Today's update and a favour...

First Wednesday of 2023, so it's a paint and natter session at the Mill House. Major bit of progress for today was acquiring four lengths of 8'x1' shelving, and having AndyM (who is much better with power tools than I) fit two of them over the workshop bench and hot wire cutter. 

(The other two are awaiting being cut to add six more shelves to two of the bookcases in the studio.)

The favour - is anyone I know coming over from the US soonish and would be willing to take delivery of and bring a smallish parcel (a bunch of MDF buildings) over with them? (I have a supplier who won't deliver to the UK, and the likes of Shipito are a bit pricey.)

Catchup on a couple of days of stuff

Been tidying the storeroom a bit (as opposed to the workshop or the store garage... I really may have too many places to keep stuff :D), as a break from actually thinking since I've done far too much of that for work this week.

Yesterday (in my lunch break) I painted (since they arrived) some Reaper Bones rats, using various shades of Contrast paints... enough to be serviceable tokens for an RPG. They're now on the 'things to grab when I need a wandering monster' shelf :D

Today, as a break from shifting boxes and counting and sorting a big Really Useful Box of Mantic Elves (over 200 on their sprues, in case you were wondering!), I assembled 20 Mantic skeletons (actually from the original Dwarf Kings Hold game). They're the original plastic ones, with odd little tabs that essentially are where you glue the ribcage and upper body onto the spine and lower body. They actually go together surprisingly well, and I will probably undercoat them and paint them sometime next week. Undecided whether to go the Contrast route, or spray with AP Skeleton Bone, or even spray black and drybrush.... We shall see.

Tomorrow is a Compendium evening :D

Stormtroopers, and stuff for sale

Finished off the bunch of Imperial Assault Stormtroopers to a tabletop standard in my lunch break, bar basing (probably flat grey, as they're for a boardgames) and a little touching up in white.

Also did some tidying ready for tomorrow's D&D session, which has resulted in the following being available: prices do not include postage.

• WAB Age of Arthur: £25 (I have two copies but I'm keeping one :D)
• WAB El Cid: £15
• Warhammer ECW: £10
• God Of Battles (by Jake Thornton, very good fantasy rule set): £15
• Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game (hardback): £10
• WOTC The Primal Order RPG supplement: £15

Wrapping up the Compendium day 2

Got some useful feedback back from Pat, one of my consultants on natural dyestuffs, which I've added to the relevant appendix. Also tidied up a few more bits and pieces in the main body of the text, included fixing bits of the weather rules as they apply to the setup for battles (as opposed to raid) which has been sitting as a red-inked couple of paragraphs for far too long (mostly because I didn't want to have to rewrite it if the proposed battle rules turned out not to work!).

Tomorrow, some stuff in the Hirelings section that's been a red-ink <todo> for far too long.

Also trying to decide if this (on the right) is a useful weathered parchment background - some much abused silicone baking sheet. I stuck it through the scanner and cleaned it up a bit in Pixelmator Pro, and the answer seems to be yes.

Other than that I've test painted one Star Wars: Imperial Assault Stormtrooper, sworn some more at Citadel Contrast Apothecary White (which I do NOT like), re-sprayed all 9 again and painted one!

More Dungeon Saga painting with Contrast paints

Didn't get stuff written up last night, as it was (even with the heat on) bloomin' cold in the studio, largely because I hadn't been in there long enough for it to warm up from the 4ºC outside!

So, here are some skellies....

And a dragon (which still needs a bit of clean up and eye and mouth detail, and a base...)...

More Paras....

Well, I do have four platoons of 3 sections to do by OML8, so I figure if I can get half a dozen done every couple of days, that'll stand me in good stead.

So, yesterday, I did another half dozen :D these are actually from the now-deleted Flames of War Easy Company pack, so they're mostly not in full drop kit, but they're very characterful sculpts (and I still haven't sorted my macro lens, or the lighting on my workbench).

Currently trying to figure out what the big bag of FoW metals I bought off 'American Dale' at our club a few years ago - I think they're FoW metal US Paras, but I'm not sure and I can't find a record. 

Hybrid painting US Paras...

Being relatively happy with the stuff I did the other day, and feeling in the mood to paint again, I boosted my lone paratrooper in M1942 (i.e. D-Day) uniform to a full section. Also, Per found an interesting link to someone who'd really gone the whole hog on painting WW2 with contrast paints, which has a few interesting insights but... hrm. Some of the end results are a bit off.

In summary, then, after some more experimentation - this is basically a hybrid Contrast/ordinary paint scheme, a bit tweaked from last time:

• undercoat:
• Halfords Ultra Matt Khaki Camouflage paint (note to self, need more)
• paint the Contrast paints first, because it's much easier to overpaint Contrast paints with normal acrylics if you mess up, than the other way round:
• Jump boots - Gore Grunta Fur
• M1942 kit - Aggaros Dunes
• Gloves - Nazdreg Yellow
• Now on to the normal Vallejo AP colours:
• Webbing, pouches, pack etc - Vallejo Khaki + AP Military Shader [EDIT: or Vallejo Green Grey + AP Soft Tone]
• Helmet, grenades, elbow and knee patches - Vallejo Brown Violet/Olive Drab
• Face - AP Tanned Flesh + AP Soft Tone
• Weapons, entrenching tool handles - Vallejo Chocolate Brown + Warlord Dark Gunmetal [EDIT: or CC Snakebite Leather in the previous phase]
• Shoulder patches (I still can't believe I even thought about doing these!) - AP Deep Blue, Pure Red, Matt White, a very fine brush and a magnifier

And there you have it. One was based earlier - PVA, War World Gaming Army Coarse Sand (which is brilliant stuff), then a heavy wash of Vallejo Sepia wash, and some static grass from the three pots of sweepings from Bloody Omaha :D (For drier earth, I'd have drybrushed with something like Vallejo Grey Green before the grass.)

I'm relatively proud of these, given my rubbish eyesight - normally my 15mms are very much a sketch - they pass the 2' test but I really wouldn't recommend looking at the Omaha figures too closely (fortunately, in all the times it's been shown at shows, no-one seems to!). These still aren't exhibition standard, but they're much much better than my usual. Total time for the six figures I remembered to time, about 100 mins. I would get better photos but my macro lens doesn't want to talk to my newer Canon, and the older one's battery's flat :D

Lazy US Paras in M1942 uniform

As I have noted in the past, US M1942 uniform is a sod to paint, because no-one makes the colour out-of-the-bottle, no two painters agree on how to mix it, and I'm not entirely sure everyone agrees on what colour it actually is!

With a view to a project for next year, I've had a couple more ideas... Several tests, with both Halfords ultra matt Khaki camouflage primer and Citadel's Wraith Bone, and then trying various things....

Citadel's Wraith Bone undercoat:

• AP Monster Brown (fail even when mixed with AP Strong Tone)
• Citadel Contrast Aggaros Dunes (too sandy, but...)

Halfords ultra matt Khaki undercoat:

• AP Strong Tone/Military Shader in a 50/50 mix (not brown enough)
• CC Aggaros Dunes - ahah! (thanks to Rob Avery!)

Ok. We might have something here. It's not 100% perfect, but it's really preeeeetty close.

Onwards with that then:

• Webbing, pouches, pack etc - Vallejo Grey-Green + Strong Tone
• Helmet, grenade, elbow and knee patches - Vallejo Brown Violet (now renamed Olive Drab) + Strong Tone
• Jump Boots - Vallejo Red Leather + Strong Tone, although CC Gore Grunta Fur is probably better (will try that next time!)
• Gloves - CC Nazdreg Yellow
• Face - CC Guilliman Flesh is too dark on the Halfords primer, so I over brushed with AP Barbarian Flesh and a bit of Strong Tone
• Rifle - AP Werewolf Fur + Warlord Dark Gunmetal
• Shoulder Patches - AP Deep Blue, Pure Red, Matt White and a lot of prayer

Here we are. I should point out that this is a 15mm Battlefront plastic figure from the Open Fire box (not a 28!), and it took me all my lunch break with the aid of a daylight lamp and magnifier :D I shall have a crack on a metal sculpt sometime if I can find one. I may also see if I can get a better photo with my DSLR...

GW Contrast video up

After more faffing and convincing YouTube the Trouble At T'Mill account is really me, so I can upload LONG videos....

Disclaimers of yesterday apply.

GW Contrast video (edited, and very slowly uploading :()

Just finished editing the video from yesterday, so I was hoping by the time I'm done typing this I could link it at the bottom.

Note (as I say on the video when it eventually makes it) - I'm not a great painter (my eyesight precludes any ambitions in that direction), and this isn't a demo. It's me recording my impressions of the new paints as I work my ham-fisted way through a few Dark Ages warriors from Gripping Beast. It's not by any stretch of the imagination (however warped yours may be) a tutorial on how to make them look good, merely good enough to rank up from 2' away.

Really.

If you want to waste 30 mins listening to me burble, that's fine, but don't expect to learn much about proper figure painting from it :D

Also, you will get to see and hear the paint shaker in action, because Contrast paints need some serious agitation. Apologies for the noise, and also for the not-brilliant framing of the video, as I'm not used to filming myself paint and I need the figure closer to me than is really good for the camera view :D

Sadly, it's taking forever to upload, and I have to be up for church, so I'm going to leave it to its own devices and do that last bit in the morning....

GW Contrast paint tryout

...because all the cool kids are doing it.

Four GW Dark Ages warriors for a test piece. I've videoed the entire (well barring the non-Contrast bits) process as well, and I may edit that and put it up if it's useable and you actually want to listen to me talking to myself and pontitficating in general while painting :D The video is 38 minutes, so that's how long it took me, not counting the undercoat and the shields.

Impressions? For a painter of my standard, it's absolutely no worse, probably better and certainly quicker, than base coat plus wash or dip. Yes, there are a couple of bits I need to touch up, looking at the photos :D. It's also worth keeping a bit of paper by your palette to run your brush on as a guide for the colour it will probably dry to.

The undercoat. It's supposedly 'ultra smooth'. It's also a bit enthusiastic,  so be gentle when spraying.

Not easy to tell what the end result colour will be from the bottle.

Undercoated

And done. The shields weren't done using contrast. 

Some 95th, and a club notice

I got my first batch of 95th back from my painter last night - very nice they are, too.

They're from either the now defunct Alban Miniatures or Offensive Miniatures - I think the latter -  except the mounted officer, who is, I'm fairly sure, Foundry, and the bloke in the top hat and stolen Rifles jacket, who is from Eagle Miniatures' Spanish guerrillas. Huge thanks to Tom, who clearly sees and wields a brush better than I do :D

In other news, becoming fed up of how easily the newer Army Painter paints separate, such that your first squeeze from a bottle of (say) Desert Yellow can be completely clear, I bought a paint shaker (OK, Amazon sell them as nail varnish shakers, but since neither the wife or I paint our nails, it won't get misappropriated, which is more than can be said for at least two kitchen knives so far :D)

In other other news.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If the only means you have of getting news about Peterborough Wargames Club is reading my blog, then:

1. Sign up to our forum and/or Facebook group.
2. We are MOVING VENUES for the next three Mondays (1st, 8th, 15th) to HERE, as in where I am typing this, while the St. John's folks redecorate the whole place. More details on the club site and FB group.

On which score, I've just spent an hour rearranging things in the terrain workshop half of the studio so we can fit three scenery cupboards, 36 baseboards and three gaming tables in (which includes solving problems like 'where do the Omaha boards go?' :D

Ok, that's not what I expected to run out of...

Finished painting the SdKhz 251. Decided I probably need a paint shaker, since the newer AP colours and some of the Vallejo's seem very prone to separate. As a side effect of this, the Vallejo camo brown dried surprisingly glossy, so after a ink wash (in itself semi-gloss) I figured it could stand a coat of AP Anti-shine....

Picks up first can. Very empty sounding rattle.

Picks up second can. Even more empty sounding rattle.

Hrm.

Let history record there was just enough to do the half-track, with several vigorous re-shakes.

I wonder if Reuben still has any in left-over stock?

(And yes, I do know I was out of Balkankreuz decals, but that's another issue :D)

Some thoughts from Games Workshop

Yup, you heard me right. I have in the past been more than a little scathing about GW's approach to what they consider their hobby, but I had my attention drawn to something by them that I actually agree with wholeheartedly today, The full article (largely on the subject of their new Contrast paint range and 'Battle Ready' is here, but allow me to share a quote or two (emphasis mine):

Whether it’s [an award-winning] model or the first miniature that you’ve ever painted, you should be proud of your work. No hobbyist should ever feel like they’re not good enough to paint – instead, we want to celebrate the time, effort, care and attention that everybody puts into their models.

And:

 Battle Ready isn’t a bar you have to pass to be allowed into our hobby. Rather, it’s an achievable and universally recognised standard that’s meant to say YES to your army, YES to accessibility and YES to more games with more painted models. Battle Ready is about making painting a celebration rather than a chore!

OK, so they're GW and they have to give a name to the process, but essentially they're talking about base colour, wash, detail. Works for me and my ham-fisted painting[1] :D And frankly, anything which encourages more people to get more painted figures on the table, is just brilliant in my book, whoever it's from.

---

[1] All 500+ 15mm figures on the Omaha Beach game at Salute were painted by your humble and somewhat average scribe. I don't think anyone commented either way :D

No, I haven't finished tidying the workbench. It's covered in bits of computer and hard drive shipping boxes :D

Dyeing in the Dark Ages....

There's already a section in the Compendium on dying in the Dark Ages (as I felt the end-of-year death rules in the Dux Britanniarum main book are a bit vicious - you have about a 50% chance of surviving your 30s and 33% your 40s :D), but I spent yesterday (between watching music at the O2 again) chatting about dyeing in the Dark Ages.

Specifically, my friend Lissa has being doing a course on natural dyestuffs, and has kindly agreed to let me have some good pictures of the resulting colours and vet a section for the Compendium.

Back from the painter

Two leaders and a priest

As my eyes aren't up to detail painting (let's be honest here, folks, my painting is a fair way short of Andy's on a good day!), I elected to get a Romano-British force for Dux Britanniarum painted by a friend of a friend so I have both sides for play testing.

Just got them back today - worth every penny.

Lord, champion and standard bearer

The leaders and elites are from the Saxon Miniatures Winter King set, and the rest are GB plastics from a mix of the Late Roman and Dark Ages sets (as is the standard bearer). Shield transfers and banner are LBM.

I didn't ask for them to be based, as I wanted there to be something of me in the figures.

The block of eight are the elites, the levy are bare-headed.

Natural dye colours for Dark Ages figures

As I've just been speccing up how I'd like a batch of my Romano-British painted (eye's on the mend, not completely fixed, remember :D), I dug out a couple of useful posts from my blog a couple summers ago when we wandered round some Dark Ages/early Mediaeval historical sites in France.

Specifically, these two posts have links to images of wool dyed using various natural substances like madder, woad and weld.

• Display at La Musée Des Temps Barbare (the museum of the Dark Ages) in Marle (NE of Paris)
• Display in the museum at the Bayeux Tapestry in (no, really!) Bayeux.

Warbases' stag

The stag I used in the Dux Brit scenario on Monday was from Warbases - actually the second, picked up at Hammerhead to replace the first that lost an antler when our postman shoved it through the letterbox - as ever, thanks to Martin and Diane for excellent customer support.

Nice easy paint job: I decided to go for a slightly dappled grey/white, rather than full on mythic snow-white/albino. Black Army Painter spray undercoat, followed by a second coat, this time of Uniform Grey, sprayed relatively lightly from about a foot away, and then a third of white from even further away.

Army Painter soft tone wash, allow to dry, fairly heavy dry brush with white. Antlers are Uniform Grey with Skeleton Bone tips.

Base is Tamiya dark earth texture paint, and some Javis grass and Army Painter tufts. 

You know you've been a modeller too long....

...when the wife assumes that anything useful in the paint/glue department in the house will be in your workshop, not the shed.

As it turns out she was wrong: since I don't paint with enamels, or use the Army Painter dip (I use the ink washes) any more, I hadn't stolen the white spirit :D

Painting M1942 US Para uniform 2

As you may recall, I picked up some Halfords 'Camouflage Khaki' spray as a match for US M1942 uniform colour. Finally got to test it this afternoon...

Well. It covers well, and doesn't run or clump - leaves detail clearly visible on these Battlefront 15mm 'Easy Company' figures.

The colour in the photo is a bit washed out from what it actually looks like, as I'm holding that fairly close to a small fluorescent strip. However, it is quite a bit paler than I'd like.

For my next trick, therefore, a very generous wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink (much earlier in the painting process than I usually would). If I was actually wanting to preserve the colour of the paint, I'd be using Soft Tone, given how pale it is. But I'm not - I actively want to darken the colour - so...

I'm actually quite surprised how well that worked!