Thursday, Thursday, Thursday in the afternoon.....

It's Thursday, Thursday, Thursday in the afternoon. That means we lucky Antipodeans are up and about even as the rest of you sleep the sleep off whatever it was you were drinking on Wednesday night.

Things have been pretty quiet this week but I can promise some goodness from Barks and our resident Kiwi if nothing else so stay tuned folks!

As for me, I'm heading off to the Man Cave to finish my entry for the next bonus round. Here's an artist's impression of me hard at work earlier today to help set the tone...

Caution! May contain goats and thunder.

Cheers,
Millsy the Antipominion

ByronM - 28mm Spectre Modern SAS troops in Digital Camo (20 points)

Continuing with my foray into modern figures I have been working on more of the excellent figures from Spectre and their Kickstarter I backed a while ago.

This entry is a small group of SAS recce troops that I have done attempted to do in a digital camo pattern for desert warfare. This proved to be a major pain in the ass.

This is the basic look I was going for.  Easy, right?

I found a few tutorials out there on various ways to do it, and didn't really care for how most of them turned out.  In the end I found a video tutorial that showed a method to paint the base colour first and then use square toothpick tips to apply the pattern. It actually worked fairly well, but then I went and did something stupid and washed them to give some depth, and it completely washed out all the light colours. DOH! Back to the starting point and I had to redo all of the camo.  So, at least one of these guys has 6 layers of methods on him. Luckily the figs has so much detail that it still shows through.

Overall, I am still not very happy with how the camo turned out, but after painting one of them multiple times and starting to get very frustrated I had to just take them as they were before I lost it.  I may look at trying some more digital camo sometime in the future, but it will not be any time soon.

I am pleased with how the figs look on the table, but close up they just fall apart to my eye.  Maybe it is due to the fact that the camo hides the detail and I just want to be able to see it.  I tried to pick out some details like straps, barrel tips, etc, but in general everything I find online shows almost everything being the same colours to help blend things in, even my barrel tips and sights would not really be black/grey but would be camo coloured.

Before anyone points out the fact that SAS does or does not use USA digital camo 5.11, I am not painting these specifically as SAS, that just happens to be the figures base.  I picture these as any elite recce force, not specifically SAS.

So, points wise these 4 face off against the 20+ militia I painted up previously, so it is time to see how that works on the table.  So, 4 28mm figures at 5 points each gives me another 20 points to my total and to the Modern Challenge I am in.


A very nice set of elite special forces types Byron. I think the camo has worked fine, but as its your army if you want pick out some bits why try it and see? Now it reminds me i have not watched Blackhawk Down for a while.. weekend viewing i think.

From SeanS - 4 Ogres and a Rat (21points)

Hi All,

Not as productive as I need to be to get on track, but here is a small selection of figures I finished while watching the Cardinals get shellacked by the Panthers on Sunday.

These characterful little sculpts come from Splintered Light in their 20mm fantasy range here.

I decided to go with the Reaper golden skin triad, but used only the shadow and mid and then wased with the shadow again. I think some areas could have used a dark lining where the golden shadow hits a darker color, but only realized that in hindsight.

I thought I'd show  closeup of these faces as i liked them a lot. Perhaps I should have used a tripod, the picture isn't as clear as I'd like.

Here we have the Giant Rat from Reaper. I got him with the Basic Learn to Paint kit : Fur and Armor. The Drybrush highlight of the fur didn't really come across. In general I've taken to picking out fur with a small brush instead of drybrushing. Funny as that used to be my go to technique.

The flesh was just good ole Reaper tanned skin and the boils were Rosy skin, a wash of red and then a drybrush of rosy skin again. He is 28 mm scale on a 25 x 50mm base.

Here's a shot of the group so you can make a relative size comparison. The Ogres are pretty large, but I've only scored them at 4 points each as many of my 20mm offerings have been fairly small goblins and such. The rat I scored at 5 because he is essentially a riderless mount. So 21 for the lot.

Just wanted to show this weeks change in photo set up. Normally I use static lights, a tripod and a laptop to remotely control taking photos. This time I used some remote flashes. This set up evolved as I was messing around, it's not quite right. All of these photos were still under exposed, so I tweaked the levels in GIMP. But I did manually adjust the shutter and aperture and hand hold the camera for these. Thanks for looking.

Fine painting Sean, the facial detail is excellent and as you say they are very characterful, and rat is particularly nasty looking. Adjusting things in GIMP... hmm wont go there.. Nice work.

From KeithS: Saxons, part 2 (160 points)

My post-Snowzilla painting entry is the Saxon finale, consisting of 32 unarmored 28mm figures from Wargames Factory yet again.  This is all they carry for Dark Ages, though I would not be inclined to purchase more, given better options out there.  Still, they turned out well enough.  My painting was much hampered by snow shoveling so, even though I had an extra long weekend, my arms were so sore that painting was almost impossible!

Like the unarmored Vikings, the front faces of the figures had pretty soft detail while the backs were again a good deal sharper.  But what really irked me about these ones were the awkwardness of the poses, especially the arms and most definitely for the bowmen.  There simply aren't any arms to make good poses for them, though I cut some to make them at least a little better.  Oh well, they look pretty enough and I paint for gaming, not display.

First up, some photos form the front of the group.  I painted the dragon banner based on the photo from the box.  The shields are decals -- I did not need all that many for this group because of archers and because I wanted to mix things up a bit and give some guys two weapons.  I was out of kite shields so they got a mix of "Saxon" and "Viking" round shields, which are more or less identical except for size.  The color palette is the same as I've used all along, and I've kept to making them all mix

Where'd you learn to hold a bow!  Clearly he's a levy and lacks experience! (A more skilled person could've probably made big improvements with the poses and I certainly learned a lot for the next time I need to do this).

 Some dramatic poses along the castle walls.

I rather like the shields with multiple heads on them.  I also really like that the set came with a lot of seaxs (seaxes?).  I tried to use as many as I could...heck, if you're gonna have Saxons you gotta have seaxes!

A side view -- they look serious and have a bit of a sense of motion.

From the back.  The quivers are really too big for the figures, but they are easier to paint that way.

Seax and spear, witha  sword to boot.  He's like Danny Kaye in The Court Jester..."the knights will choose their weapons!" "Oh, I'll take one of those, and one of those, and some of those..."

The obligatory group shot:

 

Overall, not the greatest figures, but plenty good enough for a game of Saga.  Thankfully, it's time to shift gears to something else.  100 Saxons and Vikings about wiped me out. I may revisit them at some point a bit, as I need some proper warlords to lead these happy bands!  Next up, Trolls!  I might squeak them in today as they're almost done.  If not, there's always next week!

Today's bonus pick...my car and truck on Sunday morning!  Really put a damper on the painting!

Keith continues a stonking day - with yet more Saxon, Thats a fine collection you have built up - nice a colourful too. Aaah snow... that kind of covering would see the UK in meltdown - can you meltdown with snow?  Best stay in and paint..

From AaronH - Twelve 28mm ECW cavalry from Warlord Games (120 points)

This entry is twelve 28mm ECW Cavarly from Warlord Games (despite the misleading title to draw you in).

Twelve horse.

These are a plastic set from Warlord. I am a fan of their ECW line. The faces have a lot of character. The plastics are very nicely modeled. These don't disappoint. They've done some clever things with the headgear to give you some nice variety. The horses are fairly splendid for plastic.

The models are easy to assemble and paint. Truth be told these are easier than their infantry.

The trumpeter looks like he may have landed wrong.

There's lots of variety on the sprues. Pistols, swords, a mixture? Done. The horn is nice. I'm not so sure what to do with the lance though.

A handsome mount.

I really like the horses that come with this set. Good conformation and lots of spirit. They also come with plenty of holsters, in different styles.

If you choose carefully you can really give them an active, mid charge, sort of look. I did not choose carefully.

I am still not a fan of painting horses but these were almost fun. They are especially remarkable when compared to the Wargames Factory Celtic nags I painted for last year's challenge. Night and day.

All in all I highly recommend this set as a cheap and quick way to bulk up your ECW horse. I have another regiment of twelve of these and I'm actually looking forward to painting them.

The Wednesday crew continue to up the ante, with more lovely cavalry. These could even tempt me into a new period. The unit works really well together , lots of movment - the thing i always want from mounted troops - grand job!

MartinC - Gauls and a prize from Ray - (152 Points)

Busy week this week, work, drinking and lots of Dragon Rampant (2 out of 3 were great) (Minion - well lets hope it slows you a bit eh!). So not a lot of painting done and next 2 weeks are worse and I'm off for a short break down south to see friends and get hammered. Mid-season sump but hopefully will be back on track shortly to regain my top spot.

1st up some Picts that I won from that Ray Roussell chap in celebration of his millionth hit. I won a nice selection of old school Saxons and these 4 Pict types, they are great, cheers Ray. Eyes are a little weird, but that's not me, the guy with the square shield looks like he's either had a stroke or been hit by an anvil in true Tom and Jerry style. Not sure about the shade of blue for the middle guy's mystical cloak and they do need varnishing (a Millsy style operation for me) to tone the shiny shading down. I just stood them in some heather, they are Scots, where else would they be.

Next up are a unit of Gaul light cavalry for my Carthaginians. They are from Wargames Factory via Scarab Miniatures. Scarab do a nice deal as there are enough figures for 24 riders but only 12 horses in each box. You can buy these extra 12 horses cheaply from them and they are nice horses. They come without any tack and I have left them as such with only blankets added. This gives the impression of riding using only their knees.

The shields are hand painted with some squiggly lines, in case it wasn't obvious. That's 140 points plus any lovely shield painting bonus.

Another fine wednesday entry from Martin. Nice work on the cloaks and the shields - plenty of colour there .You won something from Ray? He normally wins ever give away going - inclduing his own! Figures that have been hit with an Anvil... hmm had a few of those in my time..but you have recovered them well- topped you with some extra for the painted sheild s- and because they just look the part as wild mounted unit. total 152 points.

From Jeremy - 28mm Dark Age Jomsvikings (100 Points)

Hi all, I've been a bit tardy with this year's paint challenge but have finally mustered together something for my first post. Its a few units of Jomsvikings for SAGA. 

I have two units of 8 warriors and one unit of 4 hearthguards. I am still planning on painting the warlord and likely one more unit of hearthguards. Unlike other SAGA warbands, the jomsvikings are not permitted to take levy's, apparently they historically had pretty high standards for their units, so common men just don't count. 

I decided upon a winter theme for them to try and tie all the bases together. And their overall colour scheme was meant to match the flag that will go with the warlord, mostly incorporating reds and some greens. Hopefully I'll get the warlord and last of the hearthguards done in time for a big saga campaign with Curt and the guys here in Regina this coming weekend.

Jeremy

Jeremy - welcome along into the fray. These lads look just the job. The look a real  rough and tough mob The colour choice is really complementary too - bravo. Just looking at these photos makes me feel chilly....Brrrr....

From KeithS - "Can Saxons fight? All day and through the night!" (165 points)

Sorry, been meaning to use that quote from Ivanhoe for weeks!  Up this time are 32 armored Saxon warriors in 28mm, again from Wargames Factory.  And, like their Saxon friends, these ones were a bit of a pain.  However, the detail was a good deal sharper even if the figures were a little too alike for my tastes.  I also did something a little different this past weekend -- I painted ALL the loose gear for these guys and my upcoming batch of 32 unarmored Saxons all at once.  Oi vey!  That took a FULL day and then some to get done. I just now finished the actual figures after three nights of staying up past my bedtime, and that was with a three-day weekend (one day was given to actually playing with previously painted minis so it was acceptable, I think).


Anyhow, here's a group shot.  I armed most with sword and kite shield, though there were not quite enough shields for all of them, even with the unarmored set's gear.  So, a few got a round shield and a few got no shield (two got the dragon standards of which I got something like 8, which is way too many unless there's a parade on).  I did 8 as spearman for Saga purposes (they'll make a fine warrior unit).  Just for fun, I gave one guy a soft cap instead of a helm.  I like little things like that -- nobody will probably notice, but if they did, it would imply a story for the guy.

A closer view of the mass.  They're a good deal less angry looking than the Vikings were. 

For shields, I did a mix of transfers and handpainted (about 60:40 in favor of decals).  The decals work good, though they needed serious trimming to fit the shields since they were not the right size.  However, afterwards I thought they looked TOO good.  Someone here probably can articulate this better, but my somewhat sloppy hand painted ones just seem right, even if the decals do look good.

From the reverse,  Nothing too exciting.  I did mix up their tunics, trousers, etc to give some color interest and reduce the uniformity.  The gold dragon bannerman got a horn.

Here's a group shot of many of the handpainted shields.  I've decided I like my squiggly dragons.  They're fairly easy to do and look decent.

And up on the parapet a closer view of a few of the lads.

All in all a decent batch of Saxons, though I'm guessing Gripping Beast and some of the other brands might be a bit better quality.  Still, good enough for government work and they will certainly work for Saga as they're intended.  Next up are the 32 unarmored Saxons.  Given DC is about to get a monumental blizzard starting Friday, I might have some extra time to devote to painting, provided I don't lose power!

As an aside, I played Jutland with miniatures on Saturday.  My Naval challenge entry will be along very similar lines.  Here's a sneak peak:

Keith - more fine work on the these lads , staying up past badtime - good lad...  the mix of sheilds looks just fine - i have rounded up to 165 for the effort. Defintly not as angry the Vikings , but they look efficient and effective - we will see eh when faced by those nasty Norsemen. Big battle with ships just the ticket - lots of shouting "You sank my battleship!"

Wednesday is here again..

It's round again .. hump day! Soon be less time to the end of the working week then we have done.. hurrah!

As usual a little musical interlude ..a classic by the Undertones - Wednesday Week.

No travelling for me today so I will be able to post entries throug the day.

We have the first  entry of another new challenger today so welcome to the fray Jeremy.