WIP: British Regulars For My Alt-ACW Project

Hello friends:  

With my new clerical job feeling more under control, and with Twitter becoming more unpleasant and weird, I’m deciding to double down on the Old School and blogging more, so this is a head start on my new year’s resolution.

I’m currently working on a regiment of 28mm British redcoats that were gifted to me by an old friend.  As far as I know, these are Warlord sculpts, I think by Paul Hicks, from their Crimean War range.  I think they’re OOP, the Warlord website shows British Crimean War infantry but in shakos, whereas these fellows wear Kilmarnock pillbox hats so they look the part and are compatible with my Perry figures from their British Intervention Force Range.

About two thirds of the way through the Foundry tri-tone paint method, though the shoulder ruffs and cuffs are done with GW contrast green.  I am not aiming for a specific British regiment, I just liked green.  

Fortunately I’m well equipped with wine corks!

Hoping to have these fellows finished by Christmas.

Cheers and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Some Women Of Valour

These 28mm igures arrived over Christmas and are now primed and on the painting table.  They are from Bad Squiddo Games, founded by Annie Norman (the Dice Bag Lady) to promote a more realistic kind of female figure and body type for war gamers.  These Dark Ages warriors seemed to me to be useful for my Lord of the Rings Project, where they will serve as Rohirrim.   No doubt a village will be attacked by raiders while the menfolk are away with their lord of the Riddermark, and so these shield wives and maidens will turn out to defend their homes and children

I am hoping to get them painted as an entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and maybe even attract the attention of the lovely Sarah for her choice of the best female figure of the contest.  A lofty goal, but I have my hopes.

These figures are generally well cast.  The two leaders, the lady with the banner and her companion blowing the horn, are exceptional.  The rest are good to fair. with the worst being the left most one in the bottom row.  I think they’ll paint up well.  They are on the average for 25 to 28mm figures, and should mix well with the primarily GW figures in my LOTR collection.

 Here’s another Woman of Valour.  On Thursday Madame Padre went in for her second chemo treatment, and sported a very appropriate Tshirt from the Canadian Soldier On charity for wounded warriors.   She is indeed a warrior, who has never uttered a word of self-pity and is determined to maintain a positive attitude.   I am very proud of her.   

Blessings to you and those you love, be there for them.

MP+

Meanwhile, in Canada -1

Here are five stalwart Canucks from another stalwart syrup-sucker, Bob Murch, two-fisted sculptor and CEO of Pulp Figures.  These figures are part of his Yukon Peril series and are intended for my Rockies Ablaze project.  I write that with more than a twinge of regret as much of northern Alberta, a province I have called home and much love, is itself ablaze.

Here are some of the rough yet good-hearted who will aid the Mounties as they comb the high Rockies for werewolves and Nazi aeronauts: from left to right,  Laing Jock Laing, Jake Montana, and Leo O’Rourke,  Laing Jock has ‘nae much to say, and is a gruff fellow, but a good enough neighbour.  Jake has wandered from Fairbanks Alaska to Frobisher Bay, and can smell the weather changing.  Leo came home from Passchendaele touched by the war, but still wears his CEF greatcoat.  He drinks to forget, but the liquor doesn’t help.

Since Bob has sculpted these fellows in cold weather gear, I decided that I would use a winter theme for this project.   I used Woodland Scenics snow for the basing, and tried to add some details to emphasize the idea of fallen snow.  I found that the final spray of dullcote tended to stain the snow basing a faint yellow, so added some more snow afterwards.

Rufus Quant and old Frenchy Lamoureux.  Neither fellow gets out of the bush much.  They don’t take kindly to claim jumpers, tax men, or Nazis.  Rufus reminds me somewhat of Captain Haddock from the Tintin comics, which may be why I painted his coat blue.  Hmm, I see a little white paint on his trousers that needs fixing.

 I also made a start on some scenery for the project.  This was a proof of concept: two stands of Busch HO scale conifers found in a model railroad store, brushed heavily with watered down white carpenter’s glue and then dusted liberally with Woodland Scenics snow.  I am rather pleased with the result.  I will need a lot more of these to supplement the slightly cheesy looking Christmas village trees I found in a craft store.

Here’s a sneak preview of where the project is going next.   I was giddy with glee to come home from Hot Lead in March having met Bob Murch himself and having purchased one his Great Canadian Moose castings (as opposed to the other moose castings, which you can find in any forest in Newfoundland).   Peter Douglas, one of my blog readers, knows about me and mooses.  It’s a huge casting, and I think is absolutely necessary for this project.  I am thinking that the noble great moose will turn out to be a mortal foe of the werewolf and perhaps a great friend of the good guys, if they can manage not to shoot and eat him.

Besides paint, he needs a name.  I am thinking Justin, after Canada’s new young Prime Minister.  Any other ideas?

 

Currently on the painting desk: Mounties.   These are also from Pulp Figures.    It’s my first time painting red coats, so I am going slowly to try and get it right.

 

Fortunately, I’ve found a painting guide for mooses and mounties.  Seems legit.

 

These figures bring my 2016 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 38; Mounted Figures: 3; Buildings: 2; Terrain Features: 4

6mm:  Mounted figures:  36;  Buildings:  2

Warpath On The Painting Desk

This war party of braves is currently rampaging across my painting desk.  The figures are sculpted by Bob Murch of Pulp Figures, from his new Flint and Feather range, representing opposing forces of the Huron-Iroquois war of the 17th century.  They are absolutely fantastic figures, well researched and full of the character that one expects of Bob’s work.


 I am hoping that these figures will be done and gone by Monday.  Why you ask?  Here’s a hint.



Where might these braves be going?   I can’t say.
Blessings to your brushes!

Back To The Brushes

A big accomplishment  this long weekend, other than sawing the box spring of our spare bed in half (long story), was getting my painting desk set up in the back corner of the basement.  Hurrah!  I’m hoping it won’t be too cold in the winter.  The advantage of the narrow space is that it certainly focuses my attention.

There are a lot of half-finished projects to unpack, but I thought I’d start with the first thing that came out of the box, these Perry Brothers 28mm figures from their American Civil War artillery set.   Very inexpensive compared to their equivalent lead figures.  I’m painting these as Confederates, even if that means gritting my teeth and using as many different colours (shades of gray and butternut)  as possible for the uniforms.  Nice to have the artillery cassions, as well.

 

Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Saturday Painting Desk

I was hoping to have my 28mm Front Rank Russian SYW Dragoons finished last week and entered in the Painting Challenge on Thursday (my day to enter work in the Challenge).  So close, but the thesis claimed much of my time this week.  Hoping to have them off the sticks and onto bases tonight.

I hope your own work is going well.

Blessings to your brushes!

MP

Saturday Painting Desk

28mm Front Rank Seven Years War Russian dragoons.  These chaps have been camped on the painting desk for a few weeks now.  Hoping to have them done by early next week.



Cheers and thanks for looking.
Blessings to your brushes,
MP

Cracking On With Commandos

It’s been a busy few days at the painting table, where I don’t feel like I’m making much progress, but am slowly seeing the fruits of my labours, as my first entry towards the Analogue Painting Challenge V nears completion.  Besides a section of ten Artizan British commandos for my Weird War Two project, which will be the entry, I also took out some half finished Warlord plastic commandos that I gave up on in frustration over a year ago, and am trying to get them up to a level where I’m not ashamed of putting them on the table.  

But there’s no pleasing some people.  Here’s the OC S Commando, the Laird O’Kinch, berating me for deficiencies.  “Come on, Padre, these chaps aren’t based, they need eyes and hair, and their commando patch decals.  What have you been playing at?  You need to do better, old man.  Crack on!  You can sleep when you’re dead.  I NEED these lads NOW!”  

A demanding fellow indeed.  Hopefully they’ll be ready by Thursday, which is my appointed day.  This  Challenge business may be a bridge too far for me.   I’m amazed at how many entrants are already racking up large totals.  This was my face when I realized I had missed the deadline for the first Bonus Round.

 

Oh well, it’s all supposed to be fun, innit? Hopefully they’ll be some time to work on the Commandos tomorrow, though that is a busy day,  as I am planning on making a batch of Dresdener Stollen (Rabbit Man and his lovely wife apparently liked the test batch I made last Friday), and there is always thesis work to be done to make me feel that I’ve earned the time at the painting table.  Speaking of tables, I have an ACW battle ready to go on my gaming table, to test drive the Longstreet rules, if I can ever get to it.

I did make a run to the post office today to pick up this intriguing parcel from Germany, from the fellow who drew my name in Chris Stoesen’s Santa Clause project.  I’ve already written to my benefactor to assure him that it will go under the old Tannenbaum and will not be opened until Christmas day.  Thank you for arranging this, Chris.

Another envelope came through the mail slot yesterday, from all around good chap and plastic model wizard Paul Foster in NZ, and I know what’s in it, but again, it’s going under the Christmas tree.  I’ll thank you properly after Christmas, Paul!

May you enjoy these days of preparation for what I pray will be a joyous Christmas for you and yours.  Until then, blessings to your brushes1

Almost Ready To Muster In

No Paint Table Saturday post for me as Madame Padre and I escaped for the weekend and it was lovely.  

However, since getting home I’ve given a few hours to my Irish Brigade project.  The 88th New York are almost ready to muster in.   Hopefully they’ll be based tonight, and then Father Corby will bless their flags and they’ll be on the way to the seat of war.  Since this photo was taken they are off their nails and falling in.  An issue of Guinness may be in the works.

 

Blessings to your paint brushes!

MP+

Saturday Painting Table

Not a lot of painting got done today, even though it was a good day to stay indoors - an unseasonably cold and wet day here in SW Ontario - felt more like October than August.    I spent more time in the kitchen than at the painting desk.  I like baking, and I’ve found a great recipe for Italian focaccia bread — this is focaccia genovese, with a mix of basil, rosemary, parsley, freshly grated parmagiano reggiano and olive oil sprinkled on it as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Yummy!'

 

There was a little work at the painting desk today.   These three 28mm Reaper figures (two werewolves and a lady vampire) are pretty much done and just need final basing - they’re for an off again, on again Weird War Two project I’m working on..  Behind them is the next job, a unit of 28mm Redoubt Union infantry that I started over a year ago and then lost interest.   I’m really trying to get all my old projects done before I start something new.

I’m off to Ottawa on a research trip so it will be sometime next week before I’m ready to show off these three baddies here.

Saturday Night Painting Desk

 

I’m trying to keep up the lovely idea that Sofie started recently.

Three 28mm Spahis of the Porte from the renaissance range of The Assault Group.   Lovely figures.   Going slow on them since each demands his own colour scheme and I’m a bit rubbish when it comes to freehand painting.

I’m planning to add small red flowers (blobs, really) to the vines on the shield and caparison of the fellow on the left.

Work In Progress: More Russkies On Horsies 2

Yikes. Several weeks into this project, with the 20 March deadline of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge almost here, and I'm still struggling with it, even after the end of my self-declared February Is Russian Month project. After a weekend off, during which I searched for inspiration by driving by Hussar, Alberta en route to Edmonton (executive summary, don't make a special trip, there's not much there), I am trying to get these fellows finished. If you missed the previous posts, they are a unit of 12 Front Rank SYW Prussian Hussars which I bought a long time ago for a Russian SYW army I was building. I always intended to paint them as Russians, and Curt's painting challenge was a great incentive to retrieve them from the lead pile.

Here are Privates Yuri Blogginsnik and Oleg Leadovitch, modelling the intended uniform, a sharp combination of yellow, red and black. It's reasonably close to the plate depicting a Hussar of the Serbski Regiment in one of the Osprey books on the Russian army of the 1700s.

Here's the view from behind. I think I will have to drybrush the black fur trim on the pelisse so that the contrast with the yellow isn't so start. The yellow jacket also needs a light ink wash and then highlighting. Thank you James M for the suggestion to use yellow ochre as the base colour, that was helpful.

As you will have noted, progress on the horses has neen slower than on the troopers. I think I made a mistake in undercoating the horses in white, or at least in not darkening the white undercoat with a black wash before the base colours. I think I have several hours to just get the horses into shape, before I even start the tack and harnesses, and at the rate I'm going I'm lucky to get an hoiur a day in. As my friend Howard commented in an email today, 28m figures can be pretty but they can also be a PIAT to paint properly.

Also, you will notice in these pictures that the bottle caps have gone. These figures are heavy, and the white glue I use to keep them on the caps is not up to the strain when I tilt the figures in my hand to paint them. I've had several painful drops, but fortunately these Russian lads are of tough stock.

Reinforcements For Russian Month

Yesterday was a happy one at the Mad Padre's Painting Chapel on the edge of the frozen Canadian prairie. Two parcels were waiting for me when I arrived home from work. One contained an intriguing collection of 15mm Battlefront figures, the result of a trade between myself and fellow blogger Chris Stoesen of Wargamer's Odds and Ends (check out his scenario books while you're there). I had a bunch of 15mm ACW figures that were never going to get painted, and he had some WW2 figures, which might, possibly, get painted, and it was a good deal all around. About a third of the minis Chris sent me were Russkies (the chaps in the centre on the popsicle sticks), and so they are going to get slotted into the schedule as Russian February continues.

Now I'm mindful as I writethis that today is Ash Wednesday, and today during the liturgy we confessed "Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts". I'm really hoping for an exemption from "intemperate love" when it comes to wargaming toys, and I haven't yet heard the call to stop painting or playing as my fasting regime during Lent. Maybe I'm not listening hard enough, I'm not sure. (Holds hands over ears - LALALALALALA). The other box to arrive yesterday was from my pusher (err, I mean, my dealer), James of J&M Miniatures, who lived up to his repuation for fast and courteous rabbit-enhanced service, and sent me a box of five 15mm T34/85s from Plastic Soldier Company and the new Ostfront rules produced by PSC and written by Warwick Kinkade, Battlegroup Kursk.

The T34s are the first products I have seen firsthand from PSC and I am impressed. After wasting three hours of my life trying to assemble and then binning a Nitto Tiger tank model that I got at some flea market, I will only build simple plastic tank kits from now on, and PSC, like Armourfast, are simple. I've only briefly looked at the sprues, but everything looks cleanly moulded and I think I can put all five together in an evening. They are nice kits, and will give me a start on a 15mm Soviet force to allow me to dual-role all the 15mm German kit I originally got for Normandy. I'm sure I can get the T34s done and painted as one of my Russian entries for the Analogue Painting Challenge.

Why Battlegroup Kursk? Chalk it up to my "intemperate love of worldly things", or, if you are slightly kinder, to my "oohh shiny" moment. It does seem an odd move for me, especially as I have TFL's IABSM3 rules and Richard Clarke is within days of coming out with his Eastern Front supplement. If I have to explain it, I guess because people I respect, like Mike Siggins in Battlegames, or Donogh McCarthy on his blog, have said good things about it, and because I've been tracking Kinkade since his involvement with KG Normandy and the late Warhammer Historical. I've read interviews with Kinkade and like some of his design ideas. Am I convincing you yet? No? Oh well. I've only had the briefest of time to peek inside the book. It reminds me of a Games Workshop rules book, hardback, impressive production values, lots of pictures, and a helpful modelling section. I of course am a sucker for eye candy, but I hope to try the rules soon. More to follow on that, including some peeks at my 20mm Soviet army when we get to April and my "Resurrected Armies" project.

In the meantime, may God prosper your brushes and bless your dice rolls!

Gentlemen From Japan And Other Diversions

It's been a quiet weekend thus far at the Mad Padre's Painting Chapel on the edge of the frozen Canadian prairie. I've spent quite a lot it thus far painting terrain. The terrain is 1-1 scale and might be suitable for FIBUA gaming. Quite realistic, isn't it?

While I'm quite happy about being posted this summer, the down side of it is getting the house ready to sell. There are pros and cons to owning one's home while in the military. The upside is that military housing can be a little gruesome, and is not always well or promptly maintained, whereas I am free to buy the house I want, build up equity, and, hopefully, sell it for a modest profit. But getting it ready to sell requires work, and ironically it is work that I could have done early in my time here and enjoyed the results, as Mrs. Padre has observed. But darling, i wasn't idle in all that time, I go a LOT of miniatures painted.

\

Signs you've been a miniatures wargamer for two long. While painting today, using a Flat Khaki eggshell that Mrs. Padre is quite fond of, I was watching it go on and thinking "that looks rather like dunkelgelb. I wonder if I could paint some panzers with it?" I would use a smaller brush than this one were I to do that.

I did find time to goof off from the housepainting:

In other news, I was very pleased to find a package from The Assault Group in my mailbox on Friday. The contents are not to be painted lightly. Besides a complete unit of Ottoman Spahis of the Porte (more on that in a subsequent post on my resurrected armies project for April), there were these four TAG samurais with katana, who will make up my samurai offering to Curt for the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge.

TAG stayed in character with the awesomeness they have shown me to date, and included this bonus samurai figure in my order.

He's as smart as a chap with two heads!

I don't really have the foggiest idea how to paint samurai. I've been consulting some top-notch panting guides, including this one:

Fortunately for me, a recent post on Alfons Canovas' amazing blog has some sumptuous samurai colour plates. Right, think sumptuous when I start painting them, and all will be well.

Now, the only think that worries me is what these samurai are going to do while they are waiting to be painted. I can already hear them downstairs, shouting for more sake and geisha girls. I don't have any geisha girls on hand, but this winsome young lass jumped out of the lead mountain and promised me she would keep them in hand. She is the Reaper Miniatures Oktoberfest Fraulein, and my plan for her is to use her as an Allied spy in my Weird War project, so it looks like she'll get primed and painted along with the Gentlemen From Japan. I am enthralled to her charms.

Warm wishes to you all from the edge of the frozen Canadian prairie. I am delighted that there are five new followers to Mad Padre Wargames, and I'll greet you personally in an upcoming post. In the meantime, may God prosper your brushes and bless your die rolls!