From Lorenzo: 1848 Danish Artillery (Lates & Returns) + Marine Cyclops (Fantasy) + Matilda (Sarahs Library Cart) (94 points)

Well AHPC14 has brought out the erratic in me, gone are the plans to simply paint the Schlieswig Holstein armies piled high in my figure mountain. I got lost in the library.......

First up are some lates and returns and of course these are more Schlieswig Holstein Danish from 1848. A simple Artillery piece - yes I know they had machine guns but I have none ready. The base is using my standard method and I have added some photos of the stages as well as showing that for these 20mm chaps I base them on washers to get a height match with my 1/72 plastics. The figures are made and sold by Irregular Miniatures and from their Indian Mutiny Range - mid 19th century bell shakoes were the latest thing. These figures were lying with just red coats cast aside in the heap when AHPC14 rode into town.......

I reckon the 4 figures are worth 4x4 = 16 plus the artillery piece at 8 points plus the topic at 20 points gives me a total score of 44 points? Basing technique used is pendraken mdf 60x40, pva and bird grit (as per warhammer battles painting guide) then wet brush burnt sienna followed by dry brush ochre then highlight with a yellow white. I have found by trial and error the three colour shades that compliment each other. Then I grass the base - with my danish I tend to use gamers winter grasses as shown here.

Next up is a complete surprise. Between Xmas and New Year I went to Doncaster Racecourse and toured the Toy Show (80 odd traders). Its very planes, trains and automobiles but sometimes there is a bargain to be had. You have to be careful because the packaging often is more valuable than the kit so to speak. I bought some kits and told the guy I would be making them. A few punters nearby looked horrified :)

Anyway one trader had some lead in bags tucked by he's still making no effort to sell them. They looked liked fantasy figures. Needless to say they were old and grubby but at least bagged up. I liberated one figure that caught my eye. The base had FF14 on it and I had a sneaking suspicion they were citadel - early games workshop - a quick google showed they were actually 1980 Citadel fantasy catalogue figures and I had bought the Cyclops. A further search revealed on lost wikis that I had bought version 1 - that is the pre Michael Perry version. I made him my marine cyclops - just out the sea cave. I tried a new vallejo express contrast blue on him and was very disappointed with the contrast yet he actually came out ok colour wise so all's well that ends well. He had no weapon for the hand clearly intended to possess something. So I nicked a Perrys WOTR axe for him complete with gauntleted hand and added a touch of red to show the cyclops was in a hurry....... I reckon he meets the fantasy topic so that's 5 pts for a 28mm chap? plus 20 points for the topic? total score = 25pts Finally I have an entry for Sarahs cart which I might well need to use. I remembered I had some show figures buried in the mountain and decided I would have go at Empress Matilda. I took the colour scheme from a blog search for images. I tried some contrast paints from citadel which worked ok.

So I think that's 5 pts plus 20 points for the topic. total score = 25pts So the total should be 44+25+25 =94 if my math's is correct? 

Sylvain: A very interesting post. I like your shopping stories as well as your pictures showing how you work on your bases. Very informative. And your miniatures are fabulous as well. I am (not) sorry to hear that you were charmed by the chant of the bonus themes. It brought us some wonderfully painted miniatures. Where will you take us next week? 

 

From BruceR; More bayonets with armor support project complete (160 pts)

With Winter stubbornly refusing  to give up to Spring, I opened the dungeon to my gaming chums.  I've only played a few Chain of Command games and would prefer this to Bolt Action, but I'll play what the group enjoys and that is Bolt Action.  So Last Sunday and this past Saturday we played BA.  4 wheel drive required to get to my house (in town) Saturday, but most of us have 4 wheel living in the North.  So, with playing I naturally gravitate to the pile of opportunity for the period played (WWII).  Back to my Italians.  I had the command and one squad left of the Great Escape Games and knocked them out.   

The view of the drift outside the dungeon on Saturday morning.  About 5 foot, so why not game and paint.

Continuing on with my Russian Front Italians.  To crank these out, I've again used contrast for a bulk of the miniatures.  Some flesh highlights and few others to get the end result.  I did make the choice to vary the soft caps, setting a background my lads had freed a supply of Russian winter head gear.  The green sets off the grey of the uniforms IMHO.  

Squad #3 (some of the command got mixed in the squad photo)

Squad leader sporting a magnifico mustache, directing the LMG.   

The platoon leaders Mario, Luigi, and Franco.  These miniatures are great.  I love the faces and different poses.  Yelling is a prerequisite of any good officer/NCO.  One is reaching into his goodie bag and the other working the slide on his side arm.   Great figures.   The tufts are gamers grass.  

A gaming buddy, who moved from the great white North, built Italians a few years ago and gifted me some of his extra armor so why not.   I did try to spice up the photo a bit with back ground.  

These were base coated with a lighter green base and hit them with diluted (with Windsor Newton thinner) burnt umber oils.  The oils are applied and immediately whipped away to leave the weathered and grimy look.  I than highlight with sponge.  Some brown added with the makeup brush to give Russian road dust.  No decals so had to hand paint the markings.  

One Carro Armato M13/40 and one Autoblinda AB41.  Both old Warlord resin, so minor gluing and building.  Much to my taste.

The same chum gifted or threw away to me a box of Warlord infantry.  When I opened the box I found they also had Bersaglieri heads.  What force does not need some elites.  I wanted them to look a little worn so used some non-feathered heads.  These I painted in my old way of black undercoat.  Block in the colors.  Wash with either Agrax or Army Painter Strong Tone. Highlight with the basic color and done. 

Who doesn't like Elites sporting feathers and big bushy mustachos?

NCO with LMG and loader.  Corporal reaching for a lucky strike.  

Assault section.  Loading, firing, charging, and lobbing grenades.  I read Italian grenades were red.  Helps the figure pop, even if not correct.  

  

I hate to see the challenge end, but I'm really tired of winter and will welcome spring.  Hopefully my group gets time to play some Stalingrad games allowing me to get the Italians on the board.  Always fun to play with what you paint.   Project complete.  Many more to come I hope.

Points.

24 28mm @ 5                    =  120

2 28mm @ 20 AFV's         =    40

Total                                        160

Great looking work on these Italians, they look positively chilly. The armoured car and the tank came out very nicely, I should try that oil wash technique myself some time.

- StuartL