Kali Cult leader; backdrop experiment goes wrong; for sale

Phew, is been a busy week, mostly poking about/sorting/assembling my Salute purchases. I've also just about finished off a second batch of Ansar for the a Sudan project, I'll post up pics once the varnish is dry, probably in a day or two.

In the meantime, another lady (yeah, another), this one came in a Mutineer miniatures pack, a range the Gharak and I ransacked for some future Pulp adventuring in India. I was after the other chap from the pack and  didn't have a good use for her, but thought she would match well with Gharak's Kali Cult, see here and here. As it was his birthday last week, I painted her up to match the ones I painted before for him. Unfortunately, her sword broke fairly early in the process and was too thin to pin. So she is wielding the broken blade of somethingorother for now!



I've also experimented making a backdrop to be used for games. In a model railway shop in York, I got a pack of gaugemaster backdrops, containing three 3'x1' areas of sky. That's a whole lotta sky! I planned to stick them onto mountboard which could be propped up behind the gaming board. For the first attempt, I ambitiously tried the 'portable option' - three panels of mount board which fold down to half the size, driven by the fact I couldn't find 3' length of mount board in my local area, A1 is a few inches too short. After much cursing and sticking, this was the result (with unpainted 28mm miniatures for scale):



Experiment a bit of a failure! The folds from the three panels show up really badly, particularly on the left side. Luckily I've two more pieces to make use of, next time I think I'll give up trying to be so damn clever and just stick them on one panel!

Final, I've decided it is high time for a bit of a clear out, I've posted some bits on LAF but will eBay them if they don't go there. napoleonic bits and Infinity, if anyone is interested.

Analogue Hobbies Challenge: Coming to a Close

With a sigh of relief, the Painting Ronin can lay aside their brushes. Three months of some quite amazing work in the name of points, sharing, camaraderie and prizes.

First up, my deepest appreciation for our host and guide, Curt. To make so much time to run this competition is a gesture of great kindness, it truly must have been a Herculean effort. But rest assured, it is deeply appreciated by me, the rest of the Ronin and the rest of our hobby blogosphere who could watch the fun unfold. Curt, I salute you as the jolly nice chap that you are. Hopefully, 50-odd colourful (and greyscale) Samurai will be reward enough, in the end.

On my performance, I managed a miserable 365 points, well below my 500 last year and 550 target. I just ran out of steam in the end and was too distracted by othre commitments. But I'm pleased with what I did finish. My focus was on Pulp and WWII, with a smattering of other genres . My entries over the past month are below. First up, a second batch of Artizan Greatcoated Germans. While they need a little grubbying up, I'm pleased with how they came out, a few lessons learned from the first batch.



Just the one camo smock in an autumnal scheme

The whole bunch together

Next, a few French Foreign Legion in khaki, to make an appearance in a North African Pulp games. Artizan Designs once again, I think these were a 'useful somday' bargain bin or eBay find.

A pair of ladies, one Pulp adventurer from Hasslefree and one armed Victorian lady from Mutineer. I actually had three ladies on my final entry, The third was the one I was most pleased with, but painting her went right to the wire so I will add a couple of finishing touches before posting her up here.

So now the dust has settled, there is voting and prizegiving to be done. One prize is awarded for the 'People's Choice', so do head on over to Analogue Hobbies to vote on your favourite entry.

Finally, a quick shout out for another Easter giveaway at Sippin' on Paint Water - head over there if you want a chance at some mysterious goodies!