.

The bad & uggly:

Honestly, while the poses of the figures were good, the casting of the faces was very disappointing and it is not a set that I would like to purchase again
I'd like to try even lighter colors for the light parts of the camo to really have a strong contrast
Painting elite german troops was mostly a work of self-indulgence that takes time and in regard of what I'm interested to play maybe not all that necessary...

PanzerKompanie 1750 pts

2011-11-11T20:07:00.002+09:00

1750 points of Fortress Europe PanzerKompanie

Here is the first outing in a long time of troops I had available to build up a late war Panzer Kompanie. Not all the best painting and I could revisit some stuff, but I suppose that they'll honorably do.

2 x Stug IIIG (HQ)
4 x Stug IIIG
4 x PZ IVH
Scout Platoon (3 squads, Swimmwagen)
Fallschirmjaeger Platoon 3 squads
4 x 105mm battery
3 x Nebelwerfer 41
2 objectives

Not a power list obviously but it will be for West front. The para are late war from Resistant Roosters and actually I enjoy them very much. I may either rebase them, or buy a new pack or wait for what BF will release in the first quarter of 2012.

I am re-doing the Pz IVs, the Stugs and the para. But I have them under hand and they will fight meanwhile.

I'm still building up my brand new "panzer lehr" themed lists. So Sunday we are going to fight US paratroopers and I hope we will do well.

Soviet 120mm Mortars (update for Justin!)

2011-11-06T20:42:00.002+09:00

Soviet 120mm Mortars

A small mortar unit, well, still 120mm. This delivers quite a heavy payload. For some reason, I really wanted this unit in my Soviet arsenal.
I have now

82mm mortars
120mm mortars
Katyusha
122mm artillery guns (to be painted)

The figs were quite nice, same as the Udarny standard. I really enjoy these sculpts better than the "fatty" generation from mid-war. Next week, I'll try to put online a battle report US paras vs Germans

Update 7th of November:
How could I forget talking about the bases?...

Yes, I found something that works well (inspired from the BF guys) when one has to paint a lot of Soviets and doesn't want to do it until retirement.

So bases are pretty simples, my receipe is mainly a dark coat and dry brushing. What really makes them is the static grass and outgrowth.

The grass is from mininatur/Siflor ref 002-24, called autumn grass if I remember correctly but the reference number is the correct one. For the outgrowth DONOT use the one sold under the mininatur reference. The color simply doesn't match with the grass. Maybe it was a "bad" lot, I don't know but the colors don't match and it ends up not being the effect I was after of irregular length of grass.

What did work for me instead was to used Army painter tufts (the winter ones 100% sure) that are supposedly sold under autumn for minatur because they are supposed to be the same but with a different packaging (and name). Confused? Well yes, I fully understand!

In short: mininatur/Siflor ref 002-24 + Army painter tuft (winter)

What worked particularly well to add intensity to the grass was to color the white glue with a paint the same color as the grass (a mix of beige and dark green). It helps creating the impression of volume for the grass instead of having a semi-"transparent" coverage.

Battle of the Bulge then and now (book)

2011-11-03T21:10:00.002+09:00

Here is an excellent book from Jean-Pallud about the Battle of the Bulge. This book is over 500 pages of gems. Many famous pictures from very different perspectives explaining a lot better the context. You can then better visualize the armored columns involved, who did what, when and around where.

I have heard this book had acquired a mystical aura since it was published in the 80s and I can understand why. Below, is an example of jewels that you can find inside: the position of the abandoned vehicles of Kampfgruppe Peiper in La Gleize. No less!

So yes, at least 5 King Tigers, 14 Panthers, fewer PZ IV, and 6 x Grille, plus numerous sdkfz 251.

Remember this picture of the Skorzeny commandoes in front of a firing squad? The author found the place and the exact wall where they were shot. One of the pictures is actually the opposite direction, the landscape they last saw. It does add a sense of depth and perspective that I haevn't found in other books.
This book is like that, many pictures of where it was, what it was. You wanted to know how was the US column destroyed at Poteau, what position of vehicles? It's all in there. All black and white though, probably due to the date of publication, good glossy paper.

These guys are obsessed in locating every spot, understanding what exactly happened. It is not by chance that Mr. Pallud is credited with finding the location where Michael Wittman and his crew were burried in Normandy as anonymous soldiers.

Sometimes, you have to admit, an author does impress you a tidy bit more than the rest. This book as a whole is all about this.

Shopping around on ebay, I got this baby for a reasonable price. It must be the 5th book that I have on the Bulge and certainly one I wanted to finish with

15mm PSC sdkfz 251/D review

2011-10-24T21:54:00.000+09:00

the new boxes freshly delivered from today

I was waiting for these for quite a few days already. Each boxes contains five models and an instruction sheet. The plastic is slightly hard. I have been using Tamiya's liquid cement with no particular issue.

Each boxes contains 5 sprues to build 5 models

What one can notice immediately are the tracks molded to the wheels and lots of extra storage to customize your halftrack. There are also 2 drivers and 7 men.

One sprue will build you one halftrack

The figures are a bit smaller that Battlefront's. They look like 14 years old compared to the FOW figures. I have put below a shot of a spare FOW Soviet tank rider (latest generation).

PSC on the left, BF on the right

The assembly was very smooth and all the pieces fall beautifully together. The seats were a bit tedious to glue but not all that bad, it's just I should have used tweezers to place them instead of using my big fingers.

Here below is a comparison shot of the assembled model. I reckon it should take 15 to 20 minutes to build with a bit organization.

The model on the top is PSC's and below is a sdkfz 251/C from Battlefront. To be noticed that it is a model from the single packs from 6 years ago and the "individually" sculpted ones recently released might have changed in size.

in my view, they are quite compatible

PSC's D model on lthe eft, BF's C model on the right

I haven't managed to figure out whether the D model is indeed longer than the C model. However BF's seems indeed at 1/100 when I measured it.

Kerr & King's D model on the right, BF's C model on

I don't know whether the length is correct or not but the models are quite nice

15mm German artillery or "no lead left behind"

2011-10-23T16:53:00.004+09:00

105mm Battery

Really time to finish... At the moment, my Volksgrenadiers unit is rather complete and I am just painting up the spare packs that I had bought (no lead left behind...).

105mm, mix of figures from the pack and extra in camo smocks

The 105mm will not necessarily see gaming time as every list I am building seems to end up with Nebelwerfers... Anyway, they are painted and it gives me the satisfaction of not having piles of packs and boxes unopened and unpainted.

I was planning to use Hetzers for my Volkgrenadiers but some time ago I bought pre-painted Stugs from Ebay. With the five other stugs that I have from BF that will make 12 tanks of the same type. I wonder what I can do with so many AFVs?... Anyway FOW wants my money and everybody seems to have received bits of it.

Stug III G

What I am appreciating with this ebay purchase is that they are already assembled and painted in dak yellow. I did some weathering, highlighted here and there details, put some decals. The end result is nicely functional. The next vehicles will be camouflaged.

Here again, a platoon that may not see much gaming time but it was bought and it's therefore painted. I liked the guys holding the bipods and chose the pack for this reason even though they are mid war. I was not being very inspired by the late war offerings in terms of sculpts. Some figures in camouflaged smocks were added for LW flavor.

what went well:

Painting stuff instead of letting it pile up has a special taste of satisfaction that balances out the semi uselessness of the initial purchase...
Ebay purchase of pre-assembled and pre-painted Stugs at a discount

what could have been better:

I kind of feel a mild unease with the stuff I am painting while I'm not quite sure it is all that necessary. We could rationalize it as "it will be possible to try out different list combinations"...

More stuff in the works - Germans

2011-10-14T05:55:00.049+09:00

81mm Mortar

The mortars are being finished. I need to complete the bases and they will be done.

105mm gun battery

And here are the 105mm artillery support for the Germans. Both the mortar platoon and the battery took me less time to paint than what I thought it would take. The guns especially were sprayed using the speed painting technique of dark base, shading and veil of the main color. I left them in a fairly generic dunkelgelb (dark yellow) color. Just did some chipping and added details.

Hetzers from Forged in Battle

The hetzer from Forged in Battle are very nice. What I like particularly about them is the crisp casting and minimum assembly they require. These are huge time savers from me. Some people don't like the bases. Honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much. I even would not be so obsessed as to base all my tanks or have all of them without base. When I am painting and playing, I am focusing on the tanks. Infantry and guns are based anyway...

These Hetzers will strengthen my Volksgrenadier list. I have not decided whether the camouflage will be the famous ambush pattern or not. Going for this type of camo limits pretty much the time for action to Dec 1944.

BF Pz IV G

I am a bit sorry about this box from Battlefront. I wish I had known about PSC's models. I did not like the plastic schurzen that are not as nicely sculpted as the metal ones. I found it also very fiddly to put them on with all the tiny bits for hanging them on the side of the Pz IV. But worst sin of all, they weren't designed with tabletop gaming in mind. They looked extremely fragile to manipulate and I could easily imagine how they'd fall apart if no extra care is taken handling them. So I glued the schurzens directly by putting some sort of hard putty between the plates and the flanks of the tanks: it fills the space in between and one can press as hard as he wants, the schurzens will stay in place. In this case, I think BF fell into then"more is less" syndrom, just had then to do less to get more...

These will be my generic medium tank force for the panzer or mechanized units

BF PZIV/70

Here are very nice models from BF. I really liked the PZIV models (see my post 15mm Panzer IV/70). I sold the first lot as promised to myself so that I could finance other purchases. So this group will be painted for my own gaming to represent another Ardennes unit.

BF Stug III G with ridders

Last but not least, one of my favorite tank model. I know that PSC is releasing soon a box of Stug III but I think these are very nicely modeled - they have a "cute" aspect to them - stowage is really nice, the metal schurzen are much better than the plastic ones. They have rivets, they have separation lines on both sides and they hold on the wheels quite easily thanks to some bits molded onto them (the bits that are extruding on the pic). So I'm quite happy with this lot. I think it has much character. I was disappointed that no crew member is manning the external machinegun and you have to buy the hero box (panzerkanonen IIRC) if you want this particular pose.

I have no clue to what list I am going to use them as basically I was aiming mostly at a combination of PZ IV and Panthers. However, Stug III are versatile and ubiquitous, and I'm sure I will find a use for them in "secondary" lists.

What's next:

The German hardware will be at one stage augmented with 17 x PFC's sdkz 251/D, 3 x Puma , 3 z Sdkfz 250/9 and 3 x sdkfz 10/5 from Forged in Battle. If PFC releases in time Panthers than 5 more will join the lot and I will paint everything together. Then I will need a Tiger II, 2 x Ostwind and a Wilberwind... hmm

PFC's Sdkfz 251/D

Puma's from Forged In Battle for Panzer Lher reco platoon

Sdkfz 250/9 for standard late war reco

Some more Soviet armor

2011-10-07T04:19:00.000+09:00


10 x T70 and 3 x IS2 from gaming models

It roughly took me 3 hours to complete those tanks. The shading method works better and better in my opinion. I didn't paint them with too much detail and dedication but the models look quite stunning at a gaming distance. The contrast and variation with the different shades of green makes them very interesting and adds a lot of volume to the models. It gives them "presence" and volume on the table. The digital pictures tend to erase this a bit but I'm very pleased by the effect, It makes my Soviet armor a lot more interesting even in full green.

I bought the T-70 for Fortress Europa army lists as I wanted something light, unfortunately they don't appear in the newest lists. I would have loved though to play a swarm of cheap little tanks. The idea was to have tanks that are not worth taking a shot at going for the rear echelon (nebel, artillery, infantry) or the side armor of the German tanks while the medium tanks would make a more frontal charge. Do you go for the medium or the light tanks? Both can ruin your day... or so was the idea.

Katyushas from Zvezda

And to finish, some Katyushas from Zvezda. I confess that the work was botched: base coat, botched shading, botched main color, splashes of grey on the the wheels and rockets, a coat of dust. Not voila, not nothing. It did not inspire me to paint trucks. I did not bother to add 5 figures a base to double the firepower, I will just pay the points and kindly indicate to my opponents what's the situation.

This concludes my budget Soviet Army or at least everything that I had at home is now painted.

I'm planning to add scouts, 120mm mortars and a battery of 122mm guns. The "nice to have" may include 45mm AT guns and sappers in body armor, but that will be it for the moment as I am holding my future purchases just to see who is releasing what and when. Between Zvezda, Plastic Soldier Company and Flames of War, I'm sure there are going to be some interesting products. No need to rush.

New Project - hesitations

2011-09-29T16:12:00.001+09:00

Stuff on the table

While my Soviet army is nearing (over) completion, and the Volksgrenadier project is almost finished, I am thinking of my next moves.

As I have sold my Ardennes Kampfgruppe (it helped funding a bit the hobby), I really want to do another Peiper unit.

At the moment, the candidates for the new projects are:
-Armored Panzer Grenadier from the Lehr Division
-Kampfgruppe Peiper redux
-Das Reich in Normandy (and here I have an even more serious problem than Malmedy with their Oradour prowess: 642 men, women and children executed)

So putting aside the true nature of this war machine and focusing on the bad guys that I will need so the good guys can have something to fight I am currently opting for a Panzer Lehr unit that could double as Das Reich if I paint an additional infantry platoon. Peiper can be put on hold, so I have time to observe what is being released.

This being said, I am considering the following army list which is not from the newest books but from Fortress Europa, a Panzer Companie 1750 points

1x CIC Panzer IVH + 1x 2iC Panzer IVH -190
1x Bergpanzer III - 10

1x Command Panzer IVH + 3x Panzer IVH -380

1x Command Panther + 2x Panther -560

1x Command Assault Rifle 2x Assault Rifle team, 3x motorcycle with sideCar and MG - 140
Replace all motorcyles with Schwimmwagen

1x Command Sd Kfz 234/2 (puma) + 2x Sd Kfz 234/2 (puma)

1x Command Sd Kfz 7/1 (Quad 2cm) Halftrack + 1x Sd Kfz 7/1 (Quad 2cm) Halftrack -90

1x Command Pioneer MG, 1x Sd Kfz 251/1 Halftrack + 6x Pioneer MG, 3x Sd Kfz 251/7 Halftrack -230
Replace Command Pioneer MG with Command Pioneer Panzerfaust SMG

That would be my generic armored company from which I could build a good variety of German units.

The next list is for Panzer Lehr PanzerGrenadier from Earth & Steel: 1745 points

HQ:120 points
1x CinC SMG, 1x 2iC SMG, 2x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade CinC SMG to CinC SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade 2iC SMG to 2iC SMG Panzerfaust
1x Panzerschreck, 1x Sd Kfz 251/1

PanzerGrenadier platoon: 290 points
1x Command MG, 6x MG, 3x Tank Hunter, 4x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade Command MG to Command SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade Sd Kfz 251/1 to Sd Kfz 251/10 (3.7cm)

PanzerGrenadier platoon: 290 points
1x Command MG, 6x MG, 3x Tank Hunter, 4x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade Command MG to Command SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade Sd Kfz 251/1 to Sd Kfz 251/10 (3.7cm)

PanzerGrenadier heavy platoon: 190 points
1x Command SMG, 1x Sd Kfz 251/1 (must have Mortar sectiion)
1x Observer Rifle, 1x Kubelwagen, 2x Sd Kfz 251/2 (8cm)
2x Sd Kfz 251/9 (7.5cm)

Panther platoon: 750 points
1x Command Panther A, 3x Panther A

Rocket launcher battery: 105 points
1x Command SMG, 1x Observer Rifle, 1x Kubelwagen, 3x 15cm NW41 rocket launcher

Another list from Earth and Steel, Das Reich Panzergrenadier: 1750 points

HQ: 170 points
1x CinC SMG, 1x 2iC SMG, 2x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade CinC SMG to CinC SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade 2iC SMG to 2iC SMG Panzerfaust
2x Panzerschreck, 1x Sd Kfz 251/1

Panzer Grenadier platoon: 275 points
1x Command MG, 6x MG, 4x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade Command MG to Command SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade Sd Kfz 251/1 to Sd Kfz 251/17 (2cm)

Panzer Grenadier platoon: 275 points
1x Command MG, 6x MG, 4x Sd Kfz 251/1
1x Upgrade Command MG to Command SMG Panzerfaust
1x Upgrade Sd Kfz 251/1 to Sd Kfz 251/17 (2cm)

Armored Mortar platoon: 110 points
1x Command SMG, 1x Sd Kfz 251/1, 1x Observer Rifle, 1x Kubelwagen, 2x Sd Kfz 251/2 (8cm)

Anti-tank gun platoon: 120 points
1x Command SMG, 2x 7.5cm PaK40,
2x Sd Kfz 251/1

Scout platoon: 140 points
1x Command MG, 2x MG, 3x schwimmwagen

Panther platoon: 640 points
1x Command Panther A, 2x Panther A

What do you guys think? Which direction should I go?

Zillion men or how I made it through hard labor camp!

2011-09-24T07:38:00.006+09:00

Here is the full Soviet infantry finished.

From the box until the last picture, I reckon it took me a bit less than 25 hours

So I am now officially a hard labor Soviet infantry painter. No need to say that I feel important.

In the making of this army were used 11 paints, Autumn grass from Siflor, Winter Tuft from Army Painter, sand from the beach, the Udarny box, an 81mm mortar pack, a Flame Thrower pack, an engineer pack, an artillery HQ pack, an HMG pack and lot's of patience. Mostly lost of patience, breaks and humbleness as to what was on the painting table and what I could do at a time.

Let me introduce you to the comrades:

all pictures are click-able. Before any little petty bourgeois starts pointing thenumber of figures per base, I would like to quote directly from the game editor's webiste:

Since Flames Of War works by teams, the actual number of models on a team’s base doesn’t really matter and [...] three-man teams fight just like a full-strength team. In this case, we simply assume that the three soldiers making up the team are the survivors of many battles. Being the toughest and most skilful (and luckiest) soldiers in the squad, they fight just as well as a bigger squad of less combat-hardened troops. eh eh, how convenient...

So being in line with the official ~~propangada~~ indications, here we go with the battle hardened combat troops.

The Rifle/LMG infantry

Before any bourgeois left starts pointing out that they are not painted to a master piece level, we true comrades of the Soviet union know the quality of the mass of anonymous heroes and reckon that the level of painting is more than adequate for gaming

Artillery HQ and observers

Anti-tank rifles attachments

I decided to paint these guys as I notices that they can beef up the infantry company and help them sustain casualties and/or avoid "pins" for cheap.

Flame throwers attachments

Why hesitate taking them and burning the German fascists? I did not paint all the teams and figures from the pack, honestly I have other things to do in life...

HMG attachments

Here again, I did not paint all the HMG teams but only what I am in general buying for my lists. No need to waste the People's energy (myself) in useless activities when the People's time (my time) is scarce.

Same group from the side

This pack is very nice, with good poses.

HQ group

The HQ group with battalion commander on the right, the 2ic in the center appropriately kneeling, and the battalion commissar with his body guards, ahem, aides.

More details of the command group

Before anyone calls me inconsistent, I admit that I painted 3 teams of snipers that I will probably never use as such. However they can nicely double as artillery observers. How good an excuse is that?

81mm Mortars

Here of course, I painted all the teams as the fascists need to take a pounding...

Sapper platoon

Why hesitate taking those tank killers? To tell the truth, I was a bit disappointed by the pack and would recommend to try out the one with the body armor.

Sappers

Udarny SMG

Very good sculpt for the Udarny boys. I was very impressed, good size for the weapons, not exaggerated but not too thin, very impressive facial features that do look slavic, good poses in general. We are far from the cartoonish fever that took the sculptor some time ago.

Remark:
What is interesting is that it takes me 18 hours to paint a full german platoon in camouflaged smocks of 30 figures at my "highest" level. It took me 25 hours to complete 220 figures or so of Soviet infantry.
For some reason I am a big fan of the Soviet PPSH 43 submachinegun and it is the reason why I was interested in painting these late war figures! The sculpting is a nice departing from the crap we have been seeing lately, culminating with the infamous British Paratroopers not to mention the catastrophic re-sculpting of the US paratroopers who had been for long some of the best minis on the market.

What went well:

I simplified quite a lot the painting, cut the number of figures per base and it works very well IMHO
The Udarny figures are... exquisite. Nice poses, nice detail, good sculpt
I like the combination of the grass and tuft for a step/swamp look. Here again I went for speed rather than elaborate bases
I didn't paint all the pack content and it was actually a good idea
I really like the less crowded look for my bases rather than sticking 4 figures a team
I am an official Soviet army painter

what was a pain:

I can't say to people to stay clear from painting Soviet infantry but honestly it is not for everyone. Painting that amount of bases takes resilience. Whether you cut corners, speed paint, it is still a huge number of figures and it's difficult. One can enter this type of project only with high focus, patience, pace management and pugnacity.
I really had a hard time to apply thick layer of grass. For some reason, sometimes the bases had a thick layer and other times, the grass was very thin. It may have something to do with the amount of glue (not too much) that needs to be put, but I am not sure about it.
The boots and weapons of the SMG company were initially painted grey and then highlighted. It turned out it was a waste of time and I directly went for the highlight of the weapons for the other figures, leaving the base coat instead of painting it grey.
The silflor grass and tuft that were sold to me were supposed to be the same color, however the tufts were a lot darker. For the look I was going after -actually very much inspired from the Fow website- I needed to buy the ones from Army painter (which are re-packaged Silflor's... and the right color!) . Go figure.

Where do we go from there:

My Soviet army is nicely shaping up, I have more than enough to play multiple lists and I will add 120mm mortars, scouts/spetsnaz, maybe 122mm artillery and a couple of 45mm anti-tank guns. I need to paint my Katyushas, IS-2 and T-70s. But overall, at this stage it is not all that critical.

The Zillion men -3 steps

2011-09-17T07:28:00.002+09:00

A small update: progress was good.
Most of the highlights are done. Still remain to highlight the uniforms and the flesh parts, and paint the belts in leather. Here and there a few details (commissars' pants, maps, etc...)... I may even finish a lot earlier than initially anticipated.

base colors for the zillion men

2011-09-15T20:56:00.004+09:00

Not much to be seen yet but all the base colors have been applied. I will need to

highlight the flesh (~~3 hours~~) 2.5 hour
paint the weapon stocks and shovels (~~2 hours~~) 1.5 hour
highlight the uniforms (~~3 hours~~) 2.5 hour
highlight the metal of the weapons and the heavy weapons ~~(2 hours)~~ 1.5 hour
highlight the bags ~~(2 hours)~~ 1hour
+2 hours extra

So far 10 hours of work for 160 guys. 3.75 minutes per figure at this point. Target time would be between 8 to 10 minutes per Soviet soldier. Is that fast?

Zillion infantry: 65 medium bases & 18 small bases,... and counting

2011-09-11T09:32:00.000+09:00

All this represents 65 medium bases and 18 small bases, to which I must add 120mm mortars, scouts and sappers (not purchased yet)....

Figures are sorted and await cleaning (flash removal and washing liquid bathing)

A pre-sorting of the figures for the bases

Figs are glued to the base with filler, just making a smooth transition between the figures' bases and the plastic base.

Bases covered with sand then primed. Dark brown as usual.

There are two ways: either base first or paint the figures first and base later. I have used here a mix of approaches:

Base first, paint the figures after: I use this approach in general for "crowded" bases. I find it easier to base first, prime and paint rather than painting the figures and putting them on a base afterwards. This approach is mainly use for my small bases, mortar and HMG bases.
Paint figures first, base them after: as I put between two to three figures on my infantry bases -it looks better in my humble opinion than the crowded teams and it goes faster!- making the bases after painting the figures is not so much an issue. I mean by "issue" that the brush needs to go everywhere between the figs to put glue and fix the sand, then paint a dark brown. With 2/3 figures a base, the brush can access easily all the surface of the base. This my preferred method if I have many similar troops to paint. In the case of Soviet, it is important to industrialize the painting process and putting all the same figures on a stick makes it faster to paint them rather than having bases of multiple poses to paint. It goes with changing the hand movement when you have constantly a new pose.

So here is the exception to what I just said above... But since these were part of a test lot, I didn't mind basing the figures first...

Stay put for the "fast" painting guide. I don't know if it is really that fast, but I reckon I can complete a base in 20 minutes. Taking into account time constraints, I should be done by the end of October... OMG !!!! 8-(...

Painting Soviet Armor -Fast-

2011-09-03T09:20:00.003+09:00

Here is a group picture of the models I have just finished

Painting fast
As announced previously, I wasn't intending to spend ages building a Soviet army, and the faster I could go for a reasonable level of quality, the better. I'm very happy how the models come out.

I believe it took me less than 20 minutes per tank to paint this lot. Having an airbrush definitely helps, but the same could be achieved with cans.

First thing is to have your models ready and washed. Here are the T-34s

Prime them with a very dark color. Many people use black, however I find it to violent a color and use a very dark brown instead. These are IS-2 from Model Games and they have the superb advantages of coming assembled and already primed the color of your choice for a nice USD 4 a piece. The casting is a bit rough, but for Soviet hardware,... I don't mind.

Next step is a bit difficult to do without an airbrush, it consists in painting with a light color lines and panels. This is called "shading". I'm still learning how to use my airbrush but the control gets better. It's really a matter of fluidity of the paint and pressure control. It gets more and more interesting.

For those who don't have an airbrush, the same could be more or less achievedby lightly dry brushing the same lines. Be careful not to use too thick a paint. One last remark, if you use white, the layer of green you will put on top will tend to turn greyish, I prefer to use a beige or cream color instead.

Next is to lightly spray from a distance the Russian green. You can do this with a can. It is a bit trick as you don't want to completely cover the highlights. If the dark primer still shows up close, it doesn't matter. On the picture above, I have a been a tidy bit too heavy. It really has to be with gentle wavy touches of spray. The figures were painted afterwards obviously.

I painted chipping marks with a sponge dipped in middlestone. Not too happy about it but I wanted to go fast. I might use an even lighter color next time.

Painted tracks German grey, exhaust and finished the figures. As for the track, it doesn't matter if you go fast or care to "highlight" the details as a layer of light brown will be applied later for dust

Gloss varnished the model to ease with the inking

Inked/dark wash with a brown black the recesses and panel lines

Then apply the decals, seal them with gloss varnish, spray a light layer of dust on the tracks and lower hull, seal again with matt varnish. Again, if you don't have an airbrush, you can wet brush with a light brown the track then again again on top wet brush with a dark brown for a wet mud look. Effect will be a bit different than a dusty look but still nice.

The finished models. I don't think they can be considered as masterpieces, but I'm really not ashamed of them.

Here is a group pictures of all the models painted, still remain 10 x T70 and 3 x IS2

The models here are from Game Models. A bit rough, but I'm very fine to game with and they are light. No issue to carry

The tank with a flag on the turret is Battlefront's. A bit larger than my PSC tanks but since he is the boss, it is ok... :-)

I can know safely start with the Soviet infantry and its zillion men...

Afterthoughts: this army was mainly initiated by the introduction of plastic vehicles from PSC and Zvesda. At the price they were sold, I wanted to try out, definitely. I ended up with plans to build lots of Soviets. The idea was to do this under a relatively low budget because I wanted to speed paint my hordes (any other way???) and it would be a pity to do this with expansive models.

Game Models are a bit rough but they will do quite honorably on a tabletop.
The Battlefront tank (the one with a flag on the turret) is indeed a bit nicer than the Plastic Soldier Company's but not by that much. I would say 15% nicer, the sculpt is slightly more defined.
On the other hand, PSC models are 50% cheaper and quite nice as well. The light difference in quality cannot justify at this point and in my view the purchase of a more expansive model.

As for painting, what went well:

An airbrush is a huge time saver and allows for interesting techniques
I went for speed rather than quality and managed to stick with the plan
Battlefront's decals sold in blisters are very good, I like them: rich colors, lot's of slogans, interesting numbering
The shading gives really interesting color variations
The overall group is quite nice in my humble opinion
Most of what was done with an airbrush can be executed with a spray can

what was a pain:

The matt varnish let me down and whitened the guns of my tanks. The damage was limited but I had to repaint the barrels
The Guards decals were not good: too "uni colored" and bland
Still need practice in airbrush control, I "randomly" managed to have a good flow. I'm sure it will come with experience

Start of a new project: 15mm Soviet

2011-08-28T10:37:00.002+09:00

Order of the red star (...shamefully lifted from the goat whisperer - link)

Here is the start of a new project. As my Volkgrenadier army is nearing completion (remain Mortars, Hetzers and a105mm battery), I was very interested in trying out the T-34 tanks from the plastic soldier company (see below). At this price there was no reason not to give it a try.

2 boxes from PSC with Tankodeseantniki

Still following the same logic, I actually had fun trying to make this army as cheap as possible. Soviets are always a challenge to collect in terms of quantity and overall price of all the models.

Therefore, I was very glad to start shopping around and see that actually a number of friendly priced alternatives are available.

Here are gaming models from... Games Model.

Ordered a lot of those models, and may actually order more. They have many advantages: to start with they are assembled and base coat which is a huge time saver for me. In terms of quality, they are not bad at all and I am quite happy the way they are. I am sure that once I paint them up, they will really look nice. The only drawback that I see are the guns that are in resin and may be a bit fragile. They will be fine as long as the models are handled with reasonable care. So I'll keep a eye on this.

Zvesda Katyusha: all plastic and at 1/100

The Zvesda models are another nice surprise. I bought them for two reasons: price and ease of building. I could have opted for the FOW brand but I had heard a few horror stories from different people about how difficult those were to build. I had an option on ready built ones at a reasonable price but let them go out of procrastination.

Infantry from the Udarny battalion box

When I saw the Udarny figures of the FOW website, I knew I wanted to paint those guys. The figures really look good. The faces are very well sculpted, the weapons not too big, the bases have a reasonable thinness and the movement of the figures is extremely good in my opinion. I think those are nice figures.

The problem with Soviets is the important volume of painting it requires and quite often people switch to other projects before even starting (I know I do, but it seems that in regard of Soviet this is quite an exacerbated trend) . So quite often, nice NIB figures will be available at a reduced price. When I saw such a box at a discount, I was very happy to take the plunge with Soviet infantry.

So what's the cost of this army?

10 x T34 from PSC = USD 50
31 x models from Game Models = USD 116
1x Udarny box from ebay = USD 25
4 x katyusha from Zvesda = USD 18

total USD 210

Just for the fun of it, I compared with a pure FOW purchase at my favorite store
10 x T34 = USD 100
31 models = USD 310
1x Udarny box Udarny = USD 64
4 x katyusha = USD 46

total USD 520

I am quite sure that I can make this army nicely "wargamable" even if I don't intend to spend ages painting it. Stay tuned as I have promised myself to speedpaint it...

The full Kampfgruppe (a bit reorganization)

2011-08-12T14:13:00.001+09:00

Here are pics of the Kampfgruppe,

Mass effect in a massive traffic jam. I really like the cohesion of the lot while the camo are not entirely similar. It works very well in my humble opinion

It is freely inspired from

1st company, I battalion, 1st SS panzer regiment, 1st SS Panzer Division (LAH)

9th company, III battalion, 2nd SS panzergrenadier regiment, 1st SS Panzer Division (LAH)

A bit more detail of the heavies. I think we see them better here in these pictures. The weathering has all the chipping, rain marks and color variations. I really like the "risks" I took painting two different styles for the camouflage (on the Tiger II it is slightly earlier style in 1944 than the Panthers' for November/december). The combination really gave me a contrast that fits with each other.

Men with cars, automatic rifles and camies. I may redo the pictures because none of those that I took capture well the figures. Enjoyed very much though this lot.

So Luftwaffe AA attached troops who probably received more than they bargained for by being transferred to a hardcore kampfgruppe! ah ah.

These tanks are absolutely marvelous, I really had to have them when I saw BF had released a box. They look way sexier without the side skirts: long low crouching animals. A lot less like... shoe boxes...
This set belongs more to a support tank unit probably Heer. But then, why not 12th SS or another SS division as Heer platoon don't come in 5?

Da men!: 9th company, III battalion, 2nd SS panzergrenadier regiment, 1st SS, with commanding officer added for color: Sturmbannführer Jospeh Diefenthal from the infamous Kampfgruppe Peiper.

Added for folklore and without any pretentiousness to be 110% accurate. I wanted something heavily flavored "Battle of the bulge" still keeping within a reasonable look alike accuracy without sinking into an exact reproduction almost impossible to achieve.

Some more detail of the sheepskin jacket and men. The guys from the tank hunter/scout lot are painted the same actually but I can't get for the sake of myself a really good picture. Maybe I should take pictures of the individual stands but it gets tedious and a bit obsessive. Aren't we most of us anyway?...

Again, I really like this guy sitting on the edge, very natural pose (although, by experience, I'd never dare to imagine myself doing this. There is a funny movie going around on the net of counter insurgency cops falling off the truck (no one injured). ah ah again.

I did not want to paint three tanks for my Kampfgruppe (box comes with three models), I think a force with two KT is strong enough to be used in combination of other assets (in particular if there are Panthers involved). The scheme I went for was for another front, probably East Germany 1945. A surviving tank from 1944, which is not totally unconceivable as many KT broke down before reaching the front line in 1944 and were therefore kept in reserve or depot for later use, refit or training. I wanted very much to paint one of those pre final hours tanks (when the germans thought they could negociate an alliance with the west to fight off Stalin's advance but were still taking a beating and give back blows).

As a conclusion

what went well:

Really do research, it pays off
Don't try to reproduce at all cost reality, sometimes interpretation or "arrangements" look better
Buying an airbrush was a real treat and I could try out new directions in painting
While I more inclined to play foot soldiers, I really enjoyed painting an armor force. This was really a pure self-indulging project.

what was a pain:

The decals were a huge let down
The number of parts to glue were too many for my taste (but I hate assembling models)
Boy, you have to clean an airbrush, this is one heck of a demanding tool

Any thought to share? I will be happy to hear about your feedback! thank you.

Heavies

2011-08-10T21:57:00.008+09:00

Here are pictures of the heavies I have just finished

Only average pictures as my main camera is under repair.

I wanted only two Tigers for my Kampfgruppe, the third one was painted in a late war style as can be seen above. Not to be part of the same set.

The finished tanks.

Below, 5 panther. They are inspired from the panzers of the 1st company, I battalion, 1st SS panzer regiment, 1st SS Panzer Division (LAH) during the battle of the Bulge
(Kampfgruppe Peiper).

What went well?

Don't hesitate to paint the tanks with lighter colors, you can always darken
The camouflage came out well on the tanks
I like the empty shells left on the deck of the tank

What could have been better:

The decals provided by battlefront are still offset, had to buy a new set fromfrom Dom Skelton
Too many parts to glue and assemble together for my taste. Can live with it

and to finish, the full Kampfgruppe (click for larger picture):

15mm sdkfz 251/D & Diefenthal

2011-08-05T09:41:00.002+09:00

My journey into the Ardennes continues with some inspiration from the infamous Kampfgruppe Peiper. The vehicles are meant to be Sdkfz 251/D from the 9th company, III battalion, 2nd SS panzergrenadier regiment, 1st SS Panzer Division (LAH). No fetishism in particular, kind of interest to model one of the most prominent actor in the german offensive in the winter of 1944.

The figure with the brown jacket is meant to be Sturmbannführer Josef Diefenthal, commander of the third Battalion. I thought it would add color to put him with the rest of the gang.

I really like how the figures came out. I went a bit blind for the colors of his jacket, but I knew where I wanted to go.

The guy sitting of the side of the halftrack has to be for one of my favorite WWII figure in a long time. The pose is very interesting, the sculpt is very well done, the equipment well defined and he is wearing a parka which is sufficiently rare to be mentioned.

What have we learned?

Base colors for camo are from the Vallejo's range air color. Used dark yellow, tank green, tank brown
It works well to thin them a bit and add retarder so they don't dry up being sprayed

What went well:

I liked the battlefront decals from their separate set: it contains decals with two digits and a 3rd one you can add to build the company you like
The single digits stopped at 8 I think so I used a 6 that I inverted to represent the 9th company... simple!
I'm happy about the colors and camo, they look pretty much "Ardennes" to me.
Was wise not to do a white wash that could be more "realistic" but overall maybe less attractive or versatile

What could have been better:

hey, sometimes one has to be satisfied with what is done. No regret on this one.

15mm Late War Russian army

2011-07-28T11:32:00.002+09:00

A company of T34/85 from the plastic soldier company

I am almost finished with my Late War Panzer Grenadier army. I have enough points painted to field quite a potent force. Here and there I can still add a specific unit (Mortars, 88mm, artillery, etc...) but I am mostly there. There will be a massive pictures update once I receive decals from Dom Skelton. It may take 2 weeks or so as I will be off with family to take some well deserved vacations.

As for the late war Russian army, its origin is from a couple of boxes from the Plastic Soldier company. I was very interested to have a look at the model, and as others have already said, the models are quite nice. They took a bit time to assemble (10 of them!) but not a lot more than their competitor's with all the bits.
The track come in two parts, top and bottom. It was a bit difficult to avoid a gap between the two and I had to use filler. I know the box let you model both versions 76mm and 85mm turrets. It is very much appreciated from the manufacturer.

Another box that will serve as a basis for the army, is a Udarny battalion. Again, I thought that the figures were nice looking and managed to retrieve one from ebay at USD 28. Painting Russians is a lot of work and I can understand people who prefer to move on to other projects rather than painting hordes after hordes. So the box found a good home:

Again, I do not intend to paint at 1 for 1. My rifle bases will be 3-4 figures and the SMG bases will be 2 to 3 figures. Generally speaking, I find the space it gives for each team more pleasing to the eye, and it doesn't change a thing, especially at FOW where the scale distance is variable.

Ouch... I feel sorry for this tankodeseantniki

It seems that a lot of people who have glued mounted infantry on their tank report that the figures have the bad tendency to pop off. The solution is obviously to pin them on the models. It is a bit fastidious but I am confident that now all the figures are reasonably attached to the tanks. As most of the soldiers are seating, the dremel had to go somewhere no one would like to experiment...

I think the figures will had a lot of color to the Russian green. I don't think the tanks are going to be very difficult to paint (no camo) now that I am equipped with an airbrush. I'm looking forward to painting this lot.

The good:

PSC models are a very cost effective solution
I actually appreciate the lightness of the plastic models, it makes the army easier to carry
You can model two turrets and have at the same time a mid and late war army, just change the turret
Pinned figures are likely to hold on the models. I'm glad I did not cut corners on this one

The challenging:

It took a bit time to assemble, the clean up the FOW figures (I like the poses quite a lot for the late war Tankodeseantniki), drill, pin, wash. I believe it took me 8 to 10 hours just to have them ready for painting.
The PSC box includes only one figure which tends to be a bit boring if you have 10 vehicles of the same time.
A bit more accessories in the box would have been appreciated to customize a bit more the tanks.

15mm Panzer IV/70

2011-07-18T14:56:00.004+09:00

Here is a picture of the Pz IV/70.

I used slightly lighter colors for this lot as I knew I wanted a nice contrast between my green and dark yellow. I was also going to weather the tanks heavily and wanted to start from a light base rather than a darker one. It is always easier to darken the models than the other way around.

As a side note, I did not put the side skirt as I find this model a lot racier without. It's beautiful and aggressive, with a very low profile.

The models after the airbrushing of the basic camo

The models were primed dark with a lacquer paint (I use Gunze airspray which is very solid and very forgiving as a primer as it dries thin). The models were pre-shaded and then the camo pattern was applied with two layers for the dunkelgeb: pure middlestone and one heavy highlight obtain with 60% pale sand and 40% middlestone.

A brown filter was applied. It really gave me a nice tone I was looking for. I pin washed the models with dark brown after applying a gloss varnish. Decals were set. I really like Dom Skelton's decals, the are very nicely done although they are a bit fragile and tend to curl when wet, so it takes a bit patience to put. (I also decided to invest in a decal softener which proved itself as a superb product to really have the decals stick into the zimmerit).

Here is the model after a filter. Dots of light and brown oil paints are visible on the pictures

Color variation was obtained by subtle touches of oil paints here and there to add nuances and variation to the camouflage. This may be an overkill at this scale, but the subtlety of it is there. (Not to forget the chipping of the paint done with the sponge technique)

The finished platoon:

I am quite happy how they came out. It's very close to what I had in mind when I started them. It is a bit of a heartache as they are intended to be sold to finance various miniature purchases. I will certainly paint them again for myself.

What have we learned:

Filters do add this little something to the models
oil weathering may be an overkill but it does add a subtle element of richness and texture
Airbrush flow is easily improved with retarder and thinner
I took the deliberate decision to do without the "red primer" showing through the fallen bits of zimmerit. It simply doesn't look good. A light gray has been my color of choice and works a lot better.
With oils, one needs to take his time. That's fine with me as I can paint only an hour a day on average, but yes, take your time.
As usual, avoid decal silvering by applying first gloss varnish, then softener and then sealing with a another layer of gloss varnish

The good:

Very nice models, with variety, nice attention to details (in particular the extra equipment)
I am becoming a big fan of Dom Skelton's decals

The less good:

still too many parts for my taste to assemble. It wasn't all that bad, but building the models is still not my favorite moment
not enough variety in the box for the tankers. These little guys are the human touch in those metal bits, they really can add a lot.
Dom Skelton's decals tend to curl sometimes before they are applied on the surface of the tank and it may be tricky to flatten them back. Not impossible, but pfff,... it makes you sweat, especially if you need the numbers for a platoon...
a couple of exhaust I had to remodel as they arrived broken in the box. Nothing too serious but maybe these parts should actually be cast separately

The uggly:

The decals in the box are totally useless. This is the second or third box already that has decals slightly offset. I was warned beforehand and could check before wasting my models with inappropriate decals. So basically count on purchasing replacement decals.

All in all, I'm happy. The extra work pays off and I could take the models where I wanted them to be.

15mm AA platoon

2011-07-15T12:21:00.002+09:00

Here are a couple of sdkfz 7/3. I painted the crew as Luftwaffe Flak personnel to change a bit. I selected these for my Anti-Aircraft support for the following reasons:

They are armored
The range is longer than their 2cm siblings' (at the cost of one die of ROF down)
They can double as anti-infantry mobile support
I liked the models...

Scout platoon/ tank hunter

2011-07-08T06:53:00.000+09:00

Here is a nice scout platoon. I wasn't planning to do SS but I wanted to have a go at the models and paint up this unit. They should go very well with a couple of well painted Tiger II.

For this set, I bought weathering oils, but honestly at this scale it is an overkill and I prefer not to fade the colors. I am definitely in the high contrast camp: while aiming at relatively accurate models, go for what looks good as gaming pieces on the table.

So what have we learned painting this set?

What worked well:

painting with an airbrush allows for more speed and effects I couldn't do with a brush
"pin wash" over gloss varnish works wonder (don't forget the final dull coat)
SS camo is still fun to paint
Don't forget to highlight or use trick to highlight (such as light color chipping), its a subtle way to give volume to the model
I liked the set, it's original and super "cool". Dudes with weapons and camo ridding cars, unfortunately they are the bad guys.

What could have been better:

There's a limit to what an airbrush can do, I needed to switch to regular brushes for much smaller camo
Weathering oils are an overkill at this scale
The figures were a bit repetitive in the set, I added different ones from other packs
I wish the sculpting was more marked, it eases the painting (e.g: winter platoon and assault rifle platoon packs are very easy to paint with my style, this one needed a bit more effort)
SS are still not something trivial. These are toys but they still represent the mega bad guys for which I have no particular fascination.

Boy, I was wrong (pictures)

2011-07-04T06:42:00.000+09:00

OK, so here are the settings that work:

Focal 8 so all figures are in focus
Lowest ISO possible for crisp pictures
Good light but not projector like directly on the figures
Low shutter speed (need to play around until you get the best color rendition, not too white not too dark)
Tripod and timer

ISO 3200

ISO 1600

All last 3 ISO 160

Scouts, bases and (bad) pictures

2011-07-03T08:18:00.001+09:00

Ok, first thing first. I still don't know how to use my camera. The first picture is a lot more closer to what the figures look like than the second. As for anyone who has being following my blog probably knows, I like to paint with high contrast and the second picture is a bit too much washed out for my taste. I will have to play a bit more with the settings.

But here is the question, which one of the two bases looks better? The initial version that is quite shiny -I like the wet mud look, it really set out of the figures in my humble opinion- or the second version with the tufts?

What have we learned:

What worked well:

hmm, sometimes less is more. Do we really need all worked out, pumped up bases?
Put the focal of the lens at the highest (here it was F8, it works wonder to have all the figures in focus and not just the helmet of the first guy and all the rest blurred

What didn't work:

Light, for Pete' sake, I need to make a effort to have light from everywhere. Easier said than done
Iso settings. Word is to set it at the highest with the slowest shutter. Well, I have news for myself: it did not work! It just washes out the pics.

My life in the Ardennes

2011-07-01T07:35:00.004+09:00

I am blessed at this mature age to know very little about the battle of the Bulge...

Besides the [wrong] basics (the germans attacked but they lost because their tanks run out of fuel and the 101st was in Bastogne and told them "nuts") I virtually knew not much. I thought that the whole thing took place in Alsace to start with, but then where was the Hurtgen forest? hugh... and why was there another offensive in the Ardennes? Where the hell was Bastogne anyway, and why Peiper with his "200 men" was so important?...Since there were a lot of SS involved as well, doing their atrocities on the way to the West, I wasn't so keen to develop the usual morbid facination for the only troops that looked like they had cool equipment.

So the "cooks" on one side and the "SS without fuel" on the other were never choices that really got me excited. I did game a few scenarios at ASL taking place during the Bulge, but I'm more an Eastern front type gamer.

So now you know the depth of what has been my ignorance and why it has eventually been a blessing to start doing research in this chapter of WWII... Something had to be discovered and learned and there began my life in the Bulge (mostly from an american perspective):

I don't regret having started with this book. As I said, I knew pretty much nothing about the battle of the Bulge and this book reads like a script of a war movie. The reader is punched around as the events develop, without understanding much what is going on other than the immediate environment of each little scene: bullets fly, tanks roar, phone lines are cut, artillery pummels the positions. It is chaos. The reader slowly emerges from the smoke and explosions to eventually see as the days/chapters pass what the full picture is. For someone who had zero knowledge on the Bulge, this was quite a terrific and almost physical journey. A good way to get into the Battle.

This book has quite a different approach. Very dense, it takes a couple of steps back and provides analysis and context to the events as they unfold. The stories are the same but told with more reserve, like a distant observer that treats the men who fought in this battle with utter respect and empathy. A sobering read, mature and rich in content

This book is a bit strange. Organized by themes, it enables the reader to look at a particular point of interest. Filled with information, I cannot get much into it. Some guy on Amazon recommended to purchase the old edition (this one) rather than the new edition. I am not even sure that I bought the right book I was looking for. Maybe reading further, it will grow on me. Good as an overview.

I chose this book especially for the following comment left by a reviewer on amazon "The detail is terrific, and probably important, for the military historian reader interested in what battalion was where, or what company commander did what, or which army advanced here or there, or withdrew so many miles, etc. But, for the general reader it is kind of boring". Do I need to say more? I knew that as a wargamer this book was for me

I came to pick this book for a couple of reasons. "A time for trumpets" actually developed an interest in me for the actions pitting the US troops against Kampfgruppe Peiper. There are very likely other units well worth of a look at but Peiper's drive seems the most documented from a tactical point of view. As a wargamer, the existence of such of material simply drew me like a magnet. So basically, I purchased it as it contains german vehicle color plates that I have desperately been looking for on the net and it will enable me to model a coherent unit of villains.

This book was purchased as a clear source of inspiration for tactical engagements and to follow at least one very active unit from the start to the end of the offensive. It's purpose is to be used as material for scenarios.

Proud new owner of an airbrush (or how I became a man)

2011-06-25T17:29:00.002+09:00

Here is the thing. It is an airtex, it came complete with a paint trap for the fumes and a compressor. I eventually decided that yes, it was a luxury item, but I suppose I have already contributed significantly to the community and I could indulge the expense. It opens up a all range of new possibilities and techniques that I want to try out.

The decision process was quite long. Eventually, what I did was ask advice from a friend who had been using for long an airbrush. I liked the results he has had. I showed him several models and package I was eying and he gave me his feedback and explained the differences in the products. He then show me that one of my selection was simply the newest model of what he already had and warmly recommended me to go ahead for a first airbrush. Friends rock! I'm quite happy with the purchase.

So far

Airbrush pros:

Honestly, painting goes much faster with an airbrush
Very interesting techniques open up, such as shading, dust, veils
New camouflage patterns become available to my palette

Airbrush cons:

Price, it's not on the cheap side, you have to see it as an "investment"
Set-up is a bit more cumbersome than painting with brushes
Quite a lot cleaning, but one gets the hang of it after a while, but yes, you have to clean quite often
I must admit that it is a technical tool and I can understand why it is not for everyone.

What have we learned:

If you already have a good experience with brushes and have read a lot about other people using airbrushes, the transition is not too difficult. I'd say that within 3 hours you should get the airbrush to do more or less what you intend it to do. It's a bit like moving from a car to a motorbike. If you can drive a car, then you should manage but still have to be careful about what you do.
Clean, clean, clean. If the airbrush doesn't do what you expect, dry paint maybe clogging the needle. I found out that whenever I had a irregular flow or control started to be random, a wipe of the needle usually settled it and gave me a very nice output of paint.
Clean between color switch, clean when you plan to take a pause (full break down for this one)
I knew I could completely mess up my experience with an airbrush and become disappointed (especially in regard of the investment). I really prepared myself mentally to start using it, with several carefully planned steps to become acquainted with the tool. I don't regret taking my time, there is more to learn, I am sure, but at least the journey is enjoyable and rewarding

15mm Nebelwerfers

2011-06-19T09:41:00.000+09:00

Didn't like all that much these models. Rough casting and weak joints for assembly and holding the parts together. I added a bit more texture to my bases and think I have found something I am comfortable with.

The Nebels were painted according to the "speed painting" technique and actually that may be the actual way to paint models and I just used to be fooling around without getting to the point.

Nothing particular besides this. Artillery on the table... what a joke, anyway. Let's move on to the next platoon.

15mm Volksgrenadier platoons finished

2011-06-16T06:21:00.002+09:00

Here are two platoons of Volksgrenadiers.
Before any smarta** makes the remark, yes there are less figures per base than the official suggestion. I tend to find that 4 or 5 figures to a base make them overcrowded and don't add much to the "visual" pleasure. It goes faster, I enjoy more and like better the spacious look it gives.

40 figures were used for two platoons and command. Not bad.

Again, I try to paint with bright and light colors. Notice the stock of the rifle and the contrast on the gun metal parts. I hardly ever use metallic paint anymore

More FOW objectives

2011-06-14T21:47:00.001+09:00

Here are pictures of the objectives. As a general remark, the more detail the bases have, the more time you will spend painting them... I really like my forward troops defending their hard won objective.

FOW objective

2011-06-14T19:46:00.001+09:00

FOW project is going well. I am finishing the Volksgrenadier platoons, the armor is on the painting table and I managed to put together two objectives. This the first one and I had fun painting up something functional and not too fancy re-using Kerr & King bases and Peter Pig resin.

This objective represents a group of late war grenadiers defending the farthest point of the German offensive!... I intend to use the destroyed American jeep as the objective the US troops need to retrieve.

15mm comparison pictures

2011-06-12T14:26:00.001+09:00

On the left you have the Hetzer from Battlefront (missing automatic MG from the pack...). On the right you have the new resin model from Forged in Battle. I must say I am very impressed by FIB.

Here is a comparison picture of Battlefront's Sdkfz 251/1c and Ker & King Sdkfz 251/1d. Unless the d is longer than the c, Kerr & Kings's is definitely longer.

15mm Pz IV H, tutorial

2011-06-05T12:19:00.004+09:00

Models are from Forged in Battle. I find them really nice, the barrels are a bit thin. That would be the only default I can find in them, otherwise a good purchase and I hope they release more models.

All models are washed. I apply a dark brown base coat. Two thin layers with a spray. The missed spots hard to get are done with a brush.

A very thin layer of dark yellow is applied on the five facets. Spray can.

A second very thin layer (of dark yellow) is applied again with slightly more emphasis on the front. I made a mistake here not to attack from a top 45 degree angle, but we'll live with it.

(PAINTER ALERT: it takes a bit experience to do it properly but that's manageable by most )

Paint first -this is important- watered down brown patches. I went with flat brown with a touch of mahogany (Vallejo), but mahogany only should be fine. My choice for a darker color was that I wanted to remind winter/autumn shades for my Ardennes project.

Paint the green patches with watered down paint. It should be almost as stains. I used german dark green camo (Vallejo).

I hardly ever use a dry brush technique as I find it sloppy and lacking control but I used it to link the colors together, all over with middlestone (dark yellow...).

Take a sponge, dip it in German grey and apply it to simulate chipping.

Using pale sand or elf flesh mixed with middlestone to highlight every bit that will catch light from the top. I tend also to simulate paint chipping this way actually.

(PAINTER ALERT: make it with a high contrast to middlestone, you need to see something past 2 meters and don't forget the varnish will tone down the contrast)

I tend to delineate also the side armor plates

Paint the details, gloss varnish. Use GW's dark brown wash to mark the recesses and give volume to your model, apply pigment generously on the lower part of the hull (more parsimoniously on the upper parts as it dulls down a bit your paint), mat varnish.

And you're done!

PZ IV H painted as platoon from the 2nd panzer Division in the Ardennes.

I reckon it took me a bit less than 2 hours per tank from the box to the picture. It took me a bit more than I had planned as I got carried away with highlights and weathering.

paint fast

2011-06-02T22:20:00.001+09:00

Here is the latest lot that I have painted. 7 more vehicles in more or less 6 hours. Those camouflaged took a bit longer. Not sure I am entirely convinced by the three tone end result. Maybe I need to let it grow on me. But hey, 50 minutes or less per vehicle, it is not too bad.

I have now Forged in Battle Pz IV on the painting table, I received FIB's hetzers and Panthers, and... King &Kerr's sdkfz 251. I'll post a review of these a bit later.

To finish, I couldn't resist to take a picture of the blessed mess below...

The trucks are Forged In Battle's and the RSO tracked vehicles are Battlefront's.

Comparatively, what are my thoughts?:
First I thought that the casting was crispier with FIB and the details were more "engineered". I think that scale wise, BF's models are a bit more exaggerated. So as they say don't mix different brands within the same platoon. All in all, very happy with FIB's models.

More speedpainting

2011-05-29T19:49:00.001+09:00

The test force is taking shape. While I am waiting for the models that I have ordered, I have painted some extra vehicles that I found in my boxes (the sdkfz 251 and the Hetzer).

Both models are from Battlefront while the trucks are part of a recent order and are from Forged in battle. Putting the halftrack and the truck close together, it is actually clear to me that the Battlefront model is larger in scale. Not that I mind as I consider these are only game pieces but be careful not to order from two different brands the same vehicle as they may not necessarily mix.

As said in another post, the promise I made to myself was to speed paint and not get stuck in painstaking "pieces of art".

So all the models were speed painted and I am quite pleased with the end result. For the Hetzer, I have tried to recreate an airbrush effect. I went one step too far but I think I have an idea of how to do it with "reasonable" results. The point is, in my opinion, to use colors really thinned down. I'll give it another try on some AA vehicles that I have.

As for painting, what have we learned:
What worked well

I like the dark base coat, directional light and shading. All made with cans
The chipping does bring some character to the models
Take a step backward and consider the whole model, don't get stuck into "perfect"
Mr Color dark yellow is an very good dunkelgelb, I happy with it actually. Almost same color as Vallejo's middlestone or FOW yellow primer
Vallejo's reflective green and mahogany are could for a tri-color german camouflage
Speed: on average, I don't think I spend more than 45 minutes per vehicle. The camouflage extend the time by 20 minutes

What to improve

Bases, I suck at base or they suck. I always feel like its a hit and miss, still not enough consistency in the outcome.
Airbrush effect could be achieved by keeping the colors thinned instead of adding layers. I suppose I will do a couple of layers then a few touches for a third layer without reaching a high density
keep in mind that battlefront's model are slightly bigger (vertically according to more knowledgeable gamers?)

the current new comers for my list (hetzer and sdkfz were for testing only and will be removed)

I conclusion, I am happy with the pace for painting. My army will be complete, I think in a really short time. YES, I could make more efforts but I have ZERO time so that will be it.

Test Volksgrenadiers 15mm

2011-05-28T18:29:00.000+09:00

Here are a few test bases for my Volksgrenadiers force. Most of it is speed painting. You will notice also that I do not overload my bases per "official" FOW recommendation. It makes the painting faster...

I might put less dry grass on the final bases.

Why I' m happy:

I like how the weapons came out
I took the decision to put less figures per base and can absolutely live with it
I took shortcuts in the painting and as gaming pieces nobody will really care and overall it looks fine
I found close to my place some acceptable filler as I ran out of my favorite one

Why I'm not happy:

I think the grass is too yellow and too bright and sinks the figures rather than make them stand out
The bases of the figs are too thick for the volume of filler I put and they sometime show
There's something I cannot put my finger on, an idea...anyone?

Speed painting a 15mm vehicle

2011-05-28T10:45:00.000+09:00

Ok, basically experience pays off here. a) I don't have a thousand life to paint a thousand stuff b) I realized long ago that if one paints for effect results can be quite nice and absolutely not shameful to play on. Especially when at gaming distance nobody cares anymore about the master piece.

So I decided to try out some techniques and see if I could speedpaint my vehicles. I did a test with one and I'm happy with the end results. I reckon it will take me around 30 minutes per vehicles.

So what did I do:

Prime dark brown with spray can
Light coat of dunkelgelb with spray can protecting the sides with painter tape
Directional light with a white spray
remove the painter tape
Light coat of dunkelgelb
Paint tracks, wheels
Put decals
Gloss varnish
Shade with wash the recesses
Chip the paint with torn sponge dipped in dark grey
Paint details (shovels, etc)
Seal with Mat varnish
Don't look Back!

PanzerGrenadiers, Ardennes

2011-05-24T19:55:00.000+09:00

Interesting exercise on camouflage, earth tone and general look of "Pz Grenadiers" for the Ardennes battle.

Herman Goering Grenadiers 15mm

2011-05-23T22:55:00.002+09:00

Here is an old platoon that I have completed and refurbished. I also have two platoons of volksgrenadiers on the painting table. For a chance, I have decided to base them first and then paint the figures. We will see how it goes.
Paint job is quick and functional, nothing to spend ages on. I want to play guddamit :-)

FOW army: Volksgrenadiers 1944-45!

2011-05-17T06:57:00.000+09:00

I am pretty much set on what army I am going to build for my FOW project. The picture above has played not a small part in the decision. First I wanted to paint these figures in 15mm, then I needed to figure out what force they belonged too... I like the mix of great coats, camo and jump suits. The fact that they are armed with assault rifles give them a modern look.

However, at this point, there are no list available yet. Battlefront has announced a tentative release date for the Ardennes in Dec 2011... so I created my own list based on my current (starting research). I will certainly revisit it. For anyone interested I put it in a file sharing service.

Volksgrenadiers 1944-1945 Beta list

It's really a beta and I expect to release two to three more versions before it stabilizes to something I am happy with. Nevertheless, it gives a basis I can starting experimenting with.

Feedback is most welcome.

Forged in Battle

2011-05-14T08:43:00.002+09:00

I recently found out that some guys going to the club are playing FOW.

This is good news as I am in the mood to enjoy some beer & pretzel sessions in a good spirit without too much fuss. The same way I am playing DBA without really believing this represents a simulation of Ancient warfare, I will push my miniatures in a game perspective to enjoy a game puzzle with nicely painted figures.

This being said, I still will make a point to search for nice alternatives to Battlefront's products that have shown quite a consistent decrease in quality while inversely increasing their prices.

Forged in Battle seems to offer such a nice alternative, and, reviews have been rather positive so far.

http://www.forgedinbattle.com/

Reviews

I will be trying some of their models and I expect to receive them in a couple of weeks. The few points that really appealed to me are:

relative "accuracy" compared to BF's relative "accuracy"
USD 7 a tank compared to USD 10 from BF
Minimum assembly
Already based which makes transport easier
Lastly, good to have a company challenge BF

As for the army it seems we have a shortage of Axis forces, so I decided to pick up a German army. I'm in the mood to start something really late, 44-45.

tough

2011-03-12T00:22:00.004+09:00

Tokyo Friday: That was quite horrible. Long, bad. Some colleagues took it bad, real bad. All you can do is trust the buildings. The aftershocks are awful.
Update Saturday: news and alert system on, 24/7, people are quiet and likely marked. Thoughts to those who couldn't escape the tsunamis
Update Sunday: people are requested to stay home, school will be closed for three days

28mm goblins

2011-02-23T11:42:00.002+09:00

Here is my Goblins warband. There are 6 speargoblins, 3 bowgoblins, 1 chieftain and 1 shaman

Chietain, I painted the scalp in red as if it belonged to a dwarf. Well, it was what I had in mind anyway

There guys are the ones that were painted for effectiveness the most. I took shortcuts

Some of the spears. Each and everyone of the figures has a lot of character.

All the figures are from Red Box Game.

Red Box goblins pros:

They have a lot of character, many different poses.
Very good attention to details
Everything is cast of the figures (spears, shields). It saves a lot of time and is very much appreciated
Virtually no mold line and zero flash, excellently made figures

Red Box goblins cons:

On the smallish side
figures are sometimes a bit too busy with too many details for my taste. That's very good for single figures that are to be used as a display model or for a picture on the internet but as a gaming piece, it reduces the overall figure readability
Figures are more expensive than those from larger companies, but I don't mind that much. It is a one man operation and I support artists

As for painting, what have we learned:

Painting NMM is starting to take shape. There are many complicated tutorials but I went for something simple: dark to light on one facet, light to dark on the other facet, then bright spot of light. It works for me and actually enables me to understand a bit better for the future the play with light on a blade
Warm up your colors with washes if you used a paint that is too cold.
Painting wolf fur is not that hard actually. Dark gray base, away from the center brownish beige, then on the side light cream, lightly dry brush again with a light color the gray fur
Did not over invested in the painting, more may have meant the death of the models actually. Characters will receive more attention, but there are less of them

28mm Men at arms

2011-02-19T10:33:00.004+09:00

Kingmaker comparison shot

The picture above shows from left to right, GW's newest skeleton, Kingmaker, red box game, Kingmaker, Reaper, Kingmaker and barely visible a Mantic ghoul (the princess was painted by a junior member of the family)

I was looking for men at arms to populate my cities, palaces and act as general law enforcers. The short list that I had was

Reaper's men at arms
GW's bretonians men at arms
Perry's plastic mercenaries
Kingmaker's hussite

Reaper figures are nice but I thought the range was a bit limited. GW's were a bit big for what I was looking for and lacked (IMHO)character. Perry newly released mercenaries are quite beautiful however the look (armor and clothing) was a tad too modernish for what I was looking for. I eventually went with Kingmaker's men at arms in spite of some concerns for them being on the smallish side.

Boy, am I glad I made this purchase! The figures are breathtaking. They have the extra factor that makes them look like real human beings.

In term of size, they are on the smallish side without being undersized. The clothes are perfect for a dark medieval fantasy setting.

28mm dungeon furniture

2011-02-11T18:18:00.007+09:00

Here are a part of the models I purchased recently from Scotia Grendel in the UK. There are also some outdoor monuments from Fenris. For painting, I roughly followed Hirst Models painting guide.

I enjoyed painting those models. Be it the leather, the light effect, the water or the dungeon stones. This is meant to be a dungeon cell.

Here is a shot of another cell (are we talking dungeon or not?!?...). I did not over stretch my "talent" on these pieces and went for effect, even though I tend to say that more and more lately... I like how the fire came out.

I like how the shield came out on this one, pure NMM gold. The effect is very nice. I was thinking of painting some vitrails and gave up as maybe I still have other things to do in life... but I keep the option open in case I don't have any other thing to do in life...

Nice treasure, the chest are painted on the fast side with metallics and inks.

Scotia Models pros:

The models have a lot of character, I mean a lot.
"scale" wise they fit quite well with 28mm
I did not find them all that expensive

Scotia Models cons:

Some annoying bubbles damaged some of the model. Quality control could be a bit better instead of sending average crap
Some packs could have been made cheaper instead of dumping twice the same model (in particular the treasure chests)
I have seen stronger material than the resin used
Nice scenery, so what? Honestly, I like these pieces but I find they kill imagination in a RPG rather than fire it up. Isn't it great when your DM describes the scene so well that you can see it in your head, smell it, feel it?... Why in the heck do you need a piece of resin to limit your mind?

As for painting, what have we learned:

Hirst Model painting guide for dungeon works!.... Basecoat dark brown, dry brush with a light orange brown, dry brush with a cream color. It's really the type of effect I wanted to obtain, departing from the standard black/gray drybrush.
Making more progress on NMM painting. This time I used for gold a brown base, vallejo's dark flesh and vallejo's elf flesh for highlights
I cut corners painting all the metal parts in boltgun metal, than washed with a dark brown to maintain consistency with the dungeon stones and stains with leather to simulate rust
For coins, I had no idea what to do and just improvised bordering MSU. Eventually it came out ok: paint a base and then individually paint the coins, using lighter colors where light is supposed to be caught. I used the same color as for the NMM gold

Red Box' Hobgoblins, 28mm

2011-02-05T13:44:00.000+09:00

Here are my latest 28mm fantasy figures from Red Box. I am not fully familiar yet with all the monsters of the bestiary but these look to me like hobgoblins. If anyone could confirm, that would be appreciated.

The figures are nicely detailed with many interesting elements. There was a lot of thinking put in these figures. The sculptor is Tre Manor that has been sculpting many miniatures for Reaper

Here is size comparison -as much as different type of species can be compared -. Red box is on the smallish side. Keep in mind that the reaper figure is not a plastic base:

From left to right: Red Box, plastic GW, Reaper, Plastic Mantic, Fictive miniatures

Here are two shots of the figures:

The body art was fun, I like the tongues sticking out

The bases are pre-textured and bought on ebay. I like the time and material they save

Red Box miniatures pros:

Very nicely sculpted, a pure pleasure
Very good attention to details (I like the body piercing with the bone fragments)
Lot's of character
Almost absolutely not flash, very good cast
Belong to the "realistic" camp
Nice growing range
Weapons are separated and allow for actually quite a lot of variation from the base figures

Red Box miniatures cons:

figures are a bit expensive but I don't mind supporting real artists (they probably don't make that much anyway)
"scale" is on the smallish side, closer to 25-26mm
Figures are a bit "busy", especially with all the skulls hanging all around the miniatures' waist. I find that it distracts a bit the reading of the figure.

As for painting, what have we learned:

Again, need to accentuate the contrast, especially after a double layer of gloss and semi-gloss varnish
Making progress (and still a few mistakes) on NMM painting. Need to persevere.
Fur is not all that easy to paint even dry brushing it
Wood is not that easy to paint, still going blind and hoping for the best
Indeed pin the figures to the bases, it doesn't take all that long and ensures a lot more confidence in the solidity of the joint to the base.
Paint the upper part of the figure lighter than the lower part, it will help in defining the figure
If the color is a bit cold, don't hesitate to warm it up with warm glaze or wash. It does make a difference

Fictive miniatures 28m orcs and some thoughts

2011-01-30T21:28:00.001+09:00

Two packs of warriors and the boss

So here we are, making progress with the monsters and NPCs for some Role playing game.

One of the big enjoyment that I am having is that being away for 25 years or so from any RPG and fantasy miniatures, I'm discovering many small gems that were unknown to me so far. There is indeed a lot of pleasure to hunt for information, miniatures, scenarios, new ideas, painting concepts, reviews. 25 years ago, there weren't so many products and information available, and I had a lot less money.

From memory, Orcs are the bread and butter of any decent fantasy role playing game, so I couldn't be too much wrong when I went on a hunt for some. My criteria was 28mm, not costing me a arm and a leg and not caricatural. This pretty much rules out Gamesworkshop. However, their lord of the ring range has some nice and "realistic" orcs. Eventually, I did not chose them because I thought they would be on the smallish side compared to the Reaper adventures I was buying.

After a lot of browsing and investigation, I eventually found Fictive miniatures. They are big but not so much and match (over-match) quite well my Reaper adventurers. For monsters, I do not mind that much a bit of an oversize, the bigger the meaner.

One can see the variety that can be achieved with the interchangeable parts

The packs contain 3 figures with separated arms holding three different weapons and three different shields. The arms can be glued in at a different angle allowing for even greater variation. I bought two packs of these and the boss.

Here is a close up on the group of warriors. I have tried to maintain color consistency with brown and green tones.

Here is a close up on the boss. There was a lot of work done on contrast. Most of it is gone with the varnish...

I'm really enjoying painting something that is not historical, it allows somehow for more freedom.

Fictive miniatures pros:

Nicely sculpted and not too expensive
I like very much the separate arms system, it works very well
Belong to the "realistic" camp
Postage was absolutely decent

Fictive miniatures cons:

range is still limited but you could buy 3 packs of warriors without having to many repeats
I am not entirely convinced by the leather armor with faces molded in, but I can live with it

As for painting, what have we learned:

which green? Well, I went for whatever I had in black green and highlighted with a beige color for warmth. It was Vallejo's MC foundation dark green.
Warm color/cold color: a notion that is easy to forget when painting humans because we get used to color matching almost instinctively. As these monsters were new to me I had to remember fast color theory and be careful to select each time colors that would match each other instead of killing off one another...
Master painting? I was reading a book by a master painter while painting these figures. Many techniques were shown, but after a while, since I only have one life, I stopped following the advices that were taking ages to paint competition quality figures.
NMM (non metallic metal): I still have a long way to go, but I have decided to try and figure after figure, I hope I will be able to improve.
Zenithal lightning. Still trying to use it more: orcs are lighter on the top than the bottom, light reflection and shadow try to match the theory. I am happy I am making small progress. There are always some hit and miss, but hopefully the number of misses goes and decreases.
I forgot my own rule to paint with very high contrast with the master painters book's approach to paint with smooth transitions. I just realized it when I reached the varnish section where they said basically not to use varnish...as it will mask the details...no kidding! Since I am painting for RPG and my friends will manipulate the figures, two coats of varnish were applied, gloss and semi-gloss. Of course, all the delicate work of contrast and glaze has vanished...

28mm Mantic Ghouls

2011-01-20T22:34:00.006+09:00

Here are the plastic Mantic ghouls. I do not really know about the quality of the product as these are my first fantasy figures in plastic but I must say I am very impressed with the set. The sculpts are nice and really well thought out.
I bought the box containing 10 ghouls. There are two types of legs that you can combine with 2 torsos and 3 different heads. The hands are very threatening with terrifying fingers spread out to grab you. That makes in total 2x2x3 = 12 different possible ghouls. There are also hands included in the set holding daggers or butcher knife that you can switch with the regular hands.

Honestly, I did not want to spend ages painting a group of ugly and monstrous creatures and I thought it was a good occasion to try out the dip technique. I painted them in light khaki gray, painted the rags and dipped. I highlighted the flesh 2 or 3 times, painted the eyes and voila.

I believe they are perfectly functional for adventurers' canon fodder even though I do not feel comfortable with this technique that provides obviously a lot less control on the painting. I will probably add dead leaves on the bases for dramatic effect.

Mantic Ghouls pros:

very well sculpted and terrifying
cheap
why deny yourself this little pleasure?

Mantic Ghouls cons:

a bit limited in terms of poses but not that bad
Some odd nails in the limbs (that I cut out)
I didn't like all that much the extra weapons, the open hands looked a lot more interesting

As for painting, what have we learned:

The Dip: I can understand its appeal but do not really like the results that are, by nature, uncontrolled.The figures came out ok, but can you bear "ok" results? It is a trade off: time over quality. For the price of plastic, it was an experiment I could live with.
gluing sand directly on plastic with white glue isn't really easy as the glue tends to "contract" on the plastic leaving areas uncovered
eyes, eyes... well, they are painted but how easy is it when I can't see the brush?...
could have / should have filed the mold lines. Yeah right, if it was going to be cheap, then all the way...

Mantic Ghouls were a very nice surprise for me. I think they cost half the price of similar GW sets and one can certainly obtain delightful results with them. I do not think that purchasing them was a trade off for quality. I will definitely pay attention to what Mantic will be releasing in the future.

Please to introduce myself

2011-01-18T23:02:00.001+09:00

Boss of the skeletons band.

For some reason, I did not want to paint a standard sword on this one. After all, it was supposed to be the boss and have a special weapon. I was about to paint a brand new sword but backed away from the idea once I saw what it was going to look like. An evil boss with a shiny sword. Well, I thought it deserved a bit better and painted a magic sword of evil, from there on, I decided to experiment with blue inks and ended up painting the light emanating from the weapon all over my skeleton boss. Honestly, this is a gaming piece and I didn't want to spend 10 hours on a single figure. I went for effect and that will be nice enough for my adventurers...

Here below is the rest of the gang:

The figures are games workshop. They are quite nice to work with but oddly enough they all walk in perfect synchronicity, with the right foot forward.

Shading on the blades was done, however, I still need to (re)learn how to paint azimuthal lightning.

The picture washes out a bit the shading on the shields. But here again, an effort was made to paint azimuthal light.

The figures are from Gamesworkshop. I was hesitating at first between the new Mantic's and those ones. Eventually I went for GW as I had already the ghouls from Mantic and wanted to compare the quality of the products. The bases are from Fenryll. Cheap and functional. I like them better actually than the display sets I have bought from cool mini.

GW's skeletons pros:

Not too expensive compared to metal
lighter than metal (I prefer actually)
Set provides plenty of shields and weapons so you can really give an "over the top" look or a more "realistic" look (ah ah)
Many different skull options (helmeted or bare headed)

GW's skeletons cons:

No bows in set
bases provided could have been a bit less generic (but I supposed you make them either dungeon type or woodland)
all the skeletons walk the same
No remain of clothes on the chest as with the Mantic's set.

As for painting, what have we learned:

I painted a few gems and then came out nice
I need to work more on the azimuthal light
This was my first attempt at light reflection from a source and it showed me where to go next
It was my first attempt at painting a magic weapon. I got the idea but I will need to work at more coherence of the effect on the blade
I did some blending use retardant. It actually gives very nice color transition and I will need to develop more this technique
I will need to push more the contrast with the golden and silvery items.
For gold, I actually used beige paint in my golden base, then shaded with a wash, highlighted with golden and once more with Gold+silver. It gave me a few ideas, I will just need to be a bit more systematic and determined in playing with the constrasts.
Still will have to learn more on how to paint decent blades. I tried a bit more complicated effect but my brush control is currently not all that good and I have to remain modest in regard of the progress I can make at the time with 28mm figures

Overall, I am happy with the set and could buy more stuff from GW however, this will not be automatic and I will consider among all the available options to see what look I prefer best. I was actually looking for skeletons a bit more dressed (in rags) but those will do.

Dust Tactics : Rakete Fallschirmjäger-Einheit

2011-01-08T16:42:00.001+09:00

Here is a good example of what could very well be the German rocket troops in Dust Tactics.

The fact that the figures are held in the air by the smoke from the exhaust is very clever.

An exosuit for the super heavy infantry. For some reason, I did not want to camouflage the soldier. Although I will certainly try different camo patterns on other units. My feeling is that a camouflaged exosuit on a 28mm figure may look too "busy"

Pre-Painted 28mm

2011-01-03T10:06:00.001+09:00

Here is a (huge) box that arrived yesterday the 2nd of January (not so bad when the stuff was ordered the 26th of December...)

I am planning to go into Alternate WW II, sometimes referred as Weird WWII, term that I actually do not like so much. I like when the genres are separated, Fantasy, Historical, Horror. Somehow, I tend to feel that crossovers are mostly a cheap shortcut to dump together many aspects without really focusing on one. I like coherent worlds - for instance mixing Lord of the Ring with Warhammer 40k is not coherent in my view.

So the Alternate WWII that I visualize has little room for Zombies, Vampires and Cyborg gorillas. I do not mind a 5% touch of Weird, but not has a significant element of my games,...that's too weird.

The box contains many sets of AT-43 by the now defunct Rackham company. Not many people knows it but AT 43 stands for Alternate 1943. Initially, the game was planned to be Alternate WWII but ended up as Sci-Fi.

Here are the models under unpacking process

The models are pre-painted and rather cheap at this stage since the game is not supported anymore. I mainly bought "red blok" faction which will stand perfectly for Alternate WWII soviets and a few UNA, which present nice "Germanic" features.

The full order on the table. Some of the jet packs were broken. A bit of super glue put them back on their stands. Click to see more in detail

I was planning to repaint the models. The "soviet" look very good as they are. Of course, they are not painted to a showcase level but the armored suits do have some painted on chipping, nice camo and very nice decals. Overall, I am quite happy as they are and re-touching them may only marginally increase the overall quality. The soldiers on the other hand might gain some better face paint jobs to make them more lively. I will most certainly retouch them.

The quality of the pre-painted has really made some serious progress. I'm impressed by the sophistication of the models. This painted army saved me a couple of hundred hours.

DnD back to 28mm

2010-12-30T13:19:00.003+09:00

Ah, long time I haven't played DnD. How many years? Too many to state them here...

This is also my first 28mm figure in 10 years... Not sure how to paint them anymore. So no shameful close-up! I could have painted the whole thing a bit better but after that many years, I still to figure my way out if it. Could have done without the flash as well... The flame is crappy and I painted the armor with non metallic paints. Could have chosen maybe something a bit less challenging to start with...

oh well, let's took this as a trial figure (reaper, by the way). Ok, C+, should do better.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T18:49:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas to all of you wherever you are!

15mm Modern US, generation 2

2010-12-25T17:54:00.002+09:00

Here are some pics of the ACU pattern painted slightly differently than the previous version. IMHO it works as well as the first generation figures I painted last week.

Click to enlarge the pictures

Here are a few interesting details: the pattern on the sleeve of the upper figures, the M16 of the lower figures and the Infra-red reversed flag on its right sleeves. This figure is actually a minority and I made him an NCO.

Here is a closer view of the M16 correctly sculpted contrary to other 15mm manufacturers I have seen online.

I really like the poses that the sculptor has chosen. Usually, I am not a big fan of kneeling poses but I must say he made them very realistic.

Here is a close up of the figures.

The full squad + one casualty. I painted on the sleeves the reversed flags. I was thinking that instead of using the current black and white infra-red pattern, I could paint the older full color model to make the figs a bit more lively.
The NCO on the left and the prone gunner are painted as African Americans and they did come out quite well. For anyone who cares one of the figures on the left is gay.

But quite frankly, I am pretty much leaning towards DWKNC... (Don't want to know neither care...)

15mm US ISAF part two

2010-12-22T22:58:00.001+09:00

Here we go, eventually, step by step the new camera unleashes its potential... I still have to learn more how to use it, but I feel like some progress was made.

Here is the US squad with two fire teams and one leader

Another view from a different angle

A closer shot at the figures

Here are the US rangers from the 75th mountain regiment

Both squads together. I have added one long range radio to the rangers so they are actually 10 figures instead of 9. You can see the armored Hummers that will be painted at one point

15mm US ISAF

2010-12-19T08:37:00.004+09:00

I have always wanted to paint US forces for Afghanistan. The ACU uniform is an interesting challenge I'm trying to nail. The figures represents the 75th US Ranger regiment wearing PCU level 5 soft shells and ACU pants. The figures on the lower part represent a standard US infantry squad.

There are two fire teams for each squad, each with a grenade launcher M203, a light machinegun M249 and two infantrymen armed with M4/M16, each squad as a leader. The ranger squad has an extra figure with a heavy radio that could act has a Tactical Air Support FO.

Here is the information they give on wikipedia for the M203 which is a lesser known weapon in general:

Launcher: 3 pounds (1.36 kilograms)
Rifle (M16A2): 8.79 pounds (3.99 kg)
Total weight (including 30 rounds): 11.79 pounds (5.35 kg)
Bore diameter: 40 mm
Maximum effective range:
- Area target: 1,148 feet (350 meters)
- Point target: 492 feet (150 meters)
Maximum range: 1312 feet (400 meters)
Minimum safe range:
- Non-Direct Fire: 115 feet (35 meters)
- Training: 427 feet (130 meters)
- Combat: 102 feet (31 meters)
Unit Replacement Cost: $601 (2005)

Small remark: Sorry for the quality of the pics that are not really up to the figs, I'm still trying learn the rope for this new camera (Canon Powershot SD95) and I hope at one point to really have good pictures, hopefully very soon.

15mm DBA Syrians

2010-12-15T19:33:00.000+09:00

Here is my Syrian army. It will be opposing the Ayyubids or the later Crusaders. The style is a bit different from the Ayyubid Egyptians. I am not sure whether it is entirely correct but the overall result is reasonably nice. Below are some more pictures I took when my camera was working, before the figures were based.

I wanted a look a bit different from the Ayyubids for my Syrians. I limited a bit the number of colors and gave them a look a bit less colorful, a loser look, if I may say so... The command stand is the one on the right

These stands represent the standard cavalry detached as light horses. Same figures but based on stands of two

Again two more light horses

15mm Syrian- Ayyubid infantry

2010-12-06T20:20:00.000+09:00

Here is the infantry that will be shared between the Syrian army and the Ayyubids

2 x 4 bows. Should it be done again, I would make a little less variation in the cloths color and would go for a more uniform look (without being completely the same color).

The horde. I used 1 figure less than the 7 to use it on another stand. I simply made a mistake when I painted all the infantry and missed one figure. Wasn't really to paint again one infantry so the horde lost one man...

The Psilois and my first attempts at shield work for the arabs

two other warbands, probably from different tribes or regions. Again, I tried to make a rich color for the shields. The foot soldiers in the back could have enjoyed a bit more patterns on their shields, but the colors i obtained were so nice that I did not feel confident to mess it. The picture doesn't really show the depth of color, but it's there...

Very nice work on the shields. One small anomaly for anyone who can read arabic... I guess that will do for the rest of us.

Yet another warband, in a bit different style. Again quite pleased with the shield work

15mm Ayyubid Egyptian 1171-1250 AD (WIP details)

2010-12-06T20:18:00.001+09:00

The finished bases

I wanted some heavy look for a part of my Ayyubid army. The shields are actually not that hard to paint. First paint the background color and shade, then paint the pattern and shade. Since the colors are shared across the figures, it is relatively fast. Much faster of course than painting one shield at a time

Another 2 stands of cavalry (in total 7 cavarly stands were painted, plus 3 light horses stands)

Here is the actual command stand, with Saladhin in shiny golden armor. These are work in progress pictures, the bases are actually done in the same style as the late Crusaders'.

one more stand of cavalry and light horse seen from behind.

The same stands as above seen from the front.

Two stands of turcomen, for some reason, I did not imagine then like that at all, but hey, that's the figures I received

my soldier

2010-12-05T21:19:00.009+09:00

Here is a good example of my kid's latest work who painted this soldier while I was painting the DBA army. The colors were thought out and then applied on the figure. The base was also done by the same artist. The main colors were painted, then a wash was put and final highlight completed the work.

15mm Ayyubid Egyptian 1171-1250 AD fully done

2010-12-05T18:37:00.000+09:00

More pictures will follow to show the detail (before the basing actually)

15mm US

2010-12-04T09:33:00.001+09:00

here is the group

15mm WIP - Syrians-2

2010-12-04T00:18:00.001+09:00

almost finished the Syrians. All that remains to do are some white touches on the horses and the shield patterns.

15mm Delta force

2010-12-04T00:15:00.001+09:00

Here is a delta force team that I painted for Ambush Alley.

15mm US Rangers

2010-12-04T00:12:00.001+09:00

2 fireteams for Mogadishu or Desert Storm II. Good fun to paint, they have DCU uniforms, Chocolate chip helmet covers, Woodland flak jackets and shoulder flags. Ideal for Ambush Alley, eh eh.

15mm WIP - Syrians

2010-11-24T13:00:00.000+09:00

Quick pictures of the Syrian cavalry on the painting table

The Syrians are getting on the table for painting, they will share with the Ayyubids the infantry...

I'm thinking of painting them in dark blue, white, some black and light brown. They may end up looking like Beduins but it doesn't matter.

Box opening: Mirliton's 15mm Early Russians

2010-11-22T20:07:00.001+09:00

Mirliton's 15mm Early Russian DBA pack

Since I start to accumulate a number of 15mm miniatures of all kind, I have decided to start putting online my box opening experiences. I am always surfing the net for information on the miniatures and not always find what I am looking for. It turns out that I particularly appreciate the information provided by those who share online the pics of their newly purchased figures. So I'll start to reciprocate based on the on the idea that what is useful to me may be useful to others.

The pack contains all the options to field an Early Russians DBA army. I have painted already the foot soldiers which comprise 2xSp, 1xAX, 1xHorde, 2 x Ps (see a few posts before). Remain the cavalry here depicted:

For comparison, I have put on the left side other manufacturers' figures. From top to bottom left.
Peter Pig (Japanese foot soldier), Kukhasan, Legio Heroica, Corvus belli (knight holding sword)

Legio Heroica is the largest, and Corvus belli the smallest. But honestly, I would have no issue mixing them all together.

4 different archers for the Light Horses (x2)

Cav command stand, note the separate sword above the horses

6 x polish knights (6KN). I will probably base them 3KN for maximum re-usability

4 x 3 Cav: 4 different figure poses, 6 different horses

A close up of the cavalry. There are only two types of shields, either round or long shields

So I hope that this new series of "box opening" will be useful.

ACU test

2010-11-21T13:09:00.000+09:00

ACU test

I am making some test before I receive my new figures for Ambush Alley. These are WWII figs painted in ACU colors. The test is not so bad. I need to give it a bit more time to decide whether I try to paint differently or continue in this direction.

Ambush Alley: yet another distraction!

2010-11-18T22:20:00.000+09:00

Set of rules individual figures

Well, well. What can I say? A gentleman was selling his used copy so how could I resist at a discount price?...

Quite interestingly enough, I had promised myself not to play a tactical game with individual figures... I guess I was won over by the fact that they are simply used as markers for the teams' strength and we do not need so much to care about each individual's action.

There is a good review at this link: board game geek review

Now, it raises a few questions. How in the heck is it possible to game an ongoing conflict? I think it combines two things, toy soldiers and heroes. I do cheer up for the troops currently engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq that are fighting for democratically elected governments' policies (meaning we can influence the policy if we don't like it). These boys and girls are not any people but are our boys and girls. I did my bit when I was their age now its their turn and I do support them for what they do for me over there.

The toys soldiers are what we like in this hobby, so yes, I will be gaming my heroes and favorite team against the bad guys and I hope they win every time, and if I play the insurgents, I will give my gaming buddy as hard a time as possible so when and if he wins, it will be a deserved victory.

WIP 15mm Ayyubid Egyptian 1171-1250 AD

2010-11-14T11:24:00.001+09:00

Ayyubid Egyptians

Here is the finished army for my Ayyubid Egyptians Army. Finished from the painting perspective, I still have to finish those bases. I will do them in a similar way to my Late Crusaders'. It won't be too much complicate: Glue, gravel, a layer of sand and a couple of dry brushing.

I still have an army of Syrians to paint. They will share the foot bases with this army, I have decided that only the cavalry will differ. I still think that I invest too much in the painting for gaming pieces. Maybe spending time on the shields only should be enough but I can't do it, I'm too wimpy.

I may start my Aztecs before I go back to finish the Syrians or simply continue on my crusade impulse. Since the Syrians are already prepped I may then simply go with the... "impetus".

As you can see, bases are my favorite part of the painting...

15mm WIP - Early Russians

2010-11-03T21:05:00.000+09:00

Here are some pics from this week. It takes time...

Here is the first stand of spears. I'm quite happy with the shields

The second stand of spears

The auxiliaries

The two stands of Psilois: Crosbows and archers

and the.. hordes

I painted the foot soldiers first to get a feel for this army and eventually paint the cavalry to its maximum potential (he said hopefully)

Napoleonics, to the finish

2010-10-16T11:18:00.002+09:00

This is the last lot of figures with only one interesting fig. I am talking of course about the chasseur a cheval de la garde.

I painted this guy 3 times, 2 times as a chasseur and once as aide de camps on a beige horse.

I don't want to paint forever this figure. I think I sold the aide de camp that was very nice for USD 36 at the time to Scalecreep. I was right out of grad school and struggling to find a job with barely enough money for my baby daughter. Then I put for sale on ebay the 2nd chasseur that I had painted. It went for USD 100. The buyer was a nice person and told me he made a mistake on his bid as I was selling in the UK at the time and thought the 50 GBP were USD. But in the end he didn't regret and was glad to support me. I am grateful to him to this day and all the people who purchased from me.

Some artillery to support all these figs. They are actually Fantassin's as I found at the time AB a bit prohibitive. I think I eventually bought AB guns, I need to check in my spare box.

And a pic of the man without who, all this would never have been possible

More infantry

2010-10-12T11:09:00.002+09:00

So as not to completely die of boredom painting French infantry, I decided to vary a bit the color of the uniforms. So here are some French in white.

red facings

Blue facings. Notice the pompoms

Green facings. The sapper in the center was a very interesting figure

Purple facings. For those who don't know, the flag is carried with gloves.

I should paint a light infantry regiment that I have somewhere in my box. If time allows, I may very well sit and do this new project. However, other the years, I must admit that my painting style has changed a bit and has become may more efficient and more marked, with a use of lighter colors.

15mm WIP - 12th of October

2010-10-11T22:58:00.000+09:00

Here are some Early Russians being painted. The figures are from Mirliton, very nice animation, lots of character. I have started with the foot soldiers which gives me some preview and feel for the mounted troops. Again, I suspect that the shield work will make all the difference. I am trying to get a dark/vivid look. more flamboyant for the cavalry, darker for the auxiliaries and horde.

Painting in parallel is actually fun because one needs to jump to a different mood and feel for the Saladin Army. Lots of horses to paint, even more will be coming with the Bedouins (18 more mounted if I recall properly). These Ayyubids are actually very easy to paint. It is like Normans, with lots of chain mail. I still haven't the right inspiration for the shield work. Two more layers are necessary on the horses.

French heavy cavalry

2010-10-08T10:53:00.001+09:00

For some reason the "heavies" are my preferred figures to paint in Napoleonics. I have a fetish for the Dragoons and must have painted 4 times the same regiment with the pink facings (13th dragoon if my memory doesn't fail me). Sold on ebay to generate pocket money, sold to an Napoleonic regalia shop to generate pocket money, sold to a particular to generate pocket money... well you get the picture. Eventually, I got to paint the figs for myself.

First a commander for all this heavy cavalry

It's really a shame that at some point the sculptor will be gone. The life and animation of these metal pieces is simply astonishing.

Here below are more details of the famous regiment that I have been painting so many times. Even in 6mm, I painted it.

The detail is amazing

The cuirassiers. Strong massive, solid blue and red.

French light cavalry

2010-10-02T10:52:00.000+09:00

Here are two regiments of Hussars and one regiment of Lancers.

Here are the lancers that are meant to provide protection to the cuirassiers that I will post a bit later. For some reason, I did not find these figures to be the nicest to paint from the AB range.

I don't remember what regiment they belong too. I made a couple of mistakes on these figs, first I under coated in black which ended up in a quite a dark outcome. Then, I paint rocks on the bases which never really work well but with moderns or WWII bases.

These hussars are from the 8th Regiment if I remember well. Again, no luck with my light cavalry. One of the fig was actually a british hussar that I ended up re-selling. So my regiment is under strengthed

French infantry

2010-09-30T10:32:00.003+09:00

here is the second part of the French infantry, another 4 battalions in standard uniform

These figures have been seen and painted all over the world. They have become ultra-classics to the point of being instantly recognizable.

Each figure is so beautifully sculpted that it would deserve a picture in its own right.

Notice on the left the drums and head of column Major. Nice change for a command stand.

A close up on the voltigeurs with a cornet on the left

I remind you that before being "rescued", these figures were all dump together in a box.

what's left?

2010-09-28T22:31:00.001+09:00

ok, so what's left to paint?

~~Later Carthaginians~~ (Corvus belli)
~~Late Imperial Romans~~ (Corvus belli)
~~Post Mongol Samurai~~ (Peter Pig)
~~Early Imperial Romans~~ (Khurasan)
~~Later Crusaders~~ (Legio Heroica)
Ayyubid Egyptians and Syrians (Legio Heroica)
Aztecs (Black Hat)
Nikeforian Byzantines (Khurasan)
Feudal French (Mirliton)
Seljuk turks (Mirliton)
Medieval French (Corvus belli)
Early Russians (Mirliton)
Aechaemenid Persians (Xyston)
Conquistadors (in the post, Tin Soldier)
Mongols (to be ordered, Legio Heroica)

hmm,... that's a bit a lot

15mm WIP - Arabs at the time of Crusades - getting there

2010-09-26T23:20:00.001+09:00

My insurgent are progressing nicely. I still have to do the inside of the shields and the front of some shields. I will be adding a couple of flags as soon as I find some good and strong aluminum foil. I really enjoyed painting the infantry before the cavalry, I may proceed like this in the future for my other armies. It gives a sense of accomplishment to finish fast some part of the lot with significant results.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them. I will comment more when I post the full army. This is a preview, with some of the shields to be completed.

the full infantry for my Ayyubids and Syrians: 2xWb, 1xHd, 2x4Bw,1xAx, 3xPs

I hope it was properly written.

More detail. Again, I will comment more when I post the full army

Here, some of the shields I need to finish, haven't found inspiration yet. Still work in progress.

I may paint motives, I am quite pleased now with the depth and richness of the colors

The back of the figures to cut short any rumor that I do not paint the back of my figures

These guys are meant to be Ax