Lavender Chieftan

I was not really sure how I would approach this figure, even when I started painting it.  In fact, the overall color scheme changed more than once during the process!  That is a huge advantage in the Shaded Basecoat technique, where all you are doing it blocking in lights and darks as rapidly as possible.

A side advantage of this approach is that you don't have hours of time invested in painting any one part of the figure in those early stages, so completely changing the colors is not a hassle, and you feel more free to make the changes needed.

While we can usually guess what color scheme might work best on a figure before we start painting it, I think that everyone runs across a few that end up not working as the original plan intended.  Being able to quickly adjust that on the fly, and experiment right there on the figure itself can be very handy!

Since a lot of the shading is done through glazing and tinting, you won't be piling up lots of paint and losing details.  Most of the time it is about shifting color of some areas... but I have switched colors entirely, as in going from a "white" wolf to one that was essentially black :-)

Dead Eye Jane

This is the second Bombshell sculpt by Patrick Keith that was done as an Adepticon special release.

I will be using it in a special class for the Geek Nation Tours at Adepticon next year.

As usual, the idea is to show the Shaded Basecoat technique, and the glazing techniques too.  This will help to 'free up' your painting, not worrying about endless layers of progressively lighter paint or very specific 'color formulas'.  The concept is to simplify your palette down to 5-7 colors, so that you don't have to perpetually hunt down just the right color for a highlight or mid tone.

You can get a nice view of that in this blog post.  Of course, if you want to see these techniques for yourself, I have them available through my Painting Pyramid video series, which is available on USB drives!  Each episode is 100 minutes long, and it takes you from primer to painted miniature.

There are 53 different episodes to choose from, with basing, color theory, skin tones, metals, and even terrain videos!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/using-shaded-basecoat-technique-to.html

The Ancient Past

Here's another one of those very old GW minis, long out of print.  It was a practice piece that I used as a spot demo, and then finished off later.  The idea was to show how the shaded basecoat and glazing technique could still be utilized on something even as ancient as this!

Of course, these 20-25 year old pieces don't have the kind of smooth, well defined lines of toady's minis, so it is very challenging.  Also, there is an additional challenge of attempting to break up these blockier shapes.  This means some fancy color work to try an add extra depth and dimension to the sculpt by making some interesting patterns in the mid tones and darker tones.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222593499218?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Czech Marks

We "Czech off" one more early war vehicle for the German army with the Panzer 35T, manufactured in Czechoslovakia.  This was considered a medium tank at the time, but it soon was passed by the German Panzer series.

You've already seen the 38T, which is another Czech design.  That chassis would continue as a self propelled gun, but this kind of wheel assembly would only live on in Hungarian and Italian tank designs.

I have another blog post that dives into the painting of this vehicle, so here's a link for you!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2017/07/top-secret.html

The 35 and 38 series comprised a large portion of the German tank forces during the Sickle Stroke advance into the Ardennes, which was a big surprise to the original German player in our group!  In fact, Ronmel himself rode atop a 38T.

While these are not very powerful, you do have the option of picking veteran tanks in both Czech designs.  The points cost is also lower than a Panzer 3 or 4.  This design has proven itself to be quite capable in games, bringing just enough firepower without presenting a large target, which the Panzer 4 would do.

I will shoot some group images of what I have thus far so that you can get a sense of the size comparison.

The Big Guns

This is one of two special sculpts by Patrick Keith for the folks of Geek Nation Tours.

I will be showing the people who are part of the Adepticon tour package a special demo on painting this with my Shaded Basecoat and glazing methods.

The general idea is to give you some flavor in how those techniques work, and how it makes your life a lot easier when it comes to getting lots of figures painted to a high degree at once.

Be sure to check out more of Patrick's amazing work on the Bombshell Miniatures website!!

More details on the Adepticon class to come, so stay tuned...

Heavy Armor

This Reaper figure posed a major challenge in figuring out where I might place emphasis on the lights, darks and colors of the metal surfaces.  I had to try and reflect colors where I could, such as the ground and the robe.

The sections of armor were relatively small and broken up, which meant that the usual effects had to be modified to work in these confined spaces.  I had to rely even more on unusual color placements, especially the purples and greens!

I had thought of doing some freehand on the cloak and shield, but it seemed to be wise to take a pass on those areas, and give the viewer a place to rest their eyes!

The armor is not 'gray' in any area at all.  It is various shades of blue, purple, green, tan, and even reddish pink.  That helped to 'force' the viewer to see potentially shiny metal everywhere :-)

Conversion Corner

When we first started to play Bolt Action, the Axis players were getting confused about the Laffly transports and the two pintle mounted MMG's they carried.  Lines of sight were trickier then in first edition, so to prevent more 'conversations', I thought I would try to put the guns on the vehicle.

I found some extra bits from the British sprues, and mounted them on a piece of poylstyrene tubing.  At that time, it mattered if there was a group of passengers on the transport, so each gun not only swiveled, it could also be removed.

It took a while to determine where these guns should be placed, since the bast majority of photos and drawings are of the WTC 15 Tank Hunter, which showed it on the roof of the cab.  The best locations seemed to be where I have them.

I took a Warlord metal French figure that was loading a gun, and carved away that rifle and the hands.  Using hands from the British sprue, I attempted to make it seem as if he was about to grab the MMG.

The Laffly truck is from Mad Bob's Miniatures, by the way.

Here's the same set with the initial layers of paint, prior to glazing.  It gives you a better sense of how this will all look!

Here's the Mad Bob's Miniatures site, and all the fun stuff that's available!

http://www.madbobminiatures.co.uk/shop/4587330661/France