Things that go bang in the night.

Well I managed to get the guns ready for today's game and with everything all ready to take I am able to do a quick post. So here are the guns and crews made by Baccus.

The guns seem huge compared to all the previous ones I have used. These are the old style guns rather than the new style all in one casts. As usual only a small amount of flash required cleaning off the figures and the guns. I know that Baccus pride themselves in the cleanness of their casts so it was a bit of a surprise that the gap between the trails is filled in rather than open. I did cut the lead out of one of the guns but felt it was rather obvious I had done so. OK if I was to do a proper job on it I could have made it good but time was not on my side. The other three I left as was and this turned out to be the right decision. I have to say though that I really do like the size of them and they paint up well. The crews also have plenty of detail and were fun and fast to paint.

 

Here is a shot from above to give you an idea of the size, these are 30x30 bases. I wanted the crews to be in different positions on the bases to give an idea of movement. I mixed up the actual figure positions were possible so the commander is sometimes at the back and other times towards the front of the base. A couple of points before I move on. Baccus supply an extra wheel in every pack, this is great in case of a miss cast or damage during assembly. It also means you can add them to bases as battle furniture. Next up is the curious tab of lead under the gun that holds the gun up and keeps the weight off the wheels (I assume over a long period the guns wheels are susceptible to bending or breaking at the axle. I cut mine off but on the next model I will glue it together and check how easy it is to see.

 

Not that I just did the guns, I also ran up a few limbers for them but these are Irregular Miniatures from way way  back. The size difference is striking but they will do for today's game and I will just have to pick up some Baccus ones at the weekend along with my order.

 

 

Irregular limbers and crews (guns too) may well be small but they look fairly good.I like the way the rider at the back has his right hand resting on the horses rear, seems more natural. It was only as I was scanning images of crews that I noticed the limber crews seem to have a lighter jacket colour than the gunners themselves. So I did these a shade brighter. Even though I like them the sculpting quality difference is very obvious. On the one hand it's not fair to compare as the age difference between original sculps is a good number of years but as the Irregular are still sold today you have to compare.

 

Talking of Irregular, I had these squares hanging round for years. Our rules callow squares to be formed and markers used to show they are in square. These are great as tokens to be put adjacent to the unit, but I wanted them to look the part so a few days ago I painted them up. These are not up to standard but they are just markers. I have some already done as Prussian and yet more that need to be painted up which I will do at some point. I may check out Irregular to see if they still have them and are still good enough moulds to make them worth getting. These may well get some use today.

 

 

As I mentioned up thread, the Baccus guns are huge. Below is a pic of H&R, Irregular and Baccus guns. Some of these may represent smaller guns (I am not sure which size gun the Baccus one is that comes with the starter army). Like the figures themselves we have had scale creep and I hope I remember to ask Peter on Sunday if he has increased the scale or are his figures true 6mm. I seem to remember him saying his were slightly over and of course Adler are slightly larger still.

Here we have the guns from the front and to be fair all three have a nice look about them. The H&R even looks elegant.

 

 

The side on view is even more telling. Also note that the guns step backwards, the Baccus is furthest back but still loams large over the other two. Only the Irregular fails to have open spokes though that gun at least has an open trail. Overall I would take the Baccus guns over the others any time and will be steadily replacing the current crop as I go on.

Busy Few Days

 

 

Well I've had a couple of busy days, a full day of playing ASL (reported on my other blog) just under ten hours on just the one scenario but we had plenty of fun. Yesterday was a completely different battle. That of the shoe shop, two pairs of kids shoes later and I guess you could say I lost that one. In an attempt to relax last night I decided to sort out my army for the game I have planned with Barry only to find I am one French Artillery piece short. So last night saw me starting four guns, crews and limbers (well it's as quick to do four as one right? Today if it stays nice we are off out for the day so what I don't get done before we go gets finished tonight and early tomorrow.

 

So Friday will be a game (testing the Napoleonic rules) Saturday we hope to get to Rufford park for their annual 1940's Living History Weekend. If you follow the link you will be rather underwhelmed on the effort to push this event but it is a very popular and successful event which I will supply pics of if we get there. Sunday is Partizan where I will be picking up a reasonable sized order from Baccus. I was hoping that Total Battle Miniatures would be there but they are not so I will look at the options but I expect I will be mail ordering some from these guys even if I do buy some at the show. 

 

Talking of the show I was looking at the list of Display games and by the looks it's all 28mm this year. Is it because of the poor light? I have no issues with 28mm but every game? Thinking about it though, it seems that we now get very little choice between 6mm and 28mm at shows these days. Where have all the 15mm displays gone (ignoring FOW for a second) it's almost as if 15mm has become FOW territory. This is the point I get corrected by the lot of you LOL.

 

So expect a bit of a rush of posts once I recover from so much walking, talking and well being human. Even after that I don't stop as I have a game of FoG:A against Matt on Wednesday so I need to brush upon the rules as this game could be a major factor on his re-basing his three armies! That's not counting two to three games of ASL I will have in between, I just feel tired just thinking about it!

What to do?

I blame Fran and Ray, no this is not another 20 questions post, rather it is a bit more thinking AFTER those questions or rather one of the questions. That being "If Money was no object what would your next project be?" Well money is an object so feet back in reality space and time I was thinking where am I in current projects and where to go from there. Well I seem to be heading to an end on a number of projects.

 

20mm Numidian, I need to paint up a few Cavalry units, some elephants and a few skirmish units and that project is finished and I have all the figures for this, I just need to paint them.

 

15mm Persian Army. Just need to buy two packs of cavalry and then paint up the six packs I would then have and they are done unless I add far less useful units to the army.

 

15mm Macedonian armies. Yes I am thinking of the various armies I can generate from a core force. Not much more to buy, this will go on for years with all the additions I can go for but the vast majority is already owned and most is painted.

 

15mm Seleucid Army. Got just about all the figures I could need, most can be taken from the army above but I also have them in their own right. This army is steadily being painted alongside the Macedonian and  already have the core required to play painted. I think it will have the best part finished before Summer of next year.

 

15mm Late Roman Army. This is the biggest project that will need a good proportion of figures adding to given FoG's taste for big armies. This I thought would be well under way within the next three months but I think it won't see any heavy work till into next year. That's not to say it won't be started but serious progress will wait for me to buy more units for it. Before I buy them or get into painting strongly I want to clear up most of my 15mm waiting for the brush. All that said I am really looking forward to getting this army started.

 

6mm French Napoleonic. I recently added the desire to send this army into Iberia so this means a bunch of units being painted up as French allies. These figures and flags have already been ordered from Baccus. This should be a slight diversion to my original plan of painting up the units for the 1812 Russian war. Yes I also need the Spanish buildings which will be bought soon but still I really want to go with Russia. The problem is that we don't have a Russian army to fight at the moment.

 

6mm ECW. This is a new project for me, but it's a fairly small project and should get cracking with it and as long as Lee can get units painted up to face them I can see this project getting finished early next year (famous last words).

 

Looking back at that list I wonder why I would want to start a new project but well this is a condition so many of us suffer from. But possible themes are

 

The Blood Bowl/Tron type of game now on Kickstarter. I am not a fan of the figures, the offer does not look that good and a lack of probable opponents (I just don't see many of my regular opponents wanting to play it, even if I supply everything).

 

Another 15mm Army. I would still like to go Biblical at some point but until I am down to one army under the brush I will not go down this route. Now if another period was to ring my bell then I would be prepared to add that to the working list.

 

Another 20mm Impetus army. Doubtful, I think Impetus is OK but two things are saying no to going that way. As a secondary gaming rule set it only commands one army (Barry has a good number as well making the need to do another low) but above all it's space. 20mm take up a hell of a lot of space and I can use it for other stuff instead.

 

6mm ECW. What you already are doing that! Well I am doing the Royalist but I may do the New Model IF Lee or someone else does not grab it.

 

6mm Russian Naps. I more than hinted at this. I think this is most likely next army. It's one of the cheaper options until you consider the number of units needed but at least I can build it a bit at a time.

 

6mm Austrian Naps. This would happen if Lee went ahead and built the Russians en mass. If he did this I think I would start these almost straight away with the idea of almost cornering the whole period (Lee has already stated an interest in the Spanish) In honesty I have to say that I think this will probably be a future army after the Russians are well into a gameable situation. 

 

The good news is that if I am gong so far down the road with 6mm then I would also have to keep going with plenty of 15mm to save my eyes and sanity. I am already committed to the need for a Daylight Tube rig which my Mother offered to fund so at least help is on it's way.

Back to the 6mm French

I know I said no more 6mm for a while but I wanted to try out the Army Painter Blue undercoat with a few tricks and of course the new detail brushes.

So armed with a can of spray and 5 regiments all ready to go, how could I resist? This was a fairly quick job for me. Three sessions all told though one was a long one but as you ma notice from above I added a bit more detail with blanket rolls and straps added rather than painted brown along with the back pack. Simple stages really. Spray blue, give a blue wash and dry brush Vallejo Dark Blue over the uniform. As these guys are lights no need to paint the trousers. Blobs for face and hands then the cross belts in white with the 10/0 brush. Next the black for the Shakos and cartridge box then the red facings. Brown backpack then a mix of blue grey and andrea blue (next time go darker blue) for the bedroll. Ivory white stripes for the backpack straps and the usual musket and bayonet painting. Pom Poms were last up as always before getting a Nut Brown ink wsh and then the usual basing. The torrential rain yesterday is a big part of how I got these finished as no way was I going out!

 

All five together. These will probably get used on Friday as I have a game with Barry booked and this will be in sunny Spain testing the rules with the changes and smaller forces.

 

I mixed it up with another two regiments in line but the other three in column. I have also added a few dead French by cutting some of the skirmish figures I have off their bases and removing their muskets for a bit more interest for the bases. I plan to do more of this sort of thing to the bases in future.

 

 

OK I will risk a close up shot hoping it does not reveal too many mistakes. The flags are a bit of a pain to get them right but it is worth persevering. I am running out so must get another pack at Partizan.

 

 

Another sot from the rear. I hope this is just the way I see them when playing, no routing please, were French. I still have yet to paint up any Guard as I refuse to do these until I have a good supply of more normal units. I can now field about 70+ units per side though I am thinking of selling all the Irregular French at some point s all the foot match up. I will replace the horse for sure as the Irregular are too small. So I am now out of French Infantry to paint, well at least till next Sunday when I pick up a few more which will probably be the last till they get re-sculptured later in the year.



370 Years Ago Today........

John Colepeper 1st Baron Colepeper

 

25th August 1642. Only three days after raising his Standard and declaring war on Parliament the King sent Sir John Colepeper (also spelt Culpepper) to Parliament with an offer to negotiate a peace. This was typical of Charles ever wavering and changing of mind. The Lords allowed the presentation of the proposal only forcing Colepepper and Southampton to deliver the request at the bar rather than from heir seats. The Commons on the other hand came close to expelling them from their places within Parliament but cooler heads prevailed though on presentation they were told that Parliament would not be able to treat until the King lowered his Standard and retracted his declaration against it's members where he had called them traitors. This was the first of many failed negotiations for peace and i was quite possible the King had no intention of accepting anything but total control. But knew that when Parliament refused to treat (as he was almost sure to know they would) he would gain sympathy and greater support as indeed happened.

No Camels? Conversion Time

Long time followers will remember I was asking if anyone had a pair of camels they did not need as I had 10 of the blighters but needed 12. Well I am afraid to say that the required 2 spit machines were not to be had. Never mind I thought, I will pick up a pack of three at Triples. Of course no one had the required camels at the show and me being me I wanted to get it sorted as soon as I could. Then an idea came to me. If I can't buy a pair of camels I will do a bit of conversion work, more on that below but first the regular camels.

 

Here we have 9 of the original 10 camels, these already have had different riders supplied as Martin the original owner of the figures could not get bow armed riders at the time. These don't really sit the camels well but are OK. I have to admit that whilst at the start of painting these up I was happy but by the time I was working on the riders I was getting more and more unhappy with the look. I feel like they are of the quality I was doing 20+ years ago. Either that or.......

 

........... it's because I can't get away from the feeling that a bunch of Scousers have nicked a bunch of camels from the local zoo.

 

 

But before I started the conversion the friend in Holland sent me the Roman Army that also included these six Camels which I have included in the paint run. The camels and riders are much better casts and I was far happier with the results with these models than the others even though they were painted at the same time.

 

I liked the ruff hair patches on the necks and rumps as these allowed a better result on painting as well. Basing is not fully finished, still need to remove the excess flock and matt varnish (waiting on a order) and then tufts adding. I will start to have a backlog of varnishing if the sprays do not arrive soon.

So back to the conversion's, well I had already had the idea so there was no stopping me! After trying to get camels from all sorts of places I finally had to accept I was not going to get camels so I got a different make and hope from a distance they could be mistaken for camels. I went with a dark finish in the end to add a little Eastern feel to them, please let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry I just could not help myself. It seems no one smokes camels and I wanted something a bit more classy than Embassy Number 1.



Another Day Another Parcel.

The Spending Frenzy continued, yesterday I received the two brush holders I had said I was going to order. As well as some more brushes (all from Rosmary & Co). The size of the holders was a bit of a surprise - me being male and unable to look at the dimensions in the booklet. You can see the size of the thing in the picture above, it's bloody big! The purple things in the near background are A4 Box Files. So if your tight for space they could be a bit of an issue, though they are easy to take apart and put back together. All told it has 49 slots that you can put one or more brushes in. Need more space? Seek Help! I am happy with it as I have the space and it helps keep some order in the chaos that is my painting plans.

 

I also picked up a couple more Kolinsky Sable (series 33) brushes including a rather nice 10/0 for that finer than fine result. Also with the order was a couple of larger flat brushes for dry brushing for trying out a couple of ideas and speed up the 6mm early stage painting style that I recently picked up. The cost of postage was their set £1 and this lot came in a big jiffy bad with the brushes in the plastic sealed bag as before but with a stiff cardboard wrap to protect them from the paint brush holder and Mr Pat. Extra style points me thinks.

Quick painting update.
I have finished a group of 15mm figures (first in ages) which I will try blogging tomorrow, I have five regiments of French 6mm Naps over half way through being painted, 8 Sniper Reminders (28mm) close to finished apart from the bases which won't be finished till the kids are back to school as they are going to have a lot of work on the bases and I don't require the help I would be getting  :-) I also need to get the last five 10mm ADC's finished before next Sunday in case I need to take them to Partizan which will not be a problem.

I know I want to crack on with some more 15mm but will wait to find out what I will be painting for the winner of my draw (on the 8th of September folks so get your name down if you want in). All that before going to Partizan LOL.

Paint Rack Love and Reality.

I have been hanging my nose over a rather attractive Paint Rack on E-Bay this last few days. I really like it and the price is a very reasonable £35 plus postage. This would normally at the moment leave me thinking too much money but having just sold some of my extra bits and some of my sniper figures I felt I could indulge a little.

 

As you can see it's a bit of a babe holding about 86 Vallejo bottles. This is just what I need to hold the majority of my paint. I say majority not because I have more than 86 bottles of Vallejo dropper bottles but because the majority of my paints ARE Vallejo, the rest are a mix of Coat d'arms, Miniature Paints, Games Workshop foundation and washes as well as a few Winsor & Newton inks (which do not fit any paint rack anyway. So I had the choice date this sexy beast and have a small irritating stash of paints or think again. Well Mr. Lee supplied a link to another supplier he personally recommended. I checked them out and they had the dropper only option but also a version with shelves deep enough for all but the W&N inks. Price including postage was about the same as the one above which means if you just have the dropper style then it remains the better deal on paper. I will be buying that type of rack if I need a second one (I can make room). That's not going to happen anytime soon as I still have plenty of room having only been buying paints for the last year and a bit.

 

This is how the German one comes (though it's in a box before you say anything!). With a fairly basic one sided set of instructions as it's very easy to put together. It just holds with good old friction, well mine did until I started to put the other side on and slipped and then it seemed not to be happy about keeping that side on so I reinforced with glue. I would recommend doing this anyway as I doubt it will be happy with being broken down and rebuilt. It took all told (ignoring the glue drying bit) about ten minutes to put together. Here is a link to the website.

 

This is what my desk looked like just before I started to make up the stand, in fairness not unlike it is most of the time and I still can paint well enough as it is.

 

This is how it looked for about ten minutes! Though I have to admit all the paints are still in position and I already have found myself reaching for a colour that probably would have been passed over. I have filled some of the space with a few models waiting their turn to be painted and my 6mm paper flags and a few other bits directly in front of them. Other things like my steam engine need a new home (not that you could see it anyway) but you can see my vase a lot better now which for me is good LOL. So yes I would recommend the supplier. It's great for other types of pot (the top row is best served by being against a wall as mine is) the delivery speed is nice and fast and I would be happy to get another if that cute thing was not available. The one negative about this type of stand though as Mr. Lee pointed out is the footprint it takes up on the desk, it's deeper than the bottle type simply because the ledge has to be wider. I've been using mine for the last couple of days and it's doing me fine.

Don't forget my Blog Give Away which is listed as the post below this one for the time being at least LOL.

370 Years Ago Today........

OK another one of those history things I like to run, I even had to rush the painted figure project to get this party started. This will feature significant happenings in the English Civil War but for the most part will be just short comments often with a pic or two. I will try and include context where I can as some events may be a bit left of centre.

22nd August 1642. The King raised his Royal Standard a Nottingham Castle as a declaration of raising an army for his personal use. This is seen as the declaration of War against Parliament even though other acts of hostelry had gone before.

The turn out was far below that of which he had been promised and so started the typical offers of help from loyal followers that so often failed to live up to what was promised. This would not be so bad if Charles did not always assume these offers would deliver at least what they promised if not more.



Plaque in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.

The King left Nottingham looking for more recruits after the troops trickled rather than poured in. A bad omen was the blowing down of the Kings Standard in a storm a few days after it had been raised.

Nottingham was to become a garrison town of Parliament when Sir John Hutchinson placed troops there and so it stayed throughout the whole Civil War as Nottingham had little strategic value.

54mm Project Stage 4

I went with painting up the red facings, collar and epaulets. These I did in basic Red, highlighted with Scarlet then Game Colour Bloody Red. After this I darkened the basic Red for the creases and added German Orange to the Bloody Red for the final highlights all of which seems to have melded well.

Now without any more excuses I moved onto the black. I simply added a single drop of Blue Gray Pale (the darker of the two greys) layers it over almost all the original black. I followed this procedure four more times, each time covering less of the areas until I had a mid to dark grey that I just touched up the Shako's rim and peak as well as very little of the gators. Not withstanding it was my first time at painting a large area of black I thought it went really well and am 100% happy with the result.

The shoes were finished off with a coat of Black Indian Ink so that they shine.

From here it's just touches, the rope work on the Shako started off black so I just dry brushed Ivory and then White over that so the cording stands out. The Eagle and the rosette fairly simple single colours and the Pom Pom Andrea Blue with a heavy Blue Shade wash gave it some nice depth. The rifle stock started Leather Brown and I added Red Leather to the Brown, painted over the original coat and then added more Red Leather for a third layer. Each layer shows through some so you get a hint of grain. The base was Panzer Aces New Wood in an attempt to show off the base at it's best.

All told I would guess at somewhere around twenty hours of painting has gone into this figure. After varnishing I added highlights of White Gloss to the leather belts to set them apart from the rest of the white. It's been a blast doing this project. I have five more on order, four of which I picked up for a song whilst the fifth is a three figure set that I will do once I feel I have this larger scale nailed.

This picture shows the backpack, ammo boy and bayonet that had to be glued in place.as did the nearest coat tail.

This shot shows off the detail in the muskets lock and how the glued parts fit, no way could it be cast as such.

OK I finally show a close up of the face. Cath thinks I should repaint the left eye but I like that he is squinting, kind of makes me think someone is trying to do him harm as well. It also shows the depth of colour through layering the paint and ink washes.

I like this shot as it shows some of the detail and the shading on the trousers. The musket looks really long in this shot. Mind you I am just glad it staying in one piece as I bent it a couple of times as I was painting the figure itself.

Nice shot of the figure from behind. The light picks out the texture of the pack and blanket roll.

Again I like this shot as it shows off some of the detail such as the Shako cords that was more or less dry brushed just using the detail of the figure rather than trying to paint it in.

You can just about see the shading in the inside of the Shako, I wanted it to be fairly low key, though in the flesh it is more prominent that in the pic.

 Anther shot I really like of the figure.

OK thanks to everyone who took the time to put up with my ramblings over this project, as you will have noticed I had a buzz going for it. All the pics in this segment were taken by Cath whilst all the earlier ones  were my effort. So tanks to Cath for making my work look good and onto the next project.

54mm Project Stage 3

It's time to face it. Well face him really. For 28mm I use two skin tones and Devlan Mud wash (well till it runs out). But I had already bought Flat Flesh to go between the Medium Flesh and Light Flesh. Well after painting the first two colours on I was tempted to leave at that point but did not. The effect of adding the Light Flesh was to spoil the effect, that is until I returned to the Fleshtone Shade wash. This really dulled down the too light look and brought out the depth of the rest of the flesh tones. I am rather pleased with the result and hope to carry this forward with future 54mm figures. Yep I am enjoying this so much that I have bought a few more. I figure I can use these in future for other giveaways and the like, or just keep them if I wish.

I also have painted the backpack and bedroll as well as finishing off the white leather straps. I wanted the bedroll to be a slightly different colour to the uniform itself even though all the pictures I have looked at seem to have the same shade. I think this is in error as colour matching to the uniform (almost certainly another fabric type). I did this by using the same Blue Shade wash as I used on the uniform but this time added over a Blue Grey Pale base layer. This came up close enough to match but can not be mistaken for the same colour. The backpack I managed to sneak English Uniform for the base coat. Then I dry brushed/dabbled a series of lighter colours finishing in Buff. Brass Buttons were then done post clean up of the white areas.

The Black areas have been painted with a base coat of Black. I also painted the gold and bronze areas black so natural shading are in place. The next step will be either the red facings or finish the black which is as big a challenge as the white was.

54mm Project Stage Two.

With me happy with the Trousers and not wanting to work on the rest of the white items until the buttons and facings etc. have been worked on it's on with the coat. Whilst not quite the challenge of the trousers it's still going to be tough to get the shading to be subtle enough not to appear blocky. This may well be the only stage I complete today.

I started with Dark Blue and worked up the shades a drop of Ivory at a time. At about four shades I gave it a blue ink wash then repeated the lightening effect and finally three coats of ink to meld the shades more smoothly. The pictures make it look like it needs more work but when looked at inside it looks much better.

I have painted over a few white leather straps but these can now be picked up whilst tidying up the rest of the white.

French 67th Ligne 54mm Project Stage One.

OK  assume you remember the very kind gesture from my friend (the loaning of the house) well a few weeks before he went on holiday I asked him if WWII was the only period he was interested in from a military point of view. No was the reply he also liked Napoleonic Wars. Well that was what I was looking for, now I could find a larger figure and paint it up for him. It's been over twenty years since I last painted something so large so it's going to be a challenge. I plan to record my progress as a series of posts that will be released once the figure has been painted and delivered. I am both excited and shiteing myself!

9th August. Miniature arrives, well the second ordered one arrives after the first was not due to being discontinued.Originally I went for a British Infantry soldier taking leave of his wife, now is the turn of a French Man in action, a total change of pace.

I knew it would not be a single cast but both the number of parts and make up of the bits was a bit of a shock! Both arms need adding which is fine but also the right hand clutching the musket! Now that means I would have to marry up three separate pieces that could not be even a fraction out or the figure would look crap. No pressure then. Once I started to assemble the other parts it became clear why they benefited from assembly. I still wish than hand came attached though.

Assembled and ready for action. I managed to get the arms and hand aligned, not sure how but the end result looks fine. I really would not like to have to do it again though.

This shot shows the bayonet sticking out and is one of three parts glued in the same area. It also shows that bloody hand which I had filed slightly to get the right finished angle. I also cut a small amount of the barrel off for the correct fit.

This shot shows the level of detail on the figure which is great. I am really looking forward to painting it up. I have now undercoated the whole thing and plan to paint the base first, just where from there I have no idea.

Undercoated the figure in white then once dry set about working on the base. The battle the figure is based on was Aspern-Essling or Wagram as some may know it. A quick Google search and I found a few paintings that showed the buildings to be made of brown to yellow stone so armed I made for the brown based wases.

First up was the Vallejo Umber shade. Next the Sepia which gave a nice yellow effect to the rocks. The Umber had given me the dark brown finish between the rubble which I will add smaller ballast type debris as well at a later stage. Then it was a case of dry brushing three shades from brown to light yellow one over the other. Still need to do a spot of minor over highlighting and a tad of darker detail to finish it off. I am resisting tufts and grass as this is recent buildings turned to rubble.

I skipped the boots and went straight on to what is one of the biggest challenges. White trousers, I know white can be tricky in smaller scales but this guy has stacks of it. Trousers, waste oat, inside of the coat and coat trim not to mention leather belts! So I started with Blue Gray which is fairly dark then over painted most of the areas with Sky Grey just leaving the most shadowed areas Blue Grey. Next up I watered down Ivory and washed the lot in that following up with neat Ivory that again was used to cover a fair amount of the trouser but leaving more areas uncovered. Next was the Standard White which was used on the most raised or flat areas, mostly applied in stripes. Another thin wash, of paint this time White that was allowed over all the trouser area and this was applied in about four layers, drying between. Then I highlighted some more in Ivory and White where I wanted it to pick up some more. The grey as you can see shows through a fair bit but I really like the effect. All told it took about two hours to get the trousers done, if not for the heat it would have taken much longer as the paint quickly dried.

I just added the one coat of blue to the coat and inked it, I also applied single coats of White or Ivory to the other areas requiring a white colour. The plan is to repaint the leather with a different white once the figure has been varnished.

E-Bay Moment

It was free listing weekend a week ago so I finally got round to putting three of the 15mm ECW regiments I intended to sell to pay for my 6mm army with ofter regiments ready to follow if required. I also took advantage of the opportunity to sell off two sets of two figures of my sniper reminders. Well with a few add on sales I have managed to generate over £120 to add to my war chest. This means I will have the funds to buy some more units and a few more paints and keep the rest in reserve for the next convention, that being Derby unless Total Battle Miniatures are at Partizan in which case I will get myself a nice selection of Spanish buildings, I guess a wargamer and his/her money is soon parted.

Such buildings are recommended given that I should get a game against Barry and his pesky British Naps in the next few weeks to see if any of the tweaks work or are too much. Next battle will be smaller but should be plenty of fun. Oh I could always get more bases, then again I need more brushes (want to try a 10 zero!!!) oh and I also want a few more pike blocks for my Alexandrian Army and..................

Crap where did that money go?