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.

How I discovered Wargaming

Today I listened to the latest episode of "View from the Veranda" with Neil Shuck and Henry Hyde, featuring guest Rich Clarke, whose beautiful Dux Britanniarum rules arrived yesterday, and the episode got me thinking about how I got into the hobby. Messers Shuck and Hyde shared their own "conversion" stories and this gave me the idea of writing this little post which is nothing short of naked narcissism.

For many people wargaming begins with Games Workshop, as so too did I. The general story for most people seems to be that they start off with the Fantasy or Sci-Fi offerings at Games Workshop, and then, as they start to grey they turn toward the dark art of historical wargaming with its doctrinal issues. Much like Orthodox theology, historical wargaming is a closed club making very little sense to those who are not participants in the eternal debates. Which Napoleonic ruleset is best? How do we accurately model command and control? What weapons did Hypaspists carry? It is, therefore, no wonder that for most of us Games Workshop is our way in. The rules are simple enough to learn quickly, there are well carved out backgrounds for the worlds, and, most importantly, I can walk into a shop and buy a box with all the bits I need to play.

The thing is, I always wanted to play historical wargames, I just didn't know anything about it, no surprise then that when I was finally introduced to the hobby by way of a sixth edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles starter set I opted for the Empire and set about trying to mimic a Landsknecht army. When I finally decided to dabble in 40k, no surprise, I chose Imperial Guard. Humans all the way, and always trying to build something historically themed, to the detriment of my results... This all changed on the day I discovered Warhammer Historicals. Almost overnight the Fantasy stopped, and I was intent on building an Early Imperial Roman force. The great part was that the rules were familiar, but they did things Fantasy didn't, for instance fire and flee. Because Warhammer Ancient Battles wasn't marketed at ten-year olds the rules allowed for greater complexity, whilst doing away with that magic rubbish which I frankly don't much care for.

The problem was that, unlike Games Workshop's neatly vertically integrated ecosystem, historical wargaming is a fractured mess; I was buying rules from here, figures from there and bases from over there. And it is precisely this disunity which keeps the newcomer out, so that even someone like me, who only ever really wanted to play historical wargames had no smooth path to entry and had to discover it through Games Workshop. From the discussion on "View from the Veranda" I glean that the good news is that this is starting to change. It seems that as the historical wargaming industry becomes more professional, and less of a cottage industry, the companies we know and love are realising the necessity to provide things like starter armies and bundles. This is important because if I wanted to introduce someone to wargaming who shows an interest in the Games Workshop window display, I can show them a demo with my stuff and if they are still interested, for about £80 they should get up and running with a Dux Britanniarum ruleset and a force to start playing. I for one am excited by the prospect of a more user-friendly historical wargaming industry that markets itself more effectively to newcomers and those who cut their teeth on Games Workshop stuff, because frankly I would like some more opponents to play. (and the self-centeredness resurfaces)

In other news, I finally got five more Vikings done and finished basing my first company of Grenadiers, I shall try and get some pictures up tomorrow evening for your delectation, gentle reader.

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.

Pictures: Dark Age Village Folk

I finally found an opportunity to post a few pictures of my Dark Age village folk. These are Foundry figures from their Viking range, and by the style I would guess Copplestone sculpts. They are an absolute pleasure to paint and make a nice change from the usual armed bods. Enjoy...

Some rascally kids.

I really enjoyed painting the two women in this picture.

The middle figure is Brunnhild Ravenhair, the chieftain's daughter. She will make a good target for a woman snatching scenario. The rightmost is a hedgewitch character, who could be given some "magic" powers for a scenario to make things interesting.

 The really good thing about most of these figures is their wide range of usability. Although they are "Viking" folk they could easily stand in for most Dark Age or early Medieval civilians. I am a big fan of versatile miniatures that are at home in many different armies, places, or periods. I find that the Dark Age period is particularly good for reusability as Northern Europeans seem pretty generic in dress. Anyway, that is all for now. Hopefully I will get a chance to upload some pictures of my Romans in more detail.

A Tough Month Ahead

July looks to be rather unfriendly with regards my painting schedule. The reality is that I do not have a single day off, bar a few Sunday afternoons, when I go to Mass anyway, until August. This is due to working Monday to Friday and a heavy Army commitment on the weekends this month. However, the monetary benefits will certainly be a reality next month!

So basically this is a heads up that I might not get too much new stuff up on here, though I will try and push on. I have almost finished a rather leisurely painted Dwarven Thunderers unit, and the first half of my Old Guard Grenadier Battalion, so I might be able to round those off in the few hours I have to myself in the evenings.

However, in lieu of painting, I will try and get some reviews up on here. Well, not reviews, but thoughts on things I have bought recently. I wasn't planning on purchases, but the combination of my birthday in late June and a desire to see the new plastic sets in the "flash" have made me buckle. Addiction. In any event, I have already shared my thoughts on the Black Tree Designs Romans, so expect more poorly thought out thoughts on figures.

I got hold of 60 Perry Foundry Early Imperial Romans, which are my favourite, for about £20, an absolute bargain, on eBay. These are for the planned Northern frontiers army. I also thought I'd get my hands on some Warlord Roman Veterans to see how they scale, and just what they look like since I find pictures on the web seldom give one a real sense of the figures. I also got some Celts and got a cheeky box of Perry French Infantry out of curiosity. However, I have been really busy so the boxes are still sat unopened on my shelf.

On another note, my friend James from the Whispers of Chaos Blog put me onto the Bad Dice Podcast, a *spit* Warhammer podcast. I was, however, pleasantly surprised and am enjoying listening to the back episodes when I go running or at the gym. Even if you aren't a Warhammer player, which I am not, I'd recommend it as one gets some insight into the scene and frankly it makes me want to actually play.

So a rough one ahead, but we will grizz it out and hope for the best, stiff upper lip, what-what...

Foundry Old Guard Grenadiers

I managed to get some highlights on the Foundry models that I painted. The technique I used was based on Doc T's. After the anti-shine I added a little white to the raised areas to give the figures greater depth, and also to spruce them up a little. Apologies for the lighting in the pictures, I need a more focused natural light source, and sadly the British summer is on hiatus.

I varied the exact area I highlighted for a little variety, dirty gaiters seemed most appropriate.

I tried a "feathery" highlight, trying to avoid the paint being to wet and running. From a distance it looks quite good.

So this will be the technique I employ going forward. These chaps are going to be mounted six to a base for a company and then four bases for a battalion. My base size is 60 x 40mm. I only have eight of these grenadiers, and Foundry are far too expensive, so I will fill out the rest of the battalion with Perry Miniatures and Front Rank. 

Old Guard Grenadiers

So I have been planning for some time to build forces for the 1809 Austrian Campaign. Originally I was going to do it in 15mm using AB Figures however, with the advent of plastics, 28mm has become a real option. Given that an AB battalion comes in at £24, I really couldn't turn down 60 figures, at least two battalions worth, for about £20. I prefer painting 28mm and these Victrix figures are a pleasure to speed paint using a dipping method which I have copied from Doc T on the Warhammer forum.

My first attempt was on eight Foundry Old Guard Grenadiers which I received with the Napoleonic painting set. I was never going to use them, but it seems that will not be the case anymore. I got those eight painted in record time using the wash and dip method. The only thing the much smaller Foundry figure now needs is some highlighting, especially on the belts and raised cloth, to make it look less dirty. They are in full dress after all. The great coat wearing Victrix grognards can afford to look a little more scruffy as they are "on the road".

Grenadiers at various stages of completion.

The first picture shows four figures at various stages of completion. The leftmost has simply been washed with very watered down coats of paint. The second figure has had black added for the boots, bearskin and those parts which will be metal. The third figure has been painted with Army Painter Strong Shade dip, dried and sprayed with anti-shine. The final figure is complete, with metal parts done.

Close-ups of the initial stages of painting. 

You will notice a difference in the opacity of the blue. Using a wash that is super thin results in a more faded look, so by playing with the ratios of water to paint you can get a really nice variety of blues. This would have been due to the sun, colours running when soaked, and general wear. I am currently aiming at getting this first battalion done, which will be the 1st BTN 2nd Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard. The unit will consist of 24 figures which will include a mounted Colonel and a Sapper since these are the first battalion.