Colonel Klink... you are a dumkoff!

All right, some pictures of the other Germal special units... this time some Gestapo.

This is what they looked like right before the glazes.

Just after the glazing, using the Black Shade from Vallejo, and the various Reaper liner paints.

Details are added, as well as a bit of mud and dirt.

Ready to fight!

To make the initial layers of paint on the hexes, I had a green, a brown and a black.  I used a beat up craft brush to apply the colors, changing the locations and allowing them to blend together.

OK!  We have the Italian unit, the Waffen SS, and now the Gestapo.

Painted vs unpainted.

This image has the Gestapo, the unpainted, and a unit of regulars that Rich painted.

Another shot with a comparison of the regular next to the specials.

Lots of infantry here!  The Americans are on the right.

A new kind of camo...

The last "Paint and Play" session saw us painting some specialized Axis units.

The original box of Memoir '44 comes with a huge amount of infantry for both sides, but I believe all of the sculpts are the same for each one.  The Germans, for instance, have one pose/uniform.

Since a number of the scenarios call for specialized units (which are normally marked with a counter), we thought that a few of the squads could be painted in different color schemes.

We chose a few, including the Waffen SS, which had some very unique camouflage uniforms.

The colors I would use were quite similar to the set used on the Tiger tanks (see previous post).

After starting out with the tan/brown color, I set out a darker olive green, and a terracotta color.

The green went down first, using a more worn out craft brush.  This would go along way towards establishing the 'pea pattern' so well known for the Waffen SS.

The terracotta shade was painted over the green and tan, just in lesser amounts, using the same craft brush.

The all important lighter dots were painted over these with a more pristine craft brush

Here's what they looked like before some darker glazing and shading.

Let the shading begin!

I had the Vallejo Black Shade, along with a number of Reaper liner paints.  Those make some very effective glazes, particularly on scale as tiny as this.  They offer a lot of control with incredible pigment integrity, no mater how much water you toss in.

They also combine very well with the Black Shade.

Once the darker shading was complete, I went back in to pull out some details on the skin, weapon, and enhance the camo pattern.  For the most part, I painted some smaller light dots of tan and terracotta.

Another look.  I will be adding gravel and flock to these to create more of a setting.

And a preview of what's coming next.  As I was working on these guys, a Gestapo squad was also under way!  Stay tuned for that.

Rich snapped a few images as I was painting.  I use my LED magnifier light for everything, but it REALLY comes in handy when the figure is only 30% the size of my 'normal' figures!!!

A Minx coat ;-)

OK folks, I think some of you have heard that I am painting this very fine sculpt for the upcoming kickstarter from Minx Studios.

To make it even more special, I used one of the fantastic new plinths from Secret Weapon Miniatures to create a decorative base.

Step one was to grab some tin foil!

Then a bit of 'pre-sculpting' with the foil to make sure everything will be in the right position, angle and so on.

Over the top of the tin foil will go some of my favorite sculpting material, particularly for this type of base.  This is Apoxy sculpt.  I have done a number of posts on this material, and how I use it to create a variety of rocky bases.

It has many fantastic properties.  It is incredibly strong, but you can carve and sand it if necessary.

Using a little more water with it will make it more malleable, but it will not disintegrate. 

A thin sheet of the Apoxy sculpt is placed over the tin foil.  This does a few things.  First, it saves a lot of apoxy sculpt!, Second, you can actually use some of the rough texture of the crunched foil to make some very nice rock textures.

It also makes the whole piece a bit lighter, and easier to place the figure as well.

This is what it looks like after pressing it down in a few places with my fingers.

Using a few basic flat sculpting tools, I attempted to create strata in the rock face, as close to the concept art as possible.

These pictures show more refinement in the textures.

The sculpting phase is complete!  Once this sets up, I will add rocks and gravel, and other extras such as skulls, branches, etc.

This is the information on the Kickstarter, which is not far away!!!  Check it out!

Go Hawks.

A true Cylon at last!!!

Well, before we get to that, another set of Reaper minis.  These are some older sculpts, but still very fun!  Obviously, I had a blast with the tattoos!

That, and a wee bit of plaid.

I have some more of these on the way...

Chop chop!

Yes, for the first time in nearly forever, I got to be an actual Cylon.  Drawing standard loyalty cards certainly never worked for me.  I think 22 of 24 loyalty cards over the years were "You are NOT a Cylon" card.  Taking Baltar or Boomer made no difference.

Even taking Cylon leaders didn't work, as my agenda was always to help the Humans survive.

Bummer!

Until now.  Finally, the destruction of the meat bags was my life's goal!

I had some fellow Cylon partners in this noble quest.  Hank played Callie, who put a cap in Baltar's face at one point, and Cathy, who was Chief.

I was campaigning for Callie to run for office against Baltar, but she chose a more direct route to Colonial One :-)

This was the "Cavil/Callie" 'can'paign poster.

The other scratch build with a little bit of painting

Yet another painting work in  progress.  This one is barely 40% painted.  Lots to do on it, but you get the idea!

This was for the beloved Demonhunter army, which was all done in these bloody reds.  You can see the rest of that army in the Demonhunters section, and read all about the Brotherhood of the Sacred Chalice.

As you can see from the original pictures showing the scratch build, I switched these sponsons to bolters from the original lascannons.  That was the whole idea behind the project :-)

The Assault cannons were actually made from plastic wall hangers!

All the rest was done in pink foam, matboard, and sculpey.

More to come as I continue the process on these guys!

Putting a hex on your minis

Or is that minis on a hex?

Anyway, this is the next stage in developing the stands of Memoir '44 miniatures... the infantry in particular.

Just like Warhammer Fantasy, set up can take a while, since each infantry unit has four figures.  When you have the average 7-9 units to pull out of the box each time, you start to get bored placing all those figures.

So, I figured we would do the same thing that I do with my WFB units.  They are all magnetized on the movement trays, which are in turn magnetized to the container.

Thus, set up is little more than pulling the movement tray out of the box and placing it on the board!

Fortunately, I have many scraps of matboard around, and it is the same thickness as the terrain hexes.  I traced them out onto the matboard...

And brought out the sand and gravel!

Time to do some cutting.  The metal ruler and some cork comes in very handy!

We have a pile of hexes, all ready for units.

The magnets are self adhesive, so I went directly to gluing on the rocks.

I had to forgo some of my heavier rocks, due to the tiny size of the figures.

It didn't take long to get the whole batch covered in gravel!

We wanted to test and see what the rocks and sand would look like on the figures themselves...

And it seemed to be very cool!

On future stands, I will add extras such as road signs and other elements.  There will be further posts showing what these look like painted, and with flock, grass, foliage, etc., added.  Stay tuned!!!!