More pyrates?

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Continuing the theme we have a pair of shipwrecked pyrates from Reaper.
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I have greatly enjoyed painting these figures but time seems to be slipping away and I always seem to get side-tracked by other little things. Here you can see an Oldhammer sign for my display case, some regiment signs for my Napoleonic army and some Black Powder gaming tokens.
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But the big news….
…..we finally completed on a house!
With garden,
Mountain views,
Workshop,
and Man-cave.
So no more tiny flat with all my belongings and hobby bits in storage.
Now my time is going to be taken up with getting the house ready and of course my Man-cave.
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Dezember workbench

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A Treewoman from Ultraforge. She will be a giant in my Warhammer Fantasy armies. I’ve been looking forwards to painting her. This is my Christmas treat.
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This is a unit of Pixies for my Albion Army. I’d already started painting them in England, but I’m not impressed by the work done. So this is a rescue job. They’re all individual figures so I’m not batch painting.
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This is the Ork jet I’d started earlier this year and I’d like to finish it.
I’m not too much out on my painting targets for this year and I need to think about what my targets are for next year. I want to spend one month finishing my Field of Glory Roman Army. That would bring completed armies up to the grand total of two. If I solidly paint for the rest of the year I could finish my Napoleonic Army, but I think go bonkers painting eight infantry, three cavalry and two artillery. I’m going to split it up between Albion, Napoleonic and the Imperial Guard Army that I seem to have accumulated. Plus some one offs as treats.

Scribd

Am I the last person to the party with this resource?
http://www.scribd.com
I just spent an afternoon reading and adding to my “Library” all the books that I had thought of tracking down on eBay.
Warhammer Ancient Battles for forty quid? I don’t think so. Most of these titles I’d only look at once or twice a year so money (I don’t have anyway) saved.

24th (or the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot

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24th (or the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot

Close up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my first unit of Redcoats finished. I am very happy with the finished result. Apart from the two casualties, who are from Offensive Miniatures, the Company is made up of Foundry figures (sculpted by the Perrys). The bases are from 4Ground drilled and fitted with neodymium magnets. The movement tray I made. Standards are by GMB Designs.

Another four Companies to go, two Highland Flank Companies, a Company of Portuguese Foot, three Companies of Cavalry and two Artillery.

The wife is away cheffing at The Taste of London festival so painting time has been reduced this week. However I am using what time I have by making more Napoleonic movement trays. I’ll post how I make them, it is a fairly simple job.

Can you tell what it is yet? Part 2

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Can you tell what it is yet? Part 2

This is my current painting set up while I am between houses and I just fancied having something a bit more tailored for my needs, rather than an old tray.

Can you tell what it is yet?

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Can you tell what it is yet?

Can you tell what it is yet?
A little side project.

Stealing toys from my Boys

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Stealing toys from my Boys

I’m guilty as charged m’lud. Recently I’ve started using a little bit of black-lining on my models. It’s made up of Vallejo Black, Johnson’s Klear and a touch of water. I store it in an old Vallejo bottle and use the lid to dip my brush in. Problem is the bottle top is not the most stable and I’ve been propping it up in the corner of my tray. I had thought of getting some wood from my Father in Laws and drilling a hole in it. Tidying up my Boy’s room this afternoon, “Lightbulb!” There were some wooden blocks that I had to put away and in amongst them was a little red cube. It was a matter of moments to get the drill and make a small hole with a slightly chamfered edge. Just the right size and not too space consuming on the tray.

Another brief basing interlude

I don’t know about you but I have been using basing sand since year dot. Then I spend ages painting and highlighting it to make it look like soil.

Is there another way?

I thought I’d try out something I saw in AK Interactive’s Weathering Magazine where one modeller used soil. That’s right soil!

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So I went out gathering, some dark forest soil (shown here), some fine pale river silt and a mid tone.

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This is the first test piece, I put some gloss varnish on one side to represent wet soil. I think that the “crumb” (blame programs like “The Great British Bake Off”) is too big. This is a result of the size of the sieve. The bits of root give it a slightly more random realistic look.

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Recently at a fleamarket I picked up a new addition to my painting tools. This should deal with the size of the crumbs.

 

 

95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War

This is my 95th Rifles Black Powder Napoleonic Peninsular War, from March’s workbench.

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The figures are mostly Foundry, sculpted by the Perry’s with a couple of Perry plastics thrown in. I’m not happy with the colour as it is much too light, they were known as the “Sweeps” as the uniform is a very dark green. Maybe in the future I’ll do a black wash over the uniform to darken it. Hopefully any opponents won’t complain too much about the inaccurate colours.

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The movement tray is a custom cut from Wargames Tournaments

http://www.wargamestournaments.com/

 

Black Powder Command Group

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Black Powder Command Group

Next project on the workbench. A command group for my British Peninsular Napoleonic army. I have been prevaricating about starting this project as Napoleonic wargamers have a reputation of being very picky about accuracy.
If I can do my Napoleonics well and get some praise for them I reckon that I can consider myself an OK painter.