Khador: Old Witch and Scrapjack

This month's 'Colore Ton Monde' entry, and one that I took a bunch of inspirational pictures to help me with the rusting effects. Very useful that the hydrants round here are in Khador red I thought!

I really threw the kitchen sink at this model as far as techniques go, as it is also contains my first attempt at OSL, and there's some luminescent paint in there too (the Old Witch's Staff, and Scrappy's eyes glow in the dark... a little). The only thing I thought to try and didn't was some crackle paint on the legs, but you never know, I may go back and try that, as Scrappy really is the idea candidate for that.

On with the pictures, as always, click to embiggen.

Some close-ups on the rusting and weathering effects. I'm not going to give any close-ups of the legs, as I had them looking okay, then I went a little overboard, and messed them up.

Finally, the main thrust behind the theme this year was the prevalence of slush and snow earlier in the month, clogging up the city streets. I tried to make my own slush mix, using white sand as the ice/snow particles, mixed with water effect gel and some muddy colours. The final effect was less than good. The water effects dried too clear, and the mud was too uniform to look like real slush. I tried to add some snow powder on top, but it didn't save it, so the whole lot got dry-brushed with some white. A new layer pf snow to cover all the imperfections. Isn't that why we like the look of newly fallen snow?

The water effect was good for sticking the white sand to up-lifted foot of Scrappy, there has to be some mileage in that as a technique somewhere.

The Old Witch is very modest in comparison. I re-used the palette from the Feralgeist on her staff, with an added coat of Glow-in-the-dark paint on top. The effect is very feint, but it's there. And yes, I do plan to go back to the Feralgeist and use the paint on him!

 

The last pic on the left is the glow effect on the staff. The pic on the right has been monkeyed with slightly to brighten the effect.

She truly is a great mini, with lots of hidden gems dotted around (mostly faces in the fold of her cloak/bag, with the odd skull here and there). I even used her in her first game, which is a long time coming, since I have owned the model for a good number of years now, maybe 7 or 8. She didn't win, but it was close. This odd couple will certainly be seeing the table again, and soon.

Book Review: Churchill's First War

Young Winston and the Fight Against the Taliban.

Con Coughlin

The second of the books I picked up in Heathrow, along with this one I have already reviewed. For some reason, I find books cheaper in the UK than here in Canada, at least those on the Bestsellers shelf, but I digress.

The author of this book does not have a history as an author of historical biographies, but comes from the subject as a journalist in the field in Afganistan, and the 'fight against terror' in the middle east (he is currently the Defense Editor for the Telegraph).

At first the link between Chruchill and the Taliban seemed to me to be a stretch, just to get a modern tag-line on a historical book, however, at this particular time in Churchill's life, he was directly involved with the conflict on the North West Frontier, or the border between British India and Afghanistan. However, the links that I thought would be tenuous or forced between Churchill's experiences on the North-West Frontier and the modern conflict in the region turned out to be subtly and inextricably linked. The peace that was finally negotiated by the British Raj and the Pashtun tribesmen on the frontier was maintained under Pakistani rule, and only finally broken 100 years later with the interventions of the USA and Allied forces in recent years. The lifestyle of the tribesmen on the frontier, had changed little in that time, and the issues that were faced by Churchill, and the style of fighting of the tribesmen and the problems that caused an invading larger army had little changed, even with the technology that modern forces can muster. It was not for nothing that Churchill's account of the conflict The Story of the Malakand Field Force was reprinted at the time of the US/Afghanistan conflict, and read by all the major players in the theatre.

The book also gave an insight into the personality of Winston Churchill, specifically his early life. He was a great man, and a polymath, but not someone I have much studied, other than the information you pick up by osmosis being born and raised in the UK. His goal of always becoming a career politician, and how he went about achieving that goal, especially in his early military career, was interesting to read, and certailnly piqued my interest to find out more. I went on to watch the Gathering Storm, which is obviolusy a much later time in his life. It has also made me want to go find a copy of Young Winston, as it has been an age since I watched it.

Back to the book though. As a historical piece, and also as a book that puts a light on the current day happenings on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, I can but recommend this book.

Find it here on amazon.ca.

N.B. the book goes by the subtitle 'Young Winston at War with the Afghans' in North America.

Inspiration

This month's "Colore ton Monde" challenge is to weather a mini. I have started to do so on my mini of choice, but more on that shortly.

In the meantime, I have taken some pics as inspiration for painting rust, and melting snow. Two factors I am trying to incorporate into this month's figures. I was happy to find the hydrant, as it's been painted in Khador red!

 

 

I'm also going to try some new things with snow on the base. Looking to get a more slushy/icy look.

Yes, this stuff is still lying around here.

Book Review: All the Countries We've Ever Invaded

All the Countries We've Ever Invaded.

...and a Few We Didn't Get Round To.

Stuart Laycock.

This is the first of two books I bought at Heathrow, when last passing through. The We in the title refers to the British, hence buying it in the UK, however, the title of the book remains unchanged for the North American release of the book.

For the purposes of this book, invaded also includes disputes and incursions in the territorial waters of a country, pirate/privateer activity, as well as the incursion of armed explorers, as long as they working under the approval of the government.

For a brief resume of the countries we have not invaded (obviously the shorter list) there were a couple of newspaper articles that appeared when the book was released. This one in the Telegraph has a handy map, and a list at the bottom.

Clearly, though, as wargamers, we're much more interested in the ones we did invade, and that's where this book comes into its own. Every country in the world is listed, and under each entry a quick run down of how the British (or English, if pre-union) army has been involved there. This obvioulsy includes a great deal of our Colonial past, as well as giving a more rounded apprecition of the many theatres of opperation during the two world wars.

The book is also a wealth of little gems that, when researched a little, should give wonderful historical gaming scenarios. For example, that time in Vietnam, after the war, where British and Indian Troops, and an attached Japanese Batallion, took on the communist Viet Minh forces. Or that other time, when Royalists and Parliamentarians duked it out in the Carribean (Barbados stayed loyal to the Crown, so Cromwell sent an invasion force). The book is full of such little tid-bits.

The book is laid out as an alphabetical list by country, and therefore is easy to pick up and put down whilst reading. It also means that it works as a reference book (there is also a full index).

Sound like your kind of thing? Go look it up. I think it's worth the money.

Get it here on amazon.ca.

Colore ton Monde Avril/April

The results of the March Colore ton Monde painting challenge are up here.

The results of my March painting for the challenge can be found here, with more pictures of the minis here.

April's challenge is as follows:

Ça fond enfin...

La neige commence enfin à fondre, se transformant en névasse (!?!) et en gadoue, salissant bottes et voitures partout où elles passent. Pour avril, nous vous invitons à peindre un modèle "sale". Nous étendons le thème à tout ce qui peut être considéré comme du weathering.

It's Finally Melting...

The snow is starting to finally melt, and change into névasse (!?!) or slush, dirtying boots and cars everywhere they go. For April, we invite you to paint a 'dirty' model. We extend this theme to include any kind of weathering techniques.

Looks like it's out with the weathering powders and inks this month! That'll be fun!

Urban War: Viridian Special Forces

As I posted at the end of last month, I painted up my Viridian Special Forces for March's Colore ton Monde. Here are some more pics of, and info on these minis. These are the first edition Viridian Special forces, and in my opinion, the nicer ones. The second wave ones have large shoulder pads. Which, although tying them in with the marines of the same faction, would rather stand out on the battle field. They are also a bit smaller than the other Urban War Minis, and have less to tie them in to the rest of the faction in general, but I still feel they have much more character.

The Squad Leader

It is interesting to note, that of the four members of this unit, 3 are female. As are the veteran sniper and commander figure. Furthermore, none of these female figures have gratuitously exposed cleavages. Yes, I am aware that this company made up for this with the syntha faction running around naked, but we must count the victories too. It is an example that games like Dystopian Legions have failed to follow.

The bases for these guys have finally arrived, and will be added shortly.