Colore Ton Monde: July

June's challenge was to paint something unfinished. They don't get any more unfinished than the Napoleon Vignette I've been moving around my painting bench for over a year now. I mean, he was all but done.  Well, now he is finished. I may go back and do some touch ups here and there as I'm not 100% happy with him as I didn't do too much on the lacing for Roustam, but he'll do for now.

On to this month's challenge:

Fierté nationnale

Pour le mois de juillet, nous vous invitons à démontrer votre fierté nationale en peignant un modèle aux couleurs de la nation, ou en peignant un étendard. Par contre, pour varier un peu, c'est le côté fédéraliste que nous soulignons cette fois-ci, alors la couleur thème en question est le rouge !

National Pride

For the month of July, we invite you to demonstrate your pational pride by painting a model in the national colours, or by painting a standard. However, for a little variation, we're underlining the federal side this time, so, the colour-scheme this time is red!

Just for Canada Day!

Red and White it is. I think there may be something I can do for Dystopian Legions that will easily fall into this category. As an added bonus, KoB models not only need red and white, but they count towards my own nationality (in a way). Double win!

One Year Ago Today

Over on his imaginatively titled blog, 'The Wargaming Site', Phil has started a little meme, by posting a little look back at his blog posts from one year ago. As my blog has now been running for over a year, I too can join in on this little retrospective journey. I have chosen today, as 1 year ago today, I posted not one, not two, but four separate posts. What a binge!

The first was a sneak peak, posted in the morning, as I was in a great rush to post some pics of the minis I had painted the evening before (ah youth!)

Then there was a WIP of my Napoleon vignette. This one has at least been pushed a bit further forward since last year, but is by no means finished. This may indeed be the kick in the pants I need to complete him. Napoleon is all but done (a little finishing on the face), and Roustrum Raza needs quite a bit of work, then on with the base and tidying things up. I could really complete this in an evening if I was motivated.

Later in the day, I posted my painting scheme for the 95th Rifles, partly as a memory aid for myself, partly as information to others. Quite luckily too, as I have never gone back to finish these guys, they are in exactly the same state as they were after this post (with one mini half finished, still stuck to a cork). Coincidentally, this post has also been my top read post. The title may be the reason, as I'm sure it gets much traffic from google searches for that exact phrase. Although I never know of anyone has followed it, as no bugger has ever commented on it in that regard (well, except one Irish Bugger).

Lastly, I posted the actual minis, of the 95th Rifles, along with a little retrospective of why I am invested in the unit, which goes along the same lines as every other gamer's attachment to these guys I'm sure.

So there we have it, another little retrospective look at past blog posts. I'm sure some of which will be new to my more recent followers. Enjoy!

Valkyrie I

I get easliy distracted. I am almost finished one project, but a 2 week break from the brushes, a box through the post from Heresy miniatures and oops! Shinybloodyitis is a royal pain in the buttocks.

I went with the 2nd from the left

But when this mini arrived from Heresy, I knew it had to be made into a little vignette. The head on a stick just cries out to be placed on a scenic base. I immediately though of the metal dead trees I bought back in June, and a bunch of little crows I have collected from the Old Witch and my Menoth Wracks. I found a tree that was suitably dead, stuck it on a base and covered it with crows. I had initially though to give the tree some Autumn foliage, and go with an autumnal paint scheme on the Valkyrie, but I don't think I have enough branches on the stump to make this so. I may have to sculpt a small branch or two before going any further. 

Heidi Sigrsdotter, with exrta head

What use is she as a gaming model? That's a good question. To be fair, my actual gaming is so limited recently, an excersise in modelling and painting is enough of an excuse to go with, but let's play the 'what if' game. I have based her on a large (40mm) base, and as such she can be used as a hero/warlord in SAGA. This would of course take my miniature count for SAGA to 2, both of whom are worlords, but I feel this is a moot point, as I think both models are nice little vignettes, and both were a joy to work on. This does mean I will be looking out for some regular viking models to complete the warband to a playable state.

The other day, I posted a bunch of links by accident (I have draft posts of links for various subjects). As this post, sparse as it was, garnered at least 1 comment, I shall repost the links I have collected for my hypothetical viking/Saga force here:

CP models Viking Berserkers

CP models Anglo Danes

CP models Skraelings

Bronze Age Miniatures, have a small but perfectly formed range of Vikings and Picts. Including some nice historical (i.e. not half naked) female Vikings.

Colore ton Monde, July: Saga Vikings II

Polyfila and sand, with a bit of water to make the base. Freydis was originally just placed there to make sure the correct size and shape of hole was left for her, with the plan being to remove her for painting. However, the basing agent seems to have stuck her tight, so I waited for it to dry, then gave the whole base a good coating of PVA. The standard bearer still comes off easily, so the two can be separated for undercoating and painting.

As I mentioned previously, the going is slower this month, so I don't know if I'll get this finished in time (we're half way through the month already). I may have to undercoat some of the other single minis I spoke of to make sure I have an entry for July's challenge. A burst of an evening or two should get this one going on the paint though, so fingers crossed.

Another challenge, another vignette

Over on La Bricole, a painting challenge has been launched. At first I read it was to paint a vignette, and I got all excited, as I could post the viking vignette I'm currently making, but then I read further, and, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Battle of Salamanca, they are looking for Napoleonic vignettes. The fact that I need to post a 'nude' picture at the start means I can't sneak in Ol Boney that is languishing half finished in my cupboard (Ok, so more than half finished really, there's no excuse for him not to be done in 1 sitting). Shame shame shame. 2 strikes, but not out.

So, where to go with this? I have a few nude Napoleonics kicking around, mostly French, with a smattering of 95th Riflemen in there too. I could go with a command base for my French column, that might work.

I am also tempted to go over to the other side of the Atlantic, for the other war in 1812, but that means a shopping spree on the internet for minis.

Family commitments mean I'll be unlikely to get much done on either vignette in the next 3 weeks, but I do have time to plan this one, as it's not due till September. Time to go reading up on the burning of Washington, there's sure to be something there that will make an interesting little stand.

Colore ton Monde, July: Saga Vikings I

Chop chop chop went the cutting tools, and on we go with this month's challenge: to paint a mini I have yet to play. In this case, I'm going with a game I have yet to play, Saga. As previously mentioned,  I have bought a couple of viking minis, and plan to turn them into a command base.



The mini in its original form



I started off with the standard bearer. As he is going to be on the base with the leader.I felt his winged helmet was too much. I felt it would draw the eye away from the leader and onto himself. I want the focus on this model to be the standard, not the man. I think it makes him a little more historically accurate too. Also, I feel the knife he was holding was a bit of a rubbish weapon for a viking, so off it came too, to be replaced eventually with a shield. As this left him essentially armless, I added the belt knife that came with the miniature I intend to use for the leader (Freydis). Again, I don't want her to be too busy a miniature with all the little odds and sods that work on a single mini being too much for the vignette.

The plasticard for his base was a kind donation from Guillaume. A little polyfilla and sand will be added once I decide on the placing for Freydis. I did think to use some green stuff to cover the rest of his legs in fur, as I'm not a fan of the peddle-pushers look he's got going on.

I also got some shields from the bits box of my FLGS. The dwarf shields I picked up, although blank, were too small for these guys. There was one larger orc shield, and a chaos shield that seemed the right size. the insert in the orc shield is, I think, from the LoTR Rohan minis. I have seen a few of these minis turn up in Saga blog posts, as they are more historical/dark age in their look than a lot of GWs other stuff. The boss is just a done of green stuff to fill the hole. The other shield, on the left, is a chaos shield. I liked the torn cloth look, although the spike is a bit too much, and if i go with this one, I'll round that off.

What do you guys think? Which one to use?

I think, in the end, the Freydis will not be going through as much of a conversion, and may keep her current shield, unless I find a good way of separating her arm from the shield it is now attached to.

Saga

Sculpt by Werner Klocke

In a direct response to this post, and a wander down to one of the other gaming stores in town who have a large selection of Reaper miniatures, I selected myself some completely historically inaccurate vikings. The first was this little lady, who could depict Freydis Eiriksdottir. The second was this standard bearer, with whom I will complete a little vignette to act as the chief of a viking horde. Yes, they are rather fantastical representations of Vikings, but to my mind Saga, or at least the sagas on which the game is based, are not entirely historical accurate renditions. They tell a story, and as such, I feel there is some leeway in how I chose to represent my band.

A search online suggests that there are no hard and fast rules for basing Saga minis, but that leaders seem to be on 40mm round bases as a general rule. I was kind of hoping it would be 50mm bases as a, I have some of those, and b, they alow for more space to arrange the figures, but 40mm it shall be.

Not a round shield.

I think the first and major changes to both minis will have to be the shields. Ingrid's shield is a nice shape, but from all I can see, the Viking shields were round. I'm not entirely sure how easy that will be to change, as the left arm is firmly fixed to the current shield. Unless I find some shields that come attached to arms, it may have to stay.

On the Standard bearer, I feel the small knife he's holding in his left hand is really out of place. It kind of unbalances the mini, and really, why would you bother with a knife, if you're the standard bearer, you're looking to be holding a shield to get a bit more cover, to at least keep that flag flying, or maybe to cover the chief.  I kind of like the idea that he's resting the shield on the ground, but that will mean finding a large shield.

I like the dragon head.

Also, I'm not sure I can keep the horns. The wings, I'm kind of okay with, as he's the standard bearer, he's flashy and stands out, but the horns are so cliched. I know by fielding these minis I am already quite far off the historically accurate track, but even so, I think the horned helm may have to go. A shame really.

As to the diorama, I plan it to be really simple, just a placing of the two minis on the appropriate base once these simple changes are made.

Off to source some local viking shields, or at least plasticard to make my own.

Modelling

This evening has been rather bitty in terms of what I got done. My previous post shows I was inspired to get on with some Napoleonic French. However, I found out to my dismay that the French Line Infantry i have are for the period 1812-1815, so don't cover the Peninsular War, which was where the Légion Hanoverienne and Légion du Midi served (both were disbanded before the 1812 campaign). A mild setback, as I'm sure no-one would notice the difference if I painted them up as I wanted anyway. Still, it got me round to putting a few more of these minis together, and on different bases from my usual pennies. maybe I can just add a quarter underneath (25cents). A possible, if not more expensive, option.

Also, I picked up some movement trays from GW, for their Lord of the Rings game War of the Ring (in the picture above). These allow me to fit my minis based for skirmish into formation for larger games without needing to rebase them, although I will have to figure something out for the 95th, as they're all stuck to pennies. Maybe I'll just stick them on top of other bases as they are. I also wanted to make use of terrain, placed on the same bases as the miniatures. I have seen this method around, and it works really well for 2 things. It allows you to make mini dioramas within the units, adding to the character of the figs, and also, it fills out the unit whilst saving on minis. To this end, I wandered into my FLGS, and bought some bits, mostly GW cannons and the like, for a couple of dollars. I brought them home and chopped them up, and this is the result.

I'm sure they could also be used as objective markers, or even casualty markers at a push. I want to get on and give them a coat of PVA, and get them painted, but I'd best wait at least 24 hours to let the Polyfilla dry.

Lastly, I put a little more paint on my Napoleon Diorama. The drum may be finished, but Raza has a ways to go.

Napoleon WIP

As part of my recent painting stint, I chose a bunch of Napoleonic minis I had kicking around in the old pile of metal for quite some time. I've mostly been doing my riflemen for use in a skirmishing game, but to give me a break from the green, I picked up a little vignette of Napoleon. This mini was released as part of the Wargames Illustrated 'Moments in History' vingettes, but my FLGS had one of each in stock. I figured this one was one that fitted an era I was likely to play, and even if I never used him in a big battle as a commander, I could always use him as an objective marker in a smaller game.

Furthermore, as it's the 200th anniversary of the battle of Borodino, a painting by Vasily Vershchagin's of which the little big man's pose is taken from (see above). I figured it was a timely mini to paint. As always, click for bigger pictures.

Wha'll be king but Charlie?

Another addition to the list of gaming I don't have the time to do, but whilst buying a piper from Warlord Games to use as a medic for my new Infinity Caledonian Highlander Army, I succumbed to temptation, and bought the first two character models from the Warlord Jacobite Rebellion line for their Last Arguement of Kings supplement to Black Powder. I've heard good things of the system, but I doubt I'll use it. I just wanted to have the minis. Bonnie Prince Charlie, the 'foppish Italian midget' as Billy Connelly once described him, and the Butcher of Cumberland.

I'm searching around now for a standard bearer and a piper to use to make a little vignette for Charlie. The ones available for the highlanders in Warlord's Pike and Shotte range are a little too active for what I have in mind.

Note to self, Front Rank also do Jacobite Highlanders. Must look them up if I ever get round to playing.

The bare metal doesn't show up well, but they've been cleared of flash. I'll hold out to see how I'm going to pose them before they get their base coat. The Butcher comes with 2 hand options for the right hand, a glass of brandy, or a riding crop.