A Wee Update from the Painting Desk

The last few months have been largely unproductive. My painting queue has stalled while I have been all over the place. First California, then Northern Ireland, and it seems that every spare moment in between has been spent with the Army Reserve. I also had a slight health setback in the last week and half that has put me back some.

So, I finally got a chance to sort my life out on the Bank Holiday (first day off in a month, much needed) and have finally got stuck in on the hobby space. I found, amidst the piles of stuff, Black Tree Design Gebirgsjäger, an Artizan German platoon, and more Poles, Black Tree Design again. I am still working away on my first lot of Warlord Games Poles, so the rest of the gang shall have to wait, but at least I know where they are now!

However, I have made some progress. Today I finished off a few more figures, in between cleaning and tidying. Ten more Vikings, and two more 30k Ultramarines, one of whom is a Sergeant. With the release of the Ultramarine specific bits from Forgeworld, I am holding off on any more building on that front until I can gather up the bits I need to make my Ultramarines look their best.

The painted for 2015 tally takes a leap up by Twelve, not a bad show! Hopefully with a more sorted workspace and life settling down a little I may get more done.

Painting Update

I am currently wrangling with a lighting problem. My trusty hobby lamp's bulb died an untimely death a couple of weeks ago, and despite replacing it with more bulbs, I can't seem to get hold of proper, natural light bulbs. I've had a chat with the chaps at the club, and they have directed me towards something that might work.

The frustrating part is that I had quite a productive weekend, and finished off a fair few bits that were sat upon the painting table. I took photos, but had had to play with them extensively to get the colour to look half true to life.

Here they are:

Two more Ultramarine brothers, this was the only decent photo.

I have completed two more Ultramarines for my 30k army. I still have a fair bit of resin waiting for paint, a lot of which was donated kindly by Mr. T before he absconded to Canada. I am holding back a bit on this front with the promise of Ultramarine specific things next year. But I just can't help but work on these in parallel with whatever else is on the table.

Stacking.

Cover me brother!

Two veterans for my Dark Angel Command Squad. I decided to go for a close combat based unit, and as such power weapons abound. I particularly enjoyed building these fellows. The Apothecary is now almost done, the white being an absolute pain, and then all I have to do is the Champion and the Standard Bearer. I also bought the Dark Vengeance expansion set for Dark Angels, a video review of which is now on YouTube. 

At the moment I am looking to bulk out the Dark Angels with a flyer and some vehicles, so a Vindicator should be appearing soon. Additionally, I am probably going to mount my Command Squad in a Razorback for some protection and a little fire support.

I've also begun working on my Warmachine stuff again. Below are my first Warjack (Crusader?) and High Exemplar Kreoss, who has featured on the blog before. I repainted his Menoth crosses to match the 'Jack, and will probably repaint the metal parts of the 'Jack when I get an opportunity as the bronze isn't quite what I want. A club member has a Minotaur Space Marine army, and his bronze is fantastic. He has kindly shared his recipe with me, which I shall shamelessly steal and use for my own devious ends. 

I've made contact with the Warmachine/Hordes community near my workplace of Milton Keynes, and a kind forum member on the Privateer Press forums (Rangerbob) has offered to teach me how to play. So a warm welcome indeed, and impetus to paint my figures. 

Finally, more Vikings. These were painted an age ago, and are undergoing a bit of upkeep following years of neglect. I have a few more on the desk, and then I need to count how many of these hairy marauders I actually have. I think that Saga might now be within reach.

As a final note, I have actually finished my Soviet Strelkovy Company. I tried taking photos, but the lighting was miserably bad, and at 15mm scale, the figures looked awful. Once I sort out my lighting I will post some pictures. 

Viking Hirdmen

I have been hosting a friend from New Zealand for the past week, and as a result haven't got much painting done. However, I did manage to finish these brave Norse Hirdmen to rally around their Jarl's banner. Again, these are Foundry figures, so quite "heroic" and on the large side. These fellows are individually based and will be used for both Saga and unit based games.

Apologies for the grotty looking movement tray, it has taken a battering over the years. I am hoping to finish my first battalion of Old Guard Grenadiers this weekend, and some more Vikings. However, if the weather is fine I might actually go outside instead...

Vikings and Grenadiers, better pictures

I woke up to glorious sunshine this morning, so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the completed figures again. Here they are in natural light, which I think does them far more justice.

Some pictures: Vikings and Grenadiers

I managed to finish basing five more vikings of the rather heroic persuasion, as well as my first complete base of French Old Guard Grenadiers. Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, I am trying to arrange for a better quality lamp for lighting since the changeable weather makes photography outside impossible sometimes. Initially I had tried to save time on the French by simply gluing sand to the base and washing it with brown ink to bind it and shade it, but there was a distinct lack of definition and it looked lame. Instead I opted for my standard basing method using cheap acrylic paint I buy in 250ml pots. First dark brown, then a drybrushing of yellowish brown and finally a drybrush highlight of bone. This is followed by some static grass to finish it off.

I am rather chuffed with the way that these grenadiers turned out, they look rough and ready and overall look rather worn. I have the weekend off, so I am going to try and get a unit of Dwarf Miners done, in addition to finishing off two more companies of grenadiers.

Dwarf Thunderers

The end of July is rapid closing, and I finally have a day off. I have managed to get a small unit of nine Dwarf Thunderers done this month, whilst continuing to repaint my Vikings. Here are some pictures of those retouch jobs, these chaps have been based and varnished and are ready for action. 

Since the weather was nice, I took these outside in some natural light which does the figures more justice than yellow internal light. These are Foundry figures, quite large and on the heroic side, when I was originally putting my Norwegian Viking army together for WAB using the Shieldwall supplement, I had planned to use these guys as Jomsvikings as they seem the adventuring sort. They will fulfil the same role in Saga. 

Here are some pictures of the newly completed Dwarf Thunderers, this unit is missing a musician, I simply cannot find him anywhere, hopefully one day he will turn up. Not quite a legal unit yet, but who's counting. The first picture was taken indoors with yellow light, the others outdoors in natural light.

I am quite pleased with the way these guys have turned out, they were pretty quick to do and look pretty smart for rank-and-file chaps. So I am now up to three units, though they are rather tiny units and not much use yet, but things are taking shape and soon Karak Azul will have a small defence force for some low point games, though I need an eighth edition rulebook before I can get gaming.

I am currently basing up some more Vikings and three companies of Old Guard Grenadiers, I'll try and get some pictures up by tomorrow, so let's hope the weather is nice again so they can be taken outdoors.

June Review: Early Imperial Roman Refurb and Viking Civilians

June has been largely dedicated to painting bits and pieces, given that I was busy with work, the army and life in general. The good news is that my Roman army for Vespasian in the East is now fixed. The shields have been reattached, and the chipped painted reapplied. Here is a picture of the Roman host:

The Roman host without their general Vespasian, the Eagle and their two scorpios.

The Muleteer at the head of his army.

I used this army at the BHGS Challenge WAB competition in 2006 where I finished dead last. The army also included some Commagene horse archer allies, Nabatean archers, and slingers from Chalcis which are not pictured here, as these were dragooned from my Seleucid army. I always enjoy fielding an army from a specific theatre or campaign, even at a tournament. I realise that I could simply field an army of drilled legionaries, but I prefer something with a narrative. I am currently gathering the lead for a Western Empire project, a force to fight Caractacus or the Germans, and of course, play the other sides in the year of the four emperors. I am thinking of painting that army in a far less uniform manner, ie. less red!

Having fixed up the Romans, I have started getting my Norwegian Viking army back into one piece. The years have been unkind to them and they are quite battered, most shields need reaffixing and a lot of chipping needs painting, but actually it has been a good opportunity to add a highlight here and there as I get through them. I also managed to knock out a few Viking age village folk and a cottage for scenarios. I recently received my Saga rulebook, so skirmish level gaming is a go and civilian figures and village buildings are great for that sort scenario based gaming. I have another Gripping Beast cottage to paint up, which I will try and get done soon to go with this one. Looking forward to the month of July, I am going to push on with a 28mm Napoleonic project which I have been thinking about for some time. I will document the planning and practice of it on this blog as it happens. The vikings and dwarfs will share the table with some Victrix Old Guard Grenadiers which I got for my birthday in June.