Vikings

Haven't shown these guys here before. All are Gripping Beast SAGA Vikings or Anglo-Danes. Pianted by a member on the Lead Adventure Forum for me the last few years. I have 4 points for both the Vikings and Anglo-Danes but have added some extra figures for use with other rule sets.

First up are the Anglo-Danes. Two leaders and banners. Alfred the Great and Hereward the Wake. All banners and most shields are transfers from Little Big Men Studios.

 Here are two sets of hearth guard, 4 with two handed Dane axes and 4 with mixed melee weapons.

 Here is the first set of warriors armed with spears. The shields are either black & white, green & white or red & white. White is the colour to unify them to one particular fyrd.

Here is the second set of warriors armed with spears. The shields are either black & yellow or red & yellow. Yellow is the colour to unify them to another particular fyrd.

Lastly, I added 4 archers, 4 other heroic type characters and a priest to use with other skirmish sets like LOTR Strategy Battles.

Up next are the Vikings. Two unnamed heroes. The guy on the right actually came from the Anglo Saxon boxed set. Two banner men round out the group.

 

First up are 8 warriors with spears. Some spears came off during shipment and I haven't gotten around to touching them up yet. Shields weren't really done in unifying colours. but I tried to use ones that looked "Viking" through use of emblems and runes.

Next are the remaining 8 warriors with spears.

Lastly, two more hearth guard units. One of 4 bersekers cloaked in wolf skins and 4 armed with mixed melee weapons.

Next I added 4 archers.

And lastly 2 heroic style characters and a Pagan priest.

So that's basically it. I'd like to add another 8 warriors for the Saxons and bulk up the archers for a 6 point Saxon force. I did win a recent Wargames Illustrated contest for a 2018 free convention figure – The Druid. So I'll add him to the Vikings, for other skirmish games and maybe some mounted Vikings as well.

More TWD:AOW and AP 2017 progress

This month has been pretty stellar for painting. This tray contains the Miles Behind Us expansion,  Tyreese, Glen, Maggie and Julie & Chris boosters. I've also started another tray this size. Still don't know why I'm doing two projects at once.

But onto more progress for the Lead Adventure Forum Army Painter Competition http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=101545.0 Here's the big guy himself, General Lee To Fat. I took the photos immediately after white gluing the grass tufts down so the any white colouration there should now be dried and clear.

Up next are 10 Dare To Die troopers with big swords. These are an elite unit of hand to hand specialists. I'd like to put some tattoos on the bare chested figures but don't want to risk it at the moment.

 I was happy to stop here but I thought I'd see what else I could start. And voila, a machine gun with the front and back profile.

I also painted the mortar. I love the character of the trooper eating his lunch. I don't think I could eat with my back to the enemy though.

Lastly the big gun. I noticed that some superglue lines have stuck to the carriage so I'll have to gently remove them later. I probably should have also laid out some wheel ruts in the ground but whatever.

So there you have it. With two months remaining, I have 20 rank and file troopers, 2 command officers, a flag bearer and bugler to complete and the force is done. I'm going to push myself and try to get my bandits and Chinese troop cavalry started also but I think December might be difficult.

October's Army Painter and The Walking Dead: All Out War

Hey again, it's been a really productive month for me! I'm really pleased with myself. The painting mojo is high and I keep finding little bits of time to plug away. But as the title suggests, I've split my attention. Hopefully I don't regret this...

Here are the next 14 figures. All from Copplestone Castings Back Of Beyond Chinese Warlord range.

There are 10 assault troopers armed with Bergmann SMGs. The figures on the left are from the Command Pack. The flag was colour printed from the website below.

http://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.ca/2015/01/flags-for-chinese-warlordback-of-beyond.html

Got a little head start on November's entry. 10 Dare-To-Die troopers with big sword, and General Lee To Fat himself. They was also been washed with army painter and the base textured but still needs painting. Only 20 more troopers to go. :) :)



I was fortunate (?) enough to back Mantic Games The Walking Dead: All Out War (TWD:AOW)Kickstarter. I received all the bits and read through the rules quickly, and watched a couple how-tos on Youtube. I wasn't super impressed and it languished on the shelf. I went to Broadsword 4 in Hamilton in August and played a homebrew Cthulu inspired zombie game and decided to steal the basics and improve some of the character stats usingTWD:AOW character cards.


Now I had only ever read the comics as Season 1 of TWD varied so much from the comics I quickly gave it up. But I rather enjoyed Fear The Walking Dead and am in between seasons so I decided to give TWD another shot (thanks Netflix). While I am enjoying TWD, I am a purist at heart and decided to pay the comics an homage and paint in grayscale. WTF!


Here are the first 12 zombies. 6 are from the Walker Booster and 5 from the Prelude To Woodbury set (both retail releases). Which leaves me with about 89 more to paint + scenery packs.

Poor photo but there they are. I really should be using the light box I made...Basically they are drybrushed from dark to light in 3-4 shades of gray. Then black ink washed, then highlighted with previous grays. Really fast and easy.

Here's a better shot of 6 walkers.

And last but not least, the man himself, Brian Blake aka The Governor.

I'll probably have to make a run and buy more shades of gray as skin colours in gray is going to be a nightmare.



September's Entry for Army Painter 2017

Abysmal. I know. I only managed to base 10 figures. But I should be ok for next month. Sucks when real life gets in the way.

There you have it! 30 rank and file troopers. 20 done last month and 10 this month. Progress.

Here's my 1st month's entry for Army Painter 2017 "competition" on Lead Adventure Forum. It's a continuation from last years entry where I painted 1 figure and 1/2 started 19 others...not very good

Here are 20 Copplestone Castings Chinese troops completed. One of them was finished prior but I had used a Brown Wash. I re-washed him in black as I liked the look better.

Here are a couple close-ups of some of the figures. These are done for the purpose of the AP competition, however, I will probably do some highlights later on.

This last photograph shows the entire Army. I actually made some great progress as another 20 are finished minus the bases. As August is going to be hectic, I won't have as much time so I planned ahead.

Finished and Based

So here they are! In all their glory!

20 Infantry and a standard bearer, leader and Lewis gunner for the HQ element. I picked up a 2nd banner bearer off of eBay but need to rebase her to match.

I based them last week and added the grass tufts yesterday. Didn't have tweezers on hand but whatever. It works.

I just realised that this is the most I have ever painted in a single year, let alone a 3-4 month period.

The maxim support gun. The loader is propped up on his own washer which is still visible from above so I'll need to fix that. Maybe some more grass tufts? 

I added First Corps Miniatures  Austin Armored Car v2 that I picked up sometime in 2016.
Painted black. Lined grey and then washed. Added a wolf howling at the moon transfer from a old Space Wolf transfer sheet. (Actually added 2 but forgot to seal with nail polish and one got damaged and had to be removed). It was my first time using transfers. Luckily a guy at work plays Bloodbowl so he walked me through it.

The other side. Added a mud effect by flicking paint from an old toothbrush. Worked like a charm. Thankfully I finished this up and hopefully the impetus will push me to finishing all of those pesky Copplestone Chinese I bought.

Bolsheviks Finished

Well, I finished those Bolsheviks. I'm pretty happy with the results. Total working time was about 10 hours which was composed of 8 lunch hours and 2 at night when the kids were asleep.


They say pictures or it didn't happen.

Here are two units of 10 and the commander.

A close up of the left squad.

A close up of the right squad.

A close up of the commander. Gave him a white mustache just because.

All I have left to do now is base the suckers and paint a Lewis gunner and standard bearer for the HQ element, and a Heavy Machine Gun for support.

Then on to those pesky Chinese.

The Bolshevik's are coming!

Just wanted to share a quick post about what I've done recently.


After failing miserably painting those Copplestone Chinese troops (still only 1 painted), I though I would start anew and build up some paining mojo before diving back in (read, oh shiny, look). I have some Copplestone Red Russians in the desk at home that also need paint but I also have fewer so it's not as daunting.


I painted during my lunch break yesterday and the day before and managed to finish these four, minus the bases. They are supposed to be Trotsky's Red Train guards. I'm pretty chuffed about them to be honest.


Army Painter Pure Red Basecoat
Assorted Reaper, GW, and Vallejo paints
Army Painter Strong Shade

So, in 2 hours, I painted more Russians then a 6 month allotment for my Chinese. What did I learn?


I do like batch painting but need to focus on smaller numbers. With the Russians, I was doing groups of 4, while the Chinese were groups of 20.


What does that mean? Well, two hours got me 4 troops completed. Confidence, mojo, drive all increase fairly quickly. Changing colours often, not painting the same parts, over and over and over again in an hour keeps it fresh.


Doing larger groups is slower overall progress, and seems daunting. I felt no desire to "power through", just one more colour.


So hopefully, in the next month, I'll have these pesky Russians done and can resume with the Chinese.


Aaaand on a side note, Hotlead, Southwestern Ontario's premiere  war-gaming convention is this weekend. I am super excited.

OMG

Where has the time gone?
Pathetic really.
I'll try to get more content posted but I've lost my social media mojo.


What have been up to? Asked no one. :)


I failed abysmally at the Army Painter.
I finished one, yes one figure! That's all. In 6 months. I'm 1/2 way thru another 20 or so and another 20-30 are primed. In my defense, we gutted my kitchen and that took up loads of my time but  still...


I've painted maybe another 5-10 figures and some terrain I had laying about.


GW has crawled it's way back into my life! OMG. The new AoS stuff is particularly nice. I've been suckered in with the StormCast Eternal figures. 1/2 Painted 3 yesterday in an ethereal green wash, and picked out the cloth, belt and metal bits. Looks kinda dope so far. AND so simple.


I received the TMNT Shadows of the Past and The Walking Dead (TWD) All Out War board games via Kickstarter. Played TMNT...pretty good. Haven't played TWD yet but primed some of the walkers. Planning on doing an homage to the comics in monochromatic greys. Excited but nervous I'll fuck it up. #YOLO. Hoping to slap some paint today actually.


I'm super pumped for Hotlead 2017. I've booked my room for the Friday night. Games are still being registered so hopefully get some great games in Friday and Saturday


Until next time...