Saving you the Painting - More eBay

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Pumping out the WW2 at the minute.  The latest batch have been done a week or so, but I kept forgetting to add them on here.  Early War Germans in 20mm:

Everything 

Check the listing here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333703628720 

These are classic Airfix miniatures, and I think the largely stand up very well, if a little smaller than most modern makes.

Command

A section (one of three)

These represent a Full platoon (with some losses) circa 1940-42, or a full strength Platoon from late 42 to 1943.  Alternatively they would work well as a second line or fortification unit into 1944.

The tank is a Panzer IV Ausf. D from the HäT/Armorfast range.  For a 'simple' kit it still has some 25 parts, only the running gear is simplified.  Lots of painting and weathering went in to this fun little model, and it gives the platoon some punch!

Dig that splatter, chipping and rust...

More product, and hopefully more into the gaming kitty.

Fingers crossed!

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Saving old Soldiers

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Sometimes we get a chance to have a second chance at life; I know I certainly have, and well, things would be very different had I not.  But let's keep it light, eh?  In this case I'm talking about figure painting.  

With my German WW2 forces of a more than usable size now, I took the time to look at my Americans, and found them a bit light on infantry.  Or rather, many of those I had left were in a pretty sorry state.  

Rebased but otherwise unmodified from 30+ years ago.

These were amongst the very first figures I can recall painting 'properly', probably around age 15.  We all have to start somewhere of course, but these were done with all of four colours, in Enamels, with clearly little reference to historical accuracy, and only passable efforts at staying within the lines.  What can you expect for some of your first models; few of us start out great, and painting like most skills doubtless adheres to the old adage that to get good at a skill requires around 10,000 hours of practice.

Well a quick trip to the calculator, suggests I've had around 19,500 hours of practice since then, so it felt like it would be a good idea to give these gentlemen the paint-jobs they deserved, rather than the one they'd got all those years ago.  I had at some point in their lives at least made a passing attempt at basing them properly, on irregular squares of card with scatter, but that too could be improved.  I don't want to be harsh on my former self, and it is good practice to keep at least some of your early attempts at painting - so you can see how far you've come - but these deserved better and so the first step was to strip the old bases and dig in to the supply of pennies.  Thence to add fine sand for texture.

Next up, out with the airbrush for a light coat of black primer.  Even on the soft Airfix figures the enamels had held up to over thirty years of abuse, so just a light dusting, and a little more directed at the bases, was necessary.

Dusted and ready for their next stage

On to the actual painting.  My technique for 20mm mini's has not really changed in years, only some of the materials to get the job done has changed.  Neatness is key, but it isn't a case of being perfect.  Planning as in any project really helps.  Broadly I worked from the bottom of the figure to the top and from the lowest layers to the top at roughly the same time.  What's that mean?  Well, boots first the gaiters, then trousers.  Rifles before the hands holding them, helmets and patches last of all.  

You get the idea.  

Its all in flat colours too, slightly lighter than you would think you'd need them to be.  In part this is as we are going to then do a shading glaze; but also the smaller the model, the lighter it should be, to appear as in real life.  The science of this has something to do with reflected light, and a small body can reflect less light so should begin lighter to look as its' real life equivalent would.  But I haven't done the 10,000 to count as an expert in this factoid.

Anyhoo, as said, it all helps with the shading glaze; which is where the magic happens and the models are transformed.  My preferred formula is 50/50 Army Painter Strong Tone & Matt Varnish (of any brand) applied by brush.  The varnish helps dilute and flow-improve the Strong Tone, whilst also sealing and protecting the paint job.  Neat!  Then it was just a case of finishing the bases.

Lovely!

So here we have the benefit of decades of practice!  a Mixture of Airfix soft plastic and ESCI hard plastic marines are turned into a platoon of the 4th Division, US Infantry (Armoured).  No modifications to the original build of the models were made, as they were likely to be pretty frail, and I felt I would honour the state I assembled them to, back in the day.  But with the painting and new basing they really seem transformed.

One thing I noticed was how clearly the ESCI figures were ripped off from the Airfix models, with only one of the saved figures being an original sculpt, the rest are just torso swaps.  That said, several of the poses look better for it!  Despite that the Airfix Marines were some of my favourite figures back in the day.  and doing these up the nostalgia values were high.  

All in all a quick, but highly enjoyable task.  And heartening to make these fellows stand proud once more.

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26eme Regiment: 1811

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The 26eme regiment is the latest addition to the Napoleonics collection, bolstering the French forces to near parity with the allies:

Perry Miniatures

This regiment appeared in many of the major battles of the Peninsular War, including Sabugal, Fuentes d'Onoro and Salamanca, before being sent East to serve in the campaigns of 1813-14.  

Attempts at randomness

Using what was available, these are dressed for somewhat inclement weather.  They were intended to be a quick and easy job - by Napoleonics standards.  How wrong I was, these seemed to take far longer than intended.

But it brings the French up to 13 foot units now.  Which is real progress.

More hopefully to come this year yet!

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Euro-centrism in my gaming?

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So here is something I've been musing upon.

When I look at my historical wargames miniatures, they are pretty much, a sea of white faces.  As a white European, this is entirely predictable, but it is certainly not reflective of actual history, world culture, or any number of varyingly Woke descriptions I could throw about.  In short, as a historian first and a wargamer (narrowly) second, it has bothered me to varying degrees.

There are justifiable reasons why we tend to stick to shall we say first world conflicts, the research is easier, the required models are more readily available, and to be honest, we are a very fighty bunch.  Until the last 70 years or so we've been at each others' throats more often than not, and some of us at least are still quite happy to go sword waving around the world.  Step back in time a century or two and you don't have to look very far for any number of conflicts that may spark an interest.  And from a pragmatic standpoint, things like the Napoleonic Wars, are far more likely to generate a sustainable demand for product, even in their most obscure sectors, than battles of the same period in the Southern Hemisphere.

I tried mapping the armies I currently own...

There is no reason why anyone has to take an interest in these overlooked fields, of course.  But not to do so feels like a missed opportunity to explore, and do something unique or at least unusual.

Problem being, of course amongst other things, as I suggest, you may find it hard to get an easy start.  Or anything at all to meet your needs.

There is an obvious exception, if you were shot up by white colonials at any time, there will be at least some representation of you.  Zulus, Native Americans, Maori...  Not a problem.  But what if you existed before Columbus or Livingstone was around to record your existence?  Then it gets a little harder.

Pondering another new project to put a bit more diversity in my collection, I'm drawn towards the Sub-Saharan civilisations.  

  

One of my first interests was the Zulu war, but it led me to read around the subject years ago, and gradually get a little familiarity with the earlier societies of the continent, Great Zimbabwe, Mali, Axum; there's a lot more than most people seem to know of.  They all have fascinating and unique looks, and intriguing histories, but not much in the way of miniatures ranges.

Sometimes a bit of 15mm, but rarely anything in 28mm - my preferred size for a smaller force.

So firstly a plea, if anyone does know of a decent source of models.  Let me know.  But I'm thinking much like my Judeans, these are going to be a conversion project, from the ground up.  The first task, is the reading and image research to get some idea which nation has the most of interest from a gaming and aesthetic standpoint, and what then you would need to make/do.

Some light reading

On the one hand it is simple, a fun new project, that will be a little out of the ordinary, but on the other it is an effort to be a little more representative.  And that makes me feel good about it.

But it is certainly going to be a slow-burner.  Even as something like a Lion Rampant army, it is likely to mean researching and scratch-building 50 or so miniatures.

It is something I wish would be easier to accomplish, but I guess it's an untapped field at present.

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General Ferey and the Guarde Artillery

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One thing I was determined to make progress on at the start of this year, was the 28mm Napoleonics.  I felt I'd pushed them to one side in the last few years, and whilst there was always an aim to do a couple of units a year, that had reduced to a trickle of maybe one in the same timeframe.  

This year will not be like that!  So here we add another unit, and an additional commander to the French, who were definitely feeling outnumbered, so this is mainly their year.

Claude François Ferey, Baron de Rozengath (21 September 1771 – 24 July 1812) became a division commander during the Napoleonic Wars and was killed fighting the British at Salamanca; prior to this he commanded a division at Fuentes D'Onoro and prior to that he was a Brigadier at Busaco.  Given the available spare figures he is presented by here, and my leanings to the early phase of the war, I've presented him as a Brigadier:

Claude Ferey and chum.

Particularly pleased with the horse...

These are just a pair of Hat Industrie hard plastics, that were to hand, and made up for a nice command base.  Ideally he should be in a Bicorne, but I am plain out of suitable spares, so you make do with what you have.

Speaking of which.

In the bottom of the Napoloenics box of shame, a pile of metal had languished for a good nine years.  An old friend had gifted me some French Guarde artillerymen, he had intended for a Warhammer army (!?!), and I just had to add guns to them to make a unit.  Well I got that far; and then nothing.  Still, to each, his moment in the sun.

The Queens of the Battlefield

The whole are Front Rank models, some of my favourites, for good clean sculpts, chunky details, heft, and a fair price.

Ready...

I think the guns are the best part of the work here however.  Always pleasing objects to paint.

How accurate the Imperial Guarde Artillery is for the Peninsular, is not clear to me presently.  I should probably do some research!  But it at least now means the French have parity with the Allies, each side now sporting 6 guns.

So that gives me 3 new Napoleonics units so far this year, but there's more in the pipeline too.

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A visit from the Boardgame Faeries

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Buoyed up by successful miniature sales and looking for a new long term painting project or two; I reinvested my funds:

Booty

Blood Rage is an Area Control Boardgame with lots of 32mm Miniatures, a good stylistic match to the Conan Game mini's.  Blackstone Fortress is a Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawler in the 40K universe, bought mainly for the mini's as painting projects.  

The Age of Sigmar figures go with another nascent idea that is already getting out of hand!

This lot were ordered from Wayland Games, who seem to have a bit of a bad rep, but I had not issues.  Decent prices, fast free shipping.  Fine by me.

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An Actual Game

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Yes, I know.  Many gamers have already cautiously put their heads out of their burrows and in some cases probably never retreated to them.  But for myself, I guess I took to caution, and it has only been now after 5 months' in just the company of my beloved, and occasionally - once permitted - close family, that I have finally been ready to open up the doors to TML Towers, on a limited basis.

So with distance, ventilation, sanitiser and appropriate caution, I welcomed James over for a game of nostalgia...

Hordes of the Things

I guess I last played Hordes *mumble, mumble, mumble* years ago, whilst for James, it was his introduction to wargaming via his father.  As his lockdown project he had been working on a range of opposed armies for the game, and I was more than happy to give them a run out.

My host

I chose the Elves, to face James' Vampiric undead.  The forces, as befits HOTT were 15mm scaled and formed of around a dozen elements making up a 24 point force.  We played on a slightly oversized table around 27 inches square, with the Elves attacking and the undead defending their stronghold; a cave entrance to the underworld.

Our view of the Undead horde

Hordes makes a lot of a small table, with incredibly short movement and shooting  ranges, but it does work.  You have time to maneuver and strategise, you have room to retreat and reorganise.  Our advance nonetheless took time.

The Undead approach in a great mass

For those unfamiliar, HOTT uses a simple commander system, based on DBMM and DBA.  Being from the Phil Barker canon this is no surprise.  Indeed I always thought HOTT the best of the Barker rules.  Anyway, at the start of a turn you roll 1D6 and that indicates your command points.  Moving a single element costing 1 point, but units in a group all move together for a single point, there are few exceptions, such as Wizards, but for the most part it is a simple scheme.  

Ray Harryhausen Approved

I attempted to draw the undead towards what I considered a strong position with spears flanked by missle troops in strong ground.  My cavalry to threaten the enemy flank.  

"You shall not pass"

For his part, James advanced en-masse, with his own strong flanking force to threaten my right.

Coming on Strong

Battle opened truly with highly effective Elven shooting, then close combat.  As with all the DBX family HOTT uses a simple opposed D6 roll once for each element to resolve combat.  Generally you need to double an opponents result to destroy the, other wise merely beating them will make them withdraw a base depth, but again exceptions apply.

The Elves began strongly, and the Skeletons were soon being smashed in great number.  But James was able to get his Werewolves and Vampires into my Right, where they became a thorn in my side.  

The too and Fro of HOTT combat

ON my left however, Half my cavalry had survived long enough to be joined in combat with the enemy General and his allies, by a selection of foot troops.  The Elves were able to push the Sorcerer and his minions back, but not finish them.

The Crux

At about the same time, James was able to sneak an attack in on my Wizard General with his Vampires, but the assault failed and the sneaky daylight dodgers were sent running.  My centre line was finally in a position to advance, covered by my Archers attempting to contain the Werewolf menace.  James committed his Ghouls to try to finish off my Behemoth - a Tree Ent - but to no avail...

Victory!

Whilst both out Generals survived, I had destroyed more than half of the enemy army - in points value - for the loss of only one element of Knights and one of Archers.  On this day, the forces of good Triumphed.

So quick thoughts; it's nice to finally get a game in!

Also HOTT, still stands up.  Sure the rules, like all Barker systems, are written in a manner intended to be bullet proof for tournament play, and so are in a form of exhaustive legalese of which the kindest thing I can say is that is thorough.  It is not the easiest read.  However, I personally still think HOTT was the best of the bunch, and the most fun to play.  I reminds me of Dragon Rampant in some ways, in that it is very open.  You can build pretty much anything and find a way to use it.  Want an army of Mecha, Wizards, Dinosaurs, Penguins?  Sure, it'll work.

The practicalities of playing, in warm summer months, not too bad.  I could open the french windows, circulate lots of air, and stay my side of the table to maintain proper distances.  That all worked well enough to try it again, if we both stay healthy of course.  When the autumn and winter beckon, if things don't improve that may not be so practical, but we can make gaming hay whilst the sun shines.

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Sicilian Normans and more on eBay....

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Going through the plastic rubble, I found many models I didn't need myself, that would still be fun to paint and do something with, but not keep.  And so up online for sale now are the following:

Sicilian Normans of the 1st Crusade

Milites

Bohemond and his Entourage

Spearmen unit 1

Spearmen unit 2

Sicilian Muslim Bowmen

Crossbowmen

This lot were mostly 28mm Conquest Games miniatures left over from my Feudals project, but I also bought in a dozen more to make a viable force.  Fun to paint, but it's not an army I had any plans on making so for the time being they are a selling project to fund other whims.

These are online here: Sicilians nb: SOLD

At the same time I found a couple of Russian tanks I painted a couple of years back, and a selection of spare miniatures, enough for a scratch force of WW2 20mm's: 

Assault Group

Infantry 

T34/76 Model 1943

IS2 Model 1944

Zis3 76mm

Group HQ or Recon team

82mm Mortar team

Ideally there should have been a bit more infantry, but this is all I had, and it simply isn't worth me buying more at the moment.  for Berlin 1945, these make a perfectly plausible force.

These are online here: Russians nb: SOLD

Like I say, these were both entertaining projects to try some variant techniques and basing on, but to eBay they must go, and hopefully they'll fund a shiny miniatures boardgame or two.  I'm eyeing up something to replace Imperial Assault and Conan in the painting queues.

Feel free to help me out ;-)

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Napoleonics on Two Continents

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A little bit of a painting update, At the start of the year I'd sort of promised myself to get some more Napoleonic troops done, and in the last month I've made a fair bit of progress; with more to come I'm pleased to report.  But for today its a pair of smaller units to begin with.

First of all, a section or platoon of the 41st Infantry for the Detroit campaigns in the War of 1812:

 

Research showed these were in coats without turnback colours, but that the musicians wore white.  These provide authentic regulars to stiffen my Canadian militias.

As ever, doing British uniforms made me wish I was painting anything else, and these being a predominantly Victrix meant that there was no end of fiddly details, and in the case of the torsos, weird vague attempts at details.  They've come on a long way from these.

But as I cobbled these together from a pile of spare parts I shouldn't complain; I got more out of the leftovers than I expected.  

Whilst in lockdown, I've had the time to sort through the plastic backlog, and figure piles, and in doing so found quite a few things I'd forgotten.  And thus the next unit out of the traps was the altogether more pleasurable (to paint) Catalonian Light Infantry, below:

 

These are slender Eagle Miniatures casts, not terribly dynamic, but crisp, decent value and a good match for Perrys'.  The bag I found was of 12 models, good for a couple of companies of skirmishers in Black Powder.  A nice uniform to paint too, though most accounts of Spanish light infantry suggest Blue coats, every illustration of this unit at least displays a rich green.  Given the Spanish circumstance, I think making do with what was available, or following the whims of the commander is doubtless the case.

Time and inspiration are such that I'm getting plenty of painting done, but as Britain risks coming out of hibernation, the possibilities of face to face gaming are beginning to resurface.  Whilst I'm still personally wary, and will be taking fair precautions, I think actual games are on the horizon.  

It's been a while...

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Brush Love

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If you own as many brushes as I, it may be because you've not been looking after them properly, and need to replace them more than you should.  So a quick post for something I hadn't really considered before but have found to be far more useful than the old stand-by.

I like many of you used dish soap (AKA washing up liquid, here in the U of K) to clean my brushes, and whilst it was fairly effective, it was quite harsh, and required a fair bit of abrasion to get the paint shifting.  But I just switched over to actual painters soap, and, it is far better.

Mmmmm.  Nice.

Now this really does the job.  I've found the soap can really shift paint, but also - with acrylics anyway - can be used mid painting to keep a brush in shape and free of clogging, without even effecting the paint.  My approach now is to paint with the soap bloc by my wet palette and not only regularly rinsing the brush, but also stoking it on the soap every few minutes.  Also in between any change of shade.  On top of cleaning detergents the soap also contains the essential oils your brushes need.  Its a lot less unpleasant for them, and for me.  I'd almost go as far as to say moistening brushes in your mouth becomes a sweet experience; if you know what I mean.

And finally you can get the stuff all over the place, every art shop sells it, and at under a fiver a block it strikes me as very reasonably priced.  Check your search engine of choice for details.

Alongside this though, I have recently taken to another sensible adjustment to the painting process, one taken from my airbrushing in a sense.  The wet palette makes mixing paints in bulk with wires, sticks etc impractical, so I tended to use the brush I was painting with instead, a terrible habit.  Not so bad for blending, but murderous for initial mixing, so instead I have reemployed an old brush to live permanently in the palette as a mixing brush.  It still gets regular cleaning, but all it is there for is to do the initial mix that proved so harsh for my brushes.

As for the outcomes of these efforts, well, the next few days will present a little product.

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