Old Mill / Farmhouse and Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Blowing the dust off the blog before the year ends with a terrain piece I painted up because it's time I posted something and more importantly because the yearly Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is ready to start here on the 20th of December and lasts until mid March or so.

The challenge always helps me get back into the painting chair and it's a tradition I've been involved with since the 2nd iteration when it became an open event. We are now going on the 10th edition so pretty impressive run Curt has managed to keep going! With this 10th edition Curt decided to put together a special challenge where the competitors will be traveling to a unusual and fascinating kind of island so I highly recommend visiting the link I gave above for the details.

Another reason to get the blog going is the fact I need to start learning how to use my camera again which I still cannot properly use. Maybe one day I'll actually know how to use it!

The model is from Ziterdes terrain and supposed to be a mill if you add the water wheel it came with or can be used as a large farmhouse. It's made out of foam so is surprisingly very light for it's large size.

The building painted up nicely using a selection of my usual craft paints with a liberal amount of Mig pigments for some weathering. This example will work for most any European setting from the horse and musket period right up to modern day so a useful piece indeed. I think I may have some more of these buildings, but would need to check my inventory and if so will likely paint up some more.

As usual I have backlog of things to post that I'll try to add in between the material I post for the challenge, but the challenge will take priority so if not during the challenge then after. I hope everyone has enjoyed their year so far and thanks for your patience!

Merry Christmas!! May all your stocking be stuffed with plastic and lead!

Thank you for viewing!
Miniature Company- Zitterdes terrain 

Russian Napoleonic Officers

About a year ago I traded some miniatures for a large collection of Front Rank Napoleonic Russians and just finally got around to trying them out. I've never painted any Napoleonic miniatures before as the period was always pushed aside for other periods for a variety of reasons, but I've always liked the look of Front Rank Napoleonic figures and thought it would be nice to try some someday.

I do not own any LOTR miniatures for Curt's Fellowship entry fee for the AHPC, but I knew Curt was a fan of the Napoleonic period so I sent him an e-mail asking if he would accept some Napoleonic figures instead and he happily said that would be fine. Now to my shame I didn't send him a figure last year because I forgot due to other distractions(weak excuse I know) so instead of doing one figure I did two to make up for that shortcoming.

Full disclosure I've never delved into Napoleonics generally preferring the North American period, but was always curious. So how did painting my first set of Napoleonic Front Rank figures go......I enjoyed it! I think a great deal of that has to do with the sculpting style of the figure itself which made it a pleasurable experience. Also, they do look rather eye catching with all the braid work and sashes. I feel because the sculpting was so nice it made that fun to do whereas anything less well sculpted would have turned it into a chore.

So am I now going to turn out hundreds of Napoleonic figures and plunge head first into the great black hole of Napoleonics you may ask. That's hard to say as I'm a horrible butterfly making any kind of prediction difficult to say the least so for now I'll just say I'll paint some more as I both enjoyed the experience and really like how they look and see where it goes.

Since I'm  new to painting Napoleonics I had to decide on the approach I'll take in that will I worry about getting everything right or paint things how I prefer them to look while retaining the impression of the period. Well since I take liberties in almost everything I do I won't make an exception with Napoleonics and will continue to paint things in the impression I want while still retaining a legitimate period feel. If it's accurate then that's great, but if not then that's also fine as long as I'm happy with the final look which is what is important with our personal figures.

Napoleonics has a lot of white and if you have too much bright white imho it can overpower things so I decided a more subdued white was the order of the day. I've seen Russian uniform coats painted in a a dark green almost black and others medium bright which neither work for me so I went for what I feel is a medium dark green and liked how it turned out.

Hmm.... what next to do....more Russians, Texas War of Independence or perhaps something ancient ....I'm curious to find out what I'll do.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Front Rank

US Airborne 57mm Anti-Tank Gun

Just finished a US Airborne 57mm gun to beef up their anti tank capabilities. Bazooka's are pretty effective, but lack the punch at longer ranges so enter the 57mm which is both more powerful and gives a longer reach.

I really enjoy painting Artizan figures with the raised detail and characterful posing so I plan to add even more to my collection.

I painted them using mostly Vallejo paints and some Foundry with MIG pigments added to the undercarriage and gun shield. I had to create my own slots on the base for the crew which I think worked out well.

I plan on adding more forces for my Normandy collection which is filling out quite nicely and in fact I've started to think of other theaters within Europe so looking to go to Italy next.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Artizan Designs

Weathered Boarded House

The weathered boarded house from Hovels terrain is a nice little piece made out of resin that I had for awhile in my to do closet. I first tried an airbrush on it, but didn't like the result and decided to completely redo the house using my tried and true method using craft paints and mig pigments.

I really have always liked Hovel terrain pieces as I find they contain a lot of character and are great value for money. Strangely it's imperfections is where the appeal comes from. I still have several more in the line up that I hope to get to at some point.

It's a very useful piece of terrain that can be used for multiple periods in particular North America where a good portion of my projects take place.

Hopefully I'm able to keep on track producing terrain this year as would really like to add quite a few more features for future games as I feel I'm falling behind in this aspect.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Hovels

Gone to Texas

While the Texas War of Independence from Mexico did inspire many Texans and those that travel to Texas to fight for the cause there were others who went for adventure and yes profit and this is one of those individuals.

The Texas War of Independence or Revolution if you prefer was fought from Oct 2 1835 to April 21 1836 between the American/Texan colonists, Tanjanos (Mexican  Texans) allies and Volunteers from the US against the Mexican Government led by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna because they felt their rights were being taken away. After defeating the small Mexican garrisons in Texas the colonists declared the Republic of Texas to be born. This resulted in Santa Anna marching with an army to reclaim Texas with victories at Gollad and the famous battle of the Alamo before eventually being defeated by Sam Houston's newly trained Texan army at the battle of San Jacinto. While the Mexican army was forced to retreat behind the Rio Grande they never recognized the Republic of Texas and continued a slow burn conflict until the US Annexed Texas in 1845 which led directly to the Mexican - American war resulting in Mexico's defeat and end to Mexico's bid to reclaim Texas.

I've always been interested in the Texas War of Independence since I was a kid really from watching John Wayne's Alamo version(still think it's the best) and always thought it would be nice to do the period, but just didn't like any figures for it until I discovered Boot Hill miniatures and was blown away and knew I had to collect them! The figures just ooze character!  I now already have a box full of these wonderful figures in my lead pile just waiting for me to really fully commit to them, but right now I have other projects that first need attention. However, this will give a small sample of what is to come for those that are interested.

What is also great about this period is it's perfect for Sharpes Practice which I'll be modeling my forces for. It will work great for skirmishes due to the small size of the forces involved. However, I might need to create my own lists as there isn't any for it just yet.

I mostly painted the figures using Foundry paints and some Vallejo and were a pleasure to paint. While it's tiring for my old eyes I did some black lining on this figure as the range are very well suited for that and I wanted to bring out more of the character in these figures.

Still working with my camara to get the pictures to come out the way I want them, but with everything it just takes trial and error I suppose and in the case of me with tech stuff even longer.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Boot Hill Miniatures

US Airborne collection reinforcements

1 Squad Leader, 1 BAR,  2x Paras w/ Thompson smg

Adding some more Airborne reinforcements to my already existing collection. I've noticed through gaming I just didn't have enough Airborne troops so decided to paint up some more. I've been playing quite a bit of CoC and more squad options tend to be the most popular choice so these are needed.

6x Paras with M1 Garands

In terms of WWII I've always been drawn to the Airborne assets of all sides to US Para's, German Fallschirmjäger and just about any nationality that fielded troops of this type. I suppose it's a combination of uniform, Esprit de Corps and typically tough as old boots in a fight.

1x Bazooka  w/2 crew, 1x medic, and 1x LMG w/2 crew

I painted these using mostly with Vallejo paints and some Foundry and AP adding additional highlights plus some MIG pigments on the bases.

The figures themselves are from Artizan Designs and because of some exaggerations they pack a lot of character and are very painter friendly. They are really great models to work with just the right amount detail to suggest who and what they are, but not so much you get lost in it.

I have some more on they way....

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Artizan Designs