Lannister Supremacy

One of the things that has impressed me very much with the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures is the dynamic and dramatic poses that were achieved.  Normally figures made of this material tend to be more static or blocky.

The pose of this Lannister Captain is very elegant, but he also fits into the unit tray very easily.

The cape flows very well, and tracks the armor and figure quite nicely.  In addition, the weapons are always prefect every single time!  With the filing of a few mould lines, these figures are ready to paint right out of the box.  Also, they are really unbreakable by comparison to resin figures of a similar type.

I put a touch of freehand on the cape, but I may add some more, especially on the interior surface.

He was part of a larger unit of Halberds as you can see here.  I worked on a dozen regular Halberds, including a standard bearer.  That was done as part of my Army Painter series on the Patreon page. 

The series takes you through the entire process, starting with the basing and prepping of the unit, and all the various painting techniques.

This image fills you in on the primary technique involved, which is Sky-Earth Non Metallic Metals.  I have done this on entire units before, but the Lannister figures are perfect for the SE-NMM.

The video series has 5 episodes and about 11 hours of footage.  My Army Painter pledge level is $15, and is available on the Patreon page.  In addition, you can see all of the other videos created, including basing, large creatures, and more!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Operation Sting

Earlier this month, I had a chance to participate in my first full fledged Bolt Action tournament, good old Operation Sting! Brent and Seamus worked so hard to make the event happen, as did many of the other participants.

We, like many others, brought terrain tables.  That made for some very nice looking tables, and a great variety.  I think that was my favorite part, having many different themes to play on!

As you know, I brought the Fallschirmjager army for Monte Cassino.  We had to make an objective marker, and you can see mine in the courtyard.  This was sculpted from scratch to match the Madonna statue which stood there.

That gave me just enough room to place some of the other units, including the weapon teams.

I was very happy at how the upper level of the broken monastery worked out, and I could easily place all the figures inside.  Better yet, it will be a fantastic terrain piece when it comes to playing games in this theatre.

I tried to make distinct areas to place my various units for a few reasons.  First was appearance of course, but also to help me figure out which squad was which!  I had no time whatsoever to practice or play test with this army in advance.

In effect, I was being handed a brand new army on the spot, and I was going to have to learn this army in the crucible of a 5 game tournament!

Each unit had its own designated spot, and I knew which one it was by that location.

I like this view, because so many of my reference pictures were taken from this angle.  Since I had a bit more room (and light!) for photos at the tournament, I thought I could get you some fun new views of the board that were not possible as it was being constructed.

When I placed order dice on the board Friday night before the tournament, I was not entirely certain that I would have a painted unit to match it!

If you have not seen the making of the display board, that is detailed in a number of step by step tutorial posts:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/10/monte-cassino-display-board-phase-1.html

I was very glad that I utilized the openings that were in the original pieces of scrap foam... making them arch support where the hillside had been blasted away.

One thing I wanted for this overall piece was "openness".  That is, I could get down to this angle and be able to see all the way through it.  This is a distinct property of ruins such as these, and I wanted to capture that.

If you recall the method I used to create these broken floors, and how easy that was... these images made me even more happy!  Here's a peek at the blog post explaining them:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/11/monte-cassino-part-3.html

I was so thrilled to see how the figures looked in the broken floor rubble!  Just as I designed, they could stand on top of the rubble without tipping over.  This bodes well for all the urban ruins that I want to create for Stalingrad, Berlin, Budapest, etc.

I will be doing another post where I show the photos I was able to take during the games.  My result was far beyond anything I could have imagined heading into this event, so stay tuned!!!

A Brand new Line: Creature Caster Paints!!

Just a few days ago, I was able to try out the brand new paint line from Slow Fuse Gaming and Creature Caster!  It has been a very long time since I tried out a new set of paints, so this was going to be interesting.

I grabbed a Mierce Miniatures monster, because I had recently painted one with my usual Reaper and Secret Weapon paints.  This way, I could see how well I could achieve a similar color scheme, and if I could execute the process in a similar manner.

I had the same yellowish/gray Stynlrez primer on the surface, and I set out to start doing my usual Shaded Basecoat/glazing steps.  As these have very heavily sculpted fur, I wanted to see if the paints could get down into those nooks and crannies... that does not always happen with other paints, unless I am using oils!

These bottles are also a bit different.  I have always hated the standard dropper bottles, as they perpetually clog, or the nozzle stays inside the cap and I end up with a giant spill of paint on my palette.  These work a bit more like elmer's glue containers.  You twist the top nozzle and squeeze the container.

They are a bit on the stiff side, so keep that in mind.  It does help prevent you from putting out too much on the palette though.

You can see the results were quite nice.  Great coverage, and everything dried very matte.  I was able to do a lot of glazing, but also work in more opaque layers.

At the moment, there are 36 colors, including 5 metallics. More are on the way as well!

As I mentioned before, this project has been in the works for many months, and every detail has been gone over many times.  I don't want to think about how many container supply websites that were visited.

New paints are not exactly a priority item on my list of things that I need, so these needed to make an impression on me from the start.  

I filmed a 1 hour live testing session for the patrons on my Patreon Page, so that they could see these in use for the very first time.  I was even taking the seals off the containers on camera, so that everyone knew I had not touched them before.

More things are being painted, including some Creature Caster figures as I put these paints through very intense testing.  They must be able to do all the things which my other paints can do very well right away... and so far it looks great!

Here's a link for you to the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Man The Wall!!

I am really excited about painting the Knight's Watch army for the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures game!  After making 2 winter armies for Bolt Action, I have plenty of possible techniques and materials at hand.

This example of the Scorpion Bolt thrower combines many of those materials and techniques to create the mud, melted snow, and even the icicles!

There are products from Secret Weapon Miniatures, Woodland Scenics, Mig Ammo, and more.  I really wanted to have that slushy snow/mud mix where the crew have been moving around, with the less trampled snow around the edges.  Finally, the icicles were just too much to resist!

I already have a few winter themed tutorial videos on my facebook page and the blog:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212572308356784/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

These overhead views really show the Mig Ammo mud effects mixed with the Secret Weapon Crushed Glass method, and how they work together.  This is something I did quite a bit on my Winter Soviets... and now I will be bringing Winter to The Wall :-)

Most of the Knight's Watch painting tutorials will be for my patrons, both at the $5 entry level and much more at the $15 Army Painting level.  That is where I take you through the entire process of painting a unit, from initial basing to the finished painting (usually about 5 episodes and 10-12 hours of videos!).

The first unit I will tackle are the Ranger Hunters, but I will also be doing a video on the second Scorpion and crew!

Here is a link to the page... right now the final episode in the Lannister Halberds series is in production!  You can Wear the Black too!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Launch Angle

While the challenge of matching the basing of the weapon teams to the display board was fun, it definitely presented a challenge.  For those of you who have seen the Monte Cassino display board, you know that the shattered arches were a big part of it.

However, they did present a great opportunity to do some dramatic basing!  All the little nooks and crannies allowed me to create additional story telling moments, with ammo cases and other items scattered about.

I used Apoxy Sculpt to make the sandbags, which I thought might make the position look that much stronger.  The arches and most of the broken marble/stone were created using baked Sculpey clay.  The advantage of the baked Sculpey is the ability to break and carve it after it has been baked.

I have a number of basing videos available to my patrons right now, including a series on working with the Sculpey clay!

More to come on the individual infantry, and how they were based, so stay tuned!

A link to the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Lannister Charge!

While I have enjoyed all the figures in the Song of Ice and Fire game, the cavalry units in particular really appeal to me .  I love cavalry forces, as you can probably tell by my Lord of the Rings armies!

The Lannister cavalry is particularly ornate, and I have some very fun plans for the painting on these.  Of course, it all starts with basing, and I went through the same process on this movement tray as I did with previous units.

Here's a peek at how the process works.  This is something that I include in every Army Painter video series, including the most recent Series 4 on the Lannister Halberds:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/10/ground-attack.html

After a few rounds of Badger Stynlrez primer, they are all set for painting!!

I will be making some tutorial videos for the Lannister cavalry as well, since there's going to be a lot of dramatic freehand on the barding, blankets and cloaks.

Those will be available to the members of my Patreon Page, some for as little as a $5 pledge each month... along with all the other tutorial videos!  Check that out here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Up and at 'em!!

I have been waiting for a while to utilize my Rubicon Sdk 250 Alt transports, and the Monte Cassino army seemed to be a perfect time!

The idea was to have a force that seemed to be somewhat cobbled together and ad hoc, taking advantage of the bombardment of the monastery. 

This was painted entirely with brushes, as I didn't have the time to do the usual airbrush techniques.  It also had to be acrylics so that it would be dry in time!  That meant I put my Secret Weapon paints to good use.

Another reason I had such dramatic differences in transport types and camo patterns was to be able to tell one unit from another!  As you recall, there was no playtesting of this army whatsoever before the event.  I had no idea if I was even going to have units to match order dice the night before dice were gonna roll!

I tried to take advantage of the fact that by this stage of the war, may different uniforms were being warn, and this gave me a chance to secretly "color code" units.  The side benefits were that I had more fun painting that variety, and they looked more interesting.

I have done a number of painting videos on Bolt Action infantry and vehicles.  Here's an example of one of my Patreon videos, from the "Army Painter" series two.  In this set of 5 videos, I tackled every phase of basing and painting my Winter Soviets.  

Each video is about 2 to 2.5 hours long, and it really covers the process and planning involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsU7M9EIFnc

I will be making more Army Painter series, especially on my upcoming Desert Armies!  I have Italians, DAK, British 8th, Free French, and even Vichy.

Here's a link to the Patreon Page.  The Army Painter level is $15, and it will give you access to all previous series, along with other single episodes covering other effects:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel