Flag parties

I finished the various portions of the command elements yesterday.

The figures in peaked caps are my regular forces. The two in fur hats are my bandits. 

Each command section has 2 officers, a flagbearer and a bugler.

Each command section oversees 2x10 man squads and a machine gun.

I need a real break from Chinese but EVENTUALLY I plan on having 10x10 man squads. I currently have 5x10 man squads.

Cracking On

Just a short one today. Me and the boy got in a game last week when his school had a Professional Development (PD) Day.

The trees, river, ponds and embankments in the foreground are by BattleField In A Box

The hills I picked up for peanuts at Hotlead one year./


The buildings and stone walls are by Pegasus and the trenches are from 6Squared Studios.




There they are. The last 20 Chinese infantry. All painted and based. The 4 figures in the front row are going to be incorporated with my bandits. 

On the right are officers, standard bearers, buglers and a Machine gun crew who now have been partially based. Meaning I have 17 bandits and my Chinese force is finished.

2018 Army Painter

Lead Adventure Forum started another Army Painter challenge sometime in the spring. It is scheduled to be longer than the previous ones running 8-9 months instead of the usual 6.

I decided to make the push and complete my Warlord Chinese. The troopers are completed minus bases. I also painted some tanks and armoured cars.

I picked up two Rolls Royce armoured cars from Hotlead for $10/pair. They were new in package and RRP is $35USD. A definite bargain. 

I primed them Uniform Grey and painted the metal bits bolt gun metal and tires black. Some Army Painter quickshade and they were done. 

One of the machine guns was knocked off and lost. 

Here is the second A/C

I also painted a Renault FT-17 tank from Warlord Games. I had a coupon and it was a good price.

The primer got screwed up and left a gritty coating on about half the tank. Or maybe some grit blew into the wet primer. I don’t know.

Using tape, I sprayed on camouflage. It pays to be patient and leave all existing layers of tape.

Lastly I picked up a used Copplestone Castings Leichter Kampfwagen off of a LAF member.

I sprayed the camouflage onto it as well.

Lastly a group photo.

Hope you enjoy it. 

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.