Analogue Painting Challenge: 28mm Vikings

I did finish the Vikings yesterday and the pics have been up on Curt's blog for a day now, so I can post them here. Do check out Curt's blog - the entries by my fellow Ronin are well worth the effort of looking through.

I was quite pleased about four things:
1) I hadn't realised that hand-painted shields get a bonus point, so I was getting 6 points a figure instead of 5 giving me a total of 120 points for that entry.
2) I am currently in 11th place with 236 points (but will drop down the rankings during the week)
3) I am ahead of Ray (currently languishing in 19th place with 120 points), but I expect that the dastard is secretly painting up a massive entry of several hundred figures
4) It's only 1/6 of the way into the Challenge and I'm already over 1/4 of the way to my target. I'd thought that aiming for 800 points over the three months was stretching myself, but it doesn't appear to be so.

So, with the Vikings done, what have I been up to?

28mm Gripping Beast Saxons

These are now assembled, based and primed. I took a different approach to the basing this time and did it after priming the figures (with Vallejo white polyurethane primer) and the metal washers they are based on. Rather than brushing slightly-thinned PVA over the entire base and then dipping it into sand/gravel mix I brushed spots and smears of thicker PVA onto the bases then shook coarse grey ballast over the figures, shook off the excess and left them to dry for a while. Then I brushed thinner PVA into the gaps and covered the bases with medium grey ballast, shook off the excess and left them to dry again. Once I thought the glue had dried, I went over with an even thinner coat of PVA to seal the ballast and left them to dry again. Finally I went over the basing with primer. They are now sitting at the back of my painting area to allow the primer (and underlying PVA) to fully harden.

The next step will be to give them a black/brown wash before painting to provide some pre-shading.

15mm Late 30YW Horse

Thinking that I could probably do with a break from 28mm (not to mention assembly of plastics) I've decided that after the Saxons are done, my next unit for the Challenge will be the remaining cavalry from my 30YW leadpile. When I got the figures out to start prepping them, I remembered that I also had 6 mounted standard bearers sitting in the leadpile without any obvious use. "Hmmm, what if I mixed them in with the rest? That would give me 10 bases, 8 of them with standard bearers. I can always order some extra figures to make up a 3rd regiment later."

So, this evening I have prepped 30 horses and riders - at the moment they are soaking in warm soapy water. I'll probably rinse them before going to bed and put them out to dry overnight.

Preparing for a FoG:AM Doubles Tournament

A clubmate and I are taking part in the Godendag doubles tournament at Usk in a couple of weeks time. the theme for the FoG:AM competition is "Rise and Fall of Rome" so we are taking Early Alans. Today was the last date for submitting army lists, so I was putting the finishing touches to ours.

We'll be trying it out tomorrow night at the club, which will also be a good chance to check out the differences between V1 and V2 of FoG (Godendag is using the V2 rules). The camera is packed and with 2 of us playing on each side, there's no excuse for not taking any photos nor writing a turn-by-turn record for writing the AAR.



Oh, you want pics of the Vikings? Go on then:

Challenge Entry #3 - Gripping Beast 28mm Vikings

Here they are in all their glory. All parts got at least basecoat and wash, some parts got highlights as well. The shield designs were hand-painted and I noticed when looking at the photos that some need some touching up, which I'll do at some point. I decided to seal them with neat Klear rather than my usual Klear/ink mix.

The bases got a basecoat of Khaki Grey, followed by a wash of Burnt Umber. I then dry-brushed with Khaki Grey, Iraqi Sand and finally with Sky Grey. I think it looks effective. I decided against using any tufts for these figures, but did use two different mixes of flock - Moorland and Meadow Grass.

All Together:

Blackshields:

Blueshields:

Greenshields:

Redshields:

Yellowshields:

And for anyone who thinks pink is a girly colour, this gent doesn't agree with you!

Hope you like them!

Some Bits and Bobs

Don't forget my First-Blogging-Birthday Prize Draw!!


Well, the Vikings are finished and photos have been sent to Curt - hopefully they'll go up on his blog shortly, then I'll post them here tomorrow.

I'm now assembling 22 Gripping Beast Saxons - warlord, standard bearer and 20 thegns. I think I'll try something a bit different with these ones - white primer, somewhat more uniform appearance (I'd probably have finished the Vikings quicker if I hadn't been using quite so many colours). I might also try using shield transfers with these guys.

Anyway, to keep you supplied with pics, I decided yesterday evening to do something a bit different. It's been a long while since I painted any of my 15mm SciFi leadpile. Well, the other day I had a slightly mad idea for a paint scheme for my NAC figures from GZG - Colonial British but updated to the future. I think this lunacy was inspired by watching Zulu again the other day.

So I grabbed a pack of 8 figures and prepped them, then after washing primed them with Vallejo white polyurethane primer. Once that had dried i cracked on with painting them. I wasn't sure what colour to do the armour though, so I did one strip in Neutral Grey and one in Sky Grey.

The other colours:
Jacket - Scarlet
Trousers and Cuffs - Dark Prussian Blue
Weapons and Equipment - Black Grey
Gun muzzles - Black
Boots - Black
Visors - Dark Prussian Blue with some metallic medium added

The bases were painted with a roughly equal mix of Black Grey and Iraqi Sand.

Anyhoos, here's some pics. I think the Sky Grey looks more "colonial", but prefer the look of the Neutral Grey.


Sky Grey armour:

Neutral Grey armour:

Looking at the figures now, I think the boots should probably be either Black Grey or the same colour as the armour.

Challenge - Gripping Beast Vikings Update

Don't forget my Prize Draw!


The Vikings are almost finished. All that's left to do is:
Highlight metals (armour and weapons)
Final dry-brush of basing texture
Shield designs
Klear coat (no ink - I've done washes already)
Matt varnish spray
Tufting & flocking

With a little bit of luck I'll have them completed by Saturday afternoon. But here's a WIP pic, to keep you going:

Happy Birthday to My Blog; Prize Draw; Plans for 2013

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear wargaminggirl.blogspot.com
Happy birthday to you

In case you hadn't guessed, today is my blog's first birthday. As it's a birthday and given that I've passed 2 other big milestones in the past couple of weeks (50k page views, 300 followers) I guess it must be time for a

Yup, some lucky beggar who follows the rules below will win a prize of me painting 50 points of figures for them. 50 points? I'm using Curt's Analogue Painting Challenge system - 15mm foot = 2 points; 28mm foot = 5 points; mounted = 2x foot.

The Rules:
1) You must be a public follower of this blog
2) You must leave a comment below to say you want to be entered in the draw
3) Entries close at 2400 GMT on Tuesday 15 January
4) Errmm, that's it!



Quick Painting Update

The Vikings have received their basecoats, all that remains now is the detailing, washing, highlighting, Klear-coat, matt spray and tufting/flocking. I should be able to finish them by the weekend if all goes well.

Next up I think will be some Gripping Beast 28mm Saxons (20 troops, Warlord, standard bearer).


Plans For 2013

Tournaments
I hope to take part in a couple of tournaments this year, just for the sheer heck of it. I'm already entered into one - Godendag at Usk in just over 2 weeks' time. This is a doubles tournament, and my Alans will be getting a run-out again. Oh, and it will be using the V2 rules for FoG:AM which have only just been released in print (mine are on order), so that should be interesting.
I'll probably also do Campaign in Milton Keynes again and hopefully the Worlds in Derby (well, Donnington) which I missed due to illness in 2012.

Club Games
I'm hoping to get the following gaming in at the club this year:
At least 1 game of FoG:AM per month
At least 1 game of FoG:R per month
Several games of Saga
Occasional games of Ironclads in Action

Painting

3rd Analogue Painting Challenge - I've decided to use this as an excuse to assemble and paint all my 28mm plastics. From a quick count, that is 146 foot and 14 mounted plus the 20 currently on my table. I'll need to order a horse sprue from Conquest as the pack I bought from Orcs Nest was one of the older ones with 15 riders but only 12 horses.

Once the Challenge is over (or during the Challenge if I finish all those plastics before it ends) I'll finish off my 30YW figures, do the last 60 Sarmatian lancers and then finish off the Scythians which have been languishing in a drawer for months now.

That will leave me clear to decide what army to work on next. I probably should do the medieval Swiss first, as I've already started it. However, after so many months of historical figures (and all non-uniform) it would probably be good to take a break and paint up some of my 15mm SciFi forces - I've easily got over 300 figures waiting to be painted, not to mention vehicles to assemble and paint.

Blogging

I'll try to post at least twice a week this year. As opposed to last year, I won't be posting WIP shots after each session and will just do the pics when units are finished. I might do weekly "on the workbench" shots so that you can see what I'm up to.



Oh, before I forget:

2012 Round Up

As 2012 draws to a close, it is time to reflect on what I have and haven't achieved this year.

Blogging

I started this blog on New Year's Day and have been shocked (in a very good way) at how popular it has been.
nearly 53,000 page views
301 followers
2441 comments
300 posts (including this one!)

I started it as a way of keeping a record of my painting and as an aid to motivate me to do carry on. I really never expected it to take off the way that it has, so a huge and hearty "Thank you!" to everyone who has followed me, commented on my posts, shared tips, told other people about this blog....

I'm particularly glad that so many of you stuck around over the past couple of months when I wasn't posting as often as I had been. Some of you know that prior to rediscovering my interest in miniatures gaming back in the summer of 2011, I had been off work for 9 months with chronic fatigue. Over the last 18 months I had been back at work on reduced hours, but had hit a plateau at just under 70% of full time hours.

Work then decided to make me push the rest of the way to full time over a very short period. That left me very tired in the evenings and I was spending most of Saturday recovering, leaving me just Sundays for any decent amount of painting. It didn't help that my body and brain weren't getting time to adjust to each increase in hours before the next increase kicked in.

Fortunately I am now back to working full time and hopefully my body and brain will rapidly adjust to the hours and I will have energy in the evenings to do painting.


Painting

Looking at the list in my side-bar, I have painted the following:

15mm mounted: 407 figures
15mm foot: 414 figures
15mm artillery: 6 guns
15mm horses: 76*
28mm foot: 46
plus various figures for my army camps and ambush markers.

* 60 horses for my remaining Sarmatian lancers and 16 riderless horses for my 30YW dragoons.

Now, using the points for Curt's 3rd Analogue Painting Challenge I calculate that out as 2862 points (excluding the camps/ambush markers) that I've painted this year. Unfortunately, there are a lot of figures that I started painting but never finished - they are still sitting in a drawer unit on my painting desk.

Gaming

This year I have managed to do quite a bit of gaming:

FoG:AM - probably about 20 games
FoG:R - about 8 games
Tomorrow's War - a few games
Ironclads in Action - about 5 or 6 games
Saga - several games

I even took part in a tournament!


Shows

I made it to 3 shows this year - Salute, Broadside and SELWG. I would have done Colours as well, but it clashed with the start of TUC Congress (at which I was a delegate from my union).


Next post - the obligatory "HNY!" and plans for 2013

Analogue Painting Challenge: 30YW Croat Light Horse

Well, they've been up on Curt's blog for a good few hours, so I think it's OK to post them here now.

I present to you 24 Croat light horsemen for my 15mm 30 Years War army. These were rather time consuming to paint as there was so much detail and I was using a lot of different colours. I think in total these took me about 12 hours of painting, plus another two hours for doing the basing. I'm pleased with the results - they're certainly a colourful bunch, as they should be.

Now I've just got to decide on an army list in FoG:R where I can use them and get them onto the table!

Next Up For The Challenge: 28mm Vikings

Well, I've had quite a productive day. This morning I finished off the Croats and sent the pics to Curt to post on his blog as he gets first shout on posting them. I've scheduled a post to go up here tomorrow. Errrmmm, today - it's gone midnight!

As I didn't have anything ready for painting I decided to prep some figures for my next Challenge batch. As several commenters had said they were looking forward to Saga stuff, I spent the afternoon assembling 20 Gripping Beast Vikings. Once they were assembled I superglued them onto 25mm washers and then did something a bit dumb. I should know from past experience that doing the PVA-over-base-and-dunk-in-sand/stones before painting is a pain in the neck, but I went ahead and did it anyway. It probably would have been fine if there had been less of the ballast/tallus in the mix, but by the time I realised it was too late. I guess I'll just have to paint the bases as beach or stony ground. After letting the basing texture dry for a while, I primed the figures with Vallejo black polyurethane primer. So, here's a quick pic:

Tomorrow evening I'll be doing a round-up of 2012. I notice that I'm currently at 299 followers - wouldn't it be great to gain another before the year ends?