Finished Leman Russ

I finished my Leman Russ yesterday so thought I'd post a quick update.

This was my first time using weathering powders and I think that I could do a better job. As the army is meant to be painted to a gamer's standard I am not too bothered. Below are some before and after photos.

 Before the weathering powder.

 And...

 ...after.

Bring on the Armour...

I've still not managed to get hold of any super glue so recently I've been working on my Vostroyan project again. This week was the turn of one of my Leman Russ Eradicators.

This is the first time I've attempted to do anything other than base coat with my airbrush. Up until this point I have also been struggling. Airbrushes are not so easy to use that anyone can get instant results! I've lost count of the number of times I have had the needle clog up and had to disassemble the entire thing to get it working again. However, after much experimenting I feel that I am starting to get the hang of it and now prefer to mix my paint myself instead of using Vallejo's model air range directly from the bottle. Below is a little snapshot of my usual set up without the airbrush stuff out. I have got a bigger desk to replace this one with soon which will allow me to have a permanent spray booth set up.

Anyway back to my Leman Russ. I primed the model in black before base coating it in Citadel's Karak Stone.

Once complete I washed the whole model in a mix of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade, using a cotton bud to wipe off some of the wash from areas of the model to reveal the base colour.

I then masked off the front of the tank in order to apply some identification markings that will help to break up the dull primary colour of the armour. Annoyingly the way I placed my smoke launchers made this very fiddly!

I used Vallejo's Model Air White to block in the front section of the armour. The plastic pink thing on the right is a cheap fan to take away some of the paint particles and blow them towards an open window. I still wear a proper mask to prevent myself breathing in any of the paint. It is not good for you!

With the red added and the masking tape removed. I am very happy with the results. They are not perfect but that is fine as these areas will be washed and have weathering powders applied to them very soon. I ran out of steam there but should have it finished later this week. I'll post pics of the finished model soon.

Finally, I promised to talk a bit about the allies that I will be adding to the army. The Astra Militarum are renowned for their gun line armies sitting on one side of the table and unleashing everything at the enemy with little to no maneuvering. I wanted my army to be more aggressive and as the Imperial Guard really have very little in the way of hard hitting assault units this job would have to fall to some friends.

I initially thought of some Space Wolf allies as I had collected these in the past and they fit the whole aggressive assault element perfectly. They would look great on winter bases too! There are two things that I don't like about them though. The first is the fact that everyone seems to play marine armies and yet according to the fluff these are very rare. The second turn off for me was scale. GW's marines are not in scale with the rest of their model ranges. The Vostroyans with their bearskins actually make the marines look small! Marines therefore are out (I would like to one day do some true scale marines but right now that is too much for me).

What else would give me that aggressive unit capable of taking ground in conjunction with my guardsmen? Well the answer was staring me in the face really in the form of what in my opinion is the coolest model GW has ever produced, an Imperial Knight.

Work in progress on my Knight Paladin. As you can see he dwarfs my Vostroyan guardsmen and will add a suitable centerpiece to the army. It also helps that he will scare the hell out of any opponent I face, capable of striding towards the enemy lines unleashing a stupid amount of firepower whilst shrugging off anything short of a lascannon. They will eventually deal with him but the idea is that he is really only a distraction allowing units of guardsmen to move forward in his shadow and take up positions in cover. At the same time any guns firing at my Knight will not be firing at my more vulnerable armoured units. I'll put a proper update on this guy once more progress is made.

Well there you have it. I am loving painting at the moment and very excited about getting a playable army of Vostroyans on the table!

Banzai!

Wow, it has been a busy few weeks for me starting a new job and moving countries! I have been making steady progress on the hobby front however and one of the nice things about the move is that I now have space at home for a proper painting set-up rather than using the dinner table. I'll take you through my set up some other time, first a little project update.

I have spent the last few evenings putting stuff together ready to be undercoated. Below are the first of the Imperial Japanese force for my Burma game.

 Lieutenant and Bugler 

 Infantry Section

The models are from Warlord Games and look great. There are a limited number of leg/body poses, (I think there are six in total) which is a little annoying as a little bit of work is required to avoid similar poses especially as several of the poses are very dynamic (for example full tilt on the charge). However I am happy so far and am particularly impressed with the flag sheet included with the box. 

 These will look awesome on the finished models.

Unfortunately I have had to put the Chindits on hold as have run out of super glue! I can now pick some up from a hobby shop here which is great. They even play a lot of 40k which gives me some incentive to get my Vostroyans ready for the table. I have been working on some allies for them which I am very excited about but more on that next blog.

Finally, I'll leave you with my French artillery battery ready for painting. They will form some much needed support for my bridge builders in my Napoleonic game. Paint jobs to follow soon.

 Models by Perry Miniatures

A subtle shift towards gaming...

After a summer of working on my Vostroyans I am in need of a bit of a change up. One of the things that has been bugging me lately is that despite painting numerous figures I can't remember the last time I played a game of any system!

I always have so many projects on the go that progress on any one is usually slow. I've been thinking about it for quite a while now especially since Leon's last blog lamenting the lack of opponents. Although I really enjoy the painting and modelling side of the hobby I have always seem myself as a gamer as well. It would seem that lately this isn't really that true...

So I am going to trial a different approach this year. I am aiming to run two specific games next summer. These will each be home made scenarios with a table and forces to match. I'll be keeping the model count relatively low (there is no such thing in Napoleonics really) and therefore both games will be small affairs with the emphasis on building a believable narrative and looking epic! The idea is that both players are given a set of written orders and are oblivious to those of the enemy. Surprises will be sprung on both sets of players to keep them on their toes!

Game 1:

British vs French 28mm Peninsular Napoleonic

General narrative: A British force has been dispatched to prevent the French from building a pontoon bridge across a river. The bridge itself will be fully modelled with engineers and 'hired help' working hard while a French Infantry Battalion act as a guard (and the hired help) along with a gun battery. A small French camp will be built on one side of the river reinforcing the feel of a lonely guard duty. The British forces include two battalions of infantry and three companies of riflemen who will have to advance on the French position. Unknown to the French player a band of Spanish Guerrillas have been waiting for just such an opportunity to attack. Unknown to the British player a squadron of French Dragoons have been in the vicinity (probably searching for the Guerrillas) and arrive in time to counter the British attack.


Game 2:

British Chindits vs Japanese 28mm Burma WWII

General Narrative: A small Chindit force is ordered to investigate a forward observation post that has fallen silent. What they do not realise is that a Japanese force has bypassed the OP and launched a surprise attack destroying the British force and now are waiting in ambush. I am thinking of adding in a wounded survivor from the original British OP who needs rescuing/capturing. The focal point for this table will be a small Burmese hamlet on a river with the surrounding board made up of thick Jungle. I may even add in a Gurkha section whose job it is to extricate the Chindits from the inevitable ambush!

From now on I will be publishing the progress on each scenario and  all being well this will culminate in two battle reports. I have never approached the hobby in this way before so I am really excited about getting started.

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 ><