Bertrand the Brigand & the Bowmen of Bergerac

 

In this update, I'm going to show off my newly painted skirmishing bowmen, led by none other than the infamous Bertrand the Brigand. I've had these miniatures for ages, ever since I first started collecting Warhammer back during my high school years. These miniatures have been painted and repainted four times now, with the last two times in the last year alone.

The first time I painted them, back in the early 2000's, I remember painting them browns and greens, similar to what you see here, but much more basic. Not long after, I had imagined a Bretonnian force let by the Green Knight, and as such styled my entire Bretonnian army to match the Green Knight. I had gotten my hands on some green spray from the hardware store, and glossy and hard wearing spray paint, entirely not suited to miniatures. It kind of worked, but I could see it wasn't right, and while I had completed the Green Knight, all the bowmen, including the mono-pose archers, and all my Knight of the Realm in that terrible green, I soon abandoned my Bretonnians in favour for the Orcs and Goblins I had acquired.

With the release of The Old World some time ago, I decided it was time to work on my old Bretonnian models once more, and since the new edition has models upgraded base sizes, I rebased the guys to the larger 25mm size. While this will allow the models to rank up easier, it really isn't a problem with these models in particular, since they usually run a skirmish formation on the table top. Once they were rebased, I sprayed a zenithal highlight of white over black, and began applying a variety of Army Painter Speed Paints on.

My one mistake during this time, was to dip the completed models after the speed paint, thus making the models rather dark and grimy. I wish I had not done that, and simply just highlighter a little after that, and I would of been happy with that outcome. I had decided to dip the models first, which darkened and dulled the models too far, and while I was planning to highlight the models again anyway, it meant requiring much more highlighting was needed to make it look good.

Here are the models with just speed paint on. They look great, about 80% there in my opinion. Some highlighting was probably needed, and maybe a light wash here and there, but they looked great. 

This is what the dipping made them look like, even after removing as much of the dip, swinging the miniature around. The stuff really isn't great, and I've since thrown it away, never using it or recommending it to anyone. They were effectively ruined and as such they sat there for the longest time, untouched.

Not long after, I stripped them again, and began the speed paint process again, working on one model only. The bases were stripped of the material somewhat, and thus I was going to need to do them again. This time though I decided instead of using the dip, I would just use Agarax Earthshade and brush it on.

This time it worked a treat, and it had darkened them a bit, but still required highlighting again. Looking back, I think I could skip the shading and just move onto some highlighting instead, but again I was determined to try this method of complete wash and highlight back up. Maybe next time I might just wash the darker colours only.

Highlighting back up some of the green and skin was about all I focused on, and some of their orange hair. I made them all orange haired, to signify them as a family of hunters, working for their lord to scout his holding and keep an eye out for enemies. With them is also a Damsel. She was painted quite some time ago, simply on a whim. Her base was done on 25mm as well, and the flock was just a green basic flock, with some flower shrubs glued on for variety. 

I imagine she would be running around the battlefield escorted by these hardy men, casting spells while the hunters keep enemies away.

This is the beginning of a Bretonnian army I would eventually like to finish. How long that will be, who knows, but I quite like how these guys turned out, and have plans to work on some knights next. I'm undecided how I want to paint them, whether they are traditionally painted, all having their own heraldry, or painted as a unit, with similar colour scheme through the whole unit. First I'll have to rebase them onto larger bases though, since they also had the base upgrades too. 

Until next time.

Salamanders? That's right!

 

This update is all about the new Space Marine Repulsor I got from Ebay. It was a cheap buy, and required some cleaning, but it was intact and already built. This is going to be a present for Richard, for his salamanders force, and for it, I went ahead and bought a can of Colourforge Salamander spray, mostly as a test to see the quality of the spray cans. I can report, it sprays quite nicely, and has a smooth finish, but it also takes longer than the Army Painters sprays to dry.

The tank itself is quite easy to paint, as are most Space Marines miniatures, but getting a clean paint job is quite difficult if you make any mistakes. Considering the spray I used, which is quite a nice vibrant green, with some yellow in it, trying to cover up any mistakes was a challenge, using Army Painter Fanatic greens, none of them matched, and trying to mix colours wasn't working, as even the yellows do not brighten the green the right way.

I'm beginning to question my choice of buying the new Army Painter range, since I've noticed that a lot of the colours have white pigment in them to give them the brightness and smooth coverage that initially drew me. But now that I've used it, and trying to get more vibrant mixes, it really struggles. The colours are in general quite muted, and in this case, I ended up mixing in GW Contrast paints into some of the greens just to get a close match to the Salamanders Green.

Besides the problems with the Army Painter paints, the tank came out really nicely. The decals I ended up purchasing off Ebay as well, since I could use the Ultramarines section of the sheet for myself down the line anyway. I went a bit overboard with them, but overall I think it enhances the whole miniature quite nicely.

I left the base for Richard to do, he can tie it in with the rest of his army. I'm looking forward to facing it with my Orks. Here's hoping it get the freshly painted miniature curse and dies turn one.

Until next time, Cheers

A Small Update

 Riding on the back of the Panther Tanks, I decided to continue the hobby drive, sit down and paint something else. 

This post will be short and sweet as there are only two models to showcase. I figured I would finish off my Crusader AA Tanks that I started some time ago and gave up on. 

They operate as Armoured support and don't really have much to do on the tabletop, lol. Since Greg's Germans don't have any Aircraft options, they're pretty pointless to have really, as for their cost, I could bring other, more versatile and useful kit, but my wartism does get the better of me and I must have my historically accurate Army. Greg has much more options in his list - granted as the Allies had Air Supremacy during the latter stages of the War - which can be nice when building flexible lists.


 

They're painted in the same way as I normally paint my Late War stuff. This time, I tried to pick up smaller details because I was enjoying the painting and there's really not much else to these models. 

I did notice when studying the pics that the right Tank's Bridge weight decal fell off - it's been added on post-production. I also found the front left Rat Decal slid down while it set, then I couldn't re-position it as I left it too late. Oh well...





I still had a number of wheels to paint up - only 22 in total this time - however, I still found I enjoyed the process. It was quite relaxing. I also found a really nice method of painting up the tracks without worrying about mess. It doesn't carry over in the pic, unfortunately, but I really like how it turned out. Again, the whole process was fun.

Finally, a rear pic.





A couple of things to note. The 73 indicates the AA Regiment within the 4th Armoured Bridage (Black Rat). I decided to paint the pipes, again, just to make them pop and I also fucked BOTH turrets up when gluing the magnets. Now they are permanently glued into position.

That's it really. A quick, easy, fun painting session and two more models added to my completion pile.

Until the next one.

Merry Christmas, Greg!

Roughly about 4, maybe 5 years ago I decided to pop in to my local hobby shop to buy Greg a box of five Late War Panther Tanks as a Christmas gift. I thought it might be nice to add these to his Late War roster, giving him some variation to the Panzer IV's and Tiger Tanks he usually tends to run.


They are a really nice, crisp, clean Battlefront kit. I really don't remember there being any issues of any sort with them. I am led to believe that they re-released the Panther Mk. V variant with the Zimmerit pattern in plastic, as opposed to the older Metal/Resin kits, and thank God they did, because we all know how horrible those can be. In fact, I think the older kits also came with a standard hull, no Zimmerit. Personally, I think they look incredible. 


Below is a pic of them when I was first assembling them...


 

Now initially I was thinking that I'd bash them out, but I soon lost my drive and they were sat collecting dust for the next however many years, but not anymore... I finally decided to sit down and finish them off so I could give them to him. I actually had a lot of joy painting these things up. It was doing the camouflage that really put me off doing it, but Guinness fixed that issue right up. With a belly full of a few pints, feeling relaxed and warm, I set off.


Now unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the process, just the completed product, but that's ok.





As you will notice, the front Commander looks a little different. I do remember when I built these up that I wasn't going to add any more crew than what was absolutely necessary. So I opted for two Commanders and one open hatch. I figured the HQ would have one of each, and a Troop leader would have the other Commander. In the end, I decided against it - as I was really enjoying doing it, I decided to consult the bits box. I can't really remember what I did with the initial BF Commander sprue. In the end, I grabbed a spare PSC Commander. I don't think it matters too much.


The camo was stippled on. There is no real rhyme or reason to it, as units just made do with whatever paints they had in the field, and added whatever patterns on they felt was suitable to their surroundings. I don't remember which Brown and Green I picked from memory. A heavy wash was added - perhaps a little too heavy, but I think they look grimy and it blends the camo nicely - and then finally the smaller details were touched up after. Then finally the decals were added. Funnily, I believe the decal sheets are a carry-over from their older kits, as there were two "Front" decals. One Left, one Right. As you can observe, the Front Left hull has the tools attached and no place to add a decal... So well done Battlefront. In the end, I stuck one on the Back Left as you can see.. The Front Right are specifically designed to cut around this and went on easily enough.
I will say this, I initially painted the tracks Matte Black, but decided to change that and tried to blend an Orange-Red with a Brown to attempt a dirty/rusted effect just so they look a little more like metal track-links, then touched them with a highlight of Oily Steel.





When assembling them, I went with the "Rule of Cool" and added spare wheels to the turret sides. They probably didn't go there - as this was where the Tank numbers would go. So I took some liberty with placing them either on the side or corner piece so they can still be recognised in game. Interestingly, I learned that the Germans had a rather simplistic system of denoting their Tank numbers. For example the 4 represented the 4th Company of the Tank Battalion. The 2 represented the 2nd Platoon and the third number represented the Tank's number within the Platoon. I thought that was pretty cool.





As I was on a bit of a roll, I decided I would paint up all the rubber tyres on all 47 wheels that were most visible. I found it to be quite fun and therapeutic and the little extra detail makes the wheels pop at close range. I also think it's here where the heavy, grimy wash comes into its own.





And finally, I also added some destroyed skirts for just a touch of character and added detail.





One more thing. Greg suggested we make Cabbage fields for the table. I did once actually attempt that for the Farmstead I made that time. Here's a pic.





Until next time!

Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!

What's this? Two posts within a week or so!? Well I'll be...


This one is an update on my Warhammer 40k Space Marines. Although, to be fair, I didn't need to do too much, as Greg had already chipped away at a large part of what I am going to post on. So let us have a look...

First up is the Forgefather, He'stan Vulkan. One of Greg's very early resin 3D prints as a gift to me some years back, I have been working on him as he leads my Army to battle. Given it is my first attempt at painting Space Marines, I wanted to try him out first. I tried my best, got frustrated at certain bits, but overall I am very happy with what has been achieved.








I attempted my first ever free-hand fire/flames on this guy and I think I did a decent enough job. On top of that, his Drake scales I decided to go a cold, Blue colour to contrast the otherwise warm, flame colours. All other models I saw (for inspiration) went a warm Red colour - which is perfectly fine, lore wise, but I wanted to do something a little different. I did attempt hazard stripes on the piping, but it didn't work and I quickly fixed that up.

To add onto the Aggressor Squad Greg made for me for my birthday a couple years back, I decided to finish them off. I based them and added decals.











They are a Fire Support Squad of the Second Company. I think I got the decals correct on the Pauldrons, but I could be wrong. I am not 100% sure if the Squad or Company number goes there, but it's fine.

I attempted to base them with some Lava effects. I tossed up between Ash/Desert Sand and Lava. Decided to go all in on Lava as it fits the Armageddon theme.





Here's He'stan with the Aggressors together.





Now to the frustrations. I struggled greatly with trying to create a heated elemental Spear. Try, try, and try again. In the end, I had spent perhaps a solid 12+ hours overall trying to get an effect I was happy with. This was the best of my abilities and while it isn't perfect, I am happy with how it turned out. From a distance when he's on the table, that fine detail is lost anyway, so I should remind myself of that. I also did try some OSL effect on the rocks I added to the base. It didn't come out as I imagined, but it was fun to try it. I also went for a Black/Brown Ore kind of Earth effect with the basing as well. I figured since the Salamanders fought around a lot of Hive Cities and Mines/Mountains, this would work well enough.





I dropped him and he snapped. I panicked. However, I remembered the Promethean Cult creed of self-reliance and fine craftsmanship, I eventually, calmly re-assembled him and he is ready to fight the Hordes of Xenos scum once more!


Until the next post, I guess!

Well, Well, Well...

 What do we have here? Another blog post?... It's about bloody time!

With this one, it will be a combined post, with the work I have done the last few months, rather than multiple individual ones. So let us begin..

Firstly, and more simply put, I created a single Tank Objective marker for Flames of War Mid War. I don't really remember why I did this, I think it had something to do with one too many Valentine Tanks, so I knew I could create a marker out of it.
As always, my inspiration comes from something related to the Regiment my relative served in, and a single picture gave me the idea for it. Below is a picture of a knocked out Valentine Tank "Rosemary" belonging to said Regiment near Mersa Martruh in the Desert.





With this, I was able to very easily create my own little marker for any games we play.














It was very easy to make and was a joy to do. It isn't very clear in the picture as to what knocked it out and where, so I decided to bore a few holes into the side hull and turret as is obvious, to indicate some damage done. I was contemplating writing the name on the Tank, but decided against that. So that's that. Now onto some big stuff...


Keeping in theme with the Desert, I have now completed some 17 Pounder Pheasants. Initially I wasn't really fussed about building these up as they come later into the Mid War Campaign in Tunisia - an area I am not all that interested in, I personally prefer 1941 - 1942.. Anyway, I was bored and decided to do them, so here they are...














I am quite happy with them. My gripe, however, is with the crappy Battlefront Soft Plastic Infantry/Crews. They are just horrible. They come with lots of flash and are very bendy. They just aren't for me. They are, however, an old kit. I do believe Battlefront have fixed this and have gone with a more sturdy plastic, so who knows? Anyway, that's those. Stock standard, but I think they look good. I added some cut up paper clips to look like empty shell casings just to give that bit of the base some kind of detail. I also really like the Royal Blue basing. I like the contrast to the Beige sand colour.


And now onto my third and final part to this post, some Late War 25 Pounder Artillery. These were part of a fantastic Plastic Soldier Company kit that came with Morris Tractor tow. Like always, they had been sat on the shelf for forever, so I decided to complete them earlier this year. 

I wanted to add them to my 11th Armoured Division as their Divisional Support. I didn't pick a Regiment specifically, as that doesn't really matter. But I am very happy that they are completed as they help to flesh out my Army over all.








It's not really visible here, but I went as far as adding a Red band to the Officer's cap to denote his seniority for the wartism. Actually, never mind, I did take a picture to show that...





Some shots of the Morris Tractors...








And with that, another LONG overdue blog post is done... I am slowly chipping away at the hobby, when I have time and the drive. Currently, I am working on a Motor Company for Late War and some Space Marines, so we shall se what the future holds. 

Ciao! xxx

Finally! An update has come home!

So I've finally done some hobby work, and so its time to revive the blog. First on the block to show off is some Night Goblins I was working on.

This regiment of 20 Night Goblins with Bows was started way back in 2024, and my big hiatus from the hobby stopped while I was still working on these guys. They sat on my shelf for the longest time, almost finished, and thus they were the first ones to be finished when I decided to begin painting again.

They have their own movement tray that conforms to The Old World, making them the 25 x 25 footprint that they are in this edition. They are still on 20 x 20 bases though and still able to be used for older editions of Warhammer Fantasy.

Of course no unit of Night Goblins would be caught dead without some Fanatics hiding in their ranks, and this unit has its own trio of the deadly lunatics. New edition of Warhammer has these guys nerfed to only able to hide 2 per regiment now, since the rules are so much more flexible. They are no longer required to release when enemies are near by, and thus can be so much more deadly thanks to better control of when they release.

Besides the Night Goblins, I was also working on some additional Black Orcs as well, to better represent the fact that Black Orc Regiments typically use great weapons as well.

As you can see, I had gotten my hands on Bogrut Facebeater, and he will be either used as himself in older editions of Warhammer Fantasy, or as the regimental champion when primarily running the Black Orcs in Two Choppa configuration. The three other Black Orcs with him are all holding Great Choppas, and the idea is that, if I want to run them in Great Choppa mode, they will be placed in the front of the regiment along side another Black Orc Big Boss model I already have.

After completing these, I'm tempted to order some more Great Choppa models and flesh out a full regiment of their own. Incidentally, while I was looking for my next project, I discovered that I have a second command set of models for Black Orcs, with one that has a Great Choppa as well. Maybe I should do that.

And finally, my last bit of painting I have finished is the last project I was working on before my big break from it, and that is Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. 

He was partially complete, with most of the blue already done before I stopped working on anything. I painted him in sections, with his head and cloak separate from his body. He's quite a nice model and painting him has be interested in the story behind his faction in the 40k universe.

He comes with two Honour Guards, and those will be my next project I'm going to work on. Along with them, I'm also thinking of working on some other things, but I'm still undecided what I want to tackle alongside his two guards. Here's hoping the next update isn't going to take as long as this one did to finally happen.

Cheers.