Salute 2023 - The Loot

Yesterday saw me make my pilgrimage to the ExCel Centre in London for Salute 50. Unlike most years, I wasn't traveling from home, as I'd been down at my sister's in Sussex for a couple of nights. I had planned to catch the 0836 train and got there in plenty of time to buy my ticket, but that train was cancelled so I had to get the 0906. Oh well, at least I had time to buy a coffee at the station before boarding.

I eventually got to the venue just before 11am and aftr a few minutes negotiating my way through the crowd of runners pre0registerign for the London Marathon, I made it to the show entry hall just after 11am. There wasn't a queue by then, so I was able to walk straight in (after showing my ticket and getting the goodies-bag).

Another difference to previous years was that I didn't take my camera, so I wasn't taking photos of all the games which allowed me to just visit the ones that interested me (I'd marked up a copy of the show map from the list on the website). I did make a couple of small purchases whilst doing that, but most of my shopping came later on.

I didn't spend as much as normal, or as anticipated, as several items I had on my list weren't available at the show (note to self - pre-orders make good sense!)

At lunchtime I attended the "Bloggers, Vloggers and Podcasters" meet-up which was a good chance to chat with people I hadn't seen for ages and to meet a few people I've only ever chatted with online before. Disgracefully, Ray wasn't there - I'm told he was "under the thumb". *lol*

After that I spent about an hour doing the rest of my shopping before heading to The Fox for drinks with other CLWC members. Four pints of Guinness later, it was time to head home - I think I got in about 9pm - unpack my bags and take some photos of the loot. Apologies for any blurriness - I was slightly inebriated when I took them!

All The Loot:

TT Combat:

I bought this set thinking it would be using the same patterns as the walkways I painted last year. On opening it up for a look, I found that not to be the case.

Blotz:

SHQ:

A vehicle tray for 4l/9l Really Useful Boxes.

Oshiro Model Terrain:

Clear acrylic skirmish movement trays that will be handy for Judge Dredd mobs.

Pendraken/Minibits:

Of the five VMC paints, three were on my list as definitely needing to buy and the other two I know I'm gettign close to finishing; they didn't have the two others that I am almost out of though. I also bought a handful of the Express Color paints to try out. 

Great Escape Games & Too Fat Lardies:

OK, I succumbed to the temptation of a new ruleset...

"OK, great loot, but why haven't we seen you post anything for the last two weeks?"

Basically, I haven't really had anything to show. I did start painting the next set of Block Wars figures (all base coats done) then got busy with a couple of other things. The first of those is doing a load of test-prints for a Kickstarter someone is going to be launching this week (printing things, providing feedback, printing revised things, providing new feedback, rinse, repeat...). The secodn is that I got a bug in my brain about designing some 3D-printable terrain for Block Wars based on Peach Trees from the 2012 Dredd film - so far I've modeled the atrium walkway parapets (I think I've got them close to spot-on) and the next step will be to add the walkways to go behind them. Once those are done I can work on some modular apartments, shops, etc to complete the upper floor sets. Eventually, I will be modeling the ground floor entrance and mall, plus the Med Centre.

News Crew and Minders for Judge Dredd plus (one day late!) 9th Blogiversary

 Go on, admit it. You missed me, didn't you?

It has been almost a whole month since I last posted. In my last post, I had just started work on this set of figures:

The next day I did do a little bit more work on them, but then hit a bit of a funk and only got back to them on Thursday. I finished painting them yesterday and did the varnishing today.

The News Crew:

I had started out giving the reporter an Asian skin tone but it wasn't working out right, so I went back and did an African skin tone. 

I'm not sure what happened with  the focus on a lot of these photos. They looked fine on my camera screen when I took them.

The Minders:

Alternatively, the girl could be a ganger; the guy could be a mob boss.

 

The Robot Butler/Maitre D:

This robot could be the crime-lord Nero Narcos' "man" servant.

The NeoSov Agent (or mob assassin):

The figures are all from Copplestone Castings.

9th Blogiversary

Yesterday was nine years from me beginning this blog. Last year I wrote a list of things that I planned for 2020 - let's see how I did...

1) Terrain - I need to get on with building my terrain collection. Mind you, that will have to wait until I have a little more space (I will be moving out of London this year). I'll be wanting terrain for New Guinea, Arnhem, Mega City One, Mexicagrave...

Despite not moving out of London yet (my house purchase is progressing - hopefully I'll be moving this month) I did do quite well on this. I made a bunch of rock formations for Strontium Dog, painted up a lot of terrain for Mega City One and a few hills and marshes for "Infamy, Infamy!".

2) No new armies, but I can add to existing forces (and paint/add to armies that have been bought but not painted)

I think I did rather well on this one (in comparison to previous years at any rate). The only new armies I bought were the Romans and Germans for "Infamy, infamy!". Mind you, i have since purchased some extra figures for both so that I can also use them for Art de la Guerre.

Oh, and I may have bought more figures for existing projects.

3) Have a bit of a clear out - there are some painted figures that I very much doubt will ever see the table and a huge pile which I doubt will ever be painted. Some may be donated to the club, others sold off at shows.

Didn't happen.

4) Finish off some of my incomplete projects - the Sarmatians, Buccaneers and Aztecs spring to mind)

I did manage to paint up a 28mm Wars of the Roses army for ADLG. Mind you, the less said about the older unfinished projects the better.

5) Get more games in - I haven't done much gaming in 2019. I might even try some solo gaming.

I did manage to get one game in. If Covid hadn't come along I might have got more games in.

6) Shows - Salute is a definite; other shows may depend on my move out of London.

Bloody Covid! No shows for 2020 and I doubt that there will be any in 2021. Maybe late in the year if the vaccines help bring down infection rates.

7) Painting - I do want to improve my painting skills this year by working on character figures and trying new techniques.

I did paint quite a few character figures during AHPC X and also for my Judge Dredd project and my skill levels have improved, but I didn't really get to try any new techniques.

I guess I should make some plans for 2021:

1) Paint up the rest of the figures (and terrain) for my "Infamy, Infamy!" project (including the extra Romans and Germans to expand the forces for ADLG).

2) Make and paint the rest of my terrain for Mega City One. Also to paint the extra figures and vehicles for that project.

3) Make up a load of jungle terrain for my WW2 New Guinea project (which will also be usable for the Mexicagrave project if I ever get back around to that).

4) I probably need to add a few more bases of medium cavalry to my Mongol army.

5) Complete my 15mm SYW Russian army by painting up the Observation Corps. OK, and maybe some more Cossacks, artillery and commanders.

6) Make up and paint some more terrain for my Arnhem project.

7) If I've finished the terrain for (3) and (6), begin work on the Japanese and German opposition forces.

8) See about finishing some of those old projects...

9) If any shows do go ahead in 2021 to get to some of them.

Check back this time next year to see how I did!

As mentioned above, I should be moving out of London this month (unless there are any more delays in the process). Once that happens, I will be busy for a month or two getting the new place set up (and selling my current flat), so there might not be much painting going on.

AHPC X Day 12 - 8th Blogiversary Post

Bloomin' 'eck! It really is eight years since I began this blog. Incredibly, I haven't got bored of it and people still seem to enjoy my posts so something must be going right.

After AHPC X ended, I had a fallow couple of months in terms of painting, but since then I have more than made up for it. There has been quite a bit of terrain assembled and painted; my SYW Russians saw the final nine musketeer regiments painted (just in time for our club's Kunersdorf game) along with some dismounted dragoons and more artillery; my WW2 Australians have been reinforced, as have my Choson Koreans and my Dragon rampant wolf pack; oh, and I began what was intended to be a platoon (plus supports) of WW2 British Airborne which seems to have become a company (plus supports).

September was my busiest month of blogging, mostly thanks to my Arnhem 75th anniversary series which focused on the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. I mostly managed to write 2 or 3 posts a week, except for April and May (my fallow months). I hope to keep to that level of posts this year.



On The Workbench

The generals are finished apart from flocking...

...and I have been working on some converged grenadiers. Basecoats are done, and I have started the touch-ups, highlights and details.



2020 Plans

Once this year's Challenge is over my main hobby plans for this year are:

1) Terrain - I need to get on with building my terrain collection. Mind you, that will have to wait until I have a little more space (I will be moving out of London this year). I'll be wanting terrain for New Guinea, Arnhem, Mega City One, Mexicagrave...
2) No new armies, but I can add to existing forces (and paint/add to armies that have been bought but not painted)
3) Have a bit of a clear out - there are some painted figures that I very much doubt will ever see the table and a huge pile which I doubt will ever be painted. Some may be donated to the club, others sold off at shows.
4) Finish off some of my incomplete projects - the Sarmatians, Buccaneers and Aztecs spring to mind)
5) Get more games in - I haven't done much gaming in 2019. I might even try some solo gaming.
6) Shows - Salute is a definite; other shows may depend on my move out of London.
7) Painting - I do want to improve my painting skills this year by working on character figures and trying new techniques.


Anyhoos, that's enough rabbiting on from me. Happy 2020 folks and thanks for all your comments on my blog posts!

AHPC9 Day 12 - HNY and 7th Blogiversary

...and my 1200th post!!

And what a year 2018 has been.  Despite withdrawing from AHPC8, I was still quite productive during the period it was running, albeit that my output was much less than if I had been taking part (I think it would have been about 650 points compared to my usual 2000+ points).  That period saw me finish (usual disclaimers apply) my Ming Chinese army and start on my Sea Peoples army - that was finished not long after the Challenge ended.  I also added a bunch of Choson Korean levy and finally painted some Scythians which had been hanging around for a good few years.

So, let's do a month-by-month round up of what I got up to.

January - Mostly painting Ming Chinese.

February - Painting Ming Chinese and Choson Koreans

March - Started painting Sea Peoples army;  finally painted those Scythian cataphracts and commanders.

April - Finished the Sea Peoples;  went to Salute;  caught the Gaslands bug...

May - Started painting WW2 Aussies;  went to Campaign in Milton Keynes;  Gaslands fever...

June - Painted more WW2 Aussies;  went to Broadside in Sittingbourne;  lots of playing around making tufts.

July - Still more WW2 Aussies

August - too darned hot to do very much

September - went to Colours in Newbury;  caught the Strontium Dog bug...

October - Back to painting WW2 Aussies;  caught the "What A Tanker!" bug;  went to SELWG show;

November - Even more WW2 Aussies!;  a bit of a 15mm tankfest for "What A Tanker!" (reminder to self - buy the bleedin' rules!);  worked on some Gaslands terrain;  started prep for AHPC9

December - Prep, prep, prep and prep.  Oh, a little bit of painting too.


I did get some gaming in at the club, but not as much as I could (or indeed, should) have.  Hopefully I will correct that this year.  I am definitely going to try to get one game a week in during the Challenge, if only to give me a sanity break from all that painting!


Looking forward to 2019, what are my plans?

AHPC9 - I have set myself quite a stretching target this year, but it should be achievable despite lots of my prep-pile being individual paint jobs (characters and irregular troops) rather than serried ranks of uniformed troops.  The three projects I really do want to get completed during this Challenge are my 28mm Wars of the Roses army, my 1942 Aussies and the Strontium Dog figures and terrain.

Shows - I managed to attend five shows in 2018.  This year I hope to get to a few more.  I just need to remember to leave my purse at home...

Gaming - I must knuckle down and get in more gaming in 2019.  ADLG, King of the Battlefield, Chain of Command, "What A Tanker!", Full Thrust, Gruntz, Gaslands

Terrain - I must get some jungle terrain made up.  I have a huge amount of plastic trees, aquarium plants etc just waiting to be painted and added to bases.

Figures - I will not buy any new...oooh!  Shiny!  Errmmm, yes.  Let's ignore that resolution as we all know that I won't keep to it.  And there are a few things that I do need to buy for ongoing projects.

15mm SYW Russians - there are nine more infantry regiments (plus the four that I already have the figures for) that I need to complete this army.  Oh, and the Observation Corps which at roughly double-strength of the regular infantry means 10 more regiments (2 grenadier, 8 musketeer). And some more artillery.  And more Cossacks.

28mm WW2 Aussies - I think I'll have the infantry well and truly covered by the end of AHPC9, so just tanks (another Matilda and some more Stuarts).

28mm WW2 Japanese - the Aussies will need an OpFor after all.

15mm Choson Koreans - you thought I was finished with that army?  So did I, then along come Essex Miniatures and they release a range which includes Hwatcha artillery - must have!  I could also add some more levy to take me to the maximum for FoGAM/FoGR.

15mm Sarmatians - it's about time I pulled my finger out and finished this army.  There are a lot of horses who have been waiting to have their riders painted.

15mm Buccaneers/Pirates - another army which has had primed figures languishing.


Escaping from London! - Part of my plan when quitting my job was to move out of London to somewhere cheaper.  Once I've recovered from AHPC9 I will start looking for a house, probably in the Newark/Nottingham area.  I should be able to buy a 3 bedroom (maybe even 4 bedroom) house which will give me space for a dedicated painting room/office and still have a room for guests.  Not to forget, space for a gaming table.

Quit Smoking - Yes, for those who don't know, I am one of those horrible puffers.  Since quitting my job I have been cutting down the amount I smoke and I am continuing to reduce it. Hopefully I will have stopped totally by my birthday in April.

Blogging - Yes, unfortunately for you, I have no intention of stopping my witterings in the blogosphere.  I think I have found the happy medium of two workbench/update posts per week, plus posts of finished figures, AARs and show reports.

Double-Spacing After Full Stops - I shall endeavour to ensure that I observe this "rule" in all my future posts.  I think I've managed it with this one.


Well, that's about it. I wish for you all that 2019 will see your dice roll high/low as required and that you get all the shinies you want.

Toodle-pip!

Tamsin

(my word!  That was a long post without any pictures!)

AHPC9 - My Pile Of Potential

With the 9th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge due to kick off at 6am (UK time) on Friday, I thought I would get out everything that I have lined up and take a "Before" pic:

Here's what is there (left to right):

Back row - 15mm Ming Chinese handgunners and rocketeers; 28mm Pulp; 5 boards of 28mm Wars of the Roses
Middle row - 2 boards of 15mm WW2 Soviets; 3 boards of 28mm WW2 8th Army (as Aussies for 1942); Strontium Dog figures; 15mm and 28mm odds and sods*
Front row - 2 boards of 15mm Kra'Vak; 2 boards of 15mm SYW Russians; 3 boards of 15mm Mongols

*If they get painted, you'll find out what they are!

Some of you might have noticed that items are missing. There's a good reason for that - my 5' x 3' table wasn't large enough for all of it to fit! Here is the rest:

Apart from the very obvious 28mm cargo ship, here's what you can see (L to R again):

Back row - 20mm containers and skips for Gaslands; 15mm SciFi terrain; terrain from the Strontium Dog starter set; 28mm SciFi terrain
Middle row - 15mm Musketeers and civilians; some more 28mm War of the Roses (which I'd missed when getting out for the previous pic) and Raging Heroes characters; 6mm ACW buildings; 10mm European and Middle East buildings plus 2 Cruel Seas S-Boots
Front row - some heavy support for the 15mm WW2 Soviets; 3 boards of 6mm ACW


Now, the astute among you will have mentally calculated that there is considerably more there than I need for my 3000 point target. You are quite correct in that assessment. Just in case I do somehow manage to burst through my target with time to spare, I will have lots of extra things ready to go. And if I somehow manage to paint all of those, I have a few other bits that are already prepped (but not primed), some things which are primed and a few more orders which may arrive before the end of the Challenge.

The very astute might be wondering about the 15mm WW2 Soviet heavy supports, which have suddenly appeared from nowhere. I placed an order for them at the weekend, they arrived on Monday and I assembled them yesterday.

The tank can be made up as the IS-85, IS-1 or IS-2 - I did it as an IS-2 (I might buy another to do as an IS-1 at some point). The 45mm gun pack can be made up as the M1937 45mm AT gun, the M1942 45mm AT gun or the M1943 76mm infantry gun - I made up two M1937s, and one each of the other two. The ZiS guns can be done as 57mm ZiS-2 or 76mm ZiS-3 - I have done two of each. I'll get them primed tomorrow.


Crikey! That's a lot to paint!

Monday Update 03 December

Jeepers! It's December already. And just 18 days to go until AHPC9 kicks off. As the late, great Sid James might say "Blimus!".

I haven't done anything more to the stowage bases that I showed you on Friday. That's mostly because I've been focused on sorting out paperwork for the past few days. It had been building up for several years without being filed, so it was about time to bite the bullet and get it done. It should take me a few more sessions to finish.

However, I have got a few things done:

6mm ACW buildings and bridges

More containers and some skips

Horses for my WotR army...

...and the riders

I need to make up some blocks to hold the riders - that's a job for tomorrow - and then I can get those primed as well.

I'll also need to do some planning of what to paint in the first two days of the Challenge, before I head off to Sussex for Christmas. I definitely want to get something submitted on Day 1, just to kick things off.

And then there are a few purchases I need to make - some figures & models, some bases, some foam storage trays. On top of that, at some point I'll be taking delivery of a lot of shinies from the first ever Kickstarter that I've back - Bad Squiddo's "Onna Bugeisha".

Friday Workbench 30 November

This week has mostly been spent prepping, sorting and getting on with household jobs that I had kept putting off.I have been doing a bit of painting alongside everything else though.

This week I have got these painted:

They're a bit too small for Gaslands/Car Wars (although they could be used at a pinch) but would work well for 15mm.

I've also started work on these (they just need highlighting):

On the prep side, earlier this week I got this beast assembled:

That's 30" of shipping goodness from TT Combat.

Today I've started putting together knights and cavalry for my War of the Roses army:

That's the horses done today, tomorrow I'll start work on the riders. And then I'll have to work out what infantry the force needs made up, so that I can plan any purchases.


I'm hoping for a couple of dry, non-windy days in the coming week so that I can spray prime a bunch of MDF kits (including that ship).

AHPC IX - Fellowship

It's that time of year that many of us look forward to. Or dread. Whatever.

Yes, Snowlord Curt of the Canadian Campbells has announced this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. There may still be some places available if you wish to take part.

I have, of course, taken up my reserved spot. Somewhat foolishly, I opted for a target of 3000 points, which will be a fair stretch to achieve. Particularly if I end up painting lots of 28mm figures for my WW2 New Guinea project to the same standard as I have started out...

I decided to do a quick count-up of what I have in stock, ready to go. It comes to about 2000 points of prepped-and-primed figures. I probably have another 4-500 points of figures prepped but not primed, and a lot of plastics which haven't been assembled. I should have enough for the 3000 points, but will need to do a bit of a sort out in my hobby room if I'm going to have space to have everything primed before the Challenge starts.

There are also some planned purchases, mostly for the New Guinea project. Plus some terrain. All in all, it looks as though I have no excuse for not hitting 3000 points this year.

However, you probably want to know what I do have lined up for this year:

28mm

WW2 New Guinea Project - 1942 Aussies (in KD uniforms), M3 Stuart tanks, and possibly some Japanese to oppose them. I might also make some jungle terrain up.
Purchases needed - some more M3 Stuarts, some more 8th Army figures, the Japanese.

Strontium Dog - I've got a good bunch of figures prepped and primed and some terrain (mostly) made up but needing to be primed.
This project will fit in nicely with one of the bonus rounds ("Mercenaries").

Pulp/Salutesville - I have a lot of figures primed and some more prepped but not primed. Some terrain as well.

Miscellaneous - I've got quite a few figures primed for various small projects. There's a small group of figures in this section that will work for the final bonus round ("Fellowship").


15mm

SYW Russians - I have 4 regiments of infantry (plus spare figures) and 18 Cossacks primed. I don't have any plans to add to them at the moment.

Mongols - plenty of cavalry and some infantry plus baggage elements primed.

SciFi - I have a load of GZG's Kra'Vak figures and vehicles prepped.


6mm

ACW - mounted and dismounted cavalry plus some artillery for both sides primed. There are also various baggage elements and some terrain prepped but not primed.

SYW - I have a lot prepped. I was going to do these as ImagiNations for Honours of War, but I'm having a rethink on that right now.


Other project which might see the light of day:

28mm Wars of the Roses - I have a goodly pile of plastics for this project to add to the longbowmen I painted a few years ago.

28mm Fantasy - a wold army for Dragon Rampant. I have a bunch of wolves prepped, but need to order some more and bases for them to go on. I'll be multi-basing the wolves on 75x50mm bases which offers the opportunity to make them dioramic.


The next few weeks will see me busy getting ready for the Challenge, with lots of prep and priming plus some terrain making. Also thinking about what to do for the other three bonus rounds - "Reconnaissance", "Sport" and "Water Feature" - and making any necessary purchases.

Musing on Australian Expansion

I've been thinking a bit about expanding the Australians and looking at what figures I'd need and what is available.


Papuans

At the moment I've got six riflemen, a 2 man Bren team and three with Owen guns. As the Owen guns weren't issued until 1943, that leaves me with a short section for 1942 actions.

The obvious solution is to buy the Warlord section pack (9 rifles and 1 Owen gun). I expect Eureka will be adding to the range, so I might be able to get some more from them at some point. I should also add an officer and senior NCO (who would be Aussies) - I'll probably buy some Eureka figures for these.


Kokoda Trail Campaign

The main units involved in the fighting withdrawal were the 39th Battalion (Militia) and the 21st Brigade of AIF 7th Division. They were later joined and/or relieved by 25th Brigade. 53rd Militia Battalion were also sent forward as reinforcements.

Militia

In 1942 the Militia would mostly have been in shorts and socks, so the obvious choice is to use 8th Army figures. Strangely, there don't seem to be many 28mm metal figures available - just some from Artizan and Perry (Vickers and 3" mortar teams). Warlord's Militia section looks much more suitable for the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, which would be an interesting unit to have anyway.

That probably means going with the Perry plastics (with their metal Aussie slouch hat heads) for the Militia, plus a few Artizan and the Perry support weapons. Unless anyone can point me in the direction of some other 28mm metal 8th Army I haven't spotted.

Weapons-wise they were rather poorly equipped at the start of the campaign - mostly rifles, a few Tommy guns and a few Brens. I'm not sure if they had anything heavier than that (the 53rd certainly don't seem to have had anything more than Brens, which were only issued with some minimal training after they had moved up the trail). I guess I can do without the heavier stuff for them.

21st Brigade

The 21st arrived at Port Moresby in khaki drill and headed straight up the trail to reinforce the 39th. They would have been in long trousers (although some switched to shorts during the campaign) and would likely have been in a mix of helmets and slouch hats during the fighting.

I've got more options for these - Artizan's 8th Army rifle, Bren and command packs have figures in long trousers. The Perry metal range has rifle, command and Bren teams in battle dress trousers. There are also the Eureka figures (which come as helmet or slough hat). I'll probably go with a mix and could also use any left over plastics for some men in shorts.

25th Brigade

The 25th arrived at Port Moresby slightly later and had been issued with (hastily dyed) jungle green uniforms. That's a relief - I can use the figures I'm currently painting for them. Minus the Owen guns as they wouldn't be issued until the next year. That does leave them a little short on SMGs though - just two figures with Tommy guns.(one Warlord, one Artizan). I suppose the solution to that is to get a pack of Chindits with Tommy guns from Wargames Foundry. Hmmm, they're at Broadside in a few weeks time...


Independent Companies

These chaps had some rather interesting campaigns, which would be fun to fight out. In Timor, one of the companies (and I should note that they were large companies - nearly 300 officers and men) occupied the attention of an entire Japanese division for a year (having been thought missing in action for three months until a signaler rigged together a working radio from various other sets).

I've just finished painting the Warlord section, so that's a start. I could sub in some of the jungle division troops to make up numbers (and maybe some of the Warlord Militia section?), but it would be nice to bulk the force out with some other figures. Some of Artizan's North Africa/Mediterranean commandos might fit, but I'd need to do head swaps, although the lack of any swap heads with berets could be an issue. This may need some more thought.


Vehicles and Artillery

Vehicles

Obviously not for the Kokoda Trail campaign, but in later campaigns there were various vehicles involved - the ubiquitous Jeep, Universal Carriers, Stuart light tanks, Matilda II infantry tanks, Grant tanks and the LVT4 Buffalo.

It might be nice to add a couple of tanks - a Stuart and a Matilda - for bunker clearing scenarios.

Artillery

This would normally be off table for Chain of Command, but it could form an objective for a Japanese raid or counter attack. The Aussies used a short 25lb field gun in New Guinea, which I think Warlord do. Maybe I'll get one at some point.


Phew, that sounds like quite a lot of stuff to expand the force. I guess this will be a rather long term project. Don't forget - I've still got all the terrain to produce, so extra figures (except perhaps the Foundry Chindits with Tommy guns) will just have to wait.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge "Ate"

Once again the Snowlord (Curt) has announced the Analogue Hobbies Paint Challenge. And this year it is going to be monstrous! I mean, just look at who the Wednesday minion is....

With seven prior Challenges, that makes this year's AHPC "Ate". In recognition of this, Curt has made the theme for Curtgeld and the final bonus theme round "monsters". 

As a previous entrant in at least four Challenges, I had a reserved place which I have gladly taken up. I've set myself a (for me) low target of 1300 points as I don't want to get caught up inside the hermitage like in previous years. This time I plan to get out gaming at least once a week.

I guess you want to know what I am planning to paint this time around. Well...

1. 15mm Sea Peoples - left over from last year and part of the reason for my lower target as I've got to paint the different colour patters on the kilts and armour.

2. 15mm Mongols - left over from last year

3. 6mm ACW - I have a load of cavalry, artillery and generals left over from last year

4. 28mm monster for Curtgeld (to be bought at some point)

5. 28mm pulp/gangsters - I've still got a lot left from last year and some new purchases

6. 28mm Jailbirds  characters - left over from last year

7. 28mm WW2 Russian Women - some additions purchased at Salute this year

8. 28mm WW2 Aussies - purchased a few weeks ago at SELWG

9. 28mm 2000AD figures - I purchased a few figures at Salute this year

10. 15mm Kra'Vak - bought at SELWG

11. 6mm SYW - purchased at Salute (with some later purchases) to paint up as "imaginations" forces

The first four are my priority and should get me close to my target. If I complete them with time in hand then I'll pick and choose from the others. 

This year won't be seeing any additions to my 15mm Seven Years War Russians, and (probably) no spaceships (although one of the bonus theme rounds is "flight" so maybe...Hmmmm, I do have all those Shapeways TIE fighters to paint- that's a few flights!)

Apart from the "monster" figure and essentials (paint, bases, stuff like that) I won't be making any purchases until it's over. No indeed, I will absolutely not be making any purch...ooh, shiny!

With just under a month to go to the start, I need to start clearing the decks in readiness. That means I need to try to get the rest of the Ming painted. And think about the bonus theme rounds and whether I want to do anything for them.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 56

Yikes! Eight weeks in which means just five weeks left of the Challenge!

I didn't quite finish the seamen last night, but I didn't have much to do this evening. Apart from varnishing - I ended up taking photos of them unvarnished for the submission, but have since given them a coat of Klear. At some point I'll give them a spray coat of matt varnish, then go over certain bits with satin or gloss varnish.

So, no pics tonight although I will add one or two when the post is up on the Challenge blog.

Edit: They're up!

Linky-link



Tomorrow evening it will be back to the Koreans. I should get most of the way through the third batch, finishing them on Wednesday. that will give me two evenings and the weekend for painting the officer and general stands. Plus doing the hat tassels, Klear/ink coat, matt varnish, drybrushing of bases, flocking...

Saturday Workbench

I got rather distracted this week, mostly watching videos on YouTube, so I didn't get as much done in the evenings as I'd hoped. The only thing I did manage to do until today was to add basing texture (a mix of fine, coarse and extra coarse pumice gel) to the sheep and the Soviet women.

I had high hopes for getting lots done today, but things didn't pan out quite as well as I'd hoped. My intention had been to get the airbrush out and prime as many figures as possible. It started out OK, but then I hit a major snag. I'd noticed that when cleaning between colours/fills there were a lot of bubbles coming out of the nozzle cap threads which is an indication that the nozzle is either too loose or too tight. So, I removed the needle and went to unscrew the nozzle...

...and it snapped with most of the thread still in the body of the airbrush. And too deep to get it out with the tools I have. Not that getting it out would help much as I don't have a spare and they seem to be out of stock everywhere. B****r! As I'm going to need a 0.5mm airbrush and I don't see any way of getting the broken nozzle thread out, I've had to order a new one. It should be delivered next weekend.

In the meantime I'll have to use my other airbrush which has a 0.35mm needle which means I'll need to add thinners and probably flow improver to the primer, not to mention cleaning even more regularly to prevent blockages.

One thing I did do in this session was to test out my Vallejo red primers to see if I could use them instead of spray-cans for priming the SYW Russian infantry.

The Pure Red seems to be pretty close so I'll go with that. I lightly re-primed the ones I'd done in German Red Brown (they're slightly darker in the pic above).

Anyway, here's what I did get primed:

The Soviet women also got primed, as did two more choppers I bought this morning (£1.50 each from Wilko). Having learnt from last week how annoying the rotor was when airbrushing, I removed them today for painting these two. I'll be trying out some alternative camo schemes tomorrow using the mini-hexocam stencils.

Apart from the new airbrush, I've ordered a few more things this week. Last night I ordered a few more stencils and some paints/primers from SnM Stuff. I also did a restock of bases from Tiny Tin Troops ready for the Challenge - nothing worse than running out and having to wait for more to arrive.

This evening I've placed an order with Timecast for some Old Glory 15s - the additional Koreans I need to complete that army, some SYW casualties and two ancients armies for ADLG. I foresee a lot of figure prep at work in the weeks after they arrive!

I've got a couple more orders still to place - the limbers and wagons from Essex and some more ACW infantry from Baccus when I finally work out how many more regiments I want/need.

Plans for this week:
1. Do the basing on the Salutesville figures. Lots of messy Milliput action!
2. Camo scheme test on the choppers.
3. Start painting the Mongol cavalry I started a long, long time ago.

Sunday Update

Oh dear, it appears I'm slipping on the old posting front. That's been down to me not having anything to show you until today. Well, strictly speaking I did have something I could have shown you yesterday but it was easier to roll that in with this post.


Figure Prep

I've finished prepping the SYW Russians! However, I discovered an omission and an error. The error was that the ammunition wagon cover doesn't fit on top of the SYW wagons (too short); that could be because the covers are intended for wagons from the supply train section. The omission was that I'd forgotten to order limbers for my artillery. I foresee and order being rapidly placed with Essex.


But that's far too much chatter, on with pics:


This was what I'd got done over the weekend by lunchtime today:

Yes, rather a lot of figures stuck onto painting sticks. Before moving onto pics of the figures glued on sticks, here's a close-up of the building:

It's the Police Station from TT Combat. It went together quite easily. One thing I found during the assembly was that it was a nice tight fit for a frame of Lego bricks around the outside to support the walls as the glue dried - I wonder if that was a deliberate design choice or just a happy accident? I'm going to need to prime it at some point, which means waiting for a dry morning/afternoon.

Yesterday I realised that I was even lower on airbrush thinners than I'd thought so I did a quick buy through Amazon Prime as I needed some pretty urgently. Of course, that meant waiting in today for the delivery. While I was waiting for the delivery to come, I decided to glue the SYW Russians onto painting sticks, the riders onto the horses and assemble the guns and wagons. That kept me busy for a couple of hours and I've now realised that I need to get some more drawer units to keep them while they await painting.

Cossacks!

Hussars!

Cuirassiers, horse grenadiers, guns, wagons and "spare" infantry

Infantry, generals, horse teams and artillery crew

Just to save you the trouble of trying to work out how many figures there are, here's a list:

Cossacks - 39 figures (6 regiments of 6 plus a 3-figure command group)
Cuirassiers - 11 figures (1 regiment of 9 and 2 spares)
Horse grenadiers - 18 figures (2 regiments of 9)
Hussars - 36 figures (4 regiments of 9)
Infantry - 152 figures (8 regiments of 18 and 8 spares)
Artillery - 2 guns, 6 crew
Wagons - 2 wagons, 2 drivers, 8 horses

When these are all painted I'll have all the non-Cossack cavalry regiments done that fought in the SYW and all but 13 of the infantry regiments. If my megalomania strikes again I might add those 13 next year.


Whilst I was doing all that gluing, the Amazon delivery came which meant I could play with the airbrush this afternoon. I did have a play with it yesterday but had a disaster which was entirely my own fault - I hadn't properly prepared (washed, lightly sanded, rewashed) the cheap toys I was using to test something out and the paint and primer peeled off. Luckily I had another cheap toy which had a better surface that didn't need prepping and I had primed that at the same time. However, I'd run out of thinners and it had got rather too late anyway.

So, today I cracked on with the better toy (a cheap-ish diecast helicopter from Wilko). The tests were in two parts - I wanted to try out a potential camo colour scheme as well as trying out some of the Anarchy Models HD stencils I'd bought a while back. I was in luck today - the primer and paints adhered to the toy and the stencils didn't peel any off when they were removed! Here's the finished test piece:

Now, this was just a test piece so I didn't use as many of the stencils as I would for proper pieces.  I'd also do more overlaps. I think the three colours work as a camo scheme ("where the hell would a pink camo scheme work?!?!?") but the hexes of these stencils are probably too large, particularly for 15mm. Luckily, I picked up the mini-hexocam stencils at SELWG.

Applying the stencils and removing them once the airbrushing was complete was a bit fiddly and time consuming but the effect was really good - you couldn't do hexocam or digicam freehand.

The great thing is that if you are careful you can reuse each of the stencils a few times but they do eventually lose their tack.

I'm planning on getting some other stencils from the range - digicam, tiger stripe and maybe one or two others (skulls! pin-ups!) so I think that tells you I was impressed with them. I might also get one or two of the HS stencils to try out.


Plans for this week:

1) Place a few orders - I need some ore bases, the bits from Essex, some more stencils (and maybe some paints on the same order - need to check what's running low)
2) Do the basing for the 28mm stuff I'd stuck on washers/bases last week, then prime them
3) Prime the SYW stuff - the cavalry I can use the airbrush, the infantry I might need to take to work and prime during my lunch-breaks (they'll be getting hit with red spray primer)
4) Try out some other camo colour schemes
5) Decide what else I need to order in for the Challenge