Tank Hunter

Hopefully most of you have already seen the article on the use of Mig AMMO products which featured my deadly tank hunter!  Now it's time to see the completed Laffly W15CTT in all its glory.

It's proven to be just as potent as I thought it would be, and just as flexible (as in MOBILE!)

I have a number of vehicles from Mad Bob's Miniatures, and I am very happy those are part of my armies.  They fill in many of the gaps in my early war forces.

French and Hungarians are covered very well, as you can see on the website:

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

Ever since I first learned of the Laffly series of trucks by playing my Flames of War French, and have wanted to see what they would look like in 28mm, and how they would play in a game of Bolt Action.  They are my favorites... as the mobility is incredible.  Our terrain typically has roads, and the 48 inch run on a road has gotten the French forces around the board faster than a Formula One Grand Prix!

Most of the terrain will be rolling hills, rivers and forest, so I attempted to match that with the weathering and color choices.  

Given the nature of the rear mounted anti tank gun, I appreciate that second pivot that wheeled vehicles are allowed.  Once I got this vehicle from Mad Bob's, it became my go to choice in the tank slot!

This is just the first in a long line of Laffly vehicles, so get ready for the race to begin!!

March of the Valkyries

You have seen me paint some of the amazing succubus team created by Sukubus studios.  Now I'm looking forward to their even more incredible Valkyrie team!  I was impressed by the concept art, and the actual figures were stunning. 

There are so many aspects to these which make these some of my favorite Blood Bowl figures.  The sculpts have character, action, and so on, but all in one piece!!!

Yes, that's right, every single one of these is a single piece cast.  No pinning or gluing for worry about!  It's hard to believe how few mold lines are created in this process too.  You won't have to deal with many at all!

Like I said, plenty of movement and action to the poses!

They are also very sturdy, perfect for some rough action on the pitch.

You have some support staff as well, with some Bloodweiser Babes and a team physician.  Some guys just won't want to leave that locker room.

The Ulfwereners and Snow Troll are definitely scary enough!  That's probably the most dynamic pose I have seen for a "Big Guy"... or gal.

Here are a few team portaits.  I'm trying to nail down a basing strategy for them, with a focus on some kind of ice theme.  I may experiment with some crackle medium mixed with clear paints.

So stay tuned for the painting stage on these ladies of the North!  It should be very fun.

And a link to their page:

http://www.sukubusstudio.com/valkyries-team

Victory Garden

No army can lose when it has one of the Bombshell Babes in charge ! 

This miniature is being used as an artillery observer  in the BEF for our France 1940 campaigns . 

She won't be signing any armistice deals... she demands unconditional surrender ! 

The red flower tufts are from Hangar 18... it seemed appropriate

Be sure to check out Patrick Keith's fantastic line of miniatures, including the Bombshell Babes and Counterblast!

The Great Horned One

This figure was a test of the Reaper clear paints, to see how much mixing you can do with them and still maintain the magical glazing effect that they have.  As I have mentioned many times about the clear paints... you can thin them down with nothing more than water, but they do not leave behind water marks, and get down in all the lower crevices very efficiently.

Those colors are very highly pigmented, and quite intense.  I wanted to see if I could grey down the colors (by mixing opposites such as red & green, etc.) and still get that translucent application of washes and glazes.

Since the set of clear paints includes red, green, yellow, blue and purple, you can mix any color you need!  Also, combining them with lighter, opaque colors also gives you the same semi-translucent middle tones that I love so much!  It is along the same lines as the previous post about mixing the opaque mud colors with the oil washes.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222308982021?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

More than Mud!

A while back, I posted some initial articles using the Mig AMMO products to paint vehicles in some new and different ways.  Primarily, I discussed the use of opaque, lighter pigments like the Mud that are mixed in with the thinner, transparent washes.

As you can see in the inset image, mixing the Mud with the greenish filters and washes creates a semi opaque middle tone.  This can give you some very interesting effects, and can be used to work into the prior layers of washes wet into wet.

This Laffly Tank Destroyer is made by Mad Bob's Miniatures.

The upper surfaces of the Laffly have been treated with this technique.  Normally, I would have waited a bit for the glazes to dry, and then go back in with 'regular' acrylic paint to lighten things up and create more interest in those mid tones.

However, I like the idea of working this way with oils.  It will not replace my usual method, but having the option is very interesting!

The other added detail is the "light over dark" streaking effect.  This needs to be set up by the application of the original dark washes, in order to make these light streaks show up.

Since all of these are oil pigments, they can be easily modified, feathered, and even removed with white thinner!

This roof panel is a good example of some stippling of these semi-opaque midtones.

With the roof in place, you get a better picture of the overall appearance.  The stippling brush strokes of that middle tone can be used to emphasize the weathering, making the darker chips and rust effects more pronounced.

Hopefully you can see in this image that I have been mixing that lighter opaque color into the brown shades in addition to the green.  This creates more of a grayish tone, which also works well for those light streaks on the dark shadows.

And yes, the Mud paints can also be used for real mud!  I started working on the tires, beginning with the lighter, thinner splashes.  The heavier, thicker and darker Mud was applied over the top.

Since a key weapon like this anti-tank vehicle is very vulnerable, I thought it would have to be camoflauged as much as possible.  Also, this would create a potential ambush situation.  So, I grabbed some of the Hangar 18 leaf foliage and started placing a few pieces on the roof, and scattered leaves elsewhere.

The coloration was too basic on this, so I went in with extra washes to darken certain areas and break up the uniformity of the original colors.

Many thanks to Mad Bob for providing a key weapon system to my Defenders of The Republic!  Stay tuned for images of the finished vehicle soon!

The Acrobat

This very agile Dark Eldar figure was part of my 2013 tournament army at Adepticon . 

These bits of terrain were very handy... not just for the basing, but the display board as well.

I had several of these leaping characters dancing around on higher bases such as this.

There was something irresistible about having a pose like this poised on top of the rubble of an Imperial city.

Wild Magic

I think this character has to be my favorite of the Norsgard figures that I have painted.  So far, I have had a chance to paint four of these fantastic resin figures!

Check out their website here:

http://norsgard.com/news/time-has-come.html

I continues the same style of basing (tree bark) an each of them, which means I have some nice group shots coming up for you!

The previous wulfen characters were a combination of blueish/green greys, while this lady had more of a purple tint.  I even did a few glazes of deep purple in the recess areas.