Paint table lurkers - finished AWI Highlanders

I guess like a lot of you there are items in your "to do" list that seem to have been there a long time. In this case it has been a unit of AWI Highlanders that I start 2 and half years ago , and have been picked up , put down, interrupted by illness, injury, and a range of other distractions. Having spent the last few years painting in the main individual figures for skirmish type games the size of this unit at 54 figures was also a factor i think. Anyway as I found myself with more paint table time over the last few weeks (a side benefit of less day job travel) I thought I want to get these done before the winter challenge commences and have a completely clear paint desk without these lads taunting me!

So more Old School shinyness..for DC at "Unfashionably Shiney" to worry those darned Colonials..

All with soldered bayonets. Converted figures to make a drummer and piper and each officer is different with pin swords added.

 

 Painting tartan under gloss is always fun!

And just a note of thanks for DC for his patience

It's not all painting

There is a good bit of preparation work going on at the moment , with lots ready for tackling as I start into the winter challenge. My man-cave time has been boosted with a reduction in day job travelling which is nice. I have however splashed out on another few sets of rules to help things along with the acquisition of "The Sands of Sudan" from Carlo at "With Pyjamas through the Desert" blog - a set of reconstructed Peter Gilder rule, of which I have many bits of already but not a complete view.  I wanted to support Carlo in his endeavour and who can resist a nice new shiny set of rules - and some very nicely designed Random Event cards. With the numbers of Mahdist required on them its a good job I still have a stock in to paint on top of the 600+ I already have. I want to get to 1000 Mahdist foot.

  The gamers play the imperial forces , meanwhile an umpire uses the cards and rules to direct the random elements of Mahdist forces.

All delivered from Australia in just over a week.. thanks Carlo.

I also picked up the latest Pulp Alley release to add to my other sets. - "Vice Alley"

 Some of my collection painted by Loki feature as David asked on the Pulp Alley forum for some to include , which I was more than happy to oblige - appropriately they are in the Gang War pages.

Brushwork has not been entirely absent - so here is a teaser for DC..I have cracked on with main block work on the AWI Highlanders. I want these off the desk for the start of the challenge which should be ok. 

Errr. so that would be so I can start more Highlanders... I must be mad...I need two  36 man units for  the Sudan collection. I am working on a test figure here so I could work out colour schemes. The figure is an old Peter Gilder Connoisseur Sudan range one  , and I will be using these use for the "Black Watch" . It is a joy to paint - not too fiddly and easy to access the details etc.

 few little twiddly bits to do ...

 I suspect the Perry figures I have prepared for the "Gordons"  - which were complete swines to clean up won't be so nice to paint.

Spanish Hussars

OK - a bit left field for me of late. In between preparation work for the winter challenge stuff I have decided to clear out some side projects. So here is the first one, some Old School shinyness for you. These are 28mm Spanish Hussars by Eagle Figures. I had only come across this range recently and there are some nice bits in it. They come with seperate sword arms which I took the opportunity to solder on in a range of positions - personally I hate seperate arms etc as if glued at some point they are likely to come apart - these lads won't now.

A more traditional view of Spanish Hussars - that of running way..(sorry Juan ;-)).

Talking of preparation works - I had to get into the loft to reach the far end of the lead mountain in search of horseflesh - I found the bag of "spare" horses. Most are at least 20 years old but will be just the job to provide mounts for my Colonial Cavalry for the Sudan - I am using Peter Gilder's Connoissuer figures, so it will save a few pennies (actually a lot of pennies - have you seen the price of 28mm horses!) not having to buy 64 horses , just riders. Just a bit of clean up work required.

One of the early jobs for the challenge will be to do all the oil rub on these and leave them to dry for a few weeks - 3 cavalry regiments should provide a nice point boost for the back of the challenge.

I have another "Shiny" project up next as well - the long awaited Highlanders for the AWI...

Not Forgotten

 Not Forgotten

"Freedom isn't free"

The Fifth Annual Painting Challenge

Well with editorial duties on Wargames Bloggers Quarterly handed over to "PK" , it was opportune for Curt to release the Fifth incarnation of his painting challenge with a theme of  Anti-Heroes, Rogues and Ruffians. he must have forgot to keep taking the tablets...mad fool!!

V image by GChiny @Deviantart

It's not been a greatly productive summer and autumn season in terms of miniatures , the lead pile has been steadily growing - so its time to clear that out. Having scored 3000 points last year, I am going for 2250 for now , as the early start will throw things a little for me as December will still be busy

 There are some interesting bonus rounds which I enjoyed last year, and i can think of 4 of them I can do without going too off track .

• December 14: Cold - hmm... need to think
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s) - yes , but want to do something "different"
• January 11: Victorian - sorted
• January 25: Myth ... hmm.. need to think
• February 8: Hot - sorted
• February 22: Comedic - sorted
• March 8: Anti-Hero  - sorted

Main themes for me this year will be Colonials for the Sudan, Gangsters, the odd cowboy,  and various bits of interest from the lead pile. If I need a ~"point bombe" I still have unpainted fuzzy wuzzies from last year..

With a chunk of preparation to do I have invested in a spray booth which I have been wanting for a while  , which has an electric fan and an extraction hose that will hang out of the window of the man cave.

The screens fold down , and it comes with a turntable ,spare packs of filters , and a 2m power chord which winds into the body when packing away.

 The project desk is starting to groan under the cleaned up lead - and I still have a box to open.. the Warbases order has arrived.. time to start full on prep work

Wargame Bloggers Quarterly - Issue 2 - out now.

As it say... it's here.. jope you enjoy it - I enjoyed being editor for this issue.

WBQ is a FREE community driven electronic magazine (PDF e-Zine) composed of the best wargames and miniature painting content from the collective blogosphere.

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Issue List

• Volume One - Issue Two - November 2014 (PDF - 20Mb)
• Volume One - Issue One - August 2014 (PDF - 25Mb)