Friday, July 20, 2012

SCW 1936-39 International Brigade Group 1


Hi folks I've been pretty busy lately so I've started to fall behind on both my posting and commenting. I'm not a prolific poster, but I do try for at least one every week to 10 days and more if things are going really well. So I'll try and pick it up some again.

I like to do small projects in between my larger ones to give me a break and skirmish games often are ideal for this like the SCW and others. For example I'll paint a few figures and then back to the big project and then back to small project's for a short break etc.

The Spanish Civil War 1936-39 is kind of a niche period, but is growing. I like the feel of the period and the large selection of very different type of troops, unusual tanks, trucks and vehicles. The range of uniforms varies from civilian clothing to completely standardized issued uniforms with much of it falling in between which can give a real visual feast on the gaming table!


 Since I enjoy working in earth tones so much it's not surprising I was drawn to the International brigade which was by and large outfitted with whatever khaki or brown coloured clothing they could manage to get their hands on. This gives me a real opportunity to experiment with all the range of browns, greens and khaki I care to try as the International brigade seldom had any two soldiers look exactly alike. For example:



After painting up a decent size force of International Brigade troops I'll  probably begin painting some of the Militia next. When I've built up the Republicans I'll move on to the Nationalists as I prefer collecting for both sides on most projects.

As to backgrounds I'm trying different coloured ones as photobucket's ability to adjust white backgrounds isn't very good at all any more and frustrates me to no end. I now do all the work from my computer and just use photobucket for sizing,smudge corrections and distribution. Of course I will still do white backgrounds, but will for sure continue to add others.

I'll be adding terrain to the pics when I get some painted up to add some more period flavour, but until then it will be this brown background for this range. Another thing is sometimes I like my figures to "pop", but with this project I wanted the figures very "warm" and so I tried to keep the tones subtle and not too dramatic on these. Hopefully I got it right.

Remember how I said the period is growing well I think Empress miniatures can take a heap of credit for it in regards to the 28mm crowd. The figures shown are all from Empress as are all my SCW figures and let me say they really are nice figures. Very nicely cast with excellent detail. My only critique are they are small for 28mm which isn't a negative if you like that, but I've been moving up to large slightly exaggerated figures like  Redoubt, Bicorne, Artizan etc. as I generally prefer that. However, thanks to the casting and sculpting being so good I'm able to enjoy painting the Empress figures as the detail is raised enough that I can get to it.
Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Empress

23 comments :

  1. Excellent work, Christopher! I have a bunch of these as well - all primed and ready to roll, waiting for the muse to hit... When I was doing my MA I had the opportunity to interview a Canadian veteran of the SCW (he was a member of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion in the International Brigade). Fascinating history but very sad as well.

    Looking forward to seeing more!

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  2. Very good work indeed

    Best regards Michael

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  3. These looks sensational! This is a period that I have to confess that I know very little but have been taken by the miniatures; wonderful stuff.

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  4. Lovely work Chris, well done on the International Brigade members.

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  5. Nice job, and an interesting new period to game.

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  6. Interesting project, thanks for sharing.

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  7. I too, know very little of this period but these guys are fantastic Christopher. Great work!

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  8. good paintwork! well done!

    Best regards

    thefrenchjester " No pasaran!"

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  9. As you know, I'm a great fan of this period. And you have a made an excellent paintjob on your 'Internacionales' !

    ¡No pasarán!

    J-B

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  10. Great painting Christopher, the SCW is an interesting period.

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  11. Yeah you did it! Your IB looks magificent, I hope they´ll engage my Carlists one day in the future!

    Jan

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  12. Thank you everyone for your kind support!:-)

    @Curt
    Looking forward to seeing yours too and how nice to chat with a real veteran of the times!

    @Jehan
    I must confess your fantastic SCW miniatures had a huge influence on getting me into the period! Because of you I tried the brown background.;-) Now you even have me looking at my Landsknechtes!:-0

    @Lt. Hazel
    You also influenced me into the period with your lovely SCW figures.
    I too would really like to have a game of it someday!

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  13. Excellent work as usual Christopher

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  14. lovely painting, Christopher. I know what you mean about falling behind in posting and commenting...

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  15. First-class painting and basing as always. There are a few SCW fans here in my area, but they use smaller scales. Nice to see it in 28mm. Best, Dean

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  16. Superb painting and sculpts. I look forward to seeing this collection develop.

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  17. Fantastic stuff, Christopher. The SCW is a really interesting conflict. We've had some quite unusual games in the period, and your wonderful painting will really make any game come to life.

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  18. Christopher, really great looking figs. It's a period I've thought about gaming too.

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  19. Great stuff as usual Christopher. Wouldn't surprise you that I have them waiting for a paintjob as well. Now if you continue SCW posts I can see them moving forward in the queue here as well.
    Cheers, Michael

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  20. Thanks everyone again very kind indeed!

    @Sidney

    Thanks for the tip on TFL Triumph of Will!

    @MiniMike
    Lol! Indeed I'm not surprised you have them in the queue and as a matter of fact I would be surprised if you didn't!:-)

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  21. nice work your beautiful hard work for this, following you

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