Amati 120mm ECW Pikeman

Added highlights after the Minwax staining; I like the way the stain defines the details before going over with washes and highlighting.

Next to a stand of Warlord Games 28mm pikemen below.

Used a 12" bamboo skewer for the pike - the pike head and butt spike came with the kit.

I'm likely not going to add a wooden base below the one with the figure as the pike makes it hard to fit in the display case already.

This was a fun kit to paint up and seeing it going for under $15 USD on ebay made it hard to resist.

As I liked the finish on the armor left by the Minwax stain, I masked those areas before spraying the figure with a matte finish.

Just a quick diversion while awaiting the arrival of Perry figures. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best!

Amati 120mm ECW Pikeman - WIP

Not a gaming figure, but something to pass the time until my Perry order arrives (hopefully soon). Picked this resin kit up off of ebay for under $15 USD and free shipping, so couldn't pass it up. I see there a still a few of these still on ebay for the same price. It's painted in the usual method of block painting followed by a stain of Minwax.

Incidentally, I also picked up the OOP Warhammer ECW book off of ebay for a bargain price too. When it was in print, I hadn't an interest in the period - boy how times change.

Above image shows it with the basic blocked painting. As for my Perry order, I'm a bit surprised as it's been about 3 weeks since it was shipped. Maybe I'm just spoiled as I've had most of my Perry orders arrive within 2 weeks - the website does say approximately a month for orders to arrive in the USA. In any case, thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog. Best wishes to all of you.

Warlord Games Fallshirmjager in Tropical Kit

Finally finished these guys - actually started on them a couple of weeks ago and then got distracted from picking up a brush until last night. They were actually quite simple to paint up using only two colors for the uniforms (except for the two in splinter camo). The pants and helmets/caps were painted with Vallejo Iraqi Sand and the shirts Vallejo Dark Sand. The equipment was painted in varying drab/khaki colors - can't really go wrong here. The camo smocks were painted following the old Resistant Roosters method which I've used in past.

The were given the Minwax stain treatment over very basic block painting. I think the stain works great with WW2 figures wearing drab clothing. The only highlights I added were to the face/flesh - figured they should look grimy and weathered.

Plan to use them mainly as Ramcke Brigade guys who served under Rommel at El Alamein. However, the scarves are painted blue with white polka dots which are associated with the 5th Parachute Regiment which served in Tunisia.

These are nice figures and each in individual poses. Pictured below a comparison with a Victory Force figure in the middle. Victory Force guys are fairly tall, but should work fine on the table alongside Warlord figures.

Glad to pick up a brush again - I haven't gone without painting for this long in a while. Probably will start on the 120mm ECW Pikeman figure next. I was hoping to get an order of Perry WW2 figures already, but still waiting for their arrival. Well, thanks for stopping by and sorry for not stopping by your blogs for a couple of weeks too.

Blitzkrieg Miniatures 1:48th M3 Grant in British 8th Army Service

As with the earlier Panzer II and Panzer III, still need to at a tank commander from a Perry order. The camo is based upon an example I found on the internet. Used an old can of Tamiya OD for the basecoat, and then applied brush on Vallejo Dark Sand for the other major color. Outlined the sand color with with and the OD with black - as per the online example.

Very light weathering; just a light stain with a Future/Pledge floor wax mixture and some pin washing; followed by light dry-brushing - mostly on the sharp edges.

I want to add some unit marking later - if I get some appropriate decals.

The turret is magnetized like the Panzer III, and can rotate 360 degrees. The tow cable looks more like a rubber hose; may have to streak it with some metallic/rust.

The Grant flanked by Tamiya 1:48th kits - a Matilda in front and Crusader to the rear. These will be the tanks for the 8th Army force. I may add an armored car too.

A comparison with a 1:50th diecast Corgi Sherman - the Grant is slightly taller overall, and also dominates the rivet count.

Next up is the Warlord Games Fallshirmjaeger squad in tropical uniform. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Blitzkrieg Miniatures 1:48th Panzer II & Panzer III

Awaiting the arrival of some Perry metal tank commanders, but the resin Panzer II and Panzer III from Blitzkrieg Miniatures are done. I dry-brushed on Vallejo Iraqi Sand over a base coat of Vallejo Green Brown. According to the DAK paint set the Green Brown was used up to 1942, but looked too dark, so I went over it with Iraqi Sand - which the set indicates was used in 1943. A sepia-tone wash mixed with Future/Pledge floor wax was applied and then sprayed with matte.

These tanks are supposed to belong to the 15th Panzer Division which used single numerals to identify vehicles. The decal sheet I got from Warlord had the famous DAK palm trees, but didn't have the symbol for this division. Might add them later if I ever pick some up.

As mentioned in a previous post, these are scaled at 1:48th, since the rest of my vehicles are either this scale or 1:50th Corgi diecasts. Nothing against 1:56th scale, but I had started in 1:50th-1:48th so stayed with it.

I used some spare magnets for the Panzer III turret, but used a washer and magnetic tape for the Panzer II. The large magnet would've been a bit too powerful to spin around the smaller II's turret.

A few comparison shots with the plastic/diecast OOP New Millennium Panzer IV I painted a while back.

I think the Panzer IV is around 1:48th scale too - appears to be close, in any case.

Next up is the Blitzkrieg M3 Grant in 8th Army service. Until next time, best wishes to you all!

Artizan Spartans Ready to Suppress Helots

With the arrival of the very nice "lambda" shield decals from Veni Vidi Vici, managed to complete the Spartan project. Here are the 64 spearman along with the earlier completed command.

I ordered sets of black and red "lambda" decals. Jay at VVV was kind enough to locate some red ones which are currently shown out of stock on the website. Initially, I had planned to have the two units with the same colored shields, but decided to mix them up to give them a more varied look.

Ranking spearmen in thrusting poses takes a little bit of work, but pays off in the end.

The white linothorax gives a simple, but striking look when coupled with the crimson red tunics, IMHO. Interestingly there are two figures from one of the overarm thrusting packs wearing the older style bell cuirass - maybe a lucky family heirloom.

I took a lot of pictures from different angles - as I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

Pardon the indulgence - they may look like the same photos, but I promise I moved the units around (movement trays are the bomb!).

And finally, a shot of the rear rank guys in underarm poses - just showing a little love for them as they're hidden behind the overarm posed guys on the trays.

Okay, glad these guys are finally done - I can get back to some Bolt Action projects now. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best in health and hobby pursuits!

Hobby Desk Update

Just a quick post to show what I've been doing for the last week or so. Still waiting on the VVV lambda shield decals to finish the Artizan Spartans. In the meantime, built a few more movement trays - now have a total of 20 for 24-man units, and several others in different sizes - including two for the 32-man Spartan units. Also picked up a couple of 1/48th scale Blitzkrieg resin tanks and a box of Warlord Games Fallschirmjager in tropical uniform. The tanks are a Panzer II and an M3 Grant - both will be additions to the Western Desert Campaign. I picked all of these up from Sherwood Games on ebay. As you may already know, Sherwood Games is run by a Phil Vernon, who I had the fortune to meet at the WAB GT in 2013.

These are my first Blitzkrieg models, and I'm quite impressed with them. In fact, I went ahead and ordered a Panzer III to compliment the force.

And whilst malingering on ebay, I also picked up a couple of 120mm resin figures - couldn't pass them up as they were only about $12 each and with free shipping. I actually have the German knight figure already, but had modified him so wanted another to build up per the kit.

Update to the update - A couple of 1/48th Blitzkrieg resin tanks, a set of Warlord Games Fallshirmjager in tropical uniform, a couple of 120mm resin figures and finally, 64 Artizan Spartans awaiting shield transfers.

So much for now - just wanted to stay in touch with my blogging brethren. Until next time, stay healthy and keep enjoying the hobby!

Greetings from Lakonia - Artizan Spartan Command

Painted these up while awaiting the arrival of the VVV lambda shield decals. These are from the Artizan Spartan Command pack - less one other figure. The "lambda" are hand-painted on the two shields; not hard to do, but didn't want to do this 64 times over.

The guy holding the plastic broom bristle spear originally held a sword. It looked a bit over-sized and figured a spear would balance the stand better.

Too bad the guy holding the staff with his cloak wrapped around him didn't have a transverse crest on his Corinthian helmet - like that famous statuette. I think Artizan had two command packs - and the other one had a guy wearing a helmet with transverse crest; as well as including a piper.

Anyway, these are a nice compliment to the spearmen; the braided Spartan locks are nicely sculpted.

Just a little update and wishing you all a Happy Easter!

Artizan Spartans - WIP +1

Minwax stain over basic block painting. Left the linothorax plain white and allowed the stain to seep into the details. After drying and spraying with matte, I'll touch up the armor with white to make the areas stand out better. Otherwise, very basic painting with a little variation of color to the horse hair crests.

These will sit around until the VVV lambda shield decals arrive. I'll likely make more movement trays once my order for more plasticard arrives from Litko.

Prior to the stain

On another note, my wife and I got our first round of vaccinations today at Fort Lewis. They opened it up to 40 and over folks - active duty, retired and civilian workers. Follow up booster shot next month - after that I may be joining some of the local crew who've been gaming in small numbers. Until next time, wishing you all the very best.

Artizan Spartans - WIP and Musings (Long Winded)

Started on Artizan Spartans which I picked up last fall from the Panzer Depot - which sadly had to close up shop. Block painted the flesh, beard/hair, tunics (all dark red), spear shafts and scabbards so far. Need to paint the helmets, horse hair crests and spear tips/butt spikes. They size pretty closely with the Victrix Hoplites, but Artizan figures are mostly in slightly crouching poses so have a different look and probably wouldn't work well in the same unit. Quite a few wear the older Illyrian style helmet with tall crest - which again would look out of place with later style helmets which most of the Victrix guys are wearing. Ordered some lambda decals from VVV - so these guys will be Spartans in their own units anyway.

These didn't come with spears so I ended up making some out of plastic broom bristles - which are quite durable and easy to make.

I also made up some movement trays with plasticard and sprue trees from all of the Renedra bases that come with Perry plastic sets.

I initially wanted to make some for my phalanx units, but figured they could be used for Napoleonics as well (Attack Column would work nicely), at least in the initial movement phases.

To sum up, I started these projects to kill time while awaiting my Warlord Games AWI order. However, I finally got an email reply from Max at Warlord Games this morning as to why my order which was placed on 11 March, was still showing as "Unfulfilled". I found out that my PayPal payment made via Reach (which Max said they use) had been cancelled by Reach. I went ahead and cancelled the order with Max's help, and no funds were transferred. I'm wondering if it had something to do with when I placed my order. I might've mentioned this in an earlier post, but I placed my order on 11 March when the website offered free shipping for orders $80 USD or over. Mine was about $90, so the checkout showed free shipping. The very next day I got an email (sent to all subscribers) from Warlord Games announcing an increase to $150 USD for free shipping. Max over at Warlord Games said he wasn't sure why my order hadn't been processed, but was going to check with their IT folks. In any case, I don't mind cancelling the order as I can revisit AWI again later on. Probably order direct from Perry and add some metals. Anyway, quite a rambling post, but just wanted to post an update here. Thanks again for visiting and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games Celtic Chariots

These are the three I picked up last Fall when one of our local gaming stores was, unfortunately, having a closeout sale. As I'm still awaiting my AWI order from Warlord Games, I figured I'd go through the few odds and ends of stuff I have to keep me busy.

These are really nice figures with a lot of animated poses. The crew on the left in the picture above are cast together as one piece - the upper body of the warrior glues on at the waist. The center chariot sports a Boudica figure - now I have two along with the Victrix one.

The chariots themselves are easy to put together - only the main body, wheels, side rails and pole. The fitting of the parts is excellent.

I used parts of a Warlord Games decal for the shield as the size of the shield didn't match the decals themselves.

There are now a total of 8 Celtic chariots which can be used as Britons against EIR or as Gallic invaders against Greeks or Macedonians.

Speaking of my Warlord Games AWI order, I still see it as "unfulfilled" so went ahead and sent them an email just to see when it was expected to be sent out - haven't received a response yet. Otherwise, wishing you all the best in health and hobby pursuits!

Just A Few Perry Plastic French Grenadiers and Voltigeurs

While awaiting the Warlord Games AWI order (still shows "unfulfilled"), figured I'd paint up a few spare Napoleonic French foot.

Only the 2 Line Grenadiers and 6 of the marching Guard Voltigeurs were just painted; the Voltigeur drummer and guy next to him at port arms were already painted - and are Victrix figures. I needed the additional 6 Voltigeurs to up their battalion to 24 figures. I also wanted uncovered shakos for the Grenadiers, so swapped out their heads with some from the Perry Chasseur a Cheval set.

Hope to add a few more Grenadiers in skirmish poses - plan to use them to storm the fleches in the Borodino game.

The Perry and Victrix figures match up nicely and work well in the same unit - and even on the same stands. They also work well with Warlord Games plastics - in fact, I used a Warlord Games backpack w/saber/bayonet scabbard and ammo pouch on one of the Voltigeurs.

These are the figures with a Minwax stain over block painting. After spraying them with matte, I only highlighted the Grenadiers.

A pack of old Foundry AWI mounted commanders are next in the paint queue; but haven't started on them yet as I need to research their uniforms since this is a new period for me. Hopefully the Warlord Games order gets "fulfilled" soon. Until next time, best wishes to you all!