Winter Is Coming...

I decided right back when I first started my Vostroyans that they would have urban bases and pretty quickly came to the conclusion that instead of spending ages on every soldier's base (there are almost a hundred of them!) I would add snow to help break up all the grey. My hope was that this would help brighten the models up a bit and unify the army as well as saving some time to make the bases of the characters stand out with some extra detail.

Last night I put together a typical base on which to test out my homemade snow effect. I went down the Bicarbonate of Soda and PVA mixed together with a little water. It took a little while to get the mix to the desired consistency but I am pleased with the results.

From bare base to winter wonderland!

I then repeated the process adding small patches of snow to the bases of my Vostroyans. I also added an extra highlight to their red uniforms, as I discussed in my previous blog, in an effort to brighten them up a notch. 

 Before... and after...

The finished trooper ready for the battlefield.

Here is a group shot to demonstrate how they look en masse.

A priest leads an infantry squad to war.

The view from above.

In other news I have finally got around to using my airbrush. I have a bit more work to do on the undercoats of my tanks and a squad of conscripts but I'll save that as it is worthy of a post of its own!

"What I cannot crush with words I will crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!"

Lord Commander Solar Macharius

For Vostroya!

As I mentioned in my last post I have been working on my Vostroyan Imperial Guard army this month and finally have an update for you. I love the 'grim darkness' of the 40k background where no one quite understands the technology, superstition is rampant and the life of a guardsman is cheap. I wanted to reflect the background in this army hence the darker colours. In hindsight I feel that the colours are a little too dark for them so I will be adding an extra highlight to the red on all these models. I will also be adding snow to their bases soon to contrast with their darker look (this will hopefully make them 'pop' a little bit more on the table).

 

Completed Infantry Squad

 

 Work in progress (I've been painting these guys in groups of four)

 

My approach to the fluff carries over into my army selection. For example, I have only included one plasma gun in the army as they are meant to be a rare sight. I don't think that limiting selections like this will effect the army on the battlefield much and am trying to put together a competitive list. More on that some other time.

 

Converted Missile Launcher Teams

 

One of the problems faced when collecting a metal army such as the Vostroyans is that they do not have models for all the different options you can take. This isn't too much of an issue as with a bit of work, weapon swaps and little conversions can easily remedy any missing options as is the case with my missile teams above.

 

My two Lieutenants, each will lead a platoon of guardsmen

 

I have added some height to the bases of my characters to help them stand out from the crowd of guardsmen. I have tried to keep the options limited on them mainly to save on points, these guys are in the list for their ability to use orders not go toe to toe with Greater Daemons and the like. The Lieutenant on the right is my one ezception, I see him as highborn and he wields a plasma pistol and power sword (no doubt aristocratic heirlooms)!

 

Ministorum Priest

 

The idea of hundreds of guardsmen following some slightly unhinged priest into battle was too good to miss. He will be placed with a 30 strong  conscript squad and between himself and a commissar will be responsible for keeping them running in the right direction! I did a little freehand on the banner and am particularly pleased with the glowing coals on the top of the standard.

Close up of the top of the standard

 

I struggled to find a model that I could use to represent a Primaris Psyker. The one that GW do looks a bit naff to me and I again wanted something a little more 'grim dark'. In the end I went for one of the rogue psyker models from Forge World. I haven't finished him yet but he isn't too far off.

 



Work in progress shot of my Primaris Psyker









 

Finally no Imperial Guard army goes to war without a full complement of armour to support the footsloggers! I have another tank to add to these below and eventually, to cap it all off, an Imperial Knight Titan!

Command Chimera (with Forge World Autocannon turret)

 

Leman Russ Eradicators

 

There you have it. Progress so far. I intend to try my new airbrush out painting up all four tanks at the same time. I will also make use of an airbrush to get my 30 strong conscript squad done quickly. I'll post my progress up here. Other than that I will be continuing working through more Vostroyans. The army is going to end up at 1850pts so I have plenty to paint still!

 



 

"The Victor lives in honour; the Vanquished dies in shame.'

 

-DEPARTMENTO MUNITORUM STRTEGIC PARABLES 27:2-

In Germany....

Well, I haven't updated my part of the blog in a while - mostly due to laziness and distractions. Yea.... PC Gaming due to Wildstar being released sucked me in again.

I have to admit, I'm still struggling to keep concentrated on this project. I love the figures, I love the way I've created moving trays for them, and I really can't wait to play Lasalle.... but the eternal problem of lacking an opponent I think is one of the primary factors thats killing it.

I'm currently on a two month mission here in Germany, so I wont be back in France between the end of August. I did however, bring my napoleonic minis and my paints with me to work on this while I am here. Through in retrospect, I do wish I had brought some Flames of War Germans as well, because I'm actually in the mood to paint some Fallschirmjagers.

I think the key to make myself motivated to paint more Napoleonics to watch the 1970s classic, 'Waterloo' again.

Its crazy to think that I've actually managed to paint up two divisions in 6mm, but I'm struggling to complete even a brigade in 10mm! 6mm being FAR more tedious and annoying to paint up!

Again, I think it just comes down to people in France where I live, are just not really into Napoleonics, and considering it was already hard enough to find the few people interested in playing and painting Flames of War, I should be happy....

This line infantry battalion I painted about a month or two ago. Made them more rag-tag, a couple mismatched uniforms here and there, and some shako covers to give the overall feel of being battleworn. I find making them battlworn and a bit rag-tag to be far more interesting than if straight out of the factory - then again once can only look through my images to see that this concept applies to just about all my miniature painting :)

I'll try and work on some more napoleonics while I'm in Germany.... but I need motivation ><

In the Summertime...

It has been a while but I have now left China and am back in the UK until August so this blog will be receiving more love over the course of the next few weeks! I am off to Spain for a week tomorrow however so the next post will have to wait until my return. That said, I wanted to give you a little heads up of what will be coming up...

I will be spending my time in Spain working on my trusty Vostroyans. It is about time that they featured on this blog. I have almost finished the first platoon and a company command squad. Hopefully they will be ready to post first thing back. I have just received the new 40k rule book which will provide a bit of a hobby 'kick up the ass'!

Reminds me of good ol' Second Edition with its three books.

On the workbench along with the Vostroyans are a platoon of British Paras for Flames of War and a battalion of British line for my 28mm Napoleonics. I also have some 15mm Napoleonics to paint up. I have been working on a second 40k project alongside my Imperial Guard which is a small Ork army. These started off as an experiment in painting using washes over a white undercoat but have morphed into a small army of their own. I'll get pics up soon!

Finally a new toy arrived through the post recently...

I know Leon is very much all about the brushes (and so am I) but I am interested in speeding up the painting process. I am thinking about painting 28mm scale tanks and terrain in particular but might experiment on some old school Space marines too!

There you have it. Not a proper update as such but a promise of more to come in the very near future!

"All business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guessing what was at the other side of the hill."

The Duke of Wellington

Celer et Audax (Swift and Bold)

The 5th Battalion/60th Royal American Regiment of Foot

It has been a busy couple of weeks and getting painting time in has been a challenge. I got home on Monday night thinking I would get some brush time in only to find water flowing from numerous locations in my ceiling! My place has just about dried out now but the delay meant that my riflemen took a little longer than expected.

Anyway, here they are all finished and based.

 Research suggested that the 5/60th wore blue trousers with their green jackets. These would have eventually been replaced with whatever trousers they could find when on campaign (often from the same material as the monks used for their habits apparently) and so the majority of my rifles wear a hotchpotch of trousers. Other than this the 5/60th wore a very similar uniform to the 95th with the exception of scarlet cuffs and collars.

Officers were in charge of supplying their own uniforms. this one has opted for green trousers to match his jacket.

The majority of the 5/60th were German and the battalion was in fact three years older than its more famous cousin the 95th. Unlike the 95th, the 5/60th were split up and spread out between the Wellington's divisions thus ensuring that each division could call upon the skills of the deadly sharp shooters.

Three companies of the 5/60th were attached to the British Third Division including their HQ Company under the command of Major William Gabriel Davy. 

Two stands of 5/60th alongside a stand of the 88th Regiment of Foot.

I painted all of these riflemen at the same time and I think that a batch of 12 is about right. Anymore than this and I can imagine that it would become a little tedious. As it was I enjoyed painting these and am happy with the results. I have bought a few 40mm models that I will be looking at doing to a display standard at some point.  Next up for this army however is a foot artillery piece.

Progress is a little slow at the moment as I am moving countries in four weeks time. I do have a long summer holiday coming up soon (the joys of being a teacher) so I am sure that progress will pick up in pace soon!

 "La Garde meurt, elle ne se rend pas!"  ("The Guard dies, it does not surrender!").

Attributed to General Count Etienne Cambronne

1er Regiment de Hussards

Hmm, well, progressing rather well lately.

Finished these up pretty quick actually.

Was debating on what regiment I should paint them in, but a superior at work excitely said "FIRST HUSSARS!", and so I figured what the hell, why not?

I wasn't originally planning on painting them as the first hussars because I felt that the color scheme was too much the same for it to be interesting, but..... I think they turned out okay. What do you think?

Finished! 10mm scale French Napoleonic Light Infantry Battalion

Huzzah!

I have finished my most recent project, which truth be told I was borderline tempted to give up, pack it up, and go paint some WWII Germans.

I'm happy I didn't.

The thing that I've noticed with napoleonics so far, is that there are a lot of colors. Unlike WWII where the palette is rather limited, the napoleonic stuff is so varied, that even the slightest hint of a color thats a little too light, it sticks out like a sore thumb and steals the light from the model. Furthermore, unlike the 28mm model I painted earlier, 10mm scale is really quite small. Obviously not as small as 6mm, granted, but in terms of details, its hard to really make each individual trooper look as good as how a 15mm or a 28mm does.

Suffice to say though, that Pendraken 10mm scale nappies are quite amazing. The amount of detail is quite surprising, and some things can be "faked" with some clever painting techniques, like the shako cordes for example, which are not quite modeled, but painted in a way to make them look like they do indeed exist.

I've decided to base them in the manner of the LaSalle ruleset, which means 4 stands per normal-size infantry battalion so that they can be made into squares or lines depending on your tactic.

Considering I've decided to use  some 20mm x 30mm bases, as opposed to the Warmaster-scale 20mm x 40mm because it allowed for the models to be more densely packed, and thus hoping to give it a more battalion formation look, it ended out working that I could fit them on my previous 6mm battalion square.

And thus, presto, a wild movement tray appears!

Sure, its not quite adapted for columns or squares or line formation, it's perfect for the "default" French attack-column formation.

These have been painted as Light Infantry using Pendraken's 1809 model set, but yes, the flag is a little more "1812" feel. But that's okay though.

I have 3 Line infantry battalions, 1 combined grenadier battalion, 2 hussards regiments and 1 dragoon regiment to paint in 10mm.... and so I think my next would be the hussar regiment. Can't wait to see what cavalry looks like when painted up in 10mm :D