The 45th "Sherwood Foresters"

It's being a while since I painted anything Napoleonic! So where better to start then the thin red line.
   
I have pushed myself to get these finished, Napoleonics are my nemesis and I will openly admit it. I find them daunting to say the least but when they are done they do give me a massive buzz. So on to the figures, they are the plastic set from Warlord Games with the metal command set. The figures are easy build, head, body and backpack, they made a nice change from Victrix sets. I like the Victrix plastics so I'm not knocking them but for marching figures easy build is a fantastic change.

 The regiment in all its glory, colours flying with pride. The flags were a pain in the arse, I think I made a huge mistake of glueing the flags together and then waiting for the glue to dry before I started to fold and shape the flags. They creased horribly and the print started to flake off, the paper the flags are printed on is pretty thick compared to other companies. Next time I will shape and fold the flags while the glue is still wet. 

 The command figures are lovely looking figures, and the sergeant dressing the line with his pike certainly looks the part.

 I'm definitely no expert on Napoleonics so I'm pretty sure I'm made some errors but they are good enough for me, and boy oh boy do they look good in all lined up. 

 Next up, probably some French cavalry. I've got a few to choose from so watch this space as they say! 

So thanks for looking, please feel free to comment. All comments are wecome and very much appreciated.

Thanks again 

Cheers for now Russ 

Bolt Action new additions

My latest additions to my Bolt Action Germans, I will be honest I don't think these are my best work but at least they are finished to a standard I'm almost happy with. I repainted the eyes repeatedly and the faces also took a couple of attempts on more than one of them. I have posted my tutorial for a simplified and stylized pea dot, so heres another mix of pea dot and camouflage uniforms. 

 I normally avoid painting the trousers and smock in the same camou but I broke my own rules with the MG gunner. He has rolled up sleeves, the arms I borrowed from the panzer grenadiers set. They seem to work, I can only imagine it would of being hot work lugging the MG around. 

 The figures are again a mix of panzergrenadiers and SS plastic sets from warlord games. They may even be parts thrown in from the Blitz krieg German plastic set, I'm a real fan of mixing the parts from different plastic sets. 

 Normally I would add a few stray rocks on the bases but I decided to go for static grass and tufts. The sand mix adds enough texture to start with, so painting and highlighting does a good enough job. 

 I try to add variety to the kit and equipment as much as is possible, and the detail is there to be painted. After looking at the variety of colours kit came issued in, it's a chance to add a bit more interest. 

 The backs of figures deserve to look as good as the fronts, hopefully I've achieved it. 

 

 So another post added to my slowly growing blog, hopefully more will follow sooner rather than later.

So thanks for looking 

                Cheers for now Russ 

Pea dot tutorial

I have being asked a couple of times of how i paint pea dot camouflage, it's my own take on pea dot but from some of the comments I'm guessing it works. I would call it stylized for a better word, I'm no master of a brush but hopefully it will help in some small way even if it gives someone the starting point of how to tackle pea dot. I have used a cocktail stick to add the dots but a brush can be used, the paints are mainly Vallejo with Games Workshop washes to shade.

                                                              Step 1
 

 Undercoat the figure. The choice is yours!

Step 2 

 Paint the trousers and socks with field grey with a tad of black added to deepen the base coat.

Step 3

 Wash over the trousers and socks with GW nuln oil. 

Step 4

 Dry brush the trousers and socks field grey, add a small amount of Iraqi sand to highlight. 

Step 5

 Mix German medium camou brown with a tad of black to base coat jacket. 

Step 6

 Wash GW nuln oil over the jacket. 

Step 7

 Reinstate the raised areas on the jacket with medium camou brown, leave shade in the creases. 

Step 8

Paint random patches of beige brown and military green over the jacket.

Step 9

 Wash over the beige brown with GW agrax earthshade and the military green with GW nuln oil. 

Step 10

 Highlight the beige brown and military green leaving shade in the recesses. 

Step 11

 Add white to military green to highlight.

Step 12

 Mix white to bright camou green and using a cocktail stick overlay the spots on the military green patches.

Step 13

 Using cork brown overlay onto the dark camou brown using a cocktail stick. 

Step 14

 Mix white into military green and once again using a cocktail stick overlay dots onto the beige brown. 

Step 15

 Finish painting the figure with appropriate colours. 

I'm pretty sure there are better tutorials out there and much more accurate ones! 

So thanks for looking, feel free to comment and catch you all soon. 

Cheers for now Russ 

Dead mans hand old west figures.

A couple of weeks ago I made a second attempt at thinning out my out of hand collection of figures and terrain. My hobby room is or should I say was fit to burst so off to Hammerhead we went. I attempted the table top sale at vapnatrak and although I did sell a few bits and pieces I brought most of it back home. I wasn't well and Man flu got the best of me I'm affraid. Not one to give up I booked a couple of slots at hammerheads table top sale. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would sell as much as I did. I met some fantastic people and made a bit of cash. Yes I did invest some of it straight back into new projects, I no longer game i just paint and collect so I treated myself a little.

One of the great people I met was a guy called Steve, real nice guy. We chatted a bit and I agreed to paint some Dead mans hand figures for him. I work full time so a speedy turn around on figures isn't possible but this didn't bother him. So two weeks later and his figures are ready to posted.

The other seven and the tong gang face off in the main street.

The Other Seven, after watching the magnificent seven remake you can tell who these guys are meant to be. 

The Tong Gang. Fiendish oriental types. 

I'm not the best at photography, but hopefully these photos do them some justice. So thanks Steve for giving me the opportunity to paint these cracking little figures, it's being a real buzz! 

So thanks to everyone I got to speak to at hammerhead, and of course the organisers! It was a cracking show 

Thanks for looking all the best

  Cheers for now Russ 

Saga Arabs

I'm on a roll, another project finished! Saga Arabs this time. I've always loved plastic figures and the newer generation of plastics are a God send especially if your like me and love converting figures and doing Frankenstein conversions! Although for once I've pretty much built these straight out of the boxes.

 8 horse archers, 8 foot archers, 8 spearmen and 8 swordmen. The swordsman are made by combining parts from the Arabs cavalry boxes and the Arabs infantry box. Slight conversion maybe but nothing drastic. 

 I enjoy painting and very rarely game nowadays! So these may not stay in my collection for long, space is becoming rarer and rarer but i keep meaning to thin out my collection. I'm attending hammerhead this weekend and hopefully I will sell a few bits and pieces at the table top sale. Although not spending any money I make on something new and shiney will not be easy! But I'm waffling on so back to the figures. 

 Every warband needs a leader and here's mine, hopefully a true leader. 

 The swords are here, a bit of mixing and swapping of parts but they appear to work out pretty well. 

 The spears, I let myself run riot on the shields, after seeing some the patterns I couldn't resist.  

 The bows, it was nice to paint these. No shields so pretty quick to finish. 

 The mounted bows, the hosres are lovely looking crearures and paint up a treat, some of the riders needed to be matched to certain horses or it requires a little bit of trimming to get them to fit.  It could just of being me or I was just unlucky. 

 So thanks for looking, feel free to comment and thanks again for looking 

Cheers for now Russ  

More SAGA Vikings

After a couple of weeks I've managed to finish up a few bits and pieces off the paint table! So I've added some more Vikings to my collection. I've gone for a mix of berserkers and hirdman, the Vikings are Gripping Beast plastics and I've converted the berserkers from Warlord Games figures.

 I added some different shield designs, I'm not the best at freehand but hopefully once mixed in with the rest of the warband they will blend in nicely. Painting shield's is part of the course but they can make or break the look of the figures. 

 The berserkers are a easy conversion from the warlord games figures and although not perfect they do the job nicely. Ive added a few tattoos although I'm not entirely happy with them! 

 The first four Hirdman I gave them all spears and apart for the green shield looking more Irish than viking! I think they worked out pretty nicely. 

 The second four are armed with a mix of swords and axes. I wasn't impressed with the GB plastic Vikings at first! The Saxons where the first figures I built from Gripping Beast and I was impressed massively with them. Then when I started on the Vikings they didn't seem as easy to put together and I didn't think they looked as good! But once i painted some I changed my mind and hopefully it shows. 

So as always thanks for looking 

   All the best

                  Cheers Russ