An opinion too far?

I'll admit... that pun was baaaad. But I do need your opinion on something, my dear reader.

With the release of Paul Cubbin's (Cubs on LAF and the proprietor of this cool Facebook page) painting "tutorial" for his Paras in Wargames Illustrated, I was inspired to paint some Paras. Actually I started painting one for fun a few days before spotting Cubs' posts on the LAF.

Paras are a fun army to paint... if it weren't for that Denison Smock. Cubs has a great technique involving the use of a glaze medium that I wanted to understand and use out of pure interest. Below you will see two miniatures that were painted with two more or less different techniques. The one on the left has the camouflage "blocked in" and traditionally highlighted, while the one on the right is emulating (poorly) the technique used by the very talented Mr. Cubbin. What intrigued me is the introduction of a bit of chaos and a random element, since you're never 100% how a glaze will apply or dry.

Now is where you come in... I am completely unsure with what technique to proceed. I've added a poll here and I hope you may tell me if you like the Denison Smock on the left or on the right better. You will find the poll directly under the pics.

Looking at these minis I've also realised that I need to rethink the metal parts on the rifles. Looks too light for my taste.

Which Denison Smock realisation do you prefer?

Well this is awkward...

About one and a half year ago I said this blog will shut down in favour of a joint blog with two buddies, but it seems we've underestimated the geographic closeness that our hobby still relies on. After a good amount of months of joint fun, we've decided to call it a day.

Either way... I am officially restarting my own personal blog and returning to the bosom of Blogger. The Doc's Study (let me know if you have experience with a URL change for Blogger pages) will be reactivated starting today and hopefully rearranged a bit during the holidays.

What did you miss in the meantime? Well, first off, I got married. That happened.
Second... not much. I painted a couple of minis and here is a short glimpse on some of them as they were displayed on the joint blog.

• Some samurai for Ronin

• A couple of Perry Desert Rats (the box is fully painted, but I need to take some more pics) plus a Daimler by Warlord photographed in a cheesy way

• My Gorkamorka band (still growing but needs more photos)
  
  
  
   

• And some Bolshevik troops

 

 Now I hope you will allow me to catch my breath before we start this blog back up in the same mind-blowing speed I've been know to operate in. To all the people that remained followers of this blog for all this time... thank you. And welcome to any new readers.

He doesn't look like Oscar!!

Well, I've never won anything like this before! Christopher aka Axebreaker, of LAF and Sweetwater fame and the incredibly talented painter of Bunker Hill, decided to give one of these (it seems currently very... hip) Liebster awards to this blog, describing it using the kindest words. Thank you, Christopher! I feel deeply honoured to be "holding" this golden man-ish thingy holding a trophy.

Now, we must of course talk about the rules of the Liebster Award, because the warehouses are still full and these awards need to be distributed to talented people!

The rules of the award are:
- "Copy and paste" the award on your blog, and talk about it a bit.
- post a link back to the blogger who gave you the award
- Select for the award your five favourite blogs with less than 200 followers, leaving a comment on one of their post to notify them that they have won the award. You need also to list them in your own blog.
- Enjoy the moment, knowing that you have just made someone's day.
- Of course, there is no obligation to pass the award, but it is a good deed really.

Well for me, my choices are clear (regardless of whether or not they have received the award before):

- RJ Painting  - Amazingly talented painter, who sadly photographs his miniatures way to seldom! I absolutely adore his painting style and he's the only painter I've actually bought painted miniatures from.

- The Leutnant's Diary - one of the best blogs around, this talented fella will travel with you from the wild forests of  Arthurian Britain to the exotic Manchuria of 1905! Inspirational every time!


- Pro Gloria miniatures - not so much a painting blog, I really like this guy. He's young, he's talented and now he is venturing into the business of producing miniatures... I like the cut of his jib and he deserves this!

- Comes Britanniae - I thought for a while that this guy was gone completely from the scene, then he posted something again in March and now he is gone again. I like his miniatures so much, that I still go through his old posts when I have the time and feel like it! I hope this will motivate him a bit to become more active.

- Conquering the Lead Mountain - not strictly within the rules, but as I am painting Vikings at the moment; damn the rules! :) This guy already has more than 200 followers, but darn it, he is one of the best around! His Roman-themed miniatures are particularly good and true works of art with very well researched backgrounds!

Now, please don't feel offended if I am not mentioning you here... If I am following your blog, trust me, I am reading every new post with joy and admiration!

Come weekend, come!

No new pictures sadly... Finally though, this weekend I am hoping to swing one or two of my brushes. At the moment I have two STALKERs by Lead Adventure miniatures on my table and I am hoping the weather will play along so I can prime some of my Saxons. After three weeks of painting inactivity, I am really looking forward to it. A part of this inactive time was still very enjoyable though, as I had my girlfriend visit me from England. This week I was hoping to be able to paint an inch or two but I was absolutely snowed under with work including a long train trip yesterday from Frankfurt to Osnabrück and back (made longer by massive train delays due to the bad weather) and a return flight to Bremen tomorrow... Around 16:00 tomorrow I am hoping to be able to declare this week as gone and done and enter the weekend by joining some of my gaming buddies for a game or maybe even a bit of painting.

By the way... I just had a look at the new upcoming releases for a new game universe called Warpath by Mantic and I must say, I was impressed! I am not really considering a Sci-Fi game in the future, but if I were, I'd be very much up for it. Have a look at them here and here.

Till the weekend!

Casualties of... AP...

Painting has come to grinding halt once more due to real life getting in the way. ;) To top that off, some of my Bolshevik sailors will need a repaint soon. After the Tactica in Hamburg, I bought some AP matte varnish after some friends suggested it to me. Because I was unhappy with the matt-ness of the blue with some of the sailors, I decided to give them another coat in March... Since then the varnish started slowly deteriorating. Now, sadly and with great heartache, I have realised that 6 sailors and the MG team, will need a complete repaint. This doesn't fit into my plans at all and I am obviously gutted about it. At the moment I am painting Saxons and some STALKERS by Lead Adventure Miniatures (if anything at all) and I don't really know how to go on. I hate revisiting stuff, but I feel too connected to my little Bolshevik group, that I will have to work on them at some point soon. Fact is, after a ten man group of STALKERS and another 5-10 Saxons, I will have to put everything else on halt and redo the sailors...

Needless to say... this was the last time I've used the AP varnish. For others it works wonders, for me, every single time, it has produced rubbish results. I'll be sticking to my Purity Seal and Daler Rowney.

Stay tuned... I'm sure I'll paint something again soon.

PS: The weirdest thing the AP did, was to throw cracks on the varnish below. Long hairline cracks... What's up with that?

New beginnings... and Flying Lead

One of the reasons I've been so slack lately has been the fact that I was occupied by interviews for a new job. Well, interviews now behind me, I've gotten the job and start tomorrow. Oddly enough that usually means that I will be able to use my free time more effectively, thanks to a structured day, so I'm not in despair yet. :)

As I mentioned, we gave Flying Lead a go last Friday. Although we are not completely through the rules - vehicles are still an unknown to us - they seem to be rather simple and can be quite fun. The opposing forces can meet on a relatively small table (we had a modular piece to play on of only 60x60 cm) and even the forces can be rather small... 4 to 10 miniatures per side should be enough.

Troops are defined by only two characteristics: Quality and Combat. While lower quality is better than higher, the opposite is the case with combat. Quality is used to determine action success or morale while combat is added to a value corresponding to a weapon used and a die roll.

It all sounds very simple and it is. Most of the Ganesha rulebooks are, although Flying Lead seems to have some differences according to Mr. Jones who co-wrote them. I cannot comment on that yet as I haven't read their fantasy rules. Simple is not a bad thing though. The word might create the wrong impression, so maybe "easy" might do the rules more justice. There is the occasional hick-up in the description of some of the rule mechanics, but nothing common sense won't rectify.

What I really really miss are Skill Costs. The book offers some templates of characters; from Mafia thugs to SWAT officers, but if you want to create your own team without the templates, you need to use the Squad Builder on Ganesha's website. If you want to have the costs on a sheet of paper though, you are out of luck. Sadly the calculations in the background are rather complicated at times, so that copying the costs from the builder won't help. On top of that my wish for a cost and calculation table in PDF form were met by a negative answer by the writer of the rules. So Squad Builder it is and will have to be. I don't mind it that much, but an ad-hoc squad creation will need a functioning PC nearby and that restricts the player slightly. Besides that, some of my buddies are not massive PC fans.

Still, the rules are fun, allow for quick games (2 five-man forces games on a 60x60cm table lasted about 45 minutes on average... The longest lasted an hour, the shortest 15 minutes) and, in spite of slight differences, can use elements (ZOMBIEEES!) from other Ganesha rule books (Zombies are in Fear and Faith) to accommodate every desire!

That's it from me on Flying Lead. Never written something on rules before, so if you are missing an important information, let me know.

And as a glorious swan song for this post *ahem*... Here is a WIP on my Saxons. I am posting this more for my benefit to increase pressure! :) The standard is not going to be the main one. Aella has a bull's head according to Cornwell, but why have one skull terrifying your enemies, when you can have two? :)

Will you stop raining?!

No, I haven't moved back to England...

I am heavily annoyed at the weather gods... After my last post, I jumped into painting full force and finished my last two Schutztruppe plus a generic African civilian, who'll probably accompany my baggage train of mules and donkeys (dreading them and not really keen on painting them!). And lo and behold they took two afternoons and since then, for 5 days now, they've been waiting for their Purity Seal... But I will not even give it a try with humidity of over 50%. Today I finally thought it all looked drier outside... 78% my hygrometer said! Well, they're having a laugh!

:D

After painting 11 miniatures in Khaki or Khaki-related colours, I've decided I need some slight change of scenery. So, I'll be returning to the Saxons (I'd like to get to 10 to 15 guys) and there's also a Future project here in Darmstadt. So either back to my 2RCW Copplestone dudes or I might try to paint some Lead Adventure Miniatures by using the dip method. I think this method would suit them down to the ground and give a nice yet grimy result. I'm only going for small forces, so I'll be back to Africa/Pulp soon-ish, I hope.

I am still alive

Dear friends...

in case you are wondering, I am still alive and still trying to paint. Sadly with my new work, my time has shrunk considerably and on top of that I am having varnish problems... again. I managed to actually finish two miniatures these last two days and even gloss coated them. After giving them a Purity Seal coat though, the paint started cracking or nearly dissolving... I didn't know what caused this, until I remembered that I had added some thinner to the gloss coat (Humbrol). I am guessing this is the reason and somehow the Purity Seal re-activates or reacts with the extra thinner. Or the extra thinner prevents the gloss coat to dry in 24 hours and it wasn't dry yet when I painted it. No matter what the reason, I am cursing this cosmic injustice! With the amount of painting I do at the moment, every miniature is worth so much more to me.

*shakes fist into the air and goes to bed*

Good bye, Blighty!

Well, how quickly 3 months fly... I've just arrived back in Germany and I am feeling very off. I guess that happens when you leave the most beautiful, intelligent and kind person in your life behind. I am glad I will be visiting the Tactica show this weekend, because otherwise I'd bang my head against a wall out of frustration at some point. Looking forward to being amongst friends who can distract my troubled mind a wee bit.


Oh well, good bye, Blighty! You were kind to me and I could easily become one of yours. I had a wonderful time, met some great people, made some good friends and had an amazing time with my girl! Hello Deutschland... You don't feel like home at all yet.

Now why would you do that and mess with my plans?

I just had an in-the-flesh look at this chap here, that Warlord have just released

I already own the lovely Harley from when it was sold without a rider, but this is amazing. The picture sadly doesn't do the painting job the right amount of justice. He looks great on the picture but a helluva lot better in the flesh. And the sculpt is great imho and made by a very talented Mr. Flis.

WWII Americans were not in my plans, but he will definitely be in my purchases at the Tactica show.

A bit miffed!

Yesterday I finished what would have been my final miniature painted in England; a Frankish unarmoured warrior by Foundry. I was really pleased with the result, but with all the washing hanging about yesterday, showers just behind us and slightly rainy outside the GW purity seal I use as an intremediary between gloss and matte just clouded on me. It is my mistake really, I was too impatient, but, damn, it's annoying! So that's it from me till after the Tactica show in Hamburg. Pfffff...

The biggest table I've ever seen!

As my time in Nottingham slowly and sadly comes to an end, I was happy to finally participate in a game again. My last game was in Darmstadt in November and I was getting some withdrawal symptoms. As extreme luck and wonderful Nottingham hospitality would have it, the game was hosted by the Perry brothers with Steve from Immortal Miniatures, Peter Denis, Rick  Priestley and Jervis Johnson participating. And that is the night when I saw the biggest table in a home ever... We are used to playing on a 120x180 board in Germany, so imagine my surprise when I saw this!

The table was populated by the brilliantly painted Napoleonic miniatures the Perry Twins own... and some beer bottles (Twas the night I tasted Kronenbourg 1664 and loved it). The rules were a set of house rules that were quite easy and fun. 3 Objectives were placed on the map and the winner would be the one holding most of them or all 3. The first was placed in the house at the front of the picture and thus was taken by the British instantly who came in from the front and left of the table. The French, directed by Le Grand Fromage Alan, with the dirty work being carried out by his underlings, Michael and me, quickly conquered the house on the right at the back of the photo, where the second marker was positioned. The third was placed on the bridge left of that house, right in front of Michael's French and on the right of Steve's British, who came in from the middle of the right side of the table.

Peter's forces came in from the front and occupied the house in the first round. Then they slowly advanced towards Alan's artillery holding the second marker.

 At the same time, Rick's Hanoverians came in from the ridge on the corner of the British entry area.

I came in from the diagonally opposite corner and between Alan's and Michael's forces (you can see part of them on the roads on the lower part of the photograph.):

The game was pretty straightforward. I tried moving past Alan's guys to keep Steve's Rifles from crossing the bridge to our marker. At the same time Rick's and Peter's forces marched towards us slowly but steadily.

Michael took the bridge and second marker as soon as possible and having left it behind him, started disturbing Steve's flanks with mixed results, assisted by Steve's horribly unlucky dice rolls

In the last round, Peter and Rick managed to remove Alan's artillery and reach the house, but sadly time was up... The French kept their two markers, thus winning the game. We were certain though, that a few more rounds would have changed the game considerably in the British favour.

The game was great fun and it was great to be in the company of gracious and kind gentlemen, who made me feel at home! Although I still have another 10 days here, I'd like to thank everyone mentioned here, as well as the chaps (and lady) at Warlord, for making my stay so much more enjoyable than it already was. It was a blast!

2011... Some new year resolutions.

Greetings and happy new year to you all! I hope 2011 started beautifully for you all.


My finger is healing slowly and I can finally swing a brush again. Did some tryouts lasts night and it worked quite well. Time to start painting some of my Christmas presents... Which brings us to the reason of this post.

After reading with interest the posts by Tilman and Christopher and the massive lists of beautiful projects they have planed for 2011 it was time for a think. What would I like to achieve this year? So here is a list of some projects I'd like to struggle with. As I am not a very prolific painter, I am glad that the list is rather small. Especially this year I might struggle for painting time with a new job starting this March.

- Bolshevik Russians. Following my ten man team of Soviet sailors for the RCW, I would really like to paint some more Bolsheviks. My mates all have massive armies, but I want another 10 man team at least. Following that, one or two armoured cars are a must! This project will definitely be one of my main ones of the year. I have deeply fallen in love with the period. Copplestone and Brigade games all the way for the miniatures, Copplestone and Sloppy Jalopy are the intended suppliers of vehicles.

-  Saxon horde. Lt. Hazel's/Jan's  Arthurian skirmish army is growing at a mad pace and so is my admiration for it. A new project was swiftly formed when I was gifted some Saxons this Christmas. The second time Jan has managed to pull my interest into a new period (RCW being the first). Happily Jan and I have been talking about pitching our armies against each other. :) I am happy to have been convinced by his work to delve into the Arthurian world. For this project I plan about 30 man (Stop laughing!) and some pieces of scenery I own by Grand Manner and Hovels. Historicity is not high in my priorities for this project so I am guessing that most miniatures will be in chain-mail. I plan to combine different manufacturers in this army, with Musketeer Miniatures as the main supplier. Apparently Bill T is planing some Arthurians for the near future so I am sure I will combine his Saxons, Goths and some of his Arthurian British, if compatible.

- Zombie Survivors. After seeing the new Fenris Explorers I will most certainly paint one or two of them for some future Zombie/Post-Ap game. After Crisis and viewing the great table by Pardulon a friend is planing a table for something along those lines. :) Even if that never works out, I just love those miniatures and got to paint them. Some Hasslefree might sneak their way into this.

- Boers for Zulu Wars. A friend is planing a pulp-ish Africa campaign in the faraway land of Gumba (I am not certain) and with the new beautiful Empress Boers I am very tempted to go for a small force and maybe combine them with some Northstar British South Africa Company fellows.

And that's it. The goals are set, the finger is mending... Bring it on, 2011!

Merry Christmas... and other injuries!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you've had a good Christmas weekend and you've enjoyed good food and plenty to drink as I have!

As you will have noticed, I am not that productive lately. This is not so much due to the fact that I am not at home for a while, as I have taken my painting tools with me... More hindering has been an injury of my middle finger of my left hand... my painting hand, sadly. The cut was quite severe, going all the way to the bone, but I have been assured by doctors that the tendons seem to be intact, although the finger is still swollen after three weeks and I cannot bend it that much. Obviously all the soft tissue is still swollen and prevents much movement. Still, things are getting better. I can use that hand to write now, which is an improvement, so I am hoping to be able to paint soon.

My dear girlfriend has been most kind to me though by gifting me with the new Dallimore book and some Saxons by GB and Musketeer, after she saw me admire the Arthurian miniatures by Lt. Hazel! Best... girlfriend... ever!

Other than that, I am finding my new surroundings in Nottingham very interesting. I might not be painting, but I am playing a lot of Day of Defeat with interesting adversaries and companions like the Perry brothers, the Warlord team and Alessio Cavatore, who enjoys running around with the entrenching tool! :) Everyone has been so kind to me here! Such an interesting time at the Mecca of Wargames, even if only till February!

That's it for me for now... See you soon with some painted miniatures... I hope!

Songwriting

I want to write a song... It should be to the tune of "Hungry Eyes" (Hey, don't blame me... my girlfriend loves Dirty Dancing) and go something along the lines of:

...sailor eyes
How do I hate you you tiny, beady
sailor eyes...

That's all I got...

Seriously, why are Copplestone eyes just a ball of pewter? What a pain to paint!

Back to work! ;)

The riddle of the varnish solved!

I found out why I have been unhappy with how my matt varnish turned out lately. Some time ago I bought Humbrol Gloss Coat in a bottle. I thought it was the same as the No 35 gloss enamel paint just in a bottle and larger quantity. It seems that is not the case. The bottle seems to hold a simple varnish, while No 35 is an enamel paint (as the Humbrol web page states). I painted a test surface yesterday and varnished it using No 35 for one half of the surface and Gloss Coat for the other half. Today I brushed on my Soluble Matt Varnish by Daler Rowney and the result is revealing. The No 35 side is perfectly matt... the Gloss Coat side still has a sheen to it. There you have it... Back to No 35.

Back from miniature-less limbo

After a disturbing time for work and health, I've finally managed to shake myself back to some kind of miniature related activity. In fact, I've realised that I need the zen-like nature of painting a miniature to feel better. For that I was planing to paint some WWI British in tropical dress by Copplestone miniatures. Yet, I got my hand on an old matchbox 1911 Daimler and started working on that instead. Last night the matte varnish was applied and I am quite pleased with the results. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I still decided to write this post to get me back into the mood for this blog and to let anyone who cares know that I am alive and kicking. :)

I am planing to rectify the absence of pictures tomorrow...

Now, as mentioned, I was planing to start a 10 man group of Copplestone British, only to feel this massive urge to take on my Artizan and BAM British WWII airborne. The Copplestone fellas would be quite important for a small Africa Pulp campaign we are planing... I guess it will be interesting to see if duty will triumph over desire. :) Who knows... I might even enjoy painting the grey-backs (it's grey-backs, right? Or was it blue-backs?).

And there you go... A new post, a new hope. :P

All quiet on the doc front, part 2

Should you have ever followed the excellent blog by David Imrie (Saxon Dog), then you will have seen his amazing results with dipped miniatures. I thought, I'd give it a try as well, as I am always looking for ways to reduce my painting time, while keeping the quality to a nice level. Our dearest Saxon Dog has achieved exactly that... So, paints out, dip out and let's go.

A Musketeer Miniature from their Crusade line had to suffer. The colours I chose are an off white and red, because I am thinking of using this technique for some Napoleonic Highlanders. Therefore I had to experiment with the colours. I am quite pleased with the result... The white looks a bit weird, but all in all, a decent looking fella. Still a bit of work to be done before I can produce such results as Mr. Dog.

The colours for the base were an experiment for some Normans I wanted to paint. I like it... Now if only I could remember what I used... Pfff... I think a middle, chocolatey kinda brown from a German company called Schminke (Mittelbraun) and then highlights with Vallejo Medium Flesh, Desert Yellow and Ivory. Stones would be painted with Medium Flesh and the drybrushed with Ivory.

This dipping technique will now be applied to 10 Tiger Miniatures Greeks for a Back of Beyond Game in two weeks.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention something about the painting time for this guy. 30 Minutes, if you don't take into account the time the Dip takes to dry. I was not very careful with the highlights, which might show a bit, but still... 30 minutes... Not bad.