Painting toy soldiers is a young man's game

Whenever a friend or relative that has no prior knowledge of my hobby sees my efforts for the first time, the most common thing they say is "How do you paint so small?" I of course then explain that there are techniques like drybrushing, washes and contrast paints that do a lot of the work for you. I explain that there are definitely better painters out there than me, some that even paint eyes. 

I have been painting Roboute Guilliman for my son as he decided the model is too special and detailed to have a go himself. He always wants his models to look like the box art, I don't tend to stray too far from the GW paint scheme but within the limitations of my skill. So, I've been having a go. I am perplexed though, by the level of detail required. I will admit to having aging eyes and so glasses and another pair of glasses on top have had to be deployed for certain parts. What has stumped me though is the scrolling on his left leg. 

Photo from GW website (definitely not my painting)

He has a scroll on his left shoulder that has been etched with his surname, so some inking sorted that out, it's now readable. However on his leg the scroll is blank. That's fine I have a steady hand, I can do a bit of text. The text however is a bit more complicated.

Now old Roboute is a big chunky model, from head to toe he is approximately 55mm tall and doing a lunge on his tactical rock, so probably more like 60mm. This scroll however is 7mm wide and 3mm tall, plus those Eagle feet take a chunk of space up. There is no way I am fitting that text on that scroll, never mind having a steady enough hand and enough magnification to actually do it. I get it, people can paint small, hell,  people paint on grains of rice. You know what they use to do that? A microscope and a single human hair for a brush!  This lettering has detail within the letters. I am sure that it actually was painted by a human at Warhammer World and not some sophisticated AI painting bot, but I would love to see footage of it actually happening on a model that is actually that scale, just to see how they did it. What brush did they use and can I buy that brush in my local GW?

 

There was also the matter of two flaming braziers poking up from the base. These while lovely for some extra detail on the base are tiny and the poles are the thinnest plastic parts I have ever seen on a GW model. I knew they would snap off the second anyone breaths on them, so they are staying off.

In all seriousness though my eyesight isn't actually too bad, a very minor prescription.  I think in reality trying to paint a model that looks that good in close up photographs isn't necessary for me. I have full respect for those that do, however they do it. I just can't achieve that myself. So I finished my attempt and took a photo.

I can see issues with it now that I could go back and fix, but those flaws are really only visible in the photo. On the table,  I'm pretty happy with it. So what am I saying? Well, if you can paint to competition standard, crack on ( I don't have the time to spend a week on each model, my leadpile is big enough as it is!), if not don't worry too much. Just have fun. It's a hobby after all.

Well, that happened.

When I started this blog back in 2018 it was intended as a fun reflection of my personal part of the hobby, mainly an exercise for myself. Previous attempts at blogging had taught me about typing into the vast void of the ever expanding Internet where everyone has an opinion and nobody is interested in anyone else's, especially mine.

Interestingly though, with a little bit of effort I managed to get a few people to read this blog (not just friends and family) and I like to think that some people do enjoy it. I've always been positive, I don't do this for money or exposure, I don't try to massively increase exposure by click baiting, GW bashing or following trends. I just talk about what I love and if anyone else is interested, well that is nice.

So, when my last post about my day at Colours 2023 as a new member of the club attracted some less than positive comments I was a little surprised. I'm all for constructive criticism but without any negativity from myself it suddenly got a little mean.

Mean comments about individuals in the club were made and then I was attacked for removing comments. Now I'm not an idiot, I've always known there are those kind of people on the Internet (others can be a lot nastier too) but in my tiny little corner of the Internet I didn't think enough people were listening to me to attract that kind of attention. I don't know what weird,  grumpy arguments had gone on in the past with these people, I'm not interested. I just like painting toy soldiers and rolling dice, that is what my blog is about, it's kind of obvious.

So in a weird twisted kind of way I'm taking it as a complement I guess?! My blog finally attracted the weirdos? The fact that they think they have a right to comment whatever they want on my blog and I let it happen is just bizarre. This isn't a public forum, this isn't Facebook or Twitter (Oh that cesspool is another conversation, I left that the minute there was even the possibility that the moron might buy it.) This is my little soapbox and if you want to make those comments go write your own blog and talk to the void. I'm not interested.

Anyway, normal service will resume shortly I am sure. 

Colours 2023 recap

Well it's over again for another year. The annual show from Newbury and Reading wargames society. I can honestly say it was great fun. This was my first year attending as a club member rather than a punter and I was not disappointed. 

Our weekend started the day before the show helping the traders as they arrived to set up at the grandstand. Despite the heat, not too many issues and everyone was very friendly. It was fun to get a sneak peak of some of the stands before the day too.

On the day of the show it was predicted to be a hot day, so plenty of cold drinks and fans set up, we braced ourselves for the heat and fun. I had volunteered to help on the Bring and Buy stall and on arrival I ended up being on the booking in desk, a very busy but fun task. With very minor exception everyone queuing to book in their lead and plastic were great fun to talk to and happy to indulge my excitement at seeing all the things they were selling. Highlights include a first edition warhammer, a full set of Sharpe DVDs that immediately sold (I really thought everyone that does this hobby would already have their own copy by now!) and some beautifully painted terrain (each piece immediately sold the moment I booked it in they were that good) The shock of the day was a boardgame that I used to own called Dragons Quest. I had sold it on the Bring and Buy a few years back and as I explained this to the current owner I realised the price label affixed to the box had my hand writing on it. It was the exact same copy!

I may have been tempted by a couple of items as they came in and reserved them for myself to buy later, one in particular were some original sculpt Adeptus Arbites that I just could not resist getting.

For the afternoon the Father in Law brought my youngest to come see the show and after we bought everything he had off his shopping list. (Including Roboute Guilliman which he has decided I have to paint for him) we popped upstairs to choose a participation game to play. We settled on a Star Trek game run by these chaps who were super enthusiastic and made it a fun game. Youngest took control of a Klingon fleet and I was left with the Romulans. Needless to say I managed to play a terrible game, at one point rolling three ones in a row to fail to do anything to the Warbirds bearing down on my fleet and the Klingons wiped out all my ships apart from the fleeing transport.

The Guilliman himself,  a beast of a kit.

The traders I spoke to in the afternoon all seemed to agree they had a good day despite the heat and I personally had some good feedback from visitors about the day. Unfortunately we had to leave before the end due to family commitments and when we left there will still plenty of browsers.

The next day my body definitely did ache, but that kind of ache that makes you feel like you achieved something. I am already looking forward to next years show, hopefully it will be a little cooler though! 

Zulu war Lancers

The plans to have a go at something historical continues. I had bought a copy of Ospreys Men Who Would be Kings, which is a nice neat system (similar to Dragon Rampant) and was using that book as a guide to what to buy. Another box of plastic Zulus from Perry's was a must as even at skirmish level you need a lot. 

I bought some MDF movement trays Warbases for them to aid in play.

I then wanted to get something else for the Brits, so some cavalry was a must. 

They are metal from Perry's and as usual a lovely sculpt. I do think the actual lances themselves are going to be prone to bending or even snapping easily, they may have to get replaced with brass rods in the future.

The pendant flags are hand painted paper, a strip of masking tape down some paper meant I could paint a crisp red line, then the shapes were just cut from the paper. A thin coat of Modge Podge makes them nice and firm for shaping into dynamic, flapping shapes.

I've no idea if the horse colouring is historically accurate, I just decided to have  bit of fun painting them all different colours. Just like everyone else I speak to, I hate painting horses, all that tack is a pain to do. 

I did get to use some of the models, for a game of Blood and Steel at the local club I took my Zulus. It was a fun system and I would play it again. I'm really not well read on this era so I picked up a copy of Daniel Mersey's A Wargamer's Guide to the Anglo-Zulu Wars. It's a a great introductory read to the history and how it relates to the tabletop. I found myself using the Horns of the Buffalo in our game as a valid tactic. 

Talking of the club, our annual show Colours, at Newbury Racecourse is swiftly approaching. I shall be on the Bring and Buy stall for a lot of the day, so come say hi. It's always busy there but that just shows its worth coming for a peruse.  It is on the 9th of September, more details can be found here. As I'm volunteering for the show this year I may not be able to review the show as a punter like previously, but I'm sure I'll have some comments to make afterwards. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Turnip28 attempt

 I've never made myself beholden to a set frequency of blog posts, but I tend to get itchy if I don't at least post once a month. So, when I noticed my last post was the beginning of June and July is rapidly disappearing I thought I better give an update.

As you may know I have joined my local club and I now get to play a tabletop game every week. Finally all these models I have painting are getting some action. The first fun is working out how to safely transport them to the club each week along with all the terrain and paraphernalia required, thank goodness for flexible high tensile foam!

I have been aware of the phenomenon that is Turnip28 ever since it started spreading across the hobbying Internet like the creeping hidden root system of a perennial weed. I only failed to look into it due to the other numerous ongoing projects on the painting tray. A couple of the club members have been enjoying games of it however and encouraged me to have a go at kitbashing something for it myself.

A trip to the cobweb infested garage to delve in the bits box (it's more like a packing trunk these days) and I returned to my hobby desk with a good handful of forgotten, unclipped sprues (Many of which were various magazine freebies from Wargames Illustrated). So for just the cost of the extra paints and tufts I purchased specifically during this project I created a starter Turnip28 force. When deciding on a faction I opted to go for The Fungivorous Herd due to the fact that my model collection already includes a vast array of different animals I could use for the Specialist unit, The Herd. The rest of the force is as follows.

The Toff, Sir Reginald Boggis.

The steed is GW as are the hangers on (not needed but I thought they fit the theme) Sir Boggis is kitbashed from Warlord, Perry, Frostgrave and Fireforge bits.

The Chaff.

These chaps are made from Victrix bodies and Frostgrave heads. (Prussians I think.) The bodies are one complete piece on the sprue so I decided not to mess too much and just pop some alternative heads on. The basing was fun to do, mixing a couple of Tamiya texture paints with agrax earthshade to darken some spots and then tufts and model railway ballast added in patches.

The Toadies, Sir Arnold Bunce and Sir Hugo Bean.

I think they are Perry Steeds and then like Boggis the riders are a mash up of Perry, Fireforge, Frostgrave and Warlord.

The Fodder.

Like the Chaff these are a complete body (from Victrix again I think) with Perry and Frostgrave heads this time. I love the combo of big coat and hat and tried to give the coats a faded cammoflage look.

The Brutes.

These guys all have heads from the Fireforge knights sprue and bodies made from Perry and Fireforge bits. These are my close combat unit so I felt being partially armoured fitted into that. I can imagine those helmets are now fused to their heads and they can only now eat turnip smoothies through the breathing holes.

The whole lot were great fun to make, I could have probably been a bit more liberal with the muck and grime, I suspect they look a bit clean compared to other Turnip28 armies. I'm pleased with them though and I'm looking forward to having a go at the rules. The kitbashing fun isn't over yet though as I couldn't resist pre-ordering a copy of the new rules "The Doomed" which is a scifi game that also encourages using your own creations on the tabletop. The latest Stargrave plastic sprues that have just arrived will certainly come in handy for that. Don't expect to see anything within the month though!

I got carried away

So, a while ago I decided I needed vikings. I bought a load of metal vikings at Colours and only painted a couple of them. I think it was because I had picked up the rulebook Ragnarok and it looked fun. Well, I finally finished painting the rest of them:

They are all painted in the same restricted pallette as my Frostgrave barbarians, which although not historically accurate, do go well with the vikings.

The standard bearers were the last to be done as I really wasn't keen on handpainting some flags and I hadn't found a set of pre-printed I liked. In the end I found a pdf online with some examples that were just a bit too large. A simple click of a mouse to print the pdf in landscape instead of portrait, shrunk all the images by half. A couple of layers of pva gave the paper some structure so it stayed in the wavy flag form and then superglue finished the job sticking the two halves together.

I couldn't resist getting everything out on a table with a bit of terrain just for the photo opportunity. This is all a mix of various manufacturers but keeping the pallette simple across them all I think has tied them together. I can use the vikings for some historical skirmishing and then if I want to do something a bit more fantastical (Dragon Rampant to the max anyone?) I can put this all together.

Masters of the Universe - into Eternia once again

Whilst at Salute last month I had to pay a visit to the stand of Archon Studios. You will recall I go on and on about how great their plastic kits are and my collection of Masters of the Universe Battleground seems to continuously expand. When I bought the starter box set I also received a limited edition He-man with Battlecat and I was sure I would not be able to obtain the Skeletor equivalent as it was listed as a tournament exclusive model. I did however have my fingers crossed when I got the Archon stand just in case they had one or two floating about.  

Turns out they did, Archon had decided to make the available at shows as well, so I was super excited to grab a Skeletor and also Hordak astride his Mantisaur.

Tremble at the mighty Mantisaur

The base is a metallic artificial floor rather than the usual rocky outcrop.

My only issue was you had to place him in the saddle before adding the mantisaur legs, so I couldn't paint the separately.

What a great pose(r)

Replicating the colour of his saddle to match the original toy colour was tricky.

I drew the line at replicating the purple flock look of the original

When I first painted these two chaps I had mixed some of their colours on a wet pallette to try and match their toy colours, so when it came to painting them again, I had to try and repeat the exercise from memory. I don't think I got Skeletors blue skin to match properly, but I prefer the new look.

 

 

 

So, what else have I been painting? Surely that is not all I bought from Salute? Well, I did buy some more plastic cowboys from Great Escape Games and a box of Fireforge zombies and I have been kitbashing some zombie cowboys for a future project. I had wonderful fun throwing bits together, you only get to see three of them at the moment though as that is all I have painted. 

The chap on the right is actually made up all from the cowboys sprues. I wanted to see if I could make a 'fresh' zombie, so the pose and the pallid flesh are the only clues to his recent resurrection. (Or is he about to kick an invisible football?). Youngest and I have been making a medieval style army from Fireforge Knights plastic kits (mounted and on foot) as well, so the home has been foggy with the stench of polystyrene cement. Only future posts will tell whether I end up painting them for him or they remain grey for a while.

On the gaming side of things, I recently decided to venture to a game night of the Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. I have been a patron of their yearly show for more years than I can remember now, so I decided to go and say hello. They were super welcoming, I got to join in and roll some dice on my first visit. So, I shall be popping back next week and signing up for full membership. I, of course will be armed with a handful of Osprey games books to try and convert them all to the way of the Rampant series....