040 Red Coats finally (or are they orange?)

So the first five men of the 30th all sorted with their cloth trousers. Really pleased with how this came out in the end; was a little worried that it would be either too clean or too dirty but I think I have the balance right.

I am trying to come up with the best way to do the Red Coats so the first test was old school Scab Red as an undercoat with Blood Red over the top. I am worried that its all a little too orange so I have now tried to darken it with a red wash but I am not sure just yet.

039 Small Stages

I am experimenting with the new (new to me anyway) GW paints to find what all these damn colours actually look like so when it came to getting bases and layers to achieve something cotton white I has a little lost to start with.

A base of Ushabti Bone over the black.

Followed by a layer of screaming skull, on the left one only here so I could see the transition.

This will be followed by screaming skull and pallid wych flesh mix.

038 Paint Recovery

Now I mentioned a while back about how I was trying to resurrect some of the old paints that I had kept stored for more years than I care to remember, well today we see some of the results.

Now I must admit the sample size is small and not all of these paints are the same age (but the must be pretty damn close) but the results were interesting.

First stage was to add about 10ml of water to the crusted up painting pot, shake vigorously and leave to soak for 5-10 mins.

After that I set about each pot with a tooth pick stirring and mashing as best I could, and some of these were like rock I can tell you!

So far all the reds and browns after a hard stir all seem to have recovered, greens on the other hand seem to be mostly mush at best and will be needing more work. Strangely the weaker colours that I thought would struggle came back with next to no stirring, yellows, purples and the like; possibly because they have lower pigment counts and so didn't harden as much??

You can see here the first half dozen or so on the recovery line!

And while I am snapping, you can also see the first five under-coated 30th Regiment (Cambridge) getting moved along. I went with a black undercoat as a bit of an experiment as ordinarily I would have gone with white for a model that will be mostly red and white/light grey, as I have seen lots of suggestions as to this being a good way to start the shades and tones off. We will see!

On a side note, I think I need to start drinking more, I am getting short of corks!

037 Progressing the 95th

So the 95th Rifles are finished short of a base and a plan for how they will look together.

As those of you in the know will surely be able to see, I have not gone for a totally historically accurate colour scheme but one that works for me and shows a little variety :-)

I think the eagle eyed may also see a future project laid out on the mat in this one!

These have been a great little set to get back into the painting groove, simple enough to not have to think tooo hard but detailed enough to have a little stretch to my long abandoned painting skills.

There is a command group in metal available for these in metal from Perry so that maybe a future purchase to enlarge the 95th beyond just a small skirmish unit on the main regiment.

036 DIY Workstation

Not entirely DIY but flat pack none the less and a sweating back aching pain!

My new desk has arrived and with the help of the delivery guy we got it slid into the spare room ready to go.

And by go I mean ready for me to go mad at the thing as I try to put it together in a room only just larger than the desk itself!

Ok ok, I may of had a little helper that I got to do all the hard work first! :-)

Here it is in all its glory and on the edge there you can see the first idea for where my new lamp will be mounted. I’ll work on that as I settle in and get used to how everything fits.

Now I am thinking I need desk tidies, paint racks, brush holders and a thousand other things!

035 30th Regiment (Cambridgeshire)‏

I have been doing some research into the various regiments that fought through the Peninsular and then were present at Waterloo as while the uniforms may have changed from one to the other I want to have consistent units that were at both.

With that as a starting point I trawled through some great online info and came across the 30th Regiment (Cambridgeshire) which was part of the 5th Division during the Peninsular and then part of the 3rd at Waterloo. As Cambridge is now my adopted home I thought what better choice could there be??

Now I very much know my limits with regard to painting and so will result to cheating wherever needed so I immediately looked at the prints the helpful guys from Perry include in their packs for the appropriate Colours (flags) for the regiment but was sad to find the 30th wasn't there

Thankfully Google helped me out a little and I tracked down a company GMB who make banners for a variety of scales and historical periods, and yes you guessed it they do one for the 30th!

For under a fiver you can get 28mm scale Napoleonic colours for a whole slew of regiments from a range of nations.

Suffice to say I have ordered up some for the 30th plus a few others for sneaky plans I have!

034 Pike Fishing in the 15th Century‏

Ok so the title is somewhat misleading but hey I want to keep things interesting and varied!

1450 – 1500 Mercenaries from Perry Miniatures have arrived and I like them.

You can see here that you get a combination of Pikemen, crossbowmen and musketeers together with a command group. I am not certain yet how I want to make them up but I am thinking I will go initially with a large pike block and then build up from there with what’s left.

The sprues include a plethora of additional bits, swords, buckers and sundries that there is a lot of options for variation even if the posing of some of the types is somewhat limited.

I am not sure yet what kind of painting scheme I should go for whether it’s a historical one or a more fantastical one inline with WFB but I will probably do a few test models to see what works.

Given that you are getting 40 models for £20 I can afford to mess some up, once again I am amazed by the quality of Perry and the great value for money.

033 Thoughts on Super Humans

When I started out in the hobby it was off the back of Fighting Fantasy Books leading me to HeroQuest and Space Crusade, which led me to Space Hulk so perhaps it’s not surprising that my first forays into 40k where Space Marine orientated. This was helped along somewhat by my introduction to WhiteDwarf and at the time the pages were awash with the red of Blood Angel Space Marines.

Alongside this I always had a hankering for the Imperial Guard and as time went on I shifted more and more to the Guard in place of the Marines. Beyond 40k my tastes always seemed to lean towards the normal man, never a fan of Super Heroes I was more on the side of Agent Coulson than any of the Avengers.

I found myself wondering why and on reflection I think I came to a conclusion that probably says a lot about how I matured over time.

Super-humans, Superheroes, Aliens and all the variations on the theme have none of the frailty of man, they have strange powers, super strength, hearing and a range of other things and as such their deeds need to be even more spectacular for me to feel they are justified. For a normal man life is short, brutal and hard, it’s a life of fear and depression and so when he does something spectacular its completely opposite to his nature and all the more impressive because of it.

I feel a stronger connection to the frail “normal” guys, I understand their fears and revel in their achievements against the odds. Space Marines? Pfff they were DESIGNED to be amazing, to have no fear of death to be stronger, faster.. If you have no fear of death your actions in the face of death lose their merits, if you have super strength your feats of strength become shadows of what they are. If you are weak and fearful? Well your actions are magnified.

I see the normal man doing spectacular things INSPITE of his deficiencies and limitations. Space Marines need to do godlike things to justify their built in abilities.

Now don’t get me wrong there is some great fiction out there showing Marines being exactly that but all too often they are doing things only slightly better than a normal guy does but with a rake of physical improvements, better training and better equipment. Brothers of the Snake is a good example of getting it right, a single marine is sent to sort out the problems of an entire world, that is what these guys should be capable of…

032 Conversion Perversion

My biggest passion with modelling and painting as a whole has been the ability to convert models from their original design, to adapt them and make them more my own creation. Now quite often these are very minor changes, a head swap, an extra pack or different weapon but even these simple little changes can completely change the model.

I really enjoy the making of the models as well as the painting, something I know a lot of people don’t really share with many people seeing the simpler a model and the lower the part count the better as they are simply barriers to painting or barriers to gaming.

But for me a big part of the fun is fitting all those fiddly bits together and being able to add or omit to make the model mine.

I wont say I am particularly adept at conversions and especially not any complicated ideas with Green Stuff but I am always secretly pleased when I can look at a model and know that if you hadn't seen the original you would think it was a whole new model as created.

You can see here some examples of what I have done in the past, Chaos Marauders switched so barbarian guards men or chaos militia, Beastmen as Abhuman recruits and the even simpler medieval guard recruits or PDF.

I have long thought about getting into conversions that are a little more adventurous but have always erred on the side of a failed conversion is an expensive waste but these days I have started to realise that I am no longer the cash strapped youngster that struggle to make ends meet and a few quids worth of model is not all that big a lose if all goes wrong.

With that in mind I am starting to plan out some grander scale or at least more extensive conversions, perhaps not as rich and extravagant as the Blanchitsu I see going on in places such as ironsleet  or Officio convertorum but a good starting place for me.

031 Mountain of Paint

My goodness the postie must have been grumbling when he dropped this lot off!

The paint mountain has arrived, took a little longer than expected but as I am away in the week who cares? 

You can see here the eclectic mix of paints I wanted to get hold of. This new naming system will take a lot of getting used to I think plus this split into "layers", "shades", "bases" and "edge" just makes it more confusing for me so far but I suppose its something I am going to have to live with.

"Adapt or Die!"

030 Blocking in the 95th

I am enjoying getting back in the flow even if my work station has yet to arrive.

The 95th Rifles, just a couple of the guys from the Napoleonic Wars range by Perry Miniatures has really helped me get back into it. They are simple enough to do while having detail to keep you interested and most useful for me there are a load of them for really good value!

You can see here my first two guys up and running (pardon the pun). I decided to mix the colouring of packs and the like to given them a more "in the field" feel and when I get into the bigger unit it will hopefully help break it up a little and show differences between similar models.

I have noticed with Perry that they are more shall we say "true scale"? They arm much more proportioned than much I have seen out of GW, possibly the most telling is there weapons which for GW are massive compared to the model itself.

I am really liking the Perry range as a whole and am currently considering getting some of their early medieval range, possible mercenaries, to use as stand ins for empire in Warhammer.