Another round of knotwork

I was able to locate a few more of the Celtic theme paintings.  This is one of the last titles that I painted, called Branwen, Goddess of Love.  It turned out to be much more complicated than the initial sketches, which was very unexpected.

Combining the zoomorphs with the knotwork and so many 'realistically' rendered elements was a challenge.

I have posted this one before, but it works a little better in this context.  Talk about complexity!  By far the most difficult and challenging to execute.  It was like 6 or 7 paintings in one!

This was eventually made into a puzzle, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it!

It is called Spirit of the North.

Another elaborate piece.  Arianrhod.  Just drawing out he zodiac zoomorphs too most of a week.  A LOT of masking to do here... possibly even more than Spirit of the North

This is Bridget, which was the very first Celtic knotwork piece.  The inspiration came from a photo of an ancient coin that had an image of the face, and some simple swans intertwined with the hair.

I painted this designs on numerous drums... it was perfect for a round surface.

The fight for Caen continues

Since the all important town hexes were the main priority for the British units, lots of command cards were going to be used to funnel stuff into that particular fray.  Once again, the Brits hit the Germans in the town hard, claiming a majority of the town.

The dastardly Axis once again counter attack!  Two turns in a row!  A fierce and bloody struggle ensues.

Reinforcements could only be brought up slowly, as the surrounding forests slowed progress...

However, those additional fighters do get into position, and an all out blitz from three sections commences.  Armor is now brought in as support, since the Axis infantry has been pushed from the towns out into the open.

The Germans try desperately to relive pressure on the town's defenders by opening up a new struggle on the left.

The armor arrives, but has very little success in dislodging the Gestapo unit from it's perch just outside of town.  No armor over run, leaving the Shermans in the sights of a fearsome Tiger tank!

One final attempt to retake the town by the Germans fails, as North Africa troops take heavy casualties, but hold fast!

This leaves the German remnants exposed to yet another armored assault, which destroyed the hate Gestapo!

Much blood is shed, but the town is liberated.  For now.

From out of nowhere, the rumble to tank treads heralds the arrival of the reserve Panzer unit.  In their haste, gunners do not take careful aim, and the Shermans survive!

A crack British commando unit is sent on a suicide mission against the artillery unit, which continues to shell the city, killing soldier and civilian alike.

The attack goes sideways, and the survivors are forced to retreat instead of advancing to one more critical objective hex.  Curses!

The combined German firepower of Panzer and rifle is too much for the remains of the brave commandos.  Does this spell doom for the fighters in the town?  Can they hold out, with a Tiger tank looming as shells rain from the sky?

Wait and see!

Celt in Kilt

Kilt time!  Tartan Time!

One more fun Reaper mini.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321444357833?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

The battle for Caen

A while back, Rich and I settled down for another campaign, utilizing some of the new terrain pieces we had been working on.  The Campaign was caled The Battle of Flanking Caen.

Here are a few views of the battlefield prior to the first fight.

Seeing the board from this angle, with all the terrain, looks very daunting!

The British elite troops are in the woods on the right, squaring off against the Waffen SS and their armored support.

More Brits in the woods!  Ready to charge into town!

Here you can see some of the 'generic' forest hexes that we created.  Using these really gives you a sense of difficult terrain ahead!  

Again, if you recall the last terrain making post, we had realized that we needed to fill out all of the hexes with terrain, not just what the units were standing on.  It was all too easy to simply shift a unit from a non terrain hex onto one that only had the original painted versions.

So, many more hexes were created.  All worthwhile, however, to get a view such as this!!!

And this.

As with all campaigns, you have the reserve rolls.  You don't have to use them, especially if the units that are available won't be very helpful.

Rich decided to keep his armor roll, placing it off board in reserve.

I rolled two infantry units.  Knowing that I would have to attack the town of Caen, I felt that some extra infantry units could be very helpful.  They are ideal for city combat.

The trick is, you don't know what cards you are going to have!  So, if you place them all in one section, they might never get to move.

I decided not to take the chance, and put one in each section... despite the temptation to put them in the center, so that I could go after the town.

Also, I knew that I would only have 4 cards to begin, making it even more likely to get the extra units stuck in the back line.

Speaking of assaulting the buildings, tally ho!!!

Uh oh!!  The dastardly Axis had a counter attack!  Will the brave warriors of the Union Jack be able to hold out against such a surprise attack?  Stay tuned for our next episode, as the Batle for Caen rages!!

Out hunting

As we all know, Reaper makes a plethora of D & D ready figures.  It's almost impossible not to find a mini in their vast collection of sculpts that won't match your character.

They range from the dramatic to the somewhat more mundane.  Villagers, rangers, you name it.

Something for everyone.  Including a little skin here and there :-)

Having a variety of different sculptors is also a very unique quality.  I think it keeps things from looking too repetitive.

Minbari in Black

Now here's some old time stuff!  This goes back to the mid/late 90's.  At this point, I was doing a lot of "media" art, as it's called.

I was doing a lot of sci-fi convention art shows at the time.  My specialty in art school was painting portraits, so it seemed natural to try and do images of favorite characters!

Here's a watercolor that I painted of Mira Furlan for a convention.  I was lucky enough to have her sign the original!

Another watercolor.  I don't even remember the name of this Trek movie any more. :-)

 Tribble time!  Pesky varmints! 

And one of my favorites.  Minbari in Black.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  You can also see the airbrush work that I did.  

Yes, back in the late 90's, I had a ton of airbrush equipment.  Very fancy brushes, a nice foot pedal compressor, water traps, you name it.

Sadly, they went unused for so long, that all the hoses disintegrated!  The brushes themselves, which were tempermental enough when they were used every day, were beyond rescue.

Even the compressor was acting funny, so I put what remained in a box and gave up on it.

Looks like it's just me and the "hairy sticks" from now on!

Pacific Rim

The Pacific Theatre set for Memoir '44 is going to offer many opportunities for new game play situations, terrain, unit types, and so on.

What I have been looking forward to is all the painting and modeling experiments I can do!  We have been trying out a lot of new materials... black lava effect from Vallejo, vegetation combinations, and so on.

I will also get a chance to paint new stuff like the Japanese light tanks!  I was fortunate to have some old vegetation around that was actually the right scale to slap on the vehicles.  Very cool!  It allowed me to get the same effect I was seeing in all the reference images I found!