Cold War Brits

I'm in the process of moving house at the moment so not a huge amount is getting done painting and hobby wise. I did however manage to paint up these cold war brits from Elhiem miniatures. There 20mm which was a lot quicker to paint, and a touch cheaper. The sculpts are lovely and I already have another 4 on the table. 

I can see a lot of 20mm in my future, the sheer amount of time I saved by painting these instead of 28mm makes it much more practicable hobbywise as time is tight. 

In other news I sold another part of my soul to Gamesworkshop. I noticed they had re-released the most recent edition of Space Hulk for another limited run (now sold out) and with she who must be obeyed's blessing grabbed myself a copy.

At £75 I would usually say this is typically steep for Gamesworkshop, but as my wife and I play board games and have bought a fair few over the years from other manufacturers for close to this price I'm thinking its not actually that outrageous.

Anyway I just couldn't resist, when this edition was first released there was no way I could afford it but this time round life is a bit rosier and its got a real nostalgic link for me as I played 2nd edition a lot when I was younger.

Undead Biker

Only managed to paint up a couple of Zeds from Studio Miniatures in the last week or so. I am rather pleased with how the bandanna on the biker type turned out, though I think he might need a bit more gore!  

A trio of coppers

Finally finished 3 additions to my 1970s project. These are Crooked Dice Minions with police heads and bullet proof vests sculpted on by yours truly. The intention was to create some RUC looking types but when I look at these I think I picked a bit of a German Border guard green. 

Still happy with the results, I need to do a fourth at some point, as three seems like an odd number! 

As usual my picture taking skills are such that the shading is lost in the images but still, they look nice enough. 

Night of the Living Dad

Finished another 4 of the Studio Miniatures Zombies, this first chap actually looks oddly like my father (right down to the beard) I had intended to get these done before the end of October but such is life. 

I went for some high viz stripes on this chap, not sure how well it worked out really. 

All in all a pretty gore heavy group of miniatures. Such is my way I am currently toying with a return to a smaller scale perhaps 20mm or 15mm for the fiscal savings alone its an attractive proposition. 

Von Dracula

Well thats me back from a very restive week in the Highlands, I managed to get some painting done yesterday, though sadly not very much. The above figure is (if memory serves) from the Warlord Games Weird War range. Its been floating about in my lead pile for awhile now and I though as its Zombie related would suffice for this week. 

I went for a bit of an old school Horror type look with the cape and a dress white uniform. Overall I'm pretty pleased though the the skin tone could have done with being paler. 

I also had time to paint up another of the plastic Studio Miniatures figures. Nothing very fancy but a Zombie none the less. I have finished another Studio Miniatures lead figure as well but he's awaiting the drying of basing materials at present. 

Holiday Zombie

I have to apologise for the very poor quality images, I'm away on holiday so don't have my usual gear available to me. That said having trundled over to the Highlands to enjoy a weeks piece with my wife I packed in the paints and was able to get this finished earlier. 

Another Studio Miniatures multi-part plastic Zombie with a duty belt sculpted on by me. I wanted a sort of State Trooper look to this one which sort of works though the washed out pictures are not really doing it justice (honestly).  

Hopefully I'll get some more done this week but I'll likely wait until I get home to post more given the naff pictures.

The dead walk (again)

So its Zomtober 2016, I have over the last few years for various boring reasons not been able to post something suitable during the sacred month. So this year I was determined, as I am trying to get back in to regular painting and modelling, to contribute to the Zomtober.

The first two completed zombies, their progress slowed to "walker" speed due to a visit by friends over the weekend, are provided herein. I have painted quite a few of the Studio Miniatures plastic multipose zombies in the past and I like to try and make them look individual with a bit of basic converting. For these two I added duty belts to give them the look of private security. They are modeled on the uniform scheme of some armed G4S guards I found during a google image trawl.

Overall I'm happy, the modelling work on the belts is okay, though as I have not sculpted for ages its a bit messy in places.

More (hopefully) to follow before the end of Zomtober.

Two man Recce

Been busy with work of late, but have managed to get another two of my 1970s troops finished. These are from the Gripping Beast Argentinian range but they do fine service as a couple of squadies in soft cover patroling rural areas. My picture taking skills are as shoddy as ever so the pictures are a bit washed out.

On the work bench I'm busy converting some Crooked Dice Minions into RUC/1970 Armed cops by adding some bullet proof vests. Hopefully get them onto the painting queue today. 

In other news my nostalgic urges have been aroused by the new Gamesworkshop Genestealer cult miniatures. Personally I don't think they are as nice as the lead ones from back in the day but I am tempted. However in standard Gamesworkshop style I have been put off by the horrifying price of some packs. 

The squad size plastic box sets (10 figures) are not horrifically priced, though are still high by comparison to say a platoon box from Warlord which is the same price. But the leader box of 5 figures is over 30 quid which seems a bit steep, particularly when GW have already paid for the tooling as the figures are all from their Overkill board game that was released some months back. 

A walk in the country

The Winter of 79 wargaming concept has recently caught my eye. Like VBCW the Winter of 79 is based around the strife and unrest that persisted around the late 70's and 80s in the UK, but it diverts from history to an alternative where an army council has taken over control of the government and various factions have formed. It has a more "serious" focus than VBCW but the opportunity to create some semi-realistic what if units was to much to pass up. 

I've had some argies from the Gripping Beast mofo range rattling around my unpainted lead box for quite some time (possibly 4 years now I think about it) and as visually there is little difference between them and British infantry of the same period decided they would do as an interim measure. 

I've painted these four up in a uniform similar to that warn by troops in Northern Ireland in the late 70s. The argies padded jackets have been painted green to pass for flack vests, with DPM shirts and green trousers. I went for a slightly "comic" kind of simple look on the SLR's overall pretty happy with the results. The DPM isn't quite where I wanted it to be, in particular I think the 3rd dark shade in the pattern (the smallest black marks) need to be smaller. 

I've some bits on order with Gripping Beast, and the Ferret at Sloppy Jalopy has also caught my eye so more will likley follow. Come to think of if it I also have an airfix landy kit somewhere in 1:48 that will also be of use. 

Thanks for looking any comments on the DPM would be appreciated.

Sci-fi nonsense

Its been a busy work month so I haven't had much time for painting, also i'm currently waiting on some orders to appear for some cold war and modern conflict 6mm projects. In the interim I decided to make a start on my imagination scifi project as I really wanted to get something painted. 

Despite having not painted anything Games Workshop based in a very long time now I still obsessively read the books and fluff, there is just something about the universe I really like. So I thought why not make up my own army and create it in 6mm (far more affordable). 

-----40K Fluff------

 The Imperial Settlement on Natalian II is a rural farming planet at the very edge of Segmentum Pacificus situated close to the inward edge of the Sabbat Sector. 

A rural world, the planets main exports are food and man power for the Adeptus Militarium. The planet has long been a low priority for equipment and arms. As a result the PDF is poorly armed with late model laslocks and little in the way of modern vehicles.

The majority of the PDF is truck borne, with some limited units benefiting from lightly armoured halftracks. 

The original founding settlers were led by an imperial family by the name of Castius hailing from the Mordian home world. The current head of the family is the lady Natalian (a popular name on the planet) Castius who is the Governor of the planet.

The Planet sits in a system comprising of 4 planets 2 of which are little more than dead rocks sporting Adeptus Mechanicus mining operations. The remaining planet consist of 1 gas giant with an orbital refinery. 

The system has limited defence fleets, and no standing garrison. Despite being under resourced the PDF sport colours reminiscent of the Mordian Iron Guard, though that is likely where the similarities end. 

The planet has an Arbitus overseer but other than that the policing actions on the planet are all locally sourced.  

----- Fluff ends----

So I painted up 6 stands of infantry, the figures are from the Baccus WW1 range mainly as I had them lying around. I'm quite happy with how my fictional little army turned out. I'm thinking as the PDF are under strength 3 stands is a Company (1 stand is a platoon), so 6 represents a half strength Battalion with no HQ, transport or support equipment. 

I have some command units undercoated and intend to add some vehicles in due course, I just need to find some suitably 40k type vehicles. 

Hunt Class

Just finished painting a group of 3 Hunt class destroyers from GHQ's 1:2400 naval range. Again completed in the Northern Approaches camo scheme. Great casting and nice little models. The masts are a bit fragile and I suspect will snap off. If I were to paint any of these again I think I would change out the soft metal mast for some brass rod or something. 

I'm not really pleased with how the bases look on these though, they just didn't turn out quite right, I think the white caps are too big and a bit "sploggy". But they still look okay at gaming distance. 

Group shot of the flower class ships I painted the other week, all now based. My intention is to add a label along the bottom edge noting country, ship type and name. 

Flower Class

Having recently finished reading one of my favorite novels, The Cruel Sea, for what must be the 100th time by now (possibly not but you get the idea) I decided to finally scratch a Naval modelling itch that has been tickling me for years. 

I purchased a pack of Flower class corvettes by GHQ along with some other GHQ models, and made a start. I have painted up all four of these in one evening and enjoyed every minute. The other 3 will appear in a future post as they are not based yet.  

 I was quite concerned that I would struggle with these as despite painting a lot of 6mm figures over the years I have never touched any 1/2400 stuff at all before, and certainly not naval. I went for a classic western approaches camo pattern, albeit simplified somewhat for obvious reasons. I'm very pleased with how they turned out and have already made a start on my next batch of ships.

 The basing was a quandary for a little while, I toyed with buying one of the realistic water products that several other bloggers seem to have used, but didn't really want to wait on the delivery. Equally I didn't fancy using filler which was also recommended as my personal experience with filler is it either takes an age to dry or cracks awkwardly over time.

In the end I simply painted the base (laser cut mdf) in varying shades of blue with some black inks then carefully stippled white around the bow and wake to show whitecaps on the waves. All in all I like the effect, When stood back at "game distance" the effect is very nice, and even up close its not to bad.

Pictured with  2p piece to show size (couldn't find a penny) really is quite tiny. 

More Germans

Just finished painting another two early war Germans from Crusader Miniatures pictures came out a little dark, not really sure why to be honest. I took the time to paint the German flag flashes on the helmets, and the collar tabs on the figure that had a collar that they would fit on. 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results, another two on my workbench at the moment, I imagine I will finish a full squad before moving onto something else. 

Early German

I decided to paint up some early war German figures. These are from the Crusader and Artizan Range, available from Northstar Miniatures. Both are really nice castings, detailed without being fussy or "cluttered". I have actually previously painted the officer with his hands behind his back, there is a picture on the blog somewhere. 

I decided to go for a stereotypical early war type camo, and took the time to paint the German flag on the side of the helmet for the other figure. 

Pretty pleased with these, more to come assuming i'm not distracted by some flight of fancy.  

 Trying out some new basing materials at the moment, not sure whether I like the results at the moment.

Double Swords

Possibly the final Highlander, I have two left but i'm not sure if I'll do them or move onto something else. I suffered with a loss of tip to my smaller brushes on this one so some of the lines are a bit "blobby" in places. I know I know a poor workman and his tools and all that, but I think I need to invest in some new brushes as my current ones are getting a bit knackered out.

Wrong end of the Musket

 Another highlander finished, I did this one using my favorite tartan pattern to paint. The effect of the pattern is really nice, and it looks much more complicated than it actually is. I can't remember if this is a real tartan or not, I think it is but I really don't recall where I got the pattern from.

In other news I'm eyeing some 15mm Napoleonic at the moment for a new project.

Jug o Ale

 Another week in and another Warlord Clansman done, I think this ones from the "Arrant Scum" packs or something like that. I actually started painting this guys kilt about 2 years ago and gave up as the tartan wasn't going how I wanted it.

For this iteration I painted over the older, paler tartan with a darker choice, again fairly happy with the results, though I think the shirt needed a few more highlights.

I wanted that "been drinking awhile" look so added a red glaze to the cheeks and nose of the figure, not sure how visible that is in the pictures but I like the effect.

Working on more of these at the moment, really starting to enjoy painting tartan and as before just one figure at a time.

In other news my wife and I have become obsessed with the Magic the Gathering card game, surprisingly simple and complicated at the same time. We gave it a go as something easier to setup and play than a full board game. So far very enjoyable and as there are thousands of cards lots of options and all that with updating decks etc.

Highland Warrior

 Bit of a change of pace, I have had this Clansman figure from Warlord games in the lead pile along with another 20 or so from the same range for about 2 years. I think (but I can't really remember) that they were bought as part of a now aborted ECW project.

I've never got around to painting them as they are mostly wearing kilts or trews which require some kind of competent tartan. While I have painted tartan a fair bit in the past I tend to have only one type of tartan I can paint and its a nightmare to paint on non flat surfaces like this more old school looking kilt.

Well bored over the weekend I decided to pick one of the Clansmen at random and paint him on his own, I actually quite enjoyed the freedom of painting just one single figure as I am often painting 3 or 4 at once, or a unit etc.

Overall fairly happy with the results, my tartan is a bit dodgy in places but overall I like how the figure looks. My basing came out a tad more yellow than I intended, but as I'm trying a slightly different basing material at the moment I'll just go ahead and forgive myself!

Weird Germans

Slow progress again on the blog mainly due to my camera being on the blink and having some trouble getting decent pictures. Completed these 10 Studio Miniatures German Zombies over the last few weeks. These are going to be part of my Weird War 2 project that I'm indulging in at the moment. 

The sculpts are nice my only criticism would be that one of the two bodies types available on the sprue is lurching forwards in a very distinctive manner which means careful positioning of the arms, and re positioning of the head is required to avoid the Zombies looking similar. 

I had some of the modern zombies plastic Studio Miniatures sprues lying around and used some heads and arms from this to add some more variety, I also hacked up some of the helmet heads. The other plastic sprues fit well with this set so I would recommend anyone thinking of getting the German Zombies to buy a couple of single sprues from the Modern range to add variety. 

I enjoyed painting these up and went as far as painting collar markings and an impression of the eagle above the pocket etc. I think the little extra details make these more interesting, otherwise they might look just a bit grey. 

Overall I think these are good value, I have another 10 to do and intend to modify them a bit more to add variety. Picture quality is not great, I really need to setup a light box or something.