Or as Stew would have it a "PBJ post"!
I was conscious I had not posted since June. Truth be told, weekends had produced little of note - heat, exhaustion from work meant minimal progress.
I took a week off as a much needed break from work, thinking I could clear some backlog of painting. Alas! I trusted to the weather forecast as being "less hot" only to find how wrong that forecast was!
Stuck in the amber zone with temperatures reaching 30 degrees, painting has been minimal. The first part of the week was windy enough to prevent spray priming, so sadly it doesn't feel like much was accomplished....
I did manage some painting using Contrast Paint, Army Painter ink washes as when the heat allowed, touch up with acrylics. My patent method I now think of as a "wash and brush up"....
Today I got around to basing the previously painted cavalry.
The excess basing "slop" ( a mix of Polyfiller, PVA, acrylic tube burnt umber and a bit of sand) was used for some hastily constructed ditches...
I also varnished the painted Celts, a mix of Essex, Freikorps 15 and Minifigs (all second hand eBay purchases), the latter being already basically painted received a wash and retouching with a bit of detail added here and there.
Here's the near completed stuff.
I also managed to clean up and prime more bits:
Remaining Celts
Germans and baggage:
Original German host awaiting paint:
So you may ask, why do I need more barbarians?
The answer lies in the potential choice of rules. After considering many, I am beginning to settle on Strength & Honour, nominally designed for 2mm. I see no reason why you cannot use 15mm, it being the base that's important.
I'm aiming for 80mm wide bases. 50mm deep for Legions and close order warbands, 65mm deep for loose order - 5x DBA elements for Romans, 6x elements for barbarians. Cavalry 4 elements on a 80mm by 65mm base. Skirmishers thinner with just 2 elements side by side unless massed.
This meant looking at how many bases the figures would fill and what additional painting was needed.
Any progress is good progress, Neil! You continue making good progress. Thermometer is turning up here out West with expectations for 36C by midweek and much hotter temperatures farther south. Summer has arrived!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. It was a case of get some painting done early when still cool.
DeleteThe heat in the UK has been exceptional. Sadly few homes in the UK have air conditioning, so temperatures in the 30s are "challenging" ☺
Neil
At least you made some progress, this heat is really hampering my efforts to get stuff done. The Celts do look rather nice
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil. The heat is great for drying things but not helpful when that's the paint on your brush!
DeleteNeil
That looks like a fair bit of progress to me. At some point I'll come back to more complex Ancient rules, so I'll add Strength and Honour to the list.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin. I'm sure I could have done more but at least did preparation for future painting.
DeleteStrength & Honour have some interesting ideas, but some which I'm still uncertain of - Celts for example seem to be able to manoeuvre only slightly less well than Romans, which seems a bit odd (unless you rationalise as an unformed mob not really having any kind of order so "flows" in different directions). Some of the rules are a bit gamey - I cannot for example see Caesar shouting "it's all up for you Vercingetorix! Humunculus est!" Prompting a check to see if the army breaks!
Neil
Hi Neil,
ReplyDeleteA very productive week off, even if the weather didn't play ball! Your "wash and brush up" method has worked wonders on those second-hand Celts—they look superb lined up together. Using the leftover basing slop to scratch-build some quick ditches is a classic, resourceful hobby move, too.
All the best, Andy
Thanks Andy and welcome. My painting style evolved into a black undercoat and layer method, concentrating on faces especially. It takes a long time so I have experimented with Contrast Paint, trying on white, grey and drybrushed black. It still lacked the high contrast of a black undercoat. That's when I hit on the Army Painter washes. You do need to go back over the colours, but I find you only need to hit the raised parts with highlights.
DeleteBuying painted second hand figures means the base colours are done, so a wash followed by highlighting and touch up means they match my existing figures.
It's an art mixing the right amount of "gloop" and I've never managed to store it! It helps to have something like terrain you can use for the leftovers.
Neil
Not a bad effort at all Neil, nice mix of figures, they all go together nicely. Good use of leftover basing mix, they look good. Interesting choice of rule set, wouldn't have thought of S&H but can see it working well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. They are almost all second hand from an eBay seller - perhaps intended for mixed units?
ReplyDeleteI have gone for S&H mainly as it is intended for refighting historical battles, rather than an equal points competition game. There are some gamey aspects and I suspect some inbuilt play balance.
I wanted something suitable for the campaign game.
Neil