Ninja Archer #8

Here's another of the Red Box Games archers!

These are all part of the massive project that combines figures from several different manufacturers.

I did a step by step of painting these guys, with the first episode here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/time-for-some-paint.html

Getting into the Action!

 

I have recently hinted that Bolt Action is something that you will be seeing more of as the rest of the year progresses. For a variety of reasons, my Bolt Action army will also be French!

 

The beginning is relatively simple, a few units of standard infantry, an artillery piece, and a Souma 35.  It will certainly be interesting to paint that after working on three 15mm Soumas!  Just assembling this bigger version was so strange...

 

I have a few units of ten regular infantry, along with ten Senegalese troops.  There are a few special weapon teams along with some HQ to lead them.  I went with a very simple basing scheme with these figures.

 

How much actual use they will see is unknown at this stage.  I'm still getting over how huge they seem!

 

Painting this Souma is what I look forward to the most.  I hope that I can secure a few of the other vehicles along the way, since I have already painted 15mm versions of all of them.

 

The 28mm Souma truly brought home to me how tiny and awkward these turrets were.  I had to use the crazy tank commander figure to illustrate this point.

 

I thought it might be fun to make some comparison images between what I have already been working on in the tiny 15mm scale.  Shocking to see how big the 75mm artillery piece is when directly compared to one half its size!

 

This was fun as well... comparing a Flames of War infantry stand to the exact same poses in 28mm.  These will make very fun side by side shots!!

 

I leave you with this view for now.  Stay tuned for much more... WIP articles on painting the infantry and tanks, plus terrain!!

Creepy Crawlies

I just realized that I never got a chance to take some pictures of the second unit of swarms which I did for that tournament last month.  I desperately wanted something that could vanguard! 

The Husk and these Swarms were the only things which could do that, so I tried to squeeze in as many as I could.  I thought that if I had these three, I could get a little help in two of the normal scenarios.

While the swarms were very squishy, they were also height zero, which could also make them much easier to hide!

The husk was a converted figure, made from Scorpion bits and even skeletal horses!  I modified the legs of the horses to become the smaller legs of the Husk.

The swarms were Reaper BONES minis.  They were absolutely perfect.

This post shows what they looked like before I got the chance for a few hours of painting:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/02/swarms-and-scavengers.html

One final note:  For those going to Adepticon, I will have a number of the new Mantic figures in the Hobby Lounge with me, and I hope to paint some of them while I'm there!!  Come and join us...

Men and Women of MYSTERY: Adepticon 2016

Here are a few miniatures that you will be seeing at Adepticon this year, in a variety of functions.

The first figure is representing a character played by Michael Caine in a movie that I have never heard of.  I think we will have to try and track this down...

It was described as "A Bridge too far" for the Germans.

The figures are sculpted by a familiar name in the industry.  Anyone who has gotten some Copplestone Casting figs will recognize the style!

I was not familiar with Vikings either, but this next figure is Erik from the first season.

His shield his being cast right now, so that's why it's not in this picture taken last week.

Finally, the Governor's Daughter, who will appear in the 2016 version of the massive Pirate game which will likely be taking place in the open gaming section like last year.  That was an AMAZING event.

All three together.  Be sure to look for all three of these if you will be attending!!

Sailing Away

Let's sail away on the Webway with Asharah's Legions!  I think this was the vehicle I enjoyed the most, since the shape and size of the surfaces were ideal for all kinds of freehand.

Just like all the other units, vehicles critters and the infantry, this was done with regular brushes.  No airbrush involved.  Much of the early work was done with filbert brushes, which are ideal for such tasks.

Its unique rounded chisel shape means that I can work rapidly over large surfaces, quickly enough to be able to wet blend along the way.  The 'feathered' brush strokes can create the same kind of smooth transition one would get with an airbrush.

On this side of the sail, we have the Blood Star...

You can see a bit of the base here, which is more wreckage of the hapless Imperial opponents!

These gently sloping hull surfaces were wonderful.  Getting paint into some areas of the deck was not very easy, and certain sections had to be done separately, but it was all worth it.

There were a group of Grotesques in this, I believe, led by a Haemonculus.

Now for a few close ups, including the controls...

I loved carrying the pattern over the various sections of the hull, even onto the gun shield!

One final view of the rudder and the engine glow. 

Hell On Wheels

Same splinter chapter of Space Wolves, but this time a handy tank!  It was done to illustrate a number of techniques, including using the Vallejo Metal Medium to turn 'regular' paint colors into metallic paints.  That was particularly interesting!

This particular shade of gray offered some challenges, mostly because it resembles the original raw plastic color so closely.  It is so neutral, I had to be very aware of how intense the reds were getting, as they would have become overpowering very easily.

Some of the other aspects of vehicle painting were the weathering, diodes, freehand and more.

I have to say that a Rhino based vehicle is a fairly good subject for such things.  There are a large number of regularly spaced angled surfaces, which makes it a lot easier to show how to paint those transitions.

There are also several areas which are good candidates for showing simple weathering and freehand!

Here's a peek at both of them together.  I have one more set on a different kind of backdrop which really makes the gray stand out, so stay tuned! 

Battleground

Some of you might remember one of the basing articles for the French artillery stands which utilized the pink insulation foam.  The idea was to create some quick building ruins for a few of the guns.

With a little splash of paint, you can really get a good view of how those materials can look in the end!

Again, this is 15mm scale, so keeping things in scale to such tiny figures is much tougher.  It can be difficult enough at 28mm scale!

I just couldn't resist having one of the crew sitting on the limber :-)

One final view... more to come, so stay tuned!