Saga - Plastic Archers

Time for one of my infrequent posts. I know, but I have so much going on at the moment, the blog takes a bit of a back seat.

In my quest for something cool to paint, I have been converting a few plastic bowmen for use as archers in Norman/Carpetian Frank/Crusader armys for Saga. I really am surprised a company has not cottoned on to the fact that people want archers in plastic yet. there is a serious dearth of these. Still, with a little ingenuity I have created my own.

Parts are Conquest Games plastic Infantry, with a few arms from their mounted sprue, with Games Workshop bows and quivers out of my bits pile.

I took bows from the Militia sprues that GW make for their Empire army (and also released as Mordheim adventurers), and trimmed the hands off. These were then glued in the open right hands from the conquest games mounted sprue, and also the open left hand from the infantry sprue (this one is part of the greataxe pair). Quivers are a mix of types, no idea which range, though possibly undead? I shaved them a bit to remove the usual skulls GW love, and shaped the backs to fit better. Job Done...

I am actually really pleased with how these have turned out, and they have painted up well. I have twelve in total, with 4 painted so far.

Whilst I am posting, I have also been sorting some mounted guys for these too. Here is a couple of pictures.

Note the shields are hand painted, and thy came up rather nicely considering I think.

Let me know what you think, Cheers, John.

Latest painting news

No pictures as yet, but lots of progress has been made on the painting front over the weekend.

One unit of 8 British Lights are finished.

The other unit of  8 British Lights has 6 models done, and just 2 remaining to do.

The 3 Pirates/civilians are now done too, breaking up the monotony of the units pleasantly.

I also did a figure for Saga between a few too, Hereward the Wake. Very pleased with how this guy has come out. 16 plastic crusader miniatures foot are starting soon as Flemish Mercenarys to go with him.

Dark Heresy Roleplaying tomorrow night, but i think I am free on Wednesday to try and get some photos.

I will post a couple of  pics from my old stuff as it has not featured on my blog, and it is always cool to add a few things to actually look at.

Heres a few bits from my Malifaux collection (I must reshoot these sometime, As my camera skills have improved a bit from when I took these pictures).

 First some Ronin. I think these are some of the best figures from the Malifaux line.

Then we have Bishop. I love the hair on this guy.

Finally we have Misaki. This was my first (and only) attempt at wet blending. I think it came out quite well.

 Cheers, John.

Some Painting

I have been doing a lot of painting this week. Sadly 4 days of it was mostly white gloss in a ladies toilet at work with 3 cubicles .... When you touch a wall to smooth the paint in preparation and the plaster beneath just falls out right to the brick in powder form you know it is going to be a bad day at the office ... Still enough of that rubbish, onto the more interesting facets, I did get a little miniature painting done this week.

Firstly a little exposure on my dodgy painting habits. I really struggle to batch paint. I find I have to break up units and add little bits and pieces in here and there to break the monotony of similar figures. Hence why there is a random bunch of things to show off here.

Onto the painting before I really bore you...

Last game I played, I realized I did not actually have any "fields" or anything to even substitute for them. This need rectifying. So I grabbed an old tea towel, and a piece of board I was using for cutting on (salvaged from a bin at work). A little scissor magic and some pva glue, then a little home mixed paint, which was used again with more added cheap yellow for the second coat produced the following. I quite like it. It will certainly do for the moment for M&T and Saga I believe. 28mm Front Rank British figure for scale.
(board is about 11" x 8" using caretakers eye for measurement)

Next we move onto a little 15mm Sci Fi. I am slowly doing these up for the game called Gruntz. I have not actually tried this yet, but have had a look through the rules and it looks a pretty decent set. The first are some I painted a little while ago, 6 x Naga Infantry by Critical Mass games, I just have never taken pictures before. The one with the white stripe is the units leader figure. Also note the bright colours. Now this really is something I do not tend to do often. As I post more things you will possibly notice my more muted approch to colour, but again I digress.

Next we have what I actually did this week to split my unit time up a little, an Agamid Infantry, again from Critical Mass. The theory behind my force for Grunts is that it will be a mercenary type company, so That adds to the fact I can have an army of many varied units and different colours. I like how this has turned out, especially as it is 15mm. A bit star wars inspired maybe looking at it... 5 more to go of these.

Finally one of my Pirate figures I bought last saturday to use as civilians in M&T. I kept him more muted. Sometimes I think a beautiful sculpt just needs a simple paint scheme to show it off better. I really like this one. I am turning into quite a fan of Crusader miniatures, my style of painting seems to sit nicely with their stuff.

Well what have these all been interrupting, British Light Infantry is the answer. I have found a terrific unit to base them on, the 55th Foot, which compliments my 45th Regulars well. No picture yet, as they are still in progress. 4 down, 4 to go for the first unit of 8, then another 8 of the fellows.

As always, your thoughts/criticisms are always much appreciated.

Cheers, John.

The 45th and some Cois de Bois

Heres a few shots of the finished M&T units (bases need flocking but they are gaming ready)

First the 45th contingent of my british force - An officer and 10 regulars.

Next we have another officer this one is going to be in charge of the Light troops - Again done up in 45th style colours, no idea if this is historical though...I guess I will have to research more..I like the finished look though so that is the most important primary aspect covered.

Finally a picture of the finished conversions for Cois de Bois (hat chops from British battalion company figures) which I think have come out rather well.

Any thoughts or comments much appreciated as always, cheers, John.

Painted Miniatures Massive Update

Time for a massive update with some glorious (for me taking them) pictures.

As I stated previously I have made some good inroads into my M&T figure pile. About time to show some of the goodness off.

Firstly, we have the progress that has been made on some of my British. Namely, a regular officer and a couple of his men. I have one more done now and another of the ten started. Slow progress on these, but they don't encourage my usual style of painting. I like how they are turning out though. I think they will look very impressive as a unit on the table.

Next we have some French stuff. Here is an Officer, and then him and 6 Chasseurs.

Here are the first three of my converted Cois de Bois/Canadian types. Still a little work to be done, but overall I am pleased with these and how they turned out. (the one in the flat cap will be the unit commander)

Lastly I have left my Indian Units. These are for my French forces. The first unit is painted by me, The second unit (with the white jackets) are painted by my friend Stu, (who will be the one mostly using them) and what a cracking job he has done for sure. They actually stand/blend together as units on the table quite well.

Comments and criticisms are most welcome, Cheers, John.

5 months and Trappers.

Well I see lots of 1/2 year reports on some of the blogs I visit. Perhaps I will jump on the band wagon a little here, and also show something I have been working on.

It is actually 5 months since I started this blog, and my attention has been a little diverted from time to time I will confess. From health issues with the wife, and other various home things, and my Saga duties and enjoyment, my M&T experiance has been very slow in coming to fruition. But slow is not always a bad thing.

I have been working away painting the odd figure and getting up to my target of two 300pt armys finished. Still not there yet but it is one of those things that is destined to be a wonderful diversion for me from the masses of Saga and other things I am working on.

The way things are so far =

British -

7 Rangers Finished.
6 Indians Finished.
10 Regulars - 2 done, 8 to go.
Officer - Unpainted
8 Light infantry - Unpainted
10 Light infantry - Unpainted

French -

Indian Officer Finished
6 Indians Finished
6 Indians Finished (painted by my friend Stu)
6 Chasseurs Finished
Officer Finished
10 Regulars - Unpainted

So, they are getting there.

 Something I am working on, for my French, is some figures I can use as Coureurs des Bois/Canadian locally raised militia.

To make these, a brief bit of explaining. Early in the year I got very lucky on ebay and won a dirt cheap bid on 24 Front Rank British Light infantry. (actually they are called Battalion Company, but they will do as Light Infantry for me) (basically the guys are on pictures 1,2 and 8 here - Link to Pictures

Sorting through them, I have organised two units, one of 8, and one of 10. This left me 6 spares....

Now my poor French are lacking in figures compared to the British, and as I was looking at the 6 figures I decided I would adapt them for my French forces. Chopping the hats a little, and some green stuff work presented me with some home made Canadians. Hope you enjoy, I mostly finished the first one today. Just a little touching up of the leggings and some basing and we are good to go.

I think he has turned out quite well, and certainly has a bit of a trapper look about him. Just leaves 5 to go..

Cheers, John.

Long Overdue

Very long overdue for a post on my blog.

Life has been going along reasonably well. I have been up to my neck in lots and lots of Saga related stuff though, so my M&T has taken a bit of a back burner for the moment.

I have slowly been adding painted figures to the mix though in preparation.

Here is a shot of the Indians I have for my British Forces. I got these via a trade on the Lead Adventures forum. Very nice figures that were enjoyable to paint. They fit in well scale wise with the Front Rank stuff, just being a little leaner in appearance.

I also have the first two of my British Regulars painted. One of the guys (the one in the back of this picture) decided to jump off the table, which broke off his bayonet. Rather than try fix it, I decided to file the end down more and utilise him as my leader figure for the unit. (he now stands out as the only one with no bayonet)

I also have two French officers painted, two of my French marines, and 13 Indians (all front Rank) for my French forces done. (7 Indians done by me, the other 6 done by my friend Stu exceedingly well). Sadly my camera eats batteries so these were all the shots I could get at the moment.

In other developments, another friend of mine has nearly completed his AWI American force, so a game should be in the offing very soon.

More to come soon, when my Saga works and life allows,

Cheers, John.

Some New Painting

I have finally managed to get into the garage and do a little painting. The paint has thawed out, the stereo is working and my feet don't lose all feeling after one minute. Spring must be here hurrah.

First up an apology, as my camera skills clearly have not improved any....

A shot of the rangers first, I know I have shown these before, but hopefully a shot showing them off not too badly and without photo shop brightening and other japes.

Next we have some of the new stuff. Four of my Indians. One of the others just needs varnish, and the sixth is under way. These are for use with my French list. As an interesting note, I have another six Indians for my French too. My friend is painting those for me as he is the one primarily playing with them. A cunning plan indeed, especially as he is a rather cracking painter. From what I have seen though so far, they are going to blend in rather well with mine too.

We then have my first efforts at painting my French Marines - A little artistic licence I suspect on historical colour schemes, but I am working with what I have for these (and they are supposed to look a little less standard uniform I believe from the historical side of things too)

Officer first -

 Followed by the sergeant of the first unit -

They have actually turned out not too bad in the flesh. One day I will take the time to get some much better photos. I think I will make sure the bases are all finished first though.

Ranger Unit

I have finished painting my first unit. A 7 man Ranger unit of Front Rank figures. Only the two kneeling guys are the same, else they are actually all different (its all in the heads).

They have come out in my usual "dark" style, but I am pleased with their overall look. They look like they actually do range about in the woods to me.

The bases still need finishing off, but these will be done in bulk to match them all up. (they will get a dry brush of sandy brown, followed by some greenery)

Apologies about the photo - (had to lighten it up with photoshop) - This will get changed when I get some new battery's for the camera  and some better light too, but I just wanted to show them off a little -

Hope you enjoy, Cheers John.

Today I decided to paint one of the Indians. I also made a start on a couple more of the rangers, but only to pass the time between work on the Indian figure.

I was very pleased with how he turned out. A very nice figure, and the level of detail is quite astonishing. I hope I have done him justice.

Here is a close up of the face, it shows the face paint well, which shockingly actually came out just as I was trying to get it to look. The faded patches where the skin shows through are deliberate to make it look worn.
I am amazed it worked so well, the hard bit will be replicating the look on others. We shall see how I get on I guess.

 Finally another picture of the first ranger, all varnished and ready for basing. I shall do that by unit though so they get a matching look. I have made the mistake before of doing half a unit here, half a unit there and getting some slight colour differences on the base. (The picture did not come out all that well, but I will put it up as it does show the hand correction, even if the face does not show up)

Thanks for looking, again any thoughts are welcome and appreciated, John.

Well the boys have been cleaned up (very minimal flash and mould lines I have to say) and stuck to some bases (renedra 20mm squares) that I had from my plastic Saga stuff.

I have actually started painting too. The first guy I have done is one of the Rangers.

It is actually quite handy taking the photo as it has shown that the right hand and the face still need a little touch up to finish him off, which I must say I did not notice before the picture.

Once that has been done, I shall crack open the varnish then get some pumice on the base.

Now I do not profess to be the greatest painter (or photographer) by any means, but I do not think he has come out too badly, and seems to fit the period quite well. Your comments and observations are most welcome.

I will list paints and stuff for the pro's, but I use such a mishmash its not going to be that useful -

GW Catchacan Green
GW Scorched Earth
GW Boltgun Metal
Taimya Flat Earth
Taimya Brown
Some random makes Brown Ink (very very dark stuff)
Privateer Press Coal Black
Privateer Press sanguine red
GW Blood Red
GW Elf Flesh

That was about it for this guy, some of these paints are a bit old too (10+ years), but well they still work and mix well. I suppose its just what I am used too.

Cheers, John.

My British have arrived from Front Rank. I was very surprised at the great quality of these miniatures. Front Ranks webstore pictures really does not do any justice at all to these miniatures.

Here are some pics of the force straight from the packing -

First we have my Regular Unit, with the Army Officer. As they are hopefully to be used in a firing line, I went for just two styles of figure, the front rank kneeling, and the back rank standing. I just thought it would look more "uniform" on the table and show their regular infantry nature more.

Next is my Rangers, I went for a hunting shirt theme on these, and got a second welcome surprise as it turns out there are two slight head variants in two of the poses I picked. This means I can field a Unit of six that are all individuals when my extra 2 Indians arrive. (I have one extra of the kneeling guy)

Finally are my Indians. Again they have the Hunting shirt theme. I have two more of these coming to round the unit up, one of which is standing firing, and other one kneeling firing. These were probably the biggest surprise to me in the sculpting, as they really do not look that great on the shops site, where as they are actually very nice indeed in my opinion.

Here is a shot of the whole lot together.

Well now I have something to start getting ready. I shall base them up and slowly start exploring their paint work.