Back to the Brushes 254

Moving forwards yet standing still. Progress on several different parts of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X.

Above are four Hearthguards for a slow moving SAGA Romano British Warband. These venerable figures have been waiting to be painted for the last decade and where primed inlast year's challenge.

Below are three skirmishers for the Spartans in Mortal Gods. The poor quality of the picture doesn't show the red well on either the skirmishers or the Ashigaru next to them.

The next picture is poor quality again. Limited lighting and poorxquality control. The figures are from Museum Miniatures and are part of the expanding generic Arab forces in 15mm. Out of frame are another four to make three stands of cavalry. 

More to follow shortly.

Cheers for now.

30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge round up August 2019

Here is the round up picture of last month's 30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge. 

Now to clarify what is here and what is missing. All are 28mm unless stated otherwise:

• 12 ACW Confederates in 15mm
• 5 Foundry Viking Berserkers
• 5 Gripping Beast Norman crossbowmen
• 2 Gorgon Studios Spartans
• 2 A&M Arabs at camp in 15mm
• 2 Gripping Beast Numidian Skirmishers
• 1 Gripping Beast Moorish spearman
• 1 Citadel plastic skeleton

Not shown in the round up pic as they are now at their owners house

• 1 Foundry Viking Berserker
• 1 Red Box Human hunter

This takes the tally for the Challenge to 32 figures completed in 30 days. 

The next 30 day challenge will start this evening.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 235

Not been so good with the regular updates in this 30 days 30 miniatures challenge; however have still been painting steadily away.

A wide range of figures including Foundry Vikings, Gorgon Miniatures Spartans, Gripping Beast Numidians and Old Glory Confederates.

Day 29 - 23 figures painted. 

Last session tonight to finish off another Viking, some Confederates and a Moor or two. 

Cheers for now. 

Dance of Bronze 3

The second and final stand of Skiritai for the Impetus Spartans lies below. The figures are Gorgon Studios Spartan Ekdromoi and fit in excellently with the Foundry World of Greeks Spartans. Well they should really as they are from the same sculptor - Steve Saleh.

These figures along with a few others are a part of the first entry from Brushes and Bases to Analogue Hobbies painting competition.

As the figures are being used as Skiritai a hoplon has been added to one figure to show the difference on the table; this is because Impetus depicts the Skiritai as skirmishers. Both stands when joined together can also be used as a mercenary peltast stand.

More pictures of recently completed figures to follow shortly along with more work in progress shots.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 43

Christmas and New Year have both come and gone; normality and routine return to everyday life and the painting table is revisited for the first time in a while. In a flurry of brushes the Mycenaean swordsmen are completed and are now just waiting basing, final picture to follow shortly.

The painting table has many items on it including a Hirdman  unit for SAGA and the original six Ninja for Songs of Blades and Heroes. These items will be finished over the next few weeks as last night saw a start to entries for the Analogue Hobbies 3rd Annual Painting Competition. The pictures below show some of the progress made and the variety of items being painted

More Ninja from Dixon Miniatures for Songs of Blades and Heroes.

Peltasts from Foundry for Impetus as Mercenary Peltasts for the Spartans and other planned armies.

Exdromoi from Gorgon Studio to be used as Skiritai in the Spartan Impetus army.

One of the 47 Ronin for Curt who is organising the competition. The figure is from Dixon Miniatures and will be next to be completed so there is something to add to the competition alongside the casualty markers completed during the holiday period.

Lastly, there are some SHQ SS Artillery figures to help complete the several pieces of artillery and anti-tank weaponary for the SS in Disposable Heroes. The guns have been started sometime ago.

Not much really, is there? These aside the main thrust of the painting for the competition will centre around Ancient Greece, being mainly for Impetus in bases of either Mycenaeans or Spartans. Oh and lets not forget some Vikings so SAGA can grace the table in 2013. Looking forward to it all...

Lastly, a warm welcome to:

• HK

Hope that you find something of interest here.

Cheers for now

Allied Phalanx Work in Progress

The first Allied Phalanx for the Spartans is actual meant to represent the Brasidians or Nedamodes. These are mentioned in Thucydides account of Mantinea as holding the left flank alongside the Sciritae. The figure below has been painted to show a lesser Spartiate who will be placed as the Brasidian's officer.

The figure is from Gorgon Studios and is shown with a foundry Hoplon at the top and a Gorgon Hoplon at the bottom. At present no decision has been made as to which shield will be used, although at present the large of the two is preferred. Sorry about the shadows, the ambient light not the best today.

Hopefully more pictures of the rest of the phalanx to follow shortly.

Cheers for now

Comparatively speaking

many miniature manufacturers have different views on what is 28mm, as for that matter do many gamers. Older ranges tend to towards 25mm and some newer ranges are moving towards 32mm. We all have our preferred ranges and manufactures for a variety of reasons. The ranges below are all compatible in size at 28mm and come from several well known manufacturers.

From left to right you have here: Aventine; Gorgon Studios; Aventine; Foundry; Aventine; Foundry and Gripping Beast. 

The Aventine figures are some samples that Kevin from Aventine Miniatures sent through the other day. Great service from Aventine here, with the samples arriving next day and the response time to an emailed enquiry being rapid. That along with the quality of the figures adds to the overall perception that Aventine have their attention fixed on customer service. The comparison figures are from the lead mountain and are all sculpted by Steve Saleh.  The Aventine figures compare well against the other figures and fit in well in terms of size. That said they are excellent figures in their own right, being well sculpted with clear details and clean casts and a few of them will be joining the ranks of Late Macedonians and Successors very shortly as regular pikemen and mercenaries.

Aventine Miniatures are definitely worth taking a look at if you haven't already done so and to be fair that elephant on their front page is bloody marvellous to say the least.

Here are a few more comparison pictures between the ranges above:

Showing heights at 25mm to shoulders 28mm to eyes.

Top: Aventine Bottom: Foundry

From the left Aventine, Foundry, Aventine, Foundry, Aventine, Foundry

From the left Aventine, Gorgon Studios

Top: Aventine. Bottom: Gripping Beast

From the left Aventine, GB, Aventine, GB, Aventine, GB

Hopefully you have found these pictures of use and are better able to resist temptation than some others. Work on the Allied Phalanx progresses well - if slowly and there will be some work in progress pictures presently.

Cheers for now

Basing the Peltasts

The following pictures show how the Peltasts and the previous units of Spartan cavalry have been based. This is actually a step backwards in that an additional process has been added back in to the sequence for basing; this is the creation of raised and textured ground effects by using milliput. This has returned for two main reasons:

• it improves the over aesthetics of the base
• it helps to reduce any warping that may occur in the later stages of basing

The stages that are currently being used are as follows:

• use milliput to create raised and texture ground effects
• glue figures in place
• fill any gaps with milliput and allow to dry for 24 hours
• cover entire base with a liberal coating of PVA glue
• cover with sand and gravel mixture and allow to dry for 24 hours
• wash textured base with acrylic inks and allow to dry
• dry brush using Foundry Sand triad
• glue Silfor tufts/static grass in place
• dry brush silfor tufts with Foundry Boneyard C

The following pictures show this in stages

At present this base has no static grass on it, which is not in keeping with the rest of the army, so it will probably be added in at some point.

The first unit of Allied Hoplites progresses slowly as does a unit of cavalry for the Rise of Macedonia army that is being worked on in tandem to the last of the Spartans. Will hopefully get some work in progress pictures in the near future.

Hope that you enjoy the pictures and find the ramblings on basing of some use, although there is nothing new about the method used.

Cheers for now

Pro et contra

Mixed feelings today about a variety of things.

Firstly, welcome to the most recent new members, glad to have your support and hope that you find something of interest in this blog.

Secondly, past the ten thousand hits mark yesterday which is great! However, feeling slightly cheated due to the massively increased number of hits over the last week or so. Not sure what is causing this but ten thousand plus hits is ten thousand plus hits, so thanks for all your support over the last year. Hopefully, the blog will continue to grow and maintain your interest.

Thirdly, the venue that Legion Games meets in closed last Sunday as numbers of other visitors - British forces veterans  - have been dwindling to the point that it is no longer economic to open the Legion in the afternoon. As a club this present several problems, the foremost being finding another venue that meets our requirements and that isn't too expensive. There are several options for a new venue at present, so fingers crossed something will present itself.

An alternative is to use the facilities already in use by another club. Whilst this will allow the club to continue meet, the identity of the club will be gone as an independent entity. There are pros and cons to this and only time will tell.

On a more positive note, the peltasts are nearly finished and the first unit of Allied Hoplites are undercoated and taking shape. These figures are all from Gorgon Studios range of Spartan Ekdromoi and were selected to look like poorer troops in older equipment than the majority of the other Spartans in the army. A unit of cavalry for the Macedonians has been started as well. Pictures of all to follow shortly.

Thanks again for your support.

Cheers for now.

We're back

Without tempting fate, the 5th Phalanx is now nearly complete. The re-painting of the bloomed matt varnish has been completed and in the main is a fairly good match to the original paint job. The figures have been hand varnished and at about 2 minutes a figure this will probably be the way forward from now on. Just can't face having to repaint another stand in the future.

Not sure if the remaining phalanx will be finished this year, hopefully, but with Christmas just 3 days away time is limited. The easier option would be to complete the 2 started units of skirmishers - 1 with javelins and the other with slings. Who can tell, how it will all work out.

Anyway enough rambling and here are a few pics of the 5th phalanx as the glue for basing them dries.

A little glimpse of what 2011 hopefully will be offering:

But more of that later.

Cheers for now.

The story so far...

Well here are some pictures of the painted army as it stands at present. 

The following are of the 4th Phalanx and javelin armed skirmishers - which are still needing varnished and flocked.

One of the problems with gloss varnishing metal items after matt vanishing is that they really pick up any flash which is used. This is clear on the shield of the hoplite next to the musician where the Gorgon face is distorted by the flash. The photography side of this blog is something which requires further work to get a consistent standard. Oh and painting eyes.

The musician figure is from the Gorgon Studio range with all other figures coming from Foundry's World of Greeks range. Both are sculpted by Steve Sahel.

The second base of javelin skirmishers is planned around 2 figures allowing the bases to be combined if necessary as a light foot base.

Hopefully more of the 5th Phalanx before the month is out.

Cheers for now.

Delays and Changes

The fourth phalanx of Spartans has been completed - save basing since last week, it has however been held up by indecision and changes to the initial layout for the finished figures on the base. This might sound strange but when painting the figures they are based on 20mm squares and give a very different visual appeal than when taken off these bases for the final basing.

There is normally a basic idea for each base which with a minimal amount of tweaking with the figures can be sorted out. This takes into consideration the ground space the figures take up and how they actually look when placed together on the base. Blu-tac is wonderful stuff for this, its so much easier to move than super glue...

The long and short of this is that the fourth Phalanx is finally glued down, but there are a few additions to the base including a casualty figure and a musician at the rear. These additional figures are about to be painted for the base prior to scenics being added.

The musician is from Gorgon Studio's Spartans "Gates of Fire" range and fits in perfectly. The comparison shot below shows the size and compatibility of the figures. To be honest there should be no problem as they both Steve Saleh sculpts but its always best to check. The centre figure is a Foundry Spartan whilst the other two are from Gorgon Studios, sorry about the quality of the image here.

The sword bearing figure is from the Gorgon Ekdromoi packs which are going to be used as Hoplites for the Brasideians. This decision has been based on creating a difference between the units visually, particularly in the styles of helmets depicted on the figures selected. There are no pilos helms in this unit but a mixture of more classical styles of helms. The full pack can be viewed at the link below:

Spartan Ekdromoi

A similar decision has been made with the Sciritae for this army, by using Peltasts figures from the Foundry range below instead of the more lightly clad Spartans from the Spartans:

Greek Peltasts

This may not be exactly historically correct, but however it does bring a degree of artistic licence into the creation of the army and its visual appeal on the table when complete.

Sorry for rambling on a bit, but thats all for now.

Cheers