Ingrid

Ingrid is one of two very nasty sisters from Siren Miniatures.  They are also my two favorite figures from the fantastic Siren line!  

You can see more of those Siren figures here:

http://sirenminiatures.com/

I tried to have some variations on both the leather of the figure, and on the base surface, positioning greens next to subdued warm tans and even purple.  The purple was incorporated to bring in the bright red hair, as the same color was used to shade the darkest portions of the hair.

This is a sneaky way to tie colors together without it being too obvious.  I learned early on in my 2D art career that all colors must have some kind of link to each other.  Should one be too out of place, it will cause the viewer some discomfort to look at, which is never good!

You can also see that I used one of my recently created Celtic ruins bases made with the Green Stuff World texture rollers!  Now that I am finally getting a chance to paint some of these, and put figures on them, I love them even more!

I will always have fun carving my own sculpey bases, but now I have the ability to make very intricate designs with a variety of themes in no time at all!

These ground level views show you a little bit of the reflected colors that I attempted to place on the white mask and the ribbons flowing from it.  There are hints of red along the sides of each, which helps to tie those very light colors into the rest of the figure, which has a lot of darker tones or highly saturated hues.

Garden Variety

This classic Reaper sculpt by Sandra Garrity was yet another opportunity to see what I could do in a limited space with a variety of foliage products.

I have a few flower sets from Hangar 18, and some tufts from Gamer's Grass.  Not only were the flowers different colors, but they were also different heights, which was especially useful!

I tried to have those flowers play off the colors of the miniature, using the blueish purple as a contrast to the golden flowers and bright green tufts.  The red flowers were designed to tie in the color of the hair down to the base itself.

While this is essentially a simple method of basing, some strategic placements and color choices created something substantial and interesting to look at!  I like to have as many types of flock, tufts, leaves and other foliage products on hand as possible.

That presents me with a lot of options, no matter what kind of figure I am basing, or the color scheme, etc.

Large Caliber

If there's one way to keep the Bosch out of France, it will be with heavy duty firepower!  In this case, we have the scratch built 105mm French Medium Howitzer.  

The four crew members were taken from the French set on the Warlord store.  I fashioned the gun from plasticard and polystyrene tubing.

Here's what it looked like as it was being constructed, in step by step form!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/05/medium-sized.html

Now for a few shots of the completed scratch build:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-bigger-gun.html

I modeled this after the Flames of War version.  The wheel and stabilizer assembly was designed to provide additional protection for the crew, as the wheel swing out along with the stabilizer bars.

This artillery piece gave me many opportunities for weathering effects, since the gun shield and wheels were so heavy and solid.  I'm thinking that my opponent should need a +7 anti tank gun to get to that crew! :-)

The views from above show how I placed the crew.  It was a real challenge to get them all in that space, but not so crowded that it would look cramped.  I hope that you can see a hint of the shells which were placed at the feet of the loader.

The ground level views were really rewarding, as it seemed more like a gun, and not a miniature.  I look forward to these types of views on an actual table, with some hapless foe locked in its sights.

I mentioned earlier that I modeled this after the Flames of War French 105mm.  It was very handy for scale, since I had already done the 75mm Howitzer in both scales!

One last set of views for you.  Yes, I will certainly be sculpting the huge 155mm Heavy Howitzer, so stay tuned!!!

Ancient Power

And yes, I do mean ancient!  This guy has probably been out of print for many years.  I remember when we first started painting minis, you could find small boxes containing 8 miniatures.  There were a few different sets, and one of them had a variety of Chaos type characters in them.

This set had a few sorcerers, Chaos warriors, a few Beastmen... and possibly a few Skaven.  I also remember an "Adventurers" box, and a space marine one as well.

I thought it would be fun to see something this old painted up in the usual current techniques, and on a nice base.

It was a very different feel to paint one of these old one piece plastics, especially with all of the super elaborate resin kits of today!

Still, going back in time like this to a much older style of figure is a great exercise.  In some ways, it makes me more aware of the progress and advancement we have seen in sculpting, especially in recent years!

It's incredible to think of how this has all progressed with the advent of new sculpting and casting technologies.

Spell binding

This Dark Sword miniature has been around for a little while, but it's every bit as nice as all the new releases.

Dark Sword has also maintained more of a "true scale" to their sculpts, which is always a welcome change from the more frequent Heroic scale.  It can make painting certain elements more of a challenge, such as the hands, but that added touch of realism has rewards as well.

There is also a lot of precision in the sculpting of the faces and hair, which is much appreciated by me!  Those little things matter even more when you paint as many figures as I do on a regular basis!

One last set of images.  I have some newer Dark Sword releases on the way, so stay tuned as always!

A new Realm of Basing

The other day I finally got a chance to work with some of the other sheets of sculpey that I had pressed with the Green Stuff World Texture rollers.  I have already done a few articles on these, but this time I have the new Mosaic tile texture!!

To keep things relatively simple, I am staying with the tried and true cork and sculpey sheet combo.  I begin with breaking up a typical sheet of thin cork, which will support the sculpey.  

As you can see, there are only overhangs in certain spots.  This is done for aesthetic purposes, but also practical gaming concerns.  When I only have a few areas that stick out, it means that figures can still get into base to base contact if necessary.

That extra bit of cork also means that I can show off a little more texture from the sculpey sheets too... not to mention any figure that also has a wider footprint.

The sheets are broken up into smaller pieces, roughly the shape of the cork.  From there, I take a clippers to it and snip off some of the overhang.  An exacto knife can be used to make some broken texture to the edges.

While I love the Celtic texture... I was itching to try the mosaic tile!  I have my own technique for painting these, but having the texture sheets like these will make multibasing armies a lot easier.

Look at the edges of these two bases.  You can see how a little bit of broken texture was carved from the edges with that exacto knife.

The pieces of sculpey are glued in place, and now they are ready for the final stage, which is adding the gravel and sand.

I never toss any of my smaller chunks, as they can be used to fill in splits in the sheets like the base on the left.  They can also be set off to the side of the main piece, to look like a section has broken off, etc.

A collection of mosaic bases ready for sand and gravel too!

If you don't want to have the layer of cork underneath, you can simply make the sculpey sheet thicker.  The one on the right is about twice as thick as the sheet I rolled on the left.

In addition, adding pieces of statuary is one more wonderful element that can be added to these mosaic style bases.

The entire batch has set up, and now the big finish...

A bit of elmer's glue will be used to secure the sand and gravel to the edges.  I have heavy gravel, light, and sand.

The heaviest gravel is placed first, followed by the medium, and then finally the sand.  Not only does this add a touch of realism to these floors, but it strengthens them as well.

 I make sure to glue the gravel and sand to the underside of any 'overhangs', where the sculpey sheet is not directly supported by the cork.

The extra firm grey sculpey is a lot stronger than the regular white sculpey, but it is always best to provide that extra bit of strength.

A new set of bases complete, and ready for painting!!!!

Stay tuned for more on the painting... and then maybe we will put minis on them!!

The Hero

While I have been working on all my standard French infantry figures, the Senegalese are among the most important.  As we have now played a few games, it has become clear that you need at least one unit that can get into a building and dig out some enemy buggers.

This is one of the few elite options for doing so.  Right now I only have a standard unit of ten, but it would be nice to have the option of larger units or to have two of them.

The uniforms are very similar to the usual French infantry overcoat, but the backpack and other gear are a little different.

It might be fun to get some of the Perry Brothers desert theme WW1 versions and try those out!

So here we have the second Senegalese completed!  The rest are in progress, and you will be seeing them all right here... stay tuned!