TQD Castings British Infantry Part Two

Here's the second part of this post, the fellows from the TQD pack Brit/Commonwealth infantry carrying supplies. Several of these poses will be useful for troops advancing and patrolling.

Chap with Sten gun carrying a large satchel. Looks like an NCO type.

My favourite figure, and in my opinion, the best paint job of the lot. I think he shows the high end of this range, which at its best rivals anything from AB Miniatures, which to me is the gold standard for 20mm WW2 figures.

Anyone who has carried a full army jerry can, fetching fuel or water, over any significant distance, can empathize with this guy.

More dill weed as helmet camo.

The group moving up to the front.

And of course an officer comes along and gives them a change in orders.

So that's the lot. As you may have guessed, I am a fan of TQD stuff. They are small compared to some figures in the 20mm range, especially Raventhorpe and Valiant, but they are very nice minis. I also bought a section of late war Germans and hope to paint them soon. Those who dislike slotta type bases may want to stay away. I often base figures in groups at this scale, but it's useful to have some individial figures for skirmish gaming, and special roles (messengers, leaders, etc). The fellow with the jerry can raises some interesting possibilities for a resupply mission. I am considering glueing washers to the bottom of the bases to give them some weight on the table and allow them to stick to magnetic sheets in storage.

TQD Castings British Infantry Part One

Recently (well, February), I mentioned that I was going to take a chance buying some figures from TQD Castings, a line of figures made under the UK's CP Models banner, because they make a 20mm padre figure, which happens to be the scale I do WW2 skirmish gaming in.

The pack (TQD-BR3) I wanted includes an officer in shirtsleeves, a dispatch rider, and a padre. Done and dusted, I said, and ordered them. At the same time I ordered a five figure pack (TQD-BR3), a useful looking set of British infantry, none of them looking especially in a hurry, that could be useful to flesh out scenes or show infantry moving up to the front.

So here's the lot, set up besides some vehicles from my collection:

The officer figure. He's cast with his sleeves rolled up, and since I've worn a battledess tunic and don't see how you could ever roll up the sleeves on that garment, I decided to give him a cream coloured shirt rather than a standard issue khaki one - maybe his wife sent it to him. I'm planning to use him as Lt. Denis Audet in my Platoon Forward games, which are chronicled on this blog. If you're wondering about the vegetation on his helmet, it's bits of dill weed from the herb cupboard. I dried crushed basil flakes, didn't work.

The dispatch rider, who to my mind looks like he's directing traffic. I'm not too happy with his lips, he looks like he's blowing someone a kiss. Perhaps I should fix it, or find a pretty 20mm French young woman figure for him to be looking at!

And the padre figure. If it seems that the finish on this figure looks a little, well, bumpy, you're right. Once the black spray paint I was using as a primer had dried, I was horrified to notice that it had dried in a somewhat granular form. I scraped as much of it off as I could, but I was quite upset because he was the reason I bought this pack. However, from a distance, he doesn't look too bad.

So what to do with a padre figure on the tabletop? Still scratching my head on that one. Thanks to one of Sidney Roundwood's posts, I am thinking that I could use him as a first aid man for skirmish gaming where first aid rules are allowed. To that end I thought about painting a red cross on the satchel, but too much of it is covered by his arm. Perhaps I should go back and give him a Red Cross armband. There's a thought. Here's the good padre with some AB Miniatures casualty figures from my collection.

Ill put up the other figures tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for looking, it means a lot to me. Cheers, Mike

The American Civil War Day By Day

There are a number of sesquicentenial (175 years if you're wondering) anniversary blogs tracking the American Civil War, but one I discovered today and wanted to flag is this labour of love by a talented amateur historian, Allen Gathman, Seven Score and Ten: The Civil War Sesquicential Day By Day. A quick glance of some recent posts shows that it covers an interesting gamut, from military to social and racial history. Fans of the Civil War should bookmark this blog.

Renegade Miniatures Confederate Infantry Officer

Two posts in one day is unheard of for me here, but as I was using a rebel colour palette to do the dismounts in the previous post, I opened up a package of Renegade Miniatures Rebels (Skirmish 01) and dug out this officer to give him a test paint. I also sorely more single based Rebel officers for Terrible Sharpe Sword skirmish gaming.

At first, because his hat is so big and so low over his face, I wasn't going to give him eyes, but I relented at the last minute and I think it was the right decision. I like the somewhat staring look, it goes with the set of his mouth (yelling a battle cry? screaming orders to keep the line straight as the shells come in?) and it reminds me of one of Secundus' excellent caricatures at Iron Mitten.

The tunic is medium gray with a black wash and then drybrushed in two lighter shades of gray. I find I am moving away from drybrushing and using a layered effect more and more frequently, as I like the precision it allows, but here I think the drybrush is ok.

I quite enjoyed painting this fellow, and I'm looking forward to getting the rest of that box onto the painting table. However, some unruly Irish chaps, shouting Erin Go Bragh or something like it, pushed their way on first, claiming seniority in the lead mountain, and they are destined to be the second regiment in my Irish Brigade project.

A rare view of a Confederate back.

Sash and Sabre Confederate Cavalry Dismounted Command

At the start of the year I committed to the Guild Wargamers year long build project to doing several batches of 28mm ACW figures, including a regiment of Confederate cavalry, including both mounts and dismounts. The mounted chaps have been done and posted here for a while now, as were some of the dismounts, but I had delayed finishing the dismounted command. That project is now complete. Here's the complete dismounted unit.

The dismounted unit is a bit of a dog's breakfast. The sturdy looking chaps holding rifles and carbines are mostly Redoubt, but the smaller fellows are from the ancient RAFM Missouri guerrillas blister, which I bought, well, a long time ago. The four figures in the command group are Sash and Sabre's CS8 four figure Reb Cav Command pack. Sash and Sabre makes true 25mm figures and advertise them as such. In an age of scale creep, their figures compare well to Foundry's line, but are noticeably smaller than Redoubt or Renegade, but they have their charm.

Sash and Sabre commander, a modern D'Artagnan wannabe, leans into the camera, exuding charm. This same pose has devastated the belles of Charleston on many occasions. Followers of my Bluffsburg play by email campaign, meet Col. Romney Wagner.

There's an interesting story behind these figures, which reflects well on S&S and so I want to tell as a thank you to them. I had ordered S&S' reb artillery crew pack and received C9, the cav figures, in error. Christopher at S&S was very kind about allowing me to keep these figures as a freebie, and shipped me the right figures. It was more than a few emails between the two of us, and it probably cost him more time than the order was worth, but he made it right and I am grateful to him.

S&S standard bearer, obviously a fan of General Burnside's whiskers, holding a GMB banner, protected by one of those Missouri Guerilla figures I mentioned. On the left is another S&S figure, a sergeant, based individually. He will be a useful fellow in Sharpe Practise / Terrible Swift Sword games, I think.

Commander with his S&S bugler. I tried for a very motley quality to the uniforms of these fellows, to suggest a mid or later war ad hoc medley of uniforms, but I wanted the bugler to have a proper cavalry jacket with yellow piping.

Another view of the S&S sergeant. Of the four figures in the pack, I think he's the best. I find S&S figures are a little hit and miss in the crispness of their detail, but this fellow really stands out. The pose is very dynamic, he looks like he is shouting crders in the heat of battle, and has a tough veteran's aura about him. My photography isn't kind to him, but I even managed to get something of a wood grain on the furniture of his carbine, something I'm just starting to figure out. My favourite figure of this batch.

And another view, just because.

I will note as I close that Mad Padre Wargames ticked over 30,000 page views this weekend. Yes, most of those were mine, but I am very grateful to those of you who follow this blog, I enjoy your company and encouragement, and I know that putting my work up here makes me a better painter, so thank you for that. Blessings, Mike

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A Tale Of Two Undercoats

For pretty much as long as I can remember I've used black undercoating for my miniatures, usually just a flat black spray paint from the local DIY store. I told myself that the black was forgiving, it saved time for belts and boots, took a simple silver drybrush for swords and chainmail and armour, etc. I knew that other painters used different, lighter colours for undercoat, and several years back painted some 20mm figures that had been primed in white. I found that experience irritating, and was always seeing white bits that I had to back and paint out. It wasn't that good an experience for me. However, I always wondered, was I sacrificing brightness and vividness, since black tends to suck out some of the vibrancy of the colours painted over it.

Last week however I was reading the article by Stokes Schwartz in Issue 29 of Battlegames, "Simplify Your Painting", and one of his suggestions if to use a white undercoat. Being the open minded (impressionable? easily manipulated?) fellow that I am, I thought an experiment would be in order. I bought some Army Painter white spray primer and applied it to a small number of Warlord weird war figures that are on my painting bench.

Here's the Warlord vampire hunting Padre in white, next to a Foundry Union cavalryman in my usual flat black. My hope is to put up several comparison shots as painting continues, and to get your feedback as to what you think looks better and why.

Confederate Ships Launched

A while back a Works in Progress post showed two ACW ship models near completion. I'm happy to report that they are now launched and beginning a very brief shakedown cruise before they engage the enemy in my ACW Bluffsburg email campaign.

Both these models are 1/600 scale ships from Thoroughbred Models. I had a great experience with proprietor Toby Barrett, who shipped my order promptly and without hassles. The models are finely sculpted pewter and quite lovely. Here is TS13 Confederate Cottonclad (River Ram & Gunboat) taking to the water as the CSS Maccabbee, steaming upriver to defend Bluffsburg.

Close behind is model TS75 CSS Missouri (Western River Ironclad) in its campaign role as the CSS Joshua, the flagship of the small armada protecting Bluffsburg. Just a little bit of rust on the casemate, especially around the seams and gunports.

For the bases I used thin plasticard, painted green as per this video showing two fine fellows cruising on the Kentucky River.

For the smoke I used steel wool, spray painted black, over a bit of paperclip, the end of which was glued into holes drilled into the funnels. My technique with the Dremel tool was none too steady, I fair came close to wrecking the funnels and had to quickly repair them. Mrs Padre asked me a very good question, are these ships buring coal or wood? If wood, she thought the smoke would be whiter. Coal, I hastily answered. They're burning coal. I am not entirely sure what coal supplies would have been on the Mississippi, especially for the CS, so I hope I'm right.

The bow waves and churned water by the paddlewheels and at the stern were made using Golden brand artist's moulding paste. I see I slopped a little onto the side of the Joshua, I'll have to go back and retouch that. I tried to be sparing, but I think I caught the sense of movement through the water.

So these are the first ship models I've built and painted in ages. There are some more ships on the slipways for the Union, and they should appear here soon.

Anchors aweigh, y'all!