20mm Modern Australian Platoon

So over the past couple of months I have been painting some 20mm Moderns.  I have decided to go with Elhiem Figures and their terrific modern range.  The range is excellent and there is loads available.

I really like their Australians.  I did a very quick photo shoot as its been ages since I show cased anything!  I really love 20mm.  Such a sweet spot between size and detail!  I can get far more figures for cheap and I dont have to worry about the storage woes of 28mm.

Up next some Taliban... Stay tuned.

An Australian Section Negotiates a poppy field in Afghanistan

A typical Australian Section.  2 Bricks of 4 make a section, 3 sections make a platoon.

Some command options

Australian Riflemen with Grenade attachments to their F88 Steyr Rifles

Australian Diggers with F89 SAWs

MSS with a variety of weapons

The Aussie Digger with his F88 Steyr

I'm back... Preparing for the AHPC IX

What is the AHPC IX? Well its the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge 9!

After a much needed break the timing of AHPC IX couldn't be better.  I am in team Monday so what I manage to paint during the challenge will be posted on a Monday on the challenge website and then 24 hours later here.

This year I am going for 1000 points!  Follow the link above for a breakdown on Points.  Last year I managed to paint just over 800 Points exceeding my 750 point target! Challenge accepted.

I am hoping to focus on the following:

• 20mm Moderns (a big focus) - and anything else 20mm
• Frostgrave/Rangers of Shadow Deep
• Project Waterloo (another big focus)
• Warhammer Quest
• Middlehammer/Oldhammer
• Lots of terrain and anything else random that tickles my fancy!

Looking forward to much more updates! Also I have a brief backlog of stuff I have painted but have yet to put on the blog.  I best get assembling some stuff to paint for the challenge.

A Brief Break

Not much has happened lately for me with the Hobby.  I think I really burnt myself out over the past few weeks.  I was well and truly on track a couple of months ago for having 500 miniatures painted this year but due to the burn out I was feeling I needed a break.

I should still get to 400 figures  painted this year and I managed to paint 19 figures for November.

I have really slowed down over the past 2 months but recently I have been feeling the desire to get back into the swing of things.

I have found it really hard to publish the stuff that I have finished or contribute anything to the blog.

I am participating in the next Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge kicking off 21st December so that should get me motivated.

Also I have fully painted a Modern Australian Platoon in 20mm and still need to show them off. I've done lots of things here and there just haven't felt the desire to put pictures up yet and have constantly found excuses not to show anything off.

Its been a tough few weeks for me outside of the hobby but nothing I cant manage. This little lapse of hobby nothingness should pass shortly!

Things will pick up... stay tuned.

Polish Vistula Legion - Part 2

I have added a further 23 Figures to my Polish Vistula Legion Force.  I painted up 12 Fusiliers, 4 Grenadiers, 6 Voltigeurs and a Mounted Officer.  The Voltigeurs and the Mounted Officer are from Front Rank and the Remaining miniatures are from Warlord Games.

They took a while to paint and were rather tedious but I now have 43 Painted Figures for Sharp Practice and can expand upon this force with ease.

Time for a short break from Painting Naps, there is about 30 odd paints used for these chaps!

Polish Vistula Legion Somewhere in Spain

The Polish Vistula Legion March through a Spanish Village

Skirmishers do what they do best.  Polish Vistula Legion Voltigeurs face off against some British 95th Rifleman

Front Rank Polish Vistula Legion Voltigeurs

Warlord Games Fusiliers

Polish Vistula Legion Fusiliers Marching

Polish Vistula Legion Grenadiers in Czapka

20mm Modern Australians by Elhiem Figures

Moderns has been something I have wanted to do for a while but I couldn't pull the trigger.  A few friends were doing it in 28mm and Playing Spectre but the game didn't really appeal to me.  I am slowly losing the battle of Storage to 28mm in particular terrain.  28mm Buildings really do take up lots of space.

Motivated by something I wont quite yet reveal, I decided to go with 20mm for a few reasons.  The first being the amazing and huge range from Elhiem Figures.  The sculpts are awesome, well proportioned and the range is extensive.  I was particularly fond of the Australian Range.  The other reason for going for 20mm is storage and size.  I can have lots of buildings for a fraction of the storage space 28mm takes up.  My terrain will mostly be 3D printed and there is also a massive difference in print times between 20mm and 28mm.  The 20mm miniatures have that sweet spot for detail in sculpting that you can not get in 15mm.

Finally 20mm is terrific value for money! The figures a significantly cheaper than their 28mm bigger cousins.

I have painted up the first 4 of many Modern Australians for Afghanistan.  In 2014 the Australian Army went from their Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU) to the Australian Multi Camouflage Uniform (AMCU).  I thought AMCU would be hard to paint however it was quite simple.

I was inspired by Jack Sarge's 28mm Aussies and adapted his recipe with a slight change. How I paint my Modern Australians is as follows:

All Vallejo Colours

Base Coat
Uniform - Iraqi Sand
Steyr - Green Grey
Gloves - Gunship Green
Boots/Knee Pads - Khaki

Wash with Army Painted Strong Tone
I then went over everything with highlights with the same Base Coat Colours

For the Camouflage I painted on the Following
US Field Drab, Yellow-Green, Russian Uniform WW2 then small dots of Cam Olive Green

20mm Modern Australian Infantry by Elhiem Figures

28mm USMC (Warlord Games) comparison with 20mm Modern Australians (Eliem)

Warhammer Quest Giant Bats

Lets go back to 1995.  I was 15 and completely absorbed by the Games Workshop Hobby and in my opinion this was the peak period of Games Workshop.

One of their finest productions was the Original Warhammer Quest and I am blessed to have a copy.  I am painting up the figures and keeping that old look to them.  I have pimped their bases to make them far more interesting.

The bases the 12 Giant Bats come on were pretty horrible so I have put them on original Games Workshop 20mm Square bases and varied their stand height to break their monotony up.

I used some left over plasticard to create the tiles that the bats are mounted on.

Warhammer Quest Giant Bats

I varied their heights a little to break up their mono-pose glory!

Old plasticard was used on the bases

Frostgrave Statues or Constructs?

I quickly painted up my 72nd model for the month of August which was part of a quick 6 model speed paint for Frostgrave.  August has been a damn good month on the painting front!

I built 2 models each from the Frostgrave Barbarian, Soldiers and Ghost Archipelago kits.  I removed the pudding bases carefully and glued them to a Plastic Base.

I 3D printed some Pillars for them that they can be mounted on or detached so they can be a living Statue or a stone/concrete Medium Construct! Perfect for those Frostgrave Scenarios.  They were recently used in a Successful Frostgrave Campaign.

I quickly Painted them with the Following Recipe:
Primed Grey
Drybrushed Vallejo Light Grey
Drybrushed Vallejo White
Washed with Secret Weapon Stone Wash
Easy!

I assembled up 2 stock soldiers from each of the above mentioned Frostgrave Kits

I have not permanently attached them to their Pillars so they can be used in Game as a Construct or a NPC!

Games Workshop Zombies

I really love the Old Hammer and Middle Hammer period for Games Workshop.  I especially love their old undead and these Zombies are terrific.  I love the awkward poses of these zombies.  They painted up a treat. 

Interestingly, I didn't seal my Army Painter Quick Shade and it turned into a gloopy mess.  I diluted it with some White Spirit however the Polyurethane  in the Quick Shade had gone off so it lost its trade mark shine.  I have since replaced the can but will put the ruined Quick Shade to some sort of good use.

I based these guys with some old plasticard off cuts rather than send them to landfill.  I have done a sort of Dungeon/Field cross over theme.

They were from one of the Original Red Boxed Zombie Regiment. What is even better... I have another box of these I got on ebay for a steal! 

Games Workshop Classic Zombies.  Such a cool look!

The facial expressions are awesome

Ranked up they look terrific

You can see the basing theme I went for

Frostgrave Ice Toad and Snow Leopard

I did a nice quick paint job on these superb creatures for Frostgrave.  These can spawn as random encounters or be summoned by a Wizard.  They are great little sculpts from the Northstar Military Figures Frostgrave range.

To paint these I simply primed, base coated, quick shaded and applied a couple of simple highlights in addition to picking out some of the minor details such as spots and eyes.

Frostgrave Ice Toad and Snow Leopard

Speed Painting Zombicide Black Plague/Green Horde Spectral Walkers

Wanting to get back on track for my goal of 500 figures painted this calendar year I decided to speed paint some Spectral Walkers from the recent Zombicide Green Horde Expansion - No Rest For The Wicked.

You can use the below technique for anything spirity or ghostly

The way I did this is as follows:

• Based them.
• Primed them White
• Washed the bases with dark washes, Picked out debris and dry brushed it white
• Brush on some varying skin tones
• Washed the Spectral Walkers with GW Nighthaunt Gloom
• Picked out eyes
• Varnished!

About 3 - 4 hours total and knocked over 18 figures! I added the base details so I can use them for other gaming systems.

Unpainted figures... they dont belong in a box 

Recycling some spare materials rather than landfil

Not bad for 3-4 hours

The Three Poses