Ladies and gentlemen prepare yourselfs for an utterly boring entry which has as sole purpose: getting soldiers on the table and points on the board. In my on-going fight to get my kakhi clad troops painted I have tried to finish 55 figures of 1:72 HäT early war British soldiers.
These are based on 20mm round plastic bases from Renedra for use in trenches on table and I will be using them with the old OOP Warhammer Historical rules of "The Great War" and "Over the Top".
In a bid to spruce up this little mono-colour post a bit, I thought I'd share two little painting habits of mine. First: when I have bases that allow it I write my initials and the date of finishing under the figures. I started this after some of my soldiers went "missing" during a demo game at a convention.
My second habit is that, in order to maintain interest in the subject I am painting, I read a book concerning said troops.
Music can be another great inspiration and I have several CD's of WW1 soldier's songs and play them while painting, hence this posts title.
Pointswise these chaps should earn me 55 x 4 = 220 points right? On to more colourfull things!
Cheers Sander
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Great entry Sander, and no need to apologize for a monochromatic look, after all that is what things looked like then. Probably even worse after a few hours in the trenches!As soon as the troops started entering the trenches they were just covered in that soupy mud that permeated the area. I have no idea how people fought in that. The painting on these looks good and they will certainly give you a great start to any battle in the era.
While I have played the OOP Great War, I strongly suggest at least trying Through the Mud & the Blood as a rule set. The GW based Great War rules just never felt like WW1 to me, they just felt like very bland 40k rules, but hey to each their own as the TTM&TB rules are pretty hard to get into.
On a side note, if you are looking for more good books on the period I can highly recommend "Baptism of Fire : The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915" and "Brave Battalion: The Remarkable Saga of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) in the First World War". Now as you can tell, I am a proud Canadian and am keenly interested in the Canadian contribution to the war, but I figure that since you are reading Passchendaele you should like these as well.
-ByronM
Nice looking troops! It's part of the fun reading all the books around the period I find!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
A mate has just lent me Max Hastings' 'Catastrophe - Europe Goes To War 1914'. Shaping up to be a great read!
DeleteGreat tip thanks!
Delete@Iain, it certainly is!
DeleteNice work Sander :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Tamsin!
DeleteThe 20th century was pretty horrible, all things considered. Great work on these troops, Sander!
ReplyDeleteI agree, thanks for the kind words
DeleteThese are great. I can strongly recommend "on secret service East of constantinople" by Peter Hopkins. About the war in the East and the German Lawrence of Arabia. A brilliant read
ReplyDeleteI might actually get that one, since I have loads of troops for that conflict lined up for painting.
DeleteGreat work on these Tommies!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter!
DeleteGreat work Sander!
ReplyDeleteMuch obliged Samuli!
Delete@Byron: thanks for your tips and comments, when next in the Ypres area I'll be sure to think of you mate! A question as well: at Tyne Cot Cemetery one often sees coins placed on headstones of Canadian soldiers, what does that signify?
ReplyDeleteThanks Sander, been there twice and Tyne Cot is always a tear jerking place. As for the coins, it is meant to pay your respects to the dead. Initially they had a meaning based on demonination, but I don't think that is valid any longer since I saw lots of loonies ($1 coin) and twonies ($2 coin) last time I as there, and they did not exist when the tradition started.
DeleteI believe a penny was to show someone was there to pay respects, a dime meant you served with them, and a quarter meant you were there when they died. But as I said, I don't think anyone follows that any more, and any denomination is just meant to show paying respect to them.
Very nice indeed! They look great en masse, bet they don't know what's about to hit them in the trenches.....
ReplyDeleteSad but true!
DeleteWell done Sander. And I love your tradition of initials and date under the bases! I'm fortunate that no figure has "gone missing" at an event, but it's still a cool idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks mate, looking at the dates, means you can visualise your progress in painting skills as well.
DeleteVery nice work, Sander. I've misplaced my copy of WHTGW. I recommend Passchendaele by Paul Ham.
ReplyDelete