Saxon saga warband

The snow is falling and I'm tucked up lovely and warm indoors, despite the winter snap of snow I've finished up my SAGA 4point warband.

every warband needs a leader and here is mine. Some conversion work was undertaken and the larger base size gave me a chance to do something a bit different. 

 so on to the warband itself, they are a mix of gripping beast plastic Dark age warriors and plastic Saxons 

 Gripping beast makes some cracking plastic figures and I'd almost forgot how good they look and how nice they build up. I'm also impressed with the way the heads are attached. 

 The shields are all hand painted which have turned out better then I expected. Making then look a little bit battered certainly adds more character. 

The Warlord and hearthguard ready to take on all comers. 

  

Not forgetting the warriors 

 These guys are done and dusted and on to my next project! The vikings, and here's a sneak peak 3 berserker conversions

 As always guys thanks for looking, feel free to comment.

 cheers for now 

Russ 

                                             

Thinning out my collection

It's a sad day, I have finally made my mind up to thin out my collection. I'm posting pictures here of some the stuff I'm planning to sell on, just because this the last chance I will get to show them off before I pack them ready to go to Vapnartak's table top sale.
   
          Darkest Africa

 First up! My meagre attempt at Darkest Africa, I think almost everyone has dipped a toe in the period at some time or another. 

 the shield's were scratch built out of plastic card, mainly because I forgot to order some. 

Bolt Action Tanks

 Despite only just finishing up the Cromwell I've decided to part with these, I'm probably going to replace these with Tamiya's 1/48 scale kits. Not gaming means I can get away with the more detailed but more fragile Tamiya's kits.



Black Scorpion Tombstone minis

 These miniatures captured my imagination, but after a friend said what a shame they would never be gamed with! It struck a cord and it troubled me slightly

Finally my High Elves 

 These have being sat on my shelf for way to long now, gathering dust is not a suitable for these highly skilled warrior's. 

 

Unfortunately I haven't taken photos of all the stuff going off to sale, but I ran out if time and to be honest the longer I looked at some of it! I wanted to keep it! 

I may not sell any of it, but it will make me feel better if I try to make some more space! And if I do make some money maybe a new project will beckon. 

So thank you for looking and wish me luck!

Cheers for now Russ

Oak leaf tutorial

OK I've dabbled with another step by step/tutorial it's the first one I've done since I started my blog. I would normally do it through photobucket but now I have my blog well it would be wrong to not to post it here. I have only covered painting the actual smock, I will add a link to my photobucket which covers several tutorials which covers painting the entire figures from start to finish. I am no expert and this is purely my take on Oak leaf camo, so on to the tutorial. I usually use Vallejo paints but GW paints are the order of the day with this one.

Step1

 Undercoat the figure, this is personal choice but I think white works well for this camo pattern.

Step2 

 I used miniature paints Umber but adding black to dryad bark will do the job just as well.

Step3 

 Wash over with nuln oil , this is to shade the recesses in the smock.

Step4 

 Reinstate dryad bark on the raised areas of the smock.

Step5 

 Paint irregular patches of Elysian green across the smock.

Step6 

 Wash Elysian green with nuln oil, this will help to add depth to the creases in the smock.

Step7 

 Now add random patches of Gorthor brown across the smock

Step8

Reinstate Elysian green then highlight by adding white 

Step9 

 Reinstate Gorthor brown and highlight by adding white 

Step 10 

 Now add small random dots of Elysian green mixed with white. These should help to break up the edges of the Dryad bark areas.

Step11 

 Now add small random dots of Dryad bark over the larger areas of colour. This will help to build up the Oak Leaf pattern.

Step12 

 Using a mix of Elysian green and white add smaller dots over the top of the dots of dryad bark. Build the green up over the brown and vice versa.

Step13

 Add smaller dots of Gorthor brown over the dryad bark dots painted over the Elysian green.

Step14

 Finish up painting the rest of the figure, it's being a while since I last did a step by step so please if I have messed it up I apologise, if something isn't clear then just leave a comment and I will try my best to answer it.

http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bracken96/library/Tutorial%20Waffen%20SS?sort=3&page=1

 click on the link scroll down to view another album and feel free to browse. 

Well thanks for looking hope it helps 

  Cheers for now Russ

Final post for 2017 (Waffen SS)

My final post of 2017!
        It's being a productive few weeks hobby wise despite both Christmas and the New years festivities being in full swing.  My Waffen SS are growing rather rapidly, they are another mix of both plastic and metal models.

 the metal figures are mainly from the sturmbattalion Charlemagne and also from the Waffen SS box set. The plastics are from the new plastic box set, they are all cracking figures. 

 The uniforms are a good mix of camo smocks, and good old pea dot. The choice of heads makes them even better 

 so that brings my post to an end and almost time to usher in a new year! 

 So thanks to everyone who's visited my blog and all the best for the coming new year 

All the best Russ 

Waffen SS support weapons

I am on a roll! I've just completed my next batch of Waffen SS for my slowly growing collection! A couple of mortars and a MG team. So straight in with the pictures

 The figures are all metal but have the separate heads so at least you can vary the look of them! This is something I have always liked, it gives you a little more variety and sometimes changing the head on a figure can really enhance the look of a figure or even break the look. 

 Both mortar teams have the same figures but changing the heads, the type of camo and even slightly different positioning of the figures can make all the difference.

 the MG team changing over a overheated barrel also helps to add more character! 

 it took a while to get the MG in the right position, but once in place it looked spot on.

 I'm hoping to add some armour over the Christmas holidays but only time will tell! 

So thanks for looking 

Cheers for now Russ

Bolt Action Germans based.

I took the bull by the horns and finally got my Waffen SS based. It's the first time I used the dish type bases. I'm normally pretty OCD about things so mixing the new and old flat bases I thought would be a real issue! But I can honestly say it hasn't bothered me much at all. So on to the figures!

 first ten up, all figures from the plastic Waffen SS box set. The mix of weapons is spot on for me, the variety always appeals to me. The more choice the better as far as I'm concerned from the choice of heads, weapons and poses is perfect for me. Least with plastic multi part figures I try not to have two figures look to similar. 

 Next squad a true mix, plastic SS & panzer grenadiers, metal SS and a mix of sturmbattalion Charlemagne! They all sit nicely scale wise and the fact that the metal figures are the same size makes them even more of a win. I have in the past tried not to mix metal and plastic figures due to the very fact that they are vastly different sizes! 

 just to prove they work here are the four panzer grenadier's painted as SS, they may not be 100% accurate but for my humble collection they are good enough, after reading how much pea dot was used in the later years I wanted to mix in more pea dot uniforms. So going forward there are more panzer grenadier's to be built and painted as Waffen SS.

 finally the figures from the sturmbattalion Charlemagne, I've got two box's of these and they are coming in very useful. The Arm insignia is easily removed with a file or craft knife so it's no real issue! 

So my venture back into BA is well and truely underway, the mortar teams and a MG team are on the paint table waiting for me to grab any opportunity that comes my way!  That about rounds things off, so thank you all for looking feel free to comment and catch you all again soon!

Thanks again

Cheers for n