No, my absence isn't due to some wonderful, long holiday in the sun. Busyness, partly due to greater responsibility at work, has stymied my painting over the summer.
I did finish this French Officer for the Great War Painting Club over on LAF. I like these impromptu collaborative painting challenges as they offer a chance for me to paint something random from the lead pile.
The horizon bleu offered a challenge - I basically fudged it from VMC ultramarine, black and white. Hopefully it won't offend any Great War aficionados.
For a suitably gritty appearance, I went with lots of my recently purchased Vallejo weathering powder, including mixing a paste for mud effects on his puttees and coat.
This is absolutely not a new project for me, he was a free sample from Forgotten and Glorious. A really nice sculpt, quite tall all and chunky that means he painted up really well. Barely any cleanup required either. The original characterful Adrian helmeted head would be my only criticism. So I swapped it for something suitably Gallic from the plastic spares box: Victrix Napoleonic French, I believe.
I did also finish off a few more Mahdists in time for the game at earlier in the month. Just four as I thought that's how many I needed to fill the trays. But damnation, I was still two short - not sure how I miscounted really! Ah well, I can fix that easily enough.
With such pitiful offerings, I've been indulging the hobby with the Wargamer's UXB. In my defence, I've decided to try not to just have one force for a project. So, with the 15mm Chain of Command flying through the painting table recently, I've rounded out that project by dropping an order in for opposing panzergrenadiers. Just a platoon at first, but before long I'd found a free shipping and 5% off code: as long as one makes the minimum spend! So I've a supported platoon equivalent to the paras making its way over, which should enable me to put on some games at Wyvern myself.
