Challenge Day 42 - Lots Going On

It's been busy, busy, busy at my paint desk the last few days. I finished off the basing on the 6mm Reb artillery, finished painting and based the wolves and got a few other things done as well.

The Aztec Jaguar warriors and pumas have been posted

So have the 6mm Reb artillery

As have the wolves.

With all of these submissions in, I looked toward my next project. I've decided to paint up some "irregular cavalry" for my Koreans and decided that if I was going to be doing horses, I might as well do some mounted commanders as well. Early this afternoon I primed the figures that hadn't been done. After this post, I'll be doing the base colour for the horses.

While the primer was drying, I decided to do some small bits of work. I fancied doing a quick paint of a single figure before commencing with the mass of cavalry and a quick root around in my project drawers unearthed a couple of Mordheim figures that I'd won in a blog prize draw a couple of years back. I had prepped and primed them at some point.

I also picked out a figure I will be submitting for the Nautical bonus theme round. This was another freebie, this time from Anne. I decided to extend the deck planking effect from the figure's base to cover the whole base as it would look better. I made up some Milliput and squidged it onto the base. Possibly a bit too thickly, but it will do. Since taking the pic above (ie once the Millput had cured) I have lightly sanded the Milliput and carved in the planking effect. Although the figure had previously been primed white, I will be spray priming it black tomorrow.

I've also painted and submitted one of the Mordheim figures, but it isn't up at the time of writing. You'll have to wait and see which one it was.


Edit: My fourth submission of the week is up!

Challenge Day 40 - WIPs and Goodies

I've had today off work. I was waiting in for the redelivery attempt of a parcel, which arrived at lunchtime. this is what was in it:

I bought these so that I can take them to work to display some of my painted figures in the office. Or at home.


I finished off the basing on the Aztec jaguar warriors and the pumas. Photos were taken and I've submitted the draft post for Saturday.

I also finished off painting the 6mm Reb artillery crews, varnished them, snipped them apart from each other, glued them to bases and added the basing gunk:

They'll be drybrushed and flocked tomorrow.

As I had some time, I've started work on another entry for this weekend. I wanted something quick and easy, so I picked out the 6 wolves I'd based and primed a few weeks ago. After giving them a mix of basecoat colours and a black wash, I've started the process of alternating drybrush and wash steps. I should be bale to finish that tonight which leaves the bases, eyes and mouths to paint tomorrow.

That's it for today. My points haul this weekend won't be that big, but points are points as they say.

Challenge Day 38 - WIPs

I've managed to finish the Aztec jaguar warriors this evening, apart from adding the herb scatter on the bases. So, no pics of them for now.

This evening I've made a good start on the 6mm Reb artillery crews. I should quite easily finish painting them tomorrow evening and get them glued onto bases. I'll then be able to add the basing gunk on Thursday evening and do the dry-brushing and flocking on Friday.

I'll obviously need to get something else out to work on. I haven't decided what yet.

Challenge Day 37 - I Tought I Taw A...

...puddy cat!

Well, the two pumas (or cougars - lock up your sons!) are finished apart from adding basing texture. I've also made good progress on the Jaguar warriors.

I'm currently working on the shield designs - base coats for the designs have been painted, although I seem to have made a bit of a mess of one and need to go back and redo it (or do a simpler design). Then the rims and designs will get highlighted. That just leaves adding spots to the helmets, dotting black into the helmet eyes and painting the obsidian blades on the clubs.

After work today I popped down to Orcs Nest to pick up some 40mm round bases and see what they had in the Reaper Bones racks that I could use for Mexicagrave or for a bonus theme round.

I ended up leaving the store with this lot:

Whoops!

The figure on top of "En Garde!"  is the promo figure for the rules. The sculpt itself looks very nice, but the casting leaves a lot to be desired. There's a lot of flash, mould lines and vent stubs that need to be cleaned. Not a big problem really.

However, the big problem is with the figure's sword. There is a huge lump of flash between the blade and his left leg. And it's not thin flash which can be poked out with a needle file. I'll probably have to drill through the flash in a few places to create space to get needle files in. I'm not sure it's worth the effort though.

Challenge Day 36 - Sunday Workbench

The Aztecs did make it in before the deadline - you can see them here.

These have taken my tally to 790 points, which is over halfway to my target of 1500 points. With eight weeks left to go, I can take things a little bit easier if I want to.

However, I haven't been idle today. First of all I undercoated some 6mm Reb artillery crews with Light Grey. I'll paint them up later in the week. As there are just 44 figures, they should only take an evening to finish.

In his comments on my Aztec post, Curt asked whether I'd be adding any geographically appropriate beasties to my collection. He mentioned jaguars - well, I don't actually have a jaguar miniature, but next in my Aztec crew for painting are four Jaguar Warriors. I've made a start on them and should only need an evening or two to finish them off.

I also took the opportunity to paint up two pumas (the big cats which aren't "big cats" - they don't qualify as they can't roar). They're just about finished - the bases need dry-brushing then it's varnish time and adding the herbal scatter.

Challenge Day 35 - Two Submissions?

Well, it may be just the one. I finished the Righteous Army contingent and they have already been posted. Here's a preview pic:

And this is the link for the post on the Challenge blog.


I've been working on the Aztec suit wearers and have finished painting them. I've also added the herbal scatter mix to the bases and am currently waiting for the glue to finishing drying. I'm hoping to be able to take pics and submit them before I go to bed so they might make it in before the deadline and get posted. If not, they'll have to sit there in the queue until next weekend.


Edit - just spotted that this was my 800th blog post!

Challenge Day 34 - Friday Night Reds

I've been taking it fairly easy this evening - I needed an easy painting night after doing all that work on the 96 Righteous Army figures. They have had a coat of Klear/ink mix, the bases have had an ink wash and been dry-brushed. All that remains to do is spray them with matt varnish, flock the bases and add some flags - those are jobs for tomorrow.

I've also done a little more work on the Aztecs. The reds of the suit, hat and shield have been highlighted, then the "feather" texture given a final wash of Black Red to darken the recesses a bit. I've also painted the basecoats for the wooden part and the earth colour on the base.

If all goes to plan, I should be able to finish them tomorrow as well and get two submissions in for this weekend.

I'm not sure what will be up next. I do have an inkling of an idea for the "Defensive Terrain" bonus theme round, but I still need to work out some details to see if it's something I can do without too much trouble.

I'll probably return to the 6mm Rebs next week, maybe the artillery and either the mounted or dismounted cavalry.

Challenge Day 32 - Righteous Army Day 4

The Righteous Army figures are now almost finished, so I won't be posting any more WIP pics of them.

Don't panic though, I do have a pic I can show you. During a break to let one colour fully dry before the next stage on the Righteous Army, I decided to make a quick start on the Aztecs and did the red basecoat. During the next break, I gave the Aztecs a wash of thinned Black Red.

I should finish the Righteous Army tomorrow and hopefully will be able to make some good progress on the Aztecs as well - if all goes well, all of the figures will be finished on Friday night and I'll have the weekend clear to work on my entry for the third bonus theme round.

Challenge Day 31 - Still Righteous

Well, I've had a fairly busy day adjudicating submissions to the Challenge.

I've also been busy this evening and last, working on the Righteous Army. I've got a few more steps to do, but it's looking very good for them being finished well before my Saturday submission deadline. Hopefully with enough time to spare for me to paint up those Aztecs.

So, a couple of piccies of the WIP:

Challenge Day 29 - Feeling Righteous

After the inhuman effort of producing those 6mm Rebs, I actually managed to start and finishing painting something else yesterday and managed to get it submitted in time.

It was this command stand for the Righteous Army contingent of my Choson Koreans:

The post is here.


This morning, Curt posted the Epic Fail bonus theme entries. I was particularly pleased to see that Millsy had got his revenge in for my "Millsy the GIMP" entry in the Nostalgia round. I've spent a couple of hours today viewing all the entries, adding comments and then voting for my favourites.

This afternoon I re-sprayed the Aztec suit wearers with a light coat of primer. I'll go back to painting these later in the week.

I also made a start on painting the Righteous Army infantry. Only 96 of them, but they are 15mm. And pretty drab again for the most part.

I'll be carrying on with these over the next few days.

Challenge Day 28 - Taking A Break

Well, sort of a break anyway. Just not doing anything quite so crazy as painting 616 x 6mm infantry figures in one fell swoop.

Speaking (well, writing) of little grey blobs, they're all finished and Curt posted them a few hours ago. Here's a teaser pic:

To see the full submission in all it's glory, you can follow this link. They've put me into the top 10, although I do expect to be pushed back out during the week.

As for the Aztecs I was painting, well, I wasn't happy with hoe the reds came out, so I'm going to start again on them. Luckily the paints I was using were all quite thin so I should be able to just give them a light spray of primer and restart the process without any loss of detail.

Apart from those four figures, I think I'm going to switch to 15mm this week and paint up my Righteous Army infantry contingent and a command stand for them. Just after lunch I gave the base edges a coat of thinned white craft paint (they didn't get covered when I spray-primed the figures). They should be a fairly quick paint.

Challenge Day 26 - Rebs Day Wotever +2

I'm feeling pretty grotty at the moment - another cold has struck. I haven't let it stop me in my tracks though!

This evening I've done the drybrushing on the bases of the Rebs:

Tomorrow I'll be doing the flocking with static grass and hopefully taking photos for the submission.

I have also made a start on 4 of the Aztecs - the Huaxtec suit wearers (warriors who have captured two enemies). Mostly because they should be a fairly quick group to paint up compared to the rest. So far I've done the base colours.

That's it for today folks.

Challenge Day 25 - Rebs Day Wotever +1

Having realised that the remaining stages on the 6mm Reb infantry won't take much time each evening (but will take some time in between) I decided that my first task this evening would be to prime the Aztecs and wildlife so that I can, perhaps get some of them painted alongside finishing the basing on Rebs.

I then set about the messy task of adding basing gunk to the Rebs. An hour and a bit later, all 22 bases were done.

The gunk will need to dry overnight, then tomorrow I'll brush off any loose stones and sand before drybrushing them. At that point I'll decide whether to carry on with the Rebs and do the flocking, or start painting some of the Aztecs.

I took some pics of the various stages of the basing, which I'll post as a "how to" in a few days.

Challenge Day 24 - Rebs Day Wotever

OK, so I've lost track of what day of work on the Rebs this is. Work has progressed nicely, and the figures have all been stuck onto their bases now:

Tomorrow night I'll be adding the basing gunk. I've topped up my working pot of brown emulsion paint and grabbed my stock bottles of sand and grit in case I need to do a top-up of the basing mix I use. I expect to be having a nicely messy evening.

I've also been fairly busy today with my adjudicator duties. There has been a wide variety of submissions, with two Challengers posting their debut entries.

Challenge Day 23 - Phew!

Thank goodness! I've finally finished the touch-ups, painted the drums and done the few bits of metal that needed doing. I've also managed to varnish them tonight (hence the post-midnight posting).

Tomorrow evening, in between my adjudication duties, I'll be popping the figures off their painting sticks, mixing them up a bit and sorting them out into what I need for each base. Then gluing all the strips onto the bases.

Wednesday night will see me adding the basing gunk. That will need to dry at least overnight before brushing off any loose sand and doing the drybrushing. Friday night will see me doing the flocking, adding the flags and taking photos for my submission on Saturday (unlike Miles, I do know what my submission day is *lol*).

These have been a long grind to paint up and I need a break doing something else before I paint the Zouaves, cavalry, artillery and generals. I'll probably paint some more Aztecs for "Mexicagrave" and maybe some 15mm Koreans, most likely the infantry for my Righteous Army.

Challenge Day 22 - Rounding Up The Week

Gosh, what a busy week this has been. The Aztecs were submitted yesterday and posted here. I'm not sure what went wrong with the pics; I thought I'd got the lighting sorted out. I'll have to have a play with the camera on Thursday evening to see what settings work best.

I've spent most of this weekend working on the 6mm Rebs. Yesterday I got the belts finished and the breadbags painted. Today I've done the water canteens and the blanket rolls and made a start on touching up the jackets and trousers; just the greys left to do and some faces. That will leave the drums and some metal bits to do and they're finished!

On Saturday morning I also added basing gunk to the Aztecs and animals I'd mounted on washers the night before.

This morning Curt posted the poll results for the Nostalgia bonus theme round. Much to my surprise my entry, "Millsy the GIMP" had taken second place.

Even more amazingly, in third place was Millsy the GIMP with his entry "Ethel and the Fire Brigade"

Much less surprisingly, first place went to the highly talented and creative Michael Awdry (Baron of Vignette) for his "The Great Escape" piece.

Truly superb work by his lordship and a very well deserved win.