28mm Finnish Ski Patrol

These are the Finnish ski patrol scouts from the Warlord Games Finnish infantry boxed set. I've chosen to mount them on 25mm wide oval bases to protect the skis. After mounting them up the bases looked too white so the viewer that requested these on my Twitch.tv stream suggested edging the bases in grey and adding some non-white components. I added my pre-made rocks and some bushes and foliage clumps. All three were topped with fake snow made from PVA glue and micro-balloons. After drying the micro-balloon and PVA mixture was dry-brushed white.

I am particularly happy with the shading of the white jumpsuits on these figures. They were base-coated including all shading with my airbrush. Painting the remaining details with a brush was a relatively quick job. I'm looking forward to increasing my skill with the airbrush in hopes of finding more shortcuts like this in the future.

28mm Macedonian Hypaspists

These are three stands of Macedonian Hypaspists. The figures are mostly Crusader Miniatures figures, with a smattering of others thrown in to flesh out the units. At least one of the officers is from Old Glory.

Games Workshop's contrast paints have been all the rage for a few months. Originally I dismissed them as not appropriate for historical miniatures. When I started the Macedonians, with their blues, pinks and purples, I took a second look at them. This is my first unit painted with them and there is definitely a learning curve that needs working through. I am however, finding them quite fun to use. These figures were painted completely in about 40 minutes per figure, and that time includes three hours making the custom homemade shield transfers and applying them to the domed shields.

As far as a full review of GW's Contrast paints, I'm not quite ready to do that yet. I will say that there is a definite difference color-to-color in the range. Some are quite good and at least one that I tried is totally unusable.  More on this once I have more experience with the paint range.

These stands will make up the infantry portion of my Macedonian army's guard division, which is a required element for my friend Bob's ancients campaign. Unfortunately the campaign is on COVID pause, but we're hopeful to resume games soon after the quarantine is lifted. Until then I continue to play catch-up painting units for my army. This command adds fifteen more figures to my annual painting totals.

Start of the Finnish - Lahti Anti-Tank Rifle Teams

I have a feature on my stream, where after watching for a certain amount of time, viewers can request that I paint a particular project from a list I provide as my next stream project. My Finnish friend, Ugli81 is one of my most active and longest viewers. He recently requested that I paint my Finnish Lahti anti-tank rifle teams. To be honest, I was THRILLED he chose these models for me to paint. The Lahti is my favorite man-packed weapon of WWII.

My 28mm Finnish force will be used for the Continuation War and the Lapland War. Possibly later on I may also work my way backwards to the Winter War. Although I've based these in spring terrain, I'm possibly going to add some additional 'melting snow' effects once I find appropriate basing materials to do so. These figures are the first in my Finnish skirmish army for Iron Cross or Bolt Action. There are many more to come....some sooner than later, but that's a topic for a future blog update.

28mm Thracian Peltasts and Psoli

These four stands represent a Thracian division in Hannibal at the gates. The front two stands are skirmishers or psoli and the rear two are soldiers or peltasts. The shield transfers are from Little Big Man Studios. The figures are from Old Glory.

I anguished a bit about doing freehand patterns on the cloaks of these figures to match the historic pottery showing very complex geometric patterns. In the end I opted for simplicity allowing the shields to convey that theme. I wasn't confident I could execute the complex freehand in a way that wouldn't make the figures look worse than omitting it. Even without the patterns, I think the rhomphaia swords, sica knives and patterned shields give them a suitably Thracian look.

This adds sixteen figures to my annual totals bringing my year-to-date total to 138. This matches last year's production and it's only early April. Following a painting schedule because of my Twitch.tv streams has really ramped up my painting output. Even if you don't stream, making some regular time to paint really helps you get things done. During the current global COVID-19 epidemic it's a great time to set aside some scheduled hobby time.

28mm Macedonian Cataphracts (2)

Last month I finished up three stands of Macedonian cataphracts. I had purchased one box of Warlord figures and one box of Command. This left me one stand (3 figures) short of a full division (the smallest unit size) for Hannibal at the Gates. When I was last at my local hobby store I picked up another pack of figures to finish the unit. This stand is the result.

I'm counting this as six figures in the annual painting totals.

Here is the completed cataphract division of four stands. Ready for action!

Shameless Plug - Ebay Listings

I've listed some of my painted 15mm Flames of War painted units, and a complete Australian desert army for sale on Ebay.

You can see the auctions here: https://www.ebay.com/sch/pease1/m.html?item=324127791558&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Thanks for looking!

Macedonian Scouts - 28mm Light Cavalry

My friend Bob is running an ancients campaign that I'm playing in. The campaign requires each army to have a 'scout' command of three stands of light cavalry. Since I'm the Macedonian player, here are my three stands of Macedonian light cavalry. These are Warlord Games Hetairoi Cavalry which are supposed to represent the companions. With their linen curiasses and no shields, I think they also make a good figure to use as the army's standing scout cavalry. 

The figures are resin and come in two pieces: horse and rider with separate metal stamped-head lances included. I have to admit that I'm a lead figure snob, but so far these Warlord resin models are impressing me. The detail is crisp and the figures require little clean up. You do have to use a very sharp knife to CUT off the flash however. The resin doesn't sand or scrape very well and ends up 'fuzzy' if you try to use these techniques. This small quibble aside, I'm enjoying this figure line and plan to paint more of them in the future.

I'm counting this as twelve figures in my annual painting totals; six riders and six horses. These were painted entirely on my Twitch.tv stream. Currently in progress on the painting table are several stands of Thracian peltasts and psoli also for the Macedonian army.