Commisioned Work

A fair few of you will be aware of my hobby crossover into Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) especially the sniper reminders that have popped up on occasion. However it came full circle when a friend asked me if I was prepared to paint up a trophy for a new ASL tournament he and another friend were organising. At first I was resistant having turned down the chance for doing the same for Heroes a few years ago.

However Martin's enthusiasm got me to waver and eventually I went from a bit negative to fully onboard. We actually got the idea from concept to basic positioning fairly quickly. From there it became a case of tinkering as we went.

The setting is somewhere in France 1940 as the Germans tear their way through the allied armies on the way to another blitzkrieg victory. Martin wanted African colonial troops to be depicted and even beat me to finding the Senegalese infantry that Warlord supply as a boxed set. I then added the tank and crew also from Warlord whilst Crusader provided the French ATG and Black Tree Design had the German casualties I wanted.

The rough idea actually changed little once I started to paint the bits up. Above was the photo I sent to Martin for his thoughts. To be fair he more or less left me to my own devices, never saying no but giving encouragement in line with his own preferences.

I had bought extra crew even though it comes with crew. However my plan was to have the tank knocked out so needed to make changes to the crew member bending the arm down and cutting some of the figures side and stomach off to allow him to be draped out of the turret. Not something that would have worked with the plastic figures that were too set in posture.

Crushing the gun was a bit of a challenge as the shield comes in two parts. In the end this was actually a bonus as it allowed me to bend one half out of true but still link the two parts to the barrel and trail.

I commissioned Warbases to supply me with two special sized MDF bases so I could play about and see which would work the best. Given the price I was charged it was a no brainer and even though they had a show literally days away I got the bases so quick I did not have to break stride. I wanted the MDF base so I could do all the basing and not have to worry about making a mess of the wooden plinth it would eventually be fixed to.

I also had to convert the standing and kneeling crew of the ATG which for the most part was a case of cutting bases off and filing one side of the figure down so it could be painted and then pressed down into the basing paint prior to sanding. I also made shells and empty shell cases out of cocktail sticks. I also made a ammo box with a couple of shells in it.

I added a little damage to the tank via a glancing strike on the turret (tap drill scored mark) and a pair of drilled penetrations. The killing shot though was registered to the side of the drivers viewing slit.

I also added some cast aside weapons from a German sprue again Warlord Games, also added other scatter such as a cast aside helmet and the guy who is seen with the LMG near him has a ammo belt around his neck and ammo box beside him. I added Games Workshop Stirland Mud into the areas I had scraped the basing paint marking the path of the tank as well as on the various parts of the tank you would expect mud. Finally adding some gloss varnish into the trail and parts of running gear etc.

The total cost of models etc but not paint came to £95 so added up quite a bit as I went on but overall I was really happy with the effect and would be happy to do more such bases in the future.

Russian Snipers by Black Tree Design

Back to trying to catch up with the painting done during the Challenge. Towards the end I was finding less and less time to both paint and post hence the ten day gap between posts. Given I was on holiday last week and found I had even less time kind of is ironic.

Black Tree produce some really nice figures with most of their WWII living up to this reputation. I have painted these figures up before so knew what I would be getting. They tend to be fairly good regards flash and clean up with mould lines easy to remove. 

The snow smocks being white need more attention than you might think. I did a base spray of white but then used ivory, off white and normal white to shade them and give them some depth of colour. The flesh and equipment just received the one colour before adding a wash to all none white parts.

The last four are a big contrast to the previous eight with the snow really making them stand out. I use Scenic Snow by Deluxe Materials and have tried a slightly different approach this time and like the finish better. Showing more of the ground work kind of improves the overall look for me.

Black Tree tend to add a lot of detail to their figures than some other companies leave off. It does add to the time to paint but the end result is far more satisfying and looks the part.

I have about twenty more figures left to paint for my Sniper Reminders and once these are done probably won't do any more.

I have changed the tufts to a winter look as well after Curt's recommendations from last year and he is 100% right these do look better.

So the Challenge is at a close and I finished 31st after spending quite a bit of time in the lower twenties. Slightly disappointing as I thought I had a chance of finishing in the top 25% but given that I finished of 1019 points and doubled my original goal I am overall very happy.

Indeed I enjoyed this years challenge more than any of the previous challengers, possibly as I was not sticking to any one theme over much but the addition of a Minion to run each days submissions was a great idea and saved Curt's sanity. It meant that each day a fresh adjudicator would jump in after a seven day rest and each of the five brought a great deal of humour and style to their days entries. I had Peter who really got into the swing with his intro's, so a big thanks to Peter and would love to be teamed up again next year.

Desert Deluxe Sniper Reminders.

This time last week I was preparing to head off to London for the day to meet up with one of my long time ASL mates who was visiting the UK from Australia. It's the second time we have met up and it's great to have the opportunity to catch up face to face rather than via emails. I had prepared these Sniper Reminders about a year ago but had not quite finished them, you know the drill, almost done and then put away. Given that these were always planned for Rob I thought I had best get them finished.

Unfortunately the picture quality of some of these leaves much to be desired. The figures are  from the Blacktree Miniatures 28mm WWII Desert ranges. I also did a similar set for another great ASL pal but finished them ages ago. The basic design was the same though the figures used on both bases are different. I even chopped up a ASL mine counter to provide the mine sign, a touch that went down well.

This base was actually finished though I went back to it to add ink to the wire to make it look less new. 

Warbases provided the bases, these were based on their casualty markers that I use a lot but Martin custom built them to my specification. A top service that just can't be beaten.

Again the German base was close to finishing and just needed the rocks adding to act as the Sangar, which also needed dry brushing the stones to better match the base colours. 

Most of the Blacktree WWII figures in my opinion are great, only a few figures disappoint. The desert figures all work for me and this in particular lend themselves to the look I wanted to achieve.

Rob really liked them which at the end of the day was what I had hoped for and these are now safely in their new home. It was a great day and much ASL banter was had by both of us.

More Black Tree Vikings

One of my start of year goals was to create a further four points of Vikings for my Viking Warband. These twelve figures supply the last three points though two of the figures have been given to my son for his own Viking army (his second army after the Anglo Danes) so I need to paint up a couple of replacements.

These are a further twelve Black Tree Miniatures figures and overall they are just as good as the previous figures I have added to my collection but the two I am giving away really don't fit for me. One of them is the figure above in red. Nothing wrong with the figure I just don't like him.

Some of the weapon poses though are questionable such as the guy on the right with the axe turned around. The one in red is at ease with a flagon of ale in one hand and his axe at rest in the other. Shame then that I want the figure for a dynamic skirmish game where there is no time for a tea break. In fairness I can use him and others in other games but it's another figure that will be swapped out of my Saga army when I get more painted up. Meanwhile he will do fine.

I am doing a few painting jobs for a mate and part of the payment is a load of Stick on shield transfers from Little Big Man, having recently read a horror story about putting them on I was a bit worried but they turned out reasonably easy to attach and I like the results. As such I will be mixing in the rest of the transfers with hand painted ones.

This batch are a mix of axe and sword and gives me one warrior unit, one hearth guard and one point of Berserkers. I will actually be replacing the berserk figures with some nude fanatics that I was given by Gary. These will be painted up soon as my son also has some and wants to see how Dad does it.

So both me and the boy have amassed a reasonable force and need to give it a go again, timing is not bad either as I have taken this week off work as the kids are on holiday so maybe a game of Saga followed by cowboys will be on the menu in the next couple of days.

Black Tree Viking's for Saga (1 Point)

One of the plans for early 2015 is to build up my Saga Vikings for fighting against my Son and Lee when he gets his troops painted (hint hint). As such I had programmed a fair few into my Analogue Challenge prep work,, indeed I still have another sixteen figures ready to be painted in the coming two months. All figures are the very nice Black Tree Miniatures. 

Leader of this points worth of warriors is this guy. I wanted him to look suitably commanding so wanted to do my best on his shield so painted up this two headed dragon that came out a lot better than I expected as free hand is not exactly my strong suit.

The strange pose of this figure with the arm held close to the body had me stumped for a short while and then I thought why not have him wounded and quickly came up with the idea f a discarded shield, blooded tunic and blood running down his hand. Again it came out much as I had planned which is not the normal run of things here.

I used basic block painting with a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade followed by highlighting with the original colour. It's been suggested on the Challenge post that I should add a further colour to the highlight to lift it further so will try that with the next lot.

I painted a mix of hair colours, most dirty blond but a few with brown hair as well. I again went for the brighter colours and all but the first two have a more basic colour trim to their tunics as I figure lesser warriors would have less money to spend on fashion.

I also wanted to have a mix of more basic shield designs with some more complex. The slingers just had the basic designs befitting there lower warrior status (levies) whilst these would have to earn their crust in the shield wall, well the back rows but still.

The guy in the centre really reminds me of someone I worked with in the past, something I rather like. The poses are a little strange in a few cases whilst others are really good but the overall look of individuals rather than same pose different head is well worth the odd pose.

The yellow came through much better with the adding of the highlights and turned a problematic colour into a nice solid finish, glad I put in the extra effort, not that it was THAT much more effort.

Love the back of the shields that allow the wood grain to show with just a black base and light drybrush. Also the extra detail such as the knife held by two straps really help make the finished figure more interesting.

Lastly a very nice long house that Loki gave my son for Christmas (along with much more), really helped to make my sons day so thanks mate, I only borrowed it for the pics.

Bonus Round German's - It's Cold Outside

Another Painting Challenge so more Sniper Reminders. In this case twelve German's that were submitted for the Cold bonus round. I decided that I would only enter figures in the bonus rounds if I had something for it rather than get something in or divert from other goals. Last year I found I was painting a lot less of what I really aimed to paint and as such it kind of lost it's main drive.

Not really happy with the images, this was the third attempt, first buggering a memory card, second my camera and then the third with Cath's camera but the good idea of capturing the frost turned out to be a bad idea causing the camera to be fooled.

All twelve are Black Tree Miniatures and whilst I am a big fan of BTM I feel these are the worst sculptured of all the figures I have worked on from them. Not that they are bad but they are not good nor of the standard of other Black Tree sculpts especially the other WWII Germans and it's possibly why they have sat waiting a turn for many months.

Having said all that their is a few nice touches such as scarf's wrapped around faces and one figure has a bandage wrapped around his hand.

I used the snow effects I received from Cath for last Christmas and having more experience I think it came off better this time. The clumps of snow and the grass and tufts sticking through have the look of the thaw setting in.

Here we have me pouring on the Scenic Snowflakes from Deluxe Materials for £15.99 and you get a lot. It is best added post varnishing though.

It's essential to use a dust mask as the pack contains some REALLY fine powder which hangs around for quit some time. 

Progress With Saga

As often happens, you get a game in and suddenly your all fired up for more painting for a particular period. Well with my son working hard on his Anglo Danes post game it only seemed right that I would try and match his output.

First I needed to finish off the 12 figure levy unit so added these four slingers to go with my 8 bow troops. These are yet more Black Tree Miniatures and I really enjoyed working on them.

Plenty of detail to work with and poses that worked. I have managed to get a brighter finish to these than the bow troops but I have decided I am going to buy more paints in the near future after taking a close look at Kev's work. He uses a richer pallet than I do and whilst I know brighter paint wont bridge the skills gap it will give me some punch for a few planned models of 2015.

This gent is from the Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Hirdmen boxed set. Cleaned up quickly and went together well. I still have a load of figures from that boxed set and I guess more will be made from it in the future I doubt I will use them all. Maybe my son will get them done?

The shield transfer is from Little Big Man and made for the boxed set. This one tore a little but other than that went OK.

Still Gripping Beast but this time a metal warlord and came in three parts. The arm with the sword the spear and the rest allowing a few options on the exact pose. As he is my warlord he has been put on a large base. I also went bright as he is too stand out on the table well he will do that!

As he is the boss I spent extra time on shading rather than using ink and the quality sculpting certainly made it easy to get a result I was happy with.

I have about 24 more Vikings all prepped and ready for painting and these will find their way onto the table in the next couple of months, probably sooner than later. Also expect another game or two in the coming weeks, well I have to keep the boy happy don't I?  :-)

Viking Bow by Black Tree Miniatures

Finally got round to adding to my Saga force, not quite enough to give me a full unit of levies but I will be painting up four slingers in the coming week or so to go with these eight.

The end ones look to be bent over but it's tricks of the camera as they stand straight but how the work surface is and the angle of the figures makes them look odd.

I like Black Tree, their WWII are some of the best 28mm (not so much a fan of some of the French) and I do like these Vikings. Some have a few nice touches. I have about twenty left to paint in total which are all prepped ready for Friday.

These were actually used the other day, should have an AAR sorted out tomorrow if all goes well. Most of my figures seem to be running around or reaching for arrows, none of them seem to want to shoot anyone, they must have read the rules regards their chances of hitting anything.

Turned out a little darker than originally planned but not disappointed with the result. All part of the black undercoat really. Happiest with the yellow as that's always the bane colour. Vallejo flat yellow in case your interested.

I wanted all eight to be different poses which is why I also bought the four slingers as BT only do eight poses (not that eight is a small number). Some of the figures have simular poses but different heads etc. certainly don't look clones to me.

Very nice flow to the figures and clothing, more time spent on them would really pay dividends though the results of a quick paint works for me as they are to be used mostly for games with my son, though Lee is also building a force up as well so hopefully will see a fair bit of play.

Some of these will also get the odd roleplaying session as NPC's got to get your monies worth after all. Talking of which, they are not expensive figures but at times of the big sales they are probably the best value outside plastics you will get for SAGA figures.

Cleaning wise they are reasonably clean, the odd one needing a bit more work but most needing little work at all. They paint up quickly as well as the brush can flow across the detail, the surface is smooth as brush wear is kept down. I am certainly happy with the experience of painting these guys and looking forward to the next batch during the challenge