New Depot

I have been working on this off and on for a while now, and spent this afternoon getting it to the point where it is almost finished. Its supposed to be a depot/warehouse of some sort for use as either a general terrain piece in a VBCW game or in smaller pulp games. Its not quite finished yet, I still need to build a gate, and finish of the ground work of the yard. And the edge of the base needs painting etc. But it is mostly finished.

The name "Smillies Milk" was the wife's idea, I mentioned it was supposed to be a depot of some sort and she said that she thought it looked like it should be where milkmen went to pick up their round, so "Smillies Milk" it was. The sign was knocked together in photo shop and added with a balsa wood frame. The other posters were either pulled from the web and downsized by me, or supplied free of charge by 6milphil of GWP.

The roof comes off and at some point in the future I will add an interior, and I will need to make up some crates etc as scatter terrain around the base. Not the greatest looking terrain piece in the world but, not to shabby by my standards. It also fits the important criteria of having to fit on my model shelf.

Father xmas on his day off!

Just finished painting up these two models from Artizan Designs. The wife suggested the red coat for the big man, however it wasn't until I had finished painting him that I realised he now looked a bit like a militant Santa! I painted up the little lady first and decided on a nice neutral grey suit with a deep red waist coat. Turns out that if you put her with the big man she looks like an off duty Santa's helper!

Anyway another couple of finished models for use in either VBCW games or small pulp games.

An evil genius steps from the shadows!

This dastardly fellow is one of a number of top notch models that my good lady wife was kind enough to buy me for xmas. This is Artizan Designs evil genius from the kiss kiss bang bang range. I painted up Artizans cultist range of figures in July (if any ones interested there is a blog post about them under, unsurprisingly July below). I painted up this nasty chap as my cultists overlord.

In the alternative as my wife pointed out he does look a little like Mr dairy milk!

Either way I enjoyed painting him and like the results, although I'm not massively pleased with how his cats paint job turned out.

Grandad joins the militia

Painting this old fellow kept me busy this evening. I like how the colours turned out, and he fits in nicely with some other militia figures that I have.

A dashing fellow

Painted up this Artizan resistance fighter figure this evening (try saying that three times real fast). quite a nice model although the waist coat is quite heavy looking. Still I like how he turned out. Painted up in quite neutral colours for use in either VBCW games or pulp games.

Little Tilly

Having forgotten to procure transportation for my chaps before BG3 I popped into hobby craft and picked up this really quite nice 1:48 Tamiya model of  an Austin Tilly. The quality of the model is tip top, as I would expect from Tamiya and I think despite being 1:48 it scales up quite well with 28mm models.

I decided to paint this model up to accompany my Wittering Defence Force army, but I actually enjoyed building and painting the model so much I think I might get another couple and paint them up. I think I might paint one up for use in desert pulp games and the other as a general civilian truck or something similar.

Either way having noticed how well this scaled up with 28mm models I think I will have to look at the rest of Tamiya's 1:48 range and see what else might fit in with my forces.

Tumbledown Tower

I started building this tower a while ago for something else and got bored after the construction phase and undercoating. Well the other day I didn't have much else to do and thought "you know what a gaming table always needs, a ruddy great tower from an indeterminate period".

So out came the built but not painted tower. I painted this up in simple greys (as that's pretty much what I had handy in any quantity) and picked out the odd brick in a different shade to add a bit of depth. I wanted the tower to be generally quite simple and open (hence the mashed side). I know a collapse on that scale should A. make the thing fall down and B. leave a big pile of rubble. But hey its still up and if I had left a massive pile of rubble it wouldn't have left much room for gaming. I think this could comfortable be used in any VBCW game, a more modern game or as a hideout for some cultists in a pulp game.

In the future I might make a big pile of rubble on a seperate base, or a similarly badly damaged hall to sit next to this, but for the moment I'm happy.

Model for scale is a Musketeer Lewis gunner.

I say where's my weekend gone?

Well thanks to mother nature dumping a gazillion tons of snow on the north of England and Scotland I found myself being called at home on Friday night and asked to go to Newcastle a mere 3 hours and 200 miles from the house to investigate some claims. Well I say some what I really mean is lots, in and around Newcastle on Saturday followed by more in Newcastle and then on the way home today.

It was a very long knackering weekend, having worked all week to then get tasked up the road to Newcastle quite late on Friday. Still pays the bills.

It was clear though (as can be seen in the picture) that Newcastle really has had some snow!

Down side was I didn't get to do the painting I wanted to do. On the upside it meant my wife couldn't force me to clean out the cupboard under the stairs, so not a total loss then.

Volley Fire!

Spent this afternoon painting up these red coats from Empress. I like the models and love the period but I find it's really slow going painting these guys.

I think my Anglo-Zulu war period will always be slow burning, and it's also likely that I will never really get into the Napoleonic period for the same reason. Although I quite like the look of Prussian armies and the uniforms look a bit simpler to paint. Maybe that will be a new 15mm scale collection.

Still another enjoyable afternoon's painting.

Foreign Advisor & Militia

Just spruced up an Artizan German Officer that I've had for a while. Looks much smarter than it did before and could work equally well as a Foreign advisor to the local BUF detachment. I also painted up a Militia man  that I had in the cupboard, also from Artizan. I went for a light green coat with nice green wellies.

Force Multiplier

Following the recent BG3 it became painfully apparent that my force needed a bit of a fire power upgrade. So I have invested in a shiny new Mortar from Artizan Designs. I have painted it up to go with my RAF/Militia based Wittering Defence Force army, although there is no reason why they can't also be used as SFF with stolen RAF uniforms.

A nice model and a simple paint job, I just need to base the figures and finish of the Mortar base. I have also picked up a few more militia types to flesh out my army, might paint them tomorrow or later in the week.

Another couple of blue suits

Just finished my last two blue suits for the Wittering Defence Force (WDF).

At the moment the WDF is looking like a light company comprising of 1 Company HQ section with attached  Heavy MG led by Wing Cmd Burleigh (no relation). 1 Platoon Cmd Section leading three 10 man rifle sections comprised of 1 regular RAF rifle section and two 10 man rifle (Militia) sections in old WW1 early WW2 equipment.

The 2nd Platoon Cmd Section is leading one 10 man rifle section and one under strength anti tank section.

I have just ordered a Mortar section to beef up the WDF's and SFF's (When I'm using them in that guise) fire power. It became apparent during the Big Game 3 that my force was lacking some long range fire power so the Mortar should come in very handy. The plan in the long term is to add another two 10 man rifle sections so that I have a light infantry company.

Farmer Giles

Following on from yesterdays painting of the Chard character model from Empress I decided to paint the Hook model from the same pack like a farmer or similar militia character. I've painted him so that he's wearing a khaki army shirt open over his shirt and braces.

I really like how he turned out, and think the whole model looks very farmer like. I was tempted to remove the rifle and exchange it for a pitchfork but alas I didn't have one to hand and wasn't confident that my modelling skills could stretch to green stuffing a pitchfork.

Chard!

I've had Empress's Zulu character pack in the cupboard for a while now, but have never gotten round to painting the figures up. As I don't really feel like painting the thin red line at the moment I thought the model of Stanley Baker as Lieutenant John Chard would, with the right paint job fit right into the Wittering Defence Force.

I couldn't resist painting the trousers blue with a nice regimental red stripe but the rest of the uniform is painted to match my WW1 and WW2 uniforms. I decided to paint the shoulder braid gold, because well why not. All in all a great model and I like the result. There may even be room for James Booth as Henry Hook in the force, if I can come up with the right sort of paint job!

Armoured Car

With the Big Game 3 kicking off in a matter of hours I realised I had no transport for my SFF force.

So in the last 3 hours I have cobbled together the above, armoured car, well sort of armoured.. Starting life as a 1.35 scale kubelwagon I squared of the top a bit with some foam board and then slapped a load of corrugated car on to represent metal.

All in all its a satisfactory job, I painted the hull of the car blue so that it looks like it's a civilian car which has been pressed into service. The bit of white on the front wheel is pva glue which hasn't dried yet. It'll do for the moment but in the long run something better is needed.

More ammo?

Just finished painting up the loader to go with Mrs Miggins. I'm generally pleased with how this turned out although I'm still not sure about the grey shirt. The overall finish of the model wasn't great. Mainly because I didn't give the model the usual warm water rinse prior to undercoating, instead on autopilot I just cracked on with undercoating. As a result my undercoat of choice "caked" a bit in some places, mainly on the face and in creases, still I think the overall finish is good enough.

Your Kingdom Needs You!

Sketch of a soldier in an imaginary uniform that my wife (the artist in the family) created. The soldier is drawn with pencil and the writing was added in photoshop. She plans on painting it at some point, but I love the sketch and thought I would pop it on the blog.

Modern Combat

To finish off what has been a very productive painting weekend I decided to paint up one of the 8 SAS Moderns from Empress that I have. I don't really have a clear plan as to what this model and the others like it that I have are for. I'm thinking of using these guys to start a small force for Ambush Alley modern combat skirmish games, or equally these guys could be fighting in a zombie apocalypse games.

The model was great to paint and I'm pleased with the finish.

Mrs Miggins

I have to say I really enjoyed painting this Empress figure from their Spanish Civil War range. I decided to paint this model as though she had dropped everything to defend the home. I liked how the dress turned out and I like the contrast with the webbing and hat, oh and the very un lady like boots.

The figure comes with an oil drum which the LMG is braced on, as I didn't want to base this up to look like a street scene I decided to pop some reeds in front of the drum as though it was abandoned near a hedgerow. I need to prune the reeds and probably add a bit more to make it look more wasteland/hedgerow like.

I'll be adding this to my Big Game 3 force, one of my favorite models, and favorite paint jobs.

2 Section

Well I have spent today finishing the 2nd of my 4 man RAF sections. These four will be joining the first section and Wing Cmdr Burleigh as part of my Wittering Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). The majority of the force will be made up of militia with a squad or two of RAF gunners. I think the RAF squads will be made up of 10 men in the end but I find painting in batches of four easier so I have a couple of left over guys to paint at some point.

In other news my order from Empress came so I have 8 of their great modern SAS guys to paint along with a small selection of their Spanish Civil War types who will be painted up as militia for either my Big Game 3 force or my Wittering LDV force.

1 Section

Just completed my first section of 4 RAF gunners for use in my new force. I quite like the finished effect and it's only taken me two afternoons to complete them, just need to base them now. I still have another section to paint up but I think I will do that another day.

Wittering Defence Force

Received  a selection of Artizan miniatures today. Enough for an infantry squad and this officer chap. I've painted him before but as an Infantry officer for my VBCW force. As I have completed the force I need for the game in November I thought I would make a start on my own force which is based around RAF Wittering. Wittering was home of a training squadron until the mid 30's when it was converted into a fighter base.

In my alternative history the base having been cleared of the training squadrons and personnel is awaiting delivery of aircraft and new fighter squadrons when the civil war breaks out in 1938. The base commander who I have decided to name Wing Commander Burleigh (no relation) does not hold with the views of the BUF and Mosley so decides that Wittering will remain under his protection and not BUF control. Accordingly he has raised a small local defence force out of the skeleton base crew and local volunteers.

I'm going to flesh things out a bit at some point but for the moment the above model is Wing Commander Burleigh in battle dress, the plan is to paint up my other new squad in similar RAF colours. The rest of the force will be militia as the base is understaffed.

Flying the Flag

Finally got round to adding a flag to my standard bearer. As I'm playing as the SFF in the Big Game 3 in November I knocked up an appropriate flag in photoshop. For the uninitiated (which includes me) the symbol on the flag is the flag of Somerset. I just photoshopped it down to size and added the text. the flag pole is just a paper clip painted black. My wife's comment was that the flag's a bit big, or to be more precise "if it was any bigger it would be a tent". Personally I think its fine, any smaller and it would look (in my opinion) like a big hanky, besides you want the enemy to know who you are, don't you?

Somerset Freedom Fighters

Well here it is my completed force for VBCW for use in the Big Game 3 in November. The picture quality is a bit rubbish i'm afraid as I struggled to get good quality pictures of  large groups of miniatures.

The Cmd Platoon consists of 1 Officer a standard bearer (with standard to be added) 3 dispatch riders and a HMG Team. 1st and 2nd Platoon is made up of 10 Rifles, 1 Officer, 1Sgt, 1 LMG Team and 1 Bomber per Platoon. My Third Platoon, thanks to the fickle roll of the dice is under strength. Therefore it is made up of 1 Officer, 1 Sgt and an LMG Team.  All I need to add now is some sort of transport.

What I like about collecting a 28mm force for VBCW is that I can use the same miniatures in a number of other periods, be it WW2, WW1 or VSF, which is handy for a lazy sod like me.

In other news my wife discovered there was a Hobbycraft centre near our town, resulting in a shopping trip where I had to resist the urge to buy 90% of the shop. Sufficed to say my stocks of foam board, balsa wood and other bits and pieces have been renewed.

Re-Mastered

While I was waiting for my latest purchase from Empress to appear in the post I decided to revisit a model I painted at the beginning of the year. In the last year I feel that I have improved my painting skills quite a bit and more importantly my painting confidence has improved.

In the before picture you can see that I had effectively just neatly blocked in the "base" colours, at the time the model was presentable and I was happy with the results. However in the last year having learned from observing other peoples painting approaches on various websites I have started using inks for shadows and have gotten much better at highlights. So I decided to return to this miniature and "remaster" it.

I've shaded around the folds using inks and I have added various highlights and think the "After" picture looks much better. A great improvement for only an extra 30 minutes (or less I didn't pay much attention) work.

Wait for us Chaps

I had more time this evening than I thought I would (and unusually for me on a Sunday I was in a motivated mood) so I was able to paint up these four chaps to go with the four from yesterday. Another enjoyable painting session, I was also able to base the four models I painted yesterday, not bad time wise for me. Not quite sure what I'll paint next have to have a ponder and see what floats to the top of the mental pile.

Onward Chaps

Just finished painting another four of the great Musketeer Miniatures WW1 models to add to my VBCW force. Didn't take me to long, just an evenings work. I think I may now have finished my VBCW force for Big Game 3. I'm going to have a roll call later and see if I have, all I think I need to find now is a bit of transport for my gallant hero's.  I have another four of these fine fellows to paint, I may or may not get time to do it over the weekend as I have quite a bit of work to do on the allotment.

Security Fencing

Continuing my wall/fence theme (in case you haven't noticed I haven't got any models I fancy painting at the moment) I decided to knock up a bit of modern fencing. I've been toying with starting a little collection of modern miniatures for a zombie survival game and thought this would be a good start. It took me about half an hour to make the fence plus a bit of time fiddling with the fencing I've used as razor wire. I would have made another couple of sections but I didn't have anything readily to hand to base the fence on. The fencing is corrugated card that my wife found in the "gluing and sticking" section of Tesco's.

All in all another easy, quick, and in my opinion pretty good bit of scenery. Just received my order of 8 WW1 British infantry so going to paint them up this week.

Crumbling Wall

Knocked this up over the last couple of evenings a 28mm scale wall section. It was a bit of an experiment using a large pack of cork bits used for making boulders for model railways and the like that my wife bought me last xmas. I decided to see if I could build wall sections from them.

The wall was just built up and stuck together with a bit of PVA. Then I painted it dark grey before lightly over spraying it in grey primer to create a "rocky" look. I then washed the whole thing in with a couple of shades of brown and green. The base is just painted brown, with brown flock and static grass. Couple of Empress Anglo Zulu guys for scale. All in all I like the effect and it was really easy, the plan is to knock up some more of these.

The end is nigh!

Or rather my first holiday in 3 years is over. Just back from a nice 7 day break in a friends villa in Majorca, despite being the end of the season it was still very hot and my wife and I (despite slapping on quite a bit of factor 30) managed to burn ourselves a wee bit. While I was away I decided I wanted to start building some more scenery etc. This was sparked by picking up a model railway magazine and becoming fascinated by how detailed some of the layouts are. Also ordered 8 ww1 British Infantry from Musketeer Miniatures to flesh out my VBCW force a bit.

NCO's (and a gunner)

Newly finished this evening, another Lewis Gunner and two NCO's for my VBCW force. Another enjoyable evenings painting. Just need to base them up and there ready to fight the good fight (or the bad fight, I guess it really depends who's side your on).

I'm a bit undecided what to paint next, I need to order a couple of models to round out my force for the Big Game in November, but as I'm away on my hols in September I wont be doing any ordering until I come back. I still have some Anglo-Zulu war British infantry to paint so perhaps I'll finish them off.

Can't see the woods for the tree's

I was a bit busy and stressed with work this week so I didn't fancy any miniature painting, but I wanted to do something productive. So I knocked up this tree on a CD as a base, not my finest work but it will do. I quite enjoy scratch building tree's and its pretty easy once you have the hang of it, hardest bit for me was waiting around for the plaster to dry!. I've run out of dark green lichen hence this tree is a bit bare and autumn like, or as my wife put it "it looks like a swamp tree", which is a compliment, I think. The thing I like about making tree's is that there good for almost any scale there either big or small tree's dependingn on the size of the model. This is quite a big  tree for 28mm but I still think it looks okay.

Leading from the front

Just finished these two fine fellows from Musketeer. Another enjoyable painting session. Not much left to paint for my VBCW force, instead I think I'll paint some Anglo Zulu War British Infantry over the weekend.

Hmmm I'm seeing double

Another quick update, just finished painting these three models. One Lewis gunner and two (identical) loaders. I also have two, three quarter painted officers which I hope to finish Friday night. Then I'll need to have a quick review of the troops and see what I need to purchase (if anything) to finish my VBCW force for the Big Game. Then just for a change I think I'll paint another 4 of the Empress British Infantry for my Anglo Zulu war force.

My plan is to slowly build up my Anglo-Zulu war force until I have a light company of say 60 men, but that's more of a long term project. I also fancy painting up a small modern British Infantry force to use in little ambush alley (or similar) skirmish games. Must stay focused. 

Get your skates on

Just finished this dispatch skater guy. I'm not sure whether they would have had red skates with snazzy white laces in the 1930's but that's what I wanted the skates to look like so poo to history (as though a skating dispatch rider isn't already flying in the face of reality a tad). Got 5 or so WW1 Infantry models from Musketeer to paint next as part of my VBCW force. Still toying with colours and so forth.

Local Defence Force

Another five of the top notch Musketeer models which I've painted this week.

I'm really pleased with the results and it didn't even take me very long to paint them, hell I painted two of the models in about 3 or 4 hours today which for me is super fast! I think the quality of the castings definitely improves the quality of the painting and makes it easier to get the results which you want.

These guys will make up part of my VBCW SFF force for the Big Game in November but in the long run will form part of my own VBCW force the Wittering Allotment Volunteers. I still have quite a few Musketeer models to paint up but I think the next batch is a selection of Officers, NCO's and Lewis gunners from the WW1 range. Still makes nice filler for my SFF force.

Off to war again

This is the first of the Musketeer Minatures which I ordered.I have a mix of ww1 uniform guys and homeguard/militia types to paint up. One thing I hadn't realised was that Artizan Designs miniatures are slightly taller and "chunkier" than Musketeer's but theres not enough of a size difference to bother me. Love Musketeers sculpts there really clean and have loads of detail. I've also painted another 3 of my Anglo-Zulu war british infantry, and started on another 4 so its all go.

Make Ready!

My first Empress British Infantry model. I'm pleased with how it turned out, this is the "test model" for my latest little side project. I've got another 7 of these guys to paint and Empress's Cinematic Rorke's Drift character pack. In other news i'm just waiting on the good folks at Musketeer sending me the latest additions to my SFF force, but until they appear i'll be working on my Anglo-Zulu war project. 

Lying down on the job

Well that's the last of my Artizan British Infantry painted. I have however ordered a veritable raft of miniatures from Musketeer Miniatures to complete (or almost complete) my SFF force for VBCW. In other news I've ordered some of the lovely anglo-zulu war  British Infantry sculpts from Empress Miniatures to start my other little project off.

The Cult of the Golden Triangle

I got a little distracted over the weekend and in between rebasing my British Infantry I painted up the set of Artizan Design Cultists that I found in a cupboard earlier in the week. They were just crying out to be painted and they were really great fun to paint. I made a point of painting there trousers differnently because I wanted them to look like they had just come home from there various "day jobs" and jumped into there Cult tabard.

I decided to name this little band of nutters "The Cult of the Golden Triangle" mainly because I'm not great at drawing/painting symbols free hand and a triangle filled with gold was nice and simple and gold looks good with purple and red so its all good. I have no idea what I will use these guys for they may just live on my display shelf. But if Artizan release any other models in this range I will be sure to flesh out the cult.

Operation Rebase complete

Well I have now rebased all my existing British Infantry onto coins or washers so they can all skirmish. I have one smg guy left to paint and then its online ordering time. I've worked out what I'm buying next and I'm going to be having a bit of painting marathon over the next few months. I'm trying to also avoid getting sucked into starting a Zulu era British infantry company, must resist.

Base of fire

Just finished my Artizan British Infantry HMG. Great little model I still need to complete the base but other than that its done. I probably wont do the base for a while as I also need to rebase about 20 or so Riflemen who make up 1st and 2nd platoon of my SFF company.

Decisions

I'm a bit stumped at the moment. I'm painting one of Artizans British Infantry HMG teams, which is fine but I found this little collection of Artizan Cultists in a cupboard that I had forgotten I had. I think they must have been an impulse buy. I'm thinking about painting them but I can't decide on a colour scheme. In other news once I have a bit of cash together I will be making some more purchases from Artizan and Musketeer Miniatures to finish of my first company of SFF for "A Very British Civil War".

That little Belgian man

Just finished painting this superb model from Artizan Designs. Really enjoyed painting it, I particularly enjoyed doing the hanky and bow tie. Next up a Brit Inf HMG team, bit of contrast I know.

1:1 scale model

Well in an effort to relive my childhood I have spent the afternoon building a fort with my wife. She however insists on referring to it as "the chicken coop". Anyway a little shot of my work, the outer walls are large pallets dug into the ground supported by large posts sunk into the ground and held in place with postcrete. A very nice little diversion on a sunny afternoon.

Reinforcements

Just finished the next batch of Artizan Brti Infantry for my VBCW force. Obviously there regulars who have joined the SFF on the promise of Cider for all. I still need to base these guys and re-base the other 10 or so infantry I have based. After that I have an Artizan HMG team to paint. Then its onto shopping. I'm thinking some militia figures from Artizan/Empress Miniatures and Musketeer as a start.

All present and correct sir

Most of the above miniatures were painted and based with Platoon/Company actions in mind. However I have recently gotten into "1938 a very British civil war" and I'm going to press these guys into action. I haven't decided what army I'm going to create yet, some pondering of the source books will ensue I think. But for the moment I will be re basing the group stands so they match the guy based differently to the left of the photo. Then I will move on and paint the other 3 stands that I haven't painted yet. After that, I will hopefully have made an army choice and can go on a bit of shopping spree. Never know I might even buy some white spray paint and finish my Tomb Kings Skeleton unit, sufficed to say that army is now on hold.

Tea Sarge?

As I have run out of white spray paint and can't undercoat the last of my skellies bodies and shields I have gone back to painting some WW2 Minis from Artizan Designs, who produce some great miniatures for a number of periods.

I originally started painting these British infantry figures to base as squads for platoon/company level games. However I recently been sucked into the background of "1938 a very British civil war" which is great and really off the wall. I finished the above mini this evening and quite like the results, I've got a number of figures already painted in this scheme which I will elaborate on in the next post.

Glowing eyes

This is my first go at a bit of directional lighting. I wanted to try and make it look as though there was a bit of glowing light coming from my skeletons eyes. I doubt I will do it to all rank and file, but thought it might look cool for the unit champion. Also I just wanted to try a technique I hadn't tried before, I'm pleased with my first go next time I think I will try and make a gem or bottle glow.